X's and BrO's - 4-Nations Face-Off is on fire

a team should be. I don't care the sport, Okay, I don't care if it's basketball, football, baseball, you name it, lacrosse, go ahead, soccer, whatever, When you're together, when you're feeding off each other's vibes, when you've got that feel, that chemistry, that symmetry. I know sometimes we overuse that word, but I think it's really evident with Team USA, at least last night as they started to click a little bit.

Finland is a team that may not have had it's you know, as we spoke yesterday with Greg Wishinsky, I hope you enjoyed that interview. He's the senior hockey writer for ESPN dot com and we talked to him at eight o'clock yesterday. It's on our podcast. You can check that out at xbree Mornings, ex'es and Bros. Here Monday through Friday, six until nine. It is. It's kind of

refreshing to watch you know. I mean, it's really fun to watch a team understand one another, and considering a lot of these guys don't play with one another during the regular season. It's just a collection of talent. Like you could put together a lot of great players, that doesn't mean they're going to be great together. And it did take you know, half a period, maybe a full period for Team USA to click. And I don't say

that just because the score was one one. Finland scored first, they didn't have two or three of their top defensemen, but they played pretty gritty. I mean, if you watched the intermission report with Mark Messier and PK Suban, they were talking about that and how Finland just kind of stands you up the way they're going going to win. Remember in ninety five, everybody talked about, you know, New Jersey and how they won with the left wing trap and all those other things, and how it was bad

for the sport. You know, when did it end up happening. The Devil's ended winning the Stanley Cup that year, and they used that format to be very successful, to be a really challenging team for an extended period of time during NHL history. Finland knows they can't skate with Team USA. They know they have to be physical, but Team USA brings that physicality as well. They're not going to be able to win a high scoring game. So what did

they do. They played a certain style that allowed them to stay in the game, and then Team USA started to open things up a little bit and the entire roster, that USA roster. I mean, Dylan Larkin is a really good hockey player. You and I both know that, right You and I have had these discussions before. Dwight think he's a number one center on a really good team. Probably not probably number two, but that's okay, you know, not taking anything away from I think he said. I

love having him on the Red Wings. I think he's awesome that he's the captain of this team, and I think he's the right choice. And I love the contract extension. He gives you everything he's got. He plays two hundred feet. He's not afraid to, you know, go down and behind the net and mix it up a little bit. He's an aggressive back checker. I love everything about that with

Dylan Markin. But on this team, and I know this isn't a regular season NHL team, so don't take it as if you know this is where he belongs on a regular NHL team, because it's not. This is the best America has to offer. For the most part. He's the fourth line center. He's playing penalty kill. He's not on the number one power play. He's not getting a ton of shifts, he's not getting a ton of ice time. It's thrilling for him to be on this team, and

he should be thrilled. I mean, it's the ultimate, really it is. It's the ultimate, a compliment to you as a player. And he's playing with you know, his good friend, Zach Warinsky. You got the state of Michigan heavily represented. Kyle Connor's out there, Dylan Larkin is out there, Connor Hullabuck is out there, Zach Warinsky is out there. That's fun, man,

that's really cool. I was talking with, you know, my best buddy, and he was on his way back from the airport because he travels a lot, and this was at night, ironically enough, coming back from Alaska in Seattle with his job, and he was saying, yeah, I don't even know what's going on. He's in the car right and quite honestly, he's not one of those guys who he used to be heavily into sports, and now it's just turned him off. He he's just not up with

it anymore. So I was talking to him while the game was going on and almost doing a little play by play and talking about how good team USA is and love watching him play and so on and so forth. And I told him about all the different Michiganders on this team, and Kyle Connor, by the way, he did have an assist, and he he was like, oh, that's that's pretty cool. I like that. I said, yeah. He said, how's Dylan Larkin? I said, good. You look down on

the statistics. Dylan Larkin only had seventeen shifts, second fewest of any of the forwards. Only Brought Nelson had fewer, and he played the second fewest time on the ice. This is a guy who's used to playing the most time on the ice for Detroit other than the most cider. He and Lucas Raymond leading the way for Detroit, and I'm on the forwards, he's the second fewest. That's okay, I mean, you work your way into it. I think he only had one shot. I'm not even sure he

had that. But the bottom line is he and his team ruled the roost in Montreal and win six to one. The story of the night, without question, is the Kachuck brothers. When you have I remember it's a little bit more in. A month ago, maybe a month and a half, maybe two months ago, somebody called in and said, SHEP, who's the one player you would want from another team on this team besides the superstars. You're not getting Connor McDavid and Leon drisidled and Austin Matthews. Okay, what would do

you remember the name I brought up? You're not getting Matt Kachuck in Florida, all right, he's the captain of Florida. Or he's the assistant captain of Florida. Andrew Parkoff, I believe, is the captain, and they've got him there. They don't want to give him up, right, not that anybody wants to give up a great player. Do you remember the

name I said? I said, Brady Kuchuk, And I said Brady Kuchuk because of his physicality and because of his offensive prowess, and his offensive game was on display last night. He had two goals, and his brother Matt Kuchuk had two goals. In an assist now. I don't know how you feel about Keith Kachuk when he played primarily with Saint Louis during his career, And I don't know how you feel about them because I think they can be a little polarizing. They play with an edge like their

dad did, but they play with an edge. They are power forwards. Power forwards and hockey aren't always big, strong, tough guys. Power forwards in hockey are guys who score in front of the net, guys who play down below the goal line, and guys who hit as well as score. Brendan Shanahan is a perfect example of what a power forward was. You would love to have somebody of that ilk. That's why I said Brady Kuchuck and Brady Kachuk was one of the best players on the ice last night

for Team USA. That sets up an unbelievable, cannot miss, must watch situation tomorrow night, Team USA against Team Canada. It's awesome. God, that was fun to watch. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

of promoting its sport. How do you do that? Because it's easy for me to just say this is what you this is what you've got to do, But then you've got to ask yourself, how do you do it? Right? I mean, it's easy for a guy like a talk show host to sit back. You know, hockey doesn't do a great job of promoting itself, for marketing itself. They got to do a better job with their they're athletes. Yes,

that's a pretty generic statement. The question follow up from anybody in hockey or any fan should be okay, chev, if you're so smart, what do you do? I'll tell you what you do. You put on events like this where the gas level you and I says what does gas stand for? They give a blank. If I were Shaquille O'Neil and just say the word because apparently there's no apparently there's no problem saying that. That's a good one. On TNT, he can just say S and F and

all that stuff. That's no big deal and people laugh at it. You know, Ernie Johnson, you said F on the air, Kenny Smith, that's great. You said S on the air, Charles Barge that a boy would go, man, and then people just go, this is awesome. Let me watch some more of it. It's the number one pre and postgame show in all of sports because they say S and F. Okay, that's the way it works. Cool. You know, can't do that on a local show or but you can do it on TNT. I think get

rewarded for it. That's really cool anyway, So what do you do you put on events like this or you make sure this happens. I'm not saying you do it every year because that might get a little much and then it wears. There's something about in all of life perhaps, but there's something about having it special like Christmas. Once you love Christmas, of course you do, but it's only once a year. You treasure it thanksgiving, you treasure it, right, So you can't have or probably don't have the Four

Nations Tournament every year? Do you like the Ryder Cup TRENT? I do, okay, every other year, right, every other year? Right, that's what makes it special. This is not the super Bowl of hockey. It's not the Stanley Cup Finals of hockey. Those are special moments, right this you want you want it to mean a little bit more. So, I think this is really good. The other thing hockey needs to continue to do and they do it, but they just

don't promote it nearly enough. There was a really good shot of the coaching staff led by Mike Sullivan, who's in the locker room and he brings in a special guest to read off the lines. That's what always happens

in hockey. Coach stands in front of everybody, gives him a couple of last minute instructions, might be in front of the whiteboard, and then he's got a piece of paper with his lines, okay, the top four lines, and then they read off the forwards, and then the pairing of the defenseman and who's in net, and everybody claps in between each one. Those types of moments pretty awesome, right. Putting the go pro on Matthew Kachuk as they go

through the warm up line is pretty awesome. Those are the little things oftentimes that need to be done to get people super excited and super appreciative of the sport and the players that they have. After Canada beat Sweden, there was a there was a camera in the Canadian locker room. Team Canada locker room. Brad Marshaan was Mike dub Now. Brad Marshan is a If you've ever seen interviews of him, it is quick and concise. He does

not give you a lot of detail. Many of us in the business would perhaps call him a boring interview all right, but he does have a personality, And I know most people, including my sons, feel like he's a rat. They can't stand him. He's the instigator, he gets under your skin. He's the guy wearing the black hat. He's the guy that every opposing team's fan base hates. Which it takes something to do that, It really does. I mean, think about it. Do you want to be hated everywhere

you go except for your hometown. That's not an easy thing to handle. You've got to be really strong mentally. Who's that guy in Detroit? I don't think the Red Wings have one? Do you think? Do you think? Do you think the Pistons have one? Isaiah Stewart's probably the closest thing there you go. His isn't because of how good he is. His is more about because he wants to fight everybody for some reason or another. Do the Lions have somebody like that? Do they have the equivalent

of a James Harrison for example? Because James Harrison was that guy for the Steelers. No, most of these types of players in order for you to hate them, you have to respect them. I believe you have to say I would want that guy on my team, though. Who's the most famous Bill Ambiert. Every fan base hated that guy absolutely. Like Rick mchorne. They could say that because he was, you know, part of the bad boys, and he was on the poster, and he was big and

he was strong. But most people understood where he was. They didn't think he was dirty. Where people, well, I think truly believed that Bill Ambier was dirty. Maybe some of that has to do with taking down Larry Bird and then Robert Perris slapping him in the face later on. I believe it was nineteen eighty seven, maybe nineteen eighty I'm not exactly sure when that label was given to him, but we know it is stuck with him his entire life. Brad Marshant is similar to that, not because I don't

think he's dirty. It's just because he's a little bit of an instigator and willing to chirp and he'll drop the gloves too. But what Hockey did, what Canada did, was they miked him up. And I don't know if it was a parable long microphone or free actually was miked up. They got him going into the Team Canada dressing room after the game, walking to his stall and talking to Connor McDavid and talking to Sidney Crosby and actually said something to Crosby like that's a kind of

a risky player. At the end, they're eighty seven, and everybody was laughing a little bit. You know you've got And to me, I'm sitting there watching I see in the video, I'm like, oh my god, there's McKinnon, there's Crosby, there's McDavid. I mean, think about that. You've got Sidney Crosby, who, by the way, has never lost a game in his international competition life. Think about that. That's when you talk when you talk about among the greatest of all time.

And I said this the other day, he is simply amazing but never gets nearly enough credit. I remember early in his career, I was working at wdfenit Detroit, and I said a statement that had people just blown away, and I said, Sidney Crosby is greater at his sport than Lebron James.

I mean, he was just simply amazing and his story is a really good one that we don't necessarily have to get into. But he's never lost a game, not a series, but a game that's called leadership, that's called high end stuff. And it's not like he's only been in five he's been in a ton of them. The microphone on Marshen in the locker room giving you that

feel is pretty awesome. It's that type of access that you'd love to see more of and take those types of moments that allows people to actually have a window into the type of athletes and people that they truly are.