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KRAKEN WEEKLY: Placing these Olympics in history, and it's time to get back (2/24) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:00
Speaker 1: Oh see, can you see neither do.
0:11
Speaker 2: Early?
0:15
Speaker 1: What's over? And the twilight last me it's.
0:26
Speaker 3: A quote slapshot. I'm listening to the song.
0:29
Speaker 1: I'm listening to the song.
0:29
Speaker 3: I'm listening to the song.
0:31
Speaker 1: Let's start the show.
0:33
Speaker 3: Folks say that is proof. Ever it fits you can
0:36
Speaker 3: sing in me. I just know my limitations. All right,
0:41
Speaker 3: the waiting period is over. We're back. We're finally doing
0:44
Speaker 3: this once again. Breaks in the rear view mirror. Welcome
0:48
Speaker 3: back to Cracking Weekly. From the brief hiatus we had
0:51
Speaker 3: from earlier this month of the Olympics, are finally in
0:55
Speaker 3: the books the Cracking. We are now on the eve
0:58
Speaker 3: of seeing this stretch drive underway once again. And my goodness,
1:02
Speaker 3: we can't wait for this. They are in a playoff spot.
1:06
Speaker 3: We'll see where this goes. Mike Benton, Ever it fits you,
1:09
Speaker 3: Alciniski with you, Glad you're along here for the ride
1:12
Speaker 3: with us again. Catch this podcast with the extended conversations
1:16
Speaker 3: on demand, by the way, via the Crack and Audio
1:19
Speaker 3: network via the iHeartRadio app, available just minutes after this
1:24
Speaker 3: show is officially in the books on the radio side again.
1:28
Speaker 3: Sign up for free in case you have not done
1:30
Speaker 3: so to get that at sports Radio kjar dot com.
1:35
Speaker 3: Lot to get to from the Olympics, the men's side,
1:38
Speaker 3: the women's side, the Kraken in the Olympics, where the
1:42
Speaker 3: cra can go and now this break finally in the
1:44
Speaker 3: rearview mirror and the March sixth trade deadline not too
1:48
Speaker 3: far away. How is this shaping up in the Western Conference?
1:51
Speaker 3: Where do the Craken fit as well? In this picture
1:54
Speaker 3: we'll get to more of this. Plus also your mail
1:57
Speaker 3: bag questions are three Stars and also so Sean Shapiro
2:01
Speaker 3: of DLS Sports to be joining us here from the
2:04
Speaker 3: Dallas area and the Stars right now with plenty of
2:08
Speaker 3: moving parts. How does this affect the Stars lineup heading
2:12
Speaker 3: into tomorrow night when the crack and are right back
2:15
Speaker 3: in action against Dallas. Sean Shapiro will be joining us
2:18
Speaker 3: as well. Back to back here for the Kraken coming
2:20
Speaker 3: up at Dallas tomorrow five pm Pacific time face off
2:24
Speaker 3: and then in Saint Louis very next night. Kraken then
2:28
Speaker 3: right back home to open up the home side of
2:31
Speaker 3: their next homestand again that will be coming up this
2:35
Speaker 3: Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks. That's going to be certainly
2:38
Speaker 3: a fun one here for the Kraken. In their first
2:40
Speaker 3: home game since January twenty ninth, They'll take on the
2:45
Speaker 3: Canucks once again back home here for the first time
2:47
Speaker 3: out of the break this Saturday, February twenty eighth. Opening up.
2:51
Speaker 3: Then after that a lengthy homestand six games in total Canucks, Hurricanes, Blues, Ottawa,
2:59
Speaker 3: Nashville and the Colorado Avalanche. I want to get to
3:03
Speaker 3: some opening thoughts here, and I'll let Everett now take
3:05
Speaker 3: it away with theirs. And I walked away at eight
3:08
Speaker 3: thirty in the morning on Sunday, energized by the potential
3:13
Speaker 3: as far as what hockey has here across the board.
3:16
Speaker 3: And when Team USA won Gold Bank in nineteen eighty,
3:19
Speaker 3: that was the ultimate miracle. It was a collection of
3:23
Speaker 3: college kids who'd beat a superhuman Soviet team that really,
3:26
Speaker 3: based on skill, would have or should have had numerous
3:30
Speaker 3: players in the NHL. This gold medal felt different. It
3:34
Speaker 3: was best on best. It was give me all you
3:36
Speaker 3: got for sixteen minutes plus overtime, and it was the
3:40
Speaker 3: fastest game that I had ever seen as far as pace.
3:43
Speaker 3: Team usay again prevailing when they bent but did not break.
3:48
Speaker 3: And we're further along now with the growth of hockey
3:51
Speaker 3: now than say versus back in nineteen eighty. That's where
3:54
Speaker 3: the imagination of hockey's place in this country. Then you
3:57
Speaker 3: go to nineteen ninety six the USB, It's Canada and
4:00
Speaker 3: the World Cup of Hockey. And I heard this elsewhere,
4:03
Speaker 3: but you can point to the hordes of kids inspired
4:07
Speaker 3: to play hockey in this country after that victory, and
4:11
Speaker 3: we're right on schedule now with them making an impact
4:14
Speaker 3: in the NHL, some who have already had. By the way,
4:17
Speaker 3: now just imagine what the gold medals for Team Usay
4:21
Speaker 3: on both the women's side and the men's side are
4:25
Speaker 3: going to do. Hockey from an overall scale in this
4:28
Speaker 3: region has never ever been bigger. The NHL is here,
4:32
Speaker 3: the PWHL is here, Six teams WHL across the board
4:38
Speaker 3: in Washington and Oregon are here. Grassroots programs at Kraken
4:42
Speaker 3: Community ice Plex, and neighboring programs here from Everett down
4:46
Speaker 3: to Kent are here. So I'm really excited to think
4:49
Speaker 3: about in twenty years what the reports say about Washington
4:53
Speaker 3: homegrown players and what they could do in men's or
4:56
Speaker 3: women's hockey, to which now the NHL and PWHL get
5:02
Speaker 3: put under a bigger spotlight starting now, and the Krack
5:07
Speaker 3: can hold a playoff berth for now, making these last
5:11
Speaker 3: twenty six games something really incredible to think about. Everett. Now,
5:16
Speaker 3: what say you for your thoughts?
5:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean you bang on. I mean it
5:23
Speaker 2: took the words right out of my mouth.
5:25
Speaker 1: I thought that.
5:26
Speaker 2: For obviously, team USA women and men winning the gold medal.
5:31
Speaker 1: Is huge for this country.
5:32
Speaker 2: Team USA women winning it again, team USA men winning
5:37
Speaker 2: it for the first time in forty six years.
5:40
Speaker 1: I mean, that's amazing, you know. And to the Canadians
5:44
Speaker 1: who who love to say, well, it's good for the game, No,
5:47
Speaker 1: it's good for the game. It is. It's great for
5:49
Speaker 1: the game. It's great for the game.
5:50
Speaker 2: It's great for my ego. It's great for the fact
5:53
Speaker 2: that I am not a gracious winner. I will be
5:57
Speaker 2: talking all types of smack to all my.
6:00
Speaker 3: Aian Franks on schedule back on Sunday.
6:03
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, so all my Canadian friends and broadcast
6:07
Speaker 2: partners will be giving a lot of smack talking from me.
6:12
Speaker 1: But I think I'm with you, Mike.
6:13
Speaker 2: The most important thing that this game did, and while
6:16
Speaker 2: it was happening, I woke up late. I woke up
6:19
Speaker 2: for the overtime and I actually ended up going back
6:22
Speaker 2: and rewatching the game. And as I'm watching the game,
6:26
Speaker 2: I just kept thinking to myself, this is our miracle,
6:30
Speaker 2: this is my generation's miracle on ice.
6:33
Speaker 1: And you know, I saw a.
6:36
Speaker 2: Tweet the other morning that said, uh, for the first
6:39
Speaker 2: time ever, you ate under eight. Participation in USA Hockey
6:46
Speaker 2: registered programs is over one hundred thousand, Like that is
6:50
Speaker 2: what's going to help drive this game. We talked so
6:54
Speaker 2: much in this country about football and basketball and baseball
6:57
Speaker 2: and all these other sports, and hockey is a very
7:00
Speaker 2: cost prohibitive sport.
7:02
Speaker 1: It isn't the most accessible sport.
7:04
Speaker 2: For a lot of families, for a lot of people.
7:06
Speaker 2: But I do think moments like this are what helped
7:09
Speaker 2: grow the game. And I think of my three year
7:12
Speaker 2: old at home and his second learn to skate class
7:16
Speaker 2: coming up tonight. You know, those are the type of
7:20
Speaker 2: moments that we're gonna look back on in twenty years.
7:23
Speaker 2: I remember where I was when Jacki Hugh scored that goal.
7:26
Speaker 2: I remember where I was when Connor Hallibut stopped Devon
7:30
Speaker 2: Daves and Nathan McKinnon missed that open net and Connor
7:35
Speaker 2: McDavid didn't do that, and Brady Kuchuck and Matthew Kachuck
7:39
Speaker 2: did do that, Like you're gonna be able to remember
7:42
Speaker 2: where you were.
7:43
Speaker 1: So that is the biggest takeaway for me.
7:46
Speaker 2: You know, the gold medals for both aside, this is
7:49
Speaker 2: great for the game. You know, the women's team winning
7:53
Speaker 2: I think was was equally as massive, maybe even a
7:56
Speaker 2: little bit bigger than the men's team winning, simply because
8:00
Speaker 2: as the largest growing demographic of hockey players and hockey
8:08
Speaker 2: enjoyers are women and young girls. They are they are
8:11
Speaker 2: the largest demographic of new hockey players, of new hockey fans.
8:15
Speaker 2: So you're growing the women's game. The Seattle Torrent has
8:19
Speaker 2: what five medalists on their roster. I mean that that
8:22
Speaker 2: that's amazing for growing the game. So this is going
8:26
Speaker 2: to ten years down the road, we're gonna be sitting here,
8:29
Speaker 2: you know, having another episode of Cracking Weekly talking about
8:32
Speaker 2: man Remember the twenty twenty six Olympics when the US
8:36
Speaker 2: beat Canada, triumphantly beat Canada.
8:39
Speaker 1: We're gonna be sitting back.
8:40
Speaker 2: Here in ten twelve years al when the US has
8:43
Speaker 2: just picked up their fifth consecutive goal. I guess their
8:46
Speaker 2: third consecutive gold medal over team Canada. We're gonna be
8:51
Speaker 2: sitting here talking about what this first one did for
8:54
Speaker 2: growing hockey in the States.
8:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, congratulations, you want a gold medal at.
8:58
Speaker 1: Three we want we want out we you won a
9:00
Speaker 1: gold medal three hockey, You won a gold medal, and
9:04
Speaker 1: then in twenty fourteen in Canada one they were the
9:07
Speaker 1: four on four jet.
9:08
Speaker 4: Now in nineteen eighty when you beat the Soviets, I
9:10
Speaker 4: think that was five on five hockey, So I mean
9:12
Speaker 4: that's that's.
9:14
Speaker 1: In the semis too. That would be a.
9:15
Speaker 4: Bit a legitimate one. That's a legitimate one.
9:17
Speaker 3: But I had to play referee between you two right
9:20
Speaker 3: now and splits up virtually.
9:22
Speaker 4: We're gonna We're gonna give you this one because yes,
9:25
Speaker 4: it is good for the game of hockey. And I
9:28
Speaker 4: look forward to, just like you, looking back and seeing
9:31
Speaker 4: the stats between twenty twenty six and twenty thirty and
9:34
Speaker 4: beyond and how this win has affected the.
9:37
Speaker 1: Growth of the game in the United States.
9:39
Speaker 4: So that is an excellent reason for the United States
9:41
Speaker 4: to win gold.
9:42
Speaker 1: Congratulations.
9:44
Speaker 4: The Canadian team did outplay you, but did not outscore you,
9:48
Speaker 4: So there you go.
9:49
Speaker 1: I am happy I am happy for it matters all
9:52
Speaker 1: that matters out I don't. That's all. That's all I'm
9:54
Speaker 1: gonna say back to you, Mikey.
9:56
Speaker 2: Connor hell but that should have been a four or
9:59
Speaker 2: five one Canada win Like that was the last two periods.
10:03
Speaker 2: If not for Connor Hellibuck and a forty one save performance,
10:08
Speaker 2: forty two save.
10:10
Speaker 4: Performance and very kill five on three, the conveniences couldn't
10:14
Speaker 4: get it done.
10:14
Speaker 1: So done, lots lots of tips of.
10:17
Speaker 3: That five on three. That that five on three to
10:21
Speaker 3: me was the game. I went, oh boy, hold on
10:24
Speaker 3: to your butts. They survived. The penalty kill was letter
10:29
Speaker 3: perfect eighteen of eighteen. My goodness in baseball terms, that
10:36
Speaker 3: is like no runs out of your bullpen for the
10:38
Speaker 3: entire tournament.
10:39
Speaker 1: Three won.
10:44
Speaker 3: Let ever it go, let ever it go, and listen
10:46
Speaker 3: to the song. Connor Hellibuck might have had I think
10:55
Speaker 3: the greatest save of all time in the Olympics on
10:58
Speaker 3: Devon tapes. But I here's one question I'll throw out
11:02
Speaker 3: to all of you guys here, whether it's him or
11:05
Speaker 3: somebody else, was Connor Hallibuck the guy who changed the
11:09
Speaker 3: narrative the most about him and his game From Team
11:13
Speaker 3: USA with that gold medal.
11:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say I would probably say Connor Hallibook
11:20
Speaker 2: for a couple of reasons. Number one, the narrative around
11:23
Speaker 2: him if he can't win the big one. Right, the
11:24
Speaker 2: Winnipeg Jets have been consistently in the playoffs, they have
11:28
Speaker 2: been consistently amongst the top three in the NHL. They're
11:33
Speaker 2: always seemingly before this year anyway, they're always seemingly in
11:37
Speaker 2: a President's trophy conversation and number one overall seed conversation.
11:44
Speaker 2: But then they can't seem to get past that second round.
11:47
Speaker 2: So I think a little bit unfairly a lot of
11:50
Speaker 2: criticism was heaped upon Connor Hallibook for all of those failures,
11:54
Speaker 2: but I think now to backstop your team to the
11:58
Speaker 2: gold medal again.
12:00
Speaker 1: I mean, let's face it, that was probably one.
12:02
Speaker 2: Of the best Canadian teams that has ever been put together,
12:07
Speaker 2: and really both sides, if you go and look at
12:09
Speaker 2: the players who were left at home, you could have
12:12
Speaker 2: another pretty darn good Olympic roster for Canada and the
12:16
Speaker 2: US of guys that didn't make the team. So I
12:20
Speaker 2: think for for You're right, Mikey, I think Connor Hallibuck
12:23
Speaker 2: really turned his narrative around a little bit. I think
12:27
Speaker 2: Jack Hughes, uh, that was kind of a coming out
12:31
Speaker 2: party for him, Quinn, the whole Hughes klan, Quinn and Jack,
12:35
Speaker 2: we all knew what that what what they were capable
12:38
Speaker 2: of doing. But now that you see it on a
12:40
Speaker 2: on a global scale.
12:42
Speaker 3: What about Austin Matthews also defensively Austin Matthews.
12:45
Speaker 1: As another one. I mean, He's gonna now go back.
12:47
Speaker 2: To Toronto and a lot of guys are gonna be like,
12:49
Speaker 2: all right, well, maybe maybe we should maybe.
12:51
Speaker 1: Ease up on this guy.
12:53
Speaker 2: The guys that I thought maybe took a bit of
12:57
Speaker 2: a hit, or the Kachucks, I mean, I wasn't too
13:00
Speaker 2: impressed with their tournament. Obviously, they're still great players, and
13:06
Speaker 2: I think they embody fairly or unfairly, rightly or wrongly,
13:10
Speaker 2: a lot of what this American team is about. They
13:13
Speaker 2: embody that spirit of America, you know, that taking no prisoners,
13:20
Speaker 2: asking questions later and all that.
13:22
Speaker 1: Like you like that that the way that they played.
13:25
Speaker 2: But I was expecting a little bit more out of
13:28
Speaker 2: the Kachucks in that in that tournament. But hey, for me,
13:34
Speaker 2: I think it was Connor Hallibuk, But there were a
13:36
Speaker 2: few other guys that I thought really did a good
13:39
Speaker 2: job of of of you know, pumping their own tires
13:42
Speaker 2: and turning their narratives around as well.
13:45
Speaker 3: Whether you want to add on to that or not,
13:47
Speaker 3: I'll add on here with this. How concerned were you
13:50
Speaker 3: that Conor McDavid did not score the last two games?
13:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I'm not that concerned. I think that
13:58
Speaker 4: in Edmonton there's been a lot of discussion around, you know,
14:01
Speaker 4: whether he's scoring or not scoring, but he's involved offensively
14:06
Speaker 4: in many of the plays that result in goals, whether
14:08
Speaker 4: that's directly assists, primary or secondary, or just the flow
14:12
Speaker 4: into the offensive zone. So not scoring, I wasn't too concerned.
14:17
Speaker 4: I just did my own research Google that he had
14:23
Speaker 4: the most points in the tournament, so he certainly performed overall.
14:26
Speaker 4: In fact, Everett, not until you get to seventh place,
14:31
Speaker 4: Quinn Hughes do you see a US player with points
14:35
Speaker 4: on that top seven list.
14:36
Speaker 1: So the.
14:39
Speaker 4: Goal scoring was definitely deep across the US team and
14:43
Speaker 4: primarily focused on a couple of players like Honor McDavid
14:46
Speaker 4: and mclin celebrate bring me one and two on the list.
14:49
Speaker 2: And I also you know, going back to that stat
14:51
Speaker 2: if you go down to that seventh place, that's also
14:53
Speaker 2: the first player that.
14:54
Speaker 1: You'll find have a gold medal. The rest are Silvi.
14:57
Speaker 1: Yeah was your second place. So but no, you know
15:02
Speaker 1: stats and the numbers. Now I will, I will say it's.
15:05
Speaker 3: Gonna be a bumpy right here for this whole hour.
15:07
Speaker 3: Al buckle up, you know.
15:11
Speaker 2: It's it's interesting, you know, talking about Connor McDavid not
15:15
Speaker 2: scoring and if you're worried, I'm not worried about McDavid
15:19
Speaker 2: not scoring. But I think what I am a little
15:20
Speaker 2: bit worried about is for Connor McDavid. You now have
15:24
Speaker 2: lost back to back Cup finals to Matthew kud Chuck.
15:28
Speaker 2: You've just lost the gold medal to Matthew ku Chuck.
15:32
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking of guys like that. I'm thinking of
15:35
Speaker 2: Nathan McKinnon of Devon, Taves, of Cale mccarr, Jordan before stuff.
15:40
Speaker 3: He's wound up into the hands of Nathan McKinnon and
15:43
Speaker 3: Cale mccarr and Connor McDavid.
15:45
Speaker 1: But I exactly.
15:46
Speaker 2: But but what I'm saying though, is like you now
15:49
Speaker 2: are are thrusting these guys back into a playoff race
15:53
Speaker 2: where with the exception of Colorado. Everyone on those teams
15:58
Speaker 2: are either out of the playoff or barely in the playoffs.
16:02
Speaker 1: They're fighting for a spot.
16:03
Speaker 2: This is a wild swing of emotions that you're now
16:06
Speaker 2: expecting Conor McDavid to put the biggest defeat probably of
16:12
Speaker 2: his life behind him because hey.
16:14
Speaker 1: We got to go to Vancouver or whatever it is.
16:17
Speaker 2: Right, you've got Team USA coming off of a four
16:20
Speaker 2: day bender. Which listen, guys, you want to get back
16:23
Speaker 2: to your cities. What are we doing here? It's over,
16:26
Speaker 2: go back play for the teams that are paying you
16:29
Speaker 2: to play.
16:29
Speaker 1: Anyway. I'm not gonna get into a.
16:31
Speaker 2: Political conversation, but you one you had your apparol sprints
16:35
Speaker 2: is over in Italy.
16:36
Speaker 1: Come on back home and go back to practice.
16:39
Speaker 2: But this is where I think the Kraken are gonna
16:42
Speaker 2: are gonna have a lot of maybe have an advantage
16:46
Speaker 2: over other teams because there aren't the wild emotional swings
16:50
Speaker 2: to the Finns won Bronze Tovey and Kappo Kaka. We're back,
16:54
Speaker 2: They've got their medals. It's right back to work. You now,
16:57
Speaker 2: were gonna have to worry about a lot of these
16:59
Speaker 2: Canadian guys and a lot of the American guys having
17:01
Speaker 2: to refocus after the biggest game of their life for
17:06
Speaker 2: this twenty six game, sprint to the playoffs and.
17:11
Speaker 3: Guess what, the Kraken get their first whip at the
17:14
Speaker 3: Dallas Stars coming up tomorrow night, which the Stars have
17:18
Speaker 3: a lot and I mean a lot of moving parts
17:22
Speaker 3: on that lineup. I will get to the Olympians here
17:25
Speaker 3: in just a bit here for the crack inside. They
17:27
Speaker 3: certainly deserve their due. Philip Grubauer already back with the
17:30
Speaker 3: team before they took off, Ellie Tolben and Coppocaco just
17:33
Speaker 3: rejoining the team as well in Dallas earlier today. But
17:37
Speaker 3: I want to touch on a guy who wasn't there
17:39
Speaker 3: for Team USA, but who knows if he could be
17:42
Speaker 3: back there in four years in the Olympics, in two
17:46
Speaker 3: years from now in the World Cup, that being Matty Beniers.
17:50
Speaker 3: And he was gloating, and I mean gloating about the
17:53
Speaker 3: Team USA win, playfully chirping his own teammates from Canada,
17:58
Speaker 3: he said all across the room. But here's Matty Baneer's
18:02
Speaker 3: after practice about the prospects of playing for Team USA
18:04
Speaker 3: again down the road. I know your short term goals here,
18:07
Speaker 3: But how do you feel about playing in this thing
18:09
Speaker 3: four years down the road?
18:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's for sure the goal. You know, that's every
18:16
Speaker 5: US player I'm sure wants to be in it. So
18:18
Speaker 5: it's you know, it's gonna take a lot of work,
18:20
Speaker 5: but yeah, that's that's the goal, is to be on
18:22
Speaker 5: that team.
18:23
Speaker 3: Matty Beaneer is a chorus, has one medals played in
18:25
Speaker 3: the Olympics as well for Team USA. But because of
18:29
Speaker 3: the dip in his game last couple of years, it's
18:31
Speaker 3: understandable why he was left off the Four Nations roster
18:35
Speaker 3: and then ultimately the Olympics. It was just way too
18:38
Speaker 3: deep as far as other developed than Paula centers for
18:41
Speaker 3: Team USA. But now we look at the big picture
18:43
Speaker 3: for two years down the road for the World Cup
18:46
Speaker 3: of Hockey and four years down the road for the
18:48
Speaker 3: next Winter Olympics, and who knows where Matty Beaneer's this
18:52
Speaker 3: game is going to be at that point, because perhaps
18:54
Speaker 3: we have seen a breakthrough for his game offensively another
18:58
Speaker 3: level perhaps on lock The numbers say so, the elite
19:02
Speaker 3: level playmaking says so, and then there's the attention for
19:06
Speaker 3: his game defensively, plus the extra gear and the extra
19:09
Speaker 3: motor that we see inside of him, and they use
19:13
Speaker 3: that term a lot in this business. But competitiveness, How
19:17
Speaker 3: do we like the chances of Maddy Biniers in twenty
19:20
Speaker 3: twenty eight for Team USA in the World Cup and
19:23
Speaker 3: for the Olympics for Team USA in twenty thirty?
19:27
Speaker 4: I think if his game keeps mature in the way
19:29
Speaker 4: it has this year, absolutely no reason why he can't
19:32
Speaker 4: get there. I think that for his game to mature, Yeah,
19:35
Speaker 4: a lot of it rests on his shoulders directly, But listen,
19:38
Speaker 4: this is a team sport and who you're playing with matters,
19:41
Speaker 4: and right now, playing with Jared mccannon and Jordan Eberley
19:44
Speaker 4: has positively impacted his game in twenty twenty eight, Is
19:49
Speaker 4: he still playing with those two guys? If not, who's
19:52
Speaker 4: he playing with and how do they impact his game?
19:55
Speaker 4: Obviously twenty thirty same question, So I think that becomes
19:58
Speaker 4: a part of it as well. Who is he playing
20:00
Speaker 4: with and what impact do they have on his game?
20:04
Speaker 1: That's a big question marks for me.
20:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Maddie there's no there's no reason why
20:09
Speaker 2: he can't minimally for the World Cup of Hockey or
20:11
Speaker 2: for Nations whatever, you want to call it be there,
20:14
Speaker 2: But I also think for the Olympics too. You know,
20:17
Speaker 2: he's got to continue maturing his game. We've seen the
20:19
Speaker 2: defensive style of his game pick up this year. I
20:22
Speaker 2: want to get back to that offense, right. I want
20:24
Speaker 2: to see if Matty Beanieers can be a seventy point guy.
20:26
Speaker 2: Can he be a seventy point player in this league?
20:30
Speaker 2: That is I think his next step, so for him
20:33
Speaker 2: continuing to get better. But also one thing that I
20:37
Speaker 2: found kind of interesting from both the US and Canada side,
20:42
Speaker 2: Both these countries in the last two years are now
20:45
Speaker 2: starting to put more importance on representing your country at
20:51
Speaker 2: the World Championships some of these other events. Everyone wants
20:54
Speaker 2: to play in the Olympics, everyone wants to go to
20:57
Speaker 2: the World Cup of Hockey, but you're not seeing being
21:00
Speaker 2: the same star power that you'd like to see in
21:02
Speaker 2: May in the worlds And I think both Bill Gahren
21:06
Speaker 2: and then I had for Team Canada, but both were
21:08
Speaker 2: both have said like, listen, if you want to be
21:11
Speaker 2: invited to these camps, if you want to be representing
21:15
Speaker 2: you know at the Olympics, we're gonna need you to
21:17
Speaker 2: put more of a commitment into the World Championships, to
21:19
Speaker 2: playing every year, even if you don't, even if you
21:22
Speaker 2: don't make the team, show up to camp volunteer be
21:26
Speaker 2: That's why bo Horvat is a great example. A lot
21:29
Speaker 2: of folks were like, why in the world did bo
21:31
Speaker 2: Horvat make the team? Well, bo Horvat is the first
21:34
Speaker 2: person raising his hand to volunteer for any of these
21:38
Speaker 2: tournaments that come up internationally for Team Canada.
21:41
Speaker 1: So I think you're gonna start seeing a lot more
21:43
Speaker 1: of that.
21:44
Speaker 2: Joey Dacord, Matty Beaneers went to the World Championships last year.
21:47
Speaker 2: USA won their first World Championship gold medal in ninety years.
21:52
Speaker 2: That is where I think you're gonna start seeing a
21:54
Speaker 2: lot of this go where. Maybe it's not a changing
21:57
Speaker 2: of the guard in terms of hockey supremacy, Team Canada
22:01
Speaker 2: I think will probably still hold that title for quite
22:04
Speaker 2: some time, but definitely a challenging of the guard. If
22:09
Speaker 2: Team USA can continue to send their best willingly and
22:14
Speaker 2: voluntarily to some of these tournaments like the World.
22:17
Speaker 3: Championships, Copocaco, Ellie Toulvenan, Philip Greubauer, Oscar Fiscro Moleguard certainly
22:23
Speaker 3: deserve their props here for the Olympics. I mean, my goodness,
22:26
Speaker 3: I just can't help but think the amount of competition
22:30
Speaker 3: that fiscal Moleguard faced and in his production nearly at
22:33
Speaker 3: a point per game. Just how much that speaks volumes
22:36
Speaker 3: to the kind of game that he's got to handle
22:40
Speaker 3: the National Hockey League soon on a ninth to night basis,
22:44
Speaker 3: cop Ocaco productive, Ellie Toulvenan productive, Philip Greubauer may be
22:49
Speaker 3: a bit of a stumble here in the game that
22:51
Speaker 3: knocked out Germany, but overall the numbers were terrific as well.
22:55
Speaker 3: And I think for me Wes Stanz out for these
22:57
Speaker 3: four Olympians was Polish and press. Since what stands out
23:01
Speaker 3: to you the most with Coppo, Coco, Ellie tolven and
23:04
Speaker 3: Philip Grubauer and Oscar Fiskar.
23:07
Speaker 4: I think anytime you can win a medal at the Olympics,
23:10
Speaker 4: you should give yourself a pad in the back. I
23:11
Speaker 4: don't care what team you are, so I'll start with
23:14
Speaker 4: Coco and Tolven and congratulations to them on on that
23:18
Speaker 4: on that win. But you know, the games where I
23:21
Speaker 4: did see them play, I think Coco stood out initially
23:24
Speaker 4: a little bit more to me in the tournament, but
23:28
Speaker 4: Ellie Tolvenan contributed where he could as well. And I
23:31
Speaker 4: think that I said this going into the break, the
23:33
Speaker 4: worst thing you can you can accept coming out of
23:36
Speaker 4: the Olympics is injury, because it's going to happen. The
23:39
Speaker 4: thing you hope for is that your players come back
23:42
Speaker 4: with an elevated game. I think that's the case with
23:45
Speaker 4: all four of these guys. They're not coming back injured.
23:47
Speaker 4: They've played at the best on best at the Olympics.
23:52
Speaker 4: I expect Tolvan and Coco to come back with their
23:55
Speaker 4: game elevated. Same thing with Philip Grubauer as well, and
23:59
Speaker 4: when we see Chrifiskermulgard next, I would expect the same
24:02
Speaker 4: from him. So all four of them had excellent tournaments.
24:06
Speaker 4: In the case of two of them, they come back
24:08
Speaker 4: with metal in their pockets, and I think all four
24:10
Speaker 4: of them are going to have elevated games.
24:12
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think the for me, the best tournament for
24:16
Speaker 2: the four was Coppocco just based on stat line alone
24:20
Speaker 2: in the role that he played for Team Finlan. But
24:23
Speaker 2: all four of them, uh had phenomenal tournaments. In your
24:27
Speaker 2: right now, I think everything that that you were expecting
24:31
Speaker 2: as a Kraken fan, everything you wanted.
24:34
Speaker 1: To happen happened.
24:35
Speaker 2: They played at a high level, they had some success,
24:38
Speaker 2: they didn't get hurt. For me, that was one, two
24:41
Speaker 2: and three. They stay healthy, if I'm being selfish. But
24:44
Speaker 2: but you saw, you saw that game elevate, They played
24:48
Speaker 2: against some of the best. And now what's gonna really
24:51
Speaker 2: I think tell the tail is going to be these
24:55
Speaker 2: next two weeks, right, how do they how do they
24:58
Speaker 2: deal coming back from from that? And again there there
25:02
Speaker 2: there's a little bit less of that emotional high for
25:07
Speaker 2: a Tovenin and a Cocko and a Grubauer because it
25:10
Speaker 2: was the bronze medal game. Nothing nothing to to to
25:13
Speaker 2: snuff at. They won the bronze medal, is still a
25:15
Speaker 2: very big game for them. Philip Grubauer unfortunately got bounced
25:19
Speaker 2: earlier in the knockout round, so there wasn't that big
25:22
Speaker 2: game that he had to play, you know, for a medal.
25:25
Speaker 2: But but I think that, like I said before, where
25:28
Speaker 2: the Kraken maybe stand to get a bit of an
25:31
Speaker 2: advantage is that there wasn't this high.
25:34
Speaker 1: This this the.
25:36
Speaker 2: Taste of victory and the spoils of defeat, and now
25:39
Speaker 2: have to come back four or five days later and refocus.
25:43
Speaker 2: They've had some time to refocus, they're back into the
25:46
Speaker 2: NHL mindset.
25:48
Speaker 1: So I think that is where the taiale will be
25:51
Speaker 1: told for me.
25:52
Speaker 2: How they come back from that and they these next
25:55
Speaker 2: five games going into the trade deadline, how they look.
26:01
Speaker 2: Can they continue to stay healthy? You look at Dallas,
26:03
Speaker 2: who the Kracking will have tomorrow. They're dealing with some
26:06
Speaker 2: injuries sustained from the Olympic.
26:10
Speaker 1: Break, So how is that going to impact them?
26:12
Speaker 2: The Crackings don't have that, So if they stay healthy,
26:16
Speaker 2: I think this is going to prove to be very beneficial.
26:19
Speaker 2: And those four guys, the three guys who were here
26:22
Speaker 2: full time in the Oscar Fisker Mulgard, who I don't
26:25
Speaker 2: think we've seen the last of this season, but the
26:27
Speaker 2: three full time Cracking players who went, I think they're
26:30
Speaker 2: going to be able to use this experience and parlay
26:33
Speaker 2: that into some really good play down the road for
26:36
Speaker 2: the rest of the year.
26:37
Speaker 3: We'll have more Olympics talk coming up here, but before
26:39
Speaker 3: we get to breaking again, Sean Shapiro waiting right around
26:41
Speaker 3: the corner here with us on Cracking Weekly News going
26:44
Speaker 3: down about a few hours ago the crack and agreeing
26:47
Speaker 3: to terms on to your extensions with for Ben Myers
26:52
Speaker 3: and Ryan Winterton, that gets them under team controlled through
26:57
Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven and twenty eight each. Just a shade
27:00
Speaker 3: over a million dollars, heeries, so minimal capit as far
27:03
Speaker 3: as the Kraken are concerned. It may be a bit
27:07
Speaker 3: peculiar here to extend players for their kind of roles
27:10
Speaker 3: here mid season, but I'm curious. This is only kind
27:13
Speaker 3: of the beginning of what might be falling here as
27:15
Speaker 3: far as Domino's on this roster. But I mean as
27:18
Speaker 3: far as their play was concerned, just from a baseline
27:20
Speaker 3: standpoint ever, and I mean the fourth line has a
27:23
Speaker 3: growing identity and Winterton and Mayer is a big part
27:26
Speaker 3: of that. Your thoughts on this, Yeah, I.
27:29
Speaker 1: Think these are these are big moves.
27:32
Speaker 2: And even though that they're not quote unquote big players,
27:36
Speaker 2: you know, they're not the McCanns of the world. I
27:38
Speaker 2: understand that, but the role that they play this season
27:42
Speaker 2: especially is so important.
27:43
Speaker 1: Alan. I talk a lot about Ryan Winterton and how.
27:48
Speaker 2: Sometimes I don't even think he knows how fast he is,
27:51
Speaker 2: and the skill set that he has that hard working mentality.
27:55
Speaker 2: We've seen him on the fourth line, we've seen them
27:57
Speaker 2: jump up a little bit on the second line. Is
27:59
Speaker 2: he's moved up and down the roster very much like
28:01
Speaker 2: Freddie Gudreau in that regard. And with Ben Myers, I mean,
28:05
Speaker 2: he just works. He works and works and works. And
28:08
Speaker 2: when I think of a prototypical bottom six forward role
28:12
Speaker 2: player who is going to chew up some time for you,
28:16
Speaker 2: he's got a bit of an offense offensive acumen to
28:20
Speaker 2: his game as well. I think that these two moves
28:22
Speaker 2: are great to have long term, you know, locked up
28:26
Speaker 2: for a couple of more years.
28:27
Speaker 1: And also I think those are the kind.
28:29
Speaker 2: Of players when you start getting into playoff runs and
28:34
Speaker 2: when you start getting into big and important games down
28:38
Speaker 2: the road, those are the type of players I think
28:41
Speaker 2: that ultimately can win you series.
28:43
Speaker 1: When we go to talk about playoffs.
28:45
Speaker 2: Obviously you've got your mcdavids and your mckennon's and your
28:48
Speaker 2: big guys, But how many times have we seen a
28:50
Speaker 2: playoff series where the top two lines will cancel each
28:54
Speaker 2: other out and it's those bottom six forward groups that
28:57
Speaker 2: get a big goal, get a big penalty, kill'll get
29:00
Speaker 2: a big defensive play, they win a big face off.
29:04
Speaker 2: Those are two of the guys in Myers and Winterton
29:07
Speaker 2: that I think are going to help you build and
29:10
Speaker 2: grow that culture in that bottom six or four group.
29:13
Speaker 2: They can play up if they need to, But those
29:16
Speaker 2: are the type of guys that you need on your
29:17
Speaker 2: team if you want to have success. Those are the
29:19
Speaker 2: type of guys that can win you playoff series and
29:22
Speaker 2: can get you far, you know, in postseason play.
29:25
Speaker 1: So I love this deal. These deals. It's a very
29:29
Speaker 1: minimal cap pit as well.
29:31
Speaker 2: I think a million for Winterton and what one point
29:35
Speaker 2: one something for Ben Myers, So pretty manageable, you know
29:39
Speaker 2: the crack and still have a lot of cap space
29:40
Speaker 2: to work with.
29:41
Speaker 1: But I like these two deals a lot.
29:43
Speaker 3: Ben Myers again brought on back before this last season
29:47
Speaker 3: via free agency, and Ryan Winterton a big piece of
29:50
Speaker 3: this year for the Kraken right from the start sence
29:53
Speaker 3: he was drafted. Both again issued contract extensions kicking in
29:57
Speaker 3: beginning this next season here for two years. Very quick,
30:00
Speaker 3: I want to get to our poll question here at
30:01
Speaker 3: x krack and audio Net. Was Sunday's gold medal game
30:05
Speaker 3: at the Winter Olympics, the best men's gold medal game ever.
30:09
Speaker 3: Very simple yes or no or yes except for nineteen eighty.
30:14
Speaker 3: Go ahead and vote right there at Crack and Audio
30:16
Speaker 3: net More talk on this in the fallout.
30:18
Speaker 1: Four or two. Well, hold on.
30:21
Speaker 2: So the nineteen eighty the gold medal game.
30:25
Speaker 1: Was US Finland. Yep, that was a gold medal game.
30:28
Speaker 3: So still a miracle team. Though still a miracle team though.
30:32
Speaker 1: Think I think the US won that one for two.
30:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So I mean, if we're talking gold medal
30:39
Speaker 2: games like man, I mean twenty this year, you know,
30:46
Speaker 2: I think that one was.
30:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was it. Twenty Something happened in twenty fourteen.
30:51
Speaker 1: I forget what it was.
30:53
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, selective memory takes over.
30:56
Speaker 1: Feel free to vote for twenty fourteen memory. Something happened
31:00
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, I forget what was. But twenty twenty six,
31:02
Speaker 1: let me tell you.
31:05
Speaker 3: What do you think? Folks? Go ahead and vote to
31:06
Speaker 3: crack an Audio net Hey Shawan Shapiro joining us right
31:09
Speaker 3: after this year a ninety three three k jerfim fresh
31:13
Speaker 3: out of the Olympic break. What do we make out
31:15
Speaker 3: of the cracking and what they're facing here with the
31:16
Speaker 3: Dallas Stars team to the plenty of question marks on
31:19
Speaker 3: their lineup. Mike Betting again with you here on Cracking Weekly.
31:23
Speaker 3: Everett now also with me that will bring us here
31:25
Speaker 3: to the Beacon Plumbing hotline and joining us. It's been
31:28
Speaker 3: a while, but great to have him back now. Sean
31:30
Speaker 3: Shapiro in the Dallas area. He is a part of
31:33
Speaker 3: the d LLS sports landscape, joining us here on Cracking Weekly. Sean, Hi,
31:40
Speaker 3: how are you? How was the break? You felt like
31:43
Speaker 3: it was long enough break for you?
31:46
Speaker 6: It was I don't know how well you guys adjusted
31:49
Speaker 6: to it in Pacific time with with with with the
31:52
Speaker 6: early games, but I, uh, I ended up loving the
31:56
Speaker 6: schedule because I have I got the I got the
31:59
Speaker 6: five and seven year old kids.
32:00
Speaker 1: So we'd be.
32:02
Speaker 6: Getting them up in the morning and getting up in
32:04
Speaker 6: the early morning, early enough with the five year old anyway,
32:06
Speaker 6: and so it was actually kind of fun for a
32:10
Speaker 6: week and a half of he'd bomb into our room
32:12
Speaker 6: and wake me up and want to go downstairs and
32:15
Speaker 6: watch some hockey on TV. So it was actually, uh
32:17
Speaker 6: so that that part was high. That's actually one of
32:19
Speaker 6: my one of my favorite Olympic memories. We'll be doing
32:22
Speaker 6: that with the five year old. He's and he's kind
32:25
Speaker 6: of watching hockey with him early in the morning after
32:28
Speaker 6: him crashing into the room, and then it was kind
32:29
Speaker 6: of funny this morning before taking him to school. Sorry,
32:32
Speaker 6: yesterday morning, he was actually disappointed there was no hockey
32:36
Speaker 6: to watch early in the so so I will so
32:41
Speaker 6: break break was good in that way, but excited to
32:44
Speaker 6: obviously get back and watch some NHL games. And it's
32:47
Speaker 6: it is gonna be funny though to go from the
32:50
Speaker 6: intensity of in the stakes of that Sunday morning game too.
32:54
Speaker 6: They all matter, but it's gonna be it's gonna it's
32:57
Speaker 6: it's gonna there's gonna be six games at once Wednesday.
32:59
Speaker 3: Night or what. It's going to hit us right in
33:01
Speaker 3: the face here, you know, going into this, and we
33:04
Speaker 3: will touch more on the stars the elements because Miko
33:06
Speaker 3: ranton in is on Ir won't play tomorrow out two
33:10
Speaker 3: weeks here from the Olympics, Radic foxa questionable here for Wednesday.
33:14
Speaker 3: Jay Gottinger won't play with Team USA commitments. Remy Pori
33:17
Speaker 3: also recalled her for the backup. So we'll get onto
33:20
Speaker 3: this here in just a bit, but just beginning here
33:22
Speaker 3: with general thoughts here on the Olympics, Sean, I mean
33:26
Speaker 3: the women's side, My goodness, what a show. The men's side,
33:29
Speaker 3: My goodness, what a show? I mean to you, I
33:32
Speaker 3: asked this question elsewhere similarly here, but where do these
33:36
Speaker 3: gold medals rank for you?
33:39
Speaker 1: Yeah?
33:39
Speaker 6: It's uh, for I will say, from a personal connection standpoint,
33:44
Speaker 6: and uh it's yeah. I'm sorry guys to the other
33:47
Speaker 6: two of you on the show. But me and ever
33:48
Speaker 6: are gonna take a little bit of a Michigan metro Detroit.
33:51
Speaker 3: Here, here we go, Here we go, here we go.
33:54
Speaker 3: All right, I'll be right back.
33:56
Speaker 6: For me, the it's it's really cool to see. For
34:00
Speaker 6: for me, the gold medal winning goal for the women
34:03
Speaker 6: was particularly cool to see because there's a there's the
34:07
Speaker 6: Megan Kellers from Farmington Hills, Farming Hills, Michigan, which is
34:10
Speaker 6: a place where I went to high school. I went
34:13
Speaker 6: to I'm from Farmington Hills, Michigan as well. So to
34:15
Speaker 6: see that that goal, that that that golden goal was
34:19
Speaker 6: really cool for me, that that tie was there, that connection,
34:22
Speaker 6: and then and then for for the men's team. As
34:25
Speaker 6: someone who to kind of watch the that game, it's
34:30
Speaker 6: it's kind of as I am a bit of a
34:32
Speaker 6: goalie nerd and someone who played the position growing up
34:35
Speaker 6: and still attempts to apply their craft in beer leagues.
34:38
Speaker 6: On Wednesday night, it was cool to kind of see us,
34:43
Speaker 6: to see us win, And obviously it's I think we
34:45
Speaker 6: can all agree that if Canada, Canada was the better
34:49
Speaker 6: team for quite a bit of that game. I don't
34:51
Speaker 6: think anyone can deny that. But it was kind of
34:54
Speaker 6: cool to see from a from from a goal to
34:56
Speaker 6: ending perspective, to see the performance from Connor Hellibuck. And
34:59
Speaker 6: as someone who you guys have seen him a bunch
35:02
Speaker 6: just like I have. He's a guy who he's impressively
35:06
Speaker 6: boring in his game, right, Like that's the reason that
35:09
Speaker 6: that's one of the reasons he has been as good
35:11
Speaker 6: as he is. And it was kind of cool for
35:14
Speaker 6: me to kind of see his normal game ad a
35:17
Speaker 6: little bit of the highlight reel with the with the
35:19
Speaker 6: obviously the famous stick save now and that was kind
35:22
Speaker 6: of a cool legacy thing to watch with that So
35:24
Speaker 6: for me, for obviously for the men, I mean it's
35:28
Speaker 6: I don't do we get another movie now, because I
35:30
Speaker 6: think every time we get to me, every time there's
35:32
Speaker 6: a goal. For the men and for the women, I
35:35
Speaker 6: think it was just such a cool exclamation point on
35:38
Speaker 6: such a dominant tournament for them, right Like that's obviously
35:41
Speaker 6: we knew it was going to be battle with Canada
35:42
Speaker 6: at the end, but with how dominant that women's team
35:44
Speaker 6: was throughout, that's that was a really cool exclamation point
35:47
Speaker 6: at the end, especially with the goal. And for me
35:49
Speaker 6: to see someone who I know is from similar area
35:52
Speaker 6: to me to to score was kind of cool.
35:53
Speaker 2: I think Michigan is starting to take over that state
35:55
Speaker 2: of hockey, Moniker from Minnesota, because how many of those
36:00
Speaker 2: big goals in those big moments this year happened because
36:04
Speaker 2: of Michiganders.
36:05
Speaker 1: Because of people who are from Michigan.
36:07
Speaker 2: But you know, as a as a parent yourself, you've
36:10
Speaker 2: got two young kids who were trying their hand that hockey.
36:14
Speaker 2: You know, what is what is this going to do
36:16
Speaker 2: for the game of hockey. You're very connected, you know,
36:19
Speaker 2: living in Michigan, and you know a lot of the
36:22
Speaker 2: Nick Kotsonikas of the world, the big media folks. What
36:26
Speaker 2: are they saying and what do you feel that this
36:28
Speaker 2: is going to do for hockey on the whole in
36:32
Speaker 2: terms of development, in terms of growth. I read something
36:35
Speaker 2: the other day that for the first time ever, you
36:38
Speaker 2: ate participation in the US is over one hundred thousand.
36:42
Speaker 2: First time ever we've seen one hundred thousand kids under
36:45
Speaker 2: eight registered in USA Hockey official programs.
36:49
Speaker 1: What do you feel this is going to do for
36:51
Speaker 1: this for this next generation?
36:53
Speaker 6: I a still get an I also get the opportunity
36:55
Speaker 6: to look at this through the lens of I do
36:56
Speaker 6: a lot of work with Elite Prospects as well. Yeah,
36:58
Speaker 6: and through Elite Prospects, I get to see a bunch
37:00
Speaker 6: of the youth hockey kind of steps and programs through that,
37:03
Speaker 6: Because there's obviously it's it's everyone thinks about Elite Prospects
37:07
Speaker 6: from the Draft guide and the stat database. But one
37:10
Speaker 6: of the kind of hidden parts of Elite Prospects is
37:12
Speaker 6: we do they do a lot company wise in the
37:14
Speaker 6: youth hockey ranks and helping kind of that. So I
37:16
Speaker 6: get to see it from that perspective. I get to
37:18
Speaker 6: see it from a perspective of On Sunday afternoon, after
37:22
Speaker 6: the gold medal game, I was out on the ice
37:25
Speaker 6: with my with with my sons learned to play group
37:29
Speaker 6: and I was running. I was drawn into running the
37:32
Speaker 6: shooting drill, which is both a blessing and a curse
37:36
Speaker 6: when you have kids between five and nine years old
37:39
Speaker 6: just all together and they've got the and it's and
37:43
Speaker 6: it's it's the one, and most of them aren't lifting
37:46
Speaker 6: the puck, but it's like it's the it's the occasional
37:48
Speaker 6: one where it's they've got the blue pucks, so they're
37:50
Speaker 6: flying a little bit quicker. So it's the So I
37:53
Speaker 6: took a couple in the shins trying to trying to
37:57
Speaker 6: help out with the kids on Sunday. But I think
37:59
Speaker 6: it's I think it's from from a kind of a
38:02
Speaker 6: hockey's growth and perspective. For me, I think it's and
38:06
Speaker 6: I see this also just obviously with the Dallas ties
38:08
Speaker 6: and everything. I see the Hannah Bilka who obviously I was.
38:13
Speaker 3: Just gonna say Hannah Bilka also.
38:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, Hannahbilka and her ties through Dallas and everything like that.
38:19
Speaker 6: It's I think there's such a power. And I'm sure
38:23
Speaker 6: you guys have seen this in Seattle since the team
38:25
Speaker 6: has been there, and it's kind of just still in
38:27
Speaker 6: and there was already obviously, I know there's already it
38:29
Speaker 6: was a good hockey culture to build on top of
38:31
Speaker 6: before the crack and even ride, but as once you
38:34
Speaker 6: kind of have those real life examples. I think that
38:39
Speaker 6: that goes a long way on just taking the sport.
38:42
Speaker 6: Like I think it's the more connection points you can
38:46
Speaker 6: find for a kid to say, hey, this is this
38:48
Speaker 6: is something that's pretty cool, this is something I want
38:50
Speaker 6: to do. Like I think my like my son, for example,
38:53
Speaker 6: he's five, and he's someone who always likes skating and
38:56
Speaker 6: he's always and he's been doing learn to skate, and
38:59
Speaker 6: but for him, this was, as I said earlier, it
39:01
Speaker 6: was really cool to wake up and watch hockey with him.
39:04
Speaker 6: And then for him to it was for him to
39:08
Speaker 6: he's picking which team he's picking we're watching a lot Via,
39:11
Speaker 6: Like we're watching lot Via and Denmark player, whichever it is,
39:15
Speaker 6: and like he's he's picking which team he likes more
39:17
Speaker 6: based off the jersey color and everything like that, and
39:19
Speaker 6: like that's a really those kind of things are those
39:23
Speaker 6: are kind of like the base. And then I think
39:24
Speaker 6: you take the gold metal part of it, and it's
39:28
Speaker 6: like you see your kid, Liketh, both kids were watching
39:32
Speaker 6: the both gold medal games with me and you watch
39:35
Speaker 6: the men's game after and that's the one that's more
39:37
Speaker 6: recent in mind, just because it came afterwards, but you
39:39
Speaker 6: see them both get excited about it, and you're like, oh,
39:41
Speaker 6: this is something that like they're gonna, they're gonna, they're
39:44
Speaker 6: gonna think about. So I think that goes a long way,
39:47
Speaker 6: and I think the bigger thing it does, Everett, is
39:51
Speaker 6: it probably you know this now. I think you kind
39:54
Speaker 6: of get to know this now is now you have
39:55
Speaker 6: your own as the little guy now, right. But there's
39:58
Speaker 6: there's not just convincing the kid it's cool. It's mom
40:01
Speaker 6: and dad also thinking it as well. I think that's
40:04
Speaker 6: the other part that also gets forgotten. It like like
40:06
Speaker 6: it's there's the level of like, I mean the amount
40:09
Speaker 6: of times that like I mean my kids watched Loge
40:14
Speaker 6: and they were like, oh, I'm in, and I'm like,
40:17
Speaker 6: I don't think that's I don't I don't think I
40:21
Speaker 6: don't think that's happening.
40:22
Speaker 1: But you don't watch your kids going eighty miles an
40:25
Speaker 1: hour down and yeah.
40:26
Speaker 6: I just but but I but I just but I
40:28
Speaker 6: think about that from a parent perspective, where I think
40:30
Speaker 6: this is those cool touch points of there was a
40:33
Speaker 6: there's mom or dad who watched that game, who maybe
40:37
Speaker 6: mom or dad aren't really a big hockey fan, but
40:39
Speaker 6: they watched that game their kid, and all of a
40:41
Speaker 6: sudden it became, you know what, this is pretty cool.
40:43
Speaker 6: You like this, let's try Like I think that's the
40:45
Speaker 6: other part of it. It's not just the kids being
40:48
Speaker 6: part of it. I think it's the mom and dad.
40:50
Speaker 6: It's the parents. And that's one of the things I've
40:51
Speaker 6: kind of noticed from doing my work with Elite Prospects.
40:55
Speaker 6: It's been kind of cool to see how one of
40:57
Speaker 6: the things that we've worked at on with EP has
40:59
Speaker 6: been one of the things that they always talk about
41:01
Speaker 6: is like, how can you help people who are new
41:04
Speaker 6: to the sport, who their kids are the first generation
41:06
Speaker 6: getting into it, understand how this works because it's not
41:09
Speaker 6: the cleanest, simplest path compared to other sports. It's not
41:14
Speaker 6: not everywhere in the country is it. Can you go
41:16
Speaker 6: and like, oh, well you play this age and then
41:18
Speaker 6: and then then you go to your high school team
41:20
Speaker 6: or whatever. It's different like all across the country. And
41:22
Speaker 6: so I think that's a big touch point of kind
41:25
Speaker 6: of that familiar old part of it, of families embracing
41:28
Speaker 6: the sport together. It is kind of where I'll go
41:30
Speaker 6: with it so well as.
41:32
Speaker 1: The only Canadian on the call.
41:34
Speaker 4: I will agree with what Fitz said, which is the
41:38
Speaker 4: US winning was good for the game of hockey. You
41:41
Speaker 4: said it fits not me the US. What the US
41:44
Speaker 4: US US US winning is winning winning winning. We broke
41:48
Speaker 4: up on three hockey.
41:50
Speaker 3: I'm just making sure I have a note. I'm I'm
41:54
Speaker 3: marking that here for the show. Okay, we got Auski
41:57
Speaker 3: here on record. Okay, good.
41:58
Speaker 1: They don't ask how they ask how many rights the
42:01
Speaker 1: US wanted?
42:02
Speaker 4: Three on three hockey is good for the game of hockey.
42:05
Speaker 4: Let me get to my question for Sean Connor Hellibuck.
42:08
Speaker 4: You know we're talking about this today, which is, you know,
42:12
Speaker 4: maybe the Canadians got goalied, but his play in that
42:16
Speaker 4: game was fantastic. And Fitz and I were talking this
42:19
Speaker 4: morning that every young child wants to grow up and
42:22
Speaker 4: be Connor McDavid, Nathan McKennon and Connor, Bdard, Matt and
42:25
Speaker 4: celebrny whatever. Do you think maybe as a goalie yourself,
42:29
Speaker 4: after that win, there's some kids waking up on Monday
42:32
Speaker 4: morning going I want to be a goalie. I want
42:34
Speaker 4: to I want to be the guy that goalies the
42:36
Speaker 4: other team. Do you think that specific thing is also
42:40
Speaker 4: good for the game of hockey in the US.
42:43
Speaker 6: I think so, especially because and this is something that
42:45
Speaker 6: it's it's the goaltending position is obviously a passionate point
42:49
Speaker 6: for me from a personal perspective, and has led to
42:51
Speaker 6: some professional thoughts on it as well. But like, I
42:54
Speaker 6: think there's a lot of I think with Connor helli
43:00
Speaker 6: Buck in particular, there's a level of I don't know,
43:03
Speaker 6: this might have been, even though he's an NHL MVP,
43:06
Speaker 6: multiple time Vezna Trophy winner, for some kids and some
43:11
Speaker 6: in the NHL is obviously so so tribal, and I
43:16
Speaker 6: don't say that's a bad thing, right like, but like
43:17
Speaker 6: so much of the NHL is if you're a kracking fan,
43:20
Speaker 6: you're probably watching most cracking games, and maybe you watch
43:22
Speaker 6: the National TV game, But that's really your that's that's
43:25
Speaker 6: the nature of the team. You watch as you're watching
43:27
Speaker 6: your team, and you see who they play, and Connor
43:30
Speaker 6: Hellibuck playing for Winnipeg doesn't really I mean, it's he's
43:34
Speaker 6: obviously I don't think. I don't know how many people
43:36
Speaker 6: watch people. Probably there's a lot of American kids who
43:39
Speaker 6: don't think of Connor Hellibuck, didn't think of Connor Hellibuck
43:42
Speaker 6: as much of an American quote unquote goalie or as
43:46
Speaker 6: an example like that because he played for that, he
43:47
Speaker 6: played for the Jets, played in Winnipeg. Whenever it's it's
43:51
Speaker 6: the and so I think this win on the Olympic
43:54
Speaker 6: and then you four nations maybe had that opportunity, but
43:57
Speaker 6: this Olympic one, I feel it really example flies that
44:01
Speaker 6: where I think there's a lot of people who weren't
44:04
Speaker 6: Connor Hellibuck fans before simply because they're like, well, I'm
44:07
Speaker 6: a fan of my local team. But I think there's
44:08
Speaker 6: a lot of American kids who will look at this
44:11
Speaker 6: and be like, well, I can it's his Jim Craig moment, right,
44:14
Speaker 6: Like we have the example of the putlook back up,
44:17
Speaker 6: where it's like like, this is the moment that will
44:19
Speaker 6: really define him within American hockey, and I think that's
44:22
Speaker 6: just such a such a cool thing, and I hope
44:25
Speaker 6: from a goaltending perspective, his story is also one that
44:29
Speaker 6: gets used. And you're lucky that way because it's his
44:34
Speaker 6: story is and it's I wrote about this the other day,
44:36
Speaker 6: like I remember, so I'm four years older than than
44:40
Speaker 6: Connor and we both played in this like sumert summer
44:44
Speaker 6: high school hockey, the summer high school hockey league in
44:49
Speaker 6: Metro Detroit. And so it was before my it was
44:52
Speaker 6: before my it was after my senior year of college,
44:55
Speaker 6: before I went to Bowling Green Everett, and I'm playing
44:57
Speaker 6: in this summer league and it's just like the summer
45:01
Speaker 6: kind of elite league. And he was this fourteen year
45:04
Speaker 6: old who was playing in this this summer league that's
45:07
Speaker 6: got a bunch of kids that are going to go
45:08
Speaker 6: guys are going to play to college, just kind of
45:10
Speaker 6: like one of those pickup leagues. And I remember I
45:12
Speaker 6: played against him, and him and I have talked about
45:14
Speaker 6: talked about this about a year and a half ago
45:16
Speaker 6: one of the times when I saw Winnipeg after a
45:18
Speaker 6: morning skate. But he played four years of high school
45:21
Speaker 6: hockey in Michigan, went to the North American Hockey League,
45:23
Speaker 6: played for the Odessa Jackalopes, and then obviously was drafted
45:28
Speaker 6: in the fifth round. And I think it's it's just
45:30
Speaker 6: really fortuitous that his story worked out that way. And
45:34
Speaker 6: obviously you'd be celebrating the team USA gold medal if
45:38
Speaker 6: and to the dal if if Jake Otingre had been
45:40
Speaker 6: the goalie in that everyone would still be celebrating the medal.
45:43
Speaker 6: But Jacre, Minnesota kid went to the NTDP at sixteen
45:48
Speaker 6: years old. Every year there's only there's there's only a
45:51
Speaker 6: path for two kids that three kids every year to
45:54
Speaker 6: do that path, right, Like, And I think the Connor
45:56
Speaker 6: Hellibucks story, the fact that he didn't go through, he
46:01
Speaker 6: wasn't a major junior kid, that he wasn't drafted into
46:05
Speaker 6: the and he wasn't even drafted into then all like
46:08
Speaker 6: there's a great story about how when he was added
46:10
Speaker 6: to the Odessa roster, they're like they had to add
46:14
Speaker 6: his name to the system. Like it's funny when they
46:15
Speaker 6: go through and they like add like they go and
46:17
Speaker 6: draft guys and everything like that. They went to go
46:19
Speaker 6: look his name up to try to add his name
46:21
Speaker 6: to the roster and they had to create him in
46:22
Speaker 6: the system. And so I think the Hella Bucks story,
46:26
Speaker 6: it's just so fortuitous of you add that background where
46:29
Speaker 6: it is the legit like you can come, you don't
46:32
Speaker 6: have to you can play this position. You can play hockey,
46:35
Speaker 6: and you play gold golding specifically, and you will be
46:39
Speaker 6: able to work your way up just by having success.
46:42
Speaker 6: And it's not just about being you have to be
46:44
Speaker 6: a seventeen year old who goes to Plymouth, Michigan to
46:47
Speaker 6: get this done. And so I think that's one of
46:49
Speaker 6: the really cool things about the Hella Buck story, and
46:52
Speaker 6: I hope that kind of resonates with people, like it
46:55
Speaker 6: was funny. Like I talked to I still skate with
46:59
Speaker 6: a guy who his son is seven or eight years old,
47:03
Speaker 6: and I was talking to him on Monday, and he
47:06
Speaker 6: said something along the lines of like his kid has
47:08
Speaker 6: started to like his kid is plane eight U hockey
47:12
Speaker 6: and they're starting to like have kids tragolie and everything
47:14
Speaker 6: like that. And he was asking me about it's like
47:15
Speaker 6: my kid really liked it, and we were talking about him, like, yeah,
47:19
Speaker 6: it's something where that's that's one real that's only one right,
47:24
Speaker 6: Like you asked for example, So I can't give, but
47:26
Speaker 6: I can't get I can give you one quantifiable example
47:28
Speaker 6: of a dad being like, oh, yeah, my son's interested
47:31
Speaker 6: in this now because of what he did.
47:33
Speaker 3: Sean Shapiro joining us here again a part of the
47:36
Speaker 3: d l LS crew on Cracking this morning. Sean taking
47:40
Speaker 3: a look at the Western Conference as we get after
47:42
Speaker 3: it here. Colorado is still on top, but the Minnesota
47:45
Speaker 3: is starting to breed down their neck a little bit.
47:47
Speaker 3: The Stars are one point back the crack and are
47:50
Speaker 3: in a playoff spot right now, and we'll kind of
47:53
Speaker 3: get to the whole overarching theme of what this could
47:56
Speaker 3: mean here for these next couple of months in this
47:59
Speaker 3: playoff race. But the Stars have got a lot of
48:01
Speaker 3: question marks here, especially for Tomorrow night. We talked about
48:04
Speaker 3: Miko Ranton, and we talked about Raddick Foxa, Jake Ottinger
48:07
Speaker 3: as well, but then Rope Hints is also out due
48:09
Speaker 3: to illness. So a lot of moving parts here for
48:13
Speaker 3: Tomorrow night. So I think, really, aside from Ranton in
48:16
Speaker 3: which absence for the Stars right now immediately is the
48:20
Speaker 3: most concerning.
48:22
Speaker 6: For me, it's because it's gonna be an interesting Dallas
48:26
Speaker 6: team tomorrow night with I think Hints Hints is gonna
48:30
Speaker 6: Hints pops off right away. He's a guy who has
48:33
Speaker 6: typically actually played really well against Seattle. The center depth
48:37
Speaker 6: is dinged right away. You mentioned Foxa into Hints both,
48:40
Speaker 6: and so I think that's that's what sticks out to
48:44
Speaker 6: me right away for Tomorrow night. I'm fascinated to see
48:48
Speaker 6: because the Stars still have to figure out what they're
48:49
Speaker 6: gonna do right now because they had the.
48:52
Speaker 1: Right now.
48:53
Speaker 6: They've called up Remy Pori and kind of Jake Ottinger
48:56
Speaker 6: may or may not be available to back up. We're
48:58
Speaker 6: not really sure what the plan is right now on that,
49:01
Speaker 6: but we know that Casey de Smith will start in goal.
49:05
Speaker 6: It's I think the center depth is where Dallas gets
49:10
Speaker 6: hurt tomorrow night. Long term, it's the I'm really interested
49:14
Speaker 6: to see and I was. I'm really interested to see
49:16
Speaker 6: where the Stars look on the blue line coming out
49:19
Speaker 6: of tomorrow, out of tomorrow Night's game, because it's a
49:23
Speaker 6: team that you've got Thomas Harley I think found his
49:27
Speaker 6: game a bit for in the Olympics for Team Canada. Right,
49:30
Speaker 6: Thomas Harley's a guy who was not playing with the
49:34
Speaker 6: I don't know if it's the I don't know if
49:37
Speaker 6: it's the confident. I don't know what words you want
49:38
Speaker 6: to use, but Thomas Harley was this first half of
49:41
Speaker 6: this season. Thomas Harley was not the Thomas Harley who
49:43
Speaker 6: earned the spot on the Foreign Nations team last year.
49:45
Speaker 6: And I think he really only made the Olympic team
49:47
Speaker 6: based off that four Nations reputation. And that's that's Okay,
49:50
Speaker 6: that's how that's how it works sometimes. But then he
49:52
Speaker 6: went and really found his game a bit more at
49:55
Speaker 6: the Olympics. So I think he comes back a little
49:58
Speaker 6: bit more dialed in. Hopefully he can harry from a
50:01
Speaker 6: Dallas perspective, can he carry that the stars Essalyndell and
50:05
Speaker 6: Miro Hachikin and we're just mentally taxed for twenty six
50:08
Speaker 6: minutes a night every night for Finland, So they're gonna
50:10
Speaker 6: be an interesting perspective of where that's all gonna work.
50:12
Speaker 6: But it's it's a team that I think Dallas. For me,
50:18
Speaker 6: Dallas is gonna go probably need to the deadline. They're
50:21
Speaker 6: probably gonna look at forwards. The question is if you
50:25
Speaker 6: take those three defensemen that I talked about, they just
50:27
Speaker 6: played the Olympics, and then you bring back Alan Bischell,
50:30
Speaker 6: who hasn't played since November and is tracking maybe to
50:33
Speaker 6: play tomorrow night, do they have the top four that
50:37
Speaker 6: is enough to really continue? Do they have the top
50:39
Speaker 6: forty that's really enough for them to contend with You
50:43
Speaker 6: gotta get through that Central Division gauntlet, And I think
50:47
Speaker 6: like that that is my biggest watching point for Dallas.
50:49
Speaker 6: I know Tomorrow night is a Hodgepodge game, but everything
50:53
Speaker 6: for me kinds of start of how do you build
50:55
Speaker 6: off of that? Is hardly continue to play his game?
50:59
Speaker 6: Do mir He's gonn Essel and Dell do they ever
51:02
Speaker 6: see any negative repercussions from playing six extra games of
51:06
Speaker 6: thirty minutes a night, because that definitely cut could come
51:08
Speaker 6: into play right as as we go down this stretch
51:11
Speaker 6: in this schedule. That that that's my big thing for
51:14
Speaker 6: Dallas is the D Have you is your top D
51:17
Speaker 6: based internally without making the trade? Have you basically made
51:20
Speaker 6: your top four D better?
51:22
Speaker 1: I don't know.
51:22
Speaker 6: It's a great question. I don't I don't know the
51:24
Speaker 6: answer for that, but I do think that if you're
51:28
Speaker 6: Seattle and you're looking at Tomorrow night, you look at
51:31
Speaker 6: the Star's center depth without fox, without hints, and you're like,
51:34
Speaker 6: that's an area we have to go. Do you have
51:36
Speaker 6: to you have to take advantage of that when you
51:38
Speaker 6: get this team at this stage.
51:41
Speaker 4: Two partner for me and I think you answered the
51:44
Speaker 4: first part, So I'll start there, which is you know this,
51:47
Speaker 4: this this Dallas team is definitely a playoff team to
51:50
Speaker 4: be a Cup contender, to be there for late in
51:54
Speaker 4: the season games. It sounds like you need a forward
51:58
Speaker 4: piece and correct me if I'm wrong. So that that's
52:00
Speaker 4: part A. Part ME is specific to a guy like
52:03
Speaker 4: Jason Robertson obviously left off the Olympic roster. Do you
52:08
Speaker 4: think he's coming back out of the out of the
52:10
Speaker 4: break playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder?
52:13
Speaker 1: So that's part B.
52:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, for part A, yes, I definitely think they're looking
52:19
Speaker 6: in the forward space. Obviously, the trendy conversation in Dallas
52:23
Speaker 6: right now is the Blake Coleman conversation, who is a
52:25
Speaker 6: obviously Dallas native and Dallas native who.
52:31
Speaker 1: He's not.
52:32
Speaker 6: Actually it's one of those like funny if it works
52:34
Speaker 6: out this way, it will be funny. But Blake and
52:36
Speaker 6: his wife came back to Dallas during the Olympic break
52:39
Speaker 6: and the and they just had a new baby, So
52:42
Speaker 6: his wife and the new baby stayed in Dallas right now.
52:44
Speaker 6: So from a Blake Coleman perspective of there's a pretty
52:47
Speaker 6: good Stars fan push right now to bring Blake home,
52:50
Speaker 6: as as as someone who grew up playing hockey in
52:53
Speaker 6: Dallas for that.
52:54
Speaker 1: So, but.
52:56
Speaker 6: Then you know the Jason Robertson thing, and it Jason
53:01
Speaker 6: got left off. He basically played his way off the
53:04
Speaker 6: Four Nations team last year, right like he going into
53:07
Speaker 6: last season. I talked about reputation with Thomas Harley before
53:11
Speaker 6: Jason Robertson started last season really slow. Came off playing
53:17
Speaker 6: through a foot injury. Whether that's an excuse or at
53:22
Speaker 6: a reasoning one way or not, you can debate one way,
53:24
Speaker 6: but either way, his play and product in the ice,
53:27
Speaker 6: he shouldn't have been on the Four Nations team. I
53:29
Speaker 6: think that really doomed his chance. I think he was
53:31
Speaker 6: one of those guys that had to make the Four
53:33
Speaker 6: Nations team if he was going to make the Olympic team,
53:35
Speaker 6: because that kind of set his reputation. And after the
53:39
Speaker 6: Four Nations he was the leading scorer above any American.
53:42
Speaker 6: And I think there's nothing else he could have I
53:47
Speaker 6: don't think there's anything else he could have done to
53:49
Speaker 6: make the team other than become Vincent Trocheck or j T. Miller,
53:53
Speaker 6: right Like, I think that's just the reality, and that's
53:55
Speaker 6: not what his game is. And so I think he
53:56
Speaker 6: was already playing with a bit of that chip and
53:58
Speaker 6: that proving point on his shoulder. And then I am
54:02
Speaker 6: actually like, I think there's an incredibly compelling storyline that
54:08
Speaker 6: this all builds into because playing with the chip on
54:12
Speaker 6: his shoulder, and you look at the standings right now,
54:14
Speaker 6: and it feels almost locked in that we're gonna get
54:16
Speaker 6: a Wild Stars first round play off, right and we're
54:21
Speaker 6: gonna get the end, which is.
54:22
Speaker 3: So bad because me it means someone's gonna get bouncing
54:26
Speaker 3: round one and they don't deserve to get bouncing round.
54:29
Speaker 6: One exactly, exactly exactly, and it's and it's gonna, it's
54:32
Speaker 6: gonna it's gonna be a fascinating side by side storyline
54:34
Speaker 6: because it's gonna be Bill garon GM for Team USA,
54:38
Speaker 6: who left Jason Robertson off the team and is taking
54:41
Speaker 6: his victory lap right now with the gold medal and
54:43
Speaker 6: everything like that, playing against the guy who is the
54:46
Speaker 6: highest scoring American of the last year in the first round,
54:49
Speaker 6: and so, like I do, I think there's the I'm
54:51
Speaker 6: interested to see how that plays out over the regular season,
54:54
Speaker 6: but I am very excited to watch the Jason Robertson
54:58
Speaker 6: revenge storyline in the round against Minnesota, assuming assuming Colorado
55:04
Speaker 6: is a crater and somehow change that, but that I
55:06
Speaker 6: definitely think there's a chip on the shoulders or that.
55:09
Speaker 6: And then also on top of that, Jason also has
55:12
Speaker 6: the I know, I know, we're not supposed to say
55:15
Speaker 6: it because we're supposed to say everythings for the love
55:16
Speaker 6: of the game. But Jason also has the next contract
55:18
Speaker 6: up soon. Right, there is the there is the there
55:21
Speaker 6: is the he's got the there there's there's money to
55:23
Speaker 6: be made, he continues to yes, So there's a lot
55:28
Speaker 6: of opportunity. There's a lot of opportunity and dollars.
55:31
Speaker 3: So finances are reality. Basically, that's the bottom line as
55:36
Speaker 3: far as how professional sports works here for these days.
55:39
Speaker 3: A Sean. Lastly, I mean the Western Conference, it's it's
55:42
Speaker 3: already shaping up as far as how we know it's
55:44
Speaker 3: going to shape up your Colorado and then maybe Minnesota
55:47
Speaker 3: and Dallas depending upon where they finished here. But I'm
55:49
Speaker 3: really curious as far as what's your views here of
55:52
Speaker 3: the Pacific Division the biggest threat right now, whether it
55:56
Speaker 3: might be the Kings, the Ducks, the Kraken Vague, even
56:01
Speaker 3: Edmonton have gone through some ups and downs, but they're
56:04
Speaker 3: in the thick of it. What stands out to you
56:06
Speaker 3: right now?
56:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's I look at that, I don't
56:11
Speaker 6: know if I'm giving Vegas. I don't know if I
56:13
Speaker 6: give Vegas too much. Sometimes I think I fall into
56:16
Speaker 6: the trap of giving Vegas too much respect. Sometimes I
56:19
Speaker 6: admit that because I think it's the level of they've
56:22
Speaker 6: got that cup, they've got the they have that reputation
56:25
Speaker 6: of that team that like every single year at the
56:28
Speaker 6: deadline right, there's always like it happened with the Hurdle deal,
56:31
Speaker 6: it happened with so many things where it's like all
56:33
Speaker 6: of a sudden, it's like, WHOA Vegas isn't on this?
56:36
Speaker 6: So like I think because of that, Vegas always pops
56:42
Speaker 6: when I look at that division. But I also admit
56:44
Speaker 6: I think I might be given a little bit too
56:45
Speaker 6: much respect. At the same time, where you look at
56:47
Speaker 6: what Vegas has done on the ice, I don't think
56:49
Speaker 6: they're that far ahead of the I don't think they're
56:51
Speaker 6: really that hard far ahead of the Pacific. Like you
56:54
Speaker 6: go look at the Ducks, I think have been a
56:56
Speaker 6: really good story. I don't think they're there. I think
56:59
Speaker 6: for me, the Ducks are that team where this is
57:02
Speaker 6: the year where maybe when they're a legit Pacific Division
57:06
Speaker 6: contender two three years from now, this is the year
57:08
Speaker 6: that you circle of Hey, this is where a lot
57:10
Speaker 6: of those steps were made. So I it's it's an
57:14
Speaker 6: interesting level of things. Because I was going into the Olympics,
57:18
Speaker 6: I was thinking, Okay, we're gonna be all gung ho
57:20
Speaker 6: about la. I was thinking that, you know what, they
57:22
Speaker 6: made the trade for Panaren, They've that's gonna come together.
57:26
Speaker 6: It's gonna be. I think it's gonna be. I think
57:29
Speaker 6: there's gonna be that kind of crossover of the Copatar's
57:32
Speaker 6: final season, which of that team will definitely be playing
57:34
Speaker 6: for pairs well with a kind of passing of the
57:36
Speaker 6: torch to I know, parent's not gonna be a captain
57:39
Speaker 6: on that team, but like the new face of the
57:40
Speaker 6: team and everything like that. But then they lose Fiala
57:43
Speaker 6: and that's gonna be That's that's really gonna hurt, the
57:46
Speaker 6: hurt that Kings team. So I like the thing I
57:51
Speaker 6: love about looking at the Pacific and I'm looking at
57:53
Speaker 6: the standings right now as we talk about it is
57:55
Speaker 6: like you go through and there's just gonna be a
57:58
Speaker 6: lot of exciting hockey played, right, Like, I think the
58:02
Speaker 6: even if the one that I get the team that
58:05
Speaker 6: I'm that I watch a ton right now just because
58:08
Speaker 6: I'm fascinated to see. I don't think they're gonna get
58:10
Speaker 6: over the line, but is san Jose is Is Macklin
58:12
Speaker 6: Celabrini gonna win his heart by getting San Jose over
58:16
Speaker 6: over the line into something like that? Like that to
58:19
Speaker 6: me is a huge just another another factor if this
58:22
Speaker 6: where I don't think the Sharks are They're way ahead
58:24
Speaker 6: of schedule. But like that kid is, we're looking at
58:27
Speaker 6: what he's doing right now to drag that team forward
58:29
Speaker 6: is really impressive. So but I for you guys and
58:34
Speaker 6: the like, I watched that Seattle team and I think
58:37
Speaker 6: it's I'm looking forward to watching this game again tomorrow
58:39
Speaker 6: night obviously or recurting Tuesday tomorrow night. Of like, I
58:43
Speaker 6: think the Seattle team, I think there's something about that group.
58:46
Speaker 6: And remember that's and I talked when you and I
58:49
Speaker 6: had launched a couple of months back and right before
58:51
Speaker 6: we played, Like there's something about the Seattle team that
58:53
Speaker 6: I think is really there's a good group mentality about
58:57
Speaker 6: that team, right like, and I don't you guys can
58:59
Speaker 6: tell me you guys see it on a day to
59:01
Speaker 6: day more than I do, and everything like that. But
59:03
Speaker 6: with the crack and I think there's something about you
59:06
Speaker 6: get the feeling if it's a group that plays for
59:08
Speaker 6: each other, it's it's a feeling of I think there's
59:11
Speaker 6: the combination. I think a lot of teams have young
59:14
Speaker 6: players that come in and make an impact on the ice.
59:16
Speaker 6: But talking to some of those other young guys on
59:17
Speaker 6: that team when I have, you see how they feel
59:20
Speaker 6: like they're part of the group right away. Like for me,
59:23
Speaker 6: that Seattle team is gonna be. They're gonna be a
59:25
Speaker 6: tough out. I don't know if i'd put them like, hey,
59:27
Speaker 6: they can win the division or anything like that. I
59:29
Speaker 6: feel that's a bit of a stretch right now personally.
59:31
Speaker 6: But I do think if you're gonna say, hey, Seattle's
59:34
Speaker 6: gonna be your first round matchup, they're gonna be that
59:35
Speaker 6: two three matchup. I think they're gonna be a team
59:37
Speaker 6: that's gonna be They're gonna fight and tooth and nail
59:41
Speaker 6: and whatever terminology we want to use. That are gonna
59:43
Speaker 6: be tougher out than people realize. Just because it's not
59:47
Speaker 6: the and you got the Matti Viniers, I think is
59:51
Speaker 6: is gonna be a bigger name in a couple of
59:53
Speaker 6: years as people as Maddie's game starts to take another
59:55
Speaker 6: step and things like that. But just because people outside
59:58
Speaker 6: of Seattle don't see that TA on a regular basis,
1:00:01
Speaker 6: I think it's I think they're going to surprise some people.
1:00:03
Speaker 3: So great stuff, Great stuff, Sean. We're getting short on time.
1:00:07
Speaker 3: A week could go much much longer, but you better
1:00:09
Speaker 3: believe once the matchups again come around the corner, and
1:00:12
Speaker 3: hey maybe who knows Stanley Cup playoffs, we'll be looking
1:00:15
Speaker 3: forward to getting you back on soon. Sewan. Hey, thank
1:00:17
Speaker 3: you appreciate it. Buddy enjoyed the rest of the stretch
1:00:19
Speaker 3: drive here.
1:00:21
Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks for having me guys.
1:00:22
Speaker 1: Well Falcon and is.
1:00:23
Speaker 3: Sean Shapiro again Proud bowling Green State Falcon Just like
1:00:28
Speaker 3: Everett Fits, you're joining us from d l LS Sports again.
1:00:31
Speaker 3: You can find him by the way at Twitter and
1:00:34
Speaker 3: next at Sean Shapiro also d l l S Sports
1:00:37
Speaker 3: at d l LS Underscore, Sports Mail Bank Questions, three
1:00:41
Speaker 3: stars all up next here on Cracking Weekly on ninety
1:00:43
Speaker 3: three three k JRFM. Big thanks again to Sean Shapiro
1:00:48
Speaker 3: for joining us of d l LS Sports. My goodness,
1:00:52
Speaker 3: we are in store for some theater here coming down
1:00:54
Speaker 3: the stretch Drive update here on the poll question, was
1:00:57
Speaker 3: Sunday's men's hockey old medal game at the Winter Olympics
1:01:02
Speaker 3: the best gold medal game ever? Right now? Forty three
1:01:06
Speaker 3: point three percent of you say yes, except for nineteen eighty.
1:01:11
Speaker 3: Keep in mind again nineteen eighty the miracle game was
1:01:15
Speaker 3: a semi final, but that was still a still a
1:01:18
Speaker 3: miracle team that finished off the job. In forty three
1:01:21
Speaker 3: percent of you say yes, except for nineteen eighty, that
1:01:24
Speaker 3: was the best gold medal game ever. Again, what's your
1:01:27
Speaker 3: vote on this? Go ahead and drop it in right
1:01:28
Speaker 3: now at Cracking Audio Net, Mike Everett now back of
1:01:33
Speaker 3: you here to get this thing one more final wrap up,
1:01:36
Speaker 3: And amongst the things we got to get to here,
1:01:38
Speaker 3: I think is on the Cracking side, this trade freeze
1:01:43
Speaker 3: is now lifted. The clock is now ticking on March six,
1:01:47
Speaker 3: and I think the difference of how this roster looks
1:01:51
Speaker 3: now versus saying about a month could be a little
1:01:54
Speaker 3: bit different, and I think for this summer perhaps a
1:01:58
Speaker 3: lot different. So what the craw can do from now
1:02:01
Speaker 3: to the trade deadline, who knows. I mean, it is
1:02:04
Speaker 3: so opaque, but I think the swing they took for
1:02:08
Speaker 3: our Timmy Panera, and according to reports told us one thing.
1:02:12
Speaker 3: They are serious about being a buyer, and they are
1:02:15
Speaker 3: serious about injecting some top line juice into this lineup
1:02:20
Speaker 3: which has been lacking ever since the dawn of this franchise.
1:02:25
Speaker 3: So where they go who knows? But I think two
1:02:28
Speaker 3: questions remain out there. Did the game change here for
1:02:32
Speaker 3: the Kracking as far as their pursuits with the reported
1:02:35
Speaker 3: attempts of our Timmy Paneren who's now onto the Kings?
1:02:38
Speaker 3: But more importantly, if you get a big lie, a
1:02:42
Speaker 3: big name top line guy in there, depending upon who's
1:02:45
Speaker 3: out there, how much does it move the needle for
1:02:48
Speaker 3: the Kraken and this roster heading into the stretch drive?
1:02:53
Speaker 3: My argument is significantly. Ever, now what about you?
1:02:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I obviously.
1:03:02
Speaker 2: From a fan perspective, if if i'd obviously I'm on
1:03:06
Speaker 2: the inside, so I can't have as many opinions as
1:03:10
Speaker 2: you two can. But from a fan perspective, watching the
1:03:15
Speaker 2: Kraken swing for our Temmy Panarian gives a lot of
1:03:21
Speaker 2: positive feeling and a lot of reassurance that says, okay,
1:03:27
Speaker 2: like this team is willing to go for it. We've
1:03:29
Speaker 2: heard time and time again, Uh, we're we're taking a
1:03:33
Speaker 2: big swing. We want a big we need a forward,
1:03:35
Speaker 2: need a top line score. Well, you swung for one.
1:03:38
Speaker 2: You didn't get them, but you show that you were
1:03:39
Speaker 2: willing to swing for him. And like we've always said,
1:03:43
Speaker 2: it takes two to tango, right. Who knows the other
1:03:46
Speaker 2: side of that conversation. From what it sounds like, the
1:03:49
Speaker 2: Kings were always Panarian's top choice.
1:03:51
Speaker 1: He always was one of the king It was one
1:03:54
Speaker 1: of one.
1:03:55
Speaker 2: So you aren't gonna win because there was only there
1:03:58
Speaker 2: was one place he wanted to go. But that says
1:04:01
Speaker 2: to me that, hey, we're willing to make that big move.
1:04:04
Speaker 2: You're willing to make, Mike, as you like to call it,
1:04:06
Speaker 2: that franchise altering move, you know, to shake things up.
1:04:10
Speaker 2: So going into this next five games before the before
1:04:15
Speaker 2: the deadline, I.
1:04:16
Speaker 1: Mean, it's gonna be a challenge.
1:04:18
Speaker 2: And again I'm just gonna remind people that a lot
1:04:23
Speaker 2: of this trade talk, you have to remember number one,
1:04:27
Speaker 2: what are you giving up on the back end of that?
1:04:30
Speaker 2: And number two, Yes, the Kraken may have a lot
1:04:33
Speaker 2: of enticing expiring pieces that look good to other teams,
1:04:38
Speaker 2: but remember those enticing expiring pieces helped get you here,
1:04:44
Speaker 2: They helped get you to a third place spot going
1:04:48
Speaker 2: into the Olympic break. They helped you get to five
1:04:50
Speaker 2: points back of first at the Olympic break. So I mean,
1:04:54
Speaker 2: you don't want to risk upsetting the potential apple cart,
1:04:58
Speaker 2: the proverbial apple card too much unless you're sure that
1:05:03
Speaker 2: you're getting back a bonafide piece that's gonna help you
1:05:07
Speaker 2: in the long run. And that also may mean letting
1:05:10
Speaker 2: a few of these guys walk in the summer for nothing.
1:05:13
Speaker 2: You know, you'd love to get something back for these guys.
1:05:15
Speaker 3: But Rental, basically you're exactly and this is not the
1:05:19
Speaker 3: only team in this situation too.
1:05:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, not the only team again, So that that is
1:05:25
Speaker 2: I think where I'm going to caution our listeners is that, yes,
1:05:29
Speaker 2: we want to make trades, get guy A, B C
1:05:32
Speaker 2: out of here and bring in guy X y Z.
1:05:35
Speaker 2: But remember guy A, B and C helped you get
1:05:38
Speaker 2: to this point. So unless you're getting a A A,
1:05:45
Speaker 2: a bonafied guaranteed replacement, or a guy that's going to
1:05:54
Speaker 2: be better, a better version of that player, just be
1:05:57
Speaker 2: be a little cautious and gonna be a little bit
1:05:59
Speaker 2: wary about out the trade requests that you're trying to make.
1:06:04
Speaker 4: You know, a pompon question I always get asked, I'm
1:06:06
Speaker 4: sure you guys do as well, is are the seattle cracking?
1:06:09
Speaker 1: Are they buyers or they sellers? And the answer is
1:06:11
Speaker 1: always yes, yep.
1:06:12
Speaker 4: Because the analogy I use is like going to a
1:06:15
Speaker 4: swap meet, you know, where people have things that they collect.
1:06:18
Speaker 4: I don't care if it's you know, furries or cabbage
1:06:21
Speaker 4: patch kids or Russian tee dolls or silver spoons. You're
1:06:24
Speaker 4: collecting things, and in this case, you're collecting players on
1:06:27
Speaker 4: a team. You've got your table set up, you've got
1:06:30
Speaker 4: your players there, but at a certain point in the day,
1:06:33
Speaker 4: you start walking around to see what other people are
1:06:36
Speaker 4: selling and you have conversations and sometimes they're willing to
1:06:40
Speaker 4: entertain it, sometimes they're not. That's basically where this team's
1:06:43
Speaker 4: at now. There's certain pieces you want to add to
1:06:47
Speaker 4: your collection, whatever that collection is. In this case, it's players,
1:06:50
Speaker 4: And I agree, I think it's a top six forward
1:06:54
Speaker 4: that you're.
1:06:55
Speaker 1: Looking to add. But what do you got to give
1:06:57
Speaker 1: up to get that?
1:06:57
Speaker 4: And I think that to your point, fits, you're always
1:07:01
Speaker 4: trying to maximize the number of people on your team.
1:07:04
Speaker 4: That over the course of their career are either still
1:07:08
Speaker 4: going up that hill on their career trajectory or they're
1:07:12
Speaker 4: near the top. If you've got to give something up,
1:07:15
Speaker 4: you want guys that have hit the top and maybe
1:07:17
Speaker 4: you're starting to flatten out or maybe even come down
1:07:20
Speaker 4: on their career. If you have to give something up,
1:07:22
Speaker 4: and there's no way to know that, there's no science
1:07:25
Speaker 4: behind it, but that's ideally what you're always trying to
1:07:27
Speaker 4: do is find guys that either have more in the tank,
1:07:30
Speaker 4: and I think Copocacco is a great example. Yeah, he
1:07:32
Speaker 4: had more in the tank and I think we're pulling
1:07:34
Speaker 4: that out of him, or they're at the top of
1:07:37
Speaker 4: their hill, but they're gonna plateau for a few years,
1:07:39
Speaker 4: and that's okay too. And if you give up somebody
1:07:42
Speaker 4: that maybe has hit that plateau and is on their
1:07:44
Speaker 4: way down, that's okay.
1:07:46
Speaker 1: And also too reckon.
1:07:47
Speaker 2: I think I would say whether the Kraken have a
1:07:50
Speaker 2: really an advantage over other teams.
1:07:53
Speaker 1: Is the cap space too.
1:07:54
Speaker 2: Seattle is one of those teams that are currently in
1:07:57
Speaker 2: a playoff spot that can afford to take on a
1:08:02
Speaker 2: heftier contract even looking toward next year, So you know,
1:08:05
Speaker 2: there's a couple of names.
1:08:06
Speaker 1: I'm not going to mention any names. One of them
1:08:08
Speaker 1: may play here in Dallas. I don't know for a fact.
1:08:11
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get into the Olympic roster. He was
1:08:14
Speaker 1: not on the Olympic roster.
1:08:15
Speaker 2: He was not and even though we won, it is
1:08:18
Speaker 2: still a point of contention for me that he should
1:08:20
Speaker 2: have been there.
1:08:21
Speaker 1: But whatever, not going to mention his name. But there's
1:08:23
Speaker 1: a guy, a couple of guys.
1:08:25
Speaker 2: Who potentially, you know, the Kraken could afford if that
1:08:30
Speaker 2: if financially and with assets.
1:08:33
Speaker 1: So I think they're positioned maybe better than a couple
1:08:36
Speaker 1: of other teams.
1:08:37
Speaker 3: From our mailbag segment here Brett asking, do you think
1:08:40
Speaker 3: the Kraken are going to make any aggressive roster additions
1:08:43
Speaker 3: this trade deadline cycle? Well, I think that phrase opens
1:08:47
Speaker 3: up to plenty of possibilities, Brett, And I think again,
1:08:50
Speaker 3: you have to consider and ever kind of touched on this,
1:08:53
Speaker 3: your own rentals, because there are UFAs the Kraken did
1:08:56
Speaker 3: say they want to get after with examining their fit
1:08:58
Speaker 3: here for the long term. Pick sure, Jayden Schwartz is
1:09:01
Speaker 3: in that boat, Jordan Neberly's in that boat, Jamie Alexiak
1:09:04
Speaker 3: is in that boat Ellie Tolnan as well, and that
1:09:07
Speaker 3: could really affect I think where things go by March
1:09:10
Speaker 3: six here in this and then you of course have
1:09:12
Speaker 3: the reporter, Shade and Wright picture, which is in this
1:09:15
Speaker 3: whole mix. But I use one example. If you can
1:09:18
Speaker 3: find a top line guy and a center who can
1:09:21
Speaker 3: then bump Maddy Benier's down to a two seed maybe
1:09:25
Speaker 3: even Chandler Stevenson here down to a three c that's
1:09:29
Speaker 3: a pretty solid spine that you had at his positioned
1:09:32
Speaker 3: to get into the postseason. And we'll see what happens here.
1:09:34
Speaker 3: I mean, the goal is to get into the playoffs.
1:09:36
Speaker 3: Aren't in that same contention window. I say, Dallas is Colorado,
1:09:41
Speaker 3: is Minnesota, is now Vegas, et cetera. And the one
1:09:45
Speaker 3: thing that the crack and are trying to look after
1:09:48
Speaker 3: is their own optics here because they're still trying to
1:09:50
Speaker 3: set foot more firmly in this picture, and a playoff run,
1:09:56
Speaker 3: does wonder is a big reason why we're hearing that
1:09:59
Speaker 3: they could be by here at this deadline. So who
1:10:02
Speaker 3: they get, I mean, the picture is changing every day,
1:10:05
Speaker 3: and whether it might be someone like Robert Thomas or
1:10:08
Speaker 3: Jordan kyru back on the wing. Even Stevens Damcos's name,
1:10:11
Speaker 3: I'm not sure maybe how available he is now then,
1:10:13
Speaker 3: say versus about two months ago. Those are some examples.
1:10:17
Speaker 3: Vincent Trocheck, maybe we'll see, but I think to make
1:10:21
Speaker 3: a roster tweak. I mean, even Alexi la Fernier's name
1:10:25
Speaker 3: is out there, and that could be a project type
1:10:27
Speaker 3: of thing. But I wouldn't be surprised if you're looking
1:10:30
Speaker 3: at a couple of additions here by March sixth. The
1:10:33
Speaker 3: question is where these teams shake out, and where does
1:10:36
Speaker 3: their free agency picture also shake out in this entire scope.
1:10:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, I guess that a second ago. The
1:10:43
Speaker 2: move's got to make sense, right and and you know
1:10:46
Speaker 2: you're gonna say, well, no, duh.
1:10:48
Speaker 1: But it's got to be a good move.
1:10:49
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not giving up the farm for a piece,
1:10:54
Speaker 2: right Like if I'm if I'm giving up assets, if
1:10:58
Speaker 2: I'm if I'm giving up draft capital.
1:11:01
Speaker 1: The Kracking have got four firsts in the next two drafts.
1:11:04
Speaker 2: They've got you know, everyone you know the Shane Wright's
1:11:07
Speaker 2: been the the young name that's that's been thrown around
1:11:10
Speaker 2: the hockey world. You know, if I'm if I'm giving
1:11:13
Speaker 2: that up. I'm getting an upgrade over that. So the
1:11:16
Speaker 2: deal's got to make sense. I think, like I said,
1:11:19
Speaker 2: the the conversation that we saw and that we heard
1:11:23
Speaker 2: about for Paneren leads me to believe that there absolutely
1:11:28
Speaker 2: will be attempts.
1:11:30
Speaker 1: To make a major move.
1:11:32
Speaker 2: But it takes two to tango right, So we won't know.
1:11:36
Speaker 2: We won't know until March seventh, March eighth, March ninth,
1:11:40
Speaker 2: how close some of these deals, potential deals were.
1:11:45
Speaker 1: But you know I I.
1:11:48
Speaker 2: This team is gonna try come hell or highwaatter to
1:11:52
Speaker 2: to move that needle as much as they can.
1:11:55
Speaker 3: From Daniel at Twitter and X was the gold medal
1:11:58
Speaker 3: game proof that hockey is nothing more than just a
1:12:03
Speaker 3: giant game of chance. How can I begin to explain
1:12:07
Speaker 3: this here? This is the beauty of hockey in the NHL,
1:12:14
Speaker 3: in the minor leagues, major junior and best on best
1:12:19
Speaker 3: international competition. The only game of chance that you're playing
1:12:25
Speaker 3: is you're telling me there's a chance by any kind
1:12:28
Speaker 3: of roster that you can put out there. And this
1:12:31
Speaker 3: is not for me. I think a chance here to
1:12:33
Speaker 3: drag analytics in this context, end of the conversation. But
1:12:37
Speaker 3: analytics is a great tool for us to explain why
1:12:42
Speaker 3: player A, player B or player C has been playing
1:12:46
Speaker 3: the way that they have been playing. But this is
1:12:49
Speaker 3: the beauty of hockey. You cannot predict it on paper
1:12:54
Speaker 3: one hundred percent accurately. You can put Maclin, Celebrini, Connor
1:12:59
Speaker 3: McDavid and Nathan McKinnon, three of the top are soon
1:13:04
Speaker 3: to be top players in the world, if not already
1:13:07
Speaker 3: on a line together. It is like the Avengers going
1:13:11
Speaker 3: out over and over and over and what did it
1:13:13
Speaker 3: get you? This year silver medal Connor Hallibuck proved that
1:13:20
Speaker 3: with goaltending anything is possible. And this is the beauty
1:13:24
Speaker 3: of it. You never know what you're going to see
1:13:27
Speaker 3: any given day.
1:13:31
Speaker 1: I'll let the silver medalist go.
1:13:34
Speaker 4: I gonna let me go second because that's where Canada
1:13:37
Speaker 4: came in.
1:13:41
Speaker 1: Listen.
1:13:42
Speaker 3: Uh.
1:13:43
Speaker 1: Luck favors of the prepared.
1:13:45
Speaker 4: And there is an element to this game that that
1:13:48
Speaker 4: is chance, that is luck, but it does favor prepare
1:13:51
Speaker 4: the persistent.
1:13:53
Speaker 1: Uh.
1:13:54
Speaker 4: And I think that it's hard to encapsulate how much
1:13:57
Speaker 4: of every game that is it's less than others, but
1:14:02
Speaker 4: whether it's you know, not seeing that there are six
1:14:06
Speaker 4: or seven players on the ice after they scored and
1:14:08
Speaker 4: not being penalized, whether it's a deflection off a stanchion,
1:14:13
Speaker 4: there're a puck that ends up in front of your net,
1:14:15
Speaker 4: there is luck now that puck never gets there if
1:14:18
Speaker 4: you don't fire it that way. So there's the skill,
1:14:20
Speaker 4: but not many players would say I intended to hit
1:14:24
Speaker 4: stansion number three because it had a chunk out of it,
1:14:26
Speaker 4: and I knew the puck was going to bounce up
1:14:28
Speaker 4: to the front of the net, et cetera, et cetera.
1:14:30
Speaker 1: So there's an element of luck to this game.
1:14:32
Speaker 4: I guess the the the difference might be is which
1:14:36
Speaker 4: team is able to capitalize on.
1:14:38
Speaker 1: That luck more.
1:14:40
Speaker 4: Is it purely a game of luck luck? Absolutely not,
1:14:43
Speaker 4: absolutely not. When you get the best versus best in
1:14:46
Speaker 4: the world, it's skill versus skill. But how much of
1:14:49
Speaker 4: it is luck, that's arguable.
1:14:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think it was a chess match.
1:14:58
Speaker 2: I think from a from a menageriy standpoint, because I
1:15:03
Speaker 2: obviously I felt that Robertson should have been there.
1:15:06
Speaker 1: You know, you leave a lot of guys.
1:15:07
Speaker 2: At home, but Cole Clawfield, Jason Robertson to the Americans
1:15:12
Speaker 2: that weren't there, they're probably not killing penalties and the
1:15:16
Speaker 2: crack and the crack, and the US had a near
1:15:19
Speaker 2: perfect dynamite penalty kill.
1:15:21
Speaker 1: And and I loved the quote that Mike Sullivan had
1:15:26
Speaker 1: at the end of Oh goodness, yes, he goes, there are.
1:15:30
Speaker 2: Milk drinkers, and there are whiskey drinkers, and Team USA
1:15:34
Speaker 2: we had a lot.
1:15:35
Speaker 1: Of whiskey drinkers on this roster, so which I loved.
1:15:38
Speaker 1: As a whiskey drinker myself, I love it. But I
1:15:41
Speaker 1: also I also think.
1:15:43
Speaker 2: Though there there is a lot of chance in this game,
1:15:46
Speaker 2: but al you're banging on luck favors. There prepared, the
1:15:49
Speaker 2: US was prepared. Okay, Yeah, did did Team Canada get goldied?
1:15:54
Speaker 1: Fine? All right? In the last forty.
1:15:56
Speaker 2: Minutes of that game, Team Canada should have won five
1:16:00
Speaker 2: to one, right, But I'm gonna I'm gonna repeat a
1:16:03
Speaker 2: comment that one of my really good friends in this business, JT. Brown,
1:16:06
Speaker 2: told me one time, if you have a five on
1:16:08
Speaker 2: three and you don't score on that, you don't deserve
1:16:10
Speaker 2: to win that game. You got a five on three
1:16:12
Speaker 2: power play, Team Canada didn't score on that. Nathan McKennon
1:16:16
Speaker 2: for a minute, for ninety seconds of five on three
1:16:20
Speaker 2: with the like the literal Avengers power play, and you
1:16:24
Speaker 2: couldn't score on it.
1:16:25
Speaker 1: Against the Avengers, penally kill against the event. But still
1:16:28
Speaker 1: you're you're two down right.
1:16:30
Speaker 2: You know, Nathan McKinnon, he'll get one hundred tries, one
1:16:34
Speaker 2: hundred backdoor tap ins, He's gonna make ninety eight of them.
1:16:38
Speaker 1: Right like.
1:16:40
Speaker 2: But but those are the things, right, So yeah, there
1:16:43
Speaker 2: is some chance, Yeah there is some luck. But listen,
1:16:45
Speaker 2: the US this is the best I think this is
1:16:49
Speaker 2: the best time for USA hockey, at least in my lifetime,
1:16:53
Speaker 2: that we've seen. This is the best talent pool that
1:16:57
Speaker 2: we've had to pick from. I've said this stat multiple times.
1:17:00
Speaker 2: I'm going to say it here again. I just read
1:17:02
Speaker 2: something the other day that said, you eight under eight.
1:17:06
Speaker 2: Participation in America right now, for the first time, has
1:17:10
Speaker 2: crossed one hundred thousand, right, You've got so no longer
1:17:14
Speaker 2: are the best players guaranteed to come from Canada.
1:17:18
Speaker 1: You now are.
1:17:19
Speaker 2: Like I said, it might not be a changing of
1:17:21
Speaker 2: the guard, it's a challenging of the guard. Where the
1:17:24
Speaker 2: US is right now in terms of this sport growing,
1:17:27
Speaker 2: this sport getting to where it's going to be. It'll
1:17:29
Speaker 2: never be football, I understand that it'll never be basketball, hockey,
1:17:33
Speaker 2: will never be hockey in America, will never be hockey
1:17:36
Speaker 2: in Canada.
1:17:37
Speaker 1: I get it.
1:17:38
Speaker 2: But where we as a nation are going with development,
1:17:43
Speaker 2: with our resources for both the men's and the women's team,
1:17:47
Speaker 2: the women's programs Historically in America, women's sports programs are
1:17:51
Speaker 2: unfairly underfunded, unfairly underrepresented. But the number one, the fastest
1:17:58
Speaker 2: growing demographic in hockey are young women and girls playing
1:18:03
Speaker 2: and watching the sport. So you know what that it
1:18:07
Speaker 2: is chance, But it's also a lot of really damn
1:18:09
Speaker 2: good players who were watching that twenty fourteen Olympics, who
1:18:13
Speaker 2: were watching that golden goal in twenty ten up in Vancouver,
1:18:18
Speaker 2: and they were saying to themselves at ten years old,
1:18:20
Speaker 2: not on my watch, and look what happened here in
1:18:24
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, not on our watch as team USA.
1:18:28
Speaker 2: And now we have just began a run of you know,
1:18:31
Speaker 2: five ten consecutive gold medals and I'm looking forward to that.
1:18:35
Speaker 3: Let's get to our three stars here, as we're running
1:18:38
Speaker 3: out of time here for this one right now. Well,
1:18:41
Speaker 3: I'll give you the floor here for your final comments.
1:18:44
Speaker 3: Oh god, I'll give your floor here for the final
1:18:46
Speaker 3: comments and this is where you can drop the hammer,
1:18:48
Speaker 3: drop the mic, and walk off stage if you need to.
1:18:50
Speaker 3: Here because the crack and haven't played since the fourth
1:18:53
Speaker 3: of February, We're gonna kind of open this year to
1:18:56
Speaker 3: a more subjective look, and I'll go to Maddi been.
1:18:59
Speaker 3: Here's here from my third star, and I'm gonna not
1:19:02
Speaker 3: just point to just the simple fact that he said
1:19:05
Speaker 3: he wants to play for Team USA at the Olympics
1:19:08
Speaker 3: four years from now, but I think you're getting the
1:19:11
Speaker 3: sense of pride that he takes in his game, the
1:19:14
Speaker 3: sense of pride in his ambitions and his goals, and
1:19:17
Speaker 3: understand just how much this whole week meant to him,
1:19:22
Speaker 3: because of course there is a sense of USA pride,
1:19:25
Speaker 3: but Beniers has had a taste of this before. I
1:19:28
Speaker 3: think it's gonna one, I think fuel his game for
1:19:30
Speaker 3: the short term and to fuel his game here for
1:19:34
Speaker 3: the long term. And this is the advantage of what
1:19:36
Speaker 3: you have and a guy like Baniers who is now
1:19:39
Speaker 3: beginning to blossom with his game. But we're getting a
1:19:41
Speaker 3: greater taste and a sense of depth to his natural
1:19:45
Speaker 3: competitive nature. He's my third star. My secretary is Philip Grubauer,
1:19:49
Speaker 3: who in this tournament for the Olympics, didn't have the
1:19:52
Speaker 3: greatest ending knocked out of Chorus in the knockout rounds here,
1:19:56
Speaker 3: but all in all, you put together the numbers that
1:19:59
Speaker 3: he had nine to one to two, say percentage, that's
1:20:02
Speaker 3: pretty solid here for a team that didn't have as
1:20:04
Speaker 3: much talent as compared to say, what Canada had, what
1:20:07
Speaker 3: the US had, Sweden, Finland, et cetera. Philip Grewbauer looked
1:20:12
Speaker 3: great and to have health on his side coming out
1:20:14
Speaker 3: of this tournament and back now for the Kraken and
1:20:16
Speaker 3: their mix of goaltending, that's a big plus. Philip Greenbauer
1:20:20
Speaker 3: is my second star and then my first star all together,
1:20:24
Speaker 3: all crack and Olympians here for this Grubauer and what
1:20:28
Speaker 3: he did Coppocaco, Ellie Tolbin and capturing the bronze medal,
1:20:32
Speaker 3: and then Oscar Fisker Mulgard as well nearly point per
1:20:35
Speaker 3: game totals with team Denmark to show the kind of
1:20:37
Speaker 3: promise that he has for those on the ice, all
1:20:41
Speaker 3: cracking Olympians here, those are my first stars here for
1:20:43
Speaker 3: this entire week.
1:20:45
Speaker 2: I'll go I'll go second. I'll let al get the
1:20:47
Speaker 2: last word because he's earned it. He's been a good
1:20:50
Speaker 2: sport today, so he can add.
1:20:51
Speaker 1: Last word.
1:20:52
Speaker 2: My third star is going to be hockey as a whole,
1:20:58
Speaker 2: just the sport of hockey. The Olympics were fantastic. You
1:21:02
Speaker 2: showed best on best for the first time in what
1:21:06
Speaker 2: twelve years. This is what we've been clamoring for. And
1:21:09
Speaker 2: I think the tournament did not disappoint. So I just
1:21:11
Speaker 2: think the sport, the growth of the game that is
1:21:16
Speaker 2: that is my my third star.
1:21:18
Speaker 1: My second star are gonna be USA women USA men.
1:21:22
Speaker 1: The gold medals. I mean, listen, we swept them.
1:21:26
Speaker 2: We swept Canada in both games, dominating performances on both sides.
1:21:33
Speaker 1: You know again going back to go in the game.
1:21:36
Speaker 2: I think that was huge and to quote our captain
1:21:40
Speaker 2: Jordan every it's good for the game.
1:21:41
Speaker 1: Had to let them head to let us hold one
1:21:43
Speaker 1: this time. So that yeah, something like that, right. So
1:21:47
Speaker 1: I think the golds for for US women and US
1:21:52
Speaker 1: men that's my second star.
1:21:54
Speaker 2: And then my my first star are the Kraken bronze
1:21:58
Speaker 2: medalists Toovin and In Coppocaco, And they're my first star
1:22:01
Speaker 2: because they played for the Kraken. We are we we
1:22:05
Speaker 2: I have a loyalty and allegiance to them, but also
1:22:09
Speaker 2: knowing what it meant to be over there for them.
1:22:12
Speaker 2: I had the privilege of going to Ellie Tolvenan's home
1:22:14
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago in Finland, and he talked
1:22:17
Speaker 2: about his first Olympic experience and he talked about playing
1:22:21
Speaker 2: international hockey growing up. That's every kid's dream in Finland
1:22:26
Speaker 2: is to win a gold medal. I think over here
1:22:28
Speaker 2: in North America, unless it's USA Canada, I don't think
1:22:33
Speaker 2: we have that same We don't put the same importance
1:22:37
Speaker 2: on international hockey.
1:22:38
Speaker 1: It's the Stanley Cup. For us, it's the Cup. We
1:22:40
Speaker 1: want to win the Stanley Cup.
1:22:41
Speaker 2: But over there in Europe Olympics, World Championships, I mean
1:22:46
Speaker 2: they shut Latvia down for a week when Latvia won
1:22:49
Speaker 2: bronze at the World.
1:22:51
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago. So this matters to Finland.
1:22:54
Speaker 2: So for Copocco, Ellie tolven in the performances that they
1:22:57
Speaker 2: had to come home with bronze there my first star.
1:23:00
Speaker 1: Then my honorable mention of the other.
1:23:02
Speaker 2: Two Grubauer and Fisker Mulgard to represent their countries in
1:23:05
Speaker 2: the way that they did phenomenal tournament all around team
1:23:08
Speaker 2: USA Women's one team USA men won rightfully.
1:23:12
Speaker 1: So and al Kaniski over to you for the final word.
1:23:15
Speaker 4: Well, absolutely well, when the Krack and face off against Dallas,
1:23:18
Speaker 4: it'll have been three weeks since this team was on
1:23:20
Speaker 4: the ice, at least the team as a whole, and
1:23:23
Speaker 4: so my three stars are a mix between the Olympics
1:23:26
Speaker 4: and what happened in the games leading up to the
1:23:28
Speaker 4: Olympic break. So third stars for me are the duo
1:23:33
Speaker 4: for the krackt in Nett, Philip Griubauer and Joey Decord.
1:23:36
Speaker 4: Philip Grubauer obviously playing with Germany over there in Milatto, Italy,
1:23:42
Speaker 4: but he was one and two in his last three
1:23:44
Speaker 4: games here with the Kraken as well. Joey Decord he's
1:23:46
Speaker 4: four and oero in his last four. So collectively the
1:23:49
Speaker 4: Krack and goaltending duo.
1:23:51
Speaker 1: Is my three stars.
1:23:53
Speaker 4: You need goaltending to win, just like the US needed
1:23:56
Speaker 4: Connor Hellibuck to win. Second star goes to Kapok again,
1:24:02
Speaker 4: not only for his performance in the Olympics, but leading
1:24:04
Speaker 4: up to him leaving for the Olympics, he had a
1:24:07
Speaker 4: goal to assist in his last three You know, I
1:24:10
Speaker 4: talked about players in their careers cresting. I think that
1:24:14
Speaker 4: Coppocaco's season right now is still going up, and it
1:24:18
Speaker 4: may cress in the playoffs as well. So I'm excited
1:24:22
Speaker 4: to see what his game looks like coming out of
1:24:24
Speaker 4: the Olympics, coming back with the bronze medal in its pocket,
1:24:27
Speaker 4: to see how that affects the remaining twenty six games
1:24:31
Speaker 4: for the Cracking.
1:24:33
Speaker 1: And then my first star, I'm going to go in
1:24:35
Speaker 1: a different direction, Shane Wright.
1:24:38
Speaker 4: Four goals in his last four games, plus five in
1:24:41
Speaker 4: his last four, just like with Coppocaco, a guy whose
1:24:44
Speaker 4: game may be exploding a little bit right now, and
1:24:47
Speaker 4: there's lots of trade rumors. Put that noise away. Just
1:24:51
Speaker 4: go out and score. Whatever happens, happens happens. And I
1:24:56
Speaker 4: think that if he can continue to play this way,
1:24:58
Speaker 4: it's going to feed right into what this team can
1:25:01
Speaker 4: do late in April.
1:25:02
Speaker 3: All right, we're back. We're out of time here again
1:25:05
Speaker 3: tomorrow on air four thirty, Cracking at Dallas. Big thank
1:25:08
Speaker 3: you again to Sean Shapiro, Foreverett, and now I might
1:25:11
Speaker 3: see you