The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Hockey Show: Talkin Cawlidge Hawkey With Bucci

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Roy, David and Ethan are back for another edition of the hockey show and to start off they cover some of the hot topics of the week including New Jersey Devils' head coach, Sheldon Keefe's, comments about Johnathan Kovacevic and the Philadelphia Flyers giving John Tortorella the pink slip. Then, John Buccigross of ESPN joins the show to discuss the NCAA Hockey tournament and some of the young stars that we could see see in the NHL. Also, he gives his take on who should win the Hobey Baker Award and Ethan has his Top 5 This Is Sportscenter commercials for Bucci. Finally, the boys recap a two-game week for the Panthers and preview a difficult stretch coming up that will feature new addition Brad Marchand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The tequila that invented tequila. Proximo, Cuervo.com, please drink responsibly. Cuervo.com, please drink responsibly. Cuervo. Hello, welcome to the hockey show. My name is Roy Bellamy. My cohost is David Druck. He works for the Hockey News. He is not in studio. He is on assignment.

And that assignment is family vacation. Ethan is in the shipping container in the EP chair. Rosie is not here. She is still doing March Madness. Yeah, let's be clear. I'm not the one on vacation, by the way. My wife is on vacation. I'm on dad duty. Oh, you're on dad duty. Yes, you are. I am not on vacation. No, you got two kids.

I'm working double duty right now. I'm still working and I'm doing all the dad stuff as well. So let's just, you know, Does it look like I'm on vacation? I mean, I'm surrounded by toys, but this is my home. No, I'm at work. So it's just you know. Okay. Does it look like I'm on vacation? I mean I'm surrounded by toys but this is my home. No I'm at work. So it looks like you're on vacation. Awesome zoom background by the way, Dworkie. Awesome zoom background. Top notch. It has some fake books in there you know like Ronan Farrell. Today we have John Butcher-Grass from ESPN to talk about the NCAA men's hockey tournament. For those on DKings Network watching today you can watch that on the L'Hôpital show YouTube just go to playlist and find the hockey show folder. Now earlier this week San Diego Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh stopped by the Anaheim Ducks locker room to give a pep talk and announce the starting lineup and this is how it sounded. Thanks Coach Crowe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gentlemen, what an honor. This is incredible.

It's kind of stuff I live for right here. This time right before the game and I can see the heart going. My heart's going too. I was always like one of those race horses at the Kentucky Derby, you know, before a game. Like, you can tell, I mean, they got a little sweat, got a little sweat coming down. You can see the heart pumping, snot bubbles, snot bubbles coming out. I mean, you guys are thoroughbreds, man. And Coach was hitting me with this story

about the bow and arrow. And got me, I mean, that's why the heart's going right now. You got me pumped up right there. So hey, let's go draw the arrow back. I just feel that, I feel that strong. That's strong, like, mm. Right there, right? Draw back as far as you can.

Aim and release. Take your fricking shot. Man, it just, it gets me right there. So go out and play as hard as you can, as fast as you can, as long as you can, keep your wits about you and don't worry. Win on three. One, two, three. Okay the guys leading that hunt tonight starting at left wing Harky, at center Lundy, At right wing, Leaser. Defense, Minty, Halley, and in net, Dusty.

Go Ducks. Get a frickin win, alright? Let's go get this thing. Go get after him. Get after him. Get after him. Too bad on us, huh? I am that. Get after him. What the hell? Get after him. Too bad on us, huh? I am confused. My takeaway from this, how good are those Ducks jerseys?

Whoo, boy. Yeah. Big upgrade from the Ducks this season. Love them. I'm still caught up on snot bubbles, and then he became Rudy for a minute. We're going to go inside, we're going to go outside. I'm just like, I'm sitting there like, I'm a player on that team. Is Robin Hood walking in?

What's happening? I don't know. That didn't work for me. The Chargers players get that every day. So think about them in that situation. Were they in the playoffs last year? I don't remember, man. Yes, Justin Herbert threw four interceptions. But we don't talk about that threw four interceptions but we don't talk about that. Okay well we don't talk about that here. This is a

hockey show we talk hockey. Speaking of which, they lost 5-2 to Carolina that night. Oh yeah that didn't work but we go from a good coach to a good coach that probably made a mistake here. Take out this video here we got Devils defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic. He answered a pregame post game question It was innocuous, you know, it's just regular hockey speak that you hear from these players, you know, just like any other angel player uninteresting and dry as possible but the Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe apparently didn't like the answer that uh The Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe apparently didn't like the answer that Kovacevich gave, so this is what he said. We're in a fight and hopefully that gets us in that playoff mentality,

10, 11 games out and we carry that into playoffs. So yeah, obviously the results are tough, but we're in a fight here and we're not gonna back down. Kovacevich just mentioned to us that he thinks the team kind of needs to have that playoff mentality going down the stretchers. Kovacewicz needs to play better. That would help. Damn. Damn.

Yeah, that's not cool. That was surprising, right? Coming from Sheldon Keefe? Yeah. Like that was a little bit surprising. I haven't seen him rip a player like that in the media. Maybe I'm not remembering that something happened in Toronto, but we need to have a playoff mentality is something that anybody was saying that situation. Like, I don't understand why you would have a problem with that. There's clearly something deeper there where, you know, maybe this is like getting into the Torts Camp York territory. We'll get to that at some point. But I mean, that seemed like there was something there. That did not

feel good. It's been a frustrating year for New Jersey, right? And they're kind of limping to the finish line. Literally limping. Literally limping with all the injuries that they've suffered in the past, what, two months or so. Right now, they're seven points back of Carolina. And they're fine in the division because Ottawa's in the Atlantic, so they won't catch them there. But it's been a frustrating year and it just seemed to all bubble over in the moment. You know, I was listening to 32 Thoughts last week and they were

talking about this. And Freach was kind of saying that people were hard on Keefe about how he wasn't hard enough on his players in Toronto. And then now he takes a shot at his players and everybody's mad at him for being hard on his players. So, you know, you can't have both. It's got to be one or the other. So we'll see, you know, how it affects them going down the road. But certainly some interesting comments there. David mentioned John Tortorella. He got fired yesterday. The Flyers fired him, and the Flyers ended up, the day before, I should say,

and the Flyers ended up winning the very first game with Totarella, not behind the bench. And didn't that always happen though? Yeah, the new coach plump. Yeah, it does, it does, doesn't it? And Mitch Cobb scored too. Everybody plays hard for the new guy. Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, we knew the Flies were going to be bad, but really the man said

that after the Toronto loss, actually, because they beat the Canadians, after the Toronto loss, he said, really not interested to learn how to coach in this type of season. That's where we're at right now. I mean, Daniel Breyer as general manager, like he said that this is a recent thing. This came into his head recently, like, okay, we're gonna have to let this guy go. I mean, but we knew the flight was gonna be bad. It's a rebuilding season for him.

I thought that they had a little bit of promise coming into the next season, but I guess Daniel Breyer thought that they should go in a different direction. This is kind of the typical torchts track isn't it where he overachieves with the team his first two years and then by the third year everybody's sick and tired of him there's been problems with his star rookie all year where Mitch Koff you know everybody was like oh look Mitch

Koff scored in the first game without Tortorella of course he did so it kind of seems to be that track somebody called towards the Stan Van Gundy of hockey where every time he coaches, he seems miserable but he just can't stay away from the game. Torts is a really interesting character. I'm sure he'll be on a bench somewhere in the NHL coming soon. Yeah. Well, he seems miserable because of his interactions with the media and because the negative ones

get overplayed so much. I don't know if it's fair because he looks like he supposedly I've never met him in person. But you know, people say he's a great, great guy, great hockey guy. So I don't think it's fair to just judge him on that. But man, like this, it sounds like there was like some incident that he had with one of his players, because Cam York was benched, he dressed, he didn't play any of that win over Montreal was it the other the other night? And Michkov, by the way, what did he hit the post on a empty net for a hat-trick? It's been a rough year in Philly. Hopefully they get some stability moving forward because they do have some really good pieces there. But yeah, it's been a rough time. And finally, I'm going to continue my streak

of laughing at the New York Islanders until they do right by me and people who don't want to see Racists get second third fourth fifth and sixth chances in an NHL They got screwed just like the Panthers have been screwed on a goalie interference call and we're gonna play the video here Like this is this is not great This is against I believe Columbus and yeah yeah, he was outside of crease. I don't really think that was goal-tenant interference there. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you why, why I think it was. I don't know if we have the angle, but there's an angle from behind the goalie where like you can see as the shots coming and that is what we just saw right there

for those watching the YouTube that was in super slow motion. When this was happening in real time, when the contact between Paul Mary and Mers-Leakins happened, the puck was being released at the point at that exact moment. So even though in slow motion, it looked like Mers-Leakins, like, look, here's the replay. Right here is where the defenseman, I'm not sure who it is, is shooting the puck. So the puck's traveling, traveling, traveling, traveling. By the time Mers Lekens has a chance to reset himself. The puck's already halfway to the net. So I understand why that shouldn't have counted. It just doesn't look good in the moment and good on Roy because it's bad for the Islanders. Yes. I'm laughing at them regardless of what happens here. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha.

All right. It's time for Winds and Fellows of the week presented by Jägermeister. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Jägermeister, damn, that's cold. For more, visit jägermeister.com. Drink responsibly. David, your win of the week. My win of the week, we don't have to go too far away from South Florida to get there. Just a little bit up the coast to Tampa.

It's Nikita Kuturov, who is a dark horse for the Hart Trophy this year. I don't know if he's going to get a lot of votes, but he's having an amazing season. The other night against Pittsburgh, he got checked into Alex Nadelkovich headfirst, lost the tooth on the goalie mass, which I don't know if I've seen that happen before, that's pretty interesting. But then what does he do? He comes back, he goes out onto the ice where they're scraping, you know, the commercial break-down and he's like looking with his stick, he's looking for his tooth, trying that. That's such a sad thing when

you're trying to find your own tooth in the ice. It doesn't look like he ever finds it. But what he does find about five minutes later was the back of the net when he scored a power play goal. And I think what was like a six to one victory or something over the over the pen wins as Tampa is rolling right now. But I just thought that was a cool thing all around. He gets his tooth knocked out by the goalie helmet, goes looking for it because of course he did. And then he scores the goal because he's Nikita Kuturov. Win of the week by far, good on Nikita.

Probably should check that shovel because it's probably in that shovel with the scrape. The ice crew definitely got it in its pocket right now. That tooth is on eBay for sure. I love Dworkie saying that's such a sad thing when you're looking for your tooth as if that's something that's very Relatable to all of us. That's a very Exclusive to the greatest hockey players in the world problem My one in a week is a video with sound here of a dad who brought it who created a portable Gomerhorn go ahead and play that oh man that's that's you for trouble I'm showing

up with that thing to Claire's game whenever she starts playing hockey there you go she scored yeah I'm gonna piss off everybody. Ethan. My Win of the Week is Alex Ovechkin and not because he sticks goals away from breaking the all-time goal record. My Win of the Week is for him is because of this incredible act of sportsmanship that we saw last night against the Minnesota Wild where they lose to the Wild. It's a tough loss for them. And he goes to the bench as his teammates are going into the locker room. This is captain type stuff, weighs everybody out there to shake the hands of old rival Mark Andre Fleury.

Those guys did some incredible battles back in the day when it was them and Pittsburgh going at it. And to see the respect that they have for each other, there's been respect for Flurry all over the league this year. To see that kind of respect from an old rival like that, it's just as cool as it gets. So hats off to Alex Ovechkin for that one. All right. Fails of the week. David. My fail of the week comes from the Hughes Bowl on Monday between New Jersey and Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom, former Panthers goalie, had one of the most real reactions, he's talking about realness, Ethan, after giving up the, what was the game winning goal

in the shootout to Jonathan Leckermache. Markstrom popped up, he took his baseball, his hockey stick, like he was Babe Ruth with a baseball bat and just cracked it against the post. It was awesome to see, to the point where they were making fun of it on the NHL on TNT broadcast. They got Darren Pang, who's famously a former NHL goalie, but he's shorter than me. He's like five seven.

They brought him like a little miniature goalie helmet goalie stick to crack on the on the post. There we go. Oh, that's cold. He hasn't caught it with a Michigan State jersey. Oh, my God. So so credit to Markstrom for being a real credit to Panger for getting razzed on it. Just a lot of fun all around. My fail of the week comes from Bruins and Kings.

This is the official's fail. Goalie fights. We need more of them. Jeremy Swainman and Dorsey Kemper had a chance to do it. And they go to center ice, gloves, blockers, sticks down, masks down, and broken up. Like, before they even get together. The lamest thing you can possibly do is break up a goalie fight. Swainman's already got his helmet off, they're ready to go at it.

There is no reason that fight should have been broken up. Yeah, and the tale of the tape, 6'3 vs 6'5, that would have been a nice little bout there if they had gone through but the uh linesman decided yep no. Jorky you ever been in a goalie fight? What's that? You ever been in a goalie fight? Have I been in a goalie fight once? It didn't go well for me. Oh no. Um you know but whatever you get caught up in the moment. I got in a lot of goalie skirmishes. I was I was a little hothead on the ice. I was an asshole This guy knew that everybody had my back as the goalie

But yeah, didn't go good for short guys, you know, it's short guys like to be scrappy on the ice, right? Mike Vernon Mike Vernon is a short guy and he went out and he went toe-to-toe with Patrick Juan did okay So I really no excuse by the way anniversary for that. It was this week, right? It was the anniversary of the the game in Detroit between the Avalanche and the Red Wings. Yep. So to recap that, by the way, it was Chris Draper. I was about to say Malice at the Palace, but that was the Pistons Pacers. That's my bad.

Yeah, Pistons Pacers. But to recap that the year before in the conference final, Chris Draper was boarded by Claude Lemieux and shattered his jaw. Gone. Oh yeah. So exploded his whole face. Yeah.

And the avalanche, and then I'm going to the, uh, the cup final that year. Uh, do you know, Cicciarelli said, can't believe I shook that frigging guy's hand. Sucks the next year. Brawl City, everybody fighting. And then the Red Wings went to the Stanley Cup final and won. So yeah, that was a rivalry of the 90s and we all missed that. Ethan, your fellow of the week. All right, my fellow week is Matt Rempey.

No, Lord. This guy features in Fail of the Week seemingly every time I feel like. But he deserves it this week. Tanner Janow here and him going at it for a scrap. How many times have I told you guys this guy isn't actually good at anything? He's bad at hockey, he's bad at fighting, he gets penalties pretty much every time he's on the ice. He gets his ass whooped here by Tanner Janow just like he does every time he fights, ends up on his ass. Tanner Janow actually picks him up off the ground and is like, let's go buddy, like you're not getting out of this easy. Yeah. Fail of the week, Matt Rempey, always a fail of the week.

Now he's on the injured list and won't be seeing him anytime soon. I mean, he's like the yowlenders for me at this point. Yeah, the two of you, you're anti-New York bias showing. Oh my goodness. All right, for those on DraftKings network, we have John Butcher-Gross coming up next. You can watch that interview and the rest of the show

on the Leviton YouTube page. Just go to the playlist and find our folder. We got every episode in that folder. So we got John Butcher Gross coming up next to talk about college hockey. Folks listen up. They're here and they're hot. Get ready because Jimmy John's is turning up the heat after years of perfecting the cold sandwich.

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started and you can find all the games across the ESPN platform, the family of networks. And one man who will be prominent on said platforms is John Butchagross, who joins us now. We're going to talk about the Frozen 4. Let's go through the matchups here because last night was absolutely crazy. Cornell upset Michigan State game winner with eight seconds left in regulation. Boston University defeated Ohio State. So the big reds, they're going to face the Terriers tomorrow. Western Michigan got past Minnesota State in double overtime, and UMass with a stunning,

and I mean, this is a stunning overtime victory over the Minnesota Gophers. The Gophers had to change goaltenders in the middle of the third period, immediately gave up a goal off the face-off, But the Gophers had to change goaltenders in the middle of the third period. Immediately gave up a goal off the faceoff, switched goaltenders back because there's a equipment issue. And that was two goals in a minute and a half.

And then a tripping call was missed in overtime and then transition, the Minutemen scored and they will play the Broncos tomorrow. Today's matchups, Maine versus Penn State, UConn versus Quinnipiac, Boston College versus Bentley, and Providence versus Denver. Denver is the national, the defending national champions. So John, why don't you give us your thoughts on what's going on in the tournament right now? Yeah, let's start yesterday Roy. First of all, thanks for having me on the hockey show. I like your cute little cartoon caricatures with your hockey helmets. Thank you. Thank you. Love it. Love it. But yeah, Cornell yesterday with that big, shocking win. I thought Michigan state was the most dependable team

to get to the frozen for play a pretty simple style, really good goaltender, well coached. But you know, Cornell was going at the right time. They have little, little inspiration. Their coach announced his retirement before the season, Mike Schaeffer. So every game could be his last. So sometimes I can carry a team emotionally little extra effort every inch of the ice is protected and they got the job done Western Michigan had a really good year this year 30 wins. I think Pat first while or their head coach could be an NHL candidate for a few teams that they're looking

for a fresh start and a good coach who's obviously can inspire people he took over for Andy Murray you remember that name for a long time, NHL head coach for the Kings. He went to Western Michigan. Pat took over for him. He's done a great job there. They squeaked by Minnesota State.

So yeah, really exciting day. And BU with an eight-three win over Ohio State. Sometimes those hockey games go sideways. So that can happen, especially in the tournament when everyone's wired tightly and then things don't go your way and it just kind of collapses. And so that can happen.

Today, looking forward to it. Beautiful day here in New Hampshire. I have the number one overall seed, Boston College Eagles. Ryan Leonard, Washington Capitol fans are excited about him. He was their eighth overall pick a couple of drafts ago. Will likely win the Hobie Baker for best college hockey player. We'll get to see him in person today at a nice small, intimate rink here in Manchester playing Bentley,

which is just located outside Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts. First time they've ever been here, Bentley. And so that's always a fun story to watch them. And then you mentioned defending champs, the pioneers. They played Providence, who hasn't been here since 2019. This is the 10th year anniversary of them winning their first and only Natty in 2015 against

Jack Eichel and BU in 2015. Providence finally back after a 2019 appearance. That's when they lost in Buffalo in the Frozen Four and so they're back. So Providence, this is the 8-9 matchup. So mathematically it's the best closest matchup but I really like that Penn State main game. I think that's the best first-round game we have. That's in Allentown. The place will be packed. Obviously, it's close to Penn State. Big advantage for Penn State. Little disadvantage for Maine.

They're a number one seed. They got to basically play a road game. But they travel well. They should have a couple thousand fans there themselves. So it won't be like a 95-5 or 90-10 crowd. But it still should be 80- seventy five twenty five but that's a really exciting first round matchup. Bucci I've got a million questions for you there are a million ways I could go but I'll start here. BC has this star studded line that basically carried the

Americans to the world junior championship this year right but they also have the know, the tragedy of Johnny Goudreau is affecting them as well, just like the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames. So the way that a lot of NHL fans are kind of, you know, we're all Blue Jackets fans this year, is that the same kind of thing for BC? I don't, maybe for them personally, but maybe not quite with the fan base. Obviously Johnny hasn't been there for 12 years when he played Matthew 11. But yeah, the last time they won the national championship was 2012. That was Johnny Goodrow's amazing year in Tampa, Florida, that amazing goal that he had late in the game that punctuated that

win. Obviously, he and his brother Matthew, just awful, the saddest hockey story just imaginable this past summer. And they lost another member member the family as well 40 year old dropped died of a heart attack, so they have three Three initials on their uniform and it's been on the board there. We did a really good We did a nice hour long feature hour long show on preceding the tournament and previewing the tournament with really good E60 features beautifully done Probably the best college hockey telecast has ever been done because of the E60 strength behind it. And we did a beautiful feature on it.

It's on ESPN Plus. I highly recommend college hockey fans and hockey fans to watch it. Feature on Jimmy Snuggeroo, feature on Trey Augustine, feature on Denvers as well, and it's feature on the Godreau brothers and Tony Bost and how they're how they're honoring them this year so yeah that gives you an idea there is a

cause for sure for the players and and they feel it it's emotional and don't forget they lost last year the national championship game to nothing to Denver if they win today and Denver wins today that's our rematch here in Manchester on Sunday so it's right there the only the other problem facing a team like Boston College and other teams that have NHL prospects, do they have one foot out the door? You know, as soon as Boston College loses Ryan Leonard will be a Washington Capitol two days later playing for them, you know, and he's going to sign a contract, he's

going to get his big rookie bonus, he's going to start, you know, making his 800 grand a year, although there was only a couple paycheckscks left this year. But so that's the problem when you have these teams like that. I get it when you're 19, 20 years old. They always say, I'm not thinking about that. I'm compartmentalizing. But I know I would have thought about it

when I was 19 years old with zero money in my checking account. So that's the big challenge with these hyper talented teams. You mentioned, obviously, Leonard James Hagan's going to be a top five pick in the draft this summer, so he can't go anywhere. Gabriel Perot is a Ranger first round pick. We'll see if he goes. I think he should come back one more.

But yeah, that's the issue with, same with Denver and Zee Bouyam, who will be in Minnesota's lineup as a big time defenseman. So that's the issue with these young teams and why a team like Cornell, an older team, and Bentley even, an older team, this is it for them. This is the highlight of probably their hockey careers

with these other prospects, had the NHL to kind of get distracted by. You kind of led me perfectly into what I wanted to ask you about because you mentioned like Leonard, with BC with the Capitals, Perot also BC with the Rangers, he's got Jack Devine at Denver, you know,

Panther fans are always asking about him. Who do you think of this crop of talent? Who do you think would be the most pro ready if they were to make that decision? Leonard and Bouyum, Leonard Morsox, he's a forward. Bouyum a defenseman, that's hard. A 19 year old defenseman coming right into the league. You know, these guys are big, strong men in the corner.

And now he's offensively dynamic. He's absolutely a sensational player to watch. He breaks people down like few hockey players do. I always compare it to Allen Iverson, crossover dribble. He breaks people down like he's on tennis shoes. Rasmus Stile, Lane of Buffalo, Quinn Hughes of Vancouver does it. Obviously, Kale McCarr, that they can break people down one-on-one.

He can do that. And so he's in that kind of class offensively. Defensively, it'll be a little tougher. So I would say Ryan Leonard, to go to a good team, they can pick his spot, pick his slot, where he can maybe be comfortable. And so he would be the one that we're going to see in Washington's lineup as a depth guy.

We'll see how they might realize, you know what, he's kind of, you know, he's he plays a different game in college, gets a lot of breakaways, little pave, pavlo Bure, center ice logo hanging around to get those little cherry picking, you know, try to get those plays got to play a little more honest 200 foot game in the Stanley Cup playoffs for our Stanley Cup contenders. So he'll need to make that quick adjustment. I think he can't, he's he's wired for this this and I think he'll be the guy who makes the biggest impact right away. But over time there's plenty of people who will make

their presence felt in the NHL. You guys mentioned a couple of names from the finalist list from the Hobie Baker Awards. So let's go over the entire list for best hockey player in the country. Zee Bouyum and Jack Devine from Denver, Aiden Fink from Penn State, Matt Gadowski from Army, Isaac Howard from Michigan State, Ryan Leonard from Boston College, Ayrton Martino from Clarkson,

Liam McClinsky from Holy Cross, Jimmy Snuggerud from Minnesota, Alex Tracy from Minnesota State. Some unreal names on that list. Yeah. Oh my God. So you have any thoughts on any of the names that we haven't mentioned yet, John? Yeah, I think the votes are due after this weekend's games

and there'll be a final three. So whoever gets the three highest vote totals become the final three. And then they go to the show on the Friday in St. Louis in between the frozen four games. And they'll have the half hour show on NHL Network. And then they'll unveil the winner. And I'm pretty sure the top three is going

to be Leonard, Bouyam, and Howard. It might be Snuggeroo. It will be close. Hobie Baker likes when people come back for their third year like Snuggeroo did, obviously heartbreakingly lost last night in overtime game. They should have won against UMass. The grandfather played for the Gophers, the dad played for the Gophers,

and one of the stories that we did on that E60 show on ESPN Plus was just trying to, they also had heartbreaking losses in the tournament. He was hoping to be the first Snuggeroo to finally get it done, and this team is stacked. Minnesota has the most NHL players on it, who future NHL players. We might see six next week. You know, Rinzel with the Blackhawks, Snuggerroot with the Blues will probably play.

Now, Oliver Moore might be playing for the Chicago Blackhawks as well. So they are loaded up and down the lineup, but Snuggerroot couldn't get it done. So it might be Snuggerroot Howard, but I really do think it'll be Howard, Leonard, and Bouyam. And I do think that Leonard in the end will win the Hobie Baker. Hobie likes goals. He has 29 to lead the league. And all these stats keep counting. So, you know, he's the current leader. And so these stats count right to the end of the tournament. So I think Leonard will win it Friday, which makes me interesting. Like if BC doesn't make it, he goes to the capitals. Like he might not be able to be at the ceremony, which kind of stinks.

I get it, you know, but maybe they're off that day. I didn't check their schedule, but maybe they can zip them in, zip them out, you know, to get that picture next to the Hobie pick. It's a cool trophy. You know, the names who were starting to win it recently are like NHL guys to, you know, Kyle McCarr, Jack Igo. It's a cool trophy to win.

Again, much like Heisman Trophy, it's a cool one to have forever. So I think Leather will win it. The Frozen Four, the actual semi-final is April 10th and the national championship is April 12th in St. Louis on ESPN2 and ESPN+. Before we move on to the NHL, I wanna give a shout out to the women.

Wisconsin won the national championship on the women's hockey side. And Leila Edwards, I see you. All right. Yeah. Ohio in the house. Ohio. That team was loaded.

What a game it was to win, to tie the game on a shootout and then win it. That legendary performance by Mark Johnson and who wants it when he called it, who wants the penalty shot? Raise the hand, go out and score. That was great television as well. And now- Mark Johnson, 1980. Yeah. He was the best player in that team. Had a really good career too. Uh, in the NHL, almost a point per game guy.

I did a column on the ESPN, uh, dot com a few years ago and I get my top 20 all time American foreign players. And at the time I had him like 19 because of the miracle on ice because of his success in college and a solid NHL career almost point per game. Ed Mark Johnson in my top 20 all-time born USA players two goals in that Russia game, right big one. He had the big one late in the period, right? He was their best player throughout the tournament and

now amazing women's coach at Wisconsin just piling up the national championships. You mentioned Team USA Leila Edwards is now joining Team USA as they go off to play in the Women's World Championship. So good luck to Team USA. She can fire the puck, unbelievable how she can fight. She's gotta play defense on that team Roy. She's normally a forward for Wisconsin,

but they're gonna put her as a defenseman. So she's pretty versatile. So it's basically Dustin Bufflin. That's right. Good call. I like it. Yeah. You have been on Alexander Ovechkin watch as we transition to the NHL now.

And I was looking up the exact date that you predicted that he would break the record. And originally, you said he would break the career goals record in the spring of 2026. Originally. And then you updated it. Yeah. You make a bunch of them and then you just go one.

When did he say this? Because I was watching a Canadian broadcast the other night, I can't remember the game, but on Sportsnet or TSN, they had somebody on who said it around 2015 or 2016 as well. We have cleared this up. I wrote my original espn.com column saying, I think Alex Lvovich can break this record in February of 2010.

He came to ESPN to shoot one of those Vista Sports Center commercials, the Russian spy one. A classic. Top five all time. Coming out of the roof. Top five to Vista Sports Center. I'm coming up with my list right now. Great spot.

And so at the time, I was writing my hockey column for dot com once a week. I did it from 01 to 2017, about 16 years, a lot of work. Paid me like 500 bucks a week. It was, I was so underpaid. So I figured, you know what? I can ask him a few questions. I'll kind of piggyback on this little shoot.

I heard he was coming and I just, I brought it up and he looked at me like I had 10 heads because he's 24 years old at the time time He's been in the league for four years I know I think you know, but my point was he had such a big broad, you know foundation got to a great start For goals and he just looks like the kind of guy was gonna get hurt like LeBron never got hurt and then here we are So and then yeah, then 2015. I am it's like kind of I think that's when David Amber first mentioned it to Elliott Freeman, hey, ask Ovi about the record maybe.

And so, yeah, we've texted, me and Ray Farrell have texted Elliott to clear up this right on the interwebs, Butcher Grosso, Bechkin, Gretzky, it'll come up there. And I kind of forecasted each age from 24 on when he could break the record. I was very reasonable in my projections, like when he was 36, well, Brett Hall had like a 39-goal season, so why can't he?

Age 37, Phil Esposito had like 38, well, he could do that. I was kind of historical comparisons all the way to age 40. And I actually reached a point where like, holy crap, this guy's going to score like a thousand goals. Forget the record. The record was never a question to me. I thought it was more likely he would score a thousand than he would not break the record. The record was never a question to me. I thought it was more likely he would score 1,000 than he would not break the record.

And I'm still going to stick with that if he decides to play three more years. He's going to get 1,000 goals. So yeah, 2010 was the original column. And then I made a few predictions about when. And I think I've deleted all those tweets that were wrong and saved the one that was closest. What did you think of what happened? I think I've deleted all those tweets that were wrong and saved the one that was closest. Well, how'd it close?

What did you think of what happened, was it last night, Roy, in Minnesota? When OV called basically the entire Caps team back onto the ice to honor another legend who's retiring after the season and Marc-Andre Fleury. I thought, I don't know why I was surprised by that. I guess maybe because Ovechkin doesn't, he's not in the spotlight for more than his goals record a lot right now.

But I mean, just for the kind of guy he is, that was just so cool to see something that we probably you know, I mean, when do you see those kind of like generational type guys come together like that? I thought that was just spectacular. I've always thought he's done a good job really assimilated himself right from his rookie year to the NHL, even America, even the culture, even like, you know, he would do in local ads as soon as he became the capital. He was goofy.

You know, when I, when the Russians first came into the league, actually going back to Miracle and I actually mentioned Mark Johnson, how dour they were. You know, they were just so, of course their lives were terrible. They, they were, you know, they had to just go play hockey around the world. None of them had anything. Remember the famous story, they would trade vodka for blue jeans and lake plastic because they couldn't get any blue jeans.

So they would trade with the Americans, get some blue jeans to wear. It was a tough existence. It was kind of, and so, and the players seemed to reflect that just in their countenance and their expressions when they first came to the NHL. But then over time, it kind of changed. And Oveska was the first one he was a goofy, like there weren't goofy Russians in the 80s. 70s in the 80s in the early 90s,

when Patee saw first coming over and those guys, he was really out there and just kind of embraced it all and and being goofy never took himself seriously, understood like Arnold Schwarzenegger that you know, my English is going to be perfect, but I'll try and I'll laugh and I can laugh at myself and just the whole game and he kind of learned the and then Stanley Cup has grown to become the trophy in sports. It used to be the gold medal. The gold medal is still very huge. Don't think you'll be wrong. But back in the old days in the NHL 70s and 80s, the Europeans couldn't wait to lose. They could go back home and they weren't getting paid in the NHL 70s and 80s, the Europeans couldn't wait to lose. They could go back home and

they weren't getting paid in the playoffs. So to them, it didn't have any kind of impact. That slowly changed and you saw Ovechkin's reaction when he won the Stanley Cup and that shows you what the value of the trophy means now and the accomplishments. So I agree. He really has endeared himself completely to the NHL now and all countries and know, all countries and all players from all countries do that now. That wasn't the case initially in the NHL. Bootschy, before we get you out of here, you mentioned that this is SportsCenter commercials. I've been, I fell asleep and woke up to SportsCenter every day growing up and these-

I love that shirt by the way. That's like Atlanta Braves combination Gators shirt. It's a Gators shirt, baby. So, uh, I put together my list of top five. This is Sports Center commercials. Really quickly I scrambled so I might have missed some of my favorites but this is what I came up with off the top of my head. I want to run it by you. All right OLI outside looking in as I mentioned Florida Gators Steve Irwin with Albert the Alligator. Steve Irwin with Albert the Alligator. Really good.

Alright, number five. David Ortiz trying on a Yankees hat and Wally the mascot walks by and gets mad at him. Agreed. Sneaky good. Sneaky good. Number four. Scott van Pelt. His cubicle is right next to LeBron James and he steals LeBron James' chair. Simple, clean, good. More simple the better. Number three, Scott Van Pelt a big feature on this list. Stu Scott and Scott Van Pelt warming up before the show and they they rip off the suit. Number two, the inspiration for this list Alex Alex Ovechkin, the Russian spies.

Okay. And number one, this is far and away the greatest. They're in the cafeteria, Arnold Palmer walks up, pours an Arnold Palmer. I can't say that word either, Lucy. And then they whisper to each other, that was awesome. I know. Greatest. This is SportsCenter. Oh, good. I would just add, follow me to freedom, that was awesome. I know. Great, this is SportsCenter. I would just add, Follow Me to Freedom, Charlie.

Follow Me to Freedom. Oh, that's great. That's a good one. Jay Harris with the New York Jersey Devil mascot. No words, just going down. And he gets out of the elevator. I love the Van Pelt Thesaurus one. When the guys come in, there's the steroid era

and like performance enhancing as a writer. And they found this thesaurus one when the guys come in use the steroid era and like performance enhancing as a writer and they Found this the source and it's that's gonna. He tries to run and they tackle them I like that one. So I love the OV one, too So yeah, it's it I've done about I did about 12 to 15 of those there was Shaq Where he walks up the tree and he pulls down the human mascot like the tiger like a tiger Yeah, that's a good you think he's getting the kitten out of the elephant. Mike the tiger, yeah, that's a good one. You think he's getting the kitten out of the tree and it's actually the human-sized mascot who looks like a baby in Jack's arms. And I did that with Stu.

That was a great memory, a great day being around those guys. So yeah, those were fun. We don't do them anymore. They're really expensive to do. They were part of the budget cuts originally. So now we kind of make some new ones. We do it in-house, do it ourselves.

But that was an amazing, it was like a movie set. There'd be 100 people, really talented directors, and we'd make up a lot of stuff. In fact, the Adrian Peterson one, where I call Van Pelt Bedwetter, hey Bedwetter. We just made that up, and that was one they ended up using, not the real scripted, take forever to plan and shoot. It was just that one, let's try this.

So a lot of those, we would do the one they scripted, and then say, let's try this. Let's try this. And I bet that was the devil's one with Jay Harris. And let's just try this. You know, you just walk in the elevator, you ask if he's going up and he says, no, and you hurry up and get out. And those, those were some great memories. Finally, uh, Brent Marshawn is playing tonight for Florida. Yes. So he's going to be on the second line with Mackie Samuskevich and Sam Bennett. There was a three-way tie in the Atlantic division right now. Toronto has first place based on the third tiebreaker with regulation and overtime wins.

Panthers are in second and Tampa is now in third. They are in third because they played one more game than Tampa and Toronto and Florida. So how is Brad Marshand's addition to the Florida Panthers going to affect this first place race for the Atlanta division? Yeah, he just gives them a big jolt of energy late in a long, long, long NHL season. The players will be excited during warmup. Warmup will have a buzz to it.

Marshand will be flying around the ice. No, he's on a Stanley Cup contender. Remember, he's only one one was 15 years ago as a young kid. It'll mean a lot this time as well as he is toward the end of his career. So he's just going to bring energy and obviously the on ice stuff, the grit, the playmaking just a good hockey player. But I think overall energizing the room and that's the difference

between the NCAA hockey tournament that we started talking about in the NHL and why the Panthers are the favorite, because it's not one and done. You have to beat them four out of six times or four out of seven times. That's hard. And that's why they're the favorite amongst those three. Home ice doesn't really matter in the NHL. We see the history of it. It's 50-50. Holman Road records. It does kick up a little bit for the home team in game seven.

A little more of an advantage, but otherwise, you can win in the road. Players enjoy it. They like that us-against-them mentality, as the Panthers have shown in their last few years here on their cup run. So yeah, he'll add a lot. And they are the favorite to get back to the cup

final for the third straight year. And they need that. It's tiring to do this every year so they need these little bursts of energy that Marchand will provide. The Frozen 4 is on the ESPN family of networks. Guys, enjoy college hockey. John Butchegross, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Hey friends, it's JarroBear here and I'm here to tell you all about Boost Mobile, which is now a legit nationwide 5G network. So I must take a break from the jokes here for a second and put on my serious voice.

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Weather is starting to warm up, regular season starting to wind down, games of consequence in sports starting to ramp up. I know what you're going to need by your side. It's by my side already. Miller Lite. Yeah that's right I'm making my springtime a Miller time. I'm making my sports time Miller time. Going to a car race? Miller time. Gonna see some tennis? Miller time. Gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories? Miller time. I love Miller Lite because it's got taste that I know I can depend on. No games, no gimmicks. It's that simple folks, it's just a great beer for people who like

beer. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than the other light beers. It's got simple ingredients, and at just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, Miller Time is always a good time. The original light beer since 1975 and still the very best one. Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLight.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Okay, sound a review of what happened this week in Pantherland, and the Panthers had back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday at Washington and back home against Pittsburgh. In Washington, not good. They lost 6-3, and it was a wild first period.

It was tied 3-3 after the first 20. But the way the Panthers looked on defense, it was pretty much inevitable that they were going to end up losing that game. And the Capitals shut them down for the rest of the game. And Alexander Ovechkin did not score a goal, but he had two assists. And everybody else scored a goal. Yeah, everybody else scored a goal, including Tom Wilson, who continues to have a career year.

Yeah. 30 plus goals now for Tommy W. But you could tell from early on that that was not going to go the Panthers' way that game. I guess it was back and forth, a lot of rush goals. Like you said, third or the first period, three goals each. I think Washington took three leads, Florida tied it three times. And then when the second period started, Washington was up five to three before the second period was a minute old.

Just very un-Panthers-like. Maybe perhaps a wake-up call for Florida as they were wrapping up that road trip, but just not pretty. Tom Wilson is now a goal away from his career high and a sister away from career high. Yeah, I mean, that's really surprising. Washington is so weird to me. Like this team, I mean, I know they got a lot better. They had a great offseason and everybody's really excited about them and everything.

But Tom Wilson scoring 32 goals and just the way that everything is happening around the Ovechkin chase, I'm still sticking on this team. I don't want to call them frauds because they're good. I don't see them going very far in the playoffs. I just think that they're a team that just has a great regular season and they run into one of these tougher teams in the playoffs and they struggle a lot to score. They're kind of like the Pan...

I think we talked about this last week. They're kind of like the Panthers in when they won the president's trophy where they score score score score score But when it comes to playoff time, is that really gonna be an effective strategy to go deep in the playoffs? I don't think apologies by the way. He already has a career high and goal So there's that but the good news the good news out of that is Sam Bennett continues to help the pets He's helped another Pet get adopted through Benny's buddies in the Humane Society of Broward. He had a goal and assist and he's five goals away and two points away from his career high in each of those categories.

This is a contract year, fellas. It is. And remember early on, like, Bennett had that, he was at like 17 or 18 games where he didn't score a goal. The fact that he's still got what is it, 23 now, really, 22, 23, whatever it is, like, it's been a pretty impressive season. But I think the time that he's out of the lineup, it's never more apparent that the Florida needs Sam Bennett in their lineup. And I really hope as we get towards the off season that the Panthers and Sam Bennett figure

out a way to get something done. I think with both of their UFAs, with Bennett and with Eklad, it's been pretty clear that both of them are pretty integral parts of the Panthers machine that keeps turning along. So it'll be interesting to see if they can get something done with those guys as we get closer to the off season. Five goals away and two points away from a career high. That's good stuff from Benny. That's how you play in a contract year Roy. You want to get paid, that's how you do it. And Benny right now he's on track to get paid. There

were recent reports from Elliot Friedman that the Panthers and Bennett have started talks again. He said they were really close when they started talks earlier this year. It didn't quite come to fruition. I think with the cap stuff, the way it's going up, all of a sudden he saw a little more value. But also this has been a great relationship. Benny's been really good here. It wouldn't surprise me if they get a deal done at all. And they kind of need to. He's a very valuable player. And like Dworkie mentioned, Ekblad, I mean, has been just the defensive leaks in this game are crazy. The defensive leaks since Echblad went out have been very on Panther. Like, uh, they really need to try and get both of these guys resigned or else it's going to be a, an interesting off season for sure.

So the Panthers complete their six game road trip going two, four and zero. Not good. Not good at all. They were outscored 18 to four. So a little home cooking for them was very much needed. And the Panthers played the Penguins. And all three of the matchups have gone past regulation. Extra hockey. That means more Sydney Crosby for me. Hurray. Just, what are we doing here, man? Just win the regulation. Smile. It's all for you. No.

It's all for you, Roy. No, no, no. By the way, these teams know how much you love the, was it black and yellow, right? That's Pittsburgh black and yellow. Yeah, that's right. So they know how much that you love that. So I feel like you should just smile and say thank you for this extra access to this generational player that everybody seems to love but me. Okay, whatever. By the way, those those three games, very important in the standings, because that would have figured into the tiebreaker with Toronto right now is and we mentioned this with Bucci, a three way tie in the Atlantic division. So and that tie, by the way, 35 wins in regulation, both

Toronto and Florida. So they had to go to the third tiebreaker regulation and overtime wins. And Toronto has the advantage on that. So, uh, yeah, when games and regulation and they did not versus the penguins as the Panthers won four three, but. Alexander Barkov and the shootout best back end of the game, just making goaltenders look silly. Ethan. He is so good at the shootout best backhand in the game just making goaltenders look silly Ethan. He is so good at the shootout it feels like every time he is in one it's a shock if he doesn't score you know he's going to score when he gets into

the shootout. Rhino should have tucked the game away he beat Jari but it just went off the post his shooting he's had a little bad puck luck recently but the star of the shootout for me was Sergei Bobrovsky saved all three attempts and the final attempt against Brian Russ, who had two goals in this game. I thought he was beaten. I think Goldie thought he was beaten. Yeah. But then Bobrovsky kind of like moved his pad and you saw the puck just sitting in the crease. It had not gone in and you were like, Oh my God,

the pit, you know, the Panthersthers won so that was a crazy shootout Bob has been absolutely phenomenal recently and it shouldn't be any surprise right we all kind of knew he struggled early it'll be fine go around in the form come February and since I think his number since I can't remember exactly when since January he's got under two goals allowed per game. His save percentage is up near nine 30, maybe even over nine 30. He has been absolutely fantastic. He's going to be ready for the playoffs once again, and he's going to have to put

the Panthers, you know, he's probably going to put the Panthers on his back, just like he has the last two years. This is going to make David. Robrovsky in the month of March, fellas, six wins in eight games, three shutouts, one point five oh goals against and a nine thirty five save percentage. This guy is ready for the playoffs. Yes, he is. And this is going to make Dave happy. He had an assist in the game.

Yes. Goalie assist. Goalie assist. They count for double. Sam Reinhardt had two goals in the game as well. The Panthers are gonna play Utah tonight. So weird to say, right? Yeah, yeah. The Utah hockey club.

Four day break for the Panthers. UHC, even though that's not what they put on the graphic in the upper third for the scoreboard, but UHC. We mentioned this to Debucci earlier that Brad Marshawn hopefully will make his debut tonight. Confirmed. Confirmed. Confirmed. He's making his debut, Paul Maurice announced in the press conference today. So he's looking like the second line, correct? He's going to be in Matthew Kutryk's spot as well as Mackie and Sam Bennett.

That's right. Marshandon Bennett. When you look at these lines, all of a sudden, what these lines look like when the Panthers are at full strength, you're looking at either Mackie Samuskevich, possibly Evan Rodriguez, Oh, yeah. fourth line. Yeah. Mackie on the top line.

Ridiculous. Yeah. Mackie up top. You could have Verhage on the third line or vice versa. I mean, either way. Wondell and Nusarainen, Boquist on the fourth line, Erod on the fourth line. Like, I don't know what the hell Paul Maurice is going to do with these lines. But just like the Panthers did last year where they had five lines

they could roll out there if they wanted to. Yeah, they're going to have five lines that they could roll out there again. Guys like AJ Greer, Jonah Gajdjiewicz and Thomas Nocek, who have been solid players for the Panthers all year long, are going to possibly be on the wrong end in the playoffs. It's gonna be amazing to see what Maurice does and what this team looks like at full strength, because you're talking about Evan Rodriguez,

who led the Stanley Cup final in goals last year, possibly being a fourth liner come playoff time. It's insane. It's a good problem to have being that deep. It's the best problem. No. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Stirling is coming back. He's going to get his tribute video. That's a, that's great. His tribute video should just be the penalty kill, the penalty kill. Yeah. Correct. Just play the penalty kill in full the minute 30 where he doesn't have a stick and he's diving head first to try and clear the puck and then Bobrowski.

That should just be, they don't need to show anything else. That's exactly right the biggest and greatest penalty killing franchise history straight up. Utah is coming off of a eight nothing beat down against he lay lost in Tampa. Yeah they that was that was bad the Panthers last time they played Utah was the first matchup they that they had since Utah moved from Arizona. And that was a dominant time. Yeah, Utah, they they're basically like, what are they? Ten points out of a playoff spot right now with ten games to go like they have zero margin for. They basically have to win out and then hope to get some help.

I know that they were after the game last night in Tampa. A couple of guys were talking about like we really have to like check ourselves if we want to talk about the playoffs. Like, guys, the playoffs are like passing you by. It's that time is basically passed for the Utah Hockey Club. So we'll see what kind of effort they have because having their season end basically with an eight nothing loss in Tampa probably killed them. Yeah, not a good problem to have in that. And the opposite end on that one.

Sunday and Tuesday, back to backs. I should say home and homes, not back to backs, but home and homes against the Montreal Canadiens The Habs are in the last wild-call spot in the east. They got four teams chasing them as we mentioned with Bucci Cole Caulfield dedicated his season to Johnny Goudreau changed his player playing his jersey number Yes, 34 goals and 29 assists for 63 points Nick Zuzuki's leading the team in points for 73. He's got 22 goals and 51 assists. These are big gains for the Canadians. Monty's having a great year for them too. Another former Panthers goalie out there to

talk about, but it's been fun. They've really responded to Marty St. Louis. You remember when he took over a couple of years ago? Was it like toward the end of the season? We're like, yeah, actually played pretty well under him. Well, I mean, look what's happening now. So it'll be fun to see if we can get another Canadian team into the playoffs. Right. I know we talked about it last week, but anytime you get the Canadian teams in the playoffs, you know, it gets rowdy up there, especially in Montreal. Panthers four days off between tonight's game and Sunday's game. But the schedule just loads up at the end here.

They get that tough back to home and home with Montreal, not back to back, but Sunday, Tuesday, that's still a tough trip. And then a back to back on Wednesday against Toronto, and then another back to back the next weekend on Saturday and Sunday. So there's three, I think they have two more back to backs the rest of the season.

It's a brutal stretch and it's gonna be three more back to backs, excuse me, three more back to backs, the rest of the season, it's a brutal stretch and it's gonna be, or three more back to backs, excuse me, three more back to backs the rest of the season. So they needed those four days really badly. Yes, the rest is very important. And good to have Brad Morichon on this team now because they need the support because it's gonna be a long one for the

rest of the season. So. Oh, it's going to be so weird seeing him in a Panther jersey tonight. Even if we're watching this after it happened, it's still weird for you. Like it's going to be an adjustment period for sure. I cannot wait. Yeah, neither can I. For Ethan, for Dave, for Jason, for Gino. My name is Roy Dahlemey. We'll see you next week. For Ethan, for Dave, for Jason, for Gino. My name's Roy Doleme making my springtime a Miller time. I'm making my sports time Miller time. Going to a car race?

Miller time. Gonna see some tennis? Miller time. Gonna chill in the backyard with some friends and make some memories? Miller time. I love Miller Lite because it's got taste that I know I can depend on. No games. No gimmicks. It's that simple folks. It's just a great beer for people who like beer. Miller Lite is brewed for taste. It hits different than the other light beers. It's got simple ingredients, and at just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, Miller Time is always a good time. The original light beer since 1975, and still the very best one. Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories.

Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.