So, so how close was it to somewhere else? Do you know? Like, was it, was it between a couple teams and you're like, "Oh, shit, this could go either way"?

Yeah, it was, uh, it was a couple teams in the mix there.

And, and, uh, I mean, of course, it was always enticing and, and just with him and, and with their team just being around and just seeing the professionalism that they have day in, day out, and it's all about winning.

So I mean, it was, it was a good process.

It was a, you know, it was a very unique process, but, um, no, it was fun going through that, and, and ending up in Florida was, uh, uh, was pretty special.

Mm-hmm

... you know, for me, I included, you know, four teams.

And, and, uh, so just talked with them throughout this, you know, on video calls, on, on Zoom calls and, and, uh, just getting to know, you know, the GMs, coaches.

Was anyone monitoring the news or was everyone just in the family so focused on event by event?

Well, yeah.

I mean, it went through the baptism in the morning, then we had a brunch and, and that day I was told to, you know, be on my phone just in case things were, were, things were happening fast.

And, and then we had family pictures, and then we had, uh, well, family pictures before we were going to ...

We had a, a little bit of a gold medal party for Matthew and I for all of our family and friends in St. Louis.

So five minutes I was without my phone all day outside taking family pictures, and my grandpa like, he's like, "Huh, this is interesting." Like, looks at his Apple Watch and is like, "Huh, Brady, just, you know, Emily Kaplan, Pierre LeBrun just tweeted that looks like you just got traded to Florida." I was like, "What?" Like, and I run in to go grab my phone.

I'm holding my son and look at my phone, like five missed calls, a bunch of texts.

What was the feeling like when you found that out?

Please do.

Yeah.

It was, uh, it was an eventful day.

We had Millie's baptism in the morning.

We had Father's Day brunch, and I was just told, uh, things are happening fast, so just be on your phone.

And we were actually having a, a golden medal party that night, uh, for all of our family and friends in St. Louis, so we were doing family pictures before.

I was off my phone for five minutes, and our grandpa's standing out there.

How do you kind of end up a- in Florida? This seems like a hockey god's kind of blessing kind of taking place.

Like, I think there's a lot of things you know that you're gonna deal with, and I would bet that this would be a year where there were a lot of things that sorta came out of left field for you.

[sighs] For sure.

Um, there's a lot of things that, uh, you know, usually on a normal year, not really dealing with.

And, and, uh, and I know individually it's, it's, uh, you know, now starting the podcast, you know, know that there's gonna be more eyes and more, um, you know, people, I guess, judging or, or, uh, um, kinda basing perceptions of, you know, ourselves if, you know, how focused are we truly are.

But that's more a side thing that we're having fun with and, and realize that the more that we put ourselves out there, the more people have, you know, opinions on.

So, you know, realize that that's, that's kinda one piece of it.

But, uh, you know, it's, it- it's been different.

We're a good team." Did you ever doubt that?

Can you tell me about the gold medals? How, how does the gold medal feel? Is it heavy?

It's, it's heavier than people think.

Um, but it's, it's insane.

Like, what it, it almost is, it almost rivals the Cup.

Maybe not quite the Cup, because the Stanley Cup's only one of them.

But, like, I brought this, uh, I actually brought this to the rink yesterday, um, to the Islanders, to the game against the Islanders, and, uh, my sister came with one of her, with her best friend.

And, um, we had to do a few things, like, behind the scenes with, with the medal, like some pictures and showing some people with the Islanders organization.

Was it heavy? Was it tense? Or was it like just, you know, freeballing and loose?

Hey, do you have to wipe your (beep) with your left hand?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

If you were a goalie, how many fights a year would you have?

Brady?

Yeah, I think our, for the first bunch of episodes, I think it's just gonna be us talking, of course, majority hockey but, no the thing about Matthew and I, we, we're interested in all sports.

We were so competitive growing up, um, and then just other life things.

I think that's what's, you know, our FaceTimes are usually about, where we're just kind of just talking about what's kind of going on, so now we're excited about just kind of building off that, and I think down the road, uh, invite some guests and, and really have a great time with them.

Mm-hmm.

... just grinding away and kinda setting yourself up for this time of the year. But I think it's mentally just... I think you can look at it, it's, it's a little stressful this time of the year, and I think it's okay to, you know, be a little nervous and have the like nerves. I think it's a good thing. And, and, uh, no, but I think it's... You know, playoffs for us kinda started, you know, couple games ago, where every game's almost a must win. And, um, just to get ourselves to April that now we need to just kinda stick around. Every team around us is doing well. Just stick around and hopefully can rattle off a couple game win streak, and, and put ourselves in a good spot. But, um, now it's a fun time of the year. And like I said, like this is my first experience at like in this playoff race kinda feeling. And, and it's been the best feeling to just grind it out every single day.

Uh, back to the Four Nations real quick. I had, had one last question about it. The, uh, the fight obviously in the, in the round play with Canada to start the game. Three fights in nine seconds. So you guys planned that all out beforehand, right? Did you know who you were fighting and you were just like, w- like, "No bad blood. We're just gonna have to do it."

Yeah. So, it happened where we were talking about it before. And we're like, "Let's unite our team. We're in Montreal. We're the villains. We're, there's only 20 of us that we have, just, let's just stick together." And that was a way to, to go about that, is to show that we were united. And then it happens that before the game they give our starting lineups. And we were the away team, so we sent in ours first. And, and then they sent it, and they circle on the board at, we're going on two minutes, four minutes. And then Matthew looks at me. He's like, like, the, the guy he's fighting, he's like, "He's starting." He's like, "All right, I'm first shift. I'm going him." And then after, and like, uh, "I'm gonna grab Benny off the bench," which is his teammate in Florida, and be like, "You're, you're coming out. Like, we're going next." And then Millsy talked to Parakyo in warmups. He's like, "We're going." And, and they had it all.

Nice

...

it was so, so awesome.

Yeah, I mean, Trav was talking about it.

I don't ...

I haven't seen the general country as excited for hockey as much as it was for this last year.

And there's a lot of politics at play, and other things that made it even more intense on the ice for you guys.

All year round