Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 64 Voice of the Prince Albert Raiders - Trevor Redden

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

A man who has tasted nothing but success while behind the mic. He never went to broadcasting school, instead started in the business world then quit his job to pursue life in radio. His first gig saw him on the road doing play by play for the Kindersley Sr. Red Lions, but quickly he moved on to the Lloydminster Bobcats & the Royal Bank Cup. Now he's in his 3rd season with the Prince Albert Raiders where once again he has witnessed a league championship & a trip to a Memorial Cup. Sit back and enjoy.

This is Trevor Redden, the voice of the Prince Albert Raiders, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Man, that sounds good. That's like the sixth time I've listened to it. And I'm trying to, like, that is a guy you know who's been on the radio for a while now and makes a living doing it because he sounds just superb. We got a great one to get to this week, folks. Obviously, Trevor Redden on a little different format because what's going on with the social distancing, you know, for the people who've been listening since the beginning, a staple of mine has been, I want to be in the same room as everybody. And the only guy I made the exception with was biz nasty for obvious reasons. But now with everything going on, with the social distancing, flattening this curve, trying to, you know, remain at home as much as possible. I've moved all the podcast gear here. I'm crammed myself in the spare bedroom.

and for the foreseeable future at least we're going to be doing it via you know this zoom chat we're going to make sure that every Wednesday we're getting a new episode out and we'll make sure that you know you don't miss out I know a lot of you look forward to this on your Wednesday mornings I got to give a shout out to Stacy Jubinville I just bought a hat from Wander and Wild Apparel I really suggest you to check out their stuff I'm going to be rocking it here very shortly I've been staring at their hats here for a little while and going, man, what better time to help out some small businesses around town, right? I mean, everybody's struggling.

If you can lend a hand, you should, and her hats are kick ass. She said, I vote for the four guys. She's talking about the roundtable, the COVID-19 roundtable. I did with Soup's King and Shane Tamar. And she said, I vote for you four guys to do a podcast together like this once a month. She probably enjoyed the podcast rant, or the podcast, the popcorn. rant that lasted 20 minutes. Us, yeah, who's, if you haven't listened to that one, I suggest you go back to episode

63. It's the last in-person episode I did last week where I sat around with three guys and we had a good old time. You know, that's what this podcast has been all about, is having some local people on and having a good time and hearing some good stories, trying to have a laugh or two. and I know at times like these, we could all use a little human in our life because every day you turn on the radio or you look at the news, and it's pretty bleak right now.

So the other one I wanted to give a shout out to was Kent Stanaforth. He had said, thanks, Sean, for giving us something to keep us busy with during our Sunday coffee time. Fawzzi is simply an amazing person, father, husband, and friend. Local hockey is so fortunate to have him involved with. minor the minor hockey scene as Kent Stanoforth he's been a guest on here and he was talking about the Aaron Foster episode which yeah it was pretty good I know I ragged on Fawsey a little bit for being a flames fan I mean he still doesn't have that going for him he's still a flames fan but he was a he was a hoot to have on and and certainly enjoyed it I've heard it from several people they

really enjoyed his episode and so keep listening folks we're going to get some more great guests here as we continue on every Wednesday here now here's your factory sports of the tape. This guy's got an interesting story. He's a guy who did not go to broadcasting school. He actually went into school for business. And then at the age of 24, quit his job, moved back home, got a job in Kindersely for the radio station, started broadcasting senior kindersley Red Lions hockey games. From there, it goes to the Junior A Bobcats. Oh, wait, gets to do an RBC Cup that year. And from there has now, as you heard, the voice of the PA Raiders, and, oh, wait, they went to a Memorial Cup.

And so he's got to see some of the biggest national championships in his short, but very, very successful career. I think you guys are really going to enjoy this one. So here's Trevor Redden, folks, without further ado. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast tonight. I'm joined via Zoom by Trevor Redden, the voice of the PA Raiders. Some big news, honestly, just came. out today. They've shut down everything. And I mean, obviously, you know a little bit more about that

than I will other than just reading it, but no playoffs, no Memorial Cup. I thought it might be weeks or even a month before we heard any decision like that, because if you have time, use it. But, yeah, they came out with that today and said no playoffs, no Memorial Cup. I don't think it was a surprise to anybody, but it still sucks. You know, in 102 years of the Memorial Cup, it's been handed out every year. Two World Wars. Every, you know, what else has gone on in that time? I think that would have included the Spanish flu. And the Memorial Cup's been handed out without fail every single year.

So obviously we're in a historic time right now. It's too bad because you want to see the show go on, but it's safety first. So we got to keep that in mind. I always think what you're talking about is the history of the game, right? That many years with a cup awarded, but this will go down as the year of the what-if game, right? because, I mean, you just feel for so many teams that we're having great seasons.

And now it just disappears on them like that and they don't even get a say in it. Yeah. And you know, like the WHL is not, it's, they don't load up as much in this league, it seems, for whatever reason, there's, there's six or seven or eight teams that nobody wants to help each other out. So everybody's, it's pretty, there's a lot of parity in our league. But you look at the OHL and the queue, there's like three teams in each league that is completely loaded.

for bear every year. They're like last year at the Memorial Cup, I think Guel had 12 NHL signed or drafted players on their roster. It was unbelievable. So they've got these few teams that are just ready to go. And that's a one-off. That's a one-shot. Go for it.

So you really feel for those teams because you load up and you don't even get your playoff revenue. That's a tough blow for, especially for a smaller market team. Yeah, no, absolutely. You still feel for the kids because, I mean, yeah, they're talented, sure. But they get dealt to a team.

to get a chance at winning hoist in, you know, like you say, 102 years, like that's something. And then for that, but I mean, that goes across the board. That goes all the way down to senior hockey, minor hockey, right? We saw, I'm sure you saw in PA as well, right? There's teams that are having incredible years, whether they're at the NHL level or, you know, all the way down. And I just had Chris King on the other night. We did a little roundtable, the last live podcast I did. And he was on his way to a national championship.

with the Lakeland Rustlers basketball team. And that gets cut short, right? There's so many teams that, you know, it goes across the entire, you know, range. But, you know, I sit and hear it now again today. It just is pretty crazy that they can't, they figure they won't be able to find a way to piece together some assemblance of a playoff run to keep it going. Yeah, because that's what I thought. Like, I think they explored June for the Memorial Cup.

They made sure that the arena was available. The hotels were ready. Colona was ready to go, I think, as far back as the end of June. So that tells you something right there that they couldn't fit in an abbreviated playoff, whatever that could have looked like. I don't know the logistics, but, you know, I kind of thought maybe worst case scenario, they could break it down and do like a three-week best of threes or whatever it is to get the playoffs done and then have Memorial Cup.

But if that time frame doesn't look possible at this point, that tells you that I think we're settling in this for a while. Yeah, no kidding. Well, speaking of that, how is PA dealing with everything that's going on? I can, you know, if we do release the video and people can see this, they can tell we're locked in our little cubicles. You're in a closet. I'm in my spare bedroom.

How has PA been here over the last couple weeks? Yeah, it's tough. I think this week is the week you're really starting to see it on a broader scale. Like, schools got shut down last. week. So that was kind of the big shock, I think, around here. But my other hat here, in addition to play by play is I do radio sales. So you get a bit of an idea of the community and the business climate. And you're seeing every day a different small business is closing its doors. And everyone's hoping it's short term, but nobody really knows what's going on.

So it's, I think, uncertain to say the least, but it's, I went out for groceries this afternoon. And that's an experience in itself right now. But you go out and there's, mid-afternoon, there's no cars on the streets, there's no lineups at traffic lights. And on a Monday, that should be pretty busy. But it's just weird tumbleweeds and crickets everywhere. I asked the boys the other night on the round table, what was the first thing when this all kicked off and you were starting to even get the sense you might need to go to a grocery store or wherever? What was the first purchase you purchased to make sure you had it? Oh, well, probably I think I went

loaded up on a few years was probably, to be perfectly honest, that was probably step number one. But then, like, I got some chicken noodle soup. I got some pasta. I got. And because you immediately think worst case scenario is if I get it and I can't go, I legitimately can't go anywhere for 14 days. I'm not going to get 14 days worth of, you know, fresh meat and vegetables and stuff. You got the canned stuff. So I got a pantry full of preservatives and a few cold beers to last me while, I think. Craft dinner sales have never been higher. And that's saying something because I've ate a lot of that through the college years and everything else. Yeah, there's certain companies that you realize right now, they're going to live through anything. Well, I'd heard the grocery stores were seeing like 90%

increase in sales over a couple days from previous, you know, previous weeks, right? Like that's one business, you know, you're talking about small businesses and there's a ton of hurt and Lloyd right now for sure. but one of the businesses that is not hurting is grocery stores and then you hit it on the nail on the head my first purchase was a bottle of scotch and liquor stores are not hurting right now either no i i saw in ontario today they talked about the emergency measures and it was what pharmacies grocery stores and liquor stores that's that's who's allowed to stay open everyone else is required to close but LCBO is uh is a is i don't know what they call it but it's required to stay open you got to keep the piece you're somehow, right? All the entertainment's gone. There's no hockey, there's no nothing, but we'll give you a beer. And that'll hopefully get you past, you know, everything else going on. You take that away. You got pandemonium full on. Well, on this show, we like to, I like to go back through a guy's career and see how you got to where you're at. I found it really interesting when we sent just a quick couple questions to you and your answers back. I find it really, really interesting, two things.

first you are the guy who came in the season after i did color uh for the bobcats and i always wondered who that was and i didn't realize it was you uh probably says something about my uh on-air talent so they were trying to search for better not that i did play by play but we're gonna get back to that in a moment i think there's a story there and and then uh two uh no radio school and i find that awesome it's something we share in in common and obviously you're doing very very well for your self and I think that's really cool because you know most people hey I'm a small fry but most people enjoy the show always ask oh where'd you go to school where'd you learn what you do and I'm like I don't know self-taught I never I never ever did anything and I find it extremely

interesting that you you only been in broadcasting now what is it six seasons yeah yeah this would be just finished my six full season yeah that's right and you've gone from to the Bobcats, a Royal Bank Cup, now to the PA Raiders, been to a Memorial Cup in your first six seasons. It's either the sky is the limit for you or you are at the mountaintop in your first couple of years, man. Like, that's unbelievable. I feel like I'm Forrest Gump. You know how he just, he just happens to show up in all these big events and nobody knows how he got there. Because I don't think it's anything that I've done.

I just showed up in Lloyd and I was lucky to get that job. and an RBC Cup was unbelievable. And I mean, when I got hired in PA, it was a team that hadn't been out of the first round in 15 years and hadn't made the playoffs the previous year. They basically rock bottom. They had the first overall pick the year I got there, scratched and clawed their way into playoffs year one.

Actually, almost upset Moose Jaw. Kilcleg was there that year. They were the number one team regular season. That one went down to the final minutes of game seven. And then all of a sudden, I stumble into a powerhouse in year two. it's been a lot of fun that's for sure yeah that would make for some interesting games to call you know like one of your questions at some point here is going to be the best game to do the play-by-play

for and by the looks of it you got about 20 of them that you could choose from maybe more yeah I've been pretty lucky and the schooling thing I mean yeah it was really I could have I was looking at doing some broadcasting school or journalism at 18 when I graduated from high school but The program that I got into was there's a Mount Royal and State program in Calgary where you can do the broadcasting and turn it into a communications degree, I think. So I was looking at that, but I had also applied to business school in Saskatoon. And it just came down to I'm from Outlook, Saskatoon's an hour away. Both my brothers were there. A lot of my friends were going there.

I didn't really know anyone in Calgary. So it was just kind of a, I basically defaulted to going with what I knew and what was comfortable. And then all of a sudden I was 24 and had my business degree. and was working and and uh but this was what i always wanted to do so i just kind of decided if it was it was going to happen it better happen now uh why didn't you uh and why didn't you go at it before then i'm curious go into radio yeah yeah oh i think it was it was just to go the the route i chose would have been to go to calgary and for me at 17 i just really wasn't that comfortable i chose going to saskatoon and going to university and being around my friends and family

a little bit more. I wasn't ready, I think, to take that jump. And I didn't really know, I never knew anyone who went into radio, really. So it was a big unknown versus kind of something that I knew would help me no matter what. So I did go to business school. And there were times where I thought about switching, but I kind of saw that through. And it wasn't until, I guess, seven, eight years later that I decided it was time to go do it if I'm going to do it. You mentioned it was always a dream job. What was it like most people dream of being in the NHL, not talking about it, right? Was it something that you watched back in the day, hockey night in Canada, that kind of thing, and we're just mesmerized by a guy?

Or what stuck out, who stuck out, that wanted you to go down that path? Well, part of it was probably my skill set. I realized pretty quickly that playing wasn't going to get me anyway. So I don't think I ever had any illusions about that, but I honestly, I think a big part of it is I'm the youngest of three. I got two older brothers. They both played hockey. So from the time I was, I remember anything, I was going and watching their games. Before I knew how to skate, I was in the stands watching them. When I was first learning how to play hockey, I was watching my older brother. So I think it kind of started that way where I was, I was a fan before I was a player. So it just kind of got ingrained from an early age. I loved watching. my brother's play. I was always a big fan. I sat in the stands. I knew the team. I knew there I knew every player. I knew what hand they shot. I knew all this stuff from like six or seven years old. And then yeah, on Saturday nights or whatever it may be hockey was on. And I mean, I don't know if there's a particular game, but I became a senator's fan when when Wade Redden

got drafted by the Sends back in whatever, 95 or whatever that was. And then kind of when they first started getting good and made the playoffs, I still remember that I think Steve Douchain scored late in the game. I can't remember who that was against Buffalo maybe to make the playoffs for the first time in that franchise history in 98. I remember watching that and just being enthralled and like Bob Cole in those first playoff series. So I think that was probably the earliest memories where when you see it on TV, it just kind of had that, had that big draw to it. Those early Ottawa teams were fun to watch. They were blue collar. Exactly. Because I was too young to know like the early early ones, like the 92, 93, when

They took it on the chin a few times. But when Wade and Chris Phillips and Alfredson and those guys came in, and Jacques Martin coaching, like it was pretty drag him out, defensive. I think that game they won to get in was a one-nothing game. Who is their goal tenor right at the start? They would have had, like Damien Rhodes. Damien Rhodes?

Yeah. Was Ron Tugnut there or am I thinking wrong? I was there. Yeah? Yeah, they had a few. And then they got into like a little lame. those guys showed up later. But I think Tugnut and Barassau showed up there after Pittsburgh came to an end.

Oh, those early expansion teams are always, you go look at the lineups and you're like, man, those are some, you always get some, you always get some like super talented, you know,

guys who were superstars, but they're right at the end of their careers. And you got some guys who are just journeymen. They've hit it like 12 different teams and 11 years kind of thing. or 12 different teams in six years kind of thing. Like they bounced around. And Ottawa in the beginning was definitely that. And Wade comes from my hometown.

He comes from Helmand or, you know, a lot of people say Lloyd Minster, but Helmand. And so we got, I was curious on how he became an Ottawa Senators fan because that is, well, let's just say you haven't had a whole lot to cheerboat lately. No, no. No, it's been, it's been dark times. But you know what, they got their issues, I think. They're having a hard time filling the bill. and there's obviously within the organization, whatever issues they're having.

But man, they got some talent there. It's unfortunate because this is like the second or third time you've seen that wave come up. I mean, the Carlson wave was the last exciting one. They had that Eastern Conference final and lost. And it's been pretty desolate since then. But you look at Shabbat and Kachuk and all these draft picks. Like things are starting to look up a year or two down the road, I think. I hope.

You hope. Yeah. As long as they don't have to get rid of a few and sour. few, but I mean, Eminton give you the same way. I'm an oilers fan. We got McDavid, we got dry settle. We got all these amazing players. But, you know, I sometimes wonder if the big man upstairs through the coronavirus at us just to make sure the Oilers didn't make the playoffs or he had another year because this is just terrible. We've been on horrendous drought. I mean, we make it one year and then we just fall off the face of the earth. And right now,

everybody was clinging to hope. We're making the playoffs and then season shut down. And I'm hoping they don't, I'm hoping they hold out to the longest possible time to get in an abbreviated something. Because I'd love to see some playoff hockey. I mean, I was hoping for it through Junior A up and, you know, Junior A, obviously they shut it down pretty early and now the WHL and you just wonder how long the NHL can hold on for. Yeah, but yeah, I agree. But I just think if anyone can do it, it's the NHL, money talks in that league. And if they can, if it's June 15, to July 15th and it's a survivor, you know, like whatever, a Survivor series or a March Madness Bracket, whatever it is.

How awesome would March Madness Brackett be? Could you imagine single, like game sevens, single elimination in hockey? In order to make the money off of it, they'd have to make it like pay-per-view or put it in like a stadium or something so they could jam 80,000 people in there or something. Cowboys Stadium will just host the whole thing. No kidding, right? Like, I mean, how unreal would that be? one game winner take all right through to the finals.

Yeah. Imagine sitting if you could be a fly on the wall in NHL offices these days and just hear some of these conversations about what may or may not happen. Because at this point, they're spitballing because they don't know what's out of their hands when they can have a crowd again. Would you play it with no crowd? If the government would allow you to play some games that televised but no crowd, no nothing in the building, you're not making any revenue up beer, nothing.

all you're doing is having the games well i think it comes down to dollars if they can make a if they can make a financial go of it with sponsorships and pay-per-view and whatever it may be then i think absolutely they'd they'd go for that it'd be weird though with no like no cheering no nothing just dead can you imagine broadcasting that no no i can't it would be you because you feed off the crowd so much like you would have nothing you could put it you could put it you could put in the hill mondarina it wouldn't matter. You just need somewhere you can plug some cameras in and all that space is just wasted if the fans aren't in there. Believe me, we've played some games in the home on arena with only about 15 fans. It's a pretty standard night in the regular season of the old

Sask Delta, any barn you go to. Oh, wait till playoffs are all around though. The barn gets rocking. Absolutely. We played Meadow Lake this year and game five, winter take all to go to the finals, I think there was, well, 540 people had paid. And so that means 600 plus easy. And if you've been to the home on her rank, she's not that big. And that's packed to the gills, hey? Oh, yeah. Yeah. She was rocking that night. Yeah, it was a cool, cool atmosphere. There's just nowhere for it to go. No. And it's just people standing on top of people, right? Like, the stands are so small. I got to add, how was the finals, the WHL finals last year between Prince Albert and Saskatoon. Like, that must have been your dream. It was unbelievable. The way that that rink in

Prince Albert, because that was my second year, and I'd seen good crowds. Like it fits, you can sit 2,500 in there. And they call capacity 3289, I think, is their number. So that's about 700 standing room all the way around the top. It's basically a walking track across the top. And then the bowl. They were announcing 3289 every night in the playoffs. I'd seen like 20, 728 and I thought that was pretty good. But they were announcing 3289. I don't believe for a second that that's all it was in there. It was probably closer to 4,000, I would guess. And like, have you ever heard the story about the milk crates? Yes, but share it, because there's probably people listening that haven't heard the milk crate story. So I had heard this story. They made a run. So 99,

they would have gone to the East Final. That was when Scott Hartnell was there. I think he was 16 as a rookie that year, his 17-year-old year, they weren't quite as strong. And I can't remember, I think they might have lost to Brandon in the East Final that year. 05, they went to the East Final again, lost to Brandon that year. That was like Jeremy Colleton, Kyle Chip Chura, Rejohn Bocheman, that era. So I kept hearing stories about these years and how good the teams were and how loud the building was. They said it was so crazy in here that standing room would be four or five people deep. So people would bring their own plastic milk crates in to stand.

on so they could see over the person in front of them. And I thought it was just kind of a wives tale. Like I'd heard this story so many times. I went, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me again about the milk crates, whatever. Walked up hill, 10 miles to school both ways. I thought it's just something like that. And then all of a sudden, playoffs last year set in. And it was insanity.

Like the doors opened to the Arthauser Center at 6 o'clock for a 7 o'clock game. And anyone who had a seat was fine. They could show up whenever. But 30 minutes before warm up, there was a, an absolute sprint. They'd open the doors up and there would be a line up hundreds deep and people would just come sprinting in at six to get to their spot on the rail and they wouldn't move. For three hours, they wouldn't move. They wouldn't go to the bathroom. They wouldn't get a beer, nothing. So if you didn't have that spot on the rail, people brought milk crates. If they knew they

couldn't be there at six, there were milk crates left and right because people were four or five deep and looking over each other's shoulders. And I don't know how that was up to fire code, but apparently it was and it was an absolute madhouse it was unbelievable what an atmosphere to call a game in yeah because with with that like at six o'clock six 15 the teams come on the ice for warm up around 630 and it was like a deafening roar when the raiders came on the ice for warm up so for other teams game one of the series was always a big challenge because other teams didn't had had played in pa but not in playoffs so they didn't know what that was all about so they'd come out for warmups just kind of here go, whatever. And it's just bumping in there. There's fans, there's horns everywhere,

people banging on the glass. There were some, there were some really good atmospheres of playoffs. Vancouver in the championship series was awesome. They play in a, there rinks about 5,000 seats out in Langley, 4,000 maybe 1,000 was standing room. So it got going pretty good in that series, but nothing compared to to what PA was. It was, it was completely electric. Yeah, I should clarify. I said PA, Saskatoon, I was thinking the conference final. Yeah, and that was, that was cool too. Because that's like what you won't find a bigger rival. Yeah, what's PA to Saskatoon? Hour, hour and 10. That's the best. Yeah. I mean, don't even wrong. Vancouver would have been like, like you say, would have been

unreal, but when it's when you got it, it's that close to travel down and have their fans come and have a whole whack of them come and that atmosphere is different too that's like super cool did i'm assuming the pa fans traveled to saskatoon oh yeah was it nuts in the in the blades rink yeah like it you've been to sastill center like it's pretty big it's 15 000 seats or whatever so even i think games so game one and two was pa and it was sold out it was nuts three and four was in saskatoon and and the raiders won game one and two uh saskatoon had a lead through most of game two and then the Raiders tied it and pulled ahead late. So they had a two-nothing lead going into Saskatoon. So I think with that it was a little bit tempered. Game three was, I don't know if the top of my head,

but it's probably like six or seven thousand, something like that. And then the Blades won game three. And all of a sudden people get interest in game four was probably eight to nine thousand, something like that. Blades win both of them. So we know there's a game six. So they can start selling tickets. And it comes back to PA and the Raiders ruled in this building. It was just a totally different series. It's like playing in a zoo. So game five, the Raiders were all over them. It wasn't even close.

But you go back to game six and Blades fans have been knowing it was open for a few days. Everyone from the Raiders wanted to be there. Everyone from PA was there because they wanted to see the clincher. The clincher. The Clenture. Yeah. And it was like, it was almost 12,000 fans in there, which is like a rush crowd. And I've been calling games in that building.

for three years now and I've never seen anything like that like they'll do okay against a raters five or six thousand but 11 12,000 was that was pretty intense that's uh I mean for those kids too right like I mean oh big time some some of them will never ever experience anything like that ever again yeah because I remember when I was in university at U of S they had like the the team when they got Braden Shen and they loaded up that year that was two that was before the Memorial Cup. They kind of loaded up twice there, but I think they went to round two maybe. And I went to maybe one game in each round. And it was like 12, 13,000. And it was like the talk of the town and it was so, so intense in there. And then you add on to that, you've got the PA

Raiders coming in. And there was, so I think it was game six or maybe game four. I can't remember. Saskatoon was handing out like macaroni or something. There was some company was like Kraft or whatever was given out Kraft Dinnerbox. This. as like a promo. You know, like sometimes you'll leave the rink and they'll give you macarone. Absolutely.

So people had it on the way in. And so Raider fans were sitting, I might get the story a little wrong, but Raider fans are sitting in the lower bowl and there was like a big group of them that maybe took a bus down. They were all sitting together. And there's a bunch of blades fans up above them.

And like, I shouldn't say a bunch. It was like a handful of people that were drunk and being idiots, whatever. And they ripped the lid off their craft dinner and they start throwing this hard macaron Tony down on the Raider fans and dumping their drinks and like it was wild.

I think there was a couple fights in the stands and it was in the news the next day about how like Raider fans were treated so poorly in Saskatoon and like I don't know. I read it all and I was a little tongue in cheek because I've been in the Ardhauser center and I don't think being a visiting fan is a lot of fun there. It's pretty intense. I don't think. To be talking about how bad it was there. It was a pretty good rivalry.

The best buildings, I don't know if being an opposing fan is ever that. again. No, no, exactly. You almost don't want to wear the, where the jerseys. Like Scott and Janice Waters, I know we talked to them, and they're pretty, they understand, they got pretty thick skin, but they wear their waters jerseys when they come to PA and they just know that they're going to get it a little bit. That's fair game. I mean, there's a line you obviously don't cross, but, but they know they're going to get it. Well, let's go back to, let's go back to your 24 and you make the decision to go to school essentially for broadcasting, correct? That's how it starts. Yeah. Were you working at the time? Yeah. So when I left, when I finished university, my first job

was down in Estevan. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do. I took a management program at the Edwards School of Business there. I just wanted to go do something different. And there was a job that was hiring an Estivan. It was like an economic development office. Didn't know what that was, but sure, go try something. Sounded like it paid some money. Yeah, exactly. And I played senior hockey down there and, you know, met a bunch of good people and ended up. That job didn't last very long, but I got in with the manufacturing company in the oil field there.

So with them, I was about three years working with them and transferred to Edmonton with them. And then finally, it was getting close to it. And I was kind of like, you know, everything was progressing the way I thought it would. Like I got my degree, I got my job. Everything was going good. The money was coming in a little bit. And I was like, I think should be good, but I'm not really that. I'm not excited to go to work.

I don't really know what I'm doing. So I was like, well, there's only one thing I really want to do. So I remember telling my parents that they probably looked at me like I had, I got three eyes. Like, what are you doing after all this time? Switching gears. But they were good about it. And my brother works for an ag company, Farmer's Edge, they're called.

Okay. And they were in, they were looking for, they could always use some temp work like doing soil sampling and stuff like that. So I was pretty much done with what I was doing. I knew I wanted a change. So I thought no sense staying here in Edmonton and lagging it out. So I came back home. I helped out of the farm for a bit with soil sampling through the winter

with the intention of going to radio school the next year, applied around. I was going to go to Nate, I think, in Edmonton was kind of my aim or Saskatoon at the Western Academy. And then just kind of in researching, I reached out to Kindersley radio station because I was the closest to home and just said, hey, could I come, like, if I have a free day, can I come and just kind of shadow and see what it looks like so I can have a bit of an idea what goes on before I go to school? And then, so they brought me in and it almost kind of turned into a job interview while I was

there. I didn't really realize, but they're always looking to hire local people. And basically, when I was driving home that day, backed out, look, they called me and asked me if I wanted to start work. So sure, may as well. my term was kind of done with what I was doing. So I was going to just work until, this was like May, April or May. I was going to work until September and then go to school. And then August came around and I worked with a bunch of people who had gone to radio school. So I was kind of

quizzing them like, what am I missing? Like what would I learn? What could I do different? I was like, I've already been to college. Like I get, I've, I've had fun. I've done. I know what that's all about. It was great, but like I'm kind of past it. I don't really want to do it again if I don't have to. and consensus was basically that experience is just as good, especially if you have a kind of a degree to fall back on. So I just stuck it out. And then actually that had I gone to school, who knows what would have happened?

Because then September, my boss pulls me aside and says, hey, we've got some interest in doing a hockey broadcast this year for the Kindersley Red Line senior hockey team in the Sask Wesley. And we'll do all the road games, but we need someone to do the play-by-play. And I'm kind of looking at her like, play-by-play. I don't know. I can't do that. I can't talk that fast. What are you talking about? And she's just like, well, someone's got to do it. So if it's not you, we're not getting that money. So I said, well, whatever, I'll try. And then, yeah, that was my first experience was.

Whatever. I'll try. I was going to, you know, like last year we got to go to Vancouver for the league final and Halifax for Memorial Cup. Well, five years prior to that, I was going to places like Esten and Doddsland and Carrobert and all over Roastown. all over the place, Macklin. And yeah, it was interesting, but it was a pretty cool way to learn how to do it. With no pressure either, right? Like, no pressure on a... There's seven people listening back in Kidder's Lee, and they all texted me during the game,

so it wasn't too bad. Not to mention half the games, only 10 of their players show up, so you don't have to worry about a 20-man roster on each side. Yeah, and, you know, at the time, like I had played senior in Outlook, and then down in Karneduff when I worked in Estaband. So I knew senior, and I felt a little sheepish showing up to broadcast senior hockey games because I'd played senior hockey for five years,

and I knew, like, went down south, actually, they broadcast a game a week in that big six league. So we always joked around, like, radio game boys, make sure you get some white laces on, get your hair done, and you've got to look good for this one. So it was always a joke a little bit. So I was kind of sketched out being that guy, but then I don't know,

everyone had fun. They were just happy to have you around. They were used to it. Kindersly does that a lot. So, uh, and then my first game, we, it was in, uh, Dodd's land. I think it was. It was kindersly at Dodd's land. I had test run my kit. I don't know how many times in the station to make sure it would work. And I was all tested out as ready to go. It was Friday night. I roll into to Dodd's land. They claim they've got their internet figured out whatever. I spend the whole first period trying to get my radio gear to work. I'm calling the engineer who was at a somebody's birthday party. And, finally he just says i'm it's friday night i don't care like just figured out and he basically hung up on me so i couldn't get the kid to work we missed the whole first period and then what i end up doing is last

worst case scenario you just on your phone so my spot i had picked out in dods land looking out over the ice was gone because all the high school kids had moved in and i'd pulled my table back so that they could watch the game where i was going to broadcast from so the second period starts and i start elbowing and nudging my way in there with my cell phone up to my ear. First time I've ever done play by play. And I've got 30 kids around me ducking out for drinks in the intermission and eating fries. And I'm trying to, they're looking at me as I'm screaming the game into a phone. It was insane.

But it kind of went relatively smoothly, as smooth as it could at that point. And then the game ended. And I just, it's not ever going to get worse than that. So I felt pretty good about things moving forward after that. that's that's uh for starting your career out in broadcasting that's a pretty uh that's a pretty good story when you get to the highest of levels yeah well and that that was i walked away from that and part of me was like i that was awful i've never put myself through that again but on the drive back i just kind of went it that's never going to happen again you're never going to have

a situation that ridiculous so if you can handle that you should be fine with whatever else comes your way. Speaking of Rosetown Senior Hockey, I had a note here thrown at me that from Bobby Spigeth, does that sound right? Something about you getting jumped by Rose Town Red Wing when they were up 10-0. Oh, probably, yeah.

Back to your hockey senior days. Yeah, you know, Bob probably wants me to go into that one a little bit. We, outlook in Rose Town was always a rivalry growing up and then it didn't, it wasn't such a rivalry at that point because when the Red Wing started getting good and loading up for, they had those Allen Cup teams and they're getting real good. And I can't remember because I've been in, I'm not, I'm not a fighter. I mean, I've been in two fights maybe in my whole hockey career at that point. And I think it was in the corners on my stick got up and clip someone and he got livid and wanted

to fight and I didn't really want to. It was 10 nothing. I was going to school. Like, what, what are we even doing here? And then after one, there was like a stop and you just came after me and started slashing me and before I knew it his gloves were off and yeah it was a it's a bit of a mess so there was no no no no lost love between outlook and rose town what's your uh favorite thing to call in a game is it a fight is it a goal is it a hit uh I honestly I I like I like watching fights and I get excited watching fights but I always it feels like I'm calling another sport like I when we were messaging back and forth earlier I told you like I've never done anything but hockey play-by-play. So it's it's almost like you're a hockey broadcaster and you've got to

start calling boxing or MMA. I like I don't know really what to say. So I always feel a little bit uncomfortable. But I think goals can be tricky because he can get tripped up over who passed it, who scored it, whatever. Like you always hope you have a good call, but sometimes it gets a little botched and it can happen quick. But I always find a big hit is always good because it's always, you can usually see it coming. It's always in an intense moment. And I don't know, those are always it just adds such a fun element to the game too. You don't see it that often these days. So when someone really lines someone up and throws a big hit out there,

I think that's always pretty fun. It's kind of hitting and fighting for that matter are kind of disappearing. And you probably see that over your six years. You've probably slowly seen it progress. I mean, from going from senior hockey to junior A and carrying on, you probably see it even more so. Well, yeah, actually now that you've mentioned it, Like that progression, as weird as it is considering senior hockey as guys that have to go to work the next day,

you see more fights in senior than you do pretty much in any other. We're all grumpy. We're all grumpy old men. Yeah, everyone's got their weeks worth of frustration to take out on Friday night. But yeah, there was plenty of it in senior. And then junior A is a little more rugged. I think in junior A you get a lot more of those, the 20-year-olds that have kind of had their go at WHL or whatever and are kind of back. and they can bring a little bit of attitude with them,

so you'll see a little bit more of that. And then WHL, like it's, there's a couple, like Camloops this year was pretty tough. They had a couple guys that like the chuck them. Those U.S. division teams are always pretty, pretty lethal down there. But with PA, we saw maybe five fights this year. I could be a little off, but I bet you it's, it wouldn't have been 10.

Like, it was not very many fights at all. You've seen a year now. Going from senior hockey, play by play, was it just a natural transition then people heard you and they're like man you got to come to junior games or how did that fall in the place for you well i remember seeing the the job posting and uh i had done one season of of seniors and had done whatever it calling a game on a cell phone and dods landed and sitting up in the rafters when it's minus 40 in est and then i kind of went it was fun but i don't know how badly i want to do that again so uh i saw this job post

come up. And I think I had a bunch of mutual connections in Lloyd. So it popped up on my feed. It showed up pretty quickly. And I kind of looked at it, but I'd only done it for one year. So I didn't think I had a ton of relevant experience, especially hosting RBC. I didn't know if I'd really line up with what they were looking for. But I think probably a really big thing that helped me was Rostown played Southeast Manitoba in a play-in series to get to the Allen Cup that year, the Rath Gaber Cup. So that was the best of five. in Rostown and our station was able to sell some advertising for it so they sent me to broadcast it and that was five games and five nights in Rostown these guys from Steinbeck and winnipeg and

all over Manitoba rolled in and like as good as Rostown was Steinbeck laid it down on them it was pretty lopsided southeast one and three games in that series but I worked with a guy who used to be in Lloydminster Matt Chumont so he I got kind of connected with him through people the radio station and Matt sat and did color with me for three games. So we got to know each other a little bit. And then Matt was good buddies with Malcolm Radkew with the Bobcats. And I think that helped me a lot actually. As I work with Matt, he obviously thought I did an okay job and we got along pretty well. And he reached out to Malcolm. And I think he put a good word in for me at least to make my name stand out a little bit. And then so Malcolm actually, I think hearing from Matt reached out to me just to see

if I was going to apply and I was going to but hadn't done it yet so I sent it in and got an interview and I went and sat down at a table with Malcolm and Gordtibedo one day and that was that was it intimidating enough to walk in and meet Gord for the first time and then yeah I think what Malcolm was he was so thorough like that guy's so professional everything he does it was about two weeks and he had me doing assignments and and what you know like a case study like he had all kinds of stuff for me to work on and once I got through his ringer they ended up picking me. So, yeah, it worked out pretty good. What was it like? You know, I'm listening to find it very interesting because you know when I, when I, you say it was a dream you always wanted to go

into, but then I assume you mean radio now because at the time, I think you always wanted to do play by play. But when I listen to the story, I go, actually, you just wanted to get into radio and the play by play by play thing just kind of fell in your lap and you kind of went, yeah, I'll give it a shot. after the first go around, you're like, I don't know, friggin' all, that was something else. And now you're applying for a job on broadcasting, I mean, doing other things, but broadcasting full-time for a junior A team that's about to host a Royal Bank Cup. Like, and to move towns and like pick up and go, that must have been a little bit of a whirlwind ride, I bet.

Yeah, yeah, it was. And you're right. It wasn't, it was always kind of my dream to work in sports. And I always thought, like, maybe a sports reporter or, like, Like the guys on the desk, like a Jay and Dan, like that kind of thing was always, because play-by-play was always so foreign, like anything to do with sports media. I didn't really know anyone. The only guy I knew from home. And we're going to get back into you as color commentator not being in because there's a whole connection here.

And we're going to get to that. But John Spigget from Outlook, he was at the Meridian booster for a long time. And he worked at the goat. He did some Bobcat play-by-play back in the day on the internet. So he was the only guy I ever knew that did any sort of media. So I didn't really have any understanding of how that all worked. So yeah, it was always, I wanted to work in sports. I wanted to work in hockey.

But the play-by-play just kind of presented itself. And I had an open mind and rolled with it and got a couple of breaks along the way. So it was the first year you get to Lloyd the Royal Bank Cup here then? That's correct, right? Yeah. that must have been a fun team to have been the play to just sit and watch game after game after game especially with Tibido and I'm forgetting the name Harry Van Harrowe. Yeah Van Harrowe. That's right. At the helm of it like you had all the pieces. You got

Royal Bank Cup coming there no matter what. So you know you're going to get an opportunity to do that. But that season there must have been a couple things that really stuck out to you. Coming, you know, like that's a pretty good, you know, most teams can't see where they're going. They can't, you know, everybody sets goals at the start of the year and goes, okay, for the oilers this year, it's, hey, let's just make the playoffs. For the Bobcats out of the year, they go, we know we're in the Royal Bank Cup. Our goal is to win the Royal Bank Cup. And probably further than that, they probably had win it all, right? Like, let's not lose anything.

And they'd done some wheeling and dealing and brought in some very talented players that year. I remember watching that team. They were an extremely talented group. I'm sure for you sitting there, you got to have a little bit of fun. I think you had who Shane Tomair as your color guy, who I just had on the podcast, both three days ago. he's a character he's uh sent me a laundry list for you things to talk about so but maybe we could

just talk about that season in particular just for a little bit yeah and actually first now that you brought up Shane I keep touching on we're going to talk about this so let's just get this out of the way so I came to Lloyd and Malcolm gave me your number and he said Sean did it last year with Kyle and he's great we like him you're you're more than welcome to reach out so that was that was kind of my thought. And then in talking with John Spiggett and Bobby, my my childhood best friend and John, who I knew from Outlook, they were both Bobby actually billeted with Shane when you played with the Bobcats. And John and Shane still remain best friends to this day. So when I gave John a call when I got the job to go to Lloyd and just kind of said like, hey, what do I need to know? Like tell me about

the town. Tell me about the Bobcats, whatever. And he told me to get in touch with Shane because he said, I don't know if Shane would be interested or not, but he's, he did color with me all the time over the years. Like, he's a great guy. I told him you might be reaching out. So I'll be out with, it came down to Malcolm, who had I just kind of met within the last month or so, gave me your number. And John and Bobby, who I go back a long ways with gave me Shane's. And it just came down to familiarity. So I want that out there on the record. No hard feelings whatsoever. It was just, uh, I had a little more connection to Shane. And that's the way that one fell. It, my dad, this is a complete side note, and I'll see if I could tie this back in. There's no hard feelings, first off. You know, at the time, I was confused because I'd actually really enjoyed it. Well, obviously, you can tell why now I enjoyed it, right? But at the end of the day, I was still playing senior. This was, I was played this year again.

But my father and two brothers run a trucking company in Lloyd, And they've gone through some tough times like theft. They just had a shop burned down just before all this stuff happened. And you can imagine insurance, blah, blah, blah. And so he passed me along this. Here, I'll see if I can bring it up here so I don't butcher it. Essentially, it's a story. Maybe so, maybe not, we'll see as well.

It's a Chinese proverb. So bear with me here, okay? A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped him, uh, helped the family earn a living. One day the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, your horse ran away. What a terrible luck. The farmer replied, yeah, maybe so, maybe not. We'll see. A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well.

The neighbors showed it out. Your horses returned and brought several horses with them. What great luck they replied. And the farmer replied, maybe so, maybe not. We'll see. Later that week, the farmer's son was trying to break one of the mares, and she threw him to the groundbreaking his leg. The villagers cried, your son broke his leg, what terrible luck, the farmer replied. Maybe so, maybe not.

We'll see. And a few weeks later, the soldiers from the National Army marched through the town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer's son, still recovering from his injury. A friend shouted, your boy has spared what tremendous luck to the farmer replied. Maybe so, maybe not. we'll see. And the reason I tell that story, everybody's going, why the hell is he telling the story is, you know, at the time, I really wanted to come back and do color. But if I'd done color, you know, who knows, maybe, you know, maybe I'd stayed and done color for multiple,

multiple seasons. But at the end of the day, I really enjoy this, getting to know people over the podcast. And if I, maybe it would have got me here sooner, I highly doubt it because I know how time-consuming being a part of a junior club is and doing the broadcast. And like, you guys, hats off to you. Like, there's a ton of work that goes into that, a ton of travel. You're not making great money, at least in the beginning. And that's tough. And so the reason I bring up the Chinese parable is to me at the time, you know,

at the time you go, oh, man, I would have enjoyed going back. But I didn't really think about it too much because I was still pretty young at that time. I was still playing senior. I still love playing senior. I still do. And it led me to where I am. So there's no hard feelings, big fella. You know, you owe me a beer or three, but that's okay.

Yeah, I know if we were doing this in person, I could have brought it with me, but we'll have to get that done at some point. Well, actually, what I was really hoping was I was going to come to PA, do it in person and then catch a game is what I wanted to do. If you can believe it, I have not been to a game in PA since Wade was playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings. Okay.

I've been to, we as kids, we always went to Saskatoon over PA for whatever reason. I mean, now you got Emmington too, right? So PA just kind of seems off the beaten path. Although the videos of it from last year, I went, man, that would have been worth the drive if you could have got a, well, melt crate, let alone a seat. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's like, it's almost like a bucket list thing that's running, you're running out of time

because the, I mean, there's no, no plans in place yet. there's always talk, but you're seeing slowly arenas around the league are getting demolished, new ones are getting built. Moose Jaw had the old crush cam. They've got a nice new rink. Medicine hat, the old arena has been knocked down. They've got a beautiful new rink.

And as great and as nice and as luxurious as these new rinks are, you just lose so much in terms of that atmosphere. So for the Raiders in the WHL to still be playing in the Ardhauser Center, like it's the same building it was in 1975 when they were winning Junior A national championships. Like it hasn't changed at all. So it's kind of like going back in time. It's awesome.

It's, you know, the day that comes when they have to change that rank will be a sad day. I mean, you know, everybody loves brand new, shiny and everything, but there's something,

a feel to a rink that's just got history in it. Yeah. And, you know, they're talking about knocking the Civic down. Really? Yeah. They've given it,

don't quote me on this. I want to say, three to five years somewhere in that time frame they either got to restore it or demolish it and build new that kind of thing and for you know once again don't quote me to everybody listen here but I want to say they've uh they're already deciding to build new or that's kind of where I've heard they're leaning and uh you know people can say what they want about the civic the civics another rink that's got a ton of history behind it and it's a fun lower ring to go into heck everybody loves playing in the civic yeah it's so it's got such a unique

build to it, like the way the rafters kind of hanged down over the ice. Now, steep. I went back, I think at Christmas time this year, I went and watched a game, the Bobcats against Sherwood Park. And like, I forgot how, how fun that rink is. You just kind of walk in and the seats are straight down to the ice and everything's just on top of it. And I'm circling back to your original question about that RBC Cup year. That's what I really remember is that final game, Lloyd Minster against West Colona. And that I can't remember. what the numbers were. It would have been, I think around 1800 was a sellout in the Civic Center, and they were about 24 in there, somewhere in that range, and it was, it was Bedlam in there.

It was unbelievable to see. Well, you listen to people who were older than me, who remember the good old days of back when you didn't have, you know, all the options you have right now. And, you know, whether it was junior hockey or senior hockey, they said it used to pack like that all the time. Like that used to be the thing to do on the weekend was go to, you know, whatever big game back in the day was going on. And Bedlam is a good word. Like you get that many people together in a building, a good game going on, a couple shenanigans on the ice, which I'm sure always happened. And those atmospheres are what make hockey as a fan so much fun, right? Like, to just go watch a hockey game is fun. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. But to go

watch a game where you know what's going to be packed and there's something on the line is that's what makes you get out of, you know, hop in the car and drive down to watch a game. Yeah, it's the feeling about it. When everyone's invested and there's that buzz in the air, you can just, yeah, it's funny. Like they talk about the Ardhauser Center and back in the day here in PA. Obviously, they had Medano came through here and that was something that people here really proud of is what he did as a raider. But you go back a couple years before that, the 85. Memorial Cup team they had Dave Manson and Kim Baumgartner were both on that same team amongst others and they said it was like they talk about the the Philadelphia flu and the NHL where

teams players would get sick when they rolled in to play the broad street bullies it was like that then and blue collar talent and I can only imagine what a Friday night at the communiplex would have been like well I got a note here the John B Spiggett memorial media gondola but you had to reassure or parents or something along the lines of this. I'm sorry, I'm hopping back to Lloyd. I'm pulling this back to Lloyd. I feel like, you know, I'm from Lloyd. We've got to get to PA and everything else,

but you spent two seasons for the Bobcats. It'd be good to talk a little bit about them. And then this note about the John B. Spiggett Memorial Media gondola, and for anyone out there who's come to the Civic Center and broadcast, you know what gondola we're talking about. but maybe there's a little bit of a story behind that one. Well, that's just Shane Tomeyer being Shane Tomeyer. And it was, we decided to name it down.

It was Shane's idea, and I don't know where it came from. I don't want to know where all his ideas come from because he's got a lot of them. And I mean, as a gondola typically is like, you know, a press box hanging out over the ice, whatever. That doesn't quite exist in Lloyd Minster. It's a bench and a railing kind of thing. but yeah he decided that it was only fitting because john was the first broadcaster in bobcat history i think i don't know exactly when the years were the lined up but he probably would have been right around the start and uh shane just thought it was important to name it after him and and

and he was telling people it was the john b spigot memorial media gondola so everyone said so people come up to and say john like what happened to him at last we heard he was in california and Shane's like, oh yeah, he's fine. He's just, he's dead to us because he doesn't work here anymore. So I think every time I see that pop up on Twitter every now and then it's the JBSMG. It's like a six-letter acronym. Well, I'll say this. If you were going to take somebody over me, Shane Tamer, he's pretty good.

He made me laugh several times on a round table the other night. And he brought it up, and I didn't realize it at the time that he keeps calling me the toothless guy who took his job for one year or something along that lines. And I was laughing. I was like, I had no idea. But during our roundtable, he has a probably 20 minute rant about May Cinema 6 popcorn and Lloydminster and how good it is. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. When I sent out about the episode, I literally said, I'm going to be honest, there's a lot of sports in here. but the highlight might be the May Cinema 6 rant because I sat there and went like, I can't believe this is happening right now.

I can't believe we're sitting with three or four guys in a room talking about popcorn. And we talked about popcorn for a very long time. He's very passionate, it turns out, about his popcorn. Yeah, and it could be anything. Whatever's happened to get in his brain that day, he'll just go with it. Now, that was, I could be imagined as a broadcaster, you know, as a hockey game, When the whistle goes as a color guy, you got 10, 12 seconds to get your point and get out. That was a bit of a challenge at times with Shane.

He got on a roll about something. You hear that, Shane? Yeah, I heard that. Yeah. I can't wait to just give it to him because chances are we're going to, you know, we had a lot of fun that night. So chances are another roundtable is going to happen. So any ammo you can give me on tomorrow.

That'd be perfect. I got lots. And to be fair, I mean, part of his background, was working with Shane on that Bobcats internet broadcast with maybe 12 people listening at times when the team was winning 10 or 11 games a year. So he told about stories where it was 8-0 for Grand Prairie after one and they're having to fill all this airtime. So they'd talk about what, like I think there's a player from Davidson, Saskatchewan and him and John would go on for 10 minutes talking about the world's largest coffee pot. And that would just be, that's what they do to get through

the just a way to, yeah, no kidding. There's nothing good happening on the ice. I still haven't answered your question about that RBC Cup here, by the way. We could go back to that. Sure, yeah, far back to the RBC Cup. Yeah, that was... Welcome to podcasting and welcome to podcast with me. I go down rabbit holes all the time.

I don't mind it. FYI. That's what's lovely about it. But carry on. Let's go back to the Royal Bank Cup. You never know where you end up. But that team, I listened to, you had Springer and. I had Lyndon Springer and Kenny Morrison on.

And then after that, I actually had, before that, I had Lucas Bench on with Austin McDonald. They were kind of in that time era as well. And then actually I just had Chris Weeb on a couple, three weeks ago. Yeah. So I think it was the one with Lyndon and Kenny on. I listened to and I've probably learned more now about that RBC Cup team than I knew at the time because he come in new and you don't really know the history and stuff. So there were so many dynamics there because that year before with those guys, they were a contender like a team that that maybe had a shot to win it with homegrown guys, right? Like you saw that whole team. And then Gordon, Gary made the, I think, controversial decision to make some trades to build the team for next year. And I think Lyndon, maybe made the point. I mean, some of those trades, they didn't really turn into much for that

next year, which was the most bitter part in the end. I mean, if you got guys back who were stars that carried the mail the next year. It's one thing. Yeah, like I think with, from Brooks for Springer, they got, uh, it was one of those Brooks moves where they, they, they sent a guy and then that guy left for college and they maybe got some cash back or something. So they end up with empty hands. Well, and I'll point out, Chris Weeb brought this up, because this is how me and Chris Weeb got talking. He said there was a lot more, well, I can't paraphrase what we've said, but he said there was a lot of things that went on during those trades that guys didn't know about. And he talked a little bit about it. And it kind of gave you a sense of maybe what was going on

behind the scenes. But sorry to interrupt, but I thought I'd stick in that Weeb does address a bit of that. You know, my side of it, Lyndon side of it, kind of come from the same thing, both homegrown guys or hometown guys, and I watched them guys play that year. You talked about contenders. I didn't realize junior hockey could be played that well. And I played junior hockey. Like, I mean, you know, we were in a Dudley Hewitt Cup up.

Man, I hate to go down this road. But we're in a Dudley Hewitt Cup against Sudbury and the semifinals up like four, two with like 10 minutes ago, and we end up losing 5'4. But we're like two games away from the Royal Bank Cup. It plays some good hockey. and maybe it looked that good, but when I watched that team specifically, and I watched the team after, the team after was just as good, but that year with homegrown guys pushing, you know, pulling the weight,

they were talented. They were a fun team to watch. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was, I think there was a lot of turmoil there for sure. And there was some people from Lloyd that weren't happy at all with the direction that the team had gone. And I definitely understand where Chris is coming from. I mean, working in the Bobcats office, you heard some of that stuff. So, And that was how I had come out of it with. That was kind of the impression I had from working for the team was, you know, there was a lot that went into the decisions that were made. But it was kind of enlightening to hear the other side too from those guys.

But you know what Gordon Gary did what they felt was best for the team. That's right. There's no doubt about that. What they did was with the good of the team in mind. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But even like in the fall, they had Patrick Geary, who was a big pickup, I think, the year before who had had a good run. And they decided to send him out to BC, I think, because it was, you had to get down to your 6, 20-year-olds.

And I think it was a guy named Marco Ballarin who came in and had an unbelievable training camp. And then he kind of tailed off. But you look at you can get into the individuals a bit. But just as that team went along, I mean, Kevin Darrow was so good that year. Taylor Mulder is the captain. It was an up and down year for him, but he settled. in really nice. Alex Leclair, the goalie out of Quebec, was, that was the big question mark coming in. Because Devin Green, I think, had been there before. And he was a star. So where do you

go from there? Leclair comes in. But I think the biggest thing, the one thing, or not one thing, but something about Gord is that he was never satisfied. Like he, you could be on a six-game winning streak and he'd always know that there's, he knew what it took to get to that top level. He had been there before. So he was always very, very much critiquing and evaluating where it needed to go. So after Christmas, before the trade deadline, he made a couple big moves. He brought in Stefan Wood, a big defenseman who had been in Fort Mac, maybe. I can't remember where exactly he had been before.

And he brought in Greg Morrow from Humble. And those two both struggled in the second half, adapting to a new team and kind of finding their way. And I think there was a lot of question marks. There was some frustration from Gord. like Greg Morrow was the best defenseman in the SJHL. And the AJ was just a bit quicker, I think. And he had the skating ability. He had everything he could ask.

He just completed a great four-year run at Clarkson University. He's a good player. But just it was a different game and he struggled for about a month to fit in. And then just before playoffs, Greg Morrow and Stefan Wood really clicked that defensive pairing. And when they clicked, I think there was a game in February. I still remember this day against Spruce Grove. the Saints always had the number of the bobcats and they had those Lloyd and

Wainwright area guys. Tyler Bush was a captain that year and that was always a big bone of contention for both sides, I think. So they played and it was a heavy game. It was a mean game, a physical game. And I think Lloyd won like 5'2 or something. And it was a sold-out barn and it was like, okay, we got a team that has a chance here. And then playoffs come around and they roll through Drayden Valley.

they go into White Court and smack. I can't remember how that series went, but White Court was a good team. And Lloyd, I think, won the first two games and broke their will. They swept them, I want to say. It was, I think it was going to be a coin toss. Everyone thought probably a seven-game series. And actually, White Court's mayor, what did she say?

She went on Twitter and said something like if, or she made a guarantee that the Wolverines were going to win, and not only would they win, but they would sweep. and she like put something behind it like she would wear a bobcats jersey to counsel if the wolverines didn't sweep like that's how confident she was so there's some bullet and board material the bobcats i think swept white court or one and five imagine being on the wolverines oh yeah thanks a lot for that thanks for that just just keep your head down and let's try and win a game let alone sweep a series we're playing a good team here we need everything we got and you're doing that oh that's tough they beat white

White court and then it was Spruce Grove in round three and that was a tough that was Gord built the team I think with that series in mind because he knew that spruce was really fast and really skilled and really good but if you're going to beat them it was going to be physically you had to wear them down and that was a typical Gord Tibido team and that was as physical of a series as I've ever seen still to this day and I think white court or spruce still ended up winning in five I want to say but they were all one goal game for the most part they were really close it was a closer series then then it let on and you could just tell by the end of it like it was a it was a war of attrition and then spruce grove gets

through and even though they beat lloyd in five i think they lost in four or five to brooks and they just had nothing left like it was an absolute battle and maybe for the best that lloyd had that time to heal up recover and rest yeah because had they gone through the final and into westerns or whatever might have happened then you're you're in trouble but uh They rested and rallied and they were kind of the Cinderella in the tournament. Happens a lot with, well, I shouldn't say a lot. But when a team has that much time off and then all the other teams have played that much hockey, like you could say what you want about, well, I'd personally, and I think you'd agree,

you want to win everything. You want to go, you want to be the champion league. You want to get there being a winning team, not just being the host. But I mean, as a host, who cares. you're there, right? And the thing about a host team is you've had all that time off for the most part. You know, Brooks last year was almost an anomaly. You know, like you just don't see a team go through everything, winning everything. But I mean, to have that much time off to just let bodies heal, like I mean, how beat up,

whether it's there's fighting and crazy amount of hitting in a game, just playing that many games, little things add up and become very, very big things. And to have time off to make sure everybody's healthy, I mean, it's huge. Yeah. And there's the whole rest versus rust thing. Like, you want to come in and, and that's kind of the tradeoff is you want to be in the rhythm, but there's no doubt. Like you see in the Memorial Cup every year. I know Colonna was going to have their work cut out this year, but Halifax last year, I mean, they were a little different. They went right to the final, lost in six, I think. But they had a good showing Regina two years ago, I think, is a great example because they lost in round one to Swift in game seven.

And then they had about a one month training camp leading up to Memorial Cup. And they went right to the final. Yeah. So it's crazy what you can accomplish with a healthy, rested team. What has the change been like from going from Lloyd to Prince Albert? Not only the leagues, but just in general, the organizations, like, has it been, I mean, obviously you've enjoyed it. Thus far, you've had absolutely great seasons to be a play-by-play.

But maybe, like, what's it been like going to a level above where you were before and just PA in general? Yeah, it's been a whole different world, really. Like, I had never spent too much time in PA, so I didn't know. And to be totally honest, growing up in Saskatchewan, you don't always hear the best things about PA. It's not, it's the town that kind of becomes the butt of the joke. but living here, it's, it's been really good.

It's a beautiful area. It's a great part of the world, like all the lakes and stuff around here. There's a really passionate fan base for the hockey team, too. I think that's the other thing is, you know, the junior teams and Lloyd get supported well, but it's always the senior teams get a lot of support there too. And it's always, it's always, and the junior B teams as well. The junior A teams always seem to be fighting a little bit for the attention of the team. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, well, I. Yeah, I think the further you go north, the better the fan support is just because of lack of options, right? I mean, you even think in Lloyd here, I mean, you got kids, you kind of talk briefly about how many Lloyd kids are playing in Spruce. Like, you can go from here, you can go watch Spruce play if there's, and kids go to Spruce. But an hour down the road, I got to see it firsthand this year in North Battleford. You had the defending champs while they won it last year defending this year. defending this year, they came to home on this year and played, right, for Hockey Day in Saskatchewan. And so you got really good hockey really close to town, not to mention all the

senior that's being played, the junior B team, you know, all the elite teams, the midget AAA, the women's like all the way through. And they've been, they're all really good hockey. So absolutely, I get what you're, you know, when a junior team is on the top, when you are going a Royal Bank Cup, the longer you go in Lloyd in particular, the better it is for obvious reasons. One, you're winning, but two, other teams aren't playing anymore. So they take away from dividing the attention and now they all go to where the best hockey's being playing. And I think, you know, for the Bobcats, if they're mediocre, they struggle, I would say,

just to what you're saying is there's a lot of talented hockey being played in the area that a person can go watch. And it's, it's not hard. Well, it's pretty easy to see that, I would think. Yeah. And I mean, I should acknowledge that my last year in Lloyd, they were outside of the playoffs. So I went from a team that, you know, had kind of fallen off. And by January, we knew that it probably wasn't going to happen. So you lose that public interest. And it came to PA at a time where the team was just coming out of a rock bottom and we're on the way back in. So it's maybe not fair to compare the two, but it does, like Lloyd's a hockey town. There's no doubt about it, but it feels like PA's a Raider town. You know, it's, there's Raider hats, there's Raider bumper stickers. There

was Raider flags. Part of it, of course, is they've been good. They, they won the second league title and franchise history last year, but it's been a, it's been a really good community. I mean, for my job, it's been really different because I worked for the team in Lloyd. I worked for the, for the Bobcats, filled in Malcolm shoes in the second year's business manager in addition to doing the broadcast, but coming to PA, I was hired by the radio station. So I'm a little bit of a step apart from the team where I'm kind of representing the radio station. I do sales in the community, but then also once the season starts, I'm on the road with the team. And I'm kind of, I'm a part of it, but not a direct employee. So work-wise, it's been a bit of an adjustment,

but I tell you what, the first game I called in PA, like Junior A, the H.L. is fantastic. Look at a guy like Kail McCarr, and where he's gone. There's, there's high-end talent. It's a great option. You're not shorting yourself one bit by going that route. It's, it's elite, elite hockey. But I didn't realize the gap until I came and called my first Raider game, just the cadence of it. I found myself out of breath at the first media time out because it was so fast. It's so organized. It's so quick. It was just kind of a, it was a real eye opener for me because you spend two years in the HHL and you get kind of steeped and you're very aware of how good that league is and maybe less so of what's going on outside of it, but you step into that WHL and the first game was, it was a big change of

pace. What do you do, what do you do to prepare for games? I think it depends. Like if it's a regular season, if it's a Saskatoon, a team you're going to play a lot, it's probably a little more intense. Like a game one, I'll spend a few hours. I have kind of a lineup sheet that I build out where it has every player, their number, their size, their weight, where they played last year, or where they're from. Just kind of whatever stats I can have. I have power play, special teams, standings, all that stuff kind of on one big cheat sheet.

So that's where I do most of my work. And then I kind of compile a list of some other notes and work out my sponsor mentions and stuff like that because there's different promos and stuff that go into it. But it's probably maybe a three to four hour process, all told for a team you're going to see a lot. But there's also teams like the U.S. division teams or the BC teams that you only see once a year.

So you still want to be prepared. And in some ways, you have to be more prepared. More prepared. You don't know them at all. But at the same time, you know that it's one game and then you're not going to use that information again. So, yeah, it's probably three to four hours. But there's so much bus time too where you're, there's so much idle time in this league. You spend a lot hours on a bus.

So there's, it doesn't feel like I'm ever just sitting at home wasting my life away researching because there's always plenty of downtime to get that in. You'd mention Brian Munns as a mentor. What, well, just maybe talk a little bit about that. Yeah, he was, he's a guy who I've remained. I saw him about three weeks ago when the Raiders were in Winnipeg to play the ice. The Jets were off and he came in and had a chat and I had him on air for a while. But he's the Jets broadcaster for TSN radio.

And that RBC cop here in Lloyd, he was there to cover it for TSC. He's there. He does the, he'll do the Allen Cup, he'll do the S.O. Cup. He'll do RBC. A lot of those tournaments, the amateur tournaments across Canada. So he gets sent out for those. And he came out. I think he had some family in Lloyd, I want to say. So he might have came out on Thursday or something. TSN didn't roll in until Saturday. So he was there pretty early in the week. And he'd sit down. He had his media pass. So he sat down by where we were. So he'd just kind of sit in next to our broadcast. And if we'd go, when we were off air in between, he was out. going and he'd pick up little tidbits here and there. It was kind of his prep. So during intermission or whatever, he'd say, hey, would you say about that goalie or he'd pick up some things here and there? So we kind of got chatting and got to know each other a little bit. And then, but nothing too serious. And then I got the job in PA. And he had been the voice of the Raiders back in, I think around 01 to 05, 06, somewhere in there before he went to the Oilers organization. So he spent some time in PA. He knows a lot of people around here. He comes back to PA every summer. He's,

he's really plugged in here. So when I got this job in PA, it was maybe the first call I got was this Winnipeg number I didn't recognize. And I picked it up and it was him. And it was, you know, it was weird because he called me and said, hey, do you remember me from RBC Cup? And I said, well, yeah, I remember you. Do you remember me? And obviously he did because he was calling me. So he's been a huge resource. And so we've kept in touch over the years. And even, you know, when the Raiders won the WHL championship last year, he knows what this town's about. He knows what it meant to the city. He never got the opportunity to see that himself.

So he called me the next day and just kind of to ask, what was it like? What was the rink like? Tell me about your experience. And he was always good if he'll be, you'll get a random text from him like NHL schedule. He'll be sitting poolside in Florida because they got a game against the Panthers the next day. And while he's doing crap, he'll be listening to us. in the Raider game and he'll text me a picture from Florida and say, sounding good or whatever.

Or he'll even text me out of the blue and say, hey, is your crowd mic working? I'm like, what are you talking about? And he'll say, well, I'm listening and it doesn't sound like the, I can't hear the crowd very well. Are you having issues? Like, he'll give me some feedback and pointers. And yeah, he's been,

he's been an awesome resource, been really good to me. That's pretty cool that he'll list it in our random games. Yeah. And you know what? Like he used to call Melford and Humboldt games too. So if you ask the guys who call those games, they'd tell you the exact same thing. They'd be hearing from him maybe a couple times a season. He's pretty good at checking in.

And he definitely doesn't forget where he came from. What do you think, where does the future hold for Mr. Trevor Redham? Where are you aiming for? I don't know. I mean, it's all to this point, I just kind of, you know, like we talked about earlier, play-by-play, just, I mean, I pursued sports. and media and radio in general, but not necessarily play by play. So it's just kind of happened.

And, you know, I think back to getting the job in Lloyd. And had I not done that Rostown series and Matt Chumont had in Saposide, I probably never got the job with the Bobcats. And I don't know, but I mean, Brian Munn knows a lot of people here in PA. I got to know him a little bit here in Lloyd. Had I not met Brian Munn's, I don't know if this job, you know, there's little things like that that just happened that you never, you can't really predict in advance.

So I would like to keep doing it. I love doing it. I enjoy doing it. I mean, at some point, I want to have a family as well. My wife and I live here in PA and we don't have any kids, but at some point we will. So that's a consideration too. I mean, it's a lot of time away from home, but I haven't got down to D-Day on that yet. For now, I'm enjoying it and opening.

Sorry, that made me sound bad. And my wife, hopefully she didn't hear that. But at this point, I'm still. I wanted to ask. You know, we were supposed to get on at 7.30. I don't know what time I finally got to you, 745 maybe. And I text you for the listeners who obviously can't see what we were texting back and forth. And I said, man, just putting kids to bed.

I apologize, whatever, right? And I find myself often wondering what a single meaning a person with no kids, because you can be married, dating, I don't really give rats ass. But what you're doing in the lockdown right now must just be like peaceful and the greatest time ever because I tell you what, you want to see some hectic shit. I'm out of my house at about four, two, bedtime, about seven. And the craziness and the screaming level is at an all-time high. What is a day in the life of Trevor Redden looked like at this point?

Like, was it just calm and you had a little Beethoven on, a glass of wine? I don't know. What were you guys, have you noticed anything changed? because I was sitting there going, like, if he could just see me, he's going, why the heck are we even doing this night? I mean, this is actually my stress relief. This is your break. That's right. I would like to say Beethoven and Juan, I'm definitely not that cultured.

But honestly, it's been good. Like, I was kind of, I didn't know if I'd be bored or not. But you find, like, it was just ramping up in a playoff. So it was such a busy time where you're kind of nonstop. And, you know, McKenzie, my wife and I would see each other. here and there and kind of check in on each other, but not really spending much time together. So you're in that point where I was ready for a long playoff run.

I was hoping for that, but you're also kind of already redlining a little bit. So when it comes to an end, you really appreciate the time you have and the downtime. So I still do my sales job. I'm working from home, kind of checking in on clients and talking to people. And if anyone's still looking to advertise

to get the message out, I'm working on that. But it's pretty quiet. And I love it. Like I'm a bit of a home body. I think as much as my job demands that I go out a lot and it's a very social job. So I kind of get my fill of being out and about and social and stuff like that. So for this opportunity to just lock the door and hang out at home and watch Netflix and read a book and whatever else, that's been, it's been good.

I'm sure a week from today I might tell a different story, but so far I've got sick of it yet. I'm enjoying it. You know for dinner every night making meals together. Like you don't get to do that during the hockey season? Or if we had kids, it would be a different story. So it's pretty quiet. I should point this out. To tag along with you, being home to make supper, actually now I'm home for lunch every day.

Breakfast, you know, if I'm not on a call or working, right. Being around the kids more has been, you know, I've never been, you know, we've got, said this off at the start. We got a boy who turns four in April, girl turns three at the end of July. and then, oh, he's got to be almost six months old now. So we're busy. But I will safely say this is the most I've been around my kids ever because normally they're at a day home. They're, you know, you're playing hockey.

You're doing podcasting. You're the wife's volleyball, whatever it is. We're pretty busy family. We just don't come home and sit and hang. And so you're forced to do this as much as I complain about all the screaming. And there is a lot of screaming. It is rather enjoyable to be around and to do supper every night. you say. This is the most home-cooked food I have ate and so long, I can't even remember the last time.

The last time was probably college when I was making craft dinner, ramen noodles. I would like to think things have evolved a bit from then. Home-cooked food has a different meaning now. I don't know. Kids like craft dinner. Yeah, hey, that's fair. It's easy, too. Well, I was going to say, before I get to the final five here, I was going to say the one thing listening to you, you know, you're just saying, well, you know, I met a guy and that led to this and I met another guy and met this. People, when they listen to that, should take, you know, you should never treat everybody with respect and kindness and everything else because you never know who's sitting beside you, right? Like, I mean, you think about where that's led you. That's

pretty crazy in hindsight so far and where you could possibly go just by talking to the right person the right way and all of a sudden you're you know broadcasting the Royal Bank Cup or you're broadcasting in the Memorial Cup how before I let before we get to the final five how was the Memorial Cup it was cool it was uh it was such a a hectic sequence because I mean so travel wise just to bring it back the WHL championship was PA in Vancouver Games one and two were in Prince Albert Friday, Saturday. They split those two games. We had to be at the rink at about 10 a.m. on Sunday morning to get on a bus to get to the airport just outside of PA.

Charter plane to Vancouver, which was such a cool experience. It was from PA to Vancouver. It was a two-hour flight, runway to runway, which was wild. So you get off the plane there. I think game three, four, and five. They did two, three, two. So 3, 4, 5 would have been, let's say, they were Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday in Vancouver. So PA wins game 3 and 4, chance to win it in game 5, and Vancouver tightens up, wins game 5.

That puts us back on a plane on Saturday to get back to PA for game 6 Sunday. So you spend Saturday travel, and although that flight's only two hours, it's still most of your day flying back. you get back you've landed the airport there's a thousand fans out there lined up around the fence like three miles out of town holding up signs ringing bells welcoming the team back booing the giants as they get off the plane both teams on the same plane i might add half in the front half in the back which was uncomfortable to say the least but um so game six is in pa on sunday everyone's still excited happy they got two cracks to win at home they think they'll win uh then all of a sudden vancouver wins game six. And then for the first time in all playoffs, really, things are in doubt a little bit.

People don't know what's going to happen. It was a team that nearly set franchise records all year. They were number one wire to wire. They had a 21 game winning streak at one point. It was a dominant team. And it was really the first adversity they faced all year for the most part. Edmonton gave a good push in the East Final. But it was, it was, it was, nobody knew what was going to happen for the first time. Up until then, everyone thought we were just going to win, go to the Memorial Cups, see what happens. So game seven, they play it. It goes to overtime.

Two to one lead in the third. Vancouver scores about 10 minutes left to tie it. Game seven league final, overtime, home ice. Like, it doesn't get more intense than that. They have to kill a penalty, a puck over glass penalty in overtime of game seven of the championship. Did you go? Holy fuck.

Like, did you wish? I think I didn't swear. I somehow made it through that game seven without. swearing on air. But it, you know, the thing I was, and like I'm, I'm a bit of a homer. I think everyone's a bit of a homer. You want the team, you work for, you're calling for to win. So you try and be fair, but I think I got caught up in the moment a little bit in that one, because it was a, it was a, it was Brett Leeson, who ended out, he was a good world junior player. He was a draft pick of the Capitals. He had a really good year. He was looking to clear it. And there was a

Vancouver player stick right there. Like, it was so close. And there's no video replay on a play like that in our league. So the puck goes over glass. I thought it was deflected and I had basically as good of a view of it as the refs did. The four officials get together and they decide decisively, yes, it's a penalty. And in that moment, I'm going, if you have any doubt, you can't call that penalty, you know, so I was, I think I went in on the refs a little more there than I would like to admit. But the Raiders killed the penalty and then they scored it with a minute and a half remaining in overtime and it was just absolute pandemonium the place went nuts celebrated that night but the crazy part about it was that was a monday night was game seven

the flight left for halifax on wednesday morning so you you go from you know it was such a the absolute high of winning to trying to pull yourself back into we got games to play and it's part of the national championship and you're going through the the league final and it's kind of of like, okay, we're up two one, three one. It's almost like, had they won game five, it was like they would have a little bit of a great, it would have been business like, okay, let's go home, let's celebrate, but relax, charge up, we got bigger things ahead. But then it got to game seven and overtime, all of a sudden you forget about Memorial

Cop, you're just worried about we have to win this. That league final became, I don't want to say bigger, like it was big, but I think they maybe took it for granted. They were going to win it, and then they would have just kept elevating. but once it became so hard to win it, it was such a high. And then the Tuesday was photo day at the rink. So it was they didn't really have a practice.

They had a quick skate and then family and friends were in town and everyone was taking pictures with a cup and stuff. And then all of a sudden you're loading your bag and you're on a plane at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. And you have a travel day Wednesday to Halifax. Friday, the tournament starts. So it was like, oh, holy. Pin it right there.

Okay. So we're going to pin it on the first. flight to the Memorial Cup. I got to know what was the party like Monday night, especially from a radio guy standpoint, fly on the wall, having a cocktail or two, I assume. Yeah. I mean, I wish I had a crazy story for this. I know there's a lot of people who had a heck of a night that night, but we went the golf course is kind of, oh, it's a good setup here like it is in Lloyd. There's a good dining room area and bar there. So what they did was they closed down the golf course. and all staff and the team were invited.

So the players, honestly, I can say without a lie, like the players really didn't party that night. They came back. They had some pizza and celebrated with their parents. But I think the players were home by 1 or 1.30 because they had to skate the next day and be on a plane on Wednesday. Like they kept it pretty in check. What some of them might have done if they happened to bill it together and they got home

and, you know, maybe some of them had some celebrating of their own. But it was very much like, hey, we got. more work to do here. So I probably stayed a little later than a lot of the players did, but it wasn't anything too crazy. Definitely had a couple cocktails and we celebrated and enjoyed the night. But it was because we knew I had to be at work the next morning. I had to figure out, like you had to figure out logistics. I had to talk to my boss figure out, okay, what are we doing? I'm going to Halifax tomorrow. Like, how do we work this all out? I had to figure things out at home. Like it was a crazy 24 hours. And yeah, then all of a sudden you're gone. I will, we celebrate and have. We celebrate and

a lot of fun, but I bet you I was home by 2.30 and in pretty good shape, I'll say. Well, I was expecting more out of a championship winning Monday night, but I can, I can maybe give you a little bit off because, I mean, less than a day and a half later, you're on a plane heading to Halifax from Memorial Cup. Now, let's back forward. You're on the plane heading to the Memorial Cup. What was the atmosphere around that tournament like? It was. I've told people the weirdest thing for me was it was like because the league final you've got your your full buildings both in PA and Vancouver you know without question like this means something it's big it's important it's meaningful the the fans are living and dying over it you get to Memorial Cup and the Halifax fans were great they could put 10, 12,000 people in that rink and they packed it we had the Raiders had the Friday night game against the host Halifax team which was a tough draw. Halifax ended up winning that game with a huge crowd behind them. So Friday night felt like a big deal.

But as the tournament went on, you felt more like you were in a, I don't want to say exhibition. I don't want to take it too lightly. Like you knew it was a big deal. Sportsnet was there. It was nationally televised. But it was like a festival. You know what I mean?

You go from playing in an intense playoff game in that market where the fans are living and dying to a place. It felt more about the street fest and the part and the celebration. Don't get me wrong. Downtown Halifax was a blast for that week. But in the building, it... And what better place to be than Halifax? Oh, it was unreal.

Only time I'd ever been there, and I'd love to go back, because it was awesome. It was a pretty short stay, the way things ended up going for the Raiders, but it was a lot of fun in Halifax. But it was, I think, once the round Robin ended, and the Raiders were 0 and 3, and we flew home on the Wednesday after the round Robin ended. So we didn't get to see it.

I think once the semifinals and the finals happened, it would have. But it's kind of like you go from the final back here again. You have to work your way up. And the Raiders went 013. So I never got to see it work its way back up. It was an unbelievable event. There's such a wow factor there, the scale of it, the events going on, the festivities. Like Corb Bamford was playing outside, I think, on opening night.

You're seeing some big names out. there and the sports net guys are there so you're you understand it's big but it just you couldn't help but feel like it was a little bit of a letdown from that's game seven high yeah and and you raise a good point if you had two weeks off it wouldn't have been such a big deal but having such a small window yeah that's that's a good point that that's tough yeah yeah it was uh but i mean it was every every team was in the same boat i think for the most part i mean the raiders So that was there. That's why they went to Monday.

I think the queue ended on the Saturday and the O might have ended on the Sunday. So we're only talking one or two days, extra rest in those teams. But you went on Saturday. You get to get it out of your system and your back, prax and Monday. And you know, you can just see how it could be a little bit, you know,

an easier for transition, the ending Monday night and by Wednesday morning you're on a plane. That's a, that's tough. Yeah. And not to mention, I mean, Guelph to Halifax is maybe two hour flight.

Naranda to Halifax, about two hours and Naranda and Halifax played it in the Q final so they had already, they were familiar with each other, they'd been back and forth. So it was pretty easy for those teams. That's short travel. That's like us going to Vancouver. For us to go across the country with the shortest rest and have to play the first game. That's one thing I was surprised and I didn't really realize until you get into it. Like the tournament's built. The host team has a really a good schedule and the the Quebec league team had a good schedule the team furthest away has the worst schedule maybe it's because they they'd have the least amount of fans there so you're you're kind

of you know the tournament's not one or lost based on the schedule but I was surprised at the team that had the hardest road to get there had the most difficult schedule because the raiders played Friday then they were off Saturday Sunday and then they played Monday Tuesday back to back so they had to play the first game they got two days rest and then they had to play back to back to back to finish, whereas both Quebec teams had a day off between every game. And I think Ontario might have played Saturday, Sunday, and then Tuesday or something like that. But it was, it was tough for the Raiders, for sure. Well, let's go into the Crudemaster final five questions here. Just five questions, nice and quick, or as long of a rabbit hole as we want to go. I don't

know how long we've been going. I don't have a timer set on my computer, but we've been going for over an hour anyways. If you could have one color guy to work with can be anyone. Who would you take? And you best not say Shane Tomair. I still haven't had the honor of Sean Newman, so I mean, we might have to make that work.

Live out that alternate universe. That's a great answer. Once again, I hope Shane heard that. No, I'm kidding. No, all kidding aside,

no, that'd be a lot of fun. I'd have a lot of fun doing that. But if you could take one guy, who would you take? I think the, I mean, the serious side of me would go like Ray Ferraro. He's unbelievable. He's as good as it gets, I think, from a hockey perspective. But I think to the other side of it, like, you know, some broadcasters have a real

humor about them. I'm not that funny of a guy. I'm kind of, I'm pretty straightforward. I like to sell the emotion of the game and give you some stats and stuff. But I'm not really, I'm pretty straight for the most part. in terms of, I don't vary too far from what we're talking about. I think if you got like a stand-up comedian, someone who could just riff that maybe knows hockey, maybe doesn't, like there's a, there's a comedian here named Kelly Taylor from PA that he does,

he does a lot of events in Lloyd. I've had him on for intermission interviews. I think to have a guy like that to do color and just, you never know where it would go. Shane was a little bit that way. I think that would be a lot of fun. It would be hard to keep things off on the rails, but somebody along those lines, I think, would be a blast. That would be.

That would be interesting, right? To just have a little comedic touch to it. Yeah, you get that mix a little bit because, I mean, not every game is going to be a thrilling nail bit. It's nice to have something that keeps fans engaged, even if it's a 3-0 game on a Wednesday night. If you can have beer with one guy to pick his brain, who would you take? I think probably Ron McLean would be right up there.

Yeah, that's a good one. I did have the chance to meet him in Lloyd when he was there for hometown hockey. Unbelievable guy. And he's one of those guys. You meet people in the hockey world and ask about him. And nobody has a bad thing to say about him. Except for maybe Don Cherry now. Yeah.

Well, yeah. And actually, I should say his reputations may be tarnished a little bit since then. The old school hockey hardcore. Wow. No, I shouldn't say that. There's a lot of people that wish he went to bad for Don. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

But I just think I just like who he's been over the years. What he, how good he is at his craft. That would be one. And then, I don't know, on the other side, like, you know, just anyone who is, anyone that's really like a Malcolm Gladwell, like somebody like that. I've been reading a few of his books lately and just people like that where you go, how do you even think of people that kind of expand your mind and make you think about different things because I get kind of stuck in the sports channel and it's hockey all the time.

So it's good to reach out a little bit. So somebody like that, I think he'd be high on my list. What, what bookie has tickled your fancy over the last little bit? What's the best one you read? The one, well, the one I have right now is talking to strangers by Malcolm Bud. Well, that's sitting on my nightstand. Is it? Yeah, it's great. It's fantastic. It's a page turn or two. But you know what? The one I just put down was Ken Dryden, the game. That's his classic. Have you ever read that one? Can't say I have.

It was his last year. He retired at like 31, 32 to become a lawyer and ended up being a politician. And he documented pretty well his last year. So it's kind of the 1979 Montreal Canadian season through the lens of their goalie, who's also an author. So it was fascinating. Like the way he talked about Gila Fleur and Larry Robinson and Bobby Orr, who would I think he was maybe done by that point.

But guys of that area, it was, that was one that it painted a real good picture of what the game was like in those days. And there's a lot about it that was, I couldn't believe there's, there's times. I was like, this is the stories he would tell us.

Like, that's just like being on the road with the PA Raiders. There's some things that are so universal. And yet some things that were a whole world apart from back then. I'll have to take a look for that. I'm always up for a good book. I can send it your way. I'm through with it now.

Well, I'll definitely take you up on that. For sure. Who's the best player you've had the honor of calling for? So doing the play-by-play. Who's the one guy? And maybe it needs to be a list of guys. But who's a guy that just sticks out in your mind when you saw him come into the building or maybe he was on your team and saw him and just had the opportunity to call?

Who would that guy be? I think the first one that comes to mind is Kail McCar. Because just because of he's, that was my first year of call. calling junior hockey. So he's further along than some of these other guys like a Bowen Byron, a Kirby Doc, a Peyton Krebs. There's some guys like that that are that are going to be big stars moving forward. But McCar has established himself already. So you can see what he does in the NHL. And I'm sure you saw him when he played with Brooks. But it was it was absolutely jaw dropping what he could do in the H.JL. It's dog dropping what he can do in the NHL. Yeah. And that's what I was going

to say like it's the I I was blown away at how good he was but in the back of my mind I'm kind of like you know you okay you can do that here you're going to have to change your game once you get to the NHL I think there's always a little bit I don't think I was the only one saying that because he was kind of a freewheeler as we see now with the avalanche and but the way he did it at UMass and he's done it with the avalanche too like he never changed his game he's the same guy now he can dominate an NHL game the way he did in the AJ. It's unreal. He's he is, I'm a defenseman and watching him play the game. I'm like, holy crap, right? Like that's a new type of defenseman altogether. It's easy, hey? It looks like he's not even sweating. No, like at any time. And just his edge work and everything,

his ability to skate is just, well, you said it jaw dropping. It's, it's damn impressive. Yeah. And I think what stood out to me and Lloyd was like yeah there's the skill there's a skating there's the passing there's like he's got all those high end skills but Lloyd had a heavy team that year they had a very much a a Gord Tibado team they were built to beat and batter you and when they played Brooks

it was I think McCar was 17 that year and he was a target they were running like guys like Taylor Mulder were putting on him every time they could and if he wasn't spinning off of them he was standing guys up like he he was maybe 170 pounds at that time six feet tall and

he was so strong on his skates that I wish I could remember there's one hit I remember where I went wow I don't know if it was rbc cup or during the regular season but one of our bigger guys had him lined up looked like he didn't see a comment I was thinking oh boy someone's going to get him and he was just so strong on his skates that even though he didn't see the hit coming the guy who's probably 30 pounds heavier than him just bounced off and mccard kept the puck and took off well let's say you're the GM of your ottawa senators and let's say they got the first overall pick of this coming year. Who would you take with the first overall pick? I think it's got to be LaFrenier. Yeah? I think he's the runaway right now. And I don't know,

I've never had a chance to really watch him, but it just seems like he was the guy at the start of the year and what he did at the World Junior solidified it. And I think he's just kind of stayed there the whole way. Well, I guess we'll wait and see. I enjoy the people who are around the major junior level. I like hearing who their thoughts are, I mean, who knows when we're going to have the hockey draft this year anyways.

Yeah. And who's going to, like how they're going to break it down. I have no clue. But when that happens, I'll be looking for him to see where he goes and see if Mr. Redden is close to it or not.

Yeah, yeah, you can write that one down. We'll wait and see. I definitely, I've got a little more expertise on the WHO, but I don't think we've got any guys

close to that number one mark this year. Uh, final question for you. If you could be quarantined with one celebrity, who would you take? Oh. I saw, that's a good question. I saw, uh, I think it was Paul, uh, Bissonette, Biznasty. I'm sure he had that on his Twitter like a week ago and I'm like, ah, that's a good question. Yeah.

You know what? I, I think I got to go back to a comedian because I mean, I just want someone that's going to make me laugh during that time. I mean, like, uh, I don't, I don't know who, like a Dave Chappelle, he's unbelievable. A Seth Rogen, not that I would, not that I'd be doing the same things he'd be doing. I don't think I'd, he might sneak outside every once in a while, but he'd be, he'd be a riot. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know who exactly would be, but somebody funny that would just keep me laughing and someone who's easy going.

You don't want her to be stressful. That's, that's a pretty good answer. Dave Chappelle will be fun. Dave Chappelle, I mean, anyone, Seth Rogen will be fun too. but you know what I watched a show it was uh I can't remember what it's called but there's like a chef from L.A. that goes to different cities and hangs out with a celebrity that's from there and they just hang out all day yeah and it was he went to Vancouver and hung out with Seth Rogen they went they went all to Seth Rogen's favorite restaurants and obviously they were they were smoking the

whole episode but it was they were just laugh like I had a blast watching it because they were just laughing everywhere they went and having and I just watch having a good time yeah yeah you know even if I didn't take part in the extracurriculars, it would still be, just to be around a guy like that would be unreal. Well, this has been thoroughly enjoyable. I know we probably talk. I keep saying this now every episode that goes by, but it's probably like six, seven months ago we talked.

And I'm happy it finally, you know, we finally made it happen. You're my first, I don't know, what am I calling this, a quarantine episode, a COVID-19 episode, whatever it is, but you're the first one of doing it. via the computer. So thanks for making time for me and sitting down with me. I've really enjoyed it, getting to understand how you got to where you are. And another guy who has no broadcast or no media training making a name for himself. That's super cool. There's a couple of us out there fighting a good fight. All right on. Well, thanks again for hopping on with me, Trevor. Really appreciate it. Oh, thanks for having me on. I'm glad I could help you work the kinks out of this new system here.

Right on.