T.J. Oshie Reveals Olympics memories, Blues trade frustrations + Jonathan Toews influence

I was petrified, a big ball, like in the locker room. I was honestly upset until probably my retirement speech.

“Like that's how I was mad about this trade.”

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

we have our second guest on the Lang Men podcast.

This guy was a 2018 Stanley Cup Champion with the Washington capitals. A member of the 2014 Olympic team went a legendary four-for-six in the shootout versus Russia for more augmented soda TJ Ocean. Let's go, let's go, let's go. What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? Thanks for coming on. How was the travel day from hell? First of all? It wasn't great. I thought many to St. Louis be nice little, nice little hop and up sitting on the runway for like two and a half hours. So, over here we made it. Just got my jacket off, got in the room. Beautiful West and here in St. Louis.

Great ballpark village. I was going to say rape for wheelhouse for one after this. Oh no, I got to go to the clerks for all the Jackson boys.

“Yeah, I love it. Is that tonight's plan meeting them up?”

Yeah, and then the stars are in town. I was texting with Sagan and we we golf together in in Maine and so I was going to meet up with them hanging out grab a beer. A lot of boys back in St. Louis here. I don't get to see very much fish is back here. Ben Bishop. So that's awesome. Well, we won't keep it too long. So you're there. Obviously with the ESPN, how's ESPN been so far? Been a lot of fun. Like who's the crew? Who do you like the most working with? Seems like you've done like transition pretty unreal. Like we love watching you.

Yeah, thanks. I worked a lot with Steve Levy at the beginning. That was all in studio. And that was great. He's been really good to me. We kind of bonded. You know, he's kind of I think he's only guy. I really like met up with and like went out for dinner the night before and you know kind of got that team mentality thing.

And then I've done this will be my third game in a row with Gucci in the last like week and a half from our night.

And so it's been awesome with him. We went out in Minnesota for for one after the game and that's really what you missed right you miss like being with the boys and hanging out going out to dinners.

“But it's been great. It's honestly, there's so much more work that goes into it. I thought like, yeah, the work for the ESPN just go like chat hockey whatever.”

But apparently you got to know like who all the players are. Like you know some stats and some background stuff. So it's been it's a lot harder than I thought it was, but it's nice to stay connected the game. I miss just like going out there and grinding so much, but it's great to stay connected. I love that. Are you guys back in Minnesota? Yeah, yeah. So we moved back last summer.

DC got to be a little tough just with four kids and travel sports starting and and so we're back and near my wife's family and it's been great. Actually my nine year old girl is like finally like really getting into hockey. She's like like nuts like head over heels for hockey. And so it's been great like watching her just like falling over the game and skate on the outdoor rings and all the good stuff. What's the, what's the town team that she's on because I was just at Opposo's son place for Minotonko with the Tonka jacket. The team jackets roll in. We went to his game literally two days ago. It seems like a scene up there. I love it.

Oh, yeah, it's amazing. She's she plays pretty dinos, so technically we're cake heaters, but it took me like a year to like actually tell my buddies from world that we lived any dinos.

Because, you know, they're like, Henry Bush a days. It's like a big. It's a huge rivalry. But no, it's it's great and and I have like, you die in a basketball stuff. I have you dying to soccer stuff. You know, because like the dads get like the whatever the quarter zips and stuff. I haven't, I haven't come to buy you nine the hockey thing yet, but I'm sure, you know, once once your daughter's out there and obviously she picks OV's number. So she's a little tiny, great eight. And so yeah, I'm sure I'm sure that the dinos hockey polo is coming at some point.

You're not wearing the a diet of hockey polo when you're going back to like your hometown ever, ever you might get beat up on the side of the street there. You know, even even like wearing like North Dakota stuff because like, world rose those big rivalry. We're black and gold. They're green. And so like even wearing like my North Dakota green stuff, people are like, wait, what is like, wait a second. I'm like, no, no, it's North Dakota.

No, I love that. I know we have a couple of day like I, I'm just looking at your senior year stats 100 points for like, what was like, I know people don't know like how big

“Minnesota high school is like, how, how is your experience that you're in like, what how sick was the tournament.”

Mr. hockey, right? Isn't that the award for Best Player? Uh, it is. I lost to Brian Lee. Um, who's actually my roommate, my freshman year in North Dakota. So he won Mr. hockey. Uh, I had an opportunity or so I was told to go to Shaddick my senior year.

And we won our sophomore year lost our second year. And so me and another guy that could have went to Lincoln. We were like, hey, let's just stay.

Let's try to win another state championship. So we had an upstand. Um, the year was unbelievable. There's a lot of, you know, a lot of small town teams up North that kind of go through like waves of like, you know, depending on how many kids there are. You know, there's there's like good years and in bad years. Um, and we ended up having a good team. We had a good age group. And so we went on to feed it that year. Um, and then won the state championship in like double OT. So it really like when we won that state championship, that was like to me as big as it gets. That was a Stanley Cup. And so, uh, I didn't even like realize that there was like something better than that.

“Just because I wasn't like a big hockey fan growing up, I didn't really watch hockey. Never been to a game.”

And so that to me like that was as good as it gets. And so it's cool now to be there and kind of have my kids see to it and go to high school games and see how big it really is. We sell out the, well, I guess now it's called grand casino arena, but was the XL.

Um, so the same thing that when you guys go to Minnesota, the same amount of fans over there, that's the same amount of fans that are at the high school tournament with for, you know,

high school kids sometimes there's ninth graders playing in tournament. So you can imagine how nervous and big it gets. That's awesome. So I don't know. No one ever mentioned that to me, but I remember my mom was had her own hair salon for whole life. So like my hair has been like 30 different colors in my life. She's just like experiment on me and like I all, you know, whatever different haircuts. And so we were like, hey, let's all go bleach blonde for the tournament just to like, it's like a team bonding thing. You know, North some like moms were like my son's not dying his hair.

“And so we end up going like, like, try to go black gold every other for like the whole lineup. And that to me, I'm not taking credit, but like, I don't remember there ever being like any type of hair thing going on.”

That was the first thing that I can remember and then we kind of did it every year after that. But we didn't have to take bullets and mustache and stuff like that. We were we were still somewhat legit, you know.

Just the full bleach. We were braided out. We're just talking before we came on because we remember one of like the highlights and we don't know if it was in high school or

When you at North Dakota, which we'll get it to, but like we were obviously obsessed with with you and prawn and burgy and like all the guys that were way better than my dad when you guys came in. So we were like, just over him and like a obsessed with you guys that I remember we probably watched and we couldn't find the freaking clip. YouTube video of you with like the tape ball in the locker room. And you did like the, yeah, you did like the flip it around the roll it down, punch it up like the punch and like keeping up in the air.

Yeah, the royal blue dress shirt that dresser that everyone was. We were trying to find it. We just like, I don't what we played or was trying to and we just couldn't find it. We'll work on that. But like, did you do that every game like get your mitts going because your hands and your hand I was sick. Yeah, it was, it was an every game thing and I did that a lot in the younger years. In the NHL too, but it was really awesome. I had another guy in the team in war road and we would juggle it back and forth.

And it would be, you go, you know, on your blade and then when you pass that you flip over and go to your knob and you see how many you get going. And guys, we must have got up to like, you know, 60, 70, like we, and we did it every day. And there's nothing there's not much to do up in war road. So like we were like after he's the, the ring is connected to the high school. Or it's just like on the back side of the parking lot. So after school, I would go to the ring. The varsity of practice first, we'd go on the ice, practice with the end. We'd walk like a buddy's house, which is a block away eat, his mom would have dinner ready to eat, go back to the ring. I wouldn't leave until like nine thirty ten p.m.

So we're at the ring, like five, five, six hours a night just hanging out, you know, we're on the ice probably two or three different times.

You know, that just kind of went into like the hands and you know, we didn't know we were working on it right. We're just having fun.

Yeah, I remember too, like the one other thing that we obviously mentioned a breed to when you would stand, which people probably don't realize how hard this is, but behind the nets are as a huge netting to like protect the fans. And you would flip it. I have the vision like in my head and flip it all the way over it. I don't know how you did it with like the curve or whatever, but it was sick and so it's just like I guess Brady and I grew up obviously you saw us like going to the rink every day.

“So most of our favorite parts were just being able to screw around to screw around with you. What was I, I know Brady wanted to ask about North Dakota because he was a college hockey guy, but why did you go there?”

One, obviously it's probably closest and that was like your favorite thing growing up to watch, but why they're like, who were some guys that you played with that maybe became really good. Yeah, so North Dakota, my dad was like very big on me, not like seeing scouts, meeting scouts, any college that sent me like their workout books or their programs, he just like hit them in the box and a closet that I never saw.

And so I was just like strictly always playing just for like fun and love of the game and North Dakota was the first.

The people that actually like came to war road and like was like like, did you do some sales or like, hey, we'd love you to come on a visitor, whatever, because it was close, it was an unofficial visit. I went there met with them in the morning. I saw like this stick room and then I was like, yeah, I'll go here, like everyone gets everyone got 12 free synergies. I was like, I'll go here 100% just like tell me where to sit and they're like, okay, like, we didn't even really need to get to like the coaches office.

I was like, this is everyone get these and they're like, yeah, and I was like, I'll do it. Like my dad did the old trick real like we buy a stick and like 28 days in he'd like snap it and bring it back. We have a hockey store in the world so you have to drive all the way to Grand Forks North Dakota to go find like a hockey store and be like, oh, yeah, my son broke it 30 day warranty brand new synergy. It was a year. We see you once a month like this can't keep happening.

“That was kind of, that was kind of like how it happened. Like I was just like, oh, I could play more hockey great. I'll go, I probably would have went anywhere. Honestly, if I would have gotten a free hockey stick, I would have been anywhere.”

But no, the, I think for the players, the one that stands out right away is Johnny Taves. We were freshmen together. John is only 17. We kind of went head to head like a good competitive teammate way and like everything we did. And honestly, I was like, I got better numbers and college and John. So like when John laughed, I was like, oh, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he was like super serious and very like dedicated and I was like, I'll have him fun and and it wasn't that easy for me, but

Now, Jonathan Taves was, it was so fun. We would meet him in a couple of other boys Ryan Duncan, Taylor Chorney, in between classes like three times a week. We go to the ring, the rings wide open.

And we just sit there and play games like that like flipping it over the net like seeing how close you can get to the boards and still get it over the net like things like that. We would just, that was just like our daily thing that we did. And but me and John really pushed each other a lot and also had fun. He, he helped me become like a little more serious and a little more geared towards, you know, working out, which I just tried to hide in the gym. So like the guy couldn't see me go behind these big pillars. I just sit there and when he would move, I would like move the other way.

“And then I think I was good for John, too, because like when John, we get, you know, he would need to kind of like get out and have fun. He'd come up and be like, oh, she's like, like, I need to get it. He'd take me out tonight.”

I'm like, yeah, I'm going to Joe Black. I'm going to go on the duties, little double light trailer, but only sells two kinds of beater and plastic cup. But yeah, so he was kind of the most like the biggest name that people, people would know, but so many guys in there were so good to me. So good to me, take other training who I play within in Washington. And Ryan Duncan, obviously Ryan Duncan was mine in Johnny's line mate and Duncan won the whole be baker. So that goes to show you how good of a player he was just lighting it up.

So when did you, when did you in that year, I think was your draft, your maybe, or no, or sorry, that your last year, not your draft, your last year in college, where you had the shift with the reverse hit.

That was against Nate Proser. Oh my god, you play against him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I felt I, so my our parents are dad's new each other in a noka growing up before my dad moved out to Seattle. And I didn't know who it was. Like, I was like, this even NHL, like, I would, you know, hit guys. I had no idea that they could like beat the hell out of me. Right? So you just, I just like, play and go and yeah, that reverse shoulder back then, like, wasn't like a really big thing yet. And, and there wasn't, you know, TV and YouTube clips like there is today. So I end up catching a lot of people off guard. And now that I know Nate actually saw his dad two nights ago at a hockey tournament in Minnesota.

Like, if I would, no, I know him, like, how nice of a guy is. I'm like, I feel so bad about it. He, like, causes him to say hi to reverse him at the hockey.

“Yeah. Like, there's no way he's coming to hit me there. You know what I mean?”

He's like, I'm going to go like lean into him. You know, I said, kind of football player me a little bit that the likes of contact, but, um, no, those, those are some, those are some good times. I would have gotten find suspended so many times if like that those hits were still today. But when you have a birthday one, a fair one is a Rick Nash one. We're talking about that.

Well, because the first one at home in St. Louis, you did it.

Came out of the box at Matt and I were sitting that two rows in the corner. We're scared. You just covered right down like there's no way this guy stayed still here. Well, Doug, and then that scrum, then I think it was like the home in home. And he did it on the fuse on the P.K. Just I just what a route you took to. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. I've come across, and I don't just want to reverse. Oh, yeah. We're so fired up. So we are actually.

Just leave the pot there.

“This, you know, we obviously learned that from you. That was like a new skill that nobody, like you said.”

No, but that's you could do it. You would do it. Very few guys do it. It was awesome. I was a slow running back in high school. And so I couldn't get to the outside. I just couldn't, I wasn't fast enough.

So that was like there and I just lower your head and just run guys over. And that's kind of how I could kind of just transfer it a little bit. Oh, my gosh. Oh, I know, you know, kind of answered this already. But now there's a great group of guys in St. Louis.

No, for the start of your career. So who are some of the guys that kind of took younger. They're like, I heard a funny story about you warming up Jackson's bed. I thought that was awesome.

But you know, there are any other guys that kind of helped you out your first couple years to kind of learn the ropes.

Yeah. Well, I mean, you guys that, I mean, Walt was, he was my locker partner. Like as a, as a rookie, like in the locker room. And so he didn't lean like good influence not bad. Yeah, he was, he was, he was pretty strict on me man.

He was, I was, I was, I was petrified of a big ball like in the locker room. But like in a good way. I think he kind of saw the fun. I like to have and, you know, was just like, you can like have fun. But like let's, let's play some hockey here too.

But no, he was a, well, it was awesome. This story is those guys told are just phenomenal. I'm, you guys have had it your whole life, but Jack's is like my big brother. And I, yeah, I warmed up his bed on the road. You know, I was a super ruck, but like in a good way.

And I was like, I'll do anything you guys want.

Like, just don't feel like I've never been in a place before.

Whatever you guys need, I'll do it. But man, if that Paul career was there. And so to hear like, to hear Walt and Paul go back and forth is literally all time. Some of the most fun I've ever had in a locker room was that I'm going back and forth with each other. And then you mentioned Burgy and Perry.

Burry dog was my roommate. We were super close friends. He was in my wedding. I love that guy to death. Gosh, steamer, back is.

I mean, anyone that's in sit from St. Louis that knows kind of that group that we had was, it was super special. We had a tight locker room and now it was super fortunate to spend seven years here. Did you, um, I don't want to say like feeling towards, but that summer you got traded a wash.

“Like, did you have a feeling that was coming or when it happened?”

Like, were you super rattled or were you excited? Because we were looking at it. Like, you go from the blues who are sick team to wash. That was like probably a better team too. So it's like, it's like kind of like that awkward feeling where you're probably

a little upset and rattle that you're leaving something that was a good thing going.

Yeah, I was honestly upset until probably my retirement speech, honestly.

“Like, that's how long I was mad about this trade.”

And I think just because I personally felt like I gave the team everything that I could give them on the ice. Like, I would, you know, on the ice, I did everything I possibly thought I could. And I thought I played exactly how the coaches won me to it all times. And, um, you know, when you're not, when you're not winning, you're not like getting over that hump.

It's always like, what is it? Like, why can't we do this?

And when you're the guy that gets traded, you're like, holy, like they think I was a problem. Like, that's why we did win and then you're like, shoot. Um, and you know, you have whatever kind of feelings you have about that. I was like, I was pretty upset about it. And, uh, but then yeah, the, and I go into wash.

Um, I talked to Brian McClellan and he's like, he's the opposite. He's like, you're our guy. You're the guy that's been missing. You're the guy that we need. And so the feeling was gone, but like, kind of the almost like the, in my own head, like the grudge I held against, you know,

everyone involved that was that traded me. I was like, I, like, I want to be you guys by 15 goals. You know, I'm like, not my buddy. Like, not my buddy. He's like, I feel bad like my buddy's like, just kind of giving across and hitting the crossfires,

but, um, my old teammates in St. Louis, but like that trade, you're just like, for me personally, I didn't, I didn't want out. Like, I wanted to retire a blue. You, you guys know what the alumni situation or associations.

Like, you're like, all the alumni presence. I was like, I want to be part of that. And, uh, and yeah, so I just felt like defeated and almost that when the trade happened. Yeah, that's so funny.

You said that about, like, wanting to beat the show of them too,

because like, my first game back,

well, it didn't even take me on my first game back in Calgary, but like, when I got traded and signed, I was like, all right, you know, like, this is great. Like, I've got no ill for anybody.

Like, I'm just so happy. Like, for both sides, everything. And then they started talking about how they're like a better team, because of the trade. And I'm like, yeah, funky.

I thought we were all friends. And now this, like, oh, now I'm like checking the scores. At first, taking the morning, like, aren't how they do less than if they went down. I'm like, I feel bad because like, so my best friends are there.

But once they started talking like that, I was, I was pretty pissed.

No, do you remember that first call

that you had that, your name to the Olympic team, like, where were you? Who was it? I mean, I can all imagine how you felt, but just kind of like a dream come true.

I actually don't remember. Like, I don't, I'm like, I'm not, I'm a very like, like, day to day, delete the day before kind of guy. And so like, like,

I don't remember any of my like, like, 99% of my goals or like, stores on the road. I'm just, I got a terrible memory out of the bell. But I do, I remember that

there was, I don't know how it worked, but USA hockey gave Scott Burnside, maybe access to like, like in the room when they're like, making their selections of like,

who's going to make the team who's not going to do.

“And so I think it was like kind of out there”

that I was going to be like on the bubble and that my shootouts were going really good that year. I think by the end of the year, I was like nine for 12 in the NHL season. And, but I do remember like calling my family and letting them know.

And that's one thing that really sticks with me because like, you know, my, my family's like, oh, they're all crying, you know. It's like a dream come true. And I kind of live in the moment

and don't feel that emotion usually right away. But yeah, I just like tellin' my mom and dad that I was on the Olympic team was just like, the coolest thing for not only for me, but like for them too, right?

'Cause of all the sacrifices they made, you know, I wasn't in war with my whole life. I was in Seattle or how he was very tough. We had to go to Vancouver BC every weekend to play games. We had to play in a Canadian league and,

I think, pee me some bannoms. Um, and so it was just very, very tough. They ended up getting divorced. I don't think it's, you know, because of me. Or because of that.

I'm not like holding something in right here, but like, it's hard, right? It's hard on them. So just for them to kind of have that moment and be able to watch me and hockey wasn't big out there

at all the crack and weren't there. And so for me to be like in the news in Seattle to like, on the news station that they watch every morning was a really big deal for them. And so that's kind of what sticks with me.

“Like now looking back and what I remember is”

the impact it had of being named to the team on my family.

I saw what you said the other day to about how every Olympic winner has had a war road Minnesota out of the team. And, you know, he right is from War Road. Now, thank you so much.

Yeah, he's, yeah. He's my senior year.

He's a second year panel.

So that's, that's good. That's good for us. We need that card of honor. That's great. That's great.

We have people who don't like to me. They're like, no, he's from War Road. And he has a shootout just in case. Let's throw him on the court line with three other players. And we'll just see what happened.

Okay. So this was, this was my all I won't thought about too with, and you mentioned that exactly. So let's, let's go to the Russia game real quick. We're going, we're jumping right in the shootout.

First of all, did you know that if you went into a shootout, you were going like no matter what? Do they tell you that before? It was just, you had a feeling. Well, the, the, the article came out from

I think ESPN that like, I was, I forget who the other, who someone wanted, saw it on the team.

“And David Poel was like, but what about OSU with that shootout move?”

Like that's like, I think that's quotations what he said. And it was in the article before we were even at the Olympics. So I assumed that like if we went into a shootout, I would go. And because we knew like a gold medal could like come down to this,

we practiced it every practice. I think only shot on quick, quicky once. He didn't really do a lot of them. He did a couple. But I shot on the other guys a bunch.

And just light them up. I was, I was having a good time. Look at them. So, and so that's, so my, that's kind of like what I wanted like imagine. So obviously like you're doing so well in the practice.

And then you get in the game.

And then you go first of all, how long before that shootout did you play?

Like what was your last shift? Because it was at a 20 minute overtime, probably? I mean, it might have been like, I might have had one shift in like a 45-minute span, I'd say before. Yeah.

So like you're, you're just cold. You're sitting there. You're so frozen in the back. So often. Longest.

Longest. And like, this is just me and my four buddies. Who was with me? I think it was, uh, stads with me. Lake Wheeler.

And patch maybe, patch ready. That might have been our fourth line. But yeah, I mean, it was like most, most, you know, it's kind of just hung out. And we knew like one guy wasn't going to get a shift every time.

So we had like our own like little buddy system. And um, yeah, but most people don't know that. My first time down the ice. I literally got out there. And the first time I touched the puck, I was like,

man, my stick feels so long. And I lose the puck at the blue line. My first time down. I like, I'm trying to stick him. I lose the puck.

Because I hadn't been on the ice for a while. And so I was kind of, you know, going and cold. I, I, we had pre scouted it and I knew I was going five whole,

like 95% of it was going five whole on the very first one.

Unless he did something something weird. And, and probably at that point, you knew like, alright, I'm going down once. And then once you go second time around, they switch up the order. So then you're going second half to score.

Have to score again. Well, once you score that fourth when you're probably like, alright, don't even look at me coach. Like, I'm just going out. Yeah, there is multiple times where I was like,

“honestly, I was having a lot of, like, it was like,”

it's fun to me, right? Like, a little piece you deep down, like, hopes you go into over, like, extra shot so you can go again. You know, like, maybe like 1% of you,

99% wants to just win the game. But 1% of you, like, you know, maybe if we tie this thing after three, I get to go again. And, uh, this is so selfish,

but like, I just love shootout. So we get to, uh, yeah, once we once we get to like, the fourth shot, I kind of have like a good feeling on like,

what he's doing, but I'm also, I go down so slow. And on the Olympic ring, they were like, they weren't like waiting for us. They weren't making like a big show out of this thing.

Like, I almost had to like hustle more to the bench than I did like to the goal. And so I was actually getting a little tired. Like, we mentioned like, I wasn't, when you're cold, like,

you're not just like, I don't know. I'm not like a super fit guy. So, it's so, but literally, like,

there was one point where like, I was like, all right, I'm just going to go in the decent.

“I think that might have been the fourth shot.”

And I was sitting at the end of the, I'm sitting at the end of the defense. And I kind of look back. And I'm like, like, you want me to go again?

And they like, damn biles, we literally started laughing. He's like, yeah, go. And I'm like, all right. But like, like,

canors there. Pavelle's gives really good a shootouts. Um, everyone. Like, Zach,

Breezy. We talked about North Dakota. He was like the guy in North Dakota before me. So, like, he was a game I went and saw on my, on my visit.

And I was like, man, this guy is phenomenal. And so, like, and how hard he worked, and how skill he was.

So, like, he, like, he was on a team. He was like, one of my idols growing up from like high school to the college. Seeing so. And here you are.

and they get out there for your 70s shootout.

Dude, I felt, I honestly, I felt bad. I felt bad. But the other guys, like, it had to be boring.

Like, just sitting there watching like someone else gets every chance. Just when you realize though, like, how, like, wow, like, this is, this is sick.

Like, how impactful that was, too, for, like, 'cause I remember, we, we didn't even start our game. We had a youth hockey tournament in Blaine, Minnesota. Like, just delayed it,

'cause the shootout was on just kept going. People were locked it on the TV. Like, when did you realize, like, the significance of that moment? Uh, I think it was,

it was, I was roommates with David back. It's, and so after the game, we, I go do all the media stuff.

“I think NBC had like a whole studio set up there.”

And I'm going on all the different shows, and then I get back to my room. And I laid down, and, you know, back to his, and old soul.

So he's like, already sleeping. And I feel bad. So I'd like, get in my little bed. And I pull up my phone and my, but, you know, back then,

I was, I don't think answering him was around. So just Twitter. And it was like, my Twitter followers went from like, I don't know,

25,000 to like 135. And I was like, "What is going on?" And like, this is like, and then like, I think the next morning,

Barack Obama, like tweeted, like, the White House handle tweeted me. And I was like, like, this is like, it's just a shootout guy.

It's all assembled down a little bit. But it's good you're out there, right? We're not around. Like, there's, you know, there's your American like,

a couple of American fans, but it's not like we're at home and everyone's like, you know, the crowds getting up. I mean, the crowd's pretty upset

that we beat Russia. So yeah, I did took a little bit for sure.

And second to last question here,

TJ, I think like a big thing too is like, when you obviously go to the capitals, like, what is your first interaction

with Ovechkin or like, what's a story that everyone knows about like the subway, the soda, like what's something that people

like kind of don't know or like,

“what was your first interaction with him?”

Uh, very first interaction with O. Um, gosh, it wasn't.

Oh, so like, nonchalant man, it's like, like he's like, you know,

first time I met him was like, what's up, and he just, he's not, there wasn't like a lot of like,

I didn't, we didn't really need to get to know each other really. I was like, personally intimidated by him,

but as far as like the shootout stuff, there was no, he never mentioned it one time.

We never talked about it,

ever. Um, and I don't, I don't know if it's just, it doesn't think about it

or, I don't know. I assume there would be a salty subject,

“and there might be a little tension there,”

but the very first time we worked on shootouts, uh, end-of-training camp, I think the team's kind of selected

or whatever, or for the most part, there's a couple of guys left, and shootouts, and they get like the four or five guys,

and like, obviously one of those guys, and so we're all taking a knee at center eyes with the pucks in the middle, and I'm not going to go before OV.

It's like, I just got to the team, and, and he, we're just sitting there,

and he kind of looks over, it's like, well, like, he's like,

go, and I'm like, no, I'm not going first. He's like,

go, I think he ended like, stood up and like, grabbed me by the jerseys, He's like, it's going to be down the ice. And so that was, I was like, all right, I guess we're all good. And that's open. We're going to break the ice. Yeah. Oh, but I mean, the stories, the stories with this guy are just all the ones that pop to my head are just not good for.

But maybe you can't fire a couple beers, but he's just, he's just a one of a kind, one of a kind human being. The best is everything I've heard is true. Like all the stories that you think are not real life or are so true. So that's great. Before we get to the last question about your wingman of your career, I have to ask. Probably the highlight of my summer is spending the week with you and everybody in Lake Tahoe at the American Century Championship. What do you have up your sleeve this year for the bureau baseball? Yeah, I guess it was called beer baseball or beer whatever it is.

First of all, just explain to everybody what event you've put on because that's probably better than the actual golf. It's definitely better than the actual golf. So my, my very first year at American Century Championship, we're in like the diamond lounge of the of the Harris casino. And honestly, at that point, so this is 2014, this 2014 right after the Olympics. And so I think John Miller was at the game. I believe and that's kind of like how I got invited was like everyone was doing like their media stuff and I was like they're like, what do you like, I'm like, I love golf, whatever.

I like to play cars on the plane and stuff, but and I was like, I feel like I got to get like something going. So it starts out is just I'm going to play flip cup in the diamond lounge. Chuck, yeah, I don't think you've seen it. There used to be a lot of tables in there. There was tables like all over the place and so we pushed a bunch of tables together. We started playing flip cup, Brett Bear plays. We play him for like 20 pushups, smoke him. He did all 22. And then that's kind of how I started and then the years kind of got going and we're playing beer pong.

And then we brought baseball in around when Miles Taylor got there and he grabbed me in the pool and was like, oh, what, or he's like, hey, you playing in the tournament. I'm not like a big golfer.

This is before top top gun Maverick came out. And so like I knew who he was. I'd seen some of his movies, but he wasn't like Uber mega big star.

“And so I was like, yeah, this is, you know, this is where you go. This is what you do. By the way, every Saturday night, we always have like a little flip up beer pong turn if you want to play.”

And then it just kind of started snowballing and then Chuck, you came along. And so I can't, I can't tell you what I have up my sleeve this year. It will, I got to get invited. But if I, even if I don't, I'll send it, I'll send it your way and you can carry on this edition, which I'm completely fine past it down. But we got some good stuff. There, there may be talks of a couple of sponsors coming in and so but but so for anyone out there that doesn't know beer pong flip cup is or baseball is it's like a mixed game of beer pong and flip cup.

And it's two teams typically is three, but we fit four massive gentlemen around this little table. And, uh, and it's, I think you could probably Google, I don't want to explain it without like the actual visual, so you can't see the table on the cops, but what, what an unbelievable, this is not, I'd never intended it to turn out to like something like this, but I feel like people have gotten, gotten on board and we've had some fun with it. I got hit by, for the first time he didn't even think he meant to two years ago when Travis Kelsey, like, we're going to play flip cup on the set of the table and he like, I almost went flying and all the start of the gypslead match, because I'm too competitive, good of eating me and, uh, but Chuck, even though you've been a, you've been a huge addition to the, to the, to the group and bringing more guys in and it's been awesome.

We're going to get you out there, dude. Oh man, I, I'm just, it sounds like an absolute blast. My golf game would be atrocious, but I don't really want to say, I like to think, I'm, I'm bringing an edge to it.

“No, we're, oh yeah. Oh, oh, she's like the glue culture guy of the tournament, and I'm just trying to follow his lead with it. So, and that's what I'm just picturing like the godfather.”

He's like, hey, what's up, oh, she could more than how you doing. Yeah, I come, I come, I come tonight. I don't know, we'll see you. Oh, you can see. They, now, now it turned into like it's like Thursday night Friday nights a little bit like last and then that's like Thursday and Saturday the last two years have been, have been absolutely epic. So I can't wait for this year. I'm kind of nervous, but excited for what you have up your sleeve, but final final here, and this could be a simple like a one name, maybe a quick reason why, but we do a segment on the show.

We always end our shows with our wingman of the week, and we'll do it of like, it could be anybody. It could be like a restaurant owner, a former coach.

We try to do like a hidden gem somewhere, so anybody that's helped you along the way, it could be somebody from war road, no DAC, St. Louis, wash, I mean anywhere, but is there anybody out there that helped you personally? Just kind of like help your career at some point, maybe when you need it, the most or just help guide you a little bit. That's a tough question. A wingman wingman, I thought we were just going to go hockey, and I was like, "Oh, that's going to be an easy one. That was a bit of a factor.

Yeah, that could be, it could be easy on me.

“We had Michael Ruzione on and Brady, what do you say? He said his college line made, right?”

I think so, yeah. So, I'll do a brief story. I tend to ramble when I get on the podcast, but there was a guy, his name is Tony Salvox, still doesn't war road. Great guy, he was a captain, a captain of the hockey team, he was like our leading point in get or whatever. When I moved to war, I was still him, but then I was very, very shy.

My first day of school, my dad didn't set up like my lunch money stuff, and so I literally just sat in the corner of the lunch room by myself to talk to anybody.

And so I was like, "Could not make friends, 'cause I couldn't, I was too shy, couldn't speak to people.

I literally first day of school, I wore a gene jacket, with like a Avacronbee, like number, whatever shirt, and like matching jeans and like white sneakers, like Nike's and like no one dress like that.

“So I was just like this weird kid. Anyways, Tony Sullivan leading into, at the end of football season leading into hockey.”

I did not have my license yet, and so he would like kind of took me under his wing.

I don't even know why, I guess I've never really asked him why, but he kind of took me under his wing and like introduced me like the hockey guys in the hockey crew and brought me around.

So I think that he kind of brought me out of my shell a little bit, I might have got there anyways, but he definitely played a large part in that his family kind of took me and I stayed at his house all the time, he literally lived like in front of the ring.

“So there wasn't anything in between him and the front doors of the ring.”

And so Tony Sullivan, love your brother, but yeah, he was, here's my wingman that kind of helped me get it all started in the world.

I love it shout out Tony, wingman of the week for us too. We appreciate you coming on, go light up obese tonight, tell Jim in all the boys we say hi jacks. Everybody we appreciate our friendship both brilliant. I consider you a good buddy of us and looking forward to seeing you in person more games, now let him back in the lineup hopefully get some nationally games. Let's go. If not, we'll see you in playhouse hopefully and then we'll see you in Tahoe. All right, thanks brother. I'm I'm I'm I'm so excited for like the opportunity that you guys have to go to the Olympics again. I think it's great players are back.

I know YouTube will represent us very well and super, you know, as someone that played with with you guys dad and played against you guys and just super proud of like. What you become only like hockey players one thing but getting to play with you on Tahoe and spend some real time together is you're good guy and.

You know, just super proud of you and I can't wait for you and Brady to go light it up up there take take care of the Canadian something I was never never able to do not one time my career so.

“But yeah, you guys are awesome. I think the show's great. You guys are doing good things for hockey and good luck. Hope you boys stay healthy and go in the gold.”

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