32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Nigel Dawes

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

While in Germany, Elliotte sat down with hockey journeyman, Nigel Dawes, inside the Alder Mannheim locker room after practice. Nigel tells Elliotte about winning the Memorial Cup with Kootenay, playing on the best World Junior team ever, what it was like playing with Anthony Stewart, scoring his first goal, sharing a dressing room with Jaromír Jágr, why he chose to play overseas, the best advice he got about playing in Russia and the passion European fans have for the game.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Havana Swim Club - LagoonListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Editing support provided by Mike Rogerson,Audio Credits: CBC.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.

Okay, welcome to another interview edition of 32 Thoughts to Podcast presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Today we present Elliot's conversation with Nigel Dawes, who's been playing hockey, Elliot, for a very, very long time. We think back to his time playing junior hockey with Kootenai, where he won the Memorial Cup, 97 points in his draft year, fifth round to the New York Rangers. And it's been stops with the Coyotes, the Flames, the Thrashers,

the Habs, and extended time in the KHL. Now playing with the Eagles in Mannheim, where you caught up with them playing in the DEL. And along the way, one of the great stories and one of the great moments and one of the great teams he was on would have been 2005 Grand Forks World Junior Hockey Championships as well. You know, they talk about that maybe being the best junior team ever assembled. Your thoughts on Nigel Dazzo?

Well, my question to you was, do you think you're the junior expert on this podcast? Do you think that's the best junior team ever assembled. Your thoughts on Nigel Dazzo? Well, my question to you was, do you think, you're the junior expert on this podcast, do you think that's the best junior team ever? Yes, it's going away. First of all, more than half the team belonged in the NHL at that point. If it weren't for the lockout, I don't think we'd be saying, oh, the Grand Forks team Canada was the best team of all time, but that team was just ridiculous. Okay, so there's some great good stories he tells about Dion Phaneuf and Anthony Stewart who were the leading trash talkers on the team shocking and not so much even on the ice but directed more towards each other for the pure entertainment

value of it all I really enjoyed talking to Daz I've spoken to him a few times over the years he's been all over the world. Oh, yeah. If you think about it, he was in Kazakhstan for a while. He was in Russia for a while. Now he's in Europe. He's had a pretty fascinating journey. And I'm curious to see where his future takes him because he's got a young family now. And you begin to think even more, where's the right place to raise a young family?

So we'll see where it goes, but he told some great stories and I hope everybody enjoys it. I think they will. Here he is, Nigel Dawes in conversation with Elliot Friedman on 32 Thoughts, the podcast interview edition. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. All right, we're sitting here in the Adler Mannheim dressing room in his second year as a member of the organization, Nigel Dawes. And, you know, Nigel, I was thinking about the first time I remember you, and we're going back 20 years. Memorial Cup. You were laughing. You knew what I was going to say're going back 20 years. Memorial Cup.

You were laughing. You knew what I was going to say before I even said it. Well, that's the only thing that's 20 years ago. So let's start at the beginning. You're a Winnipeg guy. You end up in the Western Hockey League, as Winnipeg guys do. And your first year, you win the Memorial Cup.

What do you remember about that experience in Guelph? Yeah, I think the playoffs, I remember driving to the rink. It was in the first round, and we were going to game seven. And it was just, you know, your first year away from home. It's a long year, and you're kind of like, I was driving to the rink, and it's like, man, it could be going home or going on to the next round today and it was a weird series we were playing prince george which was never easy to play up there and we i think the home team hadn't won a game all series it was a two three two and you know we lost the first two and we're going out to prince george and everyone

wrote us off and won all three games came back lost game six and then we're going to game seven you know duncan milroy was on the team uh jared stole i hadn't seen someone dominate the playoffs like milroy did that year and you know slowly was great leader and we just kind of built off that first round and all the way to to the finals and um we won that it is a weird setup still like you win something and then you're like oh we got to go play more so um but obviously as a junior playing in uh in the whl and chl your goal is to get to the memorial cup and we got there and won the first two games and was right into the finals and it all happened so quickly and six days later you're celebrating the win and yeah as a 16 year old you kind of figure well it's going to happen at least go far in the playoffs or or get a chance to get there but yeah it was definitely a great

way to to start uh my junior career what do you remember about being far from home as a 16 year old what it was like what at that age i think you're kind of not always dumb and stupid but i was like i want to get drafted as far away from home as possible so i don't have to see my parents and and then i did and i was like i love living in the drafted as far away from home as possible. So I don't have to see my parents. And, and then I did. And I was like, I love living in the mountains. Cause you know, in Manitoba, there's obviously nothing there. And that was awesome. But then as you kind of like grow a little older, you're like, oh, it would have been

nice to, to maybe be a little bit closer because it would have been easier for them to come out and see more games or, or you play, you know, maybe I would have played in Brandon more. It was easier for them to come see. And, and you kind of miss you know a lot of things i got two younger brothers and being that far away i mean i'd see them maybe once twice a year and um you know stuff that as you you look back on things you're like oh maybe it could happen differently but i mean you don't have a lot of control over that kids coming up now i think

they have a little bit more control as from you know watching and hearing. You know, a lot of guys maybe refuse to go to certain teams or they're not going to do that. And back then, you know, you're just happy to get drafted. You didn't really care what team it was. You didn't really care where it was. You were just going to go and play. You know, I almost didn't go. It was the first, I think it would have been my 16-year-old training camp.

I called them and said I wasn't going to come. I wanted to wait and see, maybe go to college and go. And they're like, just come to camp and we'll see how it goes. I didn't expect to make the team. I just didn't want to play any games and take away any eligibility. And then went there and after a week, I knew it was what I wanted to do and where I wanted to play. What sold you on it?

I don't get sold on it. I think it was just, you don't know. I mean, you start hearing a little bit and you can't talk to colleges. You can't do anything. So it was just very like focused on it, I guess, as a young kid to kind of play in the WHL because that's all you really knew. Yes. And as it got closer, maybe you get a little scared. You get nervous.

Like, I mean, I wasn't like a high-end top prospect where it's like okay you're gonna play as a 16 year old like i had to make that team and stuff i don't think they were expecting me to be there as a 16 year old but just going there is just at that time is the best thing i was like it was way better and more fun and cooler than playing you know midget hockey again or something um and the competition and and just having that atmosphere and and being able to play in the dub. It was just like my first dream come true, I guess. I like what you said there because I try to live my life that way. That you have a good day yesterday.

Well, that was yesterday. Today is another day. And I look at you now, you're going to be 38 in February. You're in great shape. You look fantastic. You were the leading scorer on your team last year here in Adler Mannheim and I'm wondering if soon-to-be 38 year old went back in time and saw soon-to-be 16 year old Nigel Dawes would you have believed that this is where you'd be in 22 years probably

not you know I think it's hard as a player i think you know listening to you say all this stuff it's like because you don't sit back and like read about it or see it or so when people say it like that it's it makes you kind of take a step back and think about it a little bit but i think as a hockey player you all have ambitions and dreams and ways that you think your career is going to shape out and probably 95 of them don't turn out the way you are. I'm sure even for NHL guys too, like it's, you know, you want it to play out a certain way. And even if you get like a fraction of that, it's usually a success.

But yeah, it's definitely not the way that I dreamt my career going, but I wouldn't change anything for the way it's gone and the way I've been able to play this many years. But yeah, sometimes it's good luck too. It's a fantastic career. Like it really is. I was looking over like just yesterday, last night while I was in my hotel room, I was looking back through your career and all the different ways and all the great experiences you've had. Let's talk about the world juniors first.

You played on maybe the greatest team that Canada ever had, 2005. You also played on the 2004 tournament team. What are your best memories of those events? It starts with the worst in 2004, just the way we lost. I wasn't going to bring that up. So, I mean, we go from such a good tournament and then just a tough way to end it in the third period in the last game but and then you go from that to 2005 and

for me it was actually special because it was in grand forks which is two hours from winnipeg and you know from talking about earlier with junior hockey and and being so far away it was a complete opposite for world juniors i mean exhibition games in winnipeg friends family the whole city of winnipeg pretty much going to every game in grand fork so it was almost like too much where it's like everybody's around and they're asking for this and this and you know you you're trying to see everyone in but at the same time you like you you got a tournament and a job to do so it was uh it was definitely a little bit of a balancing act um but to be able to win and come back and win the way we did i mean from start to finish it was all business and you know it was domination really so the best team you ever played

on oh for sure yeah i mean it was the most fun everyone uh you know kind of had their roles and everyone bought into it and then to be able to win the tournament and then go and have my parents have my family there and be able to celebrate maybe makes up for a lot of things that they had missed out on because it was such a big, I guess a high time for my career at that time in my life. So it kind of makes up for all the things that they may have missed in the past. There are so many great players on that team. Who do you think of first? Mike Richards and Anthony Stewart.

They were my line mates and we had played together the year before. I was roommates with Mike and, you know, we still keep in touch. He lives a couple hours away in Canora. Most of us were there for two years. So we all kind of had a chip on our shoulder from the previous year. Because I think we had, I'd say maybe 15 guys coming back from the first year. So it was just, we were all kind of in it together. We all didn't want to have the same feeling from finland in uh 2004 and we definitely were able to come back and kind of turn the page and flip the switch

on it what do you remember about stewie hilarious him and dion like they would go non-stop like every and we would be driving around the bus in grand forks and they'd go back and forth on on the microphone in front of the bus just chirping each other and just having the whole bus you know falling over laughing and there was never a dull moment with the team like it was it was a lot of a lot of fun a lot of good characters you know some quieter you know like Sid and and Bergie but then you had Phaneuf and Stewie and some other and Getzlaff with uh you know they were all a little bit louder and keeping the boys loose. Such a good time. I'm trying to imagine Dion Phaneuf and Anthony Stewart at the front of a bus with a microphone just tearing into each other.

It was too much fun. One of the things I do remember was we were driving by a street. I think the street name was Buckle something or whatever. I don't know if it was Stewart or Neuf who used it, but they were like oh like look at you that street's named after you buckle up boulevard like you you don't even throw a punch in the fights you just buckle up and but yeah it was it was non-stop with those two and uh i know you work with stewie and he's i i'm sure you have a ton of stories too but he is so funny and it's just like it's non-stop I know you don't have Twitter, which makes you the smartest man alive. But Stewie is one of the funniest people on Twitter that exists. How many of those guys do you keep in touch with?

On a monthly basis, not a lot. There's, you know, we cross paths a few times. I mean, I live in Winnipeg and Rajon Boshman's there. So I see him quite a bit. We grew up together as well. Guy was actually talking to Dion a little bit this summer. And, you know, with social media and stuff these days, like, you know, you see a story of somebody or a post

and you kind of comment or message on it. I saw Getz Laff a few years ago and he was in town playing the Jets. So I went out and watched him play and caught up with him a little bit. For the most part, I've been on the other side of the world. So it's tough to kind of keep in touch. But with the way hockey world is, it's so small. And when you are crossing paths or in the same city or something, you may be trying to catch up.

And hopefully, in the next few years, we can kind of cross paths again with a lot of those guys. What are your fondest memories of your NHL days? Playing in New York. Yeah, when I got drafted, I'd never been to New York and it was such a big city. I mean, MSG speaks for itself. It was just like, I was just like an 18-year-old kid

and I was just like, oh my God, I get to go to training camp in New York. And then I get the phone call and you're like, oh, you got summer camp in Calgary. I was like, well, but, and then end up playing the flames later on but you know you're just like oh i get gonna go to new york and you know spend a couple weeks there and then we had camp in calgary but it was during stampede and stuff so

it ended up being pretty good yeah it's a great organization um top class you know you walk in there and you're just like wow like so this is what it's all about from the time you walk into the facility um you know you're sharing it with the knicks and kelly rudy talked about that when he was with the kings they would share their practice facility with the lakers i understand that dynamic it's really interesting and fascinating yeah and i mean at that time i don't know like obviously we don't really interact a lot with them because our schedules are different and i mean they have they have 12 players, we've got 25 and stuff, but, um, you know, it was, uh, it was fun, you know, seeing them at lunch sometimes and, you know, kind of talking to them about what it's like for them and for us. And, um, not our team, but the league, I guess in general was a lot older when I was playing. So it was, it was definitely a different feel where it's, you know, you have like two or three, you know, maybe under 23 guys

and you just try not to like get in anyone's way. And now it's kind of like the opposite. So I'm sure it's pretty exciting for the young guys to, you know, be leading a team and a league. We were in Paris the other day. The Ranger representative there was Philip Heal. And he was talking about how he's from a small town and he ended up in Manhattan for

the first time. And he's like, Oh my God, like what is this? And, uh, he said it was a huge adjustment for him. So what was it like from you going from,

you know, Winnipeg to Kootenai to there? It was definitely a huge change. I mean, just nonstop traffic. I mean, the two things I probably take from there is like when I drove there and I had an SUV and it was like, it was tough, but after, you know, a few weeks you kind of get used to it.

And after that I was like, okay, if I can drive here, I can drive anywhere. And also like the sirens and the noise and the horns of trying to sleep downtown. And once you sleep there, like i could sleep through anything now like you know we have our pre-game naps across the street and you have sirens and horns and stuff going around for uh all times of the day and you're like you got to have your pre-game nap and so you when it was quiet it was actually kind of weird because you're just so used to all the noise and uh yeah now it's nothing my wife's like how do how do you sleep? I'm like, I've slept on bus floors.

I've slept in Manhattan. You know, I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. There's players who talk about their welcome to the NHL moment when they realize they're in the big league. What was that moment for you? My first game standing at MSG, we were playing Washington and it was actually Ovi's first game too. And I had played against him

a little bit internationally at World Juniors so I kind of knew who he was and there was obviously so much hype around him and just standing there kind of looking at who he was and going to the first game but putting on the jersey getting ready and I was lucky enough that the coach told me that I was going to be playing my the home opener two days I think before the game so it was just mad scramble to try and get my parents flight and get out there and they were able to make it so I think another thing that they were able to be a part of after missing a lot of things that a lot of young players don't get that opportunity because you could get called up the morning or the night before or who knows. But kind of taking all that in and playing the first game at MSG was definitely pretty special.

First goal? First game on Hockey Night in Canada in Toronto. In over that, he's running again and it's shot in by Nylander. Around the net, O'Neal got back deep in his own zone. Pretty good play, but Nylander is on it again. Tricky along the board. Out the goalpost and in! It hit the post and hit the goalie, and it went in!

And the Rangers get a break early, and they're ahead 1-0. The Leafs got into trouble in their own end. On the right-wing boards, Dawes gets his first NHL goal. And you're going to see right here. And that was pretty cool too. My dad's family, a lot of them live in Toronto. So my grandpa was there and my aunt and my cousins. And they're not huge hockey people,

but they were at the game. And to be able to kind of score that in front of them and also my first game in Hockey Night in Canada, obviously got the towel and the intermission. So that uh pretty cool and still have that kicking around it was pretty special as well i think it was assisted by jogger and nylander so it's not bad there's some skill on that yeah you really carried those yeah i don't know about that the eggs would just get out of the way what was it like playing with him yeah it, it was great. I mean, he's such a unique player, but I mean, he's one of the all-time best. And he's so strong on the puck.

And there's so many times that he would be in situations where there's no way he can keep it. And then it just comes out with it. And all of a sudden, you're wide open. And he would always say, kind of stay away because he wants to bring people in. He wants to get people in that battle and beat them and then find the open guy. And it was definitely fun to watch him play and kind of try and learn from him. Not the way he plays because we're completely different builds, but just kind of see the way he worked and how things, he made things look so easy. So his instructions for you were stay out of the way?

Yeah, just kind of stay out of my way. And I'll find you? And I was like, you know, like a rookie playing with him and I'm just like, don't mess up, don't mess up. Like stay out of the way and just try and get open and make good plays. What's your best Jager story?

Like just about seeing him or his work ethic or anything like that? I think just the size of him. Like he's so big and he's so strong. Like he's, I remember him working out like shooting a med ball against the wall and like like pick it up and i'm like oh i'm like i got two hands and i'm like sitting down and i'm doing like abs with this and he's just ripping this thing against the wall and it's

like not effortless but like he made it look easy like he's just like he's so strong and um yeah that was probably like holy okay got to get in the gym some more. So it was 2011-12 where you made the decision to go overseas. At that time, what kind of went into that for you? Because it started a journey that's now been a decade. I think a little frustration. At the time, I was playing in Chicago in the AHL with the Wolves. And I just was talking to my girlfriend, who's my wife now. At the time time I was like you know like I'm just kind of like over it a little bit like I'd been

bouncing around a little bit at that point I'd started in Atlanta I was in uh Chicago and then I got traded in Montreal and then played mostly in Hamilton so I had four teams that year four different cities and I was like you know if I get a kind of had a number in my head if I get a good enough offer like I'm gonna going to go to Russia. I had some teams calling for like earlier that year and the summer before. I was playing with Dustin Boyd at the time. And, you know, we were both in similar situations, similar points in our career where we were playing together online.

We were doing really well, kind of chatting. And we kind of like, oh, like be nice. Like we know each other. We play together already. We're from the same city. Maybe if we could get like a package deal to go somewhere and continue this and do this in russia and so we started kind of putting some feelers out with the agents and we were able to find a team and both go there and i was like i mean i signed a two-year deal but i'm gonna go for a year and

see how it goes and 10 years later it, it was a good, good run. He went to Kazakhstan and there are some people who've really loved it there. Like I've never been, I've been to Russia. I've never been to Kazakhstan, but I know obviously Kevin Dahlman played there for a long time. Nick Antropov from there, but I don't know

anything about it, but I've heard great things. Yeah. I played with, with Ke Kevil for, when you're six years, five or six years. And, you know, before I had gone there, you know, he was a huge name that kept coming up about Russia. Played against him in the MemCop, but I'd

never met him, but you know, he was the guy. Like there's a story that if anyone, any Canadian import that you talk about Russia, you're like, oh, like look at Kevil, like look at him. He went over there, he's killing it. He, he's made a great career as leading league and scoring as a defenseman like you know like he did it all so yeah it's kind of like an urban myth like you had heard about him

but you knew he's making all this money and doing well and just like another road you could go down that no one at time was really like talking about and part of the hard thing in russia is that you don't know who your imports are going to be and some teams might have you know one north american and you know four you know swedes or fins or any country really but if you don't get along you're really kind of like an island so a lot of it is like the people you're around and how you can make it and the thing about kazakhstan was that we didn't have a limit of it is like the people you're around and how you can make it and the thing about kazakhstan was that we didn't have a limit of imports so we i think our first year we had 11 imports and then it didn't go very well so they're like why are we paying all these extra guys so

they went back down to like six or seven so we kind of screwed that for ourselves but but yeah it's a it's a beautiful country uh when i went over there, the best advice I got was, you know, if you can come in and be open-minded, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Who told you that? Jeff Glass. Who also played World Juniors with him. And he had been there the year, I think for one year before. And it was probably the best advice I got going over to Russia.

And it's definitely put your head down and work mentality. I think in general, the other good advice i had was like the quicker you can stop trying to change things the better off you're going to be because their culture and their mentality and the way they train and the way they they kind of think things is completely different and when you're trying to like of course it's all you know coming from north america but you're in a whole nother country. So you just kind of put your head down and work and, and grind through some things as a training and the days can be tough, but if you can get through that kind of stuff,

like there's just a great league and there's a lot of good things that can come from it. The thing that you heard about the KHL, it turned out to be true and the thing that you heard in advance that turned out to be completely false. Uh, well false, like guys got paid in cash. I was kind of waiting for that. That would have been cool, but no, that didn't happen.

And then the truest thing, good hockey players, like really, and the Russians love their hockey. There's great fans. There's a great following. You have to remember too, like when people are comparing the NHL and the KHl i mean it's kind of like unfair because the khl has been around for i think this might be the 15th or 16th year so like the fact that you know nhl has been around 100 years it's i went there the fourth year and the guys are like i'm like oh it's like it's pretty good and then

there's a lot of hiccups like they're still kind of ironing things out. And I also think that the KHL maybe shouldn't compare it because they have such a bigger sample size NHL. So it's a little bit different. But I mean, they're a very passionate country about their hockey. They're a very passionate country. Their fans, I mean, you'd go places and they know who you are. They know who their players are, the teams. I mean, the fans travel with a lot of the teams.

You have a visiting section on almost every game if you're a visiting team of your fans that are traveling around. Sometimes I don't know how they do it because it's like two days between games and it's like a lot of ground to travel. We're flying around and we're like, man, this is like we're getting in so late and playing the next day. I don't know if they're driving or taking the bus or the train, but yeah, there's they're very very passionate sorry what's your wife's name cassandra cassandra so she was dating you at the time yeah did she go overseas with you at the time yeah she how did she find it um it was we threw a lot at ourselves in one year we had only been dating for about a year and then she's quitting her job and moving to kazakhstan with me so it was uh it was definitely some some little speed bumps during that.

But, um, I mean, I would definitely not be where I am without her. I mean, there's, it's tough. It can be lonely.

Just having somebody to kind of go through that with and like, um, deal with like the ups and downs of it. Um, yeah, it definitely made life a lot easier. And then, you know,

once we had her son or we'll got buried and then had her son, I mean, it's nice to a lot easier. And then once we had our son or got buried and then had our son, I mean, it's nice to have family there because like I was saying earlier with the imports, you not force friendships, but you don't know what you're going to get. And I mean, a lot of times there's five of them. Some of the Russians do speak English. Some don't. I mean, it can kind of go either way,

depending on what team you're on and where you are. I mean, the bigger clubs have a lot of the Russians that have played overseas. So there's a lot more English on those teams. But the smaller clubs, I mean, there's probably not much English going on. So you really have to kind of figure it out quickly on your own or learn Russian pretty quickly. But yeah, no, it was great to have her there with me every year and just have that support system. Was there ever a time where she said, Nigel,

come on here. This is, this is too much or anything like that. After 10 years. So it was pretty good. That is that. Yeah. Was there anything about like life there that

was really different? Like it was really unique? It probably was. I mean, it's hard to remember now. I think like the culture shock when you first get there, but as you start getting used to things, I mean, Kazakhstan got like their building every year. I mean, it got easier and easier.

And if I were to compare what I went in 2011 to, you know, say somebody going over this year, I mean, it's like- Total difference. I mean, they have a Ritz-Carlton, a St. Regis. Like, you know, they got tons of restaurants, like the community we live in. I mean, when I was there, there was two two buildings now there's probably about 20 25 there was one restaurant now there's 20 there's a grocery store there's a gym there's like so if you really didn't want to leave your little like area that you lived in you wouldn't have to other than to drive to the rink and back but the city in general i mean it is nice in the summer especially in the winter is

kind of cold but you know it's no different from winpeg, so it wasn't anything that I wasn't used to before. I realized this at the time, I was looking it up on the internet yesterday, I'd forgotten, when you left the KHL, you were the highest scoring foreign player in the league's history, and I think you were the second highest goal scorer in history there wasn't really a two other than winning a championship there wasn't really too much that i that hadn't done at the time i think i might have been close to 500 or 600 points or somewhere myself something that like if i would have played another year probably could have hit but otherwise there wasn't really anything that was close that was holding anywhere and as a player you're not really like oh i want to like unless maybe it was a thousand games which i was able to hit here. And I mean, I was already in multiple leagues, so it was just kind of a thousand pro games.

So that wasn't anything that really mattered where I was. But yeah, I mean, other than the championship, that would have been kind of the only thing that really would have brought me back. So why here? Why'd you end up here? You know, we talked off camera about your son's six years old now. It's time to get him into a school where maybe the English was a little bit better. That was the ice um you know we're looking for an international school we're looking for you know kind of like a good family setup and when you're looking for specific things the list of teams goes down pretty quick but um it also brings out like the best teams i think as well that um are able to provide kind of those types of things away from the the ice that you're looking for and once i was talking to

my agent and talked to a few people that had played here um you know not only is it one of the top organizations on the ice um they really do take care of the families and and the setup was really good and there's a great international school here so kind of checked all the boxes for me the travel was pretty easy i know we were talking off camera too you You're like, oh, it's coming from Toronto, seven hours. I was like, well, yeah, it's one flight. It's nothing. After you go to Russia for so long. So yeah, when we travel here, now it's maybe like a 12-hour day total.

And we're used to 24, 26-hour days of travel. So it really doesn't feel long. And it's pretty easy to get to with Frankfurt being so close for family or friends to come and visit. It's not too many flights. They're not too far away. We were interviewing some players about, you know, Seider played here, Stutzla played here. We talked to Thomas Larkin.

We talked to Mark Kalich. We talked to David Wolfe, who his father was Canadian and now plays here. We talked to Matthias Placke. And they all mentioned one thing. And you can tell the arena is beautiful, and the team treats people very well. But the one thing that they mentioned was the fans.

Is it as good as they say it is here? Oh, definitely. The fans, I mean, they're everything here. I mean, the atmosphere that they create for us to play in, we got a little bit of a taste of it last year in the playoffs when kind of all the restrictions were coming off. So I'm hoping that this year there's no hiccups and, you know, we can kind of have the fans for the whole season and just play. I mean, they bring the energy, they bring the noise.

They're just very passionate and into the game. They understand the game and they know what's going on all the time. They also have a very passionate owner. And I think that goes a long way in the setup. You see the arena and the way the organization is run and it's not just somebody paying the bills. It's somebody who really deeply cares about this team and really wants to see the best for them.

You see him at some of the games and you can see how intense and how he gets. Does he ever come in after games? He's not really in the room, no. He's definitely around sometimes, but he just cares. And that's something that not all owners are like. Sometimes it could be a toy. Sometimes it could just be something else.

But he wants the best for us, and he really builds a really good family to put everything into place and get the best team out there. I heard he's got a heck of a golf course. He does have a very nice golf course. You can definitely see the benefits of that sometimes, you know, on some off days.

So we get some good matches going. So I think it was Plaka was saying before that you owe him a little bit of money. Is that true? No, it was the opposite. He owes me a little money. He's a,

he's a little bit slow paying up when he loses. But no, Plax is a great golfer. He's probably the best on the team. Oh, yeah? I think he's just not used to paying. He's usually winning. So it's nice when we get to take his money. What's your handicap?

About 10 right now. Nice. Very nice. Like we said before, you're about to be 38, but you were the leading scorer here last year. You're still obviously very high in your game. How much longer do you see yourself doing this, Nigel? I think at this point it's kind of year by year.

I definitely still enjoy playing, and that's the main thing. As long as I'm having fun and enjoying the competition, trying to keep up to the young guys, they just make it fun i mean even watching like timmy and mo skate with us sometimes i mean this it's it's really fun to be around and see them uh you know i was skating with seth jarvis at home over the summer and oh yeah i mean these these kids are so good they're so skilled they're so fast and you know they're they're just fun to watch like you know i don't get to see a lot of nhl stuff being you know overseas for so long i see some highlights but with the time change and stuff i don't get to i don't watch a lot of nhl games live so to see

them in person and like you see the highlights and you're like okay well that's like the best of the best because it's the highlights but when you actually see them day in and day out and you really see how good they are and how good the league is and and how good these players are coming up i mean all the skills you know practices and training that they're doing i mean it just kind of blows your mind they're doing stuff and i'm like i'm not even trying that coach is like well we're gonna do this i'm like yeah i'm like um i'll be over here it was funny that i was where they're watching practice this morning i was watching practice and they were joking you were talking to the coach and they were saying, Nigel's saying where he wants to go on the power play.

Like that was, that was a good laugh. I like that. Well, I just want to say thanks very much, Nigel. I really appreciate you giving me about an hour of your time. So it's,

it's awesome. You can sit down. Yeah. Thanks a lot. Really hope you enjoyed Elliot's interview with Nigel Dawes. Now, a bit of a special outro track for this episode. Dan Koch created Havana Swim Club during the COVID shutdown after the birth of his first child. It's a mix of semi-tropical sample-based instrumentals that blends everything from Jamaican ska to Latin jazz.

From his self-titled debut album, here's Havana Swim Club with Lagoon on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Thank you. Bye.