Shaun Newman Podcast - #58 - Greg Schmidt

Episode Date: February 26, 2020

Originally from North Battleford SK. Greg was undrafted but found a way onto the Red Deer Rebels. He spent 3 seasons there putting up back to back seasons of 90+ points. After his junior career he travels from Quebec of the IHL to South Carolina, Colorado & Pee Dee of the ECHL. He won a Kelly Cup while with South Carolina and talks of the journey & shenanigans that happen in life in the minor leagues. He finally spent 8 years playing in Germany where both of his kids ended up starting school & playing their sports. FInally he gives a lot of credit to his wife Sarah who all through his journey was by his side. Pretty cool story. Thanks again Greg.

This is Greg Schmidt. Welcome to Sean Newman podcast. Hey folks, welcome to the podcast. You know, over the last week, the wife and I got to go to a movie. We don't go to too many movies anymore. And I, you know, I looked at what was in the movie theater and we went, oh my God, there's not a whole lot. But, you know, we got a babysitter and we're like, well, let's go to a movie.

And we picked 1917 because we were, you know, we picked 17. realistically, everything else looked like complete dog crap. And 1917, this World War I film, had gotten really good reviews. And I was like, well, it's got good reviews. I'm not really in the mood for a war film. But, hey, let's go check it out. And it was the slowest, fastest moving movie I've ever seen. And what I mean is slow, it wasn't your typical war film

that is just like constant action, nonstop, tanks, blowing up. up and people being shot and whatever else. But it was constant action in the fact that they used, I don't know if it's a called continuous filming, but it seemed like no scene ever ended. So the camera never stopped moving, and it just followed these two guys. And it was so well done.

Well, here I am a week later still talking about it. And I just, I went, I got to tell somebody about this. And so if you're, you know, you're sitting there going, I'd like to go to a movie. Let me tell you, go to 1917. It was unreal. Unreal flick. The wife thought I was ridiculous after.

But I'm telling you, it was fantastic. The way they shot that film was unbelievable. And the story was pretty cool, too. And once again, that's what's happened here in the last week of my life. Anyways, this week, here's the Factory Sports Tale of the Tape. I got Greg Schmidt in. He played three years for the Red Deer Rebels. His best season was his 20-year-old year.

He put up 98 points in 66 games. He then went on and played all over the place. Pensacola, Quebec, South Carolina, won a Kelly Cup, Colorado, PD, and then was over in Europe for about eight years, roughly. And he came in, sat down with me. we had a blast. He's got some great stories, as you can see, but I think this is almost three hours today. And it, you know, it was a lot of fun. I sat there, sat here, and we bantered back and forth,

and he's just got some cool stories, and he's been in places and really enjoyed it. I think you guys are going to love this one. So without further ado. I am joined by Greg Schmidt. And I was telling the wife goes, so, so who is this anyways? And I was explaining who you are. And I said, It's actually kind of funny because it's almost like a year to the day on when I tried having you on last year. And the person who replaced you that night that you couldn't make it became my most successful episode of 2019. That was Mr. Shapp. So I don't know if I dodged a bullet or not, right? But we're going to find out.

But I appreciate you coming on nonetheless. Yeah, no, definitely. Happy to be here. Yeah. And, yeah, I know I listened to a couple episodes. And to be honest, I don't. I might be dating myself, but I wasn't really sure what a podcast even was. And I think the first one I listened to was Kyle Tap.

That was a fun episode. Yeah, you know, I'm not best friends with Kyle, but he's helped my son out with his hockey programs. And I've gotten to know him through the Ryder Cup. Yeah, the golfing. We battled against each other. and then got to you know got in some conversations with them and you get to know him a bit

and so I think that helps when you listen to an episode and yeah you learn things about somebody that you never knew and it was very interesting and gained a lot of respect for Kyle and what he's done so it was

that was the first one and of course the last one was Blair Atcham yeah yeah and he was he's in an interesting fellow himself. Oh yeah, so I am from North Balford. Right, right. Of course, you know, actually is a few years older than me, believe it or not. So I grew up. He definitely was somebody that I looked up to and thought, oh my, you know, it was always nervous around him. And, you know, when I was younger, he didn't really know who I was. But then as I came up through the hockey

ranks and you start skating with guys in the summertime and you get to know them personally and you start to follow him and yeah it was uh he was unreal he was uh super easy to talk to you walked in and it was just i don't know i don't know if it came off in the podcast or not but i didn't know blutter i'd only talk to him like on the phone maybe once or twice when he walked in you know no different than us i guess you sit down you shake a hand and you start talking and see where it goes from there, but man, he was easy to talk to. Just a super cool dude. And, well, it's funny too, because we listened to me and my wife were up on the way

to Jasper for a couple nights. And she's like, holy, she goes, I thought I knew that she. And, you know, of course, we don't really talk a whole lot about our own stories. So, yeah, you find out more and more. and then the whole timeline of the whole story, very interesting. And you get more in depth about what he actually went through. So, no, it was good.

I find it doesn't matter the person coming on, and I'll give you a case and point. I have my dad on episode, like, I can't remember what it was, episode two, I think. I think it was episode two. I brought dad on. And honestly, I think I should bring him on again a couple more times because he has different parts of his life

that are just like, his stories are hilarious. He was a long-haul trucker for like, I don't know, eight years of his life. And the stories from that are absolutely absurd, hilarious. You name it, and you got it out there. But anyways, I brought him on, and I went around to every symbol I went around to all the siblings.

So what questions you want me to ask him about him playing? You know, he only played a little bit of hockey, but he played for Vermillion College back in the day when they had hockey. And, you know, nothing too crazy. and what came out of that podcast was was stories that none of us kids had even heard right and so what I find is it doesn't matter who comes on can be a guy you sat beside in the dressing room for 10 years

can be a guy you idolized all growing up can be one of your best friends and they'll get talking and there'll be stuff come up that nobody's ever heard before or you've never heard before and that's when really really cool about sitting across from guys and getting to hear their story and everybody else getting to hear their story Yeah, or you just forgot. That's true too.

That is true too. No, it's a long-haul trucker, and we'll get into it, I think, a little bit later. But, well, one of the most interesting people I had ever met in the East Coast Hockey League was our bus driver. He, in fact, well, we wrote in what they call rock star buses. You know, they had beds, they had kitchenette, they had very, very nice buses. And actually, he drove for Lenny Kravitz. Okay. And he was an old biker.

Okay. He was an old biker, so tons of, tons of stories from being on the road. They're very interesting man. Yeah, you could probably sit down with him for a couple beers and be entertained. Oh, it was, you know, you hear some stories and you wouldn't, think they were true. But after a few years of getting to know him, you knew that, yeah, he wasn't bullshitting about anything.

Well, you think a bus driver sees a lot of things. Now be a bus driver for a rock star. Yeah, that'd make you, you'd see some things every single night. Well, and I guess, and I hope I remember right, because it was quite a while ago, but he said Lenny was afraid to fly. Oh, really? So he said it was just nuts, you know, because you figure he would fly at a certain time, but he said, no, he had to drive all the time.

And like from gigs from one side of the states to the other, and, you know, he had to play the next day. Did you ever ask him how much money he made doing that? No, you know, I probably wasn't that close to him. But, you know, I think he drove for us for. What team were you playing for when? South Carolina. When you guys were in the Kelly Cup and all that good stuff. Yeah, yeah.

Noah. Well, I'll find a little off track here, but whatever. That's all right. My first year in South Carolina, our opening game is Saturday, Sunday, and Miami. Miami just got a franchise. So it's Tuesday. We're practicing. We're getting ready for the season opener.

And the coach comes and says, okay, boys. We're hitting the road Wednesday. And I'm thinking, we're hitting the road Wednesday. Because South Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina, to Miami's far. But I don't know if it's that far where you've got to go a couple days, two or three days early. Right. So up pulls this rock star bus on a Wednesday. And I'm thinking, oh, my God.

Like I'm used to riding the charters where you're sitting in your own seat. and you know, he stare out to the prairie for 12 hours and that's fun, right? Yeah. So anyway, this rock star bus pulls up and I'm thinking it's Wednesday. What are we going to do in Miami for, you know, a couple days? Anyway, we get to Miami eventually. It takes a long, long time. First thing they do, we don't go to no rank, no nothing.

We go to South Beach with the bus. and it ends up by being two nights of going out, which was lots of fun. Do you know Jody Lehman by chance? Yeah, I saw that he played with you for three years. So he was playing with me there, and of course we're Saskatchewan boys. You know, we played, I think he played Braddon, Moose Chai,

played in Red Deer. We weren't world travelers by any means. and we get to the eventually to this hotel in Miami and the scenery is just like it's we're not used to that right so we get down to the pool and it's just like we're in a different different universe we're thinking you know this is unreal or we're in a different world the funny thing is though you know you eventually do have to play hockey

but it was it was an eye-opener that's for sure How'd you guys do in your first game of the season after partying for two nights in a row? You know, well, it was kind of back then that was kind of a normal thing for the East Coast League. I believe we won the first game and then the second game we lost. But they were just like a new franchise. So they didn't really match up to us too well. But yeah, anyway, the big thing was first of all, the rock star bus pulling up and I'm thinking, you know, I can handle this.

And then, yeah, we go up to Miami, like two or three days, way too early for no reason. Well, I think in a different way that the coaches just wanted, you know, a team to get to know each other, I guess. I don't know. Fair enough. Yeah. So it was a, we had a decent team that year, nothing too special. Yeah. A different way to team bond.

Yeah. Let's let the boys have a couple of free nights before. the season opener. And in fact, one of the veteran players, I remember on the way, because we all had our individual cots, and he was flipping out because they should have their own little curtain that you can shut up, and shut in the sleep.

And he flipped out so much on the way. I think we stopped in Jacksonville, and we got out of the bus, and they had somebody come and put curtains on every guy's stall. That was insane. Wow. He must have had some pull. Yeah. Well, now he's the, I think, well, now he's the manager of the operations, the business operations, Rob Kincanon. Where's, when where is he?

Yeah, South Carolina. Oh, South Carolina. Charleston, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's such a good area there. Lots of guys that did play there either ended up by staying and live in there. Lots of them got into coaching. Well, Jared Bednar is the head coach now of Colorado.

Yeah. Jason Fitzsimmons, who you might not know, but I'm sure he's the head pro scout for Washington Capitals now. Okay. And then Rob Kincahann, he stayed and now he's the president of hockey operations there. I'm always curious. I actually did Tyler Bush who's playing down ASU, right, Arizona State. university and i went down there and i'm like yeah you're never leaving this like it's so nice down there how did you ever come back from north care well i guess you i mean that was right in the middle

of your career you kind of bounce around from there yeah i know and that was the the thing with the east coast league back in those days they always said the north division was always the more uh i want to get out here and move up where the south division where you had your south carolina there was a few spots that they're like, geez, you go down there, you don't want to go up. And that was the truth for most of our, like, back then I think it would be unusual for one or two guys to go up during the year. Nowadays, it's a real like the system. It's a real developmental league.

The pay system there, they had a salary cap, but there was a lot of ways around the salary. cap so they paid the guys decent enough to to just stay and you didn't really want to move move up because realistically at that time the HL the IHL would be the next step there was no NHL right so were you making good money down there yeah I think so at that time we were making well the more top guys probably seven to a thousand bucks a week so it was it was good 700 to a thousand yeah yeah okay yeah okay it's 7000 week geez that's so bad no i can take that yeah they actually got caught i think twice for uh for breaking the uh salary cap that they've won the most cups i think they've won

three or four okay in their history um just a great great franchise uh great fan support and it's a great great city lots do you ever get back there do you go back do you go back to kelly cup do you ever go back uh for alumni events do they even do such things oh yeah yeah it's just it's a tough it's a full day to get there with just with the flights uh actually five of us i think five or six years ago went back uh to the masters because it's only it's about three and a half hours to augusta to augusta yeah so that's the last time i've been down But I think me and the wife are going to head down here shortly in the next couple months Just to go back and do some visiting.

Yeah, man, South Carolina. Yeah, that would be all right. Yeah, golf. Like we used to golf. There used to be a few courses we'd play for free. Yeah, a really good setup. It's one of the things as a hockey player, yeah, playing in that type of league, that they had to do you know had to make things lush for guys to stick around yeah uh the thing you

always got to put in the back of your head is that uh you know this this isn't real life and and things will change um the sooner you do that the better type of thing yeah so well speaking of places to live let's talk about growing up in north battleford what was uh born and raised from north battleford that? Yeah, yeah, spent, I was there until, I think, until 18, until I went to Red Deer. Until you went to Red Deer. Now, I'm curious, we could talk about, how many kids you got, Greg? Two boys. Two boys. One plane in Bonneville. Yeah. And the second? Second one is living here in Lloyd, just trying to figure out life. Okay. Yeah, going through some tough times and, you know, just 23-year-old male, not really sure what he's going to end up. So,

he's trying to figure that. I'm a 33-year-old male and I'm not sure what I'm going to add up. Isn't that the truth? Well, how did you, were you on skates right from a young age? Or were you a late bloomer? Well, I was on skates right from a young age. Okay. I was always, I would say, yeah, I was good in the younger days.

Like, you know, the type of, you know, take Buck and Dan. type of thing. When I got around Peewee Bantam, I think, you know, things started to level off. I was above average, but definitely wasn't, you know,

anything too special. And then it wasn't until my AAA midgett years where things really turned around. Yeah. I had a coach, Tim Nielsen. who I hated with a passion.

He was too mean. You know, too... What do you mean? Too mean? Too strict, too. Because in those days, you know, we just wanted to play. I wanted to go out and have beers, but curfew, and that was kind of the only thing. That was fun, right?

That's, you know, that's how things were supposed to go. And I wanted to play hockey, but I didn't want it to be so hard. you know like and he was he demanded a lot um and what ended by happening though was my hockey really started to take off like it was it was uh so was there a point then where you went okay he's being hard but i'm playing good no no hated him he was mean he was he was this he was that uh no one can talk to me like you know or talk to treat us that way and and and So he coached me two years, because back then there was only two years of midget. Right.

It's not three year. I had a really good year in my first year. Went to the Max tournament. And for me, that was like, yeah, it was unreal. Second year, things went well again. And then we went to the max again. And then it really had a really good tournament. And that's when, you know, Scouts started talking to me.

I'm like, what do you got, you know. You had no clue up until that point? No clue. And weren't taken in the Bannam draft? Because Bannam draft had started in 1990s. It would have been right around your time, right? Yeah. No, no, no, I wasn't even in the conversation.

No, okay. No, not even probably anywhere on the map, I wouldn't think. Had a great, in fact, I made the All-Star team. At the Max? Then they had that, they had like an All-Star game. They had a skills. competition. Where was the max?

What's that? Where was the max? Calgary. Yeah. It's always been there, right? Yeah. So that would have been the first couple of years in the max. Oh, no, no.

That was in 90... What is the max? That would have been 92 to 94. Like, I played two years in a row. I remember we made... Well, this is kind of unclassy, but... Kazakhstan showed up with a national team. In fact,

they had to get equipment bought for them to even be able to play. And they were at the Max term? Yeah, they were really good. Don't get me wrong. I'll be danged. The Max tournament. First held in 1978. Yeah, you're way off, man.

I was way off. Thanks, Greg. Hey? Already you're making fun of me here. So, yeah, we end up in the semifinals against Kazakhstan. and their national team like we're North Balford like so when you really think of it

at the time we think well we're going to beat them right they ended up by I think it was 5-3 with a couple minutes to go and sure they actually were a decent team oh yeah well the national team though it's yeah they're they're good yeah and we ended up by running their goalie

like an old school run where you just drill the goalie from the red it wasn't me it was a of my Derek Reynolds he ended up by running like an old school running like he went flying about five

feet right into the boards but anyway to get invited back to that tournament two years in a row you guys must have been doing something right though yeah we were we were in the top couple teams in the Saskatchewan league we never really did so well

in playoffs and you know in fact what ended up by happening with me is Tim Nielsen was a scout for red deer as well my coach that I despised and so at I'm 17 the years over we had just lost out of playoffs and it's so funny at 17 I really know good at school you know I don't really know even what I'm going to do but I never really even thought of it, you know, for after. And I think it might have been the next day or two days after the season.

I met a North Star SGHL game, which all the young guys were hanging out. We're probably getting in trouble, right? And the coach comes up, Tim, and he says, hey, I want to talk to you. And I'm thinking, what's... What did I do? Yeah, what did I do? Oh, I'm thinking the years over, you don't own me anymore. and he says to me, goes, do you want to go to Red Deer?

And I'm like, where in Red, and he's like the WHL? And I'm like, okay. And so, yeah, next year I went to Red Deer. So the guy you hated the most got you your go in Red Deer. Yeah. And, you know, when you look back at, when you get older and you look back at life, he was just a huge part. He was the, you know, the foundation of what started me and got me motivated and to really believe that I had a chance to do more things.

When you go on to play like, it's not like you just go in the dub and play a couple of years. Your final year and you're in the top ten in scoring. Like you went there and weren't just a body. You were a player. You were a driver for that team. Yeah, you know, it was, well, the first year was a nightmare. What year would have that have been for Red Year? Because they started in 92?

It was 94, so I think it was their third year. Yeah, they were franchised in 92, I think, so you're a pretty young franchise then. Yeah, and they'd had a decent year. I believe they had beat or they had made playoffs prior to me coming. I don't know if it was their first year or second year, but they had a decent start. The year I went though, we were awful. I was awful. You know, it was a huge learning lesson for me.

I realized that North Balford was in the world. And when I showed up there, nobody knew me. You're in a room full of strangers. Nobody cared about you, no one were worried if you were having a good time, bad time. Because I was a prospect, but I was a prospect, but I wasn't. Highly saw that guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's humbling, right?

And so we go through the year. I did fairly well in preseason. But as the year drags on, you're not winning. I think we won 16, 17 games. You don't really believe in what you're doing or why you're there. Losing is a disease, man. Yeah. Like when you get in that culture where you just, you know,

you have a year like that where you just show up to the rank, you go through the motions, you get your butt spanked, you even go into ranks where you lose 4-3 and you're like, all right, and then the next day comes and you lose again. And I mean, for a guy like you who'd probably put up quite decent points, obviously to be, and to go there and put up 412, 16. I can see how that can. I think that it was 68 penalty minutes, which back then wasn't.

89 penalty, which wasn't bad because they never counted tens. Really? Yeah, and I don't know if they do now, but for some reason, the dub, never counted tens. Stanley would, he would know that fairly well. Yeah, we had a goalie coach, Andy Newickie, and I think he went on to be a goalie coach or something for L.A. Kings. but he loved fights he loved uh the uh what are they the hanson brothers he loves slap shot he's one of those guys that i knew we all can but he repeat every line on the movie single line and i think we're about i don't know 20 games left in the regular season we're going

nowhere and and he he says schmitty he says because i got to know him and and he's funny guy and there's no way you could not like him. And he pulls out the stats sheet and he says to me, and this was actually in his funny way of a lesson, a nice lesson, he's looking at my stats and he goes, well,

you're not really scoring goals. You don't have very many points. You penalty minutes? And he says, like, why are you here? And he basically said, you know, you can't just

be here you got to do something for the team like you got to you got to give you find a way to contribute you're like a sales guy you you're selling you're selling the coach which you can do and with these numbers what are you doing and of course I'm just at that point I'm just like get me out of here you know I just want to finish the season and then regroup which we which we did and we came back and we we came back and we were we were pissed off that year we were a toughest team but we we got I would say we got beat up on the score sheet and we got beat up in the ring too and we did have a good group of young guys Aaron Ashum there is quite a few well Lance Ward yeah and BJ Young

BJ Young well he came late Okay. He came late in my last year. He got traded from Tri-Cities. And I think we were pretty embarrassed. And we came back pretty motivated with a chip on our shoulder. And, yeah, it just took off the next year. We started becoming to know the, what did they?

Geez. They had a nickname for the Rebels. Was that the bad boys? We got known as kind of the bullies and which back then kind of was a win. Well, I'm going to be honest. I was really surprised. I YouTube every hockey guy that comes on. Because I'm always curious.

Maybe it was a nice goal. Maybe it was this. And when I read your stats, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll flick on. Maybe there's a goal. And what came up was about four or five different fights. And I'm like, is this right? Is this right? The guy who's almost leading scorer Red Deer Rebels,

like second of scoring, top 10 score in the league, dropping the mitts and there's like four or five of you going at it yeah no we uh it was a strange part you know i i was later fairly good offensively but when the offense started to go the frustration would boil boil and i always felt i always had a kind of a rule i wanted to at least get a goal every four games or you know have a couple points every four games a goal every two games and if that didn't happen you know if i went on a stretch longer or not then then you start for me it was always to get back on track was to to do something physical whether it was hitting hitting back then you could kind of pick your spots i didn't have the size to be a to be a big hitter but i could

I could scrap really well. And so it was a really good way for... How many guys did you catch unaware because you threw lefty? Lots. Lots. But, you know, the flip side of that is you're left's free, but his right's free. True. So I was on a couple ends of some knockouts where, you know, you're free, but the other hand's free.

more when I was younger and then as you get older you learn a little bit more and then you start switching it up a little bit but yeah no it's if you can catch them quick

it's it startles them but if you're if if you start fighting guys that have been around they're a little more attuned to it that's not such a big deal yeah no and they can adjust

the worst beating ever took in a fight was the south paw and he came in as a righty and so i started swinging and we started going he wasn't much bigger than me probably about the same size i thought i had him and he switched and my brain couldn't switch and he probably labeled my nose about three times and that was it yeah no it uh definitely can happen um yeah is it is a funny thing one of my very first fights ever in in yeah and this i'm going to kind of to jump to kind of talks about taking chances in life. It was in Bantam.

And some of the guys were already, like we, in Balford and in the way, the guys were fighting in peewee. Like, you know, dropping the helmets and everything. And I had been in bantam and I still hadn't had a scrap. Didn't know I was a lefty, right? He didn't, you know, didn't know anything. And there was a guy in Mormon, and we were all afraid of him. And for who knows for whatever reason, maybe he looks scary in his mask.

And I was just, at some point, I was just like, gee, you know, okay, let's just do it. And so, of course, everyone's like, what, you know, what is going on? And, yeah, so I tagged him with the left, and he went right down. And I'm like, oh, he's down. And yeah, and so all the guys are like, oh, my God, and this and that. And it was kind of the first time that you get the blood. It's just such a rush, you know. And then it's like, oh, my God, that was awesome.

And I'm still here. I'm still here. So it kind of throughout my hockey career, and it's probably the rush. I miss the most out of, you know, the goal scoring, the winning a few championships. But that rush, the physical altercation, and when you go in, you know, with the absolute fear. And then, you know, when it's over with, you're usually on a pretty good, as long as you did well, especially for a smaller guy like me. You know, the bars, if I hang in there, that's a win.

That's right. Because usually I wouldn't just fight a guy to fight a guy. I would usually pick one of their bigger guys or one of their most intimidating guys because I would think that that gives you way more room as if you go up against one of their... One of their guys. Yeah. And we used to have a guy in Dryden like that. Dale Logel, if he's listening, old Weyburn himself.

He, uh, his last year, or the only year I played with him, he fought this big giant off scriber. He was like, I don't know, six foot, four Dale's like my size. So, I don't know, 5-7, 5-8, maybe. And he just tucked, just pulled in so tight to him, the guy couldn't hit him and just sat there and ate him like for, sitting in the stands that game. I was separated shoulder.

We line-brawled first shift with Larry Wintoniac, who was in kinderously, coach in there. Now he runs gym there. We were playing them right before playoffs. And we knew we were getting them first round. So opening puck drop, you could see the puck drop and it never moved. All five

guys fought. And then go on and a couple more fights happening. And Dale Logel fights this big giant they had. And he was a small guy like me. Like I said, it pulls in tight and for 45 seconds he just sat there and ate these little rabbit punches. When the guy got tired, he just pulled him down, boom, like almost one punch

that's giant. And that just sealed it for him like he was my mind tough his nails after that because like not too many little guys have the the nuts to go up against like you say one of their guys that is known for it and then if he loses as he go and wall it was a giant but when he wins you're like he just knocked out in a giant right yeah yeah and like so i went to a moosejo warriors cap as a 15 year old and well I went to a rookie camp sorry

and I got I did well I got held over for Maine camp okay and who's there Ken Stan Stanford you know I know him from the North Balford days

he's a giant you know like he's he's just a killer and we end up on the same team for Maine camp and Ken probably wouldn't even remember this

I don't know if I've told him I've seen him around the last few years and And he says, we're sitting in the dressing room and he says, like, I'm not really that tough. He just, I just play this role. You know, what's part of, in order to be it, you have to act it and you've got to play this role. And I'm thinking, well, I don't know if I believe him.

He's pretty tough. I'm just happy he's on my team. So I really, you know, as I got older, I was like, yeah, that's 100%. I mean, at a certain point, you do have to show up. And if you're going to play it and act away, you've got to back it up. But 90% of it is playing the role. And, you know, again, you do have to back it up. But that was another thing that I listened to.

And, yeah, I kept it all the way. And the second, if there was somebody that intimidated me, I would usually just say the hell of it. Let's just get it over with, especially in playoffs. If we're playing a team that had a tough, and it wasn't a tough guy, it was an intimidating guy. Because some of the toughest guys, if all they did was fight, I mean, that doesn't bother me. But if they were, especially D-Men, cross-check and stick and played really tough,

I thought, the hell with it. We're going to play each other probably six, seven times. the next two weeks. Let's just do this right away, get over with. If I win awesome, if I don't, it doesn't really matter. At least I'm going to get respect from your team and get some more room. Then I can just play. And then you can just play?

Yeah. That was always my, and it worked well. What do you think of the new NHL then? Well, actually, hockey in general, I shouldn't say the new NHL because I was talking to Darryl Plandowski last week and he was talking about even in the W. there's no fighting anymore. You were just at a bonnie, your son's playing for the Bonneville Pawnee.

Is there much fighting in the Junior A world? No, there isn't. And, yeah, I find more of the NHL is tough to understand. You know, with the anybody, I mean, you can run around, you can kind of do what you want. There's no real, uh, Well, there is no policing. Like I just don't, to be out of the game is really hard.

And to have too much of an opinion on it. It just feels as though it's just everything's wide open. I'd like to think, geez, if I was out there, it'd be, I could do whatever I want. You could say whatever you want. You could go after whoever you wanted and you wouldn't really have to worry. Have to worry. one of the biggest things and I was talking to a dad

in Bonneville and one of the things I always feared as an offensive guy was coming around the net you know whether it was either to tuck it around the net or to bring it out into the slot because back then

you had to be really hungry to score because you knew A I'm probably going to get a chance or be I'll wake up in the dressing room because there was somebody coming behind you but then there was somebody coming right down and there was no such thing as head first like they usually aimed head first uh the other thing was the d man coming around the net like that used to be one of the greatest hits in the world or the guy wendell clark yeah it would come from the other corner and it would be

uh so uh you know i i never had an issue like with all with all the fights and I you know I really only had seven or eight a year and that was with preseason that was kind of my so I wasn't really but I had two bad experiences where I was I was out cold but I never had a concussion well I don't think I had a concussion anyway so well if you were out cold you had a concussion well I don't know yeah that isn't that the definition of a concussion well loss of conscience Yeah, it could be. I thought your brain has to,

because there would be lots of times I would, towards the end when I would get hit during a fight, I would go black for probably a second. I'd still be standing and you just kind of reconfigure and keep going. I guarantee you lots of guys. Well, it would be the same. But we know that.

Back in the day, there's tons of guys who got concussions and all that stuff. But it was never talked about it the same. I'm what? How old are you know? 43. 43. So I'm 10 years younger than you.

You're the exact same age as my oldest brother. We're 10 years apart and I played with tons of guys who have the same exact what you're saying. But back then, well, it's pretty simple, right? Like I still find my brain doing it today playing senior hockey. Somebody gets a concussion. Like, man, just suck it up. Right? But that's old school thinking.

And I know it is. And then you've got to kind of be like, ah, no, it's a concussion, right? We got to worry about the brain. You've got to worry about the brain. I think it's been pretty much proven by now that, you know, that's dangerous stuff to play with. But we grew up in a time, and I was 10 years after you, and it was still like that.

Still like, you get concussion. You don't leave. You play through it. And then you carry on, right? But, you know, the crazy thing is I'm still in playoffs. We're tied 2-2 right now with the medal. We got game, yeah, we got game five coming up on Friday. Wow.

And we have lost in the series now, one, two, three, three for sure guys with concussions. Where they're like, they're just not right. And now I see it on the bench, I'm like, that ain't right. We should probably get them off. Where I know back in like junior days that didn't happen. You take a shift or two off and then the way they went again. Yeah, like I remember the it would be the finger, the finger test, how many fingers? Or what day is it or what rank are we in?

What rink we're in? Absolutely. You remember what rink we're in? I think, well, when I got one time in Charlotte, we're playing Charlotte Checkers and now it's one where, you know, I got lefty and right, you go on and it always works so good. And then the next thing I know, I'm feeling not so, I'm almost feeling sick to my stomach

and I'm getting carted off with a player, a teammate and then the trainer. And so we get back on the bus and I actually have a cut. He must have hit me right in the temple because I got stitches in my ear. In your ear.

Yeah. I don't really remember getting them. And my buddy, who is my roommate, Chris Wheaton, he says, they called me Schultzzi. That's a different, whole different story.

But he says, Schultzzi, he goes, I got to tell you something. He goes, he goes, they asked you, you know, what rank we're in. And you looked at the trainer and you were pissed off and you said, Tuesday. But I was out, I remember that. I was out two weeks, two weeks. I think they said it was mandatory because I was knocked out. I had to be a maximum of two weeks out. Like that was the standard.

That would have been in, that would have been in 99. That was my first year in the East Coast League. Yeah, that was the standard. Like, you get knocked out that bad, you're two weeks. So why the nickname Shulte? We're playing in a golf tournament in North Battleford. And it was called the Labats Open. Now it's called the Moles.

open and you get put with put with four random guys that are your same handicap. Okay. And they had a French guy that would call out, I think it was the assistant pro at that time. And he would call out the starters. And

he calls out my name, Greg Schmidt. He must have said it in some funny accent. Anyway, we're playing with a guy from PA. I think his name's Tom Brown. Could be wrong. Tom Brown, some other guy and one of my best friends, Aaron Friedman from North Alford.

And he's a type of guy that any type of thing goes wrong with you, he'll, he's right on top of you and he just will keep it for the rest of your life. Like one of those guys. One of those guys, yeah. So we get walking, uh, and this Tom Brown guy, he's kind of one of those guys that starts talking you like, you, you grew up together, your best friends. Like he, and he goes, hey, he's calling me Schultzzi. and for the first three rounds

and my buddy Freddie we call him he starts he's Schultzie like he starts and laughing laughing in the background and he's like

it just stuck he thinks your name Shultzzi so so anyway they started calling me Shultzie Shultzie and it made its way all the way down to South Carolina

so there's still quite a few of my buddies that will call me Shultzzi Yeah. So that's how it came. But this guy, he was like, hey, Schultzzi. And we was talking, like, and I'm looking at him like, who are you talking to you?

So that's how it, it was a sticker. From a golf tournament in North Battlefield. Yeah, yeah. The Labbats open. It used to be called. We used to play in it every year. It's still going. I think it's called Molson now.

But it's a, it was, I think, Born from Jim Bourne. Yeah, he's won it quite a few times. Of course Jim Bourne has. Jim Bourne has got to be one of the guys that I just need to have come on here because he comes up every fifth episode. Yeah. Sounds like he was quite the athlete. Yeah.

It still is quite the athlete, quite the golfer. Yeah, very, very good. I was always kind of an average, average golfer. I liked it because it was competitive, yet it wasn't what I did. So there was really no pressure. And there still is, I mean, now I'm older. The only competitive golf I really play is the Ryder Cup. tournament with the boys and it

it's it's competitive but it's fun there's lots of laughs the groups I'm in it's usually like that it's not not too to die hard I've had a couple rounds I've kind of forgot the score and

because we haven't too many laughs too many beers types of thing going back to your red deer days I was looking so you were talking about the guys you play with your first year and B.J. Young and Lance Ward and Aaron Asham and a young Jason Clegg would have been on the team at that time. The leading score of that league, you remember who the leading score was that year?

That was night. Was it? 94-95. It would have been somebody from Kamloops. Aginla? It was a leading score from Tri-City. Damon Lankow. Oh, yeah. But that year was the Camloops where the W.H.L. Chaps, Darcy Tucker, Shane Doan, Jerome McGinla. I was curious I hate the flames but if there's one flame I really enjoyed and we're gladly of I was sad to see him retire

because I felt like it was kind of the end of an error the end of that type of player but what was Jerome McGillan like at a young age so do you remember so no I remember 100% we only played them twice a year so you never really got and they were quite a bit better like when Jerome was there

like I remember we went in there one time they beat his 8-1 Yeah. And actually, there's a video, I'm lined up against them, and it's probably six or seven one. And I'm like, let's go. Like that, I mean, it used to be a two goal, two goal cushion where the unwritten rule was like, something's got to happen. You just don't get beat. Yeah.

And of course, he's like, no, he goes, but that demon will fight you. So of course, it ended up by being Jason Holland. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I did pretty well in that one. But yeah, that's kind of, we only played him twice a year. They were way, they were so much better than us that he probably didn't even really break a sweat against us. So I really don't have a real good understanding how good he was, you know, watching him in the NHL. Like he, he was exactly what I think my game kind of was, you know, not a fighter, but he could throw down and he did it smart on his own terms. Yeah, he wanted to.

And it was usually for a reason. Yeah. I think towards the end, he started doing it more than he needed to. But, hey, I mean, tough to argue. I mean, the way he was off the ice from what we see, tough not to respect. Well, I just think the way he played the game, it would be hard to walk in that room and not fall in line behind that guy. Yeah, and they had Tucker, Donne, like, they were loaded. Yeah, we, yeah.

they should have been in a different league than what we were. What was your favorite ring to play back in the day? Was it Red Deer? Did you have a rank where you just seemed to go in? I love Moose Jaw. I got my first goal ever in Moose Jaw. It was a type of rank that you were scared to play in. So you had to be good.

PA was tough. Like, for example, the blades. To play the blades then, it was like a ghost town. I felt that was hard to get up for it. Well, yeah, it was just, you know, they had this huge arena. And nobody in it. Well, maybe 2,500 people. Yeah.

Seattle, like I'll tell you, my first year in Seattle, we went in there and they had a good team. And not only did they beat us. Like, they beat that shit out of us as well. They got up on us right away, I think, five or six one. And not only did they, they said, well, that's enough. But then they continued on line brawl after line brawl just to just to sink it in. Rub it in.

And American fans, right, they're a little different. They love that stuff. The small glass, so we'd have line brawls and they're hanging over, hanging over. And they want to get at you too. They want a piece. That was a tough rank. The old Seattle, right? rank. I think it was my second or last year. They got a newer, bigger rank in it when they

wasn't the same. I always hear about the American teams and their fans and how awesome they are or how awfully awesome they are, whatever you want to, just how involved in the game it is. It really, really makes me want to go to Seattle game or Tri-City or where have you, right, and go down and check it out because I hear it's, well, even from the young guys now today, right? They just have different style of fans than what Canada has. And so when they go to a game, it's a night out. They're not going there as hockey experts. Yeah.

I think they're going there. They want to have a couple drinks and they want to have a good time. And, you know, they're not there judging the coach or judging this or that. It's just a total different mentality. The States is one thing. You go over to Europe and play over there. I tell you, it's another level up from the states because they typically only have one home game a week.

And again, the beer's flowing. They're singing. They never stop singing. No, no. And I mean, the rinks are getting newer, which is kind of a shame, but those older rings, most of them were made to stand. they have a rail so you don't fall forward but they're right on top of you and when they get rocking and they're usually if the team's doing well they'll start right away the beginning of

the first period of warm-ups and they'll keep rocking and rocking and rocking I played over in Finland for a little bit and I got to go to a division one finish pro league elite elite league and the crowd there was like nuts it was awesome I mean I played division three it was that's there but it was like on steroids. And I loved, they had the golden helmets. Did you get to play with the golden helmets? I think they talked about it at one time in Germany, but they never, I don't think, well, not in my time they ever had the golden helmets.

Crazies damn thing you ever did see, right? Like, I mean. Put a target on you. Oh, absolutely. Right? Like, oh, there's a leading score. Like, just stick out. But it was awesome as fans, right?

Like, oh, there he is. Right? Like, you can't lose them. He's just sitting right there. Can't disappear with that helmet on it. Yeah. I'll tell you, my first league game in Germany, I play quite a few exhibition games,

but it was the first time my wife come over, and my mom and dad came over for the game. And I'm playing in the most east part of Germany you can, small town, probably out of the whole town, maybe 10 people can speak English. Okay. And the crowd just going crazy. My parents, my wife and kids just get in for game time.

And they are just totally amazed at what's going on. What's going on? My mom said, you know, there's 100 guys just urinating right outside the doors and the beers. And they're saying and this and that. And right after the game, Hungarian, they ran the restaurant and bar, a Hungarian family and they take the kids and they're oh well babysit and they bring me my mom my wife in the back and we're just doing shots just doing shots and they don't speak a lick of English we don't speak a lick of what they're and for whatever reason you just you just kind of get the

essence of a person and you just feel comfortable with them and you just feel like oh these are good people and it was so funny and and my what my I think was my mom woke up the next morning and what the travel the jet leg and all the shots she's like I don't know if I can go back to another game but no there there there are lots of fun there and it it's a religion for them it's once a week they care so much about their their team they're they're very serious about it what was the strangest thing you drank over in europe oh strange i'll give you my example

my example is moose piss is what the finland it was a type of homemade whatever it looked brown and it was uh oh i think it was a vodka i want to think about it now but they called it moose piss yeah it was awful but it put hair on your chest and then on your head and then on your back it was strange tough stuff yeah they all the liqueurs and stuff i i had a tough time getting used to you'd go to someone's place for dinner or for drinks they'd have all the drinks set up on the table like where we have them in the fridge yeah that's right they'd have the they'd have 30 different

kinds of beers 30 different kinds of shots a buffet of alcohol yeah and they would you know for for me it's like hey i'm drinking pills there i'm sticking with you Pilsner. And for them, no, no, you know, try this. This is interesting. This, oh, how about this look here? After you have this piece of meat, you got to take a shot of this. You got to do this. And it's like, oh, man, I need to go to school to hang out with you guys to figure out what's. Well, in Dresden, so I played at the beginning of my career, I played more on the east side of Germany. Okay. So the trend for them was to have their imports weren't Canadian, they weren't US, they were Czechoslovakian or Russian. Okay. Because that's just for, that's what they'd always had.

So my first two or three years, it was usually me, maybe one other Canadian, and in all Russians for import players. And, you know, your imports, you kind of get along and the Russian. And the Russian, Russians for whatever reason I got along better with them than the other guys and the Russian guys finally said okay you know you're in the group we're gonna invite you to a Russian style dinner bring the wife bring the kids we're all coming so I think there was seven of us and all the wives and all the kids and go to this Russian restaurant basically the restaurant we have a whole section to ourselves and the oldest guy at the table is kind of dictating the vodka, dictating the food, dictating everything.

So we get there and I'm thinking this is like I'm going to get out of control here because we're going to just be doing shots of vodka like crazy. It's about an hour in and I think we've had two shots of vodka and I'm thinking this is lame. Like this is nothing like I thought it was going to be. and then as we get going in the night it starts picking up starts picking up starts and then it pretty much becomes we're just sitting there doing shots of vodka yeah I think we went through and really none of the wives were drinking because they were taking care of like this is old school yeah so the wives are taking care of the kids and and we're sitting there drinking and I think we we might have had 20 bottles of vodka over with seven guys

And that doesn't count all the liqueers and all the, and then the oldest guy says, okay, the women and the kids are going home and we're going out. My wife says, yeah. And I think, well, I was pretty much done by then. I think she had to give me a special ride home. Where did you meet your wife? Well, we knew each other in North Balford. Okay, so you married in North Balford? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We, we, she ended up by going to school in Red Deer. That's kind of when we, we got together. So she came with you all through this journey? Yeah, yeah, everywhere, everywhere we went. Yeah, she, uh, did you have both your kids on the road then? No, no, we had them both in Battleford. We planned it, so they'd both be born. Well, Chase, my youngest, she was, we were originally, like I was playing in Colorado then,

and she was having some trouble. with her pregnancy so she came home early she came home before the end of the year to have chase but you would have been because you retired your last year playing pro was oh nine 10 right so in that facet then he was seven years old your youngest and you guys were taking them over to journey everywhere you went yeah they went to my my oldest well my youngest guy when we left germany he'd been in Chase, who plays in Bonneville now, he had, we had grew up in Germany. He went to German schools. They went to international schools when they were available.

What was that like? I mean, as a parent, like, I mean, you know, I might have to have Chase on to talk about him. But as a parent, taking your kid over there, what was it like sending them a school over there? Well, they first went, they were going to international school. So it was all English, you know, it was all kids. from from different countries so and and really that's kind of all we knew that's that's all we had ever done so it was nothing any different towards in my end of my stay in Germany there was no international school but by then they could both speak

German so they can oh yeah they can play speak German fluently well my older one can the young chase he fought it the whole he wouldn't believe the trouble we went through to try to get him to like we had a tutor hired and and the tutor we had a two level two level apartment

and the second level their bedroom went out onto a ground level and we would get this tutor and we didn't know this for the first week or so I guess he would just open up his window and jump out and run and go play with the kids and finally after a week of this

the tutor comes down and she says I've never had a kid this bad before. She said, like, I can't, I can't continue this. She said, he's been in Germany at that point five years, and he's still not speaking German. She said, we have Chinese kids that come here in three weeks. They're speaking German. But what happened for him is he got involved in hockey.

When he started playing hockey there, then he was around all German kids. And, of course, you have to speak. You got to pick up the lingo. Yeah. So I think it was one day they were out playing street hockey. And all of a sudden, I can hear him. And he's yelling at some other kid.

He's playing, and he's yelling at him in German. And we're thinking, oh, my. What a surreal moment as a parent? Yeah. We're like, finally. Finally, he picked it up. Do you notice anything, like him being, both your kids being over in Germany for that long? Do you notice any style differences in their game when you finally got back to Canada?

Or was it just not that big a deal? Because German coaches, German hockey. Well, they usually had Russian coaches. Really? Yeah. So, and all their coaches are paid. Okay. So they would have a coach that coached, let's call it Peewee.

Well, he would be the Pee-Wee-Wee-E coach for 15, 20 years in a row. The Bantam coach would be the Bantam coach. For usually two or three different teams, they'd have assistant coaches that would help them. I shouldn't say to it. They never had enough players. Maybe two teams would be the maximum just because it's not the, well, it's not the sport there, right, hockey. the big emphasis is on skating like that was a big big thing

like they would skate skate skate skate and you know Chase today he's a phenomenal skater yeah but he's very physical too I mean he played when he played it was just body contact allowed which is funny like right from the beginning they allow hitting like hit you know

to this day still I don't know I don't know but I was just floored because when he was over there, he was hitting, and then when we moved back home, he wasn't allowed to hit for a couple of years. So that was a little different. So what do you think of that? Because you guys liked it. I liked it. You know, I hate to see, especially nowadays when you get to Bantam, and I think that's when they're allowed to hit. So you could, and there, you know, some kids don't hit puberty. Some kids are shaving already in Bantam. So you have some huge body size difference

So you take someone who's a skilled or good with their body and their skating and you get them out against someone who hasn't hit puberty that can't skate very well. And those two lining up, that to me is a disaster. It is a disaster. Whereas if you've grown up with it, and I agree, take out the, you know, in which they are anyway, taking out the heavy center ice, collisions and and but they're rubbing out along the boards and and that I I don't know I would love to see it right from Adam you know or whenever whenever you start I was just gonna say peewees when I started

getting yeah yeah and at that time I was like four foot whatever and there was guys that were already almost six foot right peewee there's already that size difference Adam was maybe the one year I I remember thinking and I'll wait and see him when my kids get there I remember thinking in Adam because I used to get called up into Peewee House League randomly enough and then you go hit right you'd be an Adam kid and I remember getting

absolutely pretzled in my first game and being like oh my God I don't want to do that again right but it was a good wake-up call but I wish you would have been able to do that at Adam because like you say the board rubble it's the stuff that isn't really hurting anyone for the most part but it's allowing you to feel how a body is going to move when it's bumped and feel that initial contact and how to roll off and figure the game all.

It's interesting that they're trying to remove it all, but you know, you watch the NHL, the top league, and they're trying to, they're pretty much getting it out of the game. Yeah, which is, you know, I don't know if, did you see the Ekman-Larsen hit? I don't know. I forget who hit him. But basically, they're going at a puck, 50-50 puck. Sure. And at the last second, it could be, it should be just a shoulder to shoulder collision.

Well, he turns his back and the other guy finishes the other guy and goes right through him. And I believe the other guy got two games. Yeah. And to me, it's like, wow. So we're looking at each other. We know there's a puck sitting there. We know we're going to have a collision. And I remember those and it's like, oh, geez, this one's going to hurt.

But now the guy's turning his back to you. Yeah, all you have to do is turn your back now. Yeah. Right? You turn your back. The other guys, which I mean, as a guy coming in the head, you shouldn't be drilling anyone from behind. That's a dangerous, dangerous play.

But when that's used as, you know, you see how many people turn their back now. You didn't want to do that. Well, it's almost like when I first went to Europe. You know, I see the same things. happening with the game. There was no open ice hits. You know, you caught a guy, and I used to love, you know, the old Wendell Clark style.

Yeah. You know, you catch a guy. He's either coming across shooting the puck, and he's got his head down. Geez, that was, I mean, that took some skill to catch the guy, right, the right time. But now they're taking those 100%. Like, I don't know how you hit anybody because the guy skates with his head down. You run into them. You're getting.

Well, yeah, and with the NHL, I think, too, right now, they're just, seems almost a little inconsistent at times. And, you know, and that's tough, too. Yeah, I wouldn't want to, you know, I bark a bit about it, but I wouldn't want to be the one roughing either. No. Because it's, I don't know. It's a funny world we live in now with all the technology,

which makes it, like, so awesome, right? Technology is amazing. Yeah, it just, it causes. is problems that weren't there 10 years ago. Maybe 13 years ago now. Now we're starting to get a little bit past that. But I mean, I always tell the story in college for 2007 and 2011. I didn't have a cell phone.

There was four years. Now, I was late to the ball game. I know that. But I think it's like 2008, 2009 when it really starts to become big, right? Like before that, you just, you know, you see the videos that come out. You see some of the stuff that goes on. And you, for sure. and me probably mostly lived in a time of playing any sport where you didn't have to deal with the

social media aspect or the 20 million instant replays from 40 different angles where they slow it down to it. You're just like, man, just, you know. The part, and, you know, like you had mentioned, you have, you got kids coming up in hockey and with the checking, you know, it starts to become real, especially if you see your, your son or daughter out there and you see that they're a vulnerable that they just don't understand your body should because not doesn't matter who the kids are some they just don't get it well when you're watching those games man it becomes it's like oh like it's kind of scary you know i i was lucky enough

that my son for whatever reason it's not like he was we put him in any special camp or any special you know thing but but to watch he kind of had it figured out where some of the kids it's like guys are come barreling in and you're thinking oh my god I don't think he's going to survive and it can't be much fun for no that individual out there jumping over to the the social media part of it like the immense pressure these kids are under now because before Like, you know, my first year in Red Deer was awful. Can you imagine if all my buddies knew, you know, how I would feel about it?

Like, now you have a bad, awful. If you have to do something stupid on a shift, it's these junior games, they're all on video. Like, it's everyone knows about it. I mean, it's positive. You know, it's the same old thing. Things are going good. Well, it's great. But it's hard on the mental, the mental part.

The game, even the pros. You look at a guy like Luchich. Like, great career, great. And then, you know, he just get crucified. Well, I think of the hometown hero from Helmand, Wade Redden. Yeah. There's a guy that had, I think, one of the best defensemen in his time era, one of the best defensemen in the NHM, let alone Canada.

And then New York happens. Yeah. And after that, man, there's guys that just forget about anything he did prior to that. Yeah. Right? I had a little history with Wade. Oh? Yeah.

We had a pretty good line brawl. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I played against him from. Yeah. He was always a little bit younger. The Reddn Boys and Clayton, yeah, the Balford Lloyd. And then Brandon and Red Deer, he was in my era.

Well, if I remember correct, they beat you the one year on their way to Memorial Cup. My first home game in Red Deer, we're playing Brandon. Okay. They're good. They're big. They're mean. Right. I don't know if you remember a guy named Pete Vandermere.

You probably real, like a scrappy. He played the NHL for, he's the oldest of the Vandermere brothers. Okay. Like, he played NHL, but he was good for three, 400 minutes in the minors. and he was not much bigger than me. We're playing against... The rink is sold out. It's my first game.

Brandon, one of the very first shifts... I think we're on the third or fourth line. Probably third. We get out and I'm just shaking. And Pete Van der Meer runs their goalie. I believe it was Schaefer. I forget who it was. But again, not a rubout, not...

You know how Wendell Clark came around and hit that D man. Well, he'd come around and hit the goalie. Exploded the goalie. Exploded the goalie. And my first thought is, what the F are you doing? And then, of course, all hell breaks loose. And that it wasn't a time with Wade, but I just finding somebody just grab on and just hope.

So did you scrap Wade then? Well, not then, but I scrapped. It would have been some time. and it was in Brandon. It was a line brawl. And you got a hold of Wade. Yeah, yeah. We teamed, well, I knew him, he knew me.

And I think they had beat us out of playoffs. It was the last game, and they were, I think they beat us four straight. Four straight or four one? Yeah, yeah, it wasn't even. And, yeah, it was kind of at the point where if we're done. Going down the blaze of glory. Might as well. Yeah, we, yeah.

No, he was, they were, they were way better than us. Our first round, we had upset Swift, and that was the first round that Red Deer had ever won. So we were coming off. A high. Yeah, we were, we were, we were, Swift was, like, they were rated to, to beat us. And in fact, they beat us the first,

the first two games in Swift, and then we came back and won four straight. And then we played against Brandon, and then they, they, yeah, they tooled us pretty good. Well, they were a pretty good team. They ended up going on to Memorial Cup, right? Yeah. You mentioned in your, a few questions I asked you before we started this, your first year in Red Deer, you mentioned one of the lessons you learned in life is your mom talking you in the stand.

What was, was that, well, let's talk a little. Yeah, no, and this is a, this is a lesson that I,

I've tried to use as a coach. And, and while I, sometimes you tell yourself this couple times a year, uh, it wasn't fun. You know,

we were, it was, it was tough there. Uh, I was hating it there. And so I said, you know, I said to my mom,

I just want to come back and play junior A and have fun. You know, that's what life's about. just having fun. And my mom, and usually she doesn't say a whole lot, and she said, no. I think my dad said, yeah, you come home, you know. And my mom said, no, you're not coming home. And even the rest of that year was tough.

But then to turn around the next year, and it was just, you know, if a guy quits there, you never realize. what you're capable of doing. And there's so many times now when you're, you know, life should be all fun, right? But the reality is, it's not. It's not. And if you don't learn that, you know,

you go through rough stretches, but you learn the process of changing those around it. And they will, they will change. Will it change within a week? Will it change within two weeks? It might take six months or it might take a year, but they will as long as you keep showing up, doing the same things, doing the right things.

So, yeah, that's a huge lesson. And we all have days today and where it's like, oh, my God, you know, I got to do this, I got to deal with this. But I go back to those, you know, you just keep going, keep going. The worst thing is not to show up. and my wife will laugh at this get up show up you know because things will get better it's when you you decide not to show up that they they can just compound compound snowball yeah so one of the greatest lessons well one of the main lessons i've ever did you ever so she just said no you're

staying yeah we were on the way to calgary uh what had we were going to i have family in Calgary, I think we're going to the Japanese restaurant. And that was a big, that's a big deal, right? And see some family. And I'm like, oh, geez, you know, it's hard here. And I'm not, I'm not doing very well. And you just don't feel, you know, it sucks, right? And I'm like, I should just come home, play with the junior team and, you know, have some fun.

That's what, that's what life's about. And my dad's like, yeah, yeah, that's good. And then I'm thinking, oh. Yep, I'm getting to buy. I'm getting to pass. And then my mom said, no, you're not coming home. Did you ever talk to her about that after? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And what did she say? I've told her quite a few times. I said that was a big change, right? Or a big pivotal moment, I guess, right? Keep you on one course or let you go down a completely different one? Yeah, and I've never thought about ever quitting it anything. I mean, there's times when I'm not saying you shouldn't,

I mean, if you're in a bad situation. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. But you've got to recognize everything for what it is. Yeah, but it's, you know, sometimes you just got to sit back and say, okay, let's just look at it. And is it really that bad or am I being a bit of a, you know, a baby about it? And, yeah, yeah, definitely a huge, huge difference in my life. And it will be moving forward.

You mentioned that the final year in Redmond, deer was very memorable. Was it because you'd had such, well, team success, not to mention personal success on top of that? I think your last year, in 66 games, you had 45 goals, 53, assists for 98 points, 134 pound minutes. Yeah. If we go back, like the first year, so I leave, no one even talks to me during the summer. From Red Deer. Red Deer, yeah. Yeah. And I come back as 19 year old didn't do anything as an 18 year old as a 19 year old you you got to be either well back then you got to be a heavyweight or you got to be a top six producer producer you can't just come back and take oxygen type you know what I mean so then nothing I don't hear anything we're

getting a new coach the Piano got fired and of course any coach is going to get fired after that that year. So I just basically, you know, I have my billet and I know when camp is. I just basically show up. Like I get nothing from anybody. I just basically show up. I'm there. And I don't know.

Of course, my name's on a team, but no one went out of their way to say, hey, you know, how are you doing? How's it training? No, I got nothing. So it's a nice. before a camp, remember my coach, Tim Nielsen, he's still a scout for ready. And they're all up. All the scouts are up. And he says to me, goes, you, I hope you know that you need to do something special to stay here. And I was motivated. I knew that. And so right from the beginning of camp, like I really had a good camp, good preseason.

And in fact, there was a couple injuries that got me in the lineup. Then I started on the fourth line, kind of barely playing, but it wasn't very long until... You moved up the ranks? Yeah, yeah. Well, that year you had 91 points. 35 goals, 46 assists. Yeah. It must have thought, holy crap, we hit the jackpot and making sure this guy we should have been talking about maybe in the summer, right?

Or maybe we shouldn't have. Maybe it was a perfect thing for you. Well, and after training, and I'm remembering some of those just fun. which probably a lot of your guests, you know, but our assistant coach said to me, after training cap, or probably after prison, he just said to me,

like, what the hell happened to you last year? And he said to me, he goes, if you do not score, I think he said 20 or 30 goals, I'll give you $500. And I thought,

I'll cast that check. Well, I was like, is this, you know, I know I'm doing well, but I'm just, Did he just say that to me?

And then, yeah, with the confidence. There was kind of a pivotal moment. Towards the end of my first year, there was a fighter in Tri-Cities Ray Schultz. He played in the NHL. Yeah, okay, yeah. So we get into a line brawl. And like, line brawls, when you're on a losing team,

they're won every two games. Pretty standard. Yeah. And we get into one in Tri-Cities, and I match up with him. And by then, it's okay. Like, it's not the end of the world. And he lights me up pretty good. I go in the room, and I'm mad.

Like, you know, one of the first times, I'm really, and we play them two days later, two or three days later in Red Deer. And I didn't really say anything to anybody else. and we come to Red Deer and right off, there was a little scrum in front of the net and I'm just like, hey, let's do it, let's go. Except this time it was me and him, we went to Center Ice

and I lit him up. And I remember when I came back from the penalty box, I came out and it was intermission. All the guys from up top came down. The coach stayed on the bench and waited until I came, towards it and he's like that's what we want and that was the first time I think he'd maybe even talk to me all year to be honest yeah and so that gave me quite a bit of your year you get some

respect from your teammates yeah that's a confidence booster yeah yeah yeah and so then I got a little you know you sit up a little yeah stand a little taller yeah walk a little more confident so yeah I think it just all let in and and I knew that I was on a lifeline to even stay the next next year. Yeah. So I worked accordingly. What were you doing in the off seasons? Like not being talked to all summer long,

were you sitting going out to parties and drinking? Or were you like, you know what, I need to. I would say at the beginning I was. And then at one point my dad actually said to me, he said like, maybe get it together a little bit? Yeah, yeah. You know, back then,

And I don't know, they didn't really talk to you a whole lot. Like there was no email or text or, so they didn't really. But he just said, hey, you know, it's, I think like it's mid-July here. We better crank it up a notch. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I worked out quite a bit different and worth a purpose. Like, you know, the first year you're going there and it's like, geez, you know, I'm going there, but am I going there?

I don't know. The first year away from home is the toughest year. Like, for me anyway, the thing I've found is there's lots of good hockey players. There's lots of talented people. But can you find your way when you're uncomfortable? Can you find your way when no one knows you? Can you find your way in a room full of strangers? That's the hard part.

And I found that's typically the difference between a lot of guys actually climbing the ladder. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you have your three or four percent of guys that are your top end skill. And they're going to get a shot regardless. But realistically, the other 95 percent are guys that are doing the right things at the right time. They play simple. and they've found a way to play when they feel uncomfortable

when they only get two or three shifts a game. You know, that's not, if you learn how to do that, that's an outstanding skill to have. You know, when you don't feel like you're the most important person in the room, how can you contribute to a team? Like those are things that a lot of people don't know, and you'll hear, well, that guy should have never played the NHL or that guy, but you don't realize.

They found a way to contribute. Yeah. When you feel the least, because we all know how you, how it's no, when you don't feel comfortable, geez, sometimes you can't even spell your own name. But can you imagine producing, you know, in a professional setting? Like that's, that's not an easy thing to do. Against the best. Yeah.

Because everybody's the best, right? That you're getting up to the very, very small, small, small, minute percentage to make it there. So your first year in Reddier then, did you get homesick? Yeah. At 17, you would have been grade 12 in Reddard? No, I was 18. Or you were 18? She'd already graduate.

A little unusual, 18-year-old rookie. You don't, I mean, don't see that whole bunch. No. I'd already graduated. Yeah, oh, yeah, 100% homesick. Yeah. had great bill it's great like that was and we're still really good friends who's that let's give him a shut up uh sandy anderson yeah oh yeah like without without her yeah she'd have been a

mother yeah i i don't think i would have been a good reason to come home yeah right you know bill it's not treat me well yeah it's just yeah and yeah we still today she's more with my wife but they they keep in touch and I always showed out to Robin and Janet Lane because I was very, very, very fortunate to land in the Billet House I did with, I live with them for three years, they were unreal, right? Like, came to my wedding and they took the wife up there

while we've been up there a couple times now. Went back for an alumni game, Jersey's hanging on the wall, got introduced from my kids, right? Yeah, right? I always think, Billet family has got to be special people to want to introduce a 17, well, maybe what, 16 to 20 year old in your house? Because you can introduce some havoc.

Yeah. Or you can land on some great kids. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of great kids out there too. We took a, well, we took a kid last year, Austin Klein from Provost. Okay. Because my son played AAA midget. So it's a little bit different.

A little different. Yeah, we know them well. And it was just, you know, when you go through it, you realize what it does. does, you know, how it can change someone's life. But you know what? Being on the opposite side of it. Yeah. It changes your life, too, as a billet parent.

Did you enjoy it? Oh, 100%. Yeah. It was, you know, just being around the hockey guys. And sometimes they're probably like, who's this old bag of bones? And they get some chirping back and forth. Yeah. You just appreciate and you kind of know what they're going through.

and you just appreciate the process and it's tough for these kids like they're basically learning things that a lot of people don't learn until they're 2530 absolutely well I was thinking like I left at 18 so you know I don't know 18 through the history of the world that's that's a moment you're supposed to be growing up right but there's kids that leave home at like 13 14 Yeah. That's a lot to ask, yeah. But, I mean, at some point, you got to learn those lessons. Yeah.

Just seems young as my son's turning four and I'm going 10 years from now, you know, he walks out the door. Like, that's pretty crazy to think, right? Yeah. And it happens quick. Yeah. You know, this year, our boy going up to Bonneville, you always tell yourself that it's most likely going to happen. When it does happen, though, it's... How's that a just for a bit?

It's different. The house is empty. Yeah. Just me and the life. Empty Masters? Yeah, it gets pretty, we're up there quite a bit. Watching, you know what? Now I'm a fan and it's just, in fact, a lot of people ask me when I come back.

And I did coach a bit, coach the AAA Stars in North Balfour for a few months, which I liked. But watching my boys play is, like, it doesn't even compare. You know, it's just so enjoyable. And not much pressure. You just show up at game time. You watch and you go home. You never thought of coaching them? Or in Lloyd and such, it's a little tougher to do.

I did in Adam and Peewee. But at Bantam, in my opinion, it's time for them to go off on their own. We had moved around quite a bit. So the kids are used to meet new people. But I think one of the proudest moments I had of Chase is we had left. He was second year peewee. So then he was just coming into Bantam in Lloyd. And so it's Bantam AAA tryouts.

And you go in to sign up. And it's all, you know, everyone knows everybody and they know the area. and he goes in there and he signs himself up and he has an outstanding camp like it's a first year of contact right so you're kind of just like I don't know how he's going to do and and yeah he did and he's he's done really well in hockey ever since come of Lloyd and he's really progressed every year who does Bonneville get in the first round Drayton Valley yeah When does that start this weekend? Saturday, yeah.

We'll be there. Best of seven? Yeah. So first two games in Bonneville? Yeah. Yeah, they're four, Bonneville's four, Drayton's five.

From what I see, I mean, Drayton's a gritty team. Yeah. They're gritty. Bonneville's gritty. Like, it's going to be a,

it's going to be a good matchup and just whoever, I guess, gets a good feeling and goal tending and get on a roll. And this has got to it be the best time

a year. Oh yeah, without it. You know, what was today? NHL trade deadline. Yeah. You know Oilers fan? What team you got? No, I read Red Wings, but I'm not really... Well, the Red Wings gave us a bunch players there, right? So... I'm the old, like, I'm not really a fan anymore, I guess because the Oilers

are always on TV, you kind of, and guys are always talking about them. So, so I guess, you know, you pay attention. You know more about what's going on. Well, they're the local team. Yeah, sure. But if it was you, you'd take Detroit. Well, I was the Eisenman-Probert kosher guy. Well, I tell you what. Those are the, those are the heydays for me.

Number one on Sean's list to ever get in this room will be Stevie Y. Or wherever he wants to do it, I'll clap it out, right? Like Stevie Y was the man. Yeah. Oh, yeah, he's, it was just unreal. Well, what they did to Detroit, like how they changed. Yep. When I first started, like they were just a laughing stock.

And then, well, Eisenman coming. and then he was so young and then Prover beating the shit out of every like well kosher too and they were they were kind of the team I've always played on that that will beat you in the alley or we'll beat you on

the scoreboard and I I love those teams like to me to me I don't know how you win a championship and I'm not saying fighting anymore no I'm saying a little bit of sand oh without being heavy yeah and so you like the blue

right now. Yeah, oh yeah, and you got to be a somewhat, I don't know, a bully out there. Is that allowed? Yeah, I think it is. You're playing to win, man. Yeah, you got to have the mentality. This is my puck. Yeah. You take it for me. I'm going to get it back, whether it's legal or illegal. Yeah. Well, you got to do what it takes to win. Yeah. You know, and like it or not in the playoffs, the game changes. And until something drastic happens, it's always just going to to change a little bit because the refs just don't they loosen off right everybody gets upset about it that's playoff hockey that's all the way from the n-h-l down to midget seed provincials that's what happens they loosen up the whistle or they tighten up the whistle whatever you want to call it and they just they let the kids play which means it goes back to what you said earlier that around that goal 10 around that net you've got to want to go there because if you go there you're going to get beat up a little bit you're going to want to dig for that puck Colorado and

Calgary last year. Yeah, prime example. Well, Tampa Bay Columbus. Columbus, another prime exam. You know, I'm just sitting there loving that. And I could care less about, well, Colorado I like, because of, well, Bednar, but they're, like, to me, that was just justice. Like, these guys have been there talking about

this new style. And, like, I'm neither a Flames fan or not, but Johnny Hawkey, like, they were high flying squirting each other in the mouth all year with their water and they had their fun but he looked like he physically couldn't touch the puck

and I don't really think he wanted to because Colorado like I said they were big they were it's just a different intensity right you know you can be a big guy and you can play a certain way and 80 some games I mean they have to they're not going to be no you can't

82, what was the most games you played in the season? 60? Yeah, probably, I usually had a couple breaks for injuries. But even then, 60 games and 60 games is too much. Like, I remember playing 52, and by game 30, I'm like, oh, man, just get us to the playoffs. Heck, I'm in senior and we played 16, and by game 10, I'm like, are we the playoffs yet? Right? Like, I just want to play play playoff hockey.

Yeah, it's a different. different and part of it you know the years the years if you've had a good year great it's just great but especially if you've had a bad year then you you'll wipe the slate clean because everyone starts from zero and if you have a good one round three round it just changes everything and you either are good you keep playing or if you're not good you go home It's just, I like that fact that, hey, the season's over, now the real season starts. Yeah. If you're good enough, if your team's good enough, you keep going.

If not, you're not good enough, go home. I always said with Loochich, because he looked like a fish out of water by the end. But if they'd ever got back in the playoffs, he's built for the playoffs. What I fear, and what happens when you get older and towards the end of the rope on your career, and you start having self-doubt. Yeah. Really, he could be the most in best shape athlete in the world. But if you don't have that natural positive energy, that natural adrenaline.

That's fair point. You can do, oh, trust me, I've been through it where, you know, there's a lot of negativity. And it's not around the team. It's, and a lot of it, you feel yourself. It's kind of self, I don't know, self-emboats. But you know, he got paid well because he deserved it, right? He did what he did, and he was a free agent, and guys overpay. But the flip side is when you get overpaid, when you get paid that much and things don't go well, it becomes a cloud, right?

It's like everywhere you go, it follows you. Yeah, and, hey, I mean, rightfully so, I mean, at the end of the day, do I feel really bad for him? No, because he's still making $6 million a year. I'm still playing in the show. I just not sure with the speed, because it'll get rough, rougher in playoffs, but it gets faster, too. True, yeah.

But if he can hang around the dirty zones. I just and he started to get some traction and some more positivity and feeling good about himself and no matter what anybody that they write articles about them or this or that it comes within right

of him really feeling hey you know I'm really helping out I'm really doing and then you start you'll see him fight more like you just have more energy yeah you just do yeah that's what I think I think it's hard to see somebody go through that, but that's part of the game, right?

The old guy, you get old and new guys come in and they take spots. Speaking of old guys, we didn't think of Patty Marlowe going to Penguins. You would have played against Patty. Yeah, I think he was a 16-year-old in Seattle. Yeah. Again, didn't really see him. Yeah, that's right, because he would have only played him. Yeah.

I really haven't watched enough, but he's a. smart intelligent player and you get him around other smart intelligent players he'll do well and and he's stuck around for a long he's going to know what he needs to do to to help out that team and he'll he'll figure it out right away well let's talk about after your junior career because we've stuck on the dub for a long time that last year of dub did you get any opportunities to go anywhere I probably was a little too gang whole. I signed a contract to the IHL, which the Nordique had left Quebec City, right? Oh, okay.

So when they left, they got an IHL franchise. And I believe it was... The Quebec? Rafael. Raffel. Yeah. I believe it was their second year in the IHL. and yeah yeah so I didn't I went to Dallas camp as a 19 year old Dallas stars for the Dallas

stars okay what was that like to a rookie camp yeah yeah it was good I thought I did well I didn't get held over till main camp but they actually offered me a contract to Kalamazoo to play in the well it was still the IHL their farm team okay yeah 50 some 50 thousand And I was still a 20-year-old with Red Deer. Like, I still had another year. Another year. Yeah. So you turned it down then.

Well, yeah, I eventually turned it down. But what happened was because I had had my wife. And I had a son in Red Deer my last year. Like, Daxon was a year old or just born. Okay. So I come back to Red Deer and I told the GM, I said, yeah, they offered me 50 or, they offered me a contract in the minors and I'm going to go there because I have a family and and he goes they did that and I go yeah and because he used to scout for for Minnesota and it was

okay so anyway he goes let me call you later and I he seemed like he was upset like he seemed like he kind of set up the trial with the fact that hey let's just let the guy go down there and show them a good time and come back and come back and play yeah so then i come back and say well they offered me a and i think i'll take it like 50 grand i'm like done yeah i get my own apartment and then he calls me and he says i'll tell you what he goes we'll get you your own apartment we'll pay all your expenses here in red deer and then my agent calls me he says yeah we think it's better for you to to play as a 20 year old in red deer uh you get more of opportunities you probably sign as a free agent, blah, blah, blah.

So I ended up by Stan as a 20-year-old having a really good year and still kind of chatting with my agent, at Dallas. And my agent's like, yeah, Dallas is going to, they're going to offer you. So they come out to North Balford during the summer. I met with them. I mean, I don't know. They obviously maybe did like what I said.

And yeah, I never. they what they did is they said well come back to camp again as a you know as my agent's like no we're not giving them another free look I remember he said that and I'm like whatever you know yeah you tell this is what we should do and he goes but I got a contract for you in the eye 55,000 US go there and you'll get other offers like it'll work out good so then I was like yeah let's do it let's sign it and let's and this is like May 30th it pretty early now that you know you yeah but as a 20 year old like you don't really you just assume well I was probably maybe too confident I was like I don't work it doesn't matter where I go I'll find a way it'll work out

so that's how I ended up in in Quebec Quebec City yeah I was playing in Quebec City like it was fun it was fun um move the wife and kid out with Yeah, yeah. So I'm in the hotel because I signed a two-way with Quebec. So 55,000, it was 55,000 to play up in the IHL. And then if I went down to Pensacola, it was a certain I can't even remember. But if I played 20 games in the IHL, then it just went to a one way. There was no up or down. Yeah. So I start really good. I get my first goal in Detroit. against the Detroit Vipers. And I love Detroit, like Detroit Red Wings. I think it was two or three games in. I get a wrap-round goal, and I'm just loving, loving life.

After I'd been in a hotel for six weeks, and then the GM said, yeah, once they tell you, go get your place, then you're, you're there. You know, you're there. Right. So I start really good. I'm, like, unbelievable, first 10 games. and then we start losing.

And obviously I wasn't playing real well. So 20 games come and I'm like, 20 games, I mean, it's one way. There's no way they're setting me down after. Sure enough, we're in Orlando on like a six-week road trip. Six-week road trip? Six weeks. Yeah. How do you pack for a six-week?

I went to Quebec with one bag for the whole year. What did you see in the way when you're walking out there? I guess I'll see you in a month and a half. Who knows? You did just, yeah, six weeks. So it might have been the first or second game. We're in Orlando, beautiful. Playing Orlando.

It was just awesome. But I'd been to Miami. Miami wasn't until the next year. Right. And, yeah, we have a brutal game. And one of the guys that tried out in Quebec City, with me ended up by getting cut by Quebec playing for Orlando so I we were in the same boat we were kind of bubble guys and and he says to me well come with me after the game you know you

guys are staying and we'll go get a bite to eat well we just we're on like a terrible losing street nothing's going well I go to jump in his car and we're taking off and who do we drive by the coach and the assistant coach are walking to the they're walking the hotel or somewhere and they can see that they see me taking off with this and sure enough i get back to the hotel and they're like yeah you're going down to pensacola which was their east coast league team right yeah so that was a shocker i was like i you know i got my one way i there's no way they're sending me you know i'm set here No, that isn't how it goes. Call up the wife.

I've been sent down to Pensacola. Yeah, Pensacola. What did they do? Oh, Pensacola was playing in Jacksonville. So they sent me on a like a plane. And it's like the planes. I'd never seen them that small before. And I'm thinking, where in the hell am I going?

like don't have any clue and I'm pretty upset I go to this dump in Jacksonville like this hotel and they're like yeah the the East Coast team will be there sometime just sit at the hotel and wait and yeah it was it wasn't much fun it was it was tough so anyway we we play a game in Jacksonville I don't even really remember how I did and then the next game's in New Orleans. New Orleans is in the East Coast League.

And we get to New Orleans, and I have a terrible, I broke my ankle and needed surgery. Yeah, it was a really bad break. It tore a lot of my tendons and my ankle. It was about an eight-month, seven, eight-month recovery. So what had had my surgery in Pensacola, and then when I was good enough, I flew back up to Quebec City and just did my rehab there.

That's good. That's a, that's a first year. Yeah, it is such a, you know, you get to, hey, I'm making, you know, I'm getting paid to play. And you kind of thinking you're making lots of money. One of the guys, I got older guy, Dan Rattushney, I got to know, he's kind of a, I don't know,

fancy, fancy guy. And he's like, ah, I live right downtown. And the coach tells me, after I'm living in this hotel in the middle of nowhere, like on the suburbs, he says, yeah, you go get yourself an apartment. What do I do? I go right downtown. And I get the first one I'm looking at a one bedroom suite. It's right down.

And all the guys are like, what do you, like, you got that place, fully furnished. It was beautiful, like it, but I didn't leave with a lot of money that year. Did you at least learn from your lesson? Oh, yeah. No, it's pretty funny because at first you don't realize that, okay, you get paid, but there's tax off that money too. Oh, crap. I'm not actually making that. Oh, yeah.

So, that's, it's better to learn at 20 than at 30, 40. So it brings us to South Carolina, which we started all. almost at the start of this entire conversation about South Carolina. So you go from playing in the IHL for Quebec, getting sent down to Pensacola, and now you go to South Carolina. Long story, how I ended up there. So what happened was I come back off this injury, and I'm like, well, I'm an IHL player.

Like I just had I went through. My agent's like, yeah, you are, and we're going to get you to try out in Milwaukee. Milwaukee, they like you, they want you. So I sign a tryout there and doesn't go good. Like it's just not good. I have another reason why I thought the, well now knowing. So apparently when you signed a tryout with the IHL or HL team, and if they let you go, you automatically became property of their East Coast team.

But I didn't have any kind of contract. So I go to Milwaukee and they're like, yeah, we like you, but you know, you're coming off this injury. We want you to go to Hampton Roads. John Brofey is a coach, which I didn't care about. And I said, yeah, sure, like, you're going to have to pay me, like, some good money for me to go. And they're like, oh, no, you're going to get league minimum. And I'm like, league minimum. I go, that ain't going to work.

And they're like, well, do you have no chance? choice because we have your rights. So I said to hell with that. So what I did is there's a team in Oklahoma City, like the league that Clayton played in. I don't know, Central. Central Hockey League. Yeah. So I have a contract.

I was like, I'm going to Oklahoma City. I signed a contract with them. I think I'm on, we're all loaded up. We got a trailer, a small trailer just with our stuff. We're going to me, my wife, Daxamelas son. He's a baby. We're going to Oklahoma City. I get a call from Jody Lehman.

And he's like, man, we're in Charleston, South Carolina. We love, and this is, we had my father-in-law cell phone because we never. How big was that thing? It was big, and it's a good thing. He has lots of money because we were talking like, yeah, we, yeah, it was free, which it was. Racked up a bill, did you? So I tell, well, they know. I know I'm going to Oklahoma City and they're like man you got to why don't you come play with us

and I'm like yeah you know I can't I'm I'm rights of Hampton Roads like I just can't and so Jason Fitzsimmons the assistant coach who played in Moose Jaw and yeah but he's with Danny and it's kind of this whole small community he says you know he says we need a guy like you like you know that year they had they thought well we're going to go away from a tough team we're going to just have a lot of middle weights and we're going to see how and more of a skilled team so he goes you fit would fit imperfect to what we need and i go okay what are you going to pay like so i kind of learned like this and so we got that all figured out and by then we're we almost hit the border like montana or north dakota but we're still like a

we're still got the directions we're going to oklahoma city and he's like he goes was K, I'll work on a trade. And so I think we drove for about eight or nine hours and then he called back and he's like, stop at the next gas station and grab a map because he's like, you're coming to South.

And I'm like, I don't even know how to get to South Carolina because there's no. And he's like, stop at the next gas station, keep your receipt. We'll reimburse you for a map. Yeah, he said, keep your receipts. And he goes, instead of going straight south, He goes, take a hard turn left.

So sure enough, yeah. What map did you buy? A map the United States? Yeah, you can back. Yeah, you just went to a gas station. Well, I remember in the Huskies, they always had the map books. Yeah, you pull it out and it folds into 80 different. And yeah, we, so we went down and we just hung out a straight left.

And I called Oklahoma City and said, yeah, I'm not coming. And they were pissed. I don't doubt that. But, yeah, so we get there. Yeah, just a life-changing. Really, like, it's such a nice place, good people. First year was tough. This is my first year in East Coast League,

where we don't have the horses for the East Coast League. Back then, you had 10 forwards, okay? And most teams had two to three. Legits had heavies. Like, not guys that can be. maybe play, guys that really can't play, but they're there, like, they don't even put on elbow pads. They just, like, why? Because you're just going to fight. Yeah. So, you get up two or three goals on a team. Sometimes they just let you, some of them, like, they're bad teams,

right? They just want to fight. And we, we didn't have the horses. We had a decent team, but we physically weren't where we needed to be. So we, we lost out pretty, pretty close or pretty I think first round and then the next year we got a little bit heavier and in our last year the year we won we brought in while Jared Bednar came back we had we had one one heavyweight but we had four or five like goers and then we had a few middleweight guys so team nobody everyone skated to it two feet taller type of thing. Your skilled guys could be skilled guys.

And if you could get up, six, seven, one, and no one would, would attempt to do anything. We just, we ran the table. I'm pretty sure we were second in the league, first in the south. And then we, we just went on the hole to win it all. Yeah, what did you guys go to in your playoffs?

Well, I'll tell you what, we almost lost out the second round. we it was a best of five yeah and we were down two games to one and we come two games to one playing the fourth game in mobile Alabama okay yeah and I thought like we're in trouble and we ended up by winning that game six or like we blew them out actually Joey Lehman came in that they switched up the goalies goalies and then we came back to to Charleston, South Carolina for game five.

And we won in double overtime in game five. Double O.T. Yeah. Two-on-one. And it wasn't me. It was a two-on-one. It was a wide two-on-one. And he one-timed it,

and it went right on the ice, right in the net. And it was one of those games where it's like, oh, my God. Like you just, you really test your physical because you're like, I don't think I can go out another, you know, just another shift.

Another shift. And then another shift. To be on those types of teams, championship, you have to have, you know, because there's always some doubt each player goes through, but other guys pick you up. It's playoffs, no matter how you go about winning, if you win, is a roller coaster ride. There's such highs and there are such lows. And it's trying to keep an even kill, which none of us can ever seem to do, because it's,

it's an emotional roller coaster. Yeah. And overtime, especially double over time or triple over time, you almost need a day off or like a break, right? Like that, we talk about it all the time, right? We don't see your hockey,

let alone, you know, in the Kelly Cup, right? Like, I mean, or going for the Kelly Cup. That's emotionally taxing, let alone physically, playing that much hockey. That was,

that was a time. real tough and I think one of the you know it's like anywhere you go you start off a certain role and you slowly build and then you make relationships and then when you win some that was that for sure out of the three championships was physically the hardest the longest road that you have to go through to to win and then we took the cup downtown I remember me and layman we uh We always had our spot downtown, and it was a pretty good thrill for two guys from North Balford. We kind of stole the cup, I think, out of the dressing room. Took it downtown to your watering hole. Yeah, I took it downtown. And Charleston's big, but it's not that big, and they're big hockey fans. So it was lots of fun.

Well, this has got to bring us to the time you fight the bus driver. I've been waiting to hear this story now for almost two hours. So let's get to how the Rockstar bus driver and you scrap on the side of the main highway. So after three years of playing in South Carolina, I went to Colorado for a year, tried the West Coast Hockey League. Now they're all one. And I didn't like it. So then I was like, well, I'm going to come back to the East Coast. So South Carolina is full, though.

They've already signed all their veterans because you're only allowed so many players with so many games and I was a veteran by then. So I'm like, well, I like the area. I think I'll go to their biggest rival. I've done it a couple times. I did it once in Germany. You're familiar with the team, the players, they know who you are. So anyway, so what ends up by happening a lot of times is you end up by sharing the same bus driver because you're... What team was the rival?

PD Pride I gotta be honest When I was looking at you I went PD is that is a real place That is a real place Well it's called Florence South Carolina I don't know why they call it I think PD is like the area

Is the area? So like let's say for Bonneville Coal Lake They call it the lakeline The lakeline okay That's kind of idea Yeah PD pride Yeah

Big big NASCAR Like oh okay You're talking Darlington Okay Yeah they offered us in field tickets to Darlington, I didn't go, which was the stupidest thing I've ever not done in my life. So anyway, yeah, so lots of times you get the same bus driver because if you're not on the same

road trip at the same time. So this Pete Puella, he comes a familiar face. So I'm like Pete, we had him over at dinners because he actually lived in Florida. Yeah, this is where the how the story, I'm trying to build this story up for you. So we're on a road trip. We're in Atlantic City. As you know, Atlantic City, right, lots to do. We're there.

We play an afternoon game. It's New Year's Eve. Coach says, if you guys do well, we'll stay till 1 a.m. We'll be curfew and then we'll go. And Pete, he did this a lot of times. he would drive down to South Carolina, but then he would keep going down to Florida to see his wife, right?

Which was still another four or five hours. He had to go. So, of course, he's itching. He's pissed off, first of all, that we're staying to, and for us, just to go out in Atlantic City for New Year's Eve. And he's got all,

like he's always got all his leather on, always, like he's got the vest, he's got the long hair. Like he looks like, You know, he's missing quite a few teeth. So one of my buddies that we won with in South Carolina is playing in Atlantic City that year. So I'm like, perfect, let's go, Mike. And we go belly up somewhere.

And I'm late coming to the bus. I think I get there around 1.30 or two. And, of course, Pete's pissed. He's pissed. And I had a really good year that year. I was good with the coach and everyone was feeling pretty good, so it really wasn't that. Big of a deal.

I think I was doing decent on the tables, and I'm not a gambler. And what I mean decent, I probably won four or five. Yeah. So I'm thinking that, you know, I'm a pretty important person.

And lots of times I get sarcastic and kind of joking and egging people on. And so this is going on and he's pissed at me and I'm probably making fun. of them and I think it's an I-95 like it's a busy highway and he says rightfully so basically you think you're so funny he pulled the bus over and he said well let's let's do this let's get in the and I'm like sure let's go and we get in the ditch and we're kind of wrestling around and he just it it wasn't really a fight but he ripped off my shirt and kind of put me in a chokehold and it was basically done so we come back on the bus and he's still pissed I don't care like I'm just

I'm having a great time next thing I know I wake up we're at the rink I have no shirt I got dress pants on and I got some cash in my belt buckle like from the money I won the night before but that's that was the the story of the scrap I'm the scrabbing the bike your bus driver Yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel bad now because I know he was wanting to get home to his wife Because he's on the road like all all in time Yeah, yeah, so but he'll get over it or he would have gotten over it What was uh what took you to Europe was it I needed a change um

The the east coast was changing then it was because it when I first went there there was plenty of older guys So what I mean older, you know, your four veterans could be anywhere from 26 to 32. There are guys that live in that city. They're getting paid from different sources. They're getting, so they're making enough, they're making a good wage. The East Coast, and rightfully so, they made a decision. We're going to get out all the old guys. We don't want this destination league.

I think A, the cost to keep older guys was, didn't make sense for the business model because they want to make money too, right? Yeah. The teams. And they wanted it to be a developmental league. And I had won there. I'd done well in that league. There wasn't very many families at all in that scenario. And Schmidt and German and I could make.

more money. I knew that. And it was a little easier life, like on the, you know, one home game, one away game. So, yeah, I said, I got an agent, Frank Peter Angelo. I don't know, he's an old goalie.

Yeah. And he's like, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I know. I know lots about Germany. And, and I'll get you a contract. And it was actually late in the summer where he called me. It was good money. And of course, the name of the town, I'm like, I don't know, is it Germany? He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I go there, vice-vasser. It's pretty much on the Polish border, old East Germany, small town. And I get there and a guy picks me up in Berlin, and he can speak pretty good English. And he's like, well, he's like, first thing he says to me, he's like, why are you here, for one? and then he's like we've never had a Canadian stay the whole year so I find that out

and then I go there and I find out well they've only had check players like they've never had a Canadian stay the whole year but I it was a learning experience it was a culture shock everything was just

different but it was what was maybe one of the hardest things to adjust to the hockey You know, we're Canadians. Don't tell me how to play hockey. So you kind of buck the system. If I fought, he'd get kicked out of that game.

He'd get kicked out of next game. But they would take two days pay away from me. They didn't like fighting, which I, which was totally made no sense to me. They didn't like mean play. Like, it was real tough to understand. and then I was like, you can't tell a Canadian how to play hockey. But then as you're like, well, they're paying your wage, they tell you how. How did you adjust the plane on the big ice service?

It's just different. Parts of it I liked, you know, more open. I was a good skater. But the part, it was, they were playing more of a late now like the NHL. Yeah. Like it was almost like soccer style. And I hate to say that with all the flopping around and it's almost like a soccer game out there. But much more patient where you just don't go, go, go.

That was hard to get used to. The training camp, like you would get there six weeks before. And it was just like we would train so hard. And then on the weekends we'd have off and whatever you did all week, you just drank it. It was just like, to me, it made no sense. Yeah. Why don't we just get here three weeks before work really hard, get right into the season?

But that's, that's, you just, I mean, that's, that's the way they do it. It's their league. They pay you, and if they tell you to do things, if you don't like it. Do you remember your first practice where they were writing up drills, and did they speak in English? Oh, no. So there they would have, they spoke in German. A lot of teams And did you know any German?

No, no, nothing. So you remember? Nothing. I have vivid memories in my first practice in Finland. And, you know, they're drawing X's and it's, you know. Anyway, you know, I'm sure in America, well, in the States or Canada or, you know, and wherever you went, you kind of got to pay attention half ass. And you knew what was going, oh, yeah, we're going to do that drill, blah, whatever.

And then you go over to Europe. and you can't understand a damn word and I remember thinking we're gonna do what now like what is that X doing and I had to like I remember being like okay I don't want to fuck this up

what is he talking about again and I just sit there and I remember him looking at me too and being like you understand except in finish and I'm like I think so yeah like I'm gonna screw this up and I was the Donkey Kong

the drill killer of the finish because half the time you don't even know and then the goalie there was a goalie who played over I played on a team with no Americans, no North Americans. So I was the only... How many imports were you guys allowed? They were allowed three or four. And we had none except for me.

And they hadn't had a Canadian in something like 10 years. And so there was a goaltender played in the CHL for a couple years. So he could kind of speak English. And so whenever I got in trouble, the coach would go talk to him. And then he'd come slowly skating over and be like, He wants you to do this. And I'm like, I feel like a frickin moron. Right.

I can't even pass the puck right. I was kind of used to because it wasn't great in North America. I was always, always, if you don't know, don't go guy. So I would always lurk in the back. Yeah. You know, the communication's funny. And that's a, you know, it's very tough to go as an import and to be the only. English-speaking one in a different language.

Like that's not an easy... It's isolation. Oh, yeah, right? It's a strange, strange feeling. My first, they get us over to Germany and then they're like, okay, we're going to Leipzig. And I'm like, for what? We're going to training camp. We're there for three weeks, which is not a big deal because the wife and kids, they never came

when I was in Europe for six weeks after. We get to this nice hotel. and the Russian guys they could be Russian check and they're like we're going down to the hot tub or to the sauna or whatever

and I'm like sure yeah yeah I'll meet you guys down there so I get down a little bit late and like there's six seven guys in a hot tub almost shoulder to shoulder and I'm thinking hmm

weird but whatever and I got my big board short on and so I get in I start swimming and a Canadian family it just comes into the pool area very strange we were at a Hilton so it was a nice hotel and they're sitting there and and pretty soon these guys all get out of the hot tub they're all buck naked I'm thinking and you would I mean Finland you I mean it's so culture shock I'm like and I got these I don't know they probably think of I got pants on. Very much, yeah.

That same year, the trainer invites us to a beach and says, we're going to have a beach day. We're going to do this. And my family's still not there. So I'm like, yeah, whatever. And one of the Finnish guys actually says, yeah, this is a nude beach. And I'm like, well, that's weird. But anyway, so we get there and all the families, and of course everyone's got clothes on.

And the trainer comes over with a volleyball, and he's naked. He says, no, no. We're sitting over here and it's on the naked side of the beach. And he goes, we're going to play volleyball. And some of the wives are there. And they're just thinking this, and this old hairy, like, like, He's a bearded trainer. He's got a volleyball and his hat.

And I'm thinking, well, where am I? And it's kind of a wooded area. And it's just those are two stories. And I'm just there two weeks, three weeks. And I'm thinking, oh, my God. The crazy thing is you kind of get used to it over time. Oh, yeah, right? Because, I mean, it doesn't take that long.

And you just all of a sudden it kind of clicks. Like, oh, this is normal. Yeah. Right? Like, yeah. I think my fifth or sixth year was strobing. They, for a day trip,

yeah, we went to some healing. Yeah. Healing. And it was, there was five, six hundred people and walking around and this and that and everyone's naked. Actually,

you know, by then it's like, you go to that and you come back here and then you get in like a sauna. Finland, the first thing they always say they build is a sauna in the house, right? And the first time I went to the GM's house and everybody gets naked and you're the awkward guy like, I guess I'm, you know, right? And you feel so awkward, right? Then you get accustomed to it.

Then you come back here and now there's a sauna and you were the only guy sitting in a naked. You're like, well, I guess I should leave my shorts on, right? Like it's such a strange culture shock to go over there, experience that. It's so normal what they do there. And then you come back over here and it's, it's. Well, we don't do that. We don't, right? Like, that's completely opposite.

So did you ever? Because I played with a couple Finnish guys and got to know them, their spouses, and you have people over. They said, yeah, like, typically, if we were at our place in Finland, we would have supper, a couple drinks. And everybody getting the four of us. Well, not everybody, the four of us would, but, yeah. And I'm like, okay.

I mean, that's, you know, when you're around, people you don't I mean the teammates in one thing but when you're around people you don't know it's like sure but I don't know it'd be a little I thought a little weird with like my buddy's wife I don't know but it's just again it's part of what they do it's part of what they do and

I don't know how to I don't know how to say like over here it's so sexualized right like yeah and over there it's just not and I don't know I don't know how better to say it than that, right? Like, it's, absolutely, yes. And the first time you're like, what is going on?

Like, this is, right? How am I going to react? How am I going to react? Like, this is weird. And then you get over there and, you know, after probably the third time, you're like, it's just so not, it's just a socializing thing. Like sitting around and having a beer is a socializing thing. That's what they do.

Don't they have them at the nightclubs in Finland too? I can't see the nightclubs, but like the hotels all had them. I lived, I got, I lived in a hotel. Yeah. At the second place I went to, I lived in a hotel. And I met so many random people sitting, I go do it every night. And making it up with random people and strike up conversations. Yeah. Right.

Here that is not the case, right? Like it is very different over there. Yeah, it was, we lived there for seven years. Well, we came back. The kids and Sarah came back for, five to six months a year. I was usually there about nine months. Yeah.

But really, like after, we loved it. Like, we, we really enjoyed it. After seven years, it become, are we going to stay or are we going to go back to Canada? And the only reason we came back is because I wanted to, I've always been interested in business. Like, that really, something about it that really I like. And I knew I wanted to do something outside of hockey. And I knew in Germany, first of all, my language wasn't good enough. And my schooling, like, they're really big on, like, to get your fishing license,

like, you've got to take a course. Finland's probably the same. They're really stringent to golf. To get a golf membership, you have to take golf etiquette. You have to take lessons. They just don't give you a pass. Yeah. So it wasn't realistic for us to stay in Germany.

And to carry on with life after. So that was a big reason we ended up by coming home. You talk about life after hockey. How was the adjustment? It was, it was, it was different after, after being kind of since I was 17 of having rules, like curfews. And physically, like I, you know, I did have, we had lots of fun in my younger days. but as we got more serious, I was very serious because you had to be for to stick around, to play on good teams.

You had to be serious about preparation, what you ate, how good a shape you're in. So, you know, even though I'd come home in the summer, like you still had to be careful. You could have a good night every now and then, but you weren't tearing it up all the time. So to come home at 35 and it's like, well, I don't need to. get ready for for hockey anymore that kind of the there's no it's just like being a teenager almost again so that we probably yeah you get a little too to to carried away there but I always had a plan in place my biggest thing is just keep keep you got to get into something like do something so I went back to school for two years did you yeah yeah I

I did business, I did a year in North Balford, and then I did a year in Lloyd. So what happened? And this is kind of how I told you I worked for Federated, but I'll tell you how it kind of all happened. When I was in Straubing, so I started off in the third year, or third league in Germany. I didn't even know it was the third league. It didn't really matter. I wanted just to get over here. And I made my way up to the first league.

which was it's not an easy thing to do no definitely not and uh it was probably it's probably one of my i guess personal hockey accomplishments and a lot of people unless they don't really understand unless you've you've been there like there's a ton of good players like NHL guys that can't play in europe and vice versa there's lots of talented europeans it can't adjust it yeah yeah and it's it's kind of shocking but to you've even really have to be there to believe it. But I had a terrible injury in strobing. Probably the worst one I ever had. I had a third degree concussion because by then they had broke a rib, pulled muscle on my back, and you can see my shoulders still. What the heck did you do?

I went into the board's bad. It was the first shift. And the guy, the guy kind of hit me. I was in a bad position. And ice was just like this table. And we're going full speed. So I went down on my back and he was on top of me and we slid in and I went in back and head first. So I woke up in the MRI machine. Like it was bad. Yeah, yeah. It was a terrible. So I was out.

That was in January. It was close to the end of the year anyway. Yeah. And so I was out. I signed a two-year contract after. after that with in the second league. But I had a lot of problems like my shoulder shoulder in my neck and my back I was never really the same you want to play a certain type of way and you just and your body can't.

Yeah I in fact for me to have a play for the weekend and then I'd be at the well they call them a soos it's not they basically just push out knots in your muscle. It's not like a... No, it's not a friendly, nice, ooh, pleasant. Ooh, that felt good. It was awful. Yeah.

For two years, the first year, we ended up by winning the championship, so it's a little bit, you know, it's not so bad. And then I thought, well, it's only a year.

And then the second year, I knew pretty early that I was done. So to take us back of it, I always bought extra disability insurance. For whatever reason my agent got me on it and the guy would come every year collect his premium. I hated the guy right and in fact he's the first guy I called when I had this serious injury and so it really put me what it did is it it gave me the time to come back to

Canada to get a new career to put me through schooling to find something new. So that's kind of how I, when I come back to business school, there was a position that opened up for this area. And it was insurance, but it specializes in construction and automotive industry. And I grew up, I don't think we talked about it, but I grew up in construction with my dad, being a home salesman. I grew up around trades guys.

So I'm definitely not a general contractor expert, but I know the ins and outs of a job site. I kind of know what the thoughts of a builder are. So it's really fit in well with me. I've done a few projects, a few houses on my own when I was back in the South Carolina days, when I'd come home for six months during the off season. So it all kind of worked out really well. I got started with Federated nine years ago. And yeah, it's just been going on ever since.

And that's kind of how I ended up in, well, that's exactly how you ended up in Lowe. Have you had any since you've had your bagged discussions? Do you have any issues with that? Or is it better now? Well, it's better. You know, the memory, the memory stuff, who know, you just get older. one thing I the irritable irritable with noises when you don't expect them really oh yeah so let's say oh I always blame the wife of course she's let's say she'll love to hear that she's in the kitchen

if she's made it this far in this right you probably turn it off five minutes in yeah if you're in the kitchen or she's in the kitchen or or anything you know something drops and I'm not expecting it that's definitely uh uh like it's uh something that I don't know, is different. And who knows? You know, the problem is what the concussion thing is, is, you know, there's no one to tell you exactly. You break your arm or they can show you on an x-ray or you broke your arm. And a lot of it is, you know, is it real or is it in my head or this or that.

But I don't know. I think it's affected a bit, but not terribly, I don't think. Yeah, that's, you're the first guy I've ever talked to that had a concussion and ended up, I'm guaranteeing there's a ton of you, right? Yeah. Usually you don't get a concussion that bad. Yeah, that's pretty extreme. Yeah, I know. And they told Sarah, because of course, well, she had just, she didn't see it.

She wasn't at the rink. But as soon as she got there, she said, I knew something was wrong how the other wives said. Yeah. Yeah. So she come to the hospital and they said, well, we're not really worried about, you know, his shoulder and his back, but we're more worried about the old conch? Yeah. Yeah, the brain. And that was still, that was in 2008.

So it was. Do you play a year or two after that? Yeah, two years. Yeah, in Biddingheim. In Biddingheim. Yeah. Yeah. The funny thing is in Biddingheim, they had always paid the most.

they wanted to move up forever and ever and ever. They always had big payrolls. They get us there. We move up, but they have the financial crash in 08. And who's our biggest sponsor is Porsche? Oh, shoot. And Porsche just laid off thousands of workers. Uh-huh.

And we win the year. We're expecting to move up to the DL. and Porsche is like we can't We can't annie up another Whatever who knows A million bucks or whatever Cause you gotta have

Yeah Not after we just laid off A hundred thousand Employees That's cool you got to experience The moving up Because I talk I talk about that all the time

Right Like it's very It works for European leagues Yeah they love it Yeah I've also moved Well

So is you're also aware You can sign at any time during the year with anyone. So you can sign if I'm playing you in playoffs and I'm free. Like I don't have a coin. I can sign with you. And carry on. Yeah.

Isn't that fucked up? My, so the year I signed to move up in the W8 or in the first league, I had signed at Christmas time. And the team I was playing with in the second league, we ended up by getting relegated. Yeah. So you actually played on a team that got relegated and a team that moved back up. Yeah.

Two teams, well, that team I moved up with and then got relegated with, they got relegated. I didn't. I went up to the first league because, and, you know, it's a funny thing, but, geez, they're getting relegated. It's a different playing in that played, well, it's called a playdown. A playdown, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. You want to win a just as much.

much as, because what ends up by happening is the GM will come in. If they care, they'll offer you a bonus to win that playdown because they don't want to go down because it's not that easy to move up. Like, even if you pay a guy, it just doesn't mean you're going to win. So, yeah, it was a, the only, so, like, I knew I wasn't coming back. So, I guess. But I, like, I still, you know, I got to know the fans that the players, you know, you want to win. You're competitive too. It's like,

frick, it's embarrassing, right? Yeah. Yeah, but, you know, play up, play down, and then we won the other year, but we didn't go anywhere, so it was kind of a bummer, but it was okay. Well, I'll bring us to the final portion of this. The crewed master

final five, it's the last segment we do here, where we ask you five questions. You've probably heard it once or twice before. You'd show out to Heath and Tracy McDonald. Your first one is, if you could pick your line mates, who would you take? So line mates that I played with? No, no, anyone. I don't matter.

100% Bobby Probert without a doubt. Like, without a doubt. Who else? Well, it's going to have to be Eisenman. I mean, that's, yeah. So Eisenman, Prober, yeah. Yeah, that'd be fun. In the 80s.

In the 80s. Or 90s. Nineties is still, yeah. Bobby was still, Bobby, in the 90s, early 90s. If you could sit down and have a beer with one person, who would you want to be? Time delay. That's all right. We got nothing but time.

Geez, I should have. Like, I've listened to these. Why don't know why I didn't. You got to tell your guys to be ready. Um, if I could, I got a list of, I got a giant list slowly growing. I was sitting talking to myself. I drive out to Edam all the time. Actually, yeah, north and north battlefield.

Yeah, I got a place in Mioda. Do you? Yeah, cabin, yeah. No kidding. Yeah. Well, I work just south, west, and east of Mioda. There's two plants up there. Yeah.

Well, there's a whole whack of plants up there. So I... The only place you can do any of will of working these days. That's right. And so I constantly build the list of guys I'd love to have on here. I'd love to sit and have. And at the top of my beer list, sit down, which Stevie Y is definitely up there. But the reason I got into this podcast stuff is Joe Rogan.

I'd love to sit and have a beer with Joe Rogan or whatever he wanted to sit down. And I'd be like, yeah, let's go at it because he's an interesting man. But, I mean, you would have to be a bit, like, actually, you know who I really. did and you might not know was Duff McCaghan Duff McCagin? Yeah for Guns and Roses. Okay. Yeah. But I'd have a beer

with Axel Rose. I'm a huge G&R fan. So on this comeback tour, when it's the original, basically original to me slash Duff McCaghan Axel. I've seen them two times. I went to the one in Seattle with two buddies. And they just, I think it was their third show back.

It was like, you know, between, you know, getting married, having kids, those are like, that's a big, big event. And then this past year, my one buddy I talked about earlier, Derek Reynolds, he ended up through hockey, he married a girl in Nebraska and they live in Lincoln. Well Funny thing G&R played a show there Like in the Lincoln, Nebraska I've all the place This past November

So me, Lehman Aaron Friedman The guy who calls me Schultzzy There was eight of us that went up to that No kidding And that day after the show In the airport

We're all flying out And I see this skinny, Blonde-haired guy And I can tell he's And it's Duff McCagan and he's a rock like rock like original and I walked up to him I said hey my name is Greg Schmidt blah blah and he's like yeah so awesome guy unreal I was so I was hung over too so I was a little bit nervous so I'm a little bit shaken and and I said to him you know I'm nervous like and he he said ah that's fine and I sat and

talked to him for for 15 minutes we ended up by you know I brought up the hockey and he talked about Seattle coming in because that's his hometown Seattle he talked about the new NHL team and he uh in fact he touched on the when the guns and roses kind of broke up and in their heyday in the 90s and yeah it was it was awesome guy like a pro you know and and that's what you know if you if you catch them in the right time and you're not you know you have to ask for somebody's time too you can't just demand it yeah you can't take it for granted because you know somebody might be going through something so that's

kind of what I've learned with meeting people is yeah do you mind if I I sit down and yeah yeah no it was uh it was it was great I wish I would have got a picture but I was like God you ask for a picture you know I didn't really want to you got to ask for yeah I know I had I had Paul Beesonad on here right Yeah, yeah. And when he sat down, it wasn't the first thing, but the entire time, my brain is going obviously right here, right? But you want to talk about nerves.

My bloody heart did about six flips because I'm going on, Paul B. St. Oh, Jesus. And I was at least conscious enough to go, you know what? Even if you don't come on the podcast, nobody's going to believe me if you were sitting in front of me. I'm getting a picture with he. He's like, oh, yeah. Them guys get it all the time.

You know, and I hate to jump, but my father-in-law was one of the best business, and I love business. I love meeting business people. I love their stories. They're so unique. And it was nothing what I thought about business people. But playing hockey, my father-in-law, he was always a good business person, but I boiled it down and traveling with him.

is his ability to meet new people. And when I talk about meet them, like he was able to get a connection with people right away and get him to open up. Yeah. And I think that's such a skill, whether, and it's not easy. You have to work it. Like, you know, it's lots of times people think,

well, that's a God-given talent or, well, no, you have to work. And you've got to go out of your comfort zone. All the time. So, yeah, I know it's, it was cool. I'm a G&R, like, groupy kind of. Well, G&R's a good, I can't argue that. Yeah, they're real.

In fact, they're coming, they're doing another leg around this, well, not it, but. So you're following them every, I would go, my wife would, my wife wouldn't. She likes them too, but I'm like, I'm going with the guys. Like, you know, it's just, right? You got to go, it's a different, different game when you're going with guys and just be dumb, right? Anyhow. If you could be drafted, if you could have been drafted by one organization, I assume I already know who this is, but if you could have been, who would it have been?

Detroit or Philly. I like Philly too. Yeah, Philly. Yeah, yeah. I just, you know, I mean, it pains me to see. what it is now. Yeah. But yeah, you know, the Rick Tockeg guys, like, those, I mean, how do you know it?

I don't know. Those two would have been. Actually, I did talk to, well, a scout talked to me from Philly. That was about it. In PA, I remember. That's, claimed. That's as close as I got to Philly. I'll get off topic, but what's.

So we're in Charleston, South Carolina. We're at a barbershop. Three other guys. And they find, oh, you're hockey players. And the guy's an Italian guy. He's like, oh, I'm from Philadelphia. And, you know, I moved down to South Carolina years ago. Oh, I know hockey.

I know hockey. And he had a pitcher. And he goes, that's my buddy from Philly. Yeah, I cut his hair all the time. He says, Rick Toshay. Yeah, that's your. buddy yeah that's your buddy all right anyway that's who's the best player you ever played against and with oh martin saint lee against and that was when you were with quebec yeah he would have been

cleveland yeah he was in cleveland lumberjacks i think he went from there to calgary you know that'd be an interesting guy to sit a car oscarostrum i tell you because you know at that time There's no internet. There's no. Yep. It's just what you see is what you get. And I'm thinking, like I was playing, I had a really good start. And we're the same roughly age and kind of size.

Well, yeah, size. And they're talking about this small guy. And I'm thinking, yeah, you know, we'll see. Yeah. And I can, he's like playing against a cat. Like, you know, just super quick turn. It just like he was explosive. quick, agile.

And I remember after watching him, I was thinking, oh, man. And he, I mean, at that time, nobody, you know, and even when he broke in the NHL, it took a while. But, yeah, 100%. Without, without, you know,

I played against Ryan Smith, the red and those guys. And they were good in their own ways. I played against them in junior and pose a little different. A little different, you know, bigger guys, and it's more realistic of what. Crazy, though, to be in Quebec. Play Martin St. Louis playing for Cleveland.

Yeah. And then watch him go on to have the career he had. There was, at that time, there was still, I mean, there was more older guys, but the IHL still had a lot of younger. I would say half the team were NH, or half the league was NHL affiliates and half were independent. Like we were, we were independent, but it had a lot of Tampa Bay, like Tampa Bay guys. Yeah. So, yeah. He would, he would be the best I, I think the best I played against.

The most notable I played with Todd Gill in, in Germany. Big Todd Gill? He's not big. No, you're thinking of Halgill. I'm thinking howlgil. Todd Gill. Todd Gill played like 20-some seasons for the, the Maple Leafs.

Like I grew up watched. What? Todd Gill. Google Todd Gill. D-Man number 23. Like in the Gilmore days, the bump. Oh yeah. I thought he was like the biggest, toughest, scrappiest guy ever.

And my first year in Germany at Christmas time, like I'm struggling to stay there. And then they announced we've signed over Christmas holidays, we've signed two. Canadians and they said Todd Gill the other guy didn't recognize and I'm thinking no there's no way that Todd Gill's coming here and I think he was 41 42 he had been retired for a year and sure enough we go to Berlin he flies in we pick him up and guess who's his best friend because he's got no options because everyone out they're all German and so he's like Smitty like what what do I do? And I'm like,

Todd Gill, like, needs me. Like, you know, like, you know what it is. You go over there and it's like, you got one choice.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, you're hanging with me. And I'm like, and the guy's just the salt of the earth. Todd Gill, 1,0007 NHL games, 82 goals,

272 assists, 354, and then 1,200 penalty minutes. Yeah. And he played for the Leafs, for Leafs fans. He played for the Leafs on and off from 1984 until 1996. And then he played for San Jose, St. Louis, Detroit, Phoenix, Detroit, Detroit, Colorado, Chicago.

Yeah, I grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada, and especially against the wings. I probably didn't like him then. Did he win a cup then? I don't think he did. No, because the closeest was in 93 against. Remember Gretzky, the high stick? Yeah, the high stick. I think he was on the ice.

Remember when McSorley and Clark? Yeah, when McSorley hit Gilmore? No kidding. Yeah, I was definitely thinking Halgill. Yeah, no. The big giant. Yeah, no, no. So he comes to Germany.

The nicest guy ever. Of course, I'm so intimidated of him. and we become best friends. The wife, his wife comes. They have six kids. They all come. And we hang out with them. Our kids play hockey together.

And at one point, he said to me, he's in New Winterville. He actually introduced us to red wine too, by the way. At that time, we never drank red wine. And he said, Schmiddy, well, he said to my wife, he goes, if you're going to learn on to drink red wine, put it in your mouth and swishing around. So it's like mouthwash. You coach. your whole mouth and then it doesn't taste it I don't know it doesn't taste any different so that's what

got my wife started on red wine and she still drinks red wine this day she became a professional um yeah one of the nicest and he's been bullshit he said he goes like you're like a Gilmore like he said he goes I played with and he goes you know what there's a big difference between getting an opportunity getting a chance and the right and the right time. And he goes, I'm going to, I goes, I'm going to tell Pat, who is it, Pat Quinn? Because he's buddy with Pat. He goes, he, you should be.

That's, I mean, who knows? That could have been after a couple of red wines. That's right. He was old school, though. We would, we would, after a game, a way game, he would, six, ten beers on that bus, like in the big beers. He'd be like, no, we're having these. He would not let, he was a beers guy.

Great, great guy. It was such a, you know, I think it was kind of meant to be. I don't know, it was just weird. Like Todd Gill came to Vice Foster, they'd never had a Canadian that ever played the whole year. I was the one that was there, the first one for a full year. And he comes at Christmas time. And just once he got there, then it totally changed the whole.

Like it was just a total different atmosphere. It was just like, I don't know, playing with somebody every day. It was just like you go and you hear stories and then you're in the trenches with. And he's someone you look up to and he's like, oh my God, you know, I need your help or, you know, you jump in and you do something for the guy during a game. And it's just like surreal. It was, it was lots of fun. Todd Gill. I think he's coaching in the or he has a franchise in the OHL yeah he's he uh it was funny he

I think at the time he had bought a Ford dealership when he first retired and then he said you know I'm having lots of trouble and that's why he can't be Europe and he said I just want to have the kids here and then get it out of my system and I think when he went back he got into coaching I think my wife follows on Facebook

and I don't I'm not even on Facebook so final one what was the biggest

maybe most memorable life-changing moment you had you can't say marriage you can't say kids what was

when you look back at where your career went is there one thing that sticks out that goes

and if that hadn't happened or somebody hadn't said something, I know when we talked about your mom, I mean, that's obviously a big one, but is there something else that sticks out in there where it just kind of shaped where you went or how you played or... Well, there's, I mean, and it's really, and I knew this was common, but there is no way, and it was a shock for you, you know,

there is no way I could have played without my wife or my kids. Like, like, at the age they were, the road we took, like, without their full support, my wife, especially my wife. Like, can you imagine? No. Like, she could have, like, I remember, and this is by Germany, you know, she had, well, at that time, Daxon would have been six or seven. Chase was just a new, well, he was about a year old.

And she flew over to Germany, like, whatever. 12-hour flight with 15 bags and two kids uh like and and to go into a culture where you know i'm i'm around 20 guys you know she came into a city where it was it was she could probably have her own podcast yeah oh yeah yeah just talk about all the places you dragged her yeah and how she had to survive that you know and it was really like at any point she could said this is this is done this this is done and really at the end I was the one that said like you know I'm I've had I can't do it anymore but without a question right from the beginning without without her I mean she she well she was there all the time she our house was

always taking care she took care of the kids and and you know even the kids like that was a they went through a lot and it and you know when you're in it sometimes you don't really think of what they you know you know I'm not at school with the kids I don't know what happens and um but yeah it would have been it would have been it would have been tough but at the same time it's it's quite a different experience and hopefully when they get older they'll and I think they do already appreciate the different culture than

different life and just know there's more to the world than Lloydminster? Well, Alberta, Canada? Or just appreciate other, because you know, you appreciate certain parts and you should, you know,

there's nothing wrong with with exploring a bit and I've kind of, it's almost kind of a curse too though. You're like, oh gee, you know, what do I do next? Or, you know, you know. Well, I remember being right in that mindset when I first came home.

Yeah. It was, it took a, I don't know about you. Yeah. But for me, when I first planted roots, I put that in air quotes. It was, it was tough. It was probably a year in. And I was like, okay. Which in?

Well, I just, you know, I went to Ontario, Wisconsin, Finland. And then you come back. I was in New York for a little bit. Right. I lived in Minneapolis for a summer or part of a summer, right? Like, you just explore the world and you get accustomed to kind of life on the road and knowing that, yeah, I'm going to be here for a little bit, but I'm going to, right? I'm going to keep and I'm going to bounce. And then all of a sudden, for me and my, you know, for my wife and I, we needed that. We needed somebody to set some words because if we didn't, we were just, we were constantly bouncing. Yeah. And, you know, and then all of a sudden it becomes comfortable, which is, which is interesting too. But in the beginning it was not.

It was an itchy feeling. Like, I'm, I'm ready to, I don't know where I'm ready to go to, but I'm ready to go somewhere. Like, I can handle tomorrow. We just pack up and we go to Honolulu for a week or a year. And then you head on over to the next spot. You head on over the next spot. I'm very impressed you could do it with kids because I, having now, you know, I'm having now, three of my own.

Kids is the reason that you don't, like, love my family, love my friends. But truthfully, kids are what it is like, man, I take three kids and I move across the world or I move anywhere. Now you're going to worry about them, and that's... Yeah, I think it was just, you know, with the schedule of the hockey, you know, because we did, we always had a house in North Balford. Yeah. Like, and that's kind of, well, how I.

I got into the property was in South Carolina. Like I remember because it was the property boom there, like in the 2000, in the early 2000s, late 90s, where that house is worth that? And I was like, oh, my, and then with my dad being involved, and I'd come back in the summertime. I thought, like, basically, they're giving the land away for free in Battleford.

I have a family. Like, well, why don't I just build a, build something, you know? Yeah. So I did it. It basically cost me very little. Like, well, the land was free, basically, because they had nothing to build. And then, yeah, then a little boom hit. And I was like, well, that's easy enough.

So then I did another one, did another one. So now it's something that I enjoy. Well, it's a little different. I don't do it anymore just because I have a full-time job now. So it's kind of, but it was same with the property out in Mioda. Like it's a cabin and but still, we enjoy doing upgrades and stuff out there. So, all right, cool. Well, I have to say, I'm glad I finally got you on.

You know, it took, people are starting to hear this more and more. Daryl Blandowski last week was the same way. It takes time sometimes with guests to get them on. I'm glad you made the decision to hop on. It was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I know I enjoyed myself. We're closing in on three hours.

I can't believe that, right? My bedtime. That's right. But I really appreciate you stopping in and sharing your story with us and having a couple laughs. It's been really enjoyable. Awesome. Noah is it's great what you're doing. And yeah, I'm a fan.

And thanks for having me. You bet.