Latest / Your Dark Companion Podcast / Belfour Spirits: from Pipes to Playoffs | Ed Belfour | Ep 217
Transcript
- Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Ryder, sports talk. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay. Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. The Texas Rangers win the world series. Alright. Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams. Don't what? You said tip. Yeah. Tip. Okay. With a p. Keep jamming. Alright. This is your dark companion. Hey there, kids. We are at SpaceX. EarthX. EarthX. That's a what? The fourth time I've done that? At least. Yes. SpaceX. I got SpaceX through my head. It is not SpaceX. No. It is EarthX. More specific. Don't be like me. Just remember, EarthX. That is what we're at or where we're at. It's at the Anatol Hotel today. Mhmm. And if you like earth and space and time being a flat circle and all the stuff that goes along with that that I can't possibly comprehend, they have guys in here who can and do that for a living. And it's a trip to come down here and just walk around and know that you are in the presence of guys who are a whole, whole lot smarter than you are. And they can do things and understand things that you can't. It's kind of intimidating, really. I'll tell you something else that's kind of intimidating and that is being in the presence of the guy that is sitting between me and Shupee today. At this most wonderful time of year, especially because some pretty, pretty, pretty good days and good nights were what we were treated to back in the day and it was largely because of the work of this man between the pipes. He is the great Ed Belfort. Alright. Thanks for having me, Mike. Awesome. Appreciate being here. Well, we appreciate you being here. Man, I've I've to have you on for a long time but you're always kind of intimidating, foreboding figure in the room and I figured you that you didn't like doing stuff like this. So, I didn't ask but as things turn out, now, you've got a pretty good reason to it because you're in another game right now. Yep. Exactly. Tell us a little bit about what you're up to here. Well, these are my creations. We have bourbon whiskey here. This is our one zero seven proof wheated bourbon. Yes. This is Belfort Spirits we're talking about. Yes. Belfort Spirits. Been at it for ten years. It's a family business. Really enjoy what I'm doing, you know, post hockey. Of course, you know, during my career, we had a chance to learn a lot about the different types of bourbon. I would imagine there was an opportunity or two for that. Yeah. Yeah. Every once every once in a while. And so we've we've narrowed it down to a really nice, easy, smooth drinking wheated bourbon here. This is our one zero seven proof like I was mentioning, small batch bourbon, and this is our bourbon finish with Texas pecan wood. And huge inspiration was we have this huge pecan tree in the back of our ranch here in Texas at the time period when we started this business. And How long ago was that? We started looking into this right around February, and, you know, started Belfort Spirits in 2014. Went to school and learned about the the business, how to make bourbon. My son, Dane, he did an internship at Woody Creek Distillery in Basalt, Colorado. Made our first 12 barrels rye whiskey. Me being Canadian, we wanted to make sure we had great rye whiskey and, you know, so he created the first 12 barrels. We turned it into something very special, won gold awards at all the competitions. And we what we did with that package, we put a a beautiful silver cup on top of it and beautiful packaging, and it was a tribute bottle to the 1999 Stanley Cup champions that I was so lucky to be part of. The Dallas Stars at that time gave one of each one of those bottles with my teammates names and numbers on the bottles. Amazing packaging, a lot of fun. I'm a very creative guy. The Texas pecan is our best seller, and very smooth, easy to drink. People love it. So thanks for asking about it. Thanks for allowing me to talk about it. Oh, yes. Wouldn't would not think of letting you get get out of here without telling us what you're up to today with this stuff because I've heard people talk about it, and they do say that it's very good. Yes. Well, thank you. I've never heard anybody say anything less than that, that it's very good. Yeah. Well, if it's got my name on it, believe me, I've done the research, the development. You know, it's not just another regular celebrity brand where somebody slapped their name on some MGP and a cheap bottle. You know, the packaging goes back to the nineteen twenties, the Gatsby era. And the story behind that is my grandma and grandpa Balfour, 1920, that's them. They look like the Peaky Blinders crew. That's them on their honeymoon in 1920. So my understanding from my mom and dad was that they used to dabble in some spirits on the the Belfour Farm back in the twenties and thirties. So how fitting. Right? Yeah. Very Art Deco and Gatsby like. I had people in my extended family that used to do the same thing. So it was a fairly common thing back then, I suppose. Yes, for sure. I mean, think about prohibition, you know, a lot of big families made, you know, their wealth during that time period and, you know, most of that whiskey came from Alberta, Canada or Manitoba, Canada. That was a time when you had to do what you had to do to get along and Yep. That was the way people got along back then. Yeah. There was a lot of bartering going on. Yeah. As always. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, at this most wonderful time of year, every year, I start thinking back to that magical year of 1999 and just how wonderful that was. Now, in the interim, I was telling someone today that, you know, we got another playoff game coming up tonight, and I would not dream of missing it because I'm a local guy. I was born and raised right here for most of my time coming up through my teenage years in my 20, even into my thirties and forties. Hockey was kind of a rumor. But now, you guys show up here and long story short, I'm a hockey fan. I wouldn't miss this thing tonight. Not for anything. It's a great game. Yeah. It's, it's an amazing time of the year. It's my favorite time. The best time to watch hockey. And, you know, I was so blessed to be part of the ninety nine Stanley Cup team here in Dallas. You know, Texas does actually have a rich history in hockey. You know, there's been a lot of very famous players that have played here in Texas, Gordie Howell being the biggest name Mhmm. And his two sons played together in Houston with the arrows. So that was really cool. And for me, you know, when mister Hicks brought the team here, god bless him. We're all gonna miss him. And, you know, I was like I said, I was blessed to be part of that team. So thankful that, you know, he hired Bob Gainey, and, Bob put together an amazing, coaching staff with, you know, Ken Hicks and, you know, Rick Wilson and and Jarv and, you know, brought in all the great players, Brett Hall, Nuendyke, Zuboff, Hatcher, Carbonell, Keene. I mean, just an amazing group of guys. Lettin and Madonna. I mean, how many hall of famers. Right? Yeah. Bob Gainey was the mastermind behind everything. And, you know, for me that was my dream ever since I was four or five years old was to hoist the Stanley Cup. And, you know, I still can visualize what exactly what happened when, Holly scored that goal. And I'm at the other end just looking down and I'm, oh my gosh. Did that just really happen? And, of course, it did. And, you know, we got to have an amazing amazing times with the fellas after that. The fans here are are second to none, and the Dallas Stars both then and now do an amazing job of promoting Stars hockey and, you know, engaging the fans and the experiences that they provide for for the fans are second to none. I'm always glad to be part of all the alumni events. And, again, this time of the year, you we watched game one. Wasn't so good. You know, it didn't go our way at all, but, you know, sometimes a game like that, you know, it you need a kick in the butt, and that was our kick in the butt. Game two, we came out. Some big hits happened during that game in game two, and sometimes, you'll that's what it takes. You know, I think back about some of the big hits that Darian Hatcher, you know, put on guys, you know, during those playoffs. And and that gets the team revved up and and the motivation. The fans get behind the team. It creates that extra energy you need. So I think tonight's gonna be pretty exciting to watch. I was fortunate enough to be in the arena for both games, one and two, and you are absolutely correct on that. The vibe in two was so different from one. It was not even funny. Yeah. And that's the thing about hockey that I don't understand because I didn't really grow up with the game and there's a lot of things about the hockey mentality that I just don't get. I probably never will. But it seems like, you know, when you have a game like that, then you turn around and the next in the next game, you just take it to them. Take it to the other guys like the stars did the other night. Yep. There's no question. They were more physical. They were just they were just out to kick ass as much as anything else. You gotta play with that grit, that Yeah. That anger, and and, you know, that mentality that we're not gonna back down. And, you know, it it carries over. And, you know, it's it's a battle of that that strength, that that mentality, and that, you know, wolf pack mentality. And, you know, I'm hoping that those guys, you know, after winning game two tonight, you know, it's gonna be a rough game to win tonight. And that's when you're gonna see, like, is it gonna is it gonna build on your game two? And are they gonna bond? And are they gonna go out there and not back down? Because, you know, I'll guarantee you the wild are gonna come out and play a, you know, much tougher game. And, you know, they're pissed off right now. Yep. So you gotta match that, and you gotta build on on what you did in in game two. And that's that's how you gain that that, you know, momentum and the the mindset that, hey. You're not gonna beat us. You know, another thing I don't understand hockey is about hockey is you guys, you know, when we talk to you in the room or something like that or before a game, after a game, you're all very mild mannered. I mean, you're nice guys. You you suffer fools like us fairly well and it's always it it it's just a a pleasure talking to you guys. Yet, there comes a time in there somewhere where all of that that script just totally flips. And you get the game face on. You get the game mentality on. Yeah. Is there a guy in the room that that gets that going going and sets the tone for that? There definitely is. There's always one for sure. And when you have, you know, a group of guys in that room that, you know, like Darian Hatcher and Mike Keane and Carbonell. And and those type of guys, Ludwig, Mavichuk, are so determined. And, you know, when they get their game face on and and it starts in practice. You know, when you go out on the ice and practice and you start, you know, working hard in practice, it carries over into that game. The fans help carry it over. And, you know, you get that extra that push from the fans. It it means a lot to us. You know, the music that you play in the locker room when you get on a streak, we played the same, you know, tunes every warm up, every game, and it just creates that routine, that winning attitude. And, you know, I came here in '97, and, you know, I remember our first day at training camp with Bob Gainey. And it starts with, you know, with your GM and your coaches and then your leadership, Darren Hatcher and and your captains. And, I remember Bob came in in, you know, beginning training camp and he says, boys, we're here for one thing and that's to win the Stanley Cup. And we're gonna play a system. We're gonna play tough defense. And anybody who doesn't wanna play that way, come see me after this meeting, and we'll send you on your way. And that was exactly what I loved. And I was like, yes. This is what I wanted to hear. And every guy in that team, you know, has that grit. And when you have, you know, the majority of the team that thinks that way, you're pretty much unstoppable. Now I'm I'm kind of having trouble remembering exactly how you got here. Was it a trade or or or Free agency. Oh, free you came here as a free agent? Yep. July 1 is when, you know, free agency starts at actually 12:00 midnight, and all those deals are done within usually the first ten minutes, you know, of July 1 midnight. So you're always waiting up, you know, at that time period with your agent and, waiting to hear back. You know, you can make calls and they can make calls to you and, you know, you wanna get the deal done as soon as possible because you got a couple of teams you wanna play for. Yeah. Ours was the Dallas Stars first pick and and thank goodness, we matched. They wanted me and we wanted to be a Dallas Star and amazing. So that's all. Yeah. July 1. Where might you have gone had you not gone to the stars? Were you looking at any other second possibility? Yeah. Back then it was Philadelphia Flyers. Bobby Clark was also one of the guys that I really respected as a kid, and he was running the Philadelphia Flyers, Manitoba boy, and, played for the Flin Flom bombers. It's a great name. Yeah. Exactly. He's still there too. So, yeah. I mean, if it didn't work out, that was, you know, another option for us. But it doesn't sound like there was a whole lot of waiting or worry that it was gonna be anyone but the stars. Yeah. No. Exactly. And and timing's everything. You know, we had hoped that they were going to be looking. You just never know. And we're fortunate. You know, Andy did Andy Moog did a great job for the stars. And when we called up, you know, there was an option for us to come and, you know, I was just very fortunate and blessed to have that option to come here, you know, being in the same division. We knew each other really well. You know, I was a Blackhawk for ten years before that, so we had many rivalries against one another. And, I knew their team well, and they knew me well. How easy was it to fit into that chemistry? I would imagine they were pretty damn excited to have a goaltender of your caliber, but I'm sure there's also, you know, maybe some personal battles that had gone on in the ten years that you were with the Blackhawks. It's a little easier as a goalie, but there there's definitely a weird feeling when you first, you know, get to to meet the fellas, and, you know, you're hoping that you're accepted. And I remember I I first time went out with, Mavichuk and a couple of other guys, you know, they're trying to welcome me to the team. I got this awesome suit on and, you know, we're, walk Matt has got his arm around me. He's like, you know, so glad you're here and stuff. And we're walking by his his swimming pool, and he's just poof. Pushes me right in the swimming pool. And I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm I'm gonna get out and kick his ass. Right? And they're all laughing, of course. And I really took a couple deep breaths. I'm like, okay. I get it. Were you ready to come out swinging maybe? Yeah. For sure I was. I guess back then, you knew you were one of the boys. Yeah. No. That was exactly it. I was like, I jump out and give him a big hug. Nice. Love you guys. Aw. Not a bad hazing ritual. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. So, you know, this is and and, Maddie, if you if you remember when we won the cup, the majority of the bench skated to the other end where Holly and Moe and and Letts were, and they all jumped on on those guys and were, you know, hugging and kissing and and screaming and and crying. And Matt Machuk skated towards me full speed, and we met each other at at at the Blue Line in mid air, if I remember. And we're rolling around on the ice. We got a couple of photos of that. I'm sure I'm sure the fans were like, oh my god, what are those guys doing? A little bit more going on there maybe than we know. But, no, it was, it was amazing. And, you know, Maddie and I, lots of great memories together. And a lot of people don't know this, but Maddie and Lugs and I, we also won a championship together here with the Allen Americans. Yeah. We put together a team, you know, here in in Allen, Texas called the Allen Americans in the minor leagues. And we we helped, you know, coach that team to a championship with Steve Martinson as our our coach who we chose. Brought him in here, and I think he won four championships in a row. Mhmm. He's back here again with the All Americans helping coach them, Hopefully back to another championship. So I wish those guys the best too. Pretty awesome. Yeah. What was Bob Gainey like? He's a guy that we didn't get to know very well. You know, he was the first coach when when the team moved here. Yep. But he was I don't know. Number one, I I want just wasn't around him that much, but I we just never really got a feel for him. Yeah. Well, that's Bob. And and believe me, it's hard to get to know Bob. He's just like that, and I'm sure there's a lot of people who say the same thing as what you just said. But Bob was a mastermind. He knows the game. You know, he comes from the Montreal Canadian system. You know, how many Stanley Cups did they win? 25? Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So Just about all the Stanley Cups ever. Yeah. Exactly. But, you know, Bob, he just has that that canny ability to watch the game, watch the players, and he just has that feel and and the composure. He has that composure, you know, when when when he talks, you you listen and you pay attention, and, you know, he he gains the respect of of the room and everybody around him. He's very fair, but on on his mind, his agenda, his experience, it's all about winning. And and he brings in the guys who have that mentality, that that extra, you know, that extra gear you need in the playoffs, and that's what he built. He built a playoff team. You know? Yeah. We were older, but he knew every guy on that team. He knew all all of their backgrounds, where they came from, you know, how hard they compete, you know, how easy they were to coach, and, you know, we love Bob, respect him. Every time I'm around him, I'm just in awe and, always enjoying my time around him. Again, not many words but pay attention to what he says. Yeah. Alright. As long as we're going down the coaching trail, probably the guy that we got to know the best because we did a weekly coaches show with him every week was Hitch. And I mean, I will tell you right now, I love Hitch. I mean, Hitch did a lot to shape my sports thought. Just his his more conceptual meanderings about sports and the game of hockey and how it all fits in together and everything. He did a lot to shape my sports thought. What was your experience with it like? Hitch was amazing. You know, a completely different background, but, you know, you wanna meet somebody who loves the game and will do anything for the game. You know, one of the best, you know, hockey brand ambassadors you'll ever meet is Ken Hitchcock. He'd do anything for the team, for the guys. You know, when I came here, you know, he just took care of me and my family. My family was still in Chicago. Anytime the kids would come in for a visit, you know, he would give me the time needed with my kids. Mhmm. They're always welcome in the locker room on the ice. You know, he cared about family, cared about each and every player. Yeah. Was he tough? Yeah. Of course, he was, but you have to be a tough coach to to get, you know, the winning atmosphere, the respect needed. He was a stickler for details, and and he wanted the the game played a certain way. And it was proven a winning system and had the assistant coaches there to support him with with Jarv and Rick. Mhmm. And and Bob, of course. You know, Bob was the foundation, the backbone behind everything. But Hitch, the passion, and, you know, never let off the gas pedal. And, you know, I I had a couple of good conversations with Hitch early on. And, you know, me being a veteran at that time, practice for me sometimes was a little overrated, and I I used to tell Hitch, hey, Hitch, I don't need to practice today. And he'd be like, what are you talking about? We got practice. You'd on the ice. And and of course, you know, I'd get on the ice and practice and stuff, and then, you know, I'd I'd like to do my own thing, my own way. And there were times there were certain drills that just didn't really fit on creating good habits for a goalie. And I I'd have that conversation with Hitch, and he'd be like, just get in there and stop the puck. And I'm like, Hitch, yeah, I trust me. That's my my goal is to get in there and stop the puck and help us win the Stanley Cup. But, you know what, just just hear me out. And we would sit there and have conversations about, you know, how goalies like to do things, how I like to do things. And and I I told him once, I go listen, Hitch. Here's the deal. You know, I'm here to help win a Stanley Cup or championship, and I'm not here to be the best practice goalie. K? I go, if you want me to be the best practice goalie, hey, I can go out there and and stop every puck in practice and, you know, and waste a lot of energy and time in practice. I know what I'm doing. I need to save that energy for the games. And I said, trust me, Hitch. This will pay off in the end because you want me to play 60 plus games. That's a lot of games for a goalie and to practice full time. And I'm I'm sure there's a lot of goalies out there listening to this right now who plays a lot of games. And and if you're expected to practice full time and play over 60 games, it it puts a lot of stress on you and then come playoffs, sometimes you can be a little tired. Yeah. And I said, Hitch, here's the deal. You want me at my best during the games? Trust me. There's gonna be certain days that I need to take off from practice. And once we had that conversation, he had an understanding, and he he's like, okay, Ed. I get it. And he started realizing that we had an older team, and there were times when the older players didn't have to practice. And that's it took him a while to to understand that, but he got it. He was good with it. I think it was a contributing factor to us winning the Stanley Cup and being very successful. So hats off to Hitch for understanding that. Love the guy. Yeah. He's he's awesome. And I I my understanding is now he's plays a huge part in the NHL. Think took over a big role with the headquarters, I believe. With the league, Yeah. So I'm not surprised by that because he does love the game. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You know, Hitch and I went into the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame together. Yes. So that was that was fun. We got to have some dinners together, catch up on some old times, and have some good laughs. As you look back on that time, who was your favorite teammate? Oh, I mean, so many great teammates, obviously. It was Alright. Let's say favorite teammates. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Well, Blake Sloan, one of my favorite teammates, Tony Hercus. And a lot of people don't know this, but Tony and I have a a longer history together than than most know. We played college hockey together with the Fighting Sioux and won NCAA championship together, And it was the Hercas Circus is the reason why we won. That was the the the nickname that they gave, his line. You know, Steve Johnson and Bob Joyce, our captain. But but Herc was an amazing player for us, and, we went 40 wins, eight losses with the Fighting Sue. Gino Gasparini was our head coach, John Marks, former Blackhawk and Sue, and, Carrie Eads and Dean Blaise. Then Herc and I also played together in Chicago with the Blackhawks, and then, together in Dallas with the stars and winning the Stanley Cup. So Herc and I are really close to this day. Blake Sloan and I, Maddie obviously and Ludds. Mhmm. You know, we always hung out together, Hatch. The d guys kinda Yeah. We were always together, hanging out together, looking out for one another. Believe me, there were many a times that Ludd saved my butt. Thanks, Ludd's. Is that, probably on the ice and off? More so off. We'd like to have a lot of fun. I think everybody knew that. Yeah. The that's We heard. We heard. We heard. Yeah. Things got back around to us from time to time. Yeah. Exactly. Oh, god. What great times that was, though. I mean, it and and, you know, it it was still kind of fairly new here to us, you know? We really hadn't quite become acclimated to it just yet. Yeah. So, it was all new and just a a whole new sports. Yeah. Sports story opening opening up right in front of us. It was so great, man. It was amazing. And and think about it back then. You know, we could go out to the bar after the game. And if you remember, we had the tent, you know, tied to the arena, live music, and the bars. And, I mean, you know, it was just an amazing time for us guys because we could hang out with the fans and have a good time and, you know, have a have a few pops with the fans. And it wasn't a big deal. It was part of the game, very social, you know, atmosphere. And, that was an era where which I'm so glad that I got to be part of because at the end of my my career, I ended in o eight, you know, it wasn't like that. You couldn't really go out because of the social media, people taking pictures of you and then posting things and and and telling lies about, you know, the situations at hand. It wasn't where we could go and have fun with the fans, and they loved it, we loved it, and there was no, you know, making people look bad on the Internet the next day. Yeah. Were were there places you could go where there where, you know, so much of that didn't go on though that you guys had? I mean, back then, we didn't have all that stuff. You you I mean, once it came in, once it started coming in, were there other places where that were a little bit safer for you? A little lower key. Yeah. It was at Vinnie Paul's place. That'll do it. Yep. That will do it. Yeah. Vinnie was he was our our probably one of our biggest fans. You know, God bless Vinny too. You know, he was just amazing, you know, Dallas Stars ambassador. Obviously, you know, the band and the song, of course. And Dallas, scars. And we still have it. Right? Darn right now. Oh, yeah. Love those guys. Had so much fun with Vinny and the crew and the obvious Stanley Cup incident at at Vinny's place. Hey. I wasn't part of it. Okay. We believe that. I'll believe you. I think it was Ludd's. I'm gonna believe that. That would have been my guess anyway. Yeah. I would have had to go with that too. Yeah. Yeah. Love Luddy. Yeah. For sure. That was a great crew you guys had. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. Great team, great crew, and, you know, you guys were serious about it when you needed to be when it came time to to get the game going and everything, but when that was over with, you're even greater. Yeah. No. That's I mean, you said it earlier. You know, off the ice, after the game, you know, we're very social. We love to have fun. We love to party with the fans, And, you know, that that was a very close knit group. We went everywhere together and partied together, and, you know, those are times that I'll never forget. And, the fans loved it. The fans were amazing. They still are. And, you know, I love it when we get back together with the fellas and all the old stories come out. And and and the fans love to come out and say hi and hang out with us because they know they can. Yeah. Yeah. That was another thing about hockey players that we learned really quick. You guys are a whole lot more down to earth and a whole lot more accessible. Oh, yeah. Then, you know, some of the guys in the other sports were. Yeah. And there's no knock on them. It's just kind of a. Different culture. Yeah. Yeah. A different culture. That's our culture. It's always been that way. You know, I remember coming into the league, you know, back in 1987. That's when I signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, and I got to meet my heroes, Bobby Hall, Tony Esposito, Stan Makita. We had Steve Larmer, Dennis Savard, Keith Brown. You know, we had those guys that took us under their wing, and they took us out and showed us the ways and and how we did things. And hockey's always been that way, all the way back to, you know, junior hockey, college hockey, very social. We love to have fun. It's always been that way, and and I just hope it doesn't go away completely. It has to some extent. You know, you got 18 year old kids playing in the league now. Yeah. They're amazing players when they're young. The the game is so fast and, you know, obviously, these guys can't go out and do those things that we did, and and they're protected, very protected nowadays. Yeah. I I feel kinda sorry for them that they didn't get to do all those things, but I know for sure they find ways to have fun too because that's just That's just the way it goes. Yeah. Of course. They just made me more subtle with it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And, you know, my goal here is to have a a Belfort venue. I've been working on that for a while, and, that's my goal is to have a venue with live music. You know, I'll be accessible. My teammates will be there having fun. Great food, live music, you know, some fun experiences with BELFOR spirits, barrel dumps. People will be able to bottle their own stuff. And, you know, I will I'll be right there beside them having funds with them. That's my goal is to have a a Belfour venue like that. And we're not sure where it's gonna be yet, but I'll guarantee it's gonna be here somewhere in the, DFW Metroplex. Maybe we'll have a little space for a podcast studio. That's that's exactly right. We will for sure. Yes. A nice postgame podcast. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I love it. Yep. That would be alright. So do you think the Stars team is presently constituted has the right stuff? Because, I mean, I I think I've watched this team all year long, and for the most part, there have been, you know, a little bit of ebb and flow here especially lately but for the most part, I thought we were watching a legitimate Stanley Cup contender but they got another legitimate Stanley Cup contender in front of here. Yeah. How do you think that's gonna play out? Hey. You know, they've been competitive for ten years, and, you know, it's hats off to Jim Nill for putting the team together, you know, year after year. You know, we've always had great coaching and and and a huge part of it is is our fans. Second to none. They're amazing. When you have that support from the city and the fans, it's a a huge feather in your cap. It's gonna it's gonna help build the team. Players wanna come play here Yeah. With the top players. And, they're competitive every night. They play hard. And and come playoffs, you know, it's it's a completely different season, and you gotta elevate your game. And we have for the most part over the years. It takes a little luck. It takes timing. And and, you know, I'm not a huge fan of this, you know, the the brackets that the league has created. You know, usually, it's one plays, eight, two, seven. Yeah. You know, look at these two teams. We got two great teams playing each other in the first round. We're gonna we're gonna lose out, you know, on one of these great teams. That should easily be a conference final matchup. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I guarantee it's it's it's gonna be a tough series, and, you know, every game from now on is probably gonna be really close is is my prediction. Tonight will be very interesting. The the Stars team definitely has a team that can go all the way. They got great goaltending, great defense, they got the offense. It it's starting to look like they got the grit needed, and that especially, you know, in the playoffs is what you need. They sure did the other night. That's for sure. You need that extra grit. So, you know, let's let's, turn it up a notch tonight, boys, and let's let's take it to to the wild and show what we got. And, you know, coming out of the game tonight with a win will be huge momentum builder for us. Can the game get started already? He's got me pumped up. Well, I know. I can feel the Yeah. The butterflies in the adrenaline. Where's my pads? Let's go find them. Go find them. Get you out there. Yeah. Alright. Everybody check out BELFOR spirits. That is this right here. This is the small batch straight bourbon whiskey. And what do you have there, Shupi? This is the Texas pecan wood bourbon whiskey. Yeah. Everybody check out Belfour spirits. If it's anything like the work that this guy used to turn in between the pipes every night, it's damn good. It is damn good. Trust me. My name's on it, and I did all the research and development for every every mash bill we have. Well, it's really been nice to finally meet you after all this time, and, thank you for coming on here and letting us talk about this. And, I don't know what else to say except let's go Stars. Go Stars. Hell, yeah. Alright. That's right. That is YDC for today. Thank you very much for watching. Remember, get us out there on your social media. Tell your friends about us. Get them with the program here, and we will keep doing this thing. Till next time. Bye. Alright. I'm gonna go take your pants off. You're Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.