April 28, 2025 • 54 mins
Jason Demers and Adnan Virk try to make sense of one of the wildest first rounds in recent NHL playoff history, including Gabriel Landeskog's amazing goal, the nuclear Tom Wilson-Josh Anderson feud and Connor Hellebuyck's struggles. Then legendary broadcaster John Forslund joins to talk his favorite Hartford Whalers memories, the Seattle Kraken and the origins of his signature catchphrases. Finally, Jason, Adnan and Producer Tal come together to review Sinners.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
Episode twenty three of NHL Unscripted coming at jan Honestly,
the Stanley Cup playfs continue to get crazier and crazier.
(00:26):
We love all sports when it comes to hockey. That
first round there's only one credo. You can expect the
unexpected before we get to what's been just a wild
first round so far. Shout out to Little Team Dinner,
little little morale building, me and Jason Demur's lunch at Brelli's,
a famous spot in seacawk Is on Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Had a great time, little Lunch, Little how are you
get to know you?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Only thing is Jady felt? If you were missing towel
probably should have zoomed in. Tell at some point Little
Team retreat.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Oh so much shit talking going on about towel behind
his back is the best in the beautiful sunny coca.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Tell.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
If we had FaceTime, Hey, me and Ji are having lunch,
would you have joined her? Like I'm busy, guys, I
don't need to join this.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Yeah, well thanks for the invite. First off, I may
be across the country, but I mean at least pretend
that I don't even have an extra media guy, how
we're gonna get that good point? No, of course I
would have chimed in if you if I if I
will be wondering what's going on. If I got a
sudden FaceTime from the two of you, but some.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Second you'd be alarmed by that, I would be confused
but excited.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
And yeah, I absolutely would have come in and and uh,
watched you guys eat Italian food.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Would have been fun.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Now listen to this. So both of our orders weren't
Italian food. One was I got a burger, but asked
me that you get to answer this tal So Adnn
gets the salmon with a salad and we're talking and
he's almost done, but he kind of takes his hand
away from the plate and he turns to talk to
me and this woman who there was no one else
in the restaurant but us, and she comes and grabs
(01:54):
the plate and it was basically throws at the food.
Do you say anything in that moment or do you
be like, oh, I missed my like I missed my
opportunity because the food is in the garbage, and ad
ends like, do I say something?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Ship Now, most of.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Us grew up middle class. You had to finish your
meal as a child.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That has stayed with me as an adult, as the
father children, I finished my meal every goddamn time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And it's just if you were to saund like I
was legitimate. I looked at di Herse like I'm gonna
say something like you can't do what did you take?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Say?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Are you done? And then they take it. You're just
fucking take it away. No.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
The second I see a hand reaching for my plate,
I don't care if there's a single sesame seed left.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
On it if I'm gonna eat that.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
If I'm eating that sesame seed, as soon as I
see the hand coming, I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Whoa, whoa. I was overpriced salmon and salad all in
every last cruton. If you don't mind, absolutely, I'll lick
it clean.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
If I want to do not judge raise salmon, this
overpriced farm raised salmon.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Glad run the same page. By the way, John fors
is gonna join us. He's obviously standing. Played by playman
Colin Hockey for forty years. Far as he has great
stories tell if you missed it, co directed a documentary,
co produced one about the whaler. She's got whaler stories,
but also he called the Landiscog game, which we're gonna
refer to it as an avalanche win in game four.
He's also great, great stories as a broadcaster and just
his life in hockey. Plus all three of us for
Cinophon sixty have all seen Sinners number one movie at the theater,
(03:13):
so I cannot wait to hear JD's thoughts and Dallas
thoughts as well. But gotta give flowers and Nostra demurrs
because when it came to Gabriel Landeskog, jays is gonna
make a big impact. And I felt a little skeptical,
like Mike rupp I don't want to misquote Ruppert, but
his point was, hey, game's a great guy. I know
it's an emotional lyft, but as far as actual hockey,
what can you do if you're not playing for a
(03:33):
thousand days? And the answer is he scores an absolute
beautiful goal and gives an emotional lift. And there's a
lot to get to Jay, but I think of just
moments right now. If you told me Landskog, who's been
really one of the bright shining lights that I think
of hockey the last few years as a class act
to see what happened postgame, crowd chanting his name Avalanche
back in that series against Dallas.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That was a great moment.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, the whole everything, that crescendo of him scoring there,
but all the build up to it. You know, we
did a show on the day before his goal on
NHL Network on NHL Now and it was miked up
of his first game and you had like miked up
moments of all the Dallas stars guys that going up
to being like, hey, congratulations, welcome back. Just to show
(04:16):
you like how much bigger than hockey this actually was.
And as athletes, you know, you always want to write
your own story and you don't want to be you
don't want to let injuries kind of pull you out
of things. And it's always you know, I had some
severe injuries and it hurts your soul because you know
you're doing everything right, and it's sometimes it's just a
fluke accident like it was for Gabriel Landeskog. He gets
cut with a skate and it's two years of hell
(04:39):
for him. So he comes out of this and we
all recognize that as players, even though we're still competing
and trying to kill him. You know, in a playoff atmosphere,
you're still respect of the dedication, the discipline, the grind
to come back because mentally that just drains on you
what he had to go through. I'm sure, and so
credit to him. And I mean I did I knew
he was going to be impactful. I didn't know how impactful.
(05:02):
And you know, Nate McKinnon talked after last game and
was like, he's blown past all of our expectations. And
I think all of us are sitting at home being like,
holy crap. But it goes to show you that. And
I always got upset with franchises and organizations because they'll
look at a guy that's out for like a year
injured and they'll be like, well, he can never play again,
(05:23):
like the John Klingberg's like, you know, like Gabriel Landiskog,
E've been out for a while. They're like, ah, these
guys can't come back. But I'm like, you never lose
your hockey IQ if you have it. I understand if
like you're kind of a bubble guy and you get
one of those bad injuries, that's kind of a career killer.
But when you're a top end talent with good hockey iq.
You can find your way back from an injury just
because through your smarts alone. And Gabrie Landiskog is a
(05:46):
very smart player. Now he looks faster than before he
got injured, which is is crazy to me, and he
looks even stronger. But his hockey IQ's there. Like that
goal of brock Nelson, you know, he could have drove
through the middle, missed his opportunity. No, he just pulled
up enough and hit that kind of sweet spot, that
quiet ice, and then he didn't wind up with a
(06:06):
full clapper tickle on the rafters. It was a half clapper.
So there over the glove side top chatdar the way
that a lot. There's not many guys that can do
the play that he did, cross body a little bit
like that. That's very tough to do in that moment,
in that high speed of a game, in that atmosphere.
So and that's just a credit to how good of
a player he is. And I mean, it's such an
amazing story. And they kicked the ship out of Dallas
(06:29):
last game. Oh my god, that's a scary team.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
They needed to get back in it and they did so.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So I'm gonna give you some some crazy moment, Jady
and you kind of riff on whichever one you like.
So we got Nick Cousins and the Auto Centers find
two thousand dollars for firing pucks at Toronto.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Golden and Anthony still aren't during warm.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Ups and they want a cup together. Next thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Brandon hagel Is suspended a game for his brutal hit
on Alexander Barkos.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I was so fucking dirty. Yeah, that passionate about that
warranted the suspension. And then yeah, listen, didn't.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Touch the cup, didn't touch the pill and it wasn't even.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
In the same Yeah, I was in the same zip code.
Did the crime, paid the fine, He's off, He's back
next game.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Josh Anderson the Habs,
each find five thousand dollars after their fight spilled into
the Washington bench. As Spencer Carberry said, I was looking
at exit and saw what was going on.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Immediately to the youtub Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean, those two big bears just and I don't
know what happened, a slash or something that started that,
but you know, that battle is probably the best thing
that I've watched in the first round of.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
That's number one, that's ahead of latis.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Go and well, here's the reason why. It's it was
so old school.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
But they're like matching up against each other every game
and after every whistle, it's like there's a game within
the game. They seem to really genuinely dislike each other
or both of their you know, it's like both of
their goals. From their coaching staff to them or the
probably the message to them was like, you have to
make sure Tom Wilson's not effective. To Josh Anderson, they're
(08:03):
telling him, you know, saying that he's like, Josh, you
gotta make sure Tom Wilson is so rattled and does
not want to play hockey because he wants to kill you.
And I'm sure Tom Wilson was the same thing to
Josh Anderson, because both those guys have the capability to
affect the game.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
They're fast, they're.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Strong, they hit, and it's just insane that they've just
been battling. Like I am sure at the end of
this playoff series they are taking some hits and it
just seems like they're killing each other. There's like they
don't even know where the bucket is half the time.
They just want to fight, hit, cross check each other.
I guarantee you the start of next season they're fighting.
(08:37):
They're dropping the gloves because it's been a war. And
I mean it capped it off with like, I mean
that Montreal Washington series is a very fun series. They're
making it. I think they're given Washington all they can handle.
And a big credit to Josh Anderson, as Talwood said,
As tal said before the show playoff, Josh Anderson is
a site to be seen.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
But the haves need to win Game four. Like it's
been a fun series. But now that it's down three
to one.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, we can talk about it right now. Yeah, Okay,
we can talk about I'm so weird with the timeline.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Do you get No, you just can't say tonight, Yeah, Telsey,
you can't say tonight to which you can say game
four after Game four is lost?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Okay, after Game four?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay, I feel like I'm breaking the fourth wall too
much here all the fans at home. Uh but yeah, yeah,
game four that's a killer for them.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But you're leading after what are you doing it? Did
you lose five to you had the.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Love Tom Well? Tom Wilson got away.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
He absolutely truck sticked Alexander Carrier and they went down
and do Brandon Newham goes down and scores right after that.
And that's the Tom Wilson effect. That's what Josh Anderson
I think did such a good job of minimizing this
playoff series. But it's only a matter of time. You
can kind of, you know, protect against them, but you
cannot deny the craziness that is Tom Wilson in a
(09:47):
playoff game because he is just off a leash, gone.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
A couple moreneads. Your thoughts, like Kings cost themselves, there's.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Perhaps the oilers A baffling Golden Er interference challenge cost
him Game three against Edmonton.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What's the thought here for Jim Hiller?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Oh worst, one of the worst coaching called. I understand
the set of meant that one of the worst coaching
calls I've seen for a goal interference. You know, Darcy
Kemper's like on his stomach. I know, the first swipe
at it from a Van Kink kind of pushes his pad,
but he's like, there's he's getting pushed into the net.
There's not enough there. And I don't understand at that
moment you're tied, You've been kind of dominating all game
(10:23):
in all series, and then you allow them a power
play and you allow their power play to wake up.
And then Evan Bouchard just with this amazing little set
play and I know they asked Leon after the game,
like did you guys plan that? That was a plan
play with a fake like a little drop pass, and
then Evan Bouchard just continued on. I think it was,
you know, beautifully executed, but again just a poor though.
(10:45):
That's one of the calls where we're like, you're on
the bench and all the guys are probably looking back
like like don't don't fucking call that, Like let's just
go play like we're fine, Like we're fine, and then
it just game over and now you've got Edmonton's got
momentum now exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
And last one for you, Matthew kud Chuck was one
of my stars. Last week's Intel strip is a late
hit on Jake against fair.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Foul penalty warranted. I was like, you know, if because
there is the past puck versus the Hegel hit, because
you kind of compared to that not worth the suspension
he got the five minutes. I think that's you know,
he didn't get anything extra but I think it was
warranted the amount. I think you couldn't argue that it
(11:25):
was as malicious as Brandon Hagel's, Like Brandon Hagel's was
fucking that.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Was that was dirty, man.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
His eyes are staring at the back of Barkov's head
the whole time like he was, you know, a Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
No, no, no, as far as bad hits go, that
is the case when it comes to Kashak.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The other big storyline, of course, has been goaltending, and
I generally find if I don't have dogglar race, I
don't like it when great regular.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Season performers don't perform well in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So Clayton kersh all the Dodgers like he's one of
the greatest pitchers ever in regular season baseball history, and
in the playoffs he's never been that guy. Finally won
the World Series a few years ago, but again, Curse's
numbers are not the same. So with Gards to Connor Hallibuck,
it's very tough to reconcile Jay that he's gonna win
his third Vesna, which no one's done since Martaan Broa Dure.
He's what a heart trophy, which is very rarefied here
(12:13):
Josie Theodore, Kerry Price, et cetera. And yet my man
is not bringing it in the playoffs again, Leaky Helly
pulled in two straight games after living eleven goals in
Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Now I get it. Blues have won four t street
at home.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
They've been unbelievable on home ice, which in a two
oh series lead and what's been a tightling contested game,
now you shot the bed and the Blues.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Are right back in business. What is going on with Hellibuck?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I don't know if it's And I was banging on
this drum this year of like, I'm sick of him
playing so many games and them saying like, oh, because
his style, it doesn't fatigue him. I'm sorry, but it's
different level in playoffs. You know, you're playing sixty games
a year, sixty five a year, whatever the number was
for him, But he's playing the most in the league.
I'm sorry, but his ceiling, like he's not given himself
(12:59):
any room to like elevate his game. And whether you
can tell me that he takes care of himself and
he drinks a lot of water and he's hydrated and
he's eating right and sleeping. Once you get to the playoffs,
it's a different level. It's a different level of fatigue
and you're not doing yourself in any favors playing down
the stretch, like playing the majority of the games. They
need a backup that you know, they had Lauren Boswa
(13:20):
last year and you know they won the Jennings Trophy
together and he still didn't play that much. Of Eric Comery,
I know he struggled this year when he played, but
you need to find a backup because I don't know
if it's ego or it's the organization that pushes this,
but you know, you can't tell me that it doesn't
affect him come playoff time.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
And it's not just playoffs, it's a row on the road.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
He's like one in six with an under eight hundred
save percentage, just disgusted, like he can't stop anything. And
I listened. He's a Vestna Trophy winner. Can't discount what
he done, what he did in the season, but not
being able to get to the next level for me
is concerning. I'd rather have a goalie that's five hundred
and we limp into the playoffs and then picks up
(14:00):
his game come playoff time, versus a guy that gets
this number one seed then shits the bed once we
start going. And you know, it's also a little bit
of how they play in front of him. But again,
you know, at the end of the day, if he
they got home ice for a reason, all they got
to do is win their home games and they win
the series. But you know, Saint Louis, him being this
(14:22):
bad on the road is concerning because what if you're
looking at if I'm winning pack, it's like one game
lost at home, we're dead, you know, because they're going
to end up they'll finish us off just because he's
that bad on the road.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I asked, Jet, said coach scott 'neil about it, and
I says, I already thought this was. You know, maybe
in mid March, Hey, save Helbuck for the playoffs and
he goes, you know, and kind of what you said,
he goes. He's the type that likes to play a lot,
works a lot, he's in great conditioning, etc. I said,
do you have to fight him when you don't play?
And he said, yeah, like I do. The schedule like
three weeks in advance, go Hey, this second back to
back you're not playing hereyet not playing. He wants to
go as much as he can, and it makes me think,
(14:56):
working right, you've got to save the player from himself.
Sometimes again, like a picture is like I can keep
going skip, No, you're done five inning, Sea, I can
already tell your taler. You got to be able to
make that decision as a coach, and I think it
would be too desperate and gut check to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But would you have the stones to start Comry for
game five?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I wouldn't do it because to me then you've lost heellibuck,
you're basically I don't believe it would anyhow.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
There's no possible way you could start Comray. It's over
if you do, and you're quitting you. Unfortunately, because of
how many games you give him in the season, you
are now doing this where you have no other option.
He is your guy. If he falters at all, you're dead.
You look at like the Oilers. They're able to go
back and forth between two and there's other teams that
(15:38):
did it at times in a playoff setting. But again,
take off fifteen games for him in the season, play
fifteen games less or ten games less and that might
help him. Maybe it'll piss him off to play better
than the playoffs for Christ's sake, because Jesus man, it's
like we're all taking Winnipeg every year. Now, We're all
just like, well, here we go again. But as a
(16:00):
great Chris Pronger said when we had him on Players Only,
he just said, you just got to hold home, serve.
It's like they Saint Louis did their job. They wanted home,
and Winnipeg's not gonna go do the business at home
and and and win in Winnipeg.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Loved the shoutout to Pronger, also trying to get him
on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Freddie Anderson hurt in Game four after collision of Timo Meyer.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Logan Thompson left Game three after a scary collision with
Dylan Strom. Your boy Samuel Montemble pulls himself out of
Game three. Montreal miss his Game four by the way,
most candid athlete ever, Dobish when he said, I was scared.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was crying after. It was the most emotional. You
can't be that honest. I loved it. I loved the candid.
But you're supposed to be an athlete, I mean roboting
I was scared shitless.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I cried.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
He's been he's been good too. He's uh, he stepped up.
Game four I don't think wasn't great, but it ended bad.
But you know, early on in that game he was stellar.
So I mean it's tough. But Montin bout pulling himself.
He must have been bad. If he's pulling himself, and
I mean Logan Thompson to play uh in game four, yeah,
(17:03):
is is ludicrous. His his acl was in the tenth row,
like did you not see? It was crazy? He looked
like uh, he looked like a contortionist.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The way you said it was like Christopher Walket. It's crazy.
How could he do this? That's crazy?
Speaker 7 (17:22):
But you mentioned Edmonton's golden Well, let's in complete this array.
Skinner Pickard, that's a mess. That's an I there's here's
the thing for me. You're playing Calvin Pickard in game four.
That's it for me. For Stuart Skinner.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
If I'm now, if I'm Stuart Skinner or I'm the
Edmonton Oilers, this is it for me, Like why would
you try to re sign him? And if I'm Stuart Skinner,
why do you want to stay there? Because there's obviously
no confidence both ways. And you're going to Calvin Pickard.
They need to go get a goalie. They need to
go get a legitimate goalie. Calvin Pickard's proved that he's
(18:00):
one of the best backup goalies, but he's still not
a starter. Stuart Skinner is you showed no confidence in him.
If they went back to him tonight not tonight. I
can't say tonight. I'm breaking the fourth wall, folks. If
they went back to him in game four, I would
be like, Okay, this is fine. But the fact that
you go back to Calvin Pickard in game four is
(18:22):
just goes to show he still gave up four in
the last game.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Game four. You need to go back to Skinner. They don't.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
They elect to go with Calvin Pickard, and Bob's your uncle.
Stuart Skinner should say see you later and he should
be on his way.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Carrie alma we u.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It's definitely a fair point, minus the singing. That's the
story when it comes to gold thing right now in
the first round. Hey, but I know I gotta give
you a love on one thing you're singing.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I don't care for it. Well, I do give one
big shot to you and this is underrated skill you have.
You mentioned this earlier on.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
The pod saw his Shell now Harmonic Kings and you
played the harmonica, which you've said before that you could.
You gotta bring the harmonica on this set sometimes.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Will Yeah, I'll bring it on.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Uh, I'll bring it on next show because I'm too
lazy to walk over.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
To my That's fine. I want to bring it on
and play.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, yeah, I was just playing some Uh what was
that playing the other day? I was playing a couple
of couple of ditties like you can keep.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Doing the headfield, but I want I wouldn't mind a
harmonica open if you don't mind. I don't mean just
makes makes it like John Popper here.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, maybe maybe I'll record.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Maybe I'll record our opener instead of us using stock
stock audio.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
By the way, picker jazz audio.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Picker did start gaing for tonight, by the way, so
it's just to be clear, right, Yeah, you're saying see
you all right?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
John Forst is coming up next. Hey, Hey, what do
you say? That's hockey baby? What's the origin of his catchphrases?
And what was it like called whalers games and now
the sal Kracken and of course his favorite job at
Amazon Prime.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
The great John Forstan is next coming up after this
our guest this week.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
One of the most recognizable and accomplished play by play
voices in hockey. He started out in nineteen ninety one
with the Hartford Whalers, continued with that franchise after they
became the Carolin Hurricanes, for becoming the voice of the
Seattle Crack only enter the league, and of course made
his debut on Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I am slightly biased.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
He's my teammate on Amazon, but I don't think there's
a better play by play man in the sport of
hockey and arguably in entire sports than John Forest. Has
been a pleasure getting to know him, not only as
a loving father and a wonderful husband and just a
hell of a teammate.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
John forst When you think of hockey, you think of
this man. Foresy, welcome to HL and scripted, My friend.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
That's well, at least you got the dates right in
say eighteen ninety one, so that's good man. I appreciate that.
But boys, thanks so much for having me. Jason, great
to see you, and we're gonna we're gonna have a
ball here.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I can't wait for the whaler stories, but we gotta
start current fores you well, you've give me some great
about just you know, I'm gonna ask you for the
pizza Dorkwood story, so get that ready. But Gabriel Landiskog,
what a wonderful story to be back for the Alex
to score that call that game?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
How cool was that?
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Unbelievable? It was? And I'm proud of how we did it.
It's really a three way contribution. We'll get the broadcast
out of the way. First, it's the moment. The moment
was shocking. There was a tremendous shot. To see him
have the impact he's had in two games is incredible.
And then the way Eddie filled with the information needed
after the goal was scored. Jody kind of captured the
(21:28):
essence as an ex player between the benches of what
that was like down there. But by and large, and
I think you know, ad Nan, you and I can
relate to it a little bit. But Jason knows because
he played, and he knows the inner workings of a room,
and he knows when a player of that stature is
injured like that. And you're a teammate, and he's a
family member, and you're going through this with him and
(21:49):
you're feeling his pain, you're feeling his depression, you're feeling
everything that Gabe went through to get here. It's remarkable.
So I think it's one of the greatest comeback stories
in all of sports, never mind dockey, when you're take
in consideration the seriousness of the injury, the surgery, the
fact that not many hockey players, if any, have gone
through this, uh, and what he had to do to
(22:10):
get back to this spot and over a thousand days
to score that goal and it was a beautiful roof
job right, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful shot.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I mean so good to have you on this show.
And you know now that I've dipped my tone of
the water a little bit on the commentating play by play,
color commentary and just being enamored by this side of
the game. And I always like to ask, like a
moment that big, you know, and you know the backstory
of this, and because you're so professional, you kind of
(22:40):
know the the moments that's that come afterwards, Like for you,
is it less is more? Or is there a cadence
that you'd like to follow or is it? Very much
just like what's the secret sauce for you? Capturing those
kind of big moments.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
I've learned and sometimes the hard way that as a broadcaster,
the bigger the moment, the less is needed. You know,
when when when Joe Buck said see you tomorrow or
whatever that call was, see it tomorrow night. That's all
you need. If people don't know what you mean, well
they'll figure it out. In this case, people have asked
(23:17):
me since last night, you know, did you think of
that before?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
First of all, I had to make sure it was
Landeskog and not are Terry Lekkinen. You know, from our
viewpoint in Ballerina it's not the best. And they have
this cable camera that goes back and forth on a
sling shot that takes away your vision. And that thing
was in the vicinity when Nelson made the pass and
then Landeskog gets a shot off, and instinctively I came
(23:43):
out with you know, the guess who? And then you
let it breathe a little bit, and then Eddie came
in with the film. I mean, if that was me
twenty years ago, I might have rattled off the amount
of days and what he had gone through by the
time I got done the call, I hope would have
would have been okay, but I don't know if it
was would have been all right. I mean, I just
(24:04):
think the bigger the game, the less you need, you know,
And as we go deeper in the playoffs, you don't
need all the window dressing on gold calls. You just
need the goal. The crowd's gonna take care of the
rest of it, and the faces of the guys, the
dejection on one side, the jubilation on the other side.
You know you're gonna take care of all.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
That all right before you ask the question at I
just that it's such a powerful statement though, when you
listen to that, the bigger the game, the less is needed.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I gin, that's so cooled.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Dan RWs Andowski and Randy Hank kind of told me
something similar, So I just love that you kind of
echoed that.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Go ahead and no, it's one hundred percent true, There's
no question about it. It's interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
For see, I know how hard you work, how much
you prepare.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
You're diligently working not only in the crack of but
also with us on Amazon also TNT. One of my
favorite moments of working with you was. You're in Denver,
and I'm telling you how great cal mccarr interview was.
And I said, I asked him the fact that he
was named it for Kale Houlse, And without missing a beat,
you just looked at you.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Kale Holse number thirty two, like you have such an
unbelievable He.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Also player scored like a career eighty two HL. And
you have kill Holt's number memorizer.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Yeah, but where.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Does that stem from?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
How that is so hard to memorize names and numbers
day after day and the pronunciations and the detail.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
How do you do it?
Speaker 6 (25:18):
Well? You want me to go nineteen seventy five Philadelphia
Flyers number two, Well number one, Bernie Parant number two,
Ed van Imp number three, Tom Blayden number four, Barry
Ashby number five, Larry Goodenough number six, Moves Stupont number seven,
Bill Barber number eight, Dave Schultz. I'll stop there, what
(25:38):
I okay? Okay? So, I mean I've always had this
stupid knack since I was a little boy, and my
mom was really great. You know, my mom was like
trying to figure out what the hell she was going
to do with me and where she was going to
point me in the right direction because I loved sports,
played played various sports and was okay in some of
them and others not. But for me, my dad and
(26:00):
I had a connection with with hockey as a connection
for us to go to games and Springfield, Massachusetts, and
that was our time together. And then my mom was
figuring out how I was going to read more because
I didn't like to read. All I wanted to do
was go out and play. I wasn't any different than
anybody else, right, But she knew, you know, hey, maybe
this thing you're doing off the TV and I was
calling games. I was like eight nine years old, maybe
(26:21):
you need to read the history of hockey. And I did,
and then I could remember things. So I've always had,
you know, somewhat of a photographic memory, and it helps
in this racket. It really does.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Talk to me about calling games and Springfield, mass because
I got to play Worcester, mass.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
Yeah, hot spot, Springfield, Yeah, Yeah, I got to play
the Falcon.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I wanted to play the Falcons at the time. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Just talk about that experience coming up and not in
your hometown as well, calling games there.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Never thought it would happen. It was really an accident.
I got a chance in nineteen eighty four. The owner
of the team was a guy named Peter Cooney, and
he needed some help in the front office. And I
was coming out of grad school and just looking for
an internship and I all my experience Jay's broadcasting was
in my living room with my dad. Is my color
guy from like age eight to like sixteen. When I
(27:10):
got too cool for it and I wasn't going to
do this anymore and he wasn't taking the job seriously,
so I basically fired him. So that was the end
of that. But what ended up happening was Peter asked me,
you can come do your internship with us and work
in the front office. Have any broadcast experience? I said, yeah,
I got a ton. And he never asked me for
(27:31):
who or where or a sample or anything. And he
let me do some color. And the guy that was
calling the games wasn't cut out for and he left
after a year, and I got the gig and that
was it, and it was on the job training. And
the nineteen eighties in the American Hockey League were absolutely stellar.
It was an unbelievable experience. I mean, you didn't have
(27:54):
any credit unless you're coming out of the Western League
with about three hundred pims, you know, like it was.
It was, It was legitimate. Every night was like the
things that we look you know, like the nine sec
at the Four Nations where everybody was going, Wow, this
is the greatest thing I've ever seen. We saw that
every night. I mean you saw that when a team
was like in a three game slide, they'd have to
have a bench clearing brawl to get out of it,
(28:16):
you know, to come together. Different era, lots of fun.
The boys were great to me, a lot of lifelong
friends that I still have to this day from those teams.
We won two championships at the end of my run.
It was seven years there, back to back with two
different affiliates, and I got a lot of stories, including
a brawl in nineteen eighty seven that lasted about twenty
(28:39):
five minutes and had had four I believe four NHL coaches,
Todd McClellan, Bruce Boudreau, Mark Crawford, and Claude Julian all playing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
In the game.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
Yeah, in the fight, Yeah, And McClelland showed it to
the Sharks a few years ago. They were kind of
in a Yeah, and it was it's nineteen eighty seven,
it's me before puberty. I don't sound anything like this,
and it is. It's remarkable. And it was just an
all out brawl with a head budding incident and a
lot of things. And it actually the it was on
(29:14):
television and the resolution that's available on YouTube isn't that bad,
so look into it. It's it's quite an epic brawl.
And anyway, he showed it to the Sharks before a
game and he was like, I got to show you
guys something. It was him in this brawl with all
these other guys. Is remarkable. Yeah, Springfield Indians fredericton Express
(29:35):
Back in the Day nineteen eighty seven special.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah are our producer tal Ponchowski.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
John just co directed and co produced a documentary about
the Whalers. And I texted you in our Amazon friends
that great clip of the final game on a meaningless night,
a game that has so much meaning.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
First off, great turn of phrase. Secondly, what was that
night like?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Well, the day, I mean I remember just about everything
about it. I mean the first of all, was a
total shock to us that worked for the team that
was actually going to happen. They kept us in the
dark on all of this. We actually found out my
wife and I middle of March, Patrick Wahsted on his head.
I think the whale outshot Colorado like forty eight seventeen.
Lost the game three. Nothing went home, had something to eat,
(30:20):
turned down the local news, and there it was live
from Capitol Hill. The Whalers are moving. That's how I
found out. No one that I worked with had told
us there wasn't an organizational meeting or anything like that.
So once you get through that, it's about another month
before the last game, three weeks or so, and I
remember driving into the arena that day. It was an
afternoon game. And this is going to sound hokey or
(30:44):
like made up, but it's not. There was a dark
cloud over the Hartford Civic Center and it was this
isolated front that was rolling through and basically it was
a nice sunny day. And then all of a sudden,
as I drove in. I'll never forget that. And then
we did the game, and that open accidentally organically came
to me. I didn't plan that. I didn't know what
(31:05):
the hell I was going to say. We had these
production meetings about this game, you know, the day before
and the day of how are we going to present this?
And we had to do a very emotional game. It
makes sense of it, all right. You couldn't start laboring
what was going on or getting lost in the emotion.
The fans were showing it had to be professional and
(31:29):
we and we did so. Years and years later, I
watched it all back because I just couldn't. That was tough.
When a team leaves the city, no matter what the circumstances,
it's gut wrenching, it really is. And those people are
still bitter about it to this day. You know, there's
two sides of the story, but the fans are the
ones that get their hearts, you know, ripped out.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
What why? You know?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Even now, it's like such a popular logo in a
popular franchise, like what was it about Hartford in your eyes?
That just kind of captured the fan base so heavily.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
I wish it was as popular then as it is now.
We'd still be there, you know, Like it's just it
doesn't the Only thing I'll say about it, Jason, is
it you know, like it didn't make sense at the time.
Geographically the market's small Connecticut. If you know anything about Connecticut, right,
there's southern Connecticut, which is basically New York, the small area.
(32:26):
Then there's Northern Connecticut, which is you know, covered by
western Massachusetts where I grew up. And we're all Bruin fans, like,
we didn't care for the WHA that was a renegade league.
They were ransacking players from the American League at the time,
which is hurting our franchise in Springfield. So this was like,
you know, the Whalers were drawing from a small geographic area,
(32:50):
the marketing potential really wasn't there, and then he had
building issues. So Peter Carmenis came in as a new owner,
with I believe Gary steering him in other ways because
Gary was ahead of it. Gary was seeing where the
country is going population wise, to the southern belt, and
you had to expand the league then more than just
(33:10):
Canada and the Northeast because you couldn't lure national sponsors.
So in the nineties, this was the vision for the NHL,
along with somehow grinding the players into a salary cap
because he felt that had to happen too. Those are
the two things when he took over in ninety three,
spread the league out, get to Texas and Arizona and
(33:32):
Florida in the south and get to California more. And
then he told the owners, we have to somehow get
off a free market system, which they did, and that's
a different conversation, but he was successful in doing that
and that was not easy. And you know, look where
we are today. I think we're headed in a great direction. Right.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
One thing that's so impressive about you, John, is you've
called hockey for forty years. You're a man of a
certain age, and yet you have a great knack for
connecting with young audiences. And I think it's because of
your passion, your enthusiasm, and a couple of all time
great catchphrases. That's hockey, baby, even better best, Hey, Hey,
what do you say? And as you've told me, the
best phrases come with a personal connection, because that's what
(34:15):
my dad used to say.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Yeah, my dad said that to everybody. Used to meet.
He said it to us on the ball field, you know,
he coached baseball and that was his big thing. And again,
as I said earlier, my dad was my first color man, right.
He was my first analyst and also my best friend.
So as I was very fortunate to have a relationship
(34:36):
with my father like I had. And so when I
got my first job, and this is a little bit
of a sad story, but it gets to a point.
I had my first paycheck as an announcer and we
played Rochester that night in Springfield or January nineteen eighty five.
He was at the game with my mom. I was
still living at home at the time with my future
(34:57):
wife who's now my wife and still with me forever
whatever reason. But anyway, she's upstairs. But anyway, yeah, yeah, okay,
you said it, not me. So anyway, I come home
and just we go out after the game, my wife
and I and she's down the basement. I go to
my room, I go to sleep whatever. My mom wakes up.
My dad's dying. I gave him CPR was certified at
(35:19):
the time. He passed away at fifty nine. So now
I'm starting my career. And this was my mentor, this
was my guy. This was a guy that if he
was here today, he'd be in the booth with me.
I mean, ads, if he was able to come to
Canada with our shows on Monday night, he'd be right.
They'd probably like you more than me. But you know,
(35:40):
this is but anyway, so that was his phrase. So
I started to use it on goals in the minor leagues,
and then I used it on goals when I thought
the game is clinched and over. And then when they
won the two Calder Cups, they started to write about it.
I took it with me to the NHL and some
people poke holes in it, and that's one that I
don't care if they do that. You know, it's a
hockey thing or whatever. That's a personal thing for me.
(36:03):
So now when the games in the bag, in my mind,
I tag a goal with it.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
That's when I remember it was in the promos and
I said, of course, you have to use it once
a game.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
You said, oh I can't. I only use it very
specific time.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
Yeah, yeah, very specific times on that one. And then
that's hockey I've been using for years, and that's hockey
baby just came together organically. And that too is earmarked
for a play that really thrills me. So I'm very
selfish on that one. Okay, if if I feel it,
then it's coming out, and I'm glad I can use
(36:36):
it nationally, you know, Like I really worried about that
when I was younger, as a so called national announcer.
You know, what are you going to do with this stuff?
I think it adds something to the game and so
and my personality and in the terms of being yourself,
I kind of just throw it out there and that's
cracking hockey Baby. Just started from the very beginning as
(36:57):
a hashtag for all their community involvement before they dropped
the puck, and so I've been using it to wins there.
The team loves it, and but it's also a sarcastic
thing because people will get on the old social media
when they lose five in a row and say, that's
cracking hockey baby.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Listen, they they it's a good thing that there's a
lot of new fans because they have struggled kind of
the past.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Couple of years.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah, you know, I always like to talk to the
guys that work closely the most, the closest to the team,
which is you and you see them day in and
day out. Kind of what do you see from them
and what do you see moving forward from like some
players to watch and also just the general outlook at
the team.
Speaker 6 (37:40):
Well, as we as we do this, they they are
they are searching for identity in a big way. They
don't have one, to be fair, the kracking or a
team that's right now pretty faceless. They're going through another
coaching change. Dan worked hard. Dan got them to play
(38:01):
as he was always preaching North and try to open
up their game offensively because they struggle to score so
much in the third year under Dave Haxtall. But with
Hackstall in the three years they were top ten defensive
team and all the metrics. So they robbed Peter to
pay Paul and they lost it and they couldn't defend
(38:22):
for my money all season and they look lost in
the D zone. And so now whoever the new coaching
has to kind of repair that. But I think the
Kraken now are finally reaching a breaking point of the
original group that was there, and they've really gone hard
at drafting and developing, and maybe to a fault. I
don't know. I know Ron's game plan, I know what
(38:43):
he was attempting to do in Carolina, as some of
those fruits are right there now with the Canes and
some of it. They've done a good job with the
new group to come in and improve on that. But
now there's a managerial change or at least a shift
in direction now with Jason Botrel and how this relates
to Ron as president. So it's really hard for me
to decipher all this because when I left town, none
(39:04):
of this was on the table, and I really thought
Bilesman was going to be given a second year to
at least start. But it appears there's some pressure now,
good pressure. There's fan pressure.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
You need it, Yeah, you need it.
Speaker 6 (39:17):
There's fans pressure.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Identity and face they don't have. They're too much of
the same. Yes, and no one's kind of emerged as
the guy, and they never really established who the face
of the.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Team was going to be.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
So it's confusing, I think for everybody.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
Yeah, and and the price point of the tickets in
Seattle is pricey, and there's NBA coming down the road
here at some point. And when you have two winter
teams in the same building, how's that going to go?
You know, when the SuperSonics come back and it seems
like it's gonna happen, they're gonna take over Seattle, and
(39:51):
the Kraken have to be relevant. The worst thing in
pro sports is apathy. You know, you want your fans,
you want your fans to be like Leaf fans, like
you know, they they they're gonna get ticked off and
they're going to have a parade, cancel the parade and
do it daily. Okay, but they're always there.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Right.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
What we worried about in North Carolina was the ten
years they didn't make the playoffs and there's all these
red seats and people really care, you know, and even
even in San Jose, I think they have to get
back to what was the best, one of the best
places to play, right.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was the but it was the best, right and
you can't you can't linger, to your point if you're
not a traditional hockey market in a lot of the
sense of the word. You cannot linger in a rebuild
and you can't think about drafting and develop. You got
to do what Vegas does and swing and just keep
swinging until there's nothing left.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
It's it's so true.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Now.
Speaker 6 (40:45):
The one thing the Kraken do have is that there's
major junior hockey there and so there's a little bit
of that, and there's Alaska, and there's Oregon, and there's
there's you know, there's a vast territory where people are
going to come and down from Vancouver, people are going
to come to see McDavid and dry Sidle right, because
you can't get to Rogers' arena, but they can come
(41:07):
to Climate Pledge, so you're always going to have that,
So that's going to help them. I don't think it'll
ever be a barren wasteland like we're faced with in Raleigh,
but I do think you have to show fans direction
and you have to really be organized that way, because
it's too much of an economic investment for them to
come to multiple games. We're talking about people that want
(41:30):
to be your lifeline, your season ticket holders, you know,
the people that come every once in a while. That's fine,
but once you start having attrition on your base, who's
replacing the base? Right, That's kind of where it's.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
At rapid fire force. Well, let's get out of here. For
first NHL player.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
You were truly starstruck by Bobby or favorite arena to
call a game in Bell Center? Worst travel nightmare on
a road trip?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I have been Game one for Amazon. You were stuck
on the Turma.
Speaker 6 (42:00):
No, no, no. The worst one ever was in the
early nineties. Can I go a little longer with this answer? Okay,
We're in Boston and I'm doing the team travel at
the time and doing some radio work for the Whalers,
and this first year the Rutherford Carmenis ownership situation and
we're playing and this is a lockout here. So it's
abbreviated Season forty eight games, nineteen ninety five. Boston. The
(42:24):
afternoon cam Neely hat trick or something, you know, Bork.
They just shellacked the whale that afternoon. We have to
get to Quebec City and it's an all out blizzard
in Boston and Quebec and no cell phones at the time.
So I'm on a landline phone with the commissioner and
weather officials in Quebec and both teams. The game's going on.
I got Chuck Kton next to me, you know, calling
(42:46):
the game, asking me on purpose, asking me on purpose.
When he knows I'm on the phone, Johnny, what do
you think of that play? You know, like, you know,
thanks a lot. So anyway, I'm trying to figure out.
I go down the room and Jason knows. The boys
just want to chirp you. They want to get onto
your skin. They want to see if you've got your shit,
(43:07):
I'm sorry, your act together, you know, Yeah, they want
to make sure you got all this button down all right?
For is what are we doing next? Right? I come
down there. I got everything under control. What are we doing?
We're going to Quincy Market and we're gonna have dinner
right now. So the bus gets everybody. We go over
there and we get some kind of bar restaurant that
gets the guys in there to eat with the general public. No,
(43:30):
you know, Ritz Carlton private room. We're gonna wait it out,
nothing like that. I'm in what was known as a
phone booth. Okay, I'm in now a phone booth on
the phone, and I'm being told by our charter company
we can make a run for it. There's a small
pocket and we're gonna be able to get in. It's
a It's a complete white out in Quebec city. So
(43:51):
we take off the worst takeoff possible. We get up
in the air. The players are all worked up about this.
He can't see anything. I go up in the jump seat,
the only time I've been in the jump seat to
see the landing in Quebeca. It looks like the Emerald City.
We're coming down in oz Oh. This is beautiful. Then
we land, We get off the plane. The winds about
(44:12):
fifty sixty seventy miles an hour snow going sideways, twelve
foot drifts. We get to the chateau front and neck
and we finally get to the hotel and I get
out and I got the key. I got to get
the room keys for Rutherford. And we go to the
door and the hotel the facing of the hotel is
covered in snow. I go to the wrong door. It's
not even the front door. He's right behind me. What
(44:32):
are we doing? Now? You got an answer for this,
I said, Jamie, we gotta go down here were the
wrong door. Anyway, we get in. So that was a nightmare,
and anyway that might have been the worst. But there's
always travel mishaps. You can't get away from that dream.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Broadcast partner dead or alive.
Speaker 6 (44:49):
Oh my god. I'll just pick up play by play
guy because he was my icon when I was a kid,
Dan Kelly. You know, Dan Kelly gave me advice just
before he unfortunately passed away in the late nineties. Jimmy
Roberts and he were best friends, and he's the guy
that told me. I told the story on the air
in Saint Louis this year. During that our homice access
(45:11):
right at the Blues game that he told me, never
sell a goal down, no matter who you're working for
or big save. Don't get dejected. If you're calling a
team game and somebody makes a beautiful play, don't say
and he shoots, he scores, we lost the game. You know,
give it a little bit of juice, give it more
in the home side. But he said, there's nothing like
a goal and there's nothing like a save in hockey.
(45:33):
Those are the crowning moments, So deliver it. So anyway
he'd be I'd like to do a game with him.
He wouldn't be a partner from a color standpoint, But
I've got too many partners to go into that. Broadcast partners,
broadcast partners to go into. Yeah, Eddie, Ed'll be in
the front. I'll get a call as soon as this
(45:53):
thing drops. Yeah, no, no good.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
And last one, one word that describes playoff hockey.
Speaker 6 (45:59):
The greatest, the greatest. There's not thing there's nothing like.
It is the best, the best there is. We love
other sports, but come on now, there's nothing better than
a playoff game.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
There isn't the best, nothing better than John Forz and
calling that playoff game. Honored to call him, a teammate,
a friend on Amazonia and Airmont Turner. You me and
Marco going to a Red Sox game this summer.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Until then. Great job Fordsy, thank.
Speaker 6 (46:23):
You buddy, Thank you boys, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Headfield bringing us into Cinephile and sixty once again thanks
to John Foreslan a superb play by play guy Sinners.
Right now, it's a number one movie at the box office.
It made forty eight million dollars opening weekend. Great and
I get by Demurz last week in which he pointed
out Ryan Coogler, the director who's made Black Panther, Fruitfille Station, Creed,
He's never had a film lower than ninety five percent
(46:55):
Rotten Tomatoes, proof that Demurs is a movie guy. If
I said that to Mike Ropp, he'd say, what's rotten tomatoes?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
If I said that's too Grimson, you knew like Ninswick,
I got it eight percent ronch Witter, the critics, ninety
seven percent from fans. You rarely get that kind of approval.
Speaker 4 (47:08):
You might get.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Fans, you might get critics, but people are loving this movie.
I went and saw it seventy millimeters Imax in New York.
This is like the biggest theater in North America and
sold out much of the day.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
And we got through.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
My buddy and I got there an hour before the
movie and he's like, yeah, it's sold on.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
I go, what do you mean. He's like, it's sold
on for an hour in advance on a Saturday. And
I look and I go, hey, it doesn't say it's full.
But he says there's wheelchair seating. And he goes, yeah,
and I go, okay, if no one come, I go.
He goes, he goes, that's not a chair. I understand that,
but it's it's a space, because yeah, if nobody uses
that space, is it like a standing room only in
the game? Like, can I just stand there and watch it?
Speaker 4 (47:43):
And he's like, you didn't, and.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
He goes, I'm not telling you what to do, sir,
But I'm like, I'm just saying if I click on
AMC wheelchair seating and I'm not in a wheelchair, I'll
vacate if someone's in a wheelchair. He's likes, sir, A
better idea is just if you wait a few minutes
and then refresh. I go, all right, fair enough, we refresh.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Once he pops up, I tell anybody, John, get the ticket,
Get it and then I'll stand and you can sit.
We'll switch every hour whatever you want. Like we're going
this goddamn movie. Seventy millimeters Imax. We wait five minutes,
four seats pop up, like yeah, now we're back kid,
So we get two. There's a guy, wait, buddy, twenty bucks.
Go ahead, take this ticket, Sinners Imax, seventy millimeter. Definitely
an homage to from Dust Till Dawn. I know Tow
(48:19):
will agree with that, speaking of the great George Clooney.
And also, I mean, here's the thing. Give it with me,
because I, yeah, I wasn't sure what direction was going Jay,
Like I'm watching, I go okay, I just know it's
getting rave reviews and it's kind of like the Southern Tale,
and it's about these two brothers, my coumpy George's playing
both and you know, black gangsters and hitman whatever.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
I'm like, okay, Like I'm enjoying. It's a bit of
a slow burn. I'm like, I wonder when it's to
get going here. And also they get to the place
where the music's happening, and Hailey Steinfeld's are sh up
and then and then shit just goes bonkers and listen.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
I definitely enjoyed how gory it was and violent it
was and different levels of it, but it wasn't necessarily
what I was expecting, and I'm a little bit surprised
people are loving as much as they are. Like, ultimately,
I walked out there go it's a vampire movie, like
it was great, but it was like, it's just like
a it's a Gordy member, Like why ninety I haven't
checked the reviews yet, why it's sitting such rave reviews.
It's a well done genre movie, but if Jill wasn't
(49:10):
a movie like that which cost it two million.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Dollars to go, Oh, it's just some bullshit schlock movie.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'm just curious, why Tal, why do you think this
swinge's getting this imprimature of like this is a great film.
Speaker 4 (49:19):
Did you see the budget? Ninety million?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Like that's stunning?
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Jill Jill before Tal goes and I'll go last because
I'll probably why I won't be a succinct as you guys.
But Jill turned to me because I like, halfway through
the movie, I look over and I said, I always
whisper here, I go, somebody pitched this idea and somebody
said yes, and then she goes better. Yet somebody pitched
the idea and somebody said, here's ninety million, crazy talgo ahead.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
That did that?
Speaker 5 (49:49):
Did happen? Someone did pitch this and get ninety million.
And his name is Ryan Coogler, and it was his idea.
And that's a guy who can pitch whatever he wants
and get it Greenland, And that's what struck. As soon
as the film was over, It's like, I gotta know
what the source material it was for this. This must
have been some sort of crazy graphic novel or something,
(50:09):
and then I saw it was one hundred percent completely
created by Ryan Coogler, who wrote the screenplay, came up
with everything off the top of his dome.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
It worked for me.
Speaker 4 (50:19):
I loved it.
Speaker 5 (50:20):
But if you're wondering how something like this gets approved,
it gets approved by someone who has launched two super
successful movie franchises, who really can do and has Michael B.
Jordan in his back pocket, and they get it done.
And I think I loved it. I thought it worked
for me, but I could see how some people watching
it it might not work. I would I give it
a ninety eight percent rating. I don't know, I really
(50:42):
liked it. I'm not sure it's for everyone, but like
you had n and I had to get a single
individual seat up front crane of my neck to watch
up at Imax.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
I mean, people are going to see this movie.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
I know that much.
Speaker 4 (50:54):
And I liked Again, I really enjoyed it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
We went to the epic and uh yeah, a lot
of it he pulled from his uncle in Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (51:03):
He said, was reading this stuff and touching on that.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
But you know, story of identity, family, you know, faith,
I think a lot of that, letting the evil in also,
you know, there's a lot of references to the devil,
you know, of God and good and evil.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
And blues the Devil's music.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Yeah, and then and then Jill said something at the end.
She just kind of said, she said, listen, it did
the job it was set out to do, and it's
making people talk, and it elicited a reaction. It wasn't
just something like it was just like you walked out
and you're like I walked out and I was like,
well that was something. I'm like, I think I liked it.
You know, at the start, we're an hour in and
(51:43):
I look over at Jill and I.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
Said, it's just gonna get going.
Speaker 3 (51:46):
Well, I said, I heard this is a vampire movie.
She's like, it's supposed to be a vampire movie. And
then I mean, I think those the three, the group
of three, like the three initial vampires. I think they
were kind of stole the movie. I think they were incredible.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
What was the team? Why were they singing like Celtic music?
Speaker 3 (52:03):
Yeah, I don't know if the Irish team Irish Catholic
stuff to do with Christ because and he you know,
the interesting thing is that lead vampire, you know, would
take all the memories of everybody that he would eat
or whatever turn. It's been all the memories of all
the lords and ladies of years past, and probably when
(52:24):
what's his name, when the kid I don't even remember
any fucking names, that's how bad it. But the kid
James with the guitar, and he's saying when he starts
doing the Bible hymn of delivering Me from Evil, and
then he's the vampires were citing it with him and
said like I've heard this, you know whatever, and this
kept me comfort and things like that. So interesting movie enjoyed.
(52:44):
It was a little bit like WTF, but yeah, it was.
It passed the time. I wonder if he just Coogler
just sits in the room and being like, I'm gonna
mess with these people and go so far to the
right and just watch them see if they'll turn me down. Ever,
and the execs are like, wow, Will Koog's cooks, He's
(53:08):
done it again.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
I think if we were to rank it in three stars,
tal of the most. I liked it at JD just
liked it right, love it. I liked it a lot,
you liked it.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
It's just a very degrees. We're all we're all giving
it up.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
We all like it as a as a harmonica guy
and a lover of blues and jazz. I love I
got the music jo and I said the soundtrack was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
Right point, and also got my favorite part, Delroy Lindo,
the great Dela Linda, who says, at one point, I
shot myself.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
How good was he?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
He's incredible the show ye when he sacrificed himself last
call motherfuckers?
Speaker 6 (53:42):
He was.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
He was fantastic. All right, Thank you so much for
checking out NHL.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
In scripted with a heavy dose of John Foresland CF
twice a week. We're back later in the week and
we'll talk more with this fantastic NHL first round and
perhaps will the new harmonica opened from Jason de Murz
next time round. NHL Unscripted is a production of the
(54:16):
NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
Episode twenty three of NHL Unscripted coming at jan Honestly,
the Stanley Cup playfs continue to get crazier and crazier.
(00:26):
We love all sports when it comes to hockey. That
first round there's only one credo. You can expect the
unexpected before we get to what's been just a wild
first round so far. Shout out to Little Team Dinner,
little little morale building, me and Jason Demur's lunch at Brelli's,
a famous spot in seacawk Is on Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Had a great time, little Lunch, Little how are you
get to know you?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Only thing is Jady felt? If you were missing towel
probably should have zoomed in. Tell at some point Little
Team retreat.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Oh so much shit talking going on about towel behind
his back is the best in the beautiful sunny coca.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Tell.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
If we had FaceTime, Hey, me and Ji are having lunch,
would you have joined her? Like I'm busy, guys, I
don't need to join this.
Speaker 5 (01:06):
Yeah, well thanks for the invite. First off, I may
be across the country, but I mean at least pretend
that I don't even have an extra media guy, how
we're gonna get that good point? No, of course I
would have chimed in if you if I if I
will be wondering what's going on. If I got a
sudden FaceTime from the two of you, but some.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Second you'd be alarmed by that, I would be confused
but excited.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
And yeah, I absolutely would have come in and and uh,
watched you guys eat Italian food.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Would have been fun.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Now listen to this. So both of our orders weren't
Italian food. One was I got a burger, but asked
me that you get to answer this tal So Adnn
gets the salmon with a salad and we're talking and
he's almost done, but he kind of takes his hand
away from the plate and he turns to talk to
me and this woman who there was no one else
in the restaurant but us, and she comes and grabs
(01:54):
the plate and it was basically throws at the food.
Do you say anything in that moment or do you
be like, oh, I missed my like I missed my
opportunity because the food is in the garbage, and ad
ends like, do I say something?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Ship Now, most of.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Us grew up middle class. You had to finish your
meal as a child.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That has stayed with me as an adult, as the
father children, I finished my meal every goddamn time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And it's just if you were to saund like I
was legitimate. I looked at di Herse like I'm gonna
say something like you can't do what did you take?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Say?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Are you done? And then they take it. You're just
fucking take it away. No.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
The second I see a hand reaching for my plate,
I don't care if there's a single sesame seed left.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
On it if I'm gonna eat that.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
If I'm eating that sesame seed, as soon as I
see the hand coming, I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Whoa, whoa. I was overpriced salmon and salad all in
every last cruton. If you don't mind, absolutely, I'll lick
it clean.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
If I want to do not judge raise salmon, this
overpriced farm raised salmon.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Glad run the same page. By the way, John fors
is gonna join us. He's obviously standing. Played by playman
Colin Hockey for forty years. Far as he has great
stories tell if you missed it, co directed a documentary,
co produced one about the whaler. She's got whaler stories,
but also he called the Landiscog game, which we're gonna
refer to it as an avalanche win in game four.
He's also great, great stories as a broadcaster and just
his life in hockey. Plus all three of us for
Cinophon sixty have all seen Sinners number one movie at the theater,
(03:13):
so I cannot wait to hear JD's thoughts and Dallas
thoughts as well. But gotta give flowers and Nostra demurrs
because when it came to Gabriel Landeskog, jays is gonna
make a big impact. And I felt a little skeptical,
like Mike rupp I don't want to misquote Ruppert, but
his point was, hey, game's a great guy. I know
it's an emotional lyft, but as far as actual hockey,
what can you do if you're not playing for a
(03:33):
thousand days? And the answer is he scores an absolute
beautiful goal and gives an emotional lift. And there's a
lot to get to Jay, but I think of just
moments right now. If you told me Landskog, who's been
really one of the bright shining lights that I think
of hockey the last few years as a class act
to see what happened postgame, crowd chanting his name Avalanche
back in that series against Dallas.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
That was a great moment.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, the whole everything, that crescendo of him scoring there,
but all the build up to it. You know, we
did a show on the day before his goal on
NHL Network on NHL Now and it was miked up
of his first game and you had like miked up
moments of all the Dallas stars guys that going up
to being like, hey, congratulations, welcome back. Just to show
(04:16):
you like how much bigger than hockey this actually was.
And as athletes, you know, you always want to write
your own story and you don't want to be you
don't want to let injuries kind of pull you out
of things. And it's always you know, I had some
severe injuries and it hurts your soul because you know
you're doing everything right, and it's sometimes it's just a
fluke accident like it was for Gabriel Landeskog. He gets
cut with a skate and it's two years of hell
(04:39):
for him. So he comes out of this and we
all recognize that as players, even though we're still competing
and trying to kill him. You know, in a playoff atmosphere,
you're still respect of the dedication, the discipline, the grind
to come back because mentally that just drains on you
what he had to go through. I'm sure, and so
credit to him. And I mean I did I knew
he was going to be impactful. I didn't know how impactful.
(05:02):
And you know, Nate McKinnon talked after last game and
was like, he's blown past all of our expectations. And
I think all of us are sitting at home being like,
holy crap. But it goes to show you that. And
I always got upset with franchises and organizations because they'll
look at a guy that's out for like a year
injured and they'll be like, well, he can never play again,
(05:23):
like the John Klingberg's like, you know, like Gabriel Landiskog,
E've been out for a while. They're like, ah, these
guys can't come back. But I'm like, you never lose
your hockey IQ if you have it. I understand if
like you're kind of a bubble guy and you get
one of those bad injuries, that's kind of a career killer.
But when you're a top end talent with good hockey iq.
You can find your way back from an injury just
because through your smarts alone. And Gabrie Landiskog is a
(05:46):
very smart player. Now he looks faster than before he
got injured, which is is crazy to me, and he
looks even stronger. But his hockey IQ's there. Like that
goal of brock Nelson, you know, he could have drove
through the middle, missed his opportunity. No, he just pulled
up enough and hit that kind of sweet spot, that
quiet ice, and then he didn't wind up with a
(06:06):
full clapper tickle on the rafters. It was a half clapper.
So there over the glove side top chatdar the way
that a lot. There's not many guys that can do
the play that he did, cross body a little bit
like that. That's very tough to do in that moment,
in that high speed of a game, in that atmosphere.
So and that's just a credit to how good of
a player he is. And I mean, it's such an
amazing story. And they kicked the ship out of Dallas
(06:29):
last game. Oh my god, that's a scary team.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
They needed to get back in it and they did so.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
So I'm gonna give you some some crazy moment, Jady
and you kind of riff on whichever one you like.
So we got Nick Cousins and the Auto Centers find
two thousand dollars for firing pucks at Toronto.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Golden and Anthony still aren't during warm.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Ups and they want a cup together. Next thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Brandon hagel Is suspended a game for his brutal hit
on Alexander Barkos.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I was so fucking dirty. Yeah, that passionate about that
warranted the suspension. And then yeah, listen, didn't.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Touch the cup, didn't touch the pill and it wasn't even.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
In the same Yeah, I was in the same zip code.
Did the crime, paid the fine, He's off, He's back
next game.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Tom Wilson of the Capitals and Josh Anderson the Habs,
each find five thousand dollars after their fight spilled into
the Washington bench. As Spencer Carberry said, I was looking
at exit and saw what was going on.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Immediately to the youtub Oh.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I mean, those two big bears just and I don't
know what happened, a slash or something that started that,
but you know, that battle is probably the best thing
that I've watched in the first round of.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
That's number one, that's ahead of latis.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Go and well, here's the reason why. It's it was
so old school.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
But they're like matching up against each other every game
and after every whistle, it's like there's a game within
the game. They seem to really genuinely dislike each other
or both of their you know, it's like both of
their goals. From their coaching staff to them or the
probably the message to them was like, you have to
make sure Tom Wilson's not effective. To Josh Anderson, they're
(08:03):
telling him, you know, saying that he's like, Josh, you
gotta make sure Tom Wilson is so rattled and does
not want to play hockey because he wants to kill you.
And I'm sure Tom Wilson was the same thing to
Josh Anderson, because both those guys have the capability to
affect the game.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
They're fast, they're.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Strong, they hit, and it's just insane that they've just
been battling. Like I am sure at the end of
this playoff series they are taking some hits and it
just seems like they're killing each other. There's like they
don't even know where the bucket is half the time.
They just want to fight, hit, cross check each other.
I guarantee you the start of next season they're fighting.
(08:37):
They're dropping the gloves because it's been a war. And
I mean it capped it off with like, I mean
that Montreal Washington series is a very fun series. They're
making it. I think they're given Washington all they can handle.
And a big credit to Josh Anderson, as Talwood said,
As tal said before the show playoff, Josh Anderson is
a site to be seen.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
But the haves need to win Game four. Like it's
been a fun series. But now that it's down three
to one.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, we can talk about it right now. Yeah, Okay,
we can talk about I'm so weird with the timeline.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Do you get No, you just can't say tonight, Yeah, Telsey,
you can't say tonight to which you can say game
four after Game four is lost?
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Okay, after Game four?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay, I feel like I'm breaking the fourth wall too
much here all the fans at home. Uh but yeah, yeah,
game four that's a killer for them.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But you're leading after what are you doing it? Did
you lose five to you had the.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Love Tom Well? Tom Wilson got away.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
He absolutely truck sticked Alexander Carrier and they went down
and do Brandon Newham goes down and scores right after that.
And that's the Tom Wilson effect. That's what Josh Anderson
I think did such a good job of minimizing this
playoff series. But it's only a matter of time. You
can kind of, you know, protect against them, but you
cannot deny the craziness that is Tom Wilson in a
(09:47):
playoff game because he is just off a leash, gone.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
A couple moreneads. Your thoughts, like Kings cost themselves, there's.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Perhaps the oilers A baffling Golden Er interference challenge cost
him Game three against Edmonton.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What's the thought here for Jim Hiller?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Oh worst, one of the worst coaching called. I understand
the set of meant that one of the worst coaching
calls I've seen for a goal interference. You know, Darcy
Kemper's like on his stomach. I know, the first swipe
at it from a Van Kink kind of pushes his pad,
but he's like, there's he's getting pushed into the net.
There's not enough there. And I don't understand at that
moment you're tied, You've been kind of dominating all game
(10:23):
in all series, and then you allow them a power
play and you allow their power play to wake up.
And then Evan Bouchard just with this amazing little set
play and I know they asked Leon after the game,
like did you guys plan that? That was a plan
play with a fake like a little drop pass, and
then Evan Bouchard just continued on. I think it was,
you know, beautifully executed, but again just a poor though.
(10:45):
That's one of the calls where we're like, you're on
the bench and all the guys are probably looking back
like like don't don't fucking call that, Like let's just
go play like we're fine, Like we're fine, and then
it just game over and now you've got Edmonton's got
momentum now exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
And last one for you, Matthew kud Chuck was one
of my stars. Last week's Intel strip is a late
hit on Jake against fair.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Foul penalty warranted. I was like, you know, if because
there is the past puck versus the Hegel hit, because
you kind of compared to that not worth the suspension
he got the five minutes. I think that's you know,
he didn't get anything extra but I think it was
warranted the amount. I think you couldn't argue that it
(11:25):
was as malicious as Brandon Hagel's, Like Brandon Hagel's was
fucking that.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Was that was dirty, man.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
His eyes are staring at the back of Barkov's head
the whole time like he was, you know, a Thanksgiving dinner.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
No, no, no, as far as bad hits go, that
is the case when it comes to Kashak.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The other big storyline, of course, has been goaltending, and
I generally find if I don't have dogglar race, I
don't like it when great regular.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Season performers don't perform well in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So Clayton kersh all the Dodgers like he's one of
the greatest pitchers ever in regular season baseball history, and
in the playoffs he's never been that guy. Finally won
the World Series a few years ago, but again, Curse's
numbers are not the same. So with Gards to Connor Hallibuck,
it's very tough to reconcile Jay that he's gonna win
his third Vesna, which no one's done since Martaan Broa Dure.
He's what a heart trophy, which is very rarefied here
(12:13):
Josie Theodore, Kerry Price, et cetera. And yet my man
is not bringing it in the playoffs again, Leaky Helly
pulled in two straight games after living eleven goals in
Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Now I get it. Blues have won four t street
at home.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
They've been unbelievable on home ice, which in a two
oh series lead and what's been a tightling contested game,
now you shot the bed and the Blues.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Are right back in business. What is going on with Hellibuck?
Speaker 3 (12:37):
I don't know if it's And I was banging on
this drum this year of like, I'm sick of him
playing so many games and them saying like, oh, because
his style, it doesn't fatigue him. I'm sorry, but it's
different level in playoffs. You know, you're playing sixty games
a year, sixty five a year, whatever the number was
for him, But he's playing the most in the league.
I'm sorry, but his ceiling, like he's not given himself
(12:59):
any room to like elevate his game. And whether you
can tell me that he takes care of himself and
he drinks a lot of water and he's hydrated and
he's eating right and sleeping. Once you get to the playoffs,
it's a different level. It's a different level of fatigue
and you're not doing yourself in any favors playing down
the stretch, like playing the majority of the games. They
need a backup that you know, they had Lauren Boswa
(13:20):
last year and you know they won the Jennings Trophy
together and he still didn't play that much. Of Eric Comery,
I know he struggled this year when he played, but
you need to find a backup because I don't know
if it's ego or it's the organization that pushes this,
but you know, you can't tell me that it doesn't
affect him come playoff time.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
And it's not just playoffs, it's a row on the road.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
He's like one in six with an under eight hundred
save percentage, just disgusted, like he can't stop anything. And
I listened. He's a Vestna Trophy winner. Can't discount what
he done, what he did in the season, but not
being able to get to the next level for me
is concerning. I'd rather have a goalie that's five hundred
and we limp into the playoffs and then picks up
(14:00):
his game come playoff time, versus a guy that gets
this number one seed then shits the bed once we
start going. And you know, it's also a little bit
of how they play in front of him. But again,
you know, at the end of the day, if he
they got home ice for a reason, all they got
to do is win their home games and they win
the series. But you know, Saint Louis, him being this
(14:22):
bad on the road is concerning because what if you're
looking at if I'm winning pack, it's like one game
lost at home, we're dead, you know, because they're going
to end up they'll finish us off just because he's
that bad on the road.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I asked, Jet, said coach scott 'neil about it, and
I says, I already thought this was. You know, maybe
in mid March, Hey, save Helbuck for the playoffs and
he goes, you know, and kind of what you said,
he goes. He's the type that likes to play a lot,
works a lot, he's in great conditioning, etc. I said,
do you have to fight him when you don't play?
And he said, yeah, like I do. The schedule like
three weeks in advance, go Hey, this second back to
back you're not playing hereyet not playing. He wants to
go as much as he can, and it makes me think,
(14:56):
working right, you've got to save the player from himself.
Sometimes again, like a picture is like I can keep
going skip, No, you're done five inning, Sea, I can
already tell your taler. You got to be able to
make that decision as a coach, and I think it
would be too desperate and gut check to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But would you have the stones to start Comry for
game five?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I wouldn't do it because to me then you've lost heellibuck,
you're basically I don't believe it would anyhow.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
You can't.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
You can't.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
There's no possible way you could start Comray. It's over
if you do, and you're quitting you. Unfortunately, because of
how many games you give him in the season, you
are now doing this where you have no other option.
He is your guy. If he falters at all, you're dead.
You look at like the Oilers. They're able to go
back and forth between two and there's other teams that
(15:38):
did it at times in a playoff setting. But again,
take off fifteen games for him in the season, play
fifteen games less or ten games less and that might
help him. Maybe it'll piss him off to play better
than the playoffs for Christ's sake, because Jesus man, it's
like we're all taking Winnipeg every year. Now, We're all
just like, well, here we go again. But as a
(16:00):
great Chris Pronger said when we had him on Players Only,
he just said, you just got to hold home, serve.
It's like they Saint Louis did their job. They wanted home,
and Winnipeg's not gonna go do the business at home
and and and win in Winnipeg.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Loved the shoutout to Pronger, also trying to get him
on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Freddie Anderson hurt in Game four after collision of Timo Meyer.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Logan Thompson left Game three after a scary collision with
Dylan Strom. Your boy Samuel Montemble pulls himself out of
Game three. Montreal miss his Game four by the way,
most candid athlete ever, Dobish when he said, I was scared.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was crying after. It was the most emotional. You
can't be that honest. I loved it. I loved the candid.
But you're supposed to be an athlete, I mean roboting
I was scared shitless.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I cried.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
He's been he's been good too. He's uh, he stepped up.
Game four I don't think wasn't great, but it ended bad.
But you know, early on in that game he was stellar.
So I mean it's tough. But Montin bout pulling himself.
He must have been bad. If he's pulling himself, and
I mean Logan Thompson to play uh in game four, yeah,
(17:03):
is is ludicrous. His his acl was in the tenth row,
like did you not see? It was crazy? He looked
like uh, he looked like a contortionist.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The way you said it was like Christopher Walket. It's crazy.
How could he do this? That's crazy?
Speaker 7 (17:22):
But you mentioned Edmonton's golden Well, let's in complete this array.
Skinner Pickard, that's a mess. That's an I there's here's
the thing for me. You're playing Calvin Pickard in game four.
That's it for me. For Stuart Skinner.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
If I'm now, if I'm Stuart Skinner or I'm the
Edmonton Oilers, this is it for me, Like why would
you try to re sign him? And if I'm Stuart Skinner,
why do you want to stay there? Because there's obviously
no confidence both ways. And you're going to Calvin Pickard.
They need to go get a goalie. They need to
go get a legitimate goalie. Calvin Pickard's proved that he's
(18:00):
one of the best backup goalies, but he's still not
a starter. Stuart Skinner is you showed no confidence in him.
If they went back to him tonight not tonight. I
can't say tonight. I'm breaking the fourth wall, folks. If
they went back to him in game four, I would
be like, Okay, this is fine. But the fact that
you go back to Calvin Pickard in game four is
(18:22):
just goes to show he still gave up four in
the last game.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Game four. You need to go back to Skinner. They don't.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
They elect to go with Calvin Pickard, and Bob's your uncle.
Stuart Skinner should say see you later and he should
be on his way.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Carrie alma we u.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It's definitely a fair point, minus the singing. That's the
story when it comes to gold thing right now in
the first round. Hey, but I know I gotta give
you a love on one thing you're singing.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I don't care for it. Well, I do give one
big shot to you and this is underrated skill you have.
You mentioned this earlier on.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
The pod saw his Shell now Harmonic Kings and you
played the harmonica, which you've said before that you could.
You gotta bring the harmonica on this set sometimes.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Will Yeah, I'll bring it on.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Uh, I'll bring it on next show because I'm too
lazy to walk over.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
To my That's fine. I want to bring it on
and play.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, yeah, I was just playing some Uh what was
that playing the other day? I was playing a couple
of couple of ditties like you can keep.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Doing the headfield, but I want I wouldn't mind a
harmonica open if you don't mind. I don't mean just
makes makes it like John Popper here.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah, maybe maybe I'll record.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Maybe I'll record our opener instead of us using stock
stock audio.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
By the way, picker jazz audio.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Picker did start gaing for tonight, by the way, so
it's just to be clear, right, Yeah, you're saying see
you all right?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
John Forst is coming up next. Hey, Hey, what do
you say? That's hockey baby? What's the origin of his catchphrases?
And what was it like called whalers games and now
the sal Kracken and of course his favorite job at
Amazon Prime.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
The great John Forstan is next coming up after this
our guest this week.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
One of the most recognizable and accomplished play by play
voices in hockey. He started out in nineteen ninety one
with the Hartford Whalers, continued with that franchise after they
became the Carolin Hurricanes, for becoming the voice of the
Seattle Crack only enter the league, and of course made
his debut on Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I am slightly biased.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
He's my teammate on Amazon, but I don't think there's
a better play by play man in the sport of
hockey and arguably in entire sports than John Forest. Has
been a pleasure getting to know him, not only as
a loving father and a wonderful husband and just a
hell of a teammate.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
John forst When you think of hockey, you think of
this man. Foresy, welcome to HL and scripted, My friend.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
That's well, at least you got the dates right in
say eighteen ninety one, so that's good man. I appreciate that.
But boys, thanks so much for having me. Jason, great
to see you, and we're gonna we're gonna have a
ball here.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I can't wait for the whaler stories, but we gotta
start current fores you well, you've give me some great
about just you know, I'm gonna ask you for the
pizza Dorkwood story, so get that ready. But Gabriel Landiskog,
what a wonderful story to be back for the Alex
to score that call that game?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
How cool was that?
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Unbelievable? It was? And I'm proud of how we did it.
It's really a three way contribution. We'll get the broadcast
out of the way. First, it's the moment. The moment
was shocking. There was a tremendous shot. To see him
have the impact he's had in two games is incredible.
And then the way Eddie filled with the information needed
after the goal was scored. Jody kind of captured the
(21:28):
essence as an ex player between the benches of what
that was like down there. But by and large, and
I think you know, ad Nan, you and I can
relate to it a little bit. But Jason knows because
he played, and he knows the inner workings of a room,
and he knows when a player of that stature is
injured like that. And you're a teammate, and he's a
family member, and you're going through this with him and
(21:49):
you're feeling his pain, you're feeling his depression, you're feeling
everything that Gabe went through to get here. It's remarkable.
So I think it's one of the greatest comeback stories
in all of sports, never mind dockey, when you're take
in consideration the seriousness of the injury, the surgery, the
fact that not many hockey players, if any, have gone
through this, uh, and what he had to do to
(22:10):
get back to this spot and over a thousand days
to score that goal and it was a beautiful roof
job right, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful shot.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
I mean so good to have you on this show.
And you know now that I've dipped my tone of
the water a little bit on the commentating play by play,
color commentary and just being enamored by this side of
the game. And I always like to ask, like a
moment that big, you know, and you know the backstory
of this, and because you're so professional, you kind of
(22:40):
know the the moments that's that come afterwards, Like for you,
is it less is more? Or is there a cadence
that you'd like to follow or is it? Very much
just like what's the secret sauce for you? Capturing those
kind of big moments.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
I've learned and sometimes the hard way that as a broadcaster,
the bigger the moment, the less is needed. You know,
when when when Joe Buck said see you tomorrow or
whatever that call was, see it tomorrow night. That's all
you need. If people don't know what you mean, well
they'll figure it out. In this case, people have asked
(23:17):
me since last night, you know, did you think of
that before?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
First of all, I had to make sure it was
Landeskog and not are Terry Lekkinen. You know, from our
viewpoint in Ballerina it's not the best. And they have
this cable camera that goes back and forth on a
sling shot that takes away your vision. And that thing
was in the vicinity when Nelson made the pass and
then Landeskog gets a shot off, and instinctively I came
(23:43):
out with you know, the guess who? And then you
let it breathe a little bit, and then Eddie came
in with the film. I mean, if that was me
twenty years ago, I might have rattled off the amount
of days and what he had gone through by the
time I got done the call, I hope would have
would have been okay, but I don't know if it
was would have been all right. I mean, I just
(24:04):
think the bigger the game, the less you need, you know,
And as we go deeper in the playoffs, you don't
need all the window dressing on gold calls. You just
need the goal. The crowd's gonna take care of the
rest of it, and the faces of the guys, the
dejection on one side, the jubilation on the other side.
You know you're gonna take care of all.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
That all right before you ask the question at I
just that it's such a powerful statement though, when you
listen to that, the bigger the game, the less is needed.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I gin, that's so cooled.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Dan RWs Andowski and Randy Hank kind of told me
something similar, So I just love that you kind of
echoed that.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Go ahead and no, it's one hundred percent true, There's
no question about it. It's interesting.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
For see, I know how hard you work, how much
you prepare.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
You're diligently working not only in the crack of but
also with us on Amazon also TNT. One of my
favorite moments of working with you was. You're in Denver,
and I'm telling you how great cal mccarr interview was.
And I said, I asked him the fact that he
was named it for Kale Houlse, And without missing a beat,
you just looked at you.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Kale Holse number thirty two, like you have such an
unbelievable He.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Also player scored like a career eighty two HL. And
you have kill Holt's number memorizer.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Yeah, but where.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Does that stem from?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
How that is so hard to memorize names and numbers
day after day and the pronunciations and the detail.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
How do you do it?
Speaker 6 (25:18):
Well? You want me to go nineteen seventy five Philadelphia
Flyers number two, Well number one, Bernie Parant number two,
Ed van Imp number three, Tom Blayden number four, Barry
Ashby number five, Larry Goodenough number six, Moves Stupont number seven,
Bill Barber number eight, Dave Schultz. I'll stop there, what
(25:38):
I okay? Okay? So, I mean I've always had this
stupid knack since I was a little boy, and my
mom was really great. You know, my mom was like
trying to figure out what the hell she was going
to do with me and where she was going to
point me in the right direction because I loved sports,
played played various sports and was okay in some of
them and others not. But for me, my dad and
(26:00):
I had a connection with with hockey as a connection
for us to go to games and Springfield, Massachusetts, and
that was our time together. And then my mom was
figuring out how I was going to read more because
I didn't like to read. All I wanted to do
was go out and play. I wasn't any different than
anybody else, right, But she knew, you know, hey, maybe
this thing you're doing off the TV and I was
calling games. I was like eight nine years old, maybe
(26:21):
you need to read the history of hockey. And I did,
and then I could remember things. So I've always had,
you know, somewhat of a photographic memory, and it helps
in this racket. It really does.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Talk to me about calling games and Springfield, mass because
I got to play Worcester, mass.
Speaker 6 (26:36):
Yeah, hot spot, Springfield, Yeah, Yeah, I got to play
the Falcon.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I wanted to play the Falcons at the time. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Just talk about that experience coming up and not in
your hometown as well, calling games there.
Speaker 6 (26:47):
Never thought it would happen. It was really an accident.
I got a chance in nineteen eighty four. The owner
of the team was a guy named Peter Cooney, and
he needed some help in the front office. And I
was coming out of grad school and just looking for
an internship and I all my experience Jay's broadcasting was
in my living room with my dad. Is my color
guy from like age eight to like sixteen. When I
(27:10):
got too cool for it and I wasn't going to
do this anymore and he wasn't taking the job seriously,
so I basically fired him. So that was the end
of that. But what ended up happening was Peter asked me,
you can come do your internship with us and work
in the front office. Have any broadcast experience? I said, yeah,
I got a ton. And he never asked me for
(27:31):
who or where or a sample or anything. And he
let me do some color. And the guy that was
calling the games wasn't cut out for and he left
after a year, and I got the gig and that
was it, and it was on the job training. And
the nineteen eighties in the American Hockey League were absolutely stellar.
It was an unbelievable experience. I mean, you didn't have
(27:54):
any credit unless you're coming out of the Western League
with about three hundred pims, you know, like it was.
It was, It was legitimate. Every night was like the
things that we look you know, like the nine sec
at the Four Nations where everybody was going, Wow, this
is the greatest thing I've ever seen. We saw that
every night. I mean you saw that when a team
was like in a three game slide, they'd have to
have a bench clearing brawl to get out of it,
(28:16):
you know, to come together. Different era, lots of fun.
The boys were great to me, a lot of lifelong
friends that I still have to this day from those teams.
We won two championships at the end of my run.
It was seven years there, back to back with two
different affiliates, and I got a lot of stories, including
a brawl in nineteen eighty seven that lasted about twenty
(28:39):
five minutes and had had four I believe four NHL coaches,
Todd McClellan, Bruce Boudreau, Mark Crawford, and Claude Julian all playing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
In the game.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
Yeah, in the fight, Yeah, And McClelland showed it to
the Sharks a few years ago. They were kind of
in a Yeah, and it was it's nineteen eighty seven,
it's me before puberty. I don't sound anything like this,
and it is. It's remarkable. And it was just an
all out brawl with a head budding incident and a
lot of things. And it actually the it was on
(29:14):
television and the resolution that's available on YouTube isn't that bad,
so look into it. It's it's quite an epic brawl.
And anyway, he showed it to the Sharks before a
game and he was like, I got to show you
guys something. It was him in this brawl with all
these other guys. Is remarkable. Yeah, Springfield Indians fredericton Express
(29:35):
Back in the Day nineteen eighty seven special.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah are our producer tal Ponchowski.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
John just co directed and co produced a documentary about
the Whalers. And I texted you in our Amazon friends
that great clip of the final game on a meaningless night,
a game that has so much meaning.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
First off, great turn of phrase. Secondly, what was that
night like?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Well, the day, I mean I remember just about everything
about it. I mean the first of all, was a
total shock to us that worked for the team that
was actually going to happen. They kept us in the
dark on all of this. We actually found out my
wife and I middle of March, Patrick Wahsted on his head.
I think the whale outshot Colorado like forty eight seventeen.
Lost the game three. Nothing went home, had something to eat,
(30:20):
turned down the local news, and there it was live
from Capitol Hill. The Whalers are moving. That's how I
found out. No one that I worked with had told
us there wasn't an organizational meeting or anything like that.
So once you get through that, it's about another month
before the last game, three weeks or so, and I
remember driving into the arena that day. It was an
afternoon game. And this is going to sound hokey or
(30:44):
like made up, but it's not. There was a dark
cloud over the Hartford Civic Center and it was this
isolated front that was rolling through and basically it was
a nice sunny day. And then all of a sudden,
as I drove in. I'll never forget that. And then
we did the game, and that open accidentally organically came
to me. I didn't plan that. I didn't know what
(31:05):
the hell I was going to say. We had these
production meetings about this game, you know, the day before
and the day of how are we going to present this?
And we had to do a very emotional game. It
makes sense of it, all right. You couldn't start laboring
what was going on or getting lost in the emotion.
The fans were showing it had to be professional and
(31:29):
we and we did so. Years and years later, I
watched it all back because I just couldn't. That was tough.
When a team leaves the city, no matter what the circumstances,
it's gut wrenching, it really is. And those people are
still bitter about it to this day. You know, there's
two sides of the story, but the fans are the
ones that get their hearts, you know, ripped out.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
What why? You know?
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Even now, it's like such a popular logo in a
popular franchise, like what was it about Hartford in your eyes?
That just kind of captured the fan base so heavily.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
I wish it was as popular then as it is now.
We'd still be there, you know, Like it's just it
doesn't the Only thing I'll say about it, Jason, is
it you know, like it didn't make sense at the time.
Geographically the market's small Connecticut. If you know anything about Connecticut, right,
there's southern Connecticut, which is basically New York, the small area.
(32:26):
Then there's Northern Connecticut, which is you know, covered by
western Massachusetts where I grew up. And we're all Bruin fans, like,
we didn't care for the WHA that was a renegade league.
They were ransacking players from the American League at the time,
which is hurting our franchise in Springfield. So this was like,
you know, the Whalers were drawing from a small geographic area,
(32:50):
the marketing potential really wasn't there, and then he had
building issues. So Peter Carmenis came in as a new owner,
with I believe Gary steering him in other ways because
Gary was ahead of it. Gary was seeing where the
country is going population wise, to the southern belt, and
you had to expand the league then more than just
(33:10):
Canada and the Northeast because you couldn't lure national sponsors.
So in the nineties, this was the vision for the NHL,
along with somehow grinding the players into a salary cap
because he felt that had to happen too. Those are
the two things when he took over in ninety three,
spread the league out, get to Texas and Arizona and
(33:32):
Florida in the south and get to California more. And
then he told the owners, we have to somehow get
off a free market system, which they did, and that's
a different conversation, but he was successful in doing that
and that was not easy. And you know, look where
we are today. I think we're headed in a great direction. Right.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
One thing that's so impressive about you, John, is you've
called hockey for forty years. You're a man of a
certain age, and yet you have a great knack for
connecting with young audiences. And I think it's because of
your passion, your enthusiasm, and a couple of all time
great catchphrases. That's hockey, baby, even better best, Hey, Hey,
what do you say? And as you've told me, the
best phrases come with a personal connection, because that's what
(34:15):
my dad used to say.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Yeah, my dad said that to everybody. Used to meet.
He said it to us on the ball field, you know,
he coached baseball and that was his big thing. And again,
as I said earlier, my dad was my first color man, right.
He was my first analyst and also my best friend.
So as I was very fortunate to have a relationship
(34:36):
with my father like I had. And so when I
got my first job, and this is a little bit
of a sad story, but it gets to a point.
I had my first paycheck as an announcer and we
played Rochester that night in Springfield or January nineteen eighty five.
He was at the game with my mom. I was
still living at home at the time with my future
(34:57):
wife who's now my wife and still with me forever
whatever reason. But anyway, she's upstairs. But anyway, yeah, yeah, okay,
you said it, not me. So anyway, I come home
and just we go out after the game, my wife
and I and she's down the basement. I go to
my room, I go to sleep whatever. My mom wakes up.
My dad's dying. I gave him CPR was certified at
(35:19):
the time. He passed away at fifty nine. So now
I'm starting my career. And this was my mentor, this
was my guy. This was a guy that if he
was here today, he'd be in the booth with me.
I mean, ads, if he was able to come to
Canada with our shows on Monday night, he'd be right.
They'd probably like you more than me. But you know,
(35:40):
this is but anyway, so that was his phrase. So
I started to use it on goals in the minor leagues,
and then I used it on goals when I thought
the game is clinched and over. And then when they
won the two Calder Cups, they started to write about it.
I took it with me to the NHL and some
people poke holes in it, and that's one that I
don't care if they do that. You know, it's a
hockey thing or whatever. That's a personal thing for me.
(36:03):
So now when the games in the bag, in my mind,
I tag a goal with it.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
That's when I remember it was in the promos and
I said, of course, you have to use it once
a game.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
You said, oh I can't. I only use it very
specific time.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
Yeah, yeah, very specific times on that one. And then
that's hockey I've been using for years, and that's hockey
baby just came together organically. And that too is earmarked
for a play that really thrills me. So I'm very
selfish on that one. Okay, if if I feel it,
then it's coming out, and I'm glad I can use
(36:36):
it nationally, you know, Like I really worried about that
when I was younger, as a so called national announcer.
You know, what are you going to do with this stuff?
I think it adds something to the game and so
and my personality and in the terms of being yourself,
I kind of just throw it out there and that's
cracking hockey Baby. Just started from the very beginning as
(36:57):
a hashtag for all their community involvement before they dropped
the puck, and so I've been using it to wins there.
The team loves it, and but it's also a sarcastic
thing because people will get on the old social media
when they lose five in a row and say, that's
cracking hockey baby.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Listen, they they it's a good thing that there's a
lot of new fans because they have struggled kind of
the past.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Couple of years.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah, you know, I always like to talk to the
guys that work closely the most, the closest to the team,
which is you and you see them day in and
day out. Kind of what do you see from them
and what do you see moving forward from like some
players to watch and also just the general outlook at
the team.
Speaker 6 (37:40):
Well, as we as we do this, they they are
they are searching for identity in a big way. They
don't have one, to be fair, the kracking or a
team that's right now pretty faceless. They're going through another
coaching change. Dan worked hard. Dan got them to play
(38:01):
as he was always preaching North and try to open
up their game offensively because they struggle to score so
much in the third year under Dave Haxtall. But with
Hackstall in the three years they were top ten defensive
team and all the metrics. So they robbed Peter to
pay Paul and they lost it and they couldn't defend
(38:22):
for my money all season and they look lost in
the D zone. And so now whoever the new coaching
has to kind of repair that. But I think the
Kraken now are finally reaching a breaking point of the
original group that was there, and they've really gone hard
at drafting and developing, and maybe to a fault. I
don't know. I know Ron's game plan, I know what
(38:43):
he was attempting to do in Carolina, as some of
those fruits are right there now with the Canes and
some of it. They've done a good job with the
new group to come in and improve on that. But
now there's a managerial change or at least a shift
in direction now with Jason Botrel and how this relates
to Ron as president. So it's really hard for me
to decipher all this because when I left town, none
(39:04):
of this was on the table, and I really thought
Bilesman was going to be given a second year to
at least start. But it appears there's some pressure now,
good pressure. There's fan pressure.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
You need it, Yeah, you need it.
Speaker 6 (39:17):
There's fans pressure.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Identity and face they don't have. They're too much of
the same. Yes, and no one's kind of emerged as
the guy, and they never really established who the face
of the.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Team was going to be.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
So it's confusing, I think for everybody.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
Yeah, and and the price point of the tickets in
Seattle is pricey, and there's NBA coming down the road
here at some point. And when you have two winter
teams in the same building, how's that going to go?
You know, when the SuperSonics come back and it seems
like it's gonna happen, they're gonna take over Seattle, and
(39:51):
the Kraken have to be relevant. The worst thing in
pro sports is apathy. You know, you want your fans,
you want your fans to be like Leaf fans, like
you know, they they they're gonna get ticked off and
they're going to have a parade, cancel the parade and
do it daily. Okay, but they're always there.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Right.
Speaker 6 (40:08):
What we worried about in North Carolina was the ten
years they didn't make the playoffs and there's all these
red seats and people really care, you know, and even
even in San Jose, I think they have to get
back to what was the best, one of the best
places to play, right.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was the but it was the best, right and
you can't you can't linger, to your point if you're
not a traditional hockey market in a lot of the
sense of the word. You cannot linger in a rebuild
and you can't think about drafting and develop. You got
to do what Vegas does and swing and just keep
swinging until there's nothing left.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
It's it's so true.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Now.
Speaker 6 (40:45):
The one thing the Kraken do have is that there's
major junior hockey there and so there's a little bit
of that, and there's Alaska, and there's Oregon, and there's
there's you know, there's a vast territory where people are
going to come and down from Vancouver, people are going
to come to see McDavid and dry Sidle right, because
you can't get to Rogers' arena, but they can come
(41:07):
to Climate Pledge, so you're always going to have that,
So that's going to help them. I don't think it'll
ever be a barren wasteland like we're faced with in Raleigh,
but I do think you have to show fans direction
and you have to really be organized that way, because
it's too much of an economic investment for them to
come to multiple games. We're talking about people that want
(41:30):
to be your lifeline, your season ticket holders, you know,
the people that come every once in a while. That's fine,
but once you start having attrition on your base, who's
replacing the base? Right, That's kind of where it's.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
At rapid fire force. Well, let's get out of here. For
first NHL player.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
You were truly starstruck by Bobby or favorite arena to
call a game in Bell Center? Worst travel nightmare on
a road trip?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
I have been Game one for Amazon. You were stuck
on the Turma.
Speaker 6 (42:00):
No, no, no. The worst one ever was in the
early nineties. Can I go a little longer with this answer? Okay,
We're in Boston and I'm doing the team travel at
the time and doing some radio work for the Whalers,
and this first year the Rutherford Carmenis ownership situation and
we're playing and this is a lockout here. So it's
abbreviated Season forty eight games, nineteen ninety five. Boston. The
(42:24):
afternoon cam Neely hat trick or something, you know, Bork.
They just shellacked the whale that afternoon. We have to
get to Quebec City and it's an all out blizzard
in Boston and Quebec and no cell phones at the time.
So I'm on a landline phone with the commissioner and
weather officials in Quebec and both teams. The game's going on.
I got Chuck Kton next to me, you know, calling
(42:46):
the game, asking me on purpose, asking me on purpose.
When he knows I'm on the phone, Johnny, what do
you think of that play? You know, like, you know,
thanks a lot. So anyway, I'm trying to figure out.
I go down the room and Jason knows. The boys
just want to chirp you. They want to get onto
your skin. They want to see if you've got your shit,
(43:07):
I'm sorry, your act together, you know, Yeah, they want
to make sure you got all this button down all right?
For is what are we doing next? Right? I come
down there. I got everything under control. What are we doing?
We're going to Quincy Market and we're gonna have dinner
right now. So the bus gets everybody. We go over
there and we get some kind of bar restaurant that
gets the guys in there to eat with the general public. No,
(43:30):
you know, Ritz Carlton private room. We're gonna wait it out,
nothing like that. I'm in what was known as a
phone booth. Okay, I'm in now a phone booth on
the phone, and I'm being told by our charter company
we can make a run for it. There's a small
pocket and we're gonna be able to get in. It's
a It's a complete white out in Quebec city. So
(43:51):
we take off the worst takeoff possible. We get up
in the air. The players are all worked up about this.
He can't see anything. I go up in the jump seat,
the only time I've been in the jump seat to
see the landing in Quebeca. It looks like the Emerald City.
We're coming down in oz Oh. This is beautiful. Then
we land, We get off the plane. The winds about
(44:12):
fifty sixty seventy miles an hour snow going sideways, twelve
foot drifts. We get to the chateau front and neck
and we finally get to the hotel and I get
out and I got the key. I got to get
the room keys for Rutherford. And we go to the
door and the hotel the facing of the hotel is
covered in snow. I go to the wrong door. It's
not even the front door. He's right behind me. What
(44:32):
are we doing? Now? You got an answer for this,
I said, Jamie, we gotta go down here were the
wrong door. Anyway, we get in. So that was a nightmare,
and anyway that might have been the worst. But there's
always travel mishaps. You can't get away from that dream.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Broadcast partner dead or alive.
Speaker 6 (44:49):
Oh my god. I'll just pick up play by play
guy because he was my icon when I was a kid,
Dan Kelly. You know, Dan Kelly gave me advice just
before he unfortunately passed away in the late nineties. Jimmy
Roberts and he were best friends, and he's the guy
that told me. I told the story on the air
in Saint Louis this year. During that our homice access
(45:11):
right at the Blues game that he told me, never
sell a goal down, no matter who you're working for
or big save. Don't get dejected. If you're calling a
team game and somebody makes a beautiful play, don't say
and he shoots, he scores, we lost the game. You know,
give it a little bit of juice, give it more
in the home side. But he said, there's nothing like
a goal and there's nothing like a save in hockey.
(45:33):
Those are the crowning moments, So deliver it. So anyway
he'd be I'd like to do a game with him.
He wouldn't be a partner from a color standpoint, But
I've got too many partners to go into that. Broadcast partners,
broadcast partners to go into. Yeah, Eddie, Ed'll be in
the front. I'll get a call as soon as this
(45:53):
thing drops. Yeah, no, no good.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
And last one, one word that describes playoff hockey.
Speaker 6 (45:59):
The greatest, the greatest. There's not thing there's nothing like.
It is the best, the best there is. We love
other sports, but come on now, there's nothing better than
a playoff game.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
There isn't the best, nothing better than John Forz and
calling that playoff game. Honored to call him, a teammate,
a friend on Amazonia and Airmont Turner. You me and
Marco going to a Red Sox game this summer.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
Until then. Great job Fordsy, thank.
Speaker 6 (46:23):
You buddy, Thank you boys, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Headfield bringing us into Cinephile and sixty once again thanks
to John Foreslan a superb play by play guy Sinners.
Right now, it's a number one movie at the box office.
It made forty eight million dollars opening weekend. Great and
I get by Demurz last week in which he pointed
out Ryan Coogler, the director who's made Black Panther, Fruitfille Station, Creed,
He's never had a film lower than ninety five percent
(46:55):
Rotten Tomatoes, proof that Demurs is a movie guy. If
I said that to Mike Ropp, he'd say, what's rotten tomatoes?
Speaker 2 (47:00):
If I said that's too Grimson, you knew like Ninswick,
I got it eight percent ronch Witter, the critics, ninety
seven percent from fans. You rarely get that kind of approval.
Speaker 4 (47:08):
You might get.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
Fans, you might get critics, but people are loving this movie.
I went and saw it seventy millimeters Imax in New York.
This is like the biggest theater in North America and
sold out much of the day.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
And we got through.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
My buddy and I got there an hour before the
movie and he's like, yeah, it's sold on.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
I go, what do you mean. He's like, it's sold
on for an hour in advance on a Saturday. And
I look and I go, hey, it doesn't say it's full.
But he says there's wheelchair seating. And he goes, yeah,
and I go, okay, if no one come, I go.
He goes, he goes, that's not a chair. I understand that,
but it's it's a space, because yeah, if nobody uses
that space, is it like a standing room only in
the game? Like, can I just stand there and watch it?
Speaker 4 (47:43):
And he's like, you didn't, and.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
He goes, I'm not telling you what to do, sir,
But I'm like, I'm just saying if I click on
AMC wheelchair seating and I'm not in a wheelchair, I'll
vacate if someone's in a wheelchair. He's likes, sir, A
better idea is just if you wait a few minutes
and then refresh. I go, all right, fair enough, we refresh.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Once he pops up, I tell anybody, John, get the ticket,
Get it and then I'll stand and you can sit.
We'll switch every hour whatever you want. Like we're going
this goddamn movie. Seventy millimeters Imax. We wait five minutes,
four seats pop up, like yeah, now we're back kid,
So we get two. There's a guy, wait, buddy, twenty bucks.
Go ahead, take this ticket, Sinners Imax, seventy millimeter. Definitely
an homage to from Dust Till Dawn. I know Tow
(48:19):
will agree with that, speaking of the great George Clooney.
And also, I mean, here's the thing. Give it with me,
because I, yeah, I wasn't sure what direction was going Jay,
Like I'm watching, I go okay, I just know it's
getting rave reviews and it's kind of like the Southern Tale,
and it's about these two brothers, my coumpy George's playing
both and you know, black gangsters and hitman whatever.
Speaker 2 (48:38):
I'm like, okay, Like I'm enjoying. It's a bit of
a slow burn. I'm like, I wonder when it's to
get going here. And also they get to the place
where the music's happening, and Hailey Steinfeld's are sh up
and then and then shit just goes bonkers and listen.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
I definitely enjoyed how gory it was and violent it
was and different levels of it, but it wasn't necessarily
what I was expecting, and I'm a little bit surprised
people are loving as much as they are. Like, ultimately,
I walked out there go it's a vampire movie, like
it was great, but it was like, it's just like
a it's a Gordy member, Like why ninety I haven't
checked the reviews yet, why it's sitting such rave reviews.
It's a well done genre movie, but if Jill wasn't
(49:10):
a movie like that which cost it two million.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Dollars to go, Oh, it's just some bullshit schlock movie.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I'm just curious, why Tal, why do you think this
swinge's getting this imprimature of like this is a great film.
Speaker 4 (49:19):
Did you see the budget? Ninety million?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
Like that's stunning?
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Jill Jill before Tal goes and I'll go last because
I'll probably why I won't be a succinct as you guys.
But Jill turned to me because I like, halfway through
the movie, I look over and I said, I always
whisper here, I go, somebody pitched this idea and somebody
said yes, and then she goes better. Yet somebody pitched
the idea and somebody said, here's ninety million, crazy talgo ahead.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
That did that?
Speaker 5 (49:49):
Did happen? Someone did pitch this and get ninety million.
And his name is Ryan Coogler, and it was his idea.
And that's a guy who can pitch whatever he wants
and get it Greenland, And that's what struck. As soon
as the film was over, It's like, I gotta know
what the source material it was for this. This must
have been some sort of crazy graphic novel or something,
(50:09):
and then I saw it was one hundred percent completely
created by Ryan Coogler, who wrote the screenplay, came up
with everything off the top of his dome.
Speaker 2 (50:18):
It worked for me.
Speaker 4 (50:19):
I loved it.
Speaker 5 (50:20):
But if you're wondering how something like this gets approved,
it gets approved by someone who has launched two super
successful movie franchises, who really can do and has Michael B.
Jordan in his back pocket, and they get it done.
And I think I loved it. I thought it worked
for me, but I could see how some people watching
it it might not work. I would I give it
a ninety eight percent rating. I don't know, I really
(50:42):
liked it. I'm not sure it's for everyone, but like
you had n and I had to get a single
individual seat up front crane of my neck to watch
up at Imax.
Speaker 4 (50:51):
I mean, people are going to see this movie.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
I know that much.
Speaker 4 (50:54):
And I liked Again, I really enjoyed it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
We went to the epic and uh yeah, a lot
of it he pulled from his uncle in Mississippi.
Speaker 4 (51:03):
He said, was reading this stuff and touching on that.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
But you know, story of identity, family, you know, faith,
I think a lot of that, letting the evil in also,
you know, there's a lot of references to the devil,
you know, of God and good and evil.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
And blues the Devil's music.
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Yeah, and then and then Jill said something at the end.
She just kind of said, she said, listen, it did
the job it was set out to do, and it's
making people talk, and it elicited a reaction. It wasn't
just something like it was just like you walked out
and you're like I walked out and I was like,
well that was something. I'm like, I think I liked it.
You know, at the start, we're an hour in and
(51:43):
I look over at Jill and I.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
Said, it's just gonna get going.
Speaker 3 (51:46):
Well, I said, I heard this is a vampire movie.
She's like, it's supposed to be a vampire movie. And
then I mean, I think those the three, the group
of three, like the three initial vampires. I think they
were kind of stole the movie. I think they were incredible.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
What was the team? Why were they singing like Celtic music?
Speaker 3 (52:03):
Yeah, I don't know if the Irish team Irish Catholic
stuff to do with Christ because and he you know,
the interesting thing is that lead vampire, you know, would
take all the memories of everybody that he would eat
or whatever turn. It's been all the memories of all
the lords and ladies of years past, and probably when
(52:24):
what's his name, when the kid I don't even remember
any fucking names, that's how bad it. But the kid
James with the guitar, and he's saying when he starts
doing the Bible hymn of delivering Me from Evil, and
then he's the vampires were citing it with him and
said like I've heard this, you know whatever, and this
kept me comfort and things like that. So interesting movie enjoyed.
(52:44):
It was a little bit like WTF, but yeah, it was.
It passed the time. I wonder if he just Coogler
just sits in the room and being like, I'm gonna
mess with these people and go so far to the
right and just watch them see if they'll turn me down. Ever,
and the execs are like, wow, Will Koog's cooks, He's
(53:08):
done it again.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
I think if we were to rank it in three stars,
tal of the most. I liked it at JD just
liked it right, love it. I liked it a lot,
you liked it.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
It's just a very degrees. We're all we're all giving
it up.
Speaker 3 (53:20):
We all like it as a as a harmonica guy
and a lover of blues and jazz. I love I
got the music jo and I said the soundtrack was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (53:29):
Right point, and also got my favorite part, Delroy Lindo,
the great Dela Linda, who says, at one point, I
shot myself.
Speaker 4 (53:34):
How good was he?
Speaker 2 (53:35):
He's incredible the show ye when he sacrificed himself last
call motherfuckers?
Speaker 6 (53:42):
He was.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
He was fantastic. All right, Thank you so much for
checking out NHL.
Speaker 1 (53:46):
In scripted with a heavy dose of John Foresland CF
twice a week. We're back later in the week and
we'll talk more with this fantastic NHL first round and
perhaps will the new harmonica opened from Jason de Murz
next time round. NHL Unscripted is a production of the
(54:16):
NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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