The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Blake Bolden Walked Out On Denzel Washington

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

The Hockey Show is back from the break and there's a lot for the boys to get to. We start off with our hot takes, winners and losers of the week and David spends way too much time talking about goalies while Roy fills us in on how some former Florida Panthers are doing in Calgary. Then, Blake Bolden of ESPN and Prime Monday Night Hockey joins the show to tell us about her first experience doing color commentary, the life of a scout in the NHL and her experience seeing Gladiator 2 with her fiancé. Plus, what has gone wrong in New York and can the Columbus Blue Jackets or Calgary Flames make a surprise run at the Playoffs? Finally, it's time for our Panthers recap after a split week with a loss to the Colorado Avalanche and a win over the Utah Hockey Club. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. and a small fountain drink. So pick up a McValue meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. Go! Stop! Eat! Stay! Die! Go! What the f*** kind of...

I'm trying to get it all out of the way at the same time. Jesus. If you've got to blow your nose, just do that and then start the countdown. Ah, chew. Five. Four. Three.

Two. I'm leaving that in. No, you are not. Ah, chew. Five, four, three, two. I'm leaving that in. No, you are not. Yes, you are. You're going to leave that in too? On audio, at least. Okay, whatever. Five, four, three, two, one.

We're back. First episode of the hockey show. The game is all- Such energy. We're back. I'm getting over whatever sickness that I had this week, all right? So you need to get off my back Damn it. I'm just trying to start the show

Taking us 10 minutes to start the show because you keep blowing your nose and counting. I'm five four three two one two Welcome to like what are we doing? All right My name is roy belme that's david droich Welcome to, like, what are we doing? All right. My name's Roy Bellamy, that's David Droyk. Rose is back in his seat. The college football season's almost over for her, so maybe, I'm not talking to him.

You're still talking about Rose. Yeah, I'm still talking about Rose. We're talking because I have to come back at 2 a.m. yesterday, so, yeah. Rose and I are matching, guys. Isn't it cute? Oh, oh, we're matching. Congratulations, you're matching. All right, you're in, everybody's in. We're Congratulations you're matching. We're all wearing hoodies because it's 60 degrees in Miami. It was 41 when I left the house today so uh yeah not

exactly a great when you get over a cold but whatever. Frigid but that's the kind of winter they're expecting because of the winter classic is coming down here. Yeah we'll talk about that in a second but first first, a slap shot. So let's go with our hot takes first. Dave, go ahead. Okay, my hot take. Oh, by the way, Ethan's here. Hey, how you doing?

My hot take is Ethan's here. Hey! Hey. The Montreal Canadiens have a new goaltender, a rookie goaltender, Jacob Dobis. And he's played two games, and he has been lights out in those two games. He shut out the Panthers in his NHL debut. Then he went to Colorado and yeah, I like the little eye

of the tiger there. He went to Colorado, play as we're seeing the clips right now is amazing. Gave up just one goal, including the eye of the Canadian. Oh boy. The eye of the hab. But my hot take is this young goaltender is the next great Montreal Canadiens goaltender. Oh really? He looks so steady, compact, explosive movements, not too much, looks confident in the net, does not look like a young goalie at all. Looked very cool, common collected. I'm not saying that he's necessarily the next Patrick Lock Lock, Harry Price, but I see a lot of goodness.

Yos and Teebo? Teebo. No, I see a lot of goodness in Jacob Dobis, and I'm excited to see what else he's going to do. So watch out for the Habs in a very tight Eastern Conference playoff race. You are a very biased person. You and the Goal Tenant community, like come on man, come on Dave. I like Golds. You felt a little better about getting shut out by him when he went the next night and dominated Tampa, right? Like when you, when the Panthers get shut out by a rookie in his debut, you're like, oh my God, what's happening here? And then he goes to the next game of Dance Tampa and shuts them down too. And you're like, okay, this guy might be in Colorado, not Tampa.

They beat Tampa on that road trip too though. They. Oh, you didn't play. Yeah. No, he's only played two games fine No, that's that's I'll put it down Yeah, yeah, I'll put it down. I'm on the spreadsheet right now Yeah, that's why I know watching him in that in his NHL debut You know at first you're like, okay the Panthers are playing Montreal the Pan Panthers are the Panthers, Montreal is coming in, they're not the best team, they got a rookie goalie. But watching that game as it went on, I'm like, wow, they might have something with this kid. And then to see him pick it up and carry it onto the next game, watch out for this guy.

All right, so that's $1 for Ethan towards the Venmo fine bucket. All right, that's Dave's hot take. My hot take comes from the Orlers and Bruins game. Nikita Zdaroff had the puck cut towards the net and this is basically a power forward move. Now watch this, he ends up running Stuart Skinner. Now what I really don't like about this, and granted the first line was out there for the Orlers. The biased Orly has some thoughts. Oh, of course.

First line was out there for the Orers, so... The biased Ole has some thoughts. Oh, of course. First line was out there for the Oilers. They're not gonna do anything, but there was not a lot of response towards the Golden again around. That's... I'm trying not to swear. Yeah, yeah. Come on, Edmonds.

The guy takes a forearm shiver to the dome, his helmet's skating away off into the corner, he's holding his head and, dee dee dee dee, it's a two, and you're the Oilers, you need your goaltender to be good of any good team in the Western Conference for crying out loud.

Especially them with the start that they had to this season. Them trying to get back up in the standings. You can't have that happen. No, and that owns the door off, nobody's forcing you, a lot of times you see plays like that happen. No, and Badon's a door off. Nobody's forcing you. A lot of times you see plays like that where a guy's riding him into the... No, there was space there. He knew what he was doing.

There's so much I don't like about that play. Yeah, first shift out of the box because he got goaltending interference on that one. Somebody needs to have some words for them. Yes. That didn't happen. It needs to happen right away. I don't care if it's McDavid and Dreisaitl and Hyman or whoever on the ice. You're still hockey players. You can still do that

Like we've seen Sasha Barkov mix it up when he needs to yeah, like come on guys. Well, what are we doing? Protect your goalie protect your goalie All right, when in a week, how do I get I'll get all heated now I gotta go to the win of the week and guess what surprise surprise goaltending Jacob Markstrom devils goaltender having a spectacular year for the Devils who are also having a great year. He made not one, not two, but three save of the year worthy saves.

Gotta pick one. No, I don't have to pick one. I do not have to pick one. He stopped Oliver Bjergstrand with a ridiculous glove save. He made this back glove save. He made like this back glove save on Eli Tolvinen. And he made a windmill stick save, which I don't know if I've ever even seen that before, on Matty Beniers. And that's the one that's playing right now. The poor Seattle Kraken, they ended up losing the game 3-2. They probably should

have won like 6-2, or whatever, 6-3. But wow, like good on Jacob Markström, the former Panthers doltender, having a wonderful season for the Devils this year. It's nice to see him finally getting his flowers a little bit. But man, talk about athleticism. This guy's off the charts right now. Oh yeah, those are legitimately saves of the year.

Yeah. So good job on him. My winner of the week belongs to us. Us. Yeah. And you. Probably not you, but us three. Me, Rose, and Dave. Because. This is so self involved. I mean, you're complaining about the travel. You're complaining about us complaining about the travel from last year. Correct. And us being

on the ice. I don't want to hear it. You got to be on the cup and speak with Alexander Barkov after the Panthers won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Think about that for a second. Take a moment and think about that. I would have gone to Edmonton seven times over and over again to be in that situation. The only thing I have to say is let's change it to the summer classic, not winter. It's not winter.

You want it to be called, they don't have the season in the summer. That's after the season. The sweet summer classic. I still don't understand why you guys are winners. Why are you guys winners this weekend? Roy, why are we winners? We are winners because it was announced that, thank you, Ethan, it was announced

that the state of Florida will have both. The state of hockey. The state of hockey. The state of hockey. Will have both outdoor games next season. Starting with the winter classic at Lone Depot Park, the Panthers will host the New York Rangers. And in February, the Lightning will host the Boston Bruins at Raymond James Stadium for the stadium series. The pirate the pirate ship is going to be a hot seat.

Yes. And so cool. I don't know about I don't know about I definitely don't know about you, but I I'm going to get credentialed and definitely will cover both games. So and as a guy who is in charge of the credential process for the company for the NHL, you two will definitely be credentialed as well. So we gotta do something. We definitely gotta do something. This is spectacular.

I mean, we've already said we have to get on the ice, but I feel like that's just part of a bigger vision that we're gonna have to figure out. I feel like I'm the second best skater in here. David obviously number one. I think you can kiss my ass. How about that? So I feel like I should be involved in some way too.

Well. All right, well, send me a big shout out. Roy, are you learning to skate to cross up Barry Jackson? Yes, I'm sure very Jackson This game is in it. Are you gonna spend an entire year learning to skate so you can cross up Barry Jackson and Jordan McPherson? Yeah, I'm gonna deke Triple deke. Yeah, triple deke fails in a week Dave. Yeah, hold on. No, we got to get back. Rose has a hot take.

Oh, Rose. I'm sorry. I completely forgot. I'm sorry. Rose, let's go back a couple of minutes and go to the hot take. Yeah, now that I'm talking about skating, my hot take, I'm calling you guys out because they invited me exactly six minutes and two seconds ago to go skating today all the way there.

And you did not invite me. So a team of three became a team of two. You know what if it makes you feel any better I didn't get the invite until yesterday. Yesterday would have been amazing. So but yesterday you were with the Flying Irish so you were been too busy to think about it anyway. You were driving over medians in Miami Gardens trying to survive. I've heard about your driving skills Rose. Give me your fail of the week because... Like your driving? Yeah there we go. All right my fail of the week comes from Tampa and it's not Doultonian related shocker. Some poor bastard named Josh who apparently brought a girl

on a date to the lightning game against I think it was the Bruins. Been there bro. a girl on a date to the lightning game against I think it was the Bruins. You've been there bro. And the girl I guess a little melodramatic, passive aggressive. Dear Josh, I think we're better off as friends. Thanks for the bolts tickets though. Rachel. Have you been there bro? Josh, my fallen soldier.

Dude. I'm with you my brother. How cheap was Rachel? She couldn't even spell out. Thanks Right I couldn't even spell out the word though. She couldn't put love Rachel since you're like There's so I feel bad for this guy like we need to get Josh like some kind of a hot date to the hockey I don't know, but that that's all tender Don't feel bad you like he got swiped right or swiped Whatever the bad one is on the jumbotron. You meant that he got friend zoned on the jumbotron. Yeah, that's brutal

That's rough. That's brutal. Yeah, I'm with you my brother Josh wherever you are I'm here for you. This is hitting Ethan in the feels You need to understand we have to be direct for you to understand guys Okay, you'll you'llbunny over there? That's very direct. I got a text message saying that exact same thing would suffice. Yeah, I mean, just like I bought popcorn and beer. He goes to the bathroom in the second period and comes back.

You got a text while you were gone. That's ridiculous, man. Speaking of ridiculous, Roy, your fail of the week? I got two of them from the same game. Two fails in one game thanks to two former Panthers. This came from the Flames Ducks game. Jacob Truber is not having the best of years right now, and this is an example of it.

Oh no. He gathered the puck behind his own net, and this is an overtime, mind you, of Flames Ducks. Banked it off the boards, the puck went over the net and this is an overtime mind you of flame Stux Banked it off the boards the puck went over the net landing the crease Oh, man, and out of the air batted it into the net was Jonathan Huberto who won the game on that goal in overtime Yes, that's that is definitely that's definitely rough and and then what happened during the celebration? Gathered towards the boards. This is in Anaheim by the way, so this is what happened

there's a Ducks fan who is Giving the celebrating players the bird. He's flipping the duck and Mackenzie Weger is waving at him I love Hubert Oh's reaction though because weger is waving at the guy and he's excited He's acting like he's all excited to see a flames fan So I think Hubertos when he looked up with this big smile on his face He was expecting to see like a Calgary guy a friendly face Yeah, and Hubertos looks up and he sees a big middle finger in his face and his is the little it just drops like And then he skates away. I know that was the funniest part of it for me

Yeah, so L's all around in the city of Anaheim. It's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, Anaheim, and they got Disneyland over there. Well, you know, good times. Trub is having a fun year. Yeah, yeah, he's fantastic. I mean, you would have thought that Trub or Aguda is getting together would have been pretty special. Scary. Yeah, pretty scary. So coming up next, we have Blake Bolden from ESPN and Prime. And I can tell you right now, her rise in media has been outstanding. She's learning a lot.

She had just completed her first color commentary gig. We were surprised that it was her first gig because she did really good. She's killing it. Yeah, she actually sounded like she's been doing it for years. And hopefully she gets a lot more stints. Clearly she was nervous, but she got used to it and she did a very good job. We talked to her about the media and we talked to her about the league and that's coming up next. This is a message from

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mobile app. See guaranteed details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees. I'm a works for ESPN and she had just recently done her first color commentary gig for the Avalanche Utah Hockey Club game on December 27th and she actually sounded like she's done it before. Season veteran. Yeah season veteran. Like how would you grade yourself during that performance? Oh you guys I just told you don't compliment me like that it was my first NHL in between in the booth and I'm hard on myself. Like you don't become an elite level athlete if you're not hard on yourself. So I walked out of there giving myself a B minus. But others said I did okay.

You guys said I did okay and I really appreciate it. But there you could always be better. Yeah. Yeah I really appreciate it. But you can always be better, yeah? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we can always be better. I mean, just like we're all day to day, you know, you can always be better. But you actually still work for the Los Angeles Kings as a scout and you convinced Luke Robitaille.

Like, I wanna get into media. Like, what convinced you to actually go into the media landscape? Well, I'll clarify. I kind of transitioned out of scouting because I wanted to just take the leap into media 100% because I had one foot in scouting in the American league for the Pacific division and then another foot with ESPN. And I got a call from Amazon's people, sent the call over to my agent and we were kind of

discussing what might be for this year. And I was like, Luke, I think I want to try it out. And he actually told me, he said, you have to do it. He didn't say, we want you to stay like, he was like, you have to do it. You're't say, we want you to stay. Like he was like, you have to do it. You're still a part of our Kings community. You're still a growth and inclusion specialist. You still have all your camps and clinics and LA is your home. Don't worry about it.

Just go blossom. So I have a lot to credit to Luke for one, getting me to my job with the LA Kings, just as a pro scout. And then two, just being a really good mentor for me when I have all of these opportunities coming, just to kind of sift through it and make some good decisions.

But he's the one who told me, take the Amazon job, do it, this is perfect for you, we want you to do it, and then maybe you can do some TV with the Kings too. Oh yeah, yeah. That's awesome. What has surprised you most in terms of like things that are maybe harder and things that maybe are not as hard

when you've made the transition from player to scout and now into broadcasting just because like Roy and I, we've been doing this for a long time, we know how hard it is. It's not as easy as y'all think out there. Like this is hard. So I'm curious just to when you go from like such different but demanding professions,

was there anything that was harder than you thought or was there anything that maybe wasn't as hard as you thought? I think you guys are right. I mean, being in a microscope landscape or whatever, and it almost felt like when you watch the television as just a normal viewer, you kind of like chastise the commentators.

You're like, oh no, that didn't really happen or oh yeah, whatever. And then you become that person and you analyze everything you're saying. You wanna be perfect, like I said, as an elite level athlete. And you just have to find a balance of being yourself by delivering the right and correct information.

And I think for me, that was my challenge is just figuring out how to be myself. You watch so many commentators, broadcasters, reporters. I've been in a reporter position. I've been in an analyst position. I've been on a desk position and just figuring out who you are in front of the camera is probably my biggest challenge as of late.

Hey Blake, I've always admired the grind of a scout because it can just be such a crazy gig where you're traveling to all these remote places, you know, baseball, hockey. I can't even imagine what it's like for hockey. So take us to a point where you're sitting in an arena in a small town somewhere and you're just like what did I get myself into here? Well I have to say my fellow scouts always tease me because they're like you have the Pacific Division like you have

Coachella Valley, you've got LA, you've got San Jose, you've got Vancouver and some of them are in the middle of nowhere. Northwest territories. Right. And so for me, I was really spoiled in also being a pro scout as well. You're not in amateur scouting. You're not freezing cold and just on the bleachers that are aluminum. So I would say I was spoiled, but driving to Bakersfield wasn't my favorite. It wasn't my favorite going to Bakersfield to the middle of nowhere.

It takes forever. And yeah, it's not that I ever had a thought that was like, what am I doing here? It was more of like, where, where am I going next? Like there are scouts that have been scouts for 30, 40 years. Like what is my game plan was kind of my thought process. And, you know, I've turned down a lot of different things. Like I've turned down roles in the women's league. I've turned down, you know, other television opportunities.

And it just, I was just like, you know, maybe I'll just try something else. Like I didn't, I didn't hate the scouting. It took me away from my new husband. I got married in 2022 and I was like, I'm leaving four or five times a day a week. But yeah, I can't say I hated it, but it was a grind. Like I got sick a lot. I needed like all the remedies,

all the changes in temperature. All the change. All the travel, the cold rains. Oh man. Do you have one story you heard from a scout that you were like, oh, I don't envy that at all? Oh god. Oh, I mean, it's just all the travel. It's just getting, like for me,

I didn't get caught in a lot of snow. Sometimes when I'd go to like Colorado and Denver and go up to Loveland to watch the Eagles play. But a lot of my guys snowstorms like all like 12 inches, just getting stuck, not being able to move, getting just getting stuck is just the worst. And honestly, the game's over at 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night. You got game reports to do. You don't want to be behind on those game reports,

but then you got four or five games lined up in the future. So it's just about like managing your time, try not to get stuck or sick and getting the job done. Wherever you can be in the middle of like warmups doing your game reports or you could be up till like one o'clock in the morning trying to finish it all. It's just you're grinding all the time. You talk about the travel stories. I mean, last season's Stanley Cup final was not exactly great for any of us. Oh yeah.

Why are we talking about that? Why are we talking about that? I'm bringing it up because- You opposite sides. Yeah. And no direct flights. No. How do you get to-

I want to remind you guys again, you were on the ice after game seven of the Stanley Cup final. I don't wanna hear it. Can we put him in the penalty of the Stanley Cup final. I don't want to hear it. Can we put him in the penalty box? I don't want to hear it. Go to the penalty box. I'm not even going to find the sound.

Get out of here. Yeah, go to the penalty box. You're blessed, man. You're blessed. Thank you. Well, I appreciate it. Well, you're a guest, Blake, so you don't get to go to the penalty box. No.

You're absolved from that. But Ethan, we've been through this before. Yeah. We were talking Calgary, so yeah. Yeah, right? You guys had the drive. Yeah, yeah. We did. We had We were talking Calgary, so yeah. Yeah, right? You guys had the drive. Yeah, yeah. We did.

We had the drive from Calgary to Edmonton. I had to drive from Rose, and that was not exactly a pleasant experience for me. But anyway. Well, now working with Amazon and being in San Diego County area, getting to Winnipeg and Edmonton are still very hard for me. There's no direct flights. It's so hard to get to Winnipeg and Edmonton. Yeah, you got to work on the infrastructure up there, Canada.

I mean, come on, what are we doing? Right. Now, you're breaking the ice segments that you do with ESPN. We live down here in Miami, South Florida. I'm 40 years old. I'm an old man, okay? I spent my formative years in the late 80s and early 90s. There were no rinks down here.

Like there were probably three. We got our hockey team in 1993. So I say that to say is I'm trying to learn how to play hockey myself. You don't know how to play hockey? No, I'm actually learning how to skate. We're going state and as soon as we get done today. Yeah, so I'm teaching, well, I'm not teaching myself. I'm being learning how to skate. We're going state and as soon as we get done today. Yeah, so I'm teaching, well I'm not teaching myself.

I'm being taught how to skate. And I'm trying, there's a media game for, we're in a classic, right? We're hoping that there's going to be some kind of a media game ahead of next year's winter classic down here. We're trying, we've made it our goal, Blake, to figure out how we can get on that ice.

Somehow, someway, I don't know. You have to. Right, exactly, we have to. So Roy is making sure that if and when that happens, he's ready to play and we're working on it with him. Yeah, so I gotta ask. Starting from the ground up, literally. Exactly, so I gotta ask you, Arter, is there any tips,

any suggestions that you have for me? Not the day because he's a goaltender, but to me specifically, so I don't fall and bust my ass on the ice Wait, so you don't know how to skate at all? No, I don't know No, I just bought my first pair of hockey skates What kind are they CCM? They are you get them from CCM. Are they used? No, they're not used. They're brand spanking new.

They're a new line called Next for like pickup games. But you've been wearing them around the house, right? Yeah, I've been wearing them around the house. I didn't get them baked. Number one rule, break in your skates. Oh yeah. Yes, yes. That's exactly what I'm doing. I don't know. I mean, just get out there. You're not going to learn unless you fall in your butt a thousand times. A story for me, when I first learned how to play when I was, I don't know, I mean, just get out there. You're not gonna learn unless you fall on your butt a thousand times.

A story for me, when I first learned how to play when I was, I don't know, six, seven years old, I didn't know how to stop on my left side for two years. Two. Two years, I was like just stopping on my right, but then switching to my left to pretend like I stopped on my left. It wasn't working.

Oh my God. So I would just say, get out there, fall on your butt, use those inside outside edges. I mean, I teach so many kids now, we got Bolden Girls, we are all Kings clinics, like just through and through, Little Kings, all of that. And it's just so funny how you know that it's an athletic sport,

but kids don't want to bend their knees. It's just like a it's like a straight leg thing. So bend your knees. If you fall down, just get up like you're fine. I've been playing hockey for most of my most of my life. I've been playing ice hockey for 30 years now and Blake, I still cannot stop on my left side. I'm a goalie so I can get away with it. You're supposed to have the best edges out of anybody. It's a secret that nobody knows.

The first time I ever ice skated was actually in all my gear. I grew up on rollerblades down here. So hockey stopping wasn't really a big thing. So when you said that, I'm like, oh, my God, I feel so exposed. But I roller hockey has actually become one of my favorite new sports. I was on the national team. We went to Buenos Aires for Team USA. We came back with the bronze, which was crazy because Spain and France are insanely good at inline.

And I have since moving to California, roller has been like my numero uno, four on four, no icing, no offsides. Like I'm an offensive defenseman. just give me the puck. Let me tool around. I don't have to stop. And I have a hard shot. It's amazing. Nice. Do you remember the old I don't know if you know this, the old pro beach hockey that they used to have out there back in the late 90s? Yeah, our former Panthers goalie Chris Dredger. He's got a group that actually put together a documentary that I'm like dying to see. But anytime I see the old clips of that with like the ramps behind the net, that looks like so much fun. Oh my god, can you imagine? So fun. Yeah, I'm dying to see. But anytime I see the old clips of that with the ramps behind the net, that looks like so much fun. Oh my God, can you imagine?

So fun. Yeah, I'm ready for it. I'm ready for all that. Bring it on. Let's talk about the league now. At the beginning of the season, we all thought that the start that Colorado and Edmonton had was fairly disappointing.

And they both seem to be in playoff spots now. But what we did not see- Goaltending. Goal tending. Okay, well there you go. I mean, even Colorado had to make that trade though. They did have to make that trade. Yeah. Look how good he's doing.

Good trades though. Yeah, very good trades. But speaking of trades, the thing that we did not see coming was how poorly the Rangers have been playing. What's going on in New York? I mean, it's tough to play well when you got a lot of drama around you, right?

Yeah. And you got your goal tender drama around you, right? Yeah. And you got your goaltender back. So if you want to think positively, Shrestha Sturkin was back from four games. But I think when I look at them, I see a struggle in five on five. You know, you trade away your captain, a lot of drama around that. You're struggling five on five. Your goals against average is around three goals, which last year that wasn't a thing. Sabana, Jed, Kreider, you guys are all in a funk, which is tough for them.

Your stars aren't scoring and your power play is not what it used to be. Last year, your power play was their power play was number three in the league and combined for them all, all of them, Fox, Trochex, Abanajed, Crider, I think they have nine or 10 goals this year, last year 47 and we're halfway through the year. So they've got a lot of trouble and it's sad because this is a team that we expected to have a deep run last year. And you've just been riddled with all the newspaper clippings,

articles, drama, and it's just not a good look for them. Blake, I wanted to ask you about an interview that you did recently with Menon Rayom, for those of you who don't know, and I don't know why you'd be watching the show if you don't know, but she actually played an NHL game in like, I think, 92 or 93 for the Tampa Bay Lightning, which was amazing, it still is amazing, you know, 30 years later.

You got to sit down and interview her. I watched some of the interview, which is really, really cool. And I suggest anybody out there go check it out. But just as a female hockey player of color, to sit down with somebody who, you know, to go through what Menon went through at her time. And then, you know, I'm sure what you've experienced in your life, just how cool and how unique was that for you

to be able to experience that and hear her words? Well, I mean, Manon was probably, well, she was my idol when I was 12 years old. And I was coached by her at that time when we went to that Quebec tournament. We were the first girl's team to play in the boys division or whatever. And so she I was just like, oh, Manon, my home and then to sit down and listen

to her story from start to finish. Her and I work together with the LA King. She's a player development consultant and I was a scout and still do community and we work together a lot. So we've gone from coaching, mentor situation to colleagues to now I'm interviewing her and the trajectory of our relationship has been amazing. Like for her to be someone I can just call and talk to about what it's like being in a men's field right in the NHL to being able to sit down and interview her on ESPN. And fun fact, back in, what was that, 20 years ago, 2020, 2004, we had ESPN follow us around

for that Quebec tournament. So it was kind of like a full circle moment just to be able to hear how challenging it was for her to play in the Pro and those two exhibition games. And I think our assistant GM actually took a couple shots on her with the LA Kings in that exhibition game. So that's fun too. Awesome. Still making saves out there.

That's great. Surprises in the league this year. Obviously the Washington Capitals are leading the division in the league this year. Obviously the Washington Capitals are leading the division in the Metro right now. Also, you've got the Flames are in the playoff spot and the Blue Jackets and Canadians are competing for Wildcars spot in the East. Aside from the Capitals right now who are in the playoffs, do you think the Flames are going to end up making the playoffs and can the Blue Jackets and Canadians actually upset somebody like a Boston or Pittsburgh.

Well, Pittsburgh just had a great game, but they've just we all know they've been struggling. I just came back from the Canucks and the Canadians game Monday night hockey with Amazon. And when I tell you the Canadians look like a different team I'm like who are these guys it was insane their power play Suzuki's on a tear Caulfield's on a tear their goal tending and Montembeau's great Dobesh has been playing out of his mind in those two games that shut out

against the Florida Panthers I mean they have so much hope right now, and I think it's possible for them to squeak in. The flames have been a little quiet, inconsistent. I used to scout Wolf a lot in the American league. He's an incredible goalie. He's a little smaller. I think, I think Calgary is okay, but they're not really doing it for me. I'm a hopeful person. If you haven't seen the Canadians play, just watch them right now because they're looking okay. They're looking all right right now.

One more before we let you go. I have a little birdie at Prime who gave me this information. I believe you know his name is Adnan Burke. Oh, my bud. Yeah, apparently you walked out on Gladiator 2, what happened? No. No, you didn't, Blake. Well, okay, my husband is a gladiator fanatic. We went to Rome and after we did all the tours, all of that, we sat in our hotel and watched

the first gladiator because he was so surprised. I hadn't seen it. Like he's obsessed. And so I'm like, okay, gladiator two is coming out. Let's go. And he's like, I don't know. It's not going to be it's not going to beat it. And I'm like, come on, you love it. Like it's whatever. So we go. I'm really excited. I would never walk out of a movie. I'm just going to put I'm just going to throw my husband under the bus. It was his fault. Okay. It was his fault. He

didn't like how Denzel's character was. He didn't like the plot. He was like, it's just copying the first movie. There's no creativity. There's too much that, and I'm just like, all right, dude. I didn't want to hear him complain in my ear for another 45 minutes. So I was like, let's go. Let's go.

And you know what we did? We went back home and we watched the original Gladiator. Oh, you got that sour taste out of your mouth on that one. Oh, wow. I didn't even get to finish it. I didn't even get to finish it. Do you wanna go back, are you gonna go back and watch it now,

like behind your husband's back or something? Like, is that what's gonna happen for you to finish? 100%. No, wait for cable. Yeah, you're right. I should go to the treatment online or something like that. I gotta finish it. I'm not a quitter.

That was hard for me. That's why you're a professional athlete. Blake Bolden, we appreciate you joining us today. Thank you for coming on. Thank you, Blake. Thanks guys, take care. Okay guys, it says here I'm supposed to tell you about the refreshing tropical lime flavor

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Now they did not have two of the top four defensemen that game, Aaron Echblad and Nico Mikola. It was still relatively close. Devin Taze ended up with two goals. That was pretty unexpected. Yeah, I mean, a couple shots from the point. I think one of them went off at a fletching of a Panthers defenseman on the way

and the other one through his screen. Strong game overall for the Panthers. I think Paul Maurice is happy that it was tight to the end. To see the Florida play so competitive without two of their top four is tough because Colorado has been playing so well. And we've talked about Mackenzie Blackwood in his edition when he when they first traded for him how big that could be and so far It's been huge because he has been lights out

Conover Hagee saw Ethan Conover Hagee with an eight game goal of streak finally got on the board. Yeah, that was huge. Hopefully that uh They will open the floodgates from Ethan that matchup scares me. Like if there's one team that scares me out west, nobody really scares me in the east, but if one team scares me out west, it's Colorado. That's a bad matchup for the Panthers, I think. No, it's a tough matchup for anybody. I mean, they're stacked. They've got some high-end offensive players,

but McKinnon is on another level. Like, he's like McDavid. I'm not saying that he's better or worse than McDavid, but they're both, the speed that they have, the way that they can impact the game, it's like nobody else is really on that level. So it's a scary matchup, but let's get there first. Florida then went to Utah, won four to one.

That game was also pretty close. Now don't let four one fool you. I mean those were two empty net goals, but it's the first time the Panthers played in Utah, and Eklund and Miklah were both back in the lineup. Sam Reinhardt finally scored after going what? Six straight games. Six games I believe it was.

Yeah, all right, so yeah. But he also became the second in franchise history in power play goals scored. Alexander Bogov leads the team all the time in that category. It's gonna take a while for him to catch up to that considering that he's still on the team. Yeah, a little bit. But no, Utah was fun.

It was nice to see the Panthers play in a new city and actually win because, you know, Vegas and Seattle didn't really work out that well for the Panthers right off the gate. The big constant for me over these two games where I was Sergei Bobrovsky. Yeah, he was huge. He's hot. Both games he was great. He looks good. And the Colorado... His save percentage is up over 900. He's been really great his last few games hasn't allowed

more than two in his last three. He's getting back to playing like the Bob we know him to be. He's getting into playoff Bob mode. You know, rounding into form midway the season. So that's right about on schedule I think. The Boston Bruins come into sunrise tomorrow for a one o'clock game on ABC the Boston Bruins who just do start the season and

completely disastrous Kind of ride the ship with the coaching change and now as a complete disaster again. They lost six straight. Yes I'm so upset about this Roy. I know Ethan is In in the Pedersen JT Miller sweepstakes and that's like the one thing that could be like okay if they get one of those guys maybe that could get them going a little bit but. I don't know man I mean they've made some pretty what I thought were pretty decent moves over the last year plus and. That's a Doroff contract isn't or not to Doroff. Linholm contract is an albatross. Well, I thought you'd play better. Yeah

There's that Before we get out of this segment, I got to play something for you guys before we end the show for the week Yeah, my god, I can't believe the show's over already. Yeah Somebody so former Panthers captain Oli Oaken and for those of you don't know, his post-playing career has been kind of in the coaching. He started the South Florida Hockey Academy, then he went and he coached in Liga for three seasons, I believe. Now he's in the SHL, the Swedish Hockey League. The team put out a video of Oli giving his team a motivational speech between periods. Rose, do we have that? Yeah, alright, let's play some of that,

because the message Oli was giving, and we can just fade it up whenever you guys have it, it was so profound. I was raised out of my seat, and I'm like, this guy is a coach. Do we have it? Because it's not enough. Is it satisfying to be fifth place, sixth place,

whatever the case is? Let's take the step now. Every game, every shift has to mean something. Time to step it up. Yes. We can still do something about it. Let's go. You want to let this slip away?

No, I don't. Let's go no I don't know but on a serious note like Oli has been working his ass off as a coach for a long time so it's not I don't think it's gonna be much longer before he eventually makes the migration back to North America whether it's you know AHL to start NHL I know Paul Maurice told me a long time before he was even the Panthers coach he told me that he considered Oli for an assistant coaching job when he was still in Winnipeg. So just working his way up the ranks, good on Oli, but man I'm pumped. Talk about gladiator, like I'm ready to go. Right, take that

into the weekend with you. Alright, thank you for joining us everybody. For everybody in California, we are thinking about you. Be safe out there with the fires. We thank you for listening and watching us here on YouTube and wherever you find us. Thank you, Rose. Thank you, Ethan. Thank you, Mike Malley. Dave's there. I'm Roy.

Okay, goodbye. What a year 2024 was. Happy New Year's everybody. New Year is this week. And some of you are gonna be counting down to the new year with a lot of friends and a lot of family around. And that's a lot of pallets. How do you make everybody happy?

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