NHL Players Battle for Olympics: Best Hockey Vs. Four-Nation

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00:00 I'm going to give credit to Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League and their owners

00:07 who were really, really didn't want to participate in the Olympic Games.

00:12 The last Olympics, the players wanted to participate and they lost the battle with the owners.

00:19 This time, I think the players were more adamant about wanting to play.

00:23 The NHL responded with coming up with their little four nation thing or whatever that

00:27 nobody cares about and is ridiculously stupid and I'm sure that they regret announcing

00:32 because now they're actually playing in the Olympics.

00:34 Listen, Scott, you can look at this a couple of ways and I understand the Olympics aren't

00:39 supposed to be for millionaires.

00:41 I totally get that.

00:43 That horse left the track a long time ago, Scott.

00:49 Everybody's a pro in the Olympics and the players that were playing hockey in the Olympics

00:53 in the last couple of Olympics, they were pros.

00:55 They just weren't good pros.

00:57 They were pro dudes that were playing in European leagues or whatnot.

01:03 The fact is we want to see the best on best and hockey's been missing out on this.

01:08 Even the National Football League wants in on the Olympics because they see what it can

01:11 do for the brand, man.

01:14 NFL players are going to be in the summer games in LA in 2028 and it's going to be sick.

01:18 It's going to be cool.

01:19 It's going to be flag football, but it's going to be high level, big time stuff and it's

01:23 going to elevate the NFL globally.

01:26 Look at what the NBA does.

01:28 They embrace it, man.

01:30 They embrace the international play.

01:33 Hockey's always been an international play sport.

01:36 The most famous moments in hockey in Canada, the Summit Series, 1972, Russia, Canada played

01:41 an eight game series.

01:42 Let's see who's better, the communist or the free world.

01:45 Let's go head to head.

01:47 It went eight games, bro.

01:49 It was a battle for the ages known as the hockey series of all hockey series.

01:54 The miracle on ice was produced by a bunch of no name kids, but we're in a new world

01:59 right now.

02:00 We want to see best on best.

02:01 I tell you, Scott, that's the best hockey I've ever seen in my life and I've seen all

02:06 hockey.

02:07 I grew up in a hockey family.

02:08 I played hockey.

02:09 I've been around hockey.

02:10 I've covered hockey.

02:12 Some say the greatest game ever was the Montreal Canadiens and the Red Army, Ken Dryden versus

02:17 Tretiak, bro.

02:18 Epic game, two-two.

02:20 It's known if you just punch in greatest game ever played hockey.

02:25 That's what comes up.

02:26 In the old days, guys, it was so effing cool.

02:28 Remember, Scott, sports were cool then, bro.

02:31 The Canadians were like the kingpins of the NHL in the seventies.

02:35 They won six Stanley Cups.

02:37 On New Year's Eve, they would play Tretiak and the Red Army, man, for real.

02:43 In the middle of the season and it was real.

02:46 It was as real as it gets, man, because the Russian guys weren't in the NHL then.

02:50 So now everybody's sort of mixed in together.

02:52 It takes away a little bit of the international shine because, look, guys are teammates that

02:56 play with each other.

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