Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #130 - Montreal Canadiens Brendan Gallagher

Episode Date: November 16, 2020

Sat down with Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher. We discuss  - offseason training - Woods & Jordan ultra-competitive - Re-signing with the Canadiens - Playing in the bubble & life with no fans - Bring back one legend & if he were traded who's he bringing? Let me know what you think   Text me! 587-217-8500

Hi, this is Brandon Holby. Hey, this is Tanner, the Bulldozer Bozer. Hi, this is Brian Burke from Toronto, Ontario. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hello, everyone. I'm Carlyagro from SportsNet Central. This is Jay On Right. This is Quick Dick, quick, tick coming to you from Tough Moose, Saskatchew. Hey, everybody, my name is Theo Fleary.

This is Kelly Rudy. This is Corey Krause. This is Wade Redden. This is Jordan Tutu. My name is Jim Patterson. Hey, it's Ron McLean, Hockeynet in Canada, and Rogers' hometown hockey, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

We got a great one coming up today. Can't wait to get to Mr. Gallagher, but before we do that, let's get to today's episode sponsors. I'm teaming up with the Lloyd Minster Regional Health Foundation for Giving Tuesday Radiothon on December 15th to raise money for the hospital and continuing care. We'll be doing at 12 hours 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Facebook live stream where we'll be sitting down with different people from the community to share stories about the hospital and why it is so vital to our community last year.

We raised $50,000 for a new PIXIS automated pill dispensing machine. We sat at the Lloyd Hospital, and it was, you know, I found out about it two weeks, essentially, prior to it that I was going to sit and do this, you know, this 12-hour sit and talk and live stream it. So we had, I think, two pre-recorded interviews, and the rest of it was just rolling and firing. And by the end of the night, I think I was eating strawberries. Well, this time it's going to be a little different. We got a huge guest list coming up. We got some awesome people going to be calling in, showing up, that kind of thing. You know, when you talk about Lloyd here in Lloyd, we're talking the Shep of the World is going to come on.

We got some politicians coming on. Rosemary Falk is coming in. You know, some notable stars. A guy named Quick Dick McDick is going to call in. Wade Redden, Scott Hartnell. The list goes on and on. We got some great people coming in with the goal of raising $200,000, once again, going into our community. I know that's a giant number, but when the going gets tough, Lloyd Minster gets going, and I look forward to it.

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Born in Eminton, Alberta, at age 12, his family moved him to Wausen, British Columbia. He spent four seasons in the WHL playing for the Vancouver Giants, where he currently holds the franchise record for all-time points. In 2010, he was drafted in the fifth round, 147th overall by the Montreal Canadiens. Over eight seasons with the Canadians, he has played 547 games with 173 goals, 161 assists for a total of 334 points. In October, he signed a six-year deal keeping him with the Canadians. I'm talking about Brendan Gallagher. The table has been set onto the main course. This is Brendan Gallagher. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast.

Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens Forward. So first off, man, thanks for hopping on. Thanks for having me. Now, you live with a friend, Ty Smith. He's been on the podcast. And on said podcast, He may have talked a little smack about you. Supposedly he dominated you in a game of Madden and you walked away. In saying that, I just watched a video of you absolutely dominating him in ping pong. So I don't know if that was his way of getting back or not.

But I just, I figure maybe we could start with a common friend, a guy from Lloyd Minster, Mr. Ty Smith, and I believe he's still living with you. He is. First off, he's delusional. He doesn't get to win a lot around here. We make it hard on him. But I enjoy having them around. Obviously, a really talented hockey player.

He's a good kid. He shows up. He works hard. So he's nice to have around the gym kind of pushes us. But we definitely have some fun around here for sure competing around the house. And I make sure I don't let him win. And if I'm going to lose, I cheat. So not loud.

Well, you know, and listening to a bit of your story, that not letting you win, that stems from childhood by the sounds. But winning, you had to. to earn it. That's pretty much the way I was brought up. I don't know what it is. Just hated losing. My dad made sure from a young age that winning didn't come easily. And the competitive nature of me is probably where I am or why I am where I am today. I just just don't really enjoy losing. It doesn't matter what you're doing. Obviously, there's hockey, but a little friendly games of golf. My buddies will tell you, I'm a bit of a poor loser. But it, you know, I just just part

of who I am that I can't really change. And, you know, there's, there's the good and there's definitely the bad that I've had to deal with and make some apologies for it for sure. Well, I got three young kids and the wife and I, she's a volleyball player. And so we can get playing the most random made up game and it can get competitive. So I get the competitive edge you got. What was the last random thing you got competitive about that isn't, you know, a game of hockey, a game of ping pong? I'm assuming you've made up some funny games and had a little bit of side wager on it maybe or a little friendly banter. Yeah, I mean, I get competitive all the time. But the most recent was, I guess, a couple hours ago in the gym with Ty, you know, a little warm-up.

A silly little agility warm-up. And I looked down over at him and I could see he was trying to beat me. So I made sure that I tried to go quicker and wasn't the point of the drill. But there was definitely some yelling and some back and forth. between the two of us and I might have cheated at the end to make sure he didn't beat me, but I made sure he wasn't able to sing you all. I assume that's the fun part of training in a group because, you know, everybody's going to push everybody.

That's the best part. And, you know, honestly, I don't think you'd be able to get to where you need to be if you didn't have the guys around you pushing you. It doesn't matter who you're with. You know, you just need, you need competitive, that competitive environment that we're also used to and we kind of feed off of. So I think that's, you know, that training group in the summer is so important for me. It's the same group of guys that you come back to.

It doesn't matter what you're doing. You have a way to just push yourself to, you know, to get that much better, which, I mean, when you're competing against, you know, there's only, I believe, 575 jobs in the national hockey. And I should keep going. I don't know what hell. Let's let's, let's keep, let's keep going. Here's what I'm curious about. I apologize to all the listeners for the big dinging in the year. That is Brendan Gallagher's fault.

We're going to blame it on him. On the training group side, like, I know your dad is your guys' trainer. Have you ever been approached to go to a different training group, or have you tried to, like, solicit guys, say, hey, come train with me for the summer? Like, I'm always curious, like, how your training group kind of gets set up, right? Like, Ty has told me that he trains with yourself and Milan Lu Cheech has been a big name in that group. Like, is there other guys out there that you're like, yeah, why don't you come with us? Or it's, how does that all stack up?

A lot of the time, you know, originally, I guess it started for me, personally with my group was my buddies that I played with in back time and peewee hockey. You know, my dad was around and he was, he was the trainer. So these guys would come with me in the summer and you'd start training. And then he started training the Giants players where he was doing that junior hockey stuff for a while. But when we got old enough to start working out with them, you kind of, you join groups. And once you get to the junior level, you start training with those older juniors. And you always had those guys to look at. And those were, that's where you wanted to be.

That was the goal to get to. And that was who was pushing you. And then, you know, you just kind of keep expanding it. Guys play with people. Guys are always looking for training options, you know, ways to improve. you know, we've always been pretty confident in the group that we've had. You know, the guys always feel like we're pushing each other. So what if, what if, what if, uh, I don't know, let's go pie in the sky.

I know you're like, uh, like let's say Connor McDavid called you tomorrow, said, hey, why don't you come train with me for the summer? Would you go? Or would it be, or would it be like, no, my allegiance is to this group and why, Connor, why don't you come train over here? I mean, for me, it'd be an easy no because, A, I'm with, you know, for me, I'm with my dad who understands me better than anyone really. He understands what I need to do to get better. And, you know, I've had a strict summer routine that I've kind of stuck to and I've seen the results.

So I wouldn't change that. Everyone's a little bit different though. Obviously, you want to be around the best and you want to push yourself. You know, what I go, what I go spend a week with them? Sure. You know, you're always open. And I do that. I head up to Cologne every once in a while. And, you know, I'll go, you know, I live with Josh George's. Web's is in that group. So I'll go spend a week there, you know, see what they're doing. Maybe you take some stuff back to your group if you feel like it works. But for me, I'm not looking to change it because, you know, I've, I've just had success with it.

And there's no point in looking for answers with something that you've had success with. Well, let's go hypothetical then. What if, what if a different sport came a calling? I know you're a big football guy. I know you're a Muhammad Ali guy. What if a different sport came a knocking and said, hey, we want you to come across. train with us for a week. Where would you want to go? What sport would I play? Yeah. See, I love ball. I always played ball when I was younger and I actually probably liked it more in hockey.

I just wasn't. You like baseball back? I just wasn't as good at it. I really enjoyed playing ball. I still play in slow pitch leagues here in the summer. But I mean, I love, I never played football, love watching football, but playing wise. I always had the most fun playing baseball. It was just a relaxing game for me. You know, I played lacrosse as well, which was, you know, more physically demanding. But for me, baseball was just a sport that I could just kind of relax and you just, you know, there's no real pressure because it wasn't any good. But you just kind of go out there and play. So that's a game that I kind of, you know, when I'm playing, I probably enjoy it the most. You know, when you bring up baseball, you mentioned you enjoy watching football. What is it about

the Cincinnati Bengals and how on earth, Did you ever become a Sincey fan? So I'd be lying if I said I don't regret it, but I guess I'm too long to my teams that I choose. And I'm winning it now. I've ran my mouth too much that I can't change. But it was Chad Johnson when I was, I don't know how old it would have been,

say I was 13, 14 years old. Chad Johnson, I thought he was the best. I enjoyed watching his touchdown celebrations. Back when the touchdown celebration was still a thing. It was a thing. was entertaining. It made you watch. I mean, he'd put on the Hall of Fame jacket.

He'd be, you know, I'd be grabbing the camera in the stands. It was just entertaining. And it's kind of everything that I'm not. So it was stuff that I would never do. But I thought it was funny. So I kind of just became a fan. They were a bit of an underdog story, which I always cheer for. And, you know, I just kind of stuck with him, Carson Palmer.

They had some good teams, you know. They could just never put it together. I mean, I haven't even seen a playoff win. And they went into these things as the favorite. They're playing Houston at home. Houston's got no quarterback. What are they right now? Two, five and one?

Two five and one? Yeah. I think they got a tie in there. Didn't they tie the Eagles? I want to tie the Eagles, which is really sad because my older sister is an Eagle fan. And we watched that game together. And there was only one way for us to both feel like losers and our team found out.

Like, I mean, you got in your A, you're screwed this week. They play the Steelers and the Steelers are going to manhandle you. Like, they're a juggernaut. There's one team that Cincinnati hates more than any other team and it's the Steelers. And it goes back. The worst loss I've ever experienced as a fan was that wild card weekend where the Bengals were up. It was like two scores.

They had the ball. There was like four minutes to go in the game. They somehow screwed that one up. never felt more disappointed in the team and I've been waiting for the perfect moment for them to just stick it. They can't beat them. And I think it might be this week. I think Joe Burrow might find a way to just bring some joy to us fans.

You're, I hope for your sake, you're right. I don't love to bring up the Emmington Oilers too. I don't love to point them in a bad light because what they got going on right now is really cool. We got some of the best players in the league on our team. But I mean, any hockey man knows we went through the decade of darkness. And being from Lloyd Minster, diehard Euler fan. So I know what cheering for a team that doesn't get you a whole lot of wins can feel like. I was an oil fan too.

Well, that's what I was going to ask. You were born in Emmington? Yeah. So you grew up being an oilish fan? grew up being an oiler fan. Yeah, had all the jerseys. I remember waiting outside. They always practiced down a millennium place.

in Shrewood Park there, which is right where I was from. So I remember I got all those, every jersey I got pretty easy to get them signed by the guys right before they head off the practice. So I got a bunch of those in the closet. But I never saw, I never really saw the good years. I saw them lose to Dallas a lot in the playoffs. I think the one year we finally beat Dallas when Marchant scored. I think it was followed by, you know, they lost to Colorado.

A trouncing to Colorado. That was very quick. So short-lived. But those teams, those Oilers teams that, those Oilers teams that play, played against Dallas, man, were they grit. They were like blue collar. You couldn't help but cheer for that team. And I actually got the chance to talk to Ken Hitchcock about it,

who was coaching Dallas, obviously. And they said it took a toll on their teams because every year they knew they had to play the Oilers. And when they played them, it was physical. And it, when you, now that I know when you go through these playoff series, it takes a toll on you, you don't really recover from it. So they might have beat, they might have beat the oil, but the oil, they beat them up.

Yeah. They were tough. They were tough. Speaking of the playoffs, I mean, you guys lost a Philly and you get the old cross check to the face, which became like the biggest thing on the internet. How was playing in the bubble first off? Different, different. It was a strain.

I remember the first, so that we had one exhibition game, played the Leafs, but for some reason we're getting dressed in the Leafs room. they're in the road room. We're in their rink. There's no fans. You step on the ice. There's no music or anything playing. It just felt strange.

The first exhibition game, because in your head, you're telling yourself, you're getting ready to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And meanwhile, like it's, like training camp atmospheres were more intense. And it just felt strange.

They kind of got it going a little bit. They started putting in a little bit of fake noise. So it kind of felt a little bit real. But it's just, it's just different. You're off days. You just spend in the hotel. You're not allowed to really.

do anything or go anywhere. So it's, you're not able to really clear your mind. It's just a lot of hockey, which, you know, isn't for a lot of the, some guys love it for me personally. I kind of enjoy, you know, when you're at the rink, it's all hockey all the time. I kind of enjoy that day to kind of relax and get away from it a bit. So it was just a different experience. It's really the only way I can explain it. Well, and I think, you know, I don't want to tote on Montreal too much. I know you're a long time Canadian, but they have some of the richest history in hockey. And their fans, their stadium, they're building everything about them, how they do things, is just from a guy in a different Canadian market, you watch it, you're like, that's kind of cool,

right? Like, that's kind of cool. So when it gets to playoffs, that place, I mean, any building's rocking, but some buildings just look like, that looks like fun. There's, and that's probably it. I'm probably a little bit spoiled. I don't think there's any experience you're going to get in the National Hawk League, like a playoff game in Montreal.

There's just something about it. The dressing room where we sit, when you're sitting there 10 minutes before, they do such a good job of getting the crowd engaged. You can hear the crowd in the room before you go on the ice. The feeling you have stepping on the ice, it's, you know, you just can't really compare that experience to anything else. And, you know, playing in the playoffs is great. but for the guys that didn't get to experience what it's like to play at the Bell Center.

There's the ding again, folks. We'll come back. You know, they're talking like, and you probably, you're up to date on this, I'm sure, but now they're starting to talk like maybe they're being an all-Canadian division, like Canox, Flames, Oilers, Jets, Sends, Leifs, Canadians in a division. What's your thoughts on that? I think it'd be really cool for Canadian hockey fans. You know, for me personally, I'm a Western boy,

so we only get to come out there once a year if we were in the division. You just get to play these teams that you really grew up watching, and you probably won't, family and friends probably won't be able to come. But, you know, just coming back to these cities is always special. We have a lot of Western guys on our team that enjoy it one time a year. But, you know, if you get to do it a couple times, I think it'd be, for us as players, we enjoy it, probably a little bit more travel involved. but I think it's just something different for Canadian hockey fans.

I think it just feels like something that'd be a win-win for everyone. Yeah, seven Canadian teams in a division. Man, the media wouldn't be able to handle that, man. Like, just think of all the headlines and fans going at it. Like, it would be epic. I mean, when the flames, you know, as when the flames and the Oilers play each other, the province almost explodes.

And this year, the fact they almost played each other in the playoffs, it almost exploded. But now you get it going across the entire country. I mean, the more times Montreal comes here, for instance, and I'm just not a Montreal fan. I'm just not a Montreal fan. But that's good. That's good.

That evokes more out of me than having, you know, beat on the Florida Panthers for two sex, having them come this way, or maybe somebody in division like Arizona Coyotes, right? I mean, every game would just be exciting. I think there would be a storyline there. there just seems to be a little bit more excitement anytime Canadian teams play

and I think it's probably the passion of the fans that bring it out. Although they probably won't be able to attend the games, which again be a little bit strange, I think you'd probably still feel it a little bit and it would just add to the meaning of the game. How old is it not to be playing right now? By now, you guys would be like,

we're coming up on American Thanksgiving. Anyone who follows NHL, all they talk about is American Thanksgiving and being in the playoff hunt and in a playoff spot, blah, blah, blah. Like, how odd is it to not be playing hockey right now? It's really strange. And the longer it goes and the colder it gets, just, you know, there's not a lot to do.

You know, we go, we get our training in, we skate, and then you just kind of sit around. You just think like, you know, you should be playing in front of 18,000 screaming fans every night. Instead, you're, you know, you're sitting at home trying to find something to do, find a movie on. It's just, it's different. I know everyone in the world is kind of their lives have been changed, but for us, you know, we're definitely a part of that where it's,

you know, it's just a different routine that we're used to right now. Well, you get, you get accustomed to being, you know, training through the summer. It hits where we're at and you're in full-fledged hockey season, right?

You're busy. You're on the road. You're, hell, even when the cup gets presented, that was weird for hockey fans. I'm sure it was weird for you guys being in the bubble, trying to like,

stay with it as, as things go on. Like this whole timeline thing really probably makes you appreciate when things are going normal, how normal can kind of get mundane at times, right? Like you're kind of in the games. Man, don't we want to get back to that? Yeah, you take it for granted. I mean, we had it pretty good.

And now that it's taken away, obviously, you know, everyone's just hoping to get back to it at some point here. I'm hopeful, you know, hopefully it won't be too long of this, but it's just a routine that you got to get used to. I mean, nobody enjoys training. you do it because you have to. You do it because you know everyone else is doing it. And if you're not, you're not getting better.

But playing the games is why we do it. And that's what you want to be doing. And obviously it's most likely you're probably looking at a shortened season at some point here. So it's just different. And you just kind of want to get back on the ice and doing the one thing that we're half decent at. You ever think because you've played, you're going into your ninth season, right? Yeah. And in your first eight, you've already had a league shortened season, a COVID season or a COVID Stanley Cup finals.

And now you're going to go into this. Like, in your stretch of your career, you've seen some oddball things come at you. Strange. Yeah. I mean, the shortened season was, I was one of the few people that helped. I was in, so I was playing in Hamilton probably would have started the year there regardless. Montreal was coming off a season where they weren't very good. So they had to make some changes.

Obviously, they drafted Geltzhenyak that year. He was going to be on the team. But I got a chance to go play 30-something games in the American League and kind of just get used to the systems, first all, but show how I could be useful. And, I mean, you'd have to ask Burs this, but I have a hard time believing they had me penciled into a spot on that team, but I was able to kind of go down there and, you know, be a good player.

someone was watching obviously they liked what they saw and they figured you know i'd be useful up in Montreal so that was kind of like an extended tryout for me and then when the season started I had been playing for half a season so these these NHLers were kind of getting started I was mid-season form you're able to get off to a good start and kind of you know showcase yourself a little bit better so that one I was fortunate of brings different opportunities this COVID one I'll find the positive eventually but haven't quite found it You're a guy who's who's had to fight for everything along the way. And, you know, you bring a tenacity to the game.

Like, you really get into it with the opposing team. Is that something, you know, that you're upbringing instilled? Or did you find that somewhere along the way? When did, or have you always been that guy who's a burn the saddle, so to speak? You know, I've always kind of had to have it. You know, even going back to like midget teams, junior teams, if I didn't have that, I wasn't going to play. I kind of had to have that little extra edge to my game.

Now, you know, there's times where, you know, I'm an established player. I probably don't have to do it as much, but it makes me better. So I enjoy doing it. You know, there's some games where you just don't feel great or you don't have it. There's other ways to contribute other than the score sheet. And for me, it kind of gets me engaged when I'm able to, you know, start competing

with one player and you find your individual battle on the ice or in a game, that's kind of able to, you know, it jump starts my game a little bit sometimes. So sometimes it just comes naturally to you and that's probably the situation most times. But there's times where, you know, second period you're sitting on the bench and you just really feel like you haven't done much. It kind of helps you get engaged and have a little bit more of an impact on the game.

Do you have a guy in the opposing team? You're like, yeah, I could probably go hit that guy tonight. And let's get this fired up. well i mean now but he retired it would have been uh niskinin uh but he decided to retire so i'm not going to get that chance um there's there's usually guys i mean i could go through every single team there's probably one or two guys on every single team that uh i just kind of know at some point usually d man you're just going to meet in front of the net and you just kind of you know it kind of sparks it but there's there's a few guys around the league would uh pk be one of those uh dmen he's definitely

one. He actually, the first couple times we played, he kind of, he would get engaged with me a little bit more. But it always seemed to, I think he's, I mean, he's not dumb. I think he kind of understood that it was kind of helping me. I wasn't working out that well for him. So now he kind of tries to stay away. So that's one that I kind of have to force. But he tries to stay away from it a little bit more now. But definitely, you know, he's a guy in a while. So he, you know, there's a there's a little bit of the battle there and we've had, we've had our moments, but I think it's kind of calmed down recently.

You know, as a fan, I know some of the rules that they're putting in, putting out are good and bad for the game, whatever you want to call it. But when you guys get, well, you're a fan. It doesn't matter if you're watching football, basketball, baseball, when there's a little animosity on the ice and you can see it, you can almost feel it, that's fun to watch.

It's what I enjoy about your game. Your game is built off that. Like your emotion is on your shoulder every single night or most every single night. It's hard to do for as many games as you guys. That's fun to watch. And when you get into it with guys, man, that draws all the viewers in because when it's vanilla, it's, you know, we've all sat through those games. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is just natural. You know, it's not premeditated.

It just kind of comes with the way I have to play. you know, and I understand the other side of it, too. For me, I have to be around the front of the net to be successful. D man, they got to keep me away from there. You know, it's part of the job. When you do that, there's, you know, you're going to have your moments throughout the game. So there's, you know, you never really lose the respect that you have for the other guys. But there's definitely some, some heated moments that happen on the ice that, you know,

they control the game. So the biggest thing with me was, you know, staying out of the box, obviously, you know, there's a way to do it, but you got to find the first. fine line and how far you can push it. And that was probably the thing that I had to learn when I feel like I'm, you know, decent at now is, you know, you're able to play that certain style of hockey, but you're not sitting in the box and hurting your team as well. You know, since the season's been done, Montreal has been active.

Like, I mean, lots of different moves. Obviously, Domi going to Columbus and to full, well, Anderson coming back and to Foley. and you locking it up for an extended period again here. Signing of Allen, Edmondson, I can go on. Like, you guys have done a lot. Is that something, you know, like, it felt like you guys, and maybe I'm wrong on this, but it felt like watching you guys play,

you had like a good group and it felt like you were pretty tight-knit, so to speak. When you have that much changeover, is that something you get excited for? Because, I mean, you got some good players coming out. man, you lose, you know, a guy being going on the outside, Domi going the other way, sucks. And I'm sure you have your thoughts on that. But like, is that something that, you know, looking into this season, you're like, man, we got, we got, we brought in some guys.

Like maybe there's an opportunity or is it, you know, a little bit of mixed emotions. You're always excited when you improve your team. And then I don't think anyone would argue that we haven't. You know, obviously Dome's, he was a big part of our team. He was there for two years. You know, obviously the first year probably went better. better than the second year. But regardless, he had a, you know, a positive impact on a group. But when you look at it as a whole, I don't think there's any denying that Bersch was able to go out.

He was able to identify needs that our team needed. He was able to improve them. Got a little bit of everything. We got a backup goalie for Pricy. We got some size. We got some scoring. Got some defenders. We have, you know, you just add it everywhere. So it's going to make you better. It's going to add competition throughout the lineup. You know, everyone's going to have to push a little bit harder for ice time. But having too many good players is never a problem. So I think all the group, I think everyone is obviously really optimistic and excited heading into the year.

How excited are you to be, you know, in today's world, it doesn't feel like too many guys stay with the same team for a really extended period of time. You're going to be, you know, assuming you stick out the length of your contract, 14 years with the Canadians, that's a pretty good stretch. It's exciting, especially with the Montreal Canadians. You can look any day, you look around the locker, room. You see all the retired Hall of Famers, the jerseys, it's, you know, the history there. You can't compare it to anything else. So, you know, it's, I'm very fortunate. I'm just really

fortunate to be given that opportunity to begin with and to continue to be trusted by the organization is something that you don't take lightly. I know what it means to be Montreal Canadian. I know what it means to the fan base. And for me to sit here and say that I potentially could finish my career in one place is, you know, it means a lot as a player. So it's, uh, it means a lot as a player. So it's, uh, it's, uh, when you're going through those negotiations, which were a little bit heated at times. I think that was definitely, you know, one of the most important thoughts across your mind.

You know, when you look around the Montreal dressing room and you see all the legends, if you could pull a name or two off there to like just suit them up in their prime, who would you, who would you grab off there? Oh, I mean, so probably the most emotional game I ever played as Montreal Canadian, not because of anything I did, was when Jean Belable passed away. We were actually on a road trip in Minnesota at the time.

We played terrible. We got smoked, and it was the day he passed away, and I remember how much heat we took as a team for not playing better for John Belvo. And we were able to come back home. They had the funeral proceedings, which we were a part of, and you just saw how much this man meant to every single person in Quebec. It was unbelievable the support he had. when you got people to talk about John Belvo,

the respect they had for that man was unbelievable. And after we went through, I think it was like three or four days of kind of funeral proceedings. We had that much of a layoff before our next game against Vancouver. The next game, I've never felt more pressure to win a hockey game in my life. I felt like we had to do this for him, but for everyone who was ever a Montreal Canadian fan. I remember Plyke actually scored late in that game.

We beat the Canucks. And it was like a relief. It was you could tell the fans, you could tell how much it meant for them, that we were able to just play a good game to honor him. And the impact that he had on so many people, I'll never forget that. It was, as a player, it was pretty unbelievable. It is pretty cool to think that a guy like Bellevaux could be beloved that much. It was, it was incredible.

I mean, because you hear them talk about, they have so many legends, and you hear them talk about it when, obviously they love, like, you know, they love them all. but I've never heard any player garner the respect from every single person that John Belivo had. And that's really what he was about. You know, obviously he was the captain of the team. One a gazillion Stanley Cups. But I think what people remember about him is the respect that, you know, that he not only had for everyone else, but the respect everyone showed him, regardless if you're on his team or playing against him.

Well, I don't want to hold you for too much longer. so we'll go into the crude master final five just five quick questions and then I'll let you get on with your day I always like to start off with if you could sit down with one guy like I'm doing this is you know this is a this is a treat for me I guess I get to sit down with guys that I admire if you could hop on take a beer over to whoever you want or whatever drink of your choice and sit down with one guy and pick their brain who would you want to take current or past Um, honestly, I'm probably taking Tiger Woods. I think he's been through so much.

Uh, I think he could offer advice good and bad that he went through. I think his competitive nature, I don't know if you can find that in a lot of athletes. And he just deals with something. He's out there on the golf course alone, his mental, what he has to deal with. Um, and what he had to go through to get to where he was. And then how long he stayed at the top and to go drop down, get back there where he is now. I think, uh, you know, I'm just astonished. by everything about him.

It'd be pretty cool to sit down, have a beer with him, and just pick his brain. You talk about competitive nature. The other guy that comes to mind is Michael Jordan. Please tell me you've watched the last dance. I'd believe it. And I get a kick out of the clip just came up the other day. This guy got motivated by everything.

Everything. Coach of the other team doesn't shake his hand. He's like, that was all I needed. Put 60 on them. You know, it's just there were like little jokes going around. you know, the Starbucks barista served the other guy first. That was all I needed to drop 40 on Portland that night. You know, it was this guy just looked for little things and you used it.

And, you know, it clearly worked. I know you're a guy who collects things and you've said you collect odd things. What is the oddest thing you've either collected recently or all time? Oddest things. You know what? I have a... a jersey signed by the Hanson brothers to me and they wrote putting on the foil. I think that's pretty cool.

Probably not about people that have it. It's strange. I don't know if it's worth anything, but pretty cool. But to any hockey fan, they get it. I mean, a hockey player for that matter. How many times did you watch Slapshot on the bus? Every road trip, it was getting suggested at least. If you get traded tomorrow, if knock on wood, that doesn't happen.

But if you were to get traded tomorrow and can bring one guy with you, Who would you bring? Kerry Price. This guy gives you a, you have a chance to win. It doesn't matter how good everyone plays around him. He's such a competitive guy. He puts so much work into his craft.

And in the big moments is when he plays his best. And I think that's what you're looking for in a teammate. Yeah. The toughest position in the game take the best there is. That's pretty sound logic to me. I've heard you talk about pranking guys and that the best guys to prank are the guys who give the most emotion or get irritated by it the most.

So which guy is the most upset about getting pranked? So the best one we ever had around Montreal was Tori Mitchell was this guy was one of the funniest teammates I've ever had. But so me, Tori Mitchell and Paul Byron. We're actually all getting pranked at the same time. Couldn't figure out who was doing it. It turned out to be a few different guys, but we blamed Andrew Shaw. So we decided to get Shazzy back.

Very, very emotional guy, hothead. So we kind of knew it would have the reaction. So we asked our trainers to put two of those, I don't know, those massive popcorn bags that you get at sporting events, like the huge ones that they dump in there. He said, put two of those each in our cars. So we had six of those things and we filled, we took the next day at practice. We filled up his car from floor to the roof.

It was just full of popcorn. And it sat there for the entire practice. He was actually the last guy out of the ring. So he came out at the end. Obviously he opens door, popcorn comes out. He's pissed. But what we didn't think of is there's a ton of butter on those popcorn. He had to take his car in for a little bit of a cleaning.

And he was pretty upset with us. but I still get a good kick out of it. I think if anyone ever did that to me, I would laugh. But he made sure to get us back. Don't worry. What did he do to get you back? Oh, it just, what did he do? It lasted until he was traded.

This guy was just thinking about ways to get us back. It wasn't one big prank. It was like little, little things. And after we did that too, we couldn't really be mad. So we just kind of took it. Man, hockey player pranks. There's some good ones out there. Your final one.

I know you're a golfer. So let's say tomorrow you're in a two-person scramble and you can take any said golfer with you. I assume it's Tiger Woods, but maybe I'm wrong. Give me Tiger. First of all, whoever we're playing, they're screwed. You can't play with Tiger Woods and play well. For me, there's no pressure. I got Tiger Woods as my partner.

So if we lose, it's on him. Well, I appreciate you doing this for me. it's been a lot of fun. All the best. Hopefully you guys get back playing here, you know, sooner than later. I hope for an all-Canadian division, just at least for one year.

Hell, that'd be a lot of fun. But regardless, all the best here in the future, Bigfella, and I appreciate you hopping on. No, I appreciate you having me on. Apologize all your viewers for the listeners for the ding. But other than that, hopefully enjoy it. Have a great day. 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, 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.