The Check In - 04.14.26 - Jets at Mammoth

The Jets play their final road game in Utah, Sara and Jamie go back to last night's loss in Vegas ending Winnipeg's hope of making the playoffs, Mark Scheifele setting the franchise record for points and welcome HNIC host Scott Oake and CJOB analyst Mitchell Clinton to the show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 2:05

It's a terrible feeling, you know. We you know, we sat at the all-star break when we had our chance to have our little mini camp and kind of get ready for the stretch run the 29 games. You know, we wanted to put everything we could into it. You know, we went from 11 points down to one at one time, and you know, it just uh you know it it is a it's a it's a tough feeling. And I know the guys are they're hurting everybody. Uh you know, we we all want to be in the playoffs. That's what our job is and our role is. And when you get the reality of it, it sucks.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

I don't think Scott Arneal could say any better than that. It does suck. Uh all 16 teams have been decided for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, one of them will not be the Winnipeg Jets as they lose to the Vegas Golden Knights last night, 6-2, but the Los Angeles Kings also won their game in Seattle. So therefore, eliminating the Winnipeg Jets from Stanley Cup contention. I'm Jamie Thomas. Welcome to Check In. The Winnipeg Jets will be taking on the Utah Mammoth a little bit later today. Um, and of course, we will go over many things. Mark Scheifley setting the franchise record for most points in the season, uh, surpassing Marion Hosa, and of course, um looking ahead to the game itself. But in the meantime, uh Mitchell Clinton will join us a little bit later in the show from his hotel room in Utah. Uh, before we do that, though, let's uh take care of some business. It is time for the Tim's Hockey Challenge. Just uh go to your phones. I'm sure you guys are there by now. Play for a chance to win for some free coffee. Uh Sarah Oleski will not be with us for the remainder of the show, although she did do our interview with our key guest tonight. That is Scott Oak, who is calling it quits after almost 50 years in the broadcasting business. Go to the Tim's Hockey Challenge on the app right now. Pick your three players. Uh, if you get um three consec or seven consecutive days of choosing which player scores a goal in the evening's games, uh, you will win yourself uh free coffee for a week. Today, my choice is Zach Rawinsky, Adam Lowry, and Jamie Drysdale. Um, spin at those picks right now. And of course, uh, if Sarah is watching right now, she can send us her picks a little bit later. Make sure you make yours and let us know in the chat. In the meantime, we tried to get Scott Oak on the show the other day. Uh, we failed. It was that was all our fault, fault. But I assure you, this time we pre-recorded this interview, Sarah and I, with the legendary Scott Oak. It was made the other day that our good friend Scott Oak has decided to step away from at least the broadcasting side of his life. Uh, Scott, welcome to the show. Um, when when did you decide that this was the year that you were gonna shut it down?

SPEAKER_06 4:33

Oh, probably about 10 years ago when it's already two years past my best before date. Yeah, yeah. Uh, I'd actually I I think you could refer to me as a certified card carrying liar because I've been going around for five years saying this is it, this is it. And uh I remember saying to I was a Calvin Pickard once in in Edmonton, um, I probably won't be seeing you after this year. And he went, Oh yeah, I'll see you back here next year. And there I was talking to him. I finally made the decision though, uh, because uh I want to spend more time with my grandchildren. Um, want to be more present for them, and I want to spend more time working at the uh Bruce and Anoke Recovery Center projects. As you know, the Bruce Oak Recovery Center has been open for five years, doing great things, and the Anoke Family Recovery Center project is full steam ahead now. Uh, we have a lot of money left to raise, and I'll be uh spending a lot of time uh doing that.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Well, Scott, it's I mean, the all the work that you've done within this community has been so great, and you've made such a difference, and you've made such a difference in that element, but then also to all of us sports fans over the years as well. And I think about all of the um accolades that you've received and all of the acknowledgments since your retirement announcement as well, including, I don't know if you saw this, the CBC Sports put out a great video uh montage of you from over the years. Do you have you seen it?

SPEAKER_06 5:58

The one I I am aware of it, but I'm not looking at it because why would I? So I can look in the mirror now and go, what the hell ever happened to me?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

So I mean, between the callers, but you they start with you in a DeLorean.

SPEAKER_06 6:11

Uh yeah, that was at the Great Cup way uh way back in the I guess the late 80s, early 90s at uh at BC Place. Um, look, I'm proud of my career, but I've never been great at taking a compliment, compliment number one, and number two, um, this would be in defiance of what you should do in broadcasting, and that is I've I have a hard job looking at myself on tape. So I'm not looking at that retrospective piece.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Well, I mean, it was great. So you really should at some point in time, Scott, but I wanted to ask it. I mean, it did highlight a number of the different events that you covered over the years. And although in recent years we think of you so much as Hockey Night in Canada and and SportsNet, you've covered so many different sporting events, so many um different sports in general. Is there a sport in particular other than hockey that you particularly enjoyed covering?

SPEAKER_06 7:04

Well, first of all, I uh just to uh support that point, Sarah. Um I had to send uh a thank you to uh a guy who works at CBC Sports the other day, congratulated me on my retirement. And I said, I'm available for voiceovers on anything from darts to trampoline. And believe it or not, I covered both sports. Oh, darts, really. I did the Canadian Trampoline Championships one year. I did uh the uh Canadian Darts Championships. The reason for that though is that we used to have an anthology show called Sports Weekend. And that was before the days of TSN and Sportsnet. So CBC Sports covered every sport uh there was in the country and and almost obligated to cover Canadian championships in every sport. So on a given Saturday, I could be somewhere outside Quebec City covering speed skating or in Regina covering the Canadian Darts Championships. There wasn't much I didn't do. Uh but uh as for the favorite, I suppose I really, really enjoyed uh World Cup skiing. I did that for many years with Charlie Gardner, who won the uh won the gold medal in Albertville in 1992. I think one of the reasons I enjoyed World Cup skiing was I was never great at play by play. And uh skiing was easy to do because there was only one person on the course at a time, but still I could screw that up from time to time. Um, but I really enjoyed the the the whole atmosphere around skiing and uh and and race day was always special to see whether it was a man or a woman hurtling themselves down the the the course at a hundred miles an hour. Um I guess uh winter's version of Formula One racing is very uh you know, it was basically death-defying. So um I kind of gravitated to that sport, covered it at I think three Olympics with uh Karen as my analyst, and uh it was uh it was great.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Hey, you mentioned play by play. You were thrown into it one time at one Olympics. You had told me that you, you know, you ordinarily did the interviews for rowing. You were thrown into the loop to do play by play for rowing. Can you share that story with us?

SPEAKER_06 9:03

Well, that was in I think it was Beijing. Um, I covered 14 Olympics and I've lost track of where each of them was. Uh, I was getting ready to leave the next day for Beijing, where I was supposed to be the uh on-site host for uh aquatics and for uh track and field, which I had done previously. And uh the executive producer called me just as I was zipping up my duffel bag with all my notes in it and said, uh, I need you to do rowing. And I said, Where? And he said, At the Olympics. And I was aghast, right? Because I said to him, uh, I have never covered a regatta, and I don't think the Olympics would be the place to start. Um Chris Cuthbert's very good friend of mine. I called him. This was before the days of YouTube when you could go on YouTube and find, you know, the 19 or the 2002 world championships, and you could watch and and figure something out uh with respect to how it was called, how the race started, etc., and how it finished. Um there was none of that available then, so I called Chris and he sent me links for a couple of websites, printed off as much material as I could. I got on the plane.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Oh no. He wants to leave us, he knows that the for a great broadcast is that you want to leave them.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

He's leaving us hanging because that's a good story.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

It's a great one. He's getting onto the plane.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

But what's gonna happen? It's the cliffhanger. This is what that's right.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yeah, so we'll we'll we'll effort to get Scott back, but the whole thing here is it's just an incredible career that he's had. Um I think it's imperative that we will talk about the Winnipeg Jets here while Scott figures this out. Um, you know, we we touched on at the top of the show about the struggles they had last night. And you know, the it's crazy to think now all the peaks and values we had here. I'm like, there's no way they're gonna make the playoffs. There's no way they're oh my god, they're gonna make the playoffs. They're not gonna make the playoffs. Like, we how many times you went back in that, and then even going into last night in Vegas, despite the fact they had lost 7-1 to Philadelphia, they're going, we've seen this so many times before. Yeah, when they're gonna pull this out, but it looks like Scott's gonna there he is, he's back.

SPEAKER_06 11:26

So we're Sarah and I were just talking about how you like my whole life is to throw up every interview that I do online, and I've done it with you guys. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

Okay, so you're getting on the plane and you're about you're about to take on rowing.

SPEAKER_06 11:41

Yes, and so I read all the material I was able to to cobble together in an hour, and then I sat there for the next 13 hours because it's about a 14-hour flight, thinking this is it, this is where they get me, this is where they find out I'm no good. And uh I was a bit unnerved to say the least, but uh fortunately the guy that I was covering rowing with was Barney Williams, who had rode in the in the four uh for Canada at Greece, the previous Olympics in Athens. And uh he he first time he was doing it, so he was just as nervous as me. So we sat down the night before every um every session, and I said, with respect to each race, give me two things I can ask you in each race to make it sound like I know what I'm talking about, and he did. And that is how I faked my way through uh rowing at uh at those Olympics. Again, a narrow escape.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Uh that's I can't imagine the stress, Scott, to be honest, going on. Because because you before we had you on, Jamie and I were just talking off camera about the challenges of segueing from reporting to play by play. I mean, the it's not one and the same. And you have such respect for the job that play by play um people do that to be able to be able to do it at the level that you did at and at the Olympics no less, um, is such a testament to the skill that you have.

SPEAKER_06 13:06

Well, nice of you to say, but I'll give you another great story. Uh this was in Segway. Yeah, I think it was every listen, you know, in broadcasting everything's a segue. Yes, it is. Um, I'm not sure where this was, it might have been not gonna, but in any case, um the the way that things were approached at major events like the Olympics in the old days of the CBC was everybody should be able to do everything. Uh, which of course was ill-founded, but that was the attitude. So the executive producer of the Olympics called me. His name was Bob Moyer, and he said, Tomorrow I need you to go over and call the play-by-play on the basketball game that's gonna get Canada in or out of the metal round. And I said, No, come on. So, again, another sleepless night. Uh, how am I gonna do this? I've never called basketball. Praise the Lord Jesus. When I got over there, three of the guys on the span, it was Spain against Canada, three guys on this on the Spanish team were named Fernandez.

SPEAKER_05 14:03

I had a 66 or a 75% chance of whatever the math is of getting it right. And again, I faked my way through that.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

Hey, you again, you've told me so many stories over the time I've got to know you. And I'm always appreciated when I was I grew up in Calgary, but always appreciated Don Whitman. Can you just share about your guys' friendship and relationship over the years?

SPEAKER_06 14:24

Well, I came to Winnipeg Christmas of 1975 with the express purpose of uh replacing the late great Don Whitman on the local sports. As he was moving on to work full-time on the network, Don became a very good friend of mine, a mentor. Uh, Don Whitman was probably the best sports caster in the history of live broadcasting and events, uh, of calling any event that went up and down a field of play, whether it was uh soccer pitch or a football field or an ice surface or anything going around in a circle. Uh, he was just amazing. He had an incredible power of recall and a gift of association where he rarely misidentified players. I can't ever recall him doing it actually. Um, and uh he was great at uh at football, uh the voice of the CFL on CBC for many years. He was great at hockey. Don't voice is the one that you'll hear uh in those uh classic Calgary, Alberta, you know, battles of I'm sorry, Calgary Edmonton Battles of Alberta, uh track and field at the Olympics and curling. He was the signature voice on all of those sports, and that says a lot about his versatility and uh you know his his talent, that he could succeed at every one of those sports and make it sound like he'd been calling them his whole life, which of course he had been. So yeah, he was truly one of the greats. And it was um it was uh an outstanding benefit to my career to be associated with him and for him to be a friend of mine.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Scott, just before we let you go, 2018 and we I say I gave you 10 minutes, so we're at 11 right now. We're already like maximizing our time here. Yeah, but three of those is one that when we got cut off. Okay, we're at eight minutes then.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

In 2018, and the Jets go on their run, and obviously that was when people really started to understand and appreciate what the whiteout could be in this Jets 2.0 era. And there's so many great images from that run, including obviously you out amongst your people in the in the streets. What was it like as a broadcaster and someone that, you know, although you weren't born in Winnipeg, you are a Winnipegger through and through, to experience that and see the way that the city embraced it and the way that really the entire, I think, hockey, the entire hockey fan everywhere kind of embraced embraced Winnipeg in that run.

SPEAKER_06 16:48

Um I don't think Winnipeg ever looks any better than it does during uh Jets uh playoff runs for however short or long they may be. Uh it's just a whole different vibe around the city and downtown. And 2018 was really special. I mean, they went all the way to the conference final. Uh, I think that stand-up that you're referring to, Sarah, might have been done in the second round, uh, and that would have been against uh Nashville. Yeah, it was Minnesota, Nashville, Vegas.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 17:16

Um it turned out unbelievably well. I mean, we were taking a chance. I was standing on a on a on a camera crate with a piece of camera packing crate with a piece of plywood over it. And if I had turned the wrong way, it would have been uh it would have been one of those pieces of video that would play forever. Uh on your juice. Yeah, uh great mistakes or whatever they're called. So I would have done the header right into the crowd. So I was standing there, I you know, I had to get up there probably about five minutes before we actually got to do it live and you know, audio checks, etc. But I couldn't move my feet at all. I remember that. And uh anyway, we got through it, and uh it turned out as I said, well, I mean, uh it's uh it's sort of I guess one of the most enduring images that I have of my career when I see that picture of me standing in the crowd. It looks like I'm you know, uh I'm Jesus speaking to my people, which is of course the desired effect. That's what I yeah. Um but it was uh it was neat and uh it just illustrated what uh Winnipeg was all about and can be all about when the city gets behind something. And it's easy, of course, to get behind the Jets in a playoff run.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

Scott, wish you all the best. Uh thank you so much for a tremendous broadcasting career. Thank you for all the stories that you've told me over the years, and uh I'll be bugging you way more down the road here because I know there's way more in there to tell.

SPEAKER_06 18:34

Well, thank you guys. It's only a matter of time before I'll be uh remember that guy, that guy that used to ask all the stupid questions on TV. Where is he now?

SPEAKER_02 18:42

The Jets unfortunately won't have a playoff run this year, but next year, hopefully, if they do. You know what? We might see you out in that whiteout, Scott. You'll be the one that everyone's coming to find and and ask questions in the street.

SPEAKER_06 18:54

Well, I don't that that'll be if someone will come and get me out of assistant living to take. Thanks, Scott. Appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Thank you guys for a fantastic career.

SPEAKER_06 19:06

Thanks, Sarah. Thanks, Jamie.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

Take care. Okay, that's only fitting that Scott Oak had uh technical issues during that interview because in the first time we tried to bring him on, all of the technical issues that he had. So he was telling me the story afterwards that when the screen went black there, someone had been phoning him, so he went to cancel the phone call and that of course brought up the black screen. So um we had a good chuckle about that. So many thanks to Scott Oak um for everything he's done and especially taking the time to interview with us because I know he's been busy talking to so many people. Speaking of busy, Mitchell Clinton is one of the busiest men on earth for at least a few more days, to say the least. Um, as the Winnipeg Jets have been officially eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. They'll take on the Utah Mammoth tonight. Uh, in joining us from his hotel room in Utah in behind the beautiful mountains. Mitchell Clinton joins us now. So has it kind of it's so weird, Matthew. Is this the first time the Jets have missed the playoffs since you've been in the broadcast booth? So your undefeated streak isn't over. Sorry about that. Uh devastating. Devastating, really. It was a good run. Just if you had time to take it all in, considering um what happened yesterday, especially from Saturday, because I thought the questions were really good afterwards from uh from the media and particularly Scott Taylor about you know, after losing Saturday, maybe there were some leftover, you know, remnants of kind of that that disappointment. Uh your thoughts on the Jets missing the postseason in 2026.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Yeah, and I think the the challenge that Winnipeg also faced if if you go into the last couple of games specifically, yeah. I believe like there were times over the course of um the pursuit to try to get into the wild card spot where they would know like the night before, like, okay, LA won, we need to win to stay three points back or whatever. If memory serves me correctly, this would have been that game on Saturday um against Philadelphia would have been the first time that I think it happened an hour or two before the game while you're you're getting ready to go. And Winnipeg won't use that as an excuse because I think contextually it's a little bit different. Um, you don't have necessarily the night to sleep it off, get up, get ready to go and do your job. Um you kind of have that feeling of, oh boy, another opportunity, if you will, especially given what Los Angeles' schedule looked like to close out the regular season. You have that game against Edmonton, you're like, well, if the Oilers can can find a way in that one, you know, you know, you kind of have that kind of feel. And when it doesn't go your way, it's uh it's a little bit difficult. And I think Winnipeg still, I mean, ultimately would have liked to have done a lot of things better in that game against the Flyers. Um but then you come into Vegas, uh a team that's been on a roll, basically steamrolling right now, uh, with John Tortorella and The Los Angeles game in Seattle started a little bit earlier. And so you could, I think the players, just having been in T Mobile Arena, kind of down in that bench area, I believe you can see the out-of-town scoreboard pretty easily. So you'd be out there maybe finishing warm-up or getting water on the bench, and you would be looking up at the scoreboard just to see time of game, whatever it may be, and you see, well, LA's up 3-0. You know, like so I think that there's as much as you're a professional, you're zoned in on doing what you what you want to do and what you have to do. And I think overall, Winnipeg, as much as they only had three shots in the first period against Vegas, I think it was it was okay. They were doing all right, kind of pushing back a little bit, uh, and then the penalties happened and it took a lot of the flow out of the game, in my opinion. But besides all of that, I just think you know, it was kind of a season where they started on the back foot just because of the injuries in camp. And then I feel like whenever there was some stability, there would be another injury. And then, of course, you know, you would have also the fact that um scoring was down for the team this year, but also just you have the the 11-game skid in the middle of the season that they just couldn't quite seem to recover from, despite, you know, there are a couple of times over the course of that skid where you they get themselves into overtime. If you win that game, the skid stops, who knows? But yeah, that's kind of what this season's gonna be is you're gonna be thinking of what could have been. Um, you know, you change a few of those overtime games, whatever it may be. Um, you're always gonna be wondering what could have been.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Hey, listen, Mark Shifley has crossed off so many franchise marks this year. It just feels like every time there's a game, it's another franchise record that he's setting. Let's hear from Mark Shifley and Scott O'Neill about Mark surpassing Marion Hosa for Jets 2.0 or the franchise Thrasher slash Jets uh record book.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Yeah, I'm uh you know very blessed. Um amazing players. Um, you know, I uh very blessed man. Um you know, just gotta thank God for for it all. And I'm uh yeah, I'm I'm obvious I'm proud of myself. Um and I know there's still more, so that's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

That's it's impressive, you know what the year he's had um you know through all the ups and downs of our season. Um, you know, he's been one of the consistent guys right from the from the start of the year to to today, and you know, he's one of our leaders, and you know, I'm real proud of him. You know, he's uh you know, to get that many points, that's that's special, and he's been there. You know, I don't think he's as a lot like uh like Dale. There was uh not a lot of uh league recognition or you know, sort of recognition around the uh you know the other around the countries and Mark's kind of been under the radar a lot that way, and I think him, KC, people are starting to recognize Josh Morrissey there, that we have he's some elite players in Winnipeg.

SPEAKER_04 24:55

Well said by Scott O'Neill, listen, uh you always want these special moments to happen in a win, but I guess to get it over with in that fashion, especially to pass Marion Hosa with a goal was great, and it must have been nice to be in the building for it to see it live.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah, it was. And what helped was the fact that you know it was a a play where you knew that Shipley was picking up the secondary assist. Yeah, um, it wasn't one where you were kind of guessing and you're like, oh, maybe he touched it, maybe he didn't, you know, that part was nice. Replay. Yeah, exactly. And Paul Edmonds and I kind of after the game were talking about what would you like have preferred his goal being point number 100 or his goal being 101, you know what I mean? So like that was kind of the the back and forth that we had. I'm just glad that you know Mark Scheifley was able to hit that. And then the next thing for me, because this is you know what we do and and what what athletes do, you start looking ahead again. And if he's able to possibly duplicate this season, this type of season next year, could very well see Mark Scheifley get not only the silver stick next year, but also the gold stick for a thousand points, and that would be something that's really, really cool uh for Jets fans to be able to see. So obviously you cross the fingers that everything goes well for Mark Scheifley again next season, and then even better as for the the team as a collective. But yeah, just kind of start to finish this season. Mark Scheifley's been kind of that that constant for Winnipeg and um has found ways to produce in a in a season where Winnipeg's scoring was down a little bit. He found a way to uh to contribute even more. Um, and the other thing for me with that is as as much hard work as Winnipeg's put in on the power play, their their power play hasn't been as proficient as last year. Right. So that means a lot of these points that Mark Schefley's been able to get have been at five on five. And I think there's something to be said for that.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Uh here's another thing, too, Mitch, to think about um overlooked with the Olympics for Hockey Canada now with the World Hockey Championships looming, and Mark having the season that he is, you have to wonder if there's another opportunity for him for Hockey Canada coming up in in May.

SPEAKER_03 27:08

Yeah, exactly. And spoiler alert for people that are big avid listeners of the 680 CGOB pregame show, uh Paul Edmonds' one-on-one is with Mark Strifley today. I haven't heard it yet, so I wonder if he asked that question. But the conversation between those two is always really, really good, uh, regardless of if they talk about worlds or not. But um I've I've wondered that as well, if that's something that Mark Stifley wants to do. Um, I always wonder too when the timing is of management of of a team like that to make those phone calls and be like, hey, I know you're disappointed, but you know, like another chance. Yeah, because they they obviously have a job to do, they put a team together, they got to put the logistics in place. So I've always wondered when that phone call actually happens. So um obviously we'll find out over the next little bit if that's something that that Mark Scheifley wants to do. I mean, he's always been a guy that loves to play the game. Um, you just never know what I guess players are potentially dealing with over the course of a season and whether it would be better off for them not to not to go. But um we will find out. And if Mark Scheifley goes, I think it would be uh a really cool thing for Jets fans to be able to watch him put that Canada jersey on.

SPEAKER_04 28:26

Uh Braden Yeager has put on the Canadian jersey many times in his uh young career, uh in as a well, certainly as a junior hockey player. Got his opportunity last night with his parents, and his I believe his brother were was in the stands uh for his first National Hockey League game. You mentioned a little bit earlier there's a ton of penalties in the second period, only played just under 10 minutes. Just overall, what do you think of Braden Yeager's uh debut in the National Hockey League?

SPEAKER_03 28:49

Yeah, and just it was weird to see if only because Adam Lowry, I believe, took the first penalty of the game for Winnipeg, and you think of the centers that Winnipeg has, he and Morgan Barron and are the basically the the guys that hop over the boards first on the PK. So now neither of them are available. So Braden Yeager got a little bit of time on the PK last night, so that was that was nice to see for him. He's always been kind of that responsible two-way type of center that the team can rely on. But how about that? You know, in your first NHL game, you're hopping out there against a penalty or a power play like the one that Vegas has been rolling with, especially uh over the last dozen games or so. Um, I thought he was good. And like I don't know if this is just my opinion, but um when he was in the in preseason, and it's hard to really get a full measure of players in in the preseason just because they're getting back into game action, but you compare that Brayden and Jaeger to the one that the Winnipeg Jets saw last night in Vegas. Um, I felt like there was a little bit more pace to his game, a little bit more confidence to his game at the pro level. And I think that speaks volumes about the year that he's had with the Manitoba Moose in terms of the development that he's been able to have. Scored 10 goals, he's got 30 points with the Moose and was named the rookie of the year as well. So, I mean, that was something that really shows kind of how well he's been able to develop there. Uh, obviously, that's a group that's going to the postseason, so a big congrats to them. And he's gonna have a uh a big part of that. And uh you just think of the the games that you get to play in terms of experience at the pro level, his first pro season, it's it's really important for him. And then you come in and you play your first NHL game against Vegas, a team that, you know, yeah, had kind of hit their their troubles after the Olympics, but has been playing phenomenal hockey over the last six or seven games here now. And so now he's going out there up against Michael, Thomas Hurdle, you know, and he's like it's a thing. So and on top of that, not only are you going out there and playing against them, but Vegas had a lot to play for last night. Utah's got a lot to play for tonight. So you're playing in some games with some consequence as well against teams that are desperate and playing a playoff style game. I mean, that could only help Braden Yeager. I'm sure that you know he was possibly a little bit wide-eyed, a little bit excited um early on. And why wouldn't you be? But now I think now that you have that, the first game jitters kind of out of the way. Uh, curious to see. I assume we haven't heard anything, but I assume the lineup will be pretty close to what it was in Vegas last night uh for Winnipeg against Utah tonight. Um I would imagine, you know, him getting his second game. I wonder if the nerves are down a little bit. And he's able to just kind of play the game that he would like. But I thought he played quite well for his NHL debut.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

Yeah, and hopefully not as many penalties uh tonight in Utah as there was in Vegas to get his ice time up a little bit higher than 10 minutes. Mitch, uh, listen, appreciate all the work that you've done this year so far. Still two more games to go and appreciate you coming on the show uh frequently uh on check-in uh as the season wore on. So uh have a great call tonight, and thanks again for your time.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

Of course, no problem. Always a joy to join you, fine people. Thanks, buddy. No problem. See you later.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

Mitch Linton from Utah. Uh, as promised, so we we're not sure about the lineup, so make sure you tune in to CJOB. Uh for the pregame show and boys in the booth will have some information about who's in the lineup and who's not. And if I had to guess for sure now, Eric Comer will likely have to start. And keep in mind he's been he's six and oh since changing his mask to the white bars. And of course, that was after the January January 1st start in Toronto. As promised, uh, I was supposed to run the Scott Oak Tribute video before the interview, but as promised, here it is, courtesy of CBC Sports.

SPEAKER_07 32:30

Join us on CBC Sports for five and a half hours of Grey Cup coverage. But first, come with me as I embark on a memorable trip back in time.

SPEAKER_08 32:45

That I think was indicative of the banner year that College Sport in Canada has had.

SPEAKER_07 32:49

Well, wrestling is a funny business on some occasions. If Victor Zilberman had won that bout, he would have been Canadian champion.

SPEAKER_06 32:55

Good evening. In sports tonight, Bobby Hall scores number 1,000. The fans have packed Dodger Stadium all week long. The NHL will be a 21 team league next season. Michael, as you said, it was easy to see De La Rose coming through with a victory in the inaugural EP Taylor Stakes.

SPEAKER_07 33:09

The Flames and Jets went through their final preparations this morning. In Christchurch in 1974, Canadian wrestlers established themselves as number one in the Commonwealth.

SPEAKER_06 33:17

If economics is the determining factor, don't be surprised if the Jets end up playing elsewhere next season.

SPEAKER_07 33:23

There have been some positive signs in the C NFL this year, among them an increase in our ratings for telecasts and Saturday night football, which makes us just as happy as it makes the CNFL. Good to see you. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_06 33:31

Welcome to Hockey Night in Canada Presents. I'm Scott Oak. If we were to pick three storylines for this race, they would be Lindsay Vaughn, Lindsey Vaughn, and the third one?

SPEAKER_07 33:45

Lindsay Vaughn. Absolutely. You know all about Hockey Night in Canada.

SPEAKER_06 33:49

Oh, yeah, Doug Jerry and I used to uh go on road trips together. Yeah. We spent a lot of time in Yellow Knife. Yeah, hanging out. And then there's the bromance. Same bold and non-rated grass in the 200 final tonight. Let's start with the important question. How many of those tunnels do you have? Let me ask you, what defines this team just coming up reporting this country based enough?

SPEAKER_07 34:09

The dog father, D.O. Double Dizzy, picking up to this front planet. What's graculating, nephew? Hey, what's up, baby? But I'm not liking what you said then. It's not in my first rodeo.

SPEAKER_08 34:18

That was very, very entertaining. I hope the Canadian public was too.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

All right, great stuff uh from CBC Sports for the great Scott Oak. Many thanks to Scott for coming on the show and talking with Sarah and I. And of course, uh many thanks to Mitchell Clinton. Many thanks to you for taking in this uh broadcast of the check-in. We have one more to go. That comes this Thursday in the final home game of the 2025-2026 regular season. Jets have been officially eliminated. Uh, they will take on the San Jose Sharks this Thursday. Enjoy the game tonight. We'll see you on Thursday, everybody. Thanks for watching.