The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Erin Ambrose

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Erin Ambrose joins Jeff Marek to discuss her minor hockey playing days, the Montreal Victoire, the current state of the PWHL, and her upcoming game in Toronto____________________________________________________________________________________________Up Close with Stephen BruntApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/trailer/id1784718713?i=1000680017895Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0qQNAp0eleA4H3vuuWOZWp?si=196f81830f374255Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/1285b1e8-82fd-4d00-ae34-f48d596dd1ce/up-close-with-stephen-brunt____________________________________________________________________________________________Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Our first guest of the day is Erin Ambrose. No stranger to any show that I've ever been on. Love talking to Erin. One of the most thoughtful and eloquent players in the entire PWHL. She is Erin Ambrose of the Montreal Victoire.

She joins me now. Hello, Defending Defender of the Year. Hi. That's a nice way to put it, Defending Defender. Yeah, Defending Defender. Listen, you've won Defender of the Year in a couple of different leagues as well. You've also won gold medals in the Olympics and the World Championships, And you probably don't want to think about things like Hall of Fame. But then when I start looking at the resume, Ambrose, like you've kind of Walter Cup, maybe on the horizon, this like you kind of been

successful everywhere. I'm just trying to make you blush to start this off, by the way. Yeah, I don't like it. This is not a hot start for us. It's been a while since've talked and i don't know if i like this starting point well i'm just trying i'm just trying to butter you up i'm going to hammer you with the tough questions coming up later on uh first of all great to see and hear from you again um second of all uh the victoire uh and the second season of the pwhl in montreal i know that linea mania is running wild right now in Montreal, but give us before I do want to ask you about lining, but give us a sense of how the second season, and I was only in a few games, how the second season has been,

I've been going from Montreal and the, and the impact it's having in Quebec and the impact in Quebec too. Yeah, I think it's been off to a good start. You kind of touched on it a little bit earlier that we've had the last week off week and a bit um so it's in that sense it's been a little bit of a lull just because i think we got off and running our home opener was phenomenal like our hockey ops team i hate to admit it as a toronto maple leafs fan but like Montreal Canadiens game,

like I think a lot of people agree that things at the Bell Centre are done differently. And to be honest, I think that's the exact same case with us, with the Victoire. Like our opening ceremonies for the season were incredible. They always do such a good job. And then to play in a sellout building in front of all the fans in Laval,

like it was fantastic. Obviously we didn't quite follow it up with a good showing against New York, but all in all, I think it's been pretty good. And then pretty cool to go back to the Canadian Tire Center where in 2007, I won an OHF championship with York Simcoe Express. Speaking of York Simcoe Express at this point, I want to 08 Draft Championship with York Simcoe Express. Speaking of York Simcoe Express, at this point, I want to bring on Zach Phillips, who has fond memories of an

Aaron Ambrose. We were talking about this yesterday, and I'm like, oh, you've got to come on and tell Aaron about this. Zach, say hello to Aaron. You want to share your memories of Aaron Ambrose? Yeah. I talked to Aaron earlier today, but I got to tell her, I was like like when i was growing up i played for the express i lived in aurora i got to watch aaron play for the express and she was

on that team of the team who was on that team uh there was uh chris tierney was on that team uh sean walker was on that team a couple of nhl players uh i think connor crisp i think is who was on that team as well uh kate martini was on that team uh so there was a plenty of people to watch every single time we go watch them but yeah i got to watch aaron growing up she's on the team i was playing minor hockey for a few years older okay so a couple of things there really quickly one who was the captain and two aaron welcome to the i watched you when i was growing up do you listen i think he actually said it three or four times when he was talking about it you know what it's kind of like no it's like it's like peppermint patty and the teacher for me when zach starts talking and saying they have to excuse me what are your

memories what are your memories of of uh of that that era? Because you were captaining that team, Eric Simcoe Express, AAA team, the OMHA, really successful team, always has been, still continues, great program. What do you remember from them? And a young Chris Cherney, and a young Walker, and a young Crisp, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I remember Connor Crisp,

I think he would have been playing A with like the Alliston, I don't even know, Cyclone, something like that. Okay. And he came up. So he wasn't there right away when I started playing. But Chris, Sean, and I joined at the same time because we were with the Jordanian Ablaze before that. And I can tell you,

Sean Walker was not the Sean Walker that he is today. He was probably under five feet until he was in grade nine, maybe. Like the guy did not hit a growth spurt until I think he went to college at Bowling Green. But it was, he was always the most fierce, like he would, because we were allowed to hit back then too. And he was the most physical. I've always said I've never had chemistry on ice like I did with Chris Tierney. I mean, played together on every single team, whether it was summer hockey, regular season stuff, until I went to girls hockey. So he was one of the smartest players I've ever, ever crossed paths with.

Very similar to me in the sense like skating was never his strong suit, but he always found a way to be in the right place at the right time. And then I'd have to say with York Simcoe, one of my biggest memories was our rivalry with Marley's Toronto Marley's, which was Scott Lawton, Matt Finn, Connor Brown. I could go on Liam O'Brien, Matt Pellich, like I could go on Liam O'Brien Matt Pellich like I could go on and on on those players okay who out of them I'm guessing it was Scott Lawton who at the that GTL GTHL prospects game at Herb Carnegie and I mean I

got they got in a fight with Tom Wilson the first and Lawton caught him too and Wilson's always wanted the return match and Lawton's like no I'm retiring 1-0 with you was Lawton the best player on that team? He was really good. Who was it?

Chris Marchese was really, really good. And then something Marc-Antoni. Marc-Antoni was unbelievable. He was unbelievable fast skilled i don't know i don't know what his first name was but he was and matt finn on the back end like yeah yeah and i think if you kind of look at uh their careers too him and matt pellett like matt pellett was always like he was around but but it was Matt Finn who was the offensive guy. They also had like, I could honestly go down that list because they had a guy who went to Cornell

and I would cross paths with him whenever he played ECACs. I'm trying to remember his, it's going to slip my mind now. But like that Marley's team was stacked. And it's funny you talk about Tom Wilson because I don't think I ever played against him in AAA. He would have been JRC then. He played JRC. Yeah.

And I don't know if we ever actually crossed paths with JRC but I played against him in AA when he played for North Toronto. Yeah. He was a legend at North Toronto as we all know. Was he as aggressive then as he is now? I don't remember. I just am pretty darn sure that we got our asses kicked by North Toronto. And I just remember their uniforms.

I can remember a lot of games, and I remember we got crushed. Those were great uniforms, green and red, green, red, and white. Green, beautiful. And then right across North Toronto Arena was Burger Shack, which all the kids would go to for fries. And the best onion rings in Toronto at Burger Shack. But I digress. The Victoire.

How would you compare your team this year to last year? Oh, you're going back to last year. We don't talk about that. All the way back. I know. Listen, whenever I talk to Sarah Nurse, it's the same thing. year oh you're going back to last year we don't talk about all the way back i know i listen i whenever i talk to sarah nurse it's the same thing oh it's put in the part of park it park it rearview mirror bigger and better um first and foremost like i think it's it's it's obvious our depth has improved immensely um i think the thing that's been really exciting to me personally is I've been able to

really build a friendship with Kayla Barnes like I have competed against Barnes forever um like I remember when she made the 2018 Olympic team I obviously didn't make Canada but um seeing her there at that age I was like damn this girl's got got a lot of something and when we picked her up in the draft I remember Corey kind of turned around and looked at me and I was beaming from year to year um so to have her around and to have her back healthy is great as well obviously a very concerning incident when we played in the rivalry series and she went down like that was something that now we're in the middle of a battle against us, but you're sitting there and being like our season's right around the corner.

So I'm glad she's back healthy. And I think there's just a lot of things that we're working through some kinks. The, as much as it's been a little bit of a lull, not having games, it's been really good to just honestly practice and, and continue to get on the same page with each other and um i'm excited for our game in toronto on saturday that's gonna be fun i don't i want to get to the uh to the benefit as well um for that game on saturday coca-cola coliseum in a couple of seconds but uh in our chat right now there's a the beginning of a

discussion about contact in the pwhl i know that you like it slash love it um there are some games and i think it was the opener where marie marie philippe poulain got a minor for contact which i looked at and i try not to slam referees too much but like i'm like that's a clean but rough like really violent body check but it's a it's a it's a clean hit. Because it's almost like almost a European, like an international standard, the way that it's called, will allow checking, but sometimes if the check is too hard, we're going to call the penalty on it. How do you feel about the way that body checking is called

in the PWHL right now? I think it's tough because we're three games in um i think we've got a better understanding this year of where things are and what is and what isn't allowed but there definitely are times where you see a little bit of inconsistency. And I think the biggest thing about that penalty, and I remember us talking about that, was like Ottawa is an extremely, extremely physical team, and they finish majority of their checks, and as they can, as they should, if that's what they want to do.

So like you said, just I think a bigger, louder hit. That was kind of called, but I think it's just a matter of can we find the consistency like i'm all for i hate it obviously as a defenseman when somebody's on the forecheck and i'm getting finished through the glass every time like that's the worst part about being a d but uh i also know that it's a part of our game now do you like it or do you love it i'll go with like it i don't think i love it um a little like i could beep up a little bit like make me a lot slower but i think i would make me like hockey or the hitting a little bit more uh um you know i i look at the league this year and um you know ottawa is and Ottawa is improved. New York is really improved.

And again, it is still early, but Sarah Fillier has come in and we've been talking about Sarah Fillier for a long time. I remember once getting a phone call from you saying you have to get to the hockey factory to see this kid, Sarah Fillier. She's going to be a star.

Fillier, Carpenter, and Elridge. The best line, with all due respect, the best line in the PWHL right now? Well, it's tough. I've only played two teams, so playing against them, I can say yes.

One of which, the games against ottawa they didn't have ryan jenner who's top 10 forward in the world like yes with all due respect i will say they're the top line that i've played against i'll put it that way okay okay and i think the best thing if i'm going to give them a compliment, which yes, I will, is they have so much variations of strength. That was not great English. But I think it's just Alex Carpenter, I think, has been underappreciated and under-recognized her entire career. She's fast.

Her shot is lethal. Her shot is lethal. Her vision is incredible. And I think she plays on both sides of the puck really, really well. You look at Sarah Philly, and obviously she's got a knack for scoring goals. She's so skilled offensively. I think moving her to the wing, I think she was a great center, but moving her to the wing allows her to just kind of play a little bit more free um and then to be honest i think and they kind

of moved eldridge off that line a little bit uh i think it was their last game but i think eldridge is almost like their anchor because jess sees the game so well um and she puts her line mates and her teammates in really good spots and i say that obviously from playing against her, but also from playing with her. And I think that the three of them together is what makes them really dynamic. But obviously they've been keeping Carpenter and Fillier together no matter what.

And I think that that's something that really does help the two of them. And then kind of their third, I think, can be added. The strength of them can be increased even more with how good Jesse is. Okay, so a couple of questions. Big Willie style. What's the best away arena to play in? And James Webler, what about half shields in the PWHL? So I'll go with the first one.

The best, I'm wondering what we're going to consider best, but I would say playing in Ottawa is pretty incredible. Their fans are loud. The rink is not my favorite rink in the sense of actually playing on it. It's a very like square ice surface. I don't know if you've ever been to a 67 game, but that group is, or that group,

that fan base is so loud and the way their rink is with them being right on top of you. Like it's an amazing atmosphere. It's difficult. It's difficult as a, an opposition kind of going in there, but I would say that one's the best one to go to just because it's so incredible.

And I would say Toronto, but we only played in Mattaby once last year, and then we were at Scotiabank, and we were in Pittsburgh, so we didn't really have a ton of home games in Toronto. You're looking forward to Saturday, though. You mentioned Coca-Cola Coliseum. That's going to be a special one, and a special one for Erica Howe.

Scepter's net minder in the summer was diagnosed with breast cancer. And this is cancer awareness night for the Toronto Scepters. I know this is a, this is a big one for you. It is. I've been fortunate, honored, blessed to know Howie for a very long time played U18s with her in 2010 kind of was around her throughout Hockey Canada and her career there uh played two years with her at Clarkson University and I think the best thing about Howie is the caring and loving and giving human that she is.

And she's in a hell of a fight right now. And I think that it, it really hits home in the sense of the athlete, the person that she is and to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Like I couldn't, I could barely accept it myself for her. So just really trying to make sure that, yeah, we bring awareness to not only her, but, and I know that she hates that kind of focal point on her, but trying to help out her and her wife and their family and the struggles that financially they're going to be put

through right now, and obviously the support that they do need. But I know Howie really wants to make sure that we're raising a lot of money for breast cancer awareness in general. For everybody else, it's also dealing with these things. Outstanding person. And should come to no surprise that she is a firefighter. Again, trying to help people as much as she can. Hard pivot, back to chat questions.

James Webler's question about half shields. Don't duck it. Half shields in the PWHL. Don't duck it, Ambrose. No chance. This is where... Sorry, James. Women are often seen as a little more smart than men.

A little. A little bit. Like men. A little. A little bit, like often, most of the time. So let's just sit here and think about it for a second. You play a game that's a contact sport. You have sticks in your hand. There's a puck that moves, let's say, close to 100 kilometers an hour on the ice sometimes.

Why would I want to ruin this face? Ask Zach Hyman. Exactly. We're taking one of the jaw a couple of days ago. Like, no, thank you. I have a cage on. Like, everybody, I understand that people want to see our faces, but do you want to see my face once I leave the rink if I've been hitting the face with a box? Like, no. You can see my face when I'm on rink if I've been hit in the face with a buck like no

okay let me let me follow with this if there was the option how many women do you think would go to the half shield it's hard for me to really speak for everybody but I was gonna say like have you have you had conversations someone said like

oh yeah I throw on the windshield tomorrow? No. I would say three or four maybe on a team. Maybe. Uh-huh. I don't even know if I would wear a visor at a charity game or anything just for fun, where it's not

super competitive. anything like just for fun, like where it's not super competitive, like. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you,

whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. This is a moneymaker. We talked about the face for radio. I'm on a podcast right now. This is a moneymaker. We've talked about the face for radio. I'm on a podcast right now.

This is a moneymaker. I love it. Okay, let me ask you about Line A Mania. I mean, you're in Montreal. The ovation last year at the Bell Centre. I can recall the loudest I've ever heard that rink. It wasn't for a hockey game. It was for UFC GSP versus Diaz and the place went but it

was it was the loudest I've ever heard the bell center and watching your game last year against Toronto when Marie-Philippe Poulin was introduced I said that's a GSP reaction that those fans had to that player give us a sense of of where line is fitting in right now. Hattrick last night against the Buffalo Sabres. They're loving them like crazy. Is this like, cause you're there. Is this like legit line a mania in Montreal right now?

Well, I will say that seeing as this is my second media hit in two days, one of which was before the Habs game yesterday yeah and Patrick Wynne was brought up and I believe last week with that same media hit Patrick Wynne was brought up so yeah I'd say it's pretty evident um but it was crazy to me I don't know if you saw his uh post-game Yes. But he said if he didn't score three goals, which were all power play goals, he was below average, average player out there yesterday. And I think that, to me, shows that he's getting it.

I feel like he's always been known, obviously, for his goal scoring, and he's got an ability, like you were talking about his shot earlier. He's got this ability to change games with that scoring touch but now you can see his maturation and hey it's not just about scoring goals i need to make a difference out on the ice in general um i went to their game last week against anaheim and i mean can't speak for him but i would think his statements were pretty similar to what they were last night. And he didn't score three goals or a goal given that, but when he moves his feet, he makes things happen.

When you kind of see him start to do his railway tracks, his feet are there and I'll give him credit. He's got a long reach and he's got a big butt to kind of protect the puck. But at the same time, I think a lot more opens up for him and for others when he does move his feet because he can move for a big guy. Like he's got some, he's got some feet on him. And I think that that's something that he's got to use to his advantage. And I think that's going to make the impact for him away from the puck even more.

Let me close on this. This is from the chat as well. This is from J rock. This is the most positive I have felt about women's hockey because it is a joy to watch and seems like it's building well on last year's success. Does the forecast of the future look the same to you that from J rock, the momentum question from one, because like last year, last year everything

worked, like for the all the questions that we had okay this is where it's going to go off the rails this is where it could go in the ditch, it didn't like everything worked nothing's going to be perfect but by and large everything worked really well for the PWHL this year and there's a real momentum coming

into this season the future of the pwhl according to aaron ambrose is what one word or can i go more oh no no feel free feel free take as many use as many words uh future broadcaster podcaster as you choose uh i think the future is, is endless. Like I think about, like you talked about last year and it did go off. Like it exceeded everybody's expectations without a doubt. And I think the most incredible thing is it exceeded our expectations with six months runway, seven months. Yeah. Like if you actually think about it,

it's insane what we were able to do last year it's insane the amount of momentum we built the product that we put out on the ice but i think that was the thing is that we never doubted the product that we had nobody's ever sat here that's a part of this league we have like all the business operation side of things that's one thing but each and every athlete sat here and was like we know what is in this league skill wise we know what is in this league play wise and it was just a matter of us getting this product out to other people and people seeing it like i think the most insane thing to me right now is I see people with my jersey on walking around.

What's that feel like? That's a new normalcy. It's insane. The only ones that usually wear my jerseys are me and they hang back here or my family because I buy them for them and they have to wear them. Like, this is what we're becoming and this is what like it's unbelievable it's so cool and i think that i think there's a lot of things that kind of have to align in order for expansion to occur but i think that the fact we're talking about it like it's so bright and beyond all else the product on the ice has gotten better this year and that is the best part

because our play continues to elevate and it's like yeah maybe you're not in the market where a team is or maybe you don't get to see us quite as often as people that live in these markets do but you turn on tv whatever channel we're on if it's's TSN, Prime, CBC, or you're in the States and you're on YouTube, it's like you sit there and this game is phenomenal. Yep, it keeps getting better. And obviously I'm biased, but I'm also sitting there talking day in and day out, or else I'm not going to add anything to my group.

It's great. One of the things that I always talk to people about is, you know, now that there's almost like exponential growth in the women's game, you watch, we, and this is no offense to Marie-Philippe Poulin, but there's going to be another Marie-Philippe Poulin. And then there's going to be another. No, no, that is where. There is.

Just like there was another Gretzky and another Lemieux. And one day there'll be another Connor McCabe. There wasn't another Gretzky or another Lemieux, and one day there'll be another Conor McGee. There wasn't another Gretzky or another Lemieux. Oh, there had. Listen, when you talk about, no, I'm talking about sitting on the shoulders of those that came before Ambrose. Sitting on the shoulders of those that came before is what I'm talking about. I get that point.

But you're going to tell me that somebody else is going to come in and score a goal in every gold medal game that they play okay well that's okay the the one area where relief relief plan has every player male female animal vegetable it doesn't matter where she has all of them licked is clutch is clutch goals that win okay that is the one place i can see. I don't know that women's or men's side, if there's going to ever be anyone that does that. But I'm saying as far as skill set goes, because now it's just building

blocks. Now it's just building blocks. Okay, love your mug. Love you. Thanks for stopping by as always. Good luck against the Scepters on Saturday. Thank you, sir. Hopefully, we'll be back on here again soon. You will be very soon she is aaron ambrose a defender for the montreal victoire in action again saturday at the coca-cola coliseum

against I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day Guess you can call it a run I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself, and others Gonna be fixing my mind

I turned on the record I turned on the music It's me, myself, and others Gonna be fixing my mind I do want a bracket I turned on the music I do want a bracket I turned on the music It's enough, enough, enough That you sometimes lose it I've been on the dance the way I roll Mmm, in the dead dark night

If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it.

Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca.