The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Final Is Set ft. Brian Burke & Dan MacKenzie

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

In this episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek is joined by Brian Burke to break down the Edmonton Oilers’ huge win over the Dallas Stars as they punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. The two dive into Pete DeBoer’s eye-opening postgame comments about Jake Oettinger and what they mean for the Stars moving forward. Then, they preview the upcoming Stanley Cup showdown between the Panthers and Oilers — what to expect, key matchups, and much moreLater in the show, Jeff welcomes Dan MacKenzie, President of the CHL, for an in-depth conversation on the ongoing Memorial Cup, the future direction of junior hockey, and how the league is navigating an evolving hockey landscape#NHL #StanleyCup #Oilers #Panthers #MemorialCup #CHL #HockeyTalk #JeffMarek #BrianBurke #DanMacKenzie #TheSheetShout 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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For all of you who thought that seeing Conor McDavid last year refused to come out for the Conn Smite, the shots of him desolate in the Oilers room. If you assume that that meant, in Connor's mind, he thought that might be my only shot at it, guess again. And the one thing that you have to really be impressed by with this edition of the Oilers, and I always say you take on the identity of your head coach, this is a team that isn't on the merry-go-round, isn't on the ferris wheel, isn't on the roller coaster of emotions. Now, would you have liked to have seen a little bit more celebration as they won the Western Conference yesterday?

Yeah, probably. But this is a team that is focused on business. Capital B business. They have been there, they've experienced it, they're heading to the Stanley Cup final again against the Florida Panthers, and nothing is going to be a surprise. There's a lot of reasons why this Stanley Cup final is going to be different than last year's Stanley Cup final. I think the emotions are still gonna be the same. I think the instant hatred will still be the same.

But just like last year, we looked at the Florida Panthers and said, there's no surprises for these guys. They've been there. Ditto for the Edmonton Oilers. And the good thing about this year's edition of the final is both teams are better. Both teams are better. Like the Oilers are deeper.

Now, the Hyman injury sucks. Bluntly, the Hyman injury sucks for this team. Would have loved to have seen Zach Hyman in the Stanley Cup final. He would have loved to have been in the Stanley Cup final, obviously.man injury sucks for this team. Would have loved to have seen Zach Hyman in the Stanley Cup final. He would have loved to have been in the Stanley Cup final, obviously, and ditto for his teammates. Would have loved to have seen him in the Stanley Cup final. That's gonna really suck not having him.

But the depth of the Edmonton Oilers has been a story, as much as the defense played by the Edmonton Oilers has been a story as well. We're gonna get into all of this coming up on today's program. Brian Burke is gonna be here for Civilian Fridays in a couple of moments one thing that I do want to touch on We had a lot of sort of office issues here sort of off playoff issues that we're gonna get to you know, I was talking to Tyler and Liam but an hour ago Oilers Nation every day and

One of the points that I was trying to make is this Oilers team, much like the Florida Panthers, are so talented that they show you, when they play you, where you are weak and where you are flawed. Like the Los Angeles Kings made big decisions after they lost to the Edmundson Oilers. The Vegas Golden Knights are about to make big decisions Ie we wonder about Marner now that they've lost to the Edmonton Oilers and The Dallas Stars are facing some big decisions about the future of their team

now that they've lost the way that they've lost to the Edmonton Oilers and not just this season either and Zach I'm curious what you thought about last night's matchup and specifically that hot button moment where, I mean, I've never seen this before. A goalie pull at the same time as a timeout. We've seen times out, so the team can gather themselves, kill the momentum the other team has, compose yourself, calm down. We've seen times out so the team can gather themselves kill momentum the other team has Compose yourself calm down. We've seen goalie pulls that will shake a team up and hey guys Let's take things seriously here try to get their attention but at the same time and Then to have the goaltender skate away after the timeout only to be whistled back to be catcalled back

by the coach and told to have a seat as the backup comes in? I don't know that it's like the Patrick Wa moment against the Detroit Red Wings. I'm not saying it's that, but it's like the old Mark Twain line. History doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes. That one rhymed with Montreal-Detroit last night with that goalie pull. I want to get to Peter DeBoer's comments but give us your nickel and dime on that one. I'll put it this way, I was shocked. When I saw him go back and then being pulled back

I was shocked. The reason I think it's not like the Patrick Wall one is because I don't think it's the goalie who's going to be going anywhere this time when changes Sorry if changes are being made. I think it'll be Elsewhere that those will be done by the Dallas Stars, but I Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I was watching at that point Personally, I didn't blame Autinger for where they were at and the fact that they were down at all and then the whole conversation about pulling a goalie to send shockwaves,

I guess, through your team and wake guys up. I think it's a little overstated. Uh, I understand the concept of it and sometimes it does work in certain instances. That was one of those ones to me where I was like that, if I'm on that bench bench like that's lost on me Like that's not working the way I you're expecting it to for me at least personally So he odd and drug gets pulled two shots two goals The first one is a doorstep goal on the power play by Corey Perry. He's left alone. The other one's a breakaway

These are goalie. These are goalie fault goals Yeah, like these are these are break everything The other one's a breakaway. These are goalie fault goals? Yeah. Like these are, like here's the thing about this game that I really profoundly didn't understand. Maybe I misread all of this. Or maybe I overestimated Dallas for yesterday's game specifically. I thought, Zach, that yesterday,

that Dallas stars, that first 10 minutes, the crowd was behind them. Dallas fans are always loud and they stand, they cheer like they're behind the team 100%. It's the backs against the wall game. It's an elimination game. Dallas is gonna kitchen sink this thing. They're gonna throw everything at Edmonton

in the first 10 minutes. These guys are just out for a skate. These guys are just out for a skate and These guys are just out for a skate and then it's two cob and then there's a goalie pull and then it's three cob and then all of a sudden they decide they want to start skating. It's like you guys down three pucks. You guys are just out there for a nice little skate and now you're chasing. Again, you're chasing, you're chasing, you're chasing, you're chasing and somehow through all of it, Oughtonjur is the one that gets the blame,

both in game and then post game by Peter DeBoer. Now I don't mind a goalie pull to get your team's attention. You know what surprised me even more? Even more than the time out slash goalie pull, the fact that Otenger didn't go back in the second period. Like that to me was the more humiliating part. The pull goalies obviously don't like to get pulled. I get it but it's to get the attention moment. The fact that it didn't come out for the second. Now maybe there's

some behind the scenes that I'm not aware of or we're not aware of that we don't know the full story on but that to me was a moment where I said, ooh there's gonna be there's gonna be some repair work that needs to be done here between this organized put it this way as someone told me this morning it's never a good idea to go to war with a Vesna caliber goaltender it doesn't usually work out very well nonetheless that's what we saw yesterday and the Stanley Cup final is now set. We have a lot of things to get to,

but let's get to right now the Daily Outline. And Daily Outline is of course powered by FanDuel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book, FanDuel. Coming up on the program today, two big guests. People that have held the pen and hold the pen, Brian Burke is a mainstay here on Fridays for Civilian Fridays.

Dan McKenzie, the president of the CHL, will drop by in about half an hour's time. The Edmonton Oilers advance, we wonder about changes in Dallas, maybe behind the bench, maybe on the ice as well. Stanley Cup rematch is set. The Memorial Cup semi-final tonight, Monkton facing off against London,

the future of the CHL in this whole new universe that includes players like draft eligible Cole Reschne going from the Victoria Royals as announced today to North Dakota. Let's get to our Friday staple. This segment is a presentation of Budweiser. Budweiser is encouraging Buds to make time for playoffs, not excuses. Every goal, every check, every win is better enjoyed with your Buds. Phone a Bud, text a Bud, ping a Bud, and call out their excuses for bailing on the playoffs. After all, the playoffs are the most wonderful time of the year. Make them count.

When it's springtime, it's go time. And it's go time on Civilian Fridays, right here, right now, with the one and only Brian Burke. First of all, Burke, how are you today? I'm good, Jeff. How are you? I'm good. Still buzzing and still have a lot of questions from last night's closeout game at American Airlines. Stanley Cup final is set between the Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Before we get into some of the specifics of it and I want to get your thoughts on the goalie poll specifically,

how do you read the Oilers this year? Like they damaged the Kings, they damaged the Knights, and now they've damaged the Dallas Stars. Your thoughts on Edmondson. Well, they're hard to figure out till the last month. They've been a Jekyll and Hyde team, but I think the two big personnel changes are, they're much more determined and grittier lineup

with Frederick and Andrew Kane in the lineup. They have meat, they have the ability to see more and ease with each other. I think Zach Hyman is going to be sorely missed. Yeah. I still think Edmonton is the team to be right now. And you know, and you know, this is something that you've talked about plenty with a lot of your teams and that is everybody has a role, but that's only one part of it. Like I look at Edmonton and I like last night, I look at Victor Arvidsson and his work along the boards and I'm like, you know, we think of

Victor Arvidsson and now when we think, you know, open ice, toe drag this and scoring 35 goals. And there's Arvidsson with some great work along the boards, protecting the puck, chewing the clock, all of it. Say the same thing about the silly pod Colson. It's one thing to get assigned a role. It's another to accept it. And even if you don't like it, not have boo boo face about it.

Like it seems like everybody has accepted the role they've been given here by Chris Knoblach. Not just accepted, I would say embraced Jeff. They've embraced the role. Todd Coleson might be the biggest revelation of anyone in the playoffs this year. He's a vicious hitting, hardworking guy. He's got a real defensive conscience.

He's been excellent. And I thought he was just a spare part. I thought he was not a big part of the equation there. He's been terrific. So he's been a revelation for me, but they're bigger, they're harder. They're more belligerent and that's something that they're going to need in this next round. You know, the, um, one of the other things, and you mentioned this a second ago,

and that is how the Oilers play defense. Now, once upon a time in the NHL, there were teams that could, and we think of the Oilers of the 80s as the obvious example, score their way out of their problems. Don't worry, we're down a couple of pucks. Don't worry, Connor and Leon are gonna score us

out of these problems here. But we look at the Oilers, and the players themselves, led by Conor McDavid, taking a lot of pride in saying, everyone's knocked us for not knowing how to defend, watch us defend. And they did a great job defending against the Dallas Stars, we'll see against Florida, but do you have a thought

on this explosively offensive team all of a sudden now, playing solid playoff defense? Well, I think you can win. The Oilers proved that. You can score your way out of your problems. It's been done. It's been done recently, but not very often, and not very successfully for the most part.

Usually you have to keep pucks out of your net, have the net there for until it makes sense, and that's the historical way to win. But this team is doing just that. They can defend, they can shut people down, and that's without their best defenseman, all the series. They've won three rounds without their best defense. Well, their second best defenseman, if you like Bouchard better. But they've been missing the Viking, they call him. They've been missing a key guy. Now he's back. So this gets worse.

Troy Stetcher filled in, played really well. I like him, he's small, but he played hard. Now he's out of the lineup for taking out a really good player, put back in the Viking because he's our best defenseman. They get better. It really is fascinating. You know, the way you look at this Oilers team and some of the comparisons

that have been drawn to ex Oilers teams, the one that, you know, faced off against the Islanders back in, in 83 and ended up getting swept, but then sort of, you know, learn the lessons, et cetera. You know, you look at this Oilers squad, Berkey, and I can't help with thinking, much like the Panthers last year,

they've been to the final, right? They've been there. There's not gonna be any surprises along the way. This is a team that's gonna carry some experience into the Stanley Cup final. Do you have a thought on that, on just, maybe I'm being naive about it, but I can't help with thinking

that that helps this team immensely. It would help them more if the team that are playing hadn't been in three years in a row. That would be a bigger disadvantage. I think the issue is right now in the NHL, you got a bunch of good teams. You got a bunch of good teams. They can't win past the second round. You got Toronto, you got Carolina, you got Dallas all of a sudden can't win past the second round. You got Toronto, you got Carolina, you got Dallas all of a sudden can't

win past the second round. That's a big problem because the teams you're ahead of are losing because of very specific differences in my mind. Mostly being physical play. So to me the fact that Edmonton has been there before shows Florida. So take a number. You know, this is going to be an interesting series before we get to breaking down sort of Edmonton and the Florida Panthers. One thing I wanted to get your, because I thought of you when I saw this one, because we all know that you have various codes for various events.

And there's a certain protocol that Brian Burke follows. And I'm curious your thoughts on Paul Maurice and that conversation with Rod Brindemore saying, we're not gonna get into the handshakes here. That's for the players only. Now, Paul Maurice has done it before. So maybe this is just something new, or maybe he's always wanted to say this,

and now that he's won the cup, he has the heft to be able to do so. What did you think of Paul Maurice's idea that handshake alley is just for the players, Burke, you know one else. I have no problem with it. I don't agree with it. I like the handshake.

The handshake, I shouldn't say it, let me amend that. I hate the handshake because I don't like the fact that teams that just got beat are hugging each other and laughing and joking. It should be a solemn moment. There should be like three guys in that line up that you're close with, you played junior with, you played university with, you're playing the minors with. There's guys you have special bonds with.

Fine, hug them. Don't hug everybody. You just got your ass kicked. Say goodbye, say good luck this summer, see you next year, whatever. I don't like the long, now, Mark Scheifele, his dad's thing. the I don't mind that Paul Maurice said, we're not doing it at all. I don't care really. But I do, I will miss John Cooper. He said his goodbye to everyone for about 10 minutes. Takes a half an hour to do the handshake line. So no, if that's what Paul Maurice wants to do,

I like Paul Maurice a lot. Fine, do it yourself. It's like me wearing my tie the way I wear it. Who shares? It's become style. We've went over've, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've been over that story before. Um, you know, the, one of the interesting things about,

uh, about the handshakes, you know, the one person that I always think about, well, there's a couple, there's Billy Smith who would just leave. Like Billy wanted no part of it. Um, you know, Andy Moog after the Mayday goal, Andy Moog was like, I'm not getting a handshake, Ali. I'm out of here. Like forget it, we just got swept by the Sabres.

But Stan McKeta historically always hated handshakes. And I remember reading an interview with him, this is back in the early 60s, and he said, it meant more to him as a player for Gordie Howe to come into the Chicago room and raise a glass of champagne to the Chicago Blackhawks who had just won, then some phony empty calorie handshake on the ice. He said, that meant more to me as a competitor

than getting out there and being forced to shake hands with the guys that had just beaten us. Or in Stan Makita's words, I think he said, how can I shake the hand of a guy who just reached into my pocket and took my money? What do you think of that, Berkey? Well, I had the good fortune of knowing Stan McKee a little bit,

Mr. McKee, I call him. He was a great man. He did a lot, you know what he did a lot of work with? People don't realize this. Did a lot of work with hard of hearing players and young athletes with hearing impairment. Stan McKee was a great guy. I would never say no to Mr.

Howell coming in the dressing room after beating my team. Cause I'd be too afraid to, but I don't, I wouldn't recommend it as a course of combat. Um, I don't know back to the game last night, Brian, I don't know that I've ever seen you've seen more hockey than I have. I don't know that I've ever seen, you've seen more hockey than I have. I don't know that I've ever seen a goalie pull during a timeout. We've seen timeouts to calm teams down. We've seen goalie pulls to give your team a jolt.

I don't know that I've ever seen it before at the same time. Like when Autinger at the end of that timeout skated back to his crease and then got summoned back by Peter De Boer, I was stunned. Like before we get into the pull itself, have you ever seen that before? No. A lonely pull during a timeout? No, I haven't. I hope I never do again.

I don't, I didn't like that. I'm a big fan of Pete DeBoer. As he played for me, he played Milwaukee in the IHL when I had him as an assistant GM in Vancouver. I love the guy, but I can't understand this. It doesn't make any sense. I blame the assistant coaches here. So once I guy, but I can't understand this. It doesn't make any sense. I blame the assistant coaches here. Someone should have grabbed Pete. I think Pete lost his temper. Someone should have grabbed him and say, calm down. Whatever you say next is not going to be

smart. Calm down. I've never seen a poll after a timeout and then a poll, especially the way emphatically embarrassed the goalie by a big hook sign. Yeah. Not knowing what was going on. I think the whole thing, I think Pete DeBoer would love to have those 30, 45 seconds back. Yeah. I'll be honest with you, Brian. What was maybe even more surprising to me, I'm surprised Autinger didn't go out for the second.

Like we was shocked that. That's awesome. I thought he was going right back. go out for the second. I grew shocked that right back. I honestly thought that I thought that they were putting in the goalie, the change of goalie to Smith Casey play for me and Pittsburgh great kid. They, I thought they were putting him back in at the next whistle. I thought honestly, okay, Casey, you go out, calm things down, Jake, get your

crap together and get back in there I thought Mike Keenan did that a lot all the go-eat-yellers and Tom them down I thought he's going back in I thought for sure he'd go back in for the second I don't think this was right I don't think was done right if you were the let's say you're you're Jim Nill what do you say to Pete DeBoer after that series and that goalie pull? Well, I think you're entitled, Pete DeBoer is a great coach. I'm not going to say hall of fame coach because I don't use that terminology because I'm involved with the selection committee, but he's a great coach.

This is something that can be repaired. I don't think it's irreparable, but I think it was poor judgment. I think he lost his temper and you can't ever lose your temper. and the coach is talking to them, the assistant coach is talking to them now. It's getting them to calm down. You could see he was going to blow his tack. He did. I feel the same way here. Someone should have stepped in and said, beat. Not a good idea. Just do whatever you're thinking of doing.

Take your time out and think about this carefully. You know, you mentioned teams that can't get past the second round here and with Dallas, and this is like right to the top with, with, you know, with the owner, Tom Goularty, who has, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll defend the owner here. He's given this team everything they've asked for every, all the support financial and otherwise, all the resources, Jim Nel has gone out of his way. We brought in, you know, top 10 player in the NHL, like Jim Nel this year in this go for it year for the Dallas Stars, spent three first round picks

this year, Granland and a couple of first round picks for Rantanen, like this was all in for the Dallas Stars. If you're that organization, owner, general manager, what's going through your mind here? Another flame out in the conference final. Well, first off, you gotta give credit where credit is due. They got beat by a really good team that's playing really well right now.

Yep. So let's not say Dallas screwed up here. Let's say they got beat by a team that's doing the same thing. You gotta realize this, Jeff, teams are selfish. They try to beat each other. They're trying to get drafted. We're trying to get players that you go get three firsts on pick.

They go get three firsts on pick. Teams are selfish. So you look at this, they moved heaven and earth to win. So did Edmonton. So did Carolina. So did Florida. So did Toronto. They're all trying to do the same thing. They're all making similar moves, not exactly the same. They're adding different dimensions, but what was Florida's biggest fear? They're gonna be real physical. So Toronto goes out, gets bigger.

Not big enough, it turns out. So all these teams are trying to catch up with the Joneses, but they can't quite catch up. Someone will figure it out. But Florida's been there three years in a row, no mistake, no accident. Why? And that's why they're playing each other again. And speaking of again, here we go again, talking about Connor McDavid.

Like I look at that breakaway last night, Brian, and Rupert Hins is right on him. Like, and Rupert Hins, even though he's got the bad wheel, he's, he's a really good skater, obviously, and he's one of the best, you know, centers in the NHL. And I watched McDavid, like that is for, for coaches of young players. That's how, that, that's how you behave on a

breakaway. The puck never went one side or the other. McDavid kept the puck in front of him. Hins could not strip it, couldn't get a stick on it. Nothing. I know Connor McDavid is the fastest player in the NHL and was trying to pull away from Hins, but Hins was right with him. Like the entire way and, and, and McDavid still ends up burying that thing.

I know we've all said a lot of things about Connor McDavid, shy of he invented oxygen, but do you have anything more after watching McDavid all through the playoffs, getting to the final, you have anything more after watching McDavid all through the playoffs, getting to the final, do you have anything more to say about Connor McDavid? Yeah, the one thing there, I thought Rupe Hintz, he did keep track of him. Remember, you've got two hands on your stick, you can't go as fast as a guy who's not carrying a puck.

True. Rupe Hintz caught him, caught up to him, forced him to go to one side. I thought Rupe Hintz did a perfect job of making Connor McDavid go to his forehand there, but the goalie didn't play it that way. So Nothing Connor McDavid does surprises me or disappoints me It just makes me it makes you watch you watch a replay say that I just see that yeah I mean, we're the first time I saw him play

see that? Yeah. I mean, for the first time I saw him play, we had TJ Brody and Mark G. or Dan were out on defense. Connor started to wind up and both those guys turned and skated the other way. You could see both their numbers as they skated away. You get enough foot speed to turn at the red line and have enough foot speed to match against Connor. So I've seen this from the get-go. The guy is amazing. The best thing that happened in hockey since Wayne. You know, um, it's, it's interesting you mention that with, with Brody and Giordano because I still remember McDavid's first game in the NHL was against the St. Louis Blues.

It was a Thursday night and I saw something that I had never seen before in the NHL. And it's exactly what you're talking about. Connor McDavid grabbing the before in the NHL. And it's exactly what you're talking about. Connor McDavid grabbing the puck in the older zone and breaking out Jay Bowmeester. All right. We're like the best skaters has ever seen. Turned and I'm like, and he's a kid.

He's 18 years old. I'm like, I just saw Connor McDavid turn Jay Bowmeester around and he's skating forwards back into his own zone. And I'm saying to myself, I never thought I would see Jay Bomeaster show his number as he defended a rush. Both those guys, March year down was an all star defenseman. Yeah.

And T.J. Brody is one of the best skater defense, skating defenseman I ever had. Both those guys turning and turn their numbers on Connor McDavid to try and keep up. Unreal. Unreal. So how do you handicap this final? I mean, listen, Florida Panthers are skilled and tough, and the Oilers seem to be like on a mission here, and they just mowed into the Dallas Stars like a hog in the truffles. What do you make of the Stanley Cup final here? Well, I learned from two prior rounds, I'm not going to bet against these two guys again. It's not going to bet against Connor and Leon ever again.

So I'm going to take Edmonton, but there's a soft spot for me. I love the way Florida plays. I love the way they change the game. I love the way they made teams react to how they play. I love the throwback nature of the way they play. So I'm really indifferent to who wins. But I have to pick. I'm not going against Connor and Leon ever again.

I've done it twice though. Both times it pissed me off. Okay. Outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs here, I want to get your thought on something. And I thought of you when I saw the announcement this morning and I thought of, you know, the story you told me about making the Bobby Hole

league trade when you're with Hartford. So Jarmo Kekulainen is named Senior Advisor of the Buffalo Sabres. So he'll work in concert with General Manager, Kevin Adams. First of all, your thoughts on the hire, and then I'm going to try to coax some stories out of you. Your thoughts on Jarmo. Like, this is Jarmo Kekulainen here. So like, this is someone who could take over if things go

sideways with the Buffalo Sabres. Jarmo Kekulainen comes in, senior advisor with the swords. Yeah, well first off, Jarmo is a real good guy. I think they need a senior guy. I said this a couple weeks And I think they need a senior guy. I said this a couple weeks ago. I think having a senior guy to help their organization, they've got some really good pieces here. They've drafted really well, they had a bunch of high picks. They've actually done well with those picks.

Kevin needs a guy to put the pieces together for him. So I salute the hire. I like Yarmo. Um, I think it's exactly what they needed. I can't believe more teams haven't seen, watched the demise of analytics based GMs and said they need a guy who's actually done this job to help them. I can't believe it, but good for Buffalo. The, the thing about Yarmo too, that I wonder about, like it's one thing, and he scouted before, we all know that, but when I think of Yarmou Kekulainen, Berkey, I think of contracts.

And the one thing that Yarmou was always consistent about in Columbus, he would always say, listen, sometimes you have the hammer as the manager. Sometimes the player has the hammer as the player in contract negotiations. So when you have the hammer, you should use it because when the player has the hammer, he will use it. Where do you think his influence is the biggest here, whether it's trades, player evaluations, or is it contract negotiations? It should be all the above. Players have given away their right to, the players have

taken away the right to negotiate from the teams. They've given away no trade clauses. It used to be you have eight, now it's no trades. Look at what's happened in Toronto with no trades and trade restrictions. So that's number one. That fight is worth having. Term, term bites in the ass, that fight is worth having. So I think that fight on money, I used to tell my players, you're gonna fight for the money. It's a hard cap system. I'm not gonna apologize for that. Every dollar I save is being spent on another player.

So I'm gonna try and save money on you. If you don't like it, get out. So to me, that fight is always worth having. But more teams should have that fight rather than just caving and giving. Trade restrictions, money, term would be the three biggest things. But I think that's, that's an influence that they should have at all times. Every team should have that conscientious look at it at all times. Do you have a thought on Matthew Darsh taking over with the Allenders long time, former player, long time assistant GM with the Tampa Bay

Lightning getting some business done. Boakfist comes back and Kyle Palmieri with the two-year deal 4.75 AAV on that one. I think that was in the drawer actually, Kyle Palmieri's. So that one for sure, I like it. I like Kyle Palmieri. the wall Marys He played at McGill, which my daughter goes to McGill. So I like McGill He worked his way hard up his way not too many McGill guys go on playing NHL This kid did that he got to work hard and listen and get better so I like all everything about his background who is his tutelage and his is a Apprenticeship at the at the knee of top guys. So I like that. I like that. I are apprenticeship at the knee of top guys. So I like that. I like the hire.

Uh, let me get your thoughts on, listen, one of the big stories in the NHL when we look at the free aging class and I think we're all wondering where he's going to land. Like we know that we're talking about Mitch Marner here. Um, we know that Carolina, yeah, I know shocking, right?

Here we go. Talking about 16 on the blue team. Uh, we know that Carolina has shown interest before there was that conversation, uh, with the Maple Leafs, uh, over Miko Rantanen. I don't believe that that the interest from Carolina's point of view has, has waned at all. Um, I think there's interest, I think we all do in, uh, with Vegas and Mitch

Barner, um, I would wonder about Chicago. I mean, you know, think of teams that have the need and the cap space. Listen, I also wonder about the Dallas Stars now. Um, now that, you know, a lot of their forwards kind of went silent this, this playoff, but nonetheless, do you have a thought on, you know, what's out there for Mitch Marner and maybe a place where you are a couple of places you

could see him landing? How many teams are in the NHL, Jeff? 32, sir. There are 32. I'd say there are about 30 lined up to sign Mitch. Mitch is a really good hockey player. 100 points, elite penalty killer, great kid. It's clear to me anyway, he's looking elsewhere. He wants to look elsewhere. And the way Brad Sluven gave his press conference yesterday, sounds to me like they've reached the same conclusion. I don't think that's all bad for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think there's a significant group of people here that think it's time for Mitch to move on. Now, you can't replace

104 points, 102 points very easily. They're not going to be able to do that very well, but there's going to be about 26 teams lined up to talk to Mitch Marner. Don't worry about it. Big Willy Stiles, by the way, in the chat says, how many teams win the Stanley Cup, Jeff? Did you check with the league today, Berkey? But that, uh, I'm pretty sure it's still one. I think it's the Walter Cup too. Yeah.

So one, uh, Minnesota back to back champions. We, uh, we certainly congratulate them. Um, what did you make of, uh make of Brad True Living's press conference? Like he's, I mean, he's got this down to a science. Really laid back conversational press conference from Brad True Living. I thought he handled very diplomatically, both the Mitch Marner and John Tavares questions. I think one of the most interesting things he talked about was maybe needing to allocate resources elsewhere. I wonder if that means the blue line. What did you make of

one of your old protege's last night or yesterday morning rather? Well I thought he was really good. I thought he had a great teacher. Yes. I thought, you know, talking about changing the DNA that I wish I had out of that phrase. That's Brian Burke phraseology, change your DNA. It's a really good way of saying it, but he's right. He made significant changes. They got bigger. They got tougher. They have much better on D, go telling him proof, all positives. this guy's already had a very positive impact the Toronto Maple Leaf it's not enough they need to go farther so to me if they take the Mitch Marner money out 14 million or whatever it is they got that to spend elsewhere that's where they're spent I thought the responses he

gave were Frank truthful truthful, and blunt. And that's all you want from a guy at a press conference at the end of the year. Just be blunt, just be truthful. Give us the goods. Um, I, I, I always have to, when, when you managers start talking, we always have to put on our GM decoder rings. Uh, was he talking about, even though all the blue liners are all locked up and have term, he's still shopping for a blue liner. Like I wonder about Aaron Echblad.

I wonder what Aaron Echblad either residing in Florida, doubtful. I wonder about Aaron Echblad in Dallas. And I wonder about Aaron Echblad in Toronto. Do you think he's talking about adding more D? Uh, I think he's looking at everything right now. Remember when you play, when you're GM, you play a game of cards and cards right now. Remember when you play when you're a GM you play a game of cards and cards get dealt. So the deck you're playing with changes daily once free agency kicks in. So a team you thought would be a factor all of a sudden they signed someone else they're not a

factor anymore. Mitch Martin removed which he got 14 in the cap space all of a sudden he got that money back to spend. So it's a changing thing. But I would say to look at everything right now, you have to look at everything. You just lost again. Even though you've made significant progress, you just lost again. All those teams are in the same boat. Carolina, Florida, they're all looking the same thing. Dallas.

I kind of always look at managers and how they read the landscape and make their moves. And I kind of liken it to this. It's like doing a Rubik's cube, but the Rubik's cube is always fighting back. And the Rubik's cube is always sort of changing on its own. So just when you think you have the whole thing figured out, all of a sudden the Rubik's cube decides to change. So you have to change accordingly with it. Does that feel accurate to you, Berkey? Yes, these teams are selfish.

They all want to win? Yeah, they'll never lose sight of that pack. Teams are selfish. They're trying to beat you. You get up every morning and you're thinking, all right, how do I make my team better today? What do you think the other 31 guys are thinking while they're driving to work? How do I make my team better today? What do you think the other 31 guys that's thinking while they're driving to work? How do I make my team better today? It's a vicious group. Pirates I believe you used to call them. Pirates. Selfish pirates. Okay a couple of

them. I want to play something that that that popped up yesterday on social media. Zach's got this one queued up. It is some vintage Berkey from a few years ago. Have a look at this, Brian. Oh no. Oh yeah. Hardest sport in the world to play is hockey. Why is it the hardest sport, would you say? Oh, because the athletic ability that you need to play, you do all... So take a football player, baseball player, basketball player. Everything they do, they hold the object of the game in their hand,

and they're doing it in their shoes. We remove the object of the game with a stick and we put skates on. You can win a gold medal in the Olympic in two disciplines for skating alone. We expect our players to do it as a matter of course. And then you make a full contact. So you can't just be good at it. You got to be fearless too. It's the hardest sport in the world to play. I love hearing you talk about hockey, Berkey.

What do you remember from that one? I don't remember that one. I remember having a speech. I've given that speech a number of times over the years. I believe that. I believe that the hockey player is the best athlete in the world. For all the reasons I just said, that's an old clip actually, but it's very apropos. Still, still rings true today.

Burkey Stanley Cup final is set. We look forward to getting your analysis and thoughts on it, the Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Thanks as always. Enjoy your weekend and glad you mentioned, uh, the, uh, the Walter cup as well. Congratulations, Minnesota back to back champions. Thanks, Berkey. We'll talk in seven days, pal. Thanks, Jeff. next step.

There he is, the great Brian Burke, former NHL manager and executive in the National Hockey League. You know, the Yarmouk Hekulian hiring today, I thought was a... and thanks to Brian for stopping by. Dan McKenzie coming up, the president of the CHL. Big one tonight, facing off against Moncton the winner faces off against a medicine hat on Sunday at the Memorial Cup final. The Kekalainen hiring I found particularly interesting because you know we had wondered on this show last week Pierre Maguire and I had wondered about someone like Rick Dudley

has a background with the Buffalo Sabres, has a background in management, stepping in and acting as a senior advisor. Yarmou is interesting, as someone mentioned to me today, it's an interesting hire because A, as I mentioned with Berkey, he's going to be able to work at a number of different levels, player evaluation, trades, all these types of things, but also signings. And however you feel about how Jarmo ran the show when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets, again, like the one thing he was always consistent with is if I have the hammer, I'm going to use it, just as I expect players when they have the hammer to use it. And so many

managers in a lot of different situations have tried to go a different route, but that's the one thing that Yarmou has always been consistent with. The other thing that I want to mention with Yarmou too, and this isn't a slight against Kevin Adams whatsoever, but this is Kevin Adams first go at being a general manager. And sometimes that's a but this is Kevin Adams first go at being a general manager and sometimes that's a Like that's a real lonely place to be right? That's a that's a tough spot You know, I should have got this story from Brian, but the one that he told me about making the Bobby Holic deal So many years ago Eric Weinrich and Sean Burke going the other way

And he told me he was the manager and he had to call the New Jersey Devils and Lou Lamarello, his mentor, Providence College friar, and he picked up the phone to make the deal and got nervous and hung up and there was no one else around him to help him. He picked up the phone again to call Lou, started the dial, hung up the phone again, went for a walk, came back. There was no one around him because he had never done this before. There was no one there to lean on. And now Kevin Adams, whether it's player personnel issues, whether it's contract signings, whatever it might be, now the Buffalo Sabres general manager has someone to lean on. In the meantime, off the NHL page to the Canadian Hockey League and the Memorial Cup taking place in Rimouski. It is semi-final Friday,

the Linda Knights facing off against the Moncton Wildcats. The winner faces off against Madison Hat on Sunday. A pleasure to welcome to the program the president of the CHL, Dan McKenzie makes another stop here on the show. Dan, how are you today? Thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me, Joe. First of all, Memorial Cup, and this is like I've looked at the field and I said to myself going in, just on paper it looks like one of if not the best Memorial Cup at least I've seen and I go back to like the Hamilton Finn Cups, New Westminster Bruins days of watching this this tournament and in the late 70s and And the hockey's lived up to it.

Like you have a quick thought on like, these, these are all like one goal games. These are all close games. I know where Mouski goes out in three, but man, they're a really good team. And it's always great when the host team is that competitive. Um, but do you have a thought on the field and the, the on ice product that we've seen leading up to what should be a banger tonight between London and Moncton. Yeah, it's been pretty amazing. The, um, every game could have gone either way.

I mean, every single one, uh, Ron Robin, and even the, even the game on, uh, on Wednesday night was close to right into the third, halfway through the third, it could have gone either way. So, um, it's been the caliber of play has been unbelievable. The goaltending has been way off the charts. I mean, there've been some goalies who've stolen some games. And this sort of the star power,

each team is loaded with either currently NHL drafted players, future NHL drafted players, and the best of the best are playing,, are, are playing, uh, are going head to head, which is what you want to see. So, um, it's been, it's been amazing on the ice. Um, uh, and we're really excited about what's going to happen tonight. It should be a great game. I can't, I can't wait for this one.

And, and, and the night is clear too, right? So there's no NHL conflicts, nothing. This is okay. Everyone's settled in for, for London and Moncton and enjoy yourselves. I'm curious from, from your chair, there's the on ice, there's no NHL conflicts, nothing. This is okay, everyone settle in for London and Monkton and enjoy yourselves. I'm curious from your chair, there's the on ice, there's off ice, there's business. Like how do you judge the success

of a Memorial Cup attendance? I don't know. How do you judge that? How do you know when one of these tournaments is a success? Well, I think that the unique thing about Memorial cup is that, um, it, it, it, it kind of takes on that I, I judge you by how well the city sort of makes the Memorial cup its own. And so, uh, here, uh, ticket, the building's only about 4,500 seats.

Tickets move really quickly. So we haven't had a big, there's't been a lot of issue with the ticket sales, not moving, it sold out in about three weeks, every ticket in the building. So, um, but what, what really struck me here is how passionate the fans are and how important the oceanic are to this community, how important junior hockey is to this community. And you saw it when, uh, the other night when London was playing medicine hat and the stands were full and it was loud and they were following every play. You know, there's just a lot of passion for the sport

here. And then I think the other thing that that's really been neat for me to see in the chair that I'm in getting a chance to see it in totality is, you know, what is the what is the host city do, you know, when the games aren't being played, what other events are going on. And that's where you really get a feel for how for what they we know the sort of that community vibe and what it's like in this part of Quebec and what's important. Tomorrow night, there's a big lobster supper for all the organizers and partners. We had during the arrival of the Memorial Cup last weekend, they had a Memorial Cup was brought, was carried off of an army helicopter. There was a soldier who jumped out with the Memorial Cup, gave it to two veterans who

patrolled the waters of the St. Lawrence during World War II. And there's a big military history here with the naval base in Scott Park. It's just really neat. But that's very different, say, than, Jeff, the way it was in Kamloops. When there wasn't a naval history there, but their history was in something else. It's just neat the way the cities bring to life their passion for the sport, but also their support for the history and the tradition of the Memorial Cup. You know, I'm curious because you mentioned a second ago, you know,

Wormuski and that, that history is tremendous. And when I think Oceanic, I think Crosby, Bacaville, that 2000 team, Brad Richards, um, most recently Alexi Lafreniere. Um, in your mind, like, maybe this is different for everybody. In your mind, what makes a great junior hockey city? And are there cities out there that you look at and you say, we could put a team there. We could put a team here.

We could put a team there. I wanna get to US in a second, but are there other cities? Like what makes a good junior hockey city and are there cities in the country that you look at and you say, hey, you know what? Maybe Cornwall does need a team again. Yeah, I think for me, I think there's three components that are really important.

And the first is the market, market size, making sure that it has the right kind of economic base and those kinds of things. And you can sell, especially sponsorships and tickets in the market, and it has a hockey history that it can that you know, it's going to be able to move in as a population base. It's big enough to support it financially.

The second is it needs to have a building. It's got to have a it's got to have the right size building for the market and the right size. And then the building has to be at a certain quality. And then the last and this is probably the most important would be it needs to have the right ownership group. And I think about, you know, places and I think it's last year we had the Memorial Cup in Saginaw, Michigan,

which probably wouldn't be the top of the list when you would think of a place that would be a junior hockey city. But it had a unique combination of all three. And, you know, the gentlemen who own that team are, you know, two of the best owners in the CHL and Dick Garber and Craig Goslin. And they, you know, they're doing they're in it for the right reasons. They, they, you know, they are, you know, they're completely tied into that community. Community wants to support the team. It's and, and, um, you know, they support the community.

It's, it's just, um, yeah, community is, it was a word that really resonates when, when we talk about, um, you know, junior hockey in Canada and, you know, the, the, all of our, you know, our league brands and the CHL brand community is core. It's a core part of what the brand is all about because as you know, I'm from Guelph, a CHL community and you know, there's a lot of pride for the storm in Guelph Friday nights. That's what you do. You go to the storm game and you see your neighbors and you celebrate. And so I think that, you know, that intertwining of those three elements then with a bit of

a community spirit, I think that's what really makes it successful. I know the hockeying go off well. I went to university there and I think I missed maybe a handful of games. This is in the Jeff O'Neill, Todd Brattuzzi. Oh yeah, yeah, so good. Oh, that team was, Jeff Bess was on that team. Oh, fantastic.

At the old rank, right? Before the, I always feel weird calling it the new one because it's really not new anymore, but like the old, old, old barn. Um, the Memorial gardens. The Memorial gardens. And it was wonderful. I used to love it there.

I know it was well past its time, but I had a lot of, I had a lot of fun there. Um, and great hockey. The, um, we're talking about, uh, CHL, uh, ownership and owning teams and, you know, the Hyman family just, um, bought a team in the OHL ownership and owning teams. And the Hyman family just bought a team in the OHL, the brand for Bulldogs. And was talking to someone from the family not too long ago

who said, you know, like, it's interesting. You know, we have hockey name, obviously. And the minute we bought a team, all of a sudden, like other NHLers are calling us to find out sort of what's involved and what's the process and you sort of you know get carried away with this idea of You know ex OHL or Q or Western Hockey League players coming back and buying junior hockey teams Is there something because I've talked to NHLers before like what's what's involved in owning in a CHL team?

Because I've talked to NHLers before, like what's involved in owning a CHL team? What would your answer be to that? Let's say Conor McDavid comes to Dan McKenzie and says, Dan, if I was interested in buying a junior team, what would the process be? What would I need to be aware of? Well, first of all, it's not an uncommon phenomena, right? When I think about even my board, I report to a board of owners, and Brent Sutter's on my board, Bruce Hamilton's on my board, Bobby Smith was on my board. So these are all guys who played high level hockey and, you know, Exide and Shelter, definitely in terms of, uh, Brent and, uh, and, and Bobby. Um, and I think the, I think the, um, what, what I would sort of probably tell them is

that, um, the, the, the, the most successful owners are the ones who are engaged and are truly, um, not only engaged in the team, but also if they're not going to be the ones operating it, have the right kind of people in the community who they can lean on. Because, you know, it's a big responsibility on the junior hockey team. I mean, you are, as you know, again, you're, if you're a parent of a young hockey player, you're entrusting your son, not just on the ice, but off the ice, and trusting that your son not just on the ice but off the ice into the care of the hockey team in terms of billets and school, making sure they go to school and that their marks stay up and dealing with all the pressures of being a high level junior hockey player. And so it's a big responsibility. So I think what I would probably tell a player who's interested

is like, don't enter this lightly. Do your research, talk to players who talk to, talk to some of our owners about what's involved. And if you really have a passion for it and you think that you're going, and or you've got a team of people who you think would be appropriate, then reach out and let's talk about what that process might be. And there's a new reality in the CHL. Like today we see the announcement of Cole Reschney from Victoria going to North Dakota next year. I was talking to one person recently who said, look, this is the way it's going to be now.

There are some players that are going to go, there are some players that are going to stay. And then he said, and there's also going to be some players that go, decide they don't like it and want to come back. How do you swim in these new waters? Like what's, what's your approach with all this? This is for all of our viewers and listeners, this is the, um, the, the, the, the new rule that allows CHL players to go and compete in division one in college hockey.

Um, you know, I've been asked this question a fair bit over the last few weeks, since November basically, since this has come out. And it might be a bit of a boring response, but it's true. I don't think Jeff, we're really going to know how this all is going to play out for a few more years. And when you talk to personnel people who have been in this their whole lives, they say like, that was a monumental change to the development system. And it's going to take some time. And so I think in the short term, there's going to be players who are going to go. And first of all, I think the way we look at it is on the entry end, I think we're going to be the beneficiary of having the vast majority of uh, the vast majority of elite prospects are going

to want to play in our league. And so I think we started, we started to see that. And then I think on the, on the higher end and the older end, we're going to, we're, we're, we're, you know, we may, you mentioned, uh, someone to a player today who made the decision to, to leave a little bit early. I think that's, that's going to be a reality. I think you're right. I think they're good because there's a lot of factors that go into it.

And I think that every player is different, right? I mean, you know, some players, um, are going to want to, you know, stay and they're going to want to wear a letter on their Jersey and they're going to want to learn how to be a leader and they're going to want to play on the penalty kill on the power play. And you know, they, you know, they're going to want to, they're in an environment where they, where they, you know, they're really well understood and they're in a great role. And, you know, and, and, and, you know, they may want to be a professional hockey player and not, and not have to have the burden

of also being a, being a student, um, a university level student. And so, you know, for those players they're going to stay, but there might be other players who make a decision that they do want to leave. And I think you're probably right. I think there are going to be some who go and I mean, the NCAA is an older league. I mean, I think the average age of a freshman in the NCAA is 21. I think, you know, there's players as old as in their mid 20s who are playing in that league. So I think a lot of it comes down to the player. It comes down to what's going to be important to that player, their family, what kind of student they are, and where they ultimately want to get to in their career, whether it's as a professional hockey player in another occupation. So I think for the high-end players, it's going to be an interesting thing to watch. But I think what we

need to do, you know, I mean, we are, we have to focus on being a great place for, you know, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 year old players, hockey players to develop and being able to sort of look, look ourselves in the mirror and say, we're doing all we can to make sure that's a reality. And I think if we can do that, we've got a proven track record of 19 year olds, 20 year olds thriving once they leave our league, you know, and going off to play professional hockey. You know, this year, we're projected to be, I think right now we have about 170 kids from central scouting who are going to be in the NHL draft, you know, or many who are going to be projected the NHL draft, you know, many who are going to be projected to go on the first round. So I think, you know, and I think the other piece to this is

obviously the NHL team that drafts those players is going to determine a little bit, you know, what they, you know, what they want, how they view the players development. So that's why it, you know, you hear rumors and you hear various things being sent around, but until we get through a few years of this, I don't think we're gonna really know the impacts, but we're gonna be ready and we're gonna, you know, we're gonna do what we have to do to try to, again, make sure that we're a great place for these players

to develop, like we had in the past. You're right about the draft, too. This could be a record breaker, I believe, for the CHL for most players selected in the first round of the draft. Before I let you go, you mentioned Bruce Hamilton's name a couple of seconds ago. I was happy to see Colona get the Memorial Cup next season.

I think we all felt bad that, you know, because of COVID-19, that Colona was scotched and didn't get a chance to host the Memorial Cup. Bruce Hamilton's been a long time, not just player, but owner and driving force in the CHL. Even before we conclude this year's edition of the Memorial Cup, do you have a thought on Kelowna next year? By the way, just as you know, a beautiful part of this country, first of all. So it'll be a delight to go. Well Bruce was here in Rimouski. He came out with a group of folks from

the Colonial Organizing Committee to see what was going on on the ground here and to try to get back to that idea of how do you take the Memorial Cup and make it your own when it's in your city. So I got a chance to see him in France and Thailand with the front end of the tournament. So I got a chance to see him in France and Thailand with the front end of the tournament. What we did, I think it was in 2020, it was during the pandemic, the way the Memorial Cup used to work, in terms of how it was granted, it was granted by the member league. They would put it together and they would choose, so the league itself would choose, the individual league would choose the host location. And we made a change again in 2020 where that became the responsibility of the CHL. So we now run the process and what we do is we bring

in an outside group, a group of five outside individuals to evaluate the bids and then choose the winner. And so this year they went through that process. There were five cities to bid and Bruce's city, Kelowna, ended up winning. And as you say, I think it's going to be, it'll be very different than Ravuski. The environment in Kelowna, they've got a beautiful rink that's right in the heart of the city, right on the lake. It's gorgeous. And yeah, you know what? They had to win it. I mean, they didn't get it because they lost it in 2020. They went out and it was interesting. In their bid presentation, they did not mention 2020 once.

And that just goes to show you how, just the way they approach things. They were in it to win it and they did. Listen, it's a busy day for you. It's a busy time for you. When we're a cup, um, semi-final tonight, London facing off against Moncton, the winter face off against medicine hat on Sunday. It's been a great tournament. Our fingers are all crossed for another great game tonight. And then again, on Sunday, Dan, thanks as always for taking time for me today. Much appreciated.

Enjoy the rest of the tournament. Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate it. There is Dan McKenzie, the president of the CHL. You know what's interesting? Can I tell a little story? I got to leave out names here. Zach, I think you'll like this one. You want to hop on for this one?

So Dan is talking about the selection committee and it's all independent now. Now, one of the, thank God, so during one of the arena tours, you'll love this one, during one of the arena tours, I'm not going to say when, I'm not going to say where, as the evaluation committee was there, there was a stabbing in a parking lot now I don't know if that's why this city didn't end up getting getting the memorial cup but you want to talk about like if you're part of like the team that's bidding for that you see that's like oh she nope they didn't they didn't get the Memorial Cup things happen yeah but I will say like this for a musky tournament I'm not sure how many games you've been able to watch the games have been awesome the games

have been so good tonight's again like I mentioned a Dan this one should bang London and Moncton. All season long, I've maintained that, at least with my eyes, Moncton's been the best team that I've seen. But here's Medicine At that's run the table, three and oh. London Knights have been the class of the OHL all season long.

Last year they were fantastic too, lost against Saginaw. But this one should be a fantastic game and then place your bets on Sunday. This one should be great. I'm really looking forward to this one tonight. It's my favorite tournament. I just absolutely adore it. I've watched it my whole life. Was a thrill to get to work them when I did.

And the TSN is doing another bang up job covering it this year. And Lord Diken, great job. Okay, we have a couple of more things to get to today, most notably our Crispy Inbox. It's now time for the Crispy Inbox, presented by the Ninja Crispy 4-in-1 portable glass air fryer. Meet the first of its kind,

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four pounds of chicken or veggies. Cook a personal-sized meal in seven minutes in the six cup container. Max Crisp, bake, air fry and re-crisp with the Ninja Crispy. You can prep, cook and store anything from crispy favorites to one dish meals. Visit their website in the link in the show description and stay tuned for your chance to win a free Ninja Crispy. As I understand it Zach, we are getting closer and closer to finally giving this thing away. So looking forward to that. What is in the meantime in the Crispy inbox? This one comes in from Trevor Lewis and And as he points out, no,

not that Trevor Lewis. In honor of the cats making their third consecutive final, I thought I'd do a little research and my favorite hockey tradition throwing things on the ice. Oh, boy, rats are one of my favorite sports traditions. And while a dead duck or catfish isn't as visually as awesome as hundreds of rats, it did perk his curiosity. What else besides hats and rats have hockey fans thrown on the ace? Now, Trevor did include a list of different things that he had noted that had been thrown on the ace, obviously there. Frozen salmon in Alaska for the aces of the ECHL,

waffles in Toronto, catfish, et cetera, octopus, those kinds of things. But I wanted to give this one to you and find out if there are any things that you have noticed, seen, or remember. I remember going to the Oilers Stanley Cup run for a few games. I went to games against, this is 2006,

games against Anaheim and games against San Jose. And watching at the end of the anthem someone would always throw a piece of Alberta beef on the ice after the anthem and the place would just go banana sandwich when someone did that. That's such a loud building to begin with but then when the Alberta beef hit the ice that was a big... You know the obvious one is, which is the is the best better than hats better than catfish Better than octopus better than sorry Alberta beef better than all of it

teddy bear toss teddy bears Yeah, if you have not experiences that in there you're smiling because it's impossible not to smile when you think of the teddy bear toss If you've never experienced always talk about things that you have to do and I always, pretentious me always goes on and on about Saturday night, 7.01 Eastern, Montreal, Bell Centre, Fix You by Coldplay hits, Ghosts of the Forum, all that kind of stuff and yeah you should have that. As a hockey fan you owe that to yourself to have that experience. You also owe it to yourself to have the teddy bear toss experience. Junior hockey, American hockey league, like a lot of different leagues do it now. The NHL won't

because TV time is too expensive and it takes a long time to clean up bears. And it's one thing to have a rank full of 4,000 people throwing bears as opposed to a rank of 18,000 people throwing bears, which would just be too long of a tap dance for a studio. So the NHL is not going to get involved here. Now imagine how high those bears would be piled up on the ice in an NHL ring. It would be spectacular. That would be cool. Can you look up the record real quick?

Because I think the record just got broken. And this is something that was started in Camloops right this was started in in in Camloops with someone who saw a teddy bear falling off a mantle as a truck drove by it was a marketing director for the Camloops Blazers it's serious like that's how this thing started I thought it was the Kitchener Rangers that started it but no it was the Camloops Blazers the Western Hockey League and it started because the marketing manager someone's of all the marketing with the Camloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League, and it started because the marketing manager, someone involved in marketing with the Kamloops Blazers, was sitting in the living room and a heavy truck drove by and they had a teddy bear on their mantle and it rattled the house and the teddy bear fell and this person said, wow, what a cool visual.

Why don't we get people to throw teddy bears on the ice and all the teddy bears will go to the local Children's Hospital that's the origin story the teddy bear toss you have a record what's the record yeah I got it a hundred and two thousand three hundred and forty three oh was it Hershey Bears was the Hershey Bears yeah this year January 5th right on Hershey Bears yeah you, this year, January 5th, 2020. Right on. Hershey Bears. Yeah, you better when your name is the Bears. You better be the Bears.

So they also, but listen to this jump, okay? They had 2022, 52,341. They set a record. 2023, 67,309. 2024, 74,599. 2025, 102,000. thousand three hundred nine twenty twenty four seventy four thousand five hundred ninety nine twenty twenty five a hundred and two thousand. Just everyone just like guys this is amazing but like bags of bears. In the PW trial they did a bra night where you throw bra throw bras on the ice.

That was a it was a sponsorship. I don't know who the bra company was, but I remember that was a massive success. Earlier on this year, yeah, shocking. Anyway, Jeff Cowan had a bra thrown at him once upon a time. People have thrown things on the ice before. Soap flakes years and years ago, and I think Chicago was thrown on the ice. Roger Nilsen, when he coached the Peterborough Peets, he would always use his timeout early. And if he needed another timeout, he always had a couple of high school students behind the bench, and he'd sort of give them the wink, and they'd toss a couple of eggs on the ice, and that would get everybody a timeout. That was Roger's way of getting himself a bonus time out. Those are some

of the things that come to mind specifically. Did you find Bra Night in the PWHL? Yeah. What's it eats? Toronto Scepters did it December 21st, 2024 during a cancer awareness game at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The initiative honored former goaltender Erica Howee. Yes, and her battle, absolutely. That's right. Yeah. Okay, I hope we answered that question thoroughly. From bears to bras. And from bears to bras, we go to,

I'm curious to get your thoughts on this one here. How's that for a transition? The sheet is powered by FanDuel, folks. Wanna remind you as always, sheet is powered by FanDuel's, home of the same game parlay, make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, folks. Want to remind you as always, Sheet is powered by FanDuel. It's home of the same game, Parley. Make every moment more on FanDuel. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them.

There's no NHL tonight. But there is. Memorial Cup. It's London and Monkton going head to head. Gardner McDougal versus Dale Hunter one more time. The winner faces off against Medicine Atticers and Gavin McKenna of the Western Hockey League. They're in the final. They ran the table going 3-0. Did you have, here's a question for you, did you have a

favorite junior team growing up? No, not OHL but I went to a lot of Aurora Tigers New Market Hurricanes games when I was growing up. So I wasn't as aware of or involved in OHL, CHL hockey as I was the local junior hockey team. So you went to the OJ games? Yeah, you know, I've said it and I talked to Colby about it. I have seen him play when he was playing junior hockey because he was playing for Syracuse. This is Colby Cohen you're talking about, not Colby about it. I have seen him play when he was playing junior hockey because

he's playing for Syracuse. This is Colby Cohen you're talking about, not Colby Armstrong. Colby Armstrong played a red card. Yes, sorry. Yes, should have clarified that. Colby Cohen. Because he was playing for Syracuse. I don't remember, you might know what it was called at the time, but it wasn't OJHL. So I'd seen him when he was playing for that team in Syracuse against the Aurora Tigers in Aurora I've seen him play because we used to go to those games a lot But that's that's that's when he was gonna sign with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL with Peter De Boer as the as the head

coach at that point For me was always a Toronto Marlboro's I grew up like I essentially Maple Leaf Gardens was kind of my babysitter always a Toronto Marlboro's. I grew up, like essentially, Maple Leaf Gardens was kind of my babysitter. My dad would always take me to Maple Leaf games and you get scalpers tickets for like eight bucks and you know normally you go in the grays or the greens or the blues which are a really underrated seat by the way or sometimes you just get standing room. Every now and then you get like center ice reds which are always the best ticket in the house but nothing was like ungodly expensive and I would go to Maple Leafs games and one of the things that the

Maple Leafs would run is a promotion where you buy a Maple Leaf ticket you also got a ticket to the Toronto Marlboro's Saturday afternoon games so you'd go watch the Marlies play, North Bay, Kingston, Sudbury, whomever and then go get some dinner then come back and watch the Maple Leafs games And then we'd also go to WHA games as well, the old Toronto Toros, which was one of my first hockey loves. And then I went to pro wrestling there too. NWA ran there, the Sheik used to run on Sundays. So I like, like where you're playing men's league hockey,

maybe even, are you playing tonight? You playing tonight at Madamee? No, no, I played last night actually. I grew up in that, what's now a Loblaws slash Madami Athletic Center. I was there like at least once or twice a week going to either see NHL games or WHA games or then OHA, now OHL games.

So whenever I drive by, it's just like, oh yeah, I miss seeing Doug Laurie sports. That's a reference that's lost on you, young man. And he is smelling the chestnuts. By the way, did anyone ever actually eat the chestnuts? I always bought peanuts or popcorn from the vendors, but you smell the chestnuts. Have you ever eaten a chestnut? I've never eaten a chestnut, but you'd always smell them from the peanut vendors.

Yeah. But actually, have I had a chestnut. But you'd always smell them from the peanut vendors. Yeah, but actually have I had a chestnut? Right? Water chestnuts, aren't those a thing? We've all smelled them. Yeah, water chestnuts for sure. But no, like actually like, those are chestnuts. No, I don't think I've ever had eaten a chestnut, no. But you would smell them.

That's a good question. Coming up from the subway. Yep. Anyway, along with the way of saying, that was essentially, folks, my babysitter. Maple Leaf Gardens and the Hockey Hall of Fame was my babysitter. My parents would leave me in the Hall of Fame, like for hours, with a pen and a notebook. And I would just like write stuff down. Which is probably Probably why my you know my parents were never on the cover of Today's Parent magazine. Someone would probably call children's aid now.

Kid wandering around with a notebook and a pen in the hall of fame. Where are your parents? They dropped me off and went and got dinner. I don't know, they'll be back sometime. I'm just gonna wander around for a while. They're having their date night. Date night? Well, can't get a babysitter, shit, I know we do. Yeah, sent Jeffrey to the Hall of Fame. I was happy, I didn't care, whatever.

All right, your Stanley Cup final is set. We'll talk more about it next week. This program is going on the road for a little while as well. Next week we'll be in Buffalo at the Combine for a couple of days. And then I'm going to hop on a flight to Florida for games three and four. I'm not sure where we're doing the show from yet, but it looks like it's going to happen. So we'll be mixing it up a little bit. Alright thanks for joining us today thanks to Brian Burke for stopping by

as he does every Friday here on the program thanks to Dan McKenzie the president of the CHL again London facing off against Moncton tonight that should be a banger if you get a chance enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed the conference finals the Stanley Cup finals should be another good one last year was fantastic this year, listen to make the argument, both teams are better, right? I mean, they may not, I feel so horrible about Zach Hommel. I'd love to see him in the Stanley Cup final,

but still this one should be an outstanding Stanley Cup final. We'll start to get into it in earnest on Monday. All right, have a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the chat, everyone who watched live on YouTube or listened to your favorite podcast platform. We appreciate it here at The Sheet. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you tomorrow. I can't get out my head, lost all ambitions day to day

Guess I 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 right against those methods, but no It's me, myself and how that's gonna be fixing my mind Do you wanna break it? I turned on the music Do you wanna break it? I turned on the music

It's turned up, up, up Sometimes losing Helping on the days that went wrong