The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Catching Up With The Voice of Hockey

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

To kick off this week's edition of The Hockey Show, Roy and David celebrate the career of Sergei Fedorov after the Detroit Red Wings announced they will retire his #91 this season. Then, in wins and fails, Roy gives some shine to the U18 Team USA that won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. David doesn't understand the Buffalo Sabres' alternate logo. Rose shows us a Corey Perry highlight from 10 years ago, and somebody lets drunk Sam Reinhart talk again. Then, ESPN play-by-play announcer, friend of the show, and the man Ethan calls "The Voice of Hockey", Bob Wischusen, joins the show for an offseason catch-up before he heads out on the road for College Football. Bob gives the crew some insight into the life of a broadcaster, tells us what questions he has heading into the NHL season, and Ethan has his list of Top 5 broadcasters he would like to share a beer with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Hockey Show. That's David Dwork over there, the Hockey News, in the shipping container. It's Ethan and Rosie. My name is Roy Bellamy. If you are watching on D.K.N., you can see the Bob with Shuson interview. We're going to have them on later. On the YouTube channel for Leverton and Friends,

just click on the playlist tab and click on our folder. It will be there. Before we start, I just want to celebrate, and I want to put something up there because Roy just graduated from school learning how to skate so there he is

look at him. Very good graduation if you're going to see the bishop. He's got a picture of him belly. I was just going to say he's on his ass. His belly. Looks like he did a great job skating. He did good, so now he graduated. That has the same look on my face as I was the start

to show as I was interrupted by Roseville. There you go. You can keep going. I just needed to give you preps. Thank you. How many goals did you score, Roy? One. One. Nice. And Rosie wasn't even there. Actually, two. Two. And Rosie wasn't filming for the first one, which was bar down. The second one.

Bar down. Your first goal was bar down? Yeah. That's a beauty. The sound reverberated throughout the practice. That must have been an incredible feeling. Yeah. The stick went up on that one. Yeah. I'm scared.

Oh, yeah. Saturday on tomorrow. You want to put this out there? Like, people might show up and, like, heckle us. I hope they do. They'll be heckling me, really, but yeah. We are going to do sticking puck. I don't know you're going to be there for it, Rosie. Maybe, maybe.

You see me pretty non-plus about it. But, yeah, we're going to do. TFTI, boys. And Dave's going to be in a full goalie gear. Oh, God. Yeah, so that's going to be interesting. We're getting old, man. First time in a while.

Yeah. First time since the knee surgery. Oh. What was the last time you strapped on the pads? I don't want to put a number on it. It's just been a minute. I'll try not to deak you out of your pants. What is Stick and Puck?

Sticking Puck is full gear. You just go out and you fuss around with the puck. You're doing this yourselves. You're not going somewhere. Well, it's organized that the Panthers practice ring. But they open up the ice to anybody that wants to do it. Kids can do adults. So I'm bringing my kid.

I've been waiting to do this. So him and I can skate together. So my kid's an adult, Dangle Roy. he'll, you know... Yeah, I'll fall on my belly. Oh, yeah, for sure. Give him a little toe drag sheet. He'll turn me inside out, and then, you know, Rose can just laugh if she's there.

Yeah, I doubt that she will be. Yeah, me too. All right, the legend has, is getting his number retired in Detroit. The number 91 jersey of Sergey Federoff is going up to the Raptors at Little Caesar's Arena, a building that he did not plan. He played all 13 of his years with the Red Wings, and Joe Lewis Arena, you've been, there. I have. Yeah, it's a nice little farm. It is a nice farm, a nice barn that they got there. So he scored 400 goals and 554 assists with Detroit and one three Stanley Cups there. He finishes

18 year career with 483 goals and 696 assists. It's a ninth jersey retired by the Red Wings. It will be. And a lot of us, I mean, well, the two of us in this studio grew up watching 90s hockey, so seeing that is a real treat. What's the first thing when you think of Sergei Fedorov? What's the first thing that pops into your head? Russian, basically. Russian Five, I mean, the Red Rings really made that one famous. I actually watched that last night.

Well, I watched like two-thirds of it, and then I fell asleep. But, no, that's, when I think of Sergei Fedderov from the 90s, like, I just think of white Nike skates. Yeah? He's the only one doing it. He was the only one doing it, but he made it look good. Yeah, the fad did not carry over. No. I mean, Nike Hockey gear in general didn't really make it.

No, no, no, no. But Detroit, the jerseys were made by Nike. It wasn't made by CCM like all the other team. Oh, that's true. Yeah. I saw... What's your Federoff memory before you were born? Well, first of all, I saw his white skates on Twitter the other day, but I also saw a video of the game where he scored five goals. And he scored all five goals, including the overtime winner.

I saw it come across my timeline the other day. We actually have footage of that. That's my win of the week footage. Well, don't spoil it, dude. You're just spoiled. No, my win of the week is, we're talking about it now. I'm going to change it on the fly. So if you want to play my win of the week video, Rose, that's what Ethan's talking about.

Anyway, the passing, the hockey that's being played here is so much different than the hockey that I feel like we watch today. Like the passing, the passing, some of these plays that Detroit was making, look at this Tick-Tack passing. He needs to watch footage from Yager in the early 90s. If you really want to see something that's insane, the puck control that Yager had back in the day, to take any smoke off Fedorov here as we celebrate him. But, yeah, like, when I think of, like, somebody who just the puck was literally stuck to a stick tape. This is beautiful.

Look at this passing. But what changed? Like, what's so different? Because I know scoring went up because the goalie pads increased and they kind of learned how to play the position. But, like, why don't you really see this kind of passing in movement anymore? Is it the way people defend now? Well, the neutral zone trap is pretty much no longer in there.

I mean, entry's a bit easier. Like, they got rid of that. But, I mean, there's not a lot of patience being shown by the capitals in this highlight package. There's also a reason that, like, we're celebrating this game. Like, this wasn't, like, happening every day. Like, the storing was much lower in the 90s. And, like, guys like Fedorov and Lemieux and those guys that were on another level, like, they set themselves apart. But, dude, the Red Wings were a conundrum in the 90s.

Yeah, that was definitely the team on the 90s. We can definitely agree of that. we have reached the time of the year and it's ice shaping time it's time it's time to build the ice and the Anaheim Ducks I don't know if they were the first to release their video but there's the first that I saw first team that I saw to release their ice building video so far now you can see them on this video putting down the water mixed with the paint they ended up uh painting the lines on the ice and putting down the plastic torts with the logo and the ads it's that time of year y'all I'm almost there what did they show the center ice logo because I'm

I'm very curious, because there's only one that I want to see in Anaheim. Yeah, they're about to do it right here. They're putting down the Cinneline, which is plastic. That logo right there, what's on his... I think it's that one that they put in. I could watch videos like this all day. Because they're so satisfying. They're so satisfying.

By the way, I think of Darkwing Duck. There is, twerky. It is. Basically... Oh, they're very good. Yeah, there it is. Very good. Okay.

Good job, Anaheim. Yeah, it's beautiful. The only other team that I can think of that's played any kind of similar video is in Utah because they've been showing the videos of them. They've redone the entire, the inside of the Delta Center to make it, because they had the funky sight lines and everything last year. So they've been, they posted something like that, and it

looked like they were putting either the ice down or the piping underneath it, but it is so cool. The guys were out there talking about how football is back and, I don't know, like, hockey is like right behind it. Yes, yes. Very excited. Oh, it's coming. Month and a half. Roses, you're going to go nuts. Hockey, college

basket. You're going to be logging air miles. Yeah, no, it's got to be a hard. A couple of months. I mean, hopefully the hurricanes are good this year. Four or five months. So you and Lucy can, like, stay local? Oh, no, but when there's an hurricane, they send us a week prior.

Last time we were a week prior. No, no, no, I don't mean an actual hurricane. I mean, the Miami, the football team that plays here. No, David doesn't want hurricanes to be good in Miami. I don't think we're going to go to a hurricanes game. They have an amazing fan ambiance. Bro, what I do is. I just get into the plane and they just tell me where I'm going,

and sometimes I don't even know. where I'm going. Okay. I believe it. All right, wins and fails of the week is presented by Yeager Meister. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Yeagermeister. Damn. That's cold. For more, visit yagemeister.com. Drink responsibly. Somebody owes $5. Dave, what's your win of the week?

My win of the week is on the fly because I actually had my win of the week as Federov's number getting retired. But that's fine. Because there's something else that's happening in Detroit that we can honor. And that I actually thought was going to be my win the week. And it's, I'm going to, if you guys can help me out here, I'm going to stand up.

It's what's on my sweatshirt here. They're putting Hockey Town back at Center Ice. This is going to be the Center Ice logo, right here, Hockey Town. Boom. Keep in mind that this is the 100th anniversary of the Detroit Red Wings. And it's the 100th year, and it's going to be a really cool looking Center Ice Logos. It's going to have the 100 and the Hockey Town. And I think that's awesome, as we're talking about Center Ice Logos in Anaheim. I bought this hoodie years ago just because I think that's such an iconic look, the hockey town. So props to you, Red Wings,

I will be enjoying that. Look like that hurt you, standing up and sitting back down. Dude, shut up. I'm sorry. The winner of the week for me goes to Team USA, the Halenka Gretzky Cup, is a under-18 international tournament that showcases draft-eligible talent

and Team USA, who barely squeezed by Team Canada and shootout win in their semifinal game. Earned a shot of gold, and they got it. They got out to a 5-3 lead in the second period against Team Sweden and shut things down. It is Team USA's second gold medal in tournament history. The tournament is 34 years old, so congratulations to them. That's the World Juniors, the Gretzky-Holinka Cup, the men's world championships,

and Team USA won gold in the women's world championships, if I'm not mistaken. That is correct. Four gold medals for Team USA this year, USA hockey on the rise. All right, my win in the week. Guys, you know how much. Let's see what happens in the Olympics Let's see what happens in the Olympics We're excited about that one

All right my win in the week It's Sam Ryanhart We all love Sam Ryanhart We all love Sam Ryanhart I love Sam Ryanhart more than anybody And he got his day with the cup And he The picture that went around of him on the boat

Was epic But what was really epic Was they posted a video on the NHL Twitter account Of him working out with the Stanley Cup Describe it Like bench pressing it and putting it on one of the sleds, yeah, and pushing it. It was awesome. And that's just a

great way to show off. Not only am I better than you, not only am I stronger than you, but I'm a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion. I scored four goals in game six. I scored the game winner in game seven the year before. What a resume for Sam Reinhardt. Yeah, shove it in the face. Rosie. My win, the week goes to this guy. I don't know who it is. Oh, my gosh. But he made hockey interesting for 10 seconds. Look at that. He threw everything away, grab a small puck, and went to the end, go. There you go.

He made hockey interesting for 10 seconds. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, so this highlight came when he was a duck. Yes. Like, this is this one Stanley Cup, by the way. How long ago was this? I'm on it. I don't know, but yours also.

That was definitely an all-star skills competition. That's my win of the week. They made me watch a video. seconds and I enjoyed it. Corey Perry hasn't been a duck since 2019. There you go. Okay. David and I have a... 2015. 2015. Or 2012. Those were the two times Brian Elliott

was an all-star. Okay. David and I have a dual failed of the week. This is a major. Major film that came out of Reddit. We failed today with our wins and just organizing, like clearly... Yeah, we don't talk to each other. We got to get back. It's not like we send them to each other during the week or anything. Like, it's not like we actually do, we do that.

So that's what is like, what are we doing? Anyway, I'll let this Reddit user whose name is shitty explain why this is a fail. There is an absolutely wild theory going around about the Buffalo Sabers Goathead logo, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Someone mentioned on Reddit that they've thought that the Buffalo Sabers Goathead logo has been oriented left the entire time. What? So by that logic, does it mean that this is what the logo technically should be interpreted as?

Should there be teeth on the left side and a tongue? This kind of looks like a half buffalo, half rat kind of situation. And I don't know how anyone could ever come to this conclusion, to be honest. Like, this just seems a little too nuts. Someone actually photoshopped the logo-oriented left on a goat. And you know what the more look at it? Maybe that is how it's supposed to be. That's a goat, not a buffalo?

Given everything else on the logo, the nose, the way the eyes are facing, there was no way that it's supposed to be. oriented left. In my opinion, it's absolutely right. What are your thoughts? My thoughts are, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's a buffalo. I can't. I don't see it. Yeah, it's not a goat, right? Like, it's a buffalo. It looks like a goat because it looks like a goat, but it's a buffalo. You don't see buffalo's, that doesn't look like a goat. That looks like a buffalo. Well, uh, goats don't have horns. Well, buffalo's on silver. So that's why it doesn't matter. Goats are evil. Huh? What you say? Color doesn't matter, but, uh, it does matter. It does matter. Yeah, but structure. does like that that's about how what is their names uh they uh well the buffalo sabers are named after swords but it's in the city of buffalo that's why the buffalo is a mascot oh that's good yeah i i don't

like i tried they want to change it to a goat when i saw this picture come out they had like i made attempts i put it up i lowered my eyes i put it back up i hide it just so i could try to like reset my vision and try to see it from that i could not do it i cannot see it left facing at all i did this doesn't work for me it just doesn't make it any sense. We have a minute left. Do we have any time for you two to get your fails in? My fail can get off. My fail is to the Hockey Hall Fame Twitter account that decided it was a good idea to post a video of Sam Reinhart Hammer Talking Again. Okay. Hi guys. I'm out here in West Vancouver in my hometown with Margar and Walt. Two of the top

10 cupkeepers we have to date. There's probably less than 10, but they're probably up there. It's been an absolute pleasure I'm completely honored to donate my sticks From game six I can think of no better place to keep it Rose The fellow the week is this I hear it

Why? Oh my God, what is that? The puck disappeared Nobody knows where you go It's in his equipment We don't know Yeah you repeat it repeat it And you don't know?

Yeah, that's not even the worst one because sometimes it could get in the goaltending, a goaltender's patting and go into the net, and that would be a goal. Like, they just back up into the net. That has happened before. It's happened in Buffalo. Yeah, it has happened before.

Bob Rucheson is coming up next, so enjoy that interview with us. Thank you. The rivalries, the bands, the upsets, college football is back. Think you know the game? Put it to the test with Draf King's Sportsbook and turn picks into big payouts.

New customers, $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. With live betting, rivalry week boosts, and more, Draft King Sportsbook has everything you need to own your Saturday. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use code Dan. That's code Dan for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets instantly when you bet just $5. In partnership with Draft King's sportsbook, the crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 877 8-Hope and Wires. text Hope and Y in 4667-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resorting Kansas. 21 and over. Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario.

Bonus bets expires seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Bob Rususion is in hockey group. group chats that I'm not a part of because I have an Android phone and I'm not happy about it. The voice of hockey. The voice I is our guy. It's an iPhone thing. Why am I not in this? It's an iPhone thing. There's a waiting list now, Jorky. There's a big waiting list. It's like Packer season tickets. Yes, it's like Packer's season tickets. All right, Bob is the play-by-play voice for the entertainment and sports programming network and the American Broadcasting Company because

they're both owned by the Walt Disney Company. He's about to do football, pro football, college football, but we're going to talk to him about hockey. So the grind that is announcing and doing broadcasts during these playoffs. It's just ridiculous. How do you get through, especially the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs as a broadcaster? But it's what we wait for, right? So, like, yeah, I don't, I mean, it's hard. It's that the schedule is a grind.

You know, the last couple of years, we'll say even all four years, I think. you know, we'll, because we alternate nights with Turner, we have hockey nights and NBA nights rather than following a series. So because we'll put hockey on, say like the first week of the playoffs, you know, Sunday through Wednesday or Monday through Thursday, and then they kind of take over Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we come back Sunday. And when they have hockey, we have NBA and vice versa. So you don't follow a series. It's not like you get assigned you know, Panthers Lightning

and you just follow it all the way through. So I'll do like a game one Monday, game two Tuesday, game or game one month. Yeah, I'll do a game one Monday,

a game one Tuesday. Back to the other series. Game two Wednesday. Back to the other series. Game two Thursday. You just get up early in the morning, go to the rink, do some interviews,

go back, grab a nap, do a game, get up the next morning, go back to the airport, do the same thing over again. But it's the best part of the year if you're a hockey fan. It's like what we wait for.

So I, I never complain about the lack of sleep. Yeah, I was going to say, what typically happens on a game day for you? It totally depends on what the coaches want to do in terms of their meeting schedule, but it's one of two things. Either we go to the morning skate and watch, you know, whatever we watch and then talk to the coaches after that, or we'll go to the rank, you know, two and a half, three hours before the game and meet the coaches that.

At some point, we're going to talk to the two coaches. That's really like the box you have to check. because they will tell you in, you know, and they know the information's in the vault. We're not going to share it with the other coach. We're not going to put it out on social media. But we need to know injuries. Who's in or out of the lineup that night? Are you changing your lines?

Who's the starting goaltender? Those types of things. Just so in our truck, they can build what they have to build. We can make the corrections to our charts we have to make. So it's really just based on their schedule what they want to do. So it's either real early to the rank to meet them or we go to the morning skate. The morning skate when I first started doing hot, and I was like the backup guy for the Rangers for MSG in the early 2000s.

We're going back about 25 years. The morning skate was sacrosanct. Like you literally only had an optional morning skate if you played like the second half of a back-to-back on the road and your team was old. And even then, most of the veterans would show up for morning. If the morning skate, if the morning skate was on a just a normal homestand, even it was a back-to-back, but you slept in your own bed, or I mean, even if you had a night off the night before, everybody was at the morning skate at all of them. And now I would say they're like 50-50, optional or full. So we definitely don't get the same information that we used to get from them

because so often they're optional and it's just half the team doing drills just to get a sweat it. When you talked about going game one, game one, game two, game two, like, and I hear that from a broadcasting standpoint, because I know like the preparation that goes into just trying to get for one game. You have got your stat boards with every player, you've got information, you've got little stories that you're referencing. How do you, how is it like not get super confusing? And everything that's jumbled up when you're going from two teams to two different teams back to the same two teams and you got to keep track of everything. Like, it just sounds like incredibly challenging. I don't know. I mean, I don't make it like I'm splitting

the atom or something, right? Like, I'm a hockey broadcaster. I just, I'm looking at the guys on the ice and I call the game. Part of it probably has, at least for me, to do with just the cumulative work I've done during the year to get ready. Very rarely am I going to have a team in the playoffs that I either haven't watched a lot of or have had myself during the season. So, I mean, you do have kind of that vault of accumulated knowledge during the year. I've watched these teams, and I recognize all these guys. And also now, it's a lot easier than it was four years ago. I mean, I'm about to enter my fifth year of doing this again in the league.

You know, this isn't college sports, right? College sports, if I had, say, Clemson football last year, and now I get assigned a Clemson game or an LSU game or something, and I pull my chart out from last year, and I look at it, I'm like, God, like none of these dudes are still on the ticket, right? They're either transferred because they didn't get enough playing time or they went to the NFL. So, yeah, like there's a little bit of carryover, but it is not unusual at all. Like, if I had a Miami football game this year, I mean, the quarterback's gone. I know that.

So I'm starting to fresh your quarterback. You know, and obviously you got a big name transfer in there. So you've got to bring your Georgia chart out to get ready for Miami. You know, the NHL, if I look at the guts. of almost every team from last year to this year, they're all basically the same. And there are a handful of guys that move around. And free agency seems crazy.

Is it 50 guys change teams? Well, even if 50 guys changed teams, it's 32 teams the league, right? Like, you're only talking about two or three guys a team that move around. Everybody else is the same. So there's, that also helps is that not only the cumulative work I've done during the season, but also the fact that in pro sports, guys sign. three, four, five, six plus year contracts and stay on the team that they're on for a while.

And that makes it a lot easier. Bob, the reason we have you this week is because you're about to head out for the college football season before you get started with the NHL. You've also got Jets pre-season. So what's the schedule looking like and how does it compare to the NHL? I mean, you just told us about some of the differences. But, you know, in terms of the enjoyment and in terms of going to places like Lubbbing, Texas or things like that.

How is the college grind different? Yeah, it's different because the travel mostly makes it different. I'm unlucky. Week one, I'm in Atlanta. Like our crew is going to do the two games that are in Atlanta. So that's Syracuse, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech, South Carolina. So big city, nonstop flight, normal hotel, NFL stadium, all good. Something that I do not take for granted about the NH in a big, big way, is that, like,

used to do a lot of college basketball. And now I do the NHL. So, yeah, like nonstop flights, normal hotels, big cities, airports with more than six gates is nice. You know, but my life doesn't really get super crazy until it all starts to overlap. And of course, that'll begin opening night. Because not only will I do opening night, but like, I think last year, I did a dozen NHL games for ESPN before

you know before like the bowl games for college football so I did you know what's how many weeks is that right it's like second week of October through the end of December you know you're talking about 10 or 11 weeks

I did like a dozen games so I was doing basically college football a week day hockey game and the Jets for like 10 weeks straight, basically. That's when all three of those things intersect and overlap, it does get a little nuts. Where are you opening night? Sorry, Roy. For hockey?

Yeah, are you here? We haven't been told yet. We need you here about it. We have not been here on the call. It's opening day here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm going to be in person watching a banner go up as well. I think there's at least a better than 50-50 chance that'll happen.

It'll be nice because then if you watch the banner go up, you still get the night off because the game is at five instead of like at a normal. time. Well, if you guys were on the hockey Chad, you would know that after that game, I'm assuming there's going to be some type of post game at the rainforest cafe. I was going to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the rainforest cafe. Oh, my goodness. So,

so the first round of drinks in the rainforest cafe will be on me if I get that game. Bob, if you get that game afterwards, we're linking up. Beer's on me though. Yeah, but the hockey bar is too far away. Yeah, right, like for a post game. No, that's, yeah, yeah. That's it. That's a schlep. That's a schlep. Yeah,

but like I said, the rainforest cafe is a walk. Yeah, it's a walk. Okay. Yeah, but anyway, I mean, I said, like, it is a grind. I mean, I felt bad for Emily Kaplan or a friend just for her doing her job going back before, but I feel worse for all to play-by-play guys. Like, because of multiple sports that you guys have to do, it's just doesn't make any sense. Did you even get a vacation? Yeah, we, you know, it's not good. June and July are good months for me. I have no complaints about, you know, like, I basically am a school teacher when it comes to, like, you know, my schedule. I basically work nonstop from Labor Day through like Memorial Day.

And then when Memorial Day hits, I get some time off to not be in airports for a little while. And now it all kicks back in again. But nobody wants to hear me complain about my job. I get to go to games for a living. So I certainly won't complain about it. Yeah, just like Ethan didn't want to hear us complain about odd trip. Oh, enough. Enough with this. Bob. They've been complaining for two years about having to go to Edmonton and then they were on the ice after Game 7. the biggest game at home NHL history

Yeah but you got to be there I would have paid I would have gone to editing 10 times back They lost like 13 to 2 in those two games or something It was like And we had to go through like six airports Each way What are you talking about?

Come on We're not doing this again I have yet to go to Winnipeg Oh thank God I haven't been to Winnipeg yet I'm anticipating at some point The Stars might align And I may get to go to Winnipeg

I think I've been to every other Canadian city that has a team the last time I was doing hockey Winnipeg wasn't Winnipeg they were Atlanta so you know the Jets have since returned to the NHL since I started doing

this again but I would have to say of all of the places that I've been yeah like Miami Fort Lauderdale like South Florida to Edmonton that's got to be about the not even just distance-wise the biggest schlap but about

the biggest, like, everything being completely different dichotomy between two cities. Thank you, Bob. Ethan did not understand. I understand completely the travel. I'm just saying you guys got to be on the ice after game seven. That's all it is. That's all it is. That's great.

Thank you. Thank you. Don't throw that back either. You have a top five, Ethan. Go ahead. Yeah. So we mentioned that Bob is in the hockey chat famously that Roy is infamously not in. And we, Bob, I consider Bob a friend.

We've hung out. We've had a couple beers. He watched the Gators win the national championship with me famously. Had to put up with that. So I concocted a list, my top five people, broadcasters, that I would like to have a beer with. Strong lists here. All right. O-L-I, friend of the show, John Butchagross.

There we go. All right, John Butchagross, O-O-I. And if Bob has any good stories about drinking with any of these people, I would love to hear it after this list. Number five, Kenny Maine. Number four, the San Francisco Giants broadcast team of Jain Kuiper and Mike Kruko. That's good. Number three, this isn't necessarily a beer, but I'd like to have a steak and a brandy with this guy, maybe. Al Michaels. Not that I've ever had a brandy in my life. Number two, Chris Berman. Number one, this should be easy. Come on, guys. Harry Carey. Who wouldn't want to have a beer with Harry Carrey?

Well, it would be impossible. If you're a hot dog. Well, you can't do it now, but if you were a hot dog and you were starving, would you eat yourself? There's only one answer, and it's yes. Yeah. Who would be your number one in broadcasting you would like to have a beer with? Vince Scully. Oh, wow.

I miss Scully. Me, we'll be around a grande. Wait a man. No, that's not a broadcaster. That's not a broadcaster. A broadcaster. Sports broadcasting. But she goes to games.

She's not a. famously a big panther fan. But she's not a play-by-play a color analyst. That is the list. Nobody mentioned Al-Micha-Micha's. Al-Micha's was third on my list. You wanted to have a coin. Nice job listening. A brandy.

Yeah, a brandy. Yes, that he'd be my number one. All right. Wait, the Zoom for me froze for a second. So I heard Kenny Maine, John Butchie Gras, Al-Michaels. I missed the other two. Number four is Dwayne Kriker and Mike Kruco. Number two is Chris Berman. And number one, of course, Harry Kemp.

Terry. This spots for you. Hey, Norm. Bob, do you have any great stories with any of these people? Or can you just tell us a great boog shambi story? Well, I can tell you a bunch of great boog shambi stories. But no, the other five guys now, I mean, a couple of ESPN seminars, a few cocktails, but not nearly the depth of John Shambi stories that I would have.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know him very, very well. since uh too well yeah way too well as roommates so yeah you should know so john in the spirit uh well bob you're calling john because he's talking about five dollars you're talking about that's oh my goodness all right well let me reselling it blah blah blah blah all right all right all right bob in the spirit of the top five and i'm going to put you on the spot here so if you can't you know recall all this at once i totally get it i wanted to see if you could your top five moments that you've called to you not necessarily the top five that we would think but just

if you could remember your favorite moments that you called, maybe not necessarily top five. Yeah, no, they all, I mean, at least right off the top of my head, I'll have to think of five, but right off the top of my head, I would think I go to like playoff overtime winners, right? For Hagee.

Nice. Was a great one. I had a, I'd Barclay Goodrow against the Panthers. That was fun, though. Game two, Eastern Conference final at the Garden. Series went okay for Florida. Yeah, it's right.

Ultimately was a happy ending for the Panthers. Maybe the Bobrovsky save. Oh, the Barberty. Yeah, the Lightning. Yeah, like the windmill save. I feel like you're curating this to your audience, and I appreciate that. Yeah, I'm trying. I had, I would say, like, the last game we did this past year was pretty good.

I did game six in Dallas when Dallas won. goal in overtime, right? But at the same time, remember, that was the Shifley goal the day after his dad had passed. Yeah, yeah. Right? So, like, there was the emotion, like, of watching him break down of having, you know, the, like, the slow handshake line of every guy

spending some time with him. I just, that was one of those peaks into the culture of hockey. Yeah. Right? Like, everybody on the Dallas Stars do exactly, exactly what Mark Sheifley was going through and they all spent a little extra time with them. But I would say my number one moment in doing this probably, I think it was the first year that I was doing this was, and obviously it takes on a whole different level as a memory in terms of significance, was in Calgary, Johnny Goddrow in double overtime beating Dallas in the game where Jacob, Gottinger stopped like 65 of 67 shots or something. It was the best performance I've ever seen by a goaltender and a loss, certainly. And then Goodrow won it in overtime.

And, you know, less than a year and a half later, he wasn't with us anymore. The thing I think about about the Jet Stars game, the mountaintop in valley of the situation was Mark Schifley scored. And then he took the penalty that led to the Thomas Harley over. overtime going. Correct. Like that's that that's just like oh my goodness that's on the opposite end of the spectrum each side. I remember we were texting about it as it happened and you actually text me you're like he bet they better not score with him in the box and then like just as I read the message the going in. Yeah I threw my phone when that happened. The uh the moment that stood out to me

from that was Mason Marchmont who had also lost his father I think within the last like year or two yeah him consoling Mark Sheifley after that was unbelievable that was an incredible moment. Losing Brian Marchman, that one, that hurt. And seeing Mason Marchman being in this league doing as well as he is right now. That, that's great to me. You know, we had another moment. I'll give you like a similar moment. It was a regular season moment. But it was one of those again, like just a peek into the culture of the sport and the guys that have been in the sport forever, literally. Ovechkin, one of the games that I called of his chase for the record, they played Minnesota.

And right at the end of the season, and as the game was over, and I want to say like Washington won late, and there was like a big celebration, I can't remember exactly how the game ended. But what sticks out to me is right after the game was over, Ovechkin yelling up the tunnel to half the guys that had left the rink, hey, get back out here because he recognized it was right at the, it was the last time they were ever going to see Mark Andre Fleury. Yeah. And they all lined up and shook his hand.

That was cool. And Ovechkin was the one that we had with a camera on him, because obviously he had a camera on Ovechkin doing everything, right, with an isolated camera, followed him everywhere. And we caught the whole him, like, end of game and then having this recognition of, oh, wait a minute. I have to go get, like, right, like legend recognized. is legend and I have to go get the guys out of the tunnel. Everybody has to come out here

and shake this guy's hand. And so that was a pretty cool moment too. You mentioned Overskin. He's going to play next season now. One of the biggest questions, I guess, coming into this upcoming season is is this his final season? So what are the biggest questions

coming into this upcoming season to you? Well, I mean, are the Panthers going to run it back? Probably. Right? Like, to me, that's going to be a story that'll dominate the whole year because how often do you see a team that has all of these guys

that could probably across the board be making more money elsewhere all basically being like you know what palm trees and sunshine in January and February and winning

not a bad combo and so they're all kind of collectively doing what Tom Brady did all those years into England like Tom Brady of course had a supermodel life that made more than him so easy to give the team a hometown

discount discount, but you know, you got a bunch of guys giving the Panthers a hometown discount so they can keep it together and try it again. And I'm fascinated to see if it works again because, in a way, it'll be awesome if it does because, like, it would reward guys for caring more about winning than about their paycheck. Yes, yes. Quite frankly. And I like that. Like, I like guys that care more about winning and about don't mess with happy and about realizing that they're in a great place on a great team with a great group and saying, you know what, that's, that's worth sacrificing 20%, 30% of what I might be able to make elsewhere. So fascinated to see how that works.

I mean, I'm in New York, so I'm always wondering about the Rangers. And will they squeeze into the back end of the playoffs? If they get there, what will their team look like? I mean, they basically kind of admitted at the trade deadline this past year that they just flat out got it wrong because they tried to totally overhaul their team as much as they could on the eve of the playoffs, basically, just try and make that run. didn't work, will it work this year?

The one thing the Rangers have is they have the goaltender. The jumping off point for any team is you want to know you've got the goaltender. And, you know, they have the goaltender. Those are the two, you know, teams, like just off the top of my head

that I'll be interested in following all year, see how it works out. Is it just that they need, is it time for a culture shift up in for the Rangers because of the way that they handle? Bring torts back? No, no. Always a good idea to bring

torts back. Oh, no. Culture, I mean, to me, it's just being honest about your roster and of the type of guys that you've got. And I hate to say it, but the Rangers, unfortunately, have proven to have a lot of regular season stats accumulating players that when they get to the playoffs, get exposed, right? Like Zabanajad, Panarin, Fox, they have not been the players in the postseason for the last couple of years, not even getting there last year, that.

they were, you know, in the regular season. And, you know, it just again speaks, I think, to the genius of Bill Zito. That Bill Zito recognizes what a, what a, of today, what a playoff hockey player looks like. And would I rather have a Barkoff, a Lundel, a Losteranan, you just go down the list, guys that like Barkoff at a superstar level, but I don't know, be better than an 80-point player in the regular season? Maybe, maybe not. If he's better than any point player, he's not better by much, you know, the other guys might be, you know, 40-point players. And yet, who would you rather have in the playoffs? What type of player would you rather have in the playoffs? Those guys? Or some of the 90, 100, 110-point guys that can just be taken out of their game

because those guys, the Lundells and Los Terrainans, go out there and stick a fist at their chest. and in the playoffs and take them out of their game. And to me, what it goes to show is you have to look past the statistics and look past the regular season numbers and say to yourself, like, what type of game does this guy play? And when I get to the playoffs, what type of player am I going to want? And the Panthers have figured out, especially on their third and fourth lines, a lot.

Like, look, they've got the Reinhart, you know, superstar scorer. Barkoff, obviously, even if he doesn't put a ton of points up, Selke winner. Like, they've got star players in their top six, but their bottom six has a lot of guys that are no fun to play in a seven game series. And I think some teams miss that a little bit. Like, they miss going and getting some of those guys. And Bill Zito's really smart about how he puts it together. All right, Bob. Go and enjoy football.

Well, we'll see. Jets, so, you know. Oh, you're not going to enjoy football. Can you tell our Panther propaganda has worked on Bob, by the way, that we've been feeding it to him for the last year? Well, I mean, they're back-to-back champions.

Like, that, and they've been in the finals three years in a row. Like, it's not, it's not hard to drink the Kool-Aid, right? Like, if I was on an NFL show and was talking up the chiefs right now, it probably wouldn't be because somebody had to sell them to me. They're pretty darn good. Yeah, it is a, we got a bit of a

history here of a national winning. You know, just three years of history, I guess. A little bit. All right, that's it, Bob. We appreciate you joining us here today. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, anytime I can do it, guys. See you.

Thanks to Bob. We're choosing for joining us. And thank you to Ethan and Rosie and Gino and Jason for helping us out for David Dwork. My name is Roy Bellamy. We will see you next week. Bye.