The Sheet with Jeff Marek - USA Wins Gold ft. Greg Wyshynski

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Canada vs USA for Olympic gold delivered everything hockey fans could have asked for — and on today’s episode of The Sheet, Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski go deep on every storyline from the men’s gold medal game between Canada men's national ice hockey team and United States men's national ice hockey team. From the tactical chess match between two loaded rosters to the defining performances that swung momentum, the guys break down how the game was won, where it was lost, and which stars elevated their legacies on the Olympic stage. They debate coaching decisions, special teams execution, goaltending under pressure, and what this result means for the rivalry moving forward. Plus, what lessons both Hockey Canada and USA Hockey take into the next international cycle — and which players may have just cemented their place in best-on-best history. It’s a full, comprehensive breakdown of a classic gold medal showdown.#TheSheet #Olympics #OlympicHockey #CanadaHockey #USAHockey #TeamCanada #TeamUSA #GoldMedalGame #Milan2026 #NHL #Hockey #JeffMarek #GregWyshynski #InternationalHockey #BestOnBest #HockeyRivalryLeave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/caReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have a sip of coffee to start the show. I need to be wide awake for this nonsense. I'm wondering whether I might need something stronger. Welcome to the sheet once again, Monday, February 23rd. I really hope you're watching on YouTube. Not to disqualify anybody that's only interested in this property in their ears. But for your eyeballs today, Greg Wyshinski is combing his hair under a cat in the hat. I appreciate Zach being like, hey, your camera's

working now, so we're going to put you up, but that's cool. Here we are. How is everybody? I'm doing great. We won the gold medal. Everybody's, I didn't know what number did you wear. I'm sorry. I missed that. I was, I was, Cash Patel and I shared a jersey together. We were both very important

for the United States's victory. Excellent. I expect memes of you guzzling bud light all over the internet. But nonetheless, first of all, we'll do the proper thing. We will congratulate The USA, both men's and women's.

It is a sweep on both sides, double gold, Megan Keller, and Jack Hughes, the heroes here, although Aaron Frankel was great and Connor Hellebuck was, holy smokes, turned in one of the, like, I've watched a lot of hockey here, folks. Trust me when I say this, one of the best goaltending performances we've ever seen. Now, was there some help along the way with an empty net? Yeah, absolutely. I like Jay Rose Hill's idea, though. I think maybe Nathan McKinnon had a secret concussion that he wasn't telling us.

telling anybody about. But it might be more on another show. Oh, I think, Nathan Mc— Well, hold on. I mean, like, I'm not going to play internet doctor. I don't want to get Darren Drager mad at me. But the fact of the matter is that, you know, there was reports that McKinnon, you know, wasn't practicing and that he was banged up in some way.

I don't know if that leads to him missing an empty net or if that leads to him being bumped off the puck by Zach Lorenzky at the end. It was the hesitation. It was the hesitation on that one, too. That was the—and in that situation when you do that, like, you're just dead. So hang on. So congratulations to the United States of America. Double gold.

The women have been there for a while, okay, in this sort of new era of the Olympics. The women have been there for a while. I want to, on behalf of everybody in hockey, welcome the United States officially into the NHL era of the Olympics. It took you long enough to get here, but now you're finally here. How does it feel? I'm just going to submit the floor to you here, Greg. How does it feel, my American friend? No, you know, it's funny.

I really thought that we were already there when we were one bounce away from you guys crapping your pants on home ice in Vancouver. But I guess Big Brother had to officially open the door of the basement so we can go play Xbox with him. It feels great. It feels fantastic. Like I said, I was born a few years before the miracle.

I was a wee lad when the miracle happened. But then I spent the rest of my life in the shadow of the miracle watching USA hockey try to churn out lunch pale red white and blue grinders to try to compete with Canada rather than be Canada. I think it all started to change when Patrick Kane was drafted. I think Patrick Kane is the player that begot this generation of American talent. And so we and I used to talk about this back of the day. You know, the minute that people around the United States that weren't from Minnesota

and Massachusetts started to pick up hockey sticks. It was essentially over for Canada as a hockey superpower. And I will note that Jack Hughes was born in Orlando, Florida. I will note that Austin Matthews was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. I will note that this. Jack Hughes, who played in the GTHL in Toronto, sorry, you were saying. Oh, yeah, I know. That's the other big Canadian.

The Canadians have more crutches than a hospital ward right now. One of my favorite is that all these guys are only good because of their Canadian blood, which brings me to my bigger point, Merrick. This is simply just the first step in a very long. journey. We have the gold medal. We've proven our worth. Our talent pool is as deep or in places deeper than Canada's. We entered this game as equals. We know that now. And now we know that we can be the better of Canada in a game like this. But it is merely the first battle. It's like stage one of a game like Castellvania. You know it's going to take a long way to get to Dracula at the end.

And what Dracula is for the United States at the end of this journey, the big boss, the final boss for us, is not simply winning a gold medal in the Olympics. or winning more gold medals at World Junior since 2010 than the Canadians have or winning at World Championships or any of the things that show that the Americans are tipping the tie to this rivalry. The big boss for us is finally taking away this air of superiority, this weird good at hockey by birthright nonsense that generations of Americans have had to endure from Canada. And I was so happy to see that still in existence. The talk of, well, we didn't have Sid, another three on three.

We got goalied. All of it leads back to the idea that there is no way in hell you guys should have lost this game. Not because of play, not because of roster, but by birthright. And so we've got a long way to go before we really win this rivalry. And one gold medal is not going to do it. The next one in 2030 might not even do it. We've got a long way to go, but this is an important first step. This is, okay, I'm glad you framed it that way.

And I want to pick up on the reason why. And it sort of bleeds into how you watch sports and specifically, how you watch hockey and how you consume it and what it means to you, not just year to year, but over the course of your, over the course of your life, from the maternity ward to the crematorium. That's going to be the sort of focus of part of the show today. But with that, let's get right to the blueprint,

which is powered by Fanduel, download the app today and play your game on Fanduel. The show is simple today. It's Congratulations USA. It is recapping what we saw on Sunday. with the one and only, Greg Wischinski from ESPN and ESPN.com. We will talk about McKinnon. We will talk about three on three.

We'll probably talk about Crosby. But I want to start off with one thing as a Canadian saying this, Greg. There was one moment for me. There was one moment for me. Like it's essentially, I like the idea that there are tournaments where there's like five or six teams that could legitimately win it. Like, that's what's going to make it interesting. The same teams win all the time. It's kind of a yawner.

But there was one moment. Well, first of all, more than half my family is American. I'm very happy for them. I'm very happy for my American friends. I'm very happy for a lot of those players. I'm very happy that the son of a Mexican immigrant captained USA to a gold medal. All right? And I don't know why that story is not getting more play.

But the son of a U.S. immigrant just captained U.S. USA to a gold medal. Thank you very much. But do respect to the Hughes brothers, he didn't do much. Like he played a great defensive game, Austin. He's captain. He was the captain. He's on this team.

Listen, that is a headline that for the majority of my career, you will not have heard, right? Like little Jeffie growing up and watching hockey and little Gregie watching hockey growing up, the son of a Mexican immigrant captaining USA to a gold medal is not something that generally. we thought was going to be on the soon-to-be headlines and hockey. But there it is, and I think it's great.

But hang on. I don't disagree, and I do think that it's something overlooked. I agree with that. It's massive. The other thing that really got me, and this just might be, Jeffrey's getting old, and I look at things like this that mean so much more in a tournament to me. When I saw Dylan Larkin and Zach Lorenzky go and get the Goodrow Kids, oh, God.

I was like, awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Fantastic. Not only that, but like Werensky having the key play on the Hughes goal, too. I mean, that's Johnny's best friend, teammate from the Blue Jackets, making that play. And then obviously, you know, the Goodrow family being a part of this, his jersey in the locker room, his jersey in the photos on the ice with the gold medals. It's all good. There's two things that are very symbolic from Ameri, and they both are kind of tied to Johnny.

The first is the idea that Johnny hockey is, symbolically important to this team. Like I said before, it's a different class of player that USA hockey has produced over the last two decades. And Johnny is a great example. He's never the biggest guy, explosive offensively

on the wing, and entertaining as hell to watch. And the idea that his legacy is honored at this moment, when a lot of those kinds of guys are what fueled this team, is important. Just as is important that the most iconic photo outside that Hela Bucksave

the most iconic photo that come out of this Olympic tournament for the United States is Jack Hughes flag draped around him the teeth bloodied mouth gold medal winner and the most iconic photo from the Miracle and Ice

besides the teen dogpiling each other in Jim Craig Craig was Jim Craig Craig flag draped around him looking up in disbelief at at having won and so this Jack Hughes thing is symbolic for two things. One, just like Johnny Hockey, he's representative of the kind of talent that USA hockey has produced

that led to this gold medal. But as he said in the post game, too, they won with balls and they won with grit. And here's this pretty boy. It's like 23-year-old pretty boy is Dayton-Tate McCray. And his mouth is bloodied. It's not like a chucks. It's the skill guy. It's the skill guy who his entire career has been called soft.

because of these injuries. It's the skill guy with the bloody mouth who scored the golden goal and he's got the flag draped around him. What an amazing symbolic image that is. What an incredible story. What an incredible story going back to the last few games before the Olympic break with Jack Hughes. Like when you look at sort of story arc from how come this guy's not playing to I'm cleared 100% here I go to starting on the fourth line on the heels and fumes of the four nations where he really didn't have a good term. tournament to putting himself in a position where he scores one of the biggest goals that the

United States has ever seen all this in the span of two weeks. I mean, you're kind of poo-poo in the Four Nations thing. Like, he was so bad playing out of position on the wing. You had people wondering if he should be Adam Fox, if he shouldn't have a role on the Olympic team because there was no room for him at the end as a center. And so you're right. He earned his way up the lineup. and then ends up scoring in the three-on-three.

Honestly, he's always excelled. I think he has the second highest number of overtime goals in the history of the devils. I mean, he's fantastic there. Give the Hughes Boys ice. It doesn't matter which one. It doesn't matter. Like Quinn did it against Sweden and Jack did it against Canada. Give these guys ice at your own peril.

There's... On the Hughes Brothers for a second. Yeah. I have it on my Twitter feed. If you've not seen it. The interview that they gave to Mike Tariko of NBC... Oh, it just buckled. Who green lighted that?

Who green lighted these guys? Hellebuck and Jack are literally holding Quinn up as he's talking. But the thing is they both put microphones in the phase like, yeah, get Quinn to talk. Like Quinn became the kid that we all grew up with that he could get to do anything. It's like, yeah, get Quinn to do it. Get Quinn. Eat that. Everybody.

Everybody related to that. The guy who would like do anything was Quinn Hughes at that moment. It's so good because Jack gives this like, you know, eloquent. Quinn answer, even though he's tanked. Hellobuck standing there like a statue. He's not going to say anything. But then Quinn takes the mic and he's just like, I just want to thank the troops. Yep.

Here we go. These are here. Just like, go get them, buddy. Listen, all of it was so much fun. All of the game itself is, you know, I was saying this. There's a couple of quotes. I think of Harry Sindon. Okay.

So Harry Sindin, for those that don't know, former general manager of the Boston Bruins, legend. He was part of the world championship team with, with, Team Canada with the Whitby Dunlops. I don't need to do the whole bio. But he always had a line about goaltending, which is like this. You said, goaltending for me is like oxygen. I don't notice it until I don't have any of it.

And I'm like, that's a great line. And we think of like, you know, goaltending is 75% if you have it and if you don't, it's 100, like all those lines that you hear about. But the Harry Sinden line about oxygen was the one that really always stuck with me. I don't notice it until I don't have it. Not only did USA have it yesterday. It's one of, so here's the thing that I wonder about Greg.

It's one of the greatest goaltending performances we've ever seen in hockey, not in U.S. hockey, but in hockey in general. And given, like we'll think of like goaltenders. I think, you know, Jonathan Quick is in the conversation who in 2012 was the best goaltender on the face of the earth or Mike Richter or Tim Thomas or Tom Barrasso. And I always for the old, what's that? Ryan Miller, Ryan Miller, absolutely.

I will just because you know me and I want to throw something old in there, Frank Brimzick, Mr. Zero for the Boston Bruins, six shutouts in his first seven games, Stanley Cups, Veznas, all of it. These are the greatest American goaltenders, right? Greatest U.S.-born goaltenders of all time. Where does, not just that game, but this tournament, put Connor Hellebuck in that conversation? Has he won the Stanley Cup?

No. Has he won Vezna? Yes. Has he won gold medals? Yes, hard trophy. of it. But where does that in your mind put Connor Hallibuck, whose career, by the way, is still not done? But where do you put, where do you put Connor Hallibuck now? But you put him in the Hall of Fame, first of all. Like that gold medal performance probably

puts him in the Hall of Fame based on the Veznazzi's won, based on being an MVP in the league. Like I defy you to find someone who's going to have the stats that he'll have by the end of his career and he'll have that moment and that performance as his calling card for the Hall of Fame. man it's Quick at the peak of his powers was so good Listen, if you get a chance 2012 was the master class of goaltending

from Jonathan Quick Yeah, he was like some guys just have like that year You know it was Federov's 93 or 94 Was just like there's no one even close to Fedorov Like that was like Jonathan Quick in 2012 If you do get a chance Go look at the work from 2012 Quick was insane

But the thing about Quick, though, is, and this is indicative of a lot of goals is, is, you know, Haschik was the same way, where if there was ever a criticism of Dominic Hachshik, it's because it's that he looks like he's doing so much work because of the stiley place. And Quick was the same sort of whirling dervish kind of flip it and flopping and doing all this stuff. Like, it's kind of, it's in contrast to the positional greatness of Hellebuck and guys like Brodor before him that they don't have to do that much work. But again, like, it doesn't mean that he's not still doing. great goal tending. And Dominic Hasich punched reporters. That's another thing that I'm pretty sure. Jonathan Quentin is John McHick also was very surly and mean.

So, Tom Barrasso, hey, listen, Tom Barrasso's top of that list for U.S. Goals. We want to do grumpiest U.S. goalies of all time. Tom Barrasso, Tim Thomas, and then we can discuss afterwards. Probably Quicks in there. I'm not going to say that Hellabuck isn't the reason the U.S. won goal. Of course he is.

he had the game of his life. So what? I will say that. Well, so what? Well, so what? He's part of,

like, I don't buy this. Like, the Nathan McKinnon quote, where it needs fuller context because you need the full of, yeah, there's a lot of more context there's more context to it.

But, you know, this idea that somehow the goaltender is separate from your team, oh, we dominated them. No, you didn't because the goalie's part of the team and you shouldn't be embarrassed

to have a good goalie. No, I think that's completely fair. Like sometimes you get goalied. It just happens. But two things. First of all, I think the getting goalied thing kind of ignores the rest of the effort from the Americans. And yeah, the shot disparity is what it is.

He made 41 saves. That's a lot of saves. But it wasn't as if they were in a shell, much to my surprise, because that's usually how it is against Canada. And it certainly was how it was against the beating. There are parts of the game where they were in a shell. But not overall. But not overall. They were still trying to counterpun it.

But the other thing too is that I thought the D played really well in front of them And I think that there were moments where They released the pressure Where the Canadians could have been staying in the zone for two minutes And also like although your your goaltender is your best penalty killer That penalty killed a pretty damn good Killed a five on three against the Canadians

A five on three against the Canadians And what did they do? They did the Jacob Slavin specialty And this is why coaches love me I thought that yesterday was There were two outstanding performances from the United States. One was a goaltender and the other was Jacob Slavin,

who snuffs out chances before chances begin. That's why he doesn't get noticed. He is the ultimate secret weapon for the Carolina Hurricanes and for USA. And if you look at, and gold chas are always, of course about this, but you look at that five on three,

Canada could not get pucks east west. They could not get pucks over the slot line. That's exactly right. USA sticks that is one where coaches go like this is how this is where you put your sticks on five on three this is how you kill penalties

and you four shots from bad angles how many shots did Canada take from wide because it was their only shots that just ended up back in Canada zone that's my point that's my point is that there was a defensive effort happening in front of him that I think gets ignored because of the shot total I mean

where was Canada running him over where was Canada getting those lateral scoring chances. They weren't happening, and it's not because of Hellebuck, it's because of the D playing well in front of them. And again, I said this on the show many shows ago. Ultimately, in this matchup,

it could come down to the depth of the U.S. Blue Line versus the depth of the Canadian forwards. And, I mean, based on the result, you have to say that the Americans at least played them to a push, but there was things happening in front of Hellebuck that I think get ignored because people are just trying to say that they got bullied.

There was one thing that I was surprised that USA was, and I don't know if they were conceding this because I have a hard time believing that, or if it was more just Maclin-Cellebrini getting in great position suddenly, they gave up a lot of good looks, man. There were a couple of like, right in between the hash marks, clean shots, and I'm like, that's not a kid that you want to, that you want to give that to. So is it youth that he doesn't get criticized? Because Conner's taking it on the chin right now, and I thought that Celebrini had the better

chances and didn't convert in that game. Do we give the kid a pass? On the breakway, probably because he's a year and a half into his career and he's not in a leadership position, quote unquote, on Team Canada. Whereas, you know, Crosby's out and Connor McDavid's got the sea and we'll get to Connery here in a couple of seconds, I'm sure. But let me talk a little bit more about USA here. Oh, please.

Anytime you want to talk about USA, maybe I'm here for it. No, listen, this is a great day for USA hockey. think it needs to be celebrated. Again, like, I don't know what the, we're not going to know for years. The effect from 1980 was massive, obviously. I hope that there is a legitimate cascade from this. That there is a legitimate cascade where, again,

like there was a momentum after four nations with hockey that was palpable. Like, you knew it and you felt it because a few things happened at the same time. A lot of a political between our two countries, and I understand that. But the Super Bowl was done. NBA was shooting themselves in the foot with a horrible weekend and all the attention was on Saturday night at the Bell Center and it delivered and everyone started paying attention to it again. I just, I don't know whether there's going to be a cascading effect for this one. I hope that there is, but I'm not there. You are.

Does this have an impact on hockey in the United States? I don't know because we've never seen them win gold. Like other Olympics have come and gone and there's been no palpable bump for the United States. come and gone and there's been no palpable bump for the NHL from a interest level because of the Olympics. It just hasn't happened. It doesn't mean it won't happen. It just hasn't happened.

The biggest impact has been on individual players. Ryan Miller wins the Vesna because of how he played the Olympics. T.J. O'Shee is now my coworker because of what he did in the shootout. You know, like Jack Hughes is going to be mentioned in the same breath as Mike Arruzioni for the rest of his life. You know, Connor Hullabuck is now the guy who, you know, had the best gold-diving performance in the history of American hockey. Like there's certain guys you're going to get a bump.

Now, the biggest bump from this, and we can talk about this later a little bit more, is going to be for the NHL itself within the context of international hockey. And that's what's changed. In 2010 and in 2014, they didn't have as much skin in the game from an international hockey standpoint as they do now. They resurrected the World Cup in 2016. They're not going to do one every two years in between the Olympics. We're probably going to get under the four nations. We're probably going to get a rider cup between Canada and the U.S.

some point, like, they still aren't getting jack and squat from the IOC, those dumb thieves that make FIFA look like UNICEF, okay? Like, they're not getting anything from the IOC, but they are going to get some more benefit from international hockey and in particular the USA-Canada rivalry that they've never had before. So from an NHL perspective, this is great because it's going to lead to more interest for the World Cup. It's going to leave to more interest for the next time these two teams play in the middle of the season. And ultimately, the goal, the short-term goal for the NHL is going to be, you had such a narcotic high from the Olympics. Well, baby, we've got something that'll help

that fix. It's called the World Cup of hockey. That's the short-term goal. The long-term goal is still the insane one, which is the World Cup replaces the Olympics, which is never going to happen. But if you ask the NHL, you give them truth serum, you whip Wonder Woman's Lassow around them. They're grand plan is, World Cup more important than the Olympics, which again, will never happen. It's, I understand the motivation behind that. I understand the thinking and I, I, I, I respect that as a target. If that's what they're thinking, and they are, we all know that they are. If that's what they're shooting for it, then great. That's a great thing you shoot for it. That's only going to make whatever that tournament turns into as long as it's consistent,

because we've been talking about this since a lockout of 2004, 2005, and a consistent and robust international schedule. Thank you very much. If you make it consistent and like they're married to this. And there is and that it doesn't just take place in North America, but that there is something that takes place in Europe. It's never getting there. It's never getting there. Like I've talked to so many players, European and otherwise, they're just like winning a gold medal

is more important than winning the Stanley Cup. Oh, no, no, I understand. I understand. No, my point is, like, there has to, for this World Cup, this World Cup idea, I do think that there does need to be something that takes place in Europe around it. Totally. There needs to be games there. I understand that still the Olympic gold medal.

And we, listen, man, we saw this. We just saw this for two weeks. If you want any more proof that it's more important for a lot of players to wear their team jersey than their NHL jersey to win a gold medal, as opposed to a Stanley Cup, you just saw evidence of it. You just saw evidence of it. So let's just put that other idea to rest. Right. Finally.

Before we get to Connor, let's talk about Canadian crutches. The primary crutch is that they got goalie. We just talked about that. Again, if you are the prominent superpower in the world from hockey, you should probably find a way to score more than one goal in the gold medal game, even if the goalie is playing well. The second crutch, obviously, is the John Cooper crutch of three-on-three as a gimmick. You go to three-on-three, anything can happen.

It doesn't mean the USA is better. It just means that they got lucky in a gimmick, which I guess doesn't apply to the game against Chechia, what the Canadians had earlier in the tournament, but I digress. Now, the third crutch is the most important one because it's the one I agree with, and it's the one that comes closest to having me, as a proud American, even want to put an asterisk on this game, which is that Sid didn't play. Sid didn't play. The Americans have never beaten the Canadians

in a best-on-best tournament while Sidney Crosby is on the roster. That is a fact. It remains a fact. The Canadians couldn't get their act together on the power play. Sidney Crosby is the 12th leading score in NHL history on the power play. That is also a fact. The Canadians are losing their wits because they can't crack a goaltender that's saving everything.

Sidney Crosby has two gold medals to his credit and a overtime game-winning goal to win one of them. The removal of a player that good from your lineup and that important, and that's much of a spiritual leader, cannot be ignored. I spent a year, Merrick, talking about the Americans not having Queen Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, and a broken down Matthew Kuchuk in the Four Nations final. I will allow my friends to the North to use this as a caveat because I think it's an important one. And quite frankly, also from a procedural standpoint,

Nick Suzuki sucked in that game. Nick Suzuki lost six of seven faceoffs playing in Sid's spot in that game. If Sid's in that spot, he ain't losing six of seven faceoffs. So it is of all the crutches, and I've heard a lot of them from my Canadian friends who want to again, prove that this was a fluke or that we were undeserving of winning the gold medal. I will allow that the loss of Crosby,

and of course the loss of Crosby and the manager in which they lost him. Hockey Canada was tweeting out his picture to promote the game. That's how much we all thought he was going to play. And then he doesn't. That is a huge loss. And as an American, it burns me that there is that level of excuse because I do think it's a valid excuse to not have him in that game. Which is why. And this might be a faulty analogy, but I'm going to make it anyway, which is why I don't mind it in the playoffs.

I actually prefer it as someone that just wants to watch good hockey games when two heavyweights meet in the first round. Because I don't want the built-in excuses. I don't want the end. And it always happens. And by the time you get to the Stanley Cup final, like we're always very kind to the Stanley Cup final. All right. Now, the gravity of the situation and the emotion attached to a Stanley Cup final

is always going to be massive because of what's at stake. So everything has, everything burns differently in a Stanley Cup final game. Yeah. But the hockey itself, these guys are all exhausted. exhausted. These guys are all injured. And the actual quality of play, it goes down. It does. It's a war of attrition. It's not as great. It's a war of attrition.

That's what I don't. That's why I don't mind. Oh, man, we're going to get Dallas, Minnesota in the first round. Wow, one of the heavyweights is going out. Good. That means we're going to get two teams that are the healthiest they're going to be through the entire playoffs playing in the first round. So there aren't those built-in excuses. ah you know what capris off got injured ah you know what rantan's got the bad ankle he was he was 50 percent so you don't have those excuses i uh this is a joke i'm stealing from somebody that i saw

it from and if i i'm sorry i don't remember where but someone said on on social media that if the the nchel was booking the olympics the u.s and canada would have met the quarterfinals which is pretty funny that is excellent line that is a good line that is a good line I wish I would have written out. That's a great land. Okay, you want to do Connor McDavid. Let's talk about Connor. I want to hear what you have to say about Connor because I've read a lot of

conjecture about Connor. Felt bad for him. Felt for a lot of grief for not being the guy who led them to gold. What are you going to do? It's not from lack of effort. Listen, I mean, if there's one fault, I mean, I think that, well, first of all, Jack Hughes is getting a lot of credit for that goal. How about crediting Jack Hughes for looking at Connor McDavid one-on-one in the overtime

and keeping them to the outside. Yeah. How about that play by Jack Hughes? Jack's an underrated defensive player. He always has been. He's a great big talk. Hang on a second. No, I get it. That's Connor McDavid makes, like,

I remember I still don't know. I'll tell a story before. I remember we all watch Connor McDavid, those of us around that, at his very first game in the NHLs, Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues. And he made Jay Beaummeister do something I've never seen Jay Beaumister do

and that's turn and show his numbers in his name. game plate as McDavid was exiting the zone. I had never seen that before. I can't believe that this kid just turned Jay Bowmey. So one of the best skaters in the history of the NHL. Holy shit. That's incredible.

You're Jack Hughes and here comes Connor McDavid. Yeah. I don't, listen, man, you can be like, you can be like the combination of like Bob Ganey and Yuri Lettinen and Mark Stone and Marion Hosa. Patrice. You could think all of the Selky winners, take them all,

bundle them all up. I don't know what they're all going to do against Connor McDavid three on three who's got a full head of steam. The shot's going to get the headline. What he did before

might have been more impressive because that could have ended it. But that was Connor. Connor is, I don't want to say selfish because when you have that kind of skill, you should be selfish. You should be.

You're helping your team by doing things that other players should do, i.e., grab the puck three on three and try to end it yourself. Like, I looked at that and goes, wow, okay, he's up against 86. Here he goes, he's going to bring him to the outside,

cut him, he's going to put it over, Hella buck's shoulder, Canada wins gold, and we're off to the races. But that's where we saw a lot of Connor, like trying his best to end this thing. You know, there's a... The old saying of, if you have to win, you can never win.

Oh, Buddhist saying, right? if you have to win, you can never win. To me, Connor's, like, more than obsessed about winning. Yeah. And I don't want to say that it gets in his way. But, man, like, you look at them after games where they lose. And you look at them, like, after a game, like, yesterday against the United States.

It's so tempting because he has the skill to do all of it. And, man, you, I don't know, I feel bad for the guy. And I shouldn't. I mean, he's one of the most successful players. history of the game. He's going to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He's got a cajillion dollars, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But

still no cup, still no gold. You're trying to say that the winning the Four Nations wasn't enough to satiate him? Is that what you're trying to say? Nope. No way. I don't think it's his fault. I'm not saying that it is.

I'm saying like his... No, no, no. I know you're not trying to do. He has this skill that can end game. Because how many times have you seen that? Remember there used to be like three on three overtime Twitter? And there was there a tracker for it. And whenever like Edmonton went into overtime was like, everyone change to Edmonton right now.

Because it was a David show. And we all went because he's done that a million times before. Right. He has a skill to do it. Anyway, sorry. I just think there's, you know, everyone's looking for a scapegoat on the Canadian side. You know, those who aren't just saying that the American win was a fluke or looking for guys to blame.

I mean, should Connor get more blamed than McKinnon for missing a gaping net, you know, in a gold medal game? I don't know. I don't know. It's weird. Like, I feel like there's a lot of people that want to dance on this kid's grave for some reason when it comes to his performances in late series games in the cup final and what he did or didn't do in the gold medal game.

Like, it's just, it just sucks. Like, it's just so good. And, um, and, um, And he's, it's not for lack of trying. It's for lack of execution, but it's not for lack of trying ever for Connor. Yeah. There were more than one person who made the same remark.

It's like the curse of Connor McDavid. And you saw this yesterday and you saw this with Team Canada where they had a hard time scoring outside of that top line. This isn't the first time Connor McDavid has needed to do everything on his own with his line because there was no secondary scoring. And that's a story coming out of this tournament for Team Canada. Let me. I think if there's.

McDavid and Cellebrini and Nate McKinnon and Cal McCaral, like, go down the, go down the roster. There wasn't a ton of help. And specifically Canada needed it on Sunday. I'm glad you got us there. Let's start with Canada. I think the one huge miss on this roster. easily was Schaefer. Like they really should have watched Schaefer, don't you think?

See, the question about Schaefer is, and again, I'm not saying that this is up to me. This isn't like my justification for it. I'm just talking like, I know how Hockey Canada thinks. Trust me. I know how hockey Canada thinks here. And they put a real premium on experience and not choking in big moments, which is why, I was kind of surprised they put Macklin Celebrini on the team. I'll be honest with you.

And I'm pretty sure that Sid went to bat for him. World Championships, good battery, all of it. And Nate. Yep. And like I understand that. But hockey Canada's always had this thing, specifically at the Olympics, where your coach needs to know based on history what you're going to do in high pressure situations. And in this situation, you still don't know. You still don't know. He looks fantastic.

I would have liked to have found out. I would have liked to have found out too. But this isn't the place to run an R&D camp. like the Olympics isn't a place to try to find out like hmm I wonder if Matthew Schaefer would work I wonder if Lane Hudson but this isn't the place to do it you you needed look we didn't mention his name and he often gets overlooked but Morrissey's out too and so like you have to Morrissey and McCar are your two primary puck movers are they not like you need someone else on the roster that can be that explosive if one of those guys goes down God

there were they didn't bring them the the the thing too is like there were, and I know everyone listening to watching from Edmonton to scream at Evan Bouchard and there were players that would have put Evan Bouchard on this team in front of. Quentin Perako and Drew Doughty. That wasn't

going to happen. We all know how they selected this thing and they went, hmm, four nations blueprint on the blue line, boom, that's what we're going with next season. We know those guys. But I don't think they wanted to try anybody out. I think they're still so focused.

And again, this is where I'll credit, this is where I'll really credit USA on the women's side who had no compunction about putting college players in there. Oh, yeah. And they ended up being the lifeblood of the team in some ways. They ended up being great. Yeah, listen, it's funny. We just got done talking about Matthew Schaefer

and, you know, are you worried about a young player and make a mistake? And people are clamoring to put Evan Bouchard on the roster. I'll take him over Pareko. You wouldn't take him over Colton Pereko? I would take him over Pareko, but it's just funny because, like, people are arguing for the guy where at least once a series, there's a, there's a meme of him blowing a defensive coverage at a key time.

I understand. I understand when you have the puck and you're around the puck all the time, you're going to make a mistake. Go look at Eric Carlson's numbers, too. Sure. Carlson, though, has a better recovery way to recover. I'm not disagreeing that. But like, when you have the puck that much,

sorry it's going to happen so that's my beef with the team with the team Canada roster so my struggle right now as a critic of team USA's roster construction

is there is absolutely no counter argument to the idea that J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck were extremely important in them winning goals

there are their two primary penalty killers the penalty killing went 18 of 18 Yes. They lent a little bit of grit and gold face off winning and all that nonsense to the lower part of the lineup in ways that Cole Cawfield and Jason Robertson probably wouldn't have. Yeah. Now, that being said, yes. United States needed to get a goal from Jack Hughes in a three on three in overtime in order to win the gold medal because they could only muster one goal in in a game. And by the way, one goal that was a pure individual effort by Matt Boldie, puck juggling in.

By the way. By the way. No, hang on. No, hang on to say, back up before he even gets to Bennington. He splits the number one D. Kail McCarron, Devon Tave, does them. Like, lost to time is that goal because of what Jack Hughes did. But they're not even a good goal.

They're not even a good goal. They're not for what boldie does. I know. But anyways, my point being is that I will admit defeat to Bill Garron and Bill Zito and Tommy Fitzgerald and their vision for this team. It's obviously the right call. They won gold. And they won gold with a penalty kill that went 18.

for 18. A lot of that had to do with Hillibuck, but nonetheless, that being said that it was still a game where they could only muster one goal in the gold medal game, and it was the freakish, most beautiful individual effort you could possibly imagine? And could Jason Robertson have helped? Could Cole Caulfield help? I don't know. That's why I'm torn between being completely wrong and being exonerated. Okay, let me bring one thing up to you as well. I'm glad you mentioned that. Robertson specifically. Coffield, yes. Robertson, I pause.

Here's why. That was some of the best hockey we've ever seen. Yes. The fastest pace that we've ever seen. I remember being a kid and watching Canada Cup 76 and 81 and all and going like, wow, and even 87. I'm going like, I can't believe hockey is so fast. How could hockey be any faster? I go back and I watch it now.

I'm like, oh my God. Look how slow this is. And we saw last night, yesterday morning, yesterday morning, a pace that we've never seen before. And a lot of players got exposed. Brad Marchand got exposed. Drew Dowdy got exposed. Like there were players that got exposed. And if you brought along Jason Robertson, I want you to look into the camera that's right in front of you and tell us whether you think Jason Robertson could have kept up to that pace.

I mean, probably not. Not many players good. Lane Hudson, good. Lane Hudson, yes. Lane Hudson, definitely. But I know for all the clamoring for Jason Robertson, there's no way he could have kept up to that. There's no way.

It's you guys that at the end of the day, when you look back at this tournament, you can make an argument for the two Canadian kids, is Caulfield and Hudson. But again, it is extremely hard to make any level of argument against the construction of this roster when it just won the gold medal. And so I'll concede defeat the Bulgarian. When I see Bill Guerin, I will shake his hand.

I will say, thank you, sir, for building a bull battle winning game. And he will say, go after yourself, you stupid daughter. I'm going to steal Jack Hughes and the Devils and make you cry. I'll tell you what, the year of Billy continues. You know, he signs the biggest contract in the history of hockey with Capri. He's off. He makes the Quinn Hughes deal. He's got a gold medal around his neck. I mean, no one thinks he's done. And the poetry of it is that he was an Olympian. And if, and Madano, I think might have even said that when he was on with us on MBSW was this, you know,

Bill Guerin hates Canada. And again, I say this every time this comes up. No one hates Canada. Most of us. We hate, we hate, we hate, we hate hockey. We hate hockey. You're sure about that, Greg? My American friend. Gilgaren being a piece of this and having a history that he does with the USA hockey is a lot of poetry here. Do we talk about Goodrow yet? Well, I mentioned his kids and his position. Oh, yeah, yeah.

We talked about the symbolism of it all. And like, you know, Brock Nelson being a legacy going all the way back to the miracle on ice. There's a ton of these little stories here and there. Looks like he played a Swah Valley. I don't know if you guys saw Jack Hughes' post game with Catherine Tappen where he's like, he's got this bloody maw like dripping over Catherine Tappen. I was all terrible. But like he's, the two things he shouted out were Hellebuck saying he was their best player by a mile.

Oh yeah. And then the brotherhood of USA hockey. And that all that not only meant the players on this roster, but the players that came before them that reached out and that, you know, were supportive and that, you know, embrace this generation and tried to teach them well and stuff like that. That was really touching because, you know, not to be all Hillary Clinton here, but it does take a village. You know, it takes generations of players to encourage other generations of players and

to teach other generations of players. And finally you get to this point where they win gold. Speaking of a village. So hang on, can we pause on that for a second? Can we hang on. One second. One second. Because on the, the pod that I do with Gabby, the hockey lifeers pod this morning,

we talked to Scott Monaghan, who's the. the GM of the United States Development Program, U-18. And we're talking about, there's 17 players on that U.S. roster that went through that program. And when you do it, because that was the one thing that I brought up with them too.

Like, listen, this is congratulated. This isn't just congratulations to that team. Like, that's congratulations to USA hockey going all the way down, like all the way, even just like grassroots, getting kids on the ice, sticks in their hands.

skates on their feet all the way through programs and early mornings and Zamboni fumes and bad coffee from the parents and travel and on all these types of things through the development program. Like this is like you're right. This is a whole village to get there. It feels like you're on top, but there's a ladder that you took to get there. And there's different rungs on it. So this is a celebration for all of them, not just for that team. Everybody except for the goalie went through a development program. This is kind of how it worked.

But again, that's why World Junior, world juniors was the Canary and the coal mine. Like, that was the harbinger of things to come. And I know the Canadians would be like, our best players are in the NHL. I don't care. The Americans have won more World Junior medals, gold medals and the Canadians have since 2010.

And you could feel the tide rising of talent for the Americans in each one of these tournaments. And, you know, there's more on the way. You know, Logan Cooley. Like, there's more on the way. There's another hot. There's another Hudson too comment. There's another Hudson.

We'll get there. But I wanted to pause on the, it takes the village part because it did remind me of one of the biggest differences between the Canadians and the Americans in this tournament. Americans were in the village and the Canadians were not. What do you make of that? Do you think a couple of the Americans shouted that out as being extremely important for building chemistry? Do you think that impacted Canada?

I would be such a fraud if I even speculated on whether that was a factor because I don't know. honestly, I could I could belt out like some bullshit talk radio answer to try to make it sound semi-intelligent just to fill air time. But honestly, I have no idea. Like I don't think that there's one specific formula that's going to lead to a gold medal. So I can't tell you whether being in the village or art of the village is going to be good or bad. I think for some it's good. For some it's bad.

For some it works. For some it doesn't. I don't know. I don't think that there's one cookie cutter way to win anything. and for that team being in the village like that, that worked, okay, that's awesome. How many times has it happened where it was the opposite? I don't know.

So I tend to think that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for anybody else. So I don't know whether it was a factor. Obviously, if the Americans liked it and it worked for them and it felt it brought them together, then it worked awesome. Yeah, but I mean, I don't know what that was like the difference. That just becomes one of those. like, you know, this weird thing happened in the playoffs and made it all, made us all believe in ourselves.

And there's no way to quantify it. I will say, though, that there is a, you know, there is a flip side of that coin, which is that the Canadians didn't stay in the village because they were worried about norovirus. And, you know, if the Americans ended up all shitting their pants in the quarterfinals, because they were sick as dogs, like, then we would have a completely different conversation. Canadian women had their first game against Finland scrub, most postponed because of it. So, I mean, that's a, that's a legitimate scare. So if you're hockey Canada, you're like, you know what?

We're going to piece out on the village. We're going to piece out on the village here. I understand that. But I don't think that there's one specific way to get it, to get the, to get the. You know what I keep coming back to, dude. Like, I know the USA and Canada are like the top dogs right now in men's hockey. Like, no doubt about that. But it's so kind of insane to think they both could have been on their asses in the quarter finals.

I know. They really could have. We could have lost both of these teams on two bounces in overtime. But that's the thing. like I know I'm in the minority here because everyone here oh Canada lost Canada lost and I keep saying to myself like guys like that's actually that's good like if you win it's like it's like if you if you if you woke up one morning Greg and all of a sudden someone said to you Greg you now have the power to know everything that is going to happen in your life or no how about this

you can actually direct everything in your life this is like paraphrasing like an old Alan Watts speech You know, you have the ability to decide what is going to happen to you all day, every day for the rest of your life. For a while, for a while, you could decide whatever you, whatever you want. Whatever you want. Okay. That would be fun for a while. And then you'd want to be surprised. Because that's what makes life worth living, not knowing and the surprise of all of it.

How boring is life if you always get what you want, whether it's awesome. a hockey tournament or whatever. Like, you need surprises in your life. And of a tournament like this, I'm, again, like I said, off the top, I'm happiest when there's like five or six teams that could win it. The problem now is it looks like it's just going to flip-flop between Canada and the United States, which is good because that's a wonderful rivalry. Come on, Sweden.

Come on, Finland. Well, the Finns are always going to be. I know Finn's always competitive. I know, but... They're always a spoiler. Like, win one here. By the way they... No.

Slovakia. I don't think... I don't think Canada is in the gold medal game of Barkoff's healthy, by the way. I just want to point that out. It is an interesting conversation. I know he's probably the wild card to all of this thing here. And that did not look good early for that. I actually...

I actually got all my... I got all my picks except for one, correct, in the, in the quarterfine... Oh, by the way... I said Germany would beat Slovakia. That was wrong. But everything else, including the USA and Finland winning medals, was correct. Josh D. Penn says, got to throw Russia in there, Merrick. Well, listen, until the invasion issue is all settled and they're brought back in the mix.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you trying to say there's politics and hockey, Merrick? That's crazy. The Russians will be back. We're already seeing the signs of things to come. They're being allowed back into the junior turn. tournaments. And, you know,

softening. Yeah, they're softening. So, again, the difference between, a lot of people have asked me this about the Olympics. Like, why are certain sports allowing Russian athletes to compete while hockey doesn't? And it comes down to the double IHF. Double IHF has Russia and Belarus ban from all competition. The minute they lift that ban, they're back in the Olympics. And they're back in the World Cup.

The NHL and the IOC guidance to the double IHF. I do wonder what the other federations think of that, too. Oh, no. That was one of the first. primary props. That's one of the things that led to formations. That's the prime mover in all of this. That's one of the things that led to four nations, which is that, you know,

Finland was like, go F yourself. Like we're not, we're not playing in the World Cup, but Russia's going to be there. Sweden, too. Sweden was right there as well. Yeah. And that's a really good point, Merrick. Like, even if the double IHF lifts sanctions,

it is going to be contingent on convincing these other countries to let them back in if the invasion continues. Yep. Okay. So let's put a final thought on this one here, and then we'll get to say something about, about, I didn't want to do all the politics thing, but the state of the union address in the United States is Tuesday. As many of you probably know, the team USA was invited to go to it. I have long argued that no one should visit the White House. Like, it is propaganda.

It's all it is. I said that when Tim Thomas skipped the Bruin celebration in the Obama administration, it took a lot of grief for it. But I remain said fast. and you're the backdrop for politics if you do that. Now, that's me saying that about going to the White House to celebrate a championship. The state of the union address is pure propaganda. Like, it is pure propaganda, like uncut propaganda. Like, he points to you in the audience and everybody claps and he gets the shine from it

because you're there as part of his audience. I kind of believe that once you do that, you do open yourself up to some of these conversations that these guys try to avoid. Like, going to the White House and... being in there and celebrating the cup, whatever. But if you're in the audience for the state of union, you know, when like there's people rising and falling

when there's certain subjects to clap about and you're part of that backdrop, I think it's, it opens the door for people to ask you uncomfortable questions in ways you probably don't want to be asked beyond, hey, Dylan Lark and why is the director of the FBI drinking next to you?

I don't know if, I don't know if, I know we have a large Canadian audience on Daily I don't know if you understand the nuance between visiting the White House and being part of the audience for the State of the Union address, but that's the nuance. And if they end up there, fair game, in my opinion, to ask them about what they feel about all the things that are happening in the United States and between the United States and Canada. I don't just, I think the one thing yesterday that I, that I just get, it does open up the doors for all different conversations with people that. and I don't want to insult anybody by this, but like that aren't, that this isn't what they do.

They're not equipped. They're not equipped. They're not equipped to, to deal with this. So I just wish that, I just wish that there was something. And I know that we live in a, in a time where everything is intensely political,

right down to like the choice of beer you're drinking. And I, I get it. Like that, that's where, that's just where we're at right now. Man, I'm just dying for one area of our lives.

to be devoid of politics. Safe haven, yeah. Like, I know there are people that are just like, keep politics out of hockey. Well, that's naive and stupid. Politics are always a part of hockey. Just like politics are always part of the Olympics, for God's sakes. I mean, I mean, give me a break. Because country versus country.

I know. I get it. And the Ukrainian that wanted a, the Ukrainian who couldn't wear his helmet because he had, you know, photos of the dead athletes since the last time they had the Olympics on it. Like, it's inherently political. you're completely right like where I really felt it is as you guys can probably tell I like to have some fun during the Olympics at the expense of Canadians and it's not fun anymore because of all the shit going on with our countries man like it's it's it's like one joke

then they come back at you and now someone's talking about Jeffrey Epstein like it's just like you know what are you supposed to do with that it used to be fun it used to be all in good nature but because of the current situation, it's not fun. And so I understand when people want to bury their heads in the stand and being like, sports aren't political. That's not the answer. Sports are inherently political. Everything is political.

But, you know, I wish it wasn't is probably the way to respond to that. Do you want to mention, as this show is going off the air here in a couple of moments after we get to Zach, Morning Cup of Hockey, which in its place today, Tri-State was on, and the morning cup of hockey is coming up next year on the stream at Daily Face Offrey here at YouTube. I know you want to talk about like. more it's going to be morning somewhere i guess it's going to be morning well it's it's like it is mornings listen some people are just we americans are just waking up now after not having gone to bed until when like morning cup of hockey's normally on that was a really funny part of the of the gold

metal game by the way is that it went to the three on three it's like 11 whatever on the east coast it's like oh finally the west coast can watch some of this game uh the folks that didn't want to wake up for it i haven't seen the number i'm i'm dying to see what the what the audience i am too yeah i'm it could be a real blockbuster Do you think it's going to be massive in the States? Like the Canadian number is going to be ridiculous. You think it's going to be massive? I do because I think once you got to the overtime,

the peak audience was probably something insane. Like everyone was watching at that point. That's great. It was a good, I mean, to tie a bow around it, because I know we got to get out of here. But it was a good Olympics. Like, there was a lot of really cool things that happened at the Olympics. Like, you know, American figure skating on the women's side,

becoming relevant for the first time in years. Curling. Like, listen, even I had some fun in curling. Like, yeah. What's your face? Corey Theason, probably books during her last name, was the first American woman to ever win a metal in curling. So that was a cool sport.

It was a really, I wasn't there. I wish I was, but like it seemed like a pretty well-run Olympics for the most part for the Italians. And now 2030 beckons. By the way, the core of the American team, as I wrote about on ESPN, as I projected the 2030 roster, 32 and under, we're going to have some reinforcements. Logan Cooley, Lane Hudson, maybe two Hudson's. Ryan Leonard, you're going to have some reinforcements. Gavin McKenna.

Schaefer, Connor McHenna. Schaefer, Connor Bedard. It's going to be a lot of fun. My biggest concern is Connor Hellabuck being like 36, but, you know, goalies can play old. And I think I think I'm going to make the prediction. right now on February 23rd. You're making the prediction now, all right? The United States men's hockey team.

Zach, please clip this. Oh, geez. United States men's hockey team, back-to-back gold medals. They will win the 2030 tournament and go back to back. Congratulations, my friend. I know this is a day

that you have dreamed about your entire life. You, like many Americans, have dreamed about winning a gold medal and not having it referred to as a miracle that it's just a win. So congratulations on winning the gold medal, both on the men's and women's side as well.

The rivalry continues between our two countries and the rest of the world as well. Listen, a great day for you, great day for your country as well. I'm really happy for you guys. I appreciate that. It is a great day. As you can see, I am wearing a tux. My tux jacket from when I was married to. to complete the outfit.

And it is a great day. I wish I could have, I could have partied like a fan more. It was a work day, both yesterday and today. But, uh, but, but hang on. Yeah.

I know, I know you. Like, you didn't have like one sip or one cigar. Come on. No, I drank an entire beer while I was writing the live blog for the game, for sure. But I couldn't go to a bar and jump around with people.

Yeah. You know, I wasn't watching it with my dad. Like, you know, there was certain things you got at sacrifice. You have to make in the situation when you have a job to do. But like,

did I cry? I cried once. I cried when they showed the flags. And the U.S. flag was higher than the finished flag and the Canadian flag. And I never thought I'd see that on the men's side. Yeah. We cried here, but for a different reason. Yeah, I know.

A lot of tears. All right. We'll talk again later on this week, pal. Congratulations. All right. Thank you. Take care, everybody. Greg Wachinsky from ESPN and ESPN.com.

All right. The sheet is powered by Fandle. That was fun. The sheet is powered by Fanduel. Play your game with Fanduel. It's the NHL season. And Fanduel is your home for all the action on the ice. From Blue Line to Betslip,

have got you covered all season with unique promos, live offerings, and more features to let you play your game. Ms. Puck drop, no sweat. Got you cover with a live team game parlay. Build up your bets until the final buzzer. Download Fandual Sportsbook today and play your game. Please play responsibly, 19 plus, and physically located in Ontario.

If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600, to speak to an advisor free of charge. How are you going to do this one today, Zach? Yeah, unfortunately, Parlay is effectively impossible right now because there are no games for a couple of days. So I'm not going to jump to Wednesday's games and grab those ones

because I need to wait to Wednesday to be able to give those ones. Let's go. I found a special market on Fanduel that I thought was pretty cool that they had up there for this season. And I think it's way more applicable given what took place yesterday in particular relating to one player. And it's a bet that Fanduels put out there. They've looped all these markets into one that you can bet on. And this is the revenge sweep, I called it, for Nathan McKinnon. Nathan McKinnon, the Art Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy.

the Rocket Richard Richard trophy and the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup Fanduel has put up there. He wins all these and the abs win. A plus 1160. $10 would pay $1.16. And I was thinking about it because I did a watch along yesterday

with Dan Ruchio and Nick Alberg for off the roster on the Nation Network YouTube channel. And after the game ended, when, I mean, we saw the picture of Nathan McKinnon and I thought he was going to rip that plushy's head off, I said to the boys on the show, I was like, You know, that's one guy you're going to have to watch out for for the rest of this year

because he might be on a warpath. And I was thinking, hey, how could I bet on this? Well, Vandals got a market up for it. So I thought that was interesting that they put that up. And it might be something I bet on myself after the show ends here. That would be awesome if he's just like a one-man wrecking crew for the remainder of the season all the way to the Stanley Cup. All right, 10 bucks wins you. $116.

dollars, that would be significantly more if it were a different player, but nonetheless it is Nathan McKinnon after all. Okay, morning cup of hockey coming up here in a couple of moments. Yes. If Barkov played for Finland, maybe they would have won. But if Sidney Crosby played for Canada, maybe they would have won. If Brent Point played for Canada, maybe they would have won. If my aunt had nuts, maybe she'd be my uncle.

But none of those things happened, so I guess we'll never know. I just want to point that out. Candies and nuts. We all have a Merry Christmas. I know, I know, I know. It's why we're fans. That's why we keep coming back and pushing that button. Trade deadlines as well on the horizon.

One of the most exciting days on the hockey calendar. Teams setting up their rosters for the playoff push, freeing up cap space and adding future assets. Join the DFO crew on Friday, March 6th at 11 a.m. Eastern for the daily face-off trade deadline special. Stay tuned for that. And stay tuned for what's up next here on the stream. It is Morning Cup hockey.

with our boys, Johnny Lazarus and Colby Cohen. I don't think the swelling has gone down on Johnny yet, but we'll find out here in a couple of moments. And you can be pretty sure that Colby's pretty thrilled about the entire thing as well. So the celebration of USA hockey continues here at Daily Face Off on our YouTube. Thanks to Greg Wichenski for stopping by.

Thanks to you for watching and or listening and or interacting in the chat. If you've already subscribed to the channel, we thank you. If you haven't, please consider doing so. Thanks to everyone on their podcast platforms for listening as well. And who tuned into our Milan game specials with me and Tyler, very much appreciative from this corner of the hockey podcast sphere.

How about that? So thank you. In the meantime, Morning Cup of Hockey is up next.