Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 436: Featuring National Champion Rand Pecknold

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

On Episode 436 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by Quinnipiac Bobcats Head Coach and National Champion, Rand Pecknold. Rand joined (01:27:06 - 02:19:30) fresh off capturing his program’s first national championship down in Tampa against Minnesota. The guys broke down his career, how he brought the program to the top of college hockey after starting as a d2 program and tons more. But first, Whit opens the show recapping his weekend at The Masters and the boys talk some NHL. The Wild Card is coming down to the wire, who gets in? Who doesn’t? Biz, Whit and RA broke it all down.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 436 of Spittin' Chicklets, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. We are headed into the last week of the season folks, playoffs just around the corner, can't wait, the good weather's here. Let's see what the boys have been up to since last week. Paul Paul, BizNasty, BizNet, let's go to you first. Fuck, what have I been doing? Jesus Christ, that's a great question. Well, we came off that insane road trip. What's that? Just getting ready for the offs.

The P-offs? The P-offs. It was a pretty crazy week there and then I finally got back on Tuesday night as we rev up for this FDNY NYPD broadcast and we're going to be talking about that as things gear up. We will have Wayno on the broadcast at some point. But they're just getting rest.

You mentioned it where we're heading into a big period of time here for us as a podcast. The next two and a half months are going to be a sprint, not a marathon folks. I leave, I actually leave, this comes out on Tuesday. So I'll be leaving this afternoon when this comes out and I will be gone for roughly about eight weeks. And it's going to be, I'm going to the quote unquote TNT bubble. We have our last broadcast of the season. And as we know with this playoff race and this wildcard race, we're going down to the wire. And I will be on the panel with Keith Yandel for that last show.

And then it's off to NYC for that broadcast we got on Saturday night. And then on Sunday after we record Spit and Chicklets, cause we will be going to two a week dropping on Mondays and Thursdays, keep the change. It's right back off to Atlanta and that's where I'll be there for that long stretch.

It's going to be playoff hockey. I would describe round one and two as kind of like the first couple days of the tournament, of the March Madness, right? That's hockey's version of the March Madness. So I am geared up, I have the energy stored, and I'm ready to go. So nothing really that exciting in my personal life, RA, other than getting some sun, the pan's looking good, and a lot of hiking. I got to see Lloyd, my boy, this weekend.

So it was good. It was a good weekend. Conserving energy. We've got a busy stretch of games coming up, so we'll see what happens with those. The Whit Dog, Ray, Whitney, you were down south last weekend, were you not? I was down south. I was walking around the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club on Friday for the second round. We got super lucky weather-wise.

So myself and three buddies, we flew down. We have a good friend that lives in Savannah. Played 36 holes on Thursday at his tracks, which was great. Everyone caught a nice buzz. You know, Wednesday we landed a little later, had a nice dinner with the fellas, wake up pretty early to play a lot of golf that day. So by the end of the first 18, we've had a couple, we're feeling great. Well, my buddy lost his golf cart, so he couldn't find that. So that's how interesting the first 18 when he says, I always park it right here. It turns out it was a little bit down the road at a different spot. So then we shot over to another course that has a corn fairy event actually played there. Beautiful spot. I'd never been to savannah amazing town um that same buddy that night a little scary we're at dinner having a grand old time tons of laughs good stories going around all of a sudden

it's like and my buddy said yeah you're fucking around like he's choking he wasn't choking man this guy full-on choking whole restaurant's pan panicking. It was actually the scariest moment of my life. Like your heart stops and he coughed up a big old piece of steak. I said, how did you think you were going to get that down your gullet by? You got to chew your food. But it was an overall amazing experience. And then the next morning we woke up pretty early to head to Augusta. It's about two hours and 15 minutes from Savannah.

And waking up early sucks. You get up at 5.30, 6 a.m. It always stinks. Now, I think golfers will know what I'm talking about, and maybe fishermen, people who enjoy fishing. When you're getting up to do that, what you love, I don't mind waking up at 6 a.m. to go play golf. I'm fired up. I'm ready to go. But when I have to wake up at 6 a.m. to do something that I don't mind waking up at 6 a.m. to go play golf. I'm fired up. I'm ready to go. But when I have to wake up at 6 a.m. to do something that I don't want to do, it sucks. You're so much more comfortable in bed. Well, waking up early to go to the Masters, it's a feeling like no other. Like the excitement I had, I went Christmas 2017 and just going back, it's the best place in the world. It's the best place I've ever been. It's just amazing how they do things. I know I talked about it years ago on there, but we got in there and all week Friday looked like bad weather. And we saw forecasts that said at noon, thunderstorms and rain was coming. merch tent. The merch tent or the merch shop, they do a million bucks an hour that week.

10 million a day they do. And it's amazing. I don't know how many employees they have there, but everything's perfectly in perfect spots and they roll you right through. There isn't really much of a line, even though it feels like there's thousands of people in there. And then immediately you walk out of there and just to the left, you can go over to a UPS hut and you just ship all your merch home. Come on. It's just, they have it all. I'll tell you right now, if whoever runs Augusta National, the Masters, I guess it is Augusta National. If they took over the U.S. government,

our country would be buzzing left and right in two days. They just have it figured out. Well, the weather ended up being great till about 4.30 when they had to call it because of thunderstorms. But we got more than we could have barg figured out. Well, the weather ended up being great till about 4.30 when they had to call it because of thunderstorms, but we got more than we could have bargained for. We walked the whole front nine, then sat on Amen Corner right behind 12. And I don't know if you guys saw, I think everyone saw that there was two trees that fell over. A bunch of these trees, this club is like Disney World. They bring in grown trees from California and they plant them. So

maybe these two trees weren't planted correctly because the wind was bad, but it wasn't crazy. Buddy, these two trees fell. And as they started making the noise of being uprooted, everyone started panicking and running away. This one woman, buddy, she froze, froze in the spot. One landed directly left of her and one landed directly right of her. It was straight out of a cartoon. It was like when you can't get the Wile E. Coyote, right? Was that the guy that they could never get, R.A.? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was road runner Wile E. Coyote.

Wile E. Coyote got owned, right? This woman was the road runner. It was just impossible. So just an unbelievable day and experience. Had a great time. We stood, so we were behind 12. And the, I guess guess i don't know how you word it but what what the deal is there is you put chairs down whenever you get in wherever

you put chairs as long as you're not in those seats anyone can sit there but when you come back you say hey these are my seats and people get up it's very you know it's just gentlemen gentlemen and gentlewomen walking around the grounds of Augusta National so there was four seats right second row behind the 12th tee which is the most famous par three in golf so we sat there for about an hour and a half watched like six seven groups come through they were in threesomes we're betting on who's going to hit the green close to the pin it was a great time we see Tigers on 11 before he you know this is when he still could somewhat walk before he had to withdraw he's on 11 he hits his second shot in we get the seats of a lifetime to watch Tiger

hit the greatest shot in golf horn goes off it wasn't even a tap biz it was the weather horn so we didn't get to get I thought Richard would be like hey get out of my seats I want to watch Tiger come in for you know I thought itertrude would be like, hey, get out of my seats. I want to watch Tiger come in for...

You know, I thought it was going to be one of those. Spalding from Augusta. Excuse me, sir. But no, it was a great weekend. And also was able to get home in time Saturday, watch the national title game. My boys at BU got trouts, but they're on to bigger and better things.

Jay Pandolfo crushed it this year. And I honestly am super... I love my job. I've made it very clear. But there's nothing like the excitement in doing what we do. And this is for us as podcast hosts, it's for the guys at TNT, Biz is the double threat, and then it's the guys at NHL Network. Anyone involved in hockey as fans and media and players, this is crack cocaine right now. Yeah, oh yeah. I have this jump in my step. Hope springs eternal in terms of it's playoff time, boys, so I'm ready to rock and roll.

Tell the old lady, don't talk to me for 10 weeks. You got the kids. I told her, I said, I'm sleeping in every goddamn day. She said, no, you're not. I said, okay. Hey, but going back to you talking about the merch so i'm sure that you saw this on twitter this joe pompliano yeah that's the story i read he's great him and shrung yang or chung fang is our choice oh buddy this thread he's got on the

masters and you joked about them running the u.s government it goes to list all this stuff about how they've purchased the real estate around Augusta and what they've turned it into. So as far as running that as a business, that is, they got a dialed in program, man. And in that thread on Twitter, it talks about, you can't get the merch unless you buy it from Augusta or somebody buys it and then sells it on, you know, the secondary market and the prices are outrageous. They could sell their stuff online. And he thinks, I think he said, they're probably giving up around $250 million annually in terms of what they, he thinks they could make in terms of just selling their merch, but they don't even care. They don't need it.

I feel like they're like the world's smartest carnies. I would compare it because the business model they have have like you go in there how quick they're running you in and out they showed up well you're not playing augusta ever you just called the members of carny folk i don't think i was ever getting on either do i oh so i've never had any chance i just ruined it did you ever read that text that one of your buddies got about larry david comments. We have, okay. I feel like I should read every year that the Masters happened on our podcast. Maybe Grinnelli could go back to the clip and replay it.

Yeah, we'll figure it out. I probably ran into roughly, and my buddies would confirm, I'd say 25, 30 people there or groups of guys kind of stopped me, you know, Chiklitz fans, and we got to shoot the shit and like a lot of them were like you ever play here i'm like what and then he's like you ever think you're gonna play here i'm like nope but one guy working there he's like wait he bombs up to me in a golf cart like walking away from uh we were kind of behind 16 up at a concession stand and he's like hey what you want a water i was like no can you get me on the course he's like no so i don't think that one's gonna happen but um yeah it's just it's a special place it's really cool last thing so i'm sitting i sit next to a guy on the flight home

and we we got to chatting we actually had one of those flights where we talked the entire time it felt like the flight was two minutes long it was great and. And usually I'm an AirPods guy and I had a nice little buzz going and we had a good conversation. He's a golfer. So he's played Augusta. He's played it three times. And he made a fucking eagle on the 14th hole. He told me. And now I said, I don't know if should I believe this guy? I don't know if this is true. Nope. He was on foreplay. Somebody called in and told the entire story. And the story's a little bit sad, but it's also kind of interesting. He got a hole, he got an eagle on the 14th hole. He dunked it on his second shot and he finishes his round. And once he's able to call his wife, he called his wife and kind of explained it to her really quick. And there's no phones on the course. So he hadn't heard from her all day. kind of explained it to her really quick and there's no phones on the course so he hadn't heard from her all day well he'd had a bunch of missed calls and unfortunately as he told her this amazing news she said i'm so sorry honey but i have to tell you your brother passed away he had a heart attack today just kind of a horrifying story in a sense well he passed away at 10 30

in the morning and that guy he got the fucking deuce around 10 30 in the morning no or that's and it and yeah and it turned out it was basically the same exact time as he made this like amazing shot now he obviously said to me like it doesn't even matter my brother passed away it was horrible but it was just something about like the timing of it and he was close to him so it was it was a great plane ride i know it went a little dark there but it was still uh a good conversation with a good man so go ahead i've taken all the i think no no no i think you just stopped us in our tracks there a little bit can you give i know i know i was like ah fuck i don't know if this is necessarily going where i hope but still no i'm all you got the eagle did you have any of those cheap sandwiches the pimento cheese ones or any

of the other ones i'm not a pimento cheese guy i had a chicken salad a little bit of mayo for my liking and then i had one of those uh pork barbecue sandwiches they're like a buck 50 i've mentioned the merch stays real cheap there considering they're making a million dollars an hour or the food stays real cheap considering the merch is bringing in well and the amount of tweets we got about uh the heckler and happy gilmore you being him to brooks kepka i couldn't get him he was out early friday i missed him but he ended up choking it away we'll talk about that later i have some more things to explain about that the funniest part about buying the merch was they're like walmart where they put all like the unnecessary

stuff right near the checkout line just to grab on the way out even though you don't need it ned neddy's finished him up he's grabbing a toiletry bag he grabbed a license plate holder he was just like he was just rummaging through the merch tent so it was a it was a fun experience how many dates were you in savannah with uh we got there wednesday night thursday night friday night beautiful little town reminded me of charlest, but even a little bit smaller. Good restaurants. Awesome, awesome place. Yeah, the St. Paddy's Day is wild. It makes Salty look like a fucking tea party if you get a chance to go to that. Yeah, it's insane.

You went there specifically for St. Paddy's Day one year? It was a bachelor party. It was a small one. There was only like four of us. We went down that weekend. Yeah, it's huge. It's crazy. They let only like four of us. We went down that weekend. Yeah, it's huge. It's crazy. Like, they let you drink on the street.

Boston kind of does, but you got to sneak it. But they let you walk all around, drinks in your hand. They don't bother you. But once the bar's shut down, they get you the fuck out of there. Like, you don't wait or at all. They'll arrest you if you're not out of there after the bar's closed. But great little town, though, either way. Ladies are good, too?

Down south, of course. We saw some pretty southern gals, no doubt. Yeah. All right, producer Mikey G, you were down in Tampa with Merles and I. How'd that weekend go for you, buddy? Game notes in Tampa was a great success. What an unbelievable city. I can't believe I thought Columbus was a top five city after going to Toronto.

I mean, going to Tampa. That's a Rick and say shot at the Blue Jackets nation. I know. I cashed my Quinnipiac ticket. I got to meet tons of college hockey fans. And I actually didn't even realize how much of an annual guy's trip the Frozen Four is. Outside of the four main teams that were there, we met so many people that were like, I've been coming down here for 10 years with all my buddies. I've been coming down here for 15 years with all my buddies. I've been coming down here for 15 years with all my buddies. So it was definitely cool talking to all of them and getting to meet them. And Frozen 4 is in Las Vegas in 2026.

So that's going to be absolutely bananas. Maybe Chicklets makes it out there. When you said that they come down, had it always been in Tampa like every year? No, different city every year. No, they travel to wherever it is. Okay. They'll pop over. Next year, it's in St. Paul. The year after that it's in St. Louis. And then 2026 is

in Las Vegas. Wow. I mean, it was great for you guys to be there. Shout out yourself, Merle's, and Army for representing Game Notes. I know you guys got some interviews that look to be fantastic. And I guess this, before we get into the hockey news, and there's so much to talk about, it's probably a good time to announce that starting in the playoffs, we're going to be having a daily Chicklets Game Notes show starting at noon each day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. R.A. will be on, Biz will be on, I'll be on whenever we can be to recap the night before NHL playoff action and to give some picks for that evening. We know the first two rounds, the first month of playoffs, you got at least two, if not three, four games a

night. So plenty to talk about. We got two shows a week and those guys got 30, 45 minutes, maybe an hour show every day. So the content's ramping up. We love Merle's. We love Army. Gee, you're doing a great job. And Chicklets Game Notes, I think is going to be a leader in terms of continuing to grow the college hockey game. All you guys in Canada, we have a special guest today is Ran Pecknold, who's the head coach of Quinnipiac. They just took it down. And I know you're big into junior. You got the OHL, the Quebec League, no fighting, and the WHL. But college hockey's growing here. And this interview is amazing. So definitely give it a chance, because we had an unreal conversation with this guy. So a lot of exciting things coming down

the pipeline for Chicklets, baby. And that show, you can listen to that daily show on our YouTube channel. You can find it, watch it every day, Monday through Friday on the Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel. Before we go any further, you know what I'm here for. And that's to bring up my love and passion. New Amsterdam Vodka's own Pink Whitney. It's got my name on it. It's incredible. The feedback, the amount of people that drink it, the amount of people that enjoy life when Pink Whitney's in the mix. And if you haven't tasted it, please go out and grab a bottle.

You'll enjoy life. You'll have fun with the people you drink it with. It tastes phenomenal. You catch a nice buzz. And at the end, you just get to get another bottle the next night. That's how this works. We have people sending us pictures of hundreds of empty bottles around their apartments, dorm rooms packed with Pink Whitney, nips being brought into sporting events. It's the best drink you can drink. It's the best drink for winter. It's the best drink for summer. It's the best drink on a golf course. It's the best drink on a boat. It doesn't matter where you are. The taste, the smoothness, and the color all combine into one to make a powerful drink that brings you smiles and brings you joy. Without New Amsterdam, we don't

exist. Without New Amsterdam, Pink Whitney doesn't exist. And thank you so much for supporting our brand and buying that drink and catching a buzz while laughing with the fellas or the ladies, because we know the ladies love the Pink Wit. Maybe not me when I'm pink from in the sun, but they love the drink. So thank you to New Amsterdam. Back to the podcast. So who did you guys interview when you guys were down in Tampa, G? So first we interviewed Ben Barr, which is the UMaine head coach. He coached Kale McCarr at UMass. He coached at Providence. He coached at Union. So that was a really good conversation. He's a young up and coming coach that I really think it's going to change that UMaine program. Also,

he really gave us some good insight into what's going on with NIL and what's going on with having to pay these players and all these new Big Ten schools. And then it was actually pretty cool. So we went out to lunch one day. We went and grabbed some just some food in the water there. And me and Merle's were sitting by the water and Colby Cohen came and met us for a drink or two. And Merle's looks at the there's a big yacht in the harbor there and we were kind of just like fuck it would be so awesome if we could just like go do the interview on this yacht right now we could just interview colby cohen because we were having a really good hot stove so i just went

walked to the bathroom and then after the bathroom just walked right down walked over the yacht some guy walked out and i was like hey man like he was from australia i was like any chance we could you know record an interview on your yacht like we do this hockey podcast i know it sounds crazy but you know i'll throw you guys some money like it we have a big instagram following and he's like what's it called and i'm like spitting chiclets he calls back home to australia apparently like his daughter's a fan he knew follows the Instagram he lets us on the yacht we record an interview no call it that was that was the video of Colby lathering himself with uh with sunscreen because yeah when I set them up in the spot they had to sit Colby was not pleased that I put him in the sun I'm he's like I'm gonna burn I'm gonna melt I'm like this is the only

place we can go I'm sorry he's in lobster mode actually'm going to burn. I'm going to melt. I'm like, this is the only place we can go. I'm sorry. He's in lobster mode. Actually, the NHL is kicking off the season next year in Australia. So that would be a cool place to kick off. Well, it's nice to know that we got fans there. That's for sure. That would be an unreal roadie. Ah, gee, did you run into one of my college buddies down there as well? A little FaceTime action?

I did while we were at Hat-Trix. Shout out to Hat-Trix also. I truly believe that is one of the best hockey bars in the country. Unbelievable wings. They had the big deals flowing. Waitresses, gorgeous. I know. I saw one.

Yeah, I ran into a couple of R.A.'s college buddies. It was pretty cool. Jeez, what'd they say? I know. I thought you were getting some dirt on me. I cannot believe R.A. is in the position he is in now. I'll tell you that much. What do you say to that, R.A.?

Yeah, it sounds about right i mean i was you know i was a goofball i was actually a pretty good student but you know i wasn't like hitting the ground running when i graduated so what was your best subject ra what was the one that you're the most dialed into history um god anatomy yeah journalism media intro to journalism was an easy class mass media that type of Like, basically what I kind of ended up doing fucking 35 years later, but it worked anyways. Also, G, we got to talk about the Battle of the Badge documentary that we released this week, showing that an incredible job.

You guys all put it together. If you haven't checked it out, go to our YouTube page. Just a phenomenal thing. How long did that take to put together, G, the whole thing? So that is something that we started putting together about two years ago. I think we've been filming now for about nine months, uh, in total, really a year and a half, but we've been filming for about nine months straight. So shout out to Sean Apuzzo, Mike McQuaid, Trent Trishiskin, uh, Elliot Fish, everyone that worked on this. It's

a product that really came out amazing. And for those of you who are going to be paying attention to the broadcast, it's a great thing to watch to give you the history of the game all the storylines going in it's a 45 minute on our spit and chicklets youtube channel so you guys have what just just under a week to watch it to get an understanding as to to what the 49th anniversary of this game means and that'll be played at ubs arena april 15th and we're going. And we're going to be, we're going to be broadcasting the whole thing. Like that's like the one massive component to all this G and it maybe give a few more details as where they can watch the broadcast.

Who's going to be on the broadcast. Yeah. So coverage starts at 4.15. You can watch on barstool.tv or the Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel. We got Colby. We got Merle's. We got biz, biz on the call. We got Jake Marsh on the call. We got wit in between the glass. We got RA. We got Rico Bosco. We have barstool,

big cat. And as, as biz said, I think Wayne Gretzky might be calling into the broadcast. So the stars will all be aligned at UBS arena come Saturday at four 15. What time does the game start? The puck drop is at 5 p.m. Perfect. And there's no hockey. I'm flying Friday, staying at the Garden City Hotel Biz. You remember staying there playing out? It's a great little hotel we'll be at. No, we would

stay at that Marriott right next to the old. Oh yeah, you're on the Coyotes. It's a trash organization. No offense, Arizona. Hope you get the arena. But the Garden City Hotel where we're staying is a beaut. It's a beaut. And I'm going to be there Friday night getting ready. I need my notes. All these in-between-the-benches guys, they get their lineups. They get what firehouse they're in, what police precinct they're in.

So I'm going to need all that sent over my way. I got to get my homework. Is this the first time you've ever done between the benches with? Yes, it is. I did color commentating for one game for BU Hockey before the podcast started after I retired. And then they gassed me. I don't remember exactly what the story was. I probably sucked at it, to be quite honest with you. But yeah, this is my first time.

Just letting it fly. I've always said the coolest job in broadcasting is between the benches. Like Keith Jones is unreal at it. Armory does a good job for some pens games. So I'm very excited to be that guy because I just want to be right down at ice level hearing the chirps and seeing the fire and emotion between the guys. Yeah, it's our first ever Spit and Chicklets broadcast where I think, what, Merle's is going to be interviewing guys

outside the room. So it's going to be an absolute gong show. We're going to have fun and we're going to call it, you know, the authentic way that we would do it. So I'm looking forward. R.A., what's your role again?

Are you going in the crowd and kind of getting the pulse of what's going on out there? I believe I am a roving reporter, I've been told. I'll be bouncing around, talking to people, interviewing them. So looking forward to that.

All right, we're live with R.A. here in the crowd. He's like, chugging balls with all the fans. He's in the wife section. He's trying to hand a cough, a shroom. He gets arrested. Oh, we lost R.A. It is fun, though. I mean, when you're a little kid, you pretend you're announcing the game.

And we're adults, and we get to do this whole production, man. It's going to be wild. I can't wait to do it. So I'm looking forward to it. And there's no hockey on Saturday night. NHL is season. Yes. College is done.

So if you want to watch some hockey, barstool.tv or our YouTube channel. Correct, right, Mike? That is correct. All right. Moving on to the pucks. Unless you had anything more for us, Biz, from your adventure? No, I think that was a great little discussion. We got the Masters in.

We got the broadcast. We got the Masters in. We got the broadcast. We got the college hockey. Did we mention our guests coming up? I think you might have touched on it. Yeah, I brought them up. I did have one pathetic moment as a human. I'll just bring this up quickly. Sunday, we started a little bit of a family tradition where my wife's uncle, but he's like my age.

It's kind of a long story. He rented ice. He has two kids who play hockey. Ryder's been playing. There's some other kids in the family that play. So we rented ice Easter morning. So 9 to 11 at Thayer Academy's rink where I played high school hockey. And in the rink, they have banners for the Olympians at Thayer.

So they got Tony Amante. They got Jeremy Roenick. They got Dave Silk, 1980. They got Brooks Orpik, myself, 2010, and then Orpik again in 2014. Well, I figured they might look up and see the banner. Well, nobody says a word to me. And I couldn't just not say anything. It's kind of pathetic. I was like, hey guys, you see my banner? So I just kind of pumped my own tires. I felt a little pathetic after. I was hoping one of them saw it. I didn't have to toot my own horn and say, hey guys, see my banner? Ryder, will you stand underneath

and pose for a picture? So I did do that. It was a little low, but I had to admit it before we got into the NHL talk. Was that Ryder I saw in the video flying around out there? No. No. Ryder's going to have to do a power skating camp at some point here. Get him Nancy Gruel. Fly her in from Canada.

I don't want her to get beaten by her. She used to just throw you in the back of the line. He's not a great listener. Oh, then he ain't going to be. Look at his old man. He won't be retrieving pucks like old busy boy here going back. Head fake. Like a fucking Lidstrom.

Minor league Lidstrom. Well, boys, one of the most entertaining NHL regular seasons in years, I'd say, comes to a close this Friday. We still have three playoff spots we're going to fill up. There's only one definite series we know about, Tampa and Toronto. Also, we had one of the most entertaining Saturdays. This past Saturday was the first time all the teams played 16 games, 32 teams. Awesome stuff.

Started at 1230, went to about 1 o'clock in the morning, a whole 13 hours of hockey. And in the East right now, Florida, man, they're hot as hell. Them and the Islanders are the current two wildcard teams. Both have 91 points. The Pens are right behind them at 90. And honestly, Big Walt, ever since he called out the Panthers, called them soft, 6-0 since then, outscored the opposition 26-9.

And this undrafted, Yale-educated, 30-year-old goalie, Alex Lyon, has been a key part of all of it. He was a net for all six of those games, allowed just nine goals, earned the shutout, made 56 saves in the window of the Senators, and almost half of his career stats have been this year. What a great story this has been, Biz. I mean, this kid comes out of nowhere. Journeyman, I don't think that's a bad term to say, but what a fucking streak this kid's on. I mean, we saw it earlier in the year with Phoenix Copley and what he did for LA when they were struggling in net. what's the thing we've we've referenced over and over at one point we probably thought Bobrovsky could maybe figure it out making the money that he's making and if not Spencer Knight

would figure it out because we've been hearing about him coming up all these years and he's even making fair money all of a sudden this kid gives them hope and gives them life especially late in the season going back to to Walt though and really what the Kachuks probably the the most entertaining family in hockey right now I would say especially going back to last week when we talked about him going on Toronto radio and making the comments that he did and then fast forward to when they end up meeting I want to say it was Tuesday after we ended up recording when Ottawa was down Thursday I think wasn't it oh was it Thursday Thursday night was crazy they had the Rangers lightning action too it was Tuesday after we ended up recording when Ottawa was down. It was Thursday, I think, wasn't it? Oh, was it Thursday? Thursday night was crazy.

They had the Rangers lightning action too. It was a good night. So all of a sudden this goaltender has given them life, and I would imagine they're going to ride this wave into playoffs because I do believe they are going to make playoffs. They have everything else kicking on top of Kachuk, who in the next game ends up getting his 40th goal. But going back to that Ottawa game, they've been everything but playing like pussies and being soft.

It was actual pandemonium. And then Brady ends up getting the door, and the next thing they got the camera on the box with, and then you see Walt, and then Brady's in the box there with him. So it's like the Truman Show where it was all scripted, and this is just the chaos the Kachuk family has caused. It was amazing, and it kind of all started the madness because talking about Lyon and how good he's been,

well, Ottawa was kind of running at him a little bit. They were down 4-1, and they bumped into him a few times. Finally, of course, Brady, he just bumps into him once more trying to bang home a rebound, and all hell broke loose. He squared off with, no, I'm sorry. What happened? Kachuk ended up fighting Mark Stahl after Brady fought, who did he, did Kachuk fight Batherson and Brady fought Mark Stahl?

I'm messing up all the guys because there was so much action, but it was all about kind of protecting Lyon and what he's done. And Ari, I'll say it, I had heard before he came in, don't expect much. Talking to some people, I don't know how good this kid is. So I think this run, I don't want to say it's come out of nowhere, but he's found lightning in a bottle. And he right now is basically the reason why Florida's the second hottest team in the NHL because we'll get to the Oilers later.

Holy shit. But Florida looks unbelievable right now. And after this season, and I've been so hard on them, and I understand that there was trade talks and all the fans don't like me for what I've said and all the trades that went down. It's been such a crazy year, but they've figured things out at the right time. And we talked before about LA on that run, getting in barely at the end and dummying everyone. I don't necessarily think the Panthers can win the Stanley Cup, but I'm not dying to play them if they sneak in here. Because when you're riding that wave right into the first round, it's a scary, scary subject for the team who's kind of been preparing for the playoffs a lot longer and maybe not playing for as much. So I think it's very exciting.

And in terms of Ottawa, it's kind of the book on their season in terms of us talking about them. They didn't get there this year, but the Senators are back. I know not being in the playoffs, you can't really say they're back completely, but they got a lot going on there. And Brady's the main reason because of it. So I think with getting Norris back next season, these guys getting a year older. I think Ottawa next year, if not getting into playoffs, they're really going to compete. And they showed a lot of balls all season. So Brady and McEachuk, you said it. They're the most entertaining family in hockey. Them and the Hughes. Now we got Luke Hughes with the Devils as well. So it was a great game. And Florida right now,

they look like a dangerous squad. And R.A., as far as the goaltender is concerned, sometimes it's better to be naive than good because I feel like he's just riding this wave and he's playing with the house's money where he's the guy. He's getting the net. The boys are confident in him. And going back to Kachuk in that game against Washington, they're tied going into the third period. And essentially for all three teams going for those two wildcard spots, you got to win out. And they're tied going in there. hey i know it wasn't pretty and it was from the half wall but every time they needed a big goal or a big play all season long who's been there for him matthew kachuk i think i think outside of connor mcdavid

he should be top three nominee for for mvp this season and we'll get to fucking the islanders and their mvp are we are we just going to talk all wildcard here? Yeah, we'll do a little East wildcard action, then we'll step over to the West. But there's only two players this year, Biz, who have 100-plus penalty minutes and 75-plus points. It's the Kachuk brothers. Only two players in the league who have those numbers.

Once again, when we talk about the physicality in hockey becoming less and less, all you kids out there, there will be a spot for you if you can play and be an absolute shit disturber. They'll go anywhere, they'll fight anyone, and they'll do anything it takes to win. So all the skill and all the fancy dancy moves that people want to do now, the Instagram skill, just never forget that hockey is going to need guys like the Kachuks. Take away how good and how actually skilled they are and just look at how they play shift by shift, grinding away, being so annoying and so dirty to play against

will always give you a job in the NHL if you're good enough. And it's not even the fighting either. It's not even the fighting either. It's just the physicality and the, I guess the, you don't even know what the fuck. Dragon guys into the battle. Well, and they don't even know what the fuck they're going to do as opponents. Like they're kind of wild cards in that aspect. So all of a sudden the room you create yourself out there, especially around the blue paint.

That's why, hey, 40 on the year for Matthew Kachuk, man. That's mighty impressive. Everybody thought getting away from Goudreau, he wasn't going to be able to repeat. Goudreau and Lindholm, excuse me. No, he did. And they have two more games left on the season versus Toronto and Carolina. See if they end up in the wildcard. The other wildcard team, we just said the Islanders, they've won seven of 11. They've gotten points in eight of those games. I mean, Sorokin, this guy's been unbelievable. He's got 30 wins and six of those wins are shutouts. So 20% of his wins have been shutouts. 9-2-5 save percentage, 233 goals against.

We're also going to talk about Brock Nelson. He's had an unreal year, 34 goals, 39 assists. And how about Bo Hove at? They hit the human after the game the other night. He took a, gee, want to roll it? Two more regular season games, one more here at UBS Arena. How does this rank for you in playoff pushes the excitement of this building and the fans involvement over the last couple of games

yeah i mean it's been unbelievable it's a lot better than vancouver i'll tell you that for free thanks bro thank you guys well he knows what his zip code is going to be for the next eight years so why not i mean it was kind of come out of nowhere. Not even a ricochet shot, a direct shot. But Monday, he did say he got caught up in the moment. He made no disrespect to the Canucks or other fans. Was just very excited to be part of this playoff push. And I'm assuming you've been to this place in Vancouver.

Is it the Penthouse? Is that a restaurant of some sort? We actually filmed part owner. No, we filmed part of that Watson glove commercial there. You could tell the minute he said it, though, right out of his mouth, he's like, oh, God. The crowd went nuts with it. Like the Larry David music cue and then all the social media outbursts from everybody who's very rational online from Vancouver, Burdaby, and Surrey and the surrounding areas. I actually did take it as total excitement in terms of the run that they've been on. I think they got points in 8 of 11, and they've won 7 of them,

whatever you just said, R.A. But it's more about you just win this huge game. You went from a place that had no chance to be in the playoffs, and then you say it. I don't think he meant it as it came off, which is what he but yeah like Biz says obviously the people of Vancouver I mean what do you think they're gonna do they're gonna flip right out so I I more I more so look at it like I'm so happy I'm signed somewhere where we're competing they're not necessarily in yet I think they'll be one of the teams but it's just like oh my god to play playoff hockey going coming from where i did where we

knew there was no chance it's just such a a lift in your spirits and then right after a game you catch a guy that's why they pretty much make the media wait about 15 minutes to come in the locker room to give guys the the cool the the cool down moment so he that's right after the win on the ice and he says it and business right right away he's like oh fuck we might as well talk sorokin and and i'm not trying to you know create conversation and get you worked up but as who said it first biz what oh you did the best goddamn goalie in new york but but going back to the mvp if you take connor mcdavid out of the oilers lineup they're making playoffs we can all agree on that right they're still i agree but i don't think many people will.

They got how many guys who have 10-plus goals in their forward group? They got another superstar who's probably second-best player in the league in Leon Dreisaitl. Now they got the goaltending. You can't argue with me on this one. You have to have my back in the fact. No, I do, I do.

I think people probably like, oh, McDavid's the whole squad. He's you take if you take sorokin out of the islanders lineup there's not a chicken dicks chance there in the playoffs it goes back to the year that taylor hall ended up winning it for new jersey they were without him in the lineup he was there's no way they were making playoffs so i would say that this year, after 82 games, Sorokin is the true MVP in a sense of what he means to his team. Give it to Conor McDavid just because of how much superior he is better, and I get that he's going to win it. But if we're talking about how those, you remember I said those three other guys, I would say Kachuk is one of them. But Sorokin is the leader of the pack.

He's easily winning the Vezina. But he is the guy that if you, what do you mean? You think Allmark is more valuable and a better. And Halibut's got a pretty good argument too. Guys, come on here. It's the best race for a postseason award. It's the best race for a postseason award easily. And you could chime in with your argument for Linus Allmark,

but if you take Linus out of the lineup, I still think that the Bes easily hit 50 wins. It's not even a question. But only because you said Vesna, not hot. I mean, I can't see how Olmark doesn't win the Vesna this year. If you're leading in both, he's currently leading in both categories. Is he still doing that or is it not the same percentage anymore?

I could give a quick look-see here. I know it was wins in save percentage i know biz it's tough i i it's it's hard because i like you're it's also a like a contributing factor as to the way that they how many limited chances they allow and well all the underlying numbers like you're looking at the ones like for goals against average and uh and uh save percentage totally understandable but i think that there's more stats that you'd need to look at as far as how many chances they're giving up in the slot. What his save percentage is when they're on the penalty kill. Other things that matter as far as

to actual winning them games. So right now, Allmark is still the leader in goals against with 1.89 and in save percentage with 9.38. To go with Biz's argument, Jeremy Swayman's third in the league with GAA with 2.22, and he's fourth in the league with save percentage. So that kind of shows that maybe without Allmark and Swayman being the guy, the Bruins are in a very similar spot. That is tough. It's like, I don't know. Basically what I'm saying is if they had David Ayers and Nett, then I think that he would finish top 10 in both categories. Also 39-6-1. That's a pretty sick record as well for

Olmoc. I don't know. I'll be shocked if he doesn't win it, I guess. And not to mention, talking MVP, Eric Carlson, it's out of this planet. And San Jose, there's MVP, Eric Carlson. It's out of this planet. And San Jose, there's not much to talk about. He's going to be the first defenseman with 100 points since 1991-92. Didn't Roman Yossi hit it last year? Leach. What?

Didn't Roman Yossi hit 100 points last year? No, he just missed. He just missed last year. So Carlson, check out his assist on the second San Jose goal against Colorado this past week. One of the most nasty one-on-one beat-the-whole-team assists you'll see this season. So just another guy to kind of—their team's so bad that I don't think he's in the MVP Final Three. I don't think, but he has been just out of this world. Yossi had 96 points last year, Biz. Okay, thank you, G, for the stat there. So we've covered

two of the wildcard teams and we haven't covered Pittsburgh yet. I think based on strength of schedule and what they got cooking right now, Islanders are for sure in. Strength of schedule wise, Florida has the hardest schedule. They got Toronto to play here and then they got Carolina to play. Correct, R.A.? Carolina's playing for something, which hurts. They are. Florida with Toronto, that's the huge one. That's tonight.

So when everyone's listening, that game will already have been played. Matthew Nyes in the lineup. The Minnesota studs signed by Toronto. Let's see the difference he can make. We called that earlier this year that he'd be playing for the Leafs in the playoffs. We all thought, we'll see if he is.

But they have to win that home game tonight. Because if you lose, then you got to win in Carolina. And Pittsburgh has, I think it's Chicago and Columbus. If they can't win those two, they don't deserve to be in. We can go to them in terms of a huge win against Detroit, in which Sid just elevated his legendary status with his 1500th point on a goal against Detroit. He had a goal and two assists. And funny enough, he scored the goal for 1500 points. And I guess Malcolm's on the bench going, I touched it, hit my stick. Fucking around typical Gino. But it's a great race. And we're going to have a clearer path, as you're listening now, depending on this Florida game.

So Toronto, I don't know if – I guess everyone's playing. Marner's going for 100 points. They're still trying to get things going before playoffs. They look awesome. But I think because of the Carolina-Toronto games, I think Pittsburgh might sneak in. I do, because I can't see them not getting four points there. And is Toronto going to win? I mean, is the Panthers going to win both those games? That's

going to be a tough one in Carolina. They're definitely more likely to win tonight at home than they are in Carolina on Wednesday or Thursday. So Crosby scored, I think it was with three seconds left in that first period. Do you see the D-man, Wallman, walk out just like with one hand on his stick? Do you not know that Crosby's chasing you and he's going to pickpocket you? He didn't even really

need to pickpocket him because he ended up getting poke checked, but leaving him all alone there walking out that lazily? Like, Jesus Christ.

And then he ends up scoring with his backhand, of course. So, you knew that game was over, signed, sealed,

and delivered after that one. Oh yeah, maybe it was two goals and one assist. Was that what it was, R.A., for the 15,500 points?

I said one and two. But the Islanders, their last two games, they're at Washington, then at home versus Montreal against two games. They should probably win. But if you were a division winner, which team would you not want to play out of those three? So all along I've said the Islanders because of Sorokin, but this mojo with the Panthers is scary.

So it's like, do you want to play against a team with a lesser goalie, even though Lyon's been this good? Or do you want to play against a team who hasn't been just crushing everyone on their run to the playoffs? So I'm going to say the last team, and Pittsburgh in terms of, I guess I'd want to play Pittsburgh the most. It hurts me to say, being a former Penn. But I think the Islanders and the Panthers scare me a little bit more in terms of possibly beating the Bruins. I think it's going to be difficult no matter what. And whoever wins the Metro.

But I'd say I'd least like to play the Panthers right now. I don't want to play the Islanders if I'm the Bruins at all. I was going to say, because you're a Boston homer and you're probably wondering who would Boston want to play I would say Florida just because they're more likely to take more risks and Boston plays a lot more discipline where they'll be able to pick them apart when they are doing that. That's kind of how the Islanders play and that's what would make me nervous about Boston playing them is as that that's why I say they play boring hockey Islanders are the type of team where they're they're okay having nine shots each team after two periods they will they will not crack they'll keep playing

boring maybe when they do have that breakdown they do have that stellar goaltender to make the saves I wouldn't want to play in those two one1 hockey games against the Islanders. I would want to watch Florida try to run and gun it. Boston keep the tight house and then pick them apart on special teams. I think Boston would work the Panthers if they played them first round. But going over to Pittsburgh, I can't count out Malkin, Sid, and that crew. I just can never can. So I'd say the easiest of the three would be playing the Florida Panthers. Stay away from the Islanders all you can. Yeah, absolutely.

Between Sorokin, that's a veteran lineup. They've been through the playoffs quite a bit the last few years. I wouldn't want to play them at all. I'll take Pittsburgh or Florida over them, definitely. Okay, I changed my mind. I'm a pussy. I don't know what the Islanders, if I'm a Bees fan. But it's a possibility that we're at the last game at UBS this season At the fire versus police

If the Islanders don't get in I know you love the Islanders Would that ever be Icing on the cake right there You're going to get jumped I'll leave Lou a nice fruit basket In his office when we're there Any word on Barzell?

I said it when it happened that word was coming out That he was done for the year. Now, this is complete rumor boy stuff. I heard ACL, but I also heard it on a random Twitter account. But you never know. Those can be accurate about what? 0.0 birth control percent of the time. But he hasn't been back yet, so pretty accurate.

The fact that it was obviously a serious enough injury. Because how long has it been since he's been out? I would say minimum six weeks. Yeah, I would guess it's right around then. And from everybody speculating around the video that came out, it was a lower body injury. Well, guess what? I've had the worst possible knee injury you could have other than tearing your ACL. And that was a grade three MCL sprain.

So that's on the inside of the knee where it opens up. And it, you know, I, I ended up after tearing my ACL, having to get both repaired because it was open that much. So when you're coming back from like a bad grade three, which I've, I've done, you're looking at probably two months max. That's a bad grade three. I would say six weeks to be safe. So, and especially when you got legs like that guy.

So I talked to someone who is very close with lots of Islanders players, may or not be a co-worker of ours. He said he is skating on his own in no bid is not a torn ACL. He's slowly coming back. Well, here is the side that Biz is arguing is these are playoff games. So obviously there's something there where even when he's back, he won't be 100% or he'd be back right now because there's no difference between the first round and right now for the Islanders.

So it's not going to be a fully healthy Matt Barzell. But if he's back at any point, a 75% Barzell is better than most of the league. So that would be enormous if they get him back in no matter what the deal is. Don't put words in my mouth. I just wanted to purely speculate on it. Fair enough. Real my boys. All right, guys, before we go any further here, I want to talk to you about the score. Hello, Canada. This episode is brought to you by the Scorebet Sportsbook and Casino. The Scorebet is the best sportsbook for the hockey-obsessed like me and Grinnelli over here. With a wide variety of markets and daily specials from us

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19 and over. Ontario only. Gambling problem? Call Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600. In their second year of existence, the Seattle Kraken made the playoffs. They still could catch LA for third in the Pacific. They're two points back with a game in hand. Pretty solid lineup went up and down.

I mean, Matt Abedin is probably going to be the rookie of the year, but what do you think they're going to do with the playoffs? They're going to, are they a threat to anybody or are they going to be one and done? I think they're one and done. Um, I think, I think the Oilers are going to grab the Pacific, which I tweeted out, I think January 15th, somewhere around then. Um, I think the Oilers would just smash through the Kraken. Um, and then

if they don't get the winner of the pacific who would they get they would get why am i oh colorado i mean see you later so i don't want this to be a shit on seattle thing because what a story it's been yeah um they've just had such a great turnaround from last year the first year didn't go as expected and and and Vegas ruined it for everyone in terms of the new franchises coming into the league. That'll never happen again, I'll say, which means it might happen this year. So I think Seattle, with having this great year, having Bjorkstrand come over and play this well, we talked about McCann last week, just fine in his groove, former first round pick, lighting it up. up eberly is a solid player so you're really happy for that group of guys and finn's done i mean what a season uh i i don't think the blues saw this

i don't really know how you'd miss this much of a dynamic game breaker on d but this guy's taking his game to a whole new level so that whole organization should be proud and i have to have a little uh mea culpa in terms of kind of dog and hack stall. I kind of called him as a hire, maybe a guy that would be hired. Sacrificial lamb is what you called him. Yes, hired to be fired and the perfect coach for a new franchise. And then at some point he'd be gone and things would change. Well, things change pretty quick.

So they had a great run to start the year. They looked like they could win the Pacific. That's not happening. But to get into the playoffs second year that that's an awesome thing it seems like the atmosphere is great i'm sure the playoff games will be wild in there we're going to be out there next year for the winter classic so i i'm looking forward to seeing the barn and seeing how alive it is during the playoffs but i think they lose in the first round in five or six games jesus leave a little fucking meat on the bone would you uh he asked me a question i gave him an answer what do you want me to do no i i agree with you completely man lay off me i'm starving

i'm starving you say both yeah i don't want the one and done to be overshadowed with expectations we're coming into the season where you get a calder winner i'd imagine the veneers ends up taking the calder for where he's been thrown into the fire after college. He played one year university, ends up having to be a first line center and ends up helping. He played two years at Michigan? Yeah, I think he played two at Michigan. Well, either way, man, coming into the NHL, your first year at the age that he's done and having to go against first line matchups, he's fucking killed it majority of the season. So I'm pretty sure he ends up winning the calder you sneak into playoffs and you see you already stated that the fans i think that the nhl and and hockey fans everywhere are going to get a real taste of what these pacific northwest hockey

fans are all about i think you that i think that building is going to be absolutely electric and at the at the snowball's chance in hell that they do upset a team in the first round i don't think it's going to happen i think that that fan base could lead them to a couple victories at home like if they ended up going seven and then winning every home game i would not be shocked in all this so i think that we all know the concerns going in for them is goaltending and then probably the back end compared to which team they're going to end up playing against and where you said it vince dunn leading the way and i feel like i feel like he never really got that opportunity there because even when they got rid of petrangelo

perenco kind of took that 1a role and then they brought then they brought in falk from from carolina and then they also had tory kr. So he never really fit in even that top three where I don't think they ever instilled that confidence in him. But he also went to a team where I think their best asset is collectively as a group where they can kind of run and gun and play offense with any team. So like a series between them and Edmonton, I wouldn't be shocked if most games were 5-4, 6-5.

So look out for some very, very entertaining hockey coming out of the Seattle Kraken. So let's not shit on them. Great job in year two. You're going to have some hardware coming in. You make playoffs, and your fan base gets the opportunity to show the hockey world what you guys are really made of. And I know we've had our differences.

Bowie, like, I don't know, how do you want me to refer to him him hey they you know how the whole thing goes but that's not binary not that ugly son of a bitch has earned every right to be next to all the rest of the mascots with the effort that he's put in to get that crowd going too so buoy i guess this is like a me sending out a peace treaty we don't need to tolerate to be playing tummy sticks yeah here's my olive branch buddy you ugly son of a bitch and and vince dunn and mccann and tolvanen are perfect examples of how many unreal players are in the nhl probably being a little underutilized right now maybe sometimes not fitting into the system they're at but there are players all over the league

that underperform somewhere, and they're so good, and just things aren't working out. It's not always the right time or place that goes somewhere else, and they show how great of players they are. So you like seeing more teams only because you get to see some players

who've played second or third fiddle get a chance to be the main guy and show that they can do it. R.A., one man's trash is another man's treasure. I'll leave it. Put it on a t-shirt. Absolutely. As for the other wild...

I'm a fucking poet. You're a poet and didn't know it. As for the other wild card out west, Calgary beat up on Winnipeg on Regulation Wednesday. They got caught up to win points. They both had 89, but then Saturday, the Flames go to Vancouver. They only leave with one point. They lost to the Can win points. They both had 89. But then Saturday, the Flames go to Vancouver. They only leave with one point.

They lost to the Canucks 3-2 in a shootout. Meanwhile, Colin Hellebuck blanked the Preds to keep the Jets in that second wildcard spot. And right now, the Jets have 91 points. Three games left. San Jose, Minnesota, Colorado. The Flames have 90 points in home games versus Nashville and San Jose. Who ends up getting in here, Miz?

I think the Jets are sitting pretty in full control. They control their own destiny. What a bizarre ending to the season for the Calvary Flames. I mean, they beat some great teams, and then they ended up falling to Chicago. They lost the game to Anaheim down the... We're talking about teams that are going to be going for Conor Bedard here.

In dire straits, back against the wall, you can't pull out those Ws, but in a weird way, they're winning the games against the way better teams. So, I mean, as we're finishing recording, I'm pretty sure we're going to be close to puck drop between them and Nashville, and I'm sure Nashville playing with the house's money is going to be loving to play spoiler. No, I don't think Calgary makes playoffs, but God damn, man, they just, they're like a bad rash. They just won't go away. For them to lose that game at home against Chicago, and then they go back the next night

and Markster plays and they beat Winnipeg. It's like, what, what is, yeah, what is this team? It is crazy. And we cannot not mention Nashville and their effort. Shout out John Hines and all the guys playing. No Duchesne, no Johansson, Forsberg injuries, Yossi missed time. I mean, we're talking Besna. We didn't even say Saros' name.

So the fact that that team has stayed in the hunt and are somehow still mathematically alive, they deserve a ton of credit. The fan base we've talked about since this podcast began, how outstanding it is. But an amazing run by that team to lose the guys they have and still be in the mix. So that's going to be a special one. Yeah, that Florida-Toronto game tonight,

along with Nashville-Winnipeg, we got some special games that we unfortunately won't be able to break down because you're already listening. Did I make a mistake? Is it Nashville-Winnipeg tonight or was it Calgary-Nashville? It's Calgary-Nashville tonight. Stay hot. What? Do you want to do a lap? No, you've been hot enough where you've earned enough pluses. I think the dash one's over.

I'll touch the jersey that was minus one with three minutes of playing time in the gold medal game. So that's my lap. There you go. Well, we've known for a while that the Leafs are going to be playing Tampa in the first round, but at least one Montreal Canadian doesn't see them going too far. The Leafs put the e-bug in the other night. Jet Alexander played the last 70 seconds of the game.

Toronto was up 7-1. But Chris Weidman's not too happy about it. He said, quote, they'll get what they deserve in a few weeks, end quote. Now, I mean, it's great copy. It's good shit to talk about, but how would you guys feel if you were the team losing 7-1 and the other team put an e-bug in? What do you first win?

Would you consider it insulting? It's a nice little dream come true for the kid. So being in Weidman's shoes or skates and looking at the Canadiens players, yeah, I'd be bullshit. But I'm playing the fence here, which I quite often do. It's also like, don't get skates and being uh looking at the canadians players yeah i'd be bullshit but but i'll play the fence here which i quite often do it's also like don't get blown out and this is the nhl and and i guess toronto's looking at it like we've had one e-bug story that's basically had

all of our haters be able to make fun of us forever is that we locked lost to our zamboni driver so we got to get an e-bug in and get him a little game time and have us on the positive end of this story but if you're on the canadians yeah it's fucking are you serious you're embarrassing us you're making us look that foolish that you're putting this guy in but then i go back to the other side of the fence we'll score a fucking goal on the guy then you know don't get blown out and then put one past the e-bug so i really do see the rage and i what a quote i mean they'll get what's coming in a few weeks i mean that's a canadian fan and play a player and fan who just despises the leafs like the rest of them

but i i really do see both sides i know that's not the answer you wanted i don't know about you biz i was thinking about this today if you're the anti-participation trophy guy where you're like grumpy old man you you don't want this guy getting thrown in the game but from like if i was on the montreal canadians like i don't think i'd give that that many fucks the game was already out of hand it's for a minute and a half and like you just said if you're that upset about it just run through the whole team and then go bury one on them and then fucking give the bench the finger but i think that i still think it's ridiculous that we talk about ebugs and that it hasn't been fixed that's more of the overall subject that i'd rather cover but then i completely understand it because every time it happens something ends up happening media-wise because of it. Whether it was the example you just gave with David Ayers or the fact that now it happens again

and Weidman feels embarrassed by it and then he gives an all-time quote about the Leafs getting knocked out first round like every year in the last 20 years. So keep it. It's entertaining for our sport. You never know what you're going to get because of it. If I was a coach on the Leafs bench, I don't think that I would have pulled him to give him the opportunity. Let it happen naturally. If he gets hurt, then throw him in. But wait, so I mean, it's also the age old argument where if it's 5-1 and you want to still put your top unit out on the power play late in the third period,

well, sometimes in the old days, they used to answer that in a different regard. Then they would just, then a melee would ensue. So if you're that pissed off about it, start a Donnybrook and make it even more interesting for the crowd. Yeah, we're not going to see Jet Alexander in the playoffs, but here's the name of this, Joseph Wool. Kid who went to BC, he's been the Mollies goalie all year.

He's been stellar in very limited action for the Leafs. He's got four and one, 202 goals goals against a 9-3-2 save percentage. He was their third-round pick back in 2016. You know, Matt Murray's been a little bit dinged up. He's day-to-day with a head injury right now. His last playoff action was three years ago. And then you look at Samsonoff's numbers in the playoffs. Seven playoff starts, 1-6 with 2-9-8 goals against, 9-0-7 save percentage.

You think we might see this kid at all at some point in the playoffs biz wall you took the words out of my mouth playoff experience it's uh my my optimism has led to a little bit more of a pessimism is that the word i'm looking for with the goaltending situation in this carousel and not to matt murray's fault but i think that was the concern coming to the season and maybe putting the eggs in that basket, given his history and how he's had a hard time staying healthy. I've lost count as to how many times he's been on the IR this year. I want to say now four.

The last one being when he was hit from behind and he stumbled and banged the back of his head. Yeah, it's great to see this kid playing well when he gets the net. I think him and Samsonov collectively have done a decent job, but between the two of them, eight playoff games as experienced, seven of which are starts and collectively one win. So I'm a little nervous going in. The only thing we got going for us is that you're playing, I don't want to say a beat up Tampa team, but one that looks very exhausted

and one that hasn't been doing a lot of winning in the second half of the nhl season so yes i'm happy both goalies that are getting the net are playing great and if murray's banged up keep him off the side and maybe we could maybe we could have a situation like lion or lion or whatever the fuck his last name is in florida where if Wall ends up getting the net he's naive to the situation no playoff experience let's ride the wave but let's also go back and remember last year goaltending wasn't the issue Jack Campbell in game seven gave them every opportunity to win so it's it's it's just Teresell continues it's amazing that before the season and talking about signings and all the summer summer moves we all said holy shit this is what dubas is doing these are the goalies that he's

going with in the year that they have to they must if they can't get out of the first round this year it's going to be monster chain heads over all those all those guys are gone. And what do you know? Who would have thunk it? Murray's injured. Samsonoff has horrible playoff statistics. And we got this wall guy as the possible starter in net. So when I say if you can't get out of the first round this year, I'm actually, I said I'd never pick Toronto in the first round,

but be scared, Maple Leafs fans, because I almost think I might have to pick you. You have a hell of a hockey team. That team up front and on the back end, they got all the makings of going on a run. And then you look in net, and then you look at how bad Tampa's played, and then you look at Vasilevsky. You're telling me Vasilevsky versus Wall or an injured Murray or Samsonov who can't win a game in the playoffs. I mean, you have to beat the Lightning. They're wounded. They're exhausted. They stink right now.

But look at the goaltending matchup, and it is exactly what we said in fucking September. So I don't know how this is going to play out, but if it's Joseph Wall against Andre Vasilevsky, I don't necessarily know how the Lightning are going to lose. And so Leafs fans have this unreal team up and down, and then you just look in net, whereas it is easily the most important position in sports in the playoffs, quarterback in the NFL and goalie in the NHL trying to win a title. And they don't have much there. So it's a scary time as a Leafs fan to know you have everything it takes with 12, 13 forwards and six, seven defensemen, but you're just scratching your head on who's going to be

in net and how they're going to play. My optimism comes from the fact that it's been so long that something's gone right for them, where I just have this, maybe this naive hope that Nize is going to come in all of a sudden. He's going to add this young blood, start lighting it up, and all of a sudden maybe Samsonov or Waugh are going to take the net. Next thing you know, you see the next fucking Curtis Joseph where they need something else, right? Because even if they do get past Tampa Bay, which I think that they will, they've got to go against Boston.

And we talked before the podcast got going. I don't care how good Boston is. You know it's going to go seven games. The history talked before the podcast got going. I don't care how good Boston is. You know, it's going to go seven games. The history between those two teams in playoffs, it's going to be electric. We know it's going to come down to the wire. So if the hockey gods can give me one goddamn thing, it's this young blood just stepping up at the perfect time to blend with the, you know, that experience that the Leafs are gaining steam. They're gaining steam. Nylander's having a great year. Matthews has learned how to play banged up Marner's gonna hit 100 points they got Tavares having a beast of a season at his age then all of a sudden O'Reilly's

probably kicking third line center he's snapping back draws blocking shots on the penalty kill that's the that's where the optimism rises see I't... The last time they got out of the first round, I don't even think you'd ever rub one out at that point in your life, Biz. So for Christ's sake, if it doesn't happen this year, I said it a couple weeks ago, move the team. Move them. Get them over to Hamilton.

Buddy, that's a great idea. I'm going to go back to my under-18 days. I am going to go celibate for the cup run. I am going to go back to my under 18 days. I am going to go celibate for the cup run. I am not going to jerk off. I am not going to touch my penis as long as the Toronto Maple Leafs are in playoffs.

I don't know if I can deal with the stressed out Biz while he's usually coming here and there and everywhere. So if you're not and the Leafs are in at game 7, I don't even think we could be near him, Biz. I mean, G and there and everywhere. So if you're not and the Leafs are in a game seven, I don't even think we could be near him, Biz. I mean, G and R.A. He'll be scratching himself like R.A. looking for a joint.

He'll be just losing his mind. He'll probably be – actually, the problem is if they do win game seven, he might just start cranking it in the stream room. No. I'm putting it on the shelf and the towels at the fourth season are safe i am gonna be do you not tugging any off for the toronto maple leaves run eight weeks i will be going celibate i did it for under 18 i want to say that was about a month long

i have never gone two months yes i might be a psycho i think at that at a certain point i would get an octagon with Ryan Reeves after about five weeks. That's how psycho I'd be. Let's go on this fucking run. Let's keep the heavy batches. What would you do? Heavy sacks, Leaf fans.

I think all Leaf fans. What would you do if the Leafs got to cup finals game seven and you've been good? You've stood by this promise you gave to Leafs Nation, and then the night before game seven you had a wet dream would you just know it's over i mean i would be very i would be very concerned because i don't well the the bed would have to be like torched because it's just covered in your semen but i think i've only had two wet dreams in my life and one of which it was when i was i think i was taking a nap and i was face down so like i was like kind of like fucking the mattress a little bit and that's like i i woke

up as i was coming being like oh okay i'm not actually plowing a lady i'm plowing the top of my mattress and and the other time was early that was actually more recent probably in the last five years and the other oh that was last week or no no not that soon. Not that soon. I've said on this podcast before, I would pay an enormous amount of money to have a wet dream these days. I mean, any guy out there will tell you. Jesus Christ, that would just be a fun hell of a ride. You'd wake up with a permagrant on. I'd be making pancakes at 7 in the morning for the kids. Why are you in such a good mood, don't worry about it son hey what if i what if i

was like the curse of the bambino but i reversed it because i held my sack in my batch for the entire leafs run what if i was the one who won the stanley cup because i didn't do that imagine the mayor trying to explain why you're getting the key to the city i tell hey i hope that other lease fans that are listening want to do that with me. I think it's a good thing. And who's the, who's the Raptor? Gates, something Gates. Kevin Gates?

Help me out. Kevin Gates. Yeah, it's Kevin Gates. He talks about how he doesn't tug them off and he keeps, he keeps his seed and he keeps his energy in. Maybe I'm just not honing it the proper way so i guess enough about my batches it's probably been about four or five minutes here since we've been going on but uh i'm on the i'm on the no rub train yeah nothing wrong with an involuntary

freebie man that's what i call freebies just fucking wake up with wet shorts you don't know no effort don't have to pay no money it's like you know fucking it's a gimme man who wouldn't want one of those i thought you were gonna throw throw me a proposal of like my dream girl came up and tried to bring me up to the hotel as we're on the road before the broadcast or something. I thought you'd see how much you loved the Leafs then if Scarlett Johansson's like, hey, biz, get over here. He's like, all right, fuck the Leafs.

Let's go, babe. Rachel McAdams, she's a Leafs fan. She was at the Cup a few years ago. She's hot, man. Rachel McAdams. She's a Leafs fan. She was at the Cup a few years ago. She's hot, man. Yeah. Her and, what's the movie with Ryan Gosling? Aren't they married? The Notebook. The Notebook, yeah.

She does it for me. Aren't they married to each other in real life? No, they broke up years ago. Oh. Yeah. I think you're thinking of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. My co-star. I wasn't thinking of them. Okay, fair enough.

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purchase. Terms apply. Let's see. Wednesday night, TNT Games Biz. Were you on vacation last week? Were you on the Rangers camping? I came off that nine-day work heater, so I ended up taking a day off. It was Jen Botterill and Hank Lundquist, and that was for the Rangers

Lightning game, which was electric. Yeah, last year's Eastern Conference final participants, they were kicking the shit out of each other. Rangers ended up pummeling them 6-3. Had some action around the crease at first. Alex Cologne crashes into the net. Paisley just takes out Shesterkin. Had Adam Fox spearing the worm.

Corey Perry hit him, getting fined $5,000 for that. Then the worm fought Vinny Trocek after that. Just a very hated, heated game. I don't know if we're going to see them pair up in the playoffs again this year. But did you catch that game, Whit? Did you get an eyeball on that? I saw all the highlights. Wednesday night I was traveling out in Savannah.

But I got to bring up the Kalorn Shusterkin instance because, yeah, Kalorn kind of was very late in terms of getting to the net, and he threw his stick at him, but Shosturkin went back and grabbed his head. His head was never touched. His head didn't hit the crease. Cologne didn't hit his head. Just an ultimate kind of flop and grabbing the dome, maybe trying to get a call.

I don't know what it was, but definitely a dive there. And then, yeah, we saw a hell break loose. Of course, Perry. I mentioned seeing him after the Bruins game where I went to the locker room after. Just that game, he was in the mix. I said it. He's 37. He's biting Trochek. He doesn't give a shit. That was a good tilt too. So that was an exciting game. Those two teams hate each other. That goes way back to last year and and i think that the rangers though i've said it's a hell of a team and i know i'm a sorokin guy but shisterkin's really turned it around in the past month or so so what a first round that's going to be no matter if it's carolina rangers or devil's rangers yeah i agree looking very dangerous and especially after those two losses galant called them out after they

clinched. And since then, they've been firing on all cylinders. Going back to that complete flop by Shusterkin. And that's what creates, even if like these guys aren't getting the fuck, why are you laughing, R.A.? It was a complete flop. He grabbed his head and he tapped his club. That's what I was laughing at, the flop. And then on, oh, I thought you were fucking laughing at me trying to get Rangers fans going. Cause you know, cowbell lady's probably looking for, for whoever, who was it?

She's in prison. Yeah. She's prepped. She's in the clink. But, but after that, uh, that scrap though, Petrochek, what a pickup that was for them. Cause he basically replaced Dylan Strome, right? So he's providing more offense. He helps on the kill.

He's better at line matching against other teams top centers he's tough now and he only ends up making what five six hundred grand more than dylan strome so just we talk about all these unreal moves that um i'm drawing a blank on the jury jury has made at the deadline look look to that move in the off season and how much it's helped this lineup but overall that and this isn't an insult to tampa but i feel like every fucking game they're getting into someone getting in with someone it's just maybe they're just trying to get something going because they've been so bad you know it's like at this point what do you do you're just getting trucked

stick by all these different teams so just trying to mix it up does something um the goons what was the other thing oh uh what's the other thing i was gonna say about the rangers and and kane kane isn't playing they say it's precautionary but still um you know i don't know if he'll get in a game before before the playoff starts to to try to at least get your legs going not that it would really make the difference damn he's a three-time cup champ. But, oh, Stamkos. We've got to honor or talk about his 1,000th game, right? Yep, absolutely. Thursday versus the Islanders, 1,000th game.

He got his 1,000th point earlier in the season. He's got two Rashad trophies, two cups, plus two other Stanley Cup final appearances in 15 seasons, a 60-goal season. Only 23 other guys have done that in the history of the league. Just a great player, a great leader. I mean, he's got to be Robert Stampton of the Hall of Fame, know it? Oh, no doubt. No doubt.

And just what he's battled through, the broken leg in Boston, then missing the Olympics, and I think it was 2010. And then the whole ordeal in the bubble, and he got to play that one game and had the beautiful highlight real goal, and then they won the cup without him. And then he gets his cup the next year in his home in Tampa and gets to kind of celebrate and play a part of the entire playoffs as the major role.

He's the leader of the team. He's the guy who says what's going to happen in that room. He's been doing it forever. And I think he said it's such an honor to play his thousandth game with one team. And a lot of guys get a thousand games with three, four, five teams. And no matter what you play a thousand in the NHL, we always talk about how much that means, but to be the captain of Tampa and to do it with just them and to have all the success he's had, he has had no doubt a hall of fame career. And let's not forget Barry Melrose his first year.

So I don't know if he could play in the NHL. So just a classic, not even overachiever, because being first overall, I think everyone expected he'd be this good. So just to battle through the injuries, though, that's what's most impressive to me because he's had some tough ones. And he's still got gas left in the tank. Fuck, he might get to 1,500 just like Sid, the way that he's still got gas left in the tank he yeah fuck he might get to 1500 just like said the way that he's playing and he's good looking he's got a probably 100 million in the bank has played

his whole career in tampa no state tax fucking he's laughing huge hog on him he's playing with the house's money boys this is a flat out playing with the house's money and in a year we'll talk later about all the statistics and how many 100-point guys there are. I think Braden Point will be maybe the quietest 50-goal season I've ever heard of. I don't know if it's him or Rantanen this year, but, I mean, 50 goals for this guy, and you don't really even hear it mentioned, maybe because they've struggled as a team. But what a season for this little just water bug. Just the Energizer bunny out there never stops and scores at will.

I also want to congratulate Jimmy Veazey. He played his 500th NHL game Thursday in St. Louis against the team that actually drafted his father almost 40 years ago. A little serendipity there. And that was a great reception that Vladimir Tarasenko got as well. I mean, that was about a two-minute applause day game. Did you catch that, Biz? That was pretty cool, huh?

When they played against New York? When they went back to St. Louis? Yeah, when they were back in St. Louis. That was his first time back since the trade. I mean, it was way bigger than most guys get, I would say. Yeah. No, I didn't see that game in particular. Yeah, I saw it.

It was a loud, loud ovation, and after he said he was pretty emotional, and you could tell how much he was enjoying it. He just had the biggest smile on his face and the whole Blues team was standing up banging the bench. The crowd was going nuts. A ton of signs. We miss you, Vladdy. And I mean, some of the seasons he had there and in 2019 and raising the cup, I mean, there's no doubt he'll forever be a fan favorite in St. Louis. He was dynamic and he brought him a cup and he deserved that even though it ended in a tough way and and there was there was some some bickering and he wasn't happy with not being captain but when you look back when it's all said and done

he's a legendary blue player yeah that was good stuff uh we did mention the frozen four earlier but we didn't really get into the games uh gee, Thursday, Semis, you guys went to those two games. Quinnipiac. I butchered that word all inside. Quinnipiac beat Michigan. Mini beat BU. Then they played Saturday night. How was the game?

What was the atmosphere like? It was really crazy. I mean, obviously, tons of Minnesota fans. But Merle's got us up into a box with all former Quinnipiac players and holy shit these guys were like the craziest dudes in the world they were so shit faced they were such a blast we had so much fun at the game obviously Merles had picks left and right he was hitting them hitting everything so it was an unbelievable game and just I mean I had the QU future so i was i was

rooting heavy for them but just seeing how especially against michigan how they controlled the neutral zone and just like like luke hughes i've been watching him a lot this season the way he's like a one-man breakout yeah what they did to him like i i went into that game being like luke hughes is the best hughes brother he's gonna be so good i left there being like i Luke Hughes is the best Hughes, brother. He's going to be so good. I left there being like, I don't know if he can jump into the NHL like right away this season after how Quinnipiac just played him, the way they were trapping in the center of the ice. So overall, though, the atmosphere was crazy. So Tampa was a perfect host.

I was texting Biz about how beautiful it is around the arena over there. But it was the perfect host city, and we had a blast. I saw the highlights. I was still on the course. I was unfortunate. BU was the first game against Minnesota. But it sounds like as a former Terrier, it pains me to say I didn't miss much. I think Minnesota took them down 6-2.

I read a couple things. It could have been like 9-2. It was just utter domination. Everyone was saying how injured BU was all their big dogs were playing super super hurt they were battling injuries but I've said it Jay Pandolfo's back there they're going to be a powerhouse

for years to come I'm really crossing my fingers that Lane Hudson comes back for another year could definitely win the Hobie Baker next year superstar defense in Montreal pick. So being undersized and knowing Luke Hughes played two years, and there's a lot of guys, they don't need to come right out. I really would hope he stays.

I think that'd be the smart decision, especially with Montreal's not going to be very good next year either. It's not their time yet, so go dominate even more than you did this season and come back. But Camesso's gone so he Chicago signed him star goalie for BU so that's going to be a tough one but even though BU didn't get to the to the final title game they still had a hell of a season well I was just going to say you're about to hear in this interview we're going to tee up like you know how they ended up getting

everybody to buy in and eventually get to the program to where it's at but gee I'll ask you I didn't ask Rand, because they're getting in maybe sometimes older players, do you think they're easier to teach that systematic hockey to where you said they adjusted to shutting down Luke Hughes? Because aren't typically the people that go to Quinnipiac, not the studs at 18 years old, they're maybe getting sometimes the guys who transfer. So their players in some cases tend to be 22 23 years old even yeah that's exactly it and benny barr broke that down pretty good in the chicklets game notes where just like programs like that they're not even going after the logan cooley's the the nyes of the world they're they're going after and in in rand says like they go after

character guys that they know will learn the system that are going to stay for three or four years. So when they get the opportunity to play against these skilled players, it's a 24-year-old going against a 19-year-old Logan Cooley as opposed to a 21, 22-year-old like the other teams. I'm glad you mentioned Lane Hudson because that's another point that everyone down in Tampa was talking about. So Kale McCarr, his sophomore season at UMass, one of the most dominant years we've seen in college hockey. In 41 games, he had 49 points. Lane Hudson in his freshman year at BU this season, in 39 games, he had 48 points. So people are super, super high on this lane. He's insane.

What does he say defensively? I think that that's obviously what he needs to get better at, but he's so good with the puck and such a good skater, that kid can easily learn to be a really good defensive defenseman just because you can't beat him with your skating. So undersized, that's why. That was the other name. Luke Hughes stayed two years and Cael McCarr stayed two years.

So no need for him to jump right in to Montreal, go back to BU and enjoy it. But I'm glad before we put a wrap on this and go to our interview with Quinnipiac's coach, Ran, we have to mention that that Logan Cooley is so fucking nasty. Talk about maybe being ready to hop right in. The year Clayton Keller's had, seeing that he's going to be there with that guy, and Michelli, who could be up for Rookie of the Year as well. Matthias Michelli. Logan Cooley.

I see some game-breaker in the NHL in that kid. He was a stud. That Fantilli to Merles the whole game. After Merles got a couple big- bruising him, he started saying, I'd take Fantilly before Bedard. Shut up. It sucks. I want Fantilly.

Shut up, Mer. Yeah, so it was fun. I don't even think Fantilly would say, take me over Bedard. No. No, definitely not. Fantilly did win the Hobie Baker this year. Just the third freshman to ever win it.

Joined in Paul Curry and Jack Eichel, the other two guys, so congrats to him. And Luke Hughes, I'm not sure if you said it, he did sign his entry little deal with the Devils. So he'll be playing with his brother Jack soon. Maybe perhaps tonight. Maybe I won't be cranking it off, but Pasha's cranking it off to that

news. Holy fuck. This guy won't shut up in the group chat. I am praying for... If they get swept in the first round, this guy's never going to hear the end of it. Let me remind you, Biz. I said, Pasha, Pavel Zak is a pretty good player. And he said, he's garbage.

He goes, he's really good for six games, and you don't even see him for ten games. And then he's good for four games, and then he disappears for eight games. We got the way better player in Hala. Pavel Zak does it at both ends of the ice. 20 goals score. Pasha, I can't wait.

I can't wait to rub this in your face. And all you Devils fans, don't even come after me. Blame Pasha for why I'm on the Rangers train in the first round. Because, Pasha, I can't wait. Me and Biz are going to, if we're not with you, we'll be FaceTiming nonstop until you answer, buddy. And like you said, he just thinks because, oh, he hasn't scored in 10 games. It's like, well, he set up some goals and made some nice plays

and made some good defensive plays, and he's not a liability out there like some of the guys you got. I texted him on the big chicklets group. I said, Pasha, I'd like a public apology for you on your Zaka take. I can maybe read it on chicklets for you to kind of represent. said i'm not apologizing for shit you see our team you think we missed that guy so he's doubling down on this uh and you got to thank your boss and bruins because you guys had that 100 point bet going and it's not over biz it's not over it was dead it seemed like it was dead in the water then he had a four or five point night the other night so now he's at what 96 i think he needs four points in the last two games and i guess i thought

they played the rangers back to back they don't who do they play tonight they play buffalo the devils yep yeah so i messed that up so yeah that i mean he i said i said to pasha i said to him in like november i go he's gonna need two points in the 82nd game of the year and if he gets two points tonight it's gonna come true and then it's gonna come down to me just holding my freaking hog in my hand begging for him to get shut down in the final game if he's at 98 with the last game remaining do you just go hedge at barstoolsportsbook.com and say he used to get two points at a plus certain number i follow mr ice three plus three equals seven leo i don't hedge no hedge although that bet i mean if he doesn't do it

this year that is the word that kid is gonna get 100 like that's a crazy thing they bet three grand that he's gonna hit 100 points in the last game and who's the last game they play against if they're playing oh i'm like i just like Witt's theory there. Some guys hedge, some guys double down. I'm a guy who doubles down. Oh, I'm a hedger all day long. Yeah, you bet like 16 cents a game, so we understand you hedge. All right, if you have a 10K ticket and you're going into the last game,

do you hedge it? So they don't play the managers? What am I talking about? I'm an idiot. No, you don going into the last game, do you hedge it? They don't play the values. What am I talking about? I'm an idiot. No, you don't play the values. It depends how much out of the bet was. Sometimes I just let it ride if it's not that big of a bet. But speaking of Zaka, he made me, what, $1,500 last night.

I bet him to score the next goal. Now my mother's having some dinner at Easter. I was in the men's room playing with my phone. I said, I'll put a C-note on. I'm a C-note on. I won like $1,500. He scored the next goal. That's just pure luck.

There's no insight on that shit. You've been hot, R.A. You've been super hot. You've been hot. You've been hot, buddy. Riding the hot air. Perfect time of year to heat up. Fucking right, boys.

Well, what do you say we send it over to Rand Pecknall right about now, boys? Yeah, and like I mentioned, Canadian folks who maybe aren't into college, no matter what, this is a hell of an interview and a crazy story for a guy who deserves all the success he's now having. Because you'll hear as to how much he grinded to get where he's at and to get his program at this high of a level. So thank you so much to Rand. Here he is. This interview is brought to you by Chevy.

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The Chevy EV family keeps getting bigger and better. Well, we're very happy to welcome our next guest to the show. After working as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Connecticut College, he took over the reins of Division II Quinnipiac at the age of 27 and transformed the program into a nationally ranked Division I team that won its first national championship Saturday night in Tampa. It's a pleasure to have you on the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. We're in Pecknall. Congrats on the natty, my friend. Thank you very much. Yeah, it's an exciting moment for Quinnipiac University and to bring a natty here. It's just like you can't, you just can't put a value on what we just accomplished. So it was a grind, you know, to get it where we are, but we're fortunate and I got a great group of guys. And I even feel even more, my guys, I love that we won it for this group, but a lot of our alums that put in a lot of hard work over the years, it was awesome. A lot

of them were there in Tampa to enjoy it. So it's a pretty special moment. Yeah. I saw the clip you telling students there was no class today. Was that a jump in the gun a little bit or was that official when you said it? Yeah. I don't really have authority to do that, but but i did it i don't know if they actually class this album or not i haven't heard anything yet but i'm guessing a lot of them are going uh i think there's a uh there's a lot of actually one of the kids invited me to a darty and i didn't know what that meant it's a date party i don't that's a i had never heard that word before it was a lot of parties going on around here i guess well your your story is amazing we're definitely gonna get into that but i mean just an amazing comeback you tie it up late you get the game winner just that quick into ot

what was what was the celebration like after i saw a speech given in the locker room and then kind of take us into the the what went on when everyone finally left the rink in tampa on saturday night uh i mean it's just. It's chaos and bedlam. And it's like I couldn't even explain it. I'm sure it's that way when you win a Stanley Cup, too. I know we're not. It's a little different level. It felt like it.

You know, we're on top of the mountain. I know for me, I went. I had to go do media, which takes forever. There's like everybody there. And I'm like, guys, come on. We got to speed this up. And then I went back in and they kind of tricked me and they got me with the water bucket there. Um, and then I did a little celebration, but honestly, I still really haven't felt like I've addressed my team yet and

talk to them, you know, it's, and then the next morning and the guys got after it that night, which we aren't going to get into that, but you know, we get on the charter. And so I really haven't had a chance to really talk to my team and address them and anything um other than our little you know the water bottle thing and um but uh eventually at some point i guess i will and now now it's chaos because now i got nhl teams trying to take my players and you know it's all part of you if you're going to be this good you're going to lose players you got you got to show up to one of those darties to address them they're going to be they're going to be poolside with their tarps off, getting a nice base tan for the summer here. I mean, the kid was aggressive too.

He's like, come on, come on. I'm like, listen, it's probably not good for my job security here if you need me to show up at Darty's. I want to go back to the game because I believe last year in the regionals you pulled a goalie with about three minutes left when you guys had a power play. And then you ended up doing it again with about with about three and a half minutes, like what, what made you decide to go back to that? Was it just your gut instinct?

Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to lie. Like I'm, I'm over-aggressive getting the goalie out early. I just believe in it. You know, like last year we were losing to Harvard in the ECAC championship. And we had a power play with six, 10 left. We're down by a goal. And I pulled the goal. I went six on four and you know what was we ran a face-off play and we scored off the play and everybody's like oh ran's a genius and then a week later i did that because our power play a year ago wasn't great we were struggling to struggling to generate and i'm like i i believe in my team and i believed it would work and it did and and then um um you know two weeks later we're down to

michigan and it was i think it was like 357 left it was a little early but i had brendan moore's line ready to go which was brendan moore oliver chow and who's fenn that was a great line my my top d pair was ready to go we were fresh i didn't like the line that michigan had out there i thought we could win the draw and we won it clean and we just had an unforced turnover and every now i look like an idiot why'd you pull a goalie well and then this year i did it and so you know so i look at it like it worked against harvard it didn't work against michigan last year and worked against minnesota so i'm two for three so 67 percent so pretty yeah you're buzzing you're right like i think the nhl marks like 11 like people don't realize

like it's so hard to score six on five so when we got to the the michigan game i'm sorry the minnesota game i'm like why don't we go six on four and i got two extra guys instead of six on five i know they can ice the puck but i got two extra guys we hunt we're hard on pox we got great sticks um it's going to be really hard for them to have a clean look at that empty net and and listen it worked out for us cooley was just coming on the ice he wasn't really back in the zone yet or barely and we score the goal because i got lipkin off the back post my extra guy and the goalie's cheating the pass and Graffert makes a great play and goes five ball on him and we're going to OT so uh yeah it was you gotta have some cojones to do it but I believe in it

I really do and I believe in my players and in talking to scouts and guys who have played against your teams you know for the past few years or a long time, you, like you said, hard on pucks, tenacious character guys, and it all showed in that third period. I mean, I couldn't believe the domination was, was there anything different you said to them before that, that third, or was it kind of just standard and that's how you approach every game? I mean, I, it wasn't a long speech. Like I knew we were, we had a great second period. I thought we were coming hard. We were working hard. I just went in, I don't know exactly what I did. I think I just came in and smiled and laughed. Like that was awesome. And the guys were all like, yeah, I'm like, we're feeling it. were working hard uh i just went in i don't know exactly what i did i think i just came in and smiled and laughed like that was awesome and the guys were all like yeah i'm like we're feeling it you know it was just more like i'm a big confidence coach and i i just felt the

guys needed hey let's let's go let's get it done it was the same thing in overtime i was like you guys want to do this and they're like let's go and you know like at that point you don't need to talk a lot it's it's but it's an awesome group um just elite character uh people you know that people, you know, that I have on this, that's what we recruit. We want those type of kids. If we're going to go beat them in the Minnesotas with all these, you know, high first rounders and second rounders, like we have to, we have to be detailed. We have to out-compete them. We got to outwork them. And I thought we did that. I thought our culture was on full display against Michigan and against Minnesota. When did the decision go down for the face-off play at the beginning of overtime? Uh, we have, we got face-off plays at the beginning of overtime uh we have we got face-off

plays for all nine dots um like we again if we're gonna be good we have to be more detailed than a lot of teams and uh like it's we run one every time uh we actually ran it earlier in the game and it didn't work uh brock favor actually read it and made a great decision and luckily in overtime rock favor wasn't on the ice and nothing against the guys who were out there. But it was just once, like everybody had, we had to win the draw clean. Metzen makes a pass. It's a little switch play. A graph goes and runs a decoy. We pull the lefty out of the seam.

There's just so many things had to happen. And really, in the end, their center, like he hesitated for half a second. And that's why it worked. And sometimes you get in big games. You guys know that. You guys have played big games. Like people hesitate and you take advantage of those things. And it's one it worked. And sometimes you get in big games. You guys know that you guys have played big games like people hesitate and you take advantage of those things. And it's one of those things. It's like oftentimes, I guess, overtime championship games somewhat seem to end quick.

But I did notice Faber wasn't on the ice. I'm like, you know, he's going to be in the NHL in three days. I was I was surprised by that. That definitely helped you guys a little bit there. the NHL in three days. I was surprised by that. That definitely helped you guys a little bit there. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And listen, they have seven D drafts. They have six draft picks. The kid, Luke Middlestead, who played for me at Worlds, is not drafted and he's got to go on the NHL. He should. Those guys are crazy to not take him. He's an awesome kid, great player. He'll go. So they got seven drafts. I know Faber wasn't out there. I don't know where they are they had two stud d they're loaded and we just got lucky it wasn't and listen it wasn't the d's fault it was it was just that hesitation by that center for that half a second and that's all you need sometimes who's in charge of calling their your face off

plays are you doing that as one of your assistants or is it the centermans responsibility it's uh joe dumay handles the all the neutral zone stuff he's my top assistant he's a? It's Joe Dume handles all the neutral zone stuff. He's my top assistant. He's a rock star. He's one of the best assistants in college hockey, and he handles that. Ozone stuff we do together. Dzone stuff we kind of do together.

But in game, Joe calls all that stuff. I got other stuff to deal with. So, like, we don't have 500 plays, but we've got a few. And that, I want to again, like I said, it's the jet, and it worked. So, going into overtime, he's the one who addresses the players saying this is what we're running or does he consult you at all as the assistant i yeah i don't have time to micromanage that okay there you go fuck it hey that's awesome yeah he's a like he's a head coach i just i'm fortunate to have him like i don't i think if you're going to be good at this level and even the nhl right i've done worlds with the nhL guys and I've done different things with them. Like you have to give

your assistants a lot to do and you have to trust them and you have to get out of the way. And, and I always believed in that. And I remember it was a great story in 2017. I did the worlds. I was so excited. Jeff Laschle hired me, brought me into the power play. Uh, Cappy was, was there too, to do the PK and the D. And I was like, just beyond excited. I'm like, I got Eichel, I got Lark, and I was like, oh my God. I overprepared. I way overprepared.

And I remember the second power play meeting we had, and Blaschel's not there. And I'm like looking around like, well, I don't want to start without the head guy. And he didn't show up. And I did the meeting, and it went well. And I realized afterwards, Blaschel wasn't there on purpose. He me to be have ownership with these guys i'm a college guy coming in they all knew they're all college guys and it was brilliant on his part because it it you know he's like i'm letting my little kid run you know and as a parent or as a head coach you got to let your assistants have that and i knew he he targeted that on purpose and he would come sit on half you, kind of half my meetings here or there.

But I learned a lot from that moment. Like, you know, I got better as a head coach because of spending time with Blash. Like, you got to – that helped me a lot as an assistant. Like, that he had faith in me. He doesn't need to watch over me. And I have to have the same thing with my staff. I don't need to watch over those guys. So, it was a great life moment for me that I still use to this day. Ran, after the big win against Michigan, I actually found my way to the Quinnipiac afterparty at American Social.

You walk in, the whole bar is chanting, Ran Pecknall. I believe you walked in there. My question here is kind of just like, how much pressure did you feel? It seemed like the whole fan base obviously never won a national championship before. They really itching for this but then you walk into that bar everyone's chanting your name you know what were your thoughts about that and how much pressure did you feel um yeah i mean it's it was pretty cool like uh it happened after the mish was after the michigan winner after it happened both times not a big deal kids were trying to do shots with me i'm like no no like i think that's not probably

appropriate, but, uh, but it's awesome. Like, um, you know, we have a great fan base. You know, we have, we've only been division one for 25 years. We're still growing our, our fans and our students and everything. And got to took a little hit in the pandemic. Now we're back, but you know, it's just an awesome environment. And, uh, you know, what, uh, I mean, I remember both those times it was just, it's just awesome. Everything about the whole thing. Like, I'm on cloud nine right now and, you know, just trying to get back to a little normalcy, but just still trying to enjoy it, too. So before we get into the backstory,

I have many questions about the rise of the program. But just to kind of wrap up, I guess, the final four weekend in itself, the Michigan game with Fantilli and Luke Hughes and then the Minnesota with Cooley and Snuggerud and Nyes. Was there any focus? Was there any individuals on your team you're matching up against those you know and future NHL stars probably a lot of them or was it more a team effort in terms of just shutting down those top end players uh that's a great question um it's a little bit of both so the Michigan game I had last change we're the number two overall seed so I had last change I had I was the home team against Michigan we got our matchups I loved both. So the Michigan game I had last change. We were the number two overall seed. So I had last change. I was the only team against Michigan.

We got our matchups. I loved what we had the whole game. Minnesota, we did not. They were the one seed. We got a lot of the matchups that I wanted. I'm not sure what he wanted. Every coach is different, right? Some coaches are big on matchups.

Some aren't. I felt once we got into Minnesota, once we got rolling in the second, there were definitely match-ups I wanted, but I also really strongly believe like I can put anybody out there and listen, do I want to put anybody? No, but I, I felt that. And I did do that because I thought we were just grinding and we, you know, we'd always talk about embrace the grind and let's go. And, you know, we're going to outwork people and outgrind them.

And so there were times that I didn't go all in. I think sometimes in the college game, and it is different than the pro game for sure, you can get over-concerned about matchups and you can take your team out of a rhythm. So I wanted us in a rhythm and we had it going. And certainly in the third, I think we outshot them 16-2. But a thing that made us good this year is I really, I didn't have a

fourth line. I had a fourth line, but I don't have a fourth line, but I feel like I have my top three lines. I can put any one of them out there against Cooley and I did. And that's a big, it's not like I have to have, Brynden Moore is my best defensive line. I didn't have to have Brynden out there. I could go with whomever if those guys were fresh, or I could use Bryndenore. He's my best face-off guy if I felt like we had a big Ozone, a big D-zone draw. So I think that was a big reason we were 34-4 this year, whatever we were, was I really could utilize a lot of players in a lot of different situations. I wasn't pigeonholed as a coach that I have to have this matchup. And before we go back, I was just going to ask about that cool embrace with Rob Brindamore. I think before you went inside the locker room to talk to the players, is he

someone that you communicate with on a regular basis, you guys being head coaches and of course his kid playing for the team? I do. Yeah, I do. We've done a bunch of coaching exchanges. I try to every summer do one or two NHL teams and go and meet with that staff. And they'll tell me, hey, can you present on your penalty killer, your neutral zone? And then they'll say, what do you want me to do? And then we, it's a give and take. I love that. It's awesome for me. It's a great experience. It makes me a better coach. I'm going to learn from them. And then I'm going to learn because I'm going to over-prepare to make sure I do a good job there too. But Rod and I have done a few of those. In fact, one year, I think Skyler was a freshman.

He, we talked, I saw himler was a freshman. We talked. I saw him at the draft in Vancouver. He's like, what are you doing? I said, oh, I'm going to, I won't say the team. I'm going to ex-NHL team and I'm doing a presentation. What are you presenting on? And I had two topics. One was penalty kill.

And he's like, hey, when you're done with that, you want to come to my training camp. Will you present a penalty kill? Because I want to change a couple of things. And so I was like, geez, twist my arm on that one. I'll be out there. So I went to their training camp that year and we went back and forth. And so he's been awesome though. He's a great person. He's a great parent. I don't have a lot of interaction with the parents here because parents all have rose colored glasses and they think their kids should all, they all do, right? They all think their players should play more.

Yeah. Don't call me parents. Stay away from me unless you're Rod Brendamore. Yeah, but they've been great. And Rod, he watches every game. He has my video coach send him the clips and he doesn't just watch Skyler's clips. He watches every single game. So I will reach out to him once in a while and, or he'll send me something unsolicited, like keep it rolling or whatever. And he did send me a couple of things before the Frozen Four, but he's been an awesome resource and a great parent and a great person, as you guys all know. Two very successful coaches, but I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say, you're probably not crushing the gym as often as Rob.

No, even close. Not even close. Well, back to the beginning, you coach at Connecticut College, I believe is D3 NESCAC school. You end up getting the head job at Quinnipiac, I believe is D3 NESCAC school. You end up getting the head job at Quinnipiac, who currently is D2. Explain to me when you maybe imagined or thought you could get them to D1 and the beginning of you being there and a first-time head coach, while also, correct me if I'm wrong, teaching history at a local high school. Is that what it was? Yeah, it's crazy. My first year, so I got hired and really I took the job because I'd been an assistant at college for three years. I wanted to leave after two and I couldn't

get a job. I didn't get an interview. I tried everywhere. I didn't get one interview after two. I did a decent job that I thought, but it's D3. Didn't get anything. I'm like, oh my God. So I went back for a third year. It was coach Roberts, Doug Roberts, who played in the NHL, was my coach and then the head coach there when I went back. Great person, awesome person. But I needed to get out. I needed to build my resume. I needed to get out of there. And really, the only offer I had was the head job at Quinnipiac.

It paid $6,700. Actually, they told me $7,000. And then I got the contract. I lost $300 in the deal. I was like, I'll take it. But we practiced at midnight. I had a teaching job. It's 31 miles away and um so here's my

day i got up at 6 a.m got to my teaching job i was high school high school history teacher uh griswold high school got home from work around 3 p.m i slept 3 p.m to 6 p.m got up went down recruited midnight practice got home slept 3 a.m so i 3 a.m to 6 a.m so i my life was in these 12 hour increments and we had tryouts i had 17 skaters show up in 12 goalies i didn't have enough guys for the team so i actually i remember doing this which i can't believe i did it i met with the 12 goalies and i literally asked them guys if you don't make the team as a goalie has anybody ever played out before so i didn't have any healthy scratches that year um it was a train wreck and like i didn't sleep i was just growing like i'm i was just i'm so competitive like i'm gonna grind this on i'm

gonna get players i'm gonna get players we'll be good and um um so anyway the whole year was was crazy but i the first 14 games i had one win and i'm like what what am i doing uh we'd be scoring i was right i'll beat him nine five but i'm like we were terrible and uh and then we went a little run at the end of the year um we went five and three at the end of the year i played one game a couple kids quit as the year went on because i was tough on them like i'm like guys you can't you can't be drinking beers before practice on the way to the rank like i you know i did have a couple rules so we cut some kids a couple kids quick because they didn't you know whatever and then i remember beating uh villanova actually the D3 back that D3 team back then but I remember beating them and we had I had 10 players dressed

the game and so I didn't have enough players so we didn't even forecheck we stayed in the neutral zone the whole game and then I don't know how we won but we won the game I always remember that but we had one kid who was hurt and I told him I'm like hey can you dress and if we take a bench minor or something happens can you just serve a penalty and then you come right

off so we actually that happened. We took too many men on the ice. He went to the box, came over because he wasn't allowed to play. But it was just the whole thing. Everything was crazy. It was just crazy. And then year two, we got a 9.40 p.m. practice time, and I was like, oh, my God, it saved my life.

And we brought in 19 freshmen in the second year, so I had some players. So that's when I played against you. You were in the MAAC league. What was the biggest thing, like changing from the MAAC to the ECAC or the new rink? What changed the trajectory of the program? Yeah. So we do four years division three. My fourth year, I think we were like 19 and three. We got pretty good. I got some big time players in from the USHL and we knew we're on the path to go division one. I got really fortunate. So instead of the USHL and we knew we're on the path to go division one. I got really fortunate. So instead of taking a step back, my first AD retires after my first year and we bring in Jack McDonald, who had been the AD at Denver. And my president, John Leahy,

at the time, who was brilliant, was like, we're going to go division one in athletics. And they brought Jack McDonald to do it. And John wanted to do that so we could become a better academic school. It was brilliant, which is exactly what happened. And John wanted to do that so we could become a better academic school. It was brilliant, which is exactly what happened. And I'm like, how does that happen? It's really a Doug Flutie phenomenon, basically. We did it according to what BC did with Doug Flutie and that football thing. So anyway, we bring him in.

And then Jackson's taking D1. And I'm like, oh, my God, I'm going to be a D1 hockey coach. And then we're going through year two, year three, because it took a little while for that to happen. And then I was like, then I started, there was whispers like, well, they're going to go get a D1 hockey coach. And then we're going through year two, year three, because it took a little while for that to happen. And then I was like, then I started, there was whispers like, well, they're going to go get a D1 basketball coach. They're going to get a D1 hockey coach. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to be out of a job. So luckily what happened for me was in year four, we were going to, year five was going to be D1, year four for me, we were like 11 and 0 or 12 and 0 at Christmas. And Jack convinced my president, like, Rand's our guy.

He can do this. So I owe a lot to Jack McDonald having faith in me. And I think I am their guy. I've been here 29 years. But anyway, going to your question on the Mac, then we go to the Mac. We get better and better. I think we were like 26 and 6. But we didn't really play anybody outside the Mac, which is now Atlantic Hockey.

And then the big thing was we built this rink you know 65 million dollars it's a phenomenal facility that got us into the ECAC Vermont leaves they go to Holy Cross I think I'm sorry they go to um they go to uh ECI Hockey East right and so ECAC needed a team it was also Holy Cross and because we had the rink coming and the commitment they took us and then that kind of that kind of launched us. And then 2013 Frozen Four run launched us again. Yeah, that was the first time I was like, wow, they have become like a legitimate top end program. And I have a good friend, Billy Ryan.

He scouts for Montreal. And I kind of asked him about your program. He's seen you guys play a lot. And he mentioned, and I'm sure this will change now, but you even said it is hard to get the top end recruits, the high draft picks, the guys who are getting full rides from four or five different schools. So you've always just recruited based on character. It kind of sounds like how you are in terms of building the program. You're looking at kids who maybe aren't getting looked at by the top end powerhouses, but you know, will probably be there four years and are guys, you know,

former captains, kids who have just worked their balls off to get to where they're at. Yeah. Yeah. We actually, we did. So one year, so Billy Riga, who was an old assistant, I was the head coach of Holy Cross. Now one year we sat down and I said, let's go back. Let's do like, it was in the summer. Like, what are you going to do as a hockey coach? You recruit a little bit, right? You want to get a little golfing, but we got to, I'm like, let's be productive. I said, let's go back and go through every kid we've had the last 11 years and just simplify it. They did what we thought they were going to do, like a Matthew Pekka. I knew he was going to be

a superstar and an All-American playing in the NHL and he did that. We nailed it with him. We got a lot of kids that overachieve and then do we have kids that underachieve? It's just three categories. Then with each kid, why? Why did they overachieve? Why did they underachieve? Why do kids fail at Quinnipiac? Or why do we have these kids go from being a walk-on and the kid makes the NHL? How does that happen? And the thing that we went through 11 years and we went back and what happened over and over again was high hockey IQ, high character was the overachievers.

And it was a lack of those two things or a lack of one of those things was a kid that failed for me. They could be a superstar player and a turd of a kid, and it wasn't going to work out here. And so we were already kind of trying to recruit high character kids anyways, but that was a wake up call for me. And I don't remember what year that was, but it was probably 2013, 2014, 2015. And then we really over-focused on high character, high hockey IQ. Certainly, we have tons of talent, right? We got Devon Taze. He's a stud in the NHL. Connor Clifton. We've got Matthew... I got stars right now on my team. These kids are great players. But the thing that we do is we get these great kids in, they got a work ethic, high compete,

and we make them better. We're as good as anybody in college hockey at our development model. You can go through our whole lineup. Look at Colin Graff. Why does he pop this year? He was a transfer from Union and he had 22 points and now he's got 60 in NHL offers. Why does Sam Lipkin pop as a seventh round draft? Why does Jacob Quill undrafted? All these undrafted kids we have. We have this unbelievable development model that we work on. We've got a great strength coach. We have to develop guys. And I'll tell you a great story. So that 2013 team, we had 27 players on that team, 19 of those kids, right? We lost the national championship game with that team. 19 of those kids, their only offer was Quinnipiac. Like it's crazy. Like we shouldn't be there, but we are there. And then going back to this, all the media coverage we get, one of the best questions somebody asked Yanni Peretz, who's right, who should have won the rector. It's ridiculous. Don't get me going on that. I'm pissed about that.

I don't even want to ask many more questions about that. But he's the best way. You brought it up, Rand. Yeah, I know. I know. I'm mad. Let's move on. But anyway, one of the guys asked him like, well, why did you pick Quinnipiac?

He's like, well, they're the only school that recruited me and offered me. So, you know, it was a great answer. And I was like, you know, they're like, that's what we get. And now he's, you know, we developed them. And I get a credit to Yanni. The kid works. He's committed. We have this great program.

We've got a great goalie coach. And we have to, if we're going to win, we have to make kids better. We've got to make them better. When you're recruiting them, do you let them know about the 5 a.m. adversity challenges? 5 a.m. adversity challenges? I don't know what those are, but. Oh, really?

Okay. I talked to Jordan Samuel Thomas, who was on that team that went to the finals, and he said that you would do these random adversity challenges at 5 a.m. Yeah, he's a little off. It was 6 a.m. Okay, sorry, sorry. I've got that. So what we do do.

You're getting soft now. You're getting soft for a 6 a.m. What we do do on Saturdays in September, our strength, our coach, strength coach with me, we decided like we go at 5 or 6 a.m. I think it's 6 a.m. now to tough them up a little bit mentally. And if they don't like it, go to another school, go to a country club. So we do that a little bit. I don't do that during the season.

I got off, you threw me off with the question, but yeah, we do that. And I love JST, by the way. Biz, his recruiting pitch is the 6 to one girls the guy ratio at quinnipiac when and then rbi where i went it's the complete opposite of that so that's how he does it don't let him fool you i don't think we got in the i don't think you returned our phone calls back and it's clear i get it but i get it but we do, it is a little, it's a benefit. And what we want to do is we want to get kids to visit. They see the rink.

Actually, this summer, we're doing a whole renovation, two and a half million in our locker room, which will be great. The rink's awesome. The locker room we have now is fine, but we'll do that. They see the campus, and then I'm not going to lie, it doesn't hurt. We do have a high girl-to-guy ratio on campus. It's pretty. It helps. I had a great conversation with him.

He reinforced the culture and what you guys enforce and how he was a transfer and how he loved it there. He also did mention, you already talked about the penalty kill and also this 1-3-1 where you were really big on the 1-3-1 of the neutral zone and you guys would have them run the routes for like 20, 25 minutes, no pucks on the so so the mentally in their head when they were fatigued they would just know what places to go to is that still something in the neutral zone that you you enforce yeah again jst's got a selective memory i'm gonna have a chat with him we we have pucks

involved i don't okay i don't really i never line our guys up in sprint i can't even remember the last time we never ever do that for condition. Our practices are awesome. We're at pace. That's how they get in shape. They get in shape. We don't need to do that stuff. But we do practice our neutral zone.

I call it neutral zone one puck or two pucks. And then it runs into other things that we can get some D zone coverage, puck possessions, some different things, our routes. I call it a 1-1-3, but you can call it a 1-3-1. I put it in in 2008. I felt like when you run a 1-2-2, it's always a read on who the back checker is. And I'd always have these kids that were defensively deficient and they would blow that read. And I was like, oh my. And it just was like, really? Oh yeah, coach. And it just

was over and over again. And I knew what the 1-1-3 was or 1-3-1. And I knew a lot of teams in the NHL did it. And I just made a decision to go to it. And we tried it about half a Christmas of that year. I think it was the 2007-8 season Christmas. We did it. We were good at it.

And then what I did was I tracked down Barry Smith from the Red Wings. And the Red Wings had, this is basically what I do in neutral is what the Red Wings ran to win three cups in that five-year span. Was it 98, 99, 03, whatever that span was. And I tracked them down. I said, hey, can I fly you in? I'll pay you a stipend. I'll pay all your expenses. And we just spend a day together and we just talk hockey. And I pick your brain. I want to learn the neutral zone, but I want to learn everything. And he came in and the guy's a genius and he helped me with so many things and i and i i felt like i understood the 113 but what he did was teach me how to practice it he gave me some of the small nuances like how to do things and they were just brilliant and i'm like oh my god and so we do those little things so there's probably people out there right now going

oh we're going to run the 113 like couldn't be act as well if you don't know the little nuances like you're not going to be great at it and barry really helped me with that um i owe him a lot um and um you know every time i see him i give him a hug but i haven't seen him in a little while but you know that maybe he's watched maybe i'm sure he watches your show but um so anyway that's that's what we did and every year in NHL, there's about probably, I would say, nine teams that run what we run. It's not that teams don't do it. In the college world, it's very rare. And when teams do do it, I'm going to be honest with you, they're not very good at it. They don't know what they're doing. It's a guy that, oh, I'm going to do this.

And they're not great at it. They don't know how to practice it. They don't know the retrieval part of it. There's so many little nuances to it. And the Red Wings went all in on it. They actually did it as a four check too. I don't do it as a four check. I've always thought of that, but I've never. I like our four check as it is. But yeah, it's a part of our game. And if you watch the Michigan game, we bottle them up pretty good.

You mentioned the player Colin Graff just pops off this year. He's a Massachusetts kid. I was very excited for him. But how he transferred from Union. So ever since the NCAAa changed the rule you don't have to sit out the year how do you go about recruiting or finding out because you can't tamper so like when do you hear that a kid wants to maybe leave the school and then when can you get involved in terms of bringing someone in from a program that you think could really help without having to sit out that year yeah so now that's changed everything right like it's it is the

wild west free agency now in college hockey it's crazy so this you know if kids are they're not happy with their ice time uh why aren't in the power okay they go on the portal so you know for us retention is like we got if your kids love where you are if they love the coaches they feel like they're getting better they feel like they you care about them and they love their teammates they're gonna stay and that's that's been our thing like we we haven't lost anybody that's a really good player nobody's leaving quinnipiac because they love this play and they love the coaches and they love our strength coach but if you're not happy with your ice time you're gone um but uh you got to wait till they go on the transfer portal which opened um the monday before

the ncaa first round which was you know we're getting ready for Merrimack, Ohio State, whatever. And it's crazy because you're recruiting. But I will say this, boys, like what happens is there's rumors. There's rumors that get out there like, so not happy, or this kid might leave, or this kid was first line last year and now he's on the fourth line. And so you kind of have an idea a little bit, but it's – I don't think it's great for college hockey, but it's what's going on.

And we've been, we've been really good at it two years in a row and we're going to kill it on the portal again this year. Like kids want to come here, they want to play here, they want to play for us. And so it's been, it's been good for Quinnipiac, but I, I'm not saying I love it, but you got to embrace it. Really? Are kids easy to coach today compared to like your early years, or is it just a different style you had to adapt to it's different it's considerably yeah you gotta you know you know you just you can't yell like like i was i yelled a lot when i was you know some of those guys who played for me back in the day were like ran was a i mean he was he was tough you know they probably actually probably using a different word um but uh but like i, I, you know, I adapt, you got to adapt and I've mellowed and like,

it just doesn't work. These kids, they're so fragile. Um, they're not mentally, not just, I'm not saying, I'm saying in general, they come out like they're, you know, you got a lot of helicopter parents in the world now. And, um, you know, sometimes they need a hug more than to be yelled at. So like everything we do, everything's one-on-one video with kids for the most part. Everything's positive. Um, we'll certainly hold them accountable. I'll show kids what have you, but they come, they're going to sit down with me or Joe Dume or Mike Corbett or Justin and my goalie

coach. It's like, hey, we look at the thing, what happened here? They know if they're coming to me with us, they've probably already watched the video themselves. We give them access to all of that. So a lot of times you bring them in, hey, I should have my stick here. My blade was turned the wrong way. Or like we teach a lot of those little nuances um but you definitely have to adapt or or or they're not going to like you and they're going to transfer so rare rare are you calling out a guy in the middle of the locker room on a mistake being made even if it's a repetitive mistake i think rare isn't is an overstatement never never well it's it's it's never like uh and then listen the way i'm sure you got called out a few times today.

Jack Parker's listening to this. He's like, I got Whitney and BU in the middle of the game down the tunnel screaming in his face. It was old school. Yeah. Listen, it's rare. Like once in a while, like this year, I think I yelled once at a kid once. I really do.

And I feel bad that I did. I have to grab him eventually and apologize to him. I did it once because he needed a jump start. He was really struggling in a big game in one of the NCAA games. The guys that I could, like Timmy Clifton and Connor Clifton, they loved it. They wanted to be yelled at. They needed that.

But other than those two in the last 10 years, and I had a great relationship with those guys. I love those two. They were great players for me great kids um but that was more like you know they you have to adapt to every kid but it's it's all it's just our environment that we have at quinnipiac it's positive the kids walk in our locker room they feel comfortable um they feel safe um they love coming to the rink every day they're excited we our slogan on the door is attack the day and they buy it. They, it's, it's realist. They buy into that. They're like, they go in the weight room and it's game on. They're like, let's get better. You know? Um,

and so many guys that play at other schools, it's like, how do I get out of lift today? You know, how God, I don't want to go lift or I don't want to, I don't want to go to practice today. You know, uh, I like, I want to go dart. I want to be at a darting. Yeah. Yeah. So, so you have to adapt. And,

you know, I feel like we've done that as a staff and the one-on-one coaching, like you can, you create that trust factor and it's, it's not a fake trust. It's sincere. And they, they know that you care about them. I want to make you better.

So you're better. You can play better here. You can, you can play better in pro and we can win more. They know it's win-win. So that's what we try to create. And the way I asked about the transfer portal and how you answered it, I'm sure maybe similar feelings with this whole NIL thing in terms of college athletes being able to be paid now. Now, I would imagine or guess that the Big Ten schools with

the big money in the football programs have a lot more money to throw around. But have you guys had to get into that? Is that a part of now talking about talking to alumni? Like how do you approach, I guess, paying kids? Is it even a big thing with college hockey yet? They're offering them 6,700. Just like 6,700 is what it's called in fact.

And you could teach history if you want to an hour away. Yeah. I'll tell you what, let me listen. Let me give you a call. That's a great question. You've done your homework. I'm impressed.

That's why your, that's why your program is so successful. But it's an awesome question. So basically, basketball and football, they're all in with the NIL, with the collectives, and they are killing it. Kids are getting $100,000, $500,000. Backup quarterbacks are getting $50,000 just to go to school X. just to go to school X. Hockey is behind football and basketball, but starting to catch up fast. And the big tens and the big schools are going to leave the little guys in the dust. And if you don't get on board with this, you're going to get killed because it's coming. It's not all in yet.

We definitely lost a couple of kids this year. So it should not be a form of inducement. But we lost a kid. I won't name the name of the school because they gave him 100 grand. I think it was four years, 25 a year for fourment. Well, we lost a kid. I won't name the name of the school because they gave him 100 grand. I think it was four years, 25 a year for four years. And you can't do that, but they did it. And even the football and basketballs are all doing it.

So it's something you better figure out fast, or you're going to get really left in the dust. And the big boys have the donors and they have the budgets. And so college hockey is already kind of a have and have not situation. left in the dust and the big boys have the donors and they have the budgets and uh so it's college hockey is is already kind of a have and have not situation um it's going to become more of that unless you can get your your donors on board well now we know where the uh needing a hug came from with the uh interview after the game of colby cohen did you know colby before before this or did you ever i do i do know him a little bit um you know colby and uh and buchigras they they

covered us in the regionals, and they were in the same hotel, so I might have bumped into them once or twice at the restaurant there. And I've known those guys for years, but I know Bucci a lot better than Colby, but I know them. They're good guys. They do a great job. Actually, talk about homework.

Those guys do their homework. They're great. They might come and say hi to me, but they're pumping me for intel. They're pretty good at their job. They're good F1s and good F2s for sure. Ran, I kind of just wanted to talk about the state of college hockey. We kind of just mentioned all the big football schools with a ton of money. I'm such a huge advocate of growing the game out West, you know, getting that we saw it with Arizona State, but, you know, getting the Pac-12s, the UCLA's, the USC's, the Oregonons, getting those schools to buy into hockey.

Do you think that could be successful or do you think I'm just crazy? I think it would be a home run. I think those schools are crazy. Like my wife went to Duke. I mean, oh my God. Have Duke add a program? North Carolina? Get the SEC schools in the mix like Alabama?

They would kill it. They would kill it. Now listen, you got to hire the right coach for sure. And there's plenty of those right coaches that would be like, oh, I'm going to go spend the next 10 years in Gainesville or Raleigh, North Carolina or whatever. I pick your UCLA. I don't pick your school at a warm weather thing like Arizona State did. I'm shocked more of them haven't gone on board. Arizona State just shook. Penn State's not that old. I mean, I know it's not as far south. They've killed it. They've been in the NCAA tournament. As long as

you're going to have the resources, I think the biggest thing holding that back is you need a donor. So Penn State did it. They had a donor, right? 88 million. Arizona State did it. They had a donor. I don't know what it was, 40 or 50 million. You have to have that donor, but those schools all have those people. They do. But I think it's coming. I'm shocked it hasn't pushed along faster. But I think if you had the right alumni and the guys like, hey, I want this to happen and I'm going to write a check for this many million, you got to get a rank too. Obviously, you need a rank. But that's where a lot of the money is going to go to, but to get it up and running. And then you got to add the women's program because it's gender equity for the most part, unless you can stick handle around that. But I think it should happen. I think they would kill it.

In terms of the ECAC this year, I mean, four teams ended up getting into the national tournament. That was great. But you guys are big favorites and you ended up losing in the semifinals. Was that a tough thing for the guys to kind of deal with or just because they knew they were already locked into the NCAAs that it was kind of wash it and just get ready for the regionals yeah i mean that lost the colgate in the semifinal and double overtime that's that's probably the impetus for us to put the nail in the coffin for us to win a national championship nice um i felt in the month of february and my guys they're awesome kids they're awesome i thought they were just getting tired of listening and i was gone for a month for world juniors too.

They had a break for me. I thought that would help. But I, you know, so what happened in February and even late January, we wouldn't play great and we'd still win, right? We wouldn't play great and we'd still win. And they're like, what does Rand complain? We still won. We still, you know, like, and that just get, they just feel like they're invincible. And we kind of were strained a little bit from our identity. And my goalie's a stud and he would bail us out when we needed to, or, you know, my, I got a couple, you know, Mets or Graff, they'd make a play and we'd win. And so I was losing him a little bit. And I'm really mad at myself about that before Colgate, because I knew I was losing him a

little and I probably should have, I probably should have snapped on him before we went to Lake Placid because I didn't feel like we were all in. And I know that's hard to say because the week before we played in the quarterfinals, we held a team to five shots on net in a game. So they're looking at me and I want us to be better. And they're like, coach, the team had five shots. And I'm like, give us a break, man. So I stayed the course and i stayed positive and i stayed you know this is great let's you know and then we got to colgate and

played probably one of the worst games of the year we put the guys were it was a train wreck like we couldn't manage the part we turned we had a million turnovers uh we didn't handle the moment well uh we just we stunk and uh i'm really mad at myself now the crazy thing is we still almost won that game you know and if we win that game and move on and maybe win that east we probably get knocked out somewhere along the way we don't you know to me i think that's that's a big reason why we just won a national championship i it grounded our players it got them back on board with this is the quinnipiac identity we're going to listen to ran and joe and corbs and and eddie and you know i didn't want that loss,

but in hindsight, that's why we wanted Natty. See, I thought you wanted Natty because you had Bubba behind the bench with you. He won two Stanley Cups in Tampa and now he won there. So I got to give him a shout out. He just wins wherever he goes. He does. He does. Did you spend time with Bubba somewhere along the way? My brother did, but I ran into him during the weekend down in Tampa and he was keeping it pro whole weekend, unlike myself. But you had him even, he was doing everything exactly what he did the night before every game.

And you got a real gem there. And that's, listen, he's awesome. That's part of our whole culture here to me is like, I didn't know in my early years, how important your athletic trainer is how important your equipment i was like it doesn't really that's not that's not what's important and now i'm like that's everything like those guys walk in the locker room and they they need to like those people those people are a big part of your program if you've got negative guys or bad people in those spots it can just sabotage and i didn't like the grumpy equipment guy the grumpy trainer it'll just ruin the yeah

he'll kill you they will kill you just like a kid just like the same as you know your your leading scorer who's you know who doesn't want to backtrack it doesn't want to block a shot like you're done yeah how are you going to get the other kids to do and you keep playing that kid you're done like your best players have to be eating pucks and and and tracking back on pucks like my best kids do and And then it's like, well, how do I not do that? If I got a Matthew Pekka or Connor Jones or Colin Graff or Zach Metz blocking a puck with their face, everybody's like, well, I better do it, right? I got to get on the train. But going back to Bobby, he's a great guy. We're really lucky. We've had him

two years now. He spent 14 years with the Lightning. And that's, you know, that was a no-brainer for us to get him on board. I see that Devon Taves jersey behind you, an Islanders jersey, ironically, probably the worst trade Lou Lamorello ever made. But, you know, he was a fourth rounder. Connor Clifton, you mentioned, is a fifth rounder. Did you see both of those guys, Taves especially, considering he would have been on the Canadian Olympic team had the NHL players gone last year. Did you see right away that these kids were going to be NHL studs and Taze specifically? With Taze, I knew they both would play in the NHL, yes. With Taze, yes.

Great story on Devon. So he came at 19 years old. Didn't come at 18. Became at 19. Could have come at 18. We talked about it as a staff. I'm like, well, he's going to be my six maybe second power play but i'm like let's let him do another year which he was fine with doing and he did another year grew

matured he was in played for the surrey eagles and the bc league well they went to the royal bank and it was a great year for him but he still came in as a freshman for me at 19 he was six feet tall and i think he was about 152 pounds he's this little string bean could skate like the wind great hockey iq defensively his stick was atrocious when he got to me. He might debate that, but he didn't have a great stick defensively. So Brijesh Patel, my string coach, we got on him, we got on him. I think when he left after his junior year sign, I want to think he was around 190 then. I might be wrong off. I think he plays in that range now. He did a great job with him. Reed Cashman was my D coach back then. Reed did a great job with him. Reed Cashman was my D coach back then. Reed did a great

job with him. His stick on puck skills. He turned into a phenomenal player. He actually didn't draft until after his freshman year at Quinnipiac. I told like 10 of my buddies in the scouting world before he came to Quinnipiac, I'm like, take him. He's the best seventh round pick you'll ever have. And they'd none of them listened to me. So he was passed over. Correct. Yep. Nobody took him. We've actually had a lot of guys undrafted and then get drafted after their freshman year. Chase Priskey, Taze, who else? We've had a few. Charles Legault is on our team now. He should go in the draft this summer. He's been passed over twice. He should go. He's one of our D. But with Taze, they're getting back to him. He just worked at it.

Reid and I, I don't know if Stevon knows this. He's probably going to watch this and kill me. But Reed and I, Devon's freshman year, Reed and I would talk every single day in the morning. How are we going to coach Devon today? What are we going to do? We wouldn't do that about every player. How are we treating him? Are we giving him a hug? Are we tough on him? Because he needed to mature.

He's a great person, but he needed to mature. He was only a 19-year-old kid, and he needed to mature into He's a great person, but he needed to mature. He was only a 19-year-old kid and he needed to mature into getting a better work ethic and to being more committed to stick on puck. And if you do these things defensively, you'll get more points offensively. And he took a huge maturity spurt as a freshman, another big one as a sophomore. And as a junior, he was our best player. I don't even think it was an all-star in our league, but it was crazy. I'm still mad at the coaches. I got to go back and look at that. I don't even think he was an all-star in our league. It was crazy. I don't know what the coach, I'm still mad at the coaches. And I got to go back and look at that.

I don't even know. But he was like a coursey machine. He was so good on our team that year. And I remember when he asked me, he's like, Coach, the Islanders want to sign me. I'm like, what do you think? And I'm like, Devon, I would love to have you back. But like, you got to go.

You're ready. And he was ready. And listen, he was ready for a little season. And then he sat in the AHL forever. And I'm like, I would go watch, because he was playing in Bridgeport right down the street. I'd go watch his games. And he was ready. And listen, he was ready for a little season. And then he sat in the NHL forever. And I'm like, I would go watch, because he was playing in Bridgeport right down the street. I'd go watch his games. And he would dominate. Like, it was ridiculous how much better he was.

Like, why are they not calling him up? And they were just trying to season him a little bit more. And he spent a lot more time in the American League than he probably needed to. But anyway, to answer your initial question, I knew he was going to play in the NHL. And then as I got him after his junior year, I'm like, he's going to be a really good player in the NHL. I remember getting into a couple of NHL coaches about him and I was talking like this about him. He's not elite. He's not elite. I'm like, well, give him some time. I think he will be. Actually, I'm not going to name his name, but I got in a battle once with one guy who kind of called me out on it. I guess I'm right. Maybe I should reach out to him

now. I just bring him in. I told you so. Yeah. Well, you already talked about the world juniors. You coached the world juniors you coached the world juniors this year with the u.s team i'm a big prospect guy you're talking about knowing nhl talent you got bedard you got carlson you got finn tilly how good are these guys which guy would you take number one or number two well but our but our it's not it's not even it's not even it's not a question it's not even there like he's like question. It's not even there. Like he's like, he's like, he's like, he's a, he's a video game. Like, it's like, he's going to, he's, we all know he's generational. He was so crazy good in that whole tournament.

I actually thought we did a decent job. I mean, he did score one goal off a face-off play on us, but I thought we did a really good job on the power play against him and not letting him do what he likes to do. Fantilli, interestingly enough, I love Fantilli. I think he's a great player he's gonna be a great nhl player canada didn't didn't play him a lot um that's how good their team was like he was kind of like fourth line second power play they didn't they didn't kind of got in the dog

house there and but also they didn't need them like they were so deep and so loaded that's one of the deepest teams at world juniors probably in the last 20 years it was scary the talent that they had i mean they got nhl guys coming back to play, like playing NHL games. It kind of wasn't fair. But don't get me going on the game with Canada. The two goals we got called back. Oh, listen. I could hear that.

You still got something there. I think I had a viral clip. People are still coming at me saying I'm an idiot, but I'm with you, Rand. That was bullshit. Well, the Jackson play, that's a goal. It's a goal. It's a goal.

That was the one I went nuts about. Yeah we got we got hosed you know and that's why everybody's like well you were so calm on the bench and why were you yelling at the refs and i'm like neither one speaks english they could i'd already had on the tournament you know like you know i just came on this you know i think i need costas i couldn't yell at them because they literally didn't let them spoke english but anyway um getting back to the guys you asked me about there, they were all really good. I was impressed with my American group.

Like I couldn't believe, I knew how talented these kids were, but the character, like really high-end kids, like Luke Hughes is a rock star of a kid, like great person. Listen, I don't want to go through the whole list because I'd probably leave somebody out, but that blew me away. I went into that and I couldn't believe how good of kids I had on that team. It was awesome. Now getting that job, a huge honor. But would you have been weary of taking it? Because you said you're gone for a month, but you probably knew this team's good enough. We're going to be there at the end. But if it was a different team that you had would you maybe not want to be away from the team that long or just getting the chance to coach us world juniors no matter what you're

taking it no well no i'm taking it no matter what that's that's the job of a lifetime i mean oh my god i was waiting forever for him and and when when beezer offered me the job he's like do you need to talk to your wife i'm like no it was supposed to be in russia that's what the term was supposed to be he's like well it's in russia i said no i'm in i'll talk to her but i'm in uh but no but for me like joe dumay is so good i'm like we won't miss a beat with him mike corbett's great my other assistant just any my goalie coach um i did take sean roach my video coach who spent time in the nhl i took him with me to worlds uh baba went with me to worlds um and baba's son quinn took over here

uh doing the equipment here. But no, we didn't miss a beat. We didn't miss a beat. But I wouldn't have hesitated with the staff that I have. I might have thought about it a little bit, but God, I've been really fortunate. I can't remember the last time I had a bad assistant coach. I really have a good staff. So it's great for them to get ownership and to run all those things. But now you're winning though. You're going to start losing them. Are you getting worried about that? Well, Joe got offered the union head job last year and he turned it down. I was like, what? I mean, that might be the most important thing that happened to us. He's like, I love it

here. And he decided to stay. But yeah, I'm going to lose my staff. And I lost Riga a year ago. I lost after 16, Cashman, the NHL came calling. I lost him. He eventually, you know, was in the AHL and he was with the Capitals. So that's what happens. You win, you're going to lose your staff and you better hire well as you move forward. Well, for him to stay instead of being the head coach of Union,

that says a lot about you. And this is just an amazing rags to riches story. Talking to you, it makes a lot more sense now in terms of your work ethic. I'm a BU guy. I think Pandolfo is going to get them right back where they need to be but grinnelly he had a plus 750 ticket on you this year so he took home some money because of you guys but congratulations on everything i went two and all i had you both games how much how much did you guys win can you can you

disclose that or is that is that off of 150 bucks right uh grinnelly you know i won 750 why why didn't you get well listen why didn't you bet more you should have won more than that if you bet on i should have put more in the pot i know tell me about it i was still getting called on i'm not gonna tell you how much i won because you're gonna probably ask me to put it into the nil account now so we can get support players so but i did well i did well both games picking you guys you guys were plus money both games on barstool sportsbook. So, uh, I appreciate the Bobcats. We ended up actually- You Smith and Murphy, I hit you up for a little donation.

And we ended up in the box actually with a bunch of your alumni. Um, Chris, Chris, uh, Chris, what was his name? Gee, Chris, Chris White, I think it was. Oh God, White. You remember him? Oh, oh, do I remember White? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah oh yeah yeah yeah he he invited us up to the his suite with a bunch of your alumni so we knew that was good vibes too that you were going to win and uh it was fun to see an ecac school win yeah he's a beauty how was he during the game was he fun yeah yeah we had a good time that box was insane quinnipiac people sure know how to drink i'll tell you that but and you got in with the right crew if you're in with Whitey, for sure. Yeah.

I just have one more. Do you have aspirations of coaching in the National Hockey League, or are you just happy where you're at with what you've built and the machine that's running at Quinnipiac? You know, the thing about, like, you know, going to the NHL. I mean, listen, I would love to coach in the NHL. I would love it. But to go be an NHL assistant, you know, I'm taking a pay cut. I'm losing all my job security,

and I'm never going to see my four kids and my wife. So all my buddies that do that are like, you stay right where you are. Would I do it to go be a head coach? Yeah, I would do that. Is that realistic? Probably not. Quinny did it. Jim Montgomery did it. Dave Haxtell, I think those are the three guys that have gone right from college hockey into being a head coach in the NHL. It doesn't happen a lot. Obviously, those three guys have all had pretty good months. He's doing a pretty good job, I think, this year.

Decent year. I had him miss some playoffs. But you guys know, like an NHL GM, I mean, to go hire a college guy, they got to be like, okay, this is my guy. You know, it's hard for them to do that because they end up wanting the pressure on the media and stuff like that. So if you want to take over for me as an agent, okay. But I would leave for the head job, but I don't think that's that realistic. But to be an assistant, as much as I'd love it, I don't think it's right for my family.

And listen, in the end, I love it here. I have a great thing. Like, you know, I got a pretty good spot here, and I love the guys that I coach. I love what I do. I show up every day at work. I'm excited about it. I'm already excited about next year. I'm already trying to figure out our lineup, and, you know, we got to let things fall out here now

and see we might move some guys to the NHL. We might not. And I got to help my older guys, too, line up some contracts, too. But a good question. And listen, I get a little bit of my fix on that is when I go to the World Juniors, when I go to World Championships, I got a fortune. I did the under 18s in 2018. Seth Appert asked me to come and, hey, can you help me with our power play?

And I was like, yeah, where are we going? Magnetogorsk, Russia. Great, I'm in. Oh, it's the both. I had Jack Hughes and Cole Caulfield. I mean, yeah, where are we going? Magneto Gorse, Russia. Great, I'm in. Oh, it's the Bulls. I had Jack Hughes and Cole Caulfield. I mean, oh my God. It was crazy the talent that we had on those teams. So I get my fix with that with USA Hockey,

and I'm so thankful to USA Hockey for giving me those opportunities, and hopefully I will get those again in the future. But I do love Quinnipiac, and this is like my fifth child, really. Unreal run. Unbelievable run. Congratulations. Well deserved. and you know this is like my fifth child really unreal run on unbelievable run congratulations well deserved and um we look forward to the continued success i'm sure you guys are going to have so so have a great one and thanks for coming on joining the show all right thanks boys you know we've been part of the chevy ev family but we've got big news the first ever all-electric

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Head on over to Chevy.com right now to learn more. The Chevy EV family keeps getting bigger and better. Huge thanks to Rand for jumping on with us, talking to us this morning. Great coach. You can see why his players love playing for him. And, you know, we appreciate him giving us time. I'm sure he's getting a lot of media requests.

So thanks a lot, Rand, and good luck next year. Hopefully you guys can repeat. Meanwhile, back in the NHL, here's the late game Wednesday night. Oilers-Ducks. Oilers beat them 3-1. It was their sixth straight win, points and 12 straight. Then in San Jose Saturday, they made it seven straight, 13 straight with a point. Pounded the Sharks.

Nugent hit 100 points. They're the first team since the 96 Penguins with three guys with 100 points. Back then it was Mario, Jagger, and Francis. Here's another stat. When Jay Woodcroft took over 14 months ago, the Oilers were six points out of a playoff spot. He's led them to a 74, 32, and 12 record since. That's a 675 winner percentage. The second best points percentage in NHL history among coaches with at least 100 games behind the bench. Very impressive. And did you see what they did? What a classy move. The coach in Woodcroft and the GM, Kenny Holland, they called up Jason Demers. He had 699 NHL games. They called him up when they were playing in San Jose, which is where he played 300 games of his career to get him to 700. Just an

awesome gesture. Did you happen to see any of the stuff with the San Jose game there? As far as Jason Demers is concerned, yeah, he sent out an Instagram post after it. It was just saying his heart's full. So I think very appreciative, especially, you know, you play so long in the NHL and, you know, last year he ended up playing in the Olympics. Ended up going over, maybe it was two years ago

when they brought all the amateurs over. And then, you know, he spent majority of the season in the American Hockey League. So sometimes it's taken from you very quickly. And he was quickly reminded how appreciative he is of the fact that he got to play 700 games in the National Hockey League. So congratulations to him. A hilarious guy in the locker room, just an absolute character. But Witt, I got to throw over the Oilers talk to you, man.

This team is just humming right now at the perfect time. Connor McDavid in that second game that RA mentioned, two goals to get himself to 150 points the first time and a little over, what's the first time since 95, 96 season where Lemieux did it? What we're watching right now, guys, it just kind of solidifies how hot my takes are and how correct they are most of the time and what they did for Demers is all class and and with what the Oilers have done the past 15 seasons that makes a lot of sense just a dominant run and I think now you're seeing it all come to fruition you're seeing a team who needed one thing at the deadline they went out and got

it one of the best acquisitions in terms of Ekholm. He's been dominant. I've talked him up all year. And when everyone was dogging him, including biz throughout the season, I said, just wait, just wait. And we've talked about Florida hitting it at the right time. Well, they might not even get in. The Oilers are in and right now they're unbeatable. They look phenomenal. That LA take, you got to be real scared about that. Why? Because they are going to hammer L.A. I don't even know if it'll get to seven like it did last year. They're so good. And let me tell you a beautiful little text I got from my man, Stoff Dog, Bob Stoffer, the radio color analyst.

We had him on last year. One of the most electric men in showbiz. He sent me a text. He said, Whit Dog, hope you're well. You can pass this along to that buffoon biz. He didn't say buffoon. He didn't say buffoon. I just added that in.

I wish he did. When Ryan McLeod comes back next week, 11 of the Oilers' 12 forwards will have 10-plus goals. The only one that doesn't is Yanmark and he has eight and the penalty kills and plays 14 minutes a game. The Oilers are the only team in the league that have 250 plus goal scores and 435 plus goal scores. Jack Campbell has roughly a minus 20 goals saved above expectations. That has cost the Oilers roughly eight to nine points, and he's now settling down. We got Skinner, but Campbell has started looking real good. They have the best record in the NHL the second half of the season. No one is better than them. This is a legit team

with added size. Kane runs around versus LA last week. Bugastad's look great. Another great pickup. Ekholm and De Arne are nasty shot suppressors. By the way, the Woodcroft stat that RA just mentioned, he finished it off with, they have a chance at lifting the cup. So, Stoff Dog just doing my work for me, reminding the entire world how good this team is and everyone who says they're a two-man team, they can't get it done, they suck. No, they don't. And I understand as I rip on Toronto for their goaltending situation, Skinner and Campbell are not, not at all,

the most reliable duo when you're looking into the Stanley Cup playoffs. But if one of them gets hot, the Edmonton Oilers can win the Stanley Cup and I'm going to keep repeating it. And I'm going to keep going over this. Because McDavid and the way he's playing and running away with MVP this season and looking like the most dominant player in the past 30, 40, 50 years in the National Hockey League, along with Leon, who's a straight-up superstar himself,

I just don't see how teams are going to beat these guys. I don't. And take a penalty against them, boys. That's the greatest power play that's ever existed in the NHL. The stats prove that since they started keeping power play percentage. There's not much else you could say when you're on a run like the Oilers are run, besides the fact that that arena is always rocking and nobody wants to play them in the playoffs, not even your LA Kings. I mean, that's a... Back-to-back weeks for you defending the Oilers.

All I heard from that, though, was goaltending controversy. Not a controversy. Just not a controversy at all. Skinners are goalie, and the scary fact was that if somehow he played bad, Campbell can't stop a beach ball, but now Campbell looked better. And the second thing is, you said it last week, that if somehow he played bad, Campbell can't stop a beach ball, but now Campbell looked better. And the second thing is, you said it last week, the regular season means jack shit.

Diddly squat. Diddly squat. Yes, everything you said was accurate. Edmonton right now is the far superior team to LA. LA just needs to get healthy. They've been banged up. They've had a tough stretch of games. They've been playing a lot of games in a short amount of time. Once Fiala gets back, once Mikey Anderson gets back, and then is it – I always forget the guy's name, the forward. He's got like a Russian-sounding name. Oh, the American kid.

Arthur Kaliev. It's Kaliev. It's Kaliev. So those are three pretty important pieces. Overall, right now, Witt, I would say that your bet is looking a little bit better. I'm still going to make it, though.

If they end up meeting first round, I'm taking LA over them. That's pretty much all I've got to say for now. I don't have much of a rebuttal. I just want to shout out Nugent. Ryan Nugent Hopkins. We've talked a lot about him. I don't have much of a rebuttal. I just want to shout out Nuge, Ryan Nugent Hopkins. We've talked a lot about him in terms of, I don't even think he played hockey when he was like 14 years old for a whole year. And then he went first overall and he battled through some of those

real ugly Ryan Whitney years in Edmonton. And you could always see just an amazing skater, an awesome guy, but for him to be able to break out this year with over 100 points, he really deserves it, and he deserves all the accolades and all the discussion that's been going on about him because the way he plays both ends of the rink, to be able to really pop off offensively, everyone always saw it, and then when you get these type players

and Leon and McDavid and all this power play, it's no surprise he gets 100, and I'm very happy for him. And fucking man, Zach Hyman is a dog. Yeah, he's a dog. You think the Leafs go back and sign him if they could? I think that considering what they get from bunting at the price they got him for, no. But yeah, it wouldn't have worked out money-wise.

I think that they got a Costco brand Hyman for very, very cheap uh what was the other thing i was going to say quickly there what you were just talking about oh uh nuge some crazy stat close to 60 60 of his points come on the power play where he's only got 44 uh even strength five on five points when your power play scores every time you get one and you're on the first unit It makes sense, but I mean in terms of If a power play goes cold, I understand What you're getting at, that you need a little bit more I wasn't even stirring up

A lot, I just thought it was gnarly to see That he's gotten 100 points And close to 60 of them have gone On the power play Pretty gnarly Warning, this product contains nicotine nicotine is an addictive chemical this segment of spit and chiclets is presented by the one and only nicotine pouch that's helped millions achieve lasting change zin nicotine pouches

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But there's only one Zinn. Find your Zinn online or at a store near you at zinn.com forward slash find. That's z-y-n dot com slash find. Last week, me and G's team, the Boston Bruins, won the President's Trophy. And this week, they set a new NHL record with their 63rd win. Also, Pasta became just the second Bruin ever to reach 60 goals, joining the great Phyllis Mazzino, who has the team record of 76 and three other seasons with 68, 66, and 61 goals.

And Pasta was also the 300th goal of his career. The Bs, clearly the team to beat right now. Gee, do they have any weaknesses you're worried about heading into the playoffs? Breaking this record? I don't think I've ever cared about a record less than this. I mean, all that matters is Stanley Cup. Winning playoff games? I don't care about playoff records i want

to see load management sit bergeron sit craig she sit mcavoy i just i don't care about these records i had people texting me asking if i'm driving to philadelphia to see them tie the 63 wins i i couldn't care fucking less it's such a joke all i want to see is a playoff win all i want to see is a stanley cup win that's it so the the teams, you know, they passed the Canadians and then the Lightning and then I think the 94, 95 Wings maybe it was. And, you know, the Canadians in 77, they won the Stanley Cup. But you saw what happened to the Lightning, and Detroit ended up getting swept that year by New Jersey.

And all the Bruins fans I talked to it's it's been this incredible year I think most of them agree with G in terms of this record not meaning anything but there's this it's this worry biz that you could sense on Bruins fans like none of this matters if we don't win the cup and like what if we run into a hot Sorokin? Or what if, like, there's just, for this amazing run and this legendary season they've had, there is a serious, like, scary vibe with Bruins fans. And I can feel it. I can feel it because they all know, can it be this good? And we, you know, we New England natives,

we saw the New England Patriots go undefeated and lose to an absolutely miraculous catch by the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. So it's just like, there's just this sense of panic within Bruins fans knowing that, like you said, Biz, none of this matters starting one week from today. You can't not think of Tampa. I mean, that's all every Bruins fans I'm talking to. It's just Tampa, Tampa, Tampa. If I'm a Boston fan, I'd get a little bit nervous if it was the Islanders. But to say that they didn't face any adversity this season,

I would say that'd be dead wrong. The fact that they end up, and they're more than likely going to break this record, they did so with missing three of their stars to start the season. Like, Marchie was out of the lineup. McAvoy was out of the lineup. And was it Patrice Bergeron who was even out for a little bit? Gryzlik was out at the beginning. It was Gryzlik with a shoulder.

So those are three pretty big pieces, and I want to say someone else even missed a little bit of time. So once you guys get the first win underneath your belt, you guys will be like, okay, all right, we can release a little bit of steam here. But that Islanders matchup would be the worst case Ontario for them. The good side of it for the Bees fans is that in a league where you just need so much depth, nobody has it like them. The 14 forwards they have that can play, nobody can match that depth. And then the fact that a really good defenseman's not going to be playing as well,

it just shows that even when the injuries come, which they will, they're prepared to handle them. Sometimes, and not to kind of throw gas on the fire here sometimes it does get a little bit tricky though taylor hall just got activated off the ir so sometimes when you insert somebody new in the lineup it takes a little bit maybe some times to get the feng shui back so just be careful and be weary they got to get them in these last couple games before playoff starts or that could really fuck it all up shout out halsey um i just saw halsey posted on instagram he posted his wife's instagram story they're having a baby boy oh my god my former roomie uh very happy for him i shot him a message right away said congrats so that that's a nice thing before the cup run.

I'm having a boy. We're having a kid. Let's go grab a cup first. R.A. just threw a consmite future on him just now while you were saying that. No, R.A. is still just mad somebody paid Marchand's parking ticket. Have my neighbor. Fuck that noise. John Tortorella, once again.

Wait, R.A., what are your thoughts on the Bruins? You didn't really give your thoughts. I'd love to hear what you think. You know what? He's panicking. I can tell he's panicking. No, I wouldn't call it a concern, but it's something I'm going to keep my eye on. You know, as great as Elmark's been this year, he doesn't have a playoff win yet.

He's got limited playoff experience. So, you know, hopefully he'll keep doing what he's doing, but the playoffs are a different animal. I mean, we saw Pecorini with Nashville a few years ago, lights out all year, come to the Stanley Cup. He was brutal on the road. So it's just something I'm kind of like keeping my eye on. I'm not like worried about it, but it's just if there is a weakness, if there is an Achilles heel, it could be that.

Could you imagine in the same podcast saying that he gave you a dirty look, podcast saying that he gave you a dirty look the vesna winner you have no faith in him going into playoffs after he just bringing it to that he just led to the greatest regular season of all time i've fucking heard it all folks this is this should be what gets clipped this not any of the oh you know the depth and this and overcoming adversity, blah, blah, blah. R.A. thinks the Vesna winner is going in the playoffs and he's worried about him. Wow. You are now, Zawira. But the good news is, is you have the third best goalie in the league based on stats to back him up.

So you're laughing. Yeah. You know, I guess I'm not worried. I like it. If I had to find a potential problem, know, like I said, I'm not worried. I like it. If I had to find a potential problem, that's probably it. But I'm not worried. All right. Fair enough.

All right. The only other thing, and I'm sure we'll get into this in the playoff preview coming out next Monday, is that their power play in a league where you need special teams in the playoffs, it's like not great. And especially lately. So that's something with their with their like the guys they have out there they got to figure that out because if that goes cold that's that's how that's how you don't win a stanley cup yeah all right i'll tell you what i

see i'll tell you what i see in your in the future you are hot gambling and i don't think that's ever hopped or happened leading into playoffs i think like the year that they won the stanley cup you are going to go on this insane run like i wouldn't be shocked if we see in charlestown driving in a ferrari come august that's the type of gambling run you're gonna because you because you're the type of guy where you just piggyback the bruins so along with their success you are going to line your wallet and if you're're part of the FBI or the IRS, ignore everything I just said over the last 60 seconds, please. Yeah, my biggest hit ever back in 2011.

Not going to say how much on the year, though. I was just talking about John Tortorella. Once again, Miz, up in the press box to watch the Flyers. He had Rocky Thompson run the bench, and it was one of a handful of times that two First Nations coaches went head-to-head. He went head-to-head with Berube. but then after the game uh tom said a very blunt assessment of the flies g want to roll that i just said it's not it's not about x's and o's i said and quite

frankly it looks like some guys in here don't even care they're they're just not trying and i said i'm i'm not going to call anybody out individually but um your teammates know and you know and i'll give everybody another chance here and if you you're going to call anybody out individually, but your teammates know, and you know, and I'll give everybody another chance here, and if you're going to do it, then I'll keep playing. If you're not, I'm not going to play you. And so, you know, I don't have that authority typically as an assistant coach, and I'm a little bit more of the good guy when you're the assistant coach, but at the end of the day, black is black and white is white.

That's tough coming from an assistant coach, coach after what Tortorella's already said. It's just not good in that place right now. What's going to happen with this team? They just did that no-mans land seemingly since we started this fucking podcast. I would say definitely the worst overall NHL season by any team this year. I know there's teams with worse records,

but just with what's going on there and so many times Tortorella calling out effort and now he's not even coaching some of the games. He's up top watching with Breer. It's just a bizarre situation there. I think you're going to see a lot of movement in the summer. They're going to realize that it's time for a complete rebuild and hopefully they somehow win the Bedard sweepstakes, it's it's tough and even thompson mentioned in the clip about you know i'm usually the assistant coach i'm the nice guy but like right now i black is black and white is white like if you're not gonna play i'm not gonna try

i'm not gonna play you so it's just been the fletcher trade machine app he used the the disastrous you know season it's been all these things rolled into one. And Philly just needs a complete reset. And I don't know what's going to happen. I can't predict the future. You could tell with my takes, that's the case. But it's been an ugly go around in Philly this season. Yeah. It's been like a horrible season of 16 and pregnant or one of those real trashy shows where it should... No no it's been drama non-stop around every corner did you think that Tortorello was going to end this season on a silent note you didn't think he was going to go out with a bang now I thought it was really cool

the fact that Berube and Rocky Thompson coached against each other and it was the first time in NHL history that two indigenous coaches had faced off against each other. Now, did that just happen by chance? Because from my understanding, Torts has been up in the press box the last three games? Or was that just for that one game? He did it for like three games. Correct. So he's kind of doing it as this, I'm going to go get a bird's eye view of what fat I have to trim

to get the guys out of the locker room that don't want to be here. And then insert, along with all that, a Tony D'Angelo health bomb for three games in a row. Playing five defensemen instead of playing them. On a back-to-back, then going with five defensemen and putting a defenseman you're paying $4 million a year in the press box. and putting a defenseman you're paying four million a year in the press box now i don't think that i'm a tin foil a tin foil hat wear here when i i think we can align the two things where that message is maybe being sent to tony d as one of the guys who might not have a big enough give a fuck meter so and on top of all that they asked torts okay assuming that this is one of the players that you're talking about

what has been the conversation that you've had with them well going back to like the hazy stuff at the in the middle of the year there when he was a healthy scratch or he was on millionaire's row on the bench and didn't get a shift in the third no dialogue in the three games that he's been a healthy scratch zero dialogue between torts and tony d'angelo so it seems like torts loves the letting the player sit in limbo and not actually communicating what his total thoughts are he might think well based on rocky thompson's uh uh media press conference that tony d'angelo can listen to it there and understand that he's one of those guys but overall put a a nice fucking uh um check mark on the season for a shit show.

And this is the first of four on a four year deal for John Tortorello. So we're just, we're just in the midst of the trilogy here and as to what this shit show is going to turn out to be. I may disagree with you though, in the fact that you said that you think it's a good thing that he's the guy to turn things around. No, but then I got some, I talked to a couple of different people, not even within Philly, just guys who had played for him. And they were like, no, he's not. So I kind of walked back that take as well. It might be a tough go around to be a rebuilding, rebuilding like bottom tier team with torts at the helm i mean just talk about making life miserable my point was that he's going to get guys to play a

certain way and to buy into a culture in terms of effort and accountability every night to try to become a good team but it might be really exhausting but if you don't it's mind games and it's it's a it's a season of sister wives so it's just absolute shit show fucking sister wives you what you watch all those fucking corny shows a little bit i'd come come i yans is a big 16 and pregnant fan i used watches all the trash on tv i want i used to watch the sister wives to maybe see if it would be something i would be down for like oh you get all these options that's kind of nice to have that but then then you then you see how many headaches they cause and all of a sudden you add three or four in the mix and then you're hooped then you're really in one uh by the way you mentioned yans and i you said

you're going to be all with them this week i texted him great timing in terms of talk getting that job he's crushing it he's doing unreal and i think he'll hopefully get some playoff dates it's it's awesome that you two guys are vibing with tnt and and he's now stepping in as as when hank's not there and with talk being gone because he's just getting better and better on tv well and him and army did the broadcast sunday so then you get the game notes in there along with the ring shrinks bro so it's good times in chiclets land we have a lot of our our buddies making moves in the media industry so it's great to see a good thing that sunburn didn't get Army too bad. Hold on a sec, fellas. Before we go any further, I want to talk to you about Bugsy Jeans. The most comfortable jeans, chinos, and joggers

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to never wear anything else again. And oh yeah, they're backed by a fully 100% comfort guarantee meaning every single order gets free shipping and free returns if they don't fit or whatever try to pair risk-free today and see why over 16,000 guys have changed their lives with Muggsy use the code chicklets at Muggsy.com for 10% off a couple injuries to note uh let's see uh Timber Bay's Tanner Janot, he got banged up. He might miss the early portion of the playoffs. Minnesota's Erickson Eck, he's dinged up. They don't know how much he's going to miss. But the big one, Kiel McCarr, a lower body injury. He's indefinitely out right now. They don't know when he might be back. But say he's unable to play. Obviously, we don't want that to happen. But what does it do to the Avs' chances of repeating if they don't have Makar? If they don't have him for the entire playoff run, I don't think they can repeat. I mean, you're looking at the Conn Smythe winner right there, a truly dominant postseason run and the best defenseman in the National Hockey League. So how do you kind of replace that? I don't think they could. I think they could win a round or two,

but just to actually repeat and go all the way they need him to get it done this is where it is very lucky that they have bowen byram because you've seen what he's done stepping into a bigger role an unreal skater um so luckily they have him but in terms of actually lifting the cup again they need him back at some point and it's one of those things too where you look back as to winning the division and who your first round playoff matchup ends up being where them them capturing that first spot um in in the central it's fucking massive because then they get such a not having dallas oh dallas or mini man are you fucking kidding me that's just going to be an absolute dog fight so winning that first spot like wit said winning winning round one without a Kale McCarr playing a wild card,

I think you're fine, especially the way that they've done it all season. And as far as he's concerned, I know I joked about Murray being on the IR. I forgot how many times, three, four, five times. How many times has McCarr been taken on a lineup being banged up due to injury this year? Yeah, the concussion. Three, if not four. So just all that hockey being played over the last 18 months for that team,

guys are starting to get dinged up bad. And then there's really no sign. Have they mentioned a return for Landeskog? It feels like he's going to at least miss the first round or part of the first round. So missing those two components, you've got to win that division, and that's why they've been on the heater they've been in because I think that they know what they're fighting for to win that division.

And shout-out to Rantanen because McKinnon has been, after McDavid and Dreitzel, I guess the best, I can't say his name, I apologize to all his fans, Rantanen has just led that team, and McKinnon's come back and just dominated. But like I said before, a quiet monster campaign for him. Would you put him as that third guy? So I have Sorokin, Kachuk, and then there was a third guy.

Would you say Rotten as that? Or would you? I actually think McKinnon might even, with what he's done when he's played, I know he hasn't played the whole season, and if Rant didn't spend there the whole year, he would get it over him. But just how ridiculous McKinnon is. Look, he kind of pops into my head as an MVP nominee. Marner also is going to break 100 points.

He's kind of right there. So that's going to be a tough one. I'm really curious to see the final three in the heart. Just an update on Landis Cog. They actually don't know if he will return this season. On March 25th, Jared Bednar said, he's just trying to move forward to get to a spot where he can play. We have no idea if it's a week, two weeks. I mean, he's making progress, but I can't tell you. Not close enough yet. And that was something that they said prior to the year should be back with like 20, 30 games to go. So

it's been a really tough recovery for what was a tough injury just shows how ridiculously tough that guy is to battle through all this in the playoffs last year as a as a fan of a team keep hearing that and not knowing it would make i know it's making me frustrated as not a non-fan and in a window where they realistically had a great chance to repeat if everyone's healthy it's so frustrating to lose them when you're like oh our time is now to grab a couple of these things you mentioned amico getting 50 with uh he's just a third fit to score 50 goals in a season after team usulani and yari curry and did you see the picture uh online team who had what he was a little kid now miko randy when he was he probably looked like he was about four years old there

uh the first uh avalanche to score 50 50 said Milan Heyduk back in 03. And, yeah, they went on a heat of two, man, 14-2 run. We were talking about maybe not making the playoffs, you know, about two months ago, and they went on an absolute fucking tear. I think we kept saying, hold your horses, they'll be fine. Yeah, well, we kind of – That might have been one of my takes. I've been ice cold this season.

I don't know if you guys know, but I... We're all ice cold. I mushed a team into the greatest single season record of all time. Reverse mushed, excuse me. Your boys are back on the news, Biz, the Coyotes. Yeah. They got this beef with the city of Phoenix. Arizona Coyotes Development files a notice of claim seeking $2.3 billion from the Phoenix City Hall

in response to a ridiculous complaint filed by Sky Harbor. It's some boring-esque political beef with the airport complainant. They don't want them to get this thing in Tempe. Are you, like, illuminated on what's going on here? Because I read it kind of goes in one ear and out the other. I don't really pay attention because ever since I got here as a player, it was like, oh, well, we got new owners and they would take us out for dinner. And next thing you know, oh, those owners are off the table.

So I try not to invest in all these stories and rumors or whatever is going around in the organization. You guys know I love the Arizona Coyotes, especially a team that employed me in the NHL for five years. But I would have to admit, I would say that employed me in the NHL for five years. But I would have to admit, I would say that every league needs a redheaded stepchild. And right now that's the Arizona Coyotes. Anytime there's any type of positive news, like the season that Clayton Keller is having, he has two more games to get one point to tie Walt Kachuk for 86 for the all-time

season lead in points by a Coyotes player. But yet it's being overshadowed because the city is suing our team. It's just like, it's fucking mayhem. It's crazy, but I would want it no other way. I love the Arizona Coyotes. I hope that in May they get the clearance to build this arena and then everything is onward and upward. How was that for a breakdown, guys? We're the red-headed stepchild. to build this arena, and then everything is onward and upward. Oh, oh, oh! How was that for a breakdown, guys?

We're the red-headed stepchild. I'd be willing to say if the announcement... Just stop me, Daddy. So May 8th is the lottery drawing. If they've announced they have the arena before May 8th, they get bedarred in some wild, amazing lottery win. Jerry hasn't been announced. He's not going there.

I don't even know what their chances would be from a percentage standpoint with where they're finishing. I don't even know what their chances would be from a percentage standpoint with where they're finishing. I don't even know if they'd have the chance. They played so good at home this year. I think that they fly under the 2% range. It drops drastically. The first seed gets, what, 18% for the number one overall ball? I'm not sure of the breakdown,

but I think it's three teams have a much bigger opportunity than everyone else g's gonna hop in here this yeah this website here is saying columbus has a 25 chance to get the first pick an 18 chance to get the second pick and a 50 55 chance to get the third pick arizona for them to get the first pick it says they're seven percent chance announced they got that arena may 3rd and pick It says they're 7% chance Announce they got that arena May 3rd and May 8th They're getting them And that'll be the ultra

Tinfoil hat crew right there But I will say if you're an Edmonton Oilers fan Just sit that one out If they do somehow get it Better not say it If you're an Oilers fan and you're on Twitter, just sit that one out. And Penguins fans and Blackhawks fans. Blackhawks fans can't say shit either.

Exactly. That's three fan bases. Just shove it up your ass. Before we continue, guys, I got to talk to you about Peter Millar. I was just at the Masters. I know I've brought it up a couple times, but every time I see a golfer that wears Peter Millar, I just know. I can tell from miles or holes away that the best dressed guys on the course. You see, you see Keith Mitchell. He just rocks Peter Millar. He looks phenomenal in it. And everyone knows that this time of year can bring unpredictable temperatures. Between cool mornings and warmer afternoons,

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Get over right now to petermillard.com slash chicklets. All right, that wraps it up for the hockey portion. Whit, the Masters, what's your take on it? How'd it go? A little boring last day there or what? No, no, I don't think so at all. I think just an amazing champion in Jon Rahm. And after my rant last week, wow, I thought Koepka was going to take that bitch down

after I just went all at him on spitting chiclets. But we got to see a great collapse by him. I mean, he didn't play well, but Rahm was just a machine. And what's amazing is he didn't even realize this till the post Masters Green Jacket Ceremony press conference that he's the first European to ever win the US Open and the Masters. So amazingly enough, Nick Faldo never won both or Seve Ballesteros never won both. And all these amazing European champions, none of them have ever won a U.S. Open and a Masters. So, I mean, this guy's been a phenom since he was probably 10 years old. He started Arizona State. He was called,

I think, the best player not on the PGA Tour when he was 18, 19 years old. It was kind of one of those instances, a McDavid, a Bedard, that he was just destined for greatness. And he seems just like the ultra competitive type alpha male golfer that's bound to win a bunch of more majors. So just to see him do that this week was special because he also had the shitty end of the draw so he played in the morning um on the first round thursday and the afternoon of the second round friday um and because of that i mean those guys got crushed with the weather whereas uh kepka was in the afternoon on thursday and in the morning friday so he finished his second round he

had great weather for all 36 holes. Not taken away. He was putting on a clinic. Absolutely ball striking the shit out of it. Putting great. But Rahm had to grind through weather for most of his second round on Saturday morning. And he ends up starting the final round. I think he was two shots back, and he just put on a display. He shot 69 in the final round, no mistakes, just perfect golf. He hit a shot on 14. It looked like maybe a little bit of trouble. He hits it, like uses a slope and hits it to about three feet, makes birdie.

That's pretty much all she wrote. But what's truly incredible is the guy four-putted the first hole of the tournament and made double bogey. So he actually said after that his close friend Zach Ertz, I believe he's a tight end in the NFL, he sent him a text 10 minutes or 20 minutes before his tee time that said, that first green's looking great right now, go rip it up. And he brought up, holy shit, don't ever do that to me again. And Ertz responded on Twitter, he said, I'm sending you that text before every major moving forward. But Jon Rahm is, and he wasn't really getting picked.

I mean, Rory McIlroy was like the popular pick, and other people were being discussed, and Scotty Scheffler won it last year. But Rahm had put on this clinic. He won the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, was just on this crazy run at the beginning of the year, slowed down a little bit on the Florida swing, and I'm sure plenty of people hammered him to win, but he wasn't like the most popular betting option before, and this guy is just so good at golf, and he's well-deserving.

Now, Koepka, like I said, it was great to see him explode, and he just, I saw Paul McGinley, who is part of maybe the best sports duo in terms of being analysts and breaking down their respective sport with him and Brandel Chambly. And there's people who love Brandel Chambly and there's people who hate him, but that guy is dynamic on television. He's so well-informed, try to argue him on anything. He knows what he's talking about. And McGinley was a former Ry cup captain and and and great golfer himself and so those two guys went back and forth and having great live from breakdowns of the masters but he said leading into the fourth round he said kepka he only hit seven greens in the third round and he still shot one over but

you can't continue to miss greens and hit it bad and score well. You can't get up and down that much. No matter who you are, it's not going to last. And that's what happened. He kind of lost his game. He was hitting some balls left. And so many people said to me, why do you hate this guy so much? I have heard countless stories from caddies, from PGA Tour officials, that he's just not a nice person. He's too cool for school, thinks he's better than everyone else, is always kind of seemingly like a little bit of a prick to reporters when they ask him questions. So I've heard what I've heard.

You know, I've heard stories of guys he played at Florida State with running into him and him just straight up big-timing him. So just things that, whatever, I've heard it. If you want to yell at me and say you're a loser and you're just jealous of Brooks Koepka, yeah, he's won four majors and got $100 million. You don't think I'm jealous of him? No shit, dummy. Thanks for the info, Sherlock. But it was a little interesting to see his post-Masters press conference where he seemed a little bit more humble.

And I think what he would— Yeah, I think he's turning a new leaf. more humble and and i think what i think he's turning a new leaf i think this possibly possibly and and he i think he took that money because he was injured for two years he wasn't playing well his knee was messed up he probably thought i don't know if i'm ever going to be the same again i'm getting 150 million guaranteed from live i gotta kind of take care of my future so he took it and i think right now you can tell he didn't play great in the final round but he's going to be in the mix these next three majors this year and I think now he's like oh my god I'm back healthy I kind of wish I didn't leave the tour considering they now have these crazy payments that are going to start for the top end guys they'll be making live type money while also

playing on a tour that actually means something so Brooks Koepka love him go right ahead I'm not a fan I was happy to see him not win and for anyone who said I was I don't like him because Dave Portner doesn't like him are you fucking kidding me for the most part if somebody Dave does if Dave doesn't like someone I'll usually like him just because that idiot doesn't like him so it's separate issues like him Dave doesn't like him because they agreed to do a match where where Koepka would play lefty and Dave would play righty. And then Barstool Sports spent all this time, money and effort of setting up this match.

They were going to live stream it the same way we're doing the FDNY game. And I think a week before he said, I can't play, I'm injured, which, which is one thing. And Dave was like, all right,

if he's injured, he can't play. Well, he never even mentioned anything to him, never said anything, and then just planned and did that match with Bryson DeChambeau. So it's like you made us spend all this money, time, and effort, and you couldn't play because you're injured, one thing.

Well, at least come back and play with us when you can. So not only do you not do this match that we planned and did all this planning for, but then you go, you don't even say a word to me, and you just do another match with DeChambeau, never wrote him back or anything, and so Dave has his own beef with him. That ain't why I dislike the guy. I'm well, I'm able to say world-class golfer, unbelievable player, just doesn't seem like that good of a person. So, it was a great Masters. Rahm was a machine.

Phil Mickelson, for Christ's sake, who has been playing absolute shit golf since he won the PGA Championship at Kiowa, shoots a 7-under 65 on Sunday to finish second place. I think the oldest top five finish in the history of the Masters. If Rahm had somehow exploded exploded he could fucking won the green jacket so phil who's a straight up sociopath just goes on this run at augusta just an unbelievable sunday that was amazing he birded 17 and 18 he birded five of the final seven holes he's like

53 years old so doesn't the course align better for lefties and i think he notoriously shoots very well there because it's it seems more of a snooker type track where you have to put it into these pockets at Augusta right yeah uh in a sense so it it a lot there's a lot of right to left holes so for a lefty it's probably a little easier for guys to fade it and hit it right to left as is it as it is for a righty to hit a draw which is right to left. So Bubba Watson and Phil, they've had a lot of success being lefties. The other thing about the Masters though, is that you can kind of spray it anywhere. You can hit it left and right, and you're going to

be in another fairway for the most part. So a guy like Phil, who usually drives it widely, it doesn't really matter, but he actually drove it amazing. He drove it like better than he ever has this weekend. So that wasn't part of it. But the other thing about Rahm is too, he won the Masters doubling the first hole with a four putt and on his final 72nd hole, his drive didn't even reach the fairway. It was a snap hook left that hopped out of the trees and he was like 330 yards away. So it just shows it's not always the best start and finish when you get it done. But I still had a great time watching. It kind of sucked for viewers in terms of Friday and Saturday being washouts near the end in the beginning. But in the end, Sunday, everyone got to watch about 30 holes of golf.

And Rahm, he was a machine. He was a clinic and a worthy champion. The run that Rahm's on right now, what would you compare it to in the golf world? When's the last time a guy who's been on a run like this? So, I mean, Scheffler did it last year. Scheffler was starting to do it this year. Tiger went on runs that trounce current runs. Rory's been on these runs.

And Rory's another thing. I mean, what a mental block this guy has. And you can be, he is one of the greatest golfers of all time his swing is perfect his swing is beautiful when he's putting well it's incredible but he needs one more major to win the grand slam I think there's only four golfers who have done it or five golfers who win all four majors win all four and he needs Augusta and every year it gets harder and harder and this year was this year was ugly because he's been the mouthpiece for the tour he's thrown a lot of chirps at the live guys and now it's time

where everyone's getting together for the first time and you're number one number two player in the planet and you don't even make the cut and Phil Mickelson finishes second so it's definitely it shows the mental aspect of golf is unlike any other sport, maybe tennis, I guess, but not even tennis because you're not thinking, you don't have time, you're reacting. Golf, this guy's going to Augusta now. He knows he now has to win and he just can't play there. Last year he finished second place, but it was like a crazy 64 on Sunday. It wasn't like he finished second and was in the hunt to win it. So it just shows the mental aspect of this thing's crazy, but that's a dud for Rory. Wait, do you think the live guys had a little extra motivation? I think, what,

three of the top five were live guys, right, on the leaderboard? I think big time. And I think if you look at the three guys, so you got Mickelson and you got Brooks Koepka and you got Fat Pat, Cheat, and Reed, who's just, talk about scumbags. This guy is an all-time scumbag, but all three of those guys are dudes who just love being the villain. I don't necessarily know if Phil loves it, considering at the Champions Dinner, which is the meal on Tuesday night of the Masters. What happened?

Only former champions go, and the champion from the prior year makes the menu. He's a very loud, talkative guy. He didn't say one word. He sat in the corner silent and i don't know if it was him just being uncomfortable or trying to you know like say something without saying anything actually or or just keeping it all about scotty shuffler but he didn't say a word but then phil and reed and kepka they just just have that ship on their shoulder of like, fuck them, fuck everyone. And I chirp Patrick Reed, but that guy, he's a sociopath too.

And he almost gunned down Rory, I think, this year for a title in Abu Dhabi or something. So all three of those guys, yeah, they went there getting chirped for playing on a tour that doesn't matter, doesn't mean anything, only three rounds. And then three of them finish in the top five. So you're right, R.A. Those three athletes, though, they are guys who probably really thrived on being the villain. Yeah, I mean, Mickelson was like 200 to one, I think. Oh, crazy big odds there, buddy. I can't imagine what it would have paid to take him as the top American finisher.

Like, it's just wild odds. I'm sure people want some dough on. Terrific breakdown, as always, Whitney. About to wrap up here. wild odds i'm sure people want some dough on terrific breakdown as always whitney uh about to wrap up here don't forget saturday saturday 4 15 we're going live on barstool.tv and the spit and chiclets youtube g any uh any other things to add make sure to watch the the documentary the one that shauna puzo and these guys put nine months into filming 45 minutes long it'll give you the entire breakdown of this 49 uh and 49 year anniversary of

this game being played uh it's i forget where it ended up starting out i think we went to the rink but by year three it was already at msg so that's how much steam it gained quick and uh there's also one player that apparently his mom is an absolute missile and they all joke bobby trafer traper's mom has got it going on that's got to be that's got to be brought up by the opposing team I'm sure and guys one last thing uh we have tons of NYPD hockey FDNY hockey merchandise right now on our site tons of the money is going to a good good cause we we've talked about the charities it's going to for the game itself tons of money is going to charity as well but if you buy the merch you can directly uh directly donate to the charity gee that's a

great point because i i've heard some people uh chiming in about oh too many ads too many ads in the last let's say month we've had seven ads it's to raise money for an amazing cards which is going towards this game so there's a bunch of sponsors that hopped on last minute in order to sponsor the game as well. So as G just mentioned, we did it last minute, but it's also going to a great cause. And I know it jams you up in the interview or the ad department, but I think we can all, Hey, Hey, Hey, it's a free podcast. Yeah. And, um, just the last final mention, we love you all. That's one thing, but also starting next week, we'll be coming to you Monday. And when you hear us Monday that night, there's playoff hockey. So

we're all ready to go. And we'll be Monday and Thursday drops for the next few weeks, first to second round. And we're so excited. So you'll hear from us a week or less than a week from when you're listening. And we'll be previewing all of the series in the East and West. And that night, after you listen, there'll be about four games on. So let's go. One last one. If you're looking for a good show to watch, Beef on Netflix. Great show.

Check it out. Steven Young from The Walking Dead and the comedian Ali Wong. Check it out. Good shit.