Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 43 Huxley Hockey Conditioning - Adam Huxley

Episode Date: November 13, 2019

Born & raised in Wainwright AB he went from tier 2 Bantam to playing in the WHL. He earned his keep as someone willing to drop the mitts and found his way to Calgary Flames & Edmonton Oilers tryouts and spent time in the AHL & ECHL.  He now coaches and trains the up and comers of the next generation and has a unique insight to share.

Welcome to the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Factory Sports. Head on down to see the boys at 4903.49th. They have downtown Lloydminster. They're open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. And they've got their winter hours now that hockey season is in full gear. Sundays, 10 through 3 p.m. They can get you hooked up.

They've got wicked stick selection. On top of that, you know, obviously they do skate sharpening, any team apparel, hockey helmets, gloves. pants, gear, you name it, they got it. They're super smart. They're good to deal with. Head on down and see the fellas. This episode is also brought to you by Fountain Tire.

I've been ragging on you guys to make sure you get in and get your winter tires put on because, and this week has been brutal. It has dropped now to like minus 20. And it's full-blown snow weather, full-blown winter. We had freezing rain the other night. And I can just imagine there's somebody sitting out there with their summer slicks rolling around, sliding through absolutely everything.

Make sure you head down the fountain tire. They're open Monday through Friday, 7.30 to 6 p.m. Saturday, 9 to 1 p.m. Sundays, they're obviously closed. Give them a call 780875, 6267, and talk to Kent and staff, and they'll get you hooked up with some winter tires. Now, it's the last Wednesday that Hockey is, Hillmont is hosting Hockey Day in Saskatchewan for all of Saskatchewan this coming January, January 16th to 19th. Thursday night, you got Wade Redden and friends playing on a little game. Friday, you get the banquet at the exhibition grounds here in Lloyd Minster, featuring Brian Trotche and Tom Rennie. And then Saturday, you got Midget, AAA, men's and women's teams both playing from North Battlefield,

followed by the SGHL's North Battlestars v. the Notre Dame Hounds, all that in Hillman. And I will find out here very soon where you can purchase tickets for those events. So that is really cool to see come to the Holmon community. I haven't done shoutouts here in a while, so I thought I got a little bank of them growing here, so I thought I'd just hammer off some shoutouts. First, Cole Costa Eva had messaged me there.

Great work on the podcast, man, listening to Corey Cross is right now. He was really enjoying that one. Curtis Longmere said, keep up the good work, Sean. I really enjoy listening to the history and old stories of the area. the long drives fly by. He was talking about last week's Viguba episode. Troy Clark said he just found out about the podcast a few weeks ago, so he's been going backwards through all the episodes.

He hit Colin Sankow's and said it was fucking awesome. He's a beauty. Those are his words and not my words, folks. And appreciate that, Troy. I look forward to hearing what next one you're on and what one you're enjoying. Graham Murray said, liked your interview with Wade more than the chicklets one. He was talking

with spitting chicklets. He seemed more open with you. I appreciate that, Graham. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. If you haven't listened to Wade, he was on just a couple weeks ago. Brent Ween said, hey man, enjoyed the latest episode on the podcast. Looking forward to part two with both Cross and Redden. Obviously, he was talking about listening to the Wade

Redden episode. And then finally, Mike Keely had reached out after I did the Vic Juba episode. said, hey, Sean, love the podcast and hearing from all the people back home. Just finished listening to the Vic Juba pod and thought it was great. I'd say one of the best you've done in ranks right up there with a few of the other old boys like Shep. My family is known the Juba family for an extremely long time and was really caught off guard and loved, hearing Vic talk so highly about my grandfather, Jim Hempstock.

While my grandfather passed before I was very old, I think I was 12 or 13, but I can remember him talking so highly of Vic and his wife, Anne. I also vividly remember how much the Juba's did for my grandmother after my grandpa passed as the Juba's lived two doors down. Anyways, great work. Keep it up. So I really appreciate all you guys reaching out. That's really cool. I love hearing the feedback. If you want to give me some feedback, hit me up, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or shoot me an email.

Sean Newman Podcast, gmail.com. Love hearing what you guys are thinking of all the different episodes, a different guess. And yeah, love just interacting with you. This week on the podcast is Adam Huxley from Wainwright, Alberta. He runs his hockey academy out of Wayne Wright, trains a lot of guys. His story is a little interesting. He's bounced all over the place. He fought a ton in his career.

Spent a lot of time in the minor leagues, anywhere from the East Coast League, AHL. And so we get into all that. And without further ado. Welcome to Sean Newman podcast. sitting here today with Adam Huxley, and we're just discussing for Mr. Shesnik, who I'm sure is going to listen to see this name come across and go, you interviewed Adam Huxley? Because as far as Hillman and Wainwright go back, when Wainwright first entered the SAS, Geltah, Adam Huxley

met us in the second round of playoffs. And we're just joking around about, well, you could talk to it, speak to it there. Well, you know, that was a different time in my life. I had just finished pro, and I had a pro mentality. And if you're like a gritty, your player or even if you're a first line guy i mean when you come back at first uh pro hockey does not translate to senior hockey completely different mentality everyone works the next day all that kind of stuff so you know you bring that same they just don't mesh and uh so you got to realize like you might be training these kids uh guys kids or they might know someone it's more of a business thing and and and i didn't probably act proper in in that sense but uh

You know, at the side note, I still play a little bit. And, yeah, I mean, now I'm a much different player. I play defense because I don't want to be running around in guys, and I don't want to get hit. And I try not to say a word to anyone. But, you know, you had the odd snap where guys are hacking you and you hack them back or whatever. Or you have your mini freak out like anyone that played.

But at the end of the day, it's a completely different mindset now. And you know what? I still love the game and I still love the contact and stuff like that. I'd rather do that than wreck. So it is a step up from that. But yes, you have to have a different mentality. I believe when we first started talking about doing this, I'm like, oh, man, I hope he forgets about that.

Because I was probably all over him, but, I mean, he was their best defenseman. Here's the thing. If you go back, we just played Logan Harlan. I was talking about Logan Harlan to the offer. I was actually talking my wife about Logan Harlan. So his first game in Hillman, his first game I've ever played him senior. I assume he's played maybe a game or two,

but like his first real season and senior, he comes out and he's running everything. I remember coming back from pro, and my first real game in senior, I threw out like four or five hip tracks and injured like two or three guys, and I had guys yelling, and I'm like,

what are you doing? I'm going to play to hockey, right? But I remember it's hard to get that competitive mindset out of you, right? Because you've just come from literally fighting for a job every night. So I get it. It's still fun to banter about it because we were on the other side staring at you. And actually, you know, until I've got looking at your career, I was like, geez, it's a good thing I didn't look into your career because you have quite a storied record there of where you came from.

And I didn't realize half that. When I heard your name, I'm sure half of our team went, ah, who gives a shit? Let's go fucking play hockey. No, absolutely. My first game against kids, Scotty, actually, that year of all teams, at the time they were kind of weak kind of thing. I literally was training to play that summer. So you can imagine, I get 200 pound minutes a year. I fight.

I hit everything in the moves. in pro and uh i come out my very first shift i'm like like like you know just like you would in pro like let's go set the tone and some more kid who's behind the net and i literally could feel his shoulder blades crunched together when i hit him and he need to get dragged on the eye off the ice on his back basically and i to this day i'm like oh man i think what kind of mentality was that i didn't even get a penalty because it was a clean hit yeah but i was just you know that's a probably a 21 year old kid that probably isn't in the gym every day or anything like that. I'm literally trained to go, you know, hit pro guys that are 200 plus pounds.

And, I mean, anyone who's been in that situation can figure that. But yeah, no, that was that whole year, not only that with the coaching, with everything, just a life transition was a completely different thing. And if you play against me now, you know, I obviously didn't playoffs and stuff. Hockey's full of emotion. I mean, some would beg to differ now when they watch the NHL. But it still has emotion and whatever. And I'm never not going to be emotional.

But I have learned to control my emotions significant amount. Probably could still be another 25%. But you know what? Whatever. I mean, it's better than where it started. I still play senior. And you talk to the boys I play with. I have a horrendous time.

The game's all about emotion, right? Yeah. You can control your emotions. You're better off. But lots of times in a game, a guy comes and gets you unaware, It gives you a dirty shot. Yeah. My temper fliers like that.

No, and absolutely. And, you know, I watch some of these guys, like, I don't know if you watch that, Austin Matthews clip. And, you know, like, he's an amazing player and everything. But, you know, so is Sidney Crosby and McDavid. And if someone got clobbered by them, they wouldn't just skate by them.

They at least get a stick on the guy or get in their face. Like, Sid actually fights for the teammates and himself all the time. Well, did you see Johnny Taves last night? Last night. Drop his mitts in the first 30 seconds. against Toronto. Yeah, no, absolutely. It set the tone for their team for the whole game. Didn't even think twice of it. It was freaking awesome.

And, and, you know, that's the difference. That's a changing of the guard. We're talking about guys that are, you know, late 20s, early 30s. They still have it. The really young guys have completely missed that. I mean, Petri turned around on that Matthew clip, and he was like, going to pre-drop his gloves because he's like, someone's jumping me. And he literally skated by him, and he was shocked. He almost jumped. Matthew was,

for not jumping him. It was a crazy clip. But, you know, like Austin Massey's a great player, but you could at least get your stick on him or something. But we don't come from that error. So today, if a guy gets buried on my team, I'm going to jump in there, right? And, but back then,

they just recently made a new rule. If you get suspended when you play now, you can still coach. But back then, you could be coaching your kids' novice team and not be allowed to be on the bench until you served your senior hockey suspension. And that's if a guy jumped you in the last minute and you got a fighting misconduct and you have a one game, you have to wait to sit out a senior game before you can coach your kids novice game.

Like that's the dumbest thing ever. So they've changed that because when I was in LaCombe last year, someone jumped me in the last 10 minutes. Or no, I got two 10 minute misconduct for something. And they, I was like, oh my God, I'm not going to be able to coach, right? And I get paid to coach for the Bisons or whatever. And I had to call Aaron Rollick. and they actually fooled around with me there and played a trick on me and said that I couldn't coach but then they him and Michelle just said no they've changed it you can coach whatever it's that we got

rid of that rule discretionary you go get a gross misconduct for spitting on someone's face then you're not a lot on the bench but how if you if you get suspended at the end of the game for two minute checking from behind they're not going to be suspended as coach how I assume you're similar to me how hard is it to watch hockey now like you saw lu Cheach the other day get this two-game suspension for punching the guy behind the net? Oh, you. And when they slow it down,

they make it look this terrible thing, and then if you read Twitter or anything, all the analysts get on them, oh, it's a dirty play, blah, blah, blah. When you watch it, like, full steam, it's like, I don't get me wrong, he punches them, but, I mean, is it worth a two-game suspension?

Man, that's a two-minute penalty. To be honest with you, in the coast, my first few years, that would be two minutes for the guy who hit the goalie, and two minutes for you. Right. And to be honest, you probably would have hit him four more times while he's down.

Well, I mean, that's just the game. That guy does that. And then he turns his back like that's going to help him. And Luch just reaches around and catches him. Don't turn your back. Take it like a man. That's my opinion. But again, total different thing.

But that Sherwood kid's actually a really, really good kid. I went to Columbus two years ago for development camp. And he is a super nice kid and crap. And, but, you know, at the end of the day, man, you want to play. And guys like Looch, like, Like, okay, well, they're going to, you know he's on the ice and whatever. Now, you know, I mean, does he still serve a purpose? Absolutely.

But at the same time, the game is kind of past some guys like that by at the same time. Well, if Luch was making a million, two million bucks, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But he's making a big contract and sticks out like a fish. Yeah, no, he does. I mean, for the amount of money he's making, he's got to be a top nine for word and he's not anymore. But, you know, at the same time, The guys in the room, I guarantee you respect the hell out of them. So it's kind of one of those catch-22s now.

Let's switch gears for two seconds. When we were talking here this last month, you went down south to help Nate Diaz. Were you helping or were you just know Nate Diaz? Fill in the blanks here. And for the people who don't know Nate Diaz, maybe explain a little bit about Nate Diaz. I just went down to be like, I knew, you know,

I had some time off. So I went down to, I knew, like, there was fight camp or whatever. So I went and stayed in the apartment and stuff like that. Just got around, was around the boys or whatever. So when I went to play in the Euler system, they sent me to Stockton. Or I went to Stockton, and then I signed with the OILA, sorry. And so when I went there, I was, you know, I was in my, like, 20, 30 fights a year mode. And actually Nick Diaz, Nathan's older brother, was at a game.

And so he came and he watched and he loved the fight and whatever. And we were at this club after like, you know, on a Saturday night, boys win. We go out. So and at 856 it was called. And anyone who knows Stockton, it's like gangster, gangster over there. Like people that live around here, like you think you live in a bad neighborhood or you think the rural crimes lounge are bad. Go to Stockton for a night or two.

and you'll come back with a whole other perception of what bad is. Stockton's a, you know, read any index for crime. It's a crazy place. But you know what? There's so many cool things there as well. There's so many good little areas and whatever. There's so many good people still. It doesn't mean anything.

But anyway, Nick came up to me and he goes, hey, who's the guy that fought? And I was like, oh, that's me, whatever. So he's like, hey, we have a gym overbound by the rink downtown. and it's called Torres it was Pacific Torres mixed martial arts Phil Torres is a guy and they and they trade under Caesar Gracie and he's like hey I'm you know you got to come down and then check this out and he's like I think you'd like it so I you know showed up and of course next late like you always is but anyway I went in there and there's like 40 guys some guys will like tattoos on their face and all kinds of stuff really awesome guys like crazy environment completely but Nick goes you know so we're showing us moves or whatever that's what they do in jitzu class

you know they show you the stuff and they show you how to escape the stuff and they show you how to apply the stuff whatever and then they have open roll and he goes and I'm just sitting there okay so like I'm gonna get tapped out by all these guys there's like kids there and crap that probably tap me out

Nick's like okay you can roll with me for the first time and they go five minute rounds and Nick must have tapped me out about nine times in the first five minutes like every muscle every joint on my body probably got manipulated and so yeah so I was like you know what I want to get better at this stuff so I started going

there and it was great for for what I was doing for hockey fighting and stuff because they fight in geese so it's like heavy cloth so it was great for grabs and stuff and there's boxing there and all kinds of stuff so anyway I started going there all the time and then I got to know Nathan as well Nathan was getting ready for some fights

he just won the ultimate fighter the summer before so for the people don't know, Nate Diaz was the winner of the first ultimate fighter, correct? No, no. That was Forrest Griffin, but very early on it was one of the ultimate fighters, yes. He was one of the first ones. One of the first ones. Yeah. So Nathan had

just won the ultimate fighter, and so Nate was there, and whatever, and so I got to know Nathan pretty good as well, and I kind of and then anyway, one day the team was gone on a Saturday and I was suspended or whatever was going on. I can't quite remember. And, um,

So we were just rolling, and it was all the pro guys. Okay, so it's not like normal class. And Nick's like, hey, man, he was getting ready for Eddie Alvarez at the time in Strikeforce, who then went on obviously to be a champ and whatever. Nick would have killed him, but that's beside the point. And he, this is in Strike Force, and he goes, do you want to spar? He's like, I see that you can box because I was pretty good at boxing. And so I was like, sure.

but he's like you need a mouth guard and I said oh okay so I like literally like went to Target and got one of those water ones like where you put it in the hot water and sink it to your teeth so I went in there and to be honest right off the hop like I was okay

and I did I hit Nick with a body shot pretty hard like you I mean they go as hard as you do kind of thing right and I'm the mid round guy so I don't start out they have someone that pushes the pace and then I would go in and then the guys that are like legit that way we're going to push him hard going at the end.

And I went in and I had him with his body shot and I could see him kind of linse just a little bit and I'm like, oh God. And he came up and he faked it and he hit me right in the middle of the solarplex. I remember. And I was winded, but I was still fighting. And he was talking to me during he's like, are you all right? You know what kind of thing? I'm like, oh, I'm okay.

And then three minutes was up and I'm like, okay, we're done? No, we're doing five minute rounds. I'm like, okay, it's boxing. It's three minute rounds, right? MMA's five. No, they're boxing for five minutes, and I'm like, oh, my God. So I had to stand in there, but then I went another round. So then Nick's like, hey, you did really good, whatever, you'll have to spar again.

But anyway, I was getting my stuff to go out, and he's like, hey, why don't you come by the house? Come hang out, and then I, you know, I went over to the house, and the rest of history, I became friends with all their friends. And to this day, I'm still friends. I was just in New York hanging out with all the guys for Nate's fight, all the old OGs, they call him. um all the old guys and uh there's still a lot of them are still there they're still training now they all obviously own a ndae together nick diaz academy but uh but yeah no that's kind of how i started hanging out with them so you went down to new york and got to party with the old guys and

watch a couple fights well yeah the new york thing i got to so i uh went to the fight so i got to go to like the way ins and all that crap with the team i was on the bus whatever probably just tagging along more than anything nowadays but um And then I got to go I had a ticket up in the 200 levels at Madison Square And Yancey Metros The guy that he he's a fighter as well He fights in the UFC. He's from Hawaii. He's an unreal guy

But he he he he his guy wasn't coming So he goes hey you want a ticket? He's like you can have my you can have a ticket with me and that's so I'm like thinking okay So then we walk in through the entrance or whatever and then we're going in and I'm like well, we're going to the floor here, you know? And then not only did we go to the floor, we went into where all the fighters and stars are, and I sat in the front row. Like, his ticket was in the front row right by the cage,

right where they put the Vaseline and stuff on outside. It was crazy. So, like, I was one section over from Trump, so I'm like, eye-line with Trump, and then, like, Jason, that rap... Trump was at the fight? Yeah, literally. Some guys from NDA, like a few guys that are Nathan's training partners,

actually gave him a pound when he was leaving he was cool but never mind the media everyone cheered him like it was loud when he came out and when he wave you'll hear a few booze or whatever but like the media sounded like they booed him they cheered him relentlessly there's no question about it there's such a there's such a fine line between what the media tells you and what actually is and then outside it was crazy there was a counter protest and a protest for the trump supporters outside the thing. It was massive. It was a cool event to be a part of all together. I mean, Madison Square Garden. I mean, you get the history there. And yeah, the whole thing was pretty cool. I'll never forget any of it.

But yeah, I know I was front row gate right here. So it was pretty cool. Pardon the interruption. Today's IHD innovative question of the day is, where did Adam play his SGHL? career out of. He plays for one team for a cup of coffee before heading off to the Saskatoon Blades. If you know the answer to that, send me a message on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or shoot me an email at Sean Newman Podcast at gmail.com. You will have your name entered 10 times. And this week is a signed PEP hockey hat by Connor McDavid and a hoodie from PEP Academy. So I put up pictures of that on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

So if you want to be entered into the draw by an autograph PEP 97 hat by Connor McDavid, give me the answer of where Adam played his junior A hockey in the SGHL, and you'll be entered, all right, times 10. Now, back to the show. Well, let's talk a little bit about your hockey career, because you've kind of bounced around and been just about everywhere. I was looking up some of your stats, man. your penalty minutes a few of those years are heavy heavy like 200 plus uh i assume a heavy chunk of that

you've already talked about lots of fights um so i was just curious you grew up in wayne right alberna uh when did you when did you know that's what you're like were you always that kid back and ban a midget you know i actually to be honest with you if i could go back and change anything it would have been the way I was. I was like, you know, my dad would coach us or whatever. And my dad was a really good coach. A lot of the teams he coached actually won AA provincials back when there was the Ramel, right?

Yeah. Two AAA leagues. I also played in the Ramble, yeah. He won like three out of four years. He coached there. Wainwright won the whole Ramel. And so he was a pretty good coach, but I was like the anti-son, which a lot of people are like, oh, your dad tells you something,

so you do the opposite kind of thing. So if I could go back, I would have did a lot more listening and stuff like that. But no, I was kind of, you know, actually, I was probably an uncoachable kid. So now when I have kids on the ice with novice, Adam, anything like that, you know, to be honest, I have a soft spot for some kids because I'm like, that was me. And I can't get mad at that. I get mad and whatever. But I'm like, this is just karma, really.

Coming around for probably all the coaches and teachers and every other thing. I'm constantly, if I'm out and about and I see a teacher, whatever, I'll always go and apologize for the way I was in class and crap. Even though I was a 90 student, I still could be a handful of times, I'm sure, when I was young. So, but anyway, needless to say, no, I never really had the, I never really fought much. And then I went to junior to, I was in the SJHL. And to be honest, I played, like I said, I played some good hockey. and then I went to Notre Dame

and I actually played Tier 2 Bantam one year. I just needed a change of scenery from Wainwright to be honest. But I went there and I played Tier 2 Bantam. You moved there and went and played Tier 2 Bantam. So you're talking like Bannam A? I got cut from the AAA team. It was the last cut. And Denny Ulmer, this guy that was the coaching team,

he didn't like me very much. So I didn't play in the Tier 1 team. So I got sent to the, I was on the Tier 2 team. And I honestly, I wanted to come home. It's like, I'm coming home. This is, why would I stay here for this? And my dad would be like, just give it another week. Just give it another week.

And then November 1st rolled around. It's like, oh, hey, I can't get my money back anymore. You're staying. So he kind of like got me into that. But anyway, you know what? I wouldn't trade that experience in Notre Dame for the world. There's so many things you learn and live and whatever there. And to be honest, it's actually when I first, I went, before I went there,

I wasn't, my dad's like, hey, you should go here or whatever. I went to Medicine Hat to training camp. And I was like, man, I want to do this. I'm not far from some of these guys or whatever. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to go to Notre Dame. And then like I said, I got cut a couple times and I, whatever. But I ended up staying and I wouldn't trade that experience or anything for the world.

Would I go back there the next year? Absolutely not. But at the same time, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Because to be honest, that was the turning point in my hockey career. So the next year I came back Can I just stop for a second there? So you went to Notre Dame played tier two. So you're talking Bannam A?

Yeah. Bannam A hockey. Yeah. And then lived in dorms there? Yeah. So what changed that year for you? If that was the turning point in your career. Well, to be honest with you, the A team, like the tier, well, it wouldn't be A.

It'd still be kind of double A. But the turning point is that was probably double A at home, to be honest with you. like there's kids from all over all over the world yeah you have a pretty like tier our tier two team with smash you know a bunch of normal tier one will we kill the tier one team's probably be competing the double a league here sure is really what happened and but i was 15 because back then remember it was two years of bantam two years a midget so i was 15 years old and uh i ended up staying oh i had to stay because my dad's like i can't money back you know and back then it wasn't as expensive either but uh so then yeah i know i went did that came back and then i was like you know

what i learned to train properly there sean hope ross was the trainer there i was on acceleration they have that treadmill there all that kind of stuff so i kind of started getting better or whatever i just needed to clean the mental side of it up and i think that that was a big experience living away from home and stuff and i think that really helped me with that met a lot of kids from other places realize like you know Wainwright's not life kind of thing and I came back and and then I played double A in the ramble or triple A or AAA whatever you want to call it triple A double A we had a pretty good squad and and then year after that you used to be able to cross borders so 16 2017 I went to Melfort just junior A well first I went to moose jaw and I didn't

really I had they wanted me to play exhibition but I didn't want to sign did uh did you go in the bannum draft all anything like that Just walk on to the Moostrad Warriors. Yeah, and to be honest, in Notre Dame, there was a lot of that. Kids that got drafted, I mean, kids that were going to try and get drafted. There's a lot of political stuff that goes on with some of that stuff. Some of those kids' brothers were there the year before, whatever. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of a read-in to politics, so to speak.

As sad as it is, there's a lot of them in hockey. But at the end of the day, I don't really care. You control your own circumstance. I'm a prime example of that. So I came back and I went to the SJ and I was a defenseman. I went to Moose Shaw and then they wanted to play me an exhibition but I didn't. And I'd went to spring camp in Melfort and they're like, okay, we'll guarantee you a spot.

And back then you could cross borders. So the year before I actually went all the distance, I write to the regular season with Gord and with the Bobcats, or I guess they would be the Blazers back then. And they had a really good squad. That's year Fort Sask hosted, or Fort McMurray hosted the, RBC so they were loaded up to And so I made it right to the end there

And then so they were rebuilding the next year So I can't remember who took over for him After he left that time But they wanted me to come bad But then I ended up saying no I want to go Melford I got a good vibe there so I went And I was a D man And here's how the fighting story is actually kind of funny

So I never really fought Like I fought at camps or whatever You know Never really took it seriously Every kid, I would argue, fought back in camp. Yeah. Well, you had to. I mean, I know first line guys that would, you know, it was just part of camp.

Like, it was part of making a team or whatever. And to nowadays, if you're the one guy that got in a fight at camp, it's like, oh, my God, you got in to fight a camp kind of thing, right? Anyway, so I went to the, some guy, one of the older guys or two of the older guys, shaving cream, my brand new dress shoes, we were in Labret. right so back back when le brett had a team yeah so they were in le brett and they had this tough this few tough guys on their team like tough and i was like and and they had me on forward right because we had seven defensemen and i played they wanted to put me in the lineup still so i went on forward and so they shaving my shoes and they ruined my brand new shoes that i just bought so i was mad so i like i went out there and i didn't talk to anyone before the game or anything

and I went out there and I ran everything that moves and I fought twice against the toughest guys probably one of them in the league and I did good and that to be honest with you I kind of got a little bit of a reputation from that and then after that I was like I'm not scared anyone so then I started fighting a lot more and then it was a Kevin Dickie

used to be Melford's coach back in the day he met his wife there so there he was out visiting his in-laws one night and he's the head coach of Saskatoon and so he came to the game and we were playing Wavered and I had a really good game, like an energy game. Like I got into fight, I finished every check, whatever. So the next day he listed me. And then that summer, he convinced me to go there.

And so I was like, you know what? I was like, I had some talks from some schools on defense, but it was for like a year or two later. And I'm like, do I really want to do that? And whatever, like I had talked to Cornell because I had really good marks and stuff like that. And I'm like, is that really what I want to do, sit around the SJ for a couple years?

and I was like, or should I go to the limelight, you know, the Western League, there's a lot of lime light up there. You know, it's a different set. You're playing in awesome cities and blah, blah, blah, right? And so I said, no, I'm going to go. So I left. I left the next year and the summer. I decided to go. And I trained really hard and I went there.

And we're right before the first skate and I went on the ice. I was the first guy out there. I was five minutes early. I was jacked up to go, ready to rock. I was going around the first skate. ice I did like a little pivot boom caught an edge fell into the board separated my shoulder like like bad like six weeks bad so I'm crawling off the ice as the guys are coming on the ice just to skate before a warm up I was out there not a soul was out

there and the Harold LaTresse arena and so then I crawl off and the trainer's like oh my god so then I check my shoulder out yeah sure enough I got a bad separation and whatever and I just remember sitting in a room with Kevin Dickie and uh, uh, uh, McEwen, our GM. And he's like, I don't even know what to say. I've never even seen that. And, and Brent was like, I'm gonna, I gotta get rid of this guy. Like, I mean, what do you, like, what do you want me to do, Hawks? Like, I, we don't even get to see you play. Like here, he's like, and Kevin's like, no, we're not going to do that. Just let us think about this. But Hawks, You just opened the door for other guys to make the team.

So I just remembered crying on the way, and I went to meet my friend in PA, went to stay there for two days before Malford's camp, because they sent me back to Malford. And I was like, oh, my God, my career is over. I just remember that drive from Saskatoon to PA was just emotional. And I got there, and whatever, I went to, I went, and I rehab my shoulder and started skating and started going,

and they were like and started trying to get back in the lineup and it was awesome and I was going to have a heck of a year there and whatever and the dub thing was done kind of thing and then September 11th happened so it's crazy the September 11th happened they just released their fighter the day before he called me on September 11th the day the World Trade Center so I'll never forget it so we're watching the TVs and stuff and I'm like oh my god this is craziness know, all these kids were like all these, you know, the buildings are going down, whatever. And then I get a call from Saskatoon that day. Hey, hey, you're ready to come back?

I'm like, oh, really? They're like, yep, ready to go, be at practice at 3 o'clock. Because a bunch of the guys that were at camps in New York or wherever, they shut down the airline. So those guys can get in for up to like three or four days. So they come up. So I went. And I remember thinking like, okay, well, I'm on the team. kind of thing, right? And then, so I'm sitting there, whatever. He goes, I want to see this. And he's

like putting me through paces. And I'm like, what the heck's going on here? And he goes, okay, good. And then I get off the ice. And Kevin's like, you're our guy. Go up and talk to Brent. So I went upstairs and signed. And then I was a blade. And so that's when that whole, that whole thing started. But yeah, it was a crazy thing from being the only guy in the ice and falling into the board with no one even around you, getting separated shoulder. thinking your career is over to the next thing you know you're signing. Like, it was a crazy. But I'll never forget September 11 for that, those two reasons, obviously.

Obviously that shut down the airports, the guys they maybe had coming in, all of a sudden are of no use to them anymore. Yeah, well, yeah, the guys were coming back from NHL camps and stuff. They couldn't come. Like, they had guys, like, going through New York or, you know, like Atlanta or whatever, but it doesn't matter. All the airports were shut down for that day at least, right? and some of them couldn't get out for like two days, three days.

So yeah, we didn't, so they called me up. It was pretty crazy. And then that kicked that in and I never looked back. I mean, I never even thought about the SJ again. Would you play three years with the plates? I played two. And my third year, I got traded to Seattle. To Seattle?

Yeah. So in your time of the dub, what was your favorite barn to go playing in? Favorite barn? I mean, favorite and house. Well, what are you thinking? Well, you know, now that I think about it, I hated playing in. I hated playing in Brandon. A, they were really good.

They had two, two, and they were tough. Craig and Thirsty and all these guys, Thurston, who I ended up playing on the Lekone with. I'm really good for them now, but man. I used to have some bloodbass. I was the strongest man in life. And, you know, going there, they had a great team. They run the correct like and Jordan was running around back then

Half the things people are getting five games for it was just an average shit for him Yeah, yeah I think you wrecked more guys heads than ever because he hits like a truck and he you're allowed like that was acceptable I was a good hit back then And just remembering smelling the cow poop when you walked in there Cowshare whatever um I didn't want to swear so uh but yeah you walk in you come in that back door and all you can smell is a barn literally barn and then you get to the rooms and the rooms are that old school hard floor and you got to walk down steps to go on the ice because the rooms have steps going into them the showers were cold man it so now if you think about a character barn like that's it right i mean now back then i was like oh you got to kind of brutal brutal travel on the way there yeah you know all that stuff boost jaw i mean same exact kind of feel they were they were very good but they're

They're tough, but they're beatable, though. They didn't, you know. PA, pretty much every one of those parts is, like, if you think about it now, it's, it's pretty crazy. But as far as, like, this is so cool that we're having this, we're in this building and stuff. It was definitely the Saddle Dome. All your friends and family came because it's the Saddle Dome. And when I played Eminton didn't have a team. I just missed the ice.

Yeah, Namit's nice. And then the start up a though. Two years later, three years later, they started up the Oil Kings, right? So afterwards. So I just miss that. But as far as I'm concerned, the Saddle Dome would be the glitz and glamour. Like, this is so cool. What had the best fan interaction?

For a guy who tussled an awful lot, was there a barn you went into? Maybe it was the home bar. Maybe it was SaaS too. Well, I mean, when you go to the States, I mean, that's where, like, Spoke, Portland. Those places are crazy, man. Those are the places. Those are the places with the crazy fans. Like, it was quite a thing.

Anything that sticks out. What's crazy? What sticks out about it? Oh, they're just, well, they're not really educated in hockey, so they just love carnage. They love fights. They love hits, and they're loud and obnoxious. And they actually have really good chirps and stuff, to be honest with you.

What's the best chirp you've ever heard? Oh, I've heard a lot of chirps. But I actually, you know, I was in Vegas, and Stephen Olleski was in the box, and Stephen Oleski has, you think, like, my story is one thing, that guy's story is a whole other thing. I mean, that guy went from, I can tell you a story after, but anyway,

Stephen Oleski's in the box. Tell it quick. Who is Stephen Oleski? Okay, Stephen Oleski. So I went to camp in Rockford, and I watched this kid, I was like, this kid's great. And he went to the U-Haul league, right? And they weren't even playing, where he went to Toledo and they cut him, so he went to the U-Haul league, and they had them playing forward.

I'm like, what are they doing? There's no way this guy can't play in the U-Haul league from what I saw in Rockford. and I was an older guy on Boise and so I was talking to this kid that knows him like where is Oli like because we need a D and I and Laxie's like Cox do you know some D we're short we need to bring some guys in I said well this kid was awesome at camp or whatever so Oleski was just quit the U-Haul league to go to go manage two pizza shops like a pizza guy I'm not even as funny as it is talk about D-Man and pizza. I'm no word of a lie. He was going to go and work at some pizza joint and manages buddies to pizza shops in Detroit. And I was like, no. I said, man, let's get

this. I said, ask him if he would come here. And he's like, oh, I would die to do that. So we had to convince the U-Haul team to release them. And then we signed them. And he came in. And he came in and Laxie, the first day Laxie goes to me. He goes, I said, hey, Lax, you know, he hasn't skated for like three weeks, right? And he came in and Laxie's like, this guy is a workers comp waiting to happen workers comp claim having it you can't even skate and this and that and i was like oh my god so anyway he started going and started playing and and his first game he played or whatever and laxie's like hey hawks this guy can't play at this level i was like just give him some time he barely skated and then he had three weeks off and uh time went on and he's like hawks

you said this guy was tough i haven't seen him fight once so i go ollie you got to go you got to show me something you gotta show him something here you got to fight i can't be the only one doing this or whatever kind of thing and so he's i'm like yeah so then the top defense in the league who shakes his gloves at everyone that guy right he does that to oly only drops his stuff and just starts teeing off on this kid that has 60 points as a d man and i'm like and the guy turtles and we get a four minute penalty right and so laxie kicks me in the back derrick lax doll that is right now you obviously you know who Derek Laxel was and he kicks me Hawks, what the hell

kind of thing? He's like, so then after the game I go, Oli, so I go in the coach's off saying, hey Laxie, that's my fault. I told him the fight. I told him you wanted to see it. I'll talk to him, please. So I go, Oli, read the stat pack, man. Ask questions if you have to if you're going to fight a guy. Anyway, Oli

went on and as time went on Laxie be like, you know what, Hux? He's awesome on the penalty kill or he's this, he's that. And then at the end of the year, Laxie when he pulled me and I brought also brought Tyler Spurgeon in as well and he goes hey we don't we're not we went to the Kelly Cup final and lost we should it was devastating because we were a better team and stuff we got depleted by the American League and some other stuff but in lost and he just said hey man without some of these guys you guys helped us bring in he's like we don't have the same team they're

such good guys in the room they they did everything anyway next year Oli came back we got a new coach he got called up to the American League played for Bridgeport and no word of a lie, two years later he was playing with OVie and guys like that. He finished the whole second half of the year with Washington. With the Washington capitals? Then, yeah, listen to this. Then he went and he put his time in in Pittsburgh. He played some games or whatever.

And Sid loved him. Those guys loved him in the room. And he won a cup with Pittsburgh. And so he literally has the cup. And the best tweet I've ever seen, I don't care what you say. Guy has never drank drop in his life. And he said, this will be my first and only cup all drink out of.

And he took a drink out of the... Out of the Stanley Cup. Out of the Stanley Cup. And now he owns a massive wreck kind of league out in Detroit. And they have a bunch of pros playing the summer. He does a bunch of charity stuff. Probably one of the best human beings you'll ever meet. But what a story, though.

Went from being... Going to be managing a pizza shop to playing in the NHL and winning a Stanley Cup three years later. That is pretty freaking impressive. Yeah. He's awesome. And what a good guy to have around as well. Sorry, my phone is blowing up right now because Don Cherry either just got fired or just stepped down.

Yeah, I'm not going to comment on that. I'll take the high road. I love Don. I personally don't think what he said was bad, to be honest. I think that people, it's just the wrong time. It's so sensitive right now. And CBC is obviously, you know, funded by certain people or whatever. whatever but at the end of the day I'm not going to comment on all that because you know

I'm sure your show is not about politics so it's not about politics I find it I listen to what cherry says you know he just he said it at the wrong time if this is if this is two years ago it's not a bit of you says I live in Mississauga very few people wear the poppy downtown Toronto forget it nobody wears the poppy now you go to small cities you people that come here whatever it is you loved our way of life you love our milk and honey at least you could pay a couple of bucks for a poppy or something like that these guys pay for your way of life

that you enjoy in Canada these guys paid the biggest price for that he never says anything like I mean it's implied what he's trying to say but in bigger scope he's just saying we gotta right like man if you come to someone's country I mean

even if you're even if you're even if you're in the country I mean you got a you got a respect it's history like people who go to to Germany respect its history they understand its history right like they understand what and then you know they understand what the Jewish community went through there and they understand what the what everyone went through there

you know it's it's a common thing as time goes on and more generation like the generations that were alive at World War II there's hardly anyone that's alive that was World War I or can even recount it right and as time goes on people forget. Yeah. And so it's like, why are we even

wearing the poppy anymore? Right? That's where we're slowly getting to. So when Don Cherry speaks out about it and everybody loses their mind,

he didn't even, like, when you listen to what he said, it's, I'm not saying that... Let's be honest. He's, he's very, like, borderline with today's standards,

and they're just looking for somebody to fleece the guy. Yeah, he's been, they've been won to get... It's just that they wouldn't just let him do it on his own terms. And it's too bad, Don Jerry.

That's what I was Because now it's going to be like, who's going to have a personality at all on any kind of thing. Everyone's going to be a robot to whatever their beliefs are. You cannot have a personality on mainstream media. And mainstream, I mean, the big television networks, anything like that. It's hard. That's how when I listen to it, I go, but that's how Don Cherry made his name. His name was not about going vanilla.

He wasn't, yeah. No, he wasn't trying to be like, oh, I'm on the majority. here he was always like no i'm gonna tell you what's really up and he was always pro can't can't find a more canadian guy and i just find a hilarious all these people that turn on i'm but whatever i'm not even getting that that's political well i just see my phone's blown up so we got to it but anyways let's go back okay so you play in the dub um you start your essentially fighting career as you graduate from junior a into the dub you start you start you're you're said you started in junior but now you're fighting all the time how do you so you go from the

dub down to because you didn't get drafted correct no no draft no how do you find but you were getting letters or people reached out after watching and yeah no you know i got invited my first year i got invited to phoenix so that's actually where i met marty mccorley and we just had a charity thing in waynright where we brought marty and stuff actually i just talked to him today him and Bernie Nichols are going out to Jamie McClennon and they own their hunt farm out in it's by Turtle Lake.

Oh, Turtle Lake, okay. So that's Conan McClennon's that. Okay, yeah. Backcountry outfitters. Yeah. And so him and Bernie Nichols are actually going out there. They sold a thing at the rotary thing. That's for our CT scan.

I sold it for like 15 grand. So these people are going out for charity, are going out to to go to hunt with Marty and Bernie. That's pretty sweet. Yeah, so imagine the stories they're going to come back with after that.

That's two pretty, pretty prolific guys. Bernie put up 50 in the show. And McSorley, well, everybody knows McSorley, like I mean. Yeah, no, it was awesome, but we had Flurry. We had all these guys out for this event in Wainwright. It was really cool. So it's too bad we couldn't get them on the show.

It's early. I'm in my infant stages. We'll work on it. For sure. Next time they're out for something, I can try and set it up. But yeah, no, they're out there. Tomorrow they're out there.

Out at Turtle Lake. Yeah. They're out at the Hunt Ranch tomorrow. But anyway, needless to say, that's actually through the Phoenix connection. That's how I met Marty. He was our coach in Hall. That was quite the tournament back then.

The year before, actually, Grant McNeil can tell you this if you ever have him on the show. Okay. The year before, they actually had to shut down one of the games because of the fights. There was 12 fights before the second half of the game because there was no fight rule. And Florida went there with all these thugs. They had chef. They had McNeil.

Oh, man, they were just loaded with tough guys. What league was this? This is the NHL. This is rookie camp. Of the NHL? Yeah. So we were in a hall, right? Who were you?

And you were there for the... I was with Phoenix. You were with Phoenix. Yeah. So Marty McSorley was our coach and Shane Cherla. So they actually, you know, obviously they liked me because I fight. So I had some good fights there. My first first fight I got in, I fought Gregory Campbell, Colin Campbell's kid. And it's actually funny.

I just saw him last year in Columbus. He's their development guy. I still don't, I know he knows me, but he kind of acted like, hey, I'm just meeting you, but he knows what happened. Wink. Then the next game, I fought Brian McGratton. That was a really good fight. He's toughest knell.

Who is the toughest guy or most skilled fighter you've ever fought? Like, who's the guy you look back and you go, man, either that was just a great fight or I'd never want to fight him again? I would say Eric Nielsen. Eric Nielsen? Yeah, he isn't a minors. He's actually, he actually protected Sid through Jr. He's tough kid. crazy, tough, explosive.

Fights pretty open, so it kind of caters to where I am, but he just seemed to always, I would make one little mistake, and it's the only time I ever really get caught to fight. In junior, here's what I learned. I mean, you watch these guys on, and everyone's like, oh, my God, you see those fights, like from the LN, AH or whatever, like, Marast to you, all those guys. I have a lot of respect for all those guys, always will.

But, man, you've got to realize you get one brain. Why are you, why are you, it's, it's not, uh, it's, it's, to me, it's not like smart or tough to just take them. Like, why? I said, you know, like, the whole point is for you to inflict conflict and are in pain and not get it back. So when I trained, I started training. I was okay, I got to figure out. So I figured out some grabs. I had a lot of techniques.

I got my gas tank more than other guys. And you know what? I, I, I chess match them. But I, when I was time to go, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I would get them tired and I would go, right, if you watch my fights. But I take very, very minimal contact. And I don't seatbelt guys or anything like that. I'm just smart, okay?

I fight like, like, you know, like when I was in Stockton and stuff, I learned a lot about grabs I was telling you about. I box, okay? I know how to get inside. Man, the night before a game, I'm studying the guys on the other team and what their tendencies are and stuff. Which is smart. What plays into me.

I will watch that guy fight 20 times. I'll watch seven of his fights before I know what's on. Learn his tendencies and know what he's going to try. And you know what? If I get in the game and I'm having watched the guy and I fight him, right? I'm not like, you know, sometimes you've got to call the red light. Sometimes it's time to just go. You're in survival mode.

You tap the red light and it's like you've got to read and react. But I like to breathe and calm down to a guy that blacks out, please let me fight that guy. I will fight that guy all day long because, you know what? He has no idea what he's doing. I, on the other hand, I'm slow. I like to breathe through my nose out through my mouth. I control my breathing. I do all that stuff.

And I stay inside. I try to set punches up. So if I'm throwing two rights, I'll throw one under. I know where their heads are going, et cetera. I'm super duper technical. And that's why I lasted so long doing it. I didn't get caught a whole lot. Who did catch you?

Well, you know, one fight, I hit him and I have slipped one of those punches. And I went to throw on and he just I happened to me off on the time in this Gimlet kid I think it was Jesse He caught me I went in I going down or whatever and I went to the box and we we served our five and I got out and Ryan Muginell was a coach in Vegas. He goes hey Hawks are you sure you're all right because he's all he's Keith Pryorne most best buddy so he's all worried about concussions at the time it's like I'm fine It's like I'm perfectly fine whatever and so I go I'm going out next shift Muge and I'm fighting that guy again and he goes hawks i'm like no i'm good moj we're good so i went out and beat the tar out on the next shift but i was ready i was mad and i don't get mad a whole lot and when i do and i

if you can put the mad or the skill together that's when you're a dangerous human being so i went and did it and i and the boys were like yeah you weren't lying you were mad so yeah no i mean i got clipped there neely eric nielsen caught me once in stockton and then once in um in the last guy he cut me over that's where that's one stitch is i haven't got caught a whole lot though i'm gonna ask you in your hockey db you go from after the dub you go from alaska Vegas victoria stockton i mean the list goes on but those are the first four you bounced all over the place okay so it wasn't really bouncing so alaska was at the end of my 20 year okay just go up at the end of the year okay yeah and then the next what was what was playing

plane in Alaska Lake before we go anywhere else. Alaska is cool. I mean... You're flying everywhere, I assume. It's not a desired location for me. I get really depressed in the dark all the time. Like you get up at like noon and it's dark out. Yeah. Like it's crazy. Like when we go there on

the road, you get up at 9 or 10 and it's still pitch blackout and you're eating breakfast and you're like, man, it's 9 or 10 in the morning. Like, and it was a hard place to play. Okay, they had really good teams there all time and it's and uh they have the big ring so like an olympics down rink yeah and they they they have awesome fans up there that i forgot to say that earlier they got great fans a lot of respect they just

had alumni game i think they had like 6 000 people a night for two they had to do two and when after they score they throw this big steel fish head on the ice and all kinds of crap but they uh yeah they run an awesome program have for a long time up there that's why they won some championships um Yeah, no, so it was cool, but at the end of the day, like I said, it's more for me. I'd rather go there in the summer. But then I went to Vegas. So what happened is that's when I went to Calgary. So I had sent Calgary a letter because I didn't really have an agent at the time.

Sent them a letter and Darrell himself called me. He was like, you want to come to camp? And I went to camp and had a really good camp. I got in some fights. Let me get this straight. I'm going to back you. You sent the Calgary Flames. A handwritten letter?

Yeah, basically, well, not. I'll type it. But yes. Yeah, from me. And who did you send it to? I sent it to Daryl. How did you get Daryl's contact? I sent it to there.

I'm an attention to Daryl, Sutter. So then Daryl brought me to camp. So I went to camp, and then I had a really good fitness test. Then I, I went and fought a couple times, obviously. I played really well in the camp, and then the lockout happened. So right after camp, he's like, what do you want to do? And there is an option for a three-way. So back in the day, before the first lockout,

you could have a, not first, but the first modern air lockout, 2004 or whatever it was. They made a rule you can't have three-ways anymore. You can only go to two ways. But I could have signed a three-way, but that just means you could be in the coast in the same place for three years, getting paid $500 a week type thing. Right.

Because that's what it was. NHL, A-HL, East Coast. and so the guy that was helping me at the time is like don't sign that man really in hindsight I probably should because you stay in the organization but and have a chance because they went to Omaha the next year so then I went to the American league because there was no NHL what was what was flames camp like it was awesome who was a coach back then oh jimmy play for darrell sutter and darrell setter does when was Sutter coach and gm yeah and then in the american league was Tom Rowe and because we split, they split with Carolina in Lull.

And then the East Coast was Las Vegas and that's Glenn Gulletson. Imagine that. So, so then I was at camp or whatever and Gully was there and whatever I got to meet Gully there. And they said, okay, well, we'll go to, we'll sign you on an Americanly deal. Did you fight in camp? Yeah, lots, like three or four times. Who were the big guys he had there then? Do you remember?

Back then. Well, because you know what? It was only rookie camp because they went to Laco. Oh, okay. Yeah. So then I fought there. And then I went to, then I went to,

um, um, um, um, the American League to Lole. Well, you got Carolina sending Eric Stahl and all the guys that won the cup the year before,

right? Or, you know, they just, they just won the cup. Yeah. Okay. Um,

or actually, I think they went on to win the cup. I can't remember. No, no, no, no, Calgary was in the final year.

Against Tampa and the year after was when Carolina beats So you're thinking of the player. So they're sending Mike Commodore, Chuck Kobesu, you know, like all these guys down. And then you have them sending Eric Stahl, Wardo, Mike, Mike Zygamanis. So you can imagine there's zero room for Adam Huxley or anyway. But they keep, you know who they did keep on a three-way? The only guy they kept, they kept two or three guys. They sent Derek England to Vegas, right?

Ergo, back, rewind, Ego is one of the toughest guys I ever fought my life. I have most respect for him. Strongest, he just doesn't have that meanness to him, but if he wants to kill someone, he will, and he's tough of his nails, like, tough, Ego's got to be one of the toughest guys that I've ever played against, or been near. So they sent Derek England, and they kept Girodano up. Giro was an undrafted player that signed out a camp. which is crazy now that you think about how long and how crazy of a career he's had and how good he's been

yes so geo was uh on a three-way and they kept geo and he played like 45 games that year as uh on a three-way actually in bagis in the trainer's room they actually had his jersey so he was going to get sent down at some point but he didn't end up coming so yeah it was impossible to go there obviously right i mean there was zero room because the loco went the whole year so had the lockout and all went the whole year maybe things would be different or whatever so i went down and i played for played for gully what was what was vagus like Vegas was awesome i mean i could tell you stories well let's hear a couple stories about Vegas because i mean every every fan boy has this idea of playing in Vegas like you got the strip just sitting there well and every team that comes in is it gonna experience the strip and

play hockey i can just imagine well in Vegas like my glen gulletson had a rule so training campy for he had a couple things he said first these people's livelihood is tipping so if you're going to do anything make sure you're tipping people okay because that's what they're alive they work on tips and minimum wage whether it's parking a car whatever he said treat people that's how things work around you the next thing he said is i have three strike rule one one strike if someone's late for practice that guy gets because they've been out or whatever he's like that's the first strike they get a fine okay and whatever Doesn't matter who it is, the next person that's late or whatever, they get a game and a fine.

Third person, they get released. They're done. See you later. Doesn't matter who it is. So if you are that third person that gets the misses practice or something. You just inherited two other people. Yes, exactly. And it doesn't matter unless you like it, unless there's some crazy circumstances.

So we're, you know what, on paper, we should have been way better than we were, whatever. and it's kind of like one of those struggle years. I'm right in the middle of the season, kind of in the bad time, like, we're, you know, because the year before they were first place, right? And I was just young guys. What am I going to say about it?

I just go and fight and do my thing, whatever. And this guy, Dan Tudis, so someone's already been late ones, and I think it might have even been Tudes. And I get to the rink, and this is going to be a hard practice because we didn't play great on the weekend. The effort wasn't there or whatever.

on some guys part and so we live right across the street from the rink from the practice rink and uh i go hey uh someone's like where's toads he's not here and someone's like hey hawks go grab him before gully sees because it's like someone are already got in trouble so the tudes would have got in trouble or whatever right so i'm the rookie i'm the youngest guy by far so i'm in my hockey gear i jump the fence, go across the road, jump the fence, go to his apartment, doors open, he's not there in order to be found. And so I'm like, what? Like he's not in his place, whatever. And just out of the corner of my eye at the pool, I see this guy like on a lawn chair and I'm like, whatever, that might just, I went over there to check. Sure enough, it's too. So I get him going. He gets

up. Go to the rink and he, he slept out by the pool. But anyway, that's a side note. So then he comes to the rank and, I mean, let's be honest, he's half in the bag. So he comes out, he gets ready for practice or whatever, but gully knows this now. So gully's like, okay, Tudes, sit on the bench, you guys on the goal line. So we go for like 15 minutes of bag skating. Finally, the captain, Jason McBain, comes and he goes, oh, screw this. So he goes, Tudes, get out here. So they're at Center Ice.

We're all on the goal line. and he just drops his stuff and they square off at Center Rice so they start fighting him so everyone kind of converges some of the old guys are like let it happen some of the guys are like this is stupid

and wonder why we're not a good team and gully's like leave it let him go and so they fight for a bit and then they break it up and then practice starts and I'll never forget that I was like this is pro hockey well yeah I know it was a crazy story did you ever get

what was your first pro contract you ever signed then was it with Vegas? No well yeah it was like I said they offered that three-way but I didn't I'm like I said I want to sign a Vegas contract anyway so I just that would probably be my first one well I guess Alaska would have been at the end of the year there but

do you remember your first check doing anything spectacular when it said Vegas well I'll tell you what living in the coast your check isn't spectacular and it goes right yeah they pay for your housing and and they pay for stuff. You know what I mean, though.

I understand it ain't a million dollars. I think everybody in their, and their cat knows it ain't a million dollars. I think you're just more excited to go to the store and grab some groceries to the shop. To be honest with you, with an East Coast check. What was the biggest change

from going from Dub Life where you got, I don't know, curfew, probably, Billet Family, etc. To now you're playing pro, probably a teammate or something.

Was it just policing yourselves and having to keep each other in check? Or what did you see as the biggest change from flipping from one way of life to the next? There's no more, you know, you're responsible for yourself. I mean, you've got to be at the rink at a time. You've got to be there. There's no bill at cooking for you. None of that stuff. I mean, I live with my girl, who I'm now married to, obviously.

But so I have the benefits of having that. part of it and God bless. But yeah, no, like I just friend the young guys or whatever. Like, 100%, it's taking care of yourself, you know, making sure that you're at the rink on time, making sure that you're eating, making sure you're on your own. Like, there's no one, no whatsoever structure around you outside that ring. And that would be the biggest difference. I should have done this a while back, but you got to give a show to your both.

I'm assuming in your travels you had some good billets. You know, man, in Saskatoon, I had a, my first year, I had awesome billets, but I probably am like not the best billet to have, you know. I, well, especially at the start, I probably pretty sure. My billets were awesome, but then they didn't take a billet again for a little bit, and then they just decided they didn't want, they had younger, like kids my age or whatever. then the next year

I literally this is you know I went through a lot of bills put it that way not until the very end when I was in Seattle could I well because I'm just

I'm not afraid to speak my mind and I have a different way of eating and stuff like I have a structure I eat this at this time I do this what's your structure on eating

well now I'm actually like you know I try to be a pescatarian I try to eat seafood and a vegetarian lifestyle But it doesn't work out. And nothing against meat or anything. Why, though? What, which is that way?

I just have way more energy. And actually, to be honest, through my travels and Stockton and stuff, I kind of, I kind of picked. A lot of my friends are vegan and stuff. Not like, it's not like, oh, save the animals or anything. They would go out and shoot an animal. Hey, I'm not going to shoot you down for it. I'm very curious. Hey, listen, I love a steak.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not 100% like, like, you know, I sit, sit there and I go to steakhouse. I'm not going to be that guy and not order something, whatever. But you did notice a-fer seafood. You did notice a change when you switched from X to vegetarian? If I could give any kids a tip about pre-game and stuff, hit the quinoa, stuff like that instead of pasta and stuff, and then make sure you're throwing like pepper, stuff like that.

And then the next thing is go to, if you need protein, go to shrimp and stuff like that. Go to, not even shrimp. Go to some kind of seafood or whatever. Man, when you get to that game, you'll feel way better. You can't bog yourself down. Chicken, I ate chicken, and that's the next thing. I haven't eaten chicken for like five years. I ate so much chicken, like every meal.

Chicken parm. And rice. Chicken and rice. Every single place. And my stomach just started getting, to be honest, it just started like, I get bloated, Cassie and whatever. And so I was like, no, I'm, I changed. And ever since my guts have been way better, my performance was better, going to the game,

I had more energy, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, it was a big change and I wish I actually figured it out a lot sooner. That's interesting. Yeah. And if you want to go like nowadays, like right now, obviously, you're trying to look good in your birthday suit. You're not trying to train to be an athlete anymore. Honestly, man, that life

is way better if you want to keep off the fat. I just watched a documentary on Game Changers. Game Changers. And I've got to be very, well, pretty simple. We come from cattle country. We come from beef country. I'm a farm kid grew up eating beef, everything.

And I saw Game Changers, I'm like, didn't read the bio of it. So I'm like, well, that seems interesting. So I flicked it on. I got about 40 minutes in, half an hour in. And I realized it was about. And I was mad. I was really mad because I was like, I don't want to listen about why I should become a vegan.

But I owed it to myself to watch it through. And it was very interesting because I don't listen to the other side very often. And it talked about all these elite athletes that are vegans and why it's better and why X, Y, Z, right? It was very interesting. And I think it's a time in place thing. I'm not telling I'm a vegan and I'm not saying I'm a vegetarian. I'm not saying I prefer seafood. I'm not like I'm not a vegan means like literally my shampoo doesn't have any animal

byproducts actually that's crazy I don't I don't need to be doing none of that but what I do believe in is what you put in your body and all that kind of stuff dictates a lot and for me I like to live that way as much as I can you know you have your arguments with your wife or whatever about what your kids eat or whatever but my kids eat well my life obviously is unbelievable cooking and stuff. So it's good. But at the end of the day, for me, I feel better.

That's all that matters to me. I don't care what anyone else thinks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But at the same time, I love a steak. I love some pork. I won't touch chicken. I just don't like chicken. I'm chickened out.

I ate enough chicken for a lifetime when I was in hockey. I prefer. But if I'm, you know, if it's there, I'll eat it. But I'm not going out of my way. If I can eat seafood, I will. No, it's just interesting.

That's all. No judgment from my set of the table. I just find it interesting. It's just, we come from a land of cattle, chicken. At the end of the day, I respect the heck out of that and every teach in their own. But for my living, like I said, I would say I'm once a week guy. Yeah. What did you do to train in the off season?

I always, as the generation, the different age group of guys that come on here, I always love talking about what they did in the off season to train for the upcoming season. because you first hand being on ice with kids now, it's got to be like night and day since you grew up. Because, I mean, Wainwright wouldn't have had ice in the summer back when you were growing up, I don't think. No. Okay, so I moved to Eminton when I got to junior, and I train with Barry Budd at Premier Strength. Okay.

He's the best in the biz. I've learned a lot from him, and then, you know what? Honestly, I learned a ton from him, and that's why I actually, we rep the Premier brand, like in Wainwright. That's what we train. a lot of our kids have had success and I went to camp and owned the fitness tests and stuff with that so I went up there and I trained and then I skated like perns and I did other things

but you know what that's actually how I got into PEP like that was missing when I was growing up like period now I will go and work with novice kids that are twice as skilled as I was when I was a midget because they are working on their motor skills they're working on myself there was none of that none of that not even the brains around the operation to help you with that stuff.

And that's why all these kids are superhuman now because they've been doing that stuff since they're 12, right? Same thing as fighting. Okay, back in the day you had Tank Abbott and these guys walk in there and just slug it out. Well, now there's kids that are 12 that are doing karate, boxing, jihitsu, all their stuff. Now those kids are like 18, 19,

and that's why you have these champs that are like crazy athletes, crazy martial arts. Same thing with hockey. You have these kids doing this stuff. Think of all the reps from when they're so. six or seven years old till the term they're 18 the amount of motor skills and speed and and everything that goes into their game it's crazy and and and for me like that i was missing all that so and i'd even when i was in junior and stuff i was missing all that so to me now that's actually how i

got into being a power edge pro guy is like that i know like where was this when i was growing up you know yeah no kidding it wasn't there you were it wasn't there hacking guys when they go wide you You'd actually stick on puck and understand all that stuff, which I didn't before. I'm like, got to hit this guy. Sounds like you remember that. Guy had this. Yeah, guy has the puck in front of him exposed. And I'm like, got to hit him.

No, you got to take the puck from him. You know, he's left his hands out there to dry. Who's the most skilled guy you've ever been on the ice with then now that you're in the coaching stage of teaching kids and everything? Like, like teaching or played with? Teaching. Let's go teaching. Uh, teaching? Well, I've had the, I've had the, uh, honor to be on the ice with Connor McDavid. It's just, it's no contest.

I mean, I'm, so I run some of the drills of the, our pro camp in Toronto and you're just like, and you know, if it's a whistle drill or something, sometimes you forget to blow the whistle because you're like, your mouth like, this guy isn't human. Actually, it's funny, we were doing this download drill. And, uh, actually Bobby McMahon, I brought him and Carson Sousie. And so, Bobby is with, like, Connor and these guys doing the stuff. And he goes, and he goes, there's four shots on the goalie after you've done this sequence. And to go through this stuff at the speed these guys are going through,

like, you've got to be insane on the motor skills and all that stuff. And Bobby went through, and he went three for four and Connor, and I'm like, who is this kid, you know, kind of thing? Like Bobby McMahon's very skill player, especially for that stuff. And then Connor's like, oh, okay. And so Connor literally does stuff that no one in the world could do over the through the Peps. And he goes four for four. And on the last goal, he had me in the corner along with the goalie.

And Matt DeShane was sitting beside me and he goes, that guy is not a human. And so that's the level and that's how, you know, to those guys, that's how they see that kid. So it's unbelievable. And I'm not sitting here saying like, oh, I'm like Conner's trainer or anything like that I'm just part of the program that you get to stand on the same Yeah and I just you know what we're you know these are some of these drills are my drills that you know that I've helped the company I'm because me and Scott Smith and it's it's crazy like we do this one drill where it's an over speed drill and we literally did it just to watch Connor the next summer this and and man he goes through this stuff and normal guys just place the puck under the pep he

sauce it over all eight peps going full speed never stopping crossing over it is absolutely insane to watch that guy live so i mean as far as that goes that's the that you know in any training atmosphere that i would say is amazing as far as like kids and stuff goes i mean uh you know you know parker mackay or or uh bobby or even that parker seretsky those kids there's some they're very very very very very skilled and they'll be very good players but you know if you want to go pound for pound or age for age jagger furcus you won't find a kid that is more skilled in jagger furcus yeah he plays on the midgette jopal a 15 he just signed with moose jaw he is man you his eyes in the back of his head and he can he can handle the puck like he is unbelievable skill level he is and he's

playing in in town for lawyer yes he is yeah got to pull myself out and go watch him that's what you're saying go watch go watch that kid he's gonna be a player he's you know i mean the intensity and stuff and people have questioned you know some of that stuff about him but i think he's proved everyone wrong this last little while i think he kind of took it to hard after they getting cut from top 80 and stuff and i went watch him recently but man not only can he handle the puck and at a like high high level he the plays that kid makes you know he's the guy that shoulder check three seconds before and knows that guy is going to be there. Where me and you are like, if it's not there when we look, it's not there, you know?

That guy is like three steps ahead. And you know why? You had Mason on your show. He's very similar to Mason. Mason just has that. Mason, you tell Mason that he can't get that puck. He'll find a way. He'll bite your ankle and grab the puck.

I always found an interesting when Mason walked in. I was expecting him to be a bigger guy. He's a, you know, he's a pretty. He's got thick legs. Oh, absolutely. Like, he's not a small guy. Most NHL guys that walk in, you've probably seen some of the pictures.

They make me look like a gnome, right? Like, he walked in, he's like my size. Yeah, but his bite and his character make up for... Absolutely, yeah. He was super impressive to have on. I've some awesome stories about Mason. I'll give you a story. So Mason's the extremely competitive kid.

Like, you haven't met a more competitive kid. and so we're in the gym and him and Logan Ganey were doing a they're seeing who could plank the longest so they're at like the nine and a half minute mark so you can imagine like pretty much you're not using your abs anymore it's just like sag and arms and everything else right and Mason goes to Logan he goes hey Loges let's just say we tied let's just both go down say we tied so it's like 10 minutes now and Logan's like okay like all right sounds good he's okay go and Mason faked and Logan went down and Mason stayed up and Mason's like ah I won that's how competitive it goes but I you know what I saw the leadership that in that kid very young like he'd be two

years ahead of himself at like hockey camp and he'd be telling the older kids to shut up and listen to the instructor on the dry land or like he he was a leader he's a born leader Aaron did a hell of a job his dad when he was growing up did a really good job Aaron's actually got an unbelievable hockey mind for not a playing like he understands the game at a whole other level considering he didn't play like other

than senior and stuff it's actually pretty crazy how knowledgeable he is he's got a very good mind here's a question for you what is it about way wayne right's become a little hub of hockey like there's a lot of that area i shouldn't say just waynerate but like wainwright and surrounding i don't know what you would call it but how far you go but the surrounding area has really produced some hockey players you know what is it about at that area to be honest with you like there's always been kids there We never had a place. Until I opened this gym and we got that rink in Irma in the summers, which we have now, you'll have to come do your podcast next year at our celebrity game.

We have a celebrity game. In Irma? In Irma? Yeah, it's awesome. Right in the middle of the summer. It's a hell of a game, too. Irma keeps its ice in all summer? We put it in for the month of July.

Really? Yeah, our group or whatever. But who do you get in? Sorry, who do you get in for your celebrity game? We get all the kids from the surrounding area and they play. No kidding. The aces have a team. So some of the Aces play.

And then we have the Wayden Wright team. And we bring guys from outside the city. This summer, I'm going to guess with Carson playing with some of these other guys. We'll even have some big names. Cleggar kind of committed to come next summer and some guys like that. But we have some high-end players out there,

put it that way. It's all American League, NHL, NHL, College, Junior A guys. Yeah. So it's a great game. And again, so the first year they beat us by one. we hit a post for like seven seconds I even play and then this last year we won an overtime but like Mike Susie plays Matt and like you know we have but then we have guys uh you know it's it's a great

thing and we'll have to talk about that closer to you all have to come out maybe you'll have to play well maybe I'll just have to come take a peek at we'll keep in touch yeah that'd be cool but yeah you get to see all these players but again back to our area I mean we've you know when I was growing up you either had to go to the city so a lot of kids don't want to do that so they'd stop because now you have to be trained when you go to camp. You have to be doing this. And so we had a lot of talent there, but when I was growing up,

but there was nothing there unless you were willing to go make that sacrifice, like some of us. And so it's always kind of been there. But, you know, I wouldn't have this gym without Mike Sousie mainly. Mike Sousie is absolutely probably, A, one of the best guys you'll have meet. B, he is that Irma connection. None of those kids are even close to where they are without him.

He's the man. So shout out to him. He is honestly one of the big reasons for our area. My old man has helped out a lot with that stuff too. Like he's helped promote kids to, you know, you got to train, you got to do this, you got to do that. So we open that gym. So we have a whole curling rink, turf, 40 meters of running track, a shooting center, like five or six platforms, Kaiser, you name it. We have. have it. It's like there won't be a facility around even close to it. Tork tanks, you name it. We have it all in there. So we run that program in there and then we have the Power Ridge Pro. We do twice a week in Irma. Plus we do another session. Plus we bring Stephen Gerton, who's been

a massive part of these kids' development. They're skating, they're shooting, everything. He comes from the city. He's the real deal. He should be in the NHL as a skills coach and he's probably got a lot offers to do that but he runs the SHL now and some of that stuff but yeah he he comes out still he comes and does works with a lot of our guys a lot of their skating and stuff but we have a we we have a lot of Lloyd kids come out too and stuff

yeah well Irma's only what from here 50 minutes and throughout my pet days I've had lots of these kids like when we come up here we do one in the spring we have because we don't have ice anderma get guys ready for camp we all the waters and a bunch of those guys will come out and skate with us um Waters is having a heck of a go this year. Yeah, man, you know what?

I'll tell you a story story. That was a cool kid to have on it. When I first came back, you won't meet a more humble kid. And you know what? He's a coach's dream, dude. He'll go through someone. He'll go around them. He'll do whatever it takes.

He's a great kid. You won't ever find a better guy to have as a coach. But anyway, I was talking to the Seattle scout, who's now actually head of amateur scouting for Pittsburgh. Colin, and I go, Colin, 10 of these guys wins you and Mordial Cup and he's like, nah, whatever, like we'll watch and see you. That's a pretty bold statement.

I said, man, never mind these guys you're talking about, 10 of these guys wins you a cup. After the game, Chase had a heck of a game, ran over like 10 guys and blocked 10 shots and scored two goals or whatever. And not to mention, like I said, he's a great kid. And he comes up to me after he goes, Hux, you are right. 10 of those guys wins you the Morales.

Real Cup. I love Chase. I mean, I would have him on, when he went to Anaheim this year, and they took him to main camp, I was like, finally someone is, because a lot of these guys, the scouts, they come watch, and they don't quite understand, like, they don't understand what, when you input that guy in your room, what you're getting. And as a coach, I look down the bench, whether I need a goal or I don't need a goal, Chase Waters is the guy I'm picking to go on the ice.

I don't care. Because I know in the last minute, he'll eat one with his face or block a shot. I know if he's got to win a battle, I'm putting him in the corner. Unless it's with Mason Shaw. Guy wins battles like crazy. Or, hey, I need a goal. That guy will fight into a dirty area and a fricking penguin. And that is the guy.

But that's the same thing you got with like Mason Shaw, Parker McKay, all these kids. That's why they're such, that's why they're having success. Yeah, yeah. Because that's the kid. Now, if I can instill some of that and some of these other. other kids, like if they can reach and grab that, you know, I mean, there's some very good talent around here. Can we talk about the, we kind of got off of your career, but actually now we're off your

career for a little bit. You've had really good success with the junior B team in Wayne Wright. Yeah. You guys won, well, you didn't win last year, correct? Yeah, we lost an overtime. Lost an overtime. Yeah. Well, that one still sore, I can see.

Yeah. You know, I preach. But you've had a... Overall, since you've been a part of that program, you guys have been dominant. Yeah, I believe we're actually... I think we're 180, 17, 2 and 1, or I guess it would be 3 in 1. 1817 2 and 1.

Is that what you just said? Yeah, so we've only lost like 17 or 18 games, and we've won 180 now. We have a ticker. So is that bringing in... I haven't looked at your lineup, I've got to be honest. this kind of came together so quickly over the weekend. Do you bring a lot of guys in from all over the place?

Is that a court? So when I first came back, I'll just give you a little background. So when I first came back, Seth Anderson, this guy, he asked me, hey, Hux. He asked me to sit down at Tim Hortons for a coffee. Will you coach the Bisons? I was like, not a chance. Am I touching junior B hockey? I just looked down on it.

I was like. Fair point? Okay. And then. I can understand where you're coming from that. I was just like, I don't want to deal with kids. don't care and whatever. That's kind of my opinion of it at the time.

And then he, whatever. So then he started coaching and he's like, okay, well, I'll do the coaching. But he doesn't even skate or anything. Like, God bless his soul. Unbelievable at managing. And hey, the Bison's owe a lot of his success to him, not being degrading him. But he couldn't even skate. And he wasn't the guy to tell you he could skate.

He's like, man, I have no idea about hockey. I just know how to get the guys here. And so then about a month in, I said, you know what? I'll do the hockey opposite. I'll start running your practices. And then I started running the practices. And then I started running, you know, I started going on the bench and the games when I wasn't with the bantoms. And then we went in and we lost one game all year.

And then we went into the playoffs and whatever. And now I'm in full board now, right? And then I went in and we went to Cold Lake and we lost a Cold Lake. We couldn't figure out their goalie. We shoot out shoot them 60 to 20 every night. It was a kid from the dub. That's the year they hosted Western, so they paid this kid like 10 grand to come there. But I was like, okay, after we lost, I made a thing.

I said, we're not losing, we're winning the league next year, no matter what, we're going to win the league. But my biggest thing from that first year and about junior hockey, junior B hockey is, hey, there is a ton. It's such a misconception. I tell junior A guys this all the time, like GMs and stuff. you have to find a way to motivate the guy that came back from junior a that didn't want to play and is coming down there you got to find a way to motivate him to want to play for you you got to motivate the guy that should be there but chose not to go at all you got to motivate the guy that wanted just so badly to be there but couldn't make it and then you got to motivate the

guy that just loves hockey you have to it's you have to find a way to motivate all the personalities But what you realize is these kids all want to be a part of something and they want to They want to win they want to do all that stuff But they just don't want the commitment of going up there some of them, right? So I got a whole other respect for these kids like just because you know all you look at a kid like Chandler Klein That guy I mean he should be in the NCAA right now honestly Rick's one probably tell you the same thing if he would have rode out his career He would have he is like Chase Waters 101

probably with more of a scoring upside, to be honest with you. But, you know, you look at a kid like that, he just didn't, he wanted to come home, he wanted to do his thing, he wants to be in a trade, he doesn't, you know, he didn't want to go to practice every day, he didn't want to do that stuff. But man, when he plays, he's passionate. So I said, okay, let's create, let's have the identity of our team. When you come to the rink, this is a junior A team. That's how we're going to coach it.

We're going to do video. We're going to go through. our pregame we're going to do everything we're going to meet with these kids all the time we're going to do this when we practice we're going to have our level has to be here we're going to demand demand demand but we're going to understand you got to work and you've got to do all this other stuff right and this isn't your life so when you come here it's here and so they want that intensity those kids want they don't want to come and be like this is a country go they go play rec hockey so they want this but they have the commitment of this and so that was our motto so then the next year

I said you know what we got to learn how do we lose So I said, okay, we got to change this, this, and this year. So the first year helped us win the league the next year, because we learned from that, okay? So we learned from what went wrong this year, and we put it in this year. Then we went into provincials, okay? And we went there, and we did our best, obviously, and everything. We get to the final, and we should have still won.

Like, every year I've been to provincials and the gold, we should win. Honestly, we had the team, but they were also a great team as well. But we lost my second year in the gold medal game. We lost to High Prairie or whatever they are. But I got on the bus right after that, and I was like, I wrote five or six things down. I said, we have to change this. We want to be that team next year. So the next year we came.

We went to St. Won the league. Then we went to St. Paul. I mean, that year was crazy. We won the league in overtime. I mean, it was four straight, but still we won the game in overtime. We won provincials in overtime, and we won Westerns in overtime. So three overtimes to win everything.

But, so we won the provincials because the year before, we, you know, I learned. We all learned from what it took to actually win. Like, it's one, we lost three, two the year before. So we went to Westerns, but I said to the guys, we can't do what we did last year. We're not going to get another crack at Westerns because we're all kind of swallows. That might be the last one. And I said, how do you know you'll ever get back here, guys? This, there is no more learning.

We have to take everything we've already learned and win. and sure enough we went in there we i mean there's teams that played 14 guys all five games we played five guys all four all five games before that six game because you have to win so you have to go with this if you make through the gold it's a six game so we went there with the max amount of guys we put guys in put like different lineups we had this stuff planned weeks before and we went in there and we went into that last game with more juice and obviously we won an over time or whatever but we didn't have it when we knew we weren't going to get a second crack at that so there was no more learning to be had and then the next year our team was dominant i guarantee if we would

have had the westerns again we would have won it again that team was probably better than the year before to be honest with you we were stacked when we went to fort st john and one and then last year we had an unbelievable team but all year long it was a different mix and and it's crazy one of the things we talked about all year long one little detail i'm not going to go through it cost us in overtime and in the last five minutes when they scored but that was a battle of the titans i mean both of us lost one game all year whatever it was until playoffs two teams man right to the end top two teams in alberta and we met in the gold medal game and it was it was probably one of the best junior b games alberta will ever see as far as talent and everything so you know

we broke so many hearts along the way and you know i told those guys i mean think of all the soul souls you guys crushed on the way to this now we're on the other end of it how does it feel well the guys coming back let's not let it happen again so that's our model here but our whole model all along every single year is us against the world um it's a two block thing you know i mean at the end of the day you don't care about us the refs don't care about us the league doesn't care about us at one point you know all that kind of stuff like the league obviously supports us a lot oh you have awesome league but I'm just saying like no one worried if you don't win no one

feels sorry for you that's right it's it's everyone in this room so it's us against the world who cares your parents might care and that's about it so guys in this room that's all that matters so we have like a I guess it's like a gang mentality this is the only people in this room are the only

ones that matter to us and that's been our model for the last four years and that's how we play we don't care we know everyone's against us in our eyes that's what we build up right and we have to beat we have to beat the refs we have to beat the you know even though we don't i'm just yeah yeah that's our that's our motto and that's what we've come and we have a great opportunity here this year uh again we have a great group and we have another chance and here we go so what uh

what's next for you are you do you want to continue on with coaching i've had some offerings i've had some offers i've had some offers for coaching um actually one year i actually got offered a job like straight up like before I just didn't have my HP1 but um you know really when my daughter graduates then I'll leave but I can't hold your daughter she's got six years left six years okay yeah so when she's done we kind of made a promise that we'd stay in one place because we moved around for so long so long yet you know so uh you know when I'm done that's kind of what I'll do but so you want to carry on with coaching and you think I know I will at one point but the development thing's going really good um a lot of our players

is doing a lot of special things. And so it's been awesome that way. So I can't really just walk away from that. We've built something special and we're going to continue that. And even after I started coaching, you never know, maybe this would be a summer spot. Cool. Well, we've been going now for, I think about an hour and a half.

So I want to get, I always do final five, just five quick hit questions that can take as long or be as be as you want them to be. But it's brought to you by Crude Masters. So thanks, Heath and Tracy McDonald there. huge supporters of the podcast. But five quick questions for you before I let you out of here. One, if you could party with any celebrity, who would you want it to be?

Oh, Will Ferrell. I'd love to see what that guy is like. I'm sure, see if he's just an actor, see if he's like that. Guaranteed. Guaranteed he'd be a blast. Yeah, it'd be fun. Get him in a hot tub. That's my favorite, Will Ferrell.

Anyway. If you could pick linemates. Now, you'd play both D and Forward. You can even pick, well, we can do one of each if you like. If you were going to pick a D partner, who would it be? Drew Doughty. Love the way he plays. Love his passion.

It just seems like it would be fun to listen to him, chirp guys. Yeah, he'd have some fun. You'd be chuckling all game long. How about forward? What position you plan for? I play wing, but I have actually played D. I actually played D. like we were like six guys down.

I played the American League once for that I'd say but I played about 20, 30 games on D and Pro. Speaking in the American League, I'm going to put this right in the middle of the five questions. I got to know I was an oiler fan. How on earth did you end up, where did you go to, because you played for Springfield, right?

Back in the day? Yeah. So again, I sent Kevin Lowe a letter. So you learned with the Daryl Sutter that... Well, no, I just... I didn't have an agent, but with them I had a little more record because in Stockton, they were our affiliates.

So I sent him a letter. he he brought me to camp i literally i mean literally fought my way and they like literally said that on the news kind of thing and it was actually crazy so i was having my first kid um then my wife was in saskatoon yeah and she was like ready to pop but i we were in yellow knife and i just got back that day and she she her mom called me and said hey you got to get here kind of thing are she you got to get here and i was so nervous i i called uh i called uh i called I was sitting with Tim Sostito, who played with the Oilers. He played a little bit with the oils.

He was mostly with the devils. But I go, Tim, this is the situation. Like, I don't want to ruin this opportunity. But I, you know, he's like, don't be stupid. You got to go, man. Get in the car. Like, what are you doing? And I was like, ah.

And listen, man, I would do anything. Like, I'm so glad that I went to whatever, obviously, and whatever. But at the time, you're like, this is my career is on the line. Your career is on the line. Yep. And then so I called Kevin. I was like, Kevin, Prernagas. If you say it's not okay.

I won't go, but if you say to go, I'll go. Like, whatever. Like, I really want to go, but, I mean, I'll do whatever you guys say, because that's how much this means to me to play for the Oilers. And Kevin Lowe calls me, and he says, get in your car right now and get on the road. You won't play it. You don't need to play in the Bears game anyway,

because it was the whatever they did play at Clear Drake. He said, get the hell in your car right now and go. And that was, like, a big thing in the staff. They're like, you were honestly going to do that? Like, you know, I was like, man, do anything to play because you know like that's one's your career but my daughter's birth means more than any of that now well absolutely but anyway um so then i went there came back and then i went to main camp first shift went on and fought this flin and you um i was it ryan flin big dude

like six five bald and i knew he couldn't throw left so i went in and me and flinner ended up being buddies after that we and they're like oh my god you're a psycho but i played really good in camp and then they're like hey i i didn't play in the inner squad the join I'm also, I'm like, oh, my time's done, you know. And they brought me in there like, hey, you've earned an exhibition. You're going to play against the Leafs. So I got to play. You got to play for the Oilers against the Leafs in an exhibition game.

It was their only game that year that they were coming because member leaves have offset schedules. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I played. So, like, I'm cruising, Sidene, or Sundian's cruising along the lines. And I'm like, holy crap, this is crazy. But anyway, I played first shift, get the puck on the wall, go to Pass to the Mill, put it Right on Kyle Willwood's tape, he goes in. He has a wooden stick, by the way, which I thought was crazy.

Goes crossbar. I get on the bench, and Mac T's like, got that one out of your system, Hawks? I'm like, yep. And then the rest of the game, I had a good game. Oh, I was lined up against Darcy Tucker. I hacked him in the places twice. And he goes, kid, I'm not fighting an exhibition.

Beat it. I saw that was kind of funny. But, yeah. Did you fight in the exhibition game? No, I couldn't. The only guy I could have fought, I didn't play against. he was playing, Belak was playing Belak, yeah.

He ran Anson Carter from behind, but I never really played against him, and, to be honest with you, Belac was tough as nails. Yeah, he was a beast. Mass murderer, so who knows? But I, you know, I was dumb enough I would have did it probably,

but he, that's a big mismatch because he can throw rights to us. Chances are what we're going to have to do is we're just going to have it back on for part two at some point here so we can talk a little bit more in depth because, I mean, you got more stories to tell about, I mean, it's just cool

because I heard oil a fan. I mean, I grew up watching the others missed all their glory days of Gretzky and them. But I, you know, the times you were talking about, I was probably gone. I was probably down south or out east or wherever I was playing. Like the Mac T days, that's pretty cool. Yeah. No, the next year is, I have awesome stories about. But yeah, anyway, I got sent down to Springfield that year.

And then I ended up back in Stockton and then up to Springfield a little bit. But then they invited me back the next year. and it wasn't like I was like the letter guy so they actually like Sportsnet did a story on my letter they actually put my number on there my phone number so I'm getting calls from random people your story's awesome I'm like how did you get my number they forgot to freaking sharpy it out right but then the next year I went in there and it wasn't about me or anything like that or whatever I had one or two interviews or whatever but then it was hilarious like I left my phone in the car and I wasn't on the roster to go to Vancouver.

I was going to go to Arizona. That's what the plan was. And I left my phone in my car for some reason that night. And then I get in the car to go to the rink because guys that are practicing to go to Vancouver, practice at 9.30 and then they get over to the plane. Other guys practice at 12. So I was getting up to go to the rink because you've got to be an hour before or whatever. And I have 15 missed calls from Bucky, Kelly Buckberger.

And I call him, he goes, Hux, I don't blame you for not. answering he's like you mean who knows where your phone was blah blah blah but here you got to be at this at the airport in this and like the next half hour here get your stuff you're playing tonight they have your gear loaded blah blah blah so i literally get on and the whole teams on the on the on the plane so i got through their little security which is like two seconds get on the plane the whole staff and team they're like give me the slow clap and roll he's like come here rolls and he's like, by the way,

awesome guy. And he's like, hey, Hawks, don't worry about any of that. He's like, everyone knows that you didn't miss practice on purpose

and you weren't supposed to play and blah, blah, blah. And Bucky's like laughing. Everyone was laughing and whatever. So I went out and I played. And I was, you know,

I played with some fourth line. Me and Zach Stortini and Tyler Spurgeon play together. But yeah, the Siddians were on the other team and all that stuff. So it was cool. I fought Mike Brown twice.

seat belt to me. Piss me off. But Horta Chok, who I've, one of my, like I have a top five all-time guys I wanted to fight, and Horty's tough as nails, don't give him. But he was on my list, but he was playing with the Sedeens. So, I didn't really, he was playing, like, we were off

shifts or whatever. I would have way rather fought him. We would have a highlight of the night the way I fight and the way he fights. It would have been a hell of fight. And, you know, Rick Rippin wasn't playing. God bless his soul. That's another guy that was on my list. I have a rhod of respect for the way he fought. So, But anyway, that was a, yeah, so every little, every way along the way I have a funky little story about,

nothing was ever like easy or planned or when as planned. It was always something weird happening. What, uh, question number three as we move along here. What, uh, you must have, you've played too many places. And I'm sure that you had to have had a place that, uh, when you were coming in on a road trip that you look, forward to. I mean, you played in Vegas so that I would assume if your opposing team Vegas would have been like, okay, boys, we're having fun in this place. Being playing in Vegas or wherever else you went in your career, was there a place you always look forward to a certain bar, a certain place

where you went and you're like, ah, I love going here. You know, at best place in the minors, bar none from anywhere to go to, Boise, Idaho. Boise, Idaho. Yeah. The school is right smack downtown and it's cheap to drink there like if you play there there's bars that you've drink for free but guys coming in the road like 30 bucks gets you and and like you go party with the other team whatever it's an unbelievable place to go out on a Friday Saturday even during the week and guys would just love it they're like we're going to Boise and in the coast you go there for three games you go Wednesday Friday Saturday so Wednesday you want to win Saturday you want to win because you want to go out of Boise like it's

It's a blast. How about is there a guy that you fought in your career? And I always think of hockey players are really cool because you can fight somebody and then afterwards go sit and have a beer with them and it's like there's no animosity for the most part. Is there a guy that sticks out that you used to tussle with but you're really good friends off ice? You know why man?

I had a mutual respect for a lot of guys. Like pretty much everyone I thought. You know what's hilarious? Like, I used to fight Garrett Hunt after I got traded. But when he first came to Stockton or whatever, he was going out and like trying to, and I beat the living snod out of him in camp, cut him open pretty good.

But, you know, whatever. And then we became friends. But like literally that kid, we'd have him over for supper and like all kinds of stuff. And then like, you know, he would go and fight these heavyweights and he's like up to my waist. He's like shorter than you are. And you know what?

I admire his courage and everything. I was like, dude, you can't go score off with these guys. If you're fighting them, it's got to happen in the corner where you can get some grab on them or something and get in tight. And I said, the second thing is, pick your spots, man. Like, you can't just go out and fight all these guys.

You won't last long. You'll be dead. And I used to have them over, and I was kind of helped mentor him of it and whatever. And then when I got traded, we'd, like, right away, we'd fight. It was crazy. Actually, probably half of the problems on my hand

because that guy's head as hard as a rock. But nice kid, whatever. But, yeah, you know, you know, after games off you talk to those guys or whatever but I'm like uh who would I I fought some really good friends of mine and stuff I would have to think I have so many like but I have a mutual respect for anyone there's not a lot of guys there's only a couple guys I would fight and then not show respect to that's the thing about hockey rate but there's only a couple of them where I was like he did I hate this guy you know so final one for you uh you mentioned it mentors did you have a mentor

growing up or in hockey or now in your coaching? You know what? My dad was really good. Like I said, I wish I would listen to a lot of earlier in life. But as far as hockey goes, Laxie was awesome. Lox was good. He was a coach that was awesome at the rank

and away from the rink. He was really good, you know, he has some dry humor or whatever. But he was awesome and there's no way that you are successful. A guy's won every single place he's been like big, trophy is not what did he teach you or what did any of your mentors you know he you know he was just

he was pretty good he was he just showed you like like one day at a time type thing but at the same time i i don't know rob pauline actually it was awesome he was he was really really good rob pelin was our assistant coach in Vegas now he's actually a coach and um uh what the heck's that called uh he's in the uh he wasn't hungry uh what the heck's it called now Innes Brook. So he's in the Austrian League now as the head coach. And you know what, man, Rob is just an amazing guy. He's the coach I'll call you.

Let's go for a coffee or whatever. He joked around a bit with you. But like just an amazing human being and guy you'd want to be around. And you kind of learn from guys like that. Like, man, you've got to be a good guy. You can't be the dictator or the guy that, you know, you come to the rink and you're scared to be around him. And I learned a lot about that.

Like Ryan Muginel was awesome. at you got to be able to come to the rank and relate to that coach. Dictatorship no longer works in hockey and that's why you see a lot of these guys that used to be successful. They're not anymore because it's a different culture now and I learned a lot from those guys. Like same with Glenn. Glenn was very approachable and stuff like that. So you learn that.

I guess I learned from a lot of people that way. That's cool. Well, appreciate you driving up to sit down with me. This has been unexpected for a member stay long weekend. I wasn't, I've been busy with three kids, so I wasn't really thinking too much about this until you reached out. So I really appreciate you stopping in. I'm pat.

You can thank, throw a shout out to Nick Fountain. He's the one that he tweeted about, you should bring Hux on the show. And that's a guy you got to get on your show. You want to talk to an interesting human being. That guy's got a crazy insight on life and stuff. And his story's pretty crazy too with like this whole brain thing. And now he's going to be a lawyer and his play.

You got to get that guy on sometime. He'd be super interesting. him to have on here. Cool. We have lots of athletes. I mean, you bring Parker, you'd be awesome. It'd be awesome for you to actually, if you're smart, you'll bring the Irma crew in one day with Parker and Carson. The Irma crew, if you're listening, because I reached out to him here before they left for camp.

They didn't come on. They were gone to camp or they ghosted me. They'll come one day. They'll come this summer, I bet. Oh, they're amazing kids. I'll put them on the spot now, no. No, guarantee Parker and Suis and you, I mean, they've won a couple of national championships. Yeah, at all.

Players and that, but they probably have really good stories from Duluth and all that kind of stuff. But great, great kids. Yeah, no, we'll make sure we get them on. Well, once again, appreciate you coming on, and I've enjoyed this. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, we talked about half the story, so you know what? Anytime you want to have me back, you just let me know. Well, I mean, you're talking about a celebrity game in the middle of the summer.

It just seems fitting if that's going on, then they might have to be around and we can... You might have to play in it. Well, we might have to do that, too. Yeah. I might get sticked by a couple of the guys that probably stick to my career. Absolutely. Okay, well, thanks for having me, big guys. Yeah, thanks.

Hey, guys, thanks for tuning in the latest episode where I sat down with Mr. Huxley. Appreciate hearing his stories, and he's been some places, that's for sure. If you're liking what's going on with the podcast, I love hearing from you guys. So make sure you reach out, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Just shoot me a message. I like knowing what you guys are thinking on the podcast. If there's things that stick out to you, that kind of thing. Just reach out and get your shout out on here

and try and continue to make this experience as good as it possibly can and try and track down as many of these local guys who've got these stories that not only I want to hear, but other people from the area want to hear and get them out to you. So until next week, thanks guys.