Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Former Calgary Flames Defensemen Robyn Regehr (FULL INTERVIEW PART 2) | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

Boomer & Rhett sit down with former Calgary Flames Defensemen Robyn Regehr! PART 2/3Shoutout to this episode’s sponsors:The Hearing Loss Clinic: https://hearingloss.caMcleod Law: https://www.mcleod-law.comBK Bowfort LiquorOutdoor Dental: https://www.outdoor.dentalBon Ton Meat Market: https://bonton.caTower Chrysler: https://www.towerchrysler.comBetway: https://betway.com/en-ca/ Mad Rose Pub: https://www.madrose.pubVillage Honda: https://www.villagehonda.com/enVena Nova: https://venanova.com________________________________________________Visit  www.nationgear.ca for merch and more.Follow us on Instagram @flamesnationdotca Follow us on Twitter @flamesnation @barnburnerfnFollow us on Facebook @FlamesNationReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hiy buddies. Welcome to Barnburner here on the YouTube's in your earholes wherever you're maybe you're at the lake Maybe you're you're you're on the treadmill maybe you're I hope you're enjoying yourself wherever you are today As you can tell barn burner changing things up a little bit for the summertime if the you know what if the hockey if they're not gonna do the hockey then we're not gonna do the thing But what we're I really like a lot of what we're gonna roll out for you here today obviously and in the coming days and weeks we've had we're still gonna do our normal shows I told you all that we you know what's going on but some longer form interviews, and it's weird to call them, it's just conversation. That's why I really like this forum, this format where you can just sit down and kind of, you can just chat and no interruptions and just kind of go in deep on some things. And if it's not that deep, then we're not that deep characters.

But we'll, this is a good one here. When I say good, it's, it's compelling. It's tragedy. I said yes, I said in the last episode off the top that Robin Rageer, former flame, just seems like your prototypical Canadian hockey story. Here's a guy that was, you know, he's from Saskatchewan, plays for the Blazers and Kamloops, gets drafted in the first round, goes on to play in the NHL and da-da-da-da-da. Except that's not it.

If you missed it, I'd definitely recommend you go back and hear it. A guy born in Brazil, lived in Indonesia. This has not, had no real kind of idea that he was in Indonesia for as long as he was. then comes to Canada, and obviously the rest, I guess, is history. But today it's the early days in Calgary, and rather than me blather on about it, a near-death experience changes everything for Robin Reger one, steamy Saskatchewan summer night.

Part two right now with Robin Reger. Barn burner comes to you from the Tower Chrysler Studios. Tower Chrysler, voted Calgary Suns, readers, choice award winner for southern alberta's favorite dodge kreisler dealer we've been very lucky and proud to have had tower as a barn burner partner since day number one as our studio sponsor and vehicle supplier how great did the nation truck and nation jeep look tower kreisler 10901 mccloud trail south at the corner of mcclough and southport road buffalo it's funny how buffalo it just always drafted in buffalo in 98 four first round picks for Colorado Alex Tangay Martin Scula Robin Regere Scott Parker

Sheriff that and you know there's not a lot out there of you as a Colorado avalanche and we'll talk about that because the trade happens but you were at the draft I said there's the pick to the four of you guys and your crisp jerseys love and life what do you remember about draft day in Buffalo yeah family was there sharing in the experience which was which was which was nice. I guess leading up to it, I did a lot of a lot of interviews. So even flew out, flew out to New York for the Islanders, flew to Chicago for that. A bunch of interviews pre-draft. There were some funny ones, too. The Rangers, Glenn Sather, was in the room and all the scouts and assistant GMs and everyone is

around and you walk in and I walked in the room and he Glenn comes up to me right away. Hey Darcy, nice to meet you and shakes my hand and sits down. And I'm like uh and then one of the guys in the room, uh, hey Glenn, that's that's Robin. He he, uh, mistaken me for Darcy regered. Yeah. So, so I knew I wasn't getting drafted to the Rangers. Cross that one off the list. Um, but yeah, just some, uh, you know, the comp, I guess they started they didn't call it i don't think the combine then but we we'd done that to all the fitness testing things like that they poke and probe and what's funny because they got better at it sorry to interrupt you but like speaking to the learning it wasn't really called they called it the kind

combine workouts but they did it read like just little pocket and we did this ascicatoon on like a tuesday morning after the may long weekend in which chat allen and i had been in northern in Saskatchewan fishing and drinking all weekend and like Tuesday morning at seven you were on the bike and i'm puking and i'm like yeah like this was the again naive and dumb but weird hey yeah hey right you want to come florida no i like it up here yeah so yeah just kind of leading up to it was some very cool experiences um that way you know getting a chance to travel things like that being a limo right the islanders sent me a limo to the airport and they're sitting there by yourself in the back of the limo on the way to the hotel like yeah just just

first time and so really enjoyed it um the draft uh i knew the islanders were really interested but they actually and they drafted early uh but they decided to go with mike rupp um And they viewed him as kind of a little riskier pick. I was a safe pick, but they found more upside to him. So thank goodness I didn't get drafted into that dumpster fire on the island because that would have been just awful. But Colorado, yeah, they had four first rounders. They were locked in just very good teams, but intense battles with Detroit, usually in the Western Conference there. you know you mentioned the four first rounders my my older brother actually saw i was getting drafted to

colorado first because uh they had uh velcro name bars and so uh i was nervous and kind of not paying attention but deen you actually saw them put the velcro name bar on the back of the jersey before they went up and and uh announced it so uh yeah i was just i was really excited um and, you know, went to camp later on. And, and for me, like, it's kind of funny how things work out, a little bit of luck, but they had great teams and they had no room for hardly anyone, especially for kind of a player like me. So I ended up getting traded to Calgary after I'd gone to training camp, went back to Camloops, and I got traded.

My rights were traded in the Theron Flurry trade. So Theo Fleury, Chris Damon, to Colorado, I think right around the deadline for Reni Corbe, Wade Belak, and future considerations. And the future considerations were Calgary had one month to scout Martin Scula or myself. That was that was it. They couldn't go after anyone else on the protected list from Colorado. So it was between us too. And we had a good team in Camel. And my agent phone me playing in Kamloops that you were one of the two being considered.

Yes. My agent phoned me at the time. And he said, you're, you're one of the players that they're going to be looking at. Don't worry. Just do what you're doing. Go play hard. And after a month, they phoned me and said, you know, we, we chose, chose you. We ended up playing, I think, the hitman that year in the in the league final. We lost to the hitman there. They had Brad Stewart, Pavel, Pavel, Brendel, Phel, Phelman, Chef was in Nat. They had a good. good squad too we just I think we lost in like six games or something like that it was a tough tough slog but yeah I was excited because Calgary had a had a very weak team even though they had the young guns here they had a weak team and there was going to be opportunity and I think I I didn't

realize that initially but I was very excited when I thought about it a little bit more that I'd actually have a chance to to play in Calgary at a at a much younger age and play like play significant minutes if um i made the team and that's the way that you're going to improve you're not going to improve by just sitting on the bench so um the trade actually worked out really well another little fun fact part of that trade uh was actually the draft pick ended up being jared stole so the flames uh drafted stole i think it was second round or something like that and then he didn't sign him because of money i believe and then he went to edmonton And then Edmonton had Matthew Lombardi, who they couldn't sign.

So then Lombardi came down here. And then, you know, you end up playing with most of these guys. As the career kind of progresses, you get to know most of them play with most of them, which is really kind of funny and interesting. So what were you thinking when Colorado wins the cup in 2001? You know, you know, I knew I wasn't really going to play there anyway. And so I was okay with with it really like I was coming coming to Calgary where I'd actually have an opportunity and I was more excited about that. And yeah, we were we were bad.

Like we were awful here when I first got here. The Save the Flames campaign was going on. Maybe 9, 10,000 people. I could get as many tickets as I possibly wanted from from the flames for a game. You know, and I'd have my brother who's in nursing back with, you know, in nursing with like 30 other girls in class I think he was the only guy and he'd show up yeah he'd show up with like six of them for the weekend yeah we're just coming to calgary like can you get us get us a bunch of tickets yeah no problem yeah whatever like oh it was yeah it was it was really really funny we we had a

we had a fun time and and you know you look back on it and mom and dad could come watch pretty much any game they they wanted uh within reason as long as they could make it work with uh with uh with work commitments and stuff like that so they came and watched lots of games so it'd be nice and close it actually worked out uh quite well logistically and then they're not bunking into the house for a month at a time either yeah yeah fly over say hi catch a game oh yeah they were crazy hockey committed parents like they they'd come out for a weekend of camloops and turn around drive home and same thing here oh well we really want to watch this game they drive out and turn around drive home after like it was just yeah it was nuts I think uh gummy bears and jolt was

gummy bears and jolt if you remember that that was my dad's secret secret recipe yeah really good for you yeah I see yeah really good yeah before that though um July 4th 1999 what can you tell us about that day yeah so um one of you know speaking of adversity uh some of the biggest adversity I've I've ever faced in in life so we'd spent the day out at Blackstrap actually just south of South of Saskatoon and my grandparents had a had a boat you know nice little 16 17 foot Starcraft we'd been out there water skiing with friends my older brother Dino myself and two two girls Natalie and Stephanie from Rostron and on the way back we dropped the boat

back off at my grandparents place and we phoned uh phoneed one my dad said you know we'll be home in 40 minutes and and off we went i was driving my 19 my restored 1976 nova s s s before speed yep um and north of saskatoon so we're driving northbound and we were two kilometers off of the divided at that time and uh it right in between warm and an ozler and there were two vehicles that were coming southbound and as we passed the the first vehicle the vehicle right in behind that pulled out into our lane there was absolutely nothing we could have done um very fortunate that dean you and i had our both had our seatbelts on the girls in the back did not have their seat i think they were they were lap belts back then it was probably beneficial they didn't

have their lap belts on. We hit head on the highway, 1986 Ford Tempo. No skid marks, no nothing, 110 kilometers an hour each way. I remember coming to shortly after that, I would say 10, 15 seconds after, with the fuel, the smell of fuel, gas, oil, and fuel around. and my older brother had got out of the passenger side and come around and ripped the door open. One of those things, like just superhuman strength at that point, because the door, I went and looked at the car after, and it was about half the size the car was crumpling. And he ripped the door open and pulled me out. I remember kind of getting out and being pulled out, trying to stand and not being able to

and kind of rolling into the ditch and and waiting there after that uh very nice uh people stopped uh people stopped on the highway um you know brought some blankets things like that i was going into shock very cold shivering um and after that it was just a waiting game waiting until the ambulance came and um the ambulance finally came dine you was okay i didn't know um how Steph or Natalie were. And then I get in the ambulance and they put me in the ambulance and there was the front passenger from the other vehicle was in there as well and he died on the way to the hospital. And and I found out later that the driver of the 86 Ford Temple died instantly.

What I also heard was there were two girls in the back so out of eight people in both vehicles all 18 to 21 years old two of them died and the the girls in the back of their vehicle I heard had some serious injuries but were okay and lived it was probably the most difficult thing I've I've ever had to go through you kind of I kind of thought as a 18 19 you know everything in the world and then you go through something like that and it just for me it was actually a good reset on like things can happen very quickly and you know these two people losing their lives like it was a very sobering very emotional kind of ordeal and one that

thank goodness I had great medical support Dr. Anne Deuce put me back together again I still got two screws in my left tibia but she was fantastic and she said you know you're lucky to be alive you're you're lucky that it didn't sever your patella tendon we kind of put you with the drill and the screws back together and i you know we're not sure uh how things are gonna are gonna kind of progress but you're gonna have early stage arthritis you're gonna have a bunch of stuff because the trauma of of your knees, but I was alive. And so I felt lucky and probably one of the biggest reasons why I really like when I had a chance to start my rehab and push it, one where I didn't want to take any shortcuts, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. I, as soon as I got my foot in the door in

Calgary, I was like, I want to make the most of this as a 19 year old because I was, very close from having not just the dream taken away of playing in the NHL but potentially your life with that so it was um it took me a while to realize that the injuries the injuries physically were probably a little easier to heal from than the emotional or our psychological issues that happened because of it and the different stages kind of of that had to go through in order to get through that. That wasn't a that wasn't a that's four to six weeks with a sprained shoulder that was a you know you you have to kind of accept what happened

to you understand it get over the why me you know all like there's all those things that you kind of have to grind through and some days it's two steps forward one back and some days it was three steps back and maybe only one forward and there was no there's no set timeline for something like that on when you're going to get through it but the the big thing for me was support network at that time was fantastic and uh everywhere from my my mom and dad to family to friends were coming through the hospital and all all the way through to the house and just being around and being positive influences. And that was massive.

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or on Instagram at the Hearing Loss Clinic. Is there any why not me, the guilt? Because I've heard people go through stuff like that and if they're the survivor, they almost have a guilt that they're, how come I got through it and others didn't? I wouldn't say so for me. I it was why like why did this happen to me I was and I and I think I understand it now a little bit is that I was going I was so singularly focused before that on I want to make the NHL like I've got this opportunity in front of me and you know people around me had been committed mom and dad and and and others I had been committed like I was hyper focused on this one single goal in life and after that like there's a there's some doubt there's there's doubt there's doubt there's

oh boy like life like not just this this dream that you have or this goal but you know life can be taken away in in the snap of fingers if that was a if that was an f350 diesel that hit us like i wouldn't be here talking to you guys right now like having to grind through some of that i think was more difficult I found than the why not. It was, I've gone from, you know, this with minimal distractions to now, I've got lots going on and how can we get through it? And how are my friends doing, like all that kind of stuff. It becomes a much bigger kind of issue to kind of get through rather than, well, I'm just going to go run.

20 wind sprints today and you know exactly yeah you talk about rehab and therapy did you have anything on that on the mental health side because I just know when I was a kid my mom died when I was young and there was no talk of you know should you talk to somebody how do you go through this I just wonder for you because it'd be so focused on your legs and your body and your career and all of that but meanwhile you're that's as traumatic as it gets mentally. Did you have that kind of support? I had the support not not professionally but like with with friends and family around like they were always around and and talking about it like the biggest thing is to talk is to talk

about it not stay silent and I think you're seeing that with the push for for mental health is is let's talk about struggles it's okay to struggle let's talk about it and then from there you know maybe we can make a plan or or figure something out and and always having people around and talking about it was was very helpful but also getting humbled like you know my my mom was an RN and my brother was was kind of was working his way down that path to like there I am like after surgery you know trying to take a bowel movement in in my mom's like there right beside me cheering me on as

I'm sitting on this bed pan, like as an 18, 19 year old, that's humbling. Very and you're reset for. Oh, like, and that's just one of those things that that happened. Like so, um, I think those, those things, like, as tough as they were to kind of go through, I think they really, really help me in, in the, in the long run, in, in the big picture and and having kind of positive influences. Like I remember I was sitting in, so mom and dad had moved my bed. I got out of the hospital, I think it was after 10 or 12 days.

And they'd move my bed to the main floor because it was hard to do, hard to do stairs. And SGI had somebody at the house meeting with my parents at the dining room table to talk about the what happened and also what my needs were moving forward. We had to modify the house with different railings for showers and getting around, all that kind of stuff. And I had a friend there. Her name was Lisa Katernick. And we were just talking.

She was sitting beside my bed. We were talking. We were laughing. We were having a great time. And the insurance adjuster kept looking over at us. And I kind of saw it, felt it and that. And after the adjuster left and then Lisa left, I talked to my parents, I'm like, what was going on? And my dad's, it wasn't insurance, right? Like, that was,

he was, he had an SGI business there and stuff like that. So, so, uh, they're like, well, normally they go in and, you know, people want to make it look like as bad and, and, and miserable as possible. And he's like, well, you, you were, you guys were having a great conversation, enjoying one another's company. You just, they're not used to that. Like, they're, so having you don't realize it at the time but you you have those conversations after and you know you realize that then after the fact that I was really lucky to have those type of people around and especially now as a parent don't you look back and appreciate how great your parents had to have been at that yeah oh yeah yeah think about when they get the word of this accident with

two of their kids yeah so crazy story with I I can't imagine so and I only learned this way after So they had to actually come from Rostron. So Rostron is north of the crash site yet. Like that's where we were going. So they had to come from north. They were phoned by somebody at the accident. The crash scene knew us and knew my mom and dad. So they phoned them.

So we went south to Saskatoon to Royal University Hospital. But they had to come through there. By the time mom and dad got there, they had the police were there. and they were detouring people around on the grids. But dad actually said he stopped and he ran up and actually saw the crash scene of the 86 Ford Tempo and the Nova. And I cannot imagine like that then drive after seeing a full head-on and the two vehicles just pretty much crumpled messes. that would have been a very, very difficult drive as a, as parents, you know, the 20 minutes to the hospital. Really, really, really difficult with all those, all those things bouncing around.

Right. Exactly. Uncertainty after seeing that. You don't, you don't wish that on any parent. And I don't know, I'm trying to think back. Like, not everyone was carrying a cell phone at that time even, right? So it wasn't a constant updating of how things were going, right? Today's world, you'd be on the phone talking the whole way, whereas then it was...

Yeah. So a bit of a funny story. This is a pretty serious subject, but back to the communication, fax machines were really big back then still. And somehow someone leaked out, because this, you know, got some media attention, the severity of it and everything. But the fax machine was actually the number of that that ward that we were on was was put out there. And the faxes started coming in and faxes from all over Western Canada. Canada, I had some friends in Hawaii at the time to that faxed in. But it was hundreds of faxes. Like eventually it actually jammed up the lines and eventually they're like asking like,

please stop sending faxes. But that was another thing like, you know, as the day was on here in the hospital. bed, you know, mom or dad would bring in, you know, hear all the faxes and, you know, everything was written down and you go through the faxes and stuff like that, but that was the communication. But that, you know, you realize like how many people care about you and are there to support you and it kind of helps you along the way. I remember sitting in the paper. I remember sitting at mom and dads where I grew up with the, I was back for the summer and I was, I hope they got to star Phoenix and it was on, I'm like, I'm like, whole.

Holy, this kid is going to be effed. Did you ever have any connection with the family of the other two from the other car? No. So what happened was it took about a year until after they released the findings and the hot, like toxicology and all that kind of stuff. I think because first of all they wanted to do the proper job but also there was quite a bit of attention around it all what happened was they were at a party I knew some of through hockey I played with one of these guys that was actually at that party they were at a party in osler and you know over the legal limit for alcohol and decided to try to

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Find them at 28 crowfoot circle northwest or go to bontan meatmarket.com. You said you went to see the car, the Chevy Nova, the 76 Nova. You know, obviously, the magnitude of this accident, what was that like to see your car and the state of damage that it was in that day? Yeah, it was hard. I think my mom cried. We were at the SGI salvage yard, and I looked around it. It was tough,

but it was also like I looked, when I thought about it after, like lucky. Lucky there was a big old unibody car with a massive front end and a 350 hanging out the front there. But what actually sticks in my mind

is I looked at the rear quarter panels. and the rear quarter panels were were creased up above the tire. So the car had impacted so hard that, you know, really it was starting to squish. Accordion like. Yeah, accordion like. And that, so I'll never forget that with, you know, with that car. But like I said, you think of, oh, man, I'm lucky I had that car and we're lucky we didn't get hit by something bigger.

all that kind of stuff kind of ping pongs around in in your head driving by that spot the next time or ever since is it it's got to kind of give you pause to a point yeah sleeping after that like the first i would say a couple weeks were difficult i'd see headlights coming right right at me you know when you try to close your eyes and and get to sleep and kind of go through some of that stuff Driving by there was difficult. Good news now is it's all divided. They've changed all that now. It's all divided highways. And over time by speaking about it and driving by there, it kind of, I don't know if you want, it kind of dulls the feeling or kind of soothes it.

I'm not sure what the best way to put that is, but it does get a little bit easier. over time. Putting our back in the parent mindset, you're driven now to get my career. I'm not losing my career over this. I'm getting back on the ice. So the parents have to be like, just, would you please just please stop? You were on the ice less than two months later. Yeah, I think that was that was July, July 4th. And then I think it was right near, actually, I think it was right near. Actually, I think it was right near. of August and I got some I got some ice out at out of beardies actually at the at the rink out there and I just went out there which skate stick and and skated around felt pretty good so

I had a fracture like a puncture fracture of my right tibia but the bone around it was okay so you just couldn't twist and do things like that but I could actually weight bear fairly soon after the crash, but my left with the screws in it, I couldn't wait bear for significant amount of time. But things were progressing. I was doing my checkups, and then I started skating just a couple times on my own. And then the flames called. The flames called, they're like, okay, we're having training camp. Mid-September, we'd just like to bring you in and keep an eye on you. And I was like, well, do you want me to bring my equipment they're like well you're skating already and i was like yeah i've been skating just on my own

no contact or anything like that but just the september the accident's in july yeah yeah and so uh so i brought uh i brought a week's worth of clothes and uh i ended up staying around for 11 years like it was i i showed up things kind of kept progressing and they kept me around and You know, like they had again, our team wasn't very good. They ended up signing me to a contract like at the right at the end of training camp. And then I kind of continued on progressing. And then I went down for conditioning for two weeks to St. John, New Brunswick. And that's when I first started playing playing games.

And it's actually one of the coolest kind of experiences who were playing Dennis Bonvey. Oh, yes, yes. He was, I forget what team we were playing. But he was on there. Yeah, and we're lined up and he's like, hey, kid, you're the one that got in that crash, right? And stuff, I'm like, yeah, I'm proud of you. Like, good job for, like, just. He's supposed to be, I've met him briefly, but he is supposed to be one of the greatest dudes to ever.

Well, I believe it. Like, as a young kid there doesn't really, doesn't know anything. You'd expect him to go, I'm going to kick your ass. Yeah, exactly. That's what I was expecting. And for him to say that, I was, you know, I still remember to this day. It was very kind of a pretty special, special moment for me on, on the ice. And then, yeah, kind of continue to progress and play. So talk us into the first game. Who was it against? And so, yeah, get called up after that. Well, before the AHL debut. Yeah. Because I went and I took a look. Only 24 minutes. of ice in your first game. So it's really good that they took it easy on you. We're just getting easy in there. October 15, July 4th is the accident, 24 minutes,

Wilkesbury. Get out there, kid, let's go. See what you got. Not bad. I don't remember that part. I was just, maybe I was just so excited to be back. I think Rick Vive was the coach or something. He was a real character too. But yeah, I forget how many games played St. John in kind of leading up into the winter isn't the nicest place to be that's for sure so i was kind of motivated to get out there and get get at it uh and then got called up and we were on the road we're on the road and uh ottawa like was the first cd i remember being in good team at that point ottawa and and actually so went through pregame skate and uh uh i think is brian sutter was the coach i've been through a bunch of setters so sometimes i get a

mixed up but brian was the coach there at the time and he comes to me after the pregame skates is kid you're not playing can you skate with the with the black aces the extras you know and that yeah no problem so i'm out there skating getting uh getting bag skated after that and then for i don't know what reason after i was done skating he came to me as like uh actually we decided to put you into you're playing back to that maybe really easing me in there right um let's press pressure test this kid. So, uh, so I, I only found out after the, the pregame skate and, and the skate after that. So too, too late for mom and dad to be able to fly, fly in from Saskatoon and, uh, you know, couldn't sleep at all in the afternoon, tried to sleep,

couldn't sleep too nervous, excited, um, you know, the game, I don't even remember if we won or lost. It was a tie. Tie, okay. Yeah. And and and and just the, the, the realization of a of a dream comes true was really exciting. Um, you know, don't really remember much about the game. I remember more about the next game, which was hockey night in Canada and Toronto. It was my second game. And, uh, Grant Fierre, I think was our goaltender at the time. And I remember this happening was the puck gets shot. down and that was back we had to go touch it for icing and I'm in a foot

race with Domi and we kind of as we're coming back I'm in front of the net and we hook legs a little bit and and fall I fall and I go sliding into like fewer hundred miles an hour and he jumped he's got the bad knees too I've just I'm Humpty Dumpty right I've just been put together again and we're just in this big collision right into the net on on hockey night in Canada and Ty Domey is the one that's kind of put me there and that was like one of the times you're like, okay, this is pretty cool. Like first of all, Fierzy, are you okay? Yeah.

Because if not, I'm in deep trouble. Yeah, being a rookie. But yeah, it was, that was a very, very cool way to start my career. And then you remember things like first goal here in Calgary at the at the Saddletome. Jeff Shantz won it back to me. Mom and dad were in the stands. and ripped a, ripped a five-hole wrister through Mike Vernon's legs. I think he was San Jose at the time.

So anytime I see Vernie, I get to call him a sieve. Were mom and dad able to make your second game in Toronto? No. Isn't that weird? Like, I don't have a criticism of it because my parents were the same where I bought. They weren't. My parents didn't see a game of mine for months. Yeah.

Yeah. What really cool thing, what the Flames did was because in the contract, there was actually supposed to be the ability for them to come to the first game because but with logistics and stuff couldn't yeah so what we talked to the flames about was coming on the road to check out another team and they they chose Pittsburgh which the flames agreed to they chose Pittsburgh and so that was when Lemieux Yager Stevens were still together and right at the kind of tail end of their career and it was it was interesting because Francis would have been there still I already gone to Carolina it doesn't matter sorry

Keep going. But what, funny thing, so they used to always have all the keys together when you went into the, to the hotel for the lobby. You grab your keys and that and back roommates and stuff like that. Well, what happened was my parents had got there early and they went to check into their room. And so I had got there after. And so I grabbed my key.

Well, what I didn't know was I actually came, opened the door, and they'd given my parents, like my room. Yeah. And then when I was, so, and they were ready in bed. So like, I looked around. What the? Who's, like, first of all, I'm like, there's somebody in here. And I look around and then I figured, figured out it was them.

Like, thank goodness they weren't doing other things. Yeah. Because I was, that was, yeah. But like, oh, like, I laugh about it after. Yeah. Um, but yeah, they did they did a bit of a mix up there. Yeah, it's kind of funny. These things, they kind of pop, pop in here. But yeah, I think, um, the, the penguins, that line just absolutely went off. I don't think I had to play against him, but Lemieux had like one and four

Yager had like three and two. And Stevens had whatever. It was just, it was really, really fun. But those, those little moments, like playing against some of those guys, you get that realization like this is really cool like I'm getting a chance to to do what I've always wanted to do getting a chance to play against these players that I grew up watching like those are really interesting really cool moments I found yeah those are those stories where you're a small town kid from Saskatchewan and you're on the ice with the big boys now outdoor dental dentistry with no needles no drills and no stress dr j Patel decided a few years ago that it was time to change the dental experience for his patients. Introducing the Solea laser. This laser treatment is pain-free,

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I'm here for now, but maybe at St. John again. Or was there a point where you were confident enough? I'm here and I'm good enough to stay here now. So first year was good, like it was okay. I think it was my second or third year. I struggled and I got healthy scratched. I think once, one or two games or a few games. I think Greg Gilbert was the coach at that time.

And was Brad McCriman here already or not? But he came up and just said, you know, what do you think? And I was like, well, I'm not playing that well and that. And he's like, yeah, you're saying all the right things. He's like, well, what do we need to work on? This is what we think. And you just put the work in. Like, have a good, try to have a positive attitude or good attitude.

And don't just say, well, the coach hates me and phone your agent and say, oh, I want to get traded. Like, figure it out. Like, you know, back to adversity, right? Okay, I'm not playing well. Like, I need to get to work here and figure this out. And so kind of grinding through that. and then after I did that, then I felt like I'm an established NHLer. So it's kind of an evolution of I want to make the NHL.

Everything's new and exciting, new cities, playing new teams, all that kind of stuff. And then after that, I found like, okay, now I want to establish myself as an NHLer. And then and be in that conversation all the time. So you kind of work at that. And then what are the goals after that? Well, now we want to get to the playoffs. I want to be in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So you work towards that.

And then I want to win. And so those kind of goals move as the career kind of evolves. That's the way it was for me. And then the other thing, too, is like kind of five-year increments of that new and exciting five years, that, well, this isn't as new and exciting anymore in that middle kind of five years. And then the last five years is like, this isn't going to last forever, like try to make the most of it and enjoy it. And, you know, you have kids around, you're bringing them to the rink and stuff like that. So it actually changed the things that I enjoyed about hockey a lot too as, you know, kind of life changes as well.

You mentioned Brad McCriman. It was one of the names I had John it down. I wanted to ask you about. He was always very complimentary. I think he was always very proud of you, The Beast. Everybody's one of their favorite guys in hockey. You're just one of the greatest guys going. Just your relationship with him.

Brad was fantastic. He was, uh, so Brad was one heck of a defenseman. Really, really good defensemen and had lots of success. What I really liked about him was, um, details. He really focused on the details with us. And one thing, for example, was stick placement. He was always harping on me, stick placement. Have your stick on the ice, but not just have it on the ice. Have it out on the puck. Don't just have it in the lane. Have it out towards the puck as much as you possibly can to close down as many lanes, as many options for that, for that player.

And initially you're like, okay, like you're and then you do it. And then you're like, oh, well, that's that puck just hits your stick the put in you know and it's so limiting for what they can do with it exactly and it just sounds so simple but yet it's very effective um and then one of the one of the interesting things later on in my career uh there was this big book of of n h like that and we're flipping pages one day in the training room and there's brad mccrimmon in the photo And this forward is trying to go around him. And he's not letting him. And his stick is out and literally right on the puck.

And it was like, you know, I love that because he did it. Like he's not just saying it. He did it. And like, I love that. I love that about him. He was an amazing guy. He was a guy that could stand up to a coach. like he he was a guy that stood up to Mike Babcock for example like to buffer Mike Babcock and when you have

kind of a firmer or harder coach head coach you need a really good assistant coach in my opinion one preferably that has played and it has had success um because they're able to buffer that between the kind of the hard kind of acidity of a of a coach like that and the players because the players can't take that all the time and a really good assistant coach can do that and i think brad did a really good job of of that and you know really sad what what happened to him and losing him in in that plane crash in russia but he was one of the best assistant coaches de coaches that that i ever had and a great person too july 2003 trade with buffalo good guys guys guys guys going out and one donkey coming in.

What do you remember about, uh, that would have been June, not July to the was it would have been June of. No, it was July because it was a start of stampede. Oh, we're talking about your trade. That's the one. I'm, oh, I thought Buffalo my trade. No. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. This donkey comes to town. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

What do you, uh, oh. Because again, you look back and Rhett will tell you that, uh, he's responsible for all playoff success. But there was... Save the flames. He talked about it. You had not played in the playoffs up until that point. No. Warner comes in.

Sutter is here. Kiprasoff looks like he's pretty good. Yeah. That was, in hindsight, a big turning point for all you guys. Yeah, it was, you know, a young team, younger team, great goaltender. You know, getting Mika was massive. You know, some really good pieces. skill Jerome Jerome I always and that is underestimated in my opinion from fans and

pundits speed we had a young team but we had fast guys like Chris Clark Lombo McCammon Donovan well I think you you realize after we're talking to opponents that had come into the Saddle Dome and you know Darrell was harping on us for identity and the identity we wanted to play with and it was hard to play against you know come out fast forecheck physical and just pressure pressure pressure be be responsible defensively um but just go after teams and pound them and and we did that and i talked to multiple players after and they said we hated coming to calgary because we knew you guys would just come out and and and forecheck us and run us and And if we were winning, we'd usually just fight them because we had a tough team, too.

And so really like, okay, you want to, you want to beat us. Like, we'll beat you up too, like in that way. Like, and there were some, we had some great guys that that way too. So it was, it was fun. Like it was fun hockey that way because, you know, that the level of energy in the, with the team and in the building started increasing from those first few years when I was there to, you know, then qualifying for the playoffs in game 80. I think it took us to qualify for the playoffs, playing the teams that we wanted to play. You know, Darrell had meetings with us regularly.

Who do we, who do you want to match up against? We want Vancouver in the first round. We think we match up well against him. He agreed with us. That's who we want. We want Vancouver in the first round. And all that, like he's, Darryl under, like, he's got his limitations, but he's very good at understanding the game and also for like matchups and forecasting and who who do we

think to to match up with and then and then even more granular's your line like okay i loved it when he came to me and said okay robin you and uh jordan or you and and jay or whoever i was playing with you guys have to go out and shut down that line tonight you're playing against them Like, it was a personal challenge that he, he would put out to you. And I loved it. Like, that was, and I just felt like I responded best to, to that. I liked playing in a structured game for a structured coach. I played later on for unstructured coach and struggled.

Like, but that's what I liked. And we kind of started to build momentum that way. And with momentum comes belief and what you're doing. And I think you kind of saw that. And we had a good group of veteran players, but also some leaders that had been to the playoffs and had been to the finals. And all those ingredients were, were important. Yeah, you can't pick one or the other and say, because you're not the same without, you miss. You take one out of the room and you miss a lot of it.

So it was, it was a good group. I think still the Kiprasoft, the trade is what solidified us in. Yeah, without having a goaltender like that, there's no way we, our team goes anywhere near a run, a run like that. Like he was, he was a phenomenal competitor. Like he was, I've never seen a guy be able to turn it on and off in a practice like that. Like there were times or he didn't want to practice. And you could tell, like he was for whatever reason. But someone embarrassed them in practice and like they wouldn't score the rest of the practice.

It happened in a game like I saw it. We're at we're with their rookie party in St. Louis right? St. Louis rookie party and we're out late and and that and but the next day in practice like Jim play fair or some cultures. Okay, line everyone up because he knew. And we and so we're sweating it out and he lines everyone up on the goal line and it's okay. Whoever's out till midnight, uh, down and back. The whole team goes down and back. Uh, whoever's out till one right now. Okay. Now, now. there's less guys going. Who's ever out past two? That even less. Who's ever out past three? Even less. And then next thing you know, who's ever out past four, five, like, and pretty much it's just Mika skating back and

forth. Right. And then we're all laughing. And then he's like, well, whoever smoked a pack of smokes and down and then, all then Mika, down and back like, you know, like it was, it was hilarious. But that we played, um, we played, I think it was the day after. And I forget who was. that was in the high slot and just turned around and like kind of fanned on a shot didn't go off the ice and it went right through meek his legs and it was like a good second or two after it went in that he just like I remember it because I was on the bench and I remember looking and I'm like how he didn't he thought the puck had left the zola and I'm like he had no clue until after, and I looked over at Noodles on the bench after that.

And Noodles was looking scared, right? Yeah, you might have to go in. But it might have to go in. The thing is, like, that completely embarrassed Mika, like, and no one had to say anything to over anything like that. They didn't score. I don't think the rest of the game. No.

Like, he was just lights out the rest of the game. He's like, man, I got to, I got to get going here. That was the way he was. Like, he was so competitive and had that, that pride that, you know, yeah, did he have his issues? Yeah, he did. But when it came down to playing and wanting to win and competing, he was awesome. Yeah, I'll call his issues, vices. Okay. It's vices. Hey, guys, it's Pinder. Let's check in with our Betway, bet of the day. I'm going to go big time futures bet here. We're talking NHL Stanley Cup

24. Mm-hmm. Yeah, next year. Who's been well run in always kind of hanging around. Well, how about the Carolina Hurricanes? I see lots of good teams out there. Clearly, Colorado's in the mix. Toronto's skilled Edmonton. No good odds on any of those teams. How about 14 to 1 for the Carolina Hurricanes

who are apparently sniffing around Eric Carlson? Would you like to add a little offensive pop to Carolina and maybe partner him with one of the best defensive defense in the NHL? Carolina can do that. And if they do and you got them at 14 to 1, you're singing, baby. That's our betway bet of the day. There you go, buddies. That is part two.

of our sit down with Robin Regear, the three-parter. I know what you're thinking. It's three parts, but I think you can tell. There's a lot of meat in that bone. He's got to, everyone has a story and Robin is no different. Pretty interesting and compelling stuff. I, to be honest, I knew that Robin was in the accident. I remember hearing about it back in the day. And to hear him, I guess just doing the prep for it, kind of going through and seeing the, the specifics and the you know the particulars on it takes you back and maybe some things in there you didn't realize and maybe if you heard that for the first time you had no idea that robin was involved in that um but to see and hear the emotion there obviously emotional for all of us i'm i'm an emotional guy as you can tell but it's hard um but the strength that you see there in a guy that is able to not just physically but emotionally be able to not literally walk away but to but to you know literally walk away but to to move on as quickly as he did. I had no idea until I got looking at it that how how short the time was between the car accident and him getting back in the ice. Pretty

amazing. You get the feeling that it was not as easy, maybe as Robin made it sound, either way, mentally or physically, but I think it's safe to say it takes a pretty special person to be able to move on with their life like he did. So that's part two. Coming up part three from a flame to a saber to a king, seeing the end of the career on the horizon, dealing with the body that's continuing to kind of break down little by little, and the potential reality that that game seven in 2004 might be as close as he ever got to lifting a Stanley Cup. That is all in the way. Pretty good part three coming up. Support the sponsors. Thank you for supporting us, part three coming up tomorrow.

And if you miss part one and two, obviously if you miss part two, I don't know how you're listening right now. Go back and grab part one and be ready for part three. It's pretty good stuff. Looking forward to bringing you part three coming up tomorrow. On the YouTube's, on the Apple, on the Spotify, wherever you're getting this, it's coming up tomorrow

as the summer vacation additions of Barnburner continue here with flamesnation.ca. Thanks, buddies.