2027 Memorial Cup Bid & Where Would You Sit? | The Game Sports Podcast

[00:00:05] Speaker A: Booyah. And it's time for the Game Sports podcast. It is Your host, David McCaig Jr. The Game Sports Podcast is powered by 91 Network. Head on over to 91 and YouTube channel and also featured on spaces that is powered through Village Media and Sue Today. But we're also able to be tuned in on wherever you get your podcast. But those are the areas where you want to go. So to get a part of the action as well as make sure to follow us social media, tick tock, Instagram. We're all over to search at the game sports podcasts. Just remember that the Game Sports podcast. Now without further ado, to kick off the show we are doing top shelf, little little toe drag, top chat on the backhand, ting tong to the ice. Okay? The one, the only. Introducing the co host. Join yours truly, Brendan McCarthy. Brendan, my friend, how's it going? [00:00:56] Speaker B: What's up, my guy? Good to be back with you. I'm gonna come out out of the gate. Spicy question for you. [00:01:03] Speaker A: Out of the gate. [00:01:04] Speaker B: All right. I know you're a big Bills guy and a big Leafs fan. Well, actually, I don't know for sure if you're a big Bills guy. I'm being presumptuous here. [00:01:13] Speaker A: Steelers fan. No. [00:01:14] Speaker B: What am I saying? That's fine. [00:01:19] Speaker A: Blew it. That's fine. You know what, that's good because I do have a soft spot for the Bills because I feel bad for them. So that's fine. But I am a Steelers fan. But I love, I feel bad for the Bills because of last week. So you can say that. Still. [00:01:31] Speaker B: I, I'm sure you, I'm sure your, your base at least, you know, I mean, Eric Werner, for instance, he's a, he's a big Bills guy. [00:01:39] Speaker A: So I haven't texted him lots of people. [00:01:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't. I, I, I've been kind of approaching it a little bit, you know, trying to, trying to ease into it. But I was thinking the last few days and I wanted to ask you this, which fan base has suffered more? The trauma police, the Toronto police or the Buffalo Bills? [00:02:03] Speaker A: You know what? This may all time, this may come as a surprise answer to people, but I'm going to say the Buffalo Bills. And the reason why I'm going to say the Buffalo Bills is because they haven't won a championship. Toronto hasn't won over 55 years, but that's a team that has the second most cups in NHL history. And yeah, they haven't really won since the or they haven't won since they've expanded to more than six teams and yes, there's been a lot of pain. 2013 you keep backtracking. You can go to 1999 when they lost the Buffalo Sabers. 98 doesn't matter. The if O2 when they lost to Carolina in the conference final. Oh four when they lost to Philadelphia with the Ronick celebration dancing down the Air Canada center from the, from the hash marks to the blue. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Never forget that. [00:02:49] Speaker A: You got a lot of moments in Toronto sports where it's a lot of all right, but the Buffalo Bills made the Super bowl not one, not two, not three, four times in a row in the 90s and lost, okay to a very stacked 90s kind of football teams that were out there, the Niners, the Cowboys, a lot of good teams. But he also had the Bills now who are choking in the it doesn't matter if it's divisional, if it's the championship round, they just can't get over that hump. And a big part of that is because of the, the Mahomes train or dare I say the ref train as well. But I'm not going to get into that too much. The Buffalo Bills have not been able to win championships ever. They have been absolutely teased by having that MVP caliber season like Josh Allen and these great players come through those that those teams in the 90s and now and they're not able to take that leap into the next step. Toronto Maple Leafs have choked. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been very painful and as a Leaf fan, biggest team that I cheer for, the big like the I bleed the blue all over me. Okay. But I can and I can tell you I will cry when the day happens when if it's Matthews or if It's Austin Matthews Jr. The first second, whoever lifts that cup eventually before I hopefully croak I I will tell you right now the Buffalo Bills are still a more suffering franchise because of what they've had to go through and they haven't won once. That is the big thing for me. [00:04:13] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. I I hear that you make some really good points. I was thinking about it today on my 6:30am Ride to work while listening. [00:04:22] Speaker A: Pre coffee right Boston Bruins goal song. [00:04:25] Speaker B: Oh geez yeah couldn't couldn't do it this time. Around 6:30am Pre coffee I guess somehow my juices were flowing and I was like I gotta ask, I gotta ask that to Davy later. I would say the Maple Leafs because I feel like if you're a Buffalo Bills fan, you at least have been treated to deep runs and the Ending has been really tough, but if you're a Leafs fan, it's actually just comical at this point because while you can get your hopes up and you say this year is going to be different, it's. It's a choke job every damn year. It's a joke job. And, you know, the last few years, you know, Kansas City has been on Buffalo, and eventually, eventually, it's kind of like Pitt and Washington in the NHL, right? Eventually. Eventually, Obi and the Caps were able to get over that hump. And Allen is a tremendous talent. He's going to be able to get the Bills over that hump. Mahomes and the Chiefs are like basically the monsters from Space Jam. So at least they've been like, they've been in the Big Dance, not the super bowl, but, you know, on the AFC level, right? Like, they've been there. They're not. I don't consider them like a joke or a laughing stock. And for the Leafs, it's like, you kind of know how this movie ends. And other than the 2002 conference final run against the Carolina Hurricanes, each year or each year since they've made the playoffs, it's been a disappointment. Like the 2023 year, like, they got walked by the Panthers. Great, they won around against Tampa, but, like, the second round was. It was a disaster, so. And they've also just had a history of, you know, blowing leads and having major meltdown. So I guess I would counter yours just by saying at least the Bills have treated the fans to entertaining and deep runs. While for the Leafs, it's almost always a heartbreak and always early of an exit. Right. [00:06:34] Speaker A: Love that. Good points. Okay. Okay. And you know what? Buffalo Bills fans are just across the way from Toronto. It's literally an hour and a skip from Toronto over the bridge. Right? And you know, there's a lot of Toronto people that are Buffalo fans and people that we know that are Buffalo fans. I could tell you right now, being in the city of Buffalo, overall, though, they've been treated to a lot of pain. If it comes from the Sabers. If it comes from the Bills, you know, the Sabers lost in the Cup Finals, right? To the stars on a goal that should have probably been called back. If you think, look back to the previous rules with the crease rule. So that hurts me a lot, that feeling bad from that. The city of Buffalo has never seen a championship where the city of Toronto, if you and I know that's not the question, we talk about Bills and leave Central. But now if I'm looking at a city perspective, Toronto's had more success most recently the Raptors 2019. Right. They were treated to a championship parade and it's it's the Argonauts if you want to consider the cfl. It's not the same as the NFL in any which way, but the Argos have been a successful franchise. I think the city of Buffalo just hasn't had that taste of winning and the Sabers and Bills are two different cookies in a complete different jar. But I feel bad for Buffalo in its entirety because this Bill's loss. I thought this was the year that they were going to beat the Chiefs. I truly did. I thought this was the Lions year overall that was going to win the super bowl. But once the Lions got eliminated in fashion by the Commanders, by the way, I thought this okay, this is Josh Allen, Josh Allen's time, right. And Patrick Mahomes said ah no, no no no no. Lot of BS calls though. I am sorry, I've never said that all year about the Chiefs. I will say that game had a lot of missed calls and I I it of course is highlighted to Kansas City because of Mahomes and Kelsey because they're in the spotlight. Kelsey because of who he is and who he's dating but also Mahomes because of who he is. It's but overall Brennan, good points you had. I really think it can go either way but that depends on who you ask. Is championships and pedigree more important are we assessing overall that this the entertainment factor that you had that they've been close to the dance, that they almost did it or is doing it as a legacy, as a franchise as I hit my mic more important or more something to discuss. So that's good, that's good interaction for people below. I probably won't upload the full 7 minute clip of this because there's no social media space that has it could go either way. It could go either way. [00:09:06] Speaker B: Definitely could go either way like you said. [00:09:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. Now I think that when it comes to the overall hockey realm, I know we were going to talk and this is a topic that know we discussed off air. Four nations it's just around the corner right. It's literally two weeks away. Next week when we're back it's going to be me, you and Par when Par is back because he has the week off slacker he gets. [00:09:31] Speaker B: He has a purulator side gig that's. [00:09:35] Speaker A: 100 why he Alex Petrangelo will not be playing in four nations and of Course, all the Vegas haters out there are saying, well okay, Petronilo, is he gonna go back on ir? Is Mac Mark Stone gonna go on ir? And then in the trade deadline, they're gonna trade for Malkin Carlson. They're gonna trade for all the lads and stack up and try to win. Right? I, I don't not going to go down that realm. But Petra Angelo withdraws some four nations and next week we're going to get to a lot of interaction ability with four nations. It's going to be fun because that I'm so excited for it. But Petra Angelo withdraws at this point, we're still thinking about what the next steps are going to be for Canada. We don't know. I'm sure we'll have more next week, but what do you think this affects Brennan from a Petrangelo standpoint and Team Canada in its entirety. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah, this was a major mic drop because he's been such an important piece on an international level, obviously in the NHL. He's got a Cup and he's got a prolific career in the National Hockey League as well. But internationally too, like World cup of Hockey Olympics. Like he is a trusted vet on the back end. He's one of the top tier defensemen in the NHL and this is a massive shot basically to, you know, the NHL and Gary Bettman basically saying, I don't really give a shit. And I'm focusing on Vegas and the playoffs and another run at a Cup. And it's kind of disappointing because it's awesome to see like this type of. [00:11:10] Speaker A: Talent, the best players in the world. [00:11:12] Speaker B: The best players at the international level. Like, you know, we've been robbed of it at the Olympics the last couple of years. Couple of years to see NHL talent. And now my worry, Davey, is is this going to kick start kind of the domino effect, like who's next? [00:11:26] Speaker A: Right? [00:11:27] Speaker B: Because now it's like, hey, he did it now. Even though if I was thinking about it, maybe I wasn't because I didn't want to be the first one. He said exactly McKinnon like a Kachuk brother, like someone now that a big dog has done it. And fair enough, but he withdrew and who's next? And I wouldn't be surprised if there's a handful more. [00:11:53] Speaker A: So look out. I hope not. And I hope the names aren't Crosby, McKinnon, McDavid, Matthews, Nylander. Look, I'm a Leaf fan saying that I'm scared as a Leaf fan of injury for Matthews and Nylander, sort of. Unless they can Go on IR and they can open up that cap space for Toronto to cheat the deadline. You know, then I'm fine with it. As long as they come back by playoffs. I really don't care. Right. So I get the Vegas way. So at the end of the day it's sad to see but I think there are some replacement opportunities. But it's not going to be Morgan Rielly. I saw some comments with that. Let me tell you right now, Morgan Riley is not going to be a replacement for Team Canada. [00:12:30] Speaker B: No. [00:12:30] Speaker A: Or get the call and I'm sure we'll have another name by next week. We don't need to sit here and guess because it'll probably be a dated guess. But I got to shut down the Morgan Rielly. The more Morgan Rielly chatter. Okay. [00:12:42] Speaker B: And Davey I keep hearing and I'm like I, I want to rip my hair out. People are like, oh Drew Dowdy. I'm like he has not played all season. I don't really care about like his history. Yeah, he was an important piece but he will just be a tree trunk out there. Like he what when did he get injured in the preseason and it was a bad, it was a bad injury. [00:13:04] Speaker A: Right? It will and it will be. It will 100% be. If that's the case, if you're getting him, you got to consider Morgan Riley before you consider him. Right. Because he hasn't played. He has been a trunk right here. He would be a trunk out there. And the. I'll say because I don't. I said I wasn't going to get in for two predictions. This guy is a dual citizen. But I'm going to say a name that might peak interest and might just be conversation. Jacob Chickren. Just gonna, okay, I'm gonna just say that as a little placeholder for someone and people to be like oh wait a second. Right. Wait a second. Like Amer. He's got the duel. He's from like originally from the Canada side playing the O for Sarnia, having a great year in Washington. Just saying this players that he brought up, that is John Cooper has been role players. Sorelli, Hagel Point, maybe he's going to look at that third parry. Defenseman's going to block shots. He can play a two way game and he's going to play in those, get those minutes near the end of the game that you don't have to put McCarr out there for who's the best defenseman in the world. [00:14:08] Speaker B: But yeah, just no, he, you know, Jacob Chickren. Is like, arguably the fittest guy in the NHL. Have you heard his, like, meal plans? It's like liver and, like, dry spinach. It's, like, disgusting, but he's shredded. And, yeah, that. You could bring up a good point with John Cooper, too. I also think maybe Chris Tanov could be an option too, as kind of your third pair. Shut down. Rugged guy. Yeah, but we'll see, man. Like, I. I'm more just like, geez, who's next to go? Right. [00:14:38] Speaker A: I don't even want to think in it, but it is gonna happen. [00:14:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:41] Speaker A: Now, Brennan, just for sake of time, I know we had one more topic. We will dive into it because we don't have in the pocket this week. So there is a little bit more flexibility in time, but to keep our time respectable, I know you had one thing you want, one more thing you wanted to bring up. We're not. [00:14:54] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:14:55] Speaker A: An update shoot, and then I'll wrap up top shelf this week. [00:15:00] Speaker B: Okay. Have you seen that meme before where it's like, which table you sitting at? And it's a bunch of, like, celebrities or athletes or public figures. [00:15:07] Speaker A: Oh, whatever. Yeah, okay. That. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Right. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. Yes, I have. Yes. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:15:13] Speaker B: So I have. I have four tables. You would be the fifth guy joining. [00:15:18] Speaker A: Okay. [00:15:18] Speaker B: And I'm going to rhyme them off here. Table one through four. And it's. It's a cast of characters. Let's say that. Table one. [00:15:26] Speaker A: Yep. [00:15:27] Speaker B: So picture you're at the cafeteria with your tray, your sloppy joes. Where are you gonna. Where are you gonna sit down? Table one, Vince Vaughn. Conor McDavid, Conor McGregor, Serena Williams. Okay, that's table one. Pretty good. Pretty good pack. [00:15:41] Speaker A: Yes, yes. [00:15:42] Speaker B: Okay, table two. Bradley Cooper, Auston Matthews, Marie Philippe Poulain, or Jesse Eisenberg. Remember that cat in the Social Network? Kind of a lame. Oh, he's. He's kind of lame. Table three. Sit. The kid. Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Joe Biden. Okay, table four. Barack Obama, Bobby McMahon, Nick Kyrgios, Gary Bettman. [00:16:15] Speaker A: Oh, I like those options. I'm actually going to probably go. The one where people thought that I probably wouldn't like. Probably thought I would go. I'm going with table one. Vince Vaughn, Conor McDavid, Conor McGregor, and Serena Williams. One Vince Vaughn. I love wedding crashers. Vince Vaughn is absolutely hilarious. He would be eating food with his hands. All the crab cakes. Get my reference. If you know. You know Connor McDavid crab cakes. [00:16:40] Speaker B: They're phenomenal. [00:16:41] Speaker A: The Connor McDavid, the best hockey player in the world. Okay. And McDavid, I'm David McCaig. We can just start a big conversation. Number three, Conor McGregor. I'd want to try to fight him for fun. Probably lose. Or I would lose. Let's get honest here. I would lose, but, you know, I would love to know what's going through that guy's head, because he actually seems like he'd be an absolutely cool dude, but on camera, he's all showboat. Would love to see how he is outside of the camera. Serena Williams, arguably the best athlete of all time. Arguably. I don't care what anybody says. The best athlete of all time. I'd love just to get to know her. And you know what? She also has a. A workout me or a workout cameo in the movie Knives Out, Glass Onion, if you haven't seen it. And I. I would love to know what she does for a routine, because Serena, that girl in shape, man, let me tell you, I. That table. So many conversations I can have. That's where my mind's at. And you know what I would love to see? Just look at Austin Matthews and just wave at him with his jersey on while I'm at that table sitting beside McDavid. [00:17:44] Speaker B: Honestly. Honestly, it's a pretty A plus table. It's a. It's a good group. I like it. If I were to pick. I like table one, I think table three would. Would have some life. Like Sid the Kid, you know, humble Ellen DeGeneres. She'd crack the jokes. Chris Rock, you know, he cracked the jokes. And Joe Biden, I think he'd just, you know, be, like, happy to be there. [00:18:13] Speaker A: He would be half there, half not. And he'd probably ride in on his bike. That's 100. When he would. Yeah. [00:18:20] Speaker B: Table three is. Is not bad. I don't. I don't mind table three. Yeah. Table one is pretty top heavy table. [00:18:28] Speaker A: Table two, you take out Eisenberg, makes a little bit tougher. And table four, you take out Bettman. Okay. I don't want. Batman just looks like, no, I don't want to have drinks, and I'm fine with that. [00:18:38] Speaker B: Each one, I tried to keep one that's kind of like, oof. Like, not ideal. Like, McGregor is kind of like an odd dude. Obviously, Batman's not great. Biden's just like, you know, like you said, half in, half out. And Eisenberg just sucks. So I had to. I had to put, like, one kind of, like, you know, yeah. Odd one in there. [00:19:00] Speaker A: And I'm the Conor McCon or the McGregor you know what I mean? McGregor would be. [00:19:04] Speaker B: But the only thing Davies, table one. McGregor would get Ann. Especially after he has some whiskey and. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Oh, he'd be. [00:19:10] Speaker B: He'd be really annoying. [00:19:11] Speaker A: You know who would be my. [00:19:12] Speaker B: Pardon my French. Sorry. [00:19:14] Speaker A: I'll put him through a table. You know who's going to help me put him through a table? Serena Williams. [00:19:18] Speaker B: Serena Williams. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Serena Williams. [00:19:20] Speaker B: Can we swear on this podcast? I didn't even know I said we can. [00:19:23] Speaker A: We can. Well, we try not to, but you know what, kids, parents, we try not to swear, but we do want. Because we are. [00:19:29] Speaker B: We've all heard it. [00:19:30] Speaker A: Season. We've all heard it. Serena Williams and I will give the dudley dudley boys 3d through a table. If you know, you know, baby. Okay, References today are on fire. I'm sorry. I'm feeling it with Vince Vaughn. Love it. That got me fired up. We gotta do that. [00:19:44] Speaker B: Love it, man. [00:19:45] Speaker A: I thought you'd like it. Love that. [00:19:46] Speaker B: Maybe part. Maybe Par can join in in the future on one of those. [00:19:49] Speaker A: Next week we are doing another one of that. I am gonna make sure the table. The table seat. The table seating. I'm gonna call it. You can fix that up for next week. All right, Brennan. Love it. Okay, we hit the 20 minute mark for our episode. That's fair enough. And I think it's time that we sail off into the sunset and I catch an Uber with the lads and Serena to go to the next half to go to the after party. And I'm getting you to come join us, but nonetheless, there's another week of top shelf, my friend, and it's been fun. [00:20:18] Speaker B: All right, man. Cheers. [00:20:19] Speaker A: Awesome. That's Brandon McCarthy all the way in the GTA area. Yours truly, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the heart of the Great Lakes. Here to remind you, of course. No, I'm not doing my exit. I'm going to remind you to make sure you hit like follow and subscribe and interact with all the content that we bring you. Tik Tok, Instagram. We're all over just at the game sports podcast. You'll find us powered by 91 Network and featured on spaces through Village Media and suit today. I'll be right back. When we come back, we got Chuck a puck now more hockey, but from a local centralized way. And that'll be with Jordan Trudeau. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to the game sports podcast. It is your host, David McCaig Jr. Continuing to host you. And guess what? It's time for my weekly stand, weekly walkover and the weekly Grab of the Chuck A. Puck. Now, it's not the fake one, so I got to be very cautious, especially now for a lot of reasons. So I'm just going to drop it on the desk table. Okay. The official Sue Greyhounds puck. There it is. Hopefully you heard it. The chap puck has been tossed and it landed in the middle. I am joined by Jordan Trudeau for our Chucka Puck segment. Of course, Truds, my friend. Another week. How you doing? [00:21:29] Speaker C: Good, Dave, how are you? I'm doing great. [00:21:32] Speaker A: Good, man. Feeling great. A lot of energy. Obviously I'm a loud dude, I'm very social. But I'm just feeling a little extra because I love Chuck A. Puck and we know you, especially those in Sault Ste Marie. Yes, Chuck A Puck has a little extra content towards the Sue Greyhounds because that's where the game Sports podcast is located. And in particular they would like to highlight spaces through Village Media and Sue today. When it comes to our local talent here in Sault Ste Marie in terms of sports teams, in particular the Sue Greyhounds, we're very excited for a lot of local content that we're finally going to be bringing back to the game sports podcast on top of the national. So of course, look, it's winter time. It definitely is winter time. The day of this recording. It is ridiculous. What's going on outside? A lot of snow. Snowblower. I haven't done it yet. I'm have to do it after the recording. I'm sure a lot of you right now listening to the show, you're likely going to listen to it on the 29th or the 30th. You probably don't need to snow blow by then. Hopefully. Hopefully it's all done. But the weather has been nuts. But that means when there's snow on the ground, that is hockey. And we still have greyhounds to talk about truth. So speaking of the greyhounds, I'm going to lead it off to you to give us the update from last week and the update for this for the games upcoming this week. [00:22:46] Speaker C: Yeah. So the. We'll start with the games upcoming this week. So there's Kitchener tomorrow. That's Wednesday, so we're recording on Tuesday, 28 January. Kitchener's tomorrow, another tough test and Branford on Friday. So they kind of always give me flashbacks from the 2018 OHL championship. [00:23:07] Speaker A: Yikes. [00:23:08] Speaker C: Whenever that jersey comes in to to the gardens, I always get a little tough year nightmare there. [00:23:14] Speaker A: That was the year. That was the year. [00:23:16] Speaker C: Yeah. So Kitchener's third in the Western Conference. Branford's fifth in the east, but they are four points out of first. So, you know, two rough games at home and then they'll travel to Saginaw on Sunday to play Misa and company. I mentioned it last week. There's. There's no easy games left. Right. So, I mean, hoping to get at least one out of the three games on the weekend. It's going to be tough, though. It'd be tough to go two and one, but that, that would be really impressive. And this last weekend they went one and one, I guess you'd say. So this is counting the game against Flint on Friday. They beat them and they lost to London on Sunday. Obviously London's the number one team in the CHL for good reason. [00:24:08] Speaker A: Very good team. [00:24:09] Speaker C: Really proved that on, on Sunday. You know, they're very dangerous in the offensive zone. Quick and crisp through the neutral zone. They even were without Barky and Cowan, their two best players. So they were both day to day with injuries and they, they still showed their. Their depth. They get on you really quick. Big, strong, veteran, fast. But the hounds managed to hang with them for the better part of two periods. [00:24:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:24:34] Speaker C: So, I mean, that's, that's positive. I know reading Peter Reaches article, they obviously wanted more, but it's definitely a positive to hang with, hang with the number one team for two periods. The more exciting game against Flint. We had a. We had a goalie goal. [00:24:56] Speaker A: Sure did. [00:24:56] Speaker C: The highlight from the weekend, Nolan Lalonde, from behind his own net, took a shot at the empty net and he executed it perfectly. The crowd went absolutely bananas, you know, like what a year it's been, honestly. Yeah, like it might not be the most successful greyhound season, but, like, there have been lots of, like, good memories. [00:25:18] Speaker A: You know, good moments. Right. You look at. Yeah. [00:25:21] Speaker C: Oh, and then we're get like, like we had like a multitude of injuries. Like a goalie goal now. It's been a really, like, up and down, crazy season. Just before last weekend, no lawn went about eight and a half periods without letting in a goal dating back to the Peterborough game. So, like, what a great start for him on his new team. Yeah, like, definitely been some great moments this year. [00:25:45] Speaker A: First goalie goal in greyhound history. [00:25:48] Speaker C: Greyhound history. [00:25:48] Speaker A: Yeah, history. That is. That deserves the thumbs up for that. Deserves the chuka puck this week. He get. Nolan L gets the chuka puck this week. Kid has come into the Sioux and has won over the fan base. He's definitely done very well in the crease that goal. Unfortunately, I missed the live I would have loved to see that live. That would have been so flipping cool to see. And what a shot it was on the money. And the crowd reaction was priceless. I was like, what is happen? Like, everyone's excited. It's excitement on a season that. Yeah, you know what? We're not. As a Su Rayon fan base, if you're, as I say the word, we, if you're a St. Greyhound fan, you're not going to see the Memorial cup this year, most likely. Okay? But you know what? You get some playoff time with these kids, despite who they play. Four and out, five and out, whatever it is. This is definitely. There's been highlights this year. Truth. That's a very good point and that's been highlighted. Laund trade, Schenkel getting moved in that big ovation. Great. They showed a lot in the community to back him up. Gibson, we got to see Gibson be in the World Juniors this year. Who was part of our team still before getting traded. We got the Brady Bunches now. Okay. The B. Okay. There's a lot of fun entertainment this year when it comes in the air at the GFL Memorial Gardens. And I think we're going to see some playoff hockey. Like I said, it's going to be likely quick. But with Nolan L, he can steal some games in there and make it very interesting and make it a little bit more positive of a run. And it's great to see the. The work. See that goal, though. I know we're talking. That. That was so cool. True. It's so cool. [00:27:22] Speaker C: It was pretty cool. I remember, like, I remember watching him stop the puck behind the net and I. I screamed myself, like, go. Like, go for it. Yeah, do it. Because I think he's gonna do it. Like, I remember saying, like, he's gonna do it. And then he. And then he did it. And you could see the puck going into the net. That's going in like, that was. That was amazing. [00:27:43] Speaker A: So cool. The confidence to do that, too. [00:27:46] Speaker C: He's the 12th goalie in OHL history. I believe I saw it on the Sugar Hunts fan club. I think 1212 goalie in OHL history to. To do it. So, like, props to him. [00:27:58] Speaker A: And then Adolkovich from Pittsburgh got a goal and assess, right? By the way, the Dalkovich has a goal and assist that's more points than Adam Graves. He's a defenseman on Pittsburgh. Okay. He has no points. But listen, okay, when your goal, he's got more points than you. It's pretty funny to bring up, but joke says point Is that whole point is that goalie goals are happening, goalies are trying it, you know, and then when there's empty net and you're in the stadium and a goalie grabs the puck, I was like, oh. Everyone's just like, yes, yes, you are. Shoot that. I don't care. Shoot that. [00:28:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. [00:28:25] Speaker A: I remember. [00:28:26] Speaker C: I think Matt Valalta tried for one his last year, but he never got one. But I think he tried a good three or four times. I wanted to mention too. So tough day against London as well. But one player really stood out for me and that was Justin Clue J. So I wanted to talk about him a little bit. [00:28:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:28:46] Speaker C: So I wanted to slide in a story. I know we got like, we're always pressed for time, but. So when I, I went last season, I went to pick up my cousin in Waterloo. He goes to university down there and I went with my uncle and we caught the Greyhounds in Kitchener and Guelph and we sat, we ended up sitting beside this old time season ticket holder in Kitchener and he, we were talking to him all night and he said like that number 24 on the Greyhounds, that, that Justin Clue J is like, like this whole arena despises him and the way he plays and like he just really. But it's actually, like, it's actually a positive thing for Justin because one of those players that you hate to play against and that's, that's how he put it, like tenacious. But you want him on your team. And like he had two goals against London on Sunday, so the best team in the chl. And, and he put out a really good performance. He's always noticeable. Peter Ricci talked about him on Rock101 the other day. It's like, no matter what type of game he's having, like, he, he brings the energy. And you, you notice him out there, he's about to smash his point total. Two from last year. So he's, he's only two away. And there's, there's. From the 40 point, 40 point total and there's, there's 28 games left. So like he's, he's, he's awesome to watch. Doesn't shy away from the corners, rough stuff, mind games. He's all over that. And I just want to add this in. Congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins on their unsigned free agent Justin Cliche. Should I add that in or. [00:30:24] Speaker A: Kyle Dubas gets a win on this show because he ain't, he ain't getting any wins anywhere else right now. Okay. Because I had a very interesting point to say and I have respect for Dubas, but this is something that we've talked about, our top shelf segment. Dubas has been claimed as the boy wonder when he got signed to Toronto, big hockey mecca. The world of Maple Leafs are obviously with the Hounds hometown team. He made some trades. Some, some, some. One trade in particular that people always go back on, and that's Jack Campbell. Okay, so he traded for him in the NHL too. All right, so the thing is, Dubas has been called boy wonder. And the question that I get is, has he truly proven himself as that boy wonder? And I would love to know people's answers to this. A non suway bias, but I'll say that he's a Sue boy representing the Sioux and very proud of him for being a Sue guy and doing what he's doing because he's been a GM in the National Hockey League and now higher up in Pittsburgh, he might be the guy who trades Crosby, who knows, because there's all that going on. But the thing is, I will say that in Toronto, he had a lot of. A lot of things that were on that roster. And I think the rebuild phase in Pittsburgh is going to be the opportunity to see this boy wonder at work if he can really, truly build a rebuilding team and lead it to a championship. Okay, so I won't have an answer yet, but yeah, you're right, he hasn't proven himself yet. There hasn't been that success. But for him to be from the sue, it's cool to see the success that he has in that signing with Clue. We've talked about it for a few weeks. Great signing. We know Dubas is going to be signing the Hounds, the people from there. So Pittsburgh get used to being Susei Marie Greyhound fans. Okay. But you're going to also be fans of Justin Cluce. [00:32:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I, Well, I just like, I just. Yeah, I like to sign that and slide that in there because, like, I just. That's who I picture. Clay. He's. He's. Yeah, he's unsigned right now, but like, we just been joking about it for a couple weeks, right? [00:32:26] Speaker A: Like, yeah, Pittsburgh Penguins. [00:32:28] Speaker C: Dude, he's gonna be a Pittsburgh Penguin. [00:32:31] Speaker A: Yeah, he's gonna be playing online with Brian Ross next year. Yeah, like, that's what's gonna happen. [00:32:36] Speaker C: Yeah. But outstanding player. And now he still has the Iron man street going too, so that's cool. [00:32:43] Speaker A: That's cool. Good, Good point. See that? And he's a fan favorite here in the sue and people Love. Love them. That's great to see. No lawn might be taking a lot of that spotlight right now, but it's, it's cool to see. It's. It takes a lot. There's a, it's a retooling year, but it's been an exciting retooling year for the organization now leading to excitement of for retooling. There's a reason why this team is retooling and we said we're going to devote time to talk about this. So we are. And then we have a funny little idea at the end that we're going to throw as a plug. But in summary, in 2025, the Memorial cup is in Momouski. That's this year. 2026, you got Kelowna. So that means in 2027 the Memorial cup is coming to back to the Ontario Hockey League. The last Memorial cup it was between Sault Ste. Marie and. And Saginaw. All right. And Sault Ste. Marie lost out. And the reason why for the loss out was because of roster. There was other reasons that have been brought up. One in particular that's a. A legal issue that the committee paid witness to. Okay. According to. I'm not going to say anything about verifying reports or anything like that, but let's verify reports. Okay. Like that. Okay. Something happened that they witnessed that may or may not have factor in a decision. Okay. But that aside, okay. We are a. A city that is craving that host for the Memorial Cup. There is a newer arena here in Sault Ste. Marie. It's went through a few name changes. Steel Back and SR if you remember. Now it's back to gfl but Memorial Gardens thankfully. But this is a team that's looking for a bid and they have the roster makeup truths of a team that has that retooling time frame of after 2026 when in 2027. That's the year they're going to start looking to compete and really be a competitive team. They just. They brought in a bunch of draft picks they can draft or they can move those for future assets, whatever the case may be. You got Brady Martin on the centerpiece of that. You got a lot of good core guys that are part of. There's more. I'm just naming one right now. There's more players that could be pointed out, but the OHL trudes. The bid is for 2027. [00:34:58] Speaker C: Yes. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Leaving the floor for you before I kind of give a little. My little reaction about what I think I want to leave it to you to Say that the sue, should they make a bid? Will they make a bid? Do they have a chance at winning the bid? There's the three questions. [00:35:12] Speaker C: I say yes to all three of those questions. I think that with how aggressive Lukenda and the Greyhounds organization was was last bid and you know they were, they were so close and I, I don't like, I know that the roster structure was the main reason why the Memorial cup commit choosing committee said that they went with Saginaw. Well the fact of the matter is that turned out to be wrong and I, I, that's flat out the truth. When you look at the roster, how both teams perform pre deadline. Right. Like I mean and, and, and that wasn't just a Memorial cup committee. That was a lot of people around the OHL and around hockey world that you know, didn't think that the Greyhounds had anything last year Peter Richie mentioned that, mentioned that on the broadcast too and he said they were not expected to be as good as they were. It seemed like only Sioux fans knew the strength of the team coming, coming up. [00:36:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:22] Speaker C: So like to put that into perspective. So when I say pre deadline the Greyhounds were above Saginaw in the standings and post deadline we're talking about a Greyhound team that was tied in game seven with the Memorial cup champ that had only added three players to their roster in a deadline where Saginaw added about upwards of nine, eight or nine. So it was wrong. It was. I'm not saying it wasn't. [00:37:00] Speaker A: There's more to it. There's more to it and we know. [00:37:03] Speaker C: What it is the right call. I'm saying it just turned out to be wrong. So had the Greyhounds had the Memorial cup last year, I'm assuming they would have made a more aggressive push at the deadline. So anyway, but, but that just kind of proves those three points that you brought up. Should they, Will they and do they have a shot? Should they? Yes. And will they? Yes. Like we mentioned before, they have now I think what 10 07. I can't remember the exact number because it keeps going up all the time. 1007. That's ten 17 year olds who will be 19 in that memorial cup bidding year. And they've added Brady T. Smith as well as Brady T. Smith as a first round pick. So who's 16 this year? So he'll be 18 and he's a highly touted prospect. So their, their roster structure, their group of oh Sevens is, is there now. [00:38:09] Speaker A: Yep. [00:38:09] Speaker C: So that reason is it's gonna be a tough thing for the moral cup committee to say well your roster's not there when like you look at okay. Chase Reed, Jordan Sharon Brady Martin, Travis Hayes, you know, David Hollub. Right. Like like the list goes on. [00:38:31] Speaker A: Right. And the players that you can add from the draft this year, next year or trade for next year if not not that you're making a run next year. You're still in a unique phase next year but you can still that's where you want to see progression next year to a degree more mid mid pack. Right. Making some noise seeing that this core is going to be a favorite going and I mean it's a pretty big course like a core 1, 2, 3, 4. There's multiple players a part of this and they're building a case to show that this is a roster that that will not be a reason to be an excuse to not be there. But look, I know other cities are gonna bid. You wonder if someone like Guelph London. Guelph will probably be the other one. [00:39:14] Speaker C: It looks like well like the way they rebuilt this year that it right now that'll be the greyhounds primary adversary there. Whether or not Guelph's gonna plan to bid or not. I mean the Sleeman center is not too much bigger as a facility than the gfl. [00:39:35] Speaker A: No. [00:39:36] Speaker C: It's just the location of obviously Guelph's in the gta so it's that just gives it a huge advantage in itself. [00:39:44] Speaker A: Yep. [00:39:45] Speaker C: But you know you that's you do what you can and I think right now they are doing everything they can to prepare for Memorial cup bid and in 2027. [00:39:59] Speaker A: So what I'll say is and I've said this a lot when they built the I'm going to tell you a funny story a very quick I know time is of the essence and I know I tend to ran ramble off in stories but I was the when I was younger I ran into Mayor John Waswell who is I highly respected mayor in Sioux St. Marie, Ontario. Okay. And kudos to Shoemaker. I am a big Shoemaker fan and Sault Sa Mary right now I don't want to talk politics on this podcast but Shoemaker this thumbs up all around but John Roswell there was another person involved who worked closely with the city but I'm not gonna say his name because I don't know if he would, you know if he would appreciate it. I don't like any permission when I tell stories but I if I looked back at my Hotmail email so I had an email that was hockey. Underscore0002/32hotmail.com and I remember I was a kid, I gave my email to John Roswell and I said that the Memorial Gardens, if you remember the ice, the Memorial Gardens, the bench was behind the blue light, so if you changed that, it would cause an offside. It was not structured right. The Memorial Gardens old school ice, if you remember the original Gardens. Beautiful. Like, I would love to go back in that rink one more time. It'd be hilarious just to see that. Oh my God. But I asked John Roswell because I had the opportunity to meet him, because there was a little meet and greet area to Sue Greyhound game because it was one of the last games of the Garden or one of the last. It was opening that season of the last season at the Gardens is what it was. Something like that. And I asked John Roswell, I said, hey, when we play hockey, I said, there's offsides that you. Offside. That usually occurs because the players don't want to jump the boards. Players like to go out the boards and it causes offside. And he's like, here's my email. And I, we exchanged emails. He's like, if I don't email you, you email me and we'll see if we can put that in the construction plans at the Moral Gardens. At the new. At the. At the. It wasn't called now the now it's called the Gardens. But at the time they were calling it the Steel Back center, right? So I sent him an email two days later. Remember, my dad asked if I emailed them. So I emailed him. And about a day or two later, I got approval from the guy who approved the project manager. I know his name. I'm not going to say it because he's known in the Sue. And he said John Roswell forwarded that email to that person and verify that that will get done. So I always say when I see the blue lines and the way the neutral zone is set up, that I had to say was doing the neutral zone. And I don't care what anyone says, if I can get back to my hockey_0002 [email protected] I want to try to find that because I've been trying to get back into it and I can't. I don't remember the password. If I tried, I gotta call Hotmail support. Look, one day, if I can get that, I'll share it. But I thought that'd be a good story to share. So this is my point, though. One thing I wish I would have said more, maybe been of more voice. I don't think it would have really worked anyways. I think the ice was my limit of it of recommendations. But I think that they could have done more with that rink at the Gardens. I think they could have added more seating. They could have made it a bit more friendly up top, put some more scene at the top. Maybe a bit different layout for the suites and make the rink a bit bigger. Not just for moral cup bids, but for big event bids, concerts, more curling championships. Sorry, I'm really thinking of Brad Jacobs right now. Just opportunities to make that rink more appealing for bigger events. We've had big names here in the Sioux, Elton John, Frigg, you know, we've had Brad Paisley ten times. I've NC'd that concert two times. Okay, like so, like we. I just want. I wish there was a bigger rank and I think that has a little bit of an effect because of the amount of seating that it does have. And I just think the overall layout of the rink could have been built different. But I will say it is a gorgeous rank on the inside. I think it's nice. There's nothing wrong with aesthetics or looks. I just think the size and the layout could have been definitely constructed bigger. And the last thing that I'll say about it is location. I kind of wish they would have if it's in that same location. I wish it was where the mall is. It took up that and to allow and that and the mall would have been gone. But at the time, the mall was booming at the time. Right. So maybe that's farfetched because now we're going back in time and what if could have. But I think there's opportunity. And we talked about down on Black Road at that time when they built it, that was wide open. Right. And you're near a lot still near hotels and near events. You're centralized. So I think location does have a part of it. But the location's not bad. I'm not saying it's bad, but I think there could have been a different opportunity to relocate the rank and have a better layout. Those are the two long winded answers I have about the improvement in the ranks. But I still think they should well and can win a bit because they have the roster. They will have the roster and it's still a very beautiful rank. And we're Sue St. Marie. We have a lot of legends that played here. There's a lot of thing to turn to the history of Sault Ste. Marie. And it's time that the Sioux gets a Royal cup, though. Never mind this improvement that I said we need to have. The Sioux needs a Memorial cup, and it's time you give it to us. [00:45:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean if I'm ranking the selling points of the sue, like, yeah, I would probably rank the facility at around a C. Right. And it's mostly because of what you described. It's hard, it's difficult to. To sell your facility if you're under 5,000 seating capacity. [00:45:21] Speaker A: Boom. [00:45:22] Speaker C: 5,000. Like. Like that benchmark rate. Like 5,000 seating. If you're above it, like, you're kind of in the clear. We've seen a lot of like past really recent Memorial cup hosts have 5,500 seating or 5,400 seating. Like, you know, like. So it's, it's. It's. They want to go back to smaller markets, which really appeals to the greyhounds as well. Like I know the can like the Cam Loops host in. In 2023, there's the Sandman Center. [00:45:55] Speaker A: Their. [00:45:55] Speaker C: Their ranks sat 5,465. So. And that's seating. Right. Like we can, we can add standing. You know, it's just. [00:46:04] Speaker A: You could. [00:46:05] Speaker C: It's just sits under the 5, 000 seating capacity. So I think there's. And there's no wiggle room. You can't add additional seats in the. In there. So yeah, that, that's like. It's the facilities and then the shopping and tourism that is. It's. [00:46:22] Speaker A: Here's the thing. [00:46:23] Speaker C: It would, it would need like, they would need to work on that part of the proposal, I think a little bit like, because your accommodations are great and the greyhounds legacy like you mentioned is great. [00:46:34] Speaker A: Yep. [00:46:34] Speaker C: There's no doubt that they would get, you know, support from like guys from the NHL, former Sue Grayhounds, Gretzky, Bob Probert, Paul Coffee, Autumn. Like you can name off ton of like NHL engines and also like for the younger generation. Right. Jared McCann, Michael Bunting, Raspa Sandian Morgan, Frostbur, Hayton. Like there would be support from so many others and NHL coaches and professional people in professional hockey. But like, yeah, it's just those, those two kind of things. Right. How can it support this, the community or how can the community support the event outside of hockey? [00:47:16] Speaker A: So let me say that sleeman center sits 4715. Register for GFL is 4928. So we're talking seating. The hounds better have the edge on that Sleeman center in Guelph that. That's what I got to say. It's not like you're going against a brand new rink in London, which I know for bias purposes I'll say it would win if they had a bid and had a new rank. But the GFL is just under 5 thou and I think it's time that this, this city gets what it's deserved. And that's a Memorial cup. [00:47:44] Speaker C: And you're gonna sell out every, every game. Every game like that, that place would be sold out and, and they could even do like a screen in the parking lot to sit like you. To sit more people. [00:47:56] Speaker A: You can improve the downtown still by then it's only a couple years. You can make some, make some, make some changes, make it a more community hub, make it more modernized. [00:48:04] Speaker C: Yeah. It would be, it would be huge for the community and there's no doubt that the community would support it 100%. It's just we got to get it here. [00:48:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And honestly. Look, I know I we won't have time to dive into other OHL news. We really devote. We really, really went into the two Greyhounds. But I will, I will say obviously we had some more NCAA commitments than that in the ohl. Zach Flick and Gavin Bryant, one from Sarnia and the other one for Peterborough having commitments to the NCAA. As that continues there's been on the OHL website CHL CA. There's a 2025 draft profile that you could check out. There's a pretty good video and it's about Braden Bennett's the recent one. I like looking at the rookies that are coming up in terms of the 2020 draft. 2025 draft. I think the OHL does a very good job at recognizing those and goal and player of the week. I always butcher his name but for the spirit the the rookie of the week. Sorry Damian Zelkin. I probably pronounced his name incorrectly but rookie of the week and goaltender of the week is the night schooltender. Austin Elliott of course had the headlining is the light London Knights and kudos here from the Spitfires, Ethan Belchats and true hockey. Donate 25000 worth of hockey equipment to Knobby's. Kids in the community there. That's great to see. So overall last recap power rankings due to the week of January 27th. Look you got number jumping up four spots this week you got Kitchener and second you got for number three you got the Windsor Spitfires. Of course some notable names but number one you have the Kitchener Rangers. Number two you have the London Knights that that are at number two. And as I pull up the rank is number three, Windsor, number four, Barry, and number five. The Bulldogs are your top five as Oshawa falls out of that three spots into sixth. [00:50:01] Speaker C: Yeah, they lost. They lost to Guelph. [00:50:03] Speaker A: Yes. [00:50:04] Speaker C: Yesterday or on Sunday, big time. So that was kind of an upset. [00:50:08] Speaker A: And the hounds are 14th. Yeah, hounds are 14th in the power ranking, people. Okay, just to give. Okay. [00:50:18] Speaker C: Like you have a good road trip last week. Like, like they've. They've had a good run. [00:50:23] Speaker A: They have. So there's a little. There's a little. [00:50:26] Speaker C: For the London game, the OHL draft, they're actually. There actually is some notable or one notable name worth saying. The top 10 pick, Brock Chittaroni is projected to go in the top 10. He's from this. He's from Sault Ste. Marie, playing for the Barry Jr. Colts right now. And so he's. He's kind of ranked in the top 10 there. And apparently the top two picks, Maxim Delisle from the Toronto Titans and Charlie Morata from the Don Mills Flyers. Two centermen, apparently they are supposed to be very, very, very elite. So supposed to be a strong draft class. [00:51:05] Speaker A: So the Hounds at the right time getting that pick. Good time to get a good pick. So there's a little bit of OHL news because we did say that. Now the last thing tr. Because we are. Are a little bit over time because we want to make this as a stir, a little taste before we sign off. Chuck a puck. Listeners and viewers, hear us out. I'm going to say it. Trude is going to top it off and then I'm going to sign us off. Lake Superior State University Lakers, Sioux St. Marie Greyhounds. Yearly matchup. Chuck a puck Bowl. [00:51:36] Speaker C: Yes. Preseason preseason Border battle. Border Battle Center 1 at the GFL. We. We go. Let's make it happen. [00:51:46] Speaker A: Let's make it happen. And if there's a third game, a third game, you don't have to do it. Like you could flip a coin if you want to decide that. Flip a coin. Each year gets the home game on the third game if you want. Yeah, but either way, I want to see some nc now that you have this NCAA commitment. I want to see the combined leagues. I know the age difference is there. I know the experience is there. And believe it or not, NCAA players would probably have the favorites on that. Of course they should. I'm not going to lie to you just from knowing NCAA hockey. But Hounds, Lssu, of course, lssu has a history. They have a good Storied history. A lot of good players have come out of there. The Hounds, it would just create. And you can donate. Do it for a charity. You can do it for whatever you need. Between both leagues. It creates a partnership. We are in a unique spot because we're border town with an NCAA team. There's something we can do, and I think we're on to something. Trudes. The Sue Grayhounds against lssu preseason. Get it going. Start it when you win the Memorial cup or win the Memorial cup bid. Get that season started off with a bang. I don't care. Chuck a puck bull. Border battle. That's an N O J HL reference. If you know, you know. Nonetheless, lssu versus the Hounds. Let us know what you think about that. Trudes, I want to say thank you to you for your time, as always. It's okay that we went extra this week because you know what? We have no in the pocket this week. All we're talking about mostly is pure hockey. I have a. Obviously I'm not. I'm gonna wrap up the show in a few minutes in my own segment, but we have devoted this full show basically to hockey for within this hour, and we are still within our hour of recording. So, Trudes, thank you for taking the time, my friend. We'll be back here next week. [00:53:25] Speaker C: We'll be back next week. Go Hands. Go. [00:53:27] Speaker A: Go, Hounds. Go. Get out there. And obviously, again, kudos to the ohl. All in all, some good news this week. I like seeing the community involvement, but let me tell you, Susan McGrown's and a message to Brian Crawford, okay? As I have his name on the puck here on the chuckapak puck. Official 20. Okay, look, 2027, the Sioux's expecting to hear three things. Sue St. Marie, come out of your mouth for that Memorial Cup. Just saying. Leaving it there. We'll be right back here on the Game Sports Podcast. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to the Game Sports Podcast. Your host, Dave McKay, continuing to host you this evening. We're in the final segment of the Game now, there's no title to the segment. We have titles for all the segments that we do. Our longest segment is in the Pocket. Normally in the Pocket is in the slot, but as I mentioned last week, we are taking a break, a vacation, if you will, this week from in the Pocket. It's kind of our Pro bowl week, let's call it. And Justin and I are not participating in the Pro bowl, but there's obviously a Super bowl preview show that we'll have next week and obviously a post super bowl show to enter in the pocket segment for the season. Season 8. Two more segments to go for that but I will be bringing forward a few topics here. Within a handful of minutes I'm going to be talking about WWE and I'm also going to be doing a little brief mention about football just as a little brief reaction to the games that transpired this weekend. But I want to start first with the WWE and I you're probably wonder oh wwe. Very unique topic that we talk about on the show. Really sporadic that we've brought back to the show. But this weekend coming up is a very exciting weekend for the WWE and a lot of people love watching a lot of main events when it comes to the WWE WrestleMania, but everyone loves watching the Royal Rumble and the Royal Rumble this weekend. There's a lot of story lines that can take place. Okay. And there's been a lot of buildup and with the WWE's movement to Netflix, there's been a lot of buy in and bring back from the Attitude era watchers prior to that. They're really starting to get back. Obviously I still think the matches are more entertaining from the past, but they have definitely started to pick up and be a bit more entertaining as of now. But also the story lines are great because there's so much history that you can work on. And going into the Royal Rumble, I want to give you three predictions. One about the WWE Undisputed Championship between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes And I want to give you my prediction about the Women's Royal Rumble. And I want to give you my prediction about the Men's Royal Rumble. So going first, obviously the matches that are going there, I'm going to say first, there's obviously going to be a lot going on to check into, but the Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, that whole feud there is a lot happening. Okay. And you can have the tag team titles could change. The WWE Championship match can change. It's a ladder match. The the sweet chin music from Shawn Michaels this past week was just epic to see. But that match between Cody Rhods and Kevin Owens has been a match really built up. And right now given how I feel with Kevin Owens, I know co host of the show Alex Par believes this as well. I believe Kevin Owens definitely deserves to have the championship. He's been great. This this heel turn has been great. He's a great wrestler. But overall to be he's been so good as the the heel. A lot of terms I've seen this the disgruntled guy, but because he is well at this per certain point in time in the wwe with the Rock, with everything with the Rock being mysterious, John Cena coming back, not saying there's any connection with winning a title, but Cody is not losing this match. It's going to be entertaining. There might be some interference here, there might be a little bit of distraction, but there's no way that Cody Rhodes loses this title. And if he does lose, it's not going to be until Mania or even after that because of everything lining up for the story lines. Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes, Cody Rhods walks away with the title. The Woman's Royal Rumble prediction. Look, look. Charlotte Flair is going to be coming out and Charlotte Flair is going to be winning. Okay? The Charlotte Flair era is going to be getting back into it. There's the women's wrestling has been great with live with Rhea Ripley. There's been a lot to watch, an overall entertainment. They've been doing great wrestling as well. I feel like the women's wrestling has been great. Great athleticism and overall just very entertaining. Sometimes more entertaining than the males and the males sometimes more entertaining. The women, I think it's really balanced between the two and I think this Rumble is going to be great. But I have Charlotte Flair getting the W there, the little rhyme for you. The men's Royal Rumble, look, we've had quite that. We've had some back to back winners. That being Cody Rhodes. Obviously you've had Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels win back to back. Heck, Vince McMahon won in 1999, which is absolutely unreal for some reason. I do remember that. The one that I remember the most is 2000 with the Rock. 2020 or 2001 with Steve Austin as well, 2002 with Triple H. Great, great ones back in the day. But the first ever Royal Rumble winner for males, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and for women's Suka was the women' one more winner. But I said Charlotte Flair would be getting the win with the, the women's, the men's, there's so many options. You could think, well, the Rock return. Will John Cena win? Well, is this CM Punk's time? Because CM Punk has been absolutely lights out when it comes to acting. And I know a lot of people think that CM Punk is going to win it this year, but I'm going to tell you right now and I'm going to be very boring and it might sound like a boring story live. I think there's so much you can build on with it because of maybe Owens because of the Rock, because of maybe the bloodline, perhaps CM Punk and Paul Heyman. There's a lot of storylines you can look at leading up to Mania to make it a bit more entertaining, but I'm gonna say Roman Reigns wins the Royal Rumble. So you got Cody Rhodes retaining, you got Flair winning the women's and you got Roman Reigns winning the men's Rumble. Those are the predictions this for this Royal Rumble this year. The other matches let us know what you think of them. But overall I want to hear what you say about those three matches. And like like I said just a few moments ago, love what the men's wrestling is doing. I love what the women's wrestling is doing. It's great tv. Netflix move is great. I love to see what Triple H and the whole WWE team is doing. I'm going to love to see what they're cooking. The Rock or John Cena. The the McIntyre story. Where's that going to fall? You know the so many things can happen and I am bought in and the entertainment has been great watching for television. So again Rhodes retains, Charlotte Flair for women's and Roman Reigns winning the men's Royal Rumble. Let us know your thoughts for those quick point about football. I want to say that obviously I don't want to dive into in the pocket doesn't feel right without Justin and or E.J. here but Eagles game this weekend was so boring to watch. I would have loved to see the Lions in that game. Would have been a lot more entertaining. Would have been a closer game. Heck I think the Lions would have beat the Command would have beat the Eagles no matter that they lost to the Commanders. I think that week off kind of hurt the momentum of the Lions. Unfortunately just given and they've had a lot of to deal with this year the Lions would have made that a lot more of an exciting game. What a brutal performance by I feel Washington despite being a great Cinderella story. The Philadelphia Eagles just looking great, Barkley looking great. But the game that people are still talking about is the Bills in Kansas City. And look people are sick of seeing the Kansas City Chiefs move on okay. And there was a lot of calls in that game that I saw more than I've seen before first down miss. But overall but I'm not going to dive into the analysis of that. I think that there's a lot of missed calls by the refereeing in this game that led in Kansas City's favor. I think Buffalo shouldn't have went for those two point attempts each time. I think kicking a field goal would have changed the complexity of the game or just the overall, the overall, the overall momentum of the game. But it just changed that possession. The what if could have, should have that would have done in that moment would have just changed the course of of the future for that moment. Right. I feel like you're they took those two point attempts to try to get closer to field goal range. Sorry for field goal point differential being down by three instead of being down by four. But they weren't successful especially at those moments. I think the Bills should have kicked the ball would have changed the whole layout of the game. But my biggest beef for this is I actually saw and I know a lot of it's been for the refereeing and the Bills and you know there's been annoyance seeing a team go for three people. There's two things to take away for this one, yes, there's calls missed in that game and it did kind of go both ways but it's definitely more in the Chiefs favor on the calls and it's really unfortunate because they gives a turning point in the Bill season. The second thing is is though we're going to see something that might not. We might see something that has never been done before and that is a three peat. That is history in sports that people will talk about forever. Despite who's on the centerpiece of if it's Mahomes, if it's Kelsey and heck, even Taylor Swift doesn't matter. This is still must watch football between these two teams. It's unfortunate that Jason's not in this game for the Eagles. It would have been great to see another A brother matchup. Would have been a great little storyline again. But the Eagles are going to put up a fight in this game so it's going to be very interesting. But I'm not going to get into the preview. I'm here just give a reaction about these two games that have happened. We'll save the preview for next week on in the Pocket, but I couldn't go a show without giving a little bit of point out for football, but a little bit of a special point out when it comes to noticing that I think the Bills had an unfortunate loss to say the least to their season. But if you're a Bills fan, don't give up and if you're a Lions fan, don't give up because I still think your window is there. That's going to wrap it up for the Game sports podcast this week. On behalf of the game and everyone who's a part of the Game, including yourself, the viewer, listeners. We appreciate that, but also those who are part of the game staff, that being Brendan McCarthy, Jordan Trudeau and everyone in the background. We appreciate all of what they do every show and joining me on that and as a listener, viewer viewer, I want and to encourage you to hit like, follow and subscribe on whatever platform that you tune on, including 91 Network or Spaces, which is through SU Today and Village Media. The Game Sports Podcast has been around technically since 2015, but official name change January 2016. And for these years we have brought forward local, regional and national sports content to you and we are happy to continue to do that for you here on the Game and we want you to be a part of the action. So please don't hesitate to follow and be a part of that by commenting below on everything that we talked about or anything that you want to talk about in our comment section for the world of sports. Or heck, be brave, come on and talk to us about what you want to talk about. The Game Sports Podcast again is powered by 91 Network, presented on Spaces to Village Media and Sue Today. When it comes to overall social media, you can check us out on TikTok, Instagram and on Facebook for audio platforms, on podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon. Wherever you get your podcasts, we are there. We will be back next week where we'll have a very similar layout that will actually have an official in the Pocket segment for you. With that until next week, I'm here to remind you to keep your stick on the ice, Swing your bats, catch touchdowns, drain your threes, shoot your shots. Booyah.