Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #135 - Kelly Hrudey Round 2

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

Kelly's back on and we discuss interviewing 3 presidents, mental health, living in a "spooky" house while in New York & Colter Wall. Kelly can be found on Sportsnet & Hockey Night in Canada. He spent 15 years in the NHL where he played between the pipes for the Islanders, Kings & Sharks.  Let me know what you think   Text me! 587-217-8500

Hi, this is Braden 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 No, 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 on tap for you today. I'm excited to get back on Kelly Rudy.

Really, really enjoy his thought process, his values. And I joke about it now. I feel like I have a little bromance going on with him. I just enjoy sitting down and getting to know him a bit better and sharing some funny stories with him and a lot about his career. But before we get there, let's get to today's episode sponsors. up here on December 15th. I'm teaming up with the Lloydminster Region Health Foundation for Lloyd Minster's Gift to Health. We're doing a 12 hours 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Facebook live streamer we'll sit down with different people throughout the community. I've mentioned sitting down for coffee with Shep. A good friend, Brewman is going to come sitting BS for a little bit. I'm sitting down right before I record this, actually, with Tanner Novelin. He's going to call

him from L.A. Ron McLean is going to be a guest now. Rod Peterson, Scott Hartnell, Clark MacArthur, Wade Redden, like the list goes on. It's going to be a fun day. Last year we raised $50,000 for new PIXUS Automated PIL dispensing machine. This year we're looking to exceed that with a goal of $200,000 where all the money raised is going to the Loyda Hospital, which includes new defibrillators, lab equipment, a bunch of other things, a bunch of money going to continue and care. you know, people being isolated and stuck away from their families. We're going to try and help out as much as we can. And I know with your guys' support, we will not only hit our goal,

but we'll probably exceed it. We got the best support in the world here in Lloydminster and surrounding area. Like, it's just a fantastic community to grow up in. And so I hope you guys will tune in December 15th, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Facebook live stream on the LRHF page. you can go to the LRHF.c.org.com. to donate. You can do that today. Carly Clause, and I'm happy to announce,

Windsor Plywood has signed on for 2021. They are the builders of the podcast table. And my background, all the supplies from there came from Windsor Plywood. You need to get on their Instagram and see all their amazing work they're doing. All your supplies, they're local. They support local. So make sure you give them a call. 780, 875, 9663.

I'm super pumped to have Windsor Plywood back on for 20, 21. Clinton team over at Trophy Gallery, championship belts, custom medals, diecast, signage, name tags, engraving on Yetis and Broomates, business awards and crystal and glass. Ships Canadawide, Trophygallery.com.ca, if you go online, they got over 5,000 products, and if you use the promo code, Newman, for 15% off, you'll get 15% off. any sport, any time, from bodybuilding to hockey, they have it all. HSI Group announced last episode that they've signed back on for 2021.

Super pumped to have the boys believing in what we're doing here on the podcast. They are your local oil field burners and combustion experts that can help make sure you have a compliance system working for you. The team also offers security and surveillance and automation products for residential, commercial, livestock, and agricultural applications. They use technology to give you peace of mind so you can focus on the things. that truly matter. Make sure you give Broder of Kim a call today at 306, 825, 63010, or stopping at 3902.52nd Street. Clay Smiley and Prophet River. Profit River is a retailer of firearms optics and accessories serving all of Canada. They specialize in importing firearms from the United States, hard-to-find calibers, rare firearms, special editions.

Check them out for all things gun-related, Profitriver.com. Shout out to Gartner Management. Wade has been just superb. I moved in here in May and it's just been fantastic to have as the landlord above my head. And if you're looking for any, if you're looking for a space here in 2021, he's a Lloyd Binser-based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help meet your needs, whether you're looking for like I'm in a little small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space, give Wade Gartner a call at 780808, 5025. How could I not talk about the SMP billboard? A huge shout out to read and write and the amazing work of Deanna Wander. If you're looking to get some outdoor signage put up,

these guys and ladies do it right. Give a read and write a call today. If you're heading into any of these businesses, make sure you let them know what you heard about them from the podcast. If you're interested in advertising on the show for 2021, visit Sean Newman Podcast.com in the top right corner and hit the contact button.

Send me your information. got lots of different options and I want to find something that can work for the both of us. All right, I got to announce T-Barr-1's back in for 2021 too. So thanks to the boys over at T-Bar-1 Transport for all your heavy hall needs. Give T-Bar-1 a call today. Here is the tale of the tape. Originally from Emmington, Alberta. He played for the Medicine Hat Tigers in his time in the WHL,

was drafted in the 1980 NHL entry draft. 38th overall by the New York Islanders. His NHL career saw him suit up for the New York Islanders, the LA Kings, and the San Jose Sharks. In 1993, he helped backstop the LA Kings that featured the likes of Wayne Gerexki and Company to a Stanley Cup finals appearance against the Montreal Canadiens and Patrick Waugh. He played 15 seasons in the NHL, which saw 677 games, 271 wins, 3.43 goals against average.

Now, you can find him as a broadcaster on Sportsnet and Hockey. Night in Canada. I'm talking about Kelly Rudy. The table's been set. On to the main course. This is Kelly Rudy and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Mr. Kelly Rudy again. So first off, thanks for hopping on. Of course. I enjoyed the last one. I think we went to quite a long time. Was that in maybe May or June? And I think we went for a good hour and a house. I'm looking forward to it again, Sean. It was the last week of July, if you can believe it. Oh, it was really, right?

Yeah, it was right before playoff started. So that would have been the week before our daughter, she got married here in the backyard. That was August 1st. I think I had a couple of days off. And then I would have then started on the Monday, August 3rd, for the playoffs. The first thing in my notes, Kelly, was to ask you about your daughter's wedding because that was the first thing we talked about. Yeah. And how, yeah? It was really great. My wife and our daughter, we had a wedding planner that was just amazing and she did an amazing job also. And the three of them worked diligently leading up to that day. And the weather was perfect. My mom was able to come down. My brother and his family. I was very small. I think we had about, I think the limitations at that time were 50 people. And we had just under that.

and we had it right in our backyard. We did social distancing. Everybody wore masks. We were diligent about that. In fact, the wedding planner and my wife came up with this detailed email about all the concerns we had with the pandemic and what we're expecting from everybody. And so all through the, then after the backyard, everybody came to the driveway. We had it tented.

We had it catered and everything. It was just great. And we really did our utmost best to doing everything properly. though, because, you know, frankly, I think we may have talked about this last time, Sean. This pandemic has me worried and more so now. And so back then, I was concerned about what we're doing properly and even more so to this day. Well, I just had a buddy actually have, get married this past weekend and they had to be below, I think it was 30 guests. And I was saying to them, you know, like there's only two ways you can really look at it.

You can be depressed. You only had 30 guests. Or for the rest of time, you had a pandemic wedding. And who can really say that? A select few. Yeah. And you know what? To that point, too, that was the second wedding that we were at this summer under those same conditions where, you know, I think our daughter was originally planning 120 people.

And I think the other wedding may be a little bit bigger and became these two really small, intimate parties that I think may, over the course. the time change what a wedding might look like because I found it to be really easy to visit with everybody like I said is very intimate um you had a chance to have a great conversation with all the people that were invited as opposed to and I know we've all been to larger weddings where it's hard to sit down and socialize and talk to people because there's so many people you have to say hi to or want to say hi to so under these conditions I thought it was great and it might change weddings moving forward yeah you never know I know I can only speak to my wedding.

And we had just under 400 people there. And it was, uh, yeah, let's just say, hey, half of Canada came down. I married a Minnesota girl. So we got married.

I invited half of Canada. Half of Canada showed up. And it was a great night. I got no complaints other than, uh, probably I probably didn't talk to half of them as much as I nearly should. And you're right. If you had,

you know, that 30, 40 guests, you get to actually sit down and chat with anyone or everyone. I, I can see where you're going. Yeah, and costs are different. So for 400 people, I'm sure there's a lot of booze consumed and a lot of food.

And there's a lot of sandwiches to make for the midnight lunch. So, yeah, different circumstances, but it all worked out great for sure. Now, the other thing that I had written down, I actually had three things written down from the last one. Not that they were the three things that stuck out. There were three things that you talked about. and then one you sprung on me right at the very end before I could even rebuttal what you were talking about. The second one was you said a new thing you started in the pandemic

was you started calling your mother every day. Are you still doing that? Absolutely. I think there are three days maybe during the playoffs in which I couldn't. I just got scheduling, got a little bit crazy and so on. I think it would have been days that I might have been in Toronto because the last 18 nights of the playoffs, I was in Toronto and doing it.

out of the studio there. Prior to that, I'd been in my home studio. But you're right. And still to this day, I call her at any point from around now, which is four o'clock mountain time to around eight o'clock in that window. And we catch up. And it's still so beautiful. I'm glad you brought that up. Well, I know how important, Kelly, family is and your parents and everything. You talked so highly about them last time. It only seems fitting we start there. I like it. And I don't know if I would have been able to share this news back then, but we're also going to be grandparents again. So not only do we have our little Maverick that's going to be three years old in February, but he's going to have a little brother. And so we're thrilled. And man, we hope we get to see them in person, though, at some point here. Well, congratulations. That's exciting news. Yeah, it is really exciting.

The third thing that you dropped on me right at the end was you dropped. One of my favorite questions to ask is if you could sit down with somebody and pick between their brains, who would you take? And you said, you said, actually, I've been pretty spoiled. I've got to sit down with three U.S. presidents. And you couldn't see my face at the time. My jaw kind of hit the floor. And I've since listened to a couple interviews of you. And I've picked out two of the three names, Bill Clinton being one, Georgia W. Bush being two.

who was the third? And could you tell us a little bit about that experience? Yeah. So the third was Mr. Bush's dad. So I did an event with a friend of mine, Brett W. Brett Wilson in Vancouver. And we were the host, the moderators. A person in Vancouver, he was hosting a dinner party for,

I believe only about 20 or 30 people. And it was a job of Brett and I to sort of get the conversation going. And that was amazing. And George W. was phenomenal. He introduced me to his dad. And it was really cool because when you're around those people, in my experience, I didn't realize how humble they would be. And that's also for President Clinton.

So all of them, I didn't have the same interaction with George W's dad. You know, it was maybe a five or ten minute conversation, whereas with Mr. Clinton and George W., I had real opportunity to sit with them and get to know them and meet and greets with my family and so on. In fact, President Bush, George W., when I did an interview with him in Edmonton at the Tulles Convention Center, we sat down for 45 minutes before the event and just chat, just he and I, and one of the organizers. Oh, by the way, how's this? Can you see this?

If I do the light, right? There's a picture of us. Oh, yeah, right there. From the event. And also both President Clinton and George W. sent handwritten notes to us. And my mom, in fact, when I did Clinton in Colonna, my mom was going through some health issues, so he wrote her a beautiful note on her picture and

told her about, you know, fighting and all that. It was amazing. And George W. Bush sent me this beautiful letter that I have framed in my office. And he talks about the love of our families and the daughters and he has daughters as well. And so very cool. My takeaway, though, from it, Sean, is that when I was dealing with these people and their staff, I was worried or concerned about how they would treat me or what sort of time I would have with them. And they certainly could not have been more gracious. And that's not an overstatement.

I'm not embellishing. I don't have to. The way in which they treated me and my family. And it was interesting to see the dynamics between the two presidents, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush, George W., and that when I submitted my list of questions to President Clinton for the event in Colonna, we were doing it at the arena there, so I think there might have been 6,500 people. He did a speech for 45 minutes, and I did a Q&A with him for 30 minutes.

They wanted me, his staff did, wanted me to submit the questions, and that was it. Like, they didn't edit them. They did nothing. They, it was just, okay, great. The only thing, the only advice they gave me is that they said the president doesn't like fluff. Like, don't ask him his favorite movie or last bookie read. Like, you've got to ask him real world questions.

And so I was quite nervous and leading up to it. I think I had jotted down 24 or 25 questions, which in a half hour would be unrealistic, but I didn't realize or I didn't know how he was going to treat me. I didn't know if he was going to give me one word. answers or so I only got to five questions and it was phenomenal. I mean and one of his last answers now it's been quite a long time ago I talked about his family and he was raised by his grandparents and something about they had a rural grocery store a convenience store and something about how you treat others and he said something about but for that Kelly I take no

credit. And I've used this line many times about my mom and dad and Don his mom dad. You know, we were lucky, like Mr. Clinton said about his parents or his grandparents. You know, that's how he has taught to be nice and gracious and care about other people. And the same with the President Bush. We just chatted for 45 minutes in Edmonton before. And I was amazed by how easygoing he was. And what a treat to deal with. By the way, they did when I submit my questions to George W. Bush, his staff, they asked me to change one word, and that's it in my questions. And, you know, it's just a phenomenal experience to have that interaction with those people. And, you know, I think it was really cool for me to sort of

understand from both of them that even though they're different parties, that they still really care about each other and root for each other. And that's what one of my takeaways as well also because I know that the organizers of these two events that I did, they've both, they've had them in their post presidency and you can just tell the respect and admiration they have for each other. It's not about parties. What was the one word? I'm going to beg off that and and and it because I can hear my wife laughing because times were different and I don't know if if I could get in trouble.

You're going to hold this all. We're all going to go to bed tonight going. What was the one word? I can't. I wish I could share. And that might be, in fact, on one of the other interviews,

you might have watched me with Greg Millen and John Bartlett from the booth. And there was a tiny bit of a segment in there that I thought I had shared too much and I asked them to take it out. Really? Yeah, it's a strange thing, but I just think for the protection of everybody, I can't go down that road as much as I'd like to. Kelly, when he's 85 years old, we'll have a memoir come out called The Word Was.

Yeah, I might. I might share that at some point, but. Now, I know you're a guy who, gets nervous. I think I've heard you talk a lot about you get nervous for everything. Whether it was this, I think we talked maybe even about it last time. It doesn't matter. What were the nerves like before a president or even a former president, I guess? Unlike anything I had ever experienced, it was interesting. My first experience with President Clinton, like I said, it was in the arena and we were meeting. There was a meet and greet.

and so I had flown in my mom and dad, and I believe only two of my daughters could make it. And my in-laws, they all came. And so we had a meet and greet with Mr. Clinton. And then we're sort of milling about before we're going to go on stage, and there's a couple of interactions or, you know, little interviews at the beginning before, and we're just waiting backstage. And Mr. Clinton was so nice because I think he could sense that I was nervous and I might have been rocking a little bit or something.

And he said he said something like, Kelly, we're going to go out there and have some fun. And he really put me at ease. And the one thing that nobody will know, and I'm sharing something that was really cool to me is after the event and we're walking off the stage and there's these stairs going down. there's a little landing, then you turn and go down another set of stairs to kind of where the Zamboni entrance would be. And we get to that little landing. And Mr. Clinton was quite a ways behind me. So I was leading the charge down the stairs. And somehow he had come up to me rather quickly. And he grabbed my arm nicely, nicely, gently, but a little bit of pressure. And he goes, Kelly, how'd I do? And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, President Clinton,

is asking me how he did on stage. I mean, if you've ever seen him, he's a world-class speaker, as you would expect, and extremely bright. And all these things, he knocked it out of the park. And it was really cool because any sort of, like I said, gently held my arm as we went down the stairs. We get to the landing, and there's a lost count to how many secret service there were around at RCMP and so on. and we chatted for about 15 to 20 minutes. And the chief of staff came over to me after and she said,

wow, the president sure likes you. And I go, oh, well, how do you know that? She said, because oftentimes after something like this, he just gets in his car and goes. And we know to back off if he engages the person. And so that was an opportunity for him to sort of share that he enjoyed the night. and he was, like I said, very gracious. I think he may have been flying onto Saskatoon or somewhere.

He was on a big tour with a company called Tiny Public out of Calgary that does all these crazy incredible speaking events. And so it was very, very nice. And geez, great memories. Thanks for bringing it up because, you know, you sort of get spoiled a little bit and you don't, you know, sort of go back in those times and think, wow, what a special life, you know, just for a, you know, a guy growing up, in Edmonton and all of a sudden I had a chance to meet to three former presidents and other people

and a couple of three prime ministers and that's ridiculous, right? Well, I just, when it comes to pressure, having Kelly Rudy on here brings it certain type of pressure. Now, I say that in the best sense. I mean that in the highest quality and I just mean the levels of like where you're sitting and where I'm sitting, right? And for you to get nervous for a president, he's sitting like way, way up on the top of the mountain. Like, oh, yeah. I can just imagine Clinton or Bush, you know, I just, I put them in, it's maybe not the right way to frame it, but the same place is Grexky. Anywhere they walk, everybody knows who they are.

Well, yeah. And there's going to be nerves. So you can just imagine they're, they've become very good at like, it's okay. We're going to have some fun here tonight, right? And just trying to relieve some of the nerves because everywhere they go, anyone they talk to is going to have. nerves. I mean, they're on a different planet, so to speak. Well, and, you know, I think one of my things, whether it's fair or not, I was afraid that because I'm a former athlete, that they may not treat me with as much respect. I mean, they're around incredibly bright people every day of

their lives, and that's why they've risen to those levels. But, you know, I think of my good friend, Cassie Campbell Pascall. Recently, she did an event here in Calgary with Michelle Obama, and she says the same sort of thing. Now, the world's different, and I know that she has still been texting with Michelle on occasion, which is really, really cool. In my world, I think I can share this safely, that I think I've shared this before. Leading up to the event, I think I could tell people, but I wasn't able to send text messages for a month before. It was a full on lockdown. I had been told by people that they're going to be monitoring my phone, all my internet and everything to make sure that I wasn't sort of leaking details of the events prior to. So that was

kind of cool in my mind. I thought, wow, that's interesting that the people that need to see my phone have the ability to look at it and make sure that I'm following all the proper protocols for everyone's safety. So that was interesting. And that was something that leading up to it, I remember thinking, hey, I'm going to send my buddy this text message. It has nothing to do with meeting the presidents or at these conversations. But maybe I better not because it might include a word or two that I might be afraid that gets out there. So it was kind of interesting. just to stick with the presidents for just one final second here. I wonder the day you got the phone call or the day you got the text said,

Hey, Kelly, you want to interview some presidents? Yes. Did your head hit the roof? Did you like, I assume you're like me? And that would be an exciting moment. And I feel like there might be a fist pump or two that goes down the road. I can safely say when I got Ron McLean, there was an email sent and it beeped on my home while I was driving down the road, right? And I didn't pull over. All I saw was Ron McLean.

And I was like, oh man, that's going to eat at me. He's pulled over. And then it says, you know, he's going to come on. There was some fist pumps. And I'm sure people thought I was nuts. Now, you're talking about presidents of the United States. You're talking about prime ministers. When you found out something like that, you got a happy dance you do, you got a song you put on, do you drink a glass of wine? What do you got for me? No, I recall, again, it's a company called Tiny Publiction. the founders, co-founders are Andy McReith and Christian Darbyshire, and they're both Calgarians, and I had done some other speaking events for them.

And, you know, basically is around the world of sports and a couple of other people, business people. And I did these in Western Canada. And one I did was with Lance Armstrong and Saskatoon. And that was cool. But when Andy McReed asked me if I'd be interested in doing President Clinton, I recall being excited, but my overriding thought, Sean, was, are you sure? And once again, I go back to my feelings about myself. I'm just a former athlete.

I'm not in that world. I'm not up to date on the politics. You know, I believe politics are important to me, but I don't. share my politics. And I just didn't know how it would resonate. I'm happy to say that I, of course, I accepted. And they had to approve it. President Clinton and his staff had to approve it. And they did. And then I think my biggest takeaway after meeting the president and his staff, and so I've had so many people come up to me since that event and share their thoughts. And they thought I did a great job. And I don't think they're being gratuitous because you can usually

tell when somebody's not truthful about something like that. So it was really cool to leave there because I know there are a lot of Calgarians that were at the event in Clona. And so to have that feedback was real affirmation for me that I can do it. And then when I was offered the opportunity with President Bush, then at that point, I didn't say, are you sure? I readily accepted. It's I find that very, very interesting. I remember telling myself, Kelly, and now I'm trying to compare myself to you, which is maybe a very poor thing to do. But I remember, I remember early on in the podcast stages, which it is still very early on.

Yeah. But when I started, Wade Redens from my hometown, obviously you can see the jersey. And I was a little bit nervous to take an interview like that because I knew I wasn't ready, or at least I didn't think I was ready yet. And it's funny what doing one of those will do for your confidence, especially when you don't absolutely comment, right? And I think it's funny that you worried that you weren't like essentially fit to sit across from a president because you don't know the policies and everything I find.

And maybe I'm wrong on this, but I've found most people, actually everyone, no matter how big or low they are, or just human bands, right? Like Bill Clinton, sure. He probably gets asked about policy all the time, but he probably wants a good old fashioned question that isn't, you know, what does Section C and Docket 8 stand for? Yeah, you break that down for us.

No different than all the hockey guys I get on, including yourself, right? Could we sit and talk about the Stanley Cup finals that happened in the upcoming season and what do we think about the predictions? And it's like, yes, we could, but you're probably doing that, I don't know, a thousand times in a week.

And it's way more fun to talk about some human things and see where that goes and some old stuff. Well, yeah, I would totally agree with you. And I think that I'm sort of guessing here or speculating, but I think that's one of the reasons why I don't do social media as often as I maybe should. I was doing it a little bit early on in the pandemic. And in fact, I don't think I've posted a video in over a month. I think Donna and I were in Vancouver about a month ago,

and I may have posted something about our trip coming to an end. But, and there's a reason for that. And I'm going to actually do a Twitter video and an Instagram coming up. And I'm going to share something about myself. But I need a little bit more time. And it's, it's good news. But I think that one of the reasons why I think I have my own sort of little niche is that I don't talk hockey. You know, we're having this great conversation.

And I certainly don't mind talking hockey. It's just I do it every Saturday night. hockey night and I do it multiple times every week on a flames broadcast. So if you want to hear what my thoughts are, they're right there. But when I talk on social media, I share, usually it's about the foods I'm going to eat, where Donna and I might be golfing or where we might have gone on a vacation and or most importantly, the topic of mental health. And so I think you get to see a different side of me that most likely I wouldn't have shared with

people, I don't know, 10 years ago. And I think that's what social media has allowed me to do and show that this is really who I am. And, you know, you might see me in a suit on a regular hockey broadcast. And that's cool and I really love it. But you don't get to see me, really. Like, this is seeing you and I right here. This chat right now is sharing more about who you and I are as opposed to what do you think about those retro jerseys coming out or what? whatever. I don't even know what they're called. I know the reverse retroes and the L.A. King's ones are absolutely awesome. You know which one? And I was, I have something coming up. So I had to look at them today. The Colorado Avalanche with the Nordique with the Nordique. I love that. Oh my gosh. That's,

that's gorgeous. And I maybe it's because I have a warm spot for that city. And man, I used to love going to Quebec City and playing in that, the old Colise and, and they had the best hot dogs and just real special memories of going to that city in the, in, you know, cold winter nights and we're flying. What makes a great hot dog?

What put it over the top? They toasted the buns. They had these really cool, unique buns, kind of like, I don't know, a rectangular shape, but they kind of look, I don't know,

I don't do it, not rounded, kind of like the bunsey by it, Safeway or anything. They had this unique shape, and they cut them off on the edges, and they toasted them lightly, and we had called them

Chechon's. I don't know if that's the actual term in French for hot dog, but that's what hockey guys would call them. And, you know, you'd get in there, because oftentimes you'd fly in the day before, and you'd practice in Quebec City, at least we did anyways when I played with L.A.

and we'd practice in the Colisei and the concession would be open so the day before a game all of us would be lined up at the concession after a practice and having the hot dogs and oh boy amazing and then we might go into Quebec and find a beautiful restaurant and just go I don't think I was ever there during the winter festival but just a beautiful place well you bring up lots of lovely things. A, Quebec, I think all Canadians would love to see the Nordiques back in. There's something iconic about those jerseys, along with the whalers, I might add. Yeah, I love those ones. But that's going back to the long form and getting to know Kelly Rudy, uh, compared to the snippets you see on hockey night and Canada where all you're there for is to put in, you know, your two sense of opinion on, on the given topic and what's going on. Um, I think, A, this is a beautiful thing for all you guys because you get to actually kind of know the person one on one. One of the things I really wanted to discuss with you, we never got to last time,

was your time in L.A. I've read it in your book. I've seen it on YouTube several different times. I know you've talked about mental health. One of the things that I wanted to discuss with you was mental health because it was, I think it was three episodes ago, Kelly. I had a very good friend of mine. my first podcast guest, actually Ken Rutherford come on here. He's a successful business owner. He teaches. He's physically fit. A guy in about his mid-40s and got six kids. Like, everything is rosy. Great. And then he got in the podcast room and we got talking and here he, he opened up about his mental health and you could tell. And it blew me away because, I mean, no one can for a long time. Never seen anything. even a crack and out it came and here he's got ADHD and things are just bothering them and

COVID going on and the pandemic and just and it just adds and adds and adds here's a strong guy with like lots of love in his life that's that's a guy who's got lots of love and boom all of a sudden there it is and uh I it was pretty cool of them to share it with me and to share it on this format I think it did them a world of good um but I thought maybe a it surprised the hell out of me like when I say it surprised the hell out of me I did not have an inkling it was common but you going in L.A. I know I've heard you talk lots about your struggles you know and Barry Melrose and Tony Robbins and maybe lead the listener through kind of your I don't know if it's struggle or your journey whatever word

do you want to use for it? Okay, so I'm glad we're talking about this because that was the last chapter that Kirstie and I had written for the book. And I'll explain that in a second. But no, actually, I should share that first and then I'll get to what I was going through. So we're writing the book and we're at Kirstie's house. We're pretty darn happy with where everything was at. and I was like, you know, this isn't quite right because our daughter, Caitlin, had been sharing

her story about her mental health issues for a lot of years and we'd been doing a lot of public speaking. And yet here I'm trying to write a book and being as truthful as I can possibly be without being hurtful in a lot of cases. And yet I'm not sharing one of the things that I went through in life. And that was going back to that 92, 93 season when I don't know. know what was going on and I don't think I had any mental health issues prior to that. But that summer, my brain was hyperactive. It was on fire. I believe I was entering my 10th year in the National Hockey League. I knew the numbers. The numbers would tell you that most players play in around three and a half years. That's the average. And so I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I don't know if I

can keep playing at this level. And my brain, and I've since been taught from Caitlin, that loop. The loop was going round and round and round and round. And it was only feeding me negative thoughts and you can't keep doing it at this level and you're done. And so I entered that season with those thoughts, but somehow I was able to sort of overcome them. We got off to a great start. Gretzky was injured that year to start. And even with Wayne's injury, we were, I think, They're in first place in the league or first place in our conference. Like we were all great. Luke Robatai was on fire.

Rob Blake, everybody were exceeding expectations. Even in late November, Sports Illustrated, which was unusual at the time, they had, we were the cover feature on our team. Barry Melrose, I believe, was on the cover. They did a wonderful article about our team and the great job that Barry had been doing. You know, he is young, good-looking, charismatic, the perfect coach for the L.A. Kings and that environment and so on. And I just remember going in around mid-November and thinking,

whew, it's, I just can't sustain this level. And we ended up going, we played in Toronto. And I think it was a Saturday night. We may have lost. My memory's not quite there right now today with that. Then we flew to Milwaukee. In fact, I think we stayed for the Great Cup the next day. And then we flew to Milwaukee for one of those neutral site games.

And I remember ordering up room service, just had like a Pepsi. And I couldn't barely eat. And my mind was just racing. And I was coming unglued. I mean, I was having an episode, I call it. I didn't know what it was. And I didn't know why and what was happening. specifically, but I knew that I was in tough, tough shape, like really tough. And I got through the next

day. In fact, I was first start of the next game. We beat Chicago. We flew home. I held it together again for a couple of more games and we played at home against Montreal. I think we tied five, five. And Barry comes into the dressing room and he's talking to the team. And I recall specifically, he gets to me and he goes, and even Kelly can play better. And I'm thinking to myself, no I can't and and there was another word in there and I think you can figure out which word it is and it's a pretty strong swear word in our language and I said no I just told I was convinced my brain that night clicked off it was like you're done you can't play at that level and and I went in a ditch for about two months it was awful gosh it was awful hmm I hated it

And the good news is, so you and I, we can have these conversations now. And as men, we're not ashamed anymore, right? It's okay. So I'm really good with this conversation because it helps people. And, you know, when it's a little bit different, but I got to tell you, but when I was in Toronto for the playoffs and with the pandemic, I couldn't take it. I actually go, I had to meet a couple of my bosses.

Okay, so the last weekend, there's a game Friday and Saturday, and then ultimately the Cup was awarded to Tampa on Monday, but Friday and Saturday, I did myself no favors because the pandemic, that was really bothering me. And I stayed in my, I like to go for a walk in those days normally, and I stayed in my hotel room and I watched the news. And I went basically into a ditch like I did in Milwaukee. And I could barely leave my hotel room.

I met a couple of my bosses and even Elliot Friedman happened to be there at the time. And I said, I don't know if I can go to air. Like it was just bothering me so much. I just wanted to go home. And I got through Friday somehow. And then Saturday I was in worse shape. And luckily for me, we have such good support. We have one of my bosses, Joel Darling.

I had Brian Spear, one of my producers, and they were really looking after me. And after the Saturday show, Joel came into my dressing room and said, you okay, do you want to go home? And I thought, wow, that's beautiful. And I thought, no, I think I'm okay. I just, I need to clear my mind. So on Sunday, it was a beautiful day. It was a day off. I went for a three and a half hour walk.

And I got my head together a little bit. I kind of use some of the tools that I've learned from Caitlin and so on about what we're going through. And I was like, no, I can do it. I was very thankful that Tampa finished them off on Monday because I, you know, I was in just such a bad place mentally. And that's beautiful that we're talking about it, Sean, because, you know, I'm not the only guy that's had troubles. And I'm here soon to be 60 years old. And if I can tell my story and be emotional, you know, there's other guys my age going through the same thing and talk about it because it's impossible to do it alone.

I tell you, I did that when I was in Milwaukee and for a while there where I didn't share anything with anybody. And my wife knew, I mean, she knew that I was going through something really bad, but I didn't share enough with her. And so I'm happy to say that, like, it's our greatest work. My family's greatest work. It's not anything to do with my playing on the ice or my broadcasting career. It clearly is the message that we continue to share with others about mental health. Because I know I'm really rambling here, but the Canadian Mental Health Association will tell you what in five people suffer. And I'm here to tell you, maybe that's completely debilitating to those people.

but four and five sufferer, maybe five and five in some way. We all have something, I believe, to a certain degree. Well, I think, A, appreciate you sharing. And I don't think anyone, especially men, should ever feel bad about being emotional or anything. Well, I'm the kind of guy that cries at a wedding, too. So you get the full gap with me. Listen, I, I, my wife will tell you full on, if I watch,

a movie that's got a little bit of an emotional heartstring. You'll hear, you'll, I'll be, uh, I'll be in the, I'll be wiping. Anyways, that's, that's a, that's a side story. I appreciate, you, you know, it's funny, it's funny, uh, Kelly, um, when we talk about things like this, and for me being a younger guy and hearing you say, I didn't have any symptoms before. It wasn't like, you know, like I've been dealing with it all my life. Just one day, in the middle of a 10-year career, which anyone in their dog would go, man, you're on the top of your game. Like, where you go, get moving, right? And it can happen to you.

And not only just happening you, like, I think what is wonderful about how you tell the story is, and I understand that I'm dragging it back up for you, and I really do apologize. No, I'm good for that. I'm good. But it just, it's good for people to hear that, that they're not. I think one of the worst things that COVID and the lockdowns and everything's brought on is the connections have disappeared. And a lot of that is starting to stir up some really tough things for people that is hard to share. And one of the things that Ken had talked, and I hate to bring Ken up six times, it would probably come swath.

But he said, you know, he felt bad for sharing it because he thought, you know, and make him less of a man. to show weakness, right? And I'm like, man, you got, like, you gotta get that stuff out of your head, right? Like, you gotta tell somebody because by getting it off your shoulders, then you can get the help you need, right? And you can start talking about it and address it for what it is. You know, it was Theo Flurry on a side note. Now I'm going on a tangent.

But on a side note, Theo Flurry when he was on, we talked a little bit about when on with him and Graham James. Yeah. And there were people extremely close to me and from around the area that were coming up and talk to me about when they were kids growing up, things that had happened to them. And I was like, geez, now I feel like freaking lucky kid that that never happened, right? Like it's it's more commonplace. That A, which is on a side note, is more commonplace.

I think bringing it back to mental health, I think it was more commonplace like you're saying before the pandemic. but now with the pandemic going on and people being isolated I mean there's a lot of anger hockey being shut down again you know I've said this time and time again you know I was getting a little bit tired of sports and like hearing about the oilers and McDavid and whether he's good or not it's like smack my head off the table but now I'm just like I will never complain about that ever again ever because those things as a society I didn't realize how much we needed but we need them We need them back soon.

We do. And it's good for us mentally to sort of escape what we're going through and what we're feeling. But with your friend, Ken, you should remind him. And it's one of my favorite lines from my good friend Michael Landsberg about sick, not weak. And it's a real good message to send to men, women, boys, girls, that you're not weak. You're dealing with something. And so I'd like to share a story here about mental health. and how the world is changing.

So certainly 10 years ago, we wouldn't have been having this conversation. And I think it's about three years ago, a friend of mine, Brett Wilson here in Calgary, he has this really small golf tournament out at Copper Point in Invermere. And it's 24 of us that go. And it's in support of mental health causes.

And so we golf. We're having a dinner. We're sharing stories. you know what we're all talking about? Mental health and how it affected all of us. Can you imagine years ago, 24 guys just talking at a dinner table about what we're feeling and how we're dealing with things and what we're going through? I mean, it's a favorite night of mine, and I couldn't make it this year because I was working,

but they were getting together. So I called him and Brett Kissel also goes. And the three of us had a nice chat about the night. and saying we love each other and all this. I mean, I just think it's fantastic that we're, you know, opening up more, not just with our families, but, you know, it's a good thing to tell another person, hey, I love you. It's good.

Well, it's, once again, one of the things of the pandemic is that human interaction, right? Like human interaction, I don't mean like, hey, how's it going? I mean, that's okay, too. but, you know, an actual hug, a handshake. Time to dig into something, to have a conversation. I said this with Ken, one of the things I realized really early on once the pandemic started to lock everything down is I'm a guy who thrives on having conversation. I just enjoy getting things out of my brain.

One of the best ways I learn is by talking with somebody. So my wife some days, I'm sure, wants to swap me because I, I'll literally word vomit at times just over and then it gets out. And then you can be like, oh, that didn't really make sense. And away you go, right?

So what I did with the podcast is I went from doing one a week to upwards of four a week, right? Like I just, screw it. Let's just start talking to people and let's see where it goes, right? And so I just think there's a ton of as much as I think I'm unique. There's so many people that enjoy conversations. And as we start to limit the ways we can do that,

we just have to find new ways. And this is one of those. I mean, it's easy to Skype call somebody or what have you to get those in. And it's really good for the, man, I hate to sound corny, but it's good for the soul to talk to somebody. And talk about something more than just, hey, the sun came up today. But maybe that's very. I mean, I think I may have told you this when we spoke in late July that because of the pandemic and one of the things that I've really enjoyed through the time and now I'm re-engaged.

is I never said no to anybody. Whenever anybody asked me across the country, I accepted their invite. And it was awesome. I mean, I've lost count of how many podcasts or Zoom things or Instagram, you know, meetings, all those sorts of things that I've taken a part of. And I just really love it. And, you know, it's great. I have another one tomorrow and looking forward to that and just everything about it. So it's connecting. us in different ways, right? And so I always felt kind of like disconnected when I became so busy with hockey night and Flains broadcast because I couldn't do things like this. And, you know, I was always running to the airport or checking into a different hotel in a different city and

worrying about the broadcast the next night or doing something. And so this has been good for me to sort of share who I am and what I like to do. And it's been really great. Well, once again, I really do I really do appreciate you sharing. Now, I want to change topics because when you go into the NHL, your first year, everybody's, I believe, I shouldn't say everybody, but I'm quite sure they put you in a house to kind of be, shall we say, mentored or to have kind of like a guide for the 18-year-old coming up into the NHL. And I know you did it for Patrick Marl. I was just curious about that experience. And if you, when you were a young goalie in New York, if you had somebody you went and lived with and kind of learned from,

because I've talked to you last time about the culture of the Islanders, but did you actually live under somebody and kind of just get eased into it? Oh boy, that's a great question. I think, if I remember correctly, that it was, and even when we brought in Patrick Marlowe to our house, he was quite a bit younger. So I had already been living on my own for two years. Well, I had a roommate in Indianapolis, Monte Treche, Brian's younger brother. So I had lived on my own for two years.

So the idea of maybe moving into a family wasn't top of mind for me. I was more interested in maybe finding my own place without a roommate and just sort of learning. life at 22 years old. And so nobody offered. They were, but having said that they were amazing mentors to me, all of them, every single player on the Islanders, I felt a real connection to. And I had been the only, I was the only rookie to make the team out of training camp. And I stayed in the hotel for three months. So we had three goalies, Billy, Roli Malon, and myself. And so I think the team was kind of unsure in which direction they were going to go. I think it was pretty clear that somebody was going to get moved and it wasn't going to be Billy Smith. And so finally, when the decision was

made and I think Raleigh would have been traded, then they said I could move into a place. I moved into a place by myself. And then, in fact, there was kind of a spooky old place. It was in a place called Sea Cliff. If you ever want to Google it, it was like an old sea captain's house. It was beautiful. It overlooked the Long Island sound, had a really spooky basement and it was a big old grand house it was gorgeous but living there by my by myself was spooky enough and so when gordonine was called up i asked him to come in and room with me and so that was kind of nice and then oftentimes uh my fiancee dana who of course i'm still married to she would come down on occasion but that house scared the pants off or her too but we didn't you know

to get to your point i had lots of men but moving out on my own was important and I thought at that age it was something I needed to do to you know really learn how to take care of myself now just sticking with spooky for a second did anything spooky ever happen or it was just a no it was just a spooky house it had the weirdest spooky basement uh I I never if you wanted to think of the uh scariest basement in a horror movie we should just take you to that house and see cliff and you could grasp what I'm thinking. There was this kind of like it was dark and small. And then they had this cinder block wall that kind of divided the basement.

And you couldn't see over the other side. I don't know why. Didn't you tour this place and be like, maybe not this place? Well, I was, you know, I got a good deal on it. I wonder why. Mike McEwen was. a defense on that team and he got traded

to L.A. So I sublet it from him. And so he was looking for somebody to take over the rent until he was going to come back in the summer. So I did that for him. But I just, you know, I went and looked at the house, but I looked at the main floor

and the upper floor and I probably didn't occur to me at that age to go check out the spooky basement. But man, it was a great part of Long Island. I mean, Long Island, it you've ever been it's beautiful and lush is is Donna still sitting beside you she's doing a puzzle just out in the next room I want to know what Donna's thoughts are of this of this house oh she

she shared them with me a lot was it spooky Donna oh here she loves I'm not going to go on she does come on donnie you can come on let's let's let's have her let's have it here Donna I want to know how spooky this place was it was super spooky and uh when Kelly would go on the road when I would come down to visit, I would ask some of the other girls and the teen girlfriends, like we used to do sleepovers at each other's house because none of us had kids and whatever. No one would sleep at that house.

Second story is you go down these crickety old wood stairs, but it was like those ones where they could grab you from, you know, in between. So yeah, I'd fly down the stairs and the washer and dryer were against the one wall. So you can imagine. And then there was that same. Sinder block, half cinder block. It was probably about six and a half feet high, but then it was still about a foot and a half of just black.

You didn't know what was on the other side. So you'd have to watch the, be looking at the washing machine, but also at this wall, because I thought for sure something was coming over. And there was lots of sounds in there. Yeah, there were a lot of sounds. It was, there was always sounds at night and stuff. I remember I would leave the radio on it sometimes when he wasn't there because it was, I don't even know. know why we stayed. But it was interesting. So how people like to take care of you, like Donna said, none of the girls would want to sleep over, but we got to know this Nassau County policeman. And when he was on duty at night, when he knew I was out of town, he would often come and park in the driveway and just sit there and do his notes and his paperwork and so on. So I know it made Donna feel a whole lot better that this Nassau County cop had her back in that sense. I can't believe Donna I couldn't convince you to sell that place like immediately.

Well, we ended up living there. They had a little tiny apartment attached to the place and we got married that summer. And then we ended up staying in the tiny little apartment just for a few months until we found a place the next season. But that little apartment was not spooky. No. That basement was spooky. All good horror stories are built off. of a spooky basement or attic.

There's no going around it. And the Amityville horror is a town on Long Island. No, it is not. Is it really? Oh, yeah. Amityville is a town on the south shore of Long Island, which I suspect would be 45 minutes away, ballpark from where we were living in that,

again, that little place called C. We were just having a conversation like two, three weeks ago about the scariest movie you've maybe ever watched. and Emmityville horror is right at the top of the bloody list for me. That was the entire time you watch any scary movie, you're yelling at them like, why are you still there? Just go. And at the end of the movie, no horror, they leave.

Hang on, Donald. That's a scary movie and really stirred the pants off me when I was younger. What's that movie? Sinister. Oh, have you ever watched a movie called Sinister? Yes. That one got me, and that's not long ago. That's what, 70 years ago?

that's that spooked me for days maybe weeks like seriously everybody would go up to bed and i'd go get a glass of wine and i'd look out the the kitchen window into the backyard and i think i'd see something looking back and i was i was a mess that had nothing to do with my mental health issues that that movie just scared the pants off me i've never watched because i think there's another one isn't there a sinister two or something and i never did watch it i just couldn't Oh, you gotta love a good scary movie. I don't do that to myself very often anymore. I gotta be honest.

I don't know why I keep watching these. I mean, I can't sleep properly at night after I do it, but every less and a while, you need a good scare. Well, and you know what we love, like, I think we chat about this before, you know, what you find on Netflix. So Don and I last night just finished up Queen of the South. And so we went on a full-on binge, how many, a couple of weeks for sure we saw it. We watched every season, four seasons in like two weeks.

And so we just finished up last night. And it's a great program. And there's so many good things out there. And every single night, you know, we're not going out for dinner anymore. And every single night, around 630 or so, we get ready for dinner and sit, getting our favorite comfy chairs and watch something. And that's been awesome. Oh, Netflix and chill, eh?

Right? We won't go down that road, my friend. Going back to Patrick Marlowe, was he the first guy or the only guy you guys ever did that with? Or did you do it quite? It was, you know, it was different in L.A. because, first of all, when we were living down in L.A., we're in the beach area, and there weren't a lot of guys at that time living in the beach. There were a lot of guys in the ball.

What's that? Yeah, so we were one of the first families. I believe Jim Fox had been down at the beach, but there weren't many people. Marty McSorley, but he was single. He was living down at the beach. But we were one of the first families, I think, to move by the beach. And so it wasn't like really great for community and getting together. And so the thought of having, and by the way, our kids were extremely young at that point.

So having somebody, and we didn't have a room for anybody, so having somebody come live with us wasn't really on the agenda. But like I said, when we're finishing up in San Jose, it just seemed perfect. We had a nice little bungalow with a swimming pool. And a part of that house, we had like a guest house. And so it made perfect sense if we were going to do this at the time that Patrick would live with us. He'd live in the guest house. And of course, he spent almost no time in the guest house. house other than to sleep, he spent all the time in our house with our family. And like I've always

said, he's like a big brother to our daughters. And so that was just a beautiful experience. I think I shared with you one of my favorite things with Patrick after a home game would come back. And there weren't many restaurants available back then in San Jose to go grab a bite teed after the game. So we'd come back to the house and have Donna would make sandwiches and would sit up and just reminisce about growing up and family and so on. Pat's mom and dad would come down every once in a while and would drink a little bit of cognac and everything about it was just a real good way to bond and get to know somebody. And Patrick and I still text every once in a while and it's really cool. Well, I just think it's for a young kid to be thrown into the world of professional sports,

big money, media, like everything. I think it's a cool way of going about it, kind of to like shelter them a little bit. And then not only that, to have a guy who's had a career like yourself to be just to bounce it off of right. And you can just kind of like, now that's okay. Don't worry about that or do worry about this or be here at this time

and kind of give them the lay of the land instead of just like throwing them to the wolves, so to speak. 100% about that. It is sort of like one of the things that we had thought about is that I want Pat to see sort of, you know, how it takes to get ready for a game, the preparation. Although you're, you know, you're hoping to have a ton of fun while you're playing sports, there's a real business side to it. And you've got to really appreciate that and respect that. And with that comes responsibility. And so I really took that part of it seriously. having said that, you know, we showed Pat fun. I don't mind sharing this story because I don't think I've shared you the story with Patrick, our last dinner together in San Jose, did I last time?

No, I don't think so. All right. So Don and I take Pat out for a fantastic Italian dinner at this great place in downtown San Jose. And we're sort of, he's thanking us for the season. And we're thanking him for sort of, in my case, rejuvenating my spirit and love. for the game because it was sort of waning in my second last year and Pat did a really nice job of getting that enthusiasm back for me and we're sharing and I knew what I had made in my NHL career and I'm looking at how salaries are going and I near the end of dinner I go you know

Pat I'm looking at salaries and I'm thinking by the end of your career I think you're going to make between 50 and 60 million dollars. And Pat's a pretty quiet guy and he gets this really neat grin on his face. And he's kind of thinking to himself, I could tell. I'm kind of putting words in his mother. He's saying, man alive, I grew up in a place called aneroid Saskatchewan. And somehow through the game of hockey, Kelly thinks I'm going to make between 50 and 60 mil. So a number of years ago, I think it was about the year 2013 or 14. I'm doing a, Sharks Kings playoff game. I'm doing color. After game one, there's a day off. And so I go to the Sharks practice. And I asked to meet Patrick after. And I had a real serious look on my face. And I go,

hey, Pat, I think I owe you an apology. And he looks at me with a really concerned look on his face as well. And I go, remember that night we had dinner and I said, I think you're going to make between 50 and 60 mil. He goes, yeah, I go, I'm sorry, I cut you down by about half. I didn't realize you'd make about 100 or more. And so we had a nice little chat, but, you know, and that's the point of my story, kind of is that, but yet Pat's the same guy, right?

He's the same guy that I grew up. He, of course, is different because he's got a family and all that, but same kid, never, never egotistical, you know, just a really nice kid that happened to do really well for himself. When he was living with you, Kelly, did you know? Did you know he was going to have the career he's had? I mean, you can't see that he was going to have the longevity per se. Right.

But Patrick Marlowe is like, I don't know, man, he's had one hell of a career. And with San Jose for, what was it? Was it 18 years? Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, something like it. And, okay, one thing that none of us could ever predict or know that the genetics that he has, you know, a big part of his longevity is just genetics, right?

I mean, how many people can play that long in any professional sport and not have any significant injuries? I think if I'm not mistaken, I'm going to be wrong here. But I think one year he missed 20 games. That's it. He is just blessed with a great body that can handle the wear and terror. That's, that's, there's less than one percent of the people that can do that. So he has that going for him. Now, two things stand out in terms of just play.

So what I noticed about Pat early on, uh, in training camp, he had an incredible release. So it wasn't a typical release of the shot where he had to load up. He rarely ever took a slap shot back then. Uh, and what he would do is how he had to. accept the pass and all in the same motion while he's accepting the pass, the stick blade would just go back a few inches and quickly he would make the transformation into moving forward and then releasing that shot all in one motion. It was beautiful. Back forward. All back forward. Incredible. And so and then secondly, I remember early in training camp, we're doing some skating drills

and my good buddy Tony Granato, one of the best guys I've ever met in the game, by the way, were I'm standing beside Tony in a drill, and he's huffing and puffing, and he had just did a drill with Pat Marlowe, and he looks to me and goes, Kelly, I can't believe that kid. I cannot keep up to him.

And Tony was a great skater. He was a great pro. Played 15, 20 years himself. And I thought, holy, you know, when Tony tells me right there that he can't barely keep up to the kid or he can't, and that sort of to me was, because Pat looks effortless when he's skating, right? I don't know if people actually can appreciate how great a skater is or how fast,

because he looks effortless. Like it's perfect. Everything about his stride and his strength and his core and everything. It just perfectly melds together. And so some of us, you know, skating or other guys, you know, you look a little bit choppier, but not Patrick. And then lastly, he's always about learning. So his first year with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the people at hockey night asked me to fly to Toronto a couple days before the start of the regular season and do a sit down one-on-one with Pat.

In fact, he can find it on YouTube somewhere. And we sat down and one of the things, one of the questions I asked him about, why Toronto? And he said, because he loved watching them. It would have been an early game when they're playing in San Jose. So watch the Leafs at 4 or 5 o'clock California time. And one of the players that he loved to watch was Mitch Marner. And I asked him why.

And he said, his skating, but not conventional skating. You know, it's all about his edge work. And that's what Patrick says in the interview. It's all about his edges. And he tried to incorporate some of that. I don't know if he can because of the age. And, you know, it's all edgework. for all these young players now.

You look at Marner and there's many others. It's just phenomenal how they skate differently than how we were taught. It's really cool. Well, you pretty much summed it up there, right? I mean, he had the shot, he had the skating, and then he gets the longevity because he's kind of a freak athlete is what you're getting at. He is. Now, we just passed the hour mark.

How much time do I got you for? Because this is exactly what happened last time. Do I got you for 15 more minutes? Two minutes. You tell me. Let's go 10. 10. Okay.

So what we're going to do then is we're going to slide into the final five. Okay. I got some fun ones for you today. I've been thinking about this for a while. So our crude master final five, five quick questions, Kelly. Shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald's, supporters of the podcast since the very beginning. Uno Moss, the first one, the best prankster you ever had while playing in the NHL. or in the minors?

I have to use, I have to use two names. Tom Laidlaw, when I played in L.A. and Barry Beck as well. Barry Beck was this big, you know, guy, I don't know, six, five and, you know, built like a rock. And yet he had this really funny, gentle side to him, which I don't think many people knew at the time. We would do, or Barry would do goofy things like we'd go into the airport because back then, oftentimes we're flying commercial. We weren't even taking charter planes at that point. And the old trick, right? You tie a fishing line.

You'd make a little hole in a dollar bill. You'd put the fishing line through. You'd throw it out in the middle of the corridor. And it was hilarious to watch grown men in business suits chasing. He'd reel it in, right? So they'd chasing a $1 bill and the reaction. I'd sit right by Barry and just laugh my face off watching these men chasing the dollar bill down the corridor in the airport now the reactions would be different some guys

would get find out that it's a trick and they'd laugh their face off other guys would get super mad now barry had this one really good rule that i like that if a child started to chase the bill it was theirs right like he wouldn't reel it along anymore as you know it was for the child to take and and i thought that was pretty uh pretty good of barry yeah that's that's uh that's a good rule good role. All right, Mr. Toons, if you and Donna, tomorrow, everything opens up. You can see anyone in concert. What concert are you going to? Holy. Yeah. Well, we've seen Springsteen and the Eagles many, many times, and I would probably lean towards that again. I would love, Donna might have somebody, I would love to see Springsteen in an acoustic setting again, kind of like what he did

on Broadway. I've watched that show many times and he talks about mental health and those shows too. So that would be the guy for me. And there are other artists that I absolutely love and respect, but going back to my days as tunes, Springsteen or Don Henley's favorite voice of mine also. A little dirty laundry. You? All right. Oh, dad impressed upon me. me, Don Henley. So we've listened to a lot of that. You know what? I'm, I've been playing a lot. So when the kids have bath time, I always bring the speaker in and we always play a little bit of music. And I've been loving on a good old Saskatchewan boy, Colter Wall. Oh, yeah. He's got that old. Isn't that Bradwell son? Yeah. And he sounds like Johnny Cash. I'm pretty sure he doesn't

like that comparison, but there's no other comparison. Like it is damn right impressive. Okay, so I hope my friend Brett Kissel doesn't take offense to this because I'm going to share a story that he shared with Brett Wilson and I at the golf tournament number two, three years ago. Brett Wilson may have asked Brett because they're kind of partners together in building up Brett Kissel's career. And he said to Brett, he goes, who's a big up-and-coming Canadian artist? and Kissel said it was Brad Walson. What's Colton? Colter. Colter.

And that was the guy he picked out. And I always remember that conversation. He's like, this guy is unbelievable. Now, he didn't tell me what kind of, you know, voice he had or the style he had. But I always remember that conversation. That's cool. Let me do you a favor. You and Donna a favor tonight.

My wife doesn't care about Colter Wall. So sorry, Colter. you can't win them all over. But if you haven't watched, go to YouTube and just Google Coulter Wall and click on a couple of his videos and watch him sing. It'll blow you. It'll blow you away. I promise you're going to 10 minutes after this is done and you're down the rabbit hole of Coulter Wall, you're going to text me and go, yeah, you were right. Like, it's, it's freaking impressive. Oh, yeah. That guy can do my entrance music any time of the week. Like, it's unbelievable. So I love this conversation because, you know, you and I both like music,

and I've learned so much from people like Brett Kissel. So he does these things at the golf tournament where he just plays acoustically for all of us. And he tells a story behind the song or the writing. And he shared with us, which I didn't know, he credits Glenn Campbell for changing the face of country music because of how he played the chords. And Brett could tell you a million times better than I can. I just know what music I like, but I don't know how it overlaps and you do all these different transitions and so on. But he went through the whole thing and I think most of us really is.

Because how he explained it to us, you know, very simple chords, you know, before that. And then Glenn Campbell came along and changed everything. And that was really cool to hear. You know, I think maybe one of the reasons why I love the story so much because I like people that know the history of their craft. So it really disappointed me a number of years ago when Jean Belivot passed away. And there are a lot of young NHL players that had never heard of them. And that just, that bothers me. Because I think if you're going to earn a little bit of dough doing something,

you should know a little bit about the history of it. I'm not saying you should know who Kelly Rudy is or, you know, some of the guys I played with, the, you know, unremarkable people. But the ones that really left a mark. And that's why again, going to Brett Kistel, when he really studied his craft and the history of it and went through the, you know, the time line about it, that really grabbed my attention. I was like, yeah, here's not just some young dude trying to make some dough because he's talented. He knows about this industry. I liked it.

I interviewed Brendan Gallagher and he told a fantastic Jean Belvo's story when he passed. Right. And it was all about the lore of playing in Montreal. It was very cool, very, very cool. So every single game that I played in Montreal, I would try and get a chance to get a look at Mr. Bellavone. His wife was usually there. They sat in the same seats.

He looked so beautiful and regal. His hair was always nice. He had the nicest suits. And he just looked to me like hockey royalty. And I would always take a glance over. In fact, that was one of the most important things I did before game one. in the 93 Stanley Cup finals. I,

while I was walking out of the dress room, I hesitated before stepping onto the ice, and I looked around. I wanted to make sure I experienced the whole thing, and I looked over to Mr. Bellabot, and that was really moving. I was cool. That was very emotional.

I remember getting like a jolt of energy right through my body at that point. Just on a side note to that. It is, it doesn't happen all the time, because it's hard to do. But when you can recognize a moment for what it truly is and recognize that, that's a special talent or just special that you can just recognize it for what it is.

So that's a cool story. Well, it was like the first time I was ever on hockey night in Canada because, you know, I had experienced the NHL life. I think I was finishing my 11th year. And so I knew about the NHL life and the NHL experience. but to sit in that chair right beside Ron McLean and have that music pumping into your ear, that was that was golden. That was magical. I'll never again experience that in the same way. And I've never forgotten it as well. Yeah, those I was saying I do, I do archive, Lloydminster

archive interviews, couldn't spit that word up. So I sit down with with people who are, you know, between 60 and I would say the oldest has probably been 95 something like that. And get to sit down and drink in, so to speak, their story, right? Really just listen to their life and what they've been through and that kind of thing. And one guy walked in and had no idea what he was about to sit down and do. And I said, oh, what a lovely treat you're in for. Because you just, there's very rare moments in life where you're about to experience something for the first time, where you've never experienced it before.

You kind of know what's coming, but you can't really know until you have actually experienced it. And those are very rare. And those rare moments are unbelievable. Yeah. So I had something similar. I mean, you keep sparking all these memories.

I bet about 10 years into my broadcasting career. I'm in Toronto for the playoffs. And so I'm there for an extended amount of time. And my good friend John Shannon invites me to this lunch. He goes, you won't believe it because I know you like the history of your sport. And also I like to understand some of the history of hockey night in Canada. And so he invited me to this lunch where there's a group of eight or ten gentlemen. And I'd heard their names before, but didn't really know of them and how it all worked.

But they were with all the ad agencies. And so on all the people behind the scenes that had put the show together long before I had ever been a part of it. And John would, I think he would meet weekly with these guys. And it was cool to go and sit. And I bet I rarely said a word, but just listen to all their stories about how Hockey Night in Canada used to be made and they'd sell the advertising. And I think they even at that point,

they were selling the show to CBC. I don't even know if it was owned by the CBC. I could be wrong. But I remember hearing all these stories going, I had no idea about how behind the scenes that show, went to air and it was really fascinating and uh you know you know just to hear those guys and like i said i like people that like the history now i don't expect people to be a historian of whatever you know i don't expect a young player to be a hockey historian i don't need to be a historian about

everybody that ever worked at hockey night but i do like the history and i think that is important it's cool to know where you've come from right it's it's an important thing yeah and especially in hockey with culture and a dressing room, it's always good to understand what came before you because NHL is such a wonderful sport and that there's a lot of history there, especially for certain teams. But even the youngest teams, I know Vegas is,

you know, and obviously Seattle coming in, but even like the Emmett and Oilers have a great history there. If you're playing into Montreal, Canadians or the Detroit Red Wings or, you know, the list goes on, like there is a ton of history there.

and it should just be all around you and you should be, you should be cognizant of what you're sitting in. Yeah, absolutely. Awareness, big word, right? And I think the NHL draft this year was something that really, I was really proud of. And I think San Jose, many teams did really cool, interesting things. There was that kid that got drafted by Calgary,

and I can't remember his name, but he was at hockey practice in Minnesota. And they stopped practice. a flashed his face on the Jumbotron and and the coach came over and told him that he had been drafted by the flames and and that was really touching and moving but the San Jose draft choice. I think he was a 31st pick overall this year and his mom is deaf and I believe they're from Calgary as well and they came out on stage and they signed that he was drafted. So cool stuff like, you know, it's about the history and, you know, what's what gets

emotional and what these emotions will always tie us forever, right? It's not, when you get emotional like that, when teams like San Jose, they do something like that, it feels like not only are they connecting with the kid that they drafted, but all of us, like there's a meaning in it. I know I'm keeping us on here for too long, but I remember, I remember being in college and we had, we were not a wealthy team by any stretch of the imagination. We had a little tiny bit of money to go do something. And I remember putting forth like this idea,

like we need to go get whatever it was. Jersey, it doesn't matter. And somebody had mentioned something that I thought was such an insignificant detail. And now from that point on when we got the insignificant detail, which was a goal horn for the arena, which was like a wasn't that expensive, but it was such a small thing. But it added atmosphere to the building.

It was unbelievable how much atmosphere it added. And what you're talking about, is those little details and you don't realize how much of an impact they truly have until afterwards and signing the pick. Like that's that's taking care in and investing into what you're doing. That's that's super cool. That's super cool. Absolutely. Let's try and get you. I got three more. I got three more. This is a fun one. All right. Here we go. If you're asked to start a recreation of one hockey movie. Now I understand nobody wants to recreate Slapshot, but just bear with me if we could transport you back to when they made it or any of these movies

and you got to star alongside Paul Newman or Emilio Estevez or Russell Crow. So I'm talking Slapshot, Mystery Alaska, Mighty Docs, Goon, Youngblood. Name another sports movie. If you want to go a different sport, you can. Which one would you take? Oh, okay. Although I haven't watched the movie and I shame on me, I'd still like to see Miracle.

And Kurt Russell plays Herb Brooks. I think that would have been fascinating. You can't escape the lore of Slapshot, for sure. But the one movie that really stood out to me, a sports movie, it was, again, I was a player still. I was in San Jose and as guest appearing on hockey night again in the playoffs, I was flying home. and on the plane I watched Jerry McGuire. And that completely resonated with me.

Everything about it was whoever wrote this script, they did a ton of research because that was back then especially. I don't know what it's like now. That's what that industry is like, sports and the agencies and agents and interaction with players. That was so cool and so well done. that one really, really hit home. Jerry McGuire.

I did not see that coming. Yeah. Great movie. Show me the money. Show me the money, right? Okay, you're the 18-year-old today. Okay, in today's NHL, you're Patrick Marl. You're going to go to any NHL team you want,

and you've got to live with one person in his house who you take it. Oh, boy, that's a tough question because I, you know, unfortunately for me, I have to sit back and I have to think about, well, first of all, you want to go to a team that's doing really well. But if I'm a 18 year old, I want to look, I want to live in a great city. And so I want to experience everything about that place. And so I would love to, as a young person, play for the New York Rangers and live, live in a very big. with Henrik Lundquist and learned about his life and what he dealt with and learned from him in L.A. for sure, it would be either Copatard, Doughty, or Quick, and just, you know, how they live and, you know, the beach life there would just be phenomenal now. Like, I know the incredible

life experiences we had in L.A., and I would never change up for anything because that was, I was living at its best, you know, for young people and raising a young family. Other places I would definitely consider, because I always had a secret wish. I don't share this often, but I always wanted to get traded to Vancouver because it was my favorite city. And, of course, it never happened. And I could never share that story when I was playing, because how dare I? So I think Nashville would be great and, you know, live with a guy.

guy like Pecorene or Roman Yossi and see how they exist. You know, I think most of those guys live in a little town called Franklin. And Don and I went on a tour of Franklin because there's all this civil war history there. And it was just awesome. It was about 45 minutes, I think, from downtown. And we went on a tour. Awesome. So my point is, as much as if I'm having that choice as a young 18-year-old,

hoping I'm going to have a long career. I want life experiences as well. I want to go to a great city that's going to teach me something about myself and the world and others. And so I would most likely lean on some of those cities. Chicago, by the way, a phenomenal place. Your final one. Mike Tyson just fought Roy Jones Jr. I don't know if you watched it.

It was actually kind of entertaining. If you could call somebody out of retirement to get in the ring you or maybe strap on the goalie gear and go head to head. Now, I've watched you tussle with Van Biesbrook when you came screaming down the ice. As far as I know, and Kelly, maybe you can correct me. You were not the tussler. You were not Cluccia. You were not beating some guys up calling on the bench, so to speak. So if you could call out another goalie who's retired to go have a celebrity boxing match, who would you take? Well, I would want to do it back in the day. on the ice and this might surprise some people because

contrary kind of to what you were saying, I was extremely feisty and maybe I only got into one dust up in the I wasn't I wasn't meaning you weren't feisty. I was meaning that as far as I know, you didn't have a long list of like 20 fights. I didn't junior and that's what I think would surprise a lot of people. Like it was mayhem back then. I mean it was junior in the 70s, right?

so it was a free for all. And I certainly don't know how many fights I got into because it was, we all got in fights back then. But I remember when I was playing for the Islanders and Ron Hextall was making a name for himself and he got in a couple of dustups with a couple of guys. And I'm thinking, if I ever get a chance, I want to go after Hexie because I want to see if he's as tough as people say and I'm willing to take it on the chops. But I think I thought I had some game.

I thought it was tough enough. And then, you know, the thing was, I believe it was in four years after, yeah, three or four years after I made the NHL. I made the 87 Canada Cup team, and heck, he was on the team. And so we became good friends. And so I knew at that point we're never going to fight down the road. But that was the one guy. I always had an inkling like, I like to see him go.

I tell you what, I'm going to cut that piece right there. and that is going directly to Twitter, just so I can have that little chunk out there. Challenge the Grandmaster himself, Mr. Hextall. Like, is there, if they name the toughest goalies, so to speak, on the earth, and you put them one to ten, Ronnie Hextall has got to be top five, top two. Like, the only other guy that comes to mind for me, and you would know better than me.

But Ray Emery, I got to watch in his heyday, and he beat the living tar off some guys. And then I mentioned In his own league. Yeah. Yeah. Emory, I think, was in his own league. He was a unique guy.

I mean, we know, wasn't Andrew Peters when he was with, was he with Buffalo at the time? And Emory might have been with Ottawa. And Peters is a tough guy. Like, he was fighting the top guys in the league. And Emory wanted to go with him. And I believe it was pretty close to a draw. I mean, or. awfully close, I remember.

I just remember Ray Amory is like he's, he's not a typical tough goalie. He's just tough. He was a tough guy. That was fun to watch. Well, I'm not going to hold you any longer. I really appreciate you sitting down for round two, Kelly.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this. I hope you've enjoyed sitting down again. It just means round three has to come in another four months. That's the way I look at it. I like it. I'm expecting the NHL season. will be concluding somewhere in middle July. They'll hand out a Stanley Cup, hopefully once again.

And then you and I are on board for another great chat. I really appreciate it. Sounds good. Thanks, Kelly. Okay, take care, bud. 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.