#i obviously follow way more canadian fans being a leafs fan and some of the shit ppl have made me read is so insane

[3416]

i do need some canadians to get it together acting like the men from their country are a moral tier above anyone else or are even going out there to represent something Bigger and anti-america in a stupid tournament like this... like they're not. none of them are probably even thinking about this. they're saying you shouldn't boo the us anthem too. ask the canadian gm or coaches if they think inviting trump to this game tomorrow is a good idea bc i have a feeling it's not gonna be the resounding 'no' you want. they're separated from you by class and they also hardly care, i can promise you that. this discourse is so tired atp. i know so many people don't like thinking deeply the second someone disagrees with them and would rather just label everyone evil out of malice over ignorance, but there's a difference.

also if you keep passing around a single screenshot of an article without understanding why removing context and believing right wing propaganda machines outright is bad, i'm gonna need you to go to school.

[altschmerzes]

I do follow hockey, but definitely not enough for this thing with Thierry because all I’m coming up with is Fleury and I don’t think he’s from Montreal and I don’t think he played there either so can you explain? Google informed me that Carey Price exists which like yes thank you google I am aware

LOREAUX. YES. WHEEZE. THANK YOU.

just- okay. bear with me for a moment here where i wax on a bit about the huge potential for A Big Interesting Internal Landscape in thierry zoreaux, a canadian goalie from montréal. (if i get anything wrong in the process forgive me, this is all off the dome based on My Personal Experience And Perspective as a longtime sports fan. also it got.... long lmaooo sorry for that. i simply think goalies are fascinating and thierry specifically has such an interesting context for Being A Goalie. also no season 3 spoilers in here!.)

you're correct that fleury isn't from mtl, no! he's from another city in the province, and he never played for the habs. and you're also right, carey price does exist sldkfjs and he's CONSTANTLY on my mind when i think about thierry and about the role of goalies in sports that have them - whenever there's a team sport that has One person who is uniquely different and has a radically different role (goalie, pitcher) compared to the rest of the team (whose roles are pretty similar even if they're first baseman, outfielder, midfielder, fullback) there's gonna be a Lot going on there. goalies have a reputation for being Really Fucking Weird. like. those guys are Odd and everyone knows it. (pitchers are the same way. known for superstitions, habits, Generally Being An Absolute Oddball.) they have a different kind of attention, a different kind of pressure. at the end of the day it always is going to come down to them on their own, in one way or another. goalie characters in sports fiction obsess me because of all the Baggage and all of the Stuff that goes into Being A Goalie and man. that was enough to make thierry really compelling to me, as the goalie we see the most of. and then specifically being a goalie From Montréal? ohohohohoho.

i watch football/soccer a lot these days and have for a couple years but i've been a hockey fan for much longer and i can't help see things through that pov sometimes, and as soon as they intro'd a character from mtl, my background as a habs fan perked right up. a goalie from mtl. that was the first hockey team i ever followed and boy does it have mountains of history that make it a fascinating team to follow/learn about/think about especially as a narrative background/parallel/foil/whatever.

obviously thierry's a soccer player, he's a soccer goalie, but in the words of someone i spoke to yesterday, "hockey suffocates every other sport in this country." it's always around, always present. your average torontonian can probably name the last year the leafs won the cup even if they hate sports. the canadian viewership numbers during playoffs is nuts. i've seen a few percentages come up - in the 70s-80s. i also have had some fun daydream thoughts about thierry being a multi-sport player growing up. there's a hockey player i can think of who pretty much got all the way to the point of draft eligibility before deciding whether he was gonna play hockey or baseball. that's a headcanon i have about thierry too, that he spent a while playing hockey when he was younger and was pretty damn good at it, probably could've gone pro, but decided to stick with soccer in the long term because he liked it more.

anyways, so. the sport is huge, it's unavoidable, and one of the biggest teams is the canadiens. especially if you live in mtl. it's hard to overstate the extent to which they are an institution, practically a religion. and one of the things that's important to understand about the context of thierry specifically rather than if like- if any other player had grown up in québéc, is that the habs have an...... intense history with goalies. like a VERY specifically intense history with goalies. they've had some of the biggest names in hockey goaltending history in their nets and the combination of the team's history, the goalies who've been there, and the media market of montréal means that being the habs goalie is one of the most heavily scrutinized, highly public roles in the sport.

the whole...... sports fabric of montréal is steeped in goalies. jaques plante, patrick roy, carey price. so many more enormous names, names everyone who's into hockey knows immediately, names that left permanent marks on not only the habs and mtl but on the sport as a whole. every year the league awards the best goalie of the regular season the vezina trophy, named for georges vézina, who played his entire career for the canadiens. (these days, the likes of sam montembeault. québéc born and raised goalie who now plays in the habs organization, heir apparent to carey price's net. monty, with goalie masks depicting jaques plante and the torch that is literally passed every year at the beginning of the habs season at their first home game, that is mentioned in the motto in their dressing room, inside the collars of their jerseys. it's a quote from a poem about the first world war - to you from falling hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high.)

for thierry this would've been just.... all around him. when i think of him i think of him growing up in a habs watching household, because most families are in one way or another in that region, and having this idea of like. the role of a goalie. the pressure of being a goalie, watching particularly the way that carey price, one of the best goalies who's ever played, was completely wasted by the catastrophic mismanagement of the habs during his prime. i think all the time of this screencap from either the behind the scenes videos the habs produced for PR stuff or some feature on tv or documentary thing, a shot of carey price with his iconic thousand yard stare, the subtitles from the voiceover saying if he could score, he would play alone. i have to think that'd do something to a person, you know. seeing how important the goalie is, how revered and respected they can be, and that it can still not make a difference in the end. not enough of one. there will still be people who hate you because you're not the guy who came before you, because you can't just do it all yourself. and then choosing to be one anyway.

so you know. you're thierry zoreaux. you grow up in montréal. you can't avoid the habs if you tried, it's baked into the city. it's in the air. and you're a goalie. it doesn't matter whether you play hockey or soccer, the role of a goalie is a different thing, a unique experience. you are involved in everything, and you are alone. you are so, so visible, and so, so overlooked. you never appear on the goal sheets, but some media outlet will blame you for every loss. you're a little weird, a little wired. a little in your head, a little in another world. your teammates adore you but everyone knows there's something about you that's different, that sets you apart. every one of them sees it as their job to protect you, but at the end of the day, none of them can help you do what you do.

also, as an aside, i checked his wiki page real quick, and have learned the actor is jewish and sees his character that way too to which i say: ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. also i am about to write fic about this IMMEDIATELY. thierry zoreaux, quebecois goalie and jewish king. i've always been a little extra attached to him - minor character enjoyer that i am and enthralled by the potential in him, and also just finding him. very funny, and his actor a delight in his scenes. i love him and i need to write way more about him Right Now. it just occurred to me earlier, when i made that first post about him, and realized the line i'd jotted down wasn't half as good if you didn't have the story that exists around him in my mind, around his role and his experiences and cultural context about his role. and well! here we are now.

[axiomsofice]

Leafs: New Additions

Welcome back to another year in Leaf Land, as always at a most critical nexus. There’s a lot of negativity, and as usual some of its well earned, and some of its too far. Within all that, it’s important to acknowledge the progress that this group has made, free from the fervid luster of hope offered early in the Matthews era.

The novelty of the Canadian Division, and the 4 separate leagues that took part in the 2021 season did cap the amount this team could change our minds, but having a strong and consistent regular season and finishing top 10 in goals against, was a huge development, and continuing those results to a full 82 game schedule is still an important step. In general, this fan base took the first sign of positivity and grew championship expectations, to the point where the past 2 or 3 seasons many have been saying “there’s nothing to prove until the playoffs”, and even to this point that simply isn’t true. 

Mrazek

After spending a large part of the past 2 seasons desperately searching for depth and stability in the sport’s most important position, acquiring Mrazek is certainly the most important move of the offseason. He’s probably in a cluster of mid tier starters, sometimes called a tandem starter or 1B, similar to Frederick Andersen, the fact that he’s younger and cheaper than Andersen is also a plus. He’s coming off some strong seasons behind a very good Carolina team, meaning he’s been a focal point for a successful team already, although he was not the starter in each of the Hurricanes’ past 2 postseason runs. He’s started 40 games in a season twice, meaning he’ll get at most 120 games in over the course of his 3 year deal. He’s had up and down seasons, but has shown flashes of strong play. He has a flare for the dramatic, some style to his play, and entering his age 29 season should be able to deliver a strong segment of his career. The best case scenario, or perhaps a reasonable comp would be similar to what Halak has been able to bring in his 30’s, which is starter level of play over 35-45 games a season, which does fit well with the expectations on Jack Campbell to play in 40-50 games. Ultimately the hope is that Jack can really run with the starter role, but Mrazek will be keeping the level of play in net high.

Menell

Menell takes the mantle as this year’s KHL import on the blueline, a staple that’s seen Zaitsev, Ozighanov, and Lethonen pass through to varying degrees of success in recent years. Menell, unlike the others, offers a stronger resume on the smaller ice surface, putting in several strong AHL seasons with the Iowa Wild before his most recent all-star season in Russia. Similar to Lethonen, he is a strong offensive player and could figure into a role on the power play. At this point he’s done everything he can besides earn some playing time at the top level, and provides an interesting depth option to the blueline.

Dahlstrom

It can be difficult for low-scoring defensive players to stand out, and that might be the case for Dahlstrom. The 26 year old Swede has 2 years experience in the SHL, followed by 4 increasingly strong stints in the AHL, with a 35+ game run on the porous 18-19 Chicago team and 10+ games with the Jets the following year. He did eventually earn an Assistant Captain role on Chicago’s AHL affiliate. Despite all that, he’s only played 35 games or so the last 2 years, as he probably got squeezed as a fringe player throughout the first covid season. He certainly is qualified to fill in a depth role, although surely in a different style than Menell. Together they represent good reinforcements with potential upside should injuries occur. He’s big, skates well enough for his size, has some passing abilities.

Kase

Another player who hasn’t played all that much recently, Kase has fought a lot of tough injuries over the recent years. Kase is still only 25, but it was all the way back in 17-18 that he scored 29 goals as a member of the Ducks. He has posted really strong possession and shot metrics throughout his career, and plays a very rambunctious and tenacious style. Hopefully he can stay healthy and at least have a chance to continue his strong play, but with concussions we can only know so much. A one year deal means there isn’t any long term risk, and best case Kase provides some of the “all terrain” capabilities that Barclay Goodrow brought to the Lighting the past couple seasons.

Ritchie

Ritchie is a big power forward, who can manage to shovel in 10-20 goals a year. Although his career high comes from his time in Anaheim, it’s reasonable to expect he could have a career season over the 2 years of his contract. He does bring certain qualities lacking from the forward group at this point and could fit well somewhere in the top 6. Even with Hyman in the lineup, when Simmonds missed time last year there was a noticeable lack of net front presence, which Ritchie should help satisfy. Personally, I’ve spent a lot of time being thankful the Leafs took Nylander instead of Ritchie in their draft year, but Ritchie is still young at 25 and is a quality add to the forward group. He might take an excessive amount of penalties, but that could also “even out” and earn the Leafs a few more calls as well.

Kampf

As we get to our 6th addition, a pattern is clear, young free agents (mid to late 20s) who should have more in the tank than the older additions of last season, and perhaps with their best seasons in front of them. That is certainly the case with Kampf, who has already proven to be an effective bottom 6 defensive centre in the NHL. He is in crazy good shape and is good at faceoffs. In his introductory presser Dubas mentioned he’s been on the Leafs’ radar for a while, and that they saw more offensive upside to his game. He certainly has a similar style of play to Danault, helping break cycles in the defensive zone and supporting transition well up ice, and could really help unlock stronger play from the 3rd or 4th line. In particular I think he would pair really well with a strong defensive winger who can carry the puck through the neutral zone, Ilya Mikheyev, and/or David Kase.

Bunting

Bunting “came out of nowhere” to score 10 goals in 20 games for the Coyotes last season, and we should not be expecting 40 goals next year. That being said, signing him to 2 years at only $950,000 is a great deal. For the brief time Jared McCaan was a Leafs I was excited about adding a complimentary top 6 player who could shoot well to pair with Marner and Matthews. Bunting definitely has the chance to live up to that. It’s obviously not at Matthews’ level, but Bunting can score from the high to mid slot. He’s speedy enough to pressure through the neutral zone and off the rush, and has some skill in making moves to beat defenders and goaltenders. He isn’t afraid to get to the dirty areas and had a few goals tipping in shots from the point. He is also feisty, gets under opponents’ skin and hustles like his job depends on it. He said in his introductory interview that he had spent long enough in the minors that when he finally got called up last season he played with nothing to lose, and compared his style of play to Marchand. Although that is a lot of lofty rhetoric, it’s easy to see how this could be a huge win for the franchise. If he proves to be 4th line contributor it’s a good deal, but there’s good reason to be excited beyond that. It might be a bit off topic to say I think that it’s important that Matthews and Marner’s liberate has a good enough shot to capitalize on the opportunity they will have as well as the tenacity Hyman brought so effectively, and Bunting has the tools to do it.

Gabriel

Gabriel is a fighter with social media presence, and especially for a pro hockey player, tries to be inclusive. I could see him being called up and deployed circumstantially. Although Simmonds and Ritchie have both thrown their share of fists, having a DH of sorts might be useful? Regardless, as a cultural focal point of both hockey and Canada the Leafs have the opportunity and responsibility to do their part in changing our culture for the better, and considering the league minimum cap hit this signing represents checks of few different boxes in terms of “intangibles”.

Semyonov

Semyonov has played parts of 5 seasons in the KHL, including a couple deep postseason runs as a middle 6 forward and eventually became an Assistant Captain. At 26, there doesn’t seem like a great chance he’ll be a factor at the NHL level, although he should get a fair shake at training camp. It is more likely he fits in as a veteran presence on a Marlies team that will feature a lot of Russian players, from Amirov, SDA, Gogolev and Abramov. The Marlies will look to be a lot stronger this year and those 5 forwards will look to be a big part of that. He gets to the net and most of his goals will be from rebounds and scrambles in front. He has some good puck skills, which will be shown off with some fancy passes. He’s big and fast enough to have some effect on the forecheck.

Way Too Early Lines

Bunting Matthews Marner Kerfoot Tavares Nylander Mikheyev Kampf Kase Ritchie Spezza Simmonds Engvall Brooks

Reilly Brodie Muzzin Holl Sandin Dermott Liljegren

Campbell Mrazek Hutchinson

Notes on fringe players

Mikheyev has been taking some heat recently. He clearly had trouble converting chances into goals and his wrist injury could have been a huge factor in losing confidence. He is good defensively, and is a strong enough skater that he’s able to transition through the neutral zone really well. Despite being a powerful skater he does seem to look a bit like an old man at times. It’s easy to see how he could be similar to former Leaf Michael Grabner, in that whether he is converting on breakaways or not could fluctuate his goal totals enough to drastically change opinions year to year (both are strong on the pk as well).

Engvall shows flashes of brilliance in a lot of ways. Speed and size to defend well, soft hands and really good passes, scoring touch, but somehow looks like he has trouble putting it all together. Dubas and Keefe have had him for a long time, and with one year left on his deal it might be his best chance at becoming an NHL regular.

Brooks will have to replicate his strong play from last year. He looked really strong alongside Spezza, where he was able to use his hockey sense and passing skills to his advantage. It is not a given that he’ll be able to, but he’s continued to show signs of growth so maybe he can continue to surpass expectations with more opportunities.

Liljegren has all the physical tools to be a good NHL defender, skates and passes well enough to beat forechecks, physical enough to play the body, but he’s looked a bit lost at times. I think with strength and experience we’ll see him settle into a regular role, and it’s not an indictment that he hasn’t got there yet, even if he spends most of his time in the AHL again this year. It might be a bit much to rely on a Sandin-Liljegren pairing when everyone is available, but I would love to see him get a chance alongside Muzzin at some point.

[unknowableroom]

Full transcript of Scott’s Leave Your Mark podcast episode from last year below the cut.

Today, I’m honored to be speaking to Scott Moir, who’s an amazing human being. The main reason I’ve asked him to come on Leave Your Mark is not because of his accomplishments, but because of who he is as a person. He carries himself with humility, he’s friendly and caring about everyone he meets, and if he knows you, he always takes the time to make you feel his connection.

He’s a proud Canadian. He, along with his partner, Tessa, have won all there is to win in ice dancing, most recently two gold medals at the Olympics in Korea. They’re considered by many to be the best of all time and yet, when you meet him, you are nothing but impressed with the way he carries himself and how he treats you.

I’m honored to spend some time with him today. Welcome, Scott.

Scott: Thank you, Scotty! I don’t know how to follow that up.

I love when I do intros that hit the person.

Scott: Now I’m hoping I do a whole interview that has no humility in it at all. (Laughs) I’ve changed since two months ago.

I know you love the Leafs, but who’s your favorite Leaf of all time?

Scott: Favorite Leaf of all time? Wendel Clark.

Why?

Scott: I just like the way he played. He was kind of all around. You didn’t know whether he was going to score a hat trick or fight Bob Probert, or… He just played with that edge. It’s also, I think, a lot to do with the time that you fall in love with the sport. For me, I was a young boy when Wendel Clark was the captain, so it was very natural that I kind of went towards liking Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk. That was kind of my era when I first started, and it never gets better than that, I don’t think. Even with Auston Matthews: this kid is gonna be the best Leaf ever, but it just doesn’t have the same connection to me as Wendel Clark.

Well, how do you feel about how they’re doing?

Scott: They’re doing great! They’re a special team. They’re gonna be tough. They’re missing some big pieces still, but… We’re Leafs fans, Tessa and I both, and it’s nice to be able to go down to the ACC and just have them in it a little bit. It’s been a long, hard road here the last ten years or so.

Everyone knows about our friendship with Mike Babcock and even with Brendan Shanahan. They’ve always been so great to us. It’s been fun to get into the rink a little bit more now. Even in the last two months since we’ve been retired, we’ve been there a couple of times. Looking forward to seeing them do some things, but they’re farther away, probably, than they want to be at this point but at least they’re always in the game. They’re so explosive offensively.

You know Mike relatively well. What impresses you about him?

Scott: What I like about Mike is that there are no secrets for him. There’s no secret to success, you know? His big thing is living by the code. You wake up every day, you try hard, you dedicate yourself, you care, you go home, you love your family… It’s a very simple formula for him but he follows it relentlessly. From our discussions – obviously I’ve never played for Mike and will never pretend to know him in the way that his players do – but from what he says to me, if you give him everything you have, he’s gonna take great care of you.

What has been a powerful conversation you’ve had with him?

Scott: The biggest thing that I’ll always take with me for the rest of my life is when Mike said to me, “The scariest thing about life is that you can have everything you want.” And just to go for that and not shy away and not to limit yourself. Even as a young adult at that moment – and this was after Sochi, when I had already won an Olympics and I was a silver medalist in Sochi – even then, I found that in parts of my life, I was putting limits for no reason. So that kind of opened it back up and allowed me to chase after a couple of things I hadn’t been.

That’s awesome.

Scott: Yeah!

What is, for you, easy to do, and what is hard to do?

Scott: That’s a good question. It’s changed as I’ve gone on. Early on, as a male in my sport, I struggled a little bit with self-confidence. I don’t think that’ll read in the way that many people would think. It’s more about how, when I started a new project with choreography or with movement, I was never trained to dance. I was never trained to move in a specific way. I’m more of a feeling person, so when I was young, I was always really insecure about the first thing that was going to come out of my body. I knew it was going to be compared to Tessa because she was right there beside me and, most of the time, nailing it right away (actually, all of the time, nailing it right away).

But that kind of changed as I got older. Now, mostly the thing that I am not so good at would be controlling my emotions, making sure that I’m using it in the right way. It’s also, I think, what makes me a very powerful athlete, a very powerful performer, but it can be my worst enemy if I let it get in the way.

But my strengths… I hope that my strengths are personal connections. I love people. Right now, we’re on tour. I like making connections with the crew, the person who does wardrobe, the person who’s doing the lights. I like creating that family and that – I guess, for lack of a better word – culture. Being the team captain really motivates me. I’d rather do that than… I’ll help other people before I help myself, I guess.

Is that an energy in for you?

Scott: Yes. Absolutely.

What’s an energy out for you?

Scott: Energy out for me is when people don’t respect each other’s time. A huge energy out is when we’re just kind of going through the motions. I can’t do that. Most of the time, I will snap.

But I don’t have too many energy outs. I just need to make sure I check in. I have a lot of energy to give, but I have to make sure I take care of myself, that I spend time with my family, that I spend time at home, or else I run out of gas.

So who in your family is a grounding point for you? Your mom, dad?

Scott: I’m really, really fortunate. I think the grounding point for me has always been my brothers. I’m the youngest of three and I’m very, very proud of my brothers. They’re both firefighters. They were kind of in the sport – well, not kind of. They were in the sport, but never really to the level that I pursued. It wasn’t that they didn’t care about how I was doing skating, because they did and they were so supportive, but I really needed to rely on them to just be my brothers and they were always there for that. I always felt like they had my back no matter what. And how important is that in life when you can walk out the front door of your own house and know that, no matter what, these guys have your back?

One of your brothers competed fairly significantly in ice dance. Was that an influence for you?

Scott: Absolutely. I think that’s when it clicked for me that I could do this and travel the world. For him, that was a big part of it. He was on the junior circuit and a little bit on the senior circuit, but he talked a lot about the connections he made, the friendships, how neat it was to travel to Europe and meet people from America, from Asia, from Poland, and have a great time. That’s what I think drew me into the sport. I thought, “Oh, okay. If I’m successful a little bit, then I’ll get to go to Austria, Croatia, and Japan.” That was kind of the first thing that hooked me, and then once I got to these competitions, it didn’t take long before I just wanted to win them.

I want to broach one topic with you that’s probably a little difficult to a degree. Ice dancing isn’t something that most guys (when they’re kids) look at and say, “That’s what I want to accomplish.” The reason I want to bring this up is for young people who are listening, how did you manage the perception of that versus your character, you as a man, etc.? And now, I think, your being successful is a really powerful thing for some younger person who wants to do that. How did you manage that growing up?

Scott: That took a long time for me to fully understand and it’s only been in the last four years that I have truly started to be more comfortable with it. At the beginning, it wasn’t typical like you would think. I played hockey and I skated. I never got bullied in school. I mean, there was teasing among friends, but all of my buddies and my good friends have always been really supportive of me being a figure skater. I look at some of the teasing and bullying that happens in school and it breaks my heart, but I can honestly say that I’ve never really had to go through that to that extent because my friends did it for me. I had really great friends and they were allowed to tease me, and I teased them about stuff, but if someone who wasn’t one of our friends said something, then there was a real problem.

The other thing I had going for me is that I did play hockey with these guys, so they could make fun of me for being a figure skater all they wanted, but they knew that I’d be playing on the first line against them or with them that night and they’d be sitting on the bench watching me go, so they kind of understood that skill. I was never that great of a hockey player, but I could always get to where I needed to be and was a good playmaker and a competitor.

That’s the very beginning of it, but mostly with my image as I came up, I always wanted to be known as this hockey player who figure skated. I thought that because I went into figure skating, I had given up on my dream to win the Stanley Cup. When I was a young boy, I wanted to win the Stanley Cup and beat Joe Sakic. That was pretty much it. It took me awhile to realize that that actually wasn’t my passion, that wasn’t what excited me. When I look back now, I see the way I feel when I perform with Tessa, the way I feel when I’m doing new choreography, doing a dance…it doesn’t add up, isn’t as fulfilling to me as playing hockey or winning hockey. I know that I never did it at that level, but even at a young age… It took me awhile to break the mold of what I thought was socially acceptable or what I thought was supposed to be “normal.”

And that was very interesting for me. Because now when I look back… I love to dance, I love to move with Tessa, I love to be out there. These last two years of performing have been very fulfilling for me because I’ve really connected with the material and we’re taking that into touring, but it took me awhile to admit that to myself. So that was an interesting journey and now, because I’ve done that, I think it’s made me a more powerful performer.

What would you say to a young person who’s maybe dealing with some resistance inside themselves about reaching that because of some of those social things? What would you say to them in terms of helping them past that?

Scott: I would push most young people to be interesting and to not fit into the mold. I know it’s tough, especially when you’re in the school system and when you’re in this little world where peer pressure can become overwhelming. But it’s a huge world. Push yourself to be interesting and follow your passions because there are tons of people who are into the same things as you, and it’s really about what makes you happy. It’s really, really tough, but those interesting people are the ones who rule the world in the end. I believe that.

I love that. You were forced, in a way, because of what you were doing to leave home earlier than most kids would. How was that hard and how was that easy for you?

Scott: Well, it was easy for me because I knew it was necessary in order to accomplish my goals. Even as a 15-year-old – Tess and I first left home when she was 13 and I was 15 – we got third at Novice Nationals and I didn’t want to be third at Novice Nationals. We wanted to move into Juniors, and we knew that we had to train five days a week and we couldn’t live at home anymore. It was an easy decision. I mean, I think I did realize but I didn’t care that it was going to cost me my normal high school life per se. I wasn’t going to do prom, I wasn’t going to be able to go out Friday or Saturday, be a normal high school kid. I didn’t care about that. Still, I guess I don’t.

But I always had a very supportive family and it was tough to be away from that, to not be there when my brothers were getting engaged, married, having kids. That was the tough part about being away from home, but I’ve always had that great support and I really make sure to take advantage of the time that I get when I am home. But it’s been worth it. I don’t know what it is about me, but I think I would have left home early no matter what.

How did you keep connected? You talk about your good buddies. How did you foster good relationships that you still carry today?

Scott: What’s interesting about me is that I went my high school (that I still consider my high school) only for ninth grade. Medway High School, which is at home. All my best friends from that part of my life, I still have friendships with today. We have a really tight group of guys – and girls, for that matter – and… I don’t know, it’s just people that I connected with.

I was lucky because it was only an hour away, so I would come home on the weekends whenever I wasn’t competing. I’d try to work on those friendships, but I actually think I owe that to my friends. They understood that I was trying to do something. They always supported me and they always understood. I can’t remember getting backlash once because I couldn’t make something. They understood. I’ve missed best friends’ weddings and their kids being born now, and they just seem to understand, which is something I don’t want to make a habit of, but I really appreciate it.

Now, I’m going to read you something. There’s a book I fell in love with a number of years ago called “The Day You Were Born”, and it basically combines numerology and astrology, and I fell in love with it because it connected me to my purpose. In that book, it talks about the day you were born and basically gives you a purpose statement. I want to read yours to you: “To use your acute sensitivity, feelings of difference, and fears of abandonment to gain insight into yourself, become creative, and bond with others.” Pretty cool, huh?

Scott: That’s crazy!

There’s a tagline that goes with it: “The spiritual self must never lose its sense of utter dependence on the invisible.” That’s from Carl Jung, who is a famous psychologist.

Scott: I love that.

And certain signs align with other people’s signs. You align with Michael Jackson.

Scott: Really? That’s hilarious. We’re doing a Michael Jackson thing on this tour.

I think I really underestimated what that feeling of performance and creativity and having that outlet means to me. We are so lucky to have had this support our whole career, but it’s a different type of fun. It’s not like the fun you have when you’re relaxed, hanging out with your friends, but I have no other rush that is like the rush in my life when I either stand in my opening position or stand in the tunnel right before I go out. That’s what I live for. I know what to do when I get into position, but I love that excitement.

You exude a certain level of creativity that is very cool. I remember watching the documentary of you guys before the Olympics on Roxanne, and I could see what it meant to both of you, but to you especially as well. Tell me about the creative process for you. How do you come up with something? Does it just ping you in the head one day? What is that process like?

Scott: I think I need to be inspired a little bit before I can really find my stride, but I plant seeds. Now I’ve learned that there’s not a bad idea, you know? You throw ideas onto the table and the best idea wins.

A lot of the stuff that Tessa and I do, we do as a team. We can collaborate. In some ways, we rely on each other. I feel like I’m just picking through the ideas and highlighting the best ones. I love Tess. I love watching her move. She’s a magician. It’s very easy to watch her do something and pick. It’s very natural. But when I’m creating or getting into the headspace of a character, I like it to be real. A lot of the programs we’ve done have been based on my own experiences. Not in the way of method acting or pretending, but more so putting myself in that position. If I want to be jealous, I remember what it’s like to be jealous and really understand why. That’s a big part of me coming to terms with my character.

But other than that, I think I’ve been a little bit blessed with the fact that I’m emotional. I’ve always loved to tell a story and act, and I bring as much energy as I can. When I give 100% and go (what I think would be seen as) over the top, that’s when Tess goes, “Yes. That’s it. I love that. Give us that.”

What’s the difficult side of being emotionally connected to what you do?

Scott: Um, the difficult side is understanding the yin and the yang. It takes energy and there will be a time when you come down.

And also, collaborating is huge. I don’t create alone. I don’t wish to create alone. I love when Tess and I do things together, and we love when we work with a professional who can bring something different, who can pull little strands of – hopefully – brilliance out of us. But… (Sigh) It’s a good question.

Well, I know working with…Marina – is that right? – there were some difficult times. Now, what did you learn from her that was positive about yourselves?

Scott: Well, there were a lot of difficult times and when we look back at it now, I think it was her trying to help us mature, help us grow up. In 2010 and also 2009 and 2008, it was there for us. She told us almost exactly what we were going to do and helped us create as well. But she choreographed most of the programs. When we started to mature and have more input, that worked. But I think in the last year, we expected a lot more input [from our coaches]. We expected it to be very similar to 2014, but because we didn’t get that input, we had to be very independent.

We had to go down that path of maybe having some material that we didn’t like, but we wouldn’t have had our 2018 material if we didn’t have the 2014 experience. And we were very, very proud of the performances we had – maybe not so much the programs (the free dance in particular). The short dance, we really liked in 2014. But we needed that, and we created it all and we’re very, very proud of that.

Are the two performances from this Olympics the most empowering performances of your career?

Scott: I think so. And not for the reasons that I think people would guess. I’m not so sure that they were… Well yeah, they were our best performances. But what we’re most proud of – and I talked a little about this with Tessa not that long ago – is the fact that we were able to capitalize when we were completely trained. In 2010, we were trained well and we were in great skating shape, but Tess was very much still injured. We were in Canada, and there was some sort of energy that lifted us up and got us past her legs being sore. Tessa kind of just willed her way to the finish line.

In 2014, we had it a bit more down to a science, or what we thought was mechanically sound. We didn’t quite have the programs; we performed well and trained well, but they just weren’t up to the level.

This year, we were so ready. It’s very neat as an athlete to look back and wonder what we could have done differently and actually not have an answer. We left no stone unturned. We really were trained. We committed to absolutely every part of it, and that was exhausting at times, but standing in that opening position, the only thing we felt was pressure to not perform like we had the thousands of times before. I mean, that was really cool. We did execute and that’s what we’re proud of: that training before.

I asked this question to Mik and I’m curious how you feel as well. In society, you often hear, “That’s the best pizza. That’s the best restaurant.” But that’s always somebody’s opinion, right? But you compete in sport, and there is a “best.” There is a moment of “best.” What does that feel like, in the sense that you know that you are the best at something in the world? What’s the weight of that and what is the exuberance of it?

Scott: Well, we’ve felt both. I think at an early age, we felt the weight of it as pressure to repeat, or pressure to prove that it wasn’t just lightning in a bottle.

After 2010, the most pressure we felt was at a summer competition the next year. We felt like we had to prove to everybody that the Olympic champions were in the building and that they brought a special something, something different, that we were going to be untouchable forever. But that was just such an unrealistic energy and not where we were skating, even at the Olympics a year before. We never skate with that energy. So to try and figure that out was really difficult.

But Marnie McBean is one of our greatest mentors and we’ve leaned on her a lot in our life, and her point was that you’ve won the Olympics. They can never take that away from you. And now that we’re older, we were so happy about winning this Games, but we know there’ll be someone who comes along. It’s a personal journey, I really believe that. It was nice to win the Olympics, but it’s kind of just a measuring stick. If we had had those performances and come second, it’s not quite the story that you want to read in the papers and it doesn’t help Canada’s medal count – and we always want to help bring that medal home for Canada – but our journey would have been the same. And our journey would have been, for us as athletes and people, just as beautiful.

I think that’s a really important piece to pick up, actually.

Scott: Now that we’ve won, people say, “You just seem so down-to-earth.” Well, it hasn’t changed us. I would really hope that it hasn’t changed us.

I was going to play off of that, because one of the things in my learnings most recently is a concept that was taught to me as “object reference vs. self-reference.” Object reference is essentially being focused just on a goal, on achieving something and not necessarily connecting with the process of getting there. And so, a lot of times in society today, we’re like, “I want that car. I want that medal. I want that job.” So people go after that and one of two things happen: either you don’t get it and so there’s this loss of sense of self and you’re despondent because you didn’t get it, or you get there and there’s a kind of hollowness. And it’s that connection to the process that’s really powerful. What I just listened to you say is that the whole thing that resonated with you in this last Olympics was your connection to process. It didn’t really matter what happened in the end. It was wonderful that it all worked out, but you were connected to that process deeply, so you could reflect back on it and say, “That was really powerful.”

Scott: And that’s absolutely right. I think when you chat with Tessa, she’ll have a very interesting insight on that hollowness when you accomplish your goals. I think she felt the weight of that many times in our career, in particular after the 2012 Worlds title. It just wasn’t at all what she had envisioned it being like.

We’re very lucky to have had these three cycles because we’ve learned very, very different lessons in of each of them, but when we came back – and you were a part of our team, and JF Menard, our mental coach as well – our first message was, “We’re doing it for the process. We’re not done. We want to feel the rush of competing, but we also want to see what we can do to push ourselves to train differently and be the best that we can be, but in training, not to win titles.” And our team constantly reminded us that in the past two years.

And at the Olympics, a really interesting thing happened: when we went to compete, we took it in a very similar fashion. A lot of people know the pressure that comes with such a huge event. The natural human instinct is that you want to just get through it. You just want to be done. You just want to be at the finish line. But for us, a big part of these Games was to push that aside and really be present, and we kept saying to each other in the moments before we skated, “This is exactly what we wanted. We came back for these moments. Let’s not wish them away. Let’s take advantage of them.” Being present in that process was what was different between us and our competitors.

What have you learned most about yourself between gold medal 1 and gold medal 2?

Scott: (Laughs) Oh my gosh, how do I narrow that down? Uh…

We’ve got a little bit of time.

Scott: (Laughs again) I don’t think you have enough time for that. I’m just trying to think of all the…

I’ll frame it differently for you. If you went back to that guy in 2010 and you’re facing him right now, what would you say to him?

Scott: I don’t even know if we could have a conversation. I do love that guy and when I look at kids who remind me of 2010 Scott, it just makes me laugh. I just think, “You have no clue and you think you do.” That’s the joys of being 22.

A lot of coaches and judges will say, “Here’s this kid coming up. He’s cocky. You’ve gotta go and tell him and advise him and get him away from that.” And I just say, “No, that’s all part of it. He’s got to walk his own course.” I think that’s a lot of the magic of it.

The difference between 2010 and 2018, for me… I was probably more confident on the ice [in 2018] than I’ve ever been, but it was more sincere. It was confidence from preparation and confidence because we really believed in our material, and it was confidence because we wanted to share what we love to do with the world. I think there’s a sincerity to that. We’ve gotten some great feedback from Canadians across the country and from ice skating fans around the world that people really connect to that. And you can’t really fake that. In 2010, we were playing characters. We were so young and so innocent. We loved to skate and, I mean, we were in our home country, so how could it not be magical? But there was a sincerity, I think, to this 2018 experience that’s very different.

How do you transcend that now, going forward in your life, to what you want to do next? This whole process, this whole growth experience, achieving something you really wanted to achieve: what do you take from that, and how do you leap forward?

Scott: Well, this is a very interesting time in my life, a couple of months after the Olympics. A big reason why I came back was how poorly I transitioned after 2014. I wandered away from the sport. A lot of people don’t know, but I went and tried to…we’re still in the process of renovating a house with my brother. But I was also running from sport, from my life, from figure skating. I didn’t transition well. I was doing things that didn’t make me happy. I lived my 18-year-old life at 26. I was drinking a lot. It took me a long time to realize that that wasn’t what made me happy.

So this part of my life, this six months or two years after the 2018 Olympics, were actually the time I had circled for most improvement. When I’m in as an athlete, I’m always all in. I really enjoy that process, but it’s the transition part. It’s not just about making the most of that, but also about bringing my best self – everything I’ve learned in sport – to the next chapter of my life.

And the next chapter of my life, for the short term, will be show skating. We really are excited about the show that we’re doing right now, Stars on Ice, that’s going across Canada. We really would like to create something that goes into smaller cities, not just the twelve major markets in Canada. We want to pour work into that. Tess and I, what we’ve found about ourselves in our chats about next steps, is that we love to work. We love to be involved in projects where we can be all-in. Doing skating shows where we just walk out, do our two minutes, and leave…it wasn’t enough for us. We’re trying to create a platform where we can be all-in, trying to create an experience for the fans.

That’ll be the short term, and then I’m looking to give back what we’ve learned in working with B2ten and professionals (whom most people don’t have access to), creating a system that takes care of younger athletes a bit better in the way that they come up and talent identification, and making sure that our elite athletes aren’t just getting by just because they’re successful. I want to help them push themselves to the next level, because this is the biggest thing I’ve learned in 2017-2018: I thought I knew what I was doing in 2010, and I thought I knew what it took to be a champion. And I was a champion. We did win the Olympics, but I wasn’t a professional in my preparation. And the same thing with 2014: we were much more into our mechanics, we started to see a psychologist, but that pales in comparison to the preparation and types of professionals we worked with in 2018.

I think that the skating world and even most of the athletic world has to remember to keep pushing themselves, so I want to give that back. So those will be my long-term goals. For me, how do I parley it? That’s a good question, but I like to work so I have to keep myself going, or else I will just kinda hang out on the couch.

What or who do you source for feedback or the opportunity to bounce where you want to go or what you’re struggling with in your life?

Scott: There’s a lot of people now. It’s been pretty crazy with this tour, but I will continue to work with my mental coach. We’ve had a really great personal connection and I think with the work that we’ve done and the goals that he’s set, he would be great to help me moving forward.

Having a mental coach or psychologist is an interesting thing for many people. A lot of the top athletes do it, but people think it’s too expensive. For me, it’s worth it. It’s the thing that’s like a mattress: you can’t cheap out on that, because you’re going to spend so much life. A half hour with my mental coach JF changes my whole perspective on the next month of my life. So I’ll continue to work with him, but I’m lucky to have Tessa. I can bounce ideas off Tessa.

I will continue to use my team. There are some really great friends, some mentors that I really respect, one being my coach, Patrice Lauzon. I still bounce things off him, and I just try and create a network of people that I can pick up the phone and call at any time. And I hope they feel that they can do the same with me.

You mentioned your mental coach. You’ve probably bounced into sports psych in your career before. What was it about JF that really resonated with you and helped you see the light that you just expressed?

Scott: Well, that’s a great question. I was pretty fortunate in my career to work with professionals, but most of the time, it was all about managing Tessa and my relationship.

Most people know this, but we don’t have an off-ice romantic relationship. But we do work together many hours a day, and we have an extremely intense personal relationship that can’t be compared to any other relationship because it’s so intense and because of the nature of what we do on the ice. We love to skate together. A lot of the love that people see on the ice is real, to a certain extent. So we spend a lot of time doing marriage counseling, doing management of that, just because of the pure hours we put in communicating, understanding. I think we’re some of the best ice dancers in the world for communicating, but it’s still something we have to work on. It’s not [a given] that because you work on communication that it’s going to be good forever. We communicate better at different times, so we’re trying to constantly work on that in order to be successful in what we’re trying to do.

But then when we started to work with JF, not only were we managing that, but we started to work on performance and how to perform not just at competitions but every day: how to be as efficient as possible. He talked a lot about reminding people in our life that are doing a good job. A lot of it comes down to communication; not leaving things to chance and taking advantage of every moment of every day was a huge thing JF did with us. Then when we did get to competing, we had a formula. We perfected it every time we went out, we tweaked it, we communicated afterwards, and by the time we got to the Olympics, we just knew what the steps were. As a performer, to not have to think and to just find the comfort in that routine, I think that was one of our strongest assets at the PyeongChang Games.

What are a couple of tools that you learned that you think are really valuable skills to know, when you look at performance in general?

Scott: The biggest one that comes back to me right away is cueing. I have a crazy mind. Anyone who has every worked with me… I’m super emotional, super passionate, but I also can go off in 18 different directions. What we started to work on with JF was making sure that we’re cueing with simple cues of what we’re supposed to be thinking of. A lot of times in a skater’s performance, they’ll think about having a clean 4-minute program. First of all, perfection doesn’t exist and it’s probably not gonna win you an Olympic medal. It hasn’t in history. But you can be really excellent, and the way you get to be really excellent is by having these moments of simple cues along the way.

I would have moments in the program when I would think about the twizzles that were coming up in 30 seconds. I’d think, “Oh, perfect. There’s my cue to remember what my actual cue is supposed to be,” whether that’s bending my knees or looking at Tessa or breathing through it or exploding. That cueing probably was the most important thing. Because I used to think during programs, “Oh sh—oh crap, I’m not thinking about the right thing right now” and then I’d start to freak out and snowball. Instead, we’d just use that as a simple cue to bring us back and off we go.

The other thing that we talked about was just believing in our performance and our training. One of our sayings at the Games was, “Just get to our opening position.” Once we get to the opening position, we’ll know what to do. And that took a lot of the anxiety away. Not all of it: we had butterflies, we were terrified, but in a controlled way. Those are probably the biggest ones.

I like the cueing piece –

Scott: We stole that from Mik, by the way. We stole a lot from studying Mik. Mik worked with you and JF. We would study him. I mean, he competes all the time and he’s consistent more than anyone else in the world. When he won in PyeongChang, that was a huge confidence boost for me. All I could sit there and think was, “That’s my team. I know who works with that kid, and they work with me. There’s no way the other kids are gonna beat me.”

One of the reasons why I’m interviewing you and other great performance athletes I’ve worked with is because this is where the rubber meets the road. A lot of people don’t recognize that they spend a lot of time in their life doing things that have absolutely no connection to what it is they purposely want to achieve….They don’t recognize where they spend a lot of their time, energy, and effort on things that are really not taking them where they want to go. What you just talked about was essentially focusing and understanding what it is you want to do and becoming very dialed into, “Is this contributing or is it not?” Because if it’s not, you’ve really got to think about why you’re doing it. That’s high value.

Scott: Even when we built our off-ice program, we built a lot in April and May and we were doing a ton of things, but I would say, “Well, what about this?” And you’d just say, “Does that make you a better ice dancer?” and I’d say, “Okay, that makes sense.” It doesn’t make sense for me to bench press when I don’t have to bench press.

I didn’t want to talk a lot about the two of you, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to speak to you alone, but I am curious what you feel Tessa balances in you, in your character. What are your counterbalances for one another?

Scott: I can tell you what I see in Tessa. I don’t have a great view of myself. I don’t think my perspective is as good.

But on her? What I need from her and what she brings… I’ve never met anybody like Tessa in my life. She’s such an unbelievable woman. I’ve never met someone so consistent. She can get grumpy, but that’s about it. It never goes past the grumpy stage. The problem with us is that we’re very, very sensitive. So when she’s grumpy, I always think it’s my fault, and when I’m a little… I get to the angry stage, so she thinks it’s her fault.

But what she does is that she’s so consistent but passionate. I don’t quite understand how that works, because my passion and emotion is always a roller coaster ride, but she brings this level of consistent and clear-headed thinking and decision-making as well as that passion and movement. And I really needed that consistency, because I would go up and down, and she would bring me back like, “Okay. Maybe that’s a little bit much.”

(Laughs) We’re very different styles. Tessa brings the sophistication that I don’t have. Tessa brings the dance knowledge, the principles of dance that I just don’t possess. There’s just so much that technically, we rely on her for. But I think her biggest part is how emotionally stable she is.

One final question: All of us are going to perish from this lovely planet at some point. What would you like to be remembered for?

Scott: That’s a great question. I had a really good friend who passed away last year, and I did a lot of thinking about that. What is the whole purpose of this? How far along does it go? What is my legacy? For me, I always say I want to be remembered as a good person. Tessa will probably say the same thing, because that’s what we always say in interviews. But I think what I want to be remembered for is my passion and not being afraid to go after something. I know everyone says, “Don’t be scared to fail” and that you have to go after it, but few people actually do that. I want to be one of those people who maybe loses their shirt or goes after something that’s a little crazy but who lives in that rush and lives with that excitement. That’s what I want to be remembered for.

[rosedalemike]

“THE MOOD”: Blog #3 “Procrastination/Crunch Time!”

started on March 21st 2018

Lyric Party:So sick, so sick of being tired And oh so tired of being sick We're both such magnificent liars So crush me baby, I'm all ears So obviously desperate, so desperately obvious I'll give in one more time and feed you stupid lines all about it's basic We won't stand for hazy eyes anymore - "You Know How I Do" - Taking Back Sunday     Serves me right for going around telling everyone who had colds how I never get sick. It finally caught up to me. There were a number of factors. My consistent sleep pattern and daily routine was abruptly interrupted Wednesday night when me and Bryan went down to the Leafs vs Stars game. Bryan is friends with a couple of guys on the Dallas Stars so we hung out for a while after the game, went bar hopping, and ended up casually recording more demos at my house until about 5am with some friends. It was a really odd way to party, especially on a Wednesday night. It was definitely fun, but I was wired after and couldn't wind down until about 7am.     My good friend Seth was in town too. He plays in a band called Layden & The Lion and was here on his solo tour for a few shows. So immediately after that bender I was learning Layden & The Lion guitar parts before heading to Oshawa for Seth's Thursday night show. Friday night was out in London, Ontario at Call the Office. It'd been a few years since I'd been there so I was excited to tag along and play on that stage again.

     It was a very cold night in London and Call the Office doesn't have a furnace. So everyone was standing around these littles space heaters. I was in the corner sending emails/messages to local bands in the upcoming cities of this tour and my hands were freezing. I could barely type! Rosedale is back there April 7th with Mermaids Exist so hopefully that's a warmer night with more bodies in the room to raise the temperature. 

     We got back to my place at 3:30am and the next morning I was feeling the sickness creeping up in my throat. I built my new live/studio rack and re-organized my studio all afternoon. Then we played Guelph that night at Jimmy Jazz. There was this drunk guy following girls into the bathroom and nobody was saying anything about it (probably just because he was young and not extremely creepy looking? Or, perhaps, the obnoxious beard-punk they were playing through the PA was just way too loud to attempt conversation). We only noticed him doing this on his way out and even the those girls didn't seem all that bothered. Seth made eye contact as he saw him coming out so of course he came and talked to us. He was obnoxious and wouldn't answer our simple question; "why the hell are you going into the girls bathroom"? Then he went and sat next to a girl who was waiting for her boyfriend to get back from the bar. When he finally got back, things slowly escalated into to the boyfriend yelling "well if you're gonna buy her one you gotta buy me one too!" Then he punched the drunk idiot in the face and the couple ran out of the bar.      

     Me and Seth just sat there watching it all happen. Then the drunk idiot grabbed 2 empty beer bottles, walked up to us and said, "you're a pussy, and you're a pussy" (pointing to us individually) then he grabbed the chair behind him and threw it across the room, missing the guy sitting behind him by about 2 inches, and stormed out of the bar smashing the two empties by the door. An employee wearing a shirt that said Security came from out-of-nowhere and asked "Did the guy who smashed the bottles leave?...K good."    In a way he was right about calling us cowards, though (but for other reasons). We probably should have punched him when he walked out of the girls bathroom yelling "that blonde was hot, eh!?" In my defence, I wasn't about to throw away Seth's guarantee like that. But it was one of those moments after where you're left thinking "I could'a, would'a, should'a". Happens to me way more than I'll admit. Oh well, at least someone still punched him.

    Anyway, that place is extremely sketchy. I told my brother (who is in Guelph quite a bit) what happened at Jimmy Jazz and his reply was "Oh yeah, my band plays there all the time. It gets slightly sketchier each time we're there." (He's got a couple fusion-ish jazz bands. He rips on clarinet and piano. Pretty sure Hot Swing Caravan is the band he's referring to.)     Those Layden acoustic shows were pretty fun. I just played two songs with Seth. It was interesting to be the guy that can carry his whole rig in one trip and has nothing to do until set time. I would talk to the venue owner about nothing, I thought about playing pool, and I was on my phone a lot. I also realized why people definitely think I'm crazy to load in all the gear I do for a Rosedale show and set it all up for two hours. People often think I'm a venue employee, or stage hand, right up until my set time. Which inspired me to design this shirt:

    I've gotten a lot of good feedback so far. I've been sending it around to some friends and fans getting opinions. The common consensus was that the shirt would probably look better with no quote at the bottom. But I feel like about 80% of every human I've ever met either remind me that I'm really tall or that I have way too much gear. Usually it's both. Also, people outside of Canada often get excited about the fact that I'm Canadian. So this is kind of the shirt of "redundancy" that touches on the three not-quite-as-interesting things about Rosedale that new friends seem to get excited about. That shirt is up on bandcamp too if you just click here you can order one early. (they’ll be ready this Thursday) I also just decided I should make a poster like this too. 

*took a break and made this*

*...a very long break...* 

    It's now Sunday, March 25th. I've been grinding out 18 hour days since Thursday -still finding available venues/local acts for these tour dates while working on the new live set (projector vids, guitar presets, automation, intros etc.) I guess you could call it procrastination. I've had over a month to get these ducks in order and although the priority was to get tour dates confirmed, gear repaired, and demo out some new songs, I definitely had a week of resistance there last week where I got pretty much nothing done. I don't regret helping a friend and going to the hockey game etc, but I hate that I lost my routine and got sick. So I'm rewriting the ship and getting triple productive this final week leading up to the tour.

      Sometimes procrastination is the result of something great, though. I saw this funny TED talk about how this is true to some degree of moderation as long as you buckle down and get it done by the deadline! I definitely agree that some of my best work has come from pondering about it while resting and then going full-tilt when it comes down to the crunch. And if it wasn't for making these ambitious deadlines, I'm sure I'd have a lot more unproductive days.

      What I also appreciate about the consequences of procrastination and Crunch Time is that I'm more consistently strict with self discipline. I know, with these 18 hour grinds, that there is no room for junk food or sleeping in and skipping the gym. I know that keeping that strict mindset/routine is gonna allow for me to stay in the zone with high, positive energy so that I can stay on course with five hours of sleep. The ultimate goal, though, is to have that mindset at all times.

    So I'm gonna end this blog short and get back to the grind! Here's where I'm at with the tour dates! Hope to see you all out at the first half. Let me know what date you're excited for or where else you'd like to see the new-and-improved "That really tall Canadian with way too much gear" Rosedale show on some of those off dates or maybe in the 2nd half!

     Have a great week everyone! Stay healthy, safe, motivated, positive, and productive :) 

[mikemortgage]

The name on the back matters: NHL is now marketing its stars

Connor McDavid is eager to shrug off personal stats, awards and achievements and put the focus on his team in Edmonton.

Yet there he is on the cover of a video game or in a commercial for a bank.

Auston Matthews is the face of the franchise in Toronto. But he also got razzed by his Maple Leafs teammates for doing a stylish fashion photo shoot for GQ magazine.

“It was a lot of fun,” Matthews said. “Kind of something that definitely got you out of your comfort zone.”

The rink for long decades has been the comfort zone for so many hockey players who put their full energy into the sport and are indoctrinated from a young age that the logo on the front of the jersey matters more than the name on the back.

That team-oriented part of hockey culture remains entrenched, but the NHL is finally beginning to market its stars as the NFL and NBA have done with great success.

As dynamic players like McDavid, Matthews and Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau settled in Canadian markets and star power spread to smaller cities without much hockey tradition, marketing players and not just teams is essential to growing the NHL’s fan base. For a sport that generally sees its TV ratings drawn from fans of the two teams playing — and where the Stanley Cup Final doesn’t pull in nearly as much as the Super Bowl or NBA Finals — it’s a concerted effort to build up personalities and players’ brands to become more popular.

“It is a changing landscape,” said Judd Moldaver, Matthews’ agent and senior vice-president of Wasserman Orr Hockey. “Hockey players are such fantastic athletes and fantastic people that I believe the hybrid of playing for the logo on the front but also being able to optimize your individual situation. I think the two can coexist.”

Matthews, McDavid, Nashville’s P.K. Subban and other stars are sharing more personality than players of previous eras like Mario Lemieux and even Wayne Gretzky. No longer is it seen as selfish for Subban to host a late-night talk show or for Matthews to shoot a cellphone commercial.

“Why not try? Just because the person next to me doesn’t think that they can host their own show doesn’t mean that I can’t,” Subban said. “What people have to understand is we’re at the rink three hours a day. We have a lot of time. We have days off, we have travel days and obviously there’s certain points in the schedule where you can’t do anything but hockey because of the way the schedule’s set up and the travel. But outside of hockey, a lot of times I don’t go home. I have meetings, I have different things that I’m doing. I have all these other interests.”

Showcasing those interests is part of the NHL’s shift. The league this season debuted a “Skates Off” series of vignettes with a player from all 31 teams to show what they are like off the ice, including Jack Eichel being a guest DJ at a Buffalo classic rock radio station, Victor Hedman sharing his love of flying planes and Seth Jones showing his cooking talent.

“It’s nice to see those personalities come out,” said Nick Foligno, a teammate of Jones’ in Columbus. “That’s how you grow the game. You look in other sports and the personalities come out, and that’s what fans are drawn to.”

NHL chief content officer and executive vice-president Steve Mayer knows this. Since joining the league in late 2015 after 20 years at talent and sports giant IMG, he has helped lead the charge to put more focus on star players whose abilities and personalities could play a role in attracting younger fans who are attached to social media in the digital age.

“Other leagues do this, and we really don’t do it as well — we want to get better at it,” Mayer said. “Other leagues it doesn’t really matter sometimes: You just tune in to watch the guy play. And we need to do that even more. … I want to be able to have fans even in (another) town (who) cannot wait to see Connor McDavid come to town because we have marketed him as one of our greatest players. I don’t know whether that happens enough.”

The NHL, Mayer said, has no interest in abandoning the team culture of hockey. But after a 2016 Magna Global study showed the average age of NHL fans rose 16 years over a span of 16 years — essentially stagnant — experts praised the league for trying to create more buzz among millennials and Generation Z.

“They recognize this, and they’re in a cultural shift, a cultural transformation within hockey,” said Stephanie Tryce, assistant of sports marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “Generation Z is about a lifestyle. They’re interested in things like social responsibility and they celebrate more of their identities than in the past, so that’s going to force hockey to continue to make inroads into other markets like the Hispanic/Latino market. It’s a market that you can’t ignore, but it’s also a market that historically hasn’t been in hockey. So you have to grow that.”

Matthews is at the centre of that. His father is from California, his mother is from Mexico and he grew up in a nontraditional American hockey market in Arizona. Moldaver works closely with Matthews’ parents to chart a course for off-ice endeavours, from commercials and endorsement deals to philanthropic efforts, all of which continue to grow for the 21-year-old.

McDavid’s star began at an even earlier age, and the 2017 NHL MVP who has arguably surpassed Sidney Crosby as the greatest player in the world is finding his voice off the ice, too. When NFL Canada asked Rams and Patriots players at the Super Bowl who McDavid was, several thought maybe the prime minister or an actor. Work is ongoing to make him more recognizable outside hockey.

Hockey is such a team sport that individualism has for decades been frowned upon. Adidas senior director Dan Near said it’s a delicate balance to try to sell personalities but not stray too far from the team.

“I think there’s a fine line between doing it to promote yourself a little bit and being cocky, and I think we’ve got a lot of guys that do a great job of treading that line,” Ottawa’s Bobby Ryan said. “You’re starting to see guys be promoted a little more, and it’s nice because then you get to see some individual personalities come out, and in a sport where you’re so often wearing helmets and gear, people don’t get to relate to you face-to-face.”

Teams have been reluctant to some of the league’s efforts sometimes until they see the final product. Mayer recalls showing owners and general managers clips of potential ideas and seeing the hesitancy for propping one player up before they understand the wide-ranging plan to give the NHL more exposure.

Initiatives like “Stanley Cup Confidential” where a player from each of the league’s 16 playoff teams shoots a daily cellphone video is another baby step.

“We are not here to break the culture. We’re just here to show that certain players are dynamic and have personality,” Mayer said. “Players are starting gradually to see, you know what, it’s OK. I’m not disrupting the locker room and it’s OK to show personality and have some fun and smile.”

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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP–Sports

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[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 23 - MTL - Convincing Complete

Is it accurate to call the Montreal Canadiens a rival? In the bare bones sense of them being in the same division and therefore a divisional rival it certainly would seem so, but really? The two teams have not met in a playoff series since the late 1990s and have somehow rarely been good at the same time. As is plainly clear with fans of any team, especially the Canadian-based ones, the Habs are the team to hate for their general snootiness about their hockey. But what axe to grind do the Sabres of Buffalo, NY have with them? Perhaps the plain and boring answer is just repetition and familiarity. The Habs fans filing into the arena every time they’re in town feels like a less clean version of the Leafs invasions. I digress; the way the Sabres have played the Habs this season has been a pace-maker tester every time. I watched the ending minutes of this game on my in-laws toilet and that felt like the right place given the intensity of this matchup as of late. This wild win streak began against Montreal but long before the win streak the Sabres met the Canadiens in October in what was quite a battle as well. This game stood as the opportunity to get three straight wins against hated rival (?) Montreal. It was also an opportunity to extend a seven game winning streak that already puts this Blue and Gold team in special company in franchise history up to eight straight.

Admittedly I was engaged in family affairs during this game. I am good Sabres fan though and I checked the score regularly, even turning on the stream when it seemed appropriate. Buffalo came out on a hometown high of goodwill still welling up from last game and the excitement of the crowd present. They got an edge in shots even a Tage Thompson shot that very nearly beat Antti Niemi in the first. It was Casey Mittelstadt who broke the ice who broke the ice at 12:39 on a rebounded Conor Sheary shot. It’s good to see Casey scoring more and it’s nice to begin to get the feel that this top six might be solid. Those two obviously have been doing well but Kyle Okposo who we feared would never be the same player last season has really gotten into a great way of things on that second line wing. Speaking of guys making their way into relevance again I mentioned Tage Thompson earlier but it’s worth repeating his name. He got how many GOOD shots on goal in this game? He didn’t get onto the score sheet but it’s almost as if he’s listened to some of the junk out there about him. He’s come around and is going to contribute: if not regularly now, then in time he will. Writing off this guy is not smart at this juncture. The second period saw a Montreal resurgence because the Sabres got to stink in one period right? Late in the period Canadiens Brendan Gallagher muscled a puck in past Carter Hutton that ended up getting called back for kicking it in. Gallagher wouldn’t be denied evidently and at 18:12 of the second period got his goal on rush. You probably don’t want Montreal native Nathan Beaulieu dropping to his knees defending that play but it was good shot either way. The game was even 1-1.  

The third period delivered some suspense that perhaps made you think about this winning streak in a new way. Montreal saw a morale booster win in front of them and pursued it. Jason Pominville got called for a weak holding penalty and Andrew Shaw would get credit for tapping in a David Schlemko shot on the ensuing powerplay to get the visitors up 2-1. The Sabres fought back but this game was getting long in the tooth in this period and one begins wonder if the win streak would end with who started with. We need to talk about Buffalo as a hockey city but we’ll save that for after the recap. There was less than three minutes left in regulation when Jeff Skinner batted in the juiciest rebound on the Thanksgiving leftovers day and tied it up. This one went to overtime. I sat perched on my in-laws toilet enjoying the stream at this point with some excitement. The Sabres dominated possession in the extra frame and possession in 3-on-3 hockey means a lot. Max Domi got called for slashing on Rasmus Ristolainen as he barreled in for a shot and the Sabres were on a 4-on-3 powerplay that just completely hemmed in the Habs. Tick tack toe passing a shot, a scramble in front of the net and who other than Jeff Skinner shot that puck through the net-crashing chaos to give Buffalo the Overtime win. 3-2 Buffalo, this win streak goes onto Christ’s number 8. One goal wins over the Habs maybe one of my favorite features of this season so far. For a brief shining moment this evening the Sabres were even top of the Eastern Conference. How about that?

So let’s talk; about two things: Buffalo Hockey and Jeff Skinner. Buffalo Hockey: so on Wednesday night friends and family were in town to see a Sabres team that swept a Western swing that looked to be something to behold. It was six wins in a row at that point including a couple at home. Chris “The Bulldog” Parker talked with Sal Capachio on that radio station your dumbest Sabres twitter follow says doesn’t talk about the Sabres enough before that Wednesday game about just what it meant for them to win that game. A couple home wins on a week like this after wins like that after years of the relative shitshow this team has been would win back hearts and minds. I reflected that sentiment after that Thanksgiving eve win. I bring it up again because there are two kinds of special: the kind when your team is special because they’re such a friggin good hockey team and the kind of special when your City and region is just so very behind them. In 2007 the Sabres had both. In 2018 I think we only have one so far. This team is special again as Buffalo and Western New York rally back behind a team that has really sucked for a while. The home market convincing is complete. The advanced stats still point to a Sabres team that is not exactly dominating in many categories and that’s worth noting. Don’t mourn too much when this win streak ends because while it is underlining a new, winning culture, it is not indicative of a team in Cup contention just yet. That said, Dom Luszczyszyn (yes, that is how his name is spelled) at the Athletic along with several other respected hockey reporters like Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman are not labeling this team an flash in the pan. They’re saying this level of play is for real even if the win streak or the place in the standings comes back down to earth a little.

We also got to talk about Jeff Skinner. With his two goal night tonight he took over possession of the league lead in goals. The rumor of him asking for 9.5 million over 7 or 8 years is at worst a starting point for negotiation and at best flatly untrue. No need to debate the truthfulness of that claim, it is what it is. What I do want to say is DO NOT LET HIM WALK. To all you prognosticators who are asking everyone to rein in the urge to call for a blank check for the guy check yourselves before you wreck yourselves: this guy is the best case scenario for an Eichel winger. He may be playing better than normal in a contract year but take a minute to think about this team minus Jeff Skinner. No matter how you cut it, it’s simply not as pretty a picture. I don’t anticipate the final number being near 9.5; yes we have to be aware of our salary cap in spite of how decent it looks to 2021. But a Jeff Skinner contract is the Sabres organization’s NUMBER ONE priority off the ice. If you think anything less than signing this guy is acceptable you are simply fucking wrong. Fight me.

You may be wondering why I didn’t bring up that little Lawrence Pilut call up fiasco. Don’t you worry, that will be the spearhead of a broader conversation in our next Amerks Update. That could’ve come sooner this month but I also happen to be in Grad School so sometimes updating this blog is down to the essentials. I’ll get there. I hope your friends find their way to this here blog. You should suggest it to them. If you’re still with family for a little while longer this weekend suggest it to them. My wife actually has mentioned it to my in-laws a couple times but I don’t think I need them diving into all the swear words from their daughter’s husband if you know what I mean. Like, share and leave me a comment if you got a hot minute. The Sabres open up their season series against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow and that feels like a fated matchup for some reason. Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I feel like we’re not talking enough about the Leafs two game losing streak. Let’s cheer that on.

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: Preseason GM 4 - TOR

Buffalo lost to the Leafs again, OH NO! Big deal guys, it’s the preseason. Call me a salty dog all you want. In Buffalo there is this adage that the Bills and the Sabres cannot be good at the same time. It’s really just another way Buffalonians talk about hating their sports plight. I like to pretend as a native of Rochester, NY that I am above the fray of these two perpetually losing teams but here I am writing a Sabres blog so obviously I have determined that out to be lacking. I resent the Leafs. I didn’t really in 2015. Sure, hockey coverage somehow revolves around that City. I get it, it’s the largest media market in Canada and hockey is one of the only ways Canadians can feel superior to anyone else so it’s not that hard to understand. I was annoyed time to time that Leafs fans like to call Western New York dirty… like physically because, well you come from a much larger, richer city so maybe pick on someone your own size. This relatively passive attitude died in 2016. After the Sabres were decried for tanking the year before as if they were shitting on Church steps the Leafs were lauded for putting themselves in the position to get lucky enough to draw Auston Matthews first overall. This wasn’t just Leafs fans, who have all the right to root for their team to tank and rebuild by the way, these were analysts on TV and writers at the Hockey News. The Hockey World seemed to decide the Leafs shit don’t stink after a year of condemning the riff raff down in Buffalo. Fuck off with that shit.

The Sabres have something now that makes them a worthy opponent for a Leafs team that has looked like Galactus outside the playoffs recently: a franchise number one defenseman. Rasmus Dahlin is going to be one of the most prolific Leafs killers ever and I cannot wait. He is very nearly already better than their whole defense combined. Yes, he is, fight me. Tonight we saw that rivalry can be fun again for Buffalo and not because some AHL starters fought. Jeff Skinner is a Sabre on a line with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. That is a combination I can believe in. Carter Hutton looked like a calming presence. Confidence in net is something that will help this team more than we can appreciate at the moment. And, once again, the Sabres made a game out of a matchup against the game genie team. Two 3-2 games against a 100+ point team last season? I’ll take it. Maybe I should get to the game recap. To be honest with you, I had to follow this game on twitter. I was in Erie visiting my sister-in-law. That’s why I felt comfortable leading in with a paragraph and a half rant but also take that as an indicator of how good this game was for the Sabres that following it over twitter still made me excited. I might just be too excitable.

Like all Battles of the QEW, it started with a Sabres goal. Kyle Okposo was free to shoot from the top of the circle and, through some bodies, got the puck past Calvin Pickard. Our former Golden boy turned Leafs sleeper agent Tyler Ennis assisted Auston Matthews on a tap in from in front early in the second to even the score. Those hockey aristocrats up there are really taking to the old menace. I mean: getting Matthews line minutes… over Tavares should be a good sign Agent Ennis is doing good work up in Hogtown… maybe too good. Jeremy Bracco scored the second Leafs goal on a screenplay past Hutton midway through the middle frame; and, in the dying minutes of the period Eichel passed to Reinhart (missed you, bud) who fed future 30-goal scorer Jeff Skinner a sausy little tap in. I don’t know if Housley will keep this line together, he should be allowed to experiment, but this already appears to be the line we’ve been dreaming of for Eichel for three years. C.H.E.M.I.S.T.R.Y. I’ll clamp down expectations but there is something there alright. Mark my words. The third period saw the second fight of the night between Tage Thompson and Andrew Nielson. With God as my witness I am on the side of letting fights in hockey die out for the sake of these guys health but can we stop and appreciate Tage Thompson fighting? So the dude is 6’ 5”: he probably got targeted a lot growing up. He kept punching while he was on his back getting grounded and pounded. He might have gotten better hits in from that position! Thompson is doing everything he can to demonstrate his desire to make this team. I have no reason to believe he won’t now.

This one ended 3-2: same shit, different night. If you’re decrying the death of a perfect preseason then take a breather and come back later to finish this. There is a lot to glean from this game, good and bad. First and foremost: Dahlin is just fine. He will make rookie mistakes and he needs to be allowed the room to do so. When he gets going he’s going to drag this team places himself. Not yet. Take a breather. Rasmus Ristolainen is still a scrappy SOB. Twitter made is sound like he was ready to kill poor Ennis a couple times like he forgot who he was. I’m eagerly waiting for the day he finds his groove on the second pairing. Once Dahlin starts to get up to stride I think Risto can finally settle into a position he fits into better. Nothing makes me more protective of the crazy muscle-bound madman like playing Toronto. Hmm, what else did twitter tell me about this game: faceoffs. Faceoffs? Are those my Ryan O’Reilly notes? Oh, apparently the Sabres won a lot of faceoffs. I guess the proverbial angry hockey dad who always calls into WGR can climb down off of that horse… nah, that argument is more of a pony. Sam Reinhart screening goalies, nice: I’ll take more of that.

Finally we’re staring down the barrel of the last week before the regular season. The trickle of prospects being reassigned to other teams turned into a torrent yesterday addressed to Rochester when seven guys were sent down the thruway back to the Flour City. My Amerks heart is excited to see those guys get started at the Bill Grey’s Iceplex but I expect the more painful reassignments to start coming. Vasily Glotov looked hungry and he was sent down but I suppose he’s not top five hungry boys. Playing Toronto is such an emotional drain; I for one am looking forward to the Blue Jackets in some adorable Utica suburb on Tuesday. I’m going to go to Training Camp tomorrow and just take it in… I’ll probably still tweet a ton but yeah, we’re on the home stretch now. The big night is coming up. Let me know your thoughts: did I talk about the Leafs too much? Probably. Does this read like I’m illiterate? Give me your worst and share this around. We’ll be off to the real games in short order here.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. If you haven’t read Robin Lehner’s piece in the Athletic then do that as soon as possible. It’s worth it. Please know that if you think you need help you are not alone. Get help. You are loved.