The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Cooking With Oil ft. Shayna Goldman & Mario Cecchini

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

In this episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Jeff is joined by Shayna Goldman to dive deep into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the East, the Florida Panthers lead the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1, dominating the first three games with explosive offense before Carolina bounced back with a 3-0 win in Game 4. Game 5 is set for May 28 as the Hurricanes fight to stay alive. In the West, the Edmonton Oilers also hold a 3-1 series lead over the Dallas Stars. After dropping Game 1, the Oilers stormed back with three straight wins, led by strong performances from Leon Draisaitl, Corey Perry, and goalie Stuart Skinner. Game 5 will be played May 29 in Dallas. Both Florida and Edmonton are now just one win away from a potential rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.Later in the show, Jeff welcomes QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini for an in-depth look at the 2025 Memorial Cup, currently underway in Rimouski. They discuss the Medicine Hat Tigers' thrilling comeback win over the London Knights, which has earned them a spot in the final. The pair also examine the Rimouski Océanic’s rocky start on home ice, including a tough 3-1 loss to London that has put them in a must-win situation against the Moncton Wildcats. Plus, they touch on the play of Vancouver Canucks prospect Basile Sansonnens, whose early struggles have raised some eyebrows#StanleyCup #NHLPlayoffs #MemorialCup #QMJHL #HockeyTalk #TheSheet #JeffMarek #ShaynaGoldman #MarioCecchini #RimouskiShout 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 [e-mail] 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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We have a fun show coming up today. Thanks everyone who's in the chat already Appreciate everybody watching and listening on your favorite podcast platform Edmonton for Dallas Stars 1 but the big story is coming out of this one. Well Edmonton grabbing a 3-1 series lead, one game away from making a second Stanley Cup appearance, Stanley Cup final appearance in as many seasons. But all that everyone is talking about is one, Zach Hyman out for the season on a hit by Mason Marchment last night. That sucks for the Oilers. It sucks for me because one of my favorite players.

Love him. If you're an Oilers fan, you're distraught. That's really awful. The saving grace for the Oilers, as we've been talking about all through these playoffs, is this is a really deep roster. This team has a really deep roster. This team has a lot of depth. All of a sudden like you're not going to put someone in, hello Jeff Skinner, that you're going to look at and say this guy doesn't belong in the NHL. But the other thing and we'll get to some of this here with Shana coming up in a couple

of moments, Mario Cicchini is going to stop by the commissioner of the QMJHL. the Commissioner of the QMJHL. Evan Bouchard chopping root bay hens on the foot and last night your favorite producer and your favorite host, Zach Phillips, not me, got into it last night. Was it last night that you were getting into it with Oilers fans? Young Zach? This morning it's continued. Oh, it's carrying on? You can't stop trying to grab the cheese in the trap Yeah, tell everybody what you've been amusing yourself with over the last. I don't know 12 hours 24 hours 36 hours well, so also I blame Tyler because he replied and I think that like Put it on the radar of the oil spins and now it's just gone nuts and like he knows yeah but I quote tweeted the video of Rupert Hinn skating

and Evan Bouchard skating by him and giving him a whack on the foot yeah and I said if you're Pete DeBoer you go in that room and I probably should have worded this better But I was like you tell Petrovic and could have gone for anybody But yeah, you're going after McDavid and Dreissel and like you're taking out knees and feet People are really really mad about this. I said aye for an aye. Look I also want to just be clear here Because I have an opportunity to say with my words. I don't think what Bouchard did is suspendable or finable.

Nothing. I don't have an issue with that at all. I get what he's doing and why he did it. My whole point is if you're the Dallas Stars, you need to say, okay, fine. F you. You're going to do that. Watch what we'll do. We'll go after the guy. Like, that's what I don't get because also, what do you think the Florida Panthers are gonna do in the next round? Of course. Listen, there's a couple of things to this one. One, you've heard me tell one of my favorite Marty McSorley stories about the elbow from hell in 1993 where he essentially went to the Maple Leafs bench and said, if 17 doesn't stop going at 99, 93 is going to

get it. And 17 kept going at 99, so 93 got it. And it was one of the most vicious elbows we've ever seen in the history of hockey. I still don't know how, you know, Doug Gilmore's kids and grandkids don't have migraines. That is how tough that elbow was to the head of Doug Gilmore. It's playoff hockey. We've seen it before. The idea that, you know, when you sense or know a vulnerability, you go at it like that's expected.

I expected someone like Evan Bouchard or anybody on that team for that matter to give him a tap. You know he's hurt, give him a tap. We all saw it, we all know it. Now, the flip side of that coin is we can't grumble about injury disclosure or non-disclosure of injuries at playoff time. Because this idea that, oh, players would never target a vulnerable area I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night and the names Tucker not sucker We all know of course because they're competing for the Stanley Cup and getting that name on the mug and all of that and all Their childhood dreams and everything and they would do anything Even knock their grandmothers down an icy road so they can get their name on that cup.

They'll do anything to win the thing. Yep, this has long been established. And they'll go after vulnerable areas. But I think you're right. Like if you're the Dallas Stars, it's like, okay, how do you not start chopping skates? How do you not start chopping the tops of, I mean if you can catch them, McDavid, or anybody on that Edmonton Oilers team. I would kind of expect it.

Wouldn't you? Like the minute that Bouchard goes after the injured before they go, alright, all bets are off. You want to do it that way? We're going to do it that way. That's fine. You want to go that way? We're going to go that way.

But again, at the end of all of it, outside of all the extracurriculars and all the sidebar stories And I know that it sucks for Dallas with Rupert Hinn's two years in a row I get it it really really does stink especially after the the good season that they had despite the the end of the year losing streak the Edmonton others one win away from Competing for the Stanley Cup once again against the winners of the Florida Carolina Series and that could be over tonight. Let's see what's coming up on the program today. We got a big one.

It's kind of all over the place here a little bit too. So we have a lot of things we wanna get to. Games, both at the NHL level and the CHL level and also news from off the ice as it involves coaches most specifically as well. Daily Outline, here's what's coming up on the program today. Powered by FanDuel, make every moment more with North America's number one sports book. And coming up on the show today, we've got two really big guests and two really good talkers too. So if you don't

like me and somehow you've fumbled your way into watching the show, don't worry. I don't think I'm going to do a lot of talking because we've got Shanna Goldman from The Athletic and the Too Many Men podcast. She's't think I'm gonna do a lot of talking. Because we got Shannon Goldman from The Athletic and the Too Many Men podcast. She's got a good yap on her, she likes talking. And Mario Cicchini as well, he's the commissioner of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League. He will stop by tonight. It is Wromowski facing off against Moncton

at the Memorial Cup. We already sort of talked to, watch your toes. Watch your toes, watch your ankles, watch the top of your feet. Game five we'll talk about tonight the Florida Panthers look at the closeout against the Carolina Hurricanes. Marco Sturm's name very much out there I will give you and we've been talking about Sturm for a few weeks now I'll give you an update on what the very latest is there with him and the Boston Bruins and as I mentioned the Memorial Cup continues the winner of

tonight's game by the way between these two teams Moncton and Wormuski Will face off against London on Friday the Memorial Cup final goes Sunday Medicine Hat making it through by beating London last night, which was certainly impressive So far I mean Medicine Hat Tigers are running the table. So far, all of the Medicine Hat Tiger alumni from Trevor Linden to Kelly Rudy to all the way down the list are thrilled today at this news. Do we have time for a really quick one on Marco Sturm

before we get to Shana? Is Shana standing by yet? Yeah, not yet. Okay, give me, not yet, okay, so give me two seconds here. So, Marco Sturm's hot on everyone's breath right now about the coaching position in Boston. We've talked about Marco Sturm's hot on everyone's breath right now about the coaching position in Boston. We've talked about Marco Sturm with Boston for a couple of weeks. Here is what I know as of right now. As of right now there's no official

hiring of Marco Sturm as the head coach of the Boston Bruins. Not saying that it won't happen, it very well could. He is amongst the favorites or leaders or however you wanna phrase it for that job. But as of right now, there is no agreement between Marco Sturm and the Boston Bruins. I believe he will meet with Boston in the next few days, at which point that may happen, that he becomes a head coach of the Boston Bruins.

But as of right now now that has not happened. The other name that we've been talking about plenty either here or on the blog as well is Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love and as we've been going back and forth here it sounds as if there's a lot of interest from two teams specifically there is Seattle and I think he had a lengthy meeting there not too long ago, four or five hours, and also the Pittsburgh Penguins. So it very much does sound like Mitch Love,

as we've sort of predicted here, is gonna end up somewhere, either Seattle or Pittsburgh. I was talking to someone this morning about Jay Woodcroft and I think both of us are sort of surprised that as the music starts to wind down for coaches and everyone's grabbing chairs, that as of right now, there doesn't seem to be one for Jay Woodcroft.

Now listen, he still may get the Boston job. He may get the Pittsburgh Penguins job, who knows. But I think a lot of us are wondering if there's going to be something here for Jay Woodcroft at the end of all of it. But nonetheless, that's the very latest with coaches. The main thing is I want to get that Sturm stuff out there. He's going to be visiting Boston in the next little while, couple days, end of the week, I don't know.

But as of right now, there's no deal with the Boston Bruins and Marco Sturm. Does that all make sense, Zacharu? That makes sense to me. All right, we have Shayna standing by? Yes, we do. All right, let's get to her. She, in her private life, she likes to dress as Lita from the WWE as she celebrates a birthday. She's

our dear friend and you read her at the athletic and you can listen to her on the Too Many Men podcast. There's Lita, I mean Shana Goldman. How are you Star? Oh I'm great. Yeah I know that I knew that outfit was going to be a hit this year. I worked very hard. Fun fact for you, that top was three pairs of stockings cut up because that is how she wore it. I went and rewatched the 2001 Survivor series to get all of the details on that. No way.

Can you have a picture of that up on social and would you mind if Zach grabbed it and we showed exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, go off, it's on Instagram. Okay, go over to Shayna's Instagram there, Zacharoo, and grab that if you can and pop it in here at some point during this conversation. And happy Blada birthday, by the way. Thank you. And your friend dresses Trish Stratus, which was a nice touch as well. They're very good. We were talking about tapping skates before you came on, watching Evan Bouchard go at Rupé Hens in last night's

Edmonton Dallas game. You know, on the one hand we complain when teams don't disclose injuries. Oh, come on, like more information means, you know, more things to talk about, which means more interest and more fans, etc., etc., etc. And then like the whole world knows that Rupé Hens has got the injured foot. And so Evan Bouchard taps it. Just a little love tap, that's all right. So which way do you think we should have it, if at all? Full injury disclosure or do we try to protect oof players from that happening?

Yeah, I mean, I would err on the side of protecting players because you know things like this are going to happen, especially in a playoff series. And you know, I understand the frustration, especially on a sport people bet on, right? You're asking people to spend their money and you don't know what's wrong with somebody, like it helps to have that information, but it definitely makes sense. The problem with this one, obviously, is there's, there's no denying what happened there, right? Like everybody saw the play in the moment that it happened and saw him leave the ice and it was pretty obvious where he was injured. So it doesn't matter if anyone disclosed it

or not, right? Because it didn't matter. The end of the night, Peter was like, yeah, he has a broken foot. Like you can make your assumption that something in that general vicinity is injured. So it's just something you don't wanna see. You don't wanna see happen. Personally, I would say that's two minutes for an sportsman like right there, right? Like if you can't call it anything else, why not throw that in there and be like, don't do that.

But here's the thing about that. It's an interesting point that you raised because if he wasn't injured, and Evan Bouchard did that, would you call it? Or are you just calling it because we all know that he's injured, therefore there should be some special type of guardrail around Rupert Hens getting hit that way, you know what I mean?

Yeah, you open up a can of worms that nobody wants to see opened, right? Like, just seeing embellishment calls raises enough controversy as it is. Every penalty, every penalty, non-penalty, every little thing in between what they're called, what they're not called, they're always going to annoy people. So like there's no winning in this situation here. I think because it was such an obvious one and it wasn't anything, you know, directly related to to the player just doing it to be an asshole I don't mind it on sportsman like but I think you have to like it's a slippery slope because you

don't want to start like start a precedent and say that's what it's going to be but then again that's something maybe the players should get to talk about right like when the NHLPA talks and at the end of the year like are these things you want to put forth and be like we need more protections and guardrails for players and then see how it can be implemented. Like then it's a different conversation. See, it's interesting because I look at this league and I've been around like, I've been around a long time, right?

I've seen a lot of stuff. And I actually think that the NHL right now and just hockey in general, is it a place where there's more respect on the ice than I've ever seen in my lifetime? And trust me, I'm someone that goes back and watches like old hockey games where half the league should have been incarcerated. And I say to myself like, the game right now, especially in the regular season, playoffs,

things change a little bit, obviously. But the game right now is more respectful than it's ever been and guys really do take care of themselves more than they ever have before. Sure some of it is protection, sure some of it is rules, but really I know guys are out there to hurt each other and I always kind of cringe when I say oh no one wants to get hurt, no one wants to see anyone hurt out there. Like you want to talk about bullshit like stop. Like seriously, you want to talk about bullshit, like, stop. Like, seriously, if you want to go down that,

have that conversation, Shane, like, that part I will not listen to. That part, I will not listen to that whatsoever. I just don't think that people want to see someone severely punished, and they don't want to be responsible for it. But I look at the game right now and I say like it's more respectful than I've ever seen in my lifetime. Agree disagree. I would agree with you I definitely think it is and I

think it extends past in-game stuff it's it's Marc-Andre Fleury's retiring and how everybody's treating him right and Alex Ovechkin saying we all need to shake his hand and things like that. Like I definitely From that standpoint I think in the playoffs you still have players going out to hit crap out of each other Like that is their job at the end of the day, right? And it's something that's been talked about a ton this postseason because of the Florida Panthers and to an extent I would say yeah, they're crossing the line in a lot of ways and they're not respecting it They're trying to win. They're trying to hurt their opponent wear them down But on the flip side of it, if you're the Panthers you you have to look at it and say, why the hell wouldn't we do this? We're going

to play this way until we're outright stopped, right? If nobody's going to call everything, why would you change what you're doing? You, you tow the line until you can't anymore. And if it seems that you can keep towing the line, you're going to push it further. Like that's common sense, right? And that's why there are officials and referees and things like that to put a stop to it or let them know like, nope, the line has to be set further back. But until someone does that, why would you change it?

Absolutely. But here's the, oh, by the way, there's the shot. Oh, look at that, Lita. What's your friend's name, by the way, who's dressed as Stratus? Emily. Emily looking very serious, by the way. Well, we, you know, we had to study our pictures but it's fun like so these outfits if you want me to

get like super nerdy these are fully upcycled outfits the top and bottoms that Emily's wearing they're both from Depop they're second hand and then I tweaked them and that jacket was from last year's costume it's something I made out of spare fabric and then was able to rework for this year and those tights were part of my costume from last year. So we just, we keep this going. It's a third year straight of wrestling outfits. Rod, you already have next year's plan? No, uh, I don't. Last year I knew we were Julia Hart and Sky Blue last years and I knew immediately like we're going Trish and Lita next year and I had it in my head for a year thinking I'd plan early. I did not. I did everything the week of and this year I year. And I had it in my head for a year, thinking I'd plan early, I did not,

I did everything the week of. And this year, I don't know, we might wave back into being men next year, like we've done the Young Bucks before, so maybe that's going to be the move, but we have some time to decide. All right, you got a few months here to haul it over. Getting back, one more final thing on sort of,

pushing the line, stepping over the line, respect, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Hockey is always in a weird place of wanting to portray itself as being respectful, yet at the same time, and this might just be like, I'm just like getting old and cynical. I don't know, Shayna, if I've ever, if I've ever thought this,

I can't wait to watch these two teams respect each other tonight. Ooh, man, this is gonna be awesome. You know how much respect these two teams have for each other? Oh, I can't wait to watch this. Like respect is kind of a double-edged, so like no one's gonna watch a game where,

oh, I can't wait to watch these two teams be respectful to one another. Yet off the ice, all we keep hearing people talk about is like, oh, I respect this, I respect that. It's, I don't know. It's a weird, yeah, that's the word. "-I'm sorry, I think about it last year, do you remember Sheldon Keefe's, we got respect in the handshaker and how much of us gave shit for that?

Like, that's not what this is about, if you want respect, you play a different sport, it's at the end of the day, after you're kicking the crap out of each other for up to seven games, you shake hands. That's the respect I think we all love and appreciate and want to see at the end of it and then you have the potential snubs or Players who are talking like that's what you want to see that's where I think there's a respect factor, but otherwise you're like Okay, that's not what you're here to do at the end of the day Yeah, do we see speaking a handsey, do we see it tonight? Um, I think having Reinhardt and Mikolovac is a huge advantage for

Florida and the fact that the Canes are not getting those reinforcements on the back end is going to be really tricky. I think, um, there are things for the Canes to take away from game four that can help them win tonight. And I want to see Jacobs Lven play 25 plus minutes a game. I don't understand. 100%. 100%.

Yeah, that usage in games one through three, I don't understand. And I know everyone's like, well, he doesn't play the power play. His minutes aren't going to lead the way. Well, OK, look at the regular season. He didn't play power play. He was the average ice time leader for the Canes at five on five. And in all situations, and you saw how outstanding he was the average ice time leader for the Canes at five on five and in all situations. And you saw how outstanding he was,

especially with injuries. You should be playing him more. It's different in round one, saying play 20 minutes, 28 minutes a game, but here you are in round three, do or die. I think that's gonna be, you know, that's gonna be a big factor. You know, I was talking to Greg Wyshnski yesterday about something and that was the Florida Panthers and their, I don't want to say inability because they did get it done,

close out at the first opportunity, whether it's Tampa, whether it's Toronto most recently, and now they had a chance to dust Carolina in four and couldn't do it. Is that a thing? The fourth win is the hardest. They all say it. Of course it is. Of course it is. But that seems to be like one of those things that distinguishes you from other squads. Do you have that, yeah, this is going to be the hardest and that's why we're going to go out there and we're going to chew on these guys.

Yeah, it's the killer instinct and we know that the Panthers have it, but you can even look to, you know, last year in the Stanley Cup final, that that series went to seven games. I think it's it's it there's two sides of it, right? Because you have teams in that desperation factor to extend the series. We saw the Leafs have it until they didn't. We saw the Canes have it in game four. But yeah, it is something if it becomes a trend

and it seems like it's starting to develop into that. But I'm not I'm not totally concerned about it yet. Like if the Panthers somehow let this series slip away and it goes to six or seven, it's like, OK, maybe we can have that conversation, right? But they were very shorthanded last game. And you have the Canes who were with their backs up against the wall. And Frederick Anderson was playing the way he did all postseason to this point

that I'm not completely worried about their closeout ability. Like they've learned, they've been very seasoned over the last three years in their playoff experience that they know how to get it done. So at the end of the day, I still think that they will. Okay, so a couple of things here. So Patty Bow in the chat,

a couple of things in the chat for you. Respectfully, handshakes, unless you are Luchic Okay, so a couple of things here. So Patty Bo in the chat, a couple things in the chat for you. Respectfully handshakes unless you are Luchich and threaten to kill that one Habs player. I think it was Weiss. Yes, it was Dale Weiss. Yep. And Colton Davies submits our junior hockey expert around here. Colton says, Shana's thoughts on Logan Stankov in this series. Man, that was a hell of a shot last game. I mean, I think he's the standout player for the Canes so far this round. And I know everyone's looking at like, you know, Logan Stankovans having a better postseason or around three, I'm sorry, than me go ranted and like, okay, can we just separate them

for a minute? Yes, that's true, but we need to separate them. I think that this is the kind of player you look at the game that he plays him and Seth Jarvis couldn't embody Kane's hockey anymore if you tried right? I think he is such a good fit and you see that he has that ability to rise to the moment in these in these big time games right? He had the experience last year from Dallas now he has it for the Hurricanes and you go this is someone that's going to be so good for years to come right? And with the Cains I know everyone's going to talk about especially if they lose in five and go you need to blow

up the system and you need to go with that. They position themselves to be a very good team for a long time and he is a huge part of it. So it just shows what the potential is for him to be that, you know, true, let's say all star second liner fringe top line player. Like that's a great thing to have. And it's exactly what the Canes need. You know, it's a, it was it's such a bizarre season for Colorado, for Carolina, to some extent Chicago too, they're involved in this, and then the Dallas Stars.

One of the things that I've been looking at and thinking about going back to like the Washington series, as we all started to digest like, okay, so what did Carolina end up here with? And what did it cost them? And it cost them two players, one of which they're trying to get rid of last year. And they got Taylor Hall, Logan Stankovic,

two first round picks and $6 million in cap space over the next couple of years. I know at the time, everyone was just focusing on Mikko Rantanen, But I kind of look at it like this has been one of the most creative seasons by a general manager that we've seen in Eric Tulski, in that once he recognized that it wasn't gonna work with Miko Rantanen, he used that to his advantage and turned the two players that he sent to Colorado, most notably Martin Nacius, who again, I mentioned they're trying to get rid of,

and turned it into two serviceable players, cap space and two first round picks. And Dallas is happy too because they got Moose. Is that good? I would say the Cains did good work. And I wanted to point out with Nacius too. Yeah, keep in mind, if they had moved him last summer They would have been selling really really low, right? They wouldn't have gotten that first return for Rantzen

They wouldn't have gotten the second return that brought in Stankov in if they had moved Natures at the time It was a calculated risk, but it was a patient approach that I think needs to be applauded by Eric Tulski It was gutsy. It was gutsy to say no, we're gonna hold on to him We're fine. And then just when everyone sees he's popping off on the score sheet, but below the surface I think some of those concerns about his game were emerging right and some of it was where he was playing and you know His line mates weren't the best there you're playing with guys like, you know, yes, Barry coconut me Like maybe you're not gonna pop off enough blow the surface But they were signs that the the scoring was going to slow and then it did. So I think he played that one perfectly.

But yeah, you look at it with the Ransom situation, could they have gone into this postseason with Ransom and had that all star player at the top of their lineup? Because when you look at the Canes versus the Panthers right now, I know everyone's going, see, the system doesn't work. No, I think if you're going to go apples to apples, it's both teams are really good for checking teams, but one has a lot more skill than the other, right? The depth is just different. So having someone like Ranson and maybe that would have helped there because it's that all star talent that they've needed. But it's not, it's not like make or break, right? Because if he didn't fit there and the vibes were off and he wasn't playing the way that they needed, then are you hurting

yourself just because you think you need the, you know, the big name player versus having a guy like Stankov who clearly fits in in Taylor Hall who, it's funny at the time of the trade, a lot of people were like, Taylor Hall's washed and this and that and he's so injury prone. Like no, there were good signs below the surface. If you went through all three zones tracking, you could see just what a scoring chance creator he was in Chicago, especially with that puck movement. That is exactly what the Canes need. And he's been a really great fit there.

Uh, and he's happy and they're happy with him. Hence the contract extension. Okay. Dallas and Edmondson, it does feel like we are marching towards an inevitability here. Does it feel that way to you? Even with the reality of kind of Brown injury and now Zach Hyman out for the remainder of the season with a with upper body surgery

Let's not say shoulder upper-body surgery Like he's out for the year say what it is Listen the worst is like it's a body injury Thanks. Yeah Like no more details this it's the legacy of Chris Bata former communications director for the New York Islanders in a very famous press release. I wish I saved it. I would put it up frame behind me right now. Rick D. Pietro will not be available for tonight's game due to general body soreness. Ah, I'm recalling Chris. That's a Picasso, buddy. Ah, you like that one? You like that one? Anyway,

that is his legacy in the NHL. So even without you know, even without those two key players You still have that soap and warm water feeling for Edmonton Yeah, definitely and I you know I'm not going to be surprised if the Stars push it an extra game with those injuries in mind But it does feel like at the end of the day We're getting a Stanley Cup final rematch and I do think it's funny because I think the Canes and the Stars are being talked About in very different ways here And yes, the the Stars now have seven more eight more years of Miko Renz and it's totally

different than saying anything else, right? Like they're still in a good position. Yes, they've moved at some of their young talent. Yes, they don't have a ton of draft picks at this point, but you know that guys like Wyatt Johnston are going to become those difference makers and their AHL team is very good. Their prospect pipeline is very good. You have guys like Thomas Harley, like you have young difference makers, so you can still make it work. But you look at it and have they've fallen off now, it's two straight years that they're

struggling against the Oilers. And last year, one of the bigger problems was that the scoring depth was Iraq and their power play, I think it was 0 for 14 in round three against the Oilers last year. This year they come into it, there were signs that they could run into trouble offensively because their five on five scoring through two rounds was not very good, right? And in round two, they weren't getting enough depth contribution. So if Miko Rantzen and slowed down at all, they might've been in trouble. And then game one happens, you know, like, oh, three power play goals, Tyler Sagan, Mason Marchman, Matt Duchenne, they're all chipping in. Okay, maybe you'll be just fine. And then very quickly

you go back to game two and it's like, nope, back to reality. This is what everything was pointing to and they haven't done anything since. Their five on five goals per 16 round three, I think is 0.98 per 60 something like that versus the Oilers who have around three goals. So you just see that huge difference. They're getting outscored nine to three

at five on five in this series. They're getting absolutely crushed offensively. The power play is not making up for it like it did through two rounds. What are you going to do about it? And then last night the top line responds with one of the worst games of the playoffs. So, you know, it's not an easy situation. Well, other than the drive, Mrs. Kennedy, how'd you enjoy Dallas?

One more thing. One more thing on, on, on the stars here, Wyatt Johnston and the dashes. Now listen, I understand plus minus is more reflection of the shooting percentage of everybody else on the ice around you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Dash 17 ain't great. And what I was thinking about this morning is I was walking my dog because I have no life and I think about things like this. You know who his minor hockey coach was when he played with the Marlies from Bantam to Minor Midget? Paul Coffey. This is a you fact, not a me fact.

Listen, I know you like to swim in the deep water. I'm just testing where we're at here. Paul Coffey, who's now on the bench with the Edmonton Willers. Does he know something about Wyatt Johnston's game that tracks back to when he was 14 and 15 years old, Shayna Goldman. I know, I shake my head too. I just think that it's... In this world right now, where we try to like draw lines between everybody and this person knows that person through this

person and blah, blah, blah, blah, Paul Coffey coached him leading into his draft year with that Marlies team, which couldn't do anything because the Dom Elves fliers with Shane Wright and Brendan Offman and Brann Clark were just so good. But anyway, I digress. If you were, I love doing this like from the first week of the playoffs, if you were handing out the Con Smythe trophy right now,

like there was a time where Mikko Rantinen was getting that thing. That ship has probably sailed. Who's getting it now? And is it just the obvious Conor McDavid? I mean, it could be. He's been outstanding, right? And I think, I think he had acquired a round two and then immediately the Western Conference

finals starts and you just see him dancing off the rush, speeding around everyone, making everyone around him look so stupid. And you know, it's hard. It's hard to pick someone else outside of him. If we're going with the Oilers, like he's definitely up there. You could put Evan Bouchard in the conversation. He's had an outstanding postseason. I think, listen, if you could give it to a coach, I'd give it to Chris Knoploch because

I think he's found a way to push the right buttons because not only do you have the big guys going and that now you're Able to split them up you have everybody else around him going you look at Zach Hyman the difference between his regular season to his postseason It's wild. He had 1.92 points for 60 in the regular season, right? He's at 2.49 points per 60 in the playoffs Ryan Eugene Hopkins. It's an even more dramatic split He's scoring a rate of 3.74 per 60. Yeah, so you're like, okay more dramatic split he's scoring a rate of 3.74 for 60 yeah so you're like okay that Chris Nalbach has figured it out but also what's the common thread those two guys are playing with Connor McDavid again and now they're scoring

unlike the regular season so yeah I'm gonna go Connor McDavid and and Evan Bouchard if I'm going Oilers and then I guess do you want the Panthers pick? Of course yeah we're assuming Panthers like we're assuming Oilers. Sam Bennett? I mean I think I think his name is gonna be up there for sure. I want to see what Matthew Kachak does. I think he's turned it around this series, and I'm not saying, oh, he's been bad. I'm sure that injury played a lot into it. Round one, he's scoring on the power play. Yeah, a lot of guys who miss a lot of regular season time come into the playoffs and play and score on the power play. It's much easier to do that. But the underlying numbers were good in round two. He looks good in round three. So I think you could go with someone from that line for sure. You go with the Gus Forsling.

I was gonna say a Forsling or Seth Jones. I would go Forsling over to Seth Jones. Seth Jones looks so good. Night in and night out. His decision-making is like night and day between Florida and Chicago. Oh, yeah, of course. He's had a lot more support random, better coaching, I'm sure. Um, a different role, different usage. I think that's helped out a lot, but I also think, you know, like he played with cool across last game and he kind of got sunk by it versus having me glow. Who I think is helping balance out his game. I don't think he's in, I wouldn't say he's not the driver of his pair. I think it's more of like an even workload, which is fine. So I'm going to go for zilling over him if I had to choose.

Um, but you can even look at Bob and see what he does because he had a rough start to the postseason, but it's not how you start. It's how you finish. And he's been great. If, and again, we don't know. Oilers, Panthers, Stanley Cup final, Panthers win it, but Connor McDavid wins the Conn's Spythe. Does he accept it this time? No. Or is this gonna turn into like the the the conference the a new trend for conference champions where they don't

touch the other Prince of Wales or the Campbell's Conference trophy. Is that what the Conn's Spythe is gonna turn into if you win it in a losing cause so that your Ron Hex stalls and your J.S. Jaguars of the of the of years gone past and now Connor McDavid if you lose it if you if you win it in a losing cause do you not accept it he doesn't win it they gave it to him is one I don't care if he's the best player in the world and has 50 points, he's not getting it. They're gonna be like, no, we gave it to you last time, bestie, it's not happening this time.

Someone on the Panthers is gonna get it. Like I literally cannot see, it doesn't matter how herculean his effort is. I feel like everybody good on the Panthers would have to be so bad, right? Like it just, it's not gonna happen. You know, one of the things that I wrote about this week in the blog was, you know, at a certain point,

people are gonna start coming for other personnel on the Florida Panthers. Happened to Tampa, you know, trying to grab, and not just players, like we know about Bennett and upcoming free agency, et cetera, and Aaron Ackblad, Brad Marshand, et cetera. Sol Van Lafave, we wonder about, listen, I wonder about Sonny Maeda.

As much as we look at the Florida Panthers and everyone wants to make this like, oh, this is an old school eye test team. No, it's not. This is still like a strong analytics based organization that doesn't just do things on a whim because this guy looks like he going to be tough caveman, put pocket net. Like it's not, that's not the Florida Panthers it's still a very highly functioning and intelligent team where all the decisions can be can be can be explained through a number of ways and how they play can be described using a number of different

numbers for example when you look at the Florida Panthers who do you say you know what if I'm a team that's trying to get into the playoffs, I want this person, maybe it's Paul Kripelka, Assistant General Manager, is there someone that you look at, Rick Dudley, is there someone that you look at and you say, this person's been around a very successful Florida Panthers team for a while now.

I wanna know how they did it, so we're gonna steal some people. Do you have a thought on that? Maybe the obvious is Sonny Meda, who's like in the analytics community is, you know, is like, has like, you know, $2 less than God. I mean, look, if, if anybody wants to look at what Eric Tulski has done and go, okay, we're finally ready to commit to that because I feel like in the past it's been like John Chake is the analytics jammer, Kyle Dubas or this and that. And it's like, okay, if we're going to go like true nerds, true analytics nerds, Eric

Tulski is the first of his kind. So yeah, that could start a trend there, but I'm going to look at it and say, if I'm any team I go, what is the Florida Panthers best strength? And I'm going to say it's like revitalizing talent, especially on the backend, right? You look at the defensive structure that they've implemented. You look at how they've been able to swap out

the supporting cast and bring in these low risk, high reward players, Oliver Ackman-Larsen, Kulikov, Mikola, all of these players who might've struck out somewhere else, get a new shot, right? Brandon Montour previously. Brandon Montour is another one. Throw him in the mix. Yeah, Seth Jones this year. Forsling, look at Gus Forsling. Oh, the waiver guy? The waiver guy, the one that everybody could have had on waivers? That guy? Yeah, so I would say, I know we don't

know enough about coaching in this league, right? We all know that. And you look at someone like Paul Maurice and you go, okay, well, in Winnipeg, those guys didn't know how to play defense. And it's like, all right, well, that was a roster issue too. It's not fully on him. But you look at the work of his assistant coaches and you go, okay, there's something special there. I would like to see more assistant coaches like that treated almost as these specialists,

like special defensive coordinators. I think of Brad Shaw in the same regard too. Go to different teams and look how they can do a lot with a little, right? Because if defense wins championships, the way that they play, they play this tough, hard-nosed style, but they also have this progressive enough style. It's like the perfect meld of old versus new, right? So that is what I would be targeting. You know what's interesting? I'm glad you mentioned Chris Nalbough a couple of seconds ago,

because he's been marvelous for the Oilers, no doubt about that. But we keep having these conversations about Tampa previously, like, oh, who can you steal from the Tampa Bay Light? And now it's, who can you steal from the Florida Panthers? Yet here are the Edmondson Oilers again. One win away from going to the Stanley Cup final,

and all we're looking at and saying, well they have Connor and Leon. And you know, whether it's, and Knobloch's been fantastic, I think Paul Coffee's been really good too. You know who I come back to on this, with this team? And it's not a name that a lot of people are familiar with and it might be a little bit hipster,

but Bill Scott. Bill Scott is the Assistant General Manager. Bill Scott's been there for five different GMs. Like he's watched and seen all of it. Old Michigan State guy has watched all of this and been part of the construction of all of this Yet never a whisper about who can we take from Edmonton? There's like this almost arrogant assumption that while they have Conrad Leon, they're destined to be great And those are great players make no mistake about it But it's more than just those two guys and as we talk about, you know taking people taking people from organizations, Bill Scott's name should probably be out there, no? Yeah, why not? I mean, listen, it's tough

because the oilage management gets a bad rep and generally they've earned that, right? You think of, you know, some of the mistakes Ken Holland made along the way. And, you know, I saw some people giving Stan Bowman credit for this team and it's like, okay, he brought in Jake Bowman. What else? He was handed this team.

They did a lot of the work before he got there last summer I'm not I'm not gonna be clapping my hands for Stan Bowman anytime soon sorry Jackson Jeff Jack before Bowman came in Jackson did a ton Jeff Jackson yeah exactly and a lot of those swings didn't work out right on paper we thought Victor Arvidsson was gonna be the perfect player to play with Leon Dries at all it hasn't worked out that way they lost Holloway and Broberg they've had to figure it out on the fly so So I would say it's the lower key moves over the years. And some of it too, someone like Brad Holland, I think deserves credit because he brought

a little bit more of a progressive approach under Ken Holland as well, right? And you can think of the Mattias Echolme trade. It's those deals and the management pieces that had their hands on those deals are the most interesting and signing Zach Hyman to that contract because everybody looked at it in the moment and I'm sure I was one of them going, it's a little bit of an overpayment, that's a risk. But on the other hand of it, you go, it's not easy to play with Conor McDavid and keep up and actually compliment him, right? And not just be the complete and total passenger to help Conor McDavid be the best version of himself. And Zach Hyman's done that. So if you can find that elite supporting talent and pay them the right way versus someone like, I don't know, Michael Bunting, where you see the Canes did it,

didn't work out as well. He was the replacement for Hyman, but you see how they have separated as two totally different players. You know, they have made some pretty good swings over the years, for sure. I give more of the credit to coaching right now for what they're doing with the roster that looked a little wonky in the regular season, but I also will give management the credit that they addressed what needed to be addressed in theory at the deadline, right? They went for forwards, they went for a defenseman and wallman, which was exactly what they needed instead of panicking and going for goaltending. When the market wasn't there, when they knew if we can be that good in front of Stewart Skinner, we'll be fine or in front of Pickard and Skinner. Speaker 1 So a couple of things on Zach Hyman. One,

he is one of the luckiest hockey players in the history of the game. Think about the centers he's played with even going back to Michigan, Dylan Larkin to Austin Matthews to Connor McDavid. Dylan Larkin to Austin Matthews to Connor McDavid. Secondly, can you imagine if Zach Hyman still played on the team that drafted him, the Florida Panthers? Could you imagine then you add Hyman onto this, this group of criminals? I really wonder what he would have been there. Would he have been like this elite third line player?

Would he have been a really good second line winger? Would he have been that elite? You must have him on your first line. It's a great question. So listen, so much of hockey is luck and circumstance. I agree with you 100%. I don't know that Zach Hyman turns into the player that he is now with that edition of the Florida Panthers

because we tend to think now the Florida Panthers, oh, going to the Stanley Cup final final marquee franchise and everybody wants to steal players and steal management and blah, blah, blah, all these types of things. But let's not forget, like for a long time, this was just to be blunt, it was an easy two points. You know, Tampa was going to give you a battle, but you could get two points out of Florida and escape out of the state. Like that was an easy two points in the NH and you wouldn't get bruised. Right. You didn't need to have any ice packs in the dressing room.

It's a totally different team now. Think of when they lost under Brunette, you know, this was like a pure rush based team too. Like they played different stylistically. The other part of it too is, you know, the path of a player can be what seasons them and makes them this player. That experience of Zach Hyman for not sticking

from the team that he drafted and maybe getting time with the Leafs and Austin Matthews and learning the pain of losing, but also learning how to play with an elite center who is that amazing goal scorer. Now you're gonna play with Connery David. That is a totally different player stylistically from the speed, from, you know,

he's more of a pass for his player. It is so, so, so different. So now you're learning and adjusting on the fly to playing with someone differently. It's gonna round out your so different. So now you're learning and adjusting on the fly to playing with someone differently. It's going to round out your skill set too and season you in a different way. That's a great point. Shayna, this is awesome. You're awesome. Polita, happy birthday. Thanks for allowing us to share your

lead a picture, which is just all too good. I mean, you're the best. You're fantastic. We will catch up soon. Enjoy what could be Handshake Alley tonight. You'll be good. Thanks for having me. There she is, Shayna Goldman from the Too Many Men podcast and the Athletic. A question in the chat, by the way, from Young Matt. More should be discussed about Maurice

suddenly leaving the Jets and then taking the job in Florida. I don't know that Paul Maurice will ever admit this, but I think that that was Paul Maurice. Again, this is just my belief here. I believe that Paul Maurice did the Winnipeg Jets a solid. The Winnipeg Jets are, it's not a major market. And a lot of people have maintained that Kevin Sheveldayoff has the hardest job in the NHL as general manager to, you know, get talent and get talent to stay. And he does. Like a lot of people like sign long-term contracts with the Winnipeg Jets. He's done a great job constructing a

consistently competitive team. I think that Paul Maurice had reached his end with the Winnipeg Jets and Paul, knowing hockey as he does, probably looked at this situation and said it won't be good if I'm fired by the Winnipeg jets. That's the wrong message to marketplace because the message to marketplace from the Winnipeg jets has always been loyalty and people stay for a long time. And I think that's why Paul said it would be better for everybody involved here if I stepped away. Like I think that Paul Maurice, again, if my theory is right, discuss amongst yourselves, if my theory is correct on Paul Maurice and the Winnipeg Jets, he really did that team, that market, the province of Manitoba a

real solid by doing it the way that he did. Again, I don't know that Paul Maurice will ever say that that's why he did it or how he did it, but I'm with the belief that Paul Maurice, um, who understands the dynamics of every situation that he's ever been in. He's a died in the wool long time, you know, from opening bell to last call hockey guy. I think he read that thing perfectly and said it would be a lot better for this team if now that I understand like it's probably at the end of my line here if I walk away that

way it doesn't make it look like the Winnipeg Jets have fired me and got rid of someone because that's not the MO here. I really I really do think that that's what Paul Maurice did with the Winnipeg Jets. Nonetheless, T.A. Neiman, Jeff, do you hear anything about Woodcroft possibly being hired anywhere? I know he is still talking to teams and as I mentioned at the top of the show I really hope there's something here for Jay Woodcroft in this round of the coaching carousel. But we'll see. I don't know if it's a situation where you have to sort of wait for the first in-season

firing. Don't know. But like Woodcroft is an impressive coach. Jay Woodcroft, you know, when he got fired from the Edmonton Olders, just didn't sit around and wait for phone calls. He got on planes and went to Europe and went to see how other organizations do things and went to other games. I went to a Philadelphia Flyers camp, was invited by John Tortorella and went to

see how they do things and how it works with that organization. The one thing that I'm always impressed by with coaches, and listen, this isn't exclusive to Jay Woodcroft, but since this is the name that was brought up, Woodcroft is one of those guys that seems like he never wants to stop learning and never lets the cement harden around any of his ideas. You've met people like this in your life who are in

a constant state of I don't know. I think this, I don't know this. I'm always available to be proven wrong. I'm not going to treat information as a final destination. I'm gonna treat it as a temporary staging post. That's Jay Woodcroft as a coach. That's why I really hope that there's something for Woodcroft in this round of hirings. And if there's not, like you haven't seen the last of Jay Woodcroft at all. He will be back in the NHL.

He is too good, he is too driven and he's too highly intelligent not to be back in the NHL in some capacity. I really thought Vancouver would have been a good fit for Jay Woodcroft. Nonetheless, we carry on. Alright, from the NHL to the CHL and the Memorial Cup. And tonight, a big game between two QMJHL teams. Moncton faces off against host Rimouski. The winner of this game will play the London Knights on Friday.

Pleased to be joined by the commissioner of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League, Mario Cicchini. Mario, thanks so much for doing this. I know it's a very busy time, so I very much appreciate your time today. How are you today? No problem. It's my pleasure and I'm feeling good. I know that tonight one Q team will win. It's the nature of the tournament. We've seen it before. Listen, you very well recall there was a long stretch where the Western Hockey League couldn't win a game year after year and now all of a sudden Medicine Hat is running the table three and oh

into the final on Sunday. One thing that I know about you that someone told me is a really nice touch that you do. And a couple of people have mentioned this to me Mario. As commissioner you like to visit every single rink in your league every year. Like you'll get in the car and you will drive to all of these rinks. Now, Ramoski is hosting this year. Ramoski has a long history.

And we think of Sydney and Brad Richards and Vinnie LeCavillier, etc. What are you thinking? Like you're driving to Ramoski. What is going through your mind when you're going to this, you know, venerable, great junior hockey market? It's very inspiring. You are absolutely right, you know, between Crosby, Le Cavelier, La Frenière, our most recent first overall draft pick in 2019. Rimouski is a, they literally call themselves La Terre des Champions, the land of champions,

and they have those bragging rights. I mean, and they and you probably are familiar with the Taguays. They do exceptional work in organizing. I slept very well over the past 18 months knowing that this was going to be a superb Memorial Cup and so far, so good. Like everything I'm hearing from the logistics around it, the ice, everything is perfect and we like it that way. And going into this one, I looked at the teams and Medicine Hat is loaded with stars and London Nights are a Cadillac franchise in the CHL.

I personally looked at watching all season long, I'm not saying to myself, I think Moncton is the best team in the CHL and Ramouski is right there in the, in the Q final. It's an excellent squad. I looked at this on paper and said, this has the makings of one of the best Memorial Cups we've ever seen. And the games have been great. Every single game is close.

There's no blowouts. These are like from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer. These have all been competitive games. Oh, you're absolutely right. I mean, I've been quoted a lot last week saying, risking, not a specialist like you are, but I was saying this looks to me like a very, very competitive group, very close knit. And so far, it's been aside from the empty goal, it's been one goal game in every game and one in overtime. So every one of the games could have been won by either team and that's the way we like it from a showcase point of view. These players are, they don't even

look like they've played close to a hundred games. I mean, they skate, they're not tired, they give it all out. The crowds, as you've seen, the building is full, whether they're in Musky or the queue is playing. So even last night, it was a full-pool thing. So they appreciate their hockey. They know their hockey.

Believe me, when you walk through the fans, I get a little piece of their opinion sometimes. It's really, really, really fun to see, fun to watch. This is the ultimate point of the season. We'll have a very interesting weekend because I don't think, like to your point, the Tigers made it to the finals. I'm sure they are sitting there today by no means are they thinking that it's going to be an easy win on Sunday if they win. It's going to be a tough game because it's all been one goal game. So they need to be on top of your game. Looking forward to tonight.

You know, I mentioned off the top that, you know, you like to drive to all these arenas and you know, hey, listen, Newfoundland's on the horizon next season too. So you get to go to one of the best places in the entire country. Why is that important to you? Like there's a couple of other Q issues that I wanna get to, but I'm curious, like from a commissioner's point of view,

like it seems like this is like, this is near and dear to your heart. Like why does this matter to you? Well, you mean about Newfoundland? No, no, I mean like Newfoundland? No, no. I mean like going to every single rink. Oh, well listen, my upbringing was in radio, in media. And as you know, contrary to TV where it's all centralized production, it would be Toronto,

Montreal, and it's the same everywhere, radio still lead the opposite. So I was brought up going to markets, feeling the place, understanding what people go through, and obviously being driven by the local market. Like what actually matters to these people. So when I go to the city, I sit with everybody. You know, usually it's gonna be the president, the social person, the marketing person,

the ticketing person. We have meetings all day in most places. And, cause I get to talk a lot to the ownership and, but I don't get like the daily stories that you will never get if you don't set foot in the arena. Then I get to see the building, sometimes meet the mayors, meet the city. Yeah, meet the minister even in some cases

when there's, when we want to rebuild some arenas or ask for funding. So you need to do this in my opinion to get the pulse of every city of every situation that might arise. So I'm totally in tuned with the ownership group and the challenges that they face, but nothing beats meeting the people face to face and hearing it from the end firsthand. You know, I'm glad you brought up your background in media because you and I overlapped in a couple of places. I started at telemedia. Back in 1995, I started telemedia

and then from there I transitioned to chorus. Now you were of course based in Quebec and I was in Ontario, but like you, I grew up, radio was my first love. I can still remember my father taking a little radio. My mom would send me to bed, midweek games. I couldn't stay up to watch all three periods. And my dad, my dad would put a little radio under my pillow.

And so I listened to hockey as much as I watched hockey. I mean, the media environment right now is more competitive and more different than it's ever been. I mean, you've seen it from the sort of root to the fruit now, from the very beginning of hockey on radio to now social media and streaming, et cetera. What are the challenges that the Quebec Junior League faces, not unlike the OHL and the Western Hockey League, but the Quebec Mar Quebec Junior League face is not unlike the OHL in the Western Hawkeye but the Quebec Maritime Junior League face when it comes to how

to handle media and how do we get a big megaphonic voice to our sports? Well the challenge right now mostly I would I would go back to what you just said and I so much relate to your story about the radio because I went to bed every night there was a show and CKC of flagship telemedia station in Montreal that that You just said, and I so much relate to your story about the radio, because I went to bed every night. There was a show on CKC, a flagship telemedia station in Montreal that had all those core recaps at 11 p.m. So I would air flight this, do what happened. But the local aspect of it, I think, is our biggest challenge.

We are so, with our teams entrenched in the community. Ten years ago, you would do a press conference after a game or a coach or the commissioner would go to the city. You'd have still five, six, seven people in front of you at the local level. Today we don't. Today I go and I have CBC in Shikutsumi who's asking me to repeat what I just said because she's also covering Abytsubi and she wants me to use a who way example, but saying what I just said. And of course, we helped them out.

So to me, the fact that there were cutbacks, unfortunately, due to the situation, the economic context of traditional media, and locally, it suffers outside of the big centers, it suffers a lot. And then when you get to the big centers even, they actually have probably not enough people to go around and actually visit the team. They want to do different things that make their life a bit easier. So it's challenging and less people makes it that the bigger stories of the professional sports always obviously make it on top

and then less room for us to battle around and less people in the station doing sports means less voice at the table also to get some more minutes on air. So it's complicated. It's gonna be a challenge moving forward. But unfortunately, we reinvent ourselves and shows like yours, for instance, right now,

allows us to have a reach that is also that we have to now come to realize that that's the trend and that's the way it's gonna be. And we just need to make sure that some of your shows, some of the podcasts and so on gather more and more. Maybe there's going to be a consolidation one day of all of these things. So there's still huge crowds that get to a place because you and I grew up in radio and sometimes we obviously always complain about the CRTC, I'm sure.

But no, Sometimes we obviously always complain about the CRTC, I'm sure, but... No! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais!

Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais!

Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! Jamais, jamais, jamais! to the duplicate, you need to still have time to prepare versus arriving just like this. So it's a different environment. We need to get used to it. And I always say, I'm not sure, I don't want to use the word it's unfortunate, but I think

there's something missing where there's a place where you can have a huge gathering and a huge crowd, either TV or radio. So it's a new world, obviously. It is. Being a new world all the time. It's a new world. I do understand, though, at the same time as well, despite all the challenges of marketing and media,

that attendance in the Quebec League is up, I believe. And that's wonderful. That's great news. Listen, there's a lot of challenges in the, in the big story around junior hockey is, you know, the, I don't want to call it the threat, but the reality now is that, you know, junior players can go and play in NCAA hockey. Um, and that is, that's, that's seismic change. Like that is complete sea change and has changed, you know, every conversation

and has changed the realities about, about being a junior hockey player. You know, one of the things that we all wonder about here is what can junior leagues do to encourage players to stay? And the one thing that I've wondered about is, have you ever considered, like just bluntly, Mario, have you ever considered, and we're talking about, you know, the first round picks, superstar players, paying them, paying them to stay? Well, right now we have a student athlete status,

so we have to very, very, very careful about that. But there is sponsoring possibilities. So the teams right now as we speak cannot pay them directly, but can a local automotive dealer sponsor a player directly, have a sponsorship deal, that's doable and that's possible. And that's within the frame of the regulator that we live in.

So that's where we may want to turn our hats to, to your point, I don't think it's probably one player per team at most, you know? Call him a franchise player, for example, for a term that we know well in sports. Those are our thought process right now. We have a board next week and certainly, I'm sure we're gonna spend a lot of time

discussing as a group because as a group and as three leagues actually, we faced a wall along those lines, you know, respecting regulation but wanting to keep our players. Obviously I could go on, Jeff, about everything we do and what I think when you're your junior year when you're 19 and you become a leader and typically you may wear a leather, you know, a C or an A on your jersey and you play 19-20 minutes and maybe your PP and your PK and your that's when you shine a lot and you learn to be a leader, which is important in the development of any player slash person versus going back to if you're not top six in the

NCAA, which is a league's man, you know, average age 20 can be very different. You might, it's as if you start over your 16 year old year in junior while not completing all the loop. I know money can be attractive, I know all that, but hopefully some agents and everybody, parents, and us discuss this situation, because I think they have it very, very good overall from a human standpoint, how they develop with us

to go the whole course. But to your point, we're not, you know, we're not, uh, naive enough. Sure. And, uh, to know that we can just stay there and just say that. So we are looking at options. Um, but we need to respect the scope of the regulation right now. Of course. Can I throw one more idea your way?

Of course. One of the things I was thinking about earlier when all this happened, like, okay, so how can CHL teams make this attractive to keep players? And the education package is very sacred, um, in, in all three leagues. Have, has there ever been conversation about making the education packages transferable to a family member, someone else as a way like, hey,

you know what, stay here. We know you're probably not going to use your education package. You're going to go on to the NHL you're probably not going to use your education package. You're going to go on to the NHL, et cetera. You can transfer that education package. Interestingly enough, since November, I had not heard it before. I was told by Gilles Coteau, the former commission, that it was like when it was in the beginning of when

schools, scholarships, and the old idea started, which is back in the 80s, I believe, or early 90s, it was sort of, you know, broached as an idea, but dispersed very, very quickly. It came back up since November 7, the famous date when the NCP officially voted in that new rule. It's something that I would not say Jeff it's on the table right now, like it's not right now contemplated, but it's been mentioned. So I would not be surprised that a team or two brings it up actually as I said next week and part of the conversation. And yes, maybe it's a very good way to me I can definitely see a family member or a mother or a dad just saying listen part of the decision making process here is your brother or your sister being involved in the

process or it becomes a family issue it's it's it could be interesting it could be interesting okay I might have ideas now. Now I'm just back to just a question. That's it, I've got two ideas and then after that, I'm tapped in. Great ideas, great ideas. Listen, in the Ontario League, we almost saw Muskegon come into the OHL,

Youngstown as well. I know US expansion is important to the Quebec League as well. Is that still a front burner issue for the queue, getting the tentacles into the United States? Yeah, well, and actually we, the first answer is always we wanna get to 20 teams as fast as we can from 18.

For your listeners, we have 18 in the queue. And yes, the states have been in contact with one or two cities down there. And yes, the states have been in contact with one or two cities down there. It is right now a discussion that we need to have with USA Hockey and Hockey Canada for that matter on the rebound of the conversation of USA Hockey about sanctioning and making sure that everything is in order, again, based on the regulation. So we will have those. We had, I mean, I met USA Hockey at the Four Nations Cup in Boston in February.

We met again at the NHL meetings in March. We said we'll touch base in July. But at one point, we'll need action and we'll need to have a decision to move forward in order for us to decide a course of action that I would prefer be within the scope of regulations right now, obviously, and then we'll advise on where we go. So we either, we are looking at the states, we're looking at some Quebec territories also.

So hopefully by a couple of seasons, three at most, we have 20 and if we're lucky enough, maybe 22 teams. So that's definitely in the front burner. One final question. I know it's something, like it's something that I've changed my mind on, and I think it, I'll be blunt, I think it's a byproduct of having kids myself,

and I think a lot of people have gone through this, and that's fighting in junior hockey. I know that's something that you've been at the forefront of, trying to eradicate. Once upon a time, it wasn't an issue for me, and then I had kids, and now I get that I'm a hypocrite. All of a sudden, now I have skin in the game. All of a sudden, now I'm turned around on it.

But I just find teenagers fighting in hockey distasteful. I'll just be blunt. I know that you've tried to do what you can do at your level I just find teenagers fighting in hockey distasteful. I'll just be blunt. I know that you've tried to do what you can do at your level to rid the queue of fighting. Where is that challenge now for you? Are you happy with where it's at? Would you like your league to do more? Where are you at on that, Mario?

Well, first of all, to give perspective to your listener, because I know you know your numbers well, we went from close to 200 fights, then it was down the last year to above, like between 125 and 150, if I remember correctly. Don't quote me on this, verify me, but I'm above 100. We now, the past two years where we basically, you're thrown out of

the game and at the second fight, so you're sort of, you're allowed to lose your temper once over the season, but you're still out of the game. Then the second fight, you get a game suspension on top of it and then in multiplies. We were aiming, we were guessing, I would say more guessing, we're not aiming to have fights, but we were guessing that still the emotion of the game, the ambits maybe, we will have between, you know, some were saying 50, some other were saying 25. We actually landed at 34 and 39 for the past three years out of 600 and you know, around 600 games like because we also cut the number of games from 68 to 64. So 612

games the first year 576 this year so by our key terms people call it reasonable I still think it's it you know it's 39 too much and I agree like kids kids and players need to understand to control their emotions just like you know I come from the Alouettes as as probably I know, it was the lute of the Alouettes. Very tough football, you know, it's very tough. You get contact every, every play. Players go on there to contact every play. Unlike hockey, you can be on a shift and not be hit at all.

And everybody controls their emotions mostly. So I think we're on the right track. I think what I like the most is when the parents tell me, you know, my kid won't tell you but he's very happy. That's when I know that we're doing a good job because I totally understand the team effort and I don't. And believe me, I like a good body check. I want to be clear on this. Like we never tell anyone, don't use the rules, you know. You can be pretty much intimidating. When I say that, I mean sports-wise, competitive-wise, with a good body check in front of the net or cross-ice, using your elbow, getting the guy right here.

He's going to remember you next time and he may lose a second or two. To me, that's probably a bigger impact than a fight mostly. So I do agree. And to what you said at the beginning, I do tell a lot of people sometimes, I still have the occasional person that comes to me and say, why did you do this, blah, blah, blah. My first question is always, do you have kids? Happily. Happily.

Would you like to see your kids, you know, fighting the ice? It leads to, it's not, I'm very happy with our rule. And right now we're always evaluating stuff, but right now it seems to do, it did a lot of good so far. Excellent, listen, bon chance ce soir, Wyrmcy and Moncton, and we'll see what happens. It's been a great, it's been a great tournament so far. You must be thrilled with this. I'm absolutely thrilled.

As we said in the beginning, it's great. The city is alive with hockey. It's beautiful. So I don't know if you've ever been, but God the river is majestic. Oh, it's beautiful. Yeah. Next video, it's super beautiful.

And tonight we'll have unfortunately one cute team that will be eliminated and then I'll be able to cheer again on Friday night. If you look with it, we don't get to cheer often, but as of Friday, for sure I'll be able to cheer for the next two games for our guys, so very happy. I get that, it's tough to choose between your kids, I get it, but free and clear after tonight. Thank you for doing this, much appreciate it.

I probably kept you too long, but thank you so much for this, much appreciated Mario. Thank you very much and viva telemedia. The old days. Thank you. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. The good old days when I broke into 1995, the days of telemedia. They were a big publisher too. Zach, I'm going to sound like the old man again here. You know, I got my start in radio at telemedia at the fan 1430, even before it was 590. radio at telemedia at the fan 1430 even before it was 590 and they were they were they were they were bigging into a magazine publishing as well hockey news was one of their main publications telemedia was oh geez what other title they have good housekeeping I think might have been a big one for them as well anyhow and somehow I ended up somehow I ended up here with you,

Zach, from the early days of telemedia. What a life. What a life. You're pro. Pro's pro. Now you're here with me. Now I'm here with you. But that was a fun conversation with Mario. What do you think, and again, I know that they have to be very sensitive about the idea of just flat out paying players, but the idea of having, and I think this one will be a real talking point in the CHL, because we keep hearing about, you know, oh, they have a war chest at Penn State, they're just going to buy players, and who's going to turn down Michigan,? Look at what Michigan State is doing, and look at BC and what BU's doing, like, we get it. I do wonder about the interesting idea

that Mario brought up, having outside businesses essentially sponsor kids to stay. Yeah, I'm gonna, so this is the issue that I'll throw at you that I don't know how much you would be aware of this, but this is the area that I would want to avoid if I am going down this road for NCAA and CHL. In college football, it's gotten out of hand, where what you will see happen is a kid comes out of high school and he commits to Ohio State and then comes knocking on the door Notre Dame I'm just using hypotheticals here so yeah the chat don't get on me saying well that wouldn't happen but Notre Dame comes and

they say hmm you're getting 250,000 there we we'll give you 350,000. Boom, flips. Now he's going to Notre Dame. And then he plays one year at Notre Dame. And then the next year, he played really well at Notre Dame. And Michigan comes and they go, we'll give you 500,000. Bang, gone. I get it's good for the player,

making money, that kind of stuff. But it kind of cheapens what you get with the, now this is me sounding like, oh, it's about the name on the front. But it kind of cheapens that a little bit, where it's like, you're not playing for team and for program and for legacy. It becomes a pro loop.

It really does become a pro loop. Right? And there's just way too much much jumping and that's gross to me. But the thing is too, for so long, the ideals, the sanctity of the amateur athlete, with big business around them, that's a bygone relic now, isn't it? We all have our eyes open wide to how everything is done. I just wonder if that's, as a way to at least remain competitive with NCAA school, like to remain competitive with college programs,

I just wonder if that's one of the ways that CHL teams will look at doing it. And that's why I think I threw it out there to Mario. Like, I don't, ultimately, everything's gonna be a family decision now the doors are all open here. I just can't see the CHL saying, oh, well, I guess that's just the reality. So, Caleb Dainway from Moncton, go to NoDAC or wherever you're gonna go, be you.

Like, I just can't see the CHL rolling over and just saying, well, I guess that's just the way it is. The only thing I keep coming back to is like, well, maybe you just make a bidding war between the two. So it's, as Mario said, like the car dealership versus, you know, Michigan's NIL money. That's where we're at junior hockey now. Which, you know, I don't mind that to be honest, and especially because in this case you can at least get a little bit more,

um, player control where it's like, okay, you'd have to get traded out of here, but then obviously there can be other things and other ways to get yourself out. But yeah, it is a fair point because otherwise you just fall real far behind. Like you're just gonna get left in the dust for a lot of that stuff.

You know what's gonna happen though? I'm telling you Zach, there's gonna be some kids that go, some kids that stay, and some kids that go and wanna come back because they realize that they don't like it, it's not a fit, I actually have to go to classes. What? Through a school? And you have to have an academic standard

that you have to hit as well, or maybe you thought you were going to go in and play top six and now you're getting scratched. So I think there will be a bunch of kids that go back to you. I think this first year is going to be just weird. Patty Bo brings up, which I didn't think about at all. All right, Patty. Okay, Patty Bo says, I'm going to end up with CHL guys making more than AHL guys.

I'm just thinking about this. No, ECHL guys for sure. Like playing the cheese toast. You've got some kid who's playing in the AHL right now or the EC and he sees like, oh wow, Gavin McKenna was offered what to go to Penn State? What the fuck? I'm going to go back and I'm going to school. I'm done playing AHL hockey. I'm going to school for a year and then I'll come back here. It's gonna be a wild time. Like honestly, this whole thing is gonna be a wild ride. Like buckle up.

And enjoy tonight, Ramoski facing off against Moncton. Alright, we still have a little bit more to get to here on today's program. A reminder, the sheet is powered by fan duel We have one game tonight and one game in the Memorial Cup The sheet is powered by fan duel home of the seven game parlay make every moment more on fan duel fan duel proud to Connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them a couple of notes here on this one I'm curious. I haven't got your thoughts on this one yet game five Carolina, Florida Freddie Anderson starts Sergey Bobrovsky starts.

Chad Field, Walker, Nikitian. Hey get to have a look at him again. Sergei Bobrovsky starts as I mentioned. Sam Reinhart, Nikol Mikola, AJ Greer. All expected to play. Your thoughts on this one. Will it be the five game gentlemen's sweep? Yes, I think so. I think I've learned from you saying to me the other day that I learned the media thing where it's like a long answer to a short answer. The answer is just yes, I think Florida wins tonight. Those guys back. I think Florida wins tonight could have those guys back

I mean kudos to Carolina But this kind of feels like to me Paul Murray's walking in there being like all right you gave them your one Let's Shut it down Let's go to the next round. Let's go to the finals. When your Leafies won on that Friday night in Sunrise and then came back to Toronto. Well, that was like. Yeah.

Let's just save them. Let's just save them. They can start their locker clean out. Let's just get on with it. Also, the other thing too would be like, I don't know you would know better than I do but I wonder if there's an element of Edmonton is banged up a little bit here. They just little I'm in a brown. That's more than a little Well, I mean I mean he's like arms of guys coming back where you know, I'll comb is coming back You know Connor Brown will likely come back. You know, Zach Hyman is not coming back. You know Connor Brown will likely come back. You know Zach Hyman is not coming back. So what I mean by a little is like you know

there's probably some returning players in there. If you're in Florida's room you're kind of saying like the quicker we get this done maybe we give ourselves some extended period of recovery time. Shut it down.'s team get this thing over yeah and then you're like who knows maybe Dallas doesn't win another game and that's it and they're also gentlemen swept out of here but just kind of let's let's go let's go hit the tubs let's get back to the beach let's get on our golf carts let's relax get Sam Reinhardt. He's gonna play They're all gonna play but they could use some extra rest

Not the worst idea like look I I think it's over tonight, too But we'll see like that was a really gutsy effort by Carolina in game four now the challenge is do it again With Reinhardt Mikaala and Greer in the lineup. On the road. Yeah. Oh boy. Okay also as we mentioned Medicine Hat Tigers beating the London Knights 3-1 last night. They advanced to Sunday's final so congratulations to Medicine Hat Tigers.

Tonight as we mentioned with Mario it is Rimouski facing off against Monkton. The winner played the London Knights on Friday. With that I know we kept you along today if you stuck with us either live on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks so much for the attention today. Thanks to Mario Chikini for stopping by the commissioner of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League and also a special thanks as always to the great and hilarious and intelligent and just like a better person than you and me, Shannon Goldman from the Athletic and the Too Many Men podcast.

Two games to watch tonight. You have one NHL, you have one Memorial Cup, maybe you're watching both and if you are good on you, you are a true hockey fan. We're back tomorrow to talk about the aftermath of game five between the hurricanes and the Florida Panthers and then previewing Edmondson and Dallas which is turning into a nasty nasty series. Enjoy your evening dismissed adjourned Court back in session here tomorrow I spent 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day, cause you can call it a ride

I went to the dark man, he tried to give me a little medicine, I'm like nah man that's fine I'm like, no, man, that's fine. I'm not against those methods, but, you know, It's me, myself, and how this gon' be fixed in my mind. I do wanna break it. I turned on the music. I do wanna break it. I turned on the music. It's enough to help out, and get your sometimes losing

Helping on the days that went wrong