The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Next Man Up ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski react to all things 4 Nations as we prepare for the rematch between Canada and the United States and the NHL's return to action. Charlie McAvoy's injury status, Quinn Hughes potentially joining Team USA, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/Reach 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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Learn more at Fizz.ca. Switch to Fizz. Can I tell you something personal about myself to kick off the show today? Sure you can, Merrick. Your name's on the show. Go ahead, talk about it if you want to talk about it. Every morning I have a bowl of oats. And in my oats I have a little bit of protein powder. I have shaved almonds, blueberries, sometimes raspberries. And that's it. That's what I have pretty much every single morning.

Now, Zach, of the Toronto Philipses, or is it of the New Market Philipses? Aurora. Aurora, that's right. Of the Aurora Phillips's. Currently Toronto. That's what I, correct. I met one of your best friends the other day.

It's Coach Mancarina. That's what I have every morning. Bowl of oats, a little protein, shaved almonds, throw some blueberries in there, maybe some raspberries, call it a day. Every now and then I'll chop up a half a banana and throw that in there, maybe some raspberries, call it a day. Every now and then I'll chop up a half a banana and throw that in there as well. I was half expecting to read what Charlie McAvoy has for breakfast every morning with

that release from the Boston Bruins, which is one of the more thorough releases I have ever seen in my life. Can we throw that up there real quick before we start to get into the foreign nations here? And I don't know if you know this, but the final is tomorrow. Canada faces off against the United States for the uninitiated. Like have a look at this. This is a timeline that we never... The opposite of this, by the way, was my favorite press release

and it was by former communications director of the New York Islanders, the great Chris Botta. Do you know this story? Wish is coming on in a couple of seconds. He can probably add to this one. So Rick D. Pietro, who during his career with the New York Islanders had a number of different injuries, like pick a body part like he'd had it injured and after a while you know the art of concealing the injury became more and more difficult so there was one injury that the I still laugh when I think about this press release we get this one it's would have been 2000 2006 I want to say. So the charade of

hiding the injury in press releases takes took an artistic form. Chris Bata and I know he was very proud of this because I've talked to Chris about it. Describing an injury that netminder Rick D Pietro had puts in the press release Rick D Pietro had Puts in the puts in the press release Rick D Pietro currently suffering from quote general body soreness

That was the Ever calling Chris up like can you make it anymore like this is before lamarillo took over like something lose in New Jersey Oh, yeah, oh, oh, I like that Oh, but I like the cut of your jib. Oh, who, who wrote that press release? Can we get them over here with the Chris? Bata hire that man now. Oh, wait a minute. What's he make? Okay. No, forget about it. Now we don't want that kind of, you know, we're not paying that much here in New Jersey, but compare that to the Charlie McEvoy analysis from the Boston. Bravo Boston.

Bravo Boston. That is a level of seriousness. We are not, yeah, thoroughness. Thank you, Zach. Zach's my spell checker here. A level of thoroughness here that we're not accustomed to. So bravo Boston Bruins for throwing that one out there. All right, coming up on the show today,

we got a lot to get to, so we're gonna get right to it here. Daily Outline presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app provider. They are our friends, they are our partners, and Greg Waszynski is our friend as well from ESPN and ESPN.com. He'll be joining me here in a couple of moments.

We will, well, there is the McEvoy. We just essentially showed the McEvoy update, and I don't know what's bigger, the fact that he's injured in the significant way that he is or just how thorough the Boston Bruins were. Bravo Boston for that that thorough update. I don't know if we should call this Quinn Hughes watch Zach. I kind of now that he's not in the non-contact jersey in Vancouver I kind of want to I kind of want to call this Jake Sanderson watch because if Hughes is good to go someone as someone just tweeted me a

second ago Tanya Harding has entered the building now come on now geez Quinn Hughes slash Jake Sanderson watch continues in advance of tomorrow's matchup and we'll talk plenty about that with Greg Wachinski, the rematch tomorrow. First of all, before we get to Greg, your nickel and dime thoughts on this one. Should this game be today? Because this is now taken on almost like with this extra day almost like a Super Bowl quality about it. Like the drama just gets ratcheted up friendly and the insults and the intrigue but also the anxiety gets ratcheted up that much more.

Should this one be today? No. Before the tournament, looking at the schedule, yes. Now that we are living it and the Saturday game played out the way that it did, the answer for me is no. And I want to throw something out there, something I was thinking about earlier today. And I think maybe Wish will have some thoughts on it as well, given where he's like the network he's a part of and what he experiences down in the States. There's never been a better opportunity for the NHL and hockey to capitalize on the momentum they've currently built.

I watch and listen to sports shows across all the United States, and this has been the biggest conversation and Jeff it's not just a conversation about how well the Four Nations has gone and how much of a hit this is blah blah blah this has been a conversation about hockey taking over the NBA and hockey stepping up and becoming a bigger platform. That's just because they're miserable all-star weekend. No, but this is also a bigger issue with the NBA

that the NHL has kind of also jumped in and capitalized on. Like, yes, you're right, the NBA all-star weekend is miserable. The NHL one is relatively miserable as well, to be honest with you. But this is a point here where the NBA has kind of started to decline in favor of people, you know, North America, I think, specifically. And the NHL is building up and it is the top piece of conversation right now. What happens on Thursday night? Every American sports show, every Canadian sports show. And I mean, on top of that, we're getting more and more quotes. Maybe you don't have time to get Matthew Kachuck here's throwing shade back at Brandon Hagel or Brandon Hagel making the initial quote, or the drama surrounding Hughes McAvoy, you know,

Clayton Keller is all of a sudden on his way to Boston. It's like, there's legitimate excitement around this that I would have said before the tournament, this is too long. Right now, this is unbelievable. And like, this is hockey porn right now for people who just live for this kind of stuff. I mean, it's a longer answer than I think you'd expect it, but that's my real answer for it. All right, very good.

Zach beating it like it owes him money with this extra day, just waiting for another day here before we can get to a hockey game. All right, let's bring in Greg Wyshinski from ESPN, our good friend here, who we're fawning as Arpenba. Oh my God. Oh, good Lord, Greg. Good.

Look, thankfully your microphone isn't working right now. Thankfully your microphone is off. Oh, there we go. We got you back. We got you. Look at that. Yeah, we got, we got, we got you good uncle Wish. We got you good. There we go. We got you. Yeah, we got you good Uncle Wish. We got you good.

There we go. We got you. Yeah, no. This is this old thing. To Zach's point, like I think the NHL overtaking the NBA is a bit overstated. I do think that the reality of the situation is that two things. First of all, and I don't mean to be like a cynic about this because I do think that the reality of the situation is that two things. First of all, I don't mean to be like a cynic about this because I do think this is an incredible moment for the sport. But we've talked for decades about the carryover from the Olympics to the

NHL and what that would mean and it never never happens. Like it just never happens. Because after you get done with Canada versus the US on Thursday, there will always be Blue Jacket Senators on a Tuesday. And that's kind of the trick. Like the people who tune in for best on best, then tune into the NHL regular season and they see average on average. And that's kind of the challenge in capitalizing on this event.

Where I think the NHL though is in a good place is that there is that discontentment with the other league right now with the NBA. Like it's, nobody likes the regular season, the All-Star weekend was a joke. I mean the NHL really picked a great time to have three fights in nine seconds between arch rivals in the same weekend that Mr. Beast shows up at the NBA All-Star game. Like, he did a good job. It was good scheduling. But, you know, capitalizing on the best on best is the trick. Now, the NHL has done two really smart things in the last couple of months regarding this. The first is now we know we're getting best on best. Olympics next year, two years after that,

a World Cup or whatever, maybe it's Six Nations, who the hell knows. Olympics after that, next international thing. We have a cadence, we know we're gonna have a steady diet of this stuff, and now having our whistles wet by this incredible tournament, we'll be anticipating it.

Here's here's what I wanted to get to you about a little bit later on the program. But because you're you're you're you're mentioning this right now and the NHL capitalizing on this and like, listen, we could all remember. I shouldn't say we can all many of us from a certain vintage can remember that infamous Sports Illustrated cover, right? Hockey is hot, basketball is not. And then the NHL blocked out their players right after that cover.

Nonetheless, I digress. That was Betman's first couple of years running the NHL. Here's what I've been thinking about lately. I'm trying to sort of in my head, contextualize that nine seconds on Saturday and measure that up against other enormous moments that have helped lurch the sport forward. And here's what I do wonder about at this point because I'm not really sure. I'm gonna have to think we'll have to wait until we see what happens on Thursday and then subsequently what happens and you know, what other fumes coming out of this this tournament

How would we feel about this tournament right now because I think the NHL owes a huge thank you to two people Matthew and Brady Kachuk that's who the NHL owes a major thank you to because if they don't behave the way that they did on Saturday and initiate that volcanic eruption to start that game like essentially what I'm saying is if those three fights don't happen on Saturday how are we feeling about this tournament because those fights completely energized and have fueled every single about every single discussion about this tournament? Because those fights completely energized and have fueled every single discussion about this

tournament and have reignited like this. I guess I don't want to say it's like Detroit and Colorado back in the day but like this blood feud between Canada and the United States. But if Matthew and Brady don't behave the way that they did on Saturday, how are we feeling about this tournament right now? If it just like they just had that game minus those fights, how are we feeling about this thing? Not as good.

First off, probably the most satisfying nine seconds I've had on a Saturday night in my life. I can't believe it took me four days to make that joke. No, I believe that's not bad. It took me four days to make that joke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two pumps and a turn. I'm Greg Wyshinski.

Yeah, so I don't know because, listen, there's no question that the fights attracted so much more attention to that game from people who never talk about hockey than normally would be. But so did the atmosphere, the booing of the anthem. So did the... Here's the thing. You can have three fights in nine seconds. If the rest of the game is dog crap, then it doesn't matter. And it was the combination of that emotional spillover and showmanship, plus the best form of hockey you could possibly imagine happening after that. The thing about the Czechs that I find interesting, and you mentioned the Hegel thing earlier, or it's acted actually.

It's acted, yeah. Hegel yesterday go into the reporters and saying, I don't fight for the cameras, I fight for the flag. Well, guess what, you moron? Fighting for the cameras can be good. Fighting for the cameras had 4, 5.4 million people tuning in at its peak to watch this game. And I'm sorry if the Kachaks have a better sense of how to sell this sport than Brandon Hagel, but they do. Every team should have a group chat figuring out how to do what they did to get more people to watch hockey.

That is, listen, if you asked the lion's share of the NHL, they would have given you the exact same answer that Brandon Hagel did. This is not exclusive to Brandon Hagel. That's the majority of NHLers that'll answer that question the exact same way. And again, that's why I come back to this thing. The NHL owes a major thank you to Matthew and Brady to the point where they should be exempt from the salary cap, right? Like let's just go that far. Like say look what you've done for what you've done for the game, everybody has to adhere to this 20% of the max of the cap except the Walt except for your kids except for your kids for what what they what they did for the NHL this tournament and what they did for mug again these are two of the most unique players in the game and as I

continue to remind people about this this is. Like, as a matter of fact, the way that I described the Kachucks is, they have new school skill, but they're old school players. Once upon a time in the NHL, the best players were also the toughest players. There was Gordy, there was Rocket, there was Ted Lindsay. You can go on and on and on. And the players, Stan Makita, you can go on and on and on. And the players, Stan Makita, you can go right up to the top of the scoring list. And you would say like, oh yeah, that guy can handle his mitts, that guy can handle his mitts, that guy.

Like the dedicated enforcer rule didn't really come along, like the policeman rule, didn't come along until John Ferguson in the mid-60s. But like the toughest players were also the best players. And I look at Matthew M. Brady and go, these are two of the best players in the mid 60s. But like the toughest players were also the best players. And I look at Matthew and Brady and go, these are two of the best players in the game. And although they're not the toughest, they are some of the toughest players in the game. And the other thing that I respect about them is they understand the moment. They understand the moment better than anybody else.

Not only for like what the moment not only like the moment calls for the moment calls for as far as what they need to do on the ice. But like Matthew was talking today, these guys have such an appreciation for their place in the fabric of American hockey. Like they all can quote Miracle as any young American player can. But they also understand that what they're doing now and especially what they're doing now, and especially what they're doing in 2026, is the kind of generational shift that can happen when you have compelling star

players leading your country to heights that they haven't seen since the Reagan administration, you know, or the Carter administration. The other thing about the Kachaks, though, You know or the Carter administration the other thing about the Kachaks though That can't be underestimated is they they also have swagger and to me That's the point of demarcation between this team and other versions of the American of the American men's ice hockey team Which is that it's not simply good enough to have the same offensive talent as Canada from a depth perspective I still don't think there's a Connor McDavid obviously on the US. It's not good enough to be just as deep or deeper on defense. It's not just good enough to have better goaltending.

We're like our sixth best goalie could be your starter at this point. You have to believe it and you have to have the swagger that's commiserate with it. And Mike Sullivan nailed it today when he was talking about the Kachaks. It's not just what they do on the ice. It's that attitudinal infusion that occurs when you have them in your locker room. Remember Florida pre-Matthew Kachak and now Florida post-Matthew Kachak?

Like the same effect is happening with USA hockey, wherein you bring those guys onto a talented team and all of a sudden it's like the Hansons showed up. You know, it's like people are jacked and they can't believe what's happening and now they're playing harder. Like it's that special thing that they bring to the team beyond their talent and beyond an appreciation for the moment. Okay, real quick, I want to get back to the Kachaks, but I don't want this one question

from the chat to get buried. This from Alden. Did Wish steal his hat from Apollo Creed? Where'd you get that? Well, I mean, so Arda and I did our postgame show in the US at Canada on Saturday. And this is the hat he wore, having lost that bet. I really wanted to see you in that Beaver costume so bad. He wore this shirt, this oversized USA golf shirt, and I had him recite a soliloquy in which he declared the US the rightful hockey

power and decried many Canadian things while keeping the current geopolitical situation out of his mouth. So this is where I got the hat from. Now, will I wear it in the press box tomorrow? Probably. Anyone who's covered the Olympics knows that there is cheering in the press box for an Olympics or an international tournament The first time you see the Russians all show up in their tracksuits

Drinking beers during the game in the Olympics then you realize oh Journalistic virtue goes out the window when it's best on best in your country's playing for a championship So I don't know I might I might wear the shirt and the hat tomorrow in the in the press box outstanding and the hat tomorrow in the in the press box. Outstanding. What do you make of the, now I don't know that I want to call it Quinn Hughes watch as much as I want to call it Jake Sanderson watch, but then you know me Greg. What do you make of this? Like here, my quick thought on this one is at this point, who cares? Anyone who wants to play can play. How about this? Like there's been an element of like let's make this up as we go along. We all we keep talking about best on best. I know this was a Quinn Hughes decision as you pointed out on Twitter X today.

Or that's how it was framed anyhow. I don't care if it's Quinn Hughes. I don't care if it's Mike Garugioni. I don't care if it's Quinn Hughes. I don't care if it's Mike Arugioni. I don't care if it's Chris Cellios. I don't care if USA thinks that that player is gonna help their team As a Canadian, I'd like to see Jim Craig. I don't care Bring that person in Thoughts on Hughes slash Sanderson watch. If you're nodding at some controversy about Quinn being bought in at this juncture,

he was on the first list of players. Like he wasn't on the official roster because of his injury. But I mean it's not as if they're just bringing in some rando that wasn't going to be here anyway if he could go. I'm more interested in the palace intrigue of it all. and whether or not he'll actually come to play for the U.S. in Boston, which is a long parenthetical, but apparently one he should have at least nodded at. So I saw that Hughes today is that he's not in a, he's in a contact jersey, I guess you could say. And there's obviously still time for him to take a red eye out to Boston and get here for the game.

Oh, Tony was. Two things. Like, first of all, is that smart? I mean, I talked to Jack Hughes today and obviously it would mean a lot for Jack to have Quinn here. I think it'd be a lot for the boys to have Quinn fly across the country for a second time in a few days and then fly all the way back across the country to Vegas for Saturday if it meant just sitting around and cheering them on. Like I think that would be meaningful to the guys in the room. Sure. But you've mentioned Jake Sanderson's name a few times, and I did make the joke that he should probably hire a food taster

so that's 48 hours nice win on the way, but I wouldn't take out Sanderson. I I would take out Hanifin and if you if if it wasn't for the fact that Quinn Hughes hasn't played At all in a while and would be parachuting into a game That might be the fastest hockey game ever played on Thursday. I'd give mind to replacing Adam Fox with Quinn Hughes. I think Fox and Jack Hughes have maybe been my two most disappointing players so far for team USA in this tournament and Quinn could, I mean does everything Fox does but better and

and that's the guy, I would give mind to that. I don't know if I'd actually do it. I think Hanifin probably would be the guy to take out because I thought Sanderson played really well actually against the Swedes. But I, yeah, that's what I would do. I don't, I think you're being Jake's name. The reason I say Sanderson is obvious.

Like, okay, take your pick of the guys you want to yank out of this lineup I just like again like in my in my perfect hockey world for Thursday Quinn Hughes is in But he doesn't come in until like the middle of the first period and he makes that and he makes that Hulk Hogan walk from you know Like when he won the title at MSG and they shot him like right from the dressing room coming down the hallway into the, like, I want him to do like a Sandman ECW type entrance with like the cane and the beer and the cigarette and come down from the stands at TD Garden amongst the people and walk down to the bench. That's my perfect, that's my perfect,

that's my perfect, perfect hockey world for Thursday. Sandman. Do you agree with me though? Like, this is this game on Thursday. Yeah. Might be the single fastest hockey game we've ever seen and in maybe asking Queen Hughes to participate in that without having played in a game in quite a while is kind of a mistake. Yeah, I agree that it'll be the fastest. I don't necessarily think it'll be, it'll be one of the more emotional games. I don't think it'll be the best game

that we've ever seen in international competition. 96 and 87 are still, and I put them on equal par, by the way. I know a lot of my Canadian friends don't want to admit that 96, the hockey was really good, but the hockey was really good. 87 was fantastic and then 96 was right there. As far as emotions go, 1980 was it. 1980, Lake Placid, that game was it

as far as emotions go. I remember nothing about Squaw Valley. Obviously, I wasn't born then, but from what I've read and talked to people about it, it was incredible. But here's a couple of more things about this sort of emotional timber that this thing is going to hit. So much of things working is just luck at the end of it. And this isn't just luck, but there's an element of luck. Like, is there not an element of sure that Kachuk's understood the assignment. But like everything just lined up perfectly for Saturday. That's now bled into Thursday. That's heading into Thursday here everything on the ice everything between the two countries like no one

foresaw this obviously and there's always like whenever great things happen like this there's that element of part of this is we just got lucky and on this one everybody here just got lucky agree disagree I this one, everybody here just got lucky. Agree, disagree. The person I think is Elias Pettersson, because if Sweden had beaten Finland on Saturday, we wouldn't even have been having this conversation. Like the Swedes would probably be in the championship game. But they are not, for obvious reasons, because they had a lot of underachievement. I'll tell you the thing that not enough people are crediting the NHL for, which is that they've treated this tournament as an appetizer to the Olympics, but what they really did was

jump the queue and get a chance to have these generations of players represent their countries for the first time before the Olympics. Like that's kind of genius. Like the anticipation would have been off the charts to see McDavid, McCarr, the Kachucks, McKinnon, Austin Matthews, the Hughes boys all represent their countries for the first time in Italy. And then the NHL smartly said, but wait, what if we do it in the four nations tournament? And I think that's the secret sauce to the tournament. It's yeah, there's a certain geopolitical thing happening and yeah, the trucks, the fighting and the whole thing, but the energy and the passion and the rivalry that we've seen between these teams on Saturday and the intensity

of play that we've seen with them in other games all stems from the fact that this is the first time half these guys have been able to represent their countries in a best-not-best tournament and they are Flying out there because of it. I gotta get the NHL credit I didn't see I didn't see the forest through the trees for this tournament when it came to that But it's kind of genius to be like, we're gonna do something before the Olympics, even though the Olympics are where we all expected this to be the thing that happens there. But is there not with this tournament,

because we can all recall, like, you know, during COVID, when the players were told like, yeah, you're not going. I mean, just to be blunt, Crosby barked, like Crosby barked really loudly about this. Like the biggest star in the game. Is there not for you, because there is for me, an element of this is, to use an established phrase, give the baby his bottle.

Okay, you want international hockey, before the Olympics we'll do something. Here's your cookie. We don't want all the rest of our superstar players bloviating on about how we want to play best on best and they're not letting us. Like I think if anything, that's what got the ball rolling on this one.

And then they figured out what the tournament was going to be. Because listen, this isn't a true international tournament. It's worked out great, but it's not a true international tournament. But part of the motivation for this one is we can't have Crosby lippin' off like this. Like we need to do something here. We got to do something. I didn't mean to shortchange the players because ultimately the players are the ones that have been banging the door down for a best on best tournament since the World Cup. I mean, like I didn't, that wasn't my

intention. I think, I don't think this happens without the players forcing the issue and, and going to the table and negotiating Olympic participation in the CBA and doing all the things that they've done. I think you're completely right, but at the end of the day, this ain't an NHL PA only tournament. The NHL had to side off on it, organize it, staff it, and smartly did so before the Olympics. Now they've jumped the line and we've gotten to see the first USA Canada game featuring all of these guys. And it was it it I mean, John Cooper saying it changed the sport. It might have. And that's how important it was in the NHL smartly was the one to hold that game. Really quick. Randy Workman

in the chat says, Jeff, can you ask if? The fans will boo if Brad Marsh and scores. Of course they will. No, um, they, they will, but they'll all, they'll be a mix. Like he got cheered in the game against, uh, Finland on Monday. Um, now granted there were a few more, there's, there's a little bit of a difference though here. Craig scoring, you know, playing against Finland and playing against the United States. He'll probably hear a few cheers. Sure, they love him in Boston, but I don't know if you remember

his line from the other day when they asked him like, what's it going to be like to get booed in Boston? And he's like, he said, I've gotten booed everywhere else. Like, what's the difference? It's good. He's a good, he's a good, he's a good egg that one. You don't really thought about that. I see. Hold on. Can I, can I, can I pause on something though? Like, first of all, I, I am very curious to see how many Canadians are at this game tomorrow. I think it's going to be more than you'd think. And it's certainly going to be more than we're vocal American fans in Montreal.

I kind of think we're going to have a good amount of red jerseys there tomorrow night. You're right. I hope they do. Pause on that one second and pick it up because I wanna comment on that one really fast. Again, like my idea of like, let's just do a summit, best of five, best of seven, Canada versus USA. Part of this is what I think would be a really great look is you grab like a European soccer motif

and then there's the Canadian section and there's the American section. Oh yeah. Right now everyone's just sort of jumbled all together. Everyone's all mixed and too tough to coordinate obviously but as far as like visual impact would that not even heighten it that much more if you had and it wouldn't be half Canadian because it's it's in America, but you had your Canadian section of fans Just like in in Montreal there would have been like the American section You see the world juniors all the time like at that Canada Latvia game where the Latvians upset the Canadian

There's like one dedicated Latvian section that all the players skated over to was fantastic It was awesome and the flags and the cheering and the tap the glass, like all of it was great. I just think it'd be super cool if we had like a Canadian section on Thursday, just like in Montreal, we had a US section. Anyway, I digress. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

I mean, I'm sure the Canadian section would probably be terrible seats. We'd probably sit you in the end zone. You'd probably give us bad, above last four rows. Site impaired section, compromised sight lines. The other thing about the crowd that's interesting on Thursday, and it's the thing I'm most worried about as an American about this game, is I think that this American team is much more

suited to be the infiltrator, to be the villain, to be the road team, to be the team that silences the home crowd and fuels the energy of that. I don't know if they're the team that is fueled by the USA Chance, that is fueled by being around all of their friends and family. Hell, half this roster is from Boston, you know what I mean? Or playing hockey here. half this roster is from Boston, you know what I mean? Or playing hockey here. And my biggest concern is how they process all of that and also the fact that they're now the favorite. They're the betting favorite,

they're the favorite because they're on whole mice, they're the favorite because they beat Canada once already. Like this is a completely different psychological and environmental profile for this team than they had in Montreal. And it's the thing that scares me the most is that that level of pressure is is not going to fuel them in the same way that being the antagonist did. Okay there's not really a question here or maybe even a conversation here other than maybe I think this is the one example where people have left the most

money on the table. Going into this game everyone wants a piece of something a shirt a jersey a hat a something. 1980 Lake Placid you know what fans left with after watching one of the greatest games of all time? You know what fans left with? What? Nothing. Zero. No merch sales. No nothing. You left with memories and a ticket stub.

I was thinking about this a while ago. I had a conversation with someone about this a long time ago. About what's the one event that if they had the Merchandising they had now Back then that would have made the most money and hands down. It's 1980. It's like placid It's oh for sure. It's it's USA versus the Soviets. Yeah, if they had an Olympic before the year shop there Yeah, if they had like an Olympic store there, they would they would have killed I will say this that that my older daughter Vivian is a huge hockey fan now.

I pat myself on the back. Nice, well done. She's a double fan. Left hand shot or right hand shot. But what has happened, she skates, look at her father. What's happened though is that as she's gotten older yeah every time I come to an event like this But be at the All-Star game or an outdoor game or or the Stanley Cup final she's always asking for

gear and Much like I much like how every season I buy devil's tickets to know How much fans are investing in their team and reminding myself this is why they're so passionate about the stuff that not only is it a sport but it's a business transaction and a financial investment to take your family to a game. I am now feeling the sting of a daughter who fancies hooded sweatshirts as her preferred mode of merchandise. Mitchell and Ness hooded sweatshirt here.

Let me tell you, I never look at the price when I buy it for her because I want to be just happy that she cares about hockey, that you can't put a price on fueling that passion. And if this four nations sweatshirt helps to do that, then I'll pay whatever it takes. Whatever it takes is starting to creep a little bit higher to, to maybe, maybe, hey, would you like a t-shirt instead?

The gear here is not just as good as a jersey. They put the names on the backs of t-shirts now. It's just as good as a jersey. I would say the sweatshirt I bought her is no joke, maybe half the price of a Jersey. That's how much you're talking about. The other interesting thing too, real quick, the merchandise stores in Boston were so swamped on Monday at the arena that you would go and get your item. And then because the line was so long, the line would go out the door of the store into the concourse of the arena. the capitalist society the level of honor system that was happening in Boston on Monday, but I'll tell you, I think most people probably lined up and paid their money.

I think HRR was not impacted by this honor system, but I was just stunned. I could literally just walk away and get myself a thing of fries right now if I wanted to, but I paid for it. Yeah. Do you think this tournament is wrecked All-Star Weekends forever in the NHL? It's a great question. So I actually have a story on this coming out on Friday on ESPN because I was curious about it too.

And what I've come to discover in kind of a general sense is that the players don't want there to be too much of a good thing when it comes to best on best. I think they like the cadence of it. I think they appreciate the fact that if you do this thing too often, it's going to lose its magic. There's also a sense of to hold on. There's also a sense of two things. Listen, I talk to the players. All right.

I'm in the room, baby. This is the thing. This is the same conversation we had about winter classics. And I was one of the dummies that said, no, no, no, no, no, just do it once every four years, make it special. Well, what's your argument? Because it's not special anymore. No, but it's not, no, no, it's not special for television. It's still special for the local fan base. It is not as special as it should be. Next year is going to be a lot of fun in Florida, but there's no

arguing that it's not, it's not in the, and it's not the winter classics fault. It's also the preponderance of outdoor games. It's just, there's too much and that's not to say they aren't special. That's not to say they don't make bank that being there is amazing. We've, you and I have talked about the gathering of the tribes that are these outdoor games and how awesome it is, but there's no question it's not as special. Hold on. We have news. We got news?

Team USA, this is from our friend Pierre Lebrun at The Athletic, slash TSN. Team USA has been informed Quinn Hughes is not traveling here to Boston to join the team wasn't medically cleared. Sounds like Team USA looking at bringing in a couple of other players just as insurance because of illness going around. Yeah, Brady Kachuk wasn't there today because he was a little bit under the weather. You know, to get back to our conversation. I want this, hang on, I want this so bad to be a head fake.

I want this so bad to be a deke and just have Quinn Hughes show up, please, please. And again, in my perfect hockey universe where I just want to throw all the rules out and see all the best players. Please let this be a third rack. I think we have to remember. So let's talk about Quinn for a second. So he was on the East Coast over the weekend. Mm-hmm. He was on the East Coast over the weekend, okay? And from what I understand, he flew back to Vancouver on Monday, hours before Team USA

understood the severity of Charlie McAvoy's situation. So he flies all the way back out there. He's in a non-contact today. He's in a contact, or non-contact yesterday, contact today. To fly him out would mean to get him on a plane right now and get him here and that gives him morning skate basically tomorrow to potentially be available and and so the you mentioned before that I put out there that Quinn allegedly made the decision himself to

not play in a tournament I think you and I both assume that there was a certain amount of pressure exerted on him to make that call, right? But, like, did he make the call again? And if he made the call again, could we understand him being like, I would have to fly, I flew all the way back, I'd have to fly all the way out, and then I'd have to fly all the way to Vegas to return to the Canucks on Saturday. That's a lot of flying and a lot of flying for what at the moment is not a guarantee that he's even going to play. So if you're Quinn Hughes maybe it's too much for you.

Oh and by the way you know the other part of this we haven't talked about is you're also entering a situation where you're playing the most important game for your country in several years, maybe going back to 2010, right? And you haven't played in a while. And if you play, people are going to be like, he's a game changer. He's our savior in this game. And oh, by the way, if you screw up, like now you feel terrible and you've been thrust into this situation. So there's a lot of reasons why I can see him making the call to not come if in fact he made the call.

But it does sound like in this case, unlike previously, if you read Pierre's tweet, that it's the team not clearing him, which is a very interesting distinction compared to what we had earlier in the doctor from a Canadian based hockey team, not clearing a number one defenseman. He wasn't medically cleared. I think this is them doing him a solid. I got to be honest with you. I think he took the heat for them in making the, in making it his call to not go.

And I think they're doing him a solid by being like he's not medically cleared. So Quinn doesn't have to be the one to say I ain't going. I really do. That's just that's informed speculation on my part. First of all, that's a drag. Like I said off the top, like I really wanted Quinn, a healthy Quinn Hughes in this lineup. But then again, like you want perfect health for every single team by the time you get here.

But having said that, like show me the, show me the quote unquote international tournament where there haven't been injuries. Right. It doesn't happen. Like it's just, this is just the nature of, this is hockey. Two things on that. First of all, I think when we do the World Cup again, I guarantee you there'll be expanded rosters. I tend to believe that the-

There has to be, there should be, 100% there has to be. The NHL and the teams and the nations and the teams, I think they all know that they made a mistake in not making these rosters expanded. That's at least the sense I get. I'll tell you, one of my dreams would have been if USA would have won on Thursday and Quinn Hughes came for the game and scored four points, I got a goal and three assists and got the MVP of the tournament.

Because right now the tournament MVP is up for grabs. To me it looks like whoever plays the best on Thursday is getting tournament MVP. I agree. I think Hellebuck might have the inside track right now based on how well he's playing in those two games. If Dillon Larkin goes two and two. And it's a 540 US win. Maybe.

I mean, Gensel's got the numbers right now, as far as the Americans go, as far as the goals being scored. And it's a 540 US win. Maybe. I mean, Gensel's got the numbers right now, as far as the Americans go, as far as the goals being scored. Here's the thing though.

Let's dial it back to Quinn for a second, because now we get into the, there's two bits of complete palace intrigue that we're gonna have to really figure out in the aftermath of this tournament. One is the medical situation with Charlie McAvoy. The other is Mike Sullivan stood in front of us yesterday morning and we said, hey Mike, you know what's going on with the roster?

Blah blah blah blah. And he said, Quinn Hughes is coming. That is not Quinn Hughes is coming. That's Quinn Hughes is going to be here. So the Americans were under the impression yesterday morning that Quinn Hughes was going to be the emergency injury replacement on site for this team. And they were confident enough to communicate that to their coach who was confident enough to communicate that to the media. So the palace intrigue here is what changed? Did they decide, did they like reach out to Quinn and he's like, hey, that's cool.

Let's do it. And they decided to kind of like communicate all this to Mike Sullivan before anyone in Vancouver was awake. Like Jim Rutherford's having his cream of wheat and he's like, wait, what? What? My defense was going where? Or, or, or, or, or did, you know,ford's having his cream of wheat and he's like, wait, what? What? My defense was going where? Or, or, or, or, or, or did, you know, Quinn's agent step in? Like, there's a lot of unreported and mysterious aspects to the story because you,

I gotta tell you, like, being here on the ground, the players all thought he was coming, and management thought he was coming to the point where Sullivan was comfortable enough saying he was coming. So, there's something going on here here. Like I change a heart, somebody stepping in. I mean, like it's a Canadian team not letting their guy go play for the US. I don't know. I don't. It's not like the assistant coach for team Canada. Right. Oh, come on. There's there's there's there's. What do you mean? Oh, come on. I can't I can't. There's no chance. No, I can't see. I can't see like the Vancouver doctor getting like past an envelope.

Make sure that he's 100 percent like no, no, no, no. I'm not. No, I'm not. Like, you know, me, I'm as grassy and all as the next guy about this kind of stuff, but I can't. I'll keep that in mind. I'll keep that in mind in the World Cup when the Canada is about to play the Czechs, and all of a sudden Don Sweeney announces that David Pastranak is out because of injury considerations. On Bruin's letterhead. Okay. On Bruin's letterhead. Okay.

There is, but you are right. I think you are right about, you know, what change between when Mike Sullivan said, meet him at the airport myself. I'm gonna bring him to the rink. We're not gonna send a car. I'm going by myself to pick him up. Yeah, that was not a maybe. That was, is coming. Is coming is pretty declarative. And to go from Quinn Hughes is coming to Quinn Hughes will not be going anywhere but Vegas because he's injured is a pretty big effing change, man.

I ain't gonna lie to you. Like that is, like either someone was completely misinformed or someone was saying something to exert pressure on Vancouver. I mean, I don't know, dude, but like that's a pretty big disconnect between Queen Hughes is coming and now Queen Hughes is going nowhere. I don't know.

Something's going on. Well, let's, um, I say this as a Canadian, let's make this the focus for the next 24 hours. Let's make sure that every American player or management, member of management or the bench staff is hounded about this one with calls from scribes like, I don't know, maybe my good friend from ESPN, Greg Wyshinski, nonstop and around the clock. Let's make this the big story for the Americans

going into tomorrow's game, shall we? Yeah, until Trump says he's coming. Yeah. Yeah. It's been he's coming. Yeah. Yeah. It's been interesting to hear the play. I have not asked a single player about it because honestly, I don't care. My biggest concern is will there be an extra three rings of security I have to get through tomorrow night if he decides to come.

But it's been interesting. The answer is yes. The answer is yes. This isn't like Justin Trudeau slipping little caro though slipping in at the bell center Bill garrion was misquoted by the daily beast. It became a big thing. I felt bad for him About about trump Um, and then the players were asked about it here and there by other media and it's been interesting to hear the phrasing of it where they Want to say hey, it'd be really dope to have the president here, but not necessarily

who that guy is. You know what I mean? Like, hey, the president's coming to watch our hockey game. How very exciting. Without any endorsement of anything in 51st state and whatever. But if the president were to show up, the president in aggregate, the quotes, the president, that'd be great. Not to talk about anything about who is the president, which I thought has been very interesting. At least three or four different players have kind of answered that question the same way. Okay, any last thoughts here about any of this?

This is our last chat before the biggest game in the history of hockey this week. Final thoughts. Well, depending on the result. It's either the greatest moment in the history of hockey or it's a meaningless exhibition tournament that's only staged because we couldn't figure out how to let Russia play and still keep the Swedes and Finns

in the tournament and it means nothing, depending on what happens. Here's my thought. My thought is like as a hockey fan, I am so excited that we got this game. I'm gonna be on the edge of my seat the entire time. As an American, I feel a lot of PTSD from Vancouver. I ain't gonna lie to you.

Still, eh? Really? Dude, it's the same scenario. I mean, I felt exhilarated. I felt a seismic shift when we beat you guys in the preliminaries. and I felt—I felt like a seismic shift when—when the US won in Vancouver in group play and then to have my heart ripped out by Sid with the—with the overtime goal— Nice pass by Aguila too. We talked about it. Don't forget about Aguila.

It was a nice pass. Yeah, Aguila pass. We've talked about it, like how I felt terrible and then I've walked through Vancouver and everybody was partying and I felt better about it. But it doesn't change the fact that I felt terrible. So as an American, we've had little small victories in World Juniors and other places and the women's games and all that stuff. And it's all led to this, where we're on the precipice of really taking it over with

this and then the Olympics. And I've waited my entire life for that moment. And as an ESPN employee, I cannot believe, I, I, listen, I know that when we have the rights to something and we get excited about it, we are an unbeatable hype machine. Zach was talking about this off the top. 100%. Yeah, like when we crank up the Disney hype machine, you're darn well going to be hyped for it. Unrivaled, unrivaled. Absolutely. And like, you know, I've woken up the consecutive mornings and turned on ESPN and

PK was posting the morning show. And then like Messier was on the morning show. I was at a bar yesterday, midday, I know shock. And like four or five different players are all on SportsCenter doing hits like great. I myself getting featured. I'm doing another post game show with Arda from the, from the arena after the game on Thursday, and I am astonished by how much attention this has gotten. I think the Kachucks like you do, but I more so think all of the players that have made these games so compelling and have made the hockey so incredibly good as to be

the best of best of best, because it is it is captivated this country in a way that very few things have. The tournament, the tournament did what it set out to do, and that's capture imagination and grow the sport past hockey fans beyond hockey. So regardless of whoever wins on Thursday, the tournament's already been a success. It doesn't matter. Like we all hope it's gonna be a good game.

You know me, I don't care who wins. No, it- Whatever happens on Thursday happens on Thursday, but the tournament itself, dude, Tom Brady's tweeting about it. And again, I go back to the same thing. Thank the Kachucks for this because bereft of what they did on Saturday, I don't know that this thing is getting anywhere near the attention that it's

getting. What's everyone talking about? Could you believe that game? Like every rank that I go to with my kids the last few days, I was like, did you see that? Like, did you, everyone's having the exact same conversation about how that game started was brilliant. Brilliant.

I, I, I, I appreciate what you're saying. I also think you're full of crap. I don't care. The Americans have to win this game. They have to. That's that's how you make this thing memorable. If it's if it's climbing the ladder only to get hit by a barrel from the Donkey Kong that is Canada yet again in one of these tournaments.

That's a great analogy. I appreciate that that. Who cares? Who cares? The Americans have to win this game. They have to go into 2026 as the favorite. Why? And create a little bit of drama. Why do they have to win this game? Because if Canada wins, it just reinforces that Canada wins. It is Ric Flair winning his 19th title. It is there is absolutely no palpable drama or even mystery as to what will happen the next time because yet again, even when the Americans get close to taking one off their arch enemy is they don't do it. They didn't do it in Salt Lake. They didn't do it in Vancouver.

They certainly didn't do it in Sochi. You need them to get a W at some point to make this thing intriguing. So everything we're talking about. They just had a W in Ottawa. They just had a big W in Ottawa. It was huge. It was massive.

It doesn't matter. Ryan Leonard. Oh, Carl Hudson. Oh, amazing. If you want this thing to, I'm telling you, as much as my Canadian friends don't wanna hear this, in your heart of hearts, you know this to be true. You want this thing to, I'm telling you, like as much as my Canadian friends don't want to hear this in your heart of hearts, you know this to be true.

If you want this thing to be meaningful and special in a changing moment for the NHL and for hockey in North America, you know the Americans have to win for that to be the case. And by the way, I don't know if you know this, but there was a hockey coach who once said, their time, their time is done. This is our time. It's just been nonstop Herb Brooks videos and clips from Miracle. I love it, I think it's fantastic.

But listen, anyone watching listening right now, Greg's point is, even if you're a Canadian, Greg's point is the right one. Like, put it this way, this is the way I look at it. If Canada wins, you are not making one more hockey fan. You will not create one more hockey fan than you already have. But if the United States wins, you are creating more fans.

That's just the way it is, like that is just the truth. Canada wins, it's the same amount of hockey fans. If America wins, you're making new fans because of the spillover to all of this and how it grows in the States. Greg is 100% right on that one. You don't want this to be the Globetrotters against the Washington Generals. But the Washington Generals have a good view.

Are you saying the United States have been the Washington Generals? OK, there's Zach Clippett. There it is. There's the... That one's going to have a social media... In this best on best rivalry, in this best on best rivalry, we, now the Washington Generals, granted, you know, we have a collection of World Junior gold and a women's gold, that's great, but like in this best on best rivalry, we don't have, we haven't had this moment since the mid-1990s.

It would be nice to have a victory over Canada in a meaningful best on best tournament, you know, at a time after Soundgarden had the top charting song. Like, it's been a while. So I hope it happens tomorrow. And if it does, you know what, I'll be quite honest with you. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I might be openly weeping on the air on ESPN after the day. If it doesn't, the sun will still come up

on Friday morning. Don't worry about it. Everything's gonna be fine. I hope you get a good night's sleep tonight. I do. I hope you're fully energized for tomorrow. Let it be known. Your boy got in his licks last night.

I closed down the cigar bar. Oh, you did? And tonight will be a night of writing and then resting, yes. Okay, so yesterday you primed, and Thursday you'll paint, provided the USA wins. Can I tell you something really funny real quick though?

Yeah, of course. I was there with Chris Johnston, our good friend Chris Johnston. Yeah, CJ, I love CJ. He's not a cigar smoker, but I was sitting like, kind of like he was, he was here and I was here kind of deal. And at one point I'm having my smoke and he goes, hey, puck daddy, that's the picture.

All you need is the sunglasses. No way. CJ said that. That's awesome. I was dying. I absolutely love CJ. I absolutely love CJ. All you need is the sunglasses! No way! CJ said that! That's awesome! I was dying. I absolutely love CJ. Oh my god, that's so cute. I love that guy so much.

Love him! Alright, enjoy, everybody enjoy the game. I love you guys. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. And I can't wait to talk to you next week in the aftermath of everything. Because I don't think that this story and the storylines that come out of this are going to be something that we aren't talking about a week later. I think it's going to resonate for a while. I'm fully expecting that if the United States wins, you're going to bust in on the show

at some point on Friday, like Brad Marsh and with the Boston Bruins, busting in on radio and TV interviews just completely buckled to the point where the Boston Bruins had to shut him down from doing Any for interviews I was just talking to somebody about that very story where oh man hilarious Was was doing so was doing like try postgame interviews and at one point like he walked down the stairs to do another one and I think he said or the team said That's it. No more for bread. I remember listen. I remember doing a hockey night in Canada radio You can recall at that point and I had yeah, I think we had booked Brad Marsh and but instead

Tyler Sagan did the interview and I'm like, you know Tyler no, no offense, but I thought we were talking to Brad and he's like, yeah, and he was doing it from his car and he's like, yeah, Brad's in the back seat right now. I don't think he's going to be doing any, he's going to be doing any more interviews today as famous as Brad in the back seat. I expect that to be you on Friday if USA wins is essentially what I'm saying. I fully, fully expect that to be the case. All right you good luck tomorrow. Enjoy the game. We will chat soon. Yeah and for those who yeah and again me and Ardo are doing the post game from the arena. Yes check that one out. Hopefully you're talking to

a couple players. Will you wear the beaver suit? Will you wear the beaver suit if Canada wins? Do you have a bet on this one as well? I want to see you slip into a cozy beaver suit. I don't think so, because I think it'll be hard to slip that on when I'm in the fetal position on the floor crying. Because the Americans once again lost to- Where it is a blanket.

To that king, smashing the head with a barrel as Donkey Kong leaves with my beloved once again. It's all I'm gonna think about now on Thursday if Canada's taking like a three goal lead into the third. All right, you be good. Well, we'll talk in six days, normally your Tuesdays. There are schedules, you know, schedules. Talk to you next Tuesday, pal, you'll be good.

All right, everybody, bye. There is the great Greg Waszynski from ESPN who joins us weekly here on the sheet. Had the juggle schedules a little bit for accommodate Greg's schedule this week. Everybody's schedule is kind of out of whack this week. What day is it after all? Okay, a couple of things here.

Wanna mention again, our partner and sponsor, FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. And like, look, tomorrow no matter what happens, no matter what happens between Canada and the USA, this will be a major sports moment. The best ones are the spontaneous ones, although, you know, the Caxi can say,

well, nothing about that was spontaneous, that was all part of a group text and they're all planning all of it and it all came together on Saturday. But those are the moments. Like to me, until we have a look here, Zach, I wanna drag you into this conversation too. Depending on what happens in this final game,

I don't know that I'm gonna take away. And who knows, like tomorrow's game might be like one of the best games we've ever seen. You crossed your fingers and you hope so. The hype hype is certainly there but coming out of this tournament right now There's only one thing that I'm gonna remember and that is those nine seconds on Saturday night in Montreal like that is that major sports moments that you take away from all of it I think it's interesting too when you look at you know right now It's it's it's jump ball as far as who's going to be the MVP of all of this thing?

Do you have a thought on that one? You want to weigh in on that question? Nice hat by the way. Yeah, thank you. Our friends at Small Town Strip Club there. I was looking at, on Fandual earlier and was looking at the MVP odds because I'm kind of trying to think about how this tournament has gone. You brought it up with wish. I feel like whoever has the big game is going to be the one to steal people's hearts in this. Like I look through,

I think probably the best player has been Connor Hellebuck. But if you look at Jake Gensel and he comes away or Dylan Larkin, as you brought up with wish and they went to one and one of them has a goal and an assist you're telling me Dylan Larkin or Jake Gensel wouldn't be the one to kind of Wave the magic wand in front of people's eyes and be like I was the best best player in this tournament They've been good enough. It's not like there's a huge drop-off And then I just kind of look at that and like I think that that person who's got the big game like you said it the other thing too what I would kind of point out when you're looking at this is like you said that the thing

you're gonna remember is the nine seconds right yeah if I look back to 2010 and maybe it's just cuz I'm younger or was younger at the time but the thing I remember is obviously the Crosby Golden goal you you know, that's what stands out to me Oh, I was first up in the first period of the Canada Russia game. The first period of the Canada Russia game was incredible That was but you you know what I mean in terms of like that's the the takeaway the thing you walk away from If if a guy like that lower down here lower down I should you know, I preface like I don't that, lower down here, lower down, I should, you know, like, preface, like, I don't really mean lower down, these are elite players. Lower down in a US lineup or a Canada lineup, steps up and is the hero and is the guy who

gets a couple of points. I feel like they could walk away MVP of this tournament without really kind of realizing it. I'm going to give you a scenario. Okay. USA wins 6-5. Connor McDavid, 6-5 the way, is a Canadian score. 72 87.

Um, Canada loses six five Connor McDavid has five points and gets tournament MVP. Does he accept it? accept it. There's a camera crew in the locker room trying to get Connor back out to the ice. He's like, you want the MVP. Again! You did it again! Or is he just going to stand there on the blue while I just refuse to skate over again? He just turns and looks up at Gary wherever Gary's sitting

Watching this thing from shaking his head Do this to me Yes, give it to Larkin. Yeah, Ella buck want this thing All right. We got one more show until the game On that by the way that conversation by wish about the Canada holding Hughes out, that was Banana Lands. I thought so. That was nuts.

I thought so, but... There's no shots. I was laughing at one point and then I was like, I think he might be... You jumped in and then I was like, I think he's not kidding. It was a part of him that believes that. What happened? It's a Wednesday afternoon just doing sports talk throwing it around. Consequence free, whatever.

This guy's talking about how I went to the bar midday. Like are you sure that wasn't today? Sure that wasn't like an hour ago. He had turned your tap off. All right. Any closing thought Zach before we wrap up, I'm ready to punt. Nope, I'm ready to run through walls and pour maple syrup on myself and all that kind of stuff. Okay, you get ready for all of that fun tomorrow.

In the meantime, everybody get your rest. Zach, get your rest. Everybody get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be wild. Tomorrow's gonna be a lot of fun. Tomorrow is the final that everybody wanted, that everybody dreamed about when this whole thing came together. And tomorrow we get it. Now, not everybody is healthy.

So much as we talk about best on best, even though injuries are a reality of any hockey tournament, any hockey game, it is a drag that there's no Quinn Hughes and no Charlie McAvoy available for USA. of any hockey tournament, any hockey game. It is a drag that there's no Quinn Hughes and no Charlie McEvoy available for USA. Nonetheless, it's still gonna be a special one, still gonna be a great one.

We got one more day, one more show here before the game tomorrow. So get your rest, everybody in the chat. Get your rest, everybody watching on YouTube, listening, get your favorite podcast platform. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the Sheet. Don't forget, Morning Cup of Hockey tomorrow 9 a.m. Eastern. DFO Live at noon and then our

little pregame act here. 3 o'clock Eastern. The Sheet. Thanks for joining me again. Always appreciate your attention and your time. Talk to you tomorrow. I slept 16 hours last night Every day this week, every day this month I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day 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 not against those methods but it's me, myself's enough to help out, but you're sometimes losing Helping on the things that went wrong This Face Off Live crew is hitting the road and going live on location from both Montreal and Boston for the Four Nations Face Off, bringing you exclusive coverage straight from the tournament.

From February 10th till 20th, we've got live shows every weekday breaking down the biggest stories, key matchups and covering all the action as it unfolds, and you won't want to miss a second, so make sure you're subscribed to the Daily Face Off YouTube channel and follow us on all our social media platforms to stay locked in. We'll be bringing you insider analysis, on the ground coverage, and maybe even a little chaos because it's international hockey and anything can happen. Hit that subscribe button, turn on your notifications, and we'll see you live from the Four Nations Faceoff.