The Check In - 04.11.26 - Flyers at Jets

The Jets welcome the Flyers for the only time this season Saturday night. Sara and Jamie will go over Winnipeg's playoff chances with four games remaining and welcome TSN's Dan Robertson to the show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Hello, everybody. It's a happy Saturday, beautiful weather outside, and there happens to be a hockey game in this building that we're standing in right now, Candlelife Center. Jets.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

And we are pumped.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

We're taking on the Philadelphia Flyers.

SPEAKER_05 2:10

It is the final Saturday game of the regular season for the Winnipeg Jets, and they come in. Good afternoon to so many of you. Oh, Leslie, being a bit since I've checked in. Well, it's great to have you back. We're very happy that you joined us. Yeah. Very happy that you joined us here today as we uh get you set over these next 30 minutes for tonight's game. We are down to four when you include uh tonight. Yeah with respect to the regular season. It is just a one-off here at home before the Jets head out on the road for their next two games. We are looking to forward to having Dan Robertson join us in just a little bit. Brian Boucher to talk about the Flyers.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

But we don't talk about very often.

SPEAKER_05 2:49

We don't. In fact, I think it was game four of the regular season, was the last time that we really discussed them.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

That was back in October.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

Way back in October. Yeah, I pretty I'm pretty sure it was game four of the regular season when the Jets were um in Philly. But these are two teams in need of two points, and both of them have certainly been on a roll of late.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

If the Flyers are in a better position, obviously, because they sit in third in the uh metro, sorry, the Metropolitan Division. Yeah, but they could fall out very quickly with a loss here today. So a lot on the line for them. The Jets, of course, hanging in there, hanging in there after a huge win in St. Louis the other night. Didn't look good to start.

SPEAKER_05 3:23

No.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Early power play goal, and then nothing for St. Louis pretty much the rest of the way outside of a late goal in the third period. But man, they they took it to St. Louis um after giving up that first goal, and the penalty kill was massive. They gave up, you know, they gave up that early goal and then went perfect four for four after that, including that late third period when St. Louis was trying to tie the game up and gave they didn't give up a shot. So the PK was locked in against St. Louis. The power play was huge on Monday against the Yeah, special teams certainly have played a role. Yeah, special teams have been huge uh in this in this week with the Jets staying in the hunt for a playoff spot.

SPEAKER_05 3:57

Yeah, uh, you know, we could talk about the goals that the Jets scored, we could talk about different plays, but let's let's focus in on one play in particular because we always give credit to Connor Hallibuck, obviously, for the job that he does in net. But how about the job that Josh Morrissey did in the first period against the Blues?

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Let's Snuggeroo for Robert Thomas for Hollywood by Morrissey. What the play by Josh Morrissey.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

You know the best part of that though is the crowd that it was in. Like the reaction from the St. Louis Blues fans, that they were like, it's in. And it was a great move by Holloway to get around Hillibok.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

It should, it should have been in based on positioning.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

But he uh it it was just a great say by Josh Morrissey. And Morrissey was, you know, we talk a lot about the best players having to be the Jets' best players. Like it is Mark Shifley, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey, and we'll throw on Connor Hillibuck as well, just taking the team on their back right now to keep them in the hunt in the Western Conference, which is still crazy. Uh, it's crazy out east as well in terms of the playoff race. Um, so Dan Robinson, as we mentioned, will join us here momentarily. Uh who just called that. That was his voice, in case you didn't recognize it. I'm sure people know Dan Robinson. I'm sure they do. Yeah. So uh he'll he'll bring us in a little, take us inside that play.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

Okay, so Jamie, though, has discovered something new that he can do on this platform. And so we always love being able to hear from all of you and engage you in the conversations. We love knowing what your opinions are as well.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

So we're just praying this works.

SPEAKER_05 5:27

Here is what Jamie has come up with for today. He wants to put out a poll.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

I stole this from Pierre LeBren because Pierre LeBrun talks about this all the time. The playoff format, the National Hockey League. He's not happy with it. Right. And it was a landslide in terms of people want it to change to the old format 1v8, 2v7, and go down the list. So all you gotta do in the chat is right, you have to just put type one, two, or three in the chat, and hopefully this poll works. So, what do you want to do with the playoff format? Do you want to keep it the way it is, do the old way 1v8, 2v7, or 3 1v8 plus a play in? So the NBA does the play-in as well. It's the seven, eight, yeah, nine, ten teams fighting over the seven, eight seats. So it's up to you.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

Oh, it does work. This is very exciting. You would think that we might you would think that we might have tried this out beforehand, but no, no, any of you that have followed along know that that's not the way that's crazy. That's not the way that we like to roll the dice.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

No, we don't, we do not test things before.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

It was like roll the dice here, we'll all find out together.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

That is a beautiful technology. Just like keep like you just guess and see if this works. But okay, so thank you so much for playing with us and just uh stay along with us. So if you're just joining us, one, two, or three, type in the chat, and it will update the uh playoff format poll that we're doing here. So many thanks to Peter LeBron who came up with this idea.

SPEAKER_05 6:46

That's that it is something though. What would you like to see? What would your vote be?

SPEAKER_04 6:50

I really like the way the rivalries have started back up again. But I'm like, I'm just I'm a sucker for a tradition. 1v8, 2v7. And I know I know the reason why the NHL did it, I understand, because you're trying to get the rivalries back, and sometimes the matchups were like terrible in terms of travel in the opening round. But man, 1v8, 2v7. There's just something about it. And I wouldn't mind the play-in, but I know Gary does not like any idea of what the NBA is doing in terms of the playoff format. So maybe we'll ask Dan Robertson about that momentarily here.

SPEAKER_05 7:25

Um, so a lot to go with this game here tonight. You mentioned that both of them, obviously, in oh, are we okay?

SPEAKER_04 7:31

No, we're good. I just saw what's coming up next, so I was got excited. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:34

Well, while I'll talk about this while you uh are making your choices.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Oh, I I made them. Okay. Yeah, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_05 7:40

The Jets have won five of their last six games. Um, they have loved playing against the Metro division in terms of success this season. Philly, though, has had a lot of success against Central, so kind of a wash in that place. What are we on the lookout for in terms of milestones? We'll tell you tonight, because there could be many, and there certainly have been a lot this season, so why stop it now with only four games remaining? Uh, Mark Shifley, one point away from 100 would be the first 2.0 player to hit that milestone. Yeah, and two points tonight would set a franchise record, uh, which would overtake Marion Josa.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

I've not heard Marion Hosa's name in a long time.

SPEAKER_05 8:17

Neither have I. Usually, when you think of the Atlanta Thrashers and milestones and records, you think of Ilya Kovac. Yeah, but no, Marion Hosa with that one. Um, Kyle Connor milestone, one point, and it's 90 points for Casey, would be the third time he's hit 90 point mark. That would be uh the most in franchise history. Gabe Villardi won away from 30 goals, would be the first time that the Jets have had three 30 goal scorers since 2019 when it was Kyle Connor, Mark Shifley, and who do you think?

SPEAKER_04 8:46

2019. I'm blanking. 2019?

SPEAKER_05 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Oh, Lane, Lane, right. Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully Shifley uh not only gets to point a hundred but passes and puts himself in the uh Jets record book one more time because he's uh done a lot of that so far this year.

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, you also know that in the month of April, we have been doing the Tim Hortons hockey challenge. Right. Okay. So usually we give our picks at the end, but we're going to do we hope there's a lot going on. We hope that you have been playing along as well.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

So go in the app.

unknown 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Tim hockey challenge. You see, you got your picks. I went uh Yuri Slav Slavkowski from the Red Hot Montreal Canadians. Then I went uh Double Jets Defense, Neil Pionk and Josh Morrissey. Okay. So the other night, Alex I follow scores in the first period. And what do I get in my text messages? Right away. Right, like instantaneously, even almost before the goal was scored. I get Sarah Oleski sending me a text with Alex I follow whatever those things are called, gifts. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

You didn't and then a wave from me. Right.

SPEAKER_04 9:51

Yeah, bragging as usual. I just write again. Just me, just little me. I'm just right.

SPEAKER_05 9:56

As you know, Jamie and I are very competitive with each. We're very competitive anyways. Yeah. We're really just competitive. We're very competitive with each other. So of course I had to take that opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Tim's hockey challenge.

SPEAKER_05 10:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

You get seven days in a row. Not just game days, just do it seven days in a row, seven days of coffee free for it. For our friends with Tim Hortons.

SPEAKER_05 10:14

Okay, so my choices were Gabe Villardi.

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yeah. Thought it was a great King Clancy nomination. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 10:19

Yeah, we'll talk about that in a moment. Um, I'm gonna go with Jamie Ben.

SPEAKER_04 10:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 10:24

Hasn't scored last it's been about five games, four games since he scored, but they're playing against the New York Rangers this afternoon. Right. And then I also went with the Jet Stey and Josh Marcy.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Okay. We'll see who's right. Let's see who's right first. That's the best part. It's not even so much right, it's just who was first when you were first to the day. That's part of the competition.

SPEAKER_05 10:42

Um, let's take a look at the projected lines. The Jets did hold uh their morning skate today. The Philadelphia Flyers did not hold one.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Um guess when you're in third place in the metro, you take the day off.

SPEAKER_05 10:52

That's but no surprise with what we were seeing from these projected lines.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

Yeah, uh, no changes. Uh, don't touch my third line again. Uh, I'm really liking how that's looking right now. Top six looks fantastic. Jacob Bryson's been great since coming back in the lineup. Um, and of course, Connor Hellebuck. Uh, he is starting his 20th game in the last 22 Jets games. Yeah, and throw in the Olympics in there as well.

SPEAKER_05 11:15

I am going to be fascinated. So they play Monday, Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:19

Um, in Utah. So back-to-back games, Utah and Vegas. I'm going to be fascinated to see what happens. If the Jets were to win tonight, yeah, what happens in those games when it comes to Connor Hellibuck?

SPEAKER_04 11:31

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 11:34

I still think they ride the Vesna slash hard trophy winner the whole way.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Yeah. Um if they're still in the which they will be. They're gonna be in the hunt, so it's gonna be on Connor Hellebach the whole way. Understand people's perspective, but enough about me and what I think. It's time to hear what Dan Robinson thinks.

SPEAKER_05 11:52

Oh, okay. Which is what we're all waiting for. Because if you were watching the GFN broadcast the other night in St. Louis, you know that it was uh eventually we were not able to hear Dan anymore.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

So when that happens, my friend, how do you react? How do you handle that? Now, the way you handle things now is opposed if that if that happens earlier in your career, what has changed about Dan Robertson? Well, where we are today.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

I I guess uh when you do it long enough, you you realize that it's not the end of the world. And what happened? Our switcher in the truck froze. So I was trying to introduce the starting goaltenders, and we were on an exterior shot of a statue, and it just it just stayed there. So I thought, okay, this is uh Well, there's your Jet Starting goaltender, the statue. Yeah, they they both look like a statue. So I mean, you know, part of it is you get frustrated, but who can you get frustrated with? Down in the truck, they're scrambling to try and get things together. So they just eventually made the call that we had to take the St. Louis feed because I mean it was a disaster. I tried to talk with Josh in one of the intermissions and he couldn't hear me, and I just you know, you have nightmare bad dreams like that, you know. So it's just it happened actually in our first road game this year in in New York uh against the islanders, where we had to take the islander feed. But if it, you know, you look at it in the big picture, it's frustrating because you go to St. Louis, it's a one-game road trip, and you go there to do the game, and you can't even do half of it. So, but Kevin's like, yeah, let's just sit back and watch the game. I thought, yeah, okay, we're still getting paid. So part of it, my thing selfishly, I didn't want to see Shifley get his hundredth point against, and I don't really want to see him do it tonight either. So if they can win without him contributing offensively and then see him get a hat trick or something on Monday, that would be that would be ideal. But yeah, things happen, but it's still frustrating when those things uh go down like that.

SPEAKER_05 13:39

I loved your comment though to Josh when he wasn't able to hear you and he said well, and I'm paraphrasing, but essentially that you know, this is how most people respond when you ask them a question. Yeah, just silence.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

I was no idea you said it in his face was like just rolling with his thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

It was awesome. I I felt bad for him. What was in my head, I'll tell you right now. And I I I was going to say this reminds me of when I used to try to speak with my ex-wife, but which which isn't true, but there's there's comedic value in it. But I I I I'm glad I didn't say it at the time, although I'm saying it now. So, what's the difference?

SPEAKER_04 14:14

Uh comment for the wind, did Dan and Kevin get paid for watching the game? As a matter of fact, we did we did. We did press box beers for Dan and Kevin. Did that is that how that worked?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Uh well, we were looking, but we couldn't find any. And then Kenny's water bottle.

SPEAKER_04 14:31

I guess Winnipeg got Wi-Fi before St. Louis.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, that was uh it was the truck. I think the truck was originally a black and white truck, so it was uh it was bad.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

Okay, so as as this weekend or this season winds down, and and you're you know, clearly you you won't be doing the playoffs, but how are you approaching these last these last three games with the importance of the uh of what the Jets have in front of them?

SPEAKER_02 14:55

Well, it's funny, Jamie. I said to Kevin the other night when we came on air, I feel like I'm just repetitive. This is a must-win. This is a must-win, right? And and I'm repetitive, but it's true. I mean, not technically, it's not a must-win, but for all intents and purposes, it's been that way for a number of weeks. So when you think of it, I'm I'm really impressed by the way they played under pressure collectively. They're they're much better defensively. I I know that going into the St. Louis game, they had a 2.13 goals against in their previous eight, so that went down a little bit. So that's Kevin talked about the fact too that they're trying to play one game at a time, and that's cliche, but that's what they have to do and kind of hope they get some help around them. My thing is, and this is selfish too, I hope that uh Thursday here against San Jose's play-in game. Like that'll be like a playoff game. So yeah, I'm sure that's what they're hoping for too. But it's just, I guess the way I'm looking at it is as um, you know, I mean, I love doing this job, so I just hope it's they continue to win and it's exciting down the stretch. And I give them credit. I mean, they could have they could have folded, although that's not in any team's DNA, really. But um they've their bet like you said earlier, and another cliche, it's true, their best players have been their best players, and that's really driven them here the last couple of weeks well, more than a couple of weeks now.

SPEAKER_05 16:09

See, Jimmy, I agree with you that, and I was saying I was on a legal curve this morning, and one of my comments with the guys was that regardless of how this ends at the end of the regular season, whether they get in or not, I think that there should be a lot of optimism for Jets fans going forward. That yes, this season, regardless, has not turned out the way that anybody would have anticipated. You would have thought that they would have been in that fight for the top three, or at least have been, you know, not fighting for a second wild card spot. But when you think of the push that they've made, I mean, they were last place in the league in January. Then you come back out of the Olympics and the job that they've done, there has been no quit. And while you say that, you know, we don't often see quit in the DNA of most teams. I mean, we have seen some teams that have not performed well coming out of the break that yeah, Toronto. I mean, that's you look at it, and I think that the push that we've seen from them and everybody kind of trying to do their own part, whatever that might be. I I think that it it shows promise. It shows at least I think that you can look at it and go that this season was maybe more of an anomaly than it was something that you need to rebuild on. You just need to you may need to make some tweaks, but injuries played a huge role this season.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

No, they did. And and obviously that 11-game winless streak uh really bit them. And that that's the problem. I mean, even you see them, they keep winning, but it's so hard to make ground. So it's just another reminder of if you get down early, it's so difficult to make up that ground, even if you have a long time to do it. So I mean, I think we all knew they were better than they were showing earlier in the season, and and there were some injuries and guys playing hurt and that sort of thing. And I'm not trying to not try to put a shine on something that uh doesn't deserve it. There, there's a lot of players who just didn't play up to expectations this year. And I'm speaking like the year's over. It's not, but uh the point is it's nice to see them, nice to see them rallying now, and and it's it's cool too to get a look at some kids. I'm so I'm disappointed that Salomonson got hurt um because we we knew he fit right in. So that's promising. Uh Brad Lambert, he's still, you know, he had that nice goal here against Seattle and showing some good things. I want to see continued stuff from him, but he's getting a look, and I think that's that's good because they're trying to find a playoff spot and uh implementing him as well. So there's always positives. Sometimes there's more than others, and and we're seeing it here. We I just hope, as I said, that they can, you know, we'll see an Oilers win against the Kings tonight, and then things will continue to be interesting down the stretch.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

Dan, I like we I know you've watched and you certainly have talked to Gabe Vallardi a ton of times. A guy that does not like attention but is extremely hard on himself, but gives so much of himself off the ice to the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy, of course, Project 11. What do you what have you got to know about Gabe Villardi over the years? Of course, he's the Jets nominee for the King Clancy Memorial uh trophy. What have what have you got to know about Gabe Vallardi and your time as a call on this team?

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Yeah, you know what? I I should spend more time talking to those guys. I try and give them their space more than anything, but just you get the sense that he's uh he is who he is, Jamie. And I I I like that. Like when you talk with him, and I think I can kind of glean some stuff from that. I can remember doing an interview with him on the road, and he said it was right after the the Olympic break, and he came back and he was on with me in an intermission. He said, you know, I I didn't like the break. He said, We're we're away from the ring too much, and uh that sort of thing. But I I like how he just he speaks the speaks the truth. He he says what he feels. So I think there's kind of a a genuineness about him and an honesty that I appreciate. And you guys would would uh concur with that, I'm sure. So that's I don't want to get too hokey here, but you see the King Clancy Award and things like that, those those are huge, right? Those uh if if you're a nominee, you have to wear that as a badge of honor, whether or not you know, and it's it's like the Masterton too that uh Taves is nominated for. That's those are big deals that sometimes we don't look at as major awards. But um, if you can do things in the community like Gabe does, that's that's that's really important. That supersedes hockey. So good on him. He's a guy I really like. It's um, you know, it's it's become sort of a when he's interviewed, you never know what to expect. And I don't mean that sound condescending. No, it's not I like it. I like it. It's not canned answers, and it kind of speaks to who he is, so I think it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

All right. Uh, we've just found uh, as you might have saw a little bit earlier, uh, we found one of the little gadgets on this uh platform, which is StreamYard, and it's uh this is a poll. And I'm sure you saw this the other day. It's popped up in the corner there, Dan. Yeah, uh, what do you want to do with the playoff format? Do you want to leave it the way it is? Are you traditionalist 1v8, or do you want that play in like the NBA does as the third option there?

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Well, I I'll start with the worst option. That's a play-in. I mean, every too many teams get into the playoffs now as it as it stands, I think. Yeah, yeah. So I, you know, when I I'm old enough where I can remember one versus 16, and and yes, so those I don't know, those uh well last year it was one versus 16, wasn't it? The Jets and the Blues essentially pretty much, yes. So that's a reminder of how much there is parity. But I think as you see, what is it, 85% now? People are saying one versus two versus seven. I yeah, it just bothers me that we're going to see Dallas and Minnesota in the first round. It's gonna be a great series, you would think, but both of those teams deserve to get an easier draw in the first round. It's such a grueling schedule. Yeah. Every team that you know, what do you get for for all of those wins and playing such strong hockey all year long? And we've seen the Jets run into that, trying to have them play the avalanche in the first round or Dallas in the first round over the years. So uh, you know, it's never going to change. And I understand why people talk about it, but you know, by the way Gary Bettman speaks and what the owners want, the way it is now will never change. But I would like to compromise with one versus eight uh in each conference and go from there.

SPEAKER_05 21:53

I think we agree.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

You know how old you know how old I am. I remember the first round being best three of five. Which is not fair at all.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

No. Um, uh quick one from Trace H5513. My fave is Gabe's questions back to his interview.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

It's true. Yeah. And that's fair, right? Like, why should he do that? I think I think it's pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

All right, my friend. Uh, looking forward to uh seeing you back to work on but enjoy the game tonight.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah, I will. I will. I know there's a lot of Flyers fans in this province, which I think is pretty cool and for good reason. So yeah, yeah, it'll be there'll be some orange in the crowd, and that'll make for a fun atmosphere, too.

SPEAKER_04 22:29

Bobby Clark was my favorite player growing up. Yeah, yeah. Flynn Fon Manitoba.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

This was a Flyers guy.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Yeah, knew everything about him. He still is. Don't let him fool you.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Yeah. Blades orange.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Yes, yes, I do.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Just not tonight.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Just not tonight. Thanks, buddy. Good to see you. Good to see you too. Thanks, Fan. Talk to you later. Bram Boucher is joining us.

SPEAKER_05 22:52

Beautiful. Um, okay, we'll do that. I do uh agree. I love all the comments that are coming up in here. And just going back to that idea that when Gabe questions uh the interviewer's back, throws the question out. I also get a kick out of it when he uh when he asked him a question, he goes, No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Well, today he was asked about if did you grow up idolizing anybody that made you like kind of led you down this path of doing extra work off the ice, like no, no, like just now that I've got to know him, yeah, you pretty much can tell when what the answer is gonna be. If it comes to anything, you like how you've been playing, you know he's gonna say no. Yeah, he's very hard on himself that way. But today it was it was really nice to hear him be happy about the nomination because it is great and he does great work off the ice. Um, and because of his personality, it fits perfectly in with kids.

SPEAKER_05 23:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

He set stop short of saying he is like a kid. And you know what?

SPEAKER_05 23:49

It fits in perfectly with Winnipeg too. I just I think he's been such a great fit here that you look at the benefits of that trade um that Kevin Cheveldeoff was able to do. I don't think that many people would have anticipated it being um paying off to the extent that it has. So it's great to see great to see it and for Vellardi to continue to grow his game and show that he can be a driver online um and continue to evolve his game.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

Well, he just does so many great things and he's so talented. And the fact that the Jets have been able to lean on him to get the second line going or help out the second line and get that secondary score that they so desperately need. Um, it just speaks to everything that um about how good of a player he is, and especially uh and now the stuff off the ice as well, helping with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy. But so congratulations to Gabe Ballardi uh for that.

SPEAKER_05 24:39

Yes. Um okay, so while we wait for Brian Boucher, why don't we take a listen to I had the opportunity to catch up uh briefly with Cole Kepke, which he almost outweighed me.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Right.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

And then I found out, I thought, oh, why is this he's taking so long? We're just gonna we're gonna blow it up.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Does that go in the interview?

SPEAKER_05 24:58

And then no, because then I discovered that he didn't look. So all the numbers get written on the board in the dressing room that players are supposed to check. He didn't check. Yeah, going in. So actually, one of the um Scott Brown walks by him and says, Thanks so much for doing that. And so Cole says to me afterwards, because I didn't even know. I had no idea what he was talking about because I hadn't looked at the board, so I just went, I don't know what he's talking about, went back to eating. But uh we had the opportunity, you know, no surprise, the discussion was about another must-win game here today, the importance of the two points uh and how big this game is going to be for everybody involved. Well, Cole home for one game, and obviously a huge game tonight for this Jets team as you try to continue to make that push for the second wild card spot. What do you need to see, or what are you hoping to see from this group here tonight?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

I think it's kind of just a lot of the same that we've been doing. I think we uh we need a big start, that's for sure. I think that's kind of maybe our only thing we haven't been doing super well as of late, but we've been playing really well and I don't want to end it as a group of five and defending well. Just I gotta keep this week of one as a week of everything. So we're gonna keep playing that's gonna be.

SPEAKER_05 26:45

Everybody is finding a way. Do you agree with that? And what is it? Everybody is finding a woman.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

I agree for sure. Everyone's gonna be the skin. Everyone is a little bit. We have to do it.

SPEAKER_05 27:31

This is a team.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I mean, they're gonna big streak right now. They're still in a playoff spot right now. Playing in hockey, and they have some young skill on their team, uh, obviously, and they support a lot. That's what they've been doing, and we seem to be hard on their skill and try and shut them down and just get ready for a playoff game.

SPEAKER_05 27:59

All right, appreciate the time very much. Good luck tonight.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

Yeah, thank you. You know what I appreciate? Your focus with the Zamboni game. With the Zamboni?

SPEAKER_05 28:08

Well, because the interview happened so late, yeah. We didn't really have the option, and so the Zamboni, uh, usually it's Wade Flaherty that's making an appearance behind us in the interview today.

SPEAKER_04 28:19

So all that fun. We're like, where's Wade? Is gone.

SPEAKER_05 28:21

Because yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

We don't have anybody else chirping in on that stuff. So they you know, the organic stuff that goes on behind the scenes wasn't there, but that was still a great interview. Right. Because I don't usually hear what you guys are saying because I'm so busy focusing on where Wade with Flaherty is or who else is doing something else, because as you know, my focus is awful.

SPEAKER_05 28:39

Um, the Jets do uh have success often on uh Saturdays. So if you want to cling, I mean you could cling to a bunch of things. They did win against Philadelphia earlier, they have been playing, but um well, obviously, with uh wins in five of their last six games. We mentioned all this earlier, but also said that Philadelphia has been playing so well lately, one of the hottest teams from March 1st on. So there's a struggle. So we'll just go to randomness. Saturdays. Yeah, 11, 3, and 3 this season are the Winnipeg Jets. 5-0 and 1 in their last six games on a Saturday. They have played well on hockey night, so we'll see if it can continue tonight.

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Yeah, it's incredible their turnaround, right? Since since the Olympic break and how things have been going, and we also like we're waiting for Mark Scheifling to possibly get his 100th point tonight. Uh, he has been involved in 44.6% of the Jets goals this year. That's fourth highest in the National Hockey League. Guess who's number one? Who? Who factors in in almost every goal? I couldn't even afford that's in Canada. That's in blue and orange. Yeah, McConnell McDavid, almost 50%.

SPEAKER_05 29:43

Yeah, 48.4. Craziness. Let's take a look at where the standings are right now, just briefly before we go. That uh we might unfortunately be out of luck with Brian Boucher today. But you take a look at it. So the Jets are three points back. You want to keep in mind LA, since we are all going to be scoreboard watching, LA plays at three o'clock today against Edmonton. Nashville plays at four o'clock. They are hosting Minnesota. So we will have an idea uh before the Jets finish about what movement we might have seen uh with respect to the wild card race and how important it is.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

Maybe Wade was driving the sample and he never saw that. That would be fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

That'd be so great. Lenny's water bottle, I love that idea. You know, I might suggest it. Wade, you never know what he's gonna come up with. Yeah, um, also when you look at remaining schedules. So Winnipeg is we mentioned after tonight, we'll play back-to-back games in Utah and Vegas and then come home. They will close out the regular season on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, LA remaining games, Edmonton today, Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary. Nashville's remaining games, Minnesota, San Jose, and Anaheim.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

Okay, that's way harder.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

Yes. So it'll be interesting to see what happens for it. Uh Halibucks started set to make his eighth consecutive start. He said 20 out of the last 22 for it. So no surprise that with everything on the line, that the Winnipeg Jets are gonna ride their starting netminder.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

Yeah, it's I mean, it's just he's been he was great, so good in St. Louis the other night. You just never go wrong with that one. But I I think good signs are as we lean on more things. The power play got going on Monday, the Pendleto was great on Thursday. So why not make it more interesting to win again here tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers?

SPEAKER_05 31:25

Yeah, uh, we do have great news as we wrap things up at four Winnipeg Jets fans. Uh fan appreciation sale is going on right now at the Jets Air store. You gotta like that. Either in person or you can go online. It's through April the 16th. 30% off most in-stock items. So you want to be able to take the opportunity to load up and do some of your shopping right now, get some new Winnipeg Jets merchandise. Um, there was, I was up there earlier today, actually, and I was talking to some of the women in the store, and they said that they have had some people call about white out gear. Okay. And they said, look, we need to clinch a slot.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

We had a playoff meeting the other day.

SPEAKER_05 32:02

We yeah, wait, it was a not, it was a meeting, not playoff meeting because you're not try not to jinx it. Try not to jinx it yet. But the great news is 30% off uh most in-stock items. So make your way to Jets Gear store or the online website.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

Many thanks to Dan Robertson and of course Cole Kepke for doing the interview he didn't know he was doing.

SPEAKER_05 32:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

Did a great job. Many thanks to Wade Flarity for driving the Zamboni the right way, and great job by Sarah Leskey as well and her input in this broadcast.

SPEAKER_05 32:33

Our final selections again, if you remember, so we've decided first off that everybody that that if it was up to all of us taking part, they'd go back to a 1v8 for the playoffs, is what we have.

SPEAKER_04 32:47

Oh, it's massive, it's a runaway.

SPEAKER_05 32:48

Runaway. There you go. And we want to make sure that you are also taking part in the Tim Hortons challenge.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

And our picks for today, mine were Gabe Villardi, Josh Morrissey, and Jamie Ben.

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Jamie's were Slikowski, Pianc and Morrissey.

SPEAKER_05 33:07

All right. We're gonna see uh we'll see.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

We'll we will just Sarah will put it on Twitter or something like that, brag about it if she gets something right.

SPEAKER_05 33:14

So maybe.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Oh, we see comment for the win soup pick that Brian Boucher was our choice for the situation, the responsibility to tell everybody what his favorite soup was, but didn't work out. I think we're oh we didn't do it last show either. And Dan has already done it.

SPEAKER_05 33:30

Right. You can only go back to that wall so many times.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

Just maybe different types of year. Like Paul can talk about soup, no problem. I can ask Paul anytime about what soup he's doing today, and he can make some, you know, come up with some different way to tell you beef and barley. Yeah, but he'll do it in an enjoyable way and informative.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

It's fantastic. It's a soup show. That's why whenever the off-season hits, yeah, what you all don't know is that Jamie and I are going to start doing a morning show.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:56

And we're it's going to have many food segments in it. Cooking with Jamie and Sarah. Oh. Soup with Jamie and Sarah.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Can you imagine? Having seen both of us cook. My kids are like, my wife's out of town, and the kids are like, don't even know what to do. They look very they're on edge because they're like, Are we gonna die?

SPEAKER_05 34:14

Oh, are we gonna eat today? Are we not? Are we gonna eat today?

SPEAKER_04 34:19

My daughter just texted me and said she had cake craft dinner for lunch, but it's the ones in those little containers that you microwave. Don't worry, I'm coming home to that.

SPEAKER_05 34:29

I hope you guys all have a fantastic day today. Thanks so much. We always love having you in the chat. Uh, it's great. Yeah, enjoy the game tonight. It should be a great one between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Winnipeg. Just a reminder that it is a SportsNet game and it is a 6 p.m. game today, so you do not want to miss uh opening puck draw.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Oh, yeah, cookbook. That's another idea. I know how to make like five things.

SPEAKER_05 34:51

Okay, uh very quickly. I have said to you before that if groceries were not so expensive, what I would love to do is go back. There is a great Instagram account that goes over 70s dinner party foods or 70s foods because everything back then, you know, was in some sort of jello mold, or you just look at it. It's it's traumatizing. But I would get such a kick out of making them and then having you test them.

SPEAKER_04 35:15

Oh, yeah, you would want to make something and I gotta try it.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Okay, we could do that next year. I'll do that.

SPEAKER_05 35:20

For it.

SPEAKER_04 35:22

I'll do it.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

You all heard it right here. I'll do it for sure. Yeah, all right. We gotta go. Okay, so thanks so much, everybody. Have a great day. Thanks for checking in.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

We could do it.