The Sheet with Jeff Marek - What A Night ft. Brian Burke

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Brian Burke joins Jeff Marek on the Thursday edition of The Sheet following Canada's thrilling overtime victory over Sweden. Discussing international play, the excitement around the 4 Nations, having players get hurt at non-league events, and much more...Shout out to our sponsors!👍🏼Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/SHOW INDEX00:00 Intro03:43 Canada/Sweden Thoughts14:50 FanDuel Daily Outline16:43 Brian Burke50:43 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.

I gotta tell you I'm having a laugh reading the chat. Change your tune yet, Merrick? About the foreign nations? You excited about this yet? You loser, Merrick? You dope, that was good. I wanna get there in a couple of seconds. Normally, Brian Burke joins us on a Friday. I will not be here tomorrow. So we're doing Friday on a Thursday with Brian Burke. Brian's gonna drop by wherever he is in about 10 minutes time, 15 minutes time. So look forward to that.

Couple of things. One, Zach, where are you? Where are you hiding? Where are you hiding? Okay. Right here. We've got a couple of things in the chat. Um, there's a lot of them about, uh, Hey, Merrick, what do you think of the

four nations now? I want to get there, but General Sorinous, um, asked what's with this civilians thing. You want to share everyone what this civilians thing is all about? Where it comes from? We should always, we should always, we've always been taught this about about doing like radio podcast. You don't treat it as a straight line. You see as a straight line and then a loop back because more people are gonna join so you need to sort of go over what you've already talked about and then you're sort of, it goes like this or if I'm doing it properly on the screen it goes like that. So every now and then we should sort of, it goes like this, or if I'm doing it properly on the screen, it goes like that.

So every now and then we should sort of regroup and let people in on the inside jokes on the show. So what's with you and civilians? So one of, and just thinking about it, making me laugh, the greatest clips, not just of this show, but in hockey, internet history. Wow, better than Dave Hodge's pen flip, All of that. It's civilians and Dave Hodge. One or the other. Wow, that's high praise.

Um, Burke was sitting in his office, I think it was in Matamie, and a civilian, which we did not know at the time was a civilian, walked in on Burke doing the interview here with us, mid-interview, mid-Burkey sentence and Burkey in the way only Burkey could basically told the guy, I will kill you, get out of the office without saying it out loud. And then that's there. And then politely said, Hey sir, I'm doing an interview, please leave.

Jeff then asked him what happened? And he said, some civilian just, I'm doing an interview. Please leave. Jeff then asked him what happened and he said some civilian just walked into the office. Who was that? He goes, ah, some civilian. He's used that one for a long time. He loves that one. Some civilian. Yeah. Okay, so a few things here today. Oh, wow. This is funny. You ever go through old books and find boarding passes? Uh, no. So I just, okay.

Well, you don't read on planes. This is wild. My boarding passes aren't, uh, usually physical, like physical copies anymore. Jeff. Well, this is why this goes, this goes, this goes back a ways. aren't usually physical copies anymore, Jeff. Most of my boarding passes have been digital. This goes back a ways. This goes back to the genesis of Winnipeg Jets version 2.0.

This was my boarding pass from the flight that I took for the press conference. And this is how long it's been since I read this book, Gretzky to Lemieux. It's one of the books that I wanted to mention on the show today. And I just pulled it off my shelf. Like I should mention some of the international hockey books

that I really like. People like when you pass on book recommendations and I just opened up in this boarding pass from the Winnipeg Jets. Welcome back to the NHL press conference fellow. That's how long it's been since I've read this. Anyway, I'll talk about that one a little later on. Okay, so here's my deal on it. I want you to be here for, I want you to witness this. First of all, Zach, you've known me for a little while now. What do you think the first thing that I noticed was, in a positive sense about last night? What's the one thing that you go,

oh yeah, Merrick's gonna talk about this? He's so predictable. I think when the legends came out, or like the legends from each country, and Mario Lemieux specifically being brought out No, I did like that and I want to talk about Mario in a second, but no Huh, I Don't know mustard versus ketchup White jerseys on the ice. It was yellow versus red. That game looked

awesome. Yes. Just visually that looked real good. It's a hot dog game. It's ketchup and mustard. It was fantastic. Loved the way that that game looked. And it was a fun game. But here, okay, so here's, here's where I'm at on it. I'm excited about the hockey now that I know that they're gonna play hard. Was it the best international game we've ever seen? No. But it was really good. And it was fun and it was exciting and had a thrilling conclusion. Had some, some nervous Canadian hockey fans, some excited Canadian hockey fans early, some nervous Canadian hockey fans, some excited Canadian hockey fans early, some nervous Canadian hockey fans well into the second period, and then at the end, your Mitch Marner,

Zach Phillips, on a little sort of lazy shot to the far side, ends it for Team Canada and they win. But a couple of things here. One, I really try not to be the look down your nose at everything guy. And I'm trying not to sound arrogant when I say that. I've been thinking all afternoon, like how am I gonna say this without sounding arrogant?

So please understand that this is not coming from a place of arrogance. It's just coming from a place of, I've just seen a lot of international hockey games. Like I've grown up my entire life knowing and loving international hockey. Mentioned before, 1976 was a big one for me. And I still, you know, I still like,

when we think about like white whale guests, man, if we ever got Rogie Vachon on this program, I think all I would talk about is 1976 with Rogie. And he'd talk about like, you know, I did play on other teams, you know, like I was a general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, all the, no, I just want to talk about 76. Um, but what it, what sort of dawned on me is there is, I'm not going to say the whole generation, but a significant part of a generation of hockey fan that hasn't seen best on best competition. And that's why I understand like we like why people would be excited about it. I've been spoiled. Like I will freely admit I've been spoiled because I've

grown up in this generation where I've been able to watch hockey change significantly. Like hockey is always evolving. All sports were evolving. But I've been able to watch it like from the 70s to the 80s to the 90s like all the way up until right now. And like evolution of hockey, it's profound. One of the things I always love doing is usually in the off season is I'll go back and watch old Canada Cup tournaments or old NHL games, just to point out to myself just how different the game is now. But I grew up watching the 87 Canada Cup. I grew up,

like, I watched the 1996 World Cup of hockey. Like, that is my bar. Okay, like, when you say, hey, is this a good tournament? Were these good games? That's what I measure it against. Now, I don't want to be someone that allows the concrete to harden, or it doesn't allow the cement to harden around any of his ideas or thoughts about everything was better in the past and blah blah blah because you know I'm the person that wants every single record broken. I want every record broken because I want every single person in hockey to be able to experience things that I have, namely records that we thought would never be broken broken and games they I don't just

want Wayne Gretzky to be considered the greatest hockey player of all time forever I want other people to take that mantle I want people to be able to appreciate and experience their version of what I saw with guys like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux all I'm saying about tournament is, and I can't get excited about this one, because this one is a complete one and done. This one is just like a random, in place of the All-Star Game tournament. Michael Farber is a huge inspiration of mine.

One of the best hockey writers the game has ever seen, and he put it so succinctly in a conversation he was having, Gary Lawless in one of his pieces this week mentioned this, that Farber synthesized the tournament like this. I've been trying to say this for a couple of weeks now, Zach, but I'm kind of like roller skating down a gravel road. Farber's a poet and Farber puts it succinctly and perfectly. I'm just blathering out words. Farber says, this is a tournament without a past and without a future.

And that's what this is. That's why I can't get excited about this. I can get excited about the Olympics. I like that there's a calendar that includes a World Cup of hockey now and we suspect that this is gonna continue and be robust and now we're gonna have a schedule for what international hockey is gonna look like as a complement to the NHL Which I think is fantastic We can quibble about where it should be and I personally think it should be before the season

Not at the end of the season where injuries are more of a factor but discuss amongst yourselves at least we're gonna be getting some more international international hockey action. So am I excited about this tournament? No but I really liked the game last night and I'm probably gonna like US and Finland tonight and I know I'm gonna love Finland Sweden on Saturday afternoon and I know I'm gonna love Finland, Sweden on Saturday afternoon. And I know I'm gonna love Canada versus USA. But am I excited about the tournament itself?

No. But if you're looking for a bar to jump over, Canada, Sweden last night jumped over the bar. I'm glad they're playing hard. I'm glad this is like two teams that are really going for it Unfortunate what happened to Shay Theodore that really sucks, but I understand that look you can't Expect everyone to come out clean from this tournament. There are going to be injuries and the first one

Vegas Golden Knights and I see you cynics out there They're already waiting for Vegas to put them on LTIR. I see you cynics, you cynical people out there, shame, shame on you. But anyway, let me get your thoughts on it. Last night was a fun game, a flat out fun game to watch. Not the best game you've ever seen, fun game that we've seen. Yeah, I mean I want to read this too for people. I was waiting for Jeff to give me some kind of insight as to how he was going to be feeling about the game, the tournament, etc. as it went along. And I'll get to the point you just made about like the history and the future of the tournament,

but I texted Jeff at the end. I'm just going to give people this insight, Jeff. I said, that was exciting, Jeff says. Was good. Yeah. Was good. Two words. I'm like, come on, give me something else. I guess save it for the show, but I think your breakdown of it was fair. Don't do the show in the green room.

We're not doing the show in our Texas. Don't rehearse your ad-libs, John Shannon would always say to me. Jeff, don't rehearse your ad-libs. Was good. I'm like, come on. Yeah. But you know what? I think it's fair and I think the future and the history of the tournament kind of break down there makes a lot of sense.

I'm a little bit more on the side of caring about the tournament now and I know that there's not going to be a future one of this. And we saw that or had that confirmed yesterday by the NHL effectively over the past couple of days talking about the schedule of everything and every two years and the World Cup of hockey and this is gonna change you know I imagine we're gonna see Germany and Czech and you know Switzerland and etc all included in this going forward but I personally am enjoying this right now because of the hockey and what we're getting to see and you know to push back on it a little bit and where I think you kind of alluded to there is like, you know, I was 12 years old when I saw Sydney Crosby in the Golden Goal.

And 2014 in Sochi is something I got to experience, but not really. You know, it was in Russia and it was a ways away and the times and everything made it harder to kind of be a part of that way. So 2010 was my last experience and actually you know where I was. I was in Nauta-Wassau in Innisfil playing with our friends. No way! Ryan DeSofa up there getting ready for a game to play against the Markham Waxers and they delayed our game because Canada US went to overtime. So we were loaded into the lobby.

Was everybody out in the lobby watching the game? Yes. So you know the question, one of the questions that everyone has about this one is, let's say you were at the airport and you're watching that game and your plane is boarding as they're starting overtime. Are you watching it over time or are you getting on the plane? Uh, I mean now you can at least bring your phone in 2010. I'm probably saving it to the last possible minute.

No, no, no, no, no. Last call at the gate. We're boarding. That's it. You watching overtime or you getting on your plane? And I think I'm watching overtime And I think I'm watching overtime. I think I'm watching overtime. Yeah, that's a once in a lifetime thing. Sorry mom, sorry dad, not coming home. I know I'm making it a big deal, but that's a once in a lifetime thing.

That goal that was scored, for Canadians specifically, and probably Americans, because you don't know at that point, if you're from another nationality, maybe you say, whatever, I'll find out what happens when I land. But Canada, US, I think, sitting there and watching that, that's a moment I have never forgotten, and probably will never forget.

Our friend there is in the chat, he said, delay the game, watch the lobby. Delay the game, watch the lobby, great times. Yeah, but I cared, and I just wanna give one final thought here as we get ready to have Berkey join us on it. I was concerned as I think you were about what was going to happen. There were three players in particular last night who basically set the standard for how everyone else on Canada was going to play,

everyone on the US and I imagine people, or Sweden sorry, and I imagine people in the US and Finland will play tonight. To me those three people were Nathan McK McKinnon Connor McDavid and Sydney Crosby those three guys took it seriously there was like 20 seconds into the game Nathan McKinnon finishing checks let me throw one more name at you out there too and I want to get to the rundown and by the way the chats great today chaps really yeah I can't get my eyes off it um Adrian can'té I thought was excellent last night for Sweden. Kempé was fantastic for Sweden. Okay, Berkey on

the other side. Daily Outlines presented by our friends and partners at FanDuel, North America's number one sportsbook app provider and the lion's share of today's program. We'll be talking with Brian Berk who normally joins us on Fridays but today's program. We'll be talking with Brian Burke who normally joins us on Fridays but today's a Thursday and I'm off tomorrow so Burke you will be aboard in a couple of moments. Are you not entertained? That was an entertaining game. You know I went into it skeptical. We'll talk about Sydney Crosby as well and the inevitable questions that have come out of last night's game namely should Sydney maybe go somewhere

where we could see him in the playoff Shea Theodore and the injury heard around the four nations he is the first but as harsh as it's gonna sound like he's probably not the last player to get injured in this tournament tonight USA faces off against Finland very much looking forward to seeing that one to see Matthew Kachuk versus Alexander Barkov. And if there's a moment where there's one player, if Barkov gets lined up by Matthew Kachuk, that will tell you all you need to know about this tournament and whether they're going for it or not. If you have someone lined up from your NHL team and you don't finish, that tells you a lot about this one and this tournament.

But, or if like Sam Bennett and Matthew Kachuk throw down Saturday night, like just dress them both, right? Like Sullivan, Cooper, put them both in the starting lineup against each other. There's Sam Bennett standing next to Matthew Kachuk, opening face off. Like, just do it. You owe it to hockey. You know, we keep hearing about doing what's right for the game, for the good of the game.

Just dress Bennett in Kachuk. Put him across from each other. Just start the game. Do we have a couple of seconds before I get to Berkey or are we standing by? He's ready to go. He's ready to go, let's get him in. Normally we do this on a Friday, but today we're doing it on a Thursday. Our gift to you joining me on the sheet is the one and only Brian Burke.

Burke, how are you today? Good, Jeff. How are you? I am very well. I will tell you, I was very skeptical going into last night's game. I wasn't sure whether it was going to be no touch football, it was going to be no touch hockey, whether this was going to be tag, but it wasn't.

The play was good. It wasn't the best international game I think we've ever seen, but it was good enough to keep everybody really entertained. What were your main takeaways from last night? I want to drill down on a couple of players and situations, but what was your main takeaway from last night? I want to drill down on a couple of players and situations, but what was your main takeaway from last night? Well, I'm really surprised that people even debated whether this is to be real hockey

or not, or tag team, or tag touch football, or somehow it will be anything, an all-star game. I was amazed and amused by some of that speculation because that's a real degradation and unfair characterization of our players. Our players play hard no matter who they're playing for or against. and I want to get to Sid in a second. Um, let me ask you about Nathan McKinnon, uh, gorgeous goal to start it off, power play marker. And then in the, in the overtime specifically, um, it almost seems if Nathan McKinnon kind of just said, you know what, I'm just going to, I just got to take

as many chances here to try to end this game on my own as possible. Like when he starts skating, he's a rhinoceros on ice. Like good luck. He gets a couple of steps and he's a Clydesdale. Give a thought of what we saw from Nathan McKinnon in overtime where it was just grab the puck and go. I went and watched him in his draft year and he had that explosive capability even when he was 17. You could see the him in his draft year and he had that explosive capability even when he was 17.

You could see the power in his game. There are many players that could, there are players that can skate as fast like Conor McDavid and he's every bit as fast as Nathan McKinnon, but he's not as powerful. This kid's powerful. Like you said, Ryan Oswitch, whatever the big, Kate Puffle, whatever analogy you want to use.

He's a big man. He's a determined man on a straight line. I think the play that won the game for Canada was not a stop up play. So I think that's what Nathan's got to do is use his speed, see if he can beat the outside. If it's not there, you know, trying to beat three guys. If it's not there, stop up and make a play.

You know, there was a lot of talk about Sidney Crosby during, uh, a lot of talk about Sydney Crosby during the game. A lot of talk about Sydney Crosby coming out of the game, uh, oldest player in the tournament, 37 years old. He was the best player on the ice last night. And part of the conversation now is, you know, I know that, listen, Crosby is going to the hall of fame there. They have the plaque already. It's all, it's all set to go.

And whenever he decides to retire and they have the mandatory waiting period for him down there. He has nothing left to prove in hockey. But did not part of you last night look at that and say, man, wouldn't it be great to see this guy still competing for the Stanley Cup? Again, no slight against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but we all know where Pittsburgh's at right now. When you look at Crosby, it's not part of you saying, man, I really wish that this guy was still going deep

into the playoffs like he used to, because he's still got the fire, he's still got the skill, he's still one of the best players in the NHL, period, but he's not gonna be in the postseason again. Well, I think that's, with the cap going up, there's a chance they could show him a path to get back to the class somehow, we have to make some changes and, and spend more cap money. But, um, I would never have that conversation with it.

If I were still running the team, I wouldn't have the guts or the, I wouldn't lack the class or lack the intellect to even raise that situation. This is a guy who if he decides to do all square, he's got to bring it up. He's got to go to them. I can't see him doing that. I really can't. See, I was on Secarus and Price day making that exact same point. Like the one thing that we know about Crosby is outside of the skill. I mean, he's intensely loyal. Like he's loyal to the, I think it means a lot to Crosby to finish playing where he started. Now there are some guys that, you know,

look at their career on HockeyDB and see like 20 years Pittsburgh Penguins, one year Minnesota, one year Colorado, one year Philadelphia, and it's not very settling for them. But to me, I've always got the impression that Crosby wants to end his career as a Pittsburgh Penguin and that loyalty means something to him. And I would even go one step further, Burke,

and say that part of the reason why Crosby has this level of excellence attached to him, part of that fuel is loyalty and loyalty to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Agree or disagree? I agree and loyalty to those two guys. He's played 18 years with the same two guys or 16 years with the same two guys with Malcolm and Tanner. I think he'd like to, when you're talking about finishing your career, they're setting new

records and milestones about twice every season or three times a season, they'll pass another benchmark. So Sid goes to 600 or 700, whatever it is. LaTang goes to whatever. Balkan goes to whatever. These are all yardsticks and records being set in tandem, in trio. So really, I think it's more, the legacy is way more than the three cops. The legacy is three cops plus all the individual records that have been sent on behalf of the three of them were playing together.

No one's ever done it before. You know, one of the things I think that, I know I'd be curious about this because I don't think I've ever asked you about this. When Gretzky got traded, right? Like if Gretzky, the old saying, Gretzky gets traded, anybody can get traded. I would imagine that as a manager though, are there just some players that you

don't even bother asking about when you're making your calls or when you're with the Penguins, would people actually call and say, are you thinking about Sid? Or is that, does everyone just understand that that's, that's a no-fly zone? It would be a real short and real angry call. Who would be hanging up on a guy and going and telling everyone how stupid he was. I think you will certain certain player you're talking about a very small group. A certain group of players deserves a level of respect that they get to call their own shots and sits on that list.

He's number one on that list. But if he wants to go somewhere else, people would understand it and they'd say, okay, where do you want to go? And that might happen someday, but I can't see it. I think he's too loyal. And I think these other accomplishments that are being logged all along, they're not the same as winning the Stanley Cup. They're memorable. They're writing history just about every two months. And so I think that's something that has value to Sid too. I've never asked Sid about it. I don't mean to speak for Sid. Sure, I think that's the to bring that up for the flare of that account of caliber. It could be a short conversation, I think it would be. Yeah.

Let me ask you about Mark Stone. There's one play here, like on his goal, again, it's a beautiful play by Crosby to get him the puck, but I want to show one thing specifically here for everyone watching this on YouTube. There's one play, and this is why coaches love Mark Stone. I want to get your thoughts on Stone. So the play starts in Canada's own zone. Zach, can we roll the place? The puck is going to come out high.

Pareko has a hard time with it. And what Stone does instead of doing a big loop, he stops and gets the puck over to Sid, beautiful 10-2 by Sid and over to Stone for the goal. But it's that play where instead of doing a big loop, he does all the things that coaches always talk to you about. We're watching it again here. Watch 61.

He has a hard time with it. He stops and goes back, gets the puck up to Sid and off to the races. I was talking to Troy Smith about this last night from hockey IQ. He's going to do a video on this later on tonight. And like, that is what we talk about when we talk about kids about stops and why stops and starts are so important and basic fundamentals. That's Mark Stone right there.

It's his goal, Sydney with the great pass and the great play. But to me, the whole thing was about Stone stopping in his own zone to strip a puck off Nylander. Your thoughts on Mark Stone? He said the same thing in real time. I said, you watch him stop on that puck. We wish all the kids would learn to stop on a puck like that. What amazed me is Mark Stone, his brother played for me. Stoney's just an average skater. But you watch him, he labors

to get to the, you get open to get the goal, score the goal from Sid. He labors all the way the second year pro. He's Sony, he gets there well. So you watch him here, he stops in the puck, does the right thing, gets puck recovery, makes the out of the pass and watch him go. He's playing against the fastest guys in the world on his brakes, brakes dry halfway there. But to get to the blue line, he's got a motor. And he's not, you know, some guys weren't great skaters. Forrest, Forrest Forestland's not a great skater. You know, there's, we could go sort of like player through player here on this Canadian team after last night, but there are a lot of questions in the chat for you, Berkey, and it's the same question.

What's your favorite Sidney Crosby story? I have mine, what's yours? Well, right when I first got to Pittsburgh, I remember I just, I'd met Sid a couple of times. They didn't know him at all. And he's a man of few words and he's not, uh, you can, you're not going to have an easy conversation with Sid unless you want to talk to him about something specific. He's, he is my spare, you know, loose talk for just to be, uh, how's it going type stuff.

I watched him one day when I first got there, he missed the goal, had a chance to score a goal in close. And it's a patented move where he goes down on one knee sometimes, he's on the offside, the right side of the net, he's on back on his offside. And you get a chance to score and you missed it. The next day I went in for practice. He's out there half hour before. He's got the strength color, the skill score, passing him pucks, that exact spot. He worked on this move, worked on repeating that exact same goal for probably a half an hour, maybe 35 minutes, but way longer,

like 15 minutes is long enough to work on something. He was out there longer than that. And two games later, we got a chance that he scored that goal. Didn't say I told you so, didn't say, oh, look at me. Just want about his business. But we were thinking, what a perfectionist he was. Here's a guy who's already the greatest player, one of the greatest players that ever played the game.

He's working on one thing because it didn't work for him one game before. I'll never forget that. You know, one of the interesting things about Crosby, and I want to use this as sort of transition into Mario Lemieux, who we saw last night. Um, as you mentioned, he has, Sidney Crosby is a man of few words. Uh, we don't know a lot about Sidney Crosby, the person. He keeps that separate from his professional life.

And you know, Mario Lemieux was the same way. And that's why I think part of the surprise of seeing Mario Lemieux out there was, he's one of the greatest players of all time. As far as one-on-one skill goes, he's probably the best player of all time. Yeah, we don't know a lot about him. He's not very accessible. He's not really around outside of when he owned the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He's not around, you know, capital H hockey. Were you surprised to see Mario out there last night? Yeah, I was, but I thought it was great. I signed with no raffle. What a great reception. It's such a great player, such a revered by Frank, opponents loved by everyone else. And this is the guy that I thought the reception he got, we brought a tear to my eye when they worked for work for him.

I got to know him a little bit better than most people do. And he's a wonderful guy. I was so touched by his reception. You were saying to him, you are still revered in Montreal. You're still one of the greatest players ever. You're a class act to go with it. That was a great reception. You wouldn't say that for any more than maybe two or three other players. Wayne, Mario, maybe Tabu, but I don't think so. You know, one of the things that I always maintain about, uh, maintained about Mario, um, was that he would intimidate you with his skill.

Like I know there was some guys that would go at him. Like I remember, you know, Pittsburgh would play Boston at Hal Gill would be living all over an octopus, all over Mario. But the thing about Mario was when he had the puck, like, and you can count the amount of players who can do this on one hand, Berkey. People were afraid to defend Mario because of how stupid he'd make them look. Like when you think about one-on-one hockey players in the history of the game, is Mario Lemieux not number one in your books?

I'd say number one or number two. The only guy I'd put up there with him is Yarder. Same thing. They both were so big, so big, such good feet and such good hands. They could make you look truly sick, make you look stupid, make you look foolish. And you'd be living on a highlight film with those two guys from North Stars. and is really special. Just keep an eye out for him. I had never given a player a heads up like that before. Never did before. He came down on his first shift at Boston Garden and scored on Pete. I said to myself, I will never talk to a player again before a game. Yeah, that was, I mean, listen, he's highlighted a lot of players throughout his career. Just a general thought here. This is a tournament that is, as Michael Farber mentions, it's a tournament without a past and without a future.

It's just a one-off. This is replacing All-Star Weekend. Yet the NHL now is announcing that they're going to have, you know, this world cup slash Olympic schedule. This is something we've been looking forward to. I mean, jeez, Berkey, even going back to 0405, coming out of the lockout, you know, this was, this was one of, you know, Bill, Bill Daley's

file, like international hockey, you need to put something significant together. Now the NHL has opened an office, uh, in Zurich, Switzerland as well. There's more, you know, teams heading over there significant together. Now the NHL has opened an office in Zurich, Switzerland as well. There's more, you know, teams heading over there for games and then and then scooting back. Like many of us, I'm waiting for the NHL to really jump in to this potential gold mine that exists there in Europe. Do you think we're starting to see the beginning of that now finally? Yes, but I this goes back and turn back the clock when I worked at the NHL we talked about a 12-year schedule

With the Olympics in the World Cup going back when I worked for Gary I was there in 98 I left the I left the league after 98 after the Olympics that summer I went back to Vancouver. But we collected bargaining prior to the first big lockout. We had openly discussed the 12-year schedule. We play Olympics, then the World Cup, then Olympics, then World Cup every other year, regardless of whether we had a CVA or not. We said that if we can only do a two or three-year CVA, let's do a 12-year event CVA that will

survive the CVA and will play those international competitions. and Yeah, it's overdue that we had an office in Europe. Gary stepped up an office before. This is a new thing going back again. But the league has groomed all that stuff by having those games over there, playing pre-season games, starting in regular season games, bringing different teams over that have international players on,

targeting the opponent with the right representation internationally. It's been done surgically and very intelligently. And yeah, we're set to grow even more. You know, there was a I can remember being a kid and going to Maple Leaf Gardens to watch and you can see the game on YouTube is cool. Every now and then I'll go back and watch it because I'm like, oh man, I was a kid. I was there. I remember watching this game and it was the, uh, the Toronto

Maple Leafs versus Cladno. And you know, this is like late seventies, early eighties where NHL teams would play exhibition games against European squads from Sweden, from Finland. Um, you know, there'd be, you know, the, uh, the, uh, the Moscow Dynamo would come through the the wings would come through, Red Army would come through, and they'd play exhibition games. Now, I know that a lot of the mystique is gone, and that was always part of the lure, because those players hadn't come over to play in the NHL.

But I'm curious from your point of view, like, you were there to see all of this. You were there to watch, you know, the NHL play exhibition games during the season against red army to play against clad. No, to play against all these teams. Do you have any memories of that? Like, did you find like, was that, was that interesting to you as a young hockey fan? Yeah, I remember we saw red army play at the, at the Met center. And my dad took me to the game. We did North star season tickets, partial plan. And my dad took me to the game., American League, we played Moscow, I think it was Dynamo, we beat them one-nothing, Drew Callender scored the goal.

But it was, remember we shut out a Russian team, despite the fact they had the same puck movement. You almost want to ask them to put a second puck on the ice, because they played the Russians. So you could try, one of the other teams could touch it a little bit. It was unbelievable. They were so far ahead of us in terms of their puck movement and attack. It was, it was awesome to watch. It was scary too. You know, I can, uh, I've talked to a couple of players who played in some of

those games in the, in the, in the NHL when like, you know, red army would float through or into those Soviet teams and those, and they, then they would say like, we were intimidated watching their practices. We had never seen anyone practice like that before. And that was, you know, our coach would finally say, guys, don't watch the practice, or you'll be too like mentally intimidated for the game that night. Yeah, and they were really well conditioned.

Like they had a lot of the players smoked cigarettes and nonstop, a lot of them drank a lot. They didn't have great training habits, a lot of them, but they had great stamina, they had great individual speed and skill. But the puck booboo was what killed you. It reminds me when I play games for the alumni. So the alumni, when I played for the Conox or Flames alumni, we'd play a bunch of police teams. And all these police and firefighters, they're all 25 to 26, 27. They can buzz around and the puck We beat him with puck will just be in my hand on the puck And that's what the Russians would do it you wouldn't touch the puck you'd say like for God's sake

Can't we touch this once? Puck will they move get open get the puck back move get open. Yeah, very very choreographed approach well, you know it's interesting because I mean, when you played in the American League, you were playing in Maine, part of the Philadelphia Flyers organization, and, you know, this was still probably the effects of Fred Shearow. I mean, Fred would go to Russia and, you know, he would, you know, learn from some of the great Russian coaches in the in, uh, in the past.

And we saw that as much as we talked about the Philadelphia flyers of that era, being the Broad Street bullies and beat them in the alley and, you know, kick sand in their face and take the lunch money and steal their per diem and take two points and all like that. Like that flyers team was good. Like that Philadelphia organization, like you're talking about moving the puck. That flyers team moved the puck like they were, like they were a Soviet squad. Yeah, that wasn't, it wasn't the broad straight boys is really a misnomer because they were tough team.

Um, Mr. Allen and Mr. Snyder walks the, the same Los blues, Bully, the Flyer. And they, that's when it all started back then. That's when Mr. Snyder said to Keith Allen, um, I don't ever want to push her out of that again. That was the origin of the whole thing, Broad Street Bullies, because of the way they got pushed around by St. Louis. So they said, we'll never get pushed around. It was a physical team and they

liked to fight. They earned their pay that way and the Philly flu was a real thing. But they've underlies the fact they had really good players they had a great leaders to Bobby Clark Rick McLeish Billy Barber Reggie Leach they had great players great individual players. You know one of the things that was interesting yesterday Gary Bettman and Marty Walsh, commissioner of the NHL and executive director of the players association. Am I allowed to say acting chummy this

close to a CBA negotiation? Like, Brian, I'm not used to this. Like I, I, I go back to the, the, the first lockout 94,, and the acrimony, and then the 204, 205, and the, get me the salary cap, and the head of Bob Goodenow, and like acrimony all the way. Like I have not seen the NHL and the Players Association be this chummy entering a CBA negotiation.

Is this, do we look at this and say this is going to be a peacetime CBA? This is going to be a CBA that's done relatively quietly and easily? Well the last one was as well, so I think the answer is yes. This goes back to I was involved in all of this stuff so I can speak about it very very frankly and freely. This is what happened once they got new leadership of the union and got a salary cap at the end of 50-50. So at that point, the players had the same stake in the game as the owners do.

It wasn't the same fight. They should, they moved the chairs around so the players were swinging at different targets, but not until you leave necessarily. They said, okay, we're going to guarantee your revenues, put salary minimums in. So one of the genius moves that Bob Goodenow said, if you're going to agree to a cap, you got to agree to salary minimums and do revenue share. If the travel may please want to pay less for their players, they got to share that money.

So that was the genius of the system is, it's a salary cap, there's also salary limits, and there's revenue sharing. So the system should work over time, and there shouldn't be work stop just in lockouts. So that's why they've evolved in the unions and the other unions have as well. I remember the New England Patriots trying to start fistfights with scabs at Sullivan Stadium back in the day. So it's a very different model now where you get a hard cap, you get 50, 50, wherever the share is, I get revenue sharing. It's very different now.

Do you think part of the, uh, fueling a lot of this is just the nature of there. Oh, there are a lot of, there are a lot of people that want expansion teams right now that right now they're not fighting over nickels and dimes right now. Like there's a lot of dollars that are out there and, uh, and, and that, and, and that is fueling a lot of the, a lot of the harmony. Like it's, it gets the old Don King line, like Don King, like the shadiest boxing promoter of all time with one of the most brilliant things ever said about sports when he said, where there's money,

there's understanding. Berkey, there's money out there. Is that why we're seeing understanding? No, I don't think it's, I don't think they're linked. I think that the expansion thing is a real threat, which you know my view on that. I think the expansion, I don't think they're linked. I think we've evolved as a CBA,

with the union in the league, we've evolved into a CBA, where the players are making money, they're being treated fairly, we're not getting screwed like they used to. And that mistrust was a result of players getting shorted into the deal for a long time. Now it's 50-50. You built in revenue sharing, you built in lead minimums. It makes sense for everyone to work together to grow a big game. They've got a very different model than how we started negotiating.

I don't blame the players for their suspiciousness and their suspect of us at the time. I get it. A lot of water had to wander a bridge like that before this made sense, but this makes sense, so I don't think they're linked. I think expansion is coming. I'm opposed to it. I think it's coming, but not because that's not part of the piece. There's a player stone sharing expansion.

Never have. Am I allowed to say yet? Like I wonder about how this negotiation goes. And I see how much money is out there for expansion and what franchises are worth right now. And I keep thinking to myself, Berkey, if I'm Marty Walsh, are we not at least having the discussion about players having access to that money? That's a lot.

I think it's been, up until now, it's been a very short discussion. I don't know if they've had discussions about that since then, but when I was involved, it was a very short discussion. The answer was, to some, we would consider the answer was no. That was the end of the discussion. No was followed by an expletive, and if S are up preceded by an expletive and a the acceleration and price and doesn't make sense to me, but it makes sense to everyone else. And that's why I think they're going to come on and keep expanding. Even though I've said,

do what I think of it. I think it's a bad idea. Let me ask him what the Vegas called the Knights. I don't think anybody is surprised that someone got hurt. This is the nature of hockey. It's a physical sport. It's a competitive sport. And this wasn't a, no one had malicious intent in this one, but Shea Theodore will miss the remainder of the four nations with the arm slash wrist injury. I guess this is just baked into the pie if you're an NHL team. Like you just sort of throw salt over your shoulder, cross your fingers, and hope that none of your guys get hurt here. But Vegas, first player down, Shea Theodore. Yeah, I'm amazed at this. If it was an American player, no one would care. But if players get injured, well, they wouldn't.

This is a very Canadian thing. I love this. I love the way it said, oh, Theodore was hurt. What do you think was likely to happen here? A major player has been hurt in every major international competition. Tavares got hurt in Torino. the fifth would you still have to identify? He'll break his arm raising his hand. So the fact of the matter is they all want to play. They all love this. They know the risk of Bob. We all know the risk of Bob. Play hard.

Next man up. Which would be Sandheim, I guess. Travis Sandheim. Travis Sandheim from the Philadelphia Flyers. Okay, Berkey, before I let you go, one of the things that I was, because international hockey's on everybody's mind right now.

And one of the things that I was, cause international hockey is on everybody's mind right now. And one of the things, um, that people like what I do here is just sort of recommend books, et cetera. And so I wanted to point out one of my favorites is Ed Willis's Gratsky de la Mule, the story of the 1987 Canada cup. And there's been a number of like, obviously there's been a ton of books that were written about 72. I mean, Canadians still to this day, Berkey, you know this, can't stop reading about or talking about or watching videos on 1972.

There's been some great writing around 1987 and that Canada Cup. What I've always wondered about because I will put 1996 World Cup as far as quality of play right up against 1987. The quality of play in 96 was phenomenal. What an incredible tournament that was. Why is there not more fanfare about 96? Where are the books? Where are the videos? Where's all of it?

That was such a great tournament. I was working for the league at that time I got blamed for reviewing the goal or US they rolled the ice thick on the goal yeah everyone turned to me and said I was in the booth one turned to me and said what do you think it's a good going on I'm like I'm not the goal judge he was Brian Lewis yeah he was in charge I wasn't the goal judge I had to be the goal judge once they preseason game of now I'm I was terrified I have to make a call but they asked me to do it cuz the He's not say the World Cup in 96 right behind it. I would put them on par I loved it and I think I'm with you because if Canada wins that thing, we're probably talking more about it But it was the Americans that that won that tournament

But as far as quality of play goes like brick you like there's fights Like guys are throwing down like it's like it it's and I again like I wonder what's gonna happen on Saturday I'll be shocked if we don't get through this turn without a fight Really? Yeah, sad okay, so let's pick a show he coming in well Chuck he's coming in But see here's what here's what I'm wondering about even though they play on the same team like What would happen if Sam Bennett and Matthew Kachuk threw down at center ice?

Two Florida Panthers. That might happen, but I would take Sam Bennett and I'd fight any time. I love Chuckie and he'll fight anyone, but I don't think he can beat Sam Bennett. I would tell him, just make that one look good and hang on. That's what happens. Whatever. That's like the litmus test for how serious guys are taking it right when you'll fight someone on your NHL team over this fabricated one and done replace the All-Star Game tournament. That's when you know the players are really taking it seriously. that's a lot of it They changed the format last year. Gary's done everything he can. They're not gonna play hard. Remember Gary Berman telling the player,

Bob Goodenow telling the players prior to one of the All-Star games that I was working at the league, I met with the players and said, don't be afraid to throw a body check here and there. I remember Goodenow saying, the players are not gonna check in this game. They're never gonna check in this game.

I told them not to check in this game. And that made sense. They don't want anyone to get hurt in that game. So it's never going to be better. It's no better in the NFL. It's no better in Major League Baseball. It's no better in the NDA. We're stuck with that. It's a good spectacle for fans and sponsors.

That's it. Don't compare this to that. This is a real tournament. This is a real, these are players that care deeply about their countries. They're going to do their best to win it. And they're going to brag about it when they do. So don't ever compare those two. I love it.

Brian, with that, we'll give you a good afternoon. Thanks for accommodating and changing your schedule for us. Much appreciated. I know everyone in the chat loves it and everyone listening and watching always appreciates it when you come on. Thanks as always, Berkey. You be good. Yeah, last thing. You see Sid Crossjack-Racquel, right? As planned in one play.

They're teammates. I didn't cross that from in the back, right? As planned. That's approved too. There's two guys that get along. They're teammates. And Sid first chance he got cross-checked the teammates. They're not playing games, folks.

They're here to win. It's funny. You know, I was saying yesterday like, oh, Crosby's not going to go after like Carlson or Raquel, like they're teammates. And I'm watching the game like, okay, well, maybe I should just, maybe I should just sit this one out. I'm not back seat on this one. It's not pro wrestling, folks. It's hockey. There's no pretty blue mats around us off in the landings here. No folding the chairs either.

No, you'd be good, Brick. You'll talk in the near days. You'll be good. There he is, Brian Burke joins us every week here on the sheet. So there's a there's a lot in there. Can you tell that Brian likes international hockey? But the thing is like, I think everybody does. Like what's not to like about it? Again, I'll just say, I was just skeptical about the nature of how this was going to be played. And thankfully I did not need to be skeptical

because the quality of play was high. Zach, every time I looked at the chat again, I'm getting a giggle, I'm getting a laugh. You got some highlights there. Or anything you want to share from that Berkey conversation that tickled your brain. Well, I was active in the chat here today while Berkey was on, I was flying around. Jeremiah was going on about how great you are.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is. I'll take it. I'll take the compliments when they come. As well, I mean, Colton texted me about bringing up 2010 and how Colton Davies that is, and I mean, good memories for him as well. And I think that's kind of where a lot of people are at.

Probably around my age is just how long it's been since we've seen this. But I've got one for you that I think you'll like, especially considering like around where you're at. Berkey was talking about passing and moving the puck, and when they're playing the alumni games against the police departments and the fire departments and stuff.

I, in my midget year of hockey, my final year of midget, which I don't know what it's called now, but it's not midget. Last year of minor hockey. Dan Dau. No, it's just U16. U16. Okay. Was it U16?

It was my last year before university. Or is that U18? Yeah. Maybe U18. Because U18 is the two-year cohort. Okay. Yeah. So that would be it.

So that was my last year of U18, I guess. Dow was my coach in midget waxers. He still coaches there Yeah, and I buddy Jeff Murray married to his daughter. It's great. Dan's great guy. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so Dan would like take part in drills and stuff with us or like mess around with some of the scrimmage stuff that we would do. And watching him do things was unbelievable because you know he's not ripping around but his ability to find open ice, find spaces without having to work too hard or move too quickly to get there or to find people was incredible honestly. Like just watching him kind of take part in practice with 16 17 18 year old kids at that point in time and be able to kind of take over it just brought up that memory when burkey was talking about it with them playing those alumni games you know i remember playing

uh it's funny in this would have been in oshawa in the old brink. I was playing a charity game, I want to see, it's like 2003. How old would he have been then? So I was playing on a line with, you'll, you'll love this one. I was playing on a line with Norm Ullman, who was my center, and Ron Ellis. So like, if you're a Leafs fan, like you are, you'll know that like, Hey, Merrick, you're in the Paul Henderson spot. Like, cause that was a line in the early seventies of Ellis, Ullman and, uh, and, and Paul Henderson. Ullman who is still with us.

Ron Ellis is no longer. Um, Norm Ullman, uh, who at that time would have been in his, I want to say late seventies, probably, um, is out there throwing like backhand sauce passes to me, like a not breaking stride. And he's not the fastest guy out there, but like body positioning, making plays, all that. And I'll never forget it. Like he was out there and I'm like chugging up and down the wing, trying to keep up and get in position and getting, getting getting open all these kinds of things and Norma it's just like so simple it's easy breezy and then gets back into the

room afterwards and it's like five cigarettes real fast and I'm just like yeah it was a different era of a different era of hockey. Normie Ullman out there feeding me past but you're right like all these guys like yeah as much as I say, the hands go first and all the feats are, the boots are full of cement now. These guys all still know how to play. Right. You never, you never lose that.

I remember playing with, uh, when we used to play, uh, when I was working at six 40 doing the Leafs lunch show with Bill Waters every Friday, we would have a pickup game at Lake Shore arena with the, um, uh, people from Leafs TV. And every now and then Rick Vibe would come out because Vibe used to do, um, some work both on 640 and on Leafs TV. And actually he would bring Justin out, his son, who now is playing with Cincinnati of the ECHL.

This is when Justin was playing on that Marlboro's team that had John Tavares, Sam Gagne, Brendan Smith. I was just like, they lost like one game all year. He lost one game with the Silver Stick anyway. And he would bring out Justin Vibe. And RV, like Rick wouldn't move a ton, but A, you couldn't lift up a stick, and two, always in position, and could fire passes.

I mean, RV shot was legendary, and would just fire them, but wouldn't even break a sweat. You know, like you would not lead like the warm towel and oranges after a game. And just like, yeah, whatever, hop in your car, like no big deal, we'd all be dying. Dying out there. Yeah. dying out there yeah I just thought there's funny hearing him say that because it's like I've seen it firsthand

I remember like practicing power play and Dan would take a spot or that would take a spot on the power play like to explain what to be doing and you're ripping around you think you've got everyone covered and all of a sudden there's a pass that goes across and it's him just with a quick little snapshot beats the goalie and then he's skating off around just laughing being like, you idiots laughing at us. Danny's still coaching. Danny's still coaching Waxter's U18.

Danny's still out there. Okay, a couple of things here. Wanna once again mention our friends at FanDuel, partners of this program, proud to connect fans to the major sports moments that matter to them. Tonight, USA versus Finland, eight o'clock Eastern. Zach, very much looking forward to that one.

As soon as this show goes off the air, I'm hopping in the Batmobile and racing to Montreal, hoping to get there for the second period of USA versus Finland. And then tomorrow, two huge games. We know that Swedes and Finns don't get along when it comes to international hockey. We get to see that tomorrow, one o'clock Eastern,

and then USA versus Canada at eight o'clock Eastern. Saturday. Sorry, what did I say? You said tomorrow, Saturday, Saturday. I keep thinking tomorrow is Saturday. I know, this whole Berkey thing today threw me off to throw you off to Burke I'm like I kept the alright what day cuz I'm trying to write stuff like Thursday Friday I wrote Friday a couple times like not Friday. So more you're clean. Everyone's clean tomorrow Is there you clean tomorrow you get to catch your breath tonight USA versus Finland?

Saturday one o'clock Eastern Sweden and Finland, Saturday, 1 o'clock Eastern, Sweden vs Finland, USA vs Canada, 8 o'clock Eastern at the Bell Center. There's only one thing that I know about Saturday. I know how it's going to go with the anthems. Other than that, no clue. Yeah. Other than that, zero clue. The announcers last night asked people to, we don't have to spend time on it, but if you listen, they ask people to effectively do not boot the anthems. This thing, please try to behave yourself. Look, we're going through a tough time with our neighbors. And it's not with our neighbors, it's with one specific neighbor who's not behaving very

neighborly right now. Let's just get through the anthems, move along, get to the game and go back to being neighbors. I say that knowing full well that is not gonna happen. Here's what I wanna do. Here's what I wanna do. So I pulled this one out. I'm just so weird that I got that. I got my, my impact jets.

Boarding pass. So what I wanna do next week, This is so weird that I got my jet. Boarding pass. So what I want to do next week, we'll do this on Monday. I just want to make some book recommendations. International hockey. Whether it's Team Canada, history of Russian hockey, all these types of things. I'm just going gonna go through my shelves and pull out a few of these and just make some,

do some book recommendations. Have I mentioned that I wanna do a book club on this show? Yeah, a couple times. Can you see what I'm sort of vinching towards here and hoping that it sort of picks up steam here? I always wanted to do it. So I'll just go over a list on Monday. Cause one of the things they get asked about

is what are your favorite hockey books? Like man, that always kind of changes. You know, I don't have like one, like Road to Olympus I love, they call me Gump I love. Like I think everyone should read They Call Me Gump, the Gump Worsley book, which is tremendous, which is a fantastic read.

A lot of the books behind, I mean, Puck's Truck is great, Lions of Winter I have behind me is tremendous. It's just a fantastic read a lot of the books behind mean puck struck is great lines of winter I have behind me is awesome This is a really good read at Willis Gretzky to Lemieux But they just go through like a number of of international hockey books. How about that's for? For Monday's show. All right, write that down. It's like that down. Yes, you're a show prep do more show prep here on the air How about that? Anything you want to add before we sign off here and I get on to the 401? Yeah, last night's game was a lot of fun.

I did really enjoy that. That was exciting. And I'm really excited for Saturday. And if you are in Vancouver, Edmonton, or Toronto, and you're looking to watch the game with some people, make sure to head on over to nationgear.ca. I'm saying this to promote myself and Nick Alberga, Jeff, selfishly, but also we are doing it across the Nation

Network as I just mentioned there, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto at Greta Bar in all the respective locations there at Greta. You come out for the watch party They've got different packages that you can get at each one there whether it's for drinks and food or whatever it may be But watch with people from the nation network across here in Toronto if you're in the Toronto area if you're downtown wherever it is We will be watching Nick Alberga myself And I think I think I don't want to put him on the spot because I don't know if this vacation is coming. I don't know if the

vacation is over yet. Well there's rumors that producer Vic may be there as well. Vic may show up? Yes. The ghost? We'll see. The ghost is going to show up. Yes I'm watching morning cup of hockey this morning and all of a sudden I see your name pop up. Vicky in the chat, I go, whoa, where did this guy come from? Yeah, you may be there. You may be there, but come join us on Saturday night. You need a ticket, go over to nationgear.ca. The one in Toronto is free. You just need a ticket. You need to register, but you can come hang out with us and watch the game. So I want to throw that out there. That's on King Street. That's a really cool place. Greta's awesome. I haven't been to the ones out west. I've been to the one in Toronto. It's a fantastic spot.

And the people that run it are awesome too. They're great people that run that place. Yes. Very, very cool. Alright. Thanks to Brian Burke for stopping by and juggling his schedule to accommodate mine. So thank you, Burke. Zach, you're going to be without me for 24 hours.

I know you, Berkey. Zach, you're gonna be without me for 24 hours. I know you'll somehow survive. Enjoy. What are you gonna do tomorrow? Get the afternoon off. What's an afternoon off for you look like? What are you gonna do? What do they got you doing?

No, I got a call from our bosses once they found out that we had the afternoon off. Oh no! No way. Maybe we can help with something. I've got a meeting coming up after this to figure out what we're doing tomorrow. There's a commercial in the works that will be being sorted out. It's a Leafs related commercial that's being sorted out for something.

So we're working on that and that'll be taking place in the sheet slot tomorrow afternoon. That's what I'll be up to. That's what you're going to be doing? The slot area. The sheet slot area. Oh God, don't even. Don't even. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Good goal. Good goal. Yeah, slot area. Okay, yeah, fine. Jerk. All right. I take everything nice I said back. Everything nice I said about you.

I take it all back. And listen, enjoy a few days back on Monday here for the sheet. Thanks for joining whether you're listening on the podcast Your various podcast platforms whether you're watching live on YouTube in the chat or not in the chat still love you Watching in the archive really appreciate you being aboard here This is this is an interesting time in hockey right now because you know getting a little bit of a taste of international hockey Even though in some ways I get it if it doesn't really feel like international hockey to you This just think of it as like a little sort of bonus, right? Think of it like would you rather be watching this or would you rather be watching the All-Star game?

And I think overwhelmingly people will say, we'd rather be watching this. Game one was outstanding. Tonight should be equally as outstanding as USA faces off against Finland. Enjoy all of it. Enjoy the chumming of the waters for a more robust international schedule with your favorite NHL players.

Enjoy the next couple of days. Listen, be nice to each other on Saturday. We're supposed to be neighbors. Supposed to be nice to each other. Enjoy the game. Finland USA tonight. Talk about all of it here on Monday. Thanks for joining me. See you in a few days. Bye. Bye. Guess you can call it a ride 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 how this gonna be fixed in my mind I still wanna break it I turned on the music I still wanna break it I turned on the music. I turned on the music. I turned on the music. I turned on the music. I turned on the music. But you turned out, out, out. But you're sometimes losing.

Helping on the days that went wrong. Helping on the days that went wrong. Helping on the days that went wrong. Mmm, in the dead dark night. Mmm, in the dead dark night. The Daily Face Off Live crew is hitting the road and going live on location from both Montreal and Boston for the Foreign Asians Face Off, bringing you exclusive coverage straight from the tournament.

From February 10th till 20th, we've got live shows every weekday breaking down the biggest stories, key matchups, and covering all the action as it unfolds. And you won't want to miss a second, so makeups, and covering all the action as it unfolds, and you won't wanna miss a second. So make sure you're subscribed to the Daily Face Off YouTube channel, and follow us on all our social media platforms to stay locked in. We'll be bringing you insider analysis

on the ground coverage, and maybe even a little chaos, because it's international hockey, and anything can happen. Hit that subscribe button, turn on your notifications, and we'll see you live from the Four Nations Face Off.