The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Comeback Kids ft. Colby Cohen & Erin Ambrose
Episode Date: May 22, 2025Colby Cohen and Erin Ambrose join Jeff Marek on The Sheet. Discussing the Dallas Stars third-period comeback, Stuart Skinner, how the Hurricanes handle the physicality of Florida, what to expect from ...the Panthers in Game 2, the PWHl expansion draft and playoffs, Erin's emotional end-of-season interviews, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Ninja Kitchen Canada: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/products/ninja-crispi-4-in-1-portable-glass-air-fryer-cooking-system-zidFN101CGY?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=olv&utm_campaign=25Q2-Crispi&utm_content=en👍🏼Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_enReach out to sales@thenationnetwork.com to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Okay, hello once again. Welcome to the sheet lots to get to today.
Chicago Blackhawks announcing Jeff Blaschel by the way as their new head coach.
And in true Merrick fashion, I'm just amused by the triviality of one thing, as always.
And I'm always sort of impressed when it happens, because I don't really ever give these or this
class of hockey people a chance at coaching. Maybe I should. He's a goalie.
Jeff Blasch was a goalie at Ferris State. You don't see a lot of
goaltenders turn coaches. Of course Patrick Waugh with the New York
Allenders, but if you look at the history of the game, there have been some, certainly Jacques Plante
we think of, Emile Vacat-Francis, Ron Lowe, Glenn Hanlon, Eddie Johnson, like these types
of guys that have coached Jacques Martin was another one, Turk Broda.
But by and large, coaches are not former goaltenders. Coaches tend to be either forwards or
defensemen, mainly because those are the naturally the things that you coach more
than goaltenders as a head coach in the NHL. Ask most coaches
around the NHL, how much do you coach your goaltender? Not at all. That's why we
have a goalie coach. Goalies turn head coaches in the NHL. All I'm saying is it's rare.
Welcome back to the NHL. And a head coaching capacity, Jeff Blashill, former goaltender.
We have a lot to get to on the program today. We have a couple of really special guests.
So let's get right to our Daily Outline and see what's coming up on the program today.
Daily Outline is of course powered by our friends at FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book, that is
FanDuel. And a couple of special guests coming up on the show, both of them not goalies, both of them
defenders. Colby Cohen stops by the program for morning cup of hockey and Aaron Ambrose. Ambrose
for one very specific reason. Montreal
Victoire ending their season at the hands of Ottawa who are up 1-0 on
Minnesota in the Walter Cup final. But in clear out day, clean out day, Aaron
Ambrose gave a performance of a lifetime and kind of a lesson for all other hockey
players, whether they be male, female, animal, mineral, vegetable, whatever, of how
to conduct yourself at one of these things.
We'll play pretty much the entirety of her performance in the scrum the other day and
then welcome Ambrose to the program and get into a little bit more detail.
The Dallas Stars, great comeback, great six and a half minutes, but again, if I'm an Edmonton
Oilers fan, I am not worried at all.
They absolutely dominated the first 40 minutes of play.
I know that's not how we judge hockey games, Jeff, but still, it was a game that was carried
by the Oilers and then a complete Oilers collapse specifically on the penalty kill and the Dallas
Stars claim game one and game two tonight of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers.
I'm guessing that we are going to see a much different version of the Carolina Hurricanes
and I kind of expect to be honest with you Zach, I want you to weigh in on this one,
I kind of expect more to see the Florida Panthers behaving like the Florida Panthers, and I'll just be blunt, I'll just
be honest about this, and when I say that, I mean, I expect them to go at Freddie Anderson
hard. Like, I expect the Carolina Hurricanes to go at Freddie Anderson the way the Carolina
Hurricanes, sorry, I expect the Florida Panthers to go at Freddie Anderson the way the Carolina Hurricanes, so I expect the Florida Panthers to go with Freddie Anderson the way the Carolina Hurricanes went at Sergei Bobrovsky in game one.
Like Carolina tried to out Florida, Florida today I wonder if we start to see Florida
try to out Florida themselves and go with the Carolina Goaltender.
Do you agree with that?
I would agree with that? I would agree with that. I think this is a
extra gravity around the Blue Paint nights
when it comes to the Carolina Crease.
You like that one, eh?
Yeah. Also on that point,
I expect to see the Carolina Hurricanes
play less like the Florida Panthers.
More their game?
Yeah. But their game? Yeah.
But their game is like,
their game is not that it's like table hockey,
but you look at the Carolina Hurricanes,
it's puck pressure,
we've talked a lot about man on man
and how suffocating that can be,
but it's like both these two teams play like,
the accent is on the forecheck
when it comes to both of these teams,
which is why it should make,
even with all the Carolina Hurricanes haters out there it should make for a really
interesting series and make for really interesting matchup because there are no
soft for checks on either side. Both these teams have really aggressive for
checks. So I think that Carolina will be crisper than they were in game one. I
still don't think the Hurricanes are in trouble despite the fact that they've lost a game at home. I can still see a
path where they win but if it's gonna happen and not they're gonna pin this
whole thing on Freddie Anderson but he can't surrender more than what three
goals? Yeah. Three goals tops? Yeah. If you're Freddie Anderson keep it a two give your
give your team a chance. I was trying to think you said that I'm pretty sure there was like a number where it's like if the Panthers score X number
It's basically over. Just trying to think about what the
Remember that stat off the top of my head. I can't but probably for
Yeah, Freddie is it's gonna have to be doubt
You know what I was kind of thinking about? The way to explain how these teams play.
You tell me if I'm close here.
The Panthers is like playing in mud,
where it's dirty and disgusting and just shit is everywhere.
Whereas the Hurricanes is like quicksand,
where you don't realize it, but it's just like slow,
but it's cleaner,'s cleaner it doesn't
look as disgusting it's cleaner and then all of a sudden it's just slow and they
just suffocate you see I kind of look at playing Carolina kind of like getting
squeezed by a boa constrictor and every time you take a breath in it gets tighter
and tighter or like the analogy that I've used before with Carolina is they
grab your ankle and drag you to deep water
and say, let's see who can tread water the longest.
And they're just like superior athletes.
And they're just better at it.
And they will just keep going and keep going.
And by the time the third period rolls around,
you're exhausted.
More on this tonight, this game tonight
with Colby Cohen coming up in a couple of moments.
Stars six, Oilers 3. Was that the
real score? Like when you look at the
game, here's my question, was that the
real score? Like does that score tell you
what happened in that game? Like
sometimes you look at a score and go like
yeah, yeah, that was a 5-2 game. Did you
look at that and say that was a 6-3
game? Now here come the Howells and the
Dallas Stars fans saying, Merrick, you
count the goals. That's how you tell who can win, you dummy.
You got rocks in your head. Edmonton, this is why
I was saying this with Tyler and Liam on Eulers Nation
earlier. I look at that game and I find the Edmonton-Eulers had a clunky
six and a half minutes, but it was a game the first 40 minutes
the Eul others dominated.
Like they did what I every time I love the cut. I love the the the cutbacks after a goal
or a big play to the Dallas bench yesterday where Peter DeBoer just looked like beside
himself like what team what team is this right and I love DeBoer's look because he kind of
has that loose and tie you know like it's close to last call, like that look, I'd really dig it.
And you look back and he's just like befuddled looking around, like, what are we doing?
Like there's that moment on that Evan Bouchard goal where everybody just flocks to Leon Dreisaitl,
understandable, it's Leon Dreisaitl, but completely frees up Evan Bouchard.
You got to count to make sure that it's five on five because it looks like a power play
chance.
And he gets like how many long strides?
Like four from the blue line.
He gets like four uncontested strides
and then snaps it in.
No one's near him.
And you cut back to the bench and DeBoer is like,
what is going on?
And you're saying to yourself, all right,
speaking of strides, this is an Edmonton Oilers team
that's hit their strides.
And then the penalties begin for the Edmonton Oilers, specifically the high sticking penalties.
And I know everybody wanted to whack the pinata last night, and Matt Deshane is faking and all that,
until they saw the ESPN angle, where it showed that, no, Vander Kane like got his stick up on Matt Deshaen like that's legitimate. No one's faking it. There it is. Snap right there.
Bang. Catches him in the face. But then if you're watching the Canadian, the
Canadian TV, all you see is keep rolling it. The Canadian TV angle starts right
there when the stick is at Deshaen's hips and you say to yourself, oh look at
Deshaen just faking. Oh snap back and grab the mouth. A lot of people text me and I'm
like I want to see the whole thing. Let me see that whole play first before I make any judgments
on that. Anyhow, let's get into this with Colby Cohen. He is the co-host of the very excellent Morning Cup of Hockey, a show you should all start your day with and if you're
doing so, hop in the chat because it's the best chat going on any hockey program.
He is Colby Cohen. He joins me now on the sheet. Colby, first of all, thanks so much
for doing this double dip for you today. On with Johnny this morning and now
slumming it with me in the afternoon. I want to get to Carolina and the Florida Panthers and sort of how you
equate this game. We're trying to compare it to like either swimming in
deep water or being suffocated by a boa constrictor. We'll get there in a couple
of seconds. But can I talk to you about Chicago for a second? You know the
organization, you know Kyle Davidson, you worked there for a while, you know how
this organization operates, And I'm gonna be
really trivial here. I mentioned this off the top of the show. So Jeff Blaschel
gets the nod as the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. And if you go
back through the history of hockey, it is rare. And I know there's a presence of
Patrick Waugh, which everyone can point to and say, well, look at the guy with the islanders.
It is rare that a goaltender turns into a head coach.
The history of hockey says that doesn't happen.
There's Turk Broda and Jacques Plons and Emil the Cat Francis and Eddie Johnson, etc.
But generally goalies don't make it to that position because they've spent their whole lives focusing on the most unique position in all of sports and that's goal tender.
You coach, you grew up as a defenseman, a lot of this stuff comes more natural to you because you're, you know, you're around the play.
Goalies, not so much.
the play. Goalies, not so much. I don't know if you have a thought on this one, maybe something that I'm missing, but
I continue to be impressed by goal, Jacques Martin, I
continue to be impressed by goaltenders who can make it to
that position. And for those who don't know, Jeff Lashaw was a
former goaltender at Ferris State. Do you have a thought on
goalies turned head coaches and just how rare that is?
Yeah, listen, I think you make some good points with it
and I think it's similar to, you know,
and our chat knows and I know they're all here right now,
like I'm hard on goaltenders, Jeff,
and I always say, well, he should have had that one.
That is my famous line, he should have had that one.
Yeah, it wasn't a bad goal, but he should have had it
Uh, the chat kind of gets all over me and they say that i'm i'm just the goalie's worst nightmare
Which I was as a player as well
It's such a unique position
You know where I feel like even as a guy who played defense my whole life
I understand the game at a high enough level even for a forward, right?
I can watch film and I know where the forwards
are supposed to be.
I know where the wingers are supposed to be in coverage.
I know how penalty kills look, power plays.
I know what neutrals are, but I gotta tell you, Jeff,
if you showed me some video on a goaltender,
I'm gonna tell you, he should have had it
or he shouldn't have had it, but I am rarely gonna break
that down to a level that rises to being able to do it or
teach it at the highest levels of the sport. I tell our goalies on our junior team all the time,
look, you know, I'm probably not the best guy to ask. And they appreciate my honesty when it comes
to certain things they're working on in practice. And so it makes me wonder, does a guy who played
goalie his whole life, does he have enough of an understanding
of the way all those systems work?
Now, clearly some of them do,
but I do think it's a provoking thought
that I've really never once thought about
before you asked me that question.
It's just like, you look at the history of the game
and there are so few that get through
and get to the highest level.
Jerry Cheever's, there would be another one with the Boston Bruins just doing this again
like off the top of my head.
Like there's not very many.
It's a unique situation.
I remember, you know, Rick Walmsley, who was a longtime goaltender with the St. Louis Bluesman
around the NHL, was a goalie coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He was a goalie coach in Columbus when Doug McLean was there and Doug was always famous like when
they would be doing video with the goaltenders. Wamsley for all the
goals be like, oh that one was tipped, oh that one was tipped, oh that one was
tipped and Doug said I would lose my mind and say, does every tipped shot have
to go in? Like can he stop one tipped shot? And Wamsley said he would get
like livid, like can our goaltender please just be in position to stop one tip like I know what you mean
like there are a lot of built-in excuses why why goals go in oh he was screened
oh it was tipped and speaking of screens let me use that to get us to last night's
Dallas Edmonton game and the third period specifically like Edmonton's in
control for 40 minutes. I
was saying to Zach before he came on, I love the cutaways to the Dallas bench
where after Edmonton scores, Pete DeBoer, especially on that Bouchard goal where he's
got like four uncontested strides before he shoots, five on five. Like that doesn't
happen at the NHL level. And the cut back to the bench and DeBoer's like, what is
going on? Like who are these guys? like is this the Dallas Stars or the Texas Stars of the American
Hockey League but then the third period rolls around and to me that was a
clinic in screens like that really was like a brilliant display of how you can
use screens to take goalies eyes away do you have a thought on what we saw in
that six and a half minutes
where Dallas only got back into the game, but took the lead and never relinquished it?
Well, I think the first one, you know, Marshman is is a strong hockey player.
I mean, that that guy, he goes to the dirty areas.
So when he creates that real estate right in front of Skinner
and he's in the blue paint, he's got one foot in, you know his
heels. He's in. He's a little bit out. I think Darnell Nurse
makes the decision as as as you're kind of taught at this
point and and the way the game is is coached now is he's just
going to front Marshman and and that way you stay loose as a
defenseman in front especially because he's the strong side
guy. So if there is a low play, he's the one Darnell nurse who has to have enough
freedom to move to the side.
So right then and there you have a double screen.
You got Marshman in front and you got Darnell nurse right on top of them.
Then you've got, I believe it was Yan Mark, uh,
who's the first player that the puck gets by.
And I can't remember who the second player was
that the puck got by as far as the screen.
But there's basically a triple screen
of Edmonton Oilers players and Marshmint
all in front of Skinner on that play.
Hopefully I didn't butcher any of that
as I'm digging back into my nerves.
But it's a perfectly
placed shot, but you need a block there, Jeff.
One of the three penalty killers have to come up with a block there.
There is no reason that shot should get through.
And while, yes, brilliant screen and brilliant job by Marchman to not get a goalie interference,
to not back too far into the crease, I'm pointing my fingers at the Edmonton penalty kill and I'm like, come up with a
block guys.
This is the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Mm hmm.
Well, now I'm curious about, and again, I'm going to equate this to goaltenders.
I remember one of the Maple Leafs assistant coaches, this is years ago with Ed Belfort
and Belfort, when he, and he would always sit down on the penalty kill meetings and
Belfort would always say the same thing.
He would say, look, this is the one player on the power play
that I don't wanna worry about.
If you could take that one player away
from my area of worry, I can handle the other four.
Just like make sure that I don't have to worry
about this one shooter.
When you're doing penalty kill video
and when you're talking about like how our penalty kill
can be successful, like what is the nature of that conversation? Like how does that go?
I understand the idea of you know just you know laying laying out Dan Girardi
Stalin just block block block block block block everything Matt Hendricks
Laurie Korpakowski a couple of old great penalty killers for the Oilers here but
like if you're the Oilers what do you do against Dallas? I
mean, their penalty kill is 14th of 16 teams in the playoffs
here. Like it's not good at all. What do you do?
I think it's a commitment level to details, Jeff, honestly, it's
a it's a shift in and shift out, where everybody is is on the
same page as far as,
okay, here's what our structure looks like and here are our reads.
But furthermore, every team has a similar structure, right?
You saw the Edmonton Oilers, they're pressing out at the top and then they're wedging down.
So the top of their diamond kill is trying to put pressure on the top and then continue their momentum down to the half wall
in order to try to kind of isolate the flank guys because all the offense is usually created from
those guys and you saw Grandlin score a goal on his flank but it's really a commitment to stick
details it's a commitment to blocking shots there's just no reason to me that a team with as good a power play as Edmonton and as
lethal a players as Edmonton has because a lot of crossover happens between the power play players
and the penalty kill players. You know, you see McDavid out on the ice killing penalty. You see,
you know, other players, Bouchard kills penalties or what it's, it's just details. Are you stopping
and starting? Are you putting, are you leading with your stick back through the middle,
cutting plays in half?
Do you all have that mentality that, like, okay,
we are gonna cut the ice in half with our diamond,
and we are gonna force you to make this one play
and beat us in this one way?
When you allow scene plays in the National Hockey League,
you are going to give up big-time scoring chances, and Edmonton just gives too many scene plays in the National Hockey League, you are going to give up big time scoring chances and Edmonton just gives too many scene plays up from their killers and to me it's
an attention to detail which is a player commitment thing because it's not as if the coaches
are not pointing this out to them.
This is a very good coaching staff.
They understand.
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know, it's, I sort of threw out there yesterday
as our poll of the day for the podcast here.
What is more likely to happen?
The Oilers depth scoring going cold
or the Dallas Stars depth scoring heating up?
Because the story going into this series was,
Oilers are getting contributions up and down the line up the Dallas
stars are essentially doing it with the fins. And after that,
it's pop gun offense. And last night, we saw the Dallas stars
depth finally do something like sure grandlin found the back of
the net but like Matt de Shane was was all over it and you you know, Tyler Sagan snapped one in on the breakaway and then the really nice tip
on the Sam Steele backhand. What's the story for you in this series?
Like game one is game one. Territorially, 40 minutes was all Edmondson.
And then they just had an awful third period. And congratulations to Dallas for taking over.
What's the story of this series for you? I want to get to Florida, Carolina. and then they just had an awful third period. And congratulations to Dallas for taking over.
What's the story of this series for you?
I want to get to Florida, Carolina,
but last thought on this series,
what do you look for in this one?
It's all going to be about special teams.
It's really it.
I mean, forget, you're going to get goals.
There's just too many good players in this series
that there isn't going to be goals that go in the net.
And you just went through them all from last night.
So I, no need for me to repeat them,
but three for four on the power play versus was it one for three or one for four? For Edmonton,
I don't remember which if they were one for three or one for four, but that's the difference of the
hockey game. There's a seven minute stretch where they get three on the power play. Edmonton has to
come up, has to come up with a couple of kills there. By the way, one for three, 33%.
That's also a good night on the power play,
but you lost the special teams battle.
We had Josh Bogorad on yesterday,
who's the play-by-play guy for the Stars,
and who's phenomenal, by the way.
I mean, he is one of the best that people don't know about
because he doesn't do national games yet,
but is tremendous at what he does.
And then we had Tyler come on and I asked them both,
give me your three keys to the series. You guys are living this day to day with these teams.
They both said special teams. They both talked about the power play and they're both 100% right.
Whoever wins the special teams battle will be the team that goes to the Stanley Cup finals.
All right. Carolina, Florida. I got like five hot minutes with you here I look at this one and I say that wasn't the real Carolina Hurricanes that we saw in game one
That was a rusty Carolina Hurricanes team, but also
It was a Carolina Hurricanes team that said
We're gonna run your goalie before you run ours
Like we just want to establish here that like we we're going to play a lot around Bobrovsky
and if we bump him, so be it.
I think Florida after, not to put too much of an accent
on Shane Gostis-Bear and the shot at Brad Marshand,
but I think that's the poking the bear moment.
And I expect to see more aggressiveness
from the Florida Panthers tonight.
And I also expect to see a sharper
Carolina hurricanes. Like they just looked off. They just looked like rusty and a little bit off.
Look at the change. I mean, they made a couple of bad changes, which cost them.
They don't do that. I mean, those are mistakes. Like that team does not shoot themselves in the
foot and they actually shot themselves in the foot a couple of times. But I'll caveat it with
Florida makes everybody shoot themselves in the foot. They make everybody uncomfortable.
And I know you heard us talking about this on the show and I know you're going to have Brand on your
show at some point soon, but he had the best, the way he broke it down in his mind of like, they're both teams that are
great at getting the puck back, but it's so different how they go about it. Florida's
a gangbuster for check and Carolina has the most methodical conservative team at placing
pucks into areas that only they can get. The biggest difference for me the other night, Jeff, was that when you have Eklat and Forsling,
and then you've got Jones and Mikala,
and it goes on down to Schmidt and his pairing,
everybody can skate.
There is no weak link when it comes to feet
on the back end of the Florida Panthers,
and size for that matter.
So, you know, these guys can handle
those little soft pucks that you got to win foot
races to and you got to be ready to use your body to skate it out of traffic.
And it's why Carolina really never repossessed the puck in the offensive zone like we're
used to them seeing doing and why Florida was able to get to their game and get north-south.
You know, we've talked about the Mica Laplay to where, the Mica Laplay to where blue in
the face, you know face from the other night
But it really is interesting how we sort of say all they do a lot of the same things
But they really don't they have similar outcomes, but the way they go about it
You know one team more gangbusters give up some chances the other team methodical. They like to hang out and wait
It does make for a sort of a fascinating chess match.
The way that I look at it,
I'm glad you brought up retrievals there
because I look at the Florida Panthers and I say,
okay, let's use the analogy of a house.
The Florida Panthers smashed down the front door
to get the puck.
Carolina Hurricanes slip in the side door
when there's nobody looking.
Like that, but again, like they're both getting the puck, but you're right.
They do it exact different ways.
Now, Zach and I were talking about this earlier.
I don't know exactly what the number was and Zach doesn't either, but there was
someone that fired out the stat before the series about how many goals the
Carolina Hurricanes, sorry, how many goals the Carolina Hurricanes can't allow?
Like if Florida scores three, is it over?
If they score four, is it over?
Do you have a sweet spot of the bat
for how many goals the Carolina Hurricanes can allow
and still stay in the game?
With all due respect to Svetchikov,
who's been
great in these playoffs, like the one place of vulnerability for Carolina is they're not Edmonton,
they're not going to score their way out of problems. Do you have a number like, oh, they've
scored three, this thing's over, they've scored four, it's over. Those two numbers you threw out
is kind of where I'm hovering around and in my head
I'm going back and forth between three and four because you know
Have they really shown us that they're gonna go out and get four or five, right?
But I also do think they have guys can score
I think Shane Gostesphere can make anybody miss and make a big play on a power play
We're waiting to see is Seth Jarvis gonna really introduce himself to the world in this playoff series,
especially with the opportunity to run sort of the top
of the power play.
Yeah.
Look, it's gonna be difficult.
And I fully expect a response from Carolina tonight.
I really do.
I think they'll get their goals.
But think about this.
How many times did Carolina Carolina get get an opportunity
and they just didn't bury like Bob makes three or four saves and he makes you forget about a couple
of high danger scoring chances, even though Florida was carrying the play, they still give
up chances every now and again, one of their D gets caught outside the dots, right? They'll give
up a big play and Carolina is's gonna have to really bear down and
be opportunistic because if they are not opportunistic, when they get that one or two chances early in the
game, Jeff, they have to capitalize. So here, so Zach just sent this to me. So the Carolina
Hurricanes, 1930 and three when they score three or less, 39, six and two when they score four or more.
That's the one.
That's a big delta.
That's that that that is the one.
Real quick before I before I let you go here, you mentioned Shane Gostesbear.
When you look at that Carolina Hurricanes blue line, and you talk about players
that don't get a lot of headlines, that when you watch them, like, hey, this guy's really
good.
Where are you at on Walker?
I think Walker, everywhere he goes, everyone says the same thing.
I knew he was good, I didn't know he was that good.
Do you ever thought on Walker through all of this?
And I've always maintained, Carolina's a difficult and unique team to play for.
Not everybody can play for this team. Rantanen, one of the most skilled players in the game
could not play like the Carolina Hurricanes play.
It's a unique player that can succeed with the Hurricanes.
You have a thought on Sean Walker?
Well, I think Brad Shaw, first and foremost,
deserves a lot of credit,
who was the former defensive coach
for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Who, you know, I've heard nothing,
but Kevin Schattenkirk has told me this guy is one of the reasons he got to almost
a thousand regular season plus games. So when I had some games in Chicago, Jeff, and I'm
between the benches watching them play LA, nothing danced out at me. Granted, I'm doing
a home broadcast, but you can see that this is a smart hockey player.
When he got to Philadelphia is where I went, oh wow.
Like he always makes the next right play and then some,
he closes plays down,
he uses his feet to skate pucks out of trouble.
I mean, look, if you have him in your top four
and he doesn't have to be your number one or number two,
you did something right the way you designed your back end.
And I think, you know, it's a testament to his ability
to grow as a hockey player since he got more opportunity
leaving the LA Kings.
Remember in LA, it was in and out of the lineup,
you know, for the start of his career.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows.
And so I give the guy a lot of credit. I love the way that back end is built. and and Like I have nothing but good things to say about him as a human being, scummy play to shoot the pocket,
Brad Marshawn.
And I am very interested.
Hey, nobody got hurt.
I got no issues.
It's playoffs, but it's still scummy.
There's no doubt.
Let me ask you, let me close on this one then.
Cause I'm, the minute that I saw it,
the first thing I thought of was 2007,
Scott Niedermeyer, Daniel Alfredson.
And that one was worse.
And it was a slap shot right at the end of the second period
of like, holy smokes, he just like the frustration
is blasted at Niedermeyer, future Hall of Famer.
And Brad May told me, I asked him, I talked to him like,
what did Niedermeyer say in the intermission?
And he said, guys, nobody do anything.
We have them exactly where we want them.
We'd like, honestly, don't run around,
don't chase Alfredson, don't get distracted.
We're going back to Anaheim
and we're gonna win the Stanley Cup.
I kind of looked at that one and said,
that was Carolina frustrated after a long layoff.
Now sure, Marchand went after Gostes-Bear as well and if he would have,
if he would have hit him it would have been dangerous too.
And then there was that cross-checking moment too, where if Gostes-Bear doesn't
get his stick up, Brad Marchand's probably not playing in game too.
Right in the teeth.
Would have been right in the teeth and I'm saying to myself, one of two things.
One, good on Gost to spare for defending himself.
And then the other part of me, Colby is like,
you know what, we hear a lot about take one for the team
in the playoffs.
If Gost to spare doesn't defend himself,
Brad Marshaan is probably not playing this game tonight.
That's a one game all day cross check in the face.
Yeah, I mean, listen, sometimes it's just your reaction
to get your stick up there like that.
But look, Marshy, like he knows
what he's doing out there.
I mean, he has come full circle from when we were teammates,
when he was a first year player,
or maybe second year pro, whatever,
he has come full circle.
And I think that he's very smart
and he's very calculated about the way he agitates
in his old age, we'll call it, since he's a senior statesman now in the league.
I remember I was doing Hockey Night in Canada radio on Sirius when they won the Stanley Cup and tried to book him so many times.
And he always, I was always running, you know, you were there, he's always running with Tyler Sagan and so many times.
Shirts off in every bar we were in for the next two weeks, swinging it around.
And finally Bossy just had to say, can you ask for someone else because he's kind of
a puddle.
He's really happy.
He's drunk the whole time.
Unbelievable.
He's kind of a puddle.
Him and Tyler celebrated as hard as any two players on the team.
And like I said, I ran with those guys for about five days after the parade.
And then I was like, guys, I got to go home.
I went back to Philly. I't do it I mean I've just got out of college
and I can't hang with you two psychopaths in the best way possible so
anyways that's that's my that's my awesome all right listen it's a great
one thanks as always for stopping by continuous success with morning cup of
hockey and unlike your partner thanks for not bailing.
Good on you.
Always, anytime I can be there for you,
you know I'm there.
Professional.
Thanks Colby, you be good.
All right, boys.
Colby Cohen, there he is.
The one half of the impact players.
We'll call him that.
The impact players on the morning show
of the Morning Cup of Hockey.
Monday to Friday through the playoffs on our daily face off YouTube channel
Colby Cohen and Johnny Lazarus
9am Monday to Friday
I want to get into
something here that I
Retweeted the other day was just like to I
Guess I kind of refer to as a master class at how to handle,
you know, locker clean out day.
I want to talk to Aaron Ambrose here in a couple of moments
from the Montreal Victoire.
Let me get rid of some business here.
Let me get into some business here,
and then we're going to bring Aaron aboard.
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And before we bring Ambrose aboard, this was a couple of days ago at Locker Clear Out Day.
Locker Clean Out Day. Aaron Ambrose addressing the media as the Montreal-Victoria
season comes to an end. This comes to us courtesy of the Jocks and Jills podcast.
First, like you have to give Ottawa credit. I think that Ottawa played incredible. There was
as me as a fan watching, Ottawa had a lot of inconsistencies throughout this year and they found a way to not
Have any of those inconsistencies in four games
And I think that that's a testament to their group. But for me personally
Like I'm not happy with my year
I expect a lot out of myself and I wish I was better
I wish that I could have done a lot more for this group and it wasn't for a lack of trying
I wish that I could have done a lot more for this group and it wasn't for a lack of trying. But I can sit here and say that I needed to be better for this group and unfortunately
I wasn't able to be that way.
We had our exit meetings.
I mean, I'm not going to straight up assume that one way or the other.
I think for me that, again, if we look around our locker room, I think all of us could probably collectively agree on who the three,
in my opinion, if I was the GM, who I would protect.
In Anne Renee, Stace, and Poo,
if that happens, it's definitely not a bad choice.
So I think I'm not oblivious.
I'm not going to shy away from that,
but at the same time, I know that a lot of the things too are also out of Danielle's hands and management's hand at this point.
It means a lot.
Let's not be the one that cries on media day.
No, being a part of the Victoire has been such an honour.
And I don't say that because we don't know if the chapter is completely closed.
But I think for me, being in Montreal, being a part of this city, I first came to this
city in hopes of kind of repairing myself as a human being. I did that and then now to have the joy in which Montreal brings me,
it's not something that just was there to fix me,
it actually has become my home.
This team has become my home.
These teammates that I've had this year,
there's so many people in this room that I will forever be friends with
and that is when I say, okay, as much as the hockey side of it was
disappointing, um, I'm lucky to be able to play this game and to be a part of this
group.
Masterclass, Erin Ambrose of the Montreal Victoire.
Um, first of all, welcome back to the program.
Second of all, lovely.
Good.
Third of all, welcome back to the program. Second of all, lovely Woody. Cute. Third of all, what did you expect going into that day? I love that moment where you said, don't be the one to cry on media day.
But what did you expect?
First of all, that thing's gone all over, right?
That is like people like, I wish my NHL team players behave like this. Like this has become like the model for how you do it
during clean out day in front of the media.
What did, did you have any idea that that was gonna be
that raw and emotional for you?
We all know with the PWHL expansion draft on the horizon,
that's the obvious white elephant in the room,
but did you know it was gonna be like that?
No.
Um, I think anytime you do, and I mean, we never used to do lock a locker room
clean out days, so I think I've had two of them now and neither one of them are very enjoyable.
Um, but I also knew going into it that I needed to take some accountability, um,
and really express like the disappointment
of myself and not being better this year and not helping our team get to another step.
And then I think, like you said, it's a white elephant in the room with expansion.
And I think locker room clean out day, it hit me a little bit more that I might not
be here next year. So I did say to my agent though,
at least I didn't go viral for something bad.
Yeah, listen, I know the feeling of trending on Twitter
for a few days.
It's sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not.
Let me ask you about some of the things that you said there
because there was a lot of,
like the way that I sort of positioned it is like,
you were honest, you were raw, you were candid,
and above all, like you didn't try to BS anybody.
Like everybody understands the situation.
I think you're, again, I think you're probably too hard
on yourself for your performance this season,
but I know you have a high standard.
What was the nature of the feedback?
Before I get into the specifics of what you talked about,
what was the nature of the feedback?
Because anybody who has seen that,
like anyone who has amplified that on their social media,
or even just people in our chat right now,
like she's the goat, Erin's awesome, this is amazing,
I wish our team had this kind of accountability,
like the response has been overwhelming.
And I would always say to people, like, it's amazing
what happens when you're just honest.
What is the feedback that you've received been like?
I think just kind of going on your last point,
that's me, that's me.
This is me.
Um, maybe I am somebody that is too hard on myself, but I also don't think I would be where I am if I, if I wasn't hard on myself, but just in terms of feedback,
uh, I've had a lot of people reach out and a lot of people that, um, mean a lot
to me and their opinions meet a lot to
me.
People that have come before me in the game and even just teammates.
I don't usually look at the comments, but when people that I'm friends with tag me in
it like, Emerance Mashmire commented on that, the drugs and jill saying and i was like yeah mash you could have just texted me like but i think like somebody like that and even just like bailey
bram also in that one like i don't know it's just i will unapologetically always be myself
um so when you are yourself and you get a little extra love for it, I think it does feel a little bit better.
I like the way you talked about Montreal.
Under the umbrella of your personal situation,
I have an affinity to Montreal.
My birth mom lives there and her wonderful family.
I've always felt at home and really comfortable in Montreal.
I'll tell you a little thing that I always try to do.
Whenever I go to Montreal, whenever I fly into Montreal little thing that I always try to do.
Whenever I go to Montreal, whenever I fly into Montreal.
Not to me.
What's that?
I have no, not recently, no, you're generally out of town.
I wasn't in the locker room, sorry carry on.
And I was, we were going to my kid's hockey tournament
and I missed your game in Laval, I know,
you're treating me like a war criminal ever since,
and I get that, that's fine.
But I play this little game where I try to see
how deep I can get into Quebec only using French.
And I can speak French a little.
And petit peu me pas beaucoup.
So I can, I always, whenever I land, I say to myself,
I'm only gonna speak French
until someone responds to me in English.
And I usually get about two minutes into my Uber
to the hotel before my Uber driver finally says like,
okay, drop the act, and just starts talking to me in English.
And I love it every single time.
Like, I love that province and I love Montreal,
specifically old Montreal and the cobblestone streets
and the energy of a Saturday night and the hockey game
and all that.
Like, it really is a really unique city in our country.
And I love the way you talked about it.
Can you expand a little bit more on what Montreal means to you? I don't want to use past tenses here. How much it all means to you.
Yeah. Um, well, I think one of the things like that I touched on and obviously I'm not going to completely open up as to what I meant like in the moment in a scrum like that. But when I say Montreal was somewhere I came to repair myself,
I came to Montreal in running away from something.
I ran to Montreal to get away from just a disappointment after 2018.
To think that of the last seven years since that happened,
I've lived here for five,
five and a half of those years.
Um, like it has become my home. I've had three different apartments since I've been here,
all of very different locations. And I just continue to discover more things I love about
this city. And the one thing I say to everybody that comes to visit me here is it's got everything
of a big city, your sports teams, your entertainment,
but it doesn't feel like a big city.
Like if you go walking downtown in Toronto,
like you're bumping into people constantly,
I can walk anywhere, and I'm not saying that like I,
as in a professional athlete, I just mean in general,
like in the sense of I walk outside
and there's the sidewalks aren't super busy.
I'm not fighting for space on sidewalks. I just love that any adventure I want to do I can do here in
Montreal or I can go a little bit outside of Montreal and still get that
kind of peace and quiet. I'll tell you what one of the other things that I'm
that I'm really curious about you talked a lot about the expansion draft and like just so all of our viewers and listeners understand,
like the PWL expansion draft,
you can protect three players.
Once two are taken, you can protect one more.
I know this is a big topic of conversation
amongst PWHL fans.
I would imagine amongst the athletes as well.
I was really, honestly, I was really impressed,
maybe just because I've been around
the National Hockey League for so long
and I'm used to people BSing a lot
and being afraid to say anything,
but when you said like, yeah, if I were the GM,
these are the three that I would protect,
you would never hear that.
Do you have any idea how refreshing that is?
And I'm sure all you teammates would agree.
Everybody would look at that. Do you have any idea how refreshing that is. And I'm sure all your teammates would agree. I mean, everybody would look at that. And like, do you have any idea like how refreshing it is to hear an athlete
speak the way that you did both about, I think wrongly, but your own performance
and who you would select as a general manager?
First off, thank you.
Um, I think one of the things that I've started to learn, especially this year is
we had a lot of great reporters here in Montreal that covered our team throughout this year, last
year that I've gotten to know and see consistently.
And, um, again, something that we had never experienced before is as women's hockey players.
And, um, I am always the one that I have, I don't have an issue with kind of not biting back,
but just like being a little bit sassy because it's fun.
Like I don't think it needs to be something like,
if I go in there and I give you an answer,
like I do feel bad.
Somebody asked me before the Ottawa series,
they said, what's the key to beating Ottawa?
And I said, scoring more goals in them. But then it's like, I'm
not just gonna give you that. Yeah. But I'm like, I'm not
gonna sit there and just give thanks. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna
give you a little bit just to make you laugh. Like they're
coming in every day. I'm like, do you enjoy having these
conversations all the time? I hope? Yeah, something brings you
some laughter. So I don't know.
I don't even remember what your question. Oh, about the DMs or about the six minutes.
Just how refreshing it is. I love that again, that was one of the best, maybe the best scrum
I've ever heard, I've ever seen from a lot of ways. And I like how you snap back at the
media that's bit you before too, so that's all fair game.
By the way, really quickly in the chat,
Nancy Davidson, who's such a thoughtful hockey observer, submits,
Repair herself in a city that loves cold plays, fix you song for the Habs,
completely makes sense.
Okay, I have a question for you and it's about a question. Okay.
What question did you wish the media had asked you this year?
We tend to ask the same things over and over again.
How are you going to fix the power play?
What was the breakdown there?
Like a lot of like stuff that's the easy headline.
Was there something that you were dying to get out
or you really, and maybe it wasn't even to do with hockey.
I don't know, is there,
because I'm always curious about athletes too.
Because I hear like whenever I talk to athletes,
like man, you guys in the media, like ask us like dumb stuff.
You don't just ask us dumb stuff once,
you ask it over and over and over and over again.
And I always say the same thing.
What do you want us to ask?
Like, what are you willing to share?
Like you were pretty, like, you were wide open
the other day, Ambrose, wide open.
Yeah.
But I think that that's what you have to be.
And I think that, like, obviously there are some things
that are off limits.
Like I'm not gonna go into complete X's and O's
or things that are inside the locker room.
Like we know that that's a sacred place.
But at the same time, each and every reporter in there is watching the games.
Each and every reporter is watching the rest of the PWHL.
So they're knowledgeable.
They know somewhat of what's going on.
And I think it then becomes my job as the athlete, like if you do get off track.
And one of the things for me this year, and it's not that they didn't ask it, but they
they were pretty hard on Kristen O'Neil for her lack of production. And I kind of just came back
at them at one point and I just said like I was in the presser with her and I just said like,
one, I think the value that she adds on the other
side of the pot cannot be measured, because of her point,
like, I think that that is insurmountable, compared to what
point productions, and she's sitting there and she's, she's
working her tail off, like, for her and I, I would say, like, we
were doing a lot of the right things. And I know that that's
the lamest answer in the book. But sometimes the points just I would say like we were doing a lot of the right things and I know that that's the
lamest answer in the book, but sometimes the points just don't come and
the one thing I said to them was
After they had asked her that question. I said well, I turned to Kristen and I said Kristen Don't worry the last time they asked me this question. I got three points next the next day and
I said so your turn's coming now.
And it's just like those little things like,
I think it also lets them see me as a human being.
That I'm not just this person that's got this cage on
and you're trying to figure out who I am.
Like you can have conversations with me.
And I think that that's something that's important.
Like I said, we're both doing our jobs
and your job is to critique me on how my job is going.
But at the same time, like I can be a human being.
So yeah, there are gonna be times when,
as much as we're told not to read things,
like we do see things, we do hear things.
Yeah.
I think every- And that's normal.
Hello fans of podcasts. Max Rushton here from the Guardian Football Weekly, which I think you should give a listen. It is good. Comes out three times a week and the podcast delivers you analysis news,
both the good and the bad from the beautiful game and maybe even the occasional laugh. He's angry about everything.
He doesn't have a great poker face. both the good and the bad from the beautiful game and maybe even the occasional laugh. He's angry about everything.
He doesn't have a great poker face, does he?
I would like to play cards with Bruno Fernandes.
You can listen to The Guardian Football Weekly
wherever you get your podcasts.
Hopefully see you soon.
I think everyone would be in the same situation.
Whenever I hear someone say,
oh, I don't pay attention to the media. I said to myself,
like there is this machine that's dedicated to covering your professional life
24 hours a day and you don't have a peak. Okay.
I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night.
There's this person in their life whose name is Jeff Merrick,
who will send you anything
that is about you on the internet.
I don't know what that is.
That happens to you.
No, I don't know what that is.
Yeah, so that's another way that it's just like, okay, guess we're reading this article.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, so this thing's still on.
I don't know.
I don't know what you're going on about, Andrew.
An extra.
Yeah, I don't know.
I really don't know about that one.
Let me ask you about something
that is very personal to you and that is your body, your wrist, your elbow, your shoulder,
your knee, your hips. We know that you have this weird thing about blocking shots. You really,
really enjoy doing it. And I hope that somewhere,
at somewhere when your career is all wrapped up,
you figure out like just how many stitches
you've received in your career from either,
you know, getting opened up on the ice or from surgeries.
How are you right now?
Cause I know you, you never play injured, maybe you have,
but you always play hurt.
How are you at the end of this year?
I was really fortunate.
I thought I did a really good job
of taking care of my body.
But like you said, like some of the times
the way that I play can bang you up a little bit,
but nothing that I felt like hindered my performance at all
other than the typical,
okay, this is a physical battle against Ottawa,
they're finishing their checks.
But I'll just say that my exit medical meeting wasn't very long
So you're okay, is that okay? Because there's there's like uh, i've always looked at this way
There's like an okay for regular players and then there's an erin ambrose. Okay, which is different. Are you okay on the ambrose?
Scale or on the the rest of everybody scale?
I think all the scales I was lucky and it's not that like I don't go out there to get banged up
but and it happens but I think like I guess we're close to a week of almost being done now and
there's not really anything hanging on right now so you can see
this but it's not like it's anything so I am glad that I was able to probably
the first time in a while I've gotten through a season without something I
guess I can I don't need to knock on my head I I'm done the season so it's done
you're okay so um so what are your days like now?
I know with the expansion draft on the horizon,
and nobody knows, and you referenced this
in your presser the other day, in your scrum,
but give us a sense of what the days are like
when you know that, I mean, it has to be as an athlete,
one of the most nerve wracking things,
knowing that your future is completely out of your hands.
And even you mentioned too, like it's out of your manager's hands too.
Well, I'm not going to lie.
Our game was last Friday.
It is now Thursday.
I think we've seen the sun for a total of like an hour in those six days, which is not helping.
an hour in those six days, which is not helping.
But I'm trying to stay as busy as I can right now, because I think you alluded to it.
There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of anxiety. One of the things that I was kind of told going into this as I voiced that was to lean on the feelings that I had going into the draft,
because it was very similar in the sense of
wasn't really sure what was going to happen. A lot was up in the air. But I'm somebody who loves to
have a plan, loves to have things under control. So I think these next two, two weeks, three weeks
are, it's going to be just a little bit difficult to get through. Yeah, it's just a really weird feeling.
Sure. It's weird. It's stressful. I think that... Put it this way. I think, maybe I'm being too
frivolous about this, but like Erin, I look at this and I say, either way you're coming out a
winner. You either get to stay in Montreal, which is one of the
most beautiful places to be with some of the most beautiful
people to be around, or you get to go on another adventure. And
how many times have you heard me say like, use hockey, don't let
hockey use you? Like, this could be like, here comes another
chapter in all of this, right?
Yeah.
And I think that's a great way to put it.
Like if I am claimed in the expansion draft,
like I will obviously walk in and be the most
excited person there and it'll be an
adventure of a lifetime.
Um, but I also like, I think both can occur.
I can miss Montreal if I wasn't here and I can be excited to go
So I don't think that those things have to be two completely different situations
Because yeah, Montreal I've said it is is a home now for me, but
the game of hockey like and I thought and Renee said it perfectly and if
She was claimed she said I'll pack up my stuff and I'll go with a smile on my face because I'm a pro hockey player
and I have that opportunity and I do think that that's a great way to look at it and
can't really complain about the West Coast and I can tell you for free I haven't spent
a lot of time out there. So I think like a Vancouver Seattle are a very cool opportunity and a different experience awaiting if that is what happens.
Patty Bow in the chat says, hopefully it's not the end in Montreal as I don't know many athletes who've embraced the city like Aaron has with media hits on radio and podcasts promoting the league and brand.
It has truly been a pleasure. I'm sure you get this all over. Let me ask you,
as we conclude here, to talk about one of your favorite things to talk about. Other people.
Who in the media, because I know you don't like talking about yourself,
who have we missed on this year? We talk about the headliners all the time. Who have we missed on?
Who do you think that people fall? Like player-wise? Player-wise the time. Who have we missed on? Who do you think that people that follow player wise? Yes.
Who have we totally missed?
The whole PW or should I go Montreal?
Go Montreal and then go PW.
Montreal, Katie Taven.
Okay.
Katie Taven I think was,
is one of the most underrated D in the league. Physical, skates the game well.
A huge shot. Like I was lucky to be able to play with her a lot of this year. I loved it.
She's somebody who's a UFA and really interested to see kind of what she does,
but and just a good human being. So I would say Tabs here in Montreal. And then where else? Um,
I, this is a little bit of recency bias and I'll give it to her, but, um,
Rebecca Leslie in Ottawa, um, scored the last two playoff games,
opened the scoring and in game one of the finals scored against us. Um,
but I think like one of the finals scored against us but I think like
one of the reasons I bring her up is
She is a pain in the ass to play against but in the best way
Like her and I can be going at it in the corner
But almost have like a giggle about it
and she finishes every damn check and
then has some skill to kind of add on top of that. And I think like, she's somebody she played in Toronto last year, and I
thought was such a great piece of their depth last year. And
then Ottawa has just been a player that they can plug
wherever. Um, was kind of hoping she would end up maybe coming to
Montreal last year in free agency. But I mean, turning down, going home to Ottawa, I understand.
But I think Becca Leslie needs a lot more love, um, within her career and,
uh, kind of how things progress for her.
Great answer.
You're awesome.
Um, also wait, I wanted to say, I'm glad that you brought up how well Sean Walker's been
playing.
Okay, so Georgina Blaze, let's go.
So I was just talking to Colby Cohen about Sean Walker.
Add your two cents.
I know that's how I brought it up.
I know, I know.
Add your two cents on Sean Walker then and Sean Walker now.
Give us the scouting report from when you guys played together in the Georgina blaze
Well, he was the smallest guy on the ice
But I think Colby talked about it and how smart of a player he is
and I think he had to be because he didn't have his growth spurt until
University probably that late. Hey, so think, yeah, I would say so.
Like I think when he, when he played junior C, he was still pretty, like pretty little.
So maybe high school, but he still wasn't tall.
Like he, he bulked up definitely, but he wasn't a big guy.
So I think it's, it's why he's so smart because he had to avoid those big hits.
Um, but he's always been such a great skater, probably one of the best skaters I've ever
watched.
Um, it seems effortless and I just, I don't know.
I think he's always been one that he can add a little bit of offense, but he's not going
to take away from his defensive side of the game.
And I'm pretty exciting to watch him. And I know they're in tough against Florida, but
pretty, pretty cool to watch him and what he's done here in Carolina.
Do you have a, just as, as we wrap here, uh, because you mentioned Sean Walker and yeah,
they're in tough against the Florida Panthers. I think we'd see a different Carolina hurricane
team tonight that we saw the other night. I don't know that any defenders are going to
deliberately fire pucks at, uh, at players of the... Have you ever
done that by the way Erin Ambrose? Have you ever deliberately...
Do you think I would ever do that?
Maybe on a dump in, maybe a let one... oops you know I was just dumping the puck in
I didn't mean to catch you there.
No but the odd time you just like get it a little close to the liney if they're...
They're right where you got a get it a little close to the line if they're
They're right where you got a rim it so like oh, sorry liney get out of the way. Come on. Let's go. You gotta move
Uh close on a thought. I know you're we all do know you're a toronto meepoleafs fan
um, I was there for game seven with the boys
And uh, I mean by the end our whole section had the let's go oilers chant going. Do you have a thought on how your favorite NHL team season ended?
Disappointing. I don't know. It's so tough.
And I think that this is something that's kind of hit me lately with our disappointments in the playoffs is I've really started to learn that there
actually is only one team that wins.
And I know that that's a cheesy thing to say, but, um, there's a way to lose
and there's a way not to lose.
And I think the Leafs found the way not to lose to really.
Piss off their fan base.
Um, but I also don't think that that can encapsulate all that they were as a
team, like teams have bad nights and it wasn't a good night to have a bad night.
It's the, it's the old saying, if you're, um, if you're going to have a bad game,
don't have a bad game at home.
Have all your bad games on the road.
That was, that was the most of their bad games were at home this playoffs.
Yeah, I know.
Uh, well, at least against Florida, five and seven, everyone's going to remember
five and seven, five and seven against the Panthers.
Um, listen, uh, we'll catch up soon.
Best of luck.
Whatever that means for whatever you want. I think we all
say the same thing. Whatever that is that is staying or that is a new adventure, whatever
you want. Aaron Ambrose, we hope that you get it. You're one of the best in any league
and anyone would be very proud to have you.
Maybe we will have a post expansion chat together.
I would love that.
And I think our listeners and viewers would as well.
Count us in.
And again, great hoodie, great person, great player.
Aaron Ambrose.
Thanks, Aaron, you'll be good.
Thank you.
The great Aaron Ambrose from the Montreal Victoire
stopping by after, and again,
I encourage you to go watch that scrum.
It was outstanding.
Hey, Zach, do you have a quick thought on E. Ambrose maybe Sean Walker maybe the Georgina Blaze yeah well Aaron is
obviously very very well spoken as always so appreciate her for coming on
I just thought it was kind of interesting reading all the comments to
just everybody being like when somebody speaks like that a player speaks like that in the media end of season press conference that she had
yeah you can still kind of nitpick on things that the player has done you can
still be upset with the performance or the production or whatever and those
things are all fair because you're a fan of the team you pay money to go to the
games and you have expectations for what should or shouldn't happen
But when a player speaks like that it just resonates with people especially in fan bases because they're like, okay you get it
Like yeah, I wish you played better. I wish you scored more
I wish you won but you get it you acknowledged that you didn't you acknowledged you have been. Those things, they make the fan base
or they put them at ease.
And I thought that Erin did a fantastic job of that.
So kudos to her.
You know what I liked about it?
Is that unlike where you see a lot of NHLers
at the end of their season,
they just wanna get through the interviews.
They just wanna get done because they just wanna split.
I didn't get a sense listening to Ambrose in, um,
in locker media day the other day.
I didn't get the sense for one second that she was anxious to leave.
Like she was there to answer the questions.
She wasn't there just to get through something so she could go to lunch or go
out, you know, with the girls somewhere. That's what I liked about it.
She was there to answer questions. This is my job today to answer questions. I'm going to answer questions. That's what I like about it. She was there to answer questions.
This is my job today to answer questions.
I'm going to answer questions.
That's what I liked about it.
Not just trying to get through something.
Also hilarious.
How do you beat Ottawa?
Score more goals than them.
Score more goals.
Come on Demi.
Score more goals.
Hey, by the way here, I don't know if you saw,
MLSC officially, Shanahan will not be renewed.
They put that release out at 359 p.m. Eastern time.
Welcome to the New York Islanders. Not a surprise. Not a surprise. Again, we talked about end of an era after game seven on Sunday.
Probably just the first shoe to drop here through all of us.
And I don't think it would have been a surprise to Brendan Shanahan.
When they give you permission to talk to another team.
Yeah, that's it. He's sitting there.
He's like, I wonder if I'm going to get renewed.
And they call him the day before the board meeting.
And they said hey
Shani we talked to you. I let her speak to you and we're gonna let it there. No problem. No problem
We've got a couple more things we got to do here
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today what do we find, Zach?
This one is about managers. This comes in saying, hey, Jeff,
this may be a very pedantic question, but here it goes.
Why do you refer to them as managers?
Well, almost everyone else uses the term general manager.
I've noticed Brian Burke sometimes uses them interchangeably,
but not to the same extent that you do.
All right, Avi, good question.
So this goes back actually to Brian Burke.
I remember having a conversation a million years ago
with Berkey and he said,
you know, I'm trying to do my nickel and dime Brian Burke
here and I'm not even going to do a Patrick Burke.
That's how bad it's going to be.
You know, none of us call each other general managers.
We just call each other managers.
That's how it's talked about.
So just say no.
Like, you can just say managers.
You don't got to say general managers.
Everyone will know what you're speaking about.
Burke, you always made the point that that's how managers refer to each other.
So I've always adopted that.
Now the other one which is interesting, and I still don't know, can I go to a quick tangent here?
I started the program today talking about goaltenders, goalies.
And there's one, there's a really unique phenomenon that happened in hockey.
And I can't isolate specifically when, and I can't isolate specifically why.
But somewhere along the way,
and I think it was probably in the early to mid 70s,
goaltenders used to be referred to as goalers.
That was their name.
And if you talk to people like Cliff Fletcher,
still to this day, he won't call them goalies, he'll call them goalers. Oh yeah, our goaler was
no good tonight. That guy's goaler is good. And somewhere along the way in the
early 70s it changed to goalies and goaltenders and whatever you want to
call them now. That's the one that I've, that's been one of those white whales
that I've always been after trying to find out and you go like old articles and newspapers
or hockey news magazines any forum that has documented history and it seems like
there's like a demarcation point of like the mid-70s but I can't isolate why they
stopped being called goalers and are now called goaltenders. Just a side tangent on the why do you call the managers are not general managers? Maybe the word general is redundant
Kind of like slot area
Instead of the slot or a good goal instead of goal I
Don't know I just started calling the managers after having that conversation with Berkey.
I am glad that they gave us the Goaltenders name though because that allowed us to then have the butterfly effect.
It then gave us the Steve Dangle.
Tend to the goal.
Although I do like Goaltenders that wander too. By the way, I do, I like goalies going all over the place.
If I were, if you had to redesign the rules
and the rules were made for,
like the trapezoid rules were made for two martys,
Berdur and Turco, how different do you think the game
would be if goalies were allowed to play the puck
in the corners and the only place they couldn't play
the puck was behind the net. If you reversed it, how different
they can go out and play it in the corners that's fine and be a third
defenseman but they couldn't stop like hard rims. Only only you. No not only me
no everybody thinks about this. Everybody in the chat has thought about this.
You've thought about this. You're just feigning ignorance about this. Everybody in the chat has thought about this. You've thought about this. You're just feigning ignorance about this. Everybody is not. No, I can honestly tell
you that is not something I have thought about. I'll be honest with you. When I first
heard them discuss that. Oh yeah, you can you can play it in the corners. That's
fine. You just can't play. You can't go behind the net. To be honest with you, when I
first heard this proposed, I thought that's what it meant.
And I was like, really? They can't play the puck behind the net?
And for a while I went on thinking, this is the summer, I'm like, wow, goalies aren't going to be able to play the puck behind the net.
And then I realized once the game started, oh, they mean corners, yeah, you can't play the pucks in the corners.
But that's what I thought. That's what I thought. No?
Look, I want them to just get rid of the trapezoid altogether. Just play the puck.
I agree.
Like, I really don't care. Let the guys go out to the corners because you can, the whole point,
I guess not the whole point, but you're trying to produce offense.
I guess not the whole point, but you're trying to produce offense. Yeah.
Letting guys go to the corner and venture out further out of their nets, in theory,
would create more chaos, or allow for more chaos.
What'd he do a goalie bump?
What'd he do a goalie hits at that point?
Luchich and Ryan Miller style.
You can hit the goalie in lacrosse.
I know, you guys are wild in the cross, you guys are insane in the cross, I love it. I just absolutely love it. You guys are wild in the crowd you guys are insane in the cross I love it I just absolutely love it you guys are insane in lacrosse you guys are crazy
Funny lacrosse, but it basically insinuates a fight every time instigates a fight every time you do
But oh no can hit them clutch my pearls call the police as a fight
Let's open it up goalie
We get Hutton on here and ask him what he thinks about Goalies being
a fair game.
All right, let's get Huts on.
I'm gonna say, yeah, no problem, pay me more.
Yeah, give me more money, danger pay.
Let's get to the game of the night.
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I'm gonna let you handle this one. Of all the things that we've talked about, me and Colby, me and Aaron,
we mentioned a lot about Sean Walker and old Georgina Blaze.
What interests you about this game tonight? This is game two. Expect a different Carolina.
I kind of expect a nastier version of the Florida Panthers that the Carolina
Hurricanes have given them enough to make them angry
enough to be the Florida Panthers. Uh how do you look
at it tonight? Freddy Anderson is my focus point tonight. Not
looking for Freddy to have like a shutout kind of night here, but does he save the weak one?
Does he save the one that can't, that just absolutely can't go in? Is he able to stop
that one? Because that's going to be the tipping point for me.
No.
I'm just excited to watch how Rod and the Canes come out and play their game here tonight
and how they find ways to slow down the Panthers and just bring them into their anaconda, as
you called it earlier, and suffocate them out like that.
And then also, like this is one of those ones where it's going to be a chess match, but
in a very different kind of way, because hurricanes will move a pawn and then the Florida Panthers will reach across the table
and punch them in the face and then I want to see how Rod then moves the next pawn.
Spencer Nunes in the chat says, Kachuk is well overdue. That's true. T.A. Nieman
submits afterwards in the chat. Kachuk looks injured still very both things are true
Yeah, both both things are true. I can I can I can understand that
I'll be curious to see how Florida like Greer Gajovic
Go after Gostes bear
Yeah, the other thing too is I don't think Florida played their best game in game one.
Tired.
Right. So I think that there's another gear for them too.
So...
Big Willie by the way...
I saw Chatfield skated this morning too, by the way.
That would be huge. That would be huge for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Big Willie submitted, who was the last go goalie to skate past the red line?
General Soreness, who I can tell is a student of the game, Jerry Cheevers maybe. Jerry Cheevers famously has done that.
Patrick Waugh has started to join Rush before. I think it might be, I think I'm in the NHL,
I think it might be Jerry Cheevers who did it with the Boston Broncos.
NHL I think it might be Jerry Cheevers who did it with the Boston Bronz. No you're hunting aren't you? Last goalie to skate past the red line.
Used to happen. Not with any regularity but it used to happen. I think Cheevers
was probably the last one and that was geez late 70s I want to say. But maybe
Patrick Watt. Did he ever get past the center line though?
By the way there's a funny comment. I lost it here now but it was recommending that instead of
pulling your goalie they have to join the offense. Like in soccer.
Goalie's got to join the rush.
Goalie would be a good screen.
If you let him go over center ice and got him in front of the net, it'd be tough on
Taggart.
December 16th, 2023, Akira Schmid and the New Jersey Devils was penalized for playing
the puck beyond center ice during a delayed penalty against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That would have been during-
He was headed to bench for an extra attacker. That's a goalie pull, yes Blue Jackets. That would have been during bench for an extra attacker.
That's a goalie pull. Yes. That that's what that would have been. I'm talking to,
I think, I think what Willie was getting at is like a goalie joining the rush.
Not because that would have before that. What year is it?
97 Patrick Waugh, 97 Patrick Waugh.
And I think Cheever's would have been late seventies cause he would have come
back from the WHA in 76
So these would have been like 77 or 78
Here you'll like this
The origin of this rule according to scouting the refs the origin in this rule dates back to the
1966 67 I have had enough of that fucking year Jeff
67 I have had enough of that fucking year Jeff following an event where Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Gary Suitcase Smith how's that for a nickname?
Gary Suitcase Smith, legendary, legendary goalie. It was body-checked by
defenseman JC Trombley of the Montreal Canadians. JC Trombley who did one of the
things that I still can't believe more players don't do and you know what that is? JC Trombley was great at flipping pucks at
goalies. He would step over, get over center and yes and bounce pucks in front
of goaltenders. Trombley was the best at it and the reason why is you know where
that puck is going?
reason why is you know where that puck is going?
Anywhere. Nobody knows. No one knows including the goaltender. The best you can do is play like a short hop and hope that it just like bounces off your
chest. JC Trombley was the best at that. Oh JC Trombley and Trombley got him eh?
Got suitcase? Yeah I got momentarily distracted because General Soreness said,
Willie mentions pulling the goalie and Jeff thinks he's talking hockey.
I am such a loser. It's so true.
It's so true.
But yeah, it is a hockey show anyhow.
I saw there was a, our boss sends it to us too, there was a report that came out, this
is like a weather report, but Toronto is about to experience the coldest month of May since
Jeff what year?
66-67.
Is it really?
Fuck you. 66-67. What's the thing on the... they've never played a hockey game in June.
That would also make sense.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, They've never won three rounds. That's right. What an organization. New things ahead, Shani's out.
I'm going to put a smile on your face, I'm going to put a smile on the face, everyone
in the chat, I hope, everyone watching, everyone listening.
Guess where I'm going after the show?
You will never guess what I'm doing tonight.
Before the game tonight, your boy Jeffy is going to Oakville.
Why am I going to Oakville tonight?
I have no idea.
You're gonna love this.
I am looking forward to this like crazy.
I'm gonna love this.
Tonight, me and Gord Stalek are going to Del Manor, which is a retirement home in
Oakville to talk to some of the residents about hockey and the Stanley Cups playoffs
and tell old stories and Gord's going to talk tons about the old Maple Leaf stories when
he ran the Maple Leafs and Gilmore and Clark and 70 stories and all these
things for the senior residents at Dell Manor. I can't wait. I love talking to
well specifically hockey old timers but just old timers in general. I just love.
So I can't wait for it tonight and yes I'll probably come back with a million
stories for tomorrow's program. So I'm going to do show prep. That'd be fun. I'm going to Dell tomorrow's program. So, I'm going to do show prep.
That'll be fun.
I'm going to Del Nanner tonight.
Can't wait.
Going to do show prep tonight.
Going to do show prep.
That'll be fun.
And then watch the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers.
That is going to be my night.
I hope you have as enjoyable a night as I do.
Everyone listening or watching here are participating in the chat.
I want to thank Aaron Ambrose for stopping by.
I want to thank Colby Cohen as well, and thanks to you for listening or watching. I very much appreciate the support
and the attention, which you have a lot of things you could be doing right now. Instead
you're hanging out with your boy here and I really appreciate it and so does Zach.
Morning Cup of Hockey tomorrow at 9am. Don't forget, Colby Cohen, Johnny Lazarus, best
morning show going. Best morning show hands down. At noon, then it's DFO Live and then our little act back here at 3 o'clock tomorrow
is Brian Burke. It's Friday, so civilian Fridays, as Willie likes to call it in the chat. And also
Brad Richards is going to be stopping by the program tomorrow. He is a former junior player
with Wromowski, the Oceanic, on day one of the Memorial Cup.
He's sort of working as an ambassador for the event,
so Brad Richards is gonna stop by the program tomorrow.
Got it?
Okay, enjoy game two, Florida and Carolina.
We'll be back tomorrow, three o'clock Eastern,
for the shoot.
Good day, everybody, good day.
["I Said 16 Hours Last Night"] good day You try to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine
I'm not against those methods but no It's me, myself and Alice gonna be fixing my mind
I turn on the record
I turn on the music
I turn on the record
I turn on the music Thanks for watching!