Spittin Chiclets - Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 478: Featuring Will Smith & Joey Daccord

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

On Episode 478 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by 4th Overall draft pick of the San Jose Sharks and World Junior Gold Medalist, Will Smith (01:06:14) to talk about team USA’s big win over Sweden. But first, the boys get into William Nylander’s new contract. Later on, Joey Daccord joins the show (02:17:05) to talk about his career and what drove him to become this year’s MVP at the Winter Classic. Lastly, the guys bring on Pasha (03:22:19) to go over a special moment he brought to light for a dear friend off the podcast that involved Wayne Gretzky and Nickelback lead singer, Chad Kroeger. Jersey Jerry took the internet by storm with his “Hole In One” livestream challenge…if Spittin’ Chiclets did a 24/7 Live Stream what are some things you’d want to see the boys do?You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. But here's your love They say a drunken speech is just sober thoughts I like to poke a bear, I like to stir the pot But then you come on in and take it up a notch But baby, come on in and take it up a notch You hit me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot Hello everybody and welcome to episode 478 of Spittin' Chicklets Presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka Here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family

What's up everyone? Hope you had a great week we got some all-star names willie gets paid and the u.s shows you how gold is made but let's say hi to the boys first ryan whitney the wit dog what is shaking buddy oh fucking ra spitting spitting bars off the hop here holy shit who is this guy we got will smith on so he feels like you wrap a little bit to get this thing going was it what was it the clean version got will smith on so he feels like you can rap a little bit to get this thing going was it was it the clean version like will smith and i don't know if we talked about it in the interview yeah we did oh we did okay we mentioned it with him the the all-time family i think it's family guy clip but will smith with the clean rap but um nothing boys nothing's going

on here pretty low-key weekend a little bit of a snowstorm yesterday so finally got our first snowfall um i think my basement's gonna flood again tomorrow when the snow melts so i'm completely panicked about that you know you know the basement that can never ever ever get fixed no matter how many people we hire to then tell us it'll never flood again but you know what i'm not in a complaining mood i'm in a fabulous mood wow i'm excited to record i'm coming off a gold medal can we get somebody With a camera Having these interactions Between Witt

And all these contractors That would be fucking gold Oh yeah That'd be real funny For you Abe Just laughing it up As you build your crib In fucking Scottsdale

Send one over to my place Cause fucking We're about to have A rough and rowdy Over here If I take a cameraman To down Every time we redo The basement And try to Waterproof this and rowdy over here if i take a cameraman to down every time we redo the basement

and try to uh waterproof this thing over and over then we get to have a cameraman follow you when you're sure physically and mentally abusing your contractor as your house gets finished eight months after he told you it would be that'll be the deal you're saying stop making a living you would have as many seasons as lost that's's how many fucking times you've had. I feel like I'm on an island when it rains, and all of a sudden there's just water gushing through into our heater and all this other crap down in the unfinished part. That's just the golf simulator.

It's trying to bring you into reality of whatever the one in California. Last flood I was down in Orlando when I went and did that, 117 holes in like two and a half days right before Christmas. And I got the call from the wife. She's down there with the trash barrel. She's shoveling water and the kids are screaming. She's taking them to hockey. And I'm just hitting my 14th drive of the day.

I was like, oh, this is not good. At least tomorrow I'll be home and I'll be the one bailing water out of the basement. Motherfucking myself for buying this house hey memes has to put uh your wife's head on the lieutenant dan on the ship with with tom hanks like battling the downstairs basement the treacherous weather down there yeah and then and then you can put my head on forest when he just dives in when he hears his mom isn't doing well at home and all of a sudden i i could do some laps in the basement actually so um no but but as i mentioned just quickly that i'm coming off a gold medal it's been an amazing week to be a usa hockey fan an alum of usa hockey an alum of the world junior team did i ever do anything in the tournament nope but all these kids nowadays they're coming

up they're getting better we'll get into it and i'm excited to talk that and the NHL. William Nylander, stories galore. It's midseason, but it feels like it's buzzing right now. Sometimes you get the quiet weeks. We're not in the midst of that right now. Not at all. The doldrums of the season. And actually, we were on our... I feel like that's like February.

No, no. Second week of January to second week of February. Anson Carter agrees. We were on our TNT call. And I agree. This is kind of like the quote-unquote doldrums but because this nhl season's been so excited we still have fucking headline stories coming out this this season's been bananas there's been no lulls as

far as storylines of concern and then of course willie gets his bag so yeah we're gonna get to that ra i want to know hey i want to get to the bottom and we were talking before we got on here g's talking about how he had four goals and 23 assists in his last year of playing high school no no no you asked me what like a stat line would be like i don't know well well you mentioned how you played against unreal players in midget and high school no no no no no no no no let me let me say the conversation and how it came up is Grinelli talked about playing against the cord potentially in high school and I'm like when the fuck were you sharing the ice with Joey the cord he said he played division two Massachusetts high school he's that's how he was like I came from the doldrums of Massachusetts high school

and I was like that's me the doldrum Mike. I sucked at hockey. Okay, time out. So you said that. You chimed in. So Witt started, you know, Crime Dog McGruff over here trying to Google your stat lines. And there's nothing. There's nothing on Hockey TV.

Well, his brother's on Elite Prospects. But Grinelli says until you play junior, you can't get on Elite Prospects. So once you play like a higher level, you can get on. I don't know the rules. So then I dug a little deeper and I found out of the Burlington.

I guess it's the season preview. Come on. This could be like R.A. lying about playing high school basketball type. I didn't lie. I didn't. I don't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie.

I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I didn't lie. I did a lot. Did we get a yearbook photo, R.A.? Unfortunately, I did not get a yearbook. There's no evidence.

For a guy who sends us pictures of old R.A. Exactly. Once a week, we get an old picture of R.A. We got a picture today of R.A. with four absolute missiles. R.A. has hair on, a tan. And a tan. I mean, you were thinning out a little bit on top at that point, but you had hair and you looked fucking great.

It was like an ad for not doing hard drugs. No offense, R.A., you looked phenomenal, but in the end, that picture blew me away. I sent it to a couple of my buddies. I go, look at R.A., boys. You were an absolute stallion. We got to post it. R.A., if we got you Raya and got you on the app

and you put that as your cover photo, you might still be tapping like missile launcher 30 year olds. That's how good this photo is. I know it was taken on a Polaroid, but if you take a screenshot of the Polaroid, I think you're going to be doing good on Raya. But he has so many pictures

of himself as a youngster, but then he doesn't have a yearbook. It's like this guy's the picture guy. Something doesn't add up here. That's what I'm saying. We got fucked on a yearbook. It was the last year guy's the picture guy. Something doesn't add up here. That's what I'm saying. We got fucked on a yearbook. It was the last year my high school was open. They actually gave us a refund years later. They supposedly lost it. I had classic old pictures when I was

a little kid. They lost the whole fucking package supposedly. So I'm still bitter that I do not have a high school yearbook at all. Just so happens the year was hitting three-pointers and jump shots. No, you gotta listen to TV. I was JV. I didn't play senior year becauseinters and jump shots. No, no, no. You got to listen to the team. I was JV. I didn't play senior year because I got puppy loved.

I was all, I started dating a girl. I was like, oh, I ain't playing basketball. And then she started playing girls basketball, and I went to the coach. I was like, oh, can I play? He's like, nope, should have been here for tryouts. Any former teammates on that team we could get on the podcast? Did you hear what he just said? No, I stopped listening. You quit basketball your senior year for a girl, and then she went and played basketball?

No, I didn't go to tryouts. This guy was lovey-dovey, man. This is the actual love and basketball story. They stole the concept from R.A. Except I'm white and I can't play basketball. No, I know. They had to change it, obviously, to sell it. No, I didn't quit.

I tryouts hadn't started. I started dating her. I was senior in high school. Googly-eyed. Fucking loved, you know, like a fucking cartoon character. I loved the hearts in the eyes. And then so I didn't go to tryouts. And then when the girls' tryouts came, she started to play. And I tried to get back on the hoop team then.

And they're like, nope, man. Tryouts were two weeks ago. Should have been here. So they missed out. So he was a bookie for all their games. It all worked out. We're going to cut that. No, that didn't come to college.

Although I did get caught. I did get caught. Sorry, Biz. I did get caught giving out football cards in high school. I didn't get suspended. What do you mean football cards? Like to take the games? To bet the games? Yeah. Do you ever see them like the little white cards way before the internet? You would circle four teams.

You put like a $10 pot. You know, $10 now you'd win like $100. Yeah, I mean, I think because I went to high school. Oh, I got a good10 pot, $10.90 with like $100. Yeah, I mean, I think because it was a high school. Oh, I got a good story about Gabriel. Wait, wait, I was going to ask. Were you aware that R.A.'s voicemail used to be his picks where you would call R.A. on his voicemail? It would give you the daily's picks, so he would change his daily voicemail every day,

and that's where the people that he was being a bookie for would call in to get the lines, right, R.A.? Oh, and then their message after hearing the lines would be who they want? Not picks. Yeah, for informational purposes only, I would leave a voicemail with that Sunday's lines, and people for amusement only would maybe leave who their picks were later, and we would keep tab of it and cash out at the end of the year or cash in.

But, yeah, it was, again, way before the internet. I'd be like, hey, it's Brian not here right now. I'm Mr. Black, if you're wondering. New England 6 with a 42, Seattle 3. And then they would leave a voicemail and, yeah, you know, see how it would go at the end of the week. You're ahead of the times, all right. But my football pick, I'm glad this just came up because I forgot. I have a buddy who was in a really big survivor pool.

So it ended up down to about, there was seven guys left. And the last three weeks of the season, you had to pick two winners each week, right? So you had the first 14 weeks, you got to pick a winner. And then you got to pick six winners the last three weeks. Like basically impossible to do. I mean, there's 350 grand in this pool. Oh my God.

Okay, so there's seven guys left. So going into the last week, the guy who's running the pool, he sends out an email to the seven guys. Listen, this is what we can do. Apparently, the site was kind of hard to work with, and it was all legally put in nowadays. This is going to be good. This is going to be good.

So he says, this is what we could do. Every guy right now, and we need everyone to vote the same. What is the word I'm looking for, R.A.? Consensus. No.? Consensus. No. Consensus. We are such jokes. When everyone has to pick.

Like the juror. Like the juror. Yeah. He has to vote a ballot? No. Like everyone has to. If one person doesn't do it. Unanimous.

Unanimous. We are pathetic. We are pathetic. I did play high school hockey. I did play high school hockey. I did play high school hockey. I swear. I can't even think of the word you're hearing. So back to the story.

Yeah, back to the story. So seven people. It has to be unanimous. Now, the one option is everyone votes that everyone's going to get $10,000 no matter what. And then the next, whatever, $290,, the winner can get or the winners will split. And if you lose, if you don't have two winners, you're guaranteed 10 grand. It's a $100 pool. But you can't, can that point forward?

Can you continue to split if a few more people get eliminated? Well, no, because like you weren't allowed to find out who anyone else was. He wouldn't give you names. He wouldn't give you emails. So he's running it. So it's 10 grand for everyone guaranteed and still the ability to win 290. I it's just no it's a no no brainer no brainer no brainer one guy no one guy said no okay and apparently like my buddy reached out he's like hey listen can you ask this guy again like this is just ridiculous and he's like no this guy's hedged everything out there's

no way that he'll make a deal. Like just such a brain dead, dumb dickhead move. So, um, my buddy ends up picking two winners along with five other people. Two people got knocked out. One of them was the asshole. He ended up hedged.

I'm sure he ended up hedging a way to win something, but that's karma right there. Now the person who's most furious is the other guy who wanted to take the deal that that that so he got i i would i would want to kill that dude if i was the one guy who didn't pick two winners so my buddy with a huge dub i think the five winners ended up getting about right around 60 grand each something like that um so an amazing weekend for him okay so after that the five guys decided to hedge five guys no because all five picked two winners so they had to split okay so in the end there were five winners okay okay okay sorry totally different subject but another funny thing that happened this weekend brian yandel uh there

was a big uh kind of fundraiser for his son liam's teams going to the quebec peewee tournament the 2011 boston junior terriers so they had a fundraiser. We went over to Florian Hall in Dorchester and big Kevin Hayes was there. Kevin's dad, greatest guy in the world. Now he's a big guy. I said, big Kevin Hayes. He looks great now. He's lost a lot of weight, but still a big dude. And we're just shooting the shit. I said, oh, how was the dad's trip in St. Louis? Said it was a blast. He said, we had an absolute great time. Fucking Kevin. Want to know what fucking kevin did to me apparently they went around to the guys beforehand and said hey we're ordering

all this merch and jerseys and shirts for the dads what size is your dad kevin he goes medium so he shows up and all this shit he's like you motherfucker kevin's like i didn't do it i didn't do it he's like he's he's denying it to his dad but his dad says it was him so i don't know what went on there but it sounded like the dads in st louis had a bunch of beauties there and had a great old turning point tsn turning point for the season possibly possible okay yeah they chewed out when the other day bizzack you do anything exciting over the weekend or just relax? No. Hey, well, before we come to me, we got to go back to G. So who do you think can bring proof of either high school hockey or- Oh, he played. He played.

I know he played. I do know he played. Like what? Thank you. Like the JV or the big boy team? No, he played varsity for Burlington High. I do know that. And is Burlington High not a good program?

Okay, so I asked you earlier, what would your stat line look like your senior year and you said four goals and 23 assists yeah that's a pretty good stat line i know is there documentation of this i want to know if this fucking kid was snapping around tape to tape like he says he was i think he just a little salt and pepper with the four and 23 for 27. I think it was probably like two and 14 for six. I would agree. I would definitely agree with you there, Wes. All right. Definitely. And like I said, I was a mediocre high school hockey player.

I wasn't the top pairing defenseman. I was a middle pairing guy. I never said I was a good hockey player. I said I played against good hockey players. Correct. Correct. I wouldn't mind a senior year program. If you got one late in the season,

I'd just love to peak the stat line. I definitely have a senior year program lying around. Were you on the best program like four minutes a game? Or were you... I don't think Mass High School Hockey... I'm thinking he was getting eight minutes a game. Eight to ten. Second best roundup.

Yeah, I'd say around there. I don't think Mass High School Hockey was keeping track of time on ice back in 2010, 2011. Well, you can't count. Now, you were one of the kids that was smoking weed before practice. You were one of those kids, right? No, I actually didn't smoke weed in high school. That's good to hear.

Yeah, I was a drinker. I took hockey pretty seriously. I didn't. It was on meth. Yeah, I took it pretty serious. All right, you hear that? He took high school off. How do you feel?

But I was a fucking great student. Fucking one through 12, I was a real good student. I didn't say that. Well, I was saying he let his brain develop. Were you smoking dope in high school? Very little. Yeah, I didn't become a regular stoner up until college. I sporadically did in high school.

Okay, so you let your brain develop too. Well, that's good. That's good. That's positive stuff for the pot. First month, I was 12. Okay, so, G, what were you saying? I'll tell you what. While I have you guys here, I will say I will be at Penn State this weekend

filming a Chicklets University episode playing against Michigan State. So very excited to go check out the Pagoula, Hockey Valley. You're going to see the Iceman, dude, from Michigan State. Exactly.'re gonna see the ice man dude from michigan state exactly gonna see the ice man isaac howard baby with the world junior team when you say pagula the same ones as buffalo sabers yeah that's correct so they purchased the uh they paid for the rink down at uh oh my god these guys are rich rich eh oh yeah they own an nfl and nhl team they're pretty rich oh they own the fucking Bills now too? Oh, fuck.

I totally forgot that or didn't know that. God, Merle's just probably fucking losing his mind right now that I don't know that. Sorry, Merle. No, he still has the Swedish stiletto heel up his hoop as he's doing dishes after his bender in Gothenburg. He was posting videos to the chat about the representation of Bills Mafia in Miami and Fort Lauderdale at that elbow room place that we went to. So did they just pull off a big win?

Huge win. They won the AFC East on Sunday night against the Fraud Dolphins. That game was for the AFC East. So instead of, I think, the Dolphins hosting a playoff game as the two seed, they're now going to Kansas City playing Saturday night, and the Bills get to host the Steelers who stink and they're like minus 10. So that was

a huge game. And then when the Bills got home around like 2 in the morning there's 3,000 Buffalo lunatics in two degree weather waiting for the team outside the plane. So you know the Bills mafia. They show support no matter what. As far as my weekend RA, what were you going to say?

No, no, go ahead. After you. Oh, no. Meditation, went on a hike. No, I got sick, man. I got fucking speed bagged. End of Cabo, I got the stomach bug and then went into the fucking pneumonia dunk tank with Marshawn Lynch out in Seattle.

Immune system low. I got kicked in the dick. And then like, so we had to do that broadcast on the Monday and I did the dunk tank the day before. And even the day before we ended up doing something with Yans and BR and then flew cross country. The planes can't be good for, for a low immune system. And then we had the broadcast on Wednesday. Thank God it was, it was only the early game and we didn't do a late game. After that, I kind of speed bagged. Boys, I've been doing these Thai massages like crazy

lately. When they walk on you? If you looked at my credit card, you would seriously think that I'm addicted to tugs. I don't know if this place is an undercover tug place. I don't think it is. I think it's legitimate. I definitely thought it was legitimate until two massages ago where i think that like the lady she was like 50 she was her she was getting lazy

hands like like you know like bumping into it quite a bit did i do that you weren't leaning into it no no i don't do that i don't do the but these every time i've gone there i've never had a repeat lady and every time it's been 10 out of 10 these fucking they hold on to the top to the walk on you oh then they walk on you they fucking get their toes into your what i find gets tight oh buddy oh buddy right in rex ryan is somewhere listening to this just no no no not in a gross gross way but i mean they can apply more pressure than they would be with any other like with their arm their forearm or whatever so they're just beating the wheels off your posterior chain so i love it and from traveling you're always curled up in a ball so i went three three days in a row i went uh i went uh friday saturday sunday three

days in a row is that that aggressive? Two hours each? No. What do they knuckle you each time? Clutch. Oh, they knuckle them all right. That's why I specifically clutched. With tip, I think it's like 225. Wow, that's a lot.

Is that a lot? I don't know. That's like 75 for three days. That's like my new thing. If you say, what do you what do you explore john now every i've done it like the last three four times i've been home where i go at least for two time massages when i get like a four-day gap i i don't know if like if you're on a first date and she's like what are your hobbies i don't think you lead with time massages that that probably won't go

over well i know i felt like i had to open up to somebody about it and i figured i just talked to you guys about it where i'm like hey like you know three times the old three and three like the american league so that's kind of been all i've been doing lately is getting time massages and chilling when i can and then other than then getting sick it was a good holiday so like if you were to find out that this place was a Robert Kraft Asian day spa type place. That's what I'm worried about. And they weren't offering this to you? Would you take offense?

No, no. I would just be worried about that fucking door caving in. Everybody on the ground. Oh, my God. I would just go in the bathroom. It's an absolute. Imagine you on the news. Bob is in it.

Busted a North Scot sale. Maybe. With Kim G. Lung walking on his cornhole. Hey, what if Kraft was going to one and didn't know and he just was victim of circumstance? Like maybe that's when you're getting a blowjob in a massage parlor that's called the Asian day spa. You know what it is.

Oh, he got he like, when they kicked down the door, he was getting a rinse? There was video in that one. Oh, no shit. It had been a sting for such a long time. The police had had a video Every time I look in the corner, like, there's surveillance, and I'm like, I'm innocent. My hands are by my side.

You had some southern sheriff who just wanted a fucking pelt on his wall wall That's all about that No shit, he got the video bomb Is that video going to come out? Like the Like the Kraft walk I mean the Belichick walk of shame one

Yeah Probably the bottom of Boston Harbor right now I would say I actually got mistaken For Merle's the other night I was pretty good shot for the eagle, I'll tell you that. After the Bruins game, I was waiting for my cousin Kirk, and a dude walked by staring at me. He's like, are you Merle's?

And I was like, no, but I'll fucking take it. Merle's a fucking handsome fella. But I told him afterwards who I was, actually. But yeah, with the Bees game the other night, man. And what was his reaction? Was he let down? He's like, oh, no. He's like, oh.

I goes, it's Ari. He's like, oh, yeah. Nice to meet you, pal I goes, it's Ari. He's like, oh, yeah. Nice to meet you, pal. I was like, yeah. Oh, OK. He called a lot worse than fucking Merle's over the years. I'll tell you that. No, he's a handsome bastard.

Oh, I'd love to be mistaken for Merle's. I get Michael Rappaport and other horrible looking people constantly. So Merle's would be a hell of a compliment. Well, that's among a great thing about the addition of Merle's. And also the work he put in in uh in gothenburg during the world juniors like just being able to have an extension of chicklets like go there and you know muck it up with the fans and and and some of the family members too he was hanging out with will smith's dad who i think we met at the draft so

murrells is the man murrells has a vlog vlog episode of Chicklets TV coming out next week, too. It'll be out the 17th of January. And we're dropping one this week with the Seattle trip? Yep, that'll come out Thursday at 6 p.m. this week. Yeah, you can watch me get pneumonia in real time. A lot of good stuff with you and Marshawn Lynch, though, Biz. It was a hilarious conversation. He's a beauty. He's a beauty.

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But tell them you want to try Pink Whitney. Give it a chance. You won't regret it. New Amsterdam's own Pink Whitney vodka. Yeah, boys, I already mentioned we got Will Smith from the U.S. World Junior Team that just won gold. We also have Seattle goalie Joey Decord.

A couple of mass holes on. Great interviews, though, coming to you. But there's the big news. Your boy Willie Styles got paid. Looks like the rumor boys might have been on to something. William Neyland has indeed been extended an eight-year, $92 million deal. Comes out to $11.5 million a year. Also has a full no-move clause.

He has a modified no-trade clause for the rest of this season. A lot of folks don't seem to think the Leafs are going to be able to keep these four forwards. So Nyland is going to be signed through 2032 with this next deal. Matthews will be signed through 2028. Tavares only has one more left at $11 million. Marner's got one more year left at $10.9 million. Can they do this business? Can they keep these four guys?

This season, $40.5 million contracts. Next season, it's got to go up to $46.6. Is it doable without losing any of these four? No. So, I mean, there's a lot of things to dive into here okay so if you're if you're starting with that one no there's one more year with taveras on the books and i actually think that next year with all these contracts is could be a potential down year but then you get jt off the books and my feeling on him is like hey man you were you

were overpaid more so than anyone if you came here to get the job done if he's still you know at his age being productive as a third line centerman i think if you can bring him back for like fucking giordano took two years at 850 come back and give a a bro contract when you were kind of the anchor on the salary front that's my opinion fucking kneelander's been doing way more at 6.9. And I know that the contract, like one was an unrestricted free agent. One was restricted.

I get all that, but I think that it was wise to sign him and keep them from a three headed monster perspective, because you're talking about three of the top 20 players in the world. You're talking about guys who can actually thrive and play in Toronto. Like, what are you going to do? Roll the dice that you bring in someone that good who can actually handle the heat of playing in Toronto.

And as far as him not taking a hometown deal, I think the hometown deal was probably there this summer at maybe eight times 11 a year. But if that wasn an offer to him and that's maybe what they wanted him taking then he's going to say oh so i'm going into a prove it year and he's six in the league and scoring like he's saying the poster knock deal he's like yeah that's the comp but he also signed that before we knew that the cap was going up 4.2 million well they knew it was going up right but i would say that that was the comp right everybody's talking about like the poster knock deal was the comp

where i think that you could say that that of right now maybe more people would say i would want poster knock on my team based on every everything else but based on like a production and play standpoint i would say they're they're they're dead even for this season and what they're doing this season being the key word yes i can't okay making less money than him is fucking bonkers and i agree and that's what i think is is silly and and where i'm like oh god dude couldn't you just have taken the poster knock deal like you know start even at 11 million like you know be that i still think that's like a good guy contract if you would have taken 11 million where people wouldn't have been like oh god why are you squeezing for that last nut right so that's why you're squeezing for that last nut but but having to play in toronto

and endure the media and everything that goes with it i completely understand why none of these guys take a discount and on top of that it's this like, let's put the fan base against the players. Bro, Austin, we should be getting into the conversation of franchise tags where one of these guys per team could make up to $25 million from the organization and it doesn't go against the cap. doesn't go against the cap. Austin Matthews is putting, I would say his value is about $75 million a year to the Toronto Maple Leafs brand. Think about the jump in franchise values and how many people pay attention and the merchandise sales. He's on pace to be the greatest goal scorer to ever live, right? Like if he stays healthy and he's as hungry as we think he is here think of what that does for like the New York Yankees of the NHL and he's like being the bad guy for making 13 million and then he's got to grind it out and not grind it out but I think

that these guys could pull in between four and five million in advertising so now he's making 18 million bucks to what the and I know we've kind of kind of gotten off the rails here but i think that what i want to commend uh brad tree living in them for not making a double error john taveras contract wasn't brad tree livings it's to me it's the anchor and now you got two 26 year olds and a 27 year in. Yes, are their cap hits this year and next year looking good? No. But if the cap keeps going or what they are, you got these three players that are top 20 in the league

that know what it's like to play in the market and aren't phased by it, which is a special thing in its own right. Then you got them locked up in their prime and the cap's high enough where you can go work around them. You don't have the JT contract that's that bad. Yeah, you got shit that you got to figure out. They got to figure out like consistent goaltending.

Do they got to solidify the defense in the bottom two lines? Yeah. Those are big things though. Yes, no, no, I get it. There's still work. But buddy having having three marquee players locked in for their primes isn't a bad problem to have that's a that's a problem that a lot of fucking teams would want to have and and if they go on to when did ov win his cup

30 years old 18 they're 30 years old They were saying the same shit about the Caps forever. But they didn't panic and deviate from the plan. But they didn't have four guys trying to get every single penny out of them. I'm not, but you're, this is fucking chess, not checkers. You can't all of a sudden move off one of these guys because you got Tavares for one more year after this year. You're looking beyond that. And then the Caps weigh more to playoff.

And then from a percentage standpoint, you're not getting dinged that bad from a Cap perspective. I agree with you guys. This year, I think you're in better shape than next year. It's kind of like the amnesty buyouts with the Minnesota Wild. Next year, you're getting fucking bent over because between those four contracts and Morgan Riley, you're talking like 60% of the cap. So you're like, Oh God. But then all of a sudden when John Tavares, 11 and a half comes off the books and then the cap goes up another four and a half. And this is assuming that you're going to get marner locked in at 12 million

bucks let's say he doesn't take any type of hometown discount you're probably looking at 12 and a half okay where it's like that's worst case scenario that's that can't happen he cannot make another million a year dude biz the problem the problem with all of this is that all these Stanley Cup champions, and it goes back to Crosby, and let's get into him later. It goes back to why, why do you need to take every nickel and dime? And as a former player, I can't believe what I'm saying because I want everyone to get paid. But there is no difference between signing for 84 million and 92 million which mind you the 11 and a half for eight years 92 million for nylander what number did his dad wear okay okay what did i say okay so fair wit so what's happened is what what i said earlier is they've tried to

peg us against the player for being bad for taking the money that's what the fucking problem is man these guys are think if you pulled all these other guys underground around the league they would be kissing these guys feet because they're they're raising the bar for them oh yeah so from a player to player standpoint they're like yeah you might not win anything and it's going to be a lot harder and there's gonna be a lot more pressure on your back because you boys have now taken away from maybe getting that better third line center who could have helped you in a time of need. Sure. But I don't, I can't blame these guys for taking what they're taking. And, and another thing too, is, is what are you going to do if you're fucking D ladder? They may just sweat it out by not maybe paying you.

Maybe he would have taken 11 million before the season started. And then when you put me through, you know, four months of stress in Toronto in front of this media and this market to be sixth in league scoring, nah, man, you're going to cover my fucking screaming Eagle and PJ money for the next eight years in the off season because you made me sweat it out and he's having a nice bottle of screaming eagle with his old man right now because he probably told him the same he's like fuck you man they made you sweat it out go get it and i i can't blame them for that because they're as long as they keep delivering nylander he outperformed the last contract and I would say you could probably say he's been of the three the most consistent and best player in playoffs at least he was last year and that's

not even taking anything away from Matthews I just thought that Nylander was better and and Matthews might have been a little banged up so I know we're kind of getting into the weeds and I completely agree with everyone I think everyone's saying that it can't be done. It would have to be unprecedented to pull it off. But to make a double error by not bringing Marner, Matthews, and Nylander, two of them being secured, because you got stuck with one more year of the JT deal, I think that's not seeing the forest through the trees and i and i commend uh tree living for getting it done and and securing a an absolute stallion in the market so that's it that's what i feel so tavara i mean tavaras is on pace for like you know 75 points say he does that next year not a bad idea to think that maybe they can get him on a three-year deal for four and a half

a year if he doesn't take some type of hometown discount to help them out, I think that's when I'm like, all right, man. Bro, you've made your money. You hit the top of the market. You're now in your hometown. You're the captain of the team. And you ain't going to be leading it. These horses that are Nylander, Marner, and Matthews, they're the horses. You can provide that leadership.

You can sit in your Muskoka fucking cabin every summer. You probably got 50 racks in the bank, and you got a nice place in maybe near Yorkville. I don't know. He's chilling. I think that that's where the discount has to come. Go ahead. No, I'm thinking like the Leafs are for sure in a tough spot here.

Were in a tough spot with Nylander. He had all the leverage. But if I'm sitting there, I'm like, why do you deserve more than David Poshinok? It wasn't like his deal was signed three years ago. It was last year, dude. And in the end, you're sitting around there and you're just wondering, as Tree Living probably did, like, why are you nickel and diming us for the very end of this to get to 11 and a half?

And in the end, it started when Tavares got his, and then Matthew got his, and then when nobody ends up taking a deal, this is what happens. And you look at this team, they're not winning the Stanley Cup. Like, let's be honest, Pace. They're D and goalie. They're not winning the stanley cup like let's be honest basically they're not winning i think chip in a chair you never know when a goalie can get hot we saw that last year i think they have the capabilities to come out of the east i think the east is very unpredictable do i open do i think that they have this magic formula that's like like battle tested in playoffs

no like would i take the winnipeg jets in the way that they kind of operate over what yeah it's more consistent like they play better team structure like if you lose one guy it's not taking a huge piece away yeah like i but i think that their their next year as i said could be a down year based on the severity and I wrote down the contract so the five guys right so I've kind of compared around the league and especially to the last two Stanley Cup champions I go back to Vegas and then Colorado and obviously their percentage of the cap to their top five guys being played like it's it's lower like right now it's a lot lower 54 million is where the leafs at uh 39.4 is where the vegas golden knights are at so that's a fucking big chunk of

dough right now now vegas has some guys that will have to end up being paid so this is just based on what you're seeing right now but then uh also like Colorado, I think they're at 43 million or just under 44. So 41% of the team's cap where I think that even going to next year, I think with the salaries that are still around, it would be like 48% or even close to 50% of the Leafs cap invested into five guys. But that also drops drastically as we keep mentioning once taveras comes out the books but then you got morgan riley at seven and a half matthews at 13.25 you got nylander 11.5 and then assuming that this is with um marner at 11

so if marner so if this summer they want to 10.9 he's at this summer they want to re-up Marner so if this summer they want to re-up Marner right yeah and they go to him and they say here's Nylander's deal sign it now you got another year of your your current deal sign this one are you telling me that that that you accept if he like that that he could be like no no I don't want it't want that. Oh, I think it would be shitty. I think it would be shitty. If he didn't take it. Yeah, because I think that a certain- So that's where I want to see- I think it becomes, I don't know.

Yeah, and that's another thing too here. It's like before you have to go into this kind of prove it year, it's like, hey man, this is a very healthy eight years. You're going to be signing bonus front loaded here, just like you know Nylander got and also like right now I think as it sits Marner's like 27th in scoring so if it finishes off where he's you know 20 points ahead on the scoring chart when you're like here's the same deal and he doesn't want to sign it yeah I think he's not being a great guy but okay

maybe in the end it's really hard being a former player and like judging anyone forgetting every single penny that you're worth but then like on the analyst side of it you just look at former stanley cup winning teams and you look at guys willing to take a little less and it all goes back to at the end of your career i don't think 10 to 20 million dollars makes that much of a difference neilander is going to make 150 million 145 million at the end of this you're telling me if you make 128 million you're like are you changing where you're going to dinner are you staying at cheaper hotels oh it's like it's like how how much do you want to win and then how much do you want to make every maximum dollar possible for you to make?

I agree with you. Now, that's a great question. I agree with you. And it's like, you see the Patrice Bergerons and the Brad Marchands and the guys from a cultural standpoint who have done it. Man, I commend those guys. That's why I said this franchise tag needs to happen, it's like I agree with you on that should be paying at for the last couple years Crosby as a franchise tag player 25 million as kind of this like buddy he we're talking about like remember when LeBron was making 50 million and he was

carrying the league he kind of still is he should be making 250 million based on what these franchise values and the people tuning in because of certain players the same goes for for mcdavid the same goes for matthews and then a handful of guys as far as who's caring at all and um what you said is very true in terms of like the way after the season was canceled and when the cap came in, what has happened is unfair to players in a sense that it makes them look like the bad guys. That's what I'm saying. We've been psychologically programmed for that to happen.

Where it's like the next CBA wit, if I'm Connor McDavid, Leon Dreisaitl, Austin Matthews, get the fucking dogs in there. Buddy, when Adam Silver, when he has like stuff he wants to talk about he'll like call lebron and consult that's from what i hear i might be completely speaking off cuff here but i'm pretty sure that goes down i feel like there should be a relationship like that between the the the commissioner and the top dog players and they commissioner works for the owners and i understand

but i understand but i think that we're at a place where players have done a good job sacrificing where there can be a smart give back here like a smart you have to and and and you also you want to keep those that's why the big dogs have to get together and they have to stand next to each other and yeah, maybe get a little vocal. And maybe it doesn't even need to get to that point based on the success and how the league is thriving. And especially if you want these Austin Matthews, McDavid and these other top dogs to maybe be a little bit more emotionally invested in the PR and the the office and showing more charisma we'll fucking pay him for it like maybe as part of that package is being the franchise tag it's like maybe there's a little bit more access to be had i don't know but i just i just don't picture like i'm with you i just don't picture the owners giving into anything and it's like billionaires end up winning these guys like they won't be they won't be back down and and in the end like they had such a win getting this cap and and getting everything done the way it happened whatever it is nine years how long ago

and guess what as a result as a result the league is. They set up a good foundation. And I think from as far as the pendulum swinging, I think that most players and people can see that it should be maybe time to swing it back just a little bit. Like escrow, no, I don't think we need escrow. You know what would be a nice legacy play for the owners? Maybe provide insurance for everybody who played. And what would the cost of that be claw that back a little bit maybe they do get this franchise tag but there's more there to to to give back especially to the players that are growing the game like there's a handful

of guys that are like they're doing some heavy lifting am i crazy crazy here? Am I speaking up? No, and one thing that Ari mentioned to us before the episode, and it's a great, I don't know how this is going to go down, and Marty Walsh just brought it up. Well, Vegas paid $500 million to get in the league. Seattle paid $650. What the hell is going to be the cost next? There will be two more teams, and I think we'll be the first pro league to 34 teams,

and I think each of those will go for a Billy. Is there any chance that the PA can get a little tiny sliver of that? And owners are going to say, no fucking chance. Take a hike. Kick rocks. But at some point, you would think, like, with where this league is going and how successful everything's been and the game's better than ever that you got to hook up these guys a little bit more.

And I'm not saying any of these guys should be crying poor. The only problem that really I look at is it has created this crazy division. And I remember years ago, I don't know if it was Mark Reckie or someone was, an old veteran was telling me it's just going to turn into the guys, the superstars make a ton.

And then there's the guys at the bottom not making a lot, not making a lot relative pro sports terms. And there's not much middle ground anymore, and that's what's happening. And that's why it's like in the perfect world, there'd be more guys in the middle, and that's what's disappearing. Yeah, I mean, sure. Do you know what I'm saying? No, I get you don't i don't know how to solve that problem i but i'm but i'm saying that connor mcdavid is the most powerful player in

hockey since wayne gretzky i think we can all agree on that what he does ah crosby okay but okay uh from in the way currently you mean because he's younger and Sid's like on the back nine yeah like you know I would I would say that Wayne Gretzky would admit at a certain he got to a certain age where he passed the torch over to Lemieux to kind of carry the league from that standpoint right no disrespect to Sid but I'm saying is if okay let's say Sid Matthews and McDavid got if they got together I think that their voice would be powerful enough where all the things that you're talking about and, and clawing back.

I think that, that because of, I think at the time when like Wayne was involved, like it was easier for them to get stuff right. Because he had that much impact. Am I crazy talking here? No, I think the players are getting more leverage than they ever had at the same time. Because he had that much impact. Am I crazy talking here? No. No.

Because I think the players are getting more leverage than they ever had. At the same time, the owners have been bullying them for 100 years in this league. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, and that's not going to change. That's kind of what I'm saying. When will that all of a sudden change course? Because I think that it's becoming so lucrative that the move that they can make next will seem so astronomical to the players when in reality,

we're going to be looking back in 10 years and the franchise values might be worth twice the amount. Like they have to, they have to at some point understand that this is being done off the backs of Conor McDavid, Austin Matthews,

and Sidney Crosby. Think about this one. Think about Ovechkin. And I know he's being paid handsomely and has been in the past, but let's say he doesn't break the goal record under this circumstance. And the new CBA is written where you can get a franchise tag. Do you know how much organizations would be willing to pay to him wear the jersey in which he breaks the most goals ever scored why should he be

able to be compensated for that like that that is such a fucking huge moment for our game think of the value the regina pats and i know they ended up making playoffs but going back to the whl last year he didn't trade conor bedard he could have fucking got remember we had the guy who told the story about the bus he could have got 20 deal in the whl it's like he could have fucking got, remember we had the guy who told the story about the bus? He could have got 20 first. Did you see the Savoy deal in the WHL? It's like 20 draft picks. He could have asked for the fucking next five years draft picks and the team bus

and to crush the fucking owner's old lady and they would have got it. Like that's how much value that he, I know you, am I being too much? Is that too much out of pocket there, Whit? Sorry, boy. I mean, it was Conor Bedard.

It was Conor Bedard. He had six points a game. That's what i'm saying okay maybe we should okay i get it um but the value that he had being drafted first overall as a regina pat that was valuable to his organization and forever you know if he ends up being a crosby they'll oh the ramuski Oceanic. There's brand value there. And that's kind of what I guess. All right, what do you got? What do you got, R.A.?

Wait, I think it'll change when the union has everyone unanimous, the word we tried to come up with earlier. Does that ever happen in any union, R.A.? No, very seldom. But I think if you have over 90%, I think sometimes historically there's been too much division within the NHLPA, you know, because some guys want to make their money now. Other guys don't want to sacrifice for people further down the line

because they might not be making a lot of dough uh you know this current CBA expires uh in September 26. Marty Walsh did say we're gonna ask for these fees I think the owners are gonna laugh in their face because why you know they think that's their money but why should it just be their money when it's all about the players too that that's what I don't really understand, why they get all of those fees. It doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, and we're talking, and I'm in a sense chirping players about what's the difference

at the end of your career if you make $110,000 or $130,000. Times that by $400,000 with these guys. Yeah, the owner's fucking families are in generational wealth. They're the true greedy, greedy greediness. You're a a bootlegger no doubt about that i agree i but but as biz said and and alan walsh had a good tweet they they they this cap created a way where the players are the bad guys and that's been the discourse that's unfortunate to see is like

yeah these guys are getting paid a ton and if you want to win a cup i have an opinion that you take a little less but in the end if they take as much as they can get and fans are all over them it's like the owners won in that in that aspect because they ended up making them look like bad dudes when they really aren't and the owners are worth billions so i i think that ovi sid i forgot ovi out of this group of guys too when i was mentioning that you forgot the nate dog because they'll come in there no that's what I'm saying like I'm not there's a plenty of guys I said like 15 20 guys could get together and really kind of get ahead of this and make this their legacy play and and to you said oh the top guys just kind of the bar gets higher and then the the the lesser players kind of get left crumbs make make the league minimum where it's bumped up more so than than

it ever has been like i think right now man it's not bad if league minimums what like 9 50 a million bucks not bad when you're fucking flying around on private jets and shit like yeah i mean you know what i'm saying well the other the other part we didn't bring up is um if if you're playing in florida making nine nine and a half so like So like Matthew Kachuk will actually make more money per year net, making nine and a half than Nylander will make in 11 and a half in Ontario. So that's another aspect where teams in Massachusetts, California, New York, Ontario, like you got to pay more because guys can go down south and they can go to Vegas and they can go to Nashville.

Well, the Preds are a little different, but you can make more money with a way lower AAV in a non-tax state and you're not dealing with the fucking media to the Leafs point back to the Leafs like yeah one more year Tavares you got to get Marner signed I don't know what's going to happen there

but in terms of a Stanley Cup team they don't have it right now they don't have a defense that you win a Stanley Cup with and so as a Leafs fan you're all fired up that you got this core in there for the next five years till Matthews deal's done. But I want to see it. If I'm a Leafs fan, I want to see a well rounded, balanced team. And when you're paying this few guys this much money as a fan, you're like, I don't see how we're going to compete at the level of Vegas, at the level of Colorado. And that's what I think frustrating for some Leafs fans to compete at the level of Vegas, at the level of Colorado. And that's what's, I think, frustrating for some of these fans,

even though the sentiment I got was people were excited and fired up that the deal got done. Yeah. I think one more thing. Escrow should be a non-starter. If the owners even mention that, we're at the funeral. You should just walk out. That could be the reason for a lockout.

And I don't think there'll be one. But the escrow thing, enough. Yeah. And especially with what the players have dealt with since COVID. And the payback. And it's like, guys, can we get rid of the escrow? Fucking joke. Marty Walsh is going to, you know, it'll be a good test, right?

The guy's been a part of unions forever. Let's see how it all goes down. We're far we're far enough away but lewis gross ends up getting neil under those two those the possible year of the lockout when it ends isn't his signing bonus 10 million that year biz i i saw the contract but i think i think uh i think 60 something might be being paid in signing bonus yeah that's what other teams can't do that that the Leafs can. So that's the thing that owners can argue about.

I don't know if you've already said it, and I was tuned out. You said that Matthew Kachuk will net more than what William Nylander does. Nine and a half in Florida will net you more than 11 and a half in Ontario. Yeah. I mean, no tax versus whatever, 40%. But you know what, last thing? Talk about deserving it. Yes.

Right? The guy went out. Biz said it. He's balled out on a make-or-break season. So he's a rich, rich man. And let's see what the Leafs do in the playoffs. I think, and the last thing I'll say is I think they'll have a really nice three-year window after the Tavares deal is up.

And agreed with you on all fronts there's a lot of issues but it's never bad to have three fucking marquee superstars going into their prime locked in for an organization who can face the music of toronto like we saw bertuzzi come over with the success he had in boston it's it's not always so easy to play in a tough market right i'm not saying the book's out on him. Like, who knows? Maybe he has a great back half and he fucking lights it up. Great playoff, whatever.

Three guys who can play in a tough market. Let's go Leafs, baby. Woo-wee. Woo-woo. Maybe Mario will get a couple of his Savin Hill boys with a couple of leg breakers when they go to the table. That's what they got to do, man. I'm a little bit more optimistic than you guys about, I think.

I don't think there's going to be a lockout. No, I don't. I don't. I was just saying, like, he brought up the escrow. It's like, that's one thing. Yeah. You would like to see the players say, no, no changes there. No escrow.

All right, boys. Time to talk about the United States. Absolutely dummied Sweden on Friday, 6-2 for their sixth world junior title. Whit, this team is just getting better and better every year. Are they even with the Canadians right now, or do they need another tournament or so to be even? I'm talking about the young guys here. Are you talking about the

junior players or best on best? The junior guys, like this age level. I mean, after this tournament... With Bedard and Fantilli not there, obviously I think the higher-end talent and and the top end talent Canada has, and even best on best like McKinnon, McDavid, Crosby, Makar. Okay. But it is now as even as it's ever been.

And the thing about it that's so exciting for me and all USA hockey fans out there is I think 10 years from now, I think we're heads and shoulders above them. And my main reason for that is the entire population and the size of the United States. And never before has the entire country been used. And obviously still now, there's states that don't have big hockey programs or hockey programs at all. But growing up and before me, it was Minnesota, it was Massachusetts, it was Michigan, it was New York. That was pretty much it. There's 350 million people in the United States. We got Brindley growing up in Florida. We got Seamus Casey, Florida. We got Zeev Bouyem in California. All of a sudden now, and thanks to Wayne Gretzky

originally coming over, we talked about that in the Christmas episode. We got the Arizona Coyotes forming and all of a sudden, Austin Matthews is from Arizona. Now, all of a sudden, the country is getting players from everywhere. And the fact of the matter is it's only going to continue. It's only going to get stronger and it's only going to get bigger. So you're telling me in 10 years when there's more players, when you, I mean, look at this kid, Mason Lowry from Louisiana on the Bruins, all of a sudden states are producing players and it never happened before. And so just based on our population alone, like heads up where USA hockey is going, because it's gotten better. It's gotten bigger and stronger. The national program has been exactly what they thought it would be. And it took a long time, right? Like this is a 20-year thing.

Like 98 it happened. And all of a sudden now you're seeing these other states and these players. And before, the best athletes in America didn't play hockey. And granted, that will still never change because of price, I think. And football and basketball being easy to play and not nearly as as as expensive so they'll always be part of that but there are way more elite level athletes who 30 years ago never even would have considered hockey that now all of a sudden the florida panthers go on a run last year you're telling me there wasn't an eight-year-old kid that got into

it that wants to play hockey and his friends and him start playing and one of them turn into a stud so based on population alone it's not really a brag like we should be better than canada but it's finally coming to fruition where you're using the entire country usa hockey's done an incredible job with grassroots in all these different southern markets nhl teams going there's a big part of it so now usa hockey it's a wagon and it's not slowing down. This isn't like, oh, we've evened out here and we're going to continue like this. No, this is an upward trend. And Canada will always be great. And the best on best tournament will be incredible. We're going to be there. I don't care where it is. I don't care what it is. We're going to be there. I need to be there with my face painted red, white and blue. But the fact of the matter is we're getting players

from non-traditional hockey markets, and that will only continue to grow even more. So it's an amazing time to be a USA hockey fan. And it's an amazing thing to see because all these kids that would have played baseball, that would have played hoops, that just put the skates on, learned to skate, and loved the game, it's only going to help the US hockey program. And I just love it. And what an effort by those kids. I mean, they were the favorites, and they the game, it's only going to help the U.S. hockey program, and I just love it. And what an effort by those kids. I mean, they were the favorites, and they went in, and they dominated. The closest game they had was that Czech game.

And shout out Czech and Slovakia. Those two teams, they've done a hell of a job. The other countries as well. That was one of the takeaways from the Will Smith interview. Didn't he talk about, was it the Swiss? He talked about Norway. Or Norway, Norway. Yeah.

And just like how, how much these other countries are coming up to. And the, you know, it's, it's all about the access they're having and how the game's growing. Gee, you were going to step in and say something.

Yeah. I was just going to ask biz, like we kind of touch on a briefly in the Smith interview, but do you think Canada will start like a development program? Like the United States has, because that's, that's been so big for USA hockey. Yeah. So that's why it's great having these young kids talking about the program and you went through it as well just like how he was saying like you're you're basically going through

like a military setup where you're getting up every morning you're going to training and you're getting on the ice every day with the best players in the country. So it's not like maybe in junior in the OHL where, okay, I get, I get to go against our, our, our fifth or sixth defenseman here in the one-on-ones. It's like iron sharpening iron every day, pushing you in the gym, their obsession becomes your obsession. And you're around like-minded people chasing the NHL. And you're learning the fundamentals of not only just like the, the skill it, the weight training, but the mental toughness and grind of it. Like there's no, there's no escaping it. And Will Smith talked about how it was hard.

And Whit, I'm sure it was the same for you. The first like two, three months. I didn't go that first year. Okay. And I remember talking to all the guys. I went for just my senior year and they were like last year man and Will Smith goes into it it's just it's such it's so new and so

hard from what you've done that you're like holy shit and I think guys are homesick but it's a probably a grind and a half and he talks about it and I even use the example of when I went to North Bay as a 16 year old as a second round draft pick they were allowed two 16 year olds at that time I didn't talk to my parents for the full first

month that I was away because I'm like, Holy fuck. Like this is like, I felt like it was military. Now you're telling me these guys are dealing with that starting what at 16, 15, what age does that program start? It would be, um, you'd be turning 17, like throughout the season. Okay, around the same age. I never felt like quitting because I was so obsessed with it, but it's a lot to experience as a young man, but the fundamentals it sets from like,

even going into the summers, like I would never, I wouldn't miss training. Like I wasn't taking training off. I was going Monday to Friday and I was chucking weights and doing whatever I had to do for the full two and a half hours. Now, I'm sure that your first year, though, when it was still hard, like it was still an adjustment, right? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. But like he goes into the fact of the matter is now they're doing school online. Like it was a great feeling to be able to go to school out there. Now, I went from Fair Academy as 100 kids in my grade to Pioneer High, where I think there was 900 kids in my senior class at Pioneer High. So for me, it's just a culture shock. But you still get that six hours at school. You're meeting girls from Ann Arbor. It's just a little different. Now, these kids, talk about an eye-opening, tough start. You go out there, you go from high school, freshman, sophomore year, you're a junior, and you're no longer around any other students or normal kids in quotations. You're just with your teammates. You're just in the gym. You're on the ice twice a day. I'm sure the online school

system isn't exactly like Roxbury Latin, and that's a hell of a prep school around here in terms of schoolwork. But in the end, that's what makes you the player you become and and those are the sacrifices that you have to make and so at times it sucks but i think in 10 years a lot of these kids look back and they're like fuck thank god i did that look at what it turned me into absolutely so to go back to your question g like i would i think it would be good to have it the junior teams don't want it because they want that height and talent playing in their league it would ruin junior hockey it would ruin junior hockey but the the concept of of of the workouts and all that this thing is one thing but the practicing against the best in the ironing sharpening iron that's where i feel that the usa has the advantage

and why they might in the future start producing more and more and more top-tier talent. Like I think that that's something from an Olympic perspective, they could end up becoming more dominant than Canada for that reason. Now, not to be hyperbolic about it, like Canada did have, what, two or three guys who were eligible, like Conor Bedard could have been playing. I think they had more. Yeah.

So, you know, best on best. Let's not get carried away where it's just like this juggernaut and that Canada's not. That's why right now I'm saying even and even top end talent like we don't have a McDavid. I would say we have a McCarr and Quinn Hughes, even though I think McCarr, I think 32 GMs, if they have their choice between Quinn Hughes and McCarr taking McCarr. But Quinn Hughes is right there. But McDavid's another level. McKinnon's kind of another level.

But Jack Hughes, Austin Matthews, it's even. I'm saying in 10 years, 15 years, I don't think it will be, dude. And maybe it's 20 to 25 years. But it's sheer population alone. So it's not really talking shit. It's just a numbers game. Numbers game. And it's an amazing thing to see as a usa hockey alum love it but the tournament was so fantastic and shout out sweden

they hosted a great tournament and those guys got their revenge and will smith goes into this we appreciate him coming on but uh i love watching world juniors i hope that we're at the i don't know about next year but we definitely got to go to the one in Minnesota in two years. Yeah, it's going to go to Ottawa. I think it's been talked about a little bit. Army is the most aggressive guy in the group chat about it. The reffing. I don't think that's something that's going to change.

It's always going to be shitty. It might get worse. Yeah, just like because in terms of like calling the game soft, the IIHF isn't going to turn around. It would only continue to get even worse. We saw the worst penalty call of all time on that Swiss kid at the end of the game against Sweden in the semifinals. Oh, we haven't talked about the spear? He literally just tapped him with his stick. They first gave him a five-minute major for spearing and then still held on and gave him two minutes. Gave him a five-minute major for spearing and then still held on and gave him two minutes.

And luckily, Sweden didn't score on that. But it's upsetting to watch games controlled by refs. We talk about it at the NHL level. This is that on steroids, man. Yeah, it's bad. I was actually impressed. Rucker McGrody, another kid, he was born in Nebraska. He ran over a Swedish player in the gold medal game.

They didn't call it. It was a clean hit, but I was surprised that one didn't get called. He'll fit in great in Winnipeg. He'll be perfect there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they didn't screw up. Fucking A, the Jets, man. That call just, yeah, we'll get to them, shall we? That call just, it still changes the whole trajectory of the game.

You know, now you've got to kill a penalty. Your energy's a little bit lower. It's still a shitty call that screws the team ultimately. But we do got to tip our caps to the Czechs. Unbelievable. Down 5-2 late in the second. You know do got to tip our caps to the Czechs. Unbelievable. Down 5-2 late in the second. Losing by a goal with a minute and a half left. Come back to tie. Actually, they won at regulation 8-5. Scored the last six goals

of the game. Wildly impressive stuff. I just want to give them a little tribute. To beat Finland? To beat Finland in the bronze medal game, yeah. It is in Ottawa next year, like you said. It's going to be back in Minnesota area, the twin cities in 2026. The second time they had it there,

they were actually the first U S host way back in 1982. It's going to be the seventh time it's in the United States. Last time was Buffalo in 2018. So with that said, let's send it over to Will Smith, latest gold medal winner from the United States. All right. Before we go any further,

here's a few words from our friends at Labatt Blue Light. Whether you're at beer league or just watching some hockey with the boys, you can't find a better beer than a fresh Labatt Blue Light. Lots of things are better together in life. Hockey, food, golf. 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'm thinking back to september buffalo for the chicklets cup tons of labatt's flying all weekend everybody was having a grand old time it's thinking of bills mafia man they definitely consume their fish here blue lights up there

i can't not imagine how many they're going to have in the playoffs starting up. Football playoffs can't beat it. Tons of Labatt Blue Lights, no matter where you are. So remember, 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. You can find Labatt Blue Light at labattusa.com slash finder. All right, boys, take two. Now it's finally time to bring on our next guest. This forward from down the street a little ways

in Lexington, Massachusetts, is currently a freshman at Boston College and tied for second on the team in points. Back in June down Nashville, he was taken fourth overall by the San Jose Sharks. And last Friday in Sweden, he helped the U.S. win its sixth World Junior Championship. Thanks so much for joining us on the Spit and Chicklets podcast.

Will Smith, congratulations, brother. Still buzzing from the win or what? Yeah, it's been a crazy couple of days. It's kind of been blowing up, so it's pretty cool. How did the celebration go down after? I'm guessing the flight was the next day. The boys get to have a night in Gothenburg. I know you'd been there for so long, but how did it all go down that like i'm guessing the flight was the next day the boys get to have a night in gothenburg i know you'd been there for so long but how did it all go down that night right after yeah i mean so we had uh there was like a bunch of media and stuff after the games but guys

were like all right like short short answers let's go let's get out of here um and then they had to send out our bus uh our bus times just to make sure everyone uh knew what time in the morning they had to get out of there but um after that we just went make sure everyone uh knew what time in the morning they had to get out of there but um after that we just went to the hotel and then what time did you finally get off the bus and like to the hotel rooms that changed to get out get out and hit the town like a decent hour well we got back at like probably 11 30 12 to the hotel and all the parents were there and kind of hung out there for a bit and then we were told not to wear any usa stuff because i mean we were getting like dms and stuff like some people weren't happy

in sweden from the whole from the end of the game and stuff yeah wow so in that end of the game like threatening you but no it was no it's trying to leave your fucking hotel bitch it went smoke show want to meet up? Hey, I want to kill you. Smoke show, where are you going? Swedish guy, I'm going to stuff you into my locker. So I can imagine the DMs. Yeah, free table at Cafe Oprah if you show up.

I want you dead. At the end of the game, though, Lane Hudson got involved. What went down there? That was kind of them starting it a little bit, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like, I don't even know, because it's kind of just started with the little bit wasn't it yeah it was like i don't even know because it's kind of just started with the blue line there's a whistle and the next thing you know there's just the scruffle and then um i think snug rude two guys had snug roots and hudson got in there and he already got high stick so he's already leaking yeah and then

by the way didn't even call it yeah and then they review that but um so then he got in there and then i mean the kid was like had like five inches on him he's still what do you mean you don't know what started it ryan leonard was blowing kisses in the front row to the swedish players girlfriends that's what fucking got it all going that celebration you gotta accept that when you lose you gotta you gotta lose you gotta lose you get embarrassed you get embarrassed you're lost he's giving the blowing the kisses to the wives lounge for crying out loud yeah i mean that was unbelievable what brought him to do that were you boys cackling when you when you saw him give the kiss to the front row well we knew like at school whenever we go to an away away rink he's always like oh if i score i'm going to write the student section and like giving him something we knew if he scored he was gonna do something that's a common theme wait did you did you play with any

guys in college that did that no but leonard's from springfield dude land of frankie vetrano those western mass guys they'll do anything they're trash buckets they just run around with trying to kill people they get springfield tattooed on their quad like Vetrano. So I'm not surprised at all. I mean, Leonard's a dog out there. He's probably looking to piss people off constantly, fans or players. Yeah, I mean, half the time we're just like in the middle of the play and we just hear the crowd going nuts and guys like screaming.

And of course, it's him. He's like on the ground with someone like rolling around. Well, hey, Biz mentioned his under-18s, and that kind of goes back to yours. And I know you were playing up. You and Leonard were playing up. Are you an 0-5? Yeah.

So you were playing with the 0-4s. You guys got the call-up. But that 0-4 team, they lost to Sweden in the gold medal in under-18s. So you heard Gauthier and Hudson saying they stole it from us. Do you remember that game? How did that game go? It must have been heartbreaking for the guys who weren't able to come back the next year like you and Leonard.

Yeah, I mean, well, you said about the celebration. I mean, they scored an empty netter and they were right in front of our bench celebrating. So it's like those guys were pretty fired up after that game. Oh yeah, that was a, that was a big revenge game for the, especially for our old fours that were in Germany.

But that was a, that was, that feels like forever ago. I mean, we played, so I played Sweden and gold medal game three years in a row. So it's like, it used to be Canada growing up that I would watch.

It would always be us Canada or something like that. But now it's kind of switched to a Sweden. I'm a little naive to how the whole the program goes everything but of the team that was assembled this year with winning the gold medal were you familiar with every guy that was on the roster or when you're getting there from college are there certain guys that you've never like played with or even met i mean we knew probably 95 of them we had. I mean, we had three OHL guys. So, um, besides, I mean,

maybe two, but we met them in the summer. So it was like, um, we've met them before, but besides that, we knew everyone very well. So as soon as you got there,

do you feel like this group in particular, you guys gelled all right away, like not little clicks off. It was like more of a team every, everywhere you guys did and, and, and went. Definitely.

I think cause I mean, there was a bunch of program guys, but, I mean, even that we didn't, they weren't on the program, they were always with us. So it was like, it didn't really matter where, I mean, we had those three OHL guys, but they were with us no matter what. So it was kind of clicked as soon as we got there.

Who inside the locker room was maybe like the loudest guy, like maybe the most vocal leader, or on the other end, maybe like the loudest guy like maybe the the most vocal leader or or or the on the other end maybe like the clown of the team was there was there anyone that stuck out in terms of how loud they were in the room you always need it you always need a guy doing the man gina to get the boys going in the locker every time you need a jester biz that's why we had a chance at st louis the gestures yeah uh i mean obviously we have mcgrady, who was our captain. But, I mean, the guy that kind of stood up was Brindley. I mean, he hit an A.

But, I mean, he was so respected in the locker room that everyone listened to him. And, obviously, we had a team clown, and that was probably Zeeb Booyah. Okay, so I wanted to ask about him. He seems – I can picture that now, but an undrafted player. He'll be a high pick this year, I think. Super skilled, huh? And I was reading he grew up in California. His parents used to drive him like two hours to practice.

Like his whole story is interesting in terms of becoming an elite player. But what type of guy is he just always goofing around? Because his game is no joke, dude. He's walking the line like Lidstrom used to. Yeah, I know. So he kind of flew under the radar because he didn't get drafted. And obviously, he's going to be a high pick this year. Oh, he could have been drafted

last year? No, no, no. It was our draft year and he was the only guy on our team who had a late birth year. So, I mean, he doesn't come from a hockey family like that. I mean, his brother was drafted to the red wings. Um, and then you followed him to Denver.

They're there right now together, but I mean, off the ice, he's one of my best friends. We were roommates at NTDP, um, on the road. So we have just a funny bastard. I could tell by the smirk on your face that you probably can't repeat all these jokes that he's telling you. Stop it. Yeah. That's 300 stories. We can't get all these jokes that he's telling you stop hey yeah that's 300 stories we

can't get one of them that to me was the the most special thing that i got to take away from under 18 playing with not only special players that went on to be nhl stars but the fact that you would have never never met them otherwise and how funny you end up finding out some of these guys are so those bonds and friendships that i took away from those tournaments was was what i remember most other than the gold medal not a big deal um but uh so that so that was the guy for you to spend time with that that was the most enjoyable yeah i mean he's like i said we were roommates so we've been together for a while now but i mean that's what you just said was pretty true i mean there's some guys that you go to summer camp and you're like oh that kid is such a loser to play against and you you finally meet him and you're in the room together

and he's actually a beauty. What about this other guy, the guy who wore the belt buckle to the draft, the new Bugsy Malone? The Iceman. What is this guy's deal? He's a weapon, man. He is a weapon. He said to Emily Kaplan, I'm the best looking guy in the draft.

And I'm chirping Russians for changing their birth certificates to seem a little bit younger. This guy has to be 25 years old. There's no way he's world junior age. No, he's one of a kind. I mean, you saw the whole show he put on at the draft. So, I mean, he's pretty funny. And he gave himself that nickname, the Iceman.

So, that's kind of sticking now. I heard to a couple GMs that he said, if you don't pull me in the first round, then I'm going to bang your old lady. And that's why he ended up going. No, I'm serious. You hear about these stories of these GMs and these teams' meetings with the players? That was the rumor coming out of last year's draft. This guy was saying that type of shit.

So he's got some fucking big old cojones on him. He was 31st overall, so the Tampa guys are like, I got to take him. I'm not having my wife get stuffed by this kid. Well, business mentioned Russia. Do you happen to know any guys or are you friendly with any of the guys that would have been on the Russian team this year had they had one? I don't know any of them.

Competitively, if you might have played against any of them at all. At the draft, Mishkov was in the seat right in front of me and we didn't even I think we looked at each other once and that was about it once you went in front of him he's like motherfucker what kind of cologne was he wearing you had to have been able to smell it from where you were sitting

he showed up like a minute before I was starting and with his two I think security guards and they showed up sat down and that was it. So back to the draft and it goes into this U S team. Obviously you go forth Leonard that then gets picked by the caps. And, and the whole time you guys,

your boy, Gabe Perot, the other BC star freshman, your line, he's kind of dropping a little bit. And right when the Rangers took him, it's like Chris Drury, hockey IQ guy.

And you had mentioned to me in Nashville this kid's awesome it wasn't surprising to you to see him go first first round was it surprising to see that he wasn't picked a little sooner because he looks phenomenal yeah I mean for me definitely I mean I told teams on every interview in the combine like take this guy he's gonna be he's gonna be a stud so um be a stud. I think watching him slip there, it was a little weird. It was like, who's going to be the team to get lucky here? When the Rangers got up there, I knew they were going to take him. They're pretty lucky they got that. What would have been the reason teams were hesitant?

Is skating maybe not necessarily his strongest part of his game? What are teams even looking at after lighting it up? Didn't he break the record for points at NTDP? Yeah. He broke, I think a couple of different records there. I mean, I think he said that teams were just saying about it skating,

but yeah, I don't see it. They're overthinking it, dude. Yeah. Why? Maybe a little bit slower boots or bad boots. I think they just thought he was a choppy skater.

I think that's what he told me that some teams were saying, but I don't really see it being a problem. I will. Jumping back to the tournament, the Semis versus the Finns, you guys are down 2-0 after the first. What was the mood in the room? Any panic? Are you guys confident about what was going on?

We weren't panicking too much. I mean, obviously we knew Finland's like kind of come out and just try to be physical. And I mean, their two first goalers kind of big little bounces that just didn't work out. But second period, we were flying. And as soon as we got a couple of really good, great A's, then we kind of knew it was, we're going to take it over.

I'm interested in the coach, David Carl. Now I played with his brother, Matt. He won the Hobie Baker. He was an incredible player. And then from in the coach, David Carl. Now, I played with his brother, Matt. He wasn't a Hobie Baker. He was an incredible player. And then from what I know, David was playing and then he had some sort of health issue where he had to retire. He gets into coaching immediately. He's already got a national title. Great setup in Denver. I'd be shocked at some point if he's not an NHL head coach. But what's he like as a guy? Is he chirping guys? Is he getting on guys back? Has he let you play? As a coach, what was he like? He was? Is he chirping guys? Is he getting on guys' back? Does he let you play? Like, as a coach, what was he like? He was awesome.

I mean, like you said, he was – I've heard the story a couple times. He was a really good player, and then obviously something happened where he had to stop playing. So I think he kind of knows where we're coming from when he's on the bench. I mean, he was in our positions just not long ago. So he wasn't like he kind of let us go and let our let us play and keep the sticks in our hand but he would get us fired up before games too he's he's he's one of the best coaches I've had did you did you notice a difference

in the way that each country played and how different they played like from game to game were you guys being prepared for that and what to expect? Because you're not really usually playing against these teams, right? Like you just said, like you expected the Finns to be more physical. Like I wouldn't have expected that more maybe than some other countries. Yeah, I mean, every country, honestly, like Czech, we knew they were going to just sit back in the neutral zone and just clog everything up.

So we knew we had to kind of try to get it behind them. And then Finland were trying to be physical. And then Sweden obviously likes to have the puck the most they can. So they're just hinging it back and forth in the neutral zone. They're only going to wait until it's a perfect play. So I think every time for our pre-scout, we knew what they were going to do, what their tendencies are. So it actually does matter a lot of which country we're

playing well which country a country seemed like poised to make a big jump internationally in the next few years and we've seen germany and switzerland last few years any anyone maybe below them that looks like they're getting a lot better like actually norway was good this year i know they got relegated competing they they gave. They gave us a game there the first game. They were good. Just because of their skating and how they just all move? I think that and the fact that they were so fired up to play us. I mean, it was our first game too, and they came out flying. I think they have one kid who might go top 10 or something like that.

So he was pretty good too. That was the other question I was going to ask you. Of all the other teams, who was the best player that you saw on the ice and you're like, damn, that guy's going to have a hell of a career in the National League? I mean, obviously Celebrini is going to be pretty legit. But Sweden, I mean, Lekker Maki was pretty good

the whole tournament. And he had a big goal there at the end of the second period. But, I mean, his shot is ridiculous. Yeah, that's the guy Merles was talking about. But it's just saying he scores from anywhere, that Lekker Maki. I think the Sabres took him. The Sabres got all these smallish forwards. Like, they need some meat.

You brought up Merles. I don't think we've talked about the fact that Merle's ended up meeting up with your old man over there before the gold medal game, having a few pops. I shot Grinelli a text, and it was like, all the USA dads are hanging out at the hotel, so might as well give me his number. I'll give him my dad's number, and then they can go hang out and see what happens.

Careful what you ask for USA dad. Next thing you know, you're face down on the sidewalk and Merle's talking about his parlay. Checking to count empty. Yeah. Merle's is going to have to move into your place after spending that shift he did in Gothenburg. I think his old lady changed the locks to the house. Merle's is in pantyhose right now doing the dishes with a stiletto up his ass

dad's though because they're there for so long and they're just watching their kids represent the country it's probably so sick for them you must have seen there every morning as the trip went on they must have been getting out of bed a little slower and slower no or they just ripping it the whole time oh it was. Every morning we would check our phones and it would be like, we're just getting videos and like where they were. Like, where were you guys last night?

Yeah. It was crazy. They're like, oh, we're in Denmark tonight. We just hopped on a train. They got their track suits on. They're like, we told them we played for Team USA. They let us in. They're like, NHL dad's trip?

Fuck that. We're at the them we played for Team USA. They let us in. They're like, NHL dad's trip? Fuck that. We're at the World Juniors for four weeks. Oh, that's so good. Will, be honest. How much did you cringe when you heard Fresh Prince of Bel-Air song while mostly Witt singing it? How bad was that? I mean, you could see when they asked me to sing it on TV,

I was like, right now? Oh, yeah. You were disgusted. I was like, right now? Oh, yeah. You were disgusted. I was like, yeah. Are you talking about at the draft when he was walking up after you got picked? Oh, I thought that was pretty cool. Asking you to sing it. Asking you to sing it.

No, no. That could be a cringe moment. The singing part. That's what I was talking about. It's a lose-lose because even if you sing it, it's going viral. You were in a no-win there. Yeah. Hey, speaking of going viral, we've got to bring Grinelli on right now.

He did that locker room tour with you at BC, and that thing popped off. And we're getting coaches saying that they're having recruits commit because of these videos now. I mean, it's true. Growing up, we would true. I mean, growing up, we would always watch like with college hockey locker and whatever, but there was never anything like that was really in depth or really any like good videos.

So I think now that these videos are all going to be coming out, that kids are just going to be sitting at home watching these videos. And that's how I get the familiar, familiar with these schools. Which rank do you think we should go to next oh you're a big fan of playing at humane you thought that was pretty wild yeah you gotta you gotta go there for a game it's crazy so this is unbelievable you mentioned about leonard always kissing to the student section who's got the nastiest student section like are

they like are they throwing daggers at you guys they were they said whatever they wanted up there um they they said some absurd stuff to our goalie oh no i mean well it's main they don't have like teeth and shit oh yeah i mean my mom there was like condoms flying from the stands out there my mom was on the bottom it was like she said grab one will please like you used ones or just new ones i hope i hope there's new ones well i don't know i i never went to college all i heard is it's just like yeah just horny people just buzzing around just you never know student sections um conti forum where boston college plays like it's pretty big building and like at times maybe the atmosphere is a little empty.

But this year, it's been rocking. I remember seeing clips when you guys played Denver early in the year. And I was told, I don't know if you're sure, apparently they changed the rules this year where students can just go until it's full as opposed to needing tickets. But the atmosphere there has been nuts, huh? Yeah, they had to change the rules just for this year because of how many people are coming. Before well before we've like us the players get to the game we're walking

down the stairs the lines already started outside the rink um and they said it's never been like this before and denver was absurd that it was a full it was a blackout in the stands wait before warm-ups it was sold out really yeah it was it was crazy i mean we ended up losing but well apparently they also sell booze there now where bu was the only school biz that was selling beer and i think now like all the schools have changed bc included which just you're gonna get you're gonna get more people naturally if you can have a beer watch the game yeah oh yeah they started a bunch of stuff. I mean, before the year, they were like,

we want to start tailgating the hockey game. So they started – well, my mom wanted to get that going, and obviously all the parents would be able to meet up before the game. So they had tailgates under the football stadium to start the year. Jesus. How was that? Outside of hockey, how was your first semester of college? How did go it was i mean coming from the program so it's obviously online now so it's completely different from uh when whit was there when you guys were at school but um so it's we do school at the rink so now going to class it was a little bit a little bit different of making sure

you get there on time. So you don't have to go to any classrooms at all? No, you're saying that you didn't have to go. Now you're having to attend the classes? Yeah. Oh, wow. It's an adjustment. How much sleeping is going on in class? Because when I went to Davenport University,

and yes, that's a real university. I was playing in the OHL at the time, and I would get there within five minutes. I was sleeping the entire class. I couldn't stay awake. Some mornings are tougher than others to even get to class. Have you picked a major yet? Yeah, communications. Oh, yeah.

Sick. You're going to have a podcast in a couple of years. Yeah. Bingo, bingo. Hey, with the communications major, we mentioned parole earlier. That usually means you have to take a theater class i heard you and you took a theater class and you guys might have been in charge of like building the whole set nice oh they're in the crew it actually is pretty funny because i mean we're in we're going to school here and then um during the day we're at music

class and theater class and we're sitting there and we have a game the night that night and the whole school is going to be there so it's it's pretty funny when we're building a set for a play and then having to go play that night can you can you act oh no i so they had the list of the jobs and we were like we're not acting but we we had to build the set for the actors not at any point in that class did you have to do maybe like a little skit like a little improv gable had to get up there in front of the class one day but and i'd love a clip of that that has to be on video it was he was just okay okay all right all right maybe we could get you guys in like a future like a commercial that we do when you guys make the big time it's always fun i want to get more players in the mix showing off their personality

i think it'd be fun yeah we'd love that chipotle should give you guys a free commercial right they just gave you guys uh free burritos for a year right yeah they did so i my uh agent texted me on the bus after the game he's like i'm pretty sure chipotle's giving the whole team free burritos for year-end. Then everyone's like, no, you're lying. You're lying. They tweeted it out, and the boys went nuts. That's unreal. Doesn't include guac, though.

Guac is extra. Hey, you're a St. Patrick's baby, huh? I am. Got a big celebration every year for the fam? Yeah, it's a decent day to have your birthday on in Boston. Frigging right. So when you were growing up playing around here, you played for the Eagles program, right?

Yeah, I did. So Leonard, obviously being a Mascot, had you started playing against him when you guys were like eight years old, nine years old? Yeah, because we went to the Brick together when we were nine or ten. So that's when we kind of first started to, um,

like become friends. And then every summer we'd play together. Um, but we, he played for the Springfield rifle. So we were in different leagues. Okay. Um,

but we, we've been friends since like eight or nine. So when you were, when you were younger, how much summer hockey were you playing? I know we've talked about this a lot that you want to get kids off the skates, but it's changed so much. Were you one of those kids at 11 doing seven tournaments every summer?

I think we would stick to two or three during the summer, but we made sure we wanted to have some family time in the Cape or something like that. You don't want to overdo it. We all saw the video of you talking about parents taking their kids and being first-rounders. We thought that was hilarious. Yeah, until the booze comes.

Yeah, I was good until then. I want to go back to the classes. Have you had any weird interactions with students? Has anyone maybe sent over a note to you? I don't know. I mean, sometimes. Sometimes we'd be walking from class to class in the hallways and then a kid for his one other class would ask to interview the line we do an interview in between

classes with another student for his class okay that's kind of that's kind of silly he was blushing a little at the beginning because i think he's leaving out a certain some certain um females that might have reached out to these guys. Well, that's what I just mean. Like all of a sudden you go from being at class. I mean you're a known figure around the school. I would say that BC hockey is probably more prevalent than BC football. Am I speaking out of turn here?

By a mile. That's what I mean. So BC hockey is like the thing. So you must be just getting hounded in the halls here. hockey is like the thing so you must be just getting hounded in the halls here and we have a bunch of friends who help us out with with work or if we need to study groups or something like that so the fuck does that mean am i missing something we got like a security guard he's got like a tutor he's got a couple different you have a two ashley and jasmine and charity and Jasmine and Charity. You must be fighting up.

I'm out the way from your first beanpot, man. You must be jacked up. Are you going to beat on BU coming up? Let's go here. That's a whole other thing. Talking about students or their games, they had a release for the tickets and we were in class and everyone hounded us like, hey, can you help us?

Can you help us? And there was like 8,000 students waiting for the tickets. Really? We're going to have a sick crowd there for that first game. Well, what's cool is that you guys have a home-and-home with BU prior to the Beanpot first round. You must be so fired up for that first

BU-BC matchup. I don't know which night's at Conti and which night's at Aganis. Is it Friday at your guys' building? He's going to be playing against your team, Whit? Yes. He's going to be playing against your team. We should be a little friendly bet here. One and two in the nation, dude.

Going head to head. And then they got the first round of the Beanpot a week after that. So it should be a crazy eight days in that rivalry. That's going to be huge for the rankings. That's a big week. Yeah. A good friend of mine, Brendan Buckley, is your assistant coach. You must love playing

for him. Great dude, huh? Yeah, he's awesome. Hey, don't fucking ask him about me. Hey, was Bucks the one who taught you the laughing at the bar trick? Yes. We talked about that in Nashville. Yeah, we did. Well, the best part about Nashville, Hey, was Bucks the one who taught you the laughing at the bar trick? Yes. Yes.

We talked about that in Nashville. Yeah, we did. Well, the best part about Nashville, and I told it on the pod after, was that everyone from the National Development Program, they had like 14 kids drafted in the first and second round or whatever, and they're wearing their jerseys out at the bar. And then they all get booted because they realize they're 18. This is the only kid who wasn't in his jersey. He's like, I'm not getting myself in any trouble here.

I get chill right in this t-shirt. Duh, veteran. And that's when Buck called me and goes, get away from him. Yeah. I remember he shot me a text. He was like, get out of there. She was a bobble. And then I know your draft.

Was that your sister who caught a left when you were getting dapped up there? Yeah. My cousin. Oh, no. He caught her when when you were getting dapped up there? Yeah, my cousin. Oh, no. He, like, caught her when he was going for, I think he was hugging me. And then, like, when Leonard got picked, he clipped his girlfriend in the face, too, with his elbow. Keep an eye on this guy.

Back to back, right? You know what? Jesus. She took a while. She kind of laughed it off a little bit there. Yeah. He's got to play it off on TV. I just wanted to go back to the development program. Yeah. She took a while. She kind of laughed it off a little bit there. Yeah. He's got to play it off on TV.

I just, I just wanted to go back to the development program and like, like I know they probably don't have to sell it on most kids who end up getting invited. Cause everyone wants to go there, but like, what did it do to accelerate your development? Like how easy has that program made it for you to have success? I mean,

you like 17 year was brutal i mean the first couple months get me out of this place because we were we would just go to youngstown and lose 10 to 1 i mean you couldn't it was just it was awful i mean the workouts everything so everyone says you get through those first couple months and then we i think we had one of the worst records in program history for a 17s team and then 18s year it just flips around it's like it's ridiculous and it's everything's slower i mean we went from the worst team to one of the i mean we had i think nine losses total last year so i mean the workouts and all that it just i mean you're at the rink for eight hours a day so it just it just instills that work ethic in you

that you probably wouldn't have been able to naturally get over that hump on your own to force yourself to get up at the 6 a.m., go to work out, get the schoolwork done, go skate, second workout in the afternoon, that type of shit, like basically army style. Yeah, I mean, it was army style. I mean, it was also, I mean, you're waking up

and it's eight in the morning, you have practice and there's five first round picks right there and you have to go against some of the best D in the country. So it's like, there's no day where you get to go against someone at practice who's like, all right, I'm going to go right around this guy. It's every day. There's all the big dogs in the locker room.

There's all, everyone's going at it because everyone wants to go at each other. So it's like, that's what really got good is the practices because everyone was so good. That's that right there. Wit is why I agree with you. And I feel that, that USA has figured out a formula to develop its best talent. And I know that in Canada they had the CHL, but like you just talked about, the teams

are so watered down because there's so many of them where you are getting easy reps in practice. Iron sharpens iron. And that's why I think that the USA program has it figured out. And I wish that Canada could develop that sort of program or at least do it at a certain age to prepare these kids for that type of mindset. That's great to hear, man. I appreciate you opening up about that. So you played at St. Seb's right saint sebastian's yeah so for freshman and sophomore year i i imagine even as a freshman or eighth grade like your your dream was to be at the at the national program right so you're just waiting to maybe hear your name involved with

the other best players or was it kind of evident even as a freshman that in in two years i'm i'm probably going to be there or were you a late bloomer? Do you know what I'm asking? Yeah. I mean, yes and no. I think because growing up, I mean, prep school hockey was like the biggest thing of – You go to those games and you're like, oh, my God, I want to be out there so bad. So I think when I was at St. Seb's playing, it was more kind of enjoying it. And then, I mean, we knew that the next year was our development tryout year. So it was like obviously you want to go there, but's tough leaving all your uh best buddies behind yeah i heard you're a

morgan wallen guy last night i let the liquor talk that's a fucking banger i can't remember anything we should get good we should eat it all i love i went to the fenway show. Did you go to one of those? Yeah, I was there Friday night. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, we were there same night, actually. It was a great show, Biz. This guy, he's good. I actually think his music's even better on the radio, right?

Where, like, it's, I guess, when you get the auto-tune involved, it's probably a little better. But live, he still had a good performance. I feel like country music's made a resurgence with all these guys. Are you any other country artist fan, or is Wallen your guy? I used to hate country music, and then this year I just started loving it. So, I mean, I like John Party a lot. He has some great songs.

I don't know who that is. I'm going to have to listen to him after. I think country's coming back the way it is, and it's the same reason taylor swift's so big there's nothing else like i put on the top 50 us it's fucking horrible dude yeah it's bad there's no good music so if you get some real good singers in country and then taylor swift's a different beast but there's no other options now the music's like are you listening to this little oozy Vert shit that I see?

You asking Willie? No, I'm not into that. It's trash. No, yeah. After every game, it's no rap or any of that. It's country music. It's chill. It's nothing too much. Who had the aux cord for USA?

Brinley. Wow. That's a too much. Who had the aux cord for USA? Brinley. Wow. That's a big job. He should have got player of the tournament. That's the mix like. He brought the Michigan music to our team. Oh, okay. Grinnell always talks about this big booty mix.

Is that what's going on pregame, or does he actually shuffle up his own? Why are you laughing? Are you a big booty mix mix guy i mean sometimes it's uh that's his two sounds soundcloud uh sometimes but here and there what else what else other than morgan wall i know we're digging deep on the music what about uh what about tate mccray heard your uh she's got hockey hey she's got hockey affiliation hey didn't i heard a hockey player cheated on her and then she got back by doing the hockey album she got the pads on wrong and shit trolling them yeah i didn't know that full story and then they kind of she's been blown up um you ever send her a DM or anything?

No, you can't be cut. I might have. No. You're cutting other hockey players' grass after that? No, he fucked it up, basically. All right, let's bring it to you. You're the Wiley veteran. Is that fair game? I also didn't know the full story.

I didn't know the full story. Okay. Why are we talking about Betty Boop right now? Some 70s stuff. Betty Grable, the games on her. Yeah, yeah. Oh, no. Marilyn Monroe. R.A. probably went to her fucking wedding.

Her first wedding. The original make it move, girl. Come on, bitch. Show some respect. That's Marilyn Monroe. She was the original tug. That was your first ever tug? She was the first one on Playboy. First one on a Playboy cover, yeah. Do you know that R.A. used to get... I thought it was the girl on the poster of Shawshank Redemption. I thought that was the one.

Rita Hayworth? Rita Hayworth. I think she was like when you were in like seventh grade. And if I get this wrong, I should get fired, but I'm pretty sure Marilyn was on the first issue of Playboy, but not Rita Hayworth. A little life lesson for Willie over here. Let's bring up Lauren McCall next. Do you think about fucking... No, but I'm bringing it to you.

Do you think it's fair game, R.A., that when, you know, former hockey player fucked it up with Tate McRae and she's on the rise... I mean, if they're done and it's your real tight boy

you went and he don't want you around then that's one thing. But if you're semi-casual and they're done, so fuck it, man. All right. Well, hey, R.A.

It's not much. It's a free world. Get against the mask. Everybody needs it. As a podcast, let's try to hook them up then. Yeah, we could be matchmakers. Chicklets crew. Our Twitter's nuts here, Willie.

But if she rolls into a Gannis arena to watch them when they're playing BU, I'm not going to be happy about that biz. We don't need this kid getting four goals with Tate in the crowd. It could be the new Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. This could be it. College hockey's version. I think that Chicklets Nation can do it. You guys should get her to come to the beanpot.

Okay, the ask is out. And then she'll leave with Biz. Biz will end up showing up at the garden. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How old is she? Like 22? She'll be on my couch. That's too young.

She's too young. Who's another it girl that you guys talk about? Like who's the it girl in your guys' world? Oh, I mean, obviously, you know, Cindy Sweeney's new movie just came out. Okay. She was in Euphoria. Did you guys all watch Euphoria?

Yeah. I'm a Euphoria guy. So it's a little sick and twisted. Now, Grinnelli has been telling me about this other movie that just came out that's even more sick and twisted. Salt Burn. It's fucking wild. Have you seen this?

I had a group chat about it yesterday. I'm not watching it. I got some of the Coles notes, and I'm like, this doesn't appeal to me. It's incredible. It's an incredible movie. There's a bathtub scene that I'm not even saying anything else because I heard what the scene is. I'd rather drink R.A.'s bath water.

Let's put it that way. No, like even worse. It's invigorating. R.A.'s bath water after looking at his eighth grade Marilyn Monroe playboy. We can go into that. No chance. Fantastic movie, though. Yeah.

You like euphoria. It's a college student meets this other college student, and the rich one and the kind of nerdy one. The rich one invites the nerdy one to his family's castle estate for the summer, and a bunch of weird shit goes on, basically. That's the gist of it, Marlon. That's what's popping off right now is rich kid problems. Right?

That seems to be a lot of the- Yeah, these kids have a lot of problems too in this movie. The more money, more problems for these little kids who never had to work for it. What else do we want to ask them, boys? Do you know any other Will Smith songs that you can sing or just the Fresh Prince?

That's the only one I know. Come on, R.A. The best Will Smith song is from Family Guy when he does the clean rap. It's one of the most classic scenes of all time. They talk about how he never swore. I think I've done this on the pod.

You could do the rap. I don't remember it right now. It's like, take your shoes off before you come in the house. Somebody just clean that rug. Woohoo! It's clean rap. It's hilarious. It's the best Will Smith rap going.

Well, that and when he got bitch-slapped Chris Rock from making fun of his wife who cuts him constantly. Out your fucking mouth. That's still the craziest thing that ever happened, right? Even all these years later, Will Smith bitch-slapped Chris Rock. People on Twitter think that's hilarious. Even in the gold medal game, when I had the slap pass, people think it's hilarious to joke around about Will Smith

slapping with Chris Rock and just relating it. That was a sick dish, though, dude. Head up the whole time. Awesome pass there. Good stuff. Showed my wife that earlier. Well, Smitty, we appreciate it, buddy. Biz, I don't know if you got anything else for this stud.

No. Anything else you want to ask us? Fire away. You don't have any questions got anything else for this stud. No. Anything else you want to ask us? Fire away. You don't have any questions for R.A.? Big golfer. Maybe we get him for a sandbagger? Yeah, we talked about that. R.A. alluded to it, but we didn't talk about how when we blew you off at the draft, did we?

Oh, yeah. No, we didn't. You got to tell him, Biz. No, we talked about that a little bit during the tour we did. Not publicly, though, so let's bring it up. that a little bit during the tour we did not publicly though so let's bring it up i think it's it's my fault because i'd gone four and a half months sober and then they they kind of put all this work on me at the draft where i had to do something at the awards and i hadn't had a drink and then merles put this fucking margarita in front of me right before we were supposed to go

back and you know 10 a.m margs will get you 10 a.m margs at this restaurant nashville and i said you know what i don't give a flying fuck about any more work it's time to crank it so my apologies but there was a reason it got backed up it's because we knew we were going to win a gold medal and come on and get to talk about that in the bean pod brother so congrats on all your success your first half at college and uh keep kicking ass man keep kicking it thank you guys for having me well what time did they call you and bail out at what time did they did they let you know they and keep kicking ass, man. Keep kicking it. Thank you guys for having me. Well, what time did they call you and bail out at? What time did they let you know they were bailing out at?

For when we're not. Yeah, they bailed out at the end of the interview. What time did they finally tell you that? It was like, I think it was in the morning because you guys were supposed to meet at like 1. Yeah, Biz gave me the whole Grinnell cancel everything today. So I just fucking canceled. And then Biz didn't go to sleep for like three days after that too. Then I went on a bender.

Then I went on my college visit, as they call them. I'll be sure. I will. All right. Well, thanks so much, buddy. Best of luck for the season, pal. You're a legend. All right.

Well, thanks so much, buddy. Best of luck for the season, pal. You're a legend. Big thanks to Will Smith for jumping on us. Congrats again, buddy, on that gold medal. I can't wait to see this kid in the NHL, man. He's going to be an absolute stud. But, Biz, I know there was something else you wanted to address regarding the World Juniors.

Maybe you guys have the answer to it. So when is Russia allowed back in international play? I was wondering the same thing. Oh's not the same and will they be will they be best on best in the nhl that's i think it's all tba right now i will say world is this is this doping or is this the ukraine thing no i think it's a combination it's a it's a cocktail it's a mixed cocktail just spin the wheel yeah i think it's uh add putin in there a little spice of putin uh but if you're telling me if if if we don't like if we have best on best nhl and we and and we don't have vasilevsky and kucherov and yeah oh fuck seriously what the hell i was even

thinking world junior level because like you never know like some years if they got them on enough steroids they're like unbelievable and they might actually win a gold you know although each of them are like 26 and 28 with the fake passports but the wild card element of them winning it and then like taking over an air canada flight because they're all smoking darts and boozing and fucking like taking over the plane i don't know the flight i kind of need it w w w for wall street and they wake up like taped to the sea yeah like i'm happy slovakia is coming up in the fucking game but i'd rather see the ruskies the fucking some of them have the fucking biggest bombs on their faces too like zits you've never seen the size of because they're they're i mean get dr Pimple Popper on that bench. Am I crazy here?

Because they're all on the gas, right? So their back is just ruthless. I mean, I got it from fucking Jack 3D and protein powders. I still get pimples, but those Russian pimples hit different. Oh, buddy. Buddy, they break the glass in the mirror. I don't know how people watch that show, Dr. Pimple Popper. I would break you you vile thing to

fuck a watch uh one guy canada did not have conor badad uh unfortunately he broke his jaw the other night i was cutting through the middle across the blue line and brendan smith honestly what i think he basically let the hit come to him he could have absolutely trubed him if he wanted to unfortunately like i said he broke his jaw he's going to be out for a little bit. I think everybody consensus thought it was a clean hit. No issues with it, unless you're a Blackhawks fan. I think they were the only people complaining online, but it still sucks for this

kid, man. I just hate to see it happen. What? He can't get touched? What were they crying about? Elbow? Oh, they claimed it was dirty. They were trying to say it was a dirty hit. Oh, for fuck's sakes. If he's two inches taller or an try and say it was a dirty hit. Oh, for fuck's sakes. I mean, if he's two inches taller or an inch taller, like nothing happened. It was a nothing hit.

What happened was if you watch the clip, he's flying through the neutral zone, head up, doesn't look down even once, and the puck, he makes a nice move to the right. The puck just kind of squirts away from him, and he looks down quick. And, you know, that's what happens. Like, Brendan Smith made a great play stepping up.

And he can't not finish his hits either. Like, he doesn't have the ability to, like, get out of the way for a start. He'll be in the fucking press box for another two weeks. But it was just brutal because he's a little smaller, and it just caught him perfectly. Didn't even look that bad. I mean, talk about not looking bad. Hughes went out.

He just fell over, and it must have been his wrist or something. But what a wild game that turned into. But what I took out of that, obviously, I took out of Bedard being gone. Now it sucks. It reminds me of when McDavid got hurt his rookie year. And it cost him the rookie of the year, the Calder. Won't be going back to Vancouver. He'll miss that game back home.

Yep. That sucks. But Philippe Kurashev, I don't know if you watched it but he went right after brendan smith dude a smaller guy and any and i respected the hell out of it and smith kind of dubbing him quick and then the leader came in nick felino no question they ended up having another fight after brendan smith answered the bell he did a great job in terms of i don't know if they fought after but they they he went i was went, I was, I really loved how, like, it wasn't just Foligno went over. It was Khrushchev first, right after him.

At least you show a team sticking up for their star player, but just, it was a shitty luck play. Like in the end, it wasn't dirty. Both Luke Richardson said it wasn't dirty. So any Blackhawks fan out there saying that, like the head coach already said they were fine with the hit. There was just a brutal bounce for the kid who's having a hell of a season, and now I don't know how long he'll be out.

But you knew right away the way he grabbed his face that it was something serious. And you mentioned they lost Foligno, too, broke his finger in that fight. But you take a look at that roster. I included the link. I mean, it's kind of like, was it Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Who are those guys? That roster, it's insane.

I mean, but then again, it's hockey. They come out Sunday and beat, who did they beat roster, it's insane. I mean, but then again, it's hockey. They come out Sunday and beat, who'd they beat? 4-3 Sunday. I don't know if it was. Calgary, right. So you know, you got to still go out and play the game. So kudos to them for coming out and winning the game. But man, tough sledding for that squad without Badad. Smith did answer the bell

like you said, but brings us to Nick Cousins. Nick Cousins, he's been quite the nuisance out there, running amok. He doesn't really like to pay the piper. He went to Bridge 25 versus Arizona. Not only did he hit Valamaki into the boards like that while he was in a very vulnerable position, but he actually left at his feet, which was completely

unnecessary, which resulted in Jason Zucker taking matters into his hands, basically repaid the same hit toward him. He ends up with a three-game suspension, Zucker does, and our buddy Juice on Hockey Night in Canada gave a little rant the other night. We're going to roll a piece of that, Chief? Let's roll the whole clip. Let's get to the

Nick Cousins and Jason Zucker's three games. Buckle up, everyone. No. Well, maybe. We could sit here right now and we could debate fighting in the NHL. Like, what's the place of fighting? We could debate Michigan goals. Do you like them? Do you hate them? But the fact of the matter is people come to games and watch on TV in the hopes of seeing a Michigan goal, in the hopes

of seeing a fight. They like it. Now, what people don't want to watch and see is kneeing, hitting a guy's head into the boards, ramming a guy from behind. And that is a common theme for a player in this league. And I've never done this before, but I have to do it because this is a trend with this player. And he's done this a numerous amount of times, ramming a guy's head into the boards. You know, the hit earlier in the year under Gabranson, this was Shifley last year. Like, there's no place in the game for this. And what's the common theme in all these? Him at the bottom of the pile in a turtle position.

Not like Brendan Smith, standing up, taking your medicine. This has been a common theme for this player. And listen, I'm told he's a turtle position. Not like Brendan Smith, standing up, taking your medicine. This has been a common theme for this player. And listen, I'm told he's a good guy. I'm told he's liked by his teammates. And he's actually a pretty good hockey player. But somebody in that organization or somebody that he respects has to sit down and say, enough of this. This doesn't help the Florida Panthers win.

It doesn't make us a better team. Or the NHL has to come down and hammer this guy. My good friend Rafi Torres. Love the guy. They didn't like some of the hits he was making. They hammered him with a 25-game suspension. They hammered him with a 41-game suspension. Right?

Somebody has to hammer this guy from the Department of Justice and put an end to these crappy hits because I hate him. And they remind me, like, that's a rat to me. I'm sorry. It is. I mean, Juice is great at what he does. We've said that a bunch. He could have been more on the mock,

but biz, I know you wanted to add you a five cents as well. And he nailed it too. It sucks doing it and having to be, I think he said it was the first time he's ever done it in his media career where he scalds a guy. Now you could debate, you know,

is it my car or Quinn Hughes? You know, who's the, who should win the Norris? Who's the best defenseman? You could debate the MVP, but there's no debating right now in the NHL who the biggest piece of shit scumbag is. And that is Nick cousins. Like I texted him today to come on the podcast. Okay. This is the,

this is the conversation. Want to come on the podcast. Uh, now would be the time, eh? Ha ha. No, you know, it would build your brand yeah let's do it when if wit apologizes i go about what no i will can you send me the questions though a couple days in advance nick cousins nick cousins joe biden wow i go so what is this is my tweet i don't know i don't know but whatever you said I'm sure it was fucking fair. And we're going to get into the rest of Nick cousins and why he's the biggest piece of shit scumbag, uh, public enemy number one right now. And this is what I wrote back to him.

I go, we don't usually do that here, but question number one, is it hard being the biggest rat fuck piece of shit in the league? Question mark. You're the rat king by a mile. Most wanted list. Number one. How much are you making? Probably not enough for the size of the target on your back and doing it every night.

An exhausting job. He goes, ha, ha, ha. Definitely underpaid. Now, this is, I agree with everything that bx was saying every time he's doing something dirty he ends up on the bottom of the pile and he won't drop his gloves uh the fact that he needs to get his face caved in the fact that he does need to be talked to by uh an elderly player a veteran and or management but i disagree with Kevin Bieksa about what the conversation needs to be. I would just say, now that you have this target on your back, you need to walk this

very fine line because the book is out. The book is out on Nick Cousins and exactly what he's trying to do in games. One other thing that Bieksa, I don't know if he was allowed or or didn't care to mention i thought that the the hit from zucker was a complete dive show put him in fucking aew wrestling nick cousins did you see when he gets tapped from behind him jump into the glass and shed the mitts and go to his knees the fact that he had to put peros in the situation to give zucker a three-game suspension blows my mind and the fact that he went for i feel bad for peros that's how bad of a piece of shit that nick cousins is being right now by putting him in the position where he has to suspend jeff zucker over that or jason zucker excuse me i said said Jeff Zucker. That was a fucking dive.

Are we, are we, that was a dive. That was a full fledged fucking dive. And if Nick Cousins is going to text me tomorrow after this comes out, as he's listening to it, and it's fucking whatever, Ford Bronco or F-150 from fucking a dealership in Belle, Vegas. That's where that scumbag's from. Belleville, Ontario. Anytime that you have Vegas on the end of your city, match Vegas,

you know what happens in match Vegas? People get fucking stabbed to death outside of front and the, of their best club or bar. Belle Vegas. He's going to, he's going to want the questions in advance. Come to the stage. Dude,

my tweet said dirt bag. Public. There ain't even a clip. Go ahead. Sorry. I put the't even a clip. Go ahead, sorry. I put the clip of juice. Then I said, the way BX could play the game only makes these words more meaningful.

He played hockey mean and tough but fair. Cousins plays the game blatantly trying to injure people. Now, if you look at the clip, he jumped. The guy's on his knees. I guess it's one thing to like leave your feet to bury someone who's standing against the glass or open ice he was on his knees and his feet left the ground now i didn't see the explanation in terms of why cousins didn't get suspended i think part

of the reason that that um zucker ended up getting three is because it was retaliatory, right? So it was like blatantly like retaliation for his teammate. But Cousins, he jumps in the air. Valamaki sitting on his knees trying to stick a hand. Boom. And none of these people listening who never played will understand how big of a love tap that was from Zucker. But here's the thing that all the Panthers fans are coming at me with. Cousins, it's how the Panthers play.

He embodies how this team plays. If they're losing, they cause an absolute ruckus. First of all, Juice made it clear, and I don't know Cousins, but apparently the guys love him. Loved it. Loved it. Buddy, give me him every day of the week twice on Sundays. I know, and I'll say out.

I want that to not take away from me. I'll shit on him and say if I'm a GM, like, bring him on over. I want him on my team. The whole league hates his guts, and all his teammates love him. But when you look at, like, what he's doing, he's running guys over from behind half the time, and then all of a sudden he's on the ice laying down. This is coming from a guy

who didn't hit anyone and was afraid out of his life to fight but i see this dude airborne and valmak has a fucking shield over his face and he's on his knees dare i use these two names i would put him potentially in sean avery scumbag territory. Based on all the antics involved. You could put a reel over the last two years together that would make a good case. We're talking Matt Cook territory of hatred around the league. Was he like this on the Yotes?

Buddy. Has this always been his game? Buddy. They would be dead, down to nothing. Nothing would be going on on and this guy would go say something or do something that all of a sudden the game was like it caught fire he i'm not gonna say what he has said things to players on the ice surface in the nhl that has led to the away player coming in to their dressing room after the game to look for him like oh shit oh yes okay so and and he is

the ultimate and i want to kill so he could take two ways here and nothing against you and what's even crazier about it is we do an outline call every friday for this show and we were done the outline going through it and i said oh yeah and one yeah, and one thing, I go, tee me up for Nick Cousins. And then the next night, BXO goes on hockey night in Canada and says everything to a tee, and he nailed it. The only thing I disagree with, once again, is I would want him changing nothing about his game.

Oh, Paul Maurice, you think he cares? The other, because, listen, if there were other guys in their team that were skilled, we're like, oh, I don't. Paul Maurice. You think he cares? The other, because if, listen, if there were other guys in their team that were skilled, we're like, oh, I don't want to deal with that. But they got so many guys that almost want that and thrive off that type of

shit. Who the fuck is going to compete with that every night? Who, what other teams are built tough like them? They're the big, bad bullies. And he's the, they're,

they're legitimate cup contenders. And he's the dirt they're they're legitimate cup legit cup contenders and he's the biggest scumbag dirt bag of them at all they should there should they should they should say bringing back the rats and it should be though like the five horsemen of dirt bags on that team and they should wear it proudly i mean they got bennett they got bennett and kachuk bennett kachuk like what's going on here? I got to do something really dirty. What the fuck? Montour's got some spice to him, too. He's got some spice to him.

He'll be lipping. He's not going to do the shit that. Oh, Lamborghini? You don't think Lamborghini loves that shit? They're probably harking loogies in each other's mouth before the game. Like that old fucking movie, The Program. This is what's going on here latimer cousins he's the king he there's a new king of the rats we've talked about kachuk in the past

he's been dethroned his own teammate dethroned him marshawn marshawn come on he ain't touching scumbag status the way that nick cousins from bel vegas is touching right now. So congratulations, Nick. The invite is still out there. If you want to come on the podcast. Come on, Nick. Come on. Come build your brand because they ain't paying you enough to be a complete After the episode drops, he's going to text you back tomorrow and be like,

I want all the questions in advance and a $50,000 fucking appearance fee. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah, Mr. Crosby? You want the questions in advance? Come on. He could get like a side deal with like an exterminator, right? He's just on the face of the truck. Yeah, yeah.

The king of the rats, and then it's cousins in his jersey. Well, he's going to have to do something after playing. He's only making fucking league minimum now. Underpaid, he told you. Only the second time someone's requested the questions in advance gee is that correct i can only think of one other uh potential guest who asked them in advance we should we should do it let's just send him a bunch of questions do an s do an s and how was your childhood get them did you get them like a gang wide balls the whips the chains get

them the get them get them in these uh fascination stops what tool do you use to sharpen the end of your stick before games? Goddamn Hannibal Lecter out there. But I'll end it with this. You want those guys on your goddamn box. Twice on Sundays. It's unresolvable. That's the game. You guys answered the question I had on there.

Does it benefit the team in some way? Yeah, especially this team. Them. Yeah. But the conversation right now has to happen though of saying you got to walk it a little bit more smoothly or it's really going to start costing us. The book, if the book hadn't been out,

I don't know how this one got past Peros in a sense of like the reverse suspension where I would have gave Cousins three and then nothing to Zucker. I don't know how he disappears. Houdini? Not anymore. Targets on your back. You're done next time.

Meanwhile, Florida, seven-game winning streak right now. Outscored the opposition 31-14. Matty Kachuk's starting to heat up. They're just two points back in Boston right now. Freaking Reinhardt, man. 50 points in 39 games. Keeps it rolling. But keep it with the shit-stirrers out there, Biz. We're going to go back to the Brendan Dillon Ryan Hotman, 50 points in 39 games, keeps it rolling. But keep it with the shit stirrers out there, Biz. I'm going to go back to the Brendan Dillon, Hotman, Perfetti story from a couple weeks

ago. You know, Dillon cross-checked Capri's off, Ryan Hotman then whacked Cole Perfetti in the face off of a draw. And then Hotman supposedly told Cole it was intentionally because he was allegedly caught on the mic. Well, Hotman denied it. He said that Perfetti was baiting him to admit it because perfetti was wearing a wire that game and the opposition i know you guys know this but uh maybe

i'll listen to this though when guys are wearing wires you know the ice the other team is made aware of it the opposition there's a note on the board so they're they're aware of that and hotman basically said perfetti was trying to baitman he said i know he's wearing a mic all game he comes up to me multiple times and asked me if i did it on purpose and finally all i told him was i'm not gonna say it wasn't on purpose so i didn't tell him hey i did that on purpose he kept coming up to me and i was finally saying i'm not gonna say it was on purpose that was the extent of it i mean it felt like he was just conveying what was unsaid on the ice but is this semantics is he splitting hairs or what's your whole no no i kind of i view it a lot of ways like interesting that the story keeps

evolving like these lies and secrets fucking nhl's thriving right now but um maybe it was a mind game from perfetti back to hartman basically being like i'm gonna get you on on audio saying it just to fuck with you i don't know like there was a reason he was chasing him around doing it and trying to kind of get back in his head. Listen, this got even more amplified because once again on Hockey Night in Canada, it was Jamal Mayers who took one stance. Jen Botterill said, this is ridiculous. This should be a suspension.

He intentionally tried to injure the guy where I tend to be more old school and after listening to the Perfetti press conference in which I thought he handled himself well, it became playful because nobody walked away losing an eye. And after listening to the perfetti press conference in which I thought he handled some himself, well, I, it became playful because nobody walked away losing an eye. I get where it's like, ah,

fuck. If this would have got ugly of, of like him getting his fucking eye carved out, like the fucking Terry Ryan story we had told on the podcast, then all of a sudden my perspective changes. Do I want to see this type of thing going on every night? No, but I,

I think that the nhl is fucking it's it's getting a little bit more greasy and i fucking like that it's a little bit more old school and it goes back to the game policing itself with felino going after smith for the hit who gives a fuck can't you hit my big guy fight let's fucking go here goes back to the other thing we were just talking about um i was shocked to find out that the league can't do anything based on audio from players' mics. Which is why they agreed to it via the PA, right? Because they don't want to.

Yeah, but I didn't know that. So I don't know if Hartman didn't know that either in terms of like, I know you have a mic on. I know what you're trying to do to me, but it wouldn't have mattered. No matter what he said, they can't use any audio from a mic on a player to ever discipline anyone else on the ice. You can't be calling Perfetti greasy when he just got stuck in the face.

No, once you got a stick in your face because Kaprizov got hit by Dillian, I was on the bench. I didn't even do anything. So at this point, he's, I he's trying to get him under oath, saying, yeah, he meant to stick your eye out with the end of my twig. It's like an episode of True Detective. It puts it to rest. But I am looking.

Cousins is on the IR now. Did he get hurt from that? Oh, yeah. It says he's on the IR. Did he play against the Avs? Oh, my God. This guy. He's following the script. This is

what Vince McMahon sent over. I'm texting him right now. Are you on the IR? What are you on the IR with? Why are you on the IR? I think you go Big Cat style right now. Calm and put on speakerphone. I'm going to FaceTime him. Nick Cousins. The dirtbag.

Love this. Love this. Keep that next to the mic there yeah he's probably at the fucking beach enjoying a pina colada after a hard day's work hey he's like i'm on the 10 day ir. I got some relax time. He ain't answering. He's slashing some guy's tire who cut him off. He's getting a fight at a grocery store. Why are you on the IR? With that point you brought up about not being able to use audio,

that was from Tim Peel. He had it on his podcast with J.I. Yes, that's what I saw on Twitter. And he got busted with audio correct he said yeah you can't use audio to discipline players i don't know if he specified like a mic worn by a player he says but referees can because and i asked him how did you get caught and he said that the nashville feed picked him up picked his audio up you know he must have been close to one of those you know whatever called the mics on the fucking boards

or whatever well kai on the glass and fucking instead of just like you know, whatever called the mics on the fucking boards or whatever, or a guy on the glass. And fucking instead of just like, oh, okay, it happened on the field of play, leave it there, Nashville fucking played it and like basically snitched on him. I mean, I'm sure they weren't the first local broadcaster to hear a referee say something along those lines. And it's like, I don't know, I think you should just not say that. It's part of the field of play, man. I think they got him in trouble for something that wasn't really their business. Guys, before we continue, I want to talk to you about BetterHelp.

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All right, boys, moving right along. Winnipeg, Minnesota, this isn't going anywhere, man. They're in the same division. This could get even more heated. But as for Cole Profetti's team, the hottest team in hockey for a while now. Winnipeg Jets remained on fire. They swept the week. They beat Tampa, San Jose, Anaheim, and Arizona.

A top not only the Central Division, but the NHL as well with 56 points. Went over their ducks was the sixth straight. They set a new team record, their 12th straight game with at least one point. Friday's win in Anaheim was their ninth straight game. This is crazy. I'm sorry. Ninth straight game allowed two of fuel goals, 16 out of 17 games, 21 out of 24 games, and it was their 29th straight game.

They allowed three goals or fewer. An NHL best 22-5-2 during those games. What's incredible is since Kyle Conner's been out, they've gone 10-1-2. Obviously, Conner Hellebacher, a huge part of this. He set his own personal record for most consecutive points, 10-0-2. But how about those fucking Winnipeg Jets, Biss? Holy shit.

Round of applause for R.A. belting through all those stats while double-wristing the Jets. Holy shit, dude. Double-wristing the Jets. Look at you getting three-weight, eh? Every hole. That's like Steph Curry at the foul line right there. Every goddamn hole.

You little slut, you, with your stats. What? I mean, boys, Army saw this coming. Team defense, busy boy. This has just been the ultimate, what do you call it, the Mongolian reversal? Yes. From training camp to what they've been able to accomplish as a team and how fucking undervalued we maybe thought their back end was.

I mean, we knew what Hellebuck was going to bring, but, I mean, this offense, the leadership, their commitment to just playing as this well-oiled machine the way they fucking cycle the way they leave the next shift for the next guy in a good position not fucking back checking bonus has him playing and even when he wasn't around that fucking leadership had the boys going so just a a round of applause for the winnipeg jacks now i never had anything against the jets coming in did i maybe underestimate their abilities absolutely i was more upset with the fan base for not supporting them and selling that small barn out but i don't think there's any doubt that they're selling out every game now this is the hottest ticket in town

it should be and they should be getting their flowers because it's remarkable with i would say that you could take most of professionals uh assumption on whether they were going to make playoffs and they would have had them out and now are they are they a number one place are they first overall in points right first overall like you go that many games in a row without giving up four goals it's crazy that's That's mind-blowing. And did they fleece the LA Kings? I think they did. I watched DuPlo just soft backhand turnover in Washington Sunday, ends up in the back of the net. And there's a long way to go here.

But I have follows playing on the second line. Smart player. Always know what you're going to get out of him. Velarde looks incredible. They got another guy not even on the team right now and all of a sudden the Jets have a bunch of guys that want to be there with a stud goalie and a deep team and their best player hasn't even played in a month I mean what we're witnessing besides Colby Armstrong I'll say it again is shocking and it went from where is Hellebuck and Shifley going to be come playoff time? What teams will they be on?

To the Jets are Stanley Cup contenders. And I know for a fact R.A.'s got a future on him. He's got 32 futures, so I'm not reaching too far there. But a fun team to watch that doesn't give up anything. They don't give up chances. And then when they do, they got this stud in net and bros was good too. When, when Hellebuck isn't playing.

Yeah. Defense tighter, tighter than a nun's cunt. Wit just tighter than a nun's cunt. Who now like Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg, like who are you taking right now though?

Um, that's, that's what's tough right i mean i i think i think i'm taking winnipeg over colorado i think they're against colorado buddy i think that they're proven to be a one trick pony right now and you gotta send out that listen i'm not saying their second layer is is like brutal or bad i just don't think it competes with the top teams in the west that's why colorado is going to make a big move they have to make a big move but winnipeg from from dallas is look at their third line dallas is dallas nobody talks about them nobody says a word but but i view them as the same. I think that Haskinen puts them over the edge from a defensive standpoint because they kind of have that true ace.

I think when both defenses are healthy, you would say that they're, on paper, they're okay. Stacked up against the rest of the teams in the West, maybe a little bit under. They both got the goalies and they both have the guys up front. The West is a joke.

As far as Dallas, I feel like they have a very similar makeup of what their team is. They play good structure hockey. They can rely on good goaltending. The back end doesn't overwhelm you, but fucking that Matty Duchesne pickup, and he's second in their team in scoring right now. They got a lot of guys up front.

They got three good lines. Pavelski keeps doing it somehow. So Winnipeg's for real. They're not going anywhere at this point. It's a long enough sample size to say, holy shit, this is happening, and beware whoever gets them in the first round because that will be a tough-ass series

as every series in the west will be the east is wide open who knows who's coming out of there the west has seven horses that are trying to come out and i'm including the edmonton oilers in that because i think they're like 15 and 3 in their last 18 games and i want to cry as i say that well another team that's been quite rejuvenated in on file, the Seattle Kraken. They actually lost eight in a row. Then they come back, got points in 10 straight, going 8-0-2, right back in the wildcard race out west.

Kind of like Washington, Biz. I don't think, you know, they don't jump right out yet. You're almost like, how are they getting this done? I mean, the power play is 17th, penalty kill is 12th, but Vince Dunn leading the team in scoring as a defenseman. All of Bjorkstrand, we'll get to him a little bit later. But this Ealy Tolvin, man, he might be the best wire pickup in like the last 5-10 years in the NHL. I mean, Nashville let him go for nothing.

In 51 games with Seattle, he's got, I'm sorry, 87 games with Seattle, he's got 51 points. But the biggest reason, Joey Decord. We're going to get to his story very shortly. 10-5 at 8 in the air, 2-2-9 goals against, 9-2-2 save percentage, two shutouts, including the first one ever, and with the classic.

Before the season, only had 15 NHL starts, already 21 this year. Whit, this is a great story. Like I said, we're going to get to him shortly, but what's your take on Seattle, pal? R.A. is fucking buzzing right now.

Yeah, R.A. Besides that 51-87 thing, you're fine, R.A. Great job, buddy. I almost just want to lead it to Decord. I think he's an enormous part of it, and we go into Seattle and the start, and what

kind of happened there in his mind, even though he mentioned he was only there for five games last year? So we're going to throw it over to him, but I'll tell every listener right now that obviously we interviewed some current players, and some of these guys, I don't them they do have personality but they come on they don't want to say anything to get themselves in trouble a lot of them are younger and a lot of times i think people listen and you know they're they're a little underwhelmed and i'm not saying that's right or wrong but

i understand where guys are coming from currently playing a lot of guys they just don't feel comfortable really letting it fly this interview right here here is awesome. It's a crazy story. It's a different route than what you've heard of so many other NHLers. Please take a listen. Super conversational. He's a very, very personable kid and he's been through a lot. So check this interview out right now. And then I actually got a little story, a little more stuff he had to deal with, adversity he dealt with in terms of college that we got into when the interview ended. So check out Joey Decord right now. Good speaking with. All right.

It's time to welcome our next guest. We got another mass guy for you today. This goalie was taken on the seventh round of the 2015 NHL draft by Ottawa. This goalie was taken on the seventh round of the 2015 NHL draft by Ottawa. After a year in the USHL, he headed to Tempe, Arizona, where he played a huge role in establishing Arizona State University as a legit spot to play D1 hockey here in the States, while also rewriting their record books. After three seasons with the Sens organization,

he was selected by Seattle in the expansion draft. And this season, his play is a major reason why the Kraken are right back in the playoff mix. Thanks a bunch for joining us on the Spit and Chicklets podcast. Joey Decoud, congrats on everything, brother. How's it going? Thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks for having me. Excited to be on.

Looking forward to it. Joey, Joey, Joey. So apparently all that Joey chanting, apparently it started last year in playoffs when you were with the Firebirds down in the AHL, right? Yeah, yeah. It was pretty nuts. I mean, it was crazy. Like, the fan support we got down there, I think we all kind of didn't know, like, what to expect at all.

Because it's really not, like, a traditional hockey market. And they've never had, like, a pro sports team or anything like that. And, yeah, I think, like, halfway through the year, second half of the year kind of started like i heard some joey chants a few times then like by the time we got to like the calder cup finals i if the puck went within 10 feet of the net it was joey chants like it was all game so that's pretty cool yeah yeah i was gonna ask you that so playing down there in palm springs so this is what they're doing with the american league they're they're expanding in the west and Palm Springs ends up getting a team. So you're saying the fan support was crazy.

I would imagine probably a lot of middle-aged people, maybe older, but this kind of gets them going because it's the only ticket in town? Well, yeah, that was kind of like the interesting thing is we had no idea what to expect at all, and they get a ton of snowbirds in the winter. So the rink wasn't ready until around Christmas time. So then, yeah, it was like a ton of snowbirds in the winter so like we the rink wasn't ready until around like christmas time so then um yeah it was like a ton of snowbirds at first and then what happened was when we made playoffs they all the snowbirds leave at the end of april so we were like oh we're

screwed like we're not gonna have anyone in like the biggest games of the year and then the locals like became addicted and now it's like a battle between the Snowbirds and the locals for tickets, apparently. It's hilarious. Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. I was just going to say, the playoffs, and especially the last two, three rounds, were insane.

And it was all of the local people just having the best time ever, and now they love hockey. It's crazy. Just a big swingers club wit. A big tea party. I don't know how you took it there, Biz, but I'll go out there if you want to take a run out west. Imagine the locals in Palm Springs.

There's got to be some fucking cougars buzzing around. Oh, yeah. I actually have a friend out there. He's the pro at the Vintage Club, an amazing golf club. David Woods. He's a Canadian, but he was telling me down there, it just exploded, like you said. And all of a sudden, all these tickets, they're hard to get. And I think probably going on that run made it even

crazier going into this year for those guys. But in terms of your success right now, I mean, I remember getting to go to the Calder Cup finals right when I turned pro. You just felt so much better going into that next season. You get the confidence. You obviously played incredible, heartbreaking way to lose, man. But for you personally, you must have felt great going into this season after having so much success. Even if it was the AHL, you went on a nice little run and you're like, I can do this. Definitely. I think it was probably one of the most magical runs I've ever been on, just with a team and a city. And they've never had a sports team to root for down there. In Palm Springs, they have the big tennis tournament. They have Indian Wells. Then they have a PGA and like they've they've never had a sports team to root for down there like in palm springs there's

they have um the big tennis tournament they have indian wells then they have like a pga tournament so they kind of have like some sports but none of like their own team to root for right and um i think we kind of gave them that and then it it took off like we were really good we were loaded we had a great team and then we went on this fairytale run. We went to like the final game of every single series, except for one. Like we won game three out of three in the first round, game five out of five in the second round where we lost in overtime. So the second round is five games. We lost in overtime in game three at home. We were down late in game four, like must must win and then we scored and then scored shorthanded with a minute left to win and then won in game five and then like we were

playing uh calgary in the third round which like we were the two best teams in the league went to game five with them and it was two two going in the third the third period ended five five and then we scored in overtime like it just like bonkers hockey that just kept going our way you know and um then we played milwaukee in the fourth round beat them in six and then yeah we went to game seven couldn't have been a better game in series with hershey and it was just you know one bounce either way and that was it did i hear that right so you guys played five rounds there's like a play-in now. Yeah. So we actually, it was crazy. We came in second in the whole league, and we had to play a play-in to get into playoffs.

So it was just the way the seating and everything works out. But yeah, it was a 3-5-5-7-7. So we played 26 playoff games. Oh, my God. As if it isn't a grind to begin with. You got the 4-4s, three and threes but throw it not four now it's the five series the toughest trophy to win in all professional sports at least they make the first two rounds or i guess the second and third now like three out of five as opposed to

all of them being four to seven but going into camp this year after that success like what were your thoughts i mean obviously like seattle there's a bunch of goalies there. You'd kind of done your job like last year with the AHL team. And I guess you're going in, I'm assuming, just like thinking, I'm going to win my spot on this team. Or were you almost like this is going to be tough to end up battling and getting on this roster? Well, I think like you look at all the goalies that we have, like Groobies, obviously, an established NHL veteran. And Driggs has been around a long time and had a ton of success at the NHL level. And then there's myself where I've kind of just been battling and just trying to get an opportunity. I definitely felt like after last season and the way it all went, like and going into free agency, I was like, I felt like I had so much positive momentum with Seattle.

I was like, that's where I want to be. momentum with Seattle I was like that's where I want to be like I felt like I'd earned the trust of the coaching staff through my NHL games last year and management through my NHL games and then also just like an incredible run in playoffs so I felt like Seattle was was the right place for me to to resign so I was pumped to get that done before we even went to free agency and then yeah definitely coming into camp just I mean I feel like I've always had to earn everything that I've gotten at every level um it's kind of never really been an easy road for me so I went into training camp just tried to put my head down and work my ass off and hopefully uh you know get a spot on the team and was super pumped to have it work out and have a good training camp was that

the first time in pro I mean obviously the Ottawa thing played out the way that it did but was that was the first time in pro that you've been given the net over and over last year where you kind of got into that starter mentality back since you were at ASU? Like American League wise or? Yeah, just like in pro, right? Because you're getting the net every night. It's a different mind frame than maybe when you're playing backup when you first get into pro where you're kind of back in that I'm the guy who's getting the crease back the mindset you had kind of an ASU where you were the guy I mean your last year you were a Hobie Baker finalist ASU yeah I definitely have played every single game that year I played every minute except for seven that year so definitely uh gives you a good opportunity

to get in the rhythm I I was pretty much the starter in Charlotte I'd say like uh my year before uh Coachella I played most of the games, and I played all the playoff games. So I definitely got a taste of that and just kind of built from there. I think between Charlotte and Charlotte, my first year with Seattle, played about 45, 50 games between Charlotte regular season and postseason, and then five games called up. And then last year, I played about 70 games between um you know the playoffs

and regular season with the nhl and ahl so i think as a goalie when you can get like 70 games in a year that's that's a lot of hockey and um definitely just you almost just get into a mode where it's just like the same every night right like i think for a goalie the biggest thing is just consistency and if you can just the guys just know what they're getting every night you know you're gonna have some some great ones and some bad ones every once in a while but if you can just the guys just know what they're getting every night you know you're going to have some some great ones and some bad ones every once in a while but if you're just the same every night i think that's the biggest thing that that can help advance your career at the professional level i love how you mentioned you've you've had to earn everything and we kind of talk about that on on this show a lot there's high draft picks who are given a million chances

and they're guys that got to go out and get every single thing they have on their own and even for you as like a late bloomer it's like you know you played at a prep school powerhouse is Cushing Academy around here in New England but you know you then you end up at ASU like I'm wondering how that all went down you really started that program they became D1 everything's going great they got the rink now but when you went out there there was a lot of uncertainty was that something where there were there weren't other options or did you just want to be there um based on what you heard and talking to coach powers yeah what's interesting about that was that like i i actually played two years at north end over high school first so when you think about it like i i mean the chance of like most kids that play public high school like unless you're in minnesota that

that really doesn't happen right um and then i repeated and played three years at Cushing. So I was just like a late bloomer and everything. I did five years of high school, you know, I went to Cushing and it was I remember my dad was actually the goalie coach for Cushing at the time. And he told me like after the fact, after I left Cushing, he was like, I thought I made a mistake when I first sent you to Cushing. Like at at the beginning it was just too fast and the players were too good for you you know when you first got there so I was glad I repeated it gave me some extra time and then you know I only made it to the USHL when I was 19 years old and then I went to Cush or I went to ASU at 20 so I mean yeah when I look back at the whole collegiate process, it was pretty nuts for me because I felt like I was close to getting a scholarship the whole time, but never really got one.

And no one offered me a scholarship. And I remember Coach Powers called and I was driving home from a game. We just won like the Cushing Invitational Tournament. And Coach Powers called me from ASU and he was sunny and warm and i was driving through a blizzard so that was probably the first uh first little you know um salesman tool that he used there um but if i'm being like completely honest like at first when he first called and you know he first brought up asu i i was really hesitant because i like i just wanted to play hockey i didn't want to get like that reputation of being like oh this kid just wants to party or have a

good time or like whatever like I just wanted to play hockey I I grew up watching like Cory Schneider was my favorite goalie I wanted to go to BC like I wanted to play for New England school um that's what I wanted to do and it was a pretty big like mindset change to have to wrap my head around ASU but at the end of the day they were the only school that offered me a scholarship and gave me opportunity and they offered me the net and I think that's something that's really hard to get in college hockey and I said you know what like you look at all these amazing schools that have big tradition like the mantra at ASU is be the tradition and I like when I look back at it now like I was I feel like a huge part of establishing

the tradition at that school. And you see how far they've come with like the new arena and joining the NCHC next year. Like, it's pretty incredible. And I'm just like honored that, that I was able to help start that. And it's pretty cool to like, like it is, it says on the wall there at the rink says be the tradition. And I feel like I embody that. So it's pretty cool for me.

Uh, who, who was it that talked you out of that? Like the fact that it wasn't just a country club did you have to go visit the school or was he like nah nah nah this ain't like pool parties every day and like we're treating it like club hockey how did you finally get convinced in order to go over and I would assume based on your intentions you already you always had the vision of you wanted to go pro in hockey? Honestly, I think it wasn't necessarily that I got talked like out of that country club, like lifestyle. I was pumped for the weather. I didn't have an issue with that or anything. I think just at the time before, like when I committed there, they had zero games played

of division one hockey when I committed there. Like, so you were basically putting your trust in like the athletic department that they were going to deliver on their promise um and like i said like i i just i really didn't want to go somewhere where people thought that hey this kid doesn't really care that much about hockey you just want to have a good time and play some hockey if it you know if it's convenient like i really like my number one priority was to be a hockey player. And I think honestly, it was my mom who at the end of the day was like, hey, Joey, like they're giving you an opportunity with a full scholarship, one that no one else is giving you. And my parents told me they were like, you know, some other teams, schools had mentioned, you know, like push came to shove. Maybe we'll give them like 50 percent or 25 percent.

And my parents were like, hey, if you really don't want to go like, you know, we'll we shove maybe we'll give them like 50 or 25 and my parents were like hey if you really don't want to go like you know we'll we'll pay for you to go somewhere like they were fully on board with um you know whatever i wanted to do but my mom at the in the end of the at the end of the day was the one that told me hey they're offering you an opportunity to play an opportunity to lead that program an opportunity to build something from scratch and a full scholarship too which nowadays is it's very expensive to go to college so oh man at that time it was kind of a no-brainer um when my mom really kind of uh talked to me about it and now when i look back like it was a crazy decision but it worked out i kind of want to stay on this topic though because gee you're always vouching for making

club programs around the around the united states into d1 hockey programs now you talked about the challenges of taking it from club to you know ncaa division one you you think that they obviously fulfilled those promises they kind of made to everyone about going to d1 at asu like did they deliver everything that you expected they would have had to to everyone about going to D1 at ASU? Like, did they deliver everything that you expected they would have had to, to make it a successful D1 program? And like, what were those, what were those things that you, you felt that it needed in order to get there? Well, I, I think it was kind of an abstract idea at first,

but one of like the things that, that helped me kind of believe that they could do it was they took me on a tour through the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame in the football stadium. And when you walk through there, it's pretty sweet. Like it's, there's legends in there. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Pedroia, Barry Bonds, like there's Hall of Fame type athletes in there. And that's just to name a couple. There's a million, like you walk through there, it's a legit athletics program. So I wasn't worried that they weren't going to be able to execute or get anything done i think like the biggest thing for me is was they didn't have a rink i didn't care about being independent or being in a conference

like i just when i think of college hockey i think of these like awesome crowds and fun games and atmospheres and bands and you know the students going crazy and at the time like we played at oceanside you know oceanside that's where i used to watch you. Yeah, I know. I know. And, and it was like, actually my first year, I did not like playing at Oceanside at all, but then my second and third year we would pack it. And like, they went way over capacity of what was allowed in there. And like the standing room area in the corner would be like 10 people deep and everyone's just crushed and having a great time. it was so loud in there because like you could touch the roof with your with your stick so it was just so much fun and uh actually ended up being pretty sweet but now with the the real rink and mullet it's everything that you could imagine and hope for in a d1 school so it's really

cool to see it when i would go watch you uh wet mario would be in the corner yeah you because this kid was playing on the team. So like there was celebrity status in the arena at Oceanside. But like, you're right. Like they were way beyond capacity. Like if there was a fire marshal in there, they would have been toast. Oh, no chance. I said it on the broadcast, but Biz,

I remember the one game he came to play against Ohio State. And during periods, I look over and Biz is walking through our locker room to go take a leak in the bathroom. It's hilarious. He's got no shirt on. He wasn't taking a leak. In the middle of the room grabbing a power bar. Keep kicking.

Keep Joey. Joey, keep kicking, bud. Thanks for the power bar. What's awesome, though, is you're saying be the tradition, be the team motto there. Now guys that are getting recruited are looking like, oh, Joey DeCorte, he was the goalie there. Like, I can go there.

I can play in the NHL. I'm sure Josh Jones is going to end up playing in the NHL. So in the end, as you said, it really will be you were the beginning of it. And then not only that, but you're also bringing people in now because a lot of times kids want to see alums

that are playing pro hockey at the highest level. So it all worked out so well for you. That's what's so cool about you taking a risk. I mean, and then ended up kind of delivering on everything, including the team delivering for you. So it's a great story. And now that rink, I mean, I don't know how you go out there, visit it, see the campus, see the girls,

see the rink, and you don't go there. So it's going to be pretty powerful, I think, in the next little while. And first ever NHL contract signed by an ASU player, right? Yeah. yeah and game like nhl game too awesome yeah that's what i was gonna get to biz yeah also first devil to be a finalist for the mike rick for award as well so congrats on that and biz i think if athlete row did work for him there the pitches i think sorority row might have sealed the deal by arizona state but joe i read

you didn't start playing goalie till bantham like 13 14 years old how did you end up in the crease i know your dad was a goalie no no that's that's not right my dad had me doing goalie lessons when i was like six i played i but here's the thing is i i i didn't just like specialize in goalie like when i um for some reason like my i don't know if it was mass hockey or what but if you played for like a travel team like a triple a, you had to also play for your town team. So I would play goalie for my, I think I played double A hockey. Like I think I played goalie for that team. And then I played North and over youth hockey as a, as a skater. So I like skated out until I was, you know, 13 years old, maybe. I think that makes so much sense. I was actually talking the other day

at my son's practice about this. In terms of a goaltender, if you start playing goalie right away and you never play anything else, like, yeah, you could become really good at the position and the angles, but playing out, wouldn't that help you learn the game,

learn how to read the play a little bit more, understand what D you're thinking with the puck? And granted, you're really young, but I would think most goalies would really benefit as playing as young kids six seven eight as as playing out yeah 100 i mean i i think about it like even on another level like my dad runs a runs a goalie school in mass massachusetts and i coached at this goalie school until i was you know a couple couple of summers ago. And every summer I'd be on the ice for hours every day coaching kids.

And I think I probably learned more from shooting on those kids and teaching those kids than I did like doing the drills myself. So like, what's cool about like the way the curriculum goes is like, I would skate in the morning and I would do the drills and then I would be teaching it later to younger kids. And when I would teach it, I'd be like, huh, that makes more sense. You know what I mean? And then like, just from just from like shooting on goalies, I figure out like, Hey,

like I'm a lefty, like, where am I going to go on a breakaway? Like I'm probably only going to do like these one or two moves. And then every time like a lefty comes down, I like basically I'm playing it from their point of view, like what they're seeing. So like I can kind of see like what they're probably going to do based on the way they're coming in, based on what hand they shoot and what spots are probably open. You know what I mean? So it's, it's pretty interesting. Like, I definitely think that's a

huge thing. It gives you a, their perspective, right? Like I feel a certain way in the net, but they may be seeing something else. And I think that that helps a lot. Well, not only that is you're also one of the best puck players as far as goalies in the league too right like yeah that's what you that's what you're known for i think yeah i like to get out and help the d i actually think i have the most fun playing the puck more than do anything else like i like mike smith i love making a nice breakout pass or like a sick play and getting the boys out of the zone i think that's like i think it's sick when when i make a play and i'm the d you're skating up ice yelling back at me like, want to play? Like, that's all.

Yeah, I didn't have to get lit up and you made the outlet pass for me. I can make $4 million a year until I'm 45 doing this with this guy. My advanced stats are going to be great getting out of the zone because I didn't have to touch it. Yeah. I have a question for you. And I really couldn't answer this because my brother brother-in-law his son was in net right every kid takes a turn and he never played hockey he has no idea he said do you have to be like a better athlete to play goalie or can you be less athletic than most of the skaters i said i

don't know i think it's kind of both but would you know how to answer that right like i think you could be a super athletic goalie that helps then i think you could maybe not be as athletic as like a star forward and still be a good goalie do you know what i mean by that absolutely i think that's like a really interesting question but i've i have like buddies of mine that are like they're goalies and they're freak athletes on the ice and then you ask them to just like run or throw a football and they look like they've never done it in their entire life. Like RA. But like, and then I've seen guys that are like freak athletes off the ice and they get on the ice and they're just like these robotic goalies. I,

I don't really think there's a specific rhyme or reason. Um, I've, I've seen guys, I mean, like I can think of a couple of guys I've played with that, that are not athletic at all on the ice or off the ice and there's vice versa as well so I think there's no like specific formula

I think being being big helps being a good skater is like the number one thing I think especially with how good the NHL is now like if you're just in the right spot most of the time you're going to get hit with a lot of pucks and I think that's being a good skater and being able to read the play is like the biggest thing right now. So that's what I said. I said, you have to be a great skater to be a goalie. And like I was with people, they're like, what are you talking about people who don't never play it?

I'm like, yeah, it's like all your edge work. And then the question got brought up is another one. Would a goalie who's playing out in regular gear, would he stick out more than a forward who goes in net and is playing goal in the NHL? I think a forward in net would look way worse than a goalie dressed in normal gear playing D. What do you think, Chris?

I think when I used to watch Flower go out just skates and normal glove and stick, he was pretty good. So I would definitely say the player going in net and uh that's just because that's because all of them these days are good skaters so if you're skating decent you might be like well he's got kind of a weird stride and he's got bad mitts but fuck i had bad mitts and a weird stride hey or or me it's like the goalie the goalie playing out the guy out playing goalie or just me in general who would look more out of place i just know if i was in net like my angles it would be oh yeah i would have no clue you would get exposed at the with those ankles especially

i used to do that all the time like the flower i used to go out after practice all the time and like i'd put a trackie on and just go rip pills uh that was like the most fun after because like in american league i would do it a lot because you you practice on like monday and tuesday and you wouldn't have a game till like friday yeah so you could you could just go actually last year so i used to do all the time in charlotte and then uh my other my goalie partner in charlotte was chris gibson and then he ended up joining us like after a couple weeks in coachella last year and we're down in coachella and we're playing two on two after practice. Me and him versus Jess Campbell, our assistant coach, and Colin Zulianalo, our goalie coach.

And we had visors on. Gibby ate a puck in the teeth, lost two front teeth. Jibs, root canal, the whole song and dance. Jacques Blanc gets a little more respect from you guys now. I haven't played out after practice since that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're done now. I want to go back to your dad.

Obviously, he was a big support system for you coming up. He was a goalie as well. Now, was he one of those fathers that that that pushed you like maybe a little bit too much sometimes or was he like hey if you don't want to do it i don't care and a very laid-back approach and maybe that's why you went on to have success he was definitely my biggest influence in my hockey career uh my mentor like we still talk almost every day about hockey and not even always just about me just we all we love hockey. We're a big time hockey family. He, I think, you know, he never like pressured me to be a goalie.

He never pressured me to be a hockey player, but it was just kind of in my blood. I remember honestly, like I was, I think I was 12 or 13 years old and we were driving home from a practice and I don't know, I wasn't really that sold on goalie. Like I just, I always asked him to play out. I always asked to like shoot pucks. I always wanted to score goals. Um, and he looked at me in the car one time and he was like, Hey, like we you're 13 years old, 12, 13 years old. Like we got to make a decision here. If you want to be, if you want to be a skater, that's fine. We'll start power, uh, power skating. We'll start skills work, like no problem. And you know, up until that point, I'd been doing a lot of goalie training I looked at him I was like dad I want to play like d1 I want to play

in the NHL like what do you think I have a better chance of doing and he was like I think you have a chance to be a pretty good goalie and I was like all right well and like I want to be a legit goalie then and that was kind of when we decided and I think he he definitely pushed me really hard but he also knew like when to push me and when to give it to me and also when to back off and be like my dad. I think that's something that's really hard for someone who he is a coach. He's worked for the Bruins. He's worked for the Leafs. He's worked for the Coyotes.

He's a goalie coach at BU right now. He's had his goalie school and now it'll be 25 years this year. It's kind of in his blood to be a goalie school and now it'll be 25 years this year so it's kind of in his in his blood to be a goalie coach and and i think he he did a really good job of knowing when to switch it on and off and now it's really cool it's like you know being a pro and and he's just my dad now and we we still talk about stuff and every once in a while we'll look over a clip or something but he's just my dad and when we when we get the opportunity to skate in the summer, it's really special. I just try to take advantage of all of that opportunity. I've gotten to know your dad a little bit

being around BU this year. They got a goalie in from Brown, Matthew Caron. The boys call him Chewy. Your dad's done awesome with him. He loves being coached by your dad. Just talking to him, really interesting hockey mind because he's talking about so many different plays that lead up to the chance against. He knows the game and then i i actually met your mom

i think it was their anniversary your mom said yeah i'm in a hockey rink standard so it was funny but then he was explaining he played over in swiss and that that's where he met her yeah so my dad played uh three years at merrimack college and then um his like grandparents are from switzerland so he had a swiss passport which is big for that league right like you need to you pretty much need a swiss pass so you don't don't have to use an import card um so he played over there for a while and then yeah met my mom and then dragged her back here and she's been stuck in hockey rigs the last 27 years he played with big jim veezy there right for a couple of years? I don't know. No, he definitely – Oh, at Merrimack?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. As far as when you signed with Ottawa, you could have waited a few more months and sort of had your pick of the litter there if you waited, I think, four or five more months. Was it a matter of sort of reciprocating that loyalty back to Ottawa that they had with you? You just didn't want to be loyal, I guess? Definitely.

It was kind of interesting. I had a weird journey. I've had a unique journey my whole career. I actually got drafted my second draft year. It wasn't even my first draft year, so I was a 14th rounder. I'm pretty sure they ran out of people to draft, so they were like, we saw this kid play a few weeks ago at the Beantown Classic,

so I guess we can just take him. When I showed up to camp, they had me on the roster as a camp invite. They didn't even know they drafted me. Oh, nice start yeah so i was like all right sweet i guess i got invited to camp but i i didn't care i couldn't have been more excited uh they gave me like a triple x shirt because that's all they had left like the t-shirt my t-shirt was a triple xl i was swimming in it um but i if you still got it all right i'll take it wow i've kind of done away with him if you paid attention i kind of slimmed down a bit but anyways oh okay sorry sorry never mind keep it i'll sell it on the trunk of my car and we'll

split the profits when it came time to sign with Ottawa, I felt like they had put five years into me and really committed a lot of time and effort and developed me and brought me to a bunch of dev camps and sent people out to come visit me and really put a lot of effort and time into me. And I felt like it was the right thing to do to sign with Ottawa. And they also gave me an awesome opportunity to sign right out of school burn the year play right away in the NHL and I thought that was you know if you get an opportunity to play a game in the NHL you I feel like you have to take it even though at the time like I definitely was not ready yet to play in the NHL as a goalie but I may have never gotten that opportunity again to play in the NHL so that was definitely a huge factor and absolutely RA like you said just the loyalty I feel like I've always kind of been like a loyalty guy, even back to when I was in youth hockey, all these kids were jumping around playing for different teams. I always pretty much stuck

with the same team. I was never chasing around trying to find the best team or whatever. And I felt like that was really important for me and all the time and effort they put into me to sign with them and, you know, start my career in that organization. Loyalty is a great trait. Young kids out there that are always kind of chasing that. But with the team this year, I mean a real tough start, right?

And like everyone's kind of what's going on. They had all that magic last year. And, and obviously like your play has changed everything, but what else do you think at the beginning has changed so much to, to be on this run now? Like we're guys, we're guys like gripping the sticks tight?

Did they think it would be easy after getting to the second round? What do you think has changed? I think you kind of just said it. I was only here for five games last year, so I can't speak to the full season of the group. I wasn't here for playoffs either. season of the group and i wasn't here for playoffs um either but i think for anything that you do when you make it to as far as they did and and you surpass expectations so greatly like they did it's hard to like show up on game one the next year and be like wait we worked our absolute nuts off to get to where we did right like this is like a group that that thrives off of working

hard and work ethic and competing and staying on pucks and battling and like just grinding out as a team and i think when you show up the next year i mean even i think coachella valley had a bit of a rocky start at the beginning and now they've picked it up like you go to the color cup finals you go to the second round of the nhl playoffs you you exceed expectations it's hard to then on game one to the next year be it'd be like, or to not think, oh yeah, we're just going to show up and do it again. And I think, honestly, I don't think we were playing that bad at the beginning of the year.

We just like, we just kept finding ways to lose here and there. It'd be one goal here, one goal there, a goal called back here and there that didn't count or whatever. And all of a sudden, I think, you know, 25 games in, we'd played the third most one goal games in the league. Like we, we were in every single game. We were just finding ways to lose. And I think we're leading the league in, um, uh, overtime losses. So if you take half those OT losses and you put them to wins and we're chilling right now. So we've, you know, we've kind of found our groove here the last 10, 12 and we started to to play really well i think like i said before we just we're a hard-working group and when we we need all four lines all 60 and the goalie going every night um and we've we've kind of found that here lately and it's been a lot of fun to watch and feel the momentum grow and i think uh the winter classic definitely was i think

we're going to use that as a springboard and keep moving forward from there i was going to say that was my first experience of hockey in Seattle, and it was overwhelming. The fans were incredible. Now, playing in a place like Seattle where the fans are bonkers, were they getting on you guys a little bit at the start of the year, or is it one of those fandoms where they're positive regardless? They're ride or die.

Yeah, they're awesome. I mean, I think any anytime it's not going well, there's going to be a little bit of frustration, but I think they still believed in us and believed in the group. I mean, we returned so many guys that were here last year that it was only a matter of time before we found our game. And they were right there with us the whole way. And like you said, that Winter Classic was absolutely bananas.

I couldn't believe it. Coming out of the dugout and seeing a full baseball stadium, 50,000 people was, um, it was insane. And it's something I'll never forget. And just to get the support that we got was like, it was out of a movie,

like literally the next day after, uh, after the winter classic, like I came downstairs, like we had a day off. So I slept in and came downstairs. And then that like cocoa cup was sitting on my kitchen island. And I like, I was like, my kitchen island and i like i was like

what the like did that just happen yeah like a real thing you know like taking pictures with wayne gretzky and like you know the whole thing shut out the the stanley cup champs like playing on a baseball like it was just like nuts that's unreal that is joe before this season i think you had 15 total starts you already have 21 this year have you had to make any sort of adjustments with the higher workload or you just kind of keep the status quo keep doing what you've always done i think last year like the playoff run in in coachella valley helped a lot like i played 26 straight games in in playoffs which was the most i've ever played in a row uh which was nuts and i think think I learned a lot. I remember calling my dad like

during that playoff run and telling him, hey, this is kind of what it's like to be an NHL starter. You know, in the American League, you pretty much play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with a few weekday games sprinkled in. So you're never really playing like every game you're playing, you know, one of the two back to back games. So I remember calling him and we were playing every other day for the Firebirds. And I was saying, hey, this is kind of what it's going to be like if I get the chance to be an NHL starter. And then I think the last couple of weeks here, I've played every game except for one. So I definitely learned how to do that last year, I think. That's awesome. I was going to ask anything unexpected about the Winter Classic? Like, did you know those fishes were going to be thrown between you guys? No clue. Were you worried about getting clipped? Was there anything else that was like oh wow that would that's that made it even better experience well i think the whole

thing was just nuts like we we didn't really know what to expect at all they didn't really tell us a whole lot like we didn't even know we were going we weren't going on the ice for the national anthem like they kind of stopped me right at the door and then they pulled out the huge flag for the national anthem that filled the whole ice i I was like, all right, well, we're probably not going out there. And yeah, definitely just like fish getting thrown over my head. And then they had a guy dangling from the helicopter for the flyover. It was just like a surreal experience. And I thought it represented Seattle and Seattle hockey in an awesome way.

So it was really cool to represent the team and the city in that moment. I heard Ron Francis talking about they had a party the night before, a dinner for about 300 people, all your guys' family and everyone that was in town for the game. That must have been incredible. I mean, talk about a great job by the Kraken, including everyone and just getting everyone together the night before the game. So how was that? Well, the Kraken are a first class organization and they take unbelievable care of us.

We all had so many family and friends in town. And I had my family, my brother, my girlfriend and her family, my three best friends from home. Everyone came and everyone kind of had a crew like that. So then when you take all of those people and you put them in a room together, it was kind of like one big family. And yeah, we, we had a great night and a lot of fun and had a big dinner with everyone together. So it was a special night and I was sitting there, I was thinking the night before I was kind of looking around at all the people and I was like, it would really suck if we got shelled tomorrow.

And ended up working out and being an awesome game and such a fun experience for everyone. So I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life. So we got a guy part of our squad, Colby Armstrong, and he holds the record for the quickest goal to start a winter classic. I think it was like 20 seconds into the one in Buffalo with the Penguins. And now it's pretty sick, man. You're the only goalie to pitch a shutout in one of those games.

So you're going to be like him, just waiting and waiting every year. And once both teams score, yep, I still got this thing. It's pretty impressive. I had no idea that that was a thing. I didn't either. I had no idea. They kind of told me after, and I was pretty shocked. I couldn't believe that.

You're dabbing up Gary Bettman on your way back to the dugout with the cocoa cup and hey and buoy what do you make a buoy that ugly fuck uh my boy so that's your boy all right that's my boy yeah so all right watch your mouth biz yeah sorry i think i think you guys can patch it up i think you can he's a nice guy he's a nice guy. He's a nice guy. Oh, he's in the hospital still. I skinned him. Look at this.

I skinned him. I got his skin on right now. Keep his mascot's name out, you fucking mouth biz. Yeah. Big Tom Brady fan, being from the region. You were picked 199th like him. Did you realize that right away? Or was it something that was pointed out to you later down the line?

My best friend was actually at my house. So my first draft year like i watched the whole draft and i was in yeah i was in tears by the end of it it's just rough like i think i was 14th on the central scouting list which between like the american or north american and international list there's usually like 40 or 50 goalies between the two lists and about 30 get taken usually 25 to 30 goalies get taken so I was 14 in North America so I thought I had a good chance you know like that's puts me right probably end of the seventh round and um ended up not getting picked and it was devastated you know it's a really tough day and I was so pumped I didn't go to the draft like I would have been a nightmare um so I said the second year i was like i can't do

this so me and my me my best friend colin we uh we went and played golf the second year and uh came back from the round and it was just i think it was like half through the sixth round and my dad was glued to the tv like marking every goalie that got picked and you know classic and i couldn't watch i was sitting out on the deck um in in my my at my parents house and uh me and my dad both got a phone call at the exact same time and that was kind of when we kind of looked at each other and and knew something good was happening so it was my agent and auto calling so then found out i got picked um and then we saw it was 199 and my best friend calling at the time knew right away he goes 199 same as tom brady and i was like that's not like growing up you know huge boston sports fan tom brady fan um just like super cool and at that

time and still is probably my claim to fame so pretty sweet yeah keep building that i was gonna i was gonna ask about going back to college like i asked you on the broadcast you said that powers put a little bit of salt and pepper on the story. But in your first college game, you guys went to Notre Dame. And when you play, I think you got shelled for nine goals. And then partway through the game, he asked if you wanted to come out. And you're like, no, I'm going to eat it. Like I want to learn from this. Yeah.

So my first game, we went on the road to Notre Dame. And they were loaded. Like that was, they had Bjork and Cal Peterson was their goalie. Like they were stacked. And we still had a team full of half club guys so we were we were still in transition mode um i remember i got scored on first first or second shift where like they went back door and i came flying over and i was like this is gonna be an unreal save and they just tapped it back door again and tapped it and i'd be bad and i was like this is gonna be a rough one but we actually uh i think they went three for seven on five on three power plays like they were on the power play the whole game it was a nightmare i think i had 50 50 something shots um after the second

period it was like six two maybe and i was skating off the ice and um coach powers was like the last one all the guys had gotten off the ice and coach powers, the last one standing at the door and he goes, you want me to take you out? And I was like, no, I'm good. And kept going. And I mean, probably could have gone either way. I, when I was skating over, I thought I was getting taken out for sure. Um, but you're like, you're never going to be able to take me off the ice if it's my choice. So, um, I'm staying in there. I saw the Vazzy thing a while back. Like, I think it's kind of a mindset thing for goalies. Like we want to be in there.

We want to be part of the team. You know, I, I try to include myself as part of the team always. Like I don't try to be the goalie. That's just like an outcast and kind of does his own thing. I want to be part of the team. That's, it's a big reason why, like I stand on the blue line for the national anthem with all the boys. Like I'm, I want to be one of the boys. I don't want to be all this special goalie over there who does his own thing. I always want to be part of the group. You have to pull me off the ice before I come off on my own. That's awesome.

Joe, is that a deep down thing? You say even though I got shit tonight, I'm not well. Is it just a matter of not wanting to quit and the boys? I don't want to take myself out. These are my teammates. Is that the difference right there? Even if I said, yeah.

Okay. I think even like when it's going well and it's not going well, you just, I can't speak for other guys, but I know my mindset is just like, I've kind of, I've got the hoodie on funny enough. Um,

I'm just always keep going. You know, if it's going well or not, you just keep going and keep going and keep pushing yourself. And, um, some nights going to go your way. some nights it isn't and no matter what like you just can't give up you're always got to battle always compete um my high school soccer coach always used to say like you're never out of the fight and i love that quote and um that's the same kind of thing as keep going you just always keep battling battling, keep competing, keep fighting. You know, some nights it's not, you're not going to have it and coach is going to take you out and that's fine.

That's normal for any goalie. But no matter what, you always got to keep going. I would have given myself the hook after like a quick one. I give up one first shift. I would have been like, grab me a hot dog from the catwalk there and bring down a couple of shows. Oh man. Is that kind of what kept you going though?

When like after, I think you played in your first game with Ottawa, is that when you got injured and had a pretty nasty leg injury? So, you know, you go all of a sudden you go back down to the minors, not the way that you envision your pro career going, but through those ups and downs, it's that mentality kind of what kept you going, the, the, going, whatever your soccer coach told to you? Definitely part of it. I'll kind of give you a long story short here, but I played my first game right out of school. And then the next year I came back and I was at a training camp, got sent to the East Coast League, which was a big surprise to me.

We were pretty much told beforehand, hey, you're not going to be going to the coast. You're going to be in the American League. And, um, I played half of an AHL preseason game and got sent right to the coast. So that was a big, uh, you know, wake up call for me and went down to the ECHL. And I think I played 12 games and went, went okay. Got called up, um, got to play one game, beat Hershey, uh, three to one and played really well and kind of earned the coach's trust in the American League um a couple guys got hurt again got called back up and then I stayed in the American League the rest of the year and then COVID ended the season and um had to re-sign so I was able to sign a new contract after that and then going to the next year

um I was the third goalie I got called up it was the COVID shortened season got called up both both the uh first two goalies got hurt I got to play it was the COVID shortened season got called up both the both the first two goalies got hurt I got to play a couple games in a row I played eight games that year and I think I played four games in six days and in the in the sixth game or in the fourth game there my eighth game of the year I had a high ankle sprain just snapped the ligament in my ankle and those are they're rough in general but they're really rough for goalies because of the way we have to butterfly and then the way we have to go into the post and um those are those are not not easy to come back from so I missed the rest of the year and I think both the first two goalies got hurt and then they had come back and they were healthy and I was still playing and DJ Smith

at the time was like hey you're playing great like we're gonna keep playing yeah and I felt like I'd kind of made the NHL almost and was getting opportunity to solidify myself pretty quickly like that was only my second full year pro and then I got hurt missed the rest of the year and then ended up getting drafted in expansion and pretty much got sent right to the minors after that and then it was two more full years the minors so at the time time it was really rough. But now when I look back at it, like the last two years were really what prepared me to take advantage of my opportunity now. And, you know, they say patience is a virtue. And I think at the time I was, you know, pretty rattled about it because I felt like I was so close to making it full time and establishing myself as a full-time NHLer and then took me two years and about 120 more more starts before I got back but um now I'm back and just trying to take advantage of every opportunity and I think it gives you a great perspective on being grateful and appreciative of the opportunity and just trying to make the most of every minute you know I've said it a couple times but it's not going to go

your way every night but if you just battle and compete and um you know be positive be happy have fun enjoy the moment be grateful for it it's um you know i've listened to your guys podcast a lot and heard the ants talk about um you know there's never a bad day to be in the nhl so um i couldn't agree more well man i mean if if the seattle fans are are already chanting joey after hearing this yeah hearing this story it's incredible, man. I love hearing different routes and different ways to get somewhere. It's really cool. I'm happy for you.

This is just out of pocket this whole time in the background with a little comment. That's what we do. We're in the locker room right now. I'm going to bust out the helicopter cock here for this interview. This was a 10 out of 10 right now. Right, R.A.? Oh, always busy.

You're never in pocket. As a pro, Joe, what's the best off-ice advice your dad gave you and best on-ice advice from your dad as a pro? My dad and I always talk about calluses. And, like, anytime something bad happens to you, it's just another callus and another you know opportunity to learn from it um we've talked a lot a lot a lot lately about a specific quote by kobe bryant um and he talks about you know whether you win or you lose you wake up and go to practice again the next day and i think that's something that you know maybe not in a

in that specific way it was said but we've always just talked about learning from the negatives, growing through the positives and just always trying to become better and always, you know, never being complacent, never being satisfied, always trying to get better. There's always something you can do. There's always ways to improve no matter how well you played or um you know if it didn't go your way and i think that's something off the ice we've always talked about is just embracing it embracing the grind um you know more calluses more like i think about that nine goal game and i remember i came up after the game and said to my dad i I think I played pretty good. And, uh, and, uh, I had my guy, you know, yeah. And, and, uh, you know, at the same time also, I was like, but there's a lot that I can work on and this is going to be a lot of fun. So, you know, it was, it was a long road. And

especially even now, when I look back at like ASU, my first year to my third year, when we, we went on that magical run and made the NCAA tournament. Just the growth that happened for myself and through the team and the program there was magical. And now to be in my fifth year pro and still humming around is pretty special. We've kept this interview pretty hockey-centric. What do you do outside of hockey? What are your weird hobbies? Yeah, I definitely play some golf with the boys in the summer.

Honestly, I'm like a big sports guy. I like me and my brother play tennis all the time, play soccer. Like I was a three sport captain in high school. I played hockey, soccer, and tennis. So, um, I, I love playing sports. Like I still honestly wish like I had time to play soccer and tennis and football. And, you know, I try to make that a big part of my workout. It's just like being athletic and doing other things and not just being super like hockey specific um so yeah play a lot of sports and get out and be active and definitely get in the sun do you have a premier league team

yeah i'm a man united guy sorry whit oh jesus we're terrible though we're so are we so are we so i can't right now i haven't even checked the score we're playing Wigan in the FA Cup, and I'm just praying they don't lose because they're not even in the Premier League right now. If they lose to Wigan, dude. And they played their actual starting 11, too, which is horrific in the FA Cup. They're up 1-0 in the 60th minute, so at least it's looking okay for you right now. Well, I think the only thing that could bring this thing to a screeching halt is you hitting up

Chippewa Street tonight, so stay away from there and keep this thing buzzing, man. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you and I'm real happy. It's a great story and continue all the success. Thank you. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun and hopefully we'll keep this thing going. Absolutely. Thanks a bunch, Joe.

Thanks, guys. Thank you very much to Joey Decord. I hope everyone enjoyed that interview as much as we did interviewing him. And the story he actually told us after we were just shooting the shit, waiting for the things to download is in terms of his adversity and what he dealt with and how long of a route he's taken to get to the NHL was. So he couldn't get a scholarship, and there was a college, he asked us not to name, that said,

listen, if you come up and have an official visit, we want to offer you a scholarship. And he said, oh, no doubt. So him and his dad drive up, and the team actually mentioned, the school mentioned, there's two other kids that we want to talk to and we want to have come look at the school. Can you drive them up as well? So him and his dad, right, they're the Ubers.

They bring these two kids up, so there's three players going up and the two kids they bring up they get offered scholarships and decord goes in to meet with the coach and he says ah we will not be offering you a scholarship like uh all right you just had me drive up these two guys you promised me one six hours each way by the way six hours each. So figure out the school, which school you think it is, based on Andover, Massachusetts. They won't be making a Grinnelli College visit through the locker room. Maybe you will, but you'll leave a dump in their fucking toilet. Honestly, that school, I don't think you'd ever be going up there

for a chick with you anyway. So Joey DeCordo, I hope everyone enjoyed that. I mean, what a humble person. And I love hearing stories of kids who have battled it and stayed positive. And you could tell his relationship with his dad meant so much to him. But as I said in the interview, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Don't ever forget that, no matter who you are. So I love talking to him, and I wish him all the best.

Yeah, especially for a current player. So many takeaways from the interview about how good it is for a goalie to play the other positions to maybe understand the structure aspect and what else it can do, like puck playing ability. An incredible story. Learned a lot. And thank you to Joey, Joey, Joey for coming on. Yeah, Biz.

He was very thoughtful with his answers too, I noticed. But another member of his goalie union, Marc-Andre Fleury. Great night for him the other night. He tied Patrick Loise 551 wins. His next victory will put him number two behind Martin Brodeur's 691. A wild way he got it, too. Looked like the game was going to be over.

Columbus had an empty net, missed it after his attempted Superman dive and save. Go down the other end, tie it, win it in OT. Just a great accomplishment. Whit, I know he's your old teammate. You wanted to chime in here as well. Yeah, an amazing feat. An amazing guy. We've talked about Fleury probably as much as any other player on this podcast since it began.

Just how enjoyable he is to be around. The type of player he is. The type of guy in the room. But what I thought was crazy was the fact that he's playing in Cape Breton in the Quebec League, and he gets picked first overall. He has this Hall of Fame career. The night comes to tie Patrick Waugh for the all-time wins, and who does he do it against?

His junior coach, Pascal Vincent, who's now the coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. What are the chances that his junior coach ends up being behind the bench? And I think he actually had, Vincent had a quote after. He's like, at that point, I said, fuck, just take it. Like, he just knew. He saw the kid when he was 17 years old.

He saw the talent and the desire, and it just all comes full circle for him to tie wall in front of his junior coach. So that was a pretty cool story and pretty ironic. And still pranking. I've been pranked twice by Fleury. In the NHL, we had that uh there was like a dinner with all the fans and maybe some of the sponsors and then he sewed my pant leg in half

and then and then my uh whatever i had in my pockets in my pocket so i couldn't get in my pockets but they were still there and bulky and then when we were in the ahl i think that was the time he should have been in the nhL but the bonuses were so much that he was getting that they sent him down and uh I had this hot date that was going to arena bar and grill and I was talking in the locker room about her big old tits on her blonde and I thought it was so cool so we're in the bar and he didn't go up to the bar that night but I I parked my truck truck out front because I drove there I wasn't going to drive home obviously but he fucking a toilet paper and like paper towel the entire thing with all this like shaving cream

so i came out and like i you had to like and i was leaving it there so you come back the next day it's caked on you got to drive to the place you got to hose it all down so obviously we all walked out at the same time with the boys and I was the butt of the joke and never ended up getting laid. So thanks a lot, Flower. I mean, he's got like half my family. He shoe-checked my father, for Christ's sake. No, he didn't. Yeah, he did. Where?

He's crawling under the table on the dad's trip in New York. Just a big old thing of butter on my dad's fresh Doc Martens. Oof. Flower never stopped. No, he never stops. Still doing it, too. We can't wait for Toronto, man. All-star weekend.

It's going to be a blast. They did announce the first 32 players on ESPN the other night. Not going to go through them all. You can easily look them up online. Eight players making their first appearance. They're going to elect another 12 players, eight skaters and four goalies. They're going to be voted in by fans on NHL.com or the app.

Hopefully they work and their votes go through. Four teams are going to be drafted on February 1st. Two of the captains we know of right now, McDavid and Nate Doug. They're also going to have celebrity captains involved as well. There were actually some real nice clips going around, too. The one with Frankie Vetrano, his wife and daughter. Of course, he's been around for a bit. His first All-Star game.

Congrats, Frankie. Another asshole out there. But. Of course, he's been around for a bit. His first All-Star game. Congrats, Frankie. Another mass hole out there. But then Tom Wilson, he found out from his dad. They had a little video conference. And just a great moment. Willie's second All-Star. And, sorry, Whit, I know you wanted to talk about the Capitals here for a second. Another thing that happened over the weekend.

Yeah, well, that video was great. Wilson's dad. And he mentions, you know, we're from Toronto. We're all going to be there. Your 95-year-old grandfather is going to be so excited. So I can't imagine what that will mean to Tom Wilson. It goes into that clip Sunday after the Caps had a huge win against the Kings. The lock of the century.

4-3. R.A. gave me the lock of the century. Then I gave it out to everyone else, and I got smoked. But no worries, R.A. Everyone gives out an occasional loser. You've been hot. But this clip that I tweeted of Spencer Carberry talking to the team after, it made me miss playing hockey more than anything I've seen in quite a while.

First off, I don't know anything about Spencer Carberry. They just came off a win when coaches are happy and fun to be around. He seemed like the man. First, he talks about Nick Dowd's line. He looks over at Nick Dowd. Your line was unbelievable all night. And then the camera pants that Dowd, he's like hides his spitter. He's got a dip and he hides his spitter. So that's part of the locker room. The boy's getting a dip in. Then he pumps John Carlson's tire for his 500th career point, which was the game winning goal with about a minute left, playing L.A. at home, huge win. Then he goes over and he talks about Kemper

and how good he's been, right? And then you see Tom Wilson. He's got his nose stuffed with whatever it is. The gauze. He's bleeding everywhere. Willie, that's how to be tough and come on back. It was just everything that it means to be on a team. I'm not even talking about just the NHL.

It's like you come into the room after a win. You see one guy, hey, great block out there. You played unbelievable tonight. You say to the goalie, you were kicking, dude, awesome job. Guy who gets the game-winning goal, he gets the belt. It's just being in a locker room is the best thing in the world. And you get to see all these different personalities that are all buying into the same goal one goal and winning and i think that that team has done such a great job of starting horrific with a new coach they have like not much offense ovies had a down year but they somehow continue

to get it done and and just seeing like all different aspects of a team after a win in all in one clip with a coach giving a hell of a speech, it was just phenomenal to witness, phenomenal to see, and it made me really miss being a hockey player because the locker rooms where you have the best memories, you know, post-win, it's all happy, it's all joy, and it's a bunch of music being blared. So I thought it was great to see and good for the Capitals, and congrats to Tom Wilson.

Whew! Well said, witty boy. It was just... Remember the locker room after a bit? Remember the locker room in Wilkes-Barre? That's how I feel right now. After the Sunday game, 3-3, you got Monday off. Take me back. I would let you break both of my legs to go back in time for that right now. How good did the beers taste after that?

Oh, my God. You haven't eaten anything. You're buckled after a couple. You haven't eaten anything. You're buckled after a couple. You're laughing with the fellas. Soap in the cocks up in the shower. Maybe you got a couple fish in the line. You got a couple fish in the line, Biz. Your car's getting toilet paper by one of the vets.

Doesn't matter, though. The blonde with the bomb showed up. Doesn't matter. Hockey locker rooms. And the pops are cold at Arena Bar and Grill. We've somehow managed to finagle this podcast into a Zoom locker room, and I still miss the real thing. That's how I feel right now.

R.A. was humming out of the gate with the, Hello. You knew he was bringing his eight. He was telling us how good he used to be. He was like the stick boy. Hey, but hey, I got pictures to back it up. So, gee, you looked like a hockey player. You looked like you had a –

Good gear wear. Good gear wear. You looked like a 5-23 kind of guy with 28 points just under a point a game in your senior year. They had three captains, though. Three C's. Not a C and two A's. Three C's. He couldn't

even get an A. I told Witt, too, I already messaged my science teacher and the Burlington TV network looking for game footage from 2010-2011, so we'll see. Your gear setup was nice. All Bauer. I know. And the Burlington TV Network looking for game footage from 2010, 2011. So we'll see. Your gear setup was nice. All Bauer.

Bauer head to toe, baby. What about the pants? Bauer too? Bauer pants too. Were you a shell guy or a full pant? They made us wear a blue shell. Red, white, and blue. Awesome colors.

The red devils of Burlington. What a logo. Jay Pandolfo, star of Burlington High, went on to play in the NHL, win Stanley Cup. So it's a power program. I'll say that. Power program. And I'll say this.

My D partner did go on to play at BU. He's playing in England right now, Brian Diffley. So... Comeback time. You guys are the Red Devils? Up there? Yes.

Yep. Wow. Chelsea might have something to say about that. Chelsea has a hockey team? Well, the Chelsea Red Devils, that's their... I didn't even know Chelsea had like a sports program. Oh, fuck yeah. We got to, before we get off the All-Star stuff,

we got to talk about Oliver Bjorkstrand. I mean, he gets told by Haxtell he's made the All-Star team and it was like, did they just tell him his dog got run over or something? It was like he got sent down. Yeah, exactly. To the coast. Right to the coast. Everyone had a laugh about it.

Then he came out on Instagram and said, no, no, I'm very happy about it. And then he had a picture of his canceled reservation he put on his Instagram. Oh, the ARBB looked beautiful too. It had a nice little backyard. But he did mention on that post, he said, ask my wife. Oh, the ARPB looked beautiful, too. It had a nice little backyard. But he did mention on that post, he said, ask my wife. I'm not great at receiving good news. You can't tell.

I'm very excited to go to Toronto and not get to do the skills and get to sell popcorn in the stands because that's the plan Biz wants for the non-8, non-12 guys that are playing for a million. Popcorn here. Get your beer. Get your popcorn. Hilarious. He won't be making much in sales. He doesn't have much of a million. Popcorn here. Get your beer. Get your popcorn. Hilarious. He won't be making much in sales. Abe Yorkstrain doesn't have much of a pulse.

That's sometimes what makes these guys so skillful and good on the ice, though, is because they're just chill, calm, cooled, and demeanored. He didn't have the best of reactions. Why would they post that? I know. Yeah. Why would they just keep that one on the holster? Yeah.

Unless they knew to set it up for the fucking slam dunk. Maybe he asked them to post it hoping that the league would rescind the invite. Do you think that we should pump the brakes on these type of announcement videos? I'm just asking. Not before we pump the brakes on the return to the team, big screen, like, welcome back. Like, let's address that first before we address. Oh, you're saying a guy who played 100 games for the organization.

100. They got guys playing 20 games coming back and getting a big old, like, standing ovation. Get the family there, the flowers for the wife. Jonathan Quick definitely deserved it from Columbus Witt. What are you talking about? That was hilarious. Yeah, that was funny.

That was good stuff. Congrats to Sid Crosby. Didn't Bertuzzi get one from the Bruins? That was a hell of a playoff run. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That seven games was so amazing. I mean, he played awesome.

And I don't know if he definitely got one, but that would be one. It's like, come on, what are we doing here? Sid's sixth All-Star game in 19 seasons. It seems like it should have been more. I know he had some injuries, but I want to give him a congratulations, and also congrats to Connor McDavid.

When he put up a goal in four assists for his Philly last week, he became the fifth fastest NHL to reach 900 points. He got it done in his 602nd game. Only four guys ahead of him. Gretzky in 385. Mario in 463. Mike Bossy in 582.

And Peter Stastny in 599. Just a number he keeps taking down. Gretzky getting 900 points in 385 games. It's crazy. Ridiculous. That ain't being broke. Absolutely obscene. That one's safe safe 385 games but what's most

fascinating about McDavid is each hundred he's gotten how he's closing in on the amount of games it takes him to get done I think he's broken his record every time on to the next hundred points the next hundred points yeah right is that not the what's so special about him all right I don't know if you have the stat for that one I yeah, my math's not good as we know, but I mean, he's fucking unbelievable, dude. What can you say about McNeil? I don't know. So the Oilers have...

The Oilers have... They have 41 plus 5. They have 46 games left. I think 75 points is safe for him. If he plays the last 46 games, you got to think, 75 is probably standard. Then all of a sudden,

he's going to beat 1,000 10 games into next year. It's nuts. It's truly amazing every night to watch him. He has the haters out there. Win a cup. Do something. Get it done. haters out there. Win a cup. Do something. Get it done.

But if you're strictly just like a hockey fan and you watch an Oilers game, there's 10 plays a night that are insane. A guy I do PT with, my buddy Cam, he went to the Devils game when Edmonton was in town. And Edmonton had just got blown out by the Islanders 5-1. And he never got to see McDavid play in person. Actually, he was down.

His friend, he works with the Devils as like their PT guy. I don't know the exact title he has. But he's walking out and boom, he bumped into McDavid. He buried McDusty right before the game. He said he's very polite. I apologize. I apologize. But he said just getting to watch him in person.

He's like the stuff that you don't even notice on TV, the quick cutbacks, the little five-foot dishes exploding into open space. It's actually a joy to watch the guy play, and I don't think we've ever seen anyone that dynamic and that fast with the puck, and I don't know if we ever will again. Yeah, it's a treat to cover the sport. I'll tell you that.

Franchise tag. Speaking of treats, I'm not sure. 50 million biz, right? 50 sheets. Not sure if this guy is quite a treat. Give him the you that. Speaking of treats, I'm not sure. 50 sheets. Not sure if this guy is quite a treat. Give him the cactus club across the street, too. We're going to bring him on anyways. Give him part of the mall.

Did you see the clip of Jason Greger asking him, hey, when it snows, are you the guy out there in the morning shoveling the driveway? I got a snow plow and he's kind of hemmed and hawed. He's driveway like i got a snowplow and he's he like kind of hemmed and hawed he's like i i got a heated i got a heated drive so it's not an issue okay i like that who's who is the guy who was getting oh no the everybody reads specter he got pitch and tossed again he did

yes all bad torts everybody reads spec he was asking torts about mcdavid and dry side he goes i don't i don't want to talk about the other team i want to talk about he's getting pigeon tossed by coaches too oh yeah oh yeah specs had a tough year we're still trying to get him on the pod he pigeon tossed wit last time but i always like getting the you know the old boys club as far as the journos and maybe you think we could get Steve Simmons on sometime? I think Speck and Simmons are guys that are furious when the Oilers and the Leafs are doing well.

They make their bones when those teams are playing like shit. You know what I mean? We should do a combo pod where we get them each for $45. We get seven downloads. No, I think we would double. I think people would love to know what Speck had. I mean, if Speck

brought the noise and the heat like he did on the phone call of when you called him, I think that we're getting double downloads. He might get more than the Wayne pod. Everybody reads Speck. Everybody fucking reads Speck. Everybody reads Speck.

We're doing this 35 years. Everybody reads Pasha too, right, G? I love it. Where's that boy? Pull that curtain back. We got Mr. Pash coming on. What's up, buddy? What's up, boys?

What's going on? Man, your team. Holy shit, buddy. They're going through it right now, man. It's fucked. They got like 13 guys injured right now. I've never seen anything like it this year. They get healthy for a game, and all of a sudden boom their next best players out and i sent you that list

you know yeah sure hamilton meyer hughes palat it's just it's crazy but they're still in the playoff spot just shows you how resilient they are and uh they'll be all right they'll be all right gosh isn't it story time what i heard you had a doozy for us this week yeah yeah really special story from last week um coming back from seattle with biz and the gang we had a great time there and um uh my little buddy ralph who is uh joey supersteen's brother we've talked about joey on the show good friend of uh of biz and i and ralph is the son of the late donnie superstein also friend of the show uh great guy we've talked about lots. We all miss him.

So Raph turned 11 on January 1st, and then he just so happened to be in Vancouver for one night the next night, last Tuesday, before he went up to Kelowna for a little skiing trip. The Canucks happened to be playing Ottawa that night, and Ueno had come down from Seattle to see talk and meet him during the day and watch the game and whatever. So I took I took Raph to the game and I'd been talking with son Tristan. Shout out to Tristan, who's an absolute beauty.

And he mentioned the possibility of, you know, potentially meeting up with Wayne after the game and introducing Raph and all that. But I didn't want to get Raph's hopes too up. So, you know, I mentioned, you know, Wayne's at the game. Maybe we can meet him. And every 30 seconds he looks at me and goes, are meeting wayne later are we meeting wayne later and i'm like we'll see we'll see maybe maybe so take him to the game canucks are up like five nothing in the first eight minutes like it was like the wildest start to a game i've seen so ralph is just loving it um and then after the second period tristan texts me he says hey come meet us at this

section we got seats for you. So we go meet them. He kind of wheels us down to this little like this new sick lounge they've built, like right underneath the benches, like behind. And super cool, like restaurant seating, like, you know, top of the line. So we go. He kind of leads us in there. And who's sitting at this little round table? Wayne Gretzky and Chad Kruger. So we sit down.

Look at this photograph exactly exactly and these guys are so nice like i knew wayne and how nice he was but i was very impressed with how friendly chad was to raffy he's asking him questions raffy's telling him how you know he plays the drums they're talking about that wayno's shooting the shit with him and you know ralph looks at me and he's like wow like wayne knew my name and he's just like he's in heaven so third period starting and wayne goes ralph like come with me like let's go sit in the seats so ralph ends up sitting between chad and and uh and wayne and of course you know on the broadcast they're they're showing wayne every 30 seconds so ralph is getting blown up my phone's getting blown up with photos of people being like, is that Raph on TV? Like sitting beside Wayne and Chad Kruger.

It's the funniest photo ever. So that happened. That was incredible. And after the game, Raph comes in and he's in shock at this point. But the night of treats wasn't over for him because we went down to the locker room after that and I introduced him to Quinn. He got to meet Quinn. Quinn was nice enough to give him a signed stick, which was awesome. for him because we went down to the locker room after that and i introduced him to quinn he got

to meet quinn quinn was nice enough to give him a signed stick which was awesome he got to meet besser petterson talk it you know joking around with the guys you know they you know they gave him the time of day quinn was joking with him because raf had a coyote sweater on he's like man i should have given you a new sweater too so just the guys were just very friendly joking with him and it was honestly such a special night um i had as much fun as he did it was a great night and i was joking with ralph that you know he's famous now he's on tv and funny enough we're walking out of the rink going to my car and this guy comes up he goes hey you're the kid that got to me meet gretzky right like

yeah this guy's like man i've worked in live tv for 20 years like this is the only time i've ever been starstruck meeting wayne like you're so lucky this is incredible and so that was just a funny way to cap off what was a truly special night for ralph and you know like we mentioned he's been through a lot this was his first birthday since his dad donnie passed and it was just you know i felt very fortunate to just be able to experience such a special night with him. Yeah, shout out to Wayne and to Chad and to Tristan. And to you, Posh. Good for you for doing that, man.

Couple clicks for Posh. Couple clicks for me. Like I said, I had as much fun as Raph. I had a blast. And Raph's like a little brother to me. So did you see JT Miller down in the room? I was wondering the same thing. Did you see JT? Did he wondering the same thing did you see JT did he make eye contact

Pasha went in once JT went to the gym so I don't want to add unnecessary fuel to this fire that's kind of gotten out of control but as the players are kind of walking out I'm sitting there filming Ralph he's leaning over kind of give him the fist

bumps and Miller's walking by and we locked eyes for a couple seconds and there As the players are kind of walking out, I'm sitting there filming Ralph. He's leaning over, kind of giving him the fist bumps. And Miller's walking by, and we locked eyes for a couple seconds. And there was a bit of a stink eye there. I can't think. There was a bit of a stink eye there. And I sent you a screenshot from the video I was filming. And you could see him looking. He's like, security.

This motherfucker. How did he get down here? He probably got distracted by the light coming off that five head of yours oh pasha that's awesome you did that for him though yeah that's such a cool moment raf i was i had as much fun as him like i said it was it was a great time he might be the most photogenic kid too in the world he's such a great looking kid and and you know what like he's not your typical 10 11 year old like he is so mature. He grew up around the boys. Donnie didn't baby him.

He was around Joey just hearing the guys talk. This kid is so advanced. He is going to be such a weapon down the road. It's scary. Yeah. Even Wayne and Chad were saying, the eye contact when this kid's talking to us, he's like, this kid does not seem like he's 11.

It's truly like he's a special kid. I'm lucky to know him. And yeah, it was awesome. Rafi Superstein has an IMDB page for his appearance in a Watson Gloves commercial. Yes, he does. Him and Donnie. Yeah.

Oh, those are separate commercials. Separate commercials. They're both stars. But Rafi got the part because we couldn't implement him in the one where we were throwing his old man through a wall. That's true.

Yeah. Yeah. He was the Watson Gloves CEO. We made him where I come in and I slap him in the face with the gloves. So that was the one acting scene that Donnie Superstein got. I don't know how many people listening have seen the first and second Watson Glove commercial, but it was so fun to get him implemented in that. And Rafi, what a great kid. Thanks for coming on and sharing that with us, Posh.

Thanks for having me, boys. It was nice to not be hostile and confrontational for once. Yeah, this was nice. I know, Posh. This is like a different posture right now. Yeah, a little kumbaya. You know what? 2024, it's the new me, boys. Get used to it. Well, wait till somebody else goes on the IR on the Devils and he's

motherfucking all of us saying it's our fault somehow. Posh, no word of a lie, no bullshit. Since you've come on for this segment, JT Miller just scored a goal. I swear to fucking God. Was it on the power play? Posh will never give in to this. And he just continues to score and continues to PK and continues to get five on five

points and I don't know when you're going to finally admit you were wrong about it. I just said we had a nice kumbaya talk. I don't want to dive into this. The real cherry on top would be this being an even strength goal. It was. It was an even strength goal.

19 on the year. Congrats. He makes 8 million a year. I would hope he would score an even strength gold. Get him off. It was 10. Get him off. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Hey, hey, hey. Boys, this has been a fun pod.

I think we got, what, one or two big topics, and that's it? Yep. Yep. A couple more here. PWHL off to a rousing start. Unbelievable stuff for the ladies. Ottawa versus Montreal on January 2nd. It set a record for the highest attendance in women's pro hockey with 8,318 people.

Four days later, Minnesota hosted Montreal and shattered that previous record with 1,300,000. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Major, major, major trade alert here, boys. What? What? I'm shocked. Anaheim has traded Jamie Drysdale in a 2025 second round pick to Philadelphia for Cutter Gauthier, fifth overall pick.

What? What? Just won a World Juniors gold medal. They just led World Juniors in scoring? You know what's funny? You know what's funny? You know what's funny? I had somebody reach out. This is the same guy who told me that there was going to be a player

suspended for gambling two weeks before Pinto went down. This is the same guy who told me Nylander's dad was stopping the deal from happening. This guy told me during the gold medal game that there's a star U.S. player that will not, and has already said he will not sign with the team who drafted him. It had to be Cutter Gauthier. Guys, I said this in the season preview, and you guys all told me to fuck off. I said, hey, do we pay any mind into Cutter Gauthier not going to Philadelphia Flyers camp?

And right away, you're like, fuck it, not a story, move on. Well, no, no, because he's a college kid, right? Yeah, you were talking about going to training camp. No, it was mini camp, mini camp development camp. He could have went and he didn't go, which was weird. Oh, maybe I just understood it wrong. So he told Philly, I'm not signing with you. Why?

That's why they traded him. Why? I don't know why. I don't know why. The guy didn't fill me in. He actually, he wouldn't even give me the name. He wouldn't give me the name. And then, obviously, it was him.

So, Cutter Gaultier refused to sign with Philly and gets traded to, dude, another stud forward for them. According to Elliott Friedman, he wouldn't even meet with the Flyers at World Juniors. Oh, man. Bring me the tea. The new NHL has got me rock hard. I love this shit. These guys aren't even in the league yet, and they're saying...

We have a podcast. We get to talk about this shit. Guy's not even playing. He must hate torts. Holy shit. He doesn't even know torts. Okay, we did interrupt the PWHL talk. You were going over these insane numbers,

and this deserves to be talked about. So maybe afterward we can go back to this. Cutter Gauthier giving the double barrel to the Philadelphia Faithful. Imagine when he goes back to that. One game a year you could put up with it. You're not going to a division rival. But you said 8,700 was the first record that was set,

and then it was, what, 13,000? The first one was 83-18, and then four days later in Minnesota, 13,316 fans packed the Xcel Energy Center. How about Gray Zumwinkle? Local gal put up a natural hat trick, 3-0 win for Minnesota. Place was going nuts, dude. You see, I mean, I think an hour before the game, a bunch of little girls holding up the signs and stuff.

I saw Marcus Foligno was at the game yeah i think with his daughter and i tweeted out about about the the off the hop vibe for this league is incredible and i think all the times we talked about professional women's hockey it was just it was such a clusterfuck right there was different leagues there was no leadership there was there was no sort of direction. Now, all of a sudden, they got these girls. They're all bought into the same system, the same league. I think it is the fastest growing women's sport in the United States for good reason. And this could be it, guys. We finally probably have a chance to see the women's game on the same level playing field, working towards the same goal of growing this game. And it's amazing to see the turnout. game on the same level playing field, working towards the same goal of growing

this game. And it's amazing to see the turnout. And it doesn't seem like it's just off the hop. I think it's going to continue that way. Now, I think the most ideal thing would be able to get eyeballs on TV and the games get decent numbers in terms of ratings. That'll take a little while. But just the absolute madness around the league beginning is great for this sport and great for all these girls who are so much better than they were back in the day. I mean, the talent level in the NHL is the same way with the women. They're just becoming better,

stronger, faster, and last week we mentioned the physicality is great. I think that really brings in people that maybe wouldn't have watched prior, and it seems to be that the girls want it as well. So I love this start, happy for them well the numbers i mean all right i think in canada they aired it across cbc sports net and and maybe the the broadcasts go on but it reached over two million views didn't it yeah yeah they got huge views up in canada and also patrice bergeron

here in boston uh he come out with his three kids. They dropped the first puck, a nice little ceremony, but here's a great idea. Biz, I think the NHL could probably borrow or steal from them to maybe get a little more revenue with what they've done. You know, when the players walk in,

you know, with their, for the, what are their coffee, holding the coffee, get ready for the game. They actually have the walk-in sponsored in the women's league. So,

you know, you know what I mean? Like whoever sponsored the show. So when they come in with their fits, that's one of the biggest things too. And like, Hey, not only do they want a good stable league to play in, they want to be compensated to what they should be being compensated. So all this stuff helps.

And I think that the table has been set. It's great to see best on best now. And they got the original six. And I think it's just a matter of time before they have more franchises pop up. And like you guys said, i think that this is probably something that you could see maybe being streamed on espn down the road or some or or i don't know i don't know if tnt is going to have a streaming service that would carry something like that at a certain point but i would imagine making it more accessible from a league standpoint

and and maybe not just north of the border and they're utilizing youtube biz they're utilizing youtube very well obviously youtube's a free platform for everyone they're streaming some stuff on there and i think that's super important like right now just get it out to everyone everyone needs to see the game exactly get them hooked why every kid every little girl is on youtube so stream it there um and the ask is out for sarah nurse we're going to get her on the pod to talk about everything that's going on with the pwhl and uh and dig a little more into it i'm going to get her on the pod to talk about everything that's going on with the PWHL and, uh, and dig a little more into it.

I'm going to see if I can actually hit up a game. I think it's Toronto versus Ottawa this Friday, or maybe, no, sorry. It's a Saturday matinee. Cause I'll be doing a hockey night in Canada

that night. Oh, you're back baby. Yeah. Going back. Second one, taking over juices seat. It's going to be fucking flaming after those

comments toward Nick Cousins. So I got a lot to live up to. Sucks I can't do it with him, but in due time. So I would love to go check out. I think the game starts at 1 o'clock, Toronto versus Ottawa, and see Sarah Nurse in action. So great job, everybody, everybody who's supporting it, and some great news there.

Yeah, they don't have nicknames and logos yet.'m not sure what the reason behind that was but once they get that stuff man that's so much more dough although waiting to decide a good team name and nickname is better than jumping into something that'll end up getting made fun of and ridiculed so it's like take your time it's not like you need one right away and then you end up figuring out as opposed to rushing to something and then being called the Washington Commanders. Oh, the worst. That's a bad one? Horrible.

Or the Cleveland Guardians. The Guardians. So just to go back to that trade we mentioned before, the internet is heavily, heavily saying that the Ducks won the trade. Well, I learned the hard way of bringing Drysdale name up along with Zegers for Darlene. People are not a fan of his game. He's been injured this year.

Well, you're also in a position where one guy's saying that he's not going to come, so it kind of looks like the Adam Fox situation where it's like, yeah, the better player went to the team where you get what I'm saying. I think Anaheim's going to be a wagon in three seasons, maybe less. Do you think dry dries?

They'll not be inside the beginning of the year. What may have factored in the reason he was traded from Anaheim? I think that you look at pipeline and what Philadelphia needs and you need a puck moving defenseman coming up. And I think that that's what they're assuming that he's going to be. I just what does this guy have against the Flyers? Like, what do you want's what I want to know what the hell's the tea there the Jonesy chirp is old man back when they played in the NHL against each other or something so so Frank Cervelli has now said sources say Cutter Gauthier informed the

Flyers organization that he did not want to play in Philadelphia wow I love that i love that yeah for no particular reason but just fucking the balls man we should probably start a rumor if we don't hear by the next pod i don't know what are you guys thinking what do you guys think we have to start a rumor about this okay we have seven days we got to get him on the pod though maybe his dad hung out with hartnell down too much and he's just getting smothered and you know sc Scotty Hartnell's old school. Who knows? That's where the boys just make a shot right now. Especially in the winter.

A little bit of sad news from the hockey world, boys. Cornelius Dennis Mad Dog Madigan. He famously portrayed Ross Mad Dog Madison in the best sports movie of all time, Slapshot. He passed away last week at 89. His castmate Steve Carlson, who portrayed number 17, Steve Hansen, on the Charlestown Chiefs. He shared the news in a Twitter post last week that also noted that Madigan

was the oldest rookie in the NHL history. At 38 years old, he made the NHL. So condolences to his family and friends. Again, what a legacy to be in the movie Slapshot. I mean, the clip of him getting on the ice, just giving the middle finger to the crowd the whole time. Yeah, unreal. Never traveled anywhere when I was a lawyer.

Sam Smallprint lineman as well, which is just one of those great lines in fucking Slapshot they throw in. On a personal level, I had an older friend of mine pass away a few days ago. Johnny Buckethead Collins. When I worked on the bar, it was with Tabernacle of the Wild, like 20 years ago. It's not usually in your 20s you become friendly with a 60 year old guy but uh he was a local guy used to hang out in the bar all the time and uh we had a little something in common we used to go for walks around

the block together and he just became a good pal I would hook him up with some bud here and there of the years and he passed away last week and uh it was heartbreaking he was 85 years old and he was struck by a vehicle and passed away sometime later. So it obviously sucks to lose anybody. But at that age and that man, it made it heartbreaking. So I just want to send my condolences and love out to his family and friends. Johnny was a great guy. And I love you.

I miss you, Buckethead. So I just want to give him a little tribute. Now for a little comedy. Jersey Jerry last week, 37 hours online, 2,627 strokes, millions of people united on Twitter, and he finally hit his hole in one biz. How much were you wrapped into this? Were you checking in on it frequently?

People watching this guy sleep, 30,000 people. Yeah, I think it's remarkable that this was probably the biggest story in the world for probably a three day period. And I don't know a ton about Jersey Jerry's history, but this guy was trying to make a whole one. Cause we have a lot of people who listen to our podcast who might not follow the barstool world. You might not be on social media, but when I'll hand it over to you to maybe explain a little bit deeper or Grininnell, who this Jersey Jerry character is, how it came to be where he was going to try to hit a hole-in-one

on a golf simulator, and I want to say a hole at Pebble Beach, like a famous par 3, and how he ended up taking over the internet to where Tom Brady was emotionally invested, the PGA was invested, Liv Golf was invested, any top golfer in the world other than tiger woods was invested in this along with like you said ra kind of bringing the internet together where it seems to be a very dark place lately oh it basically biz like live in pga well like

that picture the bloods and the crips holding up the flags yeah jerry jerry united live in pga that's a good man. Well, he started... I don't really know how he got hired at Barstool. I know he used to do stuff like Bob Does Sports. That guy's hilarious. And I don't know if he used to do podcasts with him. I wasn't exactly sure. But he's electric, right?

He has a video of him. He's a diehard Steelers fan. He has a video of him that went crazy viral before he worked at Barstool after the Steelers lost. He's like screaming and yelling. And you got to check that out. But he ends up getting hired. He's been awesome. And recently he started, since the Chicago office was opened, he does Wednesday nights, Jersey Jerry after dark, something like that, where he does kind of crazy um not competitions but basically his chat from his youtube channel like kind of decides what he's going to do so like one night say he had

to hit like 10 three-pointers in under a minute and basically he said on all these i'm not leaving until i get it and there's been there's been several of them where he's probably taken four to five hours and some of them have involved like eating brutal food like every 30 minutes. There's just been all these different sort of things to get more subscribers to his YouTube channel. And the chat's very involved. It's pretty funny stuff. I've watched some of them. So then he came out and said, this Wednesday night, I'm doing a special, you know, I ain't leaving until I get a hole in one on the simulator.

He said if he hits 50K subs, he'll do the simulator. Okay, so he wanted 50K subs, and that happened, so he decided to do it. Now, when this broke out, like I saw our boy Hank, the producer of Pardon My Take, he said, oh, I think it'll take him 317 shots. Jerry's like a 25 handicap. So I saw people saying saying like oh 400 shots i'm like this this could be you know days i know like i could go to i could go to a simulator for a week and not get a hole in one like it has to be the perfect shot i don't care how many shots you take

and at the beginning he had a thing where like every 15 minutes, he had to take shots lefty or take shots blindfolded. I think after a few hours, they finally got rid of that. But I started watching this thing, and I would watch for 15-minute spans. And the first night, say it started at 9 o'clock, I checked in for 15 minutes early. I checked in before bed. I was watching for 20 minutes because he's a very funny guy. The way he talks, he's just like an entertaining human.

He's got great rants on Twitter. He goes crazy viral quite often. And so I went to bed at 1130 and I'm watching. He hadn't been that close yet. I mean, you know, he was hitting it to like 10 feet, which was good. But there were none that were like leaning on it or anything like that. And I woke up to pee at 330 in the morning. I'm like is he still going sure as shit he's still going i'm like oh my god i wake up at seven is he still going he's still fucking going the first night he didn't go to

sleep he just kept an all-nighter and hit god and hitting and he's not that and he's not very fit so your body is just i mean i know it's a golf stick. That's what I kept thinking, like the body. So he has two gloves on the entire time because he probably realized like the blister factor on this is unprecedented. So I started texting a couple buddies. I'm like, hey, are you watching this? Then they're invested.

The day goes on. He's hitting. He's hitting. He's hitting. At one point around the next afternoon, so say it had been about 20 hours, he put one on the simulator. It said one centimeter. And then the thought process started thinking, like, can you even make one?

Because what happened was his chat was very involved in these streams. Oh, yeah. They started saying that because every time he was just taking a mulligan because he's set up on a hole and he's taking a mulligan he originally started on a hole on a random course there was 150 yards and and and then the chat started saying if you take a mulligan like you can't get a hole in one like there were people saying like i worked on the software for this simulator if it's a migan, you can't get a hole in one. So then the panic's starting to go into his brain.

Maybe is this impossible to do? Am I going to have to move in here? At one point, he was talking about the second night. Well, the first night, he never told his wife. He wasn't going to be home. She's like, where are you? So then the second night, so now we're going on over 20 hours, hours and and he's he's just so upset and he's so down and and he's like we had we had chilean sea bass we we planned it oh we were having chilean sea bass tonight that's tough that's a tough fact he

wasn't going home for a meal you're looking forward to from the wifey love chilean sea bass so i'm continuing to watch i'm continuing to watch and at'm continuing to watch. And at this point, this is catching fire. I mean, there's 30 to 90, what, 90,000 people at one time. At one point, I think it was over 90. Maybe I looked in one time. It was 22,000 watching him sleep with a black light. So now the next thing comes. So now it's, say, 1 a.m.

He started at 9 p.m. two days prior, basically. So say it had been, you 32 hours whatever and i wasn't i wasn't awake for this i had just been checking in and i woke up to piss again and same thing i click on he's passed out they brought in an air mattress for him and he's asleep and there's 20 000 people watching this guy sleep i guess everyone's waiting when's he gonna get up and start hitting again so say he gets up at 6 a.m. You know, Jerry, he's kind of a short guy, but he's a big guy. He gets out of bed, dude. And I put myself in his shoes or his slippers, and I said, I can't imagine his body.

At one point, I realized if you're shooting 80 playing golf, which is a hell of a score, I think he had played about 33 rounds of golf. In his life? No. With the attempts for the hole-in-one, he'd hit so many shots that if he shot 80, it was like 33 rounds. So he gets out of bed.

He can't even move. And he's just waddling to the bathroom. And in his mind, I think as most of the viewers were thinking, he's probably thinking, I'm not going get a hole in one so then all of a sudden you see tom brady gets in the mix and of course after tom brady gets in the mix i think it was relatively soon after he buried one and he had another one so same thing there was the one with the one centimeter it was same thing it was just to the right one centimeter. So it just led to the fact of like, I don't know if it's going to go in.

And Tom Brady's tweet was unbelievable, right? Because he was keeled over on the bench right beside the simulator. Then somebody posted the one of the lady outside of KFC, which is a famous meme as well. And then they have him down, what, 28 to 3 on the bench? Yeah. I think at that point, I might have been 28 nothing and and tom brady wrote it's always darkest but what it was it's always darkest before the light

it's darkest before dawn sorry and then so he gets the dismount fuck on all time amazing celebration right like like the whole internet and what ra said you mentioned quickly biz twitter is the darkest most miserable place that's awful the internet is and and for 38 hours it was like everyone came together it was like the one positive thing where everyone wanted this guy to get an ace it was it was just an awesome story and the best part is for him he got over to so in the midst of this competition they handed him over and for people who don't know if you have a youtube channel when you reach a certain amount of subscribers to your channel you're given these like pretty cool plaques from youtube so they had already sent one over um

youtube sent him you know congratulations 50 000 youtube subscribers and they knew he would hit it at one point or he'd already hit it so they gave it to him in the midst of all this he got over a hundred thousand so kind of an amazing move for his brand yeah and and portnoy mentioned um this guy smitty barstool he's a philadelphia guy i guess one time he started one of these where he wasn't going to quit until he won some sort of video game challenge and then after 12 hours he just quit and then portnoy just buried him. This is what happens when you stick to your guns. And his brand is that strong. I think Portnoy said, yeah, Smitty Barstool quit after 12 hours. Nobody's ever mentioned his name again.

This was a legacy move. A legacy move. With Dave Portnoy loyalty, I think this man has a job at Barstool for the rest of his life. Oh, my God. And so the funniest thing. And so he should. Jersey Jerry sent a great tweet. I think that this is why Tiger Woods was dropped by Nike.

I think they're signing Jersey Jerry. This is what I'm hearing anyway. I've got to pull up this tweet. The next day, was it Walker and Titus? They got a hole-in-one with him like 10 minutes of playing the frigging thing. No, they were playing a video game, though. Oh, okay. A little different.

Oh, okay. All right. I couldn't tell. It was all the same to me. Hey, so what if we could do a dare where we did to try to get subs? Should we make our Raiders dumb shit to get subs? I don't think you need to. I want to black.

So after Jerry did it, he gets home. Imagine the body, how sore it must have been. And he tweets, can't sleep, late night thoughts, with a screenshot of a Google search. How hard is it to bowl a 300? So if he ends up fucking saying, I'm going to stream again until I bowl a 300, I think bowling a 300 is infinitely harder than getting a hole in one.

Harder. Because hole in one, well, on a simulator, I guess you can't get like a crazy lucky bounce. But to bowl a 300, isn't it 13 strikes in a row? I know it's a 300. You could be in a bowling alley for four weeks. Or actually forever. Yeah, because you have to keep going at the end, right?

You go. Yeah. So maybe it's more than that. Can we Google it? Yeah, I mean. I'd like to know how many strikes. You can't get lucky in a bowling alley. You've got to be locked in the whole time.

Because it's not one shot. How many strikes in a row to bowl 300? 12. Okay. It says 12. I mean, if he does that, though, you know what, dude? He'll probably get 100. He could spend weeks in there and end up with 400,000 YouTube subscribers by the end of it.

I like weird sports and all this shit. It was a really cool event, I'll say, online that just had so much traffic. Another fun one would be uh three bullseyes and darts yeah in in like one throw let's have some chicklets listeners send in some possible things you'd want us while we're together to stream yeah mainly ra though i already hit a free throw actually it's in the video i hit five on a free throw i did hit five in a row you guys i did send that video i don't five in a row. I did hit five in a row, you guys. I did send that video. Somehow it didn't end up online.

It's kind of weird, though, with how Twitter's just gotten kind of shitty the last few months. That must be a coincidence. Oh, Jesus. All right. I think I was reading on Twitter. I think it was a guy named,

a guy 16 years old. He's like a dart phenom. Oh, yeah. I saw that story, too. Yeah. I love watching the I saw that story too. Yeah. I love watching the highlights of those dart things. They go, boy, everyone's sliding those DMs. It looks like Oktoberfest and darts has a baby,

and they just go crazy, and they're all banged up. Doesn't it? And the stadiums are packed. I love it. Well, it looks like they're like bars. Yeah, big-ass bars. Anyway, we can move on. Sorry. Yeah, this-ass bars. Anyway, we can move on. Sorry.

Yeah, this weekend here in Massachusetts, they have the Junior Beanpot Charity High School Hockey Tournament. It's four teams, Bishop Fee and Newton North, Brookline, Lexington High School. They play down at the Foxborough Sports Center, then at Walter Brown Arena over at BU. And our buddy, Jake Tebow, you've met him before. We've had him on the show.

He's going to be speaking at the ceremony at 2 o'clock on Saturday at Walter Brown Arena. So we'll tweet it out from our account if you want to make a donation because it's a very good cause. The Travis Roy Legacy Quality of Life Grants Program at SCI Boston in Journey Forward. So guys and ladies who have suffered from spinal cord injuries,

it helps them out. So I'll have G tweet it out from our accounts if you want to help out. Please do. But our buddy Jake will do anything for him. Love you, pal. So any final notes, boys, before you wrap it up? Vlog coming. New episode of Chicklets TV coming on Thursday, Winter Classic.

And then next week, we have a Chicklets TV episode coming with Merles at the World Juniors. And I hate that it took me this long to mention it. I'm actually going to the Kitchener Ranger game too. So on Saturday, I got Hockey Night in Canada, and then on Sunday, I'm going to the Kitchener Ranger game with a couple buddies, and one of my buddies who I used to play with, Jeff Krizakis, is an assistant coach there,

and it'll be cool. It's going to be fun. So I'll meet a bunch of people and get to watch some OHL hockey. Nice. Hey, everyone, thank you for listening. Hope you enjoyed the show as much as we enjoyed doing it and we'll be back to you next week

we got some awesome stuff coming up all star game is going to be banana lands we got pink whitney night in orlando in a couple weeks we got some very special stuff brewing it's been an amazing NHL season you are the best listeners and fans in the world love you

peace listeners and fans in the world. We can't thank you enough. Peace. I like to poke the bear out like a stir-fry But baby, come on in and take it up a notch You hit me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot She hit me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot I said she needs a detox To cleanse her mind Another week rolls in We're on the road again Thought I was safe and sound In my minivan

But I said something That crossed the line And I know she felt it Someone said she could Have a free one on the chin She went below the bell She had me with a cheap shot A cheap shot

She had me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot. She had me with a cheap shot, a cheap shot. I think we need a deep talk. You've been so on time.