The Athletic Hockey Show - Hilary Knight joins the show, Kevin Bieksa signs one-day contract to retire as a Vancouver Canuck, Erik Karlsson's strong return to form

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

On a new Thriday Show, Hailey and Sean discuss Kevin Bieksa's return to Vancouver to sign his one-day contract to retire as a Canuck, Erik Karlsson's return to form, and that bonkers Bruins-Penguins game on Tuesday.Then, US Olympian Hilary Knight joins Hailey and Sean to discuss her busy schedule, including playing in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, training for the Rivalry Series between the States and Canada, growing the women's game, working for ESPN, her new house in Minnesota and if she has one more Olympic games in her, in 2026 in Italy.To wrap up, Hailey mixes metaphors, pitches a brand new product, and more!Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowSubscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on Youtube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is The Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back, everybody. It's The Athletic Hockey Show. It's Thri-Day. It's Haley, it's Haley, here with Sean Gentilly. We are both thriving today. Sean, how are you? Feeling great.

Feeling good, feeling great. How are you? I feel great. that noise you just made is exactly like one of my favorite videos on the internet. It's the video of the Grinch trying yoga for the first time. And it's just like when he just like releases all of his negative energy and he just like screams. Anyways. The Grinch doing yoga.

So nobody else seen that video? Is that not just like a thing that people know about? I got to like brush up on my. Grinch internet lore I feel I feel terrible Like we can we can just come out and Yeah And say that straight away

I didn't Sean's flu game I didn't sleep I didn't sleep last night Because I got I got a flu shot in a COVID in a COVID booster In the same day and in hindsight that may have been You got both Overly ambitious let's say I did

Yeah It's not great They put one in each arm So both of my arms hurt Is he just walking around with noodles? Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much. Like, God, she's like done the double arm cast or something.

But yeah. Not doing great. Didn't sleep all that much. But I'm very grateful for the format of today's show. Oh, yeah. Right? Like, this is, like, we're set. We don't have to do anything this week, basically.

Less than normal. How about us? We'll put it that way, right? Uh-huh. We've got 45 minutes in the bank with future Hockey Hall of Famer, world record holder, women's world championship point record holder, decorated goat, Hillary Knight. Oh, she carried the show.

What a wonderful, what a wonderful treat that was talking to her. It was great. I'm really excited for everyone to hear it. Yeah, it was a blast. You don't always get, make it. It was like the excitement is two folks. You don't always get players like Hillary Knight who are still playing and she's on her way to Halifax or Truro. I should say Nova Scotia for the PWA HPA second showcase weekend of the season.

So she's going to be playing there this weekend and then they're going to be heading to Ottawa. It's a busy time for Hillary Knight who also just happens to work for ESPN and still plays for USA hockey, etc., etc. So you don't always get players like that available for that amount of time. and they're not always like as fun and as engaging and as insightful as Hillary Knight was. Like we got into a lot. We got into some random crap. Yeah, that was fun. And but also some stuff about talking about retirement.

What needs to change in women's hockey? And it was great. I don't want to spoil too much. But I'm really excited and happy. And we've got to thank our friendly neighborhood producer, Jeff Demet, for locking that in for us. And for Craig Custin's not being available. because that could have been a Tuesday boys interview, but I hijacked it instead.

And I think it's for the better. It would have been wrong for a lot of reasons. Noted deadbeat, Craig Custin's was unable to, was unable to film. What does that guy even do? Nothing. He's lazy. His job might be bogus. I'm not technically sure he's.

Executive director? Whatever. Whatever. What does that mean? Go, did you feel like, did you have goals going into an interview with Hillary, like, did you have certain, I feel like going into stuff like that with anybody, you have like certain,

you gotta have a certain. Yeah. If we do one thing in interview X with player Y, like we need to do this. And I've, and personally, I don't know, man, I feel like we hit some marks with Hillary.

She was, she was a blast, but also the thing that I was anticipating was like, she enjoyed talking to us. And I think that's like, that's like something you don't, I want to paint with too broad out of a brush, but Hillary Knight is one of the five best players in the history of women's hockey.

If you have your Mount Rushmore of like American female hockey players, like Hillary Knight is right there. I'm biased because I'm not like steeped in the women's game. Like I wasn't paying attention to, you know, the Jane of Huffords of the world or the Angela James of the world. Like I sort of phased in. Angela was a star before women's hockey was even at the Olympics. So I think I know what's going to blame me for that.

But it was basically like for me, it was like the 98 women's team. And moving forward like the Cayman Granado area, like US teams. I didn't really pay that much attention to the Canadian national team because why would I? And it was just it was also just different back then. Like it's something that I started paying much more close attention to in the last 10 years, right? Yeah. So it was, I don't know, it was great,

it was great to have like a legit, real conversation with like a goat, a goat tier player. Because that doesn't happen all that often. And it certainly doesn't happen. And I'll tell you what, certainly doesn't happen with men. Nope. Like which NHL would be open to having like a 45 minute podcast conversation that's

not boring and is like unfiltered? and weird. And it's probably guys like Mark Borvietzky. You know, we're not talking about Austin Matthews coming on to the show and talking for almost an hour because we were talking to her for like 15 minutes before we even started recording. Yeah. And so, and we were trying.

I was like, all right, Hillary. And we'll probably hear it on the podcast. At one point, it's like, all right, Hillary, we've taken you're too long. She's like, no, no, no, we're good. We're good. The great talkers typically aren't the great players and vice versa. And I think what we saw in the case of Hillary was someone who ticked both boxes. Yeah.

So, yeah, it was fun. I think going back to your question, like, did you have specific goals with the Hillary Knight conversation? And honestly, I think one of my goals was to filter out some of the typical stuff that Hillary Knight always has to talk about, right? I think we hear from Hillary Knight quite a bit because she is one of the stars. You know, I've talked to people at USA hockey. And I did this myself.

I made a concerted effort to not just always talk about or talk to Kendall Coyne Schofield and not just talk to Hillary Knight. You know, I would try to request players from the third line. You know, you talk to Hannah Brandt, although Hannah Brand is the first line center on Team USA with Hillary Knight on the wing. But, you know, you make an effort to talk to other players because you just know about the demands on players like Kendall and Hillary. And they're typically asked the same stuff.

Tell us about PWHPA. tell us about your goal scoring record. And I think we did a nice job. It's not our job to toot our own horns. But I do think that in terms of goals for the interview, it was get Hillary Knight going on stuff that she normally wouldn't be talking about. And I think that was something good. And I think it highlighted the fact that this is a really good hockey mind.

You'll see that on ESPN as she does more broadcast stuff. And also just like a cool person. Like Hillary Knight's a good hang. That was the takeaway. And the retirement stuff was great, too. Yeah. The stuff that she has to talk about and the stuff that women, you know, the women players up and down the scale need to talk about is a drag.

It's a drag. It's a drag. It sucks. They have to talk about the formation of the leagues and just constant stream of questions about inequality and whatever else. Tell us about how shitty some of the stuff you've experienced is. And it's important to draw attention to it. And it's important to, you know, keep.

one eye towards that sort of stuff, but also like, they like bullshitting about normal, about normal hockey player stuff and about normal person stuff. So it was good to be able to talk to, good to be able to talk to Hillary about that. I think, I think, I think anybody who's interested in the, in the idea of a 45 minute interview with Hillary Knight will be, we'll be happy with how this turned out.

And even if you're coming into this podcast and you're thinking, I'm not a big women's hockey person, I don't really care. I still think you should listen to it. because, you know, you might change your mind and you might learn something and you might enjoy it. So that's coming up. But first, we've got some stuff around the league that we want to get into. So this is a really fun thing out of Vancouver. So Kevin BXA, as we know, is signing a one-day contract with the Vancouver Canucks to retire as a Canuck. And he took the ice this morning at the Canucks Morning skate and went no visor, it looks like, grandfathered in, you know, you don't have to put, you don't have to put a visor on. He's skating

around with Bruce Bidro. There was some funny quotes post-game, or post-morning skate to people asking him about, you know, Quinn Hughes and how good he is. And B-X is like, he threw me a couple, like hamburger passes morning skate. Like, Quinn needs to, Quinn needs to be better. And it was funny. So we're going to see, looks like Kevin B-Xa is going to kind of have his, his cool, nice moment with the Vancouver Canucks. And I love that. The signing the one day deal, he's a Canuck again. There was the video posted this morning on the Canucks Twitter page of him signing his contract with with the GM, Patrick Alveen, and he had the media availability today. And he'll have the ceremony tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. And I just think it's cool. I love seeing

stuff like that. He's the right guy for it too. Yeah, he's fun. He's funny. And he's so good on TV. and I think that's something that American listeners maybe don't realize because he's on sports that, right? But I've seen more than enough of Kevin BXA as a TV analyst over the last year to know that that dude is... Travels to Canada. Yeah. I've seen...

He's as good as we've got, period. And it would be great to see, like, honestly, like any of the ESPN or TNT guys make that jump and B as natural as BXA was like really from from the go there for sports. And so he's a great guy for it, right? Like the one day contract, it is what it is like that we've seen it before. But the fact that BXA is still so, it's still close to the game. You know, he's not that far removed from his playing career, period. And also just immediately turned into, you know, one of the best, one of the best analysts that we've got is awesome.

And I think it's also a good reminder of how good those Canucks teams were. Yes. Absolutely. I got like kind of a soft spot for them. I got a soft spot for the for the BXA, Sedeans, you know, Alex Burroughs, Luongo, Kessler teams. Because those, they were awesome right when I was kind of starting starting my career. Like they were, they were, you know, on that run. Whenever I really started covering the league and they did things differently.

Like they were one of the first really like analytically focused franchises back then with with with Mike Gillis and maybe to a lesser degree. Ellen Vigno. And they were a blast in the 2011, the 2011 Cup final when they lost to Boston is just still one of the all time dramatic, you know, series that we're ever going to see. I think by the time it's all said and done, you know, for if it's like, we could be having this conversation in 30 years, right? And I would say that is, you know, over the course of my career, I can't imagine a better group of players not winning a title. Right. Those teams were so good and memorable.

And interesting. Presence trophies just stacked up and down the lineup. Like, they were fun. I really, I really, really enjoyed watching those teams. So, yeah, it's a nice kind of reminder of that, too. So I'm on board. It's five o'clock Eastern as we're recording this. I'm going to try to keep my sick ass up long enough to see how,

But she got up and hands out. Yeah, it's cool. I think one of the things that BX has said, too, is, you know, he was in the room and he's talking to the guys. And he's like, I'm not their coach. I'm not going to lecture them about systems play and stuff. But I do think he did say, like, the one thing, if there's anything he wants those players to maybe learn from him being there and from the teams that he played on is the

culture that those teams had. They weren't just a really good team. But, you know, that was a close group. They had a good culture in that dressing room. And we don't know exactly what's happening in Vancouver. but it just feels like we keep hearing some stuff about, you know, is there issues in the room? Is there some toxicity going on in there? What's happening in Vancouver seems to be something we keep hearing about with this core

group of players. Sean's laughing at something. But I think, you know, I don't know, maybe that's a takeaway. You have BX in the room and you think, how do we become those Canucks? Maybe we start liking each other more. What's like the, what's the analog? It's like Kessler screaming at the Siddines until. they, until they lose their minds.

Like I don't, I don't think that sort of stuff was happening. No. No. No. So that's another, that's one fun one. Another thing to get into here, I guess we're doing the, we're doing the flashback day, I guess, because it is 2009 for Eric Carlson right now. It's actually 2022.

I don't know if you're, no, Eric Carlson. Eric Carlson. Yeah. Hattrick the other day for the San Jose Sharpsons. The sharks aren't good. We know that. They're not a team that we're going to be analyzing deep at all here. But Eric Carlson has had a really good start to the season and looks like he is back.

And that is fun. I don't care if the sharks are bad. Eric Carlson doing what he's doing is fun. Peak Eric Carlson was fun. Even though, and you might be able to relate to this, I was a Penguins fan as a child. And I always kind of had this issue with Eric Carlson because he, like, won the Norris over Chris LaTang, specifically the one year where I thought LaTang should have won it, but Carlson was very, very good too.

So I kind of had a problem as a younger person with Eric Carlson, but it's fun. It's great when he's playing like this. Dude, it was just undeniable. Like, there was a four or five-year stretch there where he was the best defenseman in the league, in my opinion, certainly. And I think, like, undebatably electric. Yeah, you had to watch. Among maybe at that point, Crosby, maybe, maybe Stamcoast, maybe Ovechkin, like, whatever.

He was in that, he was in that group. He was a blast. And what we're seeing from him right now, the hat trick and, you know, a bunch of impressive stuff. This is a logical progression from where he was last year. Like he was, he showed signs of this last season. You know, maybe not, maybe not playing up to an $11 million contract. or whatever. I always forget what the specs are on his deal.

But they pay him, they pay him a ton. They're going to pay him a ton for a while longer. It's been up, you know, and it's, it is a problem for them for a few different reasons. But man,

if we could get a couple more good years out of Eric Carlson, I think that would be, I think that would be a blast. I also, I also don't think it's necessary, but this is, it's icing on the cake for him as an individual player. Like that dude,

that dude's Hall of Fame, no doubt. Well, that was my next question. And it is, Carlson makes $11.5 million. And he's only halfway through that eight-year, $92 million contract extension. He somehow signed for less time than Mark Edward Vlasic, who is signed until 2046, I think. You've seen this with me. How many times have I brought up to you when we're doing like a podcast or power rankings

or whatever it may be. I just feel like you are one of the people where I've consistently been like, hey, what's Mark Edward Vlastic doing? And you're always just like, we've talked about this already. He is still playing. He's on the sharks.

He plays every night. He is still with San Jose. And he will be until he's 40. But yeah, Carlson's in year four. I thought that was further down the road. Maybe it's because of like the dip and play and some injury stuff where I thought we were further along in this. But yeah, he's in year four.

of that $92 million contract extension. But yeah, I think the question I was leading with Carlson, and he's up to, he's got nine goals and 15 points in the first 12 games this season. So sharks are kind of crap, but Eric Carlson is good and fun. And you think, so Eric Carlson, Hall of Famer? No doubt.

No doubt. I think if you're, if your peak is as high as his was, to me, you're in. And it's the same kind of question and then we had over like Eric Lindross or guys like that who had like five, six, like transcendent years. And to me, like with the way the Hall of Fame set up, you know, I think those guys get in and they get in on the first ballot for me.

So maybe Carlson has to wait a little bit like that's fine. Like you don't think the whole didn't win a Stanley Cup thing hurts him because he won two Norris trophies. I don't care. That doesn't matter to me. It really does it. When you're that good. I feel like people are selective on when they,

make the Stanley Cup. 100%. A reason, right? But I think sometimes I do think it's fair, though. I know one of the things with Daniel Alfredson was, well, he didn't win a cup and he, you know, he wasn't like the best at his position for a period of time. Like that was kind of the argument with a guy like Alfredson. But as you said, Eric Carlson was undeniable.

And he won two Norris trope. It's not his fault. It's a team thing, right? Also something just kind of less tangible when you're watching him. where at his peak you're like this is this guy is the best hockey player on earth maybe like like honestly that's that's the way that's the way it felt at times as far as far as the cup hall of fame stuff goes like to me first off like I'm a big hall guy because I think the hockey hall of fame is is a big hall they let in if you're on the border you tend you tend to get in yeah

so my stance on it generally is that like a cup like winning a cup can help you but not winning one shouldn't hurt you. Like, it can make your case stronger, but it's not something that if, that if it doesn't happen for you, that you, they should keep you out. And I think he's a pretty good example of that. So, yeah, we can just cut the shit and call Eric Carlson the future Hall of Famer. Yep. Okay.

One last thing before we get to Hillary Knight, because you watched this game and it was a wild one. There was Tuesday night. I know we're recording this on Thursday, but holy, there was some wild games on Tuesday night, like a level of chaos that I maybe. haven't seen in a while. And tonight, Thursday, there's a bunch of games on the schedule again. So we might see some unhinged games. But the one I wanted to ask you about is that Bruins Penguins end up winning in overtime, six to five. Penguins have been kind of on a tailspin after a really good start. But the Bruins look. Like, we did the power rankings together last

week with Dom and all of us were just, yeah, Bruins are number one? Are they the best team in the league right now? I think so, because what we saw from him on Tuesday was that they didn't have their best game. Jim Montgomery said it after morning skate. He was like, this is, I'm worried about, I'm worried about this. We haven't looked this bad all season. And they still came out and won. And they came back from a multi-goal deficit and all this stuff. And no, they didn't, they didn't look great. And yes, the penguins are backsliding a little bit there. But that's still a pretty good team. And Boston beat them on the back end of a back to back, I believe, and when they were playing C plus hockey for them.

And I think that says a lot. Like I think that that's a sort of thing. And I don't know. I don't know if you agree or not, honestly. But like that's the thing that separates, you know, contenders from just kind of garden variety of good teams is you can play like shit. And you can bring, you can bring your, you can bring like a, a. a lesser caliber of game and still find a way,

and still find a way to win. And that's what, that's a, that's a, that's a Boston did. You've got the, that, you've got that win switch and that killer instinct on when you can just

decide that you're going to turn it on and you're going to win this hockey game. And that's something that we've seen that Bruins have. And I don't want to go there and get into it too much, but that, you know, just because I was digging around and looking into some stuff with the Leafs. Obviously, they had a really bad road trip.

They went through the gauntlet. Is that true? That's true? Yeah, I don't know if you heard. They went through the gauntlet of the docks in the crack, whatever. Death Valley. Uh-huh. Sure.

The, that was the joke. Wait, you run through the gantlet. The gantlet. You run through the gantlet. We're not doing this today, too. They went through Death Valley of, not Arizona, Jesus, but they did lose to them, too. The ducks, the sharks, the kings, the cracking. It was a tough week for the Maple Leafs.

And I was kind of looking around and looking at, you know, this idea of playing down to opponents. And is this a real phenomenon? And why does this happen to Toronto? And in one person in a front office, like a team executive, and this wasn't, I know LeBron ended up doing this story. So I'm glad I didn't. So that would have been awkward. But one team kind of personnel guy said to me, like, you see this with good teams sometimes where they play down to opponents.

It's absolutely a real thing. You saw it with Tampa Bay. And as you said, we can see it with the Boston Bruins sometimes. But what those teams have is they have the switch that they can flip. And, you know, they've got veteran guys who've won or they've got a good room and they've got the talent. and they flip that switch and they can turn it on and win the game and this person as it related to the Toronto Maple Leafs

was like, do the Leafs know where that switch is? Like that is the problem with the Leafs when they're playing down to opponents is do the Maple Leafs know where the switch is to have that killer instinct to win a hockey game? Absolutely not. We haven't seen it. If they did, if they did,

they would have hit it at some point during the playoffs for the last six years. They don't know what they're doing. They think they think they might, but it hasn't happened. And that stuff that's always frustrated. It's a frustrating line of, you know, dialogue for me, honestly, because it's like, if they could do it, they would.

It's not that easy. Because we see teams do it. How many times have the Tampa Bay Lightning had a bad start against a crappy team and they end up beating them in the third period? Because they've got a room and they've got leaders, they've got the pedigree, and they can just turn it around and do it. It's an overly simplistic thing. too, just do it.

I'm always hesitant to boil it down that much. Like people talk about McDavid that way. Like, oh, McDavid can just decide to do stuff. It's like, sometimes maybe, it's kind of lazy. Sometimes not. Yeah. Because the implication is that if he could, he would have three cups or whatever, you know.

The implication is that if, is that if you can decide to do it, then you are also deciding not to. So there are times where Connor McDavid in the regular season or the post season's like, yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to I'm going to stay at an eight out of 10 today. Like I don't, I don't feel like going into God tier mode or God mode because it's not,

it's tough. Yeah. I'm not criticizing them for not being able to single-handedly win games like whenever, whenever the situation calls for it. But he can't. And because no individual can. And no team can just decide to win a game. Yeah.

Because if they did, no team would ever lose. Yeah. I think it's like an overly simplistic expert. for things when you see a team like Toronto lose to Anaheim when in reality there's a lot more pressing things that are going wrong with the Toronto Maple Leafs i.e. their leaky defense and questions on the back end and a group of star players who are underproducing relative to what we are used to in a top loaded team with the bottom six that isn't clicking yet anyways. We can just we can just set up the story that's of yours that's posting on the website on

Friday morning. Fact or fiction. Fact or fiction what the Toronto Maple is. That's right. With a special guest analyst because I'm lazy. Yeah, that's right. Which form relief is helping me dissect the Maple Leafs? Write it in the comments before you read the story, don't cheat.

I almost forgot. That's coming. Powerangs are coming. Those are the plugs. What's most important? Hillary Knight. It's Hillary Knight. Let's go.

All right. So we're very excited and a little bit, I mean, I guess embarrassed. It's Friday. We got a Friday news dump interview with Hillary Knight. Couldn't have been on a Monday morning, but that's okay. You were very busy. I don't think you would have been available on a Monday because you might be one of the busiest people that I know. So thank you for making the time.

Welcome Hillary Knight to the show. Oh, thanks for having me. Yeah, Mondays are tough. Morning ice, you know? Yeah. Yeah, there's no way. You had a crazy week. Like, can you just Spark Notes tell us what you did this week?

Let's go day by day into your schedule. Humble all of us. Yeah. This is all my choice, by the way. Like, I choose to do these things. Yeah, that's yeah. Okay, whatever. Try to make the life, you know?

The hustle, the hustle never stops. It never stops. All this side hustle. So I can do the thing I love, you know? Yeah. No, like last, end of last week, I was in Vegas, then I was in Salt Lake City, and then Oklahoma City earlier this week, and then Nashville last night. What was the Oklahoma City thing? Because I saw that, I saw that on your Twitter and didn't like.

Yeah, it was for the Teams conference, so the USOPC puts it on, and a handful of NGBs get together along with other companies that are in the same space, and they get to have more. more of like an expo and they bring in different athletes to speak on certain things and thought leadership stuff. And yeah, it's it's kind of a nice touch point to get all the NGPs together and to have that sort of expo so they can sort of cross pollinate and work with one another on some of the better things that they have going on. That's cool. And so you were in Nashville and then back to Minnesota. That's wild. Well, yeah. And it was funny. The guys after the game, It was a really fun game, high scoring. Like, yo, you want to grab a bite?

I was like, I'm so sorry. I got to go do that athlete thing. Like, I'll be on the ice tomorrow at like 11 a.m. back in Minnesota. So my fight was super early this morning. Oh, man. How's it been balancing that, though? Because obviously you are still playing and skating. You've got the PWHPA.

There's a rivalry series and we'll get into all of that. So what's up and balancing so many speaking engagements, this kind of hustle. I don't even want to call it a hustle because that's a, I mean, it's a career with ESPN. You're doing games with ESPN and it's been great, but you're also, you know,

casually breaking records and, you know, doing all those other things. Yeah. No, I think it's like one of those things where, you know, I thought I was a little bit further along in my career in terms of like a retirement. You know, I thought really,

I thought so she was the end. And then I thought, you know, Korea was the end and Beijing and now we're still going. But no, I think when the ESPN opportunity came along, I was just ecstatic because it was a way to grow in a different industry. So I'm super green and really excited about learning different skill sets and obviously working with great people and still staying in the sport. So that's just something I want to work towards, I guess.

So it's awesome that I can still play and kind of do both. but at the same time, I've never really distracted myself from the main thing. And when I know I need to sort of reel back in, because, you know, everything's getting a little too out of control or there's too much chaos. And it's affecting sort of the on-ice play. It's like now like hard stop. But to be honest, on the professional woman's side and the rivalry side, we haven't had this much programming ever.

And so I think it's sort of, it's one of these things. Well, I'm going to have to sort of learn as I navigate it, but we've never had this many Dream Gap tour stops for the PWHPA, which is awesome. And the U.S.-Canada rivalry programming is just, we have three stops in November, and then we have another handful of stops in December. And so that's great. I mean, it's a good problem to have to be busy from a hockey standpoint just because I've been fighting so long to get that stuff going.

I've got to try to get the Vegas one on my travel schedule. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I think I could get a sit down with Hillary Knight if you said me to Vegas. I'll get you access. Yeah. Is that after Seattle? Yeah.

Is that in December? Yeah. Yeah. No, it's exciting. And I'm geeking out because, you know, I sat on, you know, all the ESPN calls, the Crackens first season. And they were just explaining climate pledge and everything behind it. I was like, I cannot wait to get to this arena.

So now we're playing in it. US versus Canada. I mean, this is, it's super exciting. Have you been to climate pledge yet? Never. So this is like, this is my geek out moment as like a true hockey fan. Yeah. It's awesome. It's super cool. The glass, like I can just imagine, because they're going to try to sell that. Like, it'll be so cool if they can match. And we were talking about this before we started recording. But you guys broke the attendance record in Anaheim. And I feel like it'd be so cool to see it's sold out in Seattle. And also, because there's the big glass. on the side. And it would be so cool to see like a sold-out bar and women's hockey game and like people

on the glass on the outside and stuff. Like it just, I don't know, it's going to look so cool if you guys can do it. Yeah. And I can't think of a better market, right? I mean, it's just such a great sports market. And hopefully we can get, you know, other grades out in the stands from other sports, too, just because it's such a, you know, you don't get to see US Canada. You see it on TV.

really do you to see it in person. So it's super special event. Are we going to get a Sue bird sighting? I hope so. Wouldn't that be great? That would sweet. I love Sue Bird. I mean, the arena is like, the arena is like pretty centrally located.

You know, it's, it's in a good spot. The space needles right down, right there. Right down the street. Like, let's go. Let's get Sue. Let's get, let's get, let's get, let's get, let's get Ripino. Come on. Yeah.

No, it's, yeah, it's sort of the perfect tide of everything. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see who attends, but it'd be really cool to break that record. It was super special in Anaheim, and even then, you know, I feel like I was like, oh, we can do more. So they're pulling back curtains, I think, like right before puck dropped just because they kept selling tickets, which is awesome made a lot of walk-ups. Oh, that's cool. That's awesome.

I want to go back to a comment that you made, though, in feeling like you were kind of delayed in that retirement process. I mean, how did those, how did those? thoughts, I guess, pop up to you. Like, can you maybe walk us through that feeling of if you come off an Olympics and you're like, all right, am I done? Like, how do you go from, am I done to like, not, not, I'm still here? What's that been like? Honestly, the, for whatever reason, we haven't figured out the perfect storm for our Olympic

preparation. And it just absolutely, it sucks the life out of you. I don't know how else. Like, you have to put everything into it. you're training with the girls like day in, day out. You're always with this like looming stress of, you know, are you on the roster? Where are you on the roster? Are you not on the roster?

So that's like just a huge mental, you know, burden, I guess, as you navigate that. And then there's a huge buildup to the Olympics, which, you know, people can try and prepare you for it, but you're never prepared. Like you're just, and I've been to four now and each one's been so different. right and so there's just so much emotional baggage that goes along with one of those years that you're like I need to take a deep breath um and specifically for sochi it was just i just the way we lost um just absolutely gutted heartbroken felt like i gave everything felt like you know all of our teammates gave everything we still came up short and then you're just sitting there and your thoughts doing

scratching your heads because you have to remember too after the olympics is huge media build up. Everyone wants a piece of you. And then when it's over, like, it's over. Nobody cares who you are. Nobody remembers your name. And you just go back to this sort of like normal pedestrian life, which, you know, is great. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just really mentally challenging to kind of go through the ebbs and flows of that. So, yeah, outside of like an Olympic, you're just gutting you and, you know, coming up short. And then you go to, you know, the next one we follow up and we obviously, we win. And that's great. But, you know, the, the year was grueling.

It was just so tough. And I'm glad we won because, you know, that gave us a little bit more traction in the States. But then the media tours and everything after, like, that was also gutting as well. And so you want to go out on top too, right? So you're like, all right, well, you know, maybe this is the moment. But you also from like a competitor standpoint and just the love of the room and the girls that are in the program, You want to go to battle with them again. Like, it's just like, that's what gets you out of bed in the morning.

You can still compete as long as I can still keep up and continue to make plays and score goals and do all that fun stuff. You know, why not do it? And yeah, so I think it's just sort of led me to here. And then Beijing just, it was weird. Yeah. It seemed that way. Like throw it in the trash, you know?

Yeah. I don't say that just because we lost. It's just not. not being able to have like the same experience of friends and family. It just felt so desolate. And I just didn't like that. And so I really like the young group that we have too. And it's just there's so much fun to be around.

So as long as I can, I love it, I can keep contributing in some fashion. Why not go? So it. Yeah. This sounds like someone who wants to be on the 2026. Right. You know, it's tough. It's tough staying healthy. I mean, I think I had less wear and tear on the tires because of the COVID year, right?

Everything shut down, less, less competitions. And I had this like crazy foot surgery that, you know, I always said myself, if I have one more surgery, like, like, surgeries are brutal. You have to do that all alone. The rehab. I was like, I don't know if I can come back from that. And then had the surgery, came back. So it's, you know, it's this constant internal battle. It's in, it's in Italy, by the way.

That's for the 2026. You know what's funny is going, even before Beijing, my brother's like, so 2026. I was like, he's like, in Italy. I was like, oh, okay. Oh, okay. All right. All right. But it's about them, right?

Like, we do all this cool stuff, but like they, they've sacrificed so much that like, yeah. It's just, it's kind of like that. award at the end of the journey that they can be there. And yeah, you need to give, you need to give your family an excuse to take a trip to Italy in the winter. Let's go. Can you tell Sean about your brother and his cowbell?

Oh gosh. And the listeners. Yeah. You would, you would think that my brother was at a downhill ski race in Europe. Oh, that's great. That is the type of passion he shows up to at our games. And it's amazing. Yeah, especially when we're in like smaller venues too.

Like he is hard to miss. Not only he's like 6, 6, 6, 7, but he's just loud the entire time. He gets his beers and then he's just, he's just going. Oh, that's awesome. It's amazing. And it's kind of funny because so I was at the World Championships and your family stands out because they're all very tall. And it was like a small arena.

There's not a ton of people for some of the games by the end when all the family showed up. But I could hear the cowbell and I look over and it's like a very tall family. And I was with Melissa and she's like, oh, that's Hillary's brother. I was like, okay. I mean, you get him a custom cowbell, I think. Yes. Is he not have one? Is he just go into the dollar store and picking one up?

I don't know what he does. But it's funny because all the jerseys they're wearing, like I think those are, I either got him like a bunch of Christmases ago. So I think they're like too small or they're actually like game worn jerseys. Oh, okay. Oh, man. He's rocking like a short jersey. I love, yeah.

I didn't notice that. It's amazing. There might be enough space up on the arms. That's belly. He's a C6, six, six. That's a belly shirt, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

He's a good. He's wild. I mean, when we, we were in career and we, a bunch of us, like, sort of snuck out of the village because we weren't allowed to do anything. We went to the, um, U.S. Russia game. I think it was U.S. Russia. Yeah.

And so, like, Russia's got all their chance. Sorry, Olympic athletes of Russia. Right. They have like their choreographed chance and whatever. And then it's just like the Knight family on the side. Just be like, you know, there's amazing. Yeah. So that's the next story idea is I have to sit down and actually just like watch a Canada USA game with your brother.

How is that not happening? I mean, is that, is that? Yeah, I'll make sure he's all right. We can type swear words on the, on the FLAF. We're fine. We're fine. We're good. There we go.

Perfect. Like, is that, how much of that, that whole, you know, you mentioned the, the village experience and all that, obviously, 2022 out the window? Like, is that, is that part of the calculus for you? Like, you're like, I want to do this another time and do it right and actually go out in a way, in an Olympics, it's an Olympics, not just whatever, whatever the version that you had to deal with over the, over the winter list. Do you think about that at all?

Yeah, definitely a little bit. you know, a lot of conversations with sort of are, you know, veterans too. And the other thing is you've been like, I've sort of seen different like generations, I guess, among the team, right? And so this last one, you're like, guys, like, you know, you can go. You can go too. Like, let's go. Let's sign up again because, you know, you just grow up with these people and they've become

your family. And you also envision yourself doing it a certain way. you obviously want to win, but you want to do it with certain people. And so, you know, as long as those guys are still going, like, I'm going, you know, so. How have you seen the kind of post-Olympic attention change? Because I know you mentioned in Sochi, it kind of just dies and that kind of come down is not great. How have you kind of seen the way that people engage with and talk about women's hockey change over the last eight to 10, eight years, I guess? Yeah, I'd say it's changed most recently since Beijing.

I was actually just talking about this earlier today. I was a little disappointed after 2018 because we had this like storybook ending. Everything we accomplished off ice, everything we did on ice, and then not only is it regular time, overtime. And it's a shootout. It's just like one of those crazy games for the ages. And we did our little media tour afterwards that we pushed really hard for his players. Because I feel like we're always like, let's get hockey forward. Let's get women's hockey forward.

And then it kind of just died again. And you're like, what the heck? Like, what else do we need to do? And I don't know if we're just like naive in thinking like if we win than this. Score more bangers in the shootout. I don't know. Right. It's just like, oh my goodness.

So it's like, do we have to get out there? did this egress like in the regulation like I don't know so um yeah it was just kind of disappointing and so it's like okay you know how do we really make sort of this like transformational impact in sport and really I've been scratching my head and I think outside of our viewership numbers at the Olympics which were extremely encouraging um you know I think that length needs to be made at the professional level which is exciting because of everything we're doing Yeah, I mean, can you kind of talk about what's going on with the PWHPA? I know, I mean, I had a story come out on the athletic last week just about how there's this sense of optimism and where maybe externally people are wondering what's taking so long.

I thought we were going to have something yet. But internally, there's this like excitement and optimism and the work kind of continues behind the scenes every day. So what can you tell us about the PWHPA right now? Well, I think great things take time. I think when you take that 30,000 foot view or approach to the game, what the PWHPA is doing is just outstanding. I mean, you've got the best product in North America. You've got phenomenal brands, you know, a movement that seems to align very much so with everything that's going on in sport. And it's all like player-led, player-driven, which is extremely exciting.

And so I think the trajectory of where the... the PWHPA has come from where it is now and where it's going is extremely encouraging. I think from a player standpoint, if you're just looking at playing right now, you're like, this is the prime of my career. Like, I need games. And so that bucket is also getting fulfilled by the secret dream gap tour stops as well. So I don't think people really like realize like how much of an undertaking the PWHPA is. Because when it first started, it was just a collection of players.

And it still is a collection of players. but we were like, okay, so where do we play? How do we insure players? How do we sell tickets? How much do we sell tickets for? Who's manning the gates? You know, how do we get officials? What is like all these little things that go into the final product you see of a game,

we had to worry about and we had a shoulder and figure out how to problem solve and put it all together. So that's how it started. And where it's grown in such short amount of time is incredible. I think we would be a perfect case study for. any startup. That's honestly I look at the way you guys do things. It's like look it's like watching a DIY punk band or something where it's like the people who are in the band are also the ones that are like printing the flyers and booking the venues and like in marketing the show and whatever. It's just it's like it's one it's a one stop shop. And it's not it's great right because like we're

actually like making progress like we are dictating the change we want to see which is awesome. and I'm hoping that soon we will get to a point where players don't have to shoulder anything and they can just show up and play and like that's the goal, that's the end game and I'm encouraged where we are. Yeah, like when you look and you look at the Dream Gap tour and how even from the last one like year over year

it just seems like it seems like we're seeing growth and there's more dates and there's you know, they're tweaking the formula right. I know Haley wrote pretty extensively about how things have changed this year versus last. To me, from the outside, I look at that, and I feel more encouraged over what that means for how a PWHPA League will be run, because you have this experience where you're building something from the ground up and, you know, kind of, you know, like making it increasing the

scope and the scale, you know, year over year. Is that the way you take it to, or this is like, in a way kind of like learning experience for the way the league can and should be run? Yeah, I think it's a bit of both. And I also think that, you know, aligning with the right partners has been pivotal for us. And then also brands who have just aligned with our mission and what we're trying to accomplish. And granted, we're really Canadian heavy in terms of, you know, that support. But I don't think it's going to be long. You know, it's a lot. We got to fix that. Yeah. Okay. That's good. That's good. No, but I mean, it's a big thing. Like there's there's a ton of untapped potential here in the U.S. US. So I think that's what's extremely encouraging about things is when brands have an opportunity to get involved, they're going to be

involved in a significant way. I mean, I'm in Pittsburgh. I'm psyched for Thanksgiving weekend. Let's go. That seems like that seems like it's going to be fun. Have you so we're going to see Canada and US players on the on the same

roster. I know that I know that you guys have I know that you've done a lot of I know you've done a lot of us on a podcast. together. I know you've talked a lot about this on social, but like, let's, how's that, how's that going to work? Let's go. Let's walk through it. Yeah.

Well, first off, I'm excited about Pittsburgh because last time we played Pittsburgh is post-Olympic. It's the first time we've ever had programming post-Olympics, to my knowledge, or since I've been around, and that was exciting. I think we had like two weeks to sell that event. And so, considering

that lead-up, like, phenomenal. I was supposed to be there. Side note. I was so pissed because and then I got I got COVID. What the heck? Yeah, I remember that. I was like literally getting my COVID test to fly to Pittsburgh the next morning. And I was so excited because it looked like it was such a good event. And they're like, ma'am, you need to come in here and put a mask on and go home.

I was like, oh. Well, that was like a total. It was a total lose lose too because I didn't get, I didn't get credentialed for it. Like I was, I made other work plans. So I was, I was gone. And it all happened so quick that like. Neither of us ended up being there. Yeah.

I was upset, but sorry, Hillary. Continue. No, no. It was a very good event and I was sad. Yeah. Yeah. No, so we're returning there, which is awesome. I forgot what you even asked me before that.

Yeah, that's my bad. Oh, no, playing with, playing with a roster with Canadian players finally. Like, that's like what I'm talking about, right? Like, this is, yeah. But you guys are finding, like, new and different ways and twist to add to the gap to it, make it fresh and, fresh and different and yeah and like kind of taking those you know filling that yeah it's so funny because I talked actually with like Sarah Nurse about it and I'm just like we've done a couple

things overlapping with different uh I don't even know which which brands and stuff but yeah funny we showed up to somewhere and they're like oh yeah just so you know Hillary's here and I show you're like just so you know Sarah's here and it's like okay you know like why are making this awkward you need to like dial it up like you need to you need to It's probably because they were used to dealing with like Cassie Campbell and like Cammy when they all hated each other and stuff. Well, don't get me wrong. Like when we're on the ice, like, there's no love loss.

You know, it's just like. Yeah, but like you and Sarah could be like in the same place the same time. They're acting like, we like can't have them. You can't have them. Yeah. We can't have them cross paths in the hallway or whatever. Like, oh. No, but it's it's so funny because we're talking.

I'm just like, I'm so sick of like. I'm so sick of like the U.S. Canada thing, you know, like, don't get me wrong. I will play every single. If we had to play 365 games, U.S. versus Canada, I would do it because I absolutely love the rivalry. And I just think it's so special. And it always holds a special place. But in terms of like the recognition, like, you know, we are in the same sport.

We're in the same industry. We're the leaders in that industry. Like, why wouldn't we collaborate? And I think that sort of people have this like archetype of U.S. Canada. up. And now we're all on the same team. And yeah, like, because the rivalry's been around for so long, like, there are people who don't like each other. Like, I got people that I don't like that are just something like, you know, whatever. But I think that's like, who, who is it? Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I'm sure you can tell now. Just watch a couple games, you'll figure it out. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because there's like a, there's like a, I don't know, we were making like a TikTok or something and like, oh, you know, I don't know what to say.

And it was just funny having all of us try and figure it out because we've been so like U.S., Canada. Yeah. That. And someone made a comment. I was like, well, people better figure it out because this is what pro looks like. You got to play with other people. You can't just stand your country's teams. But no, I think it's great because you're getting the best balance of teams with this sort of mix-up roster style at each stop.

Was it the past the phone thing? Yeah. Yeah. When you're eating the apple. Yeah. What was it? What was it? What was it?

What was it? I'm passing the phone to someone who has two first names. Yeah. I was like, oh. And it's funny because I, like, I played up there. So I know some of the girls a little bit better. And if you played in college or university, like you know that. But I told him, Ash, I was like, ha, ha.

Like, I did two first names. And she goes, wait, what did she say? She's like, oh, Laura Stacy. I was like, no, but that's a good one. Yeah. No, the other one. No. No.

It was like the other one with the high, Mary, Yeah, come on. There's two. There's two, two first name. How do you respond to Jill Salnier saying your cage is way too big for your helmet? No, I haven't. It's 100% is. Like, I wear a medium-sized helmet.

Like, my cage is a large. You know, I like the hang. Is that? Okay. Yeah. Is that always, have you always done? They don't make that cage anymore, I guess, is what I've been told. So you got to keep it.

Have you guys, have you seen any? anybody reaped the benefit to the new gear? I know, I know a lot of, I know a lot of the girls were talking about. Yeah. Oh, I guess this, this upcoming, the Nova Scotia weekend, I think, is when you see, like, all the sick gear. Like, the goalies colorways are just wild. The sonnet look cool.

I love the baby blue. Yeah. I like our, I like our, um, dark jerseys better than our whites, but. Okay. Ooh, I love that. Yeah. No, Nick's pads look sick. Yeah.

So Hensley? Yeah. Sweet. Oh, I can't wait. I walked in one day and I go, what the? I was like, oh, gear. Like, cool. Oh, that's sweet.

But no, it's just, it's been awesome into, you know how expensive hockey is. Like, not only is ice time, but like the equipment is just ridiculous. So, you know, other women who are involved who aren't necessarily on the national team to be able to get like a full set of gear. Like, that's awesome. So I hope that continues to grow. One of the things that. When I was writing the story, I was talking to Liz Knox, and she was telling me, like, Kristen, Richards, you know, she, the CCM came and they were doing the distribution. And Kristen was kind of like, yeah, the stick I use, like, I'll just get the exact same one.

And they're taking, like, let's say Kristen uses, like, a, she was using a bower or whatever. And then CCM was giving her, like, their comparable stick. And she didn't realize that she was getting, like, an amateur grade gear because she's, like, This is just what I use. And then CCM was like, do you want the pro grade? Like, do you want a nicer stick than this? Because we have it. And she had no idea.

Yeah. Because she just never had access to like pro grade level equipment. So it's super cool. It's crazy. Because people don't even realize like that's a whole separate side of the hockey equipment. It's not retail stuff. Yeah. Like she had no clue.

I actually had a one of my teammates was using like, what was it like 112 flex or 110? What were those numbers? And she didn't know Because she never like You know you grow up You just get given a stick Yeah she was going to She didn't even know what flex to use

Like what would be best for her She just thought that was normal And then she said something else's sticks And this is like an Olympic year Finally realizing she's like oh Like people don't use that Or we just started laughing I can't snap it back on a face off

Like my flex is all messed up Yeah She just went and bought something off the rack It like Dicks or Sport Check or something Yeah But that's the thing is like the women's game is so untapped. That's a national team player, right?

And that's like years ago. But that's a national team player. Like that's how untapped the women's market is. So once we get dialed in with the gear and everything else, like, it's just, it's crazy where this sport can go. What flex do you use on your stick? 87. 87.

Yeah. So Elias Linholm uses a 70. I've tried going lower and I just can't. Like I don't like to, I like to be able to like shoot from everywhere in the zone. Instead of just like crack it off a rush. Yeah. Because I was kind of like birdies when it gets in the 70s. I'm like, ah, someone away.

It's no much flex and 80 plus stick. I think Phil, I think Kessel, I think he uses 65. Super low. Yeah. That's a wild. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

How about his goal the other night? Oh, my. Are you? You're on the call for you? You were there for that, weren't you? No, I wasn't there for Vegas? No. Like Iron Man Streaks shows up.

tucks under the bar like okay but he's unreal he's a legend he's a legend for a reason is Amanda like anything like Phil no I don't I've never met I don't think I've met Phil maybe like once at like a friends and family thing like years ago so I couldn't really give you like a oh yeah like here's a comparable story yeah but she's uh Amanda's great so it's just she's a riot. I love that. Yeah. I feel like every time I've talked to somebody, like I was talking to Taylor Heisey, Hannah Bilko, like Caroline Harvey, you talk to some of the younger players. And obviously they talk about the impact that you've had on their careers, but they always talk about Amanda and how like welcoming and helpful. And she just like makes you

feel comfortable in a part of the team in the room because she just has that personality. Yeah, like she's like almost like I don't want to call her the glue. person because sometimes you call the glue guy like the glue guy is kind of on the fourth line they don't do him a lot but she's like the glue player who can like still yeah a team and scoring at a world championships yeah and she's like she's like young and she's like she's like she's still like a couple years younger than me but she's still like can like scale and like be relatable you know she can she can float right like she's like she's also like she's just she's a good person super fun And I don't know, there's like a magnet, I think, to those type of people.

I mean, she's got a gig with the team. She's here. Yeah. She's doing that thing with the family. She's super busy. Like, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm traveling here, here, here. Like, Amanda's busy too. Well, okay.

Is that something, is that something you see for yourself down the line? Like, a team, a team job? Like, are you just going to keep doing? I don't know. You see Kess doing that. Like, you see, like, Kendall's been in it for years. She's, she did the media thing before anyone. invest at it.

You know, who else? Like, Scaroo Bo is doing that stuff with the caps for a while. But I think it's just like getting experience because there's been like such a barrier before and now that more women are getting involved at the professional level and an actual like, you know, reputable professional kind of experience with the NHL. You know, you're learning a lot of different things that we haven't necessarily seen before. So it's great to be able to have that skill. and then bring it, I'm hoping back to the women's side of things because we don't want to

lose too many people because we know how great our people are. But yeah, it's sometimes you just got to go where you can get a check too. Amazing. Well, I know we said that you're really busy. And so what we did was we stole you for like over half an hour. So I feel like. This is Friday. Like I am, yeah, I'm just so happy.

I'm done with training. I was going to go for a bike later, but it's cold. so I might use that excuse not to get. Yeah, that's perfect. Because it's going to be like dark in an hour and a half now because that's like where we're, that's like where we are on the calendar. Which is terrible because I'm like scared of the dark

and now like being a homeowner, I'm like, ah! With all me memories. Dude. My neighbors are lit. They have like things hanging and stuff and they're like blowing in the wind. I'm like,

oh, no, I couldn't do that. Whenever I go visit my parents, I'm like watching TV and their couch is like right next to a bunch of windows. I was like, I was watching like pretty little liars or something stupid. I was like so terrified. Yeah. So I had to like close the blinds and lock the doors.

And I was like, have you seen the watcher? No, it's on my list though, the new Netflix show. You're going to be so disappointed. That's all I'll say. But like,

I shouldn't have watched that. Oh, because now you're afraid of your neighbors. That's the same thing. Well, I've met my neighbors and they're lovely, which is great. Yeah, but like how much time have you really spent together? They're like, how well it's how old you really know?

She helped me move some packages and I was so grateful because they just started piling up. You know, you forget about like all your shipments and stuff. You're like, oh, you know. Oh, God. I'm not going to watch that because I live by myself. I shouldn't put that on the radio. I wasted my life on it. Okay.

I'm going to skip it then. Yeah. Perfect. It was trending. So I was like, I got to like find time to watch this in between hockey games. So you got to watch Got to watch Barbarian on HBO Max That's like that that's like the Halloween movie of

Oh Of the weekend It's a Everybody's going ballistic for it That's what's trending That's what people are going to be talking about In a day or two is barbarian I'm going to watch pretty little liars again

Yeah Stupid binge show Yeah Okay Before we let you go This was something we said that we needed to do On the show And then and then go on your bike ride

Or don't We are not going to judge you because I'm not going to do anything. This is travel pet peeves corner with Hillary Knight. Oh, gosh. It's travel yellow cards. Travel yellow cards. That was the tweet.

I can start. Here's my massive yellow card. I was flying back. I was at Copenhagen, like, airport, flying back from Women's World Championships. I have never had more people, like literally trying to walk in front of me in the security line, like, like budding in front of me. And I was like, and I just keep looking back as like, what's happening right now? Like, we're all in line.

It's busy. They were so, they were so mean. And somebody walked in front of me in the check encounter because I didn't like walk up quick enough. And he just like walked in front of me. And I was like, sir, sir, what's happening? Pardon me. I've never been more angry in my life than when I was flying home from Copenhagen, from just all the people and security. Like, I thought we were going to miss our flight.

that was a busy airport i i did something left so early i like kept going up to the the people wearing the coats like that work for there i was like we're gonna miss our flight can you just help us line jump so they like actually line jumped us which would never happen in north oh like the like the people the people at the security line did all the way of the front what we thought was you but it in front of me yeah it was us no and so it was the front which we thought was the front and then it kept going like around there was like five different lines at that airport. I was like, how do people fly these days?

Like, how early we get in the airport? I got there three hours early because I saw online how horrific it was. Yeah. They're the hockey bag bags. You never know. Are they oversized? Are they going regular? That's tough.

I can pack it pretty tight. Like, just put it down the normal, like, shoot, you know? Yeah. But yeah. I don't know. Traveling is just, it's just, it's become a different. I think my main thing is just like people who are rude. Yeah.

I can't. I'm just like, what, what gives you the right to, like, exit an aircraft before, like, the five rows in front of you? That's the big one. I can't believe that people are still doing that. Because I kind of blame it on like, okay, nobody's flown for the last couple years. Everyone forgot how to practice or anxious or whatever. The people who are still standing up as soon as, as soon as it's like wheels down, I can't believe that that's still happening. Because it's annoying and it's weird And then it's also rude Like it's like the three It's like the trifecta there That's still

That's a boring answer But it's still it's still the worst You know what though? I did I I did travel no no She's about to She's about to tell on yourself here Get ready

This was after flying back from Copenhagen And we got stuck in like a custom checks. So we landed and they made us sit there. And no one was allowed off because customs was too busy. And then we get an announcement from being like the next 13 people to get up can exit the aircraft. And I was like, I don't care about this grandpa sitting in front of me. Like I stood up and I like ran in front of everyone. I was like, this is not happening. So I pushed a kid. No, I didn't. I didn't. Run card right there.

I didn't touch anyone. I just was like, I had my little backpack and I just, I'm out of here. And it was fine. But I've done that before. Whatever. I thought the context was fine. No, that's, I mean, that's survival, right? Yeah.

Fighter flight kicked in. I'm out of here. I got to get off this plane. Yeah. You're like, snakes on the plane. Yeah. Literally. Every man for himself.

The list is going to keep growing for you, Hillary, because you're flying, you're flying day after day after day. That's what happens when you have a half dozen different jobs. Yeah, there needs to be more order. Like, I don't know why we don't board the flight from the back to the front. That happens sometimes. Sometimes it happens. That happens to me sometimes.

I was at the front and I was zone five. Yeah. And I was like, okay, that makes sense. however people put their bags in your spot yeah but you should I was like well now I don't have anywhere to go you see people like people who pay for for first class or business class they're the ones that are catered to and they and they would mentally they could not handle it if the rest of us you know if steerage class and the

holy poloia got on the got on the plan before they did that that's it that's why it doesn't happen. They're like, wait, I paid money. I need to get on first. That's what it is. Well, like, what are we getting on? Like, okay, when I travel with my like, like, like, suitcase, I'm like, I need to get on because I need to find my spot, like my little bank to put my suitcase suitcase. But if that's, I don't know, I just think there's like a baggage fee thing there because if that's why we're getting on to sit there for like, you know, an extra 45 minutes. Yeah. Like, that's sad. Like, that's sad. Like, I'm sad. Like, I'm sad. You know? That's annoying. Oh, I'm sorry.

I had to sit middle too And I was like Oh But I did see something There's like Middle seat gets to armrest I don't know how you guys feel about that Because before I was like no

But after saying the middle I spread so big I'm like I put my hood up I'm like I am going to just like And put your headphones in so nobody can ask you to move Yep You know what I think that's you guys on the other side

Nobody touched me They're like I respect that you know I think that's basically the way that it goes Because I fly Southwest a lot too Okay, Southwest is the main, it's got most of the flights out of Pittsburgh, so whatever. There's pros and cons to that. So, yeah, I've come to, I've come around on the middle seat thing because everybody's, everybody's in the same boat.

Like, you got to just, it's like riding the bus half the time on Southwest, honestly. So, yeah, you can have, you can have, you can have, you can have, you can have, you can have both armrest. Don't vote the middle seat if you're not going to fight for your armrest. Right. And then I also, like, just got bodied up by the. drink cart the other day and I was just like, I was in that, so it's like

A flight attendant fully elbowed me in the head once and I was just like, are you going to apologize? It's full on like, that's full on like when they haven't hit you. Nothing happened. I was like that was my face, but that's all right. It's like in the wedding singer, whenever Drew Barry, with Sandler and Drew Barrymore,

whenever she gets her elbows crushed by the drink by the drink cart, that's, that's what happened to Hillary. Yeah. Boom. Nobody, nobody pays any attention. Yeah. Elevator door out, drink cart in, let's go. Absolutely. Amazing. Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Hillary.

This was great. We really appreciate you coming on the show. This is our regular segment now. We'll check in and see how your flights are. Yeah, this is, yeah, this is, there's been travel yellow cards with Hillary Knight. All right. Yeah. I should actually travel around with them, just like give it to people. Yeah. Oh, my God. That'd be so funny.

A local restaurant. You laminate it. You laminate it. You laminate it. Yeah. I don't need a back. Like, you can sit with the disappointment. It's like when you pass some, but you should autograph them. They just do one of these. Like, you know.

Yeah. You're sitting in that. What if you, like, autograph them? So that would be like the... That's like finding Tom Brady's ball on another hole. Yeah. Dude, Hillary Knight just gave me a yellow card. I don't know what this means.

Yeah, sorry, buddy. You stood up in the aisle way too early. Congratulations. Here's an autograph. Yeah. In all seriousness, though, a local restaurant because, you know, there's been like the working, like return to work. We don't have no staff. Like the same issue.

Everyone's got. And people are just like, as you said earlier, like they forgot how to act like out of COVID or I guess at a lockdown. So this local restaurant was given out yellow cards. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm so sorry. You got window cleaners. Yeah.

Okay. That guy was in the back at the start. I didn't even want it. You didn't tell me that there's a man in my window? Absolutely not. I don't want to bring it up, Hillary. You saw this guy, Hillary, right? Oh my God, I'm so sorry.

Okay, continue what you were saying. No, no, no. I knew she was going to freak out as soon as we pointed it out. So I was like, I'm just not. You just go. Oh, my God. I just lost my shit. Your windows look great, though.

Yeah, that's great. Cream all looking good. But yeah, I know this restaurant started handing them out because people are so rude. I was like, that's a great idea. I love that. It's just perfect. That's the inspiration. Yeah.

All right. But thanks, guys. Have a great weekend. Thank you. All right. Take care. Thanks again to Hillary Knight for joining us on the show. That was fun.

I loved that. The jump scare. Yeah. Thanks again to those guys who are washing your windows. Thanks to the window washers who are back at my building because we recorded this the other day. Just for some for this is how the. They're back? I almost said the cookie gets made.

Yeah, they're not on my, the sausage. I don't know, I'm really tired. The cookie gets made. Cookies got to get made somewhere. This is how I make the cookies. The window cleaning guys are here. Wait a second, why, whizzen. You were doing a cross between this is how the sausage is made,

and that is how the cookie trumbles. I think that works better because I think the sausage, like, I don't really want to know how sausages get made. I think that's disgusting, but cookies are a lot more. That is the point of the saying. Right, but we're not talking about something gross. Oh. So you're saying people don't care.

I'm saying that's like the point of the saying. Is it like this is how the sausage gets made? Like sometimes the process is ugly and or boring, but that's what it takes to get you to the final product. Damn. So that's how people feel listening to me talk about us recording the podcast. Yeah, because it's not interesting. Do you ever feel like you're a smart person who says a lot of stupid things?

No, I just feel like I'm smart all the time. Because I am. Man, I've caught myself in some stupid moments on this podcast right here. Yeah, just spill it. Just spill it, by the way. You're alluding to having done something very bizarre here. No, no, no, no. That is a completely different thing that I will get to because I think it's really funny and I'm excited to see what people think about it.

What I was about to say is the whole, now that people have listened to the show, because we did tease the clip of me, you know, getting spooked by the window washers who were back at the building. I saw them on the other side and I got upset. I shook my fist up at them as I was walking Bono earlier today. But no, it was particularly scary because we were talking about like how Hillary just got a new house and she doesn't really like being home alone yet and watching scary movies. And like literally right after that, there's. like a man in my window that nobody warned me about. And I was like, I don't know, freak me out. Still spooky season, baby. It is spooky season. November 3rd, the Christmas cups are back at Starbucks. So it was the oat milk cookie latte. That was wrong.

The sugar cookie oat latte. That's nice. It's delicious. Chef's kiss. Anyways, thanks to Hillary Knight. Hey, hell a second. How about you just give me a coffee-flavored coffee? That's what I say.

You can't bring your stick to sports jokes to this show. It's not funny. You know what? You know what? You know what? I have a black coffee beside me, but this morning I wanted a sugar cookie oat latte because I didn't have breakfast. And that was my little treat. Yeah, no, that's good.

Don't shame people for liking little treats in the morning. It's like, just grow up, you know? It's freaking November 3rd. Moka Choka. And the Starbucks cups are back. It's not a mocha. It's sugar cookie with oat milk and little sprats. wrinkles on top and it's delightful.

I don't care. Drink what you want. Thank you. Yeah, don't judge. It's a bit. Yeah, well, I feel attacked by it because I love my cookie-flavored coffees. These millennials, right, with their safe spaces, don't get me started. So I have, speaking of millennials, so one of my.

Probably the most ever viewed clips on this show ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Anyone has ever talked in an athletic hockey show podcast. Nobody can defeat me when it comes to the debate over kicking ice cubes under the fridge. That's a throwback to the Monday show. I don't know why that was like such a divisive, divisive thing.

What do you do? Do you kick the ice cube? I can't kick stuff under my fridge. Like if I went, if I went to kick a cube under the fridge, it would just like, there's a, there's a barrier thing that would. Okay. So that's boring. I don't have a problem with you with anybody doing that. Yeah.

It was craziness. So I don't know why I just like, I just thought it was so funny that I want to share it on the show. And everyone's going to think it's really stupid. Oh, it probably is. Oh, it's stupid. Because the ice cube thing was really stupid. And the fact that that turned into something. I'm like raging debate was confusing, was confusing for me.

Okay, so let's set the scene. We're about to record the podcast. I'm in a rush. There's a spill on the floor. I need to mop it up. I don't want to get the mop out. But I have Swiffer wet pads right there in the cupboard. So instead of getting the mop and like one swiffer pad and like mopping it up,

I took two swiffer pads and stood on them and walked around my living room, like, just mop the floor with the swiffer pads on my feet. Okay. Have you ever done that before? It was, I think I created something here. First off, the point, they were the wet pads. Yeah. The point of those is that they work in concert with the stuff that you spray from the...

No, no, they were the wet pads. pads. They were wet. They were wet themselves. They weren't the dry ones. So yeah, I actually was walking around on dry pads with stuff. They were like wet. My only problem with that is that that's a waste of two of two like Swiffer wet pads.

Like you only needed one. How much could you have spilled? Those things are those things are cheap. That's wasteful. I thought it was really funny. It was like really. It was kind of fun. I think it was.

I think, yeah. That's that's, that's. Ooh, it was fun. I hope it wasn't this fun. You should just use one. It's wasteful. What is I supposed to do with my other foot? Okay, I'm lying.

It wasn't a spill. I'm lying. I'm lying. I used three. No, it wasn't a spill. Bono had an accident on the floor and I didn't want to get down there with my hands. And I was like, ooh, I'll just use my feet. No, that's cool.

Yeah. So you just kind of like stepped in and around a puddle of dog piss. Sweet. No. Anything else? Whatever. This was a bad idea. I don't know why I thought this would be funny.

Keep this to myself next time. I do something innovative. No, you won't. They should make mop socks. Mop socks. They probably do. This is like a, this is like an it's always sunny Charlie Kelly kitten mittens. They're like, oh,

Yeah, maybe they should put some socks on dogs. Put some socks on dogs so they can walk around in their own pee and clean it up themselves. It's a foolproof plan. I would love to see Bono clean up his own messes, but he doesn't have any thumbs. He's a dog. Anything else you'd like to say here? No, that was disappointing. Just cut that out, Danielle.

Don't even include it in the show. I'm done. Let's go to the comment section, Sean. It's what you want to do anyways. Read your comments. I think we both agree there. The comments are the best part of the show. Yeah.

Jonathan B. wants more Dom on Friday. Why? I don't know. Okay. What's the like about him? He also says he gathers that Shane is busy, which she is. But Jonathan wants us to beg and plead to get her on the show.

Go to Shane directly with your request is what I say. Yeah. Maybe Sean, Jesus Christ. Maybe Dom and Shana should have their own podcast because Jonathan seems to want to hear them so much. See, now I'm upset. You upset me. I thought the Swiffer socks would, whatever. Yeah, whatever.

I want to talk to Ian about this. Bob M has a comment about the candy draft. He says he says he's suspending my Pittsburgh card for one week following my alternative to the Butterfinger because I said it was the Fifth Avenue bar. The correct answer, according to Bob, is, the Clark Bar, which, like, I agree with. Clark Bar is a, you know, Butterfinger adjacent candy bar that was produced in Pittsburgh

for a very long time. But the Clark Bar, in the Clark the Clark Candy Company left Pittsburgh. They are turncoats. I do not recognize the Clark Bar go Fifth Avenue. If the Clark Bar wants to come back to the city

and start manufacturing and shit here again, then so be it. But congratulations. Then I will revisit my decision. until it happens. No. Yeah, I don't know what any of that meant. That's fine.

I don't expect you to. Move on. Okay. Nick Kay. Has Haley ever met a child? Was Haley ever a child? She approached that draft like the 2015 Boston Bruins,

which is great. The legendary, legendary Bruins first round in 2015 when they had three, they had three consecutive or three out of four first round, or three out of four picks in the first round.

and could have picked like Matt Barzell and like a bunch of bunch of it yeah and they ended up picking like Jacobsaborl and a bunch of other guys I don't think my draft was that bad don't don't put me in that category I don't appreciate that I don't think it was that bad I panicked I have met a child and I do think that I was a child I think I still might be based on my childish reaction to walking around with Swiffer wet jet pads on my feet mopping up a mess. The Reese's pieces pick was like... I freaking panicked. I forgot about Kit Kat.

This was a problem. This was not fair. I am celiac. I eat Skittles. You know, I can't eat wafer cookie chocolate bars. I forgot. Waifer cookie chocolate bars. What's in a Kit Kat?

Is it a biscuit? It's a wafer. Who cares? Well, that's what I said. I said a wafer cookie chocolate. Wait. Way for curder. We gotta end this show.

Wait, Editor's note, Haley mentioned that she loved Skittles, but she didn't pick them in her draft. That's it. I panicked. I went into it being like, I'm going to pick stuff that people love,

and then by the end, it was like, whatever. Whatever, this sucks. That's the problem. That's the problem. You got to be true to yourself. I know. Instead, you try to pull some poser shit

and picked a bunch of, picked a bunch of candies. And I felt like a fraud. I felt like a fraud. No, you should. Yeah, I did. And that's why I went back to who I am and picked some candy at the end. And you know what?

You know what? There's people who liked my laughy taffy takes and my banana marshmallows. So whatever. Yeah. None of those people were on this call right now. And that's what matters. Yeah. Let's come up with a new draft for next week.

I like doing that. We can alternate. We can come up with a new draft for you to lose. in humiliating fashion. Maybe I have dawn back. How does that sound? Sounds nice. Okay.

I think that I'll do it for this week. I think we're both done for the day. You would think that we're coming to you from midnight Eastern. Like we did that one week when the show was really bad, but we're not. We are, we are not. It is daylight. Same difference. I just, I haven't, I haven't slept.

And I don't know what my excuses. You don't have an excuse. I've been busy. I've been busy doing things. It's what it's like having a job, you know. Yeah. I'm trying to write stories about hockey and create inventions. Yes, the mop socks.

I think that'd be really smart. If you've got like a little mess, you throw on your little wet socks and you walk through the mess. This is just like flash forward six months. It's like, hi, I'm Haley Salvean. This is Haley Salveen for mop socks. Do you ever have a mess? You don't have time to mop up. Let's go.

Well, I reach for the closet when you could go into your drawers. Read the promos and let's leave. I've had enough of this. That was the promo. I've actually already launched mop socks and you are not. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by mop socks. And you won't be getting a prototype. mop-hypho socks.biz slash hockey show.

That's mop-hyphen socks. dot biz to get your first pair of socks for 49.95. Anyways, thanks everyone. That was chaos. Thanks for Hillary Knight. Thanks. Thank you, God, for Hillary Knight. Thank you, Hillary Knight for saving us because we had nothing else prepared. Hopefully next week will be a little bit better. But we won't because we won't have Hillary Knight on again unless we just keep calling her and say, hey, you have 45 minutes? I just talk to you guys. I'm busy. How important. You know what? I'm done with this. But for real, thanks to Hillary Knight for joining us.

And thanks everyone for listening. If you aren't a subscriber to The Athletic, you can join us at Theathletic.com slash hockey show to get an annual subscription for $1 month for the first six months. You can also subscribe to the Athletic Hockey Show's YouTube channel, YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. You can watch our full interviews. You can watch me get spooked by a window cleaner in the window. You can watch Don Granato ensure that Sean Gentilly cleaned up his clothes. Donnie Meatballs is not that powerful. I had to break it to you. Yeah.

Sean actually blurs the background of his Zoom calls after that. No one else needs to see this stuff. All right. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you next week.