La Fine

Kyle, I have a solution to make sure Canada never loses in the Olympics again. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I can't wait to hear this. Don't award the games to Italy. Yes. There are two best-on-best losses in the 21st century. 2006 Turin Lost in the quarterfinals 2026 Milan Silver medal Never again Italy Sorry We're cutting it out of the map And we're throwing it out of the garbage No more games In Italy Winter And also to not hear BX's Italian impression anymore Oh, my God. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the Toyota BZ. Go all electric in a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Dom, Elliot and Kyle with you one final time from Milan, Italy, as we wrap up our Olympic coverage here on the podcast. Oh, Elliot. Oh, what a game. What a thriller. What great drama. And Jack Hughes, in overtime, missing parts of his teeth, face-bloodied, is the American hero to give USA their first Olympic gold medal in men's hockey in 46 years, to the day of their win against the Soviets in 1980. Man, oh man, this was a hell of a hockey game. I don't know how, Elliot, it could have, with all the hype, with how great it was at Four Nations a year ago, set a different bar, but it did. As heartbreaking as it was for Canada, it did. Unbelievable finish to this tournament. Your thoughts? When they came down the X3-on-1, I had a bad feeling it was over. That goal was scored at the end of the rink, just below our broadcast site. And look, Jack Hughes is going to get credit for scoring the goal. And he deserves it. It was a great goal, a great shot. He took what Binnington gave him, and he found a spot to score. Minutes after Brother Quinn had been robbed by the Canadian goaltender. goaltender. But, but the truth is, young Bukazkas, that that Jack Hughes play was only the second biggest play he made in overtime. When Connor McDavid was bearing in on him and saw that he was charging towards the net against a forward, Jack Hughes was vulnerable. And the fact that he did not let McDavid win the game right there. Tied him up enough to force the puck up the other way and didn't let McDavid gave away a good shot. Well, maybe Jack Hughes is always going to be a hero for the goal, and he will be. But to me, the even more incredible play he made, Kyle, was on McDavid. It was, man, you knew I know the rules are set up 20 minutes of three on three OT until a goal is scored no shootout in the gold medal game look we all hate it take very long but there's no point in complaining about it no everybody knows the rules that's not where I was going that's not where I think you were going to complain no I I thought we talked about this like early in the tournament going don't love the idea of three on three in the the medal round but it benefited Canada against the the Czechs U.S. got by Sweden in the quarters. So, no, my point was you just had a feeling it was not going to take very long. I mean, with the brilliant as Connor Hellebuck was, and we saw the big save by Bennington on Quinn Hughes early on, something was bound to break here. So, I cannot believe watching that game. like that the the only real context we have comparable is that four nations final last year with these groups of players it's almost exactly the same but it's different in that i thought canada played 10 times better here on sunday than they did in that four nations final the thing is about it is a year ago the u.s should have won right they should have won in overtime and Binnington would not let it happen. And finally, Canada figured it out and McDavid scored. This one, the U.S. should have lost. But Hellebuck, that's the great subplot here. So you'll remember last year, a day before the gold medal game or the championship game in the Four Nations, we did sit-downs with Binnington and Hellebuck. and we asked them to say something about each other, and they were like, no. It was clear they had no time for each other, not a lot of respect. Well, maybe respect, but they didn't show a lot of it towards each other. But there's a real personal rivalry between those two guys. Bennington stole that game for Canada last year. Hello Buck He played The game of his life In this one I'm always happy for people Who overcome Whatever it is A rough performance And get to the top And climb the top of the mountain I always think the harder the journey The sweeter the taste of champagne I'm happy for Hellebuck. So Elliot, you want to talk about how unbelievable Hellebuck was here in this gold medal game. We've talked about, actually, we've learned there are certain coaches in the NHL that really value the stat goals saved above expected, right? Yes. so hella buck in this gold medal game by the way i not to get too in the weeds but goals saved above expected so in the case of sport logic it's somewhere you know you're taking stock of the shots where they're coming from scoring chances and they've got their algorithms to determine the percentage of all of that how likely of it going in right case by case i don't know if i did a good job explaining that but basically every time you look at a shot that goes towards the goal where it shot from all of those factors what's the likelihood that historically that puck goes in the net so goal saved above expected for conor hellebuck 4.63 it would have been normal for the quality and the amount of chances that canada put up in this gold medal game that they got upwards, it could have been six on the board for Canada. Five or six goals. Instead, it was only one. And it got the U.S. a gold medal. That's great stuff, Kyle. I think even the Jets who know how good he is, those players would tell you that as many games as he's stolen for them over the years, he outdid himself in this one. absolutely outdid himself. How many nights have the Jets fans and their players said, oh, Connor bailed us out tonight. Connor did it for us tonight. He was our best player. But never, as good as he is, never was he as good as he was in this game. The best performance on the biggest stage. You know, Quinn Hughes told a story in the postgame about how Hellebock fell asleep on the bus going to the quarterfinal against Sweden. And Hughes said, that's when I knew we were going to be okay. Nobody's ever going to question Hellebock again. Nobody. It's over. That's what you said about Bennington a year ago. That's true. And look how right that turned out to be. But I never questioned Binnington again. I will never question Hellebuck again. And I think it's important to say this. If Canada was going to lose this game, I would be okay with it with the way that the Goodrow family was celebrated. That was beautifully done in all facets. First it was the jersey. And then, you know, one of the things that happens at the Olympics is they're really tight on security. Especially for the gold medal game. Especially for the gold medal game. And what they did allowing the young children to get on the ice and be part of the team picture. I've been at Olympic Games where they would say, I don't care what the reason is and I don't care who you are. you are not going out there. And for the U.S. team to think about it and for the security to step back and allow it to happen, that was beautiful. I'm a Canadian. I want Canada to win. I'm disappointed Canada didn't win, but I'm more than good with that. If it allows the Goudreau family to be celebrated in that way. I thought that was beautiful. And I thought all those players who are responsible for that, I can't give them enough credit for doing it. I can't. Dylan Larkin had a great line after the game. It was, you know, almost like some sort of shield around their net that there was no way a second puck was going to get across the goal line. And he goes, it's kind of ironic because that's one area of the ice you would never find Johnny. was around his own net, but of course says it with all sincerity and love. So it was neat. I mean, you know, you knew he was going to be along for the ride and Matthew for that matter. It was part of Four Nations. The jersey was in the dressing room again, all tournament here at the Olympics for USA. You know what's great about that, Kyle? Sorry to cut you off, but you know what's great about that? How many times have we seen that if you lose, you say, what do we have to change? For example, they did that at the Four Nations. It would have been, quote unquote, very hockey for them to say, look, we lost with the Good Road jersey there. We're not doing that again. So that's another thing I'm glad about the Americans is they said they didn't go. And yes, sorry. And I should point out, they did that at the World Championships too. They had the jersey out after they won gold in the spring. So it's good that they carried that forward. Good call. Yeah. Don't say, ah, we lost with it. We're not doing it. Fantastic. Fantastic. You know, Kyle, the other reason I can't get overly upset about it is Canada has won everything best on best over the last few years. 2002 gold 2004 world cup 2010 gold 2014 gold 2016 world cup last year's four nations sooner or later you're gonna lose and they lost in a game that was overtime in the olympics in a game where they played really well. Like the last two periods of the game, the second and third period of regulation, might have been their best periods of the entire Olympic tournament. I still have no idea how Hellebuck made that save on Taves. Oh, man. You want to talk about you being in the spot to see the overtime goal kind of develop? I was right on top at that end zone, high above, for both the Taves chance and the McKinnon miss later in the period. And it did not compute from my vantage point. Yeah, both Taves and McKinnon, they're going to be thinking about those ones for a long time. But sooner or later, Canada was going to lose one of these tournaments. Somebody was going to catch them. And, you know, this has been a great Olympics for U.S. hockey. They won the gold medal for women. They won the gold medal for men. And I do want to mention the Paralympics are coming up. No country has won all three. And the U.S. are going to be the favorites entering that tournament as well. And it's a great time for them, especially if they win the third one. But, you know, like I talked about with Hellebock, the harder the journey, the sweeter the champagne. Canada will suffer this one, but you know they will come back and they will feel some pain and the champagne will taste sweeter next time. It's bound to happen. It felt like you mentioned some of the other recent wins for Canada. They had to have it in Salt Lake 50 years. They had to have it in Vancouver on home turf. I don't know if this was a had to have for the U.S., but just some of the— It was a had to have. Yeah Best collection of American players I think the most talented team no question There were people ready to jump on them for roster selection And look, people were critical of Canada's roster selection too, but Canada didn't lose this tournament because of their roster. As a matter of fact, like I said, they played 40 great minutes of hockey where they swarmed them. They got beat because Hellebuck's stolen them. I thought the U.S. had to win this tournament. I think people were poised to rip their selections. Look, guys like Miller and Trocek on the penalty kill. Yes. Did an unbelievable job. Throw Brock Nelson in there too. Brock Nelson, yes. All those guys. Family of gold medalists. They had roles. And in this game, they achieved their roles. I thought it was a must-have for the Americans. And they got it. You know what the amazing thing was, Kyle, is I stayed to the end of the bronze medal game between Finland and Slovakia. And as I was asking a bunch of players as they were walking off Canada or U.S. tomorrow, and they were all like, I have no idea. Like, how do you pick? How do you pick? And one of them, and it was Joel Armia, he said, you know what's going to happen? Somebody's going to get a bounce. Yeah. And the bounce went the U.S. ways in overtime in terms of Makar not getting to the puck. And they almost blew the three-on-one, but they got it over to them. And he was right. It came down to one way, the puck going in one way, not going the other way. It was everything we could have ever asked for in a final. Everything. Yeah, it was terrific. And there was, you know, some neat scenes down in the mix zone afterwards. I mean, you know, you got the Kachuk brothers doing interviews together. You've got the Hughes brothers embracing. Matthew had one of those old school looking home video cameras, but it's not old school, if that makes sense. And he's running around interviewing his own teammates. So, you know, the party was on already for the U.S. You know, it was interesting, Elliot. The other thing, too, was, so Canada comes through first, obviously, as the losing team, and those interviews don't last nearly as long, understandably, especially in a gold medal game like this. But Crosby doing some interviews, and he was kind enough to come over to our setup at the CBC location and to just talk about what he saw the game. And he was like, you know, we were ready, we were battle tested. He thought that was their best game of the tournament. I don't know if anyone would disagree with that aside from the result and talked about how close it was for him to get the play. But, you know, as you had been all over all day, he was not going to put the team in jeopardy by taking a spot from somebody if he didn't feel he was good enough to get through it all and to be somewhat impactful. But nice of him to come through. But, you know, the timing was such that he was kind of one of the last guys doing interviews along the rights holders row, if you call it that. And the U.S. players are starting to come off and they're on top of the mountain and hooting and hollering and the energy is up. And you could tell a few of them, like as they come around the corner and they see Crosby there still doing a few interviews, like there's, you know, almost, okay, we just paused for a sec just out of respect to being around him there for, That little bit of time, you know, that was neat to see, considering the moment of it all. Also, so Pat Bell, who's a wonderful camera operator from Canada, he was working for another outlet over here for the Olympics. He sent me some photos. I know Jackie Redman had put out the same ones, too. once the overtime started the u.s scratches so jeremy swayman jackson lacombe kyle connor they were all in their gear you know ready anticipating if if they had won to go out and celebrate with their teammates uh but they were initially what they were watching the game on one of their cell phones they were streaming it and and thankfully i think somebody at the obs said hey we've got like a monitor here around the corner you can sit and watch here so a slightly bigger screen to to watch, but as you say, Elliot, how tight security can be and where you can stand and where you can't stand, that's how they watched Jack Hughes score the winner in overtime. I would have gone, they should have just gone out and stood by the rink and made someone move them. I don't think, like, there's, understanding what I know now about how they run it at the Olympics, zero chance of that happening. There's no way they would have let them hang by the glass. Yeah. They had to stay under the stands behind closed doors until the game was done. Fight until you get arrested. That's what I would have done. Yes. As I see you so often, cigarette in hand. You can't stop me. So let's talk about Hughes for a second, Jack. Okay. Did you see his comments? Yes. after the semifinal about how well he was playing? Yeah. Because some of them were, I asked him about it, and I know I wasn't the only one. When he said, people may not watch the Devils, but I've been playing pretty well this year. Yep. I'm happy with my game. That's when I know he's going well. I think you have to understand that's the way he's wired. That's him. There's a chip on his shoulder. There's a fierceness inside him. There's a fire there. And it's been a really hard year in New Jersey. And a lot of that coincided with him getting hurt at that team party, right? and one of the big internal conversations that they had for Team USA Hockey is they felt last year that Jack didn't have a great tournament and how could they put him in better position to succeed. And I think the biggest thing that happened this year was whatever happened in the four nations Hughes was readier for this and I think that's what life is all about you know you you you take your disappointments and you don't dwell on them but you learn from them and you say this is why this went badly and this is how I'm gonna fix it and I think that's kind of the way that Jack is wired, to not show weakness, to say everything's all right, and you guys don't know what you're talking about, and I'm going to make this work, and I understand it. I understand the way he is, but the biggest credit I give Hughes, aside from the defensive play and the goal, is that as this tournament went on, he got better. And whatever he felt didn't work or Team USA felt didn't work last year, they fixed it. And I think the team and the player deserve credit for that. When I saw that answer, Kyle, where he said, like, basically, you guys don't watch Devils hockey, so you don't know what you're talking about. That's when I said, this guy's going to be a problem. He's going to be a real problem in this gold medal game. Yeah, and you see the quotes after this game about from Quinn coming to his brother's defense. People don't know what they're talking about. What did he tell Jason Demers? Couldn't sleep because he was thinking of scoring the gold medal winning goal? Yes, so I guess the two were kind of rolling around in their beds as roommates in the village the night before. And yeah, Jason Demers and Jameson Coyle is here. They're doing interviews with the NHL Network and a bunch of other content. And yeah, I guess if I'm recalling the story correctly, as Demers told it to me, Jack says, you up? Quinn goes, yeah. What are you thinking about? He goes, scoring the overtime winner in the gold medal game. Then he did it. I don't know. I mean, it's one of those where you could be like, oh, sure. I'm sure that's exactly what he said. But between those two guys, Jack especially, I can totally see it. Totally see it for all the reasons you just laid out. confident guy who believes in himself believes in his ability and he was uh he was he was an impact player through this tournament one of the guys from i would say the opening game against latvia all the way through to capturing gold number of times each game he was a noticeable noticeable player for USA on a roster full of great players. So let's talk about Crosby for a minute. Okay. He was the one who made the call. And I want to make something very clear. Team Canada did not lose because Crosby wasn't playing. Team USA did not win because Crosby was out. Both of those are 100% fact, and I will not allow anyone to say any different. I can't help but wonder, though, if somehow Canada gets that second goal if Crosby plays. Do you know what I'm saying? Wait. No, I don't. What are you getting at? I'm getting that good things follow him around. Positive results follow him around. Oh, I see what you mean. Yes. Had he been in the lineup. Had he been in the lineup, somehow Canada gets that second goal. But again, I will stress, they did not win because he was out, and they did not lose because he was out. And I just, the Crosby karma, he always seems to get Ws. Somehow they score if he's in. Now he made, Doug Armstrong confirmed what we'd reported, that he made the call. I had heard yesterday, someone told me yesterday he was going to play. But I didn't report it because you just never know what happens. He had a big say in it. ultimately it was his call. It was interesting because Cooper told us that Canada would not dress him as a ceremonial cheerleader. They were not taking a Crosby out to be there for, say, like a Jarvis who was 100% healthy and ready to play. They were not doing that. And I think that was the right call. But I was surprised. I heard they tried everything, everything. They just ran out of time. And I think one of the things now, and we've talked about this, like Rantan got hurt here. I think he's going to miss some time. I don't believe it's season ending, but I think he's going to miss some time. One of the interesting questions is going to be when we get back, who's in and who's out and who's out for how long. Right. Like, that's what I was thinking. If, as you say, every stone was turned over to try to get Crosby into the lineup and feeling comfortable, if the answer was still no, I know it was only a few days ago when the injury occurred. But you thought, oh, so what does this mean when we get back across the pond and the regular season kicks up again? I'm wondering about some of the Florida guys too, Kyle. Right. You had said, hinted at when this is all done, Olympics I mean, who are some names that start to pop up that go, yeah, this is going to be shutdown mode. We'll see you next fall. We'll see. There are a few guys I'm wondering about. Nothing confirmed. So we'll wait to see how things unfold. I thought Bennington was great. Hell of a play by Boldy on that opening goal. Yeah, Boldy made a great play, made an incredible stop on Quinn Hughes. Just fantastic. Just fantastic. Conor McDavid, MVP, Olympic MVP, Conn's my trophy winner. They should have given it to Hellebuck. That's fair. When I heard that, I was like, what? Somebody's got to be able to overrule people and say, wait a second, And look what we just watched. Like, McDavid, fine, no problem. But Conor Halibut is the MVP of the Olympic hockey tournament. I agree. As a matter of fact, I think the other American players should pay to make him an MVP trophy. That's right. Well, a guy staying in our hotel, I'm sure he could put something together. Shout out Aaron Logan. No, I just, I thought, you know, gosh, and he was incredible again, these Olympics, but Olympic MVP, Conn Smythe award winner. And in both those instances, you don't get the one you're really after. I mean, we talked about, and he hinted towards it in that Players' Tribune article that came out just before we all came here to Milan. You know, a year ago he needed that win. And he's again, you know, searching for another big one. Through no fault of his own though, because he was incredible for Canada. And it was because he was probably among the most if not the most publicly vocal about this needs to happen again NHLers at the Olympics for years leading up to it He just knew how badly he wanted part of something like this. And you're heartbroken for all the Canadian guys that did everything they could and it didn't happen. but him especially, given how long he's waited as one of the preeminent players in the league to have a shot at this. But as Nathan McKinnon said, now we've got to wait four years. The thing about this, Kyle, is that I can handle this defeat, and I think some Canadians can handle this defeat because of all the success they have. But for the players, you know they are so demanding of themselves and they have so much expectation of themselves that they are going to be thinking about this for a long, long time. well especially when you can see elliot who knows what the landscape's going to look like four years from now in terms of picking the roster for a lot of these guys this was because of not going in 18 not going in 2022 this was their one chance their one chance and i can only hope maybe a stretch one more olympics for crosby please yeah i gotta say this he's i assume he's gonna be at 2028 yeah there's no sid there's no reason you can't come back for france in 2030 yeah sid and marie philippe land while we're at it yes for both years one more for the road French Alps how can you say no exactly other people I'm really happy for Austin Matthews he needed a W he gets a W and the Hughes brothers the Hughes brothers they're like Jimmy Hart in wrestling. They're the manager of the players. Hey, you cheated to win that match. No, he didn't. Like, it's... People are like, people are like, Austin Matthews, what does this mean? And they're jumping in saying, who cares what this means? He's a champion now. That's what you should be talking about. Oh, great reference. Great, great reference. I'm happy for Matthews. You know, it's interesting the way Matthews... Matthews reminds me a lot of Sundin. Like, now everybody in Toronto loves Sundin, but always then he kind of wondered. But, you know, Matthews is the captain of the Maple Leafs and the captain of Team USA twice now on Best on Best for a reason. And the reason, maybe the people outside... don't believe in it or see it or whatever, but the people inside sure do. He gets that C for a reason. You know, it's interesting about Matthews. There's the questions about should he be the captain or should he not be the captain? He's the captain of the Maple Leafs. He's been the captain of the U.S. twice, best on best. obviously there's something they really see that he does behind the scenes that the group rallies around him he was asked about finally having a w post game and the hughes brothers were like the mouth of the south jimmy hart it's like it's like mean gene oakland asking the wrestler you cheated to win that championship and before the wrestler can say no i didn't the mouth of the south jumps in and says that's a terrible question why are you even bringing that up like the hughes brothers were like that's not even what you should be talking about he's a champion and that's all you should be discussing um but matthews needed a w and he got one you played very well this tournament it. There were some shifts early on in this game where he kind of owned the ice against McDavid a little bit. Obviously, that tilted on its head in the second and third period. But I thought Matthews had a really good tournament. And Kyle, that smile he had in his face when he spoke to you after, it's the most genuine smile I think I've ever seen on him. Yeah, that's what I was just thinking, Elliot. Like, you know, for a whole host of reasons, whenever you talk to him publicly in a setting like that, interview cameras, microphones, and all that, you always get the sense that there's, there's always a part of him that he's keeping under wraps. Yeah. He's only given you a little bit of him, which is 100% his right. Secret Santa, Secret Santa. That one there, and in the celebration, of course, was as raw and him right in the moment, present, soaking in everything he was feeling uh so good on him yeah it was it was well deserved and to your point you know similar to mcdavid a year ago guy needed a w in a in a big moment and and he's enjoying every bit of it now especially in a year that's kind of been that's been tough in toronto there's no question even as his plays picked up over the last six weeks or so. So there was one other thing I wanted to talk about with this tournament, Kyle. And it was pretty interesting. I got a DM from a gentleman by the name of Lars Thorsell, who's a big listener to the pod. And I talked about it with some of the reporters who were not from North America. And a lot of the media that covers these tournaments from Europe or overseas, And a lot of the fans who watch these tournaments from Europe or overseas, for the first time, they watched an international hockey tournament really taken over by the NHL in terms of rules and interpretations and officials and things like that. And they did not like it. it's very obvious to me they didn't like it. And I spent a couple days asking around and talking about things with some people, and I think one thing everybody's going to have to get used to is if the NHL players are coming, this is the way it's going to be. And, you know, I saw a lot of people complaining online about, you know, they couldn't watch highlights or things got taken down. Hey, CBC, who we both worked for here, they pay a lot of money for those rights. And other countries, those broadcasters pay a lot of money for those rights. And the NHL doesn't get to use those highlights. And I know the NHL doesn't like that. But one of the trade-offs they've gotten is, and this is what a few people told me they have a lot more control over how this specific tournament is run and that's not going anywhere like i think the tournament on this ice even though it's a little smaller than what we're used to in north america is much better than big ice i'm sorry but it's better on this tighter surface. Now we can talk about the mix of referees. Like one of the things that made the European fans crazy was they feel very strongly that no official from a country should be able to officiate a game of their country. Like the Finns were angry. The Finnish fans were angry about the one call late. I don't care about that as much. I think if you're a good official, you should be able to officiate a game. And I think it's a lame excuse to say, oh, that Canadian official is biased for Canada or that American official is biased for the U.S. or that Swedish official is biased for Sweden. I think if you're a good official, you should be able to handle it. But it's very clear that these European fans, they hated that. Now, one of the reasons, one of the things I talked about at the end of the bronze medal game, and I got to tell you, the Finnish guys, they were great to deal with. And I was very happy for them. them and grandland in particular was so proud so proud that he won a bronze medal as the captain of finland like he was beaming about that of course he like that bronze medal game is so hard to play because you're so crushed about the semi-final loss and you have to turn it around um and those fins they were still really disappointed they lost to canada but they were proud and i asked them like 24 hours later, did you feel that you got cheated? Because a lot of your fans and media do. And they were all class. They said, no, you know, with more time to think about it, we don't think we got cheated. We could have killed the penalty. You know, the breaks go both ways. We got some. We didn't get some. And, you know, as a matter of fact, what the Finns said to me was if there's anything they regretted about the Canada game, it's that the way they played, the style. They wish they would have gone harder after Canada in the second and third period. And they blame that more than anything else. And I think that that's one thing. Like, we can, like, look, we can disagree about calls and, you know, Canada didn't get too many men called for them, one that could have knocked them out of the tournament, and one that could have happened in the gold medal game. It goes both ways. So I think the international fans are going to have to get used to that. The one thing I really felt is that I have never seen, and I know a lot of these officials pretty well, I watched them and, you know, I'm like most fans. There's times I like them and there's times I disagree with their calls. I've never seen them so nervous before. For whatever reason, I thought this group of officials was really nervous. And maybe it was just the fact that we were back in the Olympics with the pros. I don't even know if you can. I don't even know if you can work on that. Maybe it just comes with experience. But in the final, they called the two high stickings late. Those were obvious calls, and high sticking was really strongly called all tournament. That was the one thing that stood out to me. It wasn't what country they were from. I don't think that should matter. And I think if it becomes a normal thing, I believe that's okay. I would say this, I've never seen them as a group so nervous. You could see the moment was really getting to them. Do you think I'm wrong at all about that? No, I don't. And the only reason why I agree with you is because it was almost, we talked about having the international officials come be part of their training camp at Buffalo before the season and trying to get everybody on the same page so it's not this is the international way or this is the NHL way. that's all great. I got to be honest, how many times it wasn't even, oh, they're letting this go a little more because they don't want to be international style. It was even beyond like, I go, that's a penalty in the NHL and they're not calling it here. Whether it's scrums after the whistle or they're not taking a guy, some of the stick infractions, the hooks that were let go, the can openers and such like that, some were called, but I was amazed at the amount where were let go. And maybe, again, that speaks to, as you were saying, the nervousness of the group of just not wanting to make the call that's like, wait a second, why is that all of a sudden making the arm go up? It almost felt beyond the NHL in terms of how much players were able to get away with. I mean, to say nothing of the IIHF standard. I almost wonder if the international officials would have been less nervous because they don't see these guys. Yeah, I mean, we'll never know, but I mean, it's no question a different game. You said the ice surface, get the NHL players involved now, best on best. I totally get why they wanted predominantly NHL referees and lines people working these games. I was surprised by a lot of cases, the standard that was set. But all that said, this is where we're going at the Olympics. Maybe the world championships will continue to be a different tournament. maybe the World Juniors will continue to be a different tournament because those are on both at the same time I think we've definitely in this tournament we move to a closer kind of game, less double IHF more NHL which was their goal but if you're not comfortable with the NHL feel at the Olympic level you're going to have to get there because I think this is the way it's going to be from here on in What are your biggest memories What are going to be your biggest memories from your time here in Italy Oh good question I think I mean our crew that we worked with because those are just the people that sorry Dom just sent something to us We just got a message from Dom that we're not going to be repeating, but that was very good. It is, yeah, Dom submitted the correct answer, but I can't repeat it. I mean the crew Elliot for one because I we were at the rink every day uh which is great like that's what we were here to do but uh everybody from our group to you know the people helping to work the the mix zone uh this was all I had nothing to compare it to uh first time at the Olympics for me. I'll be honest, there's like certain smells, I guess, of this unfinished arena, certainly back of house and walking through every day that I think is going to stick with me for a while. But I think seeing in particular as the men's tournament wore on and certainly there was the emotion attached to when covered a bit of the women's gold medal game a few days back, but understanding the impact that this has on the players and people involved, both when you win and when you lose. You know, I remember after Canada knocked off Finland in the semis and the late goal by McKinnon late in the third and the Finns come off afterwards and Antti Pennen and their head coach, you know, he's been requested, you know, do an interview here, do an interview there. And sometimes with everyone kind of making their way through the different stops whether it's a player or the coach you've kind of just got to hang out and and wait and he was waiting between interviews to get to the next spot and and I could see you know just the the red in his eyes and uh for him as as the head coach of Finland knowing like man how how close close they were to knocking off Canada and and it didn't happen and even interviewing some of their players after winning the bronze which is you know nothing to to feel small about you know Sebastian Ajo or go down the list, how many of those guys 24 hours later, it was still very fresh for them, you know, how close they came to playing in this gold medal game on Sunday and not having a bronze medal around their neck, but maybe something greater. That hadn't left them. So, you know, the beauty of that was really impactful and to see it up close, you know, the appreciation to be around that was certainly not lost on me. I will say, Elliot, I've never, and maybe you felt this in other Olympics that you've covered, I've never felt more disconnected from the Olympics as a whole than the one that I've actually covered. It's incredible, but we get into the bubble of you're doing hockey every single day and you don't have the ability to sit back and throw on CBC gym and to see everything going on throughout. It is a different experience, but one, yeah, just from the beginning, as I said, just very, very honored to be asked to be part of. What were your takeaways? I agree with you. We were pretty detached from the rest of the Olympics. I've never been to one that was so spread out, but the group was fantastic. I spent, see, I have this thing. I think that there's a limit to how much time people can spend around me. No, I... I'll push back against that. No, I... That's very kind of you. But I feel very strongly about that. And so there were some times I had to get away from people because I'm just like, nobody needs to see me right now. Nobody needs to hear from me right now. But I love the group I work with. Like the best thing about the job, as you know, Kyle, is the people, right? No question. And the people you hang around with, the people that you spend time with, the people that you have a beer with, the people that you're on air with or work with. And this was a different crew. Um, this was a, probably a group of people that will never work together ever again. And it was, it was really a fantastic time. I just, I just really enjoyed it. I love, we didn't get a chance to see a lot of Milan, but we had a couple of really good nights out. Like the, the food here is spectacular. Like I love Italy. The food is spectacular. Um, the, the Negronis are spectacular. the breakfast buffet at our hotel was spectacular I mean our hotel stay was a little unique for reasons I'm not getting into on this podcast because I don't want to cause an international incident Kevin! but is he on the other side of the wall? but the breakfast buffet was outstanding it was And there was always like a few of us that were kind of down there once. It was we solved a lot of the world's problems there over breakfast. Yes, we did. We solved a lot of the world's problems here over breakfast. And late at night, you'd go and everybody would be downstairs. Like I've been at some hotels where they shut you down. They're like, no, we don't want that. But this hotel was like you guys get back at midnight. Everybody wants to hang out in the area by the lobby and have a beer or a glass of wine. It was never a problem. Yeah, they were great. They're like, we're not going to serve you. We're not going to serve you, but if you want to bring, you go do it. You know, the jokes about the smoking, and I don't smoke. Like, I saw them all. They were really funny. You know, it was, the Olympics are special. Like it's a really special thing to go cover. And I was honored that they included me. And like I said, I wanted Canada to win so badly, but US won fair and square. They earned it. That's the way it goes. Yeah, they sure did. And it was also just neat too, how many Canadians you run into and just the different stories too, right? Like, I'm sure we'll have some shout outs to do a little bit later on, Elliot. But, you know, whether they simply live in Canada, they're like, hey, we just we booked a trip and we wanted to come see this. Or they originally were from Canada. Now they're living elsewhere, be it in Europe or somewhere and thought, oh, this is not too bad of a drive or it's a short flight. And we're going to come take this in. But all coming for, you know, the same common motive. That was that was really neat, too. You know, it's a long time away from our families and stuff doing all of this. But it was kind of neat to feel a taste of home at various points kind of throughout this whole experience too. You know, I just, I never, until you get over here, you just, you don't know what that is going to feel like and the impact it'll leave behind. But that was another one for me in terms of the highlights of this whole experience. All right. Well, with that time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. Go all electric in a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Elliot, this hockey schedule waits for nobody at midnight Eastern here on Sunday. The trade freeze will lift. Activity can continue. Before you know it, we will be at trade deadline. What have you kind of I know your focus has all been here in Milan, as all of ours has. but anything you kind of got your eye on in particular as things start to pick up and will pick up very quickly once we return across the pond yeah i'll be honest i had one thing i was chasing but i was told it wasn't true so i'm not chasing it anymore i've been so focused on this i'll switch it back over the next few days and i'll like i'm landing it one eastern on monday and I'll be right back into it. So we'll return with our next pod on Friday and we'll have more NHL stuff to discuss. So I'd love to talk more NHL right now. I just am not plugged enough in and I don't want to be guessing. I already had one thing denied to me. So we'll see where this goes and I don't want to throw anything out there that's wrong. I'll save that for the other pods. Yes. It's nice to have a brief reprieve from being incorrect you know what you're focused on what's that one final meal at nona amelius is that where everybody is tonight i don't even know i haven't even checked i would thought of it sounds lovely doesn't it i one of the things i always laugh about is people who send me notes saying how am i gonna to watch two NHL teams this week after watching that. Oh, buddy. I mean, I feel Chris Cuthbert's got to work the Toronto game in Tampa on Wednesday. That's a pretty tight turnaround. He may still be on the lawn time. I can't believe he's doing that. If I was Sportsnet, I would just say, Chris, go home. Maybe Chris feels he needs like a tan. Yeah, well, we didn't get much sun over here. I'm looking too pallid. I need to go to Tampa. Yeah. You know him. He's always jonesing for a good bronze. And with that, that was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take a quick break, some final shout-outs, and wrap up one final Olympic edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Stay tuned. all right Elliot here we go one final batch of shout outs from over here in Italy I have to say walking around the venue here on Sunday it was incredible how many people said hi how many people said love listening to the podcast the majority of them Canadian of course Elliot but it was so chaotic as i was moving from one position to the next and trying to get to whatever our next hit was or interview and all of that i just ran out of time to be able to say what's your name where are you from to give them a proper shout out but as i've touched on a few times it blows me away the reach that this little show can uh can have but nevertheless a lot of warmth within the Santa Julia arena, all tournament long, culminating with how many red and white colors we saw among people there on Sunday. Who you got? So the first guy I want to shout out is Sean Rourke, who's the editor of NHL.com. And the reason that I want to shout out Sean Rourke is that I was really struggling to find something to bring back for my wife. And then I ran into Sean, and I saw what he was carrying. And I'm not going to say what it was because I don't want to spoil it. But when I saw what he was carrying, I was like, where did you get that? And I went, and I purchased one. And I wanted to say, Sean. Not just one. That's your story to tell, not mine. Okay. I wanted to say, Sean, you saved my marriage. I really appreciate it. He's a great guy. Big metal listener. So, you know, he's a good guy. You saved my marriage, Sean. Thank you. Other people, Omar from Australia, who now lives in London in the UK. Connor from Ireland. Matt, AJ, and Todd from Lethbridge and Calgary, now working in France. They came down. Those are the people I wanted to mention. Wasn't it? No, it was Matt, Mike, and Ryan. It was Matt, Mike, and Ryan? Are you sure? It was Matt and Mike, I know for certain. Okay. So I had written down Matt, AJ, and Todd. So whatever your guys' names were, you guys know who you are. Yes, those are the ones that I wanted to make sure I got into. What did you think their names were? Matt, Mike, and Ryan. Okay, so you guys have to write and say, is Kyle right with Matt, Mike, and Ryan, or am I right with Matt, AJ, and Todd? Hopefully with those names put together, we're like 66% right. We got them right. We got two out of three. Oh, geez. Elliot have a safe trip back home you too before you know it it'll be Thursday and we'll be doing this all over again you know what I'm excited for I mean I'm going to need to set aside I don't know how many hours I can only imagine the size of the thought line mailbag Griffin Porter's going to be setting this after putting that on ice for a few weeks we've missed it dearly and look forward to getting to all the questions the ripping the ideas, all of it later on this week. You good? I'm good. All right. Travel safe. You too, bud. Everyone have a great start to the week. Wonderful time again. So glad to see NHL participation in the Olympics again. 12 years was a long time to wait, but boy, did it ever deliver. NHL regular season picks up again in a few days. We will talk to you again on Friday. online platform.