The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Off to LeBreton ft. Greg Wyshynski & Erin Ambrose

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

On this episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, on Daily Faceoff, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski joins the show to break down the Ottawa Senators’ new deal to begin building an arena in LeBreton Flats, share his thoughts on gambling in sports and its impact on players, and chat about what he’s been up to this summer. Later, PWHL star Erin Ambrose stops by to talk about the emotional highs and lows of the PWHL expansion draft, why she’s staying in Montreal, how she’s preparing for another PWHL season, and the excitement of heading into another Olympic year.#TheSheet #DailyFaceoff #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #ESPN #OttawaSenators #LeBretonFlats #PWHL #ErinAmbrose #Hockey #WomensHockey #Olympics #HockeyNews #SportsBetting #GamblingInSportsShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Simply Spiked: https://www.simplyspiked.ca/en-CAReach 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.

This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose. Maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. Yeah, the summer shows continue.

Glad to have you aboard today. Whether you are listening on your favorite podcast, catcher, maybe your least favorite. I don't know. Not my business. Watching us on YouTube by the live. Where the current time is 103 p.m. Eastern. Anyone know what time the 1 o'clock show starts?

We thank you for a year. continued attention to this program. Glad to have you aboard. Plenty to get to, and I want to park a little bit of time with Greg Wyshinsky coming up in a couple of moments to talk about arenas and what the NHL has missed, but has a chance to correct. We're going to get there in a couple of moments. In the meantime, because I want to get right to Greg Wysinski here, Aaron Ambrose coming up in a couple of moments. Daily outline of today's show is always brought to you and powered by Fanduel. Make every moment more with North America's number one sports book,

Fan Duel. And as I mentioned, Greg Woshenki from ESPN, who by the way are now snuggled all up nice and close with the WWE.

I'm sure that's going to come up with Greg Wosinski here coming up in a couple of moments. Aaron Ambrose from the Montreal Victoria will stop by. We will talk about

the Breton Flats and Ottawa finally getting into the throws of the new arena situation with the city of Ottawa, new PWHL season on the horizon.

And this is an Olympic years. We'll talk about the men's and the women's side coming up in a couple of moments. In the meantime, we'll get right to our A-list guest. I shouldn't say that when Ambrose is on here. Our A-minus guest, as Ambrose is the A-plus. Coming up with Greg Waschinsky from ESPN.com and ESPN and ESPN with WWE. And I can't help but thinking that there's going to be some wrestling writing in your future. Fresh off SummerSlam and a couple of Ross since he is the one and only Greg Wasinski. How are you today, Wish? Her name even starts with A.

I know it was Ambrose. My God. I know, I know. She was all the way in the front. She was all the way in the front of the homeroom whilst I was always in the back with Dana Westerow and Holly Ziegler. Always in the back. I should mention I went to my high school reunion recently, by the way.

I never went to mine. I never went to mine. How did yours work out? small not awkward in the sense there's an interesting thing that's happened in high school reunions as you get older

because I had a friend tell me this which is that the people that disliked you or like bullied you in high school are now just so happy that you're there and alive that everyone's friends it's like

old rivalries go by the wayside it was fun i there was a few people that that actually like listened to the pod back in the day and no you know followed the career and such but um nice yeah it was good to get back no um so so to the arena thing you were going to mention about ottawa yeah got me thinking you said what what the n hl has missed on arenas let's let's chronicle a brief list of what the n hl has missed on arenas first of all every arena should have i got a big Every arena should have a speakeasy. UBS Arena on Long Island, when they opened it up, they created a speakeasy.

And you had to, in theory, know the password to get through this nondescript door on the 100 level to get into the speakeasy. Now, two problems. Doesn't Florida have that? I don't know if they do or they don't. I remember Tampa for a while had a cigar bar, which is dope. That was it. Tampa had the cigar bar. That's right.

Here's the issue with the speakeasy. The speakeasy, one issue was that they didn't tell anybody about it, which I know is in keeping in the spirit of a speakeasy, but the problem is that you walked inside and nobody was there, so it kind of becomes a little bit lame. The whole idea is that it's not for everybody, or else you'd have 18,000 people banging on the door. That's the whole concept to your wish. Well, nobody, well, the problem was that so many people didn't know it was there that they eventually just opened the door and let everybody in. So there was no need for a password anymore. It was too exclusive. It's like the old joke about how many hipsters does it take to change a light bulb?

It's kind of a rare number. You probably never heard of it. You probably never heard of it. So as I said to the Islanders when they opened the arena, I'm like, first of all, you've got to make the password Milbury because that'd be amazing. And second of all, the other thing about it, too, that was kind of problematic. That's really good. They didn't have a TV inside the speakeasy, which again, I understand you're trying to keep it in the

speak easy vibe you're trying to keep it in the we're making gin in the bathtub vibe but if you're out a hockey game for god's sakes i want to watch monkey keep keep tabs on the game there there are some exclusive clubs like that that make you actually check your phone at the door so there can be no evidence of any of it like i'm at the older i get the more i'm down with that i'm i'm turning you know what i'm turning into gregg i'm turning into the opposite of cheers i want to go where nobody knows my name that is like heaven to me i don't want like the cheers like the cheers like oh want to go where everyone knows. No, no, no, no. I want the opposite of that. Oh, yeah. I'm watching a lot of, watch a lot of Mad Men reruns this summer on AMC. And I've just got a, I got a real predilection for dark woods and martinis right now. So I think I'm speaking your language.

The second thing that arenas don't have is personality. I think there is a certain cookie cutterness. That's one of the reasons I like the Islanders Arena so much. They had the brick on the outside. They've got an entire second. in the end zone of the arena where the fans can stand and watch the game while they're having a beer it's got so much personality i'm kind of shocked that lu lamarillo had so much to do with the design of the arena oh my but but like there's too many places that are a little too cookie cutter for me so hopefully if we get a new arena it's got a little bit of personality look man like i i lived it like uh in toronto um when they built sky dome and it's just like a big concrete slab and still is it's just a big boring generic slab of concrete and the next baseball stadium they got built was camden yards and i remember watching orio's games i'm like i'm like whoa whoa cute could we like how could we have that here people for our baseball team we we probably have enough people in the audience that remember when can when yards open for for the young and instead of tuning in though it was it was as game changing a moment in sports as you could imagine like all of the up stadia that came after that, be it the park in Philly or Nat Stadium, like all of the stuff that came after it

was so directly inspired by what they did, the throwback that was Camden Yards at the time, that it was just incredible. The third thing I want to see in more NHL arenas, and I think this obviously has to do with our friends in the NBA, partnering up and making these arenas better than they are. I love going to City Field here in New York to watch the Mets, not so much recently because the Mets suck, but because... The City Field has this beautiful marriage of arena, food, and local eating establishment. It's one of my favorite things about City Field.

It's like you can go there and you can get a Nathan's hot dog and you can get some fries. You can get some ice cream. But you could also get the $22 Pat LaFrida steak sandwich or you can get shake shack. You get a bunch of stuff that speaks to where you are but is offering you. food that you would eat in an arena or a stadium. And I love that concept. And I don't know what the local cuisine is in Ottawa. I don't know what the local food stuff is that needs to be in this arena

if they ever get around the building it. But the idea of marrying your local foodie scene with arena food, I think is, it should be standard issue for new stadiums and arenas. I'm with you on that for the local flavor. So a couple of things. One, I still maintain that 1989. damaged sports and stadiums in one very specific way. Do you know what happened in 1989, Greg?

In 1989, earthquake during the World Series, I remember that. Oh, a candlestick, that's right, San Francisco. I forgot about it. That was a pretty important sports moment. Okay, yeah. Okay, yeah, there's that. Okay, so there's that. But this one, and I'll drag it into hockey too.

That was the year the Field of Dreams came out. And that was the year that the mantra, if you build it, they will come. Rang from sports fan to sports fan from venue to venue, be it hockey rink, be it, be it at baseball stadium, et cetera, et cetera. And everybody just went for the cheap real estate play. They will come. Don't worry. They will build it. Just build it and they will come.

And as we've now realized, if you build it, they won't come. It has to be really convenient for you to go. They came because it was a baseball stadium in the middle of a cornfield. That was part of the appeal was that it was in the middle of a cornfield. It wasn't simply just building it. You also had to make it interesting. You also had to make it unique. You had to make it a place people wanted to go.

Yeah. Instead, there was a flood of stadiums and arenas that were built where nobody wanted to go. And it became a real hassle. And the idea of like spontaneously going to a hockey game vanished. The idea that, hey, want to go to the game tonight? It's 4.30. I think we can get seats? I don't know.

Let's find out. Vanished because you had to plan everything. But that's not where I want to go with this Ottawa thing. So with the Ottawa senators and the LeBretton Flats deal, this whole situation, which looks at it's finally going to happen. We've known it's going to happen going back to the late Eugene Melnick, but it's finally been put together here. So they're heading in this direction.

This is going to happen. And the NHL, I've felt. has missed out on something. And I don't know why he used this as a demarcation point since the year 2000. And 2000, because I guess in 99,

Toronto would have got their new arena of the Air Canada Center, now Scotia Bank. But in 2000, you got Columbus and Minnesota building ranks. You had American Airlines in Dallas coming in 2001. You had the Prudential Center

and it's funny you mentioned you mentioned food because that was the reason that you and I got together in the first place was on the old Hockey Night and Canada radio show I interviewed you based on an article you wrote at Puck Daddy about the food in the Prudential Center and the opening of the new rink and that was the first time I'd ever spoken to you. That was also the piece that I chronicled the coolest thing I've ever seen in an arena which was the devils putting their logo on top of the urinals to mark the territory. That was a big part of the interview as I can recall. So the Prudential Center in 2007, PPG paints in Pittsburgh in 2014, RIPA, 2021 Climate Pledge Arena, and UBS.

So the one thing that the NHL hasn't insisted on in any of the new ranks, and we're just going to focus on from 2000 forward, is to create a contingency where it's easy if you need to expand the rank. Right now it is next to impossible. And you can't do, I suppose you can try.

You're talking making the ice bigger. Making the ice bigger and making it simple to do so. Like in a lot of the older ranks, I shudder to think about, you know, all of a sudden this edict comes down from the NHL, what MSG is going to do with the oldest rank in the NHL, but I digress. I think they have a chance here. Now, my thought on increasing the ice surface,

I don't want to go to that double IHF international ice surface, which we all can agree on, leads to really boring hockey there's a lot of places to hide there's a lot of places where there's dead action so 200 by 100 bad but there's one place

there's one country who I think does it right that is Finland Finland Finland Finland follow the Finns on this one take your lead from the Finns

the ice surface in Finland standard ice surface surface is 197. I would keep the 200. Thank you. But is 197. You got to keep it.

Then you wouldn't have any 200 foot players. He'd have to redefine it. He's a 206 foot player. You know, Barcoff is a 200 foot player, but right now, like Lundell's like not quite there. He's like a 197 foot player. But he's close. He's close to being a 200 foot player there with the papers.

We'll see how it goes. But as far as width goes, like 100 is too far. but just a little more room to the outside and the Finns have it not I mean in North America it's 85 Finns have it at 92 So there's just a little bit more room outside To burn a couple more crossovers

And you can actually start to You keep hearing take defensemen outside Take them outside you can really do that And really create something And do you have any idea Why their dimensions are the way they are? Well the first of all That was that was standardized by the National Hockey League

again, there was a majority of the ranks that were that were constructed that way. There still were some that were smaller. No, I mean, Finland in particular. I don't mean the NHL in Finland. That I am, you know, but that's for someone like Simon Schemberg to answer. Maybe I'll DMM after this. Andrew Podnick's, who's a great chronicler of everything international ice hockey. I should probably ask that.

You know what? I will do that. You're giving me homework now. List of things to do. Find out why the fans have the WIP-902. their dimensions are such an outlier, like, internationally and obviously domestically. But you know what's... You know what's interesting about it because, you know, the dementia...

I'm going to sound like Marshall McLuhan here, but the dimensions of the ring sort of define how the players are, right? And when you think of like physical players in Europe, who comes top of the list always? Finns. Yeah. As close as being closest to North American style. Well, of course they are because the rink is closest to the NHL rank. I'm making... I'm pulling this out of my hat here.

Oh, I'm just making this... I'm making this up as I go. I have no science behind any of this. I'm just excited for the first Marshall McEwen reference since 1977. I was a big, but I always loved McLuhan, and this is where you live with media, too. McLuhan, who is one of the great media critics of the 60s, also a U of T professor, said, and the medium is the message was always his big thing. But the one that always resonated with me more was, he said,

if you say something on television people no if you say something on the radio that's it if you say something on the radio people discuss what you said if you say the same thing on television they'll discuss the color of your tie yeah that's even though you've said the exact same thing anyway that's i mean that goes back to the i mean again just to like completely age out our audience but that goes back to the kennedy the kennedy nixon debates right that's the whole thing if you if you watched it on television you thought kennedy won the debate because Nixon looked like a sweaty old fool. And if you listen on the radio, you believe Nixon won the debate because there was

more substance to his answers. Yeah, but you didn't see, like, you know, JFK scolding Nixon when Nixon had his head down looking like a sad puppy or a child that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If you just heard it on the radio, you'd think like, oh, yeah, it's Nixon in a walk. But that was your first. That's why I tried to avoid doing video podcasts for a decade before you dragged me into this whole situation. Ah, you look good, son.

You're looking great. You have a thought on Ottawa and the arena situation. I want to dovetail this into your conversation with the Kachak City, ESPN, but you have a thought on the rink. Yeah, I just want it to be over. I just want there to be certainty. I want there to be an easier manner in which Ottawa fans, as their team hopefully turns the corner towards sustained contention to get to the building. because I've done that drive from like downtown Ottawa out to the arena and and it's a nightmare. It reminds me of what I never did this because I never had the pleasure of going to the jobbing.com arena or whatever hell they ended up calling it.

I did. But it reminds me what people used to say about going from like the population areas in Arizona to Glendale. It's like a real hassle and, you know, what would have become of the coyotes had they been in, you know, Phoenix or wherever, you know, like, yeah. And I feel the same thing about Ottawa as far as an inability to really break through. And again, like this is one of those deals where the arena drama has been inherent for this franchise for the better part of what like 15 years it feels like. So just to see the saga end would be great. It would. Thank you to Michael And Lauer for finally bringing this to a conclusion. In the meantime, you interviewed a significant member of the Ottawa senators, their captain. There was one moment that I, a couple of moments in your piece, and you also interviewed Matthew Kachuk as well, that I really enjoyed. Yeah, that guy. And all the issues around him. We'll get there in a couple of seconds. But I really enjoyed. And this is sort of all under the umbrella of the Kachucks being on the EA Sports NHL 26. cover along with their proud pappy um and i thought the question of what is it like to play

for a canadian team while competing for an Olympic gold medal for the for the USA uh first of all why did you ask that question like why why was that interesting to you well because i mean if we're getting into the functionality of an interview which i would love to talk about because I rarely toot my own horn, but I do think I'm a good interviewer insofar as being prepared for interviews and knowing the questions I need to get in, knowing what spots I need to get in

to put it in a wrestling problem. But I had asked Matthew about the Canadian rivalry knowing that Matthew would probably give me the best answer on the Canadian rivalry. And as a follow-up, I was curious for Brady. I mean, you've now become a legend in this country along with your brother for beating the shit out of Canadians

in the first preliminary game. of the four nations face off and so you know come the olympics that rivalry which is you know as we saw with the women for about you know over a decade is probably is the best thing hockey has going for it right now um will be reignited in italy and what is that going to be like knowing that you're the captain of a canadian team and the in the capital of the country no less yeah to then now dedicate your life to making that country as miserable as possible over a two-week period in Italy. And his answer was to be expected, which is that it is a weird dynamic when you all of a sudden have the support of a city and the support of these fans and the support and the love and the

adoration of everybody in Ottawa to all of a sudden becoming public enemy number two behind your brother. And so I was I was definitely curious about that. And I thought I thought his answer was good. So when I read it, my first, this is just a little peek inside my melon here. You know where my brain went? Where? Patrick O'Sullivan. Oh, why is that?

Because in 2004, so he was playing junior hockey for the Mississauga Ice Dogs. Okay, and that junior tournament, as you will well recall, was a moment where Mark Andre Fleury shot the puck off of Braden Coburn. you know, wait in the net, and Patrick O'Sullivan was credited for the tournament winning goal. USA over can't, I think it was a 4-3 final, just crushing. And so the following week, Sullivan comes back to Mississauga, and I used to go to all the Ice Dogs games. And I can recall they were going to do a big celebration, congratulate Mississauga Ice Dog, Patrick O'Sullivan, for winning gold. And he got booed. and part of me wonders

and I never asked Patrick that I probably should have what that moment was like for him like going out on I shouldn't say overwhelmingly but like a couple of like very polite Canadian hockey fans who who you know

seal clapped for him and that's great but there was like booze for Patrick O'Sullivan who was one of their own but had the nerve to be standing there when Mark Andre Fleury bounced it off and I think it was like the shoulder too of Braden Cobra and if I can recall He really launched this thing and it went in.

And it got me to wondering, if slash when, it happens that USA beats Canada for a major, whether it's four nations, whether it's Olympics, what happens when he goes back to Ottawa? Do they do the congratulations moment? And if so, how is that received? This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCA. summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose, maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect.

The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating Retailers. Hey, same question for Carl Conner and Connor Hellebuck, you know, same question for Austin Matthews. Kyle O'Connor be playing on the Detroit Red Wings by that. Ooh, hot tape.

But I mean, like, there's, I mean, we've talked about it for years, the number of young stars that play in Canada and particularly the number of young American stars that play in Canada. And so Brady wouldn't be alone if they end up winning gold in Italy as far as like what the reception is going to be.

And if it's even mentioned or, you know, if there's even a moment of recognition for these TV timeout. TV timeout. Oh, my God. Can you imagine? Well, I'll tell you what. So the other thing that I found a particular interest in your piece was Matthew Kachak saying that the one player for the Florida Panthers that he definitely thought was

coming back was Aaron Eckblad. Yeah. And I'll be honest with you. I thought he was like the most likely to leave. And I think we all did when they made the move for Seth Jones. very much did have a St. Louis Blues have just made a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes and are bringing in Justin Falk

as Alex Petrangelo insurance. Like I think we also the same thing about Seth Joe. I would have thought that Echblah would have been like the last one and the most certain to go to like Detroit. I thought he was going to go to Utah if he went if he went anywhere. But did that one catch you

off guard? Because I was kind of surprised at that. I thought for sure it was going to be like, yeah, most likely to go is going to be Aaron Echblow to try to keep the two forwards. Yeah, he said two things that thought were interesting. First of all, he said, but I think we were all believing, which is that when they made the Marchand trade at the trade deadline, he was like, there's no way we're going to keep all three of these guys, you know, once that happened. But he said something in relation to Marchand that I think is definitely pertinent to Ekblad, which is that once you know a guy and you get to understand what his goals are, where he's comfortable, where he wants to live, what a situation is like. You kind of get a sense of where they want to play and what their priorities are.

And so I think he was simply saying that Eklad being, you know, the longest tenured panther, I believe, based on draft year and having a really good situation and living there and, you know, being a part of the community and having his family be part of the Panthers family and, you know, being in a really good situation insofar as whose defensive partner is and everything. else, that he was pretty confident, and a reading between the lines, confident that whatever Bill Zito could gin up money-wise, Eckblad was probably going to take. So I agree with you. I was a little bit surprised to see him have so much certainty about him staying, considering what the market was going to be for a defenseman like that. But apparently he was pretty convinced. Now, and, oh, sorry.

Yeah, go ahead. No, no, no, please continue to thought. Well, I was going to, I was going to move it on to the CBA. the great job comment the great job comment the thing i wanted to mention also about the interview because i was this is the part i was fascinated by it didn't make the cut for my q and a because it was included in a story that came out today it's a story about how fans who lose money betting oh i saw that today yeah reaching out to pro athletes yeah to get them to venmo money to them to cover their losses now this is something that had come up i think in an athletic uh player survey

earlier this year it's it's clearly been a trend story um we covered it today on esPN.com and i talked to brady kachuk about it and he said two things first of all he said it happened so much in particular on shot props that he had to change his venmo handle that he's had since like college because so many people were finding him and so many people were reaching out to him but the thing that i found most fascinating about it merrick was like there's a clear crossing of the line here from any fan asking a professional athlete even in a joking manner to cover their losses like it is yeah beyond the pale it's stockery it's not cool but um but i was i was fascinated to see brady kind of like laugh it off i mean he

he said he kind of found the absurdity of it the idea that someone would reach out to a professional athlete and be like you didn't get four shots last night where's my 200 bucks like he found this to be absurd enough to treat it comically to laugh at it yeah to laugh at it yeah and i thought that was that was intriguing because i'm not i'm not sure every professional athlete feels that way about fans i'm sure and going into their dms and and it can get to a kind of a scary place but i guess brady brady's experiences with it kept it in sort of more of a realm of like this is so absurd that i'm kind of kind of laugh at it this is going to sound like a shot at hockey and it's not intended that way but it's just the reality i'm sure in other sports other athletes get it

way worse than hockey players. Oh, yeah. Way worse than hockey players. That's probably why Brady can like, you people are idiots and shake it off and changes handle. Where other athletes are like, I'm going to get my agent to get a good

attorney here and get like legal people involved. I'm going to call the team fixer and make sure that this guy isn't trying to come and collect the 200 bucks that he thinks I owe him. I know that that's, yeah, go ahead. I know that Brady Kachuk has to give the standard answer about how the players' association did a great job with the CBA. You know, I've heard, you know, some whispers of, and obviously it's going to happen.

Like some players now that they've sort of realized what's, I was actually contained in the CPA. There's a lot of players that are wondering, where are the significant wins here for us? And if there aren't significant wins here right now, why did we do this so quickly? And I try to, anyhow. I understand why Brady Kachuk had to give the yearbook answer. I get it. First of all, good for you for asking it. And second of all, I like how you chum the waters with, hey, less preseason crap, eh?

I didn't say crap. I hadn't say crap on ESPN, but I didn't say crap. So, like, the two things that he said about it are probably the two tip of the iceberg things you're going to hear from most players. And I was happy to finally ask a player about it. I haven't gotten really a chance to talk to any of the boys. about this massive labor negotiation and CBA that we've got now and how they actually feel about it. And the two things that he mentioned were the fact that it's a,

was it a four-year term, I think, right in the CBA? Four-year, yeah, four. And how that is a real win he felt. And Brady, in full disclosure, was more involved in the negotiations, I think, or at least in the crafting of the CBA for the players than that was. And then obviously Matthew and Brady both loved the idea that the preseason is shrunk and that we have two more games in the regular season. But the players absolutely hate the preseason.

I think it's a waste of time. I tend to agree with them, especially with, as Matthew pointed out, the advent of the captain's skate before the camp. Like, you're getting back super early anyway. Like, you don't need all this training camp. So those are the two top line things that both those boys mentioned. But I agree with you, Merrick, which is that another thing that Brady mentioned was that a lot of us negotiation was discreet and it was being handled behind closed doors and I do wonder I mean they all voted for it and they voted in favor of it but I mean you know players I know players I don't think a lot of them are reading to page 14 of of the CBA dossier to figure out what's going on they're probably talking to their agents they're talking to their friends they're hearing enough that they like to vote yes but I do wonder ultimately when you open the hood and and look at the

engine to this thing how many of them are going to be like wait we did what or wait we didn't do this and uh that'll be obviously something comes out in the next probably like month or so when they all get back to camp uh i wonder who the first player who stands up and says this is no good we messed up here do you think that there's going to be anyone that does it no i'm trying to the personality of all of all these players and who has who has the heft in the PA to say you know what we really didn't we really didn't do the next generation of hockey players any service here you are you're missing the big picture here which is that the reason why this thing got done so quickly is because everyone's fat and happy and and the NHL like we've talked about the show before

putting out the cap numbers and how much it's rising and everybody's you know everybody's getting paid like the minimum salary is going to be a million dollars in a couple years like there's not going to be anybody that stands up and says this this four year CBA that we've just signed is horseshit because everyone's doing pretty well right now and they kind of like the system that they have and if there was going to be any ruffling of feathers if there was going to be anybody to stand up in protest it would have been during this process not afterwards with two expansion teams there's four billion dollars sitting there that's what I'm saying man oh you listen there's you and I both know that they could have gotten more and you might you and I both

both know that if they spined up a little bit, they could have gotten something out of the league because it's also fat and happy time for these owners. Things are going really well right now. Look at franchise. Again, the number one job, I keep thinking, number one job that Gary Betman has always had his franchise value. Right. Now he goes to market. Here's labor piece. Here's our price tag. And it's only going to get more expensive. Do you want in now or do you want in tomorrow when it's even more expensive? Yeah. But again, you know, like when things are going well for both sides, the players do have a scintilla of leverage

to be like, give us this or lock us out, sweeties, and derail this money train that we're all on. And, I mean, there was no reason for them to do it, I don't think, materially. But they could have if they felt passionately about some of the things

they didn't get in the CBA. But obviously, like I said, I agree with your premise that there's probably somebody out there rumbling and grumbling, but they're probably just to Martin Walsham. Oh, there is. Yeah, but they're, but they're going to do it to Marty Walsh and Ron Hainesie or their agent. They're not going to do it to me or you probably, I don't think. They're not, not going to do it publicly whatsoever.

They will grumble amongst themselves, and then they'll be the United Front. Everything's great. We got what we wanted. We're really happy. Let's drop the park. There you go. Somewhere Bob Good now looks at this and just shakes his head. Or Chris Shelley-Oaths.

Oh, that was. bad one. Even I was like, I don't know that you should have gone there. I mean, I don't know about that one. Yeah. But I mean, again, like, it's hard, it's hard to really imagine any of these guys knuckling up and being like, let's go to the mattresses over the CBA when the cap is going to be like at $120 million in like four years or whatever it is. Anything else you want to get to? Oh, I know you wanted to. I want to get a quick thought from you. I set you a note about, about SummerSlam, but you wanted to point. Oh, yeah. Wrestling media and hockey media. So I went to SummerSlam as a credentialed

member of the wrestling media. I've done it before for AEW shows, but they kind of just sit you in the stands. This was like in the press box at MetLife, where you'd watch the Jets lose or the Giants lose or, you know, the outdoor games. And the fascinating thing about it, I wrote a bit about it on the Puck suit Patreon, if anybody wants to read it. But the fascinating thing about it was to see how different the experience was for the wrestling media than it is for the hockey media insofar as there are no assigned seats.

When you're at a hockey game, everyone knows exactly where to sit. No one starts throwing punches about who gets to sit at Center Ice. And the wrestling SummerSlam, maybe it was because there weren't as many people covering it. You just sat wherever. They don't give you any shit during it. Like there's no like stats or even a sheet.

What the card looks like, match times, you know, anything. There's not a whole lot of interaction with the PR staff that's there. You're just kind of watching and observing. I was fascinated by how much more cheering in the press box there is at a wrestling match than at a hockey game. I am someone notorious when I'm impressed row at a hockey game for being someone who lets his emotions flow. I ain't talking rooting for the devils, all you people in the chat. I'm talking about if there's an exciting play. I'm going to, like, react to it.

I'm there. I want to feel the visceral thrill of being in an NHL game. He sure to use to, yeah, sorry, shut up. Even though I'm wearing a, like, a suit and tie. So, like, but a lot of my colleagues don't. A lot of my colleagues are very sort of head down and their laptop and they're crafting their pros and they're not going to squeal for a good goal. They'll roll their eyes if there's a play that ties the game late in the game because they can't

get to the pub. And so, like, in the wrestling press box. Yep. being in a wrestling press box for a ladder match a table's ladders and chairs match and just seeing everybody around you just like covering their mouths and losing their minds about the spots in the match and freely talking about whether you know is tonight the night Cody Rhodes turns heel and just having these wild discussion like it was such a different vibe than the sort of more it made it made being in a hockey press box feel like you're in a monastery and then the final thing I want to say is that

For those who don't know, SummerSlam was the pay-per-view event that the WWE put on that ended a brief tradition wherein the wrestlers and Triple H, who's the chief creative content officer, did press conferences after the event. So the media would go and sit in the room, and it was a very odd dynamic of like some of the performers were still in character and sometimes they'd be out of character. and sometimes you're playing along and sometimes you are. But you'd always be able to talk to the boss to figure out, you know, the angles that you saw or what's next or the controversies going around in the company and stuff. And, I mean, was it ever that informative? Not really, but at least you get to ask the question.

And so they got rid of these things that in the same weekend one that Triple H joined the president Trump presidential fitness council whatever the hell it is with like Lawrence Taylor and briefly say Juan Bartley before he said actually I never said yes and they listed me anyway by the way I asked Matthew could chuck about I saw that yeah his answer was his answer was interesting it hasn't been officially announced yet it has been the yeah I know I wasn't going to belabor the point but I kind of I don't know if if it read this way but the vibe I got was almost like I didn't know it was going to be on this list. But I want to put words in Matt's mouth. I'm sure he'll talk about it when the time

comes right. And then the other thing that happened is that Brock Lesnar came back after two years of being away from the WWE, ostensibly because he's named almost 50 times in the sex trafficking lawsuit bought against Vince McMahon. And now he's back. And so any opportunity for the assembled media to ask the WWE about either of these things went by the wayside. They got rid of the press conferences. They did all their media on the official post game show. And the reason I'm talking about it on a hockey podcast, besides I'm talking to somebody who has the love of wrestling in his heart, is that there's always this concern from the hockey media of our place in the world. Over time, over the last 10 or 15 years, there's been so much in-house media

created by these teams and by the league, not only NHL.com, but also like, you know, players will talk to the in-house podcast before the talk to this podcast about, you know, getting traded someplace. I mean, the GMs do it, the coaches do it. Teams are putting out much more information now than they were even 10 years ago. And so the thought of it is, you know, there's already people that don't believe there's any value in reporters amassing after games to ask players' questions or coaches' questions. And, you know, how far away are we from team as being like, yeah, we'll have the coach answer for his decisions on the official post-game show sponsored by Valvaline.

And meanwhile, the media is there watching on a television as the coach answers the questions that we can't ask them. I don't know. But it is a fear for all media that eventually they'll just be like, we don't need you anymore. I don't think we're there in hockey because I do think hockey needs us a little bit to put the sport out into the Zike guys. Oh, absolutely. But other sports could be just like, we don't need you. We don't need you the hassle. We'll just ask the coach the questions on our official post game show and you can transcribe the answers from there. I'm going to date the podcast here and date us. Jello Biafra, we will very well remember. You know, once his point, and his point means something different right now in this context

and it did when he said it, but it's something that I've never forgotten. And he said, look, don't fear the media, be the media. Now, he was talking about independent journalism more than anything else. But I think that that extends now to, if you're a professional sports league or sports organization, don't fear the media, be the media. You have in-house to control. Now, this is the one place, and I will always, always credit John Shannon for this. So, John Shannon ran Leafs TV for a number of years.

And normally when you have a team-friendly channel, generally editorial falls by the wayside. It is promo, promo, promo, promo, and everything's great. No, it's not true. The question is, are things great or are they really great? Those are the two questions that everything should really revolve around. But I'll give John Shannon a lot of credit. When he ran Leafs TV, his philosophy was if we don't have editorial on our channel, it's not going to stick around. And so he had like a Sunday morning reporter show.

and the old Leafs lunch show that he used to do with Bill Waters was simulcast on Leafs TV. There was always a caveat that, you know, opinions expressed on the following program do not necessarily reflect those of the Toronto Maple Leafs are associated blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, and he had an interview show with Brian Duff, which was fantastic. And it was a really dynamic hockey channel,

slanted towards Maple Leafs, but a really dynamic hockey channel. So I know that it can be done, and I know it was really uncomfortable for the Maple Leafs and a lot, especially when Waters is out there like ripping ownership the Ontario teacher's pension and Larry Tanna but it was very awkward moments but Johns was if we want this to have any staying power

editorial needs to be right up around the top so it can be done and it can be done successfully and I think your fans look at it and say I respect the team doing that or respecting me enough not just to turn everything into another way to turn me into a walking ATM. Yeah. Well, the other thing I want to say, I know we're up against it,

is there is something to be said about state-run media for these teams, because in the National Hockey League, I don't know if you guys noticed, but not a lot of teams all have the kind of beatwriters that Toronto has, you know, or Montreal has, or Boston has, or the Rangers have. Some places, there's like one person working for a newspaper, and then one person working for the AP and then there's some blogs covering the team too

and independent media. But in some places it's not, it's like less than a dozen people. And so the idea that the teams can create their own media and put that content out there while you have to get the caveat of it being state run and grain of salt

and there's no critical eye, at least it's something, like at least it's something that the fans can chew on and see and hear at a time when media is pulling back. I mean, the athletic doesn't have a beat writer for every NHL team. It hasn't had it for a few seasons now. And sometimes that's the best you can do under the circumstances of the economics of the news industry

and who's covering hockey these days. Well, you remember the great Joe Thornton story when he got traded from the Boston Bruins of the San Jose Sharks. After his first skate, he said, like, where's the media? And someone said, he's over there. I think they were referring to Dave Pollock, who was always one of my, one of my favorite people to do with you. I just loved it. I think you did too. He's a great guy.

I'll never forget the story. Oh, yeah. Where's the media? He's over there. Cheno's a great example. It's like the Mercury News. It's Shang Peng. It's the AP.

And it ain't much beyond that. And yeah, I mean, there are certain places in the NHL right now that are really reliant on the on the content being generated by team. So I'm not trying to demonize that trend. But, I mean, there is a delicate dance that goes on between the media and the state-run media. And it's been like that for years. And we're getting to a point like at the WWE, WWE just showed where there might be some places that are just like, we're going to cut out the middleman because we want to control the message. Quick thought before I get to Ambrose here. Best part about SummerSlam for you was punk and Gunther.

Punk and Gunther was a lot of fun. That was incredible. Yeah, that was an incredible match. I will veer towards the TLC match. I thought that honored the tradition of that match. It had some real fun high spots. And seeing one live. I don't think I ever saw one live was a real kick.

I remember trying to think of like the last time I was as working media at a then. It would have been still probably WWF. No, I was still that. No, it was WWE? Then I can't recall. I remember being. yelled at by someone from the company for a show I did where I ran down all the lies in Hulk Hogan's book.

It's been like an hour doing it. That was the other thing. Hogan just died and we didn't get to ask anybody about Hogan dying. The last thing I'll say is on the way up to the press box, I received one of the, my favorite PR emails I've ever received. It was from the W.E. It was an email that read, for those of you. that are covering SummerSlam night two

in the press box. Please be advised that you are not allowed to eat the wrestler's food. Catering was on the same floor as the press box. The media food was down the hallway and there was a giant room filled with every food you could possibly imagine. There were wrestlers.

There was a wrestler who literally was put through a ladder later on that day that was eating a crumb cake and I was watching her eat it. And we got an email. Do not eat the wrestler's food, you dumb bastards that were allowing to watch this from the press box. Let me close with what I thought was my favorite, albeit maybe a little bit distasteful, tweet that I saw. You mentioned the Hogan passing. So Hogan dies two days after Ozzy.

Okay. And someone, I don't know who it was. Great tweet. Wow. Hogan couldn't even let Ozzie keep his heat for two days. See, I'll, I'll see, I'll see, I'll see, I'll see your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, it was a photo of the Hogan funeral, uh, and a photo of the coffin. Oh, and someone's saying, wow, I'm surprised they didn't cremate him because Hogan would never allow himself to be buried like that. He's still going to kick out.

He's still going to kick out. You're still going to kick out. Even if it's on the three, he's still getting... All right, Greg, with those giggles, we'll let everybody off the hook because it's going to go to a wrestling place here. Okay, thanks, bud. We will touch base soon.

Enjoy... Good to talk to everybody. What is winding down this summer here. Thanks, pal. Greg Westchinsky from ESPN. With that, we get from an A guest to an A-plus guest. But before we get there, I want to remind you, the segment is brought to you by

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Must be legal drinking age. Please celebrate responsibly as we celebrate with our good friend here from the Montreal Victoire of the P.W. HL. She's off to camp soon, folks. She is the one and only Aaron Ambrose, and she joins us now on the sheet. Aaron, how are you? And I want to get to that CCM line here in a couple of seconds. But how are you, Ambrose? I'm doing well. I'm a little unsure how to feel about the fact that the tats are out today. The tats are out in full effect.

Okay, so here's the thing. So I got the left sleeve done pre-COVID. And what I realized, Aaron, I'm soft. now no so here's my thing and i got i got to fill this out and i got to do some other stuff too but once upon a time and you've got some ink too you know it's like so once upon a time like my back piece was a six and a half hour sit did it all in one go no problem all good but now that i'm a little bit older it's like i have like after three hours things get really spicy that's fair i keep putting off going back to like finish my right arm and do all various other things that I want to get down. It's going to keep drawing on myself until I'm at the crematorium, but I'm soft now, Ambrose.

All but my, all that my Olympic tattoo were done in less than 30 minutes, so I can't really talk too much. My sister and I actually just got one done together last week. You did? What did you guys get? Are you able to say sometimes they're very personal? Yeah. So just a leaf with the heart in it. I have the necklace chain and my sister actually gave it to me before going to Beijing seeing as they couldn't come

so she said that she was always going to be with me and we finally three years later got the tattoo that she always talked about so he's going to get addicted now wrist is spicy and you get the wrist day I had one there already so I just kind of tied it onto the end

you know what the worst place was for me and I've got like mine was my ribs back lay see I'm too soft I haven't done ribs i've only heard the horror stories for me it was right in here that's fair right in there right there

oh yeah that one was an absolute killer everything else like collarbone yeah cool no problem back spine was a little bit but oh man right in here oh screaming for mommy hey who's god we're going from who's the most heavily inked person in the pw hl who's got the heaviest think uh i don't know we all have

You wouldn't know every room, I guess, but... No, we've got bits and pieces. Sandra Abstrider has a bit of a sleeve on our team, Montreal. Like, I have a lot. I don't know how many other people. I know there's people with sleeves, but I can't put them together right now. I can't think of them.

It's been too long since I've seen everybody. When you see the... And this used to be... I'm going to offend, like, someone in the audience now I know it. Maybe I should just shut up, but here I go. the uh dudes that have the tasmanian devil with the hockey stick is that the is that the equivalent of like the barbed wire around the we went from wwee talk to taps now i know here we go it's summer hey summer pods some but you've been busy like you've been busy and now you're

off the camp getting ready for uh for italy right hand shot the fenceman always need those right hand shot defenseman let's go ambrose uh tell us about your time with the oilers this summer let's start there oh it's crazy that that was like a long time ago like that was kind of the kickoff to summer um but just incredible first of how to come about um so big shout out to tanya kenny um tania is head of hockey ops there in edmonton um and used to work for hockey Canada i mean she was there in Beijing i don't know how long she was with the program for um and then moved on with the oilers and um has done a phenomenal job there in their hockey ops and just kind of got in contact with her and they were looking for some female coaches and

she didn't really think that I was still pursuing coaching but obviously such a great opportunity that I didn't want to kind of turn it down so yeah it was surreal meeting the development staff meeting the Bakersfield staff and the guys were great there was a lot of young guys like um Tommy Lafranier their third round pick from this year um young guy but like so just open to everything um and not that you can pick favorites but Josh Samanski played uh for Germany at the world championship and Josh was like he was giving me a hard time but he was great and I just like those two guys really stuck out um obviously O'Reilly skill wise and then a couple days later I got flipped, yep.

So just a really cool thing to be around that organization. And we've got some opportunities, hopefully to, I mean, the PW went there last year and I know how great it was for the girls there. So hoping that can get some more games. Pause that for a second. And first of all, Sam O'Reilly is going to be really good, for those of no, no, plays London Knights to Aaron's point. Really good play. He's going to be like a really good two-way player in the N.

for Tampa or wherever he ends up for a long time. Yeah. Like what, I agree. For people, like, what pop for you about Samarale? Samarale.

He kind of, and this could be like a big comparison, but kind of reminded me a lot of like a Jamie Ben. And I haven't watched him play a ton. So I don't know how big physicality-wise he is, but he was throwing his body around a little bit for a development camp. And there wasn't a lot of game situations. But he had that like soft touch.

for being a big guy. Yeah. And you kind of think of like Ben does have those soft hands and you look at his, his Art Ross winning year. Like the guy can score. He could score. Just so to see him kind of,

he's got that it factor. And then obviously winning caliber coming from the London Knights organization. Okay. Walk us through. like the summer Olympic year is always because every time we talk to anybody it's like oh it's an Olympic year

and it sort of changes your entire life like no one goes to the Olympics casually like oh yeah I guess I'm going to the Olympics like your whole life sort of changes and revolves around it and I know you're going to give me the yearbook answer but having to make the team still I get that but let's get past that

walk us through an Olympic year I guess they're all different but as far as like preparing yourself for an Olympic year. And I'm going to phrase it this way. How selfish do you have to be to make sure that you're prepared for something like the Olympics, whether it's like, no, I can't do that. Like you say no a lot more because you have other things you have to do because you have

that responsibility to your teammates and to your team and to your coaches and to your teammates and to your country, no pressure. You have to say no to a lot of things and a lot of people as well. Like, how much is your life change in an Olympic year? Well, I think it's a little bit hard to say right now because this year looks so different than 2020 did. And 2022 also looked so different than 2018 did when I didn't make the team. So I've had like three very different experiences or will have three different experiences.

But like you talked about like how busy I've been this summer. I really haven't been that busy. Like I've been in Montreal almost full-time, like I haven't missed much here. And I guess more than anything, it's just kind of making sure that I do what I need to do right now in preparation for our first training block. So we've got our three training blocks, two weeks on, two weeks off from now until early October, which I believe leads us into our first rivalry series against U.S. And this year is just so much different because the past two years that I've been involved, It's move out to Calgary for the live six months and get ready to go. Like, as of this time in 2022, we were already moved out into Calgary.

I guess we had worlds then, but even Beijing or Pyong Chang, we were already moved out beginning of August and started our training, which was a centralization where we went in the, in 2018. It was in the, I guess there would be U-18 league, the guys league there. and then went in the AJ in 2020 leading up to the Olympics in Beijing. So very different this year, but very excited for kind of almost little touch points and like mini training camps every couple of weeks. And that will get us ready to go into our PW season, which is also really exciting.

This episode of The Sheet is sponsored. by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose, maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong, but there's one role that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers. And this is a season that, listen, the last time we spoke here together on the show, we were all wondering about expansion draft.

And you were quite vocal about not just your love of the organization, but your love of the city and how much it meant to you. I think the line that really got a lot of people was, I'm going to put words in your mouth here, correct them for me. You know, I came to Montreal broken. And Montreal did a good job of healing. I know, like, anyone that knows you know that there's a real emotional attachment to Montreal. To me, it's the best city in the country. I'm probably sure you feel like at least

it's one of the top cities in the country. How stressful was that day? And once you realized that you weren't going to go and you were finally able to exhale, what was it like? It was very stressful. It was just like a lot of different emotions that I don't think I was expecting to feel leading up to it what was going to happen you run through scenarios and um it's just tough because you have a situation where you have to protect yourself as an athlete but you also like i i love montreal i want to be here and there was just so many different things to kind of juggle up and down and um i mean i'm i'm thrilled and beyond excited with the way it worked out and then to also have the free agency go the way that it has for our team makes it even more exciting like i would have been excited to be here in

Montreal no matter what. But then to see Danielle do what she's done in free agency and see the people that want to come to Montreal and be a part of the victoire makes it even better. Where are you at right now? Oh, I know. Hang on a second. Before we get to, before we do more hockey, I want to ask about your CCM pride line. It's so, it's so stunning.

Like, really, like, I mean, there, okay, give us, give us the origin story and walk us through what we should know. The guy gets too many shoutouts whenever I have to talk about it. But Dale Williams approached me about doing the pride line together. And this year it was just about doing this pride line even better. We did version one last year. It was good, very much staples. This year's was trying to, I think, show the growth of my fashion expertise.

I wouldn't call it expertise, but I guess my fashion growth, a little bit more stylish. And I thought that the photo shoot really exemplified that. And it's from what I've been told has been selling even better than last year. So incredibly excited, incredibly happy with how it turned out and incredibly, incredibly thankful to CCM that they wanted to partner with this again. How involved are you in things like design or do you just sort of, are you this at the end just sort of approving or disapproving, disapproving of them?

Um, a little bit of both. Like last year, my main thing for version one, I was like, need a five panel hat. Like that is a staple in my wardrobe. Is it, it is a staple in the LGBTQ plus community, especially with lesbians. Um, and this year I wanted to kind of do something different. Like always get the baseball cap. Um, and then this year we went with a bucket hat, which was pretty cool. Um, as for the designs, we wanted to do a graphic t-shirt. So there was a little bit of picking and choosing. on as to what would kind of work there. And other than that, like very much just like, yes, it looks good or no, not so much. They kind of talked to me about what the idea is where they're leaning towards. And then I give the go ahead. You know, one thing that I always like to ask hockey players, I don't think I've ever asked you this. What happens in your head when you see someone wearing your jersey, your number, your name bar? still hasn't really fully sunk in like what happens in your head like are you like oh you shy about

it or you like yeah right on pull your shoulders back um i think i'm starting to pull my shoulders back a little bit more because it's like yeah like you always balance i think we especially as female hockey players really struggle with like yes i own that i'm a good hockey player i my jersey should be selling because we want what's best for the team and that those things don't have to be mutually exclusive um i think we can want what's best for the team but also like accept and embrace the skill that you have the player that you are the person that you are so i think i'm starting to get there a little bit more um and it's pretty cool to see my jersey out in the stand sometimes i remember the first game that i saw it i was like taken aback i was like there's no way

that's 23 up there. Like I'm always used to seeing poos, but then it was like, whoa. Right? Like I, somebody turned and I saw it two, and I was like, oh, another poo jersey. And then I was like, whoa, that's a three. They must have had a misper.

Stop it. Stop it. You mentioned Edmonton. We just had that conversation and PWHL stop there. I'll be honestly. I didn't think that it was going to be Edmonton, as far as expansion, this time around, and maybe it's a little birdie or whatever, I very strongly believe

that it was going to be Seattle and Vancouver, and it was. But Edmonton looks like a strong candidate here, like a really strong candidate, and it's in a very important time zone for this league, as this league looks to grow, not just to be like what, as misnamed as it may be the original six was in the NHL. Like, this is a league where time zones are very important for, you know, things like TV contracts, for example. Yeah. How much of the conversation do you guys have around Edmonton as a potential destination? I think Denver's still very much in the conversation, too.

I mean, when we do have conversations, it's amongst us as a group. I think one of the cool things is kind of that after this past takeover to her season was, like, talking to all of our national team teammates about like, hey, what did you enjoy? where did you enjoy most like what yeah um and i know edmonton was a big one for obviously sered acne mashmire like from being out there but sure everybody else was also blown away by it um the support i think you saw just a huge turnout in emminton um and that's something that's pretty special anywhere you go no matter if it's in canada or the u.s when you have a huge turnout like you kind of get a little bit more excited that that place could be a possibility for this league

And I agree with you. I think that you don't always think about it as an athlete, but like the time zones, the TV deals that could come about are things that are really exciting. And again, we don't really think about it right away. But when somebody like Jeff Merrick talks about, oh, this would be something that you would have to consider and look at, then you kind of start to think about it. And you're like, yeah, that does make a lot of sense. And obviously Vancouver and Seattle are going to be great.

We were lucky enough to play in both those markets last year. And I'm excited to get to go back. You guys with a test team. We had a big swing. So it was hopefully I'll be intrigued to see if we go back to any places again this year. If it's all new places or if we're going to be making some return stops at some of the places that were successful. For sure. Before he came on, Greg and I were talking about media.

Oh, I heard you. Yeah, okay. So here's where I want to take this with you. One of my favorite podcasts is Joggs and Jills. I love Julia. I love Tessa. Just sort of wonderful people. Do you have a thought on and you have a sort of like an idea of, well, first of all, everybody listens to it. Second of all, your thoughts on the jocks and Jill's podcast. I always like to promote other people's pods wherever I go. And this is one of my favorites. Like just dynamic personalities and I'm never not laughing when I either watch them on clips on Instagram or see them. Like I'm never, I'm always just two people that whenever you see them, you're always just two people that whenever you see them, you're automatically in a good mood. The real yesterday for the Barbies was phenomenal.

That was hilarious, by the way, the wake-ups and the run-y-guise. That's great. I love them. I know as a player you're told not to kind of listen to different things, but with Julia and Tessa. That's no way. Come on. You're told not to.

I definitely do. I'm an avid listener. Everybody does. I always say this. If I told you that there was a program. designed just for you doing your job. How many people are going to say, I'm not going to listen to that.

Like, stop. Everybody. And I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I get to find out different things about different teams that maybe I didn't know right away. I think Julian and Tess do a great job. I think it's so good for our fan base to have like one place to really hone in on

and get to get all the information that they're given. I love that they want to two. episodes a week last year and i just think they continue to build i loved what they did post games in the playoffs with somebody live after the games um starting to get a little bit more interaction and i think that it's just going to continue to grow for them um but i heard wish when he was talking about like different places different locations don't have the same media availability that true Toronto and montreal has um and i think for us it's it's very similar like you look at like our practices we have five to ten media members almost every practice

and then you have other places that don't have that same reach and I was just thinking that like similar to what you were saying with San Jose like I don't know if that's ever the case in other in other ranks like we always have some sort of press conference after but I do really think that the media outlets and being able to to get stories to get even just sound bites out there is huge for our league and huge for us as players to see our faces, to hear our voices and get to know us as athletes. Every show is a clip show now.

This is a clip show. It's just like, and I'm sort of late to the dance onics. I've always done like long form stuff that hasn't always been chopped up, specifically in audio, but like everything's a clip show. And I think the more that you can be cranking that out, I think the better off you are.

Okay, a couple of moments left with you, Ambrose. First of all, when do you leave? I leave on Thursday, actually. We don't start until the 26, but I leave on Thursday. You got a Clarkson alumni wedding to attend to. So I'm excited for that on Saturday and excited to see a lot of my classmates and teammates from the past, which will be really excited. Who's going to wear the lamp? Hang on.

Who's going to wear the lampshade? Who's the one girl conga line? Who is it? Come on. No comment. Because if I said we're not a fast name, she would smack me in the face. Let's just see her name rhymes with Renata fast. Okay, and we'll move on.

Do not clip that. That's going out right away. You kidding me? That's gold in them there, Hills, Ambrose. No, Renata won't be, but I just like to say her name to get her all worked up. Excellent defensemen, too.

Listen, you're the best. Wish you all the best for the rest of the summer. We'll talk before next season. We'll talk plenty, as always. Congratulations on the success of the pride line. It looks fantastic. And so do you on and off the ice. You're delighted to call a friend.

You have a great rest of your summer, and we will chat soon. Thank you, sir. Enjoy the summer. Erin Ambrose from PWHL's Montreal Victoire. We just had a whole bunch of show there. Zach, you still with me? Yes, I am. We're still here.

Anything to jump out from Ambrose, or it was Sinski for you before we get to our final segment of the show today. Long one here. I didn't think I'd have that much to talk about. Yeah, it was a long one. Pretty cool to see her out with the Oilers. I saw that when I was all happening. Pretty cool, I've got to speak to her since.

Yeah. So that's cool to hear her perspective and being there. And then as well, just getting to kind of catch up with her about the expansion draft. Because the last time we spoke to her, she, like, not to put words in her mouth, but she basically came on here and had done pre-media, like media with the PWHL stuff and was like, my time in Montreal is probably over. We all kind of thought that because she wasn't protected. And then it was came out a little bit later. They did protect her in the expanded expansion protection, if you want to put it that way.

And then she obviously got to stay in Montreal. So kind of just getting to hear how things unfolded for her was was also nice to hear as well. I also looked up here in the meantime about why the finish ice is the way that it is. Why is it by why is it? to that with the wish. 197 by 92. It seems like such a, outside of the 197,

I would stick with 200, but like it seems like such an ideal rink size, especially for the nature of the athlete right now. So I got as well, by the way, it ranges in Finland between 92 to 97 is what it was coming up as is like a lot of the rinks there. 97's too much.

Still too much. But the reason that was listed and it was kind of just sourcing from a bunch of different articles, but the most common ones were that, that the Olympic size ice is too wide and slows the game down too much and they want it more faster pace and then the other part was

they want to allow the fast pace play while also having some of that creativity that you get from the Olympic size so they expanded it a little bit but they kept it tighter to the NHL size to prepare finish players more for the NHL

to take that next step rather than making the leap from Olympic to NHL. So they kind of tried to keep it as a middle ground so that even the Finnish players who stay playing in Finland can also stay ready for the IAHF because it's not too far of a jump from one side to the other. So that was the answers that I got.

I remember this would go back to like 2005, 2006. Having a conversation with Igor Larianov, who I think we can all agree is one of the most creative players and one of the best players to ever suit up in this game, whether it's NHL or elsewhere. part of the great KLM line. Kutov, Laryanov, Makaroff, oh God, what a line.

Anyhow, I said, in the interview, I said, what do you favor? The HF 200 by 100 International Ice Surface, or the NHL's 200 by 85. I fully expected, you know, the professor, you know, and this guy,

who's one of the most creative players we've ever seen, to say that he liked the bigger rank. And he said, I like the smaller rink better. I said, why is that? And he said, I'm in the NHL. I step over the blue line.

The minute I step over the blue line, I'm in a position to either create a scoring chance or score. He said, I do the same thing on the big ice surface. I step over the blue line. I still need a GPS to find the net. He goes, I want to step over the blue line and be able to affect something right away. That's why I like it in the NHI. I was totally just based on stereotype, you know, foolish of me, just thought. that he was going to say,

I like the bigger ice surface. The artist wants the biggest canvas. But no, it's completely wrong. Well, you probably experienced this as well when you're playing Men's League, and I'm sure people in the chat could as well.

But I've now hit the point where for me playing, I'm in the middle where there are the older teams or the older guy teams. And then there's also like the guys who were coming in fresh out of university like I had when they just started. Hate those guys. Hate those guys. I was that guy very reasonable.

Recently, now I hate those guys. But we found, like, in the New Market League I play in, which you know out at Magna, there's the Olympic pads and then the regular size pads. You rotate in the weeks. If we play against the younger teams on the Olympic size, it's much better for us. Because you can just slow the game down on them. They don't get to use the speed as much because there's so much ice. Although, you know what?

Now, you'll get to a certain point where you'll just like hate it. Like when I played downtown men's league when I live in Toronto, we played UCC. and we would get the Olympic size. Like, oh, that is so much skating. Oh, that's just wait. Yeah, that's where I play my league. Oh, you play you play UCC? Oh, man, just way too much skating, but.

Just way too much. Yeah, it's a lot. Give me the smaller rank every single day. Okay, let's get to our final segment here. For the program here on this Tuesday, August the 12th. The sheet is powered by Fandul. As you all know, we thank our friends and our presenters. Home of the same game parlay.

Make every moment more on Fanduel. Fanduel, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. What are you coming up with today? So I got lucky here. Basically, each day I'm checking to see what fan duels got, that's new.

What can we bring up that's new? And a couple of the ones we've discussed already have been player head to heads. I think this one's fun. It's more so about how they take the next step in their journey, and that's what I labeled the title here. This one tried to get

creative for you, Jeff. Okay, what do you got? This one I called The Next Step. Who will have more points next season? Macklin Celebrini or Matt Vey, Mitch Cove, and then Mitch Cove plus 102. They finished with the same amount of points. Mitch Cough and Coveyne. Yeah, I believe it was the exact same number.

Go back to the various, you know, Calder discussions from last year. I think they finished with the exact same amount of points. They were both in the, they were both in the 60s. I just don't remember where it fell, but... 63 for Celebrini, and it was 63 for Mitchcock. Okay, so they both had 63 points. Head-to-head, so points? Yeah, just straight up, head-to-head, who has more points?

I think Celebrini is, again, only after one season, and maybe rightly or wrongly, he'll always be compared to Connor Bedard. I just think that Celebrini is ready to explode. that he's such a good player and just impacts the game I think he's going to be I don't think he's going to be like the most the most offensive dynamo in the game

he's a lot closer to being your 200 foot guy he's you know mine's his own knitting in his own zone I just think of this guy's ready to go to like 85 points next year 85 to 90 points for Celebrini not sure that I see that with Michikov

although the power play should be better I don't know that he's going to be the beneficiary of it. And Celebrini is in that power position in the middle. I'll take Celebrity. Like, there are, like, I think Celebrini already is ready to have that, like, big pop season. I was texting with Colton Davies the other day, and he was talking about Zach Bulldoch

and how much he thinks that he's ready to have that, you know, big pop in his career. You should probably do a segment on the show on this. Like, players that are poised to have another, have a big step up on their career. I think Marco Casper in Detroit is ready to take that next step and have a massive season for the Red Wings. But I think Celebrini's that guy.

I'll take, and I know I'm going with the favorite here, but I'll take Celabrini over Michkoff. What about you? My push, but I agree with everything you said pretty much about Celebrini and what he's poised to do. My pushback is just situational. And I would agree with the power play thing, but I kind of wonder if Celebrini is more inclined to have a season

and like Bedard after his first season just because of the team around him. I know. And I think, yeah, and like I think San Jose's building in the right direction where they will be really good, but I wonder if there's just kind of that, like, oh shit, we're all really young.

And it's like, we have some veteran guys, but it's like, okay, we don't all have those kinds of players that are going to help build as quickly, maybe. Whereas Philadelphia, you've got talk it there. You've got some of the older veterans. maybe just a change of scenery for some of those guys having a new coach, a new voice, all that kind of stuff, could help Mitchcoff be in that position to kind of grow with the team if they experience any improvements of their own. He could just be a beneficiary, whereas on the other side, I feel like if Celebrini's going to take the jump, which I think he will,

but if he's going to take the points jump at this point, like, rightly or wrongly, I feel like he's going to have to be the driving force to make those points happen for him. himself you know like i feel like mitchcock could just be like you're really good you're taking steps the team's a little bit better here's some cookies cell bruny's going to have to be like he's going to have to be setting up the step ladder and climbing up to the top shelf to grab in the matter of the jar himself kind of thing wow um by the way

i think philly's going to be a really intriguing team this year the one player that i'm uh we all know who's on the team right now but the one player that i'm curious to see and i think he makes the team mainly because of tyson Forrester's injury, I think Alex Bump makes his team. And let's see this kid at the next level. And they love him internally.

And I think the door is open way wide for this kid. Let's see where a bump gets with the Philadelphia flat. That's going to be one of the more interesting teams. I think both Pennsylvania teams are going to be interesting to follow. And we'll probably dedicate more time on their program here coming up soon

to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins and because they seem to be that That one team that has, you know, some players that are being held in place and those guys are the obvious ones. But then there's like a whole bunch of rebuild going on around them while they're up there. It's almost like, you know, when you see like buildings that have a historical designation so there's parts of the building you can't change, but they just construct everything around those historical parts to try to create a new. building all together. That's the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yes. That's the Pittsburgh Penguins right there. And they've got the big yellow structure. Yes. Holding the walls up while they change everything inside. Yes, exactly. Yeah. That's a Penguins.

That happened for about three years at Queen and Spina down here, Jeff. So maybe that's not what Penguins fans want to be hearing right now. So the three year, it's going to take a while. It will. But again, like I keep coming back. Like, this has been the plan all along. That's why Dubas got a seven years. deal, not a five-year deal. You can't ask a guy to spin your wheels for four years and so,

okay, now you can actually do something. Anyhow, I digress. Thanks to everyone who joined whether you're listening on your various podcast catchers on your podcast platforms. We thank you. Like and subscribe, as we always say, whether you're watching here on YouTube or you're listening. We thank you for your attention once again to these very infrequent but weekly shows here that we're bringing to you. And by the way, you and I are going on the road up north next week we'll be gone for an entire week are we doing a show from this mystery location where you and I are going

do we know have you even told anything about that we got to figure some stuff out we got to figure some stuff out I'm going to bring some pot equipment because I'm probably doing a bunch of like podcast hits all throughout the week but sorry to be so vague about all this but Zach and I are escaping to a mystery location we're heading north next week

but I think you'll enjoy what we come up with at the end of all of it A couple notes across the network, by the way, Jeff, just for people out there. Oh, wait a minute, before he signed up. Could we do the Nick Benino thing? Let's do it. Yeah.

So I was going to say I'll give you one clip, one promo, and then I'll let you promo Benino. But we talked a lot about Kachucks. Wish came on here, talked about Brady Kachuk, sitting down interviewing him and getting to talk to him about the Four Nations and stuff. He joined Alberga and Rose Hill on Leafs Morning Take this morning, so you can check that out on the Leafs Nation YouTube channel. And then as you were just mentioning there, tomorrow,

right here on this channel on Morning Cup of Hockey, joining Laz and Colby. Pretty cool one. My favorite goal call of all time. Harn and Ryan Singh, Benino, Bonino, Benino. One of the great calls of all time. Now assistant coach for Pittsburgh Penguins. It's a legendary call.

And I was so happy to see Harner Ryan finally meet him too, to see in that coming together. That was very cool. Here is a clip of something you can see tomorrow on Morning Cup of Hockey 9 o'clock Eastern on this daily face-off YouTube channel. This is Nick Benino talking about, you know, I always gush about it, so I love this clip. Faceoffs. And when he knew he wanted to be a coach, you'll see more of this tomorrow. You know, there was actually really like a tangible moment.

It was we were playing, we were playing either Jersey or Philly. And they did a face-off play where they would drop the D was right behind. and they would just quick kick it to the wing in front of the net for a breakout. So, like, D's don't draw, they're winning it behind, and the D's not even looking. And I said, you know, I don't know. I said, Mika, like, if you lose this on purpose, like, they're just going to play this and Criads, if you spin off, you can pick this puck off and it should be on your stick. And it happened in Philly.

Crides rolled off. He's picked it off. He came. He came, and I'm on the bench going, that was my play. I was like, holy shit. I'm like grabbing Muser. I'm like, did you see it? I remember that goal.

Yeah, and I felt like Crieds come down the bench and Cries is like point and he's like, and I was like, man, what a like a true like your hands are on the game. And I didn't know, obviously, I'd be done playing so soon after that. But I, you felt it. You're like, you are as close as you can get. Oh, yeah. Look at Vic.

And he pulls off right on the tape, bottom, bottom corner there. So, yeah, so I was freaking out on the bench. I came after the game. I was more proud of that. and probably any goals I scored. So, so, yeah, so that was, that was kind of a cool, a cool moment for me. Oh, my God. He really, unreal.

And you can tell by how they're laughing with each other that, like, you, this came from the bench. Like, that's like the laugh of like, holy shit, it worked. Yeah, yeah. So you don't expect it to work like that. And I would imagine as a coach, most things that I say aren't going to have such an immediate impact. but I always thankful for cries to do that.

Maybe set me on this path. Big part of the HPK line right there. Nick Benino now, assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Muser, that's, of course, Dan Mews. Now his head coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rich Clune also on the bench there. I always want to point that out.

I'm really happy for him. So check out the full interview tomorrow on Morning Cup of Hockey, 9 a.m. Eastern on our daily face-off YouTube channel. That was so cool. You've heard me go on about face-offs and deliberately losing face-offs before. So I'll spare you that agony. But, yeah, when Vic sent me that clip, Vacations sometimes incarcerated, Vic, sent me that this morning.

I was only too happy to see it. And look forward to hearing the entire and seeing the entire interview tomorrow on Morning Cup of Hockey, Johnny Lazarus, Colby Cohen. Thanks to Aaron Ambrose for stopping by. Thanks to Greg Wischinsky from ESPN. And again, as always, thanks to you for your attention, even in these dog days of summer. Thanks for hanging in.

We'll talk to you soon-ish, according to producer Zach. Don't forget, Tip the Zamorny driver on the way. I said 16 hours last night, every day this week, every day this month. I can't get out my head. Lifestyle ambitions day-to-day, because you can call it a ride. I went to the dark man. He tried to give me a little medicine.

I'm in that's fine I'm not against those men that's pretty new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind I do on the bracket I turned on the music I do want to back

I turn on the music that's going to know that I don't get you sometimes losing I've been on the days that we're wrong. This episode of The Sheet is sponsored by the OCS summer pre-roll sale. Sometimes when you roll your own joint, things can turn out a little differently than what you expected. Maybe it's a little too loose.

Maybe it's a little too flimsy. There's a million ways to roll a joint wrong. But there's one roll that's always perfect. The pre-roll. Shop the summer pre-roll and infused pre-roll sale today at OCS.ca and participating retailers.