The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Andrew Peters on Organizational Gridlock in Buffalo

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Andrew Peters joins to deliver a blunt, unfiltered breakdown of the Sabres’ identity crisis, why development timelines have collided with expectation pressure, and how too many decision-makers have ...created organizational drag instead of direction. He digs into Lindy Ruff’s lineup frustration, the sense that Buffalo can’t ice its best roster when it needs it most, and the widening gap between what the room believes it is and how the league actually sees them. From talent acceleration to structural immaturity, Peters outlines why the Sabres feel over-promoted, under-anchored, and stuck between future-plan patience and present-day accountability — and why the Vanek offer-sheet era still quietly echoes through how Buffalo processes pressure today.SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Bauer: https://www.bauer.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to sales@thenationnetwork.com 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/@FNBarnBurner🚨 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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Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 He is former NHLer, Andrew Peters, who I used to watch on the regular playing with the Ashawah Generals, a million years ago in the OHL, he joins us. I know, what those fun days? Back when I had promised, baby. Listen, you were, you were terrifying when you play in the NHL, but back in the OAHL, holy smokes, nobody, Andrew Peters, wanted, like, who is the one guy? Because I always looked at you playing when I, because I go down Sundays to watch Oscewa. And there was like, man, everyone's terrified of.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Andrew Peters. Who scared you in the league? Before I get to the Sabres, who scared Andrew Peters in the O'HL? If any of my former Oshawa teammates were listening, they would know that my answer would be John Erskine. Oh, God. Yeah. There was something about this guy that was, he was in London nights, and he was drafted, you know, I wouldn't say for that reason, but he was a rugged defenseman. And that was, And he loved to fight. Like, that was the difference. I mean, when you have a guy that loves to fight and you're a guy that's willing to fight
Starting point is 00:01:09 because you play a certain way and you might have to answer the bell because, you know, there is some kind of an honor code, you know, with how you play, then, but that's two different kind of guys. So, you know, I didn't want to have to go out there and fight John Erskine. You know, I thought I was more of a player than that. But people put me, they thought I was tough enough to do that. And I think a lot of times scouts and agents and teammates and friends kind of want to test, want to see your medal as well. And, you know, eventually, you know, we cross paths a couple times in junior.
Starting point is 00:01:46 We had an amazing fight when I was in Kitchener. I just got traded to Kitchener. I just played in my first game and I beat up a guy that I used to beat up all the time and then John Ersten came to town and this was a different night and we had we had a fight that was incredible
Starting point is 00:02:12 so he was a guy at that time in that league that was terrifying to everybody more than I think I terrified people. They had him listed at 6-4 with the capitals. That cat always seemed like he was about seven six like he was just so big urskin my god what a good pull yeah he was big and i remember teppo newman and when he first came to our team he was with him in dallas and i said uh you know how's that urskin you know and you want every guy to be like
Starting point is 00:02:41 yeah you know he's not that tough you know and he's like oh heavy hitter i'm like god damn it yeah he still got it man and yeah he did it for a long time and and and he turned himself into a player in this league and I hope he's doing well because you know I mean there's been some news about some guys like that and but he was definitely one of them he was and it's rare to find so like one of the only guys I ever met or spoke to that loved everything about it was was Tony Twist a lot of other guys are like I didn't like the sleepless nights oh I couldn't have my afternoon nap oh I just lived between my ears there are very few guys that have ever met Andrew that loved every single aspect.
Starting point is 00:03:23 I'll tell you another guy. Who's that? You know who they are. You know who they are when you fight them, you know? And another guy that truly loved it was Eric Goddard. Oh, yeah. Like, absolutely. Like, he was a rugby player from what I understand.
Starting point is 00:03:38 And rugby players just aren't right to begin with. So, you know, and then you put him in the enforcer role in the NHL. But yeah, yeah, there were guys that loved it. okay let's get to the swords here um and yeah man eric otter was raw bone tough let's get to the swords um i've tried this year like i've always maintained one of the reasons why i've always loved the buffalo sabers is and i i don't really cheer for teens but the closest i get is buffalo i go back to the french connection when i was a kid right growing up i was young my oh show bear apparel this is this is amazing but what i love about the buffalo sabers is to me
Starting point is 00:04:20 the Sabres are the perfect. I'm from a fans point of you here. They are the one market that isn't just an American team or a Canadian team. They're both because it's not just Buffalo fans from Buffalo that go there. It's St. Catharines. It's Hamilton. I love Buffalo because it's a combination of Canada and the United States coming together, you know, two countries fan bases coming together with one team. We don't have that anywhere else in the NHL. It's one of the most unique places, and that's why I've always loved it. So to watch what's happened to this Buffalo Sabres team, which has always been near and dirt in my hearts,
Starting point is 00:04:55 is just awful. And every year I say, please, just let the Buffalo Sabres be good this year. And for double-digit years, it hasn't happened. Where do you want to begin? Well, okay, so there's so much in there. But let me just start by saying this by kind of validating what you're saying. I grew up in St. Catharines. a lot of my buddies were Sabres fans.
Starting point is 00:05:20 Yep. But not only that, the Sabers had a ticket office in St. Catharines. Yes. In Ridley Plaza. So it's like, you know, we used to do our training camps in St. Catharines. And I feel like maybe that was part of why they drafted me in the second round. Like, I was raided there, but I also came from St. Catharines. And they had a heavy presence, you know, in southern Ontario.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Yeah. So I think that's true. And, you know, here's the thing I'll say about the Sabres at the time. Like, I wanted to be drafted by the Sabres. I mean, I was, I thought I was going to be a first round. Forget about how my career turned out. Like, I thought I was going to be a first round pick. And when I was, when the Sabres were up, I knew I had a great meeting with them.
Starting point is 00:06:10 And I know they were close to home. But that was a team I wanted to get drafted by because. I just remember going to games as a kid from the time I was 10, and the fans were absolutely insane, like insane. Because they're on top of you. Yeah, it was the old odd, right? Yeah. It was the old odd back then.
Starting point is 00:06:29 And it was, but, you know, and it was such a great hockey market and La Fontaine and McGilney. And I think the key word was pride. There was so much pride surrounding the Buffalo Sabres. Like it was such a proud community with a hard. hardworking team. And somehow in the last 15 years, and I don't know what's happened, but this fan base has died and kids don't even care that the Sabres are here. The hockey kids watch McDavid and, you know, Ikel and Vegas and all these other teams. And it's sad to go back to your point. And so where does it start? Well, like, where does that?
Starting point is 00:07:15 everything else start like i i think i kind of know why you guys asked me to come on today because i think you probably know how i feel yeah and it starts at the very top i mean it starts with with the owner and you know i could come to his defense uh if it you know if it really called for it but he's not doing himself any favors here by having an inexperienced GM and the management staff that he's surrounded himself with and the assistant general manager I mean, it's just, these aren't hockey guys. Like Kevin Adams has no experience as a general manager. You know, he showed it last year when they lost all those games that he sat on his hands
Starting point is 00:07:58 and the owner said the answer's in this room. And that's when you know that they have no idea what they're doing. And then they, you know, and the players know it. So how does this translate on the ice? Like I can sit here, I can sit here for 30 minutes and rip on the upper management and all this stuff. And it's deserving. I mean, it's totally deserving. They all deserve to be shredded verbally, and not only that, they all deserve to be fired.
Starting point is 00:08:22 They don't deserve to be in their positions to begin with. But how does this translate on the ice? You know, I think you got some young talent. I think you've missed on some draft picks. I think you've signed some guys to some contracts that are, like Owen Power is just proving to just, he's just not a good hockey player. I'm sorry. You know, you can say that with confidence after watching him with all these. these years and they never should have rushed them and signed them to that contract.
Starting point is 00:08:48 But I think morale from the player standpoint is at an all-time low. And, you know, it's very easy in a town like Buffalo when guys like me, you know, the media are all over them. We're all over them. We expect more. We have high expectations. And I think every time they turn a puck over, they can probably feel that. And they should because, you know, they're the ones on the ice.
Starting point is 00:09:12 But, you know, their coaching staff is just, I mean, like, Lindy was Terry's hire. I think we all know that. I think Kevin Adams, like when he said double-digit candidates, he interviewed, I really, I mean, there's just no way. That was, we knew it was Lindy before it was Lindy. I mean, you know, it's, we know who's running this team and we just, we see how it's going. And so, I mean, you can't trade the owner. You can't trade the owner. I will say that 0-1 is a double-digit, technically.
Starting point is 00:09:53 Yeah, I like that. So, I mean, basically what you're saying, Andrew, is that it's not about them not having enough. Well, actually, technically, zero-zero because he didn't interview him. Like, it was Terry's hired. That's true. He just got it installed. It's all fair.
Starting point is 00:10:08 It's just going to solve that. Inster any number here? insert any number here and it's it's still a lie so it does sound like it's not just the lack of palm trees in buffalo which is good to know but i guess the thing about terry that bothers me is what is it about him where they haven't had some you know like jim rutherford loo Lamarillo, guy who's won other places ruler of all he's
Starting point is 00:10:38 or vase type to come in there. I don't even mean it as an advisor. Either advisor or just someone to be president of hockey ops. It seems like the easiest thing for Terry Begoula to do is to throw money at somebody who's won before and then say here's autonomy.
Starting point is 00:10:55 Versus what he's done here, which is again, like what we all said when Adams was hired, Kevin from business affairs comes over and takes the job, then is basically a puppet for the Pagoolahs? Listen, I mean, there's so much in there because, you know, basically the end, the end statement there is kind of exactly what it boils down to, is you're dealing with a guy that is doing whatever the owner says. Like, I was, I was even told as recently as last week that
Starting point is 00:11:32 he's actually in on scouting and drafting players you know like making decisions wants to know yeah yeah and and um so like guys
Starting point is 00:11:49 we could tread this team all the way that you want but until until somebody like a Brennan Shanahan comes in or like you think it's Keck-a-Line and I don't know. Like, I don't know yet. You know, they brought in Jordan Stahl.
Starting point is 00:12:08 I mean, that's your special hockey advisor. You know, no experience there. I mean, like him as a guy, he's a great hockey player. But they don't really have a direction. They don't have a direction. Eric Stahl, by the way. What did I say, Jordan Stahl? Yeah, he's with Carolina.
Starting point is 00:12:27 That's fun. Sorry. We know, we know two of them, right? At least you didn't say Henry Stahl from Thunder Bay. As long as you didn't say the dad, then we're good, as long as it was one of the kids. You know, when I look at a team like the Seattle Cracken, okay, I say to myself, this looks like a team where there are too many people making decisions
Starting point is 00:12:53 or there are too many people that have influence on decisions. And I think the Buffalo Sabres story, Andrew, is twofold. One, two main inexperienced people on the ice and to your point about Kevin Adams as well off of it that are rushed into either big positions in an office or big positions on the ice before they're ready for it. I think inexperience is a big one here. The other is it feels to me, again, and I'm an outsider here. Andrew, I'm in the backseat, okay? I'm talking shit from the backseat.
Starting point is 00:13:25 but it appears to me it looks like and feels like there are too many people of influence here making decisions for this organization there's not to your point there's not there's not like the one the buck stops here general manager or president of hockey operations it feels like there's a lot of different people tugging a lot of different ways
Starting point is 00:13:50 with this Buffalo Sabres organization it's the way it looks and that's the way it feels well it's how the players you know look like they look baffled i mean the players look like they have no answers um you know you got an uh you got an aging coach you know like who who's also i don't know if you saw this uh pissed off about uh no o'sling getting sent down so yeah yeah like they're starting to be they're starting to be a little bit of disconnect um you know from what's going on because you know like you're you're in the situation you're in with the three goalies so you don't want to send a goalie down in case you lose one so you send oslin down who the coach was happy with playing and you know is is vocal about it um like you know everyone everyone sorry go ahead no i was if we could just pause on that on that lindy rough comment i'm glad you got us there because that lindy rough comment like that that to me is like that that's where fire alarms go off because that to me was lindy rough saying i can't i can't ice my best team.
Starting point is 00:14:54 I am, I cannot ice the team that I think gives us the best chance to win a game against the Calgary Flames. I can't do it. That to me is like, okay, fire alarm, fire alarm. Well then on top of it too, like, you know, maybe Lindy is at a point where he said the other day, like it's time for
Starting point is 00:15:10 some kind of drastic, you know, shake up in the line. And if he has no Oswald who probably deserves to be in the lineup, if you're looking at the 13 or 14 forwards there, and you can take out of Jack Quinn and maybe, you know, wake him up and give him a poke and put him in the press box. I mean, having a guy like Oslin, a young talent, always chomping at the heels of
Starting point is 00:15:32 some of the guys in the lineup, you know, kind of makes them all a little bit, a little bit honest. I mean, is Jordan Greenway? Is he 100% healthy? He's had a lot of maintenance days. Does, does that, does having Oslin allow you an opportunity to maybe sit him out and rest him a day on the trip on a back-to-back night because he's had maintenance days every day. I mean, I've never seen a guy. I play with Marty Breder in his late 30s. He didn't have this many maintenance days. Like, I mean, there's something going on there.
Starting point is 00:16:05 So, like, it handcuffs you and it handcuffs Lindy and, you know, you just wonder, like, you said perfectly, does it allow Lindy to coach the way he needs to coach him, wants to go even so Dahlin's great but he's great in service of a of a better team than the one that they have like it reminds me of like headman's great but headman's great within the context of a team that has Kuturoff and Stamcoast and all these others right power like you said hasn't necessarily actualized as a as a as a an elite NHL player.
Starting point is 00:16:52 Sometimes you get high draft picks and there isn't anybody there at the top of the draft for you. But sometimes you get the second overall pick and you end up with Jack Eichol. And so I guess my question is, is the original sin for this franchise right now the absolute botching of A, Eichol's early years
Starting point is 00:17:12 and B, the surgery piece that eventually led to him being traded to Vegas or would he have just left any way at some point or asked out anyway at some point because of how bad the team is. He might have asked out the year before there were rumblings about that. He did. Yeah, he did, right? But however.
Starting point is 00:17:30 Before the ADR situation, he asked out. Yeah, yeah. But however, you know, like, regardless of how you feel about a team's right or not, players around the league are the ones that you're actually trying to send a message to with how you handle players and not just any player. We're not talking a, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not talking like an Andrew Peters. We're talking about how you handle your star players, all that stuff.
Starting point is 00:17:59 And so, you know, like, when until, like, that's a stench. That's still going on. And look at Jack now. Jack is, you know, Jack talked Vegas real good boys. Jack talk, you know, that's a, that's a, you guys don't know that movie reference. I get a meet the parents reference. You know Merrick's not going to get to meet the parents reference. He certainly is going to get one that wasn't in the trailer.
Starting point is 00:18:27 You dropped the Jack Talk tie. Talk tie very well. And I'm going to get that, Peters. You're not going to get that. By the way, I'm sorry for spacing on the trade request before you're right. He did ask out before the surgery. And then there was some thought that the surgery was a way for him to kind of like maybe. Well, you know what?
Starting point is 00:18:44 I think, I think Andrew's point is a great one. Because I was, I was, listen, we just had Tyler. Johnson on a couple of weeks ago and one of the things I asked him was because he had ADR surgery as well and Joel Farabee had it as well like Jack Eichael was was the test case in the NHL other MMA football like a lot of other athletes have had it and this was my point while it was going on the whole time everybody's watching everybody's watching the Buffalo Sabres say no you're going to fuse your spine together and Jake Eichael said whoa whoa whoa whoa I want to be able to play with my kids and tie my own shoes
Starting point is 00:19:17 And not being pain, like my dad had spinal fusion a couple of different times. And towards the end of his life, like, it was agony. Like, I've seen it. And this is like Jack saying, I have autonomy over my body. I understand the relationship we have with our own team doctors here. But I think your point is the great one. That was a message to the entire NHL that they're saying no to Jack Eichol having a surgery that he wants to have, which has been proven safe in a number of other sports.
Starting point is 00:19:45 other sports, which, by the way, as much as we all respect the physicality of hockey, is more physical than the sport of hockey, football and MMA. And the rest of the NHL looked at that and said, what if that's me one day? What if... Jack's not getting kicked in the head, you know what I mean? Jack's not getting kicked in the head, no. Jack's getting kicked in the head. Yeah, yes.
Starting point is 00:20:07 And then it's the management staff, you know, that, like, you can say what you want about the doctors. come down to the doctors the doctors can give their opinion but in the end it ultimately comes down to the player and and what the player wants to do it you know like it's it's his body and how he wants to handle it so um i think that stench still lingers the team that will that follows kevin adams and you know i i will say this though i will say this i thought your conversation that i was listening to before i came on is fascinating and i think it directly affects the sabers. I mean, it's, I think it affects a lot of teams more than other teams, even, even teams in high market, uh, and high tax bracket states. But, um, but I think something like that too does
Starting point is 00:20:59 really affect the Buffalo sabers. The, the taxes and the tax breaks and all that stuff. And we're going to see with Alex tuck and what happens with him, um, you know, where he goes. If, if it comes What do you think happened for breaks? Look, I can't see. Do you think they, they, they, they get proactive and trade him before he leaves? I can't see him staying. I can't. Why would he stay? Like at this point,
Starting point is 00:21:21 like, does Dahlene not want out already? Does Tage not want out? I mean, you don't think that they go to dinner, the three veterans saying like, you are so lucky. You are so lucky, man. Like, it's like,
Starting point is 00:21:33 it's like the guy. It's like in the movie Rounders when he wins all the smokes off the guy. And he goes, he goes, let's go. You're being processed. He goes, process. Yeah, I'm out of here. He's out of here.
Starting point is 00:21:48 He's gone. He's close to the gate. Yeah, and they should move him. I don't know where, but I think, you know, I could find you five suitors that'll call for him in the off-season probably right now. So is there a chance that we're all being a little gun jumpy here? Like, is there a chance that they could throw something together? Like, Stathletes is the, is the analytics company that ESPN uses. And their playoff projections, I believe, have the Sabres a bit higher than a lot of teams
Starting point is 00:22:23 and so far as their ability to still make the dance. Like, is there a chance the season could be salvaged? Sure. Oh, yeah. I think what's saving them right now is the fact that the Eastern Conference is incredibly tight, tighter than we've ever seen a season, 30 games into a season. I don't think there's ever been, you know, you could easily have all 16 teams be over 500, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:50 in the conference, which is not heard of. So, you know, there's, I think there's seven points, eight points back today. I think we got the Olympics, you know, you got the two-week break. How many guys drink themselves out of the season, you know, over the break? I mean, do there, are there any injuries at the Olympics that affect other teams? I mean, the Sabres were, were bombed by injuries at the start. Maybe they get healthy at the right time.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Maybe they start, like, we just had Thomas Vanek on the pod today. And he said, he's like, after the Olympics, after, yeah, he's like, after the Olympics, he's like, he said, it's like a new season. He's like if a team like Buffalo is seven points out after the Olympics, Olympic break, and they win their first two, three games out of the gate, he's like, it's a whole new season for every single team. So could they turn it around? Yeah, yeah, they probably could.
Starting point is 00:23:47 But I have, I just, I have no faith that they, that they will because I just don't see it. I don't see the fire on the ice. I think that's number one. Just don't see the fire on the ice. Okay, let me close up. I'm going to spend the rest of the podcast trying to figure out, I'm going to spend the rest of the podcast trying to figure out why Merrick and I just reacted like you had Sidney Sweeney on the podcast when you said Thomas.
Starting point is 00:24:05 Thomas Vannick. And my last question of this interview is going to be about Thomas Vannock, too. Watch this. So I thought about him on Saturday. I thought about him and I thought about Marian Hosa and I thought about Brian Rolston when I saw Scott Lott and take that slap shot at the hash marks on the breakaway. How, because Vanek was, Vanek would do too, the slap shot on the hash marks. He'd also do that around the world with the puck.
Starting point is 00:24:30 And it freak goalies out and boom and Vanek would score. How is Thomas Vannick? right now. How is he doing? What's, what's the update for a couple of old Thomas Vanek fans? Well, you know, it would be wrong for me to not say you'll have to listen to the show. Oh, come on. Good hook. Good hook. She's in the trap. He's doing great. He's, uh, he's working with San Jose. He's doing some scouting. Mike Greer has surrounded himself with some great guys there. There are lots of veteran guys and experienced guys around him. And I'm going to tell you this.
Starting point is 00:25:07 I was hoping somehow we'd be able to talk about Vanner today because he's just, he is one of the most intelligent hockey people I've ever listened to and spoken to. Really? His perspective on things, his perspective on development. My favorite Thomas Vannick's story doesn't even involve him as a Buffalo Sabre.
Starting point is 00:25:32 It involves him as a father. And I remember I ran into it. him um he was i had retired and he was at niagara university taking his kid to hockey and i can't remember how old blake is now but blake plays for the what's the watatchi out in the c hl wet notchy wet not yeah wet notchi yeah so blake vannock is thomas his son he was a fourth rounder by ottawa but i remember when blake was a kid and he was at niagara university and i was there i was doing color commentating for the niagara university uh purple eagles game and Thomas was there
Starting point is 00:26:07 and I walked in I was asking him about his kid and I was like what if he doesn't want to go like does he love hockey he goes not every day I was like so what happens when he doesn't want to go he goes we don't go
Starting point is 00:26:17 that's awesome I was like so so like your kid says I don't go to hockey and you just say I don't go even though you're a pro athlete and commitment is something that we're supposed to you know drive into our kids and he said he said no
Starting point is 00:26:32 I want my kid to love going to the rank. And then when he loves going to the rank, he'll be committed to his craft or to his sport. And I'm just like, I've never forgotten that. And all these years later, we get to see Blake, you know, drafted in the NHL and Thomas working in the NHL. And it's just no, he'll be a general manager someday. You mark my words. He'll be a general manager. He's just too brilliant. And the way he thinks about building a team and culture and character and physical. cal at everything he's just guys brilliant that's yeah that's fantastic great you got a last glad you asked about yeah oh yeah yeah oh absolutely man we're fanboing here uh one last thing
Starting point is 00:27:15 you mentioned the odd before what if you made about all of this uh consternation over the ice size for the olympics as someone who played at the odd okay so see i was a player rep guys so i always have wanted to think outside the box how to make the game better and i think the now is two cookie cutter the game is great when you had when you had ranks that were huge like hey we're going we're going into the 200 by 100 but now tomorrow night we're going into buffalo and it's 194 by 80 you know what I mean and teams could build their their teams could build their rosters based around the ice surface that they had like I probably wouldn't have been a second round traffic in the NHL if I played in Belleville like they had the huge size rinker yeah huge ice but
Starting point is 00:28:04 I played in Oshawa where it was a tiny rink, you know, the distance from the corner to the net, you could be robust, crash and bang, take that puck to the net, and it wasn't, and your angles were different, and it was just, it was, it was easier for a big guy. And I just think that, you know, I remember watching Eric Lindros playing the odd back in the day, and I'm like, Jesus, this guy was built for, he was built for a small rink. And, you know, like, I just, I like, that. So I like players being out of their comforts, but it would give a whole new meaning to home ice advantage.
Starting point is 00:28:40 100%. I love that we're all singing from the same hymn book on this one. What kind of player would you have been? I keep saying last question. What kind of player would you have been if you played in Peterborough with those tight corners? Well, same as in Oscewa. But, I mean,
Starting point is 00:28:56 um, Peterborough going into, I remember those corners. And if anyone doesn't know, about the Peterborough corners, you've got to go look at them. It is like playing in a cardboard box. It's like you shoveled them out with,
Starting point is 00:29:11 out of a corner. But there was not much space in there. But the puck moved so fast around those boards. So, you know, when you're a winger and the defenseman rimmed the puck, it comes around so fast and you've got to be ready. And they had the higher boards. So when you get hit,
Starting point is 00:29:30 it would be your lower back too. And yeah, It was, that was a, I've missed those old junior ranks, man. It was, they're all different. They're all different. And you go to St. Mike's and it's 180 by 80 and you're like, this is what we're talking about. You build your team differently. I always played well in St. Mike's.
Starting point is 00:29:47 I'm not like it's. Small barn. Amazing you say that. Yeah. Played well in St. Mike's when I was playing in the, in the MTHL for the North York Canadians. I mean, I always played well in a small rank because believe it or not, I had really good hands. It was just, it was the mobility.
Starting point is 00:30:02 So less space. these good hands, you know, I was good in those areas. By the way, you just dropped an age indicator calling it the MTHL, because I played in it when it was the MTHL. Now it's, of course, the GTHL, the notorious. I love that one. Listen, we've kept you longer than you probably expected. Oh, that's awesome.
Starting point is 00:30:22 Listen, thanks so much for stopping by, sharing your expertise and dropping some cool Thomas Vannock stories. You know, listening to that one, I remember some Matthew Barzel talking about that, too. Like, there were days where it's like, Dad, I don't feel. feel like going. I just want to go ride my bike. And his dad, I'd be like, okay, fine. Yeah. And how many other parents in the then MTHL, now GTHL would say, you made a commitment and you're going to practice, and you're going to this game, and you got the silver stick coming up on the, ridiculous. Ridiculous. I have a 12-year-old son. He'll be 13 in April. He's not a
Starting point is 00:30:54 hockey player. But every day that he talks about how he feels about his sports, I think about what Thomas said, and I always take it into account. You know what I mean? It's like my dream for him is not, maybe not his dream for him. So, God will let him. I'll help him. I'll guide him, you know, give him a little bit of expertise, but I can't, you know, I can't force him. Amen.
Starting point is 00:31:17 You're the best. Thanks so much for doing this. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks for stopping. Yeah, you guys. Thank you. day this month I can't get out
Starting point is 00:31:37 my head lost all ambitions day to day because I can call it all right I went to the dark mad and tried to give me a little medicine I'm like now and that's fine I'm not against those methods
Starting point is 00:31:54 but new it's me and myself and how this is going to be fixing my mind to go on the bracket I turned to on the music I do want to bang you're on the music
Starting point is 00:32:10 that's enough there about that you sometimes losing have been on the days that we're wrong in the dead dark night

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