Talkin' Hockey - The Hockey Talkin' Show

Hello friends, we hope that you are doing well.

We are back after a couple weeks pause with a new episode, one that we are calling number 2 - The Berg, in memory of our friend and friend of the show, Brendan Berg, who recently passed away in a tragic car accident, which also claimed the life of his partner Olivia Michalczuk and one other person.

Berg was a big blueline beauty, a great teammate to those he played with, and a formidable opponent to those he played against. Off the ice, he was amazing parking lot hang - one of Winnipeg’s absolute finest, simply the best. We love you Brendan, rest in peace.

( Technically this is episode 35 which, when you do the Talkin' Hockey math, would be jersey number 75… we’ll get back to that next week. )

We do also talk hockey on this episode, catching up on the last few weeks - Ehlers is a Jet no more, Marner has been Knighted, plus lots of trades and signings to discuss. As well as a new Hall of Fame class!

For music this week, we spin three bands that Brendan played bass with, a smash hit from Royal Canoe, as well as some beauties from Cheering For The Bad Guy and Tele.

Thanks for tuning in. Keep your stick on the ice and be grateful for every day that you get to spend with friends and family - at the rink, at the club, at the farmers market… wherever. ✌️ ❤️

The playoffs are wrapped up, though the Panthers are probably still partying hard, and it seems there's more hockey to talk than ever!

First off, we talk Sergei Kostitsyn - the other half of the brotherly duo (we talked Andrei back in November) who played for both the Habs and the Predators, and became known as much for their off-ice exploits as for their performance at the rink! We also learn why it pays to have good linemates and play junior hockey for the Hunter brothers!

Then we do a quick draft recap - not many surprises as round one went pretty much chalk. The trades were the thing that sent ripples as some big names are moving to new teams - Noah Dobson to MTL, John Gibson to DET, and JJ Peterka to UTAH, with Michael Kesselring shufflin' back to Buffalo. As teams jockey for financial position in advance of free agency opening on Tuesday, some old faces - Tavares, Bennett and Benn have already decided that the grass isn't greener - buckle up kids, it's about to get spicy!

Finally, we dip into the mailbag to answer some great questions from the listeners out there - plus, will co-host Tom finally make amends with Lindy?

We're back to talk all about the highest scoring product from the rock - Bonavista, Newfoundland's own Michael Ryder! He plied his trade with the Habs, Bruins, Stars and Devils, even hoisting a cup with the B's in 2011! In 2017, he punched his ticket into the Newfoundland Sports Hall Of Fame - good on ya lad!

Then talk about the crowning of this year's champs, the Florida Panthers. After dominating the Oilers (again) in most aspects of the game, can these Cats keep the band together for a run at their 3rd in a row?

Finally, the prodigal son returns as Winnipeg's own Jonathan Toews agrees in principle to a 1 year deal with your Winnipeg Jets, to play for the upcoming season. Is he the missing piece, or just the first step in the right direction?

With the crowing of this year's champions imminent, the boys are back to talk about a 3-time cup winner, Patric Hornqvist! He won a couple in Pittsburgh, riding shotgun with Sid The Kid and then picked another last year as a scout with the Panthers! He was Mr. Irrelevant in the 2005 entry draft, picked 230th overall, but has outscored everyone in his class save for 5 others - not too bad Hornsy!

Then we talk Stanley Cup finals - just when it seems that the Oil might be close, the Panthers seem to find another gear. Will Lord Stanley stick around for another summer in the sunshine state, or will the long overdue drought north of the border finally come to an end?

Finally, the initial 6 for each squad has been announced for the 2026 Winter Olympic games - who looks strong and who's just happy to be there?

We're talkin' about a real old school beauty on the show today - he of the odd bucket and leapin' celly, #71 (or #17) Mike Foligno! He liked to muck about and plant himself in front of the net and plied his trade for the Wings, the Sabres and the Leafs, with a short stint in his final year with Florida. His sons Nick and Marcus carry on his goal celebration tradition to this day, and both play a similar hard nosed style.

We check in on the Cup finals, which has been quite the tilt so far - Marchy is proving that he's worth his weight in free donairs, while Cool Stu Skinner has been twirling his great 'stache at the competition! We're looking at Game 7 folks, and we haven't even seen game 3 yet!

Finally, we think that the NHL coaching merry-go-round has stopped for a minute, so we get you caught up on who's new, who's old and who's back in a different role. Will ol' Pete DeBoer be out of work for long?

Clear the track, cuz the boys are back - talkin' this week about one of a handful of fellas to don #70, the Holtbae aka Braden Holtby! Ol' Holts won a Cup, a Jennings and a Vezina during a great stint with the Washington Capitals, all while being a great community citizen off the ice!

Then we talk Stanley Cup finals - a rematch of last year's tilt between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers that has all the makings of another classic!

Finally, jumping off another great Murat Ates article in the Athletic, we discuss 5 "lessons" that your Winnipeg Jets could take away from this year's (and last year's) Cup finalists!

Oh boy are we back at it this week, telling you all about what you shouldn't put the number #69 on your beer league jersey - nothing good is gonna come from it pal! We briefly talk about Mel Anglestad, one of 4 NHL players to don the number on an NHL ice surface - shout out to friend of the show Keener, from Keener's Jerseys, who also happened to discuss in his excellent column this week - if you're not give him a subscribe, column is always fun!

Then we break down the Stanley Cup semis - Dallas and Carolina look like completely different teams as they have gotten off to slow starts, while Florida and Edmonton seem to be on a crash course collision to a rematch of last year's finals.

Then we talk top pending UFA's, with a little sprinkling of some early off-season personnel changes - all this, plus 3 new CanCon bangers for your earholes!

After a week away, the boys are back at it with a real beauty - we're talkin' all about the ageless wonder, number one flow bro, # 68 - Jaromir Jagr! Throughout his illustrious 37 (!!!) year professional playing career, ol' Jags has amassed over 2000 professional games played, notching 949 goals and 1400 assists . . . and he's still playing for Kladno, the team he owns in his hometown!

Then, we pour one out for your Winnipeg Jets, whose fantastic 2024/25 campaign has come to an end with their 2nd round loss to the Dallas Stars - we talk about what went wrong and look towards a busy off season and a promising future.

Finally, we do a quick hit on the final four remaining and make some half-assed predictions on who might hoist the cup!

After a successful Pledge-O-Rama show, the boys are back at it on our normal thing this week talking #67, The Baby Jagr, Michael Frolik! This Czech forward plied his trade for 6 NHL teams, wearing #67 all the way around.

Then, we catch our breath after an unreal game 7 from your Winnipeg Jets, who miraculously snatched victory from the jaws of defeat vs. the Blues from St Louis. With Dallas on the horizon, what will Round Two hold in store?

Then in the 3rd, we give our predictions for the rest of the Round Two matchups - you're asking yourself, are these fellas experts? After some of our Round One predictions, you should know that the answer is "they certainly are not".

Oh hello out there, we're on the air!

That’s right, the fel­las are in the booth this week for Pledge-O-Rama 2025, rais­ing some funds for this great cam­pus & com­mu­ni­ty radio sta­tion that we air on each week!

This year we’ll play some hock­ey card wars with some vin­tage junk wax, and we feature the return of Talkin’ Triv­ia with some very spe­cial

If ya like the show, be sure to throw some dough our way — head to the UMFM web­site to make your dona­tion today!