Speaker 1: Do you want to be an America.
Speaker 2: It's a little tight yesterday thought the USA women's hockey
Speaker 2: team was able to capture gold yesterday Milan. An incredible
Speaker 2: performance by the US women. Al Haisi has battled against
Speaker 2: fresh standers out of the ice Albert Pasper teller with
Speaker 2: Defatsman high schools to the next stop color the overton
Speaker 2: here the United States. It's gold to go on. US
Speaker 2: women beat Canada again to get a gold medal, and
Speaker 2: the men are playing today. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: US takes on Slovakia three right now, Canada and Finland
Speaker 2: are going those two teams win. They advanced to face
Speaker 2: each other in gold medal maax two point zero. This
Speaker 2: one for the men. And of course on this date
Speaker 2: forty six years ago this weekend, this happened eleven seconds.
Speaker 2: You got ten seconds going on right now? Brow you
Speaker 2: word his name mentioned in the last play, and that
Speaker 2: of course is Ken Morrill, gold medal winner nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: miracle on ice team out of Mile Ma Mater Bowling
Speaker 2: Green State University, four time Stanley Cup champion, US Hockey
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame and with the Islanders are pro Scott
Speaker 2: and can you welcome to the show. How you been brother.
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, Scott. It's always great to be talking
Speaker 1: hockey and Olympics with you.
Speaker 2: All right, thank any thanks for joining. I know you're
Speaker 2: super busy, so I appreciate it. You know, you saw
Speaker 2: Quinn Hughes score the o time overtime winner for the
Speaker 2: men to advance the semi's defenseman Megan Keller, defense woman
Speaker 2: for the United States women's team, she walked.
Speaker 1: Her by the way.
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, two defenseman scoring, you got
Speaker 2: to be pretty high, pretty proud of that, the fact
Speaker 2: being a defenseman normally that doesn't happen. But who has
Speaker 2: better hands back in the day, you or Megan Keller?
Speaker 1: Well she does right now, that's there. I mean I was.
Speaker 1: I was more known for my direct passes around the
Speaker 1: boards and my dumpings more than that.
Speaker 2: She walked her defenseman. I was like, man, that was
Speaker 2: a move.
Speaker 1: Wow, what a thrill? Yeah. Well, you know that's a
Speaker 1: game that will be remembered forever. And I mean, how
Speaker 1: about the dramatic endings in this Olympic tournament. You know,
Speaker 1: the women's game going to overtime, the gold medal game,
Speaker 1: and then the three or the four quarterfinal games. Of
Speaker 1: the men's the other day three of them went into overtime. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know that.
Speaker 2: The fact that the women, it has been unbelievably compelling
Speaker 2: to watch the women and most of those games, and
Speaker 2: you know, they're what three hundred and eighty minutes something's
Speaker 2: shut out, I mean insane, right, like sixteen periods of
Speaker 2: shut out of hockey. They have a lot up until yesterday,
Speaker 2: one goal, so two goals and outscore the other team
Speaker 2: thirty three goals to two. It almost harkens back to
Speaker 2: what you guys faced in the Dynasty of the Russians,
Speaker 2: of course in nineteen eighty beating the Russian men's team
Speaker 2: in the miracle ice game that you were in ken
Speaker 2: And it feels like that same kind of dominance in
Speaker 2: at least in this Olympics anyway.
Speaker 1: Well, yes, there's a great comparison there. You know, back
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty we didn't know it at the time,
Speaker 1: but you know, we inspired a whole generation of young kids.
Speaker 1: They came through in the nineties and turned into big stars.
Speaker 1: You know, they won the nineteen ninety six World Cup
Speaker 1: with players like Bill Gearn and Keith Kachuk and Mike
Speaker 1: Madonald and Chris Chellison right on down the line. And
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, we've got this newer generation
Speaker 1: that they inspired, and we're watching these these stars and
Speaker 1: superstars on Team USA play right now and then the
Speaker 1: women's game. Yes, they're doing exactly what we did back
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty. There's a lot of young girls out
Speaker 1: there that are going to start playing hockey because of
Speaker 1: what they watched on TV. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think about it, can you and
Speaker 2: your teammates in eighty are responsible before we are today
Speaker 2: in the sense is that, you know, women's sports was
Speaker 2: it was there, but it was not existent. Wasn't the
Speaker 2: late nineties that women's sports started coming on its own?
Speaker 2: And I will say the watching that game, it looked
Speaker 2: like for the US women's team, there's like ten of
Speaker 2: them out there the way they just dominated teams. And
Speaker 2: that's all on your shoulders, I would say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and this was by far, you know that.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have the teams in in the late
Speaker 1: nineties that want to gold medals there at the Olympics
Speaker 1: with Tammy Grenado and they started it all. And now
Speaker 1: we're seeing, you know, this, this newer generation of even
Speaker 1: better players coming through now and the pool is a
Speaker 1: lot deeper for the for the women's teams, and now
Speaker 1: we're seeing some of these other countries that are becoming
Speaker 1: very competitive. So it's just as I said, it's exploding
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say too. I mean, at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, you look at it, and certainly the
Speaker 2: NHL is the you know, it's it's the dog of
Speaker 2: North American I should say American sports. Anyways, Yeah, and
Speaker 2: it's a long, uphill battle. A lot of reasons why
Speaker 2: Americans you know, don't lean in the game of hockey,
Speaker 2: but it certainly has grown, and it's all because of
Speaker 2: what happened in nineteen eighty and now we're you know,
Speaker 2: we're celebrating women's hockey in addition to the men's team,
Speaker 2: and it'll be how cool will it be? By the way,
Speaker 2: if Canada can beat Finland here they're not doing so
Speaker 2: well right now, but it's early. If they could win
Speaker 2: and the US men advance, and now we have for
Speaker 2: the men's gold medal, it's Canada USA two point zero.
Speaker 2: I can't think of it more thrilling.
Speaker 1: Anyhow, well, we got a taste of it with the
Speaker 1: Four Nations tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right, the.
Speaker 1: Way it captured the country. And yeah, I mean we're
Speaker 1: seeing the best players in the world on the biggest
Speaker 1: stage in the world right now. And people have to
Speaker 1: remember with Olympic Hockey, it's not like the basketball tournament,
Speaker 1: you know, where you have a couple of powers and
Speaker 1: that's about it. In hockey, you've got six, seven, eight
Speaker 1: countries that are powers in hockey, So the games don't
Speaker 1: get any easier. I know, we like to pick favorites
Speaker 1: in this country, but right now, I mean Canada is
Speaker 1: in a fight. The US is going to be in
Speaker 1: a fight later this afternoon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Canada's really fighting it out right. By the way,
Speaker 2: bo Horva plays for Team Canada if they do indeed
Speaker 2: face the Americans. Uh, were you aside on that? When
Speaker 2: Cammy's an Islander, he's one of your guys? Yeah, how
Speaker 2: does that work for you?
Speaker 1: You can here for Yeah, I mean I care for
Speaker 1: him to have some individual success, but yeah, it's USA
Speaker 1: all the way for me.
Speaker 2: Well, guys, just scout. I'm like, I don't know we
Speaker 2: can root against him. That's a maybe. I don't know,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna go Mick Cronin on me there for
Speaker 2: a second with your answer, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: But.
Speaker 2: What do you what do you make a three?
Speaker 1: By the way, By the way, he's having a terrific
Speaker 1: us with the Islanders and he's become, you know, one
Speaker 1: of our leaders there.
Speaker 2: And right now with the with the with the Olympic break,
Speaker 2: you guys are holding still holding the playoff spot. So
Speaker 2: and you know, if you if you enjoyed this and
Speaker 2: you're new to hockey, watch NHL playoff or watch the
Speaker 2: games down the stretch, but particularly the postseason in NHL,
Speaker 2: there's nothing like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've had a good season so far, knocking and
Speaker 1: we're a fun team to watch. You know. We we
Speaker 1: had you know, something amazing happened in May and I
Speaker 1: was fortunate to be a part of it. We won
Speaker 1: the draft lottery and we get this young kid that
Speaker 1: just barely turned eighteen years old named Matthew Shaefer and
Speaker 1: he's already a big star in the league at eighteen
Speaker 1: years old, and it looks to be a future superstar.
Speaker 1: And you know, the fortunes of our franchise changed in May,
Speaker 1: and you know, joining an already good team and so
Speaker 1: it's just been a.
Speaker 2: Lot of fun to want it's been a long drought
Speaker 2: in a playoffs, but certainly Stanley Cup championships he won
Speaker 2: four straight, which is absolutely incredible. In Olympic hockey, the overtime,
Speaker 2: what do you make of the three on three over time?
Speaker 2: Are you old school? Going? I you know, twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: all players on the ice, everybody plays a three on three.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's I'm not a huge fan. It's exciting
Speaker 2: for the fans of the shootout in the NHL in
Speaker 2: the regular season, but three on three for all the
Speaker 2: Marbles and the Olympics. What do you make of that?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm old school and a lot of things,
Speaker 1: but I like it. I do like it. And here's
Speaker 1: the reason why I've watched over time since it was incorporated,
Speaker 1: I don't know, back in the early two thousands, I
Speaker 1: think in pro hockey, and I just see the excitement
Speaker 1: of the fans when they're watching it. It's it's just
Speaker 1: tremendous hockey to watch when these these skilled players have
Speaker 1: all this open ice. And I'd much rather see a
Speaker 1: game decided three on three than in a shootout. I'm
Speaker 1: not a fan of the soccer shootout, right, and I like,
Speaker 1: you know, to get a game decided, you have to,
Speaker 1: you know, pair down the numbers to three on three.
Speaker 1: If you go five on five, you could be playing
Speaker 1: another sixty minutes of hockey. I mean, I remember playing
Speaker 1: in a four overtime games with the New York Islanders.
Speaker 1: You know that was an extra two hours of hockey
Speaker 1: to decide in overtime game. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's just so tight and yeah, it's like
Speaker 2: I mean, it's exciting to watch. And I think it
Speaker 2: favored the US women particularly too, because of the speed element.
Speaker 1: That they had.
Speaker 2: But we'll see how this plays. I'd imagine the men's
Speaker 2: game if again, you know, you don't want to look
Speaker 2: past it, because everyone thought by the way, you know,
Speaker 2: speaking looking past things, you know something about this ken
Speaker 2: because you know, you beat the Russians everything. Oh yeah
Speaker 2: they won the gold medal. No they didn't. You had
Speaker 2: a whole other game to play after.
Speaker 1: That, exactly. And I don't know that a lot of
Speaker 1: people know it. Everybody knows the ice game, Soviets, but
Speaker 1: you know, the way it was set up back then
Speaker 1: was a little different. Right now, the way the Rockets work,
Speaker 1: they have two semi final games and a final with
Speaker 1: the two winners. Well, back in our day, back in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty, they had a medal round and so we
Speaker 1: carried in points from the preliminary round. So when we
Speaker 1: went into the medal round with the four teams, the
Speaker 1: Soviets already had two points because they had won their
Speaker 1: or their preliminary game against Finland. We carried in one point,
Speaker 1: Sweden carried in one point, in Finland carried none. So
Speaker 1: even though we had beaten the Soviets, there was still
Speaker 1: a chance that if we hadn't beaten Finland on that
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, that we may not have won any medal
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it wasn't like you guys rolled Finland. And
Speaker 2: there's the famous among many famous Herb Brooks quotes, of course,
Speaker 2: you know in the room there and the second if
Speaker 2: you lose this, you'll take it to your graves and
Speaker 2: he turns around and goes to your bleeping f and graves.
Speaker 2: And we saw that in the movie Miracle, which I
Speaker 2: think it's cool that a lot of the younger players,
Speaker 2: the men and the women for that matter, grew up
Speaker 2: watching that movie. They really know about the eighty team
Speaker 2: seen it live. Of course they weren't born, but they've
Speaker 2: all watched a miracle a million times and remember that
Speaker 2: was that realistic in what he said in the movie?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. Yeah, Yeah, you don't forget, you know,
Speaker 1: after giving this great after giving this great motivational speech.
Speaker 1: You know, before the Russian game, you were born to
Speaker 1: be a player, you were meant to be here. This
Speaker 1: is your moment too. Yes, is coming into the locker
Speaker 1: room at the end of the second period. We were
Speaker 1: down to one and if you lose this game, you'll
Speaker 1: take it to your bleeping grave. And as the guys
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, he wasn't a swearing man, so yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, bus Schneider I think was quoted as saying,
Speaker 1: we knew what he meant, you know, we knew what
Speaker 1: he was trying to get across. How does that?
Speaker 2: How was something like that go over?
Speaker 1: Ken?
Speaker 2: How's that something go over in the room? And we
Speaker 2: saw the reaction to the movie. But like you personally,
Speaker 2: when we dropped that line and he swore, which he
Speaker 2: doesn't swear, and he did that, it's like, did that
Speaker 2: put more pressure on you? Did it? What's your reaction
Speaker 2: as a professional.
Speaker 1: Athlete to that? No, you know, here's a great story.
Speaker 1: Our assistant coach Craig Patrick was standing outside the locker room.
Speaker 1: I'd never heard the story until a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and he said Herb came up to him at the
Speaker 1: end of the second period. Again we're down to one,
Speaker 1: and Herb says, Craig, you got to go into the
Speaker 1: room and talk to the guys. They're just now listening
Speaker 1: to me. So Craig says, he turned around, stepped into
Speaker 1: the room and he said he got two words out.
Speaker 1: He said, hey, guys, and he said. Everybody was up
Speaker 1: on their feet, jumping up and down. Jack O'Callahan, i think,
Speaker 1: turned to him and said, Craig, get the heck out
Speaker 1: of here. There's no way we're losing to a bunch
Speaker 1: of Finske said, he turned out round, walked back out
Speaker 1: or said. How did it go? He said, I think
Speaker 1: went okay. So having said that, yeah, we were you know,
Speaker 1: we had this group of you know, character guys. All
Speaker 1: of these guys on our team had been captains and
Speaker 1: saw and we knew what was in front of us,
Speaker 1: and our proudest moment through the whole two week tournament
Speaker 1: was that third period and came out and just blew
Speaker 1: them out of the water.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you turned you turned it on and kind
Speaker 2: of like the women did yesterday, you know, they they
Speaker 2: they came out pretty flat, and they were flat for
Speaker 2: most of that game, and then you could tell the
Speaker 2: tide was starting to turn midway a little bit more
Speaker 2: than midway through that third period with the US women
Speaker 2: in Canada yesterday, and they spent a lot of time
Speaker 2: in their zone and finally Polo goalie and and I
Speaker 2: wind up scoring with a couple of minutes left, the tying,
Speaker 2: the one that sent to OT and then the OT winner.
Speaker 2: So the little parallels there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, credit to Canada. They played a really strong game,
Speaker 1: and you know, the US was the better team going
Speaker 1: into the game, but it kind of shows you what
Speaker 1: can happen when a team really buckles down and he
Speaker 1: gets some good goaltending. So hey, you know, the US
Speaker 1: came through with the heart of a champion with the
Speaker 1: way they came back and won that game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so fun to watch Ken Morrill, member of
Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty Miracle on Ice team, joining the Scotsland's here
Speaker 2: show here on seven hundred w ALW with the men
Speaker 2: playing this afternoon Canada in a game right now against
Speaker 2: Finla they're down to the first intermission. I don't want
Speaker 2: to ruin it for you here, but it's still early.
Speaker 2: A lot of hockey left to be played there. So uh,
Speaker 2: it is an incredible story and one that is going
Speaker 2: to be absolutely timeless. Would this be if the women
Speaker 2: win gold, the men win gold? Let's say, is that
Speaker 2: the pinnacle of US hockey? Do you think you have
Speaker 2: the men and the women both gold medal champions?
Speaker 1: Well, I think you would have to say so. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they'll let's you know, they'll never
Speaker 1: be another nineteen eighty. I'll first of all, I'll say that,
Speaker 1: you know, the way it's been remembered, the way it
Speaker 1: will always be remembered. There's no as al Michael said,
Speaker 1: what could top that? Nothing? Nothing, you know, but that
Speaker 1: having said that, yes, this would be the pinnacle. The
Speaker 1: US has been building towards this for many years. You know,
Speaker 1: we've we've become a superpower on the hockey stage, and
Speaker 1: this would just be Yeah, this would top it all off. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, these are professional players, but it's the
Speaker 2: world's best athletes going at it. I know there's something
Speaker 2: And these days when we talked Ken about nil money
Speaker 2: and all that, but you know, at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, it's about watching the best athletes perform at
Speaker 2: the peak level of their sports. And we'll see that
Speaker 2: with in other sports as well, where professional athletes are
Speaker 2: allowed to play. Because for the longest time, you know,
Speaker 2: and this is the knock on the Olympic committees from
Speaker 2: the USA, is that, you know, the Russians we mentioned
Speaker 2: the beginning in Soviets, for a long time had professional
Speaker 2: grown men playing a boys sport, and that's why they
Speaker 2: just dominated as long as they did that. This is
Speaker 2: more compelling to me than that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, hey, you know, the Olympics are the pinnacle
Speaker 1: in the sports world and I think, you know, you
Speaker 1: have a lot of these players, let's say, all these
Speaker 1: hockey players that have played for Stanley Cups, that have
Speaker 1: played for world championships. This is on another level and
Speaker 1: I think they're finding that out guys that haven't had
Speaker 1: this experience. All you got to do is just look
Speaker 1: at their faces, you know, of all these athletes, the pride,
Speaker 1: the exhilaration, sometimes the heartbreak that comes with the Olympics,
Speaker 1: it's just yeah, it's it's it's a sporting event unlike
Speaker 1: any other yeah.
Speaker 2: Ken, more, if I want to let you go, there
Speaker 2: are many people in the world who have won a
Speaker 2: gold medal and also one in your case, four Stanley
Speaker 2: Cup rings as well. Is there something and I play
Speaker 2: off hockey's the greatest, but is there something that the
Speaker 2: camp Becket complicated? Even with the Stanley Cup run that
Speaker 2: you got on the Olympics?
Speaker 1: Boy, I you know, I can't think of anything. You know,
Speaker 1: I've I've it's so fortunate to be able to compare
Speaker 1: the two experiences of winning and gold medal and then
Speaker 1: winning a Stanley Cup. And yeah, at least in the
Speaker 1: hockey world that you know I've As you said, I
Speaker 1: was the only one for a long time that had
Speaker 1: that had won both. And then when players come in,
Speaker 1: there's been some other players. But let's help we can
Speaker 1: see some some US players, players that pull that feet off.
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 2: Well, Kenny, thanks for this. I appreciate I know you're
Speaker 2: you're probably talked out about it, but maybe I mean
Speaker 2: this time every year people blow you up, but especially
Speaker 2: the Olympics. But I so appreciate taking time out of
Speaker 2: your schedule to chat here Instincy.
Speaker 1: Always fun to talk hockey.
Speaker 2: Thanks all right, pal, take care. Thank you, Ken Morrow,
Speaker 2: Stanley Cup Champion, nineteen eight OL Miracle on Ice team
Speaker 2: Bowling Green alumni. What's not to love about all that?
Speaker 2: It's pretty exciting. Yeah, if you're just into the sport
Speaker 2: now and going, wow, this is pretty this is pretty good.
Speaker 2: You know, we've got great hockey with the Cyclones here
Speaker 2: locally if you want to watch it live. But also
Speaker 2: you know, the NHL second season is about the start
Speaker 2: and there's there's really nothing better. So you talk about playoffs,
Speaker 2: it is something to see for sure. Let me get
Speaker 2: a time. I'm out in We got Allie Martin in
Speaker 2: the way local loop of course, because we're keeping it lighter.
Speaker 2: We got some heavy stuff happening, actually breaking news this morning,
Speaker 2: and we'll get more and I'm sure Willie's going to
Speaker 2: get more in this this little time to chat up
Speaker 2: on it. I'll get back on it a Monday. And that,
Speaker 2: of course is the Supreme Court striking down Trump's tariffs.
Speaker 2: Huge news. We'll get a full recap as this story
Speaker 2: is just developing here on seven hundred WLW