The boys are back at your favorite semi-annual hockey podcast, talking about an exciting summer, high expectations, and what’s bound to be a great year for hockey. We’ve got metrics, we’ve got Utah talk, we’ve got cup picks, we’ve got a… guest!?

That’s right, the goons are joined by none other than the brilliant Gare Joyce , of How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying) and several books! You should check him out:

We’re back, for one night only, at your favorite semi-annual hockey podcast. We talk the playoffs so far, an inauspicious wager, Florida vs. Edmonton, the prospect of busting a Canadian curse, the furthest-flying finals of any(??) sports league and then the Arizona fiasco coming to a conclusion.

Walt can be found at Numlock.com, Sherwood.news, and his new book You Are What You Watch is available wherever books are sold. Neil can be found at ESPN, Neil’s Substack, and more!

Missed you!

Welcome back to A Couple of Goons, here for your pre-finals look at the postseason and these last several games. Neil and Walt talk about what to expect in this most unexpected Stanley Cup final. Neil makes the case for both Vegas and Florida winning the Stanley Cup, and Walt makes an emotional case for one team in particular

Be sure to check out Neil’s Substack and of course the new podcast about NASCAR called Podracing !

What a first round!

We talk:

* Rangers season over :(

* Dang, Bruins

* Neil and Walt describe their pathological needs to have offhand comments from several weeks ago bear out in totality.

* A whole lot of upsets! A whole lot of game sevens. A whole lot of large disappointed big cities.

* Toronto broke a curse! And started? A? New one?

* ROUND TWO is on!!

Here’s Neil on Numlock talking NASCAR:

It’s your favorite hockey podcast back to talk the end of the season and, far more importantly, the beginning of the postseason!

We talk:

* Bruins! The elephant in the room. Those are some high chances!

* The PATH Train Series

* The Toronto Maple Leafs, and how it’s absolutely their year

* The Rest of the West

* Which teams that missed the playoffs we still think might be good next year.

Thanks for listening, enjoy the games!

We’re back! Neil and Walt assess the regular season as it nears its conclusion, including:

* Which teams are really looking great right now

* The bubble teams that we’re watching

* The trade deadline and what it meant

* CANADA MINUTE: Eyes to the North

* The Devils you know and the Devils you don’t

* Playoff predictions

Be sure to check out neat stuff like Neil’s Substack and Numlock News

We’re back!

Neil and Walt assess the season at its midpoint, and in the spirit of the season give gifts to the players and teams that surprised and disappointed us, including:

* The teams that surprised us

* The player that most surprised us

* Barbecue!

* A nice round number is hit and a record is potentially in contention

* A player familiarizes oneself with a bench

* The beginning of year predictions that have already failed

* The Kraken

* The juggernaut in Boston

* A referendum on a team approaches

Welcome back to A Couple of Goons, an inexplicably extant hockey podcast. This week on Goons:

* How was your summer?

* Walter jokes about his mic being much worse without actually realizing his mic sounds like crud this episode because he used crappy headphones instead of his Mac

* Neil’s most interesting teams of the offseason

* Who do you like?

* Okay but what team does Neil think is Interesting if not precisely good

* We pick our (other) favorite teams

* Couple of Goons Sherlock Fanfic

We assess the season!

* Welcome back!

* A begrudging, contractually mandated preview of the Eastern conference champion

* Lightning vs. Avalanche!

* The Stanley Cup, on paper

* Hockey in 2021-22: Seems Pretty Good!

Here’s the article Neil wrote: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/weve-been-waiting-33-years-for-a-stanley-cup-matchup-this-good/

Neil is on twitter @neil_paine, Walt is @WaltHickey, and this podcast is @GoonsPod.

We are now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, find us there, and consider throwing us a rating. Neil’s official FiveThirtyEight hockey forecast can be found at githubdotcomslashneilpainefivethreeeight.com

Neil and Walt are ready for the playoffs, so they decided to do a show TOGETHER, IN-PERSON!!!! We break down the whole first round, presenting theories of the case for each team, and talk about the probability of every upset — which, as it turns out in hockey, is surprisingly large most of the time.