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And when I feel like Oscar Matthews brrrr
Hahaha
Oh man, that's one of those commercials
that in about a week or two is gonna start
getting real old if it hasn't already for
you guys.
It's on the verge.
If I watched more things on TV than
hockey, I would definitely be tired of it.
Yeah, and there's certain commercials that
you get tired of them and then something
will happen and then you're okay with them
for a little bit like that.
East side Mario's one with the dad and the
son where they do the voiceover.
I was so I was so sick of that one.
And then now Patrick starts reciting it
and it's actually adorable.
Okay, that's cute.
I was gonna say I've just started getting
sick of that one again.
Oh pop they got more soup
Yeah, now just imagine my seven year old
walking in and saying that randomly out of
nowhere.
Hahaha!
But it's a reality!
Oh my god, Patrick.
So, how was your trip, Mr.
National Beanographic?
Mmm.
Around the world in 80 beans.
This one was just down to Appleton,
although I might be going up to none of it
again.
Around the world in 82 games.
Sorry, go ahead.
Hahaha
No little impromptu training on the
manufacturer that we're a dealer for.
They've got an electric fire truck coming
out.
Ooh, that's kinda cool.
Nice.
Yeah, we're actually delivering one in
Ontario here.
We should see it by the end of the summer
and hopefully deliver, or by the end of
July, hopefully deliver in August.
That's some pretty cool insider news for
all the listeners.
Yeah, so it's really interesting.
Kind of excited to be able to get my hands
on one of them.
But at the same time, just enough training
to scale the living shit out of you,
because 700 volts is a lot of electricity.
Yeah, I was thinking like the amount of
battery power to be able to run all of the
onboard stuff while also running the
truck.
That's gonna be crazy.
Man.
Engineering.
So is it a Tesla cyber fire truck or what?
No, this one will be reliable.
No!
What's who are you allowed to say who
makes them?
Yeah, I can't see why not.
So we're the dealer for Pierce
Manufacturing, which is considered the
Cadillac of fire trucks.
Ooh, that's pretty cool.
Oh man.
So what should we start with here?
It's been a while.
We missed a couple of games.
Apologies guys, I know it's spotty.
That's what it's like.
All our long time fans, you know, we come
and go.
Sometimes it's a bunch of episodes,
sometimes it's not.
But thanks for being here anyway.
So we had a weird, we'll call it like a
hundred shots over two games.
We're-
Let's start with the beginning 25 or 27
shots, depending on who you ask, from the
New Jersey game.
The hell?
We haven't seen the Leafs unload like this
with shots in a long time.
It's been pretty tame this season.
But for one period, are you joking?
Like, what the, ooh.
Yeah, something happened with the Devils
this year.
I don't know if it's the loss of Dougie
Hamilton, the change of you wouldn't think
one player would have that big of an
effect.
Huge gold-titting issues this year too.
Yeah, they can't catch a save.
I don't know if it was entirely luck last
year or just maybe entirely bad luck this
year that the goal tenon has just
completely gone down the toilet.
They probably should have made, I was just
going to say they probably should have
made the Jake Allen move maybe a month and
a half earlier.
Yeah.
Yeah, and it's funny going into the game.
I was thinking like, I mean, yes, the
Leafs haven't played New Jersey this year
But they've played Jake Allen like they
know Jake Allen better than most goalies
in this league So this should be a little
easier if anything and holy shit.
It went the other way.
Jake Allen knows this team quite well
Yeah, he had one of those games.
Veteran goalies can often do that for you,
right?
Like, hell, look at Jonathan Quick this
year.
Oh my god.
Are we calling Jake Allen a veteran goalie
though at this point?
Is he already there?
Have we gotten it?
He's 33 already?
My god.
Where does- where do the years go?
I guess he is at this point.
Yeah, it was a weird, weird game.
Like, I mean, it seemed like there were so
many holes on defense with New Jersey and
the Leafs were able to take advantage of
it for a tiny bit.
But like other than getting some shots
off, like it's, oh my God, Jake Allen just
shut everything out.
Like they got goalied for the first time
in a long time.
And then from there, it just, it seemed to
go to their heads.
The team collapsed after that.
Like they just.
collapsed.
I don't know how to, how do you excuse the
fact, yes there's guys out and everything,
but that was a full team debacle, mistakes
that nobody should be making and
everyone's making them.
you start pressing really, really hard, if
you're getting goaltending, like you said,
mistakes start happening and you start
getting really frustrated at yourself or
even your line mates, and that's when
cracks start forming and stuff like that
really happens in the game.
Full disclosure, I didn't really watch
this game, but watching the Leafs play as
long as I have, this is something that
they tend to fall into, not as much
lately, thank goodness, but it seems to
happen against the Devils the other night.
There was like a five to 10 minute stretch
in the second that it was like mid 80s all
over again.
Like we might as well have had Chris
Terreri and Alan Bester in that.
Like it was just, there was no such thing
as defense and it was go, go.
Yeah, the defense on both teams, just
absolutely abysmal.
That last game, it was kind of fun to
watch.
Like it reminded me and I bring this game
up a lot, but it reminded me of the other
games against New Jersey.
There was one like I think it was two
seasons ago at this point where it was it
was like this just a scoring fest.
I think the Leafs had up scoring like
seven or nine goals or something.
But they seem to do this against New
Jersey.
Like they're fast and they can get around
the Leafs, but.
On the other end, the Leafs can take
advantage of the fact they have no defense
and goaltending.
So it's just, it's like full offense on
both sides.
Yeah, and it was one of those really weird
games because with the Leafs getting so
many shots right away, it was almost like
they kind of let off a little bit and
relaxed with the thought like, hey, look
at how well we're doing, we're going to
railroad these guys.
Like, we don't have to really...
Yeah, and they kind of had that mindset
and maybe that's like I mentioned in our
group chat,
the comments from Keith afterwards, that
was surprising to me.
Like, yes, I'm not saying it's not
warranted, but he was not holding back.
Well apparently he didn't hold back on the
guys in the dressing room either, like he
gave it to you know, John and the other
captains because that's how you treat
them, just to send a message to the rest
of the team like hey, you know, if you
don't...
you should feel guilty that I'm screaming
at John for your mistakes so don't fuck up
like that again, it was crazy but yeah,
no, I do agree that I was...
no, go ahead, Suddy
to do that because if you want to call out
like your smaller tier guys, like your
second or third to great players, it's not
going to bring it's like effective as what
you don't call out your top line players
to.
So I feel Keef actually needed to do that.
And it looked like Tavares had a great
night tonight.
Matthews had a great night tonight,
despite not being, he was questionable
before coming in.
So whatever he did, it seemed to have
worked.
Yeah, and I mean, he picked up his 59th in
the New Jersey game.
Everybody was hoping for the 60th tonight
to break that record in 71 games, but
unfortunately, no.
But yeah, he still looks good.
He's getting as many shots as he can.
I'm sure he finished with like 12 tonight.
I don't know what the count was, but it's
pretty wild watching this guy try to score
when he really wants to.
Yeah, and he can basically do it at any
point in time, like right away to start.
I think it was his first shift out there.
He had a wicked backhand chance.
Oh yeah, he almost scored right on the
first shifter, right?
Yeah, like he's and you've seen.
Well, I don't know if you recall this or
not, but anytime that someone is like a
game time for an illness or being sick and
they actually play, I don't know what it
is, but they almost seem to play better.
Like the Michael Jordan flu game, right?
Like.
Well yeah, they were even saying on the
broadcast, they're like, he's probably
going to score, because whenever you're
sick, you score.
Like that seems to kind of be the rule.
According to NHL.com, he had ten shots
tonight.
My god.
Well, I mean when the team's got 48 on the
night.
Okay, I have to say, looking at 25 to 48
for that last like two minutes, I was
like, guys, please get two more shots.
Please make this a nice even 25 to 50.
Like don't leave me hanging on this.
It just feels so, you're right there, just
do it.
Just throw something on net, please.
Well if it makes you feel better, it's
still half and half.
Like, capitals at 24, the leafs at 48, so
it's half.
there's evenness in there.
it down to 24 at the end?
Oh, see...
At different points it was changing, like
it was 25 to 49, then it went down to like
23 to 46, and I was like, what the fuck is
going on?
So yeah.
No, I'm literally talking about what was
on the broadcast!
Kay?
I don't, no it's Teemu now by the way.
Oh jeez.
Hehehehe
Check scores like a billionaire, team-oo.
By checking like a billionaire means not
giving a shit about how your team actually
performs.
So who cares about the score?
Yeah, so tonight we had the Squashington
Napadels, again, closing out the 3-0
series against them on the season.
They seem to not have...
Good time against the Leafs this year
because they've been on quite a run.
Ovi's been hot they've been on a winning
streak since you know, I think it was
right after the last leaf game and what?
Yeah, last two games of playing against
the Leafs, they were lost by a combination
of eight goals, four in each game.
Yep, 7-3-5-1 and yeah, holy.
What was the other one?
Or was it just the two games?
Well, and the capitals, they've just
announced, I think it was today or
yesterday, that they're gonna be staying
in the DC area until 2050, at least.
Right, right, I forgot we did.
They were talking about moving...
Was it Maryland?
or something, like across the water.
Yeah.
Yeah, we talked about this when it was
first brought up.
Here, yeah, let me pull it up quick.
So the Washington Capitals currently play,
they were going to move them and it was
this whole thing because it's a big
tourism draw.
No, it's Washington, Capitals, yeah,
Capital One Arena is here.
I'll do the whole share screen thing.
We're gonna play the map game again.
Everybody that's a long time fan of the
show knows we love the map game here.
Here's Capital One Arena.
But I don't know, it's actually like right
down the street from the White House,
which is pretty cool.
And they were gonna move it over, I think
they were talking about, I think it was
the Potomac Yard.
They were gonna like develop all this, or
maybe it was something here maybe.
they were gonna develop some area that was
currently nothing and move it to the other
side of the water.
And everybody was quite up in arms about
it on the Washington side, because it is a
big tourism draw to a city that doesn't
really have a ton of, like outside of the
fact that it's Washington, DC, like
there's no sports and stuff there
otherwise.
of your like political tourism type of
stuff, there's not too much going on,
because the wizards suck.
Exactly, so they wanted to keep the team
there and I'm glad they are that's a nice
update I did see that and thank you for
bringing that up because I totally forgot
about it
Speaking of that general area, you guys
see the video of that bridge in Maryland?
Holy...
I saw today, they are apparently referring
back to an 1851 maritime law accord that
they used to limit the fines that the
Titanic had to pay.
So there's like, apparently some old
maritime law thing where they limit the
fine on the makers of the boat for
accidents like this.
And it's like super duper old.
And they were like, we're digging that
shit up.
right now.
No one's claimed it since the Titanic?
Great.
Some lawyers like guys?
Maritime law, put me in.
It's like Michael Bluth.
deep in the caverns of this law firm, just
going through 1800 stuff.
Love it.
maritime law is one of those weird ones,
but they don't update it that often
because why boats?
My God.
So if unfortunate, I mean, obviously very
sad that a couple of people have not been
founded to lose their lives in that.
It's not a laughing matter, but it is a
crazy event.
Like just watching the video of how quick
that bridge goes down after the thing hits
it, it's.
Mm-hmm.
like almost instantaneous for such a
massive bridge.
Yeah, it really goes to show you how
brilliantly they're engineered.
The fact that there's not much to it
holding it up and you never think of it.
The number of times we've driven over,
walked over or went under a bridge, you
never think of what's holding it up and
how it's engineered and then that just
shows you like, it doesn't take much.
I mean, doesn't take much.
Those things are basically a skyscraper
floating in the water.
So it's not often that a building hits a
bridge.
going in there.
Yeah.
Yeah, but no, I definitely see what you're
saying.
Like it shows how fragile everything is
and just how well we design it to that
margin of error between functioning and
about to break.
Speaking of that, Joseph Wall at the
beginning of this game...
A little segue there.
Joseph Wall was brilliant in the first bit
of this game.
The couple of saves he made really kept
this game alive.
Had they gone down one or two, then
totally different game.
Entirely and he's been really so since
coming back from the injury and I know the
team has been mediocre in front of him in
a lot of these games, but It's I don't
know when the team's not playing well, you
do expect Your goalie to make a couple
good saves and it's been like if they're
playing bad He lets in some squeakers and
it's kind of a write-off for everybody So
it is nice that his confidence kind of
exuded out to outward
Well, and it was good hearing him talk
after the New Jersey game as well, because
he even came out and said, like, you know,
I can't be letting in the first shot I
face.
Like he didn't try to sugarcoat it.
He didn't try to make excuses.
He called himself out.
And for a young goaltender, that's really
enlightening to see that he...
has the wherewithal to be able to do that
and know, okay, I've got to work on it.
That's on me.
Let's clear it out, move on and get going.
Yeah, in the words of Torrance.
Yeah, I mean, and like that's what your
teammates want to hear too, because they
obviously know it's on you, but they're
not going to call you out on that.
But if you like get ahead of the bullet
and say, you know, this is on me, I can do
better.
And the next game you actually do better.
The boys in the room, they recognize that
type of stuff.
For sure.
Yeah, it's one of those things, it's an
internal storyline, it's everybody's, you
know, watching to see, not, maybe not like
actively, but it is kind of going to, in
the player's minds, like, you know, he did
say he was going to do it, I don't know,
let's see if he is, because otherwise, oh
no, like, we might not be as confident on
the next night.
Like, it is kind of that, like, you've set
a bar for yourself.
It's like in NHL when they ask you, like,
the reporter gives you the thing and you
can respond with like, oh yeah, I'm going
to, like, I'll be great.
But along with that, it's like, you have
to be the first star in the next game.
Like you can't talk all this and not
follow it up or you're gonna look like
shit.
So it was one of those.
He gets the plus, he got a plus teammate
score, plus management and plus fan score.
So well done.
Speaking of plus on the night, am I like,
was I asleep the whole time or did I see
Ryan Reeves win multiple races to putt?
He did.
He won a race.
alive and on adrenaline tonight.
Highlight of his game too.
He won a race going down to the other
team's icing line and then he put the puck
behind him against the boards circled
around he looked like fucking Connor
McDavid for a quick second I was like,
what is this guy doing and then he won out
of the battle right after that
So that specific player you're talking
about, he started at the blue line, got to
the icing line, and skated past at least
three defenders.
This is Ryan Reeves we're talking about,
right?
It's Ryan Reeves.
It's not McDavid.
Someone check those braces, they might be
bionic.
No, it was unreal.
There was another play too where he was
cycling with Tavares.
I was like, what is going on here?
Like, what?
And didn't he, he picked up an assist on,
um, what's his name?
Connor Dewar's goal, didn't he?
Or was he just, yeah.
Yeah.
be fully honest, at the beginning of the
season, I was one of his biggest
detractors.
I thought he would play maybe 16, 15 games
for this team and just be buried.
Like a private suite on Robota Island.
But it's been anything but.
When he came back from that injury, he's
been playing really well.
He's been limiting his mistakes.
And for the ice time he's getting, he's
been quite effective.
Yeah, I was in the same boat after those
first few games.
Like he was well, he was playing well for
like four or five and then it was just a
steep decline in those first like 16
games.
And I was like, all right, we've seen
enough.
That's it.
And then he sat for a while, then he came
back.
He looked okay, got hurt.
And now he looks great.
You're right.
It's been night and day whenever we've
brought him into the lineup.
And another one who has benefited from a
break, who I always say would benefit from
a break.
TJ Brody, or not sorry, not TJ Brody, Mark
Giordano.
Like TJ Brody also benefited from a break.
I'll say, we gotta say that from being
healthy scratched for a couple of games,
but I'm talking about Mark Giridano here.
Coming back from what I thought, sorry,
I'll let you go, but like I thought that
dude was never gonna play again after that
injury.
Like, and I don't think the Leafs thought
he was gonna play again, they picked up
Ilya Lebushkin like 20 minutes after he
went down.
Yeah, definitely didn't look good.
And not to rip on the guy or anything.
But once you get that age and you start to
get injuries like that, it's concerning
for the longevity of the rest of your
career.
So to see him...
To see him come back and he wasn't a
liability out there.
He played great.
He looked like a young Giordano with how
many times he was at the net trying to
score.
Yeah, I thought even like
throw it on net and pick up the first one.
Even in Xan, like the amount of time the
puck was on his stick, it was on and it
was off.
He was making quick reads, which he wasn't
doing before the injury and everything.
And like, let's acknowledge after he
scored that first goal, the signal to his
dad, that was pretty, you know, that, that
touched it hard a little bit.
Yeah, that was nice.
Totally forgot about that, too.
Thank you.
Yeah, he has really turned things around.
And it's nice when you hear right before
the game.
And I really fucking Yahoo!
Please let me know sooner next time.
Timothy Lillagran was out tonight along
with Riley, along with Edmondson, along
with Marner.
So it's like, oh, you did defense might as
well just pack it in for tonight.
But Brody and Geo really stepped it up and
McCabe to Benoit was great.
Who else did we have out there?
Timons.
Everybody was playing well for being
shoved into this last minute.
I've really, personally, I've really liked
the looks of Timmons over the last handful
of games.
He's looked confident with his puck
movement, he's moving his feet, he's not
trying to do anything crazy, but he's
doing just enough that, you know, gives us
a little bit of an edge that we haven't
had with the puck moving, maybe with
Riley.
Because since Riley's been back from his
suspension, he hasn't been the same.
No, he's been struggling a little bit,
you're right.
And like in Timith's, I thought he was
making a lot of great plays tonight.
He made one like cough up in his own zone,
but that's even like a testament to him
having the confidence to try making these
harder plays that he can make, but he
doesn't usually make because if the guy
makes one mistake, then he's in the press
box again.
So like the amount of pressure he faces
every game is incredibly tough.
And I thought he had a great game tonight,
like he said, Biner.
Yeah, I feel like the way I see the story
of Timmons this season is the way he got
into the lineup in the first place is by
taking risks that were paying off.
And then once he got into the lineup, he
continued to take those risks that stopped
paying off and became mistakes that got
him knocked out of the lineup.
And so it's been kind of a journey for
him.
It seems to...
True, forgot about that.
But it's also been, you got to commend him
for being able to adjust to finding
stability instead of, you know...
constantly going for that goal, like
trying to go over the top to stay in the
lineup and trusting that his defensive
play is gonna keep him in there and he
doesn't have to score.
Yeah, to your other point, I thought Geo
was, he was kind of like a rock back there
today.
He was comforting Presidents back there.
He slowed everything down.
He had really quick passes.
And this guy won the Norris in 2019, so
although he's a little longer than Tooth
right now, he still knows what he's doing
back there.
He makes smart decisions.
And maybe with a bit of time off, he's
someone we can look forward to going into
the playoffs.
Yeah, I mean, if anything, it's nice to
know that the depth is...
I mean, last year it was nice to know that
we had all these extra defensemen, but
really, Victor Mete barely played.
Who was the other one?
Ben barely played.
We had a couple other ones that were just
kind of kicking around, scratched or on
the Marlies all year.
And this year we've seen...
Like, yeah, they all played last year.
I remember it was like 18 or 20 defensemen
played, but they all played like three
games.
This year we've seen...
a healthy rotation of the same like nine
defensemen.
And it seems to work like I don't find any
of them are definitely like the bottom.
Like it seems like everything kind of
works.
Any rotation of these guys can get you at
least a chance to win.
So that's more comfortable going into the
playoffs than I think I was last year.
Quantity...
Quality over quantity.
Even though I think we might still have a
bunch.
Hehehe.
Well yeah, we still do have extra.
And it's like the group mentality type
thing, right?
We don't have a Norris Trophy candidate
for this season, but we don't really have,
it's not like we have two or three guys
that should really still be in the AHL.
No, it's by committee and that's okay.
I think that's kind of what the Leafs
need.
I just, yeah.
I think Edmundson will be a good addition
there.
That's the one that I'm kind of waiting to
see more from in the playoffs.
ported edition.
Who do you want to see him play with, game
one?
Um, realistically to me, do we try him
with Riley?
That's kind of what I was thinking too,
like someone who's so reliable, he has a
cup, he's super nasty in front of the net
so he can cover for Riley's deficiencies,
which he's had lately.
Yeah, that's who I would like to see him
with.
I don't hate it.
Actually, this is a good time to pull on a
question.
Actually, before question, shout out to
Bonito the Basset Hound.
I said I was going to give you a shout
out.
You gave us one.
Thank you for the love and listening to
the show.
I forgot to say in the last episode.
But Southpawcal, fun guy, does Geo or
Brody make the playoff lineup?
I don't know if that's an either or a both
or one or.
What do you think?
Game one.
is going to make day one lineup, but
you're also going to see Geo win there at
some point for sure.
They will both be in the playoff lineup at
some point.
Okay, so if everyone's healthy, what are
your three pairs for game one?
Riley Edmondson.
You go ahead, Peter.
Edmondson, McKay, Benoit, and then the
third pair, I guess.
Brody Labushkin?
All of that pairing scares the shit out of
me.
Ugh.
Yeah?
What do you think, Johnny?
I mean, I would go Riley, the Bushkin
scares me, but at least they know.
If you go Riley Edmondson and then McCabe
with Lebushkin and then Benoit with Brody
That's mine.
That's what I would do.
See, I also think it depends on who
they're playing.
As silly as that sounds.
No, it's not silly at all, I don't think.
But I think we all agree that those are
the six that you're starting in game one.
I think then your extras are Geo, Timmons,
and Lilligrin.
Yeah, I have a big heart on for Benoit
this year though.
I love the guy.
So I'm adding him in and realistically
he's probably not going to be on the
opening night lineup assuming everyone's
healthy.
Yeah, because we did leave Lilligran out
of this.
It's funny, it's one of those guys, he's
hurt for the night and it's like, oh shit.
Keith loves Lilygrain though.
Like if I can, do you take out Lebushkin
for him?
That's a tough one, I don't know.
Like you said, depends who you play.
lets you.
Yeah, it does.
You don't think so?
I think management likes, I think they
like Lily.
I do too, I just don't think they like you
pulling a little bushkin out after they
spent on him.
Yeah.
You're not taking Edmondson out.
You're definitely not taking Benoit out.
You're not taking Riley out.
I think that's the thing is it's Benoit or
Lilligran, unfortunately.
Like, I don't agree with that, but I think
that's what it might come down to.
But we'll see how, if Lilligran's just out
with an illness, it's whatever, like we're
gonna, they're probably all healthy in 10
games from now.
Oh, is it?
Shit.
That's that's what I read.
Riley was upper body injury.
I think Lily was illness.
What happened to Riley?
I feel like I missed that.
Yeah, I don't really recall anything
specific happening either.
Yeah, oh well.
So, I mean, I feel better about the D than
I did, like, I don't know, three, four
months ago, now that we've discovered this
Diamond of the Rough in Benoit, it makes
me feel a lot better.
Like, there was kind of a hole there on
the, he plays on the right, but, meh,
still left-handed, isn't he?
Yeah, Benoit's still left-handed, but I
just like, I like the steadiness that he
brings and he's come in all year and been
great for us back there with the, like
he's not gonna be creating massive,
amazing breakout passes.
Like that's something Brody's done well
over the last little while, I think, that
he wasn't doing to start the year, is he's
always had that good, you know, exit pass
out of the zone or the crazy,
pass from beside his net to the opposing
blue line to Willie streaking in for a
breakaway like Brody's good at that.
That's something I missed from Muzzin.
He was really good at just those hail
Marys.
Like finds Marner on the other side of the
rink.
Like, ugh.
Yeah, we missed that.
But since the two games, like I said, that
he was scratched, Brody has definitely
come back a lot better, more confident.
I think any of these guys are gonna
benefit from.
a break like fuck it's such a long season
we're on 71 games at this point like give
the guys a second to just like collect
themselves and reset and you know you get
into a routine after a while we all do in
something that long even if it's hockey
games so break it and just have them
reflect and it's usually a better outcome
here.
Oh
So, Bertuzzi, who again, I keep saying
this, I was, I gotta eat my words on this
one.
I said, unless he turns it on and, you
know, end of March, I don't see any way
that this is gonna make sense as a trade,
but here we are.
It's the end of March and he has finally
turned it on.
In the last 15 games, he's got 11 goals
after scoring only seven in his first 55.
That's.
This showed a shooting percentage.
It was like 6.6 through his first 55 games
and now it's 33 in the last 15 Like this
dude figured it out Only took three
quarters of the season
well, we talked about it all year too,
like, okay, yes, we expected more, but you
know, I'm not 100% concerned because he's
there.
He's right there.
How many times does he snake bit?
Like we were joking that he needs to put
more stick more tape on his stick because
it keeps hitting his blade and he can't,
you know, slow it down enough to tip it
in.
Like he's been
on the sticker, hey, did you see that?
His new one, okay, so this is, they showed
the evolution of his stick before the game
against New Jersey.
And he's got that full, whatever the
sticker is, that goes over the full blade
of the stick.
And he was rocking that for a month or so.
And now he's covered the entire front
third of his stick just in a shit ton of
tape on top of the sticker.
So he took our advice because you're
getting these hard passes from Marner and
Matthews that if you don't have tape on
your stick, you've got to be absolutely
perfect and have the fastest hands in the
league to be able to corral that.
So hey, maybe he listens.
I mean, it's a bit of he figured out what
he needed to do and a bit of he's just a
troll and likes to say whenever someone is
like, oh, you don't have any tape on your
stick.
Actually, here's all of it.
I'll put more on.
Every time someone tells me I don't have
enough tape, I gotta put another piece of
tape on the end of my stick.
Like, he's just such a troll.
did you guys see that pass that Nylander
got?
The one like, Lubushkin sent him off on?
He caught it on his backhand not looking,
so he was all just feel.
As soon as it hit his backhand, he
corralled it.
That's one of the most insane things I've
ever seen the player do.
That is so, so hard to do.
Like incredibly hard to do.
fuck, I gotta find that.
I was in and out of this one.
the opponent's blue line too.
The degree of difficulty on that dive is
insane.
Oh man, there's been some nice plays and
nice goals the last little bit, even
though play has been overall up and down,
I would say, in the last week and a half,
but hopefully with everybody healthy and
like, look...
off the wild card, but like they're pretty
saddled into third place where they are
right now.
So it's a tough sell for the guys.
They've been finding off a lot of wild
card teams lately.
Like that's kind of been their schedule is
everybody that's sitting on the edge
there, like between New Jersey and
Carolina and Washington and like, it's
just been all these teams and then we're
now we're going to face Tampa.
Like it's.
It's not a nice end of the season and
these guys are tired and there's this flu
that is still ripping through the team
that they are never going to say is COVID,
but
Yeah, so it's a tough time and I'm glad
they're managing to pull out some big wins
like this.
Like the ones that they have, they've been
scoring a shit ton of goals in.
But yeah, the ones on the other side have
looked real stanky, but hey, tis the game
of hockey.
As of right now, we'd play Florida.
Yeah.
you...
nevermind, not even asking that question.
I fucking hate it.
do we have we got to have the conversation
like people have been talking about you
know is it worth it to fall into the wild
card spot like to play
do that.
That's so stupid.
So not intentionally, I guess, then let's
talk about it this way.
Would you feel better about the opponent
if the Leafs were in the wild card spot
than if they're in third place?
So if we fall down to wild card one, we
play the winner of our division anyways at
this point.
Because as of right now the Rangers are
first so they would have the second wild
card so it would be the Rangers versus
Capitals, the Bruins versus the Lightning,
and then us versus Florida and Hurricanes
versus Flyers if the playoffs started
today.
And if I be quite honest, I'd rather play
Florida.
Yeah.
Yeah, you'd take Florida over, you know,
Carolina.
I wouldn't want to play Carolina.
I think they're probably going to go to
the end.
is, I think it's really between Boston and
Florida at this point.
Well, so Carolina and Boston are tied at
99 points right now, the Rangers have 100.
and Carolina's been surging quite a bit.
Wow.
I hadn't quite realized that.
Yeah, that's fair.
If Toronto fell to the wild card and the
Atlantic winner ended up winning the
conference, then we would play the first
place team in the Metro, which at this
point is only a one point difference
between the Rangers and the Hurricanes.
They've only lost, what's this, one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine.
They've lost like two of their last nine
games, I think.
Maybe one?
One of their last?
Yeah.
Yeah, there's seven, two, and one in the
last ten.
Jesus.
They just shut out the Red Wings for
nothing too.
Holy.
Yeah, I would rather play Florida just
because the, I don't know, revenge for
last year after the, I know Radko Gudis
isn't there anymore, but oh my God.
Joseph Wall needs his revenge on this
team.
And everybody does.
And I think we know what we're gonna get
out of them and kind of built the team to
face.
Florida again, in a way.
Yeah.
At this point, I'm honestly not, like I'm
not gonna say I'm not concerned, but I
wouldn't favor any of the three other
Atlantic teams in the first round over any
of the other ones.
Like Tampa, okay, we finally beat them
last year, but they've now got.
Vasilevsky who isn't drained from playing
an entire season and Kuturov looks like
he's adding another trophy to his cabinet
Florida's
of nowhere is just still on top even
though they lost their top guys like
Marshawn gets better every year even
though he's fucking 35.
See that would be the only team that
might, I might wanna lean towards, but yet
again that could be just the fact that in
my head every single summer, it's okay
this is the year the Bruins are gonna fall
off.
This is the year the Bruins are gonna fall
off and they never fricking do.
If they didn't get Swainman and Allmark,
this would be a completely different
story, but they somehow locked into the
most important position and two of the
best of them.
So it really helps solidify any holes you
have.
Like it gives you time to figure out what
your problems are and fix them.
And they've done a really good job of
that.
Did we lose?
have.
Yeah, we lost Saudi for a sec, but he's
coming back in Uh, so yeah, I don't I
don't love the idea of facing the Bruins
just because of the goal-tending but I
think elsewhere they're definitely a
beatable team, but We'll see how we do
against the fucking panthers in these the
next two games in the next few weeks
If I had to choose, to be completely
honest, I would probably choose either the
Lightning or the Bruins.
I really don't trust K'Chuck and Cousins.
Like, to me they're the type of players
that if you're up in a game they're
gonna...
Like look at K'Chuck falling down with his
skate in the air towards a guy's leg the
other night.
Yeah, that's true.
They are a little...
They're dirty enough that you don't want
to, if you do beat them, like, be
completely ruined for the second round.
Yeah, I'm not saying that the Bruins don't
have those type of players, like I can't
stand Marsha, but I almost feel like he
has a little bit of respect for other
players in the league.
No, the way that the Bruins are The way
that the Bruins are rough is different
than the way that the Panthers are dirty
like the Bruins are like classic like
hockey dirty and the Panthers are like
Dangerous and bullshit and manipulative
dirty like they're just a pain in the ass
to play against So Yeah, I have to agree.
I think it's gonna be rough
if they play the Panthers, but it's
looking that way.
Okay.
Last thing I wanted to touch on here, some
strange news came out yesterday that
Deacon Sports and Entertainment Group that
owns Trois Rivières Lions and the
Newfoundland Growlers are a little, how do
I put this, Arizona Coyoteing their way
into bankruptcy?
They haven't been paying rent.
So, Tuahui Viejo was like, you owe, I've
seen two numbers.
I've seen $600,000 and I've seen a
million.
That might be Canada and US.
I don't think the exchange rate was that
bad, but that might be a million Canadian
that they're looking for.
But yeah, they're back on a lot of rent
owed and the Newfoundland Growlers get
dragged into this because they're owned by
the same person.
Because I guess in the ECHL, you can own
two teams.
That seems.
Strange.
It seems very weird.
When I first heard it, I was, I had
initially thought, well, what, like, MLSC
doesn't have any shortage of money, what
the hell's going on?
But apparently MLSC doesn't own them.
Yeah, this took a bit of reading to make
sense of it too.
So the only thing I've seen since is that
Newfoundland is looking to find someone to
buy the team, but they've been given a
deadline of April 2nd, which I mean, as
I'm recording this, it's March 28th.
That's, you know, I think it's Tuesday.
They have a Board of Governors meeting
that they have to have sold the team by.
And this news broke yesterday.
So they gave them less than seven days to
sell the team.
That's pretty crazy.
Like I know it's not a billion dollar team
we're talking about here, but still you
need somebody that's willing to cough up
money for a team that's not a guaranteed
profit, right?
Like you got to really work to make your
money on these kinds of leagues.
So it's crazy because we're getting to the
end of the season and if nobody buys these
and the league has to take over them, like
they're talking about potentially having
to fold these teams mid season and that's
it's
abysmal for the players and the community.
And I was out in Newfoundland and the
arena is massive.
Everybody loves going to the games.
There's bars connected to the arena right
outside that everybody's watching the game
at if they're not in the arena.
It's a big deal there.
There's a Leafs ECHL affiliate.
We've got guys playing there that we need
to play games.
And while we've been on the side, this is
like an entire team of guys that...
have been working towards the playoffs.
These are important games for them.
And for this to just fold like weeks
before the playoffs, it's crazy.
Yeah.
really, really super weird.
And like with, with how the team, like for
all intents and purposes from everything
I've seen, it's been a success having the
Growlers as the ECHL affiliate for the
Leafs.
Yeah, like I said.
have come through there.
If I remember correctly, I believe
McMahon.
Did you go through there?
Yeah.
And somebody else just got signed off of
there.
I saw.
like mid season.
Thank you.
Well, I'm done.
it's really interesting.
It would completely suck for that to
happen.
With that short of a deadline, you wonder
if maybe does MLSE step in and just buy
them and go from there, right?
I mean, that would make the most sense, I
think.
I don't know if they've approached them
about it or if they've even considered
MLSE.
Like, really, like, do they need, oh,
Timothy Lilligan played there?
No.
That's cool.
They need this as like a second farm
system, right?
Like Bobby McMahon came through there.
Yeah.
So it's, it's like, I don't know.
The farms are, the farm system is getting
so big in this league now because like the
amount of players there are and having
only like your NHL team plus let's say
like another 18 guys on the Marlies.
that maybe you can have three or four of
them that you're looking at.
Like it just doesn't, it's not big enough
to be able to properly develop people.
So you need to have control of like other
systems that you can bring people up
through.
And it gives players an opportunity to
work their way up through those systems
and potentially play with other people
that are doing that.
If they're not doing the same and learn
from them, like it's just good for
everybody.
So I really hope this gets worked out
because there's no other real like.
There's no, not another team this big.
I think there's like a basketball team in
St.
John's, but there's not much else as far
as like professional sports there.
I mean, their curling team is like the
best on the fucking face of the earth,
but.
Yeah.
course, Newfoundland's called the rock,
and, girl, you're pushing rocks on ice, so
it's kind of fitting.
Yeah, there's, what's his name, Brad
Gushy?
Yeah, he's from St.
John's.
Isn't it Gushu?
Gushy Gushu?
I don't know, I'm not a curling guy.
they told me when I was there it was the
gushy highway.
So I think because they literally have
their highway there named after that team.
Ha ha
That's what I mean, like that's the
biggest deal there.
So the growler is second tier to curling,
but still.
Well, like the Leafs have had a little bit
of a history of having a farm team out
there as well, because they used to have
the St.
John's Maple Leafs too.
That was the AHL team out there.
If MLSC buys them, they should change the
name to that.
So I have the ECHL team be the St.
John's, Maple Leafs, and then the Toronto
Marlies and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
brand, like it's brand association, right?
People don't think Toronto Maple Leafs
when they see Newfoundland Growlers.
Like you gotta know that.
You don't look at the Marleys and think,
oh, are they the Rangers affiliate?
No, that looks like the Leafs logo,
slightly different.
They're a Leafs team, you know?
made it to the Leafs.
to me, if I'm running the team, I almost
want to be separate from the NHL team
because look at how close they are to
Montreal.
How many people in Newfoundland have grown
up Montreal fans and yes, deep down they
know this is the Leafs affiliate, but
they're not gonna buy a jersey if it's
blue and white.
is terrible if you're trying to...
I get it.
And the affiliate teams are like, I mean,
St.
John's is pretty far from Toronto.
They're quite often not in the same area,
especially when you get to your second
tier one.
And I mean, all of this aside.
closer than Orlando.
Orlando Solar Bears were our last one.
Um, the other side of this 12 of you is,
um, Montreal's affiliate.
So the one that actually owes money is the
one that should be making money.
So I don't know if this is just a
management thing or if it comes down to
the team actually being like down on
profits, but we'll see there's really not
much info on this right now.
And it's not like they're, I mean, I could
probably find this info, but I don't know
how publicly available a lot of it is, so
we'll see.
Yeah, it's really a weird story to come
out.
Yeah, really cool though, speaking of the
growlers, I don't know if we talked about
this, but you saw they signed Terry Ryan
for his birthday to play for a day.
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
I have nothing else.
Do you have anything, any fun today in
hockey history that's happened?
Um, not today.
As, uh, as, as you know, I've lost my prep
time, falling asleep for the last, uh,
couple minutes of the third period there
after I put Patrick to bed, so.
Fair.
Oh, have we?
enough, the last three games of the season
are the Growlers vs.
the Travier.
really, eh?
Oh my god.
No way.
Yeah, I just pulled up the Growlers
website just to see, right?
I mean, convenient if those games just
can't happen.
It's pretty easy for the league to figure
out.
What I was gonna say, I don't know if
we've been on since.
I went to the PWHL game in Ottawa on
Saturday.
It was Toronto versus Ottawa.
Ottawa ended the 11 game winning streak.
But not without Natalie Spooner trying, oh
my God, her hardest to keep that streak
alive.
Holy shit, like, I've never watched, I've
never watched a professional hockey game
this close to the glass, I don't think.
Like we were three rows back from, like,
in between center ice and, well I'd say
like, not in between center, in between
like the blue line and one of the nets.
So like we were pretty close to one of the
nets.
So I saw two of her goals, like right in
front of us.
Holy shit.
Like, a lot of the shots in this,
Not a lot of them.
I'd say like, there's, there's not the
same, I'd say the standard level of shot
is obviously not as fast.
And then all of a sudden spooner shoots.
It's like that was like 80 miles an hour.
What the fuck?
Like you just blew everybody from the last
20 minutes out of the water.
Like, no wonder you've got the league
leading goals like my god.
Yeah, there's a couple players like, and
that'll even out over time, but right now
with the women's game, and I'm not trying
to disrespect some of the lower end
players, but there's a massive
to either.
I'm just trying to word that very
carefully.
It's like.
Yeah, there's a massive difference between
the top tier and then the rest of the
league.
And a lot of it is just the fact that the
top tier players, they've either been
doing it forever, or they've put the focus
and the dedication and even with having
to, basically by having to sacrifice
something with their personal lives,
because this is the first chance they've
ever had
play in a professional league and not have
to either have a job or something else on
the go at the same time, right?
Like Poulan, Spooner, Knight, like these
are all players whose shot is just
absolutely disgusting.
And it's really nice to see the league be
as successful as it has been right out of
the gate.
Oh yeah, it was completely sold out.
And oh, shout out to Darrell Watts on
Ottawa.
I got a hat trick that was sick too.
Also seeing like, it was kind of cool.
Sarah Nurse like skating up past us in
front of the glass.
I was like, wow, like that somebody that
like I've seen on TV a lot, like even, I
don't know.
It was just like cool star level, you
know?
Like, I don't know how to put it.
Like I wasn't.
you see nurse go by.
or I don't know, it's not been a thing
that you could follow that much.
So now that that's like creating
celebrities, I think it was just kind of
that realization like this person has
become a star over the last couple of
years.
And there was that effect of like, oh
shit, like that's her there.
Like, so that was, I don't know, it was
kind of cool.
Also there were a shit ton of hockey teams
there, like entire, like they did a thing
on the screen, like, you know, shout out
to like all of these teams from.
Ottawa from on the Quebec side in
Gatineau, from Kingston, from Coburg,
shout out.
The West Northumberland Wild girls team
were there.
Well, like that's something that this
league has a benefit of is that like girls
haven't had this.
Right?
Girls have never had this where they can
go and they can see someone who looks like
them.
Like to put it as blatantly as possible
because it hasn't been there.
There's been attempts but they've never
been full bore.
we need to do this properly.
It's okay, let's see what we can do and
we'll go from there.
And then someone else pops up and says, I
can do it better.
And then it's like, fucking what are we
doing here?
in and yeah.
so this is a foundation that these teams,
these young girls can watch right from the
beginning and can build that bond so that
15, 20 years down the line, we're all
looking at those teams as if they're NHL
teams, right?
They've been around, we know what they
are, we know what the logos are.
I know we don't have that yet, but we
will.
It's really...
really good to see and I'm yet again I'm
just I'm glad they're they seem to knock
on wood so far be doing everything right.
Yeah, the amount of people in line for
merch was crazy.
The amount of people that showed up
already wearing merch, like all the purple
and white too, because I saw t-shirts and
sweaters, everything.
It's like people are really into this.
The people behind us had season tickets
and we're talking about all the games
they'd been to and who like, yeah, I've
been to like six with this person and five
with this person.
It's like, people are really into it.
Also, this game was violent.
One person left, like they had to open
the, there's no like,
You can't go to the dressing room from the
bench.
So they have to like open the Zamboni door
at the TD arena.
And so one person on Ottawa had to leave
out through there.
I think it was like a boarding into like
headfirst into the boards.
Somebody went feet first into the boards,
too, from a hit.
Like there were some massive ones right in
front of us, like the last shaking ones.
Like it was a lot harder hitting than I
think a lot of people expect.
Well, and that's, they've talked about it
a lot on serious XM.
When I listen anytime the PWHL comes up is
that everybody always says, Oh, you know,
women's hockey, there's no hitting,
there's no hitting.
It's not real hockey.
Well, no, it's real hockey.
You just, you just don't have people doing
stupid headshots, trying to take people's
heads off there.
Like they're playing physical.
They're not just skating around out there.
It's not an all star game.
There was one call for body checking for
like a straight up open ice hit.
And I was like, oh, so we are just gonna
go for it and take the penalty.
Cool.
Yeah
Yeah, it was a really good game.
I would definitely go back and it's, I
mean, obviously we, it was a gift for
Christmas to go.
That's why we were sitting so close, but
otherwise, like if you want to go and sit
like, you know, higher up, it's totally an
affordable game.
Not that Cens games aren't, but not an
Ottawa Toronto game.
So definitely.
of PWHL, what's your thoughts on if the
NHL attempted what they're doing with the
playoffs?
Can't do it.
Can't do it.
your opponent.
Yeah, so like the NHL do that, first team
in each conference gets to pick which wild
card they want to play.
Just the wild cards.
Oh, just the wild cards?
just that there's some stability still.
So like, if it ended tonight, you'd go to
the Rangers and say, okay, you get to
pick, Tampa or Washington, who do you
want?
fun.
Yeah, then it feels like you've won
something for like achieving something and
coming in first place instead of just
like, oh you get to play this person.
It's like well they're only one point
apart and our record against them is so
much worse than the other wildcard team.
So I definitely agree that should be a
thing.
Of all these proposed rule changes that
seems to be one that keeps kind of
slipping through.
Yeah, and like you'd still have the
divisional matchups, which they kind of
want to keep because the two, three
matchups would be the same.
And then you would give.
it because you lose a good team in the
first round between the second and third
place.
That's the only argument I have against
that.
Like, it just seems like you're ratings
wise and fan base like viewership wise,
like you're getting rid of a team that's
going to bring a lot of eyes if they keep
going, you know, between both of them,
like your second and third place teams
could potentially both be in the second
round otherwise.
And that's a lot more than, you know.
I dunno, depends on the teams, but...
Realistically, it's not as of right now in
the East anyways, it wouldn't change the
matchups drastically.
No, it never really does.
It's just, it's usually that two-three
matchup you would end up playing like the
sixth and fifth place in the conference.
I still like my idea of just complete
utter chaos 1 to 16.
I, again, it's the travel that wouldn't
make it work, but I do think the idea is
fun.
The travel and the splitting of some
rivalries, but yeah.
Like I wouldn't want to play Dallas in the
first round.
Why?
Because you'd have to travel so goddamn
far.
These guys are traveling in the first
class, private jets.
Showdown.
Why not?
Why not?
Peter said so, we're doing it, alright
guys?
Okay, that now what?
Oh no, it wouldn't work.
I was going to say it would be
Toronto-Edmonton first round, but no it
wouldn't be.
It'd be Toronto-Florida still.
Oh, I gotta give a snack update from the
PWHL game at TD.
I had a, there's a weird snack bar there.
So you know how they're always like
branded, like whether it's something that
exists outside of there or it's something
they've just made up, it's always like
some fun thing.
There's one in the TD Lansdowne Arena that
I swear it must have been there since the
place opened.
It's called, oh my God, it's like
something cattle.
deli and it's like this it looks like a
canteen in a community center arena like
it's the weirdest looking little uh like
cafeteria sign with just you know the
warmers and popcorn machines and drink
things like it's nothing flashy but i went
there and i got pretzel bites with caramel
salted caramel dip or not salted caramel
the pretzels were salted as the pretzels
are with caramel dip
But then it wasn't when they got cold, so.
As you were describing the look of that, I
just had a really random craving to get
like theater popcorn with nacho cheese on
it.
so good.
Whoa.
You
Wait, I've never done that.
Is that a thing?
I've done it before.
I don't know if it's an actual thing.
I come up with weird concoctions food-wise
all the time.
It drives my wife insane.
Here, it's called the Cattle Castle Deli.
And apparently they do like sandwiches,
homemade deli sandwiches and classic
concession fare.
Like I swear, that's the first thing that
must've opened in this place for the 67s
years ago.
Oh, actually one last point.
I was saying when we were at the game, if-
They're going to be sharing the arena with
the 67s.
They should do because it's currently the
67s logo in the center.
Once they get the PWHL Ottawa logo, they
should do like Arizona, where they have
like this the slash where it's both of
them.
Because, I mean, really, like if we're
talking, who's the professional league
here?
We're going to we're going to put PWHL's
technically a step above the 67s, so they
should get their logo at center right.
Speaking of 67s, they play my hometown,
Brantford Bulldogs in the first round of
the playoffs.
Oh shit, nice.
Sorry, I'm...
it, Roscoe, but Ottawa's going down.
You know what?
I'm only somewhat supportive of Ottawa
teams.
This is where my allegiance is split.
Like the first two games of PWHL, it was
like, oh Toronto's not good.
They got like really badly tanked the
first two games and Ottawa looked great.
And I was like, oh finally.
And then Ottawa goes down to, they're in
fifth place now actually, or fourth,
sorry, they're in the playoffs.
I think as of right now, we'll see.
But Toronto just went on an absolute tear.
Yeah.
And it's, they're, they're doing their
international break right now.
Yeah.
So they're, they're pa they're going to
pause for the women's worlds and then come
back for, I want to say it's three or four
games and then start the playoffs.
Nice.
Oh yeah, and Boston lost.
So Ottawa's got a five point lead on
Boston with five games remaining.
So they should make the playoffs.
It would be Toronto versus Ottawa in the
first round if it stays as is.
Minnesota is only a point behind and then
Montreal.
if Toronto wanted to play Ottawa.
Oh right, they can pick.
So what they can pick between Montreal or
Ottawa.
And then Minnesota plays the other one.
I think Toronto would get to pick whoever
they wanted.
Like so any of the teams that qualified
for the playoffs, they would get picked.
Okay, well I'm assuming they wouldn't want
to play Minnesota in the first round, who
are almost as good as them, but...
Damn.
That's gonna be interesting.
I'll have to watch who they pick.
Anywho, we out.
Thanks for listening.
Have a good, lovely evening, and we'll see
you Saturday night, I suppose.
Ciao ciao.
Ciao ciao.
Doo doo doo.
Weaves Nation.