The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL discussing 84-game schedule, WJC starts next week with Hockey Canada scandal looming, Jack Adams Winner of the Week, Multiple Choice Madness, and much more

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

On the last Monday show of 2022, Ian and Julian discuss if shootouts should determine the Stanley Cup Final, as penalty kicks decided the World Cup over the weekend, the NHL potentially expanding to an 84-game schedule, Ovi looking to pass Gordie Howe on the all-time goals list this week, if the ongoing Hockey Canada scandal will put a damper on the World Junior Championship set to begin next week, Ryan Reaves and Kirill Kaprizov dressed up as Santa and an elf for pre-game skate, how many more players will hit 1,000 career PIMs, Joe Malone’s career, and the guys wrap things up with this week’s Jack Adams Winner of the Week and a little Multiple Choice Madness.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowGet a 1-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Welcome back. It is the Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. And we're just realizing this is the last Monday edition of the Athletic Hockey Show in the calendar year 2022. It's Ian Meddice, Julian McKenzie with you. And yeah, man, Julian, we got a lot of ground to cover here. But because of the fact that the holiday schedule is what it is, a week from today will be boxing day. And we're going to talk a little bit about the World Junior Tournament that kicks off on my. Lexing Day, but we're not going to have a show next Monday.

The following Monday is like the kind of the day after New Year's Day. Anyway, long story short, we're not back till the 9th of January. So this, we better make this a good one. We got to make this one count, man. Absolutely, man. I miss you all right. Like, I can't, I don't know. Like this is not like, I miss us too.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Like, like, I was just like, oh, man, like this is so out of my, out of my routines. Some travel stuff kind of kept me from doing the show. But like, yeah, I don't. Damn, January 9th. Damn. Yeah.

It feels like it's a long way away. But hey, listen, now obligatory question here. Yes. Because you were traveling, covering the flames, kind of bouncing around. Where are you at with your Christmas shopping? Like done? Done your Christmas shopping? So this is my strategy.

I plan on going back home to be with my folks. Basically, I think I'm like 85% done. Basically, like, I'm just ordering stuff and I'm just having it shipped to my parents' place. And then when I get home, going to Dollarama, buying all the gift bags I can get, tissue paper, whatever, wrapping, gifting everything. Do you wrap yourself? Or do you, are you, I'm gift bag guy. I can't wrap anything. I'm gifting.

I tried wrapping. It didn't go as bad as I thought it would, but just gift bag. he gets a hundred times more efficient. It's so much more efficient. Oh, I love just cramming it full of tissue papers and make it, you know, really make them dig for the gift. I can't wrap anything.

You know? You know how they have those competitions, like are you smarter than a fifth grader or whatever? I think if they had a competition, like, can you wrap a present better than a fifth grader? The answer would be no for me. Nope. Definitely.

I would be like that dude who's just like cutting out this weird angle. things aren't straight. There's like one part of the box where like you see part of the gift that it's not completely wrapped or like tapes falling off. Like I'm not perfect with it.

Like I did wrap. I try to remember the gift I did wrap. It was like a big box I think. But like I was just like you know what? I want to try something. It worked. No, you know what it was? It was a photo frame.

I had bought this frame. It's like a weird gift where I had bought so there's this company called the Wave Room that posts these different posters of these albums and they have all the different tracks off an album, but they'll show like the audio wavelengths for each of them. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Like it was a cool one. And I thought like, okay, well, I can't gift bag this one. I'm going to have to actually wrap it. So I figure I got like one of my sisters to like help me wrap that gift. But like that's as far as it really goes with it. Like that, that was a process. Is there nothing better than when you're in a mall and they have a gift wrapping station?

And, you know, it might cost you a three bucks. five box or maybe you have to make a donation. I'm like, yes, this is worth it. Like, I've never come across those in the mall, but there was one gift I ordered this week where they gave me the option to have it wrapped. And I think it costs me like three or five bucks. I was just like, yes, do it, do it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's the way to go. See, now, for the people that are listening to us, they can't see the fact that you're rocking a, uh, an N64 hoodie here, Nintendo 64 from back in the day. My favorite, maybe the best Christmas game, again, this is the age gap between us. Best Christmas gift I ever got was the original Nintendo.

Okay, so the original NES system with Blades of Steel, which was like the game. Oh, isn't that it? Yeah, the original Nintendo. Yeah, yeah. Blades of steel. So did you, okay, so this, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to teach, again, I love this. I'm going to teach you a little bit about. Here's the teaching moment.

Let's go. Because I've seen that title before and I'm like, okay, where have I seen that? Yeah, Blades of Steel. Now, this came out like around 1990 somewhere. I'm in like the eighth grade. This is like peak video game time for me. The beauty of the Blades of Steel video game in hockey, they had it because it's a classic 80s, 90s hockey game.

There's fighting in it, right? Obviously. Okay? Yeah. Two guys you would fight. Here's the great part of Blades of Steel. The guy who lost the fight went to the penalty box. the guy who won the fight was fine

So that's like not at all Like what it is in real life But like that's cool That's actually pretty cool Yeah yeah you win the fight And you don't go to the penalty box Is that an actual tactic that could have That could have that could have actually adopted

As a way to curb fighting Like if if you fight Like How Or maybe it does it Or maybe it does the opposite effect But like probably the opposite effect I guess But like

Say like if your guy fights And he lose and he sits in the box for five minutes. And it's a power play for five minutes. How do you determine? Because if you talk to two different fan bases, there'll be like, yeah, man, Ryan Reeves won that fight. And the other guy is like,

oh, no, man, Evander Kane won that fight. Like, it doesn't, like, it depends on the fan base and the lens that you're looking at. So who determined? Are we going to have, like, a three-person panel of judges? Like, it's a boxing match and they determine who wins the fight? Jeez, it's, oh, my God.

Could you imagine? Like, you just have the refs, like, just huddle, like, after a fight and it's like, no, I think this person scores like a seven for that for that punch or something. Oh, yeah. No, so you can't do it anyway. Oh, man. And also like, especially if you have like one of those like grappling fights where like nothing really happens and no one goes down and then the refs just break it up for the sake of embarrassment for everybody.

Well, you know what? If that happens, then I think both guys should be ejected for the duration of the game. I'm with that. That's fine. You just wasted people's time and you're not even going to throw a punch. Just like get out of here. Get out of here. No.

So, okay, so Blades of Steel, like, came out in the early 90s. And here's how forward thinking this game was. If you played Blades of Steel against your buddy and the game ended at 5-5, okay, let's say the game ended 5-5, you went to a shootout. It went to a shootout. The game was, it was predictive. It knew what was coming 20-some-odd years later. And so it brings me to this.

And I think you probably like me and a lot of people listening to this podcast were likely glued to your television set on Sunday morning to watch Argentina and France. One of, look, and I know that there's a recency bias, but people will say that's maybe the greatest sporting event they've ever witnessed, given the stake, given the stage, given the drama, all that's. Okay. We're going to strip that aside for a second because we're not, believe it or not, we're not a soccer podcast. We're a hockey podcast. Could have fooled me with all the football we talk about. That's right. That's right.

Now, I got to tell you, I like watching that go down to penalty kicks because I don't have a rooting interest in it. So I like the drama in the theater of shootouts and penalty kicks when I'm not emotionally invested. Like, let's say it was Canada playing for a World Cup championship and it goes on penalty kicks. Yeah, it gets, like we saw it with the women's soccer team in the Olympics. It gets really tense. But I got to ask you this, when you watch the World Cup, and people are coming away from that saying, that might be the greatest sporting event of all time,

and it ended in a shootout or with pelty kicks. Does this nudge you in one direction or the other? If we get to the Stanley Cup final, it's a game seven, and you play one overtime period, would you ever be in favor of saying, you know what? Yeah, you get one overtime period. Let's go to a shootout. No?

No. Oh, it's just, and there's something about how the game is played in soccer, where for me, penalties, it's just been ingrained in my mind so much that, like, I don't mind the fact that it goes to a shootout the way they did. In fact, my only big complaint about the fact that Argentina and France went to a shootout, it's the fact that, like, the whole game, I mean, maybe not the whole game, because you know how Kili and Mbapapé kind of showed up in like the 70th minute from then on. but like basically that game I felt it was less about Argentina versus France and more about Messi versus Mbapé because those guys were the guys on both of their teams and they showed up when it really mattered

and in the penalties if you remember both of those guys went first and both of them scored so that meant for the rest of the shootout it's like okay this has to be decided by someone not named Lianel Messi or Killing Mbapé and that I was just like oh well that kind of sucks because like Mimbabay scores a hat trick and like it comes down to the rest of his teammates not scoring or if Messi lost that penalty shootout and like Emmy Martinez the goldender doesn't play well like that was my only beef with it like the fact that the big players of that game the two best players of that game they did everything they could in regular time and an extra time and then it comes down to something where they both do their jobs and they leave it in the rest of their team's hands like I would have loved to. it if it was just like one of those guys got the one up.

So in terms of like an actual like Stanley Cup final ever going that way, just a playoff game in general. Like, I don't know. For me, like I don't. I would much rather see continuous OT, but like after the first OT period where it's like five on five, you bring it to three on three. Because I feel like, and I know some people feel that like three on three,

some teams have figured out with possession how to get a handle on things but we still see that excitement back on fourth you still have to score and if you put all your chips in on the attack and you have other guys coming the other way you don't know what the heck could happen. I still think three on three hockey

still provides a really good like it's really entertaining it's really fun and I think if we had that in the playoffs like you'd have the edge like what's already on 10 in the playoffs that's on like 1215 like we amp that level and maybe we get a winner faster

as opposed to like six or seven OTs. So if that were how like a Stanley Cup final was decided, I wouldn't mind compared to like a shootout. But also at the same time, like, we're going to mention the world juniors later, how many people remember Carrie Price standing on his head in the shootout? Jonathan Tate scoring three times. Or for people in America,

Troy Terry winning a world junior title in a shootout. Like people who get upset in hockey with how the shootout decides things, but then go off celebrating. And I guess I get it to an international tournament, but people who go off and celebrate that, like, hmm, you're being a little hypocritical. I'm not saying everyone does it, but for the people who do. Like, I'm like, which one do you want?

Because it is exciting, but also, like, I get why you don't want it to end that way. You know what? I think I agree with you. And I think, look, maybe there's, maybe there's space for in the playoffs in the NHL, your first period of overtime is five on five. Your second period of overtime, if there is one, if there is one, maybe you go down in three on three. But here's the thing on three on three.

And I agree with you. It's fun. It's kind of sometimes still, it's a little bit unhinged, which is we like that. But do you think part of that that unpredictability or the entertainment value stems from the fact that these are regular season games? And let's say it's Nashville against New Jersey and it's a Tuesday night in December and it doesn't really matter. Do you think that the tone and the pace and all the things of three three would change if the stakes of a playoff game were involved? Like, would you see less risk-taking and more, okay, let's just kind of play this smart. We're not going to get burned.

I wonder. I wonder how it would be with a game that really mattered. That is a good point. I wonder, like, that possession thing where, like, teams will, if they win the face off, they do everything to keep it, if we just see more of that. And you find a way to ensure that the other team doesn't touch the puck. I don't know. I mean, maybe.

And I think maybe we see more of that through on three at four on four. it might still be a little closer to a five-on-five game. But, yeah, I guess that's something to consider. And, I mean, I hope it wouldn't make a three-on-three-o-t worse, right? Like, I would hate it if that would be the case. Like, that's something I'd have to think about a little bit more. But, like, I think at its core, like, it should still be, like, that should still be, like, really exciting, really fun. But, like, you definitely see coaches come up with some concept to kind of.

kind of limit those mistakes or try to slow it down as much as you can, but also at three on three. Like, there's so much space. If you have your best skilled guys on the ice, like, you should be able to make that work. I don't know if you, you imply, you have just, if you lose a face off, for example, are you doing some kind of defensive scheme where you're just like, you know what, man? Like, if you all are going to half the puck, we're just going to do everything we can to just defend it and just go for the counter. Like, I don't know. Like, there's definitely coaches would look into that. I'd like to actually talk to a coach about that. That'd be fun. Yeah, yeah.

Just maybe don't make it Daryl Sutter because I don't know how he, well, maybe, maybe he do. They won on Sunday. If they go through this road trip, maybe he'd be worth it. Maybe. Let's see. Let's see. Okay, so listen, there's a lot of a, you know, fun discussion to be had there about, you know,

overtime format just based off the World Cup. I thought this was interesting too, and this kind of came out of the weekend. And what's weird is that this was not a topic at the NHL Board of Governors meetings last week, Julian, but apparently Greg Wischinski of ESPN and SPN. Bortico reporting this, that the NHL has recently discussed the idea of expanding its regular season schedule from 82 games to 84 games. And the rationale is rather simple. Obviously, when in doubt, the answer is probably money.

But they figure we can add regional games. Great rivalries. You know, think Rangers, Islanders, Oilers, Flames, you know, pick your rivalry and say, you know what, we'll get these two teams meeting a couple of extra times. And I'm really wondering what people's out. Like, I think if you talk to most hockey fans, they would be like, oh, man, if you can get the schedule down to 70 games would be better. You know, the idea of adding games is odd, right?

Like to some people. But look, we've watched it in the NFL. I think it's going to be awfully odd. Like, I can't think of a league that has contracted the number of regular season games it's had. You know, Major League Baseball used to be 154 games back in the day. Then they went to 162. NFL used to be 16, NFL used to be 14. Like when the dolphins ran the, the 72 dolphins went 14 and all, right? Yeah.

You know, so think about it. We've never seen a league contract the number of games. What do you think of the NHL adding two games? I guess it's a drop in the bucket, I suppose. I would only like it if like, like, one thing that was also reported, I think Sportico had it, and then Chris Johnston kind of said, like, hey, let's pump the brakes on it. The idea that, like, if we're going to add more, like, regional games and rivalries and stuff, please don't make it like seven or eight games between those two teams. Like, we went through the bubble and the, sorry, not the bubble, but the Canadian division.

Well, yeah, fine, the bubble. And the COVID season, the COVID season, 20, the COVID season. The COVID season. The COVID season. Yeah. Like, I remember watching Canadians' flames games and just being like, I'm done like, after. game three or four. Like, I'm fed the hell up. Like, I don't want to see these two guys again. Like, just, that's what I was still, you know, covering the Canadians. Like, good Lord, that was just so,

like, after a while, you get fed up of seeing these games over and over and you want to see different teams. You want to see different matchups. Four or five is a sweet spot. Three might not be enough, depending on what the matchup is. Four or five is fine. You start getting a six, seven, eight, like, don't do that. Also, 84 games just, I don't know. But also, I, I don't know. But also, I I'm totally in favor of a play-in game for, you know, at the end of the regular season, which some people feel is like another addition of games to a regular season, but those games also like matter, right? Like those games would ultimately determine, like who gets into the playoffs.

Like that would be my argument for supporting a play-in game compared to adding two more regular season games that might not matter in the grand scheme of things depending on which team you play for. Yeah. Now, again, right around the time Blades of Steel came out, Julian, early 90s, right around the time. She's going back to this game. Well, because you, you know, we always say in this podcast, I got to try and teach you about the way things were in the early 90s right around the time you were. So do you know, did you know that the NHL actually for two seasons had an 84 game season in the early 90s? I didn't realize. Yeah. So two seasons in the early 90s, the NHL went to an 84 game season.

And do you know what they did with the two extra games? What? They were neutral site games. How does that work? They would play in places like Hamilton or Portland, Oregon. So every team played two neutral site games. Now, what's funny is, and I remember this, I grew up in Vancouver and Pavel Buray was the guy. Like, that's the guy.

Like, if I think of one player that just kind of dazzled me in my kind of formative teenage years, it would have been Pavel Burray. Like I couldn't believe what this guy was doing. And Pavel Burray actually, and I can't remember if it was 92, 93, or 93, 94, when he scored his 50th goal of the season, he scored it in Hamilton. That's amazing. At a neutral side game. That's amazing.

So I, okay, so I guess my question would be, would you be in favor of, okay, if the league is going to do the extra two games, would you like them to go back to, guess what? You're playing in Kansas City or Milwaukee or Hibon. Hamilton or Quebec City or Halifax or, you know, pick, pick whatever. And, you know, you can still have your regional rivalry games. Maybe you don't, you know, don't do, don't do Rangers Islanders in Kansas City. But no, maybe you do Islanders Blues in Kansas City or, you know, something like that. What do you think of that?

If they go back to 84 games, would you be on board with what they did right around the time you were born, which was, hey, we're going to play two neutral side games. Every team's going to get two neutral site games. Would it make sense? It probably wouldn't if any of those neutral site games were in Europe, huh? I don't think it would, right? Well, I mean, that would be a bit much? Well, think about it.

I mean, they do them now. I mean, they do. Theoretically. So probably not out of the question, right? Like, I mean, at that point, we've expanded our horizons to, like, Tamperee Finland. But can you imagine, like, one team gets to play its neutral site game in, like, Paris, and another team's neutral site game,

is in, and apologies, Hamilton, I love you, but you're not Paris. You're not Paris. Okay? Imagine that. You're like, we're going to Paris. When Hamilton eventually gets an H.O. franchise, they'll remember this, Ian. They'll remember this. They'll remember this.

I'd be cool with it. I'd be cool with it. I mean, I guess it depends on the places, right? Like, does Atlanta get a game? I would love to go to Atlanta to watch a game. That'd be cool. Portland. Have they had an NHL team before in Atlanta? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. At least twice it's happened. Yeah. Two NHL teams, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, I think there would be some, I guess my point would be, do you have an opportunity as a league to either, a test out the viability, logistics, fan appetite in certain markets? So, you know, pick Kansas.

City, Quebec City, Houston, you know, wherever you think that there might be, maybe it's a good idea. They just kind of lay the groundwork. See what the temperature's like, see, you know. But more importantly, maybe you're going to create some new fans. And maybe it won't be 20,000 new fans, but you're probably going to get 15,000 people show up to the game

and maybe 200 of them become hockey fans after that. And whatever it is. That's actually pretty cool. Like I didn't think of it that way. Yeah. If you're going to extend it and it's going to be a, I guess the only people who might get mad are like the owners, because if you're going to have,

because like, You're not losing home games. You're only losing out on one potential home. If you add two games in the schedule, theoretically one would be at home, one would be on the road. You're losing one home gate attendance, but you're actually not losing one.

You're just not gaining an extra one. Does that make sense? You're still getting 41. No, no, no. You're making a lot of sense. I was just thinking like, what if there was just some owner out there who's all like, ah,

I wanted that extra game. Like we're coming out of the pandemic. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? What if there was some owner? That's all of the owners. That's my point.

That's my point. Like, that's my point. Like, like I think it's a cool, it can be a cool idea, but there's definitely someone who's going to go to that room be like,

what do you mean? We're going to get two extra games for a regular season. And we're not going to benefit revenue from either of those games. Like, yeah, definitely like, well, I can see like Jeremy Jacobs in the room being all like,

I'm going to, I'm leaving here with something. I'm getting some money. Like what is this? Like someone would get that. Absolutely. No, no. You would probably end up getting some,

maybe you get some percentage of the gate from the game in Houston or some percentage of, you know, there's all sorts of workarounds. Your TV deal would be a little there. You're getting two extra games on regional TV or whatever it is. Anyway, I just thought if you're going to go down the road of 84 games. Also, do you want those games, those games have to happen in like the middle of the year?

Like, do you want it? any of those games. Do you want to play a neutral site game in April and you need a playoff spot? No, you can't be. And the ice is really bad in, you know, Halifax or, you know, pick a spot or, you know, wherever you're playing. I want to get Jacksonville. I want somebody to play a game in Jacksonville.

Remember that NFL game where like they, is it like maybe every NFL game has it? Like at the stadium in Jacksonville, they still have that pool? where you see, like, fans, like, hang around? Like, one guy in, like, his jeans was in that pool. Yeah, the guy with the jeans, yeah, exactly. Was that, yeah, that was Jacksonville, wasn't it? That was Jacksonville. Actually, it's too soon.

The Cowboys lost to Jacksonville yesterday. Let's move on. Oh. We can't talk about Jacksonville. Oh, that's why they're on. I can't even dump on you. The Jets lost to the Lions yesterday. Oh, God.

But anyway, I'd love to hear from our listeners if you, if you think, if you're, if you're on board with the 84 games, would you be cool with those two extra games being neutral site? Anyway, I think there's some, look, they've done it before. I don't see why they couldn't potentially do it again. And maybe for people listening in a market that doesn't have an NHL team, I would imagine you would be all over this, you know, you'd be all over this. Also, one guy who might like the idea of adding two extra regular season games,

maybe Alexander Ovechkin as he chases that goal record. You know what? However you stand on that or whatever you feel about that, I'm sure he probably would like that. So Ovechkin's sitting now at, you know, 800 and they've got Detroit on Monday night. Yes. Then they come into my barn in Ottawa, Thursday. This feels like the night Ovechka, Thursday feels like the night Alex Ovechkin will pass Gordie Howl.

No, I want, he's going into Detroit first. I think. Detroit on Monday. Thursday, and if I'm not mistaken, they're home to Winnipeg. Yeah. Friday. I think, because he's at 800,

he needs one goal to tie. I'll just say it from a story standpoint. Him tying it in Detroit would be very, very, I don't know if poignant's the right word, but fitting. Like, yeah, because the Gordy, the How Connection is, is great. You'd really be reaching,

if you're trying to find a connection with him doing it in Ottawa, right? Like, he's like, oh, wow. And he loved plague at the Corral Center. Yeah, the palladium. That's where Alex Ovech can, actually, he scored his 500th goal against Ottawa. So maybe, you know, maybe he'll have it there.

Yeah, you know what, it's a great point by you on the Gordy Howe thing. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see how this kind of plays out over the week. But, you know, I'm sure he'd love to get past that before the holidays, right? before the Christmas break on the 24th and the 25th. You know, you'd love to get that. Love to get that out of the way. Do you come down on anything too on? I know that it's been talked about that the NHL,

they go on a pause Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. I kind of feel like the NBA has carved out Christmas Day for themselves. I feel like you'd be like a cheap dollar store knockoff if you just suddenly rolled in with Christmas Day games in the NHL. that's me. I think I'm okay with them taking Christmas Eve Christmas Day off. I feel like as someone who now works in NHO media, I like the idea of not working Christmas Eve Christmas Day.

Like I would like if the flames for whatever reason found themselves playing a Christmas day game, like I would not be happy. You know, like I wouldn't like that. And I can't imagine what it's like for. for people who cover NBA games on Christmas Day. We've seen the NFL have games like around then too. Like they're going to be active next week and obviously around Christmas. So yeah, I can't imagine what that's like.

So imagine just like, you know, you're, I mean, I can understand why, you know, if that happens. Like I remember we had the discussion about why don't Canadian teams play on American Thanksgiving. Like that's an opportunity missed, I guess. Yes. And I can see your point with that. But also I like to think from the other side. where, you know, we're all conditioned to, in the NHR world, having those days off and immediately getting back into it for, for boxing day of the 27th.

I know I wouldn't, I wouldn't like it for selfish reasons. I see the revenue generating idea side of it. But like for B, as someone who is going to treasure any time they can take a break from working, having games on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve or something, like, I would hate that so much. So much. Oh, man. Yeah. It's true.

You know, sometimes we don't think about the broadcasters, the arena staff, the, you know, the front office staff, the people that have to work on those holidays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or Christmas Day in particular for the NBA. That's a tough one, right? We got to make time and a half if we do in that. Man. I don't know why every time I hop on the athletic hockey show, I have to discuss money. Like how much money I have to make. That's right. That's somebody sells anyway.

Look, we know we're not going to get hockey games Christmas Eve Christmas Day. We are going to get games on Boxing Day. And the Boxing Day games that I think are of the most interest for a lot of people, it's the start of the World Junior Hockey tournament. This year's tournament will take place in Halifax. And I'm kind of wondering how people are feeling. We'd love to hear from our listeners on this. You can obviously send us the feedback.

through the app. Although, as Sean Gentile always says on the Tuesday show, man, you've got to go through like 10 things to find the comment section. But we do, trust me, we read all of those. Yes. Or you could tweet at us and just, you know what? I want to know.

In the summertime, there was the kind of, you know, the weird, make good world junior tournament from last year. And the appetite wasn't there. But I heard from a lot of people, it was like, ah, it's August. I don't want to pay attention to hockey. But I also heard from people, Julian,

who said, you know, the bitter taste of what happened with hockey Canada and the alleged sexual assault involving members of the 2018 team certainly didn't sit well with people. They didn't feel comfortable kind of backing a hockey Canada event. And as we get here now, we're a week away from this tournament. I want to know how people are feeling. And I don't want to tell people how they should feel. I think that's really important. I don't want to come off as saying, you know, you should do this or do that. I want to know how people are feeling legitimately. And I think it's important to note Robin Dooliele Little is one of the best investigative journalists in this country.

On the weekend, the Globe and Mail, Robin had a report that the Globe got their hands on some sections of court filing, Julian, that reveals the latest details about the alleged Hockey Canada group sexual assault that happened in 2018. Sorry, 2019, 2018. So, 2018 is when it happened in June of 2018. And the takeaways from the Globe and Mail's reporting done by Robin. Doolittle is London police believe that they have

reasonable grounds now to charge five members of the 2018 World Junior team with sexual assault. That's kind of, you know, if you're looking for, you know, what's my one takeaway from Robin Doolittle's piece? It would

be that. That it looks like we might be trending towards that. There's a completely new group now going to be in charge of Hockey Canada, right? They've cleaned out a lot executives, they've changed the board of directors. Are people feeling like, okay, there's been enough change, there's been enough time, I'm ready to get back into this.

Are you still feeling like you're holding hockey Canada if you're in Canada at arm's length? Or, you know, I just would love to kind of, I guess, do a temperature check. Because I still don't know how to feel about all of this, all of this stuff, you know? Yeah, I'm not sure. My thinking about it might be a little bit more cynical and skeptical. I feel as if because we're actually going to get a world juniors that is at its regular scheduled time, I feel as if we're going to see people get into it similar to what it's been like in the past, maybe not with the overwhelming amount of support that they've gotten in the past.

but I definitely think it'll be more than what Hockey Canada was able to get in the dead of August, where they're still, one, they're still as close as they are to, you know, some of those facts in the filings being revealed, but also in the dead of August where everybody's checking out for the summer doing their own thing, and maybe they don't want to watch hockey, like everyone wants a break. Like, I think that plays into it too. Also on the fact that this 2023 team will have, I mean, the last one at Connor Bredar, but this one will also have Connor Redard and a whole bunch of other great prospects. And I think a lot of people will want to pay attention to that too.

But that's me being cynical and skeptical. And I say that only because, like, we have to account for the fact that there are people who, like, you and I think about the fact that, you know, this investigation is ongoing and how it does affect how we view the world juniors going forward. We also have to account for the fact that there are people who do not care. And they just say like, you know what? Like, I go to sports as a distraction from real life and I don't want to think about stuff like an investigation. So I'm just going to watch this tournament. And the fact that it's on boxing day as opposed to August when I should be up in my cabin, that is going to make things different. I'm not saying those people are right.

I'm just saying that's what people do because that's just what people do with sports. That's just what happened. So my thinking is, I think it'll be. And again, I can talk. will it be wrong because remember, I mean, even TSN, like, or just with sponsors and stuff, right? There's been all those stories about how that has also affected coverage too. And I wonder how TSN will go about covering that tournament, too, in regards to whatever it gets reported. I think it'll be closer to what we normally expect from a world juniors.

The only thing that could derail it is if we get another bombshell detail around the time the tournament drops. Like if we wake up on boxing day next week, December 26th, and like the five names that the London police have reasonable grounds to say were part of that alleged assault, like we know those names. Yeah, I think it's we're not talking about the tournament anymore. We're talking about who those five guys are and what the hell the NHL is going to do with those guys. I think that's the only thing that really derails it at this point. Yeah, it's fair. Look, and in defensive TSN, I think they've done a wonderful job in balancing their partnership with Hockey Canada and the double IHF and a real true investigative journalism from Rick Westhead. In fact, you can argue they were the leader on this story.

And so, you know, I have no doubt of their ability journalistically to pursue the story as needed. And, you know, and I almost think that it serves as a template oddly for us, which is, you know, two things can be true. You can enjoy the World Junior tournament for what it is and look at these young players and look at them as, you know, the Shane Wrights and the Connor Breds and, you know, and enjoy them for what they are. And you can also be really upset and demand accountability from hockey Canada and transparency. You can, you're allowed to feel two things. It's okay. I guess my point is sometimes it's okay to be conflicted. And I think we live in a world where we're so adamant about you got to be this or that,

this or like one or the other. And sometimes it's okay. It's okay to say I'm a little bit in the gray area and I don't know how to feel. Well, it's okay. So while the game is on, if you want to take that two and a half hours and say, I'd like to marvel at Connor Bred and Shane Wright and all of these players and look at them, it's okay. And maybe when the game is over, you say, you know,

I hope that the badards and the rights and these players are being educated in a way that what happened in 2018 will never happen. And I'm hoping that we're in a better spot. But it's okay to be, it's okay to be conflicted. And I think sometimes we, and you said it too, there is a lot of people who will just say, I just watch sports for the distraction.

And that's totally, totally fine. I think we're in the media in a little bit of a different role in that, you know, part of our job is to try and shine a light on these things. And so, you know, you got to strike a balance. You got to strike a balance. I think TSN's done a pretty good job, a very good job, in fact, I'll say, of striking a balance. Because they could have, Julian, I think they could have probably hid behind sponsors months ago. Like Rick West said would have gone to them editorially and said, guys, I got this. And the behemoth that Hockey Canada is, they could have kibosh that story.

I'm sure they could have. They could have said, Rick, Rick, Rick. We don't do this type of reporting to our partners. I could totally see that happening. Yeah. And they didn't do that. So I think they serve as the template of how we can try and balance these two things. And that's how I think I'm going to go into this.

I'm going to try to enjoy the games for what they are. but I'm going to be very mindful of the fact that there's something else brewing here that doesn't involve these players, but we want to make sure that these players don't go down that same path, that we've seen previous iterations of Team Canada go down in the past. That's all. At this point, like, hockey Canada, all those kids, I'll say this, like, you know, none of the kids who are on this year's team

really have anything to do with that 2018 team, but because of what has been alleged out there, I think for the next little while with whatever teams can it puts out there, I think there's going to be a little while where people are going to be like, oh man, like I hope these kids don't repeat those same mistakes. Yep. Or people might think worse things. It'd be like, I can't, well, what if these kids end up just perpetuating hockey culture

and continue to do the same foolishness those kids did? Like, I think that's going to, I think there will be like a small number of people who will try to keep that following those kids for a while. And I can understand why that would be a bit unfair, but also at the same time, like, you know, hockey Canada, they have to wear this, you know, especially in a sport like hockey where they do everything to say it's all about the logo on the front,

not the name on the back. Of course, everyone in hockey Canada, even teams that come after that, they're going to get looked at with a little bit of skepticism, be like, hmm, like, what are you, guys doing to ensure that, you know, actions in 2018 or potentially even 2003 don't repeat themselves and being better for hockey culture. I feel like we should be looking at these kids now and you can call it fair or unfair, but like these kids who Canada sends out every year to

the world juniors, they have to show. I feel like, I mean, it's weird to kind of look at them as role models, but like if there was a way for them to show, that like they can be exemplary human beings and and not and not get involved in any of the foolishness in 2018 like that would be good for for for hockey culture for hockey Canada and maybe that's an unrealistic way of looking at things but like I kind of feel like in order for that culture to really change like something like that the you 20 kids like something has to be done with those kids like they're the most prominent faces of hockey Canada during the Christmas time

and beyond the men's senior national teams and the women's senior national teams, it's those guys. And they're still at a very influential time in their lives. Like, you know, something has to happen. You know, and I think just to wrap up this portion of the conversation, you know, I think as sports fans, we often do a pretty good job of compartmentalizing

our feelings towards, look, I'll give you a great example. When France and Argentina were in the back half of that game. Yeah. And it felt like the entire planet was tuned in. How many people were watching that unfold with Mbapé and Messi and thinking to themselves of all of the ancillary controversy swirling around Qatar? None of you were. None of us were. Maybe not none, but like maybe like a small number of people.

definitely was in the back of our minds. Absolutely was. But no. Absolutely was. But you weren't watching that game and thinking, ah, you know what? I can't watch it in good conscience because of this.

Exactly. I get what you're getting at. You know what I mean? I guess my point is we somehow suspended our, I don't want to say we suspended our morals and ethics, but we park it for 90 minutes or two hours. We do. We do.

Like, let's not act like we didn't sit there and grovel at our screen like, oh my God, that's the greatest sporting event of all time. But guess what? Two things can be true. That might have been the greatest and most entertaining sporting event of all time. And there was some big time corruption and human rights violations that happened in and around Qatar, unequivocally. Those two things are true, right?

Absolutely. So it just shows you that whether it's, look, the NCAA, FIFA, the I IOC, let's put hockey Canada on that list. So many of the sports that we love have been run in a manner in which we don't agree with ethically and principally. We don't. We don't agree with FIFA and the IOC. But if we start thinking about that for every single thing. No, this is my point.

Oh, no, I don't necessarily disagree. I'm just saying, like, if we get to a point where, like, we think about every my new show. Like, I've been thinking about the last week about this Alexander Ovechkin goal. chase. And I can't even mention the last time I was on, but like, we all have to reconcile the fact that like, Ovechka has the relationship with Putin. That's like one example. If we start thinking about that for so many different things, I know. That's going to affect like how much we love sports and support. And I think, and I think there are people, I'm not saying there's an overwhelming amount of people because I think there are more people who would say they

don't care about that stuff and they follow it than the people who would feel this other way where they just say, you know what, I can't watch sports anymore because like so, much like bad stuff has like seeped into it. Like if we get to that point we're like, we just have to, we're like, I don't know, we think about it. Like, man, like, it's heavy. It's hard. It is.

This is my point. But I guess my point is you can do two things. You can do two things. You can enjoy the drama and the theater of sports on the ice or the pitch or the field or wherever you watch it. But while being simultaneously more mindful of some of the things that going on in a way in which I don't think we were in the past. Right?

I don't think we were watching sports with this sort of critical lens 20 years ago. No way. I don't think so. I don't think so. You know? Man, I just like, I'm glad that we do now, though. Yeah. I'm glad that we think about these things because I don't know.

I'm closer to you with a lot of these topics where like I think about the fact that, you know, say for example, oh man, like if we keep if these football players keep hitting themselves, they're just going to develop CTE, but also, I have a fancy football team, and, like, I want to win this week. Like, that happens, like, every week. You know, like, it's very tough.

And I know maybe some people listen to this is like, oh, man, these guys are making it kind of sad depressing to talk about this, but it's the truth. And we hear you, we see you. It's not as any easy for us, you know? I mean, shoot, you, Ian, you've been reporting on this world junior stuff.

Like, this is, this is tough. This must be tough for you. It is. It's, it's, it's, you feel conflicted. And I guess my point is, it's okay to feel conflict. It's, well, however you feel as a listener, hockey van, it's okay. I don't think it's our job to tell you how to feel. I think it's our job to give you all the information as much as we can.

And then you make a decision. And, and then we all move on. Look, look, we need to lighten the mood here a little bit. We do. This is our last show of 2022. We can't, we can't end with a, with a dark cloud. I want to ask you a couple things here. So Minnesota plays Ottawa on Sunday.

And in the pregame skate, with, you know, you get a few thousand fans or in attendance. The teams come out for warm-ups. Carill Caprizov wears an elf hat, Ryan Reeves in a Santa outfit. Like, like beard, Santa hat comes out. Really? I don't think I just.

Okay. Look it up. I should, did I not send you the link? Oh, I didn't put the link in the, the elf. Anyway. Oh my God. Oh, I see it. Okay. Okay. So like he has the hat. He has the beard. Okay. He has a jersey. He has a jersey, obviously. Yeah, his regular jersey, but it's a Santa hat and a beard. And he also had like a bag of little toy.

It looked like they were like mini sticks and he was throwing him into the crowd, the kids, a Santa, Caprizov, skating around an elf costume. I don't think I've seen this before. Maybe somebody can correct me. I've never seen an NHL player or players do anything like this. Like, I love it. But it's got to be, okay. It's great.

But it had to be an. Ottawa, Minnesota game, right? Like, like, let's be honest here. If it was like, what would be a great rivalry right now? Like, Rangers Devils would be pretty hot right now and, you know, whatever. Toronto Boston or Toronto, Tampa. Like, could, okay, let's go Toronto Boston for a second. Yeah.

Could Brad Marshand come out? Maybe Marcia, maybe Boston could because they're like, they had the alpha in that relationship with Toronto. Maybe they could. But like, Marner and Matthews could not. come out. Imagine Marners and Elf and Austin Matthews and Santa before a Boston game.

They couldn't do that, could they? They get meat to death. Because they get roasted. They get roasted. They would. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Like, if they did that, like, win or lose. They were, like, they're just easy targets as it is. So, like, if they did it,

it'd be like, oh, man, like, look at the elf thing one and thing two, doing their thing on the ice. And, you know, if they lose that game, It's like, oh, look at this. Steve. They show that they don't. They care more about being in the spotlight and doing these fun little things as opposed

to winning games in the playoffs. But Ryan Reeves, I'm just watching the video on a loop of him just wearing the Santa hat and a beard. That is hilarious. And just kind of cool that like in such a short amount of time in that locker room, he's like made his presence felt that way. Like, I think Reeves is one of the cooler personalities to come across in the NHL. I like him.

He's cool. He's only been on the team for a couple of weeks. That's a bold move. That's really funny, but that's also something he would do. Yeah. That's also something he can't do. Because, like, at the end of the day, he's just like an enforcer, right? Like, and if anyone's going to run up on and be like, hey, you know, you shouldn't be doing all that stuff.

You could just punch a dude in the face on the ice. It's legal in hockey. So, like, I don't know. I'd like this. I think if we're in a position where people are able to just do that and we don't have to make it a big thing where it's like, you know, oh, you know, why are you doing this? taking attention from the team or whatever. Blah, blah, bra, bra, bra. Like, who cares?

This is fun. You know, it's funny, too. Ryan Reeves, this is weird. Ryan Reeves right now, Julian, is sitting at 999 career penalty minutes. I would say it's a pretty safe bet he's going to get to a thousand. In fact, at some point, probably this week, he'll get to a thousand. But I was starting to look at this. I'm thinking, like, I wonder in the future.

Like, how many guys are going to get to a thousand? a thousand career penalty minutes. Look, Brad Marchand will get there. He's up over 900. You know, Marshan will get there. Ovechkin and Crosby, funny enough, are right around each other at 7.50. I don't think they'll get there.

But you start to look at this and think like, like basically anybody who came into the league post 2012, 13, like that lockout. So anybody who's come in from there on, there's nobody, I don't think. think that has even 500 penalty minutes. And it makes you wonder, like, you know, Rees will get to a thousand. Like, we may not see, we might be able to count on one hand in the next decade or two

decades or whatever. Players that get to a thousand pimps. I, I'm thinking that might be the case. Like, unless Daryl Sutter plays Dennis Gilbert every game for the rest of his life, Dennis Gilbert's a guy who is played like a handful of games of the NHL has already played. has already had like nine fights. Like I think he's only played like maybe 10 or 11 games. I have to double check, but that's a guy who's had nine fights.

Unless he plays him at every single game, he could possibly play him. He lets him fight. Yeah, I don't think we're going to see a lot of guys get a thousand pips because it's just like the five-minute majors and stuff. Like that adds to it. That helps you get to that number faster. And like it just, you know, I don't know. Like it's not really something that people think about. I remember talking to someone the other day and they're like,

man, like people in hockey, they don't even hit anymore. And like, if we're at that point, like, yeah, like, good luck for anyone getting to that number. I don't think that's necessarily true, but also, like, it does show, it does show that, like, the game is seeing an evolution in where skill and scoring is being prioritized more. And as a result, like, you don't need as many guys like Orion Reeves down your lineup. I mean, fine, maybe some teams feel as if, like, you need those players, but they have to be able to, contribute offensively. Even then, like, do you need them fighting all the time? Not necessarily.

You know, what's interesting is that Ovechkin has 765 penalty minutes in his career, and Sidney Crosby is like right next to him on the list at 747. So there's a difference of about 20 minutes. Ovechkin only has 18 more penalty minutes

than Crosby in his career. Yet Ovechkin's played about 200 more games, which does that kind of surprise you? Like, I feel like given the reputation you think of Ovechkin as like the more kind of physical entity of the two, but yet

on a per game basis, and granted it's pretty much a flip of the coin, but Crosby's had more penalty minutes per game roughly than an Ovechkin, which is kind of weird to me. But maybe I'm reading this wrong. The only thing is, think I could think of that could explain the gap is that Sydney Crosby plays games against

the Philadelphia Flyers and maybe they've had enough dustups throughout. Remember that one playoff series where just everything wild? Yeah, like they went to hell. Like it was just like, okay, like you're, we're just going to let everyone brawl against each other. I mean, obviously, I mean, just matchups against the flyers is the only thing I could think of that could make up the difference. But, but it's weird. Only one of them is having. a 100 penalty minute season and it's Sid. But that was his rookie year. But remember, if you remember,

Sidney Crosby's rookie season was the year in which I'd love to go back and look. This would take a while though. Like how many of those were unsportsman like penalties? Do you remember? Like when he first broke in, I remember he had the rep. People would be like, oh, Sid's a whiner.

Oh, he dives or oh, Sid just complains about everything. It's like, how would he? how would you like to be 18 years old to try to cut your teeth in this league? Yeah, you'd probably, you know, be a little bit whiny too. And the guy was a magical talent right off the hop. But he'd think 100 minutes in penalties right away

in his first year in the league. Ovechkin's never had a hundred penalty minutes. A 110 penalty minutes in his rookie year. Like what is it? Like that's also 2005, 2006, right? Like, is it like a lot of new rules coming into? Yeah, that was the new rules. Is that like the big, like, I don't know if, is it just because of the sensitivity of, of, of some of the stuff they were calling, like the clutching and grabbing, hooking, whatever.

Does that play into that too? Yeah, maybe. But anyway, I was just looking at this list and I thought, man, it's kind of crazy that, you know, Marshan will get to, obviously Reeves will get to a thousand, Marshan will get to a thousand. After that, I don't know when the next player will get a thousand penalty minutes. I don't know, because I don't think Sid and Ovi will get there. I know they won't get there unless there's a series of, you know, misconducts or something, but it's not going to happen for them.

We may not see it because even if you want to, let's put it this way. If you want to play 15 years in this league, there's a good chance you're doing it on skill. And, you know, I just don't, I don't know. Anyway, Reeves is at 999, which is. That's a cool number, though. 99, Pelicans. And there's no way you get like,

like one more penalty minute. Like you don't go to the box for a minute. Well, they used to. Like, so we were, we got a question on the, on the, on the, on the Thursday podcast that Joe Malone, I think who like holds the record for most goals in the game way, way back in like the 19, 19, 1920, kind of that era. If you look at his stat and I don't have it on in front of me, but I'm pretty sure if you look at Joe Malone's stat line at hockey reference or whatever, he's listed

is having three penalty minutes in his first season in the NHL. And we had a listener ask, and we didn't get to the question because we just didn't have the time. And the person asked, like, how did, how could somebody end up with three penalty minutes? And the answer, if I'm not mistaken, somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. But I believe in the early days of the NHL, Julian, minor penalties used to be one minute in length, not two minutes. That's amazing.

Yeah. And then, then in the 1950s, when I, so they would go to two minutes. penalties, but the team, the player would serve the entire duration of the penalty. So even if the team scored while you were in the box, you stayed in the box of the full two minutes. That I remember. Then the Canadians, like because of all the goals who were scoring, that changed the rule. Yeah, they changed the rule. But originally, it was one minute penalties, if I'm not mistaken, in the very infancy, NH was a one minute penalty that you would get. And so that's how Joe Malone. That's interesting.

Would have gotten that. Oh, no, actually, no, never mind. Actually, our producer, Chris Flaner just corrected me. This is really funny. In 1919, minor fouls substitutes were not allowed. Penalized play would serve three minutes. So it wasn't one minute penalties. It was three minute penalties.

There you go. The more you know. So Joe Malone, I have hockey efforts in front of me. So he played eight games that year and got seven. goals nine points. So that means in one game, so in eight games, he took one penalty. He's also the guy that scored seven goals in one game. Was that the same season? Yes. He is the guy. That's a great question. Is that like, but that would be hilarious if like he just scored all of his goals in one game and just say, Joe Malone. I'm out. Wait, that can't be right. That's hilarious. What did that? That can't be right. That can't be

Right, like what year was that? Now I want to know, when did he score the seven goals in one game? Well, no, we can, look, there's a lot of research we have to do it on the fly. You have to figure this out. I would think. Okay, 1920, January 1920. So I think that's the. In 24 games.

Yeah, so that's the season after. So he had seven in one season. I don't know why. I don't know offhand why he played eight that year. But then the very next season, he plays 24. And that's when that. You know, the 19, 19. season, if I'm not mistaken, was the year that was cut short due to the Spanish flu.

So I wouldn't be surprised if maybe that, maybe, you know, either he was sick or, you know, yeah. So that might explain the, you know what I love about this podcast. We didn't go into this saying, let's break down Joe Malone's 1919 season. But this is how we did it. Yeah. This is fun, though. We're learning stuff on the fly.

Hopefully the listeners are learning stuff. along with us. This is fun. Yeah, this is cool. I think, like, I think it's cool. I think of, like, something I, I, I remember being a part of an NABJ, not part of a panel, but, like, listening in on a panel. NABJ, by the way, stands for National Association for Black Journalists. And they had all these different, like, panels during this one week.

And Mike Wilbon was on one of them. And he was talking about in the context of the NBA where, like, There's a lot of, like, younger guys who want to cover the league and, like, they might not know as much about some of the older stuff going on. And he was like, no, like, you should learn about that stuff and be able to add context, even if you weren't around for those eras. And, like, I'm not going to act like, I know everything there is to know about the 50s and the 60s and the 70s of the National Hockey League. But I also think, like, it's still good for me to know how good players were or what the game was like back in those times. It just makes me a more well-rounded hockey media person As opposed to someone who's just like, you know,

those years were old years. I don't want nothing to do with them. It's all about now. I think it's cool to learn about that stuff like Joe Malone and what he played through in the early 1910s and 1920s. Like that's interesting. Yeah, totally. Absolutely.

It allows you to give a little context to, you know, what Connor McDavid. It's kind of nuts that Joe Malone would have scored seven goals in a game and then 100 years would pass and nobody would match it. Not Gretzky, not Bossy, not Ovechkin, not like pick your, the best player on the planet. And heck, even getting to six goals, when Tage Thompson got to five as he did recently, even that was remarkable. Like, it's kind of crazy that somebody would be able to. to score seven goals and we would just, you know, there's a very good chance we'll never see it again.

If we've got a hundred years without seeing it, and we've seen the Lemues and the Gretzky's and the bossies and the Ovis and whoever you want to put on the list is the greatest snipers of all time, haul, and they didn't even get to six? Like, none of those guys even got to, Gretzky never got to six in the game. Crazy. That's insane.

The only thing that helps this current generation of players is the fact that goal tending as a whole is like trending downward. And if it continues to trend downward, like that might be the best hope. Like there's so many guys now on like point streaks and whatnot. And the fact that a guy like Tage Thompson who, look, he's he's helped himself and really reinvented his game since going to Buffalo. Like the fact that he can get to that, those numbers, like, I think there's hope that someone will do it in the next few years. But like you're like, I think those guys that came before the current era, they benefited off the fact that like goaltending improved by leaps and bounds, right?

Like that has to be accounted for that too, right? Like, back in the, like before it was just like you stood up in your net. Oh, that puck just went by me. I'm not going to go down to my legs. Now, like, I remember like back in the day, if we were playing like NHL games, they would like have goalies and they'd have all their stats and stuff. And they would list out if a goalie was like a standup goalie or a butterfly goalie. There used to be a time when like you would try to be like, okay, are you a standup goalie or a butterfly goalie?

The butterfly position is like the standard now. There might be like hybrid stuff, but like how many like do you know, there's no such thing as a goalie prospect who enters the league and is known as like a standup goalie. Yeah, Pucks just beat him on the ice. Like I would say if you're a hockey fan and you want to see an example of what we're talking about, just go to the internet, type in Gila Fleur goal, Boston, 1979. Okay, it's an iconic goal. But if you, if they had advanced stats at the time and you were looking at expected goals, that's like, that should never have gone in.

It's like a snapshot from the blue line along the ice. and the Bruins goalie goes down like he's been hit by his sniper and he just falls backwards. Like this is the era that it was. It's wild. It's wild to see goals go in now versus goals 25, 30 years ago.

It's mind-boggling. It's mind-boggling what it is. So I think that's probably, that's a huge reason why we haven't seen anyone emulate what Joe Malone did. If that's what the goal technique was for Gila Fleur, in 1979. Imagine what it was for Joe Malone. Dude was probably shooting out a sack of potatoes by comparison.

I'm now picturing, yeah, sack of potatoes. Like that episode of The Simpsons where they're all playing goalie and like Millhouse is tied to the net. I could see that in 1919. Yeah, exactly. So you need a young Lisa Simpson in the net. Shout out Lisa Simpson. Do her thing in that episode.

Lisa Simpson was the Patrick Waugh, you know, kind of changed the position. Yeah, there you go. She did. Yeah, let's, you know, we'll, we're going. One day we got to do, if they allow us, we got to do a full pod just on Simpson's sports references. If they let us. They won't let us, but we should. You know, Ozzy Smith getting sucked into a vortex, all that stuff.

Y'all are going, you are going, I'm ready for that day. Yeah, I know you're ready for a year. Yeah. All right. Hey, let's wrap up this Monday pod and let's hand out some hardware, shall we? It is time to figure out who did the best job coaching in the last week. You know what's crazy? There were six teams in the NHL that were perfect last week,

meaning they went either 4-0 or 3-0. Minnesota, Carolina, and the Rangers, they all went 4-0. Buffalo, Tampa, St. Louis, they all went 3-0. Buffalo and Tampa, Julian, not only did they go 3-0 in their games last week, they outscored their opponents 15 to 4. So it was some pretty dominant performances. So let's see, who is the,

who did the best job coaching last week? Who did the, who is the most impressive coach? I mean, if you're going to get, you've got to bring up those stats like Don Granado and John Cooper should, should share that honor for this week. I was thinking of giving it to Gerard Galentdo. I mean, the Rangers were kind of

underachieving to start off the year, but that's as good of a week as they've had since the season started. So you definitely deserve some consideration. But if you're going to bring in stats like how well the Sabres and Lightning were doing in terms of getting goals for versus against.

I think you might have to let them share it. Okay. No, no, no. Let me tip this in the favor of Gerard Gallant for you. Okay. So you know how when people tell you your special teams, like your power play and your penalty kill

if you're going really well should add up to around 100%, maybe a little bit higher, right? Like 105. is what you really want, right? Maybe you've got a power play clicking at about 20%, penalty kill at 80, 85%, right? Like you want that number

to add up to about 100, a little bit more, right? You're trying to get there. In the last week, you know what that number was for the Rangers? Don't tell me it was 100. It was 160. What?

Their penalty kill was perfect. 100%. Their power play operated with 60% efficiency. They went 160. That's amazing. Come on. Give it to Galand.

And you know what else is mind-boggling about this? And look, I know the devils have a couple games in hand. Yeah. The New York Rangers, as we record this podcast Monday afternoon, are three points behind New Jersey. The Rangers are waking up, baby. Three points. I've only said baby because I said they were going to.

to make the Easter Conference finals and represent the east of the final. It's coming back. My prediction is coming back. I believe in the Rangers. We have to get

this season. Yeah, for this season. A Rangers, Devils playoff matchup. Whether it's first round, second round, we got to.

Yo, producer Chris might, like, he might, we might see him at Madison Square Garden like fighting Devil's fans if that happens.

We might see him into scraps. Yeah. Up against the David Puddy of The only way it gets more intense is if it's a Rangers Islander series because like the devils look, the devils are

one thing and I'm sure those fans are feisty too Islanders fans like all you have to say is like good morning to some of them and they just look at you like mad a Rangers a Rangers Islander series would like oh man. So okay

so right now if I'm asking you actually let's do this this is how we're actually going to wrap with multiple choice madness. Okay? Yes. Three options for you. You get either Rangers, Devils, Rangers Islanders,

or Islanders Devils in a playoff series. Where do you take it? Rangers Islanders. You're getting the two most five, and that's no disrespect to Devils fans because Devils fans are very passionate too about their team. They've wanted their team to be good for a long time

and they've seen success. And maybe I'm wrong. You can tell me I'm wrong. I don't think you get any more fiery than like the blue shirts, the Rangers, the money, the aristocrats one side being in the Madison Square Garden and how passionate those guys get compared to the Islanders who are, I think they get like a lot of them kind of kick them around. And they're just naturally feisty people who don't like getting kicked around. They're going to throw, they're still doing the whole snake thing with with John Tavares leaving them.

Like those two guys going at each other in a playoff series, like we thought about the Battle of Florida being something. Those two, like, that I think is the highest percentage of seeing carnage between the fans. And like, again, like, I want that series bad. I do too. And I love everything you say. I don't disagree with anything you say.

But I just think from an on-ice perspective, what would be the more compelling series? How would it not be the devils, given the way that New Jersey has busts, it out of the gates. Like imagine Jack Hughes on that stage at Madison Square Garden. You know, boy, oh boy, man, I'm torn on this one. I think I might be done.

The other ones were giving a good fight too. Look, I know last year was last year, but if they play anything like, you know, I mean, they're doing relatively well now. But like, if they, this is a team that's been to a conference final before, right? Some of those pieces are still around. Like, they could still, and they know how to play play playoff hockey, they could still give a team like the Rangers like some fits. That, a Rangers Islander series,

I could see going six or seven. But, okay, would you agree with this sentiment that if you don't have a rooting interest in the series, like you're not a passionate Rangers, Islanders, or Devils fan, that if the matchup with Rangers v. Islanders or Rangers v. Devils, most hockey fans would pull for the underdog,

like pull for the team playing against the Rangers. Yeah, wouldn't we? Because the Rangers. Because the, Rangers, because the Rangers have the money, they have the look and everything. They're like the evil empire like you were saying, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like, like, what do you say?

Aristocrats? Aristocrats. The aristocrats. But also there's the aristocrats, which is a Disney. Exactly. Maybe Aristocrats isn't the right word. I was just trying to think of a word that shows that these people have money. And aristocrats came to mind.

I feel like aristocrats is one of those, it's absolutely the right term, but it's like a term from like the late 1800s or like when Joe Malone. was skating around, scoring goals. That's when people would use the term aristocrats. Yeah. Yeah, something like that. Anyway, but yeah, an aristocrat, someone from the ruling class, usually those with nobility, money are both.

Just reading the definition off vocabulary.com, which I didn't know was a thing. But yeah, it was the right word. It was the right word to use. There we go. All right. Hey, we got to end it here. And, well, I'm going to have a chance to say,

happy holidays to the listeners later this week. be back with the Thursday edition of the pod. But hey, let me just give you the platform here, Julian, to thank the listeners, wish them all the best here in the holiday season. Yeah, man. Thank you to everyone who has listened to the Monday show. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas.

Happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanza, whatever you celebrate at this time of year, happy holidays to you. Thank you for the support throughout the year. It's been really great being a part of the Monday show. I got to admit when the opportunity came for me to join the Calgary Flames beat, like, and this opportunity came up. Like, I wanted to do everything I could to join this show because every time I've been on with Ian, it has been an absolute great time.

Anytime I've been on the athletic hockey show, period, it has been an absolute great time. And I know I have all the podcasts that I have. But being on this show, like, needs a lot to be. So thank you to everyone who has listened to the Monday show and has given a support throughout the year. I really appreciate it. And I'm looking forward to being back on in the new year and talking more fun stuff and teaching Ian some new things. There you go. I feel like you didn't, you didn't teach me anything this episode.

This was me teaching, giving you some old timey history lessons. But anyway, I'll bake up. I'll bake up for it. I'll make up for it. All right. Hey, listen, yeah, let me right back at you. This has been so much fun working with you in 2022. I look forward to where we can take this show in the new year in 2023.

So listen, man, have a great. holiday season. We've appreciated working with you here on the Monday show. Like I said, I'll be back on the Thursday pod, so looking forward to that. Thanks for listening to this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a rating and a review. You know, we certainly appreciate that. You can follow us on YouTube at YouTube.com slash at the athletic hockey show. Right now, you get a one year subscription to the Athletic for $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.