The Athletic Hockey Show - Canadian gold medalist Erin Ambrose joins the show, Penguins' late playoff push, and drafting NHL goal songs

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Hailey and Sean kick off a new Thriday show diving into the Penguins' push for the postseason and beyond. Then, Canadian gold medalist Erin Ambrose joins the show to preview the Women's World Championships, reflect on the PWHPA and the Dream Gap tour, coaching, the Maple Leafs, and thoughts on NHL Pride Nights. To wrap up, Producer Danielle joins in for a NHL goal song mini-draft.Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowStart making your financial dreams a reality with Chime. Get started at http://chime.com/nhlshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hello everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. It's Friday. It's Haley Salvean. It's Sean Gentilly. Bono's making an appearance in the background for anyone watching this on YouTube. Looks like he just fell off the couch, but we don't need to talk about that. Because we've got a pretty busy show and an exciting one because we had Canadian Olympic gold medalist, Canadian world champion defender Aaron Ambrose on the show today. We could just call her the third host of the day.

She was on for most of the show. It should be most of the show. More to say than like either of us did. She's great, man. There's a reason we were trying to get her on for the last few weeks. Yep. And this was kind of our last go at it, right? because if she would have,

she's five or six days away from having to start the pre-world, you know, ramp-up process with Team Canada. So I'm glad she jumped on. She was awesome. Yeah, me too. Team Canada starts their pre-world championship training camp next week. And then there's a pre-world game on April 1st. And then the tournament actually starts on the 5th.

And then the gold medal game is April 16th. So yeah, this was pretty much the last time we'd be able to have Aaron Ambrose on for the next month or so. And so I'm really glad that we did. She was awesome. We talked about a variety of topics with Aaron. Got a little bit into the Toronto Maple Leaf. She's a big Leafs fan. So for any Leafs fans who want to know what an Olympic gold medalist thinks about the Toronto Maple Leafs post deadline,

stick around for that. We previewed the women's world championships. Talked a bit about the PWHPA, the kind of landscape of the women's game. Got a really nice scouting report on some players that we can watch at the tournament. And we also had a really nice discussion with Aaron about what's been going on in the league with Pride Knights. This is something that Aaron has tweeted about in the past. Initially, when Ivan Provorov didn't wear the Pride jersey for the Philadelphia Flyers. Didn't even warm up, excuse me, I should say.

Aaron tweeted about that and I think she was, you know, very good about talking about this with us. It's something that you and I have not shied away from talking about, but I think it was nice to get another perspective on especially from somebody who is, you know, an open and proud member of the LGBTQ plus community, which Aaron is. So she came from, she came into this conversation with with a different lens and a different life experience. and she was very open to talking about that with us as well. So there's lots to dig into there with Aaron Ambrose. Yeah, this is her community that's being directly affected by what's gone on with the league and the teams and the weird rationale behind it. And she wanted to talk about it. I mean, like I said, like I kind of said earlier, we'll talk to Aaron Ambrose about anything,

let alone something that's that important and something that's that close their heart. So yeah, it was great. Yeah, she's awesome. Obviously, it's unfortunate that that is a, you know, a subject that has to come up in a, you know, a wide-ranging interview with Aaron Ambrose. We wish that it wasn't something that we talked to her about, but that's what's going on in the league right now. And she is somebody who is open to using her platform to discuss these things. So lots of look forward to in the second segment in that chat with Aaron Ambrose. Before we get to that, though, let's have a little look around the league. There's a couple things that we want to touch on in the Eastern, conference and we're going to start in Pittsburgh, Sean, because Sidney Crosby had some heat on that backhand last night. I don't know who to credit this to. I don't know if this is real.

I don't know if this is physically possible. But his backhand was clocked in at 68 miles per hour. It also went top shelf and was shoveled in from above the hash marks. penguins have a huge win against the Colorado avalanche last night. They're back in playoff position. Two points back of the Islanders, they got a game in hand. Florida Panthers are creeping up still, though, only one point behind. I think last night, Sean, was like a really great example of, yes, we can be skeptical of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the roster that they currently have in the depth, et cetera, et cetera.

But Sidney Crosby is still Sidney Crosby, and he is not someone you should bet against in big games and big moments down the stretch. Yeah, I think part of the narrative that's taken hold around them, maybe, certainly outside Pittsburgh, because God knows Ron Hacostel is getting torched here, whether it's by Rob Rossi or Josh Joey or other folks like me who are based here. So he's getting no quarter from the Pittsburgh media.

But I think there is a temptation if maybe you haven't paid attention to this team all year long, or going back to the offseason, to say, like, they made some kind of mistake in extending Evgeny Malkin or, well, I guess, not even extending, resigning him because he was about to hit the market.

Bring him back Malkin, extending Chris Lattang, because that was technically still an extension. Keeping those guys around, bringing the old dudes back together, trying to make another run at, you know, relevant games, right? Like, I think it, because it was, it's a questionable decision on, on some levels.

You don't typically see a team with a bunch of guys who are 35 or so signed long-term deals and, you know, whatever. It's not something that happens. So it's understandable to, like, pick that knit and look at how underwhelming they've been as a team and look at where they are in the standings and say,

like, all right, this is the problem. This is the mistake. This is why they shouldn't have brought back Malkin or Lattang and kind of hit, hit the rebuild button. You don't want to end up in, you know, Ken Holland Town when it comes to, when it comes to, you know, like we saw with the Detroit Red Wings where they just couldn't, couldn't cut the cord and ended up throwing the franchise into a decade of, you know, irrelevance, right? I get it.

It's just not that, but it doesn't apply. because those guys have been great. Sidney Crosby has already clinched a point per game season. You know, we have all these, he's chasing a hundred points season, 35. Malkin's been great. Latang, after a brutal start on the ice, and then a bunch of off-eye stuff included the death of his dad. I mean, it was a disaster, multi-tiered disaster for him the first few months of the season.

He's worked himself into shape. The issue for the penguins is that the supporting cast has deserted them. They've been terrible. It's been guys that Ron Hexel has brought in and cycled out and brought in at the trade deadline and, you know, whatever. This is managerial incompetence and managerial issues. Yeah. That are to blame for why we're sitting here talking about the penguins in a playoff fight. And also, you know, Tristan Jari has been terrible too.

So lots of, lots of reasons for this. none of them, literally none of them, are the play of Sidney Crosby or the play of Ervgeny Malkin. Yeah. To play of Chrysletang. But doesn't this still give you Detroit Red Wings

vibes, for lack of a better word, God I hate using that term so much. Sure. Because it wasn't really Datsuk and Zetterberg's fault that the Red Wings like faltered in the end. It was because Ken Holland was bringing back

like Franz Nielsen and Justin Adulcator. for like way too much. And all these guys. And that is what is happening in Pittsburgh to a sense too, right? Is it's not Crosby and Malkin and Lattang's fault, but it's the fact that the organization doesn't really have the money to add meaning, to have meaningful improvements at the deadline or in free agency

because they've used up all their money on, you know, Jeff Carter, even Jeff Carter, when he scored two goals last night, so maybe about time to bring up, you know, damn it, Jeff, right. But that is what's giving. a bit of Red Wings vibes. And, you know, I don't, I don't mean to, you know, pick on other writers and other markets. But like Matt Larkin had a story on Daily Faceoff that essentially said like, it's time for the Pittsburgh Penguins to let go.

And he actually kind of argued like, yeah, this is giving Red Wings. You guys are going to have years and years and years of distress, basically, if you don't let it go. I think there are parallels. but I think that is, I think that is an over-exaggeration on this penguin's team. Because of Sydney Crosby. Like God bless Hennerxed Ederberg,

not Sydney Crosby. And we knew towards the end too that Datsuk, like they had to convince him to come back a couple of times. Powell Datsuk is not Sydney Crosby. You do not punt on any season ever when you have Sydney Crosby. I don't care if this is 10 years, ago or 10 years from now or whatever, if you have that dude playing the way that he's playing,

it would be a dereliction of duty by a general manager or a coach or a front office to punt. It would be a disgrace. And that is what I think the fear was in this city and within the Pittsburgh fan base going into the season, or going into the off season, was it like, are they going to try to do some weird rebuild thing? Like, you can't waste any, any moment you have with that tune specifically. And that's why people are so mad at Ron Hextall. That's what it boils down to.

And we might be splitting Harris here because it's like, you know, whatever. They are where they are. This is looking like on some level a wasted season because it's like if they sneak into the playoffs, you really think they're going to beat the Bruins? Like you really think they're going to compete there? Probably not. So whatever. You make it in the first round and you get stomped.

But that's the reason the vibe around Hextall, in the public opinion around Hextal, has curdled the way that it has because there's a very clear sense that this is just like, that he doesn't quite get it. And he doesn't understand the meaning of having that dude at this point in his career. Every year is precious. Sydney Crosby having heat on the backhand and scoring a point per game. And we've talked about this so many times too, Sean. And so I don't want to beat the Ted horse on the penguins, Ron Hextall conversation too too much. But it keeps coming up because we keep having these moments in the season

where the penguins are having a dip in play or Crosby will do something and something will happen. Like they're a constant topic this season because of the team that they are and the players that they have it, and in part because of where you live as well. But the penguins are not the Detroit Red Wings because Sidney Crosby is. the equation and Sidney Crosby is still Sydney Crosby. And to, to your point, to kind of piggyback

and pick up on what you were saying, like, and this is what we've talked about a lot, is like the penguins, like the issue with Ron Hextall is that he dipped his toe into the water of going all in with his core and then he kind of just stopped. The bigger issue with Ron Hextall is that he cleared a bunch of cap space and spent it on Michael Granlin. Like that's the, that's the, that's the, the most recent egregious. And nobody thought he was going to clear that space. Like he did the impossible almost, which was getting someone to take Cappinan.

And so you're like, ooh. I think that's almost, that almost made people angrier, honestly. Because I think there was some degree of resignation. Like, all right, this team just doesn't have the dudes this year. For whatever reason, it's his fault. He brought back Cisbury Cappin on one of the most inexplicable contracts that I've seen since I've started covering.

Just don't quote. Qualify him. Truly. Don't give him the QO. Why? Use that money. Use that money to sign two other, two other, you know, very mediocre player. Whatever.

Like, we don't need to relitigate the officers, but they were there because of, but they were there because of, you know, Hexall's decisions. And I think people had kind of made peace with that, that that's the way this was going to be, you know, that they were locked in. Mm-hmm. And then to have them go through that pre-trade deadline flurry. of creating cap space and, you know, waving Jamie McGinn and trading Casperry Cabin

and moving Teddy Bluger and create, Brock McGinn, excuse me. See, I can't get brothers straight. This is like one of the through lines on this show is like I'm still calling, I'm still calling Chris Tanna, Brandon Tanna and vice versa. It's, but wild.

But like they create all that space and they just, you know, throw it away on a dude who's 32 and one of the worst defensive, you know, forwards in the lake. It's wild. And it made people mad. And that is prime the pump for this losing streak that they were on.

Like that, like the total missed opportunity at the deadline and the allocation of $5 million in each of the next two years to McCaule-Grenland. Like that prime the pump for people to be pissed. People were ready to be mad. And then the losing streak just brought all those fears of the forefront, right? So it's been, it has. It's been wild to be around. I've never seen the, I've never seen the, I've never seen the vibes around this.

team be any worse. Now, you know, through it all, it beat the cup of avalanche last night, and there's still in a playoff spot. It's crazy. Yep. So Florida Panthers only one point back. Penguins are two points behind the islanders with a game in hand.

So the wild card race in the east is very interesting. I would say that it's a three team race at this point. You know, maybe the Sends can get back into it, but I mean, I don't think so. The sense of 73 points, Islanders of 82. So I think at this point in time, one of the Islanders, Panthers, and Penguins get amiss the playoffs. Florida Panthers are 17 and one in their last 10.

They've been playing really well since the All-Star break. Matthew Kachukchuk is going to get Hart Trophy votes. I mean, he's probably not going to get first place votes, but Matthew Kuch should be a finalist for the Hart Trophy this year. He's having an excellent season. Oh, really? What? I like that. That's spicy.

You don't agree? I agree. I agree. I don't think it's a hot take. I also don't think it's going to happen. What? I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think Chuck is going to be one of the top three vote getters. Do you know how many players have had a 100 point season with one team and then a 100 point season with the next?

Like year after year. Like five, five in history. And I think one of them was Wayne Greta. I don't think the Bullets are going to be there for that, dude. That is wild. If the Panthers miss out in the playoffs, I don't think people are, I don't think enough people are going to happen. If the Panthers make the playoffs, though, I think Matthew Kuchuk should be in the

heart consideration. He should be there. Absolutely should be. People were talking about Tage Thompson in the heart conversation trying to get the Sabres into the playoff race. I mean, Tage Thompson's great. We all love the big guy, but like, it's Matthew Kuch. Big strong Tage Thompson, who, you know.

was a late bloomer and everyone is shocked that the first round pick actually became very good. It's three Eastern Conference. It's three teams vying for two spots in like two spots only, right? Like neither of the three Islanders, penguins, certainly the Panthers, certainly the Panthers, neither of those three teams is going to jump out of the wild card spot. Like they're, that's it. Oh, God. Yeah. The separation.

Those are the spots we're talking about. Yeah. There's a 10-point gap between the New York Islanders and the first wild card spot and the New York Rangers who are third in the metro. That's great. One final word on the penguins.

And then we're going to throw to our Aaron Ambrose conversation because this podcast can not be an hour and a half long and we both have college basketball that we want to watch. But with the Pittsburgh Penguins in all this, talk about, you know, spending money on the wrong pieces, et cetera, et cetera. They have around $19.4 million in cap space this summer coming off the books. Guys like, you know, I mean, Kulikov and Benino were trade deadline acquisitions and they're pending unrestricted free agents.

They don't make a ton of money. They're not the big ones. But we're talking like Jason Zucker, his 5.5s coming off the books. You know, Dayton Hinen and Josh Archibald, their UFAs. that's not big money, but, you know, Brian Dumlin's an unrestricted free agent as well. Like, there is money, I mean, Tristan Jari. Like, there's significant money coming off the books. They're going to have just under $20 million to spend this summer.

Do you want Ron Hextall being the one who shells out that cash as general manager? Like, do you think that's what comes next for the penguins this summer? I mean, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I think he's had two off seasons to try to build a, supporting cast around these guys and hasn't been able to do it. He's had, he's had money. Like if it were my, if I were my team, no, I would hire, I mean, but I also have, you know,

I would hire a different sort of personality type and a different sort of background just generally to run whatever, to run whatever team I was running. But do I think that he'll get one more year? I think it's, I think it's certainly impossible. He's got one more year left on his deal as a team option after that. I haven't seen a ton of, you know, haven't seen a ton of action from, Fenway Sports Group, the ownership group of that team. So I think at this point I would be lightly surprised if they made a change there.

Okay. They need a goalie. They need a goalie, by the way. Like, that's low key. That's been the biggest issue for them over the last little bit. And then they came to the question. How many more kicks is Trista Jari going to get up being the guy? Came into a season with a bunch of questions surrounding him,

surrounding whether he could stay healthy, whether he could stay consistent, and he hasn't been either. So that's a tough question to answer. It's always really good to have to find a goalie in free agency. It's always a spot that a team should want to be in. With that, let's go to the Aaron Ambrose conversation because we had a long chat with Aaron, covered a ton of topics, and I think we spent a lot of time talking about the Penguins here,

but that's okay. They're pretty topical. Here's our chat with Aaron Ambrose. All right, so this is very exciting. We love doing this on the show. We have Aaron Ambrose here this week. She is our Thri-Day guest. And this is that, yeah, Sean's like upset.

We record on Thursdays, but the show comes out on Friday, Aaron. So this is the Thri-Day podcast. Welcome. I love that. I feel like I'm in the group for it now. Thank you. Okay, good. I'm glad.

Thank you. Sean gets, like, annoyed every time I say Thursday. And he's just like, ugh. No, what I always say is, you know something has a really good name when you have to explain it to everybody, to everybody who comes out, totally. Shot inspired already. Long, long day. You should have seen what's going on before you jumped on.

My goodness. Yeah. Well, thank you for doing this, Aaron. It's obviously an exciting and busy time in women's hockey, the PWHPA season just ended. You've been behind the bench with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Women's World Championships are coming up in two weeks, three weeks, like camp starts next week slash this weekend. So lots to get into.

Let's start with women's worlds, though, because tournaments coming up. You'll be at camp soon. So we're going to scout the enemy, preview the tournament, figure out what we need to know here. But just first, like, what's it going to be like heading into this tournament? It's in the GTA on home soil, back-to-back champions already. you guys have won the last three major international gold medals you won the rivalry series too.

Does the pressure change heading into a tournament when you have already won so much and you're not just trying to take the gold from the Americans? You're not trying to win back to back. Like has it shifted at all in the last year or so? That's a very good question. And I feel like I'm not 100% sure if I have a. concrete answer on that. Just in the sense of we haven't gotten together yet as a group,

but at the same time throughout this year with our rivalry series, it was like, okay, like we understand that we are kind of fighting to stay on top now. And that was every rivalry series game, even going into worlds last year in Denmark. But I think the most exciting thing is that it's not just a fight to stay there. It's a fight to get better and improve however we can as a group right now.

So it's not so much, okay, we're defending world champions, two-time world champions, we're defending Olympic gold medalists. It's, okay, we're defending what we've created and this culture and this winning attitude and how can we can kind of continue to build on that and grow from there. Right. I think what's super interesting, the roster was released, I guess, 10 days ago now, you are one of the ones on it. So belated congratulations to Aaron, not a surprise at all.

But what's so interesting is that over these last like three, four tournaments, the roster has been like quite different based on like availability or injuries. We're seeing players kind of come back into the fold at this tournament with Natalie Spooner coming back after giving birth three months ago on December 6, which is wild. Rebecca Johnson's back. Claire Thompson's back. Danielle Sardakeney is going to make her debut. You've got this really interesting mix right now of veterans who've been there,

done that. And of course, Mary Philippe who ends on the team again. And like brand new faces. So like what can you kind of tell us about this roster that's been constructed and how your group has kind of evolved over the last few tournaments? Well, I'm super excited. I think if you look at somebody like Danielle Sardakni, like I haven't gotten the chance to play with her.

And I didn't really watch the rivalry series games that much kind of tuned in in the first period when they were out West. It was just so late. I couldn't stay up. Obviously a lot of excitement around her. And I think that she brings an element that our young players haven't had recently. Like I think that obviously you have the Sarah Filier who's been this dynamic offensive player. And then you have the M.Maltese and the Kristen only. O'Neill's that have kind of been thrown into that fourth line, third, fourth line, grind, hard to

play against. And I feel like Dax's a little bit of both from what I've seen. She lit up the NCAA this year, which is extremely exciting. And I just can't wait to chirp her for the fact that she looked off Marie-fleet-plan on a two-on-one-one-and-over-time because that is a bold choice, and I was here for it. That's incredible. She comes with the confidence. This is the fourth best-on-best tournament you've played it in the last 18 months. Yeah. Like I with with each one I'm like okay this is when the schedule normalizes right. Like this is and it's not.

The cycle is just completely completely off because the world in Denmark were you know, whatever nine months in August. Through everybody. It's crazy. How this last leg of this crazy of this crazy, you know, this crazy schedule, you know, it's because of COVID plenty of plenty of reasons obviously. But what is a what is, what have, what, the last nine months look like for you? And does it feel like anything's normalized here? Because

like, are you just used to it being like bizarre and screwed up? Because like the timeline for you guys, and I, you know, and Haley's talking about the roster attrition and how there's been, you know, significant changes. You know, I think I would imagine a lot of that has to do with the amount of like high-end hockey that's been crammed into these last 18 months. So what's, what's that been like? Is it, is it gotten any better or are you just used to it being shitty, basically is the question. It's been a roller coaster. I think that's a big thing, Sean, is that we like,

you go in, even going as far back as Espo Finland. So we're in Finland, the CWHL folds. And that's when everything kind of hit the fan in a sense. Because then you go into our first year, the PWA Dream Gap tour. And that's a whole lot of inconsistency.

And we made the most of what we could have. And then you get smoking. with COVID. And then you're trying to adapt to all the COVID regulations. And then it's like, okay, but we got to centralize. So then it's COVID with centralization. And you look at that first world at the beginning of that Olympic cycle in Calgary. And it was like, we just wanted to play. Like it was like, who cares what month the year it is? I don't even know what year it is because it submits COVID. And that was the best way we could have obviously kicked off. Olympic cycle.

And then you get to February and it's like, hey, that's the end of the road. We got our Olympic gold medal. Like, this is fantastic. And then you're like, oh, shit, we have worlds coming up again in four months. And we've kind of joked, like, as groups every so often, it's just like there hasn't been an off season for us in a while. So it's exciting to know that this is coming up and like this is the end of our season now. like this is this is the light at the end of the tunnel in the sense and this is what it's all

leading towards is this world championship and to have it on hold and soil I think makes it that much more exciting for all of us have you had a break since COVID seriously like has there been like a protract like whatever and I'm not talking about like long weekend or like a holiday like have you been able to chill for any meaningful amount of time since like centralization before the Calgary tournament, maybe? We definitely tried to have some downtime last year after the Olympics. And I think Hockey Canada

did a good job of understanding that, okay, like, we're letting the girls relax. It was tough, though, because after that Olympics, we had that PWHPA game, the Canada versus U.S. game. Didn't everyone come from, like, vacation for that? And everyone was just gasped. The first period was like,

oh, yeah, pretty much. It was just like, it was a really exciting time and I'm glad that we were able to do it. And I understand why we did it. But it was also like, oh my gosh, we have to play another hockey game. And that sounds so bad of me to say because this is my job and I love doing it. But at the same time, it was like, okay, it's break time. And I think a lot of us had snuck in a trip to Mexico between the Olympics and that game. That's basically what I was asking.

Have you been able to sit on the beach in the last thing? So in Mexico and then I've got a big trip planned in April. So April into May going down to Florida. So that's something that will definitely take those full two weeks while I'm away to fully decompress and then ramp back up for the off season. I think it's interesting though because when the penguins, I'm saying the penguins, because you guys are in Pittsburgh, Sean's from Pittsburgh. Like the Penguins win a Stanley Cup, they're not immediately doing a showcase event to like sell. market their sport. And that is something like unique to women's hockey is you need to capitalize on the

attention that is on you after winning gold. And that means don't take a break, get right back on the ice and go and sell this game to more people. And I think we're seeing that with the way that this schedule has been. It's just been nonstop because I think in talking to players like you and others, like you guys understand what's at stake. You understand the moment that you're in right now. And kind of tying in with way the PWHPA is trending, it seems like everyone's just in lockstep to say, like, we are trending in the right direction and like we are not going to stop this momentum.

Yeah, absolutely, Haley. And I think that that's something that as frustrating as it can be as an athlete. I think us as female hockey players really understand. stand it. Do we agree with it every time or do we want to be doing it? No, but we've said since the beginning that this isn't for us. This is for people to come after us and that's something that we have to buy into. And even if it's reluctantly doing so, we're making sure that we're doing it to make sure that the game is in a better place when we're all done. As far as the dream gap tour was concerned, like you guys hit, you had Pittsburgh, you get some new spots, right? You're in Seattle.

You're in D.C. Yeah, with a Southern California one mixed in there maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Is there, is there any, did any stand out? Like, did, especially with the, with the new spots. Because I think that's, that's been one of the coolest things about tracking what's gone out with you guys.

Honestly, seeing the exposure of maybe some, some fresher eyes and some new audiences to, to your end of the game. I think for me, unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to Washington. that wasn't a new spot they were there last year but it's still I think from what I've heard has hands down been the best place

the way that capitals have bought into helping us out and creating such a professional environment the girls rave about it so I was definitely disappointed not to be there I can't complain about going to Tampa but Tampa was three in three days and that's tough so I think like

it was cool Like for me, it was the OHL weekend that really stood out. So we had the games. We played for Team Sonnet. We played in Niagara and we played in Kitchener. And then the other two games were in Peterborough and Barry. Have the amount of fans that we had at all, those games was really, really successful. And I think just promising for us because it's tough.

Like when you come in and out of cities for one weekend, it is hard to really captivate everybody that you want to and get them into the rink. I know Collingwood was also so excited to have us. Jesse Eldron and I went up there earlier the week before and did some emotional things. And it's so small towns that I think are really successful. And then like our trip to Cali was great for our last weekend, but it was just so many different moving parts that it was a little bit harder to, again, focus on the hockey side.

But at the same time, to be able to go. out there and tap into that the fan base of female hockey players out there was really exciting. So I think as crazy as a year as it was, with all the travel and going to different places, we definitely did a great job in leaving our mark kind of wherever we did go. I just hope when you'd say that Pittsburgh was the best. That's okay. I really enjoyed Pittsburgh because that was like the second weekend. That was the second weekend.

And I, it was a blur. It's unreal. Sorry. I don't even know where I was and where I was. Seriously, like, I don't mean to like quiz you on your schedule, but it's like you, like you look at it. It's just, it's just unreal. So I'm, my, my feelings aren't hurt. It's okay.

I hope not. Producer Danielle was at the Southern California showcase. It's where she's got her PWA HPA hat. I was going to say she's got some good merch on her right now. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I hate to see the son stuff come out. Do you guys, do you guys know who the model was for that?

Is there like, is there like a, is there like a Jerry West, like, logo model for the, for the PWAHPA logo? No, I don't think so. No,

definitely not me. My pony, I don't wear a pony. Yeah, I've never seen you with a ponytail. No, we got rid of that. It's a strange observation.

Pretty quickly. Long ago I used to, but I switch. Um, All right. I always just assumed it was like Kendall or Hillary because they always have the... It's too tall to be Kendall. Yeah, you're right.

Uh-oh. Kendall's a braid girl. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's preview women's worlds a little bit more. Because we've talked about Team Canada. But like more specifically with some of the players on the roster, like who, outside of the obvious.

Like, we know that Mary Philippe Pellant's the best player in the world. We know that Sarah Filier is great. But who do we need to keep an eye out for? Who do we need to know outside of the usual suspects? Like who should people be more aware of heading into this tournament? I'm going to go one forward and one D. Okay. Up front, I'm going to go with Laura Stacey.

Love that. I think Stace is playing the best hockey of her career. she was a pain in the ass to play against all year and she knows that and that's the biggest compliment I think you can get from an opposing player um and I just love how she's added such a dimension to her game of being a scoring threat I think you look at the rivalry series this year and the line of Blair Turnbull Emily Clark and Laura Stacy was consistent throughout them and that shows you how strong their chemistry is um and I truly think that that us having them as a quote-unquote third line is a pretty damn good third line.

Anybody you'll match it up again. So I think Stace is going to have a great tournament. She's one of the best PKers in the world. And yeah, she's going to have a great tournament. Then on the other side for D, you know, I have a soft spot for her. I know I've mentioned her to you quite a bit, Haley, but Ella Sheldon. I cannot rave about Ella enough. and that's in saying that with you play Claire by my side

yeah which I would never complain about but Ella Shelton were so deep on D that it does push her down a little bit more than I think it could or it should but I think for Ella I think she should have been the top defenseman of the PWHPA this year with what she did for Scotia Bank she's a physical presence. She's so sound defensively.

And her offensive upside is something that nobody really sees until it's blatantly in your face. Uh-huh. And it's not just goals. Like she creates so much that people don't see on the other side of the puck. And yeah, I'm really excited for Elle. I said this to you once when we were talking about Ella Shelton. And I basically said this to Ella in Denmark.

I didn't know she had such like a bomb of a shot. It was a little like she scored this insane shot from the point and she comes out to the weird little tented media area that we had at Worlds in Denmark. Smelt funky. And I was like, have you always been able to shoot like that? Like where did this come from? And she's like, I don't know. I never, I don't do it often. I probably should do it more.

And she just, I was like, yeah, yeah, maybe. Her one-timer threat is insane, probably one of the best in women's hockey. And like her wrist shot, like she doesn't get a lot of shots blocked, but because she gets it off so quickly. Like you think that the way she shoots a puck that it would take her a while, but she gets it off on an offer stick really quick. I think I wanted to ask about Blair Turnbull specifically. I think, you know, someone I wasn't overly familiar with her game before the Olympics. right but she's a player who watched during that tournament and then don't lie you weren't aware of her until she broke her leg i i don't like you're putting

russian legends no but like she's this like she's one of those players who like once you start watching her you kind of can't stop right because of because of that hard to play against element that you talked about and and whatever no specifically is there um what do you think's next for her on ice like is she is she is the role that we've seen her kind of slotted in over the last couple tournaments, like great as it is and fantastically as she plays it. Yeah. Is there, is there more, is there more to give for her? Because I, I'm just like her, her game just generally kind of, kind of fascinates me. Because it feels like, you know, you stick her on another team. She'd be farther up the

lineup and that's maybe not necessarily. She's been scoring more in the PW this year too. Like, I think it's like interesting. She's like this great. I, oh, I never love doing the, I'm piggybacking off Sean's question here because Turnbull's like one of my favorite players, um, to watch and talk about. She's like this perfect two way center that has like a really almost underappreciated offensive ability. And like you like if it was the NHL like Blair Turnbull's like the perfect third line center that you get for like a cup contender. You know, she's like the Michael Backlind or she's like the, you know, the juice that gets the Goodro Coleman, Yanni Gord line. or something like not like she doesn't need an NHL equivalent but like she's just such an

interesting player with like more offense that we're seeing right now which I think is what to piggyback off Sean is like that next step for her right yeah like I think if you look at the PWHPA like that's why it's so great what we do because people get elevated into rules that they don't necessarily have on the respective national team so you have the Blair Turnbulls who you're seeing this offensive upside and it's like that wasn't never not there. It's just you have Marie-Fili-Pulin and Sarah Filier at center. Like we can't. It's not a knock against Blair.

It's just the strength of our centers. And I think you also look at it like Brianna Jenner used to be a center too. Our center death is incredible. And obviously Jenny's had so much success on the wing with Poo and that's fantastic. But it's just Blair is so tough to play against. and Blair is every coach's dream. Blair is hard-nosed. She does everything the right way.

As a D, I know I'm going back to get a puck and I have Blair support all the time in the defensive zone. And it's like it makes my job so much easier. And then like that's not even touching on how great she is in the room and what she does for us. Like, yes, you don't want to compare to the NHL, but like Blair Turnbull is the player that every GM would go after.

Yeah. Trade deadline. Yeah. Because without her, you don't have success. And that's truthfully what it is. As a leader, as the center that she is, like, like you look at the Olympics last year. And obviously we broke everybody, like individually broke all these records, which was great. But it was like that third line is what created, again, third line, quote unquote, because the depth is insane.

but like that's what allows us to have the success that we do because it alleviates the stress on poo and filiae with matchups or what have you and i mean i don't know i love poo and i love philly but blair's right up there for who i want to trust um in any situation is the center on the ice yeah you know what i think would be really cool if uh if maybe there was if blair turned bull had a team or she'd be the first line center on maybe if they're a league where they're like six teams or eight teams. And she was like, and she was, and she was, and she was say the, the first line center. I think that I think that'll be pretty cool. That, that is the cool part about, about some of the dream gap stuff is, is like, you see that the talent spread out a little bit more. And you're like, oh, okay. This seems like, you know, if, if and when that becomes permanent, you know, these are, she's, you know, first round pick, you know, it's like killer, killer over roster kind of player. Yeah. Let's set the scene.

It's Blair Turnbull. She's wearing number 87, and she's the first line center for the women's Pittsburgh penguins. You said it, not me. Whatever. She loves Sydney Crosby, though, right? Yeah, it's, yeah, she does. She does. Nova Scotia, girl.

Yeah. It just makes sense, but we won't ask you about that. Let's scout the enemy a little bit, though, Aaron. Yeah. I'd stop with the scout the enemy. That's, that's not, they're not the enemy. I'm American. We're not, I'm, I can't scout the Americans. They don't have a team yet. I know. I know. They haven't picked it yet. Can't scout them. Is there, is there somebody who you expect to see on that roster that, like, how much, how much do you pay attention to the, to the way things are going with that with that group before it's actually announced? Is, is it, is it at all? Like, are you like doing like, like projections on, on, on your end or, or, or, or, no, like, I won't pay attention until their roster's, named. Yeah.

And that's me personally. I've always been somebody like before every game in college, I would go in to coach's room and I'd see their lineups and I would know which way everybody shoots like that kind of stuff. I'll start to see. Um, and their lines, like I always will look at their lines and see what kind of matchups there are.

And, um, but until that team's named, no. Okay. Um, one thing about, yeah,

Sean's got off. There's a trap question with a really good answer. Damn. Yeah. Give us the T. Who do you hate the most on Team USA? Just kidding. But like the landscape of this tournament's really interesting, though, because

Finland's in group B, Japan's moved up to group A because they won that placement game at the last women's world championships. Like France is going to be there. Sweden, Hungary. I don't have all of group B off the top of my head. But like it's really interesting because everyone likes to. to talk about how it's a two horse race can in the U.S. And it is true, like, objectively, you guys are the top two teams in the world.

But like two, three, four, five, six, like there is legitimate real growth there. Like, the fact that you guys have different teams in Group A and you have new teams coming into this top tier of the tournament. Like, what does that say about the growth of the game right now? I think it's really exciting. I also think that somebody like, Sweden is not far off. I think you look at how their U-18s did,

and they're going in the right direction. I think it was, they made a lot of changes within their federation, which were needed. So I think it's only a matter of time until they're right there in group A. Then you look at Finland, and obviously that was a lot of disappointment for them last year. And I think that they've showed throughout their Euro cups this year, like they haven't lost a game in any of their Euro Cup challenges or whatever they call. I think it's,

yeah, they're like European tournaments. Yeah, over 16 games and they haven't lost a game. And that's against Chequia, that's against Sweden, that's against Germany, Swiss,

like those teams that they technically have fallen below. So I think it's a matter of time before they're right back up there. Chequia is exciting. I think Chequia's got a lot of young blood and you saw their excitement last year after winning a bronze medal, which was great for them. and great for their federation. And in saying this, like, this is all really good stuff.

And we are super excited as female hockey players that this is happening. But as a member of Team Canada, it's like, okay, I'm going to do what I need to do. We are going to do what we need to do to keep making sure that that gap does not shrink. Yeah. We're on top and we need to keep pushing the envelope and we need to keep upgrading ourselves. And it's up to them to figure out a way to catch up. You've been coaching this year, though, Aaron, with University of Toronto. So let's kind of transition to that on the bench with Vicki Sanahara, which is like pretty cool.

Obviously, a Canadian women's hockey legend in and in and of itself. She was a coached the year this year, too, I believe. Like what's, um, eight years in a row. That's amazing. What's this experience been like for you and what made you want to get into coaching at the U-sport level? So I previously had actually coached at the University of Concordia. Right. And so with Carol and Julie, which were great years for me when I was in Montreal, and honestly, Vicky has been asking me to kind of do it the last couple years and I just haven't been able to kind of give as much to it as I wanted to before committing. And this year it worked out and I am beyond grateful that it did. They brought so much joy to my life. I enjoyed every aspect of it. it and getting to be there for nationals meant a lot.

Unfortunately, I missed when they won the Macaat Cup. So our OUA's, I wasn't there for that. I was in California, but I also got Knoxies also. Liz Knox is also on the bench, so we had a great coaching staff. And like you said, Vicky is a legend. And I think just to be around her, not only for coaching and learning more things about the ins and outs of coaching, but just to hear her speak of her. her time in the program.

And it helps me self-reflect a little bit, too, on what I'm doing and why I'm doing what I'm doing within my playing career. And I don't know if I have many more people that are more important than Vicky Sanhaer in my corner. And that's pretty special to say if six-year-old Aaron knew that, it's going to be over the moon. It's such a rare thing to have a player who's still at the highest level. coaching a high level team

in their own right so are there are things he came out of this season that maybe you can use on ice yourself like you've like how did the did the coaching experience help you improve as a player like are there things that you bring from that experience to to the next one yeah and I think Sean like

with that that's why I fell in love with coaching when I started at Concordia was because I started to see things in a different light. For me, as a player, I'm so methodical. I'm so calculated. And then getting to see the coaching side of it, it validates some of it in a sense, not all of it, but some of the things I understand. And I also think that that's why I love coaching so much is because I'm so meticulous

about what I do, that it's like, to me, it's second nature, but to somebody else it might not be that black and white for them to be able to see. So I think it allows me to see different things in different views. And that's something that's also really important for me as a player is I see things one way, but I might not be able to relate how Claire might see them. So getting to know those kinds of different scenarios and sometimes I pick it up while coaching, sometimes I pick it up while on the bench playing. And those two things help me, I think, just be a better player and also just be a better person in communicating and better teammate.

And is that something that you want to continue to pursue or like are you interested in coaching? Like in this kind of obviously you're still playing in your prime. So we're not in this like life after you're playing career phase yet. But like do you see yourself behind a bench? Do you want to do like hockey operations? I know that you're someone who's like very in tap with the NHL. Like you've texted me before. I think I tweeted out my like, it was my heart ballot or was my Norris ballot once.

And yeah, you had lots to say like you're very into like the NHL, very analytical and the way that you think of the game. So is that something that you want to pursue like, you know, eventually when you're done playing? Yeah, without a doubt. I think one of the best things right now is I have the ability to continue to play and continue on my career, but also stay in touch with what I could be doing after hockey. And I know a lot of people don't have those same abilities, and I'm very thankful for that. But by no means am I wishing away the last however many years in my career. But at the same time, this is something I love and I'm very passionate about.

So whether it be coaching behind the bench or management, there's definitely a lot of draw from me staying within the game in some sense. Can you tell me who to vote for for the Norris? Because I haven't really decided on anything yet. Can you help? Yeah, I can send you a couple messages. Okay, sweet. Yeah, no, we don't have to talk about here. I just, I just want to know that I can fall back on some help.

Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I felt good. I voted for Roman Yossi last year. Not Kail Makar. And apparently that was like a spicy thing, even though Roman Yose got for first place votes in Keralmikar.

Anyways. What do we think about the Leafs this year, Aaron? Big Leafs fan. I've seen you at games. Well, I haven't seen you at games because I don't. I'm just always at games. I just see that you're always at games. They've got a big game tonight against the Florida Panthers.

Panthers are pushing for, I mean, they're in a playoff spot now. um, leaps have kind of looked just okay after the trade deadline. Leaves have looked mid. How are we feeling? I feel good. Um, I think one of the biggest things is like, even just relating it to, uh, what I've gone through and different robbery series and different rosters is people need to find their places.

Coaches need to switch things up to find or to find the best places for their players. And, um, I think one of the best things is that the lease are in a position. right now that they have the ability to try a lot of different things out. It's not about who wins game number 82. So why force that right now? I think take the time that you need to in order to prepare yourself the best heading into playoffs and that might be different than what the Boston Bruins are doing kind of leading into things.

So I think with that, like I love what the Leafs added. I think a player like Jake McCabe, I think a player like Luke Shen, like those defensive ads were huge. I think Sandine had run his course in being with the lease in the sense of where was his spot really going to be? Was he really going to take over Morgan Riley? No. Okay. So let's move on and let's find something more beneficial for us on the back end, which is what I think they did. And then I think kind of going back to what I just said about finding people or finding the best spots for people, I think that's where they're at with their forwards right now. just trying to find who works best with who. I think a big thing right now is O'Reilly's out.

So we're also trying to find things, but also knowing that he's going to slot right back in in this situation. So there's a lot of question marks, I think, but at the same time, I don't think I'd like to play off roster more than I do this year for the Leafs. And who knows, let's just get to that friggin first round. Well, Cindy, he's been great with the caps, too. Not defensively, though. No.

Well, okay. He's been on the ice for like 16, 7th. Like, he's been on the ice for like several goals against. Point being, that's, it just seems like, that seems like a beneficial trade for everybody, right? Like I think like you said, that kind of, it kind of had run its, kind of hit, had run its course. Is there like a point though? A young player, card, go. Yeah.

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, please, please, please. I mean, it's going to say you got a younger player in Gustafson. you got a cheaper player in Gustafson. Pretty similar skill set. And you were able to also get a pickback. So like I said, he's not running the top power. He's not running the number one power play in Toronto.

He goes over and runs the number one power play in Washington. He's obviously going to get his points there. Like, I always say it with me. Like the reason I'm productive and I have point production is because I run a powerplay with Marie-Philippe-Land Brand. Yeah. I was going to start a nerd in there. Who do you pass to on people like.

Right? So it's like, okay, people are going to, when you put people in positions to succeed, they're going to succeed. But if they don't get into that same spot, then it's no different in women's hockey than it is in men's hockey. Like, so. Is there a point during the regular season that you, Aaron Ambrose, whether you're speaking as a national team member or a Leafs fan? Is there a point in these next 10 games? where it's like they've crossed that threshold to where you're like,

all right, I'm officially concerned about what's going to happen in the first round, or is it just, you know, whatever. Keep tinkering until the playoffs begin. For me, Aaron Ambrose as a general,

because I look at it, I always look at hockey the same, whether it's my own, I'm watching video of my own, whether I'm watching U of T, whether I'm watching a Leaves game. I'm always watching it as the hockey player that I am. I wouldn't,

say there's concern like we talk about it in my family all the time like I just keep going back to the leaps and they keep hurt me like it's it's the worst thing in the world but it's i'm like i'm not going to not invest in them like i am i am a loyal league fan and i don't care if they go on a 10 game losing streak heading into playoffs if they would win that first round yeah whereas they could go on a 10 game winning streak and lose in the first round like great i feel good at the end of game 82 but like what happens in the playoffs. Like it really doesn't matter. And I think it's the same thing when I look at myself and any team I've personally

been on. Like you can feel great and you can think like, hey, we're rolling and then like something just hits you square in the face. And it's like that halted pretty quickly. Like until you win that last game, is it really successful? Doesn't matter how you get there. Yeah.

I think what the Leafs could really. benefit from in the first round is like an Anne-Rene-Dabienne. Type performance. Or actually Anne-Rene Day-Ey. Just her. Just her. Anne would hop on that second. 21 shutouts for an NCAA record, more than any man or woman in that.

Yeah, NCAA record, not. Yeah, not women's hockey record. There was someone, I forget who he played for, like some North Dakota team. It was Mancato, yeah. And there was like a big deal because he had like 16 shutouts or something in one season. And everyone's like, it's a record. It's a record. She's just like, I had 21.

And I was just like, yeah, I like her. That's great. So, you know, we've been had you for like over 30 minutes now. Oh, it's been 40. This has been great. Um, final question for you though, Aaron, because this is something that Sean and I have talked about a lot on this show. And like, we obviously think it's important to continue to discuss what's going on in the NHL with Pride Nights. And we think it's important to have like a diversity of voices talking about the subject. It's not just us. And sometimes we feel like we're just saying the same shit over and over again every time something new happens with this in the league. Um, you've used your platform. on social media to talk about this before when Ivan Proverov decided not to participate in the Pride Night warm up.

Like, do you have a thought on what's been going on in the NHL right now in regards to, like, teams and players not wearing pride jerseys? Do I have a thought? No, I have a lot of thoughts. Let a rip, please. As a member of the LGBTQ plus community, I'm disappointed. I'm very disappointed in the lack of, I think, accountability that the NHL is taking to protect people from within my community.

And I'm not saying that selfishly. I'm saying that because I will bet my life that there are members of my community within the NHL. And I do not believe that the NHL is doing a good enough job to make that a safe environment for those players. I also want to touch on Brian Burke's comments because I think he talked about how he touched on just the disappointment that he had because I think what really resonated with me is that when he said a player wearing, and this is a quote, a player wearing pride colors or tape isn't endorsing a set of values or enlisting in cause, he is saying you are welcome here and you are in every single NHL building, end quote.

And I think that that's the biggest thing is that the community that I am proud to be a part of is not saying if you wear a pride sweater, you're gay. Right. The community that I am a part of is saying, you're wearing a pride sweater, so you're welcome. Whether my religion believes in that, whether my culture in general, like, I just, it's not, it's not so much like, hey, we're throwing this down your throat. We're just trying to create a safer environment for people that are part of the LGBTQ plus community. And that's the hardest thing for me is it started out with Proverov as one player and now how many teams have backed out of their Pride nights.

Yeah. And sometimes I see the argument of, okay, well, the military night or the St. Patrick's Day, jerseys, like those kind of jerseys. And I'm like, I don't want to compare apples to oranges because I don't think it is. and that's not fair to do to anybody that served in the military or the St. Patrick. But you know what I mean? Like that's not or the indigenous community. Like we're not comparing those things because it is comparing apples to oranges. It's just like, but at the same time, like, okay, we have these other causes that we want to celebrate and acknowledge.

And that's what Pride Nights are for is celebrating and acknowledging those things. So no, I don't think it's that different than an indigenous sweater. No, I don't think it's that different than a military sweater. I think these are important things that all should be acknowledged, whether you believe that people should go to war or not. Okay, we still support and respect the people that have protected our country and put their lives on the line. So it's no different in that sense.

So I think it's a long-winded answer, but there's just a lot of frustration and disappointment. and I do hope that some sort of change is taken. And then secondary, the athlete in me, I've never seen in any sport, whether it be major league or not, that allows a player to play in a game that didn't warm up. Yeah. Yeah.

Like that's obviously not the important thing, but like I just couldn't ever fathom being like, eh, I ain't going out for warm up, but I'll be starting the game. That's one of those factors too. It's a weird one that threw in there. The whole thing, the whole thing,

especially with the way, with the way it's been framed, I guess. I mean, and this is Gary Bedmont. Like I was at the GM meetings, you know, like a couple weeks ago. And I asked him like,

okay, you said that, you know, you framed Ivan Proverov as an issue of individual choice, right? like the people had to respect is individual choice. And in the meantime, we're recording this on Thursday.

We had another team bail on its pride night and last night. We had James Reimer over the weekend. There certainly the fear is that there's going to be more coming up because plenty of teams have stuff scheduled for the next, you know, 10 days. It's just disheartening and infuriating, honestly, that the same framework that was applied to Ivan Proverov, whether it's by Gary Bettman or anybody or anybody who's defending them, whatever, you got to respect this individual choice.

You have guys that are on these teams that have spoken about, like, how great it'll be to support, you know, be able to wear a Pride jersey, and they're being denied that level of individual choice too. So I don't, that's not a, it's not even a question. It's just like this is the way things are, it seems like it's getting worse. Like the, the lead response has made things worse. And, you know, it's not over yet. That's the super shitty part.

that there's a lot of teams with these still on their, on their, on their, on their calendars. And it's like, emboldened. The, the homophobic, you know, cowardly elements, like, in the front offices and within franchises here. It's really, really depressing. So I, that's not in question. It's just us talking, I suppose. But, I mean, at least the sharks, like, still wore their jerseys, right?

Like, James Reimer made his choice. And then everyone else on Santa. Jose did too. And they chose to make people feel welcome in that building. And I think I just wish to agree with what Sean saying. I wish more teams would. Yeah. If there's guys in the Blackhawks who don't want to wear it, fine. Don't. Yeah. And that's whatever. That's the frustrating thing to me, I think, is like they're like, oh, we're still going to celebrate our pride night. And it's like, no, you're not. Like, now you're just doing it to say you did it. Whereas, like, True, like rain on.

It's like rain on the parade stuff. Truly, like, how do you have like a successful, I know in every team who has something like this happens wants to say like, oh, we did this and that, and here's the people we had involved, and here's the activations we had and whatever. But it's like that ceases to matter whenever a player on the team swerves as abruptly

and kind of grossly as we've seen as we've seen guys. And so you have the right to your personal choices and beliefs, 100%. So then what make your right more important that you get to cancel the night that I believe it? A lot of hypocrisy at the highest levels of league on this one. Thank you for seeing all that, Aaron. Yeah. That's great. Thank you so much for coming on the show. This was a great chat. Covered a lot. We stole all of your time. That's okay. And we'll do it literally any time you want to come on. Are you going to any more leaves games? That's the question.

It'll be on hold. It'll be on hold until April 17th. Great. Women's worlds. Second round, maybe? We go to second round. First round. Okay, there we go.

Fun. Well, I'll see you. I apologize that it took a little while to Kirk, but thank you for having me. No, don't. Thank you so much for coming. We were happy to wait. See, guys. All right, welcome back.

Thanks again to Aaron Ambrose for doing that. It was a great conversation. Covered a lot. We were really happy to have her on the show. If you like what she had to say, you're interested in Women's World Championships. That is from April 5th to 16th in Brampton, Ontario. We'll have lots of coverage for that on the athletic.

I will be at the tournament for the entire time. I'm sure Sean's going to do some live blogging for it. He's kind of been the in-house American blogger. enjoy it on my own accord. Enjoy the U.S. lose a gold medal again. Whatever. Stop volunteering me for work. I just want to watch these games and enjoy myself, please.

All right. So we'll see who does the live blog with me. But we're going to bring back the draft for this final segment of the show. And this was a good idea from Danielle. So a story that's coming out this morning, that is Friday morning, is from Mark Lazarus, Scott Powers, and Julian McKenzie. It's the NHL goal song rank. from grunge to jock jams and everything in between. There was a survey out to subscribers, to fans asking.

I want to say, hold on a second. I want to say that that's the headline that you're reading off of. That's not something like off the dome. We're like, oh, from grunge. I know. I was reading what the story was. I just, I'm trying to preemptively defend you there because that sounds super corny.

So whatever. Grunge the jockians and everything in between. I was reading the headline of the story. I know. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. It's not something you cooked up on your own. You're just reading what's in front of you.

I understand. It's cornball stuff. So you're saying their story is corny. I'm saying the headlines corny. Well, we're basically going to steal their ranking. Let's go back to saying that I had a good idea. Yeah. Yeah.

Where were we going? Where were that? Danielle had a great idea. we are going to do a three round draft with the three of us, myself, Sean, and producer Danielle. Say hello. Hello. And we're going to draft goal songs.

They're only 29 in the league, by the way. Yeah. That's what shocking. And a lot of them are bad. A lot of them are bad. So that's why we're only doing three rounds, folks, because we don't need to get into the weeds. Yeah.

Plus, we had Aaron on for 40 minutes, so let that be the star of the show. We'll just do a, just a taste of a draft. Yeah. 40 minutes of air and like 15 minutes of talking about the Pittsburgh penguin. So we can have a condensed draft here. We'll just move on to me winning the draft and we'll call it a day. Goodbye everybody.

It's fine. It's fine. All right. So I do have the first overall pick. I'm going to try not to have a panic. I don't like any of these songs. I mean, there's a couple. I like some of them.

so if some of the ones I enjoy go in the second round there's going to be a problem here so we'll see how this goes as I was honestly as I was going through the list I was like it's bad for all of us honestly I don't think either of the three of us like too many on here

yeah the third round is going to get a little interesting it's going to get hairy it's particularly grim for Haley honestly this is somehow worse what because I don't like grunge I mean I do I like I like grunge There's like not really, we can get into this whenever we make our picks. There's a grudge.

I've got some thoughts, let's just say. That's why, yeah, from Grunge, who's like, what's the other grunge song other than Nirvana on here? There isn't one. Make your pick, please. Okay. With the first overall pick, I'm going with the Seattle Crackens goal song, which is Lithium by Nirvana. I think it's perfect. Oh, it's grunge.

Imagine that. I love grunge. I love grunge. I love grunge. I wish there was more grunge. I do like Nirvana. I mean, it's a great, it's a great goal song. Like, they're from Seattle. New team. I've been to Cracket Games. Aberdeen, technically. That's, like, just such, like, a lame thing to say, you know? Correct. Yes, it is. Like, did you learn that at the Rock and Roll Museum in Seattle or something? No. Just known it my whole life. because you live laugh grunge anyways i think that's the whatever it's a good pick i like the goal song i think it's awesome it's super fun i think part of it just fits because crack and games are fun and they're always sold out there's just like something very cool about crack and scoring and then hearing a nirvana song come on come on the speakers so sean has a live laugh grunge on the back of a flannel

Is there a flannel? There might be a flannel in view here, honestly. Yeah, I like lithium as a grunge song. I don't, I think it's probably in terms of like a lot of people know it and it works because it's because it's loud and whatever. Like it's fine. And maybe it wouldn't be my personal choice for a goal song by Nirvana, but that's okay. Okay. Danielle?

It's going to be a homer choice. it's the best choice. It's Broham. God damn it. By penny wise. And like in this, because like a lot of the goal songs in the NHL are just gang vocals because that's easy for people.

They're like it's Hayes, it's, oh, it's, you know, woes and it's hayes. But I think Brohim is the best of use of a gang vocal because one, super easy to learn. And two, as you're drinking at Ducks games, as you probably would be. It sounds better, the more drunk you are. Yeah. The drunken you get, the better. the woes sound. And Pennywise

is from Southern California. Technically, they're Kings fans, which makes it even funnier. But I would say, yeah, Prohim's number one pick for me. That was really low in the rankings, too. It was kind of surprising. Disgrace. It's a joke.

It's been in place for so long, too. Yeah. Oh, six. Years, years, years. Oh, six is when they picked it up. I feel like that was maybe ushered in like a new era of, you know, gang chance. goal songs, I feel like.

Right. I love the pick. Taking off the top of my list. It's okay. I'm going song two by Blur. That is the goal song of my youth because that is the one that they played at

Penguins games in the 90s. So I know the Sends use it now, which is fine. But I every time I hear that song, I still just think of, you know, whatever, Yarram or Yager or Stu Barnes scoring or something. It's great, great song, great memories attached to it. And again, it's super, super effective for a lot of reasons because it's channable and loud, right?

It's a major departure from basically every other blur song. That's a very funny thing about song, too, by the way. It's like, when, if you were an 11-year-old who heard that song or whatever, like, like I was, you thought maybe that's what every blur or something was like. And it's not their, they're, you know, Brit pop dork band kind of. And that was like sort of their attempt at getting on the radio when it worked. So good for them and good for me. Because as long as I got that, I was going to be happy. Okay, Sean, it's you again.

Second pick. Another one that is just disgracefully low on these rankings. We can blame the voters for this. raise up D'I. D'Ablos Shit A son of us

Carolina This track is over I don't want to do this anymore One of the most memorable choruses Of all times Certainly of, you know Turn of the Century rap Geographically based

because you got the Carolina element in there I just can't I can't This was in like the 20s, the low teens on this. I don't want to totally spoil the rankings here, but if you were at all like me,

and you guys clearly are, you're going to look at this song's placement on the list and be like, what, this is bullshit. What is this? Not enough rap at NHL games for obvious, for obvious reasons. But still, the point stands. No brand are there in that spot for me.

Take your shirt off, twist around your head like a helicopter. Okay, Danielle, I'm pissed. Danielle, go ahead. Damn it, that was such a good pick. I'm going to go with Andrew WK and Penguins. It's just such a damn fun song, big fan of Andrew WK. It's a weird shuffle that happened there. They tried to do, the Penguins, they ditch it for a little bit and try to do jump around,

which is insane. Like, I don't know why you can just, I thought we just moved past jump around, like, as a society. but they yeah they brought it back yeah Andrew WK King of Partying that's my second pick oh man I saw Andrew WK at Club Laga in like 2001 blast I deliberately he he played here like while the party hard like around the time party hard was kind of adopted by the team thanks to a very successful internet campaign by Pittsburgh sports blogging legend P-Samp he He made that happen and whilted it into existence. And I sat down with HWK and just talked to him for like a half hour about hockey.

It was great. Doesn't know that much about it. He's not a school kid. But that's okay. We'll allow it. Yeah. All right. So I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with puck off from Pantera.

I think it's fun. I think it's great live. Like, they wrote it for the Dallas Stars. So, like, it's a legitimate, like, team anthem. I don't know. It just, it kind of rocks in that arena. And I've been to a lot of games in Dallas and the playoffs. That is true.

You have been there. I have been there. A lot. Yes. So I've heard a lot of puck off. Things are getting a little dicey for me. I almost went with Tim McGraths. I like it.

I love it with the National Predators. But it's a mashup with the matchup with the black keys, which makes it very spicy. You can use that for your next pick. Maybe. Maybe. Don't take that from me. Is it my pick?

No, it's a Haley's snake draft. Oh, shit. Haley's still pick. Oh, no. Tim McGraw. Here it comes. Oh. Can I just not go next?

Snake draft, you got to pick. Just pick to McGraw. Sorry. No, like this ranking is dumb. No, like, why is Chelsea Dagger third? I don't like Chelsea Dagger. I don't like this ranking. Who picked these?

The listeners. The fans, the fans, I think. But all the comments are so negative. Nobody likes Chelsea Dagger. I have a very funny story about Chelsea Dagger. Tell the story, well, I think. During the, man, when was this? It was like the 2015 Cup final.

Yeah, because that would have been Blackhawks versus Lightning. I covered it, and we would drink, like all the writers would drink after games at this like cabana bar kind of like out this outdoor bar sort of by the sort of by the arena and i so and it had touch tunes so i like we're all just sitting around and i and i um i played i played i played chelsea dagger probably 15 times in a row from my phone because it was all it was all lightning fans yeah and then and then they just turned off the junk box where was that like 15 25 cents a play or something you're like worth it it was it yeah

I'm ready to make my selection. I probably fucking put in like $5 worth of plays in there just to watch people's face and watch the realization that it was happening again. Then they pulled the plug. Okay, the pick is in. For those about to rock, Columbus Blue Jackets with the cannons.

It's fun. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Yeah, you get like the, for those about to rock, and then like, who's the sound of the canon? The canon is as bad as the canon is as frightening as everybody makes it out to be, honestly.

I'm pretty sure somebody, like, was filming me knowing that I was going to freak out my first time in Columbus because I legitimately, like, jumped out of my seat and it happened every single. I'm pretty sure that was a high-scoring game as well. It was right after the trade deadline, I was still covering the Sends. So I was, like, sitting there trying to do my deadline story

and just every so often just being like, Just losing my mind. The first game I cover there was for the all-star game. Oh, God. She just heard it like 15 times. I was ready. I was ready to lose it. Anyways, I think that.

It's a good value pick. Yeah, that with the canon, it's kind of, it's fun. It's unique. I like it. Okay. Danielle. I'm with you. So we're getting, we get to the, the,

uh, really lean part of the. Yeah. selection. The takeaway here is that everyone needs better goal songs. Yeah. Besides the ones we're picking today, everyone else's step it up,

rethink it. Yeah. More hip hop. Yeah. Less generic. I'm still pissed. I'm still pissed about race up. The sabers don't have a goal song.

And I, they have individual notes because it's players own goal songs. That's right. That's right. Okay. Well, the flames are on this list, but the flames had players only goal songs too.

So I wonder why it's, they have T&T listed. The sabers for years played, let me clear my throat. And I was like, I just, was unaware that they'd, I'd forgotten that they'd gone, you know, to the individual model. Right.

Which is more fun. Danielle? Yeah, it's fun. Third round pick. Okay. I am got to go with New Jersey and the gaspine anthem. I knew you're going to do it. God damn it.

God damn it. Yeah, because they're like the only band on this. Well, that's not really true. There's like three or four bands on this list that made a record, like a full record that I liked. And they're one of them. Yeah. 59 sound is great everything after that

is diminishing returns let's say and howl is off god that's two records after 59 sound I think so whatever

but it works man they're very Jersey that's for sure very jersey okay Sean the final pick of the draft twist and shout Isley brothers you know you make me want

a shot kind of a standby let me hear that sports in general, but it works. She probably a print song, I would imagine. Did it be Let's Go Crazy for a minute? Then they switched back to shot? I honestly think they kind of did that after he died and then got away from it again.

Got it. But yeah, I mean, I love the Isley brothers, so whatever. Good enough. Also gave consideration to the Rangers goal song, which is just called Slapshot. Did not. It's a good chance, though. Good chance. Why is there so much, why are there so many songs from the Black Keys on here?

Because the Black Keys make songs for beer commercials and to be played at sporting arenas. It's, it's sports arenas. Blackies suck. All right. Well, I guess we'll need to, we'll need to do a fan vote to see who wins this week because Daniel can't possibly choose. That would be unfair. You know what?

I think I was the underdog of this draft. I don't think anyone expected me to put together a good three round. I think I did okay. Yeah, you didn't pick a candy bar at all. I didn't freak out and say laughing, tappy. As long as jobs don't. Is there a gummy bear song? Smash.

How does the team not have Smashmouth is the question. Why aren't there any songs from the Shrek 2 soundtrack? Why is it only Shrek one? More hip-hop, more Shrek is what we're looking for next season. Sean's never seen Shrek. Gladly figured this out. True. And I never will.

Because I was like 14 when it came out or whatever. I was too, I didn't care about that shit. It's a shame. Danielle, have you seen Shrek? I have seen Shrek. End the show. I'm like, do I answer this question or can the show end?

Let us know who won the draft. I had lithium. puck off. And for those about to rock, Danielle had Broheim. What was the Penguins? What? Brohim. Brohim.

Was that a mix of Brohim and Anaheim that you just did? Yes. What was the Penguins song? Partyberg. Partyberg. Danielle, did you write them down? Yeah. I'll post a poll when I post the show tomorrow.

Okay. Okay. We got to get out of here, folks. We're dying. If you aren't an athletic subscriber, just a reminder, you can join us at theathletic.com slash hockey show to get an annual subscription for $1 a month for $12 months. Wow, what a great deal. Goodbye, folks.

Thanks for listening. Sorry about that. Sorry about the draft. Goodbye.