Hour 2: Mark Messier Hates Greg Cote
39:40 Share

You're listening to DraftKings Network. Now's a good time to remember where the story of tequila started. In 1795, the first tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start. Same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo.

The tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekle. SAB, the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. ♪

Uh, video, please get the photo of a clearly almost nude Greg Cody during Mardi Gras drinking in the street. Uh, we can laugh today. We're out of the pressure cooker. Put that behind me and let's show everybody, uh, Greg Cody walking through the streets of new Orleans during Mardi Gras. There, uh, there he is with me and my late brother. Uh, I remember all of that. They would have that logo. Yes. It was amazing. Uh,

Ron McGill joins us now to answer the question we were asking before about whether a shark could eat the Stanley Cup. There are all sorts of strange things you can find inside of a shark. I don't know what the strangest are, Ron, but I don't think it could be anything as large as the Stanley Cup, can it?

It could be something as large as the Stanley Cup if it weren't made out of sterling silver. I mean, if it's something that could be crushed, yeah, theoretically they could eat it. I mean, didn't you see Jaws? They ate some scuba tanks. What is the strangest things? Yeah, there was a license plate and some other things found in Jaws when Steven Spielberg cut him open. But what are the strangest things that you have found or you have learned about in a great white shark? Because they are garbage disposals, right?

- Not really, Dan, not really. I mean, they will feed on carcasses of whales. I mean, they will vigorously feed on dead whales that are just rotting and smell like make you gag in your mouth, but they don't necessarily pick up, you know,

beer cans and bottles and stuff like that. No, they're not that kind of scavenger. If they're eating something like that, it's something that was attached to something that they meant to eat. You know, garbage floating in the ocean, floating into the carcass of a whale. When they're eating the whale, they'll swallow everything that gets in their mouth, but not intentionally eating things like human trash. No. Do you have the most unusual thing you've heard about being found inside of a shark?

No, I really haven't. I mean, I've heard of all kinds of fish parts and unfortunately sometimes some human parts, but I haven't heard anything mind blowing. I mean, I've heard of things in bellies of other animals, I mean, like ostriches.

eat all kinds of drill bits and screws and pans and they are garbage disposal. They'll put everything in their mouth and swallow it. There was a world-renowned surfer who also took up some acting roles that was killed in a shark attack yesterday. And there's been recent video from South Beach of a bull shark really close to shore. We've asked you a couple of times on climate change and a lot of it's wait to see how this is going to change the behavior of sharks.

Are we gonna be seeing them come closer and closer to shore, trying to find new sources of food? - That's certainly possible. I mean, you know, sharks are following the bait fish.

So as soon as the bait fish start coming in closer, so are the sharks. They're following the bait fish. Now, I hope that people took notice of that video, for instance, of that bull shark out there on South Beach. How many people, it went right by without biting them, without attacking them. That's not to say it's not possible, of course, but let's put this in perspective. When we talk about, we hear a shark attack, this horrific tragedy in Hawaii with this guy. Okay, horrible, horrible. But yet, people need to not paint with a broad brush and say, this is why all sharks need to be destroyed. Look at that bull shark.

shark literally swimming within feet of dozens of people there and never bit one of them. Never bit one of them. Let's please keep this in mind. Ron, I have two quick questions. Number one, what land animal is most likely and capable of eating the Stanley Cup? Oh, geez. Land animal? I don't know because none of the carnivores are going to do it. I mean, they're they're

They're just not going to do it. I don't see anything like it. What if you put the scent of meat all over the Stanley Cup? It's not edible. It's not an edible thing. It's a giant thing. It's not something... Hippopotamus, maybe. Maybe. No, no, it's not. There's no land animal that's going to eat the Stanley Cup. Okay, thank God for that. Now, here's my other question. I just read 3.5 billion birds in America every year.

die from flying into panes of glass. Yes. Is that a survival of the fittest thing where we say, ah, birds are dumb? Or is there something that should be done to save birds? There's absolutely something that should be done. There are little types of stickers, little types of things that you can put on your window that doesn't destroy your view or anything like that. But bird's

can see it. See, the reason why these birds fly into windows is they're seeing reflections of the things behind them. If they're flying, you know, if you have a beautiful house full of windows and you're surrounded by a forest, they see that forest in the window and they fly right into it. Okay? The same thing with high-rise buildings. In the high-rise building, when it's above all the other buildings, they're seeing sky. They're seeing a reflection of sky behind them, so they go into that. All you

need to do and and the Audubon Society makes these available for free I believe you can just get these little stickers and put them on your sliding doors again they're not these you know these huge instructional types of things they're just visible by the birds barely visible by you and it saves countless lives 1823 Ron West Indies they found a cannonball six pound cannonball in a shark's stomach

Okay. I mean, you know, that's an anomaly. 1863. I don't know. How many of those records are as dependable? Ron, you allege that animals would not eat the Stanley Cup. Now, it's up for debate, but if an animal were to eat a championship trophy, which championship trophy do you think is most edible? NBA, Stanley Cup, MLB?

What do we think? I gotta think the Lombardi trophy. It's pretty cylindrical. It's not really huge. It's not really wide. It's a swallowable trophy. Let's go out to Roy at the Elbow Room. McGill, would you like an update from Roy? He's right near the Stanley Cup. What kind of information can you give us, Roy, from out there? It sounds like there's chanting and things are getting louder. It's

before noon and I suspect that if they're going to spend the whole day there, some wild Stanley Cup stories end up happening, breaking out around the party of a champion.

You're muted, Roy. Roy, you got unmuted, Roy. Well, as you saw, they just dumped beer back down to the ground out of Santa Claus. We got some Kansas employees drinking out of the cup right now. Go get some, Roy. Roy, any chance? I am not allowed in it. You're not allowed in it. Can you get in the line of people that get their beer poured on their face? You've spent a lifetime around this team. You have to know someone who's going to let you into that place. You have to. Come on.

No, unfortunately, I'm not allowed inside. No. And I'm not going to get beer poured. That would be such a great video, though. Why don't you want beer poured? Good tent.

Because I'm wearing my jersey and it's already hot and I'm sticky. So, yeah, no, that's not going to happen. I'll buy you a new jersey. I'll buy you a new jersey. No, I'm good. I'm good. All right, Roy. It's good to get all of your joy here on Metal Ark Media. You're just totally out of control. The best we've got from you is slurring last night while doing your reports. We appreciate you pouring yourself. Roy Bellamy! Roy Bellamy!

I'm here. Was that Nico Micola? It looked like Dan behind you. Thank you, Roy. Good talking to you. Appreciate all your time. We will come back to you and see if you decide to have more fun with the people having fun or if you're going to sit it out because you don't want to do dry cleaning.

I feel like the next time the cup leaves the elbow room, that's when you sneak in, right? Because all eyes are on the cup. As it's going out, you go in, and then no one will be watching. You go where the cup isn't. Exactly right. What a day. We are made it. Hey, I want to see the picture of Rodriguez's little baby girl sitting in the cup that he said he wanted to take last night. That's going to be a great shot. I'll text it to you privately. Hey, actual Florida Panthers, where are we with that?

They bouncing back? They are. You know, they're bouncing back as well as can be hoped for. Because you know what? Decades ago, there were only 20 of them left. Okay, now there's probably a little bit over 200. So they have increased their strength. They've increased their numbers. They've increased their range. You know, they are no longer the new team with just a bunch of neophytes. These panthers have expanded their population, but only to the limit of...

of what's available to him in habitat. People don't realize that panthers, you know, the number one killer of panthers is cars, unfortunately. Cars, they get hit by cars on the road. But what people don't understand, the number two killer of panthers is other panthers because they fight for territory and they're limited to their territory. So the males will kill each other over territory. And that's the number two killer of panthers.

But, you know, this is the largest cat in the state of Florida. It is the state animal. You know, we have a state mammal, the manatee, the state bird, the mockingbird, which we hope to make the flamingo soon. You know, we have a state butterfly, the zebra wing. But the state animal, like the animal, the number one animal in the state is the Florida panther. Are we actually trying to change the state bird to the flamingo? Yes, we are.

Are you leading this cause? Who's changing this? Well, Zoo Miami is working with the foundation. We've been speaking to legislators. They have put a bill forth that kind of died in the House this last session, but they're hoping to bring it again the next session to make the flamingo the state bird. I think it's a natural. The ibis. Ron, how did you feel last night? You're a sports fan. I don't know how big of a hockey fan you are.

You know, I'm a huge sports fan, and to see the last major teams in Florida win the Stanley Cup, win the championship, you know, I've been here. I've been here for the 72-73 Dolphins. I was here for the 2006 Heat. I was here for the 96-97 Marlins. Now to be here and to see this happen here in Florida, it makes me happy because, you know, the

Everybody was, I transplanted from New York. New York is a big sports town. We had some great teams back then. 1969, the greatest year of my life as a sports guy. The Mets, the Jets, the Knicks, the Rangers. I mean, it was everybody winning the championship that year. So coming down here and having this team do this and to be able to say a Florida team, a Southern Florida team wins an ice hockey championship, that's just so freaking great.

Great. Only here. Everyone else in the world is furious about this. Well, you know what, Dan? Dan, you know what? They're going to need to get over it because, you know, if somebody cannot look at a coach and a general manager literally sobbing, I

there on the ice last night, I started to get emotional watching that, realizing the eruption of emotion that is built up in these guys that have worked so hard for this. Now, don't get me wrong. I felt bad for, you know, the Jesus there, that guy, whatever. I felt bad for him. I wish he'd come out to kind of accept the trophy, even though I probably understand why he didn't. I thought it was bad that people were booing that because, you know, the stats indicated that he was the MVP, even though God, that goalie, God, did our goalie kill it? That guy wasn't

amazing. He had a couple of bad games. I understand that, but what a job, baby. He did it.

I love that as a rallying cry. I felt bad for that guy, make Jesus or whatever. You think the rest of the nation is looking at this celebration because this is South Florida's first ever crack at, at this trophy. And this is Broward's team. And this is a super Broward County celebration right now. Lord Stanley was in the ocean just moments ago. Like these are really cool scenes. I believe that, uh,

the northernmost point that has a team in North America is enraged that the southernmost point in America in water that's never frozen. The Stanley Cup just went into water that is never frozen. I believe the people...

People who warm themselves up with the feelings around hockey are furious that we get to experience this. All they had was hockey. Ron alluded to all the hard work that goes into this, and that's the type of pressure cooker these players were in yesterday in Game 7. The spectrum was this, what you're seeing on your TV, jumping into the ocean with the hardest trophy in sports to win, or punchline forevermore. That transcends that sport and gets brought up

Every time someone is blowing a lead, that was what was on the other end of last night's game for them. Ron, good talking to you. We will talk to you soon. I know you're headed to Africa. We will talk to you soon. Thanks, guys. Take care. We'll talk soon. Bye-bye.

Listen up, folks. The college football landscape has changed a lot. NIL deals, social media, the transfer portal. There's never been more distractions for an athlete. But Powerade knows what's important. The commitment to the game. The game is what matters. With 50% more electrolytes than Gatorade Thirst Quencher, Powerade hydrates athletes as they block out the noise and the noise.

and put in the work. Hydrate your grind with Powerade. Grab a pack today on Amazon or at a store near you. See product label for additional details. It takes more. Don Levitard. Mike Ryan's in there and he's the one with a baby. He's the one who's got to like worry about what the future is. And Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you're afraid of doubling down on.

putting up a billboard in Edmonton? Stugatz! I care more about Matthew Kachuk than I do my daughter. This is the Dan Levitas Show with the Stugatz. When Mike says that, I am genuinely curious because a lot of people in sports around Joy say that while they were climbing, they wish they had enjoyed it more. That too often...

The suffering involved in sports makes it so that when you're in joyous experiences, you're so competitive and trying to be better at all times that what you feel yesterday more than anything can be relief.

instead of joy. I know that after four runs of four years of spending the time where LeBron was with the Heat, at the end of that all being over, there was relief in winning two championships, losing two championships. And at the end of it, it might be a little bit unsatisfying, a little underachieving, but

but you're not being laughed at because you only won one championship in four years because Ray Allen bailed you out. How much relief was there in yesterday, Mike, when you talk about eternal laughter at the expense of your team? I think that's why I wept, really, was the emotional release of it being over. Thank God we're not a punchline. And we've, over the last few years, the Florida Panthers have done a great deal of suffering late in postseasons. And...

I think that's what all poured out of me, which is just like...

oh my god, this is off our shoulders and we came on the other side. Yeah, that was not at all fun. He didn't do that to you, correct? He did not make you weep from relief. No, no. The only other time that I think I felt that was when I was working with Chelsea and we won the Champions League and that was like a whole bunch of COVID stuff and I kind of knew that that was the end of my assignment and I really poured myself into my work during that time. And I cried not just because they won the championship, I cried because I worked

so damn hard to make sure that that life didn't interfere with the other lives and it was just a whole big deal. This was... I was so happy for the... There are people in that organization that I truly care about. I was really... I've grown to really love these players and have an affinity for Matthew Kachuk. After we left the arena at 3 a.m., this is...

Chris Whittingham is not lying when he says, like, my friends hate me. He was not enjoying last night. We FaceTimed him. My wife and I, we FaceTimed him again, and he answered at, like, 3 a.m., and we were just begging him, come back, man. Come on. Like, come on. I texted him before the game yesterday. I'm like, dude, we need you here. We need you. Maybe that would spark us if you...

publicly say, all right, let's go Panthers tonight. I know men are stubborn, but I've never been so stubborn to be the hill to die on a $120 jersey from Fanatics. Like, come on. They made the right move. And in the face of that, he's just going to be the most stubborn he's ever been in his life. He's got to be hurting. Yeah. My buddy Master was with him, and he said he was not in great shape. I'm like, well, we're all looking for the guy who did this.

Why are you begging him to come back? I want to enjoy it with my friends. We're just firing up in the group chat right now. In fact, one of the guys provided a video that we just showed. You went through something together. Whether it be those guys on the ice, they went through their thing together. We went through all the stress, the highs and the lows, the screaming into your sweater as a group. The group chat had a good feeling about this. And we want to

celebrate together and you want to enjoy it with your friends. I'm really bummed that we didn't get to enjoy it with Witty, but he became a rallying cry. My wife is still texting him, f*** you. What kind of friend is he? He bailed on you. See, Greg, they thought they needed Whittingham until Chris saw an Edmonton Oiler fan throwing up in the parking lot. That's right.

Roy, can you tell me where you were on relief? Because you pretended throughout, wrapped in armor and bravado to never be scared. I don't believe that you can watch yesterday's game and not feel everything heightened. Where are you on feeling just relief because this isn't a historically laughable failure?

It's more joy than it is relief. Relief that we came after that huge penalty kill where Kevin Sandlin lost his stick or gave his stick to two-star Forsling. When they killed that off, that's pretty much when I knew they were going to end up winning.

I don't believe you. It's not how that works. There can be many more. I mean, Chris has. I know they're going to. Look at where Chris is finding evidence. Oh, somebody's throwing up in the parking lot. That's a good sign. You can't say that's not a good sign for Panthers. I knew we were going to win with 12 seconds left.

That's the only time where I was like, I'm actually going to see joy out of this thing because I ran through all the scenarios like Dr. Strange, and it was hard to find a rational reason outside of we just have home ice in game seven. That's what you play an entire season for. It was really hard to find a scenario in which I was going to feel any joy, and that's also probably why I cried. It can be both, though. Relief can bring joy. They would have been mocked forever. There were two options for the Panthers last night, win the Stanley Cup and be celebrated or lose it and

be mocked forever. I can't imagine. And I know from people around the team, and Roy's played it cool, and that was a tense vibe. How could it not be? They had an extra day to chew on all the pressure. Maybe it ended up helping them. I know that 94 Rangers say that extra day helped them. And maybe if Oilers probably wanted to get right on the ice and keep playing and keep the momentum going. But yeah, there's a lot of pressure that goes with Game 7 when it's for that cup. There's a whole new world of pressure when you're

a historic punchline. The last three minutes of that game were terrifying and exhilarating all at once. When you talk about relief, I think it was because 3-0,

All of a sudden, three straight losses. The way it played out. And everybody's mentioning 1942, and this is what's facing you all of a sudden. And you not only raise the Stanley Cup, but at the same time, you avoid eternal infamy. Because you're right, the Panthers would have been completely mocked as the epitome of choking, of can't win it all, of losing in front of your home fans. That's why I wrote that this was the most extreme possible

possible championship match that I've ever experienced. Roy's got a big smile on his face. We instantaneously know that that's a siren call. Go to Roy. What are you smiling about, Roy? I think it's Chuck Brandon, Sam Bennett, brought that cup back out.

And some more beer. All right, Roy, you got to get some beer on your face. We need the shot. I want that for you. And a player on the show. I want that for you. I want beer on your face for you. How am I going to get a player on the show if they won't let me in? Just grab anyone. We don't know the difference. That's true. We just started watching hockey three weeks ago. It'd be funny if you grabbed someone who's incredibly pink and 312 pounds and just say it's Forslip. Ask them what color the blue line is.

Let's examine for just a moment whether or not in the history of the sport there has ever been a champion that was outscored over a point in the series 18-5.

It's the weirdest goddamn series, man. There's no way that's happened before, right? That someone holding up the trophy has wheezed to the finish of that series by being outscored 18-5. The Panthers, let's do it this way, actually. Just so that you know, that series ended up closing out with the Panthers being outscored 19-7.

19-7 is how the last four games of that series went. Who's celebrating today, though, Dano? It's just funny, though. It's funny and absurd. You guys watched it on television. I asked Billy, who's not the biggest hockey guy, did that come across like it was a good game? Because that's a classic Game 7, battle it out. Every play feels like it's important. I watched it wire to wire. It felt like that. Was it a big game? Did it feel good? It felt like a big game. I disagree. Really? And here's the only reason why.

because that is not an enjoyable game in any way without the stakes. It's only because of the stakes. You've got the entire third period. All the Panthers are doing is icing. They're trying to get to the finish line. That's a close game.

and it's a game with the most enormous stakes. I make that a regular season game. You're not finding that fun or interesting. Well, of course, game seven helped, but you had two goals early, one for each team, one, one going into the second, and then the Panthers scored the third. That was a great sequence. Usually those first periods in game sevens are tight, like one goal right back at you right away. Like, holy shit, we got the highest possible tension here. Panthers got a goal, and yeah, you mentioned the icing, but that's

part of their style. It's almost as if like you remember the Raven Steelers matchups in the regular season and postseason where their styles of violence, those defensive styles made for the one example where you'd be like, I don't mind this rock fight here in this game. And that's just your classic game seven. But I was curious for people that weren't

huge hockey fans if that game drew them in at all because I think they understood the stakes. There was a series in baseball that's always cited. I don't remember what year it was. It was Yankees and Pirates. And I think what ended up happening, I think this is the Mazeroski thing, right? That

If you go back and look at the run totals in that game, the Yankees won all the games by 15 runs and the Pirates won all the games by one run. The reason you won this series is because in four of the games you held that offense to six goals.

That's why you won. You got the four – in your four – Just have to do it four times. In your four victories, you were able to dilute, diminish, and make impotent an offense that's overwhelming and in the other three games showed you how overwhelming. Yeah, stats when you get to the Stanley Cup final can be overrated in that you need to –

You need to implement your will and your strategy to win at least four times, and you don't give a shit about how you go about doing it. You just need to achieve that mission. Panthers did it four times. It took them three times to win that fourth one.

Well, four times won that fourth one. God damn, we almost got really embarrassed. It was very close. Very, very close to being all-time embarrassed. All you've heard today, Liam, is simply relief. All you've heard today. It's not even happiness. It's just that there's less shit running down our leg than there would have been otherwise.

Howdy listeners, it's Mike Ryan and I've told you for quite a while about GameTime, my number one destination for the secondary ticket marketplace. No one does it like GameTime. There are often times where I'm using GameTime and I'm like, man, this experience cannot get any better. And then boom, GameTime now has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play even easier. GameTime filters out the fluff to only show you the incredible deals on great seats for your team so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets.

Go ahead and try it out for yourself. Pick an upcoming game on the app, browse through it on GameTime Picks, and you want to talk about great deals. GameTime always brings it, whether it's their all-in pricing, seat views, the lowest price guarantee, or their ticket coverage. They make this experience so easy. And for my money, it's the best ticket marketplace app out there.

Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code DAN for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. Dan Levatard. World RAR 3. Stugatz. We're going to get that off the ground. World RAR 3, colon. Our group chat has a pretty good feeling about this one. This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

♪

Steve Levy is going to join us here in a second. The crew that's been covering this has to be exhausted. These flights back and forth to Edmonton are brutal. We'll get to Steve Levy in a second, but Greg, your last night walking out onto the ice, media members are interacting with you. Are you a conquering hero? Do you feel like you've just won the Stanley Cup because of the number of media members congratulating you and slapping you on the back? Uh,

I did feel mildly exonerated, if I'm being honest, because there was a lot of heat on me for having what people called a ridiculous opinion. And on some level, I'm certain it was, but I made pretty clear that what I meant was this guy...

We got it. We got it. You don't need to explain it again. We've covered it 70 different times. I got it. We got it. We got it. As you're walking through the hallways, though, are you doing it with a strut? Because you know you got it right. Who congratulated you? Give us some names of the media members who congratulated you as if you had won the Stanley Cup. Just...

Will Manso of TV and, you know, Roy and Dwork. Of TV. TV's Will Manso. TV. Yes. Do you not know who he works for? Is that the problem? No, I know all the stations, but there's too many names. He's not here to take a quiz. Exactly. Thank you, Billy. He won a cup. Literally, literally too many people I didn't know came up to me. How many people? How many? Give me a number. 25 or 30. All right. So you are a conquering hero. To the media and not to the media.

Congratulations. And not to Steve Levy and not to some media, but to my media. To your media. To my immediate media. Will Manso of TV. Here is Steve Levy of TV as well. And as Stugat says, pink from the Boca Beach Club. There's no way he stayed anywhere in sunrise. You have said for two weeks that he looks like the Boca Beach Club. He looks like he got too much sun. Steve, how tired are you right now?

Little bit fried. And tell Greg that Messier hates him, too. Add him to the list, okay? Okay, get in line, Mark. Yes. The messiah. How exhausted are you? Those flights are brutal, and it's a very long season. And do you believe that anyone outside of South Florida wanted the Panthers to win last night?

So first of all, I got to be honest, the NHL set up a charter, which was a big, big win. This is my 30th Stanley Cup final.

and the first time we've had access to a charter so a bunch of espn people uh hockey night in canada people sports net so it was non-stop fort lauderdale to edmonton smooth customs easy so really no complaints on the travel we might have had easier than the players did in fact the oilers i know when they went home from fort lauderdale they had a stop in kansas city for fuel if

If you can believe that on the Oilers play, that's true story. So outside of South Florida. Yeah, I do. I believe it. I believe it's special when a team finally wins its first Stanley Cup in franchise history. This is a hardworking blue collar gritty club. The Panthers are. And so, yeah, I think they have a lot of fans in not in Canada, probably, but certainly in the U.S. You're going on vacation. You have two choices. You're spending a week Edmonton or Sunrise, Florida. Where are you going?

Well, in the summer, man, I'm not picking Florida. And quite frankly, walking around Edmonton with Messier is pretty cool. We didn't wait in too many lines. You can't bring Messier, though. I mean, it's just you. Do I have to bring Pique? Can I just go alone? No. Hey, we had a great time at Edmonton. We had a blast. It's a small town.

town slash city but we had a great time the people were really nice really welcoming and listen if you love hockey you'd love Edmonton too I just I can't take the heat man I bubble up here in Florida in the summer so although I do go to Vegas in summer so that's kind of something Steve early in the series it looked like you guys had a desk from Ikea I noticed that last night that desk disappeared you had a nice lit up desk it looked like a big desk was flown in for game seven what happened there

So that's not true, but I appreciate you pointing that out. The desk that everyone was complaining about was only in Edmonton for the three games there. We couldn't get our proper desk through customs. No, it was the difference in the setup that we had. So here at the Ameren Bank Arena, which I still can't get used to saying, they gave us a great suite. We were in our own suite. Therefore, we had the desk. You could see we were standing behind it, lit up perfectly.

And in Edmonton, we were not afforded that luxury of having a suite. We sort of had an area, if you will, which was like really right in the middle of the crowd and a ceiling right above us.

So we couldn't stand. So we had to sit in chairs. Therefore, we had to get a different table. This is way too inside the television. Well, but no, the desk was controversial, was it not? It is too inside television, but your desk was bothering people in Edmonton, was it not? It was a source of great controversy.

No, and I even mentioned it. I say I'm taking the desk home with me at the end. People don't like it. But as one of our bosses said, listen, it's a good thing. Nobody's complaining about our content or what we're saying or ripping our views or point of views.

They're ripping the desk. So we should be okay with that. Steve, this is a parochial opinion, but I find the Panthers to be particularly likable team. And I'm wondering if you agree and, and, and mostly describe Paul Maurice to someone who's never met him or talk to him, because I think he's a breath of fresh air.

I mean, he was a central figure in this whole thing for me. And I said it last night in the pregame. You know, if you didn't care who won, you didn't have a really rooting interest. Paul Maurice is a guy you root for. He was a lifer. He had more losses than any coach in NHL history. Fired a bunch of times.

He's had a rough road. And if this would have gone the other way last night, you know, and it's kind of a coin flip. It's a one goal game. This could have easily gone the other way. And if it had, you know, he would have been tagged with that label of the guy who can't win the big one. So I think you saw on the ice what it meant to him. He was talking to Emily. He needed a break with the cup.

and he looked at the sky and closed his eyes i thought that was really real and so i'm a maurice guy i remember him back in hartford he was the youngest coach in the nhl at that point of the whalers and they had ray ferraros in that picture to the left ray said he's going to frame that uh but he was a guy i was rooting for maybe more so than any player tyler pozo is a great story too those kinds of things but i really feel like maurice uh earned this and yes i think the panthers are a likable club

Who doesn't like Matthew Kachuk unless you've got to play against him, and I get that. But Barkov, the way he carries himself, really all the guys, even Lomborg and Cousins and those guys, I could get behind. This could be my favorite team if I was a kid growing up watching this club. So I think likability off the charts, and I'm so happy for Paul Maurice right at the top of my list. How crushed was Messier last night?

So interesting emotions there. So, look, he's all in on the Oilers, and how could he not be, right? He's actually born and raised in Edmonds, let alone being the man there with Greg. But then in the end, so the Oilers leave the ice, and I'm watching mess, and it's only our third year together, our second cup. He got misty-eyed. Like, he gets in the moment of whoever is winning the cup, I think because he remembers how hard it is to do from his –

six Stanley Cups. And he was talking about the tentacles, in essence, of all the different people on the ice from your billet family

the trainers, the equipment guys, the support staff who work so hard, especially in hockey, for not a lot of glory and probably not a lot of money. And you see the families on the ice and what it means. And Bill Zito, the GM, so emotional on so many occasions. And so Mess gets like teary-eyed. Mess is a really fascinating guy. He's a really thoughtful, introspective guy. Like, he would put his stick through your teeth to win a hockey game when he played.

But now in his post-playing career, he's so thoughtful. I think he's an emotional guy as well. And I think he was reliving it. He did it two years ago, too, when Tampa Bay won as well. And so it's interesting to sort of go through a Stanley Cup final win with Mark Messier, who's won six of them.

So he knows. Can you give us some historical context on two of the following things here? One, how strange a series was it to have your champion outscored 18-5 or 19-7 in the last four games?

And furthermore, where is another game anywhere in the history of the sport with the pressure that the Panthers had on them between you win the first title ever or it'll be the worst thing you ever know and people are going to be laughing at you throughout history?

Yeah, no, it's all time. We opened the show last night saying this, you could make the argument this is the most significant single game in National Hockey League history. That's like a thing that's hyperbole, but not necessarily when you break it down that, you know, Florida had never won. Canada hadn't won in 31 years. The Oilers hadn't won in 34 years. Yes, you could complete the comeback for Florida and not carry around that label as the biggest choke job ever. I mean,

I mentioned Maurice, but every player on that Panther squad would wear that. And now they don't have to. And Edmonton can walk away with their heads held high in that they battled back from down 3-0 and could have just given up and been swept out. So this was my 30th Stanley Cup. I just talked to Barry Melrose, who I missed dearly. The first 28 were with Barry. He's off and tired and doing his thing. And

And so I've never seen anything like this. And I'd like to think I have a feel for these series. But really, after the third game, I thought this was sweep city. And I picked Florida in every game, five, six and seven to win. I couldn't believe they didn't win in five and six. And so here we go. And they get it done last night. And that was the game they needed, guys, that we didn't have a one goal game in the whole series. That never happens in the Stanley Cup final. So that's another rarity prior to the title.

last night. And, you know, Panthers hockey is winning two to one, which was exactly the recipe for Lesnar. So the tan came from golf? No, I don't. I don't. I don't golf, really. I just perspire. I get warm. It's really warm in the lobby of the hotel. Of course, the air conditioning is not working. Why were you so pink? You mean last night or right now? Just in general. Why? Just in just the entire series.

Well, some people are pointing to the makeup people, which we do wear makeup on television from time to time. My mom thinks I have really good skin, and that's why I look 35. You would agree, right? Yes. 35? You haven't aged. It's bothersome. You have not aged. It's annoying. I get all the Botox stuff, too. And come on, you guys know me a little bit. I am the last guy to do any of that stuff. Come on. And so, yeah, I just perspire. I overheat. Chris Berman is the only guy who likes the studio colder than I like it.

And it makes everybody else nuts. Even Messier, the tough guy from Alberta, he complains the studio's too cold when I'm in there with him. I'm like, you're Mark Messier from Alberta. How can it be too cold for you? So it's just a thing. It's my thing. Good seeing you. Excellent work, sir. It's always good seeing you. You've been doing excellent work for a long time.

Be well, guys. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Steve. Take care, Steve. You won the biggest game in the history of hockey. I mean, that's crazy that, like, the Panthers won the game. USA, Russia would like to have a word.

Howdy listeners, it's Mike Ryan and I've told you for quite a while about GameTime, my number one destination for the secondary ticket marketplace. No one does it like GameTime. There are often times where I'm using GameTime and I'm like, man, this experience cannot get any better. And then boom, GameTime now has a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play even easier. GameTime filters out the fluff to only show you the incredible deals on great seats for your team so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets.

Go ahead and try it out for yourself. Pick an upcoming game on the app, browse through it on GameTime Picks, and you want to talk about great deals. GameTime always brings it, whether it's their all-in pricing, seat views, the lowest price guarantee, or their ticket coverage. They make this experience so easy. And for my money, it's the best ticket marketplace app out there.

Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code DAN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code DAN for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed.

A coach who knows the game can teach their team how to improve. But one who genuinely cares about each player... You have what it takes. We got this. ...can inspire them to win. At Truist, we believe the same is true for banking. Because when you work with someone who knows a lot and cares even more, you're unstoppable.

Truist. Leaders in banking. Unwavering in care. Start feeling unstoppable. Visit truist.com slash care. Truist Bank. Member FDIC. Leading based on top 10 U.S. commercial bank.