Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 59: Featuring Casey Mittelstadt

Episode Date: December 29, 2017

On this week's show, Minnesota Gopher and Buffalo Sabres draft pick Casey Mittelstadt calls in to discuss the World Junior Championship that kicked off this week. He also talks about the adjustment to college, pulling on the iconic “M” for the first time, and a bunch more. Before that, the boys break down the Zac Rinaldo hit/suspension, Robin Lehner's hilarious Buffalo comments, and Sidney Crosby having a OT goal in Pittsburgh disallowed. They close with their favorite 2017 stories, #ARH, and some words about the late Johnny Bower.   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. This episode of Spittin' Chicklets is brought to you by DraftKings. Hockey season is in full swing, but it's not too late to get in on the action of one-day fantasy hockey at DraftKings.com. Tonight, you can play free with your first deposit for over $5,000 in prizes. And with DraftKings, there are tons of ways to play. Public contests, private contests, different skill levels, all that stuff.

If you're a big Winnipeg guy, make sure you check my – I think Chiefly's going to be out for a little bit. Make sure you jump on that. I've been getting creamed on the puck line teases lately, so I've been making some money on Fantasy, man. I've got a good feel of things. Kucherov, I've been riding him all year, cashing in on him left and right. The best part about DraftKings, you get to draft a new team every day.

The only thing better is winning cash, picking hockey players. You can't beat that. There's no better way to put your hockey knowledge to the test than DraftKings. So hurry to DraftKings.com slash Barstool to sign up and play free with your first deposit for your share of over $5,000 in total prizes. That link again is DraftKings.com slash Barstool to play for free with your first deposit only at DraftKings, the game inside the game. Minimum $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com for details. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 59 of Spittin' Chicklets, brought to you by Barstool Sports via satellite.

What is up? What is up? Ryan Whitney, our boy producer. Hello gentlemen. Mikey Grinelli. 59. Listen guys, guys, guys, 59. Jake Gensel. That's an immediate thought to my mind. We got the Jake Gensel episode coming on the scene as an American star for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yeah, it's funny. Didn't it seem like years ago, if a kid like me will make his debut in the playoffs, have a good run,

and then this next season he comes back with a lower number? But it seems like kids are sticking with these higher numbers. Am I just imagining that? Or does it seem like that's happening? No, no. I'm on board with that. It's funny. I actually thought that. I think it was probably three

weeks, a month ago. You do see such random numbers. Like, Gensel, like you said, you think, alright, this kid comes up, has this amazing playoff. Now it's like, hey, dude, you know, you want to pick your number? I'm sure they probably said that to him. Like, hey, if you want to pick, like, you know, your favorite number, but maybe stick in

listen, 59's what got me here. I'll stick with this. He actually had a big goal. We're recording on Thursday, so it was last night on Wednesday night. But the Penguins, huge comeback win there. That's just a team I think that's got to get going. But Gensel's our man for the episode today. How was Christmas, guys?

Christmas was pretty lame for me. Not lame. Tame, I should say. Jesus! Are you okay? No, no, no. No, no. It's just like I was just saying to Mikey, dude. When you get older, you realize how much of it is just really about kids getting gifts and all that shit. Yeah.

Okay. I buy it. I don't have kids. I don't have kids, and I'm, you know, I'm fucking if I'm not at middle age, I'm fucking certainly approaching the station. So, no, it buy that. I don't have kids, and I'm fucking, if I'm not at middle age, I'm fucking certainly approaching the station. So, no, it was nice. It was great to see family and visit my buddy over at the hospital. Shout out, Matty G. Get well soon.

But fucking, yeah, it was a nice day. It was good to see family. But, you know, it was whatever. How about yourself? It was good. It was good. You know, you just sounded a little sad but i i do know what you're saying at some point you're just if you there's no kids you're just sitting around like

maybe betting on the nba which i did uh i won lost the football game all that night um so that was frustrating but i thought christmas was great we had rider around all the family on my side of the family got to meet him so it was a good time uh I'll tell you what, though. Now that we're back, we immediately saw some, well, I guess this happened before. But either way, it's bullshit. How about the Ronaldo hit? The suspension we saw. The sucker punch on Samuel Gerrard for the Avalanche. Yeah, the new defenseman they got in the Duchesne deal.

Matt Duchesne. So, I could set up the play. You guys saw it, correct? Yes, yes. You could set it up. No, so I'm pretty sure what I saw was Ronaldo hit McKinnon. I don't know if it was a dirty hit. I mean, I guess that could be decided between people arguing.

But either way, Samuel Gerrard kind decided between people arguing, but either way, Samuel Gerrard kind of went up to him almost to say, like, what are you doing, or defend his teammate. I don't think he had any intention of fighting him. I would hope not. He'd get his head punched in, which kind of happened, but and then Ronaldo turned around, dropped the glove,

drilled him, didn't just hit him once. Now, we saw Paul Bissonnette, our regular guest, he took the side of Ronaldo. I'll go into what I thought, but what was your interpretation of what happened there? I thought the hit itself was, I mean, yeah, it was a clean hit on McKinnon, but it's still Zach Ronaldo running at one of your stars.

Sam Gerrard is a guy who goes over. He went over, basically went up to him. But Bissonnette has made a good point that, okay, if you go over to a guy, you've got to expect to fight and you should expect to get punched. And I do agree with that to a point. I just don't think that that's the NHL. I think it's changed so much from even when he played until now that, okay, is Sam Gerrard really going to go over and drop the gloves?

He didn't look like he was going to go over to fight him. And the thing with Ronaldo, he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt there because he's Ronaldo and he has the track record he does. So when he throws a quick punch like that, it's not necessarily, oh, he's defending himself. It's like, oh, that's Ronaldo and that's what he does. So it's kind of a gray area. It reminded me of, remember when Aaron Ward got KO'd by,

what's his face on fucking the Hurricanes that year? Who was it who punched him? The defenseman there, I think. Remember that? It was the playoffs. Was it Walker? Yeaher yeah paul was it scott walker yeah because i almost said paul walker yeah paul walker paul walker r.i.p because wardo gave him the fucking psych club thing like he was gonna drop him and then walker was like well fuck man you're coming at me i mean it was almost like well you shouldn't psych me out like that but gerard didn't

make any such gerard made no such action. I don't know. He got six games for it. I got no problem with it. I'm honestly surprised it wasn't Moye, given who it was. What's up, Grinnelli? I think you've got to take the human instinct into play. I think that's something that Biz pointed out.

I mean, you see someone coming at you so many times in Ronaldo's career where that play has happened, and right when he's hit a guy, someone's coming right at him to take off his head. First instinct is drop the gloves and punch. I mean, I just think the human instinct anytime someone came at me like that, your first instinct would be to punch. So I'm not

Yeah, I think your human instinct is bullshit. I think it's bullshit, Ronaldo. Your human instinct. I think it's 60-40. Listen, I think that Ronaldo knows right when he looks up who's coming at him. I really do. And even if it's Eric Johnson, a bigger guy, I just saw the beat time, and now maybe it's slow motion or maybe it's just me taking the skilled defenseman side.

But I saw Ronaldo have time to realize it's this small French-Canadian rookie defenseman side, but I saw Ronaldo have time to realize it's this small French-Canadian rookie defenseman, undersized, skilled, speedy, flashy defenseman, and I don't think this guy's going to do anything, and if it does, I should be fine. Maybe I drop the gloves and back up. Now, this is someone who never fought, never dealt with what Biz is saying, so I take his side of the argument. I know what you're saying in terms of, what was it, the human spirit or human? Human element.

The human element. Human element. Human element. Okay, okay. So I think that I understand that side, but I also think he knew who it was and he was just like, fuck this, I'm just going to drill this kid. The only thing I'll say in terms of Ronaldo is I don't know if he deserves six games. But do you think he deserves more?

No, I think he deserves less. I don't know when his last suspension was, and that has a factor on when they give you your next one. So, yeah, six games is probably appropriate. I just, I don't know, I'm probably still pissed off that the fucking Bruins gave up a third round for the guy ages ago. One other thing, too. Let's talk about the instigator rule. Did you see Wednesday night's Bruins gave up a third round for the guy ages ago. One other thing, too. Let's talk about the instigator rule.

Did you see Wednesday night's Bruins game? I'm not talking about the Bruins here. It's about a specific instance, so pipe down, crybabies. Don't say that every time. Don't say every time you bring up the Bruins. I know you guys say we bring up the Bruins. Now you just bring it up. Okay, but it's okay. It's about the instigator

rule. Last night was a perfect example of how fucked it's become. I agree. When fucking Noah Chari got buried by what's-his-face on Ottawa. I forget his name. Frederick Clayson. Frederick Clayson. And, you know, it was a headshot.

Whether it was an intentional headshot, you can debate that. But he got him in the head. Sharla went over to accost him. They dropped the gloves simultaneously. It was like you've seen a lot of these gifs lately, by the way, in different sports of like guys like taking their jerseys off at the same time, guys getting up on the ice at the same time. And these guys in synchronicity dropped the gloves at the same time.

There was no, and they went at it. And it's like, how the fuck do you give an instigator penalty? He didn't instigate it. They looked at each other and dropped the gloves. So I hate that it's become like this, you know, if a guy fights after the hit, regardless if the hit was clean, dirty, defending a teammate, whatever. It's just that if two guys willingly drop, no one should get a fucking instigator.

Yeah, I agree on that. If a guy jumps a guy from behind and starts drilling him inside of the head, that's the instigator. In no way, in no way was that an instigator process. The guy gets kicked out of the game. It's like, makes no sense. But, I mean, it was good to see. It was good to see you guys pick up from something.

That was a dirty hit. We saw this morning it came out, Thursday morning, that Clayton will have a hearing for that hit. I don't know if I'm saying it. It could be Clayton, Klopson, I don't know. But either way, that was a dirty hit. It was a head shot. So it's good that less and less that's

happening. By the way, another subject quickly. We didn't even actually bring up at the beginning. I wanted to mention, we were lucky enough to interview Casey Middlestad. That interview's coming a little bit later. The star of the U.S. World Junior Team, we already saw him score a couple

big goals in the first game, so he'll be coming on later. But when we were talking about suspensions, Ronaldo, I want to get your guys' opinion on do you think that Leonard will be possibly getting suspended? Robin Leonard has comments about the Buffalo Sabres having the league. What did he say there? They're going against them privately? Dude, that quote was hilarious.

He said... Can we read the quote? Do you have it there? Yeah, I can probably pull him up. Yeah, he basically – holy shit, what was that? He basically said, oh, it's something against Buffalo. Like, you know, it happened. Toronto already knew it was a goal.

Conspiracy. Let's actually set it up. He gave up a goal that, you know, he caught it in his glove, but it crossed the line. It was clearly a goal. You know, and then they went back, looked at it and decided it was,

you know, call it the goal. Well, he, he claimed like that. It was predetermined. Like the Toronto already had their mind made up before the shot. And he goes,

and then he mentioned that the same thing happened to the, the bills versus the Patriots. So it must be something in the Buffalo water, something against Buffalo. Like the, some of the most outrageous, he brought up the most outrageous He brought up the NFL too? He brought up the NFL. Like, it's absolutely

fucking hilarious that he said it. Actually, I'm pulling up the quotes now, like what we're talking about. But that's like one of my, we've talked about it before on the show Wits, about, and I've mentioned Mami Lanlucci specifically, not as a diss, just as an example of a person who probably needs a couple extra minutes

to calm down after a game, and I think this is probably the latest example. Yeah, I'm actually going to pull it up here. Toronto has predetermined it. You know, we played in Montreal, Price having a shutout, we score a good goal, and the league took it away. It's just how the league works.

Yeah, so Robin, you tattooed psychopath. That's not and the league took it away it's just how the league works yeah so robin you tattooed psychopath that's not how the league works they look and see if it's a goal which it was wednesday night against you and that's why the league calls it a goal to think that the buffalo savers have this conspiracy theory against them although i do love the bringing up of the bills shout out to the patriots forget another big win uh but that was big win. You know Robin Leonard's at this point probably losing his mind with the season he's having and Buffalo's having. He's like, I can't handle this anymore. I really can't.

I'm going after the league. They want to conspiracize. Is that a word? There's a conspiracy against the Sabres. It's a conspiracy. That's why they have an outdoor game, too. C-O-N Spiracy. Dude, it's... What movie? I don't know. I don't know what movie. That was actually

I believe In Living Color. I'm pretty sure it was Damon Wayans. Oh my God, Grinnelly. In Living Color. Ask a millennial, Grinnelly. You know what In Living Color is? Okay. You don't know? What about you, Wits? Ask a millennial. In Living Color? Yeah, I remember

because the girls got me going. I was like real young when they're dancing. Wasn't J-Lo a dancer? Yes, J-Lo. And then Homie Don't Play That. Homie Don't Play That. It's from In Living Color, right? Yeah, it was fucking tons of stars came off that show. Probably the most famous, Jim Carrey, probably.

But yeah, I'm actually surprised Grinnelly didn't hear of it. I know it was a 90s show, but it was a widely popular sitcom. I'm not sitcom. You know, sketch comedy show. So anyways, yeah, I'm actually surprised Grinnelli didn't hear of it. I know it was a 90s show, but it was a widely popular sitcom. I'm not sitcom. You know, sketch comedy show. So, anyways, yeah, that was a great quote, Lane. I mean, he gave people something to talk about. But you're probably right.

It's just the frustration of this season. Buffalo's trouble scoring. They're, you know, at the bottom of the league again. I don't think they had necessarily playoff aspirations, but I thought they thought they'd be a little bit more competitive. So, you know, tough ride for them. He also is a free agent, I believe. I don't know if it's RFA or UFA,

but it's a big year for him that hasn't gone well, and he pretty much looks like he's losing his mind now. Yeah, which is understandable when you're on a team. How about this rare thing? Speaking of conspiracies, Sid Crosby's basically like you know

Tom Brady of the of the uh NHL and so far as opposing fan bases think the league conspires you know to do good things for him but it was kind of a shocker to see Sid get a overtime goal disallowed Wednesday night just because we're so used to like him you know apparently getting all these calls I was I almost shit when I saw that. I completely agree with you on that. I was working. I'm at Jersey, you know, for NHL Network. So I was on last night. Not a big deal.

And we talked about how not only was it a horrible call, I couldn't believe the goal was called back. But the fact that it was Crosby, like you said, like no chance the biggest face in the league scores a night, a big overtime winner right after the holidays in a huge power behind win. That is staying. I mean, let alone the call being iffy, if you want to take the goal back, it's Crosby.

So you're going to keep the goal. I mean, if you're going to lean one way or the other. So I thought the same thing. They pulled it back. And then when I really got to look at the replay, Dumoulin made a beautiful move kind of tried to cut back uh Brodsky made a big save and then kind of lost the stick and Dumoulin just doing his best to skate out uh get away from it doesn't really hit him doesn't touch him uh Krozyk comes in buries the rebound and they call no goal so I actually talked with um

Bill Lindsay and Jameson Coyle last night and and we were, it's kind of at the point, speaking of NFL and Robin Leonard bringing up the NFL and the catch, that Kelvin Benjamin or whatever his name was got called back. The goals in the NHL at this point are like catches in the NFL, where I don't know what is a goal and what is a catch and what isn't, because there's so many instances where you get, you know, the guy makes an obvious look and it's an obvious no goal call and it gets called the goal and you just have no clue where they kind of lie on the consistency of it. So now, like having said all that, when I watch games, I think it's

not that big of a deal. It gets brought up kind of often just because of how, I think, social media and how often you can see the replay. It doesn't happen a ton. It's just that if something happens in the playoffs, and the one other thing I wanted to mention, sorry, I'm on a rant. Last night, I actually said that Mike Sullivan started yelling at the ref

when the goal got called back, the Crosby goal got called back. And I really don't know what I'm talking about. I've never tried to say that I do. I thought that Toronto, when the replay went to Toronto, I thought they said goal or no goal. But on calls like that, the ref on the ice actually has the last decision.

So I didn't know that. I guess I probably should know that being an analyst. But I learned that. I know that now. So I thought it was Toronto, but it's that ref on the ice who gets to make the final decision. And that's why I was even more shocked that he'd call that back. He was standing there. He saw it.

He saw it all happen on ice level. Yeah. I mean, you could, I think you can make the case either, or I guess we're glad it wasn't a playoff over time, but you know, cause you could say,

yeah, he kept them from, you know, being in position. So therefore he couldn't get in position to make the save on the rebound. But just like I said, the whole idea of Sid getting a cold, disallowed N.O.T. in Pittsburgh was a bit of a shock. And before we bring up the World Juniors,

I just want to mention a bad beat Wednesday night. Did you happen to catch Winnipeg's empty net situation versus Edmonton with Ehlers having basically... I did, and quickly... Oh, no, go ahead. Quickly, yeah, I did see it. I think I know what you're going to talk about. The Eilish?

Oh, dude, just to set the scene, you know, we're big minus one and a half puck line guys here at Spittin' Chicklets, and Winnipeg's got the goal lead, empty net, perfect scenario, couple minutes on the clock. You know, Eilish got behind the defense, but he was...

Yeah, they pulled him early. They pulled him early, too. He had like 230 to get it. Yeah, Ehlers got behind the defense. They pulled him early. He had like 230 to get it. Yeah, it seems to be the trend. So Ehlers had nothing between him and the net. He was out of gas. He was falling down, but he still had nothing between him and the net. He took a desperation swipe when he might have had a second or two

to actually try to settle it somehow. Hits the side of the net. Fucking gets behind the net. Hits it up. It jumps over the net. Hits the side of the net, like fucking gets behind that. It hits it up. It jumps over the net, lands at the goal line. Defenseman can then swipe it away. And right after that, I'm like, I don't care if there's a minute and a half left. There's no way that I'm fucking getting the empty netter now.

Just an awful, awful, awful beat. You got a guy that skilled, like five feet from the net with the puck almost on a stick, and you don't get it. It's a fucking, especially when it's a two-dime swing. No, that's the worst thing in the world. I, for Wednesday night, I just, I kind of was running around and I didn't get anything in for the 7 o'clock games and then I'm looking at the 8 o'clock and I liked Winnipeg.

I kind of just like, I don't know, I don't know why I didn't take Winnipeg, but I took the Rangers and I'm such a mutt. I'm such a peasant. I took the only game that wouldn't be on, like, the 15 TVs at NHL Network because it's, like, the national game. So we're watching all the other games that we're going to be showing live, looking, because you can't show the NBC sport looking. So I had to watch the only game I had action on on GameCast,

and I had 15 TVs and games going on in front of me. I'm just a moron. But I won. Let's give a shout-out, by the way. Two backup goalies, Pavlik versus Grobauer. Both of them pitch a shutout against each other. I'm a big goalie guy.

I love giving love to the backups, but Pavlik's been on a roll, too. Big goalie guy. He's been on a roll, too, Pavlik. guy. Big goalie guy. Yeah, big goalie guy. He's been on a roll, too, Pavlik. I mean, he kind of had a tough end until his Winnipeg run, and he's been outstanding for the Rangers this year. I mean, he's been really good behind. What's his face?

Handsome face, Hank, there. So let's bring it to him. Yeah, what's his face? Yeah, what's his face? What's his handsome face? This is Henrik Lundqvist. Hold on. Before we bring in Minnesota, I just want to mention.

Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, yeah, we're going to talk about the juniors a little bit before we bring Casey on. And now, hey, shout out to our boy Grinelli, too. Not only a college writer, he's been having some world junior articles on Boston. Nice to see him getting some shine. Appreciate it. What have you been thinking of the juniors so far as expected?

The Americans rolled in game one. And what have you been thinking of the juniors so far as expected? The Americans rolled in game one. Like I said before, I put the mortgage on the boys to win it all before the tournament started. I think the U.S. are the favorites. And, you know, I like them a lot. They look good so far. They spanked Denmark.

And I think it's really cool that the lines, the puck lines are like four and a half, five, two, three. It's cool that they're not all one and a half. What were they doing in the tournament? They were plus 175 to win the tournament. Not too shabby. What about you, Wits? I've enjoyed the first couple days of it. I will say the attendance thing is kind of odd. Last time I was in Buffalo, Canada's first two games,

there were 17,000, 18,000 people there. Their past first two games in this year's tournament have been like 9,000. So that's kind of upsetting a little bit. You know, you want it to be a packed building. I do think there's something to be said about when I played in 2003, and now granted social media, money in the tournament, it's a cash-making event now. But when I played, it was at, you know, junior rinks, and we played at Halifax.

I tweeted this out this week. We made it to the semis, and we lost with 10 minutes ago. I thought it was a minute ago. Shows my memory. I thought we lost a minute ago. 10 minutes ago, Canada scored. Jeff Wawicka, former Flyers player, he scored, and we lost

Canada, but this place was banana, banana land. I'm thinking maybe, you know, 4,000 to 5,000 if my memory holds me correct, which it probably doesn't, maybe 3,000. But it was insane. It was awesome. It was intense in the atmosphere. Sometimes now, you know, I'm watching U.S. and Canada the other night, and they're in where the Sabres play, and it's a cool setting.

But it's just the atmosphere doesn't seem as special. I thought World Juniors, my memories of being younger, was just crazy rinks, especially in Canada. But it is what it is. Watching the tournament's been fun. USA looked good. You got them at plus 175. Who was the favorite to win, or were they online?

US was the favorite. What were the rest, Sweden and Canada? favorite what what were the what were the rest sweden and canada it went uh you united states canada sweden russia finland i have right here it's uh usa plus 175 canada plus 200 sweden plus 550 russia plus 650 finland plus 700 the czech,000. That's not a bad one. Switzerland plus 7,500. The Czechs have some great forwards. They have some really skilled guys up front. I should have thrown in some money on Sweden because the talent they have. It's scary.

William Nylander's brother, Alex, is a first-rounder from Buffalo. We got our guy, Casey Middlestadad we'll talk to in a couple minutes. But him and Nylander coming into the Sabres, that's big time. And who knows if the Sabres get the first solo pick, and then they go after Rasmus Dahlin, the superstar defenseman on Sweden we talked about. So Sweden at plus 550 is a value bet if you've ever seen one. Now, I think that watching this tournament, it's so fun just because you're going to – you just start realizing how quickly these guys make a difference in the NHL.

So it's really cool to see the elite-level players in this tournament step in, and you remember their name from World Junior Success. Like, I think Eberle, I knew what he was going to do before he got to the NHL, just from the world junior stuff. So it's so fun to watch. I mean, it's such a hard tournament to say who's going to win because it's one game, and not only is it one game, as you saw last year, it's one game that can go to a shootout. It takes it so far.

You're doing a breakaway competition. He wins the world championship for under 20. What are you doing? So stupid. But Grinnelli, I saw on Barstool, Grinnelli had a blog of the top five Canada-US games in world junior history. Now, I don't know if you...

Did I not read or did you word that those were the best five games? Because those were all USA wins, weren't they? No, no, no. One was a Canada win, and it was the best one since 2000. So it was kind of – Okay, okay. So in USA, it's had some dominance. I mean, Canada had the five straight, but after that, it's kind of in US, you know?

No, no, you're right. You're right. I didn't realize it was after 2000. That's a great blog. Check that one out. Some cool videos. You know what? So one of the games was

at the shootout with Taves and Price and that shootout. Was that one of the games or was that before 2010? I had that at number three and that's when Taves went three times in a row to win. Yes. Yes. Yes. That was phenomenal. I remember

that one. He was going against Peter Mueller. The big skilled righty. He played USA Hockey. I think he's in. Is it Mueller? Do you guys remember him? Yeah. Yeah.

Played for Phoenix, Arizona for a while. Yeah. Among other teams. Yeah. How do you guys think the tournament would fare in Boston? You mentioned before that the smaller rinks, it's a crazy atmosphere. With all the college rinks around here, just imagine all the prelim games played at the college rinks, USA-Russia at the Matthews Arena. It tanked in, what was it, 96 when it was here?

Yeah. But it's been great since. I think it would do good here. I would love it. I would love it. I couldn't believe, I mean, I was 12 years old. It was like my ultimate hockey nerd fandom stage in my life. And the tournament was here. I loved going to see it. Jack Parker coached Team USA. I'll never forget, too.

Like, later on when I was at BU, I was like, how was the coaching world? He's like, I don't know. We didn't have a good team. And Brian Barard was on the team. He's like, he didn't even know how to play a three-on-two. I'm like, he went first overall. What are you talking about he didn't even know how to play a three-on-two. I'm like, he went first overall. What are you talking about? He didn't know how to play a three-on-two.

So Barraga's my buddy. He's a legend. But, you know, I think now with just how much hockey's grown, I think Boston would be great. I think you're right because of the size rinks that I'm talking. I just can't see it not being crowded. The problem is, you know, how much interest is there beyond just, like, the small, you know, I never know the word.

Is it niche or niche? What is that word? Hockey niche? A niche market. Yeah, a niche market. A niche market. You know what I'm saying? A niche market.

So if it's such a small niche market in Boston, like, will the rinks be crowded? I don't know. But I think it would be way better than in 95. I don't know if you, former guest, one-time guest, Patrick O'Sullivan, he was actually talking about this in his Twitter feed Wednesday night, and they actually brought up the point you were talking about a couple minutes ago,

Witts, that we are seeing these empty bonds. I know it's Finland and it's Denmark. It's the middle of a weekday, but it looks like there's a few hundred people in the arena right now. So if you put that in a college arena in the Buffalo area, it's still a smallday. I mean, but it looks like there's a few hundred people in the arena right now. So, I mean, so if you put that in a college arena in the Buffalo area, it's still a small crowd. It's still – I just don't think the preliminaries with these European

countries are ever going to be a big draw here, whether it's here or Buffalo. Yeah, exactly. Buffalo is arguably the most hockey-mad city in America. I would – you know, it's almost undoubtedly. I mean, you look at the ratings every year. They haven't sniffed the playoffs in close to a decade, but they're the number one rated viewing city for the Cup every year. And it's just a tough thing.

I mean, who's going to take the day off work? Or even if you've got kids and they're off this week, it's hockey, but do you really want to go see Denmark versus Finland and spend that kind of money too, which is another factor. It's very fucking expensive. And to round the whole point, what O'Sullivan was saying. It's not very expensive. To take a family of four to a fucking game, it ain't cheap, man.

I bet you it's like $10 a ticket. I don't know. Somebody mentioned the costs were more in Buffalo. I honestly haven't looked at the ticket price. Really? I'm interested, actually. I'm interested. He was saying what you kind of did, that the smaller places,

like, I think it was, what, Port Huron, or a couple of these, like, you know, if I'm saying it right, Moose to Saskatchewan, a couple of those out-of-the-way places, those are the places that it's fucking rabid, like, constantly. It almost seems like the smaller, more hockey-mad market, they have better

success with, you know, until the gold medal game, obviously. But, you know, they need to get people into these other games. And I just think that's always going to be a problem when, you know, you've got European teams playing each other, man. Yep. No, I'm on board with that. It doesn't matter.

You know, you bring them into the city, it's not going to be a crowd for fucking Belarus, Denmark. Who cares? But, you know, we got lucky because we talked to Casey Middlestad. I want to let everyone know. We talked to him last week before the tournament got going.

They were, I don't know if it was in Columbus or something. They were doing their training camp. So we've gotten lucky since we talked to him because he had the beautiful shootout goal practice that kind of went viral. And he had two goals in the opener and win on Wednesday or Tuesday night against Denmark.

So we're going to bring in Casey Middlestad now, a current Minnesota Gopher and future star with the Buffalo Sabres from Team USA. This interview was brought to you by SeatGeek. Buying tickets can be complicated and confusing, but there is a simple way to buy with SeatGeek. SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to get tickets to every type of live event, whether you're catching your favorite musician on tour, shopping for the perfect gift, or searching for the last minute deal to see your favorite NHL team. SeatGeek helps you find the best seats at the best prices, fully guaranteed. Nothing beats being there in person for the biggest plays of

the year, and SeatGeek will get you closer to the action for a great value. I have the SeatGeek app on my phone, and it's by far the easiest way I found a shop for tickets. I can be anywhere and with just a few taps, I can instantly find seats. I've used SeatGeek to buy tickets for you too at the garden. Countless hockey games, even a couple of football games. It's a great thing. You just punch in your phone. It's values to be found all over the place. So much better, like I said, than dealing with dirtbags out from the building who are trying to just get all your money off you. SeatGeek's designed to make your ticket buying experience easier than ever. Saves you time, money, searches a bunch of sites. You get the most bang for your buck.

SeatGeek grades every ticket based on value to help you immediately find the best seats that fit your budget. It's a great way to find tickets. Everything's guaranteed. You can shop for tickets on SeatGeek with confidence. No internet scams. Nobody's going to beat you. You're always going to get what you pay for. So make SeatGeek your go-to app for finding the best deals on every

type of ticket. Sports and concerts to comedy and theater. Best of all, my listeners get $20 off their first SeatGeek purchase. Just download the SeatGeek app and enter promo code HUCKY today. That's promo code HUCKY for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase.

SeatGeek. Right seat, right now, right from your phone. And now we are pleased to bring in Minnesota star and current USA Hockey World Junior forward Casey Middlestad. Casey, thank you very much for coming on. How are you doing, buddy? I'm good. Thanks for having me. Anytime. So where are you at right now? I know people will come to figure out we're recording this before the tournament gets going, but how's the preseason, pre-tournament stuff been, and where are you guys at now? We're in Jamestown, New York, so I think we're an hour and a half out of Buffalo or something like that.

It's all gone really well. I think the team as a whole is getting to know everyone really well. Obviously, that's pretty important at a tournament like this. It's been a lot of fun, and it's nice to catch up with some of the guys. Now, you guys got an outdoor game in Buffalo. You obviously were drafted by Buffalo, eighth overall back in the beginning of the summer. Do you look at this almost as a little bit of a showcase

for your future local fans, or are you just concentrating on, let's just win the gold for the United States, and you're not even entering that in your mind? I mean, like, obviously there's times that that goes through your head a little bit. But I think for me, our first goal is to win a gold medal. And I think if we win a gold medal, I would have played well. So I think it would kind of kill two birds with one stone.

So for me, I think it's more important to go out there and win and try to block out the distractions and have some fun with my teammates. Go ahead. Is this still, I know you guys on the team have probably seen Miracle a million times. Is this still like a rivalry between the New England guys and the Midwest

guys, like busting balls and all that? Does that still go on to a pretty big degree? Honestly, no, not really. I don't really know if it goes on much at all. I think I've gotten to know most of the guys that are on this team growing up pretty well, so I think it kind of passed early when you see each other again and you're just good buddies. So for me, I don't think there's too much of that,

but there's some good chirping, though. I think Joey Anderson plays on UMD, and we go back and forth a little bit with that and stuff like that, but I don't think there's some good chirping though i think like joey anderson plays on umd and um we go back and forth a little bit with that and stuff like that but i don't think i don't think there's too much yeah casey i'm an east coast guy the thing is you you uh midwest guys didn't know we were just shitting on you behind your back so that's probably what's going on right now no i'm just i'm sure i'll just mess it but um so for people that don't know um you know you're one of the best players your age in the country and a time comes when uh for guys like you you end up getting called by the national development program which when i was around was in ann arbor now it's in plymouth

michigan and so you know usually guys end up going they leave their high schools or their junior programs and you always stuck out um playing high school hockey in minnesota you know it's kind of i think people don't really realize how much of a big deal that is. Was that tough for you making that decision? And now is it difficult with all those guys having known each other on the World Junior Team this year that come from the national program? Or are you pretty tight with all those fellas from, you know, summer stuff? Well, for me, I actually got, I never got invited to the program. So I guess, yeah, Minnesota was kind of my only option, so I stayed there.

And then my senior year, I had a choice, go play juniors or go play college. And I guess I decided to stay home and play one more year in high school. And, I mean, obviously playing in Minnesota, that's a big deal. I think I grew up and the high school players are equal with the NHL players. Like, for my example, like my hero was Kyle Rowe. I put him on a pedestal with like Sidney Crosby. So it was almost to that point. And about the guys, I think, I mean, I didn't go to the program 17 or 18 year,

but I got invited to go to World their 18 year and my 18 year. So I played with them for a tournament there which was nice kind of get to know them and everything um i knew a lot of guys from minnesota playing up playing with them growing up and stuff but um i got to know all them pretty well there so for me it was it was nice to do that and now i'm pretty close with all of them so it's a lot of fun to see them that's that's awesome i actually didn't know that that's a swing and a miss by usa hockey like so for for you know for for you when when you didn't get invited there, was that tough to deal with? Or were you always kind of just staying positive, enjoyed where you're at?

Or were you rattled by that? I mean, if I'm being honest, I didn't even make summer national camp my 15 or 16 years. Just a late bloomer. Yeah, I was a pretty late bloomer so like when i wasn't invited to that like i i didn't even like really know like i didn't expect i didn't expect to get invited to it or anything so for me it like wasn't a big deal and then um i don't know i think like looking back on it now i remember hearing about it and like those are all the kids i played with growing up in the summer and it kind of made me mad so I think I used it as some motivation but I also started growing a little bit later

and things like that and then my game kind of took off it was just a few years after everyone else. Casey we're used to asking a lot of I guess what was the adjustment like from college to the pros but what was the adjustment like from playing I mean high school in Minnesota which is a very high level to the division one college level and did you feel almost not like a pro, but you grew up in Minnesota. I mean, a lot of people in maybe New England don't appreciate how much of the Minnesota Gophers hockey team means to the state of Minnesota. When you finally put that uniform on your first game, did it almost feel like almost being a professional in some sort of ways?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I think, like I said earlier about high school hockey players, and it's the same thing with the Gopher players for me growing up. I think my dad started taking me to games when I was two or three or so. So I've been going since I was a little kid. And me and my buddies watched all the games growing up on Friday and Saturday night. And we were always looking forward to doing that. So for me, being a Gopher was probably one of the easier decisions I've made.

And it's definitely been exactly what I thought it'd be. And I've absolutely completely enjoyed it. Casey, earlier in the year, you scored a goal against Michigan State and you went down the Michigan State bench, you know, kind of looking for fives. One of like the best sellies I've seen all year. You got anything like that? I barely cranked it to that selly, I think.

I did. You got anything like that planned for the World Juniors? I mean, if I'm being honest, that was not really my intent. I think a lot of kids on our team and many of us always watch Toronto together, so we always see Austin Matthews go down the line. He does this thing with his hand. But that's what I tried to do, and it looked like I was going down Michigan State bench.

But that wasn't really the intent, I guess. I don't have too much plan for World Juniors. I'm sure if we score, there'll be enough adrenaline and enough hype to do something stupid or something like that. So I might get into doing something like that, but I don't know. Not too much. Well, speaking of stuff that you've had, maybe not go viral, but viral in the hockey community, we've got to ask you about the pull-ups.

We've got to talk about the pull-ups, buddy. I never listened, was a gym guy. I couldn't do anything. When that picture came out, did you laugh? Were you mad? And now, how do you approach when people bring it up? I mean, is it annoying to you? You got to just love it, I would say.

I mean, like, yeah, at first, like, everyone, like, I was blown up pretty well, I think. I mean, that picture is hilarious. It's unreal. All my buddies just, like like if I chirp them at all or anything all they send back is a picture so it's pretty funny and they use it non-stop I think

that makes it pretty good but looking back on it now I honestly don't care about it at all like it doesn't bother me or anything like people bring it up to me like oh I don't mean to bring up the sore spot I'm like I really don't care like, oh, I don't mean to bring up the sore spot. I'm like, I really don't care. It happened, and I don't think it changes

how I play on the ice. So for me, it doesn't really matter. Looking back on it now, it's actually pretty hilarious. Take it from me, brother. It really doesn't matter. You don't look like R.A. Don't worry. You should just take an old Gretzky picture when he was like 19, and he had nothing to him. He probably couldn't do

anything like that. He probably lift 80 pounds. So I liked your answer, too. It's like I work on being a hockey player. It's like that. I'm sorry, I don't run. I do sports. It was similar to that.

It was a good reply, but you'll get the last laugh, brother. So listen, when you were a younger kid, we're talking 10 years old, make me feel old, who was your favorite player? My favorite player growing up was Sidney C crosby since as long as i can remember it was whitney so was my bud we had that in common i'm 15 years older than you so did you were you obsessed with hockey were you another sport kid like high school you playing uh you know other sports in spring and fall and all that or are you just kind of all a hockey guy? I mean, I think any of my friends can back me up. I'm pretty much a complete hockey nut.

My dad built a rink in my backyard growing up, so I mean, I spent callous hours out there. I think my neighbor, I got lucky because my neighbors all really liked hockey too, and me and my buddies would be out there until two or three playing pond hockey, and the puck would be real against the boards. It was probably super loud, but I got lucky. My dad did that, and then I kind of fell in love with skating in the backyard and things like that.

I was a complete rink rat growing up. I was out there pretty much every day, and I can remember. So that was a big part of my childhood, probably, and I think that's probably a big part of a lot of skills I have now. Now, Minnesota State Hockey Tournament, obviously one of the great American hockey events that goes on. I would say probably the second most popular thing is the Minnesota Hair videos that come out every year. How much preparation do guys put into that?

Is it taken as seriously as a game, or is it done with a lot of humor? I'm not going to lie, I didn't have time to go through too many videos today, but did you make any appearances there as well? I did not make any appearances. I keep it pretty high and tight usually. I'm not too big into the long flow.

I think I got a few, I think maybe two of my three years, one kid on our team made it, but we didn't really do anything outrageous like most of our guys were pretty pretty normal and low-key and then we'd have the one or two guys who thought it'd be funny to grow their hair out or put in a pony or something stupid like that so uh there's a lot of teams who go all out though with the nice mustaches bleached hair and uh we never got too much into that but some of the some of the things these guys do are pretty funny.

So when we're talking World Juniors for this year, we've talked about prospects and the drafts, and we get into that stuff later in the year, but have you experienced any games against Rasmus Dahlin, this defenseman from Sweden who's projected to go number one overall? Do you know anything about him, or have you never played against him? I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but he might have played against me at the summer camp. I think that he was on the bench, but he didn't play much or something like that.

Well, suck on that one, Rasmus. Yeah, I mean, every time I pull up Twitter or something, he's on Hey Barber doing something crazy. So I feel like I've seen him play everywhere. Obviously, he looks like he's absolutely completely talented and skilled. He looks like he can stick handle through pretty much anything. So it'll be exciting to see how he is, and I'm definitely looking forward to playing against him. It seems like each one of these tournaments, the U.S. team just gets better and better.

The level of talent gets better. I mean, looking at the roster now, if the guys haven't been drafted, then they're going to get drafted in this upcoming draft. Do you guys feel you are the favorites of the tournament, Casey? Co-favorites? A little bit of an underdog? Are you guys going to be really disappointed if you don't come home with gold? I should say, come home in Buffalo with gold. Yeah, I think for us, we're definitely going for gold.

I think we'll be disappointed if we don't come home with it. Obviously, the guys last year kind of set the stage with how they did it and they they played fast pretty skilled i mean obviously um there's a lot there's a lot of times that you think of americans and they're somewhat grindy and grimy but i think we're kind of transitioning the pre-skilled team especially this year our forwards we're we're not the biggest group but we got quite a bit of skill quite a bit of pace and i think we'll be able to make some nice plays and um hopefully we can build able to make some nice plays. Hopefully we can build off what they did last year.

But I would definitely say for us it's gold or nothing. What are the chances we see Brady Kachuk take somebody's head off during a game? I hear he's kind of a lunatic, and his father has a pretty good international history of pulling nutties. I mean, I don't know. I think I know a different side of Chukar than most of us I think obviously off the ice he's a great guy absolutely hilarious and everyone loves him but I'm sure he likes to play a little chippy and grammy so you never know but I'd be surprised if he does something that dumb so uh for people who haven't seen you're on the cover of this month's USA Hockey magazine

um you're dummying wings on the cover i didn't i've never actually seen that did you finish all those uh i'm interested be honest i did not finish i mean i i ate a really good amount of them there's still a lot left i think uh they were actually they're actually probably some of the best things i ever had so i enjoyed doing that one i got to eat them, and it was fun. Casey, is Ottinger going to be the starter for you guys? And how about his setup? Those pads are pretty beauty, huh?

Yeah, his pads are definitely sick. I'm not sure if he'll be the starter. I don't know the whole goalie situation. We've got three really good goalies. So I think either way, I don't think we go around with any of them. But, yeah, Otter for sure, he's got some of the sickest pads I've ever seen. I mean, he's got a pair for each jersey. So that's cool enough in itself right there.

And, I mean, everywhere he goes, he always does some crazy design and always ends up being the sickest pad. So he's definitely got a good setup. One other question for you. You've been in college for a few months now. What's that been like for you? And adjusted to basically, you know, living at home and being with mom and dad or whatever on your own and having all that freedom.

Has it been a lot of fun or is it just so busy with hockey that like basically hockey's your life where you don't even have too much of a social aspect? The library? Is the library still there? I mean, I don't spend too much time at the library okay oh yeah i do most of my i do most of my studying in my dorm room but i met the bar i met the bar named the library we don't have one of those oh okay shut down uh we have we got quite a bit of uh i think i mean we we find find a way to have some fun on the weekends, I think,

especially if we play good or win some games on the weekend. We try to have some fun, but during the week, I think we're all busy. I mean, you got class nonstop, and then you go to the rink, and by the time you're done with class and practice, the day's pretty much over and you're tired. So I don't think there's too much, on the weekends we like to we like to try to have some fun after our games and then and see how it goes Casey what are your thoughts on the rest of the way for Minnesota this year I mean you guys you know came out of the gates pretty pretty hot and then you know you lost a few and so like how do you predict the rest of the season

going for you guys and do you do you think you got a shot at taking it home? Yeah, I think for us, we've had a pretty disappointing first half. I think anyone on our team would say that. I mean, we got a very good top nine and we pretty much aren't scoring any goals. For us, it's coming back in the second half. Hopefully, we can get a few bounces here

and find some more chemistry and score. I think for us, of course, Helton St. Paul is here, which is absolutely huge being a golfer. So we're going to have to pull together and be ready to go. But I think we definitely got a good chance. We got the guys. We got plenty of skill up front and good puck moving on D. And I think we definitely have a really good chance to do it.

Well, listen, buddy, we really appreciate you coming on. We wish Team USA the best of luck. I actually forgot to tell you I spoke to the assistant GM in Buffalo, Steve Greeley, who told me you're an amazing player but horrible at returning texts. Actually, I told him that the best players in the world suck at returning texts. Keith Yandel doesn't return a text. So you can just leave people hanging when you're as good as you are.

So don't you ever let anyone change that. Yeah, that's really true. I think I'm not very good at that, and he doesn't like it, so I'm probably working on it a little bit. You're good enough. You don't need to respond to him. Don't worry about it. Just light up the world, juniors, and we wish you all the luck.

So thank you very much, bud. That interview was also brought to you by MyBookie. Holiday season has passed, and you're probably going to need some cash to replenish your account. You need it. I know where to get it. MyBookie is the place to score serious cash on your sports predictions. Man up and play like the pros on game day.

You can play the money line, side or total, whatever. MyBookie is your hookup for all your bet needs and offers super fast payouts when you win. Where you bet is just as important as the team you're betting on or the jockey you're betting on. You want to make money betting the games? Go to MyBookie.ag. They're the only site I'd recommend. I trust them, but you don't have to take my word for it. Check them out yourself. MyBookie not only has odds on every matchup, they also have a dynamite mobile site that makes wagering on your smartphone a breeze. They got odds everywhere. Futures, live game betting,

overs, unders, team bets, puck lines, all that stuff you like to play. I love it. Go to mybookie.ag and play it yourself. Join now and MyBookie will match your deposit with up to a 50% bonus. Use promo code SPIT to activate the offer. Visit mybookie.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid. Thank you very much to Casey for joining the boys.

It was a pleasure to have him on. I do need to apologize to him. I can't believe I asked if he was surprised or regretted not going to the National Team Development Program. He never even got invited. I couldn't believe that. I just figured being a top American, they would at least invite him for one of the years. So a little swing and a miss by the NDP who usually gets it right. years, so a little swing and a miss by the NDP who usually gets it, right?

But, you know, we didn't mention, guys, before in our discussion of the World Juniors about just basically what you think about the outdoor game that's being played between the U.S. and Canada. Now, Grinnell, you probably won't like this. I don't know your opinion on it. I think it's stupid. Personally, I think it's so

dumb. You do it 82 games in a year, 82 NHL games. You know, it's good. You get in. It should change your pace. It's one of 82. A tournament like this, where every game, this game probably will decide who gets the number one seed from their pool. It's a one-game thing.

No one else is playing an outdoor game. Goal differential stuff can matter. I think it's a cash grab. I think it's stupid. They may not even end up doing it because of the temperature, but Grinnelli, I'm assuming you're a big fan of it? Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge a cash grab. I think it's stupid. They may not even end up doing it because of the temperature, but, Grinnelli, I'm assuming you're a big fan of it. Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge fan of it. I mean, I think it's like you said, this whole thing's a big cash grab,

and it's going to help bring in the money. And, you know, me and R.A. were talking before the show. I don't know if you saw on the Spittin' Chicklets Instagram, our guy Trent Frederick wrote 28 to 3 on his eye black. Like, I think that shit's cool. Like, when they do shit like that

and they paint up their faces and shit and go on the ice, like, that's genuine shit. I like that. Yeah, that is... Who else painted up their face?

Who's the kid who put Bill's Mafia on his face? One side of Bill's and the other side of Mafia. Forget his name, bud. That's how they get everyone on your side. Yeah, I'm sure it's exciting as hell for the kids because, you know,

it's playing in a football stadium. But, yeah, it's going to be fucking Joe below zero out there. People are way less likely to go to a game in that kind of condition. The ice sucks, too, they said. Right. Someone tweeted at us last night, a gentleman apparently letting people skate on it, and the guy was out. He said the ice is pretty choppy, man.

I don't know if this is going to get better before the game. And, Whit, I do agree with you. It does suck. Like, it's a big game-deciding. No, you know, you said you didn't. No, no, it's a game-deciding, like, a tournament-deciding game. It's big. But, like, I think they maybe should have done it as, like,

you know the prelims they played before the tournament? Maybe they should have done it, like, outdoors there at, like, the University of Buffalo. Maybe done something like that. But I don't necessarily, maybe they should have done it outdoors there at the University of Buffalo. Maybe done something like that. I don't necessarily know if they should have done it the USA Canada game, a deciding tournament game. Because you're taking one game from a tournament and adding all these elements that don't relate to any other game.

So you're kind of putting these teams at a disadvantage too. And they've had to practice outdoors while all the other teams have got to practice in an actual rink. Yeah. And whatever. I'm sure it is cool for the kids if it wasn't fucking minus 10 out there. Who wants to be outside when you're freezing your dick off your body? There's no joy in that.

Well, but which it takes us back to being on the pond when you're a little kid the first time you were out there, eh? And it's like you're freezing your testicles off, but it's hockey, eh? We get to hear that. Oh, so you're talking like a Canadian? You're a Canadian fan now? No, well, I'm more goofing that narrative that we hear every single fucking winter classic,

like, you know, like, catch the pond. I mean, I know that's the draw of it, and I know there's been a lot of winter classic fatigue. I have, like, again, it's a game. They're going to play it no matter what. The people who go have a good time. Who gives a fuck? The league makes another zillion dollars off it i just i think people complain too much about it

because it's a game on tv you either watch it or fucking don't uh it's just another story in the nhl speaking of uh 2017 is winding down this is our last show of the calendar year and uh we were discussing beforehand what our favorite stories our biggest stories of 2017 were. So, Whitney, what was your biggest story of 2017 in the hockey world? I'm going to, you know what, not surprise anyone. And I'm going to go with the man we talked about before, the man that padded my wallet, and I'm going to go with Sidney Crosby. It may be surprising to you, but he got the third cup in Pittsburgh.

Mario Lemieux didn't have three. He led the NHL in goals in the regular season. He had 19 assists in the playoffs. You know, he just dominated throughout the entire run the Penguins had to go back-to-back for the first time since 97- 98 with the Detroit Red Wings. 20 fucking years since the team's gone back-to-back in the NHL. That's how hard it is to do.

And there's people who love him, and there's people who hate him. And that's the case with every great player and every Hall of Fame player and generational talent. It'll always be that way. But for me, I have my own reasons. But as a fan of hockey, he's taken that to that next level. And I know that sounds

goofy. He's already had two cups. He's already got the gold medals, the world junior gold medals. He's done everything. But you get that third cup on including on a back-to-back and you dominate the entire process and win the consmite again. People talk about Matthews and McDavid and how it's a

young guys league and how the game's changing and it is and it has and everything's different year in and year out with the new age talent and the old guys being gone and Crosby throughout that has remained the best player in the game and in 2017 he was nothing short of that. I'd say my

story of 2017 is Nashville. Just the city of Nashville becoming a hockey town. What do you remember from Nashville, Grinelli? Oh, man. Not much. Not much. But, hey, from the videos, they look cool. Ripping a bowl and crushing beers.

That's his, like, unreal Nashville memory. I mean, that city, it essentially captivated the whole hockey world for, you know, a month or two of the summer. And they're starting to attract big-name free agents now. And I just think they've really put themselves on the map this year. And it was a real good story. I agree with both you guys. I actually thought of those two.

I'm glad we discussed that a little beforehand, the cheat a little, just so we didn't have a repeat on our thing. But, yeah, obviously Crosby, it's a great point. He did take himself to this upper echelon where he does pass Lemieux on cups. I mean, that's a huge fucking thing. And Grinnell, yeah, Nashville, man. To not only watch Nashville take the hockey world by storm, but to be in the maelstrom of it, to be in the pot of it like we were,

awesome, one of my favorite hockey memories. Like I said, I've been to, I think, eight or nine cups now, and Nashville takes the cake. I didn't even make fucking the money I wanted to. But my favorite story, my biggest story, and it's 2017, but it's obviously going to carry into 2018, is the Golden Knights of Las Vegas, man. This is a team that, you know, really nobody had anybody doing anything.

Nobody had them go in the playoffs, having really any sort of success based on the fact they're just an expansion team. And what they've done is nothing short of amazing. I believe if they're not at the top, I'm looking at the standards here, if they're not at the top of the Western Conference, they are a point out right now. I'll check that. Malcolm Subban, unbelievable.

He's been doing 9-2 with a 2-18 and a 9-2-6. They've had five goalies in and out of the lineup. They got flower back. I've seen fan bases like Nashville and Columbus complain that the game was rigged for them because they did change the expansion rules, which, yeah, they did because teams did suck for too long and they want them to be a little more competitive. But I think that simplifies it. It kind of dummies it down. They bring in a great coach, Gallant. To me, it just shows when you get guys buying in teamwork,

it doesn't matter what skill level of every guy is. They're just working together. And what they're doing is absolutely fucking amazing. As of Thursday the 28th, what is it? What the fuck is it? 50 points. They're number one in the Western Conference at New Year's.

That's just an amazing story, I think. Yeah, both you guys are dead on there. Nashville, Grinnelly, I think they're the best team in the league. They're in first and central, which I think is the best division in the NHL. They're outstanding, and the home ice advantage makes it so fun. Who wouldn't want to play there? No state tax. Nashville is now one of the most ideal and top-priced

picks for places to play for the entire league. That team, they get Nick Bonino in. He blocks a huge shot Wednesday night at the dying moments of the game as they beat the Blues on the road right out of the break. They're just such a deep team.

They added Bonino. They got Torres now, too, who looks awesome. Close to a point per game, if not a point per game, to teeth come to Nashville. So I think, you know, I'm in Tampa, top team in the league. That cup would be fun. The RA, the Vegas Golden Knights, I mean, it's seriously incredible. There's no other way to put it.

It's shocking. Nobody would have, you mean, it's seriously incredible. There's no other way to put it. It's shocking. Nobody would have ever said this. I'm sure the people out there love just putting money on their over-win. I wonder what their over-under for wins was because they might have already fucking reached it. If you're looking to gamble, I'm sure people are making money on that. But I still think this is not the ideal thing for that franchise. I will say it.

I think they're better off struggling for a couple years and building through the draft because there's questions, right? There's questions about, this team's awesome and they're playing great, but what are you doing with James Neal? Because if he decides he doesn't want to sign there, then you've got to trade him. You can't lose him for nothing. You cannot do that, especially at this point. So if he doesn't want to sign there, which you've got to trade him. You can't lose him for nothing. You cannot do that, especially at this point. So if he doesn't want to sign there, which you've got to figure out before the

deadline, you might have to trade him. But then of your first place in your division and you're trading your best forward, what that looked like, and there's hard decisions to come ahead for that team. Now, it's still great to watch, and I love watching it. Those three stories, I think, all encapsulated

the NHL pretty well, pretty good overall this year. Yeah. It's, it's been another fun season. I think the league's getting better and stronger despite, you know, sometimes the,

the, the league's its own worst enemy and in terms of public relations and marketing stars and competing with other leagues, but it's a great year. We're looking on to another one and now we're going to bring it up to a weekly segment. All right, Hamilton.

All right, Grinelli fire away. See what we got weekly segment. All right, Hamilton. All right, Grinelli, fire away. See what we got this week. All right. Ben Feller asked, boys, what is the worst injury you have ever seen? All right, Hamilton. Ooh, I'm going to give two answers. Well, in person and on the television. On the television, it's no brainer.

Clint Malachuk, man. I mean, he almost died on the ice after getting his... You saw that? No, no, I'm saying on TV. No, that's my on TV answer, not my in-person answer. In other words, I'm going to give an answer. Worst injury I saw watching the game on TV and worst injury I saw in person in an arena. No, but I'm saying you were watching that game when that happened to Clint Malachuk?

No, but the highlight was on fucking all over the place that night. Oh, I thought they meant what we saw, like watching on TV or in person, like saw happen. All right, well, Clint Malarchuk hitting his fucking jugular vein on the ice was pretty gnarly. The guy basically fucking died. And they said if he was at the other end of the ice, he would have died, which is still fucking crazy. But in person, I may have other end of the ice, he would have died, which is still fucking crazy.

But in person, I may have told the story, said this before on the show, but watching Patrice Bergeron get that concussion from Doug Jones, I never heard the guy in that quiet. Randy. What did I say? Doug Jones? Yeah, Randy. I don't know who Doug Jones is.

I think he's a politician. Randy Jones. Actually, Doug Jones was a player years ago. But Randy Jones hit him. Dude, the place, you could hear a pin drop. And I think, like, people were afraid that he was going to be, like, immobilized, like paralyzed, basically, because of the way he was hit. It looked like his neck might have got broken.

People weren't even thinking concussion after he got hit. They were thinking the worst-case scenario. It was horrifying and failing. And, man, it's just one of those things you never want to feel again on the rink. Like, even as he was going off the ice, it was like funereal. That was, like, the best adjective to describe it. So, go ahead. What's your turn?

Oh, yeah. The worst one I saw, I was – I think I might have mentioned this before. Maybe not, though. Taylor Fadoon. He played at Edmonton. He played at Princeton. I think I talked about this. He broke his femur behind the net in a preseason game,

and I was in the press box, and you could hear him yelling in pain. It's just like a nightmare to see. It happened to Curtis Foster back in the day when he was on the Wild, I believe. It happened to Kevin Fiala last year in the playoffs who's come back for national and been great but um i remember too nels eckman was playing in pittsburgh with me and he he actually like he was in the old igloo uh the benches were like across the bench like our bench was you know on one side of the ice and to the diagonal left across the ice

was our like uh exit for our locker room it was kind of funky how they did it he skated across the red line but he was in that corner where you exit to our locker room and he dislocated his elbow so like he got hit and his arm was fucking twisted facing all disgusting directions and he didn't even like naturally like it was totally normal he just completely panicked and was like hammered on the on the on the um you know on the on the glass to let the people like open them to let them run into like see the doctor in the locker room and as it happened terry was like uh throw someone on the ice but you can't change that way you can't have a guy go to the locker room and change your guy from the other side of the ice. So we got a penalty for too many men, and Ekman had his fucking elbow dislocated for three months.

So that was pretty bad. There's been a bunch of random compound fractures over the years, too. I remember Bill Brett, the defenseman for the Rangers, a few years ago. I remember him getting fucking dropped, and he got knocked out, and he fell. But his fucking blade caught the ice, and he got knocked out and he fell, but his fucking blade caught the ice and he went down and just like he was knocked out and his skate got cut so his fucking whole foot went the wrong way. It was like.

Who was that? Bill Burt, the defenseman for the Rangers. He played a bunch of teams. Oh, wow. I didn't remember that. Oh, that's brutal. I know what you're saying. You get knocked out and then your knees buckle.

You don't even know how your body's falling. Yeah, you wake up and you've got a compound fracture. That's a tough one. An injury that kind of sits in my mind is Pasciaretti when Chara kind of hit him into that side glass thing and he, like, broke his neck. Oh, yeah, that one was terrifying. He looked dead.

He looked dead, yeah. It was terrible. Call Lane 911. Call Lane 911. He looked literally dead. It looked like someone had shot him. So that one was terrible. Call Lane 911. Call Lane 911. He looked literally dead. It looked like someone had shot him. So that one was horrible. Did Charlie get suspended for that?

No, he didn't. No, he shouldn't. Really? No. Yeah, I don't think he should have either. I just remember it looking horrific. Bad timing. All right, so G. Wesson asks,

Have you ever witnessed a fight during practice, and what's the atmosphere like on the ice and in the room afterwards? All right, Hamilton. Yeah, there's fights in practice a lot. All the time. I mean, you see it throughout the NHL season. It'll always pop up here and there, usually when teams are struggling. But it's just, you know, stuff boils over.

I think it's pretty normal and after in the room. Usually, for the most part, the guys are, you know, stuff boils over. I think it's pretty normal and after in the room, usually for the most part, the guys are, you know, they're buddies right away again. It's just guys getting pissed off. I mean, I remember in college, there'd be plenty of them too. And you're like, dude, we're fighting each other. We have face masks on. What are you doing?

Shout out to my buddy, Greg Johnson, who caught me with my own face mask, punching me in the face mask. And now I got a scar beneath my lip. So thanks, G. John. I really appreciate that. You're a really tough guy fighting me with my own face mask, punching me in the face mask, and now I've got a scar beneath my lip. So thanks, G. John. I really appreciate that. You're a really tough guy fighting me with masks on. Yeah, I mean, I think you see fights at every level of hockey in practice.

I think it's just it's a contact sport. It's guys being guys, testosterone flowing. Bunch of hockey guys. Yeah, it's aggression, especially like we saw actually Montreal last week. Joe Morrow and I think it was Andrew Shaw had a little practice skirmish. And, of course, when teams are scuffling and falling out of playoff position, it's probably more likely to happen in a situation. By the way, it's Bill Berg, B-E-R-G.

I know my accent. People might think I'm saying Bill Burr, the comedian. But it was Bill Berg. We got one more, Mikey? Yeah, we do. It's Rob Spencer who asked, when you're a young kid in the NHL, how weird is it to see a middle-aged man wearing your jersey? All right, Hamilton.

Don't even. I think it's fucking really weird. You're like, dude, you're 45 years old. Why do you have a jersey on? Ari, do you wear a jersey? No. I own throwbacks of guys who, like, basically retired. I'm talking all sports.

I got like a Nolan Ryan throwback. I got a Dave Winfield from the San Diego Padres. I got a bunch of Mitchell and Ness shirts. I don't even wear them all that much. It's almost like collecting. The only hockey shirts I have, I got a Bobby O one I wore to, what is it, that fucking Thursday thing down in Boston. Thursday. Thursday, yeah.

And they didn't even grab me. I brought the fucking thing all the way to New York, and they didn't even grab me when they did the game. Fun. So I got an Orchard, and I got a Neely one. I got a Neely one, but I've never, honestly, dude, I've never worn a jersey with a name on it to a game. Never, ever.

I agree. I think there was something. Yeah, you can't. If you're an adult, you can't. So the guy who's asking, his Twitter picture is a jersey that says Army Dad. Is that acceptable? Can you wear an Army Dad jersey to the game? Oh, man.

Talk about putting me in a tough spot because he's an Army Dad. You're the best. Your kid's the best kid in the world, but you can't wear a jersey, Army Dad. Just wear a T-shirt or something. You can't wear a jersey as an adult. It's similar to bringing a fucking baseball glove to a game. Now, this is also from someone who played in

Pittsburgh where like 74% of the crowd has jerseys on, so there's adults everywhere in jerseys. I don't understand it. Just throw on an outfit. Maybe a winter hat or something. You don't need a jersey. Yeah, like I said, it is when you see a guy, especially when it's like a 19-year-old kid and he spent like $200 on a thing

and then he's probably going to end up trading or getting fucking signed elsewhere anyway. So, yeah, I know you like to goof off, but I definitely never wore a jersey to a game. As far as personalized stuff, it's always funny when a guy gets his own name on it. That's funny. I'll tell you, speaking of fans with jerseys, man, I went to a couple of cup games in Jersey, like 2000, 2001, and I never saw a crowd with as many people who did that that had personalized their own name on the back of the jersey.

I think New Jersey leads the league in that. Doesn't Chicago do it a lot as well? They have a lot of jerseys, but not with their names in the back quite like Jersey. That wraps up another version. A lot of ass-eating seats in name Jersey. Those are fucking... When people put something raunchy

on there... I mean, I was... I was pretty uncouth sometimes as a 20-year-old, but I just wouldn't walk around 69 and eat me on the back of my chair. I don't think anyone's ever won that and gotten laid, put it that way. I think I had a Cox hat. Remember the game Cox? The Cox

hat? I think I wore that until my father ripped it off my head. Exactly. Let me be a pervert in public and make everybody laugh and get fucking trashed on the internet. This week's All Right Hamilton is brought to you by Dollar Shave Club. By now, everyone knows that Dollar Shave Club ships amazing razors for a few bucks. I've been a member for a while, and I love my shave on my face and on my head.

What you might not know, I didn't, is that Dollar Shave Club also has products for pretty much everything else I need in the bathroom. Body wash, shampoo, hair gel, well, maybe not too much of that, lip balm, and everything else. Soon as I heard Dollar Shave Club had stuff other than razors, I was sold. At the store, there's too many options. You can't tell the difference between the razors. The clerk sometimes doesn't know what to do. You don't really know exactly what is the best option for you. But Dollar Shave Club makes it easy and convenient to upgrade your options.

If you're like me and sick of the nonsense at the store, now's the time to try out Dollar Shave Club. For a limited time, Dollar Shave Club is basically giving away their Shit Shower Shave Starter Set to new members. For only $5, this starter set features their Executive Razor and three trial-sized versions of their most popular products that help you stay fresh and clean. In your first box, you will receive their Shave Butter Body Wash and One Wipe Charlie's Butt Wipes.

You will also receive their Executive Razor, which includes their premium weighty handle and a full cassette of cartridges. After the first box, replacement cartridges are sent for only a few bucks a month. This offer is exclusively available at dollarshaveclub.com slash chicklets. That's dollarshaveclub.com slash chicklets. Chicklets is C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S. Dollar Shave Club's high quality products will have you covered from face cheeks to butt cheeks. There is no better time to try the club. Actually, just a couple of other notes here before we wrap it up. I just want to send condolences and sympathies to the Family Friends organization, Toronto Maple Leafs.

Probably their last living legend, Johnny Bauer, over the last few days. I mean, anyone who's been familiar with hockey the last several years had to have known who he was. He basically was a Toronto goalie who was on them the last time they won the Cup, I believe. He never wore a mask. He just was an older guy. He was basically like Toronto's Milt Schmidt, and they lost him, I think, about four or five days ago.

So, again, condolences to the Toronto family and anybody, again, who might have been friends with Johnny or known Johnny because he was pretty well- known throughout the hockey world, particularly with the goalies. Yeah. And just for someone I didn't know too much about him. I knew the name Johnny Bauer, right? It's a, it's a name every, every hockey fan knows, but I didn't, you know,

know his career. This is a guy who was in the minors for like 10 to 15 years. I mean, talk about somebody that, that is a hall of Fame legendary goalie that really earned it and never gave up on his dream. And I couldn't believe, I think Sportsnet or somewhere showed a, maybe NHL Network showed a four or five-minute video kind of on his life and his career.

And what an amazing guy. Nobody had a bad word to say about him. People in the toronto organization had mentioned i've seen articles come out that he's still uh the most requested uh of maple leaf alum for certain charity things i mean you know it's like sundine and doug gilmore and uh johnny bauer and um i just i couldn't believe you don't often hear of legendary names in hockey playing the minors, sometimes at all, let alone 10 years, and to never give up and have time with the Rangers and dominate the AHL too and have years where he's getting MVP

and winning the Calder Cup and thinking, God, I'm doing this two years in a row and I'm still not getting up. It's never going to happen. But he had a quote where he said, they had a little interview in this video montage that I saw, and his wife said, you can never think negative. Just you always got to stay thinking positive. And he certainly did that.

So for myself, knowing the name and hearing he passed away, right away I said, oh, that's sad, but I'm not going to lie, he's 94. And then reading about his career, I'm glad I saw some stuff in the video and read and realized how special of a guy he was. So one of the hockey legends that will be missed. Yeah, 93 spins is a good ride. He had a hell of a life, hell of a legacy, and one of those guys you never heard a bad word about.

So, again, salute to Johnny Bauer. One other thing, any movies, TV you've been doing lately, Grinnelly or Wits? Have you caught anything? Anything worth sharing with our listeners? World Junior Season, baby. That's all I watch. Okay. Mainline on that.

Blog, don't sleep. I don't, I haven't really, around the holidays, I didn't even watch anything. I'm trying to think. I haven't seen anything new. I got to get on some TV watching. Are you a Peaky guy? Did you know Peaky? I know I even watch anything. I'm trying to think. I haven't seen anything new. I got to get on some TV watches. Are you a Peaky guy? Did you know Peaky? I know I asked you before.

No, no. I started it once and stopped. And like most of the shows, I usually end up taking one, two, three tries. I might give it a shot again. I remember not being able to understand anything they were saying. And I fucking hate watching stuff on closed captioning like you do because I end up just reading everything instead of watching it. Yeah, in that case, this might not be a marriage for you, but any

Peaky Blinders season four dropped another excellent season. What's amazing about the show is how they bring such calibers of actor on, like, you know, Cillian Murphy, they have Tom Hardy on What's-His-Face, Aidan Gillen who's Carcetti from The Wire, and Littlefinger on Game of Thrones, they brought him on this year.

They bring in this all-star actors every year. The writing's great. It's just such a different show that they have this industrial Manchester, England, post-World War I and there's gangsters from it. It's just a show you're like, where the hell did this come from? Jump on Peaky. And Wits, you

had suggested a few weeks back, and I actually finally saw wind river un-fucking-believable movie yeah oh you saw it yeah i actually it was six dollars to rent or eight to buy so i just bought the thing the other night and i'll probably watch it six times in the next couple years all right you're splurging hey i loved it i thought it was awesome i thought it was i thought it was entertaining it I thought it was entertaining. And then I actually, my brother watched it, and then he watched it again. He's like, dude, I kind of liked it even more the second time. So I might check that out on this little spin and stay I have in Hoboken, New Jersey right now.

Fucking three degrees outside. Yeah, it's an excellent movie written by this guy, James Sheridan, who also wrote last year's Hell or High Water. I'm not sure if you saw that. He also wrote Sicario a few years back. This was the first movie directed Wind River. Is it... I think he was an actor in Sons of Anarchy, right? He was like the cop. Yeah, he played... I was never a big Sons guy

but a few people have pointed that out. He was a cop on Sons of Anarchy but basically it's just the first five minutes of a movie. Jeremy Renner plays a fish and wildlife guy who's out trying to track a lion or something. And he happens upon a dead girl five miles from anybody or anything. And what's her face? Elizabeth Olsen comes in as the FBI agent to help solve it. But it hooks you in right from the get-go.

It kind of has elements of Silence of the Lambs, has elements of Fog. I'm not putting it in the category of those two necessarily, but it's a great movie. It's a beautiful movie to look at, too. The cinematography is phenomenal. If you can watch it on a bigger screen, do that. But, yeah, those two are good. So not much else. I got a lot of catching up on to do before the Oscars get here.

I got to handicap my shit. Also, we got to handicap. Yeah, all the betters are going through you. I also think we've got to mention that January 1st, the outdoor game, Buffalo Rangers at Citi Field, we'll get to see the United States Olympic

team. So I'm hoping, I've got two buddies, Chris Bork, who plays at Hershey in the AHL, dominates still. Noah Welsh plays over in Sweden. I hope they get named. They deserve to be named and to get to play in the Olympics would be unreal. I've done it.

Not a big deal. And I think that we'll get to talk about that. I don't know how big everyone will be into the tournament because of no NHL players. But I think once the tournament gets going in South Korea and maybe Team USA makes a little noise, I think that it could catch on and people get interested. Would you be watching their games, you think? Yeah, I'm definitely going to watch. Just, you know, cheer on the fellas. It's still Olympic hockey at the end of the day,

but obviously it's lost a shitload of lessons. I don't know what they mean. Grinnell was talking about how basically the NHL has barely promoted the World Junior Tournament because it's an IIHF thing, and it just shows how political it is that these are the guys who are the stars of the league in a year or two or three. And the NHL, I mean, yeah, they're on the NHL network, but that's really the extent of the market. And I think they could probably do a little bit more better job

showcasing their better stars of the future. But whatever, there's always a bitch with the NHL. future, but whatever. There's always a bitch with the NHL. Yeah, yeah. So as 2017 comes to a close... 2016.

What year is it? 2018 now? That was a shot that's a part of my take, yeah. Holy shit. Yeah, so, well, you know what? I had a lot to be thankful for, so I got engaged know what i had a lot to be thankful for so i got uh engaged uh married had a kid bought a house so i've really grown up so 2017 was a very special year for me

and looking uh looking forward to 2018 yeah i don't basically echo that minus the engagement wedding kid but uh yeah it's fucking years has flied by. I say it all the time to young guys. I see my cousin graduating college this year, and I told him like four years ago, like, this is going to be over in a blink. And I probably depressed the kid, but I told him and said, before you know it, you're going to be fucking in your 40s, dude. So enjoy life, man.

Enjoy life as much as you can because you really don't know when it's going to fucking go over on you or something bad is going to happen. And he getting the books is a good one. As a kid, you realize that. So here's to a, not a fucking personally a great 2017, but here's to better things in 2018 for all. Grinnells? All right, boys. Grinnell, you just keep that human index or whatever it is going.

All right. Like I was going to say, I went from being a nobody in 2016 to a nobody in 2017. Just this time, I have a little more Twitter followers. Yeah. You're not a nobody, too. There you go. Nobody's a nobody.

Hey, hey. Oh, Ari's pumping you up. You're kind of a nobody, but you do have Twitter followers, buddy. And you are nobody. Exactly. That's all I want.

Oh, fuck me. All right, fellas. I'll be back home in studio on your couch next Thursday we'll have it warm

for you brother rockstar you don't have to put on the red light Those days are over You don't have to show your body to the night Rockstar