Shaun Newman Podcast - #9 - Larry Wintoneak

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

Born and raised in Port Arthur, Ontario, he played for the Thunder Bay Twins. He would go on to win 2 Allan Cups and a Colonial Cup.  During his coaching career which currently totals: 822 Junior ‘A’ & 120 Pro as Head Coach not to mention 174 Junior ‘A’ as an assistant coach. He has been through the Dudley Hewitt Cup and twice has reached the Royal Bank Cup finals. Currently he resides in Kindersley, SK where he owns a local fitness center and is the assistant coach of the Kindersley Junior ‘A’ Klippers.  Larry’s thoughts on what he tries to instil with his players “Work hard and compete, never cheat the game, be a good teammate and enjoy it because it goes by quick”  We discuss all this and more on this episode 

Okay, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. I'm very excited to have Larry Wintoniac sitting across from me. For those of you who don't know him, he's a two-time Royal Bank Cup winner as a player, a Colonial Cup winner. In coaching, he had 822 Junior A games as a head coach, 120 pro games as a head coach, and now 174 is an assistant coach. The list of accolades that go to. along with those. I mean, you've been to the Dudley Hewitt Cup twice. You've been in the Royal Bank

finals twice. We can go on and on about your coaching career. It's been impressive to say the least. But I think I sit across from you as a guy in a line of many players who you really showed me things as a player that was, it's hard to put into words, to be honest. I was talking with Jordan Chong on the way here, and we were talking about just the way you taught us about life and made us become men at a time when we needed to be taught stuff like that about competing and showing up and looking, presenting ourselves the right way, and being respectable to everyone. And you as a person, it's a real honor to sit.

across from you tonight. Oh gee, that's a hell of an intro. Like, thank you very much. No, I don't know why this. I appreciate all the kind words and we just came off a banquet here the other night and, you know, there was a lot of good, you know, we have a lot of good kids and I guess the goal as a coach or your job is to, you know, is to make sure that you're teaching those life lessons. It's not always about winning and losing. I've always said that. And I've, you learn that over the years, right? Because the fact that you still got to feed you, you know, when you're a full-time coach, and that's your livelihood,

you've got to put food on the table for your family. And sometimes that winning comes to the forefront all the time, whether you like it or not. But I always thought that beyond that, it's more so the, it goes beyond more than winning and losing, believe me. And if you can help somebody and make them a better, person and make them a better player that's what it's all about yeah absolutely well i was i was i was i was probably written about you i was saying before we got on here i wrote about you in college wrote a

paper on big impactors in my life and that uh finding my way out to driden ontario and having you mentor me for for two years you've always been somebody that um has ranked really high on my list and and so i was always curious where you learned your life lessons for all and how your early life impacted where you went and how you went. So I thought maybe we'd go back to Port Arthur and we could start there and walk me back through that kind of thing and how you became Larry, the guy who you beat a team and you crack a beer open with your eyeball guy.

Yeah, thanks for your minding about that one. Well, geez, again, thank you very much. I don't know. You want to take these life lessons. that you learn, you know, you go back and you, it's, it's from your parents, basically, and born and raised in Port Arthur and we became Thunder Bay because Port Arthur, Fort William with two cities next door to each other, and we became Thunder Bay. And my mom and dad came over in a boat, and both hard workers, and nobody owed him nothing. They thought

they owed, you know, they owed Canada something. And so, They worked and my dad worked and my mom worked and they all had jobs and like multiple jobs. And it's funny because I, we just talk about it a little time, you know, like I have two jobs sometimes, three jobs. Well, I wonder why because, you know, I know my dad, you know, was a lineman hurt his leg. I became a lineman and, you know, kind of followed up footsteps. And but he also had, you know, shoveled snow, right grass. picked up garbage, washed windows, you know, very humble, humble man and just did whatever I take to put food in the table and to enable, you know, our family to do things the recreation way.

And they never had a car, never wanted one. And so I knew how to walk, I knew how to run, and I could run a lot. I knew what transit was. We took the 50-seater or whatever you call it there. He took the bus all the time. And there's a lot of humbling experiences you learn. And you, it's,

those are the things that you learn a lot on how, like how hard. I remember my dad was, he loved baseball, but we would take the, we would take the wagon, and put the baseball equipment on the wagon, and,

and walk probably a mile, mile and a half to practice. And have a great practice at the, at the school yard and then back up and walk all the way home. And on the way home, there's a lot of these little corner stores and we'd have our little ice cream and we'd create memories. My dad was a hard, you know, not a very, very good communicator. Never really talked too much, but he was more, you know,

action speaks louder in words sort of guy. And you learn a lot from that. And so, you know, you just, it's one of those things that you learn. I mean, you know, when you're disciplined, and there was a reason why you were disciplined, and you kind of knew what was right and what was wrong. And nowadays, if you ever did, you know, what your parents, you know, what my parents did to me would be, you know,

you'd be calling, you know, social services, and, you know, it's so wrong. But it's, you know, I don't raise my kids, you know, I didn't raise my kids like that because I knew it was right or wrong, whatever. I just knew that, you know, if I did something wrong, I knew like you was either, you know, the wooden spoon backhander or, or, you know,

on rice for half an hour. Well, that was never too, you know, too much fun, but boy, boy, did you, you knew what was right and was wrong. There was no gray area. And that's, I think that's how I still live this today. There's no gray area. Like it's, it's right or wrong, or that's how I played. That's how I coach and that's how I live. Yeah, that's, we're out eating, we're out eating a BPs before this folks. And I reach over to grab a toothpick and I grabbed myself one and I put into my mouth and Larry looks at me and goes didn't I didn't you wear a letter for me? I'm like yeah he's like what teamwork did I ever teach you right grabs me one gives me a rib right that's just Larry that's that's what you grew up with like yeah

you pull together right you you come together as one and it's been a big big lesson um I don't know It's hard to put into words. Like you come from a different time. Yeah. And I'm still coaching. So, you know, I've adapted to change and I'm willing to change. I want to learn all the time. And I'm pretty good at technology where some guys in my age, you know,

just have given up on it, right? So I don't know. It's always intrigued me. My kids are always helpful, right? they're good to me in that aspect of if I need a question or or or some help in that area they'll always help me out so it's uh I don't know I don't think of it I don't think of it that way I just it's I live one day at a time like you know when you told me you're going to do this like geez I had a lot of memories and a lot of you know like a few tears that were shed

and you know you're thinking about your parents you know like that how why you know like why did they do that like but i would never i didn't know that difference well and what is that like so i that's what i i like about is that that's how it was and i i think it's it was awesome and you know you before you could go out you'd have to go dig the garden like you're digging some potatoes out or you're taking up the corn or you're digging your picking peas or you're pulling carrots and washing them or you're shoveling coal into your base and before you head out if you wanted to do something if you wanted a bike you had to earn it everything you did was you earned it you earned the right there was no nothing given so you didn't

know that and you know because of that um i always wanted like a car or some kind of transportation because you know every that's just the way everybody's doing it and then i i bought a motorcycle and brand new and i bought my a brand new car a 1977 monte car from Nipuon, Ontario, cash. And no, yeah, honestly God, I had, I had, I want to say, was $7,000 in my pocket. And I walked in there and proudering a peacock, and counting out seven grand to the guy.

It was a blue Landau two-door. It was a beautiful car. Like I just rode like a bow day. I just loved it. And I haven't had a new car since, I tell the story here in Kinderly. I finally got a new truck here, and it's been that long. So, you know, sometimes you've got to treat yourself.

So I treat myself when I was young, and now I'll treat myself when I'm old. Did you always love hockey? I've heard a couple different stories of you from back in the Thunder Bay days that you weren't the most skilled player, but you worked your tail off and your grit, your determination, and the way you bought into a team really made you stood out from the pack. Well, I always thought that it's hard to, I couldn't skate with a lick. I worked, you know, like, where I played, like, we didn't have the, you know, we didn't have the money.

So we always went to the outdoor rink, and it was called Fitzgerald Rink, and it was about six blocks away from my house, so I'd walk there all the time. And it was cold those days, right? you know, like you go to the shack, warm up, go back out there, you know, get the shit kicked out of here, come home with, you know, like a, you know, you're playing with a real puck. If you play with a ball, well, you're a pussy, you know, he didn't play with a tennis ball, you play with a real puck. And, you know, and if you wanted that puck, well, then you have to work for it, right?

And if you didn't work for it, well, then you're not going to get it. And, yeah, you'd get pushed around and you'd get slashed and you'd get whatever. and that's just, you know, it's pecking order, right? And that's where you earn respect. And there was, you know, 20, 25 kids on that ice. And a lot of them maybe were 19 and some of them were 14 and some of them were 10. But we all played and we all played for the right reason, not to go after that puck and try to score a goal. So you learn that and I just love to compete. And I think again, it was one of those things. Everything that I did was almost like I went to, you know, the store to buy milk and bread for my mom, well, I would get her to time me.

I, you know, she would time me. So I'd run there, and I'd run back, and we'd mark it down on her piece of paper that she used to keep in a drawer, and that's right where her smokes were. And it was a true story, but I remember one time she did that. She did it right in her cigarette cart in there. And, you know, my, checking my time out and, you know, like, you know, oh, you're getting better, you're getting faster. So I don't know. Is that word came from?

Probably. But you didn't know of that back then, right? Yeah. And so then, like, you grew up playing your minor hockey in Thunder Bay? Yeah. Were you playing, was it? Outdoor, outdoor hockey. Never had the money to play indoors.

We just played outdoor. It was called rec. Was there a different, was it it cost more to play indoor? Yeah, it was minor hockey. You know, just like now, right? Minor hockey, yeah. And you could play indoors and, you know, the artificial ice. Well, we, you know, it didn't matter.

You know, that wasn't going to happen for a few years until I made this one team. But in all honesty, the biggest thing in outdoor hockey and at rec hockey was that it was called the jambrey. So it was a one game shot, right? one game winner takes all. So, you know, there was eight or eight or nine different, you know, outdoor rinks in our community at that time. So we would, we would play and we'd be pitted against, you know, Brent Park or Carrick or Oliver Road. And, you know, there was, or the West End, as they called it, in Port Arthur. And we would play the Port Arthur teams. And so we were Fitzgerald Bruins and we had this, we had the Boston Bruins uniform on. And, you know, I thought it was like,

it was like Bobby or Phil Esposito like all the older guys like Johnny Bucick the chief and so I always thought that that was the greatest thing putting that jersey on and going out there and we actually won one nothing and I scored the winning goal and I didn't even know I scored the winning goal and went off my head or something like that and ever since then like you know you got some aculees

I got the winning goal and oh my God like I was I was a hero you know but to you know like but to my mom and dad I was just there you know, it didn't matter to them. They, you know, I didn't make my bed that day or, you know what I mean? Like, it didn't matter. Like, that didn't matter to them.

It was, it was, you got to work. You know, you're, so that was one of the things you'll learn. She would never let me leave. I always tell the story to the kids that I would never be able to leave the house until I met my bed. And I always like, what, like, what the hell? Like, why? Like, why am I doing this?

And I, you know, it doesn't, you don't get it until after. and I tell the story because when my mom passed away and I would you know a couple of times you know you make your bed and then who do you think of while your mom so I always tell that story so I always make my bed every morning never fails and I'll make it in the hotel if like we're on a we're on a road trip my bed's made and because why well in that you know 30 40 seconds a minute whatever well I think of my mom at that particular time so those are values I think that you know that can that will stick

for the rest of your life and you know like to me that's important a little thing like that but i always tell like guys that i work out with i've got some good stories about that about you know if you don't work out if you don't make your bed you're not working out here or you're not playing for me and what do they say to that well there's a little bit of a there's a little bit of obviously you know um tug a tug-tug-war type of thing but i i honestly got sent the kid home one day because he didn't make his bed because I thought that I really thought that he was really dependent on his mom too much and actually used her which really bothered me you know like just ran her show and he was like 12 years old or 13 years old I didn't understand that so I made him before he could come in I used

to make his bed and I told his mom that and sure enough he started making his bed and one day he pulls up and I'm standing by the door and his mom pulls up with this vehicle and he's sitting there he looks in and he drive away and he comes back and he goes where were you he goes oh i had to go make my bed so obviously it was working it was working absolutely why not isn't that a great story like i think it's great it's fantastic so you grow up playing in port arthur where along the lines do the thunder bay twins come in then? Well, boy, that's a... And is the Thunder Bay Twins, is there a step before that?

Because if there is, we can talk about that. But the Thunder Bay Twins back in the day must have been like playing from Montreal or Toronto or something, right? Like they were... They kept winning Allen Cups and they were kind of the Broad Street bullies of the time, right? You said yourself,

they were the toughest team out there, right? Yeah, it was... We always took the... bus like it was a Fort William Gardens at that time and that had to been at least I don't know 20 miles away 50 miles away from my house so me and my dad would go my dad would get off work we'd have a quick bite and or we'd go we take the bus down to the where the bus is exchanged and we go into the pool hall and have a hot dog and then hop on the main line which was the one that transferred to the inner city which was Fort William so we go right there get a transfer

hop on another bus, so it'd be like three transfers to get to this game. And my dad always, like, he used to work at the Porter Arthur Arena, taking tickets. And I didn't really know that because I was probably too young at that time. I didn't understand that, but that's one of his side jobs. And you love hockey, but he never played it. Didn't understand it. Just wanted to be involved in work and make some money for the family. So anyway, we did that, and we used to go to these games, and I just, you know, this is what I want to do.

like I want to do this like you know I just it was you know at that time there's 5,000 people you know anywhere from 4 to 5,000 people at that rink every game and we used to play the OHA teams like the bear you know Barry like you know Don Cherry talks about a lot of those OHA guys you know well those are the teams that used to come there for exhibition games against us against that senior twins team back in the 80s and always wanted to play there so when I finished junior I only played junior actually one year for mental mic and i told you kind of a brief story about him he was a beauty but uh i learned a lot of him i really did he he was uh he he studied the russian theory on training on fitness and on hockey he was like you know the red army he was a very strict disciplinarian

he would you know like he would pick up puck he would never have a stick and um he had these scars in his face we always wondered why but his battery blew up in his face and he's got these scars and he looks like a Russian, bald head, but this ripped. Like I would say maybe 6% body fat. He would come in and have a whistle around his neck and these gloves. And then if we did something wrong, he'd pick up a puck and start firing a guy, firing at us. And, you know, I was hit a few times with a puck. So anyway, I finally made the team.

It was called The Blades and made that team. Is that junior A then? Yeah, it was Junior A. we played it like Thunder Bay was a little different at that time like it was still Port Arthur for William and it was I want to say there was five Junior A teams in our in our city and very competitive and usually the two best teams of Port Arthur Mars and the Fort William Hurricanes and we had the Fort William Canadians and then we had the the blades so we were kind of like the lesser team you know like and you know I

you know, I don't even remember those, honest to God, I don't remember those games at all. I was probably scared shitless, number one. And number two, I just, you know, like I said, I just wanted to try not get better. So I just worked at it all the time. And so after that, then I knew a couple of guys because I started working as alignment and I got some connections. A lot of the ex-pro guys would come back and get jobs with the city. and they would end up working with us.

So they would end up playing with the senior team because that's what they, you know, they would sign out January 10th type of thing, right? Because they were a good player. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they would come from Europe or, you know, some of the guys would, you know, Gary Venner-Ruzo and Ralph Stewart were two guys

that were very instrumental and great people and helped me kind of find my way in that. And then next thing you know, like I'm going to these camps, I'm going to this, the twins trial, right? So, you know, it was a long time, Newey. And what happened was seven years, the seventh year I finally made it. You tried out for a senior team for seven years. For seven years, yeah, that's true story. Like seven years, I'd always get cut early, like sometimes in November.

How young were you when you first started trying out? Well, right when I was 20, because I could vividly remember, I think it was 27 at that time. And seven was always my lucky number. This was my seventh year. And everybody goes, like, you're just being used by them. And a lot of times I did get through till, like, right to January 10th. But they would take me on the road. And then they would cut me.

Like, they would take me on the road and we would play. And I, you know, and I didn't know why. I just wanted to, I didn't care. A lot of the guys didn't want to go on the road or they were married or, you know, like, I'm not going to the road. We're going to St. Bonifers. It's going to be a shit show and I'll let Larry go hill. So that's how it all transpired. So for your seven years then, Larry, you did play for them during the seven years,

but you were never signed after January 10th. Never had a chance. So I would go back to, we would call it the Commercial League, and our Commercial League was good because we had a cup. We played, like that was kind of like the American League team of the Thunder Bay Twins because they would pick up a lot of guys from that. There was a lot of good hockey players in that. And some guys just thought it was too clicky.

And, you know, the twins, you never get in there anyway. And, you know, like, whatever. Yeah. But they were good. And they, you know, Gary Cook was the GM and he was very crafty. And he knew how to, you know, he knew all the rules. And he was, he was so smart. And he was another guy that I learned a lot of stuff from the GM side of it.

You know, itineraries, meal plant, like meals and road trips. And, you know, all that stuff, you know, What I know today was, you know, because of him and how. So while you're playing, you're a sponge and you're just soaking up everything. Absolutely. I mean, why not? Because I always vividly that. I always looked up, you know, like I was up in the stands, and I,

and I'd watch them play, and they won the Allen Cup. And I go, man, I want to be like, I just want a chance to be there. So every year I just keep trying out and keep working at it. So on the seventh year, you make it. Yeah. They keep you. Like, are you over the moon or you? Cried like a baby.

Cried like a baby. And we all cried. Like Ralph Stewart, Billy McDonald. Billy Mac was the head coach then. I just couldn't believe it. I could not believe they said it. And when I came out, all the guys were cheering, you know, like pat me on the back and way to go, Larry. And it was one of the best days of my life for sure.

Like, you know, at that particular time, you thought, man, this was unbelievable. So there's been a lot of ups and downs in that, but, you know, again, it just tells you never give up, perseverance, you know, so many things could have happened and did happen. Yeah. But I would just never, I didn't know what, no, I wouldn't give in. It just no, no was not good enough to me. I wanted to be, I wanted to be in that team. So, you know, that's a really cool story. Yeah.

Like, I'm just like, you know, being told no and not taking no for an answer, right? Yeah. continuing to show up and put your best foot forward. And I had a family, you know, like just, you know, got married and, you know, starting a family. And, you know, like, there's a lot of things that you have to deal with at that particular time, too. And you have to deal with their job, too, right?

Because, you know, it was a weekend league. It was a weekend league. It was always play in the weekends. But you prok. The way Cookie ran it was, like, pro. And he was a pro guy because he always, he always ran it like Fergie. like John Ferguson Senior, you know, ran his team like in Winnipeg.

Because, you know, that's how that all started, that relationship. And they became friends. And Gary Cook and Fergie became friends. And, you know, and I think this is how it all happened. But it's, you know, those years were great years. And during that time, Sean, what had happened was I also got involved with the junior team, with the flyers with Dave Sissoliano. So Dave would let me come on the ice.

It all started because, of course, I liked fitness. And mental Mike back in the day would get me going, and I would go to the Confederation College and work out, and he'd show me the way. And, man, I liked it. I loved it. I wanted more of it. I wanted to, you know, so I really enjoyed training and all that part of it.

And so Dave approached me one day and said, if you want to help out, you want to be a fitness guy there and you can, so we used to run. They practiced in the Port Arthur Arena in training camp before they moved into the big rink. And I used to run them 5K every day. So we used to practice, I want to say at around 738. It depended on which day. But, you know, sometimes we practice 6.37, you know, right around that time anyway.

And it would still be a little bit light out, but we would run 5K. every day. And I know that a lot of the guys probably, you know, I don't even know guys are listening to this in Thunder Bay if they do great, but I remember those days that we ran there and I'm sure some guys cheated and whatever, but I never cheated. I wanted to be the first guy all the time, right? So I was leading the pack and there were some really good kids that ran with me and... Well, I got to send this back to Bill McDonald because me and him chatted about you. And he said when we get done with us and make sure to send him them the link right and so that's you're making me feel soft right like i remember coming um when i

tried out for you the first time was in laurenge we were coaching there and uh we were doing two a day two days then and i remember the worst thing is my my like gear wouldn't dry so you get like this rash you just like it was like needles driving into your legs right but oh we go and you couldn't stop right these trials we're doing two days and uh but here you are really are really running 5k like every day like I would have I would have been in the fetal position probably back then yeah you would have chewed me up and spit me out for lunch yeah well that's I don't know but that's that's the only way I knew it I didn't I wasn't an expert I didn't you know I didn't wasn't studying it or you know I wasn't going to you know take my education in it or nothing like

that I just just did it so it's kind of like I said to you before like you know all I knew is my dad worked so I didn't know any different right whether it'd be right or wrong or Just do it. And that's how you gain the respect, I think. And so Dave would then invite me on the ice. So then I really learned because Dave was a disciple of Dave King. And he was in Hockey Canada. You know, like Dave was very successful coach.

And he was more the technology guy, the exes nose and very deliberate and very intelligent man. And Billy Mack was, you know, that hard nose, you know, let's go. get him and you know if you're going to lose we're going to show him who's boss in our rink type of thing and but he would get the most out of us a great motivator and and you and you you'd go to the wall you'd play for him like unbelievable like you'd go through the wall for that man so it was so with those two guys and then Dave let me on the ice well that's how he became a better skater because I started to skate more and that's how he's how he that seventh year became true because of all those, you know, those three or four years

leading up to it, you know, practicing with the junior team and getting better, you know, skating backwards and forwards. It was all, it was all important to me. And I didn't know that, right? Until, until. Yeah, well, I've actually been having conversations about how kids in small towns get, how small towns can have really good hockey players, essentially. and we were actually talking about EDAM specifically. And I've been told that EDAM leaves its rink unlocked during the day but locks up, you know, whatever, the kitchen and some areas that you don't want people in but so that kids can go out and skate all day long if they want to, right?

Yeah. And then, well, me and you both know, you're just saying it again, right? And I keep hearing it over and over again, actually, as I do this podcast is, the more you're on the ice, the better you're going to get, right? The more you feel your blades and get to mess around with it and skate front and backwards, the better you get. And I was no different growing up as a kid. I was fortunate. Dad used to go flood the rink all the time by hand.

They used to have natural ice in Helmand. And while he was doing that, we were allowed to skate on any part of the ice that didn't have water on it. So you'd go tearing up the ice on the other side and he'd slowly come and flood behind you, right? And actually, I was just talking to, I got Gord Redden on next week. And Bart and Wade said the same thing, but when Gord would. go down and do the same thing. They have keys to the rank and they go and they go skate, right? Well, by no means of mine, NHL, but I played enough hockey that being on the ice that much helps.

And that's what you're talking about, right? Like, the more you're on, it leads to making you a better player. Because hockey is, well, if you can't skate, you can't play. Well, nowadays, that's so true. But I'll take it a step farther. Like, I know nowadays it's a lot different. but I just think when we played, we just played. Like, I know there was no structure.

Sometimes there's too much structure here. Like, it's just, just go play. Like, just go do your own thing and, you know, like be yourself and go on the ice and whether it be two, three kids or whatever. You know, you don't need somebody. They're telling you what to do. I skate backwards or yelling and screaming and, you know, crossovers. Well, I know how much you love the Amiton Oilers.

At times you can see that in their game. They don't know whether they're going or coming or... Yeah, it's... Yeah, and it's so true, and that's a... You know, kudos to that community to leave the ring open like that. Like, you know, sometimes here we have a problem... You know, we do.

We have... We have a problem if... It's a dead ice anyway. Let the kids skate. Yeah, let the kids skate. Like it... It doesn't make sense to me at times that they won't let guys just go on the ice, you know? But, you know, as a junior coach now, you know, a lot of guys will stay on the ice with you, right?

And we'll just play around and shoot pucks and, you know, just pass pucks. Coming to Dryden was, did wonders for my game because I was a decent hockey player. I always wonder what you get a batch of us young guys coming in, you, Larry, and I don't, you must have been licking your chops as we all walk through the door, right, and we start playing. But the cool thing was, being on the ice every day, makes you a better player, no doubt about it. But there was 15 or 20 minutes before, depending on how early you wanted. And if you could talk the ice guy into letting you skate for a little while after, there was probably 15 and 20 minutes after.

And I always tell the story. We used to, I had a melt carton. And I put it down inside the blue line. And I think it was Bryant Nichols at the time. And I'd pass across to them. And I had to sauce over the melt carton, or melt crate. And I put it at different spots, making it tough. tougher and tougher and changing the angles and the arcs of my saucer pass to him.

Because I've always been the passer. I've always liked the first pass. And I was trying to work on the sauce pass. And that's by no means the best sauce passer. But at that time, those extra little 15 minutes after we practiced where a guy just like shooting and I just kept feeding them the puck over and over and just changing the angles on where I had to put the puck. That makes you, like those little things, half the kids never get because you need the ice time. order for that.

And that was one thing that junior, right, if you showed up early to practice and you wanted to go out early, you could. And if you could convince the ice guy not to come flood the ice for 10 extra minutes, you could go shoot the puck. And those minutes add up, and those minutes when they add up,

create good things. Absolutely. I mean, those are great habits, so. And then the ice guy that ran the rink in Dryden while where I stayed, that was, his mom was my billet. So I always got some pull there. So that was Zilkins back in the day.

And he was a spinner's neighbor there. So we'd always have like a little insight there, you know, if we can steal an extra. And a lot of those, a lot of times we timed it perfectly because they would, you know, it's almost noon. And all the guys, they don't want to flood their ink. It's lunchtime, right? So we kind of, we timed it perfectly.

So that's a good point because a lot of times we'd get done at noon. Yep. And nobody'd come and you could skate for an hour. Yeah. So we timed it properly. and we knew, like, we know what we were doing because, you know, that's free ice, right? Like, and the organization wasn't going to pay for it because we were already strapped for money, so that was enough.

So that was kind of a strategy, you know, we always used. And, I mean, I look even at here, you know, if we can get an extra half an hour, I'm taking it. And I'm sure every coach does the same thing. So it's not just, it's just not us. So you go back to the twins. Let's go back here. You're playing for the twins. So you get kept after January 10th, and that year you go on to win an Allen Cup.

Is that correct? Yeah, in 87 we won the Allen Cup. What is that like? Well, the first year, I never got a chance to really play very many games. Up to the lead up to the playoffs, I did. And it was unbelievable. But that fire was burning inside me because that was the next step, right? Like, I'm on the team, but it wasn't satisfied.

I wanted to play. I wanted to, I always visualize, you know, you look at the NHL, and, you know, when you're about to win the Stanley Cup and you're jumping over the board, it's unbelievable. What a feeling that is, right? So there's a little, it's a little empty feeling when you don't play, because you don't feel part of it. But our team was so good that the guys made you feel good about yourself.

You know, so soon as you come in the room, like you're getting sprayed anyway, unbelievable feeling and the cigars are there and the parties there and the bottom line is that you know unless I told the story who knows it how many games I played anyway like but the ring is important that's what you play for and you play for each other and you're you know a lot of good teammates there and then the second the second year because we went back to back I got a chance to play more and contribute more so it's almost like I you know you fulfill fulfill your fulfill your dream you know and then then the third year we lost we

We're trying for the three Pete. And actually it was called the drive for five. The other two years we won, but I didn't get a chance. I wasn't on the team. I wasn't on the team. No. So it was a drive for five. And we played in, it was in Charlottetown.

And we ended up losing the Charlottetown Islanders at that time. They won the Allen Cup in PEI. And then. PEI had that good of a hockey team? Oh, yeah, they were good. Like they had some, they had some, like, those guys were tough too. Like, you know, you know how it is. Like, you know, like Thunderbury, we thought we were tough,

but some of those East Coast guys were tough too. And they were big. And they had a few NHEL guys, too. And really, like, man, oh, man, we had some good tilts. You were talking off air that the three-fight rule used to be still in back then, right? Yep. And so in these games, are you dusting off the knuckles often? or it kind of depended on the game or that was just part of it?

Well, it was part of it. I think there was no, I mean, you have to be disciplined, obviously. You didn't want to take stupid penalties, but the biggest thing was that, you know, if there was a score to be settled, it was settled. And we policed the game, right? The referees didn't have to police the game. We policed ourselves.

And then I told you the story about warming up. It's like, we used to warm up together. So we'd step on the ice and we warm up together. Not warm up, we'd skate around, and then we'd separate, and then the warm up would start. But a lot of times, the score would get settled then. Like, you know, you'd have a few words with some guys. I know, I know for a fact that I went up to a couple of guys and said, hey, you know, you touch him again. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to bust you.

Yeah, what are you going to do, bust? Well, let's go right now. So we did. So we just, we went. And where are the refs and all this? Well, the referees are having smoke in the room. And they don't, you know, at that particular time, they're puffing on their dart.

And they don't, like, they don't even know what's going on, right? Because nowadays that they ought to be out there and watch everything. And if you're, you know, geez, God Almighty, if your blade, if your stick goes over the red line, you know, like it's, it's so microscoped. Everything's micromanaged and it's, you know, like, whatever. But I just say, like, it was always good when we played because we policed ourselves.

There was no idiots. It brings up, And we were talking about, well, I've told this story to my friends over and over and over again. I don't know how to bring it up other than I can just imagine you guys skating together. But Slapshot and Ogier Ogier Ogo Thorpe, who wasn't actually, it was based off a guy that you knew. Bilgo Thorpe, yep, Porter Arthur Boy, Geraldton, actually. I want to say it was Geraldton, came to Thunder Bay and claimed to fame and he dated my sister. and it was like a where our high school was located right across the street was a psychiatric ward

a big one the main one in Port Arthur and then right across the street from that so it's like a trifecta type of thing and it was a district jail so we had the toughest school and nobody ever wanted to come near us or if you you know you said hey we're from Lakeview or whatever and they'd be going, oh my God, like, that's a crazy part of town. Like, you got the jail and you got... So, anyway, Goldie, that played for the Thunderby Vulcans, like he was one tough cookie. And Willie Trognus played there too, like two pretty good guys,

and Billy McDonnell played on that team. I want to say what they were called, the Port Arthur Mars at that particular time. And I think Goldie got himself into trouble, and then he got to spend some time in jail. So Billy Max's mom would make him a lunch and then Bill would go to the jail

and get him out of jail, give him the lunch and then they go to practice. And at that particular time, Ab Kava, Albert Kava, Ab Kava, Kava, Kava brick. And I'm pretty sure I'm still up and running in Thunder Bay there.

And Rory Kava's his son and myself and the caveman were roommates on many occasions and that would be for another podcast. But we, his dad coached there and he was the only guy that could really control Bill, you know, Billy Goldthorpe and some really great stories like what happens in that dress room. And, and I don't know, like, a lot of times

this is secondhand news or third hand news, but, you know, this is, these are, this is right from Bill Mac and, you know, we used to sit down and have a few beers because Billy was my, you know, like Billy, you know, Billy coach me as my mentor, you know, everything, everything that, that I've gotten out of hockey was because of him and Dave Cisleano. There's, you know, there's no doubt in my mind that those guys have put me where I am today, and I'm very grateful for it. So, yeah, great stories. So, I mean, if you want me to keep going to Goldie, now.

So Goldie, okay, so let's just track back of it. So here we are, like, we lost the Allen Cup, and, you know, we would get four, you know, four thousand, five thousand people. Yeah, like great fans. It was unbelievable. And everybody used to smoke and you can drink and they're, you know, it was crazy.

We had a guy, Wally Pressinger. He went to the New York Ranger camp, one of the toughest men I know, and one of the nicest gentleman I know, like he was a hell of a guy. And I remember he worked at the elevators, because at that particular time we were a port, right? So I think there was about 12 or, you know, at least 8 to 12 elevators around on that Lake Superior Port. So most of the guys worked there because it was great money.

And someone bet Wally 100, box to jump off the top of the elevator. Well, you know how big an elevator. Holy crap. And he jumped off right into the slip. Well, the thing was, he didn't surface because all the sludge and everything.

So everybody was worried, but that's all strong he was. He got out of that and came to his top and was looking for his money. He got a hundred bucks out of the deal. No kidding. So that was another good, good Wally story. But what had happened after we lost the Ellen Cup?

Gary Cook ended up, we went to, we went pro. So Thunder Bay went pro, Bramford Smoke, St. Thomas, Wildcats, and we were called the, we were Thunder Bay Thunderhawks the very first year, right? We played in an act, at that particular time it was called the Colonial Hockey League. So, you know, Flint, Michigan was in it, Muskegon, and Porteague. run. Like a lot of like there's, you know, I think it was a six or eight team league. I'd have to go back and look. But anyway, I was, that's what happened. So when you go, when you go pro, are you getting paid now then? Yeah, yeah. Do you remember what you're making, anything like that?

No, for me, then what, all they asked me to do is they, uh, they said, well, Larry, I don't think you're going to make this team. But we want you to stick around and we can some, you know, because you could fight three times still anyway, so it was a good thing for me. So I became like a player assistant with Billy Mac. Because Billy Mac worked full time. I worked full time, so I made an agreement and became kind of like a player assistant.

So you're Reg. Dunlobbing. Player coaching, not head coaching, yeah, exactly. And we'd play a few times, you know,

here and there. And, you know, Jacques Malotte would come to town, and that's the guy, you know, that's the guy who would have to take care of it. But we had the toughest. team. Like, there was, there was, like we had Bruce Ramsey, Vern Ray, we had Mel Anglstedt that played on that

team. Brian Wells played in that team. We had a good team. We ended up winning in game seven into Fort William Gardens in double over time. Everton Blackwin scored the winning goal. This is for the Colonial Cup. That was for the Colonial Cup. And man, what a, what an event. event that was so it was it was unbelievable to to be involved in that and in the following year what was wait a second see in the colonial cup yeah in the fort william gardens yep which is you're talking about hockey barns that's a that's a hockey rink right yeah that's the ones you go into and you smell yeah and you know it's a hockey rink like flinflon and wavering like i told you before those are the three rinks that i can honestly say when you walk in the rink you smell that it

it smells like tradition, rich tradition. Yeah. So it's, you know, I heard New Westminster back in the day was very, very similar.

I mean, Estevan, when I coached in the yesterday there, Estevan, the old barn there, that was kind of like that too. Yeah.

It was very, very similar to it. But that's the reminder. When you walk in a rink, you knew, ooh, this is a rink. This has got some history.

So you win in double overtime. Like, can you even get out of the rink 4,000 fans trying to get down to you or did they come down or we we didn't we didn't leave actually we I don't think we I think we left maybe at six in the morning yeah the curling club was open and he had a beer gardens there so obviously we went into the beer gardens and celebrated there for all hours the night went back to the dress room and just it was it was it was it was an

all-nighter there's no doubt about it was you know I still have my ring and uh like I said it was when you win, you know, it was three wins or three championships in four years. You know, it's like they, it's like when the oilers won the heydays, the Alleners won their heydays. When you win one, you want, you want another one. When you win two, you get greedy. And that's a good greed.

So we became a juggernaut and not only in the Allen Cup, but also in that United League. And then I can tell you this, like, so then Winnipeg, so excuse me, so the Ottawa senators, became a franchise in National Hockey League. Well, Fergie was part of that group, right? So Fergie was part of the group.

So he said to Cookie, you're going to be the Thunder Bay Senators and you're going to be our second affiliation. The Charlottetown Islanders became the American Hockey League team. So that was my first really gig at going, my God, this is, I think it was Saxton was the owner if I can remember. Do you remember that name?

Anyway, you'd have to Google it. So are you still playing it this time or you're strictly coach? This is coaching now. But I still kind of, I still went out in the ice and everything and played it around. Mac asked me, you know, a couple times if I, you know, you have to go out and do some dirty work or whatever, I'd do it, absolutely, you know. And, you know, that guy that I always had to usually fight was Jacques Malotte. and but you know like because of the you know the French you know we could get under skin

because we call him Jack hey Jack hey Jack and he just flipple it the name is Jack my name is Jack Jack Jack him a lot and he was a stud and like we used to like it didn't matter after the game we'd go at the same bar well he would come in with a fur coat and he had two hookers with a on his both arms one night. And I was so mad at him one night. He was acting up, so I was going to fight him. I was going to fight him right in the bar.

And we've had some good tilts even, you know, off ice in the bar. But the guy's kind of, it was getting goofy because I was raised with my bottle. And I don't know if you know that story. But anyway, it wasn't a very good story. It's just one of those things that have. But all honesty, like Sean, what had happened is we became the Thunder Bay Senators. We moved to day practices. Very difficult now for me to get off work.

Billy Mack ended up being a head coach. But man, there's some great stories when I was his assistant. And he a few times had to work because he couldn't get off. So I had the team down in the states. And I'm a young guy. And man, we had a lot of fun. And one very good story was, like, Brian Wells was a pretty good player. And his brother was the assistant coach in the Western Hockey League for the Brandon Weekings,

because they're from Brandon. And his dad's, they're actually from Regina. And Wellesie got cut from Team Canada, like World Juniors at that particular time. And he was a tough guy, but he played for the paths. And so we ended up getting him, and he was a kook show. But I loved him. And I trained with those guys. we used to do step-ups in the dress room.

That was our fitness. Like I would go at night and Billy Mac could say, stay on and stay with these guys, you do some fitness. So I do push-ups. You know in the dress room. Like, you know the stall. Like, we had no stalls. It was just a bench.

So we'd do step-ups. So we'd do step-ups, jump up and down, and we would try to get ourselves into better shape. Cam Plont played on that team. Still, I want to say he's still the all-time leading assist a defenseman for the Western Hockey, 118, because he played with Ray Ferreiro at that particular time. So Cam was in Europe, came over, cookie signed him.

Man, we had a good team. We ended up winning that year. We're still friends to this day, Cam. He had two boys that got drafted in the National Hockey League. But Wellesie anyway, I remember we were in Detroit. They played in the Detroit Falcons. And this is the facility that they played out of it was where the Detroit Wedwings used to practice all the time.

used to kind of, you know, going the side door and they would proxying, and you get to see Probert and Kosher, and Iserman and all those guys that, you know, that played their idols, they like are guys you see on TV or they're, oh, my God. So, you know, we thought we were the shit, you know, because we were, we, we're playing, you know, hey, you're playing pro. Look at us, you know. So anyway, it was good. And so when I, it was there a scrum or something in front of our bench and then this guy

started yelling. And I mean, just like going off. Like, and he was Russian. and referees are looking and this guy's holding his hand and he's holding his arm I thought maybe

separate his shoulder or something like that and well as he comes over he goes he won't be doing that anymore I go what do you mean I just bit his finger off and he spit it right into our bench and he's got the tip of the guy's finger

in his mouth and he spit it off 10 game suspension for that one but no big deal what do you think they'd do them now for that well that's lifetime I'm bad. Oh, yeah. If you Google his name or if you look at him, like, he was suspended the most.

But there's a really good video on him when he took a stick. Like he just started Tom and Hawk and everybody in the bench on the opposite, opposition. Everybody's hit the deck. The coaches hit the deck. Everybody just kind of, whoa, look out. Like, Billy Mack, like, excuse me, they claim to fame, like in that, Bruce Brudel, Brucey Brugro coached, coached. Muskegon and Billy and Mac and him were going to go at it under the tunnel the one time.

Oh my God, it was the best. It was like those are stories that you can, you don't make those up. That's a true story. Like those guys were, you know, were so intense and our games were so, so, so intense. And we had some really good hockey. There was some really good hockey players because, you know, we were the third affiliates. We had a lot of good young guys that played, and our goaltending was always great. and but because the fact that they moved everything to the daytime, I couldn't do it,

so I ended up going back to the junior, I went to start to sniff around the junior team again, and that's kind of how that really that type of coaching started, you know, with Billy Mack being the assistant there, and then going with Dave Sissoliano and being kind of the video guy and then starting hanging around with them, and then actually I got a head coaching job midway through. that season in 95 with the Flyers and then we ended up winning the Dudley Hewit Cup that year and losing out to Calgary Canucks in the Royal Bank Cup it was in Gloucester Ottawa the Centennial Cup at that time it was called right not the Royal Bank Cup it was still called

the Centennial Cup so 95 like I left the I left the you know the senators and then the centers actually folded and it became the Thundercats then be Thunderby Thundercats So the pro team lost, I think, six years, seven years and won four or five championships there. And then I went to the junior team and then just kept, you know, just hung out there for two years. And then next thing, you know, I got a call. Yeah, and you just kind of glaze over, but you ended up going to a Royal Bank Cup or Centennial Cup. Yeah. So you just walked on a team and you guys were that good?

We had a good team. Like at that particular time, we were in a USHL, correct? Like Thunder Bay was in a USHL. Okay. So, like, we would have, I would say no more, no less than eight scholarships, 10 scholarships to all the D1 schools like Miami of Ohio. Oh, yeah, wow. Minnesota, Duluth, like, at North Dakota. Like, we had the Hoogstein brothers.

They both played for, you know, Ryan Brinley played, Shudy played, Todd Jones played. All these kids that played Bragnello played all D1 schools. And I had, you know, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place and the right time. and man, we had a lot of fun. Cup. It was some really good, some really good players that, you know, that ended up winning.

We won, you know, we ended up winning the league. And then we played, so what it happens is you play in the USHL. We lost the Sioux City, and then we still got to compete for the Canadian national team. So they would have the Dudley Hewitt Cup, as you all, if you were. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When the Dudley Hewit Cup, for people who don't know,

is the Ontario, championship to see you win that you move on to the the national championship like like our you know it's it's like our annavitt cup yeah that's but there's more than there's more than two teams because of you know it's it used to be well Quebec had a team right yeah central central Ontario Ontario northern Ontario and then Thunder Bay and then you get the east the east would play the central like Pembroke usually always went ended up winning out and they would come and they would they would they would come to the and sorry you may have said it where was the centennial cup that year you won uh gloucester in ottawa in ottawa yeah right next to

hall quebec so we had some fun there to say the least well you know what i mean eh it's uh it was some really good uh some really good hockey and like i said I'm just, you know, just very fortunate. There's guys there that helped me along the way, and I could never do it. I'll never forget them for the rest of my life. So 95 you're in, you go to a Centennial Cup? Yep.

And then 96, you're out in Flimflon? Yep. You know what I love about Flimflon is they didn't win Game 7. But if you haven't seen the video of, you can go on Twitter. I retweeted it, I think, or I talked about it. it because they have a video of them leaving flinflon where all the fans are parked all alongside the highway going for game seven this is round two yeah right like game seven they're going to battlefieldford yeah and the fans are just going nuts what was coaching that like

again it's uh you're you're walking that rink and you just know that you're you're in a hockey rink and you look at the pictures and you're reminded right away where you're coming from and everybody asked me I know this one fella's name is Beastie that was this guy right out that was his name he was a rink guy

and first thing he asked me was who's my tough guy you know Flynn Flan is you know notoriously known for yeah for you know some pretty tough teams

and Patty Janelle coached that team so I didn't really realized it. I mean, I knew about it. In 1996, I went through November and Blaine Sautner was already there. Like, Blaine is from Flaxcombe. That's another good story, too, because Ashton's his son.

I train Ashton now. So, Blaine and myself and his wife, Kim, we go a long way. Like, she taught his school there. Blaine was my assistant coach, and he also was a teacher there. and man oh man and harland and fran that's that's that's that's their parent you know that's um you know that's uh ashton's grandma and they're just just great people so it's so funny how that works now i'm training him here in hardcore fitness and in kinders league and you know he's in a national hockey league and here i am again like just you know i don't have any any you know i don't have

three letters behind my name i don't have anything behind my name i just you know you common sense and just let's go to town here let's work hard and I got some good exercises and I you talk to those guys from the you talk to a few of the fitness guys in in in Vancouver and next thing you know like Roger Takahoski you know I'm emailing him we're talking back and forth he's giving me programs give me ideas and next thing you know like you know it's just so weird how it works, right? And they trust me with them and I'm just again, very fortunate to be involved in that. But Flynn Flan really kind of helped me down with kind of the stepping stone. And you want to know about the history. Well, in 57 they won a Memorial Cup. So in 2007, they

had a 50 year anniversary. And that is where it all hit right there because they had that rink was, well, I would have to say there's 2,500 people, maybe more at this. dinner. And at that particular time, like, or sorry, 97, excuse me, not, not 2007. So 97, they had this, they had that event. And then Jerry Hart, Bobby Clark, all those guys came back, Teddy Hamson. Right, because Bobby Clark played for the Flawn, Fawn Bombers. Yeah, a lot of time. Yeah, I got some great pictures of myself and Bob in a dressing, smoking a cigar, very hard. Jerry Hart was another man that and Calhamman were two gentlemen like Cal was kind of like he was the he was the goofball he was with the like he was the goalie that back then for for for Clark Clark's team and

him and Heather really helped me out you know got me settled at that particular time I you know I you know it was it was some good really good times with with those people and they've they've you know we've kept in touch ever since and jerry's let me stay at his cabin with my kids there and you know it's just a beautiful sitting in the summertime but all that's all because of all because of flimflina what you do and i realized how much history and tradition there was and of course me i'll just chew that up and i'm not going to let that go and we've got some good uh some good stories about that coming home from a if you lost four games or whatever i would i would line the guys up and um we get off the bus and we're going to have a little bag skate before they go home to their billets,

which you probably can never do anymore. And every time they stopped, they have to face the retired sweaters. Because, in my opinion, we didn't live up to our standard. We embarrassed the bomber jersey. And whether you say it's right or wrong, a lot of guys probably didn't like that. but I think today still they'll tell you that story and it really wasn't about the punishment it was about the history and how important it is

to wear a bomber jersey so I probably did it the wrong way but at that particular time I thought it was the right way so I mean you live and die by the sword right and that's just the way it goes and talking about tradition and history what's the story behind the moose like well

like the moose leg came out I can't remember what year it was but it was part of that every time you went in game someone would throw the big moose leg on the ice yeah yeah yeah yeah and so we would go we would take that moose leg and put it in the center ice

and then we would salute the fans right tap the sticks three times and that's something I always thought that was important we did in thunder bay and I wanted bring it in flin flan too and i don't know if they did it prior or not i'm not i'm not sure but i know that that stuck that you know and that everybody does it now right but that was one of the things that we did that a lot of teams uh didn't like because we you know we would they thought it was you know

we were you know we were bugging them and probably our guys were chirping them obviously it's hockey right like but we were saluting our fans and we appreciated that moose lake so as you will while I were I think it was a couple years ago someone from Weyber I saw that Weaver took it and it was a rodeo it was ugly it was ugly and just YouTube that yeah YouTube's a video of Weaver and trying to get off the ice people were just like yeah and that doesn't that doesn't work so I mean you you you understand that history and I always remember that there were some tough tough games like I remember Bob B. came up there on with Humboldt and it was really cold

that weekend and we beat him and whatever and Bob Their players are acting goofy or whatever. So Bob goes out to the bus and they're not moving. Why not? Well, the fans painted, spray paint at the windshield black. Spray paint of black. Can't get it off. Can't drive.

You're staying overnight, boys. So there was a lot of stuff that went on like that, a lot of gamesmanship. Yeah. that were, you know, that was a whole nice advantage. And I, we had a couple of kids from Fort St. John. And there was a sign up in the rafters. Welcome to the zoo. Don't feed the animals.

Wayne Cartusche at that time was the president. He didn't really appreciate that. But we weren't taking that down because it was a big sign. It was, it was like, and we were tough. And Nathan Waberski. And at that particular time, you know, 316, you know, Steve Austin. Well, it was 316, Waberski.

And, man, oh man, we had some, we had some good teams in those, in those years. And the year that we hosted the Royal Bank Cup, that would have been 2001, yeah, 2000, 2001. We had way to hell of a team. You know, we Nip won't beat us in the, in the semifinals, the upset us.

Actually, they had a good team too. We just didn't play up to our, to our standards, but we had some really good players, and Todd Horning played for us. And I told Danielle the other day that Todd Horning, I didn't want to say it was a third round pick of the Washington Capitol, was a Wanda Memorial Cup in Portland with Hosa, and we had him for the Royal Bank Cup for his 20-year-old year.

Oh, wow. He was a horse, he was stud, fight, everything. And so this year, We listed as his boy, and now he's skating with us there in Kinderly. Oh, really? So that's how far this has come. So Todd Horning one time, and now his son's. No, his son.

Now he's skating with us. So it's pretty cool. It really is. It's something that I would never. Man, that town must have been on fire, like a buzz with when a Royal Bank, the National Championship goes to Flynn, which is what, a town of 5,000? 5,000.

5,000. Mining community, Hudson Boney and Smelting. Right, like, it's... Surrounding area, you probably have eight because there's snow leaking. But there's, you know, like you're six hours from Saskatoon, 4 to P. That's unreal. Four to P.A. So you are isolated up there.

And you have to be have a special, you need a special breed of, you know, of a player to go up there. And it was good. We, we, a lot of these guys, like, you know, they have married. guy, you know, like I actually Todd married a girl from, from, from, from flinflon too. Yeah, so it does, it does show you that, you know, there is, there is a lot of connections there,

and it's just, it goes back to your roots, how much history. And Mike Reagan, who I coach for four years, they're still coaching there. All right, so I coach Mike for four. He ended up going to Sacred Heart for a full year, full, full scholarship. And he always lets me in the room when we go up there and he's done a magnificent job of keeping that tradition going and you know just their dress room and just to go back when we had that 2007 our what had happened was we were planning and doing a refurbish of the room and so the the alumni actually I can't remember how much money we raised but we raised enough to build a new a new dressing room okay so that was the cool part of it and of course then we got a chance to host the royal bank up and that and you know we we

beat wayboring in game and in in the semifinals for nothing and uh we were playing cameras the next the next day and uh i remember uh you know mac you know Dwight mcillon there's no way he was going to you know he wasn't leaving the ice without trying to stir the pot or getting suspended. And I'm yelling. I guess you can't fight, you know, and we're getting mauled, and we're getting slashed and cross-jucked, and it's everything we can not to retaliate back.

And the referees are doing a good job, and they actually, you know, they tossed a few guys out. And they finally tossed Mack out. So, true story. So Mac goes off the ice, and he's walking off the ice, and he salutes the fan with both his fingers. Some guy throws a full Coke can,

nails him in the head, and knocks him down. Knocked old Mac down on the ice to one knee. It was amazing. And the fans, like, that was the loudest I've ever heard the Whitney Farm at that particular time. It was 2,300 people there. It was loud.

And, like, the game was on TSN, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And we had to, we got there about, I want to see 11 o'clock or something like that. I think the game was won because he had to, you know, TV stuff. Yeah, yeah. So it was very similar to what you just said, like, you know, the Fans of the lineup. That, there was about a thousand fans there. And the best part about it, they used to have the beer garden.

It was called the Bomb Shelter. Full. Fantastic name. It was unbelievable. So we had like $2,300 there and another, you know, another $8,900 inside that Kernan Club in the bomb shelter and a TV set up. It was an unbelievable. So when you walk down that, you know, it was an unbelievable. So when you walk down that.

that path to your restroom, you can just hear, you could hear the fans, go, bombers, go, go, bombers, go, and the horns and everything. And that was like two hours before the game, and it was just so electric, eh? And unfortunately, you know, we lost to Camrose, and they had a good team that year, too. And it was a, we had some really good chances in the first period, and we didn't bury, and that was a difference, and they ended up beating us. So, a great experience, and I would never, ever, you know, give up a day of, of, that for sure because it again it made me a better not only made me a better coach

made me a better person for sure yeah all right we took a quick little break there to catch our wind but we're back now your nice beer that's right we we didn't want to crack them on air so respect respect that's right so you're learning that's right we left off at the flimflound bombers but while we were off there I had to show Larry so the two years we're gonna hop to when I was playing for Larry out in Dredden we we were just looking at it was my first season playing for Larry we're in we're in Fort Francis playing Borderland Thunder and I just pulled up on YouTube there's still footage of it it's pretty poor but you get the picture we had a

bench clearing brawl and I was talking about with Chong on the way here and he his favorite memory is you Tomahawk and a stick Dave Allison and the bench right and if you watch the video it's just it is absolute mayhem there's 20 guys fighting 20 guys the coaches are fighting the trainers are fighting heck the fans are coming out like it's absolute mayhem well yeah jami davis's dad actually came on the ice trying to protect this kid there that was kind of ugly and i think dave to this day still thinks it's our fault but you know if you if you really look at the video um we didn't have the last change he puts his his slugs out there and you already, oh boy, we're going to be in trouble here.

So that's when I turned and after it all started and I just kind of harpooned that stick at him and then. But it was far enough away like, you know, the benches weren't right next to each other. It was a pretty good toss. And then he came over and started, you know, started chirping me or whatever. And he got close enough. And then we went at her. And then the fireworks kicked off.

Yeah. And I thought, like I know that, you know, you know, you know, hot Carl, as we call him. Like, he got a couple of good shots in it. I know I got a couple of good shots in him. Because the next game, when it was all said and done, no matter which way you look at it, and I tell the story all the time, like,

like, I don't know, five, six real good shots on Allison, and then what had happened was, like, he was a big guy. Like, you don't remember he was in a national hockey. Like, he played. Like, he played in a lot, many years. And he was, heck, he had.

a little stint with the senators you know and that's the kind of the pat you remember like you're talking about the son everybody's senator well guess what you know so he was he was part of that group anyway he was a bigger guy there and we kind of i was in between the boards and the bench and we just kind of toppled over and he toppled on top of me and i thought oh boy and he was just leaking and he goes i'm going to kill you and uh and uh So I have a straight arm, my left arms out, and I'm just, I'm hoping he's trying to punch me and I'm holding him back and he's just leaking all over me. Like there's blood coming off his nose. I think we, either myself or Kev will busted his nose up.

And he won't admit this, of course. You know, Dave will always say, I beat their shit out of you, but he didn't. The only way he beat me was he took, after that, he took the medical cancer. it which was metal and hit me in the head with it a couple of times and then thank god spinner came down from the stands and he and probably the third time he's going to hit me and del grabbed the grabbed it from him and and that was it and he got off of me but man that was uh i've never i've never uh had fear like that before like i i took it took everything for me to hold them off because i was on the bottom and he was on he had to be in about 240 250 and one thing about Dave too he was always

a character guy like he was a character guy no doubt like I we always got along like he'd always invite me to the room and have a shot of whiskey before the game like it was kind of like you know jerry James and and Dwight McMillan before games would you know line line things up before the game would start between wayburn and Estevan right always or they'd have a shot of whiskey and they okay why who's starting here it was very similar to that but it was ugly. I mean, let's put it, let's be, you know, like, it wasn't the greatest thing, but it sure did,

I think it really, you know, bonded our team together, and whether we win or lose it, it was something that we stuck up for each other and stuck up, we weren't embarrassed, that's for sure. No, we had the toughest coach in the bloody league, right? Like, I don't know about that, but. I saw it first had. That was, that is a story I will never forget.

And we had Dryden had their alumni game when they hosted the Dudley Hewitt here this past year. And I got sitting around with a couple of guys that were part of that game. And it's almost like surreal to talk about it, right? Like, you did what? Okay, sure, yeah, whatever. But then you pull up the old footage of the YouTube video of it. Right, and you want something to look at. It isn't great quality, but search Fort Francis or Borderland Thunder brawl with Dryden Ice Dogs.

Something along that lines are Fort Francis Brawl with Dredden Ice Dogs. And you'll see it. It is like straight at some movie from the, like, it's pretty much Slapshot, right? Like that's what it was. And that happened early 2000. Like it was. We got, I think we got two games for that. So not bad.

And I remember, because we went back, we had to play the next night, right? Yeah. In Dryden. And so we were both suspended. And Dave walked in with sunglasses and hat on, you know. It was pretty funny. And I just, I was the same guy.

I just had a, a welt in the back, like on the top of my head because from the, I think I got about four or five, I want to say. I don't think of speaking at a turn here in Larry. When I tell the best part about the entire story is getting back on the bus, right? We get back on the bus, and all of us are sheepers. We've just been through a bench clearing brawl.

We're sitting there going like, I don't know. I don't know what's about to happen. Larry gets on. He's bleeding from everywhere. He's got a nice pack on his head. And he goes, boys, that's all time hockey. And he's all, like, jacked up. And he's just, like, pumped him.

We're all right, yeah, yeah, right? I think we beat him the next game to be completely honest. Yeah, we did beat him the next game. Then we lost the last game. Yeah, like I said, those are things, how can you get anybody heck for that? Like, we stuck together, and that's what any coach would want that for their player. And, you know, it's out of fear, too, right, for a lot of those young guys that, you know, like, you know, Davis, like, he took a beat. You know, he's not a fighter, that's for sure.

And then, of course, they're tough guys beating on him, like, he's, you know, so. You know, it's one of those things that happened, and it's another great, you know, another great. story another great memory that you know we've created through uh through the greatest game in the world oh god i got i should probably go back and uh bring up the oh two uh dry nice dogs when you guys win because i know there'll be a few guys who played on that team that are listening they that was the video i saw the entire time i was there because we uh didn't end up winning it we we did get to a Dudley Hewitt, but the team that came before us, you came in part way through that season, correct?

Yeah, I was just telling Daniel that. They phone, like, Daryl called me, I think around on January the 28th, and I was still, I was still in Flynn, Flun, and actually it was the funny story. I was substitute teaching. You were substitute teacher? At the public school, and I was a physette teacher, because I don't know what happened in the because that teacher, too much stress or something. So I went in there, and I was their teacher.

So I thought that was the greatest thing on earth because Dan Reagan was the superintendent of the school division, and they didn't have anybody to take over. So why not Larry? Like, really, like, you know, he's a coach. He knows this, you know, so I loved it. And the best part about it is my kids were still there, right? So Devon was still, I want to say Devon was in grade one maybe at that particular time,

but I remember all his friends just, they clinging on my leg and, you know, they just loved me to death. They was funny, like, oh, Larry's go, oh, my God. And then Veronica's class, and then, of course, Walker's class was there and all the boys, we just play football and hockey, and it was kind of a gong show, but we just had fun. And we just, you know, the kids, when they finished phys ed, they were just sleek and sweat. and so true story and that again it tells you something that they you know they trusted me to do something like that and I really enjoyed it and I became uh you know when you coach sometimes they don't people don't know you until you live in that community and I've never ever ran away from something that something that you know I've I've

I've been fired I want well I've been fired five times but four times from from junior A and for one reason or the other, but I always stick around the community. I always, you know, was part of the part of the community. I never ran away. And, you know, I wasn't going to hide or scared. You know, I needed to fend for my family, so I had to get a job, you know, I had to find a job.

And so I drove the shit truck, true story, out in, out in Flynn, the guy gave me an opportunity to work there. And then I worked at the school division. And I also worked at the rink. They gave me a job at the rink. So I also worked at the rink driving Zamboni And then that's when Dryden called me there in February Actually it was January 28th

Daryl called me and then February 1st I went out there And I didn't know what the hell was getting into But I came in there and we ended up winning the first game And then or maybe we lost the first game And then we ended up winning 14 in a row after that It was unbelievable It was an unbelievable run we ran through the playoffs We didn't lose.

We won four straight, four straight, and went to the Dudley Hewitt Cup. And we won the Bill Salonan Cup at that particular time. It was called, and he was a fine gentleman in Dryden that the cup was named after. And it was, I remember the game-winning goal. It was unbelievable. We beat Fort Francis, and it was, oh, man,

it was battled him in that rink. I still have the video for it, and it was, you know, Mike Abilene did the, Yeah, did the broadcasting and tremendous job. And he still does it, does a great job out there. Yeah, he does. He's unbelievable. And he's a good man.

And, yeah, so that was another, another good story that we created. And we went to Dudley Hewitt and lost the race side bell for, who had a lot of O.HL guys overage. Yeah. I think at that particular time you could have 10, well, I think it was unlimited 20-year-olds. And I want to say they had 16 or 17, 20-year-olds in her team. Holy crap. But if you can remember going to dry and like the budget was very limited,

like we would tape our, we would tape our socks with electrical tape or we did whatever it took. We didn't, we didn't care. Like we were, you know, I made sure that the guys knew that there were something, but we're underdogs and it's good to be an underdog and to go into that type of game. I tell the young guys I remember, it's maybe one of the few places that I had. Not unlimited sticks I could break because that isn't exactly true, but it was wood sticks, so you had to do something to break your stick, right?

So it was pretty much unlimited sticks. But by the midpoint of the season, all the good curves that everybody wanted had been taken. So all that you were left with were them frigging Crosby curves that nobody wanted, except for odd bill or something, right? And he's like, oh, yeah, I can put it over the glass. It's like, it makes no sense. So we'd have to take the heat gun,

stick it under the door, and try and make something out of it. that thing and young guys don't even understand that anymore yeah and there'd be larry sitting there at his little little desk what do you need i need a stick larry how did you do with your last one um i broke it i didn't see you break it you sure you broke it there was like you were under question locked the key and there was a hundred wood sticks just sitting there and you had to make sure and then larry give you one okay don't break that we got we got like four more months to play here we need that stick to last okay larry yep make her last.

Yeah. I mean, it's, it was a shoestring budget, but we had, we had, we had some really good people

in that community that was still really good people. Yeah, you know what I mean? That would go, like, would throw money in just because, you know,

and I know that, you know, Zatries did a lot of, a lot of legwork there for, for us and, you know, is this one of those things, again,

that you, if you treat people right, and if, if you work hard, they see that and they'll help you out. And they helped us out a lot. And I know Spinner did a lot for us, you know, throughout that year and, you know, getting us stuff and we were kind of shysters, but we had, we had, and, you know, it is, it's true.

Like, you're coming from the SJ, you got all the connections anyway, so you might as well utilize them all and try to get, you know, try to get the best. But our dressing room, as you can, you know, a lot of people, you know, a lot of kids would never would never go to Dryden just because of a dress room. But it's not all because of that, right? It's the guys that you get. And when I can go down on a list of names, but geez, we have some character kids there that worked hard.

We had 10 Saskatchewan kids, a couple of Alberta kids. Remember that kid Chevy? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, with Chong are from BC and, uh, Cowboy and from Calgary. I think it was great from Calgary. We got them.

But you just do your homework. And a lot of those kids weren't wanted in another area. Well, that's what we all kind of called ourselves. Pretty much the misfits. Yeah. Well, for sure, the second year. But even in the first year, right, we were a bunch of guys that got kicked around from every league and wound up and were Larry's misfits.

And we put together, while our first year, we, like I think we were saying, I think we were 23 and 23 somewhere around there, lost first round. It was the second year that we made to Dudley Hewitt. And we had a heck of a year that year. We were really good. I mean, it ended up being Fort Francis, or not Fort Francis, Fort William North Stars, Thunder Bay there.

They were, I just remember we were playing the North Stars in a game. I think it was before Christmas. And we were a tough team. That was, like, that was, Fort William was. tough team. We were a tough team. And we sent out, we had a line brawl, and it was a shift after that. We had another three guys go at it. And you're leaning over the bench looking at Howie, Howie, going, keep sending them. We got guys that want to go. Keep sending them, right? And howie, maybe the only time I saw Howie kind of look a little like, I don't know if I got any more

guys to go, because we had eight of our, we had eight tough, like we had a tough team that here some guys that could really chuck the knox and there were some good and there were heavyweight fights at that time uh man those are those are good days i'm hoping dryden'll do another alumni game here at some point because getting back there and just visiting those people and being back in the town and i never had the opportunity to win there but uh you know spent three years of my life there's a there's a lot there and it was a lot of fun and a lot of good memories yeah well when you especially your billets you know you're they take you in as uh as your own you know their own son and and and you know that's that's where you grow as a person and as a young man and we've always said

that like you're you know we're gonna we're gonna take your you're gonna take your boy and we're gonna make them a man you know so usually three years it it does make a difference for sure in your life and and these stories are great like who would ever think you'd have a podcast here and you'd even have me on here. You know what I mean? It's it's something special and you know that you when I I remember when we we we thought you were available so we we made some calls and he said yeah you know take a chance then we need a guy we need a guy that can you know on the back end and he's a little smaller guy but he's feisty and he's he works hard and he's you know he's a good, he's a good SaaS kid.

So of course, you know, but the roots that I've, you know, that you know that SAS kids are good, hardworking kids that we took a chance on you and we met you at the old Husky there and got to set up and had a little bite to eat and then the rest is history, really, because, you know, like you've made some good friends throughout the course of time, you've kept in touch of them. And I don't even remember, I can honestly say

some of the players that I got, I don't remember how I made the trades or whatever, how that worked, but even Royce and those other kids that we picked up with. Yeah, we had A.J. Royce out of Connecticut. I can't remember how, like, he told me, I remember, like, I can remember sitting there and him telling me, but now I can't remember how it came that he came there. But he came from Somerset, Connecticut, I believe.

Right. But I had some connections in Saskatoon, and that was my old, my, my, my, old scout and we got some kids out of that area and then ended up Ronnie rumble gave me a call I talked to him one day and he goes they had a defense mayor local kid Dale logo and we picked him up and so again you know there's some good good kids there that never really got a chance to play there and they found a home in Dryden and I think that's important and you know we created our own memories and we

created a pretty good a pretty good hockey team there that too many teams who want to wanted to tango with us. I was looking at the Pelney Minutes earlier. They were like, I think Breer had like 30080. We had Luke Leveck. Luke Leveck. I forgot about Breer. Yeah, we had Luke Levick and Lucky Luke and, you know, and Liam Walker, actually, you know.

Yeah, Liam Walker, yeah. Teshire and Mack, like out of Flinflon, right? Ryan McKinnon. Ryan McKinnon was a good guy. And so, yeah, there was some good. But Real Assey, remember him? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Real was a foot soldier for us.

Quinn McIntosh. Quinn McIntosh. You converted to a defenseman. Scotty Klein, Quinn McIntosh. Yeah, because he's a right-handed guy, smooth, smart, go at the puck. I remember he was nervous to come back with me because he was my defense part and you put him back with me. And for the first little bit there, he was nervous and I just kept laughing. I mean, he could skate so well, right?

Yeah. And you can skate like that. I got to do is keep your head up and move the puck and you're fine. Yeah, no, he was, like, everybody had a roll. I'm not sure about, like, the only other guy I remember, like, Dustin Hildebrand. Hildebrand. Yeah, where he? I actually don't know where Held he went.

Yeah, so he was another guy that I remember. And, of course, Chevy was a beauty. Didn't he stayed at Shaggy's place? I can't, I can't remember. That's a long time ago. Yeah. I just remember. Yeah, local boys were good, you know, like,

we had some good local boys and it was pretty good like we had you know B Mac and we traded that year we traded and somehow got Zatchery back in that and Zatch was I always say like if he was in shape

and wanted it like he was one of the best goals if not the best goal I ever played with like he was he'd show glove he'd leave this like to the best scorers in our league he'd leave this big like any I could score there and then he'd just throw out the mat

like on clockwork it was so fast boom and then he just waved it in front of him right nothing phased him he was a feisty guy he had some he had some showmanship yes he did yeah he had some showmanship but again like you know we you're real there's a guy's in and you get him to to understand like you know you're not you're not here that's not the reason why you're here like you're here to you know to be a good good teammate and i think you understood that and matured as a player of a person and you know all those kids will remember that you know it's just it's just part of the part of who you are and you start to mature as a player and become a good a good team and that's a characteristic that you're looking for okay well we just hit an hour and a half so i got a couple

of yeah i know you're doing so well though i thought i'd ask you a couple quickfire ones because you've coached now what do we say 25 years something like that and you've been around the game for a little longer in that. So what era did you enjoy the music in the dressing room the best? Probably the 90s. The Metallica, the ACDC, not the techno

stuff that's going on right now? Like right now it's like I cringe at times. Like how are you getting fired up for that? Like it's just mundane and it's just the same beat and it's like I don't mind like some dance music or whatever like I'm, you know, because I

run the gym, you know, you have a different, you know, everybody's different, right? So different areas. The 6 o'clock class likes old rock, the 7 o'clock crew likes, you know, a little more hip-hop, the other, the other crew likes country. So you get used to all the music all the time, but some of the stuff that you listen to now, like some of the guys in the room, like I, I purposely kind of go in there sometimes I'm going to go take a leak or something. I'll just click it off or turn it down, hey, what's going on? And so we have some guys that are like old souls.

So they'll throw the ACDC back on and some good Metallica or Rolling Stones or whatever. Or, you know, like even like some of the stuff that we, you talk about and they go, who? What? What are you talking about? And then as soon as they hear it, they go, oh,

that's pretty cool. That's good. I like that. So yeah, probably the 90s. Okay. Best fans. ever had. I'm a fan guy. I've always said that I would rather live in the cold but have crazy fans than be in San Jose and get to walk in the dressing in my shorts. Well, I, I'd have to say like Flynn Flan, Thunder Bay, cuckoo's. Yeah. And then I, when we had a run here in 08, man, we had a good crowd here. It was good. A lot of fun. And the difference here was they had this,

like because of the clippers they had the air um you know they had this plane every time we score goals like this like this dust cropped or this you know would come down like a b52 bomber not a jet but a like a bomber right and then everybody would just kind of stand up and then do the an airplane like with their hands out in the air and they would tilt you know back and forth and it was it was amazing and it was good it was packed like we had some good runs, you know, and even even after the rink, like the other rink burnt down there, and then we went to Esten, our fan base, like, you know, it was sold out there, and we were in the finals there, too, against Yorkton.

So there were some really good, really good times and really good fans here in Kendersley, and they're starting to come back, I want to say, and they had a great, it was called the Peanut Gallery, couldn't beat it. and as a visiting team it was fun to come to to Kenner's Lee because he had that peanut gallery you knew something was going to happen. You knew it. There was a fishing line with a chicken

coming out in the ice and then you're trying to hit it or they've got it up above the ice and you're trying to whack it with your stick and they'd be teasing and pulling it back yeah it was a lot of fun and like you know and that's the character that's a difference nowadays

you know a lot of people to sit on their hands We still have, like they've got the, you know, they still throw the moose leg on the ice, and we throw the up, you know, they still have the octopus coming on the ice. That was going to be my next question. What's the craziest thing you've seen thrown on the ice? I just went through a Saskalta final here in senior Hillman played St. Walberg. And any time, it only happened right at the end. Anytime Walberg scored, they threw a fish of some sort on the ice.

And I guess it goes back to the old days. And so word of that got around Helmand. so Hillman started throwing out a frozen muskrap. And so there was a pro, them ref didn't want to pick it up. It kept this muskrap kept flying out on the ice every time we scored. That's awesome. Yeah. So it's squid or octopus here and the crew, like the referees kind of look at each other or the linesmen.

And they don't want to touch it. Well, the youngest guy's got to go. I'm not touching you touch it. But sometimes you throw it on it at the right time too, right? Because you need a time or something. So they're smart, you know, because you can't. throw pennies out there anymore. Kevin McCallum told me a story

about the pennies. Do you care to share some insight on the old penny? I mean I've did it all my again like you learn from other people right there was always money to come flying out all the time and that created a you know like he needed a time out or something so there'd be always pennies or nickels or something flying. Kevin McCallum tells me the story. He says that you told

you got to have pennies on you at all times. Oh yeah. Because if we run out of timeouts and I need a time out, you're going to throw pennies on the ice and I'm going to turn around and yell at the fan and scold them, right? So then they've got to come and pick up the pennies. While they're picking up the pennies, we can have a quick little huddle and catch everybody's breath. Exactly. But Kevin says the only time we ever did it, he whipped him at a guy in the Fort William in the gardens of Thunder Bay and hit this big six foot seven linemen right in the back and he just walked over and said, Larry, I'll pick up the pennies.

Stop yelling at the fans. It's okay. Well, he's got a good memory because I'll remember that, but that's probably a true story. He also tells one of, you call it time out when you're about to pull the goalie, and you always had to have a broken goalie stick on the bench. You care to share that one?

Well, I've always thought the philosophy was you carry, you could take that goalie stick, and you give the goalie the broken stick, when you pull them out, you just leave it, you just kind of drop it because it's a broken stick, right? But the goalies can play with a broken stick as you know now, like they can, right? Yep. But we used to, you know, if you wanted a timeout or something like that, they just give them

a broken stick. But a lot of times we get, like we even try with Zatch to lay the stick right in the crease and then leave the net, like just drop your stick and then come to the bench. So they got caught one of that, and then, you know, that, that, those are rules that you always can, that's have been changed because of guys like us that can, you know, that can manipulate that. And until they change it, well, hey, you know, you're not trying if you're not cheating. What era of player would you want to coach? Because now you're coaching the millennials, I believe,

they're called. Was there a group of kids? Because, I mean, you've seen it all the way since the, well, they wouldn't have been born in the 90s, but you were coaching in the, the 90s all the way through the 2000s now into the is there is there well the game i always i always hear and the reason i i should preface it i always hear now from coaches that the kids these days are tough to coach and i don't know hey i haven't been through 20 years of coaching is there a difference did you enjoy coaching 15 years way more because of different things or are the kids all the same well you have to change i think that's the biggest part of it you got to you need to change like you're, yeah, kids, they're different. Absolutely, they're different. I mean, how they're,

raised is everything's different than, you know, it's more, I don't know if it's an entitlement or not, that's what, you know, that's what everybody says. It is, I have no problem coaching these guys here today. Like, I, I like, I like this group, too, just as much as I like the other group, but because you're not able to do things, and it's, like I've told you before, the game is so micromanage. It's sad. And that's why you got a lot of fans that don't like the game anymore, because it's just too micromanage. Every rule, everything, you can't do this, you can't do that. You know, like there's more, it's, you know, like, and I get it. You can't call the, you know, can't, you know, ethnics and all that stuff that you got to respect that now.

Yeah. Before that didn't happen. So whether or not you call a guy chief, well that's you know that hurt somebody's feelings but when I played and when I coached that didn't really mean that that wasn't that was their nickname they they didn't think nothing of it that was part of who the are so somebody down the road didn't like that and can't call you know can't call your you know player chief because he's you know he's an Aboriginal from you know LaRange well we always did that like that's that's part of who we are and nobody complained about that, you know. It's a, it's change in that direction, so you got to really watch what

you do on the ice and you can't, you know, you're not supposed to swear and so that part bothers me to player-wise. I still think I can get the best out of every player the same way. It's different motivation now, different tactics, right, to use. And it's all about, you know, like, yeah, you never, never give up, right? I don't know, there's no other way of saying. I just got to keep pushing through it. You got to persevere and you just got to battle. But the kids that we coached like in your ear and like when Chonger and those guys, that was fun.

That was a lot of fun because you could, you know, you could settle the score. The battles were battles. You know, it separated the men from the boys pretty well. And a lot of the young, a lot of these young guys. that don't have any nuts, you know, will dive. You know, the diving really bothers me, the embellishment and referees buy into it. And that's not the way, to me, that's not the way the game should be played.

And we talked about Ted Lindsay, you've seen the picture in the room there. Like, that was my dad's favorite player. And I told us at the banquet is that that was my dad's favorite player. And he always told me, he said, you know, like one thing that Lindsey always said is, you know, he never cheats the game. never cheated the game and my dad always told me it's like that's who that's what you know i want you to be like that so you know i always remember that and so guys like that that never cheated the game and played hard and was an honest player and you know you could you could live

with that but for the guys that are diving out how do you live with yourself like that i i don't i don't understand that and the you know fake any injury and that bothers me and i would in all honesty, I'd probably call a guy out today for that because I don't think that's right. I think that the game has got a lot of integrity. And if you're going to disrespect that integrity of the game, it's like your name, right? Like another life lesson has never never embarrassed a family name. And if you're, that's not your name. You got to earn that name. You got to earn that name. your grandfather, your father, and the previous, you know, men that have, you know, established your family name is important. So those things, I think, are good values to teach kids nowadays that when you start diving around, that's your name that you're, and that's not, that's not, we don't do that in kindergartenally here.

And all the players know that. I'm not into that stuff and most guys know and if they do it I might pull them aside and whisper at them or maybe 10 years ago I would just blurt it out in the room but now you know you

do it the right way and the way that is it's important but that's wrong in my opinion so the kids that have that have played for me understand that and we've had a lot of good players that come through I have some players that

didn't like me, but I don't think they ever understand that. I cared. I always cared about all the players. I loved all my players. I might have been a hard ass on a lot of them and I might have did some I might have said some things that hurt their feelings but it wasn't

it wasn't a personal attack. It was to try to get them better. And that was, you know, so I've learned a lot in that aspect of it and I think I've become a better coach. And that's why I think I'm still involved in the game because of that. Otherwise, if I didn't, then, you know, you're not going to survive in this era rate. So those players are, you know, have to be shown respect to.

And when they are that and when you show them something, they'll respond by giving them 100%. And that's what you want. Other player, you want their best. Mediocrisy, not good enough here. Well It's been a real treat to have you on The thing is I wrote down probably like 15 stories And I got to apologize to half the guys that gave them to me

Because I would have loved to have shared them all But there's just so much I think what I would like to do So I just probably like to have you on again Because it's been a real treat for me to come here Down in Kinner's Lee tonight And sit across from you and do this once It's been a real honor

and just getting to sit and chat again and see you again, Larry, it's been a real joy of mine. And I think what I'll have to do is just line you up again here in the future and try and get into some of the stories of punctuality and, you know, dressed in the proper way. There's some funny stories there that just teaching young kids what the right way to present yourself and be on time and accountability and all that that goes in there. but we could probably be here for another three hours going down that road. And I think it'd be maybe just healthy to do that at a different time. And I just really appreciate you coming on and taking the time to sit here with me. It's been a real pleasure.

Yeah, I know. I appreciate everything. And like I said, I think that you've got a good thing going here, Sean, and, you know, you're a proud man. you got a great little family there and you're going to have success because you know how to work and I think it's attribute to your mom and dad

and I also like I said to all the players that I coach whoever's listening to you know like I said like some of the things that a lot of fun things that we did together was for one reason and I was to try to make you better and try to win

and I don't think there's nothing wrong with that I believe we had some some really good character kids, I think some kids that needed some direction that I hope that I helped them turn that corner and get them on the right track and even if it's, you know, just those little things like making her bad tying your shoe laces up.

Yeah, well, the little things add up. You always do. Exactly. So thank you very much for having me and I'd love to, yeah, I'd love to come back on and we'll go at her. Awesome. Thanks, Larry. Good night. Hey guys, hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did.

Next week I have Gord Redden on. He was born and raised in Helmont, Saskatchewan, played his junior hockey with the Weyburn Red Wings. During the 1970s, he would spend time in both Perkinson, Michigan of the IHL and Fort Worth, Texas of the CHL, all of which were part of the Detroit Red Wings Minor League system. Obviously, he eventually came back to Helmand and won a Saskalta title as well. So if you enjoyed this week, tune in next week. All right. Talk to you then.