Shaun Newman Podcast - #15 - Colin & Darrell Spencer

Episode Date: May 10, 2019

This episode was really cool. I have not sat in the same room as these two gentleman in 14+ years. I played two of my years in Dryden with Colin & Darrell (his father) helped coach us for one of those years. During our discussion we cover a multitude of topics including: - SIJHL & the Dryden Ice Dogs  - Ken Holland & the Edmonton Oilers  - Junior camps & fighting in hockey - Allan Cup & Theo Fluery 

Welcome to the podcast. This is a bonus edition this week. I have Colin and Daryl Spencer in with me in studios tonight. Daryl was an assistant coach of mine in Darden, Ontario. And Colin, I played with two years out in Ontario and their father-son combo. So we're going to get their opinion on a few different things. We'll follow along as Spinner or Colin. he played his junior out in Ontario and then played an Allen Cup, played a little pro down south,

and he's got some interesting stories, something that's for sure make you laugh. And then obviously having his father in studio adds a unique twist to it. So without further ado. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. For the first time ever since I've started, we have two podcasts in a week. So you guys are the first of that. I had my first woman last night. Now I got you two Yahoo's in.

Look at us go. That's right. I got the Spencers in town. I was thinking, you were saying 11 years. I think it's been 12 years, no, 14 years since we've been in the same room together. Well, you got so many goals scored on you when you were out there. You can't remember count numbers. It might be, yeah, probably 14 years, actually.

I was saving Collins bacon all the time. Yeah, right? Keep my plus minus intact. Thank you. I had to hear you guys talk about plus minus still. Well, hey, was it. That is what I made my career out. I was a plus defense man.

Somebody had to worry about it. That's right. Yeah, that's right. It's a good thing we don't have a cowboy here. I was going to start us out with, we started a game a couple podcasts ago. It's called sign one, buy one out, and trade one. Cool. And since I know what you guys' favorite teams are, I thought I'd start with, well, let's

start with Colin first. You're an Ottawa Senators fan. That's just terrible. That's just terrible. Well, he tried to get me as a Bruins fan as a young kid, and being in Ontario, was either Bruins with him or Toronto and I despise Toronto. So, Otto was my next logical choice. I was Mike Fisher fan, so naturally.

Okay, so here's your three guys. Yep. Shabbat, Kitch, Bobby Ryan. You got to trade one, buy one out, sign one. Buy out, Bobby Ryan immediately. Gone. Oh, geez, I would, you got to sign Shabbat. That guy is just, he looks.

like Eric Carlson 2.0 and he's young. Kachuk, though, man. He's got a streak in him. I like it, but no, I can't go with him. I'd keep Shabbat. So you're going to trade Chabot? Yeah, I think their return on Kachuk would be pretty decent, but Shabbat is your cornerstone D man you need.

If it makes you feel any better, it probably doesn't matter because your owner's going to fire you anyways and then, you know, tell you that the league's out to get you, and I don't know what else. After you do it all, you're going to win the cup, right? Hopefully. Hey, we got lucky on. the lottery anyways, so maybe chips are on our side here.

If that's luck. All right, Mr. Darrell, how about you, the Boston Bruinan? You got Bergeron, Marchand, and we'll give you Maccaboy. Oh, good one. That's a good call. Well, I'm definitely keeping Bergeron. So you're signing Bergeron. Yep.

Marchant, he's the type of guy you like to play with. But I'd have to let him go. I'd have to keep Maccloy. Well, you're going to trade Maccoy? Yeah. Oh. You can only keep the one. Oh, I can only keep one. Well, I guess I could make it easier on you guys.

I could say you could trade for one of them. I still like my choices. I'd still get rid of. Yeah, well, Ottawa doesn't got a whole lot. We don't know much in the cabinet right now. That's a tough one. No street names. I was just kind of hoping you'd throw something else in there.

Oh, no, I got to make it a little tough one. Yeah, I know. I got to keep Bergeron. He's just too valuable. Oh, Jesus. It's a tough one. If only they weren't in the playoffs. Yeah.

Looking good right now. They're looking good, yeah. And I picked the Jets to win the cup over them, so I'm not a dumb. No, you're like the rest of us. You didn't see this year coming. You got her. I'm going to have to pass and I can't figure out. Oh, God.

That's how we're going to start this podcast off? That's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. No pass, then. Okay, so what do I got to do here with the last? You got to buy one out and you got to trade one.

You've signed, you've signed Burgeon's cornerstone. I'm going to buy out Marshat. Wow. And trade. McAvoy. Holy. That's going to be a tough cap hit, eh? Yeah, no kidding.

Oh, wow. Yeah, you're a terrible GM. Speaking of GMs, I'm a die-hard oilish fan. What do you think of Ken Holland coming to Edmonton? Necessary change, for sure. I don't know. I mean, it's going to be interesting. How many years was he with Detroit?

Well, they said 37 years with Detroit, 22 as the GM. Proof is in the pudding, too. Well, if you're newsy, if you're an Oilers fan, this will be the last time you hear of the Boys Club. You think so? I think she's done. She's done. I hope so.

I listen to, it was like a 45-minute presser, and I sat and listened to it all. And I always find every GM has their words they, use or the way they structure and everybody always says, oh, you said the same thing as Charlotte. He said the same thing as everybody. I'm like, did you listen to it? Because I heard he kept using stability.

Stability is a big one. You need to stabilize this situation. And I was like, wow, I couldn't have said it better. And then he talked, they asked him, there was a guy talking, they talked to him about how he made a decision. And he said he'd talked to a bunch of the people he knows around the NHL. A lot of them warned him about the poisonous situation he's walking into, and social media is going to get him alive, and he's like, oh, I don't go on social media.

I'm like, perfect. Perfect, right? So this guy's going to stabilize it, and he's not going to go on social media because the fans are, hey, I'm one of them. We're all idiots, right? It's cutthroat. It's cutthroat. Yeah. And then he doesn't rush young players, right?

No, development. And he talks about surrounding his core with veterans. Geez, I don't know. Sounds like a guy I want. Yeah, checking boxes right now, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, you look at, and you've got a good point there, Sean. You look at what he was talking about there with, you know, like his American League team.

Always been good. Always guys coming up through that system. Very few NHL teams have done that in the last few years, but Detroit has done it numerous times. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody knocks them for the last three years. I think Detroit's been out of the playoffs three years now. Yeah, but, I mean, how many years in a row was it?

22 rows. I think it was 20. Something like that, right in the playoffs? 24. Yeah. Jesus, it's a lot of years. That's something is it ever, I mean, that's ridiculous. Yeah.

Like, come on. And they were the laughing stock of the NHL before, not before he took over, but when he was a part of the organization. Like, his 37 years, he got to see where they were, they had a nickname. Shoot, I'm forgetting the nickname they had for Detroit, but it was like eight to nine years they hadn't made the playoffs. And that was back before they had 31 teams, let's not forget. Yeah, good point. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to, I got the father-son combo today. I'm a little excited. I'm a little interested to see where this goes. But I always go back to when did you start playing hockey? We're going to follow Collins and weaving a little bit of Daryl in there too. So when did you start?

And the best part is, is if you forget, you got the man who taught you. Funny enough, we were talking about it, I don't know, maybe earlier this week or on the weekend. And I was talking about, you know, starting living in Thunder Bay and then being minor, hockey in Dryden and I completely forgot about my time in Winnipeg. Because I was five when I moved to Winnipeg. We left when I was nine. But I guess my first organized hockey would have been in Winnipeg and Kirkfield Westwood. So it was called?

You played with a couple of good players back in those days. Dane Crawley, you know, played in the Western Hockey League. Jared Walker. Yeah, Jared Walker. Yeah, Jared Walker. Played in the Western League, played semi-pro. I mean, you guys were. You're six-year-olds, seven-year-olds playing together.

But I think our biggest takeaway, too, is, like, I remember vividly was if you weren't, they classified like A, B, and C, I think, divisions. And if you weren't an A player, you were playing outside on the ODR, organized hockey in Winnipeg, Hockey in Winnipeg, in Winnipeg, Hockey, I was, I kind of forgot all about that. But that's where I really got my start was, I guess, organized hockey in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Do you remember having to, like, push him to do it, Daryl?

Or was he just always interested in it? I mean, you know, from a young day, from me, you know, playing and stuff myself, you know, he kind of got a little mini stick in his hand and he, you know, he'd shoot on his mom there with a little wee net and she was his goalie and, you know, he beat her a few times, but, you know, not too often. She always made sure she stopped and made him work harder. There's the competitive nature coming from the fiery Italian. Yeah, that's right.

Hey, boys, just in case anyone was Karen, Colorado just made it 2-1. Okay? Did I not say? Yeah, I spoke too soon. I don't know if it was McKinnett. It probably wasn't McKinnon, but I see they've made it two-one game. Okay, yeah. We've got a game here.

Hey, here we go. I should point out to the listeners. We're sitting here doing this, and we got the game on over my left shoulder, so I'm keeping tabs. Yeah, we're engaged, but we're, you know, closely watching. Well, how did you get your start, Daryl? Did you, like, you're back years ago now compared to when Colin started. Yeah, about 30 years before him, to be exact, Sean. I started out my minor hockey all through Thunder Bay.

I was fortunate enough to play against some good teams. I never seemed to be on one of them. But some of the teams that I would have played against, I just remember, Bantam team, one was called Fort Optical. They had all the best players at a Thunder Bay on it. We'd never beat them, but we always tried our hardest and stuff like that. And then move my way up to Midget and then to Junior. I was, when I was younger, well, I think I was 18.

I went away to St. Catharines and tried out with the O.H.L. Blackhawks there. And a family or a friend, or a guy I worked with Jerry Aduno, his brother, Ricky, played with the Birmingham Bulls and the Boston Bruins for a little while. He played there. And his last year, he, well, he was a 20-year-old. He moved on. And his dad said, hey, I can get you down there, spinner, if you want to go. And he said, it's try out, go down.

So went down. Didn't do too well. I played for a little bit with them, a few exhibition games. And I think I played one regular season game. And then they said, you're going down to the farm. Didn't know what he was talking about. I went down and played Junior B with St. Catherine's Falcons for a little bit. And that's when I said, okay, I had enough of this.

I'm going home. So I went back to Thunder Bay and played junior hockey there. You playing a line with Larry Wentonio? Yeah, I played a few seasons with Coach and Cone, whatever you want. Everybody seems to have a different name for him. I've always called him Larry or coach. Yeah. Yeah, no, we got...

He wanted me to ask you, do you still perm your hair? Figures the bugger would ask that kind of question. No, I don't do it anymore, and she's gray now. Yeah. Oh, God. Stick it with you for a second. What the heck is Crest Motel? Oh, my.

I'll tell you, you know what? I was hoping you'd ask that question. Crest Hotel hockey team was like your senior double-A. Okay. We had guys that were unbelievable players. Where is at Crest Motel? Crest Hotel was in Thunder Bay. It was just a local watering hole.

They were a sponsor of our hockey club. The bar. A local bar. That's weird, another bar in Thunder Bay. Yeah. You guys never ever visited them when we went to Thunder Bay. Well, because he never told us about it, because if you had told us, we would have went.

You know what, Sean, I think when you and Colin played in Dryden and we went to Thunder Bay, I don't even know. I don't think that bar was still there. It was torn down. But we had some good memories in that bar after games and stuff like that. Yeah. But, you know, hey, Larry wants to tell a story about my hair. Well, I heard your pod with him, and he forgot to tell one good story,

but I'm going to give it to you. So we're playing with Crest Hotel, eh? We're playing at Grandview Arena. Larry was pretty tough. And, you know, I used to use him to my advantage every once while. And, you know, a guy would give me a rough time or something. I'd say, look over my shoulder, asshole. You want to go through me?

You've got to get to him first. Well, one night, this guy gives me a little shot and whatever, Larry gets in there. And next thing you know, all hell breaks loose. Larry and this guy are fighting. And this guy's kind of like a plug. Like, he wasn't a very good skater. Nice guy. I met him later, but nice guy and everything else.

The two of them are just beating the living piss out of each other. Like, I mean, this guy could fight. Everybody was shocked. then benches are cleared and we're, I'm looking for a guy that I know won't fight. I finally got a hold of him. Anyway, make a long story short. So Larry and this guy are going good.

Like, I mean, I'm talking blow for a blow. And Larry was probably one of the toughest guys in the league. Anyway, Larry's giving it to him and then all of a sudden the guy's coming back. Next thing you know, and lights go out. You know, the Zamboni driver, the rink rat, he's pissed that. This is all going on on his ice, so he shuts the lights off on it.

They're just thinking we know the lights come on. The cops are there. You know, they're ready to come out on the ice to break this all up. We got it all broken up. Anyway, that's fine. So we go to the restroom, games over, whatever. And so, like, back in those days, we didn't have cell phones, right? So two days later, Larry phones me up.

He says, Barry, not going to believe this. And he was working at the time for, I think, the telephone company. He goes, I'm up the goddamn pole fixing this guy's telephone line. He says, I look over. It's a guy I just fought two days ago, and he's sitting out on the deck there, having a smoking a beer. So that's a story. I mean, I know Larry will remember it, but it was pretty funny that night.

Larry's got so many stories. Endless, endless. Endless stories. I'm back to you, Colin. So you play your minor hockey all over God's Green Earth, and that's kind of how your hockey career goes, isn't it? Yeah, like, I don't want to consider myself a suitcase because I was only traded twice, but I got to dabble all over the place, really, yeah.

Well, one that sticks out is you got to play for Canara AAA Midget? I did. And they hosted the TELUS Cup? No. So, funny enough, we were the one year that there was not a major sponsor. So it was the TELUS Cup before, and then we were just known as the National Championship. No, the year before, I think it wasn't it the Wrigley or something, and then we just called the National Midget Championship, yeah.

That year, okay. That year. So, yeah, I moved to Canora and had a big. Billet family. I went to high school when I was what I was I was 16 years old and yeah we hosted the nationals and wow, what a time that was. How did you guys do?

We lost in the bronze medal game to Red Deer, Optimus Chiefs. So funny how things kind of come full circle now that I live in Edmonton and prior to that I was in Sylvan Lake which is just outside of Red Year. Yeah, just outside of Red Year. Yeah, so it was a heck of an experience. I mean it was a lot of very good hockey players

and I mean some of the guys you kind of look back on And they had pretty solid junior careers and, if not minor pro careers. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So did they pick Knorr because it was the middle part of Canada? I don't know if we had to actually do a bid for it. Yeah, you guys had to bid for it.

I remember talking to Doug E. Novak. He was the coach GM and that of the Thistles at the time. Yeah. And, yeah, they put a bid in on it. And if I'm not mistaken, I'm going to say the guy's name probably wrong, but it was, I can't remember something in Rainer or something, and he's big hockey. Big Hockey Canada guy in now, and he, you know, he was part of it.

Yeah, funny enough, I know I'm thinking about when we didn't have a major sponsor. Like, you see these kids are decked out and nice gear and everything. We had, nothing was given to us. Prior to that, you'd get, you know, gloves, helmets. The one thing I still remember I have my jersey at home is my patch, overtop my left, you know, my left room, overtaught my heart. It's missing all the lettering. It says, like, HOC, and that's it.

I had to sharpie it in in case we were on TV. So it looks like everything was taken care of, right? And look professional and I'm like, oh, my God. Where's our major sponsor the one year where we really need it? Yeah. You know, Sean, the funny thing is

with that tournament, the one game that I recall the most was the game against Brandon. They were in our league. They were in Collins League. They're, you know, the Manitoba League. And, you know, they had a really good team and they had a, I plunt, the goaltender.

Tyler Pond against Gordon. And, I mean, that barn in Canora was jammed. Like, I mean, there wasn't even a standing room left. And that game ended up zero-zero. Like in a AAA midget in a national championship, a zero-zero game, it was unbelievable back and forth, back and forth. Brandon won it. Yeah, it was a great time.

I mean, the people of Canora really supported us. And, yeah, it was a heck of an experience. You know, it's just weird. You almost get chills thinking back because you're so young and you almost take it for granted a little bit. Well, it just blows by, right? It does. I mean, it's a short week, really.

And now you look back on it with some fond memories. How was living away from home at that age? Because, you know, the more hockey guys I talk to, the more standard it becomes like guys leave home at 14, 15, 16. Yeah. And by no means of my kids there yet. But at the same time, like, what was that experience like moving away from home? I mean, we got both sides of the coin here, right?

Like, oh, I give them all. I give them all the credit in the world because they knew the Lampshires who I ended up living with personally. So they put me in a great situation with some great, great billets. And they really looked after me, made sure I was comfortable because, like you said, at a young age, you don't really know what you're getting into. And they did everything in their power to make me feel like I was one of their own, which they took care of me very, very well. Yeah.

Well, and if you get good billets, man, that's why I experienced that in dried, right? I've got three years of the best family humanly possible. And, I mean, that makes the transition of feeling comfortable, going to a new place, trying to fit in, et cetera, et cetera, go almost without a hitch. And then you focus on the one thing you're brought in there for, and that's the game of hockey, right? How did your schooling go? I was never a very great student.

I'll put it that way. I was C average. Just put it that way. There was some moments where I probably should have buckled down a little bit more. I see, Darrell's shaking us. Maybe we should have mum here, so you can answer that, honestly. Oh, yeah. Yeah, school seemed to be an afterthought, which, oh, God.

Was it easy to send them away, or you just saw the opportunity and was like, he's got to go do this? You know what? It's, you know, I mean, I'd been around the hockey world for a while, and I'd, you know, seen it and, you know, heard stories and everything else. And as a parent, you're concerned. And, like I said, we were very fortunate that we had, you know, Lapshires there, Carolyn, and David looking after calling. And, you know, we're only an hour and a half, two hours away. So, you know, we spent a lot of time, you know,

going to his games in Manitoba because they played in the Manitoba League. But, you know, if it wasn't for those two looking after him for that almost full year that he was there, because, I mean, he went there in August and never came home until May and then graduated high school in Dryden that year because he wanted to come back, you know. And, I mean, you don't look at the costs, you know, you, you know, it wasn't cheap and, you know, we're driving up there and we're driving into Winnipeg, staying in hotels and stuff. And it was costly, but it was, it was well worth it.

And, I mean, like I said, if it wasn't for the, the Lampshires looking after calling, I think we'd have had a lot of stress, but we were pretty, pretty lucky. Yeah, pretty fortunate. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. I was thinking what comes after midget or during midgett is we were talking about all the different tryouts and training camps. Did you see the I meant to forward it on to you, but did you see the LaRange thing on Twitter? I saw like the

fight video and as soon as I saw it I was like, oh man, like I was there as a 16 year old. So, 15 year old. For people who don't know what I'm talking about, there's this video on social media now. Just look, Google LaRange spring training camp, right? And it's a video that just happened. It's just two guys

fighting at a spring camp trying and LaRange, the actual team put it out. And then the comments that come after it are just like, hockey's bloody and why are we promoting two kids fighting and, you know, whatever. And I was like, oh, okay, well, because I remember going to those camps and that was just, you know, everybody says it was expected. It was never expected. It was something you did to try and stand apart, I think.

Yeah, you try to separate yourself from the pack, right? I mean, going into that, you kind of know your style of play, I guess, And then you start to realize, like, if I want to be noticed by the scouts or, you know, the head coach or assistant coach, whoever's evaluating that camp, what is one big thing I can do to kind of separate myself? And it's a pretty good, good, good, bad, or otherwise. Yeah, absolutely, right? Yeah, if you're not scoring goals, you're not being noticed. What, where did you go, like, so you're, you just finished, you must have had, you played in the national championship. You must got opportunities to go left, right, center.

Yeah, there was some opportunities, and there was a few in the Manitoba Junior League, a few in the SJ, but I think at that time just like going home just made sense for me being so young. But you went out to Laurentia. Does that just be, what, you're young though, eh? Yeah, that was just more of experience, you know, because my dad and Larry obviously being, you know, very good friends and stuff like that. It was Larry had brought me up there just to kind of give me the ins and outs of what junior hockey is going to look like and you're just going against me.

You should tell that study of being a 15-year-old. What year would that have been? 15. How old are you? I'm turning 32, no. So, yeah. It would have been the year after I went then, because I'm, I turned 33. Yep.

So I was 17 when I was there, so you would have been 16 at that time. So it would have been the year before I went. Yeah, the one thing I remember is wearing my blue helmet because I had just finished high school hockey. And I was just a, I was a sucker out there. Guys were just like, oh, look at this kid. But yeah, the, I'm pretty sure you might be, what's the story you're referring to? I think I know what it is. Is this the one with Larry?

The one with Larry? I think it's priceless. Oh, my God. If this doesn't epitomize what Larry was as a coach, right? It's, uh, I'll, yeah, I'll never forget. Like, you know, being a young kid, obviously, I can't make the team without parents consent. It wasn't going to happen.

But after every camp, like any hockey player knows, you go into a coach's room for evaluation. And I walked in, you know, hat on backwards. And Larry didn't skip a beat. He just looked at me and goes, Spinner, are you a batcatcher? Like, no. No, Larry, why? What's up?

How about you walk out of this room, turn your hat forwards, and let's try this thing again. You're a hockey player. We wear our hats frontwards here. I walked out, kind of like tail between my legs of what just happened. Like,

I thought I knew Larry really well, and yeah, I kind of just got the realization of, oh, yeah, okay, no, he's serious. Like, let's try this again. You know one good point, though, that you just had your first scrap as a 15-year-old. You're walking in, like, all hockey, right?

Yeah, felt great. Fought a 19-year-old veteran and did really very well. Handled yourself? Right? I could just to see you just strutting in their hat on backwards, and Larry just takes that confidence, crumbles it up, and says, what are you doing, kids? Here's a slice of humble pie. Yeah. You scouted for Larry for many years, didn't you know, yeah?

Yeah, he, you know, it all started with him. You know, he gave me, like I said, you know, Sean, you mentioned that him and I played together for a few years, and all of a sudden one day he phones me and tells me that he's going to Flynn, Flon, Manitoba to be head coach. and I went, where is Flin Flan? And I mean, I was born in Manitoba, but I left when I was young, so I didn't really know too much about it.

But, yeah, and he, you know, we always, Larry and I were always in touch together, and he asked me if I wanted to start scouting for him for the Flin Flan Bombers, and I said, yeah, sure, I don't know what the hell I got to do, and then he kind of filled me in what I got to do and what I got to look for and what he, you know, and every once in a while he'd phone me and say,

hey, you know, Spinner, I'm looking for a D man that can move the puck, this and that. You know what I'm talking about, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, I got it. So, yeah. You know, I was waiting for, to go to your scouting, because we were talking about the MVP camps, which they don't do anymore, right?

No, I don't think Jimmy McGinnis hasn't done those for quite some time. So when I was in high school, you guys used to run MVP camps, and I assume most listeners can't remember that. So they were just essentially, you could pay to go to this camp, and a bunch of scouts came in, they watched, and you played a bunch of games, and they had an all-star game at the end of it, essentially. Yep, that was it.

And the first person to ever tell me that I would for sure play Junior A was your father, Darryl. Really? Oh, God, one of those meetings. I go sitting at the end and he goes, you know what? You did really good this weekend. You will for sure play Junior A. I was like, oh, well, thank you, right? Because up until that point, I'm a 5'6 defenseman,

getting told everywhere I go that I'm not going to make it. And it took a long time until I actually did play junior. But that was when I was like 17. It was that following year I went out to Larry and LaRange and tried out for him there. That's how I got my first taste of Larry and a month of playing there and everything that went on there. What a joy. Oh, yeah, it's the shenanigans. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, how about that, eh? Yeah, didn't even, yeah, well, like I said, I remember Colin and I, you know, talking about Sean today and we're saying, Jesus, yeah, I'm pretty sure he came to the MVP camp and that's where I remember seeing him. Because we, you know, Larry and I were fortunate enough that, you know, he knew Jimmy McGinnis really well, and Jimmy brought us out. and, you know, we helped out in the camp this and that for three, four days. And, you know, there was a lot of players, a lot of good players there. A lot of good players, yeah.

But, I mean, it was, you know, Jim was really professional about it. He invited certain guys from certain teams like, you know, Doug Headley and that. You know, he was with Dauphin. And I think this, you know, this year he's with Dauphin. I think he used to be with OECN. Yeah. I mean, he's been around the league for years or, you know, the Manitoba League, the Scotching Junior League.

So they always brought in their right guys And all the guys that we worked with And, you know, other scouts and stuff Everybody got along and it was no, you know, Not being too faced to kids or something like that But, you know, everybody, you know, like you Sean, You know, maybe the other guy didn't see what I've seen in you Or vice versa and stuff like that.

But, you know, yeah Well, it was my, I think back on it, Those were my funnest camps ever went to. Mom had to get me there. I always say like, I should have dragged me out of the house kicking and screaming and getting me to go. But once I was in the rink, I was at home, right? Yeah, absolutely. And the format of that was just, right, a couple

exhibition games, and I think it was like three games, and then if you got selected for the All-Star game, you got to play one extra essentially, right? And for a guy of my stature who just goes unnoticed, I would say for the most part, right? My game isn't flashy, it ain't fighting everybody, it ain't the big lumberjack who just sticks

out because he's big, right? It was a way to go and get another opportunity and showcase that. Because off of that, I got, well, I went a bunch of camps because of those MVP camps, right? One of them is Larry going to LaRange, but I think I went to Kinnersley because of that. I went to a Victoria Salce camp because of that, right?

That's a throwback name right there. Oh, yeah, the Victoria Salas. They used to come out to Regina and do a camp. So we'd go to Regina and they'd do a little spring camp there and somewhere hanging in my closet. I still think I have that Victoria Salas up spring camp jersey. Oh, man. Break that thing out for the ODR.

Yeah. We should go to dry. We should talk about dry. So you go from, is that your first year in junior A then? Yeah, yeah, I played at home.

My first year is a 17-year-old. Jeez, I forgot how young you were. Yeah. I mean, like I was old, I was 18, but I wasn't in high school anymore.

You were still in high school. I was still going to classes and I had that morning spare because we had morning practice like 10 a.m. or whatever. I loved it. Going for early morning class

at 8.30 and gone. Gone. really the rest of the day we had workouts after and yeah i remember having the deal at subway where oh you could get a footlong for the price of a six inch yeah but then they give you stamps was that back when they had stamps and i was like five bucks man it was five bucks and we'd hit on the lady so you get more stamps oneita i think it was her no oneita was a pizza hut oh man who was oh yeah winita was awesome too at pizza hut pizza hut buffet yeah oh man we were living the high life back then. Well, no, actually, I think about it, I'm like, man, if I would have just, like, I don't know, like,

taking care of what I eat it, like, if I had half of what they talk about now, well, Larry probably told us, I just went in one ear and one with the other, but- burning calories at skates all the time, just packing on the worst, the worst meals we could afterwards. So much ranch sauce. Oh, God, it was bad. Oh, God, you guys had, like, I was thinking, you know, like, there's fond memories of Dryden, but you guys always had the house that was, like, open to everybody.

Yeah, I think, uh, I think it kind of started because, like, uh, I was like, like, for me being an only child, we always had my friends from Dryden just coming over, hanging out, you know, we used to play like mini baseball in the backyard, just mini sticks, and like street hockey. And it kind of just carried into junior hockey with the boys that came from out of town. It's, you know, you want to make guys as comfortable as they possibly can. And we had that revolving door and we absolutely loved having the boys over for, you know, poker night, ping pong, whatever, watching hockey. It was, it was awesome, yeah. The introduction of your guys' house,

it was probably like the third day I've been in Dryden was coming downstairs on ping pong night and having that giant board and you had to ascend out of the It was a Grapefruit League and for some reason I can't remember what the other league was called. I don't remember what it was called either, but yeah, you had to make your way. You had to make your way.

It was a gauntlet. It was a gauntlet. Yeah. And if you could ascend into the top echelon, it was like you got bragging rights over there. And what was waiting at the end for you? The championship belt. The championship belt, that's right.

Believe it or not, that championship belt's still around. Still at their house. We still got it at the house. Yeah. And it still has the tape on it. Ping pong table. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

I'm sure we could pull a few tricks out still. I don't know. I think coach beat most of you guys. He was pretty good at ping pong. Larry? Oh, yeah. I don't remember that. I remember Rubo with the nasty little shoddy dude from down low.

Yeah. Who's is good. We had a lot of good ping pong players. Well, coach didn't come and play too often, but when he played, he was a good ping-pong player of the bugger. We locked a lot of hours down there. A lot of hours. You know what? The nice thing about that, Sean, was.

You know, and you guys didn't even realize it, but like me being either whether I was coaching at that time with Larry or, you know, the president or the GM, you know, we knew where you guys were. We had you at the house. And, you know, when you guys left it, Larry said curfew was 1030 or something. All of a sudden, 10, 25 you guys were. usually gone and you know we knew you were in a good place and having fun and staying out of trouble in town so yeah well i know i tell the i always tell the stories of of larry his you know his rules right we didn't have green lights unless we weren't playing a weekend i think and then if we did get a green light we had to leave right right like none of that shenanigans going i remember

me and chong are going to the liquor store and buying a bottle of wine for the lanes they want to stop and pick it up we hadn't even got home yet and we walked in the door and And Janet's like, oh, Larry's on the phone. We're like, oh, okay. And I pick up the phone, and he's like, newsie, yeah. What are you doing in the liquor store? I'm like, find a bottle of wine? Why?

He's like, why are you getting a bottle of wine? I'm like, for my billets? Yeah. He's like, okay, make sure it's that, right? And I hang up the phone. I'm like, what the hell is that? Eyes and ears everywhere in a small town of 7,000 people. You were talking off air, Darrell, about getting that team started.

You should tell that because that's something that I don't even know if I'd heard yet. Well, it's funny, like we were talking briefly. Yeah, you know, myself, and there was, you know, Bob Rankin, Brian Patterson. Jesus. I'm trying to, oh, Kevin Zatchery, geez, Randy Allen. I can't remember who else. There was about eight or ten of us. And, you know, we knew a junior hockey team was, you know,

they wanted us to have one in Dryden. Fort was having one. Thunder Bay was having one. You know, we all decided, yeah, okay, and then, yeah, then time comes to the SIJL says, well, we need some money. Whoa, shit. Who's going to put up the money? Like how much we need, whatever. So Kevin Zatchery's dad, or father-in-law, their Andre Tarduff said, you know, yeah, I'll give you guys some money to get this going.

And if it wasn't for Andre, it probably wouldn't have happened. Or, you know, the other nine, ten guys, whatever it was at all, participated to get the, team going and I remember a lot of people didn't believe it would go but I mean you know what is it 19 years now and and it's the original the only original team still still playing on there the ice dogs so north stars didn't left for a bit they started as uh was it the ice wolves way back when I don't can't remember there's been the golden hawks yeah there was the golden hawks the feathermen yeah yeah like board or like even fort was borderland and yeah the borderland thunder and the sabers and Now the Lakers, I mean, the one staple in that league has been the Dryden Ice Dogs.

Yeah. It's actually pretty impressive, like, to look back on it. Yeah. Hey, News, how about when you first came there? And you had to walk into that dressing room. Oh, man. The ghetto in the back. I love sitting in the ghetto.

You know, what's funny. It guys talk about the dressing rooms and how nice air and blah, blah, blah. You go see Drydens, and you walk in, you'll never forget that. But you know what? I found my signature. It's still up on that beam. Oh, really? I heard a rumor that they paint.

to that high was pissed that's a lie that's a lie good they should never touch that no it's a lie they uh found it i i i tell you went back went back for alumni weekend and you go back in there and you go man i cannot believe we dress in this dress room it is like a tiny yeah be like the ugliest looking dress room but hey we made it home right that's it's all about having the right group of guys in a room and whatever and the ghetto in the back by my third year and i got to sit in there it's like a sense of pride and i don't know why all the guys i used to walk back there because that the goalies were on the back wall. And you would just get really cool.

If you didn't sit in the ghetto and you walked into the ghetto, oh, you would get tormented. Well, so we went back for alumni weekend, and I got an opportunity to, you know, boys unlocked it so we could go kind of just, you know, see. And then as soon as I walked in, I'm like, wait a second, I wonder if my signature is still on this thing, right? I scan that wall.

There's a ton of, well, 19 years, right? Sure shit. She's still there, boys. Unbelievable. Same old cartooned. chicken scratch is just a terrible. I remember designing that signature trying to like, how can I make this quick, you know, like make it,

yeah, that kind of looks good. Now I'm just like, still looks stupid. Right? But at one time I thought it looked good, and now it's stuck with me. Jason Keith, you know, signing autographs for the kids. You thought it was top-notch. Well, yeah, that's right.

Well, you know, speaking of that, like here's a story for you. Like Danny Palermo, you know, we played ball. Colin and I played ball with Danny and his young son, Trey, or, yeah, Trey, was the captain there this year. and, you know, he was one that used to hang out at a...

Really? He was a captain of the Asterisk? Was it three years? He's played in Dryden as a local kid, and I talked to him still, you know, here and there. And I still have a picture. I think it was at the bowling alley. You know, when I had frosted tips, I was looking real good. And I've got him in my arm. It's just weird, like, 20 years later. There he is. It's just...

Oh, it was such a bad look, but I thought I was so cool. Well, you know, it's funny because, you know, Danny and Deb were good friends. the Nikki and I and, you know, young Trey followed Colin, you know, because he was an ice dog right. That's right. And then like, you know, how many years later there Trey is? And, you know, he graduated to here this year. And, you know, unfortunately, the ice dogs didn't do what they were hoping to do this year. But he would have a championship or two under his belt. He won one, one, I think they won back to back. He's got two more than I ever again. Yeah, I know, lucky little bugger. Right. Yeah. Good for him. But that was the most painful thing about going back

is the year after I left, they won, right? So I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm The guys who played on that team played with me the year before, they never... Well, get out of here, eh? What are you asking? Yeah, I said you won once, didn't you? Fuck, no. We came up short.

We came up short in the finals, but... Oh, yeah, but I mean, you went to the Dudley. Yeah, we went to the Dudley. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, I got to listen to Bob McKenzie come to Lloyd and give a speech for the Royal Bank Cup, I think it was when they hosted, and he was talking about...

You never know in a tournament format like this, you know? that any team can win. It doesn't matter if you've been winning all year or how you get here, right? And he goes, case and point, we're in the Dudley Hook Cup, and he's talking about the Dudley Hook

this Ontario championship. And we come up against this little town called Dryden. I don't even know where it is. And we're all laughing at all this would be a cakewalk. And they beat us 2-1 and knock us out of the tournament. And we're all going, what? We're ranked number two in Canada.

And I lean over to my wife before he says Dryden, and I go, he's about talking about Dryden, Dryden, not Ice Talks. She goes, what? And he goes, the dried nice dogs. And I look at her and I go, I was on that team. That's me. I knocked his son out of the...

Yeah, he did. You know who else played there? Who? You don't remember. I don't know. I remember. He played in Edmonton for a little bit. Who?

Andrew Cogliano. No, he wasn't on the team. Yes, he was. Bullshit. We have to check it over. I'm pretty sure he was there. I'm pretty sure he was on that team. I think he was.

Well, he was a dud, because I don't remember that. And guess what? Doesn't matter because he was a loser going home. But guess what? He's in his show. Oh, wait a second. He just got out of the play. All right.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure he played. Yeah. But that's... I don't remember that. Yeah. Well, do you... 2-2.

Do you remember we... Oh, 2-2 boys, eh? What was that about Salon Zay going to the finals? He winning the cup? I don't know here. That's one of the Bruins fan, by the way. My Bruins are going to win the cup. But, no, we were talking, you were talking about that was St. Mike's, the buzzers.

Do you remember... Do you remember the Dudley... Do you remember the Dudley... about the package that we received? Remember all this garbage sticks, I should say. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let's hear this. You know, I've been finding out lovely stories

from our time in Dredden. Like, the cop showing up to practice was staged, and then Cowboy knew about it, and you're laughing, Daryl's laughing, he knew about it, everybody knows about it now. Meanwhile, we're freaking out just going, what is happening? Anytime a cop comes to your rank,

you're just like, this is not good. Well, you guys didn't know that, like, Dale Engstrom and I and Larry, well, I mean, Dale, because he lived there, and Larry was, you know, our coach. So we thought we'd give you guys a little scare because there were some stories going around, so we just thought we'd find out. So we asked Dale to come in and, you know, so I was standing there waiting for him, and he'd come walking in and Larry's out on the ice with you guys. Next thing you know, all up in the room and Dale comes walking in there.

Sorry to go back for a second here. You guys were not kidding. Andrew Cogliano played That blows my mind I don't remember that I mean he must not have been that good right He was good He was good

He was probably taking minuses Sean I think I don't think he went around you though No You were the same height as him No that's exactly right The only two guys on the ice That time at the same height

Jackass I don't remember I remember I remember Bob McKenzie's son Because at the time I remember Oh, frick, who was the D man we had who was making jokes about him being Bob McKenzie's son and what's Bob going to have to say after the game and all that?

It was freaking hilarious. But everybody was teasing Bob McKenzie's son. That's what I remember about that game. Yeah, for good reason. Then, Caldalen seems to be an afterthought. I guess so. Well, he showed us. Yeah, he's doing okay.

Yeah. Yeah, that's the Dudley Hewitt was a heck of a time. Yeah, there's the stick story that the person always seems to be unnamed, but. And it's going to stay unnamed. Yeah. But, you know, I'll tell you, we, you know, well, you guys played there so you know that our budget wasn't very big. No. It's pretty string-tight, yeah.

Yeah, we heard a little bit, but when we got to the Dudley Hewitt, you know, had to make a phone call and get a favor done. And, you know, you guys, and I remember Larry talking about the story about on the bus, well, you guys all went on the bus for the Dudley and I drove up with Nikki in the car. And when we got to town, I said to her, hey, we got to go by Pure later. I got a package here. So we went and got them and then got the sticks. And on the way back or heading back to the gardens and you guys were all in the room, you just finished having your pre-game skate when I walked in with three dozen sticks. And it was like, it was like a bunch of kids at Christmas time.

It's like, and Larry's going, okay, only two each. Spinner, put the rest away for now. Summer stock. Summer stocking. You got to understand, though. People don't like, guys, you. who played, wait a second. First off, what the heck is going on here?

Coach's Challenge. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, boy. Is that getting called back? I think they did. Oh, he's freaking out. Sorry, people were watching this.

It's game seven. Oh, no. They called it back. They called it back. We had a tag game. Sean was tooting his horn, and then they, you know, the hockey god said, no, no, no. Yeah, guess what?

It's surprise. Yeah. See, for most junior teams, and maybe I'm mistaken, But I think most junior teams now around this part of the country anyways have a stick budget and whatever and they get whatever. Like up until this point, we were using wood sticks. And I remember the Spetsas went fast and then you were left with these Crosby curves that were like a boomerang and you were heating them up trying to like, you know, do anything. They were great for whacking people. But other than that, they were pretty tough.

And if you wanted something else, you went and bought it. That was the only options he had. And so when you walk in and all of a sudden you got all these, like I just. remember being in disbelief. Like, what do you mean? We get what, right? All these one pieces? Where have these been all years?

Maybe I would have 30 tucks. Not right. No. Newsie, I'll lead into another story. Yeah. Here, you know, we bring in Larry and, you know, I mean, he's been around and he's got some contacts. And I don't know.

If you, well, you guys will remember. But all of a sudden, we get a shipment in of blue pants, blue helmets, blue gloves. I remember that. And that's all from, you know, it was, from the Saskatoon Blades. And it was his friend there that was a trainer, and this was all their used stuff. But, I mean, it was still good.

Like, it was, like, brand new. But that's just the way the Western Hockey League worked, and they, you know, switch sponsors or whatever, so they couldn't use CCM. Yeah, they're sure with blue gloves. Man, if you looked at old picture, you'd probably... No, no, no. I can vividly remember those because...

Well, do you remember, like, if you had a rip palm, and they'd be like, oh, can I get a new set of gloves or whatever? Like, no. Sorry, like, you're either going to patch them up or play with them. that was just us man we were just a bunch of rag-tag kids having a good time on you know a small dime but yeah we were playing junior hockey in love it that was a fun year that that that year of hockey a lot of times on the questionnaire ask which what team was your most successful yep and then what was the best team to play on is kind of the and to me they can be very different right you

win the stanley cup but your funnest year could have been playing with a multitude of reasons yeah absolutely right and that year i mean we're very good we you know if you don't run in to the Thunder Bay North Stars, right? They were a good team. Well, heck, they probably should have won the Royal Bank Cup that year. Yeah, they, going into it, that's why, I mean, you know, we get knocked out, whatever. We don't want to see them win, but, you know, we almost take pride that they're coming from our area. Our area, that's right.

And we're pushing for them, and we knew what they brought to the table. And, yeah, we're like, please, you know, get us some recognition to where we come from. That's right. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're one of the, the SIS still one of the only one of two leagues, I think, that hasn't won a Royal Bank Cup. Wow. Yeah.

It's coming. Long time. Hopefully. Hopefully it'll come sooner later. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of good hockey players that go unnoticed over there. It's a small area, right? I mean, you think of North Austin, Ontario, you think about the stalls, you think about the prongers.

And we're pumping out NHLers. So, I mean, there's good quality hockey players there. Yeah. It's a good place to go. Yeah. I mean, you look at that North Star team, and I mean, you know, hey, I'm living in Edmonton, Alberta, but I still follow that league. I still follow, you know, some of the players.

players. And I mean, you look at, you know, what Robbie Deghanier did with that North Stars team. They were a young team. I mean, you know, they, they didn't get the result they wanted it to Dudley this year. I didn't watch. I watched a little bit, a couple of the games here and there, but, you know, they just didn't look. They looked off. And, you know, hopefully next year, somebody from that league can win it finally. Yeah, that'd be really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think, you know, the Saskatchewan Junior League, I mean, it's been around a long, long time, Manitoba, you know, stuff from, you know, and BC League.

Like, the SSI, S-I-J-H-L, you know, is only, like you said, 19 years, 20 years old. So, yeah, it takes time. Who is, I always give Carter Hutton the top-notch as being one of the best players I've played with her against. I mean, I grew up playing with Clark MacArthur, right? but at my best level, highest level, I always gave it to car. I didn't realize Coglanano was on the other side. Yeah. I mean, who's the best players you guys have ever played with?

Back in junior, like, I mean, currently, I mean, there's guys now that I just play, you know, rec and beer league with that. Let's go with then either your pro, your senior, your junior kind of at time frame. When I was down in Mississippi, I got to play with a guy by the name of Matt Zoltek. Um, he was a first round draft pick. I can't remember if it was to LA. I don't remember, but he was just, you walk into a room and there's certain guys that you're just like, yeah, that guy's a hockey player. And then you see him out on the ice and this guy was mean.

He was like 6, 4, 2.30, 2.30, 2.40. And an absolute cannon for a shot. He just commanded space and respect on the ice. And it was, it was impressive to watch that guy go. And this was later on in his career. I think he was 33 when I was there. and I was 22. Yeah.

And I'm just looking at this guy going like, holy crap. Oh, man, you're a first round draft pick. Yeah, I see why. Jeff Drummond comes to mind. He won two national championships in the University of Denver. We play hockey with him once, twice a week. And he's about your size, Sean, honestly.

He's like 5-7-5-8. But that guy, I don't think he's sharpening his skates in the past five years. And he is a wizard. Yeah. Like, he's nothing to him. and he's so crafty, it's impressive. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah, I used to claim if the NHL, you know,

if they were allowed small guys, I would have went further, and then I saw, like, Jared Spurgeon and those guys in there. Rocko Grimaldi in Nashville. I'm like, son of a bitch, right? Just missed it, yeah. Yeah, I didn't miss jack crap, right? No. Those guys are, when you get a special player,

it doesn't matter the size they find a way. Yeah, it's funny you bring up Carter Hutton because, like, we were, I mean, you just watch him in the NHL and you just realize, like, man, I used to shoot on this guy. Well, actually, I just, you'd have a better idea of it. I got mixed emotions because I always think of the North Stars and just another part of my brain. Me and Chong were talking about this how Larry just instilled hate in us. Well, I sold out and I went and played for him.

I know. I know. We're going to get to that. I know. You know what? Carter Hutton, back in Junior, was a very, very good goaltender. You know, the North Stars were a good hockey club back in a day when we played him in the Dudley and stuff. but Carter was a very good goaltender. I mean, you take a guy like Bartuso,

you know, here he is, you know, playing with St. Louis now in the NFL. He was a 16-year-old playing against you guys. Yeah. And, I mean, he wasn't a force because he was 16. You guys were all 1920. But he stood out, too. They had a big kid. Yeah.

You know, I mean, they had some good players on that team. And, geez, I forgot about Bertuzo. I don't mention him enough, too, right? He was a good player. He was, man, especially at that age. And then you realize, like, it is one year in the SSI, pretty much for development. And then he goes to the OHL, and he just becomes, he goes another level. I always remember who's, I shouldn't say, I always remember, and then I can't remember his name.

But the defenseman who played for Lakehead. Oh, Smith. Jordan Smith. Jordan Smith. So Jordan and I, you know, to Robert's a little bit back, we got to be very good buddies when we played together. and then, yeah, Smitty was, he was one hell of a defenseman. Yeah, he was. That guy, you want to talk about a shot.

He logged a lot of ice time for them. Yeah, he does, right? And he had that, like, that snapshot where it just picked top shelf, and you're just like, man. So funny enough. From 50 feet out. Oh, canon. But funny enough, long story short, he ended up after Lakehead, he played one year there, two years or whatever it be, Clarenville Caribus, the senior team?

Yeah. He used to fly him out on Thursday nights, and he'd play for the weekend, get paid, I know the dollar amount, but I won't say it, X amount of dollars. Oh, come on. You're not going to, who's going to hear this? He's going to care. So he's getting paid like $600 a game.

Oh. And then fly home on Sunday nights after the game in time to be at school on Monday. And he did that. I think he was there for three years. He did that. Yeah, two or three for sure. And he eventually, I met his wife out there

and moved back to southern Ontario. But yeah, it's weird, eh? Yeah. But, hey, he was a good hockey player. Oh, dude. That guy, for all the talent in the world, world that guy had. He was, he was something to behold. He was, he could move. He could hit. If he wanted to fight, he could fight. And his shot was just, yeah, it was ridiculous. Super, super kid to be,

you know, like I know him and Colin got along well and they hung out lots when Colin went to Thunder Bay to play. And, you know, I'd, you know, only being four hours away, I got there a lot of times to watch some of the games and stuff like that. And, yeah, he was a super good kid, too. him and his brother both played on the team. Since we're talking about Thunder Bay so much, why don't we just bring it up, hey? You turn coat? Yeah.

Well, you know what? I'd love to say it was just a decision to leave Dryden my hometown and go to Thunder Bay, but... Wait a second. Did you lose in the finals out here? We did. Who did you lose to? Scriber. Oh, he lost to Scriber won.

Scriber won, and I will tell you one thing that will burn me forever, and I will swear right now and fuck certain people. I got healthy scratched in game seven for a 20-year-old with a broken leg because it could have been his last game and I was a healthy 19-year-old kid and he scratched me. Who scratched you?

The coach Todd Howarth and I lived with Howie. And I lived with Howie. I've got some, I'll tell you another quick one. Howie came home one night and me and him, we got into it. We got into a full-on fight downstairs. Like Fiss, we're talking.

He was beating the shit. He woke me up. He was a little drunk, right? came home my roommate at the time michael paulo he's sleeping there and all of a sudden the light comes on and how he just comes in and he's like let's go and we went at it i'm 19 years old why the hell did he say let's go at it no maybe you had an issue with me i don't know well you never get next morning at coffee he's got a black guy you're bleeding from the nose you're not drinking nothing happened it was so weird man and you didn't bring it up you didn't go like

no it was coach with the it was almost like that weird mentality in thunder bay is like you partied hard which you know looking back not a great decision and you went to hockey and whatever happened in between, happened in between. It was super weird though, yeah. Did you know that story? You know what?

He'd ever told me until a lot of years later about it and when I heard about it, you know, like, I was pretty pissed about it when I heard. No shit. Yeah, yeah. But to go back, sorry to interrupt you.

Did you at least get a couple good shots in him? I made him count. Oh, yeah. There was some tension there. You know, you just went back up in my books of a couple of notches. Thanks, buddy. But no, like how I ended up in Thunder Bay, I went to Portage first.

So I went to Portage. I came over the guy's name, Spiller? Was this coach's name, GM? No, he wasn't there, though. Anyways, so I went there. I was signed with them. Austin Healy, very good buddy. Yeah, I remember.

And James Kane were there from Canora. We all knew each other, right, from Ice Dogs Times too. Went there, and I was living with Healy, and we were playing an exhibition game against the Thunder Bay North Stars. And how he told whoever the coach was, I can remember at the time, Don't sign Spencer. Let him come home with us. And he's like, okay.

And the guy walked in after the two exhibition games against Thunder Bay. He goes, I want to sign you, but Thunder Bay really wants you to go. You have a great opportunity to be a little bit more of a player there than we would have you here. So I went to Thunder Bay. Yeah, lesson learned. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, weird one, eh?

So, you know. How was it playing for Howie? Because I remember Bassingweight going back and playing for him. and I just, you grew up to, well, I'm sure they hated Larry just as much on that side, right? Like, you grew so fond of Larry playing for him and going to war with them and all that good stuff, but you go to war against a guy for so long. It's, I can't imagine walking in and going underneath that side of things. It was weird.

Well, it was weird walking into, even to camp, because I remember it was in Current River. And I, you know, I played two years in Dryden already, and I walk into Thunder Bay. And these guys know me. We've had battles. And I walked in and they were just, they almost give you the stink guy. Like, what are you doing here? Like, go home. And then, you know, now within camp got to know a bunch of the guys.

And, you know, we're playing for Howie was, it was tough at times because I had, I had a diminished role and I didn't have fun. And, well, I went there with a certain expectation that just didn't happen. And, you know, I won't take anything away from the guy. His track record, it speaks for himself. He speaks for itself. He's got a winning, winning side to him. Um, I didn't necessarily like some of the things that went on. that's why I ultimately didn't stay there for my 20-year-old year.

But, you know, we had a great group of guys. That's one thing I will say. The guys on the team, Smitties, you know, the Lawrence's of the world, the Connor Lyons, as much as I hated them when I played with them, good guys off the ice. So it's just, you know, you learn to. There's a name I haven't heard in a long time, Lion. Yeah, Connor.

He fought. I remember him and McKinnon fighting. That was an epic tilt. That was McKinnons coming up. out party. That's right. Remember that? Because we all knew what Connor could do. Well, he was arguably the toughest guy and the league at the time. And he threw both hands. Yeah. You would

tie onto one and he'd throw the other with pistons. And you're just like, holy shit, what did I get myself into? And Macer came out of left field and was chalking. Yeah. And it's like, we have this guy? Where have you been? Like, pick up the slack here, bud? Yeah. Yeah, that was a hell of

a fight. Speaking of Tillies, because you're from North Stars, then you go to borderland or Fort France. How about the bench clearing bra? Oh, man. Oh, I was there. You were there for that, right?

I was a 17-year-old kid there. Yeah. Were you in the stands for that? Yeah, I was up on the stands that night. I think most people when I talk about this, maybe they've gotten over the fact that it actually happened. But like, full-on bench-clearing brawl. Full-on.

I can't imagine what media would do. Actually, I was talking to dad, and I remember he was telling me that I called him the next day and said, hey, you might want to check the Emmington son. We're on the front page. and he's like what and then he went and sure enough our uh i don't know picture of the ensemble of what had happened yeah no kidding gloves and sticks and helmets everywhere yeah what is the there is it is crappy is like yeah it's on youtube yeah it's definitely out there if you google uh fort francis or borderland thunder versus dry nice dogs brawl or something

like that and somebody filming the old footage because it used to actually uh on what was it Shaw. Shaw TV or Shaw cable or Shaw. Something they used to broadcast the odd game, and it was a video of that. Yeah, it's not a very, I've seen the video, it's not very good. It doesn't do justice, what really happened.

There was just punches flying from everywhere. Yeah, that was, you want to talk about Donnybrook. There's the definition. Right there. I mean, I think on your pod with Larry, you know, saying like that what the heck was Jamie Davis? Jamie Davis was coming down.

And one of the guys sucker punched him as he was coming down to see how his kid was. And then I was sitting up in his stands and sitting with the wife and a few of the fans and thought, oh, I'm gone. I went running down there and got there just at the right time for. So.

But you know, you know what was funny? Sean, and I know Larry was talking about in his pod there, but the next night when he said that, you know, he had to stay on one side of the rink and Allison was on the other side. But Brent Tukney was the assistant coach there. And so Tuker took over and I took over. So we met in the hallway and we were just talking and I said, you know, do you want to, do you want to, you know, the fans are all here, the cops are here. Do you want to like maybe start something? Duke and I were both kind of, you know, we're the type of guys that, you know, no, we're not going to start.

You know, maybe have a little fun with this. But no, it was, yeah, it was an unfortunate circumstances and everything else. But, you know what, at the end of the day it happened. And, you know, their guys stuck up for themselves and our guys stuck up for ourselves. And, you know, the coaches stuck up for themselves and their team. Maybe we should bring up fighting. I know you, I put out the questionnaire, what do you want to see come back in the game? and you wrote one word, fighting.

You know, I'm old school. Like, this chirping, mouth and off, you know, and I mean, I'm still around the game, and I still watch, you know, in Leduc, for instance, where we live, I, you know, go watch a AAA game, and, you know, and at junior games, I still go and see some of the AJs.

And I just get a kick out of how these kids chirp at each other. You know, they stick each other. They're not accountable for nothing, you know, so I'll stick you. So I'm going to get two minutes. I'm going to slash your, break your wrist, and I'm going to get two minutes. Back in the day, you did that? You were probably going to get a new nose.

You know, or you're going to, you know, have some chicklets gone. You know, I mean, Sean, you know about chicklets, right? Speaking of, I've got to tell a story about this. So, Sean, anyway, we're playing at the Tournament Center, and I think we were playing the Featherman Hawks, hey, when you lost your teeth there? The first one was, no, I think it was, I think it was Borderland. Actually, I'm positive. Slapshopping point at Fort Francis.

I know, I know you got hurt, and I thought, you know, and it was actually my wife that brought it up. She says, do I get to bug Sean about this one? Because you either got hurt, lost teeth or something, and we were in a tournament center, and some little girl or younger girl or woman or whatever was yapping off saying, oh, I'm glad he's hurt, this and that. and Nikki kind of made a comment to her, and next thing you know, I'm looking up from the bench, and you guys

are all looking up at her too, and she's being escorted out of the ring by two police officers trying to protect you, I guess. Nick was? Yeah, because the women in front and all that were saying, it's good for that little shit or something like that. Yeah, at times, I was a little shit, right?

Like I mean? Yeah, maybe expected it. Yeah. Yeah, so she... Yeah, so she... Yeah, so she... Yeah, she had your back the whole way from the stands.

Unbelievable. Again, like I said, we're all looking, you know, the game stopped there because of your little situation, and she's getting escorted out of the rink. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah, the old tournament center, I forgot. We played in that place, too.

Damn it. San Jose has made it 3-1. 3-1. Look at how the tides have turned. Hey, I still got faith. There's lots of time. Lots of time. All you mean is one shot at 3-2, you know, also on the tide turns.

And 3-1. We're studying hockey. They get lucky on a coach's challenge. So hey, Sean, we were talking about Dryden. We're probably going to get back to it. But before I lose my thought on this one, I just wanted to, you were talking about, you know, people where they went and stuff like that,

like Hutton and Bartuso and stuff. You know, everybody, I don't know how many people are going to remember this story, but Larry, you know, the first year that he came to Dryden, you know, that's the year we were going to the Dudley Hewitt. We had an older trainer, you know, it was good, but he wasn't a trainer. So we needed somebody to come with us to this.

Dudley. So Larry talked to his buddy there from Saskatoon and said, hey, this kid from a sporting goods store, you know, he wants to be a trainer, blah, blah, blah. Next thing you know, boom, he drives himself to Dryden, stays with us for a few weeks or a week and a half or two weeks

or something like that. He's downstairs, you know, sewing socks for us on the bus. We're going to Rayside, Belford, just outside of Sudbury. He's sewing socks and sweaters, and he was our trainer. Well, his name's Jason McMaster. You never guess where he is.

He's the head equipment manager, I think, for the Winnipeg Jets now. I don't know how many people back in Dryden and will remember that. I know the players, you know, like the Englishes and the Rankin, and those guys, they'll remember him really well because, like, he was top-notch. So just give Jason a shout and, you know, glad to, you know, I guess we could say we gave him to start. Yeah, no kidding. He was a billet family. Yeah.

What? He lived with you guys. Yeah, he lived with us for the two weeks or three weeks or whatever he was there. We went up and stuff like that, yeah. He was in Driedham for three weeks. He was going down to the Dudley. Yeah, he came with us to the Dudley one that first year in 2001. When we went to play Rayside three-game series to go to the Dudley Hewitt.

And, you know, and then he, I think he went and he worked with Hilty in Saskatoon for a little while. And then he went to Vancouver Giants with Don Hay out there working. And then he ended up. Manitoba Moose and then With the Jets? Now with the Jets. Crazy, isn't it? That is crazy.

Yeah. Although the only guy I can ever, well, I shouldn't say the only guy I can ever remember, but an old hot C. Oh, hot girl. I talked to Hot Sea before I went on with Larry. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah. Nice. Oh, God.

Is he still in Thief River? Ah. Yeah. Is he? He owns, he's truck. He bought a team and then he sold a team. That would have been Thief River. Yeah, that was Thief River.

Falls that he would have, he owned and had him and, yeah, that's, it's, that team's in the SIT. Yeah, yeah. But maybe he's not with him anymore. I'm not sure. Frick, you know, and I'll send this to Hotsie, and then he'll call me going, you're an idiot. We talked about this like two weeks ago, and I'm going to go, I got two kids under three. Yeah.

My brain's mush. Hey, and I hear congratulations is in order. Yeah, I got a third on the way. Congrats for you. Yeah. When are you ever going to meet a nice lady? I don't know Somebody can tame me out there

We'll see I hope somebody's listening On the podcast It's single And yeah At some point I've still been enjoying my life A little bit

Hey I still enjoy my life It's just Oh the boys trips And Yeah it's I'm It's like my mom Actually she's up

She's up my ass About a kno too Oh She wants grandkids Oh man She has my dog Tell Nick Tell Nick she can come to Lord

She can hang out With her grand She can hang out I swear to God she'll do it. If you ever head up in Edmonton and you and your wife need a night, just come by. She'll take the kids. Hey, I'm going to write that down, hey?

Hey, I set it on your pod. Yeah, it's there. She'd do it. She would. Yeah, I'm actually, uh, yeah, three. I don't know if I'm stupid or not. Yeah. It'll be, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.

Two's a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. I'll be a handful. Yeah. Okay. You got a, you know, what are they going to be forwards? I hope

So I married a woman from Minnesota And she is taller in me Which is awesome And I just said I just said you know If we could just have my build In your height We're off to the races

And Shay our boy He's three And he is tall And just strapping And I'm like just carry that And eh Keep it going Yeah

Come on kid Right Help that out Yeah that's right That's right Yeah But I mean Whatever

probably won't want to play. I don't know. We'll see. If he doesn't want to play hockey, it might be a martial arts. That's right, yeah. Who knows? Right?

What was your favorite movie from the boss? Oh, man. That's a tough one. I like Dumb and Dumber. Dumb and Dumber is always up there. Okay, and then give me your best Dumb and Dumber line. Oh. Um,

um, uh, where were they? They're driving to Colorado, right? Caller Aspen? Aspen, Colorado? Yeah. And he's like, you've had two gloves or two pairs of gloves this entire time?

Duh, it's the Rockies. Kills me. Like, I'm in tears laughing. I'm going to kill you, Harry. You got that look in your eye. That's so good, man. Harry, your hands are freezing. Oh, it's so good.

Yeah, that's definitely, yeah, that's my bus ride, for sure. Do you get enough favor of moving from the bus? You were probably sleeping the whole time Yeah, I caught naps. Actually, you know what? I'm probably like, probably about 70% of the people that played hockey and road buses and it was probably slap shot. Slapshot, eh?

Yeah, slap shot. It was good. Yeah. You? Well, I said on the one with the brothers, I really like Bull Durham. Oh, the ball movie. It's a good choice. I played a little bit of baseball in college.

Okay. And I got introduced to it there. And I was like, how the heck haven't I watched this movie before? I'm kind of a movie connoisseur. And Kevin Costner's fantastic in it. Who's the guy there? He's, uh, Nicola Leach. What's his, uh, Tony, uh, Tim Robbins.

Thank you. Not Tony Robbins. Tim Robbins. He's also in Shawshank, that's one. That's right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, meat, that's right.

Why does he keep calling me meat? Jesus, what a good movie. I want to talk about, so, yeah. Unless you want to go into Thunder Bay and to Fort Francis. Oh, yeah, I'll give you just a short scoop. It was a 20-year-old year expansion team. We knew the coach. So they'd borderlanded fold and they'd come back as another team again?

Yeah, and Wayne Strand at the time was a brand-new team, obviously looking for a little bit of leadership and a guy who'd been in the league. And I knew I wasn't going to resign in Thunder Bay. I'd, you know, that ran its course. Let's just put it that way. And I talked to Stranner, and they made a trade for me and said, yeah, we're going to bring you in. And as a 20-year-old kid, I, you know, seems to be an ongoing train. I probably should have buckled down a lot more, especially as a 20-year-old.

Wasn't as effective in that year as I probably should have been, stats-wise, especially as a 20-year-old with, you know, four years of junior underneath his belt. But the town loved us. Fort itself was itching for a hockey team, and we had the support of the town. and it was great to play there. Unfortunately, you know, as an expansion team, we didn't do as great as we wanted to. We were, we just, whatever, it just didn't happen for us.

But as a 20-year-old kid, I didn't really have plans for after my junior career, really. And at the time I was, I thought I was in love and made plans to go to school. And I had offers to go play to. Your Twitter pated, were you? I was, you know, wondering what to do with myself after hockey. but I had a few scholarship opportunities to go where you went.

Northland, yeah. Northland, yeah, I had a few there and mulled it over. Yeah, Utah Aggies with BMAC and McKenzie York that they were down there. Yeah. Ultimately, I decided to go back to Thunderbra and go to school, and that's kind of where I, you know, I started getting the itch. You know, the girlfriend and I had broken up in the summer. Shocking story there.

And I went to school to become a paramedic. turns out I hate science. Found that out. And that's when the Thunder Bay Twins senior AAA team was coming back around and decided to get myself halfway in shape at the time and went out and skated with them and made the team. And that's when we had a three-game playoff against Kenora, which to this day I think, I still don't know how it works.

In North Carolina, Ontario, we play a three-game set and we go on to the Allen Cup, the national championship for senior hockey. So, yeah, played, made the team. Where was the Allen Cup that year? Steinbeck, Manitoba. Yeah. Steinbeck. Yeah, I'm jealous.

I would have loved to have played in an Allen Cup, just one. It was, ask the story of a guy that scored the first goal against him. Yeah, so we're playing. Playing the host team. Steinbeck, North Stars? Something like that. Anyways, it's a lineup on a draw and look over to my right and shit. It's Theron Flurry.

I'm just kind of like I'm dumbfounded This guy just out of Obviously he's You know who Theron Flurry This goes Kid watch this Watch what I do on this one

Okay whatever Goes down and just dangles through us Tuck I'm like What? There's a sweet minus Get back to the face off And he's like what'd you think about that

And I'm just like Oh it's a real nice goal Mr. Flurry Like what am I doing Did you ask for his autograph? I should have like an idiot right Like, it won't just be a fanboy even more. I was just, oh, my God, it was embarrassing. It was funny because I'm sitting up in the stands there watching,

and I'm thinking, what are you doing, kid? Like, are you mouthing off to him? Like, do not go there. No, he thought I was kissing his feet. Oh, yeah, he's kissing his feet. But here I thought he was mouthing off to Flurry and he was going to try to fight him or something like that. I'm going, oh, don't do this, don't do this.

Blasting impression, all right, there was my nose. But, yeah, the Allen Cup. was a hell of a ride. Unfortunately, I only got into the one game against Steinbach, but that's where, it's funny, like, you know, when you come full circle, like we said. You didn't dress after he asked for the autograph? The coach frowned upon that?

Yeah, a healthy scratch, hey, just like that, Spencer, get in the stands. Yeah, that was when I was introduced to the Bentley Generals. They were out there. Yeah. Obviously, that's when they won that year, too. But that's when I really got an eye-opening experience to senior hockey. I was like, holy shit.

these guys are ex-pros and it shows. And I was a 22-year-old kid just coming out of junior A and really taking a year off. And I'm like, I am nowhere near ready for even this level of hockey. Yeah. So yeah. And it was weird after that is when I really started getting my itch. Is that when you go down south then?

Yeah, that's when I really started. I was like, you know what? If I don't do this, I'm going to look back on my life and just regret it. So I was working at the M&R and back in Dryden. and I was like, I got to get in shape. And I had an awesome boss at the time. And he was pretty much like, you know, you're a summer student here. We're flying helicopters doing fire detection.

There's not many fires. Work out. Do whatever you got to do. And I was skating at the time. You know, like we had street hockey going, just whatever I could. So that's when I ended up finding an agent, I guess, via the internet. And he got me in touch with going down south. And we were talking about it today.

I was like, that son of a bitch. I go down to Boston. I lived in Boston. I love Boston. It's still my favorite city. And he had me going to Bridgeport Sound Tigers free agent camp in the American Hockey League. He had me pegged as a Troy Brower type of player.

I'll never forget that comparison. I'm like, are you shitting me? Troy Brower. Did you go to an H.R.C.R. I was there. I don't think I did anything. I skated twice, and I was like, oh, my God. Yeah.

complete gong show for me. I'm just like this loser on the ice. They're probably like, just make a wish foundation. Like, get this kid out of here. So yeah, I end up, you know, going from there to obviously not making a second call to, uh, I had already signed. Do you remember any of the guys that were skating at the time?

No, I remember one name, but he was, the only reason I remember this is because he played in what was, what is now the federal hockey league. And I think his name was Devon Guy. I don't know why that stuck out with me so much but then there's a couple guys that we were living with at the time Ryan Huggett Mario Paselli and Steve something

and then Dominic Oh my God Dominic Gene Dominic Gene from Scriber He was out there too with us So yeah it's funny So we end up Kind of touring around

We lived in Hanson Massachusetts For a while I think I was down there for just over Almost two months we were down there training And live in the hockey life And eventually Did you end up making a team then? I end up signing with Mississippi Surge.

Yeah. Went down there, lived on the Gulf of Mexico right in Balecksy. It was awesome. Got hurt during camp, being an idiot scrapping. And, you know, long story short, is the ripple effect of being a bottom feeder league, I guess. You know, guys are from the Central League. They're getting cut from their teams. They come down.

Yeah. You got bumped out? Yeah, I kind of sat around there for a little bit, and the coach pulled me in. He's like, hey, man, we're going to release you from your contract. and, you know, best luck to your future endeavor. So I had already signed another PTO prior to that, my rights, I guess, with a team called the Evansville Iceman in now the defunct All-American Hockey League, which is now the Federal League.

And wow, walking into that place, I'm like, this is a mistake. So to preface how this all went, the owner owned the Kansas, the state. There's, I guess they're side by side. he owned the horse track. So we didn't have condos to stay in or apartments or whatever. So he put us up, me and Dom, and there's a handful of other guys,

in the stable or the jockey stayed. We didn't have beds. We had mattresses, and he told us flat out, don't put them on the ground, there's rats, there's mice, you know how it is in a stable,

it's pretty dirty. We had desks, and we put all our desks together and jam them up, and we hung, like, bed sheets around us. Like, this is minor professional hockey at the time. Yeah.

And then you realize what you signed for, $100 every two weeks. You can't live off of that. So I'm like, made the phone call. I'm like, Dad, I'm going to tell you something right now

and you're probably not going to be happy because, you know, they loved support, no, I loved supporting me, but they loved supporting my dream of trying to become a hockey player. And financially it made,

it was tough. But they were giving me money to survive, ultimately it was it came down to. I did the, I did, I tried to make this work. It's not going to work. Where are you?

Well, we live in Emmetton. I'm like, well, me and these other two Canadians, we're packing it in. We've tried this career at ain't working. We're driving to Buffalo. The one guy used to play in Buffalo at the college there. We went and partying Buffalo for a weekend. Got it out of my system, hopped on a Greyhound, went across to Toronto, flew out to Edmonton.

And that was it. What a shit show. Yeah. You know what I love about minor league stories? No pro ever. experiences anything like that. It's like rain. I shouldn't say they experienced

different things, but they never push it all the desks together and sleeping. Dude, like we didn't have... Don't put it on the ground, there's rats. No, we didn't even have a working fridge. Like, you know the big glass screen bar fridges? We had that, like a Coca-Cola or a Pepsi one. We had our groceries in there, our beer,

because, you know, we're healthy. Yeah, and we're... That's how we lived for the time that I was there. And it was, yeah, it was bad. The first place, played in in finland was uh kemi okay and uh they had seven of us living in an apartment made for four guys tight quarters that's right they didn't give us pillows they didn't give us sheets or blankets for i never i don't know i ever told my parents this because i was so like just embarrassed right

yeah but you were like trying to make this hockey team right i'm i'm freaking how far away from home i'm i yeah what do they what am i going to do complain no right and finally Finally, like, after like day, like 10 of like sleeping in a sweatshirt so I could like kind of sleep, right? I'm just like in the fetal position, right? Skating twice a day. We finally went and talked to the GM and said it'd be nice if we got some blankets. He's like, oh yeah, for sure, right? So they gave us a pillow and a sheet.

Oh, no. So now you've got a sheet to put over you. Great. Right? Like, this is awesome. Toasty things. Jesus Christ. Living the good life.

I'm living that life, that dream life. That's chasing something that... Oh, man. Yeah, you come to a realization pretty quick later on. You're like, yeah, that's been cool. A parent's nightmare. Yeah. You know, sometimes I guess it is better when the kids don't tell us all the stories.

Well, funny, now I'm thinking about it. Again, again, the juice is flowing when I came back. Like, we were living in a small town, well, they moved to a small town called Kalmar. And for people in Alberta that might be listening, it's a town of like 800 people. I know two people in Alberta. Brendan Baumgartner, McKenzie York. They both live in Emmington.

Awesome. Don't really see them. Calmar's so far away. It's like, it seemed far away now, not so much, but I didn't know anybody. I didn't want to be in this town. Still had this aspiration kind of of playing. I was skating by myself,

and I get a call from this team called the Detroit Hitman in the All-American Oxy League. That's when I was like, screw this. This is done. I stayed with you guys for, what, 10 months, and then I end up moving. You moving to Sylvan Lake? But you know what?

It was funny because we had, like Colin said, this small town, it was like smaller than Dryden. It was, yeah. And, you know, so I go to the rink guy there and I said, hey, my, you know, my son's, you know, looking at going and maybe trying out and playing pro hockey. Oh, really? Where does he live?

And I said, well, here in Kalmar. Really? Oh, what do you need? And he said, well, what's the chances of him getting on the ice? Whenever he wants. Yeah, we'll open the rink for him. Open up the rink for me. Just so, you know, because a Kelmar boy,

going to play pro hockey, right? Didn't, didn't know the guy from a hole in the wall. That's cool. That's small town hockey, right? That's small town mentality, you know. And it was one of those ranks, like it was cold and hard ice. Yeah. It was awesome.

He was a good guy, man. But, yeah, you know, you just, like, I didn't know him and just walk in, kind of to explain the story to him. And he, anytime he wants the ice, as long as nobody's using it. And I said, well, what's a cost? No, no charge, no charge. Yep, good people. Good people.

Small town hockey, man. that's what happens. Yeah. Yeah. How about what Sylvan like? Love it. You played three years there, you said? Yeah, so.

Part of the Chinook League. Yeah, so the scene is to play. I don't know what the heck they're calling it now. The Alberta Allen Cup, West Hockey League. Yeah, so when I came out to Calamar and living with the parents, I was going to originally go play in Fort Saskatchewan, so we went to watch a game in Fort Sask, and they were playing this team called the West Central Alberta,

Rams. I'm like, what is this? I didn't really know like there's other senior leagues or whatever, right? So go to watch this hockey game and this Fort Soss team is pretty good and I see this West Central Alberta Rams team. They're struggling. I kind of think to myself selfishly like, well, if I go there, maybe get a lot of ice time and do some things, talk to the coach after and he's like, yeah, come down here and play. So we were considered a double A team at the time playing in the Schnuck League. and we ended up going to provincials in Brooks. We ended up winning. So I played half the, not even half the season.

I played like 10 or 11 games of them. We ended up winning provincials my half year there. So it was awesome. I ended up moving to Sylvan. The first person I met in Sylvan Lake, a guy named Andy Sinclair, who's to this day my best friend. I was the best man in his wedding. I'm the godfather to his daughter, Michelle.

And it was the only guy I couldn't get a hold of. Shocking. That guy never answers his phone. God, unless it says wife, silent treatment. I'll give him the gears about it. What an asshole. We'll just send him the clip of this.

Yeah. What a dick. But, yeah, you know what? You always, you know, you meet a goalie, and goalies are super weird. All of them, yes. It's probably the most normal goalie I've ever met. Of course, I've become best friends with this guy.

And so I'm, you know, I think I don't even know how long it was. I just said to him like, hey, man, I'm living with my parents right now. I don't want to do this. I want to move down here. He's like, yeah, hey, so you want to get a place together? So we end up renting a half duplex together and we live together. And then, yeah, I moved to Sylvan full time for five and a half, six years I was there.

So I met my best friends in Alberta are all there, Curtis, you know, Brandt. I mean, he's... Curtis tells the story something along the lines of kind of the way you tell about sticking a guy and Larry's sticking up for you, him doing something stupid. and oh yeah so Curtis is uh Curtis is a very good hockey player and he was one of those guys in our team like almost an untouchable right he's our goal score everyone messes with diggy somebody on the ice better do something well diggy's also a shitster like he he he stirs the pot so he goes sounds familiar and he i don't know what happened but he ended up sticking the wrong guy and this guy wants to beat the wheels off of digs and i'm like not gonna happen not on my watch

so me and this guy I'm like well if you're going to touch him we're going and this guy's like yeah okay let's do this thing turns out he was a heavyweight in the a j he can fight so me and him square off and i i just remember throwing like three quick ones and his helmet going flying and you know when you hit a guy and you're kind of like yep feeling good and then he hits you a few times like nothing else they're some other there's some punches behind this this is hurting so yeah we end up having a pretty good scrap and me and diggy became pretty good friends after that point so up, funny enough, I end up building a house right next to him. And, yeah, me and him have, we've become very, very good friends.

Funny, the guy that you fought, you and him became friends. Well, he has a twin. Excuse me, a twin brother. And I play on our men's league team with him. So I walked in, I'm like, uh, Derek Pess. And he's like, no, I'm Jason, but it's my twin. I'm like, holy shit. And he's like, how do you know? I'm like, well, I fought your brother. He goes, stupid move. You are correct.

I was like, I took the all in that one. Yeah, so, yeah, funny how it happens. But, yeah, I know, Sullivan I loved, and I still try to get down there whenever I can. Well, Sylvan's a beautiful place. It's a beautiful. And, you know, like being in northwestern Ontario, you grow up on the lakes, you grow up on the water. That reminded me a home. And, you know, for me being out here for almost a year at the time, I was still a little homesick.

And it was, it resembled home, good people, good times. So it was just a natural fit for me to want to be there. Yeah. And I set my roots there for as long as I possibly could until, you know, work happens. even make a decision. Yeah, cool. Yeah. So, it was awesome.

Well, I don't know how long we've been going for, but I think I've got a couple of quick hitters for the end of this thing. Yeah, let's hear it. Okay, let's see here. So, in hockey, moving forward, what do you think is going to be the biggest thing that changes? Head shots. Well, they've already making, so you're saying, like,

they're just going to get rid of hitting all together? I hope not. If that ever comes off. Because they're headshots right now, they're trying to get rid of it. Trying. True. Yeah.

Oh, man. You had an interesting one, Darrell, before we even got on air? You know what? Sean, I just think that the ice surface is too small for everybody that's on it. Counting, you know,

referees, lineies, everything else. These guys are so big, so strong, so fast. I don't know if I'm going to see it in my lifetime, but I can see it going to four-on-four hockey. That would be a big change.

actually. That would be a giant change. Why don't they just make the rink bigger? Too much money. Costs too much money. It's easier to go four on four than it is to make a rig rink bigger. True. And, you know, the NHL is limited to how many seats they can have.

And, you know, like, rinks just aren't like football fields where they can put 100,000 fans and stuff. You know, you can only get 20,000 fans. Those people are paying, you know, these guys' salaries. I'm thinking the only. way I can see it in talking to people in the last few years. And like I said, it's gotten to, with these head shots and everything, the ice surface is just too small with too many people on it.

So the only thing I can see, and it's my own personal opinion. And I don't know, maybe I'll, you know, somebody will tell me the day before I die, hey, guess what? They're going to four on four hockey because I can see it happening. Four and four. Can you imagine four and four full time? Oh, but look how exciting. three-on-three is.

Well, I know, but like... I mean, it's a short-term thing. It reminds me of what video game was it where it was like three-on-three bobblehead hockey, right? Like, oh. You remember that game? I know exactly we're talking about. I can't put a name to it, though. It's just like goal after goal.

Four-on-four, you just have so much scoring because I don't know how you'd always talk about... What's more exciting? Oh, no, goals, 100%. I mean, you think about it right now. Like, you get, you know, both teams, you know, two guys chirping each other or whatever. You get two-minute minors off. to go, we play four on four. It just opens up.

And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, a giant change. Well, sure it is, but something's got to happen. Yeah. I know. What do you think? I know, I, I don't, I don't know. That's the thing, right?

The only, you talk about, everybody says the thing they notice from years and years ago till now, the thing that's changed is they think it's gotten bigger and faster. Yeah, 100%. And so, what are some of the rule of? changes they've made over the last my lifetime is they took out the red line, right? So now you can stretch paths. They're,

they're, uh, well, yeah. So if you put the red line in and tried to like box it up a little bit and allow, but they're not going to do that, probably, but you could slow, what I'm getting at is you could try and slow the game down a little bit so that now you eliminate the high speed collisions. Maybe that would help. But does that take away from what the game you're trying to do? with it and it's fast and quick and yeah i mean four-on-four i don't know if it'd ever fly but at the same

time it would uh well i don't even know how you could have i mean some guy would find a way to hit somebody i mean but yeah the same token you're right like three-on-three is unreal it's unbelievable well i mean you know newsie you were talking about playing over in finland look at how big the rink was it was tough to to hit a guy yeah but you know what i also said that i didn't think i'd always been told by don't chri all europeans they never hit my first game i got preceptes settled in the corner. And I remember, like, pulling my head out from between my legs, and I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe it would have to break something.

And I'm like, screw that. Europeans know how to hit. Don't be a dummy. All these lies on Don Sherry's Rock and Sock. Thanks, Don. Europeans are divers and soft. Yeah, right. Meanwhile, trucking me.

Oh, my God, yeah. You know what? If you made the rink bigger, right? Like, everybody says you can't make the rink bigger because of seat size and whatever. But, I mean, you take out a couple rows at the bottom, and all of a sudden you extend it, A bigger rink, there's more room. I don't know. Does that fix it?

Might. I mean, you know, you look back. I look back when I played, we, you know, we had one referee, two linesmen. You know, that one extra body out there, you watch it in the NHL, they just can't get out of the way. I mean, that puck is moving around the guys. Could you go to robots that call, that way you don't have linesmen, you remove three bodies from the ice? God, I hope not. Hey, you know what?

I always so awkward to watch. You know, we're laughing. You know, we're sitting here laughing about, you know, what I'm saying about four on four. But, I mean, who would have thought, like, look at a video replay, you know, coaches challenge. Like, that never happened. Like, it was either a goal or it wasn't a goal. If the red light went on, yay. If it didn't go on, oh, shit.

What do you think of the video challenge? You know, the thing is, is when I'm watching, like, NFL, CFL, you know, baseball now, right? Like, it doesn't bother me near as much, but I watch it in hockey, and it just frustrates me so much. Yeah. Right, because, I mean, how many times? Well, we just saw it. They score a goal. I'm like, ah, tie game, whoop, here we go.

And then all of a sudden, no, no, wait a second. Now they're going to. Right. And it's so like, you know, like, well, they can't even make the rule clear. This is what's the worst part about it is, right? If there's pure clarity, yeah, for sure. It just seems to go one way or the other, and it just never seems to go right.

That's the struggle. I mean, you know, we'll get back to the hits in the head. And I mean, hey, the other day it happened to my Boston Bruins, you know. I mean, a hit to the head is a hit to the head. I don't care. You know, if it's, and I mean, I was listening to Burkey talking there last night on, you know, hockey night in Canada there about it. You know, that was a 10 gamer in the playoffs,

but only one game in the, or no, sorry, a 10 gamer in the regular season, but only one in the playoffs. I don't see it that way. If it's 10 in the regular season, guess what? You're getting 10 in the playoffs. You'll be a little smarter hitting to the head, so I don't know. And like I said, concussions, you know, you lost a lot of players, good players over the last few years. You're, you know, not a nice way to put it, but, you know, brains are scrambled and doing stupid things and stuff like that.

So. Who knows? Yeah. What do you think of the Carolina Hurricanes, endgame celebrations? Oh, the storm surge? Yeah. You know what? Well, I got a young guy and an older guy here.

I'm curious. I'm kind of on the fence about it because I get what they're trying to do. They're trying to grow the game in a tough spot. Like, you know, and Carolina is probably not the hottest of hotbeds for the sport of hockey. It definitely is not. But it is something to bring people and, if not families and young kids that are potentially going to grow the game. And I'm a fan for that. Whatever gets more eyes on hockey, absolutely.

I think it should become, you know, a bigger sport than it already is. There's some corny ones that are done for sure. But it's all in good fun, too. So, I mean, the guys are having a great time playing a professional game. That's what it's all about. What do you think? Really? I'm curious.

Okay, I'm going to, how am I going to put this? Okay, when they're about to do it, hit the light switch. Off. Let's go to commercial. you know what the Carolina fans yeah if you want to make them happy everything else okay I don't need to see that stupid shit like come on like and I I feel for a guy like Justin Williams having to do that like pretend like he's bowling throwing his helmet and all the guys fall over like really we no you know that's that's like in the NFL well that's it like in the

NFL I was wondering if I was going to hit a sour spot yeah you found it there's the nerve He put out a goddamn sharpie out of his thing, signing the football and sending it up into the stands. If I was the owner of that team? Oh. Or, hey. A lot of people argue what the NHL misses compared to the other major sports is personality. I agree. It's so watered down answers.

And what you're talking about is exactly it, right? Yeah. Oh, it's a cliche. I need to get pucks deep. You know what? Show a little bit of your personality. Get a little pissed off or get a little excited. You know what?

But this is why they don't, right? Exactly. Because, I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy what Carolina is doing. I think it's healthy for the get, well, you've seen how much it's created a buzz and a stir. It's unbelievable. And Carolina looks like they're loving it. It's like, that's kind of cool.

How about grapes the other night? Well, somebody's making some money off this, and he's right. A bunch of jerk T-shirts. A bunch of jerk T-shirts. Worked in their favor, thank you. Yeah. So, yeah. That's crazy.

I don't know. I just, you know what? I don't want to see hockey turn to what football, basketball? No, well, I don't think it ever will. I, sure. I mean, let's be clear. We got the best game in the world. I mean, it was just like last night was,

and I don't even know if it was Elliot Friedman was talking about Marchand, you know, doing the interview. I totally agree. I blame that on the press guy. He should have never. And I mean, come on, you know, he's on my Bruins and, you know, he's a type of player you'd love to have on your team.

But, I mean, if I was the coach, I'd have been chewing his ass out for, like, what the hell? Like, could you imagine if he did, if he did that, and Larry was coaching him, what Larry would have done to him. Probably would have had a boxing match. When it's freaking Marchand, you just like, just like, ah, just shake your head.

Yeah. Just because he's got such a little shitting grin on his face, it's like, man, just don't be a piece of shit day in and day out. And that's what I'm saying. That's the kind of thing that if you're playing professional hockey, you know what you signed up for. answer the questions properly, short, and then just say no comment, and then done.

But, I mean, for him to pull this and, you know, the lickin, I never did like that either. I don't even understand the licking. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But, I mean, you know, those are the kind of things. You're a professional, whether you're in business or in sports or something like that,

carry yourself properly. Or, you know, like, especially something like that, like an interview. Just decline to do it. don't make yourself look like an idiot and the other thing is and this is the one that kills me the most you're a goddamn team and you're part of this team

and you're making right now I'm passionate about my Boston Bruins and he's just making a mockery of our team and me as a fan I'd like to just walk up and kick him in the ass didn't you choose the sharks to win the cup though no I didn't choose the sharks to win the cup I was just wondering

you know going back to the hurricanes for a second what I like about it and what I really have detested of Miami to the Oilers now since they moved it specifically into the new building is when Vegas so try and make this point here when Vegas came in what I loved about Vegas is they knew they had they had to like really cater to their fans they didn't have this populace it was just going to come in and support them because they brought hockey to the desert right and so they made a fan experience now everyone always argues and I always argue too

that it's Vegas they can do that they have the show mentality and whatever right but Like, you look around the different parts of the league and how they cater and make it a fan experience. And then you come to the, I only know the Canadian markets. I only really know Emmington. You're paying like $200 some dollars for a ticket to walk in. And, you know, they're trying a little bit, but like I still can't figure out why they took the oil, Derek, away from skating under it. Right? Like, I'll go, I walk in and I'm like, yeah, you built this beautiful rink.

But, like, you got to create this atmosphere that is just, like, enticing to be in every time you come. And to me, it's a gorgeous rink. You walk in, you sit down, and you're like, all right. It's like, we're in a rink. We're in an ice rink. But it doesn't make me want to lose my mind and here we go oilers, right? No. Well, they're engaging their fans, all these other teams.

And that's what's cool to watch. Yeah, but also they're winning these other teams. And that's true, too. And if the Ours were winning, we'd probably be going nuts regardless. Oh, we were at the playoffs. I went to the playoffs with a buddy-in-law, well, Dan St. Germaine, how many years ago? Two?

Three years ago, no, whenever it was. and I'm not a huge oilers fan but I love watching it because obviously it's a local team and that place was rocking I can only imagine if they made a bit of a run or whatever and especially now with McDavid and all the other guys

that got in place that place would blow the top off so yeah you got some passionate fans in Edmonton oh no we're all a bunch we're all a little crazy yeah right like we don't have much out like we live in a place

well I mean all the can that's pretty much the same, but like we live in a place of the world where for nine months of the year, it snows and craps on us, and the wind never stops blowing, and, you know, the sun hardly comes out, and it's cold, and all we got is hockey. Yeah. Right? And we're good at hockey. Everybody knows hockey.

It just sucks when you get, you got the best player in the world skating in front of you every night. It's fun to watch. But when you can't win a hockey game, it gets old. It does. It's like, you can't even just go there and enjoy McDavid anymore. It's like, it's like, it's just like, it's like, it's just like, it's like, it's like to win a couple hockey games, right?

When he first came in, that was it. Everybody, you know, prices or whatever they are, and everybody used to do the David's price of emission. Well, how long does that go for until you want your winning product on the ice, not just him producing and dry-settle, you know, whatever? Well, if dry-sales scoring 50 goals, man, that's no slouch either. Like, fuck, that's an impressive. That 50 doesn't happen.

Why? Not too many guys over the last 10 years have been able to accomplish it, right? No, no, it's still exciting hockey to watch. He just grin and bear, and you just hope that something comes out of it. And now with the Holland coming on board, who knows? You know, he's got an uphill battle. But fingers crossed for him because I'd love to be around in the city and get to experience it. And get to experience it.

Yeah, it would be a lot of fun, wasn't it? Absolutely. You know, they're bringing in a guy that's, like I said, got tons of experience and just, you know, is it enough? I don't know. But like I said to you earlier in the cast here, I got a funny feeling. I'll say it again. That club is gone. And you think the oil club is gone?

Well, there'd be a lot of oilers fans that'd be extremely happy to have that group out of there. Yeah. Well, there would be. The past is the past. Yeah. Okay. Okay. What is the best lesson that you learn from being in, around a part of hockey?

Do you want to go where you want me to? You go ahead. I said accountability. I mean, that's just, you know, it reverberates through. hockey, personal life, work. You know, you're tasked with something, you're accountable to finish that task. I don't care if you have to ask for help or whatever,

but you take your ownness and you make sure you see it right to the end. And that was instilled by mom and dad at a very young age, and then throughout hockey, coaches, other players, people hold you to a standard, and you learn to hold yourself to that standard. You know, anything less is cutting yourself a little short. So that was probably most valuable lesson I've ever been taught is just being accountable.

And, you know, there's some tough times. Definitely trying to accomplish it, but you've got to try and find your best way to do her. I would have to say probably number one for me is the friendships. You know, there's a lot of guys, you know, whether I coached, played, players, everything. You know, I still, you know, I haven't seen Newsie here in, what, 14 years. It's just, you know, sitting here and it's just like it was yesterday. You know, Larry and I go back, you know, I mean, we haven't talked too much in the last few years.

He's busy doing his thing. I'm busy doing mine, but, you know, he's one of the guys that I probably always say that, you know, I got his back, he's got mine. If I need something, I know he'd be there for me, and vice versa, the same thing. And, you know, that's a friendship from 35 years ago. You know, I go back home to Thunder Bay, and there's, you know, people that I played with, coached against whatever. You know, I mean, I talked to Roddy Skirving on a regular basis. His son now has, you know, moved on and played in pro hockey in East Coast League

with Newfoundland. Grawlers. What's that? Grawlers. Yeah, Nguelman, Grawlers are in division finals. And, you know, I remember, you know, Roddy was a hell of a ball player. I played ball with them a few times and stuff like that. And super guy, man loves his hockey and, you know, he helped coach.

He was, you know, a trainer with different teams and stuff like that. And, you know, I stay in contact with him by Facebook or, you know, Messenger or whatever. I mean, I've known him for 35, 40 years. and here we are. Now he's living the dream with his son, which is, you know, I'm very proud of him. I'm very proud to know that his son's done well and grown up, be a good young man.

Yeah. So like I said, I have to laugh at the being... I'm not laughing at it. I couldn't agree more. We've been waiting for a video for Mr. Dan to come through. It just went through, I guess. Oh, he just sent it to you? Yeah.

Oh, I know which one that is. So you're going to We'll have to take a look at it after hours I think It may be a little public indecency Yeah, that was a tough stretch The friendship thing I couldn't agree Well, I can't agree more with both of your points, right?

Like accountability and friendship episode I mean I started doing this podcast thing in February, I think And the amount of old teammates slash people I've just come across my hockey path that have reached back out, well, it's sitting here right across from me again, right? It's just we haven't seen each other in 14 years. It's not because we didn't want to or anything.

It's just guys get busy, you know. Exactly. Life happens. Work happens. Kids happen. Married life, et cetera, et cetera. And it's like he said, it's like we were just, you know, we never stopped. Pick up right where you left off.

That's right. It's pretty cool. So. Man, man. Well, I'm glad you guys reached out. glad we got to do this. It's been a lot of fun. Absolutely. I know. Glad for coming out and seeing you again. And Colorado has made it 3-2.

3-2 there, Darrell, eh, with 528. We might have to take a pause here and just have a little clip at the end to see if Colorado made the push. Could be a heartbreaker. Newgie, if we don't get back on the spot, I'd just like to thank you personally for having Colin and I down here doing this, and it was a thrill to see you again and keep doing what you're doing here because I think you got something here, buddy. Yeah, well, come.

Cool. Well, thanks for coming, guys. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. Yeah, cool. Right on. Right on, bye. Hey, guys. Thanks for listening. This was a bonus episode for this week. I already had Chelsea Stanley in two nights ago, and then obviously these guys showed up, and we had some fun with it. So hopefully enjoyed this coming Wednesday is Mervin Morgan Man, and I look forward to having those guys in studio. So until then.