Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 50 Toronto Maple Leafs - Cory Cross 2.0

Episode Date: January 1, 2020

The 2nd time I got the privilege of sitting down with Cory where we went over playing in Toronto, New York, Edmonton, Pittsburgh & Detroit. Cory played in the NHL over a 12 year span were he amassed 659games with 34-97-131 & 684pims. Highlights: - Best coaches are not in the NHL - Playing with the best - Sundin, Yzerman & Crosby - Playing in Edmonton - The media frenzy - Being traded & Free agency

This is Corey Cross. Welcome to Sean Newman's podcast. Folks, welcome to 2020. We're going to start the new year off of the bang. We have Corey Cross in studio today. He obviously, this is his second episode. He joined us earlier in 2019. Had a blast sitting down with him. And here is your factory sports tale of the tape.

Corey Cross is born in Lloyd Minster in 1971. He was taken in the NHL supplemental draft, 1992, by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He'd played for a junior B. Squad guy. recruited to the University of Alberta, Golden Bears, and then goes to the Tampa Bay Lightning. From Tampa Bay, he plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers, Emmett-Ton Oilers, Picksburg Penguins, and the Detroit Red Wings. Over his 12-year career, he played 659 games, 34 goals, 970, or 900, 34 goals, 97 assists, 131 points, 684 penalty minutes.

He is a class act, really enjoy having them on the podcast. And without further ado All right, well, I'm back in the studio. I got Corey Cross grilling me already, but it's good to have you back. It's good to have you back in here. A couple things have changed since you were last here. What do you think of the new table?

Nice table's beautiful. Nice table, nice and thick. Just like you wanted it, you wanted it this thick. He's making fun of me. I had to Jimmy rig my mic stands because the table's so thick, my mic stands don't work properly. That's what Home Depot is for.

If all of a sudden you can't hear me talking, it's because the vice stands of Brooke. Hey, I got this beautiful place. I got a couple of vice grips right. By the time you come in for the third one, it'll all be set up properly. Actually, that's a lie. My third one, I'm coming to Colonna.

Yeah, yeah. I've already made the deal with the wife. You've got all the guys there. You can get a whole bunch of other guys. That's right. Hearts will be there. That's right. So, how's Chris?

Christmas treating you. Well, Christmas is good so far. We had celebrated on the weekend with my wife's family in Colonna and had them over for Christmas dinner, pre-Christmas dinner, and now flew into Lloyd for my family. So it'll be nice to see them. It's been a few years since we spent Christmas with them. That's awesome. I got to give you a little bit of a rough time. We got this waiting friends game coming up in January. You know, you know, nice slide right in there. Cory Cross, but, you know. I know. Reds goes, hey, can you make it? I'm like, oh, I don't know. I'm going to be in Lloyd at Christmas time. So you never know, but I... It's too late. The roster came out today. It's too late. Okay, well, okay. You know, we went to Cory Cross. Nah, fine. If he doesn't want us,

we don't want him. It looks like a fun weekend. Oh, it'll be a good weekend. Yeah, it'll be good. It would have been a little better with Cross, right? Yeah. What are you going to do? Where we left off last time we were just talking about. I'm pretty sure is when you get traded from Tampa Bay to Toronto. Could you thought maybe you could walk us through that? Because you've never been traded up until that point. You've been drafted

by Tampa and you play there several years and then now you're getting you know traded. And I should point out people if you're tuning into this one, go back to episode one with Mr. Cross because this is 2.0. We cut it off just before he gets to Toronto.

So this is kind of the Yeah, my wife called me and told me how to quit. We were running out of time. That's right. Oh, and she was yelling at you. You're supposed to say lovey-dovey things. Yeah, exactly. You're supposed to say hi to her and the kids, Kela and Ayla.

There, before we get to the trade, I'll do this for it. Where did you meet your wife? I met her in Evanton. Met her in Emmeton. Yeah, to Save on Foods on 109th and Jasper. You sweet talker and a save. She actually sweet talk to me. She picked me up, if you can believe that.

I don't believe you. Oh, well, that is the truth. Yeah, she being a police officer, she had me on an investigation. What? Yeah, she was a police officer in Edmonton, City Police for 10 years. Your wife who was just outside of the police officer? No kidding. Yeah, you never guessed.

I would have never guessed. No longer police officer, though. No, no, she retired when I got traded. from emminton oh fair enough okay retired yeah and um yeah i met her at the grocery store and she uh drove she checked out my what i was driving southern ontario plates and then drove by and figured something we started talking and she's like well you're not from here

and i'm like well i just moved back and what do you do i play hockey she had no idea she's like well for who and i'm like for the oiters and then you might know um the emminton oilers yeah but then she had never heard of my name name, her not being a hockey fan at all. And then I'm like, what do you do? She's like, well, I'm a police officer. And I'm like, as you are shocked. Fair enough. Well, shout out to your wife. And kids. How old are your kids? Kids are, uh, my daughter's 13 and my son's 11. Ah, keeping you busy then. They are, they are busy. Busy with sports. My daughter's in volleyball and

some school basketball, which I help coach, which is a lot of fun. You help coach school basketball? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've never been about it. I've always watched basketball, always love basketball, never really played at any level, but there's other guys that know the game a little more than I do. What did you think of doing that, though? It's a blast. I love it.

I love coaching different sports, you know, something that, you know, going on YouTube and just checking out tips and drills and stuff, because I have no idea. But it's been fun. I'm sure I ask you this on the last episode, but did you grow up playing, obviously not basketball, but do you grow up playing other sports? You said you always play, everything was hockey.

Everything was hockey, grass hockey, road hockey. So you never ever picked up a basketball and thought, maybe? Oh, you know, just for fun. Football. Prison rules? Yeah, football, flag football out on the, you know, we live right across street from the comp. So we're on the field, right on the field or in the front yard, we play football. and played one year of baseball, and now was it.

Yeah, I just, my parents loved camping. So baseball was running into camp season, camping season. My dad's like, you're not doing that again. So I'm like, okay. All right, that's done. That's done. Yeah. Let's talk about this trade.

You get traded from Tampa Bay to Toronto. Yeah, yeah. So I was going into my last year of my contract. Jacques de Meres was our coach. at that time and he goes, yeah, we should talk about contract.

I'm like, yeah, sure. So he just called me in his office. He goes, well, you know, I think you're kind of like Sylvan Lefebvre. I got you penciled in like Sylvan Lafave. And Sylvan Lafave was making 1-8-17, I think, at that time. I'm like, sounds good to me.

And that was pretty much our contract negotiation. He goes, well, okay, perfect. Literally it was two minutes. And he was the only thing that's going to happen though is there's going to be new ownership. There's new ownership is coming in. And I'm like, okay, he goes, we have to just kind of see how it plays out. So the Detroit Vipers, the Detroit Vipers, they're owned the Vipers.

He ended up buying the lightning. And Jacques had fired. So they brought in Rick Dudley to run the team, and Steve Ludzick was the coach. And me being a restricted free agent, they all only have. offered me a 10% raise and that's what they did they offered me a 10% raise which like I was I think I was making 750 so it didn't make any sense to sign it and um they were just especially when you just yeah verbally agreed on something that's double that yeah double that yeah and so i said no and they were like well and Rick Dudley's words well we'll be last place with you or without

you so so yeah seriously And so actually sat out all training camp, came back to Edmonton, skated with the Bears, Golden Bears, and stayed in shape with them. And then they came up with this, we came up with this big bonus-laden contract. If I was the top four defenseman the following year,

with minutes played, hits, points, block shots, like everything you could think of as bonus. And we signed that deal with a base salary of $7.50, and then all these bonuses. How much could you make any bonuses then? Oh, I could have made like $2 million if I would hit all the bonuses. Yeah, it was, I mean, I'm thinking. So were you just freaking giving her then?

Well, so the problem was, so I'm thinking, okay, I'm with Tampa and I'm a top four defenseman here. I'm going to hit all these bonuses and I'll make good money. So I flew back to Tampa just like four days before the season started. Had one practice, one skate with the team. and the next day I got traded at Toronto. They got rid of that contract. Yeah, and they just, they just, yeah, they wanted, well, they got traded for Freddie Modin.

Freddy was struggling in Toronto, and they needed a big winger and scoring guy, and he ended up having a great career. It was a great trade for him because he went to Tampa and reinvented himself there. But then I go to Toronto, and here now I'm slotted as like a fifth-sixth-guy. And now your bonuses go out. Yeah. And so, yeah. So, I mean, I hit some plus minus stuff and some, and hits bonuses and block shots bonuses. But that was hit, like ice time played and all that.

I was playing five, six defensive minutes and not killing poundies like I was in Tampa. So, yeah. So anyways, that was that was a trade by. So I was really happy to leave Tampa. We were last place in the two previous years. And I knew it was going to be some more growing pain. there. So to go to Toronto and.

Go to the hockey mecca. Yeah, I was pretty excited. Going on that plane and they had a really good team and, you know, it was pretty. Walk me through walking into the Toronto organization. Like, is it like, do they roll out the red carpet? Like, is it just like, holy crap, you're part of the Toronto Maple Leafs or was it not? Yeah, you know, and all the different organizations I've played for are all different levels of, I guess, roll out the red carpets.

The best being probably Detroit. Detroit was literally the red carpet treatment. It was unreal. But Toronto was great. How so? They literally had a red carpet. You come out of your car and there's a valet system there. They have a red carpey walked right into the building on this.

They're their first class. Detroit, it's unbelievable. They just treat you so, so well. My wife was there. She was there for one game. She pulled up in her car. They knew exactly who she was. she and they're like oh we got to give you get you all this you know picture IDs security clearance

and just took her on a tour of the rink and you know that just never happened in any other spots and it's it's interesting because when I think of all the organizations in the NHL I always think of Detroit as being like right at the top for the culture and how they built their organization 100%. Right? Yeah, 100%. And so it's surprising that other teams haven't stared at that and went, hmm, what are they doing over there?

Yeah, well, they might have made, I mean, this was a long time ago now. This is going back a few years, but I think things have changed a little bit. But yeah, Detroit was, Detroit was first class. But then, you know, the Rangers, Toronto, they were first class too.

Pittsburgh at the time. Well, you're in the NHL. Everything's first class, right? Pittsburgh at the time, not so first class, no. Sydney changed that. Well, superstars can do that. Yep, yeah. See, hop on a plane, off to Toronto.

So I actually met them in Montreal for the first game of the season. What was putting on the Leaf jersey? Like, I know I asked you last time what was putting on the Canadian jersey when you played for Team Canada at the World Championships. But, you know, in hockey, the Leaf jersey's probably got to be dang close the most iconic jersey in the role. Oh, yeah. No, I was super excited. Really excited. And yeah, it's an iconic franchise, right? And I was never a leaf fan, but

just being a part of the Leafs and being a part of the alumni now when I do alumni things with them. It's, it's pretty special. Yeah. Who was coaching at the time when you came up? Pat Quinn was a coach, yeah. What was Patty Quinn like? A great man. He was a great man, but he he he was he never say hi to you he wouldn't say anything to you in the dress room and he might say hi to hide you in the morning and that was it wouldn't say too much and just but if you went into his office and started to talk to him he'd talk you here off for like half hour you couldn't get out of there but it um superman um coaching coaching coaching was good i didn't really under i didn't understand it that when I was there I was like okay we got to be a little more

structured like he was just dropped a puck and go like there was no there was no system he hated systems he hated the trap you know this was back when the trap was king yeah trap was king New Jersey you know they and I'm yeah they live New Jersey lived by it right and he was just one of those guys like we got it we got all these skilled players let's just drop the puck and play just play and uh And at that point in my career, I was like, we need some sort of system here. But now that I've gotten a coaching and look back, I mean, now it's probably the right thing to do. Just keeping our, like, no structure and just play.

And it got us a long ways, but then we ran into a team like New Jersey and who were structured and had the skill. And, you know, they would beat us. But, I mean, the guys love playing for Pat. You know, he just, like you said, just go and play. That's all you had to worry about. What was dealing with the media like? Because you go from Tampa Bay. They're unbelievable.

It is unreal. Give me something that just sticks out in your mind about dealing with the media in Toronto. Well, just the doors would open. So after, you know, there's five minutes or ten. minutes you get before the media are able to get into the room and the PR people open up the rooms and guys like you'd be making mooing, mooing sounds like cows because just cattle is just flying in. And it was just, and they were running. They were running into the locker room to be the first guy

to get to the star of the game or whoever they want to interview. You know, it was a mad dash. And they were pushing and shoving and it's unbelievable. And it was busy during the regular season. in the playoffs, you couldn't even, you literally couldn't even find an empty spot in the room. There was that much, there was not many media people in the dress room. They would have to call people the guys from the locker room. And then they had this crazy rule that you could go anywhere. You could go anywhere in the locker room. And the Leafs had just built a locker room where we all got dressed.

And then right behind there, there was actual lockers that you took your clothes off, you put your underwear on there. And the NHL came out with this rule that allowed media to go anywhere other than the medical room. Well, we're all getting, I remember I was buck naked and walked around the corner. And there was a girl from the local channel. And I was standing there like, buck naked. She's like, oh, my God. And like, that had to be kiboshed.

And they did kibosh it. And they said, no, no. They had to put ropes across the doorway. And there was a radio guy, and he would stand at the rope, at the door. Just stand there with his ear, you know, open to see if he heard anything, like, you know, on the side that he might get an extra scoop in. Can you imagine doing that job? It was just unbelievable. Yeah.

That would be a tough job. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because, I mean, they pretty much have to do that. That's your job. Yeah. Like to get down there. Yeah, to get the extra scoop and, you know, Howard Berger. That was the guy's name just came to me, Howard Berger.

He was the radio guy. He had all the scoops. Who is the best media guy you ever dealt with? Who was the guy when he walked in the room? Jim Matheson. I had a lot of respect for Jim Matheson. Here in Emmetton. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I had a lot of respect for him. He treated me well and always wrote the, you know, the right things and didn't, didn't pretend he knew. He just, you know, he asked the right questions and did some homework around the stories that he printed. He did the homework first before he just printed something off the cuff that lots of times aren't correct, right? Yeah. Because, I mean, it's even worse now.

When we talked about this last time, I talked about it with all the older guys, right, the social media stuff out quickly a story can just go from zero to 200 is pretty crazy right now. and Toronto, that's on steroids. Yeah, no kidding. Who was maybe one of the coolest people you met while playing for Toronto? Because I'm assuming, you guys are just on, hockey in Canada is on a different level than any other sport. I assume hockey in Toronto is probably even on a different level

than any other city in Canada. Yeah, we got to meet a lot of people who would come through the dress room, a lot of Canadian rock stars. Oh, really? Yeah, like the guys from the hip. Oh, yeah. We're there a lot. Jim Cuddy, got to know Jim over the years and met him there and seen him a few times.

Still kind of keep in touch with them. It comes to a clone a lot in the summer, and I'll reach out to him. We've been to a couple of his concerts, and Kim Mitchell be at the games. then just some old alumni right like uh darrell you know darrell sitler was out around all the time lannie macdonald would come by every once in a while best mustache in the game yeah yeah you know and um just some you know Henderson and the yeah it was just neat being a part of it because the alumni guys like they were always you know they'd come down and say hi the guys and that wasn't really it wasn't always the way in a lot of the cities, like the alumni guys are kind of...

Stand-off. Well, they just, like, yeah, you come down here, but you can't go in the locker room and say hi. Which is, I think it's so stupid. Yeah. Yeah. You want to be a part of it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, the young guys are there because of the alumni.

Yeah. The alumni guys have paved their way, right? They're making the money they are because the alumni guys. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What was it like walking into a dressing room with Matt's and Dean as, the guy, I assume.

He was the guy. He was the guy. We had a ton of personalities in that room. We had, I think at one point, we had seven or eight Russians on the team. We had, you know, Ty Dolmie, we had Darcy Tucker, Shane Corson, Gary Roberts, had a lot of dynamic personalities on the team. And Matt's just kept everybody on. the same path on the right path. Like, and he would, as captain,

he just had a really good way of, of just raining everybody in. You know, and he talked to everybody, everybody was quiet. And it was pretty loud, we had a pretty loud dress from, lots of guys like talking, Glenn Healy, like talking. Ty was always talking, Gary Volk. And then, but once Matt said something,

it was like, okay, time to zip and listen, right? So he was, he was awesome. Great captain, yeah. Must have been special playing under him, for a few years. Yeah, I learned a lot from him. And it just, and a great guy, too. Like, just the down-to-earth guy,

but just carried a lot of respect from all the guys. And I don't think you'd find one guy that didn't like Matt Sundeen. He was, like, by all, everybody. And all your travels through hockey, who was he one of the guys that most surprised in? Like, when you walked in and they were just, like, down-to-earth, nice guy move the world for you kind of thing

yeah there's lots of guys man hockey hockey brings a lot of guys were pretty humble and hardworking guys and Jesus tough to tough to just name off of one guy fair enough yeah what nationality

because you would have played with well like you said Russians Swedes Canadians Americans whatever have you what was the nationality that was the funnest the funnest the funnest

Yeah. Well, the Finns liked their beer, and when they got going, they were a lot of fun. Swedes are pretty low-key. The Sweden guys were a lot like Canadian guys, just low-key guys who were just happy, just happy, you know, enjoyed playing hockey and that was their life. But, yeah, I don't know if there was, then, you know, I get some, the Canadian, so there's some Canadian guys are just so funny. Jason Chmera and Mark Bergevin, I don't know if you find two funnier guys and those two guys. How so?

Just the pranks they would do and the jokes. Well, he got to give me some of the pranks. What are some of the pranks? The jokes and, oh, well, Burge, Burge is legendary around the league of what he used to do. He caught me on a, he caught me on a, we were roommates, and he caught me on a prank. He dialed our clocks back in our room and caught me on,

woke me up early, He said we had missed the bus, and we woke up late, and the bus wasn't there, so I ended up giving the front desk guy crap. And here we were an hour. It was like 7.30, we were supposed to be there at 8.30. So that was a good prank. But he would do things. Public skating in Tampa, we were in this, we had a dressing room up above.

And we were just in this crappy little rink. And there was a DJ booth just off. the side and Berger would get on the mic and start telling the people of public skating what to do like give me two hard laps and stop and go the other way people listen oh yeah they'd do exactly what he was saying because they didn't know they don't know public skating and we were so funny such a funny guy oh he'd dress up doing different things and you could be good to have a whole podcast on Mark Bergervin stories no kidding Do you ever bump into him anymore?

I saw him in Vegas a couple years ago at the NHL Awards. Yeah. Yeah. I was down there just as a fan and ran into him at the pool and chatted with him there. Yeah, a good guy. Yeah, we were roommates for a year. Oh, good old roommates. Yeah.

Nothing better than getting stuck with some guy and away you go. Oh, yeah, no, he was funny. He kept things light. What about when you do? hit playoffs in Toronto. You guys never ever won, but I remember watching those years, and I'm not a Leafs fan, but still rooting for you guys because you guys are fun to watch back then. Yeah, well, like you said, we were just running gun, like just play, right? And we had enough skill. We beat Ottawa, the three years as we were in the playoffs, we beat Ottawa every year.

And they were always, they were the up-and-coming team. They think they were maybe, be ahead of us every one of those years. And we just knew we are toughness and our skill level would eventually beat them. And we beat them four straight the one year, beat them in seven or another year. Maybe beat them in six. What was game seven like? Well, game seven was, it was intense because we were down three games to one. We came back and beat them in seven.

I think that was, that was in 2002, I believe. my last year in Toronto because we had we played that's when you had McGillney and Tucker and Sundeen Renberg Greichael Roberts

right yeah because we'd beat the Islanders in game seven and that was a real killer B-killed series lots of injuries and then then we played Ottawa

and we went down three games and one came back and beat them in seven then we played Carolina in the semis and we lost in six games to them So that was probably our best team. In the three years, that was our best team

and probably our best chance to win. But we just had too many injuries at playoffs. You know, you just run into injuries, and then guys were playing more minutes than they're used to and get a little beat up. And, yeah, we just ran out of gas and our reserve bay from Carolina. Still on his head.

Like, just ridiculous. Greatest goaling match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But playoffs were a lot of fun. Like the fans, going crazy. The city was going crazy. Yeah, it was neat. It was really neat. And, you know, with Wade and I being such good friends and him being on Ottawa. So every summer, I know he was ticked off that we beat him every time, but always had the last laugh, I guess. Well, he did end up

getting a Stanley Cup finals. Yeah. Well, they had a good team. They did. They had a really good team. Lots of skilled guys just a little they're a little um a little little too heavy on the european guys and then when they i think the year they won to the final they had a few more a few more greater guys that got them there i think what was it you know like all the young guys now trained with gary roberts uh was he as intense back then is what the stories all of us oh yeah yeah he yeah he was he was superintendent he changed things like when he first came to toronto and He was taking all these pills that were supposed to, you know, that gave you, you know, just helped your body run and his training.

And he was just trying to get all the leaves to do it, right? And it was such a new thing that a lot of guys, including me, were like, yeah, I don't know if I want to go that far, right? It's new, right? Like, you're putting that kind of stuff in your body? Is that good? And he kept, I always remember he goes, well, a race car, he wouldn't put regular gas in a race car, would you?

Michael, you know, so, but he was dialed in. Like, his fitness was through the roof, and he, he took quite a few guys under his wing. And Brian McCabe was one guy who really changed his career. Like, he, Brian was always a guy who, not the best in shape guy until he met Gary. And Gary just, like, it was unbelievable his change, like to change of his body, the way he played, his strength. And, you know, he had a great long, long career because of it, yeah. Did you ever change anything from the start to the end of your career and what you did, maybe training in the off season?

Yeah. I mean, I remember listening, you know, I said earlier, I was really listening to our first one, right? And it never sounded like training was an issue with you. It sounded like you always worked your tail off with usually the UVA Golden Bears back in that time. Yeah, but it changed, like, from the man from the, when I first started. started the league like our our weight room in Tampa was literally we had like three bikes of treadmill weight rack bench some dumbbells some leg squat machine like it was pretty minor pretty minor and then by the time I ended it was like everybody had squat racks huge

gyms right and it was the training had totally changed from when I started to when I finished and And yeah, you just try different things and see what works and everybody's coming up with new stuff. So it seemed like almost every summer I was trying something new, something a little different than what I did before. Mostly just because of, you know, you're just trying to do something a little bit different. You're not getting bored with the same routine every time. You know, all the bench press stuff that you started doing. Like nobody does bench press anymore. Like, it's not even an exercise like for a hockey guy.

And it's... So what did everybody switch to? What did you switch to? What did you find work the best? Well, actually, the thing, because I had a lot of injuries in Toronto, I had to build my core strength. And Alec, Alec, Alec McKechnie, he was the guy that did the load management with Kauai Leonard. Okay. So he was, so this was going back in 2002, so 17 years ago. 17 years ago. And, and I worked.

with him. I worked with him for eight months and he had me doing all these crazy exercises that they were crazy at that time but you watch a raptors warm up and they're all doing, the guys are doing these exercises and it was all band work. It was all bandwork that bands wrapped around your legs and your arms and doing all these specific cross body exercises to work your core and totally taught me how to breathe using my core and all that. And that gave me the best results. Really? Yeah, totally changed.

So when you heard Kauai Leonard was having that guy, you're like, oh, yeah, he's going to be fine. Yeah, yeah. And when he was working with me, he was working with Shaquille O'Neal at that time. And then he had gone on, I think he was with the Lakers for a bunch of years when Shaq was there. And then hadn't heard his name for a while. And then he surfaced last year, he got a lot of, obviously, a lot of media tape.

Especially in Canada, Toronto. Yeah. And the Raptors. Yeah. So, yeah, amazing. Amazing stuff. The guy was brilliant. Yeah.

That's interesting. Yeah, it was kind of neat. Well, you're hearing more and more of that, right? Like more and more, well, bandwork. Wade talked about, I can't even remember what he said, but he liked something very different. But you're starting to see, like, the yoga stretch. Yeah. dynamic stretching all that kind of stuff coming in lots of squats lots of uh instead of machines

a lot of um bar lifts right yeah if that makes sense yeah like all the guys are lean now like there's no there's no like you see connor macdave and all the guys like they're all lean there's no there's no bulkiness to the guys anymore like because there's no hitting like you don't have to like you get all your power through your legs and your core so they're you know, nobody's lifting all these heavy weights that they used to and bench pressing, you know, and back when I played, you know, they were testing your bench press. You know, how many bench press? So you work on your bench press, right? Like, so you're...

So it was your best bench press. Oh, I don't know. I was two-twenty. I used to bench 225, you know, a handful of times, but some guys, they'd rattle off like... 40 times. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We also used to do the bench press, squats, chin-ups. Yeah.

They're pretty standard across the door, no matter where you went. I don't think they do those anymore. Yeah, I really don't. Because imagine, I don't know, Connor McDavid, I don't think, do many bench press. You hear that, Connor? I'm curious how many you can. Maybe you can, but we met him the other, like a few weeks ago, and he didn't look like he was going to be bench pressing too much.

You can sure skate. Pardon the interruption, folks, but here's your IHD innovative question of the week. Later on in the podcast, Sean Horkoff and Mike Comrie used this object on each other. If you listen and hear the answer, give it to me via Sean Newman Podcast at gmail.com, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and you're entered 10 times for a bottle of Pink Whitney. Obviously, you've got to be of age to win. Now, back to the show. after after Toronto

you go to free agency what was your first free agency like because you weren't specifically in the time where free agency was a frenzy yeah right like TSN coin that or whatever

free agency frenzy that was in the time when free agency was actually yeah I was starting to kick off because now like I mean free agency is as a fan it's relatively boring

yeah they're still they're still jazzing up but it's really not really nothing there, right? The big day now is closer to the draft. There's a lot of movement at the draft. But back in your time, Free agency frenzy was happening. Yeah. No, I mean, you play, you couldn't wait to be an unrestricted free agent because that's, you know, you're hoping to get the pay raise, right? Yeah. So were you hoping to go back to Toronto, because, I mean, you guys had been competitive. Yeah, and I had, but I had a lot of injuries that

last year with Toronto. I did, I had a lot of, like, that's why I was working with Alex, but just a lot of core strength. What did you end up injuring? Oh, it's my stomach. And then I had a bunch of problems with my, well, just everything with my core. It was just really weak. And my hips would, I'd have to get my hips like aligned before every game. They would just, you'd hear a pop.

And I can't remember the, I can't remember the ligament. It's between your legs. but a lot of pregnant women, that gets stretched there. And yeah, for some reason it happened to me. And I literally would have no strength and once I got to pop back in,

I'd have all the strength that I needed. But all that had to be fixed. So after you did all these band work, it all came back? It all came back, yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah.

And so when I went to a free agency, though, I didn't get many offers. nothing that was all that great. And because I think PEMs are just, you know, they were leery that hadn't played too many games a year before. And I did have a decent playoff, but I got hurt in the first series against the Islanders. And but then played in the Ottawa, Carolina series.

And then Toronto, they were, yeah, they just, I think they wanted to just fine move on, right? And which is fine, that happens. But again, the injuries, like, they didn't want to pay me money if I was going to be hurt. And that's, I mean, you see that all the time. So I didn't end up not signing anything with anybody. And just sat out, just skated with the University of Toronto guys. Okay.

Skated with them and just kept doing these band exercises. And it actually probably added another three more years on my career just out rest because I signed with the Rangers in December. and that was because I was I was actually going to go play in the Spangler Cup Spangler Cup after Christmas and then I thought well maybe I'll hook up with a European team or something and then the ranger signed me sign me in December they had a bunch of guys go down with with some injuries so was that the period where you're just kind of sitting in limbo and yeah nothing's going on are you are you uh

It must be pretty tough on that. It was frustrating. It was frustrating. But, you know, I, you know, I just, yeah, you just keep yourself busy doing things and try to anyways. And we're watching and just, I knew for me it was, it was good for me. I just, I needed to get healthy and needed, I needed needed, needed that time to work on my body and get some rest. And actually, when I started playing again, it was maybe the best hockey I played in my career was with the Rangers. Those four months, you know.

Is that, uh, was safe. Sather there at that time? He was, yeah. So Sather gives you a call. Yep, yep. Signed. Needed me, sign literally. From Toronto, the hockey mecca of the world

to the New York Rangers, which is not far behind it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you think about playing in Madison Square? I love Madison Square Gardens. I probably had my, that was my favorite rank.

I think, I don't remember ever playing a bad game at Madison Square Gardens. Really? Yeah. It was one of those ranks just for whatever reason. Everything went right. Everyone in the way out, right.

Got a lot of goals there, a lot of points there. Because I think, like... I think maybe because the ice was so bad, everybody was slowed down. Frigg, you got on that team, and I don't know if... Yeah, he played 81 games at you. And I know Lindrosse at the time was not the Lindrosse of Bold. Right. But you still had Lindrosse, Mark Messier?

Yep. Holy crap. Oh, we had, bro. Brian Leach. Yeah. I was on the team. Sorry, I could keep going down. Nedved.

I could, here. Here, these are the old Rangers when we all thought of them at like the Yankees where they went around and just grabbed guys. They had your leading scores that year. Peter Nedved, Lindrosse, Tom Pody, Messier Barnaby. Barneby. Bobby Holyoke, Pavell Berry, Brian Leach. That was the top nine. Yeah.

Top eight. Yeah, and Pavv didn't play. Did he? Yeah. Burray only played 39 games. I actually kind of played after I left. He was hurt the whole first half. What was it like walking into that?

Yeah, it was awesome. My time with the Rangers was great. I was disappointed when I got traded from there. I was having a good time and playing really well. Casperitis was my partner. Probably my best partner I've ever had in my career. Really? What was that? We just had just really good chemistry together. He, when I got there, he was minus 15, I think. Okay. And when I left, he was plus one. No kidding. I was plus 11 or 12.

And he was, I think he was more disappointed than I was that he was pretty mad that I got traded because we really had good chemistry together. And yeah, it was neat playing with, like, always played against Eric with a big rivalry with Tampa and Philly back in the day and just seeing how hard he worked on the ice and off the ice like just the extra stuff he was always on the ice early last guy to leave like just he just loved hockey which I didn't you know it's kind of the first time I'd seen a a guy do like do that even in Toronto the guys didn't work out work as hard as he did on the ice like which you would never maybe be able to do that. don't give him enough credit for doing that, but that's why he was so good. And then Messia, I mean, guy, just legendary. You look at the guy, you're just instant respect. You don't want to let him down. Yeah.

You know, he'd get mad at some guys, and he'd just give him the desk there. You're just like looking at you're called. Thank God, he's not looking at me, right? No, kidding. He was awesome just to watch him and be the leader. he is. And then we had a lot of fun. Like Peter Nedved, he was, he was super fun. He just not a care in the world. Just love, love playing hockey and being, being himself. And Bobby Holik, another great player, like, um, such a good defensive player, like, so strong. And he was making

like, 10 million that year. He made a lot of, I was, as soon as he said his name, I'm like, I remember that contract. That's the contract that everybody went, um, here comes the salary cap. But you know what? He told me there was another team that was going to pay him the same price. Yeah, oh, that doesn't surprise me. That's what I mean for Asian Frenzy back in the day, right? Yeah, he was a good guy. And Brian Leach was amazing.

Like, that was the first time I had played with a superstar defenseman. And, like, unbelievable. He was unreal. So good. Yeah, that was fun to watch him. He had to play with some good defensemen, but nothing like him. before, yeah. And, yeah, then they kind of just had a mixed mash of guys after that.

They always had, like, if you look at the lineup there, there was all these guys who were like in and out of the miners. Well, they had Alex Kovlev, Rem Murray, Boris Mirrenov. Oh, Boris. Rico Fata, Anson Carter. Well, I got traded for Anson. It was Raddock Devorak and I for Anson. To Edmonton?

To Evanton, yeah. At this time, are you just a single guy bouncing around? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So are you even buying a place? You just rent? No, I lived in a hotel in New York because I signed December and I could stay in a hotel room with a suite. What did you think of living in a hotel? Yeah, it was fine.

It was fine. It was because it was just like a condo. Yeah. Exactly like a condo. It had a kitchen and everything in it. Yeah. And the practice rink, that was the first team that had taken practice rinks at a whole different level was the Rangers.

How so? Well, they have a private facility. Well, they still have it with the Rangers, the NICS and the Liberty, the women's NBA team. Okay. So private ice rink, dress room, private gymnasium. The only way you could get in was putting your hand on the scanner And it was all cordoned off compound

It was all cordoned off your cars and that And then you walk in, you got the theater room You got the huge weight room I mean everything was there And then they had the chef in the kitchen You just go over there for breakfast They feed your breakfast And then you go do your exercises

And go work out before practice and then after practice, go back to the kitchen and have your lunch. They were the first team that did that. Now they all do. Now all the teams do it. But that was the first. So just having that experience, it was pretty cool. Like, you know, being one of the guys that was able to enjoy that and being in a hotel.

So I didn't even, I never had breakfast. I just went there for breakfast and lunch. What was one of the coolest things about living in New York that you, you know, you're in for a week or two weeks and then you're like man this is didn't know about this yeah well i mean yeah it was just fun it was just just just a you get lost there you can you can see why guys go there and their careers go down because it's the city that can swallow you up pretty quick yeah yeah if you're if you don't have any self-control it's uh it's a tough city for you pretty much never sleeps, right?

Yeah, exactly. It's the only city I've ever got lost in. I was walking, which was probably a bad idea to begin with, but I was walking out one day to walk out of map. And I was looking at the map, and usually, I mean, from out here, we deal with land locations and, you know, directions, north, southeast, west, all the time, read maps since I was a kid, super good.

I was reading this map, and I thought I was walking to where the, Twin Towers monument was. And I ended up in Central Park. And for people who were like, well, where's that? That's a complete opposite. Exactly opposite. But it's the only place I've ever been where the sky scraper is just, you can't, you can't see it.

You just walk and you're just like, I think I'm going the right direction. Yeah, he's going to get turned around for sure. Yeah. So I can, I. Yeah, the traffic. So when I'm visiting, would you ever drive there? Like, you know, you're there. Would you ever want to rent a vehicle?

No. But, you know, once you start driving there, it's fine. Like, you just, you figure it out. I've never jaywalked so much in my life. Yeah, you figure it, you figure it out when you're driving. It's not a huge deal. It's just a lot of traffic, but it's pretty easy to get in and out of. Do you ever get used to the amount of people there?

No, no, that's something you just. Yeah, there's a lot of people there. I mean, some of those people have never left New York. Like, they've, those tax cab drivers, like, there's been times where we play the devils and we'll go downtown and want to get a cab back to Jersey and cab drivers look like they have no idea how to get there like this before GPS and all that and they're like no we've never been outside of New York so yeah how was the trap I meant to ask this earlier going from Tampa who's kind of you know on the very outskirts of the league

going to well Toronto but now you're in New York how's the travel in there where you can like you're so close to it oh so nice like was that a huge deal huge deal it was so so much better you know and then you go to Evanston it was like it was a nightmare but in New York

well you drive to the island for for a game for the games you just meet the team there and then Washington we took the train Philadelphia took the train So the train runs right into Madison Square Gardens. So at the bottom of Madison Square Gardens is the train station, right? Yeah. So we'd practice and then or go to the rink and then take the elevator down to where the train tracks are.

And you had to take this back route through a little bit of a maze and it's kind of through warehouses, the warehousing a little bit. And then a guy would lead you and then all of a sudden, bang, there's a private train right there. You guys had a private train? Yeah, you just get on the train and away you go and then you come out and you're across the river and yeah, it was, that was a great way to travel. Love the train. Yeah, it was awesome. I know you hear media guys talk about it every once in a while about how the travel there helps teams because they're not, you know, not you talk about Amiton, you pretty much fly everywhere. Yeah.

Because nothing's close. Calgary's two hours away, I guess. other than that, everything is. Yeah, and then, you know, drive to the airport. The airport was far, seemed far back then, and minus 30. But, you know, the rain is, the travel is so much better out east. And it's a big deal. It is a big deal.

Yeah, it is a big deal. Yeah, you're in your bed almost every night. So. So as a team trying to sign prospective Corey Cross Free Agent, teams just have a leg up everyone, because if you're New York, for instance, travel, you can just sell that card easy. Yeah, you could, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's way easier in the East, that's for sure. What do you think of getting, so you kind of, you mentioned it, what did you think of getting traded out west? Well, I was surprised, but I was happy. I mean, I, you know,

Evanton going to be in my hometown and I was excited about coming home. So that was exciting. Young team, really good group of guys. So, and then, you know, my family was excited to. My dad's always been an order fan. These were the fun Oilers. Yeah. Like, no knock on the Oilers right now.

I just could be the times, could be how expensive it feels like it is to a game. but these were like the blue collar team like they were fun to watch I was looking at their line up when I printed this off and I was like oh man this is this is my jam right yeah Ryan Smith was your leading score but then you had Todd Marchant and Anson Carter who were like the best duo for for penalty killing yeah yeah yeah you had Mike York Mike Comrie Sean Horcroft Ethan Morrill like this entire list I just look down ooh Georgie LaRock right like They were a lot of fun.

I mean, all those guys, you know, obviously in, well, it was like three short years that were in the Stanley Cup final, right? That's right. Who did you get traded for in that deal? So it was Radic DeVorak and I for Anson Carter. Because I think Anson was coming up to, he was going to be a free agent. I think you're right. Yeah.

And, yeah. So, yeah, I know the people in Edmonton were just, they were just mad. I remember reading, when I got to Evanton, I think the headline said, worst trade ever. Do you let that play into your, like, does that bother you? Whatever, I mean, no, it just gives you a little bit of a little edge, you're like, okay, well, we'll have to, we'll have to prove them that it wasn't that bad, you know, but, you know, Anson, Anson struggled, I think after, after that, he, I think it was the next

year I had just as many points as him, I think, you know, but he's, you know, Anson was a good player, though. He played really well in Evanston. But he went to New York and he got a little lost there. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, yeah, I was happy the way I played in Evanston, you know, and... Was it tough, like, being back around an area where, like, your family and friends and everybody... It was fun because there was lots of people at the games that I always knew and there people were getting hold of me that I hadn't seen in years or I'd see him at the game. games after the games and and um it was it was a fun it was a fun experience just kind of being home again right playing in front of your family and your friends and uh i i really enjoyed it you know

we got played in the winter classic and that was the very first winter classic you played in the winter classic when they had it in like minus 30 and tukes and everything else at uh yeah yeah the stadium yeah commonwealth yeah that was the first year they did it yeah i remember that yeah what was that like It was cold. It was really cold. Really cold. Yeah, no, I mean, that's probably why it was so memorable, because it was so cold. At the time, were you going, this sucks? Or were you going like, this? Like, this is unreal, but I'm freezing my butt off. It was cool. Like, I remember running into Joe Juno, he was in Montreal, ran into him the night before.

And he was all bitter. He's like, wow, we shouldn't be playing regular season outside. And I was like, really, like, this is going to be a great experience. You're going to remember all the rest of your life. Your veteran guy, you know, just enjoy it. Like, I was like, I couldn't believe he was being so sour about it. I'm like, yeah, it's going to be cold, but who cares? Like, you're going to remember this for the rest of your life. And that's why it was.

And they ended up winning. And actually, I think it was, you know, those two points hurt us, it hurt us later in the year. We lost, we missed the playoffs by two points. And so you look back at it, well, maybe we should have played, you know, but I mean, it was, it was such memorable, memorable night. And look now, like now it's just, everybody else's an outdoor game. Now it's a little bit, it's almost, it's almost watered down. Yeah, a little saturated. It's, it's still a very, like, cool. It's a cool experience for the players. And, and for the fans, like, fan, I mean, it's just as, but now instead of having one, because that, that, that, that was, that, that was, it's, it's,

the first that was really cool yeah yeah and it was cool watching the alumni game beforehand yeah exactly yeah and now it's just like it's just become a very calling place thing right yeah yeah yeah no it was it was so neat and then i i had so many people we we actually i actually reserved a restaurant got a small restaurant after the game and just all family and friends went to the restaurant after and had a great big party and food and that it was just a blast like I'm so glad I did it

even now like they'll show the games and people say hey I saw you in the I didn't realize you played in that outdoor game and I think I got the first penalty in the game so I got on the score sheet so you know but it was a great experience great experience

what was playing with Georgie LaRock like George's I'm you know I go back to this we had our first one we did was before the boundary battle of Alberta here in Lloyd, yeah, right, yeah, he was supposed to have you and George on together. Oh, yeah, that would have been fun. And then, you know, I say it, my listeners

probably heard a hundred times now, but Casey, my newest son is going to hear about the rest of his life, right? You're the son who came too early and I missed out and having crossed the rock and the scene. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which would have been a lot of fun. Yeah, but that was good, yeah. You know, George is an interesting guy.

I sat beside George for my three years. Did you? Oh, yeah, and I babysat him, calmed him down. I was like his, just George, just let it go, man. But he's a fun-loving guy, just a big kid, just a big kid. He just... What would get Georgie worked up? Not much.

Very rarely saw him get mad. Probably saw him get mad twice, the three years I played with. him. One was Sean Avery. He got really mad at Sean Avery for some of Sean had said to him. And he was going to, he wanted to kill. He was so mad. Yeah. Avery had that waited. Waited for him after the game actually in L.A., outside the back. And Avery was pretty lucky that there was guys around to stop him. And then George got mad at a guy in Brant Myers in a preseason game and beat my eyesy up really really badly and uh but those are really the only two times ever

seen george get mad and um he just loved to have fun he was just he was never serious he was just always gang like joking around gambling on whether he's going to make a basket with his tape ball and gambling on betting on everybody and everything and um oh it's so funny he's quite the character I was asking Lance Ward last episode If you go playing in a couple of northern places On the All-Star break, did you guys have a spot you'd go? No, not really. No, I can't remember to me in the All-Star break.

Did you have a place then? You circled on the schedule where This is a fun place to go out Like the boys' rookie party have you, was there specific spot? Oh yeah, we always, yeah, when the first. The season when the schedule came out, guys were like, okay, when can we have our rookie party? That was, yeah, the date is definitely circled. Yeah.

Was there a specific spot you tried to hit? No, it just worked. You just had to do it with the schedule. Like, if you had a couple days between games, you just had to take that spot, wherever it was. You couldn't be picky because you don't get a lot of days off in the NHL, especially on the road. You're on the road. Usually you're playing your games and you're coming home. So very rarely are you away for, like you have two days before, between games.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we had a rookie parties in Anaheim, New York, Quebec City. New York one was probably the best I've ever had. What was that? In Edmonton. It was a fun night. I can't really go into too many specifics.

This is to say we had a rookie race. It was a lot of fun. No, a lot of fun. A lot of And, you know, Florida was always a fun place for a rookie party because it was warm. Everybody's always happier and in a warm spot. Absolutely.

But, yeah, you just had to pick different cities wherever the schedule allowed. Who was coaching when you came to Edmonton? Mack T. Yeah. What did you think of MacT? Yeah, we had our times. We had our differences, I think.

At first it was good. And then, yeah, just the relationship soured for sure. I mean, I, he, I started having a lot of back problems. And, and we had it out one time in the video room. Over. Over a stupid thing that he thought I did. And it was just ridiculous. He, yeah, it was, a guy was coming down on my left wing.

And this is my first, so this was my first full year in Edmonton. And I was having a really good year. I think I scored seven goals that year. And I thought I was playing good. I'd kind of tailed off for a week or so. I hadn't played great. And he goes, come here, I got to show you something. So we go in the video room and pulls up this video and this guy's coming down on my left side.

And just outside the blue lines winds up for a slap shot. And I pivoted so I could go get the puck on the table. dump in and the guy shot it and picked up the puck and I don't know what happened after that he's like you flamingoed here I go what he's like look at you flamingo here I'm like I don't know I'm pivoting to go get the puck why would I stand in front of the goalie guy's not going to score from here he's like he's outside the blue line and I'm just going to go get the puck I know he's shooting it in and then he got in my face like you ever flamingo I'm going to embarrass you in front of the team

And then I got in his face because I was right mad. And I told him I never flamingled in my life. And I never will. And got a raid back in his face. And after that, the relationship wasn't quite the same. Wasn't quite the same. No. So, yeah.

What do you think of all this stuff that's been coming out about, well, Mike Babcock's been a guy who's been getting drugged in the mud. He was saying he off air, like last word last episode. He said case point, he thought Mike Babcock was the best coach he had. He was very detail-oriented, told him exactly what he needed to do to be in the lineup. Yeah, I mean, all the coaches have their guys. They have their guys that they crap on or stomp on, whatever it is, or the beating boys.

I mean, you've seen it when you played. They have their guys that they love and never say a bad word. Like, every coach has it. And I know that there's a lot of things that coaches have done that are totally wrong. And, you know, and it's, it's kind of nice to hear guys come out, but, you know, it's kind of been done, too. Like, it was a different time back then. Well, I was saying, if you read the Brian Kilray book, or probably any book from that time, and you listen to some of the stories and things he had done to him back in the,

where that had been the 60s and 70s, roughly then. It's like, you can't even compare it to now. No, it was just a different time. Just a different time. and things were allowed. Things, that was just the way it was. And so, I mean, the whole racial thing, like, that's just wrong. Oh, agreed.

And it doesn't matter what age, like, you know, what year. That's just, that's just so wrong. But it's the other stuff. Yeah, I mean, the coaches, you know, these coaches are getting paid, getting paid a lot of money. It's their livelihood, and they're trying to get the best out of each guy. Well, and on top of that, if you're not playing while they're the first guy. Yeah, they're gone. Yeah. So how do you keep your job? Well, you've got to motivate these players who are getting paid a lot of money. And so you, I mean, you try every trick in the book. And a lot of those tricks are way offside. I mean, and I'm sure Bows would be the first guy to admit it. I mean, the stuff you did with Marner, that's just offside with a young kid. But, I mean, the list is very long with a lot of coaches. Like the stuff you do and you look back at it after a few years, like, what the heck was I?

thinking. And you could, I bet you every coach in NHL right now has done things that they would look back and say, that was just so stupid. But I was frustrated, didn't know what to do with the guy, how am I going to motivate this guy? Because if I don't motivate him, I'm going to lose my job because the team is going south. And, yeah, it's just, yeah, that's tough. Who is your best coach? Well, my best coach was my university coach, Billy Moore's, like, hands down. I mean, he was, He was a guy that just demanded respect. He was just so respectful to all the players. He knew the game inside and out.

He was just a guy you would skate through the wall for. He would do whatever he said and you would go the extra mile for him. And just so smart. I mean, he taught me how to play hockey. There wasn't too many guys after Billy Moore's that taught me really anything new. he just he was that brilliant of a of a hockey guy yeah yeah he was by far the the best coach out of all like all the connections you know with the with the hockey knowledge the ability to get your players and motivate the players and and the respect that he had so that's pretty cool

I mean every guy at a different time in his career has the best coach that does exactly what he did for you or yeah yeah exactly yeah i'm always a little bit surprised though that it isn't you know i don't know not mac t particular but that an nchal guy yeah yeah you know the coaching it's funny the coach the coaches back then they weren't that good like they there were just more figureheads than anything you know and they had their assistant coaches who were kind of the quiet guys and um they would do whatever, you know, kind of the X-N-O stuff. And the head coach was just the figurehead, kind of the motivator. And, you know, I was really disappointed.

I thought, oh, man, this guy's coach me in the university. I can't wait. I mean, coached the NHL. And it wasn't that. It wasn't even close. Yeah, it wasn't even close. Yeah. Which is kind of crazy to think.

Yeah. Yeah. But back in the, I mean, there wasn't a lot of X-N-O's back when I played, too. like, guy like Terry Crisp, like it was like Harley, jock the mirrors, like, Pat Quinn even. Like, it was just, let's just go play. Babs, Babs is very, Babs is very detailed. You know, he knew his stuff. He knows his stuff.

He knows how to coach. He knows how to run a bench. Was he in Detroit when you were in Detroit? Yeah, he was Detroit, yeah. I mean, you were only in Detroit for a very short, brief stint. Yeah. But then a lot of those coaches are so stubborn, like MacTie. was so stubborn, Babs is so stubborn, and some of it was stubborn, you know, just, I don't know,

it was more blindness with, you know, just your ego just blinded you with some stuff, I think. And I think that's caught up to, caught up to both of them eventually in their careers. Our system's never changed, like in Empton, we played a 2-1-2 with a deep pinch, and over and over again, and you look at our lineup, like, you've got to have fast skating defense to play that system. And you've got a fast skating for us as well. It's not a lot of, a ton of speed on the back end in Edmonton.

And when they made the playoffs, they decided to play the trap. And they go to the final. And I know who told them to play the trap. It was Charlie Hudding and Bly Moore's. Like those are the guys that finally talked him into doing it because he wanted to play a certain way every single game. And it just wore you down.

Like, that's just skating all the time. you know, I just, you know, at an 82 game season, you just can't do it. So, yeah. Too many games in the NHL? Well, they got to make, owners got to make their money. Everybody's got to make money, right? Let's say if money wasn't an issue, which I know we're in Fantasyland. Yeah.

Is 80 too many? Oh, that's a lot of games, yeah. Especially in March. Mars. Was the league shortened season when they did 40, was that 49? 52. Yeah, something like that, yeah. Was that better?

or worse? Well, it was better, well, just because you started late, so you had that extra rest. But I wish they would have more games early in the year. More games early in the year and less games later in the year. Because you're so beat up, but it's reversed. They don't play as many games in October, November, and then in March, they just jam them all in in April. You never noticed that? So a ton, you're playing every second night.

March and April. As a fan, I, as a fan, 82 games a lot. I love the playoffs because it's a playoffs. And, I mean,

was the season ticket holder, are you going to go to 41 home games? Lots of people do, but, lots of people do. You know, you couldn't, you couldn't pay me,

you couldn't pay me to do it. It's a lot. The reason why, I mean, you can never be the NFL per se, because the NFL has got a game where they play once a week, It's on the same day.

Well, now it's not on the same day, but, you know, and they have the same kind of thing. It's beautiful because, I mean, it's so easy to, as a fan to watch. You got one game to watch. Watch it. That's right. That's right. Yeah, it's done for a week.

Yeah, you get psyched up for a full week and then you're ready to watch again, right? Yeah, that's right. And every game means so much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And NHL, I mean, I can't imagine, you know, being a diehard baseball fan. A hundred and, like, frig, how do you even pay attention to that long? Like as a player, once you hit like, you know, your first season, I'm assuming it doesn't matter.

82 games, you're loving it. Second season, third season, four season. Yeah, it gets long. But eventually it's got to get long. It's a job. It's a great job. Unbelievable job. It's a fantastic job.

But it's like any job. There's days you do not want to go into the work. And it's like any job, right? I mean, and then you don't even think about what you're getting paid. Yeah, you're getting paid lots of money. But you're entertaining people. It's, it, your body's beat up, you're tired, you've been on the road. You're getting told it's the worst trade and history.

I mean, you can say it's all excuses, not. But it's, it's life. Like, and when you're working, there's days you don't want to go into work, right? Yeah. It's, but, yeah, it was, I mean, I've never, I'd never give it back a million years. I loved it, but, but, but, yeah, and maybe people don't understand, won't, wouldn't understand it, what I'm saying, but. It is tough. It is a tough way to make a living.

The fanboy in me wants to know what was skating out underneath the oil Derek like? Well, it was cool. It got you jazzed up for sure. Can you please tell me why they didn't put it in the new rink? I never even thought of that. Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know. I would love to get whoever on this bloody thing to tell me why they didn't put it in the new ring. Yeah, that's right. I never thought about it. that.

Grew up as a kid watching that thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the coolest thing in the world. Yeah, it's really cool. It was very cool. And then now they don't have it. Yeah. Hmm.

Yeah, maybe it was just, uh... Oh, sight lines and all that. Maybe it's too much money to put the Derek in there. Oh, yeah, right. They spent all the money already. Oh, man, that was like... What'd you think of the old Coliseum? I guess by that time it was Rexall place.

Yeah. Well, you know, it always had the best ice playing against them. It was legendary for the best ice was in Edmonton. But by the time I got to Evanton, you know, everything was getting old. So the ice wasn't as good as it was in the previous years that I had remembered it. It just slowly kind of got worse and worse. But it just got old, right? I mean, go to this new stadium is unbelievable.

It is unbelievable. I mean. Like they spared no costs whatsoever. Except for the oil, Derek. Except for the oil, Derek. Somebody really needs to tell me what went on there. I'd like to say it's sitting in the dress room, but it's not in the dress room. I was seeing the dress room.

It's not in there. Maybe it's old back. I don't know. Yeah, they're using it for... Seinearola Husky's using it. Well, times I'm tough. I want to talk to you about, in the first, we talked about you going over to, what is it, Sweden? Germany.

Germany for the world championships. Oh, for the world championships. Oh, for the world championships. Finland. Where did you go for the second time? Second time was Switzerland, and then the third time was back to Finland. So I went three times. Went three different years.

But you went three times? Yeah, three times, yeah. Twice and won gold. Twice one gold, yeah. One gold both times in Finland. So in 97 went to Finland. One gold, 98 went to Switzerland. We ended up fifth or six.

And then in 2003, so after when I got traded to Edmonton, there was actually six of us, went to the World Championships from the Ointers to Finland, and we won gold again. What was, what, uh, I know we talked about it a little bit last time, but getting a throw on the Canadian jersey had to be something special. You're not getting paid to go over there and do that, correct? No, no, no. That's like totally let's go have a fun.

Yeah, yeah. Boy, see what we can do. Yep. On that, uh, team you played on the last time and won gold, you had, uh, Roberto Lalago in that? Mm-hmm. Well, he was there, a bad guy. backup. Sean Burke was playing number one. He was number one, yeah. Who was your D-partner in that

turnie? Matthew Dandenil from Detroit. Did you, when you went to tournaments like that, were you excited to see who they were going to stick you with? Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it's always fun to play with different guys and meet different guys. And Matthew, yeah, I didn't know him, you know, didn't know him at all. And yeah, we connected. We had a real good chemistry together, too. He liked to rush the puck, and so I just stayed back and watch him go. But, yeah, I was kind of a late pickup to that year as well. And so I wasn't too sure.

I just showed up. And the tournament was starting the next day. I showed up. Hop on the ice. Let's do this. And I was the only guy with a guy named Mike Polino was their assistant coach. And it was, I think it was me and Lou.

Luongo, we were out on the ice together. We're just the two of us, just for a morning skate because we had like a 4 o'clock. game against Latvia, I think. And it was funny because Luongo want to work on his wraparound on the wraparounds. So here I'm at defense and I'm like working on a wraparound. Like when do I ever wrap around a puck? So honestly God, that night we're playing Latvia.

And I did not score on a wrap round. I scored on a wrap round. Scored on a wrap round? On Arder's Urbe. That's awesome. Oh, it was so funny. Did you go handshake Roberto after and say thanks for that? Well, it was like, because Mike Polino, after I scored, he comes down and he's just beaming.

He's like, thank God we worked on those this morning. I was like, oh, so hilarious. Yeah. The hockey gods. No kidding. No kidding. Like how many times do you do something silly like that and then the next day it trends? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I always laugh when a guy, you know, not quite the same, but forgets his helmet and has some weird new bucket on and then scores like a hatty and forgets his gloves and puts somebody's new on and right yeah yeah yeah it just seems like it always seems to work it that way we work work it self out yeah yeah you score one yeah what was the toughest team to play in those tournaments was it uh Sweden yeah Sweden was always really good uh I know a Czech Republic always had a good team Finland Finland would play hard um I don't remember I don't know if, yeah, we played Russia. Maybe we played Russia once or twice. Their teams were always just a lot of, like, at that time, it was, like, they were Russian

guys, not guys from the NHL. Yeah, Sweden and Finland checked, they're always strong teams. Yeah. Because everybody played harder when you were playing for your country, right? And the guys that maybe didn't play so hard in the NHL would go there and they'd be unbelievable. And you're just like, wow, like, Jesus, I wish he would have played a little harder when he was with, you know, playing with me during the year. But it's just nationalism, you know, you're pretty proud of representing your country, right? There's, I always, I'm pretty sure I say this to all guys.

I wish, I wish I could have been good enough to have worn the Canadian jersey. I'm sure a lot of kids say that. Yeah. Like, that would have been a lot of fun. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it was a highlight of my career. Yeah, for sure. A couple of world championships.

Yeah. the gold medal just sitting in your house then? Oh yeah, I got them all in in the shadow box, two shadow boxes. Yeah, they're definitely the highlight of the Walk by, hello there are old friends. Well, yeah, I got to tell a funny story because the one band of my gold medal

is all discolored. And people always say, why is that so discolored? It's really obvious. And so the story was, so, you know, when you first go over there, it's just a team. So guys are having fun, like going out, having a few pops and having some good team bonding stuff. And then the families come over, like wives, like you're allowed to bring one guest over on Team Canada's, you know, they'll pay for one guest. And then sometimes there's, you know, moms and dads come over to and your wife. and then the fun kind of stops,

like the team bonding, it stops, right? But some guys don't bring anybody over or they bring a buddy over or a brother, so their fun is still continues, right? And Comory, Mike Comrie and Kyle Collarie, I think it was Mike Commering and Kyle Calder, I think it was Kyle, but it was for sure Comrie.

They wanted Horcoff to come out. And Horcoff's, wife had just gotten there. He's like, no, I'm not coming out. So they unscrewed his eye, the eye, what do you call it? The people. They unscrewed the people from the hallway. And they stuck a fire extinguisher in the, in the eye, in the peephole, and shot a fire extinguisher out, thinking that just a little bit would come out. Well, the whole thing extinguished. And it just, Once it got into the room, it just, it really went all over the place. This happened in Horikov's room?

And it was a little bit of a, like, MC was, yeah, it was a definite whoops, right? They didn't think that was going to happen. And anyways, we go on, they got a new room and they cleaned it up and then. Bad joke, bad joke. It's just team candy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe I shouldn't be telling this story, but anyways. Boys will be boys.

Yeah, yeah. So after the final game, we win, and we're all celebrating. I'm kind of with all the other guys. Mike Comrie MC is, he's sitting on the bench, and I'm standing in front of them, and we're having some celebrations with some beer. And all of a sudden, I looked over my right shoulder, and there's Horcoff. And he's got a fire extinguisher in his hand.

And he is standing, literally, like, three feet from Comrie, and shoots his fire extinguisher off, right at MC, just nails him, just poof. And he is completely white. And I'm like, and then Horcoff goes to turn off, and as he's turning off, he can't turn it off and he's like the thing comes up hammers me and hammers a couple of other people well he can't turn it off

so the thing extinguishes in the room while everybody is running out of the room because there's just I don't know what that stuff is in there but it's very potent right? It's not good no and the whole place is white and my eyes are burning MC is completely white head to toe

my face is white and so we jump in the shower trying to wash this stuff off and come out and everybody's gone out in the dress room and everybody's on the ice everybody's on the has gone on to the

ice to keep celebrating and so that's why now everybody goes on you know how they win in the Olympics or whatever they go on the ice and they celebrate on the ice you're telling me they celebrate on the ice because Horikoff smashed

Mike Commer with a fire extinguisher because previously they'd unscrewed a people and splashed him with it. Yeah, that's how the whole tradition started. Well, that's good.

And so I was wearing my metal and all that stuff got on my ribbon on my metal and that's why it's all discolored. Yeah, but who cares? That's a great story. It leads to that story, right? Let me tell you this story.

I don't even know what to say it. I'm still trying not to try. He's laughing. That was good. Patty Marlowe is on that team. Yeah. He was young Patty Marlow then. Young Patty Marl.

Yeah. What do you think a guy? He's been struggling a little bit this year, but for a guy his age still playing? Was he 402 or three? I don't know what he is. Oh, I think he's 41, isn't he? I'm not sure. But he was such a mild manner guy back then.

Harley said two words, right? And what a career he's had, man. Just the real, you know, for the longest part, he was, the longest time, he was 40. He's born in 79. Yeah. So nobody knew him. Nobody knew him.

Like he was the most underrated guy in the league, I think. You know. And, well, everybody knows him now, right? Yeah. So quite the career he's had. Yeah, well, on. Hats off to anyone who can play that. Oh, gosh.

And being, and being productive. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. What's the biggest thing you miss about being, done. You've been done now for several years, but I mean, like... Well, you always miss the paycheck. Can't lie about that.

Fair enough. But it's the adrenaline rush. Like skating through the dark. That adrenaline rush, the time you hit the ice for, you know, to start the game, that adrenaline rush you have will never, I don't know if it can ever be matched to anything you do now. On the Sean Newman podcast hasn't done that for you?

It was close. It was close second. Close second. But yeah, I have never found anything that's given me that kind of adrenaline rush and I'm not a wild and crazy guy anyways to do something

a stunt like or whatever. But, you know, people are like, well, don't you get excited to play a different sport or something? I was just like, well, no, it doesn't match what I used to feel when I step on the, He played at the best league in the world for some of the most scrutinized teams in the sport.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. There's just a packed building and people screaming at you and you score a goal and the place goes ballistic. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing better, right? What was the coolest thing he ever got to skate out of? The Derek. Was it the Derek?

I don't know if I skate out of anything else. I can't tell if you're making fun of me right now, right? In Detroit, you would have got to skate out of the octopus, no? Or was it not there? Oh, I don't. Geez, I don't really recall. Obviously, you can tell I pay attention to what team skated out. Yeah, exactly.

It's a big thing for yourself, yeah. Well, you see Vegas down to get the helmet comes down? They skate through that and like, oh, that's pretty badass. The shark in San Jose. Yeah, the shark in San Jose, the octopus in Detroit? Yeah, no, I don't think I, I think it was the only, Derek was the only thing I skate out of, I think. Well, and then Derek it is. Yeah.

So Derek was the coolest thing. Yep. I know you're laughing at you now. Bring it back. Got to bring it back. They got to bring it back. Got to bring it back. We should get on Twitter and start. It's all about creating an atmosphere in a building.

What do they call? But they say about the new building. There's no atmosphere in it. Well, for one, right at the start of the game, they just skate out. Well, gee, that's great. Put the Derek back in there. Have some fireworks. Have a bigger Derek.

Imagine the size of Derek that could be in there now. Now you're just being a smart ass. huge Derek be like five times the size of the old one what a jackass what about Pittsburgh and Detroit

I know they were very brief stints yeah but you got to go into a Pittsburgh team that had Sydney Crosby yeah what was that like even for the very short time yeah it was real

short. It was, yeah, it was just a blip. But Sydney, Sydney was his first year in the league, and he was just learning things. You know, he was back then, he was just trying to feel his way, you know, into the league and how he's supposed to act and, you know, talented, like, he could just tell he was going to be a superstar. I mean, things he did. But, I mean, it was so quick, hardly played. They brought me in there, and then I played, like, the first two games, and then hardly played. hardly played any games there and um yeah the co i mean they were last place so they're just gonna i said to craig patrick so i'm not sure why why even

traded for me like and he's like well i want to bring in some leadership in that but you know coaches he just wants to play the young guys and give them get them the experience so which totally get it totally totally totally get it and i said well you know if you can if you can move me at the deadline be great you know i don't have to keep sitting here and i mean all the veteran guys were saying that. All the veteran guys there were like, get us out of here if you can, right? And I think, yeah, Recky and I, yeah, Recky and I got traded.

And, yeah, all the other guys were a little ticked that they didn't get moved. But I was lucky I went from, went to Detroit from there. Yeah. What was going from Pittsburgh, bottom in the league, but superstar in the making, to favorite player, loved to ever get him on this

podcast, Stevie Y. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, well, you know, it's funny because I ran into, we were, I was in Tampa a year and a half ago with some oil patch buddies. We were playing in a hockey tournament down there. Okay. Down there on a boys trip. And I, and I went, we went to a morning skate.

And Stevie Y was there, so obviously stopped and said hi. And he was, he was talking to one of his video guys. And, um, Steve was like, and the video guys said, yeah, we're just, I just, I just, I, So what, you guys, you know, how's the team going? And Steve's like, yeah, we're just, you know, he said it goes, we're just, you know, lacking a little bit of leadership. And which is kind of interesting that he said that with Stamco Serra. But sometimes just takes guys years to learn.

And I was telling that I started, my two buddies were there with the video guy. And I said, you know what, Stevie? Like, for what I remember the most for me getting traded is, is you called me when I landed in Detroit. there was a voicemail on my phone and it was you and you had just called me to welcome me to the team and congratulate my daughter just been born a couple days earlier so you congratulate me on that and he goes you know if there any any any questions you have or any concerns just give me a call if not I'll see a practice tomorrow so it was like a five-second message but but I said to say you know what that was you know you didn't have to do that like I was a veteran in the league and playing 12 years

but just that phone call meant the world you know I always remember it and it just showed the kind of leadership you were like the leader you were for the team to just welcome me to the team it was so so cool

and Steve was like he didn't remember because it was like it was for him was like nothing like you know just something he probably did to all the guys but but for a new guy coming into a team it was spoke volumes right so that's why I always lean back

on Detroit being such a special organization. They had Stevie Y there, which was a huge part of it. But from the stories I've read, Stevie Y had to be groomed into leading somewhat like that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. They all get, everybody has to be groomed a little bit, right? Absolutely. But those little things go, well, look at it.

Yeah, yeah. I'm still talking about. I still talk about it. That's unreal. Yeah. And, you know, and it was the ownership in Detroit, too, the Lich's, like, they were loved. Like, like, you know. When you see film and them winning the Stanley Cup, the illiches were right there.

And all the guys, they just speak so highly of the illiches, right? And that's, and that just carries through the organization. So that's probably why it's such a good, good team, good organization to be with. It says you only played 16 games at here. So I got trade at the deadline, trade deadline. So that was March 9th. So what did you get, you played playoff then? So I played 16 games.

I was Nick, Nicholas Cronwell's my partner, got scored on once. I was playing really good. Say that again, you got only scored on once? Yeah. You and Nicholas Cronwell? Yeah. Only scored on once. Yeah.

Yeah. So I was real happy the way things were going, and then, and then playoffs started and we're playing the Oilers. So I'm jazzed. I'm like, because I could just got, I got traded earlier in the year. I got traded to Pittsburgh from. And I'm just can't wait.

I'm sorry. This isn't funny to you, but sorry. So I can't wait to play them. And then we go to practice, the first practice before the playoff start. And they've called up an American League kid, Brett Lebda, and put him in the lineup and sat Jason Woolley and I. And, yeah, I was so disappointed. I was like, I really didn't know what to say. And actually, Woolly, he came away, he goes, I'm more mad that you're not playing than I'm not playing.

He goes, that's, you know, that's bull crap. He's like, you know, he was really vocal. And I didn't want to, I thought about going to talk to Babs and seeing what, you know, what's up. But I'd be like, you know what? If it doesn't want me in the lineup, there's a reason. And I just kind of left it. And then I'm thinking, okay, well, I'll get in the lineup at some point. We win the first game, so obviously they don't change the lineup.

And then we lose the second game. So I'm thinking, okay, now they're going to change something. And then the third game, they don't dress again back in Edmonton. We win that game. Fourth game, we lose. But then now, and I'm thinking, okay, well, now I haven't played four straight games. They're probably not going to change the lineup anyways because, and then we lose game five and we lose game six.

and we're out. I have to say this. The only reason I laugh at this story is you're giving me probably one of the fondest memories in my boiler history came at your expense. Yeah, exactly.

Because as an other fan, I was alive when Grexie and them were winning cups, but I don't remember any of that. I remember the dark 90s where we worked our butt off and the fondest memories you have are beating Dallas and

like best the sevens where we had no business and Curtis Joseph stood on his head. The fond of the fond of the fond of the fond of the fond of the fond of the fond of honest memories that year. Right. And that year, we were an eight seed playing the Detroit Red Wings, and I kind of forgot you were on that team.

Yeah. And, well, heck, that was, like, I'm telling you, the best memories of those. But that sucks. I guess didn't even dawn on me that you were a part of that organization. You must have thought, you had the world by the tail, because, I mean, that team later on, years later goes to win on in cut. That team was loaded. Well, when I got traded, so when I got called

and I got traded, like I'm in the hospital, Shannon just had our baby. And so I'm in the hospital, I'm like, holy crap. I said, this is my chance. This is going to be our chance to win. You know, we, you know, went from last place to first place in a phone call and so stoked, so stoked.

And were they president's trophy winner that year? Yeah, yeah, we won the president's trophy that year. Yeah. I guess that was the the jinks, right? Yeah, that was the jinks. But, um... Well, listen to the names you walked on.

Oh, it was amazing. Dadsook, Zetterberg, Shanahan, Lidstrom. You walk in that dress room, man, it was who's who of... It was ridiculous. Like, there's even, I go down the list. Chris Chelyos was on that team that year. Nicholas Cromwell, which everybody remembers.

Maltby. Franz and Chris Draper. Oh, we're an amazing team. Stevie Y. We had amazing team. Mani Legacy didn't play as well as he should have. He had a really good year, but then came up. I should point out Robert Lang as well in there.

Yeah. Came up a little short in the playoffs, Mani. We just got out-gold-tended. Rolson played real well for them. Raleigh play. Yeah. Roling was like on another level. Yeah.

And so Osgood, Osgood was the backup. And Mani didn't play all that well in the second game. So Ozzy was thinking he might be in the third game. Well, we go for morning skate, just the guys that weren't playing in Ozzy to get some shots on him. He pulled his growing. No shit. Pulled his growing, so he didn't get in the lineup. So, you know, who knows, right?

But Ozzy was a real money goalie. Well, years later, he was the guy who put in that. Yeah, he came up big when needed. But, yeah, I mean, just the orders just, grinding them down, like just the physicality of the team. You know, to be plus, or not plus one, to only get one goal scored against you, it's like what more do you want me to do? Yeah.

Yeah, no, I was really disappointed. But, yeah, what can you do? After, after, that was your last season in the NHL. Yeah, that was last, yeah. Was it, was there offers to come back or was it? There were some two-way offers. Yeah, but I was, I was done. And I was, you know, my back was totally done.

My back was done the year before. Like, the only reason I could play another year was there was a lockout. The lockout kind of survived another year because of the lockout, just another year of rest. But, yeah, I was, I couldn't skate. My skating was labored just because my back. And it was, I was pain. I was in pain every day, every day. So it was, I was done.

mentally and physically I was just done. Has the pain gone away? It still comes back. You play, you know, something, you know, I still play once a week, which isn't enough, right? But then the old, the sores come back and, yeah, but it's, I mean, my back's way better than it used to be. I mean, I could hardly get out of bed, you know, sometimes, especially on the road when you're on a different bed. I assume too by the end bouncing around from city to city was probably tough on your wife at the time and now you have a family Yeah, yeah, she was oh she well I mean we met in Ementon so really went to Pittsburgh in Detroit

Yeah so it wasn't all that tough on her I mean you know she she wish I were to play she was always pushed well play you know sign with these guys Try to play longer right try to play longer sign with Florida yeah yeah yeah yeah she wanted to experience a lifestyle a little bit more But then we went to Germany, and we had a, it was a great experience. What did you think, the Elite League in Germany? It was good. It was good. You know, it was really comparable to the American League. What did you think of the fans over there? The fans were amazing.

I mean, European hockey is, it's amazing. It's made by the fans. Yeah. I mean, I highly recommended to go at any level of hockey. Any level. Any level, go to a game and check it out. It's something that you'll never forget. My dad's face when he, my mom and dad came over.

And after the game, I'll never, I'll never forget my dad's face. And you're like, what the hell was that? That's awesome. Yeah, it is so much fun. Until you go over and experience it, it's hard to. You can't, you can't even explain it. You can't experience, like, even if you tell somebody this is what happens. It's like you don't believe it until you see it.

And the DL is a good league. Like, the difference, the difference between all the NHL and the DEL is the passing and the hockey sense of the guys. That's really the big difference there because everybody can skate, everybody can shoot, but just passing, passing isn't as crisp and the hockey sense isn't quite there. But other than that, everything's pretty high level.

Did you ever get accustomed to the giant ice? Oh, yeah. Well, I play in a world championships. True. And I just knew you just played between the dots. Like, you know, and you got away with little more. more hooking and holding there and it was yeah no i i i always enjoyed playing in europe so the fans the fans they're always made it but it was some of the fondest memories i have a hockey come from the fans over there oh for sure something diehards and just something you just

never have ever in any barn i've ever been to in north america i've ever seen no and you never will you never will see it because it's it's impossible to do well people just don't know how to act like that over here right right you know they don't all right well i've had you in here now for closing in an hour 45 so let's do the crude master final five crude master uh obviously heath and tracy mcdonnell okay yeah yeah they're uh huge uh huge uh advocates what i do so i appreciate their support. Yeah, I know Heath, yeah. And so I got five questions for you. I've been trying to think of five that aren't the five we did the first time. Oh, okay. So the first one is if tomorrow you could pick, and now I've got to think about this, to join any organization across any of sports,

where would you go? And we'll say you're a player, not management. New England, New England Patriots. You'd be a football player. Football player. Love football. Yeah, well, and can you argue, I could probably go be their water bowl and get a ring on my finger. Be awesome. Like, have you ever seen anything as ridiculously awesome as what they're doing? It is amazing. It's just like year after year. Like, I love watching them play because they're just, I mean, they're just methodical.

And it's amazing what they can do. It doesn't matter what guys they've had in the lineup and the guys they've lost and for all different reasons, right, and they just keep winning. and it is so amazing. And Tom Brady, I mean, I love watching that guy play. And how old is Tom? 42? I think he's 42.

Because there's an ageless wonder. Yeah, I mean, talk about a guy slowing the game down to a men's league level, right? God. It's amazing. It just sits 77, so that is 42. 42. Yeah, August he turns for you. Yeah.

He just sits in the pocket. What I love about him when you watch him play is if he's got nothing, right away he just throws it. You know, a young guy wants to use his legs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then what happens is they get smacked, and as soon as you start getting smacked, that's where injuries have. That's right, yeah. So Tom rarely gets in a spot like that. Yeah, yeah, it's at that age too, right?

Yeah. And what's amazing, he, what I understand is. he works so hard off the field to know all, like, he knows that team, the other team, better than they know themselves. Like, it's just amazing. So when he gets on the field, he knows what they're doing. Like, he automatically, he's like, he can read the defense. He's like, that's exactly what they're going to do.

One of the stories I love about him is in practice, if he gets intercepted, he pays guys for interception. Oh, is that right? Oh, I didn't know that. And then he takes his offensive line out for meals all the time too, I think. Yeah. So because he wants him to be, well, both for him be the best. I don't want you to slack up on me.

I want you to try and grab that ball because if you grab it. Yeah. In a game, that costs us. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, it is awesome. I mean, and it's not like he's hurting for the money. He needs to get the money.

And you see the little clips they put out on their media and that. And he's such a. leader and everybody loves that guy like Julian Edelman man like he just loves that guy like it's just amazing to see and you know and it all comes from ownership too like I'm sure um craft the owner there he's he's a little bit like mr. illich was back in his day with the Detroit right everybody just loves that guy yeah question number two if you could go for coffee with one person or uh stanies rum stanys rum what do you think of stanys rum Stanis Jones is pretty good.

Yeah, I would recommend going to the local store if it's going over to Fountain. Maybe go to Farnie's. Maybe Stanney's house. What, if you could go for a coffee or beverage of your choice with one person, who would you go with? That's a tough question. Yeah, I've, maybe I'll just stick with Tom Brady. How about that? Tom Brady?

Yeah, well, that wouldn't be a problem. Why not? Why not? Gronk? Yeah. Well, that's probably part two of it. the question. The first part of that question is always coffee. If you could take, if you could be a fly on the wall and go party and one guy for a night, who would you go with? Gronk and a heartbeat. You know, Gronk wouldn't let you have a dull time. Yeah, yeah. Today I was watching on

Sports Center, I think it was. It doesn't matter. They're having the best coach freakouts of all time. So where they throw sticks. I'm sure everybody's seen the baseball one where he uses the white bag as a grenade and he's crawling. In your playing time, did you ever have a coach? Do the John Torterella where he tried attacking the other team down the hallway, throw sticks on the ice, water bottles, you had to have had one coach who waved the white flag. No, no, nothing. Nothing? Pat Quinn put his fists through So we were in Washington And they had just built a brand new rink there

And they had this board that went over the TV It was like the rink board And he put his fist right through it Why for? He was pissed pissed We were playing poorly And somebody I think he hit the Gatorade too

Somebody's throwing the Gatorade Destroyed the Gatorade thing Yeah I don't No I don't I don't we call it any Oh, there was a There was a freak out. In Germany actually, we had

a coach and And he We lost our first game in the playoffs against Dusseldorf And he brought us in Give us some video So we had to come in the rank Two hours prior So we started video

We started video Like I think we had an afternoon game So let's say it was 2.30 game Started video at noon. And we had warm up at 10 after 2. And he had just this clip. And it was a, like, it just clip after clip. Like, what do you call it?

It was like a circular, just had like a whole string of clips. Sure. About Dusseldorf taking advantage of us and us not reacting. and I thought we just played a good, you know, discipline game, right? And so he was just getting us psyched up. And he's like, this guy, he's got a bad leg, you know, break, you know, do something. And he's going on and on about their team. And he's just cutting us down, talk about like mentally psyching us up.

He showed this circle of clips for until it was 10 to, 10 to 2. So it was a it was good It was good It was good hour I guess so yeah It was 1 o'clock we started to show

So it was like 50 minutes 50 minutes of the same The same circle of clips And While we're like I look around he leaves Finally our goalie's like Hey I can get ready

I haven't even stretched And he goes yeah yeah I get ready And he goes out And I look around And the guys are I'm like, boys, we can't let this, like, throw us off our game. Me being the veteran guy, right? But we're all frothing at the mouth.

We're going to kill these, you know, we're going to go out and just lay a whipping on these guys. It doesn't matter, right? Because he had got us all riled up. Well, we had 24 penalties. 24 penalties in a European game. 24. 24 penalties. Yeah, we lost game two.

24 penalties. We were just being not very smart and taking, a lot of dumb. But we had to show them. No, we were tough. And so that was probably, that was right out of slap shot, that talk. I wish I would have filmed that talk

because that would have been right out of slap shot. That was, talk about times have changed, right? But that was, yeah, that's probably, probably the wildest thing I've ever heard a coach do or a speech. Yeah. Who you got in the world juniors?

Well, I got to go off Canada. I don't really follow. I don't, honestly, I don't follow the... Yeah, they got local boy Ty Smith. Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching him. And Boen Byram, who is lights out. Yeah.

Their D is... Yeah, real quick mobile. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, you know, I don't really follow it, though. I don't really know the players. Okay. Yeah. Well, you're not taking a bad pick with Canada.

Yeah. But I'm sure the States will have a good team. I don't know who else's favorite. Favorite? Well, it's the same as... Sweden. Yeah, right. rush up.

Yeah. They're all going to be the top top teams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you know, it's always fun to see some of these Canadian, young Canadians. And Thai playing. I'm really looking forward to seeing him play. Yeah, yeah.

All right, your final one. If you could pick a final game to go to across all the sports, all the major sports, soccer, basketball, hockey, football, baseball, baseball. Which game do you go to? Well, I would have loved to have been one of those Raptor games last year. That would have been a blast. But it all depends on who's playing.

Like if, if I'm in a, so. Tom Brady's playing in the Super Bowl? And then I'm, I'm at. Emmington Oilers are playing in, well, I don't know. Is it Emmett's? I wouldn't do hockey. Wouldn't do hockey? No, no.

No, no. No, no. No, no. So you'd rather do basketball? If it's a Raptors. Okay, Raptors game seven. Yeah, 100%. Tom Brady, the Super Bowl?

Yeah. Or who's your baseball, soccer? Yeah, I wouldn't do baseball. I would do a soccer game just for the fan experience again. But I'm not a soccer fan. So, okay, so the two, are you going to the Raptors in Game 7 or Brady and Super Bowl? Yeah, probably the Raptors. Yeah.

Yeah. I was so, that was, that was, as a fan, that was the first time. Well, I get excited watching the Patriots, but watching the Raptors last year, that was awesome. It was fun. That was the most fun I've had as a fan. You know, because I'm not, yeah, I don't get real excited over too much, but I was super excited. Super excited about the Raptors.

I'm a big basketball guy. Are you really? Yeah, my dad was a basketball guy, and we watched basketball when we were young. Really? Yeah. Every Sunday, Magic and Larry Bird and Julius Irving, those guys in the 80s. Every Sunday we watched. So our Raptors are your team then?

Oh, yeah, yep, yeah. Who do you think is winning this year? Oh, I got to go with the Lakers or Clippers, I think. Milwaukee, I know is good, but I think, you know, it's hard to... OTC's done? Hard to bet against LeBron and Kauai, like, yeah. I think whoever wins out of the west. This OPC doesn't have quite the team they had last year, did they?

No, no. But, yeah, I mean, when I was at the Leafs, I became a Raptors fan. I would go to quite a few of the games. Oh, did you? They had they had front row seats for guests or special guests or whatever. So you got to sit courtside? It was awesome. It was the best experience.

You suck. Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome. And the one year they were in the playoffs and I sat courtside against the 76ers, yeah. And how was that? It was great. It was awesome. How was the atmosphere in that building when it's going?

It was good. It was good. Sitting at court side, you kind of get a lot because you're not really in the crowd. You're kind of, it feels like you're right on the court. So it feels like you're just watching on TV live. But, yeah, I would do a Raptors basketball game any day. That's cool. Well, sir, there's number two. Yeah, it was a blast. Yeah. I'm glad we could finish this off. Yeah, well, thanks for coming in again. I appreciate you making.

time. I appreciate your wife just leaving you. Just call me when you're done. All right. Sounds good. Yeah, I should run do Smyrins. So. All right on. Well, Merry Christmas to you. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you. And thanks for coming in and really appreciate it again. No problem. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.