Spittin Chiclets - Spittin Chiclets Episode 421: Featuring Erik Cole + Derek Forbort

Episode Date: December 27, 2022

On Episode 421 of Spittin' Chiclets, the guys are joined by Erik Cole and Derek Forbort. Derek joined (00:54:45) to discuss the upcoming Winter Classic, playing with Biz, his dog Darla and tons more. But first, the fellas open the pod discussing the World Juniors and how their holiday season went. The guys are then joined by Erik Cole 01:30:58) to discuss his career, winning the cup, and the recent sandbagger.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 421 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney. My friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Bastl Sports Podcast family. Happy holidays to the Chicklets fam. Hopefully everybody had a great Christmas, getting some iron iron. We got a nice episode for you today. We're going to bounce around, have some fun, have some laughs.

Let's go to our buddy Merle's first, joining us from across the pond. I don't know how to say Merry Christmas in Swedish, but what's up, Merle's? What's new, buddy merles first joining us from across the pond i don't know how to say merry christmas in swedish but what's up merles what's new pal well i'm not across the pond i'm back home back home my hometown troy new york i'm down in the basement at my parents house where i grew up and uh you know just been been having a great time here we flew back immediately went up to lakeacid, New York for a youth hockey tournament. That city is amazing. I'd never been up there drinking or partying. What a time.

If you can get up there, get up there during the winter. There's tons of stuff for kids. Merle, potential at some point, maybe pond hockey and or ball hockey tournament location. So you want to do a chicklets cup there bad. Real bad. I was thinking that that would be a perfect spot. Nice good golf courses in the lake placid area what about summertime yeah there's uh great ones i actually ran into uh donnie del negro up there the old trainer for the boston bruins so we went out with him for a couple beers and he's up there he's golfing every day in the

summer he's retired now and he has guys coming up there to golf all the time with him and uh i was i was on him hard to get him up get an interview for the chicklets here for us holy shit that sounds like a name burles is buzzing stick straight out of the sopranos donnie del negro yeah north adams mass he's from the town with the collagen jesus crap that's a perfect name i've ever heard uh next stop. Oh, yeah. I know Donnie Del Negro. He was there for like over 30 years, right? Yeah. 29 years. I think it was. Yeah. Long time. He was there.

Donnie Del Negro. Next stop producer, Mikey Grinelli. What's going on, my man? How you been? What's up, fellas? Happy holidays to all you guys. I'm very happy to be headed back to boston right when we finish this pod uh really really been missing my friends and family a lot lately so can't wait to get home uh may even go skiing for a day or two up at loon um yeah so very excited for that but most excited for the winter classic and to see you boys again hey g if you run into my buddy donnie del negro tell him i said what's up oh shit i'm gonna say donnie del negro 1300 times in this podcast just for everybody listening just

so you know and have the heads up you can stop listening now it's your choice there he is the man the myth the legend paul biz nasty business coming to us from welland ontario right my own dad's place it's the holiday season. Look at that tree, man. You would never make a room look that nice. You know that's your mama doing that. My mother, Yolande Bissonnette, she is a queen.

She's a queen. You know how they got the beehive for Beyonce? She's got her Welland plant. The Yolies. But yeah, no, she crushes Christmas. Hey's actually a uh i at the end of the pod maybe i'll give it a little cruise downstairs she has a setup like this downstairs too she does the upstairs downstairs whammy she loves to uh decorate she brought out the santa claus she decorates the outside of the house as well so i'm really happy to be back home with the fam we did um gifts for my niece and nephew

my sister's got twins and my mom does like the little scavenger santa claus hunt where she'll like read off the clues and they got to go find the presents so uh at the end of it i ended up surprising them with uh a trip to ottawa so paul my sister's uh husband he's a big ottawa senators fan so i think he's brainwashed the kids uh he's ruining your nieces and nephews miss i mean ah babe i don't know man if ryan reynolds comes on board they get the new arena very true very true things could be changing he could be setting them up for like a a like a you guys success in Boston all those championships all those years so I got them there's a game I believe in February against the Oilers I got them tickets to that the travel

taking care of hotels meals and then you know put a little put a little extra cash in the stocking stuffer for the niece and nephew so overall a great Christmas event with the family I was actually supposed to fly out of here on our, well, I guess the day the pods dropping or no, that we're recording a little bit early actually on Christmas Eve, but there's like a blizzard slash snowstorm, whatever you want to call it in the, the, the Southern Ontario slash Northern New York.

What do you call a Rochester Buffalo area, Northern New York, Western Western Western. western oh the complete opposite weird yeah you know like the avalanche or a southern team yeah yeah geography's not my thing so i'm actually heading to cabo after this for three or four days rest and i'm gonna recharge before a really really big new year for the boys and donnie del negro yeah we'll get to that shortly next up and finally the last one on the crew, the wit dog, Ryan Whitney. What's going on, my man?

All set for Christmas. So we should, like Biz just said, we actually are recording Friday before Christmas, so we're going to have a little Christmas chatter coming, but staying home, right, Whit? Yep, all prepared. I actually remember being younger and when you realize, like, for the first time,

how late your parents stayed up on Christmas Eve so you know families get together there's big dinners there's drinks and then as a kid you don't realize till a little later on like oh my god then my parents were up doing all this tonight right so the kids come bombing in at 5 30 in the morning well the parents have been setting the freaking thing up till thirty. So when that started hitting me last year, I was like, this is a disaster. So what I did this year is we set aside a day. It was earlier this week to do all of the Christmas Eve stuff. So now when we go to my in-laws house and we have drinks and a great time and exchange gifts with the huge family that was

over here for Thanksgiving, we come home, maybe throw a movie on, maybe get a little Christmas magic going. You know what I'm saying, fellas? And I don't have to set up the whole room and I don't have to worry about, you know, getting these gifts out and putting things together. I'm already done. So I'm very excited for Christmas. It's great. You know, Ryder's super into it now.

This elf on a shelf thing, one of the all time biggest scams in human history. Just an absolute disgrace. What the fuck is elf on a shelf? Elf on a shelf is a crime. The levels of Enron and FTX and some of these people, they don't even know. This book or whatever was written about this little elf. And, you know, he comes to your house before Christmas, but every night he leaves.

And then, you know, you have to set him up in a new spot because he flew back to the North Pole and told Santa how you were, but then he's not going to be in the same spot. So every night it's up to the parents to make sure that they remember to move Elfie around. I think ours was originally named Keith. He's now Chippy.

But, you know, there's been times that one in the morning you wake up dead panic. I haven't moved Elfie. So it's just one of those things that they've probably made billions of dollars and basically cost. They've probably caused like divorces and shit, too. You know, the dad three nights in a row doesn't move it. It's just it's a it's a scam. But, you know, the kids love it. And then they wake up screaming. He's in the he's in the tree. Dad, he's in the Christmas tree. What? OK, so when I was a kid or at least when I was coming up, there were a couple of crazes

certain years. I would say the biggest craze for a particular gift was the Tickle Me Elmo doll. Do you remember when I was nuts? People were murdering each other more than they were for jordans over these fucking things what what is that the gift for kids nowadays that people are going crazy for is there not really a standout i don't know if i like rider rider doesn't i'm like what do you want for christmas he's like i don't know i'm like okay do you know and then finally he said a couple of things i don't even know if older there is a toy for like, I don't know, 10, 11 year olds.

They just want video games and cell phones. That's all I hear kids that are old enough to say, I want a cell phone. I want a cell phone. I have a friend who's actually surprising his kids. They've been begging for a dog and he's having the dog delivered Christmas morning. So that's pretty sick. Like that's one of the kids will never forget. So, yeah, we're just hanging. I mean, I, I'm really excited for the live show. So it's just such a chill week

right now. Usually we try going away a little bit. There's a bomb cyclone here. I believe it's a bomb cyclone biz, although there's no snow. It's just windy as shit. What up G? Uh, I was going to mention, we haven't actually announced this yet, but, uh, podcast Jesus will be emceeing the live show oh people who aren't aware kirk minahan fizz what do you know about kirk well i thought before ra was going to tee up all the live show stuff and we were kind of getting into the christmas chatter i wanted to know what ra when you were a kid coming up what was your most memorable christmas gift what was the one thing as a kid where you look back and you're like, that was the Christmas morning I remember. And that's what I pulled from underneath the couch

or like the last gift that your parents surprised you with. I'll tell you, it was late seventies. It was Atari, the original Atari 2600. Cause what was crazy is I'd never heard of it. I didn't, me and my brother had no idea what it was. It was real new. My stepfather, he was very much an early adopter. He always got new technology. He got it. We had never even heard of it. So we had a brand new video game. We were like six, seven years old and, you know, state of the art at the time. So Atari 2600, it was sold. It was only known as Atari back then. That was probably the most memorable gift.

And then any year I got Star Wars toys too. I was always a big thrill. So go on that same vein, my brother. So Atari for the younger generation, is it the one that's the assemble of Tetris and a few other games? No, no, it's like was it Pong originally? Combat. Combat was the game they gave

you with the console when you got when you bought Atari, they gave you combat like very generic, like old school, like not like name stuff. You watch like the hockey on a basketball is very rudimentary but it was state of the art at the time again it was the late 70s it was like the first like home video game that like really

fucking took off and exploded that was the beginning of the end that was the original video game that now since had like then it went basically AI realistic shootings and shit it all started with Sega Genesis, then Nintendo 64, then PlayStation 2.

And it just kept going. I remember getting Nintendo games and being very fired up. But I had Sega too at one point. So it basically, though, could just kill so much time. I constantly remember being like, shut down the video games. That's all I ever heard. Turn off the video games. Doc Connor, all of it.

But you all have to remember that the craze that Cabbage Patch kids were back in the 80s. I was just going to bring that up. And it was one of my most memorable ones. You'll love this one. Biz and wit. It was a Wayne Gretzky oilers uniform he was dressed in i don't i i don't think it was patented by gretzky or whatever but it was an oilers jersey pants 99 my mom must have spent hours combing through toys r us looking for this thing but

that that i'll always remember that guy damn wayno had a cabbage patch doll that would probably be worth a little bit of dough now yeah i. Yeah, I was checking in the attic here last week, and it's gone. She's gone. There used to be riots and shit. Put through the drywall just looking for this fucking doll so you could check it up on eBay to make a few mortgage payments. That was insane. It was one of the years they were a huge craze,

and my little sister and all my little girl cousins got them. So there was like 10 fucking Cab patch kids of course they all brought him like aunt and uncle used to have a big party so me and my uncle when everyone was eating me my uncle kidnapped all the cabbage patch dolls and like hit him in the house like left a ransom note these girls were fucking they were screaming bloody murder crying they were like eight nine nine years old it was fucking hilarious it's like one of the legendary stories then my uncle's like you snitched on me because like basically i was I was going to get, I was like 10. I was like, all right, they hit me and Mitchell took him.

He's like, you fucking rat. He's like, you would, if we really did something, you're fucking snitching on me. I was like, buddy, I ain't getting fucking punished. That's the most RA story I've ever heard. His uncle giving him a hard time for snitching on Christmas for hiding the cabbage patch dolls. Donnie Dell fucking Negro.

Did he have a cabbage patch doll? R.A. actually had an old cabbage patch doll that was smoking a three foot bong. So it was like a really pretty cool. He lost that, though. It was at the old house. I have to ask you, how was travel across the pond with Lily? She was she good on the plane or disaster this is a real act i pulled this time somehow we booked our flights i uh my wife and lily ended up in the sas plus so it's just you know a little bit bigger seats and nicer

seats and i was back in the pigeon class and let it go let it go like oh when we get there they'll just put us together like they can't split up a family you know they got to just move me up or just move you back nope full flight when we get there so i ended up in the back alone and she's there with the kid kids going nuts for eight hours oh huge win i'm going up every couple hours like oh like pretending and and then they would kick me out they're like hey sir you got to go back to your pigeon class and it was uh it was quite the show but uh my wife said my wife's a rock star she got her here and uh it's it's amazing my kid is done we figured it out she's done 12 trips now like over and back already she's two and a half years old i don't know if that's

even healthy she doesn't even know what time it is. No. When is the next Check the Game Notes? Check the Game Notes? We're not sure on that. We'll probably... Checklist Game Notes, by the way. Checklist Game Notes, somewhere around the Winter Classic. We'll all be there,

so I don't know how we'll work on that. I believe it's dropping January 12th. January 12th will be the date that the next Checklist Game Notes comes out. Yeah, because the next podcast, boys, we're all going to be together in Boston. And that'll be after the live show. And also after the Winter Classic, which we've got a pretty jammed up schedule, boys. And I'm looking forward to seeing all of you.

And finally, R.A. I mean, we've had a couple live shows beforehand. But with the setup we have now. No, they didn't really count. Yeah, okay. So those are like the exhibition games before the real games start. But R.A., hometown, Wilbur Theater, that's going to be a fucking intro, baby. I'm giddy, man.

I can't fucking wait. I got a good crew of buddies, family coming over. It's going to be absolutely fucking insane, man. I'm so fucking fired up for it. I can't wait, dude. Like, the last time I went to Wilbur Theater, I think I saw the White Stripes there. Now we're going to be absolutely fucking insane, man. I'm so fucking fired up for it. I can't wait, dude. Like, the last time I went to a World of Theater, I think I saw the white stripes there. Now we're going to be on that same stage,

so I'm pretty fucking fired up, needless to say. Love it. Love it. And, guys, I was going to say, like I said before, we have Podcast Jesus, a.k.a. Kirk Minahan, emceeing the entire event for us. So Minahan's a legend in Boston, and he's going to run the show for us. So it's going to be a fun time with him.

Whit, you asked me what I know about Minahan. I just know that he can turn anything into entertainment. I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, if any. I don't even listen to our own. I can't stand the sound of my own voice. But he's just a genius at what he does. And Barstool is probably the perfect platform for him because they seem to just let him run with whatever he's doing.

And he's branched off not only into doing what he does from a normal podcast perspective, he's went off into doing murder mystery podcasts where he's in fact solved one of them at one point, and then now he's in the midst of doing his second one so i don't know a ton about him i know that you guys have a great rapport and you guys go at each other much like portnoy and you go at it but uh he's uh he's a full-blown comedian yeah he's he's out of his mind he's he's very you're right you you worded that perfect he can kind of make

anything out of anything if if that makes sense. You know what I'm saying? So he'll just make the drama out of anything that he hears and listens to. He's just thinking right away how he can just chirp somebody. So he'll be torturing us. It'll be great. We'll have to give it back to him. He mentioned on his show that he could end up just turning it into a monologue all on his own. Forty five minutes. He's going to name his 100 favorite hockey players. Like he said, number 62, Mike Bossy. So, yeah, he's great. And I remember starting to, I first heard him when he was on this old show,

Boston Radio, RA, it was EEI, right? Yeah. Him and this guy, Jerry Callahan, this old crusty bastard. And so I was like, this guy's hilarious. Yeah. He's really funny. Like always chirping the producers, chirping everyone really quick witted. And then, you know, come to find out that all ended in disaster. Basically he got fucked over. And since it barstool, he keeps getting bigger and bigger. So the side hustle, the case now,

that, that first thing, I think I said, congratulations on the murder. He goes, Oh yeah, that's a good way to word it he solved the murder i i was incorrect in the way i said it but i've had fun on his show and so it'll be a great time for anyone there who doesn't know about him and i'd say go listen to his show but you'll listen you're gonna have to listen for a week because if you listen the first day you're gonna have no clue what's going on but he's got blind mike and this idiot producer cullinane one of the dumber people I've ever met in my life. Good guy, though, so we don't bust his chops too much. So I can't wait, dude. It's going to be so sick to be on stage again.

I remember before Pittsburgh, I was nervous. And then as the show got going, first I mentioned the lights. You can't see anyone. That helps. And then it's just us just shooting the shit with a couple guests, hopefully, and it'll be a blast. We'll do something after. We'll all hang out after, and it'll be a time. We'll do something after we'll all hang out after,

and it'll be a time. Then the next day we just get to enjoy the game. This is, this is a great time of year. And I've never been to a Fenway. I didn't go to any other times. There was rinks at Fenway park. I was playing. I think they beat the flyers in overtime there. And then college hockey did a, did a showcase of games. I'm hoping to maybe find an hour. I don't know if you could buy hours to skate after in January and bring Ryder out there.

It'd be sick to skate at Fenway. Wait, I actually got to skate at Fenway before. Have you? Yeah, in the early days of Chicklets, I got asked to, I think it was last time they played college there or something. They asked me to play in the media game. I got to skate with Feidelberg, Pete Blackburnburn got to get dressed in the like the red sox clubhouse it was uh it was a really cool experience wait you're gonna you consider renting out family park just so

rider could twirl around the ice or what no i'd bring all my buddies and all our kids and stuff you could get like 20 kids or 20 of us buzzing around out there playing like a big shinny game with everyone. It'd be sick. That's a, that's a power move. Like when, do you guys remember when Drake rented out the Dodger stadium to have dinner with this,

this like up and coming basketball star who was playing with LeBron, LeBron James's kid. And he, she was just like some, some wicked milf. I think a divorcee. And he rented out Dodger stadium just so he'd get his dick wet. No, he's legit, man. That went a crazy

way from bringing my son for a nice game of shinny, but yeah, I know what you're saying. It's a power move, just renting out the baseball stadium. It brought my mind to Drake pounding this milf whose kid was good at basketball. It made the airways. I don't know.

I don't even know if you can rent the ice, but if you can, I'm looking. I know they let you like paid or go for a spin because I skated on the ice when they played Philly. What was it? 2010, 11 years ago. I paid like 30 bucks and they let you come out and just like public skate.

Not like playing chinny. Nothing. Just went out for a few laps. It's pretty cool to be in Fenway Park on skates. It was pretty good shit. But listen, it's Christmas time. It means World Juniors. That's why Merles is here.

He's going to give us that expertise. It just kicked off in Moncton and Halifax. Merles, other than Conor, but that, who else are we looking for? And who's got the best chance for an upset in the Juniors this year? All right, before we go any further, I have a word from our presenting sponsor, Pink Whitney. It's the holiday season, as Biz just is going to sing for you all episode. Lots of stuff going on.

Lots of parties. Make sure you show up with a bottle of pink Whitney or even some nips. It's the pink lemonade flavored vodka from New Amsterdam. Grinnelli, I know this is your favorite gift. How many how many get stashed at your place right now? Oh, I have so much. All right. It's the stocking stuffer that just keeps on giving, baby.

I have three brothers. I say this every pink Whitney ad read in every brother. Every Christmas gets a few little pink Whitney nips. baby. I have three brothers. I say this every Pink Whitney ad read and every brother, every Christmas gets a few little Pink Whitney nips. And also I'm heading I'm heading back to Boston for the holidays. I get to see my friends who I haven't seen in a long time. So I made them each like a little Pink Whitney gift bag with the big handles that just came out, some nips. So very excited to give those to them. And I know they will be even more excited to receive them. Absolutely, man.

Christmas, now New Year's got all kinds of stuff on the docket. So head over to your local bar, get some Pink Whitney there. If they don't have it there, go to your liquor store and get some. Mix it up, have a shot. However, order a shot of Pink Whitney, enjoy it and enjoy the holidays. You know, I got a lot of good players in this. There's a couple of guys that's already been drafted that we know about. I'm going to start with some guys that haven't been drafted yet.

You know, I've been big on this Leo Carlson out of Sweden. I know Witt. Witt got a scoop from him, too. So he's a big guy. I've watched him play live now in Sweden. He's a winger, but he kind of reminds me of Malkin. You know, big, lanky. He plays in all the big situations over there at 17 years old.

So I really like him. I'm really looking forward to this kid on Canada, Fantinelli. He's at University of Michigan. He's got 26 points in 16 games as a freshman in college, which is just ridiculous numbers. That's like Jack Eichel numbers from BU. I've never seen him play. I haven't seen him a full game or anything like that.

So I'm really excited for that guy. He played with Donor's Kid in Chicago in the USHL. And a couple of years ago, Donor said, look out for this Fantelli kid. I had heard his name. But then when I talked about Carlson, I think I tweeted out that he's going to be the third player in the draft or the second player in the draft. And everyone hopped all over me like, no, no, no, no, no. Is it Fantinelli? Yeah, Fantilli. Fantilli. F-A-N-T-I-L-L-I. Fantilli no, no, no, no, no. Is it Fantinelli? Yeah, Fantilli.

Fantilli. F-A-N-T-I-L-L-I. Fantilli. Fantilli, I bet you it is. So we're just butchering this future Hall of Famer's name. But I ended up watching his first half YouTube highlights, and he looks ridiculous. Actually, he looks like a tall, kind of lanky lefty with sick hands.

He's on the juice. I love world juniors. This of year i don't i don't i think this is like newer where draft eligible eligible players are probably going to be some of the most dominant players or are supposed to be it's always the guys who've always are already been picked but now so often you see guys playing in the nhl so quick it's it's the up-and-comers who haven't been picked to have the chance to shine in world juniors. Yeah. We got to talk about our U S team.

You know, they, they got Hughes. He's going to be the captain, the Hughes, the other Hughes brother, fourth overall from New Jersey D man. You got Grinnell's guy,

Cooley from the university of Minnesota. And something I really like about this, this team, they have his line mate, Jimmy Snoo, Snoo. How do you say it? Snoo. Snooker run.

Snooker run. Those guys are say it? Snooga Rudd. Snooga Rudd. Those guys are line mates. Rosenberger. They're at Minnesota together. Hey, that's funny. So they're going to play together there. So that's like instant chemistry. That's going to help them in the tournament.

I got to talk about, I don't know what happened, but there's this kid leading the OHL in scoring, an American kid, Ty Voight, and he's not on the team. So I don't understand what USA Hockey is thinking with that guy. Merles, I think he got sick right before the camp and wasn't able to try out. So they basically cut him on the spot. I figured I just screwed him over like they did to me

because we were playing in Canada and not for the U.S. program or whatever. It wasn't even a U.S. program when you were playing in Canada. That is true. Was there? No, but we broke from USA hockey, but I was only the leading scorer in college at the time of the World Juniors, Ryan, and I didn't make the team. So from my understanding, Canada is the ultimate favorite this year because it switches

around some years where the U.S. will be favorited, sometimes Sweden, sometimes Finland. Usually it doesn't really move outside of that. I feel like Russia's tailed off a little bit, but this year it's Canada on top. People are saying even Finland right now in that second position, based on some of the talent they have coming in,

and then USA is third. That's from most people's predictions coming in. Would that be correct, Burles? Yeah, I feel like the Finns, no matter what level what age they always are in the semi-finals they are always meddling kids hockey senior hockey women's hockey they somehow find a way there's uh one one uh guy wanted to talk about this oliver caponin he was um a montreal prospect and i got a little connection with him because he's his dad is the Timber general manager

right now and he was actually born in Sweden but he plays for the Finnish team and they have another prospect from Nashville Yocum Kemmel that we got to keep an eye on I guess he could be a big game breaker but I like the Slovaks maybe to pull some upsets that you know they did it before

they got that D-man Nemec number two overall last year. Another Devils guy, Pasha's coming in his pants hearing all this. Devils sucks for fucking guys in the pipeline. Holy shit. Hey, they're going to need them because they might

be missing the playoffs this year with the run they've been on, although they did have a big win against Florida. That was a big Is there a more mid team than florida they haven't even won more than two games in a row one time yeah it's one win one win or win one lose one win one lose one that's the florida panthers right now i know you just mentioned slovakia but you gotta sleep a bit maybe you know something a little off the radar that you would suggest for to win the whole tournament Yeah, I don't see how Canada loses with this roster at all.

But if you had to pick somebody else, I always pick Finland in this stuff. These guys are all machines. They go nuts. They play as a team. They don't care about individual stuff. So I am half Swedish now. I consider myself that. It's hard to say Finland, but I think Finland's going to end up in the finals against Canada.

All right. I think one team to keep an eye on and one player in particular, in particular is Czechia, David Jurek, the sixth overall pick for the Columbus blue jackets playing with the Cleveland monsters all year D man. I think he's a point per game in the HL this season. I think he's a definitely a name you want to keep an eye on and,

and the Czechia as well. Yeah. Check six, 16 to one. Nice little return. If they go on a little per game in the AHL this season. I think he's definitely a name you want to keep an eye on. And the Czechia as well. Yeah, Czech 16-1. Nice little return if they go on a little run there in Finland. When did they change the name of their country? I don't know. Two years ago. I thought it was this past winter they wanted to. I don't know if it's the whole country or just the hockey.

The hockey part wants to be called Czechia or something. I got a couple of DMs because I said that. Czechia. And from people like, don't say it. Don't't use that we don't like that word say continue to say czech republic so you know i don't know if it's fucking people it's impossible not to offend anyone these days but we better let's just say that uh what can we say in order to like replace any of them so we don't piss anybody off just say the country jogger the guy that's back playing at 50 years old yeah no shit the country named after Jager. The guy that's back playing at 50 years old.

Yeah, no shit. You should have the country named after him. There's probably somebody that was pissed off, like, that loves Elf on a Shelf that I was, like, ripping on it. Yeah. Fucking fake snitch. Keep kids in line. All right, Merle, before I let you go here, I know you got some family stuff to do.

Any final thoughts on the World Juniors? Any last wages? Any other wishes, demands, whatever? No, I'll be going as the tournament goes along, obviously tweeting out winners. I've been on a pretty good run. Me and Witt had some good runs together here. That Bruins game the other night was an amazing comeback.

And how'd you end up with that one, Witt? I hammered them. I got them live, too, when they were down 1-0. My other buddy got them when they were down 2-0, plus 330 or something. Yeah, I got on. I saw fights tweeted like, is this a bad time to say I'm at my first Bruins game? They're down 2-0. So I immediately went over, got on that live bet.

I knew they weren't losing with you and him both in the building, boots on the ground. Wow. That was great. That place right now. And people think I'm a Bruins fan. I'm not. I like seeing them do well living here. But that barn is the best atmosphere I've seen in a long time at any NHL rink.

Granted, they haven't lost in regulation, but the place is rocking the entire night. It's also Christmas game. Everyone's getting after it. It's just a great atmosphere. But, R.A., I sat up in that ninth floor. That's sick. They built like this. i don't even know how old it is two different floors so you're basically right beneath or above the press box i don't know exactly but best view of the game you got bars that stay open the whole they don't shut in the middle of the third they

stay open till the end no bathroom lines and the seats are just so great. I love being up top and seeing the whole play develop. So I was fired up in there because I hammered them. I made a ton of money. And then I got out of there. I took the Jaguars second half, minus two and a half. They ran away with that, too. So just a big night gambling on December 22, 2022. Fuck, that's got to be fun when you got some money on the line

and you're down two and you're like, ah. And then they'll just steal on the comeback. And then the rush of winning it. My boy, on the line and you're down two and you're like, ah, and then just steal on the comeback. And then the rush of winning it. My boy, we walked in and they're down two nothing. It was, I want to say what, six minutes in, were they down two nothing? Yeah, it was quick. I was probably walking into the arena as they got their second. And my buddy goes, no worries.

I'm like, Jesus Christ, they're already done. He goes, no worries. He goes, it's going to be two to two at the end of the second period. In the third period, they're going to score with about seven minutes left. And then they're going to get the empty netter with a minute left. Well, what the hell happens is it's tied two, two after two. They score with about six minutes left instead of seven to go up three, two, and then miss the empty net.

So we're going nuts. And every single goal, the Bruins scored, I was lifting up my buddy's shirt and going, he was just showing his belly to everyone. And so we're going crazy. And then the final buzzer ends. Now, I didn't get the puck line bet, but granted, won a bunch of other ways. And the kid who called it Nostradamus, Okie, he's looking at me,

just the saddest eyes, just so upset. It was Okie Merles. Oh, Jesus. Because I only had him puck line. Oh, what a fucking idiot. What a fucking idiot. I always go double the money, money line and then half it on the puck line. Like guarantee yourself

something you scrub. Oh my God. Absolutely. Jesus. All right, Merle, as well. Thanks for joining us. Good luck with any wager and we'll be in touch, my friend. Yeah, thanks for having me on, boys. We'll see you in Boston in just a few days. A pleasure, buddy. Okay, Merle.

Quick note here. We do have a pair of guests coming. Merle's joined us for a little World Junior talk. We've got Boston Brew and Derek Forbert. We're going to talk about the Winter Classic coming up. And Eric Cole, Biz and Whit talked to him down in Carolina when they did the last sandbag, which we'll get to as well. But Biz, you just mentioned your TNT Wednesday. Panthers,

Devils. The Devils got off the schneid. They had lost six in a row. They finally beat the Panthers. But the end of the game, Matty Kachuk, he goes after Nico Hesia, who injured Florida captain Alexander Bakov. You know, I don't think it was deliberate. Some people thought it was. What did you think of that? Was it warranted?

What Kachuk did? Was it over the top? And where were the rest of the Devils when their captain was getting jumped? Okay, so first of all, awesome slate of games. That was probably the best regular season slate of games that I've ever had on tnt you had that game which you just mentioned that injury that uh the devils and panthers had played two games prior on the weekend and off of a face-off nico he's sure it it like it looked like he was just off balance and cross check towards that gap just above the knee pad and pant and he got Barkov now Barkov is normally like something like that wouldn't phase him he's

a fucking monster he's so durable rarely misses time it you could see right away he winces and he ends up leaving the game well the response the rest of that game was Florida going after he sure and finishing every hit that they could. New Jersey's not built like that. They have Miles Wood. Bastion, who's out of the lineup right now, is a guy who I think will chuck him, but overall, I think we can agree the team toughest in New Jersey

is not something that they're built for. They don't have somebody who's strictly responsibility is to protect the guys, much like a Wi-Fi, like a DeLorea, like a Ryan Reeves. So very disappointed to not see it that game. But, you know, maybe they're focused on trying to get the win. Florida ends up winning that one. And that's obviously why New Jersey continued this slide.

Then New Jersey ended up playing the night before this rubber match. They ended up losing 4-1 to carolina didn't come out playing hard but in this game between florida on wednesday night on tnt and new jersey extremely physical game in the first half i you know i was a little concerned with new jersey they were giving up a ton five on five right before puck drop we found out that they lost Marino, who was out due to injury. And then five minutes into the game, they lose Graves. So now all of a sudden they're down to 5-D.

I think they were out-chanced 10 high-danger scoring chances to three in the first period. But like I said, very impressed with the way that they responded physically with the taking hits to make plays and then giving hits. At the end of the game, when it was all said and done, they pulled out the victory. Yeah, I mean, obviously, Kachuk still has a bone to pick with Yishir. And I respect the fact that, you know, it sends the message

that any time moving forward, if you take a liberty on one of their players, they're going to respond in that way. But I think that you said it. It was unintentional. I don't think that that he should cross check to his knee was it's unfortunate that Barkov's out now guts. You went by New Jersey to get out of the slump. Wait,

I'll throw it over to you, Florida. It's fucking, I don't know what they are, man. I don't know what they are, but Brodsky, I'm not saying it's been his fault but

his numbers are brutal all they need to do based on the fact that they're scoring 3.4 goals a game get above average goaltending and they would have themselves in a playoff spot right now i think that they're missing playoffs that's my opinion i don't think they're going to be able to pass anybody who's ahead of them especially when they can't fucking win games like that. Yeah. It's just last year looks like, like such a fluke, right? I mean, it was, they were just crushing teams last year and granted, everything's changed. The whole makeup of their team's pretty much different. Right.

And you, you look at like Barkov's an amazing player and it's, it's, it's, it's very clear that when we have guys on who've played with him, that they're always like, this guy is so amazing. But, I mean, I don't think he's been at his best. And it's like, are you really going to be, like, blaming him for where they're at? No.

But offensively, I think sometimes you wonder why he, you know, this year he couldn't be at a point for a game pace similar to Kachuk. I mean, it's like, it's just a weird team to watch. And new coach comes in, the messages are completely different. I don't, I just, I don't even know watching them, what type of team they are, right? They just, they're so inconsistent that you never even understand what's happening there.

And we called this the beginning of the year. What's funny enough is though that, that month, that, excuse me, Uyghur and Huberto, they haven't even been great themselves in Calgary. So it's like right now it's just a confusing time for the Panthers, and I don't know if they'll make the playoffs. I don't know if, gee, if you can go back and look. Did I have them in?

I might have picked them to miss. I believe I'm the only one that had them to miss, but I will double check. I think I – oh, that's weird. I thought I had them to miss but i will double i think i oh that's weird i thought i had a missing two g you better go back and check the game notes but um but hey uh going going back to that game though uh yes for brat who hadn't scored in about five or six games and he dried up a bit offensively you know it's all about finding a way and grinding through one they had a power play goal and they were down 2-1 in that second period and it was looking grim they had that Kevin Ball in the lineup on defense and you know he spent quite a bit of time in the minors so they're down to like four NHL defensemen and

an AHL guy and they just mustered up Florida just couldn't take advantage and even in that even in that third period I talked about the amount of chances they got in the first. They had an opportunity to step on their throats. And after the game, from what I said on the broadcast, a couple of people tweeted me who are Florida fans. And they said, that's the way it's been this year. Where last year, it felt like not only did they have all those comeback wins last year, but when they did have the lead, they would step on teams' throats. Where it seems like with paul marie's

they tend to sit back a little bit so uh so definitely some frustrated fans man imagine going from fucking president's trophy to outer playoffs that is just that is just a a very tough situation of asset management in which you've been critical with already with uh with with zito well those fans have been through so much shit, right, for so long. And then finally last year comes, you're like, all right, it's all coming together. And you plan on a couple of years of really competing and going into the playoffs, like a possible contender to win the cup.

And all of a sudden you're like, what's going on right now? It's like, are we really going back to just being this average? I believe we compared it to this. You saw a team like Tampa Bay when they had that miraculous season and they won the president's trophy. Are we really going back to just being this average? I believe we compared it to this. You saw a team like Tampa Bay when they had that miraculous season and they won the President's Trophy, and then they get beat by Columbus in the first round. What was the one thing that they stressed in that offseason? They were going to remain patient.

They weren't going to hit the panic button. They were going to look internally, say, what can we change differently? And then they went with the exact same group pretty much moving forward and sure enough they go back to back cups i think it was such a panic button move and it's such a shame because i agree with you man everything was looking good and the fact that they they left and got off the hubi and wieger train and completely fucked up the chemistry of the team that could be a reason why barkob hasn't played up to his ability he's probably like holy fuck the turnover here is just insane man like these aren't the guys that i thought

i was going to go to battle with and i'm not saying they can't turn around they have had quite a few injuries like that lundell kid who had a big year last year apparently he's been pretty banged up um anthony duclair who who sustained that torn Achilles. I'm still not confident, especially with the fact that Washington's making a push as well. I'm not confident that they're going to make playoffs. They're going to need these guys to get healthy, and then they're going to have to hit the ground running in the second half of the

season, or they are fucked. Yeah, they're currently six points back of the second wildcard team. They do get a game in hand. They've yet to win more than two straight all season. And you guys mentioned the goalies collectively. The goalies 15, 15 and four, three, three, five goals against safe percentage. Just nine or one.

So, you know, I'm not getting it done. Not getting it done. Here's my only prediction is that I feel like we know what Bobo is going to give us. I always think like, hey, this is the year he gets back to his game. He gets back to his game. I mean, you look at his numbers right now, definitely not average. Knight got pulled December 6th against the Jets. Then he had an illness, and then his first game back against the Bees,

he got lit up for seven, and you knew they weren't pulling him after that because they had to get Bobo the rest. He's going to have to find his game and get a horseshoe up his ass, and they're going to have to ride him the whole way because his numbers aren't terrible, but right now he hasn't been the best, but he's got to be the guy that they look to to stand on his head in the second half if they can pull it off.

During the game, Biz, you got to the bottom of a big mystery. With Gato, does Jack Hughes slug down when he's chilling in the locker room between periods? the game biz you got to the bottom of a big mystery uh with with gato does jack who's uh slugged down when he's chilling in the locker room between uh periods yellow well lemon lime as it's as it's commonly known a lot of people were kind of disgusted with it i'm a huge fucking lemon lemon lemon lime fan of gatorade oh fuck all right take the marbles i don't do it all right i can't i'm struggling it's the og flavor it's the original flavor do you know where it got its name from biz uh gatorade i figured you don't this's the original flavor. Do you know where it got its name from, Biz? Gatorade? I figured you'd know this.

You're a big brand guy. Well, I know that it was created at the University of Florida, which they're... There you go. Okay, that's it. Yeah. All right, well, I'm ready for Jeopardy. Bring it on, Elon. Then the nightcap, we had a couple of MVP candidates going head-to-head.

Connor McDavid, Jason Robertson. Oilers beat them 6-3. But it was Yenmach. Nugent Hopkins basically stole the show, but still McDavid. He's in the midst of a 14-game point streak, tied for his third longest ever, still leading the league in scoring. Leon's second. What else did you see in that game, Biz?

Well, it was fun to see the stars come out. You know, that Robertson kid's been a stallion. And, you know, I think these guys pay attention to the to the airways wit to where they started comparing robertson and mcdavid so you know mcdavid wants to bring his best um he was pretty quiet in the first two periods though he had that big goal in the third ended up keeping that point streak going but i if i'm not mistaken the nugget is is there's only been now two players dry sidisaitl and McDavid, who have hit the 65-point mark before Christmastime since 95, 96,

and that was Yager and Lemieux. They did it. They had 65 points before Christmastime. So remarkable what these two guys are doing. They're the only reason that those guys are in a playoff spot right now. And it was a fun game it was you saw a little bit of everything some great goaltending in the first and the floodgates open and you know it's just it's just fun to see the the growth of uh robertson and i think we've we

talked about on the last couple couple podcasts and like what makes him so good it's just the it's kind of the total package the hockey iq um his passing ability how he's always scanning the ice uh we talked about how he works and develops his skills every summer and how he works with a skill coach um not the hardest of shots but uh i mean you could i mean i don't look at we compared tage tops until lemieux last week but lemieux i remember when you would go down and practice, he wouldn't have this like laser shot, but the way he would just float it top corner and the globally wouldn't even

move his glove. It was just something about the deceptiveness of how he would release the puck to where the goalie just wouldn't, wouldn't have the time to react. So he just seems to have all these little tools. And, and of course some great line mates as well with with Pavelski who just played his 1200 game. So did Jeff Carter, all these guys from around that draft, man, it's crazy. 1200 fucking hockey games. And then Rupe Hintz who had had a goal in that one,

who's just been an absolute horse and deserved that extension. So it's I don't, we, we talked about it and some Oilers fans were pissed off, but Buddy, going back to the offside goal being taken back and maybe sometimes seeing some of Connor McDavid's frustration, I don't think that he, I think there's a strong possibility he doesn't finish that contract in Edmonton. And they would be dumb not to get every ounce of asset they can

because I think that those two guys are just – Where's this coming from? Well, we talked about it on the panel. Really? Yeah. So I just like – I'm like, yeah, like obviously they won the game and, you know, all is well in Euler land as of late. But it's just – buddy, these guys have and are doing as much as what they're doing.

And they're just in a wild card spot. It's just, you got to think that if they're not able to get to where they did last year, they have to strongly consider what they can get in return for these guys. They should go to Connor and say, are you, are you considering resigning here? And if not try to get as big a return as possible, because you got to think at some point with living in Edmonton and being in those surroundings, my understanding is that Connor has a house in California and he escapes the

California quite a bit just to kind of get away from all the noise. That's at least what I think. I think Talkett mentioned that. And he was one of the ones where I, you know, he played with Wayne. He played with him in LA. So he's been in seeing some of that situation and talk to a guy who's been through it. And I don't know. I just don't see it as a possibility.

I'm not trying to shit your cornflakes because I know you're a big Oilers fan, but it might be the end of the road for you guys. I'm with dog. If you end up having to trade McDavid, like the Oilers might as well move like that. I find it hard to believe. I guess if he went to them and said that, I mean,

I've never even really thought of this. Well, I have prior, I guess last year kind of made everyone think, all right, well, that was a step. So I guess you're right.

If they, if they don't end up maybe going back there or at least making a, to the second round, maybe he does have enough. I mean, geez, Oilers fans are having a great day. It's the Christmas season ruining their life. You're putting coal all over their faces. You're just rubbing their you're rubbing their face in the dirt. Another thing, too, is is is the one team that you could think of, especially with Dowdy and Kopitar coming off the book soon. And I could see a guy like Kopitar wanting to stay there and signing a team-friendly Bergeron-type deal.

And who has young, unbelievable assets and draft picks available? Think of how many young studs the LA Kings have that they could part ways with as well as draft picks. They derzy they got byfield they got more they got uh who's the they got turcotte kaliev kaliev that's the other guy i was thinking of like they got they got guys that they could send back the other way and it shouldn't it shouldn't be a panic type situation because well it should be if you fucking get rid of them for nothing but going back to last podcast there was a guy who was involved in one of those types of trades where colorado doesn't win the cup if they don't get

the return they got for from uh from that lindros trade like think of the assets that they picked up so you look in one thing like oh my god you're losing the best player on the planet but if you orchestrate an unbelievable trade you could set yourself up for sustained excellence for many years to come and not something that they can say they've proven that they can have under the tenure of with connor mcdavid and dry saddle not to their own wrongdoing what would it would right side i'll be staying there in this scenario no he ain't fucking sticking around either you crazy but think about the return you get for those two guys you could basically create a fucking better team than they have right now well how about that fucking skill level man

really like you it's like you're trading 10 cents on the dollar for these guys all right well i don't know who knows how that ends up going down but But actually, the kid in Dallas that I watched watching that game, that Wyatt Johnson, he'd be on the Canadian World Junior team if he wasn't lighting up the show. So it's amazing to see some of these kids hop in and be this good. I know it's been happening for a long time, but kids scored a rocket goal. I think coming down the right wing, I remember he went shelf the other night.

So Dallas is a nice team to watch, man. I think they could go on a run. I think they have everything there to maybe win a Stanley Cup. And it kind of comes out of nowhere. Nobody knew what to expect going into this season. That Wyatt kid, is it Johnson, his last name? Yeah. So he only played seven games in his NHL draft-valuable season.

And you talk about Dallas and the job they've done scouting they they've they've saved their team by their drafting and developing we go back to Ottinger Haskinen and Robertson all being part of that same 2017 draft that'll change things around so this kid played seven games in his draft year and they had a gut instinct on him and they took him. And he was a mid to late first rounder. And this year he had such a good camp that they said, hey, he's got to stick around. He's got nine goals on the year now. So just another another big move by the by the scouts for the Dallas Stars to continually revamp that lineup.

Oh, maybe he wouldn't be able to play world juniors. Then I, I might be incorrect on that. I thought he had just been drafted last. No, I think that you are right with, but I think that he's too valuable to their lineup right now and they wanted him sticking around. So he's got an ongoing, I'm pretty sure he's still 19 years old, isn't he? Yeah, he is.

Okay. Yeah, he is still 19. So, yeah, I mean, Jesus. Yeah, Dallas, you're right, Piz. That's a good point because when the Ben and the Sagan contracts started not looking great, and granted, those guys have played nice this year, you wondered what was going to go on in Dallas. And because of the drafting and not having to pay these guys a ton quite yet,

they're able to stay competitive. Ottinger being probably one of the bigger pieces in terms of goaltending young talent around the league. They're still in first place, too, Dallas. Jets only a point back with two games in hand. That should be a good race for that division because you are giving so much triggers to Oilers fans, man. The idea that they would trade another player to the LA Kings,

like a franchise guy, you're going to set that town off. But you don't sound crazy when you lay out the math. I mean,david he's got three more years left after this 12.5 million uh dry said i was only got two more after this year 8.5 million so i don't know man i would bet i'd be shitting my pants uh i would bet 25 grand they don't make it to the western conference finals and take a step back this year that's how confident i am they're not so so with a regression season and one more season off of his contract burn you know how how many how many you got left with him buddy if i'm telling you what he dry saddle going into that last year buddy if they don't fucking win nothing i don't think he's coming back hey if they if they and if he ain't

coming back mcdavid ain't coming back if they don't make the Western Conference final, I have to pay you three grand. But if they do, you pay me 25 grand. That is fucking, is that a fair bet? All right, help me out here. I don't even know what's going on. I think he's yanking a chain here. Fuck you, Whit, you fucking loser.

All right, come on. I would have split it with you. I would have had him saying yes in the next three minutes. I would have split it with you. He would, I would have had him saying yes. In the next three minutes. I still, you are good. You are good at putting pressure on, on friends to make bets. You put, what do you call peer pressure, peer pressure. You make it enough where like they, they, I don't even know how to describe what I'm trying to say right now,

but with you, it's so easy. Cause I put your mind in a pretzel. Cause I put your mind in a pretzel. Yeah. Yeah, you did. Shane McDavid's going to get traded this deadline. Not this deadline. Fuck off. Oh, shit.

All right, we did mention the Winter Classic a little while ago. We're going to bring on Derek Forbert in a minute. We did say also, Kirk Manahan is going to be hosting the live show, but we are going to be at Game On, correct, Mike, at 12 o'clock before the game starts at 2? Yes, sir, that is correct. The Pink Whitney and Big Deals will be flowing. Nice. So come by our preview show. One more thing, though, Mike, at 12 o'clock before the game starts at 2? Yes, sir. That is correct. The Pink Whitney and Big Deals will be flowing. Nice. So come by our

pregame show. One more thing we have to mention. Ryan Nugent Hopkins, I know he only had 11 goals last year. This is the kid that keeps on giving, man. He's been an oiler for life, and I think there was rumors that he might be the guy that they have to part ways with

before he ended up signing that deal. But what a season he's having man coming through in the clutch the other night too so he's such a good guy I used to train with him and his brother just just really happy for the kid in the season he's having especially in the absence of Kane right now he's really stepped it up for them I think he's what was he got 18 goals, seven more than he had all of last season. Not a big deal. Edmonton, with those two guys, when Kane comes back, if they get goaltending, can beat anyone. I think you're crazy.

Two guys that good can carry a team. And the surrounding cast is, like you're saying, Nugent Hopkins, Hyman, Kane. If they get goaltending, I mean, Colorado doesn't look amazing right now. They could beat anyone. It's a crazy league. And with those two guys, they could win the Stanley Cup this year. It sounds crazy, but they could.

You sound crazier than I do. All right, what's the next subject? What do we got going here? Hey, real quick, Biz, I just want to, at 350, at the 350 mark on episode 410, you said that you had the Florida Panthers ranked third in the Atlantic. That was the preview heading into the season.

So you did have them making the playoffs. I don't remember that. Yeah, of course, you've deleted that one from the old memory bank. All right, yeah. Went to Classic. They announced the entertainment, which he was going to be singing the national anthem,

Bell Biv DeVoe. I did not. Roxbury's own Bell Biv DeVoe, formerly a new addition was going to be singing the national anthem bell biv devoe did not roxbury's own bell biv devoe formally a new addition they're going to be singing the national anthem with the boston pups and the conductor keith lockhart pretty cool shit for the local guys and also the black keys are going to be providing entertainment during the game i'm not too nice with them yeah i'm not i mean i'm fucking old school stuff so i've seen them live in concert a couple times they for a two-manman band, they rock the show, man. They rock it. Yeah, I definitely want to make sure we're inside for the anthem. Got to check out the local

guys. Dude, imagine we were in Chicago at Notre Dame four years ago when the Bruins played out there with the birth of Puckline. Jesus, imagine that was four fucking years ago. I can't do it. Wild, man. It's crazy. Flown by. Flown by. That was a cool setting for a game. Our tailgate was weak. I don't know if you guys remember that.

Yeah. But it was a cool. Fenway will be way better, though. The football stadiums are, it's nice to be at the game, but you're a little closer with baseball. The one at Foxborough was awful. Not just awful. The game stuck.

It was the lowest rated one. It was like going to Foxborough is a fucking chore and a half. The one in Minnesota last year in the baseball stadium was fantastic. That was sick. They had a great rink set up behind. Remember with the kind of outdoor vibe? That was awesome. That was good shit. What do you say, boys? We'll send it over to Derek Fulbert.

Now we'll talk a little more about the classic. Oh, yeah. Barely. He doesn't even know what time the fucking game is. He doesn't even know what city he lives in, I don't think. He's the guy who shows up to the rink with two different socks on. Either way, enjoy our chat with him. Before we go any further, we want to talk to you for a moment about our Barstool merch.

Grinnelli, you've done an outstanding job getting all this stuff out there. We got the Spittin' Chicklets gear, the Big Deal Bruins stuff, Pink Whitney stuff, the Rollback stuff. What's been your favorite thing we dropped so far this year, Gene? R.A., you actually just mentioned the Rollback, the Rollback hoodies that we have, and they are so comfortable. They're light. You can wear them basically whenever. So the rowback hoodies are my favorite. These independent co big deal, big deal brewing hoodies are awesome as well. We have the pink Whitney winter cap. So we have so much stuff. Also the Watson gloves, winter gloves. I love those. I wear those every

single day. The UNRL sweatshirts. I mean, I think everything is just is our merchandise. It's just awesome right now. So you can head on over to BarstoolSports.com slash chiclets or store.BarstoolSports.com and check out the whole collection. Absolutely. I'm a big hoodie hat guy and especially sweatpants. So go there.

Get all your spitting chiclets merch once again at store.BarstoolSports.com. Enjoy. It's a pleasure to welcome our next guest to the show, a first-round pick by L.A. at the 2010 draft. This defenseman spent his first eight seasons with the Kings, winning a Calder Cup in 2015. After pit stops in Calgary and Winnipeg, he signed a three-year deal with Boston, where he's become one of the league's best penalty killers. And on Sunday, he'll be playing inyear deal with Boston, where he's become one of the league's best penalty killers. And on Sunday, he'll be playing in his first outdoor game at Fenway Park.

Thanks a bunch for joining us on the Spitting Chicklets podcast. Derek Forbert, how's it going, buddy? Going good. Thanks for having me. Even though in business text, he was like, he's like, Taylor Hall hasn't responded. Can we get you? I was like, yeah. Just shrivels you.

Hey, we're looking for a fill-in. He's like, Hal all he hasn't responded but do you mind coming on for a little winter classic preview you're like you could have left that part open yeah it makes me feel somewhat wanted forbes i'm all about transparency buddy you know me man i'm all about transparency you had my back when the whole city of vancouver was in my instagram comments section too so it's like uh i gotta get on my face oh yeah what did you do to deserve that who did you light up no I was just like kind of like uh face washing that uh little hoaglander kid and then the whole city of Vancouver came after me oh yeah buddy it's it's it's every other week for us us criticizing them man they're they're uh they're they're fit for straight jackets I mean they almost burnt their city down when they fucking lost the bruins in the stanley cup finals dude that city's nuts

did you did anyone ever tell you guys about uh fake paso girl no no so like you know in vancouver you walk back to the hotel after from the rank there was like this girl out there like dribbling a soccer ball and all like the boys were walking back and all of a sudden she just face plants and we're like oh shit you're right trevor lewis like runs and like gets her a gatorade and all like the boys were walking back and all of a sudden she just face plants and we're like oh shit you're right trevor lewis like runs and like gets her a gatorade and all this shit and the uh the ladies at the meal like hear us talking about this and they're like the montreal canadians were telling the same story last week like the other teams that were in the canadian division and they're like yeah she was out same thing, dribbling a soccer ball.

Boom, face plants. Like, that's dedicated to your craft in order to just get some interaction with NHL players. I know, dude. It was fucking hilarious. Like, yes, we call her fake Passover girl. Did she try to hit you up for money? Hit people up for money or just Gatorade? No, she was just like, so, like, we were, like, going to, like, call an ambulance. She's like, no, no, no, you don't you up for money, hit people up for money or just Gatorade? No, she was just like, so like we were like,

you know, like calling the ambulance. She's like, no, no, no, you don't do that. Like I'm just dehydrated.

She's not a psychopath. Like Jack Hughes and drinks yellow Gatorade. She didn't request the yellow. Did she? What if she's severely uncoordinated though? Yeah. I got her tickets next time. Did you?

No. Oh shit. All right. So Derek, we were talking beforehand. You've actually were a health bond for two outdoor games already, shit. All right, so Derek, we were talking beforehand. You actually were a health bomb for two outdoor games already, both with the Kings, right? Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, Ari.

You did, actually. So you must be obviously pretty fired up to finally get one under your belt, assuming Monty doesn't fucking do it a third time. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Talk about the ultimate mush right there. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

But like I say, he's one of the team's best penalty killers. What do you think of the meth beer jersey compared to the poo jersey? What jersey? The meth beer that you guys are wearing, the kind of crazy beer that used to be on the shoulder in the 70s. The one that snorted coke before they put it on the other. Is it known that he's the meth bear, R.A.? Like, Forbert was supposed to know he's the meth bear?

I mean, yeah, pretty much. I'd say people know meth bear as much as poo beer, like the other one, the pussy beer. I think R.A.'s right here. I think it's the meth bear. I mean, yeah, it's pretty much, I'd say, people know meth bear as much as poo bear, like the other one, the pussy bear. I think R.A.'s right here. I think it's the meth bear. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Well, I love him. I haven't even seen it yet. Forbes, fuck off. You haven't seen the third jersey or the one for the

Winter Classic? No. John, have you been Hey, Biz, is this like a guy, just, does he not have a cell phone? He just lives in his own world. Forbes is always a bit out to lunch, but fuck did he bring a lot of morale to the, to the dressing room? Like, and I'll tell you what, pretty good smooth talker with the ladies. There weren't many females in Manchester,

but somehow this guy would always be chatting to like the one single girl that was available. I don't know if you had, you were like paying for the premium hinge or something where like you would connect first, but it would connect to, to Lowell. Yeah. Tinder plus.

So wait, so you guys, when did you play together? Bids in, in match match 2015, when we won the Calder cup, not a big deal. So biz got to match and it was like the first episode of Schitt's Creek

where he was like, where am I? He was like trying to find the W Hotel for like rooftop pool parties. Where's the club? Where's the club at? He was so confused on the ones at the W Hotel. I would say that probably

two weeks after I'd gotten there was a place called Mantra Vegas, the club. Yeah. Somebody got murked at that place. Yeah. Somebody got murked in there and they're like, ah, that was like the only club that we could go in town. Yeah. That place was hilarious. Pretty fun though. Pretty crazy how your career has progressed, man. I mean,

obviously going up to LA, getting to play in two Canadian cities, I always knew you would make it and already touched on it like you were not afraid to block shots and do the little things as a defenseman yeah i think it just kind of took me a while to kind of like figure out what my role was going to be and you know i was a first round pick and then um you realize you're not that good offensively anymore and you just kind of got to adapt and do whatever you can to stick around i want to i want to touch on that, though. That was like me. Like I would put up a couple points in junior, and then you get to pro, and all these guys were doing that,

and you kind of feel like a peasant with your skill set, and you kind of get brushed to the side. But it's good that you figured it out because you weren't very good offensively. I don't. Still not. We can't gloss over that call to the cup run with Biz. Like what kind of antics did he pull during that run? You just mentioned a naked hot stoves or whatever.

You got to fill us in on this stuff. Helicopter cock on a regular basis. Yeah. I remember there was like a game where biz wasn't playing. He would still be like naked with the fellows in the room after the game. Like he'd still be showering with the boys. Um, I didn't think what else we'd be doing.

I remember doing like three on two drills and like, you know, like the forwards are like supposed to make a play biz. We just like hard rim i remember doing like three on two drills and like you know like forwards are like supposed to make a play biz would just like hard rim the puck on three on two drills and just get it on the poor check that's that's a fact the center's like make a play rimming it around the boards it ends up it ends up breaking out the other end remember when studs would uh studs is our coach and Biz took practice very seriously. He would get a little too worked up sometimes. Stutz would make Biz go sit in the penalty box for two minutes in the middle of practice just to calm down a little bit.

That was my time to shine. That's what I did as an NHLer. Probably why I stuck around so long was because I would come to practice every day. I'd be calling the hardest you've ever heard anybody call for a pass. It would be like, what's the Merrill Garand drill? You're giving the beaver tap for just simple passing drills. It's a nice way of saying you were the biggest hard-o of all time in practice, Biz.

I remember it, too. No, but you had to. That's what you were good at. But I was like, Jesus, take it easy on the breakout drill biz yeah three on two girls in the d-man's going back to get a hard rim from biz nobody hey nobody gives a shit about my shitty practice habits forums we got to hear about this boston bruin team man you guys have been fucking buzzing this year i'm really happy that you found a role with the team, but this has to be the funnest talk he's ever been for you. Oh, yeah.

We've got such a great group of dudes, and Monty's been awesome. He's such a positive dude. We'll get down 2-0, and he's like, we're coming back. No worries. It's just been awesome. With Bergie and Marshy leading the way, it's just great. What else makes Monty

such a great coach? Obviously, he had a little hiccup in his career. He came here, he's been lights out, probably going to run away with the Jack Adams. What makes him such a great coach that he can relate to, you know, all the guys and so many young kids? Just like the way he explains like what he wants. He's just like, he's so clear and kind of like articulate with it. And he just makes everything really kind of easy to understand.

It's a fun system too. Like he wants the D jumping up. He wants the D kind of close to understand. It's a fun system, too. He wants the D jumping up. He wants the D kind of close to the net for rebounds and shit like that. It's fun, and everyone just kind of knows what we have to do, and everyone's on the same page. What about the willingness for Montgomery to let guys try plays? I feel like up front, like I was at the game last night, it looks like Frederick is better offensively.

Are the lower third and fourth line forwards given a chance to maybe try to create more than last year? Yeah, like, Monty doesn't want, like, you know how, like, coaches would always be like, yeah, like, put pucks on net. Like, he doesn't really want that when there's, like, no one in front of the net. He's like, that's pointless. Like, that's not going to go in.

Like, so he wants guys kind of pulling up, making plays, you know, looking for the delay, like, stuff like that. So he's pretty kind of pulling up, making plays, you know, looking for the delay, like stuff like that. So he's pretty innovative with his coaching style and like the systems. What about that? We're talking about the leadership, Derek. I mean, have you ever had this kind of leadership in a room before Bergeron, Foligno, Crecce, that whole group? Yeah, he had me in Manchester.

We already talked about this. Bergeron can't be doing helicopter cock as good as me, Forbes. No, but if we have a team go night, him and Marsh are still kind of leading the charge. It's mandatory that the whole squad's there. So I've never seen that, and it's awesome. Oh, Bergeron doesn't do the Mangina

every third day? We're down 2-0, boys. Fuck what Monty said said look at this who does it like this look at how tight that clint looks is you did it you did have the best helicopter i've ever seen i would get i would get air i would levitate uh forbes so i'm gonna stick with the non-hockey questions moving forward why is everybody obsessed with your dog? I feel like everybody, every fan is talking about your dog on Twitter and social media.

I don't know. Like it's kind of gotten out of control to be honest with you. Like, like literally yesterday I was walking Darla before the game. And some dude comes up to me. He's like, Hey, like my girlfriend loves Darla. Like, can I get a picture with your dog? And I'm like, I'm holding the phone, taking a picture of some random dude and my dog. Like, people have jerseys. People have 2-8 jerseys with Darla on the back.

Like, it's getting nuts. Getting health bomb for two outdoor games is one thing, but to have your dog's name on your jersey. You're eating the blocked shots and she's eating the treats. Yeah, especially, like, in the North End. Like, you see, like, the same people around, like, all the time. So she's turned into, like, a bit of a celebrity there. Okay, so I don't know if you're single these days, Forbes,

but Darla can't be hurting with the potential date matchups. Yeah, I mean, you know, in theory, that's good, but like, you know, next thing you know, you're dating someone from the dog park, and then you break up with someone from the dog park, and then none of the dogs play with your dog at the dog park. Yeah, it was good, though. Yeah, it's good.

Oh, God. A fifth-floor walk-up, don't you have to take her up and down five flights of stairs a few times a day? Oh, you heard about about my elevator situation, R.A.? Oh, is it fixed? No, it's not. I need you guys to blast this property management lady. She won't fix my elevator, so I'm carrying her. R.A. will get her whacked.

We're done with the interview. Give him the name, and R.A. will call one of his uncles up. She's about to get knee-wagged. Her grandpa owns the building. She's the property manager. Of course, I looked up how to use nepotism in a sentence and I threw that at her. She won't even respond to me anymore. What floor are you on? I'm on the top.

I had a leak in my roof. It was perfectly on my bed. Just a perfect circle of water. She won't text me back about that. My elevator's broken. Oh, what is the name of this lady? We can have Bruins fans storming the gates of her office to get your bed fixed. I'm in World War III right now, but whatever.

When you go to the room, do you tell the boys about this situation? Are they well aware of what you're – Oh, yeah. Everyone knows about my – Dude, I almost missed a game last year when the elevator broke. The fire department had to come get me out. I was 30 minutes late for the game. Like, not for puck drop, but you were there like one and a half hours

before puck drop? Yeah. I thank God I have myself when I call a coach. coach i was like hey like i'm stuck in the elevator right now do you get the sense have you thought about maybe moving out like you're in the nhl this has to be this is this is like manch vegas again i don't but like i got the dog park right across the street from my place um it's a great apartment besides that. It's just like if I had to work at the elevator, it's working great. You never answered if you have a girlfriend or not.

No, I don't right now. Wow. Okay. Most eligible bachelor on the Boston Bruins, would you say? Yeah, that's what my Instagram bio says. You have not changed one bit, Florence. We got to talk about this outdoor game, though're you got to be so fired up yeah it'll be sweet um i'm pumped to like just like see what like like below fenway like looks like like the clubhouse and all that stuff and um yeah got

a bunch of family coming out for it so it'll be fun will you guys just skate one time over there before do you know the schedule yet can be yeah you guys just skate one time over there before? Do you know the schedule yet? Can biz skate with you guys? Well, there's like a, yeah, we've got like practice and then there's like a family skate too.

So I guess just those. It doesn't really seem like, you know, much of what's going on. Should we just ask you about this, about your, your, your everyday life?

It seems like you got a lot more interesting shit going on with that. I, yeah. I mean, I just like to live day by day. So I'm not not really i haven't really checked the schedule on the winter classic too much who has became your best friend on the team would you say oh because there's a lot of good dudes um i love deborah he's like one of like my favorite dudes ever he's uh he'll love this he's his girlfriend's in med school so he's like he's like i think he's a

little insecure about it so he's trying to learn a new word every day just to like get his vocab up he knows he knows he's outmatched up and he's like damn i gotta get a new word a day say it's funny you mentioned that i think a couple like about 18 months ago i started a new word every podcast i would come on and describe the word. I think I lasted two pods. Yeah, it's tough. We had him on a few years ago. He is a character, but back to Fenway, are you a big baseball fan?

Do you get over there during the summer at all or during baseball season? I went to a game in the spring and then last fall went to a couple of playoff games back when they were in the playoffs. So yeah, I love watching baseball, especially at Fenway. It's like, it's so much cooler there than, so yeah, I, I love watching baseball, especially at Fenway. It's like,

it's so much cooler there than you know, the park back in Minnesota. So you're going to be thrown on the eye black underneath. Might have to just, I don't even know what time the game's at, but if the sun's out. Jesus Christ Forbes. He's going to be a game on like an hour before with us. Hey, you don't know anything about the hockey side, but I'll tell you what, we can name every player

in that locker room and you'd be able to tell us a funny little story like you did about the Bruss. Like, what is it about March? Besides not texting Biz back? No, Halsey's good. Halsey's good. He got married this summer. What a quitter.

But no, I'm just kidding. We have such a great group of dudes. It's so fun going to the rink every day. Everyone just makes fun of each other, and we just have fun. When you signed here, Doug, what was the clutch you find? What was the last thing that said, okay, this is why I'm going to come to Boston, outside of the three sheets a year? I always loved the city.

When we played up in Manchester, we would go down into Boston all the time, and I always loved it. I don't know. It's just such a good sports town. Like people are nuts about the bees and just thought that would be kind of fun to play for. I like living in the North end. You got to like keep from temptation because there's so many good restaurants and bakeries and shit over there.

Yeah. Like trying to walk a dog in the North end is tough. Like there's food on the ground everywhere. Literally last week I was pulling money out of the ATM. I looked back, and Darla was munching on a buffalo wing. Yeah, you might be getting free food because of Darla soon enough, though. Yeah, the restaurants are awesome. It's all kind of locally owned, kind of small business stuff,

and it's a lot of fun. You're from Duluth, Minnesota, but you ended up going to North Dakota? Yep. I mean, I guess, was Minnesota Duluth already really good? When I was North Dakota yeah why why it was I mean I guess was Minnesota Duluth already really good when I was in school they weren't very good um no I don't know if it switched when you were got there um they were like kind of just starting to get good um that was kind of they won the national championship my freshman year uh so that hurt a little bit you had the option to go to your hometown team said

no they want it all in your face i know like going to college and like my hometown just didn't seem like the uh the smartest move at that time you'd already burnt too many bridges you're like i gotta get the fuck out of here yeah i'm going to a new state see you guys never go home no who hey who who's your partner been most of the year? Clifton. Okay. Cliffy Hawkey. Yeah, he's awesome.

He just murders guys out there, and then he gets breakaways too. The penalty, I mentioned it in the intro, you're one of the top penalty-killing guys in the league. Where did that all come about? Was that more from Monty putting you in the position? I don't think you were doing it so much last year. What changed there where you got so good at it? I mean, I was killing a lot last year. I don't know.

I think it was just the coaches I had growing up. I remember we had this coach in Bantams who would just shoot pucks at us, like shot blocking drills, stuff like that. And then when I got to L.A. with John Stevens and Matt Green, we would literally do drills after practice where we would work on blocking shots with the rubber pucks. I don't't know you just kind of get good at it and um you know when you're not really contributing too much offensively you got to help the boys out in some way love that answer uh lindholm this year i like last night i was watching him

against the jets he's so he's so good and i didn't really understand i guess i didn't see enough of anaheim play but are you of surprised, or did you know from playing out west against him that he was this good? Yeah, so we played Anaheim quite a bit when I was in L.A., so you kind of got to see him. He's gotten way more of a power play role here, I think, than maybe he had in Anaheim, and he's just been so good, makes such good plays in the puck.

He's just as strong defensively. So I think him and McAvoy are two of the better two-way D-men in the league, for sure. Do any of the guys ask Pasta when he's going to sign? No. I might start getting on him, though.

I was just going to say, you seem like the perfect guy to be like, hey, Pasta, we're all wondering here. Yeah, come on, Dave. Just sign that thing up uh what's your go-to spot in the north end for eating uh aria is probably like my favorite uh italian joint monica's good daily catch is like if you don't really want to have too much pasta uh those are kind of my main three dino's best steak and cheese in the city man right at the corner of saleman prince if you're looking for a good cheese i literally live right up the street

from that i walk by it every day. Yeah. Definitely good stuff there. Well, Derek, thanks so much for joining us. Just a heads up. The game is a, is a two o'clock. Just each one to get there in time. Don't want to get stuck in the elevator. Any other final questions, boys, before we let them go? No, we appreciate having you on dude. Maybe, maybe you can come to our live show if you're, if you're down January 1st, 7 PM.

Yeah. It's only, it's only a 40, $45 tickets and you know, you're making 3 million now, 7pm. Yeah, it's only a $45 tickets and you're making $3 million now, so I'm sure you can afford to get it. But he lives in a building without an elevator, Biz. I'll leave you a couple COD cash on demand, buddy. Where's it at? Wilbur Dan over by the Wang Center.

Maybe I'll see you there. I think if you brought out Darla, it would be a big, fucking big, big night for us. She does thrive in situations like that. You're the man, buddy. All right. See you guys. See you, D.

Thanks for coming on. Go Monarchs! Big thanks to Forbes for jumping on with us. What a character biz. He must have been a hilarious player back in the day. I know we talked about it a bit, but a little dry sense of humor gets his digs in there. Pretty funny character.

I could have legit asked him about every single player on the team and what was funny about them. I was hoping that we were going to go through the list, but we'll save it for next time. Hilarious in the locker room. Great morale guy. On the hockey stuff, though, probably the shortest answers we've ever gotten on the podcast. It's like he doesn't even care about hockey but he's unbelievable at it so uh shout out to shout out the forbes man uh meanwhile business abas you talked about them and tage thompson briefly on the show last week

but they're basically like the undertaker gift this season of saviors right back in it uh six points back with three games in hand uh they swept a three-game road trip one four in a row outscoring the opposition 18 to six uh the goalie upl the uco pekka lukkanen and craig anderson the way they've been playing man i think that locker room believes that they can absolutely get into the playoffs uh they head into christmas break feeling good about themselves you got tage in the mvp conversation the highest score non-oiler in the league uh only two defensemen have more points than rasmus dalene right now collison and morrissey and the rookie contributions they've gotten from JJ Paterka, Jack Quinn, Owen Power.

This team is fucking firing on all cylinders, but do they get into the playoffs? I still think they missed out of playoffs, but I mean, they have $17 million in cap space right now. Obviously, I don't see now is the time to go out. McDavid to Buffalo. Hater. Hater. Oh, fuck. You threw me off. All right. obviously i don't see now is the time to go out david the buffalo hater oh fuck you threw me off all right hey i'd love to see it at least you'd go to a winning

environment uh but uh no but they got 17 million dollars in cap space i don't think that they do anything drastic and and because we always talk about trying to create a team where you have sustained relevance for like five six you know seven years and I think that they're well on their way to doing that I think that they're probably going to stay put and keep in mind they're out with the own power twisted his foot or ankle so he hasn't been playing lately either once they get him back in the lineup that's a big boost but which you see them doing anything to acquire anyone you you mentioned the goaltending ra if i were them i would make a stab for vomelka with the coyotes he's got two years left after this i want to say it two and a half

or 2.75 million he's the he's one of the best goalies in the league, not record-wise, but most high-danger scoring chance saves out of anybody. He just passed Allmark. And I want to say, who was the other guy that he passed the other night for high-danger scoring chance saves? Anyway, I'm drawing a blank on that. But they're going to have to solidify goaltending for the future. And I think that that would be a good guy to go get because i i would imagine that the coyotes would be willing to part ways with them because fuck one

thing he's making too many saves where he's getting them too many wins where we're trying to get a shitty we're trying to get shit so we can get a better draft pick but then they would also have to go and bolster the back end the only the only issue they only issues they're having is keeping the puck out of the net and their, their defense. They're the highest scoring team in the league right now. So if they do want to make playoffs this year, they're going to have to go address those two situations and they can, but from an organizational standpoint,

I don't know if you want to take that stab quite yet. We talk about all these teams who rushed the rebuild and sometimes they get a little bit overzealous. If you're the Buffalo Sabres, you are sitting pretty. You are sitting pretty. Don't get too anxious. What do you think? I love their team. I said it before the year when we talked to Oposo

and got to be around the fans there and just watching the struggle. I already at the beginning of the year mentioned I was buying in. I was a Buffalo Sabres fan. They're awesome to watch. I think I mentioned last episode, the fans are so fired up because they're finally enjoying watching their team play. They're down 3-0.

Well, they're not really out of it. They have this, like, best bargain in the league, Tate Thompson just dominating, becoming a huge storyline in the show. And the guy that I kind of want to give a little shine to is Jeff Skinner. If you remember, man, that guy signed, I think, an eight year, 72 million dollar deal. And then the first year into the deal, I think he he had like 20 points or something.

He was horrible and kind of a guy that was that was really like not a running joke by any means that people are like, oh, my God, this guy lost his game. He made, he's making $9 million for eight more years. And he's been sick. I think he's on like a 90 point pace. And I mean, I guess I felt bad for him for a little while. I guess as bad as you could feel for somebody who signed over a hundred

million dollars worth of contract money in the national hockey league. He had that six year deal with Carolina for around 30. So he's a guy that's just kind of bounced back the last two years that you're happy for. And then Alex Tuck was such a big trade. Just him getting there and how good he's looked. I mean, Thompson's one of the best shooters in the league, but like Tuck's not far behind him.

This one-timer, he'll pick corners flying down the wing. So like, they're just very exciting to watch. I could see them sneaking in, dude. I don't think... Come the last 20 games of the year, I think they're right there. I don't know if they'll get it done, but they're tough to play against, and they play fast, and the

fans love it, that building. Unfortunately, I think they had two games moved, right? I mean, Buffalo fans, they can't even go to the home games right now. The Bills game got moved. It's been a... Do you think that they make a deal at the deadline to better their team? Oh, is that what you asked me originally? I paused. Well, no, no, it's fine.

Giving them a double risk to stroke off on the last day or anything either. They look at what's out there, but I don't think they're in a huge rush. I mean, they do have a bunch of young guys if they wanted to go out and get a stud, but it's almost maybe a little bit too early. You don't want to rush something like that. You wanted to go out and get a stud, but it's almost maybe a little bit too early. You know, you don't want to rush something like that.

You want to go out and get somebody when you think you could actually win a Stanley Cup. I don't know if they're actually picking that. I talked about goaltending, and there was a kid that you kept mentioning. I want to say that they got him in a trade. With Florida, Levi. He's at Northeastern. Right. So some Sabres fans are going to say, why would you make a trade to get a goalie in the future

when you got this guy in the pipeline? It's like, well, hey, there are no guarantees here. This guy had a great training camp. He's lightened it up this year. He's lightened it up to the point where he might be a Holy Baker finalist this year, no? Possibly. Correct.

He's the best goalie in college hockey. And the kid at BU is good, too. But, Biz, I actually disagree. Like, I kind of am with the fans. Like, if we think this kid has a chance to be that good, let's at least give him a year or two pro. Because what if you end up trading or doing something like getting a Bobrovsky, then you have Spencer Knight.

It's like, why did we do that? No. Well, so the reason I said Vemelka specifically is because he has two more years at 2.75. So you got a guy, you got a very competent goalie, and not saying the guys there haven't done a good job, but you have to have a guy who you think you can hand over a starting position to. Craig Anderson's not the answer for the future. So if you think you have a stab at playoffs this year,

why not go get a guy where you got him two more years under contract at a fair value, not go get a guy where you got him two more years under contract at a fair value give up something where it's like I don't know what what it would take to end up getting them over I would imagine a second rounder or a couple second rounders might not be enough coyotes might want a first round pick in that case you might not do it but it's just I think that they need to address goal pending right now if they want to have any type of success in the next couple of years, mainly this year and making playoffs to where they're going to have to lean on somebody. And they don't have the back is a season squander just yet. I would like to see them make a very interesting, crafty move, not just for this year, but for years to come. Like kind of like how when Tampa would make those trades at the deadline, well, they got Coleman for the extra year.

So it wasn't just a gamble on the year at hand. They got, who's the kid they got now? They got from Chicago last year. Hagel. There's another guy on a fair deal, which can contribute. And you're not just trading them for the right right now. So I hope they make it. Yeah, 17 mil.

I mean, they don't have to get a Norris caliber, but I think they might go get a veteran defenseman just to show up the back. And like you said, they're leading in goal scoring, but they're also fucking 20th and giving goals up. So you mentioned the yo take, we got to congratulate Matthias Michelli. The NHL finally put his picture up on, on the fucking website a week ago,

still wasn't up there. They, we must've complained loud enough. So the kid got finally got his mug up there. So how about the other night, man? Linesman, Dan Kelly,

just fucking tossing Michael button out of the club, grunt style., with the tweet, I think Button has every right to dummy number 98 here, talking about the Lionsman. And I was going to ask you guys, have you ever seen a ref or an official be that aggressive? And someone dug up an old clip. Actually, it was Dossie Tucker himself.

Mick Magoo, the ref, literally threw him in the penalty box way back in the day. But have you guys ever been in a game where a ref got that handy with a player? Funny, it's two guys who would stir up the most shit after the whistle would go in front of the net a wit so maybe these linesmen are fed up night in and night out having to clear the clear the front of the net out and finally just the wires cross and they pigeon toss him out of the building bunting was kind of laughing about it and then i guess after the game he said that at one point he was playing in the minors against this guy. Oh, really?

Yeah, yeah. And obviously, that's where they're getting a lot of these officials now from guys who played in the minors, and then they put them through the crash course. I played with a guy, Jordan Samuel Thomas, who he ended up becoming an official pretty quick, too. Wow. I mean, I didn't know that.

He probably had some beef with him going back to a game against each other. He wanted to dump him. Yeah, he probably stuck him in the nuts. But it is kind of, I mean, like, a player can't put his fingertips on a ref and the guy's just like bodying him off the ice. And I couldn't, I didn't see Bunting after talk about it. But in the moment, he looked kind of pissed.

He's like, what the fuck are you doing? Get your hands off me. But yeah, I didn't even know the guy was an ex-player he'd had enough do you think do you think that's open season for him to throw at least one shot back well having having tweeted what i did i was like so i think it was like the third push i'm like okay buddy i have to hit you back now you're dominating me you're just stuffing me in a locker so i guess he must have been that annoying. The one thing was you could maybe justify a ref pushing a player like that if he's maybe dragging him off of a guy or, like, you know,

separating a fight. But he was 20 feet away from any other player. It wasn't like that. Like, he could have just been standing in front of him and said, get off the ice. I have to lean to what you were saying. This has to be something that happened when they played against each other where he must have

stuck them in the nuts and that was revenge. Exactly. You mentioned former players becoming refs. When we were down in Philly, I bumped into Connor O'Donnell. He's a relatively new ref. He played back in the OHL, played juniors. Now he's an NHL ref. He's a big fan of the show. He said to say hello back when I met him in Philly. Pretty cool guy,

but interesting. He played, like I said, I think he won a Memorial cup in the OHL moving right along here. Biz. Wait, wait, real quick. Dan Kelly, that ref was actually once suspended for 10 games for an illegal hit on Andreas Johnson, who was at the time playing for the Toronto Marlies and a big melee ensued

after that. So maybe, maybe that's where it came from. I thought you were going to say you got a 10 game subsidy for hitting a ref. Well, well, Bunting came up with the Coyotes organization. So he wouldn't have been playing with the Toronto Marlies, but I get where your head's at. So basically what you're saying is that linesman's a scumbag. He's a hothead. He's a hothead. We'll say that.

Good to know. Good to know. All right. Ottawa extended our defenseman, Atim Zub, with a four-year, $18.4 million deal. Comes out to 4.6 AAV. The 27-year-old undrafted Russian would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer, but he's currently sidelined with a jaw fracture. But he's pretty much a core part of that for the Senators team. So nice to see them get him locked up.

Meanwhile, Vancouver, very likely that Bo Horvat will be dealt. Rick Dollywall reported that pending UFA rejected a Canucks contract offer, basically ensuring he'll get traded before the deadline. The 27-year-old center has 31 points in 32 games, 22 goals among that. He's in the last year of a six-year $33 million deal, paying him 5.5. Canucks captain in his ninth season, he did issue the statement via the team. I am focused on this season and playing for the Vancouver Connects, helping the team in any way I can. I will not have any further comments this year about my future. So where does he go?

What do they get for him? What do you see happening here, Biz? Colorado Avalanche. I already talked to Joe. It's happening. You heard it here first. I talked to Joe Sack. I said, hey, who's going to step up in that second-line center role?

Who's going to do that? You lost Kadry in the offseason you played it smart you said you know what i'm gonna save that money we're gonna spread it out among the rest of the team and another thing people say how the fuck is that gonna work cap wise maybe just maybe they pull the old ltir trick just the way the tampa bay lightning did it to win their second of the back-to-back Bo Horvat to the abs confirm what do you think Ryan Whitney I don't know I think the Bruins could be all over him I think that every single team that's looking to try to win the Stanley Cup this year is going to be making calls I mean this guy's going to be such a sick addition gets in the dirty areas playoff type player somebody who probably you know saw the jt miller deal and realized then he probably wasn't going to be back in van right the way that team's

going like first off there's probably times he doesn't even want to be playing there i'm putting words in his mouth but what a crazy couple years it's been in van um and then you know you see petterson and these guys coming up and it just when he got that offer and turned it down i totally understand him just saying guys i'm not talking about this either it's like you can't really blame a player to for not wanting to discuss a contract renegotiation openly in the media if you're the captain of the current team right it's it's fair for him to say i'm not talking about this this was before the year or actually if he did though he's like uh first year it was five million signing bonus uh eight million uh second year was four million just to go through the whole breakdown of the contract 10 minute

rant this fucking jt miller guys nine. They think they can get away with paying me eight? Are you fucking kidding me? I got the C on my jersey, bitch. Fucking wake up, brother. Guys, I have a confession to make. I didn't actually talk to Joe Sackick about it. We do.

Oh, okay. I still think he's going to Colorado, though. And Draga said they might be looking for more of a hockey deal Vancouver that is instead of just an eye toward the future You know they might try to upgrade at one of their positions I bet A lot of teams aren't going to do a deal For him without an extension

In place I was wondering too would we possibly get out A second sign and trade ever in the NHL After Matty Kachuk Like you said a team's going to want him They could get that max deal out of him too. Ooh, it's like the new trend. Like the boot cut jeans coming

back. Ooh, the old sign and trade. What's boot cut? Wide or skinny? No, it goes out at the bottom. Okay, I want the sativa you had today, buddy. You're fucking buzzing. No, this is my, what, fifth cup of coffee?

I'm going through a snowstorm here, buddy. You're fucking buzzing. No, this is my, what, fifth cup of coffee? I'm going through a snowstorm here, buddy. This is going to be the most exciting part of my next two days. He's going to Cabo tomorrow. He's buzzing. No, hey, flight was cancelled. I just got the text. So I'm stuck with the parents. Me, Cam, and Yoli are going to be watching Christmas

vacation over and over for the next two days. It's the holiday season. Tickety-tock around the clock. His mom's going to catch him fondling himself again. Again, this time to the scene when Chevy Chase is picturing the girl in his imaginary pool he wants to buy. On the couch next to them. Oh, shit.

Well, speaking of buzzing, you boys had another sandbagger down Carolina a couple months ago with Eric Cole and Justa Williams. So I think it's time we bring on Eric Cole for the interview, and we'll talk about the sandbagger after. So now let's send it over to Eric Cole. Well, folks, it's a pleasure to be joined now by the one and only Eric Cole. Quickly, I'm going to mention to you this guy. He has all these accomplishments and all these amazing things that he's done that we'll get into, but he just came into our hotel room and gave us, I'm going to say, Chinese crack acid to put in our eyes. He said we needed eye drops.

So for anyone watching on YouTube right now, we're not mangled. We just got Colesie eye dropped. But before we really... YouTube right now, we're not mangled. We just got cozy eye dropped. But before we really. I feel like I had a full body cleanse though. Yeah. Yeah. It's a refresher. Yeah.

It's like waking the eyes up a little bit. And this isn't your basic. But we look like we're out to lunch. Yeah. These are not your basic eye drops. Talk about these eye drops. I will say though, it completely woke me up. I think it cleared my sinuses as well.

What are these things? Biz asked if there was mint in the eyedrops. Were these made in the Wuhan lab? It's literally Listerine for your eyes. They're the most amazing eyedrops ever. I used these before games and stuff like that, and I've got hilarious stories about teammates that I've had that I've used them, and then what are the name of the

eyedrops they want to try them so it's roto is the company r h o which i've seen before in cbs and stuff but this one has i don't know if it's chinese or japanese writing all over it like this is the four local yeah this is like the yeah 100 it's it's it's the big deal of eyedrops who introduced you to these and and and then obviously because they work so well, you started introducing the teammates. You told us a funny story that we will get into. Yeah. So I started using these just before games because, like you said, it wakes you up, snaps you out of it. You're tip-top, ready to go.

And there was one night in Ottawa with Carey Price where he used them. And the dude thought he was blind going out there for warm-ups and everything. What's the movie with Sandra Bullock? It was so funny. He's going out for warm-ups. He's like, what are you doing to me? And I'm like, buddy, just trust the process, man. You'll be good.

Just give it 20 minutes? Yeah, yeah. I'm like, get out there and stretch and stretch you're gonna be all good he thanked me as soon as i came in like after warm-ups and he's like when we get to florida you need to take me to the cvs so i i need to know what i'm buying here and carrie letnan in uh in dallas same thing I'm a goalie guy. I love goalies. The Jumbotron comment by him is all the time. This is how well these eye drops work. So Pricer comes back in after warm-ups.

I'm playing in Montreal at the time, obviously. So I come back in. I'm one of the last guys off the ice in warm-ups. I get to the corner. You guys know the locker room set up in there. So it was just me and Pricer in this big corner. It's like four stalls between the two of us. We're just taking up space.

Guys are getting dressed on top of each other. I'm like, I don't care. Games player. Games player. I'm next to the great Gary Price. Beat it. And I come back in and Price is like, he's like, man, I got to tell you.

He's like, I was so worried. He goes, but then I went and stood in the net. And he's like, I looked up at the Jumbotron. And he goes, I saw a fly go across the Jumbotron. Needless to say, we won that night and he had a great game. Honey, I shocked the kids you can see him seriously

that might be in his hall of fame speech the roto Japanese I gotta honestly if there's a shout out to the eye drops for him accomplishing

what he did I'll take great pride in that I love it well Coles I gotta say we're pumped to have you on man we filmed

the sandbagger yesterday and we quickly got to know your personality I thought we weren't supposed to talk about this we won't mention the results we won't mention what we quickly got to know your personality. I thought we weren't supposed to talk about this. We won't mention the results. We won't mention what happened. But getting to know you, we knew this interview would be blasted to.

Okay. Because this guy pulled in, Biz, no hat on, mustache. What did you say he looked like? Well, you say he looked like Juan Tondon and Ted Lasso had a baby. And for some people listening, this is not a Chicklets, et cetera. You do sound a lot like merles one of our co-hosts upper new york well we all do kind of talk alike so you're not gonna lie you're from oswego oswego all right so you grew up there and then ironically enough

this weekend i think it's your 25th like high school reunion oh man you're closest yeah yeah yeah i've got i've got a crew in town right now. They're literally at my house. We just backed up the drive shack, you know, tea time until 3 o'clock. And the storm rolled through last night. So, like, we actually could have gotten out and, you know, played the golf course today. But not a big deal. Those are the guys you play hockey with, though? So these are guys I literally went to grade school with,

played minor hockey with in Oswego, and I stayed in my hometown until I was 17. You know what I mean? We didn't play AAA. We were a B organization. You were playing town hockey that long? And then I played high school. Yeah, I played two years of high school,

and the rest of the time it was literally just playing for a Swigel minor hockey. That was it. And then I went from there to Des Moines, and then Des Moines to Clarkson. I committed to Clarkson before I even committed to going to Des Moines. Clarkson wanted me to go across the border to Cornwall, and I didn't love the setup of trying to go to school over there and then they're like well you can live in messina new york and just commute back and forth across the bridge and i'm like well every day i'm like well that's like that's no fun because then i'm not

you know around the guys and whatever and so i yeah i ended up i'll never forget like Scott Owens and I I thank this guy a lot for you know having faith in me like he's probably one of the first guys like outside of you know my hometown coaches which I had unreal coaches like growing up like the guys that coached me you know grew up in the game played hockey my high school coach was a 72 olympian oh way yeah like silver medalist like they like like i i was so so fortunate like the guy that coached me as a peewee is he's been running the division three oswego state lakers program for however many years. But his first year coaching that team, he was the assistant coach, and he was our head coach as Peewee.

So he missed some weekends and stuff like that. But I'll never forget Eddie Gozik. I can't thank you enough. He's just a great guy, and he's still there. He's still running the program. They've got a great thing going there. Scott Owens called my house phone. No cell phone.

The big curly cord. Yeah, yeah. So this dude calls. What is this, in like 96? This is like 95. Yeah, yeah. So this dude calls. What is this, in like 96? This is like 95. Yeah, yeah. 95. So this is like even, you know, I'm like, I want to say I was a junior in high school that year.

And he, like, house phone rings, and my mother, you know, I think she wakes me up on a Saturday morning at like 10. She's like, there's this guy on the phone who wants to talk to you. I'm like, ugh. Hung, Mom. Right? Like, yeah yeah you don't know what we did at the drive-in last night so so i answer this call and i talk to this guy and he's like hey scott owens is that you know we drafted you in the ushl i'm gonna be in boston next weekend to see you play it was like pre-draft or something like that and i'm just like yeah yeah whatever i'm playing for uncle sam's out of albany new york uh maddie murley his dad ran that yeah you know and like i said like i didn't play triple-a hockey so like in the summers i'd go and jump on with

these teams but like during the season i always played just b hockey and all this and were you not to interrupt were you really good? Like, or were you kind of a late bloomer? Like, was there times you could have left and you just never did? No, I mean, I think, yeah, like, the Syracuse Stars program was the big AAA program in our area. And, like, they wanted me to come. You know, they'd poke at me a little bit, Don Kernan.

He was another guy that had a lot of belief in me. Like, he saw things in me that I never saw, you know. And, you know, he ended up coaching us in, like, Empire State games. And I'll never forget this with him. I was playing with Timmy Conley was my centerman at Empire State games. And he was probably 60. No, three years younger than you. He was a baby. Like, he was a sophomore in high school and I was playing with Timmy Conley was my centerman at Empire State. And he was probably 60. No, three years younger than you. He was a baby.

Like he was, I think he was a sophomore in high school and I was a senior or junior. So he must have been a freshman. Anyway, like we were out in like Niagara for like, and like the program was just starting out like in Western New York there. And that's where we had the Empire State games. And I'll never forget like because, know the central versus the west big big rivalry in in northern new york like it's okay we hate these guys obviously we hate you know the long island crew but like it's like you battle like if you're playing against these guys like you do not want to

lose and i'll never forget, having a really great game, and Timmy was my centerman, and, like, I had a great game because he's such a great player. And I came off the ice after, you know, a shift that made it, you know, six to two or whatever it was, and Donnie grabbed me, and he's like, I will never forget this moment. I will never forget what you just did. It made you feel so good.

Yeah, and at the time I was, I literally left from there to go out to Des Moines and meet my billet family, Paul and Sue Garvin. Unfortunately, Paul has passed now, but the most unbelievable couple, you know what I mean, that I could have ever asked for their son i had you know all of a sudden i got a younger brother jonathan and it was just such a great experience but so scott owens you know he he tells me he's going to be in boston and drafted yeah i want to talk to you about coming out to des moines i'm hanging up

this phone like and i'm literally laying in bed i hang up this phone I'm like like I'm going to Des Moines right like hang it up hockey and then this guy shows up he shows up in in Boston the next week we're there we're playing for Uncle Sam's and you know parents everybody's in the park a lot and he shows up at the hotel to take me out to breakfast and it wasn't until the reaction from the AAA parents, like all the parents of the kids that have been playing AAA hockey and rolling all across the country. They knew who this guy was. They knew who this guy was.

And they were, like, their excitement level kind of perked my parents up where they were like, whoa whoa like what what are we missing and that that was when we were like okay we met we got to look at this like we gotta we gotta take note of this and was it more for you of like knowing like oh like if i want to take that next step this is probably where i gotta go given those guys i don't even i don't even think that like that's how we looked at it. Like we were still pretty skeptical about it. You know, like it was,

I'm going to move halfway across the country. I'm 17 years old. I got all my buddies. I got to be honest with you. Like, I'm like really good friends with like my mom and dad. Okay. Like we like,

like, so I'm, I'm the baby of the family. Like my, my sister's gone. My sister moved here to Carolina in like 94. Like I was here visiting my sister. I came here for spring break with my buddy Jeff Diltz and Nate Elliott for like spring break, junior year of high school.

Came full circle. Yeah, we drive down here and spend a week with my sister. I don't know how we convinced our parents to let us do it, but like Allison was here you know before the Canes I I honestly think that's why they drafted me like I like my draft interview with the Hurricanes was 30 minutes it was just a quick I was it because it was in Buffalo so I was I mean my experience was so different where like when I got drafted to the OHL like I don't think I called my parents for the first three weeks but so you were so close to your family, you didn't know if you wanted to make this step.

But then eventually, what, went out there, took a look at it, and decided to go? Yeah, we went to Des Moines. So New York State schooling is a little bit different. So I was in school until the end of June. So I had Regents exams and all this. But that's when they're doing their whole training camp. It's like a week-long camp and all this. And I'm like, I can't get out there until Friday. You know what I mean? Cause I had exams all week. And so we showed up and flew out there. They brought us

to the rink kind of, you know, toured us around a little bit. I jumped on the ice. They were doing like a skills competition, like on the ice. They're like, just get out there and, you know, get what you need and then get off the ice and we'll go grab a bite to eat. They bring me back there. So I'm playing in the first game that night. There's two games, right, four squads. I think I scored a goal in my first shift. Hey, is this half shield?

Yeah, but I was 17, so I couldn't wear the half shield yet. I ended up wearing a half shield in Des Moines, but that wasn't until November, like after my birthday. So I get out there, and it was probably like the second period of the game, right? And Scott Owens is up there with two of his buddies. One's the coach at UNH. The other guy's the coach at Providence. He comes down, down he's like hey we're gonna send you off and you know you sit out the rest of this game we want we want to see you in the next game so i end up playing like five

periods of hockey that night but the the it was like the white team i don't know how i remember this but it was like the white team. They're like, yeah, this team hasn't won a game all week. And we were, you know, pumping whatever the blue team or whatever, like six to two. And so he sends me off and then I just go and I stayed like half dressed and hung out in the locker room, talked with the guys. I bump into a guy that I've known since I was 11 years old, played against him all the way up through pete frigo he played at providence college and then played uh a little bit in the minors and everything free goes out there i'm like what the hell like what are you doing here he's like what are you doing here it was just here it was yeah it was he had he had played there the

year before so it was just crazy like and and that was kind of like where it really kind of opened the door where like man this is like a i gotta make this step it's time yeah and you almost had a buddy to lean on well that's what made the transition so good for me was having like familiar faces there and everything like you know growing up in northern new york for us it was you went across the border and you played in the cj right you played yeah you played uh you know you you played in you know nepean and cornwall and like all those towns but i'd played junior b during my my junior year high school i played junior b in gannon aqua ontario um danny Ford, who was my coach as like a Bantam, he grew up in Potsdam and he, he came to me and he's like,

you know, all these guys, these high school players from, you know, Potsdam, Messina, Ogdensburg, they all like double up their season and play in this junior B league across

the border. He's like, you know, if there's a conflict, you know, you, you play for your high school team, but you know, there's more games for you yeah what's and not only that like man i showed up there as a 16 year old like he went like danny went over and watched him he watched like a

playoff game and then requested like a meeting with the gm wilf johnson and he's like i got an american kid that's going to come over here and you're going to love him. And Wolfie's like, yeah, whatever. Like, send him. You know what I mean? And so I show up and, you know, the first day, like, he comes down to the glass after the first day of tryouts. And he's like, can you come back tomorrow? And I was like, well, yeah, it's a tryout. So, like, I figured, like, I'll stay here until you tell me to leave.

That kind of thing, right? But it was 96 miles one way. So, like, me and my dad, my mom, like, you know, Dennis and Sherry and I, we logged some serious highway time, like, up and down 81, going to the Alex Bay border case. Two hours home. And then the snowstorms. So, like, it was legit.

But I went there my junior year, and I'm 16. The captain of the team is 21. He's married. He's got a kid. He's got a little baby. You know what I mean? I'm worried about earth science. You know what I mean?

It was crazy. I was like, good lord. Were you always a bit of a clown in class and shit? Because from our time with you, you tend to do a lot of pranks. You talked about— Yeah, you gave me a charley horse yesterday. That hurt. That was a love tap. That affected my swing, I mean, from our time with you, you tend to do a lot of pranks. You talked about. Yeah, you gave me a Charlie horse yesterday. That hurt. That was a love tap.

That affected my swing, I think. No excuses. You were having trouble getting over to your left side after that. We've already joked about the carry pricing. Were you the guy in the locker room keeping things loose? Not as much as other guys. Like, I definitely, like, I feel like I got a good sense of humor and and uh like a lot of sarcasm and just like it being in any any locker room like like that's the stuff you miss like you miss so much like

hanging out with the guys you know like sean hill for me who just moved back to the area he's he's one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Like my golf crew here in Carolina and guys that I've become friends with away from the game, they thank me weekly for introducing Sean Hill. Is that funny? Will he come on the show? He 100% would. And he's got great stories. Number 22, defenseman, block shots, played hard as shit.

He was mean. Yeah. Like, he had that TPS, that yellow TPS, like, stick, and it was like 120 flex, and this dude would just rocket one-timers. But he was just mean. He didn't. He was on the team that lost to Detroit. Yeah.

Yeah, he was on the team that lost to Detroit, and, you you know we've had this conversation where it was it was right before the lockout and he called me up so I roomed with him like he was he was my roommate he was the guy that kind of taught me how to be a pro yeah and when we didn't re-sign him man I was mad about it like i was just like i was upset he called me and he's like i he's like i wish i wish i could tell you they made it you know hard on me he's like but they didn't like yeah it was more just well because we're going into the 04 lockout so right 24 rollback betman's ready to shut the season down like everybody's just you know cutting costs and every everything like that and

it was hard like he you know he he went he went to florida and you know we talked about it after fact and he's like you know i never regretted that decision until you till you fuckers won the cup i was like i was like man you know what i mean like yeah yeah but like like who knows what would have happened like because of you know you think about all the things that transpired and we came out of that lockout and then Mike Commodore impressed the GM so much in his time in Lowell because we were sharing with Calgary and he got to know Stalzi, Wardo, all those guys that got to play in the minors. For me, I went over to Berlin and played played and it was best thing i ever did in my

career like i couldn't like to keep moving during like i mean i was 20 i think i was 24 years old turned 25 like during that lockout year and it was like i'm like man i can't take a year off and not playing and they wouldn't let me go to the minors i'd been in the league for you know three years or whatever it was. That would have been good. It would have been awful for me to take an entire year off. And I played with a guy in the minors, Stefan Ustorf, who's a German. And his dad coached in Berlin when he was a kid and everything.

And we played in Cincinnati. You were in the IHL. IHL. Never played in the A played in the ihl uh which was amazing just because like fold oh man we went bankrupt the whole league was shutting down like it was like like wait like if you've seen bull durham and like that silver bullet like bus like that's what we started taking to like travel two and a half hours from cincy to get a better or cheaper flight out of like louisville kentucky to like go down to orlando

and play the solar bears like it was it was ridiculous you know i mean like i think i think at one point like it we had we had to pull over on the side of rokes we're just leaking oil all over the highway you know i mean we then we had to sit there and wait for a new bus oh i played in the coast exactly plenty of buses yeah like we've all everyone's got stories like this right like it was i mean so this guy ended up convincing you to come over there during the lockout yeah so we talked about it in cincy he's like when that lockout happens he said you call me i'll make sure we save one of the import cards for you and uh my wife at the time and you know his wife were really good friends and um and so it was just it made

sense right so i i get this contract offer peter lee who's uh he's an ottawa guy he's over there in berlin and he's like you know love to have you like steph says you know that you know you're the guy that we need to bring in and everything he's like but here's the deal if you sign over here you have to stay even if the nhl starts back up it's a done deal really 100 but you were under caught you were you're not under i was under contract with the hurricanes but they were like they had us locked out. So in my mind, I'm like, well, if they're locking me out, I'm free to do whatever I choose.

And if I make this other commitment, like right now they're not honoring my commitment, right? Like I signed a contract, but we're not playing. So I agree to the terms and everything. I take a meeting with Jim Rutherford just to go in and tell him, hey, this is what's happening, and I've got to go, and I've got to be there for the whole year. It's not a knock on what we're doing here.

I believe in what we're doing here. I love it here. I've got family here. I want to play. I want to doing here. I love it here. I got family here. I want to play. Like, I want to be here, you know. But I told him, like, I'm 24. Like, I can't not play hockey for a year. Yeah, and then you guys can't guarantee me that, so I'm going to go do this.

And he's like, hey, don't worry. The whole season's going down. Well, yeah. He didn't say, no, he went, no, he literally went into, like, trying to explain to me, like, how it was all going to work. And I was a PA guy. Like, I was always, like, an assistant rep or rep and you know what i mean so i will have that written down you're very vocal about the cba stuff we'll get to that like a hundred percent like i

like like i was one of the the informed guys kevin adams brought me into that world really early in my career like i was a college guy so he's like you know you need to be involved in all this and we had like really good like college guys in Carolina Craig Adams you know I mean like so we had really good big brain action exactly not guys with like fake degrees or did you even get your degree no but neither did Coles

and you went back and graduated no there you go we both did three years I've had this conversation with my mother where she's like i promised my parents we should don't make promises we should go back there because we kind of skipped over to carolina and there's plenty of carolina stuff so you said that you committed to clarkson before you ended up committing yeah to des moines i didn't know where i was going to play my senior year of high school why clark why did you decide there man it's

two and a half not even two and a half hours from my hometown i grew i grew up like playing in that arena you know like as a 10 11 12 year old and for me like clarkson hockey was that was the shit like i was like man like what a dream it would be you know and like because you know at that time you know it's a pipe dream right small town northern new york like yeah you're not even thinking about the nhl you know like i mean like obviously like that that's the big dream but there's steps that go through it like in in the sixth grade they you know it was like you know ask the the graduating class of sixth grade like what they're going to be doing in like 2004 i was like you know ask the the graduating class of sixth grade like what they're going to be doing in like 2004 i was like i'll be playing hockey for the pittsburgh

penguins that was your squad that was i was a big mario fan which is like like it's crazy to think about like how i was such a big penguins fan the year my sister was in Pittsburgh attending school was the lockout in like 93. So I never got to like go down there and like watch a game. Like I was pissed. But Mellon Arena, I'll never forget when we were dropping her off. My dad took me down there and I got to walk in and, you know, see the arena and the setup. This is where Mario plays.

But it ends up being the place that I get my neck broken. I was in that game. It's just like such weird. Jeez, that got dark quick there. Well, okay. Grow up. the place that I get my neck broken. I was in that game. It's just like such weird. Jeez, that got dark quick there. Well, okay. Grow up. You know what I mean? Hey, it was his neck, Miz.

Oh, it wasn't yours. It was another guy we've had in the podcast, Brooks Orpik. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I remember that game. It was. But I'm just saying, with the whole Clarkson thing, I just, from the time I was 14, 15, whatever it was, and the assistant athletic director, Steve Yonikas,

I played against his kid. His kid played for Potsdam Hockey. And I played a game against him, and he asked my dad if he could speak to me. So he calls Dennis over and wants to talk to me after the game. And Dennis is like, well, yeah, you can talk to him, but I want to be there. And he's like, yeah, that's fine. And he just told me, he's like, focus on your schoolwork,

get good grades. He goes, I guarantee you there's going to be a scholarship waiting for you at the end of the road. That must have been the best thing ever to hear. Well, I mean, at the same time you're you're a little skeptical about it but like you know at least it it's like okay what i'm doing it's it's something right and i was so sheltered there in oswego like to the to the point of like finally going to des moines like camp and i'm there one night, right? Like my recruiting opened up like that July.

Guess who the first two teams were that were in home visits at my parents' house? UNH and Providence. Oh, the two coaches that were up there with Scott Owens watching that camp. Like literally both those teams were at my parents' house Monday, Wednesday. And you didn't even have any desire. I didn't entertain it one bit. It's like I literally sat there and, like, waited for the phone call from Clarkson. That didn't happen until, like, a week and a half later.

Which, like, at one point, I think I was like, what the fuck? I don't know much about universities. Good school? Yeah, I mean, it's in the ECAC, right? Yeah, yeah, ECAC. They have a good hockey program. One of the draws about it is hockey is the only D1 sport. Everything else is D3.

So it's legit. The hockey team gets a lot of the funding. I know what you're trying to say yeah you got me so anyway but but i like i never wanted to go anywhere else like i like cornell called me and they told me like we'd love to love to have you we want to get you to campus you know we're gonna need you to retake the sats i'm like i don't think this is gonna work it's like did they did they make you guys do like Anything for initiation coming into college? Was it about that?

Back then it was probably legit I mean you don't Well you're not allowed to talk about it? Is it a cult thing? Don't try and sit here and tell me You didn't get hazed Like it happened It's something that's now been outed

And everyone recognizes That it's not something that should ever happen again. But like, but yeah, like, like, like, yeah, like the coaching staffs at the front of the bus, like they, you know, it's not like they had their, you know, noise canceling. both headphones on and they didn't see us you know doing an elephant walk up the fucking up the bus into the into the pisser where we gotta you know untie our our you know our track suits and and put them back on before we can get out and the things like just laden with piss like the head coach went and peed all over them you know what i mean like like this is like this is, like, this is, like. Oh, thinking back, that's disgusting. Like, I feel like it was kind of, like, I just assumed, you know, this is what it was. Like, it happened everywhere. And I think it was a real, like, big wake-up call for me. Like, it was junior year because Vermont lost their whole season.

Yes. Because they had a hazing incident and and and when i i will say like when i when i did get on campus and everything it was much tamer like there was there was an incident like a frat house that had happened the year before so like it was just it was just starting to come into you know where people were talking about it you know what i mean like we were talking about it and and recognizing how wrong it was just starting to come into you know where people were talking about it you know what i mean like we were talking about it and and recognizing how wrong it was but like before that it was just yeah this this is what we do you know like i can remember like i had i had a senior captain one

one night we're at like a function for like with like the girls soccer team and he's you know they're making the rookies do whatever and drink and i'm standing there with like an old duels like i'm not drinking right like i i got a you know i got picked up for a dui like freshman year of college first first month of school oh my god i like i wanted i wanted to go home and see my my buddy went out to des moines He was coming back home, and I'm like, I'm leaving Friday night after the captain's practice, and they're like, you can't go anywhere. I'm like, what do you mean?

Well, we got to function. We're going here. I'm like, well, I'm not drinking. And sure enough, you show up to this party, they're making you do a pitcher funnel, and you're getting called out and drinking and all this stuff. I went back to my dorm room for two hours, just crushed waters. And then at like midnight, tried to make the drive two hours to my,

to my house and bad decision. Oh my God. I was an 18 year old kid, bad decision. Right. Like, but at the same time, like I was, you know, it's a little pissed off like you know they tell me i have to be at this thing and then you know the chris clark who's the captain of the team wasn't even at the party he was out with his girlfriend who's now his wife you know i mean like i was like

wait a minute like why did like that shows how wrong it's just like it was just yeah but you're when you're 18 19 years old and you've got you you know, Scott Reiki, you know, this like 22 year old, 23 year old senior fucking barking at you. You're like, oh, Jesus Christ. Yeah. They're slapping you with the belts and the shoes. Like, yeah, it's a lot of fun. No. Last night you told me.

Well, we're getting away from that subject. We're getting where you are. Like, I'm all over the place. No, no. We get it. You can tell, though. So we got to um blame you guys for that by the way yeah it's our fault yeah last time we were talking about the ihl and then you told me when you went back the next year to camp you said i'm making carolina yeah like there was no doubt in your mind and then that ended up being your rookie season. But they had no expectation to you making the team, you said. Not that year.

The year before, when I left college and I went out to Cincy, and I'll never forget it. Like Gilbert Dion was the captain of my team out in Cincy. How about that for a name, right? That's where he was playing then? Yeah. My second year there, he was playing then yeah like my second year there he was like assistant coach slash player like insane so i i show up out there for my first you know pro game and all the brass came into town so like all the guys are in the locker room oh yeah hey look at

this look at this kid he's got yeah he's got he's got all the brass coming to watch him. Whatever. It was fine. I played well. I played nine games and then played in the playoffs. But I was in and out of the lineup in the playoffs. And fine, right? But we were down in Orlando, and I go to step on the elevator.

Who's there? Jim Rutherford. And he, I'm like, oh, yeah, is this bad or good? Should I take the stairs? You know what I mean? Take the stairs. From now on, like I always take the stairs. But so I step onto this elevator and he told me like, you know,

they're real happy with like how I've come in and, you know, left school and made the transition and fully expect me to make the team out of training camp next year so I'm 21 years old I'm engaged to my fiance I'm getting married that summer I just signed pro contract you know I mean like and shit's just moving like it's it's happening right uh like literally a week after i got married i had to be down in carolina for like that rookie hell week back in the day like where it's just a week-long beat down and then pete freeson who is our like you know strength and conditioning coach slash like athletic trainer he got wind of how my sister lived in garner and he's like well

the best thing for you to do is to just stay down here and train with these guys and so i got guilted into staying down here in carolina living with my sister and that's when i first get the introduction to rod brindamore and i'll never forget the first time i walked up on this cat like like stop stop me in my tracks like i was walking into the arena and he was walking out and i just you know minding my own business walking and then like i popped my head up and there he is and i'm like oh my god like hey like how are you and he was right? Roddy's one of the best. Not just in that moment, several moments in my career. Like, he was amazing.

Even to this day, like, he's one of, like, just the greatest friends and, like, teammates you could ever ask for. Like, this, I mean, just, you know, this summer, like, he's, you know, he pulls me aside. Hey, like, you know, summer like he's you know he pulls me aside hey like you know guys guys are worried about you you're doing okay like what's going on like it's just little things like that but it was that you know that moment where i first met him and i was like in awe right but then i got to spend that whole next month like training with him. Oh, so you saw it. So I. Yeah. And in my head, I'm like, just stay half a step behind him. Like, don't like, well, you know, you don't step on any toes. Right. Like you just just stay. If I'm a half a step behind Rod Brindamore, I'm doing OK.

Right. Like if he's here and I'm just half a step. So you basically credit you making the NHL that next season. Well, you didn't even make it that next year, right? So I played so scared and everything. That first training camp, I was so intimidated. And I played to just not make any mistakes. I wasn't assertive whatsoever. Didn't play with confidence, nothing, right?

And I didn't even make it through the first cut. Gone, going down to the minors. And the awful thing was we used to start our training camp down in Florida so we'd be like on location down at Fort Myers because uh Carmanis owned the the Everglades or Everblades and uh and so we would start training camp down there and it's like a little Florida swing and it was a bus ride from the hotel to Florida to play the Panthers. I'll never forget. Like, Pat Burry, I don't even think he ever came in the D zone. Like, he just, you know what I mean? And I'm like, this is crazy.

Like, I was just scared to death, right? Like, just didn't play. Like, didn't think I'd. I played like I didn't belong, right? Like, I didn't believe that I should be there is basically how I played like I didn't belong, right? Like I didn't believe that I should be there. It's basically how I played. And at the end of that game, so I took the team bus over there, and then that team bus was going to be the bus going to the charter plane

to bring everybody back to Raleigh. The other bus was going to the fucking Hampton Inn or whatever the hotel was. Yeah, Cockroach Motel. And you're flying out, you know, to Cincinnati the next day or whatever it was. And, like, I get told this after the game. You get your workout in. You're in South Florida.

You're sweating your balls off the whole time. Like, you know, like it's just the most miserable conversation ever. And then to make matters worse i've got to go get on that bus and walk to like toward the back of the bus to get all my bags oh and then everything yeah that's and they're all on the bus making their way back to raleigh like still part of training camp and like i've got like tears welling up in my eyes and i'm just trying to cry like yeah i'm trying to hold it together right like because i didn't live up to the

expectation right like like i i feel like i let i let myself down let my parents down wife you know what i mean like everything like it was like i was just mad at myself and upset with myself and of course I'm coming off the bus and you know we all know these buses there's only one one little laneway Roddy Brendamore's coming on the bus and he like he's told this story a couple different times so like Luke DeCock here like in the area like he you know writes for the news and observer luke this is his favorite story i come walking i'm heading off the bus and roddy comes on he's obviously the last guy on because he had to do a 30 minute bike ride as opposed to everyone else's 10 or 15 and he's like hey man like you know like what's up and i'm like i got a clip i'm ahead of the minors and he's like

it kind of snaps me out of it he's like that's all right hey like it's not a big deal like he's like you just fucking keep working like in heat because he'd seen me he'd seen me train with him like that whole august you know i mean so like roddy like he saw he saw like how hard i was working how hard like i was doing everything off the ice. And he's like, you know, this kid's got it. So he encouraged me. And he's like, it's all right, right? Guys, go and play in the minors.

He's like, no big deal. He's like, go there. Keep working your ass off. You'll be back here before you know it. And I'm literally, like he'll say, like I'm like, it was awful. Did it immediately make you feel better i mean not in that moment when you look back at it like 100 you're like man i'm still thankful for him and like and as it turned out like the next year you know next year's when you

told me i'm not playing i'm playing that was when that was when i showed up i showed up so determined and it was like is that when the bbc line was formed between bates pataglia that was that year that was that year the big black cock line was it was it right out of camp you guys are no no it wasn't till late november i started out with uh marty gelina and roddy and francis was on that team yeah the run what was it like to be around yeah the Ron the run like just I mean it's quiet just yeah the locker room presence it's just like he doesn't have to say much he wasn't a big you know speech guy or whatever like he was you know he's pretty quiet and always calm and just like it's it's why like you anyone that ever played with ronnie always knew he'd be in the

position he's in right now okay like just such a great hockey mind like just everything about him like the way he carried himself yeah like he's the guy doing crosswords in the room i don't know that yes actually he. That's a pretty good call. Well, because he looks like a smart guy. I was a crossword guy. But, like, I can just... I had a flashback to, like, on the team playing where, like, Sean Hill and Ronnie

are working on, like, the crossword together. And I remember, like, looking over at them when they were saying something. And Hillie's like, you just mind your own bobber over there. Don't worry about what we're doing over here but like that like well that rookie year it was just me like i was the only rookie on the team so like party cost yeah honestly ronnie let me off the hook it was fuck because we did yeah like

but we didn't and we didn't do we never did a rookie dinner like on the road during the season and i was a different kind of rookie like i showed up married kid you know i mean like like paul and paul maurice said it to me halfway through october i'm still living in the hotel like i didn't you know i didn't get a place here in rolling to like mid-november like they kept me in the hotel so like every day you're on edge and i'm like i've got a four month old baby sleeping in a pack and play thank god my sister lived here because every time we went on the road yeah my wife would take you know take bella over to my sister's house and they'd have like you know

some comfort but it was just you know you're on edge and i showed up on video one morning not good like the worst kind of video like the worst feeling like just blatant like we got scored on because this this motherfucker missed an assignment and i'm like shit i'm going there right yeah like at what point did the team start getting really good when you came in like who you know who were the core guys i remember you saying like ray whitney when he was in the mix so that was that wasn't until after the lockout but like the the groundwork started honestly when when sean hill got traded back from st louis when they brought in hilly in december of that 01 to 02 season that was kind of for me that was the beginning of it like in carolina like that was That was when we ended up making the big push to the cup finals.

Irby was in that, right? Irby and Kevin Weeks. Weeks, he played unreal for us. He was in Tampa, and we traded for him. Those two shared time, even during the playoff run. Weeks, he made the most incredible save in the New Jersey series, like in overtime on John Madden. Like, empty net.

Like, all he's got to do is just bury it, and somehow it ends up in Kevin Weeks' glove. Like, it was insane. But, like, that relationship between, like, the organization and the fans all started that year. It was a special run. Bananas around here. Like, it was. And Maurice was young, wasn't he?

Yeah, he was, like, 36 or whatever. Like, yeah, he was, I mean, he was the youngest coach, like, for a long time. Everywhere you drove, like, it was the flags on the windows, like, of the cars. And, like, anywhere you went,, like I'd go to the Home Depot and people were pointing you out. It was the first time that the area had a pro sports team and success with it. And then you punch in the Southern hospitality

and the tailgating and what it was like the atmosphere because it's like got that college town feel where it's the rivalries and you know what i mean it's almost like the fans here welcome like the northerners like they they welcome the the detroit fans or the buffalo fans or rangers or boston wherever they're like, yeah, come on. Like Toronto. Like that Toronto series, man, we were in the locker room and you could just hear like the energy out there. Like Toronto fans. Because it was cheaper for Toronto fans to fly down here, get a hotel room, get a ticket to our game

than it was to try and get a ticket in the ACC. Right? Like it was just crazy. So it just, it was like that first year just made it like so incredible the fans started showing up like at the airport like we're flying in when we had like a you know crap team playing at that point and so we're not getting into 2 30 in the morning and next you know we got 50 fans out there waiting for us to get home at 2 30 in the morning feeling like rocks and then and then it's then it's 100. And then it's 200, 300.

It was crazy. It had never been like that before? No. Well, I mean, I only know what I know because I hadn't been here before. It was my rookie year. Well, just from feeling the vibe from the other guys who had been around.

It definitely wasn't like that the year before. Was that the sixth year that the team was there? Not even. Because they moved here in 97. Yeah, so fifth season. But they started out having to play games in Greensboro while the arena was being built. So there was that real disconnect for the first couple years.

They called it Green Acres over there in Greensboro because of the green seats and they were empty. What are some pretty classic stories that maybe haven't been told from those teams? Anything that sticks out for you? I know we talked about the fact that you used to be a bit of a pranker where the fork story but that was not well that's that's later that's later in my career like i like i think i was smart enough early in my career and you were keeping your but i also well i'd you know

like and i like i was still like i was i would barb anybody right back like jeff jeff o'neill and i had a like great like kind of relationship like that where like my like he this guy jeff o'neill the one who's on tsn yeah the doctor oh yeah he's a fucking he's he's yep he's a beauty right yeah he's the funniest obviously like one of my favorites. And, like, he, like, you know, I'm living in the hotel, and, like, you're at practice, and he'd, like, he'd be in the line across the way with you, and he'd look over, and he'd make eye contact with you and see that it's you, and he'd go.

And then he'd be, like, trying to, like, pretend like he was trying to shovel somebody else in front of him so he didn't have to go with you on a two-on-one. You're like, fuck you all, fucking asshole. But he'd give me shit all the time. We'd get done with practice and you're grabbing some water and we're going to play rebound. We're going to do some extra work after the practice.

And he'd come over to me and he'd be like, you were fucking terrible today. I was like oh i'm like didn't matter how your practice was he was coming over to tell you that i'm already panicking i'm in a hotel bro i'm taking pseudofed fucking before practice so i can fucking snap i like i can't have a bad day thank you i can't have a bad day out that's right that's so true my like it was like you're my first year i just really like games at the beginning yeah you don't want to be scared to death oh and if you have a good one you're like i gotta wait till tomorrow we had we had terry in two so if you missed the oh my god he would blow it down from a much right oh yeah hey so no quick i don't want to get away

from this because last night i was telling you that in that amazing run your rookie year you go to the cup finals you play against maybe one of the best teams of all time, the Detroit Red Wings. It was insane. It was just – It was insane. And I was at game three. And actually, I think Igor Larionov scored in the corner I was standing in. Triple overtime.

And I was telling him all this. Like, sorry to tell you. He's like, dude, I was on the ice for that one. Yeah, I was like, thanks a lot, asshole. He says in the pictures, right? You want to kick my dog when you're uh you said it was amazing to see like uh a little intimidated no so i i got to the point that year and i learned this right away and a training camp like so i i made it i made it from the florida cut back to Raleigh. I remember sitting in my sister's living room, and I was like, well, I made it back here.

Now I've got to figure out a way to stay here. And it was not an easy road. We had 9-11 that year. Shit was just sideways right from the start. When training camp happened, 9-11 happened and we show up at the rink and there was like 11 of us from Cincinnati the year before that had come to town and trained with, you know, the last couple of days. But Byron Ritchie and I had been there since like early August. He was living with Shane Willis. I was living with my sister and we show up the day, and we got 12 guys on the ice,

11 guys on the ice. And then we get out of the locker room to go do our work with Pete Friesen, like, off ice. And it's literally the team from last year, and they're running, like, just an early season practice. You know, two-on-one, back check. Like a captain's practice. Yeah, like they were just –

And you don't even skate there. They were just – yeah, we're not even on the ice with them. Like, who's going to make this team? Byron Ritchie turned to me, and he's like, are you as pissed off as I am? I'm like, what are you talking – He's like, they're not even going to give us a fucking chance. Yeah.

And I looked, and I didn't look at it that way. Like, I was just like, man, this is what I got to do. This is what I got to do. Like, our practice was fucking – they threw the puck in the corner, and they were like, what if you come out with it? You know what I mean? It was just, you just fucking, you had to battle your ass off against guys that were your teammates the year before.

Yeah, and now the next year, you're just going to get to that next year. You'll fight for your piece of meat. You'll get to the end of the city. I don't care. like who's gonna eat and who isn't you know i mean like it was like and that's how like the first like 10 days of that training camp was because we were all on lockdown half the guys and half the staff was in florida and we were here in raleigh but all the flights were grounded you know what i mean like it was just yeah it was it was it was weird you know what I mean and you're you know like and for me at the time like I got a I got a newborn I got a wife like like I'm playing for something and I like Steve Bartlett my agent like

he he tried to kind of like temper my expectations about it like when i was heading down and he was like you know just you know just go in and you know work as hard as you can and i don't think he was even expecting me to make the team right and i was just hell-bent like i was so determined and but that's how i had to play like that's like and that's why they kept me here. And I played a very kind of just north-south style, especially early on in my career. Like I was just hard-nosed. Everybody from stuff I was reading, you were pretty fast. I don't remember you being that fast.

I mean, you had a nice seat. You had a nice seat from the bench. Like I don't understand. Well, there wasn't streaming services back then. I don't know if the Carolina games were on television. But I'm just saying, I mean, it's not like you were on the ice next to me. You know what it was? Here's the thing. You know what it was? Here's the thing.

You know what it was? It was probably that. I remember you fell. You were on the bench watching me. It was probably the horrible style you had with those fucking socks over the back. Did he not have one of the worst? I don't understand how he... Well, the lines on your socks, instead of the middle of your legs, they'd be down near

your ankles. You must have pulled your socks down. There's probably people who saw your name. Made my legs look longer. Yeah, yeah. There's probably people who saw your name pop up and because of your gear wear refused to click the listen button. You had the crazy talks

on the vapor scheme. Listen, but okay. But you buzz. I think you might be top 10 worst styles ever in national hockey. Zero percent. No, I think I was worse.

I think I was worse. Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I do want that. No, 100% false information. Let's get another picture. Put it online. You talked about all these coaches that cared about you. Did they not ever tell you to not do what you were doing with your socks

over the back of your skate like that? No, no, no. How did you learn how to get dressed? Why did you not want your, like, I don't know, like maybe you weren't in the league at the time when we had the knit socks. Remember those things? But I was in the league when we had the knit socks. Remember those things? But I was in the league when we had the knit socks.

And those knit socks, that shit protected the back of your legs. Why do you think everybody wears cut-proof socks now? You're comparing the old socks to Kevlar socks for your Achilles. Basically, it's what they were. Think about what they were. So for fans at home listening, the reason he had the worst gear wear in NHL history was to protect his Achilles. Fair enough. Guys, safety never takes a holiday. Don't ever forget that.

And so if you're going to wear your socks and make sure that you don't slice your Achilles tendon, I'm going to do it. Was there not a story about when you guys did a skill or like a blue and red game where nobody knew how fast you were, so you had to go in the fastest lap? Oh, no. Okay, so Rod Bryn Mawr said this to me one time where because I was supposed to do like the Young Stars game in, oh, well, actually, I was supposed to do it my rookie year,

and the league called back and said, we need more defensemen, so they took David Tanabe. And all the veteran guys on the team were pissed. Jeff O'Neill being one of them, Ronnie Francis, they were like, what the fuck? Why isn't our guy getting any recognition? And Jimmy told Ronnie the story, and Ronnie's like, well well like i'm gonna tell him

that he's like he's like they like you were picked for it it would have been out in la but that year was crazy because we did all-star break and olympics so that's why this that's why the season was a nightmare that's why we didn't do a rookie dinner like anywhere on the road because it was salt lake city we're all over the place no it was you think it's because they saw the way you wore your gear and they just said we can't have this i don't i don't think so i think i think that actually they that was the reason they wanted me was because of the the way i wore my socks that that's what i heard i mean it's gary betman's words not mine so did you do so no so i so i didn't i so i didn't do the the rookie thing that year and i I didn't care.

I wanted the break. I needed the break. I'm like, I've got a seven-month-old at home. When I get home off the road trip, I'm going home waiting for her to wake up, do the middle of the night feeding, and then my wife Emily would sleep through the night and get up with her in the morning. So I could sleep in a little bit before heading to practice. Like that was kind of like the routine. So, so for me, like, I was like, man, like, I don't need to be a part of that. But then the next year I was, I was supposed to be a part of it. It was down in Florida and, uh, I broke my leg in Tampa,

like literally the night before, like we, like Jeff O'Neill and I were going leg in Tampa literally the night before. Jeff O'Neill and I were going to take a limo from Florida or from Tampa over to Florida for All-Star weekend, and his girlfriend and my wife had already flown there, everything. So it never happened. But so Rod Brindamore asked me one time, and he said, he's like, have you ever done that like the fastest skater thing i said i did it in junior hockey in des moines and i i was like i was like i just kind of was going through the motions i was like i think i think i could have could have done it a little better and

he's like i think you'd be really good at that and then a couple years later is when i was in edmonton and they do one for like fans. Yeah, they have the skills day. So wait, you played there. You know what it's like. Yep. I was getting booed at the old team skills day. I don't understand why every team doesn't do something like that. The whole thing, it was like Ronald McDonald, how charity is what it was supporting.

And I was like, this is awesome. Why wouldn't they do this in Carolina? And it's like, well, maybe people wouldn't show up. I don't know. I would think that they would. They definitely would now. I think back then I questioned it. Now I think 100% they would.

You could get at least 10,000 in there. At least. Lower bowl, right? Like bring them all in. Bring the kids in. Like it'd be amazing. And you run a like the skills competition and so we did that in edmonton that was the first year i'd like ever

done it and you know like it it started kind of like a buzz like like the week before week and a half and everyone was saying how cogliano was so fast and all this stuff. But those guys in Edmonton, like Ray Whitney, I get traded to Edmonton. He sees Kelly Buckburger out at lunch in Edmonton, and he's like, oh, man, you guys are going to love Colesie. He's the speed down the wing and all this. And Bucky's like, oh, he's fast? And Witt's like, yeah, he's kind of fast. That tells you everything you need to know about Edmonton or other scouts.

Well, he was an assistant coach, and they were like, oh, well, he can't be faster than Cagliano. And Witt's like, well, I don't know who this Cagliano kid is, but he's like, there's no way he's walking faster than Colesie. He might be as fast, but he's not faster than him. And Ray warned me about that like and it was like man it was one of those moments i just put my my head in my hands i was like what like what is going on like what am i walking into i'm watching this right now and you

are buzzing on this lap there's like a guy who recorded it right in the in the in the corner and you slipped too kind of oh yeah turn four i almost bit it like it probably would have been a little quicker i think i would have 13.1 i think i would have been sub 13 if i hadn't like that cone the cone in in turn four like scared me i was like oh shit like literally like almost yeah almost bit it um let's go back to like when you guys end up winning the cup like just the parties the the celebration, the growth of the game here. Just talk about the festivities. We were on the Oilers that year and then played them in the cup final?

No. What is this? Buddy, it was a couple years after. Ask me how uncomfortable that was. Oh, my God. No, you beat these guys in the cup finals in 06. But mind you, like, in my defense, though, like, I only played the last two games of the finals in that year.

And I was coming back from the neck injury. Like, I didn't want to do surgery or anything like that because I wanted the chance to play like and honestly like game five thank god fernando pasani scored i i would never i never would have been in the lineup i never would have fucking stepped on the ice to be a like a small part of that cup win i know like and i like i literally like i like i debated whether i was even going to touch it but you came back in with a chance to win the cup in ed know like and i like i literally like i like i debated whether i was even going to touch it but you came back in with a chance to win the cup in edmonton and you guys got trapped oh we

got smoked you must have been like am i going to be in for game seven or 100 i was going to be in but like my legs were like seizing like the day before i had to fly to colorado and back on a private jet just to get a ct scan nobody in Edmonton would, like, would okay, like, a CT scan and all this. They kept, like, we got canceled on, like, four times trying to get a CT scan for me. But if Doug Waite didn't get hurt in game five, and, like, this literally all started halfway to Edmonton.

I think, like, we stopped, like, the plane stopped, and I think we had to let our general manager off for like a kidney stone like Jim Rutherford had to like emergency to the hospital for like a kidney stone on the way to Edmonton and I walked up to the front Dougie waits on the plane but like his shoulders like you know down where his elbow should be. And so I walked up in front of the plane, and I was like, I said to Jeff Daniels, I said, hey, Jake, I said, when Lavi comes back in, like, off the phone call,

ask him who's taking waiter's place, like, in the lineup. Tell him to let me know. And so, sure as shit, as soon as we got above 10,000 feet, Lavi, straight to the back of the plane, interrupts the Schnapples game, and he's like, when was your last CT scan?

I was like, you know, just a little less than a month ago because I got shut down. Like, we tried several times. Like, I was supposed to come back in the Buffalo series. Like, I left Buffalo after game three to come home, CT scan, to hopefully get good news that I could come back in in the buffalo series and play didn't work out wasn't healed enough and they're like you know what that's it like we're shutting you down no more ct scans like your thyroid gland's gonna burst like at any moment here because because i've been doing so many and And it was just heartbreaking for me.

I can remember just being in tears at my house and watching game four. And that was when Gerbs came back in and pitched a shutout against the Sabres for nothing. You know what I mean? It was things like that. But it was just such a tough road, especially when I'd been through the finals and everything with the group and oh two.

And I knew like how hard it was like, like Gary Roberts beat the fuck out of me in the playoffs in oh two. When I was a rookie, man, like I tried to go to the gym in like July and i did like shoulder press and it hurt so bad i was like nope not today and like just jumped on the bike and got a bike ride in like i was breathing up blood like on the bench i was you knew you were spitting up blood like in the urinal in between periods it was like man it was and you were in one in the year you got hurt got hurt on that run when you're dying to get back it was you were having the best year of your career. Yeah, that was the tough part about it. I'd made the Olympic team that year.

Olympics, they're an experience, but the Torino wasn't a great Olympic experience. And I'm from New York, so Lake Placid. You know what I mean? I just think of other scenarios and cities. And fortunately, though, I got to play in that Olympics with the old guard, the guys. You know what I mean?

Billy G? Billy G. Was Roenick on the team? Kachuk? No Roenick. Kachuk. Medano was my line mate. Holy fuck, I asked. Rolston. You know what I mean? no roenick kachuk madonna was my line holy fuck i am ralston you know i mean like like we had we

had like the old crew of guys that the world cup yeah the world cup like 96 you know i mean like it was so cool dougie wait like and and right before that dougie wait we had the same agent steve bartlett so i knew about the doug wait trade him coming to carolina before anyone else right like steve calls me it's like hey i gotta i gotta you know i got a client that wants to call you and talk to you about the team and what it's like there and and everything i'm like yeah i have added like who is it he's like it's doug wait i'm like we're getting him what and you got recce off our team, Pittsburgh. Yeah. I don't know if that would have happened had I not gotten hurt. But thank God we did get him because it wouldn't have happened without him.

You know what I mean? When you think about all of it. All these things come together. It's crazy to think about. It's so, so nuts to think about it. But so I had such a cool experience with you know the old boys and chelly like like literally like in the village like mo was my roommate and then we had bobby ash and darian hatcher uh brett hedekin was in there with me who was like a teammate in carolina and then i'm trying to think who his i think he had like canooble as his like

flatmate and then chelios had the had the single like in the village like that was our that was our flat and so like i'll never forget when they went fucking ham no that was no no no no no no that was a different time but like one thing that i remember from that was so chris chelios his buddy was that like was it what is it, D.B. Sweeney? Oh, the actor? Yeah. And he had, like, he had, like, a movie that he was, like, pitching to, like, Hollywood and whatever, and Chelly made us watch it. Worst movie I've ever seen.

I always say the worst movie I've ever seen. Did you lie to Chelly? Did you tell him that you enjoyed it? No, no. I didn't lie to him. I just didn't disrespect him. And Chelly had a little cameo in it, too. Very small.

But it was just funny. How was Chelly's acting, be honest? I mean, it was five seconds where I think he was wearing a hearing aid in there, in the scene, as in he couldn't hear or whatever, and then he like started a bar room brawl we got to get a clip of this this yeah i don't i don't i don't i don't i don't think so i don't know i don't know if it ever got picked up but like straight to vhs i don't even know if it if that if that's where where it got to but like you know but you know sweeney like

good like good guy like super good guy and you know big fan of the game so it was you know of course we're gonna watch it and see but but i remember that from like the olympics and then you know for me it was you know leaving the olympics was like i couldn't get home fast enough mike madano left asap like like he he got benched by laviolette like in the quarterfinal game against finland man i i remember going back to the flat his bag was packed up and on the bed with all of his like team usa gear like he just put it all back in the bag and fucking left it there it was like fuck y'all i'm out of here no shit oh man why was it was just like the team didn't gel it was no like like i'll never forget like like, the disappointment of, like, the Olympics.

Like, it was disappointing for me. It really was. Like, I just hoped for a better experience. And I can remember being a little bit, like, not angry, but just, like, put off by, like, how, like... That was it? How USA Hockey handled it. Like, so Eric Stahl, like, he was my roommate. So, like, I roomed with Stahlsy, like, in his first couple years.

Like, when he came into the league, like, they stuck him with me. And, like, hearing the stories about how, like, Team Canada ran, like, that crew over to the olympics like everyone went to toronto and then they got on like one or one or two charter planes and then they had five buses there to like take everybody and drop them off at their places and they just were super super accommodating right like for my experience like i was in business, my wife and kids and my sister-in-law were in coach and, you know, we got in on the same flight of the, you know, six bags that my wife like checked. The only thing that came through was like the pack and play because we had all of our hockey gear on there, you know, like, and at the airport, you know, she's there at baggage claim. And at the airport, she's there at baggage claim, and I'm having to go get on the team bus and say goodbye to her and leave her with – like my son Landon was – he was born in July, so he's eight months old, seven months old.

You know what I mean? Like it was just – Yeah, it was just kind of TV. Actually, no, he was older than that. He would have been almost two. But it was just the comparison of how they ran things and took care of everybody. And then even on the leaving, leaving Torino, having to book our own flights

and all this, just nightmare trying to get back. It was just awful. You wanted to get back to Carolina. I couldn't wait to get back to Carolina. And change citizenship. Well, just because we had such a good thing going like it was like man this is great like i like i can't wait and we we came back i had two home games where i played really well and going to pittsburgh scored two that night in pit like one shorty in the first and then a even strength goal in the second to hit 30 for the first time

in my career i'm playing the point on the power play you know i mean like and i have that happen broken neck you know you're lying on a gurney you're strapped to this thing some nurse is trying to console you the doctor's telling you you're lucky you're like what do you like i like i like i feel lucky right now right like it was just awful you know awful experience like you like obviously like you recognize it like later on down the road where you're like man like how fortunate was i but like in the moment it just sucks and so that like through that whole playoff run and everything just sucked not being a part of it like because i know like i know how hard it is i know what that you know what it's like like day in day out the grind of like the playoffs because

there's nothing like it there's no other like comparable like obviously like regular season's tough and it's long but that stretch where you're trying to win four series every other day yeah man like it's like you just it's rest and then go rest go like you just again every other day like it's it's it's non-stop and that's what makes it so great and that's what makes it so hard and so i had such like gratitude for like the guys and you know i'm so thankful like i never never would be a Stanley Cup champion without those guys. And, like, through that whole process, like, I literally, like, I wasn't sure, like, if I didn't play, like, I wasn't sure if I was even going to touch the cup.

Like, I was having, like, those kind of thoughts because, you know, it's just the, you know, and it's the mystique of the cup, right? Look, am I going to get the playoff bonus? I wasn't spending carbo. I wasn't too worried about that. Like, there wasn't, like, it was more, like, honestly, and playoff bonuses are, I mean, nothing.

You're playing for peanuts in comparison. Yeah, I'm playing for rank. Back then, like, and it was, like, for me, like, that game five moment, you know, like, I'm sitting in the press box next to the rest of the black aces i'm like man we're gonna we're gonna fucking win the cup right now like we got a power play in overtime like here we go like like we're gonna win it and fucking turnover fernando passani back of the net game over we're going to game over. We're going to Edmonton. We're going to Edmonton. And it was just craziness, right?

But I sit there and think about it, and I was like, man, we didn't even have – you know how teams will have their players that aren't in the lineup or the black aces, like they'll have them come down and put their gear on so they can go out. We didn't have any kind of plan like that. I'm literally up in the press box. So you wouldn't have been. I probably wouldn't even like,

I probably would have made my way down there. Like a hundred percent was not touching that fucking thing that night. You know what I mean? So for me, like Fernando Pazani, like scoring that goal and everything was great. So then, you know,

two years later, it's oh eight and first day later, it's 08, and first day of July, I get traded to Edmonton. Well, fuck a duck, right? I've got to go hang out with these guys that we just, it's going to be awkward. It ended up being okay, because great group of guys. We talked about Horkoff, Hemsky, Chop, Pisani, Sheldon Surrey was there.

Steyos, one of the best. A couple stallions. You were probably riding their coattails. Oh, 100%. Moro and Surrey walking around together. Oh, yeah. Those two chummed up a ton. That's a tough looking crew. I think they did that photo shoot, too.

The one with the tarp top. Steyos was like, I would pick up Steyos to drive to every game every home game I picked him up and we rode together but somehow talk for 20 minutes and still haven't talked about the celebration I don't think he remembers you get too buckled

what do you want to know how awesome it was I know maybe your experience doesn't seem like it was no no okay so okay so the best the night you win like the best moment doesn't it i mean it doesn't happen right away like it's obviously when you get to grab the cup and throw it over your head it's something but there was so much chaos on the ice that night and you know you're you're you're you're trying to make sure you're including family and your kids and whatever um and you know and experience it

all like with your friends it's not until you get in the locker room we had chaos in the locker room right like just jammed and then when they they kicked everybody out of the room and told them to go upstairs to like the champions club and wait for us to you know get cleaned up and whatnot and that that amount of time that we had like in the locker room it was just the guys last time and you like you know the speech like the like glenn wesley gave a great speech like at the end of it and you know talking about you know every time he looks at looks like looks at the photo look into every one of your eyes and you know remember what we went through and like it just that was like that was the moment where you get to like just relax and it's just

you guys in the cup and you just enjoy it. And everyone's, you know, getting showered up. We shaved in mustaches because why wouldn't you after you win the cup? Like, yeah, you want to you want all your first pictures to be with a muzzy. Yeah. And we stayed at the arena that night. stayed at the arena that night i think i got i got in like what you know nowadays would be called an uber at like 5 30 in the morning to go to go home and catch like an hour or two of sleep before i had to take my parents to the airport get up with the kids that kind of thing and then that next day

the guys all got crushed at roddy's pool with the cup and we had like a parade like around the arena which was hot as balls was it a bad parade? it was around the arena it was the longest parade you've ever experienced but to our fans credit

the thing was fucking jammed it was jammed so we had that whole thing. Then the next day was, well, that night we were out at Carolina Ale House, just breaking plates. My buddy, the restaurant owner, he's Greek, so everything was Opa and throwing plates into the corner the entire night. But we got some great stories and great photos of that one.

And the third night was dinner at Sullivan's, team dinner. That was when we had like the parade downtown. And then we had like a nice, you know, sit-down meal at Sullivan's Steakhouse. And Cup was with us. And it turned into, you know, across the street, Glenwood South. I don't know if you guys, have you guys ever been on on glenwood i've never been like out in raleigh yeah no never so raleigh would yeah somewhere like there's this place called the hibernian and it was like just a block down from that like uh that's that's where we went with uh with the cup that night and it was

it was a long night i can remember remember laying on Glenwood Avenue at like 5, 36 in the morning, waiting for our driver to come pick us up. We're basically sleeping with our head on the curb, waiting to go. It was like, yeah. Shit show. I mean, it's just long long man stanley doesn't have a curfew and he does now they've changed the rules but like back in the day like stanley like oh man you got to stay away from stanley he doesn't like stanley doesn't have a curfew and if you just hang

with him all night you're in trouble like you gotta you gotta learn to like hey like yeah stanley staying up late i'm gonna go to bed And it was, but it was great. Like, you know, and we celebrated like the whole summer, obviously like, you know, guys, different cup parties and all that stuff. And the cup came back to Raleigh and we did, we always used to do the Jimmy V, the V Foundation, like golf outing,

which was a huge deal with the ESPN guys coming in and just a great, you know, event that we used to have golf outing, which was a huge deal with the ESPN guys coming in. Just a great event that we used to have here in Raleigh to support that event, and we had the cup here for that. So that was another night out and then some. Well, we have so much more to talk about, but you're so long-winded. You are fucking the worst. We're the most long-winded. We didn't go to Dallas.

We didn't go to Detroit. We didn't go to Montreal. It's going to be a fucking uh we'll get this guy back on star wars trilogy this is how this is how i make sure that we we have another sandbagger is that i just leave i leave we'll do a rematch that's all we can say we can't like very much i said something to willie about it yesterday i was like motherfucker like i'm like i want to fucking rematch he's like it won't happen he's like he's like they won't do it i'm like we're fucking doing it oh we'll do it we're doing it cozy we can't thank you enough uh amazing career you've been through so much there's way more to

it but you talk a lot I'm so uh but we appreciate you coming on and and joining us yesterday for the golf it was a blast no and I honestly like obviously a fan of watching you guys and everything love what you guys are doing. You watch Spitting Chicklets? 100%. Fucking right, buddy. Buddy, and I chirp Army all the time. The technician.

I give him crap all the time. He's our new co-host. Yeah, when he comes on. He's actually the host of Chicklets, et cetera. I'm all over him. You know, one of the best all time. But no, great time yesterday. Look forward to more.

Fucking A. Harry Knuckles. Yep. Great job. Love it. Thanks, Colsey. best all time but uh no great time yesterday look forward to more fucking a hairy knuckles yep great job thanks colesie thanks again to eric cole for jumping on you guys he seems like quite the character between the interview and the sandbagger man he seems like a funny guy but we got to talk about the sandbagger 15 sandbagger 15 you guys are 11 and 4 take us through this one man that was our pretty intense baby was that not one of i mean i we said it that night that golf match was out of this world justin williams as as i think we didn't even play it up enough that that's a stick that guy's a stick he hits it pure he putts it great i didn't even realize till i watched it through right the day

before it came out or whatever that they had about four putts dude that were dead center of the cup and then lipped out like we had no business re-watching that i think after five i'm like dude we should be five down so it was just so sick to see how clutch you were again bro you're just an absolute dog in these things i swear to god it's like 11 holes you suck three holes you're like okay and then four holes you just crush it like there's nothing they can do zero dark 30 baby zero dark 30 bitches um and listen so many people all right so like we we get we get comments where i'm 50 50 on getting comments from people that they like the lifelines and the pullback and the one club and then the other 50 hate it

so this one was crazy because both you and williams on the same hole on the make them redo shot sunk your redos that's fucking crazy so right then and there with that that's why we're doing them it creates those types of moments yeah i i agree it's funny it just at me we're goons playing golf like you're wearing a danbury trashers jersey a beautiful mcgregor downs but um you know some some like it some hate it which i think's great but i'm catching i can't tell you how much feedback of you didn't tell them that they could have called back business shot or you you didn't remind them excuse me buddy i've i've copy and pasted 50 responses to people i'll read it to you what i write back did i send you this in the dms you dm this back to them yeah this is what i texted keith i said people are dming your scum for not telling

that they forgot to call back business pot i've copied and pasted this response to many by your message i know you're not competitive and a born loser we play to win now you think that i'm gonna tell a team the rules prior to a match and then when they don't use it to their advantage remind them like what are we talking about here we're trying to win and in the in the video i say to biz i'm like biz i'm pretty sure they forgot because what they should have done what everyone's saying is they should have made biz putt that again on the 16th hole no they should have made you hit the five iron that you stuck to 30 feet from 200 yards and or the and or the leg putt to the hole so i

or the driver hole or or where i went fucking that was that was probably one of the most iconic moments in sandbagger history people were probably thinking it was the dumbest play in golf history to pull a driver out on a one club wall and buddy that chip i had from the side of the green i don't know how it ended up that close to the hall i gunned it you absolutely gunned it and then colesley shot got overshadowed by you he hit a great one from over there too what's funny is i think before the whole teed off i said i think eight might might win it or maybe i said i think seven will win because it was a long kind of a longer par five weird hole and everyone had par putts and you had five feet for birdie. So it was actually played decently, but yeah,

not telling them it's like, figure out the rules. And for me, it was fair because they hadn't, we had never made Cole redo a shot and Willie and I had already done a redo. So it was totally fair. Coles and you never had to redo one they forgot and we on purpose didn't make cole do anything because we knew they forgot about yours and that would have reminded them but cole we wouldn't have to make him do anything he didn't have one clutch shot i love coles though by the way his chirps throughout that oh i mean he starts off quick with the we're talking about the pineapple hindu, and he goes, oh, she'll thank you later for that one.

And then at one point, we make Williams repot, and he buries it, and he goes, these guys are morons. Overall, a great, great sandbagger. Actually, one of the videographers in the midst of it was a guy who works with Mr. Beast. So that was pretty cool to meet him and hear a little bit. Yeah, the biggest guy on YouTube right now. So it was pretty cool to meet him and hear a little bit yeah i want the biggest guy on youtube right now so it was pretty cool to meet them they did an excellent job people are raving about the production value and how it continues to increase so we got to thank all the guys pasha

uh who does most of the editing sean apuzzo who's been with us for probably around two maybe a little over two years he helped out with those ECHL videos that we did. He does a bunch of editing behind the scenes and videographer work. Elliot Fish, who edits a bunch of our stuff, including the podcast, and he cuts trailers as well. Or the vlogs, excuse me. Logan, I don't know his last name, G,

if you want to step in. So I just like snap around the thank yous because these are a big production. Yeah, I just know him as Logan. He's our guy, Logan. He does the tracing shots. He's our guy. Okay, Logan. Sorry, but we'll get your last name on the next one. But overall, the response has been great, guys. People are saying the best sandbagger we've ever done as far as competition, humor, and everything bouncing around. Thank you to Williams for getting us on the course and for allowing me to play in a Danbury Trashers jersey and sweatpants.

And if you want to check that out, go over and subscribe to our Spit and Chicklets YouTube channel. Over 250,000 people are already subscribed to that. You can check out all our behind-the-scenes vlogs. You can watch the podcast instead of listening to it if you want. And plenty of more content that we upload all the time on there. So thank you to everybody involved. And six in a row, Sandbagger 15.

People are talking now. It's 11 and 4. We have one coming up. We'll be doing one in Florida around the All-Star Game in Fort Lauderdale. And then we'll be doing one out at the Superbowl where we're going to be out in Scottsdale. I believe out there it's a, it's going to be a dozen live show and guys are dozens have been electric. No, we, we've produced some big time matches and getting two wins in a row

there. So everything's kind of coming up. Chicklets right now, you know, besides the elf on the shelf, it's like, I'm buzzing around. We're all crushing it. So I can't wait. So we'll have two more. I mean, imagine get to 13 and four people are scared. You know who I want.

And I'll even bump my handicap down. Charlie and tiger woods. They're getting all the screen time right now in the golf world. How about the fucking sandbaggers? I don't want, I don't want that smoke. Golf channel must have the blinders on. You don't think we could beat those guys. Come on. Imagine. I think I need, want that smoke. Golf Channel must have the blinders on. You don't think we could beat those guys?

Come on. Imagine pretending to be the old man that much. I'd probably need four and four, and you would need like 26 shots. So, you know, eight holes, you'd get two shots a hole. Maybe we'd have a chance. But, Biz, the other thing before we move on is, like, people calling out your handicap have no clue what they're talking about. Okay.

I don't watch the front nine. Did they not watch the front nine? Exactly. I played to a one biz gets 14 shots or sometimes I'll play to a zero. He actually, every single time shoots right around nine. Like, so that's 18 over par.

He's getting 14 shots. He got 16. This one. Cause I was getting two from Williams. Cause he's getting 14 shots he got 16 this one because i was getting two from williams because he's a plus two or plus one whatever so every time that you chirp and say biz is getting too many shots he's not it's he only plays golf he's played golf 15 times in four years it's the 15 sandbaggers he doesn't touch a club other than that. And half of the holes, he makes an X. I do have a membership at VGC, Victoria Golf Club out in BC. But I'm on an out-of-town membership. So when I was there this past summer, I played three rounds. I don't go to the driving range either.

So every 12 months, I would say I might play 10 rounds. No practice. So stop fucking telling me i'm a 10 or 12 but i will this one because williams was so good i bumped up to a 16 i'm normally a 14 where i'm not getting any shots on the par threes so i'm a 14 handicap stop calling me a fucking sandbagger we're the fucking champs whoever wants a piece of the pie come at me and come at us sandbagger, we're the fucking champs. Whoever wants a piece of the pie, come at me and come at us. Sandbagger 16. See you soon, bitches.

Congrats on another victory, boys. And just to piggyback on your nice response talk, thanks to everybody who responded to our Peter Forsberg interview last week. The tremendous feedback we got. Again, it was one of those pinch yourself moments sitting down with him on a Sunday morning, having a chat with one of the all-time great players, great Hall of Famer, and a funny guy too. So again, thanks to everybody who chimed in. We appreciate it and we're glad you liked it.

This Saturday, Biz, it's going to be New Year's Eve. Obviously, New Year, fucking Winter Classic coming up. But are you a resolution guy? What's your stance on that? Do you actually make them? Do you follow through on them? Yeah. No, I tend to usually make one.

This year, a little bit i want to get in better shape and you know i i did a good job of that one it's not common i'm not saying it's original but i i've done a good job in 2022 of going to see my trainer being more consistent with it watching what i eat um secondly do a like a lot more like a lot more like self-help stuff, like, you know, just figuring out direction and using my spare time wisely, doing more reading. And the other big one was just wait for it. Beat the nose face killer in a trickle cup. That is numeral uno. And that kind of goes hand in hand with getting in shape and being dedicated to my craft i don't know where you are right now cory i'm sure you're

listening you jock sniffer i'm gonna fucking bend you over no spit no lube sandpaper finish we haven't picked the location of the next chicklets cup but we're we're we have a few places selected right now we're checking out the venues. Whenever that is, you motherfucker, I'm going to rub your fucking nose in shit. I'm bringing home that championship. Enough! Enough with the nose-faced killer. It's time for the big deal selects

to lift the championship trophy. Gee, what about you? Do you do the resolution thing? Stick by it? I do. I do. I think this year, more than I ever have. I think my new year's resolution this year is to take more time for myself and learn to enjoy life a little bit more.

I think I, I think I spend way too much time like doing stuff for other people, for work, for my friends that it's just, it's negative, negatively affecting my mental health and in my physical health, most importantly. So hopefully in 2023, can start going to the gym more, can start eating healthier, because I feel like those are the things that if I take the time and do that, the mental health stuff will start to come. I want to travel more. So essentially, long story short, just taking more time, more Grinnelli time, I need more Grinnelli time for myself. Setting boundaries, as they say. Setting boundaries.

I need to set some boundaries. And to find a fucking Chicklets Cup location. I need to find a Chicklets Cup location for the next one. There you go. All right. What's yours? I'm really not much in the resolution game. I'm just like, I don't know.

It's weird to be beholden to a calendar. Like, oh, we're flipping a calendar. It's a new month. I got to start. I don't really do. But if I were to make a resolution, I would like would be I would I wish I could read more like I used to be a voracious reader. I could bang out a book in two, three nights and combination to get an old the Internet and, you know, being a stoner hasn't fucking helped me getting fucking all these books behind me read because my wife always picks on me. all these books behind me read because my wife always picks on me. She's like, what do you have read? Like three of them. But it's like, Hey, it just means there's like a Japanese term with a shelf of books. You haven't read it.

It's actually a positive thing because it's indicative that you do want to learn and you, and you're willing to, to learn. So ideally I'd bang out some of these books this year, but yeah, I don't really do the resolution thing too much. What about you? What do you got? I kind of couldn't agree more with RA where I'm trying. It's hard for me to say, yeah, all right, now it's switching off. Now I know it's normal to think, all right, new year, new me, Grinnelli time.

But I'm more looking at it lately. I think I've been doing a pretty good job in life of taking things day by day. And I've noticed being so much more present, especially as a dad, is so nice. And, you know, still definitely a work in progress. And I'd love to put the phone down a little bit. I think I average like three and a half, four hours a day looking at my screen. Some weeks, dude, you look, it's like, yeah, well, I know. I mean, obviously there's bigger than that, but it's still, you know, it's just like it's such a habit that I can't stand. But basically what I've said, you know, being present and and when I'm, you know, wrestling with the kids are playing, you know, knee hockey. It's like you're just doing what you're doing at the moment. Right. If you're driving with my wife in the car, you're not thinking thinking about everything else you're just kind of having a conversation like i said it's hard as shit sometimes to do but reminding me of myself

uh reminding me of doing that reminding myself of doing that excuse me has has has definitely been a a positive change in my life i'd say well have you hey would you ever try meditation i've done meditation i actually go in and out of it i get pretty good where i'll do like 15 days in a row and then i don't which people who truly meditate meditate, that's kind of pathetic. I think they would think like, Oh, you do it sometimes. I guess I noticed I do it and then I feel really good. And then I kind of stopped doing it. So yeah, I, I, that's something you got, I got to make more time for, but I mean, it's funny, like I don't work a regular nine to five job, but I stay really busy. I mean, it's just like having, having young

kids, you're chasing around, you're, you're doing stuff with them. All of a sudden the days are over. And so I wish I did. I did do that more often, but the other thing that's really helped me. And I, this is something that's got to improve too, is, is getting the calendar. I think me, you and G talk maybe a couple of months ago, we actually like planned out when all of our trips will be kind of six months in advance because i find myself if i know what's going on if i can look three weeks oh i have that in three weeks i can prepare for things better i can look forward to things i can understand when i gotta like get stuff done because in a month that's happening so just being more organized overall now mind you if you look at my office right now,

there's four pictures of my family I haven't hung up. There's a thing of cards I haven't signed from Upper Deck. There's a painting I haven't put up. There's four books because I haven't bought a bookshelf. So, you know, it's an absolute gong show in here, but at least I'm living moment by moment, boys. I'm not even stressed about the mess in my office. Go on, go on, man. Go on, go on. Yeah. I'm not even stressed about the mess in my office Too blessed to be stressed So the meditation and the Wim Hof breathing

I've tried that before too And I do enjoy that So the basement's going to be done in the next month I told you about what I have down there, right? Infrared sauna, cold tub cold tub baby yeah so i'm gonna be very very excited once everything's done to all of a sudden every day cold tub in the morning at night you go back and forth five minutes uh sauna five minutes cold tub that is the best thing i've ever done i've never felt better than when i'm doing um cold tub therapy

i don't even know the exact word for it. It just, my body feels like shit when I'm, when I got a ton of inflammation and it's gone. Once I take those cold tubs, it's a shitty four or five minutes, but when I'm able to just hop down there and do it, I'm going to be pretty,

pretty fired up. How small is your mind, body and soul? How small is your horn? When you come out of that thing, it's like a button on a fur coat. How about the horn pick? We didn't talk about that on my home my fake horn pick because yeah that's funny you mentioned my my yeah i'm packing an angry three inches like

hard as a rock so i mean i'm getting out of the cold tub it's just a little nub if i had a bush it's only it's only bush hair you can't even see the poor thing. So that picture that was snapped of I I don't even think those are really tight pants I have on. They're actually KJUS, K-J-U-S. No free ads, but this stuff's sick. And apparently they're tight enough that with a titleless golf ball in there, it looks like I have a nine inch pepper mill for a hog. And the picture went not viral, but all of a sudden it was getting a bunch of I said not a bad rumor it's not a bad picture to have Grunelli said he'd kill a small cat to have a picture like that

on the internet 100% he's gonna be hiring paparazzi outside of his apartment NYC to snap photos he's gonna have fucking an actual salt pepper in his fucking pocket I need it I need something right now boys the wet hug gee other youngest guy

of the crew. Do you still do New Year's Eve parties or are you fucking tap out of that shit just because of the fucking amateur night? I've been lucky and I've actually said this for the past couple of years to all my buddies. I never have to plan a New Year's party because we're always on the road for the Winter Classic. I'm always hanging out with you guys

for the Winter Classic. This year, it's nice to get to go back to Boston. I'm not going to go out clubbing or anything. I'm just going to have a nice dinner with my friends, I think. But yeah, I'm kind of over that scene, to be honest with you. All right. Yeah, I can't remember the last time I potty. Yeah, it's an overrated holiday. I think every year when we talk about this, I mentioned if you're you and your significant other talking about finding a good wedding date, There's no better day to get married than New Year's Eve, because for me, everyone's looking to do something. Nobody really has plans.

And then a wedding ends up being just an awesome event that everyone looks forward to going to because it's the one, it's the one night, you know, you're not, you're not ruining anyone's plans because nobody has any. So great idea. The best, one of the best wedding nights of the years is New Year's Eve. I've always said that. I, I want to go to the Bruins game that day. They have the Sabres at one o'clock. I'd love to go to that.

And then I'm going to head home. And I told you guys are welcome to come over. I know you guys get stuff going on. Hopefully Merle's to come over and maybe a couple of buddies and watch the bowl games and just hang out. I don't even know if I'll still be up at midnight. We got that live show the next day. And it's funny. We're wrapping this thing up here, but the next time we talk to you guys, it's going to be post live show. Cause we're going to drop on Wednesday that week instead of Tuesday. Cause we have the show on Monday night. So the next day we'll record, we'll go over all the, all the week's events. We'll have so much to chat about after everyone's here in Boston for four or five days. So it's, exciting time, as we say at this time of year. Count your blessings, and thank you guys for listening.

I don't know if you had anything else, all right? We'll see you at game on. Yeah, game on. That sounds like a deal. We can wrap it, yeah? All right, everybody. I had one more I'm looking for. Oh, so I found this interesting,

and you can't see me on the screen right now because I'm reading it off. No, we can see you. We can see you. Oh, okay. Trung Pham, he tweeted this one out. Over 3.5 billion Ferrero Rochers are sold every year. And 60% of these sales take place in the fourth quarter.

And then the guy who owns the Ferrero Rocher, it was invented by Michel Ferrero. What are Ferrero Rocher? Yeah, what the Michel Ferrero. What are Ferrero Rocher, Biz? What the fuck is that? What is being sold? Oh, you guys don't know it. Everybody listening knows what a Ferrero Rocher chocolate is. Besides two of the hosts.

Besides all three of the hosts. Everyone else knows. You don't know what a Ferrero Rocher is? The chocolates that have Nutella in them that have the nut that have Nutella in them that have the, what's the nut that's in the middle? And it's wrapped in gold and it's a ball.

Oh, I've seen the balls. Are they red and gold? Those are Lindettes. Those are Lindettes. No, they're not. They're Ferrero Rochers. They're the most famous fucking Christmas chocolate on the planet. There's 3.5 billion of them sold a year,

60% of them in the fourth quarter because of the holidays i need spelling i i i'm i want to see if i've seen i've seen these before biz but i gotta be honest i think you're over over hyping up the shit out of these ferrari fucking mind put a twitter poll up about how many people know what ferrara rushes are and i bet you it's 80 of people who read that know what they are and i think you might have us here i think i think we might be in the wrong but i i see these things fucking everywhere i just didn't know their names but i think you're gonna have i see them everywhere but in terms of the name i don't i think a million people are gonna be like us us once they see the picture. Oh, I know those. I didn't know they were called whatever, Ferrara Rochers.

There's a YouTube. I YouTubed them. It says how to pronounce the two words. This is not like a known thing, I don't think, the name of these motherfuckers. Well, anyway, the kid who took over the company, the father was the creator. He's the richest guy in all of Italy. So very interesting, fun fact about how a Christmas chocolate is making some guy billions and billions of dollars. Also, the creator of the Tic Tac.

So Trunk Fan, always some good nuggets online. Trunk Fan, guys, I think that's a three-time-a-year, two-time-a-year guest. The people love Trunk Fan. People are down with Trunk Fan. online fan guys i want i think that's a three time a year two time a year guest the people love trunk fan yeah we're down with trunk fan we need him back for some business stuff biz i didn't know you're gonna bring him up because we were gonna bury this but he tweeted out a thread the other day about the craziest stunts that tom cruise has ever done because tom cruise dropped a thank you video the other day for for the how much support that top

gun maverick got by the way i watched it for like the eighth time the other day. He's like, thanks for the support. He jumped out of a fucking plane like in the video, like, see you later. And he like he skydived off a fucking plane. And then he released another video the next day for the next Mission Impossible. He goes on a motorcycle off a fucking cliff like thousands feet high and base jumps. And he had to do the take like five fucking times. That that guy the ballsiest movie star in history man like i know buster keaton and chap and those guys would risk their life way back in the day but the stuff this guy does for entertainment man you can't discount how big of a star he is and i mean there's no one bigger man like look at the thread i'll retweet it through the stuff he did i

don't even know about some of them he's definitely tapped yeah he's a big star but anyways yeah check that thread out one quick recommendation if you're looking for a movie. I don't know if you saw it with Banshees of Inisharen. It's on HBO Max. The trailer looks so weird. It's definitely a unique movie. But did you see In Bruges with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson? No, I saw Ferrara Rocher.

Tremendous film directed and written by Martin McDonough. And he got the whole crew together this movie they filmed it on an island off the coast of ireland great fucking movie i've watched it a couple times already highly recommend it and uh yeah that's that's a recommendation we're looking for a movie to kill to get away from the relatives the next few days who's uh who's the donnie guy again the trainer donnie del negro baby jury high donnie del negro eating ferrero rushes during the holidays keep the the change, you filthy animals. And enjoy a happy new year.

Peace. Adios.