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Hockey Chat
27 Plays1 year ago
It's playoff season!! Noah and Brendan face off on Canada's sport: it's impact on Canadian culture, the highs and lows of being a hockey parent, the PWHL, and of course, some forecasts about the Leafs.
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Mute. I'm Noah Goldberg. My pronouns are he and him. With me is... Brendan Susie, pronouns he, him, on the Shepherd Shark Mart e-com marketing team.
Canadian Heritage and Hockey
00:00:16
Speaker
Awesome. Very excited to have you, Brendan. So we are Canadian company and proudly so. So, you know, I thought it'd be a great idea to bring
00:00:25
Speaker
My friend Brendan here and talk about what makes Canada so great and one of the things that make Canada great besides maple syrup obviously is hockey and So Brendan and I we're just gonna riff we're gonna talk about all things hockey He's a passionate
00:00:46
Speaker
shitty Leafs fan, I could say shitty, yes. But I'm gonna say it, sorry. But, you know, I know he loves hockey so much. And we have a lot to talk about. You know, when you said maple syrup, I absolutely thought you're gonna say one of the things that makes Canada great is the maple Leafs of Toronto, but then to come from a Montreal Canadiens fan. I know me well enough, I would never say that. I would never ever say that. So Brendan, like, tell me,
00:01:15
Speaker
You know, as Canadians, we love hockey. Love it. Like, why? Why do you think that is? That's a good, and like, I love this question because I've always loved hockey, generally speaking, because it's just something that we always did growing up. I'm originally from Sidebree, so five hours north of here, where everybody just played hockey. It was just the thing that you did in the winter. It just came to us naturally.
00:01:42
Speaker
What I'm loving to see about hockey now, though, it's not just Canadians. I think what I find very interesting about it now is how much the sport has grown in the States, how much it's grown in a lot of the Nordic countries, Finland, Sweden, Russia. It's becoming so big, and it's becoming very competitive at that international level that there's still this drive for Canada to be known as the hockey
00:02:09
Speaker
place, the place where everybody plays, all of your communities are really passionate about it. Obviously, it's the one sport out of a lot of the major sports where we've got the central Canadian teams, the Raptors, the Blue Jays, everybody loves them.
00:02:25
Speaker
But in the NHL or the PWHL, there's representation in most major cities
Family and Hockey Culture
00:02:30
Speaker
for it. So it's very much just one of those things that a lot of people grow up doing, and myself included, right? Like, it wasn't just at the rink during the leagues in the summertime, you're playing ball hockey. If you're not playing in your organized league, you're out at the parks playing, even now where I live, just in the junction area, I go when my kids are asleep to go play pickup hockey with, I call them a bunch of
00:02:53
Speaker
has been. It's just a bunch of dads that used to play that just get out for a quick skate at night. But it's one of those things that really to get through the winter, it's a very fun sport. And it's just been in every community, you know, coast to coast. It's connection to the sport. We're, you know, I'm a hockey family. I've played hockey almost my entire life. There's so much we could talk about hockey and why
00:03:20
Speaker
I think you said you really summed it up like how it's just ingrained everything we do. There's a rink nearby wherever you are, not just in a major city, but outside of major cities as well. And I'm starting to get into it. Like I said, I grew up playing hockey, but my eight year old son is very much in
00:03:40
Speaker
hockey. I'm starting to see what competitive hockey or being reminded what competitive hockey is and was and how it's changed so much. I'm assuming you have aspirations to get your kids into hockey as well. It's really funny because the short answer is yes and as my kids who by the way are turning four and turning two, they're very little. I've got them in skates and
00:04:09
Speaker
A lot of parents have been asking, well, how old do your kids have to be in skates? And I was like, well, my oldest was in at 18 months and my youngest was in at 16 months, but that's young. And the reason why we put them in skates was, well, my oldest one is, you know, still pandemic time.
00:04:24
Speaker
Not much to do. My wife grew up a competitive figure skater. I grew up playing hockey. Oh, interesting. So we love skating. Absolutely. One of the things about hockey, of course, is just the skill of skating itself. And a fond memory I have as a child is going public skating with my family.
00:04:39
Speaker
So we would bring them just, you know, we wanted to go public skating and then it just sort of snowballed into an activity that we just do during the winter because realistically other than hang out, watch Netflix at home, what else are you doing in the winter? Presumably you're outside sledding or you're skiing or you're on skates. So that's, I feel like we got our kids in early, but as I talked to their parents, they would say, are you looking to get your kids into hockey? And I'd be lying if I said,
00:05:08
Speaker
No, because I do believe that I'm going to sample a whole bunch of different sports and whichever activities my kids choose to pursue, I'm going to support that if it is or is not hockey. I fundamentally believe that one of the things I did was respect in sport as parents. It's this course that parents have to take. What are some of the hesitations you have about getting your kids into hockey?
Parenting and Sports Values
00:05:34
Speaker
I don't think I have major hesitations of my own other than I don't want to be that parent that makes my kid feel pressured to do something they might not want to. Admittedly, I am a hockey fan. I'm sitting here in the best team in the NHL right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey.
00:05:55
Speaker
I wore this in this conversation. I'm a hockey fan and I just love hockey. And my kids know that I love hockey too, but I absolutely don't want them to feel like they're doing this as something to appease me. Like I really want them to have fun. So I think a big hesitation of mine is
00:06:13
Speaker
unconsciously putting this pressure on my children to play a sport they might not want to, and also feel like they need to succeed on it to be, you know, good or, you know, that's the one thing. I truly want them to have fun with it. Mostly the thing I, my experience with hockey is a lot of my best friends, I grew up playing hockey. When we moved from Sudbury to Lancaster,
00:06:39
Speaker
It was hockey. That's how I got to know people. And, you know, it's within the province. It's, you know, 500 kilometers away. It was a completely different world for me moving from Northern Ontario to Hamilton. And that is my, that was my way of meeting people, getting friends from the coaches. But that's because that was my experience. It might not necessarily be the same for someone else. That would be my biggest hesitation.
00:07:02
Speaker
I'll tell you this so you know as a like I coach my son's team now and you know the one thing like they're starting to get to an age where like they're playing like it's it's select hockey so it's a like competitive next year they're moving into like double-a triple-a level so like we're supposed to teach them like the hard times of hockey as well yeah but no matter what like as coaches together we like
00:07:32
Speaker
The last thing we say to them before and after games is, have fun. Did you have fun? And I will tell you, as a parent, I do this almost every time on the way to driving my son to hockey. I remind him, the second you're not having fun, you have to promise me you tell me, and I promise you we'll stop. Like, no pressure. This is your decision. Yeah. But to your point, also, some of his closest friends are actually on his hockey team now.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah. Right. And there is something about a locker room and a team from Monterey, like team sports are super important in general as you grow up as a child and understanding what it is to be part of a team and responsible to a team. It's really, really important.
00:08:18
Speaker
And this is one of the main positives I have. I just said in general, organized sports in general, you can say the same about any, and obviously we're talking hockey today.
Risks and Benefits of Hockey
00:08:28
Speaker
The one thing that, when you ask about hesitations with me and my kids, my kids and I should say,
00:08:34
Speaker
that I don't have as much but a lot of young parents do and I respect why they do is injury and getting hurt obviously it's a fast-paced sport we were chatting a little bit about this earlier a lot of parents that I've talked to they say I really don't want for my my kids in sports I worry about concussions
00:08:54
Speaker
I worry about like injuries and you know perhaps you have had injuries yourself. I've never gotten you know fortunately seriously injured where it was a broken bone or anything but I've gone headfirst in the boards you know I've had some big hits that took the wind out of me like there was a lot of that that happened so I think there's hesitations of a lot of parents because they're trying to protect they want their kids to have fun they don't want them to get hurt.
00:09:18
Speaker
I was coached how to go into the corners, keep your head up, everything like that. What's your experience with that with your kids? Like, do you have the same? I mean, you know, we're only start like, my experience now is like, it's, it's so nascent because we were like, you're not allowed to hit, right? But you are starting to teach the kids like angling and how to use their body going into corners on like, you know,
00:09:46
Speaker
where to face when you're near the boards. You're teaching them little things like that. I think it's really tough, like look, if you're gonna play sports and you're gonna play competitive sports, injuries are there. And most sports, most activities. Hockey, it's the fastest sport in the world. It's played on ice. So yes, there are more factors for injury and I guess that's something you weigh in as a parent.
00:10:16
Speaker
kind of bring it back like look I'm when my son's on the ice he is having a blast absolutely he talks about his team all the time he wears his team swag with so much pride that's fantastic it's a lot of fun and I you know I think look I'm a big sports guy I think competitive sports at any age is really important
00:10:41
Speaker
When I talk to some of these parents who are hesitant about it, and I say, like, you know, when I think about some of this stuff, like, yeah, I had some moments in hockey that weren't great, or I had some bad experiences with it, but overall, the positives that have come out with it, just from the physical activity it brought, the friendships that it brought, just how much fun? I'm 35 now. You don't have to say how old you are, Noah. We've known each other for a long time. A little older. Not that much, but I'm older, yeah.
00:11:09
Speaker
But I go and I have a blast just playing pick up shiny hockey. I play Thursday nights with I call them the has beens I wasn't ever was but it's just organized fun game and it's a lot of fun and like to your point on competitive. I don't see how it would be different in competitive baseball, competitive soccer, competitive. I have conversations with members of our team that talk about high levels of soccer they played and it's the same thing. So it's just it's just the nature of competitive sports and hockey is no no different. But the positives I think just outweigh
00:11:39
Speaker
A lot of I agree. I think yeah to your point team sports is it's ever it great It grooms you as an individual as you get older. Let's switch We'll talk about like I know you're I know you're itching to talk
NHL Team Discussions
00:11:53
Speaker
about it. We can get into it We'll talk about Those guys that you're wearing It's the best team in the league
00:12:05
Speaker
Brendan, we could really go down this rabbit hole so quickly. We sure can. And sure, let's talk about the best regular season team of the league. Well, I know you're just going to lean on the past for a lot of this conversation, but hey, it is the regular season at the time of this conversation. I will preface that. Yeah, this is, we're doing this in February.
00:12:27
Speaker
In the race for playoffs, I don't know what the Montreal former Kerry prices are, but... We're not, if you really like... Rebuilding still? Yes, they're definitely rebuilding. You know, there was a time when the Maple Leafs were rebuilding.
00:12:42
Speaker
And they drafted these great players. Phenomenal. Yeah. Phenomenal players. And that's gotten them how far? Just how many rounds? As they've been to the second rounds, now may I, every time they get eliminated in the past two years at least, or three, because one of the years was against Montreal, all those teams went on to play in the championship. So they lost to either the champion that year or the runner up for the champion. So they're getting beat by good teams in the playoffs. I admit that.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's it. So for those of you that don't are like, oh, there's definitely some rivalry here. Here's the thing. The Maple Leafs are a very good hockey team. They are. But they haven't won since 1967. I don't think in our lifetime,
00:13:33
Speaker
I think the closest they've gotten was the conference finals, if I'm not mistaken. Which is pretty good. It's a competitive league. Was it in 1993, 1994? Since then, they only made it past the first round last year.
00:13:51
Speaker
Like, I mean, if we're going to talk about really jokes of franchises who just spend lots of money on talented players and can't make it where, yes, you have the Montreal Canadiens have won a Stanley Cup
00:14:08
Speaker
Well since 1993, for one. When was the last time? 1993. 1993, OK, so 30 years. That's a long time. That's a very long time. Do 93 minus 67, and then figure that part out. Well, between 67 and 93, Montreal. Has won a few. Has won a few, right? How many teams won the league? Six, seven? No, come on. At that point? No, much more than that. How many were during the original six times? Well, six.
00:14:38
Speaker
No, I mean, cups, did they win? Excuse me. Oh, I'm going to say, I think 10 of them. OK, that's pretty good. Yeah. OK, so the Montreal Canadiens. Even if you take those away, they still won the most Stanley Cups the entire night. So the point that Noah is making is that the Montreal Canadiens are a historic franchise that have some of the greatest players of all time that have played there, or the most winningest team of all time, up until 30 years ago.
00:15:09
Speaker
but the most decorated franchise in all major sports. All? Really? More so than the Yankees. No one has won more championships than much hockey. No, I'm kidding. Thank goodness hockey was only a six. The NHL, I should say. The PWHL, I think, is how many teams are now? Six inaugural teams?
Women's Hockey League Growth
00:15:27
Speaker
They're six teams, right? So here's another, you know, the new league is now ensuing. Have you been to one of those games yet? No, but I'd love to go.
00:15:35
Speaker
I've watched a few. I've watched really good hockey. It is very good hockey. And I've just been very impressed by how they spun up the league so quickly. There was criticisms on the names in the jerseys, but there are SPP of hockey ops. I remember she was saying, she's like, look, we didn't have skate sharpeners four months ago.
00:15:53
Speaker
We got our branding down. We've got the best players in the world in this league right now. And the sellouts are incredible. Toronto went and played one game, I think it was against Montreal, at Scotiabank Arena. And it was completely sold out. Minnesota fills their stadium night and night out. And I think Montreal played in the Bell Centre too. I think Montreal has a few that they play in. I know they play
00:16:22
Speaker
and like there's like at the Verdun Auditorium that they play in which is kind of not in downtown. They played the Bell Center, they played at Plas Bell which is where the Laval Rocket team, the AHL team played.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah, I actually think this is gonna stick. This is- Oh, I think so too. Yeah. I think so too. Like the, like I could spend a lot of time talking about the PWHL and like where I think it's going, but I think the talent and the representations from a lot of the players that they have here beats their nurse, nurse plan that Taylor Heise out of Minnesota there, the faces of the league,
00:17:03
Speaker
are incredible hockey players but I'm so impressed by just even the the commissioning and the board of directors like how they put together this league in such short time and when I watched the games the like the demand is there the fans are filling the stands the hockey is absolutely incredible and other than having a single owner right now I think the whole plan is to obviously eventually get more ownerships in so they can grow and build out the league even further
00:17:32
Speaker
I agree, just their inaugural start into this year has been phenomenal. And I, like, assuming the sticks, what I think will be cool, like, to fast forward and see the impact it'll have on youth hockey. Yeah. Right? Because, you know, you don't now, depending on obviously where you live, but, um, like, girls' hockey doesn't start till a certain age, right? Like, if you're playing, um,
00:17:57
Speaker
U7, U8, it's mixed. There's no girls, boys. I think that will change over time as well. That's usually how it works. If you think about the Raptors, over time,
00:18:19
Speaker
You're starting to see a lot more really good basketball players. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. So I'm hopeful that the PWHL will have the same impact on women's hockey.
00:18:33
Speaker
I think it will. If there's one thing that this one statement, I'd say that the PWHL has made, women's hockey has been around a long time. Like obviously the Olympics is the Mecca where you'd be watching women's hockey. I love that. It's phenomenal. I think what this league has done very well is has made a statement like that, you know,
00:18:56
Speaker
We have a league, there's a lot of talent here in girls hockey and you know, we're here to stay. And there's been a lot of leagues stood up and spun up that have common folded. And I think they just have the right group of people organizing it. They obviously have a mega investor, you know, someone who can pay Shohana Tani $600 million to play baseball to completely fund six leagues because they believe that this is the real deal. Sure. Love it.
00:19:25
Speaker
So, like we said, it's pre-recorded, so you want to do some predictions?
NHL Season Predictions
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Let's do it. Don't be a Homer. Be real.
00:19:36
Speaker
I will be real, okay? And I'm gonna make a couple of predictions here for you. I'm gonna make three in particular. So one, Austin Matthews for the heart, for sure. Heart trophy winner this year is gonna be Austin Matthews. He's the most valuable player, I believe, because Ted Lindsay's most goal, so he's already on pace at this point to do that. Heart trophy, he's gotta be, you know, Kutrov, he's gotta be McKinnon, he's got a long way to go, but my prediction is Austin Matthews for most valuable player.
00:20:05
Speaker
Okay, so all I can make my predictions number two At the time this recording we're seven days away from the trade deadline Trey living makes a
00:20:17
Speaker
deal to bring in two right-handed shot defensemen, one heralding from his former caliber offense. Yeah, because didn't they just start like six left-handed? All left-handed. That's a recipe for winning right there. That's a recipe. That's a recipe. Who they're going to pick? I don't know. So it could be Hannafin. It could be Will Borgen. It could be all these names that I hear. They're going to bring in two, not just one. They're going to bring in two. That lineup,
00:20:41
Speaker
is going to get them to the conference finals. Oh, look at us go. OK. So we're still not winning a Stanley Cup. We're still not there yet. Got it. So where I'm realistic is I've watched the rest of the teams. I've watched their depth, defense, goaltending. You're not going to get a superior goaltender. And when a goalie gets hot in the playoffs, you know, good luck against, you know, Vasilesky. Good luck against all those names.
00:21:09
Speaker
I will save my prediction for future Stanley Cup appearances for a later podcast. Okay, sounds good. Over to you. I mean, so I can't debate the... Sorry, isn't it the Rocket Rashard trophy for most goals?
00:21:33
Speaker
It's either the Rashard or the Lindsay. I think it might be Rashard. Yeah. So is how much of a hockey fan I am. I've seen that I'm a huge hockey fan. I don't think you're going to debate that. That's great. Can't play defense for shit. Matthews? Yeah. One of the best. Anyways, anyways. So we only have so much time. Yeah.
00:21:56
Speaker
I could see the heart, but I think, like what Conor McDavid has done since the slow start of the Oilers. And I left him out of contention. That's silly of me. He didn't even mention anything. Didn't even mention. I don't know how they're even. The second best player on the planet. They're not a shadow of themselves without him. Yeah, that's true. And yeah, I don't, like, I'd be shocked if they make, if the Leafs make it past the second round. Shocked. Shocked.
00:22:24
Speaker
There's all the teams that are there are better defensively than them. Florida, Boston. And they will eat that big tongue. Goals don't win championships. No, but a fiery hot streak. Anyways, I guess we'll see. We'll see. All right. Well, Brendan, thank you again. This is fun. This is great. Thank you. Folks, hope you enjoy your commute. We'll see you.