Shaun Newman Podcast - #94 - Grant Fuhr

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

What can I say Grant is ridiculously nice.  He won 5 stanley cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 80's. Played on the greatest team ever assembled (voted on by you), was announced as one of the top 100 players of all time, won a vezina, holds the record for most games in a single season (79), most consecutive starts (76) and talks about it all.  Let me know what you think     Text me! 587-217-8500

This is Grant Fier. And welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Oh, baby, am I fired up today? We got just an absolute gem of a guest for you on this Wednesday. Happy Hump Day. Hope everybody's having a great week. Maybe you're sitting at the lake. Maybe you're on your way back.

Maybe you're working your bag off. Wherever you are, shout out to you. Thanks for tuning in. I'll get to it here very shortly. But first, let's have a look at our sponsors of today's episode. How about the Lauren? The Lauren. How about Lauren and the team at Art and Soul?

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We've got lots of different options, and I want to find you something that can work for the both of us. Now, on to your T-Barr-1, Tale of the Tape. He grew up in Spruce Grove, Alberta, won a WHL championship with the Victoria Cougars, was drafted eighth overall by the Amminton Oilers in 1981. He's a five-time Stanley Cup champion, all with the Oilers. Vesna in 1987-88, a William N. Jennings Trophy in 1993-94 season.

Over his career, he played 867 games with 403 wins. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2003. He holds an unbelievable amount of records. Longest winning streak by a rookie goalie, 23 games. Most assists in a single season by a goaltender, 14. Most games played in a single season, 79. Most consecutive games started, 76. 2017, he was named one of the top 100 players of all time.

I am talking about Mr. Grant Fure. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast tonight. I'm joined by legendary Grant Fure. Thank you, sir, for joining me. Oh, my pleasure. I got to start off with, I follow you on Twitter,

and I'm only curious why you engage with people who are just, I don't know, ignorant, assholes, dumb. I mean, the list goes on, a word, can use about them. Do you have fun with that or is that just something that comes naturally? Actually, you know what? I have fun with it. I mean, it's interesting to follow Twitter to see what people think and it's funny how people, when they hide behind a keyboard, think differently than if you ever met them in person. So if somebody makes a dumb comment, then I'll respond to it. You just let them know, you can lead them down a path and then they end up sinking themselves.

I assume you hear the exact same arguments against you at every step of the way, which is kind of, you know, from an onlooker, kind of laughable because you don't hear a new argument against you. And there's not really any good argument against you. No. I mean, if the best thing can come up with is something that had happened over 30 years ago, then my life hasn't been too bad. No, it most certainly has not. The latest one has been about Kevin Lowe being in the Hall of Fame.

What are your thoughts on Kevin Lowe getting in there? I think it's great. I mean, he was a nuts and bolts guy for our dressing room at Edmonton. And any time a guy wins six Stanley Cups, was he an eight-time All-Star, and it's not an accident. And one, it's a hard thing to do,

especially as a defensive defenseman. So for him to get the recognition, he deserves, I have no problem with that whatsoever. Yes, were there other guys that deserve to get into the Hall of Fame? Sure, there were. Theo Fleury deserves to be in. Alex McGillney deserves to begin to get in.

So hopefully at some point, they'll get in. Yeah. You can't argue with the names you're saying. I don't think he can argue with Kevin Lowe's. Everybody always points to he didn't put up the numbers, but I'm a defenseman. I'm a defensive defenseman.

And so his style of play makes a lot of sense to me. And at some point, those guys have to be rewarded as well. Most definitely. I mean, you look at Rod Linguish in the Hall of Fame. He's as good at defensive defenseman as there was. I mean, I laugh when they talk about points. Well, I've only got, what if I got 55 points? I'm in the hall.

So if you're going by points, then, yeah, goalies probably should be in the hall. So there's different criteria for different positions. And I think defensive defensemen are as critical to a team winning as an offensive defenseman. You know, speaking of points, I think I was in Boys on the Bus. I went down memory lane this week and watched Boys on the Bus, the documentary of you guys. I think it was Drexki talking about you saying, in the beginning, you couldn't pass a puck. and by the end, you were making passes on the tape. Well, I mean, you hold a record for 14 assists in a single season as a goaltender.

Was that something, you know, you wanted to get better at or you knew you had to get better at? It was something I had to get better at. I mean, I was horrible when I first started because you never had to learn it. I mean, all you were worried about was stopping a puck. But with our system in Evanton, you had to be able to play the puck. You had to be able to direct pucks into certain areas. So it was a con with John Muckler, myself, Glenn Sather, there was a concerned effort to learn how to play the puck and play the puck properly.

They pull you aside in the first year and go, listen, Grant, you got to learn how to play the puck here. No, they left me alone my first year, but by my second year, there was a little more emphasis on being able to put bucks in the right areas and get out and handle the puck to help the defenseman a little bit. Well, I want to go back to before Oilers. I've listened a lot and I've heard you talk a lot about, I mean, it's hard not to go to the greatest team. ever put together and the dynasty the Oilers were. But I found some interesting things, you know, in your documentary that really stuck out. And the first one I wanted to talk about was, you know, you're a Southpott. You're not the standard issue goal tender.

And to begin with, you had to use right-handed equipment. Is that correct? Yeah, I started off as a right-handed goalie. So I had to learn to play that way when I was young and I switched over, oh, about 12 years old to my natural hand. baseball and caught with my right hand. I throw with my left hand. So for me, it was, I shot right-handed. So for me, it was natural to try and play goal that way. They just didn't have gloves for me at that age. Did you notice it, was it a noticeable difference when all of a sudden they gave you a left-handed glove and you're like, oh, that just feels way better? It was just more comfortable, but I didn't

know any better. So I learned to play right-handed. And even at Evanton, sometimes in practice, I'd switch hands just for the fun of it. No, you wouldn't. You'd switch hands? Yeah, I could still play that hand if I had to. So I wasn't as good a puck handler, but I could still stop puck. It's fine. Do you just do it to taunt the guys then? We'd have fun with it in practice. Andy and I'd switch gloves sometimes, just to be different.

But it was almost as comfortable for me to be that, to be right-handed as it was left-handed. It's harder to get away from the oilers. I mean, what was the practices like? I feel like you guys were just so loosey-goosey. you're a bunch of young guys, you step on the ice. And that group of players on that Oilers team is unbelievable. Was practice that fun all the time then? It was.

They were competitive and they were high-tempo, but they were a lot of fun. I mean, our guys wanted to score all the time, and Andy and I didn't want them to score. So practices got competitive, and some of the drills were based on, we goalies had to skate if they scored, players had to skate if they didn't score. So there was some competitions. and we had a lot of fun with it. Did you ever put any bets on it then?

There might have been some lunch money that may have changed hands over the course of a few years. Well, how about the WHL? You played out in Victoria. You won a W.HL championship out in Victoria. What was moving out West like at a young age? You know what is interesting. For me, I was, what, all of 15, 16 years old.

So anytime you leave home to go play hockey, The good news is you've got hockey first and foremost to worry about. And at that time, my parents were going through a divorce. So it was a good time to get away a little bit, but it was also a good time to see if I could grow myself in the game of hockey. So I walked into a good situation in Victoria where they'd already had a veteran goalie there and Kevin Eastman. So they gave me a great opportunity to play a little bit. We had a good hockey club.

Were you drafted by them or signed by them or invited to a main camp? How did that work back then? Back then, it was just invited to camp. And one of their head scouts was in Edmonton, a gentleman by the name of Ken LaRue. And he'd reached out to see if I'd be interested in going out there. The first year I went out there, I hung around for a couple of weeks and didn't stay. I came back and played midget back in Spruce Grove, but got a taste of it to see how it was, to see if there was something I wanted to do or not.

And the next year, I went back out and managed to stay out there. I can imagine the travel schedule for Victoria back then. Was it as bad as it is now with all the dub players talking about being on the bus all the time? Probably worse. You made two trips all the way to Winnipeg each year. So you think in Victoria, you've got an hour and a half ferry ride before you even get on the road. So quick trip to the ferry terminal, jump on the ferry for an hour and a half. And I think our shortest bus ride after that was probably New West, which is about an hour after you get off the ferry.

Or you were a couple hours into Seattle, three into Portland, about 15 to Calgary. So we covered some miles. No kidding. Did you enjoy the bus trips? You know what? It was a learning experience, and I didn't know any better. So as a young kid, it was great. Part of a hockey team.

And you learned to travel, which I learned to sleep sitting up. because as a rookie, you don't get one of the beds in the back. You learn to sleep sitting up. So you learned to travel and just made the game easier when I turned pro. Your coach that year was Jack Shoup? Yep, Jack Shoup. Yeah, he's got ties to Lloydminster. He coached the junior team here back in the 70s, I believe.

What was he like as a coach as a young goalie to come into? Jack was great. I mean, he ran the program like it was a professional program. We practice 10, 30, 11 o'clock every day like a regular professional team would. So Jack had an interesting style. He always had a three-piece suit on the ice. On the ice? Oh, yeah.

He'd sit in direct traffic from one spot. But our practices were high tempo. They weren't long. We were maybe 45 minutes to an hour. So it was a great setup to turn pro. Why did he wear a suit on the ice? That was just Jack. Did he, I assume then you guys wore something?

suits, I assume if he's dressing like that and he ran it like a pro, he was making you guys dress up wherever you went? We did. We did, except on the bus. You wear sweats on the bus, but once you get on getting ready to get off the bus, you had to have a jacket on. Well, your second year, or is it your third year? Second year with the Victoria, you guys set the WHL for most wins that year was 60, correct? I'm not sure what the total was, but yeah, it was my second year there. Second year, 60 wins. You had a 28 game on beaten streak and that's the year you go to uh w hl championship and i you know i didn't really put much thought into it but then i got digging a little bit and you guys played calgary ranglers in the

finals do you remember all that we did we got down three one and then end up coming back to beat them in seven do you remember who was across for me in the crease and playing a net for for the ranglers oh yeah verney and i still laugh about that so what stands out to me is the down three one is one thing How about the seven games over an eight-day span between Victoria and Calgary? Yeah, there were some miles covered in between those games. That was the fun of the WHL back then. I mean, and the worst part was we had to go to the Memorial Cup within a day or two after we beat Calgary. So all the way out to Windsor.

Really? And was that by bus as well? No, we flew out there. So that part was okay. You guys' bodies had to be just absolutely mangled by that. Oh, you're young. We didn't know any better, and you're resilient when you're young. So travel wasn't much of an issue because you just don't know any better. I will agree with you, but still, that's a little extreme, isn't it?

Seven games, eight days for the finals. It goes to game seven. You guys do end up winning it coming back from 3-1. I assume the Victoria Memorial Arena was absolutely rocking that night. Oh, it's awesome. About 54, 5,500 people, whatever they could jam in there. So, yeah, it was a great old building to play in. And you hardly had time to celebrate it. Did you guys get to celebrate it that night? We probably celebrated a little bit. I mean, not being of drinking age, we didn't get to celebrate like you would when you're a little older.

But at the same time, we knew we had a little bit more to go. And we unfortunately didn't play very good Memorial Cup. We might have ran out of gas at that point. I did enjoy in your documentary Hearing Sather and Paul Coffey talked about watching you at the Memorial Cup. I thought that was quite interesting. Did you know that in your time in Eminton? And for people, I guess, who haven't seen your documentary, Sater basically said, we can't draft this kid. And Paul Koff, he said, I don't block shots. The funny part is, the first time I heard that was watching the documentary. Really? Yeah, I had no idea, which made it

even more entertaining because playing with Koff, I knew he didn't block shots. Well, that was Barry Frazier, who stuck to his guns, the head scout of the Oilers at the time, obviously saw something in you liked. You know, just hearing the Stather talk about it, that essentially he'd watched you a hundred times and Sather watched you twice, he knew you better and they ended up drafting you eight. Like, that's a really gutsy pick by Barry when the head, or, you know, the GM doesn't want to do it.

Oh, I know. The sad part is I guess the two games that Glenn saw, I was horrible both games. games. So it's a good thing Barry was around for a lot more games. It's pretty cool that he had that much trust in his scouting staff to make that call. It is. I mean, that shows you how Edmonton was built, where the scouts had a lot of say because they were out, they watched the guys play. So they're the guys responsible for Yari, Koff, Kevin Lowe, Gretz. I mean, those are the guys that are responsible for bringing all those guys into Edmonton. Yeah, man. Just, just,

Just an absolute wealth of talent, all those names, you just rattled off. Yeah, not a bad group of guys, a little bit of talent, too. Do you remember going to your draft, 1981 in Montreal? I do, actually, only because I remember I had the same agent as Al McKinnis at the time, and Al and I roomed together. At the draft? At the draft. Really?

So how did that work? Were your parents not there then? Nope, no, I'd gone out by myself, and Al who's there by himself. So our agent paid for the room, and we just happened to be roommates. Really? That's crazy. And you end up playing, well, I mean, obviously you play with Al a couple different times internationally and then with the blues. Yeah, actually we sat side by side in St. Louis.

So all the years of playing against him in Calgary and everything, it turned out to be a pretty good friendship. Absolutely. That's really cool. Before the draft, did you guys have what they have now with the combine and the team meetings? And, you know, did the Oilers sit and talk to you and get to know you and kind of quiz you up? Or was that not existent back then? Very little did you ever hear. I mean, when I went out there, you hear rumors of teams talking and stuff,

but you never really met with any teams. So when you get to the draft, you just sat there and hoped that your name got called. You had no idea. Was it in the rink? It was in the forum. It was in the forum. So it was pretty cool. Was there, you know, geez, you watched the draft today and it's packed, there's tons of people everywhere.

Was it the same kind of hooplau back then? There were still tons of people in the rink, but a lot of it were fans and such. So it was a neat experience. What did you think about getting called eighth overall? It was pretty cool, but it was cooler to go back home. I mean, I moved away from home to go play. junior, so if I'm going to turn pro, I get to move back home to turn pro. So that was the coolest part. Did you have any inkling? Well, I mean, you kind of, there was no talk of teams, but you know,

you're going through the list. Did you have any idea you'd go top 10? Did you, like, was there any thought like I might, I might end up with Hartford, I might end up with Montreal or I might end up somewhere? I had no idea. I mean, and at that time, I think John Davidson was probably one of the only goalies that have been drafted in the top 10. So it wasn't something I even thought about. It's pretty crazy to watch then now how kids are, you know, put under the microscope about two years out of their draft class. Oh, I know. It's amazing how far deep into their history they go. They watch them when they're 15, 16 years old now. So it's become more scientific than it was back then. You know, you're a guy that has records, you know, like 79 games in a season.

And I think that year you played, you know, everything combined. It was like over 100 games and, you know, like longest streak of 76 straight starts and just silly things to really think about now, Grant. Like, I mean, those things just don't happen. Do you ever think, man, if they would have had some of the minds today and said, listen, Grant, you can only play 50. We don't care what you want to do. You're only playing 50. Your body might have held up better. I don't know if the body would have held up better.

I mean, I enjoyed playing. The more work I got, the better I felt. So to me, I didn't really worry about the body. At some point, I'll grow old and pay a price for it, but at that time, I didn't care. So unfortunately, nobody mentioned that at 50, everything starts to hurt. So at the time, I had no problem sacrificing the body for it.

Well, man, you know, I watched on YouTube, you can just find, Well, and now they've been replaying everything, right? So we get to watch all your guys' old games. And, man, it was tough back then. And the amount of abuse you took between clappers off the helmet with that old school rate stuck to your face or getting run over body checks and listening to the color commentators just talk like, well, you can hit a goalie as long as your intent isn't to injure. You know, now you can't even, you can't even, you know, if the wind knocks them over, it's a penalty.

So it's crazy to think of how much abuse your body must have taken. You're running the body through the mill pretty good, but at the same time, there's no greater job in the world. So that was the fun part of it. You don't really worry about that. You just go out and play, and it was fun to be out there and play. Did you ever have to, you know, like, did the doctors have to work on you continually? Because, I mean, you had shoulder surgeries. You had bad knees.

you had a bunch of different things going on throughout part of your or most of your career. Did you ever have to, you know, they got to stick me full of something right before a game to make sure to work in the playoffs? Yeah, we had some things done to a shoulder in Evanston. My, what was that, first year, which I'd ripped the shoulder out of the socket. So we had a little glue put together in there. St. Louis, I got to be good friends with all the trainers. St. Louis, when I wrecked the knee, come playoff time, we had to have a little work done on that so we could get out and play. You just, just things you do to play.

I don't know, man. Just listening, I go, most people aren't made that way. We get a fairly strong mind. I mean, if you have to free something to play, you free something to play. That's just the way it was back then. Did you have a guy who took you under your wing or under his wing, like a mentor? You know what, Ronnie Lowe was a great roommate to have my first year. But I went to training camp.

They had Andy Moog who had just come off a great series with Montreal. They had Ronnie Lowe. They had Gary Edwards. They had Eddie Mio. So they had a lot of guys with NHL experience. And I was lucky enough to get to room with Ronnie and spend a lot of time with Ronnie. So it's kind of like having a mentor that you could talk to. What did he teach you then?

Not to take everything seriously. Just to let it bounce off your back that if you have a bad game, it's going to happen again sooner or later. So don't worry about it. Just play on. Well, you guys played, I think I heard, I can't remember if it was yourself or I'm pretty sure it was you. We said we play a type of defense and it's offense. And every highlight I see of you stopping the puck, I swear it's like a three on one, a breakaway. Heck, the first year, I think you guys win the cup or maybe the second year, there must have been like three different penalty shots.

And I'm going like, this just doesn't happen anymore. Like the type of hockey back then was, especially with the oil, there's running gun. Was that just enjoyable? I thought it was great. I mean, we played a freewheeling style where we knew we were going to score some goals, but we also knew we were going to give up some chances. So Victoria, when I played junior, we did the same thing. We played a pretty freewheeling style where we knew we were going to give up some shots.

So I quite enjoyed it. You think that was the best era then in hockey? I mean, right now, so much of it is, Man, it is tight. It is systems. I mean, there's never been more skill in the game. I don't think anybody can argue that. And speed for that matter. But the way the game is played, there just isn't 15 breakaways or 15 three-on-ones in a game. It's not back and forth. It's more a defensive system style of a game. I think it was more fun back then. I think if anything, I mean, yeah, there was more hooking, more holding, the odd fight. But the game was. more complete. You had the physicality, you had the run and gun offenses. There wasn't as much defensive, there wasn't as many defensive systems in place. So guys could freewheel and the talent got to show itself off. Heck, after your guys is stint, they're winning cups, I think every

coach in the NHL is going, how do we slow these guys down? It probably spurred on figuring out systems to help, you know, stop what you guys have been doing. There was a lot of that. You saw a lot of teams that would put four guys back and just have one guy for a check, but it gave us a chance to attack with speed. So John Muckler and Glenn Sather were very good about creating offense. And there was a lot of ways, different ways of doing it. What was one of the things that sticks out about having Sather and Muckler as coaches for you?

How much fun they let us have? I mean, yeah, we had to play defense. You had to be responsible. but they didn't take any of the creativity away from the guys. They wanted guys to be creative, and they wanted the offense. So it freed our guys up to just play. Yeah, it's, you know, you've had multiple, like,

a very different group of coaches, whether we're talking Sather or John Muckler, you had Pat Burns, I think, for a little tiny stint in Toronto before you were out of there. Did you have Barry Melrose as well in L.A.? I had Barry for a little bit in L.A. You had Mike Keenan. You had Brian Sutter. You had a full spectrum of different guys. Were, say they're Muckler your favorites because of how they were, you know, player coaches?

Or did other guys, you know, I guess have their time with you as well? You know what? I was lucky to play for all good coaches. Yeah, Evanton, we had a lot of fun because it was running gun. When I got to trade it to Toronto, we had Tommy Watt there. So it was the first coach I'd had where he taught defensive systems. So for me, you got to learn. Then they bring in Pat Burns, you got to learn again. So everywhere I went, you learn different things from different coaches. What was it like having five guys back or not getting breakaways towards the later end of your career?

What was it like then not having to worry about the three-on-one after three-on-one? You know what? I had fun both ways. I mean, obviously, if you're getting four or five goals forward every night, there's a lot more room for mistakes. But as it tightens up, the odd man rushes get cut down, but you're still getting lots of work. So I enjoyed all of it. When you're first drafted by the Oilers, and I've heard different, whether it's Grexky or Lowe or coffee, talk about treating everybody like their family. and when they first come bringing them into their house,

and if they needed a car, they're giving them a car, and they're finding ways to bring them into the full. Who is the guy that made you feel a part of the Oilers when you first got drafted? Well, Wayne was the first person I met at the draft. Really? And from that day forward, everybody gets treated his family. So he's the first one I met,

and I spent some time with our radio announcer, Rod Phillips, flying back from the draft. You see Glenn, you see all the different guys in the dressing room, and right from day one, you get treated like family. And that was the great part about Edmonton. Who instilled that? Or do you know, like where did that come from? That was Glenn Taylor.

And that was the culture he wanted to instill was that your family. You're going to spend more time with the guys than you will with your actual family over the course of a year. So you want the guys to be able to play for each other. You want everybody to get along. And that's what makes a good team. That's, uh, That's really, really interesting because you think, and maybe other teams have done this,

and you've experienced multiple, multiple teams, but it seems really unique to that group. The stories you hear of, you know, the car inviting them in to stay at your house, that kind of thing. Everybody treating everybody like family, so to speak. You'd think everybody would take that model and run with it, but it must not be easy to replicate. It's not. It only takes one guy to ruin it. So that was the other thing, that if you didn't fit in in that mode in Edmonton, then you got replaced right away. So it was something that you had to buy into, and we all loved it. Was that something then Sather could feel or something the guys would tell them about?

Because I think we've, for hockey players, you've all been on the team where somebody just doesn't fit. And you can feel it, if it ain't right away, it's pretty soon. And you get it and it kind of feels like a little bit of a sore spot. So is that something say they're identified like immediately or is that something the leaders of the group went and talked to them about? I think it was both. And the players can sense it, but I think the coaches sensed it before the players. I mean, they kept a pretty close eye on the guys and see how guys interacted with each other. And they were big on that family atmosphere.

Yeah, that's just, it's so cool. You know, one of the things that makes your group special is all the talent. Like all the talent in the world is, I mean, the list of Hall of Famers and. and all-star games and the Cups and, you know, just competing for Canada and how many of those guys were on those teams. But how tight-knit you guys were is so cool. That just doesn't happen every day. No, and that's the fun part.

Guys are all still close-knit even to today. And you get lifetime friends out of the deal, which I think is the best part of the whole thing. Yeah, it was great to play in the NHL. It's great to win Stanley Cups. But it's the lifetime friends that you take out of it that are the highlight of everything. Now, in your first year, I assume that on the road, there must have been shoe checks, that type of funny business at the meal time. Did you ever get shoe checked in your, shoe checked in your first year? Everybody goes through that their first year. But fortunately, for me,

they targeted coaches once in a while. So they kind of leave goalies alone because we're supposed to be a little different. Are you a little different? No, I'm different because I was normal. She never got shoe checked then. Once or twice. What was your guys' if you got shoe checked, was there anything that happened? Or was it you just lifted up the shoe and you just kind of embarrassment? It just bit the bullet with a little embarrassment.

So nothing major. Your first year, you lose your first game. But then you rattle off 23 in a row. Did you think, man, I got this bigger down? No, I just played to survive every day. You're an 18, 19-year-old kid, all you're doing is playing to survive. So you didn't really worry about what was going on down the road. You just worried from game to game.

When you look back those first couple years, is there anything that sticks out that was like, man, I didn't see this coming or this is unbelievable, that kind of thing? My second year, I struggled at the beginning. I mean, I had shoulder surgery that summer and didn't get to put the time in that I needed. So I get off to a slow training camp. And you get off to a slow training camp, it's hard to catch up. And I never did catch up. I probably caught up about February, my second year.

So you realize that you've got to be good right out of the gate. Well, you'd had your, in between your first and second year, you'd have shoulder surgery, correct? Yeah, I got glued back together. So not a good first summer. Did that, did you ever, I don't know, think of changing the way you play? I don't know how your body broke down. Like was it the bumps and the bruises or the amount of playing time? Did you ever figure out why your body, so to speak, kept breaking down over time?

They just, I threw my body around and didn't care. More than anything is it just gave it 100%. If the body let go, the body let go. I didn't worry about it. That's interesting. I would think, you know, I'd heard a story about you with Mike Keenan when you're in St. Louis and you're on your stretch of playing every game known to man. And he just said, I'm going to talk to you once a month. And you just tell me if you're good to go. And whether you had bumps or bruises, you just kept playing. I did. But I was lucky in St. Louis. We brought in a guy by the name of Bob Kersey, who worked with the U.S. track team and such. I spent a lot of time stretching with him and working out with him.

So the body got a lot of maintenance in St. Louis. Did you have, you know, everybody's got a goalie coach or some specialized group. Back then when you first started, did you have anything like that? Me, I was my own goalie coach. So when I first turned pro, you figured it out on your own. That was just the way you learned the game. You learn how to read the game. You learn the movements of the game.

And you figure it out on your own. So what if you have a bad game, or bad three games? Did you have somebody you'd call and say, listen, I don't know what I'm doing. Did you have somebody to bounce things off of? That's where Ronnie Lowe came in handy, is you've got a roommate to talk to. So he'd been through it. He played for a bunch of years, so I could talk to him. And then we brought Andy Mogan and Andy and I could talk.

So that's just how you learn the game. We've got to be, you know, they had a, well, Andy Mowag was he, He only would have been, what, a year older than you, two years max? I would think. I think Andy's, what, two years older than I am at the most? What I'm getting at is super young goaltenders that were both extremely good early on. Yeah, I mean, they sent Andy down my first year when Andy probably played well enough to stay there, but they kept Ronnie because Ronnie was the experienced guy.

So it did give me somebody to talk to. And then Andy came in the next year. What was it like having Andy Moog to battle with every single step of the way, knowing that, I mean, if you faltered, and I mean, the Oilers used both of you guys all threw out until Moog was traded. What was it like having a guy there to push you every step of the way? It was awesome. It probably made us as good.

The reason we were as good as we were is because we pushed each other. You had to have good practices to play, so it forced you to be good every day. You played bad in the game. Guess what? You knew you weren't playing the next game. so it always pushed you to be better. Yeah, that is something probably needed in all aspects of an NHL team is guys there to compete and push you to make sure you're playing the top of your game

and taking no nights off. As soon as you're just given a spot, I assume it's pretty easy not to come there ready to roll every single time. Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of old school. I don't think anything's given. You should have to go out and earn it. How about the first year you're in the playoffs against L.A.? The Miracle of Manchester.

My first playoff run wasn't very good. First NHL playoff game ever, I lose 10-8. No empty-net goals. 10-8. 10-8. Then we win. What do we win? We win 3-2.

We win 3-2. And then we blow off. five-nothing lead. So lose six-five and overtime. Come back home, lose seven-four. So I didn't think I was long for the NHL after the first playoff run. You thought you were toast? Yeah, the confidence took a little bit of a brow beating in that first playoff.

And then I got off to the bad start the second year. So I didn't make it any better. What was the group of guys like after that L.A. series when you, well, you had them in a stranglehold. You know, he dropped the first game, but you win the next two. You got them down five, nothing going into the third, you blow it, you lose game five. What was the group you like in the dresser? I think it just made us focus harder.

I mean, that was the one thing. We get a pretty smart group of guys. And the fact that we'd lost that series, we let it get away from us, just made us focus that much harder the next year. You know, most teams, I think, quote the Oilers of that time on how you win. At first, you've got to lose the championship in order to get over the hump to win it. And I think, you know, your guys' lessons in the first couple of years losing to L.A. the way you did.

And then the next year in the finals, getting swept four. I think it's, you guys always talk about walking by the Islander's dressing room after you lose. Yeah, and they paid a bigger price than we did. And when you realize that, then, you know, you've got another step to go. So we lose to L.A. we realized we had to be better, more consistent. Go out, play better, more consistent. Thought we were there. We got to the finals.

Still another step to climb that we didn't realize we had to climb yet. So you lose to the islanders, you go into the next year, realizing that there's still a long ways to go. What was playing those islanders like? Because that was their fourth in a row. You know what, it was fun because they were the king of the hill. So obviously you want to knock off the king of the hill. And for me, it was fun to watch Billy Smith,

because at that time he was the money goalie that everybody talked about. So to get a chance to play against Billy, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that. Man, they just, back then you could keep guys around a lot of years, the same core group, and the Islanders proved it, and then the Oilers proved it. You ever think they'll ever have, you know, in the salary cap era, you think there's ever a chance that you could have a group of guys stay together and pull off something like you guys did.

I know Pittsburgh was, you know, over a span, they were close. They won back to back. Chicago kind of over a term there was close. But to win, you know, four and five years, will that ever happen again? Not in the salary cap era. I mean, you're going to get teams that are going two or three-year runs, but then everybody wants to be paid.

So when a salary cap era, it's going to be harder and harder, especially if the cap happens to flatten this year. Every year is going to get harder and harder to get a team in underneath that cap. Flipping back to Miracle on Manchester for a second, I read that the L.A. Kings didn't, the ownership, didn't believe they'd make game five. So they hadn't booked them a flight to Emmington. Were they on the same flight as you guys?

Are they your chartered plane? We shared a charter back. I think they sat in the back and we sat in the front of the plane. How was that? We didn't know any better. So it's just the way it worked out. You say that, but you guys just, that must have been a quiet plane ride. You got some big boys on your team at that point in time.

Like if anyone said a word, that plane might have been rumbling all the way to Ammonton. You know, it was pretty peaceful. And if I remember, right, I think the officials even flew back with us. So it's a big plane, it helps lots of bodies. It just made it a little more entertaining. Did that ever happen ever again? Where you're on the same plane as the team you're playing?

I think that was the only time it ever happened. It's unbelievable. I almost couldn't believe it when I read. I'm like, that's got to be a uncomfortable way to board a plane with the opposing team sitting right beside you. When you're 18 years old, it doesn't really matter. just happy to get to the next game. Happy to be on the plane.

Yep. You're part of that team that's getting on the plane. You're good. How about the first year you guys win it? What was, you know, getting back to the finals, seeing the same New York Islanders, what was that like? Well, for us, it was a continuation of climbing the mountain where they were still the best. So we look forward to playing them again.

I mean, we thought we were the better team. We were obviously the younger team, and it was a chance for us to prove ourselves. I mean, they ran over us the year before, so we had to prove to ourselves that we could beat them. And was it, you know, from game one onwards, did you just, you just knew? After game one, we knew. I mean, once we managed to go into their building and beat them one-nothing, and I think they blew us out the second game, 7-1. but we knew after game one that we were good enough that we could beat them. When you're in, you lose game two, who's the guy in the locker room?

Or maybe it's a collective group, but was there a guy that just stood up and said, boys, we got this, just calmed everybody down? No, I think everybody knew it. I mean, as a group, we knew that we'd gotten to that spot. We were capable of beating them, and we just had to bite the bullet and play a little bit better. So there was no one guy that kind of had the, so to speak, reins of the group that could just, you know. Well, we had lots of leadership. You had guys like Gratz, Mass, at that time, Lee Fogelin, where nobody really, we didn't doubt ourselves.

That was the biggest thing is there was no doubt. And the year before, there may have been a little bit of doubt, but the doubt was gone by then. I kind of forgot all about Lee Fogelin. He would have been the captain when you... At that time. Yeah. Yeah. What was having Lee like as a captain,

kind of a role model, so to speak? Great veteran presence. I mean, with a young group of guys, you've got to have good veterans. And my first couple of years, we had Lee was there, Patty Hughes, guys like that. They were a little bit older that had seen Dave Lumley, that had been through the league a little bit. So we always had a good group of veterans around the young guys.

When you guys win, you finally have that monkey off your back, so to speak. You win, you're hoist in the cup. What was the first feeling of lifting that trophy up like? You know what? There's nothing better. As a kid, you dream of winning a Stanley Cup. So the fact that you actually get a chance to do it, by the time you're done celebrating and having some fun, all of a sudden, you're in training camp again.

So you really don't get the opportunity to enjoy it as much as you think you do. Go back to 1984 then, game five, you walk in the dressing room. What are the boys listening to before the big game? Was there a song or something that sticks out from that time? You know what? I was in the training room. I'd wreck the shoulder in game three. So we were getting remodeled again.

Well, that was Pat Lafontein, wasn't it? It was. I got out handling a puck where I probably shouldn't have been and got caught up in the traffic. and manage to separate his shoulders. Caught up in the traffic is an understatement. He ran you clear over. Well, he got tied up with,

I forget it was back to Jackie at that time, but I got caught probably where I shouldn't have been. Did that, you know, everybody likes Grant. You're like one of the nicest human beings ever. And you're probably, from what I've seen, don't get mad that often. But at that point, were you ready to lose your mind a little bit? No, because you're worried about the shoulder trying to heal so you can play the next night.

So there's no time to even really get mad. You're a little frustrated that you can't play. And that's the hardest part is that you know that you can't play. But the trainers do everything they can. You try everything you can to get a chance to play, and it just wasn't going to happen. So that part was a little frustrating. But at the same time, you hope the next year you get that opportunity. And how about the next year?

The next year, we got the training. camp and Glenn said, told us it was going to be harder to repeat than it was to win the first time. So we found out the hard way that it's a lot harder because now you're playing, well, we're 80 games at that time. So you're playing 80 hard games that year because everybody wants to beat the defending champion. So then you get a bigger respect for how hard it was for the islanders because every single game is hard. And then you're rolling into the playoffs and away you go again. So you roll into the playoffs. You're walking into the dressing room. What's the What's got the boys going? What are they listening to?

What do we listen to back then? I don't even remember what we listened to back then. And I know we played ping pong right up until about 30 minutes before we got dressed. Really? But we're pretty laid back dressing room. Well, and the stories always talk about you golfing the day before games. Off days. I played golf in the off days to relax. But not like 18 holes. It was a lot, was it not? Most times it was 18, maybe I'd squeeze in 27, maybe a couple more.

But you're riding in a cart, so you're not really worried about being tired. What was it about golf before game day? Just time away from the rink, time away from everything? Yeah, it's time away for the rink, it's time away from the media, where you get a chance to clear your head and just relax. Physically, your body's going to be tired, so you've got to be fresh mentally. And that's the part that people don't realize is you've got to clear your head and get away from the game. Otherwise, the game will beat you up.

So you went to golf, which for most of us can absolutely frustrate us when we shank a ball into the old bushes or me. I have a magnet to the water. I like to find water holes. That never got to you. You just laughed it off and enjoyed that. When you're in the middle of the playoffs, it's a lot easier to laugh it off. Did the, you know, the media wasn't and isn't. You know, back then, it isn't even remotely close to the social media monster that it is now

and the national coverage you guys get. But when you were golfing, I assume when that story broke, you were getting all sorts of questions. Oh, we had lots of questions about it as to why. How could they let you do this? How could you let you do that? Hey, that's just my way of relaxing. and I'm going to go about my business and Glenn let me, never said a bad word about it.

And if you go out and perform, guess what? Nobody really cares. Yeah, when you're winning, no matter how. Yeah, winning gives you more freedom. Did you ever get used to having, sitting in the dressing room and having like, I don't know what the high point was for media guys around you, but I would assume Toronto was probably the high time. But did you ever get used to that?

Was that something that just was enjoyable, not enjoyable? For me, at a young age, I didn't enjoy it. I mean, I like to keep to myself. And the media always want to ask questions. So I was pretty quiet my first seven, eight years where I didn't say boo. So as you get older and you play more, you get used to it. But through most of my career, I was still pretty quiet. So what's changed as you've gotten older?

Because, I mean, like I alluded to at the start, like you've done, I was saying to the wife before I came on. tonight. I like to do some homework and listen to some guys. And if I can read a book, I'll read a book, and I'll try and do as much homework as humanly possible. And when I started searching you, I was like, man, I don't know if I got enough hours in the day to get through every podcast you've been on or interview you've had or video. I mean, when you're a top 100 player in the NHL, there's a lot there. But at the beginning, there isn't too many interviews towards the end now, or where we are currently, I shouldn't say the end, there's been a ton. So what's changed over the career?

Have you just become easier with the mic? More comfortable? Yeah, you get easier with it. You get more comfortable with yourself, more than anything. When you're playing, you're just wrapped up and playing, and it's just an extra distraction, or at least I found it an extra distraction. So I tried to avoid it as much as possible, whereas now I've got nothing else going on. I'm playing golf, hanging out, doing a lot of nothing.

and people are always curious. So I have no problem sitting talking to people now. Where are you hanging your hat these days? I'm down in Palm Desert, California. I can enjoy it that. You know what? Right now it's a little warm, but other than that, it's good. It's golf heaven. What is a little warm?

I played golf with my wife yesterday. I think we're about 111. It's a little warm. We're not hot yet, but we're warm. What will it get to? Somewhere along this summer, it'll probably get in the high 118, 119, maybe touch 120. I'm like a polar bear. And yes, I'll still play.

Yeah, you'll play. I'm like a polar bear. I can't handle that. I mean, you grew up here, a spruce grove originally. The weather here is not 120 by any stretch of imagination, even in the summer time. No, it's a little cooler up there, but at the same time, it's an old body. It likes the heat now. That's the one thing. You get up in the morning, nothing stiff, nothing hurts, and that's not a bad thing. Ah, man, that heat. Is it a dry heat at least? It's a dry. We have no humidity. I mean, if it's really humid right now, it might be 10, 12%. And then do you own a golf course down there, or you just work on a golf course? I represent a golf course. I'm actually the director of golf and Cortchester.

whatever else they need. And what's the golf course grant? It's a place called Desert Dunes. It's actually owned by a group from Winnipeg. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, the Canadian-owned. That's pretty cool. Next time listeners are down that way,

I'm sure if they drop you a line, they can harass you on Twitter about how much fun they're having. Oh, most definitely. I mean, we ran into a gentleman the other day that asked me a question on Twitter if I'd be around the golf course. I told them, yeah, I'm there pretty much every day. So he came over and said hi.

You probably get a lot of that, I assume, coming from this area and how many hardcore oiler fans are around. I mean, you played in some of the most hardcore fan bases. I assume wherever you go, you still get tracked down. You know what? That's the fun part is there's so many good, diehard hockey fans. And over the course of the winter here, we have a ton of Canadians that come down. So there's a great hockey base down here in the winter, whether it be Jets fans, Flames fans, Oilers fans.

good amount of Canucks fans. So you've always got somebody to talk hockey with. You played in the heyday of Canadian hockey teams being good. You mentioned a couple. The flames, the jets were good. Even the Canucks were pretty good back in the day. What was the Battle of Alberta like? For a guy who was too young to remember the glory days,

it kind of got reignited there a little bit here in the last couple years with Cassian and all that. We were on pace to maybe see a battle of Alberta in the first round. I know every hockey fan this side of the border and in Alberta was disappointed when things went the way they have gone so far. But what was playing in those series like? Because the flames were no slouch. They were a damn good hockey team.

Oh, no. Couldn't have played it a better era for that. I mean, if you look at the Smite division back then, probably three of the top five teams in the league were all in our division. You had our team, you had Calgary and Winnipeg. And unfortunately, in the matter of two rounds, two of those teams are gone. So if you got out of your own division, you knew you had a chance of winning a Stanley Cup. The hardest part was getting out of your own division.

So there was a lot of games that had a little hatred in them. And they were a little testy. Tasty. That's a nice way of putting it. But it's funny, for as much as you hate playing against those guys, it's not so much hate, it's respect. Because you knew how good they were and how hard they wanted to beat you. You wanted to beat them just as badly.

So it's funny. I've got a lot of the guys that played against in Calgary that I'm good friends with. And it's just out of mutual respect. There's something about playing the best that gets you up for a game. There is. You always want to play against the best. And I think that's the fun part of competition is you always want to play against people that are better than you or as good as you.

Was it pretty crazy to have them like two hours away in Alberta, though? I mean, the buildings must have been absolutely insane. Well, they were because people travel back and forth for the games too. And then you've got a town in between called Red Deere where half the fans would be Euler fans, half to be Flames fans. So the whole province was a little hockey crazy. It still is. Yeah, it's, I can't speak for yourself, but I assume it was a great place.

to play. I mean, not only coming home, but just, did you enjoy how much the city rallied around the team? I love playing at home. I mean, some guys have a hard time playing at home because there's pressure to be good at home. But I thought it was fun. And you get to play in front of friends, family, and you make a lot of friends along the way. So I really enjoyed playing at home. You know, in your career, you didn't have too many times where, or even at the beginning, where you got sent down in the minors. But in year two, you did. You got sent down to the Moncton Alpines for a short stint. I made a little 12-game stop down there. What was that, was that a kind of a wake-up call, or did you enjoy your time down there? What was the Moncton experience like?

I actually really enjoyed it because it came after a time where, one, I wasn't playing bad. And it got to a point where from the playoffs through to that point of the year, I started to get frustrated. And of course, when you get frustrated, things tend to get worse. So I played a game against Washington. I think it was an afternoon game at home against Washington and was awful and fans weren't really happy. I wasn't really happy with them and probably said a couple of things I shouldn't have. So it was a chance to get away from Evanton for a little bit and have a little reset. I think the comment you made to the fans was the wrong stuff. I may have called him jerks. Yeah, I may have called him with an expletive tossed in somewhere along the way.

But yeah, it wasn't, it was not one of the highlights of my career. What did Sather say to you when he sent you down? I talked to him the next morning, and he told me that calling the fans' jerks is not really going to help you at all. And that he was going to send me down so that I could just reset. Get away, just go play. Relax, play, just reset everything. And I went down and Messa's dad was coaching down there at that time. So I'd played for them part of a year in junior.

So it was a chance to just reset everything and get comfortable again. Did in your span with the Oilers, was there any other superstar that got sent down to Moncton then? Like were they at a stint? I think Mess went down for a stint at some point. Samant got sent down for a day or two. Everybody kind of gets a reset once in a while. To send down Messier is a, I don't know, you know, I just think of today's world. I can't think of back then.

But that, I mean, that's a big name to send down for. I think Mess got sent down the year before I got to Edmonton, I think it was. It might have been the WHA when he got sent down. But everybody gets that journey. Messier, well, I just, man, the list of legends that you got to play with, You're one of them. But Messier was a guy, you know, everybody remembers the New York Rangers where he guarantees the win. What was, I mean, it's just a collective group, but the collection of leadership in your dressing room is craziness.

It's phenomenal. I mean, that's the best part is you've got the best player in the game who leads by example. You've got Mess, who's probably the best vocal leader in sport. You've got guys like Lee Foglin that were there. You've got cough. I mean, we had so many guys that on any given night could step up and lead you. So you get a whole room full of leaders. Was it just, you know, when you're sitting in the game and they're on attack,

are you just sitting there admiring? Yeah, I get the best seat in the house to watch. I mean, one, I get to watch it every day in practice. Then you get to see it in a game. It was fun to watch. I mean, yeah, we're going to have some odd man rushes and stuff, but it was just fun to watch them attack. My oldest brother had mentioned Kelly Rudy

broke the game up into five-minute stints for mental focus. Did you ever do anything like that to keep mentally on top of your game? No, you try and, when the puck hits center ice, you try and relax when it gets, center and goes the other way. When it's starting to come back,

you start to refocus when it hits their blue line. So we attacked a lot, so I get a lot of time to just kind of refocus and relax a little bit. And you try not to stress over anything. Who was the guy on the other team that whenever he picked up the puck, you were like, oh, man, this guy's good.

El McKinnis you had to watch for. He could shoot the puck well enough that the minute he hit center, if you're not paying attention, he could actually beat you from center. So you had to actually pay close attention when he had the puck. Really, a defenseman.

A defenseman. But he shot the puck that well that you actually had to pay attention the minute he got it. Interesting. Was he a guy then, you know, with your guys the small equipment back then, was he the guy then that when it hit you, it hurt? Oh, it hurt. There's no question.

You didn't want them, you would charge out at him to hope he missed you. I mean, the more aggressive you could be, the more they want to shoot around you. So I tried to be out as far as I could, enough that you're not getting run into, but enough that they would try and shoot pucks around you instead of hit you with it. Back when you're a kid, why was it a goaltender? Why did you get drawn into it? Like, it was a lot of pain. The equipment was cool.

They didn't mention the pain part of it, but the equipment was cool. And you got to play all the time. So I thought that was a novel concept. Did you wear a mask when you first started? I did just an old helmet and cage. kids as kids you had to so what type of mask did you like then did you like the old

you like the old oh I love the old oh I love the old full face mask how did I heard you say it was like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat yeah you tried not to get hit in the head but they were fun to wear they look good so that's why you have good hands

you have good hands to catch the buck you don't really want to get hit in the head I will say this TSN, I think it was TSN, re-played Canada Cup and you wearing the old mask with the Canada jersey and it looked pretty lethal,

like unbelievable. It blended in well. What was playing for Candleague? You played from several different times. You know what? It's awesome to play for your country. I mean, as much fun as it is winning a Stanley Cup, it's just as much fun to win for your country.

So Canada Cup in 84 was a lot of fun. 87 was fun. the world championships in 89 were fun. So it's always cool to represent your country. Is there anything that sticks out from those tournaments, those times of playing for Canada? Just how good the teams were. And you're looking at a collection of the best players in the game,

and you're playing against the best players in the game. So the competition was fast and it was fun. And it was a lot like we played Devonton. It was very offensive. You got to play all those games too. didn't you? I got to play all the games, which was kind of a nice bonus. It would have been the first time you probably gotten a witness up close Mario Lemieux. In practice, you get to see how good Mario was with a puck and how

smooth he was. That was the big thing is how smooth he was. And he could do things and made everything look easy. After being in oiler practices and having all those talented guys shoot on you, Was it just an absolute pleasure to walk on Canada's ice and have those guys shooting on you then? Yeah, it just meant that you're going to have four lines that good score on you all the time. So it just stepped up things another notch. How about here was one I stumbled upon, the Rendezvous 87 in Quebec and Montreal. I forgot about that one. Yeah, that was a fun one too.

You played the Soviets. NHL All-Stars played the Soviets. We did. Up in Quebec City. Up in Quebec City, yeah. What was, like, I guess that's so foreign to us now. I mean, obviously the Soviets are the Russians now. And to have a country play the NHL All-Stars,

I think we could probably all argue the only country now that could do it. And maybe I'm wrong on this, but I would think it's Canada. Canada could probably play the NHL All-Stars. I would say they probably could. But the Soviets are still pretty good. it would be interesting to play a European All-Star team against an NHL All-Star team. I think that would be a lot of fun.

What was it like playing the Soviets? It's a different brand of hockey, so it was a learning experience because they're more patient offensively. They don't always shoot the puck. They want to look for the perfect shot. So you'll have to learn to adapt to that style of game. Was there a ton of...

eyes on that series it being the all-stars the NHL trying to best the Russians you know what you want to win I mean there's no question you don't want to lose to another country so as much fun as we were having it was still all about winning another one that uh I find absolutely fascinating is you played for in the lockout year you went with Kreckski and them with the 99s could you talk to, could you talk about that? We made the European vacation. Yeah, well, let's let's chat about this for just a few minutes because, you know, I had all but forgotten about it. It's, and it's not something a lot of people remember because back then in a lockout, everybody's mad. Everybody's mad and, you know, they didn't televise the entire thing and, you know, but the cast

of characters you guys had go with you. I mean, even, even the TV fair that you had go with I think a young Ron McLean was in that group. Like, you had a crazy amount of talent. You went and you played an IHL game against the Detroit Vipers. We did. Finland, you played a few in Sweden, and you played in Germany. We didn't play. We flew into Sweden to start with after we played in Detroit,

and then jumped on a plane after that game. And then we flew to Sweden, played a couple. We played three in Sweden, I think. Then we went and we played a couple in Finland. We played one in Switzerland, went overplayed a couple in Germany. So it was a fun tour. I have to assume the boys let loose on that trip.

We had a good time, especially as goalies because we knew we were playing every second night. You knew you weren't going to play back to back. So it was Kelly Rudy and myself. So you knew every second game you had a night off. So what were you guys doing? and just going out and having a good time? Or was there things set up?

Any stories to share? You know what? Things were pretty set up. But you got to, you took your family with you, so you got a chance to go out and sightsee, and there was a lot of countries I hadn't been to. So you're spending,

and you play with guys from those countries. So you go out with the guys from those countries, and they get to show you around a little bit. And you got to see the big giant ice surfaces over there, I would assume, as well. You got to see some ice surfaces that you're not used to seeing. So part handling took a new dimension over there. You'd get lost in a corner.

Did you guys like the big ice? You know what? It changed the angles a little bit. But once you got used to it, it was fun. And you knew you didn't have to go behind the net to handle a puck because if you get out there, you need a taxi to get back. Man, I would give anything to have video from all those games. That must have been just absolutely a treat to watch, let alone play it.

Well, they were fun. I mean, that was the fun part about it is. for as much as we were semi-serious about it, we still wanted to win. And you get that much talent, you're going to win most nights. Do you remember the call when Gretzky said, hey, I got this idea. I want to take it.

We're going to have a lockout. Let's go over to Europe. You know what? What were we doing? I think the NHLPA had a three-on-three tournament in Toronto at that time. So some of us were playing in the three-on-three tournament. And they come up with that idea and forget who it was that asked. I think it might have been Mike Barnett.

Or it might even been Gretz that asked and see if he wanted to go over and it was like, might as well, get nothing else to do. So you put the group of guys together. I think we had one 20 or 30 minute practice, then played the Detroit Vipers and then headed over. You guys lose to the Detroit Vipers too, don't you? I think we did, actually. I think we lost four three or something. I think you're correct. I remember reading that and I'm going, oh, they lost the Detroit

Vipers of the IHL. That's, that's interesting. Yeah, there wasn't a whole lot of skating going on at that time and most guys hadn't thrown equipment on for a while. So it was an interesting time. You used, I think I've heard you say this several times is that you used the beginning of the season as training camp or a way to get back in the shape. Did you, through the summers, were you not the guy that was, I don't know, running every day or pounding the weights or? No, I played baseball. And that's how I kept in shape over the course of the summer. And then when I was reminded that I wasn't being paid to play baseball,

then I took summers off to relax a little bit and let the body heal. So training camps at that time were two and a half, three weeks long, I would use training camp to find my groove. When you say you play baseball, what do you mean you played baseball? Like senior men's baseball. In Emmett? Yeah, competitive baseball. The old Evanston Tigers.

Actually played for the Barhead Cardinals for a couple of years. And then played for the Evanston Tigers, then the Kensington 26ers for a little while. So yeah, competitive baseball. What position did you play? Catcher. Well, yeah, I guess that would make sense. Yeah, it's not really giving your body a rest, but having a good time doing it. You were, uh, so you would get done.

winning a Stanley Cup, and then you go play professional, well, competitive ball? Oh, yeah. As soon as it was over. What did the guys on the team say? I like to be an athlete. And the more sports you can play, the better athlete you are. So when hockey season ended, it was baseball season. Was it Sather who finally put the kivash on you playing baseball? Yeah, I sprained an ankle about two weeks before training camp one year.

So I get the speech about how I wasn't being paid to play baseball. So, yeah, I get retired. How did you sprain your ankles, just rounding a base or something? Yeah, trying to steal a base. That's too good. I can't believe you were playing baseball winning Stanley Cups one day. And in the summer, you're playing competitive baseball. That's awesome.

Usually within a couple of three weeks after we were finished. I can't imagine being your coach or your GM and going, how do I get through to him that he can't be doing this? Well, the good news is they didn't say a whole lot until I decided to sprain an ankle. Then after that, it was, I got summoned. You know, as a child or as a kid, a young kid, one of my favorite memories of the Oilers was the Boston Gardens

with the fog and then the lights going out mid-game. That was game four, tied 3-3, in the second period, if I remember correctly. the lights go out and then they end up postponing for replaying the entire game in Emmington bonus for us as players what was going on like what did you think we had no idea what was going on I mean that was the funny part we probably sat at the rink for two hours waiting for the power to come back on and then when the league finally stepped in and decided that it was enough gone on a plane the next day flew back to Edmonton and we played the next day and we played the

night. Were you sitting in the dressing room going, I don't know, trying to keep things light or what were you guys doing? Did you get all undressed? Yeah, you'd climb out of your gear, so otherwise you just sweated to death because it was always hot in the old garden. So I think the biggest thing is you just tried to relax and try and figure out what was going on. That's got to be one of the strangest things that's happened in NHL history is the lights going out in a Stanley Cup game and then postponing the entire thing. For me, it was one of the strangest things. I mean, obviously it was a bonus for us going back to Edmonton. What was it like winning the cup on home ice and carrying it around that place?

That's awesome. I mean, we were lucky enough out of five cups. I think we wanted it at home four times. So you get a chance to celebrate with the fans and your family and everybody else. There's no better feeling. Yeah. Man, Eminton must have been on fire back then. keeps the city hopping a little bit.

What do you think of Eminton? I don't know if they've officially announced it or if it's just a rumor, but we'll go with possibly being one of the two cities for the upcoming playoffs. I think it's great. It's great for the city. I think what they say,

Evanton and Toronto possibly. So good for Canada to have some playoff hockey back in Canada. But Evanton's a great city. And unfortunately, fans won't be able to enjoy it. That's a sad part. But at the same time, everybody gets some hockey to watch. Yeah, some hockey to watch. I think we'd all be, you know, I don't know if I love it. We'd be ecstatic. I don't know if I'm going to love it through the summer months, to be honest, Grant. So I'm a diehard fan still. So I'd love to see some hockey, but I also want to make sure that it's safe for the players.

Because the worst thing in the world that could happen is if they get started again and a couple of the guys get really sick, I think that would be a big detriment to the game. So you've got to make sure it's right for the players. Yeah, 100%. Can you imagine your back, you've got your shoulders about to fall off, but you're fighting through that because you're in the Stanley Cup finals, and then you contract COVID and they go, listen, Grant, you can't play game for because you've got to sit out for two weeks.

There's no, there's no, no, if-ans or butts about it. It'd be a slow death. Absolutely. I just, I can't, the fans wouldn't understand it, but the player would be going, but coach it. It would be heartbreaking. Put all that time in, and even though you're suffering through it to say, hey, oh, by the way, you got a virus, you can't play. Would you want to play the way they're going to play then? If it was back in your day and era and they said, listen, boys, this is, this is the only way.

This is, if we're going to finish this season, this is how it has to be. And if you contract it, you just got to sit out. Is that the way you'd want it to go down? Or would you rather just, we'll start it next year? You'd have to see where they're at with making it safe for the guys. I think that's first performance. You're going to worry about not only the guys, but the guy's families. I think that's the biggest thing is you've got to make sure it's safe for everybody

because you don't want a guy catching it and taking it back to his family. So if you're going to anchor everybody in place, you've got to make sure it's safe. Which I think when you listen to their plan and what they got going on, I think they're doing everything in their power to make sure that it's as safe as possible. Yeah, I mean, I watch what the PJ Tour is doing right now. I mean, between the whoops and everything else that are, they've got a pretty close bubble, and they're still having the odd guy test positive. So I don't think it matters how safe you try and make it.

There's always that possibility. Yeah. You can't put anyone in an absolute bubble. It's physically impossible. You're going to be around. people that you have no idea to even have it. Yep, and that's the tough part about this. What do you think about the 24 teams? You're a guy who, you know, is soaked in hockey lore and the way to win a Stanley Cup. What do you think about a 24th place team getting

in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year? I think it's going to be interesting. I mean, you're going to have some teams that probably wouldn't have made the playoffs that now you get a team like Montreal who gets a healthy carry price. They could go a long ways. You get a team like the Rangers that are now healthy. You've got a refreshed Lundquist. So you could run into some teams that probably wouldn't make the playoffs, that all of a sudden could make a deep run into it.

So it's going to be interesting. It's adding some new variables to it. As we know, a hot goaltender can steal a series. And the first one's being a best of five, you don't have to run the gauntlet too far. No, you've got to be good for two games. That's right. And the scary part is, look at the teams that were good all year.

You've had three months off now. How hard is it going to be to jumpstart those teams to get back going again? Well, you tell me, how hard it would be to jumpstart the Hamilton Oilers if you were in the middle of that mix? Our guys were pretty good at jump starting, so we'd have been fine. With Canada Cups, they usually started in August. So we hadn't done a whole lot before we rolled into the Canada Cups. So our guys were pretty good at jump starting. but some teams take a little longer than others.

Oh, man. How was training camp for Canada Cup then? You're like two weeks of trying to get yourself in shape. That's awesome. But that was the fun part. Once you got named to the team, then it was the crash course of getting yourself in shape, getting ready to play.

Was it like two a days, or was it did you change how you ate, or was it, you know, workout in the morning? hard practice? Was there a structure to it for that two, three weeks? No, the practices were usually high tempo and there's a little bit of working out that went on afterwards. And if you needed it a little extra, you stayed on the ice, needed extra of the guys. August 9th, 1988. I'm sure you get asked about this all the time. But in saying that, in hockey history, Wayne Grexie getting traded is a significant date. Do you remember where you

were on that day? I do. I was out of Bob Cole's golf tournament out in Newfoundland. Was Marty out there too? Marty was out there with me. So it's one of the strangest days. How's that? Because we never thought Gretz would ever be traded. You thought it was probably a practical joke? Yeah. We didn't take it seriously at first. So and then when it did happen, It was an eye-opener to the team. What was walking back into the dressing room the next season, like not having that guy sitting in there? I think it was a little bit of shock for everybody,

but at the same time, you want to prove that you're still a good hockey team. So I think we had an okay year, but not a great year. In 89, I think we actually lost regrets in L.A. So I think we lost them in seven games. So it was just a matter of – it was an eye-opener. for us. And then in 90, we just knew we had to be better if we were going to win again. And we thought we were good enough still. Well, and in 90, you talk about it being the lowest point of your career when you get suspended from the NHL. That summer. Yeah, care to share

anything on that? Yeah, it was one of those things. You admit that you made a mistake and it was only three years previous that I did, made the mistake. So I got suspended for something that I'd done previously, which was I happy with it? No. But at the same time, you commit the crime, you got to pay the price for it. So it was something I had to do. Three years previous is what you get penalized for? Yeah, it was previous. So that was the unfortunate part is the 86-ish.

When my dad passed away, we kind of had a tough summer that year. So Steve Smith goal, dad passing. It's kind of an ugly summer. So things got a little out of hand. And by the time, 87 had rolled around, we got things cleaned up and we're off and running again. And we paid for it a little later. Oh, man, that's tough. I didn't realize it had been three years previous.

Yeah, reporters wanted to write a story, and we got to pay the price for it. Hence why I didn't get along with the press real well for a while. I don't think anybody would get along with the press very well after that. So, but you know what, in hindsight, it's made me a better person, so I'm okay with it. Man, that's tough, though. Sorry, Grant, that three years prior, man, that must have been a hard pill to swallow, because you end up sitting out 59 games that year. I don't even remember how many I said, something like that.

So, yeah, that was not a highlight of my career. During that time that you're sitting out for the suspension, did you get to be around the team? Did you get to? No, you weren't allowed to be in the dressing room, not allowed to hang out with the guys at the rink. But because our guys were so close, I would see the guys at dinner. They'd make a point of seeing me later. But at that time, I spent a couple times a day in the gym. So you get to burn off frustration that way.

Oh, that would have been, that had to have been brutal. That was no fun. The good thing about the gym is it burns off anger management. So you can be mad at the world. It doesn't do you any good. So you can just burn it off in the gym. Fair. But not being able to be around the guys and, you know, when you listen to you talk,

you can tell, and maybe I've heard you say it a few times, is that, you know, your sanctuary was on the ice with the boys, was at the rink, was in the dressing room. And to have that stripped away from you, wow, I can't think of many other words than suck or terrible or not fun. Yeah, we were a little sour for a while. But you know what? I had a lot of great friends growing up and they were all there.

And that's the great part about it. So that's the fun part of playing at home is all the friends I went to high school with, went to grade school with, I'm still friends with. So I get to spend a lot of time with them. How was the 1990? It was awesome, the tip that I ripped up a shoulder again that year and had it had to have it screwed back together boxing day. So I ended up missing the last half of that season and watching most of the playoffs. When you get traded out of Amiton in that giant deal to the Leafs, was that something you were

excited about then or were you you know at that time you know and they started pieces of your guys as dynasty it's slowly been moving out moving out moving out um were you excited for the next chapter or was it uh heartbreaking to go you know what you know once they traded wayne that we're all going so it was expected it was only a matter of time and for me i felt pretty fortunate to go to Toronto. And as a young kid, I get to watch the Maple Leafs on Saturday night, hockey night in Canada. So if I got to go somewhere, Toronto was a pretty cool place to go. You got the history of the leaves. As a young kid, I wanted to be a leaf. So for me, it couldn't have been a better spot to go. What was the circus like in Toronto?

Was it, was it all it was built up to be back then, or is it not even close to what it is today? Oh, no, it was still a media circus. I mean, I think Toronto is always going to be a media circus. That's just the way it is. But Evanton had big expectations too. So going to Toronto, the media really wasn't that much different. There was just more of them. Was that hard to handle or did you enjoy it? No, I didn't mind it. They had expectations coming out of Edmonton. I had expectations. So for me, it wasn't any different. For some of the guys in Toronto at that time, the expectations were a little bit of an anchor, but coming from an winning franchise, you're used to expectations. So it wasn't that big a difference.

You know, you got to play with some very, very, very talented goalies, let alone players, but goalies. We talked a lot about Andy Moog. As a young kid, I remember watching Bill Randford, Dominic Hasek in Buffalo. Felix Potvan in Toronto. Felix Potvin. Thank you. out of all those guys what was the one guy that just sticks out as like man he was good Dom was probably the best guy I played with and maybe the hardest worker but talent wise maybe the most talented of the group including me he was unorthodox it wasn't the prettiest style you'll ever see but it's not about pretty it's about getting it done and that's the one thing about Dom is he hated to be scored on whether it's practice or anything and he just found a way to

make it happen has there been any other goalie to even remotely close replicate his style though no i think dom's kind of a one-of yeah i i can't think of a single guy that uh did i don't know the starfish just comes up like he just found a way to somehow stop the puck and no other goalie in the history has done that. No. I mean, if you, even going back into the 50s and 60s, nobody really did that. So Dom's was kind of a one-of. Before I get to the final five questions, I thought maybe we could just briefly talk about the St. Louis Blues, because they always talk about it reviving your career that year you start 79 games, which is still mind-numbing. Good for an old guy. Not too bad, yeah. You had guys.

like Brett Hall, Al McKinness, Chris Pronger, Dale Howard, Chuck. Pierre Tergeron. Yeah, right? Like, you guys were. We had a great hockey team. What was that group like playing for a year? And playing 79 games. Both were awesome.

I mean, it couldn't ask for a better group of guys to play with, but it was fun to try and play every day. And I really enjoyed that. And for a guy that was, what, 35-ish at the time? it was fun to prove to people that I could still do it. Do you remember the reporters being like, I can't believe you're still playing right now? Oh, yeah.

By the time I hit a 30 game mark, they were worried I was going to run out of gas. You know, you're old, and I'm like, yeah, I am, but I still enjoy doing this, so you just play on. You know, I say earlier, do you remember where you were when Gerexki got traded away from you? Do you remember where you were when Gretzky got traded to you that year? I actually play golf with Brett Hall.

That was the great thing about St. Louis, too, is you could play golf year round. Did you both have a big fist pump when you heard Gretz was coming to the blues? I think we were excited about it. I mean, we had a good enough team to win a Stanley Cup that year. I mean, that's the one thing that people forget is how good that team was, and we were on a roll going into the playoffs. And then what happens in the playoffs? Yeah, we got a knee fell on and ripped up a knee pretty good.

So that could put a crash and burn and end into those playoffs. If people don't remember, Nick Kiprio's in what, game one, isn't it? No, we were in, what were we in? Game one, game two. By the being game two. Game two? I don't even remember. I remember I remember.

I remember I had a summer of misery. I love to put it in parentheses, fell on you, because I think, And I've heard you talk about it lots, and I know you won't say he fell on you, or it was just a hockey play, and that's what guys do. But he fell on you. He fell on me. He didn't mean to hurt me, but he meant to fall. Yes, yeah, that's right.

That's right. And that happened probably a thousand times before that without ever getting hurt. So it's just a freak thing where I had a leg caught in a wrong spot, and happened to tear a couple of ligaments. I heard you tried bracing it up and playing through that. we thought we might be able to do it but apparently you need ligaments to get back up if you go down so it didn't work so good did you go out on the ice and at least try i did and we're like i can't i can't get up that was the problem i went down once and i was stuck

so that's when we knew we were going to have a small problem oh man well i i've really enjoyed this i don't want to keep you six hours i know you said right up the hop that it is basically like Yeah, I got nothing going on, but I don't want to overstay my welcome. So we'll get on to the final five, the crewmaster final five here. So a huge shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald that have been sponsors of the podcast since day one. I've got some questions that came in and I thought we'd just long or as short as you want to go, Grant. The first one comes from Catlin Schneider here in Lloyd. He said, besides the well-known fact of goalies being the best looking and most normal people on the team, obviously he's a goaltender,

he said you have any weird pre-games or in-game superstitions anything that you did before the game or in-game no i'm the weird guy that just likes to go out and play and we used to sit and play table tennis up until 30 minutes before we went on the ice so no weird superstitions nathan brown a guy i played college with wanted to hear about the early oiler parties so he said visualize whatever night you want, you get to walk back in there. Could you lead some of the fans through a typical oiler party when you were all young and single? Let's just say, think of how much fun you think it really is, and then times it by 10. That's how much fun we really had. Could you give a bit more of a teaser than that? Would you go to a bar? Was it a house party? Was it a

boat? Probably all the above. We travel together as a group. If you go back to, what was it, 80, might be 84, might have been 85, and look at the front page of the sun, it'll explain a lot. The Stanley Cup's in a really good picture. Where was the Stanley Cup at? might have been across the street from the Coliseum. So what was it called it? I don't remember what it was called at that time, but it was the Canadian ballet. How's that? And it managed to make it on stage and made the front page of the paper the next day.

What was Sather's temperature after that or he wasn't too worried about it? We all got called in the next morning to have it explained to us that it probably shouldn't be on the front page of the paper. That would have been a great meeting to have sat in, I'm sure. It was actually pretty entertaining. My father wanted to know, first off, he wanted me to say that he remembers sitting, we've gone to an oiler game, this is after you retired, and you were at the oiler game, and we were sitting there watching, and he was standing waiting to go down to our seats, and we were young kids, and he said that, unbeknownst to him, you walked up,

and oilers were getting beat for one or something. And he said, now the boys aren't playing good. And he looked over and started talking to you and didn't realize who you were. And then he realized who you were. And by that time, he was coming down to the seat. And the brothers,

I got three brothers. We were all saying, oh, my God, I think Dad's talking to Grant Fear. And he got down. We're like, Dad, you were talking to Grant Fear. And he said, yeah, I had no idea. And he just wanted to say,

first and foremost, that you were such a nice guy, that even at an oiler game, you were so easy to go, and would talk to anyone. So he wanted to say, first off, hats off to you for that. His question was, and you talked about McKinness having the shot, but was there another guy out there that you were like, man, this guy has a shot that hurts?

Brett Hall had a heavy shot. Reed Larson had probably the heaviest shot of anybody I played against, but Brett Hall had a quick one that seemed to jump on you. It was one of those that you could never really get set properly. It just seemed to jump on you all the time. And when you get pucks like that, sometimes they don't seem to catch all the equipment. They catch bear spots once in a while. So Holly had that quick shot.

Did they leave Marks then? Oh, they took bites out of you then. The gear was nothing like it is today, so it would take a little bite out of you. Do you ever wish you got to play with today's gear? No, I love playing in the old days. That was half the fun. If you could sit down with one person to pick their brain, who would you want to sit down with and have a...

coffee or a beer or beverage of your choice. Alive or dead? Alive or dead? Probably Terry Sautchuk. I consider him to be the greatest at the position in history, so I think it would be fun to sit down and talk to him. Finally, I had a listener, and I'm not sure how often you get asked about it, but with everything that's going on in the world today

and more and more stories coming out about the NHL, hazing, racial slurs, that kind of thing. Did you ever experience any racism while you played in the NHL? When I was in Canada, no. When I got to Buffalo a little bit here and there, I wasn't allowed to join a golf club, happened to be the wrong race. But at the same time, I was also taught growing up

to just ignore it, go about your own business. So it's there. You hear the odd name when you're from, somebody in the crowd, but at the same time, it shouldn't bother you. And you just try to ignore it, you go out playing. But yeah, society, unfortunately, is taking a few steps backwards. I mean, you read about it in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and you would think society's moving forward, but for some reason, we've got it in reverse right now. I think at time, social media really is creating more of a divide than bringing us together.

what is because people can be anonymous. And I think that's the biggest thing about social media is people hide behind it now. It's funny. You talk to all our guys. We're happy we played in an area with no social media. We're allowed to have fun. The guys now can't have any fun. So is it good for things?

Yeah, it's good for things. At the same time, it's interesting when you were talking earlier about answering people on social media. It's fun to find somebody that wants to hide behind a keyboard. And then you drag them out. I actually enjoy doing that once in a while just because you know they're hiding behind a keyboard. Well, I have really, really enjoyed this. I've been, as soon as I knew you were coming on, I had it penciled. I told the brothers and dad and they were all drooling at the mouth for obvious reasons.

So I really appreciate you sitting down with me and taking some time and talking about your career. All the best to you in the future. And just thanks again, Grant. It's my pleasure, Sean. I'd everybody up in Lloyd. Perfect. Hey, folks, thanks again for joining us today. If you just stumble on the show and like what you hear,

please click subscribe. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday a new guest will be sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you find your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, folks. Back for another clue, are you?

Maybe we're getting to live. little bit closer. We're only a few days, a few days, a few weeks away from the 100th episode. And if you're just stumbling upon this, here's what it is. I got a little contest going at the end of each podcast. You can enter, I should point this out. You can enter on each podcast as each new clues given, you can guess somebody completely new, put it on your social media, tag me in it with the hashtag who's 100 and I'll add you an additional name in the hat and what we're drawn for is sandy beach has been kind enough for a round of golf for four people two cards factory sports has stepped up two hundred dollar gift card and and like I say in order to enter tag the podcast

and who's one a hashtag who's 100 with your guess for 100 for each post whether it's on Facebook Twitter Instagram snapchat or just head to a website and email me your guess which people have been doing, you'll get an entry into this price. So if you guessed Bill Murray and you want to change it, that's okay. Each episode, just fire off a new one. Make sure I'm tagged in it so I can see it. And let's have some fun here. I know there's some buzz going around. I've been getting hassle a lot. People certainly have a thought on who Mr. 100 is going to be. I hope I'm keeping it vague enough that nobody truly knows because I've truly told zero people. So nobody knows who this is.

So that's the fun of it. So here's your hint for today. He's been in every NHL rink. All right? Every current NHL rink. Okay. Well, you guys have a great week. Be awesome out there.

Have some fun. Spread some positivity. And we'll see you. on Monday. Cheers.