Welcome back to Emily Scherer of FiveThirtyEight, where this week we talk all about the Isobel Cup and this weekend’s NWHL Championship!

Topics of conversation include:

* Team of the Week!

* #10

* A referee got sent to the penalty box!

* Just kidding, he got very fired.

* Hockey refs, the most athletic refs

* Who would win, the least athletic NHL ref or the most athletic MLB ump?

* The Isobel cup is this weekend!

* We pick teams and place bets

* Boston Pride uniforms, ranked

* Yo hold up let’s talk about Cappy

* Like really address Cappy

* The Handle Hastily Removed From The Isobel Cup Following An Incident With The Other Handle, Tumblr Of

Neil is on twitter @neil_paine, Walt is @WaltHickey, and this podcast is @GoonsPod. Emily can be found @_schem.

We are now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, find us there, and consider throwing us a rating. Neil’s Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the ninth episode of A Couple of Goons. This week, with Neil’s Flyers playing Walt’s Rangers, the goons look at RIVALRIES. Topics of conversation include:

* Team of the Week

* Let’s Talk About A #9

* The Original Six and enmities so ancient they must not be crossed

* Local Crosstown Rivals: when bridge v. tunnel

* The greatest of enemies: Genuine Beef in the NHL

* Denver and Detroit, or, a hockey fight with its own Wikipedia page

* Pittsburgh - Washington

* Vegas - San Jose

* The future of rivalries: is this another cool thing killed by Bettman?

* Neil checks the Rangers-Flyers Score

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 Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the eighth episode of A Couple of Goons. This week, the goons look at the state of the league as we approach the halfway mark, and Rangers fan Walt begins kicking the tires on the lifeboats.

That and more this week, on A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Team of the Week

* Ratatouille on Ice

* The Central question

* Several incredibly nice things said about the Capitals in no way intended to jinx them

* Look to the West

* Canada

* Rookies in making

* So let’s say hypothetically there’s this guy and his team doesn’t look so hot and he wants something to watch in the playoffs what should he do Neil

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 Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the seventh episode of A Couple of Goons. This week, the goons have on Insider’s Jake Lahut, and explore an immortal question: where do hockey players come from?

That and more this week, in Episode seven of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Whatup Jake?

* The Once and Future Wings

* 0.0%

* Team of the Week

* A Global tour of hockey development

* Junior hockey

* Is Canada OK?

* College hockey

* An innocent question about hockey yet again touches on a complicated geopolitical question

* The NHL Draft honors the old ways

* Neil Talks About Some Guys: #7

Jake can be found at Insider and on Twitter at @JakeLahut. 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 Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the fifth episode of A Couple of Goons. This week, the goons tackle Russia and the geopolitics of hockey, and also Neil explains how exactly he feels about Gary Bettman.

That and more this week, in Episode Six of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* CORRECTING THE RECORD: The Messier

* Team of the Week

* Nevada is a cursed yet beautiful state

* Neil Talks About Some Guys: #6 Phil Housley

* Russians and Hockey

* Who is Gary Bettman?

* Neil finishes explaining why fans dislike Gary Bettman

* Wait, no, he forgot some stuff

* And another thing!

* We have to wrap for the week but we’ll actually get back to this later.

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 Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the fifth episode of A Couple of Goons. This week we have on inaugural guest Emily Scherer of FiveThirtyEight for the episode you have all been waiting for: we assign tiers all of the awards given out to hockey players for participating in hockey in one form or another. There are like thirty!

That and more this week, in Episode Five of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Hello Emily!

* Team of the Week

* Hockey: why are people doing it?

* Awards: How much do people want them, the aesthetics of prizes, drinkability.

* Assorted Curses

* The Stanley Cup

Neil is on twitter @neil_paine, Walt is @WaltHickey, and this podcast is @GoonsPod. Emily can be found @_schem.

We are now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, find us there, and consider throwing us a rating. Neil’s Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the fourth episode of A Couple of Goons. This week we get down to fundamentals: ice. Somehow Neil makes this topic fascinating. That and more this week, in Episode Four of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Team of the Week

* Ice is important for hockey

* Ice is also used to keep viruses alive

* Ah crap

* The Great Canadian Title Drought

* Fighting: fine. Grabbing the puck: the worst possible thing you can do.

* We lay the groundwork for the best game of all time

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 Github is at github.com/neilpaine538.

This is the third episode of A Couple of Goons. Walt sees a first goal and Neil is surprised it didn’t already happen, this week, in Episode Three of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Walt hypes up Neil’s GitHub

* Bottom five and top five

* Why Boston really deserves nice things to happen to them in sports after all that they have been through.

* Team of the Week

* Crusader Kings 3: How To Construct A Dynasty Tutorial Speed Run by Neil Paine

* WEIRD RULE OF THE WEEK: Overtime!

* WE

* DROP

* THE

* GLOVES

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.

This is the second episode of A Couple of Goons. Walt Hickey’s journey into hockey continues led by the inimitable Neil Paine as we hit week two of A Couple of Goons!Topics of conversation include:

* Peacock and You: How to cope with the forthcoming death of a pretty good television network

* Dallas is really good!

* The Montreal-Columbus trade, or, why centers are good.

* A Bunch of Lines, With Walt

* Mailbag

* Offsides: Why Does That Occur?

* Endgame

* We plug our Githubs

Neil is on twitter @neil_paine, Walt is @WaltHickey, and this podcast is @GoonsPod. We are now on Apple Podcasts, find us there, and consider throwing us a rating.

This is the first episode of A Couple of Goons. Walt and a few friends are trying to get into hockey during The Plague Year. Neil has been obsessed with hockey for decades and took the liberty of preparing a number of projections for this forthcoming season. Today, these journeys converge into A COUPLE OF GOONS: EPISODE 0001.

Yes, we are aware of how ambitious that title is.

Topics of conversation include:

* Hockey: Why?

* Did Walter Make A Mistake By Just Becoming A Rangers Fan Because He Lives Near Them

* What’s weird this year?

* Division rankings!

* THIS WEEK IN WEIRD HOCKEY RULES: Icing.