Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 453: Featuring Dan Girardi

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

On Episode 453 of Spittin’ Chiclets the guys are joined by Dani Girardi. Dan joined (00:13:39:12) to discuss growing up with Biz in Welland, Ontario, playing in New York, playing in Tampa and tons more. But first, the guys open the show breaking down the Alex DeBrincat trade. RA then wraps up the show with some movie/show recommendations. DeBrincat Trade - 00:07:58:18 INTERVIEW START - 00:13:39:12 Movie Talk - 01:39:21:29 Big Deal Brewing Announcement - 01:53:22:03 Chiclets Cup Announcement - 01:54:07:15You 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 453 of Spit and Chicklets presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. Gang, it's the summertime, hopefully you enjoyed the best of the season last week and now we're going to dive into our interview only segments. We've got some dynamite ones on tap. Former Ranger and Tampa Bay Lightning Dan Girardi is going to be joining us in a bit, but we're going to dive into our interview-only segments. We've got some dynamite ones on tap. Former Ranger and Tampa Bay Lightning, Dan Girardi, is going to be joining us in a bit. But we're going to check in with Grinnelli, see what's going on. What's up, pal?

Nothing, R.A., and I got to be honest, I want to hear from you. I want to hear about your summer. You know, I go from talking to you every single day during the hockey season, seeing you almost every single day during the hockey season. So I feel like I haven't seen or talked to you in, you know, a couple weeks, even though it's probably only been a few days. So what have you been up to? Have you taken the annual Vermont trip yet? How has your summer been going? Well, after Fort Lauderdale to Vegas, back to Boston, to New York City, to Nashville, I slept like a baby on NyQuil for about the first week and a half after Nashville. I was exhausted. I was sleeping legit 12, 13 hours a night just catching up.

And yeah, I was kind of doing that really. I got a few plans. My Vermont trip, let's see. That's a week from Friday, I think I'm going up. Yeah, a week from Friday, annual family trip. It's up just south of Rutland. It's a nice area where there's no, it's not touristy at all. Wait, did it get hit with the floods at all, though?

Did you see the crazy floods in Vermont this week? Awful, dude, awful. I feel so awful for the people up there. They're stuck, obviously, gravity, water goes downhill, these people get stuck there. They said, though, flooding was worse than the hurricane, the last hurricane that hit them like 10 years ago. Yeah, it's terrible.

We're actually not far from that, but we don't actually travel through there. I mean, I don't say we're getting inconvenienced by it. It's like an asshole, but I don't think it's where we are. At least the guy we write from hasn't said anything. But yeah, I want to send our thoughts out to everyone in Vermont, man. It's a great state. Have you been up there? You ever visit there, like overnight trips or anything? Of course. Yeah. I mean, I went to Plymouth State, so it was very close to Vermont right there. I loved going to UVM as a kid, going to the hockey games up there, the big wood barn. Yeah. I love Vermont. I always have. Yeah. I have so many questions about this trip. First being,

it sounds like you're a lake guy over an ocean guy. No, I wouldn't say that. I loved the ocean the ocean obviously growing up in boston right right on the water i'm kind of an either or i uh i don't mind lakes rivers whatever streams i just like to get to the mountains at least you know once a year uh and vermont's it man it's just it's like serenity it's just quiet it's almost going back a hundred years in some parts of it the people have been there forever there's very little development it just retains that real like rural charm so uh i'll do Ponder Lake. I probably do prefer, like, swimming in the ocean,

but I'm not really, like, a beach guy. I hate doing the sand and the sunscreen because I got to put it on because I'm Irish. Do you do boats, though? Do you rent a boat, like, while you're up in Vermont or anything? No, we don't rent one. The landlord, he has one. He might let us borrow if we need it.

It's kind of, I mean, it's not a huge lake. It's more of a pond. But, yeah, honestly, I might let us borrow if we need it. It's not a huge lake. It's more of a pond. But yeah, honestly, I go up there, dude, and chill. I just go up there. I got Vermont beers, dude. They got fantastic beers up there. I know we got Big Deal Brew. I'm a Big Deal Brew guy. We know that. But when you're in Vermont, there's a lot of great breweries up there. I try to sample the wares up there. And yeah, just eat, eat drink uh the nighttime the stars it's unbelievable if you watch the shooting stars and sometimes there's planets oh actually there are four planets g in a row you can see one two three four incredible you love that stuff man uh yeah

uh let me see yeah not astronomy not astrology i mean astronomy yeah i was always a space nerd like stars i wanted to be an astronaut when i was a kid and all that shit it's fascinating man i look up and like tell people that's a planet right there's jupiter right next to the moon people look at you like you're you're stoned and it's like no man it's really out there so yeah i've always been enamored with uh with the stars and planets and stuff it doesn't get old especially you know if you're enjoying some of nature's finest uh coming out of the ground up in Vermont. What up folks? Wit here and we got to talk about the Pink Wit. Amazing pink lemonade flavored vodka. It's middle of the summer. The 4th of July in Canada today was a monster for Pink Whitney. I got pictures. I got videos. I got letters. I just thank you so much

for making the holiday so special. New Amsterdam and Pink Whitney is why I was able to meet that girl or meet that guy. It was why I was able to take that crazy dive and impress all my friends into the lake. Yes, lake people, I'm talking about you. Also now, it's member guest season in terms of golf. This is member guest central. Some people call it wedding season where Pink Whitney is ripping. Many, many wedding drinks, personalized wedding drinks include Pink Whitney. You know, it's that drink right when you get to the cocktail hour to really loosen up the mood, get the dancing shoes on. But also it's member guest season and golf member guests are an absolute time. Some people say it's not even a golf course. It's a bar with a couple golf holes on it. So Pink Whitney is representing. It's birdie juice. It's one of those things. You make a

birdie, you make a net birdie, you make an eagle, you do two shots. Birdies, you do one. And you enjoy the drink cold, chilled, whether a shot or a mixie with Pink Whitney involved. So right now, as the weather is as good as it'll ever be all year for all you northeasters for all you canadians you got to enjoy the summer and you enjoy it with pink whitney you enjoy it with the drink that we were lucky enough to create you all can have a piece of it so get on out to your local liquor store get involved and enjoy one and enjoy it for all because it's the drink of the summer and the drink of the season. Pink Whitney. Ari, you mentioned just how fascinated you are with the stars and astrology. I'll tell you what, I've taken up a new habit, a new hobby, I'd say, over the past few weeks since the season has

ended. I've taken up pizza making. I got myself a big pizza oven and I'm just ripping pizzas. I'm ripping calzones almost every single night. It's all I eat, pizzas, calzones, and I'm having so much fun doing it. It's, you know, buffalo chicken, calzone, barbecue chicken pizza. Obviously this is not good for the health grind and the fitness grind that I was on, but it is, I'm coming for Johnny Quick's title, Johnny's Pizza Man. This is not good for the health grind and the fitness grind that I was on, but it is, I'm coming for Johnny Quick's title, Johnny's Pizza, man. This is, it's so fun to do every single night. Yeah. I mean, it's obviously moderation with that type of food, but I did see your Instagram.

What do you got? A little pizza over there? Where'd you snag that? That looked pretty cool. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I just bought a pizza oven. I got it on Amazon and I was at like a 4th of July party. The guy had one and he told me

they're pretty cheap. So I went out and I bought one and it's amazing, man. I mean, I'm cooking pizzas, calzones. There's so many different things you can cook in it. It's a blast to cook. And it's actually crazy. The thing gets up to like 800 degrees. So you put the pizza in, it's only in there for 90 seconds, which is kind of crazy. It cooks, you have to take it out, you spin it, put it back in 90 seconds. It's pretty crazy, but it's been pretty fun. But I haven't been going out. I haven't been doing anything around New York, around New Jersey. I haven't gone down the shore. I'm just making pizzas and calzones all the time. There you go. Hey, buddy, nothing wrong with relaxing, especially, I mean, you're not old like I am, but you get a little older, you kind of wind down a little bit, especially if you got

a nice girl to hang out with, a guy or whatever tickles your fancy. But you don't have to get bombed all summer. I think I've probably gotten hardcore drinking maybe once since the season ended. I think I have one or two, three, four, maybe sitting around the house, but kind of getting the wind back on my sails, man, because before you know it, it's going to be training camp. So we got to enjoy July and August. You know what kind of pizza I saw? Speaking of getting bombed, I'm sure Alex DeBrinckit is getting bombed with all of his hometown buddies going back to Detroit. He was just traded there.

What are your thoughts on the trade? I'll run through it real quick. He was traded from the Ottawa Senators to the Detroit Red Wings for Dominic Kubelik, Donovan Serango, conditional first round pick in 2024 and in 2024, fourth round pick as well. What are your thoughts on this trade? The Yizer plan is starting to come together here. This looks like one of those trades that could benefit both teams at the end of the day. I mean, obviously, to bring in a premier goal scorer, he's only 25 years old. He was going to be making some serious dough. I don't think Otto wanted to commit to him, and I don't think he wanted to commit to Otto as well. Then Detroit goes around and signs him. I think a four-year, $31.5 million deal comes out to a little less than $8 million a

year. I think that's a pretty good price for a goal scorer like that. And then Ottawa, they don't get Kubelik. He's got one more year left at two and a half mil. He's going to be unrestricted. So he could walk it. If they can sign him, keep him there for a few years, then Ottawa might end up with the better of the deal because he's a pretty good player himself. Defensive prospect, Donovan Sabrango, he was a third round pick back in 2020. And then the two pick, man. I think Detroit fans are very happy with the trade. And I think Senators fans are probably happy with the trade as well. I mean, obviously time will tell, but Kubelic, he's a good little player, man. If Ottawa can lock him up, then that'll definitely be a great trade for Ottawa. What's your take on it?

I mean, I, first off, I loved them getting him for 7,875. I think that's a great number to have to bring to that. And Carlo Koyakovo tweeted something super interesting that I keep bringing up when I'm talking about this trade is he posted one just signed for 7.875 million AAV. The other wants 10 mil AAV. It's basically a side-by-side career comparison of William Nylander and Alex Debrinkit. And I don't know. I mean, I almost would... I can't decide who I would rather take. The stats are very, very similar. I'd probably lean towards Debrinkit, to be honest with you. But I mean, that price difference is a lot different, man. 10 mil versus 7.85. it's crazy. And I just think the difference in player isn't

that far versus the difference in what you're going to pay these guys. Yeah, I'd probably like to break it at that price instead of Nylander, who's a great player, by the way. He's kind of just, I think, a victim of timing and circumstance when he signed his deal. I mean, I wouldn't want to trade him if I was a Leafs fan. And we always go back to the Tavares deal. It's not knocking Tavares, certainly, but, you know, that $10 million probably could have been spent better for, better like roster construction for the Leafs. Go out and get yourself a top pair D-man, you know, a couple of middle six, bottom six guys, and you get, you know, four players, maybe three players for that $10 million. Instead, you know, now they're going to probably have to power D-land to keep Tavares there.

So, I don't know. I mean, it's the Leafs. It gives us something to talk about. We just dump all over them. But I don't know. We'll see what happens either way. But yeah, to bring it at eight, I would rather that than Neylander

at about 10. And we talked to Tom Fitzgerald today. That's an interview that's going to be dropping in a few weeks. But I mean, he talks about just like how you have to get guys to buy in.

It's like the Boston method that he talked about where how you have to get guys to buy in. It's like the Boston method that he talked about where you have to get these guys to buy in. And so there's crumb, like you can't take all the crumbs off the table, I believe is the phrase he used because you have to be able to feed the other guys. You got to be able to feed the depth guys, the defensemen, the backup goalies, all these things you need for a playoff run. You got to be able to pay these guys. I believe it was Sidney Crosby who said, we went up to Nova Scotia a few years ago. If everybody doesn't take less, it doesn't work. You have to have the core guys, the superstars to say, all right, I'm going to

take a little bit less here and a bit of a sacrifice in hopes to win. So yeah, I mean, well, let's go back to Toronto. They're a perfect example of how they screwed up. You can't have three guys making 10 million like that. Until the cap goes up, it's just really not feasible. Yeah. Not too much of the hockey news going on. I mean, it is, yeah, free agency is done. There's still a lot of UFAs out there, RFAs out there, but not the major. What else you got going on, G? Anything? Nothing, Ari. I live a life of pizza and calzones now. That's all I got. So maybe we just send it over to Dan Girardi. And I mean, he played in New York for a while. He knows some good pizza. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. This is a great interview too. We don't want to spoil. We got some great

names. We might have another contender, Mike, for maybe top five, top seven funniest interviews of all time. A retired goalie we talked to down in Nashville. We're not going to spoil it yet, but he was a funny bastard. But yeah, let's send it over to Dan Girardi right now. This interview was brought to you by Chevy. Chevy is working to make charging simple. Over 110,000 charging stations across the US and Canada and growing every day. And there's also the MyChevy app, where your smartphone becomes your co-pilot when using the MyChevrolet mobile app with Energy Assist. The app allows you to access vehicle information like battery status and charging settings from anywhere. The Energy Assist feature intelligently plans your routes,

tells you where and how long to charge up, and gives you real-time data about charging station availability. As far as home charging, there are three different levels available. Chevy electric vehicles offer great options for charging, all of them as simple as plugging in your smartphone. Learn more at chevy.com slash electric. Once again, that's chevy.com slash electric. Once again, that's chevy.com slash electric. All right, it's time to bring on our guest. This puck-eating defenseman was never drafted yet, went on to have a 13-year NHL career with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He played in 1,070 regular season and playoff games, in four conference finals, and a Stanley Cup final,

and he retired as the all-time leader in block shots. It's a pleasure to welcome to the Spittin' Chicklets podcast, Dan Girardi. How's it going, Dan? Good. Thanks for having me, guys. I really appreciate it. That's a nice intro, but I got to say, it's just not good enough to get me into the Welland Sports Hall of Fame. My buddy, Danny buddy got in in the seaway mall there is just not good enough to get in there buddy you're not in there no they um we were away a couple weekends ago and they had his they had a uh little ceremony for his plaque there at the seaway mall

so just you know i didn't get the cup right so i wasn't able to uh wasn't able to get on there so maybe it's because you established residency in Niagara Falls. So they look like you've shunned well and away. And didn't you buy your parents a property out in Dane City? So maybe all of a sudden you've been shunned by the Rose City, my friend. Yeah, I know. No, I bought my first house in Dane City. So they live there.

But I don't even know where Paisley lives. I think he lives in Guelph. I don't know how they hooked that up, but whatever. Yeah, but it's one thing for him to get in, but imagine if Biz got in there and you didn't, that's when it'd be time to snap. Yeah, but hey, Biz has been doing some great stuff, man. He's pretty popular around the area here with my kids' team,

and all the boys there on my team are all jacked up for this, and I think the dads might be even more. Oh, that's awesome, buddy. You might be the first guy from Welland to come on. Cause Clutterbox on the, on the no fly list because of Lou Lamorello and the Islanders,

we've been trying to get him, which is cool though, because as R.A. mentioned, you finished your career. You were the all time leader in block shots. Cause they started calculating them probably very, about the start start of your career and then they started calculating the hits and clutterbucks leading the nhl in the hits category so i got the most healthy scratches and so wellens

got the triple crown of all these uh these hidden stats so it's pretty cool yeah you know you know just as well as i do wellens a pretty sweet, man. A lot of the boys came from there. A lot of people still talk about how all of us, about seven or eight of us, nine of us, able to make it and create a name for ourselves. It's pretty cool. It was crazy around that time too because you were, I believe, you're in 84, right?

Yeah. We had about a three or four-year stretch there where it was Matt Ellis, Jamie Tardif, Dan Paillet, Andre DeVoe, you, me, and then I would consider Nathan Horton a well-in guy because he played all his minor hockey there. I would definitely throw him in there for sure. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. What was your experience like with all those coaches coming up? Because that's all I talk about. I think the main reason that I made it was, you know, we would have a guy for two years and then we would get handed off to another coach who cared just as much as the last guy. Yeah.

I, yeah. From what I hear of other guys I know talking about their minor hockey coaches, I think we had a pretty good, um, you know, like you said, Tyke, Novice, Adam, Peewee, all, you know, it was a two year window of all the guys. Like, you know, I can't remember all of them, but it was amazing. So I try to take what they kind of showed me and teach a little bit to the kids. Obviously, it's a new NHL now and new minor hockey.

It can't be all what they did. No manginas in the locker room? No, you can't say that. You can't do anything like that. No helmet boxing. Vaginas? No. In the locker room? You can't say that. You can't do anything like that. Yeah, I got to say one. No helmet boxing. We don't want to get fired from your gig with the Savers. I don't know if you've mentioned it yet.

No, I do have to shout out, though, my U14 Southern Tier Admirals team here in Niagara Falls. Like I said, they're all jacked up about this, so I have to give a quick little shout out to those boys there. They work their nuts off every day for me, and I'm very appreciative of every day I go to the rink with them. All right, a couple clicks. So, Biz and Dan, I guess it's different. For you guys, it sounds like it wasn't dads of somebody on the team coaching you guys. For the most part in the States, it's always a father. I guess it's changing a little, but when you were growing up, there was just coaches with no relation to any players coaching like younger kids 8 10 12 years old

yeah i i could think of i don't know biz if you had neil blanchard as a coach i had blanchard yeah i think i i think jeff is my age maybe he played on the team i can't remember um but he was probably hardest on him than than any other of the kids that was how it was there was no favor to him he wasn't getting pp time i'll tell you that no uh that's that's the tricky slope right i'm on right now right i coach my son's team uh this will be my second year head coaching so it's a little bit tricky but again like you know his rope's a little shorter unfortunately because i'm right there and you know i know everyone's watching me and stuff like that so um but it is pretty cool the first couple years it was a little really hard to coach your kid because you're like every time it came off like hey man like you know there's

that play there there's this now i'm just like you know what i'll wait a day or two and whatever and then i'll chat with him about it so i've learned along the way here a little bit yeah to just not to be barking at him the whole time so that's almost around the age where you really start to have to talk about systems and placement too so where do you draw the line as a as a as a coach for kids where you're you're helping them with development and more the skill side because it seems like that's the game where the game's headed but also like teaching them in structure where they need to be in order to support their teammates yeah i started doing a little bit last year but not not not a lot um you know i kind of let them i kind of have them just like read and react on the ice i you know i tell them protect

the house protect the middle of the ice but kind of let them read and react to play and um you know this year it might get a little more structured you know we have a little bit of a power play set up penalty kill just kind of like go block a shot and get in the lane and figure it out. But, you know, it's funny you bring that up because some of the parents don't know if I have a really good system or they think we need to be more structured.

You know, we did have the least goals against in our league last year, but I guess we don't have a system. You got to hit them with the analytics, eh? Love all the parents, I'm just saying. Love all you guys. Don't call me, though. We're going to get a couple emails after this one, buddy.

No, it's all right. I'll see them tonight at the rink, so it'll be fine. You know, it is tricky because you want to let the kids learn and develop. Like you said, we're going in the first year hitting here, so we'll see how it goes for some of us that's a crazy aspect to the whole thing as we all grew up hitting from the get-go uh brian yandel coaches his kids and it's like puberty hits and hitting starts and you see some stars that disappear and you see some kids that did nothing all of a sudden excel so that's interesting but i wanted to ask you because we were before we

started recording we were just chatting how you listened to the St. Louis interview. And similar in a lot of ways to him, you were undrafted and even writing teams looking for a look after your junior career ended. But going back even further, 10, 11 years old, a serious late bloomer? Were you a good player then? And then your skating got better. What was your arc as a player as everything began um i would say i would say late bloomer a little bit like i think i was okay like i played up i played minor adam with dan pie andre devoe and we had a really good year i think we might have won the omhs that year and then i went right

to minor peewee right to hitting as a like 10-year-old. I don't know. You can't even think of that right now, but did that. I think I was the captain the following year. I stayed on with, I met my 84 group back. But again, I was okay. I don't think I was a standout. There was a lot of guys that I remember that were a lot better than I was. But I think just the right scout saw me as I got older.

Um, like I kept it real simple out there. Obviously you saw the way I played in NHL, just being potatoes a little bit, but, um, you know, I think, I think as I got to, once I got the Guelph and the OHL, I kind of 17, 18, like 19, maybe started really coming into my own. So a bit of a late bloom, like I said, didn't get drafted, but, um, kind of started figuring things out around then. When you started playing juniors, did you have designs on a pro career or did sort of come halfway through your career when did like becoming a pro player first really pop up in your radar well i think when i was like in grade eight at glendale public school here where i was i you know i i still have like a journal i wrote that i said i wanted to be in

nhl one day or i my dad has it somewhere it hit that the house so um obviously you wanted to be in the nhl but i'm gonna be honest with you probably once i got called up i think i finally thought i could do it because i i had a good overage year with london we won the mem cup that year with all we Danny Cibret, Corey Perry, Danny Fritz. The dream team. Mark Mathot. I can go on and on. Brian Rodney. Boys, seven of the guys on the team played in the All-Star game.

Half of the All-Star team. The most expensive team in all of history. You guys had a bigger budget than the Rangers. I'll talk to Dale Hunter about that. He didn't get anything. He gave it all to Perry and Subret probably, but I'm not lost my train of thought. What were we talking about?

No, we were talking about your junior career and how you finally probably got noticed because of that London Knights team or you were really on the radar at that point. Okay, no, yeah, okay, I got you, I got you. I was saying about, yeah, I had a good overage year and then I went to the Rangers camp. Uh, and then I got feathers there, uh, went to Hartford, absolute feathers.

And it was me and Brian Rodney. Um, we were sitting at the Hartford airport bar having a beer and we're like, so what's, what, what's next now? Like, well what I was, I was, uh, I was pretty close to going to Brock university biz for a little bit there. And then, um, you know, Jim Schoenfeld called me from the Wolfpack there in Hartford. It's like, Hey, I can offer you a two-way deal with Hartford and Charlotte, and you'll start down in Charlotte and see what happens. So there's some thinking. And, uh, and I'm like, you know what? I talked to my parents, like, you know what, let's just do it. I'll try it in the East coast league league so he drove right down the davis chevroles and well in there biz got a two-door ford explorer my dad bought it for me and we packed her up and drove right

to charlotte north carolina from there right like got went back to that house on in brand dav and wellin right up to charlotte north carolina and then uh you know played a couple weeks there got a chance in hart, played a couple of weeks there, got a chance in Hartford and then kind of from there, started getting a little better. How close were you to saying, fuck it, I'm going to Brock University. I'm going to have a beer gut and snap it around

in Canadian college hockey. I would say pretty close actually, Biz. You know, I even called the coach. I think it was Murray Nystrom at the time yeah it was the coach at brock there i think i gave him a shout and just kind of told my situation but you know obviously i wanted to give the pro pro thing a try and you know charlotte was pretty fun again i was only there for two weeks and got lucky enough someone you know someone got hurt or something in hartford and got called up to the Wolfpack there. I want to go back to that stop in the East Coast League.

But before that, when the draft came and went and you weren't selected, was there a lot of disappointment or were there not a ton of expectations going in? What was the mindset as that all went down? Because you're playing against a lot of kids and you're playing well. They're getting picked. And I'm assuming there had to be a little confusion, right? Yeah, I'll blame it on a little bit of injury. My first year, I was an underager.

So I got drafted in the third round of the OHL draft. And at that point, it was the first two 84 picks were able to go to the OHL. They picked an 83. Barry picked an 83 in round one. So it was, I don't know if you know this name, Biz, or anyone. Alex Butkus. Do you remember that name at all? I remember it.

I never, he never really amounted to much. It was the second round. I was the third round. So I was able to go to Barry. But I played up and down with the Kuchiching carriers there in the OP, JHL, whatever. So didn't have, you know, didn't play any games in the O. Next year, exhibition game in Kitchener, I get buried in the boards by the bench and ruptured my spleen.

I was out all year except for the last 15, 20 games. Again, I was a first-year guy essentially, and I didn't barely play at any time. Went all the way to the OHL finals that year. I don't know if I saw a shift in the playoffs. I can't remember, but I'm almost positive. I don't playing at all. We died on the bench though for every game. Yeah, I was, I was out there. I got, I think I got 20 games played in the OHL that year. I think it was 2001, 2002 maybe. Um, but again, I don't know how much I played. We died our hair red.

I don't even know. It was a disaster. But, um, um again those are my first two years then the next year was my actual first full year in the o so that was like technically a third year old guy getting his first chance playing so again that's my 18 year old year and again no one probably has a clue who i am haven't played any games so i'll blame a little bit on that but you know i still i still i really i don't really i use it as motivation for sure. Just knowing that no one knew who I was and just kind of kept going from there. Yeah. You, you dealt with adversity in that first year too. I want to say that you, that you got sent back to junior B in Welland, right?

Cause you started the year in the OHL. Yep. I went, uh, you know, I definitely thought I was pretty sweet though. Coming back, getting drafted from the OHL, playing a little bit in Kuchiching and then coming back to junior B, you know, I thought, I think I thought I was better than I was pretty sweet though. Coming back, getting drafted from the OHL, playing a little bit in Kuchiching, and then coming back to Junior B, I think I thought I was better than I was. I felt like I was like, oh, I got drafted from the OHL. I'm awesome. But I think I came back. I think I played pretty well, but I think it was a little humbling for me for sure, thinking I should be in the OHL. But I think we had a great year there. Again, I don't know how Junior B is here now,

but I remember it was all Welland guys, maybe a couple of guys. I don't think there's any Welland guys that play for Welland Junior B anymore, because it's crazy. But anyway, side note. But again, after that, I was able to go from there. Yeah. When you were in the coast, I know you only played seven games. Did you know right away, I should be at least a level higher than this, right when you go out there? No, but I was definitely not ready for that game, that type of game though. It was pretty crazy out there, man. Like, like just guys killing each other. I'm like, you know, I'm first year pro, I'm thinking, what am I doing here right now? But you know what? I don't know if I got, I think I

had a goal and a couple assists or something like that. I think I played pretty well. But again, I just got lucky. We got back from Florida, played the Everblades or something, got back on the sleeper bus, and they told me when I got there, hey, you got to go pack your stuff. You got to fly to Boston. You got a game in Lowell tomorrow. I was like, all right, whatever. So off the bus, right to the plane, and played, I think, that night

or the next night. I can't remember and then you never looked back so I imagine when Sean Felt called you and offered you the two-way I mean not in your wildest imagination seven games you'd be out of the coast and up to the AHL right I mean it's nice to happen that quick and not to go back there you must have played great when you got to Hartford yeah like I think I gotta really thank Shoney for giving me a chance for sure he was the one guy that always had my back um you know I I i gotta really thank shoney for giving me a chance for sure he was the one guy that always had my back um you know i i think he really just loved me as a player saw saw some

potential in me and like i said he was coaching as well like he was the i think he was the gm and coach of the wolf pack and uh yeah he just you know i had a great year there's a great vets there that helped me out and um yeah i had a really good year i think i had a decent amount of points again i can't remember i don't hockey db myself you're not an all-star in the ahl your first year i think i think it was it was the next year because i got called up right at the nhl all-star break so i actually missed the AHL All-Star game, which was in Toronto, and all my family got about 30 tickets to that. I didn't end up going. I don't think they were very pleased, but obviously happy I got called up to the NHL, which was a nice thing. I was

supposed to go there. That might have been 2007, 2008 year, I believe. Pretty good quick run there in the AHL. I don't really want to glance over the junior park because I feel like that's where you really started to gain your confidence, especially in the second half of the OHL where finally you ended up getting moved over to Guelph. Now, I know how close you were with Dan Paia growing up. Did that have anything to do with the trade over to Guelph?

And when you got there, you guys had like two years of great runs. You played with some incredible players ryan callahan was there who you ended up later playing with in new york so that i would imagine was was when you started making an impact and feeling you could actually contribute and potentially move on to pro yeah that uh that first year in guelph uh you know i think i finished well the second half of the year and dustin brown was there as well so he was also there that team was pretty good i can't remember what how we did in the

playoffs playoffs but the next year in 2003 2004 was the we had like might have had like 15 19 year olds and then a couple overagers like we were we were stacked up and we did we had a great year uh beat london in the western conference finals shocked them and then won the ohl championship so overagers. Like we were, we were stacked up and we did, we had a great year, uh, beat London in the Western conference finals, shocked them, and then won the OHL championship. So that year was really fun and went out to Kelowna, BC for the mem cup. And we, uh, I know Peterborough had a good game the other night, but they, we got Peterborough one game against Gatineau. We got absolutely killed. Uh, Campbell was crushed Petereterborough the other game so we didn't have a good mem cup uh so that was kind of uh uh that was a tough one i know uh cam jansen was on that

team too that year uh the mem cup here with uh yeah just yeah drooling over everybody on the four check he's barking at the coaches yeah we lost out we lost all three games and we're taking a bus back somewhere. And here comes Janny with the garbage bag full of beer for the bus. And we're like, buddy, like, what are you doing? I don't, I, the GM might've been Dave Barr at the time there. And he's like, he took it. He's like this. No, that's not coming on the bus.

And we drove somewhere. I'm like classic Janny right there. Just no care. Didn't know. Didn't realize the moment. Yeah, that we really had a stinker of a Mem Cup and that the coaches and the GM weren't very pleased. He said, guys, we won the OHL.

What are you talking about? Who cares? Mem Cup's over. Yeah, like I beat 10 guys up this year. I had a great year. Dan, is this when shot blocking became a co-op party again, or did that come later in your career? It's probably going to come as no surprise that once John Tortorella got to New York,

that kind of took off. I'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit too. But I think I was pretty defensive. I actually think in the OHL, I played a lot of power play, had a decent amount of points. Even my first couple of years in Hartford had some good years and yeah I just think his style maybe turned my game a little bit I did have Tom Rennie my first year in New York you know I didn't play I don't think I played a ton you know but uh you know once Torts got there I think my career really really took off I remember playing against you and you'd be second power player like get and I always thought like fuck he's way better offensively than he gets credit for. And with that, was it hard to kind of decide, all right, or not even decide, but understand like I'm not going to be in this league as an offensive player?

Or were you one of those guys like whatever I have to do to make it and stay here, I'm fine with? No, I actually think I kept playing power play, you know, till about, I actually think like 2014, 2015. So quite a long time uh but i think as i got older a little bit and then younger guys came in like you know obviously during the time my time in new york gans got traded there obviously he's a power play guy not so much a defensive specialist but uh um you know got damn we picked up dan boyle for a year a couple years obviously very veteran guy, very offensive. Then when McDonough started coming to the league and got into his own, he took over that. That's okay.

I obviously took more defensive role then. Obviously, blocking shots, I love to go on the PK. That's kind of my – I really enjoy doing that. Like I said, as you get older, your game evolves know maybe takes a couple steps back in the offensive division but uh yeah i probably should have tried a little more offensively but i was like just keep the pocket on my own net and people will be happy so kind of way less pressure the points too much pressure come with the points man and all of a sudden your game's relying on on getting a couple early apples so you can feel good about yourself and not get bitched at with the media oh for sure yeah the media is pretty easy in new york too so it's fun you know

brooksie just hounding you for not getting in front of the front of shots and shit we have to talk about that london knights team i mean it was halfway through the year i was shocked when when with how stacked they were and then they added you but you had that championship pedigree from from the year prior with guelph were you surprised surprised at the trade? And what was it like going into a locker room where you knew that you were going to be playing with guys who were going to be playing in the NHL probably within a year's time? Obviously, it was very exciting. So yeah, they traded for myself. Adam Dennis was our number one goalie in Guelph at the time. He's a GM in North Bay now. And they actually wanted to get Ryan Callahan too.

So best goalie, I'm going to call myself the best D-man and our best forward. So they try to get everybody. And Callie has been there for three and a half years now or whatever. So he's like, I want to, you know, I'm going to stay here. And he was the captain, I think too. So he's like, I'm just going to stay. And, you know, we gonna stay here and he was the captain i think too so he's like i'm just gonna stay and you know we all respect that obviously and then yeah once get once get into that room it was pretty like oh yeah robbie shrimp was there too if i remember him um you know like

it was just pretty surreal like those these are like legit first rounders and this team they they went on a run they didn't lose a game for like 35 games or something like that it was outrageous then i get there then we lost i think a a couple of games later. So that was nice. Oh no. Oh no. But, uh, you know, um, yeah, it w it was great. You know, they, they hooked me up with the seat right by the bathroom, uh, behind the pits. That was nice of them. Uh, but you know, they're all, Oh, it's a great seat back here. I'm like, uh, no, it's not. I rode a bus before, but obviously they've all been there for three four years i'm like i don't care man just get me on this winning bus i'll be happy enough with a seat but uh yeah it was it was so much

fun that whole year that last half year and obviously having the mem cup in london was amazing i'm looking at that roster right now it's actually crazy i mean cory perry had 38 points in 17 playoff games but like you know everyone knows what he went and did in his career but like a guy like dave boland and junior could you tell that he was going to be that good in the nhl too yeah like i just feel like they had all these guys that had different skill sets and did different things like again the hunters obviously know what they're doing there's no secret they got it going on there uh but you know they built this team and obviously added a number one goalie we kind of like a 1a 1b uh the other guy there gerald coleman was really good he he's won every game for them before we

got there so yeah that it was just so much fun playing with all these guys the skill level is just you know making nhl type plays and it was it was amazing i did when you did get called up to the ranges who was your first d partner and did you have any sort of mentor take you under your wing and kind of show you the ropes a bit so yeah funny story how i got called up uh you know i i get in the call i get called in by shoney he's like hey you know what you're you worked hard down here you're you're going you're going up the nfl i'm like oh obviously i was very excited so i walk into the room and get my bag and who do i walk by is uh darius casperitis so they sent darius down they got rid of darius and i'm going up to the nhl uh the same time so it was a little awkward there and i actually saw uh darius at uh lundquist's jersey ceremony thing and he did he referred that point in time of his life he goes hey thanks again for

taking my spot in new york or something like that i was like yeah that's messed up man it's like 20 years later man uh yeah so dan gerardi voodoo doll yeah yeah he punched me in the gut on the way by but uh you know um you know i try to remember who i had i actually think a guy named fetter tootin was a partner he was this young guy, though. I actually don't think I played with any older guys. I know Merrick Malik was there, the between-the-legs legend on the breakaway there. Yeah. Yeah, we had – I'm trying to think.

Michael Roosevelt was there. We brought in Brian McCabe my first couple years. Was Strutty there then? Yeah, Strutty. Get the getaway sticks going. He called his legs the little skinny legs he had. He get the get the getaway sticks going he called his legs the little skinny legs he had he'd call him the getaway he tortured me in edmonton oh that guy's a funny bastard he is he is he is unbelievable one of the best guys i've ever played with obviously i play with a lot of guys he's he is unbelievable the humor that you know huge upper body legs are

so skinny so uh yeah he was there give it to you would he give it to you about your your tribal slash uh barbed wire tattoo can we talk about that is it still there is it still there it's somewhere but i feel i feel some stuff when i you know if i can go back in time as an 18 year old and not get it i definitely would go back gee i got a fucking scarecrow on our arm here, my forearm. It's something about the guys from Welland just getting shit tattoos. You look tough, though, with that, though. I don't look very tough with mine when I pull mine out.

But, yeah, a bunch of guys came through there. Obviously, I was lucky enough to play with Yager. Shanahan was there. Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, my second year there. That was the big two free signings by the Rangers. Yeah, Michael Nylander, played with Michael Nylander, played against William Nylander. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, a lot of guys came through New York, obviously. Donald Brashear was there for a hot sec. You know, all these guys, the Rangers always brought in a couple of vets. It was cool to learn from all of them. You mentioned Federer, tooin i played against him in international hockey growing up he was severely underrated player like a good shutdown d but when you bring up yags like i just always get a kick out of the practice stories right because i remember tom

renny telling me once like everyone would be get around the board going over a drill and he'd be doing breakaways like it was just his own world and he was lighting it up your your first two years in new york i think yeah yeah he you know obviously a very you know different person athlete you know he's just like just next level right he's still kicking he's still doing his thing um yeah we'd always be having weights around his ankles and taking the plates and doing stuff around his head like that's i don't know he was just he was so strong it was it was insane how strong this guy was like whatever 15 20 years ago and he's probably still as strong as he is now and just so skilled and i was it was pretty it was amazing on the bench just to watch him play yeah i think he

actually he might have passed to me my first nhL goal. So that was pretty cool too. I gotta say that's pretty neat. It almost seems like your game transferred over better when you got to the NHL. Did you find it was easier? Because you seem like a D-man who was always in position just in the right place at the right time. Where like, did you feel like making, because all of a sudden you get called up and the rest is history. You played 900, just under a thousand games. You make all this money. It just seems like you fit in seamlessly. Yeah, I really, really tried to be very consistent.

You know, I see a lot of guys through my career come up and play well, but then, you know, they kind of fizzle out, you know, maybe their game goes down, they can't get it back. I really try to stay consistent my whole career. Again, kept it simple, but still was able to make, you know, a hard play here it back. I really try to stay consistent my whole career. Again, kept it simple, but still was able to make a hard play here and there if I had to, but really try to be very reliable. And hopefully all my partners I play with didn't mind playing with me. I don't know. Maybe not Jens. I don't know. But I think I had a tough year with him. But I had some great partners, obviously, too. So again, a lot of things have to be right for

you to have a long nhl career everyone knows that so very fortunate to have coaches that appreciated the way i played you know great partners obviously part of a lot of great ranger teams through my 11 years there and in my two years in tampa we had unbelievable teams so obviously being on a really good team does hide some of your maybe imperfections or blemishes. But yeah, I just try to figure out every game every year and just do whatever I could to stay in the league. And like you said, make some cash money. Dan, you mentioned going from Rennie to Torch. Did that kind of give the team or yourself some sort of whiplash going from such one guy to a total opposite guy in styles?

Yeah. Everyone asks me stories about torts right because he's like he's like the guy like this everyone needs a noble this guy right so i don't know i loved you you must have been a pet dude yeah he we i think we only didn't see eye to eye once but uh we'll talk about that later but uh um yeah he he just yeah he just he demanded so much of his players, but he, he knew, he let you know exactly how he felt about you. What do you expect it from you? There was, the communication was amazing.

I know Marty talked a little bit about him too in his, his, his segment there. So, um, yeah, I thought again, away from the rink, you, you would think you not approachable, you know, wouldn't give you the time of day, but he, his door was always open. He wanted you to come in talk about things you know he loves his animals loves his dogs i think he's maybe got horses he like does everything he takes care of them and you know such a great guy away from the rink and um you know i try to catch him you know i didn't i don't think i caught him this year in buffalo when he they came to town but you know I I always you know I would one day

I love the you know maybe get the chance to maybe coach them one day it'd be pretty fun with tort you want to coach with torts oh I gotta see what he's still like man like I know I know how he was when we played I want to see it's because again right like today's day and age it's just so much different like I don't know how many guys the new guys coming up would respond you know obviously Phillies uh you know they're they're they're getting a lot better obviously they're getting things figured out but i can just picture some guys i know and just guys coming to the league i don't know how that would translate into their a long career for those kids are you using our interview right now to get a job opportunity with torts as an assistant coach with the philadelphia flyers

no because we'll talk about it later or now i don't know but yeah i do have a wonderful yeah wonderful job with the buffalo sabers um yeah explain that yeah very unique role um i i started off by doing some development work with matt ellis another well and beauty um uh online it was covid we were just calling calling players doing some zoom calls and um you know they they let uh ralph kruger go halfway through the year um and i get a call from kevin adams like hey uh you know we let the coaches go do you think you might want to step behind the bench i'm like uh i literally retired a year ago but uh i'm like i looked at my wife and it's covid here in canada we couldn't do anything for five years so it was i'm like i you know might as

well go to the u.s and see what happens and um you know it was uh don granato took over maddell assistant coach and myself uh d coach and it was it was absolutely amazing man like i wish there was more fans in the building and everything because i coach and it was it was absolutely amazing man like i wish there was more fans in the building and everything because i just like i was playing but i didn't have to go get killed on the ice or eat a puck or anything like that so it was amazing it was a young group still you know obviously they weren't doing very well they had a big long losing streak uh it was pretty it wasn't great no fans in the building it was not great but we we really started that moment there of the you know the sabers turnaround don't you know donnie still

talks about like me matt uh mike bell's the goalie coach there we kind of started this progression to where we are now because we kind of you know obviously guys had to leave and this and that to you know bring this group together so um that was assistant coach next year they want me to coach again but i i just can't because i want to be home and coach my kids team and and whatever so i told donnie i said i'd love to be a d coach but i just can't so i kind of stayed on in a little bit of a yes consulting role or like when they were home i tried to go there for practice and morning skates and get as many games as i could uh and then the fall this this past year i actually got a job title called assistant to the nhl coaching staff so i have a legit title there now um Do you have a business card, Dan?

No. But, you know, again, I'm on the coaching staff. I'm part of the coaches association. I just don't travel. Pretty nice gig. Yeah. So it's, you know, a lot of former guys ask me, what do you do? And I describe it.

They're like, that's like the perfect job like i live i'm literally on the river right now i live 20 minutes from the peace bridge in downtown buffalo um i get there quicker than matt ellis does from his his home in buffalo so um you know i'm loving it there it's like they got something cooking there man it's uh it's you know i've been a part of a lot of locker rooms and and's pretty sweet over there, man. Before we go any further, here's a word from our friends at Labatt Blue. Lots of things are better together. Hockey, food, golf, going out with the fellas or gals, grabbing a pizza, playing street hockey at the Chicklets Cup also. But if you really want to take things to the next level, drink some Labatt Blue Lights with your friends and live life to the power of we.

I just mentioned Buffalo because we are going to be back there once again for the next Chicklets Cup. And if you've been to Buffalo, you've seen those giant, gorgeous Labatt Towers right by the little area where we have the Chicklets Cup. So we will be back, Buffalo. If you haven't tried out Labatt, you've got to get on it. Take a page out of the Labatt Blue Light book and enjoy your beers together so you can live life to the power of we and if you can't find a Labatt near you find Labatt Blue Light at labattusa.com finder I really do love the future for Buffalo we've talked about a lot on the show in terms of that fan base deserving to get in the playoffs in the long run it's been and the struggle. But now that you're working with that coaching staff

and you see Darlene and Owen Power, it's going to be exciting for you too to be working with guys that have such crazy potential. Yeah. Don't forget about my boy, Mattia Samuelson too. Okay. He was a big signing they did that a lot of people were like, why is this guy getting

seven, eight years, right? Yeah, with no goals in 50 games, that must be some kind of record. He does reference that a bit. He kind of reminds me

of myself a little bit. You know, he's a warrior out there, blocks shots, kills guys, can do everything really well, but then he has

that nice little, I wouldn't say sense of humor, but a good job of reading the room and you know i he's just a good great personality just like myself i guess right biz uh but uh that decor there is unbelievable i don't know again like there's d in the league with there's a lot of elite players but i feel like we got, you know, our top four, I think is really good. You know, you got dolls and Yoki Haru, you know, Owen, Sammy, these guys are going to be players in this

league for a long time. Like, you know, now we're, you know, now you got the five, six, seven, eight guys that can fill in wherever. And, um, you know, it's, it's pretty cool to be able to do like, I don't go on the bench, but I know Marty Williams and the D coach there, he loves life. He just literally goes, next, next, next, because these guys can play 30 minutes a game. I've never seen so much poise on an NHL defenseman in my life with Darlene and Power. I don't know what their heart rate is.

It's just like they have all day. I do have to say, though, I know you didn't play D in the NHL, but I feel like every time I nhl but like i feel like every time i touched the puck while you went like i feel like i hit every time was like i held on the puck and it was like someone's coming to kill me so like it's now it's a little more angles and keep your speed and and all that which is great so obviously these guys figure it out really quickly that's what you can do but there's still a couple of those guys in the league that like to run around like you know sam bennett's out there you got to be careful when he's on the ice so fuck he's like he'll take

your soul you know i'm saying though that's why i try to remind those d-men i say hey you got like great plays just just know though who you're on the ice with you know there's still a couple guys i'll put you through the end wall so yeah don't hold on to it too long when they're out there they're gonna they're gonna try to try to put you out of the lineup for sure. What I like about the Sabres' back end, like Powers, whatever, 6'5". Darlene, I couldn't believe when we interviewed him. He's actually like 6'4". I didn't even know that. Samuelson's 6'4".

Joe Cajarro is 6'0". So you see the Vegas defense right now, and you see the new game and how things have changed, and you're like, well, size on the back end still matters, and Buffalo really has that going in the future, which is good. Yeah, and all those guys can also skate, right? They all got good feet, and they also play hard too. Our defending from the start of the year to the end of the year was so much better.

These guys are – everyone thinks of all our guys as offensive guys, but they can defend with the best of them, man. We watch – coaching now, I watch so much damn know, you see all the little details that happen in the game and every, all these D are really good at defending and net front coverage and, you know, coming off the wall and, you know, corner battles and that, you know, that'll just, you know, translate into hopefully, you know, one day, a nice little playoff run. Are, are you, um, watching the video, watching the games and sending Granado your own notes? Or is it more like I'm going to wait to be asked what he thinks type thing?

So usually what happens is like a home game, I try to go as many home games as I can. I got my kid's schedules pretty busy, but I try to get there and I'll get copies of every game. The D coach will tell me, hey, you break down the third period. I'll go one, two, and then we'll meet in the morning, and we'll put our clips together, and we'll show the D. Mainly more D video and PK. Matty Ellis is great up front there, and they got the other assistant coach, Smurf, named Jason Christie.

They call him Smurf. I don't know. He's just a short guy. I don't know why they call him Smurf at all, but he's an absolute legend. But anyways, so we all got our own job. So I do watch a ton of video. And like you said, I'll put some stuff together and if they need it, I'll use it. If not, it's on a little hard drive if I ever needed to refer back to it. And I probably watched three hours of video in my 13 years, probably should have watched more. Um, but now I, you realize how much you get out of video. Like there's so much you learn. And I hate to say it. I turned into one of those coaches that,

you know, sometimes I carry around that computer and look for guys, you know, Oh no, you're that guy. The guys are avoiding you. You walk in every room. There's nobody there. I only did it once and I didn't like it. I didn't, like i can't i can't do this all the time because i know that when you know you're in a room with the boys and you're taping your stick and you see the coach carrying around the computer like you're just like you're just beat up in the stall in the in the in the bathroom just beat up hopefully no one sees you in there it's like it's like slaving when bennett hit him you're just like oh i don't know man that's that's that's not that bad yeah that's no but whatever i would imagine these defensemen that are coming in are probably a lot more well-rounded just because of what they have access to at a younger

age and i know you said that part of the the the job early on in your career was just staying consistent what's the hardest thing to get through to these young defensemen that you're working with that are coming in? Like what are you having to focus on the most in order to get them where you want them to get? I think just not being – really trying to not have a sense of complacency. Now Sammy's got his big deal. Dolls and Owen, they're coming.

I think they can sign their extension this summer. I think after July 1st or before, I don't even know those details, but, um, you know, these guys are gonna get some big tickets here and it's all about, you know,

staying hungry. Um, you know, not again, not being satisfied. Obviously we're hoping for some more success in the future. Um, I,

I just feel like I do, we can do a really good job. I, I help with the kids of like, almost like game management type things, like stuff you just can't do, go around cones and open up the hips and go drag and shoot it and drag and shoot. Right. You know, in game, in game stuff, we can radio down from up top to the coaches and, you know, like it's, it's all those guys, all pretty much our whole team figuring out game scenarios you know when do i

force this play when do i get in behind like we i think that was a little bit of the issue this year is trying to find that fine line between you know feeling the game momentum this and that you can see in the playoffs you could tell it is just tipping one way it's like what can you what can we do to get it back the other way so you know you know, I'm hoping soon all our team gets a nice little sniff or a taste of the playoffs, and I think they're really going to enjoy it. I just want to ask one follow-up. So I know the blocking the shots talk is not very sexy, but it is a skill. Do you try to teach them how to do it properly,

and how long did it learn for you to do it properly? Because I want to say, G, you mentioned that he was on the Instigators podcast and you guys ended up diving into it for about 20, 25 minutes. So what about it that it makes it so difficult? Obviously, it comes down to like heart partly, but what other components do you have to develop in order to become a good shot blocker? Well, like you said, you just got to be willing, number one, and not really think about it. But you also got to be really aware of where you are on the ice. You know, I feel like the hardest block was, you know, on the PK. The guy dumps it back to the half ball.

He's coming off the half ball and you're trying to like mirror the guy across and try to find the lane, right? Like that one's really hard timing wise. It's like trial and error really man like you know you're here you're there like the one thing we do tell our team and i'm sure every team's the same is you want to take away the far side that's a great jug there biz um take away the far side of the net right so the goalie knows a short shot short side shots coming so easy for the goalie to read that anything across through the back door there's so many sticks so many skates all in there um so that's one thing

we at least try to tell the guys if you're gonna give up the shot give it up short size of the goalie knows it's coming um but again it's all you know willingness readiness you know obviously if you can kill a player with your stick or get out on someone right away is the which we want to do but if you have to like there's points in the game you just got to eat them man god willing to get in that shot lane obviously not not the body the shot the puck lane so that you know it's all it's all little details but you just gotta i think number one you just got to be willing to not like as you go go to the point as a winger and you're thinking about you are you're not in the lane i'll'll guarantee you that. And I got to tell you that overhead video does not hide a thing. So you, you watch that. I hated overhead. Yeah. I hated it. It's,

it's amazing what you pick up and you don't, sometimes you only want to show that stuff, right? You're like, there's no way this guy's going to be able to walk around the room if you show him that clip. So we, you know, either you talk about it about it privately or whatever but yeah you see a lot up there and you can see the guys that are willing or not to get in the lanes i used to spend more more energy pretending to get in the lane than actually getting in the lane and wit i can't even imagine what you were doing out of the way dude i was actually gonna ask you though like forget the bumps and bruises but did you ever um get it get a shot shot blocked that resulted in a significant injury, like a broken foot, broken hand or anything? Were you lucky to dodge that?

Something with furc, didn't it? Wasn't it something with furc? Well, I could think right now, I could think of two that resulted in injury. One was in New York. It was just a simple, maybe a little wrist shot or something off my inside ankle bone, and it got cut. So somehow the pressure cut in the skate. So get it stitched up.

Being the idiot, stubborn guy I am, like, I think it's fine. Like, you know, I took the rest of the game off. I, you know, obviously it's rubbing. It doesn't feel great with the stitches in my ankle. But like, oh, I'll keep going, keep going. And finally, you know, Jim ramsey in new york we i pulled my sock off we look it's legitimately like a hole in my ankle like that you can see the bone it just it all just the scar the the stitches all i don't know where they went like

there was a hole in my ankle so i had i had to wear a wound vacuum i don't know if you guys know what that is like a wound vacuum that sucks the juice out and keeps infection right and closes the hole oh so i had that on and i had um you know you had the battery pack it was like a little crossbody lulu bag i had on um but i got i got cast the equipment guy there to look like austin matthews walking into the rink. You're a little better. I had a Gucci bag. I had, so this is better. I got a Cassie equipment guy to iron on a Chanel logo on it.

I had a Chanel, Chanel crossbody walk around the training center. The guys are like, are you serious, man? Like you're going to die. Your ankle's infected. I'm like,

whatever. You're thinking about putting that on. That got fixed. And then my ankles weren't the same after that. But everyone knows my ankles are just terrible. Anyways, so then, like you said, the Martin Burke or Frick, whatever his name is there, heavy one-timer. The guy's got the hardest shot in the world. But I took it off the back of the neck in detroit and that one that

one that one stung let's just say that um that's the first time my wife's been ever like legitimately scared obviously ate a ton of pucks and got killed by guys and whatever but he like probably thought i was dead on the ice so i get i get uh get off the ice. They take me to the hospital in Detroit there. I get a little CT, everything going on. They're like, hey, all good. I'm like, oh, I feel all right, whatever. So I got back to the rink just in time before the game was over. I've got an ice bay or something on my neck. And I just went right to the change room area there in the new rink. And I just grabbed a couple of slices of Little Caesars, made a sandwich, had my Pepsi and walked around the room. And again, the guys are like, are you really serious? You just almost died on the ice. You got stuff in

your face. You're messed up, man. But very, very fortunate. I did have a leg infection in Tampa. I don't know how it happened. I was in the hospital for a week. Very, very scary stuff. But I don't even know what happened. But again, very fortunate. No broken bones. Obviously, a ton of hand contusions and a couple stitches in there from shots. But nothing that really put me out too long. In terms of blocking shots, like we were actually just talking about the goal that Delandria scored

where it hit Petro's stick in game five, right? For Dallas to continue that series. And we were chatting about like, was that the wrong play? Petro got his stick in there. But are there goalies that you dealt with, whether it's Lundqvist or now coaching, where it's like there's sometimes they don't even want you to block it because it could end up being a deflection that goes in do you know what i'm saying like are there certain goalies that

maybe don't want uh as many shots blocked as others if you know what i mean yeah any fuck you matches with hank over block shots there had to be when you started talking i i was already gonna bring up hank that's business boy from tnt there so i'll what a mess away he absolutely hated the old ramp call that the ramp right you stick out your stick and just goes yes up your stick so i have to say i obviously a lot of shots went off me and in and you know a lot we called it the uh i think it was like the hank stare right so you the shot would go in you tip it and you look back and you just be staring a hole right through you obviously my first it was you tip it and you look back and you just be staring a hole right

through you obviously my first it was me and mark stall got at the most about the hanks there though you know by our finally our fifth year we're like this is enough man like everyone can see in the garden out there he's just staring at us like it was our fault like maybe mixing a save or something i was like honestly but uh so finally we i think we we just said something back to him like once and that was it like wasn't anything bad like okay man listen that's enough man like you think we're trying to you know whatever obviously there's a few profanities in there i'm sure but um gotta keep it clean for my team that's gonna listen to this so um you know he he comes to mind every time again vasty in in tampa there you know didn't really say much

to to me you know veteran guy he kind of loved the way i played uh but you know hank was always funny he he legitimately hated the old ramp like don't even put your stick there so i i actually kind of agree a little bit you know when the shots outside the dots you know not in your area you know i i think it's not it's probably a better play to kind of you know maybe track back the net a bit as the shots coming but you know like you said that goes off petro stick there you know i'm sure they got it done anyways but um you know it is a little risky when it's outside the dots there when it's not a nothing shot really so okay so we actually had this discussion last podcast and and we said of the time, it's like, as a defenseman, you want that stick in the lane and it ramps up and goes over the glass. But your guy's role was anything outside the dots. You wouldn't do that?

I try to get my stick on everything. I tell all my kids on my team, stick on puck, man. That's the best skill to have. Active stick, it's disrupting everything. But I was saying maybe if I go back in time when the guy's going down the wing, like a nothing flipper on net, why even put the stick there unless you said, unless I can really get it there and send it up or disrupt it because those shots sometimes are the ones that go in, right? You catch him in the chicken wing or something something he doesn't know where it's going so

um i said maybe i would i i highly doubt i would i just put my stick on everything now and if i still play that's just kind of once you're in your mode there it's it's second nature to put your stick on everything it's hard to tell yourself to not right you're you're tracking a puck like oh let me just pull that stick back for a second and uh put up the flagpole so yeah i was telling wit that then imagine what the fans are going to say they're saying what the fuck is he even doing out there no stick he's just standing there what is what are the rangers paying drarity five and a half sheets for to put a stick in the air like a flagpole or what damn we're gonna go back to toits for a minute. What did you guys not see eye-to-eye on? Now it's a little later in the show.

No. So, well, I think of two little things. I think it was in Anaheim. Had an absolute tough game. Just minus four, minus five. Just an absolute stinker in the old Honda Center there. So at their practice rink, they have a restaurant upstairs, I think. We did video up there. And, so we at, at their practice rank, they have a restaurant upstairs. I think we did video up there and he, it was just a straight row session and just

number five clip terror. Like just, it was just terrible. And he puts his little, he had a remote control hooked up to the computer. He put it down for a second. He goes, Hey, got anything to say about this? I go, no. Like I had a bad games. Like, no, you got it. You got to give me something. Like he wanted the little back and forth to had a bad game he's like no you got you got to give me something like he wanted a little back and forth to prove a point i'm like no of course i you know wasn't a good game you know uh you know i'm gonna move past it here he's like oh whatever all right so he kept going they didn't like that you know it's not a great story but uh you know that was one and the other one is really a lot i think a lot more funny is we're doing power play practice

and at the training center in new york and i'm just having an absolute tough practice like it looked like i was hung over but i wasn't believe it or not but i was where the puck was bouncing i was i was the quarterback on the point for the pp believe it or not i was you know walking the line it was bouncing and i don't know who we pulled on he goes gee get out of here and he put someone else on and the puck was right beside me and i took a slap shot about five feet from him on the boards and and like right at him and he goes hey was that for me and i go no i was just i was just really mad like i totally wimped out like no no not they like i was mad enough to shoot a puck at you so the boys always give me they you know guys oh they must have been all over you oh yeah like for totally missing out

i'm gonna wimp out and say it wasn't like or someone shoots a puck at someone we're like is that for me so that was a little it's a sea bass moment when he hocked his burger you totally wimped out man yeah again it was was not two great stories for you guys, but a little, just a couple tidbits there. Sounds like he was trying to goad you into an FU match a little bit, especially in the first one. Well, he really, he actually, you know, I don't know if he really

enjoys them, but he always told us, like, you know, you hatch something out together, you know, FU, F that, you know, blah, blah, blah. After that, we were closer. he after that he is we were closer that's what he always says he goes once we go head to head stuff gets cleared out and now we're become closer as a as you know friends or coach teammate or coach player he really he stressed that a lot actually goes it's good to get that stuff aired out you know you know you

become closer after the he he absolutely loved just one-on-one go after guys and meetings and stuff but like it was all for a reason right i think marty said it like you know to get the best at everyone to just push guys to where they didn't think they can go and you know i i you know i thought he's a great coach i hated him in columbus because he ended our unbelievable season in tampa that year when they swept us but you know he had those guys ready to go through a brick wall. And, you know, we just thought we were going to show up and steamroll everybody.

Damn, I forgot you were on that team that you guys won the President's Trophy and then got swept. Yeah, that was a good way to end a career, eh, Biz? That was nice. Then they go rifle off two cups in another cup final. It was easy to watch for sure. Got rid of the weak link. Yeah.

Well, me and Callahan always joke about it. We're like, oh, they trim the fat, me and him, and then they start winning cups. Even though we were the heart and soul of that goddamn team. But anyways. Well, you and Callie, I mean, were a part of that amazing run. And obviously the LA Kings were just a complete wagon. But what are some things that stick out to you about that,

that special run in New York? Because going to the cup final as a member of the Rangers, the city's buzzing, it's alive. You had a great run through the East. Like, what was that like? Well, first I got to say, Cali and St. Louis got traded for each other. So Cali wasn't there.

Oh, Jesus. Oh, yeah. Shit. I forgot about that too. So Marty, Marty comes in out. Again, that was a really tough day to see my, my good buddy go, for each other so cali wasn't there oh jesus oh yeah shit i forgot about that so marty marty comes in out again that was a really tough day to see my my good buddy go but obviously you get a guy like marty back you're not you're definitely not downsizing or downgrading i guess but yeah that was a pretty amazing run um i'm pretty again i'm not 100 sure i think it was that was the year

marty lost his mom i think i can't remember it was the following year and he has that that huge mother's day goal that everyone talks about and you know i i think the whole run was absolutely amazing i think we came back in a couple series go down and yeah the stanley cup final in new york and new york city was it was unreal and obviously then in la as well it was massive so um that was a you know you don't know how many times you're going to get there and unfortunately we just couldn't get it done i think we have three overtime games um yours truly himself gave one up to mr game seven justin williams i think in game one for the overtime winner so i make sure i tell myself

full full panic fuck came in the zone i kind of just tried to you're looking it up right now wait or what um the meat lovers yeah looking up right now hold the pineapple um i tell my kids all the time on my team like they're all mad they make a mistake they score a goal i'm like buddy go, go on YouTube, look at Coach Dan's giveaways. There's 1,000 on there. I assisted on Ovi's 498th goal at the Garden. You can look that one up. It's an unbelievable one.

Right middle pizza on his tape, one touch in the net. Amazing stuff. Again, the Stanley Cup final giveaway for game one, that's hard to get over. That was a tough one, but you got to move past it and all the boys are great and had to stand up in the media and just take one take take it like a champ and go through it and i think you know i think everyone had a lot of respect for that well i i just watched a clip the the whole thing starts bad when you're skating forward to try to then get the speed to pivot d that that's usually how the the beginning of a bad shift starts right so yeah well especially when you got tough boots to match so it's uh you got a hole in your ankle though

my ankle like yeah i have pictures up on pictures of my terrible ankles i have i had my ankle drained uh they might have been the 2015 run when we lost the tampa in the conference final i had to get my ankle drained every day before a game or after like literally syringe to drain it no what was that from just from from the tux rubbing on the side and from all the swelling i had a sack i had all these i had bursa sacks in my ankle i don't know like my ankle like was, it's hard to explain. I have a couple of photos where we were on the Daz trip in Arizona, and I actually laid on the ground and put it on a tee.

We were golfing. I put a tee in the ground. I put my ankle on it, and it looked like a golf ball. It was huge, man. I don't understand why it happened. I'd have to put my skate on about half hour before warmup so it would actually squeeze into my skate. Dan, obviously a great run in New York,

but then they bought you out in 2017. Was that brutal to go through? Or did you kind of see it as a new opportunity to go, to go somewhere else? Of course you went to Tampa. Free money. Yeah. Well, true.

Did you end up making more? Is that sometimes that can happen, right? Or no? Yes. There we go. That's the win. Yeah. yes um that's the win yeah so i i uh after my eighth year in new york living downtown i i signed that six-year deal and then i moved out to rye new york and bought a house and and i thought you know what play out these six years and kind of you know see what happens and

whatever so you know it was you know obviously dealing with a lot of injuries and stuff like what you know if i was making probably two or three it wouldn't have been a big deal i think what i what i did for the team was worth that you know i think obviously with dealing with a lot of injuries and stuff it was hard but you know when you're making that money in a in a cap era like you know they're they're just trying to you know try something new right so, that was a tough... Jeff Gordon called me and... Did you see it coming at all?

I wouldn't say I saw it coming, but I didn't like the feeling. Like, after the season, we lost in the first... I got a concussion, like, the last game of the year. Brian Boyle buried me into the boards. I wasn't ready. I got a concussion and i tried to come back for the pittsburgh series right away and i didn't know what was

going on and tried to come back too early i think i took game two three maybe four off and i came back game five we lost in five in pit and that was the last game i played as a ranger so not a great finish there either, but, um, you know, I, I didn't really, didn't like how it was going that year either. So, um, yeah, that call was right before I was walking to go on the walk to pick up my kid, my son from school. So that was a, that was a long walk. Um, not great, very, it was very tough because, you know, it kind of happened quick, right? The bio window window happens and you know you got about a week or two to maybe get my agent to call some teams and so you know kind of feel sorry for myself for a few days and try to figure out life and but again i was kind of like all

right well let's just kind of get my agent on it see what's out there and there was a bunch of stuff going on so obviously after the first you know three three to five days of feeling sorry for myself and, you know, no, knowing that other teams really wanted me. So I was like, Oh, all right. So we're fine. We're not going to panic right now and, and try to find a job at the factory and well in here. So, um, so it was good. It was, it was a good change of scenery. Definitely going to Tampa. Obviously it's an amazing place to, amazing team. So it was definitely a fun couple years. Work at the John Deere factory in Dane City. Well, if you ever drive back there, if you ever get back here in the next 10 years,

that's all gone. The new subdivision going in back there, they changed the pattern of the road too, Biz. It doesn't go straight. I don't know what they did over there. Just putting up houses left and right in Welland, but now I lost my train of thought. What were we talking about? Well, Biz is banned. I think we were talking about babies, the strip

club downtown Welland. Speaking of Biz, when you look back, and I think you mentioned to Grinnelli, wow, Biz has changed his ways since the old Welland days. What were your first memories of this goon? I don't even know, man. It was pretty sweet though in Welland. You went to Notre Dame, right? Yeah,? I don't even know, man. It was pretty sweet going well. And I think you went to Notre Dame, right?

Yeah, I used to wear those Jenko jeans. I used to have. Yeah. Your face as you were just thinking back in the day. I was a loser. Still am. Yeah. I remember you.

I remember the first. Again, like, I don't know when he was. When you build, like, you build the house by Chippewa Park, too. Like, later on. Like, what was that? When you're in the ohl or your first no i just i finally signed with pittsburgh i was still playing in the american league okay my parents i remember that was a big that was a big chatter and well and biz nasty built the built the house by chippewa park come on that wasn't the fucking chatter and well and what were you guys talking about that tim hortons when you pulled up your cars in the paper biz revealed the hood he opens the bunny ranch of welland yeah when i when i pulled down maggie welland in my 96 sunfire i was just rocking the two

balls in the back man but uh no i don't know i don't know i can't remember a lot like we i don't know how much we crossed paths at the well in rank. Cause I, you know, he was a year younger, you know, but I don't, I don't, I don't really have that many memories.

Sorry, bitch. Do you have any of me? No, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, because we were a different age group. And then you also had a different friend group as well. But yeah, I always remember like,

you know, we both obviously trained hard, but you would, you would train pretty hard in the off season. I always know that you took it pretty serious, even with the on ice stuff, uh, withice stuff with Daryl Belfry, who has gone on to do tremendous things in hockey. I want to say he works one-on-one with Patrick Kane and a bunch of other NHL stars. Yeah, Matthews and all of this. Yeah, that type of skill work was not very common back then, and he was one of the frontrunners to do it.

Show work was not very common back then, and he was one of the front runners to do it. Yeah, me, Matt Ellis, and then randomly we grabbed Devo and Pies to come to those sessions. But yeah, we started those off. I think Darryl had a team of all 85 birthdates, like Horton and those guys, and me and a guy named brody todd you remember him right biz brody oh yeah oh yeah so me and him are the only 84 so that was like his first thing he did doing some training and then i think you know for for the most part we were kind of the first one-on-one guys obviously used us as a nice platform because he he put us in the morning session at ridley at like eight in the morning, the crappy session. And then, you know, Kaner shows up to Var is all the,

all the important guys came a little later in the nice, nice solid morning times. But, uh, no, he's gone on some pretty cool things, man. Like I,

I, I try to read his book. I just, I can't, I don't really read a lot. So I fall asleep, but, um,

he, he already wrote a book. He's got a ton of stuff going on. Like, you know, it's pretty, uh, like like and what were you guys doing like what were you guys doing that was so revolutionary sometimes you guys would be stick handling with two pucks yeah like a lot yeah essentially all the skill work you see on instagram and youtube like we did we're doing that like 2005, when it was first just starting out, like all the same stuff.

Dick Allen, Tupac's, he called it training to transfer or something like that. So he'd show a clip of me doing some work at Ridley College, and then there'd be a clip, next clip would be in the NHL, of like me doing it in the game. So he kind of started doing that stuff too. And to answer your question about that. Stuff that Adam Oates is doing now yeah yeah for again that yeah that's like normal now to have

everyone's got their spill guy they go back home do and i i know even when i was in the old like i don't even know remember where i skated like i don't even know like what maybe i don't even know what i did to be honest with you i can't remember like what hockey school i went to or where i went but i know now there's just so many things for the kids it's hard to sift through what's good and what's bad before we go any further here's a word from our great friends at body armor hey gang i'm not sure if you heard yet but barstool sports and body armor just made a big partnership together we're going to be with them for a long time, and we love it. We love drinking Bartyama. Their water's great. All their specialty drinks are fantastic as well

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because there's so many of them and they're so good. We stay drinking this in this office, at the gym, on the golf course, on the ice, when we're hungover, all Bardiama, all the time. Buy Bardiama now on Amazon. Dan, I'm going to go back to Tampa for a sec. How much did you enjoy playing for Cooper and can you see why he's been there for so long?

You know, Koop's obviously a lot different than Torts. But I think he's really good at, you know, reading the group. Obviously, it was a very, you know, pretty veteran group there. A lot of star-studded guys. And he knew when to challenge guys, when to leave us alone. You know, when to push us alone, when to push, when maybe sit a guy here and there. But he was so easy to talk to.

He's got that nice little swagger about him, though. You can see him when he walks in. He's very confident in himself, but not in a bad way. He knows he's prepared. He knows he's going to coach a great game. He's got a great team in front of him. So obviously very, very, you know, happy for him and the boys that got it done. And, you know, now it's warranted swagger, right?

Now he can, you know, walk around and, you know, I know my son played with his son in Florida along with Vinny Lecavier's kid. So it was pretty cool there going to the rink in a non you know formal format i guess you could say like at the practice and stuff but vinny was running so um yeah got to know him a little bit away from the rink with that stuff some tournaments and spring stuff and at practice so it was good he's a good dude going back not to go back to like a kind of a brutal memory but looking back at that Columbus sweep, what do you think happened?

I mean, obviously you ran into a crazy hot goalie and a team playing really hard, but was it just more surprising than anything? Like after losing the first two at home, you couldn't get things going? If my memory serves me correct, I believe we were actually up 3-0 in the first period, game one. I think it was like five minutes in too,

because we were all watching. We just got it going, and then something started turning, first period game one so i think it was like five minutes in two because we were all watching we we just got her going and then something started turning and then once i think i actually think it might have been seth drones got the go-ahead goal i think in the third we're like uh-oh like what's what's going on here i don't know like just couldn't gain any traction like yeah obviously bob was there and he's doing his thing now as well in florida but um you know i think i hate to say like you know the bruins kind of felt a little bit this year right like you know you just go through the season like it's just easy right we show up to the rink

you know we have a couple glass of wine before the game and the night before we show up we know we're going to dominate um you know we're we had killer power play obviously the best goalie in the world all these guys on the team, like Kooch and Stammer, Hedy, holy man, I can go on and on. I think you just get into maybe a little bit of cruise control mode and not playoff mode. Obviously, you see the Panthers just had it dialed in from, they were clawing their way in and they're playing playoff hockey and i feel like they just maybe caught them by surprise a bit there obviously it was they had to climb back in the series but you know it's something about finishing the year with ease with the most

points you know your your last five games you're kind of just like can we get to the next part now right like you're like okay let's make sure no one gets hurt let's just keep her going and i don't know it's it's it's it's it was tough though for sure because we knew we had a team to do something You're like, okay, let's make sure no one gets hurt. Let's just keep her going. I don't know. It was tough, though, for sure, because we knew we had a team to do something. Then the year before we lost in the conference finals to Washington, we were up 3-2 going into their barn, and we didn't score a goal game six, game seven. That'll do it when you can't score a goal uh and obviously that's not on

you though g yeah i you know what i i did what i could you know like i had my minus two or three maybe maybe more i don't know but um you know then obviously wash went to vegas and vegas and you know i i'm telling i think we could have probably won both years with the team we had like you think of those two years and then the next three they had like those five years could have probably won both years with the team we had like you think of those two years and then the next three they had like those five years could have been insane when you really think about it how how good that team was and really still is i know they had to you know guys here guys there in and out but you know they're going to compete for a long time as long as they have bastion the pice man i uh i played golf with uh hazy and jimmy veezy the other day and um i knew we were interviewing you.

So obviously those guys love you, had such great things to say as a teammate. Hazy said you were unreal, like a big block shot or breaking up a two-on-one, just skating by the bench and just like winking at guys, just talking shit, like letting everyone know. You were always pretty loose on the ice though, he said. Yeah. Again, I knew when to really, really reel it in. And this is like dead serious moment, but

I'm really proud of myself and I'm almost mocking myself sometimes. You make a mistake and making a big block shot and skate it by the bench. Like you said, give the bench a little glare like, yeah, I did that for you guys. You score a goal once every 20 games and you pretend like you scored about a hundred goal at the bench. Oh, going to bed oh you like that you like that like you know like i scored like three goals my last year so it was it was enjoyable but you know i really i don't know i don't know if you're if you were at the game i'm going to talk about with but i know jordan stall brings it up all the time was the game at the melon arena and it was uh we were playing there and i i like i fumble fudged the puck by the red line full panic and sent it in i fell and i got up and i said come

on sober up g or something like that and i skated away and like jordan still still brings it up to mark once in a while and mark will tell me like he's like i can't believe the guy told himself to sober up in the middle of the play like and i and I wasn't even, I wasn't even hung over. That's the best part. It's just, I did, I, I, they always made fun of me for self-talking. You know, I was just talking, talking to myself or like making dumb comments and it wasn't like positive self-talk where they want people to do nowadays and feel good. Like it was like legit, just chirp myself, talk and escape by a guy. And, you know know i think i i had i had such a fun time playing and i do the same thing coaching really like i'll wheel around practice and just kind of say something to guys and keep everyone in a good mood you know dan we're about to have our fourth

year in a row with a team from florida in the stanley cup uh are you expecting a lengthy series between vegas and florida coming up here yeah who you got let's get some hot takes here all right okay well first i don't i wish it started earlier number one and i don't know what this breaks into the panthers but obviously they'll be feeling good um i don't know like the old uh the old saber in me is it's hard to cheer for any of those teams really right you got you know panthers you know beat us all by a point you know obviously vegas has that guy over there that we, uh, we traded. So it's, it's tough. I don't know what I want to say. You know, I, I think it's, I think it's going to be an amazing series. I think

the Panthers have obviously, you know, showed a lot like, you know, we played them, obviously played them a bunch of times, but you know, you knew they were good, but I don't know, you know, when you got guys like Bob and, and matthew there could chuck just kind of you know that's when that's when the big runs happen when guys just take over and you know just pretty much take the team on their back and go so i don't know what the breaks into florida i know vegas you know had a couple tough games in that series with dallas but they they look they look pretty good i gotta say like they they're looking pretty solid you know if aiden hill stays stays playing solid obviously the goaltending will be a big with Dallas, but they look pretty good, I got to say. They're looking pretty solid. If Aiden Hill stays playing solid,

obviously the goaltending will be a big factor in this series, but I don't know, man. I don't know if I could pick someone. I don't know. Oh, fuck off. Fuck you. No, seriously. We had Hazy on. Hazy wouldn't even give us a prediction either. It's these NHL guys, Biz.

Oh, exactly. And then they're all fucking us for our hot takes but they won't they won't give them when they're on you guys got you guys got zero attachments you're just a couple of beauties oh i don't i'm on payroll for one team oh i think you're on payroll for about seven teams yeah it's true that's true now the tree living's in with with Toronto, I'm going to be assistant GM soon. Yeah, you're a business man. You can do whatever you want. I'm assistant to the assistant GM, just like you're assistant to the assistant coach. Assistant to NHL coaching staff.

Get that right, buddy. I'll say it goes six. That's what I'll give you, man. I'm thinking six. Yeah, I don't want to put you on the spot like business. No, you can say that. I will say an NHL player, an unnamed NHL player, said Vegas is going to smash them.

So, just going with the league saying. One thing you can tell us about, though, what was it like playing with Sean Avery? Did you guys get along? Oh, man, that guy. I haven't talked with that guy in a while. Bring out some more old stories from the vault uh he was he was uh he was definitely a unique human being he was i've

never played with a guy like that or you know before he got there or after he left and i don't he had so much going on away from the rink it was i don't even know how he kept track of where he was or models and going to these clubs and going here and going there. He always, one thing he always, it was funny. He called, you know,

he called like, cause yeah, you know, he dated models or new actresses. He called everyone else. Civilians. We were not going to hold a hand with those civilians over there. I'm like,

Oh my God. He would always call. I think, you know, he would always call her girlfriends or fiancés or wives like duds you guys are all hanging with duds man get them out of here get these duds out of here but uh one one thing with aves was funny like obviously i think he fit in well with the dress code these days he he obviously when we played it was like

you know suit tie lock it in wear socks you know all that stuff right so he shows up on the plane in like a sweat pant like what like what are you wearing it's like i call it the super pant it was like i was like chanel or something it was like a sweat pant material had like a nice tie at the top like i don't know if it was tapered at the time i don't know but they called it it was like three grand i i wouldn't doubt it it was tapered at the time. I don't know. It was like three grand. I wouldn't doubt it. It was at least probably a $1,000 sweatpants. So he wore it.

He always loved wearing short-sleeved dress shirts too. Always a short-sleeved dress shirt. He'd wear those glasses sometimes. He wore it again. He was so unique. But again, that's what made people love him. And a lot of people hated him. But that's why the crowd loved them. He just,

his antics and his thing with bro dirt where he's turned the wrong way. Like who, who would ever in their mind think to do that? Right. Like I've never, I mean, they changed the rule after. What was,

what was torts, what was torts saying on the bench when that was all going down? What were you guys seeing in the locker room? How was his relationship with torts from your standpoint? Like, was there just a bunch of fiascos yeah i like honestly i don't even know like i don't even know if we knew what to say after what aves did like we like like i don't know if we're like is he a genius or is there like is he really really smart and just trying this or like like again we kind of let him do his own

thing right like you don't really want to cage an animal like that you just want to let him go and and get the other team off their game and create some chaos in the building in the garden and every other way rank hated him so it was good took the pressure off everybody else and he was he was actually really good i thought he was a really good player good shot you know you know he was a good player but obviously he's hard to play against yeah like he loved the extracurriculars like you know at the rink and away from the rink and you know like he he loved the love to be in the mix right so he always he always had somewhere to go for us so that was nice though if you could pinpoint the best moment of your career what would it be

and i would imagine at some point you probably got a standing o from from msg the whole crowd that like what the fuck is that like uh funny you actually said that we always so obviously you know in the garden they chanted the goalie's name right like it was hen henry or whatever they say and then igor so me or stalls your mac would have a big block and the next shot hank would save it and we get back to the bench they'd be chilling henry we'd be like dollsy like never once yeah never once yeah never once never once got that but you know there i don't know man like there there's a lot

of really good ones like like obviously playing in the stanley cup final was awesome uh i was in the all-star team for uh 2012 it was in ottawa i had a lot of family there that was cool um you know first nhl goal against the atlanta thrashers there and it was doesn't even count now I know yeah they said they actually took one goal away from me I think I have 48 now so um uh but uh you know I man there's so many I don't even know like I you know the 2012 playoffs are a really big one for me um uh Stolze got hurt during the year I think actually no was that when is he got hit in the head yeah Stolze got hit in the I-1 game during the season like and he was out for a long time so there was I played a ton of minutes um you know we went we played Jersey in the conference finals

I think I had three goals all three were game winners I was all-star that year again I didn't look this up I promise you but I think I might have been like sixth place norris trophy voting um you know it was a really it was a really big year like it was a maybe i wouldn't even say gotta be careful my words a coming out party you know like i was i was pretty good but then like that was a really big year i think people started taking notice that i you know had a good playoff run and it was an all-star. So again, that was, again, give me more time, I'll think of more. But I just enjoyed every moment of it, man. You can't get that time back. It's amazing.

You're dead serious when you say you were sixth in Norris voting? Yeah. It was like, check it out, man. Sixth Norris 2012, you were. Do you think the fans can see the tattoo, though? Do you think that they could get a little bit of the barbed wire? No, forget it. No?

There you go. That looks like it's just the whole sleeve up. It looks pretty decent. It's all the way here. Again, I don't walk around my jersey off that often. This is my backyard here by the pool. I'm leaf blowing. No one can see me back here. I got a here i got it all covered up but um yeah that's uh got any other good ones for me here boys i i think that's pretty much all i got

buddy we appreciate your time it was it was good touch and base and i'm sure that people are going to have a lot of laughs uh did you guys have any more for him? Just want to point out he had two first place votes that year as well. Oh, yeah. Brooksy and Thorsey. Yeah. Mark and Carol Girardi. Those are two great bits. Yeah.

Tell them I said hello, by the way. Thank you so much, buddy. This is awesome. Congrats on an amazing career. Seriously, like undrafted to do what you did. It's seriously very impressive so thanks for joining the show no thanks for having me boys i've been i've been waiting to get on i you know everyone loves you guys and you do a great job man you keep uh busy you're proven well and nice

and proud even though you know your antics sometimes are a little bit crazy but i love it swearing all the time the kids watch your podcast man come on you gotta lay out the f-bombs once in a while it's it's it's it's a crutch my friend it's a crutch i don't have no i was born french and then i had to learn english so my vocabulary is only halfway there i don't we mentioned them already but i i hope i could be a lot more like matt ellis and if i looked at a guy who i'd want to marry my daughter if i ever have a daughter it would be matt ellis so we'll have to get that well in boyan soon and hopefully i'll talk to him because he he If I looked at a guy who I'd want to marry my daughter, if I ever have a daughter, it would be Matt Ellis. So we'll have to get that well in Boyan soon. I'll talk to him because he, we don't want to go too, we don't need to go too much further.

But that guy is one of the best humans ever, man. Yes. The hardest worker I've ever seen. Like, I actually think that's why my career lasts as long as it takes. I worked out with him at White Oaks Biz downstairs there. Like, he was throwing around weight like you wouldn't believe and i couldn't even get half of that but he would push me to the next level and you know obviously now coaching with him in in buffalo it's amazing it is his kids are is uh his 07 boy is really really good is he got he got drafted the old

little bit later but he's probably gonna go to go to college. He's a legit player. And his other son plays for the Junior Sabres there as well. So he's all the minor hockey too. And yeah, he's just a good human man. You got to get that guy on. I'll do some talking. He's a model citizen. You just mentioned Matt Ellis' son.

Is your son 13, 14, 15? If the O is a possibility, would you lean towards college or is it not even really reached those discussions yet at his age? Well, well, it, again, this, I tell you, I keep saying this day and age, but like stuff is like, if people don't think they're good at this age, you think they're never going to go anywhere. So it's like, you're, you're already managing that with some parents and stuff and talking about it. Pretty much. I told them like, wherever there's an opportunity, you're going to go. Like, I know a lot of kids are like, well,

I'm not going to go play in a Sue St. Marie or go to Sudbury in the OHL. I said, screw that. Like if anyone gets drafted, you just go there. That's what you're, that's what you're going to do.

And again, talk about him a little bit. Like he, he's a legit polar opposite of me, which is pretty funny. Like forward skilled, not a fan of the shot lane. It's honestly hilarious watching all these kids play and like they you know everyone watches mcdavid and all i'm like someone like watch someone like

pull up a couple coach g money clips out there d man show you how it's done like just like you know everyone's so worried about you know being the best kid. It's honestly harder to manage that stuff with the kids. Just relax. It's okay. If some kids are small on our team, it's okay. You didn't grow yet, man. You're 12, 13. There's a lot of time.

Don't worry. And to answer your question, he's going to go over it. That's what steroids are for, right? Yeah. Well, yeah. Maybe. There you go, kids. Yeah.

There you go. Wow. I am looking at kids. Yeah. Wow. Hey, I'm looking at Matt Ellis's hockey DB. I didn't realize full year in the coast and then almost 350 AHL games before even getting a sniff in the show. That's, that's pretty impressive. Yeah.

He's the real, the real life hockey Rudy. Yep. That's awesome. Well, thanks so much. Yeah. Anytime boys.

Anytime. This was awesome. Good luck this season with your squad. Thank you. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Before we go any further, I got a few words for you about Bolero. Have you heard of the Bastu Bolero Invitational?

If not, listen closely. Bolero is known for reinventing one of America's oldest pastimes into a new and unforgettable experience with modern and beautifully designed venues, expansive arcades, premium signature cocktails, and a creative menu. It is the perfect place to spend a night out for any occasion. Visit www.bolero.com slash Barstool to join the Barstool Bolero Invitational now through July 23rd. Joining the Invitational is easy. Add to your name and visit any Bolero location near you and bowl for your chance to be entered to win the ultimate grand prize including tickets to the football and basketball championships,

plus a trip to the Bastu Bolero Invitational Finale in Chicago on August 9th. Many will bowl, only one will win. Visit www.bolero.com slash bastu now to claim your voucher for a free game of bowling at any Bolero location nationwide through July 23rd. All courtesy of Barstool. Huge thanks to Dan Girardi for chatting with us a little while back. Great interview, great guy, really enjoyed his career. One of those guys who was sort of that Tampa Bay, New York Rangers shuttle. Gee, remember that they were trading San Luis and Ryan McDonough, all those guys they were calling. JT Miller.

Yeah, Tampa Bay Rangers down there for a little while so once again big thanks to dan it was a nice chat with him and hopefully we'll catch up with them soon all right real quick can i um i don't want to mean to cut you off but i gotta ask so i'm watching i don't really watch a ton of tv or movies during the hockey season i'm just kind of watching hockey every night but i'm now watching more tv and movies than ever obviously with the hockey season being over. What should I be watching? Where should I be watching it? What are you watching? What's the good stuff? And let the listeners know here. Yeah, that's what I'm doing right now. This is my season to catch up on all the movies and shows that, like you, watching hockey all year. We've talked about BlackBerry on the show a bit. I'll repeat myself there. You've seen it,

right? The one with Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton. It's incredible. It's so good. I learned so much in that movie. Yeah. It's kind of funny. A lot of these movies, they're basically like, I don't know if it's a nostalgia thing, but you got Blackberry, Air, The Boat, The Edgewood, and the Tetris movie. There's another one coming out. It's just like all this- Those are my favorite kind of movies to watch of stuff that like actually happened especially stuff that was like i've heard so much about but it was before my time yeah like i'm really like learning about it all on the fly i think it's just it's super interesting yeah i didn't uh how i like i said how it's in man the dude from always sunny i didn't know he was that good of an actor because

uh you know he's on always sunny it's kind of goofy show, but it turns out he went to Yale Drama School, man. That's no joke. He's a legit actor because he plays such an abrasive asshole in that with the skullcap on. He was perfect. Jay Baruchel, I mean, obviously the genius behind Goon and Goon 2. He kind of usually plays like a neurotic nerd type sometimes. And this was like real subdued, like a kind of a quiet nerd. I thought he was excellent as well. Yeah, I mean, they absolutely killed it. But Ari, what I've seen is, I was watching the new Netflix show about,

it's called Quarterback. It follows Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota. I think it's incredible. They did the golf one. They did the F1 one. But I got to ask you, if they were going to do this in the NHL, who are three guys you'd want them to follow around? Here, I'll go first. I'll let you think

for a sec. So my three are Ryan Reeves. I think Ryan Reeves is without a doubt the most interesting man in the NHL. Number two, Alex Ovechkin. I think we don't see much of Alex Ovechkin at all behind the scenes. I remember a couple of years ago, they did a day inchkin. I think we don't see much of Alex Ovechkin at all behind the scenes. I'd love, I remember a couple of years ago, they did a day in the life. I think when he got the key to the city and he was just driving his sports cars like super fast around Washington, DC. So Alex Ovechkin's number two. And then being the bees fan that I am, I'd want to see Brad Marchand.

I just want to see kind of day in the life. I'd want to see him mic'd up on the ice, people chirping him, him chirping. And yeah, that's my three. Who you got? It's funny. Two of them, I had it right off the top of my head. You took them. I think Marcus Foligno would be a great guy because he's a great chirp. He's a funny bastard. He's a funny prick. You want a funny guy who's going to make some jokes, throw him on there. Matthew Kachuk, same thing. He's a ball buster like Marshawn. All trips, Uh, Matthew Kachuk, same thing, man. He's a, he's a ball buster like Marshawn, all trips, sometimes a little bit below the belt as we found the last playoffs, but, uh, those two, and let me see, one more. Who's, uh, who's one more? Like, who's a, who's like a big chat Vasilevsky. I don't know if he talks a lot, but he seems like an interesting cat when he's doing that kind of like, I don't know, fucking meditating thing before the game and stuff.

Yeah, Russian goalies. I thought you were going to pick Yussi Saros once you said goalie. I feel like he's been your guy for the past five years. I know. I know. Yeah, go to a Russian. Plus, any time you get a European, once you get any sort of european accent the funny fact it goes up about 10 anyway so yeah this is the shit the nhl gotta do man this is like we talk about the market and how they fuck up all the time this is the type of

show that they should have like you know like they did on hbo a few years ago man have covered 20 covering these guys 24 7 and i know hockey players they don't want to be the center of attention blah blah blah but this generation wants that man like. They just got to say, fuck it. I'm going to do it. I don't care what these old fucks say. And I'm going to have the camera here all day. They got to market these guys way better, man. It's a joke, dude. I'm sick of everyone complaining about the salaries. It's like, fucking put them out there, man. Just tell these guys. More money for everyone. I know some of the guys don't have the most magnetic personalities, but- Who makes that call though, RA? Is it as high

as it at the top? Is it Gary Bettman that makes the call to do a Netflix series? Or is it the players, the players association? Is it the big name players going to the Gary Bettman? Who makes this decision? I mean, I'm sure the buck would probably stop with Bettman at a certain point, because it's an NHL product they got to sign off on. But yeah, you got to get players who are interested in doing it, which I don't know. Like I said, these young kids, they're, you know, they're not like the pride generation that are, they're not afraid to be a ham and egg or have the spotlight on them or, you know, kind of look at me type mentality. And that's where the NHL should take advantage of it.

The Trevor Zegers of the world. Exactly. That's exactly who I'm thinking of, you know, and, and, you know, and then like he, you know, a guy like that, he's got a magnetic personality. He can kind of drag in some of his friends and teammates who may be a little camera shy because, but because he's a charismatic fellow, you might be able to see other guys showing their personality. So yeah, the fact that they don't have that HBO show anymore, it's just a joke. It's like, come on, man. Like you have all these opportunities,

all this fucking, all these channels out there, you know, NHLl help me help you okay let's get this fucking rolling what else are you watching though all right what else uh actually i'm not gonna show them like i gotta well i got a few months ago but it was sitting here waiting to get plugged in a 65 inch tv uh brand new smart tv and um oh it's awesome dude if you shut all the lights out it's like a movie theater in here it's like a horizontal with the letterbox things on it. But I put it on the first movie. It was the one with Adam Driver. It hit Netflix last week. It was called 65 because that was just, that's why I put it on. I go, 65 inch TV movie called 65. Might as well throw it on. It wasn't bad. People were shitting all over it because I think they were expecting more dinosaurs. I don't know. Have you seen the trailer far? Are you familiar with it at all? I have not, no. Okay. It's actually a pretty cool concept, like a sci-fi movie.

It's set 65 million years ago, but Adam Driver, he's like a space pilot or whatever from a different planet. He's not from Earth or whatever. And he's driving, flying people on some mission. They get hit by an asteroid. He crashes on a planet and it happens to be Earth 65 million years ago. Everyone's like, oh, the dinosaurs, they're expecting sort of a Jurassic Park thing. But it's also 65 million years ago is when the asteroid hit Earth and killed all the dinosaurs and rearranged this whole planet. So it was more about the asteroid, I think, than the dinosaurs. I mean, it wasn't a bad movie. Burner Bones, who sit there, kill an hour and a half. I mean, it's not going to be on the Oscar nominees or or anything but not a bad little flick i mean not the top 10 of

the year uh let's see what else yeah oh i watched one a few years old it's kind of a dark one it's called parkland or parkland if you want to pronounce the as um it's about the kennedy assassination but it's not like a conspiracy thing they don't like point fingers at whatever it was based on a book, Four Days in Dallas. And they just kind of cover from the hospital point of view and real in-depth details that you didn't know. Because it was based on a book, Vincent Bugliosi, I think his name is. He convicted Charles Manson back in the day. He was a crime writer. And he had all these details that nobody had. And at the end, I'm assuming it's real because they were taking a lot of like you know true story elements and when lee harvey oswald was getting buried it was like his brother and his like mother were there and his kids his wife and they didn't have anyone to pick

the uh the coffin out of the casket out of the back and he actually grabbed some photographers and he's like can you help me out and they're looking at like this guy just killed kennedy it's like but like they actually know, they helped the guy. It wasn't about helping Lee Harvey Oswald. They actually had empathy for this guy who, you know, just wanted to bury his brother. And it was a kind of a, I don't know, a tendency. And it was like, you know, a guy's still a dirtbag, but I still think it was more than one. You ever visit Dallas, dude, you'll be convinced it was more than Lee Harvey Oswald.

I know I go crazy about that shit. I've heard that. Yeah. He's standing on the grass. I just got a text from one of our editors, Fish, and he wants to know, on the 21st, two movies come out, Barbie and Oppenheimer. Which one are you going to see? Next on my list right there.

Terrible handwriting. Oppenheimer. Got my tickets a couple weeks ago. I'm going to the IMAX up in Reading. There's like the 70 millimeter version. This theater then there's the imax this one if you want to go to providence they have 70 millimeter and imax in the same theater but i'm not driving down to providence but i'm going to oppenheimer thursday i can't fucking wait uh christopher nolan probably top five working director today and you know this is one of those movies that's going to confuse

you like inception or tenant like you don't know what the fuck's going on. You know, it's a pretty straight story, but it's interesting as hell. I mean, this guy was the father of the atomic bomb, you know, the most destructive device, you know, in mankind's history so far. I don't know, give us a few more years, we'll fuck something else up, I'm sure. I think it's a fascinating story. Cillian Murphy is a tremendous actor. Who else? Matt Damon's in it. Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt. I believe Robert Downey Jr. said it's the best

movie he's ever been a part of. Yep. I saw that. And I guess he's awesome in it too, because I think he's been doing the Iron Man goofy Marvel shit for so long. People forget he's a really good actor because he's basically playing a version of himself when he does Iron Man but he's fucking a dynamite actor he got nominated 30 31 years ago I know you probably didn't see it Chaplin it was a movie about Charlie Chaplin dude I when I seen I was like I did not know Robert Downey Jr was this good of an actor he was fucking phenomenal so you know we haven't really seen him flex those like real actor muscles too much lately so I'm looking forward to see his performance but uh they say it's three hours long but like it's one of those movies that just you're on the edge of your seat

the whole time and it flies by so you know just gonna make sure i don't drink any uh liquids for like 12 hours before because i hate having a pissed her the fucking movie dad that's the word about being i got the bladder of a kitten though i'm always pissing so i'm and i know you are too so it's inevitable that's my issue so uh what the hell else am i watching um yeah the parkland uh let's see the nice guys i've been talking about that it's like a night 2016 movie you ever see that with uh russell crowe and uh yeah i thought brian dawson's fucking hilarious movie all right i'll tell you i watched this movie and i wasn't gonna bring it up because i feel like i'm gonna to get a lot of shit, but I watched the movie, The Outlaws. It was like the number two movie on Netflix. It's with Adam Devine. It was so funny. I watched it

at like 2 a.m. and I was hysterically laughing throughout the whole movie to the point where I don't remember the last time I watched a movie and laughed out loud like this. It was shocking. And I didn't know, the next day I had to rewatch the movie because I'm like, was I just in like a goofy mind state at like 2 a.m. where I thought like anything was going to be funny? Or is this movie actually fucking hilarious? I went back, I rewatched it. It's still very, very funny. It's a happy Madison film. Adam Devine, his girlfriend's parents are, or his fiance's parents are outlaws, not in-laws. It's a really good movie. I can't suggest it enough, but I'd love to hear from Chicklets Nation if it's a funny movie or if I'm just being a weirdo, because I thought it was fucking hilarious,

man. Yeah, I'm going to put up my, because I thought it was fucking hilarious, man. Yeah, I'm going to put up my cue right now. I'll probably watch with my old lady a little bit later. But yeah, you need a good, goofy, silly comedy to just kind of like take you away, like Calvon, take me away from this crazy world for a couple hours. There's not many like that anymore, though, are there? You know, these days of like the raunchy comed comedies even just like the just funny movies are just a dying breed you're right you're right and it's it's been not just like funny movies but even like you know now that i'm a middle-aged married guy it's like you know the adult dramas that your parents would go see back in the 80s and went on a saturday night they don't make those kind of

movies really anymore it's all like fucking previous material that they write about comic book movies and or giant explosions and shit. Yeah, and it's like, I'm all set with that. And right now, I mean, what's on my movies, I probably should talk about the actors and writers being on strike. And I mean, this, what do you call it? This industry is, you know,

it's kind of at a crossroads right now because, you know, companies are always going to exploit employees if they can. And they're really screwing these, the writers over, the actors over. They just want a fair deal. They've always gotten residuals and done everything with the streaming and no one knew what to do. So the companies just screwed all these people.

I mean, they're nothing. They're nothing without the writers or the actors. They have nothing. People say AI. You could go watch a fucking AI movie if you want. AI isn't going to write Shakespeare stuff. It's not going to write Romeo and Juliet. It's not going to write Shakespeare stuff. It's not going to write Romeo and Juliet. It's not going to write Jackie Brown. It's not going to write anything good.

Get AI. Tell them, R.A. Tell the AI what's up. Fuck off, AI. I mean, the idea that that's going to make quality movies or TV shows is just a joke. And yeah, I don't know if these people are like, oh, all I would fucking lose is fuck them in the middle and get millions of dollars. It's like, no,

dude, there's 160,000 people in the SA the sag union uh the screen actors guild and the average salary i think it's like 25 or 30 000 it's like yes the top one percent of actors they make a ton of dough and you know that's that's the rate i mean when you're that good and that you're worth it you're gonna pay that so those people don't have to take a discount to break their fee down. Tell the fucking asshole making $300 million a year, tell him to take a cut. You know, it's just pure fucking greed, man. And I don't know. I don't know how it's going to get resolved because what happens when you have conglomerates

running fucking art, it doesn't work, man, because they're always going to be beholden to the stockholders, you know, and not the fucking people making the art. So I don't know what's going to happen. So now you're going to be all fired up. Gee, I got to go have a cocktail, buddy. I got to go grab a big deal brew. Anything else before we call it a day? Oh, all right. One more thing. Big deal brewing, huge announcement. It is now available in Manitoba. It is now available in Manitoba. You can find it at your local MBLL store. And some more news for Canada. Ontario, you did not disappoint.

There is a major restock coming to the LCBO. Nice. So there's been a major restock with the LCBO, so go get your big deal brews. Ontario and Manitoba, baby. We are in Canada. Let's go. Shut up, Winnipeg. Nice to see Jets fans finally get some

big deal brew without having to drive across friggin' the provinces. Jets fans finally get some big deal brewed without having to drive across frigging the provinces. Jets fans need it after the season they had already. Yeah. I mean, pretty much the whole history they've needed. Both histories with the two different Winnipeg Jets teams they've had. So, yeah, they need a few cocktails. All right.

I also have some Chicklets Cup news I'd like to tell you about as well. Some big Chicklets Cup news. So, as you know, Chicklets Cup, we will be in Buffalo October 6th and 7th for the next Chicklets Cup. Registration will go on sale next Thursday, July 27th at 2 p.m. But if you participated in the last Chicklets Cup, you will have an opportunity to sign up starting Tuesday. That's Tuesday the 25th at 2 p.m. also as well. So we've stayed in a few times. This is going to be Biz's last Chicklets Cup where he's playing.

We have tons of teams already lined up that want to come in. I think the Empty Netter guys are teaming up with Johnny Laz. They got a team going in. We have tons of teams. We're very excited. I think we had 900 participants the last one already. It was an absolute blast in Buffalo. What a great city. I know people like to pick on Buffalo. I think it's just more because of their sports teams. What a dynamite city. Restaurants are unbelievable. The

bars are unbelievable. The people, the hospitality. Buffalo, two huge thumbs up from the Chicklets crew and I can't wait to go back, buddy. I cannot wait. So you can register at chickletscup.com. Again, that's chickletscup.com on Thursday, July 27th at 2 p.m. Unless you played in the last Chicklets Cup tournament, where you will be able to enter Tuesday the 25th at 2 p.m. Eastern. All right, buddy. I'll wrap it up. Any more announcements for the folks?

Nope, nope. That's it. All right. All right, buddy. Hopefully everybody enjoyed Dan Girardi, and we will be back next week with another fantastic interview. Have a fantastic week, everybody.