The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Healthy Scratch ft. Mike Grinnell & Stephen Brunt

Episode Date: January 15, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Mike Grinnell and Stephen Brunt to discuss the Calder Trophy Race, Chiclets U, owning ECHL teams, Brayden Point getting healthy scratched, and Stephen Brunt's new episode dropping now!Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/Stream the full conversation with Adam Copeland on Up Close with Stephen Brunt belowApple Podcast: https://apple.co/41DCXleSpotify:https://spoti.fi/3DrZs2cWatch: https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401Reach 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.

Do we have a delay on this show? I just thought about this now, as I'm using my laptop as a monitor so I can have a look at the chat as we're airing here. I don't know, I've always worked with the delay, certainly in television. Although sometimes the delay is a lot smaller amount of time than people think that it is. Sometimes in some situations, broadcasters will tell you they're working with the delay, but they're really not.

I'm curious, we have a delay on the show. Zach, we have a delay on the show. Not that I think it's gonna go off the rails, by any stretch of the imagination. Mike Grinnell is aboard from Spit and Chickles, or should I say the owner of the Greensboro Gargoyles is aboard, and also Stephen Brunt. We'll talk to us about his latest edition of Up Close.

This one with Adam Copeland, who many will know better as Edge, from WWE where he used to ply his trade. So I'm going to play a clip from his latest interview as well. But do we have a delay? Like do we have like a dump button? Like if something just goes, and I don't even know what we could possibly say here at Daily Face Off that would make you go, Ooh, that's too much. Like wish his comments yesterday, but I'll make David and I just don't know.

No, you just decided to fire that out on social media and like everybody in Edmonton ablaze like it's funny I was saying to someone last night wish did to Edmonton what Elliot normally does to Vancouver it was just like let's just pull a pin roll it in and then walk away Joker style yeah that was on me I did do that clip and I did do that and like I kid you not Jeff within maybe three minutes of me posting and I went oh no wish and I was just my phone blowing up I'm like I did this to him I did this to him did you turn your notifications off yep I did yeah did you have to after a while

so like okay yeah no, no more of this. Wow, nerves are close. There wasn't even people getting mad at me and I was like, I can't do this. Nerves are close to the skin around that one, eh? So just one second that, oh, maybe we should maybe. No, no, no, no, no. July 1st, 1201, there'll be an announcement

of a very sophisticated eight year deal. Yeah. Anyhow, I digress. We have a lot of people on the show today. But no dump, eh? No dump, we have no dump, eh? So I can pretty much say anything right now. I mean, mind you, I might just do We have a lot to be up on the show today. No dump. We have no dump. So I can pretty much say anything right now. I mean, mind you, I have a bunch of sewer mics. As we like to say in life, and not just in broadcasting, Zach,

you'll realize this at a certain point of your adulthood. You can do anything in life once. Life affords you the chance to do anything no matter what it is once. So there's a certain amount of sort of self-censorship that goes on with the show. But I was just thinking about that a second ago. What could I possibly say here that would make Zach go, we got to get off here? Or maybe it's above. Maybe it's like Amel Delich, who has gone from being my podcast producer down to my

boss. Like is there something, is there something that where Amal could just like pull the plug and then that's it. We're done. Forget it, Merrick. There's pink paper in the fax machine. Go collect it. I know some of you youngins may not know what a fax machine is, but nonetheless, I'm dating

myself once again. Okay. Here's what I want to talk to you about and our audience either listening watching or in the chat Right now we're and the guys from small town strip club By the way who do the theme song for the show are in the chat right now sheet heads reporting for duty That from small town strip club Vic Vic is aboard from morning cup of hockey We have some morning cup of hockey love coming up in a couple of moments here, but I want to talk about Someone who may have never heard about before, but this person has taken one of the most iconic photographs in the history of hockey

who passed away at the age of 91, Heinz Klutmeier passed away, who took one of the most iconic photographs of all time. It's beautiful. It's just one of those things that captures an entire moment for an entire sport. And this was 1980 and the Miracle on Ice after the semi-final. Look at that picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated. That is just such a beautiful celebration of emotion.

Now, hold on to that one for one sec, Zach. So condolences to the Klutmeier family on the passing of Heinz, one of the great sports photographers of all time. As we talk about things like the Mount Rushmore of hockey and on Daily Face Off Live, three of the guys were talking about their Mount Rushmore of hockey for goaltenders. I'll throw you mine just for giggles. Dominic Hachik, Jacques Plante, Terry Satchuk, and Patrick Waugh. That would be my Mount Rushmore.

Discuss amongst yourselves. But I thought it might be interesting, and I wanted to come back to one point, and this is a conversation I had about 20 years ago about this photograph, and about the Miracle on Ice in 1980. I had about 20 years ago about this photograph and about the miracle on ice in 1980. These to me are the four greatest hockey photographs that I've ever seen in no particular order. Zach, just fire them up here and I'll describe them for the audience if you haven't

seen it before. Now this may be my favorite photograph of all time in hockey. This is 1951 Stanley Cup winner Bill Barilko, Defendant for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's scoring the game-winning goal against Montreal Canadiens. Jerry McNeil is the netminder. Martin Rocket-Rochard has his, you know, his mouth open. He's like, oh my goodness, look what's happening here. But what I love about this photograph is this is the moment right before the goal goes in. This is the moment before the moment. It is a perfect slice of hockey time. Look is the moment before the moment. It is a perfect slice of hockey time.

Look at the fans in the back. It hasn't gone in yet, but in a split second all those fans are going to go crazy. But it's a beautiful shot. Jerry McDeals falling backwards. Berylco is diving. We're going to get to another diving defenseman here in a couple of seconds. To me, this is the greatest hockey photograph ever taken. Nat Tarofsky, the great Nat Tarofsky. Maybe that name will come up a little bit later when Steven Brun comes aboard.

Another one, fire up another on my Mount Rushmore of hockey photographs. What do we got here? Okay, Ray Lussier. This is the 1970 Bobby Oer goal. It's great, it's on Glen Hall, it's overtime. Derek Sanderson had just passed the puck out front. Bobby Oer dipping down low, scores the goal and because, just to be blunt, he was a prick when he played. Noel Picard says, I'm gonna trip

this guy. And he trips Bobby Oer who dives through the air giving us one of the most iconic hockey moments of all time and Ray Lucier with the great photograph on this one. This goes up pretty much on everybody's Mount Rushmore of hockey photographs. Do we have the one with Rocket Richard and Sugar Jim Henry from 1952? This to me is as much as we talk about, you know, there's no respect in the game and blah blah blah blah, this to me is like the ultimate sign of respect. This is a bloodied Rocket Richard who I believe had left the game earlier. Was probably concussed. Sugar Jim Henry had his eyes blackened and his nose broken in this game as well. This was the handshake at Center Ice,

yes handshake alley after the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins that would have been the semi-final in 1952 and the Habs were off to face off against the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final. But here's a point that I want to make and you're wearing a hockey jersey right now. What jersey is that that you're wearing? Yes. What is it? What are you wearing? Oh the North stars. Mike Modano. That is a beautiful. You know what it's got Jeff? What's up? Fighting trap. A fight strap. How many fights did Mike Modano have? If you want to really, by the way if you really want to be a Modano hipster you got to wear the Prince Albert. You got to go back to what

he played in the Western Hockey League with Prince Albert for the, that's what that's the one for the Reels. But good for you from Mike Modano from Livonia, Michigan, where half my family exists. I spent a lot of time in Livonia, Michigan. Also Tori Krueger is from there, Ryan Kessler, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Dr. Alisha Nasser, who's gonna be on the program in a little while.

She's also from Livonia. Now, go back to that miracle on ice photograph. So this is 1980, right? This is like the biggest upset in the history of hockey. This team, this game, these moments, this photograph on the cover of Sports Illustrated spawned a generation of hockey player, of American hockey players. Like from this comes your Mike Medano for example, your Joey Mullins, your Jeremy Ronics, your Chris Cellios. Like so many American kids looked at that photograph, saw that game, those guys all became heroes and they picked up hockey sticks and said I want to play hockey and about 15 years ago I had a conversation with someone about jerseys

and the point that this person was trying to make to me is I don't think he didn't think that there was one game in the history of hockey that left more potential merchandise sales on the table than that game. Okay, this is 1980, Miracle on Ice, no one's selling jerseys, no one's selling shirts, no one's selling hats, nothing. If that happened now, like that level, and that's in like Placid, and I was there last year when my kids turned, it is a marvelous place and there's a marvelous hockey shop there too. By the way, Mike Garugioni, I texted

the guys at Morning Cup of Hockey, he's going to be going on the program, that is very cool. But can you think of like one other event that was completely non-commercialized, bigger than the miracle on ice? Because if that happened now, everyone's leaving with a jersey. Everybody's leaving with a hat. Everybody's leaving with a piece of something. But coming out of that game, nothing. Yeah. That's interesting. I didn't think about it that way but Kind of kind of are there other ones that you could think of around? Well, you can think of like you can think of like 1972 with Paul Henderson, right? And he and he scores buddy how many Canadians were there because that was at Luzhniki

How many Canadians were there? This was like a barn full of American hockey fans Yeah, all would have gone home with something so much money left on the table as far as merch. Anyway, I just think it's an interesting sort of sidebar to all of this that like none of that was commercialized until much later. It did create my favorite movie of all time, by the way. I was surprised at that, that that's your favorite movie.

No, it's the greatest movie ever. That and Moneyball. Those are your two favorite movies? Moneyball? Yeah, I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. Jaws is pretty good. I actually, you want to hear a quick story about Jaws?

I actually tried to name our second son after my two favorite characters in Jaws. So Brody, for Chief Brody, who I loved and I got that one through and then I also wanted Quint and my wife was like you're not naming our son like your two favorite characters from just we compromised on Quint but I wanted Brody Quint for my two favorite characters in Jaws and Zach I was that close I almost got it. Nonetheless, nonetheless, I digress. Okay, time now for Daily Outlines, presented by FanDuel. That took longer than I thought it would.

Presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app provider coming up on the show today. We've already talked about great hockey hall of fame photographs and the Mount Rushmore of hockey photographs. So that one's already been discussed. We can take that one off the board. As I mentioned, Mike Grinnell is gonna be stopping by.

You know him as Grinnelli from the Spit and Chickles podcast and now he's an owner. Now he's on the other side. So now he can complain about stick budgets and skate budgets and other things that hockey players do with the Greensboro Gladiator, gargoyles of the ECHL. Braden Point gets scratched, and Pat Maroon weighs in on Morning Cup of Hockey.

We'll get to that coming up a little bit later on. That was a hell of a game last night, and a rough one as well. We'll talk about the Calder race, and Craig Conroy, General Manager of the Calgary Flames, had some interesting comments about how you should judge this vis-a-vis his goaltender Dustin Wolf and

where he should rank amongst your Lane Hudson's who had another great night last night with three points and your Macklin's Celebrinis. We'll get that off to you here coming up in a couple of moments as well. Also on the broadcast today Steven Bruntz from Up Close and his latest with Adam Copeland. So Brunt's gonna be stopping by in about half an hour time. I wanna make a point about bag skates if we get a chance as well. If we don't get there, we'll knock it to tomorrow,

but there's a couple of things, kinda like just a sort of heads up for minor slash youth hockey coaches. We'll see if we get to that one and anything else up for grabs today? Oh yeah, I wanna make sure we talk about the New Jersey Devils Let's have a quick word about this one before Grinnelli stops by so I've decided who I want to see in the Stanley Cup final already, but only if they get there in one very specific way

Okay, I want to see the New Jersey Devils make the Stanley Cup final and here's and here's why I don't care Essentially about hockey team Zach. I know you're a Leaf fan and you'd love to see the Toronto Maple Leafs get past the first round. The bar is so low. That's my Stanley Cup. The bar is so low. You just want to see them get past that the bar is so low. But I want to see the New Jersey Devils get there and here's why. I thought about me last night. I was thinking about the games I was watching last night, and I was in a really good room between New Jersey and Florida. And I'm saying to myself, some of my favorite games this year have involved the New Jersey Devils.

Like the New Jersey Devils versus the New York Rangers. I want to see that in the playoffs. But then I always want to see the Devils and the Rangers in the playoffs just because of how much the two markets hate each Other and the team seemed to hate each other as well And then I watched that home and home between the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes. I said to myself, okay No, no, no, no, no, I don't want Devils Rangers I want Devils Hurricanes because I want seven games of that And then I watched Devils and the Panthers and I changed my mind again. And I said, I want to see the Devil's and the Florida Panthers in the playoffs. I said, damn it.

Forget it. I want to see all three. That's what I want. I want to see them play the Rangers. I want to see them play the Hurricanes and I want to see them play the Florida Panthers. That's what I want. That is in them play the Rangers want to see them play the Hurricanes and I want to see them play The Florida Panthers that's what I want That is in my hockey heaven this year because the New Jersey Devils unlike other teams Like Minnesota used to be the same Minnesota would always in the Western Conference have great games with everybody Dallas They'd always have great games They used to call it the norm green cup and everyone lose their mind on me But they're great games against the Vegas Golden Knights, they had great, great games

against the Winnipeg Jets and the Edmonton Lezun. I'd say like, I just want Minnesota to keep going on because that style makes for great games and we're seeing great ones in the Western Conference. That team now in the East are the New Jersey Devils. And that's what I want to see. Do you have a thought on that one? Fair enough. Do you have a thought on that one?

I think that's fair. I mean, obviously you excluded the most important team that I'd like to see in the playoffs, but that's okay I think that pathway otherwise is probably the next best thing I don't think there'd be any stories there though with the New Jersey Devils and the Toronto Maple Leafs Nothing's coming to mind. Just scratching my head here having a little chin scratch about it like no I don't I don't think that there's Here having a little chin scratch about it like no, I don't I don't think that there's nothing They in all seriousness, I do think that would be like a pretty In the two games that they've had so far the season have been pretty exciting ones to watch as well So it's not like the games them haven't like lived up to expectation

You're gonna get another one on Thursday here between them. But yes, I mean watching Florida Tampa Boston going head-to-head again for seven games like what we saw last night, those are matchups I want to see. And I want to see over and over and over again. And I think you said it yesterday, Jeff, where it's like you want it to just keep going. Like we talked about the Kings and the Oilers, like Boston, Tampa, I could watch probably 83 times. That's another great one. That's another great one. It's funny too because you know when the Outdoor games were named, they were like, they got the teams wrong. Like you want to see Florida and Boston and you see the Rangers facing off against Tampa.

And then you watch Tampa against Boston and you're like, okay yeah, now I get it. Yeah, now I totally understand. And we all know how the Viola family loves the New York Rangers and there's a lot of fans and Travis the Sun is a Huge fan as I've found out is a huge Henrik Lundquist guy and every time the Rangers would come to town was a big scene When sunrise anyhow, so I get that now by the way speaking of New Jersey just as a side not to get too hipster on you but Jonas Seigenthaler and John Linkovicevich are

But Jonas Seigenthaler and Jonathan Kovacevich are incredible. As far as if you're into like the whole hipster sort of, you know, shut down, shot suppression, actually having the nerve to play defense, Jonas Seigenthaler, like he's not going to be anywhere near like any of the points. Like don't look for him on your stats sheets. Don't look for your point leaders. But Seigenthaler specifically is having an incredible year for the New Jersey Devils. And I know there's a lot of players that talk about on the New Jersey Devils that are going to get more headlines than

Jonas Seigenthaler, but go ask Sheldon Keefe what Seigenthaler means to this team. Go ask Sheldon Keefe what Kovacevich means to this team. That is a that is a pair that are just do I just like just wrecking top lines around the NHL. Like nothing happens around that nothing goes to the net when those two are on the ice. It's it's remarkable it's it's a it's a it's a great tandem and I love watching Nico Hescher go at Matthew Kachak. So yes and I want that now I want them to face off against each other. Now that's now that's the one that I'm all excited about. Oh, okay, the Carolina series is so five minutes ago.

Oh, was I talking about the Rangers? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was yesterday. Now I'm all about the New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers. That's what I wanna see. Jeff, just before we get to Grinnell here, I wanna ask you quickly about the Brayden Point healthy scratching and what we heard from sure in this morning

If you have any thoughts because last night, I mean that was came as a surprise I don't think anyone saw that coming and then the Tampa Bay Lightning tweet out like right before the game That Braden Point was not going to play and just put it bluntly due to missing a team meeting and then it was Pat Maroon On morning cup of hockey this morning talk about why and I kind of wanted to dig into those comments there. Can we play? Do we have the clip? Yep, we got the clip. Okay, let's do it.

I'm not shocked that Coop healthy scratched them. Obviously it was a big loss and they probably needed those two points. You know, those two points might be costly down the road. Obviously they're both fighting for that wild card spot right now. So it's probably much needed. Braden point the lineup that night, but like you said, Coop, you know, that's where it gets his team going. And I think Braden point understands too, a little bit too. Like, Hey, listen, I missed a meeting, you know,

stuff happens. I'm not going to, I'm sure he won't lose sleep over it, but you know, it's, you know, it's something that Coop, you know, holds his players accountable for. But listen, if the player is keen, he didn't lose sleep over it, but you know, it's you know, it's something that coop You know holds his players accountable for well Listen if the players keen he didn't mean to like just like slept in like that's a different story, right? Like yeah not like he's out partying like Braden point was not out partying. I can guarantee you that that's that's not who he is I know for a fact. I think he just Probably just slept in and missed his alarm. I I know for a fact that's that's just the type of kid he is. He's just

laid back and he's probably just sitting in his room. He probably didn't know what time the bus was. To be honest with you. All right so that's uh by the way the the Pat Maroon stops on Morning Cup of Hockey are our must watch. Like the show is like it's the best show and those Pat Maroon segments are the finest and the one thing that Maroon and Dig talk about, I was glad I think it was Johnny that asked them. They were talking about Dad's Trips and the infamous story with the Anaheim Ducks and the Brawl. So Bruce Boudreaux told me about this years ago and I mentioned it on on Chicklets when I was on not too long ago and Gabby has always just refused to say who the parents were that got in a fight in the lobby He just refuses to say who I was and Pat Maroon this morning said yeah, that was Nate Thompson's dad

so Yeah Just like yeah, that was Nate Thompson's dad. I think he broke his hand in the fight or whatever. And Anaheim, for a number of years, canceled the dad's trip because of that. Just completely shut it down because the Anaheim Ducks dads were brawling. Anyhow, speaking of spitting chiclets, that was so five minutes ago for Mike Grinnell because now not only is he spitting chiclets but now he is an owner. He's gone to the dark side, the ECHL's Greensboro Gargoyles, which by the way, I got to say Mike, was a very, very well kept secret.

Like you guys sealed that one. I don't know how you did it. I don't know whether I should be envious or not as a media member that you're able to lock that seal so tightly considering all the production that went into it. But first of all, bravo, congratulations. What does it feel like to be an owner and now have the right to complain about stick

budgets? Well, first off, I was just as shocked as you were that we kept this a secret. I think anytime we throw anything in the Chicklets Chat that we have, there's a 50-50 chance Biz either immediately tweets it out or he says it on air while we're on air. So you really never know. But yeah, we're so excited. We're so excited. This is something I, I don't want to say I never really thought was possible, but it's just really something I never envisioned. And then when, when it's something that Biz

and Biz's business manager, Jeff Jacobson, we have to give him a lot of credit. It's something they've been talking about for a long time. Obviously Biz, two-time ECHL All-Star, he has the ECHL, he has a lot of ties to the league. It's a lot more sentimental to him. So he's always said this is something we need to get involved in. A couple years ago, we started the ECHL Player Relief Fund

when COVID happened. And that was really, I don't want to say eye-opening. It was eye-opening to see how much Biz cared about it. And when we saw how much he cared about it, it was like, wow, there must, there must be something here. So then we went and filmed the documentaries a couple of years ago, where we went to Wheeling, we went to Orlando, we followed Derek Nesbitt around, the ECHL's Ironman. So it was awesome.

It was cool and yeah, we're just very excited for what the future holds. The logo is incredible. I know you know Zoyar Sports, so we're very, very excited to work with Zoyar, Andy Kaufman. It's been a whirlwind of emotions. Again, something I never thought would happen, but I'm very excited. So snooping around about this this morning and making calls, you mentioned Andy.

So I was told that he approached you guys about this one, that it wasn't the other way around. It wasn't as you had your shingle out and hey, available to, you know, we're looking to buy an expansion team, or partner on an expansion team with someone. I was told that he sought you guys out. Is that true?

Yes, but there's also like Biz, we did a show a couple, I'd say a year or two ago, where Biz talked about our pursuit for an ECHL team and how it was something that we wanted to go after. Biz talked about it in the past. We were talking to Colorado Springs a year or two ago and that kind of fell through. And then when this opportunity presented itself, it was something that you couldn't pass up. And yeah, Andy's team is just unbelievable, just an unbelievable guy. Like the first time I jumped on a call with him, I texted the boys right after and was just like,

I love this guy. Like the energy he brings. And obviously I'm a very, very minor minority partner in this. But Andy makes me feel like I have more ownership than anyone. He's just, and that's awesome. Like I think it's really awesome just to feel a part of it. You know what I mean?

Even though I'm involved in such a minor level, he makes me feel like I'm just as important as everyone else. You know, it's interesting you mentioned Colorado Springs because one of my conversations this morning, someone was saying like, yeah, I think it was like two or three years ago, the Chickless guys were involved

and it was going down the road. I think there was a building issue or something like that. And that sort of skirted the whole thing. But you guys still existed sort of in that orbit of, to your point, in that orbit of, one day this could come together and when it presents itself, we're amenable. You know, I'll tell you what, Mike,

like one of the things that I really respect about how you guys have evolved is, and I was having this conversation with Johnny Lazarus this morning, like I don't set goals. I'm not a goal setter. I don't say like, all right, this time I have to have this happen in my life

and this time I have to have this happen in my life, et cetera. Like I don't, I almost feel like I'm setting up a terminal point when I do that. I just like to get up, work as hard as I can, do my job, and sort of see where life takes me. And then every now and then, every five years, you kind of go like, well I never expected to do this, I never expected to be part of that. And I'm sure like, I know I can tell by the smile on your face, you're saying to yourself,

I never expected to own a hockey team, but here you are. Like this is almost like a talking head song. with a smile on your face, you're saying to yourself, I never expected to own a hockey team, but here you are. Like, this is almost like a talking head song. Like, do you ever get a chance to pause and kind of go like, how did I get here? Oh, that's, it's perfect you asked this right now because we did, so you've been a part of our live shows before and they're spectacular.

And we just did one in Chicago. And so in the past, I would say, I get really nervous before these live shows. We've had issues in the past, you know, whether it's audio, whether it's the venue, there's just, there's a lot on my plate before these live shows. So I would drink a little bit.

I'd have a few drinks, get a little loose before. And before this last one we did, I knew that Wayne Gretzky was gonna surprise Biz on stage. So before we went in there, I said, you know what? I want to be able to remember this with every ounce of my brain. So I'm not gonna have any drinks beforehand. I'm really gonna try to embrace it all.

So at one point on stage during our last live show, it was me, Ryan Whitney, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Bissonnette, Keith Yandel and Chris Cellios. And I kind of, I looked down the line, I took a deep breath and this is going to sound crazy. I got a little emotional. If you go back and review the game tapes, you can probably see like my eyes water up a little bit because I look out into the crowd. I look down the line, I'm like, what am I doing here? I'm not supposed to be sitting up here.

Like, how did I get up here? How did this happen? Like this, it's the undreamable dream, right? It's something I'd like to say, on the bench guys told me that a couple of years ago. It's the und-dreamable dream, right? It's something I'd like to say, the On The Bench guys told me that a couple years ago. It's the un-dreamable dream. It's not something when you're a little kid that you're gonna be like,

I'm gonna be a podcast producer, and I'm gonna be a partner in an ECHL team and a pink vodka. Like that's not what I envisioned my life to be, but I couldn't be happier that this is the way it turned out. And I'm so lucky every day. and fall into this one day. I grinded. I did AM radio in New Hampshire when I was getting 10 listeners getting paid 10 bucks an hour. I know the days. I worked at bars and I worked for free and weekend radio and I've done all that. When

you've been on that side of it, it makes you appreciate this side of it a lot more and it makes you work harder. It makes you never want to give this up lot more. And it makes you work harder. It makes you never want to give this up and go back to what it was before. Does it? I am curious to given that like, like overnight sensations, you know, it's a 10,000 hour rule. Um, no one's an overnight sensation. Like there's so much that happens before you become an overnight sensation.

And now as an owner of an ECHL team, like I know you always had respect for that league and the guys that have gone down there. You know, I was telling the story, Mike, the other day on the program here about Rory Karens with the Calgary Flames. And here's a guy who was in the C group at training camp. And two years in a row, this guy doesn't get a single exhibition game.

And then the Flames send him to the ECHL. For a lot of guys that's the indication that it's time. It's time for me to grow up and I know that hockey was fun but now it's a time to go and this guy never quit. This guy never got exhibition game and training camp. See like all of it like he didn't do and down to the ECHL a lot of guys would be like that that's it, it's a cheese toast now, man, I'm done, I'm done, I'm finished, I'm never going up there. And it has to take like this incredible amount

of mental strength, say what you want about the skills and the physical, physicality of hockey and all that, but just the mental strength to endure that and then make it back up and get your shot and to assist in the game against Chicago two nights ago. I know we've seen a lot in hockey lately. I just like, just I love like, I love the Alex Burrow story. You know, the guy that when, you know, he's the first sort

of Alex Burrows goes from the ECHL to riding shotgun with the Sedines as probably their best complimentary winger they ever had. You know, like have you always had an affinity for the ECHL guys or is it like now since I've been in it and met Paul and worked on the show, do you have more of an appreciation for- Oh, much more, much more.

Just how hard that is. Yeah, I think when we went down, I mean, just talking to Biz over the year, I've learned so much down, I mean, just talking to Biz over the year, I've learned so much more because you hear, especially when Biz was playing in the ECHL, it was, that was the real time of the soggy subs, long bus rides, all that type of stuff. So yeah, just learning that. And I'd say Derek Nesbitt, when we got to meet Derek Nesbitt, who played 20 years or

15 years in the ECHL, when we got to go down and follow him around and you saw like, he told us he's not making any money, right? He's barely making any money, but he does it because he loves the game so much and he wants to give back to the game and then you go see like you go meet all the players in the room and how much they care about it as well. And it's just there's something about guys that like they're doing it for the love of the game at that point.

It's not about the money. You know what I mean? They just love to play hockey and it I don hockey. And I hate to use this comparison, but it's almost like club hockey in a sense. I love club hockey. ACHA club hockey. The kids who are going to these schools like Georgia and in these big SEC schools

that they're not going to play college, but they're still playing at a very, very high level because they love the game so much. And they're paying a lot of their own money to do that. And I kind of look at that as the ECHL. I mean, it's just all about the love of the game, which I think is just so enamoring. Okay. So let me ask you about this.

First of all, I'm glad you brought up the point about doing it for no money. I hope that this, I hope that Riley Armstrong won't mind that I tell the story. But whenever Riley would come by, and I was working at SportsCity, he'd always come by and we'd hang out. And I would always, I'm such a loser, Mike. I'm such a loser.

I love Riles. Riles is awesome. And I was in the Philadelphia Flyers organization and doing great. And he's gonna be an awesome, awesome NHL coach one day. Um, but, uh, whenever he would, would roll in, like I collect. Like dry fit athletic shirts. Like I just like working out in team shirts.

Like that's, I don't know. It's always been, I just love it. And so he would always bring me like main Mariners dry fits and I'd give him ties. I just be like, dude, take any, take any tie you want, like anything you want off the rack. And he's like, oh, dude, and he would like leave with a handful of ties. Like, you're right, like these guys, in order to continue to live that passion,

they sacrifice a ton. And the other thing is too, the family sacrifice a ton. Anyhow. But even like, we got to go down, we went down, I think one of the first ECHL games I went to was in Orlando and they had like a hot tub by the rink, like right by the glass. And like me and Biz are sitting in the, in the hot tub pouring pink Whitney and people's throat. It was like an all out party. And I was like, I love this. This is,

this is a blast. Like I'll go to an ECHL game every was like, I love this. This is a blast. I'll go to an ECHL game every night if it's like this. Now, speaking of which, anything you already have planned for the Gargoyles that you can share? Nothing yet, I would say nothing yet. And to be honest with you, Jeff, Biz is the mastermind behind this. You know, Biz and Jeff Jacobson were the two guys who,

I'm so lucky that they included me in this. But yeah, Biz is really kind of the mastermind behind setting all this up. And like I said, Andy's been great in, you know, making me feel as involved as everyone else is. But no, as of right now, nothing planned. I'm just super excited to see the jerseys. We haven't seen the jerseys yet, but we got the logo.

We got the logo about a week and a half ago, and it was, oh man, he's like, please do not send this to anyone. So I have my mom texting, my dad texting, my boys from home texting. I wouldn't even show my fiance. I'm like, no leaks. I'm not being the guy. Yeah, it's been awesome. Andy's great to work with, but not much planned right now.

Just kind of I'm just enjoying the ride of being an ECHL owner, baby. All right. Complaining about the price of skates. Holy smokes, I wanna see this budget. What are we spending on skates? This is ridiculous. We're gonna sell the team bus, we're gonna sell the skate sharpener. Okay, listen, okay, before, I'll look at that. We're just showing the Gargoyles logo right now.

That is pretty sweet. Do you know who designed that? Do you know who designed that? Can you give them a plug if you know it? Because that's a great logo. Oh gosh, I don't know the, I think it's... I don't want to get it wrong. Is it someone from Zoyer? It's... They used a company, I believe.

Okay. I'm not too sure. I just know... Let's credit Zoyer for now and we'll say... Okay. Yeah. Andy Kaufman. We'll credit him. That's your guy. Okay, real quick. Off the ECHL page and congratulations again. That was a really cool news cycle yesterday, man. That was really happy for all you guys. That was a nice-

I still can't believe it, Jeff, to be honest with you. Like it's one of those things I don't think I'll ever believe it. Dude, it's a victory lap for your crew, man. Like take it, like enjoy it. You earned it, you got there. And it was like, it was a shock. like it's so hard to surprise people these days I think Evans would jaded and cynical all like it was it's really hard to surprise

people that surprised people so well done like you did something's really hard to do these days let me ask you quickly about a couple of NHL issues then we had someone in the chat a couple of a couple of seconds ago a big Willie Stiles saying Mike for GM of Boston how do you see the Bruins right now? By the way, first of all, I don't listen, Marshan and Pasternak and the radio story and all of that. I kind of look at the whole thing and say, we all heard Marshan go after Rich quick, go right away, go after him. I look at a situation like that and say, that's a gift. It's a gift to the Boston Bruins, because as you well know, when you give players an issue to rally around,

look what Patrick Lani said about Columbus and then what happened in the Columbus Blue Jackets. They're beating everybody. If you give hockey players an issue to rally around, just put a ribbon around it. That's a gift. Like I know it's uncomfortable. And Marsha and Posternak have looked incredible.

They've been fantastic. I don't think that he intended that to for that's why he put it out there. But it's a gift, no? No, it's it's absolutely a gift. And they've looked incredible. Both Marsha and Posternak have looked have looked awesome. And yeah, I just there's nothing like some mid-season

bulletin board material. Like this is just what the Bruins needed. They needed a little kick in the ass and shout out to Rich Keefe for giving it to them because yeah, this Bruins team needs something. It definitely needs something. And a kick in the ass right now was probably exactly what they needed.

But I still don't, I still think this team is a little off. You know, they still have to make a move or two, but yeah. You know, I used to say that Jordan Bennington was the guy who was just like the one goalie out there who was just itching for one and he had to have one. He almost had it with Marc-Andre Fleury. We're just waiting for him to have it. I think we should add Jeremy Swain. I was talking to Pete Blackwell on the show a couple of days ago. He had the glove last night. He's always wanted one too.

It's like, I miss that. Like the late Ray Emery, as I always make this point, like he loved it and Ray Emery would like fight players. Like here he is with Mikey Asaman here a couple of seconds ago. And there's a laugh from 23. I love it. You can see the smile behind Swainman's basket.

I'm just saying like the Braden point is scratched in that one. And I understand why Cooper did it and it's a rough game and they're fighting for playoff spots and people are saying like, look at Boston loses that game. When Columbus wins, they jump over them in the standings at Columbia Ottawa, Ottawa wins and they would jump over them in standings and they're in that spot and Columbus keeps on winning. We're getting to the point now where every now and then we're getting those games that have a certain playoff intensity and I'm watching this thing last night and I'm like, oh yeah, you know what? The Atlantic is awesome. The Atlantic is fantastic. You know what's great about that, Jeff, is

Jeremy Swainman loves those type of games. We saw like he loves that play. Like the bigger the game, it seems that's when Jeremy Swainman comes to play. And I think everyone can agree Jeremy Swainman hasn't had the best first half of the season, but these past two games, he's looked like a different goalie. He's stealing games. That's what the Bruins need going forward. If they can get the Jeremy Swainman that they had in the playoffs last year, oh my God,

be worried. Be worried out there, Big Willie Styles. You got to be worried because the Bs are coming. The Bs are coming. I'm telling you that right now. If Jeremy Swainman is playing how Jeremy Swainman should, like the $8 million goalie that he is, that he's looked like the past two times he stepped in net, I'm worried. No one wants to see the Bruins in the playoffs right now Jeff. No, I know

The boys of small town strip club who are in the chat are saying Binner versus Swain center ice Who do you like in that fight? Are you kidding me? I'm taking, I'm taking the American, the Boston Bruin. I'm not taking the guy who beat us in the final couple years ago. I'm taking my guy from Richmond Hill. Damn it. That's who I'm taking. The American, baby. I'm going, I'm going the American every single time.

Okay. Nick Davis, we'll close on this one. I know you're busy. Nick Davis says, a four nations goalie fight or we riot. Give me that one on that Saturday night in Montreal, USA versus Canada, Swamen versus Bennington. Do it, you cowards. Put them in that, you cowards. I'm not sure I've been as excited for something as I have for this in a long, long time. Like, L Center, Montreal, USA versus Canada, best on best for the first time in almost 10 years. I hope you're there, America.

It's, I can't wait. I think it's hockey porn in the highest degree, at the highest level. I'm just so, so excited. It should be fantastic. Look, congrats again. I know you're super busy. Thanks so much for parking like a half an hour with us today.

I could go all day with you. I'm never too busy for you. You're the king. You've done so much for us. You've always looked out for me. I appreciate everything you do. The Sheet is an incredible show. I love tuning in every day.

So keep crushing it. I'm happy to join whenever you want. And I love you, buddy. You read that just like I wrote it. Thank you so much for reading that just as I wrote it, Mike Grinnell. Congratulations, ECHL owner. Grinnelly, attaboy. Let's go gargoyles, baby!

I can't wait to see the jerseys. Thanks, pal. You be good. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon.

We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon.

We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon.

We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. We'll talk soon. a deal? But I just love that logo. I love the look. I love everything about Savannah. I've always wanted to go, et cetera. But the Zoyair group owns a few different teams in the ECHL. And congratulations to the guys. Like again, like I say this legitimately, that was a real shock and no one had any idea

what that podcast was gonna do. And when you look at when it started and where it's gotten to and all the things along the way, beverage industry, now in the hockey industry in an ownership capacity, nobody would have thought that for one second. But, and I've maintained this, and Elliot and I used to talk about this when I used to do the pod with him. Paul Bissonnette is the most powerful person in hockey. Like Gary Bettman, the commissioner, has the most, certainly the most influence and directs hockey.

Like the story about the old cliché about the NHL is, and this is certainly true, if the NHL sneezes, everybody else catches a cold. Like that's how much influence that league has, not just amongst itself, but amongst leagues, not just in the United States and Canada, North America, but internationally. Like that is the sphere of influence. But as far as a media member goes, as far as a media member goes, as far as media personality goes,

there is nobody as powerful in this interest in this industry that can affect as much change or can get people excited about hockey games or playoffs or events, whether they be tent pole or just a Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena, like Paul Bissonnette. He's got that thing. And what he's able to do, and all the guys are able to do,

is one of the hardest things. And we're trying to do it here, and a lot of it's done through the chat and the Morning Cup of Hockey guys do the same thing in their chat as well, and that is create a community. And the one thing that we used to do with the old MVSW podcast we sort of tapped into this idea of there were a lot of people that loved hockey that felt that

hockey never loved them back and that's true of players by the way. One of the best things that anyone ever told me said you know my coach told me once that hockey will never love you back take whatever you can out of hockey but there were a lot of people that felt like they were very much on the outside on the fringes. They loved hockey, but they didn't really have a place to go. And I think that's part of the success of Chicklets. We tried to do that with the old MVSW podcast.

And for this one as well, try to create a sense of community and have people feel like they are involved. And those guys have done such a great job with the entire property and extending it as well. And we wish them the best. I hope they finish second the gargoyles the Savannah ghost pirates Okay

Coming up gonna talk to Stephen Brunt here in a couple of moments the latest up close property will be available shortly a conversation with Adam Copeland. I just want to put this out right now. I'm not jealous that he got this assignment. I'm not jealous that it was Stephen Brunt that got to go to North Carolina, to Adam's house, hang out with his family, check out his cool place and his hockey hall of fame room. I'm not jealous at all that he got the assignment and I didn't. Oh, by the way.

Jeff, what's that? You don't sound jealous at all. Oh, I'm not jealous at all of Stephen Brutt that he got that assignment. By the way, Joshua Leifer in the chat, this is a great one. Hire Bruce Boudreau as coach of the Gargoyles. Oh, I do like that one.

Yeah, that's too bad. I'm putting the recruiting hands down on this guy to bring him to Toronto to fix this power play so the Gargoyles can wait. He's got another duty to fulfill first. I like that one. And listen, Gabby was great on Chick-fil-A not too long ago. I had some incredible stories of the WHA.

Anyhow, Steven's gonna stop by in a couple of moments. We have Steven lined up yet or we still standing by to get Steven on the program? Yep, he's ready. He's ready, okay, so enough of my rambling on. Did I mention that I'm not jealous that Stephen Brunt got this assignment as part of his property with Up Close to go talk to Adam Copeland? Please welcome back to the program. Last time we had him on we talked about his interview with Keith Pelly. This time we'll talk to him about his conversation

with Adam Copeland. We want to play a clip from this. We'll do it at the end of the interview here, Stephen. Thanks as always for stopping by. Selfishly, I just like talking to you. So anytime you release anything, I'm dragging you on this property here. Really quickly, just talking to Mike Grinnell of Spittin' Chicklets and now the Spittin' Chicklets guys have bought it, are part of the ownership group

of an ECHL team. Once upon a time, this was completely foreign territory. Like I still have a lot of friends who existed, you know, in a different era in hockey. As a matter of fact, I was just talking to Bill Waters about an hour before I came on the show today and talking about the old times and times of cliff and ownership and what it was like. The fact that there's a podcast now that it has become, I don't even know how big the ownership stake is,

but has become part of hockey ownership. I know the landscape keeps on changing in ways that we can never imagine, but do you have a quick thought on that one? That all of a sudden, like a media property has now become minority owners of any CHL team. Yeah, well, it's, you know, again, a universe I couldn't have imagined at some point.

Like none of that, like not one bit of that. I heard what you're saying about Bissonnette though, being the most influential guy in hockey too. Yeah. And you're right. You know, you're 100% correct. And you know, that is a, you know, a massive shift, you know, that's like the plates on the earth moving, right?

It's not a crusty old guy at a newspaper or somebody on a national broadcast or between periods on hockey night in Canada. It's him. And I think that is, it's all part and parcel of the fact that the culture, the hockey culture has changed, media culture has changed. Everything's changed, right?

But I actually kind of think, you know, that's a good thing that he specifically is maybe the most influential voice in hockey because I think, you know, there's kind of an organic quality to that, right? It's not somebody preaching down from above from the high church of hockey. It's a guy from within.

Okay, Adam Copeland. So I was texting with Adam today and said, hey, I'm going to talk to Stephen and not jealous at all, not jealous at all. First of all, how is the place? I've always wanted to go down and visit Adam there. I still think of Adam as the guy from Orangeville and whenever I think of Orangeville, I always think about making that drive and going to Eddie Shaq Donuts. Okay, that's still how I think of Adam Copeland. How's how is his new pad? Well, I got to say, first of all, when I knew I was doing this, when this came together, you're one of the first people I thought of

because I knew I'd probably end up with you and I, you know, and again, live audio wrestling, right? Like I. Bless you. Yeah. So there you go. I knew, you know, there might, there might be an audience of one for this, but I knew who the one would be. No, there was that. No, it was super cool. Asheville, North Carolina, I've never been Asheville.

And it's still coming back from that horrible hurricane that they had. When we were down there, the water had just come back. It destroyed the water lines and all kinds of stuff that happened that we don't think about after the news cameras all pull out of town, right? It took months. But it's a super funky little town in the mountains, kind of like the best of America, like an

American college town almost. It's got a great music scene there. There are cool restaurants. It's beautiful physically. It's kind of a nice old downtown. As Adam, I believe, referenced it, you get five miles out of town, it's all stars and bars. So it's that. But in that little oasis of Asheville, it kind of felt like, I could hang with these people. And he's got a beautiful house up on know, up on a hill in the woods. But you know, like a real person's house, right? Like his kid's toys were all over the place. Beth, his wife was there. We kind of shot the thing in the gym

that's kind of built into a garage next door. But you know, we wandered around the house. I saw his, yeah, his leaf room. His leaf room, I saw his rock poster collection. I saw his library, a guy who reads a book a week, which was quite something. And I can't tell you how much I liked the guy. You're connected, so you know what I'm talking about.

But very cool guy, very, very cool guy. Now, did you, I mean, I can't wait to see this. Now I did text, I said, did you please tell me that Steven and you talked about Tony Candelo's stories. Now, Tony Candelo is a legendary promoter in Manitoba and the tours through Manitoba, you know, driving a van full of a dozen wrestlers all weighing 200 pounds over an icy lake

where it could all end for everybody here. So I'm very much looking forward to this. Like, what was your main takeaway after spending a day with Adam Copeland? Well, you know, I love the, you know, in this, you know, kind of post-KFAB universe, right? Which we've been in for quite a while. You know, the ability to pull back the curtain and talk about how it works and how his, you know, he's mapped out his career and the different phases of it, working with the different promotions. His origin story is amazing too, you know that, right?

Like a single mom, Orangeville, Ontario, didn't have enough money to play hockey. The family didn't have enough money for him to play hockey, organized hockey, watching Maple Leaf Wrestling on TV, going down to the gardens and hanging out on, on church street, you know, at the, at the door, waiting for the wrestlers to come out. Wood street. Yeah. Wood street.

I mean, sorry. Uh, and, uh, you know, winning the contest, the newspaper contest, um, to, you know, to get, uh, Ron Hutchison and sweet daddy Siki, um, meeting his tag team partner in grade school. Yeah. Like how ridiculous is that? And like in Orangeville in those days, what, 10,000 people maybe? Maybe?

Oh yeah. Yeah. And the two of them, you know, Edge and Christian are, you know, in grade six together. All of that stuff, man. And you know, he's at the tail end of his career now. He's got a couple of years left. He figures he's very happy in AEW, like seems to really love the whole Tony con thing. Um, and talking to him about, okay, how, how do you complete the story?

And it's all there, you know, all of that's in, and I will not reveal it here. And he didn't reveal that in the pod either, but, but you know what he's like, I, I just, I was so fascinated by that stuff and dealing with a guy who was so smart and so articulate. Yeah, look, the interview that's on the pod, it runs an hour and a half, because we couldn't cut it. We couldn't cut it, man.

He's a remarkable athlete, he's a remarkable storyteller, like he's a wonderful person too. It's interesting. I'm glad you mentioned Sweet Daddy Siki. Now, Sweet Daddy Siki, legendary wrestler, just passed away at the age of 91 on New Year's Eve. And I was texting with Adam this morning, and I'm like, how much was Siki around

when you first broke in? He goes, he taught me how to do a drop kick. And he was 60 years old and he did 12 of them in a row perfectly at 60 years old to teach me, to teach me how to teach me how to do it. Like I've always had a fascination with Sweet Daddy Siki. He used to host a karaoke night when I lived in Toronto, a karaoke night around the corner from my place at a place called Mighty Mike's. And then whenever I go to the C&E

He'd be sitting out in front of his porch in Parkdale just with his guitar He was a musician as well as you know countryman their sweet daddy Siki just on his porch So people would go to the Canadian National Exhibition I'd be going to the old Hockey Hall of Fame and there was sweet daddy Siki sitting on his on his on his front porch I do want to ask you this thing because you mentioned sort of the K fave days versus versus now Like we both grew up, like when I grew up, it was very much the K-Fade days. And you follow the wrestlers at Maple Leaf Gardens

leaving through the Wood Street exit. And it would be all the heels going together to check into the hotel. It would be the baby faces all going at the same time. And they would never, ever mix. And it was like maintain the fiction, maintain the fiction. Um, you know, I started this by talking about, you know, podcasters becoming owners of hockey teams back then,

you know, you look at that industry versus now publicly traded, et cetera. Um, what are your thoughts of, of, of what you see, of what you've seen over the years as this sport has evolved? Well, man, you remember the old ads in the newspaper used to say an exhibition of skill and science, right? Do you know why they did that? Is that a legal disclaimer? Correct.

Is it a tax thing or something? Yeah. Because they were charging money essentially for a fake fight. So it was an exhibition of skill and science. That was their legal ease to make sure they couldn't be sued. Which is the same reason the then WWF, when they went to court, had to declare that they weren't a sport, right? That they had to say we weren't an entertainment.

Correct, tax issue. Tax issue. In New Jersey. Yes. So, you know, I keep thinking about the resilience of this, you know, however we want to describe it, sport, entertainment. You know, when I was a kid, you know, you were just, like, it certainly doesn't go back to, like, the gorgeous George days, but it was, you know, in the 50s, where it was, you know, unbelievably popular early television,

easy television, right? You know, but through the 60s, through the 70s, the, you know, and when K-Fabe kind of the idea of it, you know, I guess the thing was, you know, when I was a kid, it was always about, you know, like the theory was the audience believed everything, believed it was real, right? You had to buy into this to enjoy it. And, you know, at a certain point,

you kind of roll your eyes and say, well, of course, it's not real and look at this. But the amazing thing is it didn't matter, right? Like that was irrelevant to people's enjoyment of it. And the idea, like the way people consume it now, and you know, and it's been a long time, you know, the kind of, I'm going to surrender, you know, my disbelief here, right? I'm going to give myself over to it the way I would give myself over to a night at the theater or a movie and just let it happen in front of me. I'm not going to sit there and deconstruct it because that's not the point.

I'm going to enjoy it and I'm going to feel the feels. And one of the things talking to, that I really enjoy talking to him about, to Adam about was, so what's it like when you walk out there? Because he's a big music guy, as you know, right? So we talk a lot about kind of the rock star thing. Like if you're Eddie Vedder and you walk out on stage, know, cause he's a big music guys, you know, right? So we talked a lot about, about kind of the rock star thing. Like if you're Eddie Vedder and you're, you know, you walk out on stage, which it feels like, you know, 50,000 people are in the palm of your hand.

But he talked about that moment where, you know, you feel what's coming back at you as a wrestler, whether that's love or hate, you know, and both are equally, you know, a measure of success, right? If you're drawing heat and the feeling that, okay, I've made that happen through this art form. Um, like it's gotta be, it's got, it's incredibly powerful and it works, you

know, and it worked for my father's generation. It worked for my generation. It works for my kids' generation. Yeah. And it will work for their kids' generation. It never goes away. Yeah. You know, and I always found it interesting to talking to, and I used to always make this point

when I did the old wrestling radio show that you referenced, Live Body Wrestling. I'd always make the point to, I would always, I would always hate it when I would see, you know, a wrestler on a radio show or TV, and they would do the interview in character. And I'd always said to myself, Stephen, if I ever had a chance, could you imagine this

for one second, if I had a chance, if you're watching me today and I was interviewing Tom Cruise and I pretended that he was really Jerry Maguire, what would you think of me, Stephen? Yeah. Well, but it was, you remember, Jerry Lawler, Andy Kaufman, right?

Andy Kaufman, yeah. And what's the guy, the guy from ABC who sued? Oh, Tim Stossel? Tim Stossel, yeah. Yeah, Tim Stossel. Yeah, because he got, because he, Dr. Schultz, David Schultz. It's not real, right? And the guy hit him. So there was, you know, but that was kind of people believe that was fundamental to it, right? That you had to, you had to exist in that space. But again, to me, it's so much more interesting to talk about the craft and about the business.

100%. And all of the, you know, how do you work with this guy and what was this guy like to work with? You know, and talk about McMahon and talk about the cons and talk about riding around in station. Tony Candelo's van. Yeah, no, it's so much fun. And he's, you know, look, Adam covers a lot of ground, right?

Like a lot of years, a lot of different places. He tells a great story. The other, what, you know, the other kind of childhood, sort of childhood story was that you probably know it was hanging out at what city line. It's at city TV to see Brett Hart and, uh, waiting to talk to Brett Hart after a city lunch with, I guess, Deanie Petty. He was in the crowd, I think. He was in the crowd. I think, wasn't he?

He was in the crowd. Yeah. And he ended up getting invited out. Bret invited him out to hang out with Stu and the family and get tortured by Stu in the dungeon. That's awesome. We're gonna play this clip. Listen, I can't wait to watch this.

I can't wait to listen to this. This is gonna be 90 minutes of Gold. Stephen, thanks for the, by the way, you mentioned mentioned gorgeous George a second ago for whatever reason when you and I get together something always revolves around Muhammad Ali so a lot of Muhammad Ali schtick came from a

combination of gorgeous George I think Freddie Blassie as well he would have probably seen him. And Ali always acknowledged the gorgeous George thing right he was a crazy wrestling fan and you're the I am the greatest thing yeah it's gorgeous George right always comes back to it Stephen your delight thanks as always best of luck with this one this is the

I'll tell you what the Keith Peli interview really raised some eyebrows perhaps at our old shop which was very interesting and and good to hear and we very much look forward to this one thanks for stopping by thanks man appreciate it there is a great Stephen Brunt. Up close, the latest, an interview with Adam Copeland. Let's play part of this interview here before we wrap up the program. Here's Stephen Brunt in Asheville, North Carolina, the home of Adam Copeland.

The first show I read about was Monarch Park, right, by the first show, which was an interesting place to start. But I guess there were, like, because it's funny now again, there's a lot of this local stuff popping up. There are these kind of micro-circuits, right? Which is cool.

So there were those opportunities, right? There were those places to kind of go and say, okay, I'm gonna try this out. There were, but there are far fewer between at that stage. You know, it really, it's cyclical, right? It goes in cycles. And when it's booming, then that means all the little mom and pop start back

up and Hey, we can run a show now and there might be fans and, uh, and, and for me, that was the only way to gain experience. And there was no social media to get a clip on for people to see, like I carried around a VHS cassette with a little promo music video showing what I did. And I would hand it to everybody on that show and just hope that a they didn't go, okay, well, that's competition, not having to the promoter. Screw that. You know, I, but that was the only

way it was just get tapes out, get tapes out, get tapes out, send tapes, send tapes, send tapes. So I would send tapes in the mail to any promotion I'd find the address of. I'd send it to Mexico, I'd send it to ECW, I'd send it out to BC, wherever I could, which is how we ended up getting Winnipeg dates and how we started touring with Tony Candelo and doing the Northern Death Tours.

That's where all that came from. And then we got all of that experience from there and, and wrestling in a 10 by 10 ring after driving across a lake to get there. And it's minus 72 Celsius outside and you're sleeping on blue, you know, gymnastics mats and eating craft dinner because the only place you have to get food is in the home ec room where you're cooking your own supplies and eating tuna and glamorous life glamorous life of a superstar.

But you know, would I be able to pull that off now? Hell no. But I look back at it now and it was so formative and it was so instrumental to to you know, I can't wait for the for the rest of that now all the details of where that's going to be aired I will be in our show notes I believe is that correct me it's gonna be on the leaf nation page as well right yes the full video this one will be on the leaf nation YouTube channel so make sure to head on over there subscribe to the channel

and the full video will be up there. That's awesome. Did I mention I wasn't jealous? That I wasn't chosen for this assignment? You didn't seem jealous, no, no, no. Happy that Steven got it. I mean, it's not like Steven's already interviewed everybody in the industry.

Of every sport. That's fine. Not jealous at all, not jealous at all. No, I'm not that kind of guy. No, no, no, no, no, no, trying to chase jealousy out of my life. So very much, again, like in our show notes, make sure you check it out.

That's where you can find where you can watch slash listen to up close with Stephen Brunt and his interview with Adam Klopp, 90 minutes, eh? That's gotta be great. And I'm sure plenty of it's gonna be hockey talk as well. All right, speaking of hockey talk, let's wrap things up with a couple of things here. And by the way, the chat is awesome.

And I think we are answering one of the questions. I think we're working on, I shouldn't say this in case we're not, I think we're getting sheet hats or we're looking at doing sheet hats. Green, Zach, I know you're shocked. Sheet head? Yeah, well, that's what the reference is.

That's what the reference is in the chat, I'm a sheet head. I don't know, I kinda go back and forth on that one. I dig it, it's really sort of out of my control so I shouldn't even sort of weigh in on it. I kinda like it. I know, I'm back and forth on it. I like it.

Depending, ask me five minutes from now and I'll change my opinion. I would totally change my opinion on it. I want some morning cup of hockey gear. That's what I want. That's what I want. I want some MCH. Okay, anything that we're leaving on the table here? I know we always do. Anything we're leaving on the table here before we wrap up? The one that I'm the most intrigued about is bag skates.

You texted me and said, put bag skates on the thing. I put it up there. I don't even know what it is still. The only thing that I want to say about bag skates on the thing, I put it up there, I don't even know what it is still. The only thing that I want to say about bag skates, and I'm not talking about bag skates at the NHL level or the American Hockey League level, junior hockey, college and all that, because you have the rank, that's there for you. But bag skates in minor or youth hockey, I understand why they do them, but if you want to punish your team for a lack of energy, for example, not showing up for a game and you're gonna you're gonna stick it to your team as a coach, ice time is

really expensive. Like ice is super expensive. Ice is such such an incredible cost for everybody. To me, and this is for youth slash minor hockey coaches out there, if you're thinking like, okay, we didn't show up Sunday afternoon, Monday, I'm going to bag these guys for half an hour. Considering how expensive ice is, use your ice for team slash skills training. If you want to bag your team, make them run the stairs after practice. Make them run the stairs. Ice is really expensive. I always whenever I see

it and my kids have been bag skated tons. Last night my one kid got got bag skated. I get it but I look at them I'm like this is really expensive punishment. This ice is so expensive. Should we not just use that for drills and skills? Do we need to use like a $500 sheet or a $450 sheet of ice for an hour for bag skates? You know what I'm kind of getting at there? Just sort of like for anyone, if you want to sort of spread that one, I'm sure coaches will be able to weigh in on this one. I should actually know what I should ask Colby Cohen about it, because he coaches and I'm wondering

if he uses expensive ice to bag skate kids on a consistent basis. I get that it's an old school punishment and coaches still do it, but I don't know, Zach, you're closer to actually playing than I am. Am I way off base on this one? Make him run stairs. No, I get it.

Make him run stairs. I used to get it. Make them run stairs. I used to do, you wanna hear what we used to do for one of the teams I played on before every practice? We would have to do, actually, Rink, you know, the Aurora Community Center where the Tigers play. I know that, right, of course, yeah, Tigers play. Yes, you know the bowl, right? You'd go up the stairs, around the top, down the stairs,

and then go over, up and around and we do that like for like 20 minutes then we go on the ice practice and then bag skate at the end of practice. I was like what am I doing? I'm gonna die. Is that when you play York Simcoe? No no that was I played a couple years in Aurora so it was during that period of time, yeah. Wow, that's, yeah, that's something.

You know, I remember having a long talk, boy, I've had a lot of talks with trainers about this. I remember asking Matt Nicol, who works with the Ottawa Senators now. I first met Matty when he was working with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a strength and conditioning coach. Matty's been around forever forever and he's worked with everybody

and he's like, you talk about trainers that are in it for the right reason, Matt Nichol is top of that list. And then like, there's not even a number two. It goes from like Matt Nichol to number three. No offense to anybody. And I asked him about bag skates and he said, it's the most ridiculous thing in the world,

especially when you do it early. I get on the ice, you're gonna skate like down and back, we're doing the Minnesota mile blah blah blah blah. That's from your favorite movie We're doing the Minnesota mile doing the Minnesota mile again all all it does again all it does is Train you to practice slow Because you're tired Yeah And then you're gonna play slow and the coach is gonna get mad again because all you've done is you've practiced slow So you're playing slow. So then you're gonna get back skated

Again, and the whole thing just works as one Reoccurring wheel that just goes Backwards, I guess I'm saying is if you're gonna bag your kids do it at the end of practice So if you do the beginning of practice, all they're gonna do is play slow And you don't want to train your kids to play slow. Does that make sense? Yes, I'm in agreement with that and also I'm seeing the comments in the chat. Yes. I do know every word to the Herbrooke speech Yes, do you tell you everything? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So if I put you on the spot tomorrow on the show you could do this Yeah

Yes, I feel like rehearsal night long for this one You're gonna have to like rehearse all night long for this one? Are you gonna have it like on a monitor? No, like I'm pretty sure I can do it off the top my head. It's more so like I could I would look at it one more time to just remember the order of how everything goes. But yeah, pretty sure I could do it. We're doing this tomorrow. Put that on our rundown for tomorrow. We are doing this one tomorrow. Because I was going to ask you, like, you don't want your kid to have the, uh, Mike Rusione, Winthrop, Massachusetts, I play for the United States of America.

You don't want that moment? It is pretty cool moment. Like, and then he's magically got the C on his jersey. Just sort of appeared. Just appeared. The gods came down. All of a sudden there was the sea on this place. I don't know what happened here. I am looking forward, by the way, to the morning cup of hockey guys getting Mike Arugione on. Although I think every question is going to be like, was that great or really great? Was that great or really great? Like when you did this, was that great or really? Because that would be like me, right? If I had a chance to talk to Mike Garugione. Yeah. All right, a couple of things. Only two

games on the go around the NHL tonight. Let's have a peek at them. FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Only two. And I think it's because it's a TNT double header night that we're getting a six o'clock Eastern start between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Buffalo Sabres at Key bank then the Edmonton Oilers did I mention how everyone kind of went banana sandwich when we had a conversation about Connor McDavid? It's gonna keep going all week but it's gonna keep going all week they'll face off against the the Minnesota. Calvin Pickers starts for the Edmonton All-Stars. Philip Gustafson starts for Minnesota there. If I'm voting right now on the goalie of the year, right, on the Vezna Trophy, and it's the GMs that vote on the

Vezna Trophy, so whoever has the most wins gets this thing. Connor Halleback is still number one. Number two, I'd put Philip Gustafson. He has been that good for the Minnesota Wild, period. Anyhow, but I wanna share a line with you really quick before I turn the recreation over to you to see what's interesting. You, on these two games tonight, a pretty quiet night around the NHL,

got a buddy of mine in Buffalo, as I said, the six o'clock start tonight, eh? That's interesting. He goes, yeah, we get to see the Buffalo Sabres lose one hour early tonight. They are so cynical. They're so, and they have every right to be, they are so cynical in Buffalo right now, Zach.

They are so cynical. It's bad. And Carolina Hurricanes are kind of good. This one does not look good to me on paper if I'm the Buffalo Sabres at all. But nonetheless, what's jumping out at you here? No curl capris off by the way from Minnesota. No, Oilers Wild, very intriguing,

just because of the nature of the two teams here right now and Oilers fans watching the final games of Connor McDavid, you know, so that'll be a... I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. That's a joke. I'm interested in, I am interested in the Carolina Buffalo one because, and hear me out on this one, I'm interested to see

in what way Carolina decides to impose their will on Buffalo because they will. I think they will. But Carolina's this like team that we've always looked at as this defensive group and Rod has them playing tight and they don't, they're not fun. Like we, they kind of have got themselves in the group of the New York Islanders of this not offensively gifted, maybe gifted is not the right word, but a team that generates a lot of offense, I think we're seeing Keynes kind of heading in a more offensive direction. And I'm interested in this one here tonight to see if they kind of go against the Sabres and say, you know, two middle fingers and we're going to run all over you. Or if they

go in there and they're like, we're just going to play Kane's hockey. Let's win three, nothing and go home. We're coming off the Buffalo Sabres, losing a tough one to a team that's got their own questions and that is the Seattle Kraken. Things are awful there, by the way. We should maybe park some time tomorrow to talk about Seattle. Uh, things are just terrible in, in, in, in Seattle. Um, they go up to nothing and they end up losing six to two and Lindy Ruff comes within a centimeter of saying this team is stupid. If you read in

between lines he's just calling his team dumb. I'm really curious to see what the response from the Buffalo Sabres is and it's tough to have a decent response or a good response against the Rod Brindimore team. We shall see what happens tonight. This one has all the makings of it's ugly again in Buffalo. We shall see. Anything else are you good Mr. Mike? You know I just I got jealous. You wore the jersey all day yesterday. I tuned into morning couple this morning. Laz is wearing a jersey and I was like. She had to get in? I might as well get in on the action. I've got to wear a jersey. I've got some. If you get in a picture like Medano's good. I love Mike Medano. I just still don't know how he made

that jersey flap in the back. Like that always freaked me out. Like how come other players can't do that? I don't know what it was. Something about his body or his pants, or I guess in Minnesota they would call them breezers. Something about his breezers that just allowed the Jersey to do that but I can never understand how Modano got that Jersey flap going the way that he did I'm gonna be trying my best to emulate it tonight I think I'm playing some outdoor pond hockey and actually where it's in downtown Toronto with a I mean I'll just say I think it should be fine to say, Pavel Barber. I think he's got an outdoor game going on here tonight.

You gonna go? So I'm heading out there, I think I'm gonna head out there. Nine o'clock tonight. With the Cobra Chickens? Is he gonna be with the Cobra Chickens? I don't know who it is. It's with my buddy, he texted me and said, "'We need bodies' and he sent me a screenshot

and said who he's with and I said, "'Alright, let's do it.'" He's an awesome guy, tell Barber I said hi right, let's do it. He's an awesome guy. Tell Barbara I said hi. He's a tremendous dude. He's an awesome guy. Okay, on behalf of Zach, and we thank our guests, Mike Grinnell, Grinelli and Noam from Spit and Chicklets.

Now one of the owners of the Greensboro Gargoyles of the ECHL. Congratulations, Eric Grinelli. Thanks for stopping by, pal. Thanks to Steven Brunt for stopping by. Again, check the show notes where you can see his latest up close His feature interview with Adam Copeland that one looks like it's gonna be awesome It's 90 minutes in this Steven said we couldn't edit we couldn't like what are you gonna chop? What are you gonna cut?

This thing is so fantastic Thanks to everybody in the chat chats always You can probably always see me on screen just like staring down or reading, giggling at the chat. It's always so good. Thanks to everyone in there. Thanks to everybody who's listening on the podcast, watching on YouTube.

We're here Monday to Friday, three o'clock Eastern at noon Pacific. It is called The Sheet, and we're crossing our fingers for merch. We'll see, I think you would look good in a green hat. We'll see if we can make that happen. In the meantime, enjoy the two games on the go around the NHL this evening. Back tomorrow on 3 o'clock Eastern with the Sheik.

Have a great one. I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day Guess I can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, no, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind Thanks for watching! You