Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Went Insane Over a Hockey Game - The Roy Spencer story

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

In December 1970, Roy Spencer—father of NHL player Brian “Spinner” Spencer—drove 135 kilometers from Fort St. James to a CBC-affiliate station in Prince George, British Columbia, furious that the station had switched from airing his son’s hockey game to a Vancouver Canucks match. Armed with a 9 mm pistol, Spencer stormed the building, holding staff and on-air talent hostage for over an hour. Demanding the Maple Leafs broadcast be restored or the station silenced, he even disabled phone and studio lines.

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So the guy's name is Roy, and Roy's around 59 years old, living in Canada with his family, and Roy loves hockey. He's way into it. In fact, he loves it so much that over the years, he had always pushed his sons into playing it. He probably hoped that at least one of them will grow up and one day make a career of it and turn pro. Well, one day comes. In 1969, Roy's dreams come true because his adult son, this guy, who they call Spinner, Spinner gets drafted into the NHL to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So now he's a professional hockey player. And as you can imagine, this is a huge deal for Roy.

It's what he's always wanted. But then, about a year later in 1970, one day Roy gets a call from Spinner. And Spinner's like, Dad, later tonight, my team is going to play. And he tells him that the game is going to be broadcast on television nationwide all across Canada. So Spinner is about to be on TV. Not only that, but between periods, he's going to be interviewed by reporters. And this is such an honor and a big deal for him. He's going to be interviewed on TV. And remember, this is 1970. And there are like three television channels total. So being, Being on TV is like the pinnacle of being famous. And so, of course, Roy is ecstatic. I mean, his son, the professional hockey player, is going to be playing on TV. Plus, they're going to interview him. It doesn't get much cooler than that. And so immediately, Roy hits up his friends and family, and he's like, Spinner's going to be on TV

tonight, eh? And he invites all of them to come over later and watch the game because, you know, he wants to show off his son. He even goes out and buys a new antenna to make sure that he can pick up a the signal from the closest TV station. You know, can't risk getting a bad signal and missing the game. And so a few hours later, everyone shows up to Roy's house. They're ready to see Spinner on TV.

And of course, Roy is there, and they're all chatting and pouring drinks, and everyone's having a great time. And Roy, he's kind of known to be a drinker, so pretty quickly he gets really wasted. But whatever, because soon enough, boom, it's game time. And the whole party sits down around the TV and Roy turns it on. However, when Roy flips to the channel, something isn't right. Welcome to Hockey Night in Canada.

He doesn't see Spinner or even Spinner's team. Instead, he sees a different hockey game between two other teams. The network had decided to broadcast a totally different game. And Roy is pissed. I mean, how embarrassing for him he invited all these people over just for them to not be able to see the game? Not only that. Remember, it's 1970. There's no DVR.

He can't film this on his iPhone. He can't see clips of it later on TikTok. If Roy doesn't watch his son's game live, it's gone. He'll probably never see it again. And this is when his drunk ass just snaps. How dare they do this to him? He's been waiting for this moment his whole life. He worked hard to push his son into hockey.

And now he can't see him on TV? Oh, hell no. Now, at this point, he could scream and cry and punch through the drywall like a normal hockey fan, but that's not what Roy does. Otherwise, I wouldn't be telling this story. Instead, he grabs his shotgun and his 9mm pistol, and he gets in his truck, and he abruptly leaves the little gathering. And he drives from Fort St. James about an hour and a half away to this other city, Prince George. Because in Prince George, that's where the closest TV station is.

And so Roy gets there to the TV station building, and he grabs his guns, and he storms inside the place, still drunk, still pissed off. And he walks right up to the receptionist desk, and he points his 9mm at her. And he's all mad because he just drove an hour and a half and he missed a huge portion of the game. And bam, he grabs the phone off her desk and he yanks the wires out so she can't call for help. Then he walks past her towards the newsroom. Once he gets to the newsroom, he's like, everyone out of the room, and he's waving his gun around, so everyone gets scared and they leave. Then he points it at the news director

and he leads him and some other reporters into the television studio area. Then he lines all of them up against the wall like he's about to execute them. And he's like, play my son's game. It's bullshit that you don't have that game playing. And they're like, what game? Because here's the thing.

The TV station they're at is just a local affiliate TV station. They don't have the power to decide what gets played on a national broadcast. They just boost the signal to their local. market or whatever, I actually have no idea how TV works. I'm more of an internet guy, but they don't have the power to do what he's asking. So everyone there is trying to explain to Roy how local TV stations work. But Roy is so drunk, who knows if he even understands? And he starts ranting and he's like, I don't want to have to kill anybody, but I have killed before.

I killed many times in the military, because I guess he was a World War II veteran or something. Anyway, so then once he finally understands that they can't play the game he wants, he's like, fine, just cut the broadcast all together. Because I guess if he can't watch what he wants, then I guess he doesn't want anyone to be able to watch any game at all. And the TV people see this pew-pue pointed at them and they're like, all right. And they cut off all broadcasts. So then everyone at home who's watching that channel suddenly, boom, their TVs go dark. And I'm sure they're all like, what happened to the game? What's all this about? And after this, I guess Roy is satisfied with what he's done. He punished the people working at the station so no one in the area can watch anything.

Then he decides, all right, I'm going to leave. And so now the whole incident is over and it was a crazy night, but luckily, no one actually got hurt. Until. Here's the thing. What Roy doesn't know is that while he was holding hostages at gunpoint in the newsroom, someone snuck away and called police and was like, there's a crazy man about to shoot up the TV station over a hockey game. This is the most Canadian thing I've ever seen. And so then the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

shows up to the station. And I don't know if they're actually on horseback, but I like to imagine they are. And so at this same time, Roy is exiting the building. And the three officers, they see him leaving, and he's still armed. And they start yelling, they're like, stop, put your hands up. But instead of putting his hands up,

Roy gets a different idea. He just starts blasting. Blam, blam, blam! And bullets fly through the air. Boom, one of them grazes an officer's holster. And boom, another one hits an officer in the foot. And so of course, the officers, they start blasting back. Blam, blam, blam! Blam! And Roy is hit several times. And he falls to the ground and he dies right there in the parking lot of the TV station. Meanwhile, his son, his son, Spinner, is many more. miles away between periods being interviewed just like he said he would. Joining the team looks like you've come to play. Oh, that's what I had to have in mind when I came up. Brian, when they came up, did they say they wanted you to do some something? Aren't you any? Not really, but it always turns out that way. This is my style of hockey.

And he's probably hoping that his dad is watching. And Spinner's team ends up winning the game, which probably would have been a nice moment for Roy, but, you know.