Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska Joins The Show Live In Studio | FN Barn Burner - June 14th, 2023

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

FlamesNation Barn Burner Live from the Tower Chrysler Studios in Marda Loop! - Ryan Huska Joins The Show Live In Studio- Flames Talk- Panthers vs Knights Game 5 Recap- The Pinder Report Presented By Village Honda- Betway Bets Of The Day Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, look at us. Here we are. It is a Wednesday here inside the Tower, Chrysler Studios Tower, Chrysler, voted by you, the people as the favorite Dodge Ram Chrysler Jeep dealer in southern Alberta. People's champ. For good reason. They are the people's champ. You go in there, Serge to lay the people's elbow on you. If you're not careful, saw Nikki the other day. She's doing great. Nikki is the glue over there. It's true. Yeah. she was almost literally running around. Yeah. Just kind of, Oh, hey, boom, how are you doing? I got on tight. Sorry, I talked to you later.

Yes, it's okay. It was like hummingbird vibes. Just buzzing around, checking out on everyone in and out. She's got her going on over there. A lot to get to today. We've got the show and a special guest as in our, let's call it hour number two of the program. Wow.

This is going very old school. Hour number two of the program, the new head coach. of the Calgary Flames, Ryan Huska, going to join us here in the Barnburner Studios, here in the Tower, Chrysler Studios. So we're looking forward to that. He's been, he's been very popular doing the rounds. That's what you do when you get a high profile new job, kind of like us, you know,

when we started this. A lot of rounds. You know, Rhett was on the national and entertainment tonight doing all the rounds. Joe Rogan. Yeah, that's right. You guys went on a tangent. I was impressed. I didn't realize you guys were the same hymn book.

It was good stuff. That's right. Started talking about, you know, media and broadcasting and then baloney and killing animals and earlights. Earlights, red light therapy. Living on Mars. I recommend it. Yeah, if you haven't heard it. So yes, Mr. Huska, head coach of the flames coming up in hour number two.

We have some things to get to before then. So I mean, oh, what's that noise? Come on. I'm just trying to have, has there been this kind of a may feeling after a Stanley Cup championship? been handed out. Just very maddered, just, yeah, okay, it's over. I think just depending where you are and how invested you are with sort of central figures on the team, that changes a lot. Like you had Kail McCar, the Calgarian last year and Colorado finally got it done. But if you're in Manitoba, you're upside down for these cold nights. You see how many boys from

Manitoba they got on this team? And I don't know. Like Brett, obviously, and his crew was in with the Panthers. That's been a long time since they had a run like this, didn't resonate here maybe as much. I loved watching last night's game, but I really didn't watch a ton of the first. You loved last night's game? You liked last night's game. Well, not as an exhibition of like, oh my goodness, this is how good hockey could be, but because it was a celebration the whole night. It was out of, like, it was people know that you look around the building.

Everyone knew there winning the cup. It was a party for three hours. So can I show a picture of my kid and what he had on his shirt this morning? Like, do we show our children or do we? You can, we'll blur it out. It's a piece of paper. Okay, you're probably going to have to read it to us, especially with my eyeballs. There's a letter F there.

Yeah, F, you, Vegas. Oh, okay. Okay, good. Tape that to his shirt this morning to wear to school. Yeah. Show them. The sandwich board's a little expensive these days of inflation. I'm just going with the full scab and the reading.

Yeah, show them. Also the finger. Give them the bird. There it is. Well done. Jaime? Which one? No, Billy Bob.

Billy Bob. Adaboy, Billy Bob. Yeah, I mean, it's, I guess that's how it goes. If you have it, if it's your team, that's one thing. If you have an attachment through some member of the personnel, that's another. But if you are just watching. But wasn't it, wasn't Vegas, everyone, sorry, we're interrupting you, but wasn't Vegas kind of everyone's team for a couple years there?

Until they started not being loyal to anyone. And then they're like, how could you do Mark Andre Fleur like that? How could you do Nate Schmidt like that? How could you say? send out patchy ready he's just getting it like when they became ruthless i think they lost that charming oh wow this is a good expansion team what this is cute it was that and it was also the if you want to call it circumventing of the cap well yeah yeah which i think it was the one at all costs and like screw any how you feel about it type like yes this is the guy that's the face of the franchise

he's out of here he's gone it is quite a trend the again you have to be good enough but how you hide guys on IR for as long as possible to allow yourself that cap space. Yeah. Now, this team was cap compliant that was on the ice last night. That wasn't an issue. So it wasn't like Tampa when they had cooch out the whole season. And then he came in and it's like, oh, there's an $8 million player. You're eight over the cap.

Mark Stone was kind of that guy over the last few years, though. Yeah, I'm talking with this season. To bring Jack Eichl in. They were cap compliant this year. Jack Eichler and Mark Stone were on the roster at the same time. I understand what you're saying. This is not a classic cap circumvention. Aha, we got you.

There's a lot of money hurt that's not there for them. But yes, in other years they have done that. They didn't win the cups those years, but yes. And Montreal was way over the cap this year because price and a bunch of other guys. It's just that that stigma is attached to them. If it's a stigma for you, the flip side would be, congratulations on working the system and being, ruthless and doing what it takes to win. Now, I don't know. Do they break the rules?

Does that, it's not breaking the rules, but does it change the mood? Or it's, you know, these fucking guys, they're not loyal to anybody. They fire coaches. They bring guys in. Well, they want a cup in six years time and convincingly so. Does that now justify some of the, oh, we, dad and ob, you're traded. Oh, you're not traded. You're back. We're going to trade you. you, everything. Is that all kind of, that's the price of doing business. I think it's great.

It's fresh. They've changed everything, haven't they? They've changed the in-game entertainment. Everyone around the league, their in-game entertainment has had to go up a notch, right? And I still don't think most rinks touch what Vegas does. It's a tough. It's a high bar.

Yeah, it's a high bar, right? They absolutely owned the expansion draft. They, you know, I think it was changed to help expansion teams. I don't know that I don't know. I've never dug into the differences from the 90s to when Vegas came in or whatever. But it sure seemed like GMs for other teams either totally effed up or felt like the new rules had them over a barrel a little bit more

or misjudged how much it was going to affect them. A lot of mistakes. But not on Vegas part. Yeah. You played it perfectly. Yeah. I think they've had a plan from from day one to not slow play this. They weren't happy.

And when things go sideways, they replace immediately. Like you get a lender injury, okay, we find another goal. This guy's no good. He's got to get out of here. We're over the cap. Move this guy now. Yeah. That's what's his name? the guy the owner. I think he's, he's had a game plan where,

no, no, no, we're here to win. We didn't get into the business to have a, have five years of sold out arena, just because we're new and, and fun,

we're, we're going to compete. Yeah, there was that video from year one, where he's asked about his team. He says, well, playoffs in three, Stanley Cup in six,

six years? Why not? And six years later, he's got a Stanley Cup. I, I, I kind of thought about you, retro because you are on the with Carolina it's not that they're not loyal but it's just this is how we do

business and we'd like you to be part of it but if you can't be no hard feelings we're moving on that sort of thing this is very much like that although more free spending it feels like they're willing to to go that extra we'll pay we'll we'll bring in the big names whereas it felt like Carolina not so much. We're not going to pay Dougie Hamilton. We're not going to do that. But to me, it kind of does. It's, it's all just white noise now. If you were bitching and complaining about how they do it and I can't believe they treat, I can't believe they do them dirty like that. It's like, I was saying, it's like Ray Leota. Remember in Goodfellas where he's talking about being a gangster? It's like, oh, you're late with this. Fuck you pay me. Oh, I can't do the fuck you pay me. It's like,

hey, sorry. We're here to win. Are you going to help us win if not? Yeah. And how did you feel with Tampa? Is anyone still sour with that? you just look back and be like, wow, they collected a lot of talent and they went to the finals a bunch and were Eastern Conference finalists like six times in eight years. Like, tip your cap. Yeah, okay, they use the tools available with LTIR and the cap to that helped. But God, they also went without Stamcoast until what, the clinching game in the bubble. Like, I don't feel like Tampa cheated or was like this is the NHL. Use any edge you have to be better.

I don't have a problem with like if you are good enough. if you're good enough to make the playoffs without a superstar player then go ahead get I guess do it try it and then if you bring I don't know I don't have as some people really don't like it it's there for every

eliminated by these teams you're sour it's there for every team in the league to use and it's it's a bit of a gamble I suppose I don't know I they were good enough to win. No one took them to seven games. Edmonton got them to six and probably gave them the best fight.

Dallas got them to six, but that one felt like, hmm, how'd you get to six? And then Winnipeg and Florida in five, and Florida needed overtime to get the one win. It was decisive in the final. It wasn't close.

No. Like Florida didn't have a game where they looked better than Vegas. They won one, but they needed a goal in the last three minutes to tie it and then overtime. Like it was, it was a, it was very clear early in the series for the better team was. And as we learned about how guys were playing and what injuries were there, that certainly

hurt Florida a lot. You didn't have a healthier neckplot at all. And Kachuk got severely dinged up in what we're being told his game three. Yeah, Paul Maurice had a kind of a good exchange with uh, oh, anyway, Jackie Redmond, Jack and was talking about a, you know, broken sternum and Goudis had a high ankle sprain, which is, you know, that's a four to six week injury. He missed a period. Blackblad suffered a broken foot or whatever it was in the Boston series. Two shoulder pop-outs. They took a lot of damage in that Boston series. It's hard.

Rhett, you'll be the, so great for Florida. What a great season. They'll be back. That's hard to hear today, I suppose, if you're a member of the Panthers. Well, it's easy to say, not easy to do. You heard we'll be back in Florida, right? 96. It's like, oh, wow, look at this team coming here.

That's what everyone would have said. It's not that simple. The one I remember the most, Ryan, to be honest with you, was Iggy. Yeah. Iggy said it to me, and I was like, I didn't say anything back, but I'm like, I've done this three times. You don't, there's no, there's no recipe that you just put on the stove and it gets you back there. So, and you're not surprised at all the time. Yeah.

No, it didn't. It was just not, not to say that you were like, you're right. It's so hard to get there. everything has to go right for you. But it just, it was another year of attrition off that roster. It was too bad. It was just a pretty different group.

Yeah, not just about that group, but all of them. Anytime a team wins, you've, you guarantee that guys are beat up in the Vegas room as well. So that's the cost of winning.

I still remember the Oilers story or Gretzky or whoever told it about the islanders and walking by their dressing room when he's like, they're not even, what do you say? They're basically, they weren't even selling. They're icing and sore meat bits.

So that's that's the cost. Also what's probably commendable for Vegas is because they talked a lot about the misfits, the six guys for all these teams and there's one that plays here. You hear, oh, there's so much turnover and turnover is hard. How do you, they've, they rolled that frigging roster over. You mentioned patch already. He wasn't there, then he was there, then he was gone. There were some guys that were in and out or not there and then

in they reshape that whole and no more than in goal. Jesus. Oh yeah. Flurry to you name it. I had so many guys go through there. And it really didn't impact their overall performance. Last year, the one year that obviously they don't, they don't make it, but goaltending really hurt them last year. But from start to finish, that team has played much the same way.

They clearly, between George McPhee and Kelly McCriman, have identified what kind of of a player we need. What do we want? What does it take to be in our system? Even the coaches changed. Well, that's what I was going to say. It's still played the same way. Yeah. Well, the roster. It's odd that you've went through that many coaches and guys and still have a kind of a standard of play or style of play that's clearly the GM wants. What's interesting is we always say, oh, copycat league, everyone's going to take something. I guess it's a very different styles of teams that have won lately, right? Like, this was a big physical, deep team without a superstar you could argue. Maybe you feel differently about Stone or Ikel at the end of it all.

But it wasn't McDavid. It wasn't Crosby. It wasn't McKinnon and McCar, right? The year prior, it was a team built on speed and skill more than size, not that Colorado was small. You've seen two no-name goalies basically, not no-name, like Darcy Kemper, good goalie, but not star goalies. And then you go before that in Tampa, it's got the world's best goal. He wins two in a row, and it's superstar laden. And there's a lot of smaller skilled forwards in there. Like, there isn't one way to do this. And I keep thinking about how much this is more art than science a lot of times, that there isn't like a template go in the cup, that this is constantly changing and evolving. And what pieces do you have? How do you compliment them to turn this into something that could

get to a cup? And you need a lot to go right. McCriman was talking about on the ice last night. He was talking to Julian Breezeboff and the lightning. You need some things to go your way. They had the Florida break, Florida injuries, they remained healthy. Their goal to they lost a goalie and the guy that came in was better. They everything, I'm trying to think, where was the banana peel for them? They really were able to avoid it. There was not much adverse. The only thing for them was goalies all year, but at least it wasn't new when they got to

the playoffs. Like when they went to Aiden Hill, no one was freaking out because they'd gone to three different guys already this year. Robin Lennar is making the most money in net there and he didn't play a game this year. But it's something that they were familiar with all year, right? And to their credit, they built a system in front of their goal that it didn't really matter a ton, whether it was Brasua or Hill or Logan Thompson or somebody else. And then when you'd get better than average net mining from Hill, it's like, well, shit, here we go. This system plus a guy that's on a heater.

And to be fair, like the one thing all these teams have in common, pretty much, maybe with Colorado is the exception. If your goal is on a heater, you get the best goalie in a series, you win most of those series. like Bobrovsky what did not post 950 this series I don't have to tell anyone that he had eight against last night like he's in the 800s this series he was 950 a fish for Boston and Toronto Carolina I should say sorry Toronto Carolina yeah I was watching last night I was thinking if you could time machine go back 20 years and just take because I think it was Eichl who was doing the interview and he had the championship hat on and the scarf and that here he is Stanley Cup champion And they're wearing those freaking disco jerseys. Oh, okay. With the gold glitter and the league logos. I wonder what if you were to take this 20 years ago. It's like, there is a, that's celebration on the ice from the cup.

What, what team is wearing that? Who is, who is possibly? Kansas City. Wearing this, this ridiculous disco jersey. I mean, hey, it's a great, it's a great town. The fans love it. They didn't boo Betman. so they got to figure that out.

That's the one thing that's disappointing. Cheered for Betman. Come on, guys. Be better than that. Well, why do you think the refs were on? Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. I forgot about that.

The rest factored a ton last night in the nine, three. Yeah. Real nail biter down to the finish. Oh, well. So it's all over. The young men got to watch the cup get given away. Yeah. Last year they did as well.

So that was cool. and then they got to see the cup, and Logan O'Connor brought it to a couple blocks away from the studio here. But that's always exciting. You can see grown men crying and the boys are just dinner played eyeballs watching this. That's the good stuff right there. Sure. You guys are teenagers now.

I don't know. Different. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, whatever. It was very anticlimactic. That was, yes. The whole, I can be honest, that's the first cup I've not watched to be presented. since retiring.

I saw the score and I hadn't been watching. So what's there to watch out of this? I'll catch up. I'll get filled in. But then you got to watch the handshake and the, and the whole thing. And yeah, it was very nice and you're happy for the people in Vegas.

But it didn't feel like a 50 year curse had been lifted and a long suffering fan base was rewarded. It was more like, this pro sports is your fun, hey? And they beat the piss out of everyone it felt like, right? Like, they walked through, like you look back, you said earlier, they walked through the playoffs, kind of like. It was like L.A. that one year, right? They just, yeah.

L.A. was a hot knife through butter. I think it was 2012, their first cup. First year. Where they were, what, 8C just got in. And then Daryl got them clicking. And it was like, oh, they're huge. This four checks impossible. And Jonathan Quicksons is sensational.

And you got Dowdy and Copa in the prime. Like, good night. Yeah. Like no one was touching them. Now, St. Louis, because you mentioned Star-Laden, it was one of the things. Yeah. St. Louis wins. 2019.

Which, because they did, at the time, their goaltender was out of nowhere. A lot of St. Louis. Right. Yeah. This would, would the Vegas Golden Knights have more stars than that Blues team did? I think you got to remember Ryan O'Reilly was probably at his peak there. And Vladimir Tarcenko was one of the elite snipers in the game. Alex Petrangelo.

was there considered one of the top D in the game. So I wouldn't go that far. But I do think there's a lot of similarities. It's a goalie that at the beginning of the year, no one even had heard of or if you'd heard of him, you're like, well, I mean, where is he on the depth chart? Four, three. Like, Villah Huso was higher on the depth chart than Bennington that year. He was their fourth guy. They're teams that weren't terribly sexy, but were very deep.

I remember it felt like St. Louis had three lines of 20 goal guys, right? Yeah. And then it was a pretty damn good decor. and I feel that way, certainly. DECOR was real good. Yeah. Very good. So it can be done.

It's the one thing that I take away from it. It can be done. Winning a cup? Yeah. Every year? They did it in six years. In that while? It can be done.

You started from scratch, made the playoffs in five of six years, winning the cup once, two trips to the finals. What are the odds of Seattle winning? this thing next year. Can we put some money on that? This blank slate, I think, is a good thing for GMs. You know me and math, but that's not fluke.

I feel there there's enough there that you've done something correctly. Do you need to wipe this? Are you better off? And I think we've maybe talked about that. Would you be better off just wiping a slate clean? Give me my full, however many cap dollars you got. Give me the cap. And I'm just going to start over again.

But I find it hard to think. You could go to free agency or offer sheet. or whatever way and pull this off. But I have to think if you're a fan in a city where your team doesn't make the playoffs or hasn't won or has one playoff round victory in 15, 20 years, you might be thinking, what's going on? Hey, I mean, you've got to give them a ton of credit. This wasn't their plan.

Like, the plan was to be competitive in six years. The thing that went sideways on them is they were good in your one. They didn't expect that. They certainly wanted to be, they tried to be, but they knew it was a long shot. When they were actually leading the division at the deadline and they didn't sell James Neal and they didn't sell Peron. They didn't, you know, that was when it was like, okay, this is actually augmenting the plan. We're better now than we thought we'd be. We didn't think we had 40 goals at a William Carlson who scored 12 last year in Columbus.

Marsha Show is even better than we'd hoped. Riley Smith has been, like, they had a top line in the league. You're not supposed to be able to do that when you're picking from scraps off other rosters. That was the only real pivot they had to make. It was that they were better sooner than they thought. And I think that got them into that when it all costs mode, because I think the plan was probably to look like Seattle's, where it's like maybe in year two or three we get in.

And that's what Foley said. Year three, we want to be in the playoffs. But that's a good off the plan thing when you're better quicker. And I think that made them ruthless. It was like, this team's going to be old soon. That's the other thing, right? Yeah, I don't know how it goes from here on out. Once you win, it's great.

Because I was going to say, the one thing that they've done is use draft picks as currency in a different fashion. They've not worried about drafting kids. The only first rounder they have, and they've been in the league for seven years with the draft because they had one before they play, this is their sixth season, is Pat Briseon's kid, super agent.

And he may be moved or maybe they like having the bat phone to Pat when they want to get a hold of an agent. But everyone else has been moved. And like, why wouldn't you if you look at Bill Foley's, this is your six. We have to win it. This is our goal. But even right from the start, they went and got patcher ready right away, gave up Suzuki.

They gave up to get Mark Stone. They started using those picks to get established players right off the start. If there's anything you talk about being copycat, is there maybe some of that that maybe there's a, you always want to, yeah, but is there, it's a mix, but is there a way to look at it and think, are we going to spend these draft picks on a potential superstar or potentially nothing? Or do we go out and get somebody who is in the league? We are more comfortable in what he's going to be as an NHLer and go at it that way. I just think it was their competitive window.

They were good. And it was like, okay, well, if we're good, we're moving these. If they were bad, it's like, no, no, we need these picks, right? And so when they made playoffs year one, I don't think they planned on moving all their picks, but of course it made sense of that juncture, right? well it's one year though for a jack ikel there's a lot of things of tons ikel patrangelio right stone patcher ready jack ikel and he's been critiqued and trust me the people here in this town where i'm sitting hate the fact that he just want to stand like up but the point i'm trying to

make is that jack icel shouldn't have been available for them right like that should have never do they win without jack ikel i don't no. He had to be right up there for for Conn Smyth. More than available. Like how about Vegas saying we're going to get more aggressive than 30 other teams to make sure we're the team that ends up with Ikel? That's really what separates

Vegas. They were willing to roll the dice on a guy with a surgery that I don't know that had been done before once in the NHL. I don't think many people were worried about the surgery. No, I agree. But why were there not 30 teams going bananas to try to get Jack Eichol? He's got a bad reputation. That's why. Why? Not every team can fit 10 million in. Of course, but my point being like, this was a team that did not have a lot of caps

when they made that move. They were ruthless and moved guys out to make it happen. And they believed in the culture of those misfits that they started last night, the six original guys, that this is a place we can bring Jack and it's not going to be an issue. Other teams weren't that comfortable in that. Like we can't bring this guy in. Look what's happened in Buffalo. Everything they'd set up allowed that Jack Eagel thing to happen.

It wasn't that they were sitting on cap space. That was not it at all. No, but you say this all the time when it's about making a trade or bringing a guy in. Well, who's got the cap space? Who's got the cap space? You say that all the time. Like my point is, not every team either looked at it and say, we're going to spend 10 million and assets to bring in a center when our need isn't center. There were other, like you make, there were other teams that were in on Jack Eichol.

It's not as though Vegas was clairvoyant and figured, you know, this guy might be a player. He was second overall. The flames were right into the end. there was five or six teams that were in there swinging hard for Jack Eichael. Were they swinging hard? Vegas got them. It felt like I expected more in terms of the packages that were offered. They didn't give a ton up to get them.

I mean, Alex Tuck's a good player. They get a first in Krebs. So what were the other offers? Well, I don't know, but it didn't feel like Calgary had anything close to that. Like I didn't, it was, it felt like by the end of it, it was like he's going to Vegas. It's going to happen in Vegas and no one else is really throwing up as much. Does he not have a no move, close? I think he did.

I don't think he did it at that time. I don't know. Either way, I give him credit for making that happen because 30 teams could have had Jack Eichel, but the one team found a way to make it happen. And it wasn't a team that had cap space. That wasn't how they did it. It was because they're ruthless about winning now.

It all costs. Anyway, moving on, Jack Eichol, it was one of those things when he went there, it felt like, oh, that just makes them so much better. And then they missed the playoffs. It was like, oh, maybe, wait a year. He did make them that much better. I'm with you, Redd.

He was, I think he was quietly, in a weird way. He was very good. It helped that Marsha went on an unbelievable tear and the goalie got hot and all of that. That one's got to get Marshall the puck. Like there's, I think there was a few assists there. 20 assists in the postseason for Eichol. How happy were those two playing together?

And Eichl said it post game, like I think he, without saying exactly it, acknowledged that he did a lot of growing up since arriving there and that obviously to what Red had talked about ages ago, like things had soured badly in buffalo but that that was a place that nurtured him and he suddenly listening to him last night that was a team first guy talking i didn't hear that guy talking buffalo that's hard right when when you're on the other end of that and i guess you could put calgary in that spot with kachuk here but more so on that one where it sours to a point with the team that a trade is really inevitable there's no going back and no matter how good the trade is or at the Give a time, give a time. It'll come. You just know it would have been way better if we could have worked things out and kept the guy here instead of having to trade because he's going to be, he's the best

player in the trade today. He'll probably be the best guy from the trade in years from now when you look back on it. And he's going to be good for them. That's hard when you make those deals knowing that the player you're trading away is probably going to be very good. Hall of Fame guy. Should be, right? I think we forgot how young he was too.

Like he missed a whole season when he was 24. Like that this wasn't a 29 year old that never lived up to expectations. This was one of the brightest young prospects of like a decade that it was put in one of the losingest teams in the NHL to start his career at 18. If he was a little immature and fed up with things, I think a lot of us would have ended up being that way in that environment. It was a tough place to try to be a leader when you're young and he was probably rather, you know, cocky and arrogant. because why wouldn't he be? He's, you know, on track of you're one of the best Americans

ever to play the sport. But he grew up in Vegas and that injury. He was poorly run in Buffalo at the time as well. Yeah. Both sides handled it poorly there, for sure. A couple things to get to here

because, as mentioned, hour number two, we have a guest coming in studio. More video from the shoveler, retro. Oh, dear. More video from the shoveler. She's back from the water slides. You got to,

I'm not sure where you're laying down, because I know you're fatigued, what you're snoring and all that with the sleep apnea. But now it feels like it's a game because she's just firing up the old camera. And this has become fun. It's almost a challenge for her now. If you suffer with snoring and sleep apnea, then you got to go to outdoor dental.

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So much better, better quality sleep is going to change everything in your life. You're going to feel better. The people around you're going to enjoy being around you. Just all of your life changes. And it's relaxing. It's comfortable. It's pain free.

Back to your day in minutes. Sleep apnea treatment with outdoor Dental. Outdoor. Dental is the website. Dr. J. Patel is the guy. There's very few of these. It's the Salea Laser is unbelievable. We got kind of the walkthrough to see how it works. It's crazy what they can do now, obviously. And one of those things is treat your snoring. Outdoor. Dot dental, go and see Dr. J. A consultation, set up an appointment. And before you know it, you could be sleeping and feeling just smudge much better. Smuch. Smut. much better. Let's jump to the Pinder report. It is a presentation of Village Honda. They have their

Father's Day sale event on the go now at Village Honda. A family ticket bundle for Cavalry FC with every new or pre-owned vehicle. You're going to get a family ticket bundle up until Father's Day, which I believe is this weekend. So from now until the end of the week, you go and get yourself into a new or used vehicle at Village. And you're going to be off to see Cavalry FC. You and the family. Nice little perk there. From Village Honda, your dealership for life. Here is the Pinder Report. There we are. We got it back.

Thank you. Oh, look at a proud of you. Throw back. Look at that. Boy, are you? Boys, we've seen some pretty cool drone coverage in the world of sports. Remember the fly through the Masters clubhouse at Augusta National, you know, other celebrations.

Check this out as Vegas indeed. won the 2023 Stanley Cup Championship. This is kind of cool. Flooding off the bench to swarm Aden Hill. I'm just showing this to someone 10, 20 years ago, then you're talking about Vegas and the jerseys, but just how is this camera? And hold him that's up in night.

Yeah, nine bowls. Gendonitis today. He's day and a day. It's still on. Just keep leaning on it. He's just emptying the tank. I mean, what are you saving it for? the next cup there. Let's go.

Unbelievable stuff. Here's your pick. They gathered and celebrated. It was rather anticlimactic when New Vegas was going to win this. Probably from what? The very, well, at least the first third of the game. Bill Foley diving into the front.

Face of the team in a way, right? Like I don't mean that that like, oh, look at, but we don't see and hear a lot of owners in this league, especially in this market. There he is. Right in the middle. There was George McPhee. trying to walk into the side. He's like, nope, I'm coming right in. He's got Jackal, Jack Eichael

right behind him. Six years, we want to win a cup. Checkmark. 31 other owners are like, how the hell do that? Incredible stuff. The only more incredible than winning in six years is the man, the legend, physical Phil Kessel, who was on a heater last night. Quote, it takes me back to my Toronto days. You guys said I couldn't win, and now I'm a three-time champ. Remember that. there's nothing more beautiful than Phil Kessel continuing to prove the doubters wrong. There's your stat.

The last 56 years, the Leafs have zero cups. Phil Kessel has three. And there's one more because Phil, you're not just done when you win the cup. There's still a few goals you want to achieve, at least last night, Phil had one. And to celebrate tonight, the boys. Obviously, it's going to be a fun night.

And, you know, try not to throw up. All right, good luck with that. And congratulations. Thank you. Can you not, how do you not love Phil? It's awesome. You literally came back to Toronto and filled the cup with hot dogs. That's like one of the greatest bleep you, but funny, amazing.

And then you hear the Verstieg stories like the guy is one of a kind, Iron Man. And he played three games in the Winnipe. series and then didn't get back in, but helped them get there. I guess so. I played a bunch of the regular season, right? Incredible stuff. A little lesson there for Toronto Maple Leaf. Tree, are you listening? Bring back I. Bring Phil. Or bring

Eiffle. Is that what you're saying? Careful what you move. Ah, yeah. Careful. Okay, what else do we know? It wasn't good news on the injury front for Florida. Was it a fractured sternum? No. Ow! Sternum for Kachuk. Sternum. Oh. And Aaron neckplad, here's a grocery list of things you don't want to have happened to you. Broken

foot in the Boston series, two separated shoulders or separate shoulder dislocations torn oblique. Tourne obliq, baseball players are like, see you in a month or two. Oh my God. Get out! Is that in the thing here? Is that the oblique? Where's your obliques? Yeah, that's exactly.

Somewhere. Twist this area here. And you mentioned Goudis was not right. ever mind the huge collision came back. Missed a period. Other NHL news, the Cupsman handed out. Let's turn our attention to the offseason and it's been musical chairs. Let us, Jason Spetsa back with his boy, Kyle Dubas.

He famously resigned moments after it was announced that Dubas would not be back in Toronto. So no surprise here. He's AGM and Pitt. Stand with his boy. He's going to report to Dubus. And they still have to hire a GM because he's the president of hockey ops. There it is again. Quick, quick ascension to the.

the AGM spot. How long has you been out of the game? One year? Is it just five? Yeah. So this will be a second season. And he goes from special assistant to Dubus to AGM in Pittsburgh. Yeah.

It's good work if you can get it. Not bad at all. Let's go to, uh, well, the NBA championship wrapped up a few nights ago and we're still basking in, we talk about how amazing Phil is. Yokic also amazing, but in a different way. He was told that the parade was on Thursday and he was just like, oh. I need to go home. I can't Thursday.

I have to leave Friday. It broke him. He wants to go back to Serbia, Rhett, and you'd understand why. He's been doubted. He's been critiqued. They love him at home. And no one likes their job.

Come on now. So here's him on the doubters. They called him fat boy. First pick in the draft. A Taco Bell commercial was running when your pick was announced. What do you think of that now? They believe in a fat boy. and it seems like it worked out.

Yeah, don't bet against the fat boy. Maybe that's the common thread with him and Phil. Don't bet against the fat boy. That's what I keep saying. I'm a fat boy. Just give me a chance. A fat boy. What's waiting for him at home?

What's in Serbia? You've been to Serbia, Dean? It's been a while. Yeah. Belgrade? Yeah. Grave. Delicious.

Here's what's waiting for him at home. Bit of a big deal. This is the largest tower in the whole country. It's got little digital things all over it. And it's just him on the tower around the clock. I understand why he wants to go home. I get it. Denver's lovely.

I've been here eight months. Let me go home. I'm speaking my third language here all day. I'm getting sick of it. Then that's him spinning the globe on his finger. And he got the feeling he's not going home to get all tore up with his buddies. No. It's to go into some acreage somewhere and just.

turn the phone off. He wants to go to a ranch and like talk to his horses or something, right? Yeah. It's not good for him. Good for him indeed. Yeah. It's become very popular. I can't be bothered to shake the champagne.

Yeah. We won. We can go home now, right? Oakland. They were protesting last night, fellas. We know the A's are moving to Vegas. They got approval at one level of government. And now is going to get voted on in the state of Nevada for partial funding for their

baseball stadium. It was a reverse protest in Oakland because no one's showing up. That's normal in Oakland. That's not a protest. That's just a day that ends in why. So what they did yesterday was they showed up in droves. I think it were 27,000 people. And then in the fifth inning, they started chanting sell the team,

which if you followed this saga, the owner's been a total richer. The fans love this team. He spent almost nothing on the roster year after year after year. And really is just ripping the hearts out of the local sports fans. They want to support this team, Rhett. Possums in the press box. The idea being that's going to move. It's a matter what.

All right, folks. Team won five in a row. Seven. So it seven? Last night, seven. They did it again. They swept the raise. Unbelievable.

Thank you for that. Yeah, at least saying. Now. Ty. That is a baseball. Thank you, R.J. It's getting better at this stuff. large i see it working now denver winning the NBA final was great for almost everyone if you were

betting on the nuggets i'm going to explain why betting on the nuggets to win didn't work let's have a look at this bet someone made uh our boy jack found this so the chiefs to win the super bowl ding uh uh ukon to win the men's tournament ding and denver to win oh my gosh that's going to be huge oh no you cashed out for 125 dollars instead of the 70s 1,000 you would have made. Shoot. Yeah. So you go and lay out a parley like that.

What was his in? What did he pay? 25 bucks and he cashed out at 125. And it could have been 71K. Needed a pizza. Oh. Needed to fill up his car. Yeah.

It's like I hope you enjoyed your two rounds of drinks at the bar. That was worth it. Instead of, you know, a house. Not in Calgary. place in the stance. Okay, we'll move along. Game Day tonight. It is the Calgary Surge at home.

Three games this week. Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. They got the Vancouver Bandits. Almost a fight last time these two teams played. A couple of these fellas don't like each other. Bandits, I think the only team that had beat Calgary, if I'm correct, rematch tonight, a win sport at seven.

RJ and Jack are coming. Let's go. Do they have to wear those like belloclavas? Yeah, the Zorro thing with the eye holes. because they're bandits, you know. I feel like that would be really getting into it. And if they could win while doing that, maybe give them two rings.

They have those masks for cardio, right? Where it kind of, you work out with the breathing mask so it's harder for you to breathe, that sort of deal. Yeah, I don't like that as an idea. Right. You seen those, right?

I asked for one for Father's Day. Yeah. I have a hard enough time breathing. Get the Darth Vader mask going when you're working out. It's not hard enough to work out. just about done with this whole breathing thing. Waring me out. Here's some fun ones to wrap things up.

Now, we're a little bit different in age, but not that far off, fellas. You guys are born 70s, I'm 81. Okay, fuck, move on. What have you got here? Boy, you're in lovely spirits today. Yeah, well, it's weird. Trying to tease the clip because when I was in high school, we had those computer.

A couple years ago when you were in high school. Yeah, I said, 1991. I was said, 1999 I graduate dean, a long time ago. I'm going to log off. Thank you. The calculators we had. You're driving a Mercedes-Benz. Right.

Yeah. Prick. Did you have the calculators that have little games on? Like Snake? No. Oh, yeah. Snake was good. See, there we are.

So check this out. This is one of the best Twitter accounts that I've seen a national park. Look at this. There's snake. Don't run into yourself or you'll die. I don't like snakes. There's altogether too many videos out there with snakes right now. Yeah.

I'm with you, James. There was another one that came through where the damn things coming out of the ceiling fan again. There was one. That one was nuts. It was like this anaconda in a little stream. It's like, Jesus. Yeah, you wouldn't do well in Australia. Ozzy Brad's not even worried about this guy.

No? No. Ozzy Brad. Did I mention Ozzy Brad? You did. Brad, we got Ozzy Brad. He's fired up. Let's go.

That's our boy. He hates snakes. He loves snakes. He's an Aussie. He doesn't give a crap about snakes. It's like, shoo, shoe, who cares? Ozzy Brad checked in. Let's go see.

What do you got? This is very excited about all the changes. Boom, boom. Pinda, retro. Man Kay, boys, life on. Fucking good day for the fellas today. The toe ball, husdog, is the fucking coach. How good dad?

I know it's a fucking, fucking, uh, tough gig for fucking lovey. But, look, Musk, Mastark will get back into it somewhere else, boys. Now, boom, boom, boom, I love it. I'm fucking telling you, fellas. Boom, boom's on the fucking. and right path. Glass is an all boom. Retro, he's the man for the fucking D. I reckon we need Jerome in there too. I reckon forward coach Jerome, defensive coach, retro. Now,

if there's any issues, we get them in the middle, shirts off, retro, iggy, wrestle it out, boys, figure out who's going to sort the boys out there. Defense, offense, whatever fucking comes out with him. But I'll get your back retro for sure. Now if you did any help, I'll fly over from down here in Melbourne. We'll get Pinder and Boobo Boob over there. And they're having a bit of a fucking tough run. We get them out of the piss. We get them out, having a good time.

And I reckon we'll straighten these fucking pricks out, mate. Boom, Boobin. Love the fucking glasses, mate. I'm on the ice cream sandwiches. You keep punching boom. Okay, punch her. Love it. It's a lot.

Love it. And you get a lot. Yeah, it is a lot. It's like watching a West Anderson movie. The more you see it, the more you get it. You only get about a third, the first watch. And then that's my third time. And I've got a lot.

it all that time. Shirts off, Retro. Get you out there, straighten them out. You'll run the D. Iggy runs the forwards. But I say I had to fight at wrestle. Iggy, that's never good. If you're fighting with Iggy, you got to wrestle them. If there's something, you got to figure it out, get your shirts off. Shirts off, wrestling. And have at it.

And then if there's any infighting, we're on the piss, we started it. And Lovey, don't worry about it. Don't worry about Lovey. You'll be fine. We'll find a spot for the muzzle. That's right. Ozzy Brad, again. in Hall of Famer. First ballot hall of fame. And did you see our boy or Jake? We go back to me. Look at the graphic he made for it.

I saw that. Yeah, yeah. Might have taken eight hours and shaved off a year of his life. But look at the graphic we have for Ozzie Bradna. Anytime he sends us a vid from Melbourne. I was, you know, I meant to bring it up the other day. I wondered how this was all going over with Ozzy Brad, the hiring of the coach and that. Well, there you go.

I said it to, uh, look at that. Isn't that beautiful? That's perfect. Unreal. We can do all of it. I said to Jack. the other day. I said, watch this. I'm going to send him one word and we'll get a video tomorrow. Now, is that the first Aussie Brad contribution without a C-bomb in it?

It is. And it's daytime. He's not into the sauce as heavy. If we look at the video, it's not at night. It's daytime. He isn't mentioning trigger. He's not on the sauce as much. He wasn't high as a kite and no C-bombes. So versatile, but still brings it. Text him, Huska. Mark of a champion right there. Get a video the next day. Love it. Finally, great news. We have an official drink sponsor for Bologna Fest, which, you know, we're going to work on with Greg from Bontown. When Rhett's backward in Bologna, here's your official beverage, halapino bologna, meat,

Seltzer. Delicious. Can't wait. Who's going first of that? My goodness. What do you mix that with? Yeah. Just shots.

I would think if you've got that jalapino vodka, that would pair it lovely. just, no. I'm not sure Oscar Meyer's going to have the next big sports drink. That ain't a sport drink. Oh, they sold for $5 billion. Bologna Fest. Not sure that's the winner. That's your PIN report today, fellas.

There you go. Father's Day sales event continues at Village Honda. Family ticket bundle for Cavalry FC with every newer used pre-owned vehicle that's sold between now and the weekend. It is Father's Day coming up. Take Dad to see Cavalry FC. get yourself into a new vehicle as well, all at Village Honda,

located in the Northwest Auto Mall, your dealership for life. For life. Just looking at the old Sked here for the fellas. You got, uh, look at this. In Halifax this weekend. And then next weekend back at home to face York,

stinking York, beat them a couple weeks ago. That's right. Stinking York. Do they hate York too? Yeah, well, Martin Nash, Steve Nash's brother, he left cavalry as an assistant to go run York.

Oh, geez. Son of them. Son of them. I can't trust these guys. Metro. Retro. What? So now, today's Wednesday.

Pinder is away tomorrow. You are making a commute next week, I believe. I'm just kind of mapping things out. What are we looking at for the retro availability here over the next week, 10 days? Have you got a plan? I know you don't plan. You said you didn't want to leave Father's Day. That's Sunday.

Could you be on the road Monday? I could be on the road Monday or Tuesday. And I'm planning on making it a short trip. So as fast as possible. You were mulling it over. And I do like the whole, we'll take our time, but it's also like we can't do four days in a car.

Like there's both sides of that, right? Exactly. That's the other thing. So I think what I'm going to do is send children because it's only two of them. I'm going to send them on a flight by themselves and have them picked up by grandma and grandpa, maybe in Saskia too.

Nice. And then, I'd tail it myself. You and the shoveler? No, the shoveler and the other guy will go. Shoveler staying with the big galute. She still got hockey or what's going on there?

Baseball wrestling? What's the glute? He's got a big state hockey camp into the months. There you go. Yeah. Well, yeah. It sounds like one of those things. Hey, you know what?

Why don't we just make it a leisurely trip? We're in no rush. Yeah. Stop here and maybe go there. And then you start doing it. I am done with driving. I'm sick of all you people in this car. I have to get home now.

I don't need another night checking into a different hotel. I don't need another night at the Lakinta on some pull-out pack. Yeah. Plus five kids. They won't even let you. You need two rooms. Yes. So if you're going by yourself, how many hours a day can you drive?

This is kind of the... I don't know. That's what I'm wondering. Yeah. Because you said he used to drive down to four. Florida? No, I didn't. No, no, no, no. Is it Buffalo you drove to? You want me to fly out, I'll drive back

with you? Oh my God, bring mics. Road trip. Roadies, some roadies. Don't you have to go somewhere and do something next week? A few things. Yeah, there's lots on the go. Meetings and tournaments and meetings, other meetings. I'm thinking 14 is a

max for driving in a day. I think you're pushing your luck any longer. I almost made it think it was like 22 hours and then I was like I'm going to go into the ditch. Yeah. I'm not, do this anymore. And that was like in peak Pender can stay awake for days at a time age like mid 20s,

driving back from California to Calgary. It was almost died in Montana a lot on that drive. Also much like boom, my eyes are horseshit. So night comes around. Luckily the sun's up late because summer's coming. But it's, uh, yeah.

You can be driving on the solstice. Why this day? Brightest day to drive. That's what I should shoot to be back for. Oh, God, that would great. So your eyes are horseship, but how are your, how are your ears? They're going too. I got some sort of knocking in my ears.

Walking. Usually that's something that's under the hood, not between the ears. That's not ideal. Yeah, I'll take you to the hearing loss clinic. I'm going to Roadsie and had it's like, yeah, we got to, I'm not sure. There's a bit of a knocking going on in there. That's not good, right? We'll get you in.

Hearing loss clinic. loss.ca, there you see the website. Four locations in Calgary. They have nine and all, five others in British Columbia, Cranbrook, Creston, Fernie, Golden, and Invermere. It's a long list of people, dignitaries, celebrities who have gone to the hearing loss clinic and have had their lives changed because of it in a good way. Men and women of all ages, of course, children suffer from hearing loss. There can be serious health risks that are linked to untreated hearing loss. I learned a lot about that when I was there last week. Get in touch, get an assessment, get it done today.

Hearingloss.ca. Book yourself in, change your life for the better, and do it today. My old man got an upgrade on it and the old thing. Oh, I'm hearing great now. This is unbelievable. Yeah. Can't curse around the old man anymore. Careful.

Is that how it works? He's not into the swears? No, he is, but there's, you know, it's just, you know, you can get away with. It's all of a sudden. his diameter is increased. The sphere is larger what he can hear. Yeah, I'll get into it.

I am accused of having bad hearing. Is it selective, though? It's like this morning, I'm brushing my teeth, electric toothbrush. And then in the other room, my wife's talking to me is, I can't hear you because you're over there and I've got me going in my frigging mouth hole.

It's not your fault. It's not my fault. No. get it around six yeah okay yes fine just tell her it's father's day this weekend yippin at me

ray of sunshine dean let's do some uh some betway and get ready for hour two why wouldn't we do it why wouldn't you do it betway get the betway app on your phone play along no more hockey you got to get got it now pivot got to pivot into some baseball into some summer sports

uh on the betway today I'll start us off. Do it a little ball, Miami at Seattle. The, so I was like, eight and two in their last 10 is Miami. Seattle on a bit of a slide. They've won just three of their last 10. Uri Perez, I believe, is the,

the young guy pitching for Miami. Prospect. Very good pitcher. I'm getting plus money on a money line win. I'm taking at plus 160. And then on the other. side. Did you know that the Arizona diamondbacks? They're on here. They're leading the west.

The hell's going on? I didn't think they're supposed to be good. I didn't either. They've won five in a row. Merrill Kelly has won seven straight starts. I think it is. Plus 140 for a win. Taking it. Merrill Kelly, get it done, sir. Plus 140. Those are my bet. We bet. Some deep, deep MLB picks, Dino. That is exhaustive research. I'm impressed. Yeah, thanks. Very good. Merrill, uh, Maryland perera, uh, press. My I'm going to Blue Jays. There is some hockey left, but I'll save it for tomorrow. HL final,

almost wrapped. We'll get to that tomorrow. But for baseball tonight, Toronto's in Baltimore, they got thumped last night, Chris Bassett, taken to the woodshed tonight, Jose Burrios. I don't know if the Jay's is going to win this thing, but I know there's always fireworks when it's the O's and the Js. I'm going to take the over nine and a half at plus money. And Burrios, four and a half Ks, that's a pretty small number. It's been better command this year. strikeout totals are up. I'll take that for even money. Why not?

Happy with Burrios as a Jay? Better bounce back this year. No good last year. Just remember at the time of that deal. He's a hard two, maybe an ace. Wow. This is good stuff. Locked him in, that new contract.

Yeah. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a break when we come back. Now, a little break, you know, a few minutes. Like, Rhett, what did you do? What do you go and, you know, what were you going to do for the break? What are you going to do between? I can't remember.

Yeah, so go Housekeeping errands Make grandma another sandwich Wheeler on up to the TV Up to the YouTube Have yourself a little bathroom break Because when we come back We're going to have the new head coach

Of the Calgary Flames here with us In the Tower Chrysler Studios In Huska Husk In studio Sometimes good guys do finish first I guess so That's coming up stay there

Quick break Back with more Back with Barnburner As we continue Here on a On a rainy kind of a Wednesday day, but every day is a good day, I think, for our next guest. It's been a good little run here.

He is the new head coach of the Calgary Flames joining us here inside the Tower, Chrysor Studios. Ryan Huska, man, life's good. I was watching the press conference the other day, and it's between you and Connie. It was a lot of teeth, lots of smiles, hard to kind of keep it. I think it's great that there's not that need to feel like, well, I can't let, emotion out here. And I have to, this is business, so we can't let on that we're excited or happy.

I think that there's some kind of nice vulnerability in seeing how happy you would, Greg, both have been over the last few weeks to get your jobs. Yeah, and I think that's, that's me and that's Connie. I mean, I don't see why you should have to change who you are because you're in a role that you've always dreamed up. To me,

that's exciting. And it's going to make me smile. I think it would make most people smile. So I'm just thrilled with that opportunity to be in this role now and have a chance to work with Connie and his staff for every day now. It's going to be awesome. Yeah. I was going through some stuff last night, and I just have it written down here to kind of

stay away from Saskatoon, Cam Loops, Game Sevens. It didn't go well for one team. It went really well retro for another team. Can I blame the goalie? Come on, Miracle. Stop the puck. Is it 8-1? Geez.

There's a lot of taking care of business. Oh, is that the song? A lot of it. A lot of it. of it. All we heard stories that he maybe didn't want to come back to Camloops for the game seven. So he wasn't too interested in coming was the rumor on the street. So we felt if we can get one early, it might be over. So it ended up the right way for us. Maybe not so good for retro. Crazy. And we'll kind of go, we'll go all over all of it. But it's just at we're about the same

age and retro day. I just love those days of the Western hockey league and just how good you guys were. in Kamloops for a stretch there. The one team, I know London's had some good teams and it's up for debate, but for the longest time, there was no debate. You guys were the best team in junior hockey that had ever been assembled, Darcy Tucker, and then in comes Ginnla and Donne. Bob Brown, the general, I don't know how. Crystal Ball, don't know how it happened,

but you are there for four years, Mem Cups in three of them, just a remarkable run. looking back special never to be recreated no i don't think it will i remember the last year i think it was the hockey news came out and said this would be one of the better teams in the american league at the time and we were a bunch of kids um and when you hear those things you're all pumped for sure and excited but uh i don't know how bob did it when we went to the western league my age was the last age when it was a list um where teams could put you on their list for one spot if you're an underager, it was two spots and he had 50 spots.

So Camelow's had bird dogs everywhere and as soon as they saw a good player, bang, we put him on the list. And they got Scott Niedermeyer that way. And I feel like they probably had to give up like four spots to put him on because they probably listed him when he was 10. Yeah. But they were able to do that. And then when they got into the draft, they had so many people out there bird dogging or

watching around that I think they had a real good handle on who all the good players were. So in the draft, once it started, they pick some really good players. and then they brought guys like Jerome into play and Shane. And once the team got put together and Tom Rennie initially and then Don Hay, Don Hay taught the group how to work and play. It was a lot of fun. And the only time really we ever lost games is when we didn't play well.

You were no fun for other teams. We didn't see a lot, which was nice. I was in Brandon at the time, but then in the Memorial Cup we saw you. But you would go in and just thrash teams and love doing it. We did love doing it for sure. I hear all the time about that stupid song. Every, like, buddies that you have now that you played against, they're like, I hate their frigging song.

I don't ever want to hear that taking care of business again because it played so much. But that's how we were pushed. It's like, it doesn't matter if you're up, you're going to be up further. So don't ever take your foot off the gas. So that's the way we were taught. And we had the type of players that could put games out of reach. And they wanted us to play that hard all the time. It was the Chelsea dagger before Chelsea dagger.

It really was. Yeah, it was the Chelsea dagger in Chicago back then. I think it was the 95 year. I got looking, you had 67 points and 66 games. So over a point per game, eighth in team scoring. Yeah, I was over a point per game because my right winger was Shane Done. So all I would do is throw it over to his side and he would do the rest. Tyson Nash was on the other side.

And it was the same thing for both he and I. We weren't good players, really when it came down to some of the quality that we had on our team. So we would just throw it over to the right side where Shane would go up and down his wing and he'd score. And then we'd get our assists off of that. we joke a lot about that still. Retro, do you remember what, like, what's the game plan? When you're getting ready to play this Blazers team,

which you knew then, they've got a lot of really good players that are going to play in the NHL. And you look back, yeah, they did. What was the game plan as, as a... We had a good team, but I, and I don't, I love Lauren Mulligan. He was a phenomenal coach for me.

But he was certainly not an X's and O's. And my partner, D, partner, Chad Allen, we still joke about it when we, we get together. Campbell's would dump it in and they'd get on the forecheck and they'd bang you and crash you. And our, it was, it was so old school. Rim it harder. Was the advice.

And we didn't ever try to make a pass. And I think Don Hay may have picked up on that. Remit harder, boys. Some power forward was there. Like, did they look like in junior even more terrifying than they did as pros? Because Don and Iggy, like, you're not winning puck battles against those guys against the best. Never mind Junior. Yeah, when Donor was the same size as 16 year old.

Like, honestly, he was huge. And him and Iggy, they were the most competitive guys. And because they were both highly rated players, I think it made that competition even more, more so. They loved each other and they're still best of buds. But anything they could compete at, anything, they would do it, whether it's a wrestling match. They would wrestle all the time on the bus in their houses, carrying bags down the hall in the old Sandman Center in Kamloops, like who could put the most bags on them and get it to the bus. They were up to like 17 bags. Like guys would just put them over their heads and it was goofy,

but it's what you do at a young age. But going back to the stories about what Rhett said, I worked in Colonna my coaching career. One of the years we were playing Tacoma in the first round in the playoffs and Tacoma sent their head scout Lauren Frye to one. watch us play to get a pre-scout and bring it back to the guys in Tacoma. And Lauren told us years later, they asked him, Lorney, how do we beat this team? And Lorney's response was, good look. Yeah. And that was it. And that's, that's kind of the types of teams we had that, you know,

when people saw us play, they knew they were in for one. And Darcy Tucker was, I just remember seeing Tucker in your team. And then when he got to the NHL turned into kind of this, you know, this dirt ball, this ball of muck. Was he that in junior? because it looked to me like he was more just kind of a almost a finesse high end kind of guy. Yeah, no, he was that way. He was that way for sure. He was always and people hated him on the ice all the time. Like he was constantly, people were having to fight for him because he would stir the pot.

And I'm sure Rhett remembers that whenever we would play. Like he was that type of guy where he wanted to grab him, just knock him right out. But he was such a good player that you had to be careful with that because he put us in the power play. He's going to score. And I think he ended up with like 165 points or something his last year of junior. He's a really good player, but a very smart player, understands how he had to play at the next level to get there. And he really turned himself into what he became

because of how smart he was up top. And Tyson Nash was the same way. And I tell Tyson all the time, like not a very good player, but he wanted to play in the NHL. So we realized I got to be an agitator and just a rat to play against. And he went on to have a number of years in the NHL. I can only imagine, because I've got teenage boys myself,

And teenage boys are dumb to begin with. But then if you give them a little bit of swag or if they're a little bit cocky, you just cannot take them. Were you that crew as well? Like you say, we're going to win by nine? Why not 10? Were you guys,

did you have that kind of cocky, dumb teenage swagger to go with it? Looking back at it, I would probably say, yeah, we did. We knew we were good. But I think that's what allowed us to be good. I would say,

and it was probably the same in Saskatoon. There was a fight and practice every week. every week because guys would go at each other hard. And that swagger, that cockiness is there, someone would get mad and there's a fight. Hazer would love it and break it up quick and then go on with practice. But it was a regular occurrence. Of course, you don't see nowadays. But there was a swagger to our group for sure.

You mentioned Tom Rennie. He leaves and then Don Hay comes in. Obviously, Flames fans will be familiar with Don Hay. As a coach now, looking through your player lens and your coach lens, Why didn't it work for Don Hay in the NHL like it did in junior? I don't have an answer to that. I had a chance years later to work with Don at a World Junior Championship. He was the head coach of one of the Canadian teams that I was working on.

And I thought he was awesome. I thought he did a great job. And he had changed from when I was a player that played for him. So I felt like he was changing with the game at that time. So I don't really know why. whether it was, you know, wrong spot at the wrong time or whatever the case may be. But he, for younger players, he did a lot of great things for us and getting us to understand how the game needed to be played. So I'm not sure because I, you know, I wasn't around to see

how he was when he was up here, when he was in Arizona at the time. There's some lean years here as well. I don't feel like that's a roster. Why didn't you want to go? Yeah. Yeah. It's we were talking about the young guns yesterday. I think it was. Yeah, it's not the, not the highlight in franchise history, for sure. So you go four years in junior three. What happened the one year? You couldn't, only three Memorial Cup championships?

You win the first year and you have to take one off. You think that's the pinnacle. We're good. We've got our championship. There's turnover, of course. And they were really building for the year, the third Memorial Cup that I won. That's what they were building for. We weren't supposed to win the second one.

Portland had the team that was really good that year. but we were able to knock them off and find our way through. I laughed the one year. And the Blazers getting returns from NHL training camps, Scott Niedermeyer and Daryl Sodor have been handed back to the Blazers from NHL camps. That's not terrible. Good news day. Yeah, probably a good news day.

Anyway, we can move on. So Junior's great. Pro career, the winning stops a little bit. The taps turned off a little bit. What was that transition for you like? Well, different for sure. I mean, when you're brought up winning and playing long all the time, you almost expect it to continue that that's just the way it works.

So it's happened so easily before. And then you turn the page to pro and there's a lot of different dynamics that come into play. And especially in the American League or IHL where I played in, the IHL became a league that was full of older players that were making big money that weren't quite NHL players at that time or could have still been, but they were getting paid a lot more. in some of these great cities that were in the IHL. Our team was a younger team.

And we got pounded some nights by these older skilled players and skilled teams. So it was hard for us to get ourselves in that situation. And then all of a sudden, they tried to bring in some higher priced players to help us out and allow us to be a little bit more competitive. But the difference between winning and losing becomes, you know, it gets a little bit closer. It's not as easy to win as it wasn't junior, I think, because of the pair of of all the players you're playing with. And you factor in the call-ups, the ups and downs, the injuries,

the higher-priced guys and other teams that are really going for it, it's harder, much harder to win. We've talked with Red and we've had guys on, and we talked about the end of their career. And it's usually the guys that are into their early 30s, mid-30s, things are starting to, you know, that's kind of that, how that goes. What was it for you? Because it was not age, you had, what, five years, I think,

of a playing career after junior. and then hard decision, how did it come about to decide that we need chapter, the next chapter to begin at some point. You know what I did? My parents were a little iffy on me going to the Western League because they wanted me to go to school. So he was always, my dad was always stressed about, I don't want you kicking around in the United Hockey League or forever. I need you to have a career.

So he was always a little bit skeptical of letting me go there. But that's where I wanted to go. So they supported that decision. but he made a deal with me that if this works out and you end up playing pro for a while, if you're still playing pro but not the NHL by 25, you'd pack it in and go back to school. So my 25 year came and I had shoulder surgery and I wasn't able to play to start the year and the offers that were coming in for me weren't great.

So I decided, okay, I'm going to hold my end of the bargain up and I'm going to go back to school. So I went and got a business degree with a major in finance and I was going to take over the financial world. Was that as easy as you're making it sound, though? Because that's been your life for a long time now. No, it wasn't. But I also think you get to that point where you realize, okay, I'm not a good enough player. And do I really want to chase it in, and no disrespect to some of the East Coast, East Coast cities?

I haven't played at that level yet. And do I really want to chase it knowing I'm not going to get to where I want to be? 500 bucks every two weeks? Oh, you know? So I made that decision at the time. going to go back to school. And it turned out maybe to be the best decision I ever made. So you go to school, you get the degree. There's that two year, you're done hockey and then you are going to get into coaching. How does that two year, because you got to focus on your school,

but you're still hockey in the background. You do end up on a Western League bench. Walk us through that two year period. Well, I was taking six classes because I wanted to get through it as quick as I could. So I took six classes a semester. So I was busy at that time. And I also wanted to try to get in with RBC or one of those firms. So I worked like two days a week there. And then there was an opening for a part-time guy with the rockets that came available. So I thought, well, maybe it'll be fun for me to at least at nighttime, stay around the game a little bit and go to the rink and be a part of it still. And once I went back, I was like, who I spent a lot more time at the rink that I was anticipating. Mark Habshyde was the coach there at that time,

and I really enjoyed being around and starting to learn a different side of the game. And yes, I was married, and we had our first daughter, small, young child, and I felt like I was never at home because it was either at school, or I was at RBC, or I was at the rink. So it brings the competition and the love for the game back.

Those two years that I was part-time, full-time, if you want to call it that, it brings the love back. And then people moved on. got a promotion. He moved on. The assistant coach moved up. And I was offered an opportunity to move to the full-time assistant role. At the same time, I was offered by an advisor to join her team. But what she was going to pay me at the time, I looked at it and I was like, I had, I got like a six-month old year. No chance can I take that? So I took the full-time assistant coaching job, and I have loved it ever since. Yeah. So what was that part-time job? What were you doing?

I was going to be an associate advisor. It's like a broker? Yeah. Yeah. So the lady I was working for, she's an unbelievable person. I loved every minute of my time there. And I really enjoy the financial side of the stock market investments and financial planning. All that stuff's fun.

And it's something I still, as a hobby, to get away, you know, for 20 minutes at a time. I like to, I like to still look at it. And she was a great teacher of everything finance for me. So the decision was hard, but at the end of the day, it wasn't. So you don't need a cap guy now. You've got that all. Tell Connie not to work on, Connor, not to worry about it. You've got it all figured up.

That cap stuff's a little bit above my favorite. Is it a little bit? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe so. So you get to Colonna with Mark Habshide and then the winning starts again. Was that easier to say to that? Hey, dad, look, I'm a winner.

This hockey thing. All I do is win here. You got to understand. But it really was. You got back to the Western League and things picked up again. Yeah, right to Quebec City for a Memorial Cup. away. So I've been now really five years in the Western League, including the one coaching. It's been four Memorial Cups. So it's almost like, okay, this junior hockey. There's nothing to

this. And then the year after, we hosted in Colonna and the team won. So it was five Memorial Cups in six years. So it was, it was special. And then we continued to get ourselves in positions where we were at Memorial Cups. The last one was in 2009 in Ramuski, where I still, It still bothers me to this day how that one ended. But lucky, I feel really fortunate. Again, it's good organizations. If you are part of good organizations, you're going to get opportunities, whether it's to advance or whether it's to win or whatever you're looking to do.

And I'm lucky that I was a part of Caloops, Colonna, as coaching and now the flames. So I'd moved from Brandon, where you guys were kicking the shit out of the Wheat Kings. I was now in Red Deer with Duncan Keith and Shea Weber and Josh George is on the blue. It's not fair. How the hell does this happen? I just remember watching Duncan Keith. I remember Brent Suttery's like, this Duncan Keith kid is, this guy is unbelievable. He came back from Michigan State, right?

The one year is it 20, I think, or 19? It's clunked into an already very good Colona Rockets team. He early on his tenure there, and Mark was, he was very strict on some of the things he liked the guys to do and what he didn't like to do. And Duncan was so skilled, he can do whatever he wanted to do. He loved throwing backhand passes across the blue line to his partner, like sauce. and it used to drive Mark crazy. But he did it all the time.

And it was on the tape, over sticks, on the tape. Like, he was that good of a player. But it used to drive Mark crazy. I used to laugh. Yeah. So it's Habshy. And then Jeff Truitt, the other assistant, he takes over. You're very much in the mix now.

It's all encompassing. You're a coach. Has that, have you now switched fully that I've got this, you know, RBC is going to have to wait. This could be a career for me now? Or was this just kind of, I'm really loving this. I'm going to just see. where it goes. It started I'm really loving it. I'm going to see where it goes. But after,

you know, being a little bit more full time after I think it was my third year, I'm like, you know what, I'd like to actually see where this goes. Um, you know, so I think it's the passion that you have for it and the fun that the game brings at that time, but then you do kind of realize I'm at the point now where you have to make a decision because I'm pushing 30 years old. Do I want to coach full time? Is this something that I want to, I want to try to chase down? Um, and right from day one. My wife was like, if you want to do it, we're in with you. So let's, let's go. So then you commit full time and you put yourself totally into it. Five years assistant. And I think to that point, if it's not Colonna, it's a harder decision, right? And that's, but there's, but there's a few

spots in the Western League where the decision's a lot easier. There's some where it's tougher, but with how you had been treated and how the Hamilton's ran that, that thing, that makes a lot easier. But to jump in there also what you said, Ryan, about your wife. I think that it's underestimated for coaches because of the time commitment you have to put in. That stamp of approval is almost, it's imperative. It's hard. I don't know.

You probably don't make the same decision without it. No, you don't. And I mean, the reality of it is if they're not with you, you don't get the opportunities. And if you decide to go about it on your own, then you lose your family. And that's sometimes where, where, hey, it happens and marriages and people split up. I mean, it happens in every avenue of work.

But for me, that wasn't part of the equation. If they weren't a part of it with me, I wasn't going to do it. So she was awesome with that. And then when the kids eventually come along and when they get a little older, it gets tougher with the moves. But they were right with us as well, which would made it all that much sweeter for us the other day. I wanted to ask with a family,

but before we get there, You're a head coach and Michael Backland gets airlifted in for one season of junior. I remember living in Penticto at the time of coming up and watching. What do you remember about young Michael, a first rounder and a guy that had come from Europe to you and then is kind of expected to make the big clubber to go to the A? Yeah, I'll tell you one funny story about Michael that I've never forgotten first and then I'll get into what was so great about him. But it was maybe a month into his time with us, maybe, maybe three weeks. And his mom was coming over to visit. and I got a phone call from him in the morning.

And it was a game day. He's like, I have a sore throat. I'm not going to come in. And I said, no, no, you're going to come in. So he shows up at the rink with his sore throat and went to see the trainer. And the trainer was like, yeah, if sore throat, expecting to be sent home and no, no, you're on the ice and you're going to play tonight. And then I saw his mom after the game and she's like in Sweden, he doesn't play. like that's something that doesn't go on.

So for me, that's one thing that always stood out in my head is, I have a sore throat. I'm not going to go tonight. And just goes to show you the difference in how people are brought up and the way hockey is and expectations here to expectations over there. But it's something I've never forgotten. But he was the ultimate pro, even at a young age, like very detailed, very organized.

He and Jamie Ben kind of hit it off right away. So they made for quite the interesting pair. And every day he came to the rink, you kind of realized the type of player he was where he just kind of controlled the ice both sides with and without the puck. So we were lucky to have them for both that three month period that we did have them. And that was the Ramoski year your talk. So what was it? Because I remember Michael didn't have a good playoff or at least a good Memorial Cup. What is it specifically aside from not winning because you lose to what Taylor Hall and Windsor that year?

Well, the issue, we won our first two games. after the second game, we had already got the buy to the final. So we knew we were in, and Windsor had lost their first two games, and we played them in the third game of the Round Robin. So if we beat them, they're out. And I think that game, we lost two to one. We weren't great in that game. We weren't terrible, but we gave them a second opportunity. And then our team had like five days off or whatever it was before that final.

And because we lost to Windsor in that game, we knocked one of the Quebec League teams out. and the Quebec radio and people turned on us. So we had our host one day. I remember it clear his day in his accent. He said, Mr. Huska, I just want to warn you when you guys go to the rink today for this game, the people are going to be against you. And I'm like, oh, it's all good. What are you talking about?

And as soon as we stepped on the ice, the booze for our team were like off the charts. So even the players like, what is going on here? But people actually thought we lost that game on purpose to knock one of the Quebec teams out. So, and looking back at it, with that time off, I would have done a lot of things differently. I mean, you have connections as a coach with different guys that you look up to. And Ken Hitchcock was one guy that I would call for advice. It's the Camloops connection again there. And afterwards, we were talking about it.

He's like, I wanted to call you, like, during that tournament after you guys lost that game, just to make sure you were doing certain things. And I kind of wish you would have because afterwards you talk about it. Hitch's ideas were about you're going to shake the tree. Like you switch your roommates up. Whatever you have to do, you got to make for these next three or four days a little bit uncomfortable on them. So they're not getting set and just kind of we're here for a holiday. And looking back as a young coach of now I would never do what I did.

I mean, it became a little bit of a holiday for us there. And we were trying to give the kids the experience that we wanted in hindsight. We should have been, you know, creating some different things for them to do and think about. and keep them focused on what we were there for. And then when we got into that final game, we got pounded. They scored early on us and we weren't able to recover. So it's just one where we felt we let slip away. So it always kind of sits with you.

So that's as the head coach. And I guess just to go back. So Jeff Truitt looked much like Habshide. He moves on to the pro ranks. Was this just, this was your job? You knew you were getting it or did you feel you were ready for it? Obviously, five years assistant. You had to feel like you were ready.

I felt I was ready for it. But right when everybody moved on, a conversation with Bruce, he's like, hey, listen, kind of like what went on here. We're going to go through a process and we're going to look for whoever the best person is. And you're going to be interviewed for the job just like everybody else. And I said, perfect, great. I felt I was ready for it. I was hoping and believing I would get it.

And then time went on similar to, I mean, this was a short period of time with Connie. But it was like three to four weeks in Colonna where I'm like. What's going on? We went to Winnipeg on a trip. My wife said to visit some family. I was miserable because I didn't know what was happening. And I felt like I was coming back and it wasn't my job. And then when we were on the trip, I got a phone call from Bruce.

And then when we met him coming back, it was my job. But I just, moments like that, you remember, like the communication is so important. Even when the silence is there, people think, they overthink. And you got to be careful with that with players because I do it. Everybody else is going to do it too. So are there things, even though it's junior, going from assistant to head coach, that you will bring to this experience now? I would say staying, yes, staying true to who you are was one thing for me. Junior, I feel, was a little bit different because of the age, some guys age out and you have new people coming in.

So you have different people that you're working with. But the one important thing for me was staying true to who I was. I wasn't going to change and try to coach like Mark Habshyter or Jeff Truitt. I was going to coach the way I believe the team should be coached. And then making sure I set a standard early. And I really challenged myself to stay consistent with it. And it wasn't an issue. Like really, I think it's probably a little bit like what I've had here.

There's been a few questions on it. But once that is done and I've talked to the players, it's over. I think it's a new point. I'm not concerned to worry about it at all because the preparation is something that I take a lot of pride in as is consistency. So the players are going to know what to expect from me on a daily basis. And I think from that point on, it's a different relationship. Yeah.

Was it everything you wanted it to be? Because I think you kind of touched on it in the press conference the other day. And I think it's just for anybody in life. You get that job that you really wanted. And it's not that it lets you down, but sometimes it's still work. And it's not all it's cracked up to be. And geez, I kind of don't like this aspect, even though you're happy, being head coach of the Colonna Rockets,

what was that, I mean, even the first year or the first little bit like? Yeah, challenging. I would say my first two years were hard because you're working to earn the trust of people in a different way. Same sort of thing that we're talking about. And with Bruce, I love him. He's like a second father to me. Like, he's hard.

Again, he was hard on you until you proved to him that, okay, this guy can handle it. So for the first two years, he leaned on me and leaned on me a lot where sometimes you drive home at the end of the night, even after a win. And you're like, what the hell? And then once we got past that two-year area, it changed where you can see that, okay, he trusts him. So he traveled less with our team. He would come down after games and would just visit. And it became more of a relationship where I'd go to him for advice, if you will, because he knew that I had, his team and our players best interest in mind.

And I had to earn that trust from him. So once I got past that point, I don't want to say smooth sailing ever, but I really knew that he trusted me that I could get the job done. And it's important when you have that feeling. Was it ever you doubting yourself or just knowing that you had to gain that trust?

I think it was more having to gain the trust. That was the big thing for me. And I knew that was a part of it. And my dad always told me he was an RC&P officer. And I would phone home complaining about Azer in Camloops was leaning on me and you basically suck it up. Like that's the way it is. They're pushing you to see what you're made of.

So that's a little bit of where I came from. So it was really no different for me, but it's a matter of retraining yourself to really understand kind of what was going on and how I had to continue to work through it to to earn that trust totally. So seven years as a head coach, you have a couple trips as the assistant to the world juniors. that you're doing those WHL Super Series. Like you're one of the coaches who is on the cusp. Seven years is a long time.

And I just know when we, the media more than anybody else, you watch, it's like, well, this guy's the next guy. And then four becomes five and five becomes six. And then there are all those kinds of, is there maybe something wrong with them?

How come this guy has to be sexy candidate? Why hasn't this sexy candidate been nabbed by anybody? And it's now seven years. Was there any part of that that worried you a little bit that you might just be wrongly, pigeonholed as a juke. junior guy. Yep. And I always, like I've talked before with the steps that I knew I had to go through to be a coach. Once I decided I'm going to, I'm going to do this. I knew I had to make the steps because I wasn't an NHL player. And actually I should say Connie made a comment in one of my interviews and I gave

me, whoa, I was an NHL player. That's right. But I knew I had to go through the steps. Yeah, I lost my train. Well, okay. So patients plays a big role of this though, right? Like to Booms point, it's like, is this ever going to happen? Like you've got to really believe. in this process and if you're not patient you don't last seven years that's what i was going to say so thanks for reminding me i always gave myself a five-year plan um i would work my as hard as i can and i want to be in a position where i feel totally ready that i've done everything i can do where i am and i felt like it was five years so i had some interviews after that five years um i looked at our team as to what we could have been in colonna um and i decided to stay around

round. So after the first year, or after my sixth year, 50th year, into the sixth year, after that one, then I started to get more interviews. And I felt like it was time to move on. So I stayed beyond that five years. I was having opportunities. I stayed because I thought the team was really good and I'd have another chance to win. And then because of that, there's some more that come your way. How close were you to leaving at one point? Fairly close. I pulled my name out of something because I just felt like I was getting too

close to leaving Bruce in a bad spot. So I decided maybe this isn't the right time. And again, if the team would have been terrible coming up, I probably would have stayed in the mix. But we had a good team. And I knew we would have an opportunity to win. So it's hard, of course, because you're feeling like I'm ready to go. But something just made it so the timing wasn't quite where it needed to be.

Changes in Calgary. Brad Trilliving needs an American hockey league coach. did you know Brad was there a relationship I guess just walk us through how that came to be that process that then takes you to the American League. Yeah, didn't know Brad at all. I knew Brad Pascal through hockey Canada. So he got his job and I text him to congratulate him on being assistant GM.

I think it was about two days later he called and I thought we were just catching up. And he said, do you have any interest in moving on and coming to work for us? and I knew Troy Ward. I played for Troy Ward at the time, and he was the coach. An ambassador. Yeah, with the heat. And I said, I thought, you got a coach.

Because it wasn't, I was, I thought it was a friendly call with Brad, because it was just congratulations type thing. And I didn't really put it together. And then he kind of said, well, we're considering making changes. So we're just trying to gauge to see if you had an interest. And I said, of course, absolutely. I would in those situations. So everything went,

moving forward and they did move on from Troy Ward in that area. And then I had an opportunity to interview with the guys. And that was the first time that I met, um, around Treleving. Yeah. Um, and the rest of their, their management group. So I remember at that time, there was, there was just so much stuff going on. Is it the Adirondack? What is what and where is Adirondack?

Like did you have to kind of, when you realize your is, so potentially where are we moving? Yeah. Glens Falls, New York. Where is that? It's, it's not cloned. that is. I know where Camloops and Colona, that's, you know, been your little kind of hot spot, but this is big, big time now. Well, I knew where it was when they brought the name up because the Red Wings, like we all kind of knew the Red Wings when they won all those cups. But, and I would

say that that was the best spot ever to have a minor league team. Like, we loved it there. And it was only one year. We knew when we were getting into it that there was a, they told me in the interview process, there's 99.9.9% chance this team is going to move into a Pacific division that is likely going to be created. But it is actually like a more wooded colonia, Colonia, if I could say that the Lake George is ridiculously nice. And the people there are so friendly. It's such a great spot.

It really was that it's a shame that they couldn't find a way to make it work to keep the team there a longer, longer term. The only issue with it would have been trying to get people back and forth because you had to drive to Montreal, Lyme from Montreal. So it was a process to get someone up. But the setup there was awesome. I mean, for an American League team,

you're traveling, all the road games are within two and a half hours and you're in your own bed, like almost basically at midnight all the time. It was a really good setup. What's that discussion like with the wife? She was a little lukewarm to that one. Don't say. Yeah, because I think if it would have been, she hadn't moved before. So the number one, so she's saying, really, we're going to go to New York and it's probably for one year. Then we're going to move back again.

And I was like, yeah, I think this one feels. right. These people that I'm interviewing with, it feels right. So again, she's like, okay, let's do it. But once we got to New York, my three kids and I loved it there, she not so much. And I think it's because she had in her head that we're moving

right away again. So I've got to, I don't want to get connected with all these people here because I know I'm leaving right away. So she had a tougher time with it, but it was an experience. So yeah, let's talk about the hockey side, because now you're running a training camp for men, for pros, it's a different travel schedule, lifestyle, personalities, and everything.

What is that transition like? It's funny. The first training camp, you have all your plans in the American League and I'm fired up. I'm ready to go. I'm excited. And this is the date where you're probably going to get all these guys coming down. So I had practice plan laid out for that date. And I think we had seven guys that ended up showing up. So my practice plan was out at the window. So that was my first. Yeah, the first taste of the American. And I would phone Brad Pask. I'm like, oh, we were going to have 20 guys here. He's like, wow, it's going to happen tomorrow.

But it was great. And I think the one thing that helped me a little bit, my first go around there, Nolan Yonkman, I knew from Colonna, they brought him in as one of the older guys. And he was excellent. So I would go, you know, he's a beauty. He's a funny man, too. But he was really good. And because we had a bit of a relationship, he was good with coming in.

saying, hey, maybe back off here. Hey, like, can we look to do something like this? So really good with that avenue. And then as soon as you build relationships with those guys, there's such a great dynamic amongst players in the American League. You have the young guys that are just competing as hard as they can all the time, and you have the older guys that are still wanting to play at a high level for as long as they can, that understand their role.

And that's to help these younger guys get better. So it was really cool, actually. And a lot of the players that we had on that team, really good people for someone that was a first year coach. And as the year progressed, we ended up getting some older players from the flames like McGrath and Cedegucci ended up coming down. So that was something that was important for me

because now you're dealing with a different type of player, not just your typical minor league player that's holding on, if you want to call it that, or your young guys that are just chomping at the bit. These are guys that are a little unhappy now that they're coming down. So that was a really good experience for me in working with Brian and Devin, guys like that would come down.

I always think that HL is just, it can't be like coaching in any other league because your best players get taken away from you and you inherit head cases and you must just continually have to reinforce this teaching. Here's how we play. Here's our philosophy. It's not just once in camp and we'll wrap it in spring.

Like it's every month there's new guys you need to indoctrinate and you're calling guys up from the coast when the NHL club gets hurt. Like you pass 40 to 50 guys a year through there. do for sure. And the staff isn't the same. Like you almost have bigger staffs and junior. So there's a lot of responsibility on the guys that are there. But that kind of helps with all your connections along the way. But it's, it's, it's neat for sure. Like it's, uh, I think anybody that has an opportunity to work in the American league for the first time should without a doubt. Like it's, it prepares you in a lot of different ways for what you're hoping to get to down the road.

So the one year that you had to have had double digit goaltenders. I was going to bring that up. I think it was 11. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God. And even at the end of the year, we were in a playoff race. Kevin Poulin was our main goalie at the time, and he got a concussion. So we were hoping that by the latter portion of the year, he would be back, but he just wasn't getting himself to the point where he felt he could play again. So we were using young Schneider, who just finished his junior season. I think he played the last 11 games of the year for us, and we just missed the playoffs.

But tough spot to put a young guy in, but that was a weird year in regards to goaltenders. It just seemed like I'd be on the phone with Brad. We had another goalie go down today. Are you kidding me? What are you guys doing? Yeah. Yeah, it was a weird one. Yeah.

Same. Yeah. So, Spidey senses were right. It was one year and then it's California. Is that easier to sell to the wife? This third city three years. It's California, babe, we're going to be on the beach. This is going to be fantastic.

Top town. When it started with California and she was loving life and then all of a sudden, well, where in California? Yeah, where is Stockton? Inland. do you say? So she, don't Google it. The Googling starts.

And then you're like, okay. And actually during that season, she took a trip out there to try to find us a place and see like where would we live around there and what school would the kids go to. And she came back a little bit wide eyed. There's pockets. And it's the same. I found since we've been down there a little bit, there's pockets everywhere where you're like, this is like Beverly Hills.

And then you turn a corner. you're like, okay, I'm not in this neighborhood anymore. So Stockton was an interesting time when we first moved there because it was almost the area where they were pushing people out of the Bay Area and everybody was kind of ending up in Stockton. At the same time, the city ran into some money troubles. They let go of a lot of police in the area. So there was a little bit of tough areas, I guess you can say there.

It was California's murder capital of the year that you guys moved there. And that was the big talking point in Calgary. Like, well, this will scare the shit out of the prospects. They better, if they don't want to get to Calgary enough, this could help. I remember when, Rhett, you were going down there. Rett was spending a lot of time in the hotel room. It wasn't a lot of gallivanting or sightseeing in Stockton, as I remember. Yeah, well, you go ahead, Wes.

No, well, you know it better than I. I was told stay in the hotel and I was happy to do it. I found one Italian, wasn't a restaurant, but it was like a grocery store thing. I went in there and bought myself a coconut cream pie or something like that, sat in the room and that's all I ate for the three or four days. You know, I would say, though, from the first year to the third year when I was there, there was a huge difference. The city was coming back.

People were downtown again. So I never felt like there was an issue of my latter portion of my time there. But one funny story, the first year we went in there. We just had the local police come in and have a visit with our team, the do's and don'ts around the area, what you should be aware of. what you want to be careful of. And all the players would stay in a hotel that was right basically across the parking lot from the arena, probably where a rat would have stayed.

So they just came out of that meeting and they were all in this place. It was really nice place. It was like a Melrose place type thing. It just almost didn't feel like it fit where it was. And the guys are all visiting on their patios and stuff and they were going to go out for dinner. So they have the hotel shuttled lined up to take the guys to dinner. They all pile in the shuttle. And as they're pulling out of the hotel,

baseball park is right beside the arena too. And it was something like opening day for baseball or whatever. So the van pulls out and the fireworks go off. All the guys hit the floor in the van. Nice. Well trained. Thinking there was something going on and the driver turns around. Like, what is wrong with you guys?

Yeah. You know? But it's, as I said, as it got going on there, there's some great people in that area. And there was never, there was never an issue. Yeah. So three years, not quite the same as, say, in junior, but do you hear the clock ticking, whether it's on the personal side or how long are we staying in stocked?

And what's next? It's now a really big move. There's very little steps left on the ladder for you to ascend. Were you, were you itchy to get out? Because three years, that was three years. When you're living it, three years is a while. Yeah. I was itchy personal-wise because my kids were getting to the age or my oldest daughter was going into high school.

And that concerned me a touch with kind of the area a little bit, although I will say the area we're in, we love. So there wasn't any concerns in that area. But you just feel like when your kids are getting a little bit older, it would be nice to get back to Canada somewhere. And it's where we were brought up and where we were raised and we're comfortable there. And probably around the third year, you start to get a little bit of the itch that makes. Maybe I'd love to get back. But for me, it was, I put my trust in Brad. Like, I developed a good relationship with him.

I felt like I was going to be loyal to this guy because I really truly believed, if the opportunity arose, I would get a chance. And this is Pascal or True Living? True Levin, once it got going. Pascal, too. Like, we had a, that's the GM head coach relationship, like, at the American League level. So we were every day. But I really did believe in what Brad Treleving was telling me along,

way as well because he was down there a lot too. So you you get a different opportunity to visit and build relationships with people at the American League level because they'll come in for two days to visit prospects and they'll sit in your office for five hours a day and visit and talk about all sorts of different things. You meet players and it goes back and forth. So you develop a relationship and I really trusted what he was saying that if there was ever a time that we moved on from people, I would most definitely give you that opportunity to come up. And I believed him. And I kept slogging ahead.

And I'm glad I did. And there's no guarantees there too because things can just change. It can be a, hey, you know what, sorry. It's just kind of the way it worked out. Because a lot of times, a head coach wants guys that he's familiar with and comfortable with. You, Bill Peters, I don't, no relationship there, I don't think. You just have to think, am I, I, I'm going to be plunked into the situation.

Well, I hope he likes me. and I hope that their staff likes me and that I can fit in here, despite earning it by way of the years that you've put in. Yeah, with Bill, the Western Hockey League, he was in Spokane. I was in Colonna at the time. So there's that, again, in the hall, you visit with the guy and see him at league meetings. So we knew each other, but that's about as far as it went. So I think when it came to be that Bill was coming in, Brad just probably told him,

I'd like you to look at this guy. And if you're good with it, we'd love to have them join your staff. So I had a few conversations with Bill along the way. But I think for sure, a lot of the opportunity came from Brad kind of pushing me that direction. And then overtime phone calls with Bill, there's a lot of similarities along the way. And if he doesn't say yes, though, I'm still again, not in this position. So it's both of those guys really. So was that a phone call?

Is that Bill? Is that Brad that call and say, pack your stuff? Yeah. Bill. So there was a couple phone calls. I remember I was in Costco one time talking to him on the phone as we're walking through Costco. And then he just said there was one. He's like, let's do this.

We're going to have a great staff. I want you to join it. And I was like, perfect. How happy her wife and kids at this point? Because there's been a lot of moving. And sometimes the move itself is the fatigue. And other times, like we got to get back to this place. My oldest daughter, the one we were more concerned about was not overly happy.

Yeah. It's funny the way it works. Mom and dad are starting to get a little uneasy, but you've been there for three years now, and now they've created some relationships. And when we came here, it was probably the hardest on her because she went right into high school. Yeah, I didn't know anyone. And Ernest Manning is like 2,500 to 3,000 kids where all the kids have their network and they have their friends and they're coming together.

So they're not interested in someone that's coming from the outside. So she found it tough, the three years of high school that she had. My other daughter was grade 9, and she went to St. Greg's, and it's a small school. and from day one, she had a posse. So it's just even to this day, when they're back from university in the summer, the one daughter is like she can do something every night if she wanted. It's not quite the same for my older one. It just goes to show you how hard it can be on family based on that time.

But we did feel it was time to come back. So I almost looked at it like this is the perfect situation, especially because we're from Western Canada too. So getting closer to home and being able to see people again more regularly. and have a chance to work with people that I believe in and I trust was the best thing for me. So it's 10, 11 years in a row of being a head coach. You're now an assistant again at the highest level. This is a make sure my tie is straight, make sure I'm not making it, right?

It's you're on watch now. It had to have been a nervous energy for sure. Yeah. And I look back at it and I think that's the best thing for me, again, because I go back and I never played. So I have to make these steps along the way. So you have to learn the NHL. You have to learn the players. And looking back at it, two things, the support that I got from Bill was awesome.

And the second thing would have been GEO. So it could have been very difficult for a young guy that never played that's worked his way up, you know, to earn trust of an older group of guys, you know, if they're not really bought in. But from day one, he was with me. And it changed dynamic for me right away. So all of a sudden you feel comfortable, you feel like you belong because everything that I said, he backed up. So I have the highest amount of respect for that guy, for what he's done and for how we understand situations. Because he knows too.

There's a new coaching staff coming in place. And the sooner we get everybody together in the same page and going in the same direction, we have a greater chance of success. So those are two big things for me. And geo was a massive part of it. What would be an example of that? Because Rhett and I, we talked to Matt's stage in last week. And I know Craig brought it up at his at your press conference the other day about the experience in the league having spent time in the league. And Matt said the same thing.

He's like, I just think, you know, when you, when you've been in the league, you have that experience or you just have that, that knowledge and know-how. What would be an example or two that you just were so much better off after having now getting to the NHG? There's so many examples. One, the travel is night and day from what guys are used to. the schedule, the demands that are placed on the management, the coaches, the players in particular, there is a ton different. All of a sudden, as we talked about, you're going from kids in the American League that just, oh, I got to get there.

I mean, yeah, you want me to go through this while. Yeah, I'm going to go through that. And to the older guys that want to be there that are really wanting to support you. So now you're dealing with guys that are at the very top of their craft. They're making $8, $9, $10 million a year. and it's totally different in regards to what the dynamic and feel is. And if you don't know about that, it would be a challenge. And you always go into it feeling like,

I can do this job right now. So I felt that in Stockton after my last year. I'm ready to be an NHL head coach. I knew I would have to make the steps. But looking back at it, you're like, oh, thank God I had that opportunity because you learned so much that first year. And even though you're telling yourself, yeah, I'm ready for this. you quickly find out like, yeah, okay, this might have been a huge learning curve if I wasn't in this position prior.

We talked about it the other day. You kind of ran out a list of coaches who have gone from assistant to head coach. And it doesn't always work. But on the flip side, you wonder how many very good coaches have been left at the, you know, just kind of left on the side of the road, never to coach in the NHL again just because they didn't have that kind of awareness of things like travel and everything that if you'd have been that much further ahead, you might. still be in the league. Well, and as we talked about Don before, who knows? Maybe that was a challenge for him. To start with that first year is finding a way to not just work with young guys that

want to get there, but with some of those older players that are already established. And yeah, I can't tell me what to do here. You know, that might have been something. I just feel there's so much that goes on in this league watching how people handle the media and the demands that get placed on coaches. but your top players. You see in the Canadian markets, it's not the easiest for some of these guys walking around after a tough game

because everybody knows who they are. So there's all sorts of different things that you don't necessarily think about that these guys deal with on a daily basis and having a chance to watch it all the time and see what they go through. Yeah, if they're not playing well, as coaches were, you know, you're upset at them and you want to push them to go further. But there's a lot that they have to deal with. And you don't know that until you're actually around them.

Interesting first couple years for you in Calgary. There's a Western Conference Championship and then a first round exit and then the Bill Peter stuff and then COVID. You cannot be prepared for any of that. I guess you want to start anywhere along that line. The Colorado series and just the season that could have been that a lot of people thought was going to be that ended so fast. Memories of that year.

memories of that year. Well, I think we had at that time during the regular season, the one thing that really stands out to me, that team believed they were going to win every night, especially early in that season. And you talk about junior swagger, this team had that swagger, whether it was the older guys or the younger guys coming in, when they went on the ice to play games,

they knew they were going to win. And when you look at the start of that season, probably three quarters of the way through, we played that way. And when teams came into Calgary, they're like, this is a fast team. And they're going to be all over you if you're not ready to play against them. And we did that. And we surprised a lot of teams by the way we were playing.

But the group had belief in itself. Now, it slowed down a touch as the year went on, where we went into the playoffs, probably not playing with the way we wanted to play. And we ran into the up-and-coming team. So you wonder sometimes if it's different, if we don't get that team, or we matched up better against a team that made. maybe can't skate with us at that time because we were a fast team, but they were a faster team. Well, and you rested guys down the stretch. I remember we were in L.A. in Anaheim and it was like,

Johnny would might not have played. Monaghan might not to play. Geo didn't play. And it was like, that team might have been better off having to play those games that mattered rather than a week or two of like, we got this division sewn up. Yeah, that's such a hard thing, right? Yeah. And I think looking back at it, those are the lessons that you learn as a coach. You want to put your guys in the best position you can to be successful. And if I can give them an extra day of rest so I get the very best. But you're right. That was like a two-week stretch where we knew we were in.

We knew that nobody was catching us. And looking back, there probably is a little bit of taking the foot off the gas in those situations. And you're playing, as I mentioned, a team that was fighting and clawing to get in. And they were at their very, very best when we saw them. And, you know, once we didn't win that second game, it was like, boy, here they're coming. And we went into Denver.

And it was a- And Kyle McCarver was unveiled. It was amazing to me. It's a lot to ask a kid to go for NCAA and step right into the playoffs. I'm not sure he can handle it. Scored in the first period was the best player on the ice. Even for coaches, like, you know he's a good player. But you're stepping in to play with the best players in the world.

And there's a lot of the best players in the world on those two teams that are playing. And he was, as you said, the best player on the ice here. You're like, oh, this guy is now going to create another level of excitement. And the building down there, once that started to happen, it really got going. And they played with such pace in that series that we felt like we were chasing the whole time. So you come back the next year. Again, no one knows what's coming. I guess I just, I remember exactly where I was when it all took place and where I was in my house and sitting there.

You guys are on a road trip. And everything about Bill Peters starts to come out. And there's nothing worse than being part of an online scandal. You just feel the, you almost feel literally the ground beneath your feet shaking and just, you're no longer supported. You're just, we're going to fall right through this. What, what was it like being with the team that even that 48 hours because then Bill leaves and it's, we got to pick ourselves. We're still going to play games. I know Bradshaw Living is out in front of the media all the time.

It was a hairy time. Yeah. And, you know, I thought Jeff did a really good job in that situation where he was kind of tasked with, like let's help us get us through this situation here while they were trying to figure out what was going to happen with Bill. So it was it was interesting for sure. I think the players, everybody thinks probably that they were off, but I felt like it almost, I don't want to say brought them together, but they wanted to make sure they were playing the right way because they didn't really know what was happening. And when Jeff came in and I think calm the one.

waters a little bit. He had a good message for the guys to start with when he first took over. I think we rattled off seven in a row after that. Right on a winning streak right from there. It was crazy. He did a really good job. And and and Tree was excellent in that too to try to, you know, keep some of the attention off the team to put it on himself a little bit more in that situation. So it just allowed the guys to go and play. And I think the way Jeff handled in that situation was right at the right time. We've talked about it a little bit. And we'll get into the more recent times here. but sometimes weird things can galvanize a team. And Rhett, you've talked about it a lot that maybe this can be something.

It doesn't always have to be, hey, look at how great things are. This is how we cut. A lot of times it's shitty times or something that's awful that's happened that can really bring a team together. The rinks your safe place as a hockey player. I remember that kids are getting shit in junior hockey. They'd have stuff going on. The only place you feel comfortable is in that dressing room with your pals and with your buddies. So I think a lot of times that happens in life when things aren't going well, for whatever reason.

The one place you feel safe is when you get back in that dressing room and you got a support group. And it worked. And then we'd not heard anything. What is a bubble? We have to get into the bubble and was a cohort groups, cohorts and all this sort of stuff. It became it became common knowledge very quickly. Where, because I just, again, I remember all these press conferences because I mean, Ken King had. passed away and we're shutting just remarkable stuff as a parent it's one thing as a hockey coach

in the national hockey league it's another that that 48 hours islanders are coming to town no they're not what do you remember i remember watching the oilers game at home and on the tv the the streamer or whatever the ticker on the bottom um the basketball game yeah um got shut down or two of the players tested positive and i'm like looked at my wife and this is not good And sure enough, we get to the rink in the morning and Brad comes down. He said, hey, we all got to get out of here. We're going to fill you guys in. He said, I think this might be something longer term.

It might be like a week and a half to two weeks. Yeah. Is what he said at the time. Real good area. Right? So we all ended up going home and the Islanders left their stuff for put it right back on the plane and they were waiting for a word as to what was going to go on. And then it was like, well, we all know the world shut down.

It got to be weird for that first little bit. And then for us, it was nose test every day after nose test every day after nose test every day. And then when you go into the bubble in Edmonton, one thing I remember the most are the little, we call them like mice runs. Like we stayed at the Sutton Place Hotel. So you have to walk to Rogers, whatever it is. And there's little gates that are put up that are up at concerts. Yeah.

So you're walking every day and nothing's going on. It's just, it was weird. I will say it was weird, but found a way to get it done. You know, it was an experience that people will never forget. I just, it's baffling to me that we actually had to go through all that. How long were you away from wife and kids? Oh, geez, I'm not sure what the length of time was. I think it was probably around four weeks for us.

Yeah. We got through the first. Playing around. Yeah, the playing around. And then we had the series with Dallas there. So I think it was probably closer to the four week area for us. That team in the bubble, just memories there. That was, we're not going home, right?

That was. Houdobin and Anton Hadovon. If Lindholm hits an empty net, that series, I feel like plays up very differently. It was, you had a lead early in that series and Kachuk was hurt. Yeah. Yeah, that was one of the big things, I think, in that one. You lose Matthew early on. And then there's certain points of the games or the series that turn a little bit on you.

And I just feel like the mental toughness that guys had to have in there was a different level. Because you can only look at it and go to the same four restaurants all the time. I'm like, that's what's there. And in Edmonton, there is no green space for the players to just go sit in the sun and just chill out. They had that in Toronto, but it wasn't in Edmonton. So you had to really challenge yourself mentally because it was the same thing every day. You have to check in with the computers to make sure your nose is clean and am I allowed to be walking through here? You know, and then you get into the Dallas series and we really felt like that was a team that we could be.

We loved the way we played our first game. We lost Matthew. we didn't respond the right way in the second game. They pushed back fairly hard, and our answer wasn't enough after that. And then it's the mental side that kind of comes into play, and we ended up not winning that series. And it's just, it's also,

Peters is in, Peters is out, Ward is in, Ward is out, Sutter is in. Through all of this, were you considered at that point ever for the head coaching job, or outside of Calgary. I guess just with so much upheaval, not that you're thinking, Calgary's not the place to be,

but are you looking beyond? Are you kind of looking at that next chapter for you? Wasn't looking beyond. I would have hoped, and I did get, I would say, early interviews for the jobs here, but deep down,

I knew in the situation the team was in, it wasn't going to be me or it wasn't my time, because you kind of know what the team needs in the direction. it has to go. So I didn't know who was going to come in after Jeff. Nobody had told us that.

And then when you see Daryl coming, you understand why for me. And then I had the opportunity to interview with another team along the way. And I look at it as everything works out for a reason. I mean, I learned so much from all the guys that had a chance to work with, whether it's the head coaches that have been here or the assistant associate coaches that have been here. Everybody sees the game differently. They're all different communicators. There's different styles along the way.

And I feel having an opportunity to be around people like that makes you a better coach. And the last guy that was here, Daryl, he's Stanley Cup winning coach. I mean, he's one of the winningest coaches of all time. And there are some things that you see in regards to how he approaches his days that are off the charts. So good. And you just, you take notes. And whether it's mental or me, I write a lot in books. There's a lot of great things that I've been able to take from him, as I have from all these other guys.

And I feel like because of these experiences, it allows me to be ready for this. Funny things happen. We're all tested in life and professionally. When you're backed into a corner and your claws come out, sometimes we behave in ways that we wish we could change. I just wonder this year, it was one of the craziest years that I've ever seen covering sports forever. You start five and one. Yeah. And it feels like, okay, you got through.

We're past COVID. You got a training camp. Everything's this. This is what we expected. When did it go sideways? I think we know. But when was the fear there that we might not get the wheel back in our grips again here? After that start, you know, we went on a bit of a bit of a slide, I guess you can say,

where it became more challenging. I guess it became heavier. The more games that we were losing, it became heavier. and you start to see other teams starting to separate a little bit. And then you're like, God, we got to get this going. We're okay here because we love our group and there's some good people in that room and know how to win. So there is always a belief that we just, as long as we're staying close where we're figuring

ourselves out here, we're going to give ourselves a chance as we get going down the stretch. But there was a lot of change. And I think in my position last year, when you look back at it now, there's some key guys going out and there's some really key guys coming in. finding a way to get the new guys together with the older players, key people that were here, maybe it was a challenge that we underestimated a touch. We knew it was going to be hard, maybe not quite as hard as it ended up being, to get everybody together.

So we honestly felt that as long as we were close and we kept playing, you know, working towards our identity, which we knew we could play at. We weren't playing the way we expected to play, but we were getting closer at time. then we'd have a chance as the season went closer to the end. And if we're there, we can get in. And then we felt like we can make some damage. But we just never could get to the point where they were competitive enough as a team consistently to get us over the hump. Yeah, I feel like to characterize the season, you'd have a big win on the road.

Like in Minnesota, second half of back to back, tons of travel. Then you come home and stub your toe against, I don't know if it's Anaheim or someone else. But something like that, it's just like, ah, that's this year in a nutshell. For sure. And that goes to our third, all these one goal games. too, right? We led the league in overtime and shootout losses. And we missed the playoffs by two, three points if you count that tiebreaker. And when you look at that, you want three, four of those games instead of being on the

outside looking in, now Winnipeg is in, never know what happens once you're in that position. Hang on, boom, one sec. As a coach, you're probably not thinking much about contracts, but you are in the room with the guys. Were you surprised that Goddrow's leaving? Kachuk says he's leaving. Did you have that sense at all? I mean, again, I know that you're not part of the negotiating team,

but I wonder if you have a feel for those guys and whether you're expected they'd be coming back or if you were shocked by what happened. No, I was, I won't say I was shocked, but I really felt like all this talk, and we do hear from media, of course, as to, hey, what's this guy going to do? What's this guy going to do?

I fully thought Johnny was going to stay. And I didn't quite, know about Matthew. I felt if Johnny was going to stay, Matthew Stan, because they have such a good connection, the two of them. And I felt really positive with it. And right up until when that, I think I was at the country singer that was at Stampede last year, I was in the Cowboys tent. And that's when the news came out that Johnny was going to sign elsewhere. I was actually really surprised because I really felt that he was going to stay. The longer it went, I thought he was going to stay. And then everything would fall in place. And, and those guys would still be here. But,

and I go back to everything happens for a reason. Like we've got some very good hockey players that came back. And our job now with those guys that came back is to really get them play hard together because they're elite players in this league. And now it's a matter of getting them to remember that, realize that, and show that we do really believe in them. As an assistant coach, there's a level of respect that you have for the head coach and just the entire process, the hierarchy, the room and everything.

How hard was it as an assistant? assistant to see things going on last year, losses, whatever is happening, but knowing I can only do so much here, it's just going to have to, we're going to have to ride this out and it's going to have to play itself out. Yeah, well, we're all a part of it. Like, we had a, our coach's room was a good coach's room, you know, and I felt in, in my role as an assistant coach, my job was to try to get the guys on the back end on the penalty kill in particular because that was the area that I dealt with most to get them in a

spot where they're ready to play each and every night. So sometimes that meant where I would lean on guys a certain way. Sometimes that meant I felt if someone needed a pat on the back. That's where I felt my role was last year and to try to get them to where we wanted to be. But sometimes you get into those situations where your team isn't playing quite the way you want or expect them to play. It's hard. It is hard for sure, without a doubt.

And everybody senses that because you look back at the beginning. of the year, the expectations on this team were high. You guys talked about the start that we had. Everybody's talking about, well, this team is a contender for the Stanley Cup before the puck's even dropped. So expectations play into it as well. And when they aren't getting to the level that the outside world

thinks we should be at, it becomes harder and harder. People start to think a little bit more. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, you become, you grind. And instead of playing or coaching free, just wanting to do so well that you almost try too hard. And I know that sounds stupid, but you just want to make sure that the expectations that are out there are legit. Yeah, we'll get ourselves to that level. And I felt like that's kind of the way it was all year that we just were close, but we just never got ourselves close enough.

You talk about new guys coming in and they're obviously going to have to be huge parts of this season coming up. What did you see from Weeger this year? Because you ran the D. He's a guy that is right handed but played left most of the year. And it has been a very capable guy on the right, but also played with their neck lad who's a righty. I mean, just walk us through where he's. at and how central Lepi is moving forward. I know he had a great world championship.

Yeah, he did. I thought when he came in, um, and it was to all of them, but when he came in, the first beginning portion of the year, I don't feel we saw him, who he is. And when we did finally start to see who he was, was after the all-star break. Because I think he got

himself, okay, this actually did happen. Like I'm out of Florida. I'm now in Calgary and I thought he started to understand, okay, I can still play hockey. I understand. I wanted, again, expectations. He's a guy that really thinks and wants to do his very best every night.

And when things weren't going to the way he expected them to go too early, he overthinks and he challenges himself different ways and he gets frustrated. He gets mad at himself. And I think the All-Star Break was the best thing for him because he got away. He cleared his head and he came back and I thought he played really well to the way everybody probably expected him to play where he was active in the rush. He was very quick to defend. He had the bite that he plays with it.

makes him a special defender. And I thought he was one of our better players down the stretch for us, for sure, on a consistent basis. And then he carried that on into the world championships, which I think is such a great thing for him. Because, you know, when you have a season that doesn't go the way you want it to go, it's great when guys get an opportunity to go over there and continue to compete because they want it and they want to win.

And that's McKenzie. So I think everybody often talks about Hubie as the big guy in this trade. but McKenzie is a very underrated player and I'm a huge believer in him and his ability and I think we're going to see some great things from him this year. Brett, you kind of keyed in on Weger early. I mean, we don't have that same kind of vision

as a guy who's played in the National Hockey League as long as you have, but just trying to recognize, because you didn't watch a lot of Florida games, but just watching. So what is Weger? And you could kind of see early on, whether it was pressing or trying to do too much or whatever.

And you could, right about the All-Star game, you could see it come around. It's an easy scene. from here because all I needed to do was notice that he wasn't playing as a top four defenseman and that's what he'd been sold as. And totally I'm like, this guy's not playing top four style of hockey. He's not playing top two for sure. And you just alluded to it, Ryan, that he'd looked like he struggled.

I was, to be quite honest, totally unimpressed with this game. And mostly based on the fact that he'd got the contract and we'd been told, we'd been told, he's a top four at least maybe a top two pairing guy. He wasn't that. And I came around on him hugely after the All-Star break or later in the season as well. We're like, okay, this is what you were supposed to be seeing all year.

Again, it's easy to sit here and just go, well, he's not a top four because look at his numbers and look at his minutes and look how he's playing. So a little tougher when you've had to make the move and deal with all the changes that he had to. Yeah. And all the group. I'm glad that he's bounced back because that was going to be tough to watch if he didn't turn into that.

Yeah, he is a top for a guy all day long. Patience and process. For sure. Absolutely. And the part that I absolutely love about him is he's got, he's got the bite. I'd use another word, but I won't. Podcast, Paul. Yeah, that's all right.

But, you know, you want to have a group of guys that have a certain fire that they play the game with because to me, that's contagious. and it makes your team hard to play against. McKenzie's one of the guys that most definitely does have that. Jonathan Huberdow is obviously a focal point. Rather than ask what went wrong. And you know what? I'll go even one step beyond that. We talked about it.

The one thing that you have that no one else would is you've been in that room this year and for five years. No one knows whether you want to call it dysfunction or whatever was going on in the room, good and bad, better than you, is between Hubertoe and just everything. How confident are you that not so much that you've got the fix, but you've got the directions to point them into to then let them succeed? I am with Hubey. I am very confident that you'll see a different player.

And in having short conversations with them already, there's a different level of excitement in them right now. And you go back to pressure expectation. And it's a different, we talked about the changes that all these guys go through. so there's that. And then when things don't go well or he's not playing to the level that he's capable of or feels he should be at, they start to put a lot more pressure on themselves.

And then everything snowballs. And the one thing that you, and it is true, like when he is on, he is a ridiculously good passer. And the way he sees the game and controls the play. And it's my job to make sure that I put him in situations where we get the very best out of him all the time. Now, I don't know if he's ever going to be 115 points. guy again. But this guy is an elite hockey player.

We'll take a hundred, Husk. We'll take a hundred. I would too. But he is an elite hockey player and there is something special about this guy. And I am a guy that really believes in him too. So when we look at McKenzie and Jonathan, these are elite players. And I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised when you see him come back in the fall. Last couple for me.

just in terms of your story, was there a point in your journey where you, I can coach in the National Hockey League. Because some guys, it's junior coach and that's what, kind of what they do or whatever, and then it's over. Yeah, I coached it. It was great.

I played hockey. Was there a, whether an appointment that you got or a situation where it's like, you know what, I think I can do this at the highest level, or maybe conversely where you thought, you know what, I don't know if I've got what it takes to do that. I don't think I've ever, I've always thought I could do it.

But at times there's still that wonder in your stomach. We're like, ready for that at this time? And in junior, for sure, that was me. And then you get into the American League and I lost the wonder. So I knew that I had to still get better in certain areas and develop, but I never questioned it from that point. I knew I could be. I just knew it was timing for me.

and making sure that I checked off all the steps along the way. And I am I am there now without a doubt. So I have no pit, no gut, my stomach. It's just excitement. And I'm ready to go. Like I said, I wish we were doing this tomorrow. It's like so much in life, right? Whether you're a student in school and you know you've put in the studying that you needed to,

to be ready for that exam or the job, like even this dumb things. Yeah, I've done the proper amount of preparation to now do this. Whatever your job is, it's a great feeling to feel like you're prepared and ready. And clearly you are. And I tell my kids that all the time. Like if they don't study for a test and they flip it over and they don't know what's on it or they're like, oh my God, they have that panic in their stomach. Well, shame on you. Yeah.

Like that's on you. And I look at it the same way with my job. Like if I get into a situation where I feel that, well, shame on me. Because I haven't done something right. And I'm totally up the point now where I understand the work that goes into it. What needs to be done. And when I flip over that exam, I'm going to know the questions on it. It doesn't mean I'm always going to answer them the right way, but there will be no wave of,

I didn't know this was coming for sure. So, and that's why I'm, I'm ready. I know it. I love the story that I'll just finish right. I love the story that Conroy threw out about the concert and then you get in the car. You're like, I don't know, I'm not getting this. So what, I guess, does the family appreciate and recognize how big of, and I'll call it a victory, because it's an achievement.

How big a part of this victory that they are between the moves, the time you're not around, the sacrifices. Are they cognizant of that? And what did you guys celebrate? Did we raise a glass or did we have a family celebration? Yeah, we had a, and it wasn't even a big dinner or anything. We had dinner, the five of us, and my wife and I had a nice bottle of wine. And to me, that's what it's all about for me.

Like I, you don't get here without them. We talked about this before already. And you see, you know, the excitement a little bit in their eyes, too, because it's cool for them. It always has been. My son is turning 13 years old and he thinks he's the cat's ass now. Like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's coaching in the NHL. It's coach. Yeah, it's special.

And you also see that they're proud of their dad. And there's a different look in their eye when you get that from them. So it was a, it was a cool night. We just did a little bit of talking. drank a nice bottle of wine and that was it. So, yeah, it's awesome. Just love my family. Anything from you, fellas?

I got one last one. I'm, I could ask if we're going to do one more, I'll do one more. It's been just, you'll probably give us a coaching management type answer. Oh, it's a lot of discussion over the last couple years, especially this year with the team not having a captain. My take on captains are captains aren't, you don't appoint. to captain. A captain comes into the room and he takes control of the room and he is a captain. Will you have any say, do you have any indications on who that might be? And is it a player

decision or a car try and have a captain? How are you going to address this? We will have a captain this year is I guess the short answer. Like the three things that I've learned the most over my last five years, how hard it is to win in the NHL, the importance of an environment for putting the guys and staff in a great situation where they have to push each other to get better and the importance of leadership, honestly, that leadership starts from the very top and it goes to the very bottom of the rung on the ladder. But there needs to be someone in that room that the players can go to when they have an issue that they trust that player has the confidence and courage to come into our office and deal with it.

vice versa. We have to know that we can go at somebody and know that what we're going after them with is going to be brought back into the room. So there has to be a great working relationship. And it's something that the coaching staff, when it gets into place here and Connie and management team, we're going to spend a lot of time on because Redd, as you said, it's, it's, you don't just say here's your C, it's a real important role and you have to make sure you find the right fit in all different avenues for us. And I do feel like we have a number of people in our room that are going to get a lot of consideration when we move forward.

But we will. The short answer is yes, we will have one this year. You're speaking in, I want to say, a week and a half in Michigan at a conference. Do you want to share your topic with us? And what advice would you have for young coaches? Because I know coaches through and through, it's a community and no one loves stealing a drill more than a coach. That's considered sharing it. Totally. And they say it's sharing. It's actually stealing.

We steal all the time. That's what we do. I think whenever you have an opportunity to present, I think you should take advantage of it. And that's for younger coaches. It's one thing to go and sit and listen and you gain a lot of information. But it's a whole different animal if you have to present in front of people. And sometimes as a younger coach, it's a little unnerving. But it also helps you get over the hump of speaking in front of people. And if you're speaking in front of quality coaches, it's no different than speaking in front of someone that's an elite player in the National Hockey League. So it's a way that you can build your craft, I guess, if you will. And the

information that you get at these things is terrific. So I'm presenting a short presentation on some of the finer details of the penalty kill. And I'll try to give out some information without giving too much information. That is the fine line. And last one for me, I just, as an assistant coach, are there any of the shit gigs, shit jobs that assistants have to do that you're happy to no longer have to do or that you'll be happy to pick and pox or just, yeah, you guys grab that for me, which, yeah. I'll still probably do the pox. I actually like that because sometimes you get to play the flip game with other players and every

once in a while, you'll beat a player with and give it to them a little bit. But I don't think so. I loved everything I did, honestly. So that part of it, as I said, isn't going to change. I just, I feel like having a great connection with people around your room is the most important thing. And by me changing or not doing something that I used to do, unless it's someone else's total responsibility, there won't be anything different. Yeah. We say it a lot.

It's awesome when good things happen to good people. Thank you. And we've had two unbelievable press conferences between Craig, who we've loved forever and obviously just one of the best that no one has bad words to say about either of you guys. So for everyone at Flames Nation and Flames fans, good luck. We're looking forward to it. It's an exciting. It really is a huge new chapter when you think about it. GM and head coach, that's a major turning of the page.

It's awesome. And like, thank you guys for this time. Like this is a great platform for our team too. You guys do an amazing job. So Connie and I have already joked about, yeah, there's a lot of good vibe around the city. But if we happen to drop our first exhibition game, look out. Don't lose the homeowner.

Don't lose the oilers in game one for sure. Make sure you're winning that game is the most. No, no solution from McDavit. Hey, congratulations. Thanks for coming. Really gracious with your time. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me, guys.

There you go. That's going to do it for the show. We'll see you, buddies.