The Sheet with Jeff Marek - Stay Golden ft. Gary Lawless & Erin Ambrose

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Jeff Marek is joined by Gary Lawless and Erin Ambrose to break down the Vegas Golden Knights at the halfway point of the season, the Washington Capitals dominance, Corey Perry, and the Victoire's win over the Sceptres in front of 19,000+ peopleShout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/SHOW INDEX00:00 Intro08:52 FanDuel Daily Outline15:52 Gary Lawless34:02 Vegas Golden Knights34:48 Corey Perry38:56 Erin Ambrose51:35 Closing ThoughtsReach 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.

Yes, I'll be fine. Everything's alright. The sun's gonna come up tomorrow. Daniel Sprung cleared waivers. I want to thank all the well-wishers. I want to thank all the notes, all the DMs, all the messages on social media and otherwise. In this very sensitive time for your humble host, I really appreciate it. Zach, there will be no chanting today. There will be no linking with the universe today. I kind of thought this might happen. I mentioned it this morning with Johnny Lazarus on the morning cup of hockey. That's, I didn't think he was gonna get claimed. And Daniel Sprong did not get claimed today by anybody. Okay, welcome to the program.

Welcome to Thursday. And I was supposed to have Colby Cohen on the program today. We try to, with our Thursday shows, try to have a guest from the Nation Network slash Daily Face Off each and every week was supposed to be Colby but then he's come down with something horrible and horrible enough that he couldn't make his own show this morning. More on that coming up in a couple of moments. In the meantime, Zach, I want to ask you about one person who used to play in an organization where you played hockey. And that person is Connor McDavid. When you played at YSC, before he went to the to the Marlies in the

GTHL, when you played at YSC, that's York Simcoe Express, in New Market, it's a little bit north of the city of Toronto for the uninitiated. How much do people talk about Conor McDavid? How much conversation was there about McDavid? A lot. He's a year older than me, so he was playing a year up, and then I think being called up two years up at that point in time.

His team was practicing and playing before us each night, so we saw and heard a lot of Connor McDavid. And right now, so you watch McDavid play a ton then I'm guessing. Yeah, pretty decent amount. Yeah. Okay. And did you know like right away like, okay, yeah, this guy is special. This guy's different. This guy is gonna

gonna go but even at a tender age, everyone knew like, okay, because we've seen guys float through before and never worked out. But McDavid was just different at that point, right? Because even at a tender age, everyone knew like, okay, because we've seen guys float through before and never worked out, but McDavid was just different at that point, right? Yeah, yeah. Like I remember watching him, I wanna tell you a story about Connor McDavid, but I remember watching him

when he played with the Marlies of the GTHL and as a team with Sam Bennett was on that team, Jaden Lindo, Jeremiah Addison, Josh Hosing, Roland McEwen would have been on that team. Lindo, Jeremiah Addison, Josh Hosing, Roland McEwen would have been on that team. Like it was a stacked team, like really, really good team. Like a lot of players that ended up playing pro hockey, a lot of guys that got drafted ended up playing on that team.

And I can recall at that time, getting a phone call from Jeff Jackson, who was then an agent running his own company called Next Level Sports. Okay, and his main clients were Sam Gagne, Ben Harper, if you remember that name, big tough, sometimes forward, sometimes a defenseman, Connor Brown, who would have already have been drafted by the Maple Leafs, but wasn't signed.

I think those were his main three. And I remember Jeff calling me and saying, get in your car, I want you to see the future of hockey. And I'm like, oh geez, who are you dragging me as? This guy I'm trying to get, kid I'm trying to recruit. Connor McDavid, Connor McDavid, this guy I'm trying to recruit, I'm like, okay. So I go and I meet him, I think I'm gonna go

and meet him at the Hershey Center. I might have been doing OHL Cup now that I think about it. And I go to watch McDavid and he's like, yeah, I'm working with, I'm talking to his dad, Brian, all the time, trying to make it work, trying to get him on board. Like this guy's gonna be an absolute star. And I remember watching McDavid

and everybody else is playing like they're 15 years old, like and highly skilled. Like Josh Ho saying is deking out the entire team and then circling back in the neutral zone just so he could do it again before scoring. Like everybody was doing that because they were just so good and they were in love with all of their skill. But Conor McDavid, like as a 14 year old,

cause he was playing a year up, Conor McDavid was playing like a professional. Like he looked like a professional hockey player. There was like no minor slash youth hockey in him at all. The reason I bring this up, one, Edmonton's playing Pittsburgh tonight and tomorrow in Erie, the Erie Otters are retiring his number 97. So I can remember so, and I would talk to Jeff Jackson every single day. Now, of course, you know, the top dog of the Edmunds.

He's the CEO of the team. Interesting how things all work out. So he's trying to recruit Connor McDavid. And I get a phone call from, from Jax one day, and he says, I'm out. I said, what do you mean you're out? He goes, I'm out on Conor McDavid. He sounds like, ah, so down trying to put in so much work. I go, what happened? He says,

he had the Bobby Orr breakfast. And I'm like, what? The Bobby Orr breakfast? What's the Bobby Orr breakfast? And so the Bobby Orr breakfast, I don't think Bobby Orr did this for all of the clients he was trying to recruit, maybe just the special ones, I don't know. But the Bobby Orr breakfast, I don't think Bobby Orr did this for all of the clients he was trying to recruit, maybe just the special ones, I don't know. But the Bobby Orr breakfast would work like this. So imagine trying to recruit against us for a second, Zach, okay? So what Bobby Orr would do is, you know, when he's trying to recruit a kid, he'd say, look, I'm going to be in the area, do you mind if I just show up and have a chat with the family meet the kid blah blah blah blah blah and so sure enough Bobby

Orr shows up and it's you know around the kitchen table and the memorabilia comes out and Bobby's signing everything and he's just like super charming. Bobby Orr right? Bobby Orr sit in my kitchen what is this crazy life is this? He's talking about my kid and then the conversation turns you know from like memories of Bobby or playing with the Bruins and Stanley Cups and all these types of things and from there it turns into now let me tell you what or group can do for your son and how are you going to look at Bobby or in the eyes sitting across from you, your family, and your kid.

At that point, he's waving in front. No, how are you going to say no to Bobby? It's called the Bobby Orr Breakfast. It was sort of legendary in agent circles. And Conor McDavid and his family, Brian and Kelly, ended up signing with Bobby Orr Group. But interesting, so Jeff Jackson, again, as I mentioned, had his own business representing players. And at that point, Darren Farris was leaving Bobby Orr Group and Farris handled all the kids in Ontario. So that would have been Connor McDavid

and Aaron Ekblad would have been the big two. Ekblad would have been playing with the Barry Colts. And Bobby Orr, because Ricky Curran, who would have been an agent with Bobby Orr Group, Rick Curran, who used to represent Jeff Jackson when he played in the OHL and then the NHL, asked him if he'd like to come in and join Bobby Orr Group. And amongst the people that he would represent

would be Connor McDavid. So he goes from losing out because of the Bobby Orr group and amongst the people that he would represent would be Connor McDavid. So he goes from losing out because of the Bobby Orr breakfast to getting Connor McDavid and now of course as the CEO of the Edmonds and Oilers he runs the entire operation. Long-winded way of saying that Connor McDavid is facing off against Sidney Crosby. Oh by the way, there's a really good piece in the athletic, Josh Yowie, talking about the first time he went to see Conor McDavid, took Paul Steigerwald along with him, Dan Bilesma as well.

It was a game, a couple of games, one of them were against the London Knights in Harrington and Model at 15-year-old Conor McDavid, Dansem. It's a really, really interesting story. There is a picture that's floating around the internet. I'm gonna try to see if I can find it afterwards. When Connor was 15 years old him and Hayden Hodgson and I think Stephen Harper went to Pittsburgh and met both Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux.

Have you seen this picture? The 15 year old Connor McDavid? The picture is out there somewhere of Connor McDavid standing next to Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux. Yeah, I know what you're doing, Zach. You're a good producer instinct. So you're like, okay, my host is saying go look for this dum-dum. And well done. So that's floating around there somehow. Anyway, just starting the show off today with a little bit of Connor McDavid talk. Looking forward to tonight's McDavid versus. Did you already find it? Yeah, I've got it. You have that look in your face,

you can try to get it up. Okay, before you get it up on the air, let's get to our daily outlines of the show today. We got a big one planned for you today, as we always do. Daily outline presented by FanDuel, North America's number one sports book app provider. Oh, look at that, number one topic. I hope Colby and Laz are watching, although I think Laz is on his way to Denver. Maybe he's

already there. Best morning cup of hockey ever. Well, Zach, I don't know if that's just because Vic says so. That's their producer by the way. Okay, so we'll get to that a little bit later on as well. The Washington Capitals and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Did it not just seem like yesterday we were talking about and I was throwing in my blog about how you know Spencer Carberry has gotten through to Pierre-Luc Dubois and this is the Pierre-Luc Dubois that Columbus wished it had and Winnipeg wished it had and the Los Angeles Kings wished it had. That Pierre-Luc Dubois is very much alive and well in Washington this year and last night was exhibit A, B and C. Third topic I have no idea what this one is all about. Zach says it's gonna be a surprise. Sad day, bad day? You kind of ruined it.

Oh. It's sprung cleared waivers. Oh is that it? I didn't know you were gonna lead the show with it. What did you think I was gonna lead with? You know me for long enough. I take the low hanging fruit it's still nutritious. Okay so sad day bad day, Sprong clears waivers. We'll see what happens now and also on the program today. Sad day bad day, that's good. The ruthless, Gary Lawless. Now I use ruthless around Gary, he's a Vegas Golden Knights insider. There's someone in Vegas who really hates it when I say that Vegas is ruthless even though as I've told people in Vegas before I mean it as a compliment. This team is singularly focused on winning a

Stanley Cup and it doesn't matter what they break or who they offend along the way. This is the ruthless pursuit of the Stanley Cup so I'm just gonna gonna start calling Gary Lawless ruthless, and I will do that in about five or ten minutes here when he joins us. And we'll talk plenty about the Vegas Golden Knights. You know, there are just some teams that you look at throughout the year and you say, okay, trade deadline is not too far away. You'll wonder what this team is gonna try to load up on. And you look at Vegas and you say, like, where are the holes?

What do you need? And they don't really need anything. I mean the answer is always depth defensemen. Everybody looks for depth defensemen but it's a murderer's row on the back end for the Vegas Golden Knights and up front they got great goal tending and they're well coached. So we'll talk to Gary about the Vegas Golden Knights and we'll talk to Aaron Ambrose about a few things. One, playing in front of 19,000 yesterday at Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks and home of an outstanding game between the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Scepters. Now this is all part of the takeover tour and

we saw a game in Seattle, we'll get to that in a couple of seconds, Montreal-Boston and there's another takeover tour game in Denver at Ball Arena coming up on Sunday when Montreal faces off against Minnesota. So we'll talk to Aaron about these games as well and in that process, do you have the the Marie-Philippe Poulin? Oh you found it! Okay you got it, okay you got it. So that is, good job man. Okay you know what, that's awesome. Because there are people in Edmonton that were looking for this picture a while ago. I mean, it took you all of two seconds to find it. So that is a 15-year-old Conor McDavid with Sidney Crosby.

Can you pop that up again real quick? Because I love these sort of generation pictures from Mario to Sid to Conor. I mean, we've seen so many of that famous Gordie Howe picture where he's got the hockey stick around like a 10 year old Wayne Gretzky's neck which is just a beautiful piece of hockey history.

I think that one belongs right there alongside it, don't you? When you look at some of the greatest players, like honestly, we'll see what happens by the end of Connor McDavid's career. I know we always talk about, you know, Mount Rushmore, et cetera, et cetera, and where everybody belongs and who's gonna be there andDavid's career. I know we always talk about, you know, Mount Rushmore, etc, etc, and where everybody belongs and who's going to be there and who's not. But you're looking at three of them right there, all in the same picture. I think that's a glorious

shot. And there's so good. And he's got his eerie otters jacket on. That's awesome. I love the early Connor photos too. Like I'm not trying to make fun of him but you can see how uncomfortable he is in the pictures even in that one it's Sid and Mario and he's kind of like now he's obviously much more opened up to it he's showing a lot more personality which I think is great for him great for the game as well because if your stars are going to speak and have these kinds of moments it's. But looking back on some of those pictures is also so funny because it's like, hey, here he is, this superstar with other superstars. But guess what? He's a like a little kid. Of course he's uncomfortable. He looks like he's 11 teen. But you know what I think apart? I think part of that is to like, don't forget all the way up.

I mean, you were there and at York Simcoe for him, as we mentioned at the top of the show. Conor Mcdade always played up. so he was never playing amongst his peer group. So as much as his skills and how he played hockey allowed him to play up, he still wasn't at that sort of maturity level. So maybe there is a predisposition to be a little bit more shy, because even though you're dominating an older group, you're still playing against and with older players who have had more life experience, even though we're talking about 15 year olds, for example.

So maybe that's it, but you're right, he's come much more out of his shell. But I just wonder, because you always have that debate, should you stay in your peer group, or should you play up if you have the example? I think there was some example, like you know Robert Thomas pretty well. Like did he not play, like for a while there wasn't Robert Thomas playing two years up? No, I looked back. I don't think so.

He never played two years up? I'm pretty sure he just played the year with us and then went back to his own age group after the facts. Yeah. Yeah, he wasn't good. He played two years up. Yager used to play three years up. You know that story right from the draft, Brian Burke interviewing Jaromir Jagger. You ever captain a team? No. Oh, that's a red... Oh, you never hear this one?

We'll get Brian to tell it on Friday. I'll give you the nickel and dime. So, before the 91 draft, Burke is interviewing Jagger and they're all around the table and someone says like, how many teams have you captained? And Jagger says, none! And so everyone on the so everyone on tables. Oh red flag bad in the room bad personnel. What is it? It can't captain team no responsibility all that Yager pause and goes Because I always played three years up

And everyone around the room's like okay, maybe we should just calm down about the the captaincy thing You're still playing and scored a goal, by the way. Did you see that one? Snapped it in top of the circles. Yeah. I think he took a stick to the teeth too. Lost a bunch of them the other day. He doesn't care.

Just you think of hockey lifers. And I know part of it is trying to keep Clad No alive. Like I get it, but still get the sense of this guy, that you don't have to drag them off the ice. but I still get the sense that this guy, like you're gonna have to drag him off the ice. Okay, let's get to our first guest. Coming up a little bit later on,

we're gonna talk to Aaron Ambrose, but in the meantime, I'm gonna try to make this moniker stick. I don't know if it's going to, Zach, but I'm gonna try. Please welcome Vegas Golden Knights insider, the Ruthless, the ruthless the ruthless Gary Lawless How are you ruthless?

Amazing how you can twist You are part of the two greatest mischaracterizations Of the Vegas Golden Knights, okay, we're interviewing you're interviewing Brian Burke on one of your old shows and Burke said no one wants to go to Vegas anymore or something to you know, I'm paraphrasing. That was completely false. You know they traded Nate Schmidt so they'd have space to sign Alex Patrangelo and players, it's well documented and easily proven. Players love to come to Vegas because they get a chance to win the Stanley

cup and there's palm trees here. And the other thing, another one of the shot of Buffalo. Hang on. Hang on. Was that a shot of Buffalo right there? Ruthless Gary Lawless. This is a bad day to make fire jokes. I was going to say something about a Chique Tawaga or Tana Wanda, but I won't say it.

Oh, Irv Weinstein. Here we go. Channel four. I know where you're going. I know where you're going. I know. Yes. And then the other one was this bit about ruthless. You referred to some of the decisions made by the Golden Knights. Hold on. Don't mischaracterize. I'm not. As being ruthless. And you didn't give this great explanation saying I'm saying how it's a positive now you've Decided you're when I see that I mean, so tell me how you said it

I said this is the Vegas Golden Knights and the ruthless pursuit of the Stanley Cup They don't like Vegas Vegas being so that way We've went back at my back at my old shop. They used to use that audio all over the place on route to when you guys danced all over the Panthers. In my therapy sessions, they tell me it's how I perceive it, not how you said it. Like, honestly, I've said this like to the I know, like there's one person that really doesn't like it when I when I say that I know. But I do. I do. Me, I'm the person really doesn't like it when I say that I get it. But I do. It's me, I'm the person that doesn't like it.

Oh, okay. Well, that's why you're gonna take the moniker of Ruthless. Ruthless Gary Lawless. Well, here becomes a question. I was mentioning this off the top before you joined. Right now, the Vegas called the Knights are a freight train. Like it's not even this team is a wagon, this team is a freight train.

Even in a game like a couple of nights ago against the San Jose Sharks, like that score is kind. This is a team that when they want to turn it on, turns it on and even when they're going at half speed, they're still dusting teams. When you look at what's on the horizon and the competition, by the way, that division is awesome too. Edmonton, Los Angeles, it's a great division and the competition. By the way, that division, that division is awesome too. Edmonton, Los Angeles, it's a great division and Vegas has really distinguished themselves amongst

the greats. When you look at trade deadline approaching, I'm trying to figure out like, okay, so where's there a hole? Like what does Vegas need to do? If anything, it's just kind of, you know, bubble wrap your hockey hockey players make sure nobody gets hurt you can't do that that's the uh that's the issue and in kelly mccrimm's fair-minded pursuit of a stanley cub uh he's you know it's good it's it's history but not prophecy go back to 2223 history, but not prophecy. Go back to 22, 23, and he added Barbashev. He added Bluger and he added Jonathan quick quick was an necessity because, uh, you know, they used five goalies that year. And at one point in time, you know, they were Hill Thompson and Bersua were the, they were all going down at one point in time. You know, they were using Yuri Pitera.

Uh, anyways, uh, you know, they just couldn't have Yuri Pitera playing, uh, in those critical games down the stretch. So they went and got, uh, got Jonathan quick and he won some big games for them. He was important. And then he turned out to be really important in the run to the Stanley cup in the dressing room and how he dealt with the guys that weren't in the lineup every night. He had like a little club. If you were one of the guys that weren't dressing, he took you out for dinner. You know, I'm sure they had a few Guinnesses along the way. And then he made practice really fun.

He was like an extra coach. And, you know, he put that third Stanley cup ring on his, uh, on his, you know, what finger, uh, but he was really, he was really important in, in, in achieving it. So, uh, that's history, not prophecy, but that's kinda, that's sort of what I would look for him for, for Kelly to do. They have 10 defensemen. They've got the, they've got, or nine defensemen. They've got the eight guys that are on the roster right now. And the extras are Ben Hutton and Caden Korsak. And

they're in the top six in 20 of 30 at 32 NHL teams. Uh, and then they've got Robert Haig in, in Henderson. So they can go nine deep, uh, NHL quality defenseman. So I don't think that's an area they're goaltending. Both Sam Sanoff and Hill are on tears right now. And, uh, and they have Sakura in, uh, sorry, not Sakura. Uh, it'll come to me in a second. Akira Shmead. Shmead. Shmead in, uh, in Henderson.

So I think they're pretty good there. So I think probably depth at, uh, at the forward spot. You know, um, I want to ask you about one play this week specifically. I'm curious because listen, you've seen this countless times. Um, but this was a big, this was a big moment this week. Um, for more so for Macklin Celebrini than for anyone else. for more so for Macklin Celebrini than for anyone else. It's in the final moments of that San Jose Vegas game. Zach has the visuals here.

This is Macklin Celebrini with the puck in his zone zone. And no one's ever accused Mark Stone of being Pavlubere. He's not the most fleet of foot, but he is one of the most dangerous players to try to challenge one-on-one. I love this. So the empty net gets missed and the puck is gonna come to Macklin Celebrini

who's going up ice and Mark Stone with the simple, simple strip leading to the empty net goal. That is first of all, a lesson for Macklin Celebrini in what is gonna to become for any rookie a season full of lessons. And the first lesson here is be careful of trying to go one on one with Mark Stone in open ice. What went through your mind when you saw that play by Stone? Well, he did it. He did a similar play in the first period. Him and his brother-in-law, Cody Cece, were at the offensive blue line and the puck came up right at the pair of them. And

Mark found a way to tip the puck past Cece, go around him and then go in on a breakaway and beat Georgiev for the first goal of the game. Mark Stone has the best stick in the NHL in terms of stealing the puck takeaways from the opposition. He's, uh, it's incredible. And, uh, actually the big debate in the dressing room this morning, I don't know if you saw Eichels pass to Olufsen on the power play. Eichel went behind the net, backhand saw it's like waist level drops flat, goes through traffic through the crease drops flat one timer from Olufsen into the net.

And we asked Bruce Cassidy about that pass after the game. And he's like, well, it wasn't even the best pass in the game. Stone's pass. Stone took a pass, uh, stopped a shot. I call, he saw I call out of the, you know, the peripheral breaking out of the zone. Then no look one time backhander to spring I call on a breakaway. And so that was the debate this morning, which was the better pass stone to icon or icon to Olufsen and uh Hurdle who is you know very even

tempered he get exercised about it he's like not even a debate the stone pass he goes and and and and i'm like really he goes well how many times have you seen Jack do that and Jack does do stuff like that quite often uh he he, no one does what stone did. It's just, it's, it's impossible to make that play unless you're Mark Stone. And, uh, uh, that's why he's on team Canada. Pretty important player right now. He's remarkable to me. I always love players as sort of defy what we think the NHL is right now.

We just think of the NHL is fly zone, fly zone, fly zone, speed, speed, speed up, up, and then here's Mark Stone saying, I'm just smarter than you and I got a great stick and great body positioning and I'm just like at the end of it just a really highly intelligent hockey player. And by the way, you're giving everybody in Buffalo PTSD when you bring up Eichel and Olufsen together on the power play. Like can you just leave? But you've already referenced palm trees and now you're bringing up Olufsen and Eichel together. What do you, Gary Lawless, have against Buffalo and the Sabres, sir? I love Buffalo and actually Zach and I were talking earlier this morning when we were setting this up.

I'm gonna start talking about lacrosse obviously. Yeah. And one of my favorite posters of all time, obviously. Yeah. And uh one of my favorite posters of all time, my good friend Paul Day was playing the cross for the Buffalo Bandits and Rob Ray was playing for the Sabres and they had him at a Tops doing a signing. Oh no way. They had this great Rob Ray poster, something to do with the Sabres. And they had Paul Dave, who was a police officer. And the poster said cop by day, bandit by night. That's a great poster. Yeah, that's a great poster. Yeah. That's awesome.

Let me, let me get on the, uh, let me get on the Jack, uh, Jack Eichel page here. All of a sudden we're talking about, listen, like, I think that it's a, it's, you know, uh, a crime that, you know, Mark Stone hasn't collected up a Selkie trophy here. We all know the bias against wingers, but are we all of a sudden now starting to sneak, dare I say, Jack Eichel into a one of the best two-way players in the NHL type conversation? Well, Bruce talks about it all the time and he's like, you know, the guys, the voters in the East need to pay more attention, stay up later and pay more attention to Jack. And, you know, I would tell you this of the guys that are leading the league in scoring, I think really

only Marner and Eichel are regular PK guys. And Eichel is the first over the boards for Vegas. And Vegas doesn't have to kill the boards for Vegas. Uh, and, uh, you know, Vegas doesn't have to kill very many penalties or the least penalized team of the NHL. Uh, but he's fantastic at it. And you know, the golden Knights this year, they have held teams to two goals or less on how many occasions? Uh, 21 times they're-0-1-1 in those almost half of their games. They're like they're the quintessential 3-2 team. They've got more three goal games than any other team in the NHL. 30 and they're 27-3-2 in those games and then two or less 20-0-1 1. So like, if they stick to their formula and the, and the score is 3, 2, they went, um, but I call is he's decided he can really impact the game and Kelly

McCrimmon says this about him. He's all about winning. So like, I think I call many nights determines what do I have to do tonight for us to win? And that's how he approaches it. If it's, I gotta go two in one. Okay. I'll make that happen.

Uh, I've got to get, you know, I've got to make sure we score one or two. And then I got to make sure they don't, they don't get any goals. Uh, I'll, you know, he, he, he has shut down some big, big names on, uh, on occasions this year. And it's really interesting when the team's on the road, uh, the opposition is matching to stay away from him all the time. He's just, uh, he controls the puck. He's a possession merchant for sure. But if Vegas loses the puck, just watch him backtrack.

He uses that speed, that long stick, and he's so big and powerful. People don't get, he doesn't get credit for that. He knocks people off pucks all the time. To me, it's, he is most definitely right there with 16 with Barkoff in Florida has, the best two-way centers in the National Hockey League and William Carlson is right behind them. Yeah as soon as Bergeron retired like the field just opened up throw Nico Hescher into that conversation as I always do for the New Jersey Devils. In boxing they always say styles make fights and the same thing is true in hockey and it's interesting

when I look at some of the best games that I've seen over the last five years, it's team X and Vegas. Like Minnesota Vegas styles mix great. They make awesome games. Say I can say the same thing about Colorado and Vegas. I can say the same thing about Dallas and Vegas. From your point of view,

just like not who Vegas can dominate, but just like which of all the teams that Vegas plays makes for the most enjoyable game? Like for a couple of years there, it was money in the bank that Vegas, Minnesota was going to be great. Like you go out of your way. Edmondson?

Edmondson, Edmondson. There's so much goes into the soup in that one. It's, you know, Edmonton is the city of champions and there still is, and I say this in a complimentary way, there still is a little bit of oilers arrogance in their fan base. They, they're not entitled. They're not Vancouver. They're not entitled, but they, you know, they have some swagger. They believe they're the oilers, their coaches, their, the people there always say, we have the best player in the world. I made the mistake of saying to Woodcroft a couple of years ago, you know, you have the best offensive player in the

world. He cut me off and said, you say the best offensive player in the world. I say the best offensive player in the world. He cut me off and said, you say the best offensive player in the world. I say the best player in the world. Well, it depends on what you value. Right. And, uh, uh, obviously McDavid is the best player in the world. When you look at things offensively, but there are some other guys that, and you know, I mean, we're totally discounting anyone who plays defense or goal when we have that conversation and we just anoint him. And Leon Dreisaitl might say, well, I'm the best player on the Edmonton Oilers right now. Like it's, it's really interesting. They are a really good organization. They have excellent broadcasters. They have a great crowd. You go there in the playoffs.

It's awesome. It's in Canada. And when you watch anybody versus the Oilers, it might be a three goal differential with five minutes left to go. You are biting your lower lip the whole time. It's never over against the Oilers. And look out if the referee decides to call a penalty. It's just not L.A.

Obviously, like the Hiller has done a tremendous job there. And all of a sudden like that, you mentioned the Pacific Division earlier. It's good. So Vegas is 17, three-1 since November 21st. That's number one in the league. LA is right behind them with a 778 points percentage over that stretch and Edmonton is a 775. Like no one loses. It's on fire. Those three teams, they don't and Winnipeg doesn't lose very often and neither does Colorado. It's like the West is the East. Like, I think you can pick the first four or five times in teams of

the East and say they're in, you can pick the first seven in the, in the West and say they're in and everybody else is fighting for, for a wild card too. It's, uh, the best teams in the West are really good. Let me ask this, uh, closing question here, Gary. Um, which team, and let's not forget here, like Colorado's got goaltending now, which team would you say scares Vegas the most? Which is the one team that keeps Vegas up at night. You know, I, I hate to be boring, but I'm going to go back to Edmonton.

Like those two guys can win a series. Oh yeah. Like they are, you know, like, uh, and you don't want to play Edmonton in the first round because they call more penalties in the first round than they do. Like get Edmonton in the second or the third round when the referees are calling less person, less penalties. It kind of levels the playing field in that respect. But if, if, if for some reason, if, if the, the stars align for the oilers and McDavid

and dry saddle are fresh and healthy at the start of a playoff series, they are really, really tough out. at the start of a playoff series, they are really, really tough out. A couple of people in chat mentioning ruthless comments about the Edmonton Oilers as well. Oh yes. Just keeping that nickname alive, that moniker. All right, listen, I know it's busy for you,

it always is. I appreciate you parking some time as always. Please say hello to our mutual friend, the great lacrosse legend Paul Day, and we will catch up with you soon. Enjoy Knights Hockey. Yeah, as you know, I am the central scrutinizer. Gary just made my day. Gary and I both love Frank Zapp and that's the narrator from Joe's Garage. Oh, bless you Gary. Just put a smile on this guy's face. Thanks pal, you be good. All right.

Central scrutinizer. Oh, I love it. That's awesome. How about that one, Zach? The ruthless Gary Lawless. I'll tell you, man, like right now, the team that nobody wants any piece of are the Vegas Golden Knights. At all. At all. Yeah. No. I wouldn't want anything to do with them either.

It's the one team that I look at every time I look at like the big bad Western Conference teams, Dallas, Colorado, Vegas, those are teams that scare the living you know what out of me. If you're a team that's going to run into them, it's kind of the same vibe as what I get from the Panthers, but it's just big mean hockey. It's heavy hockey, hard to play against. They can score, they can defend,

they've got goaltending, like, I just listed all the things that you need to be a good hockey team, sorry, but like that's who they are and it scares me. Okay, really quickly, I wanna play, do you have the Pat Maroon clip from this morning on Morning Cup of Hockey? By the way. From the best Morning Cup of Hockey ever?

Is that what you said? That's from producer Vic. That's not me. I didn't just totally make that up out of the blue. That's the producer who said that it's the best. So Colby Cohen, who was supposed to be on the show today here, was also supposed to be co-hosting this morning with Johnny Lazarus, as he normally is. But he wasn't, so I spent the balance of my early morning

effort getting the text from Johnny Lazarus, making a BU hat. What do you think, Zach? Do you think I did a really nice job of, because Johnny always wears the, Colby always wears the BU hat. Do you think that I did a good job of keeping the BU? I was watching live and you were like,

oh, by the way, and I see you reaching down. Like, what the hell is he gonna pull? I started laughing out loud when you pulled that out. It was very good. Very good. Just to remind, cause you know, cause Colby likes to remind people that Boston University is a thing. Um, that between that and US, I didn't, you know, I realize, cause I've got like hockey gear, like hats and shirts and all, from every single country. I got Sweden, I got Finland, tons of Canadians. I have nothing USA. I've got nothing. I got Sweden, I got Finland, tons of Canadians. I have nothing USA. I've got nothing. There was like I wanted to put on something from like USA hockey. I have nothing. I don't know if you do, but I've got I just realized like it's kind of

embarrassing. I've got like nothing like no USA hockey anything at all. No, I've got Florida Panther. I've got Florida Panthers gear because one of my friends was drafted and went through there. So we got all the draft hats and everything like that. Oh did you? But that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I got nothing. Anyway, so this morning on Morning Cup of Hockey, Pat Maroon. Now Pat stops by the Morning Cup of Hockey show every week and it's always interesting. We talked about a number of different clips. What is the clip we're gonna play right now? Do you recall? It's about Corey Perry.

Oh yeah. It's about Corey Perry and face-offs. So I used to giggle, always myself watching Anaheim games because I would swear that Ryan Getzlaff sometimes would deliberately lose face-off in the offensive zone just so Pat Maroon can go and smash someone. Smash the defenseman that's going to get the puck.

And so I was co-hosting with Johnny today and I'm like, I'm just going to ask Pat Maroon this. So here's the answer he gave about Ryan Getslaff losing face-offs deliberately when playing with Corey Perry and Pat Maroon. This is from Morning Cup of Hockey. Please tell me that my eyes weren't lying to me and that Getslaff was deliberately trying to lose draws in the offensive zone.

Yeah, sometimes, but if you guys notice, Perry never lines up on the wall. Have you guys ever noticed that? No, that's not something I would even think to pick up on. That's the first time I've ever seen that. So like when I play with Pairs, he would always say, you're on the boards And but he was always it didn't matter if he was coming off the wall or not

Like as a right-hand shot, he always wanted to be in the inside and come around Gatsby would always go forward with the puck always so he would tell us off the face off what he was doing and mostly You mostly he would win it But at some points in the game he would drive it forward so we can go forward check and get on him and turn it over. If the puck was in the corner, like in my corner, I knew that the bump up to Getzi to the half-smart is he would come over top. But if I knew that play wasn't there, I had Perry if I turned it over to the changing sides. So there was one play but he always used to hit it to the wall too on his forehand side and Perry would come around over the top and I would pick that guy and Perry would eventually

come pick it up. So that is, I never noticed that before. Did you ever notice that about Corey Perry never lining up against the wall on face-offs? I'm always going to look for it now. No, but that's so cool. I'm always going to look for it now. Yeah, I thought that was so cool. I love that kind of stuff with like the hockey like nerding out of why things happen, how

it's made of stuff and like guys thinking about those things. That's so smart. So, so interesting from Corey Perry. I love it. Also, by the way, when we asked him who the most underrated player in the game was like we didn't even finish The question and it was Braden point and we show the good draft point play that we played on yesterday Okay in the meantime, I know she has a flight to catch So let's get to her right away

But wanna park some time and talk about the PWHL's takeover tour at 19,000 at Rogers Arena yesterday in Vancouver Watching the victoire beat the Toronto Scepter. She is Erin Ambrose who joins us from the airport in Vancouver on her way to Denver. Good afternoon Erin Ambrose, how are you? I'm doing well sir, how are you? I'm doing great. How cool was it last night in Vancouver? 19,000 which was spectacular. I want to get to the Marie-Philippe Poulain goal which you have seen many times I'm sure but it still boggles our mind how she does things. First of all, how is the takeover tour been? Like give us a snapshot. I saw you catching fish in Seattle, watching you guys dominate Toronto last night. Give us a snapshot. You're

on to Denver. Give us a snapshot of how it's been so far. I think it's been a little bit crazy. Like for us, this is a long trip. We've also been fortunate enough to have carry-on only luggage for a 10-day road trip, which I don't know if you've seen our walk-in photos, but it makes it a little bit difficult for us. Yeah. So it's been pretty interesting, but Seattle was great, great city, really nice to come home to Vancouver. I had to play in front of those fans. That was, that was Poo. Yeah. Tell her nice goal.

Tell her, tell her nice goal. Merrick says nice goal. She said, thank you. She's going to run away now. No, it was pretty, pretty special. Um, I think Poo kind of mentioned it, like she's getting emotional with kind of the crowds that we get and it's starting to become the norm, but I still feel like we're not quite used to it. the teams and the celebration of everything happening. And that ovation that number 29 got was spectacular. That was tear the roof off, like how loved she is. And I remember you and I talked about like one day this will be the norm and there won't be any like, it won't feel special, it'll just feel like this is

the way that it is. Now you feel that that's, it's still kind of special and new. What about your teammates? Like, are you getting used, are they getting used to this yet? I don't think any of us are. I think a special shout out to Jen Gardner last night who really got to come home and play in BC for her. I know that her family had like a party bus

going to the game. So that's something that she had talked about before she was ready for the best day of her life to be able to play in front of friends and family. And it's something that I wouldn't say disappointed in any sort of way, because obviously coming away with three points was huge, but you said 19,000 fans, 19,000 plus actually, I have to correct you.

I think it was 19,600, I believe, something in that range. I don't know, something around that. It was definitely over 19,000, so it was pretty cool. I think it's awesome. The games themselves, and you're off to Denver to face off against Minnesota. Take us through last night specifically, and you know, I mean everybody wants to know like thoughts on, because you're right there for it, that Marie-Philippe Poulain goal

on all the highlights, everything and you've seen her do so many things. Like I've told you the story before when I saw her, you know, her first team candidate orientation camp. I'm standing with Craig Button and Steve Coolius and Vincent LeCavillier comes by and says, you know, who's that? And I say, oh, it's Marie-Philippe Palin. I think she's like 20 years old, maybe 19 years old at that point.

She's gonna be the next big star. And he watches her for a bit and he goes, that's a fucking good player. Like greatness understands it, right? You've seen so much as her teammate for so long. What did you think of last night's goal? Seriously, Erin. I I'm still in awe. I think that that's the thing that continuously happens with puros. You just you see things that happen and it's just like I don't know how she does it. But at the same time,

like it's because she plays the game and this is so cheesy, but the right way. Like her goal was a highlight real goal, but let's talk about her empty net. Sorry, Air Canada. Let's talk about her empty net goal. Like she's in the right place at the right time to intercept that path. And I don't love a lot of people shooting a puck from the other side of the red line, but with poo, I'll take that every time. Your team right now, hitting a stride, clearly.

I always laugh when I hear people say, oh, they're peaking too soon. Like you're gonna like deliberately stop winning or something like, oh, aren't you concerned your peak? It's the stupidest question that you hear in scrums. Are you concerned that you're peaking too soon? But this looks like a team right now that's hitting its stride. Does it feel that way for Montreal?

I think yes and no. I think we were a little bit unhappy with our ups and downs in our Boston game in Seattle. Like we came out in the first period and played fantastic and then had a huge letdown in the second and that's something that we're trying to figure out how to play a little bit better of 60 minutes because right now, like, even yesterday, again, the second period was just a little bit of a lull for us. I thought the third we started to play well enough to hold on to that league, but it's just about kind of putting it all together. I think we've got a lot of great pieces and now it's about kind of finding a way to do it for the entirety of the game, which honestly is the hardest part about hockey,

is making sure that you're doing things consistently every shift. And it's not always the easiest thing, especially when we're still trying to get a lot of our systems down. Like, we've only played, what, eight games? Like, that's what I think you kind of forget about, is we've only played eight games, but at the same time like we're almost a third of the way through the season so got to find a way to figure it all out

and put it all together but at the same time I think we're pretty happy with where we're at and want to continue to push in the right direction. Does season two feel profoundly different than season one? I would say so I think kind of this trip is making it feel a lot different in the sense of like, okay, we're on the road for a lengthy period of time. We never really had that last year. And then like you kind of look at our January, it's a little bit of a gauntlet, to be honest, like coming back from this trip, we've got a game and then we go to Quebec City. And then you try not to look ahead, but I'm also somebody who likes to plan and make sure that I know my schedule ahead of time, especially for Henry. He's got to know where he's going. But that's Aaron's dog, by the way, everybody. That's, that's Aaron's, made his cameo not too long ago here on the program.

But I think just kind of like the actual schedule of the ins and outs of day to day kind of things is the pro. And ins and outs of day to day kind of things is the pro and that makes it more fun. That makes it being like a pro and that's something we've been wanting. I think year one was a sprint. It was figure it all out on the move, on the fly. Had a little bit more time to kind of settle in, get the right training this summer and now it's like okay, this is what a season actually feels like.

Okay. Aaron Ambrose. Here I go. Now, Aaron, I'm just a very simple country lawyer. I don't know about you big city people and what you think and how you do your manager affairs, but if I was looking at the last two games here Seattle and Vancouver I'd be saying to myself hmm you know the league has talked about expansion looking at 19,000 plus Rogers Arena I'm looking at 12,000 plus in

Seattle I think that you're probably gonna have similar numbers in Denver as well Sunday for the Minnesota game. I'm sure the players are talking as well. I mean thoughts on again no one's saying like Aaron Ambrose breaking news confirming anything because nothing confirm right now but if Seattle Vancouver with the next two expansion markets, what would you think? I wouldn't be surprised. I think both cities, both venues have shown up and honestly provided a very professional environment for us. Like it's one thing to go out there and have everybody in the stands and be super popular and have a lot of seats there or people in seats, but it's another thing to actually treat us like professionals and make sure that we're going to a rink and going to a venue that's ready for us.

And I think that both places have done that. I will say, I know that there's a lot of places that have put in a good amount of work, a lot of ways to make it sustainable in those in those cities and those venues and I think it's something that I have no idea what's gonna happen but I love that the possibility of the expansion is there and I think that that's something that us as professional athletes really want. How much was the conversation and I want to ask you personally I know you're the

any second now you're gonna get a boarding call. So I'm ready for you to bounce but Vancouver when we think of we think of hockey Listen, we're gonna think about 2010 and double gold and we're gonna think about the women and the cigars and the beers and the medals On the ice. I love the video of Tessa Bonham That she made with Julia doing all of her poses and the glasses and the whole deal. I thought that was great. How much of a conversation was that around the team and certainly Marie-Philippe Poulin who was at the center of all of it? And what are your memories of that one?

To me that's one of those for both the the men's and the the Crosby game Winner on the men's side the women and then Crosby on the men's side as well. Those are moments where it's like where were you when? What do you remember from 2010 and how much of a conversation was it around the team? As for a conversation it was cool we went to the gondola at Grosse Mountain and on the drive who was like that's where the Olympic Village was and that was kind of the only bit that we actually talked about that but I think for me like I was in grade 10 and that was I had already been in the UA team program for a year and that was something I was like this is what I want to get to this is

where I really want to get to and seeing 18 year old Marie Fleabalyn out there score two goals, and I will say one pass that was a beautiful pass from Jennifer Bauderil, like it's like those little things are, are things you don't forget. And then to be there on that stage with her 12 years later was something that I'm very thankful for. But I think the best part about Poo is like,

think about that, that's over a decade ago but it doesn't matter what the stage is she consistently plays the game and provides us opportunities to win games. I know I was talking to one of our first year players this year and she did something in practice in Seattle Poo did and I just turned to her and I go Anna isn't it sick like isn't it just so She goes, sometimes I watch her and I'm just like, because it's just little things that she does. She really is the best in the world and there will never be another Marie Kuhl point. She's great, you're great, and both of you have a plan to catch. Good luck in Denver. Have you been given any heads up about what to expect

when you get there? I know the crowds. I was just texting with someone a couple of moments ago about the crowds there. It looks like it's gonna be really healthy as well. Any idea what to expect when you get to Denver? I have never been to Denver. I'm expecting a little bit of coldness.

I will say I'm really excited. Other than the altitude, I'm really excited for it all. I've given a shout out to the empty netters guys to get them. They're in Vail this weekend, so I'm trying to convince them to come over and watch the game on Sunday. They are great guys, so I'm really trying to make sure that they can come. And honestly, I'm just excited to experience a new state, a new city and really take it all in. I love it. Best of luck against Minnesota.

Enjoy Denver. It's a beautiful city. Wonderful people. Good luck getting the empty netters out as well. Great guys. We will catch up soon, my friends. Safe travels. Thank you and sorry for all the announcements.

That's okay. The biggest announcement is Aaron Ambrose is on the sheet. Thanks so much for joining us today, Aaron. You're the best. Great hat, by the way. Love the announcements. That's okay. The biggest announcement is Aaron Ambrose is on the sheet. Thanks so much for joining us today, Aaron. You're the best. Great hat, by the way. Love the hat. Love the hat.

Thank you. Love Ambrose. So there you go, Zach. Aaron Ambrose and the Montreal Victoire are on their way to Denver for a game against Minnesota on Sunday as the takeover tour continues. That was a sick goal. 19,083 as well. Oh, it was 19,000.

I thought it was like 19,600 okay so 19,083 very good that was the that was a crowd yesterday like eventually eventually this league has to go West and expand out that way to me you can't just have one you you have to have two. Seattle, Vancouver makes a whole lot of sense to me. Eventually, I would imagine Los Angeles is gonna enter the mix here. And then meanwhile, like we wonder about Detroit, we wonder about Pittsburgh and Fenway Sports as far as an organization. There's another Olympic cycle on the horizon. So what is that gonna mean for

the state of women's hockey afterwards? How many are going to still be around? How many are going to say this is my last Olympic cycle and my last shot at playing? Don't know. But it's going to be an interesting landscape and wonder if there's going to be at least two more new teams on the horizon for the PWHL. By the way, and they might want to start, I was talking to someone the other day, they might want to start doing it soon because I know a team like a country like Finland specifically, they're looking to lock up, and there's a lot of great hockey players in Finland, they're looking to lock up a lot of their players, like right now. So if the PWHL is going to expand, yeah,

might want to move things along here. But we shall see, we shall see. But do we have that pool angle? Can we show that we have it? Yeah, you want to see this? Yeah, I want to play the good sound too because we already hear the crowd. It's okay So I'm gonna I'm just gonna shut up now best thing I can do for the show Cut off by Poulin. Poulin working in. Poulin hands off to Ambrose. And a hit trap. Great and great. And a ring and a score! Hurry, Poulin! Captain Clutch has done it again in Vancouver! Awesome. Gets clobbered. That's so cool. Gets that clobbered in the slot on her knees, fires it high.

It's a beautiful goal. Beautiful goal by a beautiful player. Before we get to games of the night this evening, anything that we're leaving on the table here that we should get to? Yeah, the only other thing that I kind of had left was heading over to nationgear.ca, Jeff. Nationgear.ca for the upcoming nation vacation with the Leafs Nation and the Oilers Nation.

If you're looking to go to Nashville with myself, Nick Alberga and Rosie, or if you're looking to go to Nashville with myself, Nick Albergue and Rosie or if you're looking to go to Vegas with the Oilers nation crew, I don't think you're included in these ones. Jeff, I was going to say, when do I get to go in? I know I'm like the new guy around here. I'm essentially, you know, glorified caretaker, but like hand me a broom at the end of the day and I'll sweep up on the way out. But I eventually, I got to get involved. Everyone involved everyone else is going yeah I'm going to Denver's

Oilers vacations I go to Nashville East Nation vacation anything for a little old me over here anywhere can we go anywhere is that Nationgear.ca that's where I head over to to check that out the other thing I want to throw out there quickly one more thing Washington Capitals Pier-Luc-du-Bois we did not talk about that one. I just wanted to get your thoughts on, I mean, the Leafs the other day caught the Capitals. It was like amazing. We're first in Eastern Conference and then Washington wins again.

Washington's awesome right now. Like I keep, they're one of those teams where you're like, okay, I'm just waiting, like I'm waiting for this to end. You know, there was that time, 2006, I think you were probably in grade three. How old were you in 2006? I started high school in 2012. Okay, just stop. You're barely old enough to piss straight. And I'm going on about Stanley Cup finals and things.

So 2006 Zack You like that one, eh? Yeah, I was kidding, I was kidding. 2006 Chad liked that one, okay. I barely went up the piss straight. 2006. The Carolina Hurricanes ended up winning the Stanley Cup.

But along the way, everyone thought that it was fool's gold. Oh, they had a great October. Oh, isn't that cute? Oh, they had a wonderful November. Oh, Carolina's still winning games. Oh, that's great. Then you roll into December and they're still winning. And Jim Rutherford's making trades and bringing in all these veterans And you're like, holy smokes. I like the Carolina Hurricanes

I know it was the year where everybody had to relearn how they played there's tons of power plays and everything I get it was like the goofy year and Jonathan Chi Chi won the rocket Richard trophy like weird things happened that year But the Carolina Hurricanes ended up winning the Stanley Cup But along the way everybody was waiting for the wheels to fall off the wagon because no one really believed it. Are you believing in like the corner the playoffs but are you believing in the Washington Capitals or do you think like part of this is a mirage because I keep thinking that it's gonna end and it's not like they look really good and Pierre-Luc Dubois looks really good as I mentioned off the top of the show like this is the PLD that

Winnipeg Columbus LA all wanted to have and now Washington's got I know I give a lot of credit to Spencer Carberry And probably odds on favor to win the coach of the year. I know we're only halfway through the season, but that was game 41. If you're voting right now, it's gonna be Spencer Carberry. I was gonna lay a lot of it at his feet. You believing in this one, Zach?

You buying this one? You picking this one up? I am actually. So basically, I was just gonna say like, the one thing that kind of, it's different teams, different builds, but it kind of reminded me of the situation. Remember when Florida went to the cup final in the first year and it was like fraudulent team fraudulent team, you know, they're lucky going on a run.

Anybody going through these guys is going to have an easy go. And they went to the cup finals. Oh, and they went back the next year and they won. Now, mind you, Washington didn't go last year, but they got to the playoffs. Last year I kept saying, I'm looking at it. I don't think they deserve to be here. Fraudulent team, whatever. Okay, they get bounced in the first round Well when you start the next season how you finish the last and you carry it through Jeff not 10 20 30 games 40 plus games. I'm buying in this is this is a real team I don't think that that's gonna be the case

That was the halfway mark of Washington season last last night and Dubois again like you know takes a run at Quinn Hughes in the middle of things scoring big goals I don't know I thought it was a awesome awesome game last night okay speaking of you we got out almost in the chat by the way saying you're going we got a nation vacation for you you're going to sending almost sending you to Oshawa for the nation vacation to watch the generals I'll take that Oshawa for the nation. Nation Vacation Watch the generals. I'll take that. Oshawa is a freight train, man.

Oshawa looks really good. Go train and motel packages available. I am nice in. Like I say, like, like a library book in my hometown Stouffville, like a library book, I am in, uh, okay, let's get to the games. Sometimes you have to pause for a second and let like jokes sink in for Zach but then when he gets them like look at man the giggle machine is on it's awesome I just love it. Alright ten games around the go in the NHL brought to you by FanDuel, proud to connect fans to the major

sports moments that matter to them. There's a few beauties here. Buffalo Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Center, Anton Fursberg starts, UPL starts for the Buffalo Sabres. Boston and Tampa is a fascinating one. Vasilevsky versus Swamen. I know we've had a lot of conversation this week about what's happened to the Boston Bruins and are they on their way out?

Thought Andrew Raycroft on with the Coffee Boys yesterday was fantastic, breaking it all down The return of Igor Shturkin and the return of Matt Rempey Tonight do we see fireworks between the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils? We mentioned Connor versus Sydney Edmonton and Pittsburgh at PPG, but like go all the way down Like you're gonna be a busy guy Toronto and Carolina Ryan Reeves is not playing tonight by the way Zach he's he's out didn't fight the other day when I thought he was going to it's like you

got the one shot for his fight. That's Connor Dewar territory son that's where Connor Dewar steps up yeah which I liked by the way Farabee and Dewar they go to the box they both give each other props they interview Dewar excuse, Farabee and Dewar, they go to the box, they both give each other props, they interview Dewar, excuse me, Farabee after, he's like, he asked for it. Building was quiet, he asked him, he said, yeah, great guy. That's what he said. Great guy. Awesome, right?

Yeah, so cool. You know, there's like, you know, it's like dumb and then there's hockey dumb. Building was quiet. Throw knuckles at each other's skulls. Okay, Seattle and Columbus, you know, my feelings on Columbus and our, I think a lot of people are sharing for Columbus, a lot of it for emotional reasons, but also because like it's been a long time and you want Columbus to turn things around. Really interesting situation here, I'm not sure if this has been cleared up yet. Mike Russo tweeting this one out a while ago, so Colorado's facing off against Minnesota,

Philip Gustafson starts for the Minnesota Wild. But we mentioned Dylan Ferguson on the morning show today with Ben Boudreaux. Boudreaux had him in Fort Wayne. Dylan Ferguson recently signed. He's injured. Marc-Andre Fleury is sick. Jesper Walsh that is hurt. And Samuel Hlavich makes too much money to be called up and put in the lineup. Are we looking at an eBug backup?

I did see that tweet. For Philip Gustafson? I didn't even get my brain to the eBug, wow. Oh man. Are we going like eBug backup here? Is that where we're at, Zach? This one's gonna be fascinating. I'll be fascinated to watch this one,

Colorado and Minnesota. Yeah. Brodean and Faber out. By the way, speaking of goaltenders, you Brodean and Faber are both out tonight. Oh my god. Okay. I know. And then the one I was already going to watch. And your nightcap, your Vegas Golden Knights, the juggernaut, the ruthless Vegas Golden Knights facing off against Newnaut, the ruthless Vegas Golden Knights facing off against the New York Islanders. Any of these, I mean I know you're going to be working, you've got your show after the Toronto Carolina game, but anything else you got your eyeballs on here. There's some good ones tonight. New Jersey, New York is always good because it's always just

emotionally charged. Yeah, and also I was just going to say, by the way, daily face-off, tweet it out, guess who draws back in the lineup for the New Jersey Devils in the return of Matt Rempey. Oh Does his name rhyme with Curtis McDermott? Sorry, I said You know, it's funny, you know, I'll say this I Know where we're all at on fighting and concussions in CTE and these are all very very serious things that on fighting and concussions in CTE and these are all very very very serious things. I grew up in an era where part of the attraction sometimes for hockey games was that you knew two guys were going to throw down right? Like you knew that Bob Probert was going to fight Troy Crowder

or Tye Domey was going to fight Donald Brashear or Basil McCray was going to fight everybody and whenever Philadelphia came to town everyone was going gonna try not to fight Dave Brown, but some poor sucker was gonna draw the Dave Brown card. Like that's gone, okay? It's a lot safer now. It's not, hockey still has a share of dumb, but it's not like that dumb anymore. But every now and then,

you just kinda know But every now and then You just kind of know Yeah, that it's gonna happen. You wonder about New Jersey and New York tonight With this one everyone's gonna want to watch I Know No one is going for refreshments No one is turning the channel not that that's a be all and end all justification for fighting in the NHL But I just like there's something I don't know maybe you know I'm 98% chimp like we all are we still got chimp DNA and all of us

There's still something attractive about going to a game and knowing that these two guys are gonna do it Yep, anyhow Okay on that we'll wrap anything else from you before we wrap up the show here? We're good? No that's it for me. You don't want to hear any more bad lines out of me? Cheap insults? No? None of it? If you got one throw it in the air. Nah I got a lot. We got a lot of shows to do still here bud. We got a lot of shows. Oh Ty Pablo in the chat Ty Domi and Rob Ray. That was a given. Every time Buffalo and Toronto got together that one was happening. Tony Twist versus Bob Probert. Nick Davis submits. That was a hot ticket back in the day.

Let's just go through a couple of Andrew Peters versus Ray Emery. Oh man, I'll tell you man, Ray Emery. There's a, you'll like this one, Mr. YouTube hockey fights. Look up Ray Emery versus Josh Gratton. It's a doozy. And Josh was like legit, serious, like heavyweight tough guy. And that was a good one. And God rest his soul, yeah, Ray Emery was a,

he was a tough, one of the best, one of the toughest goalie fighters of all time. Although you know who may have been the toughest? Sean Burke. Sean Burke was kind of king of the jungle when he played. Anyhow, okay, I want to thank all of our guests. I want to thank the ruthless Gary Lawless. I want to thank the excellent Aaron Ambrose. We should mention as well PWHL Defender of the Year for the Montreal Victoire facing off against

Minnesota on Sunday at Ball Arena in Denver. On behalf of Zach and everybody here at the program, thanks so much for stopping by today. The sheet returns tomorrow at three o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific. 10 games on the go around the NHL. We're back to discuss them tomorrow. Enjoy. I can't get out my head Lost all ambitions day to day Guess I can call it a rut I went to the dark man He tried to give me a little medicine I'm like, nah man, that's fine

I'm not against those methods but I knew It's me, myself and Alice gonna be fixing my mind It's me, myself and Alice Gonna be fixing my mind I do wanna break it I turned on the music I do wanna break it I turned on the music It's turned up, up, out And you're sometimes losing

Helping on the days that went wrong