32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Devan Dubnyk on the Olympics, Burning Rubber & Goalie Fights

Episode Date: January 12, 2022

The Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team roster will be announced soon and Devan Dubnyk is one of the names on the long list. Jeff and Elliotte chat with Devan about this desire to play on the Olympic team, finding a place to play to get back in game shape, returning to the AHL after 15-years, the smell of burning rubber, the hardest shot he ever faced, the art of catching a puck, almost fighting Jordan Binnington, his favourite goalie growing up, and playing an intense Dean Evason in practice.Full transcript for the episode can be found here by Medha MonjauryMusic Outro: King Pari - SnowdayListen to their debut album on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Thanks to Paul Branecky and TJ Chillot of the Charlotte Checkers for their assistance with this interview.Audio Credits: Fox Sports St. Louis, NBC Sports California and Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Network.The 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.

Beautiful. I hear a beautiful tone. The smell of burning pucks on the Olympic long list for Team Canada, trying to fight Jordan Bennington, crazy goaltenders who won't let you touch their equipment, facing a fired up Dean Everson in practice as a 16-year-old netminder in junior, playing pro with Ilya Brzgalov, getting traded by the Oilers and much, much more. Welcome to our conversation with Devin Dubnik on 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the

all-new GMC AT4 lineup. This was a lot of fun and a pretty lengthy one as well. Devin was really generous with his time. Before people hear this interview, and we touch on a lot of different things with Dubnik, what do you find interesting about this 6'6", very athletic goaltender? Well, I loved him talking about the near Bennington fight last year. Oh, yeah. That was good.

I really enjoyed talking to him about that. You know, I just think that he's a guy who's been through everything, right? He's had great successes. He's had deep disappointments. He's seen hockey at its best, hockey at its worst from a performance standpoint. You know, there's a lot that there is to talk about him because he's got so much experience.

You know, one of my favorite things about Dubnyk was how after the Edmonton experience went south, and he's pretty candid about that in this interview here as well, and pretty funny about it. Well, I couldn't stop pucks.

Yeah. Having a good sense of humor about himself. I mean, you know, the story about him, you know, finding himself in a hotel room and in Hamilton playing in the American hockey league and saying,

whoa, how did I get here? And then recreating himself and turning himself Elliot into a net minder with the Minnesota wild, you know, and he gets to Minnesota. All of a sudden he becomes this like three time all-star earns himself,, earns himself a contract that's helped set him and his family up for life. It's a really good story of someone who didn't quit when hockey said, hey, maybe it's time to quit.

I like that about Devin Dubnik a lot. The other thing too is how many people, when you've played on as many teams as he has early in his career, and you're kind of sent home like he was in Montreal, how many people really survive it? How many people crawl out of that hole? You're basically tagged with a label. You're done. You're done. And one of those teams he was sent home from was Nashville,

which had an excellent reputation for helping goalies. But even Dubnik at points, I remember because I interviewed him in the past, even kind of said look I just I wasn't at my best and I don't think you can really be successful unless you're that honest with yourself and still wants to keep going too and still wants to keep going maybe for a gold medal we shall see uh enjoy this conversation hope you do as much as we do this is uh Devin Dubnik on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Elliot, we're very pleased to be joined by Devin Dubnik, someone we've wanted to talk to for a while with a wonderful story and a very interesting one to tell. Devin, first of all, thanks so much for joining us today.

How are you? I'm good. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. The pleasure is ours. I love talking to goaltenders. To me, they're the most fascinating creatures in the hockey universe. And now that I've buttered you up, goaltenders used to always be so weird.

And now they seem so normal. How would you describe yourself? Just call me a creature. So that was a fascinating creature. Yeah, I mean, there was, I think there was a lot of, I guess it was, it was a long time ago when it's a little different now. I don't think, I think it just got to a point

where you got to be part of the team. You got to be part of the group. And there was a time where, you know, all the old school coaches and stuff talk about goalies being off by themselves and not wanting to talk to them or, or worry about them. And I think that's just, you know, been gone for a long time.

You got to be, uh, you know, it's important to be part of the team and be a normal guy. I mean, I think anybody that has to stand there for 60 minutes by themselves is always going to have a few quirks, but, uh, everyone'sks, but everyone kind of had to adjust and be a little more normal. So who's the weirdest goalie now? Because you guys all know. Now, gosh, I don't know.

I'm thinking like most guys that I played with were pretty normal. Like Backstrom, when I played, I was only with him for a bit. But he's an older guy too so he had some superstitions you just don't really see it anymore i mean before there was guys that just you couldn't even speak to and i mean when i was younger i just i could never do that i just like that would give me more anxiety than talking to like try to shut myself off in a hole so i just never got into that which i can't shut up if you paid me anyway. So let me ask you another way.

Was there a goalie when you were younger, just kind of feeling your way through, where you said something to them or you did something and you said, uh-oh, I'm about to find out this was not the right time. So it wasn't saying anything, but this goalie in Kamloops, Davis, I, it wasn't saying anything, but, uh, uh, this goalie, uh, in Kamloops, Davis Parley was his name and, uh, he was 20. I was 16 and, uh, he had a superstition about, uh, tapping his pads.

So you couldn't touch his pads. So, you know, I went after the period was over, whatever time it was, I went to go give him a tap on the pads and he slashed my stick away. And I was like, oh shoot. Sorry, dude. Did you overlap with Elia Brizgalov with the coyotes? No, with Edmonton. Oh, with Edmonton you overlap with the Brizgalov. I wouldn't even thought about that. Yeah. The grizzly bear was in Edmonton. Oh, with Edmonton, you overlap with the Brizgala. I wouldn't even thought about that.

Yeah. Yeah. The Brizly Bear was in Edmonton. So what was that experience? Like, I love that he's one of my favorite people to talk to. What was he like as a, as a, as a teammate? It wasn't very long, but you know, hilarious

guy, obviously everybody, you know, anybody that's talked to him knows he's funny and he was, he was the same way in Edmonton. Like I said, it was a, it was a short period of time, but, uh, he had the boys laughing pretty good, uh,

when he was there. And then I was, I was shipped out shortly after. I always wondered about that when, when, uh, when you were with Edmonton, because you mean you were like,

first of all, like the one thing we all noticed about you is like really tall, really athletic. Like when I, if I'm a, someone in an organization, I'm like, I'm not giving up on someone with that size and that athleticism. What went through your mind at that period in your career? Uh, you mean when I got traded from Edmonton?

Yeah. I was shocked that the Oilers did it. Yeah. I mean, it was tough. Like it was frustrating. I mean, as a young guy, you think you always think to yourself like, oh yeah, I'm going to be a, you know, play here for life. You know, like, especially being a Western Canadian kid, grew up in Calgary. I'm like, and everything was, you know, trending upwards before that year. But the problem is, well, there's a few problems.

One is I didn't stop the puck. So that was problem number one. And then there was so much changeover in edmonton it was like new gms new coaches constantly that if somebody comes in new like mac t came in his job is to revamp the team we weren't being successful so he's got to change it if you don't have somebody that's been there for a long time that's loyalty or or believes in you if you have this constant change you know it doesn't like he has no loyalty to me so his job was to come in and change the team i didn't give him a reason that i should be there and you move on but you know you didn't have that like gm that drafted you or had seen you play for years and it was just like you know this is a rut you can get out of it i know

i know what kind of goalie he is. There's a constant turnover. You know, Mac T had no loyalty to me. I didn't give him a reason to be loyal to me either. Like I said, problem number one was that I didn't stop the puck. So that's where it all started. So I wanted to ask you a little bit about, you're on the long list for the Olympics, Devin. Have you been given an indication that you, will you be playing for Canada at the Olympic games,

assuming everything goes as normal here? As normal as can be, I guess. I hope so. You know, they haven't given me any sort of direct confirmation that I will be on the short list, but I'm basically told, you know, I went through the process to be put on the long list so that I could continue to be eligible, and that's kind of where we're at now. And then obviously, you know, I went through the process to be put on the long list so that I could continue to be eligible. And that's kind of where we're at now. And then obviously, you know, I was finding

a place to play so that I was prepared if I had the opportunity. So, you know, I haven't been told anything. I know the guys from Hockey Canada, I've known them for a long time. So the dialogue's there, but there hasn't been anything specific, like telling me that I'm going for sure. I'm just going to do my best to prepare and you know I want to be able to to perform you know it sounds silly but that's a big part of it too it's an absolute honor to to have an opportunity to go over there so right now I'm just trying to concentrate on making sure that if I do get the chance to go over there that I'm you know ready to contribute because I obviously haven't played a lot of hockey this year. You know, right now with the Charlotte Checkers, I'm wondering about the

last couple of months as well. And at what point you thought maybe I need to, you know, maybe I've got a shot at team Canada here if the NHLers don't go. Like, was this in the back of your mind the last few months or is this really sudden and quick for you? No, honestly, it's sudden. The last couple months has just been complete whirlwind. Going from getting the call and asking if I would be interested in playing in Spangler Cup, and I played in Spangler twice in the past, and it's just one of my favorite memories, both the tournaments. Davos is beautiful. The tournament is such a cool experience.

So when I got that call, I was like, yeah, that sounds awesome. And then the next step was finding a place to skate, which I was fortunate enough to, uh, University of St. Thomas, let me come out and practice with them, but that wasn't really much. I mean, there were, they already had three goalies. So it was four goalies out there and I didn't want to get in the way of the guys day before game kind of thing. So I wasn't getting a lot of work and and then the opportunity with Charlotte came up so I jumped on that I came down here absolutely loved the time awesome group of guys city's beautiful kind of blew me away I didn't uh didn't really know what to expect um going to play in the American League but had a blast you know got a couple games and was ready to go to Spangler the day I was supposed to go back to Minnesota

to get ready to go to Switzerland Canada pulled out so that got cancelled and then I was kind of like in limbo at that point I went home for Christmas we were supposed to be going we had this whole trip planned to Switzerland and uh we didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't have any post Christmas hockey plans. It was kind of like everything was just lead to the Spangler and then, and then that was going to be it. And then I don't know what point the NHL pulled out of, uh, of the Olympics, but it's kind of sitting at home and then, you know, got the call about being on the long list for the Olympics. And then it was kind of the same cycle and then, you know, got the call about being on the long list for the Olympics. And then it was kind of the same cycle happened all over again.

It was like, well, shoot, I got to find somewhere to play now and get prepared. And, and, uh, you know, with the taxi squads and everything going on, the opportunity kind of came up here again. Um, and they were happy to have me back. So this is where I'm at now trying to get to get the game in order. Now in the off season this year, did you have, did you have many NHL opportunities? What kind of was your off season? Like, what did you, did you think that you'd be somewhere in the big league this year? I did. Uh, I really did. Oh, you know, I was surprised,

uh, just that there being basically no offers you know i was thinking about it later kind of saying you know it'd be different if i had a couple early offers for for minimum or whatever and then i said no to them because i thought i was going to get more and then you know spots filled up and you can kind of look at yourself and and say well that was you know your own fault for saying no in the first place. But I mean, I literally got nothing, not a single offer. So that was kind of surprising to me, but you know, what are you, what are you going to do? We thought Buffalo, that was what we heard that there was interest from the Buffalo Sabres. There was interest for quite a short period of time and you know i never when i say that i

mean like a couple hours and then they signed uh anderson and and dell before there was ever any sort of formal anything so i was wondering like did you think this was going to be it was there a point of view like you've got a big family did you think that maybe you're at a point where unfortunately you're we're gonna have to retire or something honestly I just especially after last year I mean my there wasn't a lot as I say this I'm sitting in a hotel in downtown Hartford but I was gonna say there wasn't a you know I wasn't a, you know, I wasn't going to go away from them. I didn't want to, you know, last year was awful. I saw my wife and kids for 16 days between December 26th and whenever June, whenever we were out of the playoffs. And so I just wasn't going to do that again.

You know, I wasn't going to wait and go off somewhere and try to make the team, but not bring the family. And, but again, I mean, I say all this, but none of the opportunities even, there wasn't even an ask, so it didn't matter. But I mean, yeah, like come November, it was, I didn't really have a lot of reason to think otherwise at that point. You know, it's such an interesting thing. Like, you know, Devin, here you are, you're 35 years old.

And one thing I've learned about elite level athletes and NHL players is you play until someone drags you off the ice and says, you can't do it anymore. Yep. And I'm wondering what you're sitting there. You're thinking on one hand, you want to be with your family. And on the other hand, you're thinking, I may not have a lot of time left. Like that push and pull, especially now with what we're dealing with with covid it must have

been so intense and what were your conversations like with your family as you decided you wanted to try this again well i mean my wife jen has just been on like she she's funny because she's the one like obviously you got to do it like so i get my agent calls me and mentions the opportunity to come to charl Charlotte for a couple of weeks and I'm like, yeah, you know, sounds like a good idea, especially kind of perfect scenario for Spangler Cup. Let me just call Jen and let her know before I

say yes. So I call her and I'm like, Hey, you know, Charlotte called and, or Florida called and said, I can go to Charlotte. And she goes, okay, so when when you leave him and i was like oh so so you're cool with it and she's like well of course why wouldn't you go you know and like same thing with when the spangler came up and you know the olympics and like she's always just like well yeah of course you're doing it like as long as you want to like

she always says as long as you want to do it then do it, as long as you want to do it, then do it. We'll be fine. And it's weird coming back to, um, you know, you, you have a couple of days, especially the first few times on the ice where you're just like, you know, I, I got on the ice. I didn't, when everybody left for camp, you stop skating cause there's no one to skate with. So when I get the call for Spangler and I go out with the university team, St. Thomas, you know, you get out there and it's like, I mean, everybody knows when you've been off for a bit, it feels kind of foreign, but you know, one day is okay. And especially when you're coming back from a long delay, it's like one day is good, one day is bad, one day is good. And then it kind of all starts to slide in, but your day is kind of, some days you're like, oh yeah, I got it. And then some days you're like, oh my God, my brain is not connected to my body right now.

You know what, let me pick up on that. I am curious when, when you're off that long, what's the toughest thing to get back in your game? Like what's the one thing that's like, ah. It's the, uh, uh, patience off of like reads off of the stick, like the shots. Okay.

And it's because it's such a far, it's, it's like split second. The difference between like dropping, leaving your blades to go into a butterfly before the puck leaves a stick or after. And you think about how short amount of time that is. Wow. The difference, but the difference is if you're holding your edges until after the puck leaves a stick, it means you're like dropping into the safe. So you're going into the butterfly toward the puck or wherever it's going. If you're dropping before the puck leaves the

stick, then you're essentially going into a butterfly and then reacting out, away from it, which you're going to be chasing it. And it's always been that way. It's one of the most difficult things to just get back that patience of holding and reacting to the shot, not that split second before. And it's night and day.

Have you tried any of the virtual reality training? Have you done any of that before? I talked to Kevin Woodley out in Vancouver about that. And he was going to try to get me set up. I never ended up getting it. But I was very interested in it for myself. And then I was selfishly thinking my kids were going to love this thing. I'm like, I'm going to stick these guys in this

thing and have Shea Weber ripping clappers at them. They can see what I'm looking at. Yeah. The group, I think the Woodley's tied in with is called Sensorene. Yes. That's the one.

That's the same one. Yeah. I really want to check it out because my kids have a VR and I mean, I've, I go in it like just to see what they're doing and it's pretty crazy. These are obviously made up worlds in there, but I mean, it'd be cool to see how close it was to the real thing. Well, I know that some goaltenders have used it as part of their rehab, specifically concussion rehab. Yeah.

Where you're not out there facing the shots, but it's that simulated practice, that simulated game. Like it's a great, not just a great tool to stay sharp, but also a great recovery tool as well. For sure. You can work on the eyes and brain as well, tracking without, you know,

having that feeling like you might take one in the face again. Hey, speaking of which, you mentioned Shea Weber and he's the obvious one, but I know that goaltenders are well protected but when you're playing in the nhl whose shot did you just cringe like oh no here it comes again sheldon surrey is the hardest shot i've ever seen in my life oh boy like yeah i can't even describe this and i mean it was also my first call up in the nhl so obviously So obviously everyone's shot seems. Really hard.

Yeah. Super hard. But this is like, this is outrageous. The best part about it is like, I never touched it and he never hurt me with it because it just went in. He was hilarious. He'd come in. I remember the first practice he takes, he had three shots. He had the quarter, half and full slap shot.

That was it. There was no, there was no like no wrist shot, no like toe pull. It was just quarter half and full so i have a story i remember i had a friend uh who played pickup and he wanted to try goal uh like he tried goal later in life and he actually became a pretty good beer league goalie but the dumbest thing he told me he ever did was there was a guy in beer league who had a great shot and he wouldn't take it in those games he said it's not right for me to shoot this when we're playing for fun if it's a meaningful game i'll do it and he goes the guy i want to face your slap shot and he said no i'm not doing it and my buddy taunted him enough oh no that the guy said

okay i'll do it and he blasted off him and he got hurt. I don't think he broke his collarbone, but he injured it. And he told me it was. He taunted him enough that he took a slap shot at his neck. Yeah. And so he said, I learned my lesson.

Don't do that again. So the question I have for you is, did you ever say to Sorey, wind that thing up? I want to see it? Not a chance. I remember the first practice I got out there when I got called up with him. And I mean, I was in training camp, but I never really saw it the same way. And I remember the one drill he comes down, gets to the top of the circle,

and I hear him, he goes, sorry, Doomer. And he does this like quarter clapper. This thing blew by me before my brain could even like register to move my hand. Like before I could comprehend that the puck was coming at me, it was in the net. And I was like, oh my God, is that what this is? Is that what it is up here?

Because I'm a long way off if that's the case. I think game in a hurry. Okay, I'm going to go on a little fishing trip here with you. I'm curious because the last time I talked to Woodley, we had a conversation about the smell of burning pucks off a mask when it hits you. And some goalies will say, yeah, that's definitely a thing. Do you know what I'm talking about? Has that been a thing for you? Yeah, that's definitely a thing. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Like, has that been a thing for you? Yeah. Oh, it's definitely a thing. Can you explain it? Like that phenomenon? Yeah. It smells like burning rubber and it like, it's very blatant smell. I think it just depends how the puck hits you.

I think if it hits you square on, you don't really get it. If it kind of ricochetsets obviously you get that burning rubber because it's actual burning rubber probably off of your helmet but yeah it's a that's definitely a real thing it's you can smell it do you remember the first time you smelled that like what level of hockey are you are you noticing that oh i i can't remember uh exactly when i would have smelled that i would say that it probably wasn't until junior, like WHL, that pucks started actually hurting when you got hit in the head. Before that, I was like, whatever.

Devin, when you agreed to do this interview, did you think that you'd be asked about the smell of pucks off your mask? That was exactly it. I was talking to my wife and I was like, yeah, I got to go talk about burning pucks. I'll call you back. I'm just curious.

Did you prepare for this in advance? When you woke up this morning, do you think you'd be talking about the smell of pucks? Yeah. I was staring in my mirror trying to rehearse how I was going to talk to you guys. So what I wanted to ask you was one of my favorite moments from last season, St. Louis, San Jose. Yep. And you're a competitive ornery guy,

and Jordan Bennington is a competitive ornery guy. Oh, yeah. And you guys skated each other, and it looked like you both wanted to go. Yeah. Are we going to have a goaltending change? I believe we are as the backup goaltender billy husso is getting set he's not seated on the bench there's not enough room on the visitors bench here at sap center for the backup goaltender so billy husso in the tunnel oh

here we go coming back out now binnington getting after it with tubenik has dubnik and binnington getting after it with Dubnyk. Has Dubnyk and Binnington come together on Binnington's way off the ice? Well, Carlson, Eric Carlson in the neutral zone. I'm not sure what happened, but Binnington went after Carlson. And then, obviously, then Devin Dubnyk came out to say something to Binnington. I thought they were going to drop the gloves. Minor penalty on sportsmanlike conduct. What happened and who would have won? Unsportsmanlike conduct I believe was just given to Bennington and that will put the Sharks on a power play here. Here's where Bennington takes his swat

right there at Carlson and I'm not sure he just upset getting pulled now he's talking to Dubnyk as he's going off. I'm not sure I'd want to tussle with Devin Dubnyk with the size of him. That's probably why Bennington heads for the shower. Obviously, he'll be parked over there outside the glass. That's where they sit, as you mentioned, Randy. But you're right. Unsportsmanlike conduct.

Two-minute penalty there for the goaltender. So you're going to get me in trouble here. So we scored, and he obviously wasn't having a great game, and they pulled him, and I wasn't really paying attention. It's like they pulled him, you know, it takes a bit, so I was just kind of twirling around my end, like not really paying attention, looking at all the fans in the stands,

staring at all the empty seats. And then all of a sudden, you know, I look up and he's shoving with Simic at the bench. And I'm kind of laughing at myself. Like I know he's got a temper. And you know what? I can respect it. I used to have a major temper when I was younger too.

I don't have enough energy for that anymore, but I can tip my cap to a good like snapshot once in a while. So, but the thing that bothered me, so I watched that and I was kind of laughing, you know, he took a penalty. I'm like, perfect. We got a power play.

And, uh, when he was skating off and he fake punched Carlson and I didn't know that he just like fake punched him. I thought he like shoved him. That's kind of what pissed me off. So I went over to say something to him. And I mean, his wires had crossed. I don't know.

There was nobody home there. Showing some feistiness as he always does. Now he's going to go over to Devin Dubnik. Here we go. But as I went over to him, he kind of like wound up and he tried to, like I saw him, he was going to like slash me in the back of the leg. So I fired up Binnington. So I kind of like tried to, like I saw him, he was going to like slash me in the back of the leg. So a fired up Binnington. So I kind of like tried to stop that and then kind of tried to throw a left.

When I say throw a left, it was not really throwing a left, but I pushed him in the face. But I was like, I thought we were going to go. You know, I've kind of like stood there for a second. But I mean, the thing is, there's like all four referees were following him off the ice because he just like chased everybody around. So plus, and then he went straight off the ice. So there's no real possible way that it could have happened.

I don't know. I mean, I'd like to pretend I would win the fight. Who knows? I mean, I think I weigh a hundred pounds more than he does and I'm significantly taller. So maybe I'll just, I think I could a hundred pounds more than he does and, and significantly taller. So maybe I'll just, I think I could sit on him. It'd be like a UFC.

I think full mount. I get full mount on him. I think it seems like he's been itching for one for years now. And so we're all just waiting. Like, is this ever going to happen for Jordan Bennington? Like, can we please just prearrange one?

Just be careful what you wish for. That's all I'll say. It's not like, we're not talking about Robin Leonard wishing for a fight. Like, we know Leonard wants a fight because he's going to beat the brakes off of whoever he accepts. But we're not talking about that here. So just be careful what you wish for. Well, that is an interesting question. Like amongst, like we see some of the obvious, like Robin Leonard what you wish for. Well, that is an interesting question. Like amongst, like we see some of the obvious,

like Robin Leonard's an obvious one and Mike Smith's an obvious one. But amongst the goaltenders, is there sort of a consensus, like top three or top five? Like, you know, okay, so who's the toughest here? Leonard's, I always make a joke. I'm like, if I ever pissed off Leonard enough that he was going to chase me around, I'd go young blood on him and just like stick my stick in his face like i'm not i'm not i'm not going down that road you know i wasn't blessed with great looks but i don't need to like hurt myself even more

in that category i gotta give myself a chance but uh i mean he's one of my it's funny like i always like to look back at the uh felix pot van ron hextall fight oh yeah oh yeah you're not taking any away from ron hextall i mean the guy was tough as nails but when he went into pot then you're thinking like this guy's gonna murder him like it's ron hextall yeah and then you're like whoa all of of a sudden Felix is chucking him. And Potbat breaks the stick of Lacroix. Clark's got Lacroix down. He's got a couple of lefts going at him. As in comes Hextall to grab Potbat.

Now Potbat and Hextall are fighting. Off comes Potbat's helmet. Hextall throwing punches at Potbat. Felix throwing an uppercut lands on Hextall right on the button. They're railing away at one another. Hextall sweaters up. That's a fine. Here's another throwing punch. Hextall with an uppercut. Felix throwing wags and lefts. The pileup is underneath, but the main event is the goaltender. Oh, Felix is popping him. He has thrown a bunch of punches at Hextall. He's got him dragged over the top. The biggest thing if you're going to get into a fight,

is that like whoever's more pissed off is going to win. Unless it's Robin Leonard, he could be not pissed off. He's going to beat you up. But it's like that aggression, you know, like I think that's a big part of it is you can't go into a fight and not want to like, if one guy wants to hurt the other guy and the other guy doesn't really care, then it doesn't really matter who's who.

I think in that rink that day of the, the Potfan-Hexel fight, there were two people that knew that Potfan could really handle himself. One was Felix Potfan and the other was Pat Burns. Oh yeah. And Pat Burns, like Burns' background with, you know, the, the police in Quebec and like

Potfan was, you know, Potfan kind of ran with a tough crowd. He did. He ran with a tough crowd. And I remember, you know, the, the story was always like Burns was like, this is not going to end the way you guys think it's going to end. Watch this.

And Potfan just unloaded. Unreal. Like, I love watching that. Cause he was, uh, he was one of my favorite goalies, uh, when I was, that was before I was a goalie. But I remember writing a school project, writing a letter to Felix Potvin asking him for an autograph.

Really? Yeah. Did he send it? Yeah, I got one back. I got a signed picture of Felix Potvin. That's awesome. Yeah. So I always think of that when I'm trying to do fan mail

or it piles up. And I always tell myself to just make sure, eventually get back to it. Because I always think of that. Felix Potvin sent me a picture. And I didn't send him anything. I just wrote a letter as a kid. And I mean, to be honest, he probably had stuff

signed and set away for that stuff but just the fact that like i'll never forget that because i'm like yeah that's huge remember when you were a kid he sent you a picture signed so make sure you eventually take the time like get all this stuff out so yeah that was really cool and i mean hands down like best head to toe style it was pretty cool like unbelievable to have that's great that he did that for you though that's that's fantastic yeah it was it was incredible i had that on my my bulletin board that was when i had a bulletin board in my my room as a kid you never got the chance to play against him he was gone by then i know no yeah he

was he was gone. So I remember the last time I talked to Felix Potvin, we had a conversation about playing baseball and he said, the goaltenders now, you can tell they didn't play baseball by how they catch a puck. He said, goaltenders just put their glove in front of the puck now, but nobody really catches

it. Yeah. He said, I take all my goaltenders and I throw baseballs and we play catch because I want to teach goaltenders how to, how to catch a puck properly. He goes, goaltenders don't do that anymore. They just stick their glove in front of the puck.

Do you kind of know what he's getting at there? Yeah. Well, yeah, you look at it, there's a lot of, I want to say like kind of stabbing at it. Yeah. It doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, I mean, he had some pretty fantastic windmill glove saves.

So it might, it might be an in-between of the two, but I know exactly what he's saying. Like there's, you know, you, you can see guys do other hands way out in front, but it's kind of that, that like stabbing at the puck rather than, you know, letting it come in and catching it. Yeah.

Your first AHL game was 15 years ago. I was looking at that today. What's the biggest difference between being one of the youngest guys in the American Hockey League to now being one of the real veterans in the American Hockey League? The way my body feels? You know, what's hilarious? So I'll give you a guess that you probably won't guess,

but there's one thing in common with those two games, the one that I played 15 years ago and then the one that I played here. Was somebody in the game or was it in the same building? Somebody who's in the organization, yes. Dan Biles was my assistant coach in both scenarios. in the same building? Somebody who's in the organization, yes. Oh. Dan Bilesma was my assistant coach. Oh, wow. In both scenarios. Oh, no way. Yep.

Wow. 15 years ago in Wilkes-Barre, he was the assistant coach. That's unbelievable. And he's the assistant coach here now. Yeah, we were laughing about it when I first came here. Okay, you know what? Let me ask you something about coaches and assistant coaches in either the American

Hockey League or in the NHL. If you're comfortable naming names, go for it. Or more specifically, I'm just looking for, have you experienced this phenomenon? Because I've talked to a couple of goalies about it and they've sort of joked about this. Have you ever been in practice and had one of your coaches take a shot on you and you said

to yourself, you played in the show with that shot? Yeah. But, you know, you got to remind yourself that they probably didn't look like that when they played in the show. So you got to give them a little bit of a break. I just wonder if the shot ever, I never thought the shot would leave. Maybe it does. Let's be honest.

You talk about like older coaches that are superstitious. I don't think any coach is coming in and ripping one on their goaltender. Oh, good point. It's like a little bit worried about hitting them with it. But this is funny too. So I don't know if I ever told you guys this, but, uh, another roundabout coaching story. When I was 15, when I got called up in Kamloops as a, so you get drafted at 14 and then I was playing Bantam AAA and I went up to Kamloops as a emergency call up and, uh, Dean

Evason was the head coach in Kamloops. I'd never played. So every day after practice, just a super intense three on three game with the coaches against the players that basically never played the young guys that like never played. And it was, and me, Dino was flying back then. Hmm. Like still any, and I mean, he could rip the puck still. And then again, another, and then round about dino gets hired and

come into training camp and i don't know however many years later that was probably yeah it would have been 15 16 17 years after that dino was my assistant coach and then head coach eventually now dean was a tough player yeah like he wasn't the biggest guy, so he had to play hard and kind of dirty. Oh, he was intense in these three-on-three games. Yeah, he was intense in these three-on-three games. Like, I didn't know what to do. I was like, do I let him? I don't think he's ever played a soft game of hockey in his life.

No. Like, never, ever. No. Like, I didn't know what to do. First of all, I mean, he could still shoot, and he was flying around. But I'm like, I was scared if the players won the game, I thought he's going to kill me. So, but then I also didn't want to like let him score. Cause I wanted him to think I was good. So I was like in this dilemma every time he played three, I'm like, I don't want to let him score because I

want him to think I'm a good goalie, but if the players win, he might kill me. So I don't know. Now, are you surprised at all at Vancouver's success under Bruce? I wouldn't say surprised. I mean, am I surprised there? I don't even know what they are now, like eight

and oh, or one overtime loss. Yeah. I mean, to that degree. Yes. But no, I think i think you know they had some success at the start of the year and i think it's one of those things sometimes a new voice i mean bruce has been successful everywhere he's went he obviously you know there's good things but a lot of times it's just it's a weird phenomenon with hockey where you see that where a new guy will come in and and um for whatever reason if it's just a new voice if it's changing things up if it's accountability you know for guys

that you have a you know new eyes on you whatever it is but like i said am i surprised that they're you know 801 or whatever they are a little bit bit, but, you know, I'm not surprised that he's having success there at all. How much was Bruce, or maybe he wasn't at all, you know, Bob Mason's your goaltending coach when you were at the Minnesota Wild. He was part of one of the great goaltending duels of all time back in 87 with Kelly Rudy

in the Easter Epic. But how much did Bruce Boudreaux deal with the goaltenders when he was with you guys in Minnesota? Not much. He, you would do mostly his talking through Bobby. He always would say that he doesn't know

anything about goaltending, but then he'd tell you if he didn't like the way you played. It's an interesting, interesting way to go about it. But no, I mean, I, you know, I, like I always say, Bruce, he can be hard on goalies. You know, he's, he expects a lot out of you, which is fine. But I always say, I mean, I'm always, I'm forever grateful to, you know,

he played me a ridiculous amount of hockey games and it was an awesome part of my career. So, you know, whenever I'm, I'm joking about that stuff, I always appreciate that. And, and, uh, but he, yeah, he was, he was, most of the talking was through Bobby. I've had coaches in the past that like, just don't even talk to you.

It certainly wasn't that case. I mean, he was fine. He just wasn't going to get into it with you too much about what you were doing, unless you weren't doing it well. All right. Here's my last question, Devin. Have you called Eric Stahl and said, if I'm coming back to play in the Olympics, you are too?

Interestingly enough, we've had that conversation. We have. So I've talked to him a couple times about it, and that was the first thing when I, when I went on the long list, it was the first thing I thought about, cause I know he's, he's kind of been skating a little bit.

And I mean, you know, he doesn't have to skate much. He's in good shape and obviously knows how to play the game. But when it came up, I called him. I didn't, I didn't know if he was on the list or not.

I called him to ask. And so I think it'd be a blast. I think it'd be awesome for that team too, if he's able to do it, but who knows? I mean, he's got to want to do it, which I think he does. I mean, but it's like the guys want everything. It's like, if you, you can't blame the guy if he doesn't want to go, you know, I mean, it's in China, it's a long way away. It's, you know, it's obviously all the protocols and stuff.

If he doesn't want to go, you can't blame him. Like he's won the Olympics. He's won the Stanley Cup. He's won the world championships. Like what? But I'd love it if he, if he would come. It would be really cool to see Eric Stahl there. It'd be really cool to see you there as well.

And he can still play. Yeah. Oh yeah. I can promise you that. Yeah. I skated with him a bit as well. And he can still play. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I can promise you that. Yeah. I skated with him a bit in the summer, and he's still got it. It's just whether or not he wants to do it, but he's definitely still got it. Well, listen, it would be great to see both you guys there.

Thanks so much for doing this. Much appreciated. Best of luck the rest of the way, both with Hockey Canada and with the Checkers. Thanks so much for doing this. Thanks a lot, Devin. Really appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks for having me doing this. Thanks a lot, Devin. Really appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks for having me, guys.

It was fun. Okay, Elliot, that was a lot of fun talking to Devin Dubnik. We thank Devin for his time. Wish him all the best with Hockey Canada. I want to thank the Charlotte Checkers for making him available, Paul Braneke and TJ Shalott specifically.

Taking us out today, a band that got their start almost accidentally. One night, Joe Paris Christensen texted Cameron Kinghorn some jams he recorded on his tape machine. Cameron replied back with a, what is this I want in? A few minutes later, Joe created the loop for their first single and they wrote the song On The spot in his northeast Minneapolis bedroom. From their debut album, Mary, here's King Perry with Snow Day on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Oh no, oh no Can we lose our love? Can we out-feel this love?

When I look in your eyes I can see through your sky And the tears will lie Will they join us tonight? Say that you wanna go To one more ride the last of souls Set the feet as you go Haven't we done this before?

Storms on its way Outro Music Thank you.