Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Former Calgary Flames Forward Curtis Glencross (FULL INTERVIEW PART 1) | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

Pinder sits down with former Calgary Flames Forward Curtis Glencross!PART 1/2 Shoutout 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.

Hey guys, I hope you're having a great summer. It is Pinder. Man, this is the best time of year because, you know, we've all saved our vacation. Maybe you've got a lake you go to. Maybe it's just the back deck with a cold beer on a hot summer day. Barbecues going. Bike rides, floating the river. Whatever you're doing, it's summer, man. Hope you're having a great time. What we've been doing this summer is pretending to work when really we're just playing a lot of long-form conversations that have been fantastic. And we are sneaking off to get a little vacation. I hope you're doing the same. Hope you're on the road trip, listening to the pod and some of the long-form stuff for gear was sensational. Really enjoyed Matt Stagin. And today, I sit down with former flame

Curtis Glencross. Glennie. All right. This will be fun. We're doing it live, as always, from the Tower Studios here in Marta Loop. And check this out. Event coming up at Tower.

It is the roar and explore. There's going to be food trucks, prizes, raffles. Here's the deal. Bring down your. dodge, your ram, your Chrysler, your Jeep. You can register it for 20 bucks. There's prizes for the best in show, also all kinds of other things to be won. And it's all in support of brown bagging for kids here in Calgary. Great cause. Check the Tower Social Media stream for more information. There's a QR

code. You can register to be there. Check it out. It's a roar and explore at Tower Chrysler near the end of the month down at Tower Chrysler, basically right by Anderson Station on the Cloud Trail South. Now, here it is, part one with former flame and still Calgarian, Curtis Glencross. It's summer. Welcome back to a special edition of Barnberger. We've enjoyed some of the warmer months as time to catch up with some old pals from the Calgary Flames, some members of the community, some alumni, and a chance to go down a little storytelling with some of our favorite former flames.

Today, Curtis Glencross, as we sit down here near the tail end of July, this will probably run August how's your summer been it's been great so far yeah can't complain it's uh kids are at school now so we're getting a little bit of time uh you know enjoying some summertime but the most part it's uh been pretty busy it's you think when uh summer tank comes around and kids are off school and hockey season's done that uh that you have more time on your hands but there's never a dull moment our place yeah no i hear you and we'll get to the family uh coming up because i know that's a big part of uh you know what makes you tick in your day-to-day you got five kids which is incredible and my kids are at camp

this week you got vacation. It feels like, oh, we can't wait until summer vacation. And then it gets here. You're like, oh, my God, we need these kids back in school. Let's get back to school. I want to take back to when you would have been going to school and back to your early days. You're born in Kindersly, Saskatchewan, if I'm correct, raised in Alberta. Take us back to the Glencross home growing up and what your early life was like

and how much maybe hockey was a part of it as a youngster. Well, you know, yeah, like you said, born in Kinderst, Saskatchewan. We bounced around a little bit as young when I was younger. My dad's in the cattle business back in Saskatchewan. So we, he went from auction market to auction market bounced around, but we spent seven years in Kinderslay and then kind of went to Lloydminster for a year. Then we're up in Mornville area for a year. And then ended up in Provost where, you know, that's kind of where I,

where I call my hometown for the most part, spent most of my time there. Most of my friends, family, you know, were around that area kind of thing. So it was something I graduated there. And so Provost has kind of been my place where I call home. and yeah, it's kind of been my spot that I referred to. What's it like? If someone's not been to Provost, how do you describe it? Because I'm sure there's lots of smaller towns in Alberta that are similar,

but there's also things that would make it uniquely Provost, right? You know what? It's a great small town. I love it. I think there's something to say about growing up in a small town. It's, you know, my graduating class was 32 people. And that was our, we're the biggest class, graduating class in years that came out of provost.

So it's, but, you know, I still have a lot of my, a lot of my childhood buddies. that I still believe in back in Provost area. And I wouldn't change it. Like in the summertime, we played hockey in the winter. Summertime, we were at the golf course. And, you know, it's a good baseball community as well. I played baseball for a little bit, but pretty much grew up between, you know, the hockey rink and hockey rink golf course and working for my old man at the auction market,

running alleys chasing cattle. It was kind of love my life. And, you know, we one thing cool about playing, you know, playing in a small town. Hockey wasn't as serious. I played all my minor hockey. like midget C, Bantam C, went and tried out in double A in Wainwright for one year, beginning of Bantam and never made the team and ended up coming home and just wanted to play with my buddies and have fun.

So we can go snowmobile in all day during the day, go play a hockey game at night or whatever and it didn't really matter, right? And it's something that definitely wasn't the route that most guys took, but it's something that I definitely cherish and got to play growing up hockey with all my best buddies in my small town. So kind of a cool. It's funny. I was chatting with comedy the other day, and he was the same.

He was like, yeah, I didn't think that, you know, hockey was just being with my buddies. And he was in Fort Saskatchew. And he was bigger. So there was some interest around him, but he was never a refined enough product where he ever thought he could be a pro hockey. He said it was the second year at university when he realized like, oh, shoot, like, I'm on the central scouting list. I'm going to get drafted. Like, what? And for you, midget C, that is not a place that I would suggest many pro athletes in any sport end up.

you apparently were a cruel trick that Mother Nature played not just on me but you as well. We were the late bloomer's you and I. Same club here. Yeah, exactly same. No, it was sweet. So midgetsy, like I, you know,

when I went from, you know, just playing midgetty with my buddies and we're actually at a league finals and we were playing against another small town coordination, Alberta, and our league finals are my second year midget. And a guy by the name Barry Brigley started doing some scouting for the Brooks Bandits.

It was on their expansion team. team in Brooks and and he approached me after a game after our league finals and asked if I'd be interested in going to a to junior A camp and I never really thought much of it. I went to a, had a couple options after that kind of happened where I got the invite for that. I had a couple more invites to go to the cameras, Kodiak's camp and another one. But I went to Brooks and it was expansion teams. I figured to be great opportunity, you know, for me, it wasn't an established team. So like I said, that opportunity was there for me that I could, you know, get the ice time,

hopefully and and you know, just develop as a player. Like when you, when you grow up in a small town, it's just mainly parent coaches and that kind of, it's kind of free flowing. Like you're, there's not much to it really and didn't really, you know,

I had a couple good coaches that taught me a lot in minor hockey. But for the most part, when I got to juniors was really the first time that I really had like a real experienced coached out that wasn't a parent. And, you know, I think that was, that was a change for me,

which was, you know, a great change. And, you know, for me to get away and, and go and, you know,

live with a bill. and get away from home and just trying to figure out on my own. I think that was a huge step in my stepping point for my career. And, you know, when I went to the Brooks Bandits camp that first in the spring after that season, I had a great camp there and ended up that they told me that they wanted me back in the fall. And I showed up there with fall camp and had billets lined up. And my billets were unbelievable. I couldn't ask for, you know, a better billet family.

And I was there for two years and I was part of their family. Right. So that was a cool relationship that I had there. and I'll always, you know, I still have lots of good friends from the town of Brooks and, you know, buddies that I still keep in touch with from Brooks and played with there. So it's a, it was, you know, that was the stepping still. And it's like, when did it, like, going from agency and all of a sudden, born juniors. And it was like, well, can I really play this kind of thing? And then I'm like, after that, you know, after my second year, kind of in, or my first year in Brooks, you know, I did have some, some opportunities to go and try out for a dub team.

And I just was at the point where I started to talk to a few schools after my first. first year already and figure that, you know, hey, if I can, if I can go in and play four years of school and, you know, play four more years of hockey. Yeah. That's, you know, and get us, get an education. That was kind of my goal. And it kind of just snowballed from there. So how, like, you would have been one of the smaller players on a team at some point. And then all of a sudden, you're way over six feet. And it's like, oh, man, like this package from a scouts perspective has totally changed. Yeah. So I was small until like my, you know, kind of midget kind of thing. I was probably only like 5, eight, five, nine, not even five, six.

I went from, I went one summer. I remember from Bannum to midget or something. Then I went like four skate sizes or three skate sizes. Right. And so it was, you know, I did have a growth spurt in there right, right before me or my, I can remember this was my last year, Bannum or first year midget. But it was, um, had that growth spurt. And, you know, like I said, was a later later bloomer kind of thing, wasn't on the

radar earlier as a younger kid. But, you know, I would, you know, it's not not the typical route, but I wouldn't change it for anything, right? Like it's, it worked out for me and it doesn't happen very often, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't change it. Yeah. So you're like, geez, I don't know if I can make it in junior. And then you've got colleges all over a year two.

What options were you looking at? And you end up picking another unique route, not only an expansion team in junior A, but then up to Alaska, one of the two collegiate teams in that state for NCAA hockey. Yeah. So when I, my, I think my biggest determined factor when I did decide to go to up to Anchorage rather than somewhere else was I had a great relationship with the guy that recruited me and assistant coach up in England. Anchorage. Jack Cole is his name. He's still up there.

It was a, you know, played up there with university. Then came on as a assistant coach. And, you know, between him and John Hill was the head coach there at the time. And the two of them, I just had that, had that, you know, when you get a feeling, you have a good feeling with the coach that wants to work with you and that kind of thing. And that kind of thing. And that kind of thing. And, and that kind of thing. For me, my relationship just built with them guys. And like I said, for me, you know, besides being in Brooks for a couple years with an actual real coat, like a professional coach kind of thing. or an experienced coach for me to go up to them guys and you know the the patients they had with me too just teaching like I was a centerman all through pretty much all through minor hockey kind of thing and even in juniors I was a centerman and then when I got to college and they wanted me to try the wing out because it's the big ice and I had lots of speed so they're like you know with the Olympic size ice and half to school as we did play against they wanted to try me out on the wing so I ended up going to the wing and just they worked with me and our first year in Anchorage we we uh

I think we only won three or four games in my whole first year as a freshman. And then our sophomore year was the first time that our team, so we were lower in the standings. We went into in the playoffs. We ended up match up against Wisconsin in the playoffs where they had guys like René Bork and all them guys back then and had a suitor and them guys. They had a great team. And they were nationally ranked to win the national championship that year.

And we went in there and ended up knocking them off in a three game series in Wisconsin. and then we got our first birth into the WCHA Final Five back then. So for me, that was, you know, that was kind of a pivotal point. Ended up knocking them guys off going to the Final Five. I had a great Final Five. And, you know, it's kind of right after the Final Five is when, or during the Final Five, that's kind of when my advisor at the time I had reached out and said that there were some interest in some teams. And if I'd ever thought about leaving school.

And it was kind of a shocker to me, right? Like we were, we left, we left, the WCA Final 5 in Minneapolis. So we had a playing game. You had to get a playing game in order to get into the final, like the four. So we had a playing game against, I believe it was Colorado College the first and ended up beating them. So we got into the actual tournament because there was that one playing game. And, you know, had a great tournament.

But we left the tournament, came back and we were on spring break back home up in Anchorage and had the spring break. So we got home. The season was over. So we were out celebrating. and partying and that kind of thing. And I remember waking up the one morning. My phone was going off and on hook.

And I kept sloping. I kind of hung over. Not today. Stop it. But by the time I got my phone, I had a bunch of messages. And it was my advisor at the time. And he said, I got five teams that are interests right now and being a UFA kind of thing.

It was almost like a bidding work kind of thing. So it was a really cool experience. And he's like, he's like, is this something that you want to, are you interested in finish your four years of school? Or are you wanting to leave college? and I said, well, I got to make some calls, talk to my coach, talk to my parents, that kind of thing, try to figure it out.

And, you know, I went to my head coach and the assistant coach that I, you know, had that great relationship with and just asked them. I was like, you know, what's your thoughts on this? They're like, hey, you never know what happens. You could get hurt next year. You could whatever, you know, if your contract's good and you got to, you know, you can always come back and go to school. Yeah.

But you have to take that opportunity and jump in that opportunity where you can. So, yeah, the next day, they decided the kind of had that day to decide. And then the next day I was on a flight. heading down to Cincinnati, Ohio to play in the, playing the American League playoffs with Anaheim's farm team. So it was kind of a roller coaster for me, like two years, two years midgett C, two years of the bandits, two years in college, and then signed my

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and studies have shown that serious health risks have been linked to untreated hearing loss. They have nine locations to serve you, four in the city of Calgary. Make a healthy choice and book an evaluation today, at hearing loss.ca. And so slow down a little because there's lots of good stuff in there. You're the first player from Brooks to make it to the NHL when you do eventually down the road. You're part of a team that now is considered one of the top few programs in Junior

A in the country. Is there a sense of pride when you see a guy like Kail McCar going through Brooks and becoming a star and now it's just not uncommon at all to see guys from Brooks get drafted, go to the NHL? I mean, that was something you helped build. Yeah, you know what? They've done a great job. Brooks is a great city and a great junior town.

They have great community support. And like you said, they're a hotspot. You know, any kid that pretty much gets recruited go there, they're wanting to go there. And there's not many guys with their team don't get a, you know, don't get a scholarship offer or something like that. Right. So it's, you know, they've, like I said, Brooks was great to me. It was a great town. And, you know, it's a small town, right?

But they do get that, you know, they got great fan support. And it's, you know, what they're doing, what they're doing there is unbelievable. and, you know, it's, they're getting kids from all over the place. Do I agree completely with that they only might have one or two or three Alberta kids on the whole team? Not really. You know, I think they should, you know, try to support some more local kids. But, hey, that's, that's part of the, you know, that's part of the business. And hockey's a business.

Like, that's one thing that you, you know, you think when you're in it, when you're playing, that kind of thing. You're like, oh, it's just fun. It's kind of a sport. It's that kind of thing. But the business side is something that definitely I learned later on in my career. Okay. teammates in Brooks anyone that stands out or maybe it was a coach or a guy you played against because

we're talking geez like I want to say late 90s early double o's like who's in the a jay at that point because you mentioned cameras they were kind of a juggernaut in the in the 2000s there but you would have been before the joe colberns and mike connellys and those type guys are there alan york was a goalie there but that would have been after you yeah i'm trying to it's a long time ago my memories yeah got hit ahead a few too many times times kind of thing. But you know what? I have a bunch of teammates that, you know, a lot of teammates that, you know, I look back at too that I did play with that. I'm surprised that they didn't ever get a shot, right? Like, you know, it's funny. I play rock hockey now. I started my

first year playing rock hockey and Mark Bomber's back. One guy that we, you know, I played with, he was, you know, obviously in Canmore, you like led the whole H.HL and scoring title and set records in HHL, right? Guys like that that I still play with today. And I'm like, man, how'd that kid guy never get a shot, right? Never make it, right? But, but, there's you know there's lots of guys like that you know through my era i'm trying to remember like uh well the big there wasn't back then coming out of the a j there wasn't a ton of guys that you know cracked out of the a j and and got in the hl and i'm just not the top of my head i can't really think of too many guys what about when you get to alaska now you're playing wcHA which

you know college is realigned and there's new conferences now but back then that's a big dog conference you got d u you got cc you mentioned wisconsin that's like 10 000 plus fans every game like you're playing some big programs it was it was it was It was probably one of the best divisions back then in Divin hockey. And for us, we'd, you know, going into these places, it was like a reality shock. We'd get 2,500 fans, 3,000 fans, maybe up in Alaska on a good night. Whereas we'd go down, go down, you said, Minnesota, Mancato, Denver, Colorado College, like these places and the atmosphere in them, college barns, it's unreal, right?

We'd fly out of Anchorage on a Wednesday and come back on Sundays because we couldn't get flights back up. So it was kind of cool. We got to spend time. Most of us new guys on other teams, that kind of thing. So we got to spend some time with the guys on the other teams. And, you know, that was one thing that got to see a lot of different schools, a lot of different places. But yeah, it was a great experience.

Up there, it's funny, but like there wasn't many guys that, you know, came out of, you know, with a couple of goalies that ended up playing some pro hockey up there. A couple other forwards it did. But it's now Spencer Carberry. He was a refreshing with me up there, our first year. and I played two years up there with him, and now he's the head coach of the Capitals. There you know, there is some hockey ties,

hockey ties to Anchorage, and it was, you know, lots of guys, too, they got like, why would you go to Anchorage? You know, it's dark all the time, and you're right up there. It's not really the, but, you know, like I said, for me making that decision to go up there, the coaches was, you know,

like the opportunity I had to be, be a guy that could play big minutes and develop and that kind of thing. Yeah. So, you know, and if you're, if you like outdoors, and you like being, you know, it's Anchorage is beautiful.

Like it's an awesome place to live. And, you know, definitely enjoyed my time there. So there's two programs there. Anchorage is one. And you're, if I'm correct,

on the water, a little more like milder climate because you've got the ocean right there. The other one's Fairbanks. That's inland. What's that rivalry like? And I think they also had an ECHL team at the time, the Aces.

So like what was hockey like in Alaska when you went up there and played? And were those sort of derby games or whatever you'd call? at that rivalry across the state. Was that the biggest games? Or was it going into a big rink like Wisconsin that got you wound up? I think it was a mix. But, you know, there was obviously a lot of pride in the,

they called the Governor's Cup. And the Governor's Cup is still going on up there. They still have it. Anchorage lost their hockey program for a couple of years. And they did some fundraise in the last couple of years and got it going again. They got a great booster club. And they started getting their alumni going more of that kind of thing. So they've done a great job to build the program back up.

And the head coach up there now is Matt Shazby. He was my. captain of the team when I was up there. So, you know, there's, there's still some ties, but I haven't been up there for quite a few years. Last time I was up there, they, I got, got into the sports hall of fame up there at the school. So it's been quite a few years since I've been up there. But it's, I don't know, it's, it's one of them, one of them places where, you know, it's,

I'd like to go back again because it is, it is on the coast. Fairbanks, on the other hand, it's cold. It's inland. Yeah. It's, uh, you know, minus, minus 40 on a, you know, as a typical, um, temperature in the, the in the wintertime is, you know, pretty much there for like three or four months. So it's, it's cold. Anchorage, you know, the governor's cup was, we played, you know, played a series with them over the year and had the governor's cup trophy, that kind of thing. So it was,

it was definitely one of our bigger, bigger rivalries. But at the same time for us, too, like we, we were a team that, you know, everyone obviously in our WCG being such a powerhouse division, they kind of took us as the underdog all the time. So it's us for us to go in there, especially my second year when we started to get some progress and winning some games and, and, you know, built that team and got that team going it was it was a ton of fun and i enjoyed it and you're operating like a pro team like this is this is still sort of that age where there's a lot of guys that could be playing junior still and you're flying in and out you're leaving on wednesday coming back on sunday i mean that's pretty much like pro vods you're not riding buses

there's no bus rides you're flying everywhere that's kind of cool yeah so we typically we typically would um so we'd have uh our schedule up there we had a 6 am practice usually on wednesday morons jump on the plane fly down to minneapolis or nor denver kind of thing and then bus out from there. So, you know, like I said, we played against, you know, North Dakota. Like when they first had the new Ralph Inglestad Arena there, right? Like when, you know, I don't know if I played against Calm here or not. I think he might have been just before me.

He said he left before the new rank, so you would have just missed him if you played in the new rank. So actually Johnny Taze was there. Sure. And Matt Green, a lot of them guys. Like, Matt Green in college hockey, he reminded me Chris Pronger in the NHL, right? Like, he went up front of that and you got the stick. and you know, he always had a tough night going into the Inglesstead Arena. And, but it was, it was cool.

It was great experience. He said he got to see a lot of territory, a lot of country. And, yeah, ended up working out for me. Well, and Tim's only there one year, if I'm correct. He was one and done, I think, second overall, right to Chicago and then part of that dynasty. What did he look like in college? Because he wouldn't have been one of the older guys, but the skill would have had to been through the roof for him to do that, what, age 17?

Yeah, he was, you know, he's probably one of the best two-way players that he'll ever play the game, right? And I have a lot of respect. You know, even, even at that age, like he, and obviously, if he's only in college for one year, they're seeing something, right? And, you know, for him, yeah, I was, I don't really too much playing against him, but I just know, you know, remember glimps of them. They're like, when we came in, like, oh, this young kid, right? But yeah, he definitely was,

you know, he was definitely growing out of the league that, you know, had such a young age and look at the career he had. Call Peter Klein at McLeod-Law at 403-254-3864. or go online at macloud dash law.com. You can also find them on social media at McLeod Law LLP. You know Peter Klein at McLeod Law, personal injury guy, but also he's the go-to guy in the city for your disability insurance claims. If you're long-term disability insurance companies refusing to pay insurance benefits to you,

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Okay, so let's move along. Highly coveted free agent after your WCHA tournament. You said five different teams at that point, okay, what's the process like where you're like, geez, I didn't even really think a ton about this. And now there's five different organizations. You know, there's five different coaches. There's five different minor league teams to look at. Like, how do you sift through?

Is it like, where's my chance to play? Where the contract's totally different? or are you just like, hey, like, you're my advisor slash agent. This is why you make the money help me here. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. Like you have to put your trust in your advisor at the time. You know, obviously it started out, you know, first contract came in. And it was like, well, we got this offer first contract.

But like I said, we got lots of teams that are interested. And it was almost, it's kind of cool. It's almost like a like a moxia steel, like a bidding war kind of thing. And so it was a neat process. And it dragged out over, you know, a day and a day, day and a half kind of thing before I ended up taking off. But it was, I just kind of left that in my age in hands and said, like,

you know, this is what you do, right? Like, I'm a college kid that's just getting a shot here. And, and this is all so surreal, right? Yeah.

You know, I'm actually going to sign an NHL deal or, you know, that kind of thing, right? So you just kind of leave it in their hands and, and let it all fall out. So it was,

I was lucky enough that ended up going to Anaheim and, and yeah, it was a great. You know, I was, you know, a couple summer camps in Anaheim kind of thing. It was, obviously,

of the Laco year, the 0304 Laco year, kind of did a little damp. It was kind of, that was my first year, first four years. That's the next year. So we had a lot of guys come down from Anaheim at the time. Okay. What about it really good? It was the HLT. I looked at the Cincinnati roster.

I'm like, Jesus, there's a lot of guys. And oh, that's why. It was the Laco year. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Like our roster and our team there was, we had a great team. We ended up losing the semifinals, I believe, to Milwaukee at the time. And, yeah, it was, it was great experience for me. Right.

you're it's different too going from you know playing college and then you know playing with men and and the full schedule not just the weekend yes right so it was it was a little bit of a transition for me but um it was uh you know i definitely like said it's biggest thing for me is learn a lot like you know it's it's amazing how you know that's kind of when you start to realize the whole business side of it too right and like all right you're if you're not playing you can be replaced the next day like you know i mean that's kind of the scenario and uh but definitely um enjoy my time you know short stint island played a little bit nanheim but yeah and it's interesting because cincinnati's not an hl city any longer it was a small window there but the guys that went loved

it i know uh you and i believe your wife is with you at that point too or no she wasn't so she hadn't visited cissinia i remember people saying they really like cincinnati but that was columbus when i was in columbus that chan he ended up coming there but uh cincinnati you know back they they uh they were in cincinnati too they had two two teams they had the east coast team and the way and our team so we played at the old we played at the old Cincinnati gardens there and then the East Coast team was playing downtown at the nice right downtown but um you know it's you know it's it was uh for me it think that's my first four year playing pro so you you got to learn to grow up and take care yourself right and that's a big transition for a lot of guys so

some of the names that would have been around there do you remember because i know corey perry would have been maybe a year after you at that point you might have crossed paths but like anyone on an entry level in anaheim was probably down there so um that year like chris coonitz was um there um actually Shane O'Brien. We had Tony Martinson. We had, can't go back at our roster? Like, we had, we had so many, like that roster was stacked that year. Dan Balsma was actually, because his last year he kind of turned into a coach after that. Player coach. But we had, we had a, Joel Step, Aaron Rome, Aaron Rome was my roommate. Dustin Penner was there actually. No way. So we had, yeah, we had a great group.

And we should, Ilya Brzezgolf was our goalie. Breeze was there. That's right. That was the name. I looked at the roster. I'm like, oh,

there's some stories there. Yeah. He was sort of known to be that, that wing night, but not in a bad way, just this super happy go lucky Russian guy that was kind of goofy. Like, is that how you remember?

That's exactly how I was. Like just how I said, super go lucky. Yep. Just a typical goalie from most part. Yeah, a little off the beaten path. So do you remember the other four teams that had offers in?

Or does it just like, hey, this was the best deal? I've lived in Brooks and Anchorage. Any NHL city is going to be a big city with bright lights compared to the places I've been. Like just what's the best going track? Yeah, for sure.

A couple of other ones, New York was in on it. Minnesota was in on it. I believe Toronto was in on it. And I want to say Dallas maybe at that time, but I can't remember that this long time ago. Yeah. So that's four and the five.

Yeah, there was, you know, it just came down to at the end of day. Like Anaheim, we figured that there was good opportunity there. They had a good team coming up. up and Getslaf and well right Getslough and Perry were just drafted then too so I figured to be good opportunity you know them to play with them two players at one point and

that was kind of my my first two years of summer camp that was my line no way summer camp it was awesome so um got to play them guys and then ended up playing with them my first NHL game too so um you know got to got an opportunity to excuse me a bounced up and down kind of or i was down in the minors in most part after the you know after the lockout year went down to the miners moved to Portland, Maine and spent the season there. And we actually got to the, got to the point where, you know, I was kind of, I was playing pretty much fourth line minutes, or not fourth line, but fourth line roll down there and, and just felt like it wasn't kind of getting the opportunity. And, and there was lots of guys getting called up and called up and I had good numbers and that kind

of thing. And my agents kept telling me, stay patient, stay patient kind of thing. And, you know, might kind of determine a factor when I went into the coach's office after talking to my agent at one point and Kevin Deneen was actually our coach and he just asked him, you know, why my, why am I playing fourth line kind of thing? He's like, well, to be honest, because I see it's no more than a fourth line or in NHL. I want to play your fourth line in it. So you get to know how to play that role and play them, play that kind of thing, that kind of style. So did that make sense to you or is that an insult? It was kind of an, I thought it was kind of an insult, but at the same time, it's, you know, I was always kind of guy that played hard, you know, love,

like, physical and playing physical, that kind of thing. So I did learn how to stick up for myself and learn how to fight here and there, right? And that kind of role. But I think after kind of that conversation is when I talked to my age, I was like, you know, I don't think this is the right spot for me. I don't think I'm going to get a shot to get. And so maybe we look at asking for something different. And it ended up, that's kind of how it worked out.

I got called up for my first NHL game. It's funny, my parents, they just flew out. at like a week-long homestand in Portland. And so they came out, flew out to Portland, Maine for the, just got to, we had, so I rented, we were renting a house. on the beach in Portland, Tim Brent and Ryan Shannon, myself, the three of us. And parents came out and we had an extra bedroom. So they came and stayed with us.

And they got in the night, the one night before our first game and went to Costco, loaded up, stocked the fridge. And we're like, oh, parents are going to cook for us all for a week. We're set up. And then the next morning, go to pregame skate. And then I get called in the office and got called up that day. So the boys were pumped. They got a full fridge in Portland.

And so mom and dad flew across the country, then jumped on a plane, flew to Anaheim. and yeah, I ended up playing my first game against Colorado. And that was a home game in Anaheim the next night. Yeah, real quick. Just like, it was wild. So there was no Western Division in the American League forever. And so you literally had teams like L.A. and Anaheim, San Jose, they're all in the Pacific Coast.

And all their affiliates are in like Worcester, Manchester, you know, Portland. Like you literally had to cross the continent for a call-up. And leaving a full fridge behind, no less. So you come in, you probably traveled all day to get there. Yeah, traveled all day to get there, went the next morning of the rink and did pregame skate. And then went that night and I ended up, it was my second shift. And my first shot on goal, I got a pass from Getsloff right in the slot and went top corner on Peter Boudai. Come on.

It was kind of, it was a cool experience. And something I'll never forget, obviously, having your have family there. And I had my mom and dad were there and my aunt and uncle were there. And so it was a, it was a cool experience. and then I was pumped because we were going on a Western Canadian road trip. Oh, there you go. Edmonton, Calgary back to back two nights later. So it was kind of funny.

We went to, you know, obviously coming back to Edmonton, I'm pumped and everyone obviously knew that I played in my first game and heading back to Edmonton for the first time playing in Canada and coming home. And so friends, family, everyone just bought tickets again. I don't know how many people that I knew that were at the game, that game. And I end up going for a warm-up, just high-step in at Edmonton and Rex, all right?

just excited to come back and play at home in front of friends and family and come in from warm up and get the tap that you're not playing tonight. So you score one goal your first game. You're going home. Was it Babcock then? This feels Babcock. I want to say. Pre- Babcock is I think he's around.

Babs was there. I'm not sure if he was. I'm not sure if he was coach and I can't remember. I'll pull it up. But either way. So you get scratched in Edmonton. You only played one more game as a duck. And then I came the next time we played now.

I'm sorry, in Calgary. So you go Emmington down to Calgary, you get scratched, then you play in Calgary. That was your last game as a duck. Yep. So everyone, same thing. They missed the first game. Like, he can't get scratched two nights in a row. He said, everyone's coming down to.

Everybody's coming down to Calgary. Yeah. So came down to Calgary, had a good game and ended up flying back after the game. And it was All-Star break. So they were going to pay me in my NHL salary to go hang out in California for a few days. And so got sent back down to Portland, Maine the next day. and the day after the the roster freeze or whatever

got traded Columbus. And so that it kind of in hindsight looks like, okay, you'd voice displeasure, you wanted more than fourth line minutes in the American League. Maybe this organization isn't a fit. And they were deep at that time. That's a really competitive team. That's a tough roster to crack. They bring you up. They play with some stars.

You score. Boom. It almost feels like a pump and dump where let's get this guy in a good spot and that'll help us facilitate a trade. Is that sort of how you saw things in hindsight, how it happened? You know, I think it worked out perfect, right? Like, you know, it's Anahma's deep that year, went deep in the playoffs. And actually, I think they won one that was that the other one that cup, 05 was.

Well, 5 of 6 is lockout. 04 was Tampa, but the year before wasn't we, I think it was 06. I think they went to the final against Ottawa. Yeah. So that's, it was right. That's kind of when that's the year it was, you know, I ended up getting traded was that year. So obviously didn't get to get to kind of hang out in the cup run and that kind of thing. But you know what, for, you know, that's something that you're, you know, one of your regrets, right?

When you get dealt from a team and they go in and win the cup, that's the one thing. But, you know, for me, it was, you know, career-wise for me, it was a chance for me to get an opportunity and go and play, right? And having that shot to, you know, cracked a lamp. It was my last year on my entry-level deal, right? So I needed to, I need to go somewhere and jump into a, you know, more of a role and try to get my feet wet in the league, right? Outdoor dental is dentistry with no needles, no drills, and no stress. Their Salea laser treatment is an excellent solution for people who experience dental phobia. In one to two minutes, you'll be relaxed, comfortable, pain-free, and back onto your day in minutes.

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Just give them a few weeks of heads up to complete your custom piece. Find out more atvenova.com. So you go to Columbus and are you, you full-time NHL or are you still doing the up and down with Columbus and there? I got traded there. I got traded there the deadline. I was up and down for the rest of that year. And then I was obviously a UFA or I was unrestricted again and ended up signing,

I ended up recent, or sorry, that was my second year. Yeah. So I had one more year left in my deal. Yeah. But my third year, my entry level deal, I had to clear waivers to go down and ended up sticking the club in Columbus that year. Yeah. So your first full-ish season in the end of course.

season so i pretty much yeah that was my first season up until trade deadline and then uh trade deadline uh ended up getting dealt to uh get traded to the oilers wild yeah and so here you are you never got to play that game in edmonton as the for your second career game you had to wait to calgary now you're playing in edmonton you talk about coming home that's as close as it gets for provost alberta yeah i was pumped like uh i don't know it was that's something where you know grown up brovis most of most of most most of my friends, most family in the town, like that's all over the country, right? So for me to come home and, you know, being a small town kid from Alberta and get to play in Edmonton, you know, that was almost like a dream, right?

And it was, you know, it's something that I actually love my time in Evanton. We, when I got, when I got traded there, I got, I got traded for Nick Tarnstrom at the deadline. And we got there and we were almost mathematically at the playoffs when I got traded there at the deadline. It was a year after the Oilers went on the big run, lost in the finals. and they had some injury issues, that kind of thing. Guys, Pisani, I believe, got diagnosed that you're with his Crohn's and Collitis, right?

So there was Torres that blew his knee out. There was a lot of guys that were out of the lineup, and I got a chance to get in there and play. And I ended up playing on a, you know, got on the fourth line there and played with Stortini and Broziac. And I had, you know, there's sometimes when you get traded to the team and you have that instant chemistry. I, you know, with Brodsiac, him and I, you know, had instant chemistry, right? and him being a right-handed shot and me and a left winger, it seemed like, no, I got the puck lots, right, going to speed. And, you know, that's the same thing.

Like, one of my, you know, I always love playing with the right-hand ceremony, like when I played with Connie here in Calgary, right? It's just somewhere if you can get going to speed down the wall and they can find you, right? And we ended up going to run and I think we only missed the playoffs by three or four points kind of thing. We went on a run there and it was a blast. So you're almost mathematically out and then you go on this heater after the deadline and you make it respectable.

Yeah. And I know from being in Calgary at the time, like, Jesus, who's this Glenn Cross prick? Like he's big, he can skate, he's scoring. Like it's not a lot of NHL games, but he looks like a player. Like, crap, Evanton's got another player. And then you're a free agent that summer. And how in the world do they not bring you back after the incredible finish to the season?

So we, you know, I was wanting to stay in Evanton. They called us for this season. He talked to my agent and said that they wanted to bring me back. But they were they were tight on cap space. They wanted to keep as much cap space as they could. I believe host was a free agent that year. and they were wanting to make a push to try to bring Hosa in. So they'd offer me a deal.

It wasn't very much. And I just said I was going to hold out to free agency. And we called them again at, you know, right before morning and trade or free agency July 1st. And they asked if we were interested in, you know, still sign or we asked if they wanted to do any negotiating on this deal kind of thing. And they're like, now we got to keep all our money. Deals and the deal. Take it or leave it.

It was 10 after 10 kind of free agencies at 10 o'clock on July. first and we had a call from Daryl Sutter and he wanted to sign me up in Calgary right away. I think it was three years he gave it. Yeah, gave me three years. That wouldn't have been what Emmettin was offering for sure. Ebenton offered me a three year deal, but it was a minimum, like, just way lower money. And so when Darrell called me and, and it didn't take long for us to get a deal signed,

I think a couple hours later, we had a deal signed and ended up, I was actually in Pinocca at the Pinocca stampede. And I had to get my buddy Ray Carrotto, that races to the truck wagon. Yeah. I was like, we was doing chores. and kind of thing and getting ready for his nap and getting prep for the race and that kind of thing. And I was like, hey, I need to come to rodeo office with me.

I need to sign this contract and get this contract. I need a witness and you need to come sign a contract with me and all this stuff. So it was kind of a cool, you know, cool story that we had to back then. It wasn't a scanners or, you know, email it kind of thing. Sure. You had to go find a fax machine and hard sign it and send it back. So it was, yeah, pretty cool. Darrell wasn't going to let a good country boy from Alberta slide through his fingers. And you stepped in when that team.

was, you know, a pretty legitimate contender. I look, it's like Lankow, Funuf, Ginnla, Conroy, Camillary. I mean, Adrian O'Coyne was there your first year. You still got Mika in his prime. Like, yeah, of course, I mean, just off the top of my head. Like, we had a, we had a great job. And after the lockout, like, that's,

you're not just going to a place that's given you money. Like, this is a contender in a sense. It was. And, you know, and I haven't, obviously, having Kippers are goalie. Like, you know, I, I look back now. my, you know, my seven years here in Calgary. And I'm like, I don't understand how we didn't make more of a push in the years I was here.

Like, we had such good teams. And it's, you know, I don't, I don't know how. Yeah. How it kind of, how we fell through the cracks, right? And didn't quite get there. And, you know, it's disappointed because you look back, like you said, you look back at our rosters that we had. And on paper, we should be, we should be a contendant team.

And we should be, you know, a big play. Win the division, win a couple rounds. That should have happened once or twice. Yeah. But after 0304, lockout, then the year of the Hoyler's to the final like it just it felt like you were in these series where you could have should have woulda but it never happened yeah it was tough it was uh yeah definitely disappointment because like said we had such a good team and yeah just didn't didn't work so i'm looking you're basically

around the 70 game mark before you arrive in calgary it's 418 regular season games in calgary this is your nchal home this was the organization that people and you say their name they picture you in this jersey, what was it like? Because it isn't far from home. And for a guy that has a family in the livestock and industry and is hanging out with Chuck wagon racers, like you're home with the Calgary Stampede, you're still in Alberta. That's, that's pretty special to be able to, maybe it's not the hometown team, but damn, it's close. You know what? I was so, so fortunate and so blessed that I did get to play here in Calgary for seven years. Like, there's not a lot of guys that get to stay in one spot that long.

And for me, you know, like I said, I'm playing in front of friends and family every night. There was something about me playing in a Canadian market, but I also, and having friends and family around, that, that was a drive for me, right? And, you know, it's, I look at my time here in Calgary. I, you know, I had some injury issues, that kind of thing for quite a few years. And, and, you know, I look at, you know, part of my career and, you know, some of the best years I was having, I did get injury issues. And I credit a lot of my, a lot of my, you know, my best seasons and got the

turned me into more of a, you know, taught me so much and, and kind of took me over that next step in my career was, you know, Brent Sutter when he was a coach here in Calgary, you know, I have a ton of respect for him. And still to this day is my favorite coach that I ever had. And it's, and it's, you know, I, I have that relationship with Brent. And I, you know, it's he, you know, something like being a coach, just like having a boss. You want, it's, I love being straight up. Like, if there's an issue, come to me, come talk to me. Let's work it out. Let's that kind of thing, right and you know there was i i had the relationship with brent and and uh you know there was there was a time where you know um when brent was here which kind of turned my career around is

there was a there was a time where i was getting ripped on nonstop and was on video for like a month straight and practice got blown down um glennie you're doing this wrong and i had yeah like all over me and you know he blew down on a practice one time and i'll never forget it was like a pivotal point in my in my career that um we're kind of in a slump here in calgary and And I, we were doing just a flow drill kind of thing in practice. And I didn't stop in front of the net kind of thing. And he blew it down, called everyone to center ice and put everyone around the circle and made me jump up and skate the center circle. And you might remember this.

It was, it was quite a few years ago. But skate in the circle. And I ended up starting to see it in the circle around around around. And then he blew the west and I kind of did a quick little U-turn, come back to him. And then he made me go start. All right, now skate the other way. He started me going around the circle the other way and skated, skated, skated. And then I stopped and that's tired, obviously, because I had done about 25 laps around the circle both ways.

And he's and he just called me out. He's like, you know, different words, but that's your problem. This is this team's problem. You guys are all swooping and turning. You're not stopping for that. You're not playing the right way. And he pretty much said, kicked everyone off the ice, like, get out of here. So it's like, finish the shift.

No shortcuts. That was the message to everyone. You happened to be the guy that had to get yelled out to get the point. I went home and I was to my wife. I was like, I can't do that. Like, like, I was on a stretch. there for two or three weeks. I couldn't do nothing right for them. I was just baffled in my mind was playing mind. The game is so mental, right? And playing mind games on myself. And so I went home

and Tan. He's like, why don't you go and talk to him? So I went in and talked to him and I walked in his office the next one. I went in early, met his office and he's sitting there pretty much sitting at his desk and just laughing at me kind of thing. And he just said, I was wondering how long he's going to take you to come talk to me. He's like, I see you as, he pretty sure me. He's like, I see you as my kid on this team. I want to use you. You're gritty, your hard nose. You want to work hard. You'll do what you're told to do.

But I want to see you. If guys see that I'm ripping on you and being that kind of guy to you, it makes them kind of step up and know that they're next and, you know, they better get their shit together pretty much, right? Yeah. So it was, but I remember that morning when I woke up and I was going into Brent's office.

I was like, I think the Calgary son back then. It was like the heading on the sports section. I was like Glenn Cross Sutter's whipping boy or something like that. And I was like, oh boy, like where are we going here? But you know what? I credit Brent.

And I, you know, it was, like I said, a pivotal point in my career where it kind of gave me a reality check too and just made me, you know, I was, I was hard of myself. I was a, you know, everyone knew me as a flame. I wore my expression. My face. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't the kind of guy that really held it in. And that was just the way I played. I had the emotion. I had the drive and I wanted to win. And and that's just kind of, you know, my mentality. And, you know, sometimes it got me in, you know, a little bit of trouble here and there because I was an emotional guy, right? But at the same point, it's, you know, that's, you know, that's, that was my drive, right? And so what happened to A, that team, B, your season and see the relationship with the coach after that? Because you said it's a turning point. It's clearly one that you use that opportunity to make it for the better. And I believe that was the year that I had my, you know, I had, I think I had 26 goals that year kind of thing. And in a short, short in season, I didn't play the full season. I ended up hurting my knee and it was either my knee or my ankle that year.

But it was probably one of my pivotal seasons where, you know, I ended up becoming an assistant captain in the flames that year, too. and just it was uh you know that was that was just a i don't know i always look back and that was a you know having a brent and have excuse me having that relationship with him and having him you know spend take that extra time you know even though it didn't seem like he was wanted to or seemed like it was against me but he was actually cared and wanted to wanted to you know see me succeed right hey guys it's pinder let's dive into some of the action on the betway app Women's World Cup, the Dutch, the Netherlands, the Orange. They're very good at soccer.

The men, certainly, the women look very good in group play, plus a goal differential, quite a bit more impressed than the Americans, paying 12 to 1 to win the women's world cup? Yeah, take that $10 and turn it into 130. Love it. Let's go, Orange, Arrani, Dutch, Holland, the Netherlands. It's all very confusing. Let's hope the orange wins us some green.

Hey guys, that's part one of Curtis Glencross. Be sure to be back tomorrow. We'll have part two. Live from the Tower Studios, it's been fun doing these. You're going to love the rest of Glennie as he puts a bow on his career as a Calgary flame and talks about family.