Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Former Calgary Flames Forward Jason Wiemer (FULL INTERVIEW PART 1) | FN Barn Burner
Episode Date: August 23, 2023Rhett & Pinder sit down with former Calgary Flames Forward Jason Wiemer.PART 1/2Shoutout to this episode’s sponsors:The Hearing Loss Clinic: https://hearingloss.caMcleod Law: https://w...ww.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 sales@thenationnetwork.com to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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Hey guys, it is Pinder.
Hope you're having a great summer.
Man, it's like disappearing.
What's going on?
We're like near the end of August.
Kids are going back to school.
I got hockey evaluations from my kids coming up.
It's crazy, hey?
Like just gone.
It was like stampede last week, I swear.
You know what's been why things have been flying by is, A,
these long form interviews have been doing have been so great,
and I'm so much fun.
Lanny, Vernon, Glencross, staging,
gear, great stuff, tons of fun.
And also, like, we've been slacking off and vacationing a bunch.
We're going to have to actually get back to the grind soon,
which is probably why I'm complaining.
Post-Laybiday, we're going to be back and full bore.
But that all being said, we are going to do more long form today.
Here live in the Tower Studios, we will chat with,
well, actually, I shouldn't say live.
We're live in the Tower Studios.
Earlier last week, we chatted in the Tower Studios with,
Jason Weimer, who is, well, cut from the same cloth as Rhett Warner. So all the things that
makes Rhett, a lot of those vibes from Weimar, who is a large human as we get to right out
of the gate. And they're great pals, a huge personality, a ton of fun, and a really loose, fun chat,
less serious and a lot more fun. Look forward to that. Here's a big event coming up in Tower,
though I want to tell you about it is the roar and explore
unleashing the legends of Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler.
You're going to see the nation Jeep down there, maybe the nation truck as well.
20 bucks if you want to register your vehicle.
All registration fees go to brown bagging lunches for Calgary kids.
Great cause there.
There will be all kinds of car displays, a food truck,
Best in Show prizes, raffle prizes as well.
You can zap the QR code right there if you want to register your vehicle.
It is this weekend.
Man, I was telling you,
summer's flying by.
August 26th this weekend.
We'll see you there.
That's the Saturday.
Should be a ton of fun down at Tower Chrysler, Dodge, Ram Jeep.
Enjoy it.
It's part one of Jason Weimer.
I love this because you guys are the,
old school is the wrong word,
but when you talk about a hockey Canada event now
and the program of excellence,
all these kids have had agents since they're 12
and nutritionists.
and I've been, this is my warm-up routine that I've had since I'm nine,
and this is my skill coach here, and I've been at this.
Like, you guys were just big.
You like playing hockey, and you immediately strike a friendship up.
It was, yeah, and it was one of those easier.
Sometimes you run into people you kind of have like-minded with,
and you feel like that's an easy.
I remember the next year, it was our draft year,
and the scouts, three or four of them that you're interviewing with,
like so who's a buddy and then i'd say his name of that they're like weird he said the same thing
anyway it's it was one of those ones that was just it felt natural so you end up getting drafted by
florida teams and probably see each other a better than linear care but before we get there
you were miles and miles apart in your junior career in the western league but i don't know
that it gets much further apart than saskatoon and portland in the western league did you see each other
could you keep tabs or was it like hey that's a guy that i played with it this weird tournament
We never played against each other.
Once or twice a year.
Well, and we never played against each other as kids because you never used to travel
all over the damn place to play.
There was no spring stuff.
I didn't know.
We wouldn't have known each other.
What did you go in that bantam draft?
Our bantam draft was the first ever.
Second.
Was the second?
Yeah.
There was one the year before.
We were 91 and there was, I think there was a 90, I think.
Whatever the years were?
Because I remember, remember the Darcy Mattersdifer?
Nope.
He was a fernie kid.
I just remember that.
I played at you of all.
Exactly.
Charlie's older brother.
Yeah.
And I remember there was drop the year before because he was in the first one and I think he was a top pick.
But we were.
I was five.
I was two or three.
So you were the same band of draft.
Big Chris Dingman was in there, wasn't he?
No, Adam Smith was first.
Adam Smith, uh, Concluchier.
Cluch?
That's right.
And then there was some other guy that I don't remember.
his name.
Anyway, you never crossed paths.
So it would be the first time you'd see a name of a guy.
You're from Saskatoon area.
Like your province is a part.
And then you play junior for a year.
And we would have played each other as rookies and junior.
But I don't really play.
The only hockey information you got was the hockey news.
Hockey news, yeah.
The hockey news would come out.
You might be able to find.
You might be able to find your name in there somewhere.
Or you'd find, oh, who's this guy?
Oh, Rhett.
he's playing out somewhere in Western Canada,
but there was no Snapchat and all these other.
These kids are, yeah, they're all talking about.
And they know who everybody's.
Even kids in the city that are young,
they know every good hockey player across town,
across Western Canada,
and they're 14 years old.
Yeah, why not?
I mean, like you said,
the games are on TV.
Yeah, it's everywhere.
Streamed online.
Yeah.
Yeah, if you make a nice play in a game,
it's going to get on TikTok and Instagram, Twitter, wherever.
Sure.
So we talk about when I was growing up, I went to kindergarten and they asked who wanted to play hockey, raise my hand, small town, 200 people.
The only thing going on was a rink.
Kimberly, same sort of.
Which town was that?
Frontier.
Oh, right.
Whose name is outside of that town?
That's me.
Oh, did they change the side?
No, no, because you're thinking where I was born with Sean.
We didn't have a hospital.
So I had to go all the way to Seanovan for the hospital.
Now, who's on the side of Seanovan?
I can't remember who it is.
It's not rat.
Not me.
Is Haley from Sean?
And wasn't Sean Donovan around?
My uncle's got drunk one night and put up a home of Rhett Warner sign and the town was not happy.
But my uncle was the mayor.
So he got away.
He got away with it.
Perfect.
Still hasn't come down.
Yeah.
So what was Kimberly like?
Because Rets, people that watch the show or listen to it prior, they've heard a lot
about Rett's beginnings in a tiny little, I'm sure, you know, stop signs and dirt roads type
little town, but Kimberly's not that. No, Kimberly's a great town. You know, it's, it's changed a lot
over the years. It started as a, you know, it was a mining community and a very blue-collar redneck
town. And when the mine shut down, it's kind of transitioned into more of a tourist destination
with golf and skiing and everything else that goes on out there. But growing up there was great.
You know, you talk about being the mayor. We, dad wasn't the mayor, but we knew everybody.
So, you know, kids now are doing all their extra ice and all the, the extra bowl.
bullshit that they do. We had the keys to the rink. So every day before school, you know,
the deal was, you know, my dad would push me, but it had to be my choice. So if we were going to
go to the rink, he had the keys, but I had to go downstairs, make myself breakfast, go outside,
start the truck, come inside, make a pot of coffee, then wake him up. Really? That's a good little
setup for that. Then we go to the rink, but we weren't going to the rink to just piss around and
shoot pucks. Yeah. If you're going to go, we're going to go work. And so was he a
player. Was he a guy that the sport was big to or did you just see an affinity for you or all the
above? No, he played. Uh, you know, he played, uh, you know, he played some minor pro and, you know,
it was the original six, so you actually had to be good at it to make it then. That's fair.
So, um, you know, he, that's how he ended up in Kimberly was playing for the dynamiters.
Yeah. Uh, so in, you know, he's still got a passion for it. He's coached, you know,
coached me all the way and then coached the junior team and Kimberly for a while and then
Junior B team and junior B team. Yeah. Then ended up coaching, uh, my nephew, his grandson.
out in Kimberly and Cranmerc.
So he's still involved in the game.
He still loves it.
You know, if you call and talk to him,
he'll talk to you for hours about it.
So it's, you know,
it's, you know, he always said,
it's a passion.
If you have a passion for it,
it's like anything else.
The bigger passion you have for something,
the better you're going to be at it.
So, you know, all these kids that are seven,
eight, nine years old and really can skate like the wind,
well, if they don't develop the passion for themselves to really want it,
it's just a skill.
It's just a skill.
You need that passion with it.
Yeah, it's a.
I think you see that a lot of players nowadays.
Back in passion.
The kids are as talent.
Well,
they're more talented than ever before.
The thing that holds them back is that they don't truly have a passion for it.
It's just something they do.
It's almost like they get fed it too much.
It's too much.
I agree.
And I think it's also,
if they're treating it like a business from the time they're 10 to 12,
why shouldn't it look like they're businessmen?
Yeah.
Like this isn't their passion.
This is what they want to do for.
work. They're contractors. I have an agent. I eat this way because I know it's good for my
business. I train this way because I know it's good for my business. So if you're watching me,
I should look like a businessman. Am I making too much of that? 100%. You know, and that goes,
you know, when you get to a higher level, what are you willing to sacrifice for your business?
You know, so is it the team or is it the individual skill? So it's a very, you know, it's in a different
spot right now. Like when we were growing up, we didn't have skills coaches. We didn't go and do all
these different skills things. And when you went to your team practice, it was team skills. It was how do you
fit into your team unit and your team? What's it going to do? You know, if you, I said to my nephew
the other day, he had the stick out and he's picking the puck up and doing all their dangling
bullshit that I still can't do. Yeah, like I don't even know. I wouldn't even know where to start.
I said, if I would have tried that when I played,
I wouldn't have made it to the bench.
I'd have got shit kicked before I got to the bench.
Take your gear off.
Oh, not even take your gear off.
Somebody would come off the other bench,
kicked my ass for showboating and trying to make somebody look stupid.
So I like where it's at that there is some more skill involved in the game.
I mean, the game's in a good spot.
There's lots of skill and it's fun to watch.
But I do miss a little bit of the hate.
Well, and back to Kimberly,
the small town there has to be another town
rival who was the Kimberly rival and who were he
having to beat up on and it was
dingtown Cranbrook oh yeah
you know it's
because they're right beside each other
oh yeah you could mistake it's a part no no you can't
mistake them for the same they were pretty good though
they had the Nita Meyer brothers were there so
it wasn't like we would go down and
take over at Cranbrook it was go down and take a shit kick
and then limp home so they were they were good
But that was the rival, you know, growing up in Kimberly
playing against all those guys.
But, you know, coming from a town of six or seven thousand people
and Cranbrook may be having 25,000 people in a five-year gap,
we kicked out, like, myself, the Nina Myers, John Clem, McBain brothers.
Like, there was a list of Lukwitch.
Do you think that that there's like, they say like the Canadian
soccer team or doing well or the Raptors doing well and then the kids start to fall.
Do you think that, you know, there was a, your dad and that's all kind of the same age group.
So all those guys probably moved there either to play hockey or for the mine or for the
business.
All of a sudden they have kids.
Now they build up that.
You saw in St. Louis for years ago.
All those alumni guys had kids and then they start coaching all these St. Louis teams.
And now you got the Kachucks coming out in there.
I think they had like seven kids in the first round from St. Louis over a couple of years.
I was like, I totally believe that's the thing.
A, you got the good genes and then B,
you surround them with people that understand the game.
The kids grew up in dressing rooms.
Like, yeah.
I agree with that too.
All those guys that went there to play for the dynamiters
and there was a team in Cranbrook, the Colts,
they all became dad.
Those were the coaches.
Those are the guys.
So you're implementing that passion you're talking about,
but then you've got the competition.
So we had Kimberly and Cranbrook that both had pretty good teams.
And if we were going to compete,
we had to be better.
So it was go to the rink in the morning.
It was, you know, we are going to work at this
so that we can compete against these guys.
And that only elevates everything.
So it was a great situation for me.
I, you know.
So you battle through Kimberly,
you got to beat the piss out of the Niedemeyer boys
and Kramberra.
Try.
If you could catch them.
You're not going to catch Scott.
Rob, Rob was a big boy too, though.
Rob didn't have the pretty stride.
Oh, he was fast.
Oh.
He was so.
thick between the tits and knees.
Like he could, oh, could he
skate? So powerful. It was, and
long, but yeah, it didn't look
like Scott. Right. Like,
when Scott skated, it was, you just
watch. Yeah. Oh.
It was just, yeah. He'd pick up,
start picking up speed and he'd just go, wow.
Bye.
So, okay,
before we switch gears, the bantam draft, 1991.
Adam Smith, number one overall
to Tacoma, didn't play in the NHL.
two, Colin Clucay, didn't play in the NHL.
Three, Jason Weimer, 11 seasons in the
NHL, four, Dean Kletzel,
didn't play in the NHL, five, Rhett Warner,
12 seasons in the NHL.
You combined have over 1,400
NHL regular season games.
And we both talk about it
a lot, and we referred
to lots of youth hockey already.
But every time
there's a, the draft comes out,
it's like,
so many kids are disheartened and
beat down and, oh, I didn't
forget about that.
It doesn't matter.
That list showed you.
Three of the top five picks in Western Canada
didn't play a single game in the NHL.
And that's not an anomaly.
No, that's...
I remember my year, it was Justin Mapletoff.
And he was a dominant player and he was phenomenal.
And it was like, no, not an NHL career there.
Yeah.
It's, the ban of drafts is a crapshoot.
And it's worse here.
Because the WHL drafts is 14-year-old.
Right.
Out east, it's 15.
So they're at least a year closer.
It's not a...
There's never a perfect scenario, but two years out at the age of 14 years.
14 is tough.
You have no idea what a kid's going to look like at 18,
which the WHL and the CHL is now is an 18, 19 year old league.
It's not where we played,
we would have quite a few 16 and 17 year olds.
You know, it's gotten a little bit older.
Now, like, what does the kid look like from 14 to 18?
That's really, like, I mean,
those are some pretty big years on development.
You can make some major strides.
There's a big decisions.
You could add a half foot and 50 pounds.
And there's a lot of things that come into a guy's life around 18 years old to change your motivation.
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So what did you look like as a junior hockey player?
Rhett barely remembers, but your nickname's the big human.
I could see you as just a force of nature,
and you didn't have a tough time finding the net.
You were, they must have loved you in Portland.
Yeah, Portland was fun.
But I was fortunate enough that I developed into a man at a young age.
So I was 16 years old and 215 pounds.
And, you know, that part was easy.
So I could play that power forward in junior where you were playing against guys that maybe weren't as 170.
Yeah.
So that played into a little bit.
So Portland was fun.
It was.
You had good teams.
Did you made it to the final, the one year, the dub final?
We made it to the dub final.
We lost the swift current.
They give us food poisoning.
That was cool.
Imagine that?
Like we go in for pregame meal and like eight of our guys out of our team come out of pregame meal for game.
for game seven with food poised?
Just a coincidence, Jason.
It's got to be.
Speedy Creek.
So, yeah, we had good teams.
Like, my second year,
we had six guys with over 40 goals.
So would you have run into the Camelips teams
every year in the final of the West?
We beat them the one year.
Our first year, we beat them to go play Swift in the final.
And my second year, we lost to them.
That was year they had Gimla and Tucker and...
Haskah, we found out.
Huska?
Who was the goal?
Passmore?
Steve Passmore was in net.
Branch?
Rudd Branch for a while.
That was neat.
That would have been, I think, before I think.
So, yeah, they went on.
That's kind of when they just started to turn their corner of Camloops,
and they won the Memorial Cup.
They walked through it that year.
But they had a good team.
So you score 45 goals, 96 points, 236 penalty minutes.
I think you're ready for the pro ranks, sir.
Yeah, well, I had Scotty Nicholas a centerman.
And so of the 236, he was probably responsible for 200.
He starts that you finished it.
Oh, God.
One of the greatest.
Well, a little past, too.
I like he played with Edge.
Yeah.
Oh, I mean, everybody would love the way he plays.
And he's just an awesome human.
But he would wait in.
And it didn't matter who it was.
He would be in there giving her.
And it's like, Jesus, Scott.
You know you're not going to have to do that I.
Yeah.
Or go chase like Belac around.
It's like, no.
No, you're on your own.
Like, no, I'm good.
But he was, yeah, we had great teams.
That was great.
So another buddy of Rets, Shannon Briskey was our other winger.
So it was me, Scotty, and Briskey was our line for my second year, junior.
And so Scotty had, whatever I had, like 95 points or whatever.
And Scotty was right at 90.
And I think Brisky had 30.
I'm not sure how that's.
It's the focus thing we just talked about.
He may be.
Not sure how it's possible.
Yeah.
you the focus you'd lost a little of this focus well no i've borland was uh brent peterson was our coach uh
brad his bister actually brought this up to me a couple years ago he was there with us and we were getting
in shit for something we weren't playing the way we should or uh not playing well and so ptie calls us in
and he's kind of giving it to us and he said he's like you guys are going to miss this it's like right
now is the time of your life this is when it's the best you've got no responsibility you've got
no real pressure.
You're playing the game you love and you've got a good team.
This is the time of your life.
Don't fuck it up.
Yeah.
And,
you know,
us being 17,
18 years over,
like,
we're all going on to careers and hockey careers.
A thousand games to come into NHO.
Yeah,
like,
what are you talking about the time of your life?
And Izzy brought it up a couple of years ago.
He's like,
remember Pete having that conversation?
It's like,
man,
he was right.
And you look back on it.
And he was,
because it is just that.
There's no pressure.
there's no shit weighing you down.
You're just going out and having fun with your pals and playing hockey.
You're surrounded by peers that are doing the same shit that you are.
The biggest stress you have is maybe your math quiz on, you know.
I'm sure you were stressed right out.
I was really worried about it.
It's affected on a ton.
But even riding buses and stuff, you know, you think about doing, oh, my God,
I'd be hard.
And this was not a concern.
Playing cards.
It was all.
Bullshit with your pal.
And you talk about the buses and the dumb shit that would go on the buses, which was humorous.
And you think about riding from Brandon to Portland.
A couple days, right?
Yeah, like, it's like a 30-hour track.
It's not fun.
But when you sit back and think about it now, those are the times you actually remember.
Oh, yeah.
Like, I remember that happened on the bus.
I remember that it was on the bus.
Like, that was part of your bonding.
It was, you know, bringing the guys together.
And it was a lot of fun.
I say that about the game now.
Do you remember when you got your own room in the NHL?
Yeah.
This is great.
So for people that don't know, when you come in the league, you'd ever room,
what did you have to get to?
Was it a games played?
Was it service time?
Was it 10 years or 600?
10 years?
It was a long time.
Or like 5 or 600 games?
Okay.
Yeah.
So what you're saying is you've got to be not only,
you've got to be established veteran before you even think of it.
Well, and I think it was, I don't even know.
Was it that way when we started?
No.
No, this was after the lockout.
That was after 04.
So you negotiated, you got that.
So that was part of the-
We got a salary cap, but we got our own room after 10 years.
I bet you, yeah.
Give them the rooms.
We'll hose them for hundreds of millions over the next decade.
Yeah, worked out well.
But the point I'm trying to make is,
you talk about the bus rides and being around with your buddies,
I think that part of what's missing with today's game,
my best friends from hockey,
or most of the time I ruined with them.
Having those roommates and going back to the room and bullshit with those guys and having those conversations,
that is some of the best stuff.
It's better than staring at your phone, right?
Exactly.
And now you get better sleep for sure without someone else in the room, but you miss out on so much.
Like, who are your roommates?
Who's your first roommate?
My first roommate?
Oh, this is great.
Denny Savard.
Like, come on.
Are you kidding me?
And chain smoking.
It was amazing.
I had to hang my suits out the window.
This was a different era, fellas.
You realize that now.
There's no one chain smoking in the NFL.
It was like, can you see the TV?
Kind of.
Like chain smoking, I'm not shitting you.
I hung my suits because you used to smoke in the bar, right?
So I'd have to hang my suits outside the window.
So I didn't smell like I was at the bar the night before.
He's just lighting one after another.
Hey, kids, this bothering you?
I'm like, no day.
You're done.
He's the bar.
It's fine. No, sir. Yeah, everything's fine, sir.
So Terry Crisp was our coach in Tampa my first year.
He's a beacon of Denny. So he was my centerman as well.
And so I still remember who we were playing, whatever. We weren't doing very well.
And so in between periods, you can hear Sabby go in and we weren't, I don't know,
we didn't have that much ice time or to his liking.
He goes into Crispy and he's just losing it on Crispy, like just up one side and down the other.
I'm sitting there. I was 18 years old going, holy shit.
Like, you're allowed to talk to a coach like this?
Like, this is great.
So anyway, get out on the ice.
And this was before everybody went straight to the bench.
So everybody's out there doing the hot lap.
And I see Denny come out.
His skates are untied and he's got a towel tucked into his jersey.
He skates across the ice and onto the bench, like right down to the stick rack.
I'm like, well, this isn't good.
So I've done my hot lap and I come peeling off the ice.
He says, hey, kid.
come on right over here. I got a spot for you.
We're done. I'm like, oh,
so that was it. No more ice time for us that night.
Daniel set you up, but he probably
he took waste of ice time that night too.
Yeah, maybe a little bit. He was great.
Talked about learning a lot from a guy.
How old would he have been? Mid-30s there?
Him? Yeah, this would have been near the end. So he went from
Tampa. He's famous in Chicago, right? Yeah.
So it was long after that.
And I think then he ended in Montreal.
So it would have been in his last
season or two. So yeah, he'd have been mid-30s.
Yeah. So it was...
That's interesting, but I have a roommate. Because I know sometimes you'd get
younger guys together, but sometimes it's put the young guy with the old guy.
Those are different ideas. Yeah. No, that was good. And then, uh,
then I had Wilm here. Ooh. That's a whole difference.
Yeah, we can't even go into that.
I learned a lot from him too. So yeah, and another like Brett saying,
like guys that you roomed with, you end up being tight with and, you know,
Willie kind of falls into the same mix.
So, you know, we were always pretty fortunate to lots of good guys.
So you get, you go through junior, you have great junior career, short junior career, though.
Like, yeah, if you're good enough.
Well, like you said, you're a man.
Yeah, you're too good for that league.
Let's get them up.
So it was a lockout year.
Yeah.
Was our first training camp, pro training camp, right?
Yeah.
And so they cancel or don't start the season.
You go.
back to Portland.
Yeah.
Play?
I signed.
So I made the team at a camp.
Let's go back to draft.
So we go to the draft in beautiful
fucking Hartford, Connecticut.
What a spot.
Nothing like a draft in a mall.
It's awesome.
The memories that were made there were just epic.
Yeah.
Get drafted.
No you were going to Tampa?
Suspect.
Suspect.
So.
What number?
They were eight.
So Tampa was picking eight.
And you remember.
remember the meetings you go into. So you go into all these meetings and everybody runs them a little
differently. Some are very casual. San Jose had like a boardroom, like a long, it looked like you
were in an interrogation and like literally a spotlight on you. Like here, here you go and guys like
rapid fire questions. So it was, they were all different. I went into Tampa and they were in like
the penthouse. They're all wearing shorts and flip flops and sucking back beers. I was like, I'm going to
fit right in here.
These are my boys.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, they, they, who's running things?
Espo.
Of course.
Yeah.
You got in his book.
Espo and Don Murdoch.
So, but Don Murdoch was from Kramer.
So there was some familiarity there.
He'd watched me kind of grow up all the way long.
So he was Tampa's head scout.
So they kind of flat out said, like if you're there at eight, we're taking you at eight.
now obviously as draft moves along that can always change but I was and so ended up going there
so not terribly surprised but excited nonetheless did you spend the summer down there like I got
drafted to florida that year and in the summer they said hey do you want to come down here to
train and I just said no why and I didn't even think that it was a bad answer and now looking
back you're like you're an idiot right so stupid on all fronts
Yeah, like just pure.
But also, like, you'd be acquainted with the city, the organization.
Well, and you might actually have a trainer.
And he might have worked out.
There's also, I think you get sidetracked to Miami, too.
But sure, okay.
But fitness was just starting to become a thing.
You know, there was teams that didn't have an athletic trainer.
Like, they were guys that didn't have personal trainers.
Like, I didn't have a personal trainer until probably five or six years into my career.
It was just, you got a program from the team.
me you just followed that i remember going to training camp i think it was my third year hadn't skated
yeah really did not skate and not good well but when you're as fluences you read you're
you're like needs you're just that's what training camps for you and scott need tomorrow i get
i hear that a lot skating comp yeah so draft draft went down and it's funny people always asked like
i don't know and like say you're the same like did you think you're
were going to make the team.
Where's that part of your plan?
And it wasn't ever not part of my plan.
You know what I mean?
Like, I always, whenever I went to play somewhere, this is where I'm going to play.
Like get cut?
No, I'm not going to get cut.
Because you do what you have to do to stay there.
You've never been cut.
Why do you be cut now?
No, not what I get cut now?
So I went there and, you know, with the intention of playing there.
As an 18-year-old, going to try and play a power forward game, probably not the best.
But again, dumb.
Naive.
So are you having to fight in camp?
Is that party?
Or are you just like,
hey,
this is how I'm going to make this team?
How I'm pressing.
This is,
well,
and how I play.
Or it's my game.
This is how I play.
Like,
I'm going to,
you know,
try and score some goals and get in a couple of fights and see what
happens.
And I had a great camp.
Like,
I remember,
like I had a couple of hat tricks and exhibition games.
Like,
like,
I played well.
And so at the end of camp,
they know the walkouts coming,
but kind of give me the,
you've made the team.
Now, Tampa is also an expansion team.
So it's not like we're terribly deep with guys.
And it wasn't like expansion now where they get to, you know,
fellow roster or some skeleton rosters for a few years in Ottawa, San Jose, Tampa.
Yeah.
So it was pretty lean.
So here you go.
So lockout happens.
Head back to Portland.
Played a handful of games in Portland and ended up breaking my leg in Portland,
actually in Brandon of all places.
So Marty Murray.
Killer.
Team Canada.
Yeah.
It was stupid.
Fell behind me and went into the boards awkward.
But, um, so took the rest of, that would have been like, I'm going to say November
ish.
I think you played 14 games.
Yeah.
You had 10 goals and then you, the leg.
So then healed that and then I got back to playing.
I think we went back in January.
And I was playing probably mid or late January before I was back.
She didn't miss much because of the lockout.
Because of the lockout.
I didn't miss much the season.
I think we had a 48.
game. Yes. Season. I think I played 35 or something. So I missed the first little bit. Um,
but it was an awakening. Like, you know, playing as an 18, 19 year old in the Western hockey
league playing a power forward position. Okay. Do what you want. Do what you want. Well, play that
against Scott Stevens. It's a little different operation, you know, where, oh, I've seen that move. No,
thanks. Or, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to intimidate you. Probably not. So,
You know, should I have been there?
Absolutely not.
There's, you know, in 2020, the hindsight, it's obvious I needed more time to develop my game.
I needed time.
I should have played another year or two of junior or gone to the television.
I was playing the minors for a year or two to learn how to be a pro, learn how to be a man and play.
Like if I'm going to play a man's game, I can't be 19 years old.
you know and then my roommate in tampo was chris gratton who was a year older than me
and so it was here you guys get a house together and get cut loose in fLA okay so it was uh
another tough guy too yeah big big he was big he was he was tough he didn't like he didn't
like it yeah but he like but he was big and strong and so he could fight and he could score too
that he could shoot the puck.
He was a good hockey player.
I played with him in Buffalo.
Awesome.
Love the guy.
He would get so nervous about everything.
I was like, dude, just go play.
Like, you don't have to be wound tight all the time about this.
You're good.
Play.
Yeah.
He was, I don't want to say a mental midget, but he, like,
he beat himself.
He beat himself up.
You know, where it's crazy.
Confidence in this game is 90% of it.
skill level. The difference between the greats and the goods,
there's a difference in skill level.
Between the goods and everybody else is opportunity and confidence.
The best guy in the American League game is that much different than the guy in your third line, right?
No. I mean, he's not that much different than the guy on your second line.
If you're given the same opportunity and the same chance,
there's not that much difference, you know, a little bit of confidence and let the guy feel good
and give him an opportunity to play on the top line.
Oh, great story about that.
now I'm blanking on his name.
Where are we?
St. Louis.
Marty St. Louis playing here in Calgary.
So we would call him up when I was here.
Call him up.
Trivia question.
I assisted on this first NHL goal.
Really?
See?
Don't get that very often.
We would call him up out of St. John, where he's lighting it up.
And he'd come up here and play with me on the third line.
They wanted him to build that 200-foot game and then
get into the top six.
And maybe that's right, maybe that's wrong.
But the problem one is they had a regime change
before he got to get the big minutes.
And so when he went elsewhere,
everyone's like where, why it was as well,
they hoped he would get there.
But when you fire head coach and a GM,
there's some casualties, he was won.
And he cleared waivers.
Anyone could have had him.
Every team missed on Marty St. Louis.
But he didn't get the opportunity.
Yeah.
You got a kid like that playing in the minors
that's, you can see that he's a stud.
Yeah.
And then he comes up and plays eight, 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes, no power played, no specialty teams.
Where he can excel.
You're not putting him a position to succeed.
Yeah.
We didn't talk about this year at all, but a smaller guy lighten up the HL that got eight minutes and two games and that was it.
Yeah.
Didn't talk about that.
Now, I can say Marty, but you've got to get these guys opportunity.
Well, they need an opportunity.
You know, and to succeed, you need an opportunity.
And kind of off track here, but.
opportunity and luck.
Yes. You got to be lucky. You got to have the right guys believing in it at the right time.
And then when you get a chance, you got to make it count. And sometimes that takes a little bit of luck.
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So you're in Tampa from, I guess, your debut season 94-95 till 97-98 when you get
traded to coverage.
What was it like in Tampa?
Because you're a top 10 pick.
You're a first rounder and there's big expectations for you.
But you also just acknowledge it was probably too much too soon for you at 18.
It was too much too soon.
All the way through.
And we had great guys down there.
Rob Zamner was down there.
Gratz, Billy Holder, like some.
Sean Burr.
Sean Burr, Darren Pupa was in that.
Like we had a decent team with great guys.
But I wasn't ready to be,
have that pressure and be that much put on you at that point.
Physically, I probably was okay.
But mentally it was, you couldn't do it repeatedly.
So you'd have these wicked spikes where you'd go on a heater and be playing pretty well.
And then bottom out where, holy shit, it was hard.
So, and then we had coaching changes and there was three, four, five coaches that came through there over a stretch of time.
And being an expansion team, it wasn't probably the best atmosphere for me at that point.
So when I got traded here, I was excited.
I was like, okay, this will be a fresh start.
You can kind of wipe the slate.
and now I'm 23, 24.
You know the game, you've got some.
Yeah, it's mid-season, you're 21.
You get swapped to Calgary for Sandy McCarthy,
one of the all-time tough guys with the Flem's organization,
a third and a fifth.
The third turns into Brad Richards.
We only talk about that.
That was just a lucky pick.
Third is a dart throw of the third.
If everyone knew he's not going to go on the first.
But this to you is a fresh start and B opportunity.
Yeah.
Just being able to kind of put Tampa behind it,
where and it was not that Tampa was bad.
It was just.
It wasn't run option,
optimally.
It wasn't run optimally.
It wasn't.
It's the NHL.
It's supported.
You got NHL players.
It's,
you're playing in the league.
They didn't.
I walked in the year after,
his first year.
It wasn't upper echelon,
NHL management stuff that was going on.
No, and we had.
Not a,
knock on those guys, but it was...
Even the guys, a lot of the guys that were there,
no offense to them, they were
playing it out. Veterans on an
expansion. Veterans on an expansion. And how
could you have good culture? You don't have talented
players. You're ripping through coaches because
the team's not winning enough. I mean, that's a really
tough culture to come into as a new
guy. Whereas if it's Detroit, they're going to let you
play in Grand Rapids or wherever the
affiliate is for three, four years, and then you're going to
come in on fire. Totally different, right?
Completely different. And you're going to learn
from Steve Eisenman.
on how to be a pro, you know, or Joe Sackick on how to be a pro.
You know, Adam Dedmarsh was a guy that I played with in junior.
So we were drafted.
He was a year before me.
I think he was end of the first, early second rounder.
He went to Quebec.
And so same thing.
He went to Quebec, kind of made the team.
Well, when you saw what he did, being taught by guys that knew what they were doing,
it was a completely different situation.
Yeah.
Right.
So he's learning how to nutrition and all of the things to become a pro.
Like it's easy to say that you're playing pro hockey, but being a pro is a lot
different.
There's a lot that goes into it, the commitment and everything.
So it's, uh, I'm chuckling because Dead Martian nutrition don't typically.
They don't.
I think he was piggy for a reason.
And it wasn't because he was, he was wicked human.
God.
maybe not entirely,
but his work ethic and everything else
overshadowed,
maybe having the odd dog.
The odd choice.
So you get here,
it's the year after,
I believe,
that Jerome's made his debut,
because I think Jerome played in the playoffs in 96.
They called him up from junior
and he played the two home games
that got swept by Chicago.
That was the last year they made the playoffs
until they did again with your group in 2004.
So I don't know where they're trying.
but Jerome at least is you've got the great young hope has arrived.
Yeah.
The season that you arrived.
Well, we were the young guns.
We were the young guns.
Yeah.
Yeah, we were the young guns.
Like Theo was still here.
Yeah.
So we had, I mean, it was, we were a decent team.
We were pushing for a playoff.
When I got traded here, I think we had, oh, 12, 14 games left.
The deadline was a little bit later.
Who's coaching?
Brian Sutter.
Right.
And Brian's awesome.
You know, he's, just go get them, boys.
You know, maybe not an X and O's coach.
but he'll band you together.
So love getting here.
The group was great.
And we were close.
We were,
I can't remember the exact points,
but up to like two or three games left,
we were still sniffing.
And so we were playing meaningful hockey.
Just we fell short and ended up not making the playoffs that year.
But we were young and we were improving.
You know,
we were kind of banding together.
And you could see that we had lots of great young D.
We had some talented guys up front.
And then the next year we had more guys come in that, you know, it felt like we were starting to build.
Yeah.
So you got like the Goce, Derek Morris, the Ginella up front.
Like you could see there's some pieces here.
There's some pieces.
Yeah.
I can't remember if Savvy was here yet or not.
Marks of Art.
Marks of Art.
Matt Domichelli was here.
There was a list of young guys and a lot of guys that we'd seen in the Western League because Brian was running the team.
on and Al Coates was the GM so it's kind of heavy Western which was great because it's like I say
familiar faces.
Kael Hulse was here.
Nealander, Stillman, Hulse, Abilene, Patrick.
Yeah, St.
Joel Bouchard on the back end, Valbrai.
Valbure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was we were, like I said, I thought we were trying it in the right direction and then we get a
bunch of change again.
out goes coats
out goes Brian
out goes Marty St. Louis
yeah it goes Marty San Luis
and then it's kind of
start over
so a few different coaches
changes and
and that's always hard
you know when you've got coaching change you have
uncertainty
where's the gel come from
and that's kind of where
we fell into and then we had guys
who's goalie
well that was the problem
Freddie?
Well Freddie amongst others
Vernon came back
Six or eight goalies one year.
It was like everyone that came got hurt.
It was supposed to be kid.
No.
Kidder was gone.
The one year, God, we had like Tabarachi.
We had Tyrone Garner.
We had Freddie.
Zaddy maybe.
Our trefoilov.
Treffleov.
There was a bunch that year.
Yeah.
Kenny Regget.
Like, shit.
We had Grant Fear for crying out loud.
Everyone was hurt.
It was.
Unbelievable.
I don't think Freddie gets found unless there's like four or five injuries that year.
It was like he was from the depths of the minor league system and played great and earned it.
But that was his opportunity.
If there's not injuries in Calgary, I don't know that he plays in the NHL with any substance.
No, absolutely.
And he did come in and play ball.
Yeah.
Like he was lights out.
We were like, who is this?
And then he just started lighting it up and it was great.
And it couldn't happen to a better guy.
Everyone loves him.
Freddie is one of the best people in the world.
And so it was, it was fun.
But that was great, too, because we were all young.
You know, we were all 24, 25 years old.
And it was fun.
Like, we had a great group of guys.
City different?
You know what I mean?
Like, I came here in 03.
Oil and gas sector seemed like it was just booming.
Go to the finals.
There was some buzz.
I don't know what the city was like prior.
The saddled home was different.
Like, when I got...
I remember playing here.
When I got it was.
When I got here in 98, 99, we called it the library.
Like they had the upper bowl sectioned off.
They had it tarped off.
They didn't even sell tickets up top.
And people sitting on their hands.
I remember a buddy of mine and my brother came to a game from Kimberly.
And so it was one of my first games here.
So they were all jazzed up and having a few drinks.
And I don't know what happened.
I don't remember if I scored or gotten a fight or something happened.
So they're standing up, hooting and hollering and yelling and screaming.
And the usher came down and asked him to keep it down.
So my brother and my buddy
They sit down there like oh sorry
Somebody stands up
He's like what the fuck you're talking about
I'm at a hockey game
No
Insane
With some dark years there
There were
Well there was talk
It wasn't going to stay
Yeah that was the Save the Flames campaigns
And things like that
Like it was you asking about where the city was at
I mean
That was probably the darkest seven years
The franchise had
Because you were just this
Extremely well-run organization
in the 80s that built to that championship.
Then all of a sudden, salaries become public.
And guys are saying, whoa, I can make what?
You know, Newndyke's gone.
Souter's gone.
McKinness is gone.
Gilmore is gone.
Like, you lost that whole core.
Then it's, you don't make the playoffs for seven years.
And like, there's not a lot of sports and a lot of leagues where that's not going to take
the wind out of the stadium, the city, the franchise.
Yeah.
And the economy wasn't good.
The Canadian dollar was the shits.
That's right.
So, you know, there was the team.
expenses are all American, but the revenue is all Canadian.
It didn't make a lot of economic sense for the team to be here.
So it took a lot of work for them to manage to even save the franchise, which was great.
But then I think it was your guys' old four run that kind of switched the flag again.
100% where that bled life into it.
And it's definitely a little more white collar in there where it's a lot of corporate money.
So, but it's, you know, it's full again.
She was rocking in 2004, I'll tell you that.
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So first stint in Calgary, then you get traded from Calgary to Florida.
Florida.
Calgary to Florida.
You missed the Rettster by how many years, sir?
Oh, that was after.
Two or three?
Came back to Rett.
No, I know.
In Florida?
You were already in Buffalo.
99 I left.
So you missed by a couple seasons.
It's, by the way, with Val Burey for Rob Niedemar.
Rob Niedemar.
Damn Cranbrook, son of a gun.
Yeah.
I got me again, got me again.
So I had the opportunity to go down there and play for another Sutter,
played for dog down there, which was great.
I had really enjoyed playing for dog.
And we had a decent team.
You know, we were kind of, again, in the middle of the pack,
but great group of guys, both the Bure brothers.
I was going to say we're both Burey.
Both Bureas were there, yeah, which was entertaining.
give us some intel on them because like val was the the quieter and you know he marries kandas cameron
he seemed very polite but pavl was a superstar and no one's ever really had much clarity on him
leaving vancouver where he was like a god you know they couldn't be more different they are not
like personality wise body physique wise nothing about them says that they're related yeah you know um
great guys.
Pab gets a bum rap.
A lot of guys thought he was selfish and a bit of an ass.
I loved him.
He was one of those guys that if you call him out on his bullshit,
he'll actually respect you for it.
Where, you know, other guys, it's Pab.
Let Pab do Pab.
I was like, screw that.
You know, call him out on it.
Juice him a little bit.
Juice him a little bit.
But so I got a Pab story.
So we were playing in Toronto.
and Tucker comes in and elbows pat in the mush.
Like just all but knocks him out.
So shortly after part of my stick grazed the front of or side of Tucker's head.
Oh, it's.
It happens.
It's on YouTube.
It might be about a foot of the butt end.
We could find that and throw that in post production.
Yeah.
Somewhere near his earhole.
Anyway, so he went down and that's a different story.
but I got suspended for, I think it was seven or eight games.
And so Pat came up and he was, so what's that going to cost you?
I was like, I don't know, whatever.
It's a little bit of dough, whatever.
And he wrote a check and he said, here, take the money.
I'm like, I'm not taking your money, Pav.
Like, whatever.
He's like, well, I'm making $10 million.
I know you're making one.
So take the money.
I'm like, no, I'm not taking your money.
It's not a big deal.
He's like, I'll offer it to you one more time.
Well, okay.
Okay.
So let's call.
All right.
If you insist.
All right.
But he was,
that was the kind of guy was where if you,
he felt that you were exactly.
Sticking up for him and letting him play the way he wanted to play.
Then he was going to take care of it.
Like,
especially at that time.
So we're talking,
uh,
you're there for 0102.
And like we're,
every team's got a couple massive people that are excellent at fighting while
standing on skates.
Like for Bury to understand the value of that.
Isn't surprising, but it's important.
Yeah, he had, right?
That was around the time when it was getting stupid, too, as far as big humans.
Like, they were.
They were professionals.
And they were, like, they weren't very good at hockey, but holy shit, could they fight?
I remember that Steve McIntyre and Edmonton was like 6-8, 250.
And then they had the Latvian guy in Calvartis, Ivanovans.
And he couldn't do conditioning for a year after the concussion.
He got like, it was getting spooky.
It was, it was spooky.
And then I didn't like that.
You know, I didn't, that wasn't hockey.
That was, it was just, that might as well have been gladiator, you know, but.
I miss the fire.
I'm a hypocrite because I, I got kids in hockey and I see the, the risk that you had to take in those areas where you're,
but I did like the emotion of it.
I liked the, I'm mad at you, so I'm going to get, yeah, F you.
Yeah, let's go.
I'm going to punch you in the nose.
Yeah.
It's going to make me.
And that's the real fights.
The problem wasn't those.
The problem was, hey, it's the second period.
20 minutes on the clock,
drop the puck,
two guys go.
Yeah.
Because it wasn't anything of,
it was called staged.
They were great fights.
They were great fights.
They were, but it had nothing to do with emotion.
No,
it had more to do with,
do you want to go to a boxing match?
Yeah.
Like,
we've got two big dudes here that are going to have at her.
You might want to watch.
I love boxing.
I like UFC,
like all that stuff,
but it wasn't a hockey-related incident.
No.
And it was always good to watch,
like you say.
I enjoyed watching.
enjoyed seeing those big guys.
I enjoyed not being part of it.
I didn't enjoy when they came and asked me.
I was going to say.
Yeah, I had no problem saying, no thanks.
Your nickname's the big human.
You're calling these guys the big guys.
Oh, those guys.
It was insane.
Like, they were talking 6, 8, 6,000, like 7 guys that are 250, 260 pounds that all they do is throw heads.
George and Rock out there.
The Rock and Bresher and Tony Twist, even at the time.
Twister.
He wasn't so much tall, but.
Oh, God.
Scary.
This was probably around the,
the domy probert stuff too i'm guessing or was that probably not at the end of it probert was at the end
he asked me one night oh i declined i was told i always say it well i would have but my coach is
yeah yeah no uncertain terms of i really love to i'm not allowed to fight you sir come see me
when you get more ice done no all right you're not buying that either he wasn't bad because he knew
I wasn't going to. I remember I was running around or something and I'd hit a couple of guys.
Probe came out to a draw and kind of lined up beside me. Meant over says, are you done?
I sure am. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Sorry. Didn't run into another soul for the rest of the night.
Dump a change. Skating around in center. I might as well put figure skates on.
Well, you talked about it.
That era is fun.
The stage stuff is like, okay, we get it.
It's combatants.
To your point, it's like gladiators,
which is still wildly entertaining.
But when you were on a team that could physically intimidate another,
like I think of your team when you guys got Chris Simon,
you already had Oliwa.
And, well, you came a year later,
but I'm specifically talking about Othrero4,
what that meant that you could intimidate more skilled teams.
We loved it.
We had it in junior.
I was always blessed with heaven.
Florida, maybe not so much.
We had Paul Laos down there.
And then Big Pete, Pete Whirl came in.
So we were, but everyone at that time had guys.
When Sai came, like, Olua, I remember playing against Olua, and I hated him because he was an idiot.
And he was like, oh, my God, he's big and he's pretty tough.
But that year, Olua beat the piss out of a lot of tough guys.
And then Simon came and it was like, we were laughing going into rings because it was.
was like, get out of the way.
What are you going to do about?
What are you going to do?
You know, it was when you had the big guy that was just out there to fight,
but if you had big guys and tough guys that could play.
That's where Simon was key, right?
That's where Sai was key.
And those guys, now they can intimidate you not just by fighting,
but they can get in on a forecheck and banks and bodies.
And intimidate you by their play.
Yeah.
Where they've created now so much room, like deer's backing into the top of the circles.
well, you're coming across your own blue line.
Don't want to hit this guy.
And I also don't want to get first into the corner and get the puck.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
You guys need some room.
And that's an important distinction because someone that can play 12 to 16 minutes,
you're going to have to deal with all night.
A five minute tough guy.
You say no twice.
He's kind of out of ass.
And that's just it.
And he,
when you can play the 12 to 15 minutes as a tough guy,
now you can say no.
Yeah.
Chris Simon,
I think he had 31 year or something crazy.
Like he could play a regular shift.
With Bondra.
guy. It's playing with Bondra.
And if you don't entertain the five-minute guy, he's really useless.
Yeah, exactly.
Like, so if you take a fight away from him, what's he going to do?
Yeah, that's the only way he can affect the game.
That's the only way he can affect the game.
So if you don't give that to him, I mean, there was a list.
And Rhett kind of makes joke about, well, you know, the excuse, we'll play a little more
or whatever.
But there was a list of guys on the board that you aren't fighting that guy.
Yeah.
Like, you're not fighting that guy.
because that is just playing into their hand.
Yeah.
So if Christopheoliwal gets Jason Weimer in the box for five minutes,
he's won the night.
He can't do any better than that.
You got to fight you.
And now you're not taking your record in the show.
Now, I don't play.
Now, situational.
And that's where, you know,
there was times that you get into a fight at center based on what happened.
I wasn't a tough guy like those guys were tough.
I would get into the occasional scrap.
But the majority of them were either I was pissed off about something that he had done
or defending a teammate or something.
something or a situational in a game where we're flat as pissed.
We can't get anything going.
Okay, let's try and get a spark.
Maybe we'll get into a tilt.
Usually you try and pick a pussy at that point that you can beat up and think,
ah, let's go with you.
I can take this guy.
Yeah, I can beat up you.
I can swing some momentum right now.
Let's go.
The worst is when that guy catches you with a lucky one.
Oh, shit.
What have I done here?
Oh, no, this is going to look back.
When you hear the crowd go, oh.
And so you reference it.
You did join that Flames group.
it was after I think the worst than happened
of that group was the lockup.
Sorry.
Okay.
I'm going to interrupt you.
Let's go.
So you go down to Florida.
You play for Duane Sutter.
The Bureau boys are there.
Teams average.
I don't think you made the playoffs.
Didn't make the playoffs.
Then Keenan comes in.
And then Keenan comes in.
Oh, okay.
Yes.
So Mike comes in and, you know,
there's guys that hate that man with passion.
And I had my run in with him and it was very heated.
But he's going to get it out of you.
Like if there's something in there.
If he wants to find it, like he's going to push you to a point.
And we say this all the time.
If you're uncomfortable, you're going to get better.
It's when you sit in that comfort zone and you just sit in there,
you're not doing much.
So he'll play mind games to get the best.
He's, you know, I don't always agree with what he does to get it.
And it's a shorter life than what Daryl's got.
But, you know, they're cut kind of from the same cloth.
but he's going to pop you in the mind to try and get you to a different level.
So, you know, I looking back on it at the time, I was like, this guy is an ass.
I can't stand this guy.
Looking back on it now, it's like I learned a lot from that whatever was under a year playing
with him, but it was like I learned a lot about myself playing for him and what it took to be,
you know, that next level, how to get moved up and, like, conditioning.
And I mean, he was a fitness freak, like, not himself, but he wanted guys that...
You can't play if you're not in shape.
If you're not in shape.
And he made you work at it, like, shit.
We'd have to ride the bike after games.
He had these bikes that had, like, key cards in them where it would record what your
output was on the bike.
And everybody was required to do a certain amount after games every time.
And it was like, holy shit.
Like, this is getting ridiculous.
I mean, we were borderline tired.
but it was hard,
but he was,
he was a good coach in the fact that
you were going to have to step up.
You know, mediocre for him wasn't good enough.
So he got, he and I got into it in San Jose once.
He, Matt Bradley was playing for San Jose.
And he was having a game.
I think, I don't know if he had a hat trick,
but he had two for sure and, you know,
was running around.
I wasn't playing at all.
I was stapled to the bench for the majority of the,
you're Danny Savard.
You had to towel.
I should have had a hot dog in my hand.
I wasn't doing a thing.
And so I would play left wing center.
And he kicks me in the ass and says, go out there and play right side.
I'm like, oh, really?
All right, whatever.
So I go out and I beat up this Bradley kid.
All right, fine.
Get into the locker room after.
And I'm seething mad.
Like, I am on a 12.
And Brett Hedekin sitting beside me.
He says, well, go and tell him.
Go and challenge him on it.
Like, what can he do?
not play you? He's like, or trade you?
He's not playing you. You're like, you can't get worse. So I was like, yeah, yeah, you're right.
So I get up and then in San Jose, there's a great big wide hallways and the coach's room is a
locker room. Spread out all over. It's not one. It's, it's not great. But so I went out
in the hallway and I'm like, we need to have a talk. And he's like, well, I don't really want to talk to you.
And I was a little bit animated. He said, no, we're going to.
to talk now. So we went into the coach's room and I stood there for five minutes,
called him every name in the book, F, you, F, you F, F, that. And then he stands up and he starts
giving it back. He's like, how long you've been in this league? And I was like, 10 fucking years.
He's like, nine too many. And so it was on. Like, we were screaming at each other.
To the point, you know, the ends of my fingers are going numb. Like, I'm clenching my fist thinking,
am I going to stroke this guy? And I still had my seat.
skates on so I'm a foot and a half taller than I'm.
I'm thinking, I think I might just.
It's coming. Yeah, I might send one here.
I know this guy out. Yeah. And so anyway, I
he stopped it. He was like, okay, enough is enough.
Like, we're going to say something we regret. I'm like, I don't think so. I don't regret anything
I've said so far. So I walked back into the locker room and the whole team is sitting in
there. Well, yeah, eyes wide like, holy shit. What are you doing? I look at Heddy and I'm like,
well, you told me. He's like, well, not like that.
go talk to the guy.
Like, oh, too much.
But after that, he loved me.
Yeah.
So he would play the shit out of me.
And like I would, I'd play power play.
I was playing with Pab.
Like, it was almost his affirmation that I broke you down to the point that you snapped.
And now I'll build you back.
You showed me.
You cared.
Yeah.
Let's see what you got.
You're out of your comfort zone.
It was, I think I got him out of his comfort zone when I was standing.
That's probably true.
Hey guys, fantasy football draft season, and I've got some ideas percolating for our bet way bet of the day.
I love me a young rookie running back.
These guys generally get more hurt and less effective.
Basically from the moment they step into the league, and I am all in on Bejohn Robinson,
the Atlanta Falcons running back, who they took very early in the draft,
and who is going to get to run behind a line that did very good things for no-name running backs last year.
year. Bejohn to win the rushing title in the NFL, 1,100 plus 1100, 11 to 1,
you're telling me, for a rookie to go win the rushing title. It's not that crazy. I'm going to,
I'm dancing all over that one on Betway today. It is the responsible way to bet.
Betway, 19 plus Ontario only. You know the rules. Have some fun. That does it for part one of
Jason Weamer, more tomfoolery with Rhett and the Weim Dog coming up tomorrow as we wrap this up.
Weimar's thoughts on the 23, 24 Calgary Flames.
We saw the wagering odds.
What are Weemers' odds on the Flames being a playoff team?
We'll dive into that tomorrow right here on Barnburner on Flames Nation.
