32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Bryan Trottier

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

He’s a Hall of Famer, Stanley Cup Champion and an author. His new book is called All Roads Home and Bryan Trottier joined Jeff and Elliotte to chat about his career, former coaches, Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies, coaching the New York Rangers, the impact Bill Torrey had on his career, winning 19 consecutive playoff series, growing up in Saskatchewan, lessons from his father, his junior hockey days and what he has in common with Elliotte.This podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Watch the full interview on video HEREGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREMusic Outro: Aloa Input - Another RainbowFind the full track hereEmail the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailAudio Credits: CBCThe views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This is a very cool room. Very nice. This is an awesome room. Yeah, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Brian Troche, Brian Troche, Brian Troche, Hall of Famer. Got a lot of First Nation stuff going on here, guys. I'm liking it. Welcome once again to another interview special of 32 Thoughts to Podcast,

presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Merrick alongside Elliot Friedman and ML Delich. And Elliot, the book is called All Roads Home, A Life On and Off the Ice. Brian Trottier, our interview guest today. This is an excellent book. He wrote it with Stephen Brunt. And I'll tell you, I don't know about you,

but I can never get enough Islanders dynasty stories. And not just the years that they were successful, not just the years they were racking up Stanley Cups, but the building of the Islanders. See, to me, that Islanders team was, it was created by Bill Torrey starting with a blank piece of paper. That's why I've always made the point

that I think Bill Torrey is the greatest general manager in the history of the NHL because he was able to plunk all timers and put them on this roster, whether it was Potvin on the point, whether it was Bossy on the wing, whether it was Gillies on the wing. And in the middle of all of night, where they shut out Chicago, Justin Bourne tweeting out on Monday that more than $16,000 was raised by fans for the Clark Gillies foundation. Justin saying his wife and her sisters and mother all in attendance. So we should mention that as part of this, when hockey day in Canada was in Lloyd Minster all those years ago,

we were still at the CBC and I was out there along with the rest of the crew for uh the concert and show that we put on uh during that week and brian trache was there and he played some music and it was myself and darcy tucker introduced him i told the one story about one year in house league hockey. I wore number 19 and I was born in 1970. So this was during the Islander heyday as they were winning Stanley cups. And I remember I made a terrible play and my coach said to me that you should not wear a number 19. You are no Brian Troche. And I looked at him and I said, who is? Which was not the answer he was really hoping for. I'm guessing you didn't grab 22 after that one by any stretch of the imagination.

Put it this way, I could have worn any number and I was not making much of an impersonation as an NHL-er. I really enjoyed this conversation with Brian Troche. You know, there's always... Good book. It's a wonderful book. It's great reads. You know, there's always, it's a wonderful book. It's great reads. You know, there's always a saying, you know, you should never meet your heroes because, you know, sometimes they'll disappoint you because at the end of the day, they're human beings as well.

And I've had that experience before. But man, I grew up a fan of just about everybody on that team you know i loved brian trache mike bossy clark gillies bob bourne all the billy smith like greg gary howitt bob nystrom and the interesting thing about and brian writes about this in his book too the interesting thing about that islanders team is you know during the heyday they all had their fan clubs. Like Gary Howitt had a fan club. Bob Nystrom. You expect Brian Troche will have a fan club. Of course.

Mike Bossy will have a fan club. Of course. This was a team that was so loved by that market. And you can still see the effects and the ripples still exist of what that team meant to Islanders fans. Obviously, it was a dynasty. There were records that they set that will never be broken. And I still maintain that in the history of hockey,

we still underestimate just how great Brian Trottier was. We look at that era of centers. I don't know that we've done enough to mention just how great this guy was. I mean, you and I are the same vintage. How great was that Islanders team? Like you could dictate the style and they would beat you at it. Close game, sure, we can play that and we'll beat you. Wide open 7-6 game, we'll beat you there.

Tough game, we got that too. High flying, skilled, didn't matter what type of game it was, the Islanders could beat you at whatever kind of game you wanted to play. I just love the Mellie. There's only one number that you need to know,

and that's 19. Consecutive playoff Series 1. Nobody's going to do that. This was a real thrill. Hope you enjoy it. This is Brian Troche on 32 Thoughts the Podcast interview special. Enjoy. Listen to 32 Thoughts the Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. with Prime. The book is called All Roads Home.

Our guest is Brian Troche, who is always smiling. It looks like you've never had a bad day. Every time I've seen you, I've talked to you, you always have a smile on your face. When I'm with a good company, I think it's pretty easy. But the hockey world is my friendly world. It's kind of my haven. So when I'm around hockey guys, you know, I'm it's pretty easy. But the hockey world is my friendly world. It's kind of my haven. So when I'm around hockey guys, you know, I'm at peace. I'm comfortable.

So thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm curious, based on that, who are your good friends? Like who are the people you keep in touch with the most? Probably most of my Islanders and Penguin alumni. Tiger Williams quite often. Some of the really good Maple Leafs that we got to battle landing. McDonnell, I see, landing quite a bit.

And Daryl Sittler, we get a chance to talk to those guys. Actually, Daryl Sittler taught me. He and Bobby Clark taught me how to play a 60-minute game at the National Hockey League level. You know, you play both ends of the ice. Every face-off matters. Every battle matters. You come out of the game totally exhausted. So Daryl's been a wonderful friend and mentor over the years

through the Players association years. And so, no, it's, it's wonderful having that alumni group, but we're part of the, the Saskatchewan coalition, so to speak, the Kelly Chase, the Wendell Clark, that crew, and it's really kind of fun to all, we all get together our Saskatchewan roots, we visit and porcupine playing Saskatchewan, Balm Reef, Saskatchewan. And, you know, it's really kind of cool. Like we all think we're farmers again, and we, we talk about the good old days. One of the things you talk Saskatchewan. And, you know, it's really kind of cool. We all think we're farmers again and we talk about the good old days.

One of the things you talk about in the book is that your career probably doesn't end up where it does without Tiger Williams, who showed up at your house once and said, come back. He came through a snowstorm in a GTO mag tires to the ranch. And I don't know how he got there because that road to the ranch from down is not the easiest road to navigate on good roads. But in that blizzard, I don't know how he got there because that road to the ranch from down is not

the easiest road to navigate on good roads. But in that blizzard, I have no clue how he got there. Seven o'clock in the morning, it's boxing day and I'm saying, what are you doing here? He said, I'm dragging you back to Swift Current. I was thinking I was going to stay home because I was homesick and I was tired of getting beat up in junior hockey.

I was just like a little guy and every game was a line brawl or bench clear and I didn't know how to protect myself against six foot two guys that were 220 pounds. I was small and, you know, just getting fat lip, black eyes going to school. And I said, it wasn't fun playing five minutes a game, you know, fourth line. I'm telling you guys I broke in as a defenseman. I'm playing forward, not playing very much. But Tiger came down and got me. And on the way back, he said, you know, I'm going to play left wing with you.

No one's going to touch you anymore. And he taught me how to grapple after practice, how to tie up the big guys and how to protect myself. And hockey was fun again. Because somebody even looked at me, he'd go beat the crap out of him. I was like, what's that for? He goes, I don't know. I owed him one.

He's not going to touch you anymore. I was like, he just looked at me. But that was Tiger. And I'll tell you, I needed a big brother like that at that time. And for sure, it was a defining moment in my whole life, not just my career, but we, we were friends before that.

We became even closer because of the linemate thing. And I think he had a strong desire to make the NHL and like every day at practice, there was something we worked on and it was, had a lot to do with Tiger. We're doing one-timers, we're doing this today,

we're doing this, backhand passes. And that added to my desire to make the NHL and maybe that push and pull and the yin and yang of having a big brother who kind of looked out for me and taught me all the things he taught me in junior hockey. Great appreciation,

just a wonderful friendship over the years, yeah. What got you distinguished? Like what, sorry, what got you rather, is a better way to put it. Because all of a sudden the game, you know, you have more ice out there. The game becomes a little bit easier now that you're riding shotgun with Tiger Williams. What was the one thing about Brian Troche that got noticed where scouts kind of went, hmm, maybe this guy? You know, there wasn't a lot of dynamic to my game. I think back and I was kind of the kid that did a lot of things good.

I played defense in my hometown so I could jump in the attack and stick handle and make plays and, you know, score goals. But I was always very mindful of playing defense as well. So when I got to play to junior hockey and playing, having Tiger on my line and playing center ice and getting some power play time, growing a little bit bigger, gaining confidence and playing with those kinds of players at that level, just boost your, your confidence level

and your sense of, Hey, you know what? I can do this. I was kind of a give and go guy. I made the easy pass, the simple pass, didn't put anybody in the soup, tried to put it in a spot where they could shoot it the best possible. And we worked on those kind of things, right pace on the pass. Don't throw grenades.

Don't throw it too snappy a pass. They got to fight it off. And Tiger and I worked on those things. And Mike Bossy and I worked on those things. And Clark Gillies, everybody that you worked on, you come back to the bench, you put it here, put it there, laid in front of me, not so hard. And you kind of work on all those things. And I love that part of my game. And to kind of like be a little bit sneaky, I think I was a little bit deceptive out there.

I wasn't super fast, but I had a quick step. I could get ahead of you and you couldn't catch me. I had pretty good balance and those kinds of things. So like working off guys, big guys or smaller guys or just having the kind of balance and, I don't know, leverage that I had and working on that all the time, I think added to my game. And I put a sting on people every once in a while.

If somebody wanted to play that game, I didn't hit Guille Fleur or Gilbert Perrault, but if somebody wanted to hit me, oh, you want to play? Okay, let's bumple and grind a little bit. No problem. I didn't back away from anything that, I liked the competition. I really enjoyed the, the harder the competition,

the better I think I played. So in rivalry games or play, I thought, my God, this is going to be a great game and get pumped up for that game is great. And I thought I was a good, I think all of us, I think in hockey tend to be good encouragers like Mario Lemieux, Dennis Poppett, great captains, Jean Belvo probably.

They motivate their players, they inspire players. So I was always that guy I wanted to like be encouraging and make everybody in the room kind of feel like, hey, you got to bring it tonight. Let's go, let's go, let's go. So guys that weren't kind of playing well, like, hey, hey, need a little more, you know, and guys that weren't bearing down, ha-ha, but got to bear down a little bit more. So you got to be

that voice a little bit in a positive way. And I liked that role as well. So I kind of did a lot of little things, not anything great, but I like to take pride in doing a lot of little things really good. Let me ask you about the book. Um, and there's a lot of wonderful stories in it, and I'm sure there's still a lot of wonderful stories you still have in your hip pocket. And before we get to those, I want to ask you, do you have one or two favorite stories that you wrote about in this book? Ones that when a guy like me says, Brian, give us a story. This is the one that comes out. Probably the Stanley Cup moments are the biggest standouts because those are still like peak moments when your adrenaline's at its highest and you're celebrating with your teammates at that magnificent moment of being a champion on the ice. was really fun to reminisce on that. And when Steven was prodding me and poking me and saying,

what do you remember about that? And the faces coming to life and those moments and the smells and the touch of the cup and all that stuff was just magnified. That was pretty special to share that stuff. That first one is special. I love that you tripped over the bench. I know, I didn't even get down the corner to celebrate. That is fantastic.

I never knew that story before. My foot hooked on the boards. I flipped, I didn't even get down the corner to celebrate with my back to the house. That is fantastic. I never knew that story before. My foot hooked on the boards. I flipped to the somersault. I'm like, I hope nobody saw that. But did you know or have a sense that when that puck was on Nystrom's stick that that was it you guys had won? Took a hit from Nystrom. 4-4 tie.

Seven minutes gone in overtime. Hitting. Pass right on the stick of Tonelli. Coming in with Nystrom. Tonelli to Nystrom. He scores! Bob Nystrom scores the goal. The Islanders win the Stanley Cup.

I've seen Bobby Nystrom and John Tonelli practice that play thousands of times. That was a drill that we did at practice. and they would stay after practice and do it. Drive the net, backhand, deflection top self, both of them, forehand, backhand, cross ice pass, drive the net. And when you see something like that starting to happen, you're like, we have a chance. We have a chance. Get it over there, Johnny. Boom.

It's going in. And it hits the back of the twine like it did so many times in practice. And you say, wow, that's special. I've seen that happen so many times. No, I didn't think it was going to happen, but you sure hope it's going to happen because I had nothing to do with that play. And I still remember Lauren getting that puck, throwing it up, Tonelli cross-eyes, boom, pass, drive the net.

I was preparing for my next shift. We all jumped the boards and my foot caught the top of the boards. I did the somersault. I came up and there's Kenny Morrow grabbing me and that's as far as I got. And there's Dwayne Sutter and then somebody else.

And finally the cup comes out and says, see you later guys. I'm going to go say hello to Stanley. That answer you gave to Jeff just a second ago triggered a lot of things in my head about the book. Okay. So I'm going to go through a few of them now.

This one's a little bit out of sequence, but I never knew that the day you showed up in Pittsburgh after you'd signed with the Penguins, you went right to Mary Lou Muse Hospital room after you had back surgery. How did that all unfold? I'm coming into town and Cindy Himes is the PR director. I'm calling Cindy to say,

Cindy, I just went through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. You know, the member of the big brick cell phones, I had one of those in my car and I'm holding up to my ear and she says, I got some bad news. Mario just had back surgeries over at Allegheny General. I said, where's the address? I'll run over and say hello.

And I figured that's what kind of teammates do. And I went over there and I had to trick the gal into getting me upstairs because he wasn't under Mario Lemieux, he's under Ron Jones. And she kind over there and I had to trick the gal into getting me upstairs because he wasn't under Mario Lemieux, he was under Ron Jones. And she kind of looked at me like, how do you know that Ron Jones? I said, well, I'm his teammate.

And I just come here, I want to say hello. So I kind of whittled my way up there. He and Natalie were in the room and they were surprised at anybody. I found my way up there, but I think we kind of connect, you make that connection, you know, that little mini bond right away, like, hey, I care. Yeah.

And we care. I'm here to win a cup with you. Let's go get yourself better. And he gave me that kind of look like, well, of course I want to get better, you ding dong. You know, like I'm here, I'm here rested. I just had back surgery. Give me a week or two.

And when he came back, he was undeniably, not only our best player, but our most inspiring player. He was one of the guys that just did everything naturally. He didn't practice. He came on the ice and played. And he was the best player on the ice. I'm like, who else can do that? Maybe Bobby Orr.

Maybe Gordie Howe. But here's a guy who wanted to be a big part of something that was special because he could feel it, much like we could. There was a magic going on with our team with the Francis deal, and there was a whole bunch of stuff going on, and Mario jumped in, and boom. I mean, he elevated Kevin Stevens, Mark Recchi. Koff got excited.

We all got excited, the whole room. Mario come in the room, and I told Mario the story about Clark Gillies, big man presence, and Clark would stand up in the room just before we went on. I said, let's go boys. And the whole room would get excited. So I told Mary, I said, just try it, see what happens one game. And Mary goes, he winks at me and he stands up and he kind of hits his shin. Let's go boys.

The whole room's like, Oh my God, it just electrified the room. You know, and that, I always call it the Jean Beliveau effect when you just like that big man stands up and goes, let's go boys. And so it was really kind of fun to see the whole room explode, but Mario had that presence and that inspiration. He's such a great encourager, you know, he's always positive, calm and poised and he's

wonderful to be around a guy like that. Well, I hope he doesn't still use the name Ron Jones at hotels or anything like that. Cause you've totally blown his cover. The other two, there's two other things that be around a guy like that. Well, I hope he doesn't still use the name Ron Jones at hotels or anything like that. Yeah, he just blew it. You've totally blown his cover. The other two, there's two other things that stood out to me and they're about your family. And there's one page, it really hit me. I don't want to say what the line was.

You should say what the line was, but the story about your dad and wanting. That one really hit me. So dad was a wonderful cowboy. He looked really good in a saddle. He always had a cowboy hat on. I tried to emulate him. I'm riding my little horse behind him.

He had blue and I had babe. And his horse was always a little bit bigger than mine. I had a little mare. He had a little sorrel. He's kind of a buckskin horse. And I just marveled at him and how he sat the saddle. And I always wanted to be like my dad. I always wanted something.

I'm like, how come I always want something? He said, I want this. I want that. And I said, hey dad, how come I always want something? You know, you're an eight year old kid, nine year old kid. He just spun in the saddle and I may, I don't know if he just told him to shut me up or he probably just, you know, because when you stop wanting you die and he spun back in his saddle. I was looking at the back and I'm like, oh my God, I want, I don't want, I always want to want, I don't want to die. Like, oh, it's good to want.

This is great. It's good to be hungry and stay hungry. Never, never be satisfied. That's kind of the message I got from it. And it was a powerful moment for me as a kid because I said, it's not bad to always want something and people say, oh, you know, you're selfish this or you want something.

I'm going, yeah, I think I want something, but you got to be kind of humble and you got to be kind of discreet how you ask, but at the same time, it's good to want and you got to never stop wanting. You win one Stanley Cup, you want another one, you want another one, you're never satisfied. And the second one's your mom and the stories

you told about your first ever goal puck and the other one I really liked was the television you won where you were an all-star at a tournament or something like that? The first World Juniors held in Winnipeg in 1974. Yeah, that was really kind of a fun event because Canada, so Western Hockey League, Junior Hockey League was representing Canada, so they formed an all-star team.

Jackie McLeod was our coach. We had Patty Janelle and Ernie Punch McLean as our coaches and Brian S sutter myself and we represented our little lethbridge bronco team we went there and we were all wanted to be home for christmas it was over the christmas holidays we're all homesick but we played our hearts out we came in silver to the russians i ended up being mvp of team canada gold figure we had a lot of good players on that team but i was really kind of proud. One of those moments you can't celebrate

because you came in second, but the TV went home to mom, and I said, mom, as long as you're alive, this is your TV, and she held onto that TV. That stayed in her bedroom until she passed in 2011. It was snowy. I mean, the two of us, she probably kept it together with sc with, with scotch tape.

Who knows my mom, but there was her son's TV trophy kind of thing. And, uh, everything I did was always like, you know, that was Brian's or this is Monty's or that's Carol's, but all their little trophies are pretty special. That puck, that was, uh, ended up being like my first goal because I was, dad taught me everything righty. And so how to stick candle, how to shoot, how to, how to do everything righty. But that goal, when Claude Jensen slid it over to me, I had to come in, I flipped over to lefty and I shot a top shelf and dad kept that puck and he says, the game winner that's yours,

you're not a righty anymore, you're a lefty. So like that kind of made my, like, okay, I don't have to worry about always concentrating on being righty because it felt more natural to be a lefty shooter and everything else so like that goal mom kept on her thing as an old viceroy puck or something i still have the darn thing but that was a trophy for mom and it's now it's a wonderful memory for me so we're in this wonderful space this is the downy wenjack legacy space and it looks gorgeous and the first thing by the way the way, that Brian knows when he walked in the room was the guitar. And then he said,

it doesn't have any strings on it. Yeah. We're going to tune that thing up for you. Great. Like the vibe. I do want to ask about music too. Cause I mean, that's a huge part of,

of your story and your background. So Gord Downie, this is one of my favorite stories about Gord Downie. So the tragically hip are on Saturday night live. And this is a huge moment for Canadian music. Dan Aykroyd is hosting, is introducing the band. And previous to their appearance, Gord Downie is talking to his nephew.

And his nephew says, can you do something on Saturday Night Live as a way to wave to me or do something that's just for you and me? And Gord says, okay, what I'm going to do is, you know, when we're introduced and we're going to sing, we're going to perform Grace 2, I'll hold up two fingers because you're about to turn 11.

And so that means it's like a happy birthday, I guess. I'm going to hold up two fingers. And he ends up forgetting the first line of the song. It's supposed to be, I'm fabulously rich. And instead he says, I'm tragically hip. Instead he names the band because he's thinking about these these two fingers and that becomes a sort of secret story between him and his his then 10 year old soon to be 11 year old nephew do you have stories that are just for

someone because Brian you have seen so much you've been through so much you have stories that are just for someone specific? Yeah, but you need something to spark it. You need something that brings that story back to life. Like, for example, we're walking through a hospital one time, and nobody knows this, but we're walking through the children's ward of the hospital, and there's a mother who says,

my son's asleep, can you guys come over and just take a picture with them? And Patrick was in Colorado at the time. And Patrick was said, absolutely. Patrick goes around and gets Joe Sack. He gets Ray Bork and gets all the guys. And we take a picture with this young boy. And then we get a letter back from the mother, the little boy, he gets up. He's like happy as a lark.

He's never had a happy day for like two up, he's like happy as a lark. He's never had a happy day for like two weeks. He's stuck in the hospital over Christmas. It was one of the most emotional moments for our little team in Colorado. Nobody knows those kinds of stories. But to me, that's one I try to share because when I did that in New York with my son, he goes, dad, why are these children so happy? And they're in the hospital sick. I said, because, you know, they're, they're, they're hockey fans and we're in here talking

hockey stories or we're sharing a moment and they're stuck in here. So it lifts their spirits and hopefully they have one good day out of a whole bunch. So those are little special moments that are pretty emotional for me. My son is now, he's in oncology. So like he's, he's gone through that doctor thing and he sees, you know, situations that aren't, you know, always the happiest on a daily basis, but he's upbeat, he's positive. And he, and he, he makes people's lives better just by having a good attitude.

And I think that's really kind of the message. I think when we, when we do these kinds of things and I talk about Patrick Wong, Joe Sackick and the lift that they give kids is it's just the attitude can heal. Hockey players and musicians there's a belief that all athletes secretly want to be musicians and a belief that all musicians secretly want to be athletes you're both. Well you got no limitations so I enjoy strumming a guitar and i was in a family band and i can play with a lot of really great musicians i sound a lot better when i play with great musicians as we all do um but i know my limitations i but i i really enjoy

music i'm kind of a traditional country guy but i can play rockabilly i can play a lot of different rock you know a little bit of rock and roll elvis and that kind ofilly. I can play a lot of different rock, you know, a little bit of rock and roll, Elvis and that kind of stuff. But, and it's a lot of fun. It's fun with kids. It's fun with musicians. It's fun at parties. I'm going to miss my buddy Clark Gillies because he loved to sing. He loved to do the gambler and a little bit of Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash. And Clark was a good singer. And I just had to play the music part of it and be his little sidekick. And it's wonderful to have those moments.

We were up north. Here's another fun story. We're up north. It's in the book. And we're at kind of an after-school teenage place where the kids can kind of congregate, do their homework, get computers. They had a ping-pong table, a pool table,

and some musical instruments over there. And the place is just mayhem and it needs it needs some help and we're trying to fix it up as best we can coming into town we need some new cues and pool balls and the computers are plugged in and that kind of stuff we're we're trying to fix them as best we can and i took the guitar down started tuning it and started strumming it and all the kids settled down they came right over and it just kind of calmed the whole room and i said who knows country roads and the kids i started playing it and the kids started singing one kid came up put his ear on the guitar and i said does he always do that his sister said no he's deaf he just wanted to feel the vibrations on the guitar and uh i was just i was almost in tears but those those moments of music that bring us all together, campfire music, you know,

in, in amongst, you know, native kids way, way up North. And that powerful thing of music, it's kind of brings everything kind of calms and kind of brings a smile on everybody's face. So no, I, I really enjoy music. My sister Kathy still has her band out in Saskatchewan, and her boys are really good little musicians and drummers and guitar players. But yeah, we pretend to be professionals with them, yeah. When you pick up a guitar,

what's the first song you strum? I'm kind of a Willie Nelson kind of a guy, like Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, just those little ballads that kind of come to mind. Songs I made, my dad used to sing to my mom when Irish eyes are smiling. And the happy songs, such a pretty world today, look at the sunshine.

All those songs just kind of make people kind of like pep up. And those were our wake-up calls in the morning when dad would start playing guitar and we're accordion and singing songs to mom. And those are kind of the first songs I gravitate to. But yeah, anything that has a Waylon Jennings or a Merle Haggard of that generation, I'm all in. And you said Gillies was a good singer. Was anybody else you played with a good singer, a good musician?

No, not on the Islanders. There was no good musician singers. Johnny Tinelli did a good Elvis. Johnny Tinelli did a good Elvis. Johnny Tonelli did a really good Elvis. Was there anyone who was an awful singer but loved singing?

Dennis Potvin. I sat next to Dennis and the guys would say, Dennis, shut up. But he'd say, am I a bad singer? I said, yes, but anybody that sings

with a smile on their face like you, you can sing anytime you want to. But oh God, yeah, we had some clunkers. That's outstanding. I just wanted to ask you jeff brought up the room and uh what this room is about and the people who will watch the interview will see that there are some beautiful uh indigenous artifacts and tributes in

here and you talk a lot about that in the book and And the foreword is written by Jesse Thistle, who I didn't really know that well until the last little while. And there's a lot going on in North America now about rediscovering history and what really happened. And Jesse writes a very powerful foreword about learning who you were and wearing your number. And look around the room, Brian, a bit, and just tell me what you think and what you feel.

Well, I noticed it right away. You got good vibes in here. You see the dream catcher, you see all the art. It has a spiritual aspect to indigenous people, but for all of us, I think it just recognizes the talents and the difference of talents, whether it's music, love of nature, animals, and you see it in all their art. You see, you feel it. And that's how we were brought up. That's how we were brought up. We just, you know, embrace your bloodlines because, you know, you have all these natural talents.

And we thought, oh, music and nature and animals and art and everything that kind of goes with the Indigenous blood. And, you know, it was really kind of fun to kind of feel like, oh, we've got to foot up on somebody else. Whether it's true or not, we just believe that. And I think that's a powerful thing when you have that strong faith and belief. I'm always impressed, overly impressed, with the talents in First Nations art and music and sport and everything that they do because, you know, it resonates in my bones. Let me ask you about that Islanders team.

Yep. I've always said for anyone who's ever asked it, that's my favorite hockey team ever, and here's why. You guys could play any way that you wanted. You guys could play a skill game. You guys could play a tight defensive game. You guys could play a tough game. You guys could play a tight defensive game. You guys could play a tough game. You guys could play river hockey, pond hockey.

It doesn't make, you guys could play any way. It must have been the most frustrating team to play against because I've always wondered about this. The Islanders must have been so hard to play against, but it's almost as if you said to the team, you tell us how you want to play and we'll beat you at it. It was a team that would frustrate you to no end that's how i imagine your islanders team and i i do wonder since there you mentioned pod fan and

bossy and billy smith and go right down the list and yourself and jethro who do you think was the most underrated player on that team like who do you think that history should talk more about? We had a lot of unsung heroes without a doubt. Yeah, there was the Hall of Fame crew, but, and, you know, the, obviously the Tonelli, the Nystroms, the Gorings, Kenny Morrow, because, you know, gold medal in four Stanley Cups. Who's ever going to do that again? And Kenny's an unsung hero. Dave Langevin, unsung hero. Our Swedish kids, you know, Anders Kullur, Thomas Johnson, Stefan Pearson. What they brought to the team, you know,

you don't hear enough about that for me. I would say, for me, the guy I sat next to on the road all the time was Gordie Lane. Gordie Lane is my super unsung hero. Billy Smith loved him because nobody stood in front of the net when Gordie was on the ice. He was mean and tough. Nobody took liberties with any of us when Gordie

was on the ice or in the lineup because he would tune them up and you need that presence. And Gordie was fearless. I loved him for a whole bunch of reasons, but he would, he would speak on, on the level that everybody else understood. It was just like, guys, let's just go out there and win it no matter what.

And that's how he played, you know, gloves on, gloves off. He was, he would play any style and he worked at it every day and he would try to improve himself and he wanted to be a big part of things. And, uh, I'll give you one quick story. Sure. We're in Boston and we played Toronto and his flight came in late and he was chewing up the bit to get in that Toronto game. He came from Washington.

So we played in Boston the next afternoon. We played Saturday night here. We played Sunday afternoon in Boston. We're all a little tired, but Gordy's in the lineup and he's all gung-ho. First time he's on the ice, we're killing a five on three. So he's stepping on the ice. I figure I'll help Gordy out here a little bit. He's sitting next to me in the locker room. We're stepping on the ice we're killing a five on three so he's stepping on the ice I figure I'll help Gordy out here a little bit he's sitting next to me in the locker room we're stepping on the ice I said Gordy five on three

anything goes right he goes yep anything goes well I meant block shots you know clear pucks whatever we got to do anything goes Gordy's pitch forking guys slashing guys meanwhile Barry Peterson hauling off the ice they're Rick Middleton going in for stitches and He slashed

Ray Bork. He's going in to get x-rays. And I said to him after the period. Good thing he interpreted it that way. I said, Gordy, anything goes. Clear pucks, block shots. He goes, trots. What are they going to do? Put us five on two? I took out three of their best players. I was like, okay. You've got two more minutes for slashing.

You know, there was a moment where, and I'm always curious, I'll ask every single Islander who was on this team about this one particular moment. I think this probably would have been Clark Kelly's rookie season. But where were you and what do you remember when he handled Dave Schultz? I was in junior hockey and that made, that made a hockey night in Canada.

So we, we got to see highlights. We didn't see the whole start of it or the end or the end of it, but we saw the guts of it. That was big news. Made the hockey news, obviously, you know, it was a, you know, a Western Canada boy, probably the toughest guy of our era, but I was playing, I went back to junior play hockey and Clark,

he was a first year Islander and yeah, going into Philly was not fun, but I was playing, I went back to junior play hockey and Clark, he was a first year Islander and yeah, going into Philly was not fun, but I'll tell you another story. They didn't make the book after this, but, uh, it was, it was pretty impressive. What came back was like Clark stood up to Dave and they're both Saskatchewan boys. Dave, Dave Schultz from Rosetown, Saskatchewan, Clark Gillies, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. And here they are, you know, two of the toughest guys in the league, toughest reputations. And, you know, they're going toe to toe. So a young kid, Clark Gillies, you know, veteran guy,

David the Hammer Schultz, who got the better of it? You know, in my book, probably Clark, but, you know, Hammer's no slouch. He got into his punches too. But it was really kind of neat going into Philadelphia the first time as a rookie. And I'm sitting in a locker room. I'm all excited to be playing in the spectrum

against the Broad Street Bullies. And now after warmup, it's going around the locker room. Gary Howitt starts it. I want the hammer tonight. Then Bobby Nystrom. Okay. I get Selesky and it's getting closer to me.

And Clark goes, I'll take DuPont. And I'm like, holy cow. It's getting closer and closer. And pretty soon they look at me. Who you got kid? I'm like, I don't know, I'll take DuPont. And I'm like, holy cow, it's getting closer and closer. And pretty soon they look at me, who you got kid? I'm like, I don't know. I'll take McLeish. Oh, and then he keeps going. I'm like, does this happen every game?

I'm like, or are they setting me up? And, uh, you know, sure enough, there's a little scrap goes on out there and there we are, you know, two 19s, McLeish and Troche kind of like looking at each other. I'm like, we got to go. He goes, we got to go. He goes, we got to go. I said, yep.

So I throw a couple of punches. He hits me with three lefts. And I said, had enough yet. We're good. I come back in. The guys go, good fight, kid. I'm like, okay, if that's all it takes, take a couple, give a couple. Why didn't anyone tell him his guy was a lefty?

Can I ask you about Gary Howitt? Because I've always maintained that pound for pound, he may have been one of the toughest. He is one of those guys that again same toy tiger but he came to the game every night ready to do battle he had a little chip on his shoulder which was great for all of us because he brought out a little tiger in all of us because that that fearlessness you need that in the game of hockey because I noticed when right at the end, when I couldn't make myself get in that corner first and I couldn't make myself

do the things that I had to be reckless doing, that's the game of hockey. And Gary Howitt was that guy. He just, no fear. Everything was reckless, reckless abandon, you know, and he scrapped with anybody who was willing to scrap with him. And that just made us just all just play a

little bit bigger. Couple things. Yep. First of all, how would you compare Al Arbor and Badger Bob Johnson? That's wonderful because Al was very, very much a commander, much like Bob on the bench and Scotty.

I'd probably compare Scotty and Al, Scotty Bowman and Al, a little more similar. Bob was extremely positive. Not that Al wasn't, but Al was a little more no nonsense. Bob was all about positive, positive, positive. We lost the game 8-1 in Pittsburgh at home, and we thought we were going to get our butts handed to us in the locker room after the game, and Bob goes goes nine goals scored nine goals walked around a little bit more and and we scored the best one see you tomorrow 10 30. You know he'd see the positive in everything

Al was a little more like a sergeant in the sense that he was no nonsense his meetings were very brief to the point look you in the eye had a problem, go see him right away. Bob was very positive. You walk into his room, he's always patting you on the back on the way out. Like nobody plays better than you. You're playing great. Keep going, keep going, keep those legs going.

Sometimes you need a little bit, a little bit of the, the both of that. It was really wonderful playing for both of them. What was your reaction when Al Arbor would say Brian Troche is better than Wayne Gretzky? Because I remember that as a kid. You know, that's one of my favorite stories because I told that story to his family after

he passed and I don't know why. I think he got backed into a corner because we won the game and Gretzky had five points or something and it was on Long Island and the reporters came running into me. You know, Al just said, you know, he'd take you over Gretzky had five points or something and it was on Long Island and the reporters came running into me. You know, Al just said, you know, he'd take you over Gretzky.

I'm like, oh my God. Okay. That's a, that's a wonderful thing for a coach to say, but he's kind of stuck with me and Wayne's kind of stuck there. But, uh, you know, I think it was one of those things where maybe he did it to motivate me a little bit and he kind of did it to kind

of say to his, the whole team, like, I believe in all you guys. Like I'll take all you guys on this team. So it was kind of a wonderful compliment. I loved it for a whole bunch of reasons because I had great respect for Al. But I think it was one of those moments, I think where you kind of, kind of like,

well, I better not let this guy down. Like he said something and nobody argued with him either. It was really kind of, kind of like, you know, well, I better not let this guy down. Like he, he said something and, uh, nobody argued with him either. It was really kind of cool. Like it wasn't like, it was like Joe Schlenko said, it was like, well, Al Arbor said it. So there, you know, like nobody said, what

are you crazy Al? It was like, oh, he came running. Like, what do you think? I was like, oh, kind of nice to hear as a, as one of his players. Absolutely. I think the most incredible thing you guys did was 19 playoff series in a row.

I don't think we're ever going to see that again. I like the number 19. There's a 19. Oh, that's good. I wish it was 20 because those creepy others would be like. I would have thought about that myself, but I didn't. No, but the 19 hits home with me.

Yeah. But like I was reading the book, you forget how many series you guys were down in. Yeah. And then came back to win. But I was wondering of all those series, when you look back at it, was there one you ever thought you were going to lose? Like you said, this team had us and we got, and we came back.

Was there ever one you look at that was the hardest or the closest you came to losing? Yeah, for me, I, like I compare these two. I'd compare these two. So we swept the Oilers in the finals for zip. And we thought if they even get a little taste, we're in trouble. And that's how I felt. And I didn't share that with anybody,

but my buddy, Mike Bossy, because they were roommates. And we didn't say it out loud, but I think that's kind of how we all felt. It was like, don't let them get a taste. And Smitty was spectacular in that. Defensively, the team was so mindful not to give them even like a little taste. And so to keep the scores down low and not get in a fire wagon hockey with them, you know, that run and gun, that was interesting.

I wouldn't say we felt like we were, but that was edgy. We played Pittsburgh, I think, on our second run, and we were, I mean, they hit the post in overtime. That's how close it was. Tonelli scored the overtime goal. He scored one late in the goal, hopped over Randy Carlisle's stick and, and tied the game. And then in overtime, Tonelli scores.

That could have went either way. Cause we were up two games to nothing. That was a best of five then. Best of five then. That's right. And we went into Pittsburgh, they beat us in overtime and then waxed us the second game, come back and they dominated that whole game.

And we were like, holy cow, we're kind of hanging, we're hanging on by a wing and a prayer here. And we got a little prayer. We got a lucky bounce and the power play came through with the late goal and Tanneley does his magic like he and Bobby Nystrom did so many times in overtime but that was nip or tuck and their coach was Eddie Johnson I asked Eddie about that and he goes Al was matching lines and we had one line

against you and every time we put that line out against you Al would pull you guys off I'm like that stinker EJ's always got a good strategy you know so it was wonderful to get that story from EJ let me ask you about Al before you had that the dynasty run there was that series against the Maple Leafs uh and that last game and this this one's kind of been lost in history and I don't know why I think it was Harris at the turnover Carlisle bad turnover and overtime and Paul Mateer made the save I think a lot of us thought, okay, Islanders are winning it on that one. Laney McDonald later comes down and scores the overtime winner and the Maple Leafs go on.

What happened in the room after that? I think everyone looked at the Islanders and said, this team is- Well, we tease our Maple Leaf fans by saying, we don't remember 78. We only remember 80, 81, 82, 83. But we do remember that. That was deflating. That landing at goal, like it was almost a Hail Mary pass by Ian Turnbull. That landing hooked out of the sky like a shortstop, dropped it down,

and then punched a shot past Chico Rash. McDonald, he scores! McDonald wins it! The Leafs win it! And the Leafs win it! 2-1 and a goal by Lanny McDonald! Lanny McDonald has had such a tough time of it in this series, scoring goals. He started to come out of his slump the other night in Toronto,

and now he comes through with one of the biggest goals of his career. As Lanny McDonald and the Leafs win it! Devastating. Like, deflating. There's not enough words to describe it because the expectations of us was we were going to go to the finals at least that year. And Toronto, to their credit, and again, I say this because I ended up having a busted jaw, but it was a battle. It was a battle. My buddy Tiger was on the team going head-to- head with Daryl Sittler, Jimmy Jones.

I remember all those guys that are, you know, doing battle with the whole team. He played the series of his life, that series. Yeah, everybody. Paul Mateer, like he, he was incredible. Their whole team had a different level of belief, whether it was the Roger Nielsen factor, go figure, but they were on a mission.

And so were we, we thought, but we didn't have enough. We just didn't have enough. It was back to the mirror, look in the mirror and what didn't we do right? And Al was great. Al was wonderful in the sense that, you know, you guys got to learn how to win. Like you guys have to learn how to win. You guys can't be like waiting for the other team to do something or expecting this guy to do something that you got to look at yourself and bring something every shift, every game.

It was a learning curve. It was a big learning curve, a big pill to swallow, but ended up thanking Lanny for that. Thank you for scoring that goal because it really made us mad. We got four Stanley Cups after that. But no, it's one of those things that happen, and you learn from it, and you keep going forward. Last year, I almost hate to bring

this up really hard year for the Islanders. Like just, you know, Clark Gillies, Mike Bossy as a reporter in the book, it was, it was actually kind of funny to read how you and Mike Bossy specifically would not tell anyone what worked between you. You said that's us. That's no, no one else's.

Because I would imagine myself asking those questions. But just your memories of two great people and two great players. And you told a story on Hockey Night about saying goodbye to Mike Bossy, which was a beautiful story. It's not fun. It's very, very emotional. It's still pretty raw. But I think what I've learned, and we know this, all of us, we honor our friends and our buddies and special people in our lives by living life to the fullest.

And talking about them. And talking about them with the same feelings that you have when they're alive sitting right next to you. So yeah, Mike is ever-present. He's alive in my memories and his wife and children, grandchildren. I love telling stories of, you know, Mike. Mike is, you know, just a gifted goal scorer. He's my very best friends.

I had roommates, you know, we had the same likes, dislikes, food, movies, TV, humor, didn't matter. Like everything that, that happened on a daily basis, you know through those 10 years that we were together was just magical you know you don't have a friend you don't say yourself you know it's this kid from Quebec I'm gonna be best friends with him it doesn't come from Saskatchewan just around the corner like my buddy Willie Disjardins like Willie

was my Mike Boss before I had Mike Bossy because Willie was Mike he could score like Mike but it was really kind of fun having a Mike Bossy who had that same humor and same chemistry on the ice that desire to want to win that desire to want to contribute that desire to want to like what do we have to do and Mike's gift was scoring goals he was a goal he was a goal scoring genius and it was really kind of fun to play with somebody of that caliber who could just make things happen as easy as he did. It made it look easy, but he just had a wonderful gift to score goals. And that's going to happen maybe once in our lifetime. Clarkie, on the other hand, is again, a guy who we just looked up to because he was the big brother of the line. He was the guy that just had the presence and he was

the prototypical power forward before the term power forward was invented. He just did everything that a man of his size could do that nobody else could do in the league. Skate, stick handle, shoot, pass, you know, go to the net and make good things happen and provide that leadership and the presence that we needed in order for us to play with

confidence as a line. So we didn't have to fear somebody's going to take our heads off. And Clark, you would say, everything okay? Yeah, it is now, big boy. Thanks for being here. Like, it was just wonderful having him on the left side.

There's one that isn't in the book, but I heard, I've always wanted to ask you about this. I heard when you were hired as coach of the Rangers, you wrote a huge. 57 pages. Yes. I heard about this.

Does it still exist? Do you have it? I don't know if Glenn kept, I didn't keep a copy. I ended up faxing that to him. I should have kept the copy, but yeah, it was, it was a questionnaire and it was twofold. One was philosophies and one was concepts. So like you're, you're basically you're how you

play the game. The next one's like concepts on team concepts. So like you're basically, how you play the game, the next one's like concepts on team concepts. And it was spectacular because it was very, very, it made me think a lot and it brought a lot of things to mind as far as like introspection on how I thought, which I'd never had to think about before. But it was an exercise and so I hand wrote the whole thing. I think that impressed the hell out of me.

I heard about this, yes. I impressed the hell out of me because we were playing the playoffs and I was doing this questionnaire so I hand wrote the whole thing. I think that impressed the hell out of me. I heard about this, yes. I impressed the hell out of him because we were playing in the playoffs, and I was doing this questionnaire, and I just started writing notes, and I shipped that off to Glenn. I don't know if it impressed him, but I think he was impressed. He goes, 57 pages, handwritten, all that stuff. I'm like, all right, whatever. Whatever gets me the job, I'm in.

But it was a great exercise, and no, I don't have a copy of that darn thing. Because I'll tell you this, I heard about that years later that you blew people away with what you did there. Well, if I'm not mistaken, it was kind of the brainchild of Tom Rennie. And when he put that questionnaire together, I think he was thinking, he was saying, boy,

if somebody can pass some mustard, answer somebody because they were, they were really thinkers. It wasn't like an easy question. There wasn't an easy, wasn't an easy question. Do you remember what was on it or anything like that? It was more team concepts in this situation. What would you do?

How would you play this on team concepts? And the other one was like your philosophy on basically anything to do with chemistry on a hockey team to you're putting together a lineup, challenges of defending other teams. It was, I was sitting there going, whew, this is going to make me think a little bit. I'm back in school. I should, is there a college for this somewhere where I can study?

But it was kind of no wrong answer, I guess, but I just threw everything I could think of on paper that I was, but it was mindful to not to sound, you know, stupid to make stuff up, but it was kind of insightful. I heard it was incredible. Okay. Last one for me, you, you and me, we have

one thing in common. We both hate the smell of Sambuca. I learned that about you. Dwayne Sutter, I hate your guts. About your book. And, and the second thing is, and you'll find this, I think you'll find this funny. So when I was born in 1970 and one of my first

celebrity crushes was the bionic woman, Lindsay Wagner. Lindsay Wagner. And I learned in the book that your daughter Lindsay is named after Lindsay Wagner. And I thought that was hilarious. Yeah. She loves her name. She didn't like it when she was little

because she couldn't say Lindsay, she'd say Winzie. She couldn't say her L's very well. But when she learned that this Lindsay Wagner was the bionic woman and who she was named after and the story of Lindsay and the Lindy tree and all that, we studied it to make her, and she's so, so happy. But four children, I didn't name one of them.

I thought I had part of the naming rights, but my son, Brian Jr., I didn't name him. My daughter, Lindsay, was named by her mom and Taylor and Christian. I was there. I remember I was part of the whole thing, but I just, I thought I was part of the naming rights too, but I love my kids.

They're great kids. They all- You write beautifully of them in the book rights too, but I love my kids. They're great kids. They all- You write beautifully of them in the books. Thanks. Yeah, you really do. They're good kids. Let me finish with my last question, which is about one of my favorite topics and

that's Bill Torrey. Yes. I've, with all due respect to the St. Pollocks of the world, I've always maintained that he's the greatest general manager the game has ever seen. It's one thing to build the Stanley Cup champion.

It's another to build the dynasty. And he did it starting with a blank sheet of paper. When you hear that name, what comes to your mind? Any stories about Mr. Tory, the bow tie that you can think of that you'd like to share?

Well, obviously it's in the book, but my first contract with Bill and the first time I got to meet him in the bow tie and, you know, get the contract and him talking to mom and dad and then just concentrating on me and now he's going to present the contract to me um that was spectacular from that moment on you know like he like it was never Mr. Torres I was Bill call me Bill and uh he was I was kiddo all of us were kiddo you know that's how you always talk to hi kiddo how's everything but Bill was um was a kiddo. All of us were kiddo. You know, that's how you always talk to us. Hi kiddo, how's everything? But Bill was a special man for all of us. Obviously, he was the architect to our dynasty team, so to speak. But he did magic keeping that team together. First, he put it all together through the draft, trades, you name it, he did it. And a father figure to all of us, much like Al. I have a tough time saying Bill Torrey without saying Al Arbor.

Like Bill and Al, Al and Bill. They were a two-punch for me. But I think for Bill and what he was coaching, like the coach-coach players, you've got to come in and be the heavy, the hammer. Al controlled our ice time. Bill controlled our careers. Like, you don't want to play here? let me know i'll make it happen and you don't want to play the way i want you to play you don't want to play the system that's fine just let me know i won't you won't be here he punched that

that table with all the gum and gatorade and we it caught our attention but bill never got mad very often when he did boy he was uh he was effective we love him we we miss him um but he's a big part of our lives and uh again we just will always remain forever in our hearts this has been great brian thank you so much for spending a lot of time with us thanks so much thank you mike oh god guys this has been absolute honor love the room too your mind is no longer your mind when it belongs to everyone. Flipped on the other side of what it's meant to become. That was a lot of fun. Ellie and I both really enjoyed sitting down with,

with the great Brian Troche. There is a video of the interview as well, available at Sportsnet's YouTube channel. Hope you can check that out. It's a really cool setting in a real special room at the Rogers building in downtown Toronto. Hope you get a chance to have a peek at that. Thanks so much for joining us today. Again, really hope you enjoyed the Brian Troche piece.

We'll leave you with a band from Munich, Germany, who have a quirky, lo-fi, sort of voodoo indie sound. Aloha Input have been putting out great music over the last decade, and the latest album is something special. From Devil's Diamond Memory Collection, here's Aloha Input with The Other Rainbow. 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Oh, look on Look to another side of what we could have become