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Episode 14 — The Olympics Come and Go
39 Plays2 months ago
Leo and Lando break down a tough finish for Canada across the board at the 2026 Olympics — from the men’s and women’s hockey heartbreak to a low overall medal count — and look at what these Games say about where Canadian athletes stand heading into the next Olympic cycle.
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Transcript
Introduction & Olympic Expectations
00:00:20
Leo Ernewein
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, the Leo Orlando show episode number 14 here. I'm your host, Leo Erdewine.
00:00:28
Lando
And I'm Landon Lando Semenok.
00:00:31
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, we got episode 14 today. We're talking all things Olympics, a tough finish for Canada in both men's and women's hockey, a low medal count compared to previous years, and some real questions about where can any Olympians stand heading into the LA 2028 Summer Olympics and beyond.
00:00:50
Leo Ernewein
But of course, the Olympics are over the schedule, quite empty for the next couple days coming up here. And the hangover is quite real, at least for me. Landon, how are you doing, my man? You over the loss yet?
00:01:00
Lando
Uh, yes and no. I think, I think that, that, that loss is still, there. it's not, it doesn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday and the day before. That's for sure. But otherwise, man, I am doing, I'm not okay. I'm actually doing really well. How about you?
00:01:15
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, no complaints here. Tough game of hockey, but as I was watching it with people at work, I was saying that I'd rather back-and-forth game like this, a game that keeps you on your edge, on your seat the whole game, as opposed to a 5-0 blowout or something like that, even if it was for Canada.
Social Media & Cultural Commentary
00:01:38
Leo Ernewein
I'm there for the entertainment. I'm not there to boast. I'm not... saying this is our sport after a win or something like that. I've seen some stuff from Americans being like, well, what do think of the American winning Americans winning both men's and women's? And some guy being like, you know, just adding another sport to our belts. This guy, come First, first medal since 1980. first since 1980. I'm pretty sure it's first gold. For the men's.
00:02:05
Lando
I guess we have to, you know, we have to, you know, was listening to a couple of shows and especially just got into Sid Sixero's and if anybody doesn't know who Sid Sixero was, he worked Leo's company.
00:02:18
Lando
They had the Tim and Sid show, I think it's called. It's back then.
00:02:24
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's what it was.
00:02:25
Lando
Anyways, Tim and Sid, and it was so good.
00:02:25
Leo Ernewein
It was so good.
00:02:28
Lando
But anyways, he went on to Breakfast Television, and his contract or something like that, or just the Breakfast Television's ratings weren't doing very well.
00:02:29
Leo Ernewein
loved it.
00:02:38
Lando
So anyways, they basically let him go, and now he's got his own podcast, and it's really, really good. And he basically just said, he said in the show, and I agree, and I will realliterate what he said. It's like, everybody that listens to us, guys, let them have their moment.
00:02:57
Lando
Let them have their, you know, so-called party or whatever. Because by tomorrow, which would be Wednesday or Thursday, they're going to completely forget about it.
NHL Trades & Strategies
00:03:07
Lando
And then by next week, Americans aren't even going to care about hockey because...
00:03:14
Lando
they're going to more worried about getting their NCAA brackets ready to go than actually worrying about what happened with the Olympic gold medal compared to us here in Canada. And, exactly.
00:03:24
Leo Ernewein
On the next one. Yeah.
00:03:26
Lando
And, and, you know, he made a good point too. He said TNT, which is one of the channels that covers hockey down in the United States. Uh, I guess opening night, they were down 32% for viewing. So hockey is not a big thing in the United States. So everybody take a deep breath, relax.
00:03:45
Lando
We got a silver. Let's relax.
00:03:49
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, it's not the end of the world. I mean, it's tough to not see
00:03:50
Lando
No.
00:03:53
Leo Ernewein
win gold but that but it was the expectation gold or bust the stack lineup anyways before we get into more of this olympic olympic hockey talk uh in the nhl colorado avalanche pittsburgh penguins made a trade today about a couple hours ago brett kulak who just went from edmonton to pittsburgh now he's heading over to denver in the to the avalanches it's a for samuel samuel girard who i i used to like a lot as a He's a bit older now, but as he was a young guy, he was a candidate for Rookie the Year, I believe, when he was already 21 or 22 or something like that.
00:04:26
Lando
Yeah, no, that's true. Yep.
00:04:28
Leo Ernewein
I really liked him offensively. I guess his time up in Colorado was up. Landon, what's your reaction to that?
00:04:35
Lando
Well, his numbers were his number was starting to I shouldn't say number his. Yeah, he basically he his days were numbered. That's what I was trying to say.
00:04:46
Lando
When they signed Samulinski just before the Olympic break, I was kind of surprised. you know, the number, but I was also surprised that they held on to him this long, considering, you know, the amount of depth that defensemen that they have. And, you know, they've got Kale McCarr, Josh Manson, know, they've got a lot of puck moving people. So Brett Kulak is going to give them some grit, some, some size, because the only way that Colorado ever going to get to the Western conference final and the Stanley cup final, they got to go through Dallas or Minnesota. That's who they're going to to go through. So,
00:05:23
Lando
They're beefing up a little bit before the trade deadline. I don't think they're over and done yet. I think they're going to make one more move, maybe two more, and they're going to make a big push because, you know, Kale McCarr and Nathan McKinnon, they're not getting any younger. And, you know, the time to win is now. So that's part of this whole trade, in my opinion.
00:05:45
Leo Ernewein
So you mentioned that you think they're going to make another move. Do you have anybody in mind? Do you like them
00:05:50
Lando
Well, I thought they would go after Panarin, but that's gone. Excuse me. I thought, you know, what a blockbuster this would be if Sidney Crosby went to Colorado. I'm still waiting for that, by the way. It will never happen. I mean, I'll be shocked if it happens, but I don't the other guys that I thought that they may try to go after is maybe get some more depth at center.
00:06:15
Lando
I know Nas and Kadri reported today that I saw in the score news feed that I have on my phone that there's sources are saying that he wants out of Calgary so.
00:06:26
Lando
maybe would he go back to Denver? I, I, I don't have the list of, uh, possible trade bait in front of me, but, but yeah, I think I joke about Sidney Crosby, but that will never happen, but I'm sure there, I'm sure there's some trades that have been talked about over the last two weeks between the general matters. What, what, what,
00:06:50
Lando
what they want and what they need. And, and I bet you back to the Gerard thing, I bet you they told Gerard right before the Olympics, you're going to Pittsburgh. So before they announced it, before they announced it.
00:07:00
Leo Ernewein
Interesting. Well, if Sidney Crosby were to ever go Avalanche, that would be wild.
00:07:03
Lando
So
00:07:06
Leo Ernewein
But, you know, guess a man can dream, eh,
Men's Hockey Highlights & Reactions
00:07:09
Leo Ernewein
Landon? But, yeah.
00:07:10
Lando
yep. Yeah, man can dream. Yep.
00:07:12
Leo Ernewein
A magnet dream, but speaking of dreams, more of what felt like a dreamer, I guess more like a nightmare, Canada losing 2-1 to the United States in the gold medal game of men's hockey.
00:07:12
Lando
No, it's very true.
00:07:22
Leo Ernewein
Tough game. Landon, did you get up to watch the game? Were you up at a 6, 10 a.m. puck drop here in Mountain, Canmore? Mountain Standard time, yeah.
00:07:31
Lando
Canmore Banff? Yeah. Mountain Standard Time? Yes, I was. I got up at, my alarm was set at 545. And yeah, I got up and put some clothes on, got my Canada gear ready to go, went upstairs, got a pot of coffee going.
00:07:50
Lando
not a pot of coffee, got my, uh, Keurig, uh, coffee going, had some frosted flakes and a banana. And I watched the game for a couple hours.
00:07:57
Leo Ernewein
Nice.
00:07:58
Lando
Yeah. Watched the game for a couple hours. I actually had to go to work that day. So I, yes.
00:08:03
Leo Ernewein
I was, that was my next question is if, uh, if you were fortunate enough to do that.
00:08:05
Lando
So yeah, I had to go to work that day. Yeah. So I got, I got, got, uh, two periods and a half in, then I drove down. listened to it on CBC Radio 1, got to the parking lot. The game was, the third pair was almost over. So I started doing some things at work and then I was almost finished my task. One of my coworkers came over and said, United States won.
00:08:32
Lando
I almost fell on the floor. I'm like, you got to be kidding me. Really? Yeah.
00:08:37
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I felt so bad for a lot of people who had lot of people in my friends group chats and stuff like that, who a thought the game was later in the day.
00:08:38
Lando
Oh, man.
00:08:48
Leo Ernewein
then be woke up once they found out about it. The night before something like that were all cheesed and set their alarms, woke up, and then we're like, I still have to go to work for the rest of the day. And, you know, they're all going to be in terrible moods if the game doesn't go the way they want it to. And of course it didn't.
00:09:06
Leo Ernewein
I was super fortunate to be at work while the game was playing. So I got to watch it and just chill, which was cool.
00:09:16
Lando
You're very, very lucky, man.
00:09:18
Leo Ernewein
Oh, totally. Yeah, it was such a sweet, such a sweet thing to be there for puck drop.
00:09:19
Lando
Yeah.
00:09:25
Leo Ernewein
And then, you know, just kind of write the rest of the sports because the rest of the Olympics is already pretty much wrapped up by then. So I just kind of had to, I had to write three different versions of headlines and, and the sports updates, right?
00:09:30
Lando
Yeah, that was the last, yeah.
00:09:40
Leo Ernewein
Because by the time we went to 815, I think we were in overtime by then.
00:09:45
Lando
Yes.
00:09:46
Leo Ernewein
So I wanted to be on the ball for if we won, if we lost, or if it was still in overtime. So I had three different versions for the top half of my sportscast and three different headlines for each half hour just because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. And writing this stuff like Canada settles for silver or something like that, man, it was so... It was gut-wrenching. And then...
00:10:14
Leo Ernewein
You know, part of me superstitious. And then when do, sometimes I don't do that stuff. because I don't want it to happen and I should have done it there. But that was, it was such a tight moment that usually when I don't write it, it's like, I have a bit more time before I know the game's done that I could squeeze something in quick.
00:10:33
Leo Ernewein
But there it was so tight to the time that my sports update was supposed to play that I didn't want to be wrong and be like, Canada is still in overtime, even if they weren't right. So I don't know, but,
00:10:49
Leo Ernewein
Man, first off, Conor Hellebuck, in my opinion, he stole a game. What about you?
00:10:54
Lando
Oh, he did. 100%. Poor guy.
00:10:55
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. He stood on his head. And I saw a meme after of Conor Hellebuck going back to his home in Winnipeg after stealing a gold medal.
00:11:07
Leo Ernewein
It's just like a bunch of trash getting thrown at this guy or something like that.
00:11:10
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:11:13
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I mean, it's too bad that... We've seen that kind of performance from him before. guess the narrative before, though, was that he didn't really win in big games, and he certainly crunched that there.
00:11:26
Leo Ernewein
He dominated.
00:11:26
Lando
Yes.
00:11:27
Leo Ernewein
He was all over, stopping McDavid on a breakaway. Devontae's had a good chance. There was one where he just flat-out robbed him with the paddle of his stick, right?
00:11:37
Leo Ernewein
Like, the big... Yeah, the big paddle part of his stick and just stopped the puck from crossing the line, reached back behind him with his right hand to do that.
00:11:41
Lando
Yeah.
00:11:47
Leo Ernewein
And it was just absolutely nasty. I want to talk to you a little bit about Canada. Do you think they played a little nervy, a little tight there, bud, or what?
00:11:57
Lando
I think they kind well, hard to say if it was tight, tight, but I definitely think as the game went on, I think, you know, the nerves started to probably creep in and you know and you look at some of the chances that canada had like you look at nathan mckinnon when he missed that open net and he hit the side of the net i mean anytime in colorado anytime in colorado he hit that he had that whenever he's been on that side of the ice he's made goals left right and center from that spot all the time and for him to miss that was very unusual and then
00:12:16
Leo Ernewein
And
00:12:32
Lando
Tom Wilson hit Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy was blocking a shot, and Tom Wilson had an open net. I mean, Macklin Salabrini had a breakaway. He couldn't bury it.
00:12:43
Lando
Connor McDavid, I think, had two breakaways. He couldn't bury anything. was just like, it was just, things
Team Canada Analysis & Future Directions
00:12:48
Lando
just, I think maybe the stick, maybe it was little too tight on that and too over-anxious, but yeah.
00:12:54
Lando
going back to Connor Hallibuck, if I was a Jets fan and I watched that, I'd be pissed. And here's why.
00:13:06
Lando
Here's why. Why can't you do that type game and stand on your head for the Winnipeg Jets in the playoffs? And like I said, if I was a Jets fan, I'd be pissed.
00:13:19
Lando
So...
00:13:20
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that was exactly my comments when we were watching the game to my coworker.
00:13:24
Lando
oh yeah
00:13:25
Leo Ernewein
It was the Winnipeg Jets fans would be raging right now, unless they're American.
00:13:29
Lando
didn't i text didn't i text you that on that exact same day too that i didn't i say that to you too i could have yeah oh
00:13:31
Leo Ernewein
that's probably
00:13:35
Leo Ernewein
you might've you think, do you think the U S got a lot of like lucky bounces or controlled more of the key moments? cause I definitely feel like Canada, they were out shooting them. I think, uh, Hellepunk made like 41, 40 saves and yeah, saves out of a shot, something like that.
00:13:55
Leo Ernewein
I feel like Canada was controlling more of the key moments myself and just got a little bit unlucky bounces.
00:14:01
Lando
Yes.
00:14:03
Leo Ernewein
Like, for example, and I don't want to nitpick because nothing happened at this, but at one point there were six men on the ice for the United States and they had control the puck. The guy that just hopped on got control the puck. I don't know how that doesn't get called. It was in the middle of the third, right before Sam Bennett got called for high sticking.
00:14:24
Leo Ernewein
And, so a lot of the crowd, Canadian crowd was booing because they wanted that called.
00:14:29
Lando
Yep.
00:14:31
Leo Ernewein
It didn't get called. And then they got a subsequent penalty enough. Nobody scored out of either of those events. but it was just, it goes to show like, so the, I think the caption, again, I'm going, lot of this stuff I see is, well, actually we saw that in the game, but a lot of the stuff we recapped after was, um, was,
00:14:51
Leo Ernewein
you know, on social, you see it on social media and somebody said, I guess, too many men only ices and a penalty at the Olympics or something like that. But, you know, we'll get into, because I'm not saying anybody cheated.
00:15:02
Leo Ernewein
Like that was a fun game to watch.
00:15:02
Lando
No, no,
00:15:04
Leo Ernewein
And also people say that Jack Hughes stole a gold medal and he also stole Tate McRae, Canada's sweetheart is what people were saying. I don't, I don't really like Tate McRae that much.
00:15:14
Leo Ernewein
So she's not my sweetheart, but yeah, I found that funny.
00:15:16
Lando
no.
00:15:18
Lando
She is good looking, though.
00:15:19
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:15:19
Lando
You got to give her that.
00:15:20
Leo Ernewein
I had to put that in. had to put that in.
00:15:21
Lando
Yeah.
00:15:22
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, she's all right.
00:15:22
Lando
Yeah.
00:15:23
Leo Ernewein
It's just, you know, I like brunettes compared to blondes.
00:15:23
Lando
Yeah.
00:15:26
Leo Ernewein
That's my cup of tea.
00:15:26
Lando
Fair enough. Ladies, you heard it from horse's mouth.
00:15:30
Leo Ernewein
No, that doesn't matter. Anyways, you'd think Canada could have played a little bit of a cleaner game.
00:15:33
Lando
I'm teasing, man. I'm teasing.
00:15:37
Leo Ernewein
I know there was some penalties and stuff like that. I mean, I thought it was chippier.
00:15:41
Lando
Now they were, yeah, they,
00:15:44
Leo Ernewein
Compared to the four nations, the start of that one,
00:15:47
Lando
yeah.
00:15:48
Leo Ernewein
What do you think?
00:15:49
Lando
i think i think it was way cleaner this game than it was uh then then it was in the four nations but my goodness i i almost i almost cringed when uh tom wilson just smoked uh dylan larkin i didn't think dylan larkin was gonna get up after that just how he went into the boards and he got up which detroit red wing fans are gonna be very happy about but Man, Tom Wilson is just an absolute tank.
00:16:16
Lando
I was so glad he was out there. was out there playing. But you asked me, did U.S. control the key moments? I don't think. I think Canada out. played them massively and just total dominance.
00:16:30
Lando
And then as far as the clean game goals, like I said, I don't think you asked me about the four nations. Yeah. This game was way cleaner than, than the four nations game.
00:16:41
Lando
Just because I think the Olympic rules stopped a lot of that and the stakes were higher and the stakes were higher.
00:16:47
Leo Ernewein
So yeah, the stakes are higher for sure. In the quarterfinal versus Czechia, Sidney Crosby went down in the second period with a... He took kind of a hit against Rakko Gudis, Czech D-man, big guy. Pretty NHL player, too. Pretty good player.
00:17:04
Leo Ernewein
Just crunched Sidney Crosby. And the way his leg... think it was his right leg. Just kind of...
00:17:08
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:17:09
Leo Ernewein
He went down on it really weird and kind of buckled. don't know it buckled, but he just went down on it really weird at a weird angle. Definitely did some damage. Didn't make the... quarter final or sorry, semi-final versus Finland and didn't play in the gold medal game.
00:17:26
Leo Ernewein
He did, however, dress in full gear to go out on the ice for a dog pile and, you know, like as there was overtime in case Canada were to win. Absolutely devastating to lose, especially for Sid the kid.
00:17:41
Leo Ernewein
You know, he wasn't on the Big Mac line all the time because I think that was their best line. But obviously he had an impact, his absence, right? Like, yeah, that's tough. Do you think it was his last Olympics?
00:17:55
Lando
Well, I really hope not. I think Canada going forward is going to need any leadership they can get. That is one of the reasons why don't think the Americans are bragging as much as they are, because you look at all the social media, you look at all the social media, the last little bit, or at least that's what I did. And I did not see Kachuks doing anything or anything like that because anybody who knows hockey in the United States knows that the gold medal was given to them because Sidney Crosby was not there. Sidney Crosby was the ace factor that could have helped Canada win the gold medal. With him not being there, that's one of the reasons why we lost. His leadership was solely missed on that team. And
00:18:44
Lando
I completely agree with a lot of the analysts and Sid Sixero that he was the ace factor for Canada win gold. And with him not being there, it was lights out when you actually look back.
00:18:58
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, guess if you're missing Captain Canada, it's a tough go, right?
00:19:01
Lando
Yeah.
00:19:02
Leo Ernewein
Like, that's, you know, I seriously thought that we had enough firepower, but that also brings up the question for me that do you think Canada is going to go with more, like, on their depth forwards, more of a scoring touch as opposed to guys who bring two-way games?
00:19:20
Leo Ernewein
Or do you think it would?
00:19:21
Lando
I think they have to because based on what they did this year this Olympics, they had so much trouble as the tournament went on. They had so much trouble winning face-offs, which it's quite comical because they left a lot of their good center men that can score at home.
00:19:39
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, but I thought Bo Horvat was one of the best face-off men.
00:19:42
Lando
He was good.
00:19:42
Leo Ernewein
Like, he was...
00:19:43
Lando
He was good, yeah. But he couldn't be out there all the time, right?
00:19:44
Leo Ernewein
But...
00:19:46
Lando
So...
00:19:46
Leo Ernewein
Exactly.
00:19:47
Lando
Right, so, but,
00:19:49
Leo Ernewein
And the other guys you have, like... Sorry, go ahead.
00:19:52
Lando
no, go finish what you were gonna say, go ahead.
00:19:54
Leo Ernewein
was going to say, the other guys you have are, like, McKinnon and McDavid. I guess McDavid, not McKinnon, because he wasn't necessarily centering the line the whole time.
00:19:58
Lando
Yeah.
00:20:03
Leo Ernewein
Who else would played center?
00:20:07
Lando
McKinnon, McDavid,
00:20:10
Leo Ernewein
Crosby, I guess they were missing Crosby.
00:20:12
Lando
Bennett, Crosby, Mitch Marner has a little bit with Vegas.
00:20:14
Leo Ernewein
Crosby.
00:20:17
Lando
That's about it. And that's about it really, right? So their center depth was really tested this time. So, and Bo Horvat too. I forgot about Bo. Well, Nick Suzuki can play center and Bo Horvat can.
00:20:17
Leo Ernewein
Right, but it doesn't sound like
00:20:28
Leo Ernewein
Nick was the second line center that filled in after I think Crosby went down.
00:20:29
Lando
So, yeah. Yeah. So, bye.
00:20:33
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. And then Bennett. And then maybe it was Bo. I can't remember.
00:20:38
Lando
But anyways, to your point, though, they have to go with guys that can put the puck in the net because that was lacking as
Debating Hockey Formats & Experience
00:20:47
Lando
well. As the tournament went on, the guys that they thought were going to help them goal score, and this is not a knock against any of the players because all the players that they had on their team,
00:20:58
Lando
are all first line players on their respective club teams. So it's not like that they're horrible hockey players and they're all, some of them are actually having career years too. Some of them aren't having good years, but they're all top-line players. So it's not like that they're not good hockey players. But I think they need to get away from that role thing. And we'll talk a little bit more about that, even with the women's when we get into, we talk about the women's, that they need to, Hockey Canada has got to stop doing this, trying to find,
00:21:28
Lando
players to fill roles instead of picking the best of the best and then using those roles. But then again, somebody told me too, well, what happens if they're not used to that type of role? And I'm saying, you know what? Hockey players will adapt. If that's their role is to penalty kill, they'll learn how to penalty kill. It's not like that they're all new to penalty killing. They've probably done that through their since minor hockey. So.
00:21:52
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's fair. wanted to ask you a little bit about John Cooper. made some comments to Canada head coach and said he didn't like...
00:22:02
Leo Ernewein
Sorry, he said he doesn't like deciding elimination games with three-on-three hockey and he doesn't like shootouts either, but that TV plays kind of a role in how these formats are set up. Lando, what do you make of those comments there?
00:22:14
Lando
Well, I get, you know, as far as John Cooper goes, have ton of respect for him as a coach and as a coach.
00:22:24
Leo Ernewein
So he's still the Lightning head coach, right?
00:22:26
Lando
Yes, he is. I have so much respect for him as a coach.
00:22:27
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:28
Lando
I listen to him all the time in his press conferences whenever he plays a Canadian team. You can just sit there and listen to him go on and on about hockey.
00:22:37
Lando
But as far as the three-on-three goes, people have to understand that this is not the NHL. The IIHF does things differently.
00:22:48
Lando
including world juniors world hockey championships and we saw it in the olympics they do things differently they don't do nhl rules so when you play in the olympics or any world double ihf competitions this is their format so you got to get used to it it is what it is but one of the things
00:23:05
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, but I find it crazy that you could go
00:23:10
Lando
i don't like it either i'll be honest i don't like it either yeah
00:23:12
Leo Ernewein
what other Olympic sports have a game, or not a game, but the final event, and then you have two top events who do a tying score.
00:23:24
Leo Ernewein
three-on-three hockey is completely different game. And I don't think that's the reason why Canada lost. We put out the three best players in the planet, or on the planet, sorry.
00:23:29
Lando
No.
00:23:34
Leo Ernewein
And, you know, those guys, the three hockey players that we put out compared to the States for the first, for puck drop in overtime, I would take our three any day of the week.
00:23:44
Lando
Oh, for sure. 100%. Yeah.
00:23:45
Leo Ernewein
As much as I like Quinn and Jack Hughes, they're good too. Makar... McDavid McKinnon, right? Like,
00:23:54
Lando
No, I completely agree with you. The comments that he made.
00:23:59
Leo Ernewein
I just think it's silly to decide. And not only that, they had the puck drop in the gold medal game, 6-10. And then no events after that. And then they had the closing ceremony at 12.30 in the afternoon. So that's six hours You know, a game probably finished around 8, 8.30, and it went to overtime.
00:24:21
Leo Ernewein
You know, I think there's enough time, but again, I think they were doing the closing ceremony at the Santa Julia Arena.
00:24:22
Lando
Yeah, I know what you're saying.
00:24:29
Leo Ernewein
or Santa Juliana or whatever it's called. I can't remember, but I just, I remember complaining about that being like, I thought that at least for the gold medal game, I see, I see the reasoning for other games, but for a gold medal game, you have it as the, as the last event in your thing, besides the closing ceremony.
00:24:42
Lando
For sure. Yeah.
00:24:50
Leo Ernewein
Damn, it sucks to have it ends like that. Do you think, do you think it is, oh, sorry, go ahead.
00:24:54
Lando
For sure. Well,
00:24:57
Lando
Well, what I was just going to say I mean, get Cooper's frustration. And again, don't like it either. But that's what they play.
00:25:05
Lando
But one of the things that I did not like is that... You were not complaining about it for two other games that it was the most greatest, greatest hockey nations, two the best nations. This is why we play the game. Now of a sudden the gold medal you lose and now it's a problem. I just thought as far as...
00:25:27
Lando
of all the Canadians that have said things on the media within the last two weeks or press conference, I thought his remarks sounded very hypocritical.
00:25:38
Lando
And I thought it was a really stupid, I thought it was a really stupid comment.
00:25:39
Leo Ernewein
Who's?
00:25:41
Leo Ernewein
Who's?
00:25:42
Lando
I thought it was a really stupid quote on his part, considering Cooper's.
00:25:45
Leo Ernewein
Who?
00:25:48
Leo Ernewein
Oh, yeah, okay, yeah.
00:25:50
Lando
John Cooper's, yeah, I did. As far as
00:25:52
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:25:53
Lando
I get what he's saying. I don't like the three on three either. But like I said, I thought that was a stupid comment considering how much he was raving about how great this is why we play the game and why the best on best tournament ends. And he did not complain about Mitch Marner doing his dangle thing and scoring a goal, which was awesome. And then all of a sudden, and then Finland didn't have an overtime, but But yeah, you didn't complain about that over time.
00:26:22
Lando
But now this was so it just it sounded very, very hypocritical. And I thought it was really stupid 40 second quote by John Cooper, considering his status.
00:26:31
Leo Ernewein
That's a good point, Len. And I find that kind of ironic that, you know, he wasn't criticizing it then. But then again, you know, this soundbite of him was probably taken right after, or this quote was probably taken right after they lost.
00:26:44
Leo Ernewein
And, you know, when you're media and you stick a microphone in somebody's mouth right after they lose a cold medal in such fashion, it's, you know, you're going to get a salty quote sometimes.
00:26:44
Lando
For sure. Yeah.
00:26:54
Leo Ernewein
And they ran with the salty quote and the media took it and ran with it.
00:26:56
Lando
Yeah.
00:26:59
Leo Ernewein
And that's unfortunately the way it goes sometimes. Yeah. Because, you know, that's that sells. It gets us and other people talking about it. So definitely. Yeah, it is a little unfortunate, but I certainly think that.
00:27:14
Leo Ernewein
You know, to have all this showcase, all this sort of stuff, and then for it to end on a gold medal. You know, probably wouldn't be talking about it that way if we were to win.
00:27:24
Leo Ernewein
You know, it would oh, shouldn't have ended in three on three, though.
00:27:25
Lando
That is very true.
00:27:29
Leo Ernewein
Sorry. If we were to win a gold. I don't know. Maybe that's just me.
00:27:33
Lando
And here's the other thing that was really funny about this man is the fact that he was sitting beside the guy who won gold medal 15 years earlier a four and four overtime.
00:27:33
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:27:47
Leo Ernewein
four on four oh yeah right right right
00:27:58
Lando
I still remember that 15 years later.
00:27:58
Leo Ernewein
yeah but i think that wasn't they didn't have they didn't have a shootout after that one did they
00:28:03
Lando
Yeah, they did. It would have, yeah, it would have gone there. If it went in, if it went beyond four and four, yeah, it would have been a shootout. So good thing Canada won that.
00:28:15
Leo Ernewein
I guess you're right as well. But I don't know. Like, I think this is Crosby's last Olympics, right? Because next one are what? 2030 in France.
00:28:25
Lando
In 42?
00:28:27
Lando
Well, you know what, man?
00:28:28
Leo Ernewein
Oh, yeah.
00:28:29
Lando
You know, yeah.
00:28:29
Leo Ernewein
No, they're 2030. They're 2030. Yeah. He'll be 42, what you said.
00:28:32
Lando
2030, yep. He'll be 42.
00:28:35
Lando
You know what?
00:28:35
Leo Ernewein
Oh, okay.
00:28:35
Leo Ernewein
Sorry. thought you said 2030.
00:28:36
Lando
Yeah.
00:28:36
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:37
Lando
Yeah, he's... No, he's going to be 42 in 2030.
00:28:42
Lando
And so... I would... If Crosby's still playing, and he still wants to play, and...
Canadian Team Strategy for World Competitions
00:28:52
Lando
Completely get rid of all this reputation stuff that hockey Canada seems to do. And we'll talk about that in the women's thing as well.
00:29:00
Lando
I would take, if his body allows it, I would take Sidney Crosby's leadership over anybody else to go into that 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. 100%.
00:29:12
Leo Ernewein
that's fair I mean it depends if he's he's still playing right at that kind of competitive level I think it's it totally depends if he's still playing for sure
00:29:22
Lando
Yes.
00:29:25
Leo Ernewein
I want to talk to you a little bit about McDavid before we jump over to the women's stuff here do you think is it fair that people question his ability to win on the big stage now
00:29:37
Lando
I don't think that's fair. And here's what I really don't because, you know, he, he, he puts his heart and soul into that Jersey. He wants to win so badly, even with he really does. And I think he's just had horrible, horrible luck follow his way to that. I don't think, I don't think the winning criticism is really all that fair. I mean, the guy has you know, he he's won, you know,
00:30:05
Lando
MVP in the Sound Cup Final two years ago. He won a Four Nations face-off. He scored the winning goal of the Four Nations face-off. To see fans bash Basha, one of our best players in Canada, because he can win, I don't think that's fair at all. And I don't like it. I hate it. I don't like it. And it's just nonsense.
00:30:29
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I was hoping, you know, like it was tough rating that because I'm like, I, you know, I was hoping you'd disagree because I haven't seen too many people at least holding them to a torch unless they're Flames fans.
00:30:45
Lando
Yeah.
00:30:46
Leo Ernewein
And that's, you know, but again, I've heard other people talk about, geez, this is what it's like to have McDavid and, you know, Crosby on your team and McKinnon on your, this is crazy.
00:30:47
Lando
Or Canuck fans.
00:30:55
Leo Ernewein
Like I'm going to turn into a Navs fan I'm going to turn into a Pens fan or whatever.
00:31:01
Leo Ernewein
What do you think the next step for the men's hockey program would be or should be with the World Cup about two years away, the World Cup of Hockey?
00:31:12
Lando
Well, I, I, I think a roster look is, I mean, we're going to have probably lot of different players probably going to that. I think there's still going to be the, you know, the usual combatants of McCarr, McKinnon, McDavid.
00:31:25
Leo Ernewein
Does Wyatt Johnston make it?
00:31:27
Lando
Yes. I think he will this time.
00:31:30
Lando
And I think, I think he'll be on it this time.
00:31:30
Leo Ernewein
We would have had this time, though.
00:31:33
Lando
I even think Connor Bedard will be on the team this time because yeah.
00:31:36
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Probably McKenna.
00:31:37
Lando
Cause I, No, I don't think he will.
00:31:39
Leo Ernewein
Gavin McKenna.
00:31:43
Leo Ernewein
Really?
00:31:44
Lando
No, I don't think he will.
00:31:45
Leo Ernewein
He'll be three years into his...
00:31:48
Lando
Well, we'll see.
00:31:49
Leo Ernewein
I think he will be.
00:31:49
Lando
mean, you never know, but I don't see it.
00:31:50
Leo Ernewein
He'll be three years into his entry level. He'll be signing a new contract by then. I think he will
00:31:55
Lando
Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. mean, it depends on how good he starts off in the NHL, but I think Schaefer is going to on the team. Yeah.
00:32:03
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, Schaefer's a
00:32:05
Lando
And, yeah, like I just – you know, you're probably going to have – I think Sidney Crosby will still be on the team in two years from now because I think he'll still be playing hockey at 40 years old. I mean, Ovechkin's playing in these so – So anyways, yeah, I just, I, I, I, I think if if I'm Canada and like I said multiple times on this show that they got to stop doing this, role playing or the trying to find roles and this reputation thing and pick the best of the best. If they can do that in two years and look at what they're doing,
00:32:43
Lando
I think
Women's Hockey Game Analysis & Future
00:32:43
Lando
they'll be okay. And I'm going to say this, and I know a few people on podcasts have said this too, and I don't necessarily agree with this, but I don't think John Cooper is going be the coaching in two years.
00:32:56
Leo Ernewein
Interesting.
00:32:59
Lando
I don't, I don't just, and why I say that is because I don't, I don't, think those comments that he made about the three on three may have just solidified his, uh, exit possibly, but you never know.
00:32:59
Leo Ernewein
What?
00:33:10
Leo Ernewein
So if if he's not the coach, do you have another favorite or two that you would pick?
00:33:19
Lando
Well, I think, I think I would really look at Bruce Cassidy, right? I, I, Bruce Cassidy,
00:33:24
Leo Ernewein
Okay.
00:33:28
Lando
I think, I mean, any of the guys that they had on the bench, not Pete DeBoer, but, you know, even maybe Rick Tockett possibly. I mean, you never know. But I disagree with quite a few of the people that I've listened to on other podcasts that they think he's going to walk, they're going to walk John Cooper out because yeah,
00:33:52
Lando
because of those comments, I still think he'll be coaching in two years. Cause I, I mean, he, I mean, he won a four nations. He won a silver medal. I think it was just out of pure frustration, but, but at the same time, like I said, I wouldn't be surprised that they let him walk in two years and find somebody else to coach.
00:34:10
Leo Ernewein
Interesting.
00:34:11
Lando
Yeah, but we'll
00:34:11
Leo Ernewein
Okay. Well, let's, let's hop over to the, uh, the women's hockey.
00:34:12
Lando
We'll see.
00:34:16
Leo Ernewein
Cause you know, they lose two to one in overtime as well.
00:34:22
Leo Ernewein
yeah, that was, uh, that game I was off, so I didn't, what, what day was that again?
00:34:32
Lando
That was last Thursday, think.
00:34:35
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:34:35
Lando
Yeah.
00:34:37
Leo Ernewein
No, I was doing traffic, so I wasn't covering sports. I was just doing traffic during the day. So I got to, yeah, and that was right at 11, I want to say.
00:34:47
Lando
Yes, it was. Yep.
00:34:48
Leo Ernewein
got there right as puck drop happened and got to kind of keep up while I was just working a little bit. Yeah, I don't think, you know, Canada was leading for most of the game in that one.
00:35:00
Leo Ernewein
And as soon as the Americans scored, how much time was left in the third? I want to say a couple of times.
00:35:03
Lando
Just under two minutes, just under two minutes.
00:35:05
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I wanted to say a couple of minutes.
00:35:06
Lando
Yeah.
00:35:08
Leo Ernewein
And was it, who scored? Do you remember?
00:35:11
Lando
Hillary Knight.
00:35:13
Leo Ernewein
Thank you. I was going to say Hillary Knight as well, but no, I can't. That one, as soon as that happened, when somebody told me it happened, because I think I was almost in the middle of going on air or something like that, and the words they used was, I don't think we expected Hillary Knight not to score.
00:35:31
Leo Ernewein
And I was like, okay, that's fair, right? Because Americans were pretty stacked. And I just remember knowing that the game was close to being over.
00:35:42
Leo Ernewein
was like, oh, that's pretty crushing. But I also wasn't surprised. When it went into overtime, couldn't really keep up with it at that point because it got really busy during that day. But it was a tough, you know,
00:35:56
Leo Ernewein
Another tough loss because we were hoping we would avenge him on the men's side and then we didn't with that one. And were you surprised at all there, Landon? By the loss?
00:36:06
Lando
No, you know what? I was not. And a lot of people at work asked me that today that I haven't talked to for a They asked me, were you surprised about that loss? I said, no.
00:36:16
Lando
And they're like, well, how come? Aren't you Canadian? I said, well, yeah, of course I'm Canadian. Of course I want them to win. But I said, the reality that this team was not good enough to begin with before they even headed to the Olympics.
00:36:28
Lando
And they're like, well, how come? I said, well, they got swept eight games or seven games or whatever was. They have this rivalry series between the two teams.
00:36:36
Leo Ernewein
Right. Yeah.
00:36:36
Lando
And I said, they got smoked.
00:36:38
Lando
I think it was almost 50 goals to... 12, I think, or something like that. It was just outrageous numbers in favor for the U.S. I said to him, they didn't change their roster. They didn't do anything improve themselves to go into the Olympics.
00:36:55
Lando
And The result is what it is. Now, I am surprised that they did push the United States to overtime in the gold medal because I thought they were like I I mean, that was probably best game that they've played against the United States all year.
00:37:10
Lando
And they came up short, which is, I mean, I got to applaud them for that. But like it just, that's just basically what I'm saying to you. And I said to those people at work today, just that's exactly what, it wasn't a surprise surprise to me. Like I wasn't, I'm not being trying to be sexist or anything like that, but I just, it didn't shock me that they lost it. That they lost it based on the team that they had.
00:37:34
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. I think you nailed it on the head there with, you know, the tune-up rivalry games that they were having with the United States when they got blown out of the water. The adjustments that they made were almost non-existent, at least in our eyes, non-existent.
00:37:50
Leo Ernewein
Do you think it was age that held Canada back the most or was a combination of, you know, the lack of speed because of age, the...
00:37:54
Lando
I, yeah.
00:38:01
Leo Ernewein
just they didn't really have like a clear direction of a team identity, right?
00:38:05
Lando
No.
00:38:07
Leo Ernewein
Like they weren't offensive heavy.
00:38:07
Lando
No.
00:38:08
Leo Ernewein
They weren't defensive heavy. They were just kind of plopped in the middle. Do you think they should, like what direction would you take this, take Canada, team Canada with this roster, with another roster come 2020, sorry, 2030?
00:38:21
Lando
Well, well,
00:38:23
Lando
Yeah, well, what I would do is be looking at what the United States is doing. They took a whole bunch of NCAA players to the Olympics. They sat a lot of their, know, big name stars like Jesse Comfer, who plays for the Toronto Scepters.
00:38:40
Lando
in the PWHL as an example, they left a lot their vets at home at home. And they went with a lot of their younger upcoming NCAA stars that are going to be in the program.
00:38:50
Lando
And look what happens. They won and they dominated. They dominated the whole tournament. They only let two goals in the whole tournament with the roster that they have.
00:38:59
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's great.
00:38:59
Lando
Right.
00:39:00
Leo Ernewein
That's absolutely crazy.
00:39:00
Lando
So it's mind boggling. I mean, it's mind boggling when you look at it for hockey, but,
00:39:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:39:09
Lando
The age was a huge factor in this tournament. Natalie Spooner, mean, love her to death. She doesn't know me.
00:39:17
Lando
I don't know her other than I just know her name and she plays for Canada. But why is Natalie Spooner on the team when you barely play her? Seriously, she had probably an average, and I'm just guessing, she probably had about eight minutes of ice time per game in the tournament.
00:39:37
Lando
She was a non-factor.
00:39:38
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, that's great.
00:39:51
Lando
take Marie Foulippel and spot and be the star for team Canada was Sarah Filié. She had an awful tournament other than the last, other than the gold medal game.
00:40:02
Lando
She was a non-factor. I mean, maybe she got hurt when she went crashing the boards in that check game, I think it was. But other than that, she was a non-factor in that, in that game. And then Brian Jenner a no-show, and another one I would classify with Natalie Spooner.
00:40:22
Lando
And, you know, Ronald had fast was a non-factor. So it's just Canada's really, really got to look at what they're doing with this team, and they've got to get younger. They've got to change this because it can't keep going forward. But that being said, whatever they do,
00:40:41
Lando
Just like Sydney Crosby, if her body stays healthy enough that she can keep going well into her 40s, I really hope Marie-Philippe Pallan keeps playing.
00:40:51
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, she passed, what was it, Hayley Wickenheiser for the all-time lead in Canadian goals in the semifinal, I want to say, of the women's hockey game.
00:40:56
Lando
Yes.
00:41:00
Lando
Yeah, the Swiss game? Yeah.
00:41:02
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, the Swiss game, that's what it was. Yeah, so, you know, we need her, exactly. We need her leadership. She's the Sidney Crosby, pretty much, on the women's side, the equivalent of Sidney Crosby, at least in my opinion, right?
00:41:16
Leo Ernewein
I don't know.
00:41:16
Lando
I agree. No, she is.
00:41:17
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, do you agree?
00:41:17
Lando
That's what I'd classify her as, too.
00:41:18
Leo Ernewein
Okay. Do you think Troy Ryan got outcoached at any point?
00:41:25
Lando
Yes, he did. I don't even think he was the coach to even lead them, to be honest with you. Now, again, some people can say, well, he's on the PWHL Toronto Scepters as a head coach.
00:41:35
Lando
Well, you know, whoop-dee.
00:41:36
Leo Ernewein
And again, sorry, Troy Ryan was the Canadian women's head coach.
00:41:38
Lando
Whoop. Yes, Troy Ryan's the women's head coach, yeah.
00:41:40
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:41:42
Lando
And he coaches the Toronto Scepters. And I'm basically saying, whoop-dee-doo. Yeah, he's a pro coach, but he also got outcoached by some of the guys who – I don't remember who the coach is from the American side, but I think he coaches NCAA women's hockey too.
00:41:58
Lando
So he got outcoached. And, mean, you look at – You look at what happened, you know, in all the games. They barely beat the Czechs.
00:42:08
Lando
They let them hang around. I mean, that semifinal game against the Swiss, or sorry, not the Czechs, it was the Germans. They barely beat the Germans, even though it was a 5-1 score. But they didn't really push the envelope forward.
00:42:24
Lando
and get more goals. They just kind of skated around, put enough in just to win. And then they let the Swiss hang around. I mean, the Swiss almost tied the game against Canada in the semifinals. I did not like how he coached the team.
00:42:39
Lando
I didn't like how he put lines together. was just, yeah. I know I'm kind getting on a rant because I was very disappointed of how these Olympics went for Canada. Anyways, we're talking about the women's hockey.
00:42:52
Lando
Yeah, I just, think Troy Ryan got outcoached. What do you think?
00:42:57
Leo Ernewein
yeah, I mean, I wasn't really familiar with either coaches games, so I guess I was just more watching for me. It was just a lot, the talent that was available for the Americans compared to the Canadians.
00:43:10
Leo Ernewein
And, and it's just so much more prevalent right now for the States that they have so much younger talent, at least in my eyes that don't know if coaching could have made that much of a difference in my opinion. Um, opinion.
00:43:26
Leo Ernewein
I don't know. I wanted to ask you little bit about this too. Marie Philippe-Poulain's interview after the game, she didn't say anything definitive, but she alluded to needing time to how much this loss hurt and to thinking about what comes next.
00:43:39
Leo Ernewein
After hearing her tone and seeing her reaction, Lana, do you think this might've been her last Olympics?
00:43:46
Lando
I really hope not, just like with Sidney Crosby. leadership, you need, in Olympic hockey, and we've seen it time and time again, you need good leadership to lead to the promised land basically. And it's, and you know, even when you win a Stanley cup, when you have to win a Stanley cup, leadership is a big, big thing in hockey.
00:44:09
Lando
I really hope that if her body allows it, because she's, you know, pretty much playing in the Olympics, right? She's been around that long. that, uh, I really hope that if her body allows it, I, you know, I, I guarantee you hockey Canada will give her a roster spot. If she wants to come back and play, I think, I think she will win. And, and, you know, good on her too, that, uh,
00:44:33
Lando
She didn't say that yes or no. She went, you know, this was all fresh because she just lost. So I think good for her just to say, you know what? No, I need to take some time and step back. And good for I really, but again, to answering your question, I really, really hope that she comes back because Canada really, really needs her.
00:44:56
Leo Ernewein
I hope she does too, but I think that's it for her, man. For some reason, I just... You know, she's close to 40...
00:45:05
Leo Ernewein
And it's, she's broken some records. Like she doesn't need to prove anything else. I think that's what it comes down to.
Winter Olympics Medal Overview & Curling
00:45:12
Leo Ernewein
And I think right now she'd like to say, if you were to ask personally, like off the record, she'd probably say, yeah, going go, but four years, long years away.
00:45:22
Leo Ernewein
Right. And she's probably thinking about a lot of other things than, than about her next Olympics right now.
00:45:23
Lando
Oh,
00:45:28
Leo Ernewein
She's probably, you know, catching up with family and doing all sorts of, of other stuff that, uh, other humans do. Right. I do want to give a shout out to Hillary Knight.
00:45:40
Leo Ernewein
She definitely deserves recognition. Her career numbers are incredible.
00:45:43
Lando
for sure.
00:45:44
Leo Ernewein
Longevity speaks for themselves too. So, the Americans put it in a nice balance of youth with, some veterans as well. Right. And it's, it's, it's, I just don't think the Canadians had that kind of options as much as the Americans did. I think that was the difference maker for me.
00:46:04
Leo Ernewein
Do you want to jump into the, uh, uh, metal winners here?
00:46:09
Lando
Sure, yeah. Well, just really quick with Hilary Knight. Yeah, and I agree with you. We need to recognize her. So I'm looking at her stats.
00:46:19
Lando
Right now, I pulled it up on Wikipedia. So
00:46:23
Leo Ernewein
Thank God didn't put it in.
00:46:24
Leo Ernewein
So didn't either.
00:46:26
Leo Ernewein
And I was like, I'll just gloss over it. Nice.
00:46:30
Lando
she's won altogether Olympics and World Championships. She's won 12 gold medals. Twelve. Silver, she's won 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 silvers.
00:46:45
Lando
That's Olympics and World Championships. She's played 116 wearing the United States sweater. She's goals,
00:46:59
Lando
Incredible.
00:47:00
Leo Ernewein
Incredible.
00:47:01
Leo Ernewein
Exactly. Yeah.
00:47:02
Lando
Incredible.
00:47:05
Leo Ernewein
so we'll jump over to the metal winner count here.
00:47:07
Lando
Sure.
00:47:07
Leo Ernewein
Congratulations to the Canadian athlete who placed on the podium.
00:47:12
Leo Ernewein
Here's the full list of Canadian metal winners and their events. We have team Jacobs, Brad Jacobs, men's curling in gold medal or with a gold medal, Megan Oldham winner, winner of women's big air.
00:47:24
Leo Ernewein
Sorry. Jeez. I can't talk. Got gold as well. Mikael Kingsbury, men's moguls, gold. Stephen Dubois, short track speed skating, 500 meters, gold as well. In the silver medals, Mikael Kingsbury, again, men's duo moguls. Courtney Serrault, short track team relay.
00:47:40
Leo Ernewein
Again, Courtney Serrault with a short track team individual event and speed skating, long track team pursuit. Team Homan in women's curling. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier ice dance.
00:47:53
Leo Ernewein
which is figure skating, Valerie Meltae, long track team event, speed skater as well. Courtney Sereau, short track individual event, and Courtney Sereau, short track team relay in bronze as well. So Courtney Sereau, four medals.
00:48:06
Leo Ernewein
I think it was her and Stephen Dubois, or was it Mikael Kingsbury that were the medal or the flag bearers at the Olympic ceremony? Did you watch the Olympic ceremony?
00:48:16
Lando
I did not. I was too depressed.
00:48:18
Leo Ernewein
Neither did I. That's totally fair. I got off work and I was like, I'm done just in my hands.
00:48:24
Lando
Yeah, was like, me too. That's exactly, I'm like, that's it. I'm done.
00:48:28
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:48:29
Lando
No, but you know, the Olympic flag bearers for the, well, for the closing ceremonies was Stephen Dubois and Valerie Maltese.
00:48:31
Leo Ernewein
That's funny.
00:48:41
Lando
And, you know, Courtney Cerro probably should have as well, but I know why Canada picked Valerie Maltese because this is her last Olympics. So give her One less strong song, but you know what? It doesn't matter who they pick. You know what? Anybody could be a flag bearer. And they represented our country with pride, and I was proud of them. I did see a quick clip of them walking in with the other Canadian, or rather, I think it 90 athletes that came in for the closing ceremonies from Canada. And I was very proud of both Stephen Dubois and Valley Malti for carrying our flight. I kind of teared up just a little bit just seeing that short clip.
00:49:23
Leo Ernewein
Nice, yeah. No, it was good for sure. 21 medals overall, which was a bit of a down year compared to our previous years. I think our high was 29 in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
00:49:39
Lando
Yep.
00:49:39
Leo Ernewein
And our high for gold medals was 14 at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
00:49:44
Leo Ernewein
So 21 isn't far off, but it's still...
00:49:49
Leo Ernewein
I don't know. It's a changing of the guard, right? We're not winning golds in hockey anymore. We're taking home silvers. We did have a golden curling and a bronze in curling, but now we're a bit more dominant in the speed skating events.
00:50:02
Leo Ernewein
We're seeing bit more success in ice dance, although we have been dominant in that too in the past. I don't know. I just think, don't know. Landon, what do you think about the biggest takeaways from Canada's medal winners? Yeah.
00:50:15
Lando
Well, I think what really was impressive to watch, you know, we'll touch on the curling here in a little bit, so I won't go too much on the curling because we're going to talk about the curling.
00:50:26
Lando
But, you know, yeah, that's all right.
00:50:26
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I should have put it ahead of this, but that's my bad. I wasn't paying attention.
00:50:29
Lando
That's all right. I mean, Hey, we all make mistakes, man. It's all good. But, you know, got to give props to Jacobs for grinding and playing against one of the best teams the world in Great Britain. I mean, you got to plot her. You got to give Team Holman lot of credit that a lot of people in our country thought she was done. She couldn't get over the hump. But again, we'll talk a little more about curling in depth.
00:50:53
Lando
I was very impressed with Courtney Cerule. I mean, good for her for winning four medals. Not very many athletes get a chance even come close to having four medals. So for her to win four medals, I mean, she did everything possible. She...
00:51:07
Lando
If it wasn't for that Korean pastor, she would have won a gold medal too. For whatever reason, she said she kind of just blanked out or something like that one of her races and she made a mistake and she wasn't focusing and all sudden she said Korean went by her and then of a sudden she won silver. you gotta you gotta give a lot of credit for her think you know mikhail kingsbury will go down as one of the best men's mogul skiers next to uh next to i've lost his name now the guy who won in 2010 men's moguls oh i should know this but anyways mean he'll go down as one of the best men's mogul skiers that we've had in canada in history and he's going to go down yeah i mean if he gets some sort of recognition here in canada he 100 deserves it you know i didn't watch much figure skating but i did get alex but
00:51:34
Leo Ernewein
Oh, yeah.
00:51:59
Leo Ernewein
Alex Bledo would be the man you were referencing.
00:52:03
Lando
Alex Billido. Thank you. Thank you.
00:52:05
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Alexander.
00:52:06
Lando
Hey, that's folks before talk about, the metal winners, this is what happens when you have good co-hosts with the, we, we, we help each other out when we break. So right, right. Leo.
00:52:19
Leo Ernewein
No, yeah, no, I'm just kidding. Yes. Yes.
00:52:21
Leo Ernewein
Of course. That's what we're here for, man. That's what we're here for to help each other out and, you know, make it a, make it a pleasant lesson for the, for the listener and that sort of stuff.
00:52:24
Lando
It is. It's true. is. Yeah, it's true.
00:52:30
Lando
Yes, exactly. And it's a good darn thing. Thank goodness we have Wikipedia in the internet in front of us or we'd be in big trouble.
00:52:37
Leo Ernewein
you imagine if they try to do podcasts like 100 years ago?
00:52:41
Lando
Oh, man. These big, massive microphones and these generators running the things. No, I'm kidding.
00:52:49
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, 100 years ago. Yeah, exactly.
00:52:50
Lando
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:52:52
Leo Ernewein
Alexander Graham Bells like makes the telephone. All right, got to put it on the internet.
00:52:57
Lando
Yeah, no kidding. Yeah. I don't even, I think they'd be shocked to see what even internet is if they actually were alive to see what actually we have now. But they would call us the what, sorry?
00:53:05
Leo Ernewein
No, they call us the devil.
00:53:10
Leo Ernewein
They call us a devil or something like that.
00:53:12
Lando
Maybe, yeah.
00:53:13
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. I don't know. I wouldn't want to know. I just too much, too much for me, but let's go on to the controversy here.
00:53:16
Lando
No, neither would I.
00:53:21
Lando
Yes.
00:53:22
Leo Ernewein
in curling because of course we already touched on it, but team Jacobs, Brad Jacobs and his Calgary rink win gold team Holman, Rachel Holman and her Halifax rink win bronze. Both overcame a lot.
00:53:33
Leo Ernewein
The controversies didn't really help. Uh, with, we had the double touch debate with Mark Kennedy, which was, uh, I think he was the second on, on, team Jacobs. And then there was the same call against Rachel Holman and her crew. The next day, video angles, rural confusion and a lot of other, you know, noise around the sport land. And what stood out to you most about the curling results and the controversy?
00:53:54
Lando
Well, you know, like we talked about this on our last podcast, and, you know, I kind of brought this up that, you know, with a lot of people I talked at work, and like you rewatch these replays,
00:54:07
Lando
there's not a chance in the world that a rock could get altered because of a touch like that. It looks so innocent. Like I honestly, think they've done it so much that they didn't even think about And then all a sudden somebody is calling them out and they're, they're kind of like, what I did what? And I don't even think they even knew that they were doing it. But so like, I, I just, I, I, I, you know, we touched on this last podcast there, man, about, uh,
00:54:34
Lando
You know, it made curling, you know, got people's eyes watch curling. But I just, don't know what Sweden, that Sweden guy Oscar was actually trying to do.
00:54:45
Lando
Like, you know, trying to get, like, what were you trying
00:54:46
Leo Ernewein
Get under their skin a little bit.
00:54:50
Lando
Yeah, we're trying to on our skin, but at the same time, after that game, they went on a six-game losing streak. They didn't win another game after that. Sweden. This is Sweden talking about, right?
00:54:59
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
00:55:00
Lando
So I think little karma came back. It's team Sweden for whining a little bit. But I was very impressed that both teams put this whole controversy behind them, and they kept plugging away.
00:55:15
Lando
I mean, a lot of people were saying about Rachel Holman saying that she can't win the big one. Well, she just, she basically got over that hurdle.
00:55:23
Leo Ernewein
She beat the States in the bronze medal game.
00:55:26
Lando
Bronze medal game.
00:55:27
Lando
Right. And they beat them and the States beat her before.
00:55:29
Leo Ernewein
Got some revenge for us, even though it was before the hockey games.
00:55:33
Lando
Yeah, exactly.
00:55:33
Leo Ernewein
Sorry, it wasn't before the hockey games.
00:55:34
Lando
So
00:55:35
Leo Ernewein
It was before the gold medal men's hockey.
00:55:37
Lando
yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:55:37
Leo Ernewein
It was on Saturday.
00:55:38
Lando
So yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and, and so, I was very impressed with her. was very impressed with her and her team that they, you know, they put, they, they signed some of the critics and saying that they can actually win a medal in, in the Olympics. Because I mean, in years past, she's had a heck of a time trying to, like, she's basically, it's just, don't, I don't know what it is that,
00:56:04
Lando
I don't know if the pressure gets to her because basically anytime she's representing Canada in the women's worlds, it's the exact same team she's facing in the Olympics that they're facing in the world
Olympic Strategies: Norway & Germany
00:56:16
Lando
championships. So what's, what's different between the world championships and the, and the Olympics other than the stakes are a little bit higher.
00:56:23
Lando
You're trying to play for an Olympic gold medal instead of a, a world championship gold medal, but yeah, they're basically playing the same team. So I, that part is just baffles me how, you know, I don't know if it, if it gets to her head or what it is, but it's just, it was really, it's really bizarre, but without all being said, she won a bronze medal. Congratulations to her and MMSQ. And I can't remember the other two girls names, but good for them for winning. And, you know, team Jacobs was just dominant against great Britain in the second half and congratulations to her.
00:56:57
Lando
To our Alberta team, that's where they play is here in Alberta in Calgary. So congratulations to all them for winning the gold medal against one of the best teams in the world in Great Britain.
00:57:10
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I mean, certainly helped our medal count for sure, which is always appreciative and represented our nation, think. Well, I don't think they overreacted against those controversies.
00:57:23
Leo Ernewein
I think a lot of them were designed necessarily trying to get under their skin as well, too. So I think they handled it well compared to...
00:57:30
Lando
Mm-hmm.
00:57:35
Leo Ernewein
what I think most people would have done. Canada, we'll touch on this again here. Canada finishing with 21 medals, 11th in the standings, the lowest total for Canada though since 2002 and the lowest gold count since 1992.
00:57:49
Leo Ernewein
I think it was five golds we had. Sportsnet and CBC both raised concerns about the direction of the Canadian Olympic winter sports. Do you agree with the concerns that they've raised, you know, about Canada's medal total and stuff like that?
00:57:58
Lando
Yep.
00:58:02
Lando
I do. Yep. 100%. I really agree. Because I'm concerned about this too. And it's also very frustrating to watch too.
00:58:11
Leo Ernewein
So do you think additional government funding because I saw the the metal counts some here I'm gonna see if I can find this here because it was actually useful how much each country pays for metals
00:58:27
Leo Ernewein
This is according to Rap TV and this was, don't know why I'm looking at Rap TV, but
00:58:36
Leo Ernewein
yeah, so this was February 24th.
00:58:41
Leo Ernewein
Canada, we're in 21st. We pay 15,000 for gold, 11,000 for silver, 7,000 for a bronze, for a bronze, sorry.
00:58:49
Leo Ernewein
In total estimate paidouts, they estimated that we've paid $75,000 for gold, total silver. So around I'd say
00:59:07
Leo Ernewein
the stupid article.
00:59:10
Lando
Hmph.
00:59:10
Leo Ernewein
Why don't you have the top that only had like top 18. I didn't or not even top 18. It had like 18 from 18 to 42. And I couldn't see a spot for me to move on.
00:59:21
Leo Ernewein
So in this, let's see if Canada falls in here, this one has the top
00:59:29
Leo Ernewein
total payouts. Italy, $213,000 for gold medal. United States, $37,500. Switzerland, $64,000. Poland, $355,000. $35,000. $117,000. Slovenia, $81,000. Kazakhstan, $250,000. Kazakhstan's paying their gold medalist $250,000. they had one. They had gold medal.
00:59:47
Leo Ernewein
what i don't know if they had a gold medal or if they just had a medal let's just find out here kazakhstan gold medalists i also didn't know if this this is probably
00:59:47
Lando
That person, that person is rich.
01:00:02
Leo Ernewein
well kazakhstan's only ever gold medalist first ever gold medalist i don't know man The internet lies to me sometimes lot. But 1994, they won a gold medalist figure skating.
01:00:12
Leo Ernewein
That could also be in their currency, which $250,000, Kazakhstan dollars might not be that much. But I'll tell you what, Poland's 355,000 euros sounds pretty nice. Same with Italy's 211,000 euros. I'm pretty sure Poland uses zero.
01:00:31
Leo Ernewein
I don't think they use like the...
01:00:32
Lando
Yeah, they use euros. Yeah.
01:00:35
Leo Ernewein
Switzerland, I'm pretty sure they have Swiss francs 64 K and Swiss francs would be nice. Even 37 in American dollars would be nice compared to the 15,000 Canadian.
01:00:46
Leo Ernewein
So obviously Landon, right? Like the funding needs to be increased.
01:00:52
Lando
100%. like I, I, one of the, the the coc guy that trisha smith and uh i think his name is shoemaker i forget what first name is but anyways they were just basically saying in this sports that article that they were saying that even 144 million on top of the 1.3 billion ish that they make or that they get from the government even 144 million would go a long way for them to get back on top of the podium I even said to a referee that I was reffing with over the weekend, and I said to him, even an extra $1 billion would go a long way for all of our athletes to compete in the Olympics.
01:01:37
Lando
I agree.
01:01:38
Leo Ernewein
Right, but where does that money come from?
01:01:40
Lando
This going into politics, which you and I aren't experts in, but
01:01:43
Leo Ernewein
Let's just take it from Canada Post. Let's just take it from them.
01:01:46
Lando
Yeah, Canada Post or...
01:01:47
Leo Ernewein
Let's just slash their wages even more. They don't need it.
01:01:50
Lando
Yeah.
01:01:50
Leo Ernewein
They keep going on strike anyways.
01:01:52
Lando
Yeah.
01:01:53
Leo Ernewein
No, I'm sorry, Canada Post.
01:01:54
Leo Ernewein
I used to work for you guys. I don't want anybody who still does likes them or anything like that to be upset. I'm joking.
01:02:02
Leo Ernewein
I'm just being salty.
01:02:03
Lando
Yeah.
01:02:04
Lando
I know what you're saying. But yeah, like,
01:02:07
Leo Ernewein
I'll forget it. I'm just being totally and mean.
01:02:11
Lando
Well, but the, but I mean, the government seems to have no problem, you know, spending money overseas on things, right?
01:02:22
Lando
They don't seem to have a problem doing that. So why can't they spend it on athletes? I mean, they seem to borrow, borrow, borrow for other stupid things that doesn't revolve, doesn't involve.
01:02:32
Lando
Well, it does involve Canada, but it doesn't involve the people of Canada. So that's why I'm saying the money that they seem to spend doesn't help people like the veterans and the athletes. So I agree with you. I don't know where the money comes from, but I just know that if they stop spending it elsewhere...
01:02:52
Lando
and concentrate on Canada itself, I think we'd be surprised how much money we would be able to have to have our athletes compete in the Olympics. And I think we'd be right back up on top or close to the top of the podium.
01:03:07
Leo Ernewein
Do you think our youth sports needs like an overhaul like the pay to play system holds athletes back?
01:03:13
Lando
Yes.
01:03:16
Lando
Yes, I, so why I say the youth sports needs an overhaul, and we're going to talk about how Germany and Norway does things, because it's really quite fascinating what they actually, what both of those, what those two countries do. But as far as Canada goes, and I'll give you an example why the youth, youth overhaul needs to happen. So,
01:03:41
Lando
My dad, as you all know, including you, Leo, was a phys ed teacher. And one of the things that he said over the years before and after that he's retired is the youth, as the years have gone on, have gone an entitlement.
01:03:45
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
01:04:01
Lando
gone to was another thing you said? It's gone from entitlement to lack of participation just not caring. And I think where this comes from is it comes from at home.
01:04:15
Lando
you know, and parenting and, you know, teaching kids to be disciplined and participate. I think where it starts is in schools. I think that, you know, to quit playing games and doing these silly games that they used to do and that they are doing in phys ed and actually teaching kids skills, think would go a long way. So starting in schools. And then I think this pay to compete thing needs to go away too.
01:04:42
Lando
One of the reasons why our best athletes aren't able to compete in sports, period, in Canada, is because their families aren't rich enough. Now, that has to do with economics. That has to do with how much wealth and everything that the family has and the circumstances and all that.
01:04:59
Lando
But in Canada here, it seems like, especially in hockey, If you want to go through the hockey system, your family has to have money. And that includes paying for equipment and all that stuff and paying fees and all that. You look in for skiing as another example.
01:05:17
Lando
I mean, you have to be rich family to have to put kids through skiing. Not so much maybe for curling and for basketball, volleyball, all that stuff, but
01:05:27
Leo Ernewein
Basketball costs lot of money nowadays.
01:05:29
Lando
Well, it does.
01:05:31
Leo Ernewein
Travel basketball is insanely overpriced.
01:05:32
Lando
Yeah. Yeah. So, like, not as much as skiing, but it's definitely up there. I agree with you.
01:05:39
Leo Ernewein
Right, right.
01:05:40
Lando
Yeah. But we've got a society here in Canada, and that's what's burning us, and it's going to continue to burn us unless it gets stopped, is the...
01:05:52
Lando
is that it's a rich man's sport to compete. And if you don't have the money, you're not going to be able to go. Like, you know, give an example.
01:06:00
Lando
I forget who it was. I think it was a speed skater was on and talked about with Anastasia Bouches. And it was in Quebec. And he basically said, if he didn't have the RBC program backing him up to get to the Olympics, he wouldn't be able to go or even compete or even to
01:06:16
Leo Ernewein
Wow.
01:06:19
Lando
He couldn't afford it.
01:06:20
Leo Ernewein
So former athletes like Jennifer, Jennifer Heal, Mark McMorris, Anastasia Buxis, and you know, they all pointed Norway and Germany as examples.
01:06:20
Lando
That's wrong.
01:06:33
Leo Ernewein
Norway doubled Canada's gold medal with a total population of like six or 7 million people. They had 41. I think they were first in the games. Lando, walk our listeners through what Norway and Germany do differently.
01:06:45
Lando
So what they do here, guys, is so in Norway, we'll start with Norway. So what Norway does in their population is that 93% of their population either plays sports or have played sports.
01:06:59
Lando
And what they do is the government funds 12,000 sports programs that they have in Norway. So that's any sport you can think of. That's every town, city, you name it, that Norway has.
01:07:14
Lando
And what they do is every kid plays at least one sport. Some of them play multiple sports. And what happens is, just like here in Canada, they do, you know, they do their own country trials and, you know, people, they go...
01:07:31
Lando
they compete against each other to go to worlds and, and all that sort of stuff. But what happens is, is when they go, when they are competing to get to the worlds or the Olympics, they're still getting funded that.
01:07:44
Lando
Plus if they win, there are norway trials they also get funded to go to the world championships and the olympics they also get paid a little bit for their their expenses to train and all that sort of stuff so no wonder they're winning there were no wonder they smoked everybody in the in the gold medals and uh Yeah, like it's incredible. And that's what they do in Norway. And with 6 to 7 million people. And, you know, they're starting to be in and out of the A program in the men's program for hockey. They've been in and out. And the only reason why they weren't in these Olympics is because
01:08:29
Lando
italy was the host nation they got beat out by i think it was france or denmark one of the two teams to get into the olympics otherwise they would be there if otherwise they'd be theirs and and so then you look in the world juniors they've been in and out of the a program a little bit too but they've they're making a name for themselves in in hockey men's curling they lost to switzerland in the bronze medal game You know, you look at what they've done with their skiing, like their skiing absolutely phenomenal.
01:08:59
Lando
Like, I mean, they have been, but they have been.
01:08:59
Leo Ernewein
Norway's always going to lead at Winter Olympics, though. Because they've built foundation, right? Like,
01:09:06
Lando
Yeah, yeah. You build a foundation and a reputation, but, I mean, they get funded. A lot of the money goes because that's where their skiing is phenomenal.
01:09:14
Lando
And so jumping over to Germany, so what Germany does, very similar to Norway, but they don't get as funded as much, but they still get funded.
01:09:26
Lando
But why the Germans are such good bobsledders, because we're talking about the Winter Olympics, So the government pays BMW, who we all know is a car company here in North America, and that's a German car company.
01:09:41
Lando
So the German government pays BMW to build their bobsleds. And so bobsleds, for people who don't know, bobsleds cost anywhere. I saw on CBC, they said they cost anywhere between $50,000 $100,000 for bobsled.
01:10:00
Lando
And it's a lot of money.
01:10:01
Leo Ernewein
don't so.
01:10:03
Lando
I mean, I was shocked how much money they are. But that's how much costs to make and build those things. So when Germany goes to compete in the Olympics and the Worlds and bobsledding in the monobob, the two-man bobsled and the four-man bobsled.
01:10:18
Lando
And I don't know if there's a three-man bobsled. I'm not 100%.
01:10:22
Lando
So it's one, two, and four. When they go compete, those athletes do not have to worry about paying for a bobsled. It's paid for by the government.
01:10:33
Lando
Isn't that shocking, Leo? So here in Canada...
01:10:35
Leo Ernewein
But it's kind crazy.
01:10:37
Lando
So here in Canada... With the amount of money that we get as that, the amount of money the government spends on athletes and all of our sports programs here in Canada, about 1.3 ish 4.4 ish billion. So bobsled Canada will get, let's just say a rough number of a hundred and I'm just going to throw a number out. I have no idea. So let's just say that $1.3 billion, they get, you know, $500,000. So,
01:11:03
Lando
So the athletes have to also contribute to the bobsleds. So one Canadian bobsled person told me that they have to contribute at least anywhere between $20,000 to $50,000 year to help pay for bobsleds.
01:11:21
Leo Ernewein
Jeez.
01:11:21
Lando
And they're not even getting the high-end ones that Germany's getting.
01:11:25
Leo Ernewein
yeah, that's it's it almost sounds like it's a bit of a, not a, you know, certainly an advantage and we're getting outpaced in that sense.
01:11:36
Leo Ernewein
From what I've seen from youth sports overseas too, like Germany and England, they do a lot of like centralized clubs where instead of having, you know, offshoot random clubs owned by whoever or whatever, right?
01:11:49
Leo Ernewein
They're all owned by going back to like, say the football club or something like that. So, or the soccer club, I guess would be the case in our,
01:11:53
Lando
Thank
01:11:58
Leo Ernewein
language here but you know you'd have the german you know you're in the city of dortmund or something like that or lever who's and you you play for the lever who's in soccer club you'll play for the lever who's in volleyball club and there'll be different age groups and they'll all be named after the city or after the area or something like that as opposed to having this kind of I guess you'd call it a, what's the word I'm looking for?
01:12:26
Leo Ernewein
a business orientated to it.
01:12:28
Lando
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:12:29
Leo Ernewein
Those are mostly publicly funded and they're publicly held positions with boards and stuff like that. And it just, to me, it allows a lot more Like when was the last time you heard of a scandal coming out of Europe when it comes to hazing or abuse or stuff like that? Like it's just there's so much more oversight when it comes to having it.
01:12:54
Leo Ernewein
Helped and their government programs, right? Like so their positions that are operated by the government they're overseen by the government, and that's where I think we could really use the government's help in that spot.
01:13:07
Lando
Right. Yep.
01:13:08
Leo Ernewein
Any other thoughts here that we want before?
01:13:08
Lando
Right.
01:13:11
Lando
No, it's just... So our Canadian, I guess I shouldn't say our Canadian government needs to wake up, but they somewhat do. But one of the things that I'm going to say to everybody that listens to us is that we really need to get on to our MPs who represent us federally in our specific areas. And we need to write letters to our MPs and say, guys, we watched the Olympics. This is the results that we've had. We're not sure where all the funding goes.
01:13:41
Lando
on how it's split and all these sort of things but we are very concerned that we're going to continue a decline of of of medals and our sports and our athletes are having a heck of a time trying to get in and i think that's where it starts i think we need to put pressure on nps so that when our nps go to ottawa they can talk amongst themselves and come up with some sort of bill to change the funny because that's the only way that this will change. And then the other thing too is I think as all you parents who listen to us too, that it starts at home too. We need to teach kids
01:14:19
Lando
you know, self-discipline, less entitlement, and we need to teach them, you know, fair play and, know, share with others and sort of that sort of thing. You know, and if they're interested in sport, then, you know, you really need to, you know,
01:14:35
Lando
Back them up as much as you can. And also, you know, teach them discipline at home, too, when they do something wrong at home, depending on the sport, that they need to know that, you know, you need to be you need to be better if we're if we're going to help you, you need to be better and you need to take this seriously. And I think that's that those are the two areas that I think could get fixed.
01:14:58
Lando
in sports. And I think Anastasia Buse just made a good example. She used the badminton. Badminton, that's where it starts, is just kids playing badminton and learning skills at a young age that could carry over into their adulthood. And who knows, they may turn into an Olympic athlete.
01:15:17
Leo Ernewein
You never know, right?
01:15:20
Lando
That's just where I think, like said, think we got start with our MPs and
01:15:25
Leo Ernewein
Do you think any of the fun has been sucked out of the Olympic Games with all the corporate sponsorships and stuff that we're seeing?
Modern Olympics: Challenges & Sponsorship
01:15:34
Leo Ernewein
And of course...
01:15:35
Leo Ernewein
you know, with all the money that certain countries are pouring in, and then obviously the lack of money that other countries are pouring into me just feels like Canada just doesn't care as much as they used to.
01:15:47
Leo Ernewein
You get that feeling?
01:15:49
Lando
I do. Yeah, that's what I do. And you know what? And some of that, some of that I think I hate. I was thinking about this before our podcast and I was trying to figure out how to say this.
01:16:01
Lando
But part of the problem that I think what's happened in our country too within the last, I would say since probably 2010 is We've gone very liberal. I hate using politics as an example, but we've gone very liberal. And what I mean by that is we've turned into a society of we're trying to find, we're more worried about inclusion.
01:16:25
Lando
We're more worried about, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing. Let me be clear about that. But there were more worried about our focal point is more worried about inclusion instead of picking the best of the best and all that stuff.
01:16:41
Lando
We've turned into a very self-entitled country. And yeah, we just I think we've we've lost we've lost our we've lost or the third thing. Sorry, I forgot what was going to The third thing is we've allowed technology to take over our lives more and more in Canada. and actually being active in our lives. If you catch my drift.
01:17:04
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I can mostly understand that.
01:17:07
Lando
Yeah.
01:17:08
Leo Ernewein
For sure. don't know. To me, it feels like the Olympics were bigger. They were bigger stage and everything like that. And now it just...
01:17:19
Leo Ernewein
The way the world moves is just so fast. There's on to the next one. There's all this crap going on in the media and yada, yada, yada, yada.
01:17:27
Lando
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:17:28
Leo Ernewein
I shouldn't put crap going in the media because I work in the media, but...
01:17:31
Lando
I do. Yeah.
01:17:32
Leo Ernewein
You know what I mean? There's so much spinning, moving pieces nowadays, it feels like, that it'd be nice to just slow down and enjoy it.
01:17:42
Leo Ernewein
And I feel like the Olympics were nice for that, for the start of it, because every other sport, at least mostly, was not playing. And then basketball had their... All-Star weekend.
01:17:53
Leo Ernewein
So that didn't really count for any sports for me. Right. It was just, just the Olympics was going on.
01:17:57
Lando
Yeah.
01:17:59
Leo Ernewein
It was, it was a nice break and the world sort of stopped spinning as fast.
01:17:59
Lando
Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:03
Leo Ernewein
And now it feels like we're, we're right back to it.
01:18:04
Lando
Well, did it... well exactly and then you know right after the olympics we just had that mexico thing and then uh you know the as we're recording this donald trump's doing his state of the union thing and you're right i 100% agree with you that it for two weeks there it seemed like the world stopped and we're more worried about caring caring for each other like you could see you could see it in the olympics i mean the amount of times that you know people who didn't win get on the podium, went up and hugged people and congratulated them.
01:18:38
Lando
And you saw sportsmanship between the three medalists hugging each other and congratulating people. Right. I mean, that gave me a good feeling and gave me a good hope that there is still some good in this world that we really don't care that this is more of a government policy thing than actually actual people like actual people.
01:18:46
Leo Ernewein
Yeah.
01:19:01
Lando
Like you and could get along with a German no problemo or from somebody from Italy or from somebody from the United States or that we're human beings.
01:19:12
Lando
You know what mean?
01:19:13
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, no, I definitely agree. It was a nice break and sort of, you know, an ability to feel human again, at least for me.
01:19:22
Lando
Yes, agreed.
01:19:23
Leo Ernewein
And that was cool. And I'm kind of saying it's over. And I think I tend to feel that more during the Winter Olympics. They seem to be a bit bigger for me, probably because I'm Canadian.
01:19:34
Leo Ernewein
The Summer Olympics, I don't know. The last time I think I cared about Summer Olympics... I don't know if I ever really did. Have you?
01:19:44
Lando
Yeah, oh yeah, I watch the Summer Olympics all the time. And reason why I like the Summer Olympics too is, I mean, we've got some amazing athletes in that Summer Olympics. mean, you look at the swimmers, you look at the basketball players, the kayakers and the...
01:20:00
Lando
What else am I thinking of for sports? The cyclists, the mountain bikers. I mean, you think about the marathon runners and volleyball players, soccer players, the track and field people. Like it's, it's incredible.
01:20:22
Lando
athletes that we have in the summer Olympics, it's like, it's incredible to watch what they can do too. Like I, I, I probably I'm with you though. I do pay attention more to the winter Olympics just because,
01:20:33
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I'm heavily favored on the winter side.
01:20:35
Lando
Yeah, well, for sure.
01:20:35
Leo Ernewein
I'm sorry to say it.
01:20:41
Lando
100%.
01:20:42
Lando
think a lot people would honestly say that they would pay attention to the Winter Olympics more than the Summer. But, I mean, the ratings for the last Summer Olympics two years ago for Paris was pretty high, too.
01:20:55
Lando
So,
01:20:56
Leo Ernewein
true, that is a good point. A quick thing I wanted to touch on here, American skier Lindsey Vonn kind of had a scary moment, says she's home resting after surgery though, so that's good.
01:21:10
Leo Ernewein
But she revealed that if she didn't get surgery, she might have risked amputation.
01:21:10
Lando
Mm-hmm.
01:21:16
Leo Ernewein
She also broke her ankle in a crash at the Olympics. She posted that she was grateful to be able to be home, grateful to be recovering and grateful the situation wasn't worse. Of course, she was pretty much skiing on like no ACL, MCL or PCL at the time.
01:21:32
Leo Ernewein
And of course, wiped out against doctor's advice to race at the Olympics in general. Landon, what do you make of that?
01:21:43
Lando
Well, first of all, I'm glad she's okay. Second of all, I'm glad she doesn't, she hasn't lost her leg. It sounds like in her post that she's got to still have her ACL or MCL, whatever she has. think it was ACL she said on her post that she has to still get surgery on after, know, this last surgery. So she's got another two years ahead of her of recovery.
01:22:09
Lando
And apparently today saw a post because I follow her on Instagram. she posted something about her dog. She had her dog in her lap and she basically wrote in saying, yeah, I'm not saying that her dog is thinking this, but you could kind of see it in the dog's eyes.
01:22:24
Lando
It's like, why are you so like, you know how dogs are in animals. I mean, you live, you live with one Leo, dogs can, can sense what something's wrong with us.
01:22:30
Leo Ernewein
Yeah. Yeah.
01:22:33
Lando
Right. They're just, that's why they're called man's best friend. They just, They know they know us very well and they can sense that something's wrong. But apparently Lindsey Vonn had a very tough day today.
01:22:44
Lando
She was crying. And that breaks my heart that she had a. very tough day and it sounds like she feels very very very alone so i i thought about going on to her post and who knows if she probably just gets millions and millions of messages from whole bunch people but i actually thought about messaging her and just saying that i'm sorry to have that she has had such a tough day i'm sorry it breaks my heart to hear that you you were crying and you're going through all this
01:23:13
Lando
But I mean, as a man to see a woman what she just did, and it didn't matter if she was skiing on one leg or not. I mean, got to going to the Olympics and trying to win one more one more medal if she could and do one more last hurrah mean that that's you got to give her full marks and full props i don't even know that's even you can even say those things it's just it it's remarkable what she she did and i i hope she recovered i hope she comes up with a full recovery that she's able to walk and again in a year or two And that she can continue on with her life because, mean, that's scary to hear that she could have had leg amputated.
01:24:03
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I mean, that's absolutely gnarly, right? But what find funny is that you're like, oh, almost thought about sending her a message. Like you were going to slide in her DMs there, and you really wanted a green card that bad, eh, bud?
01:24:16
Lando
No, I know what you're saying.
01:24:17
Leo Ernewein
I'm kidding.
01:24:18
Lando
I know what you're thinking.
01:24:19
Leo Ernewein
kidding. I'm joking.
01:24:22
Lando
know what you're thinking, but yeah.
01:24:25
Leo Ernewein
So LA is next for the summer Olympics. course, we've got the World Cup in soccer coming up here too this summer.
01:24:30
Lando
Yeah, we do.
01:24:32
Leo Ernewein
I heard reports today. Sorry, I just dropped something. I heard reports today saying that, you know, with all this turmoil in Mexico after a cartel boss was killed, that Mexico was under duress in places like Jalisco and Puerto Vallarta and stuff like that, that...
01:24:35
Lando
Oops.
01:24:49
Leo Ernewein
there's calls that, and, and with the ice situation going in the States, there's calls that they, that FIFA that people, not the FIFA, but that people want FIFA to just keep Canada as the sole host of the 2026 world cup.
01:25:05
Leo Ernewein
That's a little, you know, that's what four months away or something like that. That's a little soon to be making that kind of major shift.
01:25:09
Lando
Yeah.
01:25:13
Leo Ernewein
Somebody else at CFL stadiums would be able to support that. I think FIFA has a rule against not playing or against playing only on grass. So I don't know how well they'd be able to fix that. The turf situation.
01:25:25
Leo Ernewein
I don't know. I'll stick to the Olympics though here. Are you excited for what's coming up in 2028 at the summer games in LA?
01:25:31
Lando
Yeah, I am. And again, ladies gentlemen, I really hope that this is a wake of what happened in the summer or the winter Olympics, excuse me, really wakes up our government and all the organizations saying that we, we have a problem and we need to fix this.
01:25:49
Lando
I am excited to see what LA is going to do because finally we get to watch the Olympics in our time zone for us in North America. Finally, we'll be able to watch the,
01:25:59
Lando
Olympics in our time and be able to yeah like and there'll be events going all day from the early morning till at night and it'll be really nice to be able to watch just like in Rio in our time zone. So that'll be nice. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens with LA with all the, you know, what's going to happen in the United States in two years. I mean, it seems like the United States changes monthly or daily with their, you know, policies and we won't get into that, but yeah,
01:26:34
Lando
But yeah, like, you know, I heard that SoFi Stadium is where the Chargers and the Rams play. I think that's where openings and closing ceremonies are going to be, I think. I know it's going be one of the places for soccer.
01:26:50
Lando
know that both the Crypto.com Arena and the new arena that the Clippers play they're going to be, they're going to be hosting events in there.
01:27:03
Lando
know in Anaheim, Honda center is going to be where volleyball, I think is going to be. They're going to use the old Los Angeles Coliseum as the track and field area, I think, or I think that's going be the, the track and field venue, I think possibly.
01:27:16
Leo Ernewein
Cool.
01:27:19
Lando
What else did they, did they say that existing venues for LA that they, Oh, the Dodger Stadium Angel Stadium is going to be where the baseball is going be played.
01:27:30
Lando
So, yeah, it'll be interesting. I know Los Angeles is going to have to build a couple other things, but the IOC is very lucky that Los Angeles does have a lot of venues and a lot of buildings already built. All they have to do is just, you know, change them to accommodate whatever sport that they have. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with in two years. heard a lot of the venues are ahead of schedule in Los Angeles, which is good.
01:27:58
Leo Ernewein
Nice. Well, before one last question, before we wrap up here, is a host nation this year, the venues, the atmosphere, the crowds, the way the events were run. What do you think of Italy's job as a host nation after the Olympics are all said and done?
01:28:12
Lando
I would give him a C minus. Not a C minus. I would say a C plus. And reason why say C...
01:28:17
Leo Ernewein
Is that because of the prep, all the scandals and preparation coming into the games?
01:28:21
Lando
Yes. And
Future Olympic Hosts: Italy, LA, & Canada
01:28:22
Lando
just... My friend and boss, his name is Corky, but his real name is Brent. He was at the Olympics, actually. He went over there because one of his ex-Billets that he hosted when the Banff Hockey Academy was here in Banff, one of the women hockey players from Germany,
01:28:43
Lando
was playing and they invited her, my boss out to the, and her and his family to the Olympics.
01:28:47
Leo Ernewein
Oh, that's cool.
01:28:50
Lando
And one of the things that he said, it, it didn't feel like he said, other than the figure skating and the hockey, he said, that's the only things that Milan had.
01:29:03
Lando
And so I felt like,
01:29:06
Leo Ernewein
So it was the Cortina Olympics.
01:29:08
Lando
Yeah, it felt, he said it just felt like it was very spread out. And I kind of felt that way too. It just, it wasn't like the athletes were spread out all over Northern Italy instead of it being in one location. So,
01:29:23
Lando
And heard that, you know, when the events that were scheduled at certain times were scheduled over when bad weather, I mean, nobody could control the weather, but you would think you would schedule events based on what weather have. Yeah.
01:29:39
Leo Ernewein
Mm-hmm.
01:29:40
Lando
And what you can do. So I just, I felt like Italy really struggled this year. And I, and I, and it's very surprising because they are very big sports nation.
01:29:54
Lando
And for them to really struggle in this was quite shocking. I thought anyways, that was my opinion.
01:30:00
Lando
What'd you think?
01:30:00
Leo Ernewein
I think it's just getting more and more complicated to host those games, the more and more mass influx of people and the events that they keep adding games and stuff like that and the logistic issues.
01:30:03
Lando
Yeah. Yeah.
01:30:12
Leo Ernewein
Yeah, I think it's just a whole handful that I personally don't want to deal with. I don't want Canada or Calgary to host the Winter Games and I know there's conversations about that. What do you think they should host?
01:30:24
Lando
Yeah, I think so. The only thing that worries me with either Vancouver Calgary hosting how warm winters becoming more and more.
01:30:33
Lando
that are we going to be able to have enough snow for all of our, for all of our events. But I mean, by time we have the Olympics, Leo, you and I are going be in our, we're going to be in our fifties by time that by time Canada gets their act together, if not sixties. So like, hope Canada, I hope Canada gets another Olympics because I think they deserve it. But I mean, the same time,
01:31:01
Lando
it costs a lot of money and yeah there's been a lot more more events since vancouver hosted so yeah i i don't i don't know what we'll see i i hope like i i hope that i hope canada does but to your point are we going to be able to accommodate everybody
01:31:21
Leo Ernewein
Gotcha. No, I, yeah, that's, that's totally fair. I don't think we will. That's why I don't want us to do it. Well, that's all for this episode, folks. We've covered the entire Olympics. And again, congratulations to all athletes, Canadian and every other nation. You represented your country as well with class.
01:31:38
Leo Ernewein
Lando, now the floor is yours for the shout out.
01:31:42
Lando
All right. I'll try to expand this a little bit longer than I did last time because last time the music didn't come on right away. So Leo, get your trigger finger ready to go here. So my shout out is to a guy and an old teammate. His name is Chase Mullen.
01:32:02
Lando
He turned 38 today. So I want to wish him a happy birthday today. to him and he's also a big fan of ours Leo he listens to us all the time especially when we talk hockey so he always likes to listen to us when we talk hockey so I want to make a shout out to him hopefully he listens to our Olympic talk but yeah just wanted to give out a good shout out and a happy birthday to Chase Mullen
01:32:28
Leo Ernewein
Well, happy birthday, Chase Mullin. I like that you shouted out Chase because I remember, I don't know if Chase remembers who I am, but I met him once when I was like 15 or 16. It was at a house party.
01:32:39
Lando
Oh,
01:32:40
Leo Ernewein
think Jake Wilcox's house.
01:32:42
Leo Ernewein
Just probably one of the biggest house parties I've ever been to. And especially at that age, I was so young. And I just remember like,
01:32:42
Lando
yeah, OK.
01:32:50
Leo Ernewein
I think I can't remember if I gave him a beer if he gave me a beer, but somehow was playing beer pong something like that. And just remember he was like one of the nicest dudes in there because at that point, I think they were kicking people out of the party because there were so many people in there.
01:33:03
Leo Ernewein
And him and this girl named Mary Michelle were like, don't know, he's cool. He could stay. And I just remember that was like, oh, I felt so accepted at the types of shout out cheats. for that uh for that moment of acceptance i'm pretty sure you guys just wanted to keep playing beer i think it was beer pong no was foosball that's what it was it wasn't beer pong it was foosball and you guys were rocking the table and and i'm pretty sure i was just getting slaughtered on the other end and and uh you know people wanted to see it keep happening i don't know if people wanted to see keep happening but i just remember feeling that moment of acceptance and i thought that was kind of cool and
01:33:37
Lando
That's awesome, man. Yeah. No, that's awesome.
01:33:39
Leo Ernewein
I still remember. I just, I remember him introducing himself and I added him on Facebook like the next day or something like that. Lame. But yeah, shout out Chase.
01:33:47
Lando
Perfect. Perfect.
01:33:49
Leo Ernewein
Thanks for listening folks.
01:33:51
Lando
Thanks for listening, everybody.
01:33:51
Leo Ernewein
Here comes the
01:33:52
Lando
Take care.
01:34:03
Leo Ernewein
noise.