Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 49 Florida Panthers - Lance Ward

Episode Date: December 25, 2019

Born and raised in Lloydminster Lance played his juniors with the Red Deer Rebels. He was drafted twice into the NHL once 10th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1996 and then again 64th overall by the Florida Panthers in 1998 you may be scratching your head as to how that's possible but I promise that is exactly what happened.  Other highlights: - Stanley Cup Finals with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks - Mike Babcock & Iron Mike Keenen - Fighting Owen Nolan & Zdeno Chara - 1st Goal in Madison Square Gardens - Getting chirped by Mario

This is Lance Ward. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Fountain Tire. Head on down and see Kent Staniforth and staff. If you were listening to Kent's episode a few weeks ago, he is quite the guy, he's a character, and nobody better in town when it comes to Tire. So head on down.

They're open Monday through Friday, 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, 9 to 1 p.m. and Sundays, they are closed. Give them a call, 780, 875. 267 and go you get yourself a new set of rims, tires, etc. The boys know what they're doing. They'll take good care of you. Episode is also brought to you by Windsor Plywood. Now when it comes to wood, you're going to hear it time and time again on this podcast,

but the table that Carly Clawson and team built is fantastic. I'm staring at it right now and she is a beauty. And if you want something custom done like that, head on down. and see the team at Windsor Plywood, 3605.51st Ave. They're open 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. When it comes to Wood, these guys know it. Finally, hockey day in Saskatchewan is coming to Hillmont, January 16th to 19th. On Thursday night, it's Wade and Friends.

And actually, my guest today, Lance, is sitting, he's going to be playing in that game, along with a bunch of Border Kings who won championship. in either 0-1-07, a bunch of the home on Hitman from the 2015 championship, Wade himself, Wade Rend himself. Kent Staniforth is going to be in that game. There's going to be a lot of fun. Had on the 16th, on Friday, there's a banquet in town. I previously had on the podcast, it was Brian Trauchy, but due to some unforeseen events, it'll now be Marty McSorley and Tom Rennie headlining the banquet. You can get tickets at Cat Salon and Olive and Birch.

On Saturday, oh, and I should say playing the entertainment that night will be Jordan Pollard, Hillman's own Jordan Pollard, and the Dirt Rich Band. On Saturday, there's Midget AAA Men's and Women's Hockey coming. The team, some Midget AAA from Battleford are playing in Hillmond during the day, 1 p.m., and then 4 p.m., and then at 7.30 that night, it is North Battleford, North Stars, and the Notre Dame Hounds of the S.J.H.L. That's going to be one heck of a day. You can get tickets right at the door there or, like I say, stop into Cat's Salon, all of them, Birch to find out more information. And then Sunday, it'll be all minor hockey,

followed by the Hillmont Hitman versus the Lashburn Flyers, a little Saskal to hockey for you. Here's your factory sports tail of the tape. Today's guest, Lance Ward, played four years for the Red Deer Rebels. His best year saw him play 70 games with five goals, 34 assists, totaling 39 points, and 229 penalty minutes. That was not as high as penalty minute year. He had 249 in his last year with the rebels.

He was then taken in 1998 NHL entry draft, 63rd overall, by the Florida Panthers. In his NHL career, he played 209 games of four goals, 12 assists, and 391 penalty minutes. Following his NHL career, he went overseas and played five years between Sweden and one year in Germany. he has got one heck of a story and we're going to get to it right now. So without further ado. Lance Ward joining me in studio. Thanks for coming in. Well, I appreciate the text the other day.

Yeah, well, you've been on the list for a long time. I just, for a long time there, I just had absolute, like, buildup of people. Absolutely. And so. Yeah, we talked a long time ago about it. But, yeah. No, it's nice to be on. And what do you got me drinking today?

This is a, this is one of, it's a loose leaf tea from David's tea, one of my favorite afternoon delights. And this is a lavender buttercream. It's my go-toe right now. Big tough Lance in here drinking a nice tea. I have Stanney's rum sitting back there. I was thinking we would probably tie one of those, but I'll take a tea. Yeah, no, I had a couple of those last night, so we'll stick with the tea today. Fair enough.

Now, I want to go. back a little bit to your the young years because you played for the Blazers then you play for the Red Deer Rebels all that but were you the big tough guy that I saw like I just first off to all listeners what you do

before you start this podcast you pause it right now and I want you to go watch Lance Ward fight Owen Nolan or Zadano Charra what was another good one Keith Primo was a pretty decent tilt too like those are some big boys and I had I was just

saying before we got on here, I had like probably the funnest hour of my life going back to the old days of the NHL and Lance Ward absolutely throwing knucks with everybody. So do that before you start this. But in your childhood, were you that player back in minor hockey? No, totally, not at all. I would say back when I was in minor hockey, I would have been, you know, I would have been a skilled player. You know, I was, I was one of the, I was always one of the better players on the team, I guess, and we always had awesome teams back when in Peewee and Bantam when I played here in Lloyd, but, you know, definitely not. I mean, I didn't have my first fight in hockey until, you know, my 16-year-old year, I had one fight that year was the last game of the season. You know,

it was my first ever fight on the ice. And then as things kind of happened, and back in that era, I mean, my agent, you know, to be honest, like my agent told me when I was 17, he's like, 20 points and 20 fights. That'll get you drafted. That'll get drafted into the NHL. You wasn't wrong, wasn't it? No. And it was, and, you know, I guess it's foolish to think of it now that you would, you know, I would consciously have to go out and just make sure that I fought every three or four games to get to my 20. It's silly.

Like, it sounds super silly, but it was part of the, you know, promoting yourself as a player. well it's just a different error right absolutely i mean and you know back then it was it was a little different and just finding that uh you know because i think deep down i'm not you know i'm not a scrapper i'm not a well i was saying to you before when you came in like i've known you now since i got back i used to come out a little bit with you and tap on the ice you're like super nice guy i like i said up until i youtubeed you and had that fantastic hour of like watching you for the because I mean what people have to always remember is when you played for Florida we weren't getting those games nobody saw those games like it just wasn't televised

around here very much at least right everybody who's watching the you know well look at the cbc even now or sports uh sports net right it's the leifs the oilers the flames etc yeah you get the canadian games I mean even as an example I'm watching kale Clegg the other day yeah and uh you know like i'm a hockey guy and I don't see kale out there the first couple minutes of the game. And then, so I pull up my, you know, NHL app and I start going through the list. And I'm like, going through, I like, Drew Dowdy is a defenseman. And I'm like, who are the other five bloody defensemen on this Kings team?

You know, so again, like I'm a hockey guy and I'm watching every, you know, I'm watching highlights and, you know, breaking video and stuff. And, you know, there's two or three of these guys. And there's a bunch that I don't even know. So how cool was to see Clegg and the... That's awesome. I mean, it's... Anytime I see...

these young guys that get their first game and their first chance that just brings back memories because it, you know, it was 20 years ago, I guess, for me. But, you know, those are like, I will, you know, the most memorable parts of my playing career are my championships and my first, like my first goal, my first game. So where was your first game? Well, let's talk about. Where was your first game in the NHL? In Carolina, in Raleigh. So it was, uh, and of all things I played forward, you know, like I was a defenseman. Yeah, it was. It was weird. So it was...

How was that? I don't know. It was one of these weird things. Who was on your line? They didn't have you playing with Pavel Burry? No, not quite. No, it was before he was there even. It was Adams and drawing a blank on his first name.

But it was, yeah, we got a phone call. I was down in Louisville in the American Hockey League and coach Joe Patterson. Kevin Adams? Yeah, Kevin Adams. I may have dabbled in looking at the old Florida Panther. Okay. For the listeners, Pavel Burray put up 92 and 82 games that year. That was your leading score.

After that, it dropped off considerably. But you had Victor Kozlov, Marcus Nielsen, Mike Sillinger, Rob Niedemeyer, Ray Whitney. Yeah, good players. Robert Svella? Yeah, Svella. Yeah, he's the guy. I played most of the, he was my partner most of the time. Vinnie Prossball in there?

He was awesome. Holy Eoken, Brett Hedekin. Yeah. and you would have had a very young, well, I mean probably your age, Roberto Luongo. We did, yeah, he was very young. He's a couple years younger than me, but he was, he was awesome. He was great. One of the best. Sorry, I got us off track. Go back to, so you're playing in your first game. Yeah, so I guess, well, so even the call-up was weird because it was.

Well, had you been playing any forward? Like a game or two? Like, it was just weird in the American League. Like, I played a game or two, like very, like never really touched it. and then Patterson said, hey, somebody went down, they want you to go play forward. And I'm like, yep, let's do it.

Yeah, let's do it. Whatever. Yeah, whatever. And so, went and played and just... Are you like every other guy that when you're in warm-ups, like I just played a game of forward and senior,

Saskaltha, which is not even remotely close what you're talking about, but I assume you're like everyone else where you're kind of awkward in warm-ups because you're like, how do I do this again? Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was...

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I was very intense guy when I played. Like that was part of my, it was part of my schick, I guess. But so warm-ups to me were very, you know, I had things that I did and just to get prepared. And I guess the whole like skating and none of that was really as important

as the mental side of it and warm up for me. Yeah. So what was your first game like that? It was just, it was numbing. Like I will call it, you know, I just remember getting out there and it was, you know, just running around, Jason Pucks trying to hit, like, it was four minutes of, like, of just numb.

Don't remember, like, doing, accomplishing anything. Four minutes? Played four minutes? Yeah, it was not much. Not much, eh? No. So it got to play, it was probably two or three games right then, and then I got sent back to the minors.

And then it was one of those situations where Terry Murray was the coach at the time, and he got let go right at Christmas time. And Dwayne Sutter ended up getting high. on he was one of the assistants at the time and then three days later I was called up so it was new playing defense playing defense yeah so that was like it was December 30th that I got the phone call that hey you're probably going up Dwayne wants you and I was like cake sweet and so then that was a really took it easy that New Year's Eve because it was I still wasn't even sure it was one of those like

really lame Dwayne wants you there we're just trying to figure out the it's probably gonna happen on the first but and I'm like all right well whatever like just kind of keep me posted and then who is the first guy then once you're playing defense I mean let alone forward but who is the first guy you lined up against and you went holy shit it was uh like there was the big guys back then was like yager lemieux playing for the penguins yeah like and i remember those days because those are like I was I was playing with Robert Shvel and I was playing kind of I was you know 5 on 5 I was playing top four minutes I guess I did some penalty kill but but straight up shut down roll like we had

we had some other guys that were out there to score goals but you know like our goals and our you know before games like we were hey when yager's on the ice you're out there and like that was ultimately like when I was playing my best and and so those are the games and those are the those were the challenges and the and the things that I really, you know, looked forward to it. But those were also the, like, the hardest games ever. So what was playing against Lemieux like? Like, very, very surreal, you know, just like, like, I got chirped one time from Lemieux, and it was, he asked me, he kind of grabbed me and, like, he's like, I don't even know

who the, who the, if you are. What's your name anyways? And at the time, I was just like, oh, that's pretty, like, that's pretty cool. Getting chirp by Mario. So, you know, and of course my comeback is just like, just, F you, F you. I'm shutting you down tonight, bud. You'll know who I am or, you know, something lame like that. And he fired back.

Like, you'll be back in the minors before you know it, kid. Good luck tonight. So, yeah, I don't know. One of the best in the world. It is. One of the best of all time. Absolutely. And, I mean, you know, him and, yeah,

and those guys. I mean, it was, you know, really cool. I mean, even, you know, again, my first year, like my first ever NHL fight was against Rick Tocke. I mean, one of the guys that, you know, I guess he was kind of a hard-nosed guy, one of my dad's favorite players growing up. And so that was really cool to me. And it wasn't like I went after Tocke just to fight Tocke. And it was, you know, he finished a check on me and slashed. And it was just go time. So, here's your I-D innovative question of the week. Who does Lance say was his best coach? Send me that answer.

Either Sean Newman Podcast at gmail.com, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Hit me up with the answer and you're entered in this week for a bottle of Pink Whitney. Obviously, you've got to be of age to win. But hit me up with that answer and we'll get you in the draw for a bottle of Pink Whitney. All right. Now back to the show. Well, I tell you what, I'll say it again. If you haven't stopped the podcast right now, go watch the YouTube string of videos of you telling.

Because I found myself laughing, like, and going, holy crap, because you did extremely well in those fights. Like, extremely well. The Owen Nolan one, I remember, like, watching that guy growing up and how talented he was and tough. And he played that, like, Jerome McGinnett-style game, right? Score goals. But when it came to business, let's drop the mitts and go. at her and you tagged him and I was like who right like did you at some point um you play that good enough hockey I assume you had a few sparring partners in practice not just to like practice

some techniques or did you just were always natural at it no totally not natural at it I mean I grew up um I grew up with uh I did martial arts I was very serious into martial arts growing up actually. Really? So I was karate. Karate? Yeah. So I had a Sensei Stewart, Cam Stewart, still around in town here now. But yeah, I was big into it. Like we ended up, I was going to tournaments, and we flew down to L.A. to this international

tournament. And we had a fairly strong dojo here. And so me and a few of the other, you know, the top guys went down to L.A. for this tournament and just got our lunch fed to us. I mean, it was like another level. I mean, we were doing this whole, like, you know, the sparring where it's, you know, light contacts allowed up here. And I'm just getting hammered on, like taking punches to the head and just the solar plexes and just, you know, I was sore and hurt after these non-contact sparring bouts that we were having. So, but yeah, anyways, that my karate ended when I was about 14 years old, I guess. and just hockey, you know, at about that time, it was 14 or 15,

and hockey just kind of got serious and, you know, started training and got a job in the summertime and stuff like that. Yeah, but like when you watch your fight, you, there's a couple of fights I watch you where I'm like, man, you look calm. Like you don't look nervous to be in the fight, and the guy's swinging away and you just kind of, and then boom, all of a sudden, away you go, and when you go, you go. Yeah, that's always kind of, I think you just,

as you do it more and more. I mean, I probably had 40 fights in junior, so you kind of learn what works and what doesn't. And, you know, I was always strong on my skates. And I was, I mean, that's one of the reasons I was able to play. And, yeah, so I was strong on my skates and very physically strong at the time. So it was just kind of, you know, wait for my time. And then when it was going to go, I was, I always found that even getting hit if the guy was off balance.

It's kind of an old karate, you know, mantra is like if the guy's off. balance like you're not throwing with any power that's right and so i felt like if i was shaking you around or spinning you around even if i got hit i'm not getting hit hard i'm not going down and blacked out so um you know because the you know the fights that i that didn't go well for me were all like feeder planted and just took one right to the right to the jar the nose or something so did you ever you know like it's just crazy how far we've gotten away from fighting now but Back then, were you ever worried about concussions, taking one, like a bad one, like where you're like, maybe I shouldn't be fighting anything like that?

I had the only time in a fight, the only time in a fight when I got really, like, when I went dark or went black was, we were in L.A. and I got this Francis Belongier. And I'll write off a face off. And we slashed and he just swung first. And that was, and this was back in the era where we would, you know, if you got hit hard, or, you know, we call them going black, but you kind of go black for a second or just go dark, but then you're fine seconds later. And, you know, so I went to the penalty box and sat my five

minutes, came over to the bench and talked to our trainer. And it was, you know, I was confident enough at the time to say, hey, I'm not, I'm not doing good. Like, I can't go. And so, you know, went and told Babcock was our coach at the time. And he's like, no, he can't go. And then, you know, next day goes. And trainer, I go and see the trainer in the morning. He's like, how you feel and I'm like I don't know feeling okay I guess a little bit of you know a little groggy or whatever and uh almost like that hungover feeling like that's truly what it felt like after getting blacked out and he's like well I'll go for skate and it's just gonna be a light one today and see how it goes and I was like okay and that was it wasn't um I was never diagnosed with anything

you know I wasn't knocked out you know it was just kind of went dark for a second or two and So, you know, for the most part, that was really the only time in a fight that I got, I guess that I remember, maybe there was more. Do you like that fighting's leaving the game, or do you think it still holds a place? You know what? I think it holds a place. I do. You know, the stage stuff that you see is almost all gone now. You know, I don't have a problem with that leaving, and I don't have a problem with kind of the one-dimensional pugilist kind of, kind of, kind of.

fights happening but you know I do think that I do think that that's the that fighting is you know fighting it especially in the you know in years past is is the easiest way to control a game having the players control the game as far as dirty plays dirty hits you know and even that the chirping and the smack talk and all of that because back in my area if somebody you know to Talking to my son who now plays in Red Deer. I mean, you see, there's just chirping going on with no fights after every whistle. Where in my day, if somebody chirped me about, you know, getting power skating lessons for Christmas,

I mean, like I'm dropping the gloves and swinging. And with no, you know, I'm not concerned about getting an extra two minute for instigating or anything. You know, nowadays, you drop your gloves and start swinging somebody who's not ready. I mean, it's an extra five. It's a match. It's five game suspension if the guy goes down, right? So I don't know. I think that it was, I still do believe that it's the easiest way to police a game.

I think it keeps everybody honest, knowing that there is the threat of having this, you know, having somebody come after you for a fight. So, I don't know, it is something that makes the sport unique as well. You know, it truly is, it's another skill. It's a skill. It is, you know, something that I trained. And we did it off ice back in the day where we'd go grab old jury. and just work on where to grab, you know, how to hold and what's open and how to protect yourself.

We used to do that in junior. I am, you sitting, every guy I have come in here makes me feel even smaller than I am. But I, my fight tape was like a bit in the bucket for you. But all the guys I fought were over six foot. So I had to learn really early on. I didn't pick well I had to learn very early on how to grab the jersey

and where to hide from the length of getting strung out by a guy like you like it'd be lights out for me if I did that but yeah little guys are hard to fight though like and I wasn't a monster like I'm 6-3 and played at 220 true for me you're a monster for the NHL your standard size right exactly

but if I'm fighting you like a smaller player number one you look like a bully you know like you So you're going into this. I literally played last night in Meadowlake and DJ King had me. And he goes, you want to go? And I said, why, DJ? You're like, two of me, maybe three of me.

I'm like, you played in the show and you tussled in the show. I think that'd be a poor choice of my part. And Nasty Morasty was playing last night too. No way. Yeah, and he had a couple choice words for a couple guys. And guys are like, man, I don't know. Your YouTube kind of says it all. I don't know if we need to go down that road tonight.

Like those guys are savages, though. Like, that's another level. Those two are another next level scrappers, to be honest. But I guess that's where, like, you know, I haven't played a game since I retired. I played, I came back. I had one, I'll call it, like, you know, a beer league game with some friends. And I totally didn't enjoy it. It was the guys on my team wanted me to, you know, like, they're like, oh, let's, you know, let's score or whatever.

And then it's like, and then the other team's chirping me for being a tryhard. Yeah. You know, so I just, I just did not enjoy. the didn't enjoy how it went and i mean i'm around the rink enough and i don't know i don't want to ever get sick of of the game and and me playing right now is just not you know i really i haven't played a i haven't played a senior game i haven't played a pickup game you're about to in january i know i know i actually talked about it uh in the opening segment of this oh sweet yeah of coming out on the 16th that's going to be a lot of fun that night we're actually tonight

doing the draft. So Brad Simons and Merv Mann are captains of one team and myself and Morgan Man are picking. So we'll see where you go. I don't know. After seeing your fight tape, you've rose on my rank quite considerably.

Is there going to be fighting in this game? There's a couple old heavyweights, though. Yourself, Kent Stanoforth's playing. I mean, I had Kent on here a few episodes ago, and I saw some fight tapes of that guy, and holy dinah. Like, that's a guy who made a name for himself, the dub for throwing some nucks.

Totally. Unreal. But yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, like all those guys you're talking about, I mean, those guys are legit, like they are heavy heavies, you know? I was, you know, I was a back when I played junior, I mean, you know, you asked me one of the questions or one of the things that we filled out is talent or hard work. And, yeah. I mean, I was, I was very skilled when I was younger, I guess, even in junior, I was, you know, I had 40 points my one year and, you know, running power plays.

And, you know, we had awesome teams in Reddier when I was there. And it was, you know, I was a shutdown guy that was getting pucks to the net and making first passes. And, but yeah, fighting just came as a means to advance. Yeah, to get on with. It truly was. It wasn't anything I ever enjoyed outside of standing up for a teammate. And, you know, feeling the, you know, the, you know,

the camaraderie and the pride and something like that but you know the whole stage fighting and it was big back then you know like dropping your gloves and spinning your helmet and all that like that was that was something it just it was part of the deal how cool is it to have your son playing in red deer now unreal it's really neat like very nostalgic for me and um you know meeting up with my billet families and you know well shout out to your billet family who is your billet family yeah bob and marge mitchell So four years I lived with them, and they were incredibly kind and opened up their house in the summers when I was back there. So, yeah, they were an amazing big part of my life back then. Well, with the young guys who come on through the summer when I had all the guys from the dub on,

I like talking about the Billet families because my Billet family, the Lane family out in Ontario that I lived with for three years, such instrumental part of growing up, right? Like, they were amazing to me. So I never do it with the old guys because I kind of, you know, it's a long time ago. But that's cool you get to bump into them now. Yeah. So we're regularly too, I suppose. You know what?

We haven't. I haven't even seen them in the last three or four months. But, I mean, we stayed, you know, when I'm in town, like I'll phone them and I'll stay in their basement again. It's like old times. Like it was like it was 25 years ago. So, yeah. So Mason and I have stayed there. And, I mean, Redder's an awesome city.

Unreal organization right now. you know, one of the one of the best in the in the CHL. Yeah. And so, yeah, very cool that he's there and, you know, really proud of him, I guess, too. I mean, just having, you know,

being an ex-player and you never want, you know, I just want what my kids, I want my kids to have the opportunity to do whatever they want. You know, I've got four sons and one of them doesn't play hockey and that's totally cool with me and three of them do and that's cool with me

and I'll give them an opportunity. And if they decide that hockey's not for them, I mean, I'll support anything they want. And so for him to enjoy hockey and be good at it, and be good at it is cool. And it's neat to see him kind of growing up. How old is he right now? 17.

He's 17. Yep. So kind of neat though. Like Red Deer's got our old trainer, Dave Radar Horning, still there. He's been like, I don't know how many thousands of games now. And so he's now, you know, Mason's talking, about radar.

We're trying to get these sticks from radar and, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, hey, radar was the same way when I was there, man. Talking about your dub career, where did you, what was your favorite building to plan? I mean, I assume at home in Red Deer, but where did you like going on the road? We had, oh boy, where did I like going? Like back then, we had a few games in the Saddle Dome that were really kind of cool. Um, yeah. Against the hitman?

Yeah, the hitman were new. Like, they played most of the games out of the corral, but remember having a couple in the Saddle Dome and, you know, those were, like, that was really neat. Um, but yeah, back in those days, I mean, we had, I mean, Reddard was the nicest facility um, at the time, you know, when we went down to the, when we went down to the states, I mean, who was it? Like Seattle had this barn that was scary. like just tough teams and, you know, really square corners and Tacoma.

There was Tacoma at the time, and they were playing in this rink that was not even designed for hockey, and it was, you know, getting beer throwing on you, going out to the, you know, all of those Seattle, or Spokane had a crazy rink too. Like, it's a long time ago, I don't remember exactly, you know, but I just remember those were all so different than what we were playing in out here in the West. So, yeah, a long time ago. How about the Blazers? I kind of skipped over it.

I seen you played a little bit for Lloyd when you were, what, 16? No, I never did. So I spent all of my minor hockey here in Lloyd. Yeah. But you never played for the Blazers? You never played junior here, no. So it was one of those. I thought you'd played for, but then obviously I'm no Blazers.

Nope, no Blazers, no junior other than in Red Deer. So I left as a 16-year-old. Did you get taken in the Bannam draft then? No. No. So I was... You didn't get taken in the Bannam draft. No Bannam draft.

So this was one of those, you know, just another kind of interesting story. But I was, you know, committed to go to... And this is long before cell phones and internet, but... Yeah. I was committed to go to Saskatoon, the Blades Camp. And then we went out on vacation. We spent two weeks out in the shoe swaps. And then I spent two weeks doing some power skating in Edmonton with...

lady named Audrey Bakewell, who I always did all my power skating with. And then didn't really know it, but there was one of the scouts from the rebels had his own son at the power skating as well. So word got back to the rebels that, oh, this kid is now like, hey, he's six foot two or whatever he is. Like, you know, back in he was five foot eight playing bantam and now he's six foot, you know, he's growing in the since the summer ended. and he can still skate and he looks really good.

So any, a Red Deer ended up listing me during a power skating camp in the summer and didn't even know, and again, they didn't even let me know that they had listed me. I came back from vacation and there was a note on our front door that says you've been listed by the rebels and have to go to camp on this day. You're not allowed to go to Saskatoon anymore.

All right, sweet. So Dad and I packed up the trailer and we drove to Red Deer for the camp and that was, I was 15 at the time. And what was that like as a 15 year old walking into the Red Deer Rebels? Oh, that was very, like, super intimidating. I mean, that was one of those things that, you know, I wasn't taken in the Bannum draft and just going into that, to that first camp and not really knowing anything about it

and never playing junior the year before being to a junior camp was, it was all brand new. So, you know, I wasn't very good that camp. and the coach is like, well, you know, like we'll have a great year and we'll see, or the scout, sorry, it was just Carter Sears is his name. He's like, well, you know what, let's, well, again, it helps. And again, back on that day when your dad comes into a meeting and your dad's six foot seven and, you know, 260 pounds, they, you know, scouts love that.

So, yeah, they just, you know, they talked to me and my dad and just said, hey, go back and playing Lloyd and have a great year and we'll see what happens. Had a good year. Again, it was Bantam at the time. So, you know, that would have been midget nowadays. But so I had a really good 15-year-old year. And then went to Red Deer. And of course, all things happened. I broke my collarbone first day of training camp as a 16-year-old in Red Deer.

I must have been really, really good because they decided to keep me around. They were going to have me start and play Midget, AAA there. And just the way things worked out, the rebels were short on. They had a few injuries and the team was struggling as a 16th. when they were, when I was healthy and when I came back. So as a 16-year-old, just started playing.

Let's talk about the NHL draft. Because were you taken twice? Yep. Can you explain that to me? Yeah, for sure. So. Because for the listeners, you were taken in 1996 by the New Jersey Devils.

Yeah. 10th overall. Yeah, correct. So that was. So did you go to the draft and like walk up on stage and get a New Jersey? Yeah, Lou La Merello. Okay. I got a, I got a,

I got, yeah, I'm very interested by this, then. Yeah, so, yeah, I had a great year of junior, my draft year. I ended up playing in the Top Prospects game, that CHL Top Prospects game that's going on here. It happens in about a month here, so. Is that, was Cherry Coach? Yeah, it was the Cherry or thing. It was 96 was actually the first year that it ever happened. No kidding.

So who was your coach? I had Don Cherry. Don Cherry, what was that like? Yeah, I don't want to like, I don't want to slam Cherry too bad, but it wasn't a good experience, actually. actually with him. Why's that? He was he wasn't present for the players. I mean I was 17 and just the most excited kid on the planet and you know one of my best friends was was on the other team and he had you know, Bob Yor was his coach and Bob Yor was like running practices and out at every event with them and Cherry never showed up for anything. He didn't we're doing our practice and we got the assistant

coach for the Osawa team is running our practice and I'm like hey I already got like I got coaches that run my practices. I don't have Don Cherry running practice. Like, let's get Don Cherry here. And so everybody on the team was a little disappointed that Don just wasn't around. And then he showed up for, he didn't even show up before, it was like three minutes before we went out for the game. And he walked into the room with kind of an entourage. And his speech was, you know, let's go and gave everybody a thumbs up. And it was super disappointing. You know, he just kind of stood on the bench. And I know he was probably, what would he have been at the time like i don't know he was 60 years old or whatever but he just wasn't involved at all didn't

seem like he you know i know he talks about junior hockey and loving it but he wasn't wasn't really into it for that and i know afterwards we i tried to get a pitcher with him and he kind of said well i'm just you know i'm busy right now or whatever and i'm like you kidding me like no time for a pitcher i just played on your team man so so i've had a sour taste in my mouth for a long time with him but that's crazy i know really too bad i mean obviously he's done a lot for the game and I know he, you know, run into some hot water here earlier this year, but yeah, he's an iconic guy for sure. Well, what was it?

Like, I'm going to call it 10 years ago. They said, who is the most famous Canadian? And it was him, Wayne Gerexky, and John A. McDonald, I think, were the three guys who were at the top of that list. Right. That's unreal, unreal. Right, for a guy who has a 15, no, 15 minutes. a five-minute segment in between, right?

That's how... Once a week, it's unreal. That's unbelievable. So, yeah, so anyway, getting back on my story. So we go to the top prospects game, I end up scoring two goals. Like, I had three that year, and I had two in that game. So good time to score goals when you got every NHL scout and GM watching. No shit.

Yeah. And so I did really well. Like, they did a bunch of skill testing and, you know, a bunch of, you know, agility tests and skating tests and stuff. I did really well. And so things, were great. I ended up having a really good year, did really well at the top prospects game, and then, you know, on that central scouting list or whatever, I was kind of rated, you know,

30, 40th, somewhere in there. And then, uh, anyhow New Jersey ended up stepping up and taking a 10th. Before we get to the actual draft date, you got to tell me, uh, I think it was, I think it was Wade was telling me they float, did you fly to different places? Yeah. Or did you have like where all the teams are in one place? No, this was, this was back before that happened, before they used to do a central, you know, bring all the players to one spot and have the teams meet there, whatever they call that.

Yeah, like a combine, I guess. So where did you? So I did go to New Jersey. Like I did, so it was actually, that was one of the coolest times of my life was every weekend. And again, my roommate at the time was Jesse Wallen,

who ended up playing a long time. He was with the Red Wings and now scouts for them. He's their chief scout right now. So, anyhow, I were roommates at the time and so we every weekend we were flying somewhere like we're going to Washington we're going to New Jersey we're going to Philly we're so what was the best one what like what's the one that sticks out you're like you know what Washington was

really cool like it was because they didn't make us do a lot of these teams were making us run like we're doing these V-O-2 max tests and you know that we're running through these these entire like you know these scouting combines for each team every weekend And it was getting draining, and especially this is our grade 12 grads. We're trying to, like, we're all trying to finish up school as well. And, but it was unreal. I mean, um, where are you going this week? I'm just flying to Washington.

Or where you going next week? Do you want to come to a party down at the sandlot? No, we're going to Philly. Yeah, it was, it was unreal. It was, so for about eight weeks, it was every week we were going somewhere else. So what did, so what did Washington do then? They weren't, they just let you come hang out? Yeah, it was like.

hangout more than anything and it was you know they took us down under the you know down near the water and they took us out for an unreal meal and i just remember it wasn't about the physical thing they were just um it just had like talks with us and it was just a different way of doing an interview obviously i never went there and you know new jersey was the opposite it was like v02 test all right windgate test bang max squats and it was like it was the hardest craziest you know the work That was the worst interview ever. And every scout, you know, you've got David Conti, who's the head scout, is watching you run on this treadmill and just like,

is that all you got to, you know? And I'm like, oh, damn, like, that is, like, really? What was sitting in a room with Lou Lamarillo like? Super intimidating. Like, that was, you know, I mean, Lou's obviously an unreal hockey guy, but, you know, that was one of the, again, that was back in the time. So, like, if you want a Lou Lamrello story, so I was drafted 10th overall, went to camp as an 18-year-old.

And again, just an unreal, you know, first-round pick, end up going to camp, and things went pretty good. Things were going well. So Lou calls me up into his office. You know, one of the trainers came down. It was probably we were two weeks into camp or whatever, and Lou calls me up into this massive boardroom. And he opens up this, you know, kind of this sliding wood doors that just kind of open up to this whiteboard where he's got written on there.

He's got a bunch of numbers and figures and stuff. And he's like, we want to get you signed. And I'm like, unreal. So, like, greatest thing you could ever hear from the GM that just draft you. All right, this is what we're offering you. You know, this much money, this signing bonus, this and that. you know, broken down at this, invested over here. Like, you know, and I'm like, yeah, okay, sweet.

Like, let's get a hold of my agent. And he's like, I don't like agents. I want to do this deal with you. And I'm like, all right. Like, I want to sign. Like, there's nothing more that I want than a couple hundred thousand dollars signing bonus and get a car. And, you know, that's the greatest news ever.

But I have this agent and I would rather he do this negotiating. like, I don't know, you know, I'm 17 or 18 at the time now, I guess. And, you know, incredibly intimidating. And so just for me to walk out of there without signing the paper, I was proud of myself. And so get out of there phone my agent. And he's like, oh, good, we'll talk to him. So anyhow, for the next year at camp, same thing. Luke calls me into his office.

Same thing was written up on the board. And he's like, yeah, we want to get you signed and this is the offer. Like, this is what we're offering. This is not an... And in my mind and talking about my agent, it was like, you're the first round pick like you know everybody else is signing for more and so that's kind of where that's kind of where it went and it was uh you know Lou offered me a contract when I was 18 and he offered me the same contract when I was 19 and then the day that our season ended um like as a 19

year old in red deer he phoned the house and and again I was we were out partying after our last you know after we lost out in red deer and phone rings and I I didn't believe you know it was answer the phone and it was hey Lance is Lou La Muello and I'm like and I'm like yeah yeah whatever hung up the phone thought it was buddies just joking around

because that kind of turned into the thing because back in those days like guys were you know you'd go and join the American hockey league team or whatever and but anyhow and then Lou phoned right back and my bill it's like Lance it's Lou Lamarillo on the phone and I was like oh my God so he's like

hey I want to get you signed same contract offer and I'm like listen man like like what is going on like why want you and he's like I'm not phoning your agent I don't like him uh you know he's hard to deal with I've already phoned your father and I want like this is the this is the deal I offered it to you know two and a half two years ago I guess or two and a half years ago and it's the same deal like this is the deal this is what we're offering you and I'm like well I need some time he's like I need your answer right now and I'm like give me an hour man like so anyway phone my dad, phone my agent.

And so at that time, it was, I just made a decision with, you know, the advice of my dad and my, my agent. And we decided to pass on it, you know, at the time full well thinking that they'd come back and want to sign me again. And he threw it out there one more time before the draft again. And it never happened. So the rules were, if you didn't sign, you went back into the draft. Can you imagine in today's age a GM not signing his first round pick?

So they ended up getting compensation for it back in the day, too. I don't know how it works now, but they ended up getting a second round pick. And but it was, so, and that year, so Lou didn't sign me, Pierre de Janeiro or Colin White. There was three guys that he drafted that he all, like it was, you want to talk about, like, bullying. I mean, there was word out there that Lou was, I mean, you know, and as it turned out, like, he would pay his veteran guys unreal. like established guys he was paying really good money to but rookies he just wouldn't pay them and uh so you do that a couple of times and you know how easy it is to sign next year's first round pick after you let three guys go the year before pretty easy so do you ever do you

ever go back or look back on that and go i should have just signed and carried on probably but um you know it worked out i guess it worked out in florida in a way i guess but um i don't know I don't necessarily regret it. I think that everything that's happened I've learned from and loved the experience and the stories that come with it. So, you know, don't necessarily regret it.

Yeah, I mean, I can, I've looked back and kind of thought on how things would have played out if I'd signed as a, you know, as an 18 year old. I got to do this for the listeners because I'm sure somebody,

I should have mentioned this at the start, right? You've drafted 10th overall. Yep. The first overall pick that year was? Oh my God He went to the Ottawa San Jose Oh yeah it was Chris Phillips

Chris Phillips And I can't even say the second round pick's name Or second normal pick Andre Andre Zuzin How the heck do you say that Andre Zuzin From

He went to the San Jose Sharks And to finish it off top three John Pierre Dumont To the new calendar. Yeah. So anyways, but so then you go, so you don't sign all these. Well, so here's like, and the ironic part is, so I was rated to go in the second round the year that I went 10th overall. And then, and the next time comes around. So you're in the building. Let's go back to, I want to, so you're sitting, where was the draft that year? Uh, that was St. Louis. So in St. Louis.

Fly down to St. Louis. Yeah, mom and dad were there with me. And I mean, expectations were like, you know, hope, the first round would have been unreal, second round. is kind of where I was rated. You know, I had some good meetings with Philadelphia. You know, there was a couple other teams I thought were kind of interested. I thought they went well. And then I didn't necessarily think the New Jersey interviews were bad or anything, but it was a total shock, like an absolute total shock.

I had no idea. So it was, but again, rated 30th or 32nd or 34th. or I forget exactly where Central Scouting had me rated. So they call your name or you just like... I was like, say what? What? Like I was, I was honestly ready to go to the bathroom because I was, you know, you've been there a couple hours and just kind of, you know, I don't know, I'd just get antsy

sitting still and so yeah, I'm just like... What was that walk down there like? Again, if you, like, if you, there's video of it and it's like the slowest saunter ever. Like it's just like, not saunter, but just methodical. Like it was kind of, it was again, mine. Just surreal, an outer body experience. Do you still have that jersey? Yeah, I do.

Where is it? Yeah, in my basement. Why didn't it get? Is it on the wall? I've got a jersey from everywhere that I played, except for the Miami Matador's. I spent five games there. I've got a jersey from every single team.

That's awesome. So is your new jersey one hanging on the wall then? No, I don't have them on my wall, have them all in the storage room just hanging up. I'm just saying there's empty space here. I can't believe a Lance Ford, New Jersey Devils. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

Yeah, really cool. So that was awesome. Like, really. So then you don't sign the contract. Sorry. So then you don't sign. So that's why you get put back in the 1998 draft. Exactly.

And there's lots more goes into it. I mean, we, you know, my agent had talked to some teams. And we figured I'd be, you know, we figured I'd be a late first or a second round pick going back into the draft. you know, I had some good years of junior, not great, but pretty good. And, you know, I guess my potential to play pro was still pretty high. Where was that draft at, 98? That was St. Louis was the first year. And then it was Buffalo.

Yeah, Buffalo. Yeah. So you fly down, obviously, I assumed to that one too. Fly down there. And then, and that was the hardest one ever. Because then it's, you know, I'm expecting to go first. I thought I was going to go to Colorado. I had some good meetings with them.

Did you have to fly around again then? No, didn't really fly around because it was super late because I wasn't entered into the draft until like June 1st and the draft was on the 19th or something. So there was only kind of two weeks. So I did a bunch of interviews when I got to the draft. Just went a few days early down to Buffalo.

And then just kind of went hotel room to hotel room and did some interviews. And, you know, I guess in my mind I thought I was going to Colorado. And they had like four first round picks that year. Yeah. And, uh, You remember who was taking first overall that year?

No, I don't. Vincent La Cavia. I do, yeah. David Laguan, Brad Stewart. And I was laughing because you get taken 64th overall. Yep. Or 63rd? 63rd, it says.

And you know who was taking the pick after you? No. Brad Richards. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Interesting. So, yeah, I don't know. It's, yeah.

So did you have to go up on stage again for the Florida? Like did you hang around? Was that something you had to happen? No, so that was, I was still there. So I just went down. Third round was just kind of you went to the table. He didn't go up on stage. So just go down to kind of the, you know, the Florida table and shake hands and then go.

Yeah. You know, you talked about Jesse Wallen? Yep. you would uh one of the questions i always ask uh guess in their little questionnaires they send off is like the coolest person who's influenced your life and that's the name you threw out maybe we could talk about that for a little bit i'm just curious you obviously roommate with them or roomed with them you what was uh what do you do that influenced you like what was i think they were uh well number one i had my dad on there i think that every i think that every young hockey player with a with uh i guess

just for me personally my dad was very You know, did everything for me growing up, gave me an opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do. So, I mean, you know, my younger years, my dad was the guy. You know, when I went to Red Deer and I ended up, you know, meeting Jesse, he was very, you know, I was the fun, like, I'll do anything. You know, let's make this a game. Let's make this. And he was so incredibly serious about everything. And so I think that we complimented each other really, really well.

and both kind of, I think we both developed as people and as athletes just kind of pulling from each other. You know, I was very lighthearted and didn't take anything seriously. I mean, we could lose. You know, I take it hard, but not, you know, he would be the guy that would stay at the rink and ride the bike for an hour. And I'm like, no, let's get out of here and let, you know, let's go play pool or something, man. Like, let's get our minds off of this, not on it. And, you know, I was the, we need a day off, man. we need more and so you know so we were always pulling back and forth and um so i think having that

influence on me and and uh you know just a very um just an amazing character guy and and uh was just an incredible influence on me as a as a 16 17 18 18 19 year old like in those very influential years where you see a lot of guys in junior that you know things may be you know You can go either way. You leave home. I mean, there's so many different avenues you can go down that can lead you off the Right? You know,

it's every single year. Yeah. You know, are we the guys that are, are we going to go out and, hey, we got curfew at 12. Are we,

you know, are we coming home at 12 or are we taking the phone off the hook and, you know, and rolling out because we got a couple of guys in the team that are, that are still partying, you know, and it was, you know,

so I guess having that, you know, I guess the, good angel, you know, you got the devil on the one side and you got the angel on the other. And Jesse and I were always very, you know, holding each other accountable. And obviously we had fun together, but we, you know, we kind of, you know, we both ended up playing in the NHL. We both ended up, you know, we're still involved in the hockey world and, and, you know, we're still close with them. You know, they don't, you know, Mason live in Red, they live in Redder.

They live in Red Deer right now. And, you know, my son's over there every couple of weeks or, and, you know, every, you know, once a month for a dinner. And I know Jesse talks to him and helps them out. That's pretty cool to have that influence around your son. Absolutely. Yeah. So, so really, really cool, you know, just to, you know, to still have that relationship. And, yeah, we've got kids that are the same age and that's really neat.

I want to talk about your first goal. Yeah. Because I keep hearing that your first goal was pretty, I was talking to Scotty, Noble. Oh, okay. You're saying that your first goal is a pretty, well, first NHL goal. I assume it's pretty special regardless of how it goes in, but maybe walk us through where you're at for that. Yeah, it was, so Madison Square Garden.

So number one, like super cool, like amazing, amazing place, just New York City. And then playing at MSG is, you know, really, it would be, like I call it, my favorite rink. And it's only just because of, you know, walking in the hallways and just seeing it everywhere and just knowing that the biggest shows in the world and like they take place there it was just this this aura around this this arena so and even just staying downtown in new york was you know i think we were staying at the hiate or something where it was just an interesting it was a totally it was totally different than any other city that you ever stayed in so those games were always

really cool and then i don't i was just having a great game and i remember picking the puck up down in the corner passed it up to palveray gave it over to bill lindsay and And then Bill Lindsay dropped it. And then I joined the rush. And so just kind of a one-timer, kind of a low half-slapper one-timer. And of course, Puck was out a little far in front, so I tow-picked a little bit. And through a knuckleer that just went low-blocker on Dan Blackburn. And so at the time, you know, you always think, so, you know, it wasn't maybe the prettiest goal.

But at the time, it was like, and Dan Blackburn's like this 18-year-old. you know, one of the first 18-year-olds to ever play goal in the NHL. He's supposed to be the next big thing. And then if you Google Dan Blackburn right now, Dan is the one that he ended up getting severe nerve damage down one of his arms. And he ended up playing pro hockey a couple of years with two blockers on because he wasn't able to externally rotate his glove hand. So there's, you know, if you Google search an image of him, it's like he's got two

blockers on. It's like the craziest thing ever. And so then even, you know, I've had, that are poking fun at me and they're like, hey, yeah, congratulations, your first NHL goals and a guy that wore two blockers. I was literally just talking, I think, Scotty and you know a goalie here in town. I'm almost positive that's who brought him up. We're literally talking about that guy like a week ago.

He was like, you know, super sad story, to be honest. Yeah, absolutely. Because you've got one of the most talented goalies like Carrie Price. Ask. Exactly. And you never know how things are going to turn out. But, you know, playing as an 18 year old and being the guy and being the guy and being in New York and

and then yeah some nerve damage I think it started with a hit like I think you got you know somebody drove hard to the net and hit the post or whatever and just nerve damage down his arm and then went bad and can't rotate it can't just can't externally rotate you know so you're a goalie that can't rotate your

you know your glove hand out so that's tough real tough so you score on them yeah and that was just like the greatest it was like unreal it was just then you got like pavlebury so i got pavbury coming up and giving me a hug and you know bill lindsay and these guys pal eff effing buring i know i know so it's yeah like really cool pav was a super interesting dude too i mean maybe not the greatest teammate of all time but super

interesting guy how so uh just um you know pav kind of was on his own he did his own thing you know he was talented enough that the majority of the rules and the team didn't really apply. You know, when we were in Florida, where the rink was at, we were about an hour from Miami, if there's no traffic. But I mean, you know how these major cities and freeways get. I mean, you could be two or three hours. And so there was days when, and Pav was the only guy that lived in Miami. And it was kind of, you know, the organization didn't want anyone living down there.

It was just too far. So if you wanted to live at the beach, guys were living Fort Lauderdale. There were some unreal places in Fort Lauderdale, but, you know, Pavl lived down in Miami. He worked out on his own in Miami. He had his own gym and he had his own trainer and, you know, did his own thing and worked hard, but just not. With the group guys. Exactly. You know, so he was late for some practices and we'd hold up and we'd wait for him.

So it was just a unique. That must have been tough. Yeah, it was tough. But he was so good. Well, yeah, but what did I say, 96 points that one year? Yeah. But I think that you see, I think nowadays you see that, you know, having a talented player that's on his own page. And I'm not saying that because he did what he was supposed to do and scored. Yeah.

He did. And that's all he was asked to do at the time. And he did it better than anybody else in the world at the time. Or he was one of the best in the world anyways. And, you know, that's what he was asked to do. And you see that with, you know, some of these guys. and you know, you look at the McDavid's and the Crosby's and the Eichols and McKinnons, like once they buy into a team concept and start to understand that, all right, instead of 110 points, if I'm getting 95 and I'm playing team defense and I'm getting

everybody else bought in because, you know, I'm well-rounded instead of one-dimensional, you know, that's when you truly have successful Stanley Cup winning teams, you know, full team buy and not just, you know, this is. is not the NBA where one or two players can carry you to a championship and win. This is the NHL where you need, I mean, you don't even need 20 guys. Like, you need 22. Like, even those guys that are sitting out, I mean, they're influential in games and very important when it comes down to when it comes down to playoffs because there's, there's injuries, there's different lineup changes that you're making. And so, you know, hockey is one of those truly team-oriented, you know,

where everybody's role needs to be, is important. Speaking of living on the beach, did you live on the beach? No. No, we were in town. Like we were in parkland. So if you ever, you know, there was a school shooting a couple years ago down there. Oh, yeah. Which is super, like that would have been from where I live, that would have been maybe, you know, 10 or 15 blocks away.

And that hit home. Hit home. I had a friend that lost his niece in that shooting. I talked to him afterwards. and, you know, and if, you know, I mean, it's a long ways down, but if I was still there, if I was in Florida, in parkland, like that's where my son would have been going to high school. You know, that's, like, that's the school that was in our zone.

Like, so it's very, you know, very, yeah, super scary. But we were in, like, we were inland. We were probably 30 minutes inland from Fort Lauderdale. You know, kind of near Bocca Raton is where. How, uh, how awesome was it? to go in shorts to the rink all the time. Greatest, greatest thing ever.

Like the greatest. You can't even describe what a feeling it is to wait, to not have to own a jacket when you, for the winter. Honestly, like it was, you, I was t-shirt and shorts every day. Like that was your, that's all, that's what you,

that's what you wore. You know, to games, you'd put your suit on and you were too hot. You know, like it was, um, It was unreal. You know, it was incredibly fortunate and just, you know, I felt, I felt fortunate to be there.

You know, I knew it. I knew laying out on a day off and getting a suntan was something that I needed to take advantage of because you didn't know how long that was going to last. How about the fans in Florida? I mean, all of us up here in hockey nuts, Canada, you know, you always stare at the games in Florida when you do see them and see the attendance and know that it, you know, it isn't packed host every night. But, I mean, you played in front of it. Was that, I don't know, what did you guys think of that?

Or was it as bad as what we think it is here? Yeah, it is as bad. It is. I mean, you know, there's not, I guess you don't really know, I guess I'll lead that into, you don't really know what good fans are. until you've been to Europe to play. Like when I was, I spent four years in Sweden and a year in Germany. And in Yon-Sherping, the HV-71 team that I played on there,

I mean, you know, we have an arena that only holds 12,000 people, but there's, I think there's 3,000 people, the North Bank supporters they call them. I mean, they stand up the whole game. It's like a college football game crowd. You know, tickets are cheap. They're all young. They bang on drums.

They scream the entire game. You know, winning by five goals, losing by five, like it keeps going. Not only that, but every arena's, you know, there's some arrangements that all the teams have made in the Swedish Elite League where the opposing teams fan club get a section. So you've got a section of the opposing team, even in your home games. So you've got maybe a couple hundred people from the other team. team that are there cheering for the other team. So you've got these clearly identified sections and areas where the, you know, the visiting team is cheering over here.

The home team is cheering over here. So like an unreal fan support in Sweden and not just fan support, but, you know, during the game, you know, just the in-game involvement. And how they show their support is different. You know, drums, horns, banners, like everything, unreal. So night and day compared to, you know, even, I mean, I know the, you know, I don't know, who would be the best, who would have the best fans in the NHL, like the Phillies, the Chicago's, like the, you know, the passionate crowds there.

But nothing compared to Europe. Europe, the games there. Germany was a little, Germany wasn't, I was in Frankfurt there and it wasn't really. again, hockey wasn't the number one sport in Frankfurt, but in Yon Churping in Sweden, we were like we were the, we were the guys and that was the outing. And we were also, we were, you know, we were good too. We had good teams back then.

So super amazing fans there. So yeah, if I'm comparing fans in Florida, that, I mean, it's not even. Comparable. It's like sitting in a doctor's office. I mean, in Sweden, you showed me the shirt, go Lance, go. the, like, you got to tell the people about that a little bit. Well. Like, how did that even start?

I don't know. I mean, you know, first of all, like, there's no fighting in Sweden. So I was brought over there full well knowing that there was no fighting. And but so that being said, what the best thing I found on the internet about you is that you hold the record still for most penalty minutes in a single season. I know, but that's a little misleading too. Is it? Well, just simply because there's, there's.

There's 20 minute penalties over there. Like it was, you know, I did get into a fight. And it was like, I think I had like 60 some in a game one time. Like it was, it was like 67. It was, you know, so I ran somebody late, you know, and then he was hurt. And so it was a 20 minute penalty. And then I fought after. And so that was another 20.

And then on the way off, I was yelling at the other bench or something. So, you know, you can collect. Like I got like, 60 in a game one time. Then I got five for fighting in a two minute trip earlier in the game or something. So, like, I don't remember exactly how it played out, but, I mean, they're just throwing out like these random 20-minute penalties as well. Because to get to 300 penalty minutes when you're not allowed to fight.

Like, I probably had... This is what it's... I got to read this. Ward broke both HV71's club record and the elite league's record for most penalty minutes in one season when he checked one player into the boards. and seconds later speared another in front of the crease. The sequence ended in Ward being penalized with seven minutes plus misconducts, adding 20 minutes on top of that. Yeah.

So there, yeah, that sounds quite, that sounds about right, yeah. I can't dispute that. That's awesome. But I don't know, I guess, you know, yeah, kind of, I don't know, things worked out well for me in Sweden. I mean, I was, um, I loved it in in H371. You know, the community of the team was great to me and my family. And, yeah, my style of play and everything was valuable over there.

I mean, there wasn't a lot of physical tough play in Sweden. And so, you know, to be able to, you know, I was, again, I said it earlier, you know, my style of play, you know, I'd call it simple with the puck, but I was able to skate. And so on the bigger ice over there, you know, I could skate, you know, I could help out defensively. And then all the offensive stuff we'd leave to the Swedish guys who are just kind of, you know, their development model over there is just full creativity and high risk. So, you know, those guys were, you know, they were running power plays and they were, they were the ones that were in charge of getting points out there. And I was in charge of, you know, keeping the peace and playing physical and bringing an element that they didn't have. So it worked out unreal. You know, I was in Sweden for four years.

Three of the years, we made it to the finals. Did they start the Go Lance Go then in the first year? Yeah, Go Lance Go started anytime there was a bit of a scrum and I was on the ice, to be honest. Again, it was that North Bank supporters and it was just, go, let's go, go, let's go, go, let's go. And it just kind of... I'll put it up on social media, that... the shirt, the picture of it, because that's unreal that they sold shirts with Golant, go on it.

So, yeah, it was pretty, I mean, I loved it there, the fans loved it. We had successful teams. I mean, we were, like I said, my style of play and what I was doing at the time fit in, and it was needed there. So it worked out. How was, you said you've been to the finals there three times and you won it twice. Yeah. What was, we were kind of looking at a few pictures and your gold helmets for winning.

What was that like? Totally unreal. I mean, the most memorable one was my first one. That would have been 2006. And that was kind of, you know, because I went through my whole, my whole career of not in Red Deer. We had some good teams. But, you know, we never made it out of our, out of our conference. You know, we ended up losing the, our best year would have been 96, 97.

we lost to Lathbridge, who later went on to the Memorial Cup. You know, so we lost the Memorial Cup team from the Western League. But again, not a championship team. In the NHL, in Florida, we were bad. And then when I was in Anaheim, we went to the game seven of the, won the Western Conference Championships in 2003, lost in game seven of the finals to New Jersey. So again, you know, so close to being a Stanley Cup.

champion but but lost and so that was really my first um like victory like full you know Swedish elite champion and i know it's it's hard to understand when you're over here and i never thought it would be as emotional as it was but like that's a big deal like it is it is hard to win it is it is hard to win those championships so um yeah that was awesome you know my my wife and my oldest boy was at the game and I've got pictures of him just uh you know him and I on the ice when he was about three years old and um so incredible like just you know I was I played an important part and um it was awesome like so incredible you know the 2009 championship that we had there I ended up tearing my knee the um last game of the season before the playoffs and so I didn't play much in the

playoffs and miss the first two rounds kind of and only came back for the finals and So that was tough and I still couldn't even turn, you know, like I didn't belong out there, but they put me in and just gave me a few shifts a game. And so that was tough, but it was, you know, being a part of that is still, you know, a good feeling. But, you know, to actually be an important piece in winning is special. It is really special. Yeah.

Yeah. But no, unreal memories from Sweden, really. You, while you were talking there, you brought up Anaheim, what was you? Did you get traded from Florida to Anaheim or what you were traded? Yeah. You remember who you traded for? Yeah, so it was me and Sandus Ozelinch went for Pavl Trinka and somebody else. I forgot the other guy.

But yeah, me and Rouselon-Salé went over. What was that? Like, how did you find out you've been traded? Oh, weirdest thing ever. Like we were in Detroit, day, but last game before the All-Star break and we're in Detroit. And so we had our morning skate. Then we came back for the game, walked into the arena, and one of the trainers came up and said,

Sandus and Lance, Iron wants to talk to you guys. That's Mike Keenan. He liked to be called Iron. So he asked to be called Iron, actually. He asked to be called Iron? Oh, that's the trainers told us, yeah. He's like, no, we're supposed to call him Iron. So then Iron wants to talk to you.

And I'm like, okay. And just thinking Sanis and are going to play together, you know, because Sanis was the offensive kind of, It was a good defense man It was unreal He was unreal But he lacked the ability to defend Really like he didn't like to

He liked to just go So I figured we were just gonna play together And so we walked into the room And Mike says I traded you guys out to Anaheim So That's it You guys can get out of here

And I was like Oh my God Just straight up like Just we traded you guys There was no like thanks or it was just traded you guys and sandus flips the shit he was mad i don't remember why but he was mad and i was just like i don't know i was kind of i don't know happy i guess because things weren't i wasn't playing a whole lot for mike and or iron and uh i don't know and i'd never been traded

before ever like i'd been in the minors and you know so i'm like oh this is interesting so uh didn't even know what to do full my wife and i was like i just got traded and she's like to where anaheim We're like, oh, it's warm, like, sweet, you know? Like, I don't know. I didn't really, and at the time, just loving the experience and loving hockey and loving the NHL. And so I thought it was cool. I got to ask about Mike Keenan because he was ironed Mike Keenan, right?

Yeah, he was. He served a very, well, I don't know. They always talk about the strict guy and then the players coach, right? And he was very much the one way. 100%. What was? I mean, right now with all the stuff coming up with coaches and everything, it's so far, like, I don't want to even remotely get into that. But with Keenan, what was playing for him like?

It was very, it was, it was difficult because it was he'd come out of left field some days with things that you would have no idea. You just. Left field, what do you mean? So we had rules. So when Mike came into Florida, we ended up getting these bikes. Mike was big into biking after games. And so if you played, you know, if you played 10 to 15 minutes, you rode the bike for 30 minutes. If you played, you know, whatever.

There was a different, there was a, you know, kind of a grid as far as your ice time versus how much you rode them. Yeah. And so, and this was all based on from our, you know, from our, strength coach and Mike came in after one game and you know the the grid was written up on the whiteboard Mike came in wiped it off and wrote 40 minutes heart rate greater than 165 and so for those of you that know like that's that's difficult to do that's insane yeah and so so whatever we hop on the bikes and not only did do we have to hop on these bikes but these these were bikes that coded we all got a little key and so you hopped on this bike and you know so I had this lance

ward key insert the lance word key and all of my information and data was saved on there so you throw your heart rate monitor on and then you bike and so and again I was you know I was a hard working guy and I listened and you know I just did it so get on there did the bike and it was like exhausting like absolutely incredibly exhausting and uh next day Mike calls me into his office. And he always started his, he had this interesting way of like starting stories and kind of making you feel calm and getting you to feel comfortable. And then he'd come in and just blast.

And so sitting at a desk with Mike and he's like, well, how do you think the game went last night? And I'm like, you know what? I actually thought it was, you know, I thought it was okay and made a few mistakes and this and that and, you know, I want to work on blah, blah, blah. And he's like, yeah, okay. You got the bike done afterwards? And I'm like, yeah. He was like, you saw like, you saw what I wrote up there, like the, the heart rate over, it was 160 or 165, whatever it was, but it was bloody difficult. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, for sure. And he's like, no, you didn't. And he spins his laptop around and he looks, he said, you did 40 minutes, but your warm up, your heart rate didn't get up to 165 for four and a half minutes. And then your cool down, like you were only 34 minutes at 160. That is why you're, you're, you're,

only playing 17 minutes a night. You need to dedicate and just like tore into me. And I know that I was one of the few guys that was actually on the bike for the entire time. But again, he just, you know, just ripped into me for 40-minute bike heart rate over 160. And I guess, you know, I did the bike, maybe not. And full while knowing that he was going to see the results. So, you know, my interpretation of what it was wasn't what he wanted. And, but it was, but just ripped into me.

You know, this is why you're only playing this much. And, you know, you're not dedicated at all and this and that. So just a really weird way to try and motivate guys. You know, the first year that Mike was just one more iron story. But it was our first training camp. Mike got hired in the middle of, what year would have that been? I don't know, 2001 or whatever year it was. so the first training camp that he was the the head coach um and when we kind of got down to numbers

we had a we had a big team meeting and um mike has all of us in there that were on the on the team the year before and then a couple of the young guys that were going to be on the team i think jabe bolmeister was in there and stuff and uh so he opens up uh opens up the big whiteboard at the front of the at the front of the uh the room and he's got the detroit redwings who just won the stanley cup he's got their lineup written up there you know So you're looking at, you know, Eisenman, Federer. And then the defenseman and, you know, the goalie's got their whole lineup. And, you know, Mike just talks real calmly and he's like, all right, what do we got up here, boys?

And, you know, gets everyone involved real calm. And we're like, you know, Stanley Cup champions and pretty deep team and, you know, a good fourth line. And, you know, kind of went through it thinking that we're going to try and mimic this or something. He slides the board over a little farther. And he's got our lineup written up, like right next to theirs. and he's like and he just like walks around the room for like minutes and just kind of silent you know kind of set in the tone and then out of the blue and i mean we've got like koslov and burry and you know we've got we've got some good players on our team and he's like uh do you know what

i see up there i see a florida panthers team where not one of you guys could fit in on that stanley Cup winning team. We are nowhere near a Stanley Cup winning team. There's not one player that can fill a role on that Detroit Red Wings team and then proceeded to go through every player and point out your name. He went, well, Burry, he's like, Pav, you might be able to fit into their top line, but I don't know who spot you're taken. Like, I don't know if you've even got a spot over there. Causelove. You know, you're our number one center. But can you play third minutes on that team? Nope. You're not playing there either. And went through everybody's name.

You know, Oliokinan, not a chance. What did he say of Lance Ford? I just got a no. I just got to straight up. Nope, nope, our defenseman. He just went through our defenseman because their defense was stacked at the time too. But it was just like, nope, nope, nope, nope,

nobody's playing. Roberto Luongu, you're a good goalie. But you're not taking anybody spot over there. You haven't proven anything. So anyhow, he did it. He had a very unique way of trying to motivate. I guess that's ultimately that's your job as a coach is to motivate and to get the best out of your players. So, you know, I'm not saying it wasn't successful when he won Stanley Cups and he won a championship in Russia too.

And I mean, you know, whatever. I mean, I enjoyed and learned a lot playing from him. You know, I, I, I, he didn't, he didn't, uh, you know, he didn't really like me a lot. And, but he, but whatever, I mean, I don't, I don't have any hard feelings for coaches that didn't think I was a good player. What did he, uh, what did he teach you? You're saying you learned some things from? Well, I would, I mean, learning, like, ultimately learning how to deal with people more

than anything, you know, even, even just, uh, I mean, just from all these stories of, you know, he would, there was no, you know, what I learned is respecting, even if you disagree with Mike. I mean, there's a time and a place to be, to talk to him or to stand up for yourself to him or, you know, because we had guys that, you know, I wouldn't stand up for myself enough to Mike where we had guys in our team that would. And it was, you know, so I guess more life lessons than hockey lessons, to be honest. Mike didn't teach us anything about hockey. We had some assistant coaches that were very good, but we had George Kingston there and Paul Baxter.

Who was the best coach you ever had? You know what? Interesting question. You know, honestly, my answer is Mike Babcock. Really? Yeah. And he had him in Anaheim. I had him in Anaheim.

And the one thing that I got from Mike that, you know, and the preface to that is that I didn't know it at the time, But Mike didn't like me as a player. You know, like I played forward for Mike for a year. And then I was his seventh defense from the next year. You played a full year as a forward? Well, and so this is what I can respect about Mike as a coach. And this is my perspective on Mike is I got traded.

I met up with the team in Calgary. So I was traded from Florida, fly to meet the team in Calgary. So get off the plane. First time I meet, you know, first time I meet Mike is, you know, in the arena. We sit down and have a meeting. So we're sitting in the stands. And he's like, all right, here's the deal. I've never seen you play.

All right, I know you. I know who you are. My wife's from Lloyd. Like, I know who he are. And I know a little bit about you. The scouts tell me that you're this and this and this. But here's the deal. Right now, you're our seventh defenseman or our 12th forward.

So I've got you in the lineup tonight as our 12th forward. Does that work for you? I'm like, yeah, let's do it. And he's like, you're playing with Jason Krog and Mark Schuenard. You guys are not in charge of scoring goals. Like for the first time ever, he laid out exactly what my role was going to be. You know, before the game, you're going to be anywhere from four to six minutes. You're not penalty killing.

You're not power playing. We're going to fit you out there when they're third or fourth lines out there. This is your job. Hey, wear them down, grind them. We'll get Oatsy and Polly out there to score the goals for us. So there was never a time when I didn't know what my role was or why I was sitting out or why I wasn't playing or, you know, he was so, he was very good to me in that, in that aspect. And even if I didn't agree with it, it was, hey, Warder, you're out tonight.

You know, we need, you know, we're putting soy in or this and that and whatever. You know, we wanted a little more, a little more skill on the back end or something. This is what I want you to work on, work with Mac on moving pucks quick. You know, like, so very, very, very, very. thoughtful in what he did and how he treated me and very good with letting me know as far as and again even if I disagreed I'm like wow I did you know I want to play and I think I can and there was you know and I guess playing for Mike and learning that you know I guess after being traded from from from Iron and Mike Keenan you know and I wasn't ever happy with how I handled myself you know

with an assertive coach like that and then going to Mike who was the same way like very you know very in your face and very, you know, up front and honest. But, you know, I was a little more confident now and I could actually sit down and talk and I'm like, hey, man, I feel like I'm doing this. Like, is there something else or what is it? Like, let me know. And then I could at least have, you know, stand up for myself and have conversations. But, you know, so all of that being said, Babcock never really liked me as a player,

which I guess I knew right from the start, you know, he had me pegged, where he had me pegged and just the teams that we had and where I was at and how the league was changing a little bit. And, you know, it just, it was what it was. So, um, so even if it wasn't like high fives and, uh, you know, me playing 19 minutes a game, you know, uh, Dwayne Sutter was, was the coach in the NHL that played me the most. And, you know, we had a coach in Sweden. His name was Pairmorts who was, um, who really liked me and was very, like the opposite of any North American coach. So, you know, I've had some really amazing coaches, but again, like, you know,

for me as a person, I've learned more as just as a, as an individual and as a person and things about myself from these coaches than I have, you know, the hockey things. You know, Mike was very, you know, Mike was very, very, Mike, Babcock, sorry, was incredibly diligent on, on the video and the preparation before games and, you know, handing out full book reports on teams that we're playing. Yeah, very well prepared. Unreal. You know, so, you know, so those types of things were awesome, you know, learning actual development in the game, you know, for me.

But as far as the other pieces that, you know, I've learned something from every coach that I've had, whether I liked him or hated him or he was great to me or not good to me. It's, you know, it's all about growth to me. What was stepping on the ice with Korea and Adam Oates and that group? Super cool. Like super interesting and cool and being traded too. Like it was, being on an unreal team, like it was awesome. Like really, really awesome.

I mean, those guys are two of the best players in the world. Like they're, you know, at the time they were tops in the league. they were and two totally different two totally different individuals you know korea was was you know captain serious he was you know so methodical and everything that he did from from routines and rituals and and the the preparation where oatsy was you know he had a house in uh palm springs where he was golfing and you know we had a day off like he was bombing down for a couple rounds of golf you know like he was the exact opposite where you know when it when it came time to being at the rink there was there was a preparation piece and you know you know your job was was to be ready for

the game but it was they they went about it totally different who is maybe the best leader than you had like you played under some very legendary people who was one of the guys that was easy to follow when uh when you got into those games where somebody stepped up and the way they went yeah like I mean, I would say those guys. Yeah, those guys? Yeah, like, I mean, Polly was unreal. Like, just such a dedicated athlete. Like, absolutely incredible dedication to the game.

Like, you wouldn't believe that he was, that's all he would think about. That's all he would talk about. That's all, like, we would be out for dinner as a team. And, like, all he'd want to talk about is the power player. Like, the possibility of changing, or another option you know and we're sitting there

just you know enjoying Tampa Bay nightlife and he's trying to figure out a way to you know so it was just unreal you know an unreal leader even though it was different than you know

than a lot of other people with Vegas in the league now I assume I think every fan assumes it has to be the best night life for players to go was there a place that you guys enjoyed going to

for the extracurricular? We had some awesome rookie parties down in South Beach when I was in Florida. We had a couple, you know, we had one year we had a couple really awesome. You know what? You can find an unreal party anywhere though. That's true, but

to be honest. There had to have been, you circle a date on the calendar. It had to been one of those places, no? If we're, like as a team, we were planning, rookie parties. It was like Vegas would be an easy. It would be easy.

It really easy one. But even in L.A., like we did, you know, down in L.A., we did it one year and it was, there's never a bad night when you're... What would you guys do for rookie parties? It's usually, well, we'd have a nice dinner and then just, you know, go to a club, get some bottle service and... Hang out. Yeah.

What did you do on, uh, on all-star breaks? Guys always go, that's like, what, five days off? Yeah, so, well, I don't know. I mean, I was in Florida at the time or I was in Anaheim. So I'll be honest. Like we, the one year we went to San Diego, I was in Anaheim, we went down to San Diego. But I mean, like, I'm in Newport Beach. Like, I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's either, neither here or not there. Do you love being back in Lloyd now or do you miss being down in the heat? Because, you know, everybody in town here, myself included, we're in a December, Christmas right around the corner, and now we're going into the dark months of January, February, just suck. And if it ever gets to, like, minus 40, all anyone can think about is going to Miami, or Anaheim, or, you know, taking the kids to Disneyland or going to Mexico or going

to Phoenix or, right, like, just get out of here for a little bit and see some sun again. Yeah, I mean, you know, I spent a lot of years down there. in the sun, and I loved it. I know my wife misses the sun more than I do. You know, if I were to pick, you know, the ultimate dream for me right now would be, you know, right now I have an amazing,

I have an amazing job and I have an amazing program that we run here with, you know, from the development side of things and I truly love what I'm doing. Obviously, if I could do this in, in Phoenix or, Fort Lauderdale or Anaheim. I mean, Anaheim wasn't actually one of my favorite places.

Just living there. It's so busy. But if I could do it and, you know, in Vegas or Phoenix, yeah, for sure. I'm not going to lie to you. Yeah. But it's just a, you know, it's a balance. I don't think anyone would have hard feelings for that. No.

Where's Lance going? Ah, you just took a job in Phoenix doing the same thing. Hmm. Lucky someone. Fair. But here's the thing, though. Like, it's, I've got friends that work down in Phoenix doing similar things to what I'm doing. But, you know, all the ex-hockey guys.

are running hockey stuff and they all want to be in the heat and so you've got guys that are in Phoenix. Absolutely. And so you've got guys that are coaching teams you know full-time coaches for teams making $40,000 a year. Like you're a full-time guy making $40 grand a year in Phoenix

like working for the you know the Phoenix or the firebirds or whatever. Like all right, that's awesome and I know you know if you don't need the bankroll but I mean you can't make a living on in Scottsdale on 40,000 a year. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's, yeah, I miss the heat.

And I do, and I am thankful for the days that we've, and the years that we got to spend down there. And, you know, I think we'll, my wife and I'll end up down there again sometime. I got to ask before we get close to the Crude Master Final 5. I got to ask you about the Stanley Cup finals. Just playoffs in general. Yeah. Like, we were talking about it before we started.

Just like, we talked about fans and everything else. But like the intensity of those games. And that year, your Anaheim Ducks team was, wow, that's year, J.S. Jaguer wins the cons. It was, yeah. Because you guys went up against the Detroit Red Wings. Absolutely. And I remember watching those games. We had no business.

Had no business. No. And J.S. Jiguer stood. on his absolute head, and then you get a timely goal and on to the next round. If you can't, yeah, he was so, he was unbeatable. He was literally unbeatable, the whole playoffs.

So, but yeah, like we were talking about before, I mean, playoffs, whether it was in the NHL or whether it was in Sweden or even in the American hockey league, like it was, the playoffs are a brand new, it's a different season. That's right. It's a different mindset.

It's just another level. and you know again to the casual fan like all right you're not getting paid you know and you're not getting paid now or in the playoffs and it's an unreal it's a crazy concept to think that that you're way more involved and engaged in something that you're not getting paid for but you have a chance to to win a you know i was showing you the western uh the clarence campbell yeah the cup there but uh yeah i mean it's it's the memory and it's the story and it's the story and and it's the that's why you play.

You play for championships. You play to be the best. Like it's the competition, everybody in the NHL or anybody in any competitive sport, like it is the challenge upon yourself to be your very best and to put yourself up against the best people to see if you can win.

Like that is, you know, that is more satisfying than any dollar figure. You know, and I say that. And I mean, no one's playing for free. and everybody in the NHL has compensated well. Well, you know, so. But again, to spend, you know, two and a half months fighting and playing with broken wrists. You know, so there was, you know, the final game, game seven of the finals.

I never played, you know, I never played in game seven, but we had like Paul, Peter Socorra, not Paul, Peter Socorra had a broken wrist. If you go back and watch any documentaries on that year, like Scott Stevens knocked out Paul Korea in, what was it, game two, it was in our barn. So it would have been game three. Knocked him out, like out cold on the ice. That's probably one of the most iconic, like just that hit has been stuck in hockey history.

That gets played every single year. Lays motionless for five minutes. Yeah. up and I'm in the locker room. So Polly's in the locker room with me. And I mean, what do you say to a guy that's just been knocked out? And like inside I'm like, well, I'm playing the next game here. Like I'm ready to go.

Polly gets, he goes out and plays and scores. And then scores. Slapper. Like one of the most iconic goals. Absolutely. And so like those are moments where, and that's even like me not playing. Like you'd think that you're not involved in those games. And it's like, nah, I'm, I'm in, you know.

Obviously, you know, to be on the ice is. another level but yeah um you know i was part of that crew and that was um you guys came within one game of winning the stanley cop i know we were like i mean the final game wasn't a great game like we were behind right out of the get-go but yeah but it was like we were behind in every game to be honest like we were scrapping it was you're well you go through the list of guys on that team and uh the brothers and i did it on a on a brothers round table we talked about it one teams that you know, you just weren't the Detroit Red Wings. Like, Detroit Red Wing, the ones you're talking about,

is back in the days of the Eisenmans, the Federofs, the Shanahan's, the Chellios, the Brett Hall. Like, I mean, they were so much talent through coming out their ears, right? Absolutely. And you guys were a bunch of blue-collar lunch pal go to work. For sure. I mean, you still had your top-end talent, but it just wasn't all the way to the fourth line.

Yeah, like it was unreal. I remember, like, you know, we traded for Steve Thomas, who was one of my, like, I was a Chicago Blackhawks fan growing up, and me and Stumpy, we called him, we were roommates, and I'm like, this is really cool, you know, like, so that was back when H.L. guys had roommates, which I thought was awesome. Like, I think everybody should have roommates. So, yeah, it's just cool. Like, it was a great time. Great time in my life. What was, if you could, talking about guys getting traded and brought in, Like who is a guy that if you could go right now who would be the guy that you'd want to go for a night on the town with like

From back in those days who was the guy that was just fun to go out and hang with? Oh back in those days like teammates Man me and my my Swedish buddy Marcus Nilsson were always We would we would go we would we'd party Our Florida days were good we had a good we had a good crew of parties like there was And that was back when we were young and I had a young family too like Janice and I started our started having a family young but where before we where is your wife from she's from

Lloyd is she from Lloyd yeah no kidding yeah so we we got together after my first year pro I guess it was uh yeah it was the summer she was going to school in Pinocca and I was living at Sylvan Lake and just ran into each other in red deer and how long you guys been married it's 2001 put you on the spot 2001 I was I was married. It was July 7th, 2001. So what is that? Is that 18 years?

Yeah, long time. So anyways, I could cut you off. Crew of part of years. Yeah. Like our Anaheim crew was a, that was a fun crew. We had a, there was a group in Anaheim too that were partiers. But we had, yeah, but our Florida crew was fun. I mean, Urbreda was young at the time and came out all the time and Peter Worell.

So. What was your favorite? favorite watering hole? Down in Florida, man, we were, we did most of our partying on the road, to be honest, but yeah, we'd go down to South Beach. There was a place called the Clevelander. It was like an outside bar.

It was really cool. That was our, when we went down to Miami, that was where we'd hit. Outside. Like, again, partying outside. And you can't beat just walking around or, you know, you could go from bar to bar with a beer in your hand. Like it was one of those districts. I guess you'd call it,

where you could walk across the street with a beer. You couldn't enter the next club or pub or whatever with a drink. But you could bring the party out onto the road as long as it wasn't rowdy. And it was cool. That is really cool. Yeah. So, no, I love Florida. Anaheim was awesome.

Just, you know, the sun was great and it was cool and things like that. You get to play in two cities or two spots in the NFL. where most especially coming from Lloyd, right? Well, I'm very sought after. Yeah, could you pick any better place? I mean, like, we talk about it all the time. Fans talk about it all the time, right? Like, be fun to come play up here because, you know,

the media fan support is pretty special. So, something crazy. But the ability to go in your shorts at any time of the year, sun's always up. Yeah. Right? Like, that's, there's a reason why. those teams have a ace up their sleeve anytime they're going after free agents or signing guys, right?

I mean, even, yeah, I know even now in, you know, the college hockey world, you know, like Arizona, ASU's got a... I'm going to my, we're going to Phoenix in January. I'm taking the family, or... You're going to go to a game? I was talking to Tyler Bush. Yeah, sweet. Yeah, yeah, we're going to go to a game on the Sunday. We fly in. They play Michigan Tech. I'm excited for it. I know there's talk now. Like, I've got a few friends down there. And, you know, that's one of them, everybody wants to go there now. Well, why wouldn't you? You know, so, yeah, if I can play on a great team in a super crappy arena.

So that's like, they've got like the Russ Robertson or the Archie Miller smash together. I'm looking forward to seeing this rank. I'm wondering if it's that bad. It is. I'm telling you it's that bad. It's that bad. Yeah. And I'm not saying the Archie or the Russ.

Whoa, whoa. I'm not saying the Archie or the Russ are bad. You heard it. You heard it, Lloyd. for a division one school to have um let's let's go back here before i'm going to see Archie Miller a they have done great upgrades on that rink and it's become like a kind of hidden jamming lord it's actually not that bad but Russ Robertson I agree with you that has got to be the smallest ice surface they're both really hard to watch games from so me as a parent now yeah

yeah Archie's bad wicked hard Russ is really bad too it's fun to play on Archie Miller is a fun rinked plan. Yeah. I love the vaulted, like the, the, uh, just the aura in there. Yeah, yeah, just the wood beams and it's old school. Yeah, it is totally. Those rinks are disappearing. Yeah. I think it's super cool. And I know, yeah, everything's steel and, you know, painted concrete and which again is whatever style wise, but those old wooden barns like that, you know, uh, really cool, really neat. Um, my wife is from Minnesota and she went to, um, she got her masters at St. Lawrence in upstate New York. Yeah. And they have Division I hockey.

And they have this old wood bean barm that was just like the history and it was unbelievable. Yeah. When watched one of those games, I was like, this is freaking cool, right? Like, this is cool. It is neat. So, yeah, I don't know. It's, you know, all the ranks are going. They're all getting modern and they're all getting more efficient.

Yeah, yeah. So it happens. Well, I've had you on here now for closing in an hour and 45 minutes. So maybe we should get to the Crudemaster Final Five. Obviously, the Final Five is brought to by Crude Master. Heath and Tracy McDonald, have been huge supporters of the podcast. So shout out to them. But essentially five questions here that, you know,

we can go down a rabbit hole or they can be nice and quick. Okay. So your first one, if you could pick your D partner, anybody, who would you want? Oh, anybody. Well, so, you know what, if I could pick my D partner, I would, you know what, for nostalgic reasons. and for sentimental, I'd pick my buddy Jesse Wallen. Like I would, you know, we played junior together

and never had a chance to play pro together. And again, his career ended because of injuries. And man, I'd love to love playing with that guy. Like, those were the glory days. As far as, like, as far as high-end talent, I mean, there's, you know, Nick Lydstrom. Would you even have to do anything with Nick Lydstrom? You get him the puck.

Yeah, right? Like, so I had, you know, one of the guys that I played with, It was, you know, not at Nick Lydstrom level, but was close, was a guy named Dan Boyle. Yeah, Dan Boyle was a hell of a defenseman. It was unreal. And so Dan and I were D-partners in the minors. We played a little bit together in Florida, but not much. But, and we had, Gerard Glant was our coach.

Unreal dude. Love that guy as a coach, too. And he's like, Lance, here's the deal. All right, you're going to play with, you're going to play with Boile. Get Boile the puck. Like you. this is like if you can get him the puck clean like let him just go just give it to him and i was like yeah yeah it's like really i mean that's yeah you want to put it to me like that so for the way that i

played i mean defend it hard and you know this and that but yeah just a guy that i just get the puck to that guy and let him run wild and i'll hold down forward in our own end so so yeah a guy like that even like an eric carlson like i think he's his skill level is so on the extreme of unbelievable. I would love playing with a guy like that. Just get him the biscuit and just watch him go. I was always a Duncan Keith fan. Yeah, I like him too.

I think he's great. His footwork is just, like, you watch him skate and go back and forth on his feet. It's just mesmerizing. As a defenseman who tries to do similar things. I'm the same way. And that's, like, he's one of the guys that I love, and we've talked about him in our,

in our office when we're talking about skill development and, you know, defending, I guess, specifically. Like, he's a guy that we watch videos on. You know, we've sat in there with Tapper and Fish and Brozy. And we just watch, we're like, look at this guy. Like, he's never crossing over. He's never out of position. He's never beat. He's, you know, and so we're just, we'll watch, you know, he's a guy that we're, um, that we talk about. And we, we find really, uh, interesting just the way he plays. Speaking of all those gents, you just, mention. Were we going to do this Superman thing? Like I was one of the original, yeah, I'm absolutely on board.

There's no age class. The first one you cannot have an age. But then it's not really, this is not. What are we going to do? We're not going to have 80 people in this. We're going to have probably like 12, I bet. I'm going with the number 12. So how are you going to separate at 40 plus? Well, no, but I, like, I don't, I don't even know what has come of this, to be honest. So this started as a four person in, office challenge. I hear that. Me, Tapper, Cole, and Brozy. And it started as...

And then Tapp walks on the podcast, throws this at me, and I go, that sounds very interesting. Absolutely. So the whole Superman challenge, I mean, I don't know that this is, like, anything to do with Superman, but if you want... What would you call it? The Ultimate Athlete? Like, something where it's, like, just this well-rounded. A Superman Challenge.

So, but again, for me, it's like, yeah, who can do a marathon? Who can like Olympic left? Who can play volleyball? Like, I mean, all of these like random. I know Tapper wants like darts and bowling and, you know, like he wants all these obscure things to give himself a chance. The trash talk begins. I love it.

So, yeah, I'm totally in. I mean, we've. We're going to meet in January. Yeah. It's going to happen. But I, you know, I truly think that we need, you know, if this is going to be serious and if there's going to be money on the line, like we're going to need a board.

Like we're going to need four people because I got my own ideas of events. Tapper wants, you know, like I said, he wants darts and, you know, obscure little weird things. And I don't know. I mean, we've all got our own ideas and thoughts on what this is going to look like. And I think that we just, I think if it's going to get big like with 12 people, you need to pass this off on 12 people that aren't in the competition. Hmm. All right.

That's my thought because I know fish is already, I've talked to fish about it a little bit. And Cole said he'd be on there and he'd be one of the, you know, he'd be a good, he'd be a good judge or a good head chair, I think, you know, just because he would, he can come up with. Because ultimately, you can't do any team events, in my opinion. You can't do like hockey's an easy one, but unless it's a skill thing, you know, agility test, shooting accuracy, passing accuracy, you do this hockey skill test. It's hard to play a game,

because you get some dud on your left wing or you get brosy cherry picking and not wanting to back check. I mean, you know, that's no good. I think it needs, I think you raise a good point. Probably a board isn't a terrible idea. But again, we just got to get in a room. room. And for the first year, if hockey's a part of it and it's a team sport and it sucks,

the next year you don't do it. Or if you do all individual sports, the first year you might go, actually, you know, it would have been smart to have done this. Because the only way you're ever going to figure this out is by doing it. I agree. Right? I agree. I mean, if you're ever in our office, you should see I've got a few pages of things that we've started. And it's like iguana wrestling. And then we've all talked about like, who's winning an iguana wrestle. This is something that when... What the heck is an iguana wrestler?

I don't know. It's when Cole gets into the beers. He ends up laying down like an iguana and wrapping a belt around his neck and just pulling. I don't know. It's weird. But again, this is the whole like,

I mean, people do things that they will be successful in. And Cole is an incredible iguana wrestler. And so Cole wants iguana wrestling in if there's a Superman challenge. Could you not, do it if you had 12 guys. Yeah. Could you not have 12 guys pick one event each that has to be okayed by the board?

Yep, you could. Because everybody's, you raise a very good point. Tapper's leaning towards some things that he can be good at. Yeah, so Tapper's an awesome golfer. Right. And you lean towards, you've been doing CrossFit for how long now? Well, since I've never stopped training. That's right.

So to put you in anything with weights, you should be right at the top of that. Would you not agree? Totally. Right. Like, so if I want to win a. an event, we're going to do an Olympic snatch. Right. And there's going to be five of us to just go... I don't even know what

that is. I don't even know what that is. I'm going to hurt myself, so I'm just going to give a... Right? Chris King, if he's smart, is going to do basketball. Absolutely. Because, right? Like, I mean, it's just... But the whole point of this is, is to have your event that you're good at, but now you've got to do 11 that everybody else is good at. And now you start to see,

okay, now we can see who the athlete is. I guess so then the question becomes to the when do you like what are the other event so if king is going to like you know who are the who are the 10 or 12 i don't know and like what are you going to pick like what are you know i'm a six snowboard or two like i'd go i'd want to go snowboarding i tell you what you you name the event minus the weightlifting thing because i'll probably end up hurt my well i mean i used to i shouldn't say that like i still i used i'd try i ain't going to win it but i'm uh i'm also the guy going i'm looking around if there's 12 of us i can still go up the race and get six and

and get some points out of it. That's the way I look at it. And you tell me in a month we're going to swim 50 meters or whatever fast or we're going to do a 5K run, you damn well believe I'm going to be freaking. Training. Oh, I'm going to be ready. That's what I'm excited. I think it'd be awesome.

I'm the same way. I'm not going to give up free points. I'm going to try and I'm competitive. And if we're going to do this, I'm excited for it. I agree. So I'm exactly the same way. I mean, I would, I'm in. Like I've talked about it for a long time.

I'm in for everything, though. Like I'm a yeah for sure. Let's do it. Why not? I'll do anything. Well, I think it'd be great content for the podcast. I think it'd be hilarious. Absolutely.

I mean. We need to broadcast it too. It's got to be like videotaped. We need to hire. I got enough kids in my house and gopros. We'll have kids. That'd be fine. Now everyone have a GoPro.

Second question. If you could have coffee with one person, any person. Who would you want to go and sit and have a tea with? Oh boy, I don't know Any person Any person I flipped you off of the Superman challenge Because we could probably sit here and talk about that for an hour

Let me pass on that I'll get back to it Or I don't know I guess I'm thinking like Like right now I'm thinking like Mike Tyson Like somebody like Mike Tyson be interesting

That's a guy who's seen A life that most people would never ever even imagine yeah just like really uh yeah i don't know he just came to mind i don't know but it'd be an interesting uh conversation yeah you listen to him on joe roger podcast i haven't yet no he's actually pretty good is that right yeah is uh mike tyson was on probably i don't know summertime let's say and he was on there i don't know you can tell he's been punched in the face a few times but like he actually was relatively interesting listening to like i mean the guy gets to do things that i'll probably never ever dream of doing in my life that's what i mean he was the heavyweight

champ of boxing which he was the toughest man on the planet that's right he was the baddest man on the planet or he is still like really he talks about in you should listen to it because he talks about that he doesn't like the guy he was back then and how they basically now how do I explain this they basically groomed his mind so that he was a caged dog and when he got in the ring he was he was out there to kill the guy right and when you hear him talk about it it's like wow that's it was very interesting yeah but that's hard on like that's yeah but looking back on every like that's that's what every I mean that's what's competitive sports is kind of that's kind of what you're into.

Like it's that challenge of being, you know, he was supposed to be the toughest. You know, in hockey, it's like I'll chase my, I mean, it's an emotional thing. Like it's, you know, getting, let's just as an example, like the junior guys that are hopefully going to play pro that are from, from Lloyd. You know, I know for me, we talked about my first year of playing pro, it was, hey, I was in Miami in the East Coast League. And then I got sent to New Haven in the American League. and it wasn't going well there.

And then I ended up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And then I ended up back in New Haven. And then I end up going back to Fort Wayne. So in my first year pro, I'd been on like five teams. And like, I had a meltdown. I phoned my dad crying, driving from New Haven, Connecticut to Fort Wayne, Indiana, just side of the road crying.

And I'm like, what am I doing? Like just, I don't know, love playing hockey. But it was just, you know. That's tough, though. It was just tough on me. What did your dad say? I don't even remember. I was just kind of a consoling like, hey, this is your dream?

Like, this is, you know, just pull positives from it. And this is a great experience and a good opportunity. I wonder if we all have, like, hockey players. I mean, there's very few Connor McDavid's in the world that, you know, have the career. I mean, I guess there's quite a few guys like to have that type of career. I'd say there's more that are like your story. Yeah. And that's what you're talking about is tough on anyone, right?

Like getting kicked around like that? Yeah, so tough. Like it was just the whole, like, it was just very difficult. And it was, you know, so 20 years old, phoning your dad crying from a pay phone at a gas station. And, you know, it was like, it was tough. And then, you know, had a great summer and met Janice that summer. And it was just kind of, and then things went good.

Ended up, you know, Florida got their own farm team the next year. And then Gerard was our, you know, Glant was my coach and started partner with Boilely and bang. You know, Dwayne Sutter takes over, bingo bingo, NHL and it's funny how quickly things can change. I know, exactly. And that's the, yeah, that's the crazy part of sports and life and anything. It's just, I just, you know, I truly believe that, you know,

one of the questions you asked me in that text before I came on was one of the, one of the lessons that I've learned. And I just think that, you know, the biggest lesson I've learned from my hockey and even in my life, it's that, and even now in the development side of things that I do, it's just that, you know, doing things and doing it right and doing it with intention and, you know, whether it's going to school, whether it's hockey, whether it's, you know, piano or whatever your craft or your passion or your, whatever your heart is in, it's a matter of like continuous repetition. and continuous development.

You know, it's not, you know, the world of hockey is not, um, train one summer, have a great year and then think that I've improved, yeah, conquered the world. Like, no, this is like,

you know, this is, I don't know, I've used the analogy of like, I say to my kids and I think it's dumb, but it's like brushing your teeth. If you brush your teeth diligently for a year, that's awesome.

And your teeth, teeth might be strong. But if you go six months without brushing them, like, that is not healthy. Like, you've just, the year of doing something doesn't do you any good. So, you know, just the continuing, you know, from self-development to improving your craft or your sport or whatever you're after, but it's- The word you used was compound interest. Yeah, just compounding.

Like, just make yourself better every day at whatever you want. And again, whether it's academically or personally or, you're, you know, or athletically. I just think that it's, you know, it's daily and it's all the time. There's never, there's no off. There's no off days, even an off day. I mean, if you kill a day watching TV, I mean, and I'm not saying that I don't kill some time watching TV or, but I mean, I try to make sure that I'm productive in the things

that I want to do every day and making sure that I'm better at the end of every day than I was to start. That's good advice for anyone. You want question three? Sure. Was there ever a guy you steered clear of in the NHL? I mean, we talked at the very beginning about all the guys you chuck knucks with. There were a couple guys that you just were...

Yeah, there was like, I mean, I almost fought Bob Probert. Really? Yeah, and... Oh. Like, two days after I didn't fight him, I wish I did, but... And only for the story. Yeah, absolutely. So it was, we were in, we were in Chicago, not, you know, we were getting our butts kicked or whatever.

And I end up out there with three minutes left in a game and in a corner with with Provert. And I finished my check on them. We got into one of those, you know, it was like a push, push. And like in my mind, it was, it was almost like, I don't actually know, I guess it'd be interesting like the whole psychology behind it. But it was, you know, I was thinking at the time. I'm like, I'm only 23. Like, we're winning by five. Like, I don't really deserve to fight Probert.

And I'm scared shitless, too. So Bob freaking Probert. I know, but it's, like, I would have been fine, to be honest. Like, I would have been okay in the fight. But I, so yeah, but I did stay clear of him. Like, I guess somewhere deep down, you know, growing up watching this guy just a savage at smashing people's faces. Like, so he scared me. There was a few guys in the minors that were absolute savages that I stayed clear of.

I got beaten up by this guy named Dennis Bonvey. Anybody that's an oiler fan will remember Dennis Bonvey, but, I should have stayed clear of him. Anybody that checked left so I was staying clear on, I was terrible at fighting lefties. Worst time I ever got beat up was a guy who was a lefty. It just, I just couldn't get it into my mind. enough of them and and I wasn't willing to sacrifice my face for an entertaining fight.

Yeah. So, but yeah, I had a, like I, I guess Bob Probert was a guy that I tried to, I coulda, I could have just jumped him, I guess, but I had too much respect for him to do that. Absolutely. If you could, uh, hop in a time machine, go back to your 20 year old self and give him one piece of advice. What would it be? Well, it's interesting. Uh, 20 year old me. Do you know what my advice would be? It would be to, it would be, uh, oh man, do I'd tell myself to do it would be to do more on a skill development. I would like as far as, because that's the one thing that, that held me back in my career. I was, I was dedicated. I was, I would do anything coaches wanted, but, you know, my summers were, my summers were my own.

You know, I grew up doing everything under the sun. Um, you know, I was big into all the water sports. I was big into, I was big into everything. And, uh, you know, baseball soccer. I did everything my parents let me, let me do. You know, I'd go to a one week hockey school or whatever when I was younger, out to the Okinawagon hockey school and have Andy Moogne sign my, uh, my card on the way out of town or whatever, but, um, I just think that the way that things have gone now and even later on in my

career, um, you know, the reason, the reason I was able to play, as long as I was is because I could skate and, you know, and I was a great, you know, I was a good teammate and those kinds of things. But, you know, what would have made me play longer at a higher level would have been, would have been the stuff that, that I work on right now with our kids. With all the up and coming, yes. Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know.

I mean, that's ultimately it, but I don't know. But here's the thing. As a 20-year-old, like, you can't tell, you can't tell a 20-year-old. 20 year old anything. They need to fail to learn it. Oh, yeah. If I went back to my 20 year old self, I probably wouldn't listen anyway.

Yeah, absolutely. I would be the same way. I'm good. I need the summer off. You need to give my mind a break. You know, so. Final one for you. Yeah.

If you could join any sports organization, it doesn't have to be strictly hockey. It could be baseball, soccer, anything. Tomorrow. What organization would you want to join? In what capacity? Like, I'm a player. Well, let's do both.

Let's say starting you're a player. I'm a player, man. These soccer players over in Europe are like the absolute kings of the world, man. Well, soccer is the biggest game on the planet. Yeah, like if you want to talk about being a high-end soccer player, I mean, there's, you go to any of these, any of these, you know, English teams or, you know, man, you, any of the, any of those teams I would you know being a player on one of those teams would be

absolutely unreal 100,000 people at your games like that is that is like next level crazy sports so I'm not even a soccer fan at all but that would be uh something that would be something else absolutely how about it was uh management or you pick coach or what organization would you want to join um boy management

And, you know, it'd have to be involved in hockey. I'm going to go down to the Florida Panthers. Love to, just because living there was unreal. I'd love to, yeah, management and just lifestyle-wise, like that would be, they haven't had good teams. So if you join them, like, right now, they're just on the cusp of being good. And I think they've got some really good young talent.

So you could kind of, I think it's a good spot right now if you're in management down in Florida. But as far as some of the teams around, like some of these, you know, I'm guessing the popular answer on that would be like the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys, stuff like that. And the Boston Red Sox have come up. Yeah, I'm not a baseball guy either, to be honest. We're obscure sports for me.

But, yeah, Boston, the Yankees would be cool. Well, just the history, right? They got such rich culture. Totally. I know nothing about those. So if I'm in management, though, I'm going to have a hard time. I'm going to have a hard time having a positive impact on that organization. You ever go back to Florida at all for like alumni events, anything like that? Nothing. No, I haven't actually. Really? Yeah. So, no, I haven't been back there in. How about Anaheim? Nope. Really? Nothing. Nothing in either place. I mean, we had, I was back in Sweden.

Eden a couple of years ago. For the championship teams? They ended up having a Lance Ward kind of a Lance Ward night, they called it. Bobble and Night? Not really. It was just kind of more of a like an honorarium, like I don't know what the word would be,

but just a, just a celebration. Super cool. Yeah. So really cool. Yeah, it was just kind of a, you know, just Jersey presentation and just, Yeah, it was neat.

It was really cool. Nice to go back and we brought the family with us because, you know, one of the really cool things is that, or one of the really, one of the things that I guess we missed out on is my kids were all young when I stopped playing. And just, you know, Mason would have been probably seven or whatever that was, eight, the last time I was playing. And I would have been a little older. But anyhow, I think it would have been neat to have, you know, my kids now who, you know,

Mason's playing in the Western League and Landon's playing, Landon's a Bantam player and Gavin's and Adam. You know, it's, you know, Jackson being 15, I think it would be, it'd be different level of, you know, having your kids there to watch and actually being able to come home and give me a high five instead of me, you know, high-fiving them after their games, I think. So that would have been a neat, something neat that unfortunately never got to happen.

Well, thanks for coming on. I've really enjoyed this. Oh, I'm glad. I'm glad it finally worked out and glad it, yeah, glad I was able to make it in. Yeah, cool. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah, appreciate for having me. You betcha. Hey, guys, thanks for tuning in to episode 49 on the Sean Newman podcast.

Had a ton of fun sitting with Lance. It was really enjoyable conversation. I hope you guys enjoyed it too. I just want to give a shout out to all you guys who were listening and tuning in. I kind of posed the question a couple weeks ago with a little bit of the question. with whether or not I should release one on Christmas Day. And a lot of you actually spoke to me about my number one goal at the start of the year, which was to be consistent and to have an episode come out every single week of 2019. And with this episode on Christmas Day, that is exactly what I've done, which is pretty cool.

I'm pretty happy to have been able to get so many good people in here and come on the podcast with me. It's been a lot of fun. and 2020 shaping up to be a really exciting year. There's some cool guys that are going to be coming on, and I think you guys are going to really enjoy it. So thanks for tuning in. Merry Christmas to everybody, and have a happy New Year.

We'll catch up to you next week.