Latest / Predators Official Podcast / Pizza Party With Mac N Cheeze feat. Ryan O'Reilly & Kelly James

Transcript

Pizza Party With Mac N Cheeze feat. Ryan O'Reilly & Kelly James · Predators Official Podcast

0:10
Welcome to the Predators official podcast here on
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ESPN1O25, The game, Nashville Predators, YouTube and your
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preferred podcast platform. My name is Max ers from Preds
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Radio along with Cara Hammer from Preds TV and Brooks Bratton
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from nashvillepredators.com. Guys, it is a double gold for
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Team USA as the Preds get ready to return to the ice.
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Let's soak in some of this Olympic glory here while we have
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the chance. I mean, what?
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A few days, Max. When we came on the air last
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week, you and I were still reveling in the high of the
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women collecting a gold medal with an overtime win against
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Canada. And the men said, sounds good,
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let's do the same thing. What a what a way to finish off
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the Olympic Winter Games. And Kara, yeah, what a just a
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proud moment, I think for the men's hockey, the women's
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hockey, the program in general, and just what this could
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potentially do for for hockey in America.
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You hope that you get a boost from something like this.
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And it certainly has the capability to do so after what
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we witnessed in Milan. Yeah, it definitely felt proud
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to be an American during that men's game.
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But guys, you also think about working for the Nashville
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Predators. This is our hometown team.
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But having a chance to cheer for Connor Hellebec.
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I mean, what a game by the netminder.
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I think we were all feeling like, how are we rooting for
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Connor Hellebec in this moment? But yeah, we want him to make
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all of those saves because we're here for Team USA.
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So it was just such a such a cool moment.
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And you know, I was on Mountain Time Zone, so waking up at 5:45
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in the morning just to revel in all of the glory, I, I was there
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for it. And I, I feel like I'm still
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kind of feeling high off of Team USA right now.
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Well, we are very proud of our proud Preds American Preds head
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athletic trainer Kevin Morley, who is part of the gold medal
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winning squad. As he told us on the podcast
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before he went to the Olympics, he doesn't actually get a medal.
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Neither do the coaches, neither does anybody on the training
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staff. But it is awesome to have a
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Preds staff member on Team USA and Brooks, you talked about it
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with our USA born Preds. There are some proud American
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Preds in the locker room, including Nick Blankenberg, who
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was really good friends with the Hughes brothers.
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Yeah, it was. It was a great situation too,
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right? Because the game was Sunday
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morning and the Predators practiced immediately after, so
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I wasn't in the room to watch the game with the rest of the
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team. But rumor has it that the banter
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between the Americans and the Canadians was flying and it's
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just. It's rare to have a game such a
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high stakes game like that At 7:00 in the morning central
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time. The guys rolled in and then had
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some breakfast and let the let the insults fly.
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But yeah, the Americans were obviously really fired up.
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It was just cool to be in the room after a moment like that
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and to talk to guys like Brady Shea and Michael Mccarran and
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Nick Blankenberg, obviously proud Americans.
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And I, you know, I love a Blankenberg said.
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I don't even play on the team. And it's a surreal feeling for
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him, he said. But he mentioned you talk about
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Max, the Hughes brothers and I got like Zach Warrensky, who he
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played with in Columbus and kind of, you know, to see, I
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mentioned I think last week as well.
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But you know, even whereas seeing Kevin Morley on TV, it
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felt like buddy of the elf a little bit like I know him like
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it's, it's cool to see people that you know, when that you're
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around just to, to achieve something like that.
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And so that was just a sense of pride again for for the American
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Preds and you know, Brady Shay, Michael Mccarran, they they
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collected medals at the world championship last spring, the
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gold medal. Mccarran was like, I think the
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Olympics is a little bit of a different animal, maybe a little
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more excitement there. But yeah, that was that was the
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theme again, just pride. And then, you know, what does
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this potentially do for the game in this country, guys?
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I think the one image that kind of stands out to me, off of the
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ice at least, was I saw a clip of people watching the game on
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an airplane and, and every seat back with a television on it had
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the game on and everybody cheered when Jack Hughes scored
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the winner. And I don't know about you, but
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I've never seen an airplane full of people watching the same
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hockey game. And I I just think that that is
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indicative of what a moment like that could potentially do for
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the game in this country. And it was just so cool to see.
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I think on top of that, Brooks too, it also showed the
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brotherhood of what we see in the National Hockey League.
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The way Matthew Kachuk came and and was carrying around Johnny
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Kudrow's jersey and going to the stands and getting his kids.
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It felt like there wasn't a dry eye from any person I was
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following on social media was was posting about the emotions
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that they were feeling as we were all watching this, where
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these teammates felt like Johnny Kudrow was a player who would
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have been a part of Team USA and to still carry his legacy and so
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many things in that moment as well.
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The anniversary of it being being the miracle game, just, it
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just felt like USA had everything and it was, they
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embodied it so well at the end of that game and during the
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medal ceremony. It was a fun weekend for sure
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and the Preds highlight of the weekend.
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A couple of bronze medalists from Team Finland.
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Team Finland beats Slovakia 51 on Saturday in the bronze medal
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game. UC Soros and Eric Holla finished
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up great Olympic runs with strong performances.
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Brooks. 100%, yeah, a couple of bronze medalists, as you said,
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Max. So as we record this, on
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Wednesday afternoon, February 25th, Holla and Soros are
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finally back in Nashville. We still haven't seen them at a
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practice yet. They got into New York,
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obviously. We know that there were about 20
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feet of snow in the Northeast, so they've been dealing with
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that. But they are back in Nashville.
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We'll see what their status is for Thursday night as the Prej
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return against the Blackhawks. But yeah, what is showing from
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them? Excited to talk to them when
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when we are able to do so again here in Nashville.
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But for UC Soros especially, you know, a couple of really good
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showings. It was a heartbreakers.
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Finland almost beat Canada in the semi finals.
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They end up falling to the Canadians in the dying minutes.
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But for Soros to bounce back the next day and be able to to
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capture a bronze medal for his country, 30 saves in the win and
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two goals from Erikala, you know what a showing he had.
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He had a couple of assists in the early going, but he ended up
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with three goals in the final two games for Finland.
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So again, great to see all the guys go over there, Philip
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Forrestberg and Roman EOC, of course, as well.
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But you want to see somebody come home with a medal.
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And for UC Soros and Eric Halla to not only do so, Kara, but to
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play such an important role on their club in doing so.
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Another jolt of pride for those of us back here in Nashville to
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see a couple of our own have that level of success in the
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world stage. Yeah, it would have been amazing
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if we could have seen Finland top Canada.
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I think in that game they said, you know, even with the two goal
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lead, you can't give up two goals to Canada and expect to
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win. They're going to come back and
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they're going to find a way. I felt frustrated for Soros at
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the end of that one, but so cool to see him pick up the bronze
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medal and obviously still be having the chance to root for
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other guys like like Tolman and Granny and some of those players
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that obviously we we love as, as Fred's people.
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So Congrats to Soros. I felt like the NHL was showing
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him so much love. And I think we talked about it,
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Brooke. What is what is this going to do
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for, for hockey here in America? But it it's putting guys like
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Soros on the map. Maybe if you're you're not a
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huge Nashville person. Soros finishes the Olympics with
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a four one and one record in six games for Team Finland a strong
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938 save percentage in six games.
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Eric Holla point per game, three goals and three assists in six
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games. AS2 Preds come home with medals
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from the Winter Olympics. When we come back, we've got a
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special interview with Predators alternate captain Ryan O'Reilly
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and his bandmate Kelly James. Pizza Party has swept the nation
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as the Preds win song and the debut single of Mac and Cheese.
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And we will talk to Mac and Cheese when we come back on the
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Predators official podcast. Welcome back to the Predators
8:19
Official Podcast here on ESPN 102.5, the game streaming on
8:23
Predators YouTube and a whole slew of other spots.
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Brooks Bratton of Nashville, predators.com back with you and
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for the second week in a row, two interview guests at one
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time. 1 gentleman you may recognize Predators centerman
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Ryan O'Reilly. The other gentleman, not so
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much, But together they are making up 1 dynamic duo known as
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Mac and cheese. Ryan O'Reilly, Kelly James
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joining us on the POP Guys, thanks for being here.
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Glad to have you. Yeah, thanks for having us,
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Brexit. It's awesome.
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Absolutely. Awesome.
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For sure, this is this will be a fun one.
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So I think people may have gotten the gist of what's going
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on so far with some of your music that's out already.
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But Ryan, you've had a lot of titles.
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NHL centerman, alternate captain Conn Smythe winners, Stanley Cup
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champion. But now you're 1/2 of a
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children's music duo. How on earth does that come to
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be? Yeah, yeah, obviously it's a
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little unique. I don't think there's many guys
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in the league that can say that they're children's musicians as
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well. But yeah, this kind of started
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with with Kelly and I, we've been, you know, friends for a
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long time now. But yeah, I've always kind of
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been into music and Kelly as well.
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And yeah, we started, you know, playing prior at high school
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age. We started playing music
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together and just kind of like development of me having kids
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and, you know, starting to play music that was a little bit more
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silly and fun for them instead of, you know, playing Pearl Jam
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or, you know, Lumineers, something that they could kind
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of groove to. So we kind of started like just
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making silly songs. And yeah, the idea is something
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that both of us end up at a Raffi concert and had this idea
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that we never really thought it'd be us, but just all these
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two characters named Mac and Cheese that, you know, are
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children's, make children's music.
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And and then, you know, I think you got better at guitar and
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started to make more songs. My wife was just thought, hey,
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why why don't you guys record them?
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And we're, you know, being an asteroid, Like, why don't we?
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It'd be kind of hilarious for, you know, our friends and family
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just to be able to hear our voices and hopefully get songs
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stuck in their heads. But yeah, we wanted to make, you
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know, my kids laugh. And that was the whole goal.
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And they thought, well, let's make our friends kids laugh and
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hopefully their parents laugh. And we just kept getting more
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people involved in the idea. And it just kind of took a while
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to obviously get this whole thing off the ground and
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running. But yeah, started as a fun
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little joke for our friends. And it's just kind of kept
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getting traction. And now we got a full album.
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And, you know, we got, as you can see, you got the whole Preds
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behind us, the NHL. And it's been a hilarious the
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fun process. Well, you mentioned that you
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guys have known each other a long time, Kelly, you guys grew
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up playing hockey together. Take me back to to kind of those
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days, your friendship developing and not only a shared hockey
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connection, but a shared music connection.
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Yeah, I think me and Ryan are often bringing up when we first
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met how, you know, the obvious thing when you meet in junior is
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everybody bonds over hockey and you're away from home and and
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all that kind of stuff. But I think the other parts kind
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of, you know, kind of grow these really strong relationships to
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like, so me and Ryan kind of connected on music, film, TV
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right away. And I think there was these
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funny, like little moments where I think like Ryan and I realized
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that we were like maybe a little funny or different or silly or
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something like that. Like I could remember an example
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of going home at Thanksgiving one of the one of the years, and
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I stopped by Ryan's house and I saw how his dad and his family
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was around each other with music.
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I think I came down the stairs and he was dancing to like some
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Aretha Franklin while he was cooking bacon or something like
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that. And I'm like, man, this is just
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so my household too. And like Ryan and I would just
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be like, you know, getting into music and stuff like that around
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that time. So I think we just kind of
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connected over maybe our obscure music inspirations and, and film
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and TV as well. But yeah, I think I think it was
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sort of a funny thing. Like, you know, you have a lot
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of downtime in, in junior hockey.
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So I think we started picking up guitars and starting to hang out
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a little bit more with the and doing some stuff like that.
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And yeah, we, I don't think at that time we ever thought we
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were going to be doing children's music together in the
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future. But yeah, I think it was just
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something funny about being being away playing junior hockey
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together. You kind of find these different
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ways to bond. And yeah, that was definitely a
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big thing we bonded over was TV, film and then music especially.
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And you touched on it a little bit, but when did this go from
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kind of just messing around, having fun, dabbling a little
13:06
bit to, hey, we should make something of this?
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Was there a specific moment or a spark that said like, let's
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actually try to do something here?
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Yeah, we'll be kind of creating like to music.
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I think we've been doing, you know, my oldest Jameson, and now
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he's 8. And, you know, since he was
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born, we're kind of making these silly songs.
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And every time I'm at home, always messing around.
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But it wasn't until I think we kind of got to Nashville.
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And, you know, Dana mentioned like, hey, you should record
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some of the songs. That's my wife.
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Was that kind of that kind of really kind of kick the tires
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for us. Like, hey, let's, you know,
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let's get serious. It makes some silly songs.
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Yeah. And that's when we kind of like,
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oh, OK. Like we've already got.
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We had a few, the early ones that, you know, we've done, but
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it was like, let's get together and, you know, bear down a bit
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and, you know, creative and write some more stuff.
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And so we kind of came in with, yeah, we end up going to the
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studio and that was kind of really.
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Yeah. So it's probably like my first
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year with the team that I think being in Nashville.
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And my wife kind of sparked it and kind of said, yeah, you guys
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should go for it. Like, why not?
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This is the place and time to do it.
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And that kind of got the ball rolling.
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And then yeah, touching, just touching on like you being in
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Nashville. I mean, we did, you know, kind
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of getting some, you know, the Nashville people involved with
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the, you know, the hookups into the studio and stuff with our
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producer Chris Kammer, like those kind of guys, those
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connections and stuff really made this thing take off.
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And and yeah, being in Nashville obviously for Ryan is just sort
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of just matched perfectly like that.
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You know, they're just kind of there's lots of good music and
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talented people in Nashville. We were lucky enough to get
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hooked up with some of. Them yeah our yeah she Brandon
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Walker hooked us up with her producer Chris Kimmer who's got
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a studio and and Thomas Fresh drummer and band manager and
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just incredible connection there that you know Canadian guy he
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kind of came in with these crazy songs and he just they all loved
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it and got behind it and us not knowing anything how to record
15:08
or being in studio he was just able to educate us and.
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And it's funny too, like just the, yeah, the amount of help we
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got, but stuff we've learned just kind of long this process
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it's been just so it's fun and educational.
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What has that songwriting process, that producing process
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been like, and how how much have you learned just about what it
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takes to do something like this? Now go ahead, Kelly.
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You can take this. Yeah, I think, yeah, I think
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like what we've, we were just talking about this before about
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just like, and Ryan touched on it just about how this really
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started was just making Ryan's kids laugh, like, and and he had
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kids. Ryan and Dana had kids in my
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head. Like they have a young family.
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They got four young kids. And me kind of being the uncle
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with no kids, it was always so fun to come in and kind of
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switch up that style into playing and, you know, silly
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songs and all that kind of stuff.
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And there was something about bringing that fun of like being
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live in front of his kids and getting smiles.
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And, you know, with kids, there's something physical to it
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where you know you. They see me and Ryan and our
16:10
face is being silly and fun. It just encourages some sort of
16:13
like energy in them that we kind of fed off of in live, you know,
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when we play live and then when we got into the studio, I think
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there was something to be said for like bringing what that felt
16:23
like into the studio and then somehow making it hit your ears
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and still get that same vibe of, you know, we like to use the
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word silly a lot because I think when we're in the studio, we
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were like, how do we make this feel a little bit more like how
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the kids feel when we play a live for them?
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So I think that was like a huge like when you bring up like,
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what do we learn? Like I, I would say, you know,
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through our producer and the other, you know, talented people
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we had in the studio with us, we kind of were able to bring that
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feeling that we were getting and that the kids were getting when
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we would play for them live and have it come through the
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speakers. And it's really it, I know we're
16:55
impressed with it and we were so happy and, and, you know, maybe
16:58
surprised even that we were able to, you know, have like such an
17:01
impact through coming through the speakers when we've only
17:04
ever really gotten a chance to like see kids black live.
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So to us, I think that was like the biggest thing and I, that
17:11
would be how I would describe what we think is the core of a
17:15
good song is somehow bringing that feeling that kids get when
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you play silly music for them live and bringing it into, you
17:22
know, and coming out of the speakers so they could just
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click play and, and, and listen in the car and all that kind of
17:27
stuff. And we've seen that too.
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Like the fun part for us has been now that we could send it
17:33
off to people and people can just press play in the car and
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watch their kid dance and laugh. Like that has been the biggest
17:37
joy for us, that it's not just Ryan's kids that get it.
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There's some other kids that think it's funny too.
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So it's it's been awesome that way.
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Yeah, And just to add to like, for the actual, like, writing of
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the song, it's like so funny that we've got the perfect
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little, I've got the perfect little test audience.
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Like we play around and we say something crazy and scream, I'm
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a coconut. And they laugh.
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And next, you know, we build a song called Coconut.
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Like it's just silly little things.
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Especially Kelly's perspective too, when he comes and he hears,
18:08
you know, my son say something, he just like, dies laughing.
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And then actually we build the song around like that little
18:13
comment that my kid made, like, so it's, it's so, yeah, it's
18:17
perfect. Like we, we know who we're
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trying to make laugh. It's our kids.
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And so, you know, we think we got something.
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We go down if they laugh, we're like, there it is.
18:24
OK, let's build on that. So it's, it's a hilarious
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process that. Yeah.
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It's been so much fun though. Touching on that, like the
18:32
perspective thing too, I guess, like you said, it's just, it's
18:34
so funny, like, you know, bedtime around their house, you
18:36
know, they're brushing their teeth and, and one of their kids
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just says my toothpaste is spicy.
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And I'm, you know, as a guy doesn't have kids, I'm like
18:43
spicy. I started laughing.
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I'm like, that's like the funniest comment ever.
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And you know, next thing you know, me and Ryan are writing a
18:48
song about how toothpaste is too spicy.
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But you know, so it's just, I don't know, there's something
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funny about him. Like just that, like you said,
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the test audience and, and they're sort of perfect range
18:58
for us. And, and obviously we get them
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and, and, and like to make them laugh.
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And the fact that we've been able to make a couple other kids
19:03
laugh has been awesome. Well, Kelly, I want to go back
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to something that you said a moment ago when you are playing
19:09
and performing a song live, Maybe the energy and the facial
19:12
expressions. I was lucky enough to be in
19:16
Stockholm at a Children's Hospital with Ryan back in
19:19
November for the global series and visiting with a few kids
19:23
with him and Philip Forsberg. And he disappeared for a moment
19:26
and then came back with a guitar and I was like, what is about to
19:29
happen? And he played a couple of the
19:30
songs, but Brian, I was so impressed in that moment, the
19:35
way you performed and, and your facial expressions and just the
19:38
joy that you had in that moment. How special was that for you?
19:43
What was that like to not only be able to do that in that
19:46
setting, but that performing prowess You're, you were very
19:49
impressive. I, I have to say that moment for
19:52
you. What?
19:53
What was that kind of like? Just to not only play your
19:55
songs, but to do it in that kind of a setting?
19:59
Yeah, it was such a a cool thing.
20:01
Obviously Phil and I going just to the Children's Hospital, see
20:04
some kids and seeing their excitement, just us being there
20:06
and then, yeah, it was so cool. They had a beautiful music room
20:10
that they use for music therapy for a lot of kids to get in
20:14
there and be creative with. And yeah, I just, I, I feel like
20:18
you don't like a conference playing my own kids and
20:20
confidence that they like the songs and it was just a fun
20:24
thing for the play for a few of them and just to see them kind
20:26
of jam out and like it was, it's cool.
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I just think it's, you know, to be in that setting and doing
20:32
that. Yeah, I think it's just that has
20:36
that, you know, energy and excitement just to be able to
20:38
perform for our kids and and try to make them laugh.
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So I think something's about that that's so fun.
20:44
I think that's been the core of like the whole thing too.
20:46
And like you're right, Ryan it like it.
20:49
Ryan is impressive and stuff with playing and all that and
20:51
it's just like fun for us to like it to bring that like joy
20:54
to like kids and stuff like that.
20:55
I feel like that's, you know, I think there's something cool
20:58
about like hockey being a very like, you know, tough sport and
21:02
things like that. And you see guys with their
21:04
missing teeth and they, you know, that kind of thing.
21:06
And they come in and they have such like a heart, a big heart
21:09
and, and, you know, they could be silly and, and break down
21:13
those walls a little bit. And that just really shows, I
21:15
think to kids that, you know, you don't have to be just one
21:18
way and, and that kind of thing. And I think there's something
21:20
special about guys like Ryan and, and not just Ryan, but
21:22
other guys in the NHL and on the Predators that, you know, I
21:26
really just, you know, want to see that and like, want to have
21:29
kids, just like smile. And, and, you know, there's,
21:31
there's something super special about the power that these guys
21:33
have over, you know, making, making someone's day.
21:36
And, and I know all the guys in the Predators as I've seen them
21:39
do it. And the fact that Ryan's able to
21:42
like do with guitar, I know that's just like a bonus.
21:43
Like, you know, like it's, it's, it's just as fun for us, you
21:47
know, or, or fun for Ryan to be able to play and, and do that
21:49
kind of thing. Talking with Ryan O'Reilly and
21:52
Kelly James here on the Pres Official Podcast better known as
21:55
the children's duo Mac and Cheese.
21:58
We all love Mac and cheese the food, but where does the name
22:01
come from? Well, I think when we originally
22:05
had this idea, so it's kind of I think came after we saw Raffi
22:09
that in that that Raffi concert, we were just kind of talking
22:12
about her duo and you know, originally kept it.
22:14
We got this whole other element to like ATV show side.
22:17
That was kind of the original spark of Mac and cheese.
22:21
But you know, I think when we're discussing it, it was, you know,
22:24
well, what's something that, you know, children love?
22:27
Well, you know, my kids eat a ton of it and you know, Mac and
22:30
cheese, you know, most kids love it and we still love it and we
22:34
thought it'd be hilarious. 2 characters named Mac and cheese.
22:36
So I was kind of, I think that I think that was pretty early,
22:39
right Kelly where we're kind of like that name was kind of like
22:41
Seth. Yeah, like I think it there I,
22:44
there must have been, there was a a week or something where
22:47
things just kept coming out of our mouth like we're like, and
22:50
we're like, Yep, that's it. Yep, that's it.
22:51
Yep, that's it. And I think it, like you said,
22:53
it was, it had to have been around that Raffi concert where
22:55
we were starting to talk about it because we even kind of I
22:58
think went off on this idea of like ATV show idea before we
23:02
thought of ourselves being these two people.
23:05
But then, yeah, like you said, I think we might have even had
23:08
some Mac and cheese sitting around the table because you're
23:10
like you said, your kids are just, they got it around all the
23:12
time. You know, I've been like, that's
23:13
perfect. And yeah, it just sort of stuck.
23:16
And then the characters kind of came from it as well with like,
23:18
you know, the cheese character head and the and the noodle
23:20
character head. So yeah, there was something
23:23
special. I think we knew right away once
23:25
we whoever first said it. I don't know, it just stuck and
23:28
it's been awesome. Well, we've heard a couple of
23:33
the songs so far. Pizza Party, for one, is a jam.
23:36
I would encourage anyone who hasn't heard it yet to go look
23:39
it up and listen. Play it for your kids, play it
23:42
for yourself because it will get caught in your head and it's a
23:44
very good thing. But I want to know, Ryan, what
23:47
did you think when you heard Pizza Party being played in the
23:50
locker room following a win for the first time this season?
23:53
What was that moment like and what have your teammates thought
23:56
of this? It was it was hilarious.
23:59
So I think we originally think, yeah, we dropped it was while we
24:03
were over in Sweden. We that was when we kind of did
24:05
like, I guess soft Elise of pizza party.
24:09
And, you know, the boys kind of knew.
24:11
And so the boys were all listening to like on the bus on
24:13
the way to the game and stuff like that.
24:15
Like, oh, you know, we went tonight.
24:16
That's our wind sock. And I thought, you know, I
24:18
thought they're kind of joking around.
24:20
But sure enough, we we find a way to to squeak out a win and
24:23
walk into the room and the boys are all rocking out singing
24:26
pizza party and been a wind song since it was just hilarious.
24:30
Like, you know, it's one thing to to play in the NHL and stuff
24:33
like that. But when, you know, I never
24:36
thought a million years, you know, I've been there.
24:38
The boys rocking out to my one of my children's songs as as
24:43
they're a wind song. Like it's just crazy how things
24:45
unfold and hilarious. But yeah, it's yeah, the
24:49
feedback from it. Obviously, you know, we had a
24:52
Preds event the other day, a meet to team event and all the
24:55
fans too that have come up and mentioned something, how and how
24:58
they enjoyed it and obviously the player of the team
25:01
supporting it. It's just cool to see everyone
25:03
kind of behind it helping out, especially the hockey world.
25:05
It's yeah, it's awesome, all the support.
25:09
Do you guys? Have I can say too, from from my
25:11
perspective too, I think I mean that's got there's something
25:15
very cool to me that some hockey team.
25:17
I know it's our, you know, it's Ryan's hockey team that chose to
25:21
make it their win song. But as just as somebody who
25:24
doesn't play in the NHL, I got to be honest, that's one of the
25:27
coolest things ever that they're they're playing our song is the
25:29
win song. Like I, I, I need to like get my
25:32
ear on that, just be like, see that those the smiles, because
25:35
all the guy like I, you know, like you said at that event, I I
25:37
was there too and all the boys come up and they just love.
25:39
I love seeing that support from those guys too.
25:41
It's just like it. I don't know, it just like adds
25:43
to it. There's some really cool and
25:44
they they all get it and I know they all play for their kids and
25:47
stuff, but the fact that they're using it as their win song and
25:49
then jamming out to it is is so funny because I know what it I
25:52
know it's like to win and just be like hit that song.
25:55
And and then, you know, the fact that it's pizza party is that
25:57
there's something so funny about that.
25:59
And I know just like the coaches, I'm sure they go home
26:01
and they're like, why am I? What is this song in my head?
26:05
You know what I mean? And honestly, that's sort of
26:06
been funny. One of like the goals we've had
26:09
is to be annoying to our friends and families, like parents and
26:13
stuff to be like, man, why do I keep hearing my kids singing
26:16
your song? Why do they keep asking to hear
26:18
your guys voice? You know, so that that part is
26:21
pretty. Awesome.
26:22
To me, it was hilarious yesterday.
26:24
You know, I'm just getting changes in the stall and then I
26:27
hear like, I hear from the showers.
26:29
It was like, I don't want you guys in there.
26:30
All I hear is that I'll make Coco or not all trying to do the
26:33
voice as I'm going to say I just die, sort of die laugh.
26:37
A bunch of them were screaming in the in the shower.
26:39
I was like, Oh God. It's hilarious.
26:41
I'm well knowing we were doing this interview this morning.
26:44
I'm not going to lie, I've been walking around singing Pizza
26:46
Party all morning. So it's it gets the people
26:49
going, that's for sure. Do you guys have a favorite song
26:52
from the album? When we were when we were making
26:56
the album, we started out with, you know, we started out in the
26:58
studio. I feel like there was that
27:00
little bit of, you know, touch and go of trying to figure out
27:02
what we were trying to do and we kind of got there.
27:04
And then once we started, you know, developing the songs and
27:06
getting each song like finished and sort of getting the the vibe
27:09
of each song down. It was hard not to love each new
27:12
one that we did as like the new favorite.
27:14
But I will admit that because we like grew up as huge city and
27:19
color, Dallas Green, Alexis on fire fans, the coolest thing, I
27:23
think I mean, I could this I could die a happy man.
27:27
The fact that I have I could say I'm on a song with with city and
27:30
color, but the fact that it's also a song called Bye Bye Bye
27:33
Mr. Pooh. There's something so funny that
27:36
we got a friend of ours, Dallas green to sing on a song like
27:39
that. And so I would say maybe that's
27:40
my favorite, but they're all so good.
27:43
And like we've gotten, we have a lot of good features and other
27:46
good artists that we got on there that really makes some of
27:49
our songs like really special and different.
27:51
And I'm so proud of like all of them.
27:53
But yeah, I think there's something really cool that I
27:55
don't know how he did it. And I know Ryan's real good
27:58
friends and we're friends with Dallas, but that that has got to
28:00
be one of the coolest things ever that we got him on a song.
28:03
Yeah, I know. It's so cool.
28:05
It's so funny to doing this. You know, each song on the album
28:10
is so different. Like it's it's not like, you
28:13
know, this artist is going in like, you know, this is the mood
28:16
around this album. And like, you know, it's a lot
28:18
of similarities to sayings like ours.
28:20
It's like, OK, we got, you know, a song about poop and educating
28:25
kids to flush the toilet. And then, you know, it was song
28:28
like about I love you mom. And then it's, you know, there's
28:31
just like. Coconut song ID vibe song like
28:33
yeah, they're. They're yeah, like animal
28:35
noises, like it's just, it's got a bit of like everything.
28:38
But the one I'm excited for to get out is song called The Irish
28:44
Pirate and it's my good friends Jig jam and I Irish bluegrass
28:51
band is featuring on it and they were like really bring the song
28:55
to life and give it their their touch and their flavor and it's
29:00
it's amazing. But the song is a it starts from
29:04
a joke that Kelly would always, whenever he'd see my brother,
29:07
he'd always say, oh, Callahan, Patrick O'Reilly are like like a
29:11
pirate. Saying I used to I there were
29:13
something that I don't know what it was, but something rang in my
29:16
ear. I'm like, man, that's a good
29:17
pirate name. I did kind of hadn't Patrick
29:19
O'Reilly and then I don't know how, but that sparked a song.
29:24
And then we yeah, now we have this like, you know, the song
29:26
called The Irish Pirate and it's us singing a song about Cal and
29:30
kind of like chirping him a bit, but also talk about what we love
29:33
them too. So it's it's it's.
29:34
Pretty funny really. It's it's deep down it's a love
29:38
song about loving your brother is what it is to be honest.
29:40
So it's. Yeah.
29:41
So it's it'll be a cool one to share.
29:43
And yeah, yeah. Amazing.
29:46
The whole family's involved. I love it.
29:48
When does you've got you got something for everybody, as
29:51
you've said. When does the album come out and
29:53
how can people listen? What is it, Kelly?
29:58
The exact dates? The what?
29:59
Yeah, so April 10th will be the album drop and we'll have
30:05
another music video come out then for Bach, Like a Chicken is
30:07
one of the songs. And then we also have a song Bye
30:11
Bye Bye Mr. Pooh coming out next month.
30:14
That one's with City and Color. And yeah, everything will be
30:18
available on all the all the platforms, Spotify, Apple Music,
30:26
We'll have every music videos on YouTube, we'll have our
30:29
Instagram channel. Yeah.
30:31
So it's really coming out on everything.
30:32
And we've got some talented people helping us get all this
30:36
stuff out and hopefully we get some kids laughing out there.
30:42
Yeah. Well, guys, thanks for doing
30:44
this. It's again, pizza party is out,
30:46
coconut is out and even as an adult without any kids, I'm
30:51
telling the people in my lives with kids, hey, you got to
30:54
listen to this. But if I'm enjoying it, I know
30:56
the kids are going to love it. But thanks for doing this.
30:58
Thanks for bringing joy to people as well.
31:00
This is an amazing project and it's it's really awesome to get
31:03
to hear more insight into it. Yeah, our pleasure.
31:07
And it's something to add to, you know, we recorded this album
31:12
2 summers ago and it's been just taken forever to kind of get it
31:15
off the ground and make sure it's in the right places and
31:17
done kind of the right way. But for all those fans out
31:20
there, you know, I'm not, it's not like I'm sliding into the
31:23
studio between games and, you know, it's just just up at the
31:26
studio all night then coming into practice like it's, it's
31:29
something we did that. And obviously I play a lot of
31:31
music around my kids when I see them.
31:33
But yeah, it is, you know, when I am playing hockey, it's a full
31:36
time job and takes everything. And this is, yeah, hopefully
31:40
this goes well and we can make another album next summer or
31:43
something like that. But yeah, just throw it out
31:45
there. So if I make a bad pass or have
31:48
a bad game, don't blame it on the studio or me playing music.
31:52
Be a little patient with me if all the fans don't mind.
31:56
But yeah, we hope everyone likes it.
31:57
We appreciate you sharing it. And, you know, we don't know
32:00
what's going to come of us exactly, but, you know, if it
32:03
does, you know, ever kind of bring in any sort of income for
32:06
us, we're going to try to do some good with it.
32:08
And music and hockey been such big things in our lives that
32:11
have done so much. So we want to be able to make
32:13
that more accessible. And, you know, there's so many
32:15
great charities out there, we want to help, too.
32:16
So share it as much as you can and all the fans.
32:19
And we appreciate, obviously, the Preds, all their support and
32:21
really kind of, you know, helping get it out there and
32:23
spreading it. But yeah, I want to spend some
32:25
laughs and hopefully we can do some good with the stuff coming
32:28
in. Yeah, I like also to just from
32:31
my side of it, I appreciate all like I've been around Nashville
32:33
and stuff and like you said, been out these couple fan events
32:35
and there's been just such good support from the Predators fans
32:38
and fan base out there. And I love being out there.
32:40
And there's just such a good community of hockey fans and
32:42
music fans that I think this is just such a good project that
32:46
especially out there in Nashville, people are just going
32:48
to love it. And and I hope they they get a
32:50
good laugh out of it and see like see a silly side of a of a
32:54
hockey player who plays a pretty intense sport, you know what I
32:57
mean? So, but yeah, really happy to
33:00
get it out there. Well, whether you get a stick in
33:03
your hands or a guitar in your hands, you guys know what you're
33:05
doing. So thank you for thank you for.
33:07
Doing what you're doing somewhat.
33:08
These songs are pretty simple but thanks so much.
33:13
We appreciate the time and best of luck on the ice and off the
33:17
ice with this. Thanks again for doing this.
33:19
Our pleasure. Thank you.
33:20
Brian O'Reilly and Kelly James, they are Mac and cheese.
33:24
You can hear the album as they said everywhere albums are
33:27
found. And we will be back in just a
33:29
moment on the Preds Official Podcast here on ESPN1O25, The
33:32
Game and Predators YouTube. Welcome back to the Predators
33:41
Official Podcast here on ESPN1O25.
33:43
The Game streaming on Preds YouTube as well and a whole slew
33:47
of other spots. Brooks Bratton, back with you
33:49
alongside my friends Max, Hers and Cara Hammer.
33:52
That was a really fun interview. Our thanks again to Ryan
33:55
O'Reilly and Kelly James, better known these days as Mac and
33:59
cheese. And I.
34:00
Guys, I just love what Factor said about, you know, the first
34:03
time the pizza party was the victory song in the room.
34:06
He thought the guys were kind of joking.
34:08
Yeah, all right, you like the song, whatever.
34:09
And then they get the win in Stockholm in the first game and
34:12
he walks in, he's like, I can't believe they're playing pizza
34:15
party, but it's an ear worm. I mean, I, I think we've all had
34:18
it stuck in our heads at some point or another in the last few
34:21
months. That's exactly right, Brooks.
34:23
And you know, I I feel like it was coming down to the end of
34:26
the third period and we would start to hear it playing in the
34:28
arena. And I've been down in the
34:30
hallway before where it's been a tight game and and David good
34:33
the the strength coach good. He's been out there saying turn
34:35
off the song, turn off the song. We don't need to jinx it.
34:38
This is this is the winning song.
34:40
We're going to play it if they pull out the win.
34:42
But you talk about pizza party, it's a it's a great hit and I
34:46
know Remy loves it. So hey, we got a fan over here.
34:50
I'm going to offer the first ever Mac and cheese related hot
34:53
take here on the podcast. I think coconut is the new hit.
34:58
I think it's better than pizza party.
34:59
I'm going to say it. Well, whether you like pizza
35:02
party or coconut, maybe you'll prefer Mr. Pooh, which is the
35:06
next single to come out very soon.
35:09
The whole album comes out April 10th again and Congrats again to
35:12
Factor and and Kelly James there for putting together an album
35:16
that is kid approved and NHL Player approved.
35:19
Not an easy feat, but they've gotten it done.
35:21
Hey guys, someone else that we're excited to see.
35:24
A familiar face, but one that has not been up here, at least
35:28
in an NHL game this season. Zach LaRue was recalled from
35:32
Milwaukee on Sunday, as well as Matthew Wood, who went down
35:36
during the Olympic break. But we haven't seen LaRue play a
35:39
game here in Nashville this season.
35:41
He was back up here in November. Of course, he didn't make the
35:43
team out of camp. He goes down to the Admirals,
35:46
comes up in November but suffers an injury, goes right back down
35:51
with the ads. But all he did down there was
35:53
average a point per game. Fourteen goals, 14 helpers and
35:56
28 games to go along with 65 penalty minutes.
36:00
A little bit of everything. We know he has that in his game.
36:03
But Max, this is this is exciting for Zach LaRue to not
36:06
only be back up here, but you can just tell the mindset that
36:10
he has to OK, you know, I I got a taste of it last season, maybe
36:14
more than a taste you could say. But now he's out to prove that
36:19
he can once again be a full time NHL or.
36:23
Yeah. And I think he expected his
36:24
season debut to come sooner than late February here in your
36:28
number two in the NHL. So he wants to make up for lost
36:31
time. And he proves in Milwaukee over
36:33
the last few months since that injury, everything that he's
36:36
capable of as a pro player. So the challenge now will be to
36:39
bring it to the NHL level. And look, our fans know what
36:43
Zach LaRue can bring. There are a lot of Zach LaRue
36:45
fans in Nashville for a reason. And we knew his time would come
36:49
down the stretch this season, and it's going to come right out
36:51
of the Olympic break here, we hope.
36:53
How exciting is this time going to be guys when we get back into
36:55
the swing of things as we record here on Wednesday the 25th?
36:59
The guys are back on on home ice on Thursday night, but it feels
37:03
like the like they have a chance.
37:05
They're in the playoffs, not only a few points back.
37:07
I mean, this is going to be some wild hockey, so saddle up and
37:10
brace yourselves. Well, and I love what La Rue
37:13
said in that regard the other day, had a chance to to sit down
37:16
and speak with him and, and he just said that he's gotten his
37:19
confidence back, his swagger back.
37:21
He never completely lost it. But you know, Andrew Burnett
37:25
mentioned hopefully LaRue can be a bit of a spark plug for us.
37:27
So, you know, we've heard the guys talk over the last week or
37:30
so over these practices that they know that there is no time
37:34
to ease into these games. They need to be ready to go
37:38
right from the start at a very high level.
37:40
And we've seen that in these practices.
37:42
They've been fast. They've been high tempo, a lot
37:44
of energy. So just trying to get as close
37:47
as you possibly can to that game feel after having three weeks
37:51
off. But I love what Zach LaRue said.
37:53
He he said, when whenever I have that chance, I'm going to go in
37:55
with confidence, with swagger and just don't lose that.
37:58
He says that's what I'm going to try to remind myself every
38:00
night. So maybe sometimes you need a
38:03
little bit of somebody to drag you back into the fight.
38:06
Zach LaRue certainly has the ability to do that.
38:09
And as you said, Kara, we're right back into it, right?
38:12
Only five games before the deadline, Chicago, Dallas,
38:15
Detroit, Columbus and Boston. It starts Thursday night against
38:19
the Blackhawks. And and Max, the Preds don't
38:21
have any time to waste, right? They need these points, four
38:24
points out of a wild card spot right now, and again, only five
38:27
games until the deadline. You got your rest coming off the
38:30
Olympic break, now it is time for a ton of breads hockey. 25
38:35
games to go and I got to know I, I, I think I may have heard it.
38:38
Is LaRue coming up? Is he playing with a white
38:40
stick? Do we have confirmation?
38:42
Is this just a a rumor that I heard?
38:45
You may be a little bit more than a rumor.
38:47
Yeah, well, we we saw Fedor Svechkopf playing with a white
38:49
stick earlier this season. Yeah.
38:51
You know, Zach's got a little bit of a swagger.
38:53
He's got a little bit of the tent advisor and yeah, maybe,
38:56
maybe a white stick. We'll see what he uses on on
38:59
Thursday night. But yeah, it's great to have him
39:01
back up here. Right?
39:02
Like we know what his energy is like.
39:03
It's infectious. And he gets the guys going and
39:06
they call him happy for a reason.
39:08
He's he's got a big old smile and he was a little bit tired
39:12
after getting recalled early on Sunday morning, but he's like,
39:15
I'd rather be running on fumes in the NHL then then taking a
39:19
nap in the American Hockey League.
39:21
So we'll look forward to the game on Thursday.
39:23
And then, oh, by the way, on Friday, when the Predators fly
39:27
to Dallas in advance of playing the Stars on Saturday night, the
39:30
moms will be on the plane. Very excited.
39:34
A second overall mom's trip and Predators history.
39:37
So usually the dads, but Kara, you're a mom.
39:41
How much does it mean to have the moms on the trip?
39:43
What do you think about that this time around?
39:46
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I think, you know, we kind of
39:49
had this conversation of who's going to be the mom now because
39:51
you always used to be Roz, which is Ryan Johansson's mother, who
39:55
we absolutely adored. Fan of the fan of the podcast.
39:59
But I'm excited to have the moms here.
40:01
I think, I wonder are the guys going to play better with the
40:04
moms in the house? You don't want to play bad in
40:07
front of your mom, right? I loved on Wednesday.
40:09
I talked to a couple of the guys after practice and Steven Samkos
40:13
has done a lot of things in his career, but he's never had a
40:15
mom's trip. And, and that was kind of the
40:16
sentiment with him. And Luke Evangelista mentioned
40:19
it as well, that the moms are kind of getting sick of the dads
40:21
going every year. So they, the, the moms are fired
40:25
up. I I can tell you that much from
40:27
what I heard on Wednesday and. We know it's the moms that are
40:30
doing the driving to and from practice.
40:32
I mean, looking back this season O burner when we had Brady
40:35
Martin up, how much we talk about what his mom meant to his,
40:39
his journey to making it to the NHL.
40:42
So shout out to the moms putting in all those miles, making sure
40:45
the kids have their skates at practice.
40:48
I'm excited for this trip. Well, and I loved what Steven
40:50
Stamko said today as well, you know, just talking about his
40:54
mom, you know, be in there as he was growing up and you drive to
40:58
practices and the tournaments and he's like, yeah, the dads
41:01
were. He said it'd be nice to have the
41:03
moms because the dads, there's always a little more
41:05
constructive criticism after a game.
41:07
And the moms are more like, I love you.
41:09
You did so well. I'm so proud of you.
41:12
So it's it's good to get a little bit of that vibe going.
41:14
But yeah, Max, I, you know, a lot of these moms have never
41:17
been like Roman Yoshi's mom. UC sorrows.
41:20
There are very few guys that were around the last time that
41:23
this happened. So as you kind of mentioned,
41:26
like Roz Peach was the star Ryan Johansson's mom before.
41:29
I can't wait to see who was going to emerge as the breakout
41:32
star of the Moms trip this time around.
41:34
And Brooks will be our #1 dispatch from Dallas with the
41:37
moms in tow on Saturday night. So that's going to be a lot of
41:40
fun. Your mom correspondent ready to
41:43
be in thrown into duty here. So we're looking forward to that
41:46
and we'll have all kinds of great coverage on pred social
41:49
over the next few days. With the moms in tows, the preds
41:52
look for more points in the standings.
41:54
It's almost time to go, but not quite yet.
41:56
We'll be back in just a moment to wrap things up with the
41:58
biggie Awesome person of the week.
42:00
You are listening to and watching the Predators official
42:03
podcast. Welcome back to the Predators
42:11
official podcast Final segment here of our first episode back
42:16
post Olympics, Predators will retake the ice for the final 25
42:20
games of the season. It's time to give out our biggie
42:22
awesome person of the week in memory of our friend Erin
42:25
Donnick. And this week, it is going to
42:27
Predators goalie Eustis Ananen, who is wearing a custom mask
42:33
designed by pediatric cancer patients from Monroe Carroll
42:37
Junior Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt for the Hockey Fights
42:40
Cancer game, where we tackle pediatric cancer.
42:43
The first game back from the Olympics.
42:45
Big Juice has been wearing this goalie mask in practice.
42:50
We've been seeing it on display in his locker and Kara, It is a
42:53
thing of beauty with logos hand drawn by childhood cancer
42:57
fighters. Oh, I think it's the coolest.
42:59
How much do we love the mask? That represents something.
43:02
So shout out to Big Juice on this one.
43:05
Well, and we've seen both of our goalies now this season.
43:07
You'll remember UC Soros back in November, sporting the mask with
43:11
the namesake of the Big E, Aaron Donic and Sheila Crisp, Lexi
43:15
Rogers, Craig Baugh, a beautiful tribute that time around.
43:19
And yeah, used to Sonnen and it's such a cool mask too.
43:21
I love on the right side of it, the drawing of the Tiger.
43:25
If anybody hasn't seen it yet. Well, hopefully I have some
43:28
photos here on this episode. But it's on Pred social media as
43:31
well. And we expect on and then to
43:34
wear it at least on Thursday when the Preds face the
43:37
Blackhawks and then potentially maybe a little bit more after
43:40
that. But you're going to be able to
43:41
bid on this mask as well, too, Max.
43:43
Text Onnanen to 76278. That's the same line you can
43:48
text for Preds auctions by texting Preds.
43:50
But if you text Onnanen ANNUNEN to 76278, you can go straight to
43:56
the bidding for this item. So I was told we raised about
44:00
$5000 with UC Soros's mask at the first Hockey Fights Cancer
44:04
Night back in November, part of a massive total from that night.
44:08
And we want to top it. And this is another special mask
44:10
and memento for all our Preds fans, goalie fans, everybody out
44:14
there. So certainly worthy of our
44:16
biggie awesome person of the week.
44:18
Biggie goes to Big J. So thanks to Big Juice Eustice
44:22
on it in for the creativity and for letting our childhood cancer
44:25
fighters at Monroe Carroll Junior Children's Hospital at
44:28
Vanderbilt designed this awesome one-of-a-kind piece of hockey
44:32
equipment. That's all the time we got for
44:34
today. Thanks to Ryan O'Reilly and
44:36
Kelly James for joining us and thanks to you for listening to
44:38
the POP. We will finally see you back at
44:42
Bridgestone Arena this week for Brooks Bratton and Cara Hammer.
44:45
I'm Max hers. Thanks so much for listening to
44:48
the Predators official podcast on ESPN1O25 The Game.