Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Rick Ball (FULL INTERVIEW) | FN Barn Burner - July 18th, 2024

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

FlamesNation Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder & WarrenerTIMESTAMPS - New Job (0:30)- Blackhawks Future (3:30)- Start Of Career (7:00)- Radio vs TV (14:00)- BREAK (20:00 - 23:30)- Preparation (25:00)- The Rick Ball Show (30:00)- Hockey Night In Canada (37:00)- Bob Cole (39:00)- Rick Loves Calgary (44:00)- Game 7 Johnny OT Goal Call (50:00)- BREAK (52:15 - 56:00)- Comeback Kids (57:00)- Flames Core Looking Back (58:30)- Sam Bennett (01:00:00)- Fun Videos Of Rick (01:03:00)BARN BURNER BLONDEhttps://originbrewing.myshopify.com/products/barn-burner-473ml👍🏼 McLEOD LAW https://www.mcleod-law.com👍🏼 VILLAGE HONDA https://www.villagehonda.com👍🏼 OUTDOOR DENTAL https://www.outdoor.dental👍🏼 BETWAY https://betway.com/bwp/flamesnation👍🏼 GRETA BAR https://www.gretabar.com/locations/ca👍🏼 ORIGIN BREWING https://originbrewing.ca👍🏼 BeAroused https://www.bearoused.ca/👍🏼 SPRING FINANCIAL: http://SpringFinancial.ca/barn👍🏼 Pro Skate Service Calgary: https://www.psscalgary.com/💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on twitter: @FlamesNation @BarnburnerFN @960boomer @PinderReport @warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So do you think it's actually windy in the windy city? I thought it was the city that never slow. No, that was the other one. City with big shoulders, something like that. Broad shoulders, broad street. I'd like to go and find out sometime, though. Just find out just truly how windy the windy city is. Rick Ball, you're going to know very soon.

Are you okay with wind? You've been to Lethbridge. Maybe you're... I live in Calgary. Yeah, you're okay with it. But I have just to be safe. I think it's a myth, the windy city thing. But just to be safe, I've purchased some extra Velcro for my two days.

That's right. Oh, good. Yeah, got to be careful. By an anchor, it's carrying it around with you. Yeah, yeah, chintrap. I said to you when you came in, it was like, holy shit, it's whenever, now you've been doing NHL play by play, it's two decades. Once you put the headphones on and you're calling the game, I guess it's all kind of

the same. Yeah. But the Chicago Blackhawks, original six, what a town, what a team, the whole thing. I want to start right at the end. And then we can work our way back or whatever. But how did this come to be as. people that are watching listening will know the new voice of the chicago black hawks happen fast you know i uh i was a free agent although sports net and my agent were talking already um after they signed their

new 11 year deal with the flames for the regional rights so i just didn't i love it here i love calgary so i thought i'll you know we'll get a new deal done and fantastic um and then right around that same time the hawks reached out to me and it happened quick they said they're starting their own network along with the white socks and the bulls and they said we're looking at you know making some changes would you be interested in it went from a phone call on a friday with the team president to flying to chicago to meeting with the owner having a nice steak dinner on a tuesday and by the time i got home on thursday having a contract offer so they were interested and it happened that fast and you know after back and forth bit with negotiating it really didn't take very long so just too good an

opportunity as much as I love the flames and would have gladly, and I mean this with every ounce of sincerity I can muster, have stayed in Calgary until I retire. I love it here. Sometimes things come along. You just can't say no to like an original six team and a city of 10 million people and, you know, I think there's a superstar. Yeah, they've got a superstar. Yeah, 19 this year. Yeah, there is that. Darren Pang's terrific. I've had so many good partners broadcast wise over the years and, you know, just the chance to work with him to another one on the list. another goalie. I'm used to those guys.

I know how to handle them. And I know you're a humble guy, but there's something a little special when they pursue you. It's not like this was some blanket. The Blackhawks are looking for a play-by-play voice. Send in your resumes. It was not one of those things.

You were just kind of the hand-picked almost. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure they talk other people too, but the fact that they were interested was, you know, was nice. And they, when I went there, they treated me great, right? Like right from the ownership on down. Yeah. It wasn't, they showed that they were really interested in the way that they handled that whole trip out there.

And again, if, you know, circumstances were different or it wasn't the Hawks, I'm probably still a Flames broadcaster. But, you know, like I said, just too good to pass up. I mean, I can't wait to get going. If someone has to narrate this incredible career for Conradar, I'm glad that you get the chance to do it. I mean, when you think about the original six is one thing, the market's another, it is one of the hockey city's honor. earth and then you look at where they are in their life cycle. Like, how perfect is this? They're just about to get good with a young superstar.

It's the most exciting time to be a fan of any team. I want to be part of that, right? Like, you think about it too. You're right. I mean, you know, how long will it take for them to get back to being good? I'm not sure. Kyle Davidson's put them in an unbelievable position, though, because they have, I think, 11 picks in the first three rounds the next two years, including number two overall this year.

So, you know, they're going to get some great young players, plus all. also a lot of draft capital if they want to make moves. And I think $35 million in cap space or something like that. After you're signing the still. Yeah, that's right. It's down to $34,000, $9.99. But they're in a really good spot to make it happen maybe even a little quicker than other teams might be able to. It's also a desirable place to go.

And when you have a superstar, like just look at the orders. Guys want to play with them, right? They weren't very good when McDavid got there at first, right? and then more guys wanted to start coming because they realized they get a chance to play with a, with a generational guy. And I think Chicago was in a very similar position to what Edmonton was, you know, seven years ago, whatever it was. Well, I know Flames fans.

As soon as the news got out there and it was on social media and that it was pretty much universal, I was like, oh, no. This is awesome for Rick, but damn it. Yeah, it's an unbelievable opportunity, but this stinks. You've had an amazing career, and I guess now we can kind of go back to the beginning. Wayne Horning. Is this where it starts? Yeah.

Tell us about how. I know that. I'm sure somebody put it somewhere. So he was the custodian in my high school and a real friendly guy and an old hockey coach. So he was the color commentator with Brian Kuling, who was the sports director with the radio station. When the Colonna wings came to town, this is back in the 80s. They had a Western hockey league team in Colonna for three years before the Rockets were over there. Oh, okay.

But they couldn't get an arena built and it wound up becoming the spoken. Can Chiefs. Anyway, I'm digressing. Wayne Horning got an inkling. I was kind of interested in broadcasting. Maybe I used to emcee everything at school. I was a bit of a goofball. And I played sports too. I played every sport. I could play. So I had a bit of both those things going on. He goes, hey, I'll introduce you to Brian Coolling if you're interested. And I said, yeah, I'd love to meet him. He was a celebrity to me in town, right? And I just excited to see the inside of the radio station. So I went and met with Brian through Wayne Horning, my custodian. And Brian took a liking to me. And so he started having me cover. like sporting events as a high school kid and oftentimes I'll be playing in them which was weird you know i'd be in a basketball tournament then call a report in the old voicer remember you do that a tournament on a sunday and they'd run up monday morning on the radio station and back then radio was huge i mean everybody listened to the radio in the morning you know getting ready for school mom would have it on in the kitchen so all my buddies would hear in the morning and i thought this is pretty cool i love it because how it got started i kind of relate it's kind of having that radio bug thinking

that that's to be in high school and thinking this is this would be awesome awesome to hear your voice on the radio or whatever. But I just love that it's, yeah, the custodian at the high school. Maybe that was the first kind of step in the career of Rick Ball. It's funny what things, something that sort of innocuous at the time nudges you onto a path. Yeah. Like who knows? That doesn't happen.

Who knows what I'm doing, right? I mean, I might have still gotten here or followed the same career. But I don't know, like little things that you think are really nothing at time is kind of cool. And this is neat. And then all of a sudden, here we are all these years later and I'm going to Chicago. So it is weird how life works sometimes. Then as soon as you weasel your way in as a young guy into the radio station and you're in with the sports director, they can't get rid of you.

I know what that's like. Then you very quickly start into the play-by-play, right? Yeah, well, I'm the sports guy to do it. Yeah, yeah. So I want to, so through that kind of connection, B-CIT has a very good broadcasting program, very difficult to get into. But because a lot of the guys when I was in high school that worked at the radio station, I was at, or all BCIT grads, they put a good word for me.

I got into school. So I did my, I did my schooling there in broadcast journalism. And when I came out, the station that I did all the stuff, the stringing work for as a high schooler, hired me full time back in Colonna. And then it was a while after that before I started doing play-by-play. So I wound up actually working for a different station ultimately. And what happened was, this would have been the early 90s. The Colonna Spartans were the Junior A team.

The Rockets hadn't gotten there yet. They won the Centennial Cup. It was in Amherst, Nova Scotia. Nobody did play-by-play. I went out and covered it, just phone reports in, but it wasn't actually called on the radio. So I came back and I badgered our general manager. I was going to say, you bullied them. I did.

I said, this is embarrassing. I said, next year they're going to be good. We need to do play by play. And he said, I want to do play by play on the station. So I would go in there all the time. And finally, he, I think just to get me out of his office said, okay, we'll do the playoffs. So I called the playoffs the next year. That was my first ever play by play.

And the centennial, they got back to the Centennial Cup. It was an old. and they lost to the Grizzlies in overtime in the championship game. And by that point, I had the bug bad to call. Were you any good? Do you have those tapes? Do you go back and listen? I do.

It's funny. I do have tapes from when I started doing the Western League. I don't ever want to listen to those games I did at first because I guarantee you they were awful. But then we did one more year of playoffs of the Spartans. And the next season is when the Rockets came to town from Tacoma. So that was 95. And I kind of had my foot in the door and was able to get that gig and rode the bottom. for five years calling the Western Hockey League.

And as I did that, I started to get a little better, like, because you're doing, you know, 70 games. You do a few reps, right? Lots of rights. And even just sort of being ingrained into the culture of the sport, being around at that level, it was really helpful, right? Hamilton's were outstanding to work with. Bruce sent me a really nice note when the news came out about Chicago.

No way. Awesome. Awesome guy. I said, I texted him back and go, it's hard to believe. It started in a plywood press box at Memorial Arena, you know, which it did. So I did. So I did that for five years. And then I started thinking, I think I'm getting okay.

But my wife used to record the games I asked her to on cassette tapes. We had an old ghetto blaster, right? This is how you did it. And I go do a game and I said, please, she's not a hockey fan weirdly. And she would patiently put the cassette in and started at the game time. So when we moved two moves ago, I found this shoebox with a hundred cassettes in it of old play-by-play from the Western Hockey League that I had. Unfortunately, nobody owns a cassette player anymore. That's true, yeah. No way to listen to it.

I want in the garage, actually. I find a real to real machine or something, listen to old tapes. So was it kind of a slam dunk that you were going to be the guy when the Rock? No. Because you were the first play by play. Yeah, it wasn't. No, they had lots of interest, obviously. So I had to, you know, they did a search.

And, you know, I had an inside track because our station was going to do it. And I really lobbied. I wanted to do it. And it was, I mean, it was a great experience. I was burning the candles at both ends, though, because I was part of the morning show. And I was doing hockey. I mean, I had toothpicks of my eyelids most days trying to make it all work. But you're young and you just grind it through.

And I wouldn't trade it in for anything now. All that experience was invaluable. Just a nervous kid sitting there. Who are they bringing in for interviews? Who are they? Yeah. They better not give it. I'm going to go crazy.

If some other play-by-play guy comes into Colona and starts calling WHL. A couple of guys who called some NHL hockey, like not full-time, but they'd done a few games. I thought, oh, no, they're ever going to pick me. Never. Jim Houston had worked there back in the day, but he wouldn't have gone well before. He was before me. Did you hear him growing up there? Yeah, a little bit.

I remember him. He was a young guy. Like, he came in. I would have been a kid. So it didn't really register at the time. But he was there for three or four years. Yeah. And at the same station that I started.

Yeah. So there's, yeah, it's spit out some good broadcasters through there. Right. So, yeah, he came through. He came from Fort St. John, I think. Yeah, 14 John, and then they offered another 50 bucks a week. It was the story in Pintechton. That's the way it worked.

So how I wound up at a different radio station that I started out in Colona is after going back and working full time for six months. A woman that I went to BCIT with was working at Prince George at the TV station. She goes, hey, we, Jill Krop just left and went to Saskatoon or something. Would you be interested in coming up? And I said, well, how much are they paying? It was like, $300 more than I was making. I'm on the, I'm on the, I'm on the bowl.

Get the U-Haul, baby. 300. Yeah. Yeah. I went to Prince George for a year and then realized I was in Prince George for a year. And came back to Colonna and went to the competing radio station, the one I used to be at. And it wound up being a great move because they were the ones that wound up letting me do play-by-play.

So funny how it all works. And I remember being early on and play by play and you're like, gosh, I think I'm pretty good. I got this. And you go back and listen like, oh, my God. Oh, it's like you need so many games. And I often will listen. And I'll like, this is one of the first 200 games. This person's done because it's just not there yet.

Like it is a weird thing. You can't just go get reps easily. Someone needs to pay you. You need to be with a team. And it's years. Yeah. It's not like, you know, hey, here's my degree. I can do this.

It's the old 10,000 hours. Yeah. that Malcolm Gladwell thing, which, you know, I think has been a little bit disproven. But the general gist of the concept is 100% true, right? And even getting about 10,000 hours doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be good. I think you need to have a certain proclivity for it. But I'll tell you what guarantees not being good, even if you do have a proclivity, is not getting your 10,000 hours, right?

So the only way you find out if you'll ever be any good is to just do it. That's the advice I give to every young broadcaster asked me, find some place to call games. even if we all have a recording device in our pocket. So hook a microphone up to your, up to your phone and go call Junior B games just for practice and do as many as you can. Do it every weekend. And that's the only way to get better.

And that's the only way I got bad. And then I would tape, I told you, I would cassette tape every game I did. And as soon as I got home, I'd listen to it. Like, while it was still fresh, this was actually advice Jim Houston gave me. Because listen to your games, while the game is still fresh in your mind.

And you go, that was okay. And you'd see those plays in your head. you know. And then I lot like what I realize is, oh, I'm using this phrase way too much. Or there's probably a better way I could say that. And just through incrementally improving, you start eliminating stuff. You don't like doing more of what you do like and gradually get better. But you only can you can only do it by doing it.

And so you've, we'll get there eventually. I'm sure. And I don't want to jump too far out over. But calling play by play and calling football is worlds different because it's 10 seconds of 10 seconds of action, reset, formations, move the chest pieces differently, other team reacts, and then 10 seconds of action, whereas hockey, you have to do such an incredible job of filtering. What's important here? There's so much happening.

What do I need to pass along in radio? We don't even see what's happening. If someone's climbing out of the penalty box, that's got to trump what's going on over here versus this and that. Yeah, it's different. Radio and TV are definitely a little different. You can sort of let a little more go and not be quite as descriptive on TV. but the problem is if you get too barren in terms of your play-by-play, you lose the energy, right?

You're not saying anything. So there's a happy medium in there somewhere, and that just took time to learn. But we're doing radio. Puck location is everything, right? Because you are the game. And on TV, you can just be a little more colorful and try and just accent, be more of a, you know, just add to it, right, as opposed to being it.

So it's a little bit different, but you're right. The two sports are entirely different. I did a bunch of football for 10 years as well. I hadn't called a lot of football before I got that chance. So that was fun doing the CFL. I would say hockey is a way better game to call and football's a great game to talk about. Yeah.

Because there's so much involved in terms of strategy and tactics. And, you know, so it's just a different dynamic, but I really enjoyed it for the time I did it. But we will get there for sure. Ryan's not, you know, gets anxious. He's got a plan, Ryan. Come on. So five years doing, do you get the itch?

Is it, I got to get out of here. What happens after? It's Victoria? Yeah. So, yeah, I kind of, so five years in the Western League, two years doing those games in the playoffs and the junior in the BC Hockey League. And, you know, you're on the bus and I'm like, oh, man, I don't. And by that point, I put together some, some resume CD back then. You had to burn it off your computer, right?

And I don't know, I sound half decent, but I don't know if I can do anymore. I can't, like the thought of rumbling across the frozen tundra, you know, for 14 hours, just, it just wears you out. Sure. And I had an offer to go to Victoria. And I wasn't, it wasn't doing play by play or anything, but I loved it there. It was for a company I actually had already worked for. So I went to Victoria just to get a break. And the summer I moved there, I got a call from Chris Heb as the Kinnock's director

of broadcast. And he goes, hey, Jim Houston has a bunch of national games that are going to conflict with some of our regional shows. So would you be interested in filling in? And I tried to play a cool. Well, let me look. Let me check my daytime. Yeah.

You know, see if I can fit it in. Meantime, I'm doing cartwheels down the hallway. Yeah. And I said, yeah. And I talked to the people that brought me down to Victoria. And they said, yeah, go do it. looks great on us if you're calling games on TV. And that was my first sort of foot in the door

with the National Hockey League and in Vancouver. Sure. And it was a short time after that, the Team 1040 All Sports Radio Station had gone in the air and they really wanted me to come. So the games that I filled in for Huey were only for one year. That's the only time that they had these issues. But it got my foot in the door and that's how I wound up getting into Vancouver.

When you leave the Rockets and you leave Colona for a job that isn't play-by-play, Was there any worry, any thought that I might not do this again? Yeah. Well, so the timing, I'm trying to remember. I had a meeting with Chris Hebby. That's how we knew who I was. He told me he liked my stuff. But you don't know what's going to lead anywhere, right?

So that's when I was still in Kelona. So I thought, well, I've got a guy in Vancouver who I think likes me. So I'm going to keep in touch with him. But I didn't expect it to lead to an opportunity right away, right? Like it happened fairly fast. So I was at that point, you know, we'd been married for a while. And I thought, well, you know, if it, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. And it was more of a lifestyle decision at that time.

But it happened. So clearly there was some kind of cosmic momentum to push me towards doing play-by-play. So you go into Vancouver at the team and you're also doing a talk show, right? Like it's your. I got there as a part of the morning show. They wanted me to be the, they hired a guy named John McKeachie. I don't know if you were listening in Vancouver. They know McKeach, a complete lunatic.

Awesome guy. He's texted me the other day when he heard the news. So we still communicate every now. Usually he's texted me to ask me for the phone number of some like obscure. I don't know why he thinks I would. It's McKeech, do you have Vaslav Varata's phone number? Why would I have Vasla?

Why would I think he's back and check you? Like how would. I got it right here. Yeah, hold on. He's a great dude, though. So I did the show with him for a bit. He wound up moving on to a different opportunity. And I stuck on the morning show for a few years.

Then I got my own show. I wasn't doing hockey at this point. because the hockey rights were at a different station, but they got the football rights right away, and I got to do football. And then ultimately, when hockey came over, Shorty was still doing radio, and I'm kind of getting ahead of myself here,

but when he went to TV after he went full-time to Hockey Night in Canada, I moved into the radio. Yeah. So, and you brought it up, football, it's play-by-play, but it's not the same thing. Yeah. Did you have football chops? Like, was this a job where I got to have this?

Like, it would have been with the hockey job, or Vancouver or the Canucks is the BC Lions was it was your mouth watering were you salivated yeah I love the lines growing up I was a huge I mean there's a BC guy didn't they hold training camps in the they used to come to Colonna yeah no they came to Colonna for years when I was working there so I I had a real soft spot for the lines they got to know a bunch of the people there pretty well now Buono hadn't gotten there yet he was here it was Bobble bilovich back when he was still there and Joe Galat and guys like that but uh yeah I love football actually played that was a sport I probably played the most that in rugby growing up and I coached

football for four years when I was in Colonna. So I wound up, you know, I hadn't called law of football. I did a couple of Okinaw and Sun games during the playoffs and the junior football team there. But I didn't have a lot of experience doing it on the air, but I knew the sport. I felt pretty comfortable with everything about it. So it wasn't like I was going to be stepping into something like, hey, you're going to call Irish hurling. So maybe watch a couple of YouTube videos and go. I was pretty confident about understanding the game of football.

There's some of the nuances of calling it that I had to learn. but it didn't feel that uncomfortable for me getting into that at all. You did that for a long time. Yeah, 10 years. Yeah. And a lot of overlap with hockey, too. So when I started doing the Canucks, I was doing football and hockey. And then I got Hockey Net in Canada in 2011.

I was doing Hockey Night in Canada. Football on the radio and hockey on the radio. It was busy. Yeah, I think earlier you said burning the candle at both ends. Yeah. That's pushing it even a step further. If you know life, unexpected costs pop up everywhere, Whether that's a kid that wants to suddenly be a goalie, maybe it's a little car mishap.

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Check it out today. Hey guys, it's Pinder with the brand new location of professional skates. One of the original hockey institutions of Calgary were just on 42nd Avenue Southeast off Blackfoot Trail. Let's check it out. Okay, guys, we're here. If you remember the old location, everything was great, but everything here is just better. Check it out.

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what size and skate is best for you. Saturday, August 10th, come check it out with Boomer and I, live Barnburner right here at the new Pro Skate. We'll see you there. Let's get back to another summer edition of Barnburner. You're a BC guy, you're growing up and you're throwing out like Jim Houston and Shorthouse. When you're kind of in that ether now. You're you're kind of in that mix. Sort of, you know, you can, but you are. What's going through your head? Are you, are you thinking, I'm, I'm getting there. Yeah. I'm going, I'm on the path. This is, this is going to be me now. What's, what's going through my head is walking into the, into Rogers Arena. It was GM

place at the time and seeing like Tony Gallagher and Jim Taylor, like the columnist that I used to read like yeah it was like i i couldn't have been more thrilled if i'd met tom cruise and you know tom sellick like they were celebrities to me and i thought i can't believe i'm here and uh yeah and jim robson was a real hero mine is a hall of famer right like the radio the original radio he's like 30 years right yeah unbelievable broadcaster better guy and i got to know him when i started doing hockey he was a real supporter of mine and still you know i haven't talked to him in a long time, but that was a real treat to get to know him. In fact, the first year I did play-by-play for the Rockets, he came to Colonna, arranged by the radio station and sat in

on a broadcast with us on the air for the whole game. Brad Faye was my analyst. Brad and I are terrific friends. He was a newspaper writer in Colonna used to do color with me. I did play-by-play and Jim Robson sat in the middle. It was, even Brad to this day says, greatest moment of his broadcasting career. He's called Olympics. He's hosting the Bradford's broadcast. He goes, doing that game with Jim Robson. We were just starting out with something else. So, and then the next day, he said after the game, hey, you want to have breakfast tomorrow morning? I'm like, yeah. And we sat there and I got to talk to him for like three hours and he really helped me just in terms of how he preps and lays out his notes. And he was got to,

I'm not going to tell you how to call a game. You have to learn it, basically what we talked about. Just do it. But I will show you how to prep, how I like to prep and set up all my notes. The best advice he gave me amongst a lot of great advice was you need to have everything on a few pieces of paper as possible. And he is 100%. Because the last thing you can do, you want to do when you're calling a game is be flipping through a stack of paper looking for something, right?

So you wind up coming up with your own shorthand and keeping everything to the bare, like the maximum amount of information on the minimum amount of paper. And I still use the, a lot of the things that he used in his system, I still use today. Oh, it's amazing. There was one I saw online the other day. It was Cuthbert before

game one. It was like, there's reds and blues and yellows and this has got highlighted and it's written colored pens team. This is a player of a play this day still has four or five colored pens. Yeah. It does things a certain way. Yeah, I do it the same. Like I have my rosters I print off. I've got

them in an Excel spreadsheet every team. And then I add to them as things change stats and everything notes on each guy. And I have that here and I have a notebook where I write down team stuff on one side for the game like tidbits about what's going, what's happening. And then the other side, I still keep score myself. That's old school going back

to when I was doing junior games. Right. I still So I go, penalty. Right down. Yeah. Penalties, power plays. I think it would blow fans away to know the amount of time. Yeah. That you play by play guys put in.

It's like, oh, I'll grab a couple bottles of water and hit up there. And I'll just talk about the game. How do you know the guy's names? You memorize the numbers. You like that. You know that, Ryan. You've done it. That's the single biggest question you get.

How do you know everybody's name? You're like, man, if you only understood how that is just the tiniest bit of the job. Yeah. The biggest thing is watching games. somebody told me this early on watch you know as a play-by-play guy you're not a newsbreaker you're not an insider you're not a scoop guy you need to know the players and the best way to do that is to watch games so the vast majority of prep is watching games and making notes yeah and then like every game is at least four hours of prep like if let's say calgary is playing especially if it's teams you don't see as often of some of the Carolina coming to town I'll go watch carolina's last two games and um and and then spend the next couple hours just prepping notes i got a chance to meet with jim houston when i was working i think it would be either with uh the abidsturt heat or pentagram i think it was abett surd and ryan walter was the president of tom and i think he helped me set up that meeting and jim said

to get ready for hockey and can't he was the lead guy at that point i believe um or at least him a bob were flipping it's like he had his routine and it was like all five games for both teams coming in and i'm like shit like there's a lot of levels you can't do that at but like that is unreal and he was incredibly thorough like yeah a lot of different styles out there but i always thought like jim was the the just the true pro like there's there's no ha ha's it's it's like if you to a t like how it should be done like he's the rule book is i i agree and a cycle an encyclopedia level of knowledge i used to amaze me because i'd watch him do it when he was originally was sports that um he would do these like five minute sort of essays on whatever

some story or player or whatever, didn't write anything down. Yeah. He'd stand in the bowl of the arena with a camera on him and just go. And it'd be four or five minutes of a monologue. It's like I don't think people who get how hard that is who don't do it, who don't do what we do. That's, I couldn't do it. I mean, I could.

It would be lumpy and there'd be on the odds. But for him to do it like he's reading it off a script, incredible. The guy's amazing. So doing the lions and. you'd been it was what vTV so you're doing the odd game when hughson can't do it and then short house how long when so short house leaves the sports net you move in yep that happened in 08 i think somewhere in maybe have it though 2008 yeah good memory um but it had been a while since you'd been doing repetitive hockey right you do it the odd drop in you're doing lions games every week yeah

but you hadn't had that steady diet of hockey for years right yeah how was that jumping back That was not, probably a little bit of rust to knock off. It wasn't that hard, though. I mean, I've done so many hockey games, right? Five years of the Western way, you could, so 400 games, whatever that was, playoffs and preseason or everything. And then that season doing NHL games, even though it wasn't very many. So it felt like slipping into a nice pair of shoes.

But there's probably a couple weeks where I needed to sharpen up a little bit. But I was also hosting pre-imposed game shows. I was at every Canucks game. I knew the team like the back of my hand. It wasn't that hard in terms of knowledge. just sort of getting back into form, even coming back after a summer, the first couple of games are like,

let's knock the rust off. But I felt pretty comfortable fairly quickly. And it was great. And then at that point, you know, doing football and hockey, I was still doing my show when I went to our program record. I just can't do,

I can't do a show. Like, so what, I was doing a three-hour show by myself. I didn't have a co-host or anything. What was the show? And then did you have to morph it or just ask it? Because I know,

like, Chuck Swersky had a similar role in Toronto where he was doing the Raptors games early, but he would do the middays on 590. It basically was a call show because he's like, I don't have time to prep the show. So this is going to be the portion of the day where everyone just calls and we talk about stuff. I can't build a show show so much as,

we'll just take calls. So what was your show like? It was a midday show. So it went from noon to three. And they didn't like calls because they said you're handing the show over the callers. Totally. Their whole thing was you got to have every,

you know, it was 23, you know, we're getting into radio vernacular here, but the clock was divided into three segments. 20-minute segments. Yeah. And you needed a topic on every segment. So I had nine segments every show. And you better have some kind of interesting take or something entertaining every segment.

So I had regulars and stuff too. But there were a lot of, I might have one regular an hour and 40 minutes to fill by myself. So it was a ton of preparation. Yeah. And because I'm not like, I admire a guy like Peter Labardius, another guy with an encyclopedic knowledge, you know, could talk about the, you know, starting the lineup of the 1983, you know, Montreal Expos or whatever. And, you know, I'd have to, I'd have to spend an hour and a half researching.

And so for me, it was a lot of work. I had to go through then thank God for the internet and just prepare. So doing my show was hours of preparation. And then, oh, you got to call a Canucks game that night as well. And I just became untenable after a while because I'm not a guy I could just show up and with that kind of baseline level of knowledge and wing it. Not very few people can do that. Talk, radio, play by play. It's all different muscles that you're using there.

Just because it's hockey. It doesn't mean you could do all. It's amazing that you were able to do all of these things. Yeah, I never thought of myself as a talk show host. That just kind of happened. And, you know, the banishment seemed to like me. I didn't because that's not what I wanted to be doing. But they're like, you're the only guy we can put on the air and do a show by himself.

So I don't know if we want to take you off and let you do play by play. That was the message. I'm like, uh, that's what I want to do. Yeah, that's what I want to do. And so it took a, again, he kind of had to grind and say, I want, this is what I want to do. So they like paying one guy not too weird, hey? Yeah, yeah. I know that works.

So, yeah. So I wound up, you know, I give him credit because Rob Gray was the program director, great guy, finally said, you know what? We'll just let you call the games. And I said, thank you. And it was awesome. And how long were you doing both Lions Canucks? From, so that would have been from 0.8 until 14 when I came here.

Yeah. And then from 11 to 14 doing hockey night. And so unless you had, like, Falls would be busy, but unless you got a good playoff run from the Canucks, you wouldn't overlap. They didn't overlap. Yeah. Well, the Canucks, yeah, they went to the, so the way that it worked is shorty called the radio games when he wasn't doing TV. So in the playoffs, he did all the, all the radio, right?

So the run that they had to 21. I was, I did everything. I post game, pregame between periods all the way through the Stanley Cup final. But I didn't call those games. So, yeah, there wasn't really much overlap at all. Just in the fall, yeah. I remember that vividly. I was living in BC at the time.

I was in Penticton and we'd host an open mic and Canucks fans coming. People don't realize outside of BC. how big that 2011 run was because it was the crescendo of the Cedine era. And you really probably should have seen that team close out the series. They're up 2-0 and 3-2, aren't they? Yep, they won all three games at home and got blowing out in Boston. So funny how it works. And they won three games and lost game seven, yeah.

So they were up coming home. They're up going to Boston over game six and then game seven was a train wreck. But yeah, they were a good team. That was a bad, you know, the injuries started the mount, especially in the blue line. And then, you know, Aaron Rome was a fill-in. Dan Hamus got hurt, if I remember correctly. And then Rome got suspended for that hit on Horton.

And they were really, they were starting to get down to the bottom of the barrel in terms of Andrew Alberts or someone like that would have come in. Great guy too. But yeah, there's a real. I always go, coaches always goes injuries. They always say injuries aren't an excuse. And I say, yeah, they are. There's a reason that that guy's playing and he's not.

So when he gets hurt and that guy goes in, he's not as good. Right. So, because if he was better or as good, he might be playing. So, yeah. They, you know, they ran out of steam and Boston played hard. It's, it was a great series. He's like that was one of the all-time great Stanley Cup finals. I agree.

It had a lot of hate. Well, and then there was all, nothing better than little hate. The suspension was highly controversial. Andrew, uh, Andrew, or sorry, um, uh, the Cochran guy, Raymond, Mason Raymond. Mason Raymond breaks his next. That's right. And that Chuck wrote them into the boards, right? And it, and I know the suspension at the time was handed down by Gregory Campbell's father who

was running discipline, Coley. And that was not. And Gregory's playing for the Bruins. It was a huge thing in Vancouver. I don't know that elsewhere people talked about that as much. Like I felt like being in BC for that series is there's so many other series I have no context for but that one is incredible. There's so much drama.

And then of course the riots after there's no 30 for 30 just dropped on that. I know. Set the city off her. Oh, 30 for 30 was good except I don't have a lot of stuff. The underlying message was all the haters who got mad at the rioters should, you know, they shouldn't have been screaming at them on social media. They should have. Yeah.

They had it come. Also, so if you riot, you're going to have to face consequences. Yeah. Odd take weird. Don't throw a trash can through the, you know, the Louis Vuie Votan store window, window, okay? You'll be fine. So you're doing both, you're doing lions, you're doing the Canucks,

and you've mentioned it a couple of times, hockey night in Canada. And then it kind of morphs into doing the late games on Saturdays for hockey night. But it was Winnipeg? Is that what a- Well, yeah, so that was a cold call too. When the thrashers moved to Winnipeg, I got, I was in Edmonton to do a CFL game

and I got a text on my phone. Hey, it's Joel Darling from hockey night in Canada. Can we talk? I don't know Joel at all. Yeah. And I'm like, okay. And so next day I call them and they're like, yeah, we have another team to cover. So we're going to, you know, it's probably not going to be a ton of games.

We need an extra crew. So that got my foot in the door there. And then the second year, they said, we're going to make you the, you know, you're going to do Western games. So I did Oilers, Canucks and Winnipeg and Vancouver. While still doing Canucks. Well, still doing Canucks on the radio and Lions on the radio. Yeah. So there's a few, there was a few times.

I remember I did a, I got to remember how this went. I did a Canucks game. in L.A. I flew from L.A. to Saskatchewan to do, no, no, I did a Canucks game in L.A. I did a Canucks game in Anaheim on Friday. I flew from Anaheim to Calgary to Flames and Oilers on Hockey Down on Saturday and then got up Sunday morning and flew to Regina to do a lines and Rough Riders game at 1 o'clock

in the afternoon. Like, where am I? What sport am I doing? Yeah. That was four days in a row. I'm little crazy. I know Bob Cole. It was one of the idols. a guy you looked up to. What is that like, like you say,

it's out of the, Joel Darling, you're probably trying to scan your, you get a call from Hockey Night in Canada. What is that like? Oh, it's crazy. Like, that was a dream come true moment for sure. And then the next thing that I remember is being at hockey night

and Canada meetings in Toronto, like, again, it seemed like a blink of an eye. And there's Bob Cole and, you know, Jim Houston and Craig Simpson and all these, you know, Don Cherry and Ron. And it was, again, I had to pinch myself.

I couldn't believe I was there. I'm like, what, what am I doing here? Yeah. One of these things is not like the other. So it was pretty exciting. It turns if they were like the other though, Rick. You were there at the right time. Every one of those guys probably had that same feeling at some point when they got there, right?

So what do you talk about? Like your role models? Like Bob was the voice of Saturday nights? Jim Robson and Bob Cole. Okay. So, you know, people remembered of our vintage, mine anyway, remember days. when not every game was on television. Make it 20 games.

And then the other 60 you listen to on the radio. So when I was growing up in Colon, as a kid, Jim Robbins was the Vancouver Canucks and one of the greats on top of it. So, you know, on a subconscious level absorbing what he was sending out every night, probably seeped in there somewhere. And then Bob, because Bob was the hockey nut guy. He called every big game from when I can remember starting to be a hockey fan until he retired. God rest his soul now that he's passed. but it's interesting because they're not they're very different stylistically like they don't call the game the same way but i think i bored a little bit from both when i started and then as you do it

you develop your own style but they were definitely the two biggest influences on me what we had stephen bruntz on the in the following days after bob passed like when you you do the craft and most people don't and they just know they like the way he does things when you see how he calls a game. How would you sort of describe it or what was his what was the magic there? Yeah, unparalleled feel for the moment of the game and you listen to him call a game and his ability to rise with the action, anticipate when something's going to happen. Like his an uncanny ability to know that a goal's coming, right, just to feel the energy coming, right? Something that wouldn't be an obvious play like a two on one or a breakway, but teams got somebody hand in their own zone and

his voice would kind of reflect what's the pressure that's mounting and the team would wind up scoring, you know, it's, he really did have a, on an emotional level understanding of what was going on down there. He's the best, like, could he, you know, some guys are really good exes and those guys. That wasn't Bob's strength. I don't think he wanted it to be. He was reflected the energy and the emotion of a hockey game better than anybody who's ever done it. And, you know, if you, I can borrow 5% of that and working into my broadcast. I'm happy. That was the thing. And we talked about it with Brunt near the end, people would be critical of the pronunciation or missing names. Got the wrong guy there.

Or just not mentioning names. Right to the end, to me, there was nobody better at eliciting a reaction or, like you say, ramping up the energy to the point that you had to keep yourself from almost mimicking him because you love to, oh, yeah. To keep from doing that, you'd have to be focusing on it. Yeah, you don't want to find yourself doing a Bob Cole impression on the air. Exactly. It's hard not to do sometimes, though.

I think, like, I'm a big stand-up comedy fan, and it's funny, when you see a guy come through and suddenly gets hot, a comedian who's big and, you know, especially if he's unique, you see all these guys starting out who are doing him. I, I love David Letterman. I remember we got our first VCR when I was a kid and right at the same time that late night came on the air. And every radio DJ for the next 20 years was doing a David Letterman impersonation, even stealing the bits.

And I'm like, okay, there's the difference been influence and outright mimicry. You're doing stupid pet tricks. Yeah, exactly. That's 100%. You know, so Dave's rocks of minerals. You're going to pull that out of the hopper. You can't, hey, wait a minute. That's his idea.

But it's obviously a compliment. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And getting back to Bob and to Jim Robson, I feel like I was probably doing a bad impersonation when I started. And then you just sort of keep some of the flavor of what they do and then develop your own style over time. So you're really. You're cooking. You're in Vancouver. You're doing Canucks. You're doing lions. You're hockey night.

You're hockey night. I guess before I move on. So when the Winnipeg thing happens first, how many Jets games are you then doing? I think I only did seven or six or something that. It was not very many. Yeah. Like I said, it was just they needed just because they had another Canadian team they had to work in. There were some nights where Toronto was playing and Vancouver was playing and Calgary is playing and they need an extra crew to do the Winnipeg game. right um so it was but again got my foot in the door and uh led to doing well there was the lockout years so that was only half a season but the last the full season i did of the three years i i think i did 22 games or something i can't remember exactly but something like that and then 10 years ago rogers i get gets the hockey rights and their building team broadcast teams and all of that why leave vancouver for calgary well if rogers wanted they said

We want you to come on board, but we'd like you to go to Calgary. And as I mentioned earlier, maybe off the air, but Calgary was the only other city I ever would consider going to in Canada when I lived in Vancouver. So that was easy, a chance to call TV games full time, right, not sort of half radio, half television, very appealing. And also keep doing national games, right? It wouldn't be sort of a full-time hockey net gig, but it was a chance to keep my foot in the door there too. and because they had everything, it really, it made sense. Yeah. professionally, again, it was a no-brainer.

Because everyone has different values, right? It's what are you looking for? Because in some ways, maybe it's viewed, that's kind of a lateral move. You're still, you were doing an HL hockey. Now you're doing an HL hockey and all that. And I don't know if Vancouver to Calgary, people want to end up in Vancouver. But if I would have stayed in Vancouver, I would have only been doing radio.

Yeah, it's a big move because you're, your TV and you're doing all the games. Yeah, all the games are on TV. essentially because you're already doing those ones. 100%. So like my gig of Vancouver would have been just doing radio games. And I would have kept doing football too, which I loved. So but to stick with television, it had to be here.

So that's how that all worked out. I mean, you know, it's funny because CBC was, it was great. They were really nice to me. And they were, you know, they were like, hey, you know, we think we're going to get the CFL back. And we're going to, of course, get the hockey rights back again. So we really feel we can bring you on board. You can do football and hockey. And I'm like, this is fantastic.

And then Rogers comes in. Yeah. I guess not. But they did kind of keep CBC. They essentially have leased the airtime off CBC. Yeah, but it's all produced by Rogers, right? Everything's done. Rogers, they just air the games on CBC.

So was that weird? Like hockey night, mostly everyone just came over anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So I was more than happy to come to Calgary. Like, it was an exciting opportunity for me.

I never looked at it as a step back or even a parallel move in terms of my career. I said this to somebody else the other day. They go, you know, because I honestly mean it when I say I would be more than happy to stay here until the day I retire. I love this city and live here afterwards too. I feel like I'm a bigger ambassador for the city of Calgary than people who are actually from Calgary. All my friends back in Vancouver, what about the winters?

I'll take sun over rain any day. I don't care if it's 25 below. Ever since Johnny left, we've got your salt scar tissue now, right? I know, yeah. I know. And then, of course, I feel bad now because I'm adding on to that. But that has nothing to do with living here. I love it here.

So it was never an issue coming. We talked to, I think the day the news that was announced and you sort of elaborate on that. Like what about this market has, do you love so much coming from interior? Yeah. Just as a city, beautiful city. Like big enough, it's got everything you need. Like, we're not wanting for almost anything in terms of a city.

And yet it's so easy to get around after living in Vancouver. Like you don't realize. I know people complain about things and, you know, driving in here today, you know, the Marta Loop stretch has been a disaster for a while. I don't know if you guys have noticed or not. Dean just stopped coming. He's been at home for two years. I appreciate you're actually here, Dean, by the way.

You're a big deal, Rick. It means a lot. I mean, it's, yeah, not everybody. But it's a great city to get around in. And, you know, and the mountains are right there. We spent most of the time we were here. We sold our house recently. We spent most of the time we're here like on the west and of west.

And I get to Banff in under an hour. Amazing. You know, and the people are great. There's a real perry ethos to Calgary. I, and you know, boomer, you're one of those. I think a lot of people come here from the prairies. So there's a friendliness for a big city that other places don't have. And then just in terms of being a hockey broadcaster, they love hockey.

I mean, the flames are the biggest show in town. And you can see the curvature of the earth between them at the next closest one. So that part of it, you know, it's great to call a game in a market that really cares. It means a lot too, that people are watching what you do. And it matters to them. I always wondered for for guys like you when you have to hand. handover essentially your baby here you do all the all the regular season games and the playoffs come uh here you go yeah i guess i'm not going to be doing the playoff games you give it

somebody else it just i've never understood why they wouldn't keep the guys who were in the all the repetition like short house rickball let those guys do their teams if they get to the playoff yeah i well i did every first round series the flames did except for the first year when they played um vancouver they brought hewey out for that one but i did every other playoff series first round. Yeah. And then as it gets windowed down, they,

you know, they have national guys that just do national games that they put on. But yeah, I mean, it would have been great to call more. They sent me out,

I did Detroit, Tampa the first year. I remember you calling Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. I did Philly Pittsburgh. Washington. It was the year that, it was the year that the capels won.

Yeah. And I did Philly Pittsburgh in the first round in Pittsburgh, Washington. That was a lot of fun to call those series. So, but yeah, I wish I could have done more Flames

playoff games. It would have been great. but they wish there was more too but when you think about it they so they they they beat vancouver and they lose to anaheim yeah but they um so i didn't get to do that series but they you know they're not going to put me on the flames and the orders just like they wouldn't put jack michael's on on the flames of the orders yeah i get it and not that i couldn't call an impartial game or jack couldn't but it just you know it just the other fan base is why like what's just asking to get yelled yeah yeah so one of the things that i mean it's kind of kind of slide it in there i've always felt

that you were one of the best at impartiality, even though a flames fan if you're watching, they know you're on their side. But if the other team scores a big goal, it's not a, those scores. Yeah. You got it.

It just sounded like you were as jacked for a road goal as a home goal or whoever the opponent goal, you were one of the best, and still are one of the best at. And I think that's very hard to do. I agree. Because you're kind of cheering for the team that you're around. Yeah.

You have an emotional attachment to them. For the team you're covering. And it's not, it's so much, it's more for the fan. You're like, you're talking to primarily flame fans, right? So when you're doing a regional show, you got to file everything, fire everything through the prism of a flames fan because, but I appreciate a great play. Like, so if the team scores a great goal, the opponent, I'm not going to downplay it. You know, you're right.

Some guys with the other team scores, you don't even. Oh, yeah. You're not watching. You have to double back. Did they score? Is it in? You don't know what's happened. I don't, I don't believe in that.

Obviously, you're going to emphasize the, the team you're covering a little more. you should because that's who you're talking to. So there's a, you have to change a little bit when you're doing a national game. It's a little bit tricky as a regional guy. Not tricky. Consciously you have to remind yourself, okay, it's a national game. Even if you're doing an American team, you're going, okay, most of the viewers are primarily in Canada, but at the same time, you've got a lot of Canadians playing on that team, friends,

family, you know. Maybe you get Sidney Carousy's penguins. Yeah. People cheering for the penguins. You have to call those games like you're equally for both. sides when you're doing a national show. But I appreciate that boom, right? I've always felt that way it probably happened early when I was doing those Canuck games the very first time I called NHL games. I remember somebody wrote something in the paper like, hey, this Rick Ball guy is pretty good.

He, I just wish he would stop calling visiting our opponent's goals like he's at a funeral. And that's 24 years ago. And I kind of stuck with me, man, you're probably right, you know. Yeah. So maybe that had a little influence on me. Sometimes, you know, constructive criticism is a good thing in terms of pushing in the right direction. I just, you know, it's here we are, won't smoke, but I've just, I've been such a big fan of yours. There's no, you're not trying to make yourself part of the moment. There's, there's a lot of guys I think they, they just can't help themselves. This, this, this goal is going to be shown for a long time. So I bet I, it's my signature moment. You let, you let,

you let goals breathe that need to breathe. But yet at the same time, the chemistry that you and Kelly have, you, you're enjoying yourself. It's clear that you guys are having fun. It's a fun thing to be done, but there's never a need for a, I got to get my signature line in here. It's, yeah. That's on purpose. That's the way I feel like I, you know, the game's the most important thing. I have to think about the goal that, you know, Godreau scores in game seven and overtime. I'm thinking, well, I should probably say something else.

And then I'm looking at the pitchers and I'm like, no. What can I say that's better than that, right? And it's a madhouse, right? Yeah. It's as loud as you've ever heard the building. I was going to, it was in my notes. I don't know. it was perfect.

And you didn't do a whole lot in that moment, but you nailed it and you just recognize the horn is going off. The crowd is going crazy. They're showing the shots outside the building. What are I going to say right now? Yeah. And when you're one of the fans, you just want to,

you want to, like you're there. You want to soak that in. Like you're in the dome. Like you're at that place. Letting it breathe and just less is more sometimes. And that was one of my favorite. I don't know if there's, is there a bigger call?

Yeah. That one was the biggest one, right? terms of because how often you can you call a game seven playoff overtime winner on home ice pretty cool right uh not probably the biggest one for sure and credit to greg millen too he's an old schooler right so i was working with him on that series didn't say a word either he knows he's very good at that like you know i can't i can't top what we're seeing and hearing uh so yeah that was great i think there's a game it's funny i've got two games in nashville i really that stick out in my mind the crazy Halloween one where kachuk scored tweener yeah yeah which i

it took me a second to realize what he'd done because it was from the faceoff circle. It wasn't enclosed. That's right. But there was another one that same season near the end of the year when Soros got hurt, remember, and like they were fights and Lucci just about knocked Matthew Shane's head off. His helmet was like a cartoon. It looked like an old 90s video game or something, you know. And then Kachuk scores with a tenth and a tenth of a second left to tie it up.

Like I've never seen a goal scored later ever that counted, obviously. and then they wind up putting an overtime and that game sticks. So it's funny how there's a couple of Nashville games that really stick out in my mind. It was not so there for a while. There was no normal games there for a bit. It was like, oh, last time here, I remember that. And not so finishes. Yeah.

The tweeter from distance was we'd never seen it. No. Like I said, it didn't, like, it took us. I even say to Kelly, I think, if you listen to the call, I'm like, did he shoot between his legs? Because normally they're in tight when they do that, right? Yeah. He did it on a rush. Like, wow.

That was something else. Hey, guys, it's Pinder. All throughout the year, Village, Honda, brings you the PIN report for the latest in what's happening in the sports world and maybe the odd crocodile and snake. But today we are at your dealership for life in the Northwest Auto Mall. Let's see what's happening at Village Honda. Now this is one of my personal favorites. This is the 2025 Honda Pilot Trail Sport Edition. Sexy. A woven in the headrest, third row. It's a mid-sized SUV that's totally built for adventures in Western Canada. Village Honda, your dealership for life, online at villagehonda.com, and in the Northwest

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Orange brewing. Hoopsters, hard quarters, basketball fans, dimers, and one. Next surge action coming up at Win Sport tomorrow. They are welcoming the Montreal

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I mentioned it when you came in. It's what six coaches, 10 years? Just, eh? I got a Hartley-Gillotson Peters Ward Sutter Huska. You got it. Yeah. I know. That's usually a lot. Yeah, that's not a good sign. But, I mean, look at how many coaches got fired? Like, it's, I don't know. I think hockey churns through coaches more than any other sport. It has to.

Well, it's fine. Before you came in, we'd, we talked about a football coach getting saved. The Steelers have had three guys in 70 years. Yeah, Rick had six coaches to 10 years. Yeah, it is crazy, right? I'm not sure, you know, like, and then guys get fired and they go win a Stanley Cup with the next team they coach. Like, well, Jack Adams, fire him the next year.

It's forgotten everything. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, It's a weird business that way, but it's been a lot of great people, you know, with the flames, too, right? I made a lot of friends there. And it was tough to tell them. I wouldn't be back.

Yeah. I can't imagine. First year here was a fun one. That was a fun year. And it might have been the one that was the furthest off expectations. There was a few because it is weird how this team in the true living area kind of was like, better than we thought worse than we thought. Better than we thought worse than that. Like, it was really tough to get it right.

And oh, we're a piece away. No, you weren't. You missed. We're not that good. Well, yeah, you are. You won the West. But, like, year one was the double-digit third-period comeback victories. Yeah, 13.

If I remember, Rosa, 13. They got past 10. They got their quick and it tapered up in it. It might have been 11, 12, 13. And, you know, Groddra's first full season. Him and Monaghan, we're going crazy. You know, Yuri Huddler was. Find a way flamed?

Doing his thing. Wasn't there one where Brody sent it from, like, the wall against Boston. It went off. Somebody's shoulder and rolled down and then, like, off the top of the net and it was ridiculous. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, crazy year and it was a lot of fun to hop on board like calling all the flames games i did before i came here with whether on the radio or doing hockey night games i thought they really work hard like they definitely have a work ethic bob had them going right yeah but they didn't have a very good season

the year before but okay you got good drok coming in they might be okay and then they were way better than we expected that season right and then went a playoff round on top of it all with you know average goaltending like it was that was a fun year right so um for sure so i got that but i had a lot of fun that season me and kelly full that's our first full year working together doing the flames broadcast and there were a lot of a lot of fun nights for sure we'll get into some other stuff here just in a second but just while we're talking about the flames you like you say goodrow comes in goodrow monahan bennett the core kitch all gone yeah um i guess just when you look back what are your thoughts on this this window of flames history yeah disappointing because

they thought Godreau was done, like that he's coming back. And then we all know the story. I'm not going to reash at all. But, you know, I think Kachuk was probably destined to move on by his choice. But my feeling is after the year they had together with Linholm, if Godreau re-signs, I think Kachuk's very tempted to stay.

Like you put up that many points. They were the best line in the league. It's tough to walk away from. And then who knows how they're true. trajectory changes, right? But you have to adapt as a sports franchise. And I think Craig Conroy is doing a very good job, much the same way I was talking about how the Hawks have put themselves in a good position with lots of picks and draft capital and cap space. The flames are kind of doing the same thing. It's the way you have to do it. And that's just the spot that they're in right now, it's just too bad

the way it happened. And, you know, I wonder if Johnny Goodrow really, now that he's had a couple years, think about it. He's kicking himself. You're really not close to home for a guy that wanted to be close to home. Yeah, shoot him full of sodium pentothal and ask him. I think probably deep down would rather be back here. And it feels like a lot of little things in a way. If the Sam Bennett that you watch today, if he could have evolved a little bit sooner, if Sean Monaghan didn't have the string of injuries

and was closer to the guy that even now is playing, if Godro can just any of those start to kind of fall into place, then maybe the whole thing is different. Well, if Goddrow and Cichuk stay and those guys keep producing, Daryl's probably still coaching. I mean, who knows? He has a shelf life. I think he'd be the first guy to admit that, so maybe not.

But the teams in a different spot altogether. Does Hannafin ask, does he resign? He was close anyway. Yeah. You keep Hannafin, you know. It's not leaving that line. Yeah. He's staying.

Now, he might wind up getting the money that he wanted because he's probably putting up a lot more points. But the whole, the whole complexion of the franchise changes. But it's okay. It happens. You have to, like I said, you have to be adaptable. It's one of the most important characteristics for. anybody to have. And they're in a position now where they have to reset and look ahead. The Sam Bennett thing is interesting. I hear a lot of people talk about. So he talked about all

the coaches, right? He played for five different coaches. It wasn't like somebody didn't like him when he got buried. He had lots of chances. I'm not picking on Sam. He's playing great. And he was always good in the playoffs. Yeah, it was. Because a lot of the stuff that he that he would do that would send him to the Sinbin in the regular season, he gets away with in the playoffs. So I think in a weird way, it helps him when they don't call as much. So, I mean, obviously, if he was the Sam Kennedy is now, they would have never traded him, but it was five coaches in a long time and it just wasn't

for whatever reason working and sometimes guys need to change of scenery. So it was a big change of scenery thing. I remember we talked about it day after day after day. You're like, what do you do? Like, he's literally played his way down to the fourth line. And I honestly believe Sam Bennett didn't really buy into becoming the blue collar, hard-nosed player he is today until he got away from the pressure

of being the highest pick in the franchise history, slated to be this number one center, number one in central scouting. I feel like the moment he left Calgary, all those expectations didn't have to come with him to Florida. Yeah. He could just be a really hard-nosed checking center. Yeah, that's a good theory.

No one here would have been happy at draft podium. If you're like, yeah, he might get to 20 goals twice in his career. In Florida, that's perfect. That's perfect for them. They don't care. No, because they gave up two seconds in a million. Yeah, 100%. That's probably,

there's probably some truth to that in terms of pressure being off. I mean, I'm not a, I'm not in his only he knows for sure. Guys also mature at different rates or mature just in terms of their hockey ability. And maybe he just figured out, well, I got to be this. Yeah, maybe for the reasons you mentioned. The guy I think about it, I was talking to somebody about this recently who had a connection at the Dallas Stars, Vern Fiddler. Now, Sam's a better player than Byrne.

But Vern, I covered him when he played junior hockey in Colonna, average junior hockey player. Like, if you would have asked me to name 10 guys on the Rockets that you, who were going to have a, you know, a notable NHL career, he wouldn't have made the list. And yet got in, went to the ECHL, started to figure, okay, this is what I have to do to stick around, got to the HL. Now, I don't think he ever got drafted.

I think he was an undrafted guy and ultimately won up playing, I don't know, 12, 13 years in the league, just because he figured it out. And maybe Sam Bennett's one of those guys, even though he was a high draft pick who finally figured out, this is what I got to do to be an effective player at this level. Maybe it's the thin air or the humidity in Florida. Who knows what it is?

but it's worked for him down there. The other theory is it's, it's, uh, who is the, the mythological character, he cut his hair, Samson and he lost his power. Sam gained his when he finally just said, we're zipping the top. Yeah, that's right. He's on beard and just zipping. He's bizarrely samps.

Yeah. So you can put the headphones on time for the video portion of the show. Um, you had mentioned earlier that, uh, we're kind of, yeah, that's little. There we go. Let's figure out. You know, take it, you know, guy knows football. You so we're going to, Rick,

is going to be the play-by-play voice of the bc lines do you know football well it's you're on tv and you got to explain to people what football's like rick was ready for it god look at the fat i am football with somebody who has it growing up around it's really difficult move the football down the field and put it in the end zone that's six points or get close enough where you can try and kick it through the uprights which is called a field goal and that's uh three points the key position is quarterback he's the guy that throws the football but you have receivers those are players that he throws the ball to. Now a down is an attempt you have to try and gain at least 10 yards. And then if you get 10 yards or more within those three downs, you get three more downs to keep

trying to do the same thing. And that's how you move the ball down the field. CFL is three downs. NFL has four downs. I mean, you were the guy. This is my wife. This guy knows what he's doing. There's never a doubt. People, I just can't believe how fat I was, but people, people ask me who I was explaining that to. It was Rhett Warner on the other side. Yeah. Yeah, he asked me, how's this game work exactly?

Why aren't they kicking on third down these bills? I still have no idea what that is or why it exists. It's been so... It's glorious. It was clearly for somebody who wasn't from Canada. Football is the hardest game on the planet to explain to anybody who doesn't know what's going on. It's try to explain to somebody who's never seen it before. The rules.

Like hockey's simple. See that black thing? Goes in that square. That's one. Yeah. Yeah. It's a figure out off sides. Yeah.

Beyond that, you're going to be okay. When you try and explain. playing football to somebody who's not familiar with it. Good luck. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about moments. The Godro goal was a big one. This one, obviously a big one as well. Kevin Vex had come up and had a word with West Garth a moment ago. Now BX is going to face off against Westgard. So the defense moves up for the Canucks. Tortoerrella at the Vancouver bench is already looking at the and here we go. Line brawl to start this game. West Garth and BX are separated Sestito and McGratton back at the

Blue Line, Torch is angry. Is he ever, he's looking directly at the Calgary Flames bench? So we've got two fights going on. Kevin VX is now with Smead on the near boards, and it's Westgard and Lane near the Vancouver Blue Line. How many times most you guys fight. Like every game. Welcome to the NHL, Kellyn Lane.

John Tortorella has gone over to the Calgary Flames hallway outside their room. That's the Canucks coach outside the Calgary Room. Brian McGratton trying to push him aside with some of the Calgary staff. Okay, he's got to calm down. Yep. He's got to calm down. That's- That came was so magical.

That's crazy. Yeah. And you can't, I guess maybe you know what at the time that this is going to be something that's going to be replayed for a long time. I see the starting line. Yeah, law has come up and I go, I poke Kelly. I'm like, look at this. Yeah.

So, and then the way that, you know, has Kevin Westgarth ever taken a face off in his life? like he's at center right so i'm like okay something's going to happen here um so yeah that was crazy and the thing about the at the intermission then when torturalla is trying to storm the room we're throwing to commercial if you listen to the whole clip it's like well what crazy you know we're laughing you don't see that very often it's one one or whatever the score was and then the producers tim davis in my ear going uh torturale is trying to get into the flames locker room and then they cut to that shot so it takes me a second to to realize what I'm looking at.

Because it doesn't happen. Well, I'm like, what am I seeing here? And then it became clear it was going on. And of course, it's gone on to infamy. But the button on that story is a few years. Oh, no, Bob was still here. Bob Hartley was still in Calgary. So it would be in year two.

That is what the flames were in Tampa. And Bob and Jay Feaster went out for lunch. And they happened to come to the same restaurant that we were at. And so we're talking. And Jay goes, because Jay's friends with John Tortorella, obviously because they want a cup together. And he goes, I was talking to John on the phone. And I said, hey, I'm going to go have lunch with Bob.

And he said, Torch said, well, tell him, I said, hi. And Jay laughed. And he goes, no, I'm serious. He goes, I think Bob's a great coach, Torch says. Wanted to eff and kill him that night. And the whole thing about that, you can see how steamed he is at the drop of the puck. Yeah. He is that steamed and more by the end of the period.

It didn't subside. The fire didn't burn down. He was red, for the entire time. He was. And because he took the bait a little bit too. I mean, you know, like many have said, you put the Siddins out there. Nothing happens.

Like, Brian McGrathen's not going to beat up. So for those who don't know, it Hartley has to submit his line up first. He's the visitors to bits first. Yeah. And then, of course, Sistito comes out and BX and all those guys. Yeah, that was a wild. That was a wild. And that was a hockey night.

He tied my hands. I had to do it. And he's like, well, no, no one was going to jump Daniel. I'll tell you something about John Tortorella because I love Torterella. because I love torts. I still talk to him whenever they're in town or we're there. He's always got time, comes over and talks to us. He's a really straight shooter.

Like, and guys that played for him, some guys don't like him because he, he would ever had it, didn't like them. But he's, there's no hidden agenda with Torch, right? Like, if he didn't like, he tells you. And, um, and so you know where you stand. Some coaches, everything's a head game.

Not with him. And I, I, I was only the one year that he was in Vancouver. So I know him really well, but I said at the end of that season, that happened. Mike Gillis had been fired as general manager before the season expired. The last game I'm doing it was a radio game, and we would always talk to the coach after the morning skate. So I go in to talk to Torres,

I do the interview and I turn my recorder off. I go, hey, John, I didn't know you before you got here, you know, and you came with a reputation, but I just want to say, you've been nothing but a pro and thanks for, you know, for putting up with me all year. And he goes, hey, hey, Rick, that's great. You know, you guys have been fantastic too. I said, yeah, we'll see a training camp.

He looks at me in the eye. He goes, I doubt that. Because that was the year that he started Schneider instead of Luongo at the other. No, it was it was Eddie Lack. Eddie Lack, the indoor outdoor. Yeah, he plays instead of Lwango. And Lwango, who was, I think at that point, keen to stay in Vancouver, was like, all right, we're done.

Yeah, and in fairness, he wasn't playing very well. And Lack was playing better. But, yeah, to do it to, you know, your franchise goalie in the biggest game of the season. Who was wavering about staying in Vancouver? You know, yeah, yeah. You got to look bigger picture sometimes. It was one year. He had a five-year deal.

And it was like, towards, that was, he, he, he rammed in a decade worth of chaos in one year. Five years, ten million dollars. Yeah. And so I think you got half of what was left on the table. Yeah. And then he got hired right away. Yeah. He did you double dipping.

Yeah. He didn't have to swallow his pride very long. Nope. There's two for this year. Here's the other four. Okay. Just dabbit. $100 bills, I guess.

That would help. You're a man of many talents, as we see. here. Of course, we all recognize the notes. Look who's at the helm here. How many coins they have to put into those pianos? I might have had a couple of glasses of a nice red wine before this. There's a couple of clans in there.

Yeah, yeah. My dexterity wasn't as good as it normally is. But there's some secondhand stories that come from the road. The dinners and the wine and the. singing and the basketball games, you are going to be very much missed by your colleagues here. Well, thanks, Memor. I appreciate it. I'm going to miss everybody here, too. It's been an amazing 10 years, and the hardest part beyond a shadow of it out is leaving, the people and the city. You live in a great place. I mean it. I've lived, I came from Vancouver, which is wonderful as well.

This is a great town. And I'll tell you what, we've heard it throughout the conversation. be a good person and good things can happen because a lot of those steps it was well you know this guy had heard of me and you know I got my foot in the door and then this happened and then this happened if if you don't do things you know you burn bridges even one of those steps go sideways you're not going to be the voice of the Chicago Blackhawks but you're you're a good guy you're great at what you do but you're a good person and that clearly paved the way for you that yeah every step because people it's a small business right but it probably holds true in every business people do talk to other people and one of the

we don't what we do isn't done in a vacuum so they can see the work either they like it or they don't what they don't know is what's this guy like and if the feedback is you know you know it could be a bit of an ass yeah it's yeah it means yeah sorry that was a purely a mistake yeah it's not going to help right so I appreciate that. And I, you know, but there's not an ulterior motive. I just, I'm, you got to be who you are. It just, it's, it's a good, it's good for all of us to, to take note.

North Sider, South Sider. Sox, white socks, well, I, I, it's going to be tough. I know what, I don't have an allegiance yet. The white socks are going to be on the same network as I am. Cubs are doing their own thing. But I like the Cubs. They've got a newer stadium. I'll give them that.

I know. Wrigley's unbelievable. I went to a game in that run in, 2011. The Canucks beat Chicago in the first round. And Ryan Dempster was pitching for the Cubs. And so Barry McDonald's a guy I work with, his friends with Ryan, because Barry's a big baseball guy.

Demp got us tickets right behind home plate. Come on. And yeah, like four rows back. And it was outstanding. And then he's such a sweet guy. He wasn't playing that game. Came out with us afterwards for an adult beverage, typical Canadian sat there.

Like one of the bars right by the stadium. So, of course, a bunch of drunk. Cub fans are there. And it was fantastic. So that's probably a little bit of me that likes the Cubs, but I'll figure it out once I get there. And you got a good Canadian kid pitching for the White Sox and Mike Soroka. That's right, yeah. You get maybe another malt beverage with a Is he back and healthy? He's been back and forth, but he was healthy to start the year and the socks have struggled. So he's been working out of the bullpen a bit. Yeah, big kid. I met him in the flames room when a couple years ago when he was in town.

phenomenal human. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Richly deserved, enjoy it, man. That is unbelievable opportunity. So happy for you. Thanks.

Thanks. Thanks, you guys are awesome. I watch your show almost every day. I'm not kidding. No one recommends that. That's right. We're sorry. Yeah.

And you still said yes. Okay. You guys do a great job. And you know what? I said this to right when I saw him at Kipper's retirement, I said your show is terrific. And what I like about it too is you do it every day. Um, that's, you know, it's reliable.

I know I can flip it on and there it is. And, uh, you guys are a great job. Thank you. It's definitely quantity over quality. Yeah. It's quality over quality. I just say it's every day. Yeah, it's there every time I turn around.

It's there. I listen every day. I can't get to sleep without it, guys. It's phenomenal. That's awesome. Rick, congratulations. Thanks, guys. My pleasure.

Awesome.