McDavid and Draisaitl sit down with Spittin Chiclets
5 years ago
As you know, I make sure to spend every second of every day scouring the Inter-web for Oilers content to bring to you all. I want you to be updated on what’s happening in Oilersnation and I’m here today to tell you that our boys, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl, joined the guys on the Spittin Chiclets podcast to talk all things hockey and life.
This interview was recorded during the All-Star break, as Spittin Chiclets went on their West Coast Wagon tour in a Barstool Sports RV. The guys interviewed a ton of All-Stars that weekend and have been releasing them week by week since then. When it was teased that McDavid and Draisaitl were interviewed, I was stoked. The hosts of the podcast, Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette, create a very relaxed interview setting and usually get their guests to say things they’re not supposed to say, so I was always looking forward to the day they get Connor on. Finally, the McDavid and Draisaitl interview was released, and it made me a very happy man.
The interview was pretty short, about 20 minutes, and both Connor and Leon didn’t spill too much dirt. However, I will always be entertained hearing those boys talk about life and hockey. Teddy Purcell, who is close friends with the Spittin Chiclets gang, joined the interview to add some conversation as he used to be teammates with Leon and Connor back in 2015.
Teddy Tugboat
The interview had some good chirping back and forth between all the guys, and it opens up with Connor telling the tugboat story about his first time playing with Teddy. In his first season with the team, Connor McDavid centered a line made up of Taylor Hall and Teddy Purcell. Hall & McDavid were obviously flying out there, and Teddy continued to try his best. During their first ever pre-season game together, Teddy blew his groin out in the third period, ending his fun times playing with #4 and #97.
When Teddy returned to the lineup a few weeks later, he found himself on the third line. McDavid jokes about how slow Purcell was when he returned, and how hard of a time he had keeping up with the rest of the team. That soon turned into McDavid creating a nickname for his teammate, calling him Teddy Tugboat.
Christmas at Purcell’s House
Another notable story was when Leon Draisaitl first got called up with the Oilers. He didn’t have any family in the city for Christmas, so Teddy Purcell invited him over to his place, as Purcell’s family was in for the holidays.
“He had nothing for Chirstmas so I went out and got him a wallet and a passport holder. My mom went out and got him a onesie rudolph pajamas. We had some food, gave him the gifts and had a good time.”
I love hearing about these stories and it’s nice to see someone was taking care of Draisaitl while he was all alone during his first year with the club. Better yet, apparently Leon Draisaitl wasn’t driving at the time, and when Teddy asked him how he got to his house during the current snowstorm that was happening, Draisiaitl said he hitched a ride with a City of Edmonton snow plow. He just straight up asked the city workers if they could take him to Teddy Purcell’s house and they knew exactly where to go. Gotta love Edmonton, right?
McDavid getting heckled by fans
It puts a sour taste in my mouth just having to write this and re-visit the whole embarrassing fiasco, but remember that time a bunch of losers began chirping Connor when he was walking out of a restaurant with his family last winter? I’ll never forget it. Well, this got brought up during the interview, and Connor gave his take on what happened during the time:
“we’re walking out and we see them following us and saying a bunch of stuff, whatever. I’m okay, I can deal with that. I’m walking with my mom and my dad and my mom’s fine, she’s ahead of me, But I look over at my dad and he’s fuming. He’s red in the face and really upset. He goes to turn around and I say ‘no lets’ get out of here’. He didn’t realize they have their phones out, everyone has their phones out these days. Looking back, we handled it the best we could and just got out of there.”
The most embarrassing part of this whole thing is that Connor had to go through that with his parents by his side. Obviously, he doesn’t care about some morons who have nothing better to do than chirp professional athletes around the city, but the fact that he’s with his parents make it even worse. I truly feel bad for him. Connor continued to talk about what it’s like with all of the fan attention in the city, and how much demand we have out of him.
“you have to find the balance between being a good guy, you can’t just be there all day. I think we do a pretty good job of it in Edmonton.”
Leon joked afterward that he doesn’t get the treatment Connor does in Edmonton so he doesn’t have to worry about all that stuff. I can tell you right now Leon, that if you continue this scoring pace, you’re going to have just as much attention as 97 pretty soon.
The other stuff
Other things discussed in the episode include Leon Draisaitl’s hockey heroes growing up, and what Germany’s hockey scene has turned into since the country won the Olympic silver medal last year. Draisaitl also discussed how he thinks Zack Kassian is the clown of the dressing room and is always good at making people laugh.
Teddy Purcell also talked about the time he used to train with Gary Roberts when Connor McDavid was there. He would always find getting up early for the super-intense workouts really exhausting. One morning, Teddy went to the facility to find a big Adidas promotional set-up and thought they were doing something cool that day. Maybe he would be getting some new shoes?
He was later bummed to find out that the set-up was only for Connor McDavid, as he was doing a shoot all day long with Adidas. It turns out that Connor had already forced Gary Roberts to get up at 5 a.m with him to do his workout before the media shoot began. This is hilarious and doesn’t surprise me at all. Connor McDavid is a freak on the ice for a reason, and showing commitment like that is exactly how you get to the skill he has today.
As I said, the interview was pretty short, but it’s definitely worth a listen if you’re an Oiler fan. You can find the episode here
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