Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 61 - Jody Lehman - Moose Jaw Warriors, South Carolina Stingrays & Sheffield Steelers

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

Born in Mayfair SK, he played his minor hockey in North Battleford before heading to the Moose Jaw Warriors at the age of 15. He spent 5 years in the WHL which culminated in WHL championship with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He spent two years playing CIS with the U of S Huskies and then headed down south 5 years in the ECHL. He won a Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays & spent 8 years overseas mainly in the British Elite League. He now owns & operates Trig Energy Services.

This is Jody Lehman, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Hey, folks, I got to bring up, I got to bring up Windsor Plywood and Carly Clause and a team. You know, it's about the third episode. I haven't got it on air, but I've sat in here, and the first thing a guest comes in is I got to see this table, right? Everybody's heard about it, seen the pictures, et cetera. And so, for those of you don't know, Carly Clause and his team at Windsor Plywood, Lloyd Minster, built me a river table that is pretty much the centerpiece of this this room to be honest and it is just it is gorgeous and if you head over to their instagram page windsor plywood and lloyd midster

you can see exactly what i'm talking about there's pictures of uh you know all the different tables woodwork they do so just a huge shout out to them guys uh for setting me up with this table it is it's beautiful it gets talked about every single time i have a new guest in here um i also got to give a shout out to Ken Rutherford appraisals. They house the podcast and put up with me coming in here at all hours a night. And I appreciate Ken, you know, allowing me to be in here and do this thing. So just once again, huge shout out to Ken Rutherford. And then everybody's probably seen the pictures of it.

I got a sign put up by Reed Signs here in the studio. The SNP sign the Sean Newman podcast. It's on all my social media now. You can take a look at it. I'm staring at it right now, and I just, it looks kick-ass, right? Like, it looks kick-ass. So thanks, Deanna, for hooking me up with that. I gave her an idea of what I wanted,

and she put it together in exactly what I, you know, exactly what I thought I'd had in my head. And she took it from my brain, put it on a piece of paper, and now it's hanging on the wall. So thanks again to everybody who continues to support, you know, this endeavor. And I just get to sit here and have fun and talk to people. And this week was no different. So here's your factory sports tale of the tape.

This week's guest is Jody Lehman. He was born in Mayfair and then moved to North Battleford. He played his W.HL career for the Moose Jaw Warriors. as a 15-year-old, he started in 91, 92, and then played there for essentially another five years until 1996, where he then went to the Brandon Week Kings on a trade, played with Wade Redden and that squad, which won the WHL and went to a Memorial Cup.

He spent a year in Wichita playing for the Thunder, and then four for South Carolina Stingrays, one of Kelly Cup there, had a cup of coffee in the H.L. with the Rochester Americans. And then from there, went over to England for seven years and won a bunch of championships over there playing for the Coventry Blaze and the Sheffield Steelers. He finished off his career in Denmark

before making his way back here. He is married and has four girls and was just a pleasure to sit across. So thanks again for joining me, Jody. And without further ado. Pretty crazy, you know, I'm sure if you went down, first off, I'm joined by Jody Lehman. Thanks for answering the call at the 11th hour. All good, John.

Threw up the old Hail Mary text at 11 this morning because I was supposed to have another guy coming on and backed out and your name's sitting on the list. And I figured, eh, that'd be fun. But I appreciate you coming in. Well, thanks for having me. It's, you know, hopefully I'm entertaining and don't put people to sleep. but everybody oh i'm gonna say this everybody always walks in here and goes i don't know if i you know like chris weeb was last week and he was like and i don't know who's going to listen to us and i'm not that entertaining i'm probably going to put people asleep and i was saying uh that morning i text

him because i release so i say it's released at seven but i make sure it's released at 3 a.m that way if there's any hiccups you can you know whatever catch it and get it out and at six no 7.45 in the morning, I got a text from somebody I did not know saying, Chris Weeb was the man and it was an awesome episode. Right? Everybody's got the personal. Everybody's going to like certain episodes. That's the way it is.

And so I'm sure people are going to tune into this. Some people are going to turn it off. Some people are going to listen right to the end. And that's the fun of it. I'm having it. Well, I know my wife and four kids will probably listen here. Well, shout out to them then. What is your wife's name?

Raquel. You know, Raquel, I make this mistake with Weeb again is I never talked about the wives, which is probably a very, very poor. So we're going to make sure we get into how you met her and your kids at some point here because obviously, well, I got three under four. I know all about that, and I feel sorry for a father of four daughters. Yeah, yeah. You know what, it's probably not bad now.

I'm sure in about four or five years. How old are they all? I got a 12, a 10, soon to be 11, a 9, and a whoopsie that's three and a half. So we've got some interesting times. So it's actually nice to go to work some days. I'm not going to lie to you. We were having this comment last night, right? So we played in Walberg.

We're down two games to none which. sucks we'll leave it at that but game's three on Wednesday night actually the day this is released if you're listening to this come to the rink in Helmut but we were talking about kids and a couple of the guys are like

I'd love to be a stay-at-home dad I'm like with one yeah two okay three I don't know I'm like some days I'm just I know my wife he's like you just happy to get out of the house and go to work yeah that's pretty much it

Yeah, my voice is gone by the end of the day if I'm home with the kids all day. If I'd work, I got some left in the end of the day. I'm sure work gives you a few gray hairs as well. Understatement. Understatement, especially in these times. Well, I actually had that written down. Of all the things, I thought, you know, someday when my kids maybe listen back through this, I'm going to be like, I wonder what's going on at that time.

I tell you what's going on right now. An absolute shitstorm is going on. You got the coronavirus, which... It's a joke, yeah. Well, it's shutting everything down. Everything. Everything, man. It has a lot to do what's going on in the markets today, too.

And then the market is just shocking. Like, you see what, like, you look at Husky Baytech shares, all this stuff. Cinovus, all these strong that were strong are scary. scary yeah it's it's weird man like you where i'm in edam where my business is based at e dame you know you just put your head down and just keep working it's busy there we're lucky and you know it's one of those things you can't let it bother you have to some regard you got to you know know what's going on but in the same regard you got to keep plugging away that's unnerving well it's not a reassuring thing every morning the negativity in the press and just within canada as a

whole it sucks well it just feels that we were talking about today at work like it just feels like we've been in like a recession now for five six years like just every time you're just about to get up off the mat you just get kicked to the curb absolutely yeah i know there's a lot more negatives and positives out there that's uh that's what it's all about too it's shitty you know uh before we uh got going here or we were talking about how you got your your you got your you're starting business. I always like hearing the start of a business story because it never starts out, well,

I shouldn't say never. Usually it doesn't start out with, well, I had $10 million and I went and I did this. And usually it starts pretty small. And maybe you could just kind of lead us through back how you got Trigg going. Well, you know, I moved to Lloyd. I retired from Hockey when I was 36. That was 2000.

Jesus, that's a good question. guess 2011 or something like that and we found her kid was autistic straight away we moved to Alberta for for just better care better schooling and my wife kind of looked in she's big into that kind of stuff so we found a place in Lloyd and then ended up moving to just outside Kit Scotty on Range Road 24 Jesus I forget what it was called on Range Road 24 but and we kids went to school kid Scotty great town My wife is mad still. She loved it there.

But anyways, you got a couple friends, Chris Avlanos in town. He's been in a lot. He was a consultant forever. And now he's the owner of Rigger Talk. And, you know, my dad was a foreman for Baytex in Lashburn or lead-op. And, you know, been in the El Pasch for 30 years. So I was a salesman at the time for Apex Distribution. It was good.

Good gig. You get to go BS with the guys, take guys go golf, and good gig. but you always got something in your head you always want something better better right so I had this you know you know and so the next thing you know I say oh we'll start a safety company you know I'll get a little work from my dad

and he started me and kind of got my feet wet and then what uh like that's a big jump to make isn't it huge man like were you shit in bricks well yeah I didn't it's not like I had money in the bank or anything it was like gun to your head here we go let's let's do this

and that's how we did it honestly just wanted to work for yourself then yeah just I was tired of answering to people managers and stuff like that drove me nuts it's like in hockey you know you're answering to you know you just have a certain way you want to do things and you just can't live without making those decisions I couldn't

I had to be you know maybe the boss or the leader to you know create my own destiny and I don't know I just we made a decision me and the wife and he just went to work and it got scary because it crashed and I started this company in May April January or February April or I think it was around April and uh you got going on the safety and stuff in the meantime I'm waiting for a truck to get built it crashes I get a little bit of safety a little bit of safety and then finally I get my truck and and the VAC truck and that's when

it saved me the safety and everybody what's the first thing people cut every company cuts in the Alpatch, it's safety. So that kind of got slow and I lucky at the same time I got this truck going and it saved my bake and just jumped on the truck and got a couple days here. A guy by the name of Tyler Scott helped me out a little bit and my dad and, you know, just knowing the right people or maybe guys knew me through hockey. So you're driving a back truck. What the hell are you doing driving a Vaktrup? And you know, you give them the spiel saying, well, I figured I'd give it a go. And, you know, there was no turning back. You just kind of put your head down. and went to work and got dirty every day.

And, you know, all the ducks fell in the right spot. And some good people. Good people. That's what I mean. You know what? In any kind of inferior, the succession of business, I think, has a lot to do with, you know, work for good people, surround yourself with good people. Because, you know, they help you excel.

You know, you go to these places where maybe it's a little harder to work or harder to be. you know, you stay away from the negativity. Work for the good guys that look out for you and give you a good name. That's the way. A lot of that through what I've done is you work for good guys and you got good relationships and those relationships that word of mouth and word of mouth. And next thing you know, Jody, I think we could use you. And get people calling you and you're just like, holy, why is he calling me?

You know, so that's kind of how it came to be. And, you know, it's, I'm not going to say the rest of this history is a long road ahead, too. Well, and every day is a new battle, it seems, right? You guys know what you're in. I mean, the competition, even what you guys go through, it's just every day. Relentless. Yeah. Yeah.

It is. So it's, it was, but it was, you know, it was a good, it was, you know what, there was no turning back. Because you started, you got four kids, three kids at home. There is no looking back. You can't fail. You don't have that option. So you put your head down every day. It doesn't matter if you're out for 17, 18 hours a day,

and then you get called, get home at 12 and get called back out at 3. It's not an option. You got to do it. And that's what I did for about four or five years. And then got lucky, moved home. And, you know, just the right spot. We talked about Serafina and the steam plants out at Edam. And, you know, people you know, people you played hockey with,

guys knew you from where I played or I knew their parents or whatever. it was and just all everything just fell in the spot perfectly and then if you manage it properly take care of these people it doesn't matter if it's a new kid out of school that doesn't know anything that's a power engineer you know you take time for everybody and you know it pays off sometimes in the end so it was it's been it's been a fun ride and you know what i enjoy going to work every day and managing the guys and if i got to jump in a truck it's all good so it definitely My dad always talks about good people. That's one of his favorite things to say is just good people.

You mentioned somebody's name, Good People. That's a dad thing. He's always talked about good people and what they can do for you and what you should do for them. It's a give-and-take relationship. And when I hear you talk about it, though, like you started a company with three children, which I can't imagine the amount of pressure put on.

on you by that alone right like I mean there's no like when you say you got to go to work it's like well you got to go to work right like oh yeah I wasn't around much there when I started it was we didn't have an option my wife kind of she she accepted it that I'd be gone if I got home say I worked all day and I got home and the kids at hockey or and I got called out two hours later I was gone and that's the way it was you know that's just the commitment we made to give a good service yeah you know I still two the day I'll go with like we're luckily to be a busy company so my guys will work all day and you know I don't overstaff so I have people sitting around all the time so I'm the guy that goes

out at two in the morning or three in the morning that's just you know if I got a guy's buddies from Serafina calling Jody we need you out here we got to spill can you come out here I you got to go because these guys help me get my way so or make my way so you got to take care of them when when they call so and you don't say no you don't make any excuses. You enjoy what you do? Yeah, I like it actually. You know, you talk about how you kind of fell into the oil patch.

Would it have been your number one choice? Geez, you know, between me and you, I'm not a smart guy. I tried going to university two or three times, and I never came out with a degree. I don't even think I got a diploma out of it. My wife gives me shit about it every day or laughs at me, but I wasn't a smart guy. you know maybe you got to be a little bit more disciplined to do it but uh or to stick with it but i you just you know it's just something you learn with the hard times you got to figure out how to run a business or run a company you know you just you learn and i learned through all the for the

last five years you learn and you know what you can do how much you got to spend on a truck to make it or whatever it is but you know it to me it's just like a learning i've learned so much you do it I enjoy doing it. It's like I'm not going to say it's a game to me but it's a challenge to be successful now. I think I've done well. I got a long way to go and there's a lot of bumps in the road, a lot of competition and you just got to figure out that you know to be better than your competitor or give a better service. So that's the challenge for me is how do I how do I run the way I am now, you know, or even three years ago when I had two or three trucks and now I've got like

15 trucks and a safety company that how do you keep that good service up so that's the biggest thing I can imagine that's a bit challenging yes yeah you know what you know your biggest salesman are your employees absolutely so and you know that with what you guys do so for me to lose one of my guys would be just detrimental my good guys because they're that good so you got to take care of them you know workers they you know they want to feel like they're a part of something You get a lot of guys from big companies like your flints and big huge where they're just a number on the wall basically. So you just give them, you know, you just treat them with respect. They call in and they're sick or, you know, they, Jody, I need a couple days off here or whatever.

It's all good. You make it work, right? You just respect what they do. They know what, they know what line they can't cross with you. They know what I expect. And it's just a good relationship to have. And so. I got a good relation, good guys.

My biggest thing's going to be in the future is how do we, as we grow, where do we, how do we keep this to a standard? You know, and I know my, you know, like your seraphina's and the husky guys I work for, well, you know, they want me to keep that service up and how do I do. That's the biggest, that's the biggest thing that I'm going to be up against in the future. That's probably a huge challenge, though, that all companies face. Oh, absolutely. Right?

You know what? A lot of the good people left and they don't want to come back, right? Because of the ups and the downs and the ups and the downs. People just want to be at a level. You know, and you get that. So a lot of good guys have left. And there's not many good guys to steal from other companies or, you know, they're situated with other companies. They like their situation.

So, you know, I just kind of integrated. I got a couple good young guys and you can get grants from the government and get their class one, air brakes in class one so that's our next step what is it's a class one cost now we're looking i think she's about 15 000 and we're if people don't know what a class one i assume most people know but like getting your your class ones you can drive a semi like that's that's a ton of cake for yeah it's absolutely it is for a young kid to pay they can't afford that and it's you're not flying a jet right like you're driving a you're driving a truck and the thing we're going to run do as shortage of workers here. If things ever go boom, yeah, well, it's going to be scary

because there's nobody left. You know, there's not many around. Maybe, you know, maybe they're happy working for the city or whatever type of job, but it's, it's, there's not much out there. I get resumes every day and you're just, you put them to the side. It's because it's just, you don't want to take a chance. But so sooner, so now you got to train. If you get good young guys, you got to just train them and see if you can keep them around. You know, if you do a class one or something like that, you know, do a two or three year, you know, sticker or... Kind of like an apprenticeship almost.

I mean, they're getting paid, but... Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We'll find a way to get you this, but in return, you got to give us a couple years. Yeah, that's the way I see it. Yeah, that's the way we were doing it. So we've got a couple young kids that we're going to work and see if that works. So, but it's hard because experience is everything, right?

I got some experienced guys and they're very valuable to me. Yeah. So, you know, the nice thing is, it's like a hockey team. They live, they breathe my company, and they wear, you know, they got the logo on their sleeve. And it's just so important to have. Speaking of which, me and Chazzy were talking about this the other day, I would certainly like a Trig hat. Because those are pretty, uh... Jesus, I got lots of those in the shop there, so you have to stop by one day.

I guess I'll have to stop by and sneak one out. Yeah, they're a popular item. them in the hoodies right now so well you got a nice logo yeah why trig you mean my wife figured that out it might have been more me i think that oh yeah trig you know what we were a numbered company for a while and trig come out you know i actually i every night i come home and they're like what are we call this place you know or this company and stuff and then if you look in the dictionary trig is trigometry so it's clean calculated and tidy so i figured be a safety company and a combo company you just, you know, it's clean and tidy, you know what I mean?

Calculated. So that's why I mean. That's a pretty damn good answer. So I'm not as dumb as everybody thinks, right? But so my wife did the logo and yeah, here we are today. So it's pretty fun. Like I said, it's, it's, I have, and the best thing is I enjoy going to work and it's a challenge every day. Like come turnaround season, I get excited because it's, you know, you're managing a lot of guys at the same time.

I enjoy that. Well, doing something you enjoy is like, what is the statistic? It's something ridiculous. Like 50% of people don't enjoy what they do, something like that. Like, it is a high percentage of people that don't enjoy waking up every morning and going and doing what they're new. And no matter what you do, you're a hockey player for several. Yeah. Well, we talked about good people, right?

Yeah. Earlier. And, you know, good people and help you succeed. Well, it's like a hockey team. you know, you got a couple bad apples, guys who just want points and look at the score sheet, and we lost four, three, and he got three points or three assists. That's all he cares about. You know, that's not good people.

That's not who you want on your team. And we've had guys like that. I've played with guys like that. And they don't help you succeed. You know, the good guys help you succeed. The guys that work hard and commit and do the little things to help you, you know, help the team win. Yeah. Make the culture in the room something fun to go to.

I was just like you played hockey for so long. I'm sure you had days where you're like, man, I don't know what I'm doing, right? And no matter what your job is, you're going to have days like that. Totally. I've been, you know, in hockey, there were times I can look back in my career. And I remember one year in South Carolina, like, I totally lost my game. You know, I was letting in shots from every angle and distance, and I was like tapped out. And you look yourself in the mirror and they're like, I can't even play anymore.

You know, and I think we won a championship the year before. And you go through stages like that in life. It's like business or anything. So when you looked at yourself in the mirror and said, I just, like, I've lost my game. What did you do? You just, you know what? You look yourself. Yeah, you look yourself in the mirror and you just, you try and figure out what the hell, how the hell am I going to get out of this?

It's like same thing in business or whatever. You got to figure out a game plan. How are you going to so hard work a better attitude you got to hard work was the biggest thing never had it in my early days in junior and and in pro but the biggest how I got out of little slumps and stuff was just hard work just relentless hard work in practice because if you're off your game well you just don't don't get it back like that you got to work your bag off to get you know because you're you're how to get your confidence back how do you get your confidence back working hard, getting back to where you were when you're on top.

And that's the hardest thing is, you know, sometimes it's easy to, you know, get to the top. But to stay there. You've got to be so committed to stay at a high level, right, to play, especially as a goalie. Like you can't, like I wasn't one of those guys. I wasn't good enough just to, you know, rely on talent. And it's had to be. I was talented, don't get me wrong, but hard work. and have that just that little edge of winning and competitiveness.

You just, you have to have that or you just, there's nothing there. You know, like, you can't, how do you succeed if you don't do that? Or how do you win? I could never win if I just half-ass something. Because mentally, you'd take that into a game and you knew you weren't prepared. So you're just going to be okay. You weren't going to be 110%. And I didn't understand doing that until,

until I was like 20, 29 years old. I did win championships, but I didn't understand what it took to actually win, win consistently, and to become a real professional. So early in my career,

I just, I got buying talent and, you know, didn't really work out and not scared to drink here and there. But you learn as you get older experiences, right? Yeah. So everything I did in the past

and we'll probably go through that, everything that I did, I don't regret one thing because it was all learning experience that you take as you get older. And that's why I became, that's why I think I became more successful as I got older. It was all the experiences that I had throughout playing and maybe not being as prepared as I should. And I look back and I don't regret none of the things I did. Played where I played or what I accomplished. So everything I did, I wouldn't change it again. we're kind of going backwards through this story but i'm curious you retired at what age then

36 and one at 36 were you just like it is time yeah i was in denmark yeah and uh had two kids i don't know if i had another one on the way we had two young kids then and uh we just you know what it was denmark you get there i was 36 i should have went i did it different i should have went Denmark when I was 26. Two practices a day, Jim. Two practices a day? Two practices a day. Why two practices a day?

Just that's the way, you know, they're in that kind of Hitler rule kind of regiment. Like they're just dictated, you know, you just, the coach, nobody spoke up to the coach. Nobody said, peep, this is what we're doing? Okay, we do, they do it, right? That's the way it is over there. I was a little outspoken at that age, but it was, they never said two practices a day, gym after the second practice and it was just too much because I'm coming from a league in England even even the East Coast League where you're getting a day or two off a week because

you're playing two three games a week and you know where they just get their mindset that they got to practice practice how was the hockey in Denmark it was pretty good yeah it was good it was a little bit more skilled than England at the time Denmark was really good a few years before but that's when the money crunch kind of came in i think i got i got lucky i was one of the higher paid imports i signed early and uh the money got hurt and that's when all the sponsorships and all that kind of stuff were you getting paid to go to denmark denmark was about yeah i got went to denmark for i think about 45 000 tax for euro yeah and that to me that was good i wasn't complaining you know you're still living a good life you're free living free car you know so no it was good

back to North Battleford because you grew up in North Battleford. Yep. When did you decide you're going to be a goal tender? Well, I was a defenseman and played defense and I just, you know, you play, what big was backed in was grass hockey, tennis ball, grass hockey, that's all we used to play. And I'd play goal every time. And I just kept bugging my parents. I wanted to play goal, wanted to play goal, so I'd get put in a little bit here and there.

And then we moved to North Battleford when I was eight from Mayfair. And at 8, I became full-time goalie, and that was it, man. I wasn't changing. So it was, I was, at 8. What is that? Eight, Adam? Yes. Or is that, no of us?

No, that's Adam. Is that Adam? Yeah. And then, back then, I mean, you figure. That's pretty much when everybody. Yeah. Great around Adam. Exactly.

I mean, when we were five, six, seven years old, all we did was power skating, figure and Mayfair. That's all we did, right? that's what you did and so I was lucky because I you know skating every talks about goalies that's the most important thing people don't realize to get from point A to point B

you're not a good skater well you're not going to get there quick enough and balance and learning to skate on your edges and the strength being strong like that's the biggest thing there was that big flux of goalies in the NHL like 15 years ago they were all six four six five well they were okay goalies they weren't great these big huge goleys like Roussel and you know a lot better than me obviously I shouldn't talk but then you look at a goalie the smaller goalies or a goalie like Patrick Waugh or someone like that they could

just get from point A to point B they could move where these big guys would just go down a butterfly and they'd still get beat all I can think of right now is Koskinan. Yes he's a big man yes move you know but he doesn't move well no these guys should you know the biggest I and we'll get into I guess the Western hockey league with the goalie coals and stuff what they tell you to do and you sure let's talk about it like uh i had i had a because i mean you go to moose jaw yeah and then you're there for five years five years yeah yeah i mean yeah i went to moose yeah i was a 15 year old i played bantam double a north alford all that kind of jazz so i went as a 15 year old underage and a friend of mine ralph smit who

passed away if greg's uncle uncle passed away he was a scout for for uh Moose John, I was drafted because of him. I had a really good relationship with Ralph. And he was my Bantam double A coach as well. And I think he disliked me the way it was in my attitude. But he, so he got me there. And he was a big backer of mine and stuff like that. But yeah, 15 went there, got drafted in the Bantam draft.

And it was good. I loved it, you know. Don't get me wrong, though. The first we were three. I think we were three and 12 at Christmas time. I called my dad and I was crying. I wanted to come home and play midget there, but he was like, you know, old school.

He's basically effing you're staying there, suck it up, you know, figure a way out. And then whatever, you suck it up. And we actually turned out to, I think we were just over 500. We had ripped it up the second half. So that was it. That was, moving away from home was a good thing. And I enjoyed it. I made some good friends there.

played with some good guys. Curtis Brown. I grew up with him. He was from Unity. Yeah. And he played with me for a year in AAA. Well, you had in Moose Jaw, you also had the Smith brothers. Yeah, Ryan would come out and practice with us. He was a, he was, they all, they went to the Bible school, Ryan and Kevin. Oh, really? Oh yeah. They were Bible thumpers, those guys. So, uh, good guys, but whatever. This, you know, don't give me wrong. I was, I went to church too or I'd get heck from my mom too. But Ryan and then were at Briar Crest. And then we all, I made it at the West,

I played a little bit as a 16 year old with Stanley. Oh yeah, Stanney would have been there. Stanney was there. Oh yeah. We'd never miss a game because Stanley was there. It was like he was a god. He, Tanny was a god back then. You know, he was the toughest guy in the Western Oculee. And he was just good.

And the funny thing was Stanley is I watched him play in North Balford when he was 17 year old there. So it was awesome. I got the, you know, so I kind of grew up watching Stanney. What was it like being in the dressing room then with Stanley? As a 16 year old, you're just like, you look up and you're just, oh my God, look at this, you know. You know, he had Stanforth and, you know, Kevin Smith was in there and all these old guys like, well, Dorchak was gone by then. But, you know, it's just surreal.

Like, it's not even real, right? So it was Yeah, I was pretty good Like, you know, just even my buddy Jason Fitzsimmons Schmitty talked about him He's a scout He was my, I backed him up

He was my coach Me and Fitzier are like best friends Just a wonderful guy And he scouts for Washington now And he was my I backed him up in Moose John He was loose because I knew every time I back him up I'd get in there

Because he'd fight every three or four games He'd get kicked out right Kind of got lucky that way So what did So let's talk about Then the goalie coach, what the goalie coach is time? Yeah, so when I started playing 17 years old, goalie coach Jamie Reeve.

And he lives in Sastisd now, Jamie. And Babcock was a coach that year. And Jamie Reeve was, he told me, give me some advice. He goes, Jody, you want to become a goalie? You got to learn to move into the puck. And I looked at him. What are you talking about moving to the puck? I'm pretty good here the way.

I'm, you know, and I never really, you know, that comment right there. And I think maybe we did a few drill. I didn't look into this. that, right? We were, I was kind of your, not your flopper, 80s kind of guy, you know, double pad stack and stuff like that. But he taught, he said, Jody, you want to be a good goalie, you move into the puck. I didn't really look into it. I looked into it when I was about 27 years old in England. That's when I learned to move into the puck. And I took his advice then from when I

was 17. And that's what made me a decent goalie, like consistent. You know, everything you move into, you watch Kerry Price. He does it. better than anybody. Everything is moved into every shot from the blue line to the bottom of the circles he moves into he tries to make the saves with his upper body like moving in because you can control everything better. You don't have to grab you don't have to lunge for stuff and you just learn to move into everything and as you learn to move into stuff your rebounds you've already got momentum going in towards your rebounds already. I didn't take I and it took me a lot of years to figure that out like I told me.

that back in the early well 90 probably early 90s. Well you played for Moose Jaw 91 would have been your 15 year old year to 90 what 6? 96 is when you win it with Brandon. They win it with Brandon, yeah.

Got trade. I, I, uh, Al Tour and I, we go back to coaches if you want to talk to coaches. Let's back it up here before we move off anything. We got to, you mentioned Babcock. We got to talk, how is, uh, do you remember anything about that? Oh, tons.

Babs is, uh, Babs is you know what I didn't have an issue with Babs he Babs is an arrogant guy and you know what to be good you got to be arrogant to something you got to believe in what you do and that's what he believed in what he did you know arrogant yes he kind of talked down on you yes but he believed in what he did and you know he did he sat me for 30 games straight as a 17 year old don't get me wrong. You know, he went with the, went with the older guy. I ended up playing like 30 games straight after Christmas, but so there were some hard feelings there, but after it wasn't, but you know what? Why did he say you, for 30 games you didn't play? I didn't play like the first half of season. Yeah,

just because I was a rookie and the other. Why didn't you play the last half then? Just because I took over the starting job. Just better. Just got better. And the other guy got worse. We weren't very good either though don't get me wrong but still I got to play lots as a 17 year old so I was pretty lucky like a lot so but that's just the way he was with you know but he but definitely you know he just like I said he believed in what he did it was you know he he just had this way of going about his business but you know what I think deep down he wanted you to succeed right he wanted to be successful that's why he had such a good career So, you know, it was good to experience play for him, though, like, the way his mind was, his mindset.

And, you know, he definitely was hard on guys. So, in a good way, you know, to some regard. So, but I don't really have a lot of bad stuff to see about him. Well, I don't know if I'm looking for bad stuff. No, totally not. Babcock's like one of the. Absolutely. How do I say this?

He's, his legacy of coaching. Yeah. speaks for itself. Totally. You can't take that away from him. Can't take that away from him. Totally. And that's how he motivated guys.

That's just the way it is. And I think if he would have stuck around, we could have been a little more successful too. We got Al Tour from my 19-year-old year. And you had a good team. Like we had Ryan Smith, Curtis Brown, Roman Volpat, a couple Big D and Chris Armstrong. We had a good team. And Al was another, he was a handful, though. very aggressive guy very negative you know bag skate you call you down you know a lot of the stuff

serello talks about and all this other BS yeah you times it by 10 you know that's what we put up with I put up with and I'm not going to sit here and say oh he did this and you know I that's just the way it was back then right you dealt with it I I you know what you get bullied a little bit whatever you just deal with it. And that's the way it was. He wasn't the only one. It was, that's just the way it was back then. It was the way the game was.

So it's nothing to look into really, right? You just, you dealt with it. And I confronted it a few times, and that was that. We moved on. I just said, okay, well, I'm done. I quit and waited to get traded to Brandon. That's all I did. Just had enough of it.

But that was after my 20-year-old year. 19-year-old year, we were successful. like we were good. Like we, we were, I think we were better than we actually were to with all the guys we had. We ended up losing to Brandon.

Brandon were always good, right? But we were, we had a really good team. Like we had a, we had a really good year. It was my best year. And, you know, playing with,

Ryan was a, I should go back, take a step back. We talked about good players. Ryan Smith is a 17 year old. 105 points. Yeah, well, I was looking at, that was 93, 94.

He had, oh, 50 goals, 55 assists, 105 points. As a 17 year old. Like he just did stuff like you couldn't matter. Like around the net, it was just unreal to see how good he was around the net. Just tapping pucks out of the air, just, you know, good shot, not great shot. Just good everything.

He was just so good at scoring and the knack around the net. So it was good to be a part of him. And Smitty is a great guy, good team guy. He was just like a kind of like a hockey geek, eh? Like he just loved it. And that's why, you know, he had the career he had. He just loved the game. much and he was like that with the oilers too yeah so he was a good part and then

Curtis Brown too was a solid player you know pretty dynamic speed just just a good player and then Roman Volpat you look at him too he you know he had a good NHL career for seven eight years or whatever it was tough tough check and so it was pretty fun we had some good guys and then I eventually I got we go back and got traded to Brandon and I knew Wade So you hold out for a trade What was your brain like when you got the call and said you've been traded to the wee kings or? Well, he wouldn't trade me. I left in like October so I went home and hunted with my brother for like two months.

Waiting to get traded. And you're 20 year old year? 20 year old year. I played for the kindersley clippers. North Balford traded my rights and I still wasn't playing at Christmas. So I decided, okay, right before Christmas I went and played two weeks with kindersley. just to kind of get in shape and stuff. And then at Christmas, I decided to go to the East Coast League to Erie Pennsylvania for the Erie Panthers,

which is a pretty good experience. But so let's unravel this. Your 20-year-old year, you get into it with your coach. Yeah. Just had enough. Yeah, I just couldn't deal with it no more. And I could deal with a lot. that's the, you know, I, I could put up a lot, but I just, what was the tipping point?

Just, he brought in another goal. He sat me and I was, you know, I was the MVP of his team the year before. And, you know, we were, we were terrible. Smith was gone. Brown was, everybody was gone. We weren't good. So you can't expect us. You know, we had nobody. And we started off, I think, three and eight. And it's my fault, right? Which it was. I was playing great and we weren't good. So I take, you know, it's just the way it was. But it just, you know, it just, kind of just tipped and we just that was it we just couldn't get along so then you go you know what skirt i'm packing up my bags you drive home you go hunting for two months what are you thinking at this time when am when am i going to get traded yeah yeah it's not like i was in the gym every day and i was hunting

that's what i was doing and just waited to get traded he still wouldn't trade me still wouldn't trade me and then i just i got to get playing and who had your rights north battle for north balford and you didn't want to play for North Bell? Oh, I did, but they traded me. And I was practicing with them. And they traded my rights, thinking that I wasn't going to play, right? Right. And then I came to start of December, and I was like, Jesus, I got to get playing.

And they trade my rights in November or whatever it was. And I went and lived with my cousin who was in the oil patch, Jason, the Buzac. And I lived with him, and I lived on his couch and was down there for two, three weeks. And I had a blast and kind of got in shape and had some fun with the. boys down there and and then that was it going home for Christmas and I got a call from Erie Pennsylvania Barry Smith the guy's name was and I went down there and that was a how long did you go down to Erie Pennsylvania for two I was there out of two and a half three weeks so I got off the plane and hunting in West Virginia it was like slap shot man you show up at the rink at Huntington and

I got in there halfway through warm up and I was just kind of going to sit in the stands and warm upended captain comes out he's smoking outside the room and then the coach has got like a twirly mustache like like uh what's gonna call from tombstone okay suspenders and pants pulled up to his belly button and man it was just he was unreal he was like crazy but i just thought what where am man this is i've never seen anything like this right and then i walked in the room and there was you know Brad Toproski, who I played with in Moose Jaw, the Topbrowski brothers from Prince Albert. So there were a few guys I knew, but it was kind of like a slap shot.

And you just need the goaltender? Yeah, they need just a backup. So you flew down there and backed up the games? Yeah. Yeah, I played for Erie. I was starting to be a backup. I got my first start. And there was a snowstorm in, where was it?

So the game was canceled. So that was two weeks in. and then I think it was January 1st was trade deadline and Kelly McCormen called me Jody just let you know we traded for you you're coming back I said get me a flight as soon as you can I'll be back so that was it

this has to be the most bizarre way to win a WHL championship going to a Memorial Cup does it not? Yeah it's pretty cool eh like a good experience right you just don't know whether you're just holding on to the enjoying the ride

coming or going and you just kind of I went with it and he called. I remember the phone call like it was yesterday, man. And he called and I was like, yep, get me the quickest flight out of here. And, you know, I just flew straight into Brandon and that's it. I got there. Their goalie was hurt.

I think I played 20-some straight or something like that. Then he played a game. I played all but one or two games the rest of the season and into playoffs and everything. So I just, you're just super fortunate that I just watch. that I just walked into just a successful team and it just I was and a goalie got hurt right at the right times where they're looking for a guy who's sitting in Erie like right yeah and then you come into good what did they trade to get you do you know what was yeah they

trade a first rounder a first rounder really hob day I got I could probably find that out but he was a first rounder and the guy I actually ran into the guy's dad I through work or something like that contacted me or he's like oh you're jody my son was traded traded for you when you went to brandon and uh but anyways just getting back to the brandon thing and i knew wade right from growing up we played against each other and i became really good friends with uh chris dingman oh yeah yeah the cat that's a guy you should have on here he's an oil patch guy sells gloves to stout gloves he sells them all you want every every distribution store His gloves are in there.

You hear that Digmund? We're coming for you. Good guy. But I became really good friends with him and Wade. We just had a super team there. It was just, we had fun time. And, you know, we were rolling. And it was pretty disappointed.

We didn't win the Memorial Cup. But we ran into George the Rock and kind of halted us. Frick, I'm so close to having it. It just says, was acquired at the trade deadline as starter Brian something was injured. Elliot Brian, yeah, Elliot, I think. Elder,

Brian Elder, sorry. I did see a video of you and George Lerock go at it a little bit. Yeah, yeah. And even then, in the Memorial Cup, when George is what, like 18 years old, he is a behemoth. Oh, just he was on a different level

than everybody else, especially there. Like he was just, and the talk was about him too, right? 20-30 goal guy, you know, big, scary and hasn't lost a fight in his life he probably still hasn't probably still hasn't no he looks in the video where like where we like you go after him because he gives you a poke yeah but he was bullying us all game too right and you can't he's just the machine like a mean guy out there too so he was just bullying us and he was making it hard for everybody right when you got like you're a D man and he's coming in on you every

like four check you know he's coming there's nothing you can do so I Was he that fast? I don't know if he was that fast. Just the presence, right? His footsteps. Everybody hears him when you got a guy like that. Yeah, well, he looked like a giant on the ice. Yeah, he slashed me, and then I just reacted and started.

We were down 3-1. Just try and get something going a little bit, right? That's what the commentator says. Yeah. I think Lehman's just trying to get his team fired up. Yeah, he was a big man. They had a good team, though. That was the kicker for us.

We lost them. If we could have just tied them, we would have just walked into the final. Yeah. And couldn't get by Peterborough? No, I don't know. I just, I mean, there's highlights where I kind of got deeked out in the last third period there. We go down 4-2 and just, yeah, I don't know. We just should have been better.

What was Memorial Cup experience like? Awesome. Well, let's back it up. What was winning the W.H.L. It was good because we beat Babcock in the final. Did you really? Yeah, he was the coach of Spokane Chiefs. Spokane Chiefs.

That's right. So we beat them four games to one. We took both games in. Yeah, well, your guys' road to the Mem Cup. You go through Saskatoon 4-0, then Red Deer 4-0. Prince Albert gave you a little bit of a test. A little scary, yeah. 4-2.

Yeah. And then you beat Spokane 4-1. Yeah, so in five. Yeah, we split. We went 2-1 at home because we played three games at home. Yeah. And then went Spokane. and we won 2-0-1.

That was it. We just kind of put it together on the road and it was pretty good. Pretty intense. It was full burn down there. It was fun. Pretty fun. That's what we talk about, you know,

making these runs and playoffs and learning to win and deal with pressure and all this kind of stuff. So that was huge. There's nothing like the roller coaster of a playoff journey. No, because if you look at it as a goalie, you let it need one game you got you know it's one game it's over with right you got to get ready for the next so it is good we have we have guys in senior hockey sask elta i'm talking

go fuck i hate playoffs right because it's just the emotional roller coaster right yeah the highs are the highs the lows are the absolute lows and no matter what like the next you got to focus on the next game doesn't matter if you hit one or the other yeah there's you got to be even keeled to some regard right Especially in the moment. You've got to be really, like, learn to calm yourself down. Or learn to deal, learn to play with the pressure, like, on you. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the biggest thing. And I mean, I was good then, and there were times even in pro where I struggled at times. And you've got to learn to win all over again sometimes. That's just the way it is. Yeah. You know, it's always, you just, you got to learn to win it all over and over all the time. What was, uh, in the dub? I'm trying to think here.

As a goalie, was there fans that got on you? What were the worst fans? Or the best fans? Maybe you thrived under fans getting on you. Fans? Well, they're pretty much our own fans in Moose Jaw. Because we weren't. I think we were 9 and 60, whatever it was the one year.

And then we got better. We got 19 and something. We won 19 games a year after. We had a couple tough years there. Fans-wise, it was always, PA was nice to play. He was close to home. So I always had relatives there. and they were, you know, that rink in there, it was just fun to play in there.

We had a good rival with Regina. Moushton Regina Ravala, it was really fun, right? The local 40 minutes, it was always heated. So those were, we were pretty fortunate to be a part of that. Was there a building you liked playing it? PA, because it was home. I always played. It seemed to play good there and enjoy it.

You knew people were watching. New people watching and just, not wanted to show off, but you wanted to show them you could play. So that was a fun building place. Saskatoon was always good too because you look in the stands and you know half the people. So they were fun to play in. Don't give it wrong, it was good to go to Portland back in those days because it was 15 or 16,000 people in Portland back in the day when we'd go on the West Coast swing. 15, 16,000 people, eh? It was pretty fun, like really fun.

And they were at a good team then too. And yeah, that was an experience. First West Coast. trip was just awesome. How so? Just the experience. You're going into the States. I don't think I ever was in America in my life before.

So you're going into like Spokane, which is crazy there. Vans were crazy. You know, Portland, Seattle, you're in this place where you've never been. So it was just, that was probably, that's one of the most exciting times in my career, even, just that experience. You know, some kid out of Mayfair or Saskatchewan getting a chance to do this. It was, you know, you learn. You know, you just, you almost, if you did it again, you'd even, it would be even more surreal doing it, I think, because you'd appreciate it more.

But it was pretty cool. That was the biggest thing in my first year. Even going shopping down there, you know, just the little things. Because I've never experienced anything like that. We didn't really have money growing up to go on big trips and stuff like that, so it was pretty cool. I was thinking for small town Saskatchewan in particular

it's pretty crazy that you can play a sport and then end up well I mean just you trace your steps on where you went right South Carolina Britain Denmark right all these different places pretty cool and all from you know like

of course you can do this with a lot of ventures right a lot of professions but it's a little bit of a talent and got lucky and just kept willing to go places Well, you got lots of kids. You see kids nowadays, you know, that are good players and, you know, are good dub careers or college and go play one year pro and that's it. They don't want to, you know, don't want to grind it out.

And there's nothing to that. Maybe they're smart people and they're going to get in the business world. But the experience to, the experience to gut it out and go through like the ups and downs and, you know, you go in the Baton Rouge. We were pleased to play in Baton Rouge and Miami. with Greg talked about Miami and Jackson, Mississippi, all these crazy places that you experience. And it's a grind because, you know, you're, you get the shit beat out of you one night and you got to go somewhere. You got to figure something out and get your game back the next night.

So Bill's character. So it was, I just loved it. I loved doing that, you know, just the experience and the winning and don't hear me wrong. It was a fun place to live, like the experience down in the States. But it's just, it was exciting that way. I liked it. That was what I was not boring to do, but I just,

I liked doing it. And maybe I could have got into the oil business was on 21 or 22 and was successful that way, but to do what I did, I just, I thought it was awesome. Even though I was just a minor league player. You know, to me that was okay.

That was, I was happy to do that. Yeah, well, I don't regret it one bit, but when I went over to Finland, the only thing looking back, but I couldn't have. I mean, I ended up, I was dating the girl that became my wife now, right? And she was living in, not St. She was going to St. Lawrence, which is in what?

Canton, Cortland. I can never remember. Canton, New York. And so we were doing that distance thing, which is no fun. No. Worst thing in the world. But anyways, so I came back after my first season there. Yeah.

But if I didn't have any reason to come back, I would have been over there for a long time because that was a lot of fun. Even though I was making peanuts. Yeah. You know what? Peanuts, you know what? There were time, I made, what did I make? Schmitty, we talked about this.

When I went to Wichita on a university, I quit university and went to Wichita, I made $375 or $325 bucks a week. And I remember the first check I got because I remember taking that check and buying a watch. I never owned in my life. I still have the watch today. Do you? Yes. Why watch?

I don't know because I've never had nothing like, you know, like nice and stuff. And I remember buying the watch. I still got the watch today. It's a citizen titanium. I think it was $300. I could just afford to buy it and left $25 to buy some hot wings from hooters or something like that. But it was like, I remember it like it was yesterday.

You know, I didn't. It wasn't even about the money. I was down there playing hockey. It was just the best thing. But it wasn't much money. It's funny what you can get by on when you need to, though. Oh, absolutely. There's always, you know, you always get through it, right?

At the end of the day, you do. I was going to ask you about 96, 97, because that year then you went to university. Yeah. So you go to a Memorial Cup. Yeah, I just. And after you're done your dub, you go. Yeah. I just, I was confused.

A couple buddies that were playing in University, CIEU, and they were just kind of convinced you all. I went to camp, though. I went to San Jose's camp. Okay, okay. Yeah, so I went to San Jose camp. I said no to a two-year deal with Anaheim. Really?

My East Coast League and HL, their HL affiliate. I said no to it. And the guy who took it was Brumby, who I played with. He played for Leftbridge. same year and I said no to it because my agent figured we get a better deal so he said no to that and I didn't end up getting anything just went to a San Jose minor league trial that's all I got out of it so I let that he let I'm gonna say he did but I could have said no I'm taking it but you don't know

right come off a pretty good year so I went back at that though and go some bitch yeah you just maybe sign the dang thing you do you you always there's always regrets I don't regret nothing with decisions I made. I went and played the CIAU, which I completely hated. I couldn't stand at university. So that was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made, was go to university because I wasn't ready to go, right? What am I doing going to go to school?

I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what I wanted to do on Saturday night. So why was I going to university? So, but yeah, I mean, you do regret it, but it's the decisions you make. The path that when I went to university, and almost made me want to play hockey even more. I wanted to leave more.

Because I was good in that university league, but I wasn't. Where did you go to university? Yeah. University of Saskatchewan. So you're playing for the Huskies? Yeah. Two years.

Me and Jeff Calvert split. Good buddy of mine. Real good guy. And it wasn't for me, though. I got it out a year and a half, and then I quit right after CIA. We hosted CAUs. We won the Canada West Championship over Alberta.

And then we lost in the semis in the CIA Cup. We should have won it. Who did you lose to? Jesus, was it Acadia or something like that? I don't even know. That's how much I paid attention to university hockey. But you know what, again, three back in the time of Morgan Man being out of Acadia, though.

Yeah, maybe. I'm a 75. So he's a little, he's a year older than me, isn't he more? He's got to be a year older than me at least, doesn't he? Maybe. But I mean, it's right back in that time of Acadia being really strong. Really strong, yeah. And then U of A goes on to be really strong right in that time as well.

Yeah, as well. Yeah, and not too we were knuckle or button heads with U of A all the time, right? It was us for them. They won it the year before. Canada West, we won it the year after. Right. Yeah. But just weren't into it.

No, I wasn't into school. I didn't like the backpack thing. I just, it wasn't for me. You know, a backpack and a cappuccino or whatever it was. That wasn't for me. I just, but it taught me what I wanted in life. It taught me, okay, let's go for it. Okay, I want to back this up for a second.

So you were undrafted, correct? Yeah. Rated pretty high to get drafted back in the day. And just never? No, just never, just never went. I think I was, Jesus, I was rated like 19th in the world as a goalie or something like that. I don't know what it was, but pretty good. Like, I had a really good 19-year-old year.

And, but never went, it's passed through. I don't know if it was, my coach didn't help me out that much then, El Tour or whatever it was. Did you ever get an invite, I mean, other than San Jose and Anaheim, did you ever go anywhere? No, nowhere. Just 19. Anaheim. 19, I went to, I went to Houston Aeros Camp. I was 19.

Houston. It was pretty cool. Good experience. But nothing really, nothing really solid, like in the NHL or anything like that, right? For camps and stuff. So,

that's what it is, right? So you quit university then? Quit university, and I was at a plane ticket to go to Wichita, Kansas, to join them with two games left in the season. And it was awesome. Like I just stepped in and got right into playoffs and had a good run.

And we lost in the final to Columbus. Columbus Cotton Moaths. They beat us four straight, but they had a really good team. And we weren't supposed to be there. I just, again, got lucky, gone in a roll and just, it was fun. Travis Clayton playing there at that time? Travis Clayton was with me, yeah. It's crazy.

I didn't realize how many guys from this area played for, well, Wichita being won, right? Because that's, you know, once again, Chris Weeb last week, or last week he started talking about Wichita and we got talking down that road. And it's a great place to play down too. Like, it was great when we played. And now it's supposed to be a really good place to play from what I heard, like New Rink and facility-wise. So you stepped in and went, yeah, this is where I want to be. Yeah. That was what I wanted to do.

And I just, you know, I said I missed two years of this, you know, but. It went, yeah, it went good. I just, I split with a guy the first round, and then he, you know, just kind of got lucky and took over and went on a good little run. It was fun. But, you know, you put yourself in a position to succeed and where you want to be. You know, it's, you can, you know, that's what I mean. I could be, when you're going to university, you're kind of in a spot where you just not having fun. So you're not into it.

You're not getting the best out of you. So that makes a big That makes You know that's a big difference right Of just you know Being in the right situation It's like work right If you like what you do

You're going to succeed If you're kind of just And you're going through the motions Well you're not going to succeed You're just going to have facets And you're just kind of They'll basically glide along in life basically

So why not back to Wichita Thunder The next year? Because my buddy Jason Fitzsimmons called me in South Carolina Yeah. And I went to Rochester Americans camp. He got me up there at camp, and we knew we were going to be in the East Coast League,

but he was a good salesman. The coach wasn't happy in Wichita, but it was one of the best decisions I made in my life was to go to Charleston. How could you turn down going to South Carolina? Well, you don't. I wouldn't turn it down tomorrow if I was going to go down again. Even for holiday, I took my wife down there,

and, you know, she's from Spain and England, and she's been to a lot of nice place, and I took her there, and that's pretty much one of the best places she's been, and she's been all over the world. Like, it's just a phenomenal place. Just a wonderful place. Just to play hockey back then, it was awesome, because it was like a mini NHL, right?

You walked, you played 10,000 fans a game, and go downtown, everybody knows he are, and it just felt like you were just special. making like 400 bucks a week, right? So, I tell you what, you felt like somebody. You know,

free drinks, free food all over town. It was just a free golf, which I like, you know, it was just a wonderful place. It was like four years of the best time

of my life, hands down. You know, and I still have the best time when I go down there every year. So it's just a, honestly, that's hands down the best place

you could play pro hockey, Charleston, South Carolina. back in the 90s and early 2000s. Well, and you got to win there too. That also makes it special. Every year. Every year, yeah. You know, every year.

It's just, you know what? It's easy to do well in places like that, right? You could be stuck in, like, the north. When Schmitty talked about the north, you know, they're getting like a thousand fans a game in some places, right? It sucks. Even in the American League, you go to, like, places, and there's, like, no fans, and you're playing American hockey. You know, just the atmosphere sucked. So you had to really be self-motivated to get ready for games and stuff.

But down there, during the week we got 6,000 fans, you know. So it was just, it was easy to play. They love their hockey down there then? They do, they do. And, you know, obviously it's resided a little bit in every, you know, minor league town resides, like when they have this new flavor of the year kind of thing like hockey or lacrosse. But it's still good. Like they're winning this year.

They're like unstoppable this year as well. They're just a great, great organization. I had text Schmidt before I, uh, while on my way here. And he'd mentioned the year you guys won something along the lines of you coming in on the elimination game and then rattling off six wins in a row. Yeah, me and a guy split all year. I think he played 33 games. I played 30 or whatever it was.

And then he started playoffs and he just struggled. And, uh, yeah, we had a, uh, we went down two. I came into the game just to kind of finish the game out, and then they started me in an elimination game. We were down two games to one. And then I rattled off three, two straight to win the series, double overtime in the last game.

And then I ran three there, and then three in the semifinal. I went three and O. And then he played the final. So, yeah, just kind of, again, just got in a roll, got lucky. What guys leave you alone at that point in time? Kind of like the pitcher, don't talk to him, he's on a roll.

I really wasn't like that. You know, I didn't the dressing room. I always BS with guys. I had my routine and stuff like that, but I wasn't like that. You weren't talking to the post? No, I don't know, far from it. I have. You know, as I got older, you get quirky and stuff, but, you know, you just do your routine, basically.

But I, I BS with the guys during periods and joke around. That's fine. I wasn't too. I wasn't keen on everything that had to be. I had a routine. Everything had to be correct from when I woke up in the morning and eat my porridge and, you know, drive to practice, do what I did at pregame skate and eat what I ate, slept, and get up and just do the same thing that I did every day.

As long as I did the same thing, I was okay. So. Routine. Routine. Routine. Not that stupid stitious as much. You know what I mean? Like, obviously, there were super.

that I had, but more routine. It was one of the superstitions you had? Well, you know, I worked in threes a lot, right? Tap the post three times or just little taps or, you know, sign of the cross three times or just threes. I worked in threes. It was just the way it was, right? Did you have a favorite, I used to have a goaltender.

Shout to my carosa. He used to love me as a defenseman because I always talked to him. and always like, do you have a favorite guy who stood in front of you that was like awesome to have play? Well, I had a guy actually from North Balford. Steve Munn. This guy was like, you know, he was younger at me. So I didn't really know him growing up that good. And Munner was, uh, Tumidia, AAA in North Balford, got a full ride to, Jesus, what the hell, RPI.

Oh, yeah, RPI.P.I. That's, uh, right out of, uh, AAA, you got a full ride. Really? Yeah. And just, I didn't really know him much. And, you know, not a talented guy. Not a super talented guy. Stay at home D, man.

Tough. The best stick that anybody could have. Like, just stick. Like, just stick check on chick. Just the best. And fight tough guys and wouldn't lose. Like, just the guy you want in front of you. I played with him in England for three years.

And he was just lights out. Like, he was just. It's so good to have in front of you. Like it was just like, you know, there's that communication when he's on the ice and that, there's just that trust and the confidence that he was just like just that unsung hero. But he was a legend over there because they just, that's how good he was at his job. And he's a North Belford. I live in Augusta, Georgia now and just, he's a good friend of mine.

And just a great player. But, you know, he's not, he didn't play the NHL. He didn't. He was good at his level, very good at what he did. And a winner. He won two East Coast League championships. And then one with me in England. A couple of playoff championships and league championship with me in England.

He was a winner. But he was a good one. Hard to find those type of D man. So, no, he was good, like, for just one of those guys. And you can talk about Wade Redden, too, like passing the puck. That one step from the goal, and there was nobody better. There's nobody better in NHL what he did, right? Yeah, Wade was pretty damn good.

Just that first pass, he was the best at it. I've never seen anybody better, even in the NHL. Like, he was just that good, smooth, great guy to boot too, you know. Yeah. You spend four years in South Carolina. Yeah. Why in the FDA leave? You know what?

I lost my game after, uh, I, I was, uh, I was, uh, After I was, so when we won the championship, you know what, we had fun. You know, I remember, I think I got a, we got our playoff bonus a week later. All of us were just waiting for it, right? And we got a lot earlier than I thought, I think it was $3,500. And a few of us went on a 14-day bender, two weeks. I remember, I remember because I took the one day off, I had six beer. Took one night off and had six beer.

And I remember going home with no money. I think I had to call my mom and dad and, hey, I need some gas. money to get home basically right it was just it was one of those things what did you guys do for a 14-day-better just just just in south carolina yeah oh yeah just complete just free-for-all basically my mom and dad probably won't like hearing this but that's the truth like no word of the lie and uh got home and like basically my mom would just be like why are you like sweating the sheets like you just what's wrong with you you know and i kept drinking a little bit in the summer and stuff got back to playing and just walked into playing and i was geez this is easy i'm playing good right this

is easy game you know i think i had the best numbers at christmas time in the east coast like i was just lights out right went up to i got called up to american league for a month i'm pretty sure it was like four weeks never played me a game right i backed up every game played me one period when Tom Askey got pulled or whatever it was. And I went into Jody Gage's office and I'm like, man, if you're not going to play me, just send me down, you know. So I got sent down, right? I was out of there the next morning. I went in the general manager's office and said that, if you believe that.

That's how kind of, you know, screwed up I was at the time, right? Because, you know, when you look back of that, you don't, it's an opportunity to succeed, right? get a chance to prove yourself while I was too worried about getting back down and drinking and having fun in South Carolina right I didn't so I get called up but you know I should be in the gym I should be you know on the bike I should be out after practice just everything right to to get better so you could stay there but that was in my mindset and that's just the way it was that's the way I was that's how I was you know that's just how my mind was then and went back down started playing oh I didn't play good that game

next game got pulled next game lost like I think my brother came to visit me and I lost 8 3 or something like I just completely lost it as soon as I made like told I said you can send me down I went back down and I lost my game

I went from the best goal in the league in the East Coast League to like the worst and right then is when I just I got a wake-up call that's when I had the wake-up call I just was like what am I I'm like I'm you know I wanted to keep playing but I was I was you know I wasn't in shape you know drinking lots and it's not that I was an alcoholic or anything but it was just it's just took took away from playing and and I just kind of wake up call came home

and I said that was it I had to look for another place to play I got in shape I just you know quit drinking got actually serious about hockey that's what I went to England and I just slowed down on the drinking and got serious right and that was i was 20 26 i think i was 27 and that's why i moved england just to change and just to clean up my act i went to university there as well did you yeah yeah so i got we got free schooling with the team that i played on the coventry yeah yeah yeah a lot of guys are doing that over there yeah absolutely that was something uh lots of these american league guys that are or uh lots of these american league guys will go

after a four-year-year and they'll go there for their masters and they'll play a few years. That's what I was looking into when I was over there was getting my master's for them. Yeah, so all these guys got mastered out of like these top, you know, 20 graduate schools and stuff. So it was a good gig for these guys.

Yeah. You know, I lasted two years and then I quit, but it wasn't for me again. I tried. What were you trying to take? It's just like business management. Really? Yeah. I just couldn't do it. I'm like dyslexic. They get into, I could study all day, read and then going to an exam or study for a week I get a new exam and I'm just

brain dead so I just couldn't put it that's just the way it is I put it back to you know you mentioned it a while back but like if you're not interested in something it's it's tough to succeed in anything like that I went to when I went to college there was playing Division III I started going for business yeah I hated it yeah I just I hated it. Like, it could have been, maybe it was the professors,

maybe a little bit, I don't know, but it just wasn't engaging. Yeah. And I ended up, you know, it hasn't served me, well,

I don't know, I still enjoy having it, but you got a Bachelor of Arts in history. I graduated, I ended up, like, switching majors partway through, I think,

about my first year and just soaked up every history classes. Paul Shue, it was his name. I'd tell you what, if I could ever get him to come on a podcast,

dude in a heartbeat. The guy was fantastic. You listened to him talk for like hours upon hours upon hours. And he was just so knowledgeable. Yeah. And he made history just, wow, history is cool. I don't know. It's part of my podcast now, right?

Absolutely. And when you get interested, I was a 70 student. Yeah. And I'm giving you the hands out. Like, I was on the border of 70. Yeah. And there I was an A minus. I was a 92 average or whatever, something like that.

Yeah. That's the difference between don't really care and super motivated and enjoy going to class, right? Absolutely. And I was like that in high school too. So it followed me all the way through. It wasn't something I enjoyed to do. But I tried. So I basically went to university.

It was my second year and I did my first exam, did good. Second exam, not so good. And then the third exam I went in there and it was like I was blank. And I just handed the exam. to the teacher and I said I'm done and I never went back I didn't even go to my other exams finals I was like done I got lots of ripping for that but I just didn't want I was I didn't want to do what I didn't want to do and that's just the way it was you know your daughters are going to hear this and you're never going to you're never true right like true I forgot about that a funny story

is I my parents were on me because my marks weren't great in high school yeah and I found my dad's report card from college. And he was like a 62 average. And I remember being like, well, dad was a 62 average. I'm doing better than him, right? I'm just waiting for the children. Yeah, I'll be on them to get 90s. But geez, I guess everybody's different.

They better get that from your wife's side. Yeah, well, they better get it from the wife's side. She's doing her course right now in safety. And so she's doing a university degree right now. well, looking after my business and kids. So it's a talented woman. Yeah, yeah, she's good. Maybe I don't give her enough credit, but yeah, she's a pretty busy lady with two, four kids.

And five kids, me too. You could add me into the mix. What did you think about flying over to Britain? Well, it's okay. Like, we're supposed to be going in three weeks here too, but I might be sending them and I might not be going this time. But it was good. I'm just not crazy. You're traveling 10 hours.

It sucks. And, but, you know, I was excited at the time, right? You just, you're going to another world. New world, yeah. New world. And I wasn't scared to do that kind of stuff. And, you know, I got along with the coach straight away on the phone. Like, I just sounded like, you know, I talked to him to the day all the time.

He's a good friend of mine. And, you know, I just, I knew I was getting into something different. Hockey over hockey in England, right? you're thinking, geez, you know, what's it going to be like? And, you know, maybe not as serious. And that was just a good experience. So, you know, we got off the plane and he picked me up. And, you know, the rest is really history.

He got into the room. And, you know, it definitely wasn't as serious to start out. But the English guys are good guys to play with fun guys. And, you know, just, you know, there are a lot of those guys were full-time working guys. Just hard-working guys. And, you know, just a bunch of great guys to go out. have a beer with and BS with, right? What was the hockey like over in Britain?

Well, my first year was the FBNL. So we were the league under the Super League. Okay. There was a super league, and that's where a lot of ex-NHLers have played. And there was one of those leagues of high pain and went bankrupt, right? And that was the year I went over. They were all, I think there was only five teams in the league. So the FBNL was what I played in.

And there were, you know, it was good. like it wasn't as good as East Coast League let's not kid ourselves but it was good again we had fans like we had 2,000 fans a game it was fun and we played on weekends practice like twice a week

three times a week and go to the pub after practice and it was fun and then I went to you I was going to school at the same time too so I was making a kept me busy during the day but you know and then it just it was fun and I was coming off a year

that my game wasn't very good, right? So I had to find my game back again. And I was in a lot better shape and started off a little slower, but we ended up, you know, we had a good team and we kind of went through the year. We lost in a cup. They have like, they have like different cups. You know what it's like. They have cups and the league's the biggest thing to win the most points.

And then they have playoffs. And we lost the cup game and we were number one team in the league. And we lost, kind of got beat. And the whole thing with Coventry was there always second, second second second and so we got second and then we lost in the final and that was a big thing so pressure was on us so we ended up winning the league uh you know gotten out the season winning the league and then we got into playoffs and then we ended up beating card off in the final and uh the devils and uh you know so we ended up getting two championships out of it and so it was a good starter

starter for me there and then our team moved up into the elite league which was the a Super League the year after. What was it like having those fans? Yeah, they're nuts. You know, they're pretty crazy over there. Like, you can go on YouTube and see what Sheffield Steelers fans are like. They sing songs.

Like, it's awesome. You know, I used to go down the Cardiff, and they used to sing Jody is a girl's name all the time, right? I used to play it good there. And so they just rib me for having a girl's name. And so that's the biggest thing. And I'm sure even if I go, you know, if they find out that I'm in the stands and playoff weekend,

they'll be singing the same song, right? And that's just how it is there. It's pretty cool. And even like, you know, like all the chance they sing through a game, it's just, you just shake your head. It's pretty good. And there now, like our Sheffield team, we got, you know, we were getting 6,000 fans a game.

It'd sell out with an audience and would come now. They sell out every game, like 8,500, every game, sold out Sheffield where I played. I played in Coventry and Sheffield. Yeah. So there's a good thing going there right now. And they're, you know, they pay money there now. And so the league's really strong over there.

They're really strong. They're getting good players out of the American League. It's a good league. And a lot of guys still go for the schooling too. But they're paying some good money now too. You know, you get in the poundage if they're making 12, 13, 1,400 pounds a week. You know, with living and vehicles, it's pretty good money. You know, and that would be probably.

40, 40 weeks, well, yeah, it'd be 35 to 40 weeks of the year. So it's pretty good money for England anyways. But fun place to play. Where do you meet your wife then? She was actually worked at the university where I was going to university. So I was going to Coventry University. So I met her in Coventry and she was working in reception there going to, she was taking her master's at the time. So I just, yeah, that's where I met her and kind of the rest is history. I met her in my second year. Second year over there. Oh, in Coventry.

So I never really had girlfriends during hockey and stuff like that. So this, you know, I was just tired of the life, really, you know, all this drinking and partying. So I just fell upon that and kind of got lucky. Or she got lucky, in other words. How about kids? When did you guys have kids? So we had kids. In Sheffield, we had a key, or Layla.

in Sheffield and then we had Ridley in Sheffield my last year so we had Layla and we had Challenge Cup final game and our first leg or second leg of the Challenge Cup I think it was I don't remember the Challenge Cup was to win the Challenge Cup final okay and my wife went into labor at like 10 or I don't know what time it was she'll just give me shit for not knowing what time it was but I don't know we were in there we went in there like 10 in the morning or something like that and I called David Sims the PR guys like hey just those you know we're we're going and he goes jody jesus we got a big game tonight oh well maybe she'll pop it out quick and I'll be there right and next thing you know like well I think it was 1 30 in the morning we had it so I missed the game we

lost and we didn't win the challenge cup so that was my first kid leila so that was my now was my second last year in chaffield then we had ridley my second child my last year in Sheffield. So I went over to Denmark with two kids too, and it was... How did that change things for you? Yeah, it changed it a lot. It was time. Like, when I went to Denmark, we had two kids, and proxen, we talked about earlier,

proxen twice a week, and it was just like boot camp almost. And at Christmas time, I was done. You know, in Denmark especially, I just, I was... It's not that I threw in the towel. We lost in the final that year to Sundendrski. I forget how you pronounce that name. They were like the top team. We lost, I think, four straight to them or whatever it was, but they were good.

They were really good. But that was it. I was checked out. I had a job at home and I was done. Like you talked with life after hockey, I was ready. I was ready. That was an easy transition for it? Totally.

I was, the real world wasn't hard for me. And I got friends. It was harder. Like some of my buddies who went and retired and stuff, they found it. hard but I just I was ready I was tired you know I was never good enough to just throw the pads on and just go play I just said you had to work out you had to eat right you had to you know he just had to do everything the same routine as soon as I veered off that I just wasn't good so it was the commitment that I had to do what I did like especially like in England and in Sheffield when

I was there it was just hard to stay on top all the time and to stay on top I had to stay on top I to just do all those things. So it tires a guy out. And in the end, I was just, I was tapped. You know, because we went in Sheffield. Like, we go back to Coventry and we had a grand slam winning team with like Belak lockout year. So I brought over Wade Belak. We had Wade Belak. We had Wade Belak was our only guy we came, we got in the, in the NHL, uh, uh, lockout. But he came in and just was like the last puzzle to our team in Coventry because we had just a team that was just we weren't. It's not like we were just. just a bunch of all-stars.

We had an all-star first line, and we had our second line, a couple of American leaguers that were a really good, good score and check, fight, and, you know, we just had such a well-rounded team

that we just rolled people over every game. Like, we were just unstoppable. And that's where we won the Grand Slam. And it's only, the Grand Slam's only been won, like, twice, I think, in England. And as soon as we brought Bilak in, it just gave all our guys.

Everybody grew bigger, right? Yeah, confidence. Confidence. And you know what, Wade was, a good friend of mine from home and he was like he was like he was just in his glory there he just was he had so much fun he hung out with all these young British

kids all the time had good times with them and he was just like he was in his you know just had such a good time it was just great to see you know that he was just such a part of the team he was just like never you know he was a big NHL player but just he wasn't like that right he just wanted to fit in with the guys

and he just fit in so perfectly that he was just that final piece of the puzzle and he just, it was just, you know, everybody looked up to him and he treated everybody with respect. And it was just for the guys, to see the guys that just looked up to him, it was just great to be a part of. Just really good. I got two things I've been wanting to ask the entire time when I get a goal tender in here. One, did you ever score a goal?

Yes, I did score a goal. Coventry, my second year. How good did that feel? Pretty good because I tried in, in, uh, How many attempts did you have? Well, I hit the post twice. You hit the post twice? Twice in South Carolina, right?

Hit the post twice. And it was just like devastating. I thought maybe it's like a hole in one. I've never had a hole in one in golf. Maybe it's not meant to be, right? And then in Coventry, it just finally came true. But here, the kicker is, it's a good story. So, you know, I've been known to play the puck really good back in the day and stuff.

So that's what they brought me over. You know, that was the biggest thing. This guy can play the puck. so whatever we're playing I think it was a December my second year over there and we're playing days and soap spison you know tight game whatever we're winning three two a couple minutes left to play so light switch goes on right well three two maybe you know I never get a chance so this guy dumps it in on me I had to kind of go and get it and stuff so I just you know you just get ready to shoot and D-man gets in away shin pad boom

nearly goes in. So, whatever. A couple of, about a minute later, everybody's looking, and my coach's looking like, just settle down. We've got to win this game. And then sure enough, the guy's same guy, he dumps it on me. Like, what the hell are you doing? And he dumps it on me. So I get the puck, crell it, just rifled it over everybody's head. It landed just over the far blue line. And I think my forward was skating kind of, and I raised him. It kind of hit nearly hit him in the head. But yeah, just lucky. It just went. straight in and the building was that at a home game yeah at a home game and he just erupt but here's the kicker the kicker is about three weeks prior to this couple fans came up to me and said hey jody

just wondering if you want to put in 25 quid to we're going to put a put the odds on you scoring at ladbrokers it's like a betting place so they put a bed on me a hundred pound bet four of us went in on So we put 100, they would only take 100 pounds, the ladbrokers, and we put 100 pounds on me scoring. I think they give us 50 to one odds or something like that. And we ended up getting 1,300 pounds each out of it. So sure enough, Monday morning, I show up at practice, the guy's got an envelope of money for me from scoring the goal. So I was like, 1,300 pounds. Back then it was like 3,000 bucks.

I was like, perfect. So it was a pretty good story how it all came about. It was like chuckling how we actually bet on me to score. and three other fans went and got that bet and this still happens that I scored and I got my payout so I was happy. Only thing better than a player fight

is a goalie fight. And I know you had mentioned in here that you had three junior fights? Three junior fights, yeah. Byron Penstock, Chris Wickenheisenner and Walking Gage. Joaquin Gage, everybody knows walking gauge. He's on my Twitter,

Joaquin, his, and, uh, yeah, we got the one in, uh, Moose Jaw, and he's a big dude, right? Yeah, he took his helmet off with glove. He went in to try and fight my backup goalie. So you know what, my backup goalie? So, you know what? My backup goalie, so I went in there. I was like, come on, you know, and next thing, you know, where gloves are off and he takes his helmet off,

and he's got his batting gloves on, and I'm just like, holy shit, what am I going? I think I started left, and he hit me with two hard punches, right in the nose. and my eyes were watering. I was like, oh my God. And luckily I just kind of grabbed on and got through a couple punches

and got a few in. And I was just like, the refs came in. And I was like, thank God. But I was still like in shock from getting hit in the nose like twice. And my mom, like my mom's down at the glass. She's watched it, escape. Get out of there.

Get out of there. Hanging over the glass, right? So that was the first one, Joachim Gage. And then me and Byron Pesack, we just hated each other. and we had just, we went to Brandon,

we had just brawls the whole game. And sure enough, me and him got to it at Center ice, and we had a great fight at Center. So did you lead that off? Yeah, no, I shot the fuck down on him,

let's go, and I skated out to Center, and he finally came up. And he's a real energetic guy. He's actually, he's like, he's on my Facebook. We talk and bullshit about it,

and we laugh about it, because I went into Brandon after him, and I met him when he'd come back or whatever. But we chuckled about it. We had a good one there. It was pretty fun. Like it was, we had a really good fight. You know, you get in the room,

guys are, you know, everybody's excited. So we had a pretty fun one there. And then we ended up, Schmiddy was in the fight. We talked about how tough Schmiddy was. Schmiddy got, he got his hands on Mike LaClerc. And Michael Kirk played a lot of games in the NHL. He was a, I think he scored 70 goals for us that year in Brandon.

He was 60-some or whatever it was. But Schmitty got his hands on him. And like he says, people don't know what they're getting into. And he gets lefts going. And he's just a. small guy and I remember him giving it to Mike pretty hard and then I ended up Chris Wiccanizer skated down and we went at it and I give it to him pretty good I can honestly say there so back back in the day there was fighting was not as policed as it is now like I mean meaning that now

there's no fighting yeah so but you played through an error of a lot of fighting yeah was the opportunity for a goalie fight like a lot well quite a bit yeah like you're you as soon as a fight broke were you looking? Well, you're always looking at what the goal he's doing, right? Or if it's there's a, if there's a three on two or something, you're jumping in and next thing, you know, you're all going at it. But it was like we're talking, Junior was just like

relentless, right? You're talking six, seven fights a game. Line brawls all the time. Like, you don't see none of that anymore. Like, guys don't even want to, you know, guys don't even want to have a confrontate, they don't even talk about fighting or, you know, it's a different ball game now. It's a different world. It's a different world. Yeah. You're right. It's a different world.

Darryl Plandowski was on here three, four weeks ago, I think, and he's a scout for Tampa Lightning. Yeah. And he got talking about W.H.L. And how they're just, like, there's just no fights anymore. No. And he wasn't saying it's a bad or a good thing.

He was actually talking about how different leagues have implemented rules to try and crack down on fighting. And he was talking about the dub, and he said, like, Dub hadn't changed any of its rules. It's just fighting. gone, right? Nobody's looking for it anymore, right? Just the way it is, that's how they want it.

And, like, you know, I'm not saying that's how they want it, but that's how the NHL wants it, I would imagine, right? That's just the way it is. It's a different breed. They're growing up not being aggressive, fighting, staying away from that stuff. They're not challenged or bullied, right? So it's not going to happen, I don't think.

No. She's a dying breed. Yeah. It's pretty much dead right now. It's pretty much dead right now. I know. You're even, guys even joke about it in senior hockey, right? Like there just isn't a whole lot of fighting anymore.

No, there isn't. Yeah, it sucks. At the end of the eight, it does suck. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not, I don't think it's as fun watching an NHL game on TV or going. Well, taking, there's no hit, like, there's hitting, but there isn't really hitting anymore. Yeah, no, there isn't. You're right.

It's, it's speed and skill, which is, which is good. It's great. Yeah. But everybody still likes, when the guy goes, you know, what the character's taken out of the game at the end of the day right the character because you got to sometimes you got to answer the bell and you get bullied and that's a part of the game you got to stand up for yourself if you don't then you're going to get dominated every game that's just the way it is yeah the guy's going to have an edge on you if you don't stand up for yourself and there's indeed you don't have to

have that anymore i don't you know i don't think it's different though yeah it's different It's hard to understand I'll tell you that much That's the way I see it watching And That's the way life is We're in a world like that That's not just hockey

That's in real life too Yeah well I'll say it again One of the best things I've ever heard on here With Skip Craig Yeah Say hockey mirrors society Yeah

Right And you're like Yeah Yeah That's pretty much bang on It is It is Absolutely. That's exactly how it is.

You just look at how kids are. It's the same as much. Just everything in general, right? Social media, I'm sure in all your minor pro days, you're happy and you didn't have the social media falling you around. But I can guarantee I'm happy that I didn't. It's hard to believe I did not have a phone until 2011 when I graduated. Actually, pretty much I didn't get a phone until I was back from Europe.

So that's the end of 2011. Yeah. So like 2012, I finally got a phone. Yeah, I remembered in South Carolina. I went, the Schmidt you can tell you, I went out and got a phone deal. I used to go out there and do some PR stuff for the stingway. So I'd get guys like, you know, free vehicles to drive while they were down there or free.

So I ended up getting free phones. We got, I got four free phones from a guy. They gave us all tell it was. We all got free phones, free contract, what we thought. So next thing, you know, the guy gives us four phones. So I give him Fitsy. one, Schmitty one, myself, and I think it was maybe Bednard, I gave one, Jared Bednard, played with this then.

So we all had these phones, and, you know, I'm calling home from South Carolina to like North Battleford, you know, no big deal. So, you know, and then come the end of the year, the guy's like, hey, I just let you know I need those phones back and give them the phones back, whatever, right? Come back the next year, the guy lost his job because the bills were like $1,500 a phone bill. For giving us these phones. That was back in 2001, I think it was, even 2000. That was back when it just started.

So I couldn't imagine. But he said they were free, so, you know, you don't know, right? So you're sitting there calling every, all your buddies from home and stuff. And that was back in the day. I mean, only now, 20 years later, there's free calling in North America, right? No kidding. So. So you used to go around and work over businesses to try and get a couple things.

What was some of the things, like, well, we did tickets, season tickets I'd sell. What was one of the coolest things you got as a freebie? Well, playing the ocean course at Keyoe Island. We used to get that free all the time. Oh, yeah. So we used to golf all those, like these premier courses at Charleston for free, or 20 bucks for a green, or for a cart fee. Car fee. Yeah.

So we got ocean course lots. I got guys, but I got guys like cars for the whole year from like nine months, free cars. give them tickets you know spend time with them you know the guys want to go for lunch or supper these fans and you just that's kind of how you did it and the results you give them a patch on a jersey or do some extra stuff for them and that's what i used to do so that's kind of brought in sales to my company doing that kind of stuff so that was the biggest thing i get vehicles and stuff like that get you know some golf deals and stuff like that so i did lots of that lots of that PR stuff so you know, you always took time and, you know, you're always looking to get an edge or whatever

it is, right? Yeah. So sometimes that was the deal breaker. You bring a guy in and we'll give you a car for the year, you know. So that's a huge thing, right? Absolutely. Yeah. So we did, that was fun doing that kind of stuff too.

So that's where I kind of got a little of that PR stuff from. And then we went to England, not saying the same type of thing, but you still got to go out and, you know, golfing and stuff. We used to play, of course, the Forest of Art. and it had the British masters on it. It held the British Masters for eight years, and we were like, we got free golf out there. It was awesome. So, you know, me and my buddy who passed away from cancer,

a couple years back, Adam Calder, probably the best player in England, like history. If you Google that, Adam Calder, he won an NCAA championship in North Dakota. He was the guy who went back when they won in the heydays. Like, they had Blake and just a whole bunch of, like, He was like basically the unsung hero. He won a championship there, championship in the East Coast League. And then in England he won like four or five championships.

And he was the top, it was the leading score there for like six, seven years. He died of cancer. He had a tough goal, shitty to go. But, you know, he just, he's just one of those guys. Me and him, like we went and golf to Belfrey every once a month too. We'd play the Belfrey. And we got to go to watch the Ryder Cup in England when we were playing. So it was a pretty cool.

And then we do you when you play there too. So I think it was our second year. We went up and played St. Andrews. So we actually drove up. So we, I think we played, was it, we played the night. We finished our game at nine and then the coach gave us like, I don't know, five days, six days off or a week off. We didn't have practice or we didn't have practice and we were on break. So we went and played, we got, we put a little lottery at the ocean course or not the ocean course at the,

Old Course, St. Andrews, and they called us a day before you're on at 8 o'clock. So we got on at 8 o'clock. We showed up late, five minutes for a tea time. And we drove all night. It was a seven-hour drive. We got in at five after eight. They gave us our tea time, went and played in like wind and rain sideways. The old course at St. Andrews, it was like unreal. It was just probably one of the best moments of my life, like just playing it, just experiencing the wind and the rain. And it was pretty cool. So we went on a little golf trip there.

We played Kings Barnes, which holds the British Masters. Karnusti, we played 36 holes. I actually walked 36 in a day. I was like dead by the end of the night. And then we played Turnberry as well. So it was pretty cool. Like it was a great trip. But that's kind of, again, that's the experiences you have by, you know,

going to England or, you know, just it was just one of those things. It was just, you know, just lucky to do it. Well, I'll bring us into the final segment. Yeah. The Crude Master Final Five. Shout out to Heath and Tracy. Yeah. Sponsor the final segment.

Five questions. As long or as short as you want to answer it. Yeah. If you could pick one goalie to go toe to toe against, can be anyone. Who would you want to battle across the ice against? To toe to toe. Well, you'd say Ron Hxtall, right? Because he was the guy.

He was the, you know, if you stood. up to him everybody's like look at what the pot fan did when he stood up to him the whole world was like holy shit did that just happen just stood up to him right because he was he was a bully right he just bullied he was tough he was a bully and he would be probably the guy and I loved I used to love using his sticks because he had the big curve the Vic stick as a goalie I just so you'd get one of them and you'd think he could play the puck like him but you never ever could but he would be the guy probably I you know he would be the guy but I was a big, huge fan.

Like, Patrick Wah. You know, huge. Like, he was my idol. And he was like, you know, you just watch him in those fights when he fought Vernon. And you just see his mindset. He just was, he had that in him. Like, he wasn't a nice guy. Right.

I just, you know, he just, in it. Vernon did good against him, too. Don't get me wrong. But he just, Patrick Wah just was, he was on another level. Like, competitiveness and winning and just there was something inside of him that nobody had. I don't know why you're talking about these goalies. The name that comes to mind is Dan Clucce. You remember when he fought?

Oh, I kind of stay away from him. He was like scary, man. He was scary. Yeah, no, no. And the other guy was Ray Emery. Well, yeah, I didn't mention their names just because they were scary guys. Dan Clucet was scary. I played a Memorial Cup man.

Did you? Yes, he was on Guelph, I think it was. He was in there. No kidding. And he was known for just a loose cannon, right? Dan Clucay. We played him in the Memorial Cup. He was known for loose cannon.

We beat them 2-1, I think, our first game there. Yeah, so it was pretty cool. Dan Cluche, yeah. He was loose. Loose. He had a temper boy, and he was tough. Well, he's got some fights in the NHL where he calls on. What game is it where he calls on the entire bench?

Yeah. It would have been nice to see him fight Emory, actually. Yeah? That would have been a tilt. Exactly. Exactly. If you could have beer with one person, sit across, have a conversation like we're doing. Yeah.

Who would you take? Well, I'd probably Patrick Waugh. Yeah? Mary Lemieux. Yeah. My two faves, hands down. For just, you know, winners, they just picked their brains. But Waugh was just, to me, was just everything I wanted to be basically in life.

Just his winning the way he was under pressure in the Stanley Cup. You know, every talks about Bruder was good. yes yes yes Patrick was what three three consmice four Stanley Cups like he was the guy so he you know I just he won championships I thought on his you know on his shoulders he won it he was pretty much the reason on some of those that he won even as a rookie I remember I remember watching TV when he was a rookie in 86 when he came in nowhere and just was lights out you know you look we watch those highlights and He was just, he had that level that nobody had under pressure.

I don't think not many guys had. Being a goal tenor, like when you watch that at the top level, are you like, man, that's unbelievable then? Totally. Totally. Because he just, it's not like he was a butterfly goalie, but he still made saves. Like, I'm not like, not necessarily,

he was more of a butterfly guy, but hybrid. He just, he just made saves when they had to be made and whatever it took, right? but his attitude was everything when he's winking at Thomas Sandstrom in L.A. and you know in L.A. and you know or Jeremy Roanick in the playoffs. He always backed it up.

Not many goalies could do that under pressure and putting the heat on themselves, right? He could do it. Yeah, he was a special guy. I'm going to ask, what are your thoughts on Dominic Hasick? He was good, really good, because I was in that Buffalo system when he was there, right?

I never, obviously, I was in Rod. Chester. So when somebody would get hurt or Dominic would get, when Dominic would get hurt, Mika Nornan would get called up. I'd get called up from South Carolina. That's how that worked. So, but Dominic, I remember watching in Chicago just starting out, right? Just okay. Right? And then he just flipped the switch when he went to Buffalo and just on another level too. He's a special guy. He's a special guy because, you know, the character too. Like you guys talk, Brownie talked about him, that he was just a piece of work in the dressing room. Like, great guy.

He loved him. And so you got to know a little bit about him. You know, he's still asking questions, but the guys who played with him really liked him. But he was a special guy. You know, the way he played, nobody could play like him, right? Nobody could play. He's like, he's like, he's flexibility and like just,

this was crazy, right? Did you ever worry about flexibility? Did you ever do any special? Yeah, yoga later in my career. Yeah? Honestly. And did you know what to help? Lots of stretching.

Lots of stretching. Honestly, I never pulled the groin. I had osteotidus of the pubic bone, which is like when your tendons stretch off your pubic bone, it feels like you get two pulled groins. That was just plain. I think we played 70 games, 80 games of one year, and it just caught up to me. But never pulled the groin, but I always stretched, always warmed up and stretched. Did yoga, always stretched down.

So I never really had any, never really got hurt early. Kind of got lucky really that way. Hmm. Yeah. If you go partying with one person, who would you want it to be? Partying with one person, who would it want to be? That's a good question. I did like partying back in the day, I'll tell you.

Partying with one person. Geez, are we talking hockey players or talking real world? Whatever you want, celebrity, if you really... Jesus, that's a good question. I don't know. It would probably be, I'd probably, you know, I don't know. If you're talking hockey, you know, I'd like to, you know, I'd like to maybe have a couple of red wines with Mary Lemieux, you know, just to just, just the presence of him. Even as an owner, business guy, he's like just, you know, one of the most successful business guys in the NHL now.

He's got that brand, right, of Pittsburgh, you know, it's just a, just an intelligent guy, really. Yeah, it'd be nice to have a couple drinks with a guy like that, you know, just to. Just, you know, it's because he transitioned from being that just the guy. I just thought he was, you know, you ever talks about Gratzky, Gratsky, Gratsky. And Mario was just, you know, I just thought he was just on a whole different level, too. You know, don't give it wrong, Gratsky's the best, but Mario, I thought, was just something special. Mario doesn't have the problems in his career. No, it's pretty, he would have been close.

He would have been. He would have been. And then, you know, and then it just got to the point where it was just too much, right? But then it's funny how he gets the business, right? They own money. They're nearly bankrupt. When he, you know, he walks in to be part owner, and next thing, you know, he builds that franchise to where it is.

Because of Crosby, too, don't get me wrong. But he's obviously a smart guy. So he'd be interesting to pick his brain on. Who is the best player you played with and against? Well, with would be like Ryan Smith, you know. Reds, he was obviously good back in the day. We had lots of good guys. Like in Brandon, we had like Peter Schaefer.

He put the Bruins. Yeah. The guy was just sick, talented. Like, his talent was just on another scale. I mean, it just didn't work out for him. Great in the NHL, which was maybe not surprising in a way. But, you know, we were just a handful of guys there. Like, Mike LeClerc had, what, 65 goals? Like, everything he touched went in the net that year in Brandon.

But Schmidt, he was special because he was, He was a little kid that loved the game, and he just, he could score. It was crazy how he could score. Smitty. So, Mike LaClerc had 58 goals, 53 assists, 111 points. Peter Schaefer had 47 goals, 61 for 108. And then Corey Serene? Yeah, just a little guy, Corey.

You had 3859 for 97. And then you had Bobby Brown with 88. Brownie was a great friend of mine, Bobby Brown. He was the captain of the team, just a character, just a super guy. He was our playoff MVP. He was just. Bobby Brown? Yeah.

Heart and soul, you know, win the big draws, kill the penalties when we needed them, just a super guy. And he played a lot of years in the minor pros, and now he's a golf pro in, I think, like, Austin, Texas or something like that, San Antonio around there. But there was a pretty special team there, boy. And for all the stats, guys, I found this interesting. So in the dub, you played 11 games that year. for Moostrad. Does that sound right? 11, which were, oh yeah, yeah, this year, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, going back to the year, you're 20 year old. Yeah. You had an 881 save percentage. Yeah. 475 goals against. Then you go to Brandon 2.49 against 909 save percentage. And then in the Memorial Cup, you had a 2.47 and 925 save percentage. Yeah. You couldn't have given much more than that. No, it was good. I had good guys in front of me. Don't get me wrong. You know, you just... True. But it is... Hey, yeah, hardcore. And, I'm... analytics right now you got to have what 915 plus or something in the

nature totally back then that was good but in your 915 is average yeah you need the high you got to be 920s and to be a be the guy for the year you're 930 right that's the way it is who is one of the best players you played against best players to play against

you know I played Chris Pronger in the world championships and Victor Kozlov in the world championships as well I forgot all about that actually so I played for team Western so it's Saskatchewan and Manitoba as a 16 year old Okay

And we went so there was Team Pacific, Team Alberta Maybe Alberta and Pacific were any other Team Saskatchewan or Saskatchewan Manitoba were together We weren't the strongest obviously Then you had Quebec Played against Justin Tebow

And who's the other Lefty Theatre Jose Theodore They were the two goalie Alexander Deg was the stud back then No kidding Yeah and what did you think Alexander Degg Oh, he was just, his speed was ridiculous.

They beat a 6-1, I think it was, to start out. But Chris Pronger opened my eyes a little bit, even watching him, like, he was just, it was crazy. But Victor Kozlov, we played him New Liskered Northern, I guess, Northern Ontario, right on the Quebec border. And I remember, we tied, we tied the Soviet Union 5-5. He took a wrist shot from the top of the circles. And I didn't have a goalie. I just had a cage, right? It's a normal helmet.

and he dinted it right to my nose on it. It was just a little wrist shot. And this guy, he was like Mary Lemieux out there. Like, he just dominated the whole game. And we did good for tying him 5'5. But, like, these, like, he was so good. Like, it was just watching another level, like, where he controlled the play, just, you know. And, and he, I mean, he went on to play, what, how many years in the NHL calls off?

Like, a ton. A ton. A long time. New Jersey, you know. And so he was probably the best guy of ever. played against like just to control the game and stuff like that then you get an Alexander Deg but it was kind of cool back in those days because I was 16 years old you're playing against all these guys that became bona fide NHLers right yeah and but

that the biggest eye opener was Russia they they did like no clothes poor they were talking guys that were the best players in that tournament had different they had spray painted gloves like different colored gloves they had two there was one guy guy it was a phenomenal D man he had two different pair of skates it was it was just surreal so all there was a bunch of us guys and on our team we just gave all our clothes to them it was they were that poor man but then they were that skilled it was one of the biggest eye-openeres i've ever come across and Czechoslovakia was there too and they were really poor too and they were good too but that was it was a pretty good experience that we got to play against a lot of good players

like the quebec thing was pretty cool we beat sweden i think uh six four or something like that. That was kind of our highlight of the thing. We just couldn't compete with Quebec's and the Team Ontario's. I forget who else was the Team Ontario. A bunch of guys, but I remember Pronger, like 6-4 is dominant out there. He was the biggest eye opener for me because he's seen this big tall, lanky kid that was rated the best player in Canada or whatever it was back in the day. So it was pretty cool, pretty cool experience. All right, your final one. We're going to go off of hockey and off anything. I don't think I've used the

time machine question in a few anyways but if you had a time machine you could go anywhere where would you go? Time machine where would I go? Jesus Christ that's a tough question for a guy that's not that smart eh? Where would I go back in time? I don't I can't go back in my time because I don't really regret anything right? Well maybe you'd like

to go back and relive one of those pubs. Oh, you know, you'd go back, maybe the experience, it'd be nice to go back in time and then just kind of go back to Memorial Cup and see if a guy could do it different. That would be about the biggest thing, right? You know, that's the one biggest regret. And just to see if we could have did it different, what we could have did, because that was kind of special. That was kind of like what really opened my eyes to hockey. It was that Memorial Cup. Where was the Memorial Cup that year? Peterborough. Peribur, yeah. Square corners. didn't really benefit us great, but it was a good experience.

Like really good. That's when it was hot. It was 30 degrees out and it was foggy. And we had to stop the game and skate around and get the fog out. It was pretty cool. Anything like that. It's always nice to go back. And, you know, even winning the East Coast League, like just the feeling,

the feeling of winning in those moments. Like, that's what you as a hockey player. You chase. Yeah. And then you don't have that anymore. And you think back and you relish it. And you're just like, geez. you know that's probably much the best feeling one of the best feelings I've had in life other than my kids

and getting married yeah yeah you just those feelings of accomplishment is the best thing you could possibly have that accomplishment I know in England we had a few of those winning the playoff finals to cap a good year or the grand slam winning it in overtime it was just like you know that feeling he just you knew it was coming to an end sooner later but being in that moment or waking up the next day on all the hard work you put in and the satisfaction, it's a great feeling. Like those are things that, you know, you take tilly death, basically. You know, it's even though I didn't play in the NHL or, you know, I was able to accomplish

some things that hard work got me there and, you know, sticking with it. So to me, that to me is as good as anything, really, right? So there's no regrets. So you learned, you know, in life, you just learn to get the best out of yourself. What's going to make you tick and be successful? And that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, the battle sometimes that's that's the most important thing so but that's you know there's a lot of life lessons in it and you know i'm fortunate i learned a lot of them and it helped me in business today so

you know hopefully those experiences keep me going really yeah well thanks for coming in on short notice no it was good thanks for having me hopefully i didn't bore too many people out there's been a lot of fun yeah i'm uh i enjoy hearing the the road all you guys traveled like It's pretty unique. I mean, geez, just even the story about essentially making a Memorial Cup, but at the start of the year, while you're quitting and you're out hunting, you know, you bounce around and pretty soon you're on the brand of wheat kings and the way you go, right?

Yeah, that's the way. You know, that's it. You just, you're challenged every day, right? Nothing's perfect in life, so that's the way it is. You play the card you're dealt and keep plodding along. You know, you get the odd break here and there, and you never know what happens with it, right? That's right. Well, cool. Well, thanks for hopping on, Jody.

Yeah, thanks for having me shown. Yeah, you bet.