Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Former Calgary Flames Goaltender Jamie "Noodles" McLennan (FULL INTERVIEW PART 1) | FN Barn Burner

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Boomer & Rhett sit down with former Calgary Flames Goaltender Jamie McLennan. PART 1/2SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 TOWER CHRYSLER https://www.towerchrysler.com 👍🏼 BON TON MEAT MARKET https://www.bontonmeatmarket.com 👍🏼 McLEOD LAW https://www.mcleod-law.com 👍🏼 MAD ROSE PUB https://www.madrose.pub 👍🏼 VILLAGE HONDA https://www.villagehonda.com 👍🏼 OUTDOOR DENTAL https://www.outdoor.dental 👍🏼 VENA NOVA https://venanova.com 👍🏼 ST. EUGENE https://www.steugene.ca 👍🏼 BETWAY https://betway.ca 👍🏼 GREY EAGLE https://www.greyeagleresortandcasino.ca 👍🏼 HEARING LOSS CLINIC https://hearingloss.caVisit  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.

Hi, you buddies. Welcome to Barnburner. Good to have you along here on the Tower Chrysler you know them. You love them. Consumer Choice Award winner, Calgary's favorite Chrysler Dodge Rand dealer. And they haven't moved. They're still in the same, you know, 10, 901 McLeod Trail South, online Towercriser.com. You know the drill. Go and see search. Go and see everybody over there. If you need service, maybe you're thinking about winter tires. I know you hate it when I bring it up. Why not Tower Chrysler? They'll do it all for you. the show today. Now Pinder, somewhere in Europe being Pinder. God. I'm sorry, Europe. I'm sorry, but he's yours until next week. But what we're doing for you today, we're obviously keeping an eye on a lot of

things, Flames training cap going on heading into week three of the NFL, but we had a chance this week week to sit down. He's just one of my favorite people in hockey and in otherwise. Like any, whatever avenue of life. Jamie McClennan is one of my favorite guys. He's an unbelievable storyteller. He's, he's a thoughtful guy. Everybody loves him. He's, the stories are endless. And you'll see in this, because we go, we went for two hours with Jamie McClennon. He was good enough to give us his time. At the end of the interview, his AirPods were running, basically ran out of battery. That's how long we got going. And there's so much that I still wanted to, that we could have talked for another two hours. But obviously he is, he's, he's a Calgary. He was a Flames coach. He was a Flames player.

And uniquely tied to some unique people's. Grant Fjure, one of the greatest to ever play was his backup. He played with Roberto Lwango, with Mika Kiprasov. He played for a short while for the New York Rangers. He's got lots of stories. And we get into some of them here today on the show. We have to, obviously, we have to kind of break this up into a couple of different segments. So we'll do one. And then the next show we'll have part number two. But he's a great guy.

And I thought I knew a lot of what made him tick and what was going on. And even I came away learning a few things as well here with this interview. I think you're going to like this one. Let's get to it. Our buddy, Jamie McLennan. The 11 seasons in the National Hockey League is a player. He's been a coach. he is a broadcaster, he is an author, he's a dignitary and an luminary, he's an important person.

He's Jamie McClendon here on the show. James, good to see you. How are things? I'm good. Good to see you guys. It's nice to check in and get caught up. But yeah, that's a very weird laundry list. I forgot author. I forgot about that, but that was a life time ago. I read that book. It was years ago. And honestly, it should be. It should be. brought up more often than it is because it's a hell of a book because and we'll get into it the guys that you have played alongside the teams that you've played for the stuff that you've gone through you have quite a life story to share and the book is it called again uh the best seat in the house let me see if i could find i don't even know if i have a coffee here i probably

different stuff but those are just for show that's right yeah like i read those up here but uh yeah no you know what the one thing we did it for charity uh You know, Retro knows my best friend who passed away of heart attack. You know, the proceeds went to his widow, Tanny, who's a very close friend of mine and the kids. And I just wanted to tell the story. And ultimately, the whole joke is, and I do wholeheartedly believe this, is I was kind of like the Forrest Gump of the NHL.

I was always like just in the background of like weird stuff happening. So it was kind of neat to tell some stories. and obviously life's changed, so I don't know if a lot of those stories you could live in today's world with camera phones and cancel culture and all of that. But at the end of the day, it was a lighthearted book, easy read, you put it in your bathroom,

you read it every time you're in there, and that's about it. So it was a fun one. Well, we'll go through some of it here. Anybody that was maybe going to go and buy it now, we'll talk about some of these stories. But I was going through, I just kind of doing some prep for this.

And you do see it's like, oh, so you were there for that. Oh, well, that happens. So I mean, we can get through through some of this. So you start Western hockey, you're Edmonton guy. I thought you were kind of a southeast, Southside athletic club kid, but you were St. Albert. And I didn't realize you were a trendy hip St. Albert kid. Well, I mean, I would like to say back then,

I felt like I was from the rough area in St. Albert, but we were kind of middle class. And I was proud to grow up in St. Albert. You're right. I think St. Albert has this aura of, like there's maybe a little preppy, a little bit to, you know, some money there in St. Albert, a lot of people, the high network people,

that wasn't us. But it was great hockey systems there. You know, it was close enough to Evanton that, you know, you had great competition with a lot, like you say, Southside Athletic Club. There was, I think Castle Downs had a team where I can't remember. Jason Strudwick played in there. They were terrible.

We used to just take them to the woodshed. But there was, you know, a lot of different hockey associations there now. And obviously surrounding area, there was a Ladoo, Fort Saskatchew and Sherwood Park. So, but yeah, growing up in St. Albert, I mean, my mom still lives there. My brother lives outside of it now, but I've got family, friends there to this day. So it's, yeah, every time I get a chance to go back, I go because it's, I'm, I see. still, I mean, even though I haven't lived there since I was really technically like 16 when I went away to hockey, I would go back every summer and hang out with the guys and, you know, I'd

have some pub crawls and, you know, stuff like that, some parties there in the summer where everyone would show up. But, you know, Evanston, St. Albert was my training area in the summers. But now I live out, I've gone to the deep, the dark side in the east out here in Toronto. So, I like it out here, but I miss back home, put it that way, miss Alberta. Yeah. So you go to the Western League. Now, you start in Spokane, because I just remember you as a Lethbridge hurricane, but you start with Spokane and a sparkling 6.54 goals against in 11 games.

I don't know how they didn't hang on to you. But what happened there from the Chiefs to the Hurricanes? What happens there? That was the going rate back in junior. Remember, the scores were like 9-6 back then. Fair enough, yeah. And the minute it got lopsided on one, like one team got up by two, there was a brawl. You had to fight your way out of the building, too.

So I laugh, but yeah, like, I was just overwhelmed. We weren't a great team. I was my first, you know, experiencing the Western Hockey League away from home. There was five of us that lived at a Billets house. That was like a unique experience anyway. Five of us. that lived and they were like a military family they had seven fridges i now i look back on it they were they had like a i don't know what those called it like a bunker if you know if there was like

going to be like you know like a bomb shelter yeah you could go into this bunker and it was like all like food in there still the cold war was still going on this was the 80s yeah bad reason bottled water yeah yeah it was like back then it was pretty good really and and the family was very unique and i don't think they're allowed to like uh bill it anymore but i look back at it there was some some strange things that went on there but yeah i was in in spokane for i think about four months and then i got traded kind of right as a school semester i got traded to lethbridge and coincidentally i had my dad's company had built the lethbridge regional hospital years prior. So I actually spent one year of Bantam hockey in Lethbridge. We moved down

there for one year. So I befriended a few people. To this day, some of my closest friends, Joel and Mike Dick. Mike is now with Toronto Marleys who coached the Vancouver Giants the last couple of years. Joel played in Swift Current at the same time that I was playing in Lethbridge. So I lived at their house. So it was really an easy transition getting traded to Lethbridge because I had lived there before. The only difference, we were laughing about it the other day because, you know, Mike and Joel are still my very close friends. And Mike and I were having a few drinks the other night. And we were talking about how I used to work at the high school cafeteria when I was in grade 10. So I had moved to Lethbridge and I was just kind of this loser small kid hadn't played I was playing band of triple

A and I always had jobs so I took a job scraping plates at the cafeteria at noon hour in high school I had no friends though I just moved to Leffridge I'm like all right I'll take this job whatever so I was like at noon hour like all the cool kids would be sitting over there everybody there's all these groups and I've got like the hair net on and I'm scraping plates and you know just pick it up after everybody but I made a few bucks and it was fine. Fast forward, two years later, I get traded to Lethbridge and I end up like being the starting goaltender for the Hurricanes.

I swear to God, I remember somebody coming up to me going, did you use this great plates of the LCIA high school? Yeah, that was me. The hernet and stuff like that. So I got traded and that's, yeah, that basically that's where I spent two and a half years and kind of, you know, learn the tricks of the trade of

junior hockey and we had some pretty good teams there so it was pretty cool i played with some really good players there i was going to say there hasn't been a ton of success historically for the left briturekains there was one team more i guess in around where you're you're a vintage warner i'm trying to michael grady and i'm trying to think uh i think it was after it was just after i left too it was like a year after they had a couple years uh who was the other guy that went from saskatoon oh man kirby law yeah kirby law I'm trying to think of some other names. But anyway, so this was a few years before that.

Yeah, Brent Sebrick might have been there. I'm trying to think of which other guy it was. Maybe Verstique? Chris Verstieg, I think. But yeah, there was a lot of good players that went through Lethbridge. And I actually, I got, I'm a Lethbridge Hurricane Hall of Famer, which was pretty cool. So I got put into that a few years back, which is neat.

I, you know, Joel, that family, the Dick family still lived there. So I go back and see them as much as I can if I can get down there and stuff. But, you know, Leithbridge will always have a soft place in my heart because I spent three years there and a lot of good people there. And it was a good development, you know, situation for me to before I turned pro. You're right. Scoring was up. Yeah. You had six guys on the first year in Lethbridge.

You had six guys with over 100 points. Yeah. I think my Sabres. No, I'm not lying. I think that year, the year I won, I think it's called the. Del Wilson, the top goaltender in the Western hockey league, I swear to God, I think my goals against was 374. And I, and my eight, my save percent was like 895 or something. And that was like brilliant. Like, this guy's amazing. Like, you know, I look at it now. That wouldn't, you know,

that and a subway sandwich would get me a subway sandwich. Like, I can't imagine like those stats now would be terrible. Two trips to the finals and I, it's just kind of how you defaults. And they lose to the Camloops blazes like well yeah Darcy Tucker and Jerome but it was oh shit that was before that was Len Barry Ken Hitchcock that wasn't the Don Hay blazers that you guys met yeah it was Ken Hitchcock it was Bob Brown uh my first year going back to Spokane so I I was listed with Spokane I got called up one time that's when Spokane had uh like some killer dean you and they had tough team and we had this guy link gates on the team and that was like very interesting

because this guy was a very unique person, put it that way. And then, you know, you go to Lethbridge, and we had some really good teams. You're right. We had 600 point guys, West Walls, Mark Gregg, Jason Ruff, a guy named Brad Rubichuk, who ended up turning pro. I think Ruby was in the Buffalo organization. But Kevin St. Jock, who I got traded with from Lathbridge. So it's nice, it's funny. I don't know how you guys are.

When you run across people that you haven't. seen kind of in a lifetime, you know, since junior. I was on a flight one time and one of the flight attendants comes back and says, your name, Jamie McClennett, are you noodles? And I said, yeah, she goes, the pilot wants to say hi. And I'm like, that is weird. Like, you know, it's, and it's kind of mid-flight. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm not going to go up now. I think the doors are locked. She goes, no, at the end of the flight, please stay. He wants to say hi. And it was Pete Berthelsohn, my captain from the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He's like a captain for like West jet or something, I think, Air Canada

or West Jet, one of the two, but he's like this very successful pilot. And I don't know how he heard that I was on the flight or whatever, but it was nice we caught up. And, you know, those junior days where you run across somebody you hadn't seen in 30 years, it's pretty cool to catch up.

You used to spend so much time with those guys, your teammates in junior, right? Like just hour upon hour, upon hour. They were your family. The same thing with the blades, they had a Lauren Mulligan thing, and you go back and you see some of the guys, it is it's like walking into a comfy,

it's like going into home. Like all those guys, it's easy to talk to, you go get right back into it. It is, except they're all fat and bald. And everyone's got gray hair. I'm fat, so I'm bald. And I'm bald, so shut up. I'm going. It's going.

Is it going? I got a haircut yesterday. And the lady who cuts my hair, she's like, she always used to say like, oh, you got to, thick head of hair and I go, how are we doing? She's like, she kind of gave me just like a look. There wasn't a comment. It was just a look like, okay. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to be okay. So I don't know. I've got that like a bald spot in the back. And I was helping my son. He was in the bath one time. And my wife, I didn't realize this walked by and snapped a photo and

texted to me. So later, I'm sitting on the couch and I look at this picture. like what the hell is that? She goes, that's the top of your head. And my son goes, Daddy, you've got a hole in your head. And I'm like, oh, like, it's going. So by year 40, that reunion of year 40, I'm going to have the bacon strips. It'll be, it's going to be bad. It's going to be bad. It's like, it's like, oh my God, that's the back of my head. It was my, I was like, who the hell? I was like, who the hell? us that? What do you?

First of all, what is that? It's just like some hair with like, like what is this? And then sure enough, it was the top of my head is a hole in the back. So it's not good. Traumatic,

very traumatic. Well, we'll keep moving because, I mean, the next year was the Pat Falloon Ray Whitney show against your former, your former team again to the WHL finals. Any Pat Falloon recollection because he was a stud?

Him and Ray Witton. So when I had played with them in Spokane, they were just young kids. Like Ray was 16. I think I had just turned 17. Ray used to drive this red little punchbug, and he picked me up every day. And he was a pretty, like, very sharp person. Like, you know, quick-weighted, didn't take no nonsense from anybody. Patty Flune was just from, like, Fox Warren, Manitoba.

He looked. Ray Ferraro has this saying, and I'm going to steal. I steal it sometimes, but if you look at somebody and you look just like if they're an unmade bed, you can put a $5,000 suit on Pat Falloon and he'll still look like he crawled out of a dumpster. It's just like, that's just how he is. Like hair on sideways, like, just like, but he was such a talented guy. And, you know, I look at Patty. I almost wish, like, I feel like he could have had a longer career in the NHL.

I don't know how his work ethic is. I never played at the NHL level with him. But, God, they were great players in a junior. I want to say, like, Witt got, like, 185 points that year or something. Like, it was, they were dominant. And, yeah, they tuned us up pretty good in the finals there. But they had, it was kind of ironic. They ended up having to trade for Trevor Kids.

They ended up having to go get a goalie, which, if they would have kept me, I would have grown with that group. But it was fine. They ended up winning. They deserved to win. They were the better team. But, God, like, Patty, Patty Palloon was awesome. Like, I don't know.

I often wonder, like, what would a guy like that be doing right now today? Like, if we call Pat Palloon, what would he look like? Where would he be? What's he been up to the last 20 years? He's back home farming. I was going to say, I can text. We can find out because it was a while ago he was playing men. He was playing senior hockey.

He bought the team a boss. And he was just hanging out around Russell and Fox War in Manitoba. So yeah, he's out there farming, I think, with a few of those guys. What a great guy. And his dad was just, like he was a clone of his dad. There was just two of them, the hair on sideways. Like it was just awesome. I loved, I love Patty.

And that's a guy, again, I would love to see. I haven't seen him in 20, 30 years type of thing. So, you know, you miss it. But yeah, that was as close as we got in the Western League. We had a really good team. There were some good teams in the league that year, but Spokane was a cut above. They deserved to win. Who's coaching you?

uh, Bob Lokes. Oh, that's what he used to. Now, Little Brutus was his, he used to wrestle under, I think Stampede wrestling. He was Little Brutus. And we used to, honest the best. Now, he just went into the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hall of Fame. I was just texting with him maybe a couple months ago. And my old buddy Cam Moon, who does, Cam does, I think, radio for the Oilers now, who did for

years radio with the Red Deer Rebels. He just texted me the other day and said, I ran into Bob Lokes at the, I think there's a rookie tournament for the Oilers and the flames and all that. Is that in Kelowna or where is that? I guess Lokesy was down. Yeah, Pent Tickney. Lokesy's down there. I don't know what he's doing, but he's, I loved him. He was awesome. He was a great coach. He was very intense, but we would like, I just, every time you look at him, you think, okay, that guy was a wrestler of some sort. I don't know if he was like the, you know, in this corner, the macho man, in this corner, little Brutus. Get him to put the singlet on after a big win. Hey, coach, if we win, get the gear on. Put a luchador mask on and put his glasses on over top of the mask. Right. Yeah, he was awesome.

Call Peter Klein at McLeod at 403-2543864 or go online at macloud dashlaw.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, contact Peter. He's going to help you out. He'll get you the disability benefits you paid for and you deserve.

He'll get you your peace of mind back, the peace of mind you paid for. It's time to discover or rediscover the letter. legendary St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino. Planning a golf trip, a romantic getaway, or maybe just some tranquility away from the city. St. Eugene is the answer. Hotel, championship golf course, casino, spa, restaurants, all of it nestled in the spectacular Rocky Mountains and just minutes outside of Cranbrook, BC. Visit their website, st.ugene.ca, and experience the history and heritage of the St. Eugene golf resort and casino. So Falloon, everybody, well, some will remember, he goes second in the Eric Lindross

draft. Lindrosse goes first overall. Falloon goes second. Some of the Lindrosst draft, other people will call it the Jamie McClennon draft. Round three to the New York Islanders. But 48th overall, in today's world, that puts me solid in the second round. That's right. And the second goal he taken? Yeah, I was ranked second in the draft to behind a guy named Mike Tortia, who played.

played in Kitchener that year. And Torch was like 510, 240. He was just a grit grinder. And he turned pro. He got drafted. He ended up falling. And I think he got drafted in the fourth round by Dallas. And he got really skinny.

And I don't know if that helped his cause. And to this day, I think Torch does like radio or something in Kitchener. He's like, you know, awesome guy. I remember hanging out with him at the Memorial Cup that year because Lynn, And Lindros and I were the only two award winners at that Memorial Cup who didn't play. So I got to hang out with Eric the whole time. And the weirdest part is in Quebec. And there was all these people going like, you know, come to Quebec.

Are you going to come to Quebec? And he had obviously made it public that he was not going to, you know, go to Quebec. He wanted to be traded. So that was weird. If you actually look at the Lindross, Eric Lindross being drafted, like the video of it, Eric had invited me. So I was sitting right behind him. So I'm sitting there in my double-breasted, you know, shoulder pad suit.

Yeah. With my mullet on. My girlfriend had this like big hat. She was wearing a hat. And we're like sitting there. So every time you see Eric stand up, like it's like me, you know, with my big mug just sitting behind him. And it's still to this day I laugh about it.

Because like, you know, they'll show on, you know, sports center, you know, draft of Eric Lindross. Like he'll stand up and you see like me in the background. But it was kind of neat. Like there was that draft in Buffalo. I was rated, you know, anywhere. My agent was Art Breeze. And Art had told me, he goes, you can, at that time, there was 12 rounds, I think.

And I was 19, so I could have all 12 rounds. So I was going to be drafted, but we just had no idea where and when. Because I had interviewed with like 19 teams. So, you know, every time, I'll tell you a quick story. It's funny. Jamie Puscher, Art Breese had brought six guys to the draft. Jamie Pusher, who played in Lafbridge, you guys don't push well, he was sitting beside me, like his family, and he was there. And second round comes around, and I had met with Detroit like five times.

Like they had like meeting after meeting. And I remember before the draft, my agent's saying like Detroit, you know, they like you is a chance it could take you in the second or third round. I said, no problem. So it comes around, second round, they take a time out. and then they come to the podium or whatever and they say Detroit takes from Lethbridge of the Western hockey league so I'm kind of about to pop up

and I'm pretty Jamie and I'm like push you so I'm about to jump up and then it's like I have to turn and pivot to shake push his hand Yeah excited for you team I'm so happy for you and then I swear to God my agent

leans over and he goes, I don't know where you're going now. I'm like, oh, thanks. Like, that was like a, and then push went on to win a Stanley Cup in Detroit. Like, and they ended up drafting. I think they drafted Ozzie that year. So they drafted Chris Osgood after me in the third round. I went to the Islanders early in the third round. Ozzie went later to Detroit. and obviously Ozzy has, you know, goes on to have. And I, Ozzie was. And I was, was a better goal tender than me, but at that point, we were kind of like neck and neck. We played against each other. You know, his dad was my principal in St. Albert.

Like, we knew each other quite well. But I have this argument that maybe 10 years from now, they'll look back and say, Chris Osgood had a Hall of Fame career. If you look at his stats alone, not us knowing that there were seven Hall of Famers on that team, but the guys he played behind, like there's people now that say, well, he was an average goalie that played behind a great team. but you look at the amount of wins, the amount of cups he had, like everything, the criteria they look at for Hall of Fame status.

I think he might even get the Rogie Bashan treatment. You know, 20 years later, they look back and go, why isn't that guy in the Hall of Fame? But, you know, it's just interesting. But that was my, like, draft story. And the other one was where my brother went missing for two days. He met somebody and ended up in Niagara Falls and we couldn't find him. So we're like, okay, I guess, yeah, guess your brother's gone.

I don't know. My mom's like, your brother's missing. I'm like, well, I'm sure he's an adult. He'll be fine. And did it work out in the end? Was it a with whoever he got lost with? I don't think he got married or anything. I think he was just drinking, having a good time and went and, you know, ended up in Niagara Falls.

That's all I remember. It happens to the best. Your brother's missing. I'm like, now he's not missing. He'll show up a big. So anyway, that was a funny, funny draft. So the Islanders call your name. Bill Torrey, the GM at that time.

Yep, yeah. And Al Arbor, Al Arbor was the coach, too. So you go to this, like, legendary organization, you know, and I know, listen, I grew up in Abington. So the Oilers, it was, they went from the Islander dynasty to the Oilers dynasty. So if you weren't getting chosen by the, you know, by the islanders, you want to be chosen by the Oilers or vice versa, because those were the two organizations that were kind of like the gold standard at that time. And I get drafted and it's just intimidating. Like you, you know, Bill Torrey is your GM, this legendary GM.

Al Arbor is your coach, just bellowing, you know, grizzled old coach who's, you know, its voice just commands respect. Billy Smith was my first goalie coach. You're like, holy smokes. Like what, you know, you go to training camp, Bobby Nystrom's walking around. Clark Gillies, you know, Mike Bossy. Clark Gillies was so scary. Oh, my God. Its head was the size of this whole picture.

Like it was like a, he was like the biggest man I've ever seen. And the nicest and just like, you know, the guys attached to that organization. and when I got there, we're just second to none as far as class. Like Bobby Nystrom's salt of the earth. I had Butchie. Butch scoring was my coach in Spokane, and then I ended up having him pro.

And so I knew Butchie. There's Billy Smith. There's, you know, you go right down the list. Bobby Bourne, like, all of these guys were awesome. And then, you know, what happened is it pivoted when Millbury came in. Melbury, like, got kind of shifted all of them out. Or I think a lot of those alumni wanted nothing. to do with that. But it just, it was awesome. The first couple years, you just, you knew that

organization was like buttoned up. And, uh, and Bill Torrey and Al Arbor, they're big part of that. So would you have hated Billy Smith because he, of course, was in net against the Oilers and was in net for those Isler's dynasty teams. And now he's your coach. Was there, did you have that kind of feel going in? No, because I wasn't an oiler fan growing up, which is weird because I, I, I tell this story all the time. I remember being 14 years old and the Oilers win the Cup. And I would run. So one of my good friends, Jason Bartlett, his dad was like the, I think the editor, one of the editors for the Sun Sports.

And so he would get us jobs running film during the Stanley Cup finals. So we would be credentialed. We'd be right down. So a photographer back old school, they would take a bunch of pictures. They would take the film. and then they would give it to us and we would run it up to a runner and they'd run it back to the, you know, Sun headquarters or whatever. So I was, I would like literally in the Zamboni entrance running film when the cup

would be brought out and photographer would be there and I'd just kind of like, all right, give me the, and you'd see Gretzky and them skating around with the cup. It was really cool. But I remember loving Grant Fear and I remember loving, you know, I like Messia. I like Gradsky. Like I had favorite players. Eddie Neal was. my guy. It was like Eddie Mio was like Gretzky's like, you know, best man or whatever. Like it just,

but it was it was kind of like I did love the team. And I remember even my mom going, are you going to go to the, you know, the parade? I'll go, no, I'll go in next year. Because it was like in my mind. I'm like, these guys win every year. It's like, no, I'll go to next year's parade. Like, isn't that like, it's actually obnoxious to say as a Canadian hockey fan. Like nowadays, I live in Toronto. And I've told that story. People are just, sick to death. I'm like, yeah, I know I had 14. I was like, yeah, I'm not going to go. I'll go to next year. And it's, it's, you know, people in New England say that. You know, people in New England with the Super Bowls and all that and the world championships. But it's, that's what

it was growing up in Evanton for me. But I wasn't a huge oil fan. So I was fine with Billy Smith, even though he had the antics with, I think it was Glenn Anderson. He had acted up with and a few other players. But, you know, Smith, he was just a unique guy, put it that way. He was awesome. So you make that jump. You're done in junior. You get drafted. And the following year, it's the East Coast and the AHL, the Central District. Troy, New York, a team that existed for a very short amount of time, right? This was, uh, yeah. Yeah. It was the Capital District Islanders, and we played out of the RPI College. And so on a Friday night, RPI College would get 5,700 people. they'd just pack the building.

On a Saturday night, we'd get 1,200. And it was because everybody there was a college. Everyone thought the college team could beat the pro team, which we would have wiped them with the floor. We were a pretty good team. But it was just like, it was such a, it was a great setup, but in a bad situation. Our general manager was Dave Hansen,

like the Hansen brother. Yeah. So he was like pretty cool. You know, Butch Goring was our coach. And we had a good team, but we lived in this gritty area. It was Troy, Latham, and Schenectady. There was like these three cities, and Albany was there. And we used to hang out a bar called the El Dorado.

And like, I remember one day, like, I don't know if we should have been there or not, but we were having some drinks hanging out. And the police storm in, and they arrest the cook. And the cook who we had known all year and been drinking with was on the American, us most wanted for murder and rape and all of these things and we're like, oh, they're taking this guy out. And, you know, we, like, you know, that guy had been hung around that guy for six months. And, you know, all of a sudden, this guy's being taken out in cuffs because he was on a most wanted list, which we didn't know. So it was pretty gritty city.

Now, you can go into it or not. But one of the guys you played with was Mark Fitzpatrick, goaltender. Yeah. who crazy, right? I mean, I've taught you talk to enough people's like, Mark, Chris Patrick, nice guy. I'm pretty in Florida. Right, because you, yeah.

Billy Smith was the goalie coach. Crazy. Those two together would have been, I can't imagine. I just remember at training camp, Fitsy, so Smitty would take the goalies, all the guys would be skating doing that, and Smitty would be like, the goalies are coming with me.

We're going to play tennis. I'm like, all right, we're going to play tennis. And my first experience with Mark Fitzpatrick was Smitty had us playing tennis against each other. Not that I was a good player, but I knew how to play. And I remember beating Fitsy and tennis. And we were driving in the car back to the rink, and he put his tennis racket, like if this was his tennis racket,

he wouldn't look at me. He was like this. So he was sitting beside me and had his tennis racket over. I'm like, why is this tennis racket? I'm like, why is this guy? And he was so competitive, so mad that I beat him, he wouldn't look at me. And I'm like, oh, that's not a good start. I should have probably let the veteran guy beat me. But, you know, it was this, he was a very unique character.

And he had, I don't know the sickness, but he had some sort of rare blood disorder that would cause, like, I think his muscles to inflame. So they kept, we had five goalies in the system. And they kept three at the end of the end. level because if Fitsy wasn't feeling well, they would have another guy there. And whenever he wasn't feeling well, they'd send him to the minors to kind of rehab and play. And whenever that happened, that would bump me to the East Coast. So I was number five on the death chart. So I played in the AHL. But then they would say, okay, you've got to go to Richmond and keep playing. And I remember talking to Billy Smith. I lived in a hotel that whole year, that first year. And it was tough. But

he said our whole focus is that we want you to play as many games as possible even the hl or the east coastly so we did that did that and i think i played like 30 games in the the coast and like 20 games in the hl that year so i got 50 games but i was all over the map and like i say it was good experience for me but at like 20 years old you kind of feel like you're when you're playing a game in like roanoke virginia and in the east coast league and you know you're getting dummy that night, you feel like you're a light years away from playing in the NHL. So there's some of your life choices. Oh, yeah, big time. But you would, right? How do you get there from here? It would seem a little dim, I would guess. Yeah.

Well, the year prior on, you know, top goalie in the Western Hockey League, you know, award winner, you're thinking you're something special and good. And then my first game in the East Coast, like I'm playing for the Richmond Renegades were playing against I think the theme is Roanoke, and they got this guy, Frankie Animal, by a Lois on the other team. And he's in the warm, in National Anthem,

he's banging his head against his helmet, like yelling and scream. I'm like, what that, what am I? Where am I? Like, what's going on? I know he's not going to beat me up

because I'm not going to fight him. But it's like, there's a lunatic on the other team. Like, it just, it was, I remember, like, you know,

you're like, you're getting ready for a game and they had them going on and they're like, what is that guy doing on the far blue line? He's banging his head against his helmet. And like, so it was just like, there were nights where you felt like you were a million

miles away from the NHL. So it was life choices, but it was again, it's part of the process, right? It was a very unique experience. And you know what? It's, again, it's stories that you can tell. And to

this day, my goal tender partner from that era or that team was a guy named John Gustafson. He runs the San Jose Sharks building. He's the building manager of their whole now. So I saw him. I was in San Jose last year calling the game. I walk right into him, Gus. And there's a guy I hadn't seen him 30 years.

And we picked up right where we left off. And he was such a great guy. But he's gone on to be a very successful executive because I think he runs like multiple buildings, but is the head of the whatever that building is called in San where they play. 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. Also, outdoor dental does snoring treatments. Two 15-minute sessions can increase the tension in the

soft palate in the back of your throat, which reduces snoring. It's non-surgical and pain-free. again, just two 15-minute treatments. Outdoor dental does snoring treatments as well. Two 15-minute sessions can increase the tension of the soft palate, which reduces snoring, it's non-surgical, and pain-free. Also at outdoor dental, dental implant treatment can be scary for many, confusing, expensive. They use cutting-edge dental technology to ensure you're happy, healthy, and you'll feel confident in your results. Check them out online. It's Dr. J. Patel at outdoor.dental. Village Honda is a proud supporter of Barnburner. You can find them in the Northwest Auto Mall

or check them out online at villagehonda.com. Village Honda's got new hondas arriving daily. Drive away in your new Honda from Village Honda, your dealership for life in the Northwest Auto Mall and at village honda.com. So a couple years in the American League, like you say, not a lot of time in the East Coast League, then 93-94, it's no longer a capital district,

it's the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, but you're also making your NHL debut and you go from playing with Mark Fitzpatrick to Ron Hextall, another very even keeled normal human day. Yeah, I mean, if you go back and Google those Salt Lake uniforms, it's nonsense. Like I can't even imagine, like, I had, there was no gear that could match that. Like it was just, and I look back at a picture, there's a hockey card of me, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. And it just looks like, remember when Tim Thomas went to Dallas and he had his gear? Just look at it. Like, that's what I look like. And it's a goal that gets rattled when they look awful. And we were an awful, awful team in Salt Lake. And I get called up. And Hexie had started,

I want to say like 20 games in a row, something crazy. And the backup was a guy named Tom Draper that they just didn't want to put in the net. And I remember it. It was early January, like January fifth, I get called up and I'm practicing with them. And Al Arbor skates up to me and he said, you're playing tomorrow. And I did not sleep a wink that night. I was staying at the Long Island Marriott and I could tell you everything, every little speck on that roof because I stared at it all night. And I went to morning skate that morning. I was so tired. I hadn't slept. I was wide awake and then for some reason that afternoon i slept like a baby three hour hard nap went over to the game and it started we started against the calgary flames it was january 6th i think 1994 and i

we won i think six two but i remember allowing a goal early on to joe new and dyke everything was so bright and moving so fast i don't know ret how you felt your first game it was like okay i knew how to play hockey, but this is weird because everything is just like, you're trying to catch up and process and the lights and the TV lights. And I started making a few saves. And I was like, okay, maybe, maybe I belong. And then I allowed a goal. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm never going to play in this league again. And it was kind of like it just, it was a roller coaster. And then the team ended up scoring some goals. I stopped third flurry on a breakway in the second period. Like, I felt pretty good. And sure enough, I win my first game. And then

We played back to back. There was a Friday night, the Saturday night we played in Hartford. And about 10 minutes into the game, Hexie had allowed three goals and started attacking somebody. I think he chased like Andrew Castles or something. And all of a sudden, I'm getting to wave. Al Arbor is looking at me because in Hartford, you're across. Yeah, the goalie's like sitting across. So I'm just sitting there.

And all of a sudden, I see the coach like he's like, you know, get the hell in the net. So all of a sudden, I'm in the net. and we come, you know, we come back. We end up losing that game, but I played pretty well. And then two days later, we played against the Ottawa senators in Ottawa. So like within, I went from like East Coast League to, you know, not sure if I'm going to play, then I'm playing in Salt Lake. And then you get called up.

And in four days, I've played in three games. And I was just like, okay, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can play in this league. And then down that stretch, I think I ended up playing a total like 22 games. and kind of me and Hexie went back and forth, and he was a great experience. Like, Hexie was the best. I know everyone says like he's, you know, a little unhinged and all of that, but he was the most intense, the most prepared, the hardest working.

He was so great for my career because I watched him work his ass off in practice, in preparation, everything. And it made a mark on me. I said, if this guy's willing to do that, I'd better, like, it helped with my processing of like, okay, how do I become a better pro? Well, it kind of light went on working with him. And then you were like, okay, I'm going to do this for a living. I better work my ass off.

So that's kind of, you know, actually was a huge mentor for me and a huge influence. And, you know, to this day, I mean, I saw him in Pittsburgh last year. It was nice to catch up with him. You know, obviously he's out of work now. But like he was always so good to me. And I was always grateful for him for like the lessons that he taught me of how to prepare. and and, you know, really what he brought to the table. But yes, there was some intense nights where he was like, I'm even watching.

I mean, I was an intense player. Like, ask Brett. I was a class clown when I backed up because I was, I knew I wasn't playing. I was, I kept the room light. But when I started, I was a bundle of nerves. And I was a bundle. I never said a word. And that was Hexie.

Hexie never said a word. He just sat there and like focused. So that was, I learned that from Hexie early on in my career. You know, I'm pretty much stuck with it my whole career. So it's the one year, right, with Hextall, the 93, 94, and then the next year he leaves. And then it's the Tommy, the Tommy shows. Tommy Sodstrom, Tommy Sadow, Tommy Sallow, Jamie McClennon. Did you feel, I'm going to, I could be the starter now?

What was your, where was your head at going into the next year, knowing that the net was kind of wide open? Well, it was kind of my job to lose. but then we went through the lockout of 95, I think, was it? So we sat at home until Christmas, and they sent Tommy Sallow to the minors. They kept me in the NHL. But I was 22 years old. I should have gone to the minors and developed. But I sat at home and we practiced, what, like three days a week, four days a week.

And, you know, back then, training wasn't like the guys trained now. You thought you were in good shape if you went for a. ride the bike and, you know, had an ashtray beside it type of thing. And nowadays, it's, you know, these guys are, these guys are full on, right? So I, you know, I, I should have, that helped, that hurt my development because we came back and, uh, they traded Hexie and Tommy Soderstrom came in. And Tommy Soderstrom was this tiny goalie with the, the worst bucket you've ever seen. Awful. Huge bubble bucket. But he was.

unbelievable. But he was the funniest guy because he, I remember this one story where goalie's always got their own room. But for some reason, Mike Milbury is like, I'm taking your room. You and Tommy Stoderstrom can can bunk together. I'm like, well, one's playing, one's not. Doesn't matter. You guys have the room together. So Tommy went to bed at like eight o'clock. And he's like, I got to sleep. I'm like, all right, well, I don't go to bed at eight. So I'm like, this lights out. I'm just sitting there at eight o'clock. This is before our camera phones or cell phones and that. I'm just literally sitting there at 8 o'clock.

So I fall asleep whenever time. Three o'clock in the morning, Tommy's awake because he's playing the Swedish stock market. So he's on his phone screaming, like I, in Swedish, like screaming and yelling. And I'm like, what the hell is going on here? And, you know, he's over playing the Swedish stock market because the time change. So he would go to bed at 8. wake up at three. So that's one moment I remember about playing with Tommy. And then, you know, that year didn't go so well for us and for me. And by the end of the year, Tommy Salto came up and

played some games. And they put me and Tommy in the minors to go play in the IHL. I think it was for the Denver Grizzlies. And we won the Turner Cup. That team was an NHL team in the minors. And Tommy and I kind of played, I think I played like 12 out of the 18 games or whatever we played. And Tommy and I went back and forth. And, you know, by the next year, Tommy was their goalie. And they, they've moved away from me, which, you know, it is what it is. But Tommy was a better goalie than me. He was a good goalie. Well, I was looking trying to figure it out because, okay, there's the Denver Grizzlies and there's the Utah. What the hell? The Denver Grizzlies existed for one season. Their first game October of 94, their last game, June of 95, but you win the IHL championship.

So you are part of history. The one year the team insists, because then they moved to Salt Lake and became obviously with North Stars or whatever, I guess it would have been at the time. So you win a championship and the only season of the Denver Grizzlies. And they, because the abs were moving into town, right? Isn't that what it was? Exactly. So we played at McNichols.

and you're right. Like it was, it was like, we had an NHL team in the minors because the IHL paid big bucks to a lot of guys. My defensive core winning that championship was Gord Deneen, Norman Rochfort, and Jeff Sharples. There was like three guys that had like a thousand games.

And Doug Crossman was the other guy. It was like, like these were NHL players And Kip Miller, and we had a guy named Nicholas Anderson. Like our team just dominated. Like we just dummy teams. It was embarrassing. Like to the point where I got sent down four games before the playoffs started. And I landed at 5 o'clock.

I got to the rink at 6. We were playing at 7. And Butch goes, I just go play. Play the game. I just landed here, Butch. He goes, don't worry. You're fine. Kip Miller, I walk into the dress room.

Kit Miller is in the hot tub eating a wopper. and hey hey noodles like I'm like all right they were like it was the most ridiculous team I've ever been a part of how good they were Andy Brickley was on that team so we used to practice off-site so the guys would go to the rank get half dressed they go down to this bar called Josephina's in Leramer Square sit they might have had a few or not I don't I'm not gonna speak out of turn go practice, come back, go back to the bar in their gear, sit, have lunch, and then go back to the rank change.

Like it was the most, Bobby Beards was on that team too, I believe. It was like unbelievable. Between Utah and Denver, they had these teams that were like just stacked. And it was, it was unbelievable to kind of go and see that process. But it was, we had a good team boy.

That was, it was neat. And they were right. and then Colorado moved there the next year and they won the Stanley Cup. That's right, yeah. So two years in a row, Denver got championships in that McNichols Arena. All because they got a goalie.

They got you the year before and then Wa the year after. Yeah, we're in the same, you know, same stratosphere. Yeah, very much the same thing. So, and I will move on, but I just wonder for guys that have that much NHL experience and that are older guys and have seen other things, winning an IHL championship, did it mean anything to them or were were the guys able to celebrate that this was an accomplishment of any kind

I think it was it did I mean we had an unbelievable after party lasted for like three days I remember that but it was just this sense of accomplishment like these guys just literally they knew they were going to win and you know I HL used to be a big league like that was an important league yeah it was and guys were making good money and they took a lot of pride but it was kind of like a gentleman's league it was like at Santa rice guys would be talking before the game but tough guys would be you know they were buddies but they were like hey we're fighting tonight we're doing this and um you know i just i remember there was a lot like las vegas had a team the thunder kujo was there that's he was holding out from a contract they had a guy named gregg hood who was unbelievable uh you know talk about here's a crazy story so

you used to fly commercial, right? So fly commercial and you fly, I need to play the Las Vegas Thunder. And, you know, we had like a line ball. Like it was like ugly. And we played in like, you know, back in Denver or Salt Lake. I can't remember one of the teams flying back there. And everyone's on the same flight because you're flying back to the next night. So there was guys like Clint Malarchuk was playing there.

And he wanted to beat up Derek Armstrong. He's like, I'm going to kill you. And we're on the plate. We're on a commercial Southwest plate. And guys are like yelling at each other. It was just like, it was, it was mayhem. But I kind of enjoyed it. And, you know, you go to Vegas.

And back then it's like, okay, we're staying at the Palomino. That hotel doesn't even exist. And here's a $2 voucher for the buffet. And you'd go and eat the buffet. And they had a rule. They were like, okay, you've got to be in your rooms the day of the game by three o'clock if it's seven you couldn't because guys were just gambling right through like one of our guys roddy miller i think was late for the game because he got on a hot street and

you're gonna eater he's on a run at the blackjack table i'm not going to the game i'm gonna say you know like so we had to have these rules is like okay you can't you know guys you got to be in your room you can go gamble after morning skate but like you got to be in your room by three o'clock and and at the rink by five for a seven o'clock game like it was just like that type of of stuff. It was just nonsense, but we, it was, there was some good memories playing back there in the championships and stuff. You still want to get to the show, however. You want to get back to the NHL. Now, Mike Milbury, as you mentioned, he's on the scene. Eric Fieshow was a first round pick, so they got a lot invested in this guy. You get 13 games in that 95, 96 season. What a team.

Wendell Clark, Todd Bertusie, Brian McCabe, because I was in Brandon covering the weekings. I remember because McCabe went right to the NHL. I was like, this is amazing. If you keep that team together, what could have been? But of course, they didn't. So tell us about that year. We had Kirk Muller there and, you know, you had like a lot of unhappy people.

Like Wendell was near the end of it. Wendell's back was so bad. He had just so much maintenance just to get on the ice. Yeah. Yeah. I felt bad for him. I do remember one night, this was, Gretzky just put a clinic on, we're in L.A.

And Milbury decides he's going to have this like pregame speech about guys, you got to focus on Gretzky. We're like, yeah, no, you know, we get it. He's pretty good. But whenever he gets the puck, you've got to go to him. And I'm thinking, isn't he the best passer in the league? Like, why would you, like, leave him there? Like, I'll, you know, if you're going to leave, if he's going to curl up inside the blue line, leave Wayne Gretzky there.

I'll take my chances with him shooting from there. So we start and Gretzky curls up. Everyone chases him. He makes a backhand saucer, Demystri, Chris, did you know, on a breakway scores on me. Same thing. Three goals, I'm done in the first 10 minutes. And I remember sitting on the bench going like, you know, I'm terrible tonight, but like that's a bad game plan to chase Gretzky. around the whole night. I think he got like six assists. We lost, I think we lost eight two that night or

eight three. But the reason I remember that game, not because I got rinsed by Gretzky, is because Wendell fought McSorley twice that night. And there were two of the greatest fights I've ever seen. Like Wendell just, you know, he, it was the old Wendell, like just, he turned the clock back, and it was an absolute two of the best fights I've ever seen. And Wendell was so mad after the game. He stood up and said to the group, he's like, this is not a good team. We have to play a lot better. Basically, I'm paraphrasing, but he's like, basically get your heads out of your asses here. Like, this is embarrassing.

And it was because we were a better team than that, but we just couldn't get it together. And, you know, to your point, boomer, Tommy Sallow came up. I didn't last that long. I ended up in the minors by the end of the year. I ended up in Worcester, which was a split team with St. Lewis and that was kind of the end of my tenure with the Islanders. But Wendell was, like, still for this day as a god. Like, I love the guy.

But playing with him was kind of surreal. And that night stands out for me because of the two fights in McSorley. It was unbelievable. God. And you think about where both of those guys would have been so many miles in the chassis because McSorley did not live a gentle life either, right? Like those guys would have been late 30s, by the time they were fighting each other in that game. God Almighty.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it just was, it was a great fight. It was almost like a statement. Wendell was like, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to, we're not going to get beat eight three without, you know, somebody paying for it. So he went after it pretty good. The original Bontan meat market opened its doors way back in 1921. And all they've done since then is provide the highest quality product and treat customers like family. the very best AAA Alberta beef, free-range poultry, grain-fed Alberta lamb, milk-fed veal, and fresh Alberta pork. Once again, Bontan was voted the Calgary Consumer Choice Award winner for Best Deli Meat Market. Find them at 28 crowfoot circle northwest.

Or go to bontan meatmarket.com. Vianova is Calgary's lab-grown diamonds specialists. They're the only store in Calgary that specializes exclusively in lab-grown diamonds. You know you're getting the largest selection of loose lab-grown diamonds and jewelry in the entire city. Savings from lab-grown diamonds can be as much as 80% off. Visitvenanova.com or check them out in their downtown showroom on the second level of Stephen Avenue place. What is a lab-grown diamond? Well, lab-grown diamond, simply a diamond that's been grown in a lab.

They have the same chemical composition and crystal structure as natural earth-mine diamonds due to its identical nature. their lab-created diamonds have the same hardness, right? Refraction and same as a natural diamond. Only difference, they're lab created and referred to as synthetic because they are chemically and physically the same, but are man-made. Be confident knowing you can save up to 80% compared to mine diamonds pretty much across the board. You want a custom design done? Vina Nova can do that as well.

Just give them a few weeks of heads up to complete your custom piece. Find out more at vinanova.com. So you mentioned Worcester. They're the farm team of St. Louis. then you end up the next season with St. Louis. Is it just a coincidence or was there some kind of tie in there? Well, I got meningitis that summer. That's where I got really sick and I had to honestly reteach myself to walk and all of that type of stuff.

And you walk us through that a little bit because, you know, I remember hearing that. And I know I think we maybe talked to you, but it's been so long, just kind of how that all started and how truly sick you were. Well, so the end of the season, that year I had played with the Islanders, the Salt Lake Golden Eagles or whatever that team was, Salt Lake Grizzlies, Utah, that's what it was. They went for Denver to Utah. And then they farmed me out to Worcester, which was St. Louis's farm team. So I played in three different cities. And at the end of the year, I ended in Worcester and my buddy Jason Strudwick was there and Jason Widmer, a couple guys that I played junior with and very close. So we end up, you know, you drink, you hang out for a couple days.

And then I had went back to New York. I was living with my girlfriend at the time. Went back there, party for a couple days. And it was time to kind of go home. But all of my stuff was in Utah. So I had to fly to Salt Lake City to get it. So I went from Worcester to New York to Salt Lake City. And then I drove up to Lethbridge.

And by the time I got to Lethbridge, I was kind of run down and, you know, thought I'd just, you know, wasn't feeling too good. And I was out with my buddies, Joel and Mike Dick, the guys I, you know, grew up with. Yeah. And I thought I had food poisoning. And it turned out that, you know, I was getting these spots right in front of my eyes. And I was vomiting, vomiting, vomiting, and I had bacterial meningitis. So I went into the hospital and I was in intensive care for like seven days.

They pump me full of fluids. I hadn't seen my parents in like nine months because it was like the end of the season. So my parents flew in. from Vancouver, they were living there at the time. I'd grown my hair long, but to the point where, like, my mom didn't recognize me because they'd thought me so full of fluids, and I couldn't move.

I was kind of like, you know, just lay in there and in bed. And I remember her saying, that's not our son. They were like, yeah, that's your son. And it took me about a week to kind of come out of it. But the doctors did a great job in Lathbridge. They identified the problem. They were able to kill. Like, everybody, this is the crazy part.

You want to think about infectious diseases, which we just went through with COVID. That was out of Atlanta. But because I have crossed the border, it became an international incident. So they had to get in touch with everybody that I had been in touch with in like the previous week. Well, I had been in Worcester. I've been in New York City. And I had been in Salt Lake visiting the guys. I went for drinks with them after the game at the Green Parrot.

So all of those guys had to be. treated, you know, with these, with pills, I guess they just had to take like a prescription for a couple days. My understanding is we all have the natural antibodies to kill the meningitis or to deal with it. Mine didn't. So it was like one in 500,000 people this hit. It hit me. And I was in the hospital for a month. The Islanders didn't qualify me. So I became a free agent. Mike Keenan called, who was running St. Louis, really liked me. And I had, which is weird, I became unrestricted July 1st. I got out of the hospital like June 1st.

I had lost like 30 pounds. I had to reteach myself to walk all of that. And I wasn't sure if I was going to get an offer. And my agent, July 1st, called me and I had seven offers. Now, they were all two-way contracts. But the best one was St. Louis because of the depth chart. And Mike liked me instead, you know, we'll give you a, two-year deal, would like you to, you know, you're going to have to start in Worcester and get your

strength back and all of that. But we see there's a pathway here for you to make the NHL. So that's kind of what happened. And I ended up that next year, I ended up in Worcester and rehab. I didn't play back-to-back games until Christmas because my body would, I would cramp up. I had like hydration issues. But after that, I put it behind. I made the NHL the next year. And that's where I won the Masterton because I had, you know, kind of. back from meningitis. So it was kind of a weird. It was a very scary story because I remember laying on a gurney.

And back then, you don't have cell phones. So the doctor's like, you should call your parents. Your heart could stop in the next hour. And I was like, all right. So they pulled this like long cord, like the extension cord. And I'm like, I'm like bowed my parents' numbers. And I'm like, maybe you should come see me. It's up, you know, this could go south here.

So it was very scary and very surreal. But, you know, I was lucky. I had great doctors around. and made it through it. And then, like you say, and then that following season, and you talk about this team, 9798,

essentially it's kind of your first full season, right? You were start to finish, NHL, you and Grant Fier, who you loved as a kid. How crazy. Yes, very crazy. To the point where I have this picture here, when I was 12 years old,

I won the Dairy Queen shootout. And I got, I got my picture with fears, That was the first playoff game that year. Andy Moog had played that time. So Fierzy comes out. I get this picture with them. You know, they end up, he signs it.

They sent it to me in the mail or whatever. That was when I was 12. Fast forward. I'm 26. 14 years later. Fierzy's my goalie partner. And it was, you know, it was surreal. The guy's a living legend, literally.

And, you know, he had come off, I think, the year prior, Keenan had kind of, he was a reclamation project. Keen had started him like 79 games and they had a guy named Bruce Racine back him up. And then it was John Casey when I was in the hospital there. And then, you know, Fierzy's back there. And it was awesome. And, you know, to this day, we're friends, but I also kind of still in awe because he's like a legend. So it's weird.

You know, you're like, okay, that guy's a living legend. But it's like, I could text him and he would text me back. which is weird, but it was awesome. It was so cool to play with him. And Chris Bronger and I would sit at the back of the plane and Fierszy would sit behind us. And we'd get, you know, long road trips. You get them telling stories about winning the Cups in the 80s.

There's a reason why the Cuff has a chaperone. I think it's because of those guys in the 80s there, those 80s Oilers, put it that way. All the stories, all that stuff. Not to be the old man and sound bitter about anything, but those stories seem to be going. away. They are. They are in, you know, the only thing I would say, Red, is everything's become so corporate and the players now are their own little brand. They're a brand within a brand.

It's not it's not you and I and Craig Conroy and Egey going. And where are we going for lunch today after practice or comment? I just, I actually talked to my Commodore this morning. We were just BSing for Robin Regier, you know, like, hey, what are we doing for lunch? So let's go to that, you know, that place where you made a bowl out, Mongoli Grill. Let's go to the Mongoli Grill, see if we can get a picture on the wall and have $50 worth of food, you know.

Like it was nowadays, it's corporate. I don't want to say the players are younger, but they make the NHL younger or, you know, they're more conditioned to play pro quicker, where, you know, now a guy shows up. And if he hasn't made the team or isn't within the organization within like three years it's like okay that guy's a washout where you used to see guys be really developed and almost overdeveloped um it's just a different you know camera phones

social media media like it's just a bigger business so everyone is a lot more guarded like even if you get to know a player do you really know them unless you're really close with them like i'm an old guy now so i've met a lot of current players it's not like i'm hanging out with them i don't know what makes them tick because a lot of them are very, they're in their own worlds. And they've got their trainers. They got their chefs. Their family's a lot more involved. You know, I think my parents made it to like five, ten games in my career, like total.

You see, nowadays, these kids, their parents are at every game. They travel. Like, they're part of the package, right? Like, and so it's just different. And, you know, we had great times. I just don't know if the. these guys are wired. They're wired differently.

That's what I would say. And it's a bigger money business. Yeah, there's more to lose. Big time, big time. You've got guys that are making, not, not, I remember Chris Bronger calling me one time when he signed for 10 million a year and goes, God, I'm making 10 million a year. I never thought I would do that playing hockey game. Then the cycle went through and salaries went down.

And now the cycles back up where it's the top of the pyramid. These guys are making generational money again. which they should they'd sell jerseys and all that but it was more that for us it was either you got the 10 million guy or you got the one million dollar player now there's guys that are on the third line making five which is serious money and there's guys making a million in the minors isn't there oh yeah well you can you can bury a guy at 950 and have him you can have a one-way contract the Toronto Maple leaves do it all the time you've got guys that are making 7 7 7 75, 800 in the minors, you can call them up or you can put them in the minors and they don't count against your cap. So if you're, if your owners willing to spend that money, you can build yourself a really good program in the minors and then have those veterans help your young players. And then they can also be quality call-ups if you do call them up.

So the organizations that want to spend money, they can do that. And you know, I just, it just went through my head there when you were talking about fear and then we'll move on because I want to ask you about Pronger because there's, I mean, unique dude. You always hear that saying don't meet your heroes. You don't want to meet your heroes. That this was your hero and that you were that close to him. There's plenty of opportunity for you to have the shine kind of come off,

but that it didn't is pretty, it's pretty amazing. That's kind of a testament to what kind of a guy he is, that you still kind of have that, like you say, that aura around. Yeah. It's pretty cool. And, you know, he's been transparent with, his struggles in life. I ended up working with his mental coach Maxi, you know, and, you know, Maxi was a big part of Grant's life. He was a big part of my life for a while

there. You know, you look at it and I'll tell you one quick story about Fierzy and this is Fierzy in a nutshell. Like I used to be, we talked about a high anxiety guy, high energy guy, but when I was backing up, I wanted to be vocal. I wanted to bring something to the dress So we're with St. Louis. Fierzy starting. We're playing Arizona or Phoenix coyotes in the playoffs that year. And we should beat them. We're the better team. But Phoenix, they've given to us. Like, Ronek, I think, had a broken job. He came back and was inspiring them. They had a good team. They had a good bully. They had a really good team, but I thought ours was better. We end up going to seven games. Okay. So we're playing a seventh game. And I remember going in

there and Fierzy, who is non-vocal, nothing. So I used to sit with popcorn in the trainer's room and just have a little popcorn. I'm stretching before the game and that. And Fierzy walks in and just looks at me, he used to call me chum. Hey, chum, you know, hey chum. And he reaches over and he grabs some popcorn. And he's just like, it's like we're just hanging out. And I'm like, okay, we got a game seven in an hour.

and he's just out of a couple pieces of popcorn and then before the game you could just the tension in the room you could feel how tight it was and he stands up and it was just he never said a word to anybody always the whole year he never said anything

and he goes guys just get me one tonight all I need is one and we're all like what like what do you just say like all I need is one goal guys I'm good sort of like holy smokes we won one nothing that night. He put a clinic on, but it was like, I remember Pierre Turgeon, I think scored.

And it's like those, it's one of these, like I'm getting goosebumps talking about it. It's just like this one of these moments where it's like, that's a legend. That's, that's a guy calling a shot, but not lip service because the guy never said anything all year. But he stands up when we needed it and goes, just give me one. I just need one tonight, guys. And it was a hard fought battle. Like we fought them hard. And they were, like I say, Phoenix was a.

really good team. And and fears have got a shut out that night. Like that's like that's a stuff of like legends, but like backing it up legends too. Like not just like hey, lip service and you know, embellishing a story that like he just, I witnessed it live from 10 feet away. It was crazy. It was awesome. Yeah. That is awesome. Then fewer leaves. Now again, much like with the other, this is my time to shine. This is my, hey, I'm taken over here. But then Roman Turek arrives from Dallas in a trade. The McLennan-Turich marriage begins in the summer of 1999. Yeah.

And, you know, Large comes from Dallas. I think it got traded the day after they won the cup. You know, I can't remember. I can't remember if he went, no, maybe he went St. Louis to Dallas, Dallas to Calgary. I'm trying to remember how it worked. But he was awesome. And I remember there was a time where St. Louis wanted me to be the starter, and I failed. Like, I, I, it started me like 10 games in a row, and I got to like the fifth game, and I was

given them decent minutes, but my play dropped off. And it just was evident that I was a really good backup and not a number one. And I think that was clear. And instead of, you know, pouting about it, I just wanted to be a really good number two then. If I'm going to be a two, I better be damn good. And, you know, Roman comes in. And Roman and I were great together. That year, you know, on paper, we won the Jennings.

He's on the Jennings trophy. I'm not because of the ruling. I think I only played 19 games. And I think you have to have 25 to be on the trophy. But we were good. And we won the president's trophy that year. And that was a team that was just loaded with Hall of Famers and Paddle Demetra and, you know, McKinness, Terjean.

Brom. McKinnis, Tershon. That's one of those teams that you look back. Hey, Retro, we talk about it off. How that team, over that stretch of time and then Kachuk was in that mix there, how that team didn't break through is, that's a miss for sure for that team. They should have, I feel, and there's no slight on them. I just, it's almost like, they didn't keep the band together.

Like they should have kept, like, they were always tweaking it where I think we screwed up. We lost in the first round of San Jose that year. And game seven, Owen Nolan scored from Santa Rice on Roman. And we just been recovered. And Bergey threw the puck in the net. I don't know, on the penalty kill, Mark Bergervin grabbed it, threw it. It was in the back of that. I remember problems coming to the bench.

And everyone's like, where's the puck? And he's like, it's in the net. He threw it in the net. I'm like, oh, my God. Like, it was just a, it was, everything that could have gone south went south. But if they would have come right back, that same. group. Like I think sometimes you've got to lose before you win, right? Like it, and they were constantly like tweaking it. Oh, maybe this is the problem. And it just never, they never hit where I think

they, like that you're right. We should have hit. Like that team was so talented with Pierre Turzron, Pavel Demetre, Brett Hull, Alixunus, Chris Bronger, Michael Hansus, Lubos, Spartecco. Like we just had these like awesome players, player action, you know, Scott Heller and Craig Conroy. Like just like we were deep. Everyone had the rolls down path. We were tough with Tony Twist, Kelly Chase, Rudy Coast Check. We just had all these. We had toughness covered.

We had skill covered. We had structure covered. The goal tending. You know, Roman fell short on that. I get that. You know, maybe that's where you could have tweaked. But it just at the end of the day, it just never happened. And it sucks because.

But I mean, that one year, it's 1.95 goals against the average, 42 wins. That was the year. That was the year we lost in the first round. He was unbelievable. He won the Jennings. He couldn't. Like he was such a good goaltender. He was so good.

He was so big. Like his nickname was large. He just was like this big. And he had a good glove hand. He could handle the puck. He had a great temperament. He was really good. And then he got to Calgary.

And same type of thing. He played well in his first run. And then he got a big contract. And it kind of went south for him. But he's, you know, Roman was an awesome goalie. like awesome and like i go back to st louis years you know it's almost like a scenario like you look at this toronto team they're sticking with that core and just going back with it going back with it like st louis didn't they they kept tweaking it kept tweaking it to the point where they

tweaked it down and they never you never got back to that level or if you would have kept that group together you know coulda would or shoulda in hindsight that was you know how many years ago It was 1999-2000s, a long time ago. Hello, buddies. It's Boomer from Barnburner on Flames Nation.ca. Taking a look at some betway action here. A little looking to the crystal ball NFL season heading into week three. Futures bets. Most sacks during the NFL regular season.

T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers had another one on Monday against Cleveland. He's tied for the league lead with four sacks in two games. Watt is a stud T.J. Watt to register the most sacks in the NFL during the regular season plus 500. Yep. Sign me up. Find that one and more at Betway.

He's just one of the best guys. I got all kinds of time for him. And we're going to need more time, as it turns out, because I kind of felt guilty. We just kind of kept going and going. I was watching the clock as we're doing this interview. I get still so much I want to talk to this guy, but I got so many more questions.

But he's got a lot of them. He's a great guy. Jamie McClend and our guest on the show today. Coming up in the next edition of Barnburner, we'll have the finale, getting to Calgary, getting to know Kipper, how it came to be that Kipper even became a flame in a weird way he had a hand in that. But just the most unselfish teammate, and you've already heard already that really it was all about the team.

if it was best for the team, he would take that back seat or do whatever he had to do, which is why I think he was so beloved. So that'll do it for today. We'll have the conclusion of our little visit with Jamie McClendon coming up

on the next edition. That'll be tomorrow right here on Barnburner. See you, buddies.