Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #176 - Brady Leavold

Episode Date: May 19, 2021

Man what can I say. Played in the WHL, fell deep down the rabbit hole of drugs (cocaine, heroine & fentanyl), was homeless living on hastings street in Vancouver, overdosed 10+ times in his life and went to prison for 3 years. Now he's been sober 15 months, started a charity & his own podcast "Hockey 2 Hell and Back" where he has had some great guests on.  Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

This is Glenn Healing. Hi, this is Brayden Holby. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hi, this is Brian Burke. This is Jordan Tutu. This is Keith Morrison. This is Kelly Rudy. Hi, this is Scott Hartnell.

Hey, everybody. My name is Steele-Ferre. This is Tim McAuliffe of Sportsnet, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. I hope everybody's having a great week here. Wednesday. We got a little rain last night, and I don't know. I'm not a weatherman.

we're supposed to be getting snow. So by the time I walk out the door, maybe it's snowing outside. I'm not exactly sure. So I hope that's not the case. But regardless, happy hump day, happy Wednesday. Man, we got one on tap for you today. Like, holy diana, Brady's got a story that is pretty much every parent's worst nightmare in, you know, just where he goes with his life.

And saying that, like he's doing excellent things now. but his story to where he is now is hard to even try and put into words. So you'll just have to follow along. And I suggest strapping in because you're not going to want to turn off when he gets going. Now let's get to our podcast episode sponsors before we get there. Jim Spanrath and the team over at Three Trees Tap and Kitchen. I see doing a little creeping on the social media there. And I see their patio.

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city-side realty have served Lloyd Minster in the surrounding area. I see on social media they're doing, they're supporting big brothers, big sisters. They got their 50 minutes for 50 years campaign, and so they were all out in front on the treadmill doing 50 minutes of exercise. Even Mr. Rick, yes, Mr. Ricky Tiki, Rick Shesnik, was out doing a little exercise. He didn't look too happy. Good old Rick Shesnick. I hope you're listening, Rick.

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24 hours a day, seven days a week. Give Big Rick a call today, 780-8753303. 343. I got to give a shout out to Read and Write and Mrs. Deanna Wander for any outside signage. I highly suggest read and write. They have made me look, well, superb is the one word I would use. And if you're looking for some outdoor signage, you give them a call 306-825-5-1-1. And Gartner Management, Lloyd Minster-based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help meet your needs.

Whether you're looking for a small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space, give Mr. Gartner called the day 780808 5025. You head into any of these businesses and let them know you heard about them here. All right. Now, let's get on to that T-Barr-1, tale of the tape. Originally from Port Coquitlam, BC,

he played in the W-HEL for the Swift Current Broncos and the cloned of rockets. In 2008, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. After this is what he calls the 12 years into hell where he got into cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. Was homeless on Hastings Street, overdose 10 plus times. Rehab multiple times.

By 2015, he was a wanted criminal. Ended up spending three years in jail. Now, he's been sober for 15 months, hosts the Hockey to Hellenback podcast, started a charity, puck support, and finally in 2022, we'll be rollerblading across Canada. I'm talking about Brady Leavold.

So buckle up, here we go. This is Brady Leavold. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. today, I'm joined by Brady Leopold. So first off, man, thanks for hopping on. Yeah, well, thanks for having me. And I feel like it's been a little bit of a long time coming. Maybe not so much for you, but, you know, initially when I started my podcast, I would, you know, just seeing what else is out there and your name, your podcast continuously came up. So I'm really

happy to be here and I love what you do, man. Well, I appreciate that. And geez, I don't know. I'm just, I look at some of the guests you've had yourself, Brady now. And I go, we're just two guys, you know, pulling in some hockey stories, pulling in some good stories and see where it goes. Now, you specifically, man, like, I listen to your first one. And then I've had my father, my father was my second guest. So I, I went rate to 50. I cheated. And I went rate to 50. And I listened to you and your dad, both of them 50, 51. And I was like, I don't know, weirdly proud of you for going from episode one where you're unsure what the hell you're getting into.

And then listening to you and your pops there for a couple, I was like, oh, this is something special. That's, you talk about being unique or true to yourself. I think guests can feel that. And so just in listening to the few I have, you know, hard not to listen to Dougie Gilmore come on. Like that's pretty cool. And I mean, I'm sure there's other ones that stick out to you.

But it's been cool to watch your ride from afar. Yeah, well, I appreciate that. Again, you mentioned some of the names that came on, I've come on and actually came on fairly early. I mean, originally my podcast was called something else, and I've since changed the name of it. And, you know, Dougie has become a friend, like somebody that I text back and forth with. And, you know, coming, well, maybe we'll get into my story a little bit, but, you know, coming from where I came from, and not that long ago, I would have never expected, you know, some of the relationships and friendships that I've made over this past year. And I think that just speaks volumes to just, you know, how beautiful of a community hockey really has and the people that are in it. You know, there's no other sport like it.

You know, I don't think there's that same camaraderie and that family feeling, at least in my experience and from the conversations that I've had. Because I think in a lot of, I mean, in a lot of senses, like people could have just turned their back on me and been like, I have no time for you because of the things that I've done. And, you know, for every day I wake up, Sean, I'm so grateful just for each new day. But, you know, just the relationships that I've made, whether it be a hockey hall of famer or somebody that's just reached out to me that maybe never even played a high level junior hockey, you know, just somebody that has heard something that either I've said or my guest has said and felt the courage or the need to kind of reach out. And I've developed a lot of friendships that way, too. So, I mean, it's just been one big continuous gift that just keeps on giving. And I'm just really lucky, man. There's no two ways about it.

Well, let's talk about your story. Because I feel like a lot of people are going, Brady, who? You know, like, you've come a long ways. You've had some big names on. But I feel like, you know, my nephew reminded me again that I should get you on. And we watched the video and I'm like, yeah, you're absolutely right. we need to get this guy on. So shout out to Nate for pushing me to reach back out to you because we talked like,

I feel like me and you talked like probably a year ago. Like I feel like that's how long ago it was. And then I don't know what happens in life, but time just seems to fly by. And all of a sudden I'm like, geez, that was a long time ago. But let's just walk me through some of your story. And I'll sit here as a fly on the wall and see if I can't, you know, ask a few questions. Because you got, man, I don't know. I suggest to the listeners, the,

to buckle up because she's a ride. Yeah. And yeah, thanks to you. Thanks to Nate. You know, again, I appreciate the opportunity to share my story here on your platform, probably touch a whole different viewership than what I have. And so I just, I love every opportunity to do it. Always my hope is that I can just touch, even if it's just one life.

That was ultimately my goal when I started my podcast originally. It was just to maybe I can help one person. I didn't really know what I was doing or which direction I was going and I'll back it up a little bit. So, you know, originally I'm from Porko Quitlam, hometown of Terry Fox and just a small town outside of Vancouver. I had a fairly normal upbringing until the time I was about five and then my mom left. Shortly after that, I was sexually abused at a family reunion. And then again, the following year, it was Thanksgiving time at another family reunion. in. And so, you know, that, and I lived with my dad, like 95% of the time. And so, and it happened when I was

with my mom's side of the family. It's not my mom's fault or anything. It was a distant relative. Just, just one of these situations that I've, you know, I'm still dealing with today, Sean, but, you know, I've come out the other side of it. But so what that did initially is obviously at five and then six years old, it's very confusing, right? Like, it's, here's an older guy that sexually abused me. And it's, it's just one of these things that put me on. this trajectory for mental illness and addiction, but also initially what it did was is it pushed me into hockey. Like hockey became my outlet. It was, whether it was on the ice or in my driveway and my rollerblades growing up there, we didn't have outdoor rinks and stuff. So it was a lot of street

hockey. So that was my paradise. That was my first drug. That's the only way I can really explain it is like when I was, it's the only place I felt safe, comfortable, kind of secure in my driveway with my stick in my hand. So, you know, I was able to get fairly good at hockey, but at the same time, I was very mentally damaged. And so I was always kind of like, I was never a bad kid, Sean, but I was always just like, and people, listen, people thought that it was because my mom left, which maybe had some, something to do with it, right? Like, clearly, you know, as a young boy, you, you want both your parents there. But it was the easy excuse to be like, oh, he's dealing with things with his mom. But right at that same time, I was sexually abused. And so I didn't tell anybody. And the

reason why I didn't tell anybody, and I remember specifically, is because at that time, you know, one, I didn't really know that it was wrong at first. I mean, and kind of think it's wrong. But, you know, back then, a lot of the stuff wasn't talked about the kids and stuff. But, you know, slowly though, seven, eight years old, you start to hear homophobic slurs in the schoolyard, in the dressing room. You start to see people get labeled. And I was like, wow, like, I can never tell anybody that this happened to me because my life will be ruined. And so I made the decision to just bury it down. And your parents, sorry, sorry to hop in here for a sec, but, uh, I got a five-year-old. And I just assume that you, you'd be able to know, but I guess at the same time, how the fuck

would you know? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I, like your, your parents never knew. No, I mean, I think because of my, like I said, my mom leaving, like I started to act out. I started to act differently. Like I've asked my family, my neighbors, like in and around that time, did you guys notice anything? They're like, yeah, well, obviously. But because literally it happened two months after my mom left, they just thought that I was acting out because I couldn't see my mom.

And so, yeah, it was just a crazy, just a crazy time. And, you know, thankfully I had hockey. Otherwise, I think I would have, you know, went down the wrong path a lot. sooner than I did. But, you know, I was able to use hockey as an outlet, Sean, and, you know, played AAA growing up and all that. And eventually made it to the Western Hockey League with a swift current Broncos and got, you know, rookie of the year with the Broncos.

And, you know, during that year, though, I really started to become suicidal, really started to deal with mental illness, being away from home. And just, I don't know what it was, but something. being there, nothing against the town of Swiftcern, because I love Swiftcern, I love my billets, I love everything about it, but just something when I was there and I could have been anywhere, but all I know is I was there, and that's what started happening. I actually took what would now be recognized as a mental health leave of absence my rookie year, you know, for two weeks and went home. And then, you know, coming back to the team, I really started to get hazed and picked on and

everything else. I still got rookie year. Because you left? Yeah, they were calling me baby, you know, they gave me the nickname baby go home again baby whatever blah blah blah so you know i started to like hate going to the rink hate hockey and i went back the next year uh had every opportunity to play on the first line first line power play everything and i ended up quitting like seven games into the season i was like yeah see you later and uh packed up my truck and drove back to bc and ended up playing the bc hockey league for a short time playing on the line with kyle turris uh with the express but while i was there uh the partying habits of self-huh medicating. That's really kind of where it took off is when I came back from Swift Current.

I really started to get heavy into the cocaine and different things. And so shortly after that, I got kicked out of my house because I quit the Express and I quit hockey altogether. And, you know, sometime in July of that summer as an 18 year old just before my 19th birthday, I called Dean Shanouth, the assistant coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. Now he was the head coach of Swift Current said, hey, like, I made a mistake. Like, I really. I need to come back. Like I'm having a hard time. I want to play hockey.

And I was actually traded to the Everett Silver Tips and had my friend tell Kevin Constantine, who was the coach of the Silver Tips at the time, pretending to be me, this is Brady Leveld. I'm not coming to see you later and hung up on Kevin Constantine. So my rights got pushed back to Swift Current. So I went back there and ended up making the team, even though the coach told me I wasn't going to.

He made it very difficult, rightfully so. Again, nobody really knew why. I was acting out and doing the things I was doing. They had tried to get me a sports psychologist my first year, but I just wasn't ready to share any of it. And so during my 19-year-old year, you know, I played third, fourth line for the first half of the season. It didn't matter what I did, you know,

finish the year in the top six there, forwards and whatever. And lost out in first round playoffs, but found out that a girl there was pregnant right before I left and went home. And so I got, I got a girl pregnant and Swift Current and went home. We were together and then we broke up and I went home. Then I got together with this other girl. She found out that girl got pregnant.

Well, doesn't she get pregnant too? And so I had two girls pregnant at the same time on 19 while I'm trying to figure all this stuff out. And I went back to Swift Current and I was a 20 year old and it was just a mess. Like a huge problem, small town. Everyone knows what's going on. The police had to get involved at one. time and they were like yeah like why why the police have to get involved uh because uh this i've never even told this story but i'll tell you like the girl's brother uh you know was trying to be

all tough and everything else and me being a little bit of a lunatic at the time um you know i went like i totally challenged him and went there and uh he got scared and they called the cops and it was just it wasn't it wasn't a good see it was just me not in my best thing but, you know, I was just losing it, drinking a lot and just trying to make myself feel better, whatever I could do. And I ended up getting traded to Colonna. Had a great year in Colonna playing with Jamie Ben on a line with Jamie Ben. And Tyson Berry was there as a 16-year-old, Luke Shen, Tyler Myers.

We had a good young team. They were one year away from the Memorial Cup run. But I was able to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning's organization still after all that crowd. it happened. And, you know, after my final year of junior, with all the stuff that was going on with the two pregnancies and everything else, like, and family issues and different things going, dating back to when I was kicked out of my house as an 18 year old, like, I was lost. And I really started hanging out with the wrong crowd.

It went from being like my friends that I grew up with that we would do it recreationally. And I would kind of take it over the line. but now I was like seeking out the more advanced partiers, you would say, or people that are more motivated just by drugs and stuff. And so I got involved with the wrong crowd. And instead of training to go to Tampa Bay's camp, there I was using drugs every single day.

And just a lost cause. I ended up going to Tampa's camp and, you know, got sent down to the American League. And in my fourth game, I blew out my knee. and blew my MCL out. And I was in terrible shape. I mean, I didn't train it all that summer. But I blew my knee out and the doctors, you know, put me on Oxycontin.

And, you know, that's essentially it's prescription heroin is what it is. And, you know, not, I knew what it was. Like, I knew people that did it back home, the people that I had now become friends with and associated with, they were all doing it. But it was never for me. And, you know, now I realize, though, that yes, okay, I need it. to take them for my knee pain, but wow, does this stuff ever make me feel good emotionally? Because it's an emotional pain killer, too.

It's not just a physical pain killer. And so, man, I'll never forget the first time I ever took one of those. And, you know, by, I think, you know, a couple days after I took that first pill, I was crushing them up and snorting them. And that was, you know, it became my life. You become physically dependent on them. And it just, it escalated very, very quickly. doctor hopping and lying, oh, my pills got stolen, this and that.

Oh, I'm in my car. Dr. Hopping. Hopping, going from one doctor to the next saying, hey, I need these pills. This is my prescription. Now they've put in this system where you can't really do that because they have the computer systems and they can see when you've filled your last prescription and different things.

But back then, they didn't really have that system in place. So you could technically go to one doctor and they wouldn't have the record of, you know, what you could just say, oh, I'd bring in my pill bottle and be like, hey, like, look, I'm out of pills. And they'd be like, okay. And especially with the team doctors, I mean, I could literally, I had one team doctor on speed dial, it didn't matter. Like, I remember one time, I filled the prescription of like 220, 40 milligram oxy cottons in one prescription. I filled it four times in eight days. And it's supposed to, one is supposed to last you for the whole month. And finally, on the fourth one, the team doctor was like, on the third one, the team doctor got kind of red flagged.

I remember trying to fill it in the pharmacist. I was standing right there at the pharmacy. And the pharmacist is like, you've already filled this three times this week because I wasn't that smart. I kept going back to the same pharmacy. They're like, you know, you're not, we can't fill this for you. Like, I'm like, we'll call the doctor then because the doctor can override that and say fill it. And sure enough, the doctor was like, yeah, you know, fill it. And then so when I did it again from another doctor. I went to my family doctor on that fourth time and tried to get him to do the same thing. And the pharmacist was like, do you realize that he's filled this three times with this doctor and da da da da da da da. And my department, I never forget. The pharmacist hand me the phone and was like here.

And I talked, the doctor's like, Brady, there's no way I can fill that prescription for you. Come see me tomorrow. We need to discuss this. And I remember being so like in withdrawal and feeling sick. And that is when I lost my prescription to OxyContin was the next day. I still went to the appointment. My dad actually came with me because my doctor called my dad and explained everything. My dad had no idea to what extent I was doing me. He didn't even know I had a prescription for them. And then from there, you know, I really started to go to the street level to try to find them.

And within, you know, four months, Sean, I switched from OxyContin to heroin. and, you know, once you start to do that, and essentially it's the same drug. I mean, one you're getting from the doctors and the other you're getting from a dealer. They're essentially the same thing, but what that did, and now I'm no longer playing hockey. I mean, my hockey career is toast, kaput. I don't even care about hockey. I'm so focused on this medication and just so overcome by this power of addiction that, you know, I didn't care about hockey at all.

even if I wanted to, I couldn't because I just was, it just consumed my life. And yeah, it was pretty bad. So when you get to the, you know, the heroin, then you really start to hang out with marginalized people and you get introduced to a whole other life that I never even knew existed. It's like things you see in the movies and it's like, yeah, that stuff doesn't really happen. Oh yeah, it happens. And I started to do it too.

And so like what? What are you talking about? Like you were, like, I, like, I. I'm just trying to hold on here. How do you, how do you, how do you go? This is something I, I, I'm really thankful, either my genetic makeup. Yeah. Parents, teammates, coaches, friends, I don't know what it is.

But I'm going to just, I'm going to rewind this for a sec. And you said, you talked about your mental health break. That's what they call it now where you went home because for two weeks, you just need to get home. Yeah. I know a ton of hockey players that I either played with. or myself included, we just got extremely homesick when you're that far away from home and you're a young kid. And I was 18 at the time. You would have been what, 17 at the time? That's the first time you're out from underneath the parents' wings, so to speak. And it's, you know, for you, it's in Saskatchewan.

That's a world away. For me, it was Ontario. That's a world away. And it's just like, it's a lot. It's a lot for a young kid. And I mean, imagine being like a 15 year old or a 14 year old in doing that. which some do. Yeah. So like that part like I completely get like having to go home and I saw it in college with guys that just couldn't handle being that far away from home. You hear about it all the time. Actually you go back through like the decades.

There's been good hockey players that are well older than us. They just couldn't handle it. Like that's yeah. That's a fair like I get that. You talk about getting, you know, at five years old, man, that breaks my heart. Like, that's just, that's hard. Yeah. But how does it go from, like, I don't know, like, was it just something like, were you drinking hard too? Because I didn't, maybe you did say boozing like a ton and it just kind of spilled over into, you know,

a little bit of weed and then cocaine and he just kept going down chasing a bigger high or was it like? I mean, I mean, yeah, I guess that's kind of fair to say. I mean, yes. I mean, if you dial it, back. I mean, I took my first drink at 11 years old, smoked my first join at 12 years old. But again, like, I never, throughout high school, like, I was never into that stuff. Like, I had this, I don't do drugs attitude because I'm a hockey player and we don't do that stuff, right? And, you know, so there was on the weekends, yeah, we drank. And when we drank, I was always the one that was drinking more than everybody else and trying to, and staying up and looking for people to drink with

because everyone else was passed out or sleeping or whatever. So I think there were red flags back then and it goes back to, you know, just the trauma, I think, that I faced as a kid and just what that did to me. But, yeah, I mean, it was a progression, but it was a fast progression.

And so, you know, the very first time, like I had these rules for myself. Like, I think a lot of us do, especially as hockey players. Like, there's just things we do and there's things that we don't. And, you know, doing cocaine and that kind of stuff, that was never an option for me. You know, but then one night with a certain group of people and they're doing it and it looks,

oh, it's not that big a deal. They're doing it. So I do it. And then you break down that barrier. And then all of a sudden, you know, you do it again and again and again. And then you start to like, it becomes part of your routine. And drinking, you know, yeah, I was an alcoholic for first, for sure. When I was in Swift Curn, I was drinking a lot.

and, you know, smoking a lot of weed. But, you know, the cocaine really started after my 20-year-old season. That was just the situation that I was where I was living with this, my girlfriend's family, your brothers. Everybody was doing it and was so readily available. It's a crazy long story, but I talked about it briefly here and there. But, like, it just is so readily available. And I literally had someone bringing it to me every day.

even if I didn't ask for it. They were like here because he was a drug dealer in the family and was like, I asked for it one day, one day, Sean, and then every day you would just keep bringing it and bringing it and bringing it and bringing it. It didn't even need money. Like,

you just kept bringing it. And I couldn't say no or, you know, I just didn't. I'm like, oh, it's here. I couldn't not do it.

And then the next day it would happen again. I'd be thinking, I'd miss training and I would, you know, I wouldn't, oh, it was horrible. I'd be up all night trying to like hide it from my girlfriend.

the time and doing it by myself and it was just such a oh my god it gives me anxiety thinking about it but that that was sort of the beginning but it was when i you know when i really got hurt there with my knee and that and started to use the oxies like people that don't don't know um when you do an opiate whether it be morphine or oxycott or heroin or fentanyl or whatever you know it doesn't take much for your body to become physically dependent on it, right? So you take, you take that pill for four or five days. And on the sixth day, your body's going, hey, I need that. Like you're throwing up, you're crap in your pants, you're sweaty, you're in pain. It's like a flu times a million. And so it doesn't take much. So if there's anybody listening to this younger kid, you know, you really got to

think before you do these things and understand the consequences that can have. happen. And I think you mentioned it earlier about genetics and stuff. And so, you know, my dad's side of family, there's no history of addiction. But my mom's side, there is. Like, my grandpa died of alcohol withdrawal. And, you know, several members of my mom's family are, you know, alcoholics. You know, I took it to the whole other level with drugs, but that addiction part is still there. And so, you know, I'll fast forward the story a little bit is I did end up going to rehab when I was 24. So I stopped playing in 2009, just a year and a half after junior, because of all this. And took a year and a half off.

And now 24 years old, I went to treatment for the very first time, which was the first of many. I thought it was going to be the first time or only time, but unfortunately I had to go many times after that. I ended up going and I stayed longer and I went back. I played in the Central Hockey League down at Real Grand. I literally walked right out of treatment, man. My dad picked me up at the doors of treatment. and I walked out the door, got on a plane, went and played, and did really well there. I stayed clean for like seven months and was doing all right.

And as soon as I flew back to Vancouver, instantaneously relapsed. And from there, things really progressed quick, where it went from, you know, the way I was using it before to the worst way using, you know, intervenously needles. And a year after that, I found myself homeless on the streets of Vancouver, Hastings Street. anybody listening to this. If you don't know what Hastings Street in Vancouver is, check it out on Google. It's a place in Canada that if you don't know it exists, you won't even believe that a place like that exists.

It's absolute carnage in Vancouver open, drug dealing and crime. It's where you go to die. Like I grew up in and around kind of that area, and we used to, you know, my dad would take you down there and be like, you don't go to school, this is where you end up. It's literally thousands of people that are an addiction and homeless and tents

and everything. It's just crazy. There's nothing that the government can do about it because there's just too many of them. And that's where I ended up. I was down there for 10 months. And by this time, Sean, you know, I... You were on Hastings Street for 10 months.

10 months. Homeless, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True story, man. Yeah, literally my dad, you know, my dad tells a story. He's been on my podcast a couple of times where he's looking for me down there, literally rolling my over.

overdosed bodies over hoping that the next one isn't me, you know. And luckily, I was rescued by the RCMP because my lifestyle now to obtain what I needed. My body was telling me I needed in the way of drugs. I started to commit crimes that I would have never in a million years would have thought that I would do. But that's just what happens. And, you know, people, like, how can that happen? How can you do that? Get a job.

Just stop. All that. All those same judgments I passed on people growing up and doing. that I it can happen to anybody. It really can if you allow it to and if, you know, sort of like a perfect storm in my life. But I got arrested. I ended up going to jail for two years and they,

I was supposed to go for four. They ended up getting two and I got out. And I mean, in between all that, Sean, I overdose so many times I can't even count where I shouldn't be here. I also try to commit suicide several times. I spent a year in the side.

psych ward like six months, three months, three months on and off, waking up in the hospital, the heart rate monitors and my parents around me going like, what the hell, like, pissed off that I wasn't successful and locked in the psych ward so many times too and detox centers, treatment centers. But, you know, by the time I got to jail, I got out after two years and I, I, I overdosed again on my mom's lawn at like 5.30 in the morning. And if there wasn't a police car just sitting there doing, you know, something on his computer. Her computer was a girl, actually. And my mom's landlord didn't leave early for work that morning. I'd be dead. There's no question that I'm not sitting here anymore, you know, because I was using fentanyl now. There's no heroin. There's no,

I was all fentanyl from 2013 until, you know, till now still, like, that's all that's out there. And so, you know, I just, my parents did an intervention on me there with, and they're not together, right? Like, they literally did an intervention with my aunts and stuff. They came and they're like something's got to give. And so I moved out to Ontario. There was a girl that I was seeing had moved out here while I was incarcerated. And so I came out to Aurelia, Ontario. And unfortunately, my addiction followed me out here. And things only got worse, believe it or not. I ended up back in jail again out here for a year. And I got out in November of 2019.

So I got out And once again I got back into my addiction But something was a little different this time Like I just I don't know I was living up in Muscoquinau And I lived on this lake

And it was just beautiful I was in the middle of nowhere It made things really difficult To maintain addiction Because I didn't drive Or didn't anything But I was still in that mindset Because you have to remember

It was like nine 10 years of just this chaos And A lot of people the Swift Current Broncos, just a wonderful organization, sent me a pair of skates, my custom skates with the extended white tongues and everything, and we're like, get back on the ice. And my girlfriend now, I was staying with their parents and they live on a lake. And so I was, I got clean.

It was like two and a half, three weeks clean. And I put my skates on it. I skated down their driveway. Like, seriously, right at Mystery Alaska. I skated down the driveway right down to the lake. that's what it was. And skated around for like 15 minutes, and I just knew that something,

I had to get back into hockey some way somehow. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to do it. And then I kind of got this idea to start this podcast. And you mentioned listening to the very first one, which was called hockey to heroin, the road to recovery. It's now called hockey to hell and back.

But with no computer, no equipment, no nothing, I had to borrow a computer, no idea, no script, no nothing. I had no plan. I just looked at my girlfriend and said, I'm going to start a podcast. I don't even know I'm going to talk about, but I'm going into your mom's car and I'm doing this podcast. It was out of her mom's car, the very first episode. And from there, things decided.

I just kind of started to share my story, you know, in little bits and pieces and started to acquire these guests. And what really helped me was on episode seven, Doug McLean, formerly of Hockey Night in Canada. And SportsNet came on. He's become a great. great confidant in the last year. He's always wearing his puck support stuff, which we'll get to, I'm sure here in a little bit. If you're not familiar with that, I'm not sure if you are, but

anyways. And so I started to share my story at all these guys. I got Theo Florian, Sheldon Kennedy, Brent Sopold's become a great friend. Darren McCarty calls me his little brother now. He's become one of my best friends who was one of my idols. That's why I wore number 25 in Polona. So it's really cool. I started to make all these relationships. But at the same time, I started to get a lot of people reaching out to me saying they were struggling. So I kind of felt this overwhelming sense of accountability to keep going. Like they're here. Here I put it all out there and now I can't go back because if I go back now, like

this is it. Like I've had so many chances through hockey, through everything. Like this is my one and only chance. If I go back, I will surely die and there will be no coming back. Like there's the amount I overdosed over 10 times Sean. there's just no coming back from it. What better motivator than you know if you go back, you don't come back. Yeah.

And, you know, it took me a while, though, to really understand that. Because even when I was in addiction, and I've lost so many friends, and I'm going to get to that in a second, but either in the hockey community or not. But being on Hastings, being on area, like, I saw so many people die. And when you're in that life, like, you're not thinking like, oh, that's scary. I don't want to die. Like you're thinking, where did he get that stuff from? Where did she get that stuff from? I want that strong stuff because I want to be like that.

But I won't die. You know, that's the mentality of a drug addict. So I never really stopped to realize just how dangerous it wasn't it. It took a long time for that fog to lift for me to really realize that, hey, man, it was playing Russian roulette every single day. Oh, you get it. What? So you're saying on Hastings Street, people are just, just dying.

Oh, yeah. Instead of you being like, holy shit, you're going, man, I won't what that guy got because that looks like some good shit. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not the only one. That's literally like we, I can't tell you how many times I've administered Narcan in my life to people who are overdosing just on Hastings alone over the 10 months.

It is such a common thing. But it's like, I've seen people like, Narcan, that true story. more than once. Narcan that guy. I want to know where he got that stuff. It's like, really? Like, you know, but in the meanwhile, I was thinking the same thing, but I was more worried about helping the guy.

My dad's a retired firefighter. So, you know, like, and it's crazy because there's a guy that played in the WHL, a guy that I grew up in one town over from where the same age, his name is Jason Lynch. He played in the WHL, my whole time in the WHL. It's a really tough guy. He's a Vancouver firefighter, and this guy had to Narcan me and bring you back to life. Like, you know, when I was down there, it was crazy.

When I went to jail in B.C., there was a guy that I fought in the W.HL was a jail guard, Luke Betts and his brother, Caleb, who was drafted to the NHL, who I played with in the East Coast League. They were both jail guards. Never mind, two other guys that played hockey that I never played against, but played with in Beer League and stuff. So super awkward, super embarrassing. But, yeah, like, so I'll fast forward a little bit back to where I was.

You got to put a pinning fast-forting for a sec, because I've been waiting to ask, what the hell is Narcan? Narcan. Okay. I love, this is a good thing. So, you know, it's, it's actually, it's a reversal agent for opioids. So if you're overdosing on fentanyl or heroin, it's what they give you to administer to bring you back. If you administer it quickly enough, you'll stop the overdose. And it's fairly successful. Without it, we would, we hear about the overdose deaths. Without that, we'd be so many people, more people would be dead without it. It's a lifesaver and it's a common occurrence.

It used to be by an injection in a muscle and everyone's running around with these little kids with Narcan or someone's going down, get the Narcan, get the Narcan. It's called Naloxone too. You may have heard Naloxone. But this is a world that a lot of people in hockey will never ever hopefully have to see. And I did and I lived it. And I'm here to tell the story of my hockey career, but also. how mental health and addiction can really take you to some dark places.

And man, I've lost so many friends. And so I'll get back to the podcast. So last year, just over a year ago now, SportsNet did a story on me and a little bit about my story. And in that interview, I shared a story about how I went,

I was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was right after Stamcois got drafted. So he was there. And we played an exhibition game. And the night, before, it was in the middle of summer, right? It was a prospect exhibition game. And so I told you I hadn't trained. I was using cocaine all this time and whatever. And so there was a guy there that was dropped by Tampa that played in the WHL with me and we became friends. We actually became

roommates in the HL. His name is Mitch Fadden. And I shared the story in the Sportsnet article about how the night before Steve Samco's ever first ever time he ever put a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey on, he played with two guys that were parting all night on cocaine the night before. Me and Mitch Fadd, I left Mitch's name out of the story because I didn't want to air out his dirty laundry. So this guy was a WHL All-Star Mitch Fadden, great hockey player, great guy, he became a friend. But we partied that night.

Barry Melrose comes into the dressing room the next day. Starting on forward, we got Steve Samco's, Brady Leibold, and Mitch Fadden, and me and Mitch are like, really, like, this is crazy. And so I left his name out. After the story came out, I started to look for him. I was like, Mitch, you're never going to believe, man, we got, I want to get you on my podcast. Let's tell all these stories because there's so many other ones that we had too. And I looked for him for like three weeks.

And then finally got a phone call and they're like, you should probably sit down. Like Mitch Fadden passed away from a fentanyl overdose in 2017. And I was like, what? I literally collapsed to the ground. And I was like, there's no way. And I realized then. and then I heard of several other hockey players that have died from fentanyl overdose, like several.

I started to hear about a lot of other hockey players that commit suicide. I found out my coach from my first year pro, Quentin Van Horillick, one of the greatest guys I ever met, intentional overdose, suicide by fentanyl. Kill themselves. And I started to uncover all these stories in the hockey community.

And I was like, you know what? like I have to do something about this. Like I have to do something about this. And I started to uncover so many stories, Sean, from minor hockey, junior. Of course, we know about Rippin and Belak and Bougard and, you know, Todd Ewan. Even Bob Probert lived a tough life. I'm so grateful. I've become so close with the Probert family too, man.

It's been amazing. They've become all of them. The kids, Danny, Danny was on my podcast. well. She's become just such a close friend. Actually, she promised me that I get to ride Bob Probert's Harley and the Bob Probert Memorial ride if I get my motorcycle license. So it's pretty cool. But I started to uncover all these stories and I was like, man, I got to do something. And so I had this idea of starting a nonprofit to support mental health and addiction in hockey because I realized that though in some cases my story may be extreme, the issues are there through all the guys

that I've talked to that I played with and against. So many of them have struggled with addiction on some level and mental illness and trying to find their way after hockey. And so over the last year, of course, I've done my podcast, but my biggest focus is Puck Support. You can see one of the sweaters up beside me. And so, you know, it's a developing kind of nonprofit. It's taken a little longer to get joined than what I've hoped.

But you have to remember that I got out of jail not that long ago, not even two years ago, and I had nothing. and I've started all of this from absolutely nothing, no money, and just me, myself, and I, and I'm so grateful that everyone's hopped on and supported. So, like, I have, now we have a clothing line and stuff. And, Sean, I don't know if you know this, and I know my camera's backwards and maybe you can flip it. But so what we do is we put one of their names in every single one.

So that's Steve Montador, 1979 to 2015. I'll be in the hat in my hoodie, who I got, Mitch Fadden. and actually in my hoodie. So in all of our clothing, we will, let me see if I can get this picture down for you. I'll send it to you after, but there's a picture on our website,

but these are, and there's more now, but every single person in that picture right there has either died from addiction or suicide. And since I made this, printed this one off, I've added probably five or six people, and there's girls in there as well,

Sarah Devon, Laura Taylor, you know, Chad Miller died of a heroin overdose while playing junior hockey down in Illinois, believe it or not. Terry Trafford's in there, of course. These two brothers here, 16 and 18 years old, Jack and Nick Savage, both passed away from overdose in the same night at a party. Two brothers down in the States. Yeah, these stories exist, man. Mark Potvin committed suicide.

Merrick Svatos from the Colorado Avalanche overdosed and died. I mean, these stories are there and people continue to struggle. And so, you know, I didn't really have any experience with any of this podcasting or starting this charity type deal. But things are progressing quite nicely with it. And, you know, after a lot of hard work and a lot of time spent and a lot of drive for once in my life, Sean, I work hard, man. Like I worked my bag off, you know, for these guys and girls and all those who continue to struggle. And so, you know, that's just a small part of it. And the clothing was really just because I couldn't pay for advertising and didn't know what to do.

And so I wanted to get the message out there. But there's many other logos. Like there's one that says puck addiction and mental health over hockey. And it's okay to be not okay. Where do people go to find? PuckSupport.com. PuckSport.com. follow us on social media at Puck support.

And, you know, I don't take a dollar out of it. And we've done in three months, Sean, we've done fairly well, fairly well with sales. And for that, we're grateful. But every single dollar goes back into just continuing to grow this. And we put some money aside for a mental health and addiction fund just recently. I tried to help a teammate who I played Junior B with. I found out he was homeless and addicted to fentanyl. he played in the BC Hockey League for the Vernon Vipers.

I actually flew him out to Ontario. And it didn't go as well as I'd hope, but at least we tried. We were able to do that. And I hope that one day he can find his way as well. But yeah, it's all just kind of starting. And so I decided recently, like I told you earlier, that I'm going to rollerblade across Canada. May 30th of 2022 is the start date.

And we're going to start in Newfoundland. and we're going to end in my hometown of Port Coquitlam. Somewhere around August 7th is the, is the projected end date, give or take a few days. But yeah, true hockey is, you know, sponsoring me and the journey, Mars Blade and some others as well that we're sort of having meetings with. But like I said, it's all very new. And like at the end of the day, this,

This rollerblade is not about me. I've been able to connect with a lot of these families, you know, that have lost loved ones, whether it be from the NHL or guys and girls that are younger. And that, to me, is what gets me out of bed every single day. Today, just today I got a package in the mail from Doug and Dana Donaldson, who are the parents of Ryan Donaldson, played for the cloner rockets for a short period of time. he committed suicide in 2014 when he was 18 years old. And they used to do a memorial tournament for him every year for five years.

They sent me the jerseys they had made up in a hat. And I should have the bracelet on right now that is always in our hearts. R.D. So I got that sent to me today. And like, you know, like I said, like the Probert family sent me a bunch of stuff from his memorial stuff. It's just it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool that, you know, on this.

side coming from coming from this side uh people always ask you know how can i start a podcast how hard is it blah blah and i just like they're going to listen to this and they're going to go the dude started a podcast up in his girlfriend's mom's car like that's how easy it is and look at how much um what how good you've done for your life like honestly like you've uh you've given yourself a purpose again and it's it's i don't know it looks evident to me but I don't know. Like, you know,

the, the, the, the, I don't think I've ever, well, I know I've never suffered from addiction. But the tough thing as a guy looking inwards on it is,

is like, that just doesn't disappear, right? Like, that's, that's probably always there for you. And you can go a year and have nothing. I had Clint Millardtruck on here.

And I couldn't get over his story of like, just when he goes like, how many years of no problems, then it comes back. And like, when he goes off the rails, he goes off the rails. Yeah.

So I admire what you're doing. And I think you just got to stick with it. Because like obviously there's a huge community there looking for somebody to champion it. Yeah. And you mentioned Clint. Clint has become a friend who is on my show. But, you know, recently he lost a friend in Mark Pavlach. And, you know, and so I've been able to connect.

Marcus, that's one of the ones that's in this picture now. That's not in the picture. You know, that's one of the more recent ones. And been able to connect with his sister. and stuff. And I mean, it's hard, man. To me, like, I don't ever think about going back. So I just celebrated 15 months being clean.

Congrats, man. That's awesome. Thanks, man. Thanks. On May the 8th was 15 months. And I never thought I'd get there, Sean. There's no way I ever would have believed that I would be able to get through where I was, you know, through.

Like, no joke. Like, my arms, like, I don't know if you can see it. But, like, my, that's a scar. from all at my arm from, you know, all this from from drug addiction, you know, like I was, I was down and out, man. There's no two ways about it. But I'm here to say that like if you, it doesn't matter how far down you go. There is a way to get out of it.

It's certainly not easy. And I will say that I've been very lucky through the amount of support and stuff that I've gotten. I wake up every day in question whether or not I deserve it. But I know that at the end of the day, for once in my life, I literally know that I'm trying my best, that I'm doing my best and I'm not doing it for myself. I'm not. Every step of the way when I'm training for this rollerblade,

every day when I'm doing stuff for Puck Sport, I look at this picture. I look at these pictures. and every podcast now for the last 15, I do it in memory of one of them. And, you know, that's the, that's why I do it. I do it for them in their memory because I question, like, too, like, if I would have died in my addiction, like, I would have been remembered as, you know, the drug addict. And maybe I will always be remembered as a drug addict in a way, but that's how I would have left.

Ah, man, you're writing a new chapter of your story. Don't you get that? Like your book reads pretty like, listen, your book in the beginning sounds like, oh, this is a guy on the rise, Tampa Bay Lightning, holy dinah. He's done a couple things. Oopsie, but he's on his way to like dropping off a cliff to, like, for sure the people that are listening in the States, my buddies in the States that don't know what Hastings are, or Hastings Street, sorry, you really need to pause this and go take a look. because like if you don't know what that is, I'm sure there's streets in North America that are similar, but Hastings has a reputation.

And the fact you lived there for that long and, you know, like, man. 10 months, man. And then to go through prison and everything else, like, didn't you get, did I read, I think it was in the Sportsnet article, that you get picked up by the RCMP for stealing a taxi, wasn't it? yeah that was just one of many things that i did but yeah and so i i don't really talk about it's crazy because that story there was not so much related to addiction as it was to anger um i actually found out that my my line mate from my time in swift current i mean not the whole time but my best

friend and a guy i played with majority of my 19 year old season we were best friends he actually hooked up with my baby moms behind my back and uh i went off The chance. I lost my mind and I didn't have a car at the time and I was going to go pay him a little visit. And I had never committed a crime in my life up to that point. And as soon as I did it, I was like, what the hell? And I stopped. I ditched the cab like two minutes down the road and ran away. Like, you know what I mean? But I still, I didn't get caught for that until two and a half years later, almost three years later. I eventually pled guilty to it. I pled guilty to everything that I got caught for.

I never took any of my charges to trial and be like, I'm not guilty. And like if they got like, I felt like I had to. Like it was like you got me. I did this stuff. I'll own it. I'll pay my,

I'll pay the price. You know, I deserve these consequences and then we'll move on. I just never anticipated being able to move on in the fashion that I have. And again, I'm not sure how or why. people have been so receptive to the point where now I have like I have little kids looking up to me even after everything that I've gone to I've relationship with families and kids that they trust me with their kids and you know and that's because I mean deep down I'm a good I'm a good person I really am a good person that was just trouble and misguided and hurt and I'm now dealing with my traumas and my addiction and everything there's things that I do every single day to stay on top of it but it's still it surprises me how quickly people have kind of given me just a chance.

And it's a huge reason why I don't even have a second in the day to think about even going back. And my phone, I get at least, you know, it's crazy. The amount of people that I get reaching out looking for support that I can't give professionally, but I have experience and I can give them friendship and emotional support and kind of suggesting. But I mean, I have plans of, you know, going to school to become more educated on the actual how to actually give that support and give that help and combining it with my life experience. But it's sometimes overwhelming, man. But I take great pride and it's a great responsibility that I, that I'm just really,

grateful for it man overwhelming in the sense that people are reaching out to you yeah like just sometimes it's like you know there's just i feel like i can't do enough um you know there's sometimes like i can't get back to people immediately or i won't even see that they've messaged because there's so many and it's it's it just makes me want to work even harder because i know it's how many people are struggling especially now with covid and everything like it's p now we're seeing at least i am A lot of people that maybe never had any challenges with mental illness or addiction, and they're now kind of seeing what that's like. And I've lost several friends in this past year to overdose that were clean for a long time.

That went back to their addiction because their gym was closed. They had no meetings to go to. They had no that support. And so they went back to their addiction. And they were clean for a year, two years, one guy, four years. and now, you know, he picked up drugs once and now he's not here anymore. I just found out another friend of mine died. I just found out last night.

And so these are the, I get these phone calls and I deal with a lot of hard-hitting topics. So sometimes, yeah, but you mentioned too, though, it is. It's overwhelming because sometimes I feel like I'm just not worthy of them reaching out. Like, why are you reaching out to me? Like, I'm just to fall down or this is my negative self-talk coming back to me. me always telling me I was never good enough to play hockey too right so yeah but if you look at I mean when I when I listen to your story I'm I don't know I was I was a junior A hockey player so already you're you're playing in a league above me right the fact you made it is doing everything

you did and still make it to being to a Tampa Bay lightning camp says you're doing a lot of things right you just you were getting messed up in the wrong crowd that's all right like I see like you hear those different stories all the time. And now I just look at it and I go, you've found a way to come out of the darkest of the dark and pull yourself to where, you know, man, like I didn't realize, I take starting a podcast for almost granted, right?

Like anyone can do it. I truly believe that. Anyone can start one. But I found out from talking with different people that, uh, they're very uncomfortable with people hearing their thoughts, right? Like actually talking. And I'm like, oh, I guess, well, it's not that I don't care.

It's that I'm not trying to be somebody else on this mic that I'm not on. Like, if you're sitting across the table, you're going to get the same, same Sean Newman. And I feel like that's, that's what I feel sitting here with you, Brady, is you're probably not this different guy. You're trying to do, you're trying to do things right. But in saying that, you got a pass that, well, not too many people have and come out and are sitting there trying to do something like this and support the community and support people that are, you know, probably overlooked an awful lot, if not every single day. Yeah. And that's what I was going to say earlier is like, if I would have died in my addiction, it's like, how would people have remembered me? Not that

it's super important, but I wouldn't ever have had that chance. So there's individuals in this picture. I know I'm not going to name them or anything, but I know there's a couple for sure from their families that they were doing the same things that I was doing. You know, ended up in jail. You know, same stuff I was doing that. They lost it all, one guy in the O.H.L. And that's how he was remembered. And nobody was talking about him anymore until I started to bring the name up.

And luckily, he was actually the first one that I found out about. I'll use his name because the family doesn't mind Matthew Lazinsky. His best friend actually reached out to me after my first or second podcast ever. was like, is this Brady? Like, they got out the podcast. He's like, I feel like I was just listening to my best friend. My best friend died of a fentanyl overdose in 2017. And since then, him and I become, like, best friends.

His name is Matt Thompson. And so I've been able to connect with the family and stuff. But, like, if we, if he didn't reach out to me, tell me that story, and I didn't hear about Mitch, then I probably never start Puck Sport. And, like, you know, a lot of them maybe wouldn't be talked about. And what I found from a lot of these families is that I was nervous. because it's like maybe they don't want us talking about them, but it's like an overwhelming sense of like,

we don't want them to be forgotten. And so that is a huge mission every single day is to keep that conversation alive, keep their memory alive, keep giving people hope. And at the end of the day, if all of this is said and done and I can help one person, just one person, all the misery I've gone through, all the time I've wasted with, you know, a lot away from my kids because I was in jail and all the time, homeless and addicted and all of that, even going back to being sexually abused, if it's all for helping just one person, to me,

it's worth it. And there's a reason why things happened the way they did. And it just took me a lot longer to realize why. And again, it just, everything that I went through was just one more life lesson that I can kind of use as, I almost say like you, like someone told me, you know, this slogan is a good one, you know, you turn your mess into your message. And, you know, it's, it's kind of stuck with me. And so that's sort of what I'm trying to do. And it seems the more that I talk about what I'm going through, the more others, at least when they're talking to me or people that come on my podcast, you know, we'll share things that they've never shared before. And it's like, wow, you know, and I am just like Luke Hunter, the captain of the Swift,

Current Broncos when I was there, country singer Hunter Brothers, he was the captain of Swift Current Broncos came on my podcast. And he shared there that, you know, he was sexually abused as a young age. And here's a guy that he never even swore. He would come into our dressing room and be like, frick me, boys, we're playing like crap. And like, I'd be laughing and stuff because that was Luke, though. That's he's just a genuinely the nicest guy I've ever met my life. He would never expect anything like that.

He never drank. He never did anything. And there he was. And he shared that with everybody. And it was just like, wow. And, you know, so you realize that a lot, there's so many more people out there that have gone through similar things, if not, you know, the same as I've gone through. Or maybe, you know, somebody else out there that's listening has gone through something.

There's meant, unfortunately, but kind of fortunately for the individual, there's way more people that can level with you than than what you originally think at least i did i thought i was alone no one's ever going to understand me no one you know cares no one will give me a chance you know i'm just done i give up and i just want to just remind people that you know just don't don't give up on yourself because there is always hope it takes work it might hurt it might continue to hurt for a little while and who knows i still have bad days sean like but never bad enough to go back to addiction. Like, there's just no way. I have different, different ways to cope with it now. I think two things come to mind. One is the power of, like, podcasts in particular have let

everyone know if they just want to like listen to different things that they're not alone because there's a lot of, you know, COVID-19, man. I can't speak for you guys out there, but I know some of the things going on around here. And I mean, geez, Ontario has been in lockdown for a long time. sometimes you just don't realize there's other people out there going through the exact same thing you're going through and by not getting together and socializing and doing the things you know you talked about a-a meetings you talk you know out here i mean they just arrested another um minister at a church right like they won't like church congress you know like you just go down the list and it's for another time to get in whether that's politically right or not it's just to understand there's other people going

through what you're what you're going through and you're not alone is like a really really powerful thing for other people to hear and podcasts are a perfect way um are really really perfect way for that to come across yeah no the pod initially like honestly like my podcast saved my life it it did if if i don't start that podcast there's no way i'm sitting here clean i don't know what else would have brought all this into my life. You know, even tonight's conversation with you getting to meet you. It doesn't happen if I don't start my podcast initially. And so that doesn't mean everyone you go out and start a podcast.

If you want to, I encourage you to. You know, anybody can do it. But I just, it's initially taking that step, taking a risk. But for you, it's podcast for somebody else. It's, you know, like it could be a bazillion thing. It's to be picking up an instrument. could be writing to start writing again could be you know go up and play uh i don't know and pick up volleyball league or something right like i'm just throwing darts here but like it doesn't have to be

talking like there's lots of people that don't love talking to people all the time but yeah i i can mirror that like uh the the the podcast has opened up doors that i hadn't you didn't even realize we're there until you start talking to people and then all of a sudden you're like oh there's a door could just open the yeah i could just walk through it oh look at the operas opportunities that come with it. Yeah, it's pretty crazy, man. You start the podcast, now you got a, now you got a charity. And then on top of that, your bike and your rollerblading across Canada.

So when does that happen again? We're leaving May 30th, starting in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland or St. John's, Newfoundland. It's whatever the furthest tip of Newfoundland, and we'll do Newfoundland and hopefully finish beginning of August sometime. time out there in in bc port quitlam so um yeah it's uh it's gonna be a hall man and uh i like i said you earlier i hope that uh i hope that i can see you somewhere along my way you're where are you in lloyd minister i'm in lloyd minister yeah where so that's up near where well it's in between saskatoon and emminton like right smack in the middle so you'll be to the south bus you

go on highway one i promise next year i will drive down and uh i'll I'll slap on the roller blades and roll with you for a day. I got no issues with that whatsoever. I think it's sweet. That would be awesome. I'd love that. And that's a huge thing too is what I realized is, you know, if anyone listening to hockey guys or whatever, like get some roller blades. You want to talk about good for your mental health right now?

Like it is my new favorite thing. I feel like a kid again, man. I'm out there by myself playing like a kid with this mustache ripping around, Gravenhurst, everyone. Great mustache, by the way. Great fucking mustache. Do you want to, okay, so do you want to know why I have this mustache? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do.

So I had it for November and I woke up on December 1st and I was in bed. I was on Instagram or whatever and I seen this post. It was like, just because it's December 1st doesn't mean that, you know, men's mental health issues go away. And I was like, I thought to myself, I was like, hmm, I'm like, okay, well, I guess I got it for a year. And then I made the mistake of, you know, mentioning it on a live video or on a podcast or something. So now I can't go back. So now I'm stuck with it for a year. But originally, I had no teeth.

Why haven't you been like that the whole time? Well, I was stuck like that for a long time. So get this. I actually had some amazing people paid to get my teeth done, believe it or not, because I was walking around with no teeth. And that's how great the hockey community is. And the day that I got my teeth, Doug Gilmore, Doug Gilmore actually drove,

Doug Gilmore actually drove 45 minutes just to come see me the day that I got my teeth. And he gave me like a jersey and a bunch of stuff. Like I got to meet Doug Gilmore the same day I got my teeth. I was more excited about meeting Dougie than my teeth. But it, yeah, like that's, so that's why I had the mustache. You weren't second that, eh? I get, I'm getting my teeth work done right now. So I've actually had surgery.

It's getting fixed. and I don't know I just become part of me so it doesn't even really bother me right I put out a I didn't bother me either I put out a poll when I was at the dentist because they're like oh people got to be excited you're getting the teeth fixed I'm like no I'm pretty sure people pretty sure people are pissed and so he's like what and so I put out a poll and it was 65% people said don't do it and I'm like well I'm getting it done like I yeah well you have was it one just one yeah it looks sick though but like Four? Like, you can't, I got four missing, man. You look like Bobby, you look like a young Bobby Clark.

Yeah. And, you know, it's, it's all fun in games and stuff. Like, you know, I used to take them out and put them in people's drinks and stuff. But like, you know, it did, it has given me a renewed sense of confidence because, you know, for me being in the life of addiction and everything, it's sort of stereotypical to not have teeth. But I lost my teeth in Medicine Hat, playing against the Medicine Hat Tigers when I was 17. I got high stick by my own. teammate and right out had braces for six years. See you later. They were off for eight months and I lost my forefronts. So, you know, it's been over half my life and now, I guess, that I've had these fake teeth. But yeah, it was, I didn't have teeth in there for like a good two and a half years, man. So it felt good. And, you know, I wouldn't, in the position that I was in, there was no way that I would have

been able to pay for them at the time. And I got them, I don't know, maybe five months ago. And, you know, I'm just so thankful. for the people that stepped up and made that happen. I was, you know, I never asked for whatever just from what I was doing. Someone's like, hey, like, we need to get you some teeth. I'm like, no, like, I'm not accepting that or whatever. And they actually took it upon themselves to set it all up.

And crazy story is that the dentist now has become a friend of mine too. And his best friend works for the NHL. And it's sort of like, and there's like a very high up in the NHL. And I got to meet him. And it's sort of helped with what I'm doing. And actually all like, There's like 11 executives at the NHL because they called me in for a meeting to share my story and all this. And they all ordered hoodies and stuff and hats.

And so it was kind of cool. It's just the mysterious how things work, man. It's, uh, it's, it I feel, this is what I tell people. Like I feel like Ashton, not that I'm that, I'm not that important. So I'm not trying to make it look that important. But I feel like, like, Ashton Coucher is going to come out and be like, you just got punked. You're going back to jail. like this can't be real like some of the stuff that's happened for me like that's that's how it feels

i feel like i feel like i'm on the longest episode of punk ever like yeah i'm just waiting for someone to come out and be like ha ha we got you like you like you know like it just and give me and give me my teeth back yeah oh there you go sir yeah take me back like no teeth like you know like that's a yeah and we'll take those back too okay you know like Well, man, I really appreciate this. I'm happy we got to do it. The final segment I always do is a crewmaster final five. So it's just five quick questions, long or short as you want to go. And then I'll let you get on with your night. Shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald for support in the podcast since the very beginning. But if you could sit down, you know, you've been, what guest number are you on? 70 something now? I've done over 100 now. So I did. Oh, is it 100 now?

Yeah, oh yeah. I did 67 of hockey to heroin, and now I'm on 49. Oh, yeah, that's why. That's why. My math skills suck. Me too, man. All I can count the four.

That's how many people I'm missing, but that's about it. Well, if there's one guest you could have come on your podcast, and you could have anyone. Who would you take? Like, in the world? In the world. Ooh.

I think I'd want to bring on Pavel Burray, man. Like he was my guy, you know, like I don't know how great of a conversation it would be, but there's a guy growing up in Vancouver area that that's why I fell in love with the game of hockey was Pavl-Burray. Like he was just so exciting and yeah, I really looked up to him. So I'd say, I'd say Pabs for sure on that one. The Russian rocket, yeah, and that'd be all right. On a side note, does that mean you're a Canucks fan right now? No, I'm actually, I'm a huge Oilers fan because of,

Connor McDavid. Yeah. Yeah, tomorrow night, baby. Fire it up. Or I guess when this gets released tonight, because they'll be coming on it, the first game will be tonight. I can't even,

I just love to watch that guy. He's so good. Like, it's ridiculous how good that guy is. It's not even, it's like me playing Division 8 beer league in my prime. That's what it looks like to me. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, seriously, it's like, how is he doing that? It looks like the guys don't even try, but they're the best defensemen in the world. And he's just zing, zing, zing, zing, and it's like, okay. That's fair.

If people want to order for Puck Support, I don't know why I have this on the question, but I had it on as a question. Remind me again how they do that. Yeah, so just PuckSupport.com. There's a shop right there on the, we got, I think we got like close to 80 different items now from hoodies and hats and tukes and t-shirts

and sweatpants and shorts. And I mean, it's all, it's all grown. and hopefully sooner rather than later we're going to be available in stores as well. It's sort of the plan in the next six months to a year. And, you know, I just want to remind everybody that other than our masks, our COVID-19 masks, other than the mask, every single item will have an in-memory of one of these individuals here. Which is a very nice touch.

Yeah. And so it's pretty cool. And just quickly, I want to add that recently, just about two months ago, a fellow by the name of Daniel Minor who played for the Barry Colts, passed away from a fentanyl overdose. And his family has now become quite close. I've reached out to them to lend my condolences and just let them know what I was doing. And if I could, you know, honor him and all of that.

And they were, you know, they wanted to be a part of it. So I've become very close with him. And just this past Mother's Day was the first Mother's Day that, you know, his mom, Michelle, was without her son, Daniel. he was a 1989 birth year and he had a two and a half year old son and we lost him just a couple months ago and so on mother's day the entire minor family from the you know his brother-in-law his sister his nieces his nephews his son his wife his mom his dad they were all in puck support gear with be in memory to daniel minor on it so and they said to me that you know we can't

bring him back but thank you because this made us feel like it was he was just with us a little bit more and so pretty cool man so yeah i just wanted to uh remind people of that and um we typically don't take requests um because it's sort of like we said we did for them because of the family obviously we look at it as like it's like buying a pack of hockey cards you never know who you're going to get they're all equally as important whether it's bob provert or rick ripin or they're all it's just we honor all of them the same so um just wanted to remind people of that because it's that's the most important thing to me and i put those names on there myself. I have the thing to do it. So that's my job. I got to ask, you know, I wasn't

going to ask this question, but you've said that so many times, and I don't need, I am, I live under a rock. What is the difference between fentanyl and every other damn thing out there? I just, could you give me to me in layman's terms? I feel like I'm like, uh, fentanyl is like a thousand times more powerful than heroin. And so it was originally made to tranquilize elephants and for like open heart surgery. And so yeah, it's a very, very high powered chemical synthetic made that hits your receptors like heroin. But it's it's for surgical use only and medical use only. And they've now mass produced it.

and it's hit the streets over the last eight, nine years, and it's killed thousands and thousands of people. So it's very, very sad. Okay. What's one of the podcasts you were listening to? What's one of the ones, do you tune in to a lot of podcasts? I listen to Joe Rogan, to be honest. But I listen to a lot of Tony Robbins, really, and Dave Goggins,

anything that they do just to try to keep it up in light. I should spend more time listening to podcast because I think it's great to learn from people. But I just, I don't know. I don't, I will say, actually, that's not true. I listen to the Rod Peterson show like Monday to Friday. I don't know if you know what that is. Yeah, absolutely. Rod's been on the show.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was just on my show. He's become a friend too. And like I chime in and he's always, you know, he's wearing his, he's got puck support gear. He's always wearing it on the show and stuff. Actually, Nick Kipper, I watch Kipper's show, too.

He's been on my show. He wears, if you watch Real Kipper at noon, he's got a puck support hat sitting on the shelf next to his mini Stanley Cup. It's pretty cool, man. Like, it's, you know, so it, and they did him and Doug McLean. They both, Doug McLean had it all, all the swag on one day. And he's got pictures of him on the golf course and post it and stuff. So, I mean, it's very cool. And I was able to put, like, Todd Ewan and Bob Prover and Doug McLean stuff because he coached both those guys.

So he thought that was pretty cool. But yeah, I mean, those are the two shows. Real Kipper at Noon, really. And the Rod Peterson show, I watch it religiously when I'm sitting right here where I am right now doing stuff for BugsAboard. Finally, any advice for anyone's struggling out there? If anyone's still here at the end of this and they're hanging on everywhere, what advice do you got for them if they're going through something? Reach out and just get honest with somebody and let people know exactly what's. going on. Don't hold back because the only thing that that's going to do from my experience is it's

going to hold you back. You know, you sharing with others, it's not going to really affect their life whether you tell them the full story or not when you're trying to get help. The only thing that it's going to do is it's going to stop you from getting the help that you need, but also deserve. If you're listening to this, you deserve to get help if you're struggling. You're worth it and don't give up on yourself. Just be brutally honest. It's scary to let people know how you're feeling or what you've done or what, you know, it's scary, it's hard. And the last thing to go with that is if it doesn't work the first time, keep trying, you know, go talk to someone different or go to a different place, whatever.

Just be persistent with it because there is a way to get through it. If I would have gave up, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you guys now. Thanks, Brady. I appreciate you, you hopping on with me and best luck here. I'll be looking forward to seeing your rollerblade buy next summer. Yeah, well, we'll have to get you on, you maybe want to come on my show in June sometime. We'll make it happen, man.

Sure. It's great. I do my podcast live every Wednesday and Sunday night, and we just kind of go at her and have some fun. Sometimes the topics are hard hitting, and we talk mental health and addiction a lot of the time, but it's nice to just get on and tell some hockey stories. And it'd be cool to talk, you know, your journey through your podcast and stuff, too.

I think it's a really cool story, man, because you've done very well at it. And I'm proud of you for it. And, you know, I have been following you along. I haven't listened to it. Like I said, I haven't had time to listen to any pockets. But I keep up on, you know, where you're at and who you got on and stuff. So, you know, keep at it, man, because it's obviously probably helping you out a lot more than you realize, too. Just staying in that kind of mentality as a hockey player, getting that communication with hockey guys,

especially in the time of COVID because it's hard to do that. Yeah, it's nice to, it's nice to converse with people. And here, here's some stories, get some laughs, get some connection, because COVID's tried pulling that all the way from us. And that's probably been the hardest thing. I think for most people is just no social interaction. And that's as human beings, we, we thrive on that, or at least I certainly do. Absolutely. I do too. And so, yeah, man, I appreciate you having me on. And I look forward to one day meeting you hopefully next, early next summer when I'm out. there near Lloyd Minister.

Yeah, we'll race across Lower Saskatchewan on Roller Blades. I look forward to it. Awesome, buddy. Well, thanks for having me on. You bet. 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 is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners. Wow, that was something else.

That guy has seen and done some things that are hard to comprehend, shall we say. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I certainly hope we see him rollerblading next summer. That's a long way away from here, but I'm looking forward to seeing that guy cruise. I hope everybody has been enjoying

the rollercoast ride of the different guess we've been having on because it's been it's been uh from one side to the next and uh next week you know more of the same i i hope i'm keeping you on your toes uh finally i hope the snow did not come like i say tonight they're calling for it i'm hoping i don't walk out of the studio and uh there's snow on the ground um chaper tells me he's uh he's a little ways away from uh swinging a golf club so i guess i'm going to have to go do it for them uh no worries champ it's wednesday put your feet back up on the desk. You've probably earned a couple minutes or two off, all right? Everybody else will catch up to you Monday, and until then, have a good one.