NJ Devils Memorial Day Thoughts, Engagement Ring PSA, Keefe Reflection, IIHF & More!

NJ Devils Memorial Day Thoughts, Engagement Ring PSA, Keefe Reflection, IIHF & More!

welcome back Devils fans it is your host here Ace wishing you a happy Memorial Day weekend and while a lot of you youngans are probably running all over the Jersey Shore whether it’s DJs jenss Tiki Bar Osprey all those fun Jersey Shore bar club Hotspots for the summertime engaging in complete debauchery I am here just watching hockey attending children’s birthday parties and uh I think I think I accidentally just gave us our vocab Board of the today folks debauchery debauchery extreme Indulgence in bodily pleasures and especially sexual pleasures Behavior involving sex drugs alcohol Etc that is often considered immoral I think that that sums it up pretty well for those of you that are old enough to remember when Jersey Shore aired on MTV it was a somewhat realistic portrayal of a lot of the things that happened down the shore albeit exaggerated to some extent but it was a pretty good time capsule of the time in the Jersey Shore so shout out to all you kids enjoy your youth your boy Ace here is an old man and just laying low this Memorial Day Weekend talking to you all about hockey and I will start off the program with the Never Say Die Adar rondak Thunder clawing back into the series they went to Florida down two nothing eventually we down 3-1 in the series they committed 2-1 and they lost again so it’s 3-1 and then they turn to Jeremy Broder in net for game five he secures a a Big W for them last night and now the Thunder Trail in the series in the Eastern Conference Finals 3 to2 heading back to Glenn’s Falls New York for game six hoping to force a game seven which would also be in Glenn’s Falls and the Thunder are just an exciting team to watch I’ve been telling you guys about them from kind of the start of the playoffs I went to a game there you could check out some of that stuff actually two games there you could check out the videos and things um on the channel but the Thunder are still in this thing going home for game six looking to force a game seven and looking to earn a trip to the Kelly Cup finals and it’ll be interesting to see game six I mean the house should be packed at Glenn’s Falls and uh hopefully they find a way to win these next two and and get a Kelly Cup finals birth would be absolutely phenomenal I highly recommend checking that out if you can next order of business here I am boarded in the summer looking for things to do so I am starting a summer book club and the first book we will be reading on the program is broader beyond the crease a great autobiography by the great martan broer that came out in 2006 so it is already almost 20 years old which is crazy I read it years ago and uh just picked it up again a couple days ago and was kind of flipping through it and Marty gives some great insight into the game a lot of behind the scenes stuff so I think how I’m going to do it is maybe I’ll do a chapter or two per week uh everyone can get the book so if you don’t have the book go pick it up on Amazon online you can find it a ton of places fairly cheap bro Derby on the crease we’ll be reading a chapter or two per week and then I’ll kind of do a deep dive into some of the more interesting points and things from each chapter as the weeks go on so you know week one will be chapter one or whatever it is and I’ll do a video talking about the little nuggets and things that I thought were the most interesting or you know eye opening whatever you want to call it from the chapter so if you want to participate in the book club pick up a copy of broer beyond the crease we’ll be doing that probably after the playoff start I’ll start that book club series looking forward to reading that book again as I haven’t read it in probably 15 years or so so it was an interesting read and I’ll be more interested in reading it now as a as an older gentleman here but that should be an interesting read little peek back into the history books from the Viewpoint of the great martan Broder and what what would a devil’s program be without congratulations to Jesper brat on his engagement looks like he went to a tropical local here popped the question to his fiance is now fiance Nicole dropped to one knee there you see Jesper doing it big and wow what a ring Jasper picked out or someone helped him pick out and I don’t want to be the bear bad news or break Hearts here but if you’re a female watching this you know whether you’re in your young 20s mid 20s late 20s even 30s whatever it is and you’re hoping to be engaged soon unless you are dating a professional athlete or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company please do not tell your boyfriend girlfriend whatever it is please do not tell them that you want a ring like the one Jasper brat got his fiance just stop it just stop your nonsense that looks like a stunning somewhere between five and seven karat possibly pear-shaped Diamond I don’t know if you guys know about all the C’s cut Clarity and all that it’s probably Flawless vvs2 vvs1 whatever it is across the board and so more than likely if you are watching this again unless your significant other is a high ranking executive in a company or a professional athlete or maybe an entertainer of some kind you know singer rapper actor something like that you most likely will not be getting a ring like this and that’s okay that is okay Jesper Brad is well paid for being one of the best players in the NHL and for you to ask for a ring like the one Nicole received in these photos is just unfair and unrealistic shout out to our man Jasper brat and his fiance Nicole on their engagement looked like it was quite quite the scene there for jper he set it up pretty nicely the little beach backdrop there and now on to my thoughts on Sheldon Keef now I’ve had a few days to digest and kind of chew on this and I do feel a little bit better about this selection as the days go on I really had time to sit back and analyze and just kind of think about it and I just think in the end sometimes a fresh start across the board is great for everyone I think the Fresh Start change of scenery new cast of players is going to be great for Sheldon Keefe and I think it’s going to be great for a lot of our players you know whether that’s the Hughes Brothers Jack and Luke or nieser or jper brat or teimo Meer I just think the new voice kind of a new slate wipe everything clean start all over fresh I think it could be great for everybody involved obviously Kei was able to have great regular season success with Toronto mapel Leafs that 665 um you know Point percentages is crazy when you really think about it like I said extrapolated that was our vocab word of last episode extrapolated on the 82 Game season is like 109 points I mean wow you can’t ask for much more than that and for him to average that during his time as the maple leafes head coach it’s very impressive obviously everyone points to the snafus and the hiccups um of the Toronto beliefs in the playoff during his tenure there and the reality is while I will have to put a little bit of the blame on him I do I’m starting to believe that a the mate beliefs are cursed as a franchise as silly as it sounds I just think they really may be cursed and B that core four they had there just might not be able to get it done and they just might be choke artists it’s hard you know Austin Matthews is a great player as as is Mitch Marner neander and tarz but the reality is as a group they just couldn’t get over the hump and at some point for me personally I always blame players more so than coaches in most scenarios and on the flip side I will also give them more credit than coaches I do think a lot of times people look at coaches and give too much good or bad right they they associate the coach they’ll give him too much credit for the win and they’ll give them too much flak for not winning and so I think Keith could be an example of that where he’s strung together some really good regular seasons and over the years in Toronto they have they had three game seven losses I mean that’s super painful and I don’t know that I could blame him more than the players I mean I do think at some point the players just have to get it done and when they can’t you know that’s a reflection on them and so we’ll see what happens with the mapel Leafs under Craig baru you know maybe he finds a way to get them in you know deeper playoff runs but I do think that it was one of those situations where you know kei’s time was up in Toronto and he found a new home with an exciting roster to try to as he said unlock you know the potential from all the guys we have and I think it could be a great move and so I am very excited heading into the 2425 season we have Sheldon Keefe hopefully we have a completely healthy Team without injuries and hopefully we’re going into next season with some exciting Acquisitions that Fitz is able to get us this summer whether it’s from trade or free agency signings there is a lot of moves that could be made over the next couple of months and I’m very excited assuming Fitz does what he should do and we’ve talked talked about this at length obviously the goalie is number one on everyone’s list but I’d also like to see a defenseman or two and a forward or two and hopefully a lot of them with grit I’ve told a lot of you guys in the comments and maybe have mentioned it in a previous episode on on video Nikita zadorov is by far my number one free agency want this guy is a monster truck nasty physical defenseman they don’t make too many guys like him anymore I would refer what I would call him as a throwback player I love love the throwback players and so I’m going to make a whole separate video on zadorov at some point but he is my number one want in free agency and there’s a lot of other defenseman that would fill in nicely on this roster as well as forwards and a lot of them with a you know a little grittier side I do desperately believe we need that if you’ve watched any of the playoffs this season you have seen that it just seems like every team dialed it up come playoff time the hits are flying guys are getting crunched and physicality is here physicality is absolutely here and if you’re one of these analytics nerds that tries to say that physicality you know is not part of the game anymore and you’re living in the past I here to tell you I’ve watched the playoffs I’ve watched tons of games and it was almost from game one I I believe the first period of the very first Bruins Leafs game in the first round was like there was like 60 hits or something insane in the first period I mean it was it was just just hit after hit I was going crazy watching it it it was it was a sight to see but this whole playoffs has been an absolute War the Panthers Rangers series now looks like it’s developing into a grueling war that could go seven Gam games you know who knows how that’s going to end but physicality is on display for the world to see the Devils need to get some more of it and there’s plenty of it for sale in free agency and so I hope Fitz has watched some of these games and realized that yes our team is entirely too soft we are not built for this playoff Warfare and we get a couple guys that could help change that there’s plenty of them available in free agency but overall when thinking about the keep thing I think the the Clean Slate for everybody could be a beautiful thing a full healthy roster douge h Hamilton Jack Teo all these guys that were banged up throughout the year a full season of them healthy could do this team wonders and I am of the belief that went healthy with a couple adjustments to the roster this summer the team is much closer to the team that set the franchise record with 112 points in the 2223 season and beat the Rangers in that beautiful seven game series this season was a couple steps backwards and again not to make excuses but I do believe a lot of it was you know a culmination of all the injuries the Lindy Ruff thing getting League worse goal tending it was a lot to overcome we couldn’t do it and we had a season but I firmly believe that next season we’ll be much closer to the 22 23 Devils than we were to the 23 24 Devils I just I just can’t go back into the mindset of how I’ve heard some people talking and they’re like oh I hope we just make the playoffs and all these things I I can’t go back in time we had that season and that that needs to be the measuring stick going forward I don’t think that we will just be lucky to make the playoffs kind of how people were feeling prior to the That season the window is now I’ve said it time and time again the window is now I’m not looking into the future sometimes it seems like Fitzgerald is operating as if you know he’s going to live to 150 and he’ll be the GM of the Devils for the next 80 years I’m sorry it’s time to cash in draft picks prospects whatever it is for win now pieces the time to win is now we have a solid nucleus in place and now it’s time to supplement them with players in free agency or trades would love to see the number 10 pick traded or bundled up with some other assets for uh win now piece I’ve said that you know time and time again on the program but the time to win is now we have the pieces it’s now just rounding out the roster with a legitimate goalie hopefully a defenseman or two and a forward or two you know maybe it’s a depth Center a fourth line Center whatever it is there’s a lot of names out there that could fill that role as well a lot of you guys have thrown out some interesting names um I would love to see Adam Henri reunited as a devil to finish off his career potentially but there’s a lot of other guys out that could contribute in those roles as well and so we will have to see what Fitzgerald does but I for one am staying positive Stan you should try it Stan try to be positive Stan shout out to my man Stan the biggest naysayer in Devil’s fan history very knowledgeable old school fan so shout out to you Stan but I’m G to stay optimistic um I think you know the the whole fresh start for everybody could be good hopefully Fitzgerald gets these pieces and we go into next season with a much more well-rounded group ready to compete and bring home a Stanley Cup to the beautiful state of New Jersey but we’ll have to see we’ll have to see how it all plays out the IIHF Men’s World Championship tournament has come to an end host country team czechia takes down team Switzerland in the gold medal game by a score of two- nothing exciting game it finished on an empty net goal to secure the win the host country CIA and a great tournament for team Ceta as well as team Switzerland wow I mean uh overall very exciting tournament and I paid attention to this one more so than in previous years just because we had so many Devils guys playing and while it was a disappointing outing for Team USA they fell in the quarterfinals to the eventual Champions team czechia um I do look forward to the four nations faceof we’re going to see next year as well the 2026 Olympics when we will see all of the available players for these countries on the team instead of just the guys that didn’t make the playoffs in my opinion that’s kind of what makes the IIHF tournament a little bit of a fugazi tournament because there’s so many guys missing but it’s still a great level of hockey played in the tournament and congratulations to team czechia I mean I I was rooting for for team Switzerland just because I for for mainly nieser but here we see uh Nico heier getting his silver medal and we also have Jonah Sean thaler receiving his silver medal and what a disappointing adding for for the Swiss I mean they really wanted to do it you could just see you could see here in Nico’s face I mean he wears he wears his heart on his sleeve and you could see Nico here is very upset that they fell short in the championship game so close to a gold medal and Nico will this will just be another thing for Nico to file in the box of things to motivate him for next season after a disappointing devil season he emotions are smashed again in this IHF Tournament they almost won Gold and hopefully he kind of brings that into next season with a chip on his shoulder and here we see gold medal winning New Jersey Devil on team CIA Andre palot looking very very happy as he gets this gold medal put on his neck a tournament well played for his team and that’s all she wrote so we have one Gold Medal winner from our beloved New Jersey Devils Andre palot getting it done in his home country congratulations to all of Team czechia Pastor knock was an absolute Beast for them and they got it done they got it done I am hoping for a much better showing for Team USA like I said in both both the four nations faceof happening next season as well as the 2026 Olympics I think there’s tons of guys that were not on the roster that will be in those tournaments and we should see a much better Team USA as well as Team Canada and you know a lot of these other countries are going to have some great rosters but I do expect Team USA and Team Canada to be the cream of the crop in these tournaments when they have all the players available to them and it should be interesting I’ve told you guys I will be trying my very best to make it to Italy for the 2026 Olympics I think we’re going to have a ton of guys in the tournament and probably both Hugh’s Brothers on Team USA very exciting stuff I’ve always wanted to go to Olympic hockey as well as go to Italy so this is kind of two bucket list items in one trip for your boy Ace looking forward to that but let me know what you guys thought of anything talked about here you know do you have what what did you do this Memorial Day weekend anything more exciting than watch hockey and go to Children’s birthday parties were you guys were you partying it up at the Jersey Shore what do you think about ke after it’s settled in for a couple days what do you think about jper Brat’s engagement ring that was quite the rock anything else hockey IHF playoffs throw it all out there in the comments I’ll be back soon with whatever is going on and I will talk to you all soon like comment subscribe and all that jazz until next time friends let’s go devils oh

Happy Memorial Day Weekend New Jersey Devils fans!

On this episode I touch on Memorial Day Weekend, Jesper Bratt’s Engagement, Sheldon Keefe, the IIHF Tournament and more!

Counting down the days until the NJ Devils 2024-2025 Season begins…

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