Latest / Predators Official Podcast / Roman's 1,000th Game and Winter Olympics Preview feat. Juuse Saros

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Roman's 1,000th Game and Winter Olympics Preview feat. Juuse Saros · Predators Official Podcast

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Predators official podcast here on
• 0:13
  ESPN1O25, the game streaming on YouTube.
• 0:16
  I'm Brooks Bratton of Nashville predators.com here with my
• 0:18
  friends Max hers of Fred's radio.
• 0:20
  I'm Cara Hammer from Fred's TV here with you for a jam packed
• 0:25
  episode. Guys, we have a lot to talk
• 0:27
  about. There's a lot of good stuff
• 0:28
  happening on the ice, off the ice.
• 0:31
  Roman Yossi, the show might as well be dedicated to him, except
• 0:35
  you see Soros is also involved. Max has a really great chat with
• 0:38
  the juice coming up and some good things happening on the ice
• 0:42
  for the predators. And Roman Yossi again, about to
• 0:44
  hit one heck of a milestone. We will get to all of it.
• 0:47
  And Max Kara, good to be with you as always.
• 0:50
  Looking forward to another week ahead here.
• 0:53
  Nice to see you, Brooks. And as you talk about on the ice
• 0:55
  and off the ice, we can also just actually talk about ice
• 0:57
  because here in Nashville, we are embracing for what could be
• 1:00
  an apocalyptic winter storm. We don't know what's happening.
• 1:05
  Yeah, Oh yeah. We, we could spend a whole
• 1:07
  episode talking about that. We won't because Max told us
• 1:10
  short shifts, 30 seconds and out.
• 1:12
  But yeah, it's, it's going to be a heck of a time these next few
• 1:15
  days. So we'll see what happens.
• 1:16
  Who knows where we'll be coming to you from next week.
• 1:18
  We may all be in an igloo in our in our respective backyard.
• 1:22
  If you don't know how to drive in the snow and you live in
• 1:25
  Nashville and you've never lived anywhere else, do not drive in
• 1:29
  the snow because you're going to crash into someone who does know
• 1:32
  what they're doing. So don't try.
• 1:34
  Tweet at Brooks. He will come pick you up and
• 1:37
  drive you to the game on Saturday free of charge.
• 1:40
  Don't assume that your 4 wheel drive can go 80 miles an hour
• 1:43
  down I-40. It doesn't.
• 1:44
  Work. Every car has four wheels.
• 1:45
  It doesn't make a difference, I promise.
• 1:49
  You know who probably is good though at driving in the snow is
• 1:52
  Roman Yossi. I bet he is.
• 1:54
  Amy. And Cara Hammer, she's from out
• 1:56
  West, she's from the Rockies. Well, hey, the Preds, let's
• 2:01
  talk. Let's get into it.
• 2:03
  So seven goals against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday
• 2:07
  night as they started that two game trip.
• 2:08
  It was Colorado's first home regulation loss of the season. 3
• 2:12
  assists from Roman Yossi. Get used to hearing his name.
• 2:14
  We told you we're going to talk a lot about him.
• 2:16
  And in part of that effort, Yossi was named the NH LS second
• 2:20
  start of the week. So wins over the Capitals, the
• 2:24
  Oilers and the Avalanche all over that past week.
• 2:27
  Roman had at least two points in each of Nashville's last four
• 2:30
  outings headed into this week, as we record on Wednesday,
• 2:35
  January 21st, but he tallied twice against Edmonton last
• 2:38
  Tuesday, including the overtime winner.
• 2:40
  This is kind of a cool stat. He's just the 6th blue liner in
• 2:43
  NHL history with at least ten career overtime goals. 7 points
• 2:48
  in three games last week. What more can we say about the
• 2:51
  captain in the way that he's playing right now?
• 2:54
  Three straight multi point games.
• 2:56
  That ain't bad for Yossi really starting to hit his stride and
• 3:00
  it's so cool he's about to play his a thousandth game on
• 3:02
  Thursday, the 1st pred to ever do that, all with the Predators.
• 3:07
  And he's playing the best hockey we've seen from him in years.
• 3:09
  And look, 1000 games was never assured because of all the
• 3:13
  health issues he's had, especially the last two seasons.
• 3:16
  So what a moment we're peeking at right now for Yossi to be
• 3:19
  playing his best and hitting the big round Number Kara.
• 3:23
  Yeah, it it's exciting to to watch the captain and you hit on
• 3:26
  it, Maxi. I felt like you were more
• 3:28
  superstitious than anybody about talking about game number 1000,
• 3:32
  which will be coming up this week for for Roman.
• 3:35
  But guys, let's go back to that Colorado game because the Preds
• 3:39
  came out, the Avalanche had never lost in regulation at Ball
• 3:43
  Arena, and the Preds went in and did something we haven't seen
• 3:47
  all season. Yeah, it was a really great
• 3:50
  showing. And that's, you know, we talk
• 3:52
  about the belief that they've discussed in the Nashville
• 3:56
  locker room. And you know, you ask, okay,
• 4:00
  great, You you beat X team, Y team, what whoever it is.
• 4:03
  And no game is an easy game in the NHL.
• 4:06
  But to go into Colorado, as you said, care a team that had not
• 4:08
  lost at home and regulation at all this season and to have the
• 4:12
  kind of effort that the Predators did to put up seven
• 4:14
  goals on the Avalanche, the belief only strengthens in a
• 4:18
  room because of an effort like that.
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  And you know, I don't want to harp on the losses to Vegas and
• 4:24
  Buffalo that followed, but this is this is a test right now for
• 4:28
  Nashville. Those two losses, the first
• 4:30
  consecutive losses that they've had since before Thanksgiving.
• 4:34
  That's a heck of a run that the Preds have been on, bouncing
• 4:37
  back from a loss. They were unable to do it this
• 4:39
  time. But you go back to the game in
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  Colorado and it shows you what this team is capable of when
• 4:45
  they play to their identity and the way that they're capable of
• 4:48
  playing. They have the ability to beat
• 4:50
  any team in the NHL on any given night.
• 4:52
  They know that. And I think that's something
• 4:54
  that Philip Forsberg said after the Buffalo loss to yeah, we
• 4:57
  lost that game in the first period.
• 4:58
  But the second-half of the game shows you that we know we're a
• 5:01
  great team and we know what we're capable of when we play to
• 5:04
  our potential. That's a lesson they're going to
• 5:06
  have to learn moving forward. But the Colorado game, again, a
• 5:09
  great showing as to what this team is capable of doing.
• 5:13
  It was a Ryan O'Reilly game to a tee and he just played his
• 5:17
  twelve hundredth NHL game this week in season 17 and luck.
• 5:24
  There may not have been many, or any regular season games where
• 5:28
  he was as good as he was Friday night in the win against his
• 5:31
  first NHL team, the Avalanche. A hat trick.
• 5:35
  He's had a hat trick in all three seasons he's played for
• 5:37
  the Preds. All of a sudden, in just two and
• 5:40
  a half seasons, he's tied for the third most hat tricks in
• 5:43
  franchise history with three behind Philip Forsberg and Steve
• 5:47
  Sullivan. That's pretty good.
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  Three goals, ties his career high 4 points ties his career
• 5:53
  high 15 and three on face offs. One of his best face off games
• 5:58
  ever. And all while going up against
• 6:01
  Nathan Mckinnon's line and shutting down the best player in
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  the NHL right now with Luke Evangelista and Philip Forsberg
• 6:08
  on his wings. I mean it doesn't get any better
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  from Mr. Uncle Factor Ryan O'Reilly.
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  What a game from him in every facet.
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  Cara. Yeah, and you know, you talk
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  about how well he played in Colorado with the hat trick, but
• 6:21
  even last last night as we record here on Wednesday
• 6:25
  afternoon. So Tuesday night against the
• 6:27
  Buffalo Sabres, the Preds find themselves in a four goal hole.
• 6:31
  How about Ryan O'Reilly? He was able to to score in the
• 6:34
  second period. He was like a dog on a bone out
• 6:36
  there, guys. I mean, he single handedly put
• 6:39
  the team on his back, was able to get on the board and kind of
• 6:42
  jump start this pushback that they had to bring the game
• 6:45
  within one goal in the third period.
• 6:49
  Well, and it's it's fair to say like where would this team be
• 6:52
  without Ryan O'Reilly right now? He continues to lead the league,
• 6:55
  the team in scoring rather he's he's been there for at least a
• 6:59
  few weeks at the top of the scoring race and as far as the
• 7:02
  Preds are concerned. And you know, yeah, you can look
• 7:06
  at the goals and it's easy to recognize that when he's on the
• 7:09
  scoreboard. But the things that he brings,
• 7:11
  even when he's not putting the puck in the net and he's hard on
• 7:14
  himself. And we've heard that at a time
• 7:16
  or two this season as well. But he has consistently been one
• 7:19
  of Nashville's best players all season long.
• 7:23
  And there's a reason he plays where he doesn't align up.
• 7:26
  There's a reason where why he wears an A on his sweater and
• 7:31
  you really see, and I think you really start to appreciate in a
• 7:34
  stretch like this, your best players have to be your best
• 7:37
  players. And Ryan O'Reilly has certainly
• 7:39
  lived up to that. He's a huge reason why the preds
• 7:42
  are still in the thick of this and flirting with a wild card
• 7:45
  spot and they're going to need more from him.
• 7:48
  And I think he's up to that challenge, right.
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  He just he seems to get better every night, which is so
• 7:52
  impressive. I don't I don't want to call him
• 7:54
  old. You know, we're all around kind
• 7:55
  of the same age, too, but to do what he's doing this
• 7:59
  consistently at his age in the NHL, it's really remarkable.
• 8:04
  It's really impressive. And again, I think he can make
• 8:06
  you the argument that without Ryan O'Reilly, the Prez would
• 8:09
  not be anywhere near where they are right now in the standings.
• 8:13
  Yeah, and if you ever have the chance, watch some of his facial
• 8:16
  expressions. I mean, we're able to see it
• 8:17
  because we're up close. But if you're sitting at home
• 8:20
  and watching, you almost see it's a shift coming over his
• 8:24
  face where he looks angry out there.
• 8:27
  And we saw, I mean, last last night at the end of that game,
• 8:30
  the frustration to close it out. He was dropping the gloves.
• 8:33
  We don't often see that from Ryan O'Reilly, but you could see
• 8:37
  that the frustration, the anger, how badly and how determined
• 8:41
  they are to to find ways to win. I saw both sides of that this
• 8:46
  week, Karen. I'm so glad you brought that up
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  because I hadn't been thinking about it this way.
• 8:50
  But first, the happy Ryan O'Reilly after his hat trick,
• 8:55
  the big missing tooth smile. And Hal and I were on the radio
• 9:00
  during that game Friday night in Denver.
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  I was just like, look, we've analyzed these goals enough, how
• 9:05
  you got to love the Ryan O'Reilly gap to smile and how
• 9:08
  this immediately goes, oh, he looks just like Peter Puck,
• 9:12
  which got means no good. The old mascot from Hockey Night
• 9:15
  in Canada with the missing tooth in the exact same spot.
• 9:18
  So it's like when he's at his happiest, you're looking right
• 9:21
  back through and the tooth is popping out and deep.
• 9:24
  Would love to take the fake tooth out for you guys anytime
• 9:27
  you see him with it in to put it on and then the opposite.
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  The Preds practice on Monday at Centennial Sportsplex.
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  Ryan O'reilly's dad was in town and he walks into practice.
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  Mr. O'Reilly does and as soon as he gets there, his 34 year old
• 9:41
  son Tomahawk breaks his stick over the goal and frustration
• 9:46
  because he got beat in a one-on-one drill.
• 9:48
  So I know our hockey parents out there can empathize with that.
• 9:51
  You roll up to practice the moment you get there, your kid
• 9:54
  starts, as Lindsay Rowley would say, taking a fit.
• 9:58
  So that's both sides of the Ryan O'Reilly happy, sad, win at all
• 10:03
  costs experience and that's why we love him.
• 10:07
  We love him. Whatever it takes to win, right?
• 10:09
  That's all you get from him. You know what you're going to
• 10:11
  get night after night. And he's a big reason why the
• 10:14
  Preds are where they are. So as we mentioned, a loss in
• 10:17
  Vegas, a loss against Buffalo, but looking forward to seeing
• 10:20
  how they bounce back the rest of this homestand.
• 10:22
  So Ottawa on Thursday, which will be, as we said, Romaniosi's
• 10:25
  one thousandth NHL game, and then Utah on Saturday with the
• 10:29
  impending snowstorm. But the Preds plan to EOC during
• 10:32
  that game as well. And then they'll head out on the
• 10:35
  road next week for another tough road trip.
• 10:37
  They're all tough at this point, but just a few more games to go
• 10:40
  before the Olympic break just a couple of weeks out.
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  So point you at a premium right now.
• 10:44
  And the Preds again, it'll be a challenge and and looking
• 10:47
  forward to seeing how they respond in these next two after
• 10:50
  they've lost consecutive games for the first time in a long
• 10:53
  time. We told you we were going to
• 10:55
  talk a lot about Roman EOC more from him coming up.
• 10:59
  But then you see Soros, You had a chance to sit down with our
• 11:03
  favorite goaltender, did you not?
• 11:05
  He's tied for my favorite goaltender with Eustace Andin
• 11:08
  and Chris Mason. So of course, we play tie.
• 11:10
  But yeah, I'm looking forward to you guys getting to hear from UC
• 11:14
  coming up next. You both ditched me on this
• 11:16
  interview, which I won't hold against you.
• 11:18
  So I got juice all to myself and we got to ask a ton of questions
• 11:22
  about the Olympics. So I hope you enjoyed that
• 11:24
  interview with UC Soros Coming up next here on the Predators
• 11:27
  Official Podcast. My name is Max Hers with Kara
• 11:30
  Hammer from Prince TV, Brooks Bratton from
• 11:32
  nationalpredators.com. This is the POP on ESPN1O25 the
• 11:37
  game. Welcome back to the predators
• 11:40
  official podcast here on ESPN1O25 the game at Nashville
• 11:44
  Predators YouTube. My name is Max herz joined by
• 11:47
  preds goalie UC sorrows for our interview this week ahead of the
• 11:51
  Olympics where he will be one of the goalies for team Finland.
• 11:54
  UC, thanks so much for joining us.
• 11:57
  Yeah. Thank you.
• 11:58
  What is the build up like to you playing an NHL game every other
• 12:03
  day and being less than a month away from your first game in the
• 12:07
  Olympics? Yeah, obviously you focus on
• 12:10
  these games right now and we're really trying to make a good
• 12:15
  push here. So by at the same time like like
• 12:18
  days between the games, some nice, you kind of look ahead of
• 12:22
  that. That too, now that it gets
• 12:24
  closer. Is there extra preparation that
• 12:27
  goes on, whether it's conversations with your coaches,
• 12:30
  logistics or things like that? Yeah, I may have some phone
• 12:35
  calls to the coaches in international team and obviously
• 12:39
  just keep in touch with their good men.
• 12:42
  They're giving a manager about all the gear and all that kind
• 12:45
  of stuff. Is the gear coming soon for you
• 12:47
  to start breaking in? Yeah, I think it should be here
• 12:51
  like this week, so hopefully. What what went into your
• 12:55
  thoughts for your colors and your designs on your mask and on
• 12:58
  your pads? The mask is kind of similar to
• 13:03
  what I had last year with the national team, the lionhead in
• 13:07
  the middle and a skyline of Helsinki and then the logo like
• 13:11
  jersey logo on the side. So I kind of I like that design
• 13:16
  A lot. So I and pretty much kind of
• 13:19
  like a similar, but just a couple little tweaks there.
• 13:22
  You and I have talked previously about the coaches for the
• 13:25
  Finnish national team, and it's not the same as Team US and Team
• 13:29
  Canada, where it's NHL coaches who are coming together to coach
• 13:32
  these teams. It's coaches who coach at
• 13:34
  different levels and coach the senior national team at lots of
• 13:38
  different tournaments throughout the year.
• 13:40
  Can you tell us in our fans, please, about who those coaches
• 13:43
  are, what your relationship is like with them, and how long
• 13:46
  you've known all of those people?
• 13:48
  Yeah, it's a little different than and like you said, US and
• 13:52
  Canada, all the European national teams, they have a, the
• 13:57
  head coaches only the head coach for the national team.
• 14:00
  So that's his only thing. And they had tournaments
• 14:03
  throughout the year or two. And obviously they're scouting
• 14:05
  throughout the year on all the players, usually the assistant
• 14:11
  coaches, they have a like they, they coach in some other teams
• 14:16
  during the during the year or two.
• 14:17
  But usually the head coach, it's just with within the, he's his
• 14:22
  main focus is only with the national team.
• 14:24
  But but yeah, obviously I played in the World Championships last
• 14:28
  last spring and yeah, it was pretty much all the same, same
• 14:32
  stuff there. So yeah, they're all all
• 14:35
  familiar faces. And actually the goalie coach of
• 14:38
  the of the team used to be our goalie coach for under 18, under
• 14:43
  17, under 18, like the international team.
• 14:45
  So go way back with him. And he's also a childhood friend
• 14:49
  of Peck. So it's a small world.
• 14:53
  Guys, hey, anytime we can get back in there, we're happy.
• 14:56
  Talking with UC Soros before he represents Team Finland at the
• 14:59
  Olympics coming up next month. It's a ton of players that you
• 15:03
  know, a team of almost entirely NHL errs will be representing
• 15:07
  Finland at the Olympics. Who are the teammates that
• 15:09
  you're closest with? There are a lot of guys who are
• 15:11
  very similar in age to you on the team.
• 15:13
  Who are the guys that you've known the longest?
• 15:15
  Who are the guys that you've come to know well in the NHL?
• 15:19
  Yeah, a lot of guys that you play out the ever since you're
• 15:23
  growing up either with like during the with the national
• 15:26
  team to international team or play against a lot of guys go
• 15:30
  way back. See, I got to say Ellie Toll
• 15:33
  when it's the closest guy to me. We were the roommates in the
• 15:38
  World Championships in Mace and we already got got the call that
• 15:43
  we get to be roommates in Milan. Really looking forward to that.
• 15:48
  Nice. OK, good.
• 15:49
  I was going to ask who your roommate was, but you already
• 15:51
  know that's impressive. And you'll be reunited with your
• 15:55
  former Preds goalie tandem mate Kevin Lankinen.
• 15:58
  You and him have known each other for more than half of your
• 16:01
  lives. The other 1995 birth year on the
• 16:03
  team is Arturi Lackinen. What's it like being with those
• 16:06
  guys who you've played with at so many levels to now get to
• 16:09
  play as Olympians together? Yeah, it's awesome.
• 16:12
  Like you said, we know those guys from long time and played
• 16:19
  it played with with each other for a long time.
• 16:21
  So it's kind of special to kind of share like a similar route
• 16:27
  throughout their careers and and get to reunite in the this stage
• 16:32
  as well. And you will have a Preds
• 16:34
  teammate as your Olympic teammate.
• 16:36
  Eric Hollow will also be making his Olympic debut for Finland.
• 16:40
  How happy are you for him to be able to be a part of the team?
• 16:43
  And what's it been like getting to know him more closely this
• 16:45
  season as a teammate for the second time at around?
• 16:49
  Yeah, obviously that was really cool that he's he's played a
• 16:53
  long career in the NHL, but since the NHL players haven't
• 16:56
  been part of the Olympics, so he's kind of missed that chance
• 16:59
  to chance to play. So obviously really happy for
• 17:02
  him. Then he got the call as well and
• 17:04
  he's been a big part of our our team this year.
• 17:07
  So not really surprised that he made the team.
• 17:09
  He's I think he's been a really great player for us, can play
• 17:13
  and every role you put him in there in there.
• 17:16
  So yeah, it's awesome. You guys have both told us on
• 17:20
  Preds radio that you found out at unique times that you were
• 17:24
  going to the Olympics. Paula got the call on Christmas
• 17:27
  morning from Finnish head coach Andy Pennant in and he said he
• 17:31
  was nervous, but then he realized that he wouldn't be
• 17:33
  getting the call on Christmas morning if they were telling him
• 17:36
  that he wasn't making the team. So he was confident at that
• 17:39
  point. And you told us a couple weeks
• 17:41
  ago you found out over the summer as part of the first six
• 17:44
  players announced, you got a text from Coach Penninen while
• 17:48
  you were sitting at the Roland Garros tennis final.
• 17:51
  That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, that was pretty
• 17:53
  special. Yeah.
• 17:55
  We were watching the final. Obviously one of the greatest
• 17:57
  tennis matches ever going on. Me and my wife were there and I
• 18:00
  got the got the text, which made it made even even sweeter.
• 18:06
  Yeah, it's a pretty cool memory. So you're sitting in Paris
• 18:10
  watching Alcaraz center at Roland Garros.
• 18:13
  You find out you're going to be in the Olympics, in Milan, to
• 18:16
  the premier sporting events in the world, two of the greatest
• 18:19
  cities in the world. Have you been to Milan much
• 18:22
  before? Have you spent a lot of time in
• 18:23
  Italy? Yeah, went to Milan a couple
• 18:27
  years ago, so for a few days. So got to kind of see the city a
• 18:31
  little bit there and yeah, obviously that's a really cool
• 18:35
  place to have have that event. And Federer Svechkov wanted us
• 18:40
  to ask you, are you going to be able to go shoe shopping and get
• 18:43
  some designer shoes while you're in Milan?
• 18:47
  Maybe I got to pop into some of the stores if I got some spare
• 18:51
  time. I feel like you might looking at
• 18:54
  the schedule as we talked to UC Soros before the Olympics.
• 18:57
  Your guys three games in your group are Slovakia starting in
• 19:01
  the first game on Wednesday, February 11th, then a day off
• 19:05
  before the big game, probably the biggest game in the
• 19:08
  preliminaries in all of the men's hockey tournament, Finland
• 19:11
  versus Sweden on Friday, February 13th, then you take on
• 19:14
  the host country, Italy on Saturday, Saturday, February
• 19:17
  14th. What do you think about that
• 19:19
  schedule? And obviously that game against
• 19:22
  Sweden will be one of the biggest, I would say.
• 19:24
  Would you agree with that? Yeah, we're sure, but at the
• 19:28
  same time you got to take it one and get them came in a time the
• 19:30
  first game relieved for it as well.
• 19:33
  Slovakia has a has a great team and you know, they're always
• 19:37
  battling hard, hard as a team and they got great individuals
• 19:42
  as well. So but yeah, then the second
• 19:44
  game, obviously big rivalry. So that's that's a cool, cool
• 19:48
  game for sure. What levels have you played in a
• 19:52
  Finland versus Sweden game? What tournaments have you played
• 19:55
  in that rivalry game before and what is that like that's
• 19:58
  different from other rivalries? Yeah, the history goes way back.
• 20:03
  It's always been kind of a Big Brother, little brother kind of
• 20:08
  mentality. And the latest one was less less
• 20:12
  spring in Stockholm, played against Phil in the Sweden in
• 20:16
  our group States. And yeah, that was my latest one
• 20:21
  and obviously best memory I got of those games when we had the
• 20:25
  War Tuners final in in Sweden, then happier, obviously we got
• 20:31
  the win on that one. So yeah, those two games come on
• 20:35
  my mind first. Who's the Big Brother and who's
• 20:38
  the little brother? Oh, it's the little brother been
• 20:42
  kind of always been thing. Yes, in Finland, yeah, that's
• 20:46
  kind of how it's been been seen. But over the years, I feel like
• 20:51
  it's kind of even even down a little bit.
• 20:56
  That's good. And you've been in a lot of
• 20:57
  those talking to UC Soros before the Olympics where he will
• 21:00
  represent Team Finland. Do you have friends who have
• 21:03
  been Olympians in other sports or athletes you've gotten to
• 21:07
  know, or any who will be there this time around that you've
• 21:09
  gotten to know from either Finland or other nations?
• 21:15
  I got to think, not exactly sure, yeah, I got to look into
• 21:23
  that more. I haven't really thought about
• 21:25
  it yet, but obviously all the all the hockey guys, but I got
• 21:28
  to think if there's someone else in in other sports.
• 21:34
  Who from your family will be going to support you?
• 21:37
  I got my parents and wife's parents always in my wife and
• 21:41
  then a bunch of friends as well so.
• 21:44
  That's that's awesome. And maybe the most important
• 21:47
  question for the Soros family about who's going Is there pet
• 21:51
  care provided in the Olympic Village for you to bring the
• 21:53
  dogs to the Olympics? Yeah, I I wish, but they've
• 21:57
  been, they're going to be watching here, here in
• 21:59
  Nashville. And but yeah, that, that would
• 22:02
  have been awesome. Hey, well, we'll be watching
• 22:05
  with them. UC, thanks so much for doing
• 22:07
  this. We will be watching and rooting
• 22:08
  for Finland, maybe even against Sweden and Philip Forsberg.
• 22:12
  We might have split allegiances that day, but hey, maybe little
• 22:15
  brother, we'll get it done. Thanks UC.
• 22:17
  Yeah. Thank you.
• 22:18
  That is Predators goalie UC Sorrows, who will be in net for
• 22:21
  Team Finland when they play in the Olympics starting on
• 22:24
  February 11th in Milan, Italy. More of the Predators official
• 22:27
  podcast coming up next. You're on ESPN1O25 The game.
• 22:32
  Welcome back to the Predators official podcast here on ESPN
• 22:35
  102.5 the game. We are also on the Nashville
• 22:38
  Predators YouTube page if you'd like to watch us in video form
• 22:42
  and as always, your favorite podcast platforms.
• 22:45
  My name is Max Herz from Preds Radio along with Cara Hammer
• 22:48
  from Preds TV and Brooks Bratton from nashvillepredators.com and
• 22:52
  the world famous Brooks Bytes Instagram account that I have
• 22:55
  blocked. All right guys, you ditched me
• 22:59
  in my interview with UC Soros, which is fine.
• 23:01
  I'm not mad. What'd you think?
• 23:05
  It was great. I think I loved, well, a
• 23:06
  learning that he's going to be roommates again with former
• 23:10
  national predator Ellie Tobin. And so that's exciting for
• 23:13
  Soros. But I got to talk about the gear
• 23:15
  because I did this in the Buffalo game was one of one of
• 23:18
  my hits when Soros was talking about his mask, that it was
• 23:22
  going to be similar to the mask we saw at the Four Nations where
• 23:24
  he had the Helsinki skyline. But the fact that the Olympics
• 23:28
  are less than a month out and his equipment is just now
• 23:31
  arriving and he said some point this week.
• 23:34
  So hopefully it gets here with the snowstorm.
• 23:37
  But Chris Mason and I were having this conversation about
• 23:40
  how important it is for these goal tenders to to get the gear,
• 23:43
  have a chance to try it on just so you're comfortable with it.
• 23:48
  So it might we have to have a follow up with Soros to see, you
• 23:52
  know, how late could he wait and trying on the gear so that he's
• 23:56
  comfortable with it when he does go to Milan.
• 24:00
  He does Cara have one stick, at least one and probably more in
• 24:05
  storage in Finland colors that I've seen.
• 24:07
  All right, one stick. He's ready.
• 24:11
  Well, yeah, we definitely saw a little bit of it last year, too,
• 24:13
  when he went to the Four Nations face off of Finland as well.
• 24:16
  Just breaking stuff in. It's always cool to see it,
• 24:18
  right? Like people eat that stuff up
• 24:20
  when a goalie breaks out new pads or a new mask at practice.
• 24:24
  And that'll be cool to see. I mean, I've just loved being
• 24:27
  able to hear from these guys. You know, you go back to our
• 24:29
  interview with Kevin Morley and asking him to put in the words
• 24:32
  what this means. And he's like, I've got a lot of
• 24:33
  words. But, you know, it's it's hard to
• 24:35
  do in this situation. And, you know, just the ability
• 24:38
  for these guys to do it at the Olympics, the amount of pride
• 24:41
  that they have to represent their country.
• 24:43
  And for a lot of these guys, they've never had this
• 24:45
  opportunity before. They've been waiting their
• 24:47
  entire careers just to have the chance to play at the Olympic
• 24:51
  Games. And, you know, it's just always
• 24:53
  good to hear from juice to like, I, you know, he's a little more
• 24:55
  soft spoken than than some other guys.
• 24:58
  And you don't always get the most out of him when you're in
• 25:01
  the locker room with a bunch of people and a bunch of cameras.
• 25:03
  And I just love any time you get the chance to get him in a
• 25:06
  one-on-one situation and have a chat with him.
• 25:09
  It's always really great. We did have some fans ask on
• 25:13
  Twitter. I tweeted out that Soros was
• 25:15
  very excited to be rooming with Ellie Tolvenen, which I agree
• 25:18
  with you, Kara, I thought was the CNN light up.
• 25:21
  Like, that is so great. And I had people ask, like, do
• 25:25
  they pick their roommates? What is it like in the Olympic
• 25:27
  Village? So I went back to you, to Soros
• 25:30
  after the interview, and I asked him which I'd already been
• 25:33
  planning to do. So thanks to our fans for really
• 25:35
  putting us in high gear there. So last year in the spring at
• 25:39
  the World Championships, the Finnish coaches asked Soros if
• 25:43
  he wanted his own room because he's the number one goalie, and
• 25:48
  the number one goalie can have his own room if he wants it.
• 25:50
  And Soros said, no, I would rather room with Ellie Tolvenen
• 25:55
  than have my own room. And as this conversation was
• 25:59
  happening, Eustace Ananen was right next to us and big juice
• 26:02
  in her jacks and says, yeah, he said he wasn't going to the
• 26:05
  Olympics if he couldn't room with Tolvey.
• 26:07
  So he might be the only guy who gets to pick his roommate in the
• 26:11
  Olympic Village. Other than that, the coach's
• 26:13
  parrot. That's impressive.
• 26:16
  Good for him though, too. Like you talk about being the
• 26:18
  number one goalie and we've seen it a lot of goalies and and and
• 26:21
  Peck Arena was never like this. Juice isn't like this, but
• 26:24
  there's a lot of goalies around the league, especially on a game
• 26:26
  day, who they won't talk in the morning.
• 26:29
  They don't want to be bothered. They don't even want you to look
• 26:31
  at them. They're they're, they're in the
• 26:32
  zone, they're in their head. And I love that the fins are
• 26:36
  just easy going, laid back. And the fact that juice is like,
• 26:40
  yeah, I don't, I don't want to go by myself.
• 26:42
  I want to hang out with Toby. You got to love that, Yeah.
• 26:45
  Yeah, I think our goalies are normal people, which many of
• 26:48
  them aren't, but ours are. You're normal.
• 26:52
  Yeah. OK.
• 26:53
  Congrats on being normies. Really happy for you guys.
• 26:57
  All right, the big story of the week here in Smashville, we've
• 26:59
  got a major milestone coming up Thursday night.
• 27:02
  Roman Yossi will become the first Pred ever to play 1000
• 27:06
  games, all for the Nashville Predators.
• 27:09
  Brooks, you have been talking to former and current teammates of
• 27:12
  his all week to get their perspective on the milestone,
• 27:16
  and you've gotten some pretty good stuff and good stories.
• 27:19
  100%, yeah. It's been great to speak to a
• 27:21
  number of people who know Roman better than most.
• 27:24
  And by the time this episode comes out, you will be able to
• 27:27
  read at least one story, hopefully a couple, on Nashville
• 27:31
  predators.com, but have the chance to speak with Shay Weber,
• 27:34
  who of course, Roman lived with Shay when he first came into the
• 27:37
  league. They were one of the best
• 27:39
  pairings in their day with the Preds.
• 27:41
  And I love the quote from Shay. And again, all this will be in
• 27:45
  the story, but just talking about what impresses him most
• 27:49
  about Roman or what this is something maybe that the average
• 27:51
  person doesn't appreciate. Everybody knows Roman's
• 27:53
  offensive capabilities. But Shay said, quote, he defends
• 27:57
  hard. He's hard in front of the net
• 27:59
  and he gives those little cross checks to guys.
• 28:01
  And then Shay said, I don't know where he got that from.
• 28:04
  Which of course, if you recall, you've been around for a while
• 28:07
  watching the Preds. You know that Shay Webber
• 28:09
  notorious for getting away with a couple extra little cross
• 28:12
  checks in the corner in front of the net.
• 28:14
  The the battles with Johan Franzen in the playoff series
• 28:17
  against Detroit come to mind. Playoff series against Anaheim.
• 28:22
  That's where Shea gets away with those.
• 28:23
  And Roman learned a thing or two from his former captain.
• 28:27
  The other thing that I really enjoyed and and thought was a
• 28:29
  great segue into the story was both Weber and our friend Hal
• 28:34
  Gill, who's now a member of the Preds broadcast team.
• 28:37
  Gill was actually traded to Nashville during Roman's rookie
• 28:40
  season. And both Shay and Hal said, we
• 28:43
  remember him sitting in the locker room.
• 28:45
  He's just this baby faced kid drinking his chocolate milk
• 28:48
  after practice. And Hal was kind of like, you
• 28:50
  know, I don't even know this kid.
• 28:52
  Like, what are we going to get here?
• 28:53
  What is this kid? What is he like?
• 28:54
  But then he gets on the ice and both Shay and how were like, Oh
• 28:58
  yeah, there it is. That's we we get it now.
• 29:00
  So you know, you can be sitting there drinking your chocolate
• 29:03
  milk if you're an elite world class defenseman, doesn't
• 29:07
  matter. You can go out and tear it up.
• 29:09
  So it's been really fun to get some stories from those guys.
• 29:11
  Again, there will be plenty to read in the days and weeks ahead
• 29:15
  on preds.com for this milestone. But it's just been so great to
• 29:21
  get inside the minds of people who have played with Yost, who
• 29:25
  have coached him, who have managed him, and to see their
• 29:28
  perspectives on not only what he means on the ice to this team,
• 29:32
  but off the ice to this franchise in this community.
• 29:35
  Just the 84th player in NHL history to play 1000 games with
• 29:40
  the same team. It does not happen often.
• 29:43
  This is rarefied air for a guy like Roman Yossi and it's just
• 29:47
  been again so cool to get the perspectives of the people who
• 29:50
  love him and appreciate him most.
• 29:53
  And the NHL went inside with Roman Yossi.
• 29:56
  We got a little glimpse of his personal life.
• 29:59
  The My World was posted on on YouTube following Roman Yossi.
• 30:03
  Max, you sent us the video, but I think there was some
• 30:07
  highlights in there that really stood out to you.
• 30:09
  Yeah, we each of us has one favorite moment.
• 30:12
  I would encourage everyone to go watch this 10 minute video All
• 30:16
  access with Roman Yossi and the Yossi family.
• 30:18
  This was filmed last month. One player from every Olympic
• 30:22
  team with NHL errs got featured and Yossi is the feature for
• 30:26
  team Switzerland. It lines up perfectly with his
• 30:28
  one thousandth game and we get to see his adorable family.
• 30:32
  I also love when they were when he was in the locker room.
• 30:35
  What do you remind me? What player was standing next to
• 30:37
  him asking about him going to the Olympics and saying I think
• 30:40
  Switzerland's going to win because you're on the team that?
• 30:43
  Would be that would be Nick Hague.
• 30:45
  Nick Hague. All right, so we also know that
• 30:47
  Nick Hague may or may not be the player who voted that Luke
• 30:51
  Evangelista has the most punchable face.
• 30:53
  So small chirper Nick Hague. But Max, obviously my favorite
• 30:58
  part had to be Little Ivy about feeding the horses and I had to
• 31:02
  take a little snack treat herself.
• 31:05
  All right, guys, you want to give them carrots?
• 31:06
  Ivy? Here, Ivy, here's a big one.
• 31:08
  You want to give them a little one.
• 31:10
  Good job flat hand, good job I already.
• 31:12
  Tried to eat candy. My finger, No.
• 31:16
  Yeah. You give me the big one.
• 31:18
  Flat hand Ivy, OH. So freaking cute.
• 31:24
  Hey, great job. Open palm, open hand.
• 31:28
  She listened perfectly. 3 year old Ivy OC to her mom but then
• 31:33
  she had to take the biggest carrot out of the back just down
• 31:36
  at herself. So cute.
• 31:39
  I Ivy is the star of NHL in my world. 100% she is, but let's
• 31:44
  not forget about Luca, Roman and Ellie's son.
• 31:47
  And I really love the part. I mean as you mentioned, Max
• 31:50
  film last month around Christmas time.
• 31:52
  Big Christmas guy and I, I love this at home.
• 31:55
  Just hanging out with some Christmas ornaments and
• 31:58
  wrestling around with Luca, no. You're not.
• 32:02
  You got to eat your broccoli. This is normal life.
• 32:06
  What you guys were seeing earlier, like the cute playing
• 32:09
  with ornaments, that's this is more normal.
• 32:14
  This is what we do. Gotcha, little boy.
• 32:17
  You know, we see these guys on the ice in their uniforms and
• 32:21
  and we know them as players, but it's always just so fantastic to
• 32:26
  see them as real people and and husbands and fathers at home.
• 32:30
  And I love Ellie and the clip when Roman's wrestling with
• 32:33
  Luca, She's like, this is normal.
• 32:35
  This is not what you what you might see on a normal day-to-day
• 32:39
  basis. This is the real Roman at home
• 32:42
  with his kids. And I mean, yeah, you guys have
• 32:44
  mentioned that. Just the behind the scenes.
• 32:46
  Look, I think all of us, I think every hockey fan, you can't get
• 32:50
  enough of that sort of thing. And to see Roman, we know him
• 32:53
  and love him as a player. And for the three of us, we're
• 32:56
  lucky enough to to get to see him a little bit behind the
• 32:59
  scenes, but I don't think that any of the three of us have ever
• 33:03
  been to his his home. So to see him in that setting
• 33:06
  around Ellie and the kids is is really special.
• 33:09
  And just great to to get a glimpse into that side of life
• 33:12
  before they all had to Milan for the Olympics.
• 33:15
  Yeah. And how much did you love just
• 33:18
  skating off the ice? The, the, the way the video
• 33:21
  closed out of Roman, Just saying, I love my life.
• 33:24
  I, I feel very lucky. And obviously, you know, he's
• 33:28
  had a, a, an amazing career and we're lucky to have him here in
• 33:31
  Nashville. And I've had the opportunity to
• 33:33
  watch him play what will be 1000 games.
• 33:37
  It was so good everybody who has not seen that video well first
• 33:40
  of all those of you watching on YouTube just saw like basically
• 33:43
  half of it, but go watch the whole thing search NHL my world
• 33:47
  Roman Yossi on YouTube watch the whole series.
• 33:50
  I just watched the one with Marty Neches and his dog, which
• 33:53
  is almost as cute. IVOC is cuter than Coco Neches.
• 33:57
  Sorry Coco, but like watch them all.
• 34:01
  This is all so good. The NHL has really turned a
• 34:03
  corner with these type of videos.
• 34:05
  These these are the same video production people who did the no
• 34:08
  goals commercial and the tip, tip, tip commercial and all of
• 34:11
  that type of stuff. So they've done an awesome job.
• 34:15
  I, I think Roman Yosi is the best episode.
• 34:17
  Obviously we're biased, but game number 1000, I think is going to
• 34:21
  steal the deal for that on Thursday night and we will come
• 34:23
  back and give out our biggie awesome person of the week.
• 34:28
  And this may be our most awesome person yet.
• 34:31
  That is coming up next here on the Predators Official Podcast
• 34:34
  on ESPN 102.5, The game. Welcome back to the Predators
• 34:38
  Official Podcast here on ESPN1O25, The game.
• 34:42
  Max Harris from Preds Radio here, Cara Hammer from Preds TV,
• 34:45
  Brooks Bratton from nashvillepredators.com, your
• 34:48
  hosts here on Preds YouTube. And at the end of the show every
• 34:52
  week we give out the biggie Awesome person of the week in
• 34:55
  memory of our friend Erin Donnick, who we lost this past
• 34:58
  summer. And this is a surprise edition
• 35:00
  of the Biggie. One of us does not know who the
• 35:04
  Biggie is. Normally we all confer, but Cara
• 35:08
  Hammer does not know that the Biggie is going to her 3 1/2
• 35:14
  year old daughter Remy for having the best dance moves on
• 35:18
  Fred's TV. At the game in Denver last week,
• 35:22
  Remy stole the show. Not Remy Yossi the horse.
• 35:28
  Remy Hammer, the incredible little girl, is the biggie.
• 35:32
  Awesome person of the week. Kara, Congratulations to you and
• 35:35
  your family. Feel honored.
• 35:37
  Remy and I had the best time. Obviously she she's been to, to
• 35:40
  games here at Bridgestone Arena, but that was our first Rd. game.
• 35:44
  So I would like to also give a huge shout out to to the the
• 35:48
  staff at Ballerina who gave her a first game certificate.
• 35:51
  I mean, they were showering her with little buttons and a light
• 35:55
  up necklace and Remy just had, oh, there she is.
• 35:58
  There's a Christmas card, Remy and I just had the best time and
• 36:04
  obviously we capped it off with the with the big Preds win.
• 36:08
  Kara does she usually and it was a great moment that the camera
• 36:11
  caught her. I want to know like how often
• 36:13
  during a game is she just living life dancing in the aisles?
• 36:17
  I think we'll give a little bit of credit there to the the the
• 36:20
  Dippin dots that we consume during the second period.
• 36:23
  I told Max, you know, we arrived the whole first period was a lot
• 36:26
  of like, when are we getting ice cream?
• 36:28
  When are we getting ice cream? And I was like, well, Ryan
• 36:30
  O'Reilly scoring goals. So we're going to wait till the
• 36:32
  intermission, then we'll get ice cream.
• 36:33
  So first intermission we we got the ice cream, we ate the Dippin
• 36:37
  dots and then we peeked. I mean, the third period we hit
• 36:41
  that sugar high. We peeked.
• 36:42
  She was in the aisle and I was so proud of her because we were
• 36:45
  in an entire ABSEC and Remy was rocking her gold jersey.
• 36:50
  So she she stole the show. I think everybody in the in our
• 36:53
  section was like almost cheering for her.
• 36:57
  Then that ACDC came on and there she goes.
• 37:00
  She's her mama's girl. Oh, that's awesome.
• 37:03
  A shout out to Luke Rosenmeyer, AKA Luke Rosenberg, director
• 37:07
  from Pred TV, for having the cameras on at the perfect moment
• 37:12
  to see Remy having her peek. All right, Brooksy, we got a
• 37:15
  couple of fan questions about the Preds roster to go over this
• 37:18
  week. Yeah.
• 37:19
  I just want to mention a couple things quickly.
• 37:21
  So some conversations, Max, that actually you and I have kind of
• 37:24
  gone back and forth with some folks on Twitter X as well.
• 37:28
  But what just wanted to mention a couple of things to kind of
• 37:30
  clarify a couple of items that we've seen over the last few
• 37:33
  days. So you may recall that Andres
• 37:36
  Anglin was recalled in Denver to essentially serve as the 7th
• 37:40
  defenseman against the Avalanche.
• 37:42
  And then he was sent right back. There were a couple of questions
• 37:45
  saying, hey, Anglin is a guy who requires waivers.
• 37:48
  Why didn't the Preds have to put him back on waivers to go back
• 37:51
  to Milwaukee? Just a a sense of time
• 37:54
  essentially, right? He was recalled on Friday in
• 37:57
  Denver. He was sent right back to
• 37:59
  Milwaukee on Saturday. He was here for such a short
• 38:02
  period of time, he didn't even play a game, doesn't require
• 38:05
  waivers at that point. He had cleared at the beginning
• 38:08
  of the season when he didn't make the team out of camp.
• 38:10
  He was assigned to Milwaukee, cleared waivers at that point,
• 38:13
  he was all good. And then comes back up, goes
• 38:15
  back down again, only here for 24 hours.
• 38:18
  You got to be up for a certain amount of days, play a certain
• 38:20
  amount of games before you need to clear waivers again.
• 38:22
  So simple one there. And then we saw Ozzy Weisblatt
• 38:26
  return to the line up on Tuesday against Buffalo.
• 38:29
  As a result of Wise Black coming off of injured reserve, the
• 38:32
  Predators elected to reassign Reed Schaefer, the rookie who
• 38:35
  has been on the show. Friend of the show now made a
• 38:38
  great impact here his first two months on the job, but he goes
• 38:41
  back down to Milwaukee. And Max, you and I were
• 38:45
  discussing this yesterday on Tuesday on Twitter, just trying
• 38:49
  to explain kind of the logic and the reasoning.
• 38:51
  And you brought up a really good point about the Olympics.
• 38:54
  If you wouldn't mind just touching on that briefly.
• 38:57
  Yeah, so the the friends are about to have three weeks
• 38:59
  without a game in February when the Olympics are going on.
• 39:03
  And you can't wait until the NHL schedule ends before the
• 39:09
  Olympics and then just send a group of players down to the
• 39:12
  NHL. If you're in the NHL up until
• 39:14
  that break, you get your break. This this is part of the
• 39:17
  bargaining agreement. It's part of the waiver rules.
• 39:20
  So Schaefer had to go back down basically sometime this week in
• 39:25
  order to play in the AHL all the way through that time, and the
• 39:29
  Preds consider that to be more pivotal in his development.
• 39:32
  As long as he's not needed, If there's a roster spot needed in
• 39:35
  Nashville, another injury, Schaefer will come right back
• 39:37
  here. Barry Trotz said that on the
• 39:39
  radio this week. But those three weeks of AHL
• 39:41
  games for Schaefer, they're not necessarily choosing that that
• 39:45
  is better for him than NHL games.
• 39:48
  It's just that Weisblatt is healthy.
• 39:49
  Weisblatt, as he has been the entire time for a variety of
• 39:52
  reasons, is ahead of Schaefer on the depth chart at the same same
• 39:55
  position on the same line, so that's an easy decision for the
• 39:58
  Preds. Schaefer did not do anything in
• 40:01
  his play that warranted removal from the NHL lineup, and he will
• 40:05
  absolutely be back, but that's why that type of decision gets
• 40:08
  made. 100% And you'd rather have, you mentioned this to a
• 40:11
  guy like Tyson Jost who served as a healthy scratch on Tuesday
• 40:14
  against Buffalo, You'd much rather have somebody like Tyson
• 40:17
  Jost serving as your 13th forward then Reed Schaefer.
• 40:20
  Tyson Jost, he's a journeyman, he understands his role.
• 40:24
  He's way more comfortable and easily accessible to be a
• 40:27
  healthy scratch as opposed to Reed Schaefer, who you obviously
• 40:30
  want playing down there in Milwaukee.
• 40:32
  So a myriad of reasons. I know not everybody's going to
• 40:34
  agree with the decision. We're simply trying to present
• 40:36
  the facts and that's kind of the thing thinking as to why a guy
• 40:40
  like Schaefer goes down. But as Max said, don't worry, he
• 40:43
  will be back at some point. Well, I wouldn't even say it's
• 40:46
  fax, Brooks. I would just say it's our job as
• 40:49
  reporters to understand what the team is thinking and what their
• 40:53
  choices are and be able to verbalize why they made the
• 40:56
  choices they did. And another thing like this is
• 40:59
  almost an intangible part of it, and this is cool.
• 41:02
  The Milwaukee Admirals are playing their first ever outdoor
• 41:05
  game on Friday. Like the Preds this weekend,
• 41:08
  this also may be altered by weather.
• 41:11
  They're playing in Hastings, MN at the Hockey Day in Minnesota
• 41:15
  rink against the Iowa Wild. And the wind chill is supposed
• 41:18
  to be -35 Fahrenheit. So we will see if that happens.
• 41:22
  But I think Reed Schaefer has some long Johns waiting for him
• 41:25
  in Milwaukee. He's from Edmonton, he can
• 41:27
  handle it. Yeah, he's from Canada.
• 41:30
  It's never too cold for ice cream.
• 41:31
  Never too cold for ice cream. You know who's not getting sent
• 41:33
  down, though? Is Remy.
• 41:35
  No. She is here to stay and she's
• 41:40
  our biggie. Awesome person of the week.
• 41:43
  Thanks to our whole team from the PLP, Nate Baker, Justina
• 41:47
  Quagliata, and the whole crew for making this fun for us here
• 41:49
  on YouTube. If you're not watching on
• 41:51
  YouTube, you missed some very cute Romanosi kids content this
• 41:54
  week, that's for sure. We'll be back next week when the
• 41:57
  Preds head northeast to play the Bruins, Devils and Islanders in
• 42:01
  the final week of January. Max Hers, Brooks Bratton and
• 42:04
  Cara Hammers signing off. This is The POP on ESPN 102.5
• 42:08
  the Game. Stay warm.