Latest / Predators Official Podcast / 4 Nations Facing Off
Transcript
- 0:01Santos across right side. Marshall so shoots and scores.
- 0:08It's the podcast that loves the hockey team you love and.
- 0:11The sorrow stops him with the blocker.
- 0:13This is The Predator's official podcast with Cara Hammer and Max
- 0:18hers. Santos left circle Rooster his
- 0:21scores. On 102.5 and 106.3.
- 0:25The game at nashvillepredators.com.
- 0:28Welcome into the Predators official podcast on ESPN.
- 0:31One O 2 five and one O 6 three. The game.
- 0:34My name is Max. Hers from Predators Radio along
- 0:37with Kara Hammer from Predators TV during this Four Nations
- 0:41break. Hello Hammer.
- 0:42What's up Max, are you enjoying your time off so far?
- 0:46Yeah, it's it's a nice long break here and we're going to
- 0:49miss the Preds fan, but we'll be watching the Four Nations face
- 0:52off the whole time, so we'll get our hockey fix in.
- 0:58Are you juiced for the games tonight?
- 1:00Like, Are you ready to to hunker down and and watch a lot of Four
- 1:05Nations hockey? I'm ready.
- 1:07I think I've spaced it out so that I can make every single day
- 1:10of it, Wednesday, Saturday, Monday and then the finals next
- 1:14Thursday. So I I think I've got my life
- 1:18centered around it. I think I've understood the
- 1:20assignment and I think I'm ready to go.
- 1:22OK, who's your team? Who are you going for?
- 1:25I am predicting that Team USA will win.
- 1:29OK, I like it. I like it.
- 1:32Speaking of winning, the Preds coming off a huge win on
- 1:35Saturday night against Buffalo, Max, how much we've talked about
- 1:39this, they were on a six game losing streak going into this
- 1:42game. How much did that team meet that
- 1:44win before this break? Yeah, very, very, very much
- 1:49needed. Seven game losing streak going
- 1:52into the break, Certainly would not have sat right.
- 1:54And even though that win was far from perfect, as the players
- 1:58said afterwards, and I would very much agree with a win's a
- 2:02win, a win's a win and they earned it on home ice in a game
- 2:05where they never trailed. They fended off the Sabres a
- 2:07couple times, found a way to win 6, four and go into the break
- 2:11feeling a little bit better about yourself.
- 2:14I, I felt like, you know, they, they got, they got the scoring
- 2:17started, they came out and, you know, looking at the game on
- 2:21Friday night against Chicago Blackhawks, I think it almost
- 2:24felt unanimous that a lot of people surrounding that game
- 2:27felt that that was one of the worst games they've seen the
- 2:30Predators ever play. Felt like they really weren't
- 2:32into it. So it was encouraging to see
- 2:35them come back on Saturday night against the Sabres, have a
- 2:38little bit of fight in them, get some offensive game going and a
- 2:41shout out to Brady Shea, two goals.
- 2:44But what about the factor? His first four assists game of
- 2:48his career, a 16 year NHL career and his first four assists, all
- 2:52of them primary. I mean, it just felt like, where
- 2:54has this team been? Yeah, it's good to see the
- 2:57numbers get going and it started with what I thought was a really
- 3:01pretty goal by Tommy Novak. It was 2 rush goals in the
- 3:05first, Novak looking off yo Kim Kimmel on A2 on one and Kimmel's
- 3:09second NHL game and then a three on two.
- 3:12Marcia Soda O'Reilly to Shay for the tap in.
- 3:15We have not seen it's out of that.
- 3:17We haven't seen the Preds generate off the rush this year.
- 3:19So that was a good way to get things started.
- 3:21Yeah, I mean it, it was tied at 2 after the 1st.
- 3:24And it was one of those moments where you're thinking, is this
- 3:27when we're going to see the Preds team that that starts to
- 3:29fade a little bit, Are they going to let Buffalo back into
- 3:32this one? But coming out in the second
- 3:33huge power play goal from Philip Forsberg, that was encouraging
- 3:36to see the special teams unit going.
- 3:39But then, you know, like I just mentioned, Brady, Shea, Ryan,
- 3:42O'Reilly the top weapons were the ones scoring and that's what
- 3:45they needed. Yeah, great pass from Ryan
- 3:47O'Reilly to Brady Shea for the goal that put the pretzel head
- 3:50four to two. Shay's first multi goal game as
- 3:53a Pred. As you said, Kara Ryan O'Reilly
- 3:564 assists a new personal best for him and also just the second
- 4:01Pred ever with four primary assists in a game, Mikhail
- 4:06Grandland in 2021, O'Reilly had the first assist on four of the
- 4:10five Preds goals. They led 5-3 and then 54 and
- 4:17then the Sabres thought they tied the game, but a successful
- 4:19challenge for offside by the Preds flipped that on its head.
- 4:23Then Jonathan Marshaso hit the empty netter to give the Preds
- 4:26A6 four win after Nick Blankenberg took a 96 mile an
- 4:30hour slap shot from Tage Thompson, one of the hardest
- 4:33shooters in the NHLI. Guess it got him near his
- 4:36shoulder or his upper arm, and Blankenberg was trying to find
- 4:41his way back to the bench as Marshaso buried the empty net.
- 4:45Yeah, that was a huge third period for the team.
- 4:48I mean, guys were just throwing their bodies on the line.
- 4:51But Max, did you see Philip Forsberg's?
- 4:54You know, he he wasn't accounted for an assist on Brady Shay's
- 4:57goal, But did you see the play where he put his hand in front
- 5:02of the goalie's eyes to screen him a little bit so that Shay
- 5:05could get right through the net? I mean, he's the sorcerer.
- 5:08How does he think to do things like that?
- 5:12It's genius. I I don't know why people don't
- 5:14do this more. Wave your stick in front of the
- 5:16goalie's eyes. Put your hand in there.
- 5:18It's a It's a nice easy way to get a screen going without
- 5:21risking blocking the shot or or bumping the shot out of the way.
- 5:25I, I mean it, he's just Philip Forsberg, like, right, Like I, I
- 5:30don't know, I could watch that play on repeat numerous times,
- 5:34watching the quick thinking of his mind to do that.
- 5:39The stuff that he pulls never ceases to amaze.
- 5:43No. So overall a good one for the
- 5:45team. You talked about Nick Linkeberg
- 5:47taking one up to the upper shoulder.
- 5:48The guys had 27 block shots in that game.
- 5:51Just all around great performance and I think they
- 5:53felt good. You know, I talked with Ryan
- 5:55O'Reilly on the bench afterwards and they felt good.
- 5:58They felt confident and that was a much needed win going into the
- 6:00break. The.
- 6:01Predators Bench, where Cara Hammer has an interview with our
- 6:04number one star. Ryan, you guys are back in the
- 6:07win column and I know you wanted to feel good going into the
- 6:10break, but how good does it also feel to send these fans home
- 6:13with that feeling? The crowd was into it tonight.
- 6:16Oh yeah, it was a great crowd. You know, obviously it's been
- 6:19disappointing season so far. And you know, we really do
- 6:21appreciate the support. You know, we're not going to
- 6:23quit here. We're going to keep fighting and
- 6:24we appreciate everyone coming out and still supporting us.
- 6:26So it's been frustrating and yeah, we really do appreciate
- 6:28it. I know you guys wanted to have
- 6:30this. Feeling coming into this?
- 6:31One you come into it on the. Back-to-back.
- 6:33But tonight you pick up your first career for assists game.
- 6:36How important was that? I felt good.
- 6:38I haven't been generating much offense this this season, so it
- 6:41was nice to kind of get on the board like that and some big
- 6:43goals. But overall I thought just, you
- 6:45know, our team, the desperation was there.
- 6:46You know, we had some huge blocks, especially at the end
- 6:48there, Blanks making a huge block.
- 6:50Just having that little extra desperation allow us to win this
- 6:52game tonight. Yeah, take us through that third
- 6:54period. It just felt like a team effort
- 6:56out there. Absolutely.
- 6:57You know, they're they're a highly skilled team.
- 6:59You see the way they skate, they come at you, they make plays.
- 7:02I thought we did a good job of managing the puck.
- 7:03You know, we didn't have any bad turnovers.
- 7:05We got it deep and you know, we're we're able to pull it out,
- 7:08which is huge all. Right.
- 7:09Enjoy the break. My pleasure.
- 7:10Thank you. Ah, the factor.
- 7:12You know, you could tell that he felt like he was struggling a
- 7:15little bit. So that was also good for him on
- 7:17a personal level to have a little bit of that confidence.
- 7:20And, you know, it just felt like like the mood was high.
- 7:25And Max, I have to tell you, when Kevin Morley was coming off
- 7:28the bench, he was the first person I passed going out.
- 7:30And I did shout at him go USA. And I got a little fist bone for
- 7:35Morley. So so all around good vibes that
- 7:37night. Yeah, I think he's going to have
- 7:39a lot of people chanting USA at him.
- 7:41The Preds athletic trainer. He'll be part of the athletic
- 7:44training staff for the Four Nations.
- 7:45Face off. Good game and goal from Eustis
- 7:48Onon. 226 saves. Plus we got to see a couple of
- 7:51Preds rookies play their first home games in gold.
- 7:54Yoakim Kimmel made his NHL debut Friday night in Chicago against
- 7:59the Blackhawks and then played his second NHL game on Saturday
- 8:02night in Smashville against the Sabres.
- 8:04Pretty cool to have his parents come across the world to be at
- 8:10those first two games. I Max, I got to tell you, I love
- 8:15the rookie interviews so much. Like we've talked about how much
- 8:18we've enjoyed speaking with Fedora this season, but I had
- 8:22Joakim Kimmel on the on the the broadcast.
- 8:24And my favorite line he said is I shoot and I score the puck.
- 8:30How do you not love that? This is all these guys are
- 8:32thinking about when they come up?
- 8:34But it was cool for Kimmel. It was nice to see his parents
- 8:37make the journey over here. And, you know, we'll talk about
- 8:42this coming up, Max. But I was in Milwaukee the night
- 8:44before while you guys were in Chicago.
- 8:45And I actually watched Ozzy Weisblatt score a goal in the
- 8:48AHL. So then to turn around, see him
- 8:50back in Nashville along with me on Saturday night, it was cool
- 8:53to see him in the lineup. It was Ozzy's third NHL game.
- 8:56His first two came in January and we're both on the road.
- 8:59So like Kimmel, he was making his home Pred's debut.
- 9:03I thought he played very well in a fourth line role, played 13
- 9:061/2 minutes, had plenty of ice time.
- 9:08And after the game he was our guest on Pred's radio in the
- 9:11Jack Daniels Barrel House. And like you said, it was a
- 9:14quick turn around from an AHL game Friday night to an NHL game
- 9:18Saturday night, and we asked him how he made the trip up.
- 9:23Yeah, Scotty Nickel told me after the game.
- 9:24And you know, I would have sprinted over here if I if I had
- 9:28to. So yeah, got here about 12:00
- 9:31and had a nice little nap and here we are.
- 9:34Big one. Good weekend for Ozzy, an AHL
- 9:38Tuck and an NHLW. I, I just need to know what
- 9:41flight he was on because the one they booked me on left at 5:30
- 9:45that morning and I did not see Ozzy on the plane.
- 9:47But Max, I was tired. So I felt for him that night
- 9:50knowing all right, man, we got to make a trip.
- 9:52We're coming back. I, you know, I was assuming why
- 9:55I don't know what time he got there.
- 9:57So it was nice to see noon, maybe got a little sleep in the
- 10:00morning to get juiced up for the game that night.
- 10:03Well, maybe you were just so tired that he was right in front
- 10:05of you and you're missing. But on the other side, I heard
- 10:08that your plane was arriving in Nashville, but pretty much at
- 10:11the same time I was waking up to leave to get on the flight from
- 10:14Milwaukee back to Nashville. So it's a lot of trouble this
- 10:17season. The break is coming at a good
- 10:18time. Yeah, much needed for sure.
- 10:21So the Preds got a big win against the Sabres six to four
- 10:24on Saturday night in Smashville. They will not play again for two
- 10:28weeks. They will return on Saturday
- 10:30February 22nd against the Colorado Avalanche to begin A4
- 10:34game home stand at Bridgestone Arena as the Preds will only be
- 10:38at home for the rest of February coming back from the Four
- 10:41Nations face off which begins on Wednesday night, February 12th
- 10:45and runs for 9 days. The championship game is
- 10:48Thursday, February 20th, with every game being televised on
- 10:53either TNT or ESPN. We will give you the full Four
- 10:56Nations schedule and breakdown coming up next segment.
- 11:00The Predators have also made a transaction during the Four
- 11:03Nations face off. They have acquired defenceman
- 11:06Andreas England off of waivers from the LA Kings.
- 11:10England was waived on Sunday, claimed by the Predators, and he
- 11:15will be joining the Preds when they return to practice next
- 11:18Tuesday before they get back in action after the Four Nations
- 11:21face off. And Kara, I'm a big Andreas
- 11:25Anglin fan. This is a guy I have always
- 11:27wanted on the Preds. Yeah, he was on waivers.
- 11:31You got him picked up, but this is a guy who I'm very excited to
- 11:35watch in Smashville. A big lefty defenseman with some
- 11:38major punch joining the Preds lineup, formerly of the
- 11:41Senators, Avalanche, Blackhawks and most recently the Kings.
- 11:45I saw your post that you were very, very excited to have
- 11:48England, a big left-handed defenseman.
- 11:50I mean, it seems like things are going your way, Max.
- 11:53He's on my list. He's on my favorites list, so
- 11:56we'll see Andres Anglin at least for the rest of the season in
- 11:59Nashville. He's a pending free agent, but
- 12:01he's a guy who was in the Preds division with the Avalanche, in
- 12:03the Blackhawks, and I feel like he was always taking runs at our
- 12:08guys and I would like that to be on our team, not on the other
- 12:11team. Yeah, And, you know, having some
- 12:13healthy bodies and this is a good time for the Preds.
- 12:15They're dealing with a little bit of injuries right now.
- 12:18And talking about going on waivers.
- 12:20The Preds sent Benny Hinnestrosa down.
- 12:23He was claimed off the waiver, so he is no longer a member of
- 12:25the Predators. But hopefully this is a good
- 12:27time for some guys to get healthy.
- 12:29Mark Jankowski, Zach LaRue, you know, just get these guys, you
- 12:32know, crash and, and come back at the end of February and
- 12:36hopefully find a way to close out this season with things on
- 12:40the right, on the right note. Yeah, I hope to see Luke
- 12:42Evangelista back by the time the preps return.
- 12:45Coming back from the Four Nations break, everybody gets a
- 12:47week and 1/2 in the NHL except for the best of the best,
- 12:51including Philip Forsberg, Gus Nyquist and UC Soros, who are
- 12:54playing in the Four Nations Face Off international tournament
- 12:58starting this week in Montreal and then shifting to Boston next
- 13:01week for the finals. We'll give you a full breakdown
- 13:04of the tournament and make our predictions and tell you how to
- 13:06watch and what to expect. Coming up next, you're listening
- 13:09to the Predators official podcast.
- 13:11She is Cara Hammer from Preds TV.
- 13:13I'm Max Harris from Preds Radio. This is the POP on your radio
- 13:17home for Preds Hockey ESPN 1025 and 1063 The Game.
- 13:26Welcome back to the Predators official podcast here on ESPN
- 13:301025 and 1063. The game.
- 13:33My name is Max Herz from Predators Radio with Cara Hammer
- 13:35from Predators TV. Hammer at his time.
- 13:38We've been talking about it for months.
- 13:40And the Four Nations face off is finally here, starting on
- 13:44Wednesday, February 12th and running all the way through next
- 13:48Thursday, February 20th with the Championship game.
- 13:53You know, I've been talking to with some few folks about how
- 13:56they're feeling about the Four Nations face off and somebody
- 13:58made a good point. And it's something that I've
- 14:00been dwelling on that if the guys come out and they win the
- 14:02first game, it feels like they may have a little bit more to
- 14:05play off of versus if you came out and lose, how do you feel
- 14:10the guys are going to respond whether they win or or lose the
- 14:13first game? I think it's going to be
- 14:15interesting to see how everybody comes out because you got All
- 14:18Stars playing together for the first time, you got guys
- 14:21reuniting. It's going to be interesting to
- 14:24see who does and doesn't gel. And it's kind of unprecedented
- 14:29for the NHL to be doing this in the middle of the year.
- 14:31And I think a lot is kind of up for grabs.
- 14:35But I think you're right, I think motivation will be a big
- 14:37part of it. And it's such a short
- 14:39tournament, the teams have been practicing for two days and
- 14:42we'll get to see our first look at it here on Wednesday night
- 14:45when Canada and Sweden play the first game in Montreal.
- 14:48Yeah, I think one thing, Max, that I thoroughly have enjoyed
- 14:52following the lead up to the Four Nations face off is most of
- 14:55these guys that are playing together on their Nations team,
- 14:58they grew up playing together in their younger days and juniors
- 15:01in their beginning clubs. You saw the picture of UC Soros
- 15:03and Kevin Lincoln in when they were young playing for a team in
- 15:06Finland. You know, look at the Kachuck
- 15:08brothers. They are finally getting the
- 15:10chance to play again. So I feel like that is going to
- 15:13be cool to see. It might feel like some of these
- 15:15guys are kids again when they're out there on the ice.
- 15:18Yeah, I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's going to be pretty
- 15:20freewheeling hockey. You'll have some physicality,
- 15:23but I think the skill is going to come out for sure.
- 15:26So here's the full schedule for you starting Wednesday night,
- 15:29February 12th. Some of you are hearing this
- 15:31podcast. I'm 102.5 the game as this game
- 15:34is getting going, Canada versus Sweden on TNT Wednesday night at
- 15:387:00. Then Thursday night, February
- 15:4013th at 7:00, Team USA gets started against UC Soros and
- 15:44Team Finland. That is 7:00 Thursday night, the
- 15:4713th on ESPN. Then Saturday is the first of
- 15:51two doubleheader days and it's Rivalry Day.
- 15:53Finland versus Sweden at noon on ABC, then USA versus Canada at 7
- 15:59on ABC on Saturday night the 15th.
- 16:02Then Monday Presidents Day, another doubleheader as the
- 16:05tournament moves from Montreal to Boston for the second week of
- 16:08games. Canada versus Finland at noon on
- 16:11Monday the 17th on TNT. Then at 7:00 Monday night, US as
- 16:15final game of the round Robin against Philip Forsberg, Gus
- 16:19Nyquist and Team Sweden at 7:00 on Monday on TNT.
- 16:24Then two days after that before the championship game on
- 16:27Thursday, February 20th. And then the NHL get going two
- 16:30days after that. So it's going to be a fun
- 16:33Sprint. There'll be some good rest in
- 16:34between, one or two days off, in between games, all the way
- 16:37through. I think it's actually structured
- 16:40perfectly. It's just enough that you can
- 16:43watch every game and a quick little round Robin with just one
- 16:47final. No semi finals, no bronze medal
- 16:49game, just a championship. Game and on one hand I kind of
- 16:54wish they would have done this at the start of the season just
- 16:56to see how the guys come out with with fresh legs.
- 16:59But Max, there's also a story that that I want to talk about
- 17:03here on the podcast that if you have not yet, go to nhl.com and
- 17:07read the article by Dan Rosen about Team USA playing for
- 17:12playing for the Goudreau brothers.
- 17:13It's just such a feel good article about how they've
- 17:17involved their dad Guy. They've let him in the Team USA
- 17:20photo. It's just really special.
- 17:23And if you have a moment, go online and read this story.
- 17:28I think it's going to be a big celebration of hockey all week
- 17:31long in Montreal and then at Boston. 2 great cities for it to
- 17:33be in. We'll be cheering on our Preds.
- 17:36Should be some big numbers for Philip Forsberg.
- 17:39Kara playing on the wing with Elias Peterson as his center and
- 17:43Adrian Kempay on the other wing. They got that listed as the
- 17:46second line for Sweden. That's the top line.
- 17:49That line is loaded. It's.
- 17:53Loaded. I mean, you know, I don't know,
- 17:55this might be a little bit of like All Star combined with some
- 17:57hockey. We'll see what these guys are
- 17:59able to bring. Yeah, I think that's going to be
- 18:01fun. Peterson obviously a defensively
- 18:03responsible guy, but he's going to be setting up Kempay in
- 18:06Forsberg like it's nobody's business for sure.
- 18:08So I think we'll see that line a ton, especially if Sweden is
- 18:12having to play from behind and they got Guts Nyquist in a
- 18:15fourth line role with Elias Lindholm and former Pred Victor
- 18:19Arvidsen. So as far as an All Star line of
- 18:224th liners go, I really like that trio too.
- 18:27I was like, that's what let's call that the Preds line.
- 18:29I don't know. I've been a huge fan of Victor
- 18:31Arvidsen. When we talked about the the
- 18:33quarter Century team, like, you know, it's hard.
- 18:36You're rooting for RV. How do you not get RV in there?
- 18:38So I'm rooting for him in Team Sweden right now.
- 18:41But Max, I'm all in on Team Usai got to say.
- 18:45And we got UC Soros playing for Team Finland.
- 18:47I feel bad for Juice because a couple of his defensemen have
- 18:51gone out. Miro Hastinen is not going to
- 18:53play. He's injured, so not that we
- 18:55haven't seen you see Soros stand on his head before, but it'll be
- 18:59big. Choose to fill in goal, I think
- 19:02for Soros, if Finland is going to be able to get to the
- 19:04championship game. Want to make some official
- 19:07predictions? Sure, why not?
- 19:13All right, I'll lead off. You don't sound as convinced as
- 19:16I am. I just don't know what to
- 19:18expect. Well, that's part of the fun.
- 19:22OK, let's hear. Let's hear your predictions.
- 19:24I've got USA over Sweden in the final.
- 19:29OK, I, I do, you know, I want to say that Team USA is going to
- 19:36take it all, but then there's something about me that that
- 19:38Canada team, I don't know, Max. Go for it.
- 19:41I don't even have them in the final so you got me covered if
- 19:44you pick them and they get there.
- 19:48I could see I could see USA over Sweden, but I also I don't know
- 19:51what it would be kind of fun if it was USA and Canada in the
- 19:54final. Yeah, I think every matchup
- 19:59would be fun, so we'll see how it goes.
- 20:01You never know how this short tournament like this is going to
- 20:03go, but we've seen Canada not meet expectations recently with
- 20:09some of the younger tournaments in the world juniors.
- 20:12We'll see if that carries over to the biggest of the big guns,
- 20:15Crosby, McDavid, Marsh and Makar, all these guys.
- 20:20I just don't think Canada has it in goal.
- 20:22I think they have the worst goaltending of the four teams by
- 20:25far, and I think that's going to hurt them.
- 20:28I don't think Bennington's going to get it done.
- 20:31One thing I have thought about is the Preds obviously have have
- 20:35found their struggles this season.
- 20:37It's not looking likely that they're going to make the
- 20:39playoffs. So do you look at a guy like
- 20:42Phil Forsberg and Gus Nyquist and UC Soros as this is their
- 20:45chance to win? So maybe, maybe it is going to
- 20:48be Sweden. Maybe these guys are going to
- 20:49come out and play on fire and we're going to see Sweden.
- 20:53That's top. I think it's going to be a lot
- 20:55of fun. I think Sweden is really strong,
- 20:57especially on the back end. Victor Hedman, Jonas Brodeen,
- 21:01former Pred Mattias at home, Rasmus Daline, Rasmus Anderson
- 21:05and Gus Forsling. That is a really good group
- 21:09defensively in front of some combination of Philip Gustafson
- 21:13and Linus Olmark and goal. I think they're in really good
- 21:17shape to build from the back, end out and win games with two,
- 21:21three goals if needed. I mean, can you just make me a
- 21:25shirt that says go USA, then on the bottom Team Sweden?
- 21:29And then I just have like Ecky and Phil and all the guys that
- 21:32we've been fortunate to cover throughout my tenure in
- 21:34Nashville. That's going to be the best part
- 21:36about this. Everybody has ties to their guys
- 21:38and everyone is so torn about whether do you root for USA?
- 21:42Do you root for your hometown guys?
- 21:44So I think that's exactly what the NHL wanted to accomplish
- 21:47here. So wait, but is there a Team USA
- 21:51guy that has ever played for the Nashville Predators?
- 21:54Just athletic trainer Kevin Morley.
- 21:57Man, well, I've interviewed Keith Kachuk on the broadcast
- 22:01before, so I'll get it on the Kachuk brothers.
- 22:06All right, ride the Bros. They could have them.
- 22:09The Four Nations face off begins Wednesday night.
- 22:12Many of you are hearing this podcast on Wednesday Canada
- 22:16versus Sweden Wednesday USA versus Finland Thursday, Sunday
- 22:20is Finland versus Sweden and USA versus Canada.
- 22:23Or excuse me, Saturday is Finland versus Sweden and USA
- 22:26versus Canada. Then Presidents Day Monday is
- 22:29Canada versus Finland and Sweden versus USA.
- 22:32The championship game is next Thursday, February 20th.
- 22:36All the day games are at noon Central.
- 22:39All The Tonight games are at 7 Central and every game is
- 22:42televised nationally on either ESPNABC or TNT in the US.
- 22:49So enjoy the Four Nations face off.
- 22:53We'll be right there with you watching.
- 22:54We'll take a break. Come back with more after this.
- 22:56This is the Predators official podcast with Max hers and Cara
- 22:59Hammer on ESPN 1025 and 1063 The game.
- 23:07Welcome back to the Predators official podcast final segment
- 23:11of this Four Nations face off break episode.
- 23:14I'm Max Hers from Preds radio along with Kara Hammer from
- 23:17Predators TV. Hammer, you made your journey up
- 23:20to Milwaukee last week for Women in sports night with the
- 23:23Predators AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, and they put
- 23:27you to work. Sounds like it was a good time.
- 23:30Max, they did put me to work. I felt like I was getting the
- 23:32full AHL experience. Yeah, it was really neat.
- 23:36You know, I was so fortunate to be invited up and, you know,
- 23:40along with other women in the industry, there was Sophia
- 23:43Menard. She's the the broadcaster for
- 23:46the Milwaukee Brewer. She actually just won the
- 23:48Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year award.
- 23:51So that was neat to to spend this evening with her.
- 23:54And you just some other women up there.
- 23:56And I flew into Milwaukee, Max and I got a tour of the arena.
- 24:00I had, I had never been there before.
- 24:03I got to go see the locker room and catch up with Ads coach Carl
- 24:07Taylor. But once the evening started,
- 24:09Max, I mean, it was it was full goal.
- 24:12Go, excuse me, They did. It's almost like speed dating
- 24:15and they put us at each table and there was a bunch of ladies
- 24:18there that got to come and, you know, stand in line and wait and
- 24:21have a few minutes with each person to talk about the
- 24:24industry or what they want to do.
- 24:26They were able to ask me questions.
- 24:28I was able to talk about my journey and how I got to this
- 24:31role with the Predators. And then after the event that
- 24:35they put me on a microphone and I was the PA announcer and
- 24:38called the starting lineup. And after that, I did a first
- 24:42intermission interview with Spencer Stassney.
- 24:44So that was a little bit more of my wheelhouse feeling a little
- 24:47comfortable doing the interviews.
- 24:49Next thing you know, I was on the ice doing a barrel roll, a
- 24:54keg roll on the ice, Max, where the contestants had to wheel the
- 24:58wheel the keg around the ice and then shoot it into the nut.
- 25:02Then I was show throwing T-shirts into the stands.
- 25:06But my favorite had to be the human hockey puck, which I found
- 25:10out this is the most coveted game you can play in the AHL.
- 25:14There's a wait list for it. I put Lindsay Riley on the wait
- 25:17list. She's going to come up next
- 25:18season and do it. But essentially they put you on
- 25:21the sled and they slingshot you across the ice into some pads at
- 25:25the other end. So I was like they had me MC ING
- 25:29it, you know, so I was counting down 321 go, but I was kind of
- 25:31like, I kind of want to do it, like I kind of want to be the
- 25:33contestant. Go flying through.
- 25:37Yeah, that sounds fun. Well, I'm glad it was such a
- 25:39great time. And major props to the ads for
- 25:42having that and bringing you up. Yeah, it was a great night.
- 25:45It was, you know, the the MCS that were up there, the game
- 25:49host, they were, they were totally awesome.
- 25:52It was a guy, Matt, and it was a gal named Asia.
- 25:54And she, you would have loved her back.
- 25:55She played basketball and ran track at UConn.
- 25:58She's the Green Bay Packers and game host, so I was able to
- 26:03learn a lot from them about what they're doing.
- 26:05I feel like Wayne D might have a little bit of competition after
- 26:08meeting after meeting these these folks up there.
- 26:11But it was so much fun. The fans were so into it.
- 26:14I had a lot of people come up and talk about their their love
- 26:17of the Preds and how much they love watching the guys go from
- 26:20Milwaukee up to Nashville and and come back down.
- 26:23So it was it was really neat. And I had never been to
- 26:26Milwaukee before and I had never tasted a sweet cow beer, which I
- 26:31enjoyed after the game. That's that's a lot or you can
- 26:34only get in the state of Wisconsin.
- 26:35So I felt like I had it going for me.
- 26:39Good times. Yeah, I got.
- 26:40I still have never been doing a game there.
- 26:42I got to make it up for sure. You got to make it up.
- 26:45And I also learned that when you're flying into Milwaukee and
- 26:47I don't know if they were pulling my leg or not,
- 26:49supposedly there is a house that has Welcome to Cleveland written
- 26:55on the rooftop that when you're flying into Milwaukee, that's
- 26:58the sign you read as you're landing.
- 27:01So you're sitting on the plane thinking, am I in the right
- 27:03place? Am I in the right city?
- 27:06Did you see it? I did not see it.
- 27:09I was not looking out the window.
- 27:10But when I landed, they asked, they said did you see the house?
- 27:13Did you see the house? And I said, what house?
- 27:15They're like the welcome, welcome to Cleveland.
- 27:17Signed. So yeah.
- 27:20And I have to tell my favorite story of the night.
- 27:23Austin Watson was there. He was playing for for Grand
- 27:26Rapids. Obviously, I cover Wadi for his
- 27:29time with the Predators. But Maxi got put in the penalty
- 27:32box and the fans were heckling him, saying, Wadi, you stink
- 27:37now, Wadi, you're no good anymore.
- 27:39And he turned around and said they love being here, they're
- 27:41going to retire my jersey. So that was a great moment.
- 27:46You know, I just felt like it was a little bit of a full
- 27:48circle getting to to come back and see some of the guys that I
- 27:52had covered and you know, like Mark Del Gaizo was playing and
- 27:55Ozzie wise blood and these guys have all been up this season.
- 27:58So to see them and they, you know, and the and the odds won.
- 28:02So that was a great night. All right, great night all
- 28:06around. Great night all around.
- 28:07We got to go to Milwaukee. Yeah, we should do APOP trip
- 28:11next year. We know we have a lot of great
- 28:12listeners up there. So shout out to everyone who was
- 28:15there, shout out to everybody who listens and we will be
- 28:18rolling through hopefully next season we can make that happen.
- 28:21But great on the ADS organization for doing that and
- 28:24having Cara as a part of it. Women in Sports night in
- 28:26Milwaukee last week for the Admirals and Griffins.
- 28:31Big win for the ADS up in MKE. So after the Four Nations face
- 28:36off, the Preds will have a four-game home stand in the
- 28:38final week of February starting Saturday, February 22nd against
- 28:44the Avalanche at 5:00 on Saturday night in Smashville.
- 28:47Sunday the 23rd against the Devils, also at 5:00 on a Sunday
- 28:52night to finish up a back-to-back.
- 28:54Then the Tuesday after that, February 25th against the
- 28:57Panthers, February 27th against the Winnipeg Jets.
- 29:00A4 game home stand and that'll be bobblehead, three of four in
- 29:06our Music City Bobblehead series.
- 29:08On Sunday, February 23rd against the Devils, it is Vince Gill and
- 29:13Amy looking at dual bobblehead. Two of my favorite people.
- 29:16So hope to see you guys at Bridgestone Arena for that one.
- 29:20And also coming up this weekend, Saturday, February 15th, it is
- 29:25Preds Day at the Nashville Zoo. Come out hang out with Nash at
- 29:29the zoo and the Smashville St. team and Preds fans can get a
- 29:32discount. Go to the Nashville Zoo's
- 29:35website and put in discount code Preds DAY 5 for $5 off of every
- 29:41admission for the Nashville Zoo. The Predators continue their
- 29:45year long partnership with the zoo.
- 29:46You don't have a hockey game this Saturday?
- 29:49Come on down to the zoo Saturday the 15th from 1:50 right?
- 29:54I love it. That's all we got for today.
- 29:57We will see you guys in Smashville and return from the
- 29:59Four Nations face off break next week.
- 30:01Make sure you're watching the Four Nations face off on ESPNABC
- 30:05and TNT over this next week and group not Philip Orsberg, Gus
- 30:09Nyquist and UC Sorrows for the Freds from afar.
- 30:13She's Gary Hammer from Freds TV. I'm Max Hurst from Freds Radio.
- 30:17Thanks for listening to the Predators official podcast.