In Edmonton in particular, because Bedard's obviously great, but now McDavid's number one on the planet.

Yeah, yes.

Yeah.

And you see it.

I think I think what I am amazed by is like his obviously speed, but the stuff you see is very consistent.

It's not like, oh, like a few games where it's just a speed burst like that's every day.

And his like drive to do that every day and to like push himself to get better and better.

You know, this has been great.

Murphy says some of the songs came out of ideas from the last Foxing record.

It's always tough.

Like I wrote somewhere around like 35 to 40 songs for the last Foxing album.

And so a lot of those became ideas that turned into songs for this middly album, whether that was lyrics or chord structures or like full on songs.

So, I mean, the way the Smidley stuff always works is that it's a side project for Foxing.

Or it, you know, was up until we decided to be on hiatus, and now it's a full-time project.

How have you just processed the past year? You know, how have you processed the hiatus? I think it all just really caught up with me, where I was truly exhausted by...

With this new album, was there something that you were trying to accomplish or something that you were trying to tackle on this new record that maybe you didn't get around to on the last one? With

You haven't really started to think about it yet, and that'll happen tonight, but so far, anything you come across like, "Oh, I wish I would've done this," or something y- you know, something you've learned that you're gonna take forward in your TO-ing activities?

Oh, yeah.

No, it's, uh, it's been, it's been really great to work through logistics of a, of a large event, right? So far, I've TO'd smaller events, right around 30 players.

And so you're doubling that and a little more, and there's also the logistics of effectively running two side-by-side tournaments, right? And so you have that going.

Learning that the staggered start was, was a good way to do that with Best of the Rest.

I think if you don't have a dedicated TO to each event, that's a good way of doing it, and I think that's something to take forward if you ever do run those.

I liked having a long time to get set up.

[laughs]

You know, something you've learned that you're gonna take forward in your TO-ing activities?

Oh, yeah.

No. It's, uh, it's been, it's been really great to work through logistics of a, of a large event, right? So far, I've TO'd smaller events, right, around 30 players.

And so you're doubling that and a little more, and there's also the logistics of effectively running two side-by-side tournaments, right? And so you have that going.

Learning that the staggered start was, was a good way to do that with Best of the Rest.

I think if you don't have a dedicated TO to each event, that's a good way of doing it, and I think that's something to take forward if you ever do run those.

I liked having a long time to get set up.

but they're saying taco bowls or?

Yeah.

And, uh, several of us got- ... uh, an Airbnb.

There was some in a hotel, but, um, Reedsburg is, it's got just classic Midwestern, uh, small town feel of there's about 15 bars in a row [laughs]

Mm-hmm

... super helpful.

Dwarven Axe is a, a relatively local painting competition, but across just all gaming systems.

They're at, they're at most of our big events now, so Renegade and, and, uh, Excal-

Yeah.

And, uh, several of us got- Uh, an Airbnb.

There was some in a hotel, but, um, Reedsburg is ...

It's got just classic Midwestern, uh, small town feel of there's about 15 bars in a row [laughs]

Mm

... super helpful.

Dwarven Axe is a, a relatively local painting competition, but across just all gaming systems.

They're at, they're at most of our big events now, so Renegade and, and, uh, Excal-

Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a funny one that schools have introduced, you know, a- as you might expect, with more technology being used, tablets or laptops, and yet these pieces of equipment, which are central to a lot of teachers' work, are not covered under any scheme.

Well, this is the big surprise for me, and I think this is, um, a huge expense on parents across the board.

Um, I don't understand the iPads or tablets.

I don't understand how they could work in, in a classroom environment for students especially.

Uh, we have laptops in our school.

They were brought in just before the book scheme, so one of the selling points was that all the books would be on the laptop, which was great, but then the book scheme came in.

Um, but I don't understand why they're not being, uh, at least partly funded by the department.

And for a subject like PE, I know from my, my own eldest fellow doing L- Leaving Cert PE during the year, his project required him to, you know, video his progress throughout the course of the year, and this formed part of, as you say, there was two PE projects, uh, and video work was a big part o- o- of PE, so it's, it's hard to know what he should have been using, if not a phone.

Um, how was the decision, uh, you know, when you talked to your agents about, you know, taking the deal in Edmonton as opposed to seeing what was out there with the unknown in free agency? How, how challenging was that for you?

Yeah.

I, I don't know if it was too challenging.

You do hear, uh, when the combine rolls around about teams poking around.

But, um, even before any sort of rumblings or any, um, thought of that, I guess you, you weigh all options.

But just that hunger to be on a, a solid winning team that, um, has the talent and has the character of players that we have, I think it's, uh, it's something just at this, personally, the stage of my career is a big priority, is to, to be on a team that's, uh, has high, has high expectations and, um, you wanna get the best out of your own game, and then, uh, know that you have such, so much talent around you that, um, if you take care of your end, that guys are gonna perform and, and, uh, bring results.

So it's an exciting time, uh, to be on the Oilers and, um, uh, you sense frustration from last season, uh, not finishing where we wanted to, but I think that, um, is a good thing.

Was there any hesitation at all from you?

of an influence was he? And then early in your career, when you started as a pro, which defenseman maybe helped in the transition to get you to become a full-time NHL player?

Yeah, it's definitely, I'd say the biggest thing, just seeing my dad growing up when he coached, specifically when he played, I was pretty young.

And then when I got into my prime years of really trying to develop and really understanding how important it was and trying to learn the nuances of the game, he was coaching it every day.

He's at the Kitchen Island with a video, his laptop cutting clips, and he'd call me over and show me Nick Lidstrom making plays and show me his D in pre-scouts and show me a little bit of a taste of what some NHL video looks like and habits.

So I was really fortunate, and I think that was a big advantage to have, to learn little details that you don't get from a lot of the development from a young age.

So I had that, and then as I got older and turned pro, he actually still guided me some phone calls that kind of helped me through some of the usual growing pains.

And then we had older defensemen in Arizona at the time.

Very different experience coming on this team, isn't it?