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
"We're Baaaaack! From the road to the Service Cup: Navigating Hockey Life"
Ever wondered what life is truly like on the road with the NHL? Join us as we, Hal Gill and Chris Mason, share our whirlwind 12-day journey through Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Seattle. You'll hear about Chris’s touching reunion with family in Red Deer, nostalgic moments, and even a playful jab at his shellfish allergy during Vancouver's culinary escapades. We paint a vivid picture of Vancouver’s vibrant allure, Canada's iconic Caesar cocktail, and the city’s exceptional sushi scene, despite some rainy weather that left us both feeling a bit under the weather.
The episode takes a heartfelt turn as we celebrate the power of community and sports at a special hockey event, where Mace scored a goal that had the crowd roaring. We shine a light on the significance of these events in uniting veterans, police, and firefighters, offering a support system and fostering healing through camaraderie. Shifting gears to the NHL scene, we explore the Nashville Predators' current season, spotlighting challenges, promising young talents like Adam Willsby and Nick Blankenberg, and a newfound hope for turning their struggles around. With their relentless effort on the ice, there’s a sense of cautious optimism buzzing around the team’s future.
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.
Speaker 2:What do you say? Mace Lobby in 10.
Speaker 1:Just chuck your bags and let's go.
Speaker 2:And welcome to Bag Chucker Podcast. I'm your host, hal Gill Skilzy. With my man, chris Mason Mace, we haven't done a pod in a while. I don't even know what number this is.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking the same thing. I was just going to ask you before we got on, but I thought, okay, you're leading the way today, so you might know.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a podcast, it's the next one and we have some explaining to do. We were on a roll. I felt like we were getting our act together and you know, we talk about managing, uh you know, life on the road hockey schedule, uh, the preds here or there, and then we talk about coming back and having to deal with the kids and the wife and the family and dealing with all that stuff. Well, we got caught up in it and we were dealing with it. Let's break down, first of all, of the many excuses that we have for not having a podcast. A 12-day five-game road trip that brought us. Where did we even start that? Colorado?
Speaker 2:Yeah we had two days off in edmonton, then calgary, back to back, then off to vancouver and then off to seattle after that, two days off in seattle before that one. But you got to go visit red deer alberta when we were in edmonton two days off. How was your trip home?
Speaker 1:that was awesome. I mean that that's. I've actually been very lucky the last few years. I've been able to uh have a couple days to go up and and hang out with my parents and you know, obviously they're they're getting older and my mom uh some health stuff earlier in the year but she, she was starting to feel better and so it was great to just get to hang out and go back home. It's funny when you I'm sure we all get this you walk in your house this is a house I grew up in from. I think it was sixth grade on so it was like, you know, just I'm home again, you know, and it was cool, it was cold. They just got a new puppy, a golden doodle. So it was just good to be able to give my mom a big old squeeze and tell her I love her not over FaceTime or over the phone and give my dad a big hug and just hang out and just be around him. It was a great couple days actually.
Speaker 2:You still got your Elle McPherson poster on the wall.
Speaker 1:No, mine's a spare bedroom. It's all family stuff. Yeah, those are in the. They're in a box in the, in the closet on the floor, samantha Fox, by the way.
Speaker 2:Samantha Fox. Yeah, sorry, mine was Elle McPherson. That's awesome, that's good. That's good that you got home. Um, well, that was one of the times we were planning to do a pod and you know you're busy and you know I had to figure out what to do with myself in edmonton, but we figured it out, we. That trip, uh, also took us to vancouver. Speaking of trying to figure out what to do, is vancouver the best city? It's got to be the best city, right I think it's.
Speaker 1:I think it is. I mean, even though it rained pretty much the whole first day off that we got there. But I don't care, it's just the hotel rooms have umbrellas, just walk around and just get outside Anytime you're by the water and just I don't know. It's just a vibe there. And I love Vancouver. I think it's the best. There's a lot of great cities. We're going to head up to one here pretty soon. Montreal is pretty awesome, but Vancouver, it's my favorite. We know it so well. Usually we get to stay there for quite some time as well, so that helps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a pretty strict order of operations that I follow.
Speaker 1:Yes, you do.
Speaker 2:To the T, of course. Anytime you're in Canada, I feel like you have to have a Caesar, and for those down here in the South, if you don't, a Caesar is a Bloody Mary with Clamato juice instead of tomato juice, and it's a little spicy and it's a little bit awesome, but Canada does. Congratulations, canada, on your Caesar. It's wonderful. So I have to get one of those. Rodney's Oyster House for some reason I took you there, even though you're allergic to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, and just for those of you don't know, every time we go to an oyster bar or there's like shrimp or calamari. He knows I'm allergic to shellfish, so he wants to rub it on my lips and see what happens. I'm just curious, just curious. I just want to see it.
Speaker 2:I don't want you to eat, eat the whole thing. I just want to drop one near you and see if it sets off a reaction.
Speaker 1:We should do it one time.
Speaker 2:But I got my oysters. They have some good beers out there too. But I also got some sushi the best sushi in the world, vancouver. Just the salmon. It just melts in your mouth. So we did some damage in Vancouver. I paid the price. Well, we did some damage in Vancouver, I paid the price. Well, you paid the price. You were sick at one point, weren't feeling too well on that trip. Another time we were going to do a podcast and you were buckled down, missed morning skate, but you're a goddamn warrior, so you made it through the game. What game was that? That was a one.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if that was that trip or a trip before it was, calgary.
Speaker 1:I think it was calgary yeah, it might have been calgary. Yeah, I don't know, but it's like a 24-hour thing, though, like I felt fine after the game when was that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think it was around there, because I was like three or four days after you. I felt I didn't feel great in seattle during one of our days off there and then when I got home, it was a train wreck. I was, I was wiped out well, that's too.
Speaker 1:When you get home, you like mentally well, it's two different battles, right? You're like on the road. You're like, okay, I gotta like when you played. You gotta work, you gotta be on camera and look like you're not sick and act like you're not sick. And then, all of a sudden, you get home, you're like, oh my god, you don't even pack. I didn't even pack, I still have. I was just doing laundry today from part of the two suitcases I had for our last two trips, because we're leaving tomorrow, so I got to do it. It's actually all on my couch right now, folded ready to be dispersed into drawers and suitcases and hung up, and all that.
Speaker 2:Right from the laundry back into the travel bag. Seriously, it's great Right in the luggage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I do think there's something to be said. I don't know if this is me or if this is science, but I feel like mentally, once you get off, when you have downtime and you have a break, my mind is like, okay, we have a break and my body's like, okay, time to get sick. Like boom it's. You know'm. I've fought through this for you, I did this for you, but now we have downtime, so I'm gonna I'm gonna get sick yeah, and your body that's gonna heal itself or break down or whatever the heck it does decides to do yeah, but, but we made it through, yeah, we made it out alive out of a 12-day trip.
Speaker 2:and then, uh, really I can't believe how awesome it was, especially after being sick the service cup, the bag chucker service cup, which is an event that we had, um on the november 22nd at uh antioch ford ice center and we had fire, fire department had a hockey team, police had a hockey team. We had two military veterans teams that came out and played. You were on the ice, mace. I also want to, I really want to thank the alumni for showing up. We had Jim McKenzie, who's playing with his son, who plays as a policeman now, and he was on the team. They played together, which was cool. Cody Bass, anthony Boteto and Dalton Prout made it out, so we had some Preds alumni, nhl alumni. It was a lot of fun. I know I don't want to pump your tires too much, but for a goalie and goalie skates people when I tell you, chris Mason had a highlight, real goal. It was like no other. First of all, we were D pairs for the first game, which was a menace to every team we played against.
Speaker 1:We were good, we should have stayed for the final. We should have stayed.
Speaker 2:I thought it was unfair to the common man.
Speaker 1:We were together back there we were buzzing.
Speaker 2:But Mace gets the puck at the blue line, fakes a shot, gets this guy to sell out, to block it and then pulls it around him, dangles into middle of the ice, dishes it off, gets into open space in the slot, picks up the pass on the way back spinorama backhand goal.
Speaker 1:It was awesome, I'm really proud of you, buddy, thank you. I wonder if we have video of that, but I think it's because everybody expects so less of me, because I can barely. I can't skate that good. I was wearing goalie skates and they're like, oh, I'll let this pigeon have his day here. I ended up getting lucky. The puck just came back to me, but that was hilarious and Brian Bailey did just a phenomenal job.
Speaker 1:I honestly, I just and everyone is coming up to me even between games in the room and especially after all the games were done. I mean there was a couple battles, I think, like police and one of the military or fire, and the military teams got out. Our team got at it with the police a little bit, but after everyone went upstairs having a beer, had some tried some of that bag chucker rye that's that Southern Collective made for this. But everyone's like you know, they're just saying, oh man, that was awesome. Thank you so much, and I was obviously referring to you guys and everybody just really appreciated just getting out and getting together.
Speaker 1:And then you had you had such a good speech at the end, thanking everybody and kind of explaining you, of explaining what our mission was and why we want to do events like this and then you handed it off to Brian Bailey, who really can speak to what all these service members go through, or some of the issues and things and just the ability to kind of say, hey, we're all in this together. This is fun. We're doing this not only to have fun but to bring our communities together and talk about it and kind in this together. This is fun. You know we're doing this not only to have fun but to bring our communities together and talk about it and, uh, you know, kind of heal together. Everyone's at different stages of their uh service. Whatever the case may be still active, some guys going through transition into civilian life, uh, and just to have that support system and to do that event. I mean, I hope we do a lot more of those, because that was phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that, that that's the idea is. You know, we worked with seven element. We saw what it meant to have a weekly skate for veterans, that they get together and just in the locker room, after just just having someone to talk to, that you know, can kind of you can share what you're going through. They, they kind of, they, I, they, I mean not kind of they rely on each other to help each other through the hard times, the dark thoughts, the, the, the managing life after being, you know, controlled by the army or wherever they are, and so, um, you know, I throw fire and police in there. It's, it's a job like no other. And I, you know, we, we say hey, we, we, we can relate to you because we played hockey.
Speaker 2:It's not the same, it's just not, but I think we appreciate that and so it's fun to be out there and and get out with these guys and just get together. And that's what bales was was talking about is just getting together and having that that support system around you. Now going forward, going forward, we are raising money and we're going to go forward with this and try to give these guys clinics. That would be free clinics for these guys to come out. We're always looking for sponsors, so if you want to help us out, let us know, reach out to us, because we want to get these guys ice. Ice is expensive $500 a sheet but uh, with the alumni and and with with what we're trying to do, we'd like to have clinics for these guys. Get them out there because how they they love learning about the game, they want to learn how to be better. Yeah, it's great to go out and play and play pickup and play in tournaments, but they love learning how they can be better. You know, like that, that's the big thing. So we want to kind of pay that forward and try to set that up as we go forward. But I do want to take just a few moments because the sponsors stepped up big time and gave us a good head start on this with money for this event and also money moving forward.
Speaker 2:Tomahawk is awesome. Wally, my boy. At Tomahawk they do so much great work supporting military and veterans units. It's amazing to me, but they stepped up big time as a title sponsor, the Preds Foundation. We always work with the Preds Foundation, was you know always. We always work with the Preds Foundation. They do so many things. We do the the clay shoot we do. We kind of are with them all the time. But they stepped up for us, which was was awesome. The firefighters first, credit union stepped up MBM insurance and then Dr Haley Spencer Haley, if you want a tooth chucked out of your head, he'll do it for you. Luckily, he never had to do any of mine when I was with the Preds, but a great dude stepped up as well. Also, here's the important things. We had some Martin's Barbecue after. I love Martin's Barbecue. If you guys haven't been there, had it for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:It's the best we had. Yep, you had it for Thanksgiving, didn't? You Can't beat that. Yep, nope, smoked turkey is the best around. But Black Abbey brought in a whole heck of a lot of beer. Ford Ice Center was right there shucking them out there. Tony was over up there from Ford Ice Center. He was slinging beers for us, so we appreciate that. Piranis, of course, if you need, everyone in the hockey community knows here Piranis is the spot at Ford Ice Center. If you need anything done, you're skate-sharpened or whatever. There is the big one you were talking about, southern Collective, and if you haven't been there, you need to get out there. We went out there and did a tasting for a barrel.
Speaker 1:We're going to do an event there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have bourbon rye, they have tequila, they have it all over there. But you get to choose your barrel. And so the bag truckers went over there. We tasted with some of the. We brought some policemen, we brought a fireman, we brought some boys out and tasted and made our own barrel. It's a 12-year-old rye. That is phenomenal. How good is that, mace?
Speaker 1:Oh my God, it's unreal. It was good and we tested a bunch. The part I love, too, is when we all got around the shuffleboard and then the top two. We did the blind taste test and everybody voted on it and we ended up pretty much unanimously picking the one that we picked, and it was those guys. They're awesome, man. That's a great experience. Seriously, if you guys are looking for something to do, go in there and check it out. Those guys will take great care of you and that was so much fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we bottled 92 bottles Yep, mace and I took, I took number 75 of 92 and, mace, you got yours, your bottle, your your 30 bottle, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's right there she go there it is, it's beautiful, yeah, and uh, they're on sale now. If you go and buy one, uh, pro portion of those proceeds, I think there are $200, which is actually a deal for this bottle. It's that good, uh, but I think we're getting $50 towards, uh, what we're trying to do here and get some ice time for these guys. So go over and support Southern collective and, of course, support, support all those sponsors and uh, and when you see them, thank them for us because it was a great event, a lot of fun. Love seeing those guys out on the ice. The competitor always comes out of them. They tell you I'm not a great skater, but God damn it, they'll run through a wall for you.
Speaker 1:When we're playing the police. In the final too, that's when it really cranked up. Everybody's rolling the lines Come on. Like the chatter, like the tempers flared a little bit. Both sides, they wanted it. We ended up losing, but, uh, it was a great battle. I love those guys and, um, it was so fun they're. They're like, hey, thanks for playing. I'm like thank you. I'm like we got to play with, with our heroes. You know, it's an honor for us and those guys are. They're just the, the best, just salt of the earth people and you just, it is just a blessing for us to be hanging around them and be part of it. And it was, uh, again, it was just an awesome event. We we'll. We got to keep doing these. We're going to expand to do a lot more, but that was just. You guys did such a good job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, and thank you to all those guys. Bales, it was awesome. He's always the the point on site.
Speaker 1:Josh is a great guy. Yeah, all the boys, I feel like.
Speaker 2:We have a great community in Nashville that kind of supports each other and and I I love seeing all those guys come together and, you know, go battle it out on the ice, but then sit down and have a couple of beers. I was, as I said, I was not feeling great and as I was leaving they were out in the parking lot yelling at me skillsy, let's go let's go, come on, you need one more you need one more.
Speaker 1:I had the kids with me so I got the duck a little early because I was afraid of that. But uh, also, I just want to throw this in too for any listeners uh, we're planning on having guests too, and brian bailey, who, uh, was one of the military. He's retired now but, uh, if you guys have any questions, we want to do a really in-depth interview with him. He's such a great guy, does a lot for the military and service community, but he was one of the most deployed service members in the history of the US Army. He's a sniper. We're going to tell you and get him to tell you his story. So, if you guys have any questions or anything, I'm sure I mean, I'm just fascinated by this human being and what he's been through and I just want to pick his brain. So, if you guys have anything that you're curious about or what you would like us to ask, brian, please, uh, respond to some of the social media and we'll try to get your questions in yeah, we, we've had some talks with him, mason.
Speaker 2:Every time I talk to him it just my jaw drops and whoa, whoa, yeah, he's gone through some things and you know what? He is probably the most kind person you'll ever meet. Just salt of the earth, boston guy, go figure, he's just awesome. So, yeah, we got to get him on. If you have questions, let us know. Where are we at? Are we going to talk about the Preds?
Speaker 1:Are we going to talk about the Preds? Are we going to talk? Well, yeah, we got another road trip coming up, got a point streak going.
Speaker 2:Is that correct? Yeah?
Speaker 1:You got to take the good while you can, or you got to find the positives right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know what they have brought, what last three games have gone to overtime. They're competing, which is better than some of the games we've seen. You know that long road trip. I feel like they should have gotten more than they did. They should have gotten rewarded with maybe a couple more points.
Speaker 2:But it's been a battle for these guys Confidence, scoring goals and you know Stephen Stamkos you could see on his face in one of those interviews after the game just yeah, we got the guys that can score. We got to find how to get them in passing lanes and how to do that. And for those that don't know, it looks like it's easy for these guys. When they do it well, it looks so easy and when it's not clicking, it's hard. It guys, when they do it well, it looks so easy, and when it's not clicking, it's it's hard. It's not easy to do, but these guys make it look easy more often than not and right now it's just it's a struggle for them. So I feel for them. I, I do. I do think they're playing better hockey now. I I think they deserve better results than they're getting. But sometimes you've got to go through the muck and mire and maybe another little road trip here will be good.
Speaker 1:Well, you know it is tough and you know I think it was Stamkos too, after he played his old team. You know he's seeing them have a good season and you know they've kind of been rejuvenated in Tampa Bay so that probably made, you know, added a little bit of that disappointment. But it just seems it honestly feels like it's. It's rock bottom with the way that you see them after games. I think they're playing hard. I thought they played really hard against many. Many is one of the top teams. That's a tough team to score and generate, but I thought they went toe to toe with many. You know, it's just when you think about how we felt about this team at the beginning of the season and now we're saying, wow, they're playing hard, they're playing competitive games and this, and that that's rock bottom to me, because this is a team that should be able to play bad or not at about 75% and still win some hockey games.
Speaker 2:Especially with Juice and that, and how good he has been.
Speaker 1:And Yossi's come. Yossi's been awesome. The last like 10 or 12, 15 games or whatever. He's over a point, a game, like he's got his game back. It's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1:I don't even know, really, other than losing confidence, what I could put my finger on, to what it is. I mean everybody, and that's the way I felt Stamkos was after the game. He's like I don't know. He's like we got guys to score, we have a good hockey team, we just can't make plays, we can't find seams. It's almost like they're just second guessing themselves left and right. But it does look like there's signs coming out of it, like the losses and the games have been a lot better lately and I think if they continue to play like that, they're going to score, they're going to get wins. I mean it really can't get any worse. In terms of the standings, they're dead last. So I mean, just go out and play and hopefully keep building off of this and see what happens and if it doesn't turn around, then they're starting to make moves already. But I guess the bright spot skills there's a couple of young guys coming up.
Speaker 2:Well, first there's one guy I want to talk about, that's Svechkov. But I want to throw out Adam Willsby and Nick Blankenberg. They look good. Nick Blankenberg, he played in Columbus, played some games there, and so we kind of had a book on him. Willsby we heard a lot about, but these guys have come in and they look good, they look like they fit in. Willsby, you knowuno says he's got a sneaky little toughness to him, a sneaky physical side. He separates pucks. That's the bottom line. He gets pucks, he gets players off of pucks. And then he, he can skate well and he can move it up the ice. I'm really impressed with blankenberg. I I, he blew me away some of the he had. He had a back check in, you know. He got caught up ice and made it back and broke up a breakaway in mini. That was. I don't know if I've seen anyone skate that fast in a while. He was scooting. Look at the road runner. Not a big guy, he's a little guy, but he can scoot.
Speaker 1:He was like it was like they clocked 23 point something miles per hour, which was one of the fastest uh bursts this year, so that, uh, it matched your eye test. It was unbelievable it was, it was full effort, like he's got a little bit of that separation too. I've seen him taking runs at guys and yeah, I think you get in a situation like that, you know, taking advantage of the, the opportunity. Obviously fabbro got moved and then lazon gets hurt to fab, fab to Favreau.
Speaker 2:Favreau's doing well too Good to see him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, favreau's doing great. Tomasino's off to a good start. He's playing with his favorite team, which is Pittsburgh. I know fans make a big deal out of it, but those guys had chances here. They went through a couple coaches and just sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes you need a change of on either side and you know you just fit somewhere better, you get an opportunity. I hope those guys keep killing it. They're both, uh, good quality human beings and especially for fabs to get a chance to to play in the role that he is, so I'm happy for those guys yeah, and.
Speaker 2:But you know, if you don't win, things change. Right, we, that's. The one thing we do know is is if, if it's not, if it's not, points on the board on a consistent basis, things are are going to change. So tough to see those guys are gone, but nice to see the other guys stepping up.
Speaker 2:And Fedor Svechkov can we talk about him? Because I think he is exactly what the Preds need, that big center that has some speed, has a ton of skill. I feel like he knifes through the neutral zone and he's just getting more and more confidence. He threw in a couple 10-2s going up through the neutral zone, opened up the hips, and you can see the confidence starting to come out. And how beautiful was that first goal, the spacing, the way he set that drive up, driving to the net, stopping, pulling back up, fade away for Luke Evangelista to find that seam that's what Stamkos was talking about is you've got to open up those seams. It's not just one thing to be a goal scorer, you have to open up the seams and Svechkov did that perfectly for his first NHL goal. That's pretty sweet to get that one.
Speaker 1:That was awesome. It was awesome and I think Yossi did such a good job holding on to that puck. He was under pressure at the blue line. And then you mentioned Evangelista coming in and he came in with speed. That's kind of what opened that up. And then the way that Spechkoff he was ready, he was cocked and ready for that shot. So Evangelista knows, hey, he's ready, I'm going to pass him the puck. And then he got down on the one knee and made an unbelievable shot. I love this kid.
Speaker 1:There's something to his game. I know his first game was against Winnipeg, best team in the league. He obviously didn't play as much as he would have liked, but that's a big game. But he came in there and he didn't back down from any. What is he? 20, 20 years old, just going out there? And every game you mentioned, like center is a spot where I think there's opportunity on this team to really make an impact. That's kind of been one of the the areas I think they've uh, lacked a little bit in um as guys are trying to find their game. It's taken longer um than expected for some guys. So he's come in and just just played phenomenal and for a young guy like. What blows me away is how responsible and how smart he is defensively. He's comfortable in those situations. It doesn't matter if you're playing a heavy team or a speed team. He's able to get down there and he makes good plays. He's impressed me big time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, off puck he looks good Even in the offensive zone. He'll kind of hide in the weeds and come around in a good support position. He sees the ice really well so and he's wearing a bubble what's that? He's got the bubble going. He's got the bubble. I feel bad that you just got to the nhl and you have to wear a bubble because you got a broken beak that he got in milwaukee. Yeah, hopefully that comes off soon because it's a lot more fun to play in the national when you don't have the bubble.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and LaRue too. I don't know if we talked about LaRue, but man, this kid, he's fun. What was that quote? Did you see that quote? I sent to the group text. It was on Petly Box Radio. Put it out on their tweet or on their. Instagram, I think.
Speaker 2:He's getting a lot of who the hell are you? That's every just so people know. Second you come into the NHL and for a long time in my circumstance it was who are you kid? Who are you? Why am I even talking to you Like chirps coming from the other team? And so he's taking that on and saying you know, eventually you're going to know who I am. He has a little swagger to him, a little confidence. I love it. He's like eventually you're going to know who I am.
Speaker 1:He has a little swagger to him a little confidence.
Speaker 2:I love it. He's like you're going to know, oh yeah you'll know, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:And he does. And he does Like every game after the game. If you don't know, you're like, ah, who's this kid? And you know you got some scouting report from somebody who played against him in. He's got something there. He's either in my face or he's making plays or he's getting on the forecheck hammering guys. He's been really nice to see and he's a good penalty killer too. He's kind of brought a spark to this team, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely On that fourth line. That's been the most consistent line lately and he's been a big part of that. So, yeah, I think there's fun days ahead of here, I hope, on this road trip.
Speaker 2:We're leaving tomorrow. That's Tuesday. We're talking on Monday. Yep, so we leave Tuesday. Wednesday is in Toronto. Back to back in Montreal. I'm a little upset about that. I'll be honest with you. Personally, I like to spend a little more time in Montreal. It's one of my favorite cities and, uh, after playing there and living there for three years, I grew to love montreal. Um, so I'm a little upset about the back-to-back situation. But then we're off to ottawa for another game there. So we hit the eastern canadian swing and then we're back home.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's gonna be a trip bud, it's gonna be a trip and we're back home Yep. It's going to be a trip, bud, it's going to be a trip, and then we're going to have to figure out somewhere in the worst area in Ottawa. We stayed downtown Ottawa the last couple, but we'll find something. We'll find something. We always find a good time.
Speaker 1:We always do. We can just play cards in the lobby or do whatever. Find some conference room and set up a pickleball game or something like that. How's Lindsay's idea? We'll see that probably won't happen, but it was wishful thinking, Wishful thinking.
Speaker 2:And for those that are watching, I do apologize, I'm not a new kid, it's actually me. I got a haircut. I shaved the November mustache.
Speaker 1:Thank goodness, I don't know how you do it, Mace.
Speaker 2:It was starting to wear on me. It was eating my food.
Speaker 1:My mustache was the stache, is that? Yeah, I just had to trim it a little bit, but it is a major thing. But you look good bud, I saw it. Oh, young Hal Gill. Yeah, my kids.
Speaker 2:They didn't know what I looked like, so it's kind of weird they can see me again. But yeah, cancer sucks. Just so you know, november's over and I made my statement go get early detection, go get checked out. But is that all we got for today? This is a quick one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so. We're back on the grid, we're back in the mix, so we can crush another one on the road trip.
Speaker 2:I think, dip our toes in it. We apologize for staying away too long, but we'll be back. We'll try to get on a regular schedule and get our act together. A couple clowns like us are just trying to figure it out, you know. Yeah, at least once a week, I think we gotta you know, pump one out, unless you guys tell us different yeah, but tell us, pack it in boys.
Speaker 2:We'll never give up, we'll never, but go down there like it, comment, let us know what you like. Uh, let us know what you want to hear from next. Any ideas? We're open to pretty much everything but Yep Guests questions.
Speaker 1:All that kind of stuff we're going to start expanding here.
Speaker 2:Whatever you like. Whatever you like and thanks for listening to the Bag Chalker podcast Over and out. Cheers, cheers.