The Coaches Take Back Control: Breaking Down the NHL Playoffs for Players & Parents

The coaches are back behind the bench this week on 2 Many Men on the Mic.

Drew and Jared use the incredible first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to break down hockey concepts, systems, terminology, and the little details that separate good teams from great ones. Using real NHL examples, they explain forechecking, tracking, net-front play, offensive zone faceoffs, hockey IQ, and how shifts are won long before goals are scored.

This episode is designed for players, parents, and coaches alike — especially for families who hear hockey “lingo” all season long and want a better understanding of what coaches are actually teaching.

The guys also discuss how young players can use NHL games as learning tools by watching specific players, reading plays away from the puck, and understanding how effort, positioning, and decision-making impact winning hockey.

If you love playoff hockey and want to learn the game on a deeper level, this one’s for you.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:32

I love it. I got my hat on just for this episode. This is the NHL playoff episode. Never done this before, the maiden voyage, but I love that we're doing it because we've talked to great youth hockey organizations around the country. We've talked to parents, we've talked to moms, we've talked to coaches, but we have never just done the two of us a uh what we like about the playoffs and what we're seeing, good things and bad uh about the teams. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Yeah, my hat is uh representative of the Colorado Rockies, not the baseball team, but the original, the original Colorado team coached by who was the first coach, do you know? No, I don't. Don Cherry. Oh doubt.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Rock him sakum. Did he wear his loud suits on the Rocky bench?

SPEAKER_03 1:19

I think he sure did. But uh yeah, so what I think is really cool about this episode is it's ironic because we always tell parents, hey, your kid's not going to the NHL, but it's also these games, especially in the playoffs, are great coaching tools. Um, they're great perspective for parents and players. And you know, the hope is that when parents and even some players hear coaches say things like net front or net drive or tracking, I think I've heard you say that a couple of times. Well, you know, I think this episode we're gonna get a chance to maybe break down some film and show excellent examples of what a forecheck, how it leads to a goal or how you win a shift with an offensive zone face-off and the little things that happened. And most importantly, if it for you players out there, if you can't find time to watch a full game, watch a period, pick a player. Some coach, some smart coach I know said, Hey, pick a player you want to be like and watch how they play. So um, I'm excited for this. Especially we're talking playoff hockey.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

And you know what, we can't get into this. I I think we need to uh have a very short segment called uh stunt grant, and it is uh we got to test his knowledge at these things. So, Grant, get in here. We can't see you.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Well, and the beauty of this too is Grant can Grant gets to learn all the lingo as well.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

He gets to learn he gets to learn what scanning is and what tracking is. Yeah, so what's what do you what do you think scanning is, Grant?

SPEAKER_02 2:46

If I'm scanning yes, scanning.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

If you're on the ice and you're a hockey player and you're scanning the play, what do you think that is?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Uh I'd say I'm scanning the play to get ready for what I'm gonna do when the puck is gets to me. Well done. Well done, my friend. Nice job.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Kind of, kind of kind of, kind of, kind of. Um the how would you scan if you're on the ice? How would you physically scan? What would you do?

SPEAKER_02 3:20

With my ice. Okay, okay. I'm looking around, but you also have to be be wary about what's going on around you at the same time. Okay, so this is an athlete we're talking to.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

See, some of this is universal. What we call it is is in order to scan, you have to shoulder check. Okay. So, what do you think a shoulder check is?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

You're you're shoulder checking a guy. No, no. Oh, you gotta you gotta be looking over your shoulder.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Shoulder checking, you're looking over both shoulders, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Especially if you're going into the corners and uh you're gonna enter a puck battle and you're going one-on-one, so it's a 50-50. Because if it's one-on-one, that means there's two guys, it's a 50-50 puck. Um, it's why you shoulder check. So, one, it's it's it's understanding, like you said, you know, um what's going on around you, what the play is like. You know, if you're a forward in the offensive zone and you don't have the puck, you know, you want to shoulder check and don't necessarily want to watch the puck, you want to see where there's some open ice and get to a quiet spot. These are all things that we can break down because parents are like quiet spot, isn't that where I put my kid when they're they're pissing me off?

SPEAKER_04 4:37

The answer that's true too. Well, Grant, we will get into all these things. You will be a hockey expert by the time we're done, I have no doubt. But uh, we're gonna get into uh things like net front and fore check and back check and gap control and uh breakouts and um soft ice, soft areas of the ice and speed and using your feet. So uh you can impress all your friends uh after the end of this episode.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, defend it with your feet, get it on their hands, use some leverage. All this stuff is uh is is things that and think about it if you're a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 23-year-old, you might be like, oh, what the heck? What are they talking about? It's true. So, how was your weekend, Grant? Tell us a little bit about what was going on in uh in in with our resident sex, uh, segment alumni uh expert here. Did you say sex? Sekman. Your resident what the resident Sekman alumni expert.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

I was actually in Columbia this weekend uh celebrating my brother's 21st birthday. So it was a fun time. Did you go to Shakespeare's? Did not go to Shakespeare's, didn't make it there. There wasn't food, let's just say, was not the top of the priority list.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

So so can you uh uh can can you uh take your brother or is your brother a uh a beast and he uh puts you into a pretzel? Uh how's that go down?

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Oh no, I can take my brother. I've I've always I've never we actually didn't fight a lot as kids, but I think it was because there was a known there was it was known what would happen. So there was no understanding, there was an understanding of what would happen, and I'll credit my parents with why we didn't fight too much, but if there was, I'm undefeated. I'll just say that.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

I mean, are you guys about the same size? Was he stealing your clothes and stuff when you guys are growing up? Because you're what you're you're you guys what three years apart?

SPEAKER_02 6:40

I'm two years older than him. I'm I've always been a little bigger than him. Um now I'd say we're close to the same size. I'm a little I'm a little thicker than him. He's a little more he's more than that's what happens older. We all get thicker. I'm not, I mean, I'm not not to toot my own horn, I'm not very thick, but I'm a little bulkier than him, I'll say. You've been hitting the weight room. Yes, he has too, but yes, he can steal my clothes, and that gets annoying.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Did you guys uh do any golfing this weekend, or was it just strictly hanging out with the boys and hitting hitting the establishments?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, no golfing. We were hitting the establishments. It actually was my sister is born on the same day, just two days two years younger. So we made sure. Well, she was actually doing August. Hers was a little uh she wanted to come out and see the world a little too early. So that's really early.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

That's a that's a that's a long time early.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

But it was a good weekend, it was fun. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Well, let's dig into uh the coverage, and uh uh I'm gonna throw the first start and say I was sitting on my couch the other night watching what looked like a baseball score to me. It looked like a baseball game, it looked like uh uh something you'd see between two teams on a uh sunny afternoon day in June or July, but it was a hockey, it was a nine to six hockey game. Nine goals. Think about that. That's pretty amazing that anybody can score nine goals in the playoffs, which tells you just how good Colorado is. Uh, and there's lots of reasons that they're good. So uh I had to pull up some of my stat coverage, which I know Jared's got uh a whole load of as well, but they're ranked second in five on five shot attempt percentage, uh, third in shot attempts off the rush. So I don't know. I think we've had this conversation recently with a couple of youth hockey teams that we're a part of. You got to shoot the puck, right? You have to shoot the puck.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Have to shoot the puck. And and look, what was impressive about that game is Colorado was up, I believe it was four to one at the beginning of the second. With two minutes left in the second, they were down five to four, and then before the second period ended, they were tied five to five. So you're going to the third period, tied five to five. Minnesota's feeling really good. I think Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists at that point. So the Quinn Hughes versus McCarr battle, you know, plus I think it was plus two for Quinn Hughes. And then the third period happened, and it was it was David McKinnon. Oh my god, you know, and then how about Codri with the game winner off the rush? Again, you know, you you find that opportunity, and we tell our kids you want to get tips north as quick as possible. You know, you see that ice, you got the puck on your stick, let's not hesitate, let's get out of our our defensive zone, get through the new through the neutral zone, and you know, as you're gonna see here right here on the screen, coming in wide, straight across, goal. I mean, look at that. Khazri comes in wide, nice. You've got you know, 31 is there, 31 is deep in the zone, deep behind the defense. But again, we talk about getting wide. We talk about getting wide, and that's exactly what we just see here is you know, again, here Minnesota zone entry wide, zone entry, F1 wide, F2 drive the net, little Vladimir Teresenko for all you St. Louis fans there. What could have been? Um Brett Burns. Brett Burns, but look at that. Look at this play. Look at this play.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Look at that.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

I mean, kind of coocher off S, but again, getting Minnesota zone entry wide. F2 drive with net drive right to the net, makes a play. Now we've got low to high, it's Quinn Hughes. Yeah, he's he's not bad. But again, we're not just shooting into somebody's shin guards, we're making a move, we're doing a little head fake, coming back. I mean, I'm not expecting our our you know high school players to be able to make that shot, but you know, let's take a look and and let's understand that you know, sometimes your best play is to hold the puck, sometimes your best play is to get the puck deep. Every situation is gonna call for a different uh uh a different decision making. And that's the key here with these NHL players is they're processing at such it's like they're like supercomputers on skates. Yeah, write that down. Supercomputers on state on skates. But what a what a what what a game. Um, you know, I I would say if you're not if you're a casual hockey fan, um, that's the type of game that you probably are excited to watch. Grant, talk to us here as you're becoming less and less of a casual hockey fan. But like, what did you feel about that game?

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Well, I mean, I believe it was pretty late at night. Um I didn't march. I called the first period. Um I think part of the second, and yeah, I mean, you're not wrong. It's a game that I think the people that don't love hockey really love, but I can't imagine. I think in certain sports, like you think of baseball, not so much, but really like hockey and soccer are the two sports I can think of where if there's too many goals, that's when people, you know, the people that really love the sport almost there's question marks around it. Maybe that's not the pure sport they love. So I don't know if that's how you guys felt. I feel like though a nine to six game can't make, I guess, the hockey purist too happy because that's not quite polls changed the goal.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

That easy. They didn't pull, they kept the goal, they changed him. He's not starting game two, right? But they kept they kept him in the whole time, they kept him in for all nine goals.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

Well, Wedgewood gave up six. No, I'm just saying, yeah, I mean, they're both big numbers. Well, I think there was a couple empty netters on there.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Yeah, normally you'd be pulling a goalie, but that kind of uh I think both teams, but if you watch that game, the flow of the game was such that like the goal, there was there was little. I mean, obviously it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that there's little to no defense being played. But I would also make the argument that both these teams are highly skilled. Um, and they were, you know, at one point, Colorado's up four to one. So Minnesota has a choice to make. What are we gonna do here? It's like, are we gonna be able to come back in a four-to-one game against Colorado if we try to muck and grind? Probably not. So let's open it up and see what happens. There was a short-handed goal where the it was Felino Brothers breaking in on the short-handed goal. They pressured McKinnon at the point. McKinnon coughs his puck-up. It's two on oh on a penalty kill, and they score to make it five four.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

I love a brother line. That's fantastic. I would not want to play against the Felina brothers. Not the Felino brothers line. And definitely not the Felino brothers line.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

But you know, at that point, if you're Minnesota, I think you've just got to say, hey, we're we're we're gonna take the top off it. It what difference if we're losing four to one, it doesn't make any difference if we lose 10 to 1, so we might as well try to make it four to four.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

Grant, the junior brother played a sport together, and were you guys on a brother of line?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

No, I was too old. I was just too old to play baseball or anything with him. Okay, no football, no football. He didn't play, so that was the that was tough. Um, no, he just played baseball, so I was too old.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Okay, no one-on-one basketball in the backyard, though?

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Oh, we would play basketball. A lot of a lot of pool basketball against each other.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Oh, getting that getting that uh the equilibrium, that balance, kind of playing with the wind and the waves there. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty tight.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

I don't know what to I don't know what to expect in this next game. Is it gonna be another run and gun shootout? Is it gonna be a defensive battle? Something tells me it's gonna be a lot tighter this next game. Well, yeah, I mean But I mean, you got two very potent offenses, so who knows?

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Potent offenses that have, I mean, five out of Colorado's six defensemen all can score are capable of scoring 20 goals next season. So you've got guys from the blue line on Colorado that are absolutely going to lead and join the rush. Uh Minnesota, obviously, you have Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber. Um, those guys are no slouches either. You know, it's gonna again. I go back to I just feel that Colorado down the middle. Um you've got Nathan McKinnon, Landis Gogg, uh Cadry, and um Brock Nelson as your centers. So it's like what like nobody has that center depth in in the playoffs still.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Well, you just brought up a good point about um D. Yeah. And uh so so I'm I'm gonna pivot us over to the Flyers. The Flyers. You know, break out your cheesesteak, they're back in the playoffs. Uh, but I thought this was an interesting statistic. James Drysdale, Jamie Drysdale, I guess you guys five, uh, has a skating speed of 22.98 miles per hour, second amongst defenseman to drive transition plays, and their whole key this playoff season so far is they lead all playoff teams in goals by defenseman. How great is that? How much easier is it to play hockey when your defenseman can score goals, right? You're not just relying on you know your uh three or four lines of forwards and just good defensive play. And you got Rick Tocket, who uh is always an aggressive four-check guy, right? Um, although Carolina ran into uh I'm sorry, uh Philadelphia uh has run into uh Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Well, let's take a look real quick. You bring up Jamie Drysdale. I think he scored the first goal in the Pittsburgh series. Let's take a look at how he's joining the rush here, um, and just like give a little little little love to Jamie Drysdale. Um and we'll turn off the closed caption because we don't need to see that. But we've got a 0-0 game, it's game one, second period, which is much tighter series than than than the um right there. I mean, look if you come in. I mean, he's coming in. All right, so right. So at this point, we've got look at that net for I mean Pittsburgh's in a good position here, but you all but you know, you've got all five Pittsburgh players are down below the dots. When's the last time you ever saw that? Right, you know, they've outmanned, you know, they've got Philly outmanned. But look, he joint comes in, joins the play. And he was calling for the puck. Calling for the puck. And this is so perfect example of why we talk to forwards not to get too deep in the zone. And these so this is some perspective for perspective for coaches and parents. You've got the F1 and F2 for Pittsburgh down below the dots. Look at all this time and space this defenseman has to come in. This is a slashing, almost a slash play, but definitely, you know, I would say this is in between a slash and a scissor, a scissor being a defenseman who's going to come down the wall, take the puck from the forward. A slash is really where that defenseman's slashing towards the net down the down the center in between the dots. But look at all this space that you've got in between, you know, this forward. Let's call this guy F2 for you know reference point. And here's Jamie Drysdale. If we roll this back, Jamie Drysdale is not even in the picture frame. One, two, three, four, five penguins below the dots. Yeah, below the dots, back's turned. You got maybe a little bit of shoulder check and scanning here. There you go. There you go, Grant. That's a little scan. But watch where this guy's head goes right now. Boom, turn. His head has his head is turned. He's watching the puck. Now, to be fair, this interference right here, that's your crease defenseman who's supposed to be that's where the switch is supposed to happen. Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

So you've got 2D on one side.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

You've got 2D on one side. So, you know, F3 here, let's call him F3 for reference, or that call him F2. Either way, he's an F. He's he's he's looking at the puck. Here comes Jamie Drysdale. Talk about Johnny on the spot. One, like, not even a second. That puck is off of his. That puck's.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

Yeah, look at the Philly player right on the post, screaming the goalie. Last minute of play in this period.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

And now we're selling in. We're selling in, we're selling in a melon arena or yeah, game one. This would have been in Melon Arena, or whatever they're calling it. But I mean, think about that. You've got all five, and when we talk to you know forwards all the time about don't get too deep in the zone. Um, and that's that's a I mean, that's a def offensive defenseman's like dream situation where you've got five opponents with their backs turned to you in the defensive zone, and you've got a good call it 15 feet between you and the forward. He he had room to creep. I mean creep down. Absolutely. So well, we gotta take a quick break here and we gotta pay a few bills, but uh you know, we'll be back talk a little bit more about the NHL playoff hockey, break down a few more uh you know clips for the for you kids at home and for you parents at home. And uh maybe we'll get a little bit more QA with Grant as we can you know start to do a little hockey 101 and uh decipher. So I can't wait.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

I want to dig into this whole brother relationship. We'll be right back. Summers right around the corner. The Big Bear Tournaments is already thinking about the next hockey season. Registration is now open on their website for the 2026-2027 season. Spots are filling fast. Join them in new locations such as Savannah, Georgia, Fort Wayne, Indiana, or Column, Michigan. Looking to save on your entry fees, take advantage of their multi-team, multi-club, and club level discounts that guarantee savings across the board for every team in your organization. Head over to BigParatrournaments.com today to claim your spots and be ready to hit the ice after the sun.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

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SPEAKER_04 22:31

We're back with the playoff edition of Too Many Men on the Mike. And we were talking about the flyers and how they get their defensemen involved. Uh, another fun statistic about Flyers is 297 hits. Broad Street Bullies part two. Known for being particularly nasty, and uh they have maintained that, and a lot of that is uh a high-intensity for check. So, you know, we talk about this as coaches, I feel like a lot.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

So is that through their first eight games, or is that just for the first round?

SPEAKER_04 23:07

No, I this is uh this is fresh off the uh internet today set.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

So in eight games, they're roughly you know, they're almost 35 hits a game. 35 hits a 35 hits a game. Maths undefeated, folks. Yeah, I think they're for half a second.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Yeah, and so you know, a Rick Tocket team that has always been known as a gritty, for checking kind of team.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

But you know, this is just nobody has the most Gordy How hat tricks of all time. Yes, there's a stat for you.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

His nose might uh change direction more than Rod Brittany's. I don't know, it might be a contest between those two. Uh I mean different ways.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Rod the rod the bods, rod the bods is definitely crooked for sure.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

But I feel like we talk about this a lot as coaches, especially uh with kids that are getting into uh playing across age groups and high school, for example, you know, uh there is a physical component to the game. These teams are using that, they're taking it to their advantage, and it is having an impact. Uh when will it's been seven years, I think, since the Flyers have been. Well, maybe it hasn't been that long. It's been a minute since the Flyers have been in the playoffs. And what are they doing to help their Hots? They're getting their defensemen involved, they're also uh strong on the four check and lots and lots of hits. Nobody likes to get it, right? So, this is a great reminder for our listeners out there, certainly the players. If you aren't watching the game and seeing it for yourself and you're listening to our podcast, don't forget to use your body. Separate the player from the fuck.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

It works. Yeah, for kids, obviously at home. Um, you know, this isn't uh the 1970s version of using your body. You know, you definitely you lead with your stick, you're you're following through head up, making sure that you're making contact with shoulder to shoulder. Um, which if you watch the playoffs and you watch Philadelphia and Montreal, I mean we want to talk about some stats of Montreal. How about winning a game seven overtime game, two to one with nine total shots? If you have nine total shots and you win the game, uh that tells me two things. One, your goalie stood on his head, or your defense is blocking a lot of shots, and you are you're you're you're playing a physical brand of hockey that is discouraging your opponent from getting down to that ugly, dirty, gritty area in front of the net. And um, you know, as as the Philly or as Philadelphia and Montreal have shown, as underdogs in the first round, both of them, you know, they have to bring a little bit of that jam, as we like to call it. A little bit of jam. And I would say, you know, it's been clean. I I think for the most part, aside from Charlie McInnoy, which we can get into that play later.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

I think jam is uh Walt Kachuk work, isn't it? Wall, he like he likes to talk about his kids' jam.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Yeah, he gets the jam, he gets jam at Obi Clark's, too. No free ads, no free ads.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

Wally's lost, made the playoffs in 2020. They won the first round series there, and also we're not even 10 minutes in anymore. Yeah, the Wild and Avalanche are tied at one, not even 10 minutes into the game.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

For those of you that this is a Tuesday recording, so when you see this on Thursday, don't watch the game, just wait for us.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Well, you were just talking about the Canadians, so let's pivot over to them.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Let's pull up a little bit of the Canadians uh you while you're talking here. Let's let's pull a little uh little screen share up.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

So their formula has been a little bit of scoring by committee. So they're not relying on one line, they're distributing the puck uh amongst the as a coach. Oh my gosh, that's that's what you want, right? All four lines are just rolling, everybody's contributing to the cost, but but their approach has been scoring by committee.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Well, I look at that, I looked at that series and both teams, it was tight checking. Um, five on five, and you meant it's I'm glad you mentioned scoring by committee. Their top line of uh Cole Caulfield, Slavkowski, and um uh uh drawing a blank on I can't believe I'm drawing a blank on he's their captain.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Oh Suzuki.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Suzuki. They were until the until Suzuki scored, I think they were zero goals five on five. Slavkowski had a hat trick, it was all power play. Yeah, Cole Caulfield scored a power play goal in game six, which they lost, and then Suzuki scored the we just saw right there. Suzuki scored the first goal. Um, but other than that, you're absolutely right. And you know, the other thing that was interesting about this team is game six, game seven, who'd they bring back? Brendan Gout. Oh, which is he's he's I I would never say this about I don't like saying that you're a poor man, somebody or but he's like a Marchand for Montreal, not quite as skilled, but has no problem, you know, driving the net, kind of like Corey Perry without that size. And just ironically, this is the Corey Perry series. Corey Perry was on Montreal when they lost to Tampa the Stanley Cup Finals, and now he's back on Tampa as they've lost to Montreal.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Well, and guess who has more hits than the Philadelphia Flyers? Only two more hits. The Montreal Canadians, 299 hits through seven games. Josh Anderson leading the charge.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Well, and he's I don't think you want to mention Josh Anderson's name down in Tampa, Florida right now. Oh no. He is he has been a um, I don't even call Josh Anderson a pest. I I say Brendan Gallagher is more of a pest. Josh Anderson's just a force of nature right now, big player, um, willing to go, you know, hard, stands up for his teammates. Slafkowski took that hit in uh I think it was game five, that open ice hit, which was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Um, but Anderson was there to stick up for him. And obviously, earlier in the series, I think Tampa was uh complaining about Anderson.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

So and not a surprise, a team that leads the NHL on playoffs. Guess what their zone entry style is? It's dump and chase, it's not controlled. We're just gonna chip the puck in, we're gonna get it below the dots, we're gonna get it maybe behind the net, certainly below the goal line, and then we're just gonna come in and we're just gonna hit you. And and that has been what's working for them.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

So so dump and chase, I think, works in when you have guys, it's like I kind of put it, it's like if you're a gunner on the kickoff. All right. So Brad Hall was famous for this. He's like, you can dump it, you can dump it all you want. I'm never gonna chase it, right? But somebody else is gonna go chase it. And so to be that player who's and that defenseman who's willing to go back there's the OT winner right there. What a goal by Newhook. Only guy on their team that's got a Stanley Cup, by the way, won it with Colorado. Yep. Let's watch, let's watch this goal really quick. Again, this is a great play for kids at home. Um, sometimes the great, you know, good save by they lost the puck. Look at that. Hand-eye coordination. Hand eye coordination.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

Literally, we're the best play. Watch this whole play erupt here. Get down low deep. There's a little dump and chase action. Counter-attack by Tampa. This is the back in the third period. Oh, there. So did you see what happened before that though? Four cross checks to the back of the neck while he's on the ice there. Dano, another guy, another guy who's got a new lease on life. You know, Dano, who was a former Canadian, then went to LA and now's back in Montreal. Just just great. Still don't understand how that didn't go in. But yeah, unbelievable game. Unbelievable game.

SPEAKER_04 31:18

But you know, different than the Colorado speed and controlled zone entry. They're gonna uh get a shot quick to the net because they're using their feet just fast. Montreal, I'm sure they have fast guys on the team, but they have committed themselves to an approach. And it's just we're gonna chip the puck in and we're just gonna uh uh separate the man the man from the puck. And we're gonna take our chances in front of the net. So I'm waiting for you to say you can't score a goal without what you can't spell goal without net front.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

Yeah, can't spell goal without net front. And and if you look at where you know, and and it would be great to maybe come back after the break, and if I'm sure somebody's done this, but they've done a composite of where all the goals have been scored. Yeah, I guarantee you that the density, this the density of goals, the density of goals are gonna be within that, you know, the the home plate, or we like to call the house inside the dots. I think you should call it the DOG. The DOG. Well, even even Drysdale's goal, he when he finally got it on a stick, he he, I mean, look how close it was inside the circles for defensemen. But you know, dump and chase works. Um, I like the teams that will um recognize that hey, there's a little bit of a gap right now in in the line that's out there versus the one. So if you've got your third line in the in in the NHL going up against the first line or the first D pair, you're out there, you dump that puck in. Even if you don't get it, you provide an opportunity to send a message to that defenseman and make that defenseman make a play with a strong fore check. And we're gonna talk about that when we talk about the game, game-winning goal from last night's overtime game between Philly and Ottawa after the break. You can set up so much from a hard forecheck, even if you don't get possession of the puck right away, you create an urgency or in some instances a panic, which even with NHL players, you know, they're not immune to the panic. So, as a young hockey player, dumping and chasing the puck, even in a situational where I like I like dumping and chasing for the first half of the game, get you know, you know, lull the other team into into you know to thinking that they're gonna see a dump and chase, and then halfway through the second period, change your attack, all of a sudden we're we're gonna carry the puck because that defenseman's backing off because he wants to get a jump on going to retrieve the puck. And that's the that's what dump and chase does so well. If you're committed to it, you're gonna get that defenseman to cheat. And next thing you know, he's gonna cheat. And oh, wait a second, now we've got Suzuki out here who doesn't have to dump and chase, or we've got a we've got a situation where now I can drive the dot and pull up and create time and space and allow for more net drive. And we're gonna show some examples of that maybe in the in our second uh in our third period here.

SPEAKER_04 34:04

Well, I feel like before we got a break, we got to at least say something about the Buffalo Sabres. Not only are they known for chicken weeks, they're known for playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

And to build on your network grudgingly, I will give them an applause.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

It seems like oh, yeah. Uh, well, just a fun fact about the Buffalo Sabres. They have a uh player on their team, Jason Sucker, who is cited as the premier net front presence for Buffalo, uh, known for his ability to screen goals and capitalize on rebounds. All the stuff that we talked to our kids about, right? Screen the goalie. Right? Get some rebounds, get some dirty goals. Uh, so he is helping Buffalo uh get there. He actually had 21 goals over the last two seasons uh in a net front position, just being in front of the net, um, probably taking slashes from defensemen on the back of his legs. 100% he's taking slashes, probably getting uh uh he's he's probably got stick marks uh all over his backside, but the guy's delivering and delivering being right in front of the net.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

You know, he's a guy that came up with Minnesota, uh, spent some time playing with a guy named Sidney Crosby. Um, and you know, as you look at this, you know, there was a great line by a Hall of Fame hockey player. Uh, his name is Phil Esposito. Phil Esposito was known as the guy who played with Bobby Orr. Uh, he also was scoring 70 goals back in the 70s. And tips, uh, scrums in front of the net, pucks going off of his butt, pucks going off of his head. And you know what he would say? They don't count how pretty, they count how many. And that's the key. Um, you know, Jason Zucker is the epitome right now of Netfront. And we're gonna see a few goals here that uh that uh from Jason Zucker. And and I think you're gonna see a theme. Uh look at him, he's right in front of the goalie. You're gonna see a theme here as we share our screen um on how Jason Zucker, this is we can go through the Jason Zucker highlight show of uh of goals.

SPEAKER_04 36:19

Look at him, he's like he's literally like the goalie can smell it. Let's pull some up here. Just causing problems in front of the net.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

Check out the check out the retro buffalo unis there. Those are retro. I like I actually do like these these buffalo unis that you know back when Pierre Turgeon doing his Joe Pavelski interpretation, Joe Pavelski tip in front of the net. Oh, that was nice. We should just do a whole episode one time on Joe Pavelski. Oh, right there.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

He's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

I mean, kids at home, look at where two look at where he is on every single one of these goals. And you're gonna look, yeah, he's he he takes a beating. Um, right there. Back up top. Oh, right there in front.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Yeah, right in front, right behind the defenseman, right in front of the goal.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

Taking the eyes away. Doesn't hurt when you've got a clapper coming from Rasmus Dallin or Tuck either. Yeah. This is against Anaheim. By the way, Anaheim a team that we've got to talk about at some point. This is I'm surprised. I'm surprised they didn't tell him to just dump it in. Oh, yeah. Nice little goal there.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

Unusual breakaway.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

Not the fleetest of foot, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 37:40

Nah.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

But here we go. Look who's down in front of the net. Look who's right in front of the net. Boom. Again. Goal. He just ties up a goal. Find it. Just find it. Heck of a heck. I mean, again, okay, we can stop this one. We don't need to see this one.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

Oh. Not against the Red Wings.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Well, Zucker's another one of those players who I would have loved the wings to have gotten. Same with Dylan Cousins, both of them who are on now, uh, we're both now on uh Buffalo. They get Boeing Byron too. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Another guy. Wouldn't be wouldn't be terrible. Wouldn't be terrible in a winged wheel. Maybe they'd be in the playoffs with uh instead of Buffalo had those head, but I digress. I digress. But I mean it's clear. Net front, net drive, get to the dirty areas, go to the front of the net, you're gonna score goals. Scoring goals is fun. That's just, you know, you know, it's it's just hockey's more fun the better you get at it, and scoring goals is a byproduct of getting better at hockey.

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Well, I want to talk about feet and back to speed, and then uh uh and that ties right into the Anaheim ducks. But uh, but I think we gotta uh do an announcement here, don't we? We gotta pay a bill.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

Uh we gotta we gotta we gotta tease them a little bit more about Anaheim. So I want a little bit of stat jelly here for Anaheim.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

So uh last minute of play in this period.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

There you go. Young stars and Anaheim's got a lot of boy. Um Bennett uh or Seneca. That is he is the Bennett Seneca. Yeah, Bennett Seneca, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Not to be confused with Sam Bennett. I know, right? It's like Bennett Seneca.

SPEAKER_04 39:16

It's it's anyway. He is a player I cannot take my eye off of, but Anaheim also has Leo Carlson and Cutter uh Gautier, 23.39 miles per hour. You'll love this. Beat defenders live, a key reason for their surprising playoff run. So you got speed and you've got taking the puck wide, and you've got youth, and that combination. Boy, if you're a defenseman, weren't we just working on this a practice last week where we were saying to the forwards, just use your feet. Uh, you have the advantage against the defenseman. They can't skate as uh as fast as you can going backwards.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Well, I will say this about Anaheim. Um, game one against uh against Vegas, you know Vegas. Hey, welcome, welcome to the playoffs, uh, Mitch Mariner. Sorry, Toronto. I'm sure they're super happy about how Mitchie's playing here the last two or three games. But um Anaheim in in a normal scenario wins that game. And I'm gonna I want to talk about two plays when we come back from the break specifically that talk about um maybe some of the youth about Anaheim, yeah, and why um this is gonna be this whether win or lose this series. I think this team is going to the Stanley Cup finals for the next two years from the Western Conference.

SPEAKER_04 40:47

Two quick stats before we go to commercial break. Their offensive zone time, this playoff, is over 40%. So think about that.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

They they own it. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 40:57

They own it. 158 speed bursts of over 20 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_03 41:03

Who was their first round opponent, by the way?

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Uh Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. I mean, I think we've got do we have Connor here? Oh, yeah, we've got Connor.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

See, I can't.

SPEAKER_04 41:14

Connor's here because he's not in the playoffs anymore. I just love that somebody is tracking 158 speed bursts over 20 miles an hour. But think about that. If you're a player out there and you're listening, this is the example. These players are using their feet, they're taking the puck wide, and guess what they get? They get over 40% offensive zone time.

SPEAKER_03 41:34

So against the two, arguably the two best offensive players in the world right now. Um, and against a team that has been in the Stanley Cup finals the last two years and has thrived on offensive zone and and and just owning that statistic. Um, I'm telling you, this team is going to the Stanley Cup finals in the next two years. They are going to represent the Western Conference. I think we've got more to talk about. I think you're right. I think you're on to something there. All right, we'll be back here in a minute after we pay a bill. Back to Too Many Men on the Mike. Too many men on the mic, where we were talking about the wonderfully uh uniformed Anaheim Ducks, was brought to you by 5B Designs. And if you want to have uniforms that are as stylish as Anaheim's, St. Louis hockey families and business leaders, you need custom gear that stands out and stands for something, you got to meet 5B Designs. Founded by Shannon Bruhini, a proud St. Louis mom and entrepreneur, 5B Designs is a woman-owned small business that brings purpose to custom apparel. Whether you're suiting up your youth or high school hockey team or leveling up your company's branded swag, 5B delivers top-notch quality with a personal touch that'll even make Nate Salzman look good, much better than his brother Grant. If you need a team store, no problem. Corporate polls or event giveaways, they've got you covered. 5B makes it easy with fast turnaround, flexible service, and designs your players or employees will love to wear. Check them out at stores.inksoft.com forward slash 5B Designs. That's the word 5. And if you are watching on your YouTube feed, go ahead and scan the QR code in the top right hand corner of your screen, and you can see what great gear and great service looks like. Now, so we're back here in uh talking about the Anaheim Ducks. I still want to call them mining ducks every single time um I say them, but the Anaheim Ducks, uh and again, my pick maybe two, maybe three years, they're my pick for the Western Conference uh representative in the Stanley Cup finals. But you know, looking at that game last night, and obviously this will be the game that was Monday night if you listen to us on Thursday, so it's four nights ago, right? Maths undefeated. Um, and I'm at every opportunity to win that game. And I think that a couple of things um were at play. One, you had the moment, you're in the second round, you've got some young players who have to kind of learn, even even for Professional hockey players who are the best in the world at what they do. I think sometimes they they overthink the game or they try to get too cute. And I want to share real quick. I want to share a uh a clip, Jackson Lacomb, who, by the way, is having a phenomenal He's like the breakout defenseman of the playoffs. Phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal. But we talk about you know unselfish play. This is almost unselfish to a fault, um, where he has a tap-angle, tap angle, and um right here. Leo Carlson makes this great play and and he and he passes it across. Look at that spinorama, and then shoot the puck, shoot the puck, shoot the puck. But again, how can you as a parent get on your kid if you see them make a play where it's like, oh my gosh, because I mean, this is the players at the highest level, and he's a great teammate, and he's saying, I mean, look, if he completes the pass, it's a goal there either way. But if he takes the shot, and then obviously in that game, Anaheim um has their feathers all ruffled. See what I did there? The ducks have their feathers all ruffled.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

You called out your call out.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

I'm a dad. I'm a dad. See what I did there? Um, but we talk about this icing call. And look, I'm not gonna sit here and say that I I love what refs do. Um, but I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna say that sometimes as a player, we always tell our players to do what? Play to the play to the what?

SPEAKER_04 46:01

Like all the gun.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

Play to the whistle.

SPEAKER_04 46:03

Well, play.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

There's no whistle on this play, and I don't even think I saw a linesman with his arm. In fact, the linesman makes the so if you're Anaheim and you're complaining that Eichel, this this should have been an icing, and look, I get it. We're we're here at the dot. But look, the ref the linesman has waved off the icing, and there's a good 15 feet between Eichel and the puck. So Anaheim, again, you can complain all you want, but don't let Dorf Dorothyev walk in front of your net and don't let Barbashev backdoor you. Look at this. These guys are there's four ducks in the picture here in two nights. There's four ducks and two nights in the picture. So even if this icing's waved off, okay, and I'm gonna get I I it drives me nuts when players at the youth level make assumptions that stop skating. You hear no whistle, and the linesman waves it off. The goal has not been scored yet. So let's watch this to completion and we can, you know, McGruber tape it or whatever you want, you know. But this puck is it's still not in a danger zone, it's up the boards off in the corner. So tough call. But my my my thing here, my soapbox that I want to say to players and and and parents alike, don't get upset if your kid if they miss a net or they make a play that's not the right play. Because as you just saw, Jackson Lacomb, who's gonna be um cashing checks for the next five to ten years, he's an unbelievable hockey player, made a play that if he could go back in time, would have done something different.

SPEAKER_04 47:52

I'm gonna see how long he's on the contract.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

I don't know how long he's got contract. And if you want to get on your players for something, it's stopping skating before whistles blown. Because I'm sorry, the icing getting waved off did not lead to the goal. What led to the goal is you had four ducks in the zone versus two golden knights or two knights, or I don't know, we had two teams that have changed their names, but not changed their name. Drives me nuts. Are you the golden knights or not? Are you the mighty ducks or not? But, anyways, I digress.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

It sounds like a joke. Yeah, you have four ducks and two knights that went into a bar together.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Well, we went into the corner and the puck came out, and Dora Fiev got it, and again, nobody covered it. It was still a four-on-three situation there, down low below the dots. And Barbashev sneaks in backdoor. Dorothyv made a talk about a guy who's also gonna be cashing checks for the next uh he's locked up through 2030, nine million a year. Jackson Lacomb. I mean, worth every penny, too. But what I what I think is important for parents and players to see, and coaches too, because coaches get, you know, we don't always, we're not always even keel on the bench. Jackson Lacomb's gonna have probably 10 other plays in this series that he's gonna make that are gonna make a positive impact. So, game one, I think this series is going seven. I I really do. I think that um Anaheim's speed and their ability to um to just on the rush in that offensive zone time. Um, you know, the next time they're gonna have an opportunity where Jackson Lacomb is gonna join the play like a Jamie Drysdale, and he's gonna he's gonna shoot that puck. Um the next time they're gonna skate all the way down, maybe take a penalty because Icing won't get waved off, but they're gonna check that guy in the corner. But again, the two the points I want to make here is young team, um professional hockey players not making perfect plays. Let's not expect perfect plays from our youth amateur hockey players either. Let's use these moments to teach them so that they can process. I think at that point, Lacomb's just processing so quickly. He's looking up, he sees another, he sees a teammate wide in front. He's like, I shouldn't be down here anyways. I'm a defenseman. Let me just give it to the guy.

SPEAKER_04 49:59

He's 25 years old. Seneca is 20, Carlson's 21, uh, Gautier is 22. I mean, this is a uh uh this is a team of young horses.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Well, Jackson's exciting to watch. Jackson Lacomb, if I'm not mistaken, um University of Minnesota, um college kid, so he's coming to the league, you know, four-year player in college. So you're getting it's like, you know, we I love when these college kids they exit their their season um and they get signed as free agents by the teams that draft them, like Port of Martone. Yeah, another guy that we haven't even mentioned, starting to starting to kind of kind of feel a little bit of the fatigue of the NHL of NHL uh playoff hockey.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

Well, yeah, I mean they've uh he had a really good start in that first series against Pittsburgh, but uh you know it's a slog, and now you're in the second round, and he drew Carolina, which is uh like Colorado, very fast team, lots of offensive Oz in the time. Uh, you got your hands full uh playing against Carolina.

SPEAKER_03 51:18

So I've said this um so often about Carolina. When you watch them, it's like they have six guys on the ice every play.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Um and there is no coasting, there's no water skiing with that team. They are you want to talk about a team that forechecks every zone, every single zone. I know the other day, he's laughing because I told the kid the other day you're water skiing out there, and he looked at me like, Coach, what's water skiing? I'm like, it's like when you're coasting, like you're like, you know, you're coasting behind somebody. You're not, you know, you're but I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

It was like one 1000, 2100, 3100. Coach, what's water skiing?

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Well, the best part of that conversation was I had praised his twin brother, and he came out and he's like, Okay, you you gave him love, so now what do I have to do? Because I hate hearing him get praise. But um, you know, you look at that team, and you know, we've always, I mean, you you talk about a team that's always been a bridesmaid. Um, it's like it's like Edmonton the last couple years has been the maid of honor, and then Carolina's been a bridesmaid. They don't even get to the finals. They've been, you know, they've I think they've lost in the Eastern Conference Finals, I think three or three or three or four years in a row. Um, I think this year the road's set up for them.

SPEAKER_04 52:40

Well, and I'm just looking at a stat. William Carrier, I remember him from before his time. Uh he was in Vegas. He was in Vegas, he was in Vegas. Uh had a massive 12-hit performance in the last game against the Flyers. Just, I mean, just bringing the grittiness, right? I don't know how else to say it.

SPEAKER_03 53:05

Well, it's gritty. I mean, if we talk about that that team led by their captain, um, Stahl, and you've got guys like Aho, you've got, I mean, everybody on that team is fast. They're they're fast. They they and I wanna I wanna show the and you got Stain Coven, who's not the biggest guy, but is just making plays.

SPEAKER_04 53:31

I mean, he's reminding uh Dallas why he was so good in Dallas, and you know, they had to they they made their deal for Rantman, but look at this guy, he's blossoming with Carolina and uh is one of their leading contributors.

SPEAKER_03 53:45

Well, if I'm Philadelphia, I'm a little disheartened because I think Philadelphia played a phenomenal game too. Perfect game two for a road underdog, and couldn't close the deal out. Um, Taylor Hall rejuvenated in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

Oh, yeah, he looks good. He looks like he's uh you know decided to get re-engaged.

SPEAKER_03 54:07

Well, he made a comment, and I I think this is a cool comment. Well, let's watch a little bit of of this overtime period. Um, he made the comment, and and I think Rob Brindemore, I think, loved him for it. He's like, I wish I would have played for Carolina five years earlier because it's been my style of game, you know, up and down the ice, driving to the dirty, you know, hard areas. Um, but what I loved about Carolina and the goal, and we might not see it on these highlights, because you've got to kind of watch, like you just right there, you got to see Taylor Hall's um, you know, goal here. Let's let's run that back a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 54:42

How about Blake too?

SPEAKER_03 54:44

Um, yeah. So what you don't see before this play, and and I'm gonna pause it here. What you don't see below this before this play is two progressions before this play. Um Puck got dumped in. One of them, Carolina was making a change, so they only had one guy forward checking. And the Philly player just rimmed it around without looking, without seeing that, oh my gosh, I've got so much ice to work with here, just rims it around. And then what happens is that gets to the neutral zone, Philly or um Philly player has his back turned to the bench, and you've got two Carolina players coming straight off the bench that forecheck the neutral zone, turn the puck over. That happened twice in a row and led directly to this sequence here. And then when you watch this sequence, you know, you've got two eights carrying it in the zone, leaves it for Hall. Now, watch what Hall does. Hall, he's the puck carrier here, right here. Watch this sequence here, and look at what you've got here. This is five Philly, five flyers. Yeah, great. Look at where, but look at where all their heads are. Yeah, watch this. Watch this play play out. He walks all the way in. No, I mean, we talked about Philly being physical. Everyone's coasting. Everybody's coasting, nobody put a stick on Puck, nobody put a body on him, lets him walk right in. Now you've backed that defense up to the front porch of the goalie. They're backed up to the front porch of the goalie, and now you've got chaos, which I love. Look at that. Hollow gets finally loses his loses his footing, gets up with his stick on the ice. We've got the blender there, and boom, goal. What can't you score a goal without? You can't score a goal without net front. And then there doesn't get more net front than that. But that whole process there, Philly did nothing to one box that person out, and then once they were there, clear them out.

SPEAKER_04 56:46

Nobody was moving their feet. I mean, you can just watch that play, and they're all I mean, they they look like steps.

SPEAKER_03 56:52

He just line again. He just pushes them down, it's like pushing furniture. It's like he was on wheels.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

Look at that.

SPEAKER_03 56:59

And that puck, again, you're in the goalie's front, you know, they're in the goalie's front porch, the puck bounces off. I mean, just unbelievable. But what I I'm a Philly fan. Um, it's like, why aren't you? Why is Taylor Hall allowed to push the defense back? Oh, yeah, and push them all the way back, and even though he doesn't score off the initial shot, you've got so much leverage going downhill in front of that goaltender. Now all of a sudden it's panic mode, and he kept his head. Former first overall pick, former MVP, um, makes an MVP play there in overtime and gives a gives a 2-0. And that that that that 2-0 lead, that series, and I could be wrong. We could be talking about this next week in a game seven, but that that series feels over.

SPEAKER_04 57:46

Yeah, the only team I feel like we haven't really touched on, it's uh the Golden Knights. The Vegas Golden Knights. Um, I don't know. They uh they're they're they're not the most exciting team for me to watch. Now I do like Jack. I do like Mitch Martiner. And Mitch Martiner shows up in uh big games. I mean, he was one of their big players in uh for Vegas. For Vegas. Not for Toronto, not for Toronto.

unknown 58:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:16

But uh, I don't know. Do you like Vegas? Do you like uh what do you think they're doing good in their game?

SPEAKER_03 58:21

You know, it's interesting. Um, when they won their cup, they you know, they really didn't have a goaltender that I thought was, you know, um of of the caliber to win a cup. You know, when they lost, the year they lost to um to Washington, I think they had Fleury, uh, who was definitely cup caliber. Um, and then when they won, they had uh he's still there. He's in it wasn't uh Lyon, wasn't it? Alex Lyon. No, it wasn't Alex Logan uh Thompson. No, it wasn't Logan Thompson. They've had a couple uh hang on, you know what?

SPEAKER_04 58:58

We're we're going back well to the the one that I did the player I do enjoy watching on Vegas is uh Keegan. Keegan Colasar.

SPEAKER_03 59:06

Oh yeah, it can't make it a lot of things. Uh just aidan Hill. Aiden Hill run. Aiden Hill. Again, now they've got Carter Hart, um, the much maligned Carter Hart. We're not gonna get into that, but um he is a top talent goaltender. Oh yeah. Top talent goaltender. Yeah, so he he he probably hasn't I thought I thought he played his best game last night of the playoffs so far.

SPEAKER_04 59:35

Well, Keaton Colasar is got 241 hits. Uh uh Well, no, Vegas had 241 hits. He is third postseason hits at least Keaton Colasar. Uh just showing yet again that you gotta have players that can separate players from the buck.

SPEAKER_03 59:57

Well, and and look, I I love watching Eichel Dorothyev and and Barbershef. Like that right now, to me, um so much in the playoffs. You know, Montreal is a perfect testament to this. You have these high-flying players that aren't scoring five on five, and then you go to Vegas, you've got three performers, you've got two heavy hitters in Eichel and Barbara Chevron. You've got this Dorf Viv kid who the last two years has just lit it up, and they've got something cooking. And then, you know, when you're second line, you can go down and you can have your second line be Marner Stone and um I think Riley Smith. Um, and then they bring back William Carlson, who is on long-term IR the entire season.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:43

So who do you think is uglier? Mike Ricci or Mark Stone.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:49

I'll say this nobody celebrates, nobody's nobody celebrates scoring a goal harder than than Stone. He does. Stone gets very excited. He loves scoring. I mean, he's like, if you ever watch uh if you ever watch a KHL game, whenever somebody scores the KHL, you don't know who scores because everybody's out there windmilling on the ice and just like selling hard. He's like a kid, he would fit in perfectly with KHL. He's a kid. Um, I like Vegas. Uh I I again I don't think I think they're gonna get past Anaheim for the reasons we talked about when we were showing those Anaheim clips. I think Anaheim is um you know a young team that's gonna learn how to uh they've already learned how to win the playoffs. You beat the reigning Western Conference champion, yeah. Full stop. They're gonna learn how to advance because it does change every every every round, it gets harder and harder. This ain't the NBA grant. It gets harder and harder each round.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:50

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:58

So, yeah, it gets harder each. You know, once they took hand checking out of the NBA, I stopped watching. That was like back before you were born, 1999, I think. So hey, what the Pistons are up right now, yeah. Yeah, that's right. Shout out Detroit Pistons who are playing. There's some playoff games going on at Little Caesars Arena, they're just not on the ice.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:19

Well, just a quick stat for you that uh the Vegas Golden Knights have 26 goals, uh, right behind Minnesota with 29, and Anaheim with 27. Uh, believe it or not, they have more goals than Colorado through the playoffs. That's pretty amazing when you think about it. So they they they definitely can put the fuck in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Yeah, I I I think um even after game one, they've got more goals in Colorado, Colorado just hung nine.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:48

I know that's the thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:49

It's like how Colorado swept LA in like four. So we I mean, yeah.

unknown 1:02:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:55

Slow down.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:58

It it it helps when you only play four games.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:00

Yeah, it's that that's that's true. So, well, I think we wanna we wanna end the show with a little bit of drill draw. Um, you know, you and I have coaches on here all the time, and we're always talking to the coaches about bringing up drills, but you and I are coaches.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:14

We need to write a drill draw song. Uh we need, I feel like this needs to be a segment with its own uh it is a segment, but it needs its own song.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:23

Drill draw, drill draw, well, we just we were rehearsing after this.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:28

Maybe we can play a little, yeah, figure out a little ditty. Oh yeah, Grant, we've got a we've got a gig this Friday. You're gonna be there? No. We'll see. No, I guarantee you, we're not gonna see.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:41

He's gonna wash his hair Friday night.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:43

Yeah, he's got I so when for those of you watching at home, I'm not doing a loser thing. This is we have an AI camera that that's how you that's how you uh make it go in and go out. So we have this awesome green screen. Yeah. What do you mean? That's real behind you. That's what's there. That is. If I reach back, I can pull, let me pull that helmet off. Let me let me pull that helmet off the shelf. Wow. For those of you at home, that was my college helmet. Cooper SK2000. Still the best helmet in the history of hockey. I love that you know the model now. Marielle Lemu, baby. Mariel Lemieux. You could two-tone it too, it's awesome. All right, let's draw a drill. Let's drop a drill for for for you guys. And for those of you listening on Spotify, go to our website, too many men on the mic.com. That's the number two, and you can download every type of drill out there from uh the minds of USA hockey directors and directors of hockey, youth hockey organizations across the country. But tonight we're gonna have a drill that uh coach and I are gonna share with y'all. So, what do what do we want to do?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:47

Oh gosh. I I'm a big fan of the one where we put the puck at the middle, we've got a two on two, we've got the nets out in the neutral zone, and then we start with the two on two with the players kind of on either side of the goal, but then we progress it and then we make them skate further and further to the puck. So it almost becomes like a a sprint to the puck right out in the middle. So we definitely need a puck. I would say we need to start this drill with the puck literally right at center ice.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:19

So let's this is definitely a drill it takes on a lot of a lot of things, yeah. So we have we start the drill there, let's get our nets set up. Let's get our nets out. Let's get our nets. It's almost like a gauntlet, like the too many men gauntlet or something along those lines. Because we because we everybody's involved, not just the players who are in the drill battling. But what you have to do is in order to before you can take a shot and score, you've got to play the puck to one of your teammates who's lined up on the side. So let's let's get let's let's set the stage here.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:56

Let's do our yeah, everybody's an active participant. So if you're Not in the two-on-two. You've got dark on one side, you've got light on the other side. And think of it as a your natural boundary of players.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:13

We play inside the dots, too.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:15

Play inside the dots. And so the player's job on either side is to receive a pass if they get it from one of their teammates. Give it back to one of their players so that they can go in and uh and score a goal.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:31

So in this, in this, you're basically starting with your your players down below the blue line, below behind their own goal. And we'll get the red team set up here first. And then we'll change it over to the blue team. Yeah, it's starting to look like an arquite drone. There's a lot of red out there. Yeah, I know. Well, it shows up best on camera. If I did white, you wouldn't be able to see it on the ice. True. We can change the color. By the way, this is being brought to you by Drift Hockey. Uh, Brian Dolan, great friend of the show, has created this new uh platform that combines all the great things about hockey technology: drilling, drilling small area game uh um draw ups, uh roster communication, film sharing, and a whole lot more. We're having a great conversation with Brian next week. So we're we're hopeful and excited to share more of Drift Hockey. And he's now releasing it in app form. So for all your kids, um, they don't have to go home and log into an ancient laptop or desktop. They can get your communication from film study to scheduling to drill and small area game breakdowns right on their phone. More about drift hockey in the coming weeks, but just want to share that with everybody out there. Take your hockey with you. That's right. Take your hockey with you. All right. No free load, no, no free slogans. All right, so here's how we start this game. Um, puck at the center at the center ice dot. Uh, let's get a coach in here. A couple coaches. I think I actually got into this drill last week because I was I'm crazy. It's kind of like a Thunderdome, it's kind of like uh, it's almost it's like a modified thing. It's kind of like a gauntlet. I mean, we've got to come up with a name with it. Um maybe the too many men, you know, run the gauntlet. But, anyways, how this starts is on the whistle. Let's change our colors. On the whistle. Players from both sides are skating to battle for to get control of this puck. And then we've got the folks coming from the opposite side, the red players, skating to the middle. So you've right off the bat, you've got a concept that I absolutely love. So when players come off the bench on their shift, on a shift change, the first thing I always say to them is, I want you to be one. I want you to be first on puck. And so this game simulates that concept right off the bat. Whistle's blown, coach blows the whistle, you've got four players, two from each side, skating in the middle to try to be first on puck and gain control. Why do you want to be first on puck? Well, here's why. If you get control of the puck, you can score.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:28

Yeah, you got to pass to one of your teammates.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:29

You got to pass to one of your teammates who's positioned on the side. Let's just say the blue team gets gets gets the puck first. So now all of a sudden, blue team in a small area, a very confined space, almost like being in front of the net, gets control of this puck. They need to make a pass to one of their teammates who's on the side here on this like fence. So they pass, and then if I'm one of the other players, let's say I'm P2 or F2, I'm driving to the net looking for a pass from one of my teammates who's in the drill, just not in the feet in the ice in the play, and we're trying to score in front of that net. If you're the red team and you don't get you're not first down puck, is the play over? No, you lose a battle, start a battle. And one of the things that we do is as this game progresses, we move these players back.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:26

Yeah, and I gotta say, I I think that's the coolest part of the drill. Yeah, we can move them back is you get, you know, suddenly you've got more and more ramp, and watching the kids get more dialed into this drill as you move the kids back on each side. So, you know, when you started, you were right next to the net, and the puck didn't seem so far away. Yeah, but then as the game goes on and as the drill progresses, now you're almost gosh, you're you're down in your uh your own uh uh defensive zone dots, even a little bit below the dots. And so you really have to sprint and take off uh to be first on puck. And uh and I feel like the the competition gets amped up the further the kids move back.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:08

It's a sneaky bag skate, too. It is a sneaky bag skate. Sneaky bag skate. Yeah. So we like this drill because one, it's it's it is the first concept is you want to be first on puck. So we're trying to build a culture of you're first you come off the bench on and you start your shift, you want to race to the puck, be first on puck. The second piece of that though is if you lose that battle, you the other piece to this culture and the environment that we're trying to create is okay, you've lost a battle. What are you gonna do to get that puck back? Now you got to go start another battle. And you've got a lot. I mean, we run this drill at the end of practice sometimes, and that ice is like glaciers, and it only takes about seven minutes, seven to ten minutes of doing this drill, and the kids love it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:57

This is a drill where the kids at the end are gone. One more, one more. Can I do one more one more time? I want to get I want to try it again.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:04

Well, the great thing too is you start getting kids who are in the opposite colors calling each other out. Okay, you go, you go. So the compete level, this, and then you have a level of support. You know, you're wanting to use this flank support. So we have built-in flank support. You can't just go score, you've got to make a pass, and then you've got to move your feet. And we want you to get to the front of the net on two different levels. You want to get into the, you know, take the goalie's eyes away, and then maybe you get off to the side, or maybe you're up here in the in the bumper area or in that little in that high slot area. You know, it's creating different levels in a small area, almost a foam booth. I mean, we would call this the too many men foam booth, you know, or race to the. I mean, we've got to come up with a cool name for this. Grant, get in here. What do you think? This what you know, as a non-hockey guy, how would you name this drill? First of all, would you be first to puck every time? Oh, yeah. If I could skate, he's coming out. We gotta get you out. Like, if you come out, you're doing this game.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:01

This is I kind of like I kind of like gauntlet. Like, I know that's the name you coined, but I think that's what because it is a gauntlet, and it's not as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:12

I for for me, this is like a a horse uh analogy, just because you keep moving back and back, and you've got to uh so I I'm leaning towards like either thoroughbred FOP, thoroughbred first on puck.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:30

That's kind of what I got now. It's continuous, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:34

It it just keeps yeah, until you score a goal. So so like if blue in this scenario doesn't score, red gets possession, red then skates down here. Let's pull up my red then can skate down, skate with oh and I like race.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:48

I like race title. That's a good call.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:49

The gauntlet race. That's cool. I like that. Now, if red gets control of the puck, they skate down here. They out they now make a pass to their teammates, and then they continue on. And now blue's got to try and get the puck back. And these battles, this goes on. It usually takes about it's usually about a 60-second, 60-second game. Um, but uh we'll call it uh let's call it thoroughblare. You know, too many men on the mic feels like uh we just had the Kentucky Derby.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:18

We did, I know. That's why maybe it's you know it's the it's the it's the horse thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:23

Derby Gauntlet race? Sure. How about we just call it the the how about we just call it the derby? Oh, I like that. Because you know, you think about when these horses are you know neck and neck, they're they're bumping and they're you know, you know, obviously if I was one of those, if I was one of those jockeys, I'd be like, We'll call this the derby. Um, and this will be on our on our website, too many men on the mic.com, the number two. Not spelled TWO, but too many men on the mic.com. Not to be confused with our Instagram, which is Too Many Men Podcast, spelled TWO. Thanks, Instagram. Right. Well, this will be on our website as as our drill draw. It's called the Derby. A lot of great things going on here. You've got the concept of first on puck, puck battle, flank support, net front presence, and playing with pace. It's all about pace and compete. So, I mean, I you're you're covering seven key concepts um in one drill and one game between the blue lines, and the kids love it. Yeah, the kids love it. The Zamboni drivers don't love it, but the kids love it. So well, Grant, give us an update. What's the score right now to the Minnesota uh Colorado game? We got three one ads.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:43

They're so good.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:44

Let me guess who scored. Let me guess who scored. Let me guess, let me guess.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:47

Um let me navigate over. Continue guessing. I'm gonna say McCarr.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:58

Landiscon.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:01

The goal scores are Capri Sol for the wild. Boldy have an assist. Uh the assist is not to Boldy, it's to Hartman. Quinn Hughes.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:17

Zuccarello. Okay, Zucker. Goals for the guess, let me guess, let me guess. Uh three goals. I'm gonna say Natcheus. Um uh Natus Taze and Landiscog.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:42

Nicholas Roy. Oh, Nicholas Roy. Natches and Landiscog.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:46

So did not look or watch. Don't care what you guys say, didn't look or watch. For those of you at home, uh, did not look or watch.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:58

So you should uh you should place your bets.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:00

Yeah, I should. You know, it's a good thing I stopped betting a long time ago.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:03

So uh Grant, uh, uh did you uh learn more about hockey?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:06

And I did. I liked the drills. I learned about each team remaining all eight. I liked it. This was good.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:15

You know what? You can lay this lingo on your brother, on your family. Uh, you know, Mother's Day is right around the corner, so you can say, and they say, Well, what's going on with you, Grant? Tell us about what's going on in the hockey podcasting world.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:31

You can say it's all about net front first on puck and compete, compete, flank, flank, giving zone entry, wide zone, wide zone entry, F2 driving the net, which we saw. And what do you think about the the film breakdown?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:44

I like them. I like getting the clips up. Uh I felt like we found out a lot about each team.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:50

All right, you ready to you ready to get on the ice and put some of this in action?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:54

I am ready. I've been wanting to.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:56

All right, here we go. Well, you know what? You know, here's what I think you should do. We have a game tomorrow night that we're coaching at Webster Groves, 7.45 start time. Come to the game, get a feel for it, get closer to the ice. Heck, we'll even let him come on the bench. You know what I mean? You wear a helmet. And get a little get a little feel for it. You can actually go. He can run this, he can run the clock. Oh, that sounds that sounds like free labor now. Oh man. Well, we've got uh a couple things going on here for the St. Louis Rockets, folks. Uh, you've got your Friday landing party. We are gonna be playing that the Too Many Man on Mike Acoustic Gig at Brentwood Park, starting live at six o'clock, going to whenever. Let's see what that weather forecast is. Oh, that's right. We have a cover. We're gonna be covered, which is great. What's our weather forecast like there? Well, you know, the weather's too many men meteorologist, Chuck Chuck Anchory. Exactly. What was the guy's name from Anchorman?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:57

76 degrees, 45% chance of rain.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:00

Oh, that's perfect. Perfect stuff. Well, come on out if you're if you're a St. Louis Rockets or you're looking to become a St. Louis Rocket hockey player, come on out to Brentwood Park, 6 o'clock for some great, great conversation, good company, great food, great beverages, and most importantly, some great music. Too many minutes. That's right. Thanks everybody for showing up. Um, great, great show tonight, Grant. Um, he shoots, he scores. Play the theme song.