Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #154 - Mark Lewis

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

He was the PA announcer for the Edmonton Oilers for 35 years. From 1981 to 2016 he announced some of the best players in the history of the game. Sit back and hear some stories about a 17 year old Gretzky, 2006 cup run & Brett Hull scoring 70 in front of his eyes. 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. Happy Hump Day. Happy Wednesday. I hope everybody is enjoying the warm weather, at least up here north and the north country. I tell you what, it is B-E-A-Utiful. I hope anywhere you're listening from the sunshine. Now, before we get on to today's legendary voice of the Oilers, let's get to today's episode sponsors. Jim Spanerath and Team at Three Trees Tap and Kitchen, I was looking online. And they've been nominated for an Alberta business.

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Now, let's get on to that T-Barr 1, Tale of the Tate. Originally from Montreal, he got his starting media back in 1969. It stops in Quebec City, Montreal, Newfoundland, Ontario, British Columbia, and finally am. He was a PA announcer for the Amminton Oilers for 35 years. From 1981 to 2016, he announced every goal assist and penalty. He announced Gretzky's 50th and 39 games. The Oilers five different Stanley Cup championships. He announced all of the Oilers best.

Gretzky, Curry, Messier, Fier, Rannford, Low, Weight, Smith, Roleson, Pronger, Hall, Eberley, Nugent Hopkins, and of course, McDavid. He's an absolute legend. I'm talking about Mark Lewis. So buckle up. here we go. Hi folks, this is Mark Lewis and I welcome one and all to the Sean Newman podcast. Well, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by legendary voice, Mark Lewis. So first off, thanks for hopping on. Yeah, you're welcome, Sean News. I've been looking forward to this all week.

Well, I tell you what, I interviewed Byron Christopher a couple weeks ago. And after we were chatting, he said, you got to have Mark on. And I said, absolutely. I mean, I grew up going to Oilers games, listening to you do the announcing and every goal was your voice. And I was in researching this, I started listening to all goals, man, it gives me chills still. Well, I did it for 35 years and retired at the end of the 15-16 season. It was, I guess, in April. the exact date, April 6th or April 8th. And that was the first year, Connor McDavid came into town to play.

So I got to meet him. He was upstairs injured. And he was injured by a defense to carry that Brandon Manning. Eventually ended up finishing his career in the National Bo hockey league with the orders. Strange enough, but he was upstairs quiet. Really intense. Fire that's caught in the underbrush. You know, it's very intense and light, quite, quiet.

I mean, five years later, I think he's now, I think he's now in his sixth NHL season. And boy, he's turned, and he was just as exciting then as he is today. and he was 18 years old then. Well, you got to witness over 35 years, some exciting players, some exciting times. I was curious, how is it that you came to be the PA announcer for the Oilers? Like, how, does somebody come where you, was that a calling card for you or was that by fluke? Well, I'll tell you.

It was about good timing. I was working out at CTV. The radio station then was called 1260 CFRN in Edmonton, and I was a music director and I had an on-air shift. Also did sports on TV, it was then called CFRN TV. And we had a guy working in our building called Stan Ravondale. And he used to work,

used to be the general manager of one of the radio stations in town that I didn't work for at the time. And he was leaving to take a management position in Mooch job. And he was the backup guy to the then public address announcer, a fellow named Gordon Ross. So I heard Stan was leaving. And I picked the phone up and called Bill Tuilli, who was the, the, communication, public relations guy with the orders and we knew one another. And I said, Bill, I'd like that position if possible. And it was, I called him in July of 1981 of the Canada company starting in August. He said, well, we'll give you a try. How well do you know all of your

languages, Russian, Polish, Czech? And I said, I can speak those three plus in English and English in the language, which you're listening to the language I can speak right now. There weren't any others. But he hired me, and I knew that I hadn't seen a lot of these names, and I knew, boy, this is the addition, because if I can do okay here, I may get the backup. I learned quickly that you talk to the visiting radio people. Well, you know, the visiting people other than Team USA, they spoke languages. I didn't know.

So you speak to the media people. You find out quickly where you had to find out how to pronounce these things. And one thing that really surprised me, CTV was doing the television side of the Canada in Edmonton. And they had a guy doing the play-by-play that was a very well-known television. announcer on the CPD network. And my booth in the old Coliseum was right next door to him. Fins were playing another team, and he was butchering the names. It was like, you know, they came out of his mouth, and by the time they hit the floor,

there were his blood all over the floor. He just buttured it. And I said to myself, holy smoke, you know, you're impressed upon me that, you know, if you're going to put your name out. their reputation on the line as a broadcaster as a sports reporter and that's part of your god you better show up right and uh to will he said after the canada cup we'd like bottom i got it and started doing the the pa shortly into the season or gordon ross was still though but he left to go to ottawa for a job of the The United Nations Company, an automobile, the strangest thing in the world.

He was back weeks later. Something happened. But the order stuck with me. And it's like anything else. If you're in the broadcast business and you're going to go on the air, you've got to prepare. Because you're responsible for the content between the songs. And that content had better be good or as good as you can make it. and with the hockey game, they give you a script.

So that part of it's taken care of it. But it's up to you to announce the goals and say the guy's name. I don't mean to go on and on and on with this, but that's just all part of the package you bring to the table. That's your response. Well, you hit the jackpot, so to speak, because, I mean, you kind of, you know, oilers are just a newly, the new team in the NHL, but it isn't long after 81,

and you're getting a witness history right in front of your eyes. Well, I did the play-by-play for two teams in the 1979, 1980 season two teams from the Western Hockey League. The Brandon Weekings weren't sending anybody on the road to do the game, games. So they, in each city where the wheat kings would go and play, they hired a guy. I had a former oilers, a goaltender, come with me to do that every time the wheat kings were in. They played at the old Edmonton in Edmonton. And so I got to see a lot of really good hockey players that played with the oil games and also the Regina Pats.

on occasion that year, 1979, 1980 needed a play-by-play guy and they phoned and asked me. Yeah, I'll do them. So, you know, I went over with the equipment. I had Ken Brown, a former goaltender. He played with the Chicago Blackcox.

He played with the WHA Edmund, your team was doing the color commentary. I had about as much I shouldn't have been doing the play-by-play. I'd have enough, I'd have more success hurting cats out in a field. It was a lot of fun. And I met a fellow named Dunn McCallum who since passed.

He had Brian Pratt, Brad McCrem, and he had a lot of really good first grade hockey players on the weekings that went on to play pro hockey for a lot of years. And the same thing with the regimen. China Pats, they had a handful of players. There's always one or team that you know are going to go on in a kind of

a pro career, but it was a lot of fun. And the story I'm telling is Wayne Gretke, but 17 years old. We played with the Edmonton Oilers of the WHA. And that was in the 78, 79 season. So he's in watching. Oh, I'm sorry. The games I were doing for the WHL were

78, 79. He played with the WHA orders. That's right. Wretzki came over to the Edmonton and Bards watching junior hockey for 17 years old. He was one of our guests for a while and you know, we got to meet him a little bit, got to know him reasonably well while he was playing with the orders. And but he was six feet tall, 160 or 160 or He had more between the years than most people do. Just a very gift. It's like all the top they have sparklets and gifts. He really did.

I haven't seen anyone like him today. I've seen some very dynamic players, but nothing that could have been to him in my opinion. He just kind of talent was, you know, you're watching all these Stanley Cups and you're watching You know, if Grandfure led in six goals, well, I guess they thought they'd have to score seven to win them. They often did it. It was just pretty special hockey. And would have kept you busy them scoring seven goals every night. So if I heard that correctly, you're saying as you're doing the color commentating or the play-by-play, excuse me, for WHL games,

Krakski as a 17-year-old would be your guest on your show? Yeah, we saw him sitting in the stands all by himself. He was there to meet with his agent. And he's at the old Edmonton Gardens right across the street from the Coliseum on the other side of 118th Avenue. And the gardens disappeared. They were taken down and they've got a world trade center is there right now. But, you know, a 17-year-old kid.

He's too young, can't get into the bar. He'd got to be 21 then. I think you had to be 21. And, you know, as a teenager, he came over to watch a hockey game. And he was waiting for his agent, and I think his agent then, that could be correct,

it was Gadda. We saw him in the stands, and I said, I motioned to him, and I said, come on, and he came down. And how would you like to sit in and guest? with us and he said, sure, and he sat there and watched the game with us up in the, we were doing the game from.

And we added a touch of how the games were done on the radio with Rod Phillips. That's how we did the games, and we interviewed people before the game and got their opinion about, you know, how the game is going to unfold. And it was just a great experience. But being in Edmonton, where the orders, WHA orders, tremendous, not be very entertaining. The NHL came in. That was pretty, seeing all these guys.

Up till then, we only saw on TV. And, you know, they had, they had 20, you know, you had 18 skaters and two goalies. And the difference between the NHL and the WHA was four or five or six players in the lineup that were better than the, and the four or five, six players. you'd fill out a WHA lineup with. The NHL is paying some serious now.

But a lot of the guys that would have been third and second liners, third liners in the NHL and that is no ingustance to the WHA people, just more person and really established pros in the NHL line. What was it like then to have, A guy like Wayne Graskey has a 17-year-old sitting on your broadcast, and then only a short few years later, be sitting there being in the building for 1984, when the Oilers, you know, that, what is it, May 19th, 1984,

they're playing the Islanders who have just won back to back to back, right? Like they're just a juggernaut. What was that night like? That had to have been special. Well, that was our first Stanley Cup win, May 19th. And to have that happen in Alberta, I'm pretty special. You know, previous to what happening here in Alberta, previous to, you know, the orders joining the NHL,

you know, on the flames moving from Atlanta to Calgary, everything was on TV. So actually to see NHL hockey here, and then to really lock out and be able to have a guy like Gretzky on your team. And everybody knew he was special. You could see it. And, you know, they just, they had to add from the first team, they added a couple of, to the team that started the next year.

And they improved. And they really had some solid, solid. any. They had terrific goaltender. They had two really good. One goaltender now in the Hall of Fame and the other, Andy Moe, played a lot of years.

Really good goaltender. They had great defense. They had, you know, they had, Glenn Anderson, Messier, you know, Blair McDonald's in early years. I mean, they had some just terrific hockey players. And

they practiced at a pace. That was a whole lot quicker than most teams played the game. So it was very intense, some very, very gifted hockey players. And it was their time. How fun was it calling the goals in that game, though? Or anything, just being in the building. Well, being in the building, and then you're working.

and I did a bunch of games last summer in the NHL bubble. I think I did about 15 games and no fans in the building. And I can remember all those games in the 1980s where the fans were there. And the fans are a huge part of that experience. You know, the emotion the fans bring to. of the game really, really has an awful lot to do with your energy level with the players. The fans really get the players pumped and really get the players going. And if you're performing in front of a crowd and you're performing in front of fans,

your home fans, you want to bring your eight game. You don't want to have an off night. You want to bring your eight game. I mean, it's pride that it's coming a pro player, forming in the best league in the world at a very high level. But the fans, that element, what they bring to the game is huge, absolutely huge. Missing these days for reasons we all know,

but watching it in the 1980s, and it's being loud, passionate. and the games are wild. You know, seeing Paul Coffey come in as a graduating junior player. One of the best skaters I ever saw. It took him a year or two to find his defensive game. Everyone was patient to wait for it. You know, and you saw a guy like Kevin Lowe, who's in the Hall of Fame.

Terrific hockey player. You get, you see, you saw Dave Semenko, very very very very. valuable player to that team. He brought his game and, you know, his game where everyone knows what his game was all about to take care of the players. That element is still needed today. The physical presence. It was just exciting. It was terrific. Well, over your 35-year span, you got the 80s, you got all the Cups, you got the 90s of, well, those years of the Dallas Stars rivalry. And then in 2006, you had the surprise run to the Stanley Cup finals. That was the loudest I'd ever heard the building.

Was in 2006? The 2006 Stanley Cup final, I have never heard it louder. That was the loudest. It was so unexpected. And I remember that they opened 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs. They squeaked in and made the playoffs the last few days of the season facing powerful Detroit Red Wings. And they beat the Red Wings in the opening round. The very last player to leave the ice, before he stepped off the ice, took a look around.

Because that was his last game, Steve Eisenman. and then they went on to play the chart. Terrific, terrific, unexpected. And all of a sudden they're in the Stanley Cup final. All of a sudden they have a really good chance to win the Stanley Cup. Was a legitimate win by the Carolina Hurricanes? Because had they lost their number one goaltender, you know, it might have been different. The orders lost their number one goaltender, Dwayne Rollison, in that series,

new injury. A well-deserved win for the Carolina hurricanes and very competitive. And if you were weak of heart, I didn't want to be in that. I couldn't hear anything. Well, that's what I was curious about. The 80s of the dynasty and the cup wins

and four of them coming on home soil versus 2006. but you say the 2006, it was louder than the 80s. In my opinion, it was the loudest I've ever heard in that building. And I continued on for another 10 years past the 2006 Stanley Cup final as the PA announcer in that building. And yeah, I would say so. Others may not. I mean, gosh, I had 16 or 1,700 appearances in that building doing my thing. I was hired by the NHL to go down to the states for a lot of cities where in the preseason in cities where they didn't have teams like Dallas and Houston, Oklahoma City, had a game there.

I remember Travis Green getting a penalty for the New York Allerner's, he came and sat in the penalty box for me. He just kept mutter. He doesn't like me. Look at me. The referee doesn't like me. He said, you've got to be polite to these guys. He's now in Vancouver. He wouldn't remember it, but it was just funny.

The ice in Oklahoma, bumps along the boards, you know, puddles of ice. There'd be a couple of ice. Little round mounds of ice. But, you know, then we went to Tampa Bay playing in what was then called the Florida Sun Coastville. in the baseball park. And they were in danger of having the game called off because ice was melting.

So we had a fellow that I work with. A couple of occasions, Greg Pelling, a former pro coach, a hockey player, he figured out how to save the ice. They powered the ice. They stretched tarps, these plastic, carbs across the boards and they suspended them above the ice, three or four feet above the ice and blue cool air in. And they were able to get the game. And they did that the day before the game and the day off the game. But anyway, that was an aside story. Then we went over to Miami.

In the Miami area, it was hot. It was 85 degrees with 95% humidity. So saving ice. real challenge. You know, the fans were new to the game in most of them. But you still had to bring the game because they wanted a legitimate, everyday, good old-fashioned NHL game. And that was quite an experience. But, you know, maybe their buildings are loud and passionate now. Back then, it was more entertainment.

and no one shared for anybody. The Edmonton Oilers came down and the game was full. They wanted to see number 90, number 11, number nine, Glenn Anderson. Yeah, that was kind of a hoop. But, you know, getting back, it's, we know what NHL hockey is like in Canada and for much of the United States, successful teams have their fans. and the fans just mean so much, so much to the energy. It's a pretty, you know, from being in radio and then finding your way into, you know,

being a public address announcer and becoming a very, almost part of the fabric of the Emmington Oilers for that many years. You know, as a kid, I just, I can hear it immediately, your voice, whenever there was a goal or here come your Emmington Oilers. And like, like, I just, it's, there's very fond memories of that old building, the Coliseum, or I guess it changed so many times, Skyreach, Rexall. I wasn't around. I was born in 86, so I don't remember much of the 80s, of anything.

But you got to call, you know, I assume in your career, there was a couple of goals that were scored that just stick out. Maybe Wayne Grexky or maybe Connor McDavid's first goal, maybe. Or how about Wayne Grexky scoring 50 and 39? That night had to have been like, can he do this? Can he pull this off? Like you wouldn't have needed

anyone to tell you to get excited for that one? You know, I mean, I mean, the highlight, you know, seeing Brett Hull come in. He was playing with the St. Louis Blues and he scored his 70th goal of whatever year that was. That was pretty special.

So generally speaking, you gave a lot of energy when you're renouncing the Oilers goals, and you really turn the energy level down when you were announcing other team goals. But that Brett Hull goal, I really gave it a pump. And I had Bill Twilly, the PA guy, come over. Bruce McGregor, the former general manager, came over and said, you got to tone that down. And I said, come on, guys, have any goals? And but they were on the wrong end of the store that night.

The local team was coming from it. You know, you see good players playing really good hockey, scoring really good goal. You get jacked. It's exciting. I'm going to watch, I still watch the orders on TV now. You know, as a member of the Edmonton orders alumni,

I get to go to a few games a year. But, you know, it's just, you show up. If you're a fan of the game and you see the best players in the world, scoring some tremendous goals. Gordon Eberle's very first goal in the NHL, you may remember that came against Calgary Flames in its first. That was terrific. You know, Connor McDavid splitting the defense against the Columbus Blue Jackets

at an excellent place. I mean, that just had everybody standing and stood up and laughed and cheered. I mean, you see some super talent, super players, really, really showing you the kind of talent they have. I mean, it's an amazing person. It's just great. You must have got excited when they, you know,

when you mentioned Eberle or McDavid or you just go down the list of names. When you're going through the sheet and you got a new guy that hasn't scored a goal at home before, or maybe even in the season or his career, just to see him score and to get to announce, it must have been a thrill for you. Well, I met a couple of fellows that came and played a handful of games with the daughters. And they came in and said, you know what? I used to come and listen to you with my dad when I played hockey in Edmonton.

minor hockey in Lloydminster or McLeodbush or Fort McMurray. And to hear you still doing the game. And then when I scored a goal for you to announce that, I mean, they came to me and said, that was just incredible. And I said, yeah, I'm just, it was all part of it. So, you know, doing what I did, part of the entertainment package. The most important part, of course, is on the ice. But, you know, part of the game night presentation was just a huge thing to be doing for many years.

I stayed ahead of the law on that. I do it for 35 years. What's the one part you miss, Mark? Like, if you could get back and is it being in the routine? Is it being in the rink? Is it announcing? Is it the, you know, being around the other media people, the play? players, what's the one part you go back to? You know what? I don't miss it at all. Don't miss it?

No, I did it for 35 years. A huge commitment, huge time commitment. And, you know, we'd like to get away in the wintertime. We travel. And you can't do that when you have a commitment like that. You can't take a month or more. And it was time. you know, it was time to go. It was the last year at Rexall Place. So I said, that's it. This is the year. I'm done.

And I can remember Bob Nicholson and Craig McTavitch and Kelly Brookberger coming up to me saying, you got old from Roger. Thanks, why I can. It was time to go. And, you know, that was long enough. And after a while, you get tired of minus 30 weather. You get tired of the cold and the ice. We just went through that in Alberta, where it was minus 30 and minus 40 with the windshield for two weeks or two and a half weeks.

That's not a lot of fun, is it? No, it sure makes you remember that you're Canadian, though, and I think we got to minus, it was minus like 48 with the windchill here. Oh, man. Hey, you're right out there in the middle of the Bald Prairie and you've got the wind whistling down the street and you say to yourself, why am I here? but but you know when you get to a certain point you know you get into your 60s and you say okay there are other things I want to do and and it was just time you got to know when it's time and made that decision to go time to let somebody else take that that last night your last night in the building at Rexell was that a fun night was that surreal well they had all they had

so many players from from the old teams, including the WHA, and most of them from the NHL. I don't know how many players have played for the orders, but I bet you they had, I'm going to guessing I couldn't be off, but I bet you they had 15 or 20 percent of the guys who played for the orders that night, including some players I'd never heard of, some guys with the WHA orders that played one game. and he showed up a fellow named Danny Arndt played one name for the WHA orders he showed up and he was there he was the first guy to come out they they introduced them alphabetical but the pregame show on that last night or maybe it was post game I think they did it after the game if memory serves it took I think 90 minutes to introduce all of them

And it was a tremendous way to say goodbye to place and acknowledge all of the players that were available. Many of the Europeans didn't come. Many of the NHLers, although they were approached and asked if they'd come and transportation and accommodations provided, but many of them couldn't make it. But what a night that was. And the microphone I used, I got it here. It was an old-fashioned microphone, those old desk microphones that were about a foot high. But they were state of the art, looked old.

The orders gave me that with a little plaque on the bottom, you know, with my name, Mark Lewis, 1981, 2016, 35 years in appreciation. That was kind of nice. But it's time to, it's time to go. time to move on and it's time for someone else to do it. You know, I'll watch the hunt. I don't miss the traffic after the games. I've had, of all of the, you know, I'm a Canadian. I've seen enough snow and I weather over my many years above ground.

You know, it's nice to get it. It was time to do it. Okay. As we wrap up here, because I know you got to get going, just the crewed master final five, five quick questions, just boom, boom, boom, as quick or as short as you want to go, Mark. So if you could sit down with one individual like I'm doing with you, who would you take? I could sit down with one individual. I'd like to sit down with Jean Bellew, former captain of the Montreal Canadiens.

I met Rocket Richard. and I met his brother, Henri, met many of them. I never met John Belafel. Interesting guy, a gentleman, a pretty smart man. That would be one. Who's the one individual you have been able to sit down with that made a lasting impression? Gordy how? Gentlemen?

Humble. I guess he knew the kind of impact he had, the kind of player he was. He was just like the everyday person. He came from good people, came from a great province, in Alberta, incredibly gifted. He was nice. He was nice talk. If you got to come back for one game to do one game,

could not be the Emmington Oilers. What organization would you want to sit in an announcement for? Well, I offered this to Harold Bellard. back in the 80s I said if you ever want a guy to fill in while you're looking for a public address announcer because they were they had a cast of a few that year give me a call he never did but it would be nice to do one in in the air Canada center I guess OSHA bank that big building great sound it'd be kind of nice to do it one in there do you have one piece of advice for people getting into the media business? Make sure that you have a fallback career. Go to.

Because the state of the media these days, and it's largely due to what the media is all about right now, largely what we're going through in the entire world. People aren't spending money. They're not going out. So many businesses are closed. so many radio stations and television stations have cut people back. So many network radio stations if you're part of the seven or eight or nine station network.

A lot of those radio stations, there's nobody in the buildings. Carrying programming from elsewhere. A lot of people are working, made off second career. But if you're going to get into it, You really have to have more than just one talent. You have to be able to do several things. You have to be able to your employer. They can't do without you.

I know in the mid-80s, I left the music director, the programming side, and I get into the sales end. And I'm still in the media business. I'm a radio and digital sales rep for a company. based in Edmonton that has, that's the indigenous radio network in Alberta, a terrific opportunity and a lot of fun. But you have to really have some, and yet your skills have to be. And you have to offer value. You have to show your employer they can't do without you, bring good value. But much more I could say with that. Here's your final one then. In the 35 years with the Oilers, who was,

somebody that most people probably don't recognize that played a big part in the Amundon Oilers. So not a player, but another Mark Lewis, so to speak. Was it, I don't know, there must have been somebody behind the scenes that didn't get a lot of credit. You know, the people that are so many, the people responsible for keeping the building open, operating, making sure the ice is the very best it can be. You know, the building maintenance people, the ice makers, the people that drive theseambonies,

they're really important. And then the people that work in the building that provide the food services, I mean, that's, you know, for 16,800 people, such as they put in Rexol place, and the 18,000 plus they have. have in Rogers Place, I mean, you have to be, you know, you have to be offering the very best call in terms of, you know, food service, the entertainment value. I mean, it's, you know, I guess

maybe it all comes down to one person. Everyone's going to the building to be treated and to be entertained. And really, it's up to the general manager on the scouting staff to be able to what they can fit in their budget to put on the ice that people will keep wanting. Probably the senior executive of the hockey club that's responsible for the talent puts the product on the ice that people will pay buy season tickets. Does that make any sense? Yeah, absolutely it does. Yeah, I guess I get the talent.

You've got to have the talent on the ice. I just wondered, you know, I used to think the little things didn't matter as much. And as I get older, I understand the little things really do matter. And so having Mark Lewis call the goals is something that kids my age and older, for that matter, all remember. And it is like, wow, that was like really good. Like that's a really good little, and that's just a little piece of it. Having Paul, was it Laurier? Paul Laurio.

L'O L'O L'O Sing the national anthem for as long as he did and he, you know, he passed away but when he was doing it,

he was fantastic and that's one of the iconic things from 2006 is him singing and giving it over to the crowd. And another one is the very first one ever to do that in the league period. Yeah.

Contrary to what the now departed anthem singer out in Vancouver would state that he was the first one to do it. How arrogant is that? arrogant, very arrogant, because everybody remembered. And another one who just passed was Joey Moss.

He was another little piece of like the Oilers and just if you were a fan of the team, there was just different things that little tiny things that helped make up the team. And so I was just curious from a guy who had been on the inside of it. If you had seen, you know, I don't know. I honestly, I have no idea. I was throwing it to you. But as far as bringing the talent, absolutely. I mean, you got to have something there for the people to come watch, but the little things do matter. Oh, they certainly do. I remember Joey Mott's got to know him on a casual basis. He was very close to the team,

also close to the football team in Edmonton, but started with and spent all of his years with the orders. He was part of the team. The only thing he didn't do was where it skates. That's how important he was to the organization. And he used to stand behind the order's bench, right by the passageway from the bench, back into the dressing room. And he'd sing the national anthem, and you could hear him. You could hear him in the building. We were up in the press box, way up on the top of the building, and you could hear him.

You could look over and see him. And everyone loved it. And that was just another part of hockey in the end. NHL in Rexall place and all the other places and the different names at that building from time to diamond. And then

he did it in the Rogers place as well. He was he was a character and everyone loved him. Yeah, he was one of the best. He was, he made being an an Euler fan a lot of fun. He sure did. Well, I really

appreciate you making some time for me to day and cut note, I've kept you a little bit longer that I meant to, Mark, but I appreciate you sitting down with me and sharing some stories and a little bit about your time with the Emmets and Oilers. Thank you. It was a pleasure, Sean, and all the best and stay safe. Thank you. Hey, folks, thanks for joining us today. If you just stumbled on the show, please click subscribe. Then, scroll to the bottom and rate and leave a review. I promise it helps. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday, we will have a new guest sitting down to share their

story. The Sean Newman podcast available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners. Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you enjoyed it. Shout out to Nathan Brecker. I hope I say that right. Nathan Brecker. He was the one who hooked me up with Andrew Elbers, and he just said, love the podcast. Man, it was great. So thanks to him for reaching out. And there was a group of you that did that reached out. And, you know, that you suggested Andrew after I did Paul Spalgerick. And just thanks for, you know, reaching out and thinking of me. It means the world when listeners get me in touch with people that, you know,

I just have no or little connection to. And so I appreciate that. I'm happy you enjoyed it. Now, go enjoy the rest of the week. Hopefully it stays like this for a little longer. If it does, we all know the champ will be out golfing. So champ, get your feet off the desk, get in the mud. It's time to go back to work, all right?

Until the rest of you, have a great week. We'll catch up with you Monday.