Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Cory Sarich (FULL INTERVIEW PART 1) | FN Barn Burner - July 23rd, 2024

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

FlamesNation Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder & WarrenerTIMESTAMPS- Young Sarich (1:00)- Almost Quit Hockey (5:00)- WHL (10:00)- NHL Draft (18:00)BREAK (27:00 - 30:00)- World Juniors (30:00)- AHL (40:30)- Time In Buffalo (50:00)- Tampa Bay (52:00)BREAK (55:00 - 58:00)- First Impressions Of Torts (01:01:00)- 2004 Playoffs (01:06:00)BARN BURNER BLONDEhttps://originbrewing.myshopify.com/products/barn-burner-473ml👍🏼 McLEOD LAW https://www.mcleod-law.com👍🏼 VILLAGE HONDA https://www.villagehonda.com👍🏼 OUTDOOR DENTAL https://www.outdoor.dental👍🏼 BETWAY https://betway.com/bwp/flamesnation👍🏼 GRETA BAR https://www.gretabar.com/locations/ca👍🏼 ORIGIN BREWING https://originbrewing.ca👍🏼 BeAroused https://www.bearoused.ca/👍🏼 SPRING FINANCIAL: http://SpringFinancial.ca/barn👍🏼 Pro Skate Service Calgary: https://www.psscalgary.com/💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on twitter: @FlamesNation @BarnburnerFN @960boomer @PinderReport @warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

just let me take a look here i need my glasses jesus i'm living with those gladworth saskatchewan what is a what is a kid doing bladddwoods Saskatchew have i got that right yeah you've got it correct thank you for mentioning that too is that right yeah ever since my first hockey card where i said i was from saskatoon right i think my father has disowned me so i'm trying to work my way back into the good books but so yeah so born in saskatoon or born bladcloth or like the hospital was in Saskatoon right but raised in bladberth 10 minutes north of davidson a little farm just outside of bladworth and probably about population of 100 150 sure we had a park played some tackle football in that park yeah we had a rink which was pretty cool everyone knew where

the key to the rink was one of those things yeah natural ice so of course my favorite part about that rink was Of course, it had chicken mesh at one end. It had the snow dump hatch at the other end. Annual scraping, but it was the oil drum on wheels, which you filled up to flood the ice. And those size 13 golf spikes with the old feathery flaps, like, you know, that covered the laces. I feel like we're not that old, but when we talk about this stuff from when we were, maybe we are old. Really, if you tell, if kids saw that nowadays, they'd be like, what is this ancient times? The other integral design of the Bladworth Arena was the square nets with the welded on posts.

So if you're too lazy to take the hand drill and dig a hole for those posts, then your nets, you know, sat a little on a little bit of an angle. So you could always score from the side. So yeah, it was very quirky. That's the home ice advantage, right? Yeah. Yeah. But it's, yeah, it was straight agriculture farming around. So were you like a legit farm kid? Are you or were you kind of hybrid? Uh-huh.

Yeah. Because you strike me as a guy who's from a rural area, but maybe maybe not a guy who's in the in the tractor and repairing things. Oh yeah. No, not repairing breaking. It was very good at that. I actually lived in the town of Davidson until I was seven and then my my grandparents were on the farm. We lived in town. my dad was a mechanic by trade so we flipped homes and my dad took over the farm got out of the paint booth at the mechanic shop right and uh yeah so i lived on the farm from eight till 15 till i moved away and came back and helped a little bit for a few years but i probably wasn't very great help but yeah yeah no drove tractors grain trucks i was never allowed to seed because i couldn't drive straight enough that was that didn't cut it at the sarage farm so yeah yeah

But no, I was, I was a farmer for just under a decade. Yeah. So the whole, because you were like the Saskatoon kid that plays for the Saskatoon contacts, that plays for the Saskatoon. So that's maybe a little overblown because you weren't really a Saskatoon or were you? No. Like I was, I played hockey in rural Saskatchewan up until 14 in Davidson. A couple of years, we had to join up with other teams. There wasn't a lot of 78s that played hockey in my.

town right and yeah so no I'm not a not a Saskatoon boy per se right yeah but very fortunate an hour away from home like I don't think I realized how fortunate I was at the time to play midget triple A idle into town in the Ford F 100 after filling up at the pumps at home eke around all week and just gas we had just moved past that and I was able to just coast home on that same tank of gas to refuel every weekend. So I was pretty spoiled. So were you kind of a standout at a young age? Like were you kind of always the best kid on your team, that sort of thing? Was it pretty clear that hockey was, you were going to be, maybe not NHL, but you were, you're going to be playing

some hockey now as a kid. It was like, I mean, it's hard. Like I remember Chad Allen who went before me in Davidson, Saskatchewan, who became a Saskatoon blade and played world juniors. if we needed a goal to give the puck to Chad and he'd skate through everybody and score even though he was playing defense like and I guess I had a little bit of that in me too um take the puck you know I'm seeing some video now wow you guys have really done your work here so yeah I mean up until age 13 and at age 13 it changed like everyone gets better and I thought I was not a bad hockey player but age 14 I almost quit that was the year we joined up with Lorburn town 40 minutes away I was used to having three or four defensemen on a team and playing every other shift right all of a sudden we got six defensemen and it's like I'm sitting yeah I'm not playing and I was the young kid because it was 15 and under then right so I was playing as a 14 year old with 15 year olds and at the end of that season I was like I'm not very good

And honestly, it was Chad Allen's dad, I think, still to this day. Right. Must have said something in the Sastatoon Blades. All of a sudden, I got an invite to their rookie camp and somehow played my way into that last spot on their 50 man protected list. And then I specifically remember as a 15 year old, like I just turned 15 in August, going to the Saskatoon contacts camp that fall. Yeah. I wasn't very good. So you were listed by the Blades before you played AAA?

Yes. Yeah, I went there as a 14 year old, but like I was never drafted. Right. Yeah. See, I didn't know that. I figured. I remember going to school and the one other 78 that played hockey in my town, Blaine Heiser, he comes to school and he's like,

Bantam draft today. I'm like, what's that? Like, we had no clue. Yeah. We were, it was newspapers and telephones. there was no connection so yeah i was that's kind of crazy though because that is even then rural saskatchewan there's hockey people talk and that just so many players that it made the n hl have come out of little towns in saskatchewan that you would have kind of got lost there

is kind of amazing great work by the blades yeah and i was actually it's pretty cool too like my two older cousins that are both a year older than me there's they're seventy sevens Um, I had actually made the contacts because I think as a 15 year old, because I think the Sass Dune Blades were like, let's keep this kid here and develop them. Yeah. I never could get to the bottom of that, but I'm assuming that's what happened. So we're low on we're missing a player still even though like exhibition started and they're like, do you know any good hockey players from around you? I'm like, well, cousin Trevor's pretty good. He came, made the team I played two years with him he was a moose jaw warrior then after that and my cousin kirk uh went down to moose john

he played for the triple a warriors yeah and so we played against each other and we actually had two neutral site games in davidson uh my 50 year old year back in the barn that was built in 39 yeah and then we got a brand new rink in davidson the next year and we played uh another neutral site league game that's hilarious davison so that there's small town for you do you know any guys could have hockey. Yeah, I got a couple. I got a couple. Yeah.

See, you could be a scout. This might be a little off topic, but it is super interesting. And I'm sure everyone in Saskatchewan probably has similar thoughts and ideas, but the amount of players, like within a 30 kilometer radius that came out of the Davidson area that played junior hockey and pro and like you got Braden McNabb, wanted to just want to come with. it's actually quite ridiculous yeah and again i think it's just a product of like you play you play your high school sports against each other you play hockey against each other ball against each other i truly think it's like there's kind of some love hate there in those small towns and you

you push the people around you and you're always competing against each other and i'm sure it's you know the same with associations within large cities right you know they you push each other to be better and that little community's had a lot of kids if you looked at. I often wonder too, because now when you look at kids, you get extra ice and you're paying for this and you send them to camps with all the hockey that's played, probably rural kids like you would still have had more hours on the ice with a puck and just playing around than kids get now a day when they're going 12 months a year. You know what I mean?

Every day after school, on the weekends, you'd be out start of the, what time is it's 10 a.m.? or go till it's dark. And if we have, if we weren't, if we weren't skating in the rink and we weren't skating on a frozen piece of ice, we were playing ball hockey, like frozen tennis balls. Like it was that's why I was pretty useless on the farm. I was too busy like pounding pucks. Right. That was okay with that. As soon as he, I need a nine 16th wrench. Where'd you go? Yeah. Yeah. I said nine six states get the wrong one. Catch a hell. So you go to Saskatoon, you make the teams. Yeah, I didn't realize that.

And then, so was that the, because Warner had just left, but you've still, those are good Blades teams then. Were you part of, was it, did you keep up the tradition there as good blades teams? Or was there a bit of a fall off? Nope. I, uh, so as a 15 year old played midget triple A, as a 16 year old playing midget AAA, I got my first taste in the WHL. Yeah.

I got called up when Rhett and Chad went to world juniors. to fill in for them. And then I actually, at the end of that season, I got to come up for a couple of playoff series with them, which was super cool. And I think the blades, I think we made it to the second round. That was,

that was awesome. I got to play with those guys, got to play with Rett before he moved on and became a Florida Panther. Yeah, it was kind of my first taste. And then next year, as a 16-year-old, That was a pretty pivotal year for me.

And I've told this story before, but I came out of training camp and they're like, hey, we have a spot for you on our team, the Saskatoon Blades. And they're like, but we're going to leave it up to you. You can come here, but you're going to be the sixth, seventh guy and might not be every night. And you're going to have to prepare yourself for that. And I was like, I went back and talked to my parents. And I'm just like, is that mollica at that time? Yes. Don Clark.

Lauren was still the coach. then um anyway that 16 year old year because when i was called up loren was my coach uh darrell lubinicky gm sure don clark was my coach as a 17 year old but yeah i sat there and wrestled with the decision because i had a couple of pals that were gonna gonna do it gregg phillips was gonna play with the blades that year yeah and going and playing mida triple a 16 year old was the best thing i ever did i like that's the year i felt like wow yeah i got to play canada winter games games I won the top defenseman in the whole league which still kind of mind-blowing but yeah I just remember running over kids and like I felt like I was sure I felt like I was a

hockey player that year because 15 you're just trying to fit in and whole it's crazy overwhelmed overwhelmed but as a 16-year-old you gain the confidence you're like I felt like I fit in one day you know what credit to you I don't know how many kids would do that it's like because if i don't go now i might never get back there they got a spot for me in the w hl what it i i never get back honestly knew i wasn't ready yeah like maturity strength all that stuff like i just i knew that like i was scared too i was like i'm going to go up there and i'm going to get beat up there some 20 year old guys in that yeah i actually i'm like i better like stick around midget and work on my craft a little bit too like so that was that was a big one

But back to your original question, the Saskatoon Blades and the teams I played on. As a 17-year-old, I played with Frank Bannon, who scored, I think, 82 or 83 goals that season, and Mark D.L had 100 and some points. He assisted on all of Bandam's goals, but we were a very poor team. Like, if you look, we limped into the playoffs with a under 500 record, and then Brandon just disposed of us in four games. The next year, we were really awful. I thought it might be the worst Blades team in history.

Someone, some other team came along and only won like seven or 11 games after us. So it was embarrassing. It was hard to play. Like we had a rink that holds 14,000 people and you're playing in front of like 2,000 or 1,500. You can hear everything everyone's saying about you in the arena. But made the most of it and enjoyed my teammates. And it was still a great experience, junior hockey.

But for me, I was like super injured. my whole junior career. So like played 50 games average like three years in a row. So it was it had its ups and downs. And your first full season is your draft year, right? As a 17 year. Yeah. Yeah. So between getting your your first year in the league and the team's not real good, you guys get good. It's funny you mentioned the years because I that's about when I started covering the league. I was in Brandon. So I remember that it's like they got this one line that's unbelievable and the rest of the were kind of horseshit to be honest thank you for putting it so politely yeah that's right and then Greg Phillips oh then he gets straight to Brandon so I know about it was Philly

Phillies coming to play for the weekings anyway but yeah those were but there was still I mean the blades were you know that was that was one of the teams that you'd come out and see maybe moose not so much Moose jaw or some of the other teams but when the blades came to town you were in for you were in for a good one so the first year you're you're kind of getting your feel of the Western League it's also your draft year does that arc of you your progression and things are starting to come together does that continue through that year because what was the feel for you as you get closer to the draft and you're hearing your name and you're getting ranked and that sort of thing yeah it was it was like

yeah i wanted i could hear it's a different time that you're not going on the internet to read clips about yourself and you're and you're waiting like everyone's waiting for the the rankings to come out the hockey news rankings at like christmas or whenever they would do it and i actually wasn't sure where i stood like i knew i had a great year as a 16 year old i knew that i was ready and deserved to be part of the saskatoon blades but again it's a feeling out process you get into the league and you're in your first line brawl and get my nose knocked across my face and you're like there's like there's another like level of adaptation and I think like back then we weren't prepared like these kids now like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into it was just kind of like trial trial by

fire get out there and get after it and that was like that season actually went quite well for me minus the injuries like I had I think I pulled both groins both hip flexors it just took me forever to kind of get over that stuff but I did have a good season um I played with Wade B, was my teammate he was drafted in the first round the year prior there was definitely some animosity in the room because i was getting some of his minutes got sure and so you're you're dealing with stuff like that great teammate but again you know there's all those underlying things that are going on while you're out there yeah um so i just kind of kept my head down and went about my business and i was actually super surprised when i was being ranked like as a second rounder and even mentioned being like

like as a first like I was always comparing myself to other guys around the league like like a chris phillips and like wade redden who had gone before and you're these top defensemen and i knew i had kind of my own little niche and even back then i still had some offensive ability so i i knew i could kind of compete with these guys yeah but i always doubted myself offensively and that's probably why it completely sputtered i'm not sure if that's why but yeah yeah Yeah, because like even going into my first year pro, I was still like second line power play and stuff like that. But again, you have to, you have to adjust as you go along. So, yeah, that, that was a fun year because I was learning and we did have one line that was great.

We did drag ourselves into the playoffs. But it was a, it was another steep learning curve. Yeah. So the summer comes and the Buffalo Sabres, 27th overall, was it was one of those things? Did you feel like it was going to be Buffalo? Did you have any kind of, you've now played that 16 year old, or your 17 year old season? It's done.

Now you sit back and wait. Did you think it was going to be first round? What were your expectations? I didn't think it was going to be first round. I thought if it did, it's like just a blessing. I was, I think I was kind of slotted in around 30th is what everyone was saying. So if you go by the rankings today, your first round they just needed more teams in the n hl that's all you'd have been a first rounder

it's it's crazy though like you look back at our draft we were not a strong draft if you look at the all the first rounders so you'll be like scratching your head to figure out yeah some of them were um so you should have been drafted higher is what you're saying if we were to do a redraft probably probably yeah probably yeah oh but it was i had so going in i'd probably spoken to over half the teams in the league. I'd done the fly arounds like gone to Anaheim, gone to New York, gone to Washington, you're doing fitness testing. I did the old New Jersey Devils like in St. Louis where our draft was. They're like, would you come do some fitness testing? So I'm on the treadmill, got the headgear on, doing the V-O-2, just running like a madman for 12 minutes.

And then I get off and they hand me a hundred bucks US. And they're like, thanks for coming. I'm like, do you want me to go get? broke kid from Saskatchewan. I'm like 100 U.S. that's 140 Canadian. That's a lot of money. Yeah. Like I'll do it.

I'll try it again. Yeah. So did all that stuff. Never spoke to Buffalo once. So we're at the draft. I'm sitting there with my parents. Craig Phillips is there with his crew agent. And the first round ends at 26th.

Then a pal of mine, Jesse Wallen, gets chosen by Detroit. And I was actually thankful I'm like, because they were a powerhouse. Yeah, yeah. And you're never making that team ever, not for like 10 years. So I was like,

well, that's a guy's not going to get picked by someone. And that's probably a good one. So it's intermission. Parents go up, get some popcorn. My little sister's there. Got to take her to the bathroom or whatever.

And second round convenes. That's the year that the Buffalo Sabres changed from the traditional blue and gold to the red buffalo head with the one eye. I couldn't even tell what the sign was. I would look at it. I'm like, what is this? Is there a new team in the league?

Who's up? I was like, what is that thing? Oh, it's a buffalo. Yeah. And then they called my name. I get up. No one's around. So I'm like, well, give Greg Phillips a hug.

Yeah. I can't remember. I don't know who was sitting there. In the popcorn line? My whole family was gone. Yeah. And I was kind of like after the whole day goes by and you're super excited. Yeah.

But I'm kind of scratching my head. I'm like, then I figured it out. Ross Mahoney, who is now the assistant general manager for the Washington Capitals, he was my one of my two coaches at the Canada Winter Games for team Saskatchewan. I didn't know that he was a scout for Buffalo at the time. So if I had to point the finger somewhere, because again, I never spoke one word to them. like in a year leading up to the draft. So that one came out of left field.

That happens a lot, right? That there's some scouts somewhere along the line, saw you when you were young and then saw you again. And a lot of those teams there again, not that long ago, but it's a while ago. Anybody got anything? Saw this kid, he was great. All right, take them.

Right? You don't have just reams of tape on every kid beyond the first round or whatever. but um so yeah so was that tough for for dad like was dad there was he in the popcorn line now as a father you'd be like i can't believe i missed that moment for my kid i caught him on the way back they were i could see them come filter out when i was coming back from the stage so i can you imagine now though as a dad you come back from the john and you look where's my kid oh my god he's on the draft four i think they heard my name over the intercom too so then they all came

could be just crushed you'd be just crushed your kid gets drafted but though that was pretty cool he's probably a third rounder anyways for we got right yeah it's Greg Phillips Corey Sarich the 96 draft and the jerseys as you said you were the first one to wear one I I guess I'd be well Eric Rasmussen maybe yeah there was a first round yeah I guess yeah and then it was myself and Darren van Olin brandon brandon wheat king that went in the second round and It's funny. I remember like I remember the other guys that were drafted by the Sabres because then we spent two summers together in Buffalo. Sure.

Back when there was no real CBA. Yeah. You used to spend eight weeks. Yeah. Working out and skating. Yeah. So the year prior, you go and play, well, I guess it would be two years prior. You go and play games when Warner and Allen are gone to the world juniors.

Did you feel like at that, could you have imagined at that point when those guys are at the world juniors? you're going to be at the world juniors very soon no no like i didn't i didn't even have myself on the list right yeah so like they were holding at the time they used to always hold those summer camps which i was on no one's radar but that first year in the league it were we're leading up leading up to christmas and i was actually shocked like i get this letter or this call i can't remember how they inform me probably a phone call yeah and like hey we're inviting you to winter camp i was like come on yeah like you're serious and i'd had a pretty good season but i was like okay this is super cool so i'm just gonna go there and i'm gonna like was it in calgary

or where was the i was kitchener kitchener water like the winter camp two weeks you play some university teams and exhibition you try to try to scrap your way onto this team and just try to I think a couple of things that happened while I was there. Well, I back in the day when he didn't ever tell anybody about concussions, I had an issue where if I used to get my bell rung a little bit, I'd lose my peripheral vision. And it would come back in probably like if I sat down and didn't do anything like 10 to 20 minutes, take some Advil, relax. I played, I played two periods of that one exhibition game out there not being able to see out of one eye with horse blinders on because I was not coming off the ice because I saw what

happened to the guys that got injured at camp every other year yeah and uh well even during that it was like here's your letter goodbye thanks for coming I know what the other one I wanted to say was it was so embarrassing before even getting to camp I'm in Saskatoon paper plane tickets right you get the thing in the mail it's like a little booklet yeah and they get these tickets mailed to me barely flown anywhere before i think i flew to grand prairie from regina yeah for the canada winter games i go in i pack my stuff i go in i say goodbye to the boys like hey i don't know gonna get out there they're like good luck all this stuff get to the airport hand the ticket to my lady she's like you don't fly till tomorrow i'm like oh god what do i do i do i go back and just

sit in my house and wait till tomorrow but no i got a roommate he's going to rat me out yeah so tail between my legs, I better get back to practice. On the, what are you doing here? I'm like, I don't go till tomorrow. It's tomorrow. It was a day early. I was so excited. Do they have dates on those paper, those paper boarding passes or? So that was highly embarrassing. Got through camp in Kitchener, Waterloo, and then it's the super intense process at the end.

Like, you have a roommate for a week or so. And I was with Daryl Laplant, and now we're getting down to, like, the, first round of two or three rounds of cuts and the phone rings at 5.30 in the morning. You look and you're like, oh boy. Is that for you or for me? Yeah. It was for Dary. Yeah.

Then I room with Dan Cleary and this is last round of cuts and you're wake up at 5.30 that morning. Well, you're probably not sleeping and you're just sitting there. You're like phone rings. And it was for Dan. And I shocked the pants off me. Yeah. Because Dan Cleary, Corey Sorich, it was like. You know, he was an offensive stud out there in the OHL. And then it's like, then there's this grinder from the Western League. And honest, in my second year, going through the exact same process, I had Dan as a roommate again on the last day. And he's like, Sarci. That bone rings this morning. He's like, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Yeah. And it rang again for Dan. It was, that was tough. Yeah. That was tough. Hey guys, you know Village Honda presents the Pinder Report weekdays throughout the season, but we're at your dealership for life today in the Northwest Auto Mall. Let's see what's happening in Village Honda.

Mark your calendars. August 24th is the fourth annual Accura and Honda Show and Shine, 12 till 4, everyone welcome, prizes, all kinds of family fun. We hope to see you there. Here at your dealership for life in the Northwest Auto Mall, Village Honda. Barn burner isn't here without our friends at Betway. They've been huge for us right from the starting with Betway right now. You'll get a free bet up to $200 if your first bet loses. Go and create a brand new account with Betway. Scan the QR code on the screen, redeem your bonus. Then when you place a bet, no minimum amount required. If that bet loses, you'll get a refund up to $200 back into your account and then you can go back in and bet on your favorite sports. This offer is only available outside of Ontario, though. Great stuff. Thank you, Betway. Hey guys, it's Pinder with the brand new location of professional skates. One of the original hockey institutions of Calgary were just on 42nd Avenue Southeast

off Blackfoot Trail. Let's check it out. Okay, guys, we're here. If you remember the old location, everything was great, but everything here is just better. Check it out. We're talking about four stories of pads for the goalie in your life. All colors, all makes, all models, gloves for days. I don't know that the Cincinnati Reds have this many gloves in their locker room.

This is unbelievable. Beyond all the goalie gear, you see the masks, the pads. We've got our figure skating area here. In 1972, when Pro Skate originally opened, it was just that, a figure skating shop. Things changed. The Olympics came to town and the Skate Sharpening Service that's famous around Southern Alberta, they were the official skate sharpeners of the 1988 Olympics. I was alive then. Many of you weren't.

Let's go check the hockey gear. Feast your eyes on this massive skate wall here. wall here at Pro Skate. We're talking one of the largest collection of skates in the country. True, CCM, Bauer, and Bowers FitLab that will literally scan your feet, 3D imaging, to find out exactly what size and skate is best for you. Saturday, August 10th, come check it out with Boomer and I, live Barnburner right here at the new Pro Skate. We'll see you there. As always, a big shout out to one of our big sponsors, McLeod Law, great people. We talk about it on the show, Shane King and Peter Klein and

Austin and everybody there. What it is is they're Calgary people taking care of Calgary people. You're not getting, when you reach out to McLeod Law, they're not sending you to Toronto or Vancouver someplace. They don't know who you are. These are Calgary folks. They're proud of those Calgary routes. They are here every single day. It's a big part of their longstanding

client relationships. They get the way things work and they want to help you. Whatever your challenge is, business or personal, just to click away, McLeod dash law.com is the website. The very best. Good making a difference mc cloud law let's get back to another summer edition of barn burner so the first year geneva switzerland beat the americans in the gold

medal game mike babcock's the head coach best ever this is it's the canadian dream it was super cool yeah we were we were just a bunch of like blue collar hockey players and We didn't have a lot of talent. Like if you look through the lineup, not like overwhelmingly offensive. Some of our defense, if you looked at them, like, yeah, there's Jason Doig at the time, Jeff Ware, myself, Hugh Hamilton. We had a Chris Phillips out there. But if you look at our defensive core, like these weren't perennial superstars. No, but at the time, Doig was this big, you know, great skater and, and, and, Where was the big, big personality. Right.

Yeah. You got up front, you got guys like Dwayne Hay, Steve Bezhen. Yeah. You know, you've got Boyd Devereaux, Alex McCauley, and yeah, Christian DuBay. Yeah. All the, like, Joe Thornton, was a pretty good name, but he was, he was our underager that year. Yeah.

Brad Larson was our captain. And every team event. function we did. There was no one in that group that thought they were too cool. There was no one in that group that wasn't like ready to go. Sure. That team was like we had we had some serious pressure. We got to win five in a row for Canada. And you know, yeah, I almost knew it was going to happen because of our our locker room. It was super cool. Like guys were so together so committed and it just it just happened because we got to work. Yeah. The next year. Not as fortunate. Still the worst ever finish for Canada out of world juniors? Gotta be. I think is still, can I look at my glasses? Eighth place.

A six three lost to Kazakhstan in the seventh place game. Oof. What happened? Captain. Yeah, captain. You must have been thinking, I'm back. I got the sea on. This is going to be great.

I wasn't supposed to have the sea. So there's there's only two of us returnees myself and Jesse Wallen. There's another guy from our decor. Jesse's supposed to be our captain, but he breaks his ankle or his foot. I can't remember if it was in exhibition or if it was in at the camp in Kitchener. So well, there's only one other choice, I guess, and we'll give it to the other wily veteran that's here. And I have a lot of regrets from that year. I was just, I was so overwhelmed then by the talent level on our

team that was there that I didn't say enough. I didn't do enough. I was too immature to like try and intervene. I don't know if I really could have had an effect on our group. But didn't you also, because you talk about Thornton by the next year, he's not there. And Patrick Marlowe could be there, but he's not there. There's about a handful of guys that were in the NHL that should have been on that team or were eligible to be on that team. You mentioned the two biggest names. But there's probably a few others that probably could have come from their clubs. Yeah. And helped us out.

So, yeah, we were a little, we got a lot of, a lot of rookies. Yeah. You know, you got 18 to 20 rookies on your team. But we had, you got Roberto Luongo and Net. You got Matthew Garam backing up, basically, or both sharing time. Got the likes of Vinnie La Cavillier, Alex Tangay, Josh Holden from the Western League, got Eric Brewer on defense. Did Brad Stewart get cut from that team?

Did I see that? I believe so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he had a, yeah. He was, he was such a, you know, well, he's a quiet guy throughout his whole career. Yeah. But just so steady, you could have, he could have come in pretty handy, I think, during that tournament. But we had some crazy stuff happened to us there.

Our trainer forgot, only brought one set of jerseys when we're playing the Russians. We're two hours down the road from our hotel. They won't, we both have reds or we both have white. and they have both sets, but they won't change. Sure. So our trainers on his way back to the hotel while we take to the ice with some Swedish wreck teams, jerseys on. You knew the, you knew the tournament wasn't probably trending in the right direction

at that point. Because you were, you guys were the champs, you were hated, right? It was take down Canada. Targets was on your back. We had, we had guys on our team late for meetings the year before. Guys were like 15, 20 minutes early for meetings. We had guys that miss buses. We had, our team just lacked the discipline that you need to have.

And I don't know if it was maybe some larger egos in the room that had something to do with it. And then I didn't do anything to keep those in check because I was just honestly overwhelmed. Tried to say a few things, but I just felt like kind of insignificant. Is that something that even down the road in your NHL career that you kind of draw back to. I didn't say things or I didn't do things then. I'm doing it now, whether I got a letter on my jersey or not. I have, I still have regrets still from, I think I finally got it right in Denver my last year. I just said what I was thinking. That group though, we, we came together and

won a lot that year. So it's always easy to speak up when you're winning. It's not easy to say things and really put people in their place when it's when it's tough. Yeah. And I should have just, I think I think I played the game the right way and put forth a pretty darn good effort. So I don't think I should have been as scared to say things in the locker room. Like I should have spoke my mind when guys are like not focused, but it's not easy. You know, when guys are making twice as much money as you or have twice as much talent as you. And it's, that's why trying to put together a hockey team that can function together and yeah, with every good luck being a GM. Yeah. It's it goes to show you though, right? You talk about chemistry and

identity in that maybe not a better example one year we're tight we're not that skilled win it all next year we got skilled we're we got nothing going as far as chemistry and you finish almost dead last and maybe people view it differently than I do like if you talk to someone else in that team I really haven't talked about it because I've tried to block it from memory well sure for yeah Wilf Paymont coach that never heard from since you know it was that starts to when the summit started and how are we practicing our kids kids and it was

rock bottom there for a little bit. Not your doing. I guess if we did something good for Canadian hockey. You sure did. We made them do a quick review. See? The way we practiced the game ratios and we got our little,

you know, put some centers over here. What do they call them? The practice, break up the ice and practice. Thanks for that. Yeah, you're welcome.

Appreciate that. Glad we could help up. Yeah. So moving on. So you're done your junior career. You get dealt to Seattle, which we don't need to get too far into but this is kind of the first time now that saskatoon boy sort of is not living in nearby saskatoon what was the situation there because seattle was not a

good team right all i did was drive around in traffic yeah 10 minutes anywhere to an hour and a half everywhere yeah i can't believe the kids that in that were in school in seattle because at the time we did a lot of our practicing downtown but we lived out and can't even remember the suburbs but like Kirkland and those areas and all I did was drive around and I was a 19 year old not going to school and it was like hard for me to get to places on time so I can't imagine the guys that were like in high school and were you in the key arena then yes we were so it's kind of yeah it was the old basket it was the basketball set up yeah and uh it was it was a fun experience again I got a staff infection in my arm which like I wasn't around for the playoffs against Portland that year I don't

know if I would have made that big of a difference but I had been traded from a team that was like seventh eighth place in Saskatoon and i thought we were making progress yeah uh they had got rid of don clark uh darrell lubinicky they brought in mckewen as gm and um from madison hat uh shoot i can't remember his name right for willie de jardin as our head coach so i had a cup of tea with those guys for a couple weeks and then they traded me for a goalie kind of a straight across seventh eighth place team swap I was just kind of scratching my head, right? Because like I wanted to see it through with Saskatoon.

We're going to make the playoffs here. We really stunk the year before. Yeah. Like this is and so we, I think we both got into the playoffs, but we were pretty beat up and Portland was a really good team. So but. Was that the Marian Hosa? Yeah. Portland Winterhawks.

Yeah. Andrew Ference. Yeah. We got to, I get to Seattle. I'm hearing all these rumblings about this Mark Parish kids. this 20-year-old that's come back from from college to play or gone from college to play junior first game i get there road trip to colona old barn square corners tight tough game scott parker's running around yeah and i have a goal and an assist and a fight and i'm like i got to make an

impression with these boys the goal was not part really part of the plan but it happened and i'm like mark parrish just goose eggs across i'm like i'm like I'm like, who is, what? Yeah. Who's this guy? Next game, four goals. I'm like, oh, he's not bad. You are that guy.

I think, yeah. I think I had like 17 or 18 points in 13 games while I was there. And it was generally from him picking it up from me behind the net in my own zone. Right. Yeah. On the power play. Yeah. You can have this now.

So, yeah, it was, it was fun to play with him and a couple other guys there. But, yeah, it was a little, little disappointing that I wasn't the round for playoffs again. But that was my junior career injured the whole time. So then it's we're going pro Rochester Americans. Now it's grown men. This is this is men, beards must like tattoos, smokers. It's real now. Yep. And you guys had a hell of a year. It was awesome. That was, you don't have too many years in your career where you feel like every time you step on the ice, you have a chance to win. I feel like I've had that like just two or three times in my career. And maybe some guys have it more often. And then you're super blessed if you do to play on that

many good teams. For me, it was few and far in between. But what an experience. I never missed a game that whole year. I was like, played every single game, played through some injuries. That that staff infection in my elbow, that sucker leaked all year. It's a whole story in itself. Yeah. Thank you to my trainer, Schnacky who got me through. And, uh, but I got to play with the likes of, uh, Randy Countyworth was our captain. Uh, Mike Hurlbut was my defense partner. Like, these are like, I know Randy played quite a few games in the NHL, but, you know, a professional minor league or Mike Hurlbut played how many games in, in the, uh, HL. And you look at the list of names like Dean Malanson on defense. And then you got,

a good group of young buffalo sabers prospects there's a few of us you know all trying to make it to the next level jean lup grand pierre jason holland on defense uh yeah it was a super cool year pretty tight-knit group um but just going all the way to the calder cup final from having like four playoff games experience in yeah in junior it was incredible for me like i was just soaking it up like we had a great season get to these playoffs in adorondack our first series best of three peter clemah was still grinding it out in adorondack he had that red bucket on his signature bucket and i'm like where am i right now yeah like you're it's kind of like who am i playing against this is crazy dug hoodo was on their team at the time you know played a handful

NHL games another great HL player but men oh my god that league was tough you've got Dennis Bonvi you've got Frankie by a Lois out the run on our team we had Greg Walters and dean Malanson and every team had like two or three crazy tough guys yeah Frankie Frankie by Alois the animal we get to philadelphia we're playing in the spectrum for my first game against him he's doing barehanded pushups at center ice with his black hair halfway down his back I'm like what league am I in and you're like here we go why do they call him the animal I can't figure it out goodness he was a little tired out and near the end of his career yeah but yeah there is there are some Sasha Lackovich

like some of these guys so did you have the same yeah I just like if you go through every if you start to think about every team different time Dave Morrison was up in Fredericton Denny Vial was somewhere in the league it's yeah yeah did you have the same because you had a good year did you have that same kind of a confidence boost like maybe you did at 16 when you decide not to go to saskatoon that this is this is a big step i don't know i think people still view it that way it's you want to be in the n hl of course but going to this level did you did you feel like okay this is another league where i belong well this that was the process then like there was rare there was very few guys

that made the jump. Yeah. Like, unless you were a first rounder. Like, it was almost unheard of that someone in the second round, and I know I'm close to the edge of both rounds, but that's just what the process was, and especially in Buffalo, like Eric Rasmussen, first rounder, my season. Like, you're expected to play a season.

You're expected to like, he kind of was up and down his whole first year. Yeah. But he also a college kid. I think he's a year older than me or, yeah, year older than me. So hasn't played as many games. You're playing weekends only kind of thing. Yeah, but he, but he was a little more mature.

So the Sabres was hoping he was going to step right into their lineup, but he had lots of time in Rochester as well. For me, I just thought that's exactly where I needed to be. So I was like, I went to Sabres training camp and I had a really good training camp and that's a process too. Like I remember going to my first training camp and then you've got now three or four under your belt and you learn how to navigate that you'll learn how to navigate the three and three against Toronto like and get the crap beat out of you and training camp we used to go to training camp and Rob Bray Brad May Bob Boogner you're just trying to survive like your your in-house games like everything was so tough back then stressful yeah anxiety ridden yeah my first training

camp I get to I get there and this is no joke and I'm talking to Rip Simonic who I'd met but don't really know him. He's the head trainer for equipment trainer for the sabers. I give my skates to sharpen. He's like, what are you doing? I didn't really like new equipment. So I'd probably played the whole year in junior or maybe half a year and switch to another pair of skates, like maybe two pairs of skates in junior.

He looks at mine. He's like, he can't play in these. What do you mean? I can't play in these. He's like, he literally went to. the back room comes out with a brand new box i'm like oh he's going to get me a new pair of skates this this is awesome yeah takes him out sharpens them gets them all like puts them on the angle grinder and does the old school profiling okay sharpens him up gives me the box with the skates

takes my skates i thought he's going to give him to me drops them in the garbage yeah i was like i didn't say anything because i'm seen and not heard i'm 17 or 18 years old yeah i had to go out and do skills and then my first two days of camp in brand new skates in buffalo three days there's your plane ticket kid yeah see you later so anyways a little off topic but can't believe ripper would do that to you yeah but again back then and you're just like you don't yeah like you say and especially he must know what he's doing thank you yeah especially for you because that's kind of your nature you're not going to stir up shit you're just i'm happy to be here like you say speak when spoken to just mind your peas and cues but that that year in

rochester when i went down there and i went to camp and i hadn't even considered going back to junior i was like no chance yeah i'm like i'm not doing that again i'm making this team like i'm playing pro drove my car out there packed up my crap said goodbye like i'm not going home i'm not going back to the western league as a 20 year old no way wow so and you did didn't really know how to spell the name got the eY in there Everyone's been spelling it like that. Yeah, for years. But you get to, you go all the way to the Calder Cup and fall to Peter Laviolet and the Providence Bruins.

That one right there. Woo! Go to the far post kid. Just drive, drive the net. There's your buddy Hurl, but empty there. Johnny Graham, or soon to be teammate in Tampa a few years later. That's right. That was a, again, I had an absolute blast that year.

I had a couple teammates that probably didn't like me. You know, you're a, I know I had, I know I had one teammate that didn't like me. Yeah. Tortured me all year long, but, uh, you take your lives. Is it a D man? No. Just jealous that you're there eating minutes or? I don't know why he was jealous because he was a forward, but not, not name and names.

All right. So something, I mean, it's on YouTube. We can, you know, anything goes on the internet. That's fine. Anyways. Yeah, it was. good guys you go you go that far we ran out of gas in Providence where they had a they had a great team Savage was on that team and some other names and I didn't

realize that you played so few games in Buffalo I don't know why because you got a what four games that first year mostly in Providence but you got a few games then you play the next season and you're out you're Tampa Bay were you I guess what are the thoughts there you're happy to go to once you get there and all that but here's this team that drafted me you've barely got a taste and it was for chris gratton who was kind of a he was a big deal back then he was a didn't end up doing a whole lot played for a lot of teams a lot of teams really like he looked good and he was big strong centerman yeah and wasn't a he wasn't a terrible player but he was never the elite stud

that everyone thought he was going to be. But anyway, you're with Buffalo. Was there, were you sour at all that in a way they'd given up on you so quickly? You went to the Calder Cup the year before. I was, I was shocked, definitely. So, yeah, played 40-some games with the Sabres at you kind of had made the team out of training camp, had had a short stint down. And then I remember being in Toronto and we, like a week before the trade.

And we didn't have a great game as a team, but we had like, it was like six, four of the game or seven, three or something like that. But I was like, plus two or three. It had a really solid game. Really wasn't the cause of any goals against. Just got on the bus. And the bus had a flat tire and we sat in Toronto for forever. And then as soon as the bus started rolling, I get the call to come up and sit with the coach. And he's like, we're sending you down. It's like, oh, boo. Okay. I'm like, damn, I thought I was doing pretty good. And so then I went to Rochester and played in a few games. And I specifically remember getting ready. We had three and three that night. We had a home away home, which is nuts.

Like Friday we'd be in Rochester. I think we were Syracuse or somewhere a little further Saturday and then back in Rochester Sunday. Like that was the standard issue. So I'm just getting to bed. It's like 11 o'clock at night. It's going to shut her down. And phone rings Darcy's your gear. Hey, thanks for being a saber.

We've traded you to Tampa. I knew Tampa was in Florida, but I had no clue where. I knew they were god awful. That's all I knew about them. I couldn't probably have named maybe two players that played on that team. So I was shocked, but my, I wasn't married at the time, but my girlfriend's parents were in town visiting. And I just remember him be it, my wife now, dad was like,

this is going to be awesome. He's cracking beers. he's like you're going to get to play these guys suck you'll get a chance and it actually turned out to be probably a blessing in disguise because in buffalo i was again brian campbell dmitri calaninan jean luke grandpier jason you got uh jay mckee mike wilson like there's there's all of us within one year of each other all vying for like one or two spots so might not have been yeah the worst thing that ever happened well spoiler alert it did work out okay um yeah Tampa Bay seven year run and I will kind of chronologically go over this as you I mean you were still such a

kid I love these these videos I mean look at this kid what sideburns shows up in Tampa Bay again and you know what you are you're still that kid just trying to fit I don't want to say anything or just want to make a good impression just want to go out and play as best as I can 19 in the first year you guys win 19 games of 82 only Atlanta had a worse record than you guys I think we were like mathematically eliminated in January yeah the math would not be in your favor or early february yeah yeah it was not awesome so I guess you so now you get there Tampa's awesome it's it's not Buffalo it's not Saskatoon it's not Rochester it's kind of an no one probably cares there's still kind of have a new team at that point. So maybe is there still some excitement or is it you're like you barely feel like you're in the NHL again? It was super weird. Steve Ludzig was our head coach and Steve's a really nice guy. But we were everyone loves super super unorganized as a coach I thought. Yeah. So and maybe it was just he was a product of his environment too like we'd get dressed for practice and they're literally

be like 30 guys or more on the ice because our injury list was like a mile long. Yeah. And then you'd go to suit up for games, which I thought was awesome and no one wanted to play partially because everyone's like eliminated from, we're eliminated from the playoffs early. Everyone's just mailing it in. And I'm just looking at it as an opportunity as like, hey, play me. I'll give her. I'll get out there. Yeah. But. Yeah, we were. It was kind of a revolving like I have all of my team photos and I it takes me a while to figure out who the heck everyone was for those first couple years in Tampa yeah like Alexander keratanov and I know sergey gusarov and yeah we had team coach players all just trying to find their way we

like on the list you if you look at those we we'd usually use like five or six goal tenders a year yeah just to get through a season so it was it was a grind Spring Financial, unexpected expenses, they'll pop up out of nowhere, they give you no warning. Car breaks down, home needs repairs, you're in a bind. Well, you can borrow money for those unexpected expenses right from your phone and receive an e-transfer within hours. Spring Financial offers online personal loans from $500 all the way up to $35,000 with no stress and no branch visits ever. Join thousands of happy customers who have made Spring Financial Canada's top-rated lender. Apply in three minutes at springfinancial.ca.ca slash barn.

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Apply today at springfinancial.ca. Final home game of the regular season for the Calgary Surge goes tonight at Winsport with the stinking Winnipeg Sea Bears in town. Will Boomer and his children be at the game at the pay-built VIP table? Only time we'll tell. 7 o'clock start tonight. 7 o'clock. 7 o'clock, 7 o'clock. Win Sport, Surge, C-Bairs. See you there. Little message for you for the Mod Medical Clinic, be aroused.com. As men, we can be a little sensitive. We don't want to share. We don't talk about certain things but as men get older things happen to our bodies we know that it's time to stop being silly get out in the open and talk about these things with via sure from be aroused dot cae from the mod

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Hey guys, it's Pinder. Let's check in with Calvary FC's busy summer schedule. After a nice little run at home, fellows are on the road for two weeks. Langley, followed by Ottawa. Next home game, August 10th. It is Marvel superhero game. 2 o'clock.

Saturday, August 10th, Halifax Wanderers to visit. Let's go Cavs. Need three points. See you at Echo Field. Back to the show. With, obviously, with the luxury of the crystal ball or the time machine, you can look back. So you come, so 19 wins.

The next year, 29th out of 30, again. But little, actually, Atlanta moved past you now. The thrashers actually had more points. But some different things happen. And you can see the building blocks. They pick up Marty St. Louis off of waivers. He comes in.

I'm very curious. Did you know who he was at all? Or what were your impressions when this, this smallish forward comes in and starts playing for the team? I'd only played like a game or two against Marty. but I'd heard the rumblings from guys that had played a little more against them like ultra-competitive has put up big numbers in college and like you know ultimate competitor yeah so but honestly I really knew nothing about Marty and I was like wow but you don't have to spend very long around him to know that like he's full throttle Jay Feaster told me one time he said Marty St. Louis had the mindset and it was

it was not something that he had to convince himself he just felt like i could be sent to the miners tomorrow you have 40 goals didn't matter he just felt like he was if i don't if i don't perform and if i don't do everything i can i made my spot is not safe and that's how he played and he's the guy too that was forever trying to evolve his game never satisfied like the amount of meetings that he probably just sparked up himself with john torturella and like how we're going to figure this out like like the power play is only ticking along at x percent how are we going to get that up to the next level and just like continually talking the game with his teammates like i'm like how does he have the energy to do it like even if you like an example he comes it with me he's like you know what

like sarchie on this outlet pass this guy's here like if i take a step this way and you put it off the boards and maybe i've got a step on him and that'll like free up some space so next time you're in that situation it's just like so not shocked to see him coaching montreal on them the out of left field no fairly detail oriented guy for it the other guy that came in that i'd had had a little more experience against and knew that he had a ton of offensive upside and knew that he was pretty gritty for not a big guy was dan boyle yeah like we we kind of snatched him up out of florida system how does that happen because and you know that was actually the next year and we'll get a fifth rounder from the state rival you know these you know you know these you know

never trade with each other, let alone a guy who turns into a 50-point defenseman. But Florida, you know, they weren't far off. Jeez. Our spot where it was a revolving door over there as well. So there was a few across the state deals in my time in Tampa. Brad Richards comes in, third round pick, but makes the team out of camp, St. Louise in. Nicolai Habiboulin trade happened in the offseason.

Okay. well the goal tender this is going to be okay and the ludzig ludzick era ends and tortorella comes in first impressions of torts well i had i had torts as my assistant coach so he was assistant under uh under ludzie when i got there and brad shaw was another assistant coach at the time so you know i'd only known john very briefly in that like and he was kind of down looking after the forwards. Bradshaw was looking after us defensemen. So I only had the impression of him as an assistant coach and good guy, pretty jovial, New York accent.

You know, I'd heard that I knew about the success that he had had at the HL level. But he wasn't towards yet, right? He was good, good cop still kind of thing. Well, he was being, but I had also heard because he was in Rochester not just a couple years before I got there the year before I got there I believe I was he the guy that took them to the call to their calder cup win I know he might have been no that was it was it was actually a few years prior and he had been an assistant coach in New York in Buffalo and so I really I'd heard rumblings of

him but like had known no clear impressions of him as a head coach yeah but I'm telling you like the day the day he took over and Jay Feaster was in the the vibe changed. Like it was, again, I've shared this a lot, lots and I'm not joking, like some, some doctor in our locker room, one of those years when we were eliminated, like right after John took over and we're eliminated in January or February, only went in a handful of games. Some doctors like, oh, well, we're back on the golf course again, more time, we'll, poof, that guy's gone. Like, if you, if you weren't focused and going to make this team better, like, it's like a change is coming and he's just going to slowly weed everyone out and then that combined with you know

you had you had some guys that had been maybe looked over slighted that had stuff to prove i don't know if i put myself in that category like yeah i was in buffalo for a small period of time but i just i just wanted to establish myself yeah but you had dan boyle marty st louis got a guy that then comes over like dave anerchuk still searching for the old to go. Freddy Modin, who loved it in Toronto, and then all of a sudden he finds himself in Tampa. Vinnie Prosple, who had bounced around, which I know he wasn't part of our cup team, but he was there. I played with him on either side of that cup win. He was the guy that was there for a few years leading up to it, then left, and then came back after. So you get Habie Boulin, who we were

absolutely thrilled when he showed up. I was like, I wonder how good this guy is? Like Winnipeg jet like have you ever seen them play a couple games up there like they're they're not very good any stealing games for these guys so it was it was a super exciting time it was like kind of a perfect storm and you just had a core group of guys eventually once they kind of weeded out all the people that didn't want to be there that had had something to prove and it doesn't man in some ways it happens so quickly but it does take some time because you because toward at all's first season you get up to 27th but you miss the playoffs again by 18 points you're you're well out of it the next season breakthrough from 69 to 93 points you win the southeast you make the playoffs

le cavilliers hits 30 goals for the first time st louis goes from 66 to 33 goals Boyle goes from nothing to 50 points in this. You beat Washington in round one, but then lose to New Jersey in round two. But it's the first ever series win. There was one previous playoff. But what so it just all comes together real quick. Yeah. And that's just that was just a product of like, I guess kind of finding the right personnel that and you got rid of the outsiders.

Yeah. That were always lingering around and. And guys that had points to prove, we started off that season, like, starting to win games, though, like you'd win one or you'd lose one, win one, lose one. This is a different pattern than lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, maybe squeak went out. Like we were, we were competitive right from the start of that season. So that gave us some belief. We kind of continued it throughout the year.

our special teams practices were uber intense torts practices uber intense our training camps were nuts down there by far the hardest like it was just all prep to like get your mindset that like this is going to be this isn't easy you're going to have to work for it yeah and then getting into the playoffs that year well we were like that was mind-blowing yeah right like we were all in shock when it came to play in the capitals they had Yarmir Yager and we had matched up well against them that year. I think Bondra was still there. He got Oli Colzigan Net who's still almost in the prime of his career, maybe, maybe teetering towards the end a little bit, but Pavel Kabina made Yager's life a nightmare. It was like his sole goal,

like other check on the other team and he's not getting a sniff and the rest of us played pretty well and I think it was a double overtime win in game six or triple overtime win to knock them off. And then that was it. That was our Stanley Cup. Yeah, yeah, sure. We're matching up against the New Jersey Devils next. Like, these are men.

It's like they had throttled us all year long. We were beat before the series started. Like we were just ecstatic to grab one game out of that series. And yeah. But yeah, that beating Washington was like, wow. Like incredible. Well, just getting in the playoffs. in itself was pretty neat. I mean it again you talk about the trajectory so it's really bad a little bit

better quite a bit better and then it's the 0304 season you win the division again you in the eastern conference regular season in three years from 69 to 106 points 46 wins you guys are an elite team now how you obviously you're handling it very well well, but it's funny, all this kind of media speaking cliche, you got to win, you got to lose a little bit, then you win a little bit, then you get a little bit better. That was your Tampa Bay Lightning experience en route to the 04, right? It was steadily getting better, lose, learn from it, win again, keep winning. Oh, I mean, what else? Your playoff run was amazing. And you know what, Corey Stillman came in. I guess that was the other thing. Darryl Sador. Darryl Sador comes in. Going through this yesterday, I said, why are these teams giving up? Dan Boyle, Darryl Sador for very little, really, in terms of things.

I could be a GM if teams want to make those trades. Yeah. But so you get through the season. What's your thoughts now? You're the Eastern Conference champions. You've won last year. A loss in round two is not going to cut it. now right no we we we viewed ourselves as a legitimate contender like besides our little laps in

january where we we had a few like get everybody on the same page moments that year and i i vividly remember one where like bini still bini loved his cookies like alibi yeah he wanted his points everyone else had figured it out like and that's part of it brad richards marty st louis smart hockey players, Freddie Modine, like our driving offense, Corey Stillman played the game the right way. And all these other guys figured it out. Vinny just still was like, I'll be up here at the red line if you guys need me. It's like, man, you're a big body.

You got to get back in our zone and play some defense. He was kind of the last piece of the puzzle. And once we got him on board, it was like, man, we're a good hockey team. So what does that mean? What kind of literal or what kind of changes to his game? What happens? It was like Tortoralla was like fed up with him because he would not commit to the defensive part of the game. He still was like old Tampa Bay Lightning. I'm going to be down here if you need

me. Send me a breakaway pass. There were real battles with those two, right? Oh yeah. Like that was the biggest that was Tororella's biggest hurdle was probably getting Vinnie on and he'd know it. If I can crack this nut. Yeah, I remember he was ready to leave Vinny. I don't know was at the airport or on a bus ride and Dave Vandertruck basically had to stand in front of the bus and say, no, we're not leaving them. Then we had to kick torts, send them away so we could have a little, yeah, it was almost like an intervention with Vinnie and just be like, hey, if you don't figure this out, he'll probably scratch you, do something crazy. Like, he's not afraid. So that was a, that was a pivotal moment in our season, but that's another year where every time we stepped in the ice,

I'm like, we're going to win tonight. Like if someone beats us, they're going to have to be pretty damn good to beat us. And then once we got to the playoffs, there was a little bit of doubt against the Islanders because they had matched up really well against us that year. And they'd given us fits. We split one one at home. And then I remember someone in the paper said like, oh, we match up so well against Tampa. And everyone was just like, let's shut it right up there.

Yeah. And you did. Marty St. Louis, but wins game five in overtime. Great shot. Is that Wade Dubevitz, I think? Something like that. Marty's excited. You then... Wade Flaherty? Maybe. Then it's Montreal and they're overwhelmed. It's a four-gamer. We got a lot of good bounces to go our way that series. It should have been closer than that, but everything was good for us. God this shift I remember this one Philadelphia round three it's a battle Keith Primo was a house on fire probably the best season of his NHL career he put that team on his back and like like willed them all the way to this series and almost willed them past us he was so good do you have a similar kind of a mission like kubina had against the auger because going back over the tape you guys were in a battle all the time every night it seemed like it was you two going toe to

toe to i think he got the better of me that one shift he came in the corner i don't know if that was the same one that we just saw in the tape but get me lost my glove and stick somehow the puck leaves our zone i finally collect my stuff i'm i'm just about getting back to the link they dump it in my corner again and here he comes again i'm like really do i have to to go in the corner with this guy again. Yeah. He was, you just, you knew that he was their guy that year. So you had to pay so much attention to him.

And then Jeremy Roanick had given me fits throughout my career. Like everyone says, who's the hardest guy to play against? And I have a little short list of guys that like were in my kitchen. He was always in my kitchen. So every time I was on the ice with that guy, like he made me look bad a lot. And I knew it. So that was such a mental. battle for me to not have him like get the better and he got the better of me in calgary my very

first playoff series here against the san Jose sharks prick went and scored two goals in us in game seven yeah he did so yeah he's uh not very nice of him to see near the top of my list yeah so yeah so yeah that that series was and it was win win game one lose game two win game three lose game four It was it was a dog fight. It was a I remember it was a classic because I do remember obviously Keith Primo, everyone knew who he was like he was always kind of some of the second line guy. He's going to be the second guy. He was never the stud. He broke through and because of injuries there again, he couldn't keep up that level, but he was just concussions. Yeah. He was unstoppable. Yeah, I thought that was really like I watched him as a Detroit Red Wing as a young kid,

you know, feeling his way out. And then he became a flyer. And like you said, he was always kind of supporting cast. And that year, I was just like, wow, like this guy has figured it out. And he's going to be like a force in the league. And then it was, that's too bad. So you're off to the finals. This is by far and away.

The furthest you've been. This is the, I mean, Tampa Bay's on board now. They know who the lightning are. You guys are, it's a big deal. It's Calgary. what are your thoughts when you find out it's not Detroit, this juggernaut Detroit team, it's not going to be Vancouver, who is very good as well, it's not going to be the sharks, it's Calgary.

You're a prairie guy. I guess thoughts on your opponent. Well, being the fact that it wasn't Detroit, like, I guess there wasn't the offensive threat, but just the fact you come out of a seven-game series against Philly that's so physical, you just knew that you were in for it again. Like you knew this team and they'd had to change. Like we were paying attention to playoffs and watching all the games. And this team has had to change their style due to all of the injuries.

And you got guys out there like Regier, Warner, Dave Lowry. And then you know how Jerome McGinla can play if he wants to get a little bit pissed off out on the ice. Even guys like Oleg Saprikan, who wasn't a real physical guy. like he's throwing body checks out there in the in the playoffs you got big bodies back there are like mike commodore on defense i mean marty jellina the consummate playoff performer yeah and i had trained with marty in the summers before and seen him and i'm like i got to chase this guy around so it's there was no let down from our side we knew it was going to be a different style of of game i thought that we maybe felt we had the upper hand offensively like we might have a few more weapons than they do

but no this was like we weren't taking these guys lightly and then you get a team like them that's surprised a bunch of other teams like we had kind of been doing for about a year and a half yeah you're like these guys are going to want it they believe they can yeah they're hungry they're just as hungry as us so we were those are some of our conversations as like we can't take anything for granted to that point in the playoffs you guys hadn't trailed in a series you lose game one so it's the first time you're down you're at home for one it was it was very good game for the flames what do you remember after game one if if you do i'm just kind of curious of the memory lane that you because there's the calgary flame memory lane and then

there's then there's the other side and not i honestly don't remember a lot I just again, as far as like the theme of our team that year. And I think it was good preparation the series that we had just been through like them. Win one, lose one, win one, lose one. It was, I remember that. If I remember anything, that being the talk. Oh, the trend continues. We're just in it again.

We won one, we lose one. Let's go win the next one boys like and see what happens. But specifics, I think we were a little disappointed in ourselves. I think we'd made a couple of mistakes on a couple of goals that night. If I, if I recall correctly, like a couple of defense of lapses, which our details to the game were our success. Like our prep all year long was the most detailed preparation I've ever had because of our coach, like of any team that I've played on.

So it's just like, let's get back to what we know. And I know that's cliche, but that's what professional athletes do. You just, it's so repetitive that it's, it's in your game. That's why you get away from it for a second and it really feels disjointed. So it's like, let's just go. back to what we know and get after it but like again it's it's pretty pretty general i don't remember but you lose game one four to one you come back you win game two four to one third period flames are going to take their chunk of flesh there's ferrence is fighting stillman and and andre waugh's

fighting it it was setting the tone for for going into calgary uh you just because you're from from western in Canada, you probably would have paid a little bit closer attention. The crowds, the Red Mile, what's waiting for you in Calgary. Game three, you guys are underwater for a lot of that game as it's on at the dome. Oh, yeah. That was, that was probably the craziest I've ever seen that rink. Like in all in my career here, like, yeah, it, you know, like the biggest game. I've sat in the crowd now as a fan.

like at that game seven versus Dallas a few years back and that was pretty wild and pretty intense but that that game you know you usually don't hear the crowd and they usually don't have an effect and you no matter how crazy they get but they were unbelievable are you feeling it in the room can you well we were the game well and then you then you come to Calgary like it's a different animal you couldn't sleep in the hotel we had the fire trucks the alarms going thank you to the city of Calgary yeah you couldn't It was like the fans were as disruptive as they could be.

Yeah. Still not as rude as the fans in Philly, but equally. Well, that's a different. Disruptive. Yeah. It's a different level. Yeah. So you guys, you lose game three and then game four.

It's just such a three one or is it two, two and it's tight. Brad Richards scores. Richards was unbelievable in that play in that playoff. But in that series, you get a. power play goal early and you ride it out a happy boole and shut out i mean it's everything changed that night it i know for place like this is 3-1 you put this thing to bed there's no way they're going to be kipper and be no chance how they didn't get a goal that night is still hard i think for flames fans to take yeah and uh that's probably the game i remember the least about in the series

um like i don't even remember like what my performance would have been like i i i have watched the tapes but i haven't watched them in a while yeah and uh 29 saves for happy boole and by now the injuries are piling up reggear play and this was no reggear played 30 minutes and 37 seconds how much i can only imagine like even how much commodore would have played that night and they were they had brand and Brennan Evans is their call up in Calgary like it was no that series was an absolute grind but again that's the game i remember the absolute least from so it's like well this brain doesn't remember much anyways but you know what there were some highs and lows from that series so then

you go you go back home and jellina scores early on the power play st louis gets it back iggy gets a soft one on happy booleon modin ties it in the third off to over time and saprican gets it. There would be another overtime game coming, but anything there when you're at home and now you're in stave mode. That was probably the most like there was generally probably a little sense of doubt that finally crept into our dressing room, right? Like no one would say it. All the right things were said, but you can't help but feel like, oh shit, like, now we got to go back to Calgary and try to pick one out of there. And we know what the crowd's going to be like we've done it already.

So if there was anything, there was maybe, I know it started to enter my mind. Like we're all great professionals. So you're never sharing that with your teammates. But that one, that one hurt a lot. And especially it being in overtime. And so pivotal, you give a chance, a team a chance to put. you out like yeah not not an awesome feeling that night after that game was over