The Bagchucker Podcast
Join former NHL pros Chris Mason and Hal Gill aka Mace and Skillsy as they hit the road and share the ultimate guide to life as a "Bagchucker" – hockey players turned broadcasters who’ve packed their bags and traveled the world. Whether you're a die-hard hockey fan or just love the thrill of travel, this podcast brings you expert insights into the NHL, the best travel hacks, and stories from life on the road. From rink-side banter to the hidden gems of cities around the league, Mace and Skillsy mix humor, experience, and the love of the game in this one-of-a-kind show.
The Bagchucker Podcast
The Bagchucker Podcast: Episode 5
Next, imagine the Arizona Coyotes swapping the Mullet Arena's confines for a fresh start in Utah. This move opens doors to endless possibilities, from nurturing rising stars like Keller, Gunther, and Cooley to the buzz of a potential rebranding with the "Yeti" name gaining traction among fans. We dive into the strategic planning by management that positions the Utah-based team for long-term success, without the immediate pressure to produce results. This chapter is about embracing change and setting the groundwork for a promising future with a dynamic blend of young talent and experienced players.
Ever wondered what life is like beyond the rink for NHL players? Inspired by the Amazon show "Face Off," we delve into the personal journeys of players like William Nylander, David Pasternak, Filip Forsberg, and Jack Eichel. We uncover the sacrifices and emotional challenges these athletes face, especially when dealing with injuries or managing family life during the playoffs. Balancing pro sports with family commitments is no easy feat, and we share relatable stories of juggling busy schedules and unexpected victories, like Vanderbilt's stunning win over Alabama. Get ready for a heartfelt exploration of the human side of hockey, full of insights and personal anecdotes that bring you closer to the players and their lives.
Welcome to the Bag Chucker podcast where we break down life on the road in the NHL.
Speaker 2:We're your hosts, Chris Mason and Hal Gill, aka Mason Skilzy, former NHL players, current broadcasters for the Nashville Predators. Lifelong Bag Chuckers, dads, brothers and sons We've seen it all, from the bus rides to the big leagues.
Speaker 1:Each week, we'll dive into what's going on around the league. We'll give you travel tips, places to go, things to do and stories from years of living out of a suitcase. What do you say? Mace Lobby in 10. Just chuck your bags and let's go. All right, welcome Bag Chucker Nation into episode five of the Bag Chucker podcast, chris Mason, joined by the godfather, hal Gill, aka Skilzy Skilzy. What's up, buddy? How you feeling?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. Season started. We're into the swing Pod number five already. What do you think?
Speaker 1:so farindsey was great by the way, yeah, she's great. I mean, that was a great episode. I think uh still trying to iron out some audio issues and that took us about a good uh almost 45 minutes, almost an hour, to get up and running today. So a couple amateurs, but we're we're, we're finding a way bear with us people bear with us just focus on the content.
Speaker 2:We'll get there. We'll get there.
Speaker 1:We're not perfect, we don't we don't, but uh, all right, well, skillsy, let's start. We're two games in right now. Pretty damn close though no, we're not.
Speaker 2:No, sorry, not perfect. I know that.
Speaker 1:No, okay, but two games into the season. This may be released, hopefully. Uh, there may be a third by the time it's released, but we've seen two from the Preds. We'll get to the other big well, one of the biggest storylines of the National Hockey League after we'll talk about Utah, but right now let's talk about Preds. Two games in big expectations dropped. The home opener to Dallas played pretty good and then lose again to Detroit Preds 0-2 to start the season. Early thoughts.
Speaker 2:Not what we were hoping for, Not what we were thinking. Right On paper, everything lines up and you go no way scoring is going to be a problem after you add Marcius O and Stamkos. But okay, everyone take a deep breath. I think the chances are there, the looks are there. They're fine-tuning some things. It's not just like you throw guys out on the ice and it hits home and it goes. You got to work at some things and so I'm taking a deep breath. I hope everyone else is too. The NHL is weird right now, anyway, Like it looks like pond hockey to me, Like there's zero structure. There's some awful defense being played. I don't know what it is. Training camp did not feed to a great start of the season from the technical and the systematic form of the game. But you know you didn't have Saros in game one against Dallas. You had Saros back, who looked great, so that's a bonus. I thought I want to know your take on what he looked like. But I'm not panicking. They're getting their chances. Let's relax.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, this team is going to score goals, there's no question about it. They got their chances. I don't know if they overwhelmed either Dallas or Detroit with grade A chances. I thought they played better than Dallas. They had that little stretch or whatever. It's going to take time. That second line, I think Bruno's, you know we talked about this a bit on the broadcast.
Speaker 2:The bingo balls are bouncing around.
Speaker 1:It's like what do you do? Do you stick with it? Would you pick a guy and say, all all right, we're going to ride through it? Do you split them up? I know you don't want to, or neither one of those guys wants to play on the third line, but do you do that just because and the reason why I say that is because you've got two guys they did it. Last year we talked about this also with zucker and bovilli. They wanted those guys together. But when they split them up because Bruno's system is so hard not so hard, it's just not what guys are used to their whole lives and maybe you could touch more on that, but it's you guys.
Speaker 1:You know players get ingrained in their DNA and you've done something for years and years and you've been taught a different way. So you, now you come in here with Bruno, you try to learn something new. It takes, like every guy on the team last year said, it took all the preseason, probably almost the first 20 games, to get used to his system, because you're kind of abandoning everything you learned, mostly in the defensive zone. Right, you're anticipating as soon as you get possession, then you're blowing the zone and that like it's hard to do as a player right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every, every person I talk to around the team says we hate using the word cheat, but you do. You cheat In order to play fast. You move the puck up and you cheat on it and you take a little chance here and you count on your teammate to make the play, as opposed to it used to be like the old way, I think and then the NHL is going this way is you know you would have to. Hey, you can't blow the zone, you can't leave early. You got to stop and start, get back into play, make sure the puck gets out, move pucks out, move pucks in. It's the whole old guard of of playing, and I think bruno wants to play fast and to play the fast game that he wants, you have to, you have to anticipate and and and cheat a little bit, and so you know Stamkos and Marcheseau are working on that.
Speaker 2:Now my question would do you break up the top line? Do you break up Forsberg, o'reilly and Nyquist? They all know the system, they all play it really well. There's other guys that are getting the system, that have gotten the system. Do you put them and do you mix those guys up and mix them in until they get up to speed with everything. I don't think it's bad. I just don't think it's is. It's quite where Bruno wants it to be. So I think there's some growing pains that they're going to have to go through, but it's still early in the season. I think everything is going to work out once they everything starts to click. But we have to wait to see what time that is. You know, there's a lot of teams that aren't playing great, so some teams that are playing great. It's all going to end out even in the wash and then we'll see what.
Speaker 1:Yeah and you know it's funny how every year and this is the thing that always baffles me, obviously you know there's some teams get off to calgary's three, and oh, you know there's of these storylines but early on at the beginning of the season, there's such panic Because you want to get that win. The only thing you can do is get off to a good start. It's not indicative of your entire season and that's the thing as a coach, that you have to manage that emotion, I think, even though you might have the same kind of thing, because you've had all these expectations in training camp and things might have looked a certain way in training camp and all of a sudden the regular season starts and it's not there. So do you just say, hey, look, it's two games. We actually played pretty good in both games. We put up 42 shots.
Speaker 2:Could have won. Yeah, could have won either game easily.
Speaker 1:You know, as somebody says, you're in the business of winning, and now even more with Nashville, with the expectations like a couple losses last year, like all right, well, we don't know what we're going to get. You know, let's just ride it out and see what happens this year, maybe a little bit more urgency, but I mean, we're talking two games in. There's no reason to change anything in my opinion other than tweak, like he has been.
Speaker 2:Expectations are irrational, right, I mean. And they especially great expectations when you look at a team and go, oh my goodness, they've got three players in free agency, they're going to be awesome. That's completely irrational. It's a team game and you can't just plug in guys and expect them to be the best. It's going to take some time and you hope that they'll figure it out, but to expect it to happen and to have the expectation that it's going to happen right away is completely irrational. So let's be some, let's be patient with it. But you wanted to talk about Utah.
Speaker 1:I think everybody's talking about Utah. I think there's some amazing storylines going on. Obviously, arizona was kind of a buzzkill, I think, for the last however many years and, yeah, right, so that you thought they were going to get things going. They move into mullet arena. Um, the first maybe half game that we watched there was kind of cool because you're like, oh, wow, I've never seen, you know, the nhl on a 5 000 seat arena.
Speaker 2:But you think one period's gone and I'm going just get me out of here.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine what the players were thinking on that team?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's night in, night out. You know, in there that's tough and they played it out. But hey, you know this is great. Yeah, it's got to be a lot nicer playing in a building.
Speaker 1:Yeah and a team that's. I mean utah's had hockey there before minor league hockey and it's uh, it's. You know it looks like an awesome place and everyone is jacked up there that opening day and man, have they put on a show there? They got a lot of this is what I want to talk. We talk about the expectations. Preds are supposed to win. Utah's just there for fun. They they've really got no pressure to win and that I felt that when we, uh, when I moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg, winnipeg was just happy to have their team back. You know we didn't make the playoffs that year. We had not a bad team. You know we won some, lost some, but winning wasn't the priority within the fan base yet.
Speaker 1:And I think that's what Utah is going on right now and they've always had the good young forwards. They've got Keller and Gunther and Hayton and they've got a bunch of guys that are really good. Uh, young fords. Uh added some defensemen in the offseason ian cole, who's won a couple stanley cups. Uh sergachev, who is the big ad, uh from tampa bay. He gets a chance to be the number one defenseman. Uh out from uh headman shadow. And then marino from new jersey, I think who you said's yet to play or he's on the end.
Speaker 1:He's injured right now but that's kind of been all always their achilles heel is they just haven't had a deep defensive core. They they re-signed jersey um. So this team, are they good enough to make playoffs? And I think their only question mark to me would be their goaltending. But I think they've got a pretty solid team yeah, they're, yeah, for sure they're solid.
Speaker 2:Here's the deal. Could you imagine if they made the playoffs and made runs while they were playing in mullet arena? That would have been a disaster. Like they wouldn't have been able to play there. Like the nhl would have been like no, you have to go play somewhere where you can put people in seats. You can't, you can't. If you're making it to stanley cup finals, then you can't have that much media in that building. Media would fill up the whole building.
Speaker 2:So they weren't planning on being good, they were just slowly building, hoping that they got that new arena in tempe. And then it falls through. Now they move there and they're like okay, let's fast track that now we have our new building, we're supposed to be good when we get our new building, and so that's why they go out and and get surrogate. You have build up their defensive core. Their forwards are fast as hell. They can buzz and we saw that you're in. They're just slowly building on it. These guys, if you turn the puck over, they counter and they counter quick and they are snapping it around. They have a ton of skill up front and they're deadly up front. But I think they've added defense, which is what you need, and big time defense and solid defense that are not rebuild defense. These guys are ready to go and compete in the playoffs, so they certainly fast-track that. Bill Armstrong, who, I have to say, was my my d partner player coach he's like Reg Dunlop for the Providence Bruins when I got sent down and he was my partner.
Speaker 1:No way he was a beauty.
Speaker 2:He was awesome, but I love to see what he's done there. He's patient, he's taken this and rebuilt it and now he's like whoa, we just moved to Utah, we got to put a team together. This is going to be. We got to do it quick, and so I'm excited for them. I'm excited for the fans of Utah to go out there, but I still wonder what are they going to call them? I think it's a Utah hockey club.
Speaker 1:Mine was the Yeti. There's a long list and I'm like, far and away to me, it was the it's got to be. I know, but what?
Speaker 2:do we call them now?
Speaker 1:mace, I have a hard time saying utah I know who's it up and like.
Speaker 2:And we say you know, the preds are nashville or we like, but you know there's no real name. You can call them like. What do you when you're a player? What do you say like, I'm a hockey clubber yeah you, I play for the utah hockey club. Oh, okay, cool I know, but like I like, everyone goes over. Hey, I'm a Pred, I'm a Hab, I'm a Leaf, I'm a Bruin.
Speaker 1:What are they? Future Yeti, future Yeti, I'm a.
Speaker 2:Utah Hockey Clubber they're future Yeti. They're future Yetis, but look at some of their Ford. You called it, you heard it here first.
Speaker 1:I think that was pretty consensus. I think it was overwhelmingly the choice that everybody had. We'll have to go into that because there's some other decent ones, but that one to me was the most marketable and awesome. But look at Logan Cooley. I mean we saw him last year. The kid's 20 years old. He's good right, he's the highlight reel kind of a player and he had a great year last year 20 goals, dylan Gunther, and what did he have?
Speaker 1:he's just just resigned 21 he's good, he's 21 and his keller. Just he was named the captain, right. So he, 26 years old, just named 26. Yeah, we know what he's all about that kid's got silly skill and he's playing with schmaltz.
Speaker 2:They just they're so fun to watch together. They just they make plays and they make them fast and it's it's really fun to watch they're good low. And don't forget the story. Josh doan, I love watching that kid. That's kids fun. Oh he came. Shane doan's uh son is, is he's fun?
Speaker 1:he's balls to the wall, right. He's like. He's like his dad, he's got some skill, he'll get in there. He's he can be physical. He he played at, uh, arizona state, so he played there, which is actually kind of a really cool story. So he just he didn't when he got called up, he just had to move his stuff over to the. He's lived there his whole life and now he gets finally plays for his hometown team and they go to they move, move to Utah.
Speaker 1:They're like, oh, this is great. Mom and dad are like, oh, we can watch them every game, we just have to drive down here. Then they moved to Utah. But that's a, that's the way she goes. Logan Krause, he's a big, big man Lost. Liam O'Brien, who just resigned, I think for three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he gets there. He's tough, he gets there. I don't know if he no, but he can make he can get in and make contact.
Speaker 1:He's fast enough to be scary. I mean, that's a I hate it.
Speaker 2:That was like two toots in those guys. Yeah, like if you're a big tough guy and you're slow, like it's like, okay, I can run away, I can get away.
Speaker 1:But the guys that get there, this team, I think they're going to be in the mix for sure, I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But, A good start, yeah a good start for them and well, let's move on from that because that'll be interesting to watch. It's been a great storyline. It's good to see that organization and that franchise in a place that really wants a hockey team. They're going to build a nice building there.
Speaker 2:Good for the NHL, good for the league.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the Amazon show, face Off, which we both watched episodes one and two and I think it's you've got some different views on this, but I think it's amazing, think it's uh, you've got some different views on this, but I think it's amazing. I think it really. I think hockey needs more of this because it connects you to the players and the stories that they've built have been incredible. Because the first episode is, uh, william nylander and david poster knock and I didn't know that they had the history quite the way that they did as friends and they put these two guys together, um, and kind of you know, opposing storylines or each. You know they go around, they follow each of these guys really behind the scenes. It really gets up close and personal.
Speaker 1:The second episode who we'll touch on is, uh, philip forsberg and jack eichel and uh, phil. Phil was awesome and all these guys were really good in it um, but you see phil and wife Erin Alvey and their journey through the end of their pregnancy before they had baby Felix, and the playoffs and the ups and downs. And I'll start with the first episode. This was the Nylander-Posterknock one, and what this did for me is you take a guy like William Nylander, like I. I have always just like I'm like anybody else, like the Leafs bug me, I just the. There's something about them. Nylander's one of those guys when I used to look at. He's got the the weird fashion. He kind of looks like he's kind of aloof and just you know all my uh judging like 100 he's big time.
Speaker 2:He's big time he comes across. But I start watching the episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but he's not like he's not, he like he. And he was actually like when he, when they showed game highlights of him, he was like super intense and fiery on the bench at times. And you know they showed him, uh, off the ice, walking his dogs everywhere and just really embracing the, the pressure and you know, and you know what that's like in the media and how much the people of Toronto love their hockey team and I thought that was really cool and I mean you know what it's like to to play in Toronto right yeah, it's, it's not easy and he's and he's.
Speaker 2:He brings it on himself, he's making a ton of money, he's. He's got a ton of skill, he's a great player. No, he's making a ton of money, he's got a ton of skill, he's a great player. No doubt they have a bunch of them there, but they haven't won and so it's like it's not going to be good enough until you win in Toronto. You know you've got to get past the first round, you've got to win game sevens. It's a pressure cooker.
Speaker 2:But it was cool to see behind the scenes, and I'll go back to the whole idea. I love behind the scenes. I love when they take you in the locker room, when they show you the guys. You know the fiery speeches. Connor McDavid makes a big speech and everyone's like I didn't know he had that. I'm like what do you think? You don't think he has that. You don't see it because it's behind the scenes for a reason. He's not going to lose his cool. So everyone in Edmonton can say, oh, my God, he lost his cool, he lost his composure. He's going to go in the locker room behind the scenes and go at his team and tell them they need to step up, and that's that's what a leader does. That's what we've seen in the locker rooms the year after year. Is, at some point, someone's going to scream and yell and be fiery, and that's what you want out of a captain and that's what you always assume happened. But now you get to see it, which is great.
Speaker 2:The other part of it that I'm, I'm still torn on, because I'm old school, I'm a fossil and and and I didn't really like that. There's a private life, you know, and and these guys put themselves out and brought in their private life. You know, like you know, nylander gets home and he talks about his dog and his dogs and, hey, I can just got home. Whether we win or lose, the dogs still want to go for a walk and the dogs don't care. And then Pasternak is doing the same thing, bringing his kid around. You know he talks about his. You know they lost a baby before. So this is a huge blessing for them. And you don't realize and you're going oh my God, he went through this, like he had to go through all of this while he was playing, and it's.
Speaker 2:You know, that's the professionalism that I think should stand out when you're talking about, hey, these guys have lives and they do their thing. This is not easy to be able to compete and produce and have these expectations on the ice when no one knows what's going on in their private life. And so to be able to see that, I hope people look at this and go. First of all, how awesome are these guys to let us into their private life. And then also, can we give them some grace.
Speaker 2:If they have a bad game, if they have a bad week and you know Poshnok had a bad series he comes out and scores a game winner in game seven against an overtime Unreal Talk about stepping up after the coach calls him out and all this. What a great story. But you know there's those highs that he's going to get, there's the lows and then there's a private life that has a full array of highs and lows that we all go through as humans and it's great to see that it brought it out and good on them yeah, I, I thought you're right, you hit the nail on the head there.
Speaker 1:I thought that was it's the most important thing. I think it connects fans to these guys on a human level. And you know, I I'm guilty of it too when I watch sports and when I watch other teams. Now you just, you just take for granted that, uh, these they're just, you know, players, you know you just classify them like that. But and you're right about the other guys having the courage to be able to do that and to be able to let people into you know some pretty vulnerable personal moments. And speaking of personal moments, episode two, which featured jack eel, I thought he was pretty straightforward and he did a good job going on there, but I thought Well, like the disaster he went through in Buffalo, where he wanted to have surgery and then they say no, and they take his captaincy away.
Speaker 2:And he's a young kid you can see it on his face, he's a kid and he was also like supposed to save that program and it wasn't going the right way, like it. Just you could see that the weight was completely lifted off his shoulders and then he goes and wins in Vegas and what a great story after the next surgery and comes back and you know he shows his elite status. It's a great story in its own right. And then Phil I mean story in its own right. And then phil, I mean what can you say? Well, awesome, and, and we didn't know. So break it down for those who haven't seen it you need to see it. It's a great program, but let's, let's go through what phil went and you got, and and we didn't know we're inside.
Speaker 1:They don't tell us all the the ins and out as much as people think they may or may not, especially when it comes to to injuries. And uh, phil had been going through a big time ankle issue that wouldn't go away from. He blocked a shot and he got a surface cut and it didn't go away. So it got to a point where and and you, you could talk about some of the medical attention. The pred staff did an unbelievable job. But he would go in with uh, with your buddy prebag, and uh, he's got all the acupuncture and everything, every game. It got to a point where he would just be good now. He couldn't practice and play games. He would only play games for throughout the rest of the season.
Speaker 2:It was crazy yeah, yeah and and I talked to him as he was going through that, um, you know he said, yeah, ankle thing, it just won't go away, it sucks. And I didn't really know what it was or anything about it, but I knew he was seeing Dr Mike Prebeg, who's from Toronto, who I used to he was my. He does acupuncture, chiropractor, art, kind of does the full scope, he does whatever it takes to fix the problem. Really smart guy, uh, and he. I used to fly him around wherever I was playing. I think we were one of the first groups to do it, with mike camilleri and scott you guys should get commissions on.
Speaker 2:We would future bring them out yeah, like, yeah, that's right, um, but you know, pk subban started doing it. Like we, we you bring him out. It's not cheap and and it's worth every penny because you fly him out and you feel like a million bucks for you know, the next couple of weeks to a month and you fly him back out again and you travel and see him or any way you can get tuned up and take care of your body and you can see Phil going through it, getting all the needles and trying to get rid of the inflammation and trying to feel better and trying to get your body right so you can go out and compete. There's a lot that goes into it and I think you see that in that episode where a lot of people think, wow, it's great, you play in the NHL, you just got to show up and play games. Phil gets into it.
Speaker 2:How awesome was it talking about? He has to wake up at 808. He ties his skates at 707. You know, like it, like there's a structure, you eat the same thing and and eichel talks about like I make the same meal every day, and I think his wife was like I'm sick and tired of making the same meal every day, so they hire a chef to come and make the same meal for them every day. Like these guys, they rely on all those things the treatments, the routine. It's just they're robots in some sense, but they're also. We see the human side of it. When Phil has a pregnant wife and and she was awesome Can we talk about Aaron Alvey? And Aaron is awesome.
Speaker 1:She's the star of the show. Oh, she was so cool, I mean, and and she really let, I think, the viewer into what it's like to be a family member of of a player, the, the stuff and the just it's almost the craziness and the routine and you know just the sensitivity of winning and when you don't win and when you come home and it's it's just non-stop and it's like groundhog day and she, just she was, and meanwhile she's, you know, getting ready to have a baby and she's got to be supportive and they didn't know if playoffs went anymore. There's a good possibility, uh, that phil wasn't going to be there for the birth and she was like, well, it's just the way it goes and she's a country music artist, she's got a lot of her own things going on, but it was just really awesome to see the way that she supported Phil and obviously Phil thinks the world of her and they support each other and they get through it together. But I think that was such a great um peek behind the curtain into what it's like.
Speaker 1:You know not, and like you said before, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There's a lot of stuff that it it sucks, and it sucks for your family sometimes because you're going to miss stuff and you potentially you can't plan for anything because you don't know, especially when you get to playoffs. You don't know, it could be done in two days or it could be here for another month and a half Like you don't know. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Well, he was. You know he's has this injury with the ankle that they're going through and she understands how that goes. She talks about him fighting. He's got a fight against Maritza Sider and you know he was in. He was in one. He was. He was taking lefts and rights and it was a battle and she has to talk about her emotions. He's not a fighter but he's out there fighting, competing, and that's scary for her also.
Speaker 2:The concussion he had last year in philadelphia. They, they get into that, that feeling of oh my god, this isn't just you know she talks about are you okay? Is your head okay? You can't see it. You can't like jump up and down on an ankle and say it feels better. You know, your, your brain is a whole different thing. And and and Phil went through a hard time with that as and we, we saw it and we, you know, saw him around the rink. Do you think he can play? And he's like I don't know, I know I can't. You know it was a hard thing to go through for him and certainly for her. And so for her to get into it and talk about it, because I know wives have to deal with that and and kids have to deal with that and and kids have to deal with that. It's family around friends. The fans don't see it, but it certainly weighs on their life with all this stuff that goes on. So it's another awesome facet.
Speaker 2:And then you see them at the end just playing with Felix they have a baby boy and it's like you could just see how happy they were. And uh, it does that. That second episode does a great job of showing the ups and downs of of life and it was awesome.
Speaker 1:And then, and they both work out, and michael's uh, you know disappointing playoff loss, but all of a sudden he goes to his uh, his beach house there or whatever, and he starts training again.
Speaker 2:You know, he's okay, all right, it's time to do it all over again Back at it.
Speaker 1:You know, there was a cute, a cute scene there with Phil and Aaron and baby Felix just hanging out and he says, you know, after the disappointment of losing in the playoffs, he's like, well, maybe it was meant to be and I got to be here for the. You know the. Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it. But that brings me to some of the stuff that we talked about. Right, we just had some birthdays in both of our families and all the different kinds of things, the chaos, the season just started and we're on the road. Tell me about your little, because I know you had a heck of a day yesterday on Sunday.
Speaker 2:Well, so Talon, happy birthday, turned 13 on Saturday and of course we were in Detroit for a game. So you know, I was in my household. Birthdays get put away and saved for another day, like pretty much any holiday we can celebrate as a family on another time, but birthdays for sure, like, let's wait until we get the family together as best we can and then we'll celebrate the right way. So Talon had some hockey going on and so, you know, I felt really bad that I missed his birthday. But I got home and you know we got home at 12, 1230.
Speaker 2:And then Talon has a hockey game at 730 in the morning and I'm like, yay, has a hockey game at 7 30 in the morning and I'm like, yay, so six o'clock wake up, or 5 45, because he has to do his routine. He's already got his routine. He's got to take a shower before the game. He's got to make sure he eats like this and that, and he was mad at me because I didn't get him the right drink. Uh, you know, like you know. So he's got his routine. So I'm trying to stick with that. Meanwhile I am dragging. And then we spent the day at the rink. Uh, got home and had our, our dinner party, then he got all his presents, but so we punted uh birthday to one day off. But I know you had you had quinn's birthday the day before, so you know how do you handle that one, the little things.
Speaker 1:You kind of. I feel bad like you. Sometimes you shortchange your kids a little bit just so you can get everybody together. But obviously we left Friday at 1 o'clock, which was her birthday on October 11th, so then we had a family breakfast. We got to go to breakfast and enjoy that, but I'm sure that wasn't Quinn. She'd probably rather be still sleeping, but she gets up.
Speaker 1:That's the sacrifices your family makes for our schedule, which I know we carry around a lot of dad guilt because of these things. It's a real thing. It almost feels, and you know, everybody in my life always talks about everyone's schedule revolving around me and my schedule, and that's that's another example of it, you know. So we go and have breakfast and I'm like, okay, I got to go finish packing and you know we, we had, we had a really good breakfast, but I mean, that's not an ideal birthday situation for a 13 year old, right? They, quinn and Tom, both turned 13, born one day apart.
Speaker 1:And then, sunday I get back, I was actually able to kind of enjoy the morning a little bit, but uh, my six-year-old Fraser, whose birthday is the 17th, um, and we had to manipulate that around too because of our hockey schedule. So we ended up having his birthday party, um yesterday, and that was a good time. But uh, it just goes to when, as soon as hockey season starts, what goes from? You get the summer off and the closer you get to you know that's when stuff starts ramping up, the closer you get to the season and training camp. But once the season starts it is freaking on and it doesn't stop for like eight or nine months.
Speaker 2:It's crazy and and when you're playing we're in a lot better position now. Yeah, you know we don't. We can go out and and and have a party, a dinner party, and and like not worry, but when you're playing you're like, hey, listen, I gotta get some sleep here. I I can't stay out too late, or I gotta, I gotta make sure I sleep in. And so you know, there's times when you'd sleep in and and now there's no excuse for you to sleep in and be like sorry, I can't do it. You're getting up, you're getting up early and you're going to, you know, hockey practice or any practice, or anything the kids need to do. You're like you can't just like, sorry, guys, I need to take a nap here. Oh, yeah, you're grinding it out.
Speaker 2:It wears you down. It wears you down. I kind of wish I. I kind of wish I still had that crutch to rely on, like hey, I got a big game coming up in three days, so I've been.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know right, well, that's that used to be able to get you out of a lot of stuff. Now they're like what do you? What do you mean? I was gonna just talk about hockey seriously, like, can't use that. We're gonna talk about it with passion yeah, you can do it anymore doesn't work, all right skills I want to get your take because you're a big, uh big football guy and it's a pretty cool, uh pretty cool thing for nashville when uh vandy takes down bama. What was that?
Speaker 2:unreal huh there was.
Speaker 1:That was Preds' first game. Was that their exhibition?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was their last exhibition game of preseason. And the city almost got taken down. Well, the goalpost got taken down right down Broadway. How awesome was that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm sitting up there with Willie Donick watching the game and watching the Preds game and he's got it on his computer and he's watching it and I keep looking over, going Alabama's number one and this should be over. We're a quarter into it and Vandy's right in it. They're winning and I'm like whoa Okay, looking over at halftime and Willie's starting to.
Speaker 1:You know, he's a Vandy guy. How much does he get into it?
Speaker 2:We'll get Willie Donick, your play-by-play guy. We'll get him to talk to him at some point. A great guy, huge sports fan and a huge Vanderbilt fan played basketball and baseball at Vanderbilt so he is losing his mind and he promised that if they beat Bama he would be there. This is on the radio. Before the game he said I'll be there to carry the goalposts down to the Cumberland, and so he's all fired up. Anyway, we ended up going out and it was an awesome atmosphere outside the rink watching the finish to that Vandy game, watching the place go nuts, and I got off of Broadway, thank God before the Gold Post made it, but it was awesome. A complete scene that's 2.6 miles from Vanderbilt to the cumberland of just off of broadway. That's nuts, and so what a scene. And the place was just jacked, like everyone was just jacked, so, so excited for them and what they did. Um, you know, just shout out to uh, metro pd too.
Speaker 1:For what they? How they blocked off all the roads, let that whole thing happen. You know that's a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing and event and that was really cool. And then what the fire department to do the next day?
Speaker 2:we're talking about they yank it out right, I think, when you rush the field it's a $100,000 fine. Is that NCAA or? Sec, sec, whatever it is you know, I think vandy was probably like oh yeah my money, a hundred thousand. We'll take it because this is a one like you said.
Speaker 2:So let's go um, but yeah, they, they, they. I think they're auctioning, auctioning it off and you're going to pay that. Fine, I want that In my backyard, like how cool would that be To have that goalpost? That's unreal. If someone has a big backyard and you can Fit it, I mean how?
Speaker 1:awesome would that be. Someone will have to get in there Before they cut it up, though it would be tough gluing all that crap back together.
Speaker 2:I think it stayed intact. It looked like it was in one piece.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but they're gonna. They're gonna cut it up and auction it off each piece. I know well, I'm sure someone, someone's gonna step up. Exactly no, that was awesome?
Speaker 2:that'd be amazing. But I want to say and congrats to vandy that not only did they do that, but but another SEC win against Kentucky, and so Vanderbilt is knocking on the top 25 door.
Speaker 2:It's huge. And I want to say I actually got to sit and watch some of the first Preds game because we weren't working. I got to sit with Clark Lee. I have the joy of coaching his son, little Clark Lee, who is a little bit of a beast Just an awesome kid, awesome family. And the big Clark Lee is just one of the nicest guys and one of the hardest workers. Every time I see him it's hey, how you doing. And then he starts talking about the Preds and their team dynamic and how do they build that? How did they go on that 18-0-2 run in last season and what did they do to get into that? Like he's always looking to get better and I can see the culture that he's created there with Vanderbilt and it's awesome to see it come and produce wins. You know it's great to have culture, but if it doesn't produce wins then okay, what are you doing it for? So, hopefully more success for Clark Lee and the Vanderbilt football, because it's made a lot of fun around here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Big, big shout-out to Clark Lee, for sure, and that's cool. I hope I get to meet him sometime here. He sounds like a great guy, but I? Uh, that's cool, I hope I get to meet him sometime here. Sounds like a great guy, but uh, I think that's probably a wrap. How skillsy that's about it for now.
Speaker 2:That's probably it. We have so much to talk about, but it's like we just got to get in.
Speaker 1:We'll get in chunks, we'll spread it out.
Speaker 2:And for those who have listening, I like you out to the people that have listened and are diving into it, subscribing and and liking it and giving us feedback because we need it. You know we had an audio issue. We're we're hoping to fix that we're working on it.
Speaker 1:We're going to dial this in, I feel, by episode 10 or so.
Speaker 2:We should have it in a good place, but yeah episode 573, I think, is probably going to be where everything is super clean well until then, keep listening and seriously thank you, Cause.
Speaker 1:Uh, we really appreciate it and, yes, all the feedback is very much appreciated as well. So, um, that's it. That's a wrap for episode five. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you at the next one. Cheers everyone.
Speaker 2:Cheers.