Speaker 1: Man, was that fun last night? Of what I mean,
Speaker 1: I hope you were watching. I don't know what else
Speaker 1: you would be watching, quite honestly, but you see what
Speaker 1: took place in Montreal last night, and you see how
Speaker 1: fluid and how fast and how skilled and how together
Speaker 1: a team should be. I don't care the sport, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's basketball, football, baseball, you name it, lacrosse,
Speaker 1: go ahead, soccer, whatever, When you're together, when you're feeding
Speaker 1: off each other's vibes, when you've got that feel, that chemistry,
Speaker 1: that symmetry. I know sometimes we overuse that word, but
Speaker 1: I think it's really evident with Team USA, at least
Speaker 1: last night as they started to click a little bit.
Speaker 1: Finland is a team that may not have had it's
Speaker 1: you know, as we spoke yesterday with Greg Wishinsky, I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed that interview. He's the senior hockey writer
Speaker 1: for ESPN dot com and we talked to him at
Speaker 1: eight o'clock yesterday. It's on our podcast. You can check
Speaker 1: that out at xbree Mornings, ex'es and Bros. Here Monday
Speaker 1: through Friday, six until nine. It is. It's kind of
Speaker 1: refreshing to watch you know. I mean, it's really fun
Speaker 1: to watch a team understand one another, and considering a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys don't play with one another during
Speaker 1: the regular season. It's just a collection of talent. Like
Speaker 1: you could put together a lot of great players, that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're going to be great together. And it
Speaker 1: did take you know, half a period, maybe a full
Speaker 1: period for Team USA to click. And I don't say
Speaker 1: that just because the score was one one. Finland scored first,
Speaker 1: they didn't have two or three of their top defensemen,
Speaker 1: but they played pretty gritty. I mean, if you watched
Speaker 1: the intermission report with Mark Messier and PK Suban, they
Speaker 1: were talking about that and how Finland just kind of
Speaker 1: stands you up the way they're going going to win.
Speaker 1: Remember in ninety five, everybody talked about, you know, New
Speaker 1: Jersey and how they won with the left wing trap
Speaker 1: and all those other things, and how it was bad
Speaker 1: for the sport. You know, when did it end up happening.
Speaker 1: The Devil's ended winning the Stanley Cup that year, and
Speaker 1: they used that format to be very successful, to be
Speaker 1: a really challenging team for an extended period of time
Speaker 1: during NHL history. Finland knows they can't skate with Team USA.
Speaker 1: They know they have to be physical, but Team USA
Speaker 1: brings that physicality as well. They're not going to be
Speaker 1: able to win a high scoring game. So what did
Speaker 1: they do. They played a certain style that allowed them
Speaker 1: to stay in the game, and then Team USA started
Speaker 1: to open things up a little bit and the entire roster,
Speaker 1: that USA roster. I mean, Dylan Larkin is a really
Speaker 1: good hockey player. You and I both know that, right
Speaker 1: You and I have had these discussions before. Dwight think
Speaker 1: he's a number one center on a really good team.
Speaker 1: Probably not probably number two, but that's okay, you know,
Speaker 1: not taking anything away from I think he said. I
Speaker 1: love having him on the Red Wings. I think he's
Speaker 1: awesome that he's the captain of this team, and I
Speaker 1: think he's the right choice. And I love the contract extension.
Speaker 1: He gives you everything he's got. He plays two hundred feet.
Speaker 1: He's not afraid to, you know, go down and behind
Speaker 1: the net and mix it up a little bit. He's
Speaker 1: an aggressive back checker. I love everything about that with
Speaker 1: Dylan Markin. But on this team, and I know this
Speaker 1: isn't a regular season NHL team, so don't take it
Speaker 1: as if you know this is where he belongs on
Speaker 1: a regular NHL team, because it's not. This is the
Speaker 1: best America has to offer. For the most part. He's
Speaker 1: the fourth line center. He's playing penalty kill. He's not
Speaker 1: on the number one power play. He's not getting a
Speaker 1: ton of shifts, he's not getting a ton of ice time.
Speaker 1: It's thrilling for him to be on this team, and
Speaker 1: he should be thrilled. I mean, it's the ultimate, really
Speaker 1: it is. It's the ultimate, a compliment to you as
Speaker 1: a player. And he's playing with you know, his good friend,
Speaker 1: Zach Warinsky. You got the state of Michigan heavily represented.
Speaker 1: Kyle Connor's out there, Dylan Larkin is out there, Connor
Speaker 1: Hullabuck is out there, Zach Warinsky is out there. That's fun, man,
Speaker 1: that's really cool. I was talking with, you know, my
Speaker 1: best buddy, and he was on his way back from
Speaker 1: the airport because he travels a lot, and this was
Speaker 1: at night, ironically enough, coming back from Alaska in Seattle
Speaker 1: with his job, and he was saying, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: even know what's going on. He's in the car right
Speaker 1: and quite honestly, he's not one of those guys who
Speaker 1: he used to be heavily into sports, and now it's
Speaker 1: just turned him off. He he's just not up with
Speaker 1: it anymore. So I was talking to him while the
Speaker 1: game was going on and almost doing a little play
Speaker 1: by play and talking about how good team USA is
Speaker 1: and love watching him play and so on and so forth.
Speaker 1: And I told him about all the different Michiganders on
Speaker 1: this team, and Kyle Connor, by the way, he did
Speaker 1: have an assist, and he he was like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. I like that. I said, yeah. He said,
Speaker 1: how's Dylan Larkin? I said, good. You look down on
Speaker 1: the statistics. Dylan Larkin only had seventeen shifts, second fewest
Speaker 1: of any of the forwards. Only Brought Nelson had fewer,
Speaker 1: and he played the second fewest time on the ice.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who's used to playing the most
Speaker 1: time on the ice for Detroit other than the most cider.
Speaker 1: He and Lucas Raymond leading the way for Detroit, and
Speaker 1: I'm on the forwards, he's the second fewest. That's okay,
Speaker 1: I mean, you work your way into it. I think
Speaker 1: he only had one shot. I'm not even sure he
Speaker 1: had that. But the bottom line is he and his
Speaker 1: team ruled the roost in Montreal and win six to one.
Speaker 1: The story of the night, without question, is the Kachuck brothers.
Speaker 1: When you have I remember it's a little bit more in.
Speaker 1: A month ago, maybe a month and a half, maybe
Speaker 1: two months ago, somebody called in and said, SHEP, who's
Speaker 1: the one player you would want from another team on
Speaker 1: this team besides the superstars. You're not getting Connor McDavid
Speaker 1: and Leon drisidled and Austin Matthews. Okay, what would do
Speaker 1: you remember the name I brought up? You're not getting
Speaker 1: Matt Kachuck in Florida, all right, he's the captain of Florida.
Speaker 1: Or he's the assistant captain of Florida. Andrew Parkoff, I believe,
Speaker 1: is the captain, and they've got him there. They don't
Speaker 1: want to give him up, right, not that anybody wants
Speaker 1: to give up a great player. Do you remember the
Speaker 1: name I said? I said, Brady Kuchuk, And I said
Speaker 1: Brady Kuchuk because of his physicality and because of his
Speaker 1: offensive prowess, and his offensive game was on display last night.
Speaker 1: He had two goals, and his brother Matt Kuchuk had
Speaker 1: two goals. In an assist now. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you feel about Keith Kachuk when he played primarily with
Speaker 1: Saint Louis during his career, And I don't know how
Speaker 1: you feel about them because I think they can be
Speaker 1: a little polarizing. They play with an edge like their
Speaker 1: dad did, but they play with an edge. They are
Speaker 1: power forwards. Power forwards and hockey aren't always big, strong,
Speaker 1: tough guys. Power forwards in hockey are guys who score
Speaker 1: in front of the net, guys who play down below
Speaker 1: the goal line, and guys who hit as well as score.
Speaker 1: Brendan Shanahan is a perfect example of what a power
Speaker 1: forward was. You would love to have somebody of that ilk.
Speaker 1: That's why I said Brady Kuchuck and Brady Kachuk was
Speaker 1: one of the best players on the ice last night
Speaker 1: for Team USA. That sets up an unbelievable, cannot miss,
Speaker 1: must watch situation tomorrow night, Team USA against Team Canada.
Speaker 1: It's awesome. God, that was fun to watch. I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Speaker 2: It was really neat just coming out for warm ups,
Speaker 2: the two of you following each other out onto the ice.
Speaker 2: I mean to take a moment just to soak in
Speaker 2: this whole situation and opportunity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was.
Speaker 2: Really really cool. Yeah, I was really really cool. That's
Speaker 2: all I got to say. It was it's a special
Speaker 2: moment for us to be able to play with each other.
Speaker 2: I think that's when it finally set in, when when
Speaker 2: the fans were obviously brewing us as we came up
Speaker 2: for warm ups and I'm following him, and it was
Speaker 2: just it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That is so cool. Matthew Kidchuck playing with his brother.
Speaker 1: First time they've done that at the professional level. First
Speaker 1: time a pair of brothers in the United States has
Speaker 1: scored in the same game in the same tournament. Each
Speaker 1: had two goals. Matt could Chuck, the Stanley Cup champion,
Speaker 1: had two goals and an assist. For me, it was
Speaker 1: just an absolute blast. And we talked about it with
Speaker 1: Greg Wishinsky yesterday. Hockey needs to do a better job
Speaker 1: of promoting its sport. How do you do that? Because
Speaker 1: it's easy for me to just say this is what
Speaker 1: you this is what you've got to do, But then
Speaker 1: you've got to ask yourself, how do you do it? Right?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's easy for a guy like a talk
Speaker 1: show host to sit back. You know, hockey doesn't do
Speaker 1: a great job of promoting itself, for marketing itself. They
Speaker 1: got to do a better job with their they're athletes. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty generic statement. The question follow up from
Speaker 1: anybody in hockey or any fan should be okay, chev,
Speaker 1: if you're so smart, what do you do? I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what you do. You put on events like this
Speaker 1: where the gas level you and I says what does
Speaker 1: gas stand for? They give a blank. If I were
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neil and just say the word because apparently there's
Speaker 1: no apparently there's no problem saying that. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: On TNT, he can just say S and F and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. That's no big deal and people laugh
Speaker 1: at it. You know, Ernie Johnson, you said F on
Speaker 1: the air, Kenny Smith, that's great. You said S on
Speaker 1: the air, Charles Barge that a boy would go, man,
Speaker 1: and then people just go, this is awesome. Let me
Speaker 1: watch some more of it. It's the number one pre
Speaker 1: and postgame show in all of sports because they say
Speaker 1: S and F. Okay, that's the way it works. Cool.
Speaker 1: You know, can't do that on a local show or
Speaker 1: but you can do it on TNT. I think get
Speaker 1: rewarded for it. That's really cool anyway, So what do
Speaker 1: you do you put on events like this or you
Speaker 1: make sure this happens. I'm not saying you do it
Speaker 1: every year because that might get a little much and
Speaker 1: then it wears. There's something about in all of life perhaps,
Speaker 1: but there's something about having it special like Christmas. Once
Speaker 1: you love Christmas, of course you do, but it's only
Speaker 1: once a year. You treasure it thanksgiving, you treasure it, right,
Speaker 1: So you can't have or probably don't have the Four
Speaker 1: Nations Tournament every year? Do you like the Ryder Cup TRENT?
Speaker 1: I do, okay, every other year, right, every other year? Right,
Speaker 1: that's what makes it special. This is not the super
Speaker 1: Bowl of hockey. It's not the Stanley Cup Finals of hockey.
Speaker 1: Those are special moments, right this you want you want
Speaker 1: it to mean a little bit more. So, I think
Speaker 1: this is really good. The other thing hockey needs to
Speaker 1: continue to do and they do it, but they just
Speaker 1: don't promote it nearly enough. There was a really good
Speaker 1: shot of the coaching staff led by Mike Sullivan, who's
Speaker 1: in the locker room and he brings in a special
Speaker 1: guest to read off the lines. That's what always happens
Speaker 1: in hockey. Coach stands in front of everybody, gives him
Speaker 1: a couple of last minute instructions, might be in front
Speaker 1: of the whiteboard, and then he's got a piece of
Speaker 1: paper with his lines, okay, the top four lines, and
Speaker 1: then they read off the forwards, and then the pairing
Speaker 1: of the defenseman and who's in net, and everybody claps
Speaker 1: in between each one. Those types of moments pretty awesome, right.
Speaker 1: Putting the go pro on Matthew Kachuk as they go
Speaker 1: through the warm up line is pretty awesome. Those are
Speaker 1: the little things oftentimes that need to be done to
Speaker 1: get people super excited and super appreciative of the sport
Speaker 1: and the players that they have. After Canada beat Sweden,
Speaker 1: there was a there was a camera in the Canadian
Speaker 1: locker room. Team Canada locker room. Brad Marshaan was Mike
Speaker 1: dub Now. Brad Marshan is a If you've ever seen
Speaker 1: interviews of him, it is quick and concise. He does
Speaker 1: not give you a lot of detail. Many of us
Speaker 1: in the business would perhaps call him a boring interview
Speaker 1: all right, but he does have a personality, And I
Speaker 1: know most people, including my sons, feel like he's a rat.
Speaker 1: They can't stand him. He's the instigator, he gets under
Speaker 1: your skin. He's the guy wearing the black hat. He's
Speaker 1: the guy that every opposing team's fan base hates. Which
Speaker 1: it takes something to do that, It really does. I mean,
Speaker 1: think about it. Do you want to be hated everywhere
Speaker 1: you go except for your hometown. That's not an easy
Speaker 1: thing to handle. You've got to be really strong mentally.
Speaker 1: Who's that guy in Detroit? I don't think the Red
Speaker 1: Wings have one? Do you think? Do you think? Do
Speaker 1: you think the Pistons have one? Isaiah Stewart's probably the
Speaker 1: closest thing there you go. His isn't because of how
Speaker 1: good he is. His is more about because he wants
Speaker 1: to fight everybody for some reason or another. Do the
Speaker 1: Lions have somebody like that? Do they have the equivalent
Speaker 1: of a James Harrison for example? Because James Harrison was
Speaker 1: that guy for the Steelers. No, most of these types
Speaker 1: of players in order for you to hate them, you
Speaker 1: have to respect them. I believe you have to say
Speaker 1: I would want that guy on my team, though. Who's
Speaker 1: the most famous Bill Ambiert. Every fan base hated that
Speaker 1: guy absolutely. Like Rick mchorne. They could say that because
Speaker 1: he was, you know, part of the bad boys, and
Speaker 1: he was on the poster, and he was big and
Speaker 1: he was strong. But most people understood where he was.
Speaker 1: They didn't think he was dirty. Where people, well, I
Speaker 1: think truly believed that Bill Ambier was dirty. Maybe some
Speaker 1: of that has to do with taking down Larry Bird
Speaker 1: and then Robert Perris slapping him in the face later on.
Speaker 1: I believe it was nineteen eighty seven, maybe nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure when that label was given to him,
Speaker 1: but we know it is stuck with him his entire life.
Speaker 1: Brad Marshant is similar to that, not because I don't
Speaker 1: think he's dirty. It's just because he's a little bit
Speaker 1: of an instigator and willing to chirp and he'll drop
Speaker 1: the gloves too. But what Hockey did, what Canada did,
Speaker 1: was they miked him up. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was a parable long microphone or free actually was
Speaker 1: miked up. They got him going into the Team Canada
Speaker 1: dressing room after the game, walking to his stall and
Speaker 1: talking to Connor McDavid and talking to Sidney Crosby and
Speaker 1: actually said something to Crosby like that's a kind of
Speaker 1: a risky player. At the end, they're eighty seven, and
Speaker 1: everybody was laughing a little bit. You know you've got
Speaker 1: And to me, I'm sitting there watching I see in
Speaker 1: the video, I'm like, oh my god, there's McKinnon, there's Crosby,
Speaker 1: there's McDavid. I mean, think about that. You've got Sidney Crosby, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, has never lost a game in his
Speaker 1: international competition life. Think about that. That's when you talk
Speaker 1: when you talk about among the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: And I said this the other day, he is simply
Speaker 1: amazing but never gets nearly enough credit. I remember early
Speaker 1: in his career, I was working at wdfenit Detroit, and
Speaker 1: I said a statement that had people just blown away,
Speaker 1: and I said, Sidney Crosby is greater at his sport
Speaker 1: than Lebron James.
Speaker 2: Is it his?
Speaker 1: This was early in their careers. That's not the case
Speaker 1: any longer, even though both are Hall of Fame players
Speaker 1: and great at their sport. I used to say that
Speaker 1: about Wayne Gretzky too, and people thought it was blasphemous
Speaker 1: that he was better at his sport than Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: was at his It's just really hard to dominate the
Speaker 1: game of hockey, so it's really two different things. It's
Speaker 1: really kind of a tough to measure, right, But Sidney
Speaker 1: Crosby early on in his career was that kind of guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was just simply amazing and his story
Speaker 1: is a really good one that we don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: to get into. But he's never lost a game, not
Speaker 1: a series, but a game that's called leadership, that's called
Speaker 1: high end stuff. And it's not like he's only been
Speaker 1: in five he's been in a ton of them. The
Speaker 1: microphone on Marshen in the locker room giving you that
Speaker 1: feel is pretty awesome. It's that type of access that
Speaker 1: you'd love to see more of and take those types
Speaker 1: of moments that allows people to actually have a window
Speaker 1: into the type of athletes and people that they truly are.