Offside with Hawes and Maguire
Offside: with Hawes and Maguire is not your typical hockey show. This weekly
45-60 minute show is a potent combination of humour and genuine hockey insights that pushes the envelope.
- Liam is renowned for his photographic memory, lively storytelling, vast hockey knowledge and sometimes over-the-top passion for the game of hockey.
- Chris is known for his unrehearsed humour, contagious laughter and uncanny ability to make even the most serious debates end in boisterous guffaws.
Between the two, there is an infectious enthusiasm and professional chemistry that is evident from the outset. It can only be described as lightning in a bottle.
Offside with Hawes and Maguire
Hockey Legends and Geopolitical Games -USA CANADA SHOWDOWN
Can a single game of hockey capture the essence of international tension and sporting rivalry? We explore that very question as we commemorate Phil Esposito's 83rd birthday with a nod to his legendary performance in Game 8 of 1972. As we share personal reflections on Esposito’s kindness and his international legacy, we also dive into the Offside with Hawes and Maguire hockey pool's latest twists and turns, with Adel holding the lead and challengers like Gerry and Q hot on his trail. Hockey fans will appreciate our recollections of unforgettable moments and speculative debates, including Brady TKachuk's potential NY Ranger NHL future, all layered with insights from hockey icons Ken Dryden and Gary Smith on the political drama surrounding historic games.
Amidst personal anecdotes and lively discussions, we touch on the geopolitical tensions that add a layer of complexity to the Canada-US rivalry, making each goal and penalty more than just a matter of sport. With the TKachuk brothers stirring excitement and American players adding their flair, we examine how political climates can influence the rink. Comparing events like Kucherov's All-Star antics and a trio of thrilling fights keep the adrenaline high, leading to our bold prediction for Canada's VICTORY. As we wrap up, our infectious enthusiasm for the upcoming games is sure to resonate with listeners, capturing the spirited energy that makes international hockey so electrifying.
it's offside with haas and mcguire it's offside with haas. Mcguire, I'm haas I'm mcguire there we are.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, today is, uh, uh, february 20th, so right off the top we're and I know we did it last episode, but I didn't know we would be doing it right now Phil Esposito's birthday, okay, and, as you like to say, the greatest I don't know, six or seven, or 12, or I don't know how many goddamn minutes in international hockey history. Okay, now, all of that leading up to a bit of an international incident happening this evening. So I'd like to say happy birthday to Phil, right, yeah. And before we jump into this Canada-US rivalry thing, I think we should mention and catch everybody up, because everybody's like let's Canada rush thing or Canada-US thing. That's one thing, but you know what people are really asking about, liam, I'm getting phone calls, I'm getting letters. You know what they're saying.
Speaker 1:No, how are things going with the hockey pool, chris? Yeah, it's a Hosey and Brown offside with uh, offside with Haas McGuire hockey pool, and I gotta tell you the like things have shifted. Uh, we still have. Uh, our leader is still our leader. Okay, um, uh, adel, uh, but in second place is uh a buddy of mine, jerry, who is now in second place, coming up fast, followed by Chris Baird, then Chuck Yates, and in fifth place, okay, and actually a fan favorite is Q Love it. Yeah, awesome. So it's coming along.
Speaker 1:Now this is where things tip right, because you've got all this structure. But now the injuries start happening. Guys are sitting out because they're getting prepared for the playoffs. Okay, they're not going out and they're not going to be playing, as I don't know, gooney, maybe they will, I don't know. So this could shift dramatically and at the end of the year, who the hell knows who's going to win the pool. But I just wanted to give everybody an update on that. Now here I am in the sun, okay, and there's no snow here at all. Apparently, there's no snow. I got out just in time, I left and then the snow came.
Speaker 2:So what do you think of tonight? Well, I can't wait. First of all, echo your sentiment to phil uh, he was so kind to us last year. I'll never forget that. I think there's anything I'll take away from that. Chris was not only having the opportunity to sit upstairs in a restaurant that he's part owner of, but how he sent us both emails after making sure we got home safely yeah, right, oh, you know what class act? Class act for yeah so happy birthday to phil esposito. Um what is he?
Speaker 1:82, I believe uh, you know what? Uh, no, and I think he was. Well, you know what? I I don't know um you tell me what year he was born and I can tell you born in uh, actually he's 83.
Speaker 2:I think I think he was born in 42. I think he was born in 42. Okay, well, I would make him 83, but he played. The greatest period of hockey is what it is the greatest period of hockey ever in the history of the sport, third period, game 872 phil esposito. It's beyond disputed or debate, given everything that was on the line until today, until maybe somebody.
Speaker 2:Today, however, then it and I'm I'm on a thread right now and, uh, I was telling you earlier with some, these are actually the guys who did the documentary Icebreaker that I was a small part of. You may know some of the other guys Wayne Gretzky, vladislav Dredjak but it was largely based on the book written on the series by Gary Smith, who was the Canadian diplomat who in fact brokered the deal to initially start the process, to negotiate, to get the series done. He was working in Moscow at the time representing Canada, and that's how that whole thing started. So today, on the thread, among other things we're discussing it came up, of course, about tonight and where it fits in, and geopolitical is not a term I'm very familiar with. I don't use it in my daily lingo very often.
Speaker 2:I think you're probably more adept at that than I am, or not probably you are, but it has been brought to my attention that Ken Dryden this morning on CBC Radio is calling this next 272 from a geopolitical point of view, and Gary Smith, the author, has echoed that sentiment, saying that they think this game tonight is in that realm. So besides, just from a hockey perspective, you know, quinn Hughes can't play Charlie McAvoy out. Makar missed game one. We're still missing. Theodore Pietrangelo never came. Can Binnington not allow a soft one? Who's going to win and all the rest. It's a bigger picture, I think largely because of how Trump has been handling his discourse publicly about Canada and the 51st date and Governor Trudeau and all the rest and the booing of the anthems and everything else. So it's added a lot of extra drama and a lot of extra eyeballs on this game than probably would have been, chris, notwithstanding the fact there was three fights in nine seconds on Saturday.
Speaker 1:So to that end, though, discussing certain things, and it feels as though those things were orchestrated. Okay, I'm not going to mention names, let's say Kachuk, and then Kachuk, hold on a second.
Speaker 2:I mean they went to the press conference after fully explaining what happened. Brady and Matt and JT are on a group chat and they said what about fighting tonight? And they said, yeah, you think we get anybody. Oh, yeah, there's guys there, they'll go. And so it was premeditated. Then in the warm-up, nothing was said.
Speaker 2:But when Matthew came up against Hagel which we all watched and you could see he's dialoguing with Hagel, saying, hey, you want to go, and Hagel says, of course Brady was standing. The refs had to push him away. Keep in mind, this is his older brother fighting. They've never been on the same team and you can see as, as I said on radio the other day, he's yelling well, I didn't know at the time. He's yelling at the Canadian bench for Bennett, which John Cooper puts Bennett on. Cooper could have kept Bennett on the bench. Yeah, he didn't, he put him on right away. So so they fought, and then the Pareko-JT Miller fight was really just an add-on. So I mean it was orchestrated in the sense that the Americans wanted it, those three guys wanted it, we gave it to them, but it added tremendous, tremendous theater to the entire game and to my extent it's now the series.
Speaker 1:So this is the question Was it generated for theater or was it generated?
Speaker 2:because of political animosity. No, no, not political animosity at all. It was generated for a hockey game. It was generated because these guys this is just my opinion. Now I don't have this in writing from Matthew and Brady, but it's my belief, watching every second of everything that happens and it's including before and after these games and all the comments it's my belief that they wanted to set the tone and show Canada that we're here and we're going to punch you right in the head right now, before this thing even starts. You know what?
Speaker 1:I'm going to say there's subtext here. So I think that Brady Kachuk is going to be going to New York. We talked about this before, but this is his. The fact of the matter is that I think that the political side of things has creeped into things and guys, there's a lot of significant animosity has creeped into things and guys, there's a lot of significant animosity and I see Brady Kachuk gone to New York within at the end of his contract. He's not going to be renewing and he's like years from now hey, what's that?
Speaker 1:That's years from now, okay, well then he'll be he'll, then he'll ask for a trade. I think, I really think that that that New York wants him. It's a great big market, not a hope in hell.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what Not a hope in hell, if he goes anywhere, he'll find where he can join his brother. I don't think he'll go just because there's Herb Brooks Brooksy whatever his first name is there.
Speaker 2:Yeah the writer, yeah, who started that rumor and stands by it. Good on him. He said from new york, sources are saying they want brady. Guess what? Uh, there's 30 other teams besides new york and ottawa, where he current plays, that would love to have brady.
Speaker 2:I personally think he's been the united states mvp. I don't think he's going anywhere. I think I think the last team the last team anybody wants to play in the first round of the playoffs this year is the Ottawa Senators. We're going to see a second half here. They don't need to do a Hamburglar run. All they got to do is maintain where they are. They're in a playoff spot right now. Brady's a huge part of it. I don't think he's going anywhere by the end of the contract or if he asks for a trade, as you're suggesting, I think they would need to fall out of the playoff race here and miss again for the eighth year in a row. Then maybe, chris, there could be some merit to what you're saying. But if they make the playoffs this year and whomever they play, even just making the playoffs, it's a massive step up, largely because of Brady. He's a straw that stirs a drink. Yes, oh you know what?
Speaker 1:There's a drink, yes, well, you know what? Absolutely. And you know what? Love him as team captain and everything like that. The the the thing is is that I mean being down here, okay, um, and you know I'm, I'm doing a match to match, play events, uh, today and tomorrow, uh, against guys, and there's a lot of tension, animosity, like you know what I mean. That that's, that's down here. That's really underlying. I mean, you know, I've known a lot of these guys for a while, but there's there's little chirps that are coming out here and there that are like one. They all love fucking Trump. It's unbelievable that how much they are behind him, you know and the election bore that out.
Speaker 1:Well, and even now, like they seem to be even more. And now there are, of course, there are his detractors, and thank God for them, but it's getting so. It's actually a really. The guys are talking. People are talking about the game in Phoenix, where there's no NHL team anymore, okay. People are talking about tonight's game, yeah, right, like we're talking about getting off the course just in time to watch the puck drop in the club. Well, no, you're, you're gonna see what's that you're?
Speaker 2:you're? You're two hours behind us, right? That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. So that's uh, six o'clock puck drop for you. That's right, exactly, yeah, yeah. Well, it'll be 6 30 these, these. It takes 20 minutes before they drop the puck, but yeah, there's minutes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go, yeah I, I, I, uh, I.
Speaker 2:I will concede this whole thing has heightened awareness because of trump and consequently the booing and the rest of it, though to me is all hockey and the fights added are adding just as much a part. I think if there was, if trump hadn't called us a 51st state governor trudeau, and there was no booing of the anthems at all, I still think the awareness would be massively heightened because of how the game was played. Saturday.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, but I think I mean you know what and I don't disagree. But I think I mean you know what and I don't disagree. But I think that the reason the game was played that way and the reason that they started off with this you know melee was because of all of that undercurrent that's there to draw on the emotions of the fans.
Speaker 2:I don't agree on the emotions of the fans. I don't, I don't, I don't agree with that at all.
Speaker 1:It's not, certainly not my opinion of it but I'll bet this is going to be one of the most watched sporting events in in Canada in a long, long time. And, and you know what the only sad part is is that you've got to be a sports net like TSN subscriber in order to get it in Canada. Because if you just wanted to get it on regular TV, you know what I mean. Let's say you live in, you know bumfuck Alberta by the way, I've been there and it's a wonderful place. Okay, I just want to say that. But let's say you're there and you don't have it.
Speaker 2:You only get over the air, you're not getting tsn, and so you're, you're, uh, you're, you're unable to watch that uh right now our tv audience record and it's because of population it would be 72, but we only had 10 million canadians at the time who all watched game eight our our current uh tv record is the gold medal game in 2010. This game tonight. I I don't think we'll come close to that, you don't.
Speaker 1:No, well, we'll see. I'd love to see what the numbers are at the end and I think partly it will. Oh, you will.
Speaker 2:I mean we will, we will see them and they'll be significant, but we're just living the moment. Everybody forgets we had a gold medal game that went into overtime against the States 15 years ago.
Speaker 1:That's right. And you know who scored the winning goal. It'd be Crosby. And you know what? Has he not shown poise, leadership, all that stuff? I've got to tell you a pretty impressive guy and I know that everyone's cutting down Connor McDavid saying he's been nowhere. You know what? He's a pretty.
Speaker 1:Don't say that up here. No well, I know that he certainly exudes strength and leadership in all of that. I'm actually really impressed with the canadian team and how they've tried to stay apolitical throughout this whole thing, because I know I couldn't, I'd be, you know, uh, you know now that being said, you can't go down that road.
Speaker 2:As an athlete on the current team, though. It's all well and good for you saying you would be, but that's none of us would. Your hands are in mouth, are are tied. That's the last thing you want to do is become a pk suban type of distraction when your team is trying to win a mini tournament. So I know I don't think you'd say anything, nor would anybody else I know that would love to delve into a political viewpoint on all of this. That's all well and good for us to say here, but nobody on the team is going to get involved in any of that. The hockey's got lost in this for sure, but to me the hockey is still the most important part of it. At the end of the day, there's still a pretty good segment of the hockey population that aren't really putting any stock in this. 10 days, four games, round robin, no semifinal, only four teams. There's a lot of detractors to all this. No matter that.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, I have a lot of eyeballs on tonight, for sure, and you know what, and the fact that the Russians aren't here, and you know I'm not saying that, you know the Germans would have a team, but Dreisaitl's not here.
Speaker 2:Oh no, they play in the World Cups and in the Olympics they'll definitely have a team Right and the. World Cup even Germany's represented a couple of times over the years. The World Cup and Canada Cups I mean the World Cup and Canada Cups that we've played in typically have eight teams, the Olympics have 12. So this is four. And look, typically have eight teams, the olympics have 12. So this is four. And look, hey, this is phenomenal and it's phenomenal theater. We're gonna have a big crowd tonight. I don't think we're touching.
Speaker 1:Well, I I will say this to gary bettman this is way the fuck better than an all-star game well, there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 2:The thing that went on twitter there after those three fights on saturday night was someone showed kucherov, who was half in the bag and hammered last year's all-star game, trying to stick, handle through the cones, losing them and not giving a shit, and then going to the fights boom, boom, boom Say. Which do you prefer? I mean, come on, it's been the talk of hockey, but the fights, to me it was all hockey. That was all the Americans, that was Brady and Matthew, it's so them they're a throwback. You could parachute them into the 70s. They would fit in no problem and they're. They're a throwback. And it's like the team, their teammates, are calling them slap shot guys, the hansons and everything. And their dad espouses that as well. His nickname is reg, from reggie dunlop, from slap shot and walt.
Speaker 1:He's called a couple nicknames so, listen, I we're running out of time because we're limited here, so is there anything, in closing, that you'd like to say?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm picking Canada to win tonight and I think it'll be a fantastic game. I think we're winning 3-2, and I can't wait for it, awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what I'm hoping for. The same, I'd like to see a bitch slapping happen.
Speaker 2:You asked me what I think's going to happen, what I'd like to see happen. I'd like to see a human ate nothing.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Well, listen, I got to go. I literally have to go. This has been Offside with Haas McGuire, I'm Haas, I'm McGuire, g'day.
