The Bagchucker Podcast

The Bagchucker Podcast: Episode 1 - "Bagchuckers Unite: The Launch of a Hockey Podcast Adventure"

• cmace30@hotmail.com

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In the inaugural episode of the Bag Chucker Podcast, hosts Chris Mason and Hal Gill, both ex-professional hockey players and current broadcasters for the Nashville Predators, introduce themselves and the concept behind their new show. They plan to share stories from their careers, discuss hockey, cover travel adventures, and provide behind-the-scenes insights into their lives as fathers and media professionals. In this episode, they discuss their backgrounds, experiences with transitioning from professional athletes to broadcasters, and their love for travel and discovering new experiences on the road, emphasizing the 'bagchucker' lifestyle of quickly settling in after travel to explore new places. The episode also highlights their interactions with fans, media personalities, and a fun viral video that fueled the podcast's creation. They discuss hockey news, including the trades and moves by Nashville Predators' General Manager Barry Trotz, and look forward to the upcoming season, integrating hockey analysis with their off-ice escapades.

Mace:

the first ever episode of the bag chucker podcast. It's been a long time coming. Believe me, it's, uh, it's been in the works for years. I'm one of your hosts, Chris Mason, and my other host, the godfather of bag chuck is joining me now. Hal Gill, AKA skillsy skillsy episode one. How excited are you? We've been talking about this for a lot of years. But

Skillsy:

You know what? Let's get all the nonsense that we talk about on the road. And when we travel and when we're around the rinks, uh, you know, going to restaurants and bars, constant, just you and I going at it and, and, uh, hashing out all of life's mysteries. So let's get a camera and a

Mace:

we'll put it together. We're trying to figure it out as we go. Right. Dad's broadcasters, ex professional hockey players, all the above. And we've got a good crew who, uh, you guys will meet as well. Lindsay, Willie, Max, Pete. We got, uh, we got a bunch of people, Bob Cole, uh, not the Canadian one, but, uh, our boss. So we got, we got everybody, but skillsie give me a background. Obviously, uh, Preds fans were broadcasters for the national predators. Most likely know who we are, who knows, but, uh, but for the people that don't and just, uh, tuning in, give me your background skills. You played a lot of years. You got a lot of miles on your bag checker.

Skillsy:

hi, hi. My name is Hal Gil I am a former NHL athlete. I played. Yeah, let's let's go through it. I played. Uh, I grew up in Massachusetts and went to Providence College, played 17 years. Uh, played. You know, Gary Bettman will tell you that I played 16, but, uh, that, that year was still in my life when the lockout happened. So, um, I, I always say it's 17 years, uh, then I retired and got back into broadcasting. So excited to be with the Preds and with you, big boy. Um, and you, how about you? A newly

Mace:

Yes.

Skillsy:

American,

Mace:

Yes. I just,

Skillsy:

Canadian,

Mace:

thank you very much.

Skillsy:

Let's

Mace:

Thank you very much. I just got my citizenship. I appreciate that. But, uh, also. Stanley cup champion, 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins. Uh, he's won the cup.

Skillsy:

Did I forget to say

Mace:

No, well, you got, you got the ring, you got all this stuff. You don't, when you, when you win it, you don't need to say it. But, uh, I just thought I'd mention that because that's something I wish every hockey player wishes they could do. But, uh, no, Chris Mason, uh, red deer, Alberta. Uh, lucky enough to play in the NHL for 12 seasons, played in Europe for three seasons, and I played in the minors for six seasons, a dream come true. And I've done broadcasting. This is a crazy thing. Skills is I'm almost done broadcasting for half the time. I played in the NHL or more than half the time. And then half the time I played pro hockey. So I think we're in the phase where we, you know, we're not NHL players anymore. We're broadcasters, which is hard to swallow a little bit, but I love it. We've got a great crew. Uh, fortunate, blessed to have the career I did, uh, playing hockey, three kids live in Franklin, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. Love what I do. And, uh, we'll fill you in on all the details to family stuff.

Skillsy:

Yeah, well, we both got three kids and we're both in one. We're both trying to figure that out. We don't have the answers, but we got a lot of, we got a lot of thoughts going through our head and how to do it. So, we'll talk about that a lot, but, uh, I will say mace, not to, you know, not to pump your tires too much, but you're one of the best teammates ever. You know, that's, that's something to be said for that. And if you look through. I'm sure, you know, if you want to go through your career and what you did, if you can have someone say you're a great teammate,

Mace:

Yeah, exactly. I mean, when you're, especially when you get to the point where we are, where you've kind of. Yeah. Get to look back and reflect on, uh, the playing days. And I think that's one of the most important things you feel privileged, uh, to have had the opportunity and the privilege to play in the national hockey league, which is sometimes I, I still go to rinks and I can't believe that I actually did that for as long as I did. I'm like, how the heck did I ever do that? It's not, it's crazy, right? What a league.

Skillsy:

That, what a league.

Mace:

a life,

Skillsy:

What a

Mace:

a life.

Skillsy:

believe I got to play in

Mace:

And now we're broadcasting for the media, we're media buddy. And now we're doing a podcast, which is awesome,

Skillsy:

I know, now we just

Mace:

but let's get into like bag chucker, because this is kind of a, just an anomaly. It was a crazy thing that happened. Um, we did a video, we'll get into that a bit later. We'll go, we'll break down the video, but for somebody that's first listening, they're probably thinking, what the hell is a bag chucker? So, SkillZ, tell me exactly what a bag checker is, because I knew what it was, but I didn't know there was a term for it. And you introduced me to the terms. Please explain to the people what a bag checker is.

Skillsy:

Do you, I think you have the official definition of a bagchucker?

Mace:

We did, but I, I made that up after I found out the term because we talked about it. Right.

Skillsy:

you're, you're a

Mace:

Yeah, I got it. I'm going to pull it up here. This is bag chucker

Skillsy:

And

Mace:

Apparently when we put it in the, uh, the formulation, the AI formulation, they tell us everything. So it is a person who saves valuable seconds by chucking bags in room upon arrival to hotel for most efficient turnaround to go for beers.

Skillsy:

I love that when you coined that definition, perfect. But yeah, you know what? I learned that it was my first road trip to Buffalo. I was playing 1997 with the Boston Bruins and we went to. Buffalo. And the boys said, Hey, we're going for across the street. And I got there. It took me 15 minutes. I got to the room and put my stuff out like kind of organized my life a little bit. And 15 minutes. I was the last one there. I was the whole team was there. There was a bunch of wings. There was beers and it was 4 30, I think, and I was I was the last one there. And so I learned right from the get go that you don't be the last one there. You got to chuck your bag literally when they say, Hey, let's go. Chuck your bags. It means you Open the door, throw them in there. You'll deal with it later, but let's go. We got, we got to get busy. And so, uh, that's where bag chucking came in. And as you said, it really wasn't a term until we decided it

Mace:

Yeah, exactly. And tell me, uh, it's amazing.

Skillsy:

bag

Mace:

And I've, you know, I'm sure we've had some teammates, uh, that have been amazing bag checkers. I've had a couple of Mike cylinder. We'll get in and we'll break down like their style and like how they, they did it.

Skillsy:

We got to do that. That's one of the, the, the ultimate bag chuckers,

Mace:

Yeah. Yeah. If we could, if we can get there, but I got a couple of guys that I'm like, Oh my God. I'm like, how do you do what you do and do it so well? I'm still like play unbelievable, but it's a, it's an art. Uh, it's evolved over the years. I'll tell you that. But it, it was, uh, it was, it was so funny, but who came up with the, uh, yeah. The term I know is, I think it was, um, I came to you one time because I heard an interview and it was Jeff O'Neill, the ODOG, who's, uh, an ultimate bag chucker in his day, but tell me, tell me about him and then tell me about, uh, how the term actually came to, uh, and then we decided to do the video and we'll get into that later, but tell me about the ODOG a little bit.

Skillsy:

Yeah. Well, yeah, Jeff O'Neill, great teammate, great guy. Um, but he is doing media and he had an interview with me and he said, Hey, were you the last bag trucker in the NHL after I retired, you know? And I said, Oh, you know what? I didn't really think of that. You know, like. There's a lot of guys now that younger guys, they get their protein shakes. They don't really go, go out for it and, and, and get out. I think there's a lot of video games and some guys stay in and, and hang out in their hotel room. So, um, you know, I was a guy that wanted, uh, beers in the locker room, beers in my stall, and I wanted to enjoy it. If we got to win, I wanted to enjoy it. I want to get out there and win go a couple of pops. And so, um, you know, Oh, dog knew that about me. And so we were talking about it. Then you came up to me and said, did he call you a bag And so that was kind of funny. Then we get to Montreal that night, right? I think we were in Toronto. We went to Montreal that night and we had about an hour before last call. And, uh, we, we turned around and chucked their bags and you got some good video of it. And we rolled that and, uh, You know, I think people just think it's funny because it's, it was what we did all the time, but when you see it on video, it's actually pretty funny. So, you know, that, that your little video went viral there, Mason.

Mace:

it's hilarious. And I think back to, to that, uh, because that's really how it, you know, came about. We're like, you actually said, you're like, Hey, I just, let's get a video of me chucking my bag in the room and then turn around. It was like, I don't know. It was like 11 seconds. It was like nothing. The quality was terrible. I'm going to try to, we're just starting the podcast. I'm going to try to roll it while we do this. So hopefully. If you're watching on YouTube, you'll be able to see the video. Um, it's in the intro. It's in the video intro. We'll put it out on social media and all that stuff. But it's like the worst quality. It was whatever late at night in a, in a hotel in Montreal. And, uh, Willie Donick, who's my partner on the broadcast, one of the best guys around too. He didn't know what the hell was going on. He's like, look, and he's like, what the hell are you guys doing? Cause at that point we were like just starting out and I don't think anybody What to think of us?

Skillsy:

No

Mace:

They had no clue. I think, you know, obviously they work with other players, but I don't think they'd work with like two that were kind of like us and, um, anyway, so his luck it's in the video as well. He, he didn't know what was going on. He, he kind of looked a little bit like the, like a hobo as well. He had the two jacket.

Skillsy:

there's some people that aren't bagchuckers. They get in late at night, they just want to

Mace:

He is now though. He will be now once in a while.

Skillsy:

we're not, you know, he,

Mace:

Yeah,

Skillsy:

I'm not saying

Mace:

he didn't know he just didn't know and that's just like just like the first time that you did it 15 minutes. You thought holy shit. I might be one of the first guys there and all said nope. You're the last guy there. It's a different world, but so we did that video and it just went and that's when we're both trying to really You know, be more, uh, active on social media. Hey, we're, you know, broadcasting and doing this. I never had social media till I was a broadcaster. And, uh, so I was like, Oh, that's just, I always wanted to just do fun stuff. Like, let's just be fun, whatever. Right. Try to show some personality, which I think hockey needs more. They're, they're getting, uh, they're going in a good direction, I think with all the other podcasts and the media stuff they're doing with the players. You just want to see these guys. So. We did that and it was a little 11 second video and it went fricking like viral. I checked today. I sent it to you today and there's like 300 and some odd thousand views of this thing. And that was, uh, I can't remember. It might've been 2018 or something. That's six, seven years ago, whenever it was. Anyway, it just went off. So we're like, okay, we gotta, we got something here and it's not just hockey players, like anybody that travels can relate to that. Right. Yeah.

Skillsy:

Yeah, just shows you that people really appreciate just

Mace:

Oh, just great. Well, plus the efficiency. I mean, that was the other part of the tweet was, uh, you led the league in a second, save 10 out of your 16 years and five consecutive years. And the last years of your career,

Skillsy:

yeah,

Mace:

it was just great. No, that was awesome. No, that

Skillsy:

penalties. But yeah, that was, you know, I'm good at something.

Mace:

was great.

Skillsy:

But, but Mace, we do need to, we do need to dive into. Because we've changed. I mean, like, like, let's face it, you know, I'm knocking on 50s door. You know,

Mace:

One year.

Skillsy:

we're, you know, we're, you know, but, but we're getting there. Right. And so it's kind of funny how it's changed. It's like, Hey, is there a good coffee shop when we get in town? Hey, it's like, what's the gym like at the hotel? What's the, uh, is there a good restaurant? Like, let's go find something, you know, like, I, I feel like, uh, you know, I'm a big fan of walking around a city. And, and so that's, you know, I think it used to be just go crash and, and grab beers. And now it's, it's kind of bag chucking has become new entity and it's like, get

Mace:

Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I love that because, uh, I mean, we know a lot of guys too, who, you know, obviously a battle alcoholism and, and people, you know, don't drink and that's not, you know, it started out that we thought it was fun and cool. And it was, it was fun. It was a, it was a great time, but you're thinking about, uh, You know, that's actually not the point of it. And the point to your, to what you're saying is go out and, you know, you have, we had video people send us videos. Once that started taking off, we did a couple more of kids going to like, uh, a hockey tournament, chucking their bags. I think Talon did one, he did an awesome one too. Pool in 10,

Skillsy:

Oh,

Mace:

you know, that, that's the other one, the, the lobby in 10. It's, it's the old saying, it's all right. Lobby in 10, we're going to go for beers or whatever coffee. And, uh, it's kind of evolved just, uh, you know, so other people, you know, that just go experience life. It's about experiencing life. It's about doing fun things. It's about getting out and being around. You know, good people. How many great people have you met no matter what it is at a coffee shop and making, you know, the barista's day, trying to be extra nice and they give you a good cup of coffee and it's just a great experience or going down, saddling up at a bar, getting that. We like that. Uh, what do you call it? The corner spot at the bar when we go to, that's like the, you know, optimal position.

Skillsy:

there's another

Mace:

Oh yeah.

Skillsy:

We have to dive into that

Mace:

That's a whole breakdown, like everything that, you know, all the stuff we do.

Skillsy:

where is my bar

Mace:

Exactly.

Skillsy:

up?

Mace:

It's important.

Skillsy:

important. you, you talked about a youth sports. Hey, let's not kid ourselves. Kids don't care about like how, whether they won the game on a tournament, they care about like how fast can they get to the pool at the hotel? How fast can they play mini sticks in the hall? How fast can they turn around and, and go be with their buddies and hang out? And that's the memories that they're looking for. Little bag chuckers. That's what they are. And they, they learn at a young age. And so, uh, yeah, we, we have a lot of youth sports

Mace:

Yeah, exactly. And that's, I think that's the important thing because, uh, you know, the older you get, as you mentioned, we're getting up there and. Um, I'm chasing one year behind you, but you, you think about those things more. You think about trying to stay active, uh, you know, stay social. That's just as important as the physical activity, but trying to do it all. And, uh, I think being a bag trucker is a good way to do it, especially if you're, if you travel, but, uh, just in general, even if you're a homebody, get out, go check your bag in your own door and get out and do stuff. It's, it's good for you, but we'll get into all the stuff that we do on the road. This is more of an introduction to kind of what we're going to be talking about. Obviously. A lot of what we do is hockey. We're analysts now for the national predators. Um, One of the things that, uh, we've had the luxury, I think, to do is to keep traveling and keep our lifestyle. I think we played with a lot of guys that haven't been able to do that. And it's a big transition, but, uh, tell me about your transition from player to hockey or to a broadcaster quickly, if you could, because just to let the people know.

Skillsy:

Well, Mace, did you, did you ever have dreams of being, I know you always did. So in Nashville, the backup goalie, if you, if you weren't playing, they throw a headset on you and they do a little interview. And I remember Mace standing behind me talking or Pekka standing behind doing an interview talking while the play is going on. Other than that, did you have any dreams of being a broadcaster?

Mace:

no, I didn't. And our, our boss now, Bob Cole, Bab, as we call him, come on, Bab. Um, he, he actually, when he did that Nashville was the first team to do it. They, they, you know, it was a Southern market at that point. And, um, he's like, Hey Mace, he's like, Hey, would you, would you mind if I, uh, no put a headset and you could talk to his Pete and Terry, the legendary, uh, Duo broadcasting duo, the OGs of the national predators. And, uh, they're like, Hey, you know, in the third period, if the game's going, okay, we'll put you on a headset and talk to those guys. And then ask you questions. Like, I'm like, sure. I'm like, that's awesome. I'm like, great. You know, feel part of the game. And I loved it. And so I did it a few times and he's like, uh, He's like, Hey, if you ever, uh, you know, if you ever move back here, after you retire, you know, keep, uh, the broadcast, we'd love to try out. And at that time I'm thinking like, Oh yeah, right. I'm going to be playing forever. Yeah.

Skillsy:

I may. So you did

Mace:

That's good. That's good. So sure enough.

Skillsy:

It's good.

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

good. Yeah. But when I was, uh, when I was going through retirement and. The NHL was kicking my butt out the door and I was

Mace:

No.

Skillsy:

didn't want to, I didn't want to do anything. I always laugh when I hear guys like, well, it just, it wasn't in me anymore. Um, what do you mean? It's not in you. Like I,

Mace:

Oh man. Yeah.

Skillsy:

Um, You know, put me out there with one hip. I'll, I'll give everything I got. Um, You know, I was done and, and, you know, I moved on. I did some coaching and then, uh, we looked at moving back to Nashville and, and that basically, I, I guess when you have a wife and three kids at home, it kind of dictates, you know, You know, your lifestyle, you know, if you're not going to go make millions of dollars playing hockey, um, then, you know, you better stick around. And so, uh, that conversation came up and, and, my family was like, I would be awesome if you got back into the game and got back traveling. And we looked at the preds and got in, got into work with you, but on the radio side, and, I, I think that's, you know, getting back into that lifestyle where you're on the road around a team with, with the guys checking into hotels, you know, going to morning skates, being around the game. I think that's something that I, you know, Hey, I, I'm not a businessman. I'm, I'm just, I, it's not in me. I'm a hockey guy and I'm, I'm the sport guy and I want to be around the game and I

Mace:

Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. And I felt like, uh, honestly, cause I started out radio, our whole, well, maybe go into our whole situation later about how it all happened, but I didn't know you're calling me and said, Hey, how is it? Blah, blah, blah. And you're asking me a bunch of questions with also talk about your, uh, your interview that you had, which, uh, sealed the deal when you went to, we'll get Pat Martin on and we'll get his take on it. Maybe we'll get, we'll get Bob Cole or our boss on there too. And we'll get everybody in there. Yeah,

Skillsy:

whole hog king,

Mace:

but the, I thought the weird thing was for me is like, I felt like, what's it called imposter syndrome where you, like, you think I'm doing the broadcast. I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea. Plus I'm around guys that like I played with my old, you know, teammates, Shea Weber and whoever was, you know, Yost and all those guys were still there. Ryan, all these guys were still there and I'm doing the broadcast and it felt like. I don't know. It was just a weird feeling. So I felt like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm probably not good. You know, I'm trying to ask a million questions. I actually called a bunch of guys, um, you know, Darren Payne, Kelly Chase, Tyson Nash, Jody Shelley, a bunch of guys that I knew at least that we're doing the same thing and I'm like, Man, I'm like, this is, I was so nervous. I was almost more nervous to do that, especially to go on TV than I was even playing, because at least when you play, like you think you kind of know what you're doing, but when you're doing broadcasting, I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea. I tried to watch as many people as I went on. I developed a passion because I was around Pete Weber. He's a lifer diehard. And you know, you know him better than anybody, right? You know, Willie Donick.

Skillsy:

He's a

Mace:

Exactly. Right.

Skillsy:

legend.

Mace:

and then Willie Donnick, like the passion, just like crispy, Terry crisp, Stanley cup winning player, coach, and broadcaster, basically like just, uh, just a legend, you know, another legend and how they do it. And then eventually I'm like. Man, I'm like, I love this. I love, you know, and then we started working together and then it just, it changed, but it was a definitely a weird and tough and awesome transition. Does that make sense? Did you go through that same kind of, same kind of scenario?

Skillsy:

Yeah, well, you know what? I was an imposter in the

Mace:

Yeah. Don't even start with that

Skillsy:

career.

Mace:

me.

Skillsy:

know, like, just every night was another chance for me to slow down the fastest game on the planet, you know? And so, I was, I always felt that, and I felt like, you know, I guess, uh, you know, with broadcasting, I hated it. then as soon as I knew I hated it, I was okay with it. Uh, like I, I don't, because I hate it, I don't care. then as soon as I didn't care, I liked it. And so here we are, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I love it now. I have a great time. We have a great team. We

Mace:

Oh man.

Skillsy:

great crew and that's, that's all that really matters to me. You know, when you're, when you're not doing something, you miss teammates. You miss being around people. You miss people that you, you need to count on. Um, To get your stuff done. And so we have a great crew with, uh, you know, with Willie and Lindsay, Cara, Max, you know, we just got everyone Pete and crispy and then the team behind the scenes. Uh, I think that's what really matters. And so as long as, as long as I have a good team around

Mace:

Yeah, exactly. You missed the boys, right? The boys, but now our, the boys is half of them are girls or women, I should say with Kara, Lindsay, and you know, everybody else that we, uh, the, the team that travels and you know, the Preds organization has been great to us. And they've embraced, uh, most of our, our stuff, our shenanigans, and there's been a lot of them, but no, they've, they've been great. They've been great, but it's a different world, but I'll tell you what, it's, it's a lot of, it's like so refreshing, you know, now we just get to do stupid shit. Yeah. We get to make these videos and you know some work and some are just plain out stupid or whatever, but it's fun It's like a different, uh, it's a different kind of pressure, but it's you know, the more that I do it Obviously now we're broadcasters and now podcasters. This is our first one. So again, i'm feeling the imposter syndrome

Skillsy:

Yeah.

Mace:

for this, but We'll make it work. We'll make it work Yeah, exactly. We'll keep faking it.

Skillsy:

Well, let's, let's, let's talk about it. Cause we are Preds broadcast.

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

like, I mean, talk about exciting seasons for, well, first of all, let's talk about the summer. I know you, you have an award for a certain general manager in the

Mace:

Well, yeah, I think one of the things that we're going to do on the pod is, uh, we're going to do like everybody, we're going to get lists. We're going to do all the, all the things we're going to give awards, a bag chucker of the week or, or whatever it is, the pigeon of the week. We're going to come up with what's going on, uh, in our lives and our travels, and we're going to give awards. So the first one, I think The talk, the bag checker, the summer. That's it's perfect skills. Yeah. Maybe we'll have to buy all our bobble heads, our remaining bobble heads. I can't believe they didn't sell out on the first day, by the way. But, uh, the conjoined, well, I'm going to get one for the desk or put it up here. That's a, that's a necessity.

Skillsy:

you don't have a bobble head, the team store does have

Mace:

I don't like hotcakes. Get them while they're hot dues. Uh,

Skillsy:

go get Mason skills and get bag

Mace:

it's actually unbelievable, but, um, But so our first episode, I think we have to give it to, we talked about this before, so the bag Chukar the summer, and it was the team that everybody talked about what they did, especially after last season with the Nashville predators, Barry trots is the bag Chukar this summer traded away. First of all, I want to make a point traded away, Ryan McDonough. He, he loved it here. But he wanted to go back. He thought the best thing for his family was to go back to Tampa. Barry Trotz, what does he do? He gets on, he had, you know, the year end meetings, he gets on the phone with the Tampa Bay Lightning and says, Hey, he's like, you know, Dunny wants to come back, uh, Dunsey, old Dunsey wants to come back to Tampa. His family, they've got friends and schooling and all this stuff. And he made it work. I mean, that is the huge, that's what Barry Trotz's legacy will be, was how he treats people, players as people, as family members, and that is rare. And you know that. I mean, we've had a lot of great people that we've met. I owe everything to the game, uh, you know, to the people and everything that I've met in this game. But Barry Trotz in that regard is next level. And for him to do that, that was amazing. And now you can tell me about what he actually did in free agency and how he changed a great season and put the Preds back on the map as contenders.

Skillsy:

Well, since he's, you know, and working with David Boyle, since he's taken over, it's been like, okay, how is he going to do this? Cause he blew up the team. He got a bunch of draft picks the team still performed right. I just missed the playoffs. Then a year later you know, he, he pushes all the right buttons, gets everything. He gets a ton of draft capital and then you're saying, okay, he's gonna, he's gonna squash this team down until it's ready to pop. And then he comes out this summer

Mace:

Big time.

Skillsy:

And like, you go after Stamkos, Marsha So, and Brady Shea, you got Shea, I mean, he absolutely crushed it. And I think the fun part about it is, he just, he's fearless. I, I don't think he, He cares if he feels right about something, he gets all the intelligence. He gets all the, the, the reports. He's got a great team around him and he, and he, I know he talks to him at length about everything that he does, but he, I think he's just fearless and now like I'm excited. You know, I was up in Maine and I'm, I'm looking around going, I have to refresh the speed a couple of times. What happened? July 1st came around and Barry Trotz put it, put them on the table. He put, he put it right out there. And this is a team that's going to be compete. Now, let's see how it goes. You know, there's a lot of work to be done and the team's got to come together, but I'm excited about this season. It's going to be fun. And Barry Choth's absolutely the bag chucker of the summer. He's going after it. He is not sitting in his room waiting for it. He is, he

Mace:

Yeah,

Skillsy:

there making

Mace:

he did exactly good for him. But, and the, the shocking thing was, is because I had heard, you know, we listen, we don't get any inside information. We get maybe a little baby bit if we're not gonna be able to show something on the broadcast and all that kind of stuff, but we don't get any, uh, any insiders. So when they're trying to sign people, we were listening to, you know, Elliot Friedman and L the rumor mills, just those guys know everything.

Skillsy:

I don't believe you, Mace. I think they tell you

Mace:

No way. Uh, I wish no, no chance.

Skillsy:

think so.

Mace:

I'm just saying

Skillsy:

that big

Mace:

we're in the same bracket where they don't tell us nothing, man. But so

Skillsy:

You know everything, and it's just like, don't tell Skilzy. That loudmouth's

Mace:

we'll tell you, just don't tell skills, eat whatever you do. All right. I couldn't do that. Anyway, I have to tell you everything. They know that

Skillsy:

friend.

Mace:

the thing, so we all thought, okay, well, they're going to try to sign Stamkos and if they don't get Stamkos, they're going to go after Marsha. So, so that's what we're thinking. Boom, Stamkos, Brady Shea, then all of a sudden, whatever it was, 15 minutes, an hour later, Jonathan Marsha show. And I'm like, oh my God. I'm like, this is unbelievable. I'm like, they're going to sign to UC Soros. That's the other thing we got to talk about. That was a part of the bag checker that Sumner was getting that, getting that deal done. One of the best goaltenders of the national hockey league, top three, five, one, whatever you want to do at any given season, it could be a different number, but you have one of the best and he gets him locked up at 7. 5 for eight years. Are you kidding me? What, look at what, uh, what's happening in New York right now, Boston, Swayman's trying to whatever,

Skillsy:

Yeah. Swayman might be, uh, uh, he's, he's

Mace:

but he's only, I mean, we'll talk about that, the mindset of a player. I mean, how many chances do you get to, to do, you know, be in that position? He's played unbelievable, but he's, he's entering a different category. You'd be in the sole number one now without, uh, uh, what's his name? Oh, uh, Oh, Mark. Who's in Ottawa now, he, they're, you know, they both want to be starters and they're both played well enough to deserve that, uh, honor and opportunity. And then what about shusterkin in in new york, you know, he wants like 10 11 million the caps going up and You know, so it's the percentage of the cap, you know, maybe You know, 8 million, two years ago now is equal to 10 million with a cap going up, but you know, you're going to handcuff your team a little bit. So the fact that Trotsky was able to get Soros, and that says a lot about juice too, because he could have went and done that free agent and said, you know what, I'll play this year out and then I'll go and, you know, and whoever the highest bidder is, I'm going to sign. Yeah. He wants to be here.

Skillsy:

wants to

Mace:

Exactly.

Skillsy:

here. He likes the team is like, and, and Hey, they did some big things in the off season. So hopefully he's got a good team. Everyone wants a chance to win.

Mace:

Yeah, everyone's happy. And like you said, it don't matter what you do in the summer. You know, it's, it's all good. That looks good on paper, but that's all you can do at this point. You haven't played any games. You got some preseason games and, uh, you know, who knows? Even the first half of the season doesn't really, you know, tell you what your team's going to be. But anyway, on paper, I think you could put them up against anybody in the West. Who's going to be the West? I think Edmonton, they got something to prove again. I think Vegas will hang in there. Who knows if they'll go down a little bit, uh,

Skillsy:

Oh, just a central, just a

Mace:

Colorado.

Skillsy:

Dallas, Dallas

Mace:

Yeah,

Skillsy:

to get into the schedule maze. I mean, it's coming, but you got Dallas and Colorado of course is going to be, it's going to be tough. I mean, it's, you know, don't forget Vancouver.

Mace:

yeah,

Skillsy:

took that, took that, took that one on the chin last season. So there's going to be

Mace:

watch Thatcher Demko. He's got a weird injury and they signed Kevin Lankanen, which is a good signing for them to protect themselves for, uh, for Thatcher Demko. He's got a, I guess an injury no one's ever had before in hockey, some muscular thing. He's back on the ice now, but it's some mysterious thing going on right now.

Skillsy:

it's always

Mace:

Yeah, and we're going to cover it. We're going to cover it. We're going to cover dad's stuff. We're going to cover all this stuff, but all right, skills. Yeah. Let's for the final thing here, we got the, let's go in the regular season. The bag truckers got to let's, let's pick some games or some road cities that we're really excited about. I'll try to pull this up on the computer right now.

Skillsy:

Well, I, I want to go through, I want to go through Let's look at the start.

Mace:

So we're going hockey wise or bag trucker wise. What are we, what are we going to do?

Skillsy:

It's both. I mean, it's all together.

Mace:

You're not wrong.

Skillsy:

of it.

Mace:

You're not wrong.

Skillsy:

beauty of it, right? I mean, you know, how funny is it? Our whole broadcast crew, like as soon as the schedule comes out, did you see we have two days in

Mace:

the, who's the,

Skillsy:

you

Mace:

who's the one though? It's Lindsay. Lindsay is the one that, and we're going to have Lindsay on a lot this year. She's going to be, uh, she'd be like a third host. She'll be on a lot and she's, uh, She's a hoot if you if you're Preds fans, you know,

Skillsy:

She's,

Mace:

yeah

Skillsy:

pulse on,

Mace:

on absolutely everything restaurant review She's the one she's like kind of the itinerary planner a lot, right? Like she she's hilarious.

Skillsy:

Yeah,

Mace:

All right, let's go

Skillsy:

yeah. She'll

Mace:

Let me ask you

Skillsy:

restaurant.

Mace:

get you started on the games

Skillsy:

we always look at that story. We, we always look at the schedule and say, this is, uh, this is a highlight. This is a big spot. This we got, wow, we got screwed. We didn't have any time here. We're not playing here. So,

Mace:

the day it comes out the day it comes out and then First of all, I don't know if you're like this kind of guy but During the season, I don't even know where I'm going in two days. Like I don't, Oh, we're going, uh, we're going on a 10 day road trip. Oh shit. I better pack. Like, I'm like, you just get, you don't even know what day it is half the time.

Skillsy:

Do I need a bathing suit or do I need

Mace:

Exactly. Exactly.

Skillsy:

here?

Mace:

All right. Let's, uh, let's start.

Skillsy:

I,

Mace:

Where do,

Skillsy:

let's, well, I, I'm going hockey wise, uh, the whole month, let's talk about October. First of all, opening night, October

Mace:

uh, 10th

Skillsy:

10th,

Mace:

10th is the new 12th actually.

Skillsy:

Division battle. It's going to

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

test, right? I mean, we're getting right into it. It's going to be awesome.

Mace:

Well, that's Dallas, Colorado, Nashville are the three teams in the central that I think have the best chance to win it. So yeah, it's going to be massive.

Skillsy:

So the big test to start it off, then off to Detroit, first of all, came, it's going to be

Mace:

Yeah,

Skillsy:

you know, I'm more looking at this is my mindset, right? I'm excited about Dallas, know, Detroit's going to be a great game. It'll be fun, but it's our first, first road trip, right? We're first time, first time out there in the wild. And so know you're excited about this. Our

Mace:

maybe one of the best that we secretly

Skillsy:

Do you remember the name?

Mace:

Bucharest

Skillsy:

you remember

Mace:

Bucharest girl Yeah,

Skillsy:

That's right. Right next to little Caesar's

Mace:

one of the best like and how do we we've got a next time we go there, which will be October 11th No, we'll be there. We'll go to lunch on the 12th, which will be in Saturday We have to we'll take pictures of the amount of food you get it's on We always order like we leave it. I feel bad actually because Remember I was on the meat thing or like two things to meet. I'm like, oh my god I'm like, I can't even eat one of these whatever I just ordered

Skillsy:

I thought you were gonna, I thought you were going to collapse in the meat sweats. Just watching you just a heaping bowl of chicken and a heap of heaping bowl of shawarma or

Mace:

god,

Skillsy:

like, and, and like, I always get a Euro there.

Mace:

and then we get sides willy gets like waffle fries. They have all the other stuff a grape. What are the grape? Uh, yeah stuff grape. Oh my god. It's it's unbelievable and it's cheap

Skillsy:

Just an

Mace:

It's cheap and it's on the way we walked back. We saw it one time because we're walking back from the arena. First of all, we couldn't even get into little Caesars arena. We had to walk around that thing about two or three times. Remember the security? Then we went back again and we still were like, where the heck do we go here? We didn't even know. And then we're like, okay, we had to ask somebody and they, they directed us the entrance to go to. Cause we're media. We don't get in. We don't take the bus over. If we walk, we walk. Right.

Skillsy:

Yeah.

Mace:

then we're walking back to the hotel after skate. And then we came across this place. So like, oh my God, this is like. It was the best. So every time we go there, we go there. So I'm really looking forward. It's not a great place. Uh, Detroit The night before.

Skillsy:

they I I don't know I'm excited every time I go to Detroit. I'm excited to see if it's turned around Like it's it took a nosedive a while ago and they're trying to build it back up. They built up the arenas and

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

And the stadiums and try to build around that and there's some good areas, a couple little speakeasies here and there, the sneaky little places that are fun, but, um, yeah, that's, that's our first road trip. So, of

Mace:

Well, the tigers made the playoffs too. So hopefully they'll still be, I think they'll still be going. The tigers, if they can have a game or something, that'd be Nick Barnowski Barnyard, who's a diehard Detroit everything, except for not the Red Wings anymore.

Skillsy:

We got to

Mace:

So he'll be, we'll get him on. He's a, he's a great guy. Just one of the best. People ever. So let, let me, let's, let me fast forward. Skill the 17th, this is a big game. The Edmonton Oilers come to town and they absolutely abused the Preds last year at home, especially, but they had their number. You know, sometimes you just, you just, that, that team, and that's a team that can do it right. And they caught him early in the year. And they abused and they're going to do it again. And they're going to,

Skillsy:

Dreisaitl

Mace:

on a mission.

Skillsy:

to the Preds.

Mace:

that's a big one, right? Oh my God. They almost got there.

Skillsy:

off.

Mace:

And McDavid said, like, I saw a thing. He's like, this is why I play. I'll never stop. Cause I could, because I'm going to, I have to chase the Stanley cup. Any great player, right? The best of the best. Those guys have to win it. Like Sid, they're just, he's obsessed with it. McDavid's like, uh, he's like a caged animal right now. Like he'll do anything to win.

Skillsy:

Well, I did, I did, I did that 2008 with Pittsburgh. We went, made it to game six of the final. And I, And I like it hurt and it makes you want it. You know, some people say, oh, you came so close, you know, like, at least you got that close. No, it makes you want it even more. It, and, and then when you do win, you, you want it even more after that. Uh, it's like, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's like crack, you know? It's, you, it's a, you need your fix. And so they're gonna be pissed off. They're gonna be hungry. That's, I got that one circled in. Maybe they might be tired.

Mace:

Well, it's a five hour flight almost.

Skillsy:

for the president. They're a little tired. A short

Mace:

five hour flight. If that's the first game on the road trip or whatever, that's, that's not easy. I'll tell you that. We'll talk about that during the year on our long trips out West or, or whatever. But, uh, well, yeah, I mean, you got to be, you got,

Skillsy:

little fatigued. Hey, well, you know what the best, you know what the, the, the next one coming up that's on my calendar, Boston is

Mace:

of course, of course.

Skillsy:

Okay. So, of course, I, being from the Boston area, I, appreciate the, the, the mass

Mace:

Oh yeah.

Skillsy:

invasion

Mace:

Every theme. Yeah.

Skillsy:

in, when the Patriots play, when the Bruins play, whenever comes to town. It is awesome.

Mace:

any Skilly jerseys.

Skillsy:

I, I, I,

Mace:

though, when, when Boston comes to town is when I go down, uh, and we, I do the post game with you alls. I hear Yo skilly, yo Skilly, what's up? And you're like, Hey, hey guys, how you doing? Hey, you're the, the mayor. And the, but when Boston comes, there's a couple teams, a couple fan bases that loved you, but nothing like, uh, nothing like the, the Bruins fans, when they come, everyone that walks by, they're yo Skilly.

Skillsy:

The mass holes come in and they're just tear up broadway. It's like they've never been out of their house and they come down and destroy broadway and the honky tonk. So I'm looking

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

That's always fun. Uh, next road

Mace:

Oh,

Skillsy:

Mace, I know

Mace:

honestly, one of the best, first of all, quick flight, uh, good, good gym, good setup, good, uh, proximity to the areas that we like. Um, what's the thing you sent me the text today? Oh, if you're dinner, yeah, it is, uh, it can be, it definitely can be, but, uh, maple and ash. That's what you sent me. Maple and ash. Let's talk about a couple of those places. Cause that's one where we're like, all right, we gotta, I miss Pippins though. We fully, completely honest. I missed that was a nice little, small, little intimate, awesome place. That's a, I think a COVID maybe was the, uh, the end of Pippins, which is, uh, which is sad, but Chicago's got a lot of great places. Uh, what, what are your faves?

Skillsy:

I, I, there's so many spots and shit like what the old Viagra triangle there,

Mace:

Oh, they got a lot. It's like

Skillsy:

with just, just a bunch of old guys with cougars everywhere. Gibson's steakhouse,

Mace:

Tavern, Tavern,

Skillsy:

Uh, what is it? Car mines.

Mace:

Dublin,

Skillsy:

so much going on there. Um, uh, Yeah, it's just a bunch of great spot. But there's what is it? Rosebuds? The nice little Italian place.

Mace:

What's the, there's a Lex. What's we've been there a couple of times. Uh, I can't remember what the heck it's called. But if you go, my favorite spot is right around the corner though, is, uh, you go down to like the lodge and Butch McGuire's

Skillsy:

yeah, yeah, yeah,

Mace:

it's got the, what's got the, uh, well, we, I think we all kind of feel at home there. It's got the, like, I think it's got almost a Christmas lights like year round, but it's like a really small, like kind of place or whatever. We like that. But I mean, you got, you got options in Chicago.

Skillsy:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, maybe maybe, uh, know, there's certain spots that we hit up and, uh, But I think the best part about that is just walking around,

Mace:

Yeah,

Skillsy:

in that city. It's going to be, it's, it's fun. Always looking forward to it. Uh, then here's, here's, here we go. We got to move on to this one. How about Tampa? How awesome is that going to be? The Stamco's return Tampa, obviously Stamco's a legend there. I it's, that's going to be a lot of fun to be around. I'm going to, I'm just going to fast forward through burn steakhouse and Jackson's and

Mace:

Is that the place the hockey bar the hockey one that we go?

Skillsy:

The sale is one of my favorite spots. Just that little spot on the water. No, one's really

Mace:

Oh the gazebo Oh, yeah, we had some good conversations there, man. We got into some stuff

Skillsy:

Yeah,

Mace:

out some stuff in that place. We've we all kind of divulged personal uh information in that place. That's for sure

Skillsy:

yeah. Sometimes you, you know, you got to

Mace:

You got to do it

Skillsy:

going to

Mace:

You got to do it. It's your travel. It's your family. It's your team.

Skillsy:

but the highlight is going to be the same coast return. How

Mace:

Oh, man. You know what? It's crazy. He's such a nice guy, by the way. He's just, uh, but he's one of those players. Obviously, first of all, everybody, one of the greatest goal scorers to ever play the game. He's one of those players. That's like a you. You know, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin. You think they're never going to be on another team. They're going to be a Tampa Bay lightning for, from day one to the end of his career, he's going to retire as a lightning player and for that to go down. And like, I just know from having gone through it in a much, much smaller, uh, Uh, way when I got traded from Nashville, that was the only team I'd ever played for was six, seven years. And then I got traded to St. Louis. It was the weirdest, it was almost like, uh, not out of body, but it was just the weirdest thing coming back as a, as a visitor. It's going to be an emotional night for him. It's going to be great. You've done it. You played on a bunch of different teams. You played, you know, some teams that you really feel, you know, close, uh, close to emotionally. It's going to be another level for him. I think, I don't think he's going to really know, you won't know until he actually steps in that building as a visitor. Yeah, he's

Skillsy:

Now I had nine years with, uh, Boston. I grew up in Boston. I bled black and gold. I was like, like Boston forever until they're like, see, it beat it. Kid, the char is coming in and you're gone.

Mace:

taller than you. He's an inch taller. Get out of here.

Skillsy:

I so we, we have someone taller than you. Damn it. Uh, anyway. Going to signing in Toronto, the simple fact that I had put on a black and gold jersey and sometimes that awful pooh bear jersey that they had for a while, which I, hate to say I was not really proud of putting that one on, but putting on a Toronto blue. it, like it made my eyes go squirrely. It was like, Whoa, this is so different for Stamkos. I'm imagining the same thing, right? You have that dark blue, uh, Tampa Jersey, and then you just come in and you pop on this gold. It's gotta be like, Whoa, it just, your eyes aren't used to seeing that. It's going to be, it's gotta be crazy for him. Um, but yeah, I think you get used to being on a team and certainly for him. He never thought of anything other than being, you know, Tampa Bay lightning. Yeah. Like that was his team. And so, um, it's gotta be crazy. And then going back there, it's always weird when you go in and you're like, I don't, you walk into an arena that you've been in a million times

Mace:

Yeah.

Skillsy:

to go the other way. And you're like, no, I, I can't do it, right? It's just, it's a bizarre feeling. And so he's going to have to have, he's going to go through that, you know, and, and have to be in Tampa. Although Tampa is, is pretty straightforward. The locker rooms are right next to each other, so I'm sure he can handle it, but it's a different feeling, man. And I'm

Mace:

Yeah. And just remember walking in and like everybody that you'd walk into the rink and you see in the security guards and everybody and saying hi, when you're on the team for years, like it was, it's routine, it's like every game. All right. I'm going to see, you know, everybody on the way to the room, you know, Hey, how you doing high fives, this and that. And all of a sudden you come in as a visitor at a different time. You're at the hotel, you know, you're not in the house that he's lived in for the last 17 years or whatever. It's going to be. It was just the weirdest thing. It was, it was, it's hard to explain. And, uh, you know, you see it every time guys come back when Shea Weber came back to Nashville, you know, when Ryan McDonough went back to Tampa and this is like times 10, you know, from anybody really with, with Stamkos, it's been his whole life. And it's, I think that first game back after the first game, it's still a little weird, but nothing like that first time back. I'm sure you had that when you went back to Boston for the very first time. Anyway.

Skillsy:

yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a weird feeling and it's, it's, know, you don't see guys stay that

Mace:

No,

Skillsy:

you know, like even with the big long contracts, it's just, usually something wears out and you got to change your pace at some point, but especially the success that Stammer had. You know, you

Mace:

he scored 40 goals last year.

Skillsy:

wasn't like

Mace:

He's willing to take a pay cut. It's crazy. It's crazy. All right, skillsy. Let's uh, let's wrap this up here. We're going to do the last thing here. We're just, yeah, we, this is a good one. We had a good, good start here, I think. And uh, fans, uh, email message on social media. If you have any suggestions and guests and things you want us to talk about, please do that. We want a feedback.

Skillsy:

Yeah. We're all bag chuckers in this. So if you have something that's on your mind, I have a lot to say, and I think you do too, Mace, I, I think we, we can tackle a lot of issues. So don't hold back. If you got something want to talk about, let's, let's get it off our chest. Uh, this is a

Mace:

Yep. And I'll wrap this up just because of all the other podcasts I listened to. I don't actually know where we're going to be on yet, but, uh, thank you for listening. Thank you. No, I don't. I'm trying to learn. I had a summer of learning and we'll get into all that kind of stuff. And the technical side of things, uh, I'm really new to, but,

Skillsy:

I don't care,

Mace:

uh, to

Skillsy:

you

Mace:

the depths of hell skillsie. I'll be by your side

Skillsy:

me there. Just take me

Mace:

bag chuckers.

Skillsy:

me there.

Mace:

Don't forget to subscribe Follow rate review as skills. You said email messages on uh on social media That'd probably be the best way to get a hold of us. We want to make this fun and enjoyable for everybody Um, so follow us and do all the things for all things bag chucker We love you guys. You're the reason why we're doing it. So please follow along on our, uh, crazy journey. It's, uh, it's nuts and we're letting you all in. So I hope you enjoy. And if you, if you got, uh, if you don't, I apologize, but we, we bees, who we bees, we are, who we are.

Skillsy:

Amen.

Mace:

everybody.