Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / OVERTIME: Thank you Eddie Olczyk (7/29)

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OVERTIME: Thank you Eddie Olczyk (7/29) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

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  Speaker 1: Featuring the great stories, personalities, conversation and news in the
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  Speaker 1: hockey world.
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  Speaker 2: Back to walk, left circle, same jas set up.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Overtime Podcast, a presentation of the Krack and
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  Speaker 1: Audio Network and Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
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  Speaker 1: R f m enploy that one.
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  Speaker 3: This is Jordan Everlief.
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  Speaker 1: This is Joey to Court, This is Mada Veneer.
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  Speaker 3: This is Shane right, this is Jary mccannon. You're listening
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  Speaker 3: to Overtime.
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  Speaker 1: Here's Mike Benton.
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  Speaker 4: All right, time to fire things up once again. Appreciate
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  Speaker 4: you joining us here for the Overtime Podcast, a presentation
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  Speaker 4: of the Global Credit Union Crack and Audio Network, also
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  Speaker 4: heard on demand via the iHeartRadio app. Just sign up
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  Speaker 4: for free to get it at sports Radio KJR dot com.
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  Speaker 4: I'm Mike Benton. We have some news to cover today,
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  Speaker 4: about roughly twenty four hours old, but yet nonetheless a
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  Speaker 4: sombering piece of news involving a shift in the Crack
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  Speaker 4: and Broadcast Booth TV side. At that Eddie Old Chick
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  Speaker 4: a part of the Crack and Television side for the
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  Speaker 4: Crack and Hockey Network, the two announcing Tuesday, he will
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  Speaker 4: be stepping aside from the team and from his role
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  Speaker 4: for quote personal and family reasons end quote. So Eddie
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  Speaker 4: Old Chick a part of the Crack and broadcast team
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  Speaker 4: on the TV side for four seasons, moving on to
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  Speaker 4: more national assignments, but certainly he'll be a part of
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  Speaker 4: us forever.
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  Speaker 3: All right here he is, here.
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  Speaker 4: We go, and the Beacon Plumbing hotline joining us now
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  Speaker 4: is the one and only Eddie Oldchick. And I would
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  Speaker 4: usually joke and say, what are we doing here? Let's
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  Speaker 4: just kick you out and get you going, but will
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  Speaker 4: at least give you we at least owe you one
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  Speaker 4: more time frame of reverence here as part of this
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  Speaker 4: broadcast family. I'm just only kiddy.
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  Speaker 3: My man.
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  Speaker 4: Is great to talk to you once again, and I
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  Speaker 4: know that's not goodbye, but see you later. But congratulations
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  Speaker 4: on a great run for four years. For me, it
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  Speaker 4: will with you for memorable years as well. And we'll
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  Speaker 4: get into more of the weeds on this here. But Edzo,
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  Speaker 4: how are you? How's your summer?
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Mikey. Nice to be with you, and yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's you know, it's been It's been an interesting process
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  Speaker 3: and it's something that I've thought about really for the
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  Speaker 3: last probably twenty months, and I just think it's it's
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  Speaker 3: time for me to be home more. Here in Chicago.
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  Speaker 3: The majority of my family is everybody except for Nick obviously,
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  Speaker 3: who had two great years there in Seattle and now
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  Speaker 3: is doing a terrific job with the Utah Mammoth. And
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  Speaker 3: you know, I guess trying to follow in my footsteps,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, I just it's been it's been a
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  Speaker 3: long ago. I have said that, you know, really for
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  Speaker 3: the first time in my professional career of hockey, which
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  Speaker 3: started back in nineteen eighty four, but having a family
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  Speaker 3: and getting married in nineteen eighty eight, that my schedule
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  Speaker 3: is kind of trumped everything else and everybody had to
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  Speaker 3: work around my schedule, regardless of what it was or
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  Speaker 3: the time of year. And you know, you get to
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  Speaker 3: a certain point in your life and things happen, and
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  Speaker 3: there's a dose of many realities as you get a
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  Speaker 3: little bit older. And I think I knew that this
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  Speaker 3: time was coming, probably two Thanksgivings ago, And yeah, I
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  Speaker 3: guess I look back and know that I fought through
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  Speaker 3: getting through last year, not only you know, psychologically, but
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  Speaker 3: I think, you know, I had a couple of health
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  Speaker 3: issues as well that kind of you know, kept my
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  Speaker 3: number of games down on the Crack and Hockey Network
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  Speaker 3: so long winded. You know, I feel good about my decision.
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  Speaker 3: The Crack and were awesome, you know, and they knew that,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they knew about just kind of where things
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  Speaker 3: were headed a while ago. You know, like I said,
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  Speaker 3: two Thanksgivings ago, I went right to Ronnie Francis, one
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  Speaker 3: of my best friends and obviously was in charge of
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  Speaker 3: the Crack and at that time, Hockey said, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: Ronnie went up to totem Pole and you know, I
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  Speaker 3: think he let everybody know and and you know, we
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  Speaker 3: got through it and and just finally came to a
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  Speaker 3: realization is that I need I need to be home
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  Speaker 3: more uh and uh and be available you know, for
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  Speaker 3: my wife and for my family and for myself. And
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  Speaker 3: I just think that you get older, as I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to have a big birthday coming up here in the
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  Speaker 3: middle of August, I'm going to be a fifty plus
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  Speaker 3: ten years ten years older. And when you get to that, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: So you know, I just think that you know, the time,
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  Speaker 3: you know that the time is right for me. And
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  Speaker 3: like I said, the Crack and We're great mighty about
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  Speaker 3: understanding and you know, they you know, this was this
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  Speaker 3: was strictly my decision, and I'm very appreciative of, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the way everything was handled and the decision and but
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's a lot of range of emotion. But
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  Speaker 3: for me, the the time was right to get back
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  Speaker 3: home and be home. And you know, just quick little story.
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  Speaker 3: And I my first three years after I retired. I
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  Speaker 3: retired in two thousand of the Blackhawk after playing sixteen
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  Speaker 3: years in the NHL, and I got a TV gig
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  Speaker 3: with the Pittsburgh Penguins. I did local television in Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 3: where I did I think seventy five or seventy seven
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  Speaker 3: games plus playoffs and for three straight years. But I commuted.
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  Speaker 3: I lived in Chicago, but I commuted back and forth
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  Speaker 3: from Chicago to the Burg and I would travel with
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  Speaker 3: the team obviously, and I did a full schedule. And
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  Speaker 3: then I did that for three years. And when I
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  Speaker 3: got the coaching job in Pittsburgh, we moved my family there,
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  Speaker 3: and then I got fired, and then we came back
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  Speaker 3: home in Chicago. And then I did local in Chicago
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  Speaker 3: for sixteen years and then ended up you know, in
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  Speaker 3: Seattle for four years where I commuted again, so I
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's it's I didn't have any home games
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  Speaker 3: these last four years because my family was here. And
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  Speaker 3: you know, I just think, like I said, getting a
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  Speaker 3: little bit older and my TNT national schedule sometimes you know,
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  Speaker 3: you got to take a step back, and I think
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  Speaker 3: this is the perfect time. And again really enjoyed my
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  Speaker 3: four years you know, in the sea and looking forward
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  Speaker 3: to getting back there on the national side, or even
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  Speaker 3: just coming through to say hello. And I just really
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  Speaker 3: enjoyed the opportunity and met a lot of great people
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  Speaker 3: like yourself, and enjoyed the four years there. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Likewise, I think a lot of us were able to
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  Speaker 4: connect with just not how much you were able to
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  Speaker 4: I think convey the game, communicate the game, but also
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  Speaker 4: make a human connection that was second to none. It
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  Speaker 4: really feels like going from one spot in the booth
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  Speaker 4: through the imaginary lens to someone else's couch or wherever
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  Speaker 4: they may be looking at games like these here from
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  Speaker 4: the last four years, I thought Edzo two that you
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  Speaker 4: really touched on the importance of family. It just can't
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  Speaker 4: be I think understated for so many who want to
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  Speaker 4: make this a career because family means a lot picking
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  Speaker 4: people up and going to wherever what's next, And you've
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  Speaker 4: got to have a real, you know, sign off from
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  Speaker 4: you know, one person all the way down. And so
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  Speaker 4: I think for you the meaning of family not just
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  Speaker 4: from a baseline scale, but to you, what's the secret
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  Speaker 4: sauce to kind of keeping this band together as you
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  Speaker 4: go from one stop here to the next.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if it's if it's a secret
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  Speaker 3: sauce or not. I think just very lucky to have
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  Speaker 3: an understanding wife, you know, the better half of us,
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  Speaker 3: the lovely and talented Diana Oltzcheck will be married thirty
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  Speaker 3: eight years coming up on August the sixth. Congratulations, thank you. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: just very very lucky to have that support. And and
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  Speaker 3: you know, everything has been based around my schedule, and
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  Speaker 3: like I said in a couple of articles and conversations,
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  Speaker 3: might be that, you know, I mean, you hear the
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  Speaker 3: word selfish, and I think there's always a negative, you know,
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  Speaker 3: a negative you know tone to that, and I think
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  Speaker 3: it depends on how it's being used, obviously, like really
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  Speaker 3: any other word. But I think i've I've realized the
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  Speaker 3: last little while is that in order to want to
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  Speaker 3: be home, is that I can't be selfish anymore. And
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  Speaker 3: for as much as I'd love to do local broadcasts
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  Speaker 3: and continue on on top of my TNT schedule, is
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  Speaker 3: that I have to not be that as I have
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  Speaker 3: for the last thirty eight years, you know, with a family.
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  Speaker 3: So I just think that that that has been an
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  Speaker 3: important part of it. And you know, I have four
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  Speaker 3: grandkids now, so that's really important. I mean, my oldest grandchild,
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  Speaker 3: my granddaughter, Audrey is you know, she just turns six
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  Speaker 3: years old. Another Eddie old check at namesake of yours. Truly,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's going to be five here in September.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, the grandkids are starting to get into
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  Speaker 3: activities and just having the all due respective freedom to
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  Speaker 3: be around and be available, uh to on a drop
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  Speaker 3: of a hat to pick them up and take them
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  Speaker 3: the breakfast or go to a movie, or take them
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  Speaker 3: to a hockey event or a dance or a swim meet.
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  Speaker 3: Just that that's that's really important. And then you know,
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  Speaker 3: as I mentioned earlier, all my kids are here except
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  Speaker 3: for Nick, who's who's in Utah, and it's it's it's
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  Speaker 3: important to uh, you know, to be around and I
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  Speaker 3: think communication and always trying to be there for one another,
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  Speaker 3: and you know sometimes it's hard. I mean, you know hockey,
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  Speaker 3: you know, hockey have a have a sign A would
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  Speaker 3: sign down in our basement. Is that you know, we
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  Speaker 3: interrupt this family. Uh we we interrupt. We interrupt this
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  Speaker 3: family for hockey season. Yeah, and and and hockey seems
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  Speaker 3: to have become thirteen months a year. So so again
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  Speaker 3: it's just prioritizing and understanding. And look at it. As
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  Speaker 3: you get older, as I am, you start you know,
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  Speaker 3: realizing and then if you don't have your health, you
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  Speaker 3: have nothing, you know. And I mean I had a
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  Speaker 3: battle with state three colon cancer, you know, back in
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  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen, and not go on wood everything is great,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, I mean I've had some health issues
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  Speaker 3: here in the last little while, and you know, so
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  Speaker 3: it's just you know, being home and being around and
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  Speaker 3: being available and I think, you know, to be there
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  Speaker 3: for the most important people in your life because everybody's
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  Speaker 3: kind of just packed up and got going because we're
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: going here or we're going there. And I think it's
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  Speaker 3: it is it is time. It's probably about time. But
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: the timing is right for everybody, is that you know,
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  Speaker 3: I'm around, so I think just the support and probably
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  Speaker 3: something that I learned a long time ago. I've always
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  Speaker 3: let the most important people in my life know how
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  Speaker 3: I feel about them, whether I'm within an arms reach
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  Speaker 3: or you know, eight hundred and fifty miles away. Is
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  Speaker 3: just you know, always let those people know how important
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  Speaker 3: that they are to you, and how much you love them,
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  Speaker 3: and how much better your you know, your your life
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  Speaker 3: is with them in it. And you know, it doesn't
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  Speaker 3: ease the missing part. It doesn't ease missing you know,
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  Speaker 3: events or dance recitals or birthday parties or whatever. But
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  Speaker 3: it's a life we chose. And everything I have I
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  Speaker 3: ordered the game of hockey. I met my wife on
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  Speaker 3: an airplane when I was a rookie in the NHL
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  Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty four eighty five, my rookie season, and
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  Speaker 3: I have everything because I was playing in the NHL
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  Speaker 3: and I met my wife on a flight she was
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  Speaker 3: working as a flight attendant. And and here we are,
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  Speaker 3: you know what, forty one years later that we've known
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  Speaker 3: each other. And it is because I was a part
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  Speaker 3: of the National Hockey League, as I have been for
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  Speaker 3: as a player, as a broadcaster and as a coach.
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  Speaker 3: So very lucky. But just like anything else with family,
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  Speaker 3: you know, you got to communicate, and we've been able
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  Speaker 3: to do that, and sometimes you got to prioritize and
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  Speaker 3: more times so not everything has been focused around me
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  Speaker 3: and my job and my career. Well, I have the
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  Speaker 3: opportunity and the ability to be able to take a
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  Speaker 3: step back and and try to give back a little
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  Speaker 3: bit more than I have. You know, the last little while.
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  Speaker 4: One of the things that just stood out to me
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: about you, ed Zoe was, I mean, I've always heard
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  Speaker 4: about the trademark humor, but it's different when you can
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  Speaker 4: be exposed to, you know, your trademark humor up close
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  Speaker 4: and personal. I mean, just the moments with you and
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  Speaker 4: Johnny in the seats. I remember my first fill in
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  Speaker 4: play by play game in Anaheim, and you gave me,
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  Speaker 4: you know, kind of you know, busting my chops, say
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  Speaker 4: hey Mikey and nervous here, and it just made me laugh.
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  Speaker 4: This is the one thing that you had is just
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  Speaker 4: the ability to really lighten the moment, make people laugh.
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  Speaker 4: That I will miss. But to you, what's your favorite
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  Speaker 4: story working here for the last four years?
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  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, Mikey, you know I I I mean I
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  Speaker 3: think there's you know, there's so I mean, there's so many.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I you know, I mean working you know,
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  Speaker 3: working with Johnny and you know, being his you know,
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  Speaker 3: right hand man up in the booth of JT was
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: down at ice level. If we were CPA or if
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: we were on the road, we always had to have
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: JT sit between us because I can't sit that close
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  Speaker 3: to Johnny.
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  Speaker 4: During the broadcast.
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  Speaker 3: I just I just I just can't. I just can't.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know if there's one. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I wouldn't want to single anything out really, to be
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  Speaker 3: honest with you, I think that uh, there are just
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  Speaker 3: so many, you know, highlights, and and you know, and
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  Speaker 3: and then think about things and oh yeah that happened,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: and I know we said this and I said this,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: and I mean one of the funnier ones was is
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: when they, uh, when they showed a picture of a
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: of a younger John bond Jovi, and uh, I just
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know why, I just it looked to me
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: the side profile of of the of the rock star.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Even though Johnny, you know, you know, Johnny thinks he's
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: a rock star. It reminded me of Johnny. And then
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: all of a sudden. I mean, we went off the
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: rails there, at least I went off the rails, which
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: we seem to do a lot. But but you know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: as I said in my my letter to the fans,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I just said, hopefully people learned a little about you know,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: the game of hockey and the crack and you know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: in the Crack and Hockey Network. But that they laughed
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: a lot, you know, and we entertained them and took
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: them away from the real world for you know, two
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  Speaker 3: and a half hours. So but you know, I think
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: that you know, that night, you know, with the John
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  Speaker 3: Bond foresy uh t shirt showing up and people just
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: you know, buying into it, and you know, and Johnny
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  Speaker 3: had that you know, you know, you had that grin
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: on his face where he really liked it being compared
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: to you know, a sex symbol there, you know, so
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: he uh I think he enjoyed it. But you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: I think, I think, and I and I try to
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: when I when I do talk to young broadcasters, Mikey,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: like I know you do is know whether it's speaking
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: at a class, a journalism class or broadcasting camp, or
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: just somebody that might be shadowing. You know, you know,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: a broadcast team is like, I think the best stuff,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: the best entertainment is is organic. And you can have
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: stuff prepped and obviously you're calling the game or whatever,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: but you know, like the organic part of this business
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: is what separates I think, the really really good broadcast
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: from you know, from the average ones. And I think
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: that everything that at least I like to think, you know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: working with Johnny and JT and Piper two, you know,
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: just the game crew. And I'm not talking about Ian
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: or Alison or Brett on this, but you know, just
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: the game in the game is that there's just a
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: lot of organic you know, things that that that morphed
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: into conversation and some laughs and some stories, and so
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, listening is really an important part.
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  Speaker 3: You know, whether Piper had a you know, a terrific
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: hit on a player or you know, a journey or whatever,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: and then to be able to you know, take that
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  Speaker 3: to another level or add on to the story or
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: have an opinion about it or whatever, you know, whatever
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  Speaker 3: it might be. And I just think the organic part
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  Speaker 3: of it was was legit. And you know, and I
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: know a lot of people and I've heard from many people,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: not only what my time in Seattle might keep it,
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: especially with you know what's going on, you know in
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: the last you know, thirty six hours or whatever when this,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: you know, when the news broke about me, you know,
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: taking a step back away from the crack and Hockey network.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Uh is you know the stories with me and Johnny
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: and the you know, our drives you know, to and
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: from the game and like that that as you know,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and you could verify, I mean we would, we would
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: hire you as a witness without any doubt. Is that
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: like with people here and see on the broadcast? Is
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: what you see and hear if you were hanging out
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: with us at practice or a dinner or in our in.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: The cards wild it's wild?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there are ratings to television,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: so we can't really you know, I sometimes you know,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: probably I crossed the line too many times with Johnny
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  Speaker 3: off the air. But you know, he he does need
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: driving lessons. There is no doubt about that. He's not
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: a great driver. He never has been, even even as
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: even the lovely and talented Natalie Foresland agrees with with me,
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Is that yet Johnny is not he is He's not
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: a great driver. I mean he's safe, but he to
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: ten to two and you know he got turtles on
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the back wheels there when he's driving. He just like,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: there's no word.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: You are mark safe from Revive I five right now,
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: and so you all are marked, say from Revive I five.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: So but I you know, I think long winded though
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: might be it just you know, so many stories. But
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I just think that that people would ask you know,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: those guys the same as Yeah, I mean I would.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I would hope anybody that knows us would tell somebody
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: you know what yea, what you guys heard and saw
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: on television is exactly who and what those guys are.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: And to me, that's the greatest compliment you can get
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: from from anybody.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: So ten years from now, what potential do you see
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: with Seattle and the hockey landscape.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Well, look, let's let's tell it the way it is.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, these next couple of years are massive for
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: the franchise. I don't know what's gonna take place here
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: with you know, I mean I hope that the SuperSonics
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: come back, and you know, the competitiveness of entertainment dollars
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: in that market when you think about you know, obviously
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: you got the defending Super Bowl champs there for this year,
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: you know, you have the Mariners having an unbelievable season
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: last year. I know this year, you know, they've been
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: banged up and haven't really been able to get you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: kind of get that get that momentum going here, can
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: you know, win sixteen of eighteen or sixteen to twenty
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: and really you know, get some separation in the vision,
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: so you know, their time is now too in my opinion.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: You know, like you look at the health of this
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: pitching staff the last couple of years and you're like, gosh,
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: you know, like like, yeah, I mean you look at others,
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: look at I'm a Cubs fan. I mean, you know,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: we were we were about one, two, three, four and five,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: and you know they actually you know, I mean, you're
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: you know, and they're in second place in the Central internationally.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: So I guess what I'm saying is is that, you know,
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, if I hope for the city
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: is that the basketball team does come back. And but again,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: the competitive balance there and even though the crack and
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: are still relatively new and you're always gaining new fans,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: but you know, winning part of it is super important.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: So to answer the heart of your question, Mike, be like,
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: I think these next couple of years will I mean,
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: I think that they'll really dictate on what's going to
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: take place here in the next little while. And you know, like,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: I know, you know, I know what I would do.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: I know how I would handle the situation that they're
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: in right now. But I'm not, you know, like I said,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: being a former broadcaster with the team, I just I hope,
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: I hope that they can get back to where they were. Uh,
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: what was that three years ago? Was that three year? Yeah?
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Three yeah, three years ago, my first year in the
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: CEA where they get to within one goal of getting
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: to the conference finals, and and you know, and I
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: remember round one, you know, playing wise and stuff. I
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: mean that that round one of the playoffs when Grooby
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: won that series against the Avalanche, and uh Ali Oliver
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: b Yorkstran had that true goal game in Game seven,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: And didn't he have like three posts in that game too,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: mikey right, I mean he had, I mean he might
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: have had four. He might have had four posts in
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: that game, like he had. I think he had both goals.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: They win, they upset the Avalanche, and you know, and
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: then they obviously get to you know, the conference the
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: quarterfinals are going to Alison losing seven games. So I
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: just think that it is really important, uh to take
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: They've got to take a step here moving forward. They
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: do for a lot of reasons, I think, confidence wise,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: fan belief. Uh. And then like I said, you know,
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: if it stabilizes and you do have an NBA team
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: come back and the SuperSonics do come back, you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: the competitive nature of people spending their entertainment dollars, it's
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: it's going to be spread out, and you know, how
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: is that going to affect the hockey club. So I
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: think there's a lot of things there. But I think
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: these next couple of years are absolutely massive. And uh,
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: you know, it's hard to it's hard to uh get
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: game breakers. It's hard to attract it's hard to uh
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: find game breakers. But they they they tried, but they
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: haven't been able to do that in a couple of
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: instances recently. You know, Ronnie Francis was able to bring
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: in a guy like you know, Brandon Mantor who is
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: a game breaker from the back end. But it'll be
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: interesting to see if we have a conversation in two
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: years from now to really see kind of what has
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: taken place, if some of the moves had worked, if
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: some of the young players taken the next step, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: they do. They need you know, they need quite a
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: few guys to take that next step. They got to
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: stay healthy. But if they can do that, then they're
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: going to be playing really competitive and meaningful games when
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: you start getting into February and March. But it's going
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: to be a battle because you look at some of
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: the teams in the Western Conference, in particular in a division,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: they've improved, and they've improved a lot. I mean, look
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: at San Jose like they've taken a major step and look.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Real deal man, real deal, especially beginning with with a
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: guy who are seventy one.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah right, I mean you could argue he's a top
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: five player in the league. Yea. I mean, you know
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: you got you got, you got mcdad, you got McKinnon,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: you got mccarr, and you got Maclin And I know
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: that's his first thing, but I figured I would stay
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: with the m's and you know, figure that out. Maclin Celebrini.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: So yeah, like they're they're on the common they they
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: they are expected to make the playoffs, like that is
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: a team that should make the playoffs. They improved immensely
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: last year. So look at he's he's a different you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: he's a different breed. How do you find you know,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: how do you find a top five player? How do
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: you find a top ten player in the NHL? Well,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: you got drafting him obviously is first and foremost and important.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: But if you can't, well then you got to even
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: you got to find a way to acquire or trade
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: for somebody like that, because you know, the teams that
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: win and the teams that that have success have those
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: game breakers. They got a lot of depth to the
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Crack can do. But they're going to have to have
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: you know, everybody's going to have to have their best
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: years that they've had together at the same time in
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: order to make the run like they did a couple
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: of years ago, and and and be within one goal
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: to get into the conference final.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: So we can get end of the weeds later on
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: and get you back on this podcast whenever time permits,
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: and kind of get into the thick of it with
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: you know, who's on the come up should the Crack
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: and acquire somebody else more to augment the roster. I
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: mean We've still got another roughly you know, a month
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: and a half to go here for this summer, especially
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: given the fact that Chase Reid could be here, you know,
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: a year from now.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: But who knows.
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: But before we let you go, of course, we talked
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: about this crazy summer, the Sharks ponying up to keep
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: maplan Celebrini long term. He saw the offer sheet. Madness
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: happened about roughly three weeks ago. That appears to be
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: in the rearview mirror for now. But I mean, Florida
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: didn't even have a chance last year, and by all accounts,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: they're reloading. You love handicapping, of course, involved in the
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: horse race, you know type of thing. But if we
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: get handicap the Stanley Cup favorites out of the West
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: and out of the East, who do you got right now?
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I think Florida is certainly the favorite you mentioned.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: I mean, they pick up a guy like Brady could chuck.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: They were banged up last year. They went to three
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: straight Cup finals, they won two Cups. They were up
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: against it last year. Yeah, they're they're they're the team
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: to beat throughout the National Hockey League, no doubt now
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: whether or what, whether or not they win the division,
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: finished second or third, I don't think anybody's gonna want
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: to play the Florida Panthers come playoff time. So for me, uh,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's go bigger, go home for
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: them this year. There there's no doubt, like they're they're
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: in it. They're gonna get stash At Barkoff back. So
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: he's you know, I mean, he's a you know, he's
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: a top you could argue he's a top ten player
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: in the league. Getting him no more Bob Nobody, Sardo Barbowski.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: You got Jacob Marksham there. Now, you know that'll be
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: you know, that'll be really really interesting. And I think
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: when you look at the you know, when you look
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: at the Western Conference, you look at what Edmonton has done,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: and I think Edmonton's all in. You know, I think
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: all eyes will be on what happens in Edmonton. And
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: you got a guy like Connor McDavid who has two
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: years left on his contract. I you know, I think
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: it really depends on what happens this year. I don't
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: think Connor McDavid will again. This is just my feel.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: You know, he only signed a two year and he
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: gave him a bargain and a half, did he not, Mikey?
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, he's only making twelfth schmil or
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: whatever it is. And you got guys, you know, making sixteen, seventeen,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: eighteen and a half almost nineteen million dollars with Celebrini.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: So he's put his money where his mouth is. I mean,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: he doesn't you know, I mean, he doesn't know the
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Edmonton Oilers nothing, because he's been a bargain here and
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: he you know, and and he's shown that he wants
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: to try to win. So is it really a two
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: year contract? Or? In my opinion, it's really it's real
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: to me, it's only a one year contract. Like, well,
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: you know, how does this year go? And you know,
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: will he leave as a free agent and leave for nothing?
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: I don't think that he would do that, but you know,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: let's see how this year goes. I think a boatload
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: of pressure on the players, especially not necessarily Mike Babcock,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: more so on the players, in general manager Stan Bowman,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: uh and in his staff. Well you know, I mean, look,
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: you have you have Colorado, you have Dallas, still, you
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: have Minnesota. I mentioned Edmonton. San Jose's on the com Anaheim.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: That'll be an interesting thing to watch because you know,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: they had Vegas over the barrel in round two, like
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: they all played them first three or four games in
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: that series, but Carter Hart won game one and they
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: had a one nothing series lead. So you know, how
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: was Joe Quinnville able to you know, to coach you know,
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: a lot of their They lost their whole right side,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: did they not. I mean they lost Carlson, they lost
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: they lost Goodas, and they lost Truba their entire right side,
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: which is a boatload of experience. So you know, I
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: would imagine that they would regress a little bit. But Colorado,
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: I don't think there's any doubt that, you know, with
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: their general manager moving over to Nashville and Joe Sackett
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: taking over Jared Vdnar in charge. You I think, you know,
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: if he's ever out of a job, he would only
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: be out of a job probably you know, thirty seconds.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: But I would say, you know, Colorado to me, I think,
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: you know, they're you know, I think they're the favorite
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: again in the Western Conference, and you know, we'll see
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: how it all plays out. And I think a team,
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: a real sleeper team will be Utah. I think Utah
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: is a team that can take a massive step here
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: with a couple of the additions that they had in
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Vinnie Trocheck and Anders Lee, the former captain of New
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: York Islanders, and keep an eye on a Utah Manna.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: You'll have your voice all over this and we're looking
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: forward to it, and definitely ed Zoe looking forward to
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: seeing and down the road and other hockey parts a
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: week and certainly cross paths. You've not just been a
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: callague to me, a mentor in some source, but also
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: a dear friend. And I am I am privileged to
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: call you a friend. But thank you for what you've
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: done and me and for what you've done and others
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: as well, and we'll look forward to catch them down
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: the road, my friend. But again, congratulations on a great
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: run here for four years, and we'll talk to you
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: soon again.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Hey, Mikey, thanks a lot, man right back at you,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: and please say hi to Everard and in big Al
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: for me. Always enjoyed stopping over in the Ready radio
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: booth and saying hello. And I'll share in a few
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: stories and a few laughs, and we'll definitely do it
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: again really soon. So enjoy the rest of the summer
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: and don't forget the hockey season starts a little bit earlier.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: And oh, by the way, no more eighty two game schedule,
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: eighty four game schedule. So here we go. We'll talk
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: to you soon, Mikey.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Thanks many thanks, my man, appreciate you for joining us.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: That's Eddie Old Chick. It's not goodbye, but just see
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: you later and we'll look forward to catching up with
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: you around more hockey parts and hopefully crossing paths as
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: well for the occasional national assignments when the Kraken are
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: certainly involved in those games. So great, Eddie old Chick.
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: I'm not just privileged here to call him a colleague,
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: I'm also privileged to call him a friend. After four seasons,
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: he is stepping aside for personal and family reasons. Previously
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: a part of the crack At Hockey Network on the
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: TV side as a color analyst in the broadcast booth.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: So Eddie Old Chick, great run. We'll look forward to
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: seeing more and more of you down the road when
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: those times certainly permits. Once again, big thanks, Ddy Old
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: Chick for joining us here. That will wrap things up
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: on this dropping this podcast, but we'll join you once
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: again for further developments and breaking news once again. Sign
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: up for free to get this at Sports Radio KJR
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: dot com, the Global Credit Union Crackin Audio Network, podcasting
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: as always via the iHeartRadio app twenty four to seven.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: That'll do it for now for Eddie oldchick I, Mike Benton,
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: You're
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Home for the cracking Sports Radio ninety three point three
• 30:27
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