Spittin Chiclets - Spittin' Chiclets Episode 278: Best Of 2020

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Best Of 2020: 2:21 – 01:20:00 - Scott Gomez 01:21:00 – 01:29:00 – Chris Pronger 01:31:00 – 02:36:00 – Brendan Walsh 02:36:00 – 02:44:00 – Brian Burke 02:45:00 – 3:45:00 – Ron MacLean 03:48:00 – 03:57:00 – Derek Sanderson 03:58:00 – 04:25:00 – Keith Yandle + Kevin Hayes 04:25:00 – 04:38:00 – Josh Hennessy 04:41:00 – 04:44:00 – Cam Janssen + Pat Maroon 04:45:00 – 04:48:00 – Auston Matthews 04:49:00 – 05:15:00 – Whit Golf TalkYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/schiclets

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Around, nothing's gonna ever keep you down Bitten chicklets flip-flopped its vacation week because of all the news that fell in our lap last week, and we couldn't wait. So today's ep is going to be the summer best-of episode that we promised last week. Obviously, the return to play, the new CBA deal, that stuff should be ratified by the end of this week, so we'll have plenty to dive into when we return next week. So got some good stuff coming up for you in a little bit, but before we play the hits, I want to mention that I believe reading labels is key. I do it with everything from the food I buy to the beauty products I use, even my deodorant from Native.

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Every product comes with free shipping within the U.S. plus free 30-day returns and exchanges. See why so many people love Native and check out the over 14,000 five-star reviews. Do what I did and make the switch to Native today by going to nativedeo.com slash chicklets or use the promo code chicklets at checkout and get 20% off your first order. That's nativedeo.com slash chicklets or use the promo code chicklets at checkout and get 20% off your first order. That's nativedeo.com slash chicklets or use the promo code chicklets at checkout for 20% off your first order. All right, G, I think we're going to jump right into it with another G, Scotty Gomez. We actually recorded this one right before our

best of, so there's a little bit of a crossover there. But anyway, Scotty Gomez, definitely one of the more interesting interviews we had. This guy was an absolute character. Stanley Cup winner. Claude Lemieux stories for days. So let's throw it over to Scotty Gomez without further ado. Wow, what a pleasure. What a pleasure to be joined now by a very special guest, a guest that I got to play with at the end of my career. It was an absolute pleasure. This guy is a two-time Stanley Cup champion. He won Rookie of the Year in the NHL. He dominated junior. He played in two All-Star games. The list goes on and on.

He made lots of money. Good for him. The best player ever from Alaska, Scotty Gomez. Thanks for joining the podcast. Thanks for having me, guys. Best player from Alaska. What an ending. He put hockey on Alaska on the map.

First native Alaskan ever in the NHL. First native. First native Alaskan ever in the NHL. First native. First native Alaskan, yeah. Yeah, there's a bunch. You're a pioneer. You're quite the pioneer, man. Yeah, but if I can say the reason why I made it was the guy that gets the most credit is Trajan Langdon. He went to Duke, played in the NBA.

But growing up in Alaska, back then, about the social media and all that, you're kind of concerned you're not going to be found. Yeah. Trajan, next you know, is Coach K, Bobby Niter at the court in Alaska, and he just kind of made us all realize that you can get out of here and do something. So they came to see him. It wasn't even at a tournament

in the city. No, it was games. I mean, that's back when I was pretty big in the basketball back then, because that's kind of the year Iverson, F. I mean, that's back when I was pretty big in the basketball back then because that's kind of the year Iverson, Filippo Lopez, what was the guy from Boston, Herring? Chris Herring.

Chris Herring. Yeah, so all those guys. So that was pretty neat growing up with, but yeah, he was like for rock, rock star besides working with the other guys,

Trajan definitely was the man. So I owe him all the credit. That's awesome. So we talked to who we had on, Nate Thompson, right? And it's funny because you are the godfather of all these guys. Now, naturally, you're the first NHLer to come from Alaska,

but it was more the big brother, the guy they looked up to. So how cool has it been with all these other guys? Matt, Carl, there's so many names that they all really look up to. They do, though. I know you're modest. It was just the way it was. I'm proud to be from there. At one point, there were six of us that were in the NHL.

Got a pretty good photo of that. A bunch of us happened to be there. Was Tim Wallace one of them? Wallace was there. Can you name them off just so people know? Joey Crabb, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Wallace, Nate Thompson, Matt Carl. of them well wallace was there we all you know we all name them off just so people know joey crab brandon dabinsky tim wallace um nate thompson matt carl myself i hope i'm not missing anyone there's a couple other younger guys that are pretty awesome yeah it was good i mean but and it's like uh you know i think that was just part of our culture that hey we're not going to

get into the you know because people talk oh this guy's jealous of him and no right away you know for the young guys it was that's not going to happen with us we're uh you know, because people talk, oh, this guy's jealous of him. No, right away, you know, for the young guys, that's not going to happen with us. We're proud of our state. We're here. And this is, you know, even on the ice, it was just fun. And as they got older and started establishing themselves, we all worked out in the summers together, and it was just a good thing for all of us. At what age were you like, all right, I think that I'm one of those guys that's going to

get out of here, and I might even fucking make it to the nhl well i told my mom i was by her house at seven i remember saying that but you're gonna help her buy her house no i was gonna get her house or my parent my parents but uh the thing was is growing up there and you know i probably the same for weight i don't know maybe different but the only goal was to get a college scholarship that was the only i mean to get a college scholarship. That was the only, I mean, if you got a college,

I mean, my family. That was making it. Yeah, that was making it. That was the only thing we said. Obviously, things went different. We did,

but we didn't know about the WHL. We didn't know about the major, you know, those leagues and stuff, but I think that what happened was, is if we're all, we're all growing up in Alaska, and we play against each other,

and the competition is unreal. There's two organizations. Actually, there's a third. Oh, Ty Jones, he was another one. He won a marriage. And what happened, I think when I was 11, second year in Pee Wee, they put the best kids on one team. Because it took away maybe the competition games know games but you're better whenever we went

whenever we went outside we teams would blow us away just because it's just what it was but then when we had you know the the squad the group yeah we we could compete with anyone we lost we lost two national championships in our last year we won but that was really key and a lot of parents today they don't get that that you, you know, the practices were unreal. I mean, we're going against the best every day. And, you know, now I don't know how many organizations are there in Alaska because, you know, a kid doesn't make it. Well, we'll just start a new one. And, you know, it's just kind of got watered down, I think.

Were you playing up a couple ages at some point? I was, yeah. I was playing up the fact that I was young. I started school early. I started school at four because the neighbor down the street. You were late 79. Yeah, he was five. And my dad was pissed because I'm going to be stuck at home.

And my dad was just like, you're just as dumb as this kid. There's no way he should be starting school. So I remember I had to go take some tests. And I started. And then the asshole in third grade, because, you know, I was a solid C student. I was struggling, you know. And they thought some genius idea that he'd hold me back. So I was held back in third grade.

And people don't realize is that the fourth graders go out to recess while the third graders are coming in. So all my buddies and everyone are coming. I'm just standing there. And you're dominating all the third graders. Yeah, but thank God but thank god my mom uh you know kind of a mama's boy too and um you know she must uh i just miserable for for weeks on end and she probably cut the old man off or something because next you know so i had a big speech that uh i just you know you got to be better in school whatever so they moved me back up was back with my friends but you know i i set

the bar i was solid c student uh, you know, I set the bar. I was a solid C student. But, you know, I still consider myself probably one of the greatest gym students ever. Oh, yeah, every sports guy. Well, I mean, it was Alaska, too. So if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. So much for that college scholarship then, huh? Well, no, I mean, that was a—

Well, you went to the BCHL first. When you're that good already, you're fucking going to college. Somebody else is doing your homework for you. No, I mean, I was a master at cheating on everything in school and this and that. But I loved it. I mean, it was a social aspect. I mean, where else are you going to go see girls every day? But no, I was supposed to go to the SHL.

Things probably would have worked different. But they got messed up where I was going. Oh, really? That's what happened. When I was 14, a coach came to Alaska, and he said, when Scott turns 15, 16, we're going to have his rights. And my dream was always, growing up in Alaska, was to go to the Omaha Lancers. Because I forgot to mention this guy.

He's the ultimate. One of my favorite hockey players. One of the best hockey players I ever saw was Brian Swanson. Oh, Colorado College. Yeah, so that's the only reason. So, Swanee, all those guys went to Omaha. Like, there was a group of guys, and that was my dream, to go to Omaha. And the coach sat in my house and he said um I remember he shook my dad's hand he goes hey if

if Scott's uh when Scott turns 16 and he still wants to go there I'll trade his rights and he shook on it and I'm just like oh you know my mind was already made up two years later they whined and dined me I'm not gonna lie it was great uh sioux city i went there once but i wanted to go to omaha and then it just it wouldn't happen the rights and actually lincoln was an expansion team that year oh that'd be awesome and then i didn't know anything about that and it and we've all gone through it we're you know recruiting people don't realize it's this is back when you got one phone and click i mean yeah the phone calls non-stop this and that all my buddies they're getting ready to go to their junior teams. And I was still sitting around.

And finally, you heard of the BC League because of Paul Correa and this. And the only reason I ended up in Surrey, because my dad, Sioux City, just wouldn't give up the rights. I could have gone to Lincoln, and my dad gave me one of the famous Gomez of the famous gomez speeches that hey uh you know this guy lied in our house we can give in or i was going to make the ultimate decision because my parents weren't going to let me go somewhere where or make me go somewhere i was going to be miserable and it'd be on them but i went to the bc league and and it's funny because when i got home for christmas uh you know we lived in the small little ranch stylestyle house, and I get

home, and fuck, there's big-screen TV, stereo system. I think the old man got greased because... You're like, wait, Dad, what? You hit the lottery? Yeah, you. It literally was like that, and he just had a big smile on his face. But it was unbelievable. I, you know,

reference with the Mexican thing, but I crossed the border every day to go to school in the States so I could keep my, you know. Graduation. Yeah. And what happened was is basically my billets, John Short and Carol, but mostly Shorty and Rick Lance, my head coach, and Mark Hollick, they basically sabotaged college. They were like. You're going junior. They were like, well, they worked my old man, and when my parents came down to visit, they took him to a WHL game and literally were like, see that kid right there? That kid right there is going to make a million dollars next year.

No. It was a fast track. It was a fast track. And everyone assumed that. And the big rumor was back then that, I think it's different in the O or whatever, but back then, you know, you got money under the table. And I guess Paul Correa got offered, the rumor was, you know, $250,000. So Spokane had my rights.

Ty Jones, one of my best friends, he's playing, you know, first rounder. He's playing for the Chiefs, and the Chiefs, they were hosting the Memorial Cup that year. Just proves we had no idea. I still wanted to go to college. I still, you know, I ended up signing a letter of intent for Colorado College. Goswani and those guys were there. They were at Powerhouse.

And literally, Spokane dropped my rights. The owner was a good friend. Ron Toigo was good friends with my billet. And they're like, hey, we can get this kid to go. And I ended up going to Tri-Cities. And funny thing was. How much? Well, there was none. was none i mean everyone assumed i'd made more in the bc league like that was a that was a cut highest paid guy out west you're like what whl team nah bchl but the problem was is that uh the problem was is you know i could have gone it's my draft year I'm rated in you know top five whatever

this and that and I go to Tri-Cities and I have no clue and I mean I think we won like 17 games I was going to say that year

that year that year you know I was you know during the summer Mr. Jolly runs a moving company got me a job

because you know wanted some money and I didn't move anything I just shot hoops there was a they company, got me a job because, you know, wanted some money. And I didn't move anything. I just shot hoops. There was a basket. They wouldn't let me move. Langdon. Yeah.

Well, it actually was Jordan because I think it was 96 and that's when they were in the finals. But I remember sitting with a bunch of guys at my first lunch. And I was just pumped to have a job. And, you know, one guy's telling me, he's like, you know, if I could go back and get a college scholarship and do this and that. Don't do this. And I just remember, I just gave it up. And I'm like, oh, shit. That's all I need to hear.

I think my fifth game in my WHL career, I broke my collarbone. It was my draft year. I totally went down. And you missed some games. I only played like 40, 45. Yeah, 49 games or something like that. 40 games. And, you know, I only played like 40, 45. Yeah. Forty nine games or something like that. Forty games. And, you know, I mean, it was an experience.

It was kind of a panic, right? I'm a first rounder. Just you just we're all caught up in it. Then we're all caught up in it. You're looking at those reports. What was that? The red line report. Oh, yeah.

And you're constantly moving down. Yeah. Yeah. You're constantly moving down. But, you know, in the grand scheme of things, it – Worked out pretty good. Well, for me, falling down in the draft, I mean, I ended up going – instead of going that high, I ended up going to a team that, man, you had to –

The stars aligned. So the next year – You lit it up. Well, you lighted it up. And was the team way better? The team was way better. We had to let go of our coach. Rick Lance came to coach.

It was just a bad situation. It was a lot of leftover guys. It just, it is what it was. It's hard to change. And Don Hay came in. And Hazer, that's a scary human being when you're a kid. We were older. We were just so young.

We knew we were going to be better. But I was still pissed off that I had to go back because I thought I literally was the last cut for making it with the Devils. Oh, your first training camp. You were sick. And it wasn't that. It was more like the game was easier up there because you're playing with the better guys. And, hey, I like to dish the puck. You're a thinker, dude.

Yeah, and so it was just – I thought I was going to stay. the puck and it was uh you're a thinker dude yeah and so it was just it was i thought it was going to stay and then i don't know if they still got that rule where if they keep me and you play 10 games burn here yeah and so uh yeah i remember uh for the devil's team considering then with that because i think me and niedermeyer at that point were uh the only two that didn't didn't go to albany like you were set you had to go to Albany. So that year I go back to juniors. So much confidence. No, I'm horrible because I'm so mad. I'm playing with bad guys.

And give the Devils credit. No offense to you guys. No, I mean, but Lou flew up to see me. Because I think they told him I was struggling because I was pissed I didn't make it. And he kind of gave me a little rally cry. And it was awesome. We had a great group. We made it to that. What did he say? I mean, I'm't make it. And he kind of gave me a little rally cry. And it was awesome. We had a great group.

We made it to the – What did he say? I mean, I'm not – Wake the fuck up, Homer. He said – I mean, and, you know, you kind of – when you do Lou, you got to do his voice. It's just the way it is. Let's go. Let's go.

It's like, you know, Scotty, listen here. Yeah, I know you're upset. You didn't make it. But now we got to see really what you got. There's some lines like that. Basically, we got to see you help out. But it just showed you the kind of different organization that, you know, like there was other guys

struggling and not once did their GM come fly down. It said a lot. And so, yeah, that was that's kind of that. I don't know if I want to go there just yet in your relationship with him. Do you guys want to talk a little bit about more Junior? Because sometimes I get selfish.

Well, I can tell what happened next year. Lou is such an iconic figure in hockey, and although I maybe disagree with some of his old school mentalities and how much control he wants to have, is you have to commend the fact that he's been there, he's done that, and now he's fucking doing it again in long island yeah it was uh here's the here's the power that you realize what you're getting into or you don't you don't um at the draft i'm sitting with my agents and i just wanted to go in the first round and i'll give a funny sounds cool right it sounds cool but we

all go on stage we all grow up going on stage. The arms get wrapped around, and it's the dream. You're the big dog. So I thought for sure Dallas was going to take me. And this is the year that the NHL, I don't know who came up with this dumb idea, but the teams were allowed a timeout. Oh, yeah. So if you weren't, you know, you get how many minutes. If you weren't key, you got like 10 more minutes.

So the first round dragged on forever. I thought Dallas was going to take me. The doctor turns around from Dallas and he's kind of looking. So now it's the last pick in the first round and the devil's trade, you know, for the pick. And I'm sitting there going, you know,

and I didn't really talk to him that much, but finally, you know, New Jersey devil select Scott Gomez parents. Everyone jumps up. I think my agent was right there and he's like fuck like yeah like you know like and you didn't you kind of look at him and he's like oh my job just became so hard so i go up on stage you know i got the curls got the you know it's all slicked back i'm doing the smile so afterwards you know four cell phones and all that,

all my friends and stuff were back watching, and I called them, and I'm like, hey, you know, and they're like, where did you go? And I'm like, what the fuck do you mean, where did I go? And they're like, after the 27th pick, ESPN cut it off and put Buckhunting, that Buckhunting show on. Such an ESPN move.

Are you fucking kidding me? It's the last show. My dream of getting on, yeah, so that was maybe things to come, Are you fucking kidding me? You just don't make my dream come true. Oh, my. My dream of getting on. Yeah, so that was maybe things to come. But then that next year, you have great juniors, you know, world junior champ, all that stuff. It was great. And for playoffs, we all dyed our hair blonde.

You know, we do stupid stuff. We lose to Kamloops. I didn't play A rookie Knocked me out With a puck Throwing the puck Whatever

Your own team Yeah our own team We were doing power play And he turned around Fired it out So I was out for the last game We wouldn't have helped They beat us

I think 4-1 But They I remember I was at Daryl Hayes Billet's house I forgot where the party was I'm passed out And the billet comes And she's like Scott' billet's house. I forgot where the party was. I'm passed out, and the billet comes, and she's like,

Scott, your billet's looking for you. And I'm like, oh, okay. Season's over. I'm like, my billets were great. Can I leave my cigarettes there? We got more beers for you, Scott. And what happened was my flight was at 3 o'clock to go to New Jersey, and my hair appointment was at 11 to dye my hair back to being black.

That's the power of Lou Lamarillo. And then talk about the worst experience. And so I fly to Jersey, and I'm thinking I'm going to Albany for playoffs. So I'm like, this is going to be great. And I fly to Jersey, and I'm sure we'll get into it later, great you know and i fly to jersey and i'm sure we'll get into it later the famous turtle back hotel that's across the rink from the south mountain and i go there basically don't do anything no one tells you anything they're getting ready for playoffs they're the number one team they're playing against pittsburgh the ace seed and so finally i'm just sitting around for two

days and i finally get a call from the strength guy, and he's like, yeah, hey, you've got to come out. You're going to go on the ice. I'm like, with the big guys? All right. So I come over with my gear, and we've all been there, especially in those days. How different is this than now?

It's not what people think, man. You're just scared. There's an aura about being around those fucking guys. And it's an aura. And now you look back it's it's fucking playoffs i mean this is they've already lost last year in the first round they were the top seed so this is serious business and here's some you know pigeon-toed mexican kid no one even knows that this is a first rounder i walk in and i'm gonna go on an optional skate with these guys and this this is where, as we all know, gets older,

Hall of Famer Dave Anderchuk, it was his first time being healthy scratched in playoffs. So I look back and I'm like, what the fuck? What the fuck is this guy thinking? I'm on the ice with him. And it was just a horror. A whole black ace with Anderchuk. Yeah, it was just.

How was he? Was he fucking mad or was he expecting it? You know, back then, you look in perspective, he was probably beyond pissed. I mean Was he fucking mad or was he expecting it? You know, you don't – back then, you look in perspective. I mean, he was probably beyond pissed. I mean, he's already a Hall of Famer. He's already got the numbers. And it all happens. We've all seen it.

I didn't know what the agreement was going into that season if he was on the way out. Yeah, no, because he played more. He played more. I mean, he played – we've all seen it happen. Like maybe, you know, the coach just – whatever. But here I'm on the ice with these guys, and this guy's – not that they treated me bad or anything, but I look back and I'm like, what the hell am I doing here?

So they were two weeks into it. I had a couple buddies. It was playoffs. It goes game seven. And now I really don't – I don't go back to the rink. I don't know what I'm doing there. And I have a couple buddies that went to school in Iona from Alaska that played hockey there.

And I remember calling them and I'm like, hey, you guys got time off? And I think they were done. And so they come down and we went to – I called the devil's office because I thought you could do it for the Nets were playing. And they were like, well, Scott, there's a game tonight. Like aren't you going to watch the game? And I was like oh shit am i supposed to like i'm like i'm not a part of that and i just remember saying like you know i i just got so nervous watching it you know the playoffs this and that so we ended up

going to a basketball game excuse yeah i mean what was i supposed to watch them like i'm not even part of this yet like when i'm on the team then i'll watch how did they end up doing that year i don't even remember they lost lost to Pittsburgh first rounds, too. So it was two years in a row. Oh, geez. Sure, but the coolest thing I do remember, and my favorite hockey player, my idol, and there's other stories you may want, but I walk into the rink, and Doug Gilmore is in the gym.

And this is Doug Gilmore, and I'll never forget this. He was your... My idol. That's awesome. This is why the jersey tuck this is why I tuck my jersey because this is why like

I'd put baby powder on my stick just because anything he did I would do and I remember one time I was taking a face off and I think it was Heatley

Danny Heatley and then when they're like easy grats and I'm like shit someone saw that like you know it usually didn't come off right away

but it did keep the tape on but and Doug Gilmore completely stops what he's doing, and you had to, like, walk around where the old gym was at South Mountain and introduces himself. Hi, I'm Doug Gilmore. Welcome, Scott. You know, like, and I was just, like, blown away by that.

I was like, man, here's. Best feeling. Oh, man, especially your eye. And it was just, wow. You always want it to be what you dreamed it to be, because sometimes, you know. Yeah. Even if they're, you know, not in a good mood or whatever it is. It's like anything.

And sometimes people got to realize that, like, you know, they hear that, like, oh, this guy was an asshole. Well, you know, maybe he just found out his old lady's cheating on him or this. Yeah, yeah. Like, you never know. Real life gets in the way and people don't think of that. But when you're with someone, like, you're at a sit down or a table or wherever and you're with you know one of your idols this and that and the guy's more pissed off that he's stuck with a young rookie then you're like what a dick like you know because i mean the one thing about it those those guys i mean they were uh it's like another one of my

idols was uh randy mckay yeah legend and this guy was uh during training camp, I sat next to him. Doesn't say a fucking word at all. Doesn't say a word, first camp. I make the team, and I come in the room, and he's doing karate kicks and this and that. The timing's off because that year I did make it. The next summer I was going to make it. Every day I was in the bar with Randy and Lyle O La Odeline because I make it by curfew. And I remember calling my parents and I'd be half in the bag every night being like.

Me too with Odie. And I'd literally be like, Mom, Dad, but I was having a great camp. They're like, hey, keep doing what you're doing. It doesn't matter, kid. But my thing was that the more these guys get to know me off the ice, the better they're going to help me on the ice. And so it's like anything. A guy would stand up and go, hey, who's coming? Kid, you want to go? Yep, yep.

I'll go. You don't say anything. I'm in a bar. These guys are playing golden tea. I'm like, this is, you know, but I'm sitting here. I'm in the NHL. And then the excuse was, you know, this is a training camp. And then the excuse was wine.

You know, hey, we've got to take this young kid out for dinner. You know, they're telling their wives. So now the wine comes out but it was it was literally they were using you yeah exactly so but then they realized this guy's fun now so then randy randy well even then you're still you know you're still being quiet but randy i remember i make it i come in the room sorry and i come in the room and mackie the room and Mackie's doing karate kicks he always had a big Copenhagen and I'm just like what the fuck

and anyway we start talking and I said I said hey man you're a you're a cool guy like dude you're pretty cool

like why are you such a dick and he goes I'm bad with names and I'm like what does that mean he goes man there's so many of you young fuckers here

I don't know your names he's like make the team and then I'll know you and I just was like alright that's pretty cool. I respect that. Characters like that.

I love how you're a young guy asking him why he's being so mean to you. So for everyone listening, I remember when I was with Florida, you'll see where I'm going with this. When I was with Florida, I was there for like seven games. I was terrible. Gomez is on the team. And one night in Upshaw's room, he goes, Gomez is coming down, the best hot stove ever. And i actually thought when this podcast began i was like god if i just talk

to guys like gomer it'll be the best and as everyone can hear who's listening this guy's one of the best storytellers going what i want to get into is that first year okay you win rookie of the year going into camp and you're talking about that training camp now did you have any idea you'd play that big of a role? Yeah. That team's loaded. The confidence it gave me the year before, I knew I could do it. And what happened was, and it's probably the only reason why, was that summer, and it's probably illegal, but I had to move down to Jersey July 1st. And that's when I got to meet the guy that probably shaped my career, probably one of the most, was I had to work out with Vladimir Bure.

And you watch those. You're the only guy? No, there was eight of us that started with him. Five of us ended because, you know, the other guys were working out with, you know, all the minor league guys are there. So this is the schedule, and this is nowhere to lie. You get up at 6 in the morning. We'd go over to the rink, me, Colin White.

We'll get into him later. Yeah, Whitey, Shelton Surrey, Dennis Peterson, Sergey Breeland, and a couple other Russians, Pierre Dagenais. So we'd get up in the morning, and only five of us. Shelly didn't last too long. They were already there. So here's the schedule. We'd go down to West Orange High School, and we'd be in the field, and we'd run.

And there was laps, sprints for a good two hours. Then we'd play tennis. We'd play tennis for another hour. Then after that, we would go have lunch together. We'd nap, and then we'd have to be back at the rink at around 3 or 4, and then that was weights. That was Monday through Saturday. Wednesday was just one a day,

and then the night, you know, the Russians, the sauna. We had to do the sauna thing, and then Saturday was just in the morning. And later on, I'll give one of the best stories of Whitey, and Bruce Springsteen comes along with that. But this is, I mean, in the things we are doing. It's not allowed now. It's not even allowed. It shouldn't be allowed.

But we're doing what these guys did. You did Russian training camp. We're doing Russian training camp, and Vladdy had all of Pavel and Valerie's things. It's just amazing how like – but this was – I mean, the fights that happened, the FU matches, this was every day. Just because it was so hardcore. It was so hard. Everyone was on edge. Getting sick of each other.

Sick of each other, and we're just together. We're not on the ice. These guys are already on the ice, and we're just together no one's and we're not on the ice like these guys are already on that and we're just doing this and this is all like and granted i'm from i'm from out west where you guys i've never felt fucking heat like this before you know like it's not and it just i mean this it was just in white and the guys that did it they were still proud of it i mean it was just something that but we we and then you got on the ice and it was just laps laps, laps and everything was timing. By the time training camp came, I mean,

you took a week to it was and back then they had rookie camp. That was that wasn't even considered. Yeah, they had like a week and that's the only bad thing now because you know, I don't know if you guys were in yet, but the first couple training camps were so fun because there were so many guys and it lasted like two weeks

Pittsburgh training camp was the easiest thing I've ever done in my life in 2005 and you got to know guys more now it's like bang as a young guy that was the coolest thing you get to hang around these NHL guys forever but now I mean I remember I think it was my third year maybe it was like a week bang everyone's left the team's here we go but

Vladdy was definitely the reason and and people were forget were you not burnt out going to that no because right before right before he's a genius and we thought we were right before he uh you get basically a week off of nothing don't do it you're not doing a thing like you just feel great oh god by the time you get in there and like i said i was you look back at the pictures i'm uh you're pretty chubby i'm pretty chubby. So for me to have abs for one time, I mean, it was like the first summer I could walk without a shirt on and this and that.

Must be nice. But Patrick Elias and Brendan Morrison were holding out. So it basically came down to two. John Madden was next in line because the way the Devils worked was you start in Alb, you start in the fourth, you start in Albany, and then that's what happens. So that really helped. And I remember because the first, I had a great training camp and I mean, I could tell a story that's still this day.

I can't believe what happened, but let's hear it. Okay. So it boils down to, there's two guys. So Madden's already got the spot. Now there's one more spot open. It's down to me and Eric Bertrand, French guy, beauty, great guy. We play a game, and we have a back-to-back. It's the last game.

It's going to come down to me and him, I guess. And they don't tell us who's playing. Something happened, and I saw Bertrand when I was at the Canadiens in Quebec. We were in Quebec. And I saw him. And we just both laugh at the story still. For some odd reason, he knew someone in the city and was like, let's go to dinner in the city or this club. And I was like, we don't know who's playing the next day.

50-50 here, bud. So it's not even that. Hey, we'll go. You know, it all starts. Like, hey, we'll just go for dinner. Next thing you notice, you know, probably meet some people. Hey, they're going to go to this place. Yeah, let's go to this place.

And this is, you know, it got to the point it was who knows what time it is. And back then you're invincible. I mean, hey, you don't, you know, I'm going to the NHL. No one's stopping me. And, you know, there's no GPS. There's no phones. We have no fucking clue how to get back home. But we know Route 3 is right there, and the Meadowlands is right there.

So me and this asshole, we basically stayed in. We slept in the car. And this is the New Jersey Devils. We slept in the car, and I forgot because it was game day. I think we had – so we weren't wearing suits. We had changed our clothes or whatever. And basically walked in at like 7, 30 in the morning, 8 in the morning, and just like scared.

I don't think there was cameras or nothing. But, yeah. Stuck in the parking lot the night before the game. But I shouldn't even say slept. I mean, it was only like a couple hours. But instead of risking it to go, we stayed in the parking lot. And the fact we did not get caught, I have no clue to this day, but we both were in the lineup, and actually, Birdie got hurt

that day, so he gets, so I guess I'm going to make it. Next day, I walk in the locker room, and number 23 is on my stall, and I was wearing 48 in camp, and I just thought they'd give me that. And you think that a kid would be like, that must have meant I probably made it. They changed the number, this and that. And I just looked at the jersey, and I'm like, fuck. And I'm pissed. And Larry Robinson sees me, and he's like, hey, kid.

And he's like, did I make it? And he's like, congratulations, you're here. He goes, look at the number. And I go, what the fuck I got to wear that for? Like, I wanted number 11. And Larry's like, did I make it? And he's like, congratulations, you're here. He goes, look at the number. And I go, what the fuck I got to wear that for? Like, I wanted number 11. And Larry's like, really? And he's in shock that I'm mad about the number. You're not, like, going ecstatic.

Yeah, I'm like, God. I'm like, who's 23 besides Jordan? Jordan's got that taken care of. And he's like, well, you know, there's a guy, Bob Ganey. And I'm like, yeah, but he was more defense, man. I'm offense. I'm flow, man. What a young pug.

Wow. Yeah, and I'm just, but it's, you know I'm offense I'm flow man like what a young yeah yeah and I'm just but it's like you know I think back now and anyway Larry goes okay and this is this is the kind of goes oh no problem we'll solve that and he says um he goes the trainer standing by the door and he's like hey Dana he goes is uh number 11 available in Albany looks at the sheet and goes yeah it is he looks. He looks over and goes, you still want number 11? I was like, I fucking love 23. Well, I'm glad you brought up Larry Robinson because that season, people who don't know, Robbie Fitora coached 74 games and he got fired. And with eight games to go, Larry Robinson comes in.

The team withers in four and four. They win the Stanley Cup. What is the thought process when the head coach gets fired that soon before playoffs? First of all, you know, it's such a whirlwind. You don't know what's going on. And you're young, so you don't know what to hear. Like, I remember to get to that, and we've all gone through it,

I was becoming really close with Brian Ralston. Roley's one of the best. Very underrated guy. Yeah. And so Roley, and being growing up as a U.S. kid, he was a college legend, like Spear Staten. So I'm becoming close so Roley, and growing up as a U.S. kid, he was a college legend, likes Pierce State. So I'm becoming close with Roley. After warm-ups, we're playing Colorado,

and I'm watching Sackick, Forsberg. I can't believe I'm on the same line. And I come in the locker room, and something's different. Something's different. Like there's, you know, there's... The feng shui's off. You know, there's something like... The servants of the force.

Did someone die here? Like what's going on here? And guys are in and out of the room. And anyway, Brian Ralston just got traded for Claude Lemieux. And he's in the weight room. And guys are going in and out to say bye. And I'm like, what the. That's real hockey.

This hat like this. And, you know, you start realizing, man, this is a business. So that was kind of. And with the Robbie thing, you know, we the Robbie thing, we were kind of struggling, but we were still powerless. And one thing about – 41 and 25 and 8. But one thing about Lou, I mean, he felt the team. He felt it wasn't right.

But I just remember we were going to – I think we were bussing to Long Island. And initially, Larry didn't want it. And they were – we were all on the bus waiting, and Larry and Lou were in the car, and then the announcement was made, and it was just – and people forget it wasn't like we just turned it on. We were still 500 towards the end. Yeah. And then here we go.

That's such a ballsy move by Lou. That's why he's a legend, right? To make that call just to feel the team out where I mean another thing I mean I think you might have to look it up like when you know Claude Julien got fired with I think a game or we were in first place it was like and this is when you knew

like the balls this guy's got on him is the fact that he went behind the bench like he went behind the bench and it was literally like you know and we just never forget that day Was the fact that All the old guys are calling Cause is Lou gonna skate with us?

The guy's always in a suit Everyone is on the ice early Everyone's on the ice early And it's like And here he comes He's got the stick He's holding it like this He's got the gloves that are up to here

He's got the clear toques Blades whatever And it was like holy shit this is gonna happen but yeah it was uh it was pretty funny so you brought lemieux in what was like we had chelios on he said everybody even his teammates couldn't stand him but he was obviously older by the time he got the jersey well for the second time what was what was the the like having him in the room the whole atmosphere popular guy leaves lemieux comes in all. All right. So. Nice. Crack a beer. Yeah.

This could be a while. But if, and I'll say, and these stories that I'll tell, because, hey, you know, if Claude Lemieux were right here, it'd even be better because you'd hear his side of it. Yeah. We want to. And so, so literally, so we've been together at dinners and stuff and it just goes better. So it's not just one side. And I signed him a jersey for the 95 reunion and all the sayings

he told me so now Claude Lemieux comes on the team and remember he won a cup with these guys all these guys know him and I mean it is just like you know something's different something different's going to happen and I'm like who's this guy and Randy McKay

remember telling me like oh wait till you get a load of this guy. He walks in, and you don't realize how big he is, first of all. He's a truck. He's a huge man. And you're like, geez, you know. So at the All-Star game, Joe Sackett comes up to me, and he says, hey, how's the pep? And I'm like, oh, man, you know. I don't know him that well yet and joe sack goes hey just realize he's always open he's always open so i'm

like okay so now me brendan morrison play with claude lemieux and this fucking guy is literally i mean honest honest It's everything. Nothing is ever good enough, ever this and that, blah, blah, blah. You get to the bench and he's saying something. He's just like, hey, we could do that. Hey, kiddo, I was open there. This and that. And you're just like, and it's calling me.

So now me, Brendan Morrison, and Claude, we get into a rhythm. But it's all happened. Is Mo playing center or you? I think me and Mo are kind of – I'm on wing. I'm playing wing. I'm playing wing. So me and Mo and Pep, and we have like a five game. Mo's on like a seven-point streak.

I'm on a five. And for people who don't know, we all look at the sheets. And once you get a five-point streak, you're on the list. You're on the name, whatever it's not. And Claude's the guy on the line like basically doing all the work but not getting rewarded like like he's on a two so this and that so anyway me and mo we go to carolina and uh there was that snowstorm because there was like three teams caught there me and mo were like hey let's go to chapel hill and uh well uh the carolina's Carolinas playing Maryland in basketball so

we don't have tickets but I go up to the thing or the ticket counter and I'm like hey we're with the New Jersey Devils so and so called we're supposed to have a couple tickets you know and he and the guy's like and he's looking and he's looking and I'm looking at Mo and I'm like

you know don't worry hey got this you met Scott you know I'll get a send don't worry. Hey, got this. You met Scott. I'll get his send. Don't worry. And we're waiting and we're waiting and we're waiting. And finally, the guy's like, hey, the game's free if you just want to go in today. Because it was a snowstorm. And I'm like, and Moe's looking at me.

And I'm like, oh, God. So go in the game. Afterwards, like I said, I didn't go to college. So afterwards, there's just an ant trail. And it's still early. We're like, hey i didn't go to college so i made sure so afterwards there's just a college bar there's just an ant trail and it's still early we're like hey let's go have one and so we have a couple make it find out we were staying in raleigh and that snowstorm i've had a couple and anyway we're not going to make it back because we can't get a car we can't get a car and i should say i probably had more than a couple you know i'm back with my age group kind of say and so we can't get a car we met

these these uh these guys that were grad students that were from canada so they knew we were great people they had a clothing line i wish i still knew the name of this but we hung out with them all night drinking this night we had to call them i don't even know what time of morning it was, and be like, hey, can you give us a ride home? We'll leave you tickets, blah, blah, blah, this and that. Guys were great. They'd take us back. We didn't think we had a pregame skate. My roommate, Jay Pandolfo, I come in, and I'm just whacked out of my, ah!

And so anyway, we get down on the ice. We have a pregame skate. Ken Danico takes a shot, and we three warming up the goalies, three lines. And I don't know what the hell Moe was doing in front of the net, but Moe takes one off the foot. So now his foot they think is broken. I have a piece of lettuce. I'll never forget that.

And we get to the bus early. And back then, I'm hurting. That was your pregame meal, by the way. I'm hurting, yes. And I'm hurting. I'm hurting. Like, I'm like, oh, my God. And I got to get out. I got to get just up to my room and like i probably reek this and that

and back then it was really strict like you don't eat until all the vets eat and i think one of the guys knew i was i'm like can i can it was just like three of us i don't know what happened there's like yeah you can eat i literally grab a piece of lettuce put in my mouth and i just walk off so the game game starts or the game we're in the game and you know we've all been there i think i don't know the kids today but i mean i don't even know if i can play in guilt i'm hurting so bad but you know hey things are going good hey we're going on we're going to nashville after this way no you know whatever claude lemieux comes over and grabs me and brendan morrison and he goes hey come here and he takes us over to the corner and he sits us down

and no one's around and he looks and he goes I know what you did last night you motherfuckers gollies he goes he goes you don't fucking play good tonight he goes I go to Lou Lamarillo you go to Albany tomorrow mother so we are like holy shit so so me and mo me and mo are like and guys we all know my game you know your dish i was fucking hitting everything i was skating i'm i'm scared i'm blocking shots i'm just trying this and that and what happens is third period it's one to one puck comes around it hits me off the back by the blue line, Moe just shoots it on net, and Klaue LeMieux gets the rebound and scores the game winner. So after the game, I mean, when they say you put it all on the line,

I gave everything I had. I mean, I'm only 19. I had nothing. Me and Moe were just sitting there on the thing. And Klaue LeMieux comes over and was like, that way, kiddos, I knew you would be this and that. Because he got his cookie. He got his cookie, but he deserved salt.

So same thing happens. Same thing happens. We go down. Same thing happens. Moe's getting his points. I'm getting my points. And Pep's the guy not happening. So we're in Pittsburgh.

A pregame optional skate. And me and Moe are getting a little cockier. We're having a big year. Yeah, and so Pep wants a line. Claudio wants a line meeting right at the igloo, right on the side of the ice. So he decides, you know, we need to do this, we need to do that, blah, blah, blah.

And Mo goes, you know, Pep, we need you to be a little more positive because it makes us go better. Like if, if we know you're always down, it just, it just doesn't. And I start,

I start chiming in. I'm like, yeah, you know, when you're, when you're positive pep, it's just, it's so much easier.

And, and the look on his face was just like, like something serious happened. And we're like, and you kind of just, okay, meetings over me and more skating down, like suck on that. Like, fuck off. Like we're just laughing. Like, you know, we get down, meeting's over. Me and Mo are skating down like, suck on that.

Like, fuck off. Like, we're just laughing. Like, you know, we get down to the other end. We're so proud of ourselves. Like, we stood up to him finally. And all of a sudden you hear this, hey, get over here. We skate down. Gets us in the corner.

And he says, I tell you this, and I tell you this once. I play in the league 16 fucking years. I don't get you going. You get me going. Get the fuck out of here. Me and Mo were just like, that didn't work. So we're still, we got him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, my God. This guy is fucking something else. The worst day of my life was Brendan Morrison gets traded. The worst day of my life was Brendan Morrison gets traded. And Alex Mogilny, you know, it was great for us. But Mo gets traded. Now I'm stuck with Pep. You've got no line mate now.

So me, him, and now. Did Mogilny take his spot? So now I can play with Alex Mogilny. And this guy doesn't. I mean, this guy's as cool as they come out. And so Pep, he's on me in the room. We're in the room in between the period. I'm losing it, guys. I'm losing it.

Like, I just can't. Because he's not going to give it to Mogollon. No, now I get a double thing. And so Pep's on me, this and that. And I'm like, fuck him. I'm going to show him up. So we're in the room in between the period. And he's on me, he's on me.

And I go, I say to him, I don't know where it came from, but it's like your dad's on you enough. And you just got to get to mom to let her know that this guy's on you. So Pep's on me. He's on me. And I go, and I just start acting like I cry. And like, I finally broke down. And I storm out of the room. And I'm like, and now if Pep were here, he'd say his side of it.

Now everyone's looking at Claude like, you broke this kid. You dick. This kid's like a nice, you know, god damn. So I'm out of the room. He's got to do something. I'm in the bathroom stall, and I'm just like, yeah, like, you know, fuck you, this and that. And he comes to the thing, big plastic door, and he says, kiddo you okay kiddo i'm like yeah pep yeah yeah pep he goes kiddo you okay and i said yeah next thing you know is boom fucking door he kicks the

door open gets right in my face and goes you fucking show me up you show me up just get your fucking ass back in there you show me up i'll fucking in and i'm just like i go and i remember saying to him and i'm like no i think i broke my arm i think i i think i broke my arm that's why i'm crying like dude i had to walk back in the room and i was like i had to walk back in the room and everyone's just i was like yeah that didn't work i'm just sitting there like yeah whatever just it was and then and it wouldn't do it justice so that is so peps peps in back of the back of the bus and he's uh and and this is you know so i'd sit back in the bus you know i'd sit back in the bus uh with ken danico and dano would fucking complain that you know god damn i play a thousand games i gotta shit but he's got worse add than i do so

he'd forget about me in like two seconds when his phone went off. So I'm sitting there back there. I just want to be with the guys. And he goes, call him. He's in the back of the phone and he's talking dirty. He's like, oh, I do this and that. And I turn around and I look and he's like, turn around, stupid rookie. And I'm like, don't listen to me. And so he goes again and he's going on and I'm just like, what the fuck? So afterwards he hangs up his phone. He goes, come here. And he sat in the back'm just like, what the fuck? So afterwards, he hangs up his phone.

He goes, come here. And he sat in the back, you know, the three-seater. He goes, sit down. I said, who are you talking to? He goes, I was talking to my wife. He goes, you always talk dirty to them. We are going on the road. You talk dirty to them.

You let them know that this and that, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, listen. He goes, because all these other stupid idiots. He goes, they fucking, they don't think when they leave, that's when the wife, she grabbed the peanut butter. She spread it all over. The dog and the cat come over. Lick, lick, lick, lick. I'm like, what the fuck? He's like, now get out of here.

So Pep's telling me this and I'm like, I'm like, what? What is wrong with this guy? No, no, but he was just the best. He was just, he was, I don't know. And like, like he, he was just great. He was just like that. But another time we're in Nashville. You think this guy would come on?

Oh, he's the best. He this guy would come on he's the best he's the best yeah he's the best he's one of the best interviews but another time he's new to the team so we're still

kind of scared of him not to everyone though right no no but he's just he's pep man and he he's pep

we're in Nashville and the guys you know my roommate they're all single you know at the time and anyway pan pan off was talking this beautiful girl beautiful this this is not a lie because i said but it was like a swedish model convention was in nashville or some shit so jay's governor but someone jay went to the bathroom, you know, and someone told the girl joking around that, oh, yeah, you know, he's engaged. And he wasn't.

I mean, this is my rookie year. Yeah. So the girl got pissed. She, you know, she's out and Jay doesn't know. He's trying to explain, you know, this and that. So anyway, he, she takes off. Jay is livid. Pando is livid.

Who shriveled me? So he hears it's this one guy. I forgot who it is. So one of the young guys. And so Jay's going to go. You know, it's late. We don't have a game tomorrow. We've all been out.

We're pretty in the bag. And Jay is going to go find this guy. And we think he found his room. So he goes to the room and he starts kicking the door and he's like, get the fuck, you know, it's Jay. And before you know it, I'm right behind him because I'm dying. I want to see,'s like get the fuck you know it's jay you know and before you know it i'm right behind him because i'm dying i want to see you know

and before you know it the door opens and i don't wear glasses but you know people wear glasses this guy is going like this and he's trying to he's trying to find his glasses it's fucking claude lemieux in his boxer he's ripped as hell sitting there. And Jay just stood there, like, and Claude was like, what the fuck? And Jay's just like, wrong room. Wrong room. Claude was like, no shit, it's the wrong room. Get out of here. Like, oh, man.

So here's one of the last ones. This is Claude. We win the Eastern Conference, and we bust back to Philly, from Philly. We're going back back and Ken Danico owned a restaurant and oh man, that was home base and some of the first two years

were so fun at that restaurant. So, we're, we're in the, I mean, I don't know, you know, drinking beers,

everything like that and back then when we went around and you had days off, you'd have a break, whatever. you'd rip it. You'd have a team party.

You'd have everyone get together. Man, you've accomplished something. You'd have a team party. Everyone would get together. Man, you've accomplished something. Like, hey, it's got to be fun. Seven days to the finals or whatever. Something like that. So the party's set at Dano's. Everyone in Jersey, it's going to be packed. And Vladdy had my car because he was living with me during playoffs.

Vladdy had my truck and i had this like i don't even like this toyota like kind of like a mini mini uh subaru kind of thing it just it was it was something you'd see like you know like a barbie tonka tour something like yeah like and i'm driving this and i'm carpooling uh uh because i lived at the end of montclair and scott Niedermeyer and Claude lived in Montclair, so I'm dropping them off before we all go to Dano's. And, you know, it's terrible. I shouldn't have been driving. I don't know why I'm driving.

Needs doesn't drink, but I'm in the car driving. Claude Lemieux is a singer, likes to sing. So he's got the tunes up. I think me and him are probably hacking darts. And we're sitting there, and Needs is just in the back, and it's in upper Montclair, and this road is completely dark. And it was either a raccoon, or I don't even know if they have possums in Jersey. I think it was.

But the thing comes out on the road, and I swerve, and both guys go like this, and fucking, what? And he calls me, and he's like, what the hell happened? What are you doing? And I was like, I think a possum. I didn't want to hit the possum. He's like, you fucking stupid rookie,

you go through the possum, you go through the possum and needs is in the back. He's like, yeah, you go through the possum. And I'm like, meanwhile,

I don't even know why I'm driving but I know why Claude's pissed because a piece of ash got on his suit and he's like, yeah, but I will say,

man, if you have, if you have, if you're going to go win a Stanley Cup and you've got to pick a guy that is – and we all heard the myths, and you look at the guy's record in the consummates and all that. But to see it live, to see a man that –

jump on, jump on. He's possessed. He raised his level like no one, man. And he taught me stuff on the ice that were just it wasn't all bad like i said he's a he's a true great friend he's a dude he was great to me he was he was he was unbelievable to me it was why they were they were unbelievable people but they um they uh he he he just like falling back on the ice if i'm with biz right here and biz pushes me over well you just pushed me over but

instead of pushing over calling me was like your stick act like your hands are out of control now i'm just trying to smoke you in the face like this guy would do stuff like that on the ice like just oh he's nasty yeah and now anything to win and like he was just but yeah you saw it i mean when the when the chips were on the line this guy was uh this guy was great and he also like we win the cup and we're in the China club and this I'm on the dance floor and I'm dancing with this girl

and she's like what are you doing how do you know all these guys and I'm like well you know I'm on the team and she's like

you are and I'm like come on I'll take you to the VIP section and it's so packed there so I go up and the dude

at the at the roped off area and like everyone, you know, we've all been in like everyone there. He's like, like, beat it, kid. Like, beat it. And I'm like, no, I'm on the team. Like, I'm on the team. He's like, yeah, right.

Get out of here. And the girl looks at me like, yeah, well, you loser. So not only that, I can't get in. I can't get back in. So I'm like, Pandal's right there. And I'm like, Jay, you know, I'm talking to him right there. I'm like, hey, come get in. I can't get back in. So I'm like, Pando's right there and I'm like, Jay, I'm talking to him right there. I'm like, hey,

come get me. And he's like, he kind of looks and he's like, no. He's not going to get his spot back. And I'm like, I'm going to like three guys on the team.

Hey, someone's got to get me. So I go to the end and there's Pep and he's got his own tail. And I'm like, Pepe, come get me.

He's like, get in here. And I'm like, they won't let me in. Fucking jumps up, makes his way to the door, just goes right to the here. And I'm like, they won't let me in. And he fucking jumps up, makes his way to the door, just goes right to the door guy. He's like, you don't let him in? And the guy's like, is he on the team?

He's like, yeah, I'm fucking all right. He's on the team. Get in here, you stupid rookie. And I was just like, yeah. So he always had my back. He was always like. Finally gave in. No, I mean, he's got Claude Lemieux right there.

But like four of my teammates. No, I'm saying Claude ripped on you all year, and then you win the cup. And he's like, come on in. Oh, no, no. He was not in that. He was great. Those are just some of the stories. No, I'm saying Claude ripped on you all year, and then you win the cup, and he's like, come on. Oh, no, no. Not in that. He was great. Those are just some of the stories.

Who won MVP that year? Scotty. Scotty Stevens. And that's a different beast. But Pep. We got it. I told you. I feel like that's a whole other show.

I told you. We got to have him on 10 times. There's too many stories. He remembers every story. That's the thing, too. The guys like me going, because I read a lot, and I read a chapter, and I'm like, what the hell did I just read? But you remember every story.

When it came to the hockey stories, it was just something that, you know. You mentioned a story with Bruce Springsteen. What happened? I got to bring that back. Well, Whitey, you need a couple of those. Yeah, Whitey. So, like I told you about the workout. All summer long.

All summer long. So, getting towards the end. And Whitey was one of those guys, he's next in line. Is this Colin White? Colin White. Yeah, sorry, sorry. Colin White. Colin White's next in line.

He's the next guy that's going to make the Devils. And, you know, he's a legend in Albany. He's this and that. And so, Whitey, me and Whitey got in an argument working out. And all the guys on the weekend would drive back up to Albany because they only had to work out until Friday. So all those guys would leave. So it would basically always just be me. And for some odd reason, Whitey stayed because his wife at the time was in Albany.

So it was me and him. I found a bar that I could go into that, you know, I guess. You would never get back to those. Well, and they didn't ID. I mean, I'm only 19 years old. So I found a bar. So me and Whitey, we finished our workout. We have a case of Coors Light, and we're already starting.

And it's like, that was a hard week. And we're going to go to this, you know, go in this bar. Just then the phone rings in my room. And usually when you got a call from Louie's secretary, Marie the best, it's literally like, hi, Scotty, Lou wants to talk to you. Bang. He's right on the phone. Because he doesn't want time for you to prepare.

Not even that. So he's like, Scotty, what are you doing tonight? And I said, oh, me and Colin Whitey, we got tickets to this movie premiere. There was a new movie out. So I was like, we got these tickets that were really hard to get, and we're going to go to that tonight. And he's like, change of plans. And he goes, you're going to go to the Bruce Springsteen concert tonight.

And I'm like, granted, you know, Bruce Springsteen? What the fuck? I don't want to go see Bruce Springsteen. He's like, what? What a club. Yeah. Bruce Springsteen like he's like what like you know what a club yeah and I'm like and basically there's no we're going

to a Bruce Springsteen concert and he's like and I want you to get there early so me and Whitey you know okay and he goes

and I want you to watch one thing I want you to watch his work ethic so we're like so so me and me and Whitey

are like so why get off the phone and Whitey's like Whitey's like what so me and Whitey are like, so why get off the phone? And Whitey's like, what was that? I'm like, dude, we're going to Bruce Springsteen. And I don't know if Whitey was a fan. So I remember calling my parents. I'm like, yeah, I got to go to this Bruce Springsteen concert. This is in 99 where the E Street band hadn't played together. So this is a reunion.

So we get to the Meadowlands early. It's packed. Packed. Packed. the E Street band hadn't played together for so this is a reunion like so we get to the Meadowlands early it's packed packed packed I can't even explain how packed this is

and there's just a vibe it's like what the hell's going on here oh a lot of energy energy in a place like that and new to Jersey so I don't know anything the history of Jersey

this and that so we get in the we get in the stadium and we're there and I see my old world junior coach Bob Mancini from USA there, and I see my old World Junior coach, Bob Mancini, from USA Hockey, and I see him, and I walk down, and I say, hey, coach, what's up?

And he looks at me, and he's like, hey, you're going to, you know. He's like, he's just pumped. The whole place is jacked. And I'm like, yeah, I'm trying to play it cool. I'm like, yeah, you know, I got to come. He's like, you never seen a Bruce Springsteen concert? And I'm like, well, no. I didn't even know they were together. And he's like, Gomer come to, he's like, you never seen a Bruce Springsteen concert? And I'm like, well, no, I didn't even know they were together.

You know, he's like, he's like, Gomer kid. He's like, this is going to change your life. This, this is,

and I'm like, yeah, okay. All right, whatever. I, you know, I'm still going to raves.

I think at that time I'm like, yeah, okay. For the next three hours, me and Whitey were literally just on our, I mean, we could not believe what was going on. I mean,

it was unreal, unreal. We, uh, we went to, we asked again, you know, can could not believe what was going on. I mean, it was unreal, unreal. The work ethic was so good. We asked again, you know, can we just go see his work? I think we went to like three shows that were here. That year, we actually, Bobby Hulik and I became friends with Max Weinberg, and they just, they were great.

I mean, they were, yeah, became a huge part of the boss. And you learn early in Jersey, man. It's like when you're in a bar and, you know, it's Bruce or Barn Jovi just comes on. I mean's uh there's a loyalty it's amazing how his his words like they just like they just resonate with the crowd and how powerful it is i mean it's like a church going oh it was i've been to one like i said it's wild i don't know how many shows i've been to i mean i've never been to springsteen but like i went and saw eddie vetter a few times i mean pearl jam i think they do a pretty good job. Where did this lead with Whitey?

Oh, okay, so Whitey. What's his line, sorry, before? Isn't it like, grade seven education, fucking make a hundred? Oh, this guy. So Whitey, I'm with Whitey one day. We're at the hotel, and he drove a truck that, of course, it's like like i need a ladder to get up

he's you know tires this and that he's driving a truck and he uh and we're leaving this bar whatever and whitey's banged up and he's scary he's scared i don't know him that well at this point and he's scary and he's like you're taking me to albany you're driving to albany and i'm like and it's one of those stories we always tell that if you were there, it just doesn't justice. So I'll try with us. But it's literally that. So I'm like scared out of my head. Like, do I really got to take this guy to Albany?

Like, that's a three hour drive. I don't, you know, he's yelling at me to do it. And I'm like, hey, Whitey. And so we're making our way back to the hotel. And Whitey's like, God damn, I thought I told you we're going. And I'm like, yeah, I got to get something from my room. I'm like, I just got to get the hotel. I'm leaving in his truck.

So now this lady is parked. The only parking spot in there, there's this lady. And she's got a bag. She's got all these groceries and stuff. And I said, I go, Whitey, stay in the car. Let me come around and get you. I get out of the car. And I walk around.

And I forgot something happened. Someone was in the hotel and they're like, Gomer, where? I was like, hey, I need help with Whitey. Like, I don't think he can walk. And I was like, get out. Whitey's stumbling around. And this lady really doesn't notice him yet. And he's just stumbling around.

And I look and I turn at him and he just smokes her car. Why, this poor lady's with her kids taking groceries. I think she drops all the bags, and Whitey's just laying there, and he's got this laugh that's like, ah! And he's doing this laugh. This poor lady's just like, and I'm like, oh, my God, my friend's got food poisoning like this man. And we got to get him into the hotel.

I get him into the hotel, and we get in the hotel and say it one more time god yeah yeah sorry i'm just just remembering i'm just remembering this guy i gotta get his room key and i'm like why do you stay right here don't move you know and there's steps to go up why do you makes it like five seven steps and this just you see this guy tumbling down and and don't forget everyone at the hotel probably works for lou they're gonna know and i'm like he's full he's got food poisoning i just kept going with that but whitey was just uh like the reason why i didn't play in albany either was calling white we had like a day off and whitey uh asked me if i want to go to albany with them all the guys and i'm like sick of being at the hotel by myself i'm like yeah i'll go so i drive up to albany we go to this one bar and this other guy get loaded we go to Albany with them, all the guys. And I'm like sick of being at the hotel by myself. I'm like, yeah, I'll go. So I drive up to Albany.

We go to this one bar. And this other guy, get loaded. We go to this other bar. And now I think we all, you know, got some money in our pocket. And I'm at this bar and I'm talking to the bartender. And me and Chris Thompson, who's a WHL guy, me and him, we're sitting at the bar just having a blast, doing shots. And I think I tipped, I think I gave the girl like $100.

And I'm like, hey. And we were joking around the whole time. And I joked, I'm like, hey, I just gave you $100. We shouldn't have to wait, whatever. I guess her boyfriend was the bouncer. And I probably thought I was, you know, we on this girl, whatever, whatever. All I remember is a guy grabs me by the throat, picks me up. Next thing you notice, I'm carried out by

like three bouncers. They get me in the middle of the dance floor. They drop me. So I'm face down. I'm just trying to get my wallet. And I literally get thrown out of the bar. And all I know now, I'm thrown out and there's a line. People are just watching me. And I'm already thinking like, this is going to get back. This is going to get back. And next thing you notice, Colin White

comes running out. And he just starts losing it who threw him out who and the bouncers are like oh Colin he's with him or he's with you Whitey and he's like yeah they're like oh Whitey Whitey so sorry I'm like they're apologizing to Whitey meanwhile I'm on the ground I'm like so Whitey takes me to another place I pass out and you know a lot of people don't realize that I had kind of a fro and it Whitey, and I don't know who else, but they got a pitcher somewhere. They proceeded to put, I think they got up to count like 210 red straws in my hair. And I just, I remember waking up at his house, and it was just, yeah,

that was my last time in Albany. So that was motivation right there. I'm not going back there. Dude, I think we have to like like how long have we gone right now oh my god dude we haven't even got how long how long we've been an hour should we talk about uh i think marty broder has to be talked about in the first one no yeah i mean there's so many i mean you're it's what's interesting is your relationships with these guys and and how you have stories and great ones about all of them.

Because you were such a likable guy where I feel like there was not much conflict going on between you and teammates. No, it was sad. But I went in a situation where, believe it or not, you're quiet. You're just not. But the thing about the Devils and the thing about the guys, there were so many different personalities in there. And the thing about the Bobby Huliks, the one thing about it, they let you be. This is different. I mean, everyone, we all prepare different.

There's no other profession. I mean, this is as tough as it goes. And so you see some of these teams or whatever, and no, we don't have to do all the things the same way. I get prepared different than you i get and the devils were great about that like if you were going to go out all night that's fine but in practice you're going to work and it was easy because scotty stevens at that time is 36 years old and this guy is the hardest working guy in practice so it pretty much falls down right away but they let you be there and everyone thought it was so stiff and

this and that. Yeah, the rules were different. But we still had a blast. But we just took care of business on the ice. But your personalities were allowed. So I think my buddies asked Randy McKay. He was over at the house one time. My buddies asked him, what was Gomer like as a rookie?

Like, what the fuck? My personality has never changed. And he goes, you know what? He was probably the cockiest little shit we've ever seen. But he was the most respectful rookie. And he was backing's probably the cockiest little shit we've ever seen but he was the most respectful rookie like he's backing up on the ice he was a vet it was i mean these guys were my idol i mean i was doing a job that like you know they they took care of me and i mean yeah it was but you had fun i mean it was it was like my second game in the league uh we're at home for the first time and everyone you know certain guys dan was just rocking scott everyone's

in the room and i'm like man i can't be in the room. I got to go hide. I think about hockey when I stepped on the ice. And I remember walking out, and we had a little lounge there. And Jennifer Hanniston was on the cover of People magazine. And, you know, that was my future wife, I thought. And I remember just grabbing the magazine. And next thing you notice, I'm sprawled out, laid out. And, you know, it's about 10 minutes to go before warm-ups.

And I remember Scotty just – Scotty Stevens coming behind me. And, you know, you can see the glance, and I'm like, oh, shit. I'm just reading this magazine. I'm like, ooh, is this allowed? Like, you don't know the rules. And he's just like – and the next thing you notice, there's like four guys just watching me. Like, they couldn't believe that, like, dude, we're about to go play.

They had to get all intense. Get a rookie. Yeah, like, it's like – and I know Todd, but, like, I get out to go play in Antony. They had to get all intense. Get a rookie. Yeah, like, it's like, you know, I don't talk, but, like, I get out. We're in Toronto. Remember the first time any of us went to the big rinks? It was like. Of course. So we're in Toronto.

And I get, like, and I'll never forget this because there was this smoke show. This beautiful woman was right up behind the bench, like, 10 rows up, whatever. And I'm like, wow, this is Toronto. Wow, this is the league. And I think I take, like, I can't remember who's in the box first but i think i take like a penalty where you know you stepped on my blade and right the next shift uh randy mckay fights ty domi and maybe it was opposite i came in so you know domi's the king at that time but you know randy held his own whatever this

happened it was a pretty good fight Randy comes into the box and he's just all disheveled you know this and I just fought you know and I'm sitting there for my tripping penalty and like what do you say to this guy I'm still new I'm still don't know him that well it's like fifth game or sixth game and he's like I'm like hey man I was like, hey, Smacky, you know, good job, man. Good fight. Like, you did great. And he's like, Jesus Christ, kid. He's like, did you see that broad right up there?

Fuck. If I would have known she was looking, I would have done a little bit better. And I'm just like, yeah, this is the NHL. I was like, all right, cool. I was like, all right, you can have fun. He doesn't even care about the fight. That's unbelievable. Any other quick news stories? And we won't even get to Brodeur

and what's good is let's save the Montreal shit for the next time you're on there's so much more there's so much more positive one of the ones that doesn't is Pat Burns is I think the reason why

later on in life where i uh you get these coaches and you get people that try to act tough and scary and till you've seen scary it's it's pat burns so it's one of the all so he comes in and i held out and i held out for like a day but i still still held out against the Devils. That a boy. Good job. I was pumped. And I – anyway, we're like – I'm not really hitting it off with Burnsy, I could tell. He doesn't really like kind of my personality, let's say, in the beginning.

And so, anyway, we're in Carolina, and after the game we're going on a team retreat. And so Burnsy's kind of on me. I kind of like and jimmy mack mckenzie got the story wrong but i think we're like four and oh five and whatever this and that start the season i have to look it up we get a power play we're down by a goal and i go out there and and i'm just i'm nervous for burnsy like things i'm not getting a good start whatever and i take a tripping penalty to get us off the power play. And Rob Schick, Schicker was the ref, and he was at my golf event one year. And I told, we tell the story, but no.

So I'm pleading to Schick, like I'm pleading to Schick that, you know, you can't do this, you can't do this, and I'm yelling. And I was living with Jay Pandolfo and another guy from boston and his cousin so i'm living with four mass holes in the room and i heard the greatest line ever because it was during the sunday football and one of the guys says it to one of the buddies and i was like oh man so i say it to the ref i say it to shaker and i'm like you know why don't you i don't know why don't you go down and finger yourself i use the c word I go why don't you go down and and do that and smell your fingers after because that's how you just rough this game

and before you know it shicker just bang I get an extra two I get an extra I get kicked out of the game and I'm like oh this ain't good this ain't good so Jim McKenzie I'm in the room I don't know to take my stuff off I don't know what to do Jim McKenzie and Turner get in a fight they come in the room they're fighting and I'm like this and that and I'm like oh shit this is not good this is not good so Pat Burns walks in and he goes he walks in

he sits down and he goes everyone's sitting down and he goes now I know now I know now I know why these fuckers have got the last guy fired now I know that you bunch know. Now I know why these fuckers have got the last guy fired. Now I know that you bunch of prima donnas, blah, blah, blah. And the conversation is basically going to me. And now he starts going.

He stands in front of the room. And the guys ever in the room will never forget this day he dies. And he starts going, wah, wah, wah, wah. He does that for, if he doesn't do that for a minute, it's 30 seconds. That's a long time. This guy doing that, and it's like, oh, and he's basically staring at me. And everyone just kind of set the tone, whatever. Next day, we go to the, we're at this vacation spot.

You got to pick whether you wanted to golf or go fishing. I was going to go fishing. I didn't golf back then. The boat's right there. The boat's right there. And there's Bernsie and the coaching staff off to go fishing. I didn't golf back then. The boat's right there. The boat's right there. And there's Bernsie and the coaching staff off to the side. And he's got a big cigar that you'd pitch your Pat Burns smoking. And I'm like, motherfucker. I have to walk by him.

There's no way I can get around it. I'm like, oh, man. He picked fishing, too? Yeah. So I get on the boat. And he's one of those guys, and you hear about Parcells, you don't know to say hi to him in the morning. He might get offended by that.

And if you don't, it just burns you. He's just the best. So I get on the boat, and I'm with the equipment guys and masseuse guy, and I think Pano's with me. And one of the equipment guys is from Newark, New Jersey. So the guy's never been on a lake before in his life. So we're going about, we go, I don't know how far we go out, not that far, and the train, one of the stick guys goes,

what the hell was that last night? And I was like, what do you mean? He goes, all I hear from outside was wah, wah, wah. And I'm like freaking out. I'm like, hey, don't do that, don't do that. Like shit floats off the wall. Like Burns, he probably heard that. And he's like, ah, you don't hear shit.

Two seconds later, my phone rings rings i don't know the number i look down i answer it because it's a jersey number i answer it you're the last fucking guy ever wow you're the last or you're the last guy to ever fucking be wowing anyone you piece of shit or something like that click i'm like you know i literally like literally like who was that i'm like oh so just, I literally like, literally like, who was that? I'm like, oh, so just that him? Oh man, he was, he was the man. Did you ever go up and tell him that it wasn't you? No, no. So we had a, we had a security meeting.

So now Bernsie, me, Patrick Elias took it the most. Like we, we got, and now after the trade deadline, it's literally like, fuck off to this. I'm doing my thing, you know? So we have a meeting. We have a, we have those security meeting or one of of those like they're teaching you, you know, whatever. And I finally had enough. And I'm like, I'm going in there to his office. And here it is.

And the guys are all waiting for the meeting to start. I go into Bernsie's office. And I've been doing everything he said. And still, I'm not playing. I'm not this and that. So finally, it's like the big, you know. And I'm like, you know, fuck you. We're throwing F-bombs back, this and that.

He's get up on the board showing me. And I'm like, fuck off. You just don't like me. This is a joke. You know, I'm, you know, I this and that he's get up on the board showing me and I'm like fuck off you just don't like me this is a joke you know I'm you know I'm and he's just sitting there you know and he goes you want out of here he goes you walk upstairs you walk up to the big man you tell him you

want out of here and I don't know where it came from and I go no no no you're the one that wants me fucking out of here you walk upstairs and you tell him so anyway we're going out and now we're really going at it and I'm going I'm yelling we're going at it and now we're really going at it and I'm going I'm yelling at him yelling at him and finally he says shut he goes shut the fuck up and I'm like fuck you I'm not and he goes

shut the fuck up and I'm like I'm not going to show and this guy stands up and goes one more fucking word say it say it and for me to shut up I was like you could tell oh dude I'm like there was a stream so I'm literally like and I'm in tears now like I'm so like i'm in tears blah blah blah and like everyone's waiting for me in the meeting but i'm kind of happy that they all heard me you know everyone had hair i'm like

hey man i'll stick over it took that but anyway so i leave the meeting and i'm like fuck him i'm gonna show this guy up i'm just gonna i'm going i'm not gonna stay at this meeting so i start walking like like but i got tears in my eyes i'm crying i started i got tears in my eyes and i'm i'm walking like story and you guys have all seen the way i walk so it's probably you know i'm trying to act like i'm yeah yeah i'm trying to act like i'm like storming out of here burnsy comes up and it's it's a long walk to the door where our cars were and burns he like sees me and he's like oh no oh no where the fuck do you think you're going and i turn around i'm like crying like he caught me i got it i'm like i gotta get something from my car that's the only thing i

could think of so he's like he's like it's like your daddy and he's like you get your fucking ass back out here i'm like i gotta get something from my car he's like you'll be back here and i'm like yeah i know i gotta get so i sat in my car for like a minute crying i'm like i gotta go back in this meeting everyone's looking at me and i'm crying like the tears but yeah i mean he was the best man that guy was that guy was the best like he called me just sort of like the he called me two days uh two days three days before he died passed away and you know he could barely talk and he you know i was in montreal and he and he'd always check on me when when that year was terrible montreal so burnsy you know and uh burnsy he's like know, his voice is barely there.

And he's like, hey, I just want to say, Gomer, I just want to say sorry, kid. And I'm like, Burnsy, suck my dick, man. I'm like, you, hey. You're not changing. You made me who I am, man. I go, Burnsy, I fucking love you, man. He was just like, we started laughing. And I'm like, hell no, I won't accept that for you, man man because you were the best to me i mean you made me you know you you made me uh i didn't

realize it now but i'm like no way you were you were so special in my heart at the end like you were you were the best i mean but this guy like i know we got to go but just no this is an incredible way to handle so we have a curfew at ottawa saturday fernsie fernsie has a curfew on a saturday night and we're staying downtown. We're not staying at the Brookshire. So we don't play till like a couple of days and I think something happened with other parts of the organization that

somebody was fucking somebody. I don't know. I don't know what happened. Lou must have but we had a curfew and I I was like, you know kind of bailing. I'm like and I remember one of the trainers whatever I'm like, dude, of bailing. I'm like, and I remember one of the trainers or whatever. I'm like, dude, me and Jay. I'm like, dude, let's go.

We're not going to college school. Like, whatever. Like, we're winning a lot. And so Panda was like, we were going to go up to the trainer's room to find out what's going on. But we're in our clothes. It's not. Jay goes to the door, opens the door, and just bolts back in the room. Bolts back in the room, like, past room like past me and i'm like what the hell his clothes are already halfway off and he's in bed and he's like he's down there

and i'm like who and he's like burnsy and i'm like fuck if he is i open the door and burnsy's walking no he's coming to our room he's at the end of the hallway he's come we had the like the last room in the hall he's coming to our room and he goes, and now he's at, I, now I'm even quicker. I'm in, I'm in the room,

I'm in bed and you know, and I hear the knock and I'm the, you know, I'm the younger guy. So I always had to like go get into the room and Jay's like, get the door. And I'm like, no,

I'm like, no. And panels like get the door. And then we're hearing the knock and, and I'm like, no, I'm like, Jay,

I'm not getting the door. Like, no. So Jay gets up and gets the door. Like, Burns, he just like pushes the door past Jay, whatever. He's like, Jay, I'm not getting the door. Like, no. So Jay gets up and gets the door. Bernsie just like pushes the door past Jay or whatever. He's like, is that little prick in here? He just walks. And I'm acting like a...

So he's like, yep. Just walks out. It went from being like the cockiest, you know, fuck, no, no. To like, I'm in bed like this. Oh, yeah. He just... Oh, man. He was...

Yeah, those guys, I mean... How big was he? Oh, he's a big guy. And it just, he had a presence, and he, like, there's some of the greatest. Yeah, he was a cop, and the story's tough. He had more about him. Yeah, he just, and he knew how to run a bench. Like, and he didn't give a, he didn't care if you were the top,

if you were going that night. You were going. Bernsie knew how to, you know, it took a while to understand it, but I'll give you a loose story with Burnsy. So I'm benched again with Burnsy. We're in Long Island. And it's 3-0 and whatever. I'm just like, this sucks.

And just then, the Kiss Cam comes on. And it's going around the rink. You know, and that stupid song, or that Faith Hill song, Kiss Me, whatever. So it's going around the rink you know that stupid song or that faith hill song kiss me whatever so it's going around the rink i'm sitting next to jamie langenbrenner and i'm in the middle i'm dabbing the middle because i've been benched for the last two periods we're up three zero and uh i think jim mckenzie's on my right and i i turned to lipper jamie langenbrenner and i said if this thing uh if this thing goes on me i'm gonna kiss you and he goes do it do it and you know what are the odds what are the chances we've been in every

how many games we've never seen the bench go on the son of a bitch goes on me and i look i look at it the camera you know the crowd's laughing and i look and i look over at jamie and i just kiss him on the cheek so the crowd is just going nuts this and that just then the then, the Islanders, a couple shifts later, they score. So now it's starting to dawn on me, like, should I have done that? I don't know if I should have done that. We better win this game. So now we better win this game. Next thing you know, it's two minutes later.

It's 3-2. I went from sulking on the bench because I've been benched to, like, the biggest cheerleader, like, come on, guys, please. So right after the game, we win the game, and, you know, everyone takes their time, and everyone ices up and does this. Guys couldn't get their shit off quick enough because rumor has already come down

that the old man, Lou, has lost his mind over the Kiss Camp thing. So guys are basically running to the bus. Burnsy is like, oh, this is going to be a good one. This is going to be a good one. What did you do this time, Homer? Vladimirsie is like, oh, this is going to be a good one. This is going to be a good one. What did you do this time, Homer? Vladimir Bure.

Vladimir Bure is, and he's like, Vladdy's, I see him in the hall and I'm like, Vladdy, is he that mad? Vladimir Bure is crying, laughing.

He can't even get it out. He's like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. He's dying. I'm like, oh, this is not good so i go to the bus and there he is he's waiting for me and not only that he fucking he

starts giving it to me he's giving it to me but all the guys he's he's facing i'm facing the bus all the guys are against the wall the glass guys are making faces guys are doing this burns he's right there just like it's a show and i'm just getting yelled at he has no idea everyone's against the wall, the glass. Guys are making faces. Guys are doing this. Put their tits on the wall. Bernsie's right there. It's a show, and I'm just getting yelled at. He has no idea everyone's watching. And I'm just like... It's like when your old man's mad.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, motherfucker. And all you see from the bench is guys are just trying to get me to break, trying to this and that. That was one, the old kiss cam that just... Like, if you're on the Devils and you can't use clear tape on your socks,

you certainly can't kiss your Devils. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Boys, that was... I mean, people don't understand the... I think they don't understand the career you had. Over a thousand games, a two-time Stanley Cup champ,

like I mentioned. So we'll get into so much more next time. Yeah, I mean, even the pioneer aspect of your career. You'll go to the Mexican fact, the first Mexican-American to play in the league, first Latino taking the first round. I mean, that's something you must be proud of as well. Yeah, I mean, you know, the

Mexican-Colombian thing from Alaska, like... Such a unique background. But where I grew up, you know, race was never a thing. It was a melting pot. It was this and that. But the thing is that people... I can't take credit being the first Latin because Billy Guerin always gave me shit that his mom was Nicaraguan. But anyway, the way – well, Billy would always give me like, hey.

But the way they made it sound was like I played hockey and I – In Mexico. In Mexico, I supported my parents and this and that. So I think one of my first interviews was you know they're like they were just making it into like

this is some magic and I was like yeah you know I just crossed Tijuana the border with a couple bottles of tequila and someone handed me skates

and that's how I learned how to play hockey and every reporter is just like is that true or not I'm just like oh yeah so it was great

I mean yeah it was well we'll get into more next time you're an animal. Scotty Gomez, thank you very much. Absolute character, Scott Gomez. I think we've got to get Claude Lemieux on just to tell Scott Gomez stories

now after that episode. But next up, we've got Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger for a little bit here. He was awesome to talk to, so we're going to throw it over to Pronger right now. And all of a sudden, you're in Anaheim. I mean, you're going for it. 364 and a half days of sun with one morning of drizzle. That's not bad. Yeah, like hitting the lottery.

Wearing your Tevas to the rink every day. Yeah, you know, shorts and a flip-flops. And you go from having Al McInnes early on in your career, now you're playing with another guy, Niedermeyer. Now this guy is effortless. Just one day I wish I could skate like that. Just one day. Remember the little sweat?

He'd have a little dime size. I remember in the Olympics in 2002, we were in an elevation in Salt Lake, and he's out there. He takes a two-and-a-half-minute shift. He's gone through two partners. I'm supposed to be up, and he just changes because he felt bad. He wasn't even tired.

I'm taking a 30-second shift going, I got to go. Let's go. I mean, he's just out there skating around, you know, Norm, just kind of cruising. You're like, oh, my God. So you guys, were you paired together during that season? No, it was him and Bosch and then me and Sean O'Donnell and then Huskins and Joey D. That team beat the shit out of people.

We had a tough team. That was like, I think that was your highest penalty minute season as well, was it? No, I had one year here I had 180. Oh, okay. But, yeah, no, I had a few. It was, you think about it, we had Fedora got hurt, so we made the trade for Peros. We had Sean Thornton.

Then we got Mayday. We had Odie. We had Bosch. I mean, you start going down the list. We had a good guys that could play. And you went from managing the young guys in Edmonton to maybe manage a few here in Anaheim. Yeah, we had Getze, Perez, and Pence.

Oh, my God. Those three. What were those young bucks like? Were they doing the same shit? You know what? It was trying to, like Edmonton all over. You know, just, hey, there's a time and a place, boys. I get you think, you know, and now they're probably looking at it like,

oh, now I know what they're talking about. They're the same age now where it doesn't happen every year that you get this type of team, and it doesn't happen every year where you have a legit chance and you can do it. Like Penner had 20 goals in the first 50 games, and then he just pulled up on up on the gas and i got my 20 and uh and marshall goes you know you have a bonus at 32 right but he'd already he'd already took like 12 games off right finished with 29 oh come on dust Come on. That's why they have bonus structures in contracts.

So guys, they've got to keep them going. What was your first impression of this guy here when he ended up in the room? Oh, we were paired together. I was carrying him. He was lugging the mail. Well, actually, I was called by the Hawking. He was a poor Chris Pronger, so I still have that hung up. I can work myself over to seeing that cut out before my draft.

But it turned out to be a poor, poor, poor man's Chris Pronger. What about you and Randy? How did you guys get along? Oil and vinegar. I liked Randy in the sense that he was detailed and structured and wanted to teach the young guys how to be professional, how to train, how to prepare for games and things like that. And then there was the other side where we just, you know, butted heads.

I like him, but we just butted heads. And, you know, playing the game, you don't have to get along with everybody. You don't have to like everybody or whatever. You know, it's not all kumbaya all the time in the locker room, but when you're playing the game, you appreciate his detail. You appreciate his intensity, and you appreciate the way he – I like the way he wanted us to play. That's the way I like to play, and it suited my game.

And you guys end up getting over the hump. You win your Stanley Cup. I mean, we've got to dive into that a little bit. Yeah, it was. You got sussied that series, I remember. I did, and I got sussied the series before that. Shit. But who's counting?

I know. That was, finished that game with a separated shoulder. So had we lost that game, doubtful I would have played the next game. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, I got hit. Kind of funny behind a net with, Neal hit me from this side and. Fisher?

No, it's like Chris Kelly or somebody hit just. Nobody. It was just like a. Random. Random. I don't know. I just kind Nobody. It was just like a... Random. Random. I don't know. I just kind of went into the boards like that. Could you even raise the cup?

Yeah, I had some juice in there. There we go. Shoot me up to raise this thing. Oh, yeah? Well, that shoulder might be separated again. You keep dropping that mic. It's getting sore. At least when Randy said,

did you ever win a Norris? You could say, yeah, and I won a hot too. Well, you couldn't say it to him in Norm. No, no, no. How many Norris's you got, Wade? None. Fair enough, Randy. Thank you.

What was the celebration like? Besides, you guys had a parade in the parking lot, didn't you? Yeah, it was good, man. The nice part about being on the West Coast is that it was a 5 o'clock game. So we came outside to the party party and it was still light outside so that was you didn't have to go till four in the morning to catch a real good buzz how good was jiggy man and play jiggy was awesome you know and to go through what he went through in the first at the end of the season with his son and in that first series not knowing what it was i'm sure was

tough on him you know you could see his head was elsewhere when we're practicing right you know he was there but he really wasn't you know which is why i you know they made the right move and starting bris and um you know it just there i when you watch the games and you're there and you're you're seeing it you're like okay you're waiting for the moment when they can pull bris and put him there and you're seeing it, you're like, okay, you're waiting for the moment when they can pull Briz and put him in. Because you know he's our number one. We're riding Briz because he's playing good.

Right. But at some point, the other guy's going in. You know he's going in. It's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of when. Oh, God. We got to dive into Briz too, man. That guy is just a special human being.

Probably the weirdest player i've ever played with hands down uh he's he's a different breed he's a goalie but to another level oh yeah he's like that that's describing it perfectly i would say yeah he all the talent in the world it could be one of the most athletic goalies I've ever played with, yet you're just like, really? Had I not been hurt in Philly, I don't think it would have ended that way because I played with him in

Anaheim and knew how to handle him. I got hurt 13 games in, so he could kind of do whatever he wanted. There's a goal and it's a tip-in and he's like giving it one of these with the defenseman and I'm sitting at home in the dark watching the game going you motherfucker you know it's like Chris this is not good for your recovery and I'm watching him going every time a goal's going and he's blaming somebody I'm like, Jesus. I'm trying to stay out of it and trying to get better.

I try to... I hate watching goalies do that. Yeah, but I also think that probably the media pressure and just everything involved got him to a really dark place where maybe that's... Philly's not against Puget. That's what I'm saying. We had Sean Burke on the podcast, he touched on that and he said, he told Briz, he goes, if you sign in Philly, you're going to be done.

Yeah. Like that's going to be it, right? But he said he knew Briz and he knew he was going to go after the money. And I mean, I don't think anyone expected to unravel that quickly. Big thanks to Prongs for when he joined us. That was an awesome chat. It's not every day you get to sit down and talk to a player his caliber. So that was fun. I do have another note here. If you've been dealing with acne, redness, dark spots, or wrinkles, finding treatment that works can be complicated. You need skincare that actually performs,

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All right, moving right along. This one, definitely one of our most popular guests. We've had him on a couple of times. This guy's probably going to be on every best of we do going forward. He's from just a couple of miles away from my house here. Dorchester zone, Brendan Walsh, absolute character. Tell a hell of a story. Tell us all.

We're going to send it over to Walsh right now. Well, next up is one of our most popular and now recurring guests after a nice little college career and then mixing it up in the minus punching faces for a little bit he now serves and protects the fine citizens of boston massachusetts welcome back to the spit and chicklets podcast brendan walsh thank you for having me guys thank you What has been going on Since the last time I was here No I asked I want to ask you that I want to ask you What have you been doing

Since we chatted Oh I've been I have been Just hunting down criminals Yeah I've been working a lot Working a lot But I also coach my

I have a ferocious Dorchester U12 girls hockey team Do they just outwork All the opponents Oh Passion Energy And pace That's a P-E-P That's what I say First on puck Dorchester U-12 girls hockey team Do they just outwork all the opponents? Passion, energy, and pace P-E-P That's what I say

First on puck Oh my god Well actually So we can get into the stories right away Everyone remembers Oh can I say one thing real quick? I'm going to cut you off Real quick

I've been Just from listening to the podcast And some of my favorite thing One of my favorite thing is RA You've been just from listening to the podcast and some of my favorite thing. One of my favorite thing is, all right, you've been killing it. And the organic ad reads, I can't even get into it. I can't even get into the organic ad reads. I'm listening to the podcast and I'm sitting there and I'm like, okay, when does Roman Swipes come in?

When does the Roman Swipe come in? And then I'll give it to you. Can I try it? Can I try it? Yeah, like... And then I'll come off the top of my head. Speaking of high-sticking, and if y'all have a high-stick issues and you have some problems,

try Roman Swipes. And then Thursday Boot will come on, and I'm like, how does he work through him and put Thursday Boot in? How does he work it? That's your alley. You're like Bruce Boudreaux. He just got the boot. And I'm like, how does he work through Thursday booting? How does he work it? That's your alley. You're like Bruce Boudreaux.

He just got the boot. And speaking of boots, if you want nice boots, you want to walk around, try Thursday boot. So maybe now you can reach out to Walsh and give me a good ad review. Aren't they amazing? And how are you working it? It makes the ads way better. And the ads are so much better. But I can secretly hear that you guys are kind of giggling in the background.

Oh, a couple of them really get me, and then a couple of them are like, shut up, R.A., but you've got to respect it. You've got to stretch them once in a while. We do keep them honest, though, because some put in a little bit of a longer script. So if it goes over 60 seconds aggressively, I'll give him a little spanking on the way out and you know down to the minute what your time is worth Biz I know that the minute

he's on a 30 second phone call he bills somebody for a 30 second phone call that's what I said Biz takes his head off the pillow you're like someone's fucking paying me today okay first of all fucking that's hilarious cause you're bang someone's fucking paying me today okay first of all fucking that's hilarious because you're bang on yeah it's the second thing speaking of time before we started recording Grinnelly bent you over with a chirp and you had your apple watch ringing yes and and while she

goes Grinnell and you have any idea you have any idea how to turn this watch off is that did I do it right is that how you talk like I'm having a fucking jammer? Better than R.A.'s Bane voice. Anyway, and Grinnelli responds with, I don't know, I don't wear shitty watches. I wear Rolexes. Oh, I know. It was a fastball. I don't even think it was a fastball.

It was a sucker punch. Well, she gets up swinging. I can't even get up from that. You were basically Al Tuvez or whatever his name is who's going to be getting pegged every game this year. Absolutely. Absolutely. I had some stories that I had written down that I wanted to get you to retell.

I've heard them before. Since we're in media, I guess we can start in the fact that people who don't know, Brennan Walsh, you got into media when you were done playing. What is the back story? I think it began at Maine. Maybe when you graduated when you were 37?

Yeah, I was 40 years old. Graduate student, still with I mean, what is the back story on the – I think it began at Maine. Maybe when you graduated when you were 37. Yeah, I was 40 years old, graduate student, still with hockey eligibility, left up at Maine. And so there was Channel 7 up at Maine, up in Bangor. And so I did like an internship. And you guys had talked previously on podcasts just how nervous. Red light goes on first couple times. You're like, all right. And the level of detail and how much information you have to read and just the concentration and and and the first thing

is the worst thing as soon as you start listening to your own voice as you're speaking you're like you're done you've gone down a rabbit hole that you cannot get out of so i worked for channel seven and i would just do like these quick, real quick one hits like, all right, I'd work for Channel 7 News, Rich Krampanis and Chuck Whitney up in Bangor, Maine. Oh yeah, he's my uncle.

Yeah. So I go to, I, you know, doing this thing in college and I, you know, do these quick hits and they'd be like all right i'd come back and do sports yeah like on the desk but i didn't have an earpiece i didn't have anything and i'd

be like oh look at the hard work of uh old number 36 who would be me grinding it out there with a nice little tap and go and that would give the sports for me and then cover like bangor like basketball high school basketball so one of the guys had to go out, and this is one of the best, like it's on gag rails everywhere up in Maine. So I'm covering channel, I'm working for channel seven. Channel five is covering all of Bangor for like homecoming weekend. So the whole time we're playing hockey up at Maine, channel five is their homecoming, like football, channel five trucks. This person with the mic holder on it, channel five, channel five so we play our game i go back to the studio channel seven so now they put an earpiece on me and people if you're not in the biz and if you

don't know um they put the earpiece on me they're like you're heavy you're heavy and i'm like okay who's that guy talking in my ear they're like heavy which means fill in because nightline is coming on no matter what, or dateline is for the affiliate. You got too much for the time left. You got too much for the time left. And if you're light means like, Hey, get out, get out. This is ending. So, you know, we come out of the first commercial break. We're like, Oh, we're heavy. We're heavy. We're heavy. Uh, and the guy's like, Oh, Nope, Nope, Nope. Nightline. Nope. We're light. We're light. And so I'm sitting at the desk at channel seven and the guy's like, well, Brendan, and the guy's like, we're heavy. We're I'm sitting at the desk at Channel 7. And the guy's like, well, Brendan.

And the guy's like, we're heavy, we're light, we're light, we're heavy. And in my earpiece, and I'm sitting there like in my eyes. And the guy's like, we're heavy. He goes, oh, no, no, we're real heavy, just go. And the guy's like, well, Brendan, it's been great having you part of your internship here, and you've done a fantastic job. And I said, well, it's been great being part of the Channel 5 family, and I just want to know, it's been great being part of the Channel 5 family and I just want to know it's been fantastic

working for you people here at Channel 5. Cut, dateline goes on. The fucking guy, I could see a pen go up in the background. Wrong channel.

It comes in, I'm on the wrong channel. You'd seen the 5 all day. I've seen the 5 all day. Concussions all over the place. They give you an internship and you can't even. and there's like a camera guy

with like a big WTF like behind the cameras like, what the fuck? And I left. Of course, I leave like double gun and off to the bar and run around and chase people all night. You're like, hey, sorry guys on the way up, but appreciate the credit for my senior year finally. Which worked, which good.

I end up going through, and then I end up working at Nessun with... And also here's a good thing about doing media back then, too, is, I mean, there probably wasn't even Facebook, was there? No. So you didn't have to hear about how shitty of a job you did. You were just like, ah, fuck it. Nobody was watching. Meanwhile, people were like, what?

And I'm like, I have an Irish Catholic mother. She loves me. She's like, you did fantastic, honey. You know, thanks, Mom. And I'm just out there just like, ah, there I am. I'm like I have an Irish Catholic mother She loves me She's like You did fantastic honey You know Thanks mom And I'm just out there Just like Oh there I am I'm the boss

That's all I need So I worked at Nesson And I had Catherine Tappan Who had Was there at Nesson Worked with Catherine Dale Arnold

Bob Beers I'm thinking names It was Hockey East Games, Friday nights or something And then I would get these I was working as a Boston Police And I would get these informational packets And you're in the biz now and you cover all that stuff But you have the luxury of maybe

You get to see some of these teams You know what they are, what they represent Biz, covering Arizona And you're in the mix a little bit because you're catching all the teams. You know how all the stuff there, I'm like, all right. I mean, you just left fucking Charlestown, had a slice of pizza at Jenny's,

and then you're talking to these guys. So I'm working at Nessun, and I would get complete anxiety. I'm like in police uniformun And I would get complete anxiety I'm like in police uniform And I would get this like These schools would just dump this information on it And this is like To be on a Nessun game This would be like

You know Just the pronunciations of kids' names This is the only time they're probably going to be on Nessun Unless you're Boston College You're going to be on 15 times that year. Other than that, like if it was Lowell. This is Lowell's one chance. This is Lowell's one chance, and you got the kid with the Boston accent

just butchering your kid's family name. You've got to have a big motor because you're going to fuck up. I mean, you look at some of these people who do it in these small towns and then they end up online because they completely just say a word that you know they say dick or penis in the middle of their sentence or yeah yeah like hey i've done live hits where i've been terrible i even in arizona i've mentioned a few times on the podcast like it was like todd walsh teed me up with a question and i'm like i don't even remember what i was gonna say say, Todd. And he kind of just saved my ass. But how good are those guys who do it?

Like Tom Caron and Eric Freed is the guy who started it. But these guys are like the robots just like in and out of breaks, come in and out of. They don't feel any transition. Light turns on. No, no. It's like Joe Thornton when he's got the puck on a stick. They say his heart rate goes down. Yeah. Compared to when he doesn't. Yeah. It's like these people wereon when he's got the puck on a stick They say his heart rate goes down Compared to when he doesn't

It's like these people were born to be on television Their motor is just They can read off the teleprompter Like they're talking to you Or they're just serial killers and we don't know anything about them There is a poll Some of the most narcissistic people On the planet are like entertainers

And TV personalities lawyers well think about a psychiatrist right because you think you can heal other people's problems too but you don't have enough of your own like the rest of us you know so yeah so I mean you'd have to

have a level of narcissism anyway where are we going to go after that oh you asked stories have breaks and issues that's my toe oh you forgot on my toe stefan my toe my toe my toe so i was um i was playing in san antonio and so stefan my toe uh funny you bring it up got sent down i think he played in the minors like 18 years prior. And maybe I think he was in the IHL, but just for a little bit. And then, what did he have? Two Stanley Cups?

Just the one. Was it Marches? Did he have one Marches? No, he might have one more. Was he on Dallas? Remember when you talked about the information? We don't retain a lot either. That's alright. So anyway, he gets sent down and you know the scuttlebutt, if you're down in the American League, and like, hey,

I think Stephon Mateau is getting sent down. And I was like, oh, really? That's cool. All right, well, whatever. Whatever that represents, he gets sent down. And so we go to San Antonio. We're playing at, you remember, Whit, you were playing in San Antonio, the SBC Center.

And they have like the change room. And so I was like, all right, I'm going to prank this guy. Like he just got here. I didn't see him in camp because I had got traded to San Antonio. And I had like, of course, I had like Jimmy Campbell, Jamie Rivers, Sean Gagnon, Pierre Dagenais, guys who, Jeff Toms, guys who just really like to break balls. Dagenais, guys who, Jeff Toms, guys who just really like to break balls. So I said, guys, of course, on a side note, like these older NHL guys get dressed. Like if you had to get into the locker room at like 415, they're dressed at like 420,

like waiting to put skates on. I'm like, what? This is banana land. Like just go, like get dressed. I used to get dressed right before warm-ups and head out. Took you three minutes. Three minutes to get dressed. So he's dressed, and I took you three minutes Three minutes to get dressed So he's He's dressed

And I see him This is Stefan Matteau You know Like Stanley Cup champion You know Unbelievable hockey player Watched him playing As a kid

And so I said Alright I go guys So I break Quickly slide in the Back door Of the change room Coming in the side

I go guys Just follow my lead And just watch this Sit on the other side Of the change room And so I set. I go, guys, just follow my lead and just watch this. Sit on the other side of the change room. And so I grab my gitch bag, got my coffee, fantastic suit,

look fantastic. I walk up to Steph Mateau and I said, hey, Steph, how you doing? Brendan Walsh, nice to meet you. Looks like up on the board here, Torch got us playing

together tonight. And he's like, yeah, yeah. Nicest, when I say the nicest man, legitimately one of the nicest guys. I said, hey, why don't you come with me there, fella, while I get dressed.

And so he's following. 18 years in the NHL. 18 years in the NHL. Follows me into the locker, into the, there's like a change room, like a legit nice change room. So we get into the change room, and I, when I say the biggest wheel,

I'm getting undressed, like taking the stuff off and getting my gitch. I said, hey, Steph, it looks like you found yourself in a little bit of a pickle. Get yourself down here, and hey, just no worries tonight. We're playing together tonight, and let's try to have some fun. Let's whip the puck around. And I said, but if you dump the puck in, I'll tell you right now, I ain't chasing it. Because that's, you know, possession's my game.

And so his face, and he's like taping a stick. And he was like sitting there. I have all these other guys, Rivers, Tom, Campbell, Sean Gagnon. They're hanging on the other side of the change room. And they're sitting there. And this is his face. He's like this. He's like, and he came over so nice.

Like all drab. like he was in his full gear like no top on and i come over just last second just didn't act like i've never played i don't i know playing the nhl obviously but i just sit there big time just fucking big like the biggest wheel of hardest act like picture picture every kid that went to an ohl camp their first time nhl every ohl can nhl camp at an NHL camp, I'm that kid. I'm that kid in the OHL. He's like, this kid must have played seven years in the OHL. That's hockey.

That's hockey. So I go in there, and he's sitting there, and I wrap up. I said, I like to possess the puck if you dump it in. I don't know if I'm getting it. So whatever you think you need to do. in yeah i don't know if i'm getting it so you know whatever you think you need to do and hey last thing and his face is like smiling and just slowly starting to like the smile is cracking and like i'm gonna kill this i'm gonna like i don't who is this fucking kid and so i'm sitting and i said and you know what at the end of the day just consider me you know don't get nervous just

consider me i'm just a regular guy just i'm just a normal guy at that point at that point he like looked at me and he was like, are you fucking serious? He looked at me and he was like, what? And I fucking grabbed him and hugged him. I said, we're going to have a fucking unbelievable time. So he was at the hotel. He checked out of his hotel room, moved into my hotel room for the next nine days, and we just hung out. Just a great guy.

Oh, fucking real. Unbelievable. That's awesome that right away he's like, this guy's got to be completely fucking with me. And you got him. But for a good six minutes, he was completely rat-a-lonia. That's actually where his last three games of his professional career were. Yeah.

Oh, and just for if you want to know the scene behind the scene on the send-down, which I had heard, you have to go watch biz's uh we up there vancouver giants no no no no no oh vancouver warriors vancouver warriors if you want to know why he got sent down which i have heard you have to click on the locker room scene from your youtube and that i heard that's one of the reasons why he gets sent down. He was like, fuck that. So while you're sitting there and the

gears are grinding. Yeah, the hamster's going, but I can't make a click. Help me out here. I don't know what he's talking about. I think he got. Okay. So you're going to explain the situation. Are you saying I'm saying go click on your thing and go to your locker room scene when you did your Vancouver lacrosse.

When he bullies the captain? No. They put him in a chair in the room. Keenan did. That's what I had heard. Oh, he put him in the middle of the room like a shit stall. Yeah, shit stall. Shit stall.

Shit sandwich. That's what I had heard, but I didn't know. And he was like, you know what? But I don't know. And to that, I can't speak to that, but I just know. That's how bad my brain is. When he came down, he was phenomenal. Just a great guy. There's usually something that goes to those.

He scored such a legendary goal. Thanks for the quick plug on the lacrosse video. Do you like that? I did. Do you like my content? Just smashing. I like when you say content. I like when you do content for you mutant listeners all in one line.

It's like a whole thing. I'm like, just fucking pumping out content for you mutant listeners. Is it awesome? Was that dead on? Did you pour a little out for San Antonio? They lost their team. Vegas bought them. They don't have a team anymore. See what you did? You destroy everything you touch. I know.

I loved it there. We had, when we were in San Antonio, Torch was a great coach that we had. Pretty intense. And I remember him, like, a great coach, intense. And you know Pierre Dagenais? I know who he is. He played Montreal. French guy.

And probably one of the more, like, impactful guys because, like, he was, impactful guys because he had played in the NHL and up and down with New Jersey and just a phenomenal dude. Phenomenal dude. He played in Montreal after like Ribeiro. They beat Boston in the cup that one year. Was he a smaller centerman? No, he was 6'5". Oh, fuck. Played the wing.

Can we cut that, Grinnell? 6'5". Yeah. Absolutely. Were you thinking of Desjardins? Yeah, I know. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. No, he was like one of the most hard, like the hardest shot you ever saw.

He was like, he built like a greyhound. He was all like ribs and wrench. Just like phenomenal looking. Great suits. Like just awesome. So he was there. And I remember like Torch was like my roommate. And he was a phenomenal guy.

And he was like Brendan I know you'll go out But you'll go home Pierre Just make sure he gets home So I remember Pierre had

His friends came in And we had like a Power play walkthrough And just like a real Just something that just Jumps out at me We had a power play walkthrough Like in practice

Another team coming into town And so Torch I mean Pierre had gone out. He was not, believe it or not, like, not drunk at practice, nothing like that. Just like he was just, boy, his inhibitions were a little bit lowered for, like, the walkthrough. So they do the grease. No, his give-a-fuck meter was very low. His give-a-fuck meter was low, and he was, like, pissed off.

Like, this is a French kid. All he does is score goals. That's his thing. And Pierre, phenomenal was, like, pissed off. Like, this is a French kid. All he does is score goals. That's his thing. And Pierre, phenomenal player, even a better person. And so I've never seen anything like it. So Torch is drawing up the drills, and he's like, we're going to work on, like, an umbrella power play. It's going to go through Tomer, Jimmy Campbell, and come over here and dodge, and dodge will be your net front. And then he hit, like, Pierre Pierre, like sucks on his teeth.

And he's like, is there a problem, Dodge? Is there a problem? And he goes, I don't understand. And then Torch throws the pen at him. And Dodge catches it off his, like this is at the SPC Center, whatever, San Antonio.

He catches the pen and then he goes, yeah, okay. And he walks over to the grease board and he's like all the time you come over here with the umbrella but i don't understand it we could have me on the half of course the power play is directed everything with him through him taking two steps off and dropping one timers right and so he's like i don't understand we come on the power play and i come in you put tarmer net front tarmer bigger presence and i come in here and come back with river pass to me on on the half wall i take two steps come in You put Tommer in that front Tommer bigger presence And I come in here And come back with River

Pass to me On the half wall I take two steps Come in get shot The other time And then we We collect the puck up top And we get it back again

On rebounds I don't know Sounds good to me Sounds good And he goes And he goes in And then Scotty Allen Who was the coach

Was like Torch was walking out And Scotty Allen was assistant Two awesome coaches Torch was You know Fantastic coach And Scotty Allen And Torch goes walking out, and Scotty Allen was assistant. Two awesome coaches. Torch was a fantastic coach, and Scotty Allen. And Torch goes, he ain't playing tonight.

He ain't playing tonight. Because he was kind of talking back. Talking back. Well, lo and behold, you guys know minor league madness. It's all of a sudden, you know, two guys get the stomach plug, dodge back in. Wouldn't you know it. Patrick. No, no.

Two goals, I think. Two goals and assist. Like, didn't play the first period, and then, like, the game got heated and was like, here's the power play with dodge. One-timers. Right back in the mix. The half-ball work. Fuck off.

Yeah, I loved it. I loved it. And, of course, a dodge. And especially in the minors, too. If you're a prospect, you're getting a million chances. A million chances. Because there's someone above you, up top, who's like, what did're a prospect, you're getting a million chances. A million chances. Because there's someone above you up top who's like, what did my guy do? Making it realize their job.

What did my guy do? Unreal. Well, you talk also, but what we talked last time you were on about, I mean, you just loved fighting. You just loved getting in guys' faces. But you teed me up on a story about Doug Smith. Oh, yeah. What's that story? So when we were, the year

of the lockout, what you called, like, it was the craziest, right? Yep. The craziest year. Iron League. The year before is Iron League. Which I'll say, and I love the not a big deal, but, you know, 30 majors that year, not a big deal. 10 helpers the year, about 10 goals the year

before, 30 majors that year 50 games Biz Not a big deal Is that good? Yeah 10 goals 50 games

30 majors I'm playing 6 minutes I got 10 goals Time out You missed it That's another one of our sayings It's like When you're like

Oh I had 50 goals that year Is that good? Okay So keep the fuck up That's the new Not a big deal That's it You must have been missing

It the whole time So you should go back And have to re-listen To all those episodes I have to re-listen to That should be my punishment Yeah Alright back to your story

Where were we On the Doug Smith Oh so Dougie Smith Who was just Like our fight doctor And no one really knew that So we had Dougie Duell

In Providence Remember Delicious Dougie Duell St. John's Oh I don't remember Delicious. Maybe out of your line. DD.

Is that the one Goon was based on? The movie Doug Clatt, Goon. That's based off his book. We won't say that word if Ty Domi was here. Grinnelli will. He got kind of like fake mad and some people were like, geez, he got really mad.

If you said it to him in a serious manner, he would. I think he reminded Grinnell to tell, hey, we want to tell the story about why he hates being called a goon, and rightfully so. He takes a lot of pride in what he did. Absolutely. I don't mind being called a goon. I've been called a lot worse. I've been kicked out of nicer places than this.

Absolutely. So Doug Smith, we came down there, and so we would drop a bag from the scoreboard in Providence, and we would work on the bag, and we'd put like a turtleneck on our neck so we wouldn't get jersey burns. And so when we would do, we would work On the bag and we'd put like a turtleneck On our neck so we wouldn't get jersey burns And so when we would do We would go there but we would have like

This is all before YouTube And I think like Trevor Gillies and those Guys would love it like we Would simulate guys who We would fight that week And from and I watch fighting Now these kids and I'm not Saying this I'm not trying to be a killer.

These kids can't fight. What's the jersey punch? I couldn't fight. This is the ridiculous thing I've ever seen. But I started doing that. Listen, call me a pussy all you want, man. I couldn't stand in there like those maniacs. But it's not standing in there.

There was like under grabs, cross grabs, like how you would be able to position your punching angles. Sure. And be able to put guys off your feet. Like you talked about Tidomi, like kind of modeled yourself after that where you're like pulling people off balance and grappling and then be able to, you know. Sean Thornton was an unbelievable. Sean Thornton was phenomenal at it. Dennis Bonvey.

I think there's probably just less emphasis on it because it's so small. There's still a small part of the game now. You don't have to learn it. Dennis Bonvey did better. I think there's probably just less emphasis on it because it's so small part of the game now. You don't have to learn it. It's such a small part of the game until it happens to your guy who's got 30 sheets. And the agent, if you're not working to that part of your game and all of a sudden you get flatlined,

stop it. If you think you're going to ride that edge and finish checks that hard and you think you're going to ride that same You're going to ride that edge and finish checks that hard And you think that's going to be in You should come to my fighting camp Which is going to be this summer No I'm just kidding I was like what

Well you should have had R.A. Segway But I mean there used to be tons of those Fighting camps I don't even know Do they still exist anymore No I don't think so I think it was just one of those things that if we were going to do it at the league and where the league was where it was like if you were going to practice you know shooting goal you know scoring goals and and practice you know cross-eyed saucer passes why wouldn't you practice you know being able to take a punch and give a punch but what did he say to you like had you ever been ko'd or something like that

oh no no no no i think it was i actually and people would always ask like have you ever like have you got knocked out before like straight knocked out and i'm like of course in my mind i'm like no yeah and so the only time i got completely flatlined completely starched was we were Remember those games In the American League Where You'd be sitting in traffic Going up like to Albany

Or like Binghamton And it's raining It's like raining Snowing And it's like Just you're like Oh this is terrible And you knew you were going in

To be a rat and fight Yeah And so Like the games there Would be like There'd be no warm ups They'd be like Well

You're late You sat here And we'll do a 10 minute warm up No ice the buzz will drop so i'm never i'll never forget we played albany which we had a gong show with albany before and they had like scroob co cam jansen's a bunch of guys cam had got called up who's the guy with the biggest head in the world scurrleck rob scurrleck oh my god i remember being terrified not scroolack Skrlack. And they always had you know a plethora of guys who could answer the bell

so I'll never forget and then we talked about it before on the other podcast like the stat pack like so you could find out like this was on YouTube you'd see so I remember getting dressed we're late at the warm ups and I was like who's this kid Frank Littlejohn like with 400 minutes I fought him in

the East Coast League yeah tough right yeah I think he got the better of it I didn't know how to fight very well back then yeah Frank Littlejohn Littlejohn you know what biz I knew how to fight and I got completely fucking starched yeah and so I'm sitting there and I I'm like does anyone I'll never forget like I'm getting dressed and you know how you're like walking around and you're like does anybody know this dude like as you get as you put like stuff on and they're like five minutes that's the callback

and so tell me something about this guy does anyone know he's a lefty he's a righty and so like this crazy like I think he's an Indian kid and so there's a couple you know there's a couple fights and maybe the second period or something. No, like, yeah, first period. And I remember going to Mimba.

Our coach was Rob Murray. Scott, you don't remember Rob Murray. Rob Murray, one of the toughest guys, like the nastiest, vicious, hardworking players, like maybe 20 years. AHL, NHL guy. And up and down and was our assistant coach, but he was just like, just a mean guy, but I could get a sense of humor out of him. And so, you know, there was a couple of checks that went high.

There was a fight that went on before. And so I jump on the ice and there was this kid, Little John, I see. So now I'm next to this kid. And so I look up to him and I go, well, you know, obviously this has happened. You ready to do it? He just looks over at me and he's like, yep. And I was like, all right. And I was like, all right, all right, cool.

All right. So puck drops. We drop our shit. We're spinning around and this kid's got this crazy stance. Oh yeah. Usually when they have weird stances, I'm like, oh shit. It's a little bit of a panic yeah some of them are phonies but other ones you're like oh that's the sleeve tattoo this

guy was doing it at 10 years old in some fucking in the woods in saskatchewan fighting high schoolers his his knuckles are behind his elbows and some crazy weird stance like just drifting back into the like goal line but isn't there a scene at a like blood sport where this guy does this whole like jump around routine before they actually get into it and then like one punch the guy's done so once i was more the blood sport guy kind of just impatient being like all right come on are we gonna do this we're not gonna do this we're gonna do this and we're drifting back like you know it was like offside dot uh and we're drifting by the benches and he's got this cut just his right hand's cocked and i'm sitting there and i'm like all right are we gonna do this or not do this serious so now i'm like after all the coaching i've done and the success that i've had at that part of the game i was like you know what i've

been doing this i have fought everybody i'm like come here you little kid and like go to grab him on the shoulder pads like no's like, no respect. I had zero respect. And just, he was like, sunk. Just hits me right in the chin. Surf's up. I'm on the top of the surfboard. I'm just like, oh, riding the wave.

I'm just fucking surfing. And I'm just like on the top. And like I try to grab him. You know, like it's just your fight or flight. But it's more ego because I'm between the two benches. And like I'm like just completely. Trying to bring him down with you, baby. Yeah, like, ah, yeah.

It's like, you guys saw the lobster pot I gave him. I kicked his leg out. And like you don't want to give him the full out win. You want to be like, oh, like you don't want to lose all momentum for your team. He punched me and I had an instant smile on my face from the bench. He punched me and I had an instant smile on my face from the bench. And all the guys on my team in Providence were like, Walshie, he hit you and you smiled. And I was like, because that's how hard I got hit.

And I was like, oh, my God, he hit me so hard. And I went back in between the benches and Rob Murray, I picked myself up after the refs came in there. And was like i think i'm okay i think i'm okay i'm all right and rob murray just looks at me and he has a real dry sense of humor he's like way to get the boys going my coach right there he goes way to get and but like the timing was perfect and i was like my ego was perfect my ego was hurt more than the punch and the hurt in my jaw. And I was like, oh, I got to look back at the guys. And he was like, hey, Walshie. And I was like, yeah, like holding myself up against the boards.

And he was like, way to get the boys going. And I was like, oh, fuck you, Murr. Fuck. And like skated off to go get mended up. How did you guys do? Did you guys win the game? I can't even remember. I was knocked out.

Oh, God. How did you guys do? Did you guys win the game? I can't even remember. I was knocked out. Oh, God. I remember driving back in a snowstorm, though. By the time I came to, we were playing cards.

And I was just like little schnarps. Crazy Tim Thomas was like, I didn't think it was that bad. I was like, Jesus Christ, Tom. I got completely flatlined. He put an ironed shirt under me. Did you have a lot of fights growing up as a kid in Dillachester? Yeah, it's neighborhood stuff. But nothing out of the ordinary, like one of these guys that fucking fought every other day or something?

No, no. It's Dorchester. It's the same as Charlestown. Most people get along. Knife fights, gun fights, bar fights, street fights. Monkey knife fights. Do you have any other ones that you want us to tee you up with? Oh, yeah. No, no.

The legendary 56 Minutes in the Spectrum. So, you remember this? Did you play in the Spectrum? No, no. Oh, the legendary 56 minutes in the spectrum. So you remember this? Did you play in the spectrum? Oh, I did. Were you a Wachovia? No, I played in the old school Philadelphia Phantoms rink, which used to, of course, be the Flyers old building. And it was right next door, right?

They built it right across the parking lot. That's where the Rocky statue is, outside the Spectrum, right? And I remember the first time I walked... That's downtown. What statue's outside the Spectrum? Some of the Philly... Yeah, no. Now it's like, I think, the baseball field.

It's all right there. It's Wachovia. It's all right there. The baseball field, that whole center's right there. Yeah. But it was cool. I got to experience it for a few years in the American League. And you could just tell there was some character to it.

And they were still drawing well for their AHL team. Because I think at the time they might have even been a little bit more competitive. Don't quote me on that. But it was a fucking time. No, it was a time. And we used to play. Remember Wilkes-Barre? You guys were there.

Remember the... We used to have some battles, man. Battles. But my favorite game biz was... You guys must have played in it, which would be like the public school day at the Spectrum. Oh, 11 a.m. And there would be like 11 a.m. sparks coming off people's helmets. And there would be like a five-on-five line brawl. Kindergarten kids.

Kindergarten kids at the public school day. And they'd be like, who lives in a park under the sea? SpongeBob. Like the kids would be going crazy. And there'd be like, who lives in a farm in the land of the sea? SpongeBob! Like, the kids would be going crazy. And there would be, like, in there, it would be like 10, 30, 11 in the morning. And it would be blood sport. Like, why not have this kids game after a 3 and 3 in a 4 o'clock, like a 10 a.m. game on a Tuesday?

Because there's no hate in that. Everyone would just complete utter hungover and just nastiness. They made sure people were pissed off going into that game. So you had just a big night, though, at the Spectrum. Yeah, I actually, it was funny, I actually, right before that, it was right before Thanksgiving, and remember Alexander Giroux, awesome player Played for the up and down Rangers Yeah he had 50 in the AHL I think Yeah so he was like on the

I'll never forget he like broke my toe Separated my toe with a one timer And I remember in Hartford right before This Spectrum game I was telling him I was like dude no one timers No one timers on the power play And he was like oh okay While we were playing while they were on the power play And he was like oh okay and so like thinking that he would do that not tummy

sticks but it was just like hey dude fucking asshole like he wound up like have some respect have some no fucking one-timers you try to guilt trip him guilt trip that he was trying to score goals so he was like he was like no no no i got you i got you and they came in and then and then finally he crushes one one time and just I like Of course I'm like Don't open my foot up Don't open I hit my foot I open my toe up

I separate my toe So I'm off I haven't played in like Nine days Scotty Gordon Says to me He goes Hey well

We're going down to Providence Right before Thanksgiving It's a Thanksgiving game And he's like Do you wanna You can stay home We're just going down For the game

Going down to Philly Go down to Philly To play them Right before Thanksgiving And I was like You know what stay home. We're just going down for the game. Going down to Philly? Going down to Philly to play them right before Thanksgiving. And I was like, you know what? I'm with the team. Like, absolutely. Go down, get a sweat, ride the bike, try to skate. If I can't skate with a broken foot, I'll come back and ride the bike and have some beers on the bus on the way home from Philly.

Have a good time. Go out to dinner. He's like, okay, yeah, sure. So we go to some unbelievable – what was the name of that? from Philly. Have a good time. Go out to dinner. He's like, okay, yeah, sure. So I we go to some unbelievable, what was the name of that? There's a steak joint in Philly where you get to pick your own knife. It's like a Porsche or like, I forget the

name of the restaurant. I don't remember. It was like a really, really, really high-end steak joint. So I go there. I had these crazy shoes while I'm walking home with like Brad boys and a bunch of guys to the hotel. My foot goes click, jumps, like it clicks and it goes of guys to the hotel, my foot goes, click jumps. It's like it clicks and it goes back in. I go, dude, Mike, my foot's good.

I think it's fine. It's fine. So now they have a crazy lineup the next day. And, uh, and I go, Gordo, I think I can go. And he's like, well, you haven't skated. And I said, I, the line, I could look at the lineup. I said, this is, I'd be doing my skating, bud. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I said, I could look at the lineup. I said, this is. I ain't been doing much skating, bud. Yeah, exactly.

I said, I think I can go. I think I can go. And I said, I can give you a couple. I can give you a couple shifts. That just takes a lot of pressure off the boys. And that's such a stand-up move by you. Because people who. You know what you're getting into.

Yeah, dude. Absolutely. That's a stand-up move for the boys. And no one can get your face caved in, probably. So I fight Jeff Smith right off the bat. Big defenseman. I come in just like... You got no wind, by the way.

Yeah. No, no, no. No. I do very well against Jeff. And then Sean Gagnon. No, no. I'm not Gagnon. I keep playing Phoenix.

Fedorek? No, no, no. Oh, Gratton. Josh. So I fight Josh Gratton. Oh, my, no. Oh, Gratton. Josh. So I fight Josh Gratton. Oh, my God. You fought Josh Gratton. I probably fight him for like a four and a half minute fight.

And so I catch him on a back check naturally. And so he's like going. Now it's back check. We go back in the zone. And I'm like, he's been running around. He's a psychopath. He didn't bleed, right? He's a psychopath because if he's at the end of the shift

his wires would cross and he'd still fight you which like sometimes he had no business fighting he should have waited until he was completely but he was too mad he was pretty fresh he would still go the distance pretty fresh considering the fight

so we play the game's there he's finishing checks like a nut and i'm like oh jesus this is that not again so i'm like all right josh i rip him across the arms i'm like dude we're doing it and he's like i was like you ready so we go and fight and like i've not people say oh do you get nervous fighting do you think i said i don't get nervous i don't i don't get anxious i have anxiety that's just me i know it pertains to other people. The only time I felt unnerved, like I hit him with an absolute bomb. It didn't affect him. And I was like, we're in there.

And I was like, oh, here it comes. And he waited to do the thing that I wanted him to do. And I hit him and crushed him with a bomb. And he just blinked at me. And my spine gave out. I was like, oh, no. That's all I had. No, no.

And then I was like, all right, Walshie. Time for a whole lobster pot. You're going for the ride. I was looking at the ref. I was like, I think we're good. Get in here. Hey. Yeah, I was waiting.

Brad's like, we're just starting, Brendan. It's a sick puppy, man. So we fought hard. It was about a three, four-minute fight. We go in the penalty box. We come out, and I was like, all right, no winners. You know, he got the better of me. No worries.

So then we go out, and remember Eric Milosz? Yes. So I played with Eric. So Eric was there. Now, I think they were up by a couple goals, and their feeling is maybe like six minutes left in this game. And now I'm back playing again. So like two people get injured. So now I'm taking like a shift, every other shift. I'm back playing against Like two people get injured So now I'm taking like a shift

Every other shift I'm like going And so I go in And you know Come right out of the zone Eric Milosz Before he hits me Like runs me over

He goes Woo And smokes me Like just completely rim rocks me And I'm like I'm gonna fucking kill this kid The wires crossed I'm gonna kill this kid

So then he goes Penalty I get a penalty Because I try to go after him Then I line up For the face off At like two minutes left I just called my own change

I was like You know Hey you're off And Eric was taking the face off And I just went after him It was just completely Like the wires crossed It was crazy

Craig Berube was the coach So you got 56 minutes So that whole thing That whole thing Just wrapped up 56 minutes, which at the time for a Boston kid, and I was like, you know Johnny Most, the Sixers, I was like, I got to leave a dent on this. Impressive.

I got to leave a dent in this spectrum. I'm going after it. This is after cracking your foot back into place the night before. That's incredible, dude. That's crazy. Unbelievable performance from the Dodgers. Breaking down, punching Josh Gratton as hard as you can, that's like when you know you're fighting somebody

who you don't want to be fighting. And I'll say this, when I was fighting Nasty Marasty, there's some times I would clobber him square den right in the forehead. That would just drop anyone. I hit Matt Bradley with the same punches, and Bradley went down. Yeah.

He just takes them, and then your hand. It's like when you fucking hit a baseball and you get that feeling from the bat. Yeah. Times 20. Vibration station. The vibration and then your hand's done and then he just takes over. That's it. I know.

What about, so we had Cam Neely in here earlier and we were asking him like a Milbury story. You went for a visit at BC when he was coach, right? Oh my goodness. So Mike is a phenomenal guy. We just go all over the map with Walsh. I know. Milbury is amazing. So Milbury had the Boston College job for maybe a minute, right?

Like, I don't know, six weeks? I think he went in. He's like, this place is – I'm not dealing with this. Yeah, six weeks. So I played for the Junior Bru bruins and we played uh there was a tournament so mike just got the job maybe like on a friday on a saturday uh i was playing in a tournament in like tingsborough it was like the junior bruins verse the you know it was like a team from detroit and a team team made up of like detroit and ohl kids or windsor kids or something

like that like to come down to boston and play and these guys were like bullying everybody and it was a real physical game and I wanted to get out of there like I was like all right there was a Dorchester day in Boston oh yeah big party a big party and I was like I gotta get thrown out of this game I gotta get out of this game so I act like a complete lunatic and there was a referee called Gene Benda from South Boston remember Gene Gene the dance machine yeah he kicked me out of the biggest high school game So I act like a complete lunatic. And there was a referee called Gene Benda from South Boston. Remember Gene, Gene the Dance Machine? Yeah, he kicked me out of the biggest high school game of my life. I've talked about it on this before.

So Gene, so okay, invert that whole thought process. And Gene was like, I know what you're trying to do. I'm not kicking you out. I'm not kicking you out. It's Dorchester Day. You're staying. So now no one knows that. And this is the – so Milbury was kind of scouting that game.

I think it was Joe Lyons, right, pro elite? I think it was like one of the Lyons brothers. Anyway, it was the Lyons brothers who ran this whole kind of tournament thing. And I run around, but I'm like playing hard, scoring. I'm like if you're from Canada, you're stickers on the end of my spleen. Just gashing people and there's no calls. I look like... The space that I had for this thing, guys

were like, Jesus Christ. Who is this guy? Who is this guy? I'm running around like a nut. I can't get thrown out. There's no calls. It filters through Mike Milbury and then through my dad. It's like, hey, Mike Milbury And then through my dad And so it's like Hey Mike Milbury

Why don't you come over for a visit And a visit was like You go for a visit Before your official visit Like just come over and talk And see where you are This is when I was going out To USHL in Omaha

And I was like alright So Mike Milbury comes down And the thing about Mike Great guy You know Bright, funny, great sense of humor, comes off kind of stern and thing but dry sense of humor

dry sense of humor but like you know what's crazy like Cam Neely you just talked about Mike Milbury like how gigantic are those guys? Huge. Like just big old crooked weird dudes like they're played and you're like look at the like all weird and crooked like Frankenstein like and you're like this is what these, like, all weird and crooked, like Frankenstein-like. And you're like, this is what, these guys were animals.

So I go for this visit with fucking Milbury. And I'm walking, I go walk around. He's got, like, loafers on. And he doesn't even have his boxes packed and unpacked at the office. And so he brings me around. And he's like, oh, geez, you played really hard. I just wanted to bring you over here and, you know, introduce i like what you did out there you played really hard you created a lot of space and you know you have to you know play with a lot of intensity and and be ferocious out there

and and this is what some of the attributes that i saw and i know of you that you need to do to come here and it looks like uh it was sitting i'm with my dad, who's my best friend, like ever gets it, you know. And I'm sitting with Milbury. We're all sitting in the office. This is exactly how it is. Milbury's there. My dad's here. And he's like, I need you to play ferocious.

I need you to do this and do that. And he goes, it looks like you got a bit of a sharp tongue out there too, huh? And he kind of leans back. He's got his feet up on the desk. And I'm'm thinking you know i'm like 17 and i'm like i thought that was the introduction for a line like like you know all right like now chirp me like now like chirp me what do you got and so i was like hey coach milbury i don't have a problem with you as long as you keep your shoes on referring back to the

time when he went up into the stands in New York And beat this guy with a shoe No, no, no, dead silence Like the oxygen comes out of the room And I'm like Ready? Everyone stop talking Camera on As long as you keep your shoes on Silence, like that And so My father gives me the Peter Griffin Silence Like that

Right And so My father gives me The Peter Griffin Just like slow And who's watched this guy His whole life Play in the NHL

And so Millbridge is sitting there And like It seems like an eternity And then he lets out The best barrel laugh ever And just He's like

Ah that's great Why don't you have a great time in Omaha? Enjoy yourself. Play hard. We'll be in touch. Okay. So you got Melberry to crack. I got him to crack.

On a visit. On a visit. Considering you're probably one of our fans' favorite guests, maybe that's a stone in the benefit of doubt. Yes. Right there. He would be great. I love it. He would be great. I love it.

Maybe we can start building that wall and bridging that gap between the haters of Milbury. No, he's phenomenal. He's a good guy. And all those guys who work it, and we talked about earlier in the beginning of the show, just the media side and the preparation and how polished that product is and how polishing.

I saw what you guys had on, were you guys doing the Trade Center breakdown? One thing about Milbury, too, he's been around long enough. I don't know how old was he when he first got into media because as of right now, it's hard being critical. He got it to a point where he didn't give a shit. He didn't care who it was. Well, I think that's part of it, too.

I think he was ripping Crosby pretty hard. He'd rip anyone. He doesn't care. Are you saying people appreciate the honesty? I think that they do when it's fair. I think he was one of those guys, and I think he was so grumpy that he just went over the top. Dude, Crosby was getting the fucking views back then. He's very old school.

Old school. People, especially Hockey Twitter,, hockey Twitter hates old school. They're kind of fucking soft. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they hate him more than anyone. But I'm kind of old school in a lot of hockey shit. When I was on Nessun and doing the college hockey, I'd be really critical of Hazy because I know the family and Jimmy and Kevin. But it was like Kevin and Johnny Goudreau.

And they'd be like 19 one-touch passes before they missed the net. And I'm like, quit being a hockey snob! Just get a shot on net! Create an opportunity! And now they got like 80 sheets in the bank. They got us chirping the wrong notes. Hey, good analysis, Walshie. Go fuck yourself.

Go arrest someone. So I guess that explains why you're a cop now. Yeah, exactly. Oh, shit. It wasn't so much like the beat of the drum. It was more so that you just didn't know what the fuck you were talking about. A little bit. But if you could say it like that, but I did it with pizzazz.

Yeah, you did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Milbury. Yeah. Were you older? Were you coming up with Berard? So it was funny. I'm a couple years older than Brian.

Okay. But I think that one year, the one year we played in the Province Journal Bulletin Tournament, which is like Mount St. Charles. Chris Drury was in Fairfield. You were at CM? I was at Catholic Memorial. So it was broad, and there was like maybe— You could say any name, and I would just nod my head.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But R.A. and Witter. I'm going to give you like the old—I'm like Willie from Welland. Like there's probably nine NHL—, probably six NHL players on that high school team. Was Greerzy there? Very prominent. No, LaSalle. There was a bunch of players, but Chris Drury

was playing for Fairfield. Was he nasty growing up, Chris Drury? Was Drury, at 14, 15, was he the best? He was just a little bit of a late bloomer, but just a robotic business-like existence. He was kind of like Patrice Berg. Yes, he was like very much.

He was like very much. I had this is and this is so I had Chris Drury, I had Grant Stanbrook. And we talked about Grant, right? And I had Chris Drury's roommate out at the Olympic Festival. And he was just this whole business-like approach. And this is where they pick the world junior team. And this is where they pick the under 20 team. And I was trying out for the under 20 team.

And Chris Drury, who was my roommate, was trying out for the world junior team. Isn't that the same thing? Yeah. So we all played. It was like north, south, east, west. Right? Oh, okay. So it's all a world junior.

So it would be the Olympic Festival when we were at Denver. Okay, all right. You'll love this. So Grant Stanbrook was one of my coaches on this team, and we talked about his intensity, and we talked about just his, you know, a little bit of quirkiness. Great recruiter. Just great recruiter, unbelievable coach,

and he was my assistant coach on the team. So I go out, like, almost every night of this tournament, right, because I'm like, you know what, they've picked this thing. I have no – it's always been the same USA Hockey darlings, and, you know, it's not a shot against the bow against USA Hockey. I'm like, all right, how many times are you going to pick this kid? He's not even that good, you know. And so – but he's like it's the

coach's son's kid and his father played at wisconsin and he's a usa hockey guy so uh we go play and i i stay out all night right and so i'm in denver i had a little adult sleepover i was like 19 20 years old and then i come back uh to campus and I sneak back into campus. Like I had this whole campus like laid out at Denver. So I'm like, all right, total, you know, I got to go by the security guard, which I know he was back at the guard shack at like 1030, and he wasn't going to go back to the other side of the campus. So I would go back to the other side of the campus to get back in from my sleepover to get back into dent back into campus so I

like to get back into my dorm room and Chris jury's my roommate so I like I get back into bed and I'm like what a night what a night so it's like 530 in the morning and then I'm like Chris jury wakes up beside me and he's like hey Grant came by I was like What at what time When did he come by he's like Well he came by at 730 And then I went upstairs up here You know to do crunches

And stick handle a golf ball And do everything else And he came by at 9 and then came Back in at like 1230 to see if you were here And I was like I'm like Well30 To see if he was here And I was like I'm like Well back up When was he here?

Like I need to drill this down Like when was he here? And when did he get here? How could I get out of this? Okay So then all of a sudden I go to Like the next morning

I go to like the cafeteria I'm trying out for a US team So I go to the cafeteria And I'm like Who do I have with me? I have like Mike Greer BU NHL One of the most amazing teammates ever Best guy ever team so i go to the cafeteria and i'm like who do i have with me i have like mike greer uh bu nhl one of the most amazing teammates ever best guy ever timmy lovell very successful hockey guy one

of the funniest kids i've ever played with runs a very successful uh hockey uh program how many more shout outs we got here yeah uh chris o'sullivan john coleman uh i'm trying to think another boston You're good. Just continue with the story. So we talk like six. So I'm like, all right, guys. All right. Now we're war.

I'm like, we're war warming this whole thing. Right. War rooming. I need your help. Biz, I'm looking at you. I need your help. War rooming. I know.

I know. And so I'm like, guys, what do I do? Should I just like blow it off? Do I go up and talk to him? Do I just like, I don't even know what you did. You came by. I was there. I tried to play it off.

I must have rolled off the side of the bed. Yeah, I was in the closet. That's where I sleep, upside down. You know that. Blood to the head. You didn't read about that? So I go. I'm like a fucking vampire.

That's the fact. I don't sleep. So I'm like, fuck it. All right. The Irish guilt gets me. I'm like, I got to go see Grant. I got to go up there Grant Now it's a dorm room I just gotta face it

If he sends me home We're playing in the finals Fuck it I'll just go home My parents who just flew out there to watch the finals And so I have all this going on in my head Inner turmoil And so I go to Grant's room And I'm like

Hey Grant I'm like, hey, Grant. I'm like sitting on the other side of the door. I'm like, Grant. And Grant's just crazy in shape like 75, like at the time, probably 70, 68 years old, ripped, shredded guy. I'm like, Grant. I'm like Jerry Seinfeld on the back of the door i'm like should i grab should i grab the door should not grab the door and he's like oh i like great i'm like fucking fletch and so i'm like i grabbed the door and i'm like grand up okay coming in

so i open the door goes and smashes up against the fucking like the other dorm bed i was like crack he's in his tighty whities and rolls like a barrel roll like he just got shot out of a fucking cannon and fucking all up underneath between beds and like there's the fucking heater i'm like are you okay and he gets up like two seconds he's like hey what's up he had the Jack LaLanne working workout things going while I was not gonna do it connected to the door and as soon as I opened the lock sent to me I can sent the springs he had the thing on full tension to the guy who I thought was gonna send me home. You could have killed him.

I swear to God. And so they go, boom, boom, boom. The door reached out. I was like, what? And he's like a Greek god, like a 69-year-old Greek god, like a nine-pack. So I was like, ah. And he gets up real quick, and he's like, hey,

I wanted to talk to you about the game. We're playing the finals. And we talked about this before. Don't change anything about your game. I just want to reinforce that. Don't change anything about your game and be ready to play hard. You're going to go a lot. You need to shut down this hair.

You're a shut down guy. And that's all he wanted to talk to me about. No comment about. Nothing. Nothing. That's awesome. And I was just. You think Drury was fucking with you? He's got a funny sense of humor. I was going to me about. No comment about... Nothing. Nothing. That's awesome. And I was just... You think Drury was fucking with you?

He's got a funny sense of humor. I was going to say, you don't think... Probably. Maybe. I didn't even think of that. Did he acknowledge? Drury's off his horizon. This is like a Kobayashi moment.

Like, on the back. I was like, in the back, and I was like, Drury, fuck it me. Drury, fuck it me. Drury, fuck it me. Drury... I thought for sure that's where it was going to go. You're saying Drury's the type of guy where guy where like, oh, Drew would have no problem pulling a prank and then never even letting on ever that he got you. You know what I mean?

No, no. He'd be like, he'd be like an old age home. We got to ask. I got to ask. I'm too fucking curious. You mentioned Mike Greer. You got to have some awesome stories about him. And you said he was an incredible teammate.

He used to truck people. He used to truck. When I was there at BU, Jack Park used to give the hit of the night. It was like a sticker. Get a decal. Get a decal. When I say they should have just gave him a sheet of decals at the beginning of the season Just apply them when you need to

Whenever you want, here's 200 hits of the night For someone who was like the agility that he played with And the size that he played with And he could play any which way he wanted That was the thing that was scary about Mike He was good down low, he was good on the rush Good on the rush. He was good on the power play.

Did he look like a worse skater than he actually was? I think his skating got better. I remember at St. Sebastian's, we played against him in high school. He's just raw. But I think hats off to Mike Boyle and the staff at BU. When I saw him and played with him, when he was skating at me 200 miles an hour in a download drill, you couldn't get off the train tracks. Am I wrong to say his form didn't look unreal out there? Oh, no.

I don't think skating was ever considered his main strength, but I think He figured out A way to be able To like Still run guys Over and score Even though he

Wasn't a great skater Yeah But I think Mike Rear Would still be You know I knew he had A lot of knee issues

And some injury stuff But he would be In that category Of guys Which I always Was completely Amazed at Like if you were

Playing nine Ten years ago Considering where The speed of the game Is going The agility The skill If you're still Playing like Patrice Bergeron Completely amazed at Like if you were playing Nine ten years ago Considering where the speed Of the game is going The agility The skill If you're still playing

Like Patrice Bergeron And Kopitar And like some of these Other guys Ron Hainsey That they're still playing Like he would be In that thing

He'd be like Alright I'll figure out A way to carve out something Greerzy also was a guy Who never drank But was still a guy That would go out Every night with the guys

Oh last guy So it was really I think it was cool Like he knows Oh if I'm still a guy that would go out every night with the guys. Oh, last guy. Oh, okay. So I think it was cool. He knows, oh, if I'm not going to drink, still I'll be hanging around with the boys. Absolutely. What about, we might have talked about the first time with you, but I can't remember how sick Jay Pandolfo was in college. Oh, my God. Jay.

Because he went on to be such a checker, people, if you don't know. I mean, great defensive forward at BU. To go back to how good he was, he scored a natural shorthanded hat trick, I believe, against Northeastern, where Ben Smith was the coach right before the beanpot, and Northeastern went on the power play, and the coach, Ben Smith, said to the ref, was like, yeah, we'll decline. Because Pando's going to score again. A natural shorthanded hat trick in the first period. Three shorties in the first period.

And he just had one timing. He was so... His ability to skate, shoot. I remember watching those games. And I'll never forget how good he was, which would go back to when you had Marty Turco on. And we played Marty Turco in the national championship. And how dialed in Jay was that season.

I mean, he scored like it seemed like every every other shift he like, you know, he had a shot on that and or a goal. But Turco, we never saw him, you know, play comes across. It was kind of a lazy play one timer, which is on an initial rush. And I was like, oh, here we go, 1-0. And, like, Turco, like, blasted from post to post and gloved it. He was opposite glove, wasn't he? No, he was all right. And then he was trying to stick over to play the puck, he was saying. Yes, that's what he did.

And then, like, Jay pinned off, like, I mean, Turco snapped it out of the air. And in that instance, I was like, it ain't happening tonight. No way. It ain't happening. Just playing a goalie that you guys hadn't seen that year. He hadn't seen and just how dialed in he was. And our thing was to get in on the four check against that team. And we kind of pounded the teams.

Oh, yeah, but he could play the puck. And think of it like in college, all of a sudden, you get into a situation where you can't positionally dump it and put it to space when you've never done it the whole year? That's the thing. It's like people act like, well, why don't you just jump it to the right area? It's like, yeah, but we don't get it.

That's like looking back in time. In a sense, it's right. The best coaches are able to slow down time and adjust in the midst of a game. One, just because maybe they're just naturally good at it as a player and they've seen it before. And or they're able to adapt just that quickly and and more time it's the guy who's experienced it the hard way first yeah biz another guy that i think uh i don't know as a bu fan islanders fans know

was sean bates what do you remember about about him i've i've always been told that he would have all his gear undone and be out of the room before Parker even came in to give his postgame speech. No, absolutely. He would run with a family of like 35, and they would be up at T's Pub just waiting for Sean to get there to do a dance and just be dancing on the dance floor. But the things I love about Batesy, awesome teammate, just like a quintessential city kid, but just a sick athlete. Like, you're like, oh, what hockey school did you go to? He's like, I've never went, never been to a hockey school. Just like, he was probably a better basketball player.

We used to train, remember with Perté Hassanen? Yep. So we'd do, for conditioning, we couldn't go on the ice because of NCAA rules. So you try to build in some type of, you know, competitive conditioning. So we'd do, like, line changes in basketball. But then the basketball team came down, rules so you try to build in some type of you know competitive conditioning so we do like line changes in basketball but then the basketball team came down and then batesy played with them

batesy could dunk like he could dunk dunk a basketball and five nine no like no like he's like five ten but his legs are like tree trunks yeah he is and he could unbelievable spring and but he one of those guys like played pickup basketball His whole life Like he played on like Almost like a semi-professional Softball team Just a cast of characters I think I've brought him up here before And so

We talk about those types Like Joe Pavelski Yeah just Yeah Like oh what's this A tennis racket You know what I mean Just go out and play

So I remember But Batesy was notorious And so The only time I made Jack Parker Really laugh We were like winning He'd go these fucking Marathon shifts Batesy would, right?

And so it was like, you know, second line center, third line center myself. And so he'd go on these marathon shifts and I'd be like, oh my God. So he'd be like down, back, down, back. And all of a sudden there'd be a breakdown in this fucking kid. I'm like, Batesy. And I would be so excited. Like freshman in college, I'd jump out there. Minus.

Like, just take a minus. Because he'd be like, he'd stay with this marathon shift. And then there'd be like a crazy turnover. It's a crazy turnover. He'd be like, just like, cruise over. He's like, I'm done. And just change up. And I'd be like, get out there all intense.

Like, get into the play. Just enough for the person upstairs. He'd be like, oh, what was that, Walsh, 19? Just, all right, boom. And just minus. it this whole did it to me the whole year and so i remember that so now i'm like i'm not take i was like the only minus player at bu and so i was like fuck this so he's he does this one of these marilong shifts he comes down to do the whole like oh i'm changing up and like i met him at the half of the bench, and I pushed him back out there. And he tried to get on.

I was like, no, you take it. Take it. Sliding down the bench. And, like, I was like, no, no, fuck you. You get out there. Fair. Fucking minus. Take your minus.

But Batesy was like, ah, ha, ha, ha. I laughed. Well, that was a move that people did. If you changed, or no, if you got on the ice and then a goal was scored for your team, guys would turn around and say, hey, man, you're out there that whole shift. Half the people listening have played hockey to a level probably where they always had that teammate who would do that to them and been like, oh, my God, I fucking hated that guy on the team.

And they're thinking of the guy who did it the worst to them right now. Oh, yeah. Whereas the other half, they never played to that level. I was the guy. Yeah, no, hey. That's when you realize. If I don't have anyone, it might even be. Yeah, yeah.

If you're doing that as a defenseman, you're like the ultimate fucking piece of trash because that's the last line of defense. Yeah. Where a forward, at least you can kind of be like, ah. But I would be one to always change while we're in the offensive zone for two reasons because we had a more probability of scoring if i was changing for somebody because it was only getting better from my fourth line left wing spot and because i didn't want to get cut out there past the you know 35 40 second mark in my own end because then all of a sudden they were swarming yeah no and

then you'd be uh they'd be complete hemming so if you do do that as a player you're a piece of trash yes and if you and it but if you do do it in the midst of a game where you get the chopstick dance going back to the bench at least after the guy again takes the minus try to talk to the pr guy to either take it or go up to the guy and acknowledge the fact that you did it to him yeah no you should be able To just go up And say no That was actually his minus Let's roll that back And when did this play start It started at the red line And this guy here

Was still in the X Well Although Batesy I went down to Long Island To catch a game And Was it the playoffs

Where Batesy scored On Curtis Joseph In Was it division finals? And he had a penalty shot You gotta look I think it was Oh yeah

It was against Toronto Yeah Toronto It was a crazy series Like Michael Peca got knocked out Darcy Tucker flying around That was when Darcy I thought Peca tore Tucker's ACL

Was it the other way around? No I think All I know it was like It had more Sideshow It was a great series It was a great series One of those NHL series

I remember the Coliseum Going nuts It was nuts I was right behind I was in the family section And then He has his penalty play Penalty shot goal

Penalty shot goal Sean Bates And you know You play with this kid I was down there Visiting a buddy of mine And I'm sitting In the family section

I'm like He's gonna get a fucking penalty shot. And he got a penalty shot. And then all of a sudden, the kid you played hockey with, you know, and I was still playing. But I was like, this is incredible. Yeah, that's so cool. And then he had a penalty shot. And what does he do?

Just, I think, top cheese. I think he wristed one. Yeah, just like bar down. Yep. And the place went nuts. In the playoffs. You had to mall somebody to get a penalty shot back one. Yeah, just like bar down. Yep, and the place went nuts. In playoffs. You had to mall somebody to get a penalty shot back then. No, it was complete Hudson Bay rules.

Like just complete nonsense. Oh, Walshie, this is great stuff. How long have we gone here? Six days. Oh, that's good. That's good. Walshie, we're going to come back here right before playoffs gets going. We'll have you on again.

I think you're kind of in the Tim Stapleton category where we could do this for hours and hours and hours. Write down the next batch of stories, and we love having you on. You are such a character. Our fan base loves you. Thank you. Even if they didn't, I wouldn't give a fuck

because we're getting entertained enough. Yeah, exactly. It's more about us at this point. Thank you very much. We're on merchandise featuring yourself, and you'll like this. Oh, man. Absolute character.

I mean, what more can you say about Brendan Walsh? The dude is, he's just an absolute beauty. I'm sure we'll have him on 17 more times before the show is over. So, thanks to Walsh. And next up, we've got another Irish guy. This guy's been executive, I think, half the NHL at this point. We've got a quick little snippet here with Brian

Burke. Always entertaining. Always fun to talk to. So let's send it over to Burke. You were a part of the Leafs for a long time and you've seen living here or being here for work. I mean, it's tough to believe that they could win a Stanley Cup anytime in the near future, huh? Well, they've got

their top six forwards are tremendous. They've got tremendous up-front ability. I don't like the way the rest of the roster is constructed. I don't think their D is good enough. Muzzin really helps, even though he's hurt right now. Yeah, it's a tough one. But I don't think their D is good enough, and I don't think they're big enough.

Somebody reminded me online, you were the one to pick Morgan Riley, correct? Yes. You had him pegged at number one. Yes. Really? Let's talk about why you were so high on Morgan Riley. I mean, he's a big piece to this team right now. Of course, they've missed him a little bit in the lineup lately. Well, his draft year, he got hurt and he didn't play very much. He played early and then got hurt

and didn't play till the very end of the year. He played like 15 games or 11 games or something. hurt and didn't play until the very end of the year he played like 15 games or 11 games or something and we tripled up the coverage on his game so we had we had four and five scouts that watching all of his games which is unusual you know usually you don't have more than one or two and they came back and we had him rated number one so that was the draft that yakupov went number one and i think murray went number two and i forget who else. Galchenyuk went three, I think. Galchenyuk was three, I think. So you're like, oh, my God. He's dropping to us. Yeah, we're sitting there at the table thinking he's dropping to us.

We're going to get a shot at him. What a feeling that is, huh? Yeah. All right, so when that's happening and the third pick doesn't take him, are you then thinking about calling the fourth if there's a chance that you think they may take him? No, we're pretty wired in that okay once once yakupov went we knew murray was rated higher by most teams and uh galchani was rated higher by multi we thought

once yakupov went because he was the wild card because we weren't going to take him his draft interview was the worst interview i've ever had in my life yakupov was terrible oh geez because he was defiant and obnoxious and sullen and so i mean i thought i'm quick john lilly one of our one of our scouts you know those i think right yep so john lilly almost fought him in the interview so it was it was not a good interview so but the thing with morgan riley is i had a video guy cut every shift that he skated that year which weren't that many. He only played, like I say, 15 games. I watched every shift he played twice on video.

And I'm like, the scouts are right. This kid sees the ice. He skates great. He's a great kid. He's thick, too. Big guy. It was fortunate for us that that went down that way. I was actually –

Same thing with Cam Fowler when he got to Anaheim. Yeah. He dropped lower than he should have. I walked over to Bob Murray's table. I was actually... Same thing with Cam Fowler when he got to Anaheim. Yeah. He dropped lower than he should have. I walked over to Bob Murray's table. I said, you're going to get Fowler. And I couldn't believe he dropped that far. I know. He could skate.

Well, I was going to ask you, as a general manager, you're hearing this from your scouts and you said you added more to the fire. How many times did you get a chance to go see him live? Or did you completely rely on their word for it and the video? Just their word for it and the video. You try not to, if you're going to see Moose Jaw, you try to see them somewhere else. It's not a fun place to go to.

People are great, but it's a hard drive in the middle of winter, so you try to see them in Brandon or somewhere closer to Winnipeg or try and see them in Calgary. You try and scout them in a better environment. And I'm going to get emails and texts from people in Moose Jaw. The people are lovely, and it's great in the summertime. In the wintertime, you don't want to be there. It's hardcore.

That's a hard drive. Okay, so that can't be very common that a general manager drafts a guy that high who has not seen him live, correct? Very rare. Okay. I was digging for that. That's also just having live, correct? Very rare. Okay. I was digging for that. That's also just having a real trust in your staff. Yep.

It's funny the conversation led to interviews, and I was already thinking ahead to ask. I am putting you on the spot, but any interviews really stick out to you. I guess you might have said Yakupov being the worst, but any other ones where guys really surprised you in a good way? Gabriel Landeskog. Yeah, that's no surprise.

He finished his interview, and we wanted to ask him to sit down, help us talk to the other kids. I think he'll be a general manager in the league. Really? Yeah, I really do. I really respect him. The no accent is wild. It throws you off.

He's a robot. He's too perfect. You're not from like a diner in Minnesota? But going way back, I remember when I worked for Pat Quinn, Brad May was probably the best interview we ever did. And he walked out, and we couldn't take him as high as – our pick was much higher than he was slotted in. He was slotted in around 10 or

12 and we i think we picked second or third this year whatever so we couldn't take him but he walked out of the room and pat quinn turned to me and said i gotta get another first wow well i was gonna ask you um so we had terry ryan on and he told a hilarious mike millberry grill story about his draft year do you GMs kind of chuckle about some of these stories together? Is it like a, I don't want to say a dick measuring contest, but do you guys play like a little game? Like, Hey, how about this interview? Well, you know what, what I try and do these kids, it's all scripted.

Now the agents tell them, you know, who's your hero? My dad, you know, who's your, so you're not often getting genuine deep conversation oh so the guy comes in and i say what kind of watch is that so he's thinking well if i say it's a timex i'm cheaper we're poor but i say it's a rolex i'm entitled so now the kids scramble i'm relaxed i don't care what kind of watch or i say what kind of dog do you have he's like well i better say a rottweiler right it's brian burke and i can't tell him we have a pecanese or whatever it is and so the kids all screwed up and uh right on his heels now he's off the script yeah you need to get away from one of those answers he's off to prepared answers so i remember i interviewed uh

casperitis and um he came in he had the sunglasses pushed up, and he sits back. And I remember barking at him, hey, pay attention here. And I remember when we interviewed Thomas Vanek, we had like the sixth pick in the draft or eighth pick in the draft. And he's like, why am I even here? There's no way I'll be there when you guys pick. So he was bored. He was sitting back.

And finally I snapped at him. I said, hey hey listen up son straighten up and start answering the questions if you know anything about me you know i'll move up in the draft for a guy i like and so far i don't like you he paid more attention after that sometimes you're like i'll move up just to draft you and bury you fuck you think i won't fucking bury you that is unreal so fan Vanek, all right. Well, he got a little pee-pee whack and he's back in the...

And you know what? I liked the rest of his interview. He's impressive. He's a good guy. Yeah, I liked him a lot. The notion that, why am I sitting here wasting a half hour with you guys

when I got to be long gone on the draft board? Yeah, I'm not going to lie, I was like, please, please pick me. Please, to every man. I just remember being so nervous. And you do have some sort of script.

And when they go off of it, it's panic time. But, hey, Vanek, I don't know if you remember Frozen 4, one of the most dominant performances ever when Minnesota beat UNH, I think. That was very impressive. You just mentioned the guy I wanted to ask you about last time. We never got to it. Pat Quinn. How essential was he to you as your first few days as a front office guy? Was he like like a real mentor to you you guys had a lot in common yeah i've been lucky i've

had three well my dad was so i've had four but my dad was my uh was my mentor and i idolized him um he passed away a few years ago but i've been lucky i played for lou lamorello for four years and you learn so much from a guy like that. Then I worked for Pac Quinn, then I worked for Gary Bettman, and all three of them, it was a major learning curve. Pac Quinn was one of the finest people that ever walked on this planet, and he was smart, and he was tough, and he was fair. Like when I was a young executive, I wanted to be Pat.

I remember that's why I wore cufflinks. I remember I went in one day, and Pat says, what's with the shirts? And I'm like, what are you talking about? I had to tie like this and I had a black suit on. I dressed like I did when I was a lawyer. And he says, what's with the, he said, what's with the shirts? I said, what's the matter with my shirt?

He goes, real men wear cufflinks. So I went back to my office and called the tailor and ordered a bunch of French cup shirts. That's all I wear now. I just, I wanted to be Pat. Big thanks to Brian Burke for joining us, man. Again, that was another one of those interviews. I was,

it was an honor to do. It's a guy I've always looked up to follow his work for years and be able to be in the same room with him was almost as good as this next guy. Another guy looked up to for a long time, Ron McLean, hockey night in Canada, hockey royalty up in Canada. This guy come in, blew our socks away.

We were kind of dragging ass a little bit doing a bunch of interviews. He came in, and he knew what we needed. He gave it to us. Gee, what do you got? I've never seen Biz so inspired after an interview. He had, like, tears. Remember we took an Uber to, like, we were going somewhere, I think, out to dinner after, and he had tears in his eyes

talking about how passionate he was, about how great that interview was and how we had to drop it on the next podcast. So yeah, like you said, Ron McLean was awesome. Yeah, it was good stuff. So without further ado, Ron McLean. Well, our next guest has been one of the faces of Canada for about 35 years now, most famously, of course, on hockey night in Canada every Saturday during the season, he's won numerous awards for his work.

He's done a little bit of reffing back in the day, I understand, as well. It's an honor for me to have you on as a journalist, a major guy I looked up to. Ron McLean, welcome to the Spitting Chickens podcast. It's a pleasure, Admiral. And Paul, I owe Paul for what he did for me and Welland for a show we do up in Canada called Rogers Hometown Hockey. And his mom and dad, Yolanda and Cam, were the honorary social conveners of our show. So it's great to do it with you, Biz. How do you remember all these names?

Well, I think you're born with that. Some people just remember names. Gretzky, right? We were just talking before we started about Wayne, and he can recall all of the goals, all 894. He can give you specifics. It's funny. I did the All-Star Game here in 1988, so I was 27.

You were two. You were two years old, Paul. And I did the All-Star Game in St. Louis, and I was very proud of an interview I did with the legendary Glenn Hall. And I asked our team to pull it for last year's Stanley Cup, and I looked at it, and it was god-awful. I was so just a Bambi, right? And Glenn was gracious and great, but it wasn't much.

There was no enlightenment out of the interview. Kind of like how we're going to be looking at this in 25 years. But that was Wayne. Wayne got a goal. They were up 2-1. His team was the Whales. They used to call the East. They were up 2-1 after 20 minutes because it was a big showdown.

Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky. And as Wayne said, 20 years earlier, I went to the All-Star Game, Joe Lewis Arena, Detroit, and I had fire in my eyes. I was going to show Mike Bossy and Guy Lafleur that I was here to play and that I belonged. And he said, I know Mario's coming at me tonight. And Mario did. He ended up with three and three. So saying that, were All-Star games a little bit more intense back then?

Well, in fact, Gordie Howe, we were also talking about him off the air. Gordie played his first All-Star in 1948, the year that Bobby Orr was born. And he fought in that game. And then Bobby's first game was 68. Bobby Orr's first All-Star game was 68. Gordie Howe played in that one, too. And he fought Mike Walton. And then he played in the 1980 All-Star game with Wayne Gretzky.

That was his first. Gordie Howe did. And Bobby Orr was two years retired. So that's, but Gordie kind of represented the intensity of it. Orr, for sure, blocked, famously blocked a shot, a Bobby Hall blast to preserve a victory

in, I think it was 72. It was really, you know, the 88 game, I mean, Wayne had a lot going on. He was, he had proposed to Janet Jones, right? So the royal wedding was about to happen up in Edmonton. And, you know, that was one of the storylines. And then the intensity behind this, like when Connor McDavid rolled into Toronto recently,

and, you know, he scored a great goal, obviously Morgan Rielly undressed, and then he put his number one in the air to kind of let T.O. know, let's not have any discussion of Austin Matthews or anybody else. I'm your man now. And so with Sid and him, let's say, it would be neat to see showdowns, but it's just a different time. And you joke about the wedding being the royal wedding for Wayne. He's Canadian royalty, and, I mean, you're not going to like this.

I put you and Don in that class because you were the face of Hockey Night in Canada for all these years. We grew up to you guys. I know everybody was very disappointed in how it ended, no matter what side you lied on. But you mentioned early on how you were the Bambi. Were you really nervous getting into this industry? Oh, Paul, I was horrified.

I remember I kind of fell into it. I was in Calgary working the Calgary Flames games, and Dave Hodge had accepted a job. He was my predecessor as the principal host on Hockey Night in Canada, fantastic broadcaster. But Dave had received a job offer from CKNW in Vancouver. So he moved to Vancouver, and he would fly in and do Hockey Night in Canada in Toronto, but he said if there's Canucks home dates,

I wouldn't mind working in Vancouver. So they needed a guy to do about 11 Hockey Night in Canada. And the boss that was connected to my work in Calgary said, phone Don Wallace, executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada, put your name in the hat. They like to groom somebody, so you're 26, it might be just ideal. And I got the gig, and I was such a deer in headlights. I've told you, Paul, I used to have like really bad anxiety when I was young.

I'd get these panic attacks and the whole mess of anxiety. And I will say Grapes was great. Like he kind of sheltered me from a lot of bad moments. I remember doing the first ever Coach's Corner and I was trying to keep my eyes fixed on Don Cherry's because the producer said, Ron, we like your work. But when you're interviewing guests, your eyes have a tendency to wander up and down the guest, and it's a little disconcerting to some of the viewers. You're licking your lips.

Yeah, I was mortified. I had this bad affectation, right? So I thought, whatever you do, stupid, rivet your eyes on cherries and don't let them budge, which is hard to do when you make eye contact. Yeah, it's awkward, and I got a tear developed on my very first coach's corner. A tear started streaming down my left cheek now. The camera's here, so the viewer didn't see it, but Don's looking at me thinking, good God,

is this guy going to fall every time I say I like fighting? Anyway, we got through it, and that was 1986, and as you say, 34 great years together, and a crazy, you know, we were kind of an arranged marriage back then because of Dave's decision to go to Vancouver, know, we were kind of an arranged marriage back then because of Dave's decision to go to Vancouver,

and then we were kind of an arranged divorce because, you know, just the way things shook down, and you were right there. You saw firsthand what a clumsy, crazy time. I mean, since we're kind of already talking about it, you know, I guess maybe some people who are more Cherry fans were a little upset considering that they thought that many

times in in your career that he had went to bat for you which i'm i'm sure he did yes he did yeah both of us went to bat for one another and in this case honestly all i can say to that is because it is a hard thing to feel like you know when you're a player you know you fought how many fights on behalf of a teammate and when when i always kind likened Don and me to two American Hockey League defense partners. We weren't quite, you know, right. We weren't quite, the language wasn't perfect. Our attempts to teach honor and everything was like Don Quixote. It was always a farce, him and Sancho Panza.

But we were consistently there with our, me, the left-wing pinko communist, and Don, the right-wing, you know, whatever he is. It was good to see that reflection of two guys so different that could work together, and then I felt like we were kind of in a foxhole. And then on this crazy event, which was just Don projecting a behavior on people

because of where they come from, and, you know, got it wrong, but chose his decision was not to say sorry and do whatever. You'd have to ask Don what, you know, he said they made it impossible, which I can't believe they would make it impossible for Don. But anyway, he just decided what he decided. And I had no control, right?

I woke up after a night at the Trappers in Welland. Well, he was in Welland when this all went down. Yeah, doing the hometown hockey. And it was hard for me to watch a Canadian icon and what you guys had done for hockey collectively. It was hard to watch you go through that, and I'm sure it was just as hard for Don because you were between a rock and a hard place

where this is your livelihood, and everyone can tell this means a lot to you doing this job. And having to come on the next day and already have something written or to say something, people felt like you threw them under the bus. I mean, I didn't look at it that way, and I knew how bent out of shape you were about it, and it was sad. It was important to get – what I really hated about it all was that, as you know, we were shooting at your mom and dad's, and then we were shooting – we did a meet and greet, a corporate event, and then we did stuff for the Canada Winter Games. The whole day? It was just like nonstop while I was on the phone.

And your mind's racing. Racing badly. And I remember the one sort of request from Rogers was, when you apologize, Ron, try not to cushion it with Don's a great guy, and try not to, you know, just try to be unequivocal and clear about what you're trying to say. And I was really scrambling to do that. So I did my quick apology, which I wanted to do,

because I felt bad, Ryan, that we had, you know, it was an inadvertent mistake, but it was a mistake. And it's just one of those things that, you know, in my little world, Don knows my politics, my ethics. I am kind of that do-gooder that feels strongly about stuff like that. So I was upset that it kind of went sideways on us, and I wanted to apologize.

And I kind of thought Don would. So I never really dreamt that it would get so wild so fast and that's the power of that quick right and there's no real circling back so it was uh it was just out of our control and and but you know like I said 34 great years and hopefully Paul was asking you know how are you how are you doing with Don now and I I email over there, and I wonder if he even sees the emails because Don's not the most tech-savvy guy. Anyway, that'll come. You know, that'll be the last.

Time heals. Right. We'll figure that part out because, you know, I can't imagine that he doesn't still take a shine to all we've been through together. Like, we've been through some crazy moments together. And as far as, you know, I mean, Don would have kept his job if he wanted to keep his job. So the idea that I threw the bus or ran the bus over him, that's just not fair. But I understand.

I totally understand why it feels that way. What I think is really fascinating, there's so many elements to this, but when you, as I did, sort of talk about an aspirational choice, I had to pick what I felt right over friendship, you know, and that just doesn't appeal to the heart. Right. People want loyalty. People want friends for life.

You know, they don't want to hear that somebody's picking the intellect. It's kind of an intellect decision, which has no appeal, especially in our business. Our business is all about heart. But it's not always black or white. No. You don't want your kids to just go along and do the wrong thing, right? Your best friend, he's your best friend, but this is an example. He does something awful.

It's like loyalty only goes so far. That's right. So I think you make sense. What I was going to say about the entire thing is like Biz has mentioned it before. Playing-wise, that's why there's the cool-off period before the media come in but when break stories break like this this story was so big it's like everyone wants an answer right away it's like just if you didn't rush people into into giving the the immediate reaction it's like things would be said different but part of the

rush makes it hard but i mean it was a crazy time i I mean, I know that in the end, I think my opinion is when the dust settles, it'll be about the memories. And in years down the line, and even the fans will be like, those coaches' corners, those Hockey Night in Canada, Saturday night living on two guys who had this relationship with their friends but also would argue, in the end, that'll be what's remembered. Yeah, I agree, Ryan. I hope you know that.

Yeah, I feel that. Yeah, I just know because I know what we went through. You know, I know, like I said, two American hockey together. I remember us looking for beer in Pennsylvania. It's hard to find beer in Pennsylvania, right? So we were like two desperate souls wandering around the south side of Pitt looking for a beer distributor. And I thought to myself, well, that reminds me of what it must be like

for the two guys that roll off the bus in the ahl hoping to find beer right that's why you use the ahl defenseman term yeah yeah um well go ahead i was just going to ask a question about this this industry which is you've been a part of it for so long but biz said were you nervous at the beginning my thing has been interviewing can be so tough, and I imagine now you've become so accustomed. But even at times, isn't it wild how you do an interview and things aren't buzzing? And then when you're on national TV, how do you approach when you're not necessarily vibing with a guy?

Well, first of all, you've got 11 interviews here at All-Star Weekend. It's impossible. I think for players and I refereed, and certainly in broadcasting, concentration is everything. And it's really hard to keep your concentration through 11 interviews. If you're overworked and underprepared, it's going to show. So that's kind of the secret is to be as prepared as you can be. Because on those days, you're not clicking.

You need to have stuff to ask. That might get you through. But on the days you're clicking, which is a lot of it's trust right the uh you know if you can i just think about how the st louis blues won this stanley cup and went through so many being last you know in january 2nd to being in trouble against dallas and double overtime to having the crazy uh glove pass goal put them behind in a series to everything you know losing the sixth game here where they should have won but somehow they kept their cool and it's you know we you've been through yeah for sure well we can cut stuff you're live even even with the with the grapes

ordeal and i'll leave this but uh you know i kept saying it wasn't beyond my experience it was beyond my education to figure out how the hell to say something that wouldn't incite a riot one way or the other like everything is felt divisive Everything felt self-serving. Nothing I could come up with felt particularly helpful. And that was my education maybe letting me down. My experience was just do the job and let them howl. You can't worry about that. How did you get into officiating? I was starting my radio career, Biz, and a friend of mine who had gotten me into broadcasting, I had no aim to go into that a guy was working as an operator at CKRD in Red Deer Bernie Roth was his name and Bernie said he

was just going to start refereeing because they might give him some microphone moments and he doesn't want to have a speech impediment from getting his teeth knocked in so he said I'm going to switch from playing we were junior age I'm going to switch from playing to refereeing it's a little safer. And I thought, well, that's a good idea, because he got me involved at the radio station to come in and work pushing buttons part-time. And then eventually I followed his lead into refereeing,

and I remember, too, doing that and just the swirl of a game. He was probably novice or peewee, just a little hockey, but it still felt overwhelming. I'd played all my life, but it was hard to track, you know, 10 players instead of just follow the puck. But I really enjoyed it. And I always felt fantastic support for media because in both instances, refereeing and in our job here, you want to let your guest be the star.

And it's not us against them. You're there to facilitate. And I refereed with this whole feeling of, okay, how are they going? Are they starting to feel unsafe out there? Are they starting to lose their marbles? Then I need to step it up a bit. Otherwise, they seem to have it under control. So I don't even know if you know this, but I played in the game,

the NHL preseason game. You refed it. Oh, yeah. 14 years ago from now, 2006, we played Buffalo in Pittsburgh. Yeah. And before the game, somebody said, Ron McLean's ref, and I was like,

Hockey Night in Canada, Ron McLean? They're like, yeah, he's our referee as well. So I remember you called the penalty late at some point in the game. LeClaire, chintzy trip, terrible. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. Send somebody to the box yeah I was trying to play along right there was a new standard the year before we had 18,000 power plays right yeah and

I wasn't happy about it I felt that we'd gone too far like all these ethical agendas when the pendulum swings it comes crashing through right so we had we had that 0506 season where Carolina and Edmonton played in the final and was just power play after power play. And I felt it was too much. But anyway, so to try and make peace with the NHL, I agreed to come and referee and I agreed to call one of their chintzy hooks, you know, and I, but I felt, I felt so, I felt so bad. Leclerc, you know, Recchi was after me. Gonchar was after me. Brooks Orpik was after me. There was a lot of, but I loved that. I was kind of used to it with grapes.

I'd been called a lot of things over my rest of the year. What were some other city things that you guys had to go through? And one other question before you answer that one. How did it all go down? Would he just show up and the main topics would be listed out? Or he would go over everything? That's a great question.

He works at it like endlessly. We always talked on the regular season Saturdays. I would phone over at 9.30 and every Saturday morning at 9.30, he would pick up the phone and say, Don's Bicycle Shop, Big Wheel Don talking. That was like our little ritual, right, for 30 odd years. So I would phone and I'd sort of have a list of things that I had noticed that week. Don would certainly have had a list of things that he had noticed that week. And Kathy Broderick,

a producer at Hockey Night in Canada, was really good at filing away things that might appeal to Don and his sensibilities, because that's part of it, right? You know, especially in the early going, you know, guy could go end to end and, you know, undress 15 people six times. But if he wore a visor, he wasn't getting on Coach's Corner. So that's one of my favorite moments. We were in Pittsburgh doing a Stanley Cup. I don't know if you were just skating, Ryan, or what, or Paul. It was 09. So we're in the Sheraton on the island.

What's that? I don't know what it's called. So we're there watching a baseball game. It's the off night between Stanley Cup games, and we're watching baseball. And a catcher is talking about how he had had a really bad April, and he was upset that, you know, his hands were frozen and the bat vibrated. And all the guys from Puerto Rico and the Dominican who wore batting gloves were tearing it up. And he just was going to have to try this because his career is going down the tank

if he doesn't figure out how to hit in April and early May. So he gets up there with his batting gloves on, and the opposing team catcher, now Don and I are like this. There's a table between us with peanuts and popcorn and beer in the garbage can in front of us, and we're watching the baseball game, and this catcher's explaining how he's going to wear batting gloves for the first time hitting a ball. And as he gets ready to face the first pitch,

the catcher of the opposing team down below says, I thought you were one of us. And Grapes spits his beer out and he fires his hand over. It just about caves in six of my ribs. He says, you see? You see? I know what I'm talking about. You see what a suck?

He's become a suck and everybody knows it. That's what it was like watching TV with Don. Same with Trump, right? We would have to, in the more recent Stanley Cups, whether it was in Nashville or in Vegas, I would want to go back and watch the NHL Network or highlights and just kind of figure out what did really happen in the game because somehow you're at them, but you don't catch anything, right?

You know how that feels? So I really like to go back and watch the highlights. Not Don. He's got to have Fox News on, and he wants to see Trump's speech for the third time. And then grapes will start hitting me again. Like, you see, now watch this. This is good. This is really good.

He's going to go off prompter here. He's going to go off. He knows there's union guys over in the corner. He's going to get a rise out of them. So he's going to go over here. He's going to go off. Watch this. This is really good.

Imagine, he says, he's in his 70s. Is that great energy or what? And that's what we would do over our beer in the Stanley Cup. You're like on your phone. You're like, again? Yeah, make it a double. Yeah, I tell you. But I mean, we joke about the Trump stuff and how he's maybe a little bit more right

wing than us. What's wrong with that? You're allowed to be. You can be both. be a little bit more right wing than us. What's wrong with that? You're allowed to be. Yeah, but you'd be both.

But there's also so much good that he did as well. Oh. Like with the military and everything. And I mean, do you want to just touch on some stuff? Well, he reminds me of just the way Berube, you know, took over the Blues and brought that kind of sensibility to a dressing room. You know, he's even keeled in his own. Well, like Don wasn't, I don't think. When he coached, Don could get pretty, you know, hot and bothered.

But he still, Don, like Berube, has a perspective that is, you know, Berube fought as a 16-year-old in a tough man competition in Williams Lake, B.C., and he survived it. And Don had to go through all that. So he had a carnal, primal, whatever it is, knowledge of courage. And we kind of needed someone to teach us that, right? You know, it's all well and good to come at it with my, you know, the land of Billiken. Here in St. Louis, the university mascot is the Billiken, which is the god of how things

ought to be. And that's what Don always says. Oh, you live in the world of Billiken, Ron. You're in, you know, rose-colored glasses. So we wanted, and right now, without a Don, let's say, you know, you need a train wreck. You need that. You need that narrative tension. And you also need somebody that's got a good grasp of the trench.

And he was really good. And then, as you say, Paul, he did that for the military. I mean, I hate to say it, but our military, he did. And that was what was so hard about the night that everything fell apart. We had just done two tributes to two young boys who had died. One from Welland had died of mental illness that resulted in suicide. He had just said that, and he was on his way to the Vimy Ridge poppy thing, which is beautiful, and in the middle of it got off the rails there.

And what are you going to do? You can't knock this guy. He's doing God's work here. In between two. Yeah, he's doing incredibly good things for those families of the fallen young boys. And so it's just one of those. He was always extremely conscientious about the work. He was born to it.

He read on the flights. All he read were the bios of divas and movie stars. He was really fascinated with television. In his days in the American Hockey League, the bus would pull into town and he would get off the bus and he'd say to his teammates, we're going to turn on the TV and if I can't name every actor and actress

in whatever's on the TV, I'll buy. But if I can name every actress and actor on the TV when we move into the hotel, then you guys have to buy me one. He's like a gossip. He was an amazing Hollywood fan, right? Just amazing.

And that's why the outfits and that's why the lighting. He would spend, we would get into, you know, I'd be so excited, especially in my young career, I'd be so excited. It's game seven, the New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks. This is big. You know, we got East Coast, West Coast. We do the opening and that, and then I want to watch the first period, and I'm like a hawk.

I want to watch. Don's not even looking at the game. He's in there farting with the lights and getting the chairs the right height so that he looks powerful. Just a TV. He's an entertainer. He's an entertainer. Don Bissonette.

It was. Bissonette. Yeah. I mean, I had him in Boston. He was the very first coach I really remember. And I mean, that iconic thing on the bench, like I think it was in Montreal. Like, you know, all the dramatics he throws out that used to play leading to his clips. Well, I remember doing the All-Star game in Boston in 96, maybe 95.

I think it was 96. I think it was 96 because they just opened the building. Right. So Harry Sinden comes in and Harry was mad at Don because Don had ripped... Steve Casper was coaching the Bruins and he had benched Kevin Stevens

and Cam Neely in Toronto. Yep. And Don was livid, right? So he carved... He didn't like Casper anyway. So he carved Casper and Harry Sinden, the GM of the Bruins,

comes in to talk to me. Like, Don's not, he never does All-Stars, right? So I'm there alone, and in comes Harry, and he says, that was despicable what you guys did. You guys, right? Guilt by association. I'm just sitting there. I didn't even say anything.

Yeah, yeah, but anyway, I understand. And he says, and you're even worse for going along with it. And I said, Harry, you know Don. He loves Neely, and he just didn't want him left, you know, and embarrassed on Hockey Night in Canada. He's not going to leave a guy in the middle of the field, you know, behind, ironic, the conversation I was having with Harry. And Harry suddenly did like a 180.

He says, well, he says, I know him. He says, I always wish I was never able to get back in a coach what Don had. You know, I wish I could find that whatever it is he has. The fire. I've never had it. You know, like, and there's been a lot of good coaches and the guys that have borrowed things like Melbury, Brian Sutter, Mike Sullivan, but a little bit.

Tortorella for sure wasn't ruined, but yeah. Burns for sure. Like Hockey Night in Canada, every Saturday night it's so big, but then you took over a long time ago as, you know, running for sure. Like, Hockey Night in Canada, every Saturday night, it's so big. But then you took over a long time ago running the Olympics. And then it's not just hockey fans. Did you feel a different pressure that went with that? And more than anything, you must have some special memories from 2010. It hurt me, but to get gold in van, you must have memories.

Well, that's Witt reminding you that he was in the game. I know, it's big. I'll tell anyone, a Starbucks bar you that he was in the game. I know. It's big. I'll tell anyone. A Starbucks barista here that played in the Olympics. Well, so was I, right? And I was home in my Oakville residence watching it because CTV, the Canadian network that carried the games, was not us. Oh, wow. So I didn't go.

I was home watching, of course. You're just a fan. When that goal, you know, when the U.S. ties it, you know, a 2-0 lead squandered, especially to see Shea Weber and Niedermeier, I think, were the two for the Canadian defense. Yeah, I think those two were on the ice. We got all twisted up. I say we, but we got all messed up trying to nurse that thing home. And I thought, how in the world is Canada going to get itself together?

But in the overtime, as they all said, you know, they got an intermission to kind of reboot, and there was a lot of veteran guys who, again, wasn't beneath their shirt. I think it was Niedermar who was like, boys, we're fine, with one beat of sweat right in the middle of his chest, as Whit describes it, where he'd already played 25 minutes,

but he wasn't sweating. Yeah. Well, I remember Gretzky came in in Torino in 2006. So after Canada lost in the quarterfinal to Russia, Ovechkin beat Brodeur and they won easily. Canada was never in those Olympics for whatever reason. And Gretzky came into a little bar in Torino, Italy after the game, him and Steve Tambolini and Kevin Lowe and Walter Gretzky

and Bob Nicholson and the whole entourage of Canada. And we're having beers that are this big. And Wayne said, Niedermeyer killed us. He said, not having Scott Niedermeyer killed us. Scott had a bad knee and couldn't play. So they went with 7D and they were trying Brian McCabe on both sides. And they brought Jovo in. And they just never found a game.

They just never found it. And he said, that guy is the guy that stirs the drink. Ron, I want to ask, obviously you're a human, so some days you're going to have off days. When you have those type of days, how do you get to the level you need to be at to go on TV, like emotionally or enthusiasm-wise? I think it's a... Rockstar status. Well, you know,

I definitely, I'm a humble, I try to be humble, and when you say that, of course, it sounds insincere or disingenuous, but i i love the guest be the star mantra and i kind of revert to you know why are you here you're not here for you you're here for that viewer that wants to be entertained and wants to laugh and wants to know something so i just kind of revert to what is the actual thing that you're doing and why do you love that it's not about you uh so that gets me out of my, that was how I got out of my anxiety.

Like when I was suffering in my early career, a lot of, you know, how do I appear? How am I sounding? How intelligent am I winning this? And, you know, one of the great things, Emeril, is when you're in a, you know, we'll start to armor up when we're afraid. We'll start to put on all kinds of disguises

and we'll start to say things that aren't really us because we're scared. And that experience is the only thing that teaches you how to be unafraid. And I learned eventually refereeing was a great help because I was trying my damnedest, and it just got away on me. I got it wrong, and I understood it wasn't because of a lack of effort or a lack of ability. It's just the way it goes, right? And so a lot of lessons from reffing. And then when you're in our vocation,

and I think it applies to all life, but it's not a far movement from I'm not worthy to I'm better than you. And you've got to watch those both. You know, for me, that's the great art is to just sort of, and that only comes from thinking of the other. The greatest wisdom of all is to just concentrate on the other person

and not yourself. I was going to ask, what are some of your better memories of doing Hockey Night in Canada? Are there some, like tee us up with some ones that you always tell. Well, I mean, for me, one of the funny ones is how Bettman and I kind of fell apart was we were in, this gives you an idea of how Cherry operates, which is great. So we are doing the 99

Stanley Cup playoffs, and we do Toronto Buffalo on the eastern side in the conference final. It goes five games, Buffalo wins going away. Hasek comes back after Roley plays the first game, and they win easy. We're sitting at home for a Saturday night, and the phone rings. Ron, looks like

Avalanche and Dallas are going to a seventh game in Dallas. We need you and Don to go down for a coach's corner, and you'll host the pregame show. So I phone Grapes. Grapes, we've got to fly down to Dallas for Union Arena. We're going to host the seventh game. All right. All right.

So we go down, and he goes right to the hotel. We'll pick out a tie for his green suit. He had the craziest green suit, lime green. I go right to the rink, and there's a host, Scott Russell of CBC, gives me this device called a Humidex, and he said, the big storyline, Ron, is the humidity. The temperature outside Reunion Arena on the tarmac in this late seventh game of the third round was like 140 degrees Fahrenheit,

and they were terrified that the heat and the humidity was going to kill the ice in this old rink. So Dan Craig, the expert ice maker, had been flown in, and he put ventilation ducts in the ceilings. They had all the doors of the arena four inches ajar for whatever reason. They cooled the ice an extra two degrees. They had gone to all these lengths to try, and he said, Ron, this Humidex, hold it up, because when you press the red button, if the relative humidity is 95% or higher, that's a problem. They don't think they'll be able to keep the ice for 60 minutes.

So I go on the air. Good evening. Welcome to the seventh game of high drama here in Dallas. And one of the storylines we're tracking is the heat and the humidity. And actually, the humidity is the bigger issue. So I have a device here called a Humidex. I'll just indicate if it's 95 to 100, we're in trouble. Bing. It's 99%

the relative humidity. So Dan Craig has done all this, but we're quite concerned. Game over. We're quite concerned. So now, here's a feature on the late Rocket Richard. As soon as I threw to the Rocket Richard feature, Gary Bettman comes roaring in. We're in a Zamboni at the corner

of the reunion arena. Bettman comes roaring at me, Ron, why do you have to be so negative? And I had just got off a plane, right? I thought I was going to have a weekend off. I had just flown into Dallas and when I thought about it, he's right. It was kind of negative. I just did what I was told,

right? We were supposed to talk about the ice being a storyline, but it was kind of negative. Anyway, nothing I could do about it. It's done. And Bett betman and i like two bantam roosters argue a little bit more you know i'm well if it wasn't june 3rd we wouldn't have to worry about the ice would we you know and so forth so that's that and then i go back to this little dressing room that we're going to use for the coach's corner and don is sitting there with a alan clark a boss at cbc at the time and don's i said to don i said betman wasn't too happy with me talking about the ice conditions. And Don says, oh, is that right?

He said, would you like a coffee? We've got fresh coffee here. So he goes and grabs me a coffee, and that's that. We don't talk about that anymore. And the first period happens, and we get on the air. And Don says, hold it. Hold it. Content.

A little something here before we get rolling. This guy. This guy kills me. here before we get rolling. This guy. This guy kills me. You're a wise guy. You know everything. Oh, yeah. Ron McLean from Red River. Expert weatherman.

Oh, yeah. Here he is. He's going to tell you. You don't know a lot, Ron. Let me just explain what you don't know. You don't know that they just came out of Denver the other night. That was their 350th sellout in a row. I made hockey in Denver, of course.

But anyway, that's 350 straight sellouts. I bet you didn't know that, did you? And I bet you didn't know this either. I bet you didn't know that in Texas, they have more professional hockey teams per capita in the state of Texas than anywhere in the world. Did you know that? No, you didn't know that, wise guy, did you?

And you didn't know that the ratings on ESPN now are through the roof. They said the other rating the other night, 16-2 or something, is the highest rating they've ever had for a Stanley Cup playoff. You didn't know that, did you? No, no. Ron McClain, weatherman from Red River, flies in. He's got the chance to host the seventh game of a game to go to the Stanley Cup.

You've got Mike Medano versus Joe Sacchi. You've got Eddie Belfort versus Patrick Roy. You've got one game, winner take all, to go to the final. It's a Saturday night, long weekend in Canada. Everybody's in a good mood. Except you. Oh, no. I'm going to stand here with my little thermometer,

and I'm going to explain that the ice might melt. He was burying you. He had me. So that was the whole segment. That was burying you. He had me. So that was the whole segment. That was the whole segment. And then as soon as the coach's corner ended, studio door opens, in comes Bettman. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Don.

Oh, my God. That is too good. I would fucking pay a million dollars to see the video. So there were times you said, oh, man, he's not going to say anything to me right now. He's going to wait until we get on camera. And I loved it. He's going to wait until we get on camera. And I love that. He's making a show of it. If there was a secret to our relationship,

is that I got a bigger kick out of me being the fall guy. Made fun of by it. I love that. Yeah, I deserved it, right? Bettman was right. I was negative, but I hadn't thought that through. And like a lot of things. I would imagine at that point in time,

that had already happened many a times. Are there any other situations where he was like, hey, man. You know, as players, you have to learn not to take the bait, right? That's the hardest thing because someone's going to be mercilessly carving you and poking fun at you and teasing you. Doing whatever they can. Yeah, you just got to soldier on. But it was a fun one.

And we had, I mean, we've had so many uh just great uh i remember early in my career trying to get to watch this some of these stories are not going to work anymore right but uh i remember uh we were doing the seventh game of calgary versus vancouver 89 this is a long time it was ancient ancient history. I have to explain to kids. I was four at that point, Ron. So we're... Vancouver's giving the Flames all they can handle. Calgary was like 50 points ahead of them during the regular season, but it's gone down to the seventh game.

And Cliff Fletcher, the GM of the Flames, famously had pulled the bus over as it left the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver after the sixth game defeat. He pulled the bus over and kicked everyone off but the players, and he, Cliff Fletcher, the GM, had a heart-to-heart with the team. And it was supposed to be the way they won,

albeit in double overtime in the seventh game. So I said to Don, I said, we're just sitting having a sauna at the Westin in Calgary, and we're going to go back up to the hotel room and drink a couple beers. And I said, you should say, you know, can't you just picture it? Cliff Fletcher pulls the bus over tells the driver he's got to get off tells the coaching staff got to get off trainers got to get off any

media that's on the board get off and then he's ready to talk to the team and then he opens the door again and he says alright I'll have the Czech the Russian the Finnish and the Swedish interpreters back on the bus you know that's a funny Don now that no longer is that acceptable that story I'm sorry to

tell it now this will work for you don but 30 years ago yeah that was a dawn type thing right so we get on the air and i'm kind of excited at my own mischief that i've created and i can't wait to see dawn pull this off he's well i heard the big thing is uh fletcher had a meeting hey that's what i heard yeah they play uh so he uh he pulled the bus over as they left the rink in vancouver the other night, right? Right? That's what they did, right? And I know he's lost it, right?

He doesn't know where he's going now, and I can't chip in because there can be only one bigot on this show. So I said, well, he probably had to kick off. Yes, I know he had to kick the coaching staff off. Of course, I'm the one telling the story here. What are you, stupid? And again, I shouldn't laugh at myself, but how could you not, right? That was so funny. And yeah, those were the days.

I mean, I look back, my book cornered. It's like if you ever revisit some of the things we did, how we made it 34 years is a miracle. Was he like that right off the hop? Yes. Well, no, as I say, Paul, he was generous to me when I started because I was scared and he liked me. You know, Don is one of those first blush. He'll read you. And if he thinks you're looking through him with evil in your thoughts, he'll that's it. You're off the list for good. He told it. Here's a good story.

When he wanted to kind of explain to me what he's like, we were at the Meridian in Montreal. So this is the 86, 87 season, my first year. like we were at the meridian in montreal so this is the 86 87 season my first year and i was getting a little bit you know wise ass with my puns at the end or whatever i was trying to do to because i mean grapes kind of goes to six minutes and then i tried to deflect you tried to get a little time well more more to just assuage the well and sometimes push back on yeah a little bit right and and if sometimes just with levity to kind of establish okay there's always two sides to every story but anyway we're sitting at a bar at the meridian hotel montreal and he told the story of his brother richard was a good ball player so was don and his father was a great

ball player so they're uh at a midget baseball game in kingston ontario where the cherries grew up and uh richard is in the game don cherry and his father dell are sitting in the first base bleacher and the home plate umpire comes over and says, hey, Del, the guy that was supposed to umpire at second base can't make it. Do you mind if Don umpires at second base? And Del said, no, of course, Don will get out there. And Don says, Dad, I don't know anything about umpire. He said, oh, for God's sakes, it's second base.

The ball's ahead of the runner. He's out. Get out there. And so Don goes out to umpire at second base and in the very first inning makes a ruling in favor of his brother richard's team well the opposing manager comes flying out of the dugout and kicks dirt on him and you know does the whole earl weaver and don doesn't know what to do doesn't know how to kick a coach out and he's kind of hot about it and the game ends and don's still mad at this guy made a

fool of him and so he goes over by that visiting dugout on the third base side and the guy pops up out of the dugout, and Don just kind of leans into him enough that he loses his footing, falls back into the dugout, cracks his head on the bench, and is out. And Don thinks, well, I didn't mean to do quite all that, but good. I'm glad. So he said, now I'm walking home with my father and brother, and they're ahead of me talking about the ball game,

and I'm in behind. I've got a stick in my hand, and I'm going along these picket fences. And all of a sudden, this car pulls up, and it's a big car with four guys, including that manager from the other team. And they get out, and it looks like Kingston, 1950s. We've got ourselves a fight here. So the manager says to Don, Don, I just want to say something.

No hard feelings about that little thing at the end. That was just me losing my footing. And you were good enough to help us out umpiring at second base. You did a good job. You were right on that call about your brother at second, so don't worry about it. Put her here. And they shook hands and they left. And Don's father turned to him and he says, Donald,

if you ever shake the hand of a man who's crossed you again, you'll not live under my roof. And that was Don telling don telling me you know and now here we are but don saying you know once you've crossed you're dead those are those those are his codes so does that concern you about the situation of course but i accept paul we're 34 years you know i i know deep down uh he knows i was in a jam or a pickle and And, yeah, I'm not worried. He's stubborn. He's stubborn.

But you know. I'll wear him out. I'll smother him somewhere. I'll go over to the house with – he likes Bush Light. I'll bring him some Bud Light. Oh, this is a Bud Light podcast. Maybe we can help you. Maybe we can give you some pink money to send over too.

When the European stuff started, he was just so hard on european players who have proven that that they play so hard themselves right it's like would he behind the scenes at least admit the guy's a hell of a player even to you yeah well buray it was a good example buray he took buray elbowing shane churla and sending him to pluto for him to like for don to like him but he did like buray after that and And yeah, he had guys that, you know, he had, he actually had Europeans on his Boston Bruins, Matty Hagman and I'm trying to think who else played for him. Oh, this is right up R.A.'s alley.

They weren't too, too many. You know, back late seventies. I mean, I know that I think Marcus, uh, maps. He was already gone by then. Cherry. I think there weren't a lot of euros. Yeah. He had Hagman.

That's the only guy. But he had, you know, and he was very proud of Stan Jonathan, was our First Nations hero from, you know, was a Tuscahora warrior. So he had, you know, Don, he was just all about toughness, Ryan. Everything in his world was, you know, if you're going to look away, you know, the Bruins rule was you look at that guy

and you don't leave that eye until he leaves. Yeah. It was dog pack, you know. Intimidation. Rules. Intimidation. Yeah.

And he was also, you know, he's, you know, sly like a fox in terms of, I mean, we all cherish our jobs and we all want jobs and we all, you know, so anything that was a threat to somebody's, you know, like when a junior hockey team loses a guy to a position player from Europe, that's not popular in that community. And Don spoke on their behalf. Don was always, you know, a little bit of the voice for those who didn't have a voice. Well, ironically. When he went back and coached Mississauga, I think Spezza was there.

You must have been like, I don't know how this is going to go. I believe Patrick O'Sullivan was coached by Don Cherry. Yes, he was. He coached him. First, he had Spezza and Brian McGratton was on the Ice Dogs team. And I remember the very first meeting, Grapes called everyone. I went and skated with the team. Stupid, right?

But I went out and skated with the Ice Dogs. And they call the team to Center Ice to discuss curfew for that night. And Brian McGratton's there. And these were Brian's days when he was a little more rambunctious. And so Don says, I say 11 o'clock curfew tonight. And don't forget, you guys, if you go out and screw up, you're not the one that's going to look bad. I'm the one that's going to look bad.

Creeps. So anyway, he says, 11 o'clock curfew. And Brian McGratton, you know, big, tall Brian, is towering over Don, and he's got his gloves on the top of his stick and he says uh grapes 10 30 10 30 would be okay don says 10 45 curfews 10 45 we got ourselves a deal and that was how it ended the first practice and he was worried we were here in st louis when he made the decision to uh coach the ice dogs and he was don always had this feeling that people were going to come after him and give it to him, and they loved him.

Because he's kind of a quiet, shy guy, he didn't realize that out in the community there just can't be enough of him. Yeah, yeah. So everywhere he went, he was not going to be an enemy or a guy that he was going to take some slings and arrows, but that kept him ready, I can tell you that. Talking about showmanship, we're seeing a lot more of it, I think, with some of the younger players.

What do you think of that? Is it so much better for the game? Well, I was against it. I was always worried that you were... It's not that I'm against the celly, it's just that I feel you're really flirting with inspiring the enemy, and why would you do that? Why give them the ammunition they need? I can't tell you how many games I've seen turn on a silly celebration.

No kidding, huh? Well, even recently, the Kuznetsov, where the Caps rallied on the goal late in the second period, right? Yeah. And they did the mock Kuznetsov, Devon Taves of the Islanders. That's right, yeah. And that turned that game. Yeah.

You know, they were gone to sleep. Why do it? You know, and I think it's extremely, I don't know how you feel, Ryan, And that turned that game. Yeah. You know, they were gone to sleep. Why do it? You know, and I think it's extremely, I don't know how you feel, Ryan, but that's the risk. No, I think that it's, some of them are really cool and it's, like, fun. What kind of drives me nuts about the whole situation, I sound so old, but is now, like, every 10-year-old in these games, they score to make it 8-2 and they're center ice celebration.

It's like, it's almost like, guys, these guys are in the NHL and the argument Keith Yandel always says to me is, you score a goal in the best league in the world, you deserve the right to celebrate however you want. Well, everyone that looks up to you and sees you doing it, they think they can do it in a little, in a blowout

on a Wednesday night. So it's, I'm touch and go with it. I think it's cool but you're just, you don't want it to get out of hand. That's kind of where I'll leave it at. Yeah, you do it at your peril. You are definitely flirting with some kind of a pushback. So watch that. And then, I mean, we're just trying to attract, you know,

kids are so, like, you know, they just see the YouTube, like that lacrosse goal. Who's not going to be, everybody's going to do the between the legs. You're a loser if you don't score a lacrosse right right it's like a requirement right at the combine yeah you have to prove that you can do it hey we talked to pronger he's like anyone try that when i was out there exactly yeah like well that's i don't know who when mcdavid waltzed uh morgan riley you know, it was very kind of Morgan to let him finish up because, you know, 10 years ago that was going to be broken. Last-ditch slash at the end.

For sure. Kevin Bieksa said that, right? And he definitely would have got at him. Were you at any of these games where they ever had, like, issues, you know, between the benches, bench cream bars, or even in the hallways? No. Don always pushed to move the benches on opposite sides

because he said that's a recipe for disaster. But I never worked in between the benches, Paul. I was always kind of back in the studio with Grapes. I mean, the only incidents, I remember Matt Cook coming at us. He was hot about something Don had said, and that was in, I think, the 2006 Stanley Cup, but it might have been later on. And he was seriously mad.

And I was in between matt cook who's strong right his arms were like yeah he's a thick little guy thick guy yeah so i didn't realize that you know when i grabbed his bicep and it's like oh my god what was the matter grapes about grapes had uh given him a uh hard time about i think a uh a hit from behind like a blindside hit uh he he had hit uh i should be able to retain this i think he wrecked le cavalier's A hard time about, I think, a hit from behind, like a blindside hit. He had hit. I should be able to retain this. I think he wrecked LeCavalier's shoulder.

I think he ran him from behind, and Don called him on a cheap shot, right? You know, being a rat. So Cook was upset about it. And I remember things like that happened not too often, but that was one. We had Claude Lemieux after Claude Lemieux, the World Cup 96, which the Americans rallied and won 5-2 with a couple of – Yeah, he was great, and Brett Hall was great. The whole team was great. Yeah, they were a great, great team.

Power forward built team, right? Garens and Kachucks and so forth. Anyway, Claude Lemieux kind of blew the game by – he was the right winger down in the left wing corner, and he fired the puck around the net to the right point which is where he would have been so grapes you know went on at the end of the telecast he didn't like lemieux either because lemieux had hurt neely and a couple other things so he just ripped him uh a new you know what and then the next morning we go into the lounge air canada lounge to fly home to toronto and who's in the lounge ron don claude lemieux

the only guy you know that's in the lounge? Ron, Don, Claude Lemieux. The only guy that's in the lounge. So there was a few of those moments along the way where he had to face. But to do that, you've got to face the music. And he had no problem. Listen, if I say it on the air, I'll say it to your face. He would, like Donald Brashear came in hot one night. And, you know, grapes. Well, I'm standing here.

What are you going to do about it? You know? And Donald says, well, you're, you know. Yeah. Terrible what you did. Well, yeah, well, I'm standing here. What are you going to do about it? You know, and Donald says, well, you're, you know, it's terrible what you did. Well, yeah, well, I'm right here. What are you going to do about it? And then Brashear, you know, starts leaving the room, and he, oh, so you're going to run.

You're going to run just like you run on Marty, huh? Let's go. Come on. This is freaking Don Cherry. He's completely flipped the script. He knows in the back of his head that who wants to be noticed punching out a 70-year-old guy. Yeah, that's right.

He's probably got a bulletproof vest underneath those suits. So many of those moments. I want to go back to the reffing for a second. I'm sure you're sympathetic to it. Because of the technology and we see the replays in slow-mo a hundred times, do you think the referees in the NHL today get way too much grief or is it appropriate? Well, it's going to be

interesting even going into these playoffs. How do they call like, you know, I said to you, I kind of got unglued with the 06 crackdown that i thought was too much um they it's it's such a uh challenge to to get it right uh i think you know the the whole vegas san jose thing last year the mistake that was made on the on the five minute major to cody egan uh i just think we have to live with that stuff I don't know why I think that but for me as a referee it was all part of

the lessons it's an awful thing to have a team knocked out of the playoffs on a bad call especially when you've got money on them yeah there's money on it and I think now the gambling is going to continually escalate our interest and it's going to be a revenue stream for sure so I suppose it's just it's going to be a revenue stream for sure. So I suppose it's got to be, you know, the saying is, let's get it right.

But I think the righteousness about sport is actually virtue, not wins and losses and goals and assists. That's interesting. The real essence of sport is how do you face the battle? Just live with it. The warrior respects the battle, doesn't care about the outcome. I mean, you're probably familiar with Don Dankaj, the 85 World Series. I mean, he basically... Well, this city here lost the World Series because of a bump call he made.

And he actually got a painting of it made, and he kept it in his living room just to kind of remind him that he's human and we're all frailty. Another example like that, Admiral, is the World Cup of Soccer in 06. Pele. Not Pele. Oh, the arm goal. No, this is... Zinedine Zidane when he headbutted the guy?

That's right. The Manchurian headbutt. Oh, my God. One of the dumbest plays you've ever seen. He just lost his mind. Took himself out of the game. But what did he get when he went home to Paris? He got a hero's welcome.

Exactly. And they lost that game. They lost to the Italians, right, because of that. You know, you take your Gretzky out of the lineup. It's like, that was that. It was over for them. But in a way, the people who understood what had happened were forgiving of the loss.

They were more interested in honor than victory. And I think the guy had said something in his ear that was inappropriate. Oh, absolutely. What was it about his sister? Sister or mother. Yeah, one of his family. Yeah, bad stuff that just made him slam.

As somebody who's so involved in the game of hockey and forming relationships with players, now granted you're in the studio, but still, guys going through, has it been weird for you to see how as the game's gotten younger, there are no 36-, 37-year-old veterans, well, they're far from a lot of them, that are in the game a long time and become characters in the league because a lot of times, 30 years old,

you're kind of running towards the end of the career now. P.A. Parenteau, just kind of a good career, nothing sensational, but he said 27 is the new 32. At 27, you're done, unless you're really good. I think of 29 years old, I look at guys signing at 29, I'm like, back nine, you're on, unless you're really good. I think of 29 years old. I look at guys signing at 29. I'm like, back nine. You're on the back nine at 29.

And it's like, you know, you look at the special guys. Zidane O'Chara playing at 40 in the NHL is crazy to me. Well, the Norse trophies that Lidstrom won seven of them, all after the age of 31. And Doug Harvey won seven of them. All after the age of 31. Bobby Orr, of course, won eight. And he didn't get to 28. And Giordano won it last year. I believe he was the second oldest player to ever win the Norris Trophy.

Really? Or maybe my stats are on there, Ron. I also thought Austin Matthews was on his entry-level contract this year. Oh, it's okay. My brain's starting to click out. Yeah, but he said 11 interviews. He ended up kind of going a little squirrely. Totally entitled to go squirrely.

And that's what Pink Whitney's for. Yeah, exactly. My guys love it, by the way, Ryan. I play beer league hockey on Wednesday nights, and they all have seats and seats at Buffalo. And you can get it there. It's harder to get in Ontario for us. Soon.

Within the next couple of weeks. Oh, good to hear. They'll be over the moon. It's like they're smuggling, you know, illicit drugs when they bring the pink lightning. Someone said they had to pay like $1,100 on $2,200 worth coming over the border today, which it's obscene doing that,

but thanks for the support. Nice to see you. The guys just love it. We actually put something in it that makes it addictive, so that's why we make it sound so much better. Yeah, nicotine in our vodka. When we were in welland paul's hometown uh they drink ov as old vienna is a beer that for whatever reason has become the cultural

beer of welland they they love to drink ov and the saying is you can't spell love without ov that explains biz yeah that's right well we've taken so much of your time we appreciate it but a guy i've been close with ever since I played together with him was Colby Armstrong. And you've gotten to really know him with his works. What do you think about that guy? And I think he's kind of added a ton of energy to the broadcast.

Yeah, he's a genius. I used to love Ryan when he was with Toronto and he had his ankle injury. And we were doing the Battle of the Blades. You know what that is? Maybe your American viewer

or listener might not know. It's a figure skater and a hockey player tandem they get together and do dancing with the stars on ice so colby was supposed to compete in it this year he used to be rehabbing his ankle with the leafs and would watch us do this battle of the blade series and i could tell he was always keenly interested in figure skating growing up when he was really young as a coach right mother's skating coach yeah rosie and so he's he knows his stuff he came on Battle of the Blades this year as a judge

and just blew our minds. He had technical, we call that stroking. Well, he was supposed to compete, but then he pulled his hamstring. Tore his hamstring or something, yeah. That was ugly looking. But he's great for the broadcast, Ryan. He's a Red Deer Rebel where I grew up. He won the Memorial Cup with my hometown junior hockey squad

and always a great leader. Funny. You could ask him about snowbanks. He and I went to a bar in Moncton one time called Plan B. I don't know how I ended up in a snowbank. Before Plan B. What a name of a bar. Yeah.

Great spot. Only original music. And Colby and I had a fun night there, among many. All right. Let's talk about that infamous photo of when you got your shirt off yeah it's on the bar i was in victoria i believe the social there was a it's it's now called the social the bar jerry jeremy petzing is that who uh has the bar he he owned it now he owns the local there the local right that's right it's now the local so yeah that was as you know the cortinal golf event and uh the song was uh laughing

my effing ass off uh and for whatever reason we thought we would do you know moves the Cortinal Golf event, and the song was laughing my effing ass off. And for whatever reason, we thought we would do moves like Jagger to that song. We were on the wrong song. It was Justin Cortinal. Sorry, Justin, to throw you under the bus, but I do that. Anyway, we decided we would get up on the bar. I mean, a lot of people did, but I should have known. I can't.

You know, not with that many cameras, but no. You knew something it's a party trick it didn't really go too far off the race what do you mean it was awesome it kind of went viral there oh yeah it did yeah they i remember the cbc you know phoning ron have you seen the picture you know it's like yes you're like yeah it's my screensaver that's right it looks amazing it's just like that referee i got the mural put in my living room so I can stare at it and know that we're all human once in a while. How do you know the owner of the local? How did you know?

Well, I actually purchased a home in Victoria. I met some friends out there, and I love it. Probably once I retire, that's going to be my summer home. VGC Golf Course. It's unbelievable. And through Callahan O'Connor, one of my buddies, he introduced me to Jeremy Petsing. And there's a ton of hockey players that are from there. The Ben boys, of course, Tyson Berry.

And just really the community, Oak Bay. It's just so beautiful and quaint. And I mean, I hate to say it, but it's a lot of places in Canada now. You go outside. I want to say hi to my neighbors. I want to walk down the street with, I'm going to say my dog or my girlfriend or my wife.

I almost gave an RA heart attack. I want it to feel like Canada a little bit. Sometimes I feel like we're losing that and everyone's not as social anymore. And I just fell in love with it there. So great people, and I'm sure you know it's a good time. Oh, I love it. I just had a ball. Cortinals are dear friends.

Matthews will come up on our broadcast tonight. He's not playing in the All-Star. He told us. He told us he's going to be with you. So, yeah. So he's obviously Lawton, Russ's son, and Austin trained together, and Matthews has been to Victoria a million times. And so I kind of got all the lowdown.

Boris Doroshenko, right, was one of the skating coaches austin and i think this story has been told in our podcast so you mentioned cortinal and how big of pranksters they are that was uh so callahan o'connor his father he owned a nice boat and he had it right in the marina so he had he called or had somebody call their house while they were having a nice dinner party and say hey mr o'Connor, your boat is sinking in the marina right now. There must have been some hole in it and it's going under. So Ben O'Connor puts his jacket on, he drives down there and Cortnall ended up walking in the house as soon as he left. And he said, oh, let's let him sweat it out a little bit.

So those are the types of pranks that Cortnall's are playing. And it's such a tight knit community. That's great. I just have one more. I know we talked about Don and his military stuff. You come from a military family as well. Now, you were actually born in West Germany, correct? Yeah, Zweibrucken.

So that was kind of a fluke because I was breached. You know what that is? I don't know, but it's upside down or backwards in the womb or something. And anyway, Mom was in 48 hours of labor, and they were worried, so they took her to the better hospital in Zweibrucken. We were actually living in Metz France dad was stationed there and yeah up and uh till I was 12 we were all over the country as a you know military brat and I loved that upbringing uh lived in Yukon uh in northern Canada also in Nova Scotia Victoria for a year and a half you've been everywhere yeah

it was a it was a good you know for me, like refereeing was a good to kind of teach you we're all the same, right? Right. So I was very grateful for that upbringing. And the only thing about it is for your hockey, it's a test because you're moving away from a team. You know, you just finally make a team and then you've got to go try and establish yourself again.

And once you hit Pee-wee, oh, I went to ask you, Ryan, you played in the Quebec Pee-wee tournament, right? Did you play in it? I didn't. Whit will let you know. He usually talks about it every episode yeah i want it we want it no way yeah we wanted an overtime we beat the richmond hill stars in overtime great um yeah it was it was it was the coolest memory i mean at that time he was on espn2 and you you think back to being 10 years old and you're already talking about going to Quebec, I think 12 or 13 year. And then, you know, first you got to get into there

and then we get in and we ended up winning it. So that memory is like maybe one of my top hockey memories, being on the ice with your dad and all that stuff. We're going for Rogers Hometown Hockey is there and Eric Lindros has been invited there. So that's how things can come around, right? Eric, of course, you know, didn't want to go to play for Marcelo Bou, was he right about that? And anyway, he's going to be a guest. I don't think we'll get him on the Sunday broadcast.

Tara Sloan, my colleague on Hometown Hockey, will probably interview him on the Saturday. But how cool that Eric is going in as a guest of the Quebec Pee Wee Tournament. Would you attribute your appreciation for Canada and every place because of the fact that you were able to move around and see every different every different place I think I think Paul if I Honestly, I actually go away from nationalism because of moving around a lot I think you know everybody in Alberta so proud of Alberta and hates BCers and I'm generalizing I don't mean to start a war here, but people are so back in our West exactly getting along. That's right

So you have all these regional fights or feuds and fiefdoms, and it's silly. You know, when you go to all those places, everyone's lovely and everything's great. And so you kind of learn to strip away the flag waving a little bit because of that military upbringing. And that's what I got out of it. It sounds a lot like the States. Like Canada, you can kind of think of one whole Canada, but it seems like it's getting fractured a little bit more like we had down here. We were always, you know, and our little other big thing is we have First Nations and we never really resolved our issue with that.

We kind of came in, took the land, and, you know, we like it. Same boat here. We're figuring that out slowly but surely. But, I mean, it's both countries are just fantastic neighbors and fantastic places. You know, I just was driven over here. I couldn't find the Ritz, my driver, who just moved here. Not bad, eh, Ron? Yeah, yeah.

Ever since Serge Ibaka, right? They're now living like the other half lives. Oh, come on. That was great. Oh, thank you. It was such a great thing. And what, did you enjoy Bianca or? Penny.

One thing about Penny is her personality didn't show on camera. No, she's so shy. She's very shy and very polite. And when cameras were off rolling, all of them, that Bo Bichette is a stud as well. But Serge, just such a good, especially the multiculturalism in Canada for him to be one of the faces of the Toronto Raptors and how open he is about doing videos

and showing his personality. It was a cool little thing. And, Ron, when I got the call, I was like, what? I'm like, who? Like, those people? Me? What? I was like, you guys are aware that people are going to rip me apart

with the fact that I got the nod for this. But it was because somebody had backed out. But I was very fortunate to experience that and meet those people. Yeah, but you need somebody to kind of throw the little bit of levity here or a little bit of leadership here. So you have some experience with that, right, Paul? It was perfect. It made it. It was great. Ron, listen, to come on with us is great

and I think people love hockey so much but it would be different if they didn't have people like you, the way you guys present the game and present the product. So it's nothing without the entertainment aspect and Hockey Night in Canada for me, the broadcast has always been so exceptional. And the little videos with music they play before playoff series, you know what I mean?

Oh, my God. Those things have legit brought me to tears. It's like it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. You've done it for so long, so thank you. And thanks for joining our podcast. Yeah, thank you, guys. And last thing I'll say is I hope things are able to be patched up between you and Don. And hopefully if that happens, we'd love to have you guys on and, you know, maybe talk about some stuff.

How many ads will you sell? He'd just rip on Ron the whole time. Don just sits there. When we got him on together, I do the storytelling, right? Don just sits and preens at how funny he was. Gotta love him for that. Love it. Like you said before, huge thanks to Ron McLean.

Not only coming on with the interview, but just being a hell of a storyteller. He knew, like I said, what we needed. He came in, he delivered, and he's a great guy. He's really somebody, if you're into journalism, you certainly appreciate what he brings to the game. He's such a professional. So big thanks once again to Ron. I do got another little note here for you.

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that girls wear, the leggings? Yoga pants. Yoga pants. They're as comfortable as yoga pants. Yeah, they're unbelievable. And they say do your legs a favor. I think I'm doing everyone a favor in the summer when I wear monkey jeans. Cause I know we always rip on wit for

having like the grossest legs ever, but my legs might, might take the cake for being even grosser. So shout out to monkey jeans for coming through and again, help and save my summer. Absolutely, brother. Absolutely. Well, next up another hockey legend, man, that, you know, when we have them in the room, it's, it's such an honor to have them in the room with us and to talk to him. And, you know, he didn't filter anything. Derek Sanderson, uh, another hockey legend, man, that, you know, when we have him in the room, it's such an honor to have him in the room with us and to talk to him. And, you know, he didn't filter anything. Derek Sanderson, Bruins legend, WHA legend, just a hockey legend. Having him come on for a long chat was great. We got a couple quick minutes with him right here,

so we're going to send it over to Tarek right now. Were you really nervous going into your first NHL training camp? Yeah, yeah, you get really scared. Did you get beat up pretty good? Yeah, you get, yeah. So you go in with a lot of fear and apprehension, and so what do you do? You overreact to the first guy that comes near you. And I used to say, if you even thought about attempting to fight me, I'd jump you.

So you give me a look, the look's going to mean something. Oh, yeah? And so it was crazy. A lot of looks in the old days. And you had to handle yourself and do what you did, right? But now they put in rules, and it was different now. Now, you guys called Bobby O the godfather in the room, correct? Completely.

He was it, yeah. There was not even a discussion about that. Yeah. Now, how long did it take, you know, obviously when you get the Espo and Bucic or the older guys, how long did it take for it to become Bobby's room? I mean, he was only still only a teenager then. Was it almost overnight that it took a couple years?

Well, he couldn't come into the team until he was 18. He went up in March, 18th birthday. So I was playing him against Junior on a Thursday night, and he's gone on Saturday night. So yeah, he was there. Did you go at him when you played against him? I had a thing one time and Bobby hates this story. Oh, sorry, Bobby. And we're playing Junior, right? And Bobby was with Oshawa. And I was with Niagara Falls. Both teams are owned by the Bruins.

So they're trying to show us off. Don't get panicked. Everybody's panicked. We've been dead last for a long time. We got some future players coming in, right? And that's the way it used to have to be until 70 when they put the draft in. So my dad and I'm pulling out on the bus. Now, you're going to go eight hours on the bus off, boom, play.

You know what I mean? There was no staying over. So I'm getting in the bus, and all the guys were getting comfortable settling in the bus, and I see this bright yellow car. It was my dad's canary yellow station wagon. Cut the bus off. Huh, you don't do that.

Jeez, Dad. And so I went down, and the coach says, it's your father. And I'm looking around. I guess I don't know very much about anybody else's father. So I went down. I said, yeah, Dad. He says, come off to the front of the bus. He says, listen, I've been thinking about it.

And you're going to be playing Bobby Orr in Boston Garden. And he's God coming, right? Sucking coming. So there's two people that crowd is going to remember. Bobby Orr, and the one that beats him up. That's unreal. So I jumped there. He was getting jumped before I left Tiger Falls.

And I didn't even know it. I didn't know it. I was coming. So it was, yeah, I really didn't have my heart in it. It was kind of more of a wrestling match. But you were remembered. No, and that night, I mean, you know, in the old garden.

You guys ever gone to the old garden? I was there. Oh, yeah. I haven't. In the big cow trough there for the year. Yeah. Yep. And the guy's standing there watching the Bruins getting that light.

He goes, hey, you're that kid that fought Orr today. I said, yeah. I got recognized. My dad was right. I said, you're Sanderson. You're the one that fought Orr. That's unreal. We've got to go back to Joe Namath.

I mean, a lot of people are probably wondering, whoa. Yeah, well, Joe is, yeah. You don't skip over Joe in America. He's pretty well, yeah. What was he like? I tell you what, one of the nicest, classiest superstars on the planet. I mean, Bobby was too. And they are, I'm lucky to meet two of the best.

There was nothing false about him. He was from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. And if he liked you, he liked you. And he was in for a good time. And that was it. He was not in there for a long time and he just enjoyed himself he was a very uh you know respectful he didn't like a bully or a bragger he was calm quiet and and a great guy and we had a lot of fun and then i went in bar business for

myself what was it would be a typical Saturday night for you and Joe Namath going out together? It would be absolutely insane. After hours? I had no part in that. I had no part in that. I was just a kid. You're just following.

I'm just following around. I'm stumbling around doing my own business. Yeah, it was a party for crazy. And, you know, I didn't, like Kidney Candy store, you don't know what to do. I mean, you don't. And you'd say, oh, no, she's way too good looking for me. And she wouldn't be.

That'd be funny. That's a good feeling, isn't it? Yeah, you know, if I was my biggest fear, it was rejection. That was my biggest fear ever. Oh, really? Oh, as a kid, sure. Oh, no, I strike out. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. But, hey, I got a lot of bats. Got it. What else do we got to talk about? I mean, let's talk about your first cup. Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, you and Bobby obviously got along much better later. You assisted on the most famous picture. Thank God.

I'm really lucky that I did that. Sanderson to whore. Yeah. And he mumbled it. Don't mumble it. Get it out there. Did you realize right away that that play was going to be something immortal? No.

That's all I had to do. I knew Bobby would give it to me, and I knew he'd jump in from the point, because he always did, because he was that fast, that quick. And I missed the net, and the puck had gone around the boards, and I couldn't go off the post. I think it hit the post. It didn't go around. And I was followed up by going behind the net, because now it was out of play.

And Bobby jumped in, threw it to me, and then just cut for the net. It's a very simple play. You do it a lot, give and go. And that was it. And I saw it go through his legs. I said, oh, we just won the Stanley Cup. And I looked at the referee. No penalties, right?

Okay. And that was it. So it took me a little second to see it. And then the videos of the— If they didn't trip him, if Noel Picard did not trip Bobby a second after he scored, he wouldn't be airborne, and it wouldn't be the picture it is.

And it is such an incredible photo. So the funny thing about the older Celebration, Stanley Cups, or whatever sport, fans are on the ice with you guys. Oh, yeah. Are you just, like, shooting the shit with some random guy who was running on Celebration? I was on the ice, And that's the family.

Like I said, there wasn't a lot of there wasn't. You could get there on the ice very easily. Yeah. There wasn't the high glass and all that stuff. So. And then all these people on the ice slipping and sliding and shoes. So it's this guy coming at me and I catch him out of the corner of my eye and I just drop my shoulder into it. My dad.

Ah. I said, hey, what are you doing? I'm picking him up. He goes, that's the only time you hit anybody. You know, I'm serious. Just assisted on the cup winner. Yeah, but I was a kid, and I was 13, and you had to have tax. You know what I mean? You had tax.

We're cool. I mean, but they were expensive, $126 24 bucks in those days and my dad making 26 a week That's months pay for a pair of skates. Oh, and he said I he said I've been a Christmas I got him at Christmas on he guys. Oh, wow on one condition. He says I get the first ring Never even thought about it. I'm 13. Oh and i hit him he said i got the ring yeah and i got it i gave it to him i got both of them so nancy my wife god bless you patient uh very patient woman and i got one now too buddy yeah i go yeah you're dead without him yeah you're dead without him i mean you get 40 years old don't know where you're going you better find somebody quick yeah so i get and i take her to my meet the family and and i said

she'd never seen the ring so i said dad you wear the rings and my dad gets up oh okay sure it goes in the hem of the curtain he sewed them into the hem of the curtain i said that what are you doing that for because i want somebody in. They know my rings are here. They'll steal them. And I said, well, I probably wouldn't have looked there, but good enough. But he uncut the ring. He showed her both rings.

No one's going to steal my curtains. No. You led the league in penalty minutes that playoffs. 72 penalty minutes. I did. I tell you what, you know what amazing how many penalty minutes they playoffs 72 penalty minutes i did yeah i tell you what you know what amazing how many penalty minutes they get today i remember a brawl i mean it was at the end of the second period and and and they put the tag the four minutes left they put it on the third period

to get everybody off the ice it was an hour and five minutes people were fighting each other and beating them up. I went over the bench. I went up the stands after Claude Ruel, the coach, and it was insane. Cashman choked out one guy, Donnie. Choked him all up. And they're hitting from each other, nailing each other. And I half-dressed. Guys, you'll see that replay of it.

It's on. You can get it on YouTube. It's crazy. And I'm trying to get at this guy and the cop won't let me back in the ice. It's crazy. But it was there was 34 minutes handed out. That's it? Oh, now there'd be 500.

There was the three matching majors. That's your 30, right? Five to six players. Five each. That's your 30, right? Five, there's six players. Five each, that's 30. And the original hook that starts. Man, Derek Sanderson and Joe Namath. Imagine running around with those two back in the day. I mean, savages isn't even the word. Like Sanderson said, he got a few at-bats back in the day.

Just a couple of characters. A different time, a different era. Not sure how it would play today, but it certainly played back in the 70s. So anyway, speaking of characters, these two. Anytime we get these two together, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, any of these comedy pairs you can think of over the years, well, Keith Yandel and Kevin Hayes, they're right up there with them. Just two funny guys, Boston area guys.

Well, Hayes is a dark guy. Yandel just outside the city. Love talking to him. We got the whole kit and caboodle fire right here. So without further ado, here's Yandel and Hazy. We're happy to announce that we have a couple of quarantined NHLers joining us for the entire episode tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Keith Yandel of the Florida Panthers

and Kevin Hazel of the Philadelphia Flyers. What's up, boys? Both guys who, if they weren't so good at hockey, .01% of the people who have ever played it, they'd probably be trainers of like a rhinoceros and a monkey at the Tiger King's place. We just started trying to record this thing at 7 p.m. I think at 7 p.m.

It's 2 in the morning now because Kevin Hayes doesn't know how to use headphones. I just moved into my place, joke two days ago i don't even have a fucking lamp in my building okay so here's my argument to you and now and and now the corona thing i'm guessing is affected this but if you if you knew you were moving in at this point like if this was going to be this summer would everything have been decked out so when you got home, it was just set? You signed for $50 million. Would you always have moved into just an empty place and been like this for a month?

He's a straight hobo, dude. No, I'm not. Look at his hat. He looks like a hobo. He looks like Chetabal right now. No, playoff beard. Playoff beard. I'm going to support local businesses because I'm a good guy.

Yes, let's get it. Let's get it. Everyone order loco. Everyone order loco and fat baby. I ordered some from Florida, no joke. Hey, Whit, to answer your question, no, I was supposed to move in in June. And so, yes, from now until June, it would have been decked out. For when I entered this, it would have had a red carpet up to my door.

You want his apartment decked out? Like you have like New Amsterdam vodka stuff on your wall and a multi-million dollar house like you had a college dorm? No, granted, my basement, we haven't got to that yet. So I can actually agree that I'm giving some heat when in a real-life situation, I'm the same thing. But still, I'm the same thing. But still, I didn't know. I had to just bring it up because I'm embarrassed for myself as well.

No, I know. I am too. It sucks. Living in a sick apartment, you have nothing. You go to order it on Amazon and it says, all right, yeah, it'll be there in 221 days. How many days are in a year with Math Guy? 365.

Where is the new place, Kevin? It's in the Seaport. Okay, so you're in the Boston area right now then. Yeah, yeah. What about you, Keith? Are you in Florida or in the Boston area? Yeah, I'm down Florida, dude. Dude, Florida, Florida, man. Yeah, not in Daytona where you would go,

but a little bit more south where there are less RVs. Someone once told me Florida is a sunny place for some shady people, and I like it. Tom Brady just went there, so it can't be all that bad, right? Sensitive. Very sensitive. Keith's neighbors

were on the beach, probably like down Fort Lauderdale Beach. You guys just got off today. I'm pretty sure people finally left the beach. They haven down Fort Lauderdale beach. Like you guys just got off today. I'm pretty sure people finally left the beach. Like they haven't exactly been doing their part. No, we were on the boat the other day and it was mayhem out there. People everywhere, spring break. But I think it's, I think like this weekend's the first weekend that they're really cracking down.

It's good to see. Might have to get carols on tiger cages from tiger King. She didn't have that. They wanted to have a lot of room to roam around in there. They put some people. That's in Tampa, isn't it? They're like in the middle of the country. No.

Oh, you're talking about the country. Yeah, Carol's was. Carol's was. The other guy was where? Oklahoma? Yeah. I have so many questions for that. You're talking about Joe Exotic Biz.

You don't call him the other guy. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'm actually going to get a tattoo appointment. Put some questions for that. You're talking about Joe Exotic, Biz. You don't call him the other guy. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm actually going to get a tattoo appointment. Put some respect on that. Hey, listen. Did you see his boys' tattoos? Oh, dude. I think I had a lot of tribal, but listen, we can't spoil it.

We can't spoil too much of this because there's a lot of people. No, Biz, actually, I was going to say to listeners right now, you got to kind of understand we're going to talk about it and if you haven't watched at least three four episodes of this in the middle of when you have nothing to do but watch netflix then sorry you're going to get you're going to get spoiled here okay so let's warn them right now fast forward and grinnell you're going to drop the time stamp so it doesn't ruin it for you so those of you who have seen this ridiculous, I went through every emotion a human body could possibly go through while watching.

It's a roller coaster. It's a pro, but it is so fucked up. I don't know who to, who to believe, who to like the hammers. I know. The hammers they dropped at the end of episode one and two are like,

bam, bam, you're knocked out. You're done. Hey, do we think that Carol killed... If you think Carol

didn't feed that dude to the tigers, you're the dumbest person alive. I'm kind of with Carol. Yeah, I knew you would be. You're a Carol type guy, dude. If I was a girl, my name would be Carol. So Keith, you're thinking

that she actually doesn't even mind that maybe like the allure of the fact that she might may have but she didn't do it because think about it that's kind of what makes her even more popular right she's stone cold she is stone cold she is a thug hey thuggy, so right when the show started, and if they answered this, I don't remember. Tell me if I'm wrong. She's dog and Joe exotic in what he's doing, and then they're showing her place with cages around them. I know.

She does the same thing on a different scale. Yeah, exactly. Hey, the music video, the lookalike that he got for that music video. Oh, dude. You got to start the, the lookalike that he got for that music video. Oh, dude. Is the best doppelganger. You got to start the show with Kitty Heaven or whatever that was called. Hey, Kitty, Kitty. Or I saw Tyga. Kitty's the number one song on iTunes right now, guaranteed. The craziest part of the whole thing, and I know, Keith,

you haven't seen the whole thing yet, but I want to say there's a eulogy that's given. That has to be the craziest part because he's like, oh. And when you weren't paying attention, he'd just come over and he'd red-bridge balls right on. He's like, those little golden nuggets. He's giving a fucking eulogy for a dead guy. He's talking about his novel that he just turns gay.

He turns straight guy. Turned gay. Dude, that's some charisma. Somebody said to me, ah, it wasn't that crazy. And I listed off 50 legitimately insane things. And they're like, yeah, actually, it's actually. Who didn't? Who told you that? I've said it wasn't that crazy and i listed off 50 legitimately insane things and they're like yeah actually it's actually who didn't who told you that wasn't crazy they were being a bit of a hard-on on the craziness and i'm like you can't name me one thing that has half the amount of

things where you're you're like no come on that was that part was me how about the chucky doll that guy like that's like another character that comes out oh yeah his haircut was so good it was a suit he was like mark davis mark davis and chucky had a baby that's that guy how trash is the guy joe that has one tooth and all those tattoos all over him oh yeah and they go they go yeah meth meth really kills your mouth you get meth mouth and the camera just goes right to him and he smiles you just see like worms crawling out of his gums hey i texted somebody today i'm not going to reveal his name i go dude who does jared and joe remind you of and they said kevin hayes and jimmy hayes who do you think it was oh baby is buzzing right now i guarantee it he's cooking right now

already pokey or foley for sure no no hey and and and then the chances the odds the odds that they're interviewing hey the whole time there's a zookeeper and he's got no legs and i'm like this dude got his legs bitten off how is is that? Not how he lost his legs. How are you going to do that movie with a zookeeper with no legs? And then tell us that he didn't lose them from a tiger. He lost the zip lining. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, he didn't even lose them. They ended up just, they caught him off. Right? No, no. So,

so I think it was a circulation thing from, cause he was walking around, uh, doing the tiger thing all day. a circulation thing from because he was walking around uh doing the tiger thing all day so he i know he was walking for 12 hours a day so eventually he just said ah fuck him cutting him off now to me that gives the show the credibility that needs it didn't cut any corners it didn't try to beef up any storylines of the fact that that that's the case now what was what was the other thing that was fucking nuts? I love the girl losing her arm and then going back to work. Definite employee of the month.

Definite employee of the month right there. Jacob Stillwood, a gaster. Yeah. I mean, the whole thing is just, it's the craziest story. And imagine a weekend in Vegas with Jeff Lowe. That guy was going as hard as anyone, just living it up. Oh, and then the Doc. Doc.

Doc's the best. Doc's the best. Doc is my – what a life. So I described it as Duck Dynasty slash Swamp People slash Sister Wise. Slash Making a Murderer. Slash Making a Murderer slash Dog the Bounty Hunter. Put them in a blender, add a little LSD, a little concoction, swig it down, and you got that show right there.

Also, the show began, and the original line from, I don't remember who said it was, yeah, the big cat, the big cat people are the scum of the earth remember he said they're the worst people alive and he was right they are the worst human beings they're all the biggest pieces of shit the cats are so fucking cute oh i know i've been looking up how to buy one i just bought one yesterday okay we still haven't talked about one character yet that played a pivotal role was the guy who was making the documentary to begin with and the fact that they lost no you know how much footage they lost no oh i know that

original guy the original smoking a cigarette the the fact that all this happened and it was also documented as it was happening even makes it it throws it into a different stratosphere it's insane and that guy that guy was counting his money he already had and he would have been an enormous reality show wait so why why is that do i find that out after episode three he didn't if you know he's the guy that's been sitting there with the cowboy hat smoking a cigarette with terrible teeth as well. He was the guy who he stationed guy who worked for Joe. He owned it all.

He said, he's like, dude, Joe, you signed the contract. You exotic fuck. Yeah. Read the writing. So I only came back. It would have came out, but he was. It all got burnt. Now, if he was popping off nowadays with the way social media is, he would have been shut down long before this, though.

He wouldn't have been able to do what he was doing. All that footage was being gathered. He was threatening her and shit. 500 to like 1,000 people would be watching this shit. Imagine the OGs. I want to meet the 1,000 people that were watching that shit going on in a regular video. They saw one of them right in front of you, R.A.

He was there. He's the one who voted for him. He changed his driver's license to Oklahoma. That's how he got up to 19%. How about him running for governor and winning 19%? How didn't he win, though? What? How didn't he win?

I know, buddy. His campaign manager, man. Blame it on the campaign manager. Yeah, it's true. How didn't he win, though? What? How didn't he win? I know, buddy. His campaign manager, man. Blame it on the campaign manager. Yeah, it's true. Who watched the other guy blow his brains out. Jesus. Man, I don't know if Joe was the one behind it. I don't know if Joe was the right guy in prison.

That Jeff Lowe is a scumbag. Oh, dude, I don't know if there was anyone who wasn't a scumbag. Maybe Sefi, the girl. We called her girl, I guess. Yeah, she was a beast. I guess she's actually trans, so she prefers to go by he. So he was probably one of the few people who you actually didn't mind. And then the guy with the fake legs.

They actually seemed like they might have been decent people, but everybody else sucked. How about the guy with no legs, his teeth? He had a nice set of teeth on him. Oh, he got the new veneers after he had the meth mouth. He had to. Imagine his. They're getting paid nice. He should have. Meth mouth got $120 a week.

Oh, yeah. How about this? How do you do that? $5,000 a year. Meth mouth actually got a brand new grill already. You were just saying that. Yeah. Apparently, there was a podcast about this whole. You were just saying that. Yeah. Yeah, right. Because apparently there was a podcast about this whole thing that dropped last year that a lot of people were familiar with. So that guy who did the podcast, I sent it to the feed earlier, Threadrouter. There was a whole bunch of information he added, and one of them was the guy with Meth Mouth.

He got a fresh new set of teeth since the podcast dropped. So good for him anyways. And that tattoo, what did it say? Property of Joe Exotic? It was insane. It was the tattoo, what did it say? Property of the Joe exotic. It was the worst, ugliest bullhead I've ever seen in my life. That didn't cover the whole thing. And you could still see through it.

Oh, look like someone spilled the fucking bottle on his chest. Did you see the one on his forearm? It was like a scarecrow. Like, uh, Oh no. Oh yeah.

Sorry. Sorry. oh no oh yeah that's the shit we're talking about that's why we bring you on motherfucker oh my god i will say i will say you got it it turned dark that kid that kid killed himself like oh my god you saw some crazy shit go down. Yeah, because they asked the guy, did you think he did that on purpose? He said, no, I don't think. He thought because he took the clip out of the gun

that it wouldn't fire. So he was like, you know, I mean, you should never do that. Obviously, put a gun to your head. He goes, I don't think it was suicide. I think it was accidental. But because he took the clip out, he thought he was in the clear.

Oh, really? Yeah. How would they? Hey, picture somebody a picture picture somebody listening to this because they didn't care if it was a spoiler thinking i probably won't even watch it anyway yeah not a shit that we've said we've ruined the show but we warned you and also also if you're listening to this and you haven't watched it yet you're like you're driving home 140 to start episode one.

Not only is what's going on in the world right now going on, you're hearing that this is going on and you're like, I don't even want to be on this planet anymore. We've officially reached Mars. You know when they were interviewing Carol's husband's daughters and his ex-wife? Yes.

How were they the same age? I said, whoa, whoa, what? I thought that was her sister, and she was being there for her sister's support. No, it was his daughter. That was the wife's name. No, I know when I realized it. I was dumbfounded. If we're keeping it real, I mean, she's fucking nuttier than a fruitcake,

but Kara was a babe when she was younger. Oh, yeah? Yeah. but Carol was a babe when she was younger. Oh, yeah? Also, his ex-wife, she still loved the guy.

She's like, this guy is the best guy. He just took off for this girl. They had some serious ride-or-die girls in there. You need that. Doc Cantle, dude. Those are some hot girls, dude. There's got to be a school. You see his eyes?

He had a set of eyes on him. Hammer on him. He's got a dinosaur cock. He's got a dinosaur cock. Oh, wow. He wraps his hose around to touch the ponytail underneath. It's like a patented move.

Doc, around to touch the ponytail underneath. It's like a patented move. Doc. And then the guy goes, what kind of doctor is he? Spiritual something. I'm going to that place in Miami once. Oh, for sure. That guy seemed legit, legit. Yeah.

The guy in Miami? No, wait, what episode is that? Oh, one or two. The guy in Miami? No. Wait, I don't know. What episode is that? Oh. One or two. The guy who was in jail. He's like, everything's private.

You can't even get in. Oh, yeah, dude. The guy, he was Scarface. We forgot about him. Yeah. He was a part of like, like mutilating an FBI agent. He's part of this move. By the way, the fact that guy got out of prison in 12 years is the most

disgusting, despicable thing I've ever heard of. I haven't even heard what he did. He didn't murder an FBI agent, but they brought him to his land and he went out back and he helped them cut him up and mutilate his body. I didn't see that. He got a hundred

years in prison in the court case and then it it was appealed, and he got down. He got out in 12 years. Wow. Not bad. Wait, so is this part of the documentary, or do we still- What's his lawyer's name? No, this is part of the documentary. What's what?

What's his lawyer's name? Oh, I must have missed that part. His tie looked like the Wonder Bread. Oh, I must have missed that part. His tie looked like the Wonder Bread. It was the guy who had his own private sanctuary, and nobody could even go in there. Look at his lawyer, and then look at his lawyer's tie,

and look at the Wonder Bread face. Why he's dressed like the Wonder Bread guy. Dude, he must be sponsored by Wonder Bread. I'm pulling it up. Oh, my God. Fuck okay yeah they didn't they didn't have much on him he was in it quick and quick yes i did forget about that guy jesus christ yeah i forgot about the most horrible person i mean i guess you can move on yeah because if you haven't watched this i'll tell you right now though if you haven't watched this you're still laughing I mean this is the stuff we're saying and the way we're describing this is just

you won't believe us what else you been doing Keith what are you for us to kill time I know obviously you can't go too far what have you been doing what have you been doing to kill time I know you got kids they help kill the time what else you been doing to stay sane

well relatively speaking smoking cigarettes no honestly I know you got kids. They help kill the time. What else are you doing to stay sane? Relatively speaking. Smoking cigarettes. No, honestly, we have to do homeschool. It's like six-hour days of doing that. What are you teaching your kids right now? Addition and

subtraction? You want to hear something about my mom? Hey, who's the best quick math guy in the world? Dude, you got math guy here, but you guys are both really good. Oh, wow. You're going with Whit and Hazy very quick. We should have a go off here.

Hazy's good at, like, tips, but, dude, last time I was at dinner with you, remember what happened? Oh, that was so embarrassing. If you're going gonna tell me that he put too much and then had to ask for it back you better just let it go no no no no yeah so he left so say it was like 500 bucks you got to leave what do you leave i don't know 100 bucks you know leave 100 he left like 80 or 60 it It wasn't even close. And the lady came back. He goes there every day. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We left like 420. I was short from the original. Oh, you didn't even reach the bill, let alone no tip. Hey, it was 500. I think I gave her 380. I thought I gave her 780. Luckily, we were still

sitting there just chatting after dinner, and the lady was like, hey, I hate to do this, and Kevin felt awful. Dude, I wanted to – I was like, keep him used to it. I absolutely hate awkwardness. Hey, I had a situation like that recently, too. So I was in Miami, and I said to my girl – I handed her over. I said, give him $20, as in 20%.

So she threw $20 on there. The owner came over after, after like gave her a shot he's like oh you can't canadian blah blah started shooting the shit so we finally get back to the hotel and then somehow i brought it up and she's like oh yeah that's 20 bucks and i'm like 20 bucks so we drove back i in an uber give him more money. I'm like, sorry, man. Like, I didn't mean to fucking shortchange you. And he kind of had a weird look on his face. He's like, oh, don't worry about it, man. And I was like, oh, that guy was really cool about that.

Like, I fucking just really shortchanged him. Well, then we find out later in the trip that they already add the 18% gratuity. That's why he was looking at me like I was a fucking idiot. Well, he probably thinks you're the best, though. That's what I mean. For the first time ever, I tipped appropriately.. He probably thinks you're the best, though. That's what I mean. For the first time ever, I tipped appropriately. For the 400 dinners that you got for free.

What about you, Hazy? What are you doing to pass the time during the day? I just moved into a new place. So I'm trying to fucking get groceries, get the essentials. I have a bed and a couch in here and a TV with Xbox.

Oh, hey. Why'd you choose Xbox? Because I'm trying to figure Xbox or PS4. Everyone's telling me PS4 is better. You guys are going to think I'm an idiot and I'm an asshole that wastes money, but I've gotten a new... Every year, I just leave my

Xbox or PS4 in the apartment I was previously in and give it to the movers. So you have a nice gesture. So I just buy a new one every year. This year I'm on Xbox. I have three of them in my house. So which one's better?

I think Xbox is better. Really? I just bought one to play during the... I like the controller for PS4 better. Yeah, the Xbox controller is huge. Yeah, I know. It's a monster. I got big hands, so that's why I like Xbox. I used to play, like, what was the one?

Halo. That's like the last thing I was into. Loser. Hazy's taking over for Allen Iverson when he was still, like, buy clothes. He would leave them in a new city. He would just leave them. Hazy's getting at that point. No, because I honestly just try to get the fuck out of my places

when I hire the movers and I take all my clothes. And then hopefully my furniture shows up to my next spot. If not, I'll just buy new shit. Hazy, if you're playing at home and then the next night you're playing in Pittsburgh, so you finish your home game, you fly to Pitt, you know you're coming right back home after, are you the dude bringing just a toothbrush

on the plane and your cell phone charger? If we're going on a plane, I'm bringing a duffel. Okay, no matter what. I played in the metro, so I've done a lot of train and bus trips. Like when I played in New York, we would black car service to Long Island,

black car service to Jersey. Sometimes I would bring a legit toiletry kit and slippers. Had to have your slippers. Hey, Hazy. Remember that time we went to pick up Crides? We went to pick up Chris Crider. Great kid.

We're sitting out. It was because we all live in the same neighborhood. It was me and Hazy and then a black car would pick, whatever it is, SUV. We go, say it's 9.30 in the morning so we have to get to Morning Skate in New Jersey. We show up to

Crides' place. Mostly everybody in the world is on time. If someone says you're going to be there at 9.30, you're outside at 9.30. It's like 9.45, still no cries 9 50 9 55 he comes out with the big beats headphones on sits in the front seat doesn't even say a word in the back like hey sorry i was 20 minutes late we drive all the way to new jersey

me and hazy like is this kid gonna say didn't say a word the entire time didn't say sorry did you did you eventually confront him about this that's insane i would have lost my mind in the black car no because on the way on the way i was having a bagel we used to go this bagel place it was a light and i bit into it my teeth fell out i was so that's a double that's a double whammy that morning. Yeah. Were you resentful towards Crides regarding your teeth because of what type of mood you were in? No, probably not. Yeah, it was his fault.

You could blame him on that one. Well, maybe you get to the bagel shop and they're a little bit softer. Yeah, that's true. I don't think Crides, he's kind of just oblivious to time, honestly. Like, there's times, like, we go to lunch or dinner, and he's either, like, 45 minutes early or 45 minutes late. Like, I don't think he's – You're describing someone that seems so dumb.

No, he's not even – Yeah, but he's smart. He knows Russian, dude. He speaks Russian. Does he really? He picked up Russian on his own. Poor guy. Just for fun. Yeah, he's not even... He knows Russian, dude. He speaks Russian. Does he really? He picked up Russian on his own. Poor guy. Just for fun. Yeah, he's smart as shit. Handsome dude, too.

So what, did he tell you what Putin said? No, he did it to talk to Bucinevich when we were in New York, but I honestly think he just loses track of time. He's either playing Xbox or playing the guitar or making a protein shake or working out.

He's like, oh, shit, I've got to be downstairs 20 minutes ago. How many meetings was he late for in the locker room? I don't think. He's got to wear a watch. Remember the one Quickie was late for? Oh, they're in playoffs, dude. That was insane. Go ahead. You guys can tell it.

It was in Pittsburgh and No, it was in New York. Because he lived in that building close to the thing and he ran there. Oh, yeah, dude. He came in huffing and puffing. And so he came in late and i'm pretty

sure av was bullshit no he like we all like sat there he was at he thought why don't you just tell the story yeah seems like you know it and hazy doesn't right yes yes for um fast was so i would Yes, for Fast. I would never say a bad thing about him. That's why. Best guy in the world. Yeah, you're not really saying anything bad about him. Everyone has the occasional mess. He's such a good guy that no one was mad.

The coaches weren't mad. No one was mad. Say it was like 10.30 in the morning meeting. We're like, oh, shit, where's Quickie? Someone calls him. We're like, Quickie, where are you? He's like, just at home. What are you guys doing? We're in the locker room for a meeting he's like oh shit so like i don't know if he was up and down that year but he they he lived in an apartment near the rink and he ran to the rink and you know msg's on like the sixth floor

or something sprints up that huge hill he comes in the locker room gassed. We're all like, everyone pretend that we're pissed. I'm like, you couldn't even be mad at him. He's such a good guy. Oh my God. He probably blocked like six shots on the way in. Oh, has he blocked a lot of shots? Oh my God. He's like me. Yeah. Yeah, sound.

Sound. I don't know what much more you can add to those two. I just step aside. I don't even try to be funny when they're on their own because you're in tough competition. Just let them do what they got to do and sit back and laugh. So thanks to those boys for joining us. And here's another guy who was a character, Josh Hennessey. He might not have his name on the Stanley Cup or any hot trophies, but he was an MVP when it came to interviews.

So we got a nice little snippet from Josh Hennesseessey right here we're gonna throw it over to him right now dave told me that i need to ask actually it relates to this year about your first 24 hours in russia right after you saw him sign the contract it wasn't right after i signed my visa got delayed like um like a month and a half it took forever to get my visa yeah so by the time i actually got there i missed all of training camp thank god khl training camp so it's like torture and then the team was on the road for like a four game road trip and once you get there you still need more like paperwork and i had to go somewhere and so i wasn't ready i wasn't eligible to play yet um so i i fly in first thing to happen fly ijfk they told me like bring all your own equipment

like whatever you want because it's tough to get stuff like people like yabo told me that like whatever you want to use like just bring it and turn in the receipts so i buy my sticks for the whole year like 41 pieces or whatever it is and i show up and they just vanished. Oh, yeah. Someone's grabbing those at the airport. Somebody laughed when they saw them come through. So I show up and you guys can probably leave and come. This story takes a minute. That's okay. The sticks are gone.

Nobody speaks English. When you get to the Moscow airport, if you've never been to Eastern Europeussia like you are might as well be on mars like you've entered a different world and i don't know who's picking me up like every team has like a like a hand like a logistics type guy that's like i don't know who's i'm assuming someone's gonna recognize me like i'm sticking out like a sort of like all my shit my hockey stuff i got all kinds and uh so i'm leaving without my i spent a half hour trying to like explain that i lost my sticks and they're just like nobody's helping me that's why i leave so i walk out finally from the baggage claim i'm like sweating i haven't talked to my wife like she doesn't even know if i'm alive this was right before like i messaged and like my phone didn't

automatically work when i got there i needed like a plan and you have your prospects jacket i'm wearing the varsity jacket and not the headphones that horton and uh i get like as soon as i get out of the door from like a baggage claim this guy's come like burly russian dudes in leather jackets come like running up to me like start grabbing all my shit and i don't know if i'm getting kidnapped or rescued like i can't i can't tell And this kid's wearing, this young-looking dude, Sasha, great kid. He's the owner's son, like the owner who liked the tough guys. And he, like, kind of comes up to me. He speaks a little bit of English.

He's wearing, like, you wouldn't mistake this kid for Brad Pitt. Like, he's got, like, a mullet, run DMC, like, Adidas jumpsuit, and, like, it's, like like a little pudgy like maybe five six and he's got like this whole crew bodyguards leather jackets like guns like these kids these guys have like guns holstered and i'm like oh we're really doing this so they all grab my shit we go we go outside i'm not carrying anything. Everyone's getting carried for me. We get in a full motorcade, like three black SUVs, driving away from the airport. And I'm like, I'm with the right crew, I think. I think so.

Yeah, like whatever they found me. So we get in the car. He starts talking to me. He's like, my father just, you know, he's like, it's like an hour and a half drive, whatever, back to the town of Chekhov. It's in the outskirts of Moscow. He's like, my father would like to meet you. The junior team's playing.

He's like, we'll drop your equipment off. He's like, my father wants to meet you. Stop and say hi real quick at the arena. You get rid of your stuff. I'm like, okay, whatever. So we walk in through the locker room. I throw my shit down. And I've heard the owner of this team rumors that he was like...

Mafia. Yeah. I don't want to... Yeah. Call it what you want to call it. I mean, there was always rumors that the owner of VTS was very connected. The chances of this guy not having told someone else to kill someone is very low. Let's just put it that way.

I don't know. Is that a good way to put it? I mean, hey, listen, he might be the 1%. He's probably put a hit out on somebody somewhere. I have no idea. But put it this way. People fear this guy, whatever. Like, that was a real thing.

I have no idea what was true and what's not. I get to the rink, and the junior team's playing. There's 65 people in the stands. And then I see this, like, smoked-out box, like black glass, like fully tinted that you can't see inside. So Sasha brings me up. He's like, so we like walk through the balls of the rink up the back steps.

I have to go through like two checkpoints to get like padded down to get to this guy. And I still, I'm in my pajamas. Like you guys were on fucking NHL network. And I don't, I haven't talked to my wife, like hours now, we're still in there i get patted down i get there and i'm expecting like scary dude yeah looking dude like i don't know like i'm expecting a movie character like fur jacket like some guy to just grunt at me and like

so i walk in and his dad's in this room he's like face up against the glass like couldn't be more interested in what's happening in the junior team's game. And junior, it's like the junior VTAS. It's all like the same program from youth all the way to pro. No, it was like, that's like the age. Okay, it was even lower. It was like junior, like 20. And he's like pinned up against the glass.

And I'm thinking like, who's this guy? He turns around wearing, he's probably no bigger than his son, maybe 5'7", like skinny. If he's 150 pounds, that'd be a lot. Toronto Maple Leafs baseball hat on, pulled down over his eyes, and a XXXL hoodie that says Thug Life on it.

I'm not kidding. I was like, no fucking way. This is him? Yeah. Thug Life. Yeah, but it was actually scarier, because I'm like, no fucking way. This is him? Yeah. And this... Thug life. Yeah, but it was actually scarier because I'm like, this guy's got to be like a mean dude.

Sounds like a learner. Because he doesn't look mean. You know what I mean? Thug life. Thug life. He doesn't... So... And they do like the kisses.

You know what I mean? And he doesn't speak any English. So his son has to translate every word he said. He's like, small talk, how was your trip? All this stuff. And he's like, come talk, how was your trip, all this stuff. And he's like, come, watch the game. So it's the first period of the game when I get there, the junior game, and I'm so tired and gross, clammy, sweaty.

I want to call my wife. I'm like, do you guys have a phone? And I don't want to offend him, though, so I'm just walking. I'm like, yep, yep, yep. So he's like, let's watch the game for a minute. And he's like, wait, snaps his fingers. The girls come and start lining up, like, pour drinks, like like let's watch the game for a minute and he's like wait you know snaps his fingers girls come and start like lining up shot like the poor drinks like let's have a drink i'm like all right so the he she's like he's she brings out a ball and a bottle of hennessy the cognac this your last name yeah so i'm like i'm thinking like so i'm like i don't know if

he's if this is like some kind of gesture like he got you know what i mean like he got this last thing you want to be drinking at that point. No. Give me a beer. I don't know what day it is. I don't know what time it is. Yeah. Like I don't. And he's so.

This is fucking crazy. So we do the. So we're watching the junior team play. And like, obviously, I don't give a fuck about the junior team game. I just want to go to sleep. And he's like, so we do it. But I'm afraid to offend this guy. So I'm like.

And they're very ritualistic about drinking. So I came to learn was like with him, everything is done in threes. I don't call it superstition or whatever. So if you do one shot, you got to do three. If you do four, you got to do six.

And it's like, and then there's all these rules. Like you, after you do a shot, you got to look everybody in the eye and like touch every, like, it's like stressful drinking with these guys. Like you got to,

there's rules. Yeah. So we like, so you shot a hennessey i'm like ha ha my name's hennessey you know can i go to the hotel please and uh he's like so he like won't let me leave so then so like we do three shots the second so now the junior team's it's like a good game all of a sudden the second period we do another shot and they have the biggest spread you've ever seen like all kinds of food and they would chase the shot with like dark chocolate or like vegetables like they're always chasing it

with something like crazy spread to watch the juniors nobody's watching this game except him and he's got like a luxury spread like you could have fed 50 people you could have fed the whole rink with what was in front of him and he's dropping down scraps yeah so we do a shot at one point and he's like you know he finishes it and he just turns around and fires the shot glass off the wall behind me and shatters and i was like like i look at his son like am i about to die like did i do something did i not fucking look the you know that i didn't do the handshake right or something and he fucking so and I'm like and I think I'm like he's pissed

so now I'm just like staring out at the game like looking at the clock like I'm afraid to move so then we do another one and he does the same thing fires the shot glass off the

off the fucking wall yelling Russian or no he's not even he's not mad he's just like he's just like dink

and every time he does it a girl comes out of the back with a broom and sweeps it up every single time and he keeps doing this over and over so we it gets better and better i love this place so now the game's in a

shootout it's three hours later right and i'm banging on i'm loaded now because i have to do a show i'm banging on the glass throwing shot glasses all over the place so now this guy loves me and i realized that he only drinks Hennessy. It's the only thing he drinks. Like, it's his favorite thing in the world. That's why you were shot, dude. He had bottles and bottles. I guarantee this guy got a phone call, and the name Hennessy came up.

He's like, sure, give him a hug. Yeah, he's like, there's a hockey player somewhere in the world with the name Hennessy. Like, let's get him so we can sell a couple jerseys. Yeah, and it's Cognac, right? Yeah, it's Cognac, which it's not even, I mean, whatever. It was vicious.

So now I'm completely loaded. My wife still doesn't know if I'm alive. Like, my kids are still having... So finally the game ends and I'm like, all right, thank God. I'm going to go to the hotel.

We show up. The kid Sasha with his motorcade again, bodyguards, the whole crew leaves, takes me to the hotel. They're like, shut down. The lights are all off.

There's nobody in the lobby. He's like, maybe tonight it's more comfortable for you. You stay in my place. I'm like, all right. If you go to bed, man, I'll sleep in your car right now. So first he's like, we're going to get you a phone. Makes the mall stay open. The kiosk in the mall

the like the person had to like go back and open the mall back up and go to the kiosk so they get me a cell phone so i can call my wife so like we do that now it's got to be four in the morning at this point so we go back to his place so we pull up to this like like soviet union area era like like kind of like dilapidated like like this is like concrete looking apartment building, like six foot potholes in the parking lot, like just, it doesn't look like a real nice place. Like elevator to the top floor.

Entire top floor has been blown out for his, like for his apartment, like the son. So it's all redone. Yeah. They like evicted the people on the floor below them so for his girlfriend's closet i'm not kidding so we he like goes in so sasha's we walk in to get hungry i'm like a little be honest with him shit face at this point now it's like kind of fun i'm like kind of annoyed but it's

kind of funny and he's like starts yelling and his girlfriend wakes up at four o'clock in the morning and she's like in her bra and underwear and comes out and starts like cooking for us and he's like you play playstation i'm like fucking yeah let's sure and uh so do it so we go in the living room and he he pulls down he hits a button we sit on these like big it's like red leather fucking couches and like beanbag like scarfish style yeah it's yeah like tony like exactly hits a button full wall projection screen comes down like we're in these red leather he's like pulls out the playstation controls like gives me one all he wants to do so we start playing nhl is now his poor girlfriend who was sleeping isn't she's like

in the kitchen like he's she's got like a full bass that he happened to have in the fridge just like cut it like a loaf of bread like with the skin on it and he's like giving it to us like it's sushi and i'm like you're gonna eat doritos and uh i go so we're playing playstation he doesn't want to play a game he just wants to play he just wants to do a shootout heads up like one-on-one he's like all right pick whoever you want i'm like all right that's hook so i take that so we play over and over and he finds me in the game from like the year before like he called me up from fucking wherever i was and he's like so he's going as me and he clearly plays all the time and i don't play playstation that much but i have that sook and he has me so i'm beating him yeah and he's like so he's like

getting kind of pissed and we're now i'm loaded and i'm like like i'm whatever and he's like so he's like getting kind of pissed and we're now i'm loaded and i'm like like i'm whatever and he's like ah he's like you're not very good in this game i'm like no shit yeah you brought me over here i'm like how do you think i ended up fucking in your living room call me up online right uh and then fine so i sleep at his house and I wake up the next day like three in the afternoon and I finally got a hold of my wife at some point but um that was my that was pretty much my my first day um tricklets means he's gonna have a tough one describing that one on on instagram that is funny I'm gonna ask you what was like your first what the fuck moment in the KHL but that was like a series of them, like back to back. Yeah, I haven't even had.

And by the way, he was really taking care of me. It wasn't like a bad thing. I just landed on a different planet. And it was like, by the end, I'm shit. I didn't expect to be shit-faced playing PlayStation at four in the morning before I got to my hotel. I know we always talk about Timmy Stapleton and his crazy Russia stories, but I think Josh might be in competition for the best Russia story ever

because just nuts, just absolutely nuts that this is the second best, well, known as the second best league in the world, and this is the stuff that guys have to go through. It's kind of funny, I guess, if you don't have to go through it. Well, anyways, guys, what's the number one sign of a bad home security system? A home security system that's so complicated you never use it. This is exactly the type of security system SimpliSafe has spent a decade fighting against. They believe that simple is safer, and it's exactly why SimpliSafe is the home security for right now

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So head to simply safe.com slash chicklets and get free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. That's S I M P L I S a F E.com slash chicklets to make sure they know that our show sent you. And speaking of sent you, these guys are known for sending it a little bit. Cam Jansen, Pat Maroon, a couple of blues, St. Louis boys. Always an adventure when you get with these two, especially Mr. Jansen. So we got a little snippet from their interview. Let's throw it over to them.

Hey, I got a Cam story while we're sitting here. Okay. Just because we're off topic right now. So obviously I skate with Cam in the summer, and I worked out with him. And we we used to do this we used to go to finney's gym all the time and box so cam had this bright idea to bring these ushl kids to box with us and i was like cam you know we're just sparring bullock is sparring with us i'm like i don't think these kids he's like no they fucking need to know how to fucking fight what if they fucking get their ass beat in the USHL I'm like Cam relax They're in a skill league

There's no one fighting in the USHL He's like what Fuck your confidence I'll beat the fuck out of you I'm like okay I know you will Just relax So we skate We would

We would work out Skate Then we would go box So these kids came to us And we used to wrap these towels around our neck And our Our trainer would tape them back and we we'd spar we'd fight we'd fight so cam's like hey jake come on spar with me i'm

like oh fuck this kid's 16 i'm like 17 please don't punch this kid like we would it doesn't have an off switch we don't hit these kids i, we would hit each other just to feel it because, like, he's nuts, obviously, and he wants to feel him get hit. And, like, I was getting hit by Cam. I'm like, holy fuck. Like, I have to go home. Like, summer's... So did I.

I want to go out tonight. Like, I don't want to have, like, a headache. So this kid gets in there. I'm like, oh, fuck. This is going to be bad. So it would go punch, punch, and then he would throw a punch. The other kid. So it would go punch, punch, and then he would throw a punch. The other kid. So Cam would go punch, punch, and then he would open up,

and the kid would punch. So they started going. Then it started opening up, opening up. Cam. This kid had balls then on him. He had balls. He's a millionaire now. Figure it out.

Go on. Finish this story. Go on. Go on. this story Go on Explodes his nose Disburies him Knocks him out And I'm like oh my god His nose is bleeding

Can't even see out of his eyes now His eyes are watered And I'm like holy shit Cam And he goes up to me I'm like what do you think Cam He's not. He's like, you all right, bud? I'm like, what do you think, Cam? He's not all right. He's like, oh, he's fine. Just get up.

I'm like, holy shit. So he gave him a concussion. Probably broke his nose. The kid's making $30 a year right now. It doesn't matter. I'm toughening him up. So who's the kid? I don't know who you're talking about.

Jake Wilson. Oh, Jesus. Oh, he's tearing up so why are you saying he's making 30 million uh he's not doing that i lied about that he's in arizona tearing it up though he's in arizona tearing it up so he hit him and i'm like holy shit i'm like cam you can't be doing to these kids like they're fucking 16 17 years He's never been in a fight. They're fighting in NHL. So he hits him. Okay. Kid gets up.

Tough kid. Tough kid. His uncle used to train us. Bless his... Rick Wilson played in the NHL. He passed away. But his uncle used to train us. And kid gets up.

He's like... Cam looks at him. He's like, now you know what it's like to get hit? There you go. Now he's slaughtering pussy left and right in fucking Arizona. So what are you talking about? Slaughtering. Hey, dude, that's like...

Imagine when you're 16 getting hit by Cam Jets. You're sitting there like, what the fuck is this? Hang with the boys, man. That's the price you got to pay. And it helped him out. Ain't that big of a deal? But that's what we used to deal with. He used to skate all the time.

Now you're saying he's playing at ASU? Yeah. Okay, I'll have to go pay. Yeah, exactly. I go to some games deal with. He used to skate all the time. Now you're saying he's playing at ASU? Yeah. Okay, I'll have to go. Yeah, exactly. I go to some games with him. He's your captain. Absolute character, Cam Jansen, man. Hanging out with him is always fun.

And, of course, Pat Maroon. It was a pleasure to congratulate him on the ice after he won a Stanley Cup last year. You know, I had to go from Bruins fan to media guy real quick, and it was fun, man. I mean, I know, yeah, my team lost, but it was fun to congratulate those guys and dap them up and see them at the height of their career. Same. I'll just say same.

Yeah, gee, there you go. There you go. So, yeah, congrats again to those guys, and thanks for joining us. Next up, one of the superstars of the NHL. We got a nice little quick hit with him here. Austin Matthews, friend of the program, great kid. Certainly marches to the beat of his own drum when it comes to style and we like that hair at chiclet so let's send it over to our buddy austin he was talking about the clothes i noticed recently i think you were rocking a drew hoodie or sweatshirt that's bieber is did bieber start that brand yeah he started it um i don't even know, like a year or so ago, and it's

been blowing up. It's been doing well. And obviously, you've been talking to him. You guys hung out with him just after Christmas, I believe. He went and skated. You, Mitchie, Tyson Barry, your new teammate. Yeah, yeah, we all went over there. We've actually hung out with him a couple times. He's got a house in Toronto, so we've been over a couple times. Just, I don't know, it's like a fun house. He's got all kind of like arcade games and stuff, and yeah, we just go over a couple times just i don't know it's like a fun house he's got all kind of like arcade games and stuff and uh yeah we just go over there and just kind of hang out and have a good time uh we interviewed bennington yesterday and he's telling us that he's got word uh you know he's like he's got a private coach is that what it is and he's like working legit

hard on his jared soul i think is his private coach that's what I heard. He's working on face-offs? Fuck. Yeah. I was talking to him the other day, and he was on the phone, and he was just like, yeah, I've been training, working out, and I've been getting on the ice a lot in L.A. here. So he's taking it pretty seriously, and he's got pretty good hands. I don't know. You get 10 shots.

I hope he can score one. I'm putting my get 10 shots Like I hope he can score one Like I'm I'm putting my money on him Like I hope he can score one But he's got an absolute muffin But he has good hands So he has He can dangle But like the speed of the shot

Yeah But like the problem is That could fuck up Binnington Yeah that's the thing Knuckle puck That's what Freddie said We were talking about it with Freddie He's like

Yeah but like You know when you're so used to like NHL guys coming down, they're ripping pucks at you, and they're shooting it fast, accurate. You're so used to that. And then you've got somebody that obviously isn't at the NHL level and he's coming down, and you have no idea where the puck's going. You have no idea how fast it's going to be.

It's like, oh, I could throw you off. Well, it's like an off-speed pitching, like a Greg Maddux change-up. You've got no chance, dude. You're going to grab it here, and it's going to knuckle puck underneath it. If he scores a goal, it'll probably be bigger news if he scores than if he gets shut out. I hear you. Tyson Berry comes over, new teammate. I'm sure he's fit right in.

Yeah, he's been great. Why are you smiling like that? What do you got? You got a couple stories? No, I got nothing that I can share. That's all we need to hear. He's an awesome guy. We spend a lot of time.

He lives right across the street from me, so I'm like his chauffeur. I drive him around everywhere. I sit next to him on the plane, but he's an awesome guy, super funny, great teammate, good guy in the locker room, makes everybody laugh, and obviously a really good player. Were you actually talking to him a little bit? bit because he came in and he's this stud offensive guy and things weren't weren't great for him was were you we chat him up trying to keep him like spirits up then or not even he was chill yeah a little bit i mean he's i mean you know him pretty

well like he's kind of the type of guy he's so easy going and nothing really kind of bothers him and um those guys get out of slumps easier yeah yeah i think so too but um i mean they definitely went through a couple tough weeks especially early on but um i don't know it wasn't like i had to talk him off the ledge but obviously he was frustrated and then um you know really turned around for him uh right away yeah right away right away yeah he scored which is awesome uh that was in arizona yeah in arizona his parents live have a house there and live there so uh and his thing was he didn't want to go. We played Colorado next, so he was like,

I can't go into Colorado with, like, zero goals. Like, that's just embarrassing. There's going to be signs. Yeah, there's going to be signs. Man, I honestly think if Biz could get in, like, the rack with Biebs and Austin Matthews, I think he would be down for it. He loves Biebs, man.

Not Austin, Biz. But it is cool, though, you though, to have a friend of that caliber and be able to have him on speed dial whenever you want. Hey, who knows? Maybe we'll get him on chicklets one of these days. It would be certainly interesting to talk to Mr. Bieber. And last but not least, our buddy Ryan Whitney. His golf talk has kind of taken over during quarantine here. Shot by shot, he's got an unbelievable memory for remembering what he does

on the golf course. I can't remember when I go miniature golf, and this guy does 72 holes and gives you a play-by-play. So we got a little bit of Witt's golf talk to wrap it up, and hopefully everybody will enjoy that. So without further ado, we've got a little Witt golf talk. First of all, congratulations, by the way. Okay, thank you very much, Chris.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And people at home may be wondering, what are you saying congratulations about? I've had a hell of a week, and it's only Wednesday, guys. So, as I said, last episode, I believe, or maybe it was Chicklets Cup, I've been playing the best golf of my life.

I had seven rounds in a row, you know, a week or two ago where I was between two under and two over. Just consistent, nice golf being played. And it's good timing as it leads into the qualifying for the Mass Am, which if you remember last year, I almost blew it at the end, but I got in. All right?

So I had that on Monday, and on Wednesday, today, you're listening Thursday, I qualified. I went to qualify for the New England amateur. I don't even know how to say that. It's at Concord Country Club this year in Massachusetts, one of the sickest golf courses in the state of Massachusetts. So I wanted to get in, the best in New England. So I'll go Monday, right?

Now, actually, I'll backtrack. Saturday, Sunday, I played both days and something went awry. And golf is the most cruel, hardest game ever devised. And you're cruising along, like I said, for a week, two weeks. And boom, you lose your swing and you got to go find it. You got to go put it back together. And that's how it is. It's never, ever constant and normal.

There's no normal in golf. Every day you're changing. Every day you have different feels. Well, Saturday and Sunday, I'm like, you got to be shitting me. I've played golf like this for two, three weeks, continuing to improve. And now I feel like this with these qualifiers coming up. God damn it. Come on. So I'm a little nervous, but then I figured, dude, you should just get to go play loose, swing easy. I've been part of my success, guys, and hop in whenever you have questions if you do. Part of my success has been swinging at 75%. I'm just swinging easy.

I'm taking a little more club, and I'm just swinging easy and balanced, and I'm holding the finish, and it's working. I'm not swinging out of my shoes. So Monday, I get a tee time. I told you guys it was at 7 a.m. or 7.14. I don't know. So I got up at 4.30. I went for my mile walk.

I swam 15 laps in the pool. I got the body going. I had a death wish coffee. Shout out for the free ad. And I was buzzing. And I get down to the range at like 6.40. I don't like getting there too early. I feel horrible on the range.

I'm popping up five woods. I'm like, you got to be kidding me right now. This is not what I planned on, but you know what? Two, three years ago, I would have shot 90, but I just said, you're going to grind. You're going to manage your swing and you're going to manage the golf course. So I'll go to the first hole. It's a beautiful short par four. I hit it up on the green two putt par. No worries. We're even, I go to two, one of the harder holes at Marshfield,

the big downhill drop. And then a big uphill, probably like four 15. I think I pound driver to the bottom. Nice wedge up top to putt. Get out of there. Buried like a five footer for par. I'm like, all right,

all right, here we go to the, to the, through a tough hole right there. I get to three really short hole. You can hit a four iron. I just, just hit something to 15 and you'll have one 30 in, but there's trouble. There's out of

bounds left in this trees, right? So I take my three iron. I try to swing easy. I push it in the trees, but you know what? You know, when I knew this day was going to be good, I had a window about six feet wide where I could have punched it down to the green, but it was very risky. And there were a hundred trees. And all of a sudden I'm starting to realize don't make doubles. You cannot make double bogeys in these qualifiers. Do not do it. Trust your wedge game. And what did I do?

I did. I pitched it out sideways. I had a 130 in. I hit it to 10 feet. I missed it, but I made a bogey, right? And I didn't make a double. I didn't hit a tree and have it kick behind another tree. I was smart.

Next hole's a par 5. I blow my drive right. I actually have hit a tree and have it kick behind another tree. I was smart. Next hole's a par five. I blow my drive right. I actually have to hit it up another fairway because I'm kind of blocked out by trees again. So mind you, I'm not swinging it fabulous still. I rip a five iron down the other fairway of the fifth hole. I'm on four. And I have like 130 in uphill over trees. I hit a great shot to like 10 feet with my pitching wedge. I missed the putt, but you know what? I'll take par after that drive. One over. The next hole, I blow my drive right again,

literally in the trees with a little bit bigger of a window, a window of a shot I knew I could pull off to hit it up towards the green. And I just cut a little five iron. I'm like 200 yards. It was a horrible drive. And it cuts up to just in front of the green, probably about 15 yards short. I hit it on the green to like a foot, tap it in. That feels good. That's a hell of a par save, Ryan. Well, I get to the sixth hole, which is a beautiful par three, buck 90 into the wind it was playing. You're hitting from a top of a tee and then it

all goes down until the green back up about one. pin was 190 i take a five iron and pure the absolute shit out of this iron it's an absolute dart right left of the pin the pins on the right side i'm like i'll be good and then as it's halfway there i'm like dude that is ripping through the wind it lands on the back of the green and bounces along i, ah, but you know what I did new wit growing up with on a golf course. I said, it's all right. You hit a great shot. You're not in a bad spot. Get it up and down. Although I'm now chipping downhill. It wasn't a good spot to be in. I hit a great, I hit a great chip shot and I hit it to about six feet. I was really thrilled with it. And I missed the pot and I'm now pissed off. I'm like, that's annoying. You should have made that putt.

But you got some birdie holes coming up. Seven. Easy little short hole, four iron wedge to five feet. Can it birdie. One over. Here we go. I get to eight. Blow drivers over these trees because I know it's all open

because I've played Marshfield Country Club before. I got about 150 in. I hit it to the front of the green 30 feet. It wasn't bad because it was in the rough. Can it way 30 footer yeah back to even hit it might have been a 35 footer huge dropped in final rotation unbelievable putt go to nine par three it's a buck 55 playing into a little bit of a breeze i said dude take a nice eight and just kind of cut this thing off with a little sawed off finish. I hit this like five yard cut to a back right flag. I get up there. I'm like, oh my God, it's six feet. The mass golf guy sitting there with this camera and I go video

this birdie and tweet it out there. What do I do? I roll it in three in a row, the turkey. One under. So I get to one out of three, nine. I'm like, all right, here we go. Here we go. And I'm confident. And I'm like managing this. This is my swing. And it's starting to feel a little bit better. 10's a long par four.

I actually hit a great drive. Had 135 in. Usually you don't hit driver there, but there was room right. I'm in the rough. I flag a pitching wedge right at the pin, but it lands long. And if you've played Marshfield, the 10th hole, it's crazy. It's so it's all sloped back to front, the half of it sloped back to front, then you get up on this shelf and up on that shelf, there's a hill behind that. So it's the pins in the back and I'm literally 12 to 13 feet behind the pin. I'm putting downhill and I'm like, okay,

this is very fast. And then after the hole it's really really like fast gone I tapped this thing thinking it'll maybe be a little short but a good putt it goes by the hole he keeps rolling to like 40 feet I'm like you gotta be kidding me oh my god it's too good of a shot to now have tripled the amount of the the footage in your second putt for par that you did for birdie I hit a horrible putt to like four feet. Now I have this for bogey. Can it. Big bogey.

Whatever. I got a par five coming up. Par five. I hit a good drive. Laid up. Hit it. Hit it close. Actually had a nice little up and down right near the pin.

I get to, it's 11. I'm now still even. I get to 12. I think the hardest hole in the course. 435 yard dog dogleg left, hazard right, trees where you may not find the ball left. I hit the best drive of my life, this high booming draw to 112 yards out. The other guys were like 150. I think one of them hit three-wood, but I was like, holy shit. They both missed the green left. The screen's narrow, it but i was like holy shit they both missed the green left the screen's narrow pins up front in the middle i hit a 54 degree wedge to literally 16 inches like i get up there it's so tight i'm

like dude toughest hole in the course you get back to one under you beast now these guys are trying to get up and down one guy did one guy didn't i'm waiting i'm like i just want to putt this i started thinking ah fuck i started thinking, you know where I'm going with this. And I get up there finally, what felt like 20 minutes later, and I lipped this thing out. Talking about short putts, all right, this was the definition of a gimme. It was the definition of a gimme. I'm kind of on tilt now, which I shouldn't have been,

but you're still even with a couple easy holes. Not easy, a couple gettable holes coming up. I'm like, how do you miss that? That's a wasted shot. And I'm going into this. I'm thinking I need to shoot two to two over. I should have mentioned that two overs my, my number. You got to shoot that to get in. Next hole, easy shot. You hit it to 15. You have 120 yards in. I chunk an iron, shot. You hit it 215. You have 120 yards in. I chunk an iron, hits the top of the bunker, rolls in the bunker. I got 110 yards from a bunker with a lip right in front of me. I get it out, but I'm 30 yards short. Hit it onto 25 feet, two-putt bogey. Okay. All right. One over. Par three coming up next. Hit this perfect six iron. It was like 175, little wind at you. Six iron goes 20 feet long. My birdie putt is seven feet short. Missed that. Three putt, two over. Are you kidding me, Ryan?

Come on. And I'm getting, I'm mad and I'm just like, what is going on? You don't deserve this. You're playing better than this. Next hole, I rip my drive right. It's in the hazard, like one feet in where I'm able to whack it and punch out. I punch out. I got 100 yards now. I'm hitting my third shot into a par four. I leave it like 10 yards short. I'm like, oh, my God.

I then chip my fourth shot to like eight feet, seven feet. Now I got to make this for bogey to go to three over. Now I'm above the number in my mind, the cut line, and I could easily make a double. I can the putt. Big time putt for bogey to go to three over now i'm above the number in my mind the cut line and i could easily make a double i can the putt big time putt for bogey right i go to a par four now par three next number 16 it's 197 yards back left pin i hit an awesome four iron i actually missed it a little bit but in terms of like circumstance tough green to hit long iron it was a good shot 30 feet i nestled up there to like maybe two feet. Like it was a good pot, but maybe misread it a little bit, but I'll take par and run,

but I'm thinking I got to make at least one birdie. No, I'm thinking I got to play at least even par to have a chance and one birdie to finish it two under, I think gets it done. 17. I bought my driver. It's a short hole, whatever. Bomb my driver, actually 60 yards in. Chip it up. Thought it was a great chip. Release is hard. I got 15, maybe 20 feet above the hole. I tap this thing. I know it's lightning.

It goes flying by five feet. Oh, my God, man. I thought I hit a shot that was going to be tight for birdie. Now I got another five-footer for par. Can it. Big-time putt. Big-time putt. Looking back, I actually putted better than I thought so i get to 18 it's downwind now mind you i have another round to talk about so if you're sick of this

you might as well just really drive your car right i think it's fascinating that you remember i get to 18 and 18 is playing downwind i gun the trees on the left they're like 280 i didn't even realize how quick the trees on the right came in. I hit driver, had no business hitting driver, but I'm thinking par for sure, but birdie, I'm kind of birdie hunting. It's not a hole you want to try to birdie hunt either. I pushed my drive when I think it's on the right side of the fairway. Okay. I get up there. It must've kicked right. It's like right in the tree line, but I have a window up to the green. I got to go low between a tree. I hit a six iron that comes out of like the wooded area, like a rocket. I, all I want to do is be short because the green is legit back to front downhill. You could sled down this green in the winter when there's snow, the ball goes ripping

over the green. I'm like, I'm dead. I'm like, there's no chance. There's zero chance at birdie. And there's maybe a 6% chance at par. I hit a flop shot from long in the rough that lands on the exact top of the green, like where it began and the pins 40 feet beneath it and rolls down the hill and actually gets to pin high, but 12 feet. It was an incredible shot not to pump my own tires. So I'm like, dude, I have a pot and I hit a great pot, but I leave it a little short. So it wasn't a great putt, actually. What am I talking about?

Four over. I'm so mad. I'm just like, oh, dude, I just blew that fucking round. I blew that round. What a loser. One under. Kind of like in the sandbaggers. One under, five over.

I know, Biz. I was just so disgusted. But then I get in, and my buddy, the one-armed bandit, Andrew D'Aremio, my four-ball partner, he's like, he finished four over, Biz. I was just so disgusted. But then I get in, and my buddy, the one-armed bandit, Andrew D'Aremio, my four-ball partner, he's like, he finished four over two. He's like, dude, we're going to get in. He's like, this place, it's windy. The greens are ripping.

The scores are not great. We're going to get in. And I sweated it out all day, checking the scores, checking the scores, checking the scores. And about four and a half hours later, I got into the tournament and fall over made it so back to the mass am at katansit that's in mid-july i am fired up for that that's going to be incredible last year at the country cub did not go well i think it was 80 79 not even close to match play gotta try to get in match play this year so any questions i mean i'm just not me i'm flabbergasted that you

can remember all i know i feel like you're i feel like your spouse supporting you through your golf habits thank you because she doesn't really want to she must go into robot mode she's not sitting through more than three holes she's like okay yeah let me hear about it that Cole's notes. That's hard enough. So Tuesday hit some balls. Didn't play. And Wednesday same exact wake up routine because it's up in New Hampshire. I was 810

and the course was an hour and 20 minutes away. The New England Am, Connecticut, Vermont. We know New England guys. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut. It's like J.B. Spiessow setting your fucking tee times. Exactly. Exactly. So I drive up to New Hampshire.

I get paired with a kid that plays at college. Great kid. Hell of a player. And then another high school kid. And these kids are both, you know, really good players. We get out there. Par 5. First hole, like 490.

Driver, 6 iron to 30 feet. Tupac Birdie. Great start. Love it. Next hole, like longer par 4. Actually, not long. Whatever. out there par five first hole like 490 driver six iron to 30 feet two putt birdie great start love it next hole like longer par four actually not long whatever 420 uh hit driver gap wedge to 12 feet easy two putts stay one under three i hit it right into the trees i punched something up into a greenside bunker hit a phenomenal bunker shot to five feet, can at one under. Next par three, 180 down the hill, hit an eight iron, tried to end up being right of it. It drew, hit the front of the green, bounced in the bunker. I'm like, God damn it. Hit another unreal bunker shot to an inch, maybe, maybe a half an inch. It was on the cup. Tap in par. That was a hell of a par. Get

me out of that hole. One under still through four. Five, rip a five wood down the left side. Hit a nice 54 degree from 100 yards. Middle of the green, two putt, four, one under. Six is 125 yards to this thin green over water. And now let me tell you what this rules official of Vermont says to me. He's sitting there on the 6T watching everyone hit. And there's a guy that's in the drop zone. And the drop, you know, I think the the drop zone and the drop you know i think the

carry the water was you know 110 the pins like kind of like just over that the guy goes want to hear something bad yeah sure as i'm waiting to hit this like terrifying golf shot to a tiny green over water that guy right there's he's hitting his ninth shot. He's put four in the water. I'm like, oh, my God. I go, why would you say that to us? We haven't even hit yet. He's like, uh. So I had a great shot, actually, like 15 feet, two-putt par, get out of there. Next hole, same thing, lay up, four irons, like 50-degree, two-putt par,

get out of there through seven, one under. Eight, this kid shows up. I got to get his name. Got to get this kid's name. He loves chiclets, apparently. Where the hell is this kid's name? It's going to drive me nuts. Matt Gover.

He's a goalie and a golfer at Tabor. Unbelievable golfer. He's already in high school, Tabor Academy. He's already exempt into this tournament. I'm trying to get him, but he shows up because I'm playing with a couple of his buddies. Well, what happens? I chunk a five wood. I'm like one, I know it's 200 yards out on this par four where I should have been 150. I then blow a six iron dead right into the trees. Lucky it didn't go into the hazard. I chip onto the green. I miss the putt. I'll take bogey.

Easily could have been double. Even. Nine, I hit driver up the middle. Pounded it, actually. Hit a nice wedge to the middle of the green. Two putt. Get out of the front nine even. I have a number in my mind for this qualifier, and it's three over.

I thought it'd be one stroke higher than the mass, Sam. I don't really know where I got that from. I'm kind of looking back and thinking that made zero sense because his players all over new England, but the back nine has three par fives and I've kind of started thinking and I've kind of started learning. You can't just try to get a number in your head on what you think the cut's going to be and try to get that number or better.

Like I got to try to go low and I have to do it smartly when I'm not forcing my game and I'm not hitting shots and trying to hit shots that I don't have in my bag. I'm playing within myself, but also trying to be aggressive and score. So tens of par five, I pound a drive, but there's a hazard, right? And it's starting to cut a little bit. I'm like, come on, but it looks fine. But I'll tell every golfer, you know what I'm talking about. It's heading towards kind of the cart path. And in golf, there's this some insane ability that when you hit a drive or a shot and it's going towards the cart path and everyone says, don't hit the cart path. It fucking hits the goddamn cart path. Somehow the cart paths are like three feet wide. It always hits the cart

path. What does my drive do? Hits the cart path, but my drive do hits the cart path but doesn't bounce in the hazard it bounces 60 yards forward dude on a par 5 instead of having 220 into this hole i got a buck 70 i mean what a gift to just get another birdie back it's now like a par 4 well i hooked my fucking seven iron no not the shit but it was a horrible shot and hit this awesome pitch shot over this hill landed in the rough and rolled to two feet tapping birdie what an up and down i took advantage of a bounce i got in my favor and i get so many bounces against me at times i feel so i get to 11 and it's a um it's a short par 4. It's 350 yards. So I hit my 3-iron, and I got 130 in or 120 in, and I hit a shot to a foot.

Just another nice birdie. I've birdied 10. I've birdied 11, and I got this thing going. I'm 2 under. We get to the next hole. It's like a downhill 380, maybe 400 par 4. This is Stonebridge in New Hampshire. I'd never played it before, but I got some notes sent to me from some buddies.

Appreciate that, Macario. I pound driver, and I actually have 75 yards in. I'm in a perfect spot. I'm right before this long bunker, but it's downhill lie, and the green's very narrow. It's very shallow it's not deep there's not much to hit but i hit this awesome 60 degree nipper to like eight feet little slider right to left can it three under three in a row let's fucking go so fired up i'm just like

this is and i and i found something the night before with my swing after just feeling weird all day at marshville It was just great feeling. Par three's next, 205 yards. I hit my five iron, just short right of the green. And I got a pretty easy chip. It's like a lot of green to work with. And I chip it up to five feet, maybe four feet, and I make it. Like, that's awesome, dude.

You just get up and down after kind of a weak iron, and you continue to stay at three under with a par five coming up. Well, here's where the issue comes. I get to this par five and never in my life have I had this feeling in golf where I was immediately panicked at how it was the tightest golf hole I've ever seen in my life. It is literally like a bowling alley, the 14th hole at Stonebridge. It's five 50 down a hill and there are all trees and woods,

lost ball, right? And the exact same thing left. Now I didn't know in my head that left is red stakes hazard. So I would be able to, if I hit it left into the hazard, drop up there and hit my third where it entered. Okay. I thought, I thought I knew right was like lost ball out of bounds. You're reteeing playing a provisional and you aren't finding that sucks. i figured the same with left so i'm kind of like holy shit and i'm like dude i just need and i'm not i know i said i was trying to score as well as i could but at this point three under and knowing two overs probably getting in i'm like dude i don't really need to go that much lower take my three iron now you take an iron to lay up on a par five to feel more comfortable and to maybe not bring trouble into play and to kind of lay up a little bit.

Well, I get this three iron in my hand, and I'm still just as nervous because it's still the exact tightness of the hole. It's like nothing's really changed. It was so stupid. Dude, I chunk this three iron 50 yards right into the woods. Lost ball. No. I'm like. three off the tee.

Now you got to go. Yep. I'm like, are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you kidding me? And I take a deep breath and I'm like, Oh my, just what a stupid decision.

And I take my driver and I say, dude, swing hard and commit to this shot. Cause I didn't commit at all to the three iron and I tee it up after the two guys said, I have to say I'm playing a provisional, which by the way, I wasn't even, I didn't even want to go look for the first one. We had to give like the, the, the, uh, what's the, what's the word I'm thinking of the courtesy look like.

I didn't even want to find it. It could have taken me 10 to get out of the woods. If I did, I pound driver an unbelievable shot to show up when it really counted. When, if another one goes OB, I mean, dude, you can make it nine or 10 golf golf. And I pound driver. I'm like, that a boy that's how to respond. And I hit an awesome three iron from there in just into the front of the green. And now I'm thinking, dude, I'm chipping five here. I get up and down. It's a, it's a fake birdie six. It's a lost ball six. It'd be a hell of a bogey. And I hit the worst chip to like 10 feet, horrible chunk. And I miss it double. But instead of being like really disappointed, I didn't get up and down for bogey. I thought, dude, you're still one under with four

holes to go. And it was, it was an awesome mental experience I had to like not panic really. And I was like, it was actually in my head. I was like, I was actually so proud of myself for making the double after that tee shot was that hard and that important after already putting one's OB. So I go to 15, I hit a five wood. It's like this weird, bizarre dog leg left where you can see the green from the tee, terrible hole. i hit a five wood it's like this weird bizarre dog leg left where you can see the green from the t terrible hole i hit a five wood and i got 180 in i if i hit a good shot i would have had 130 maybe 140 and i push a six iron right and i'm short i'm actually just in the tree line i'm like in the in the woods but it's fine and i chip it long, and then I two-putt bogey. I'm now even with three to go.

I'm like, oh, my God, dude. Don't even fucking talk to me. Get out of my face, Ryan. Can you get out of your own face? Well, par three is next. 165 up the hill. I committed to an awesome eight iron and hit it to, like, 12 feet and just lipped it out.

But it was a huge confidence booster to just get back an easy two pop par 17 to par five dead up a hill. It's five 50, a hundred yards uphill. And man, when I tell you that it's another kind of terrifying tee shot, all I said before was swing this so smooth and so balanced and hold your finish. And I hit a nice one. It was a little up the right side, but it was a tight hole and it was a great shot. And I hit six iron to lay up, which is a little too much because it put me 70 yards out instead of I kind of wanted to be 100.

Well, I walked up to the green from 70 yards. I gunned it. It said 70 yards, but I walked up and I wanted to see what the green looked like. I'd never played the course. I walked back to my ball and I hit it to three feet

and knocked in a frigging birdie to get to one under. And that is how you respond after doubling 14 and bogeying 15. You make a great par at 16, you birdie 17. Now you're in the driver's seat. Now you got a three shot cushion in your mind to make the cut of this tournament. And I go out on 18 and it's 430, dogleg left. I murder a drive, absolutely melt one. I got 120 in. I hit a gap wedge to 15 feet. I put it up to a foot, and I knock in a one under par 71 and qualify for the New England Am.

So let me tell you something about, like, when you put in hard work to something. And now, mind you, tomorrow I can go hit balls, and I can be horrific. But when I put in work work and I love this game, when you actually see results, it is the most satisfying feeling. So I'm pretty fired up. And, yeah, that's that.

Well, first off, I guess, R.A., I'll take it from here. How long was that? Is that painful? Wait a moment. Time out. Congratulations, Ryan Whitney, on qualifying for both of those. And considering that myself, Mike Grinnell, and R.A. are the only people still listening to this,

I think we should give ourselves a round of applause. But here's what I'll say. In my fake clap, I told all you losers, all you losers at home, to get off. And you know what? I bet you the guys who I said don't even listen because I know you don't want to hear it. I bet you they stayed and listened.

I bet you you're listening right now. So listen to that golf talk and take it in. And Biz and R.A., you two could have left also. Grinelli has to stay and listen, but that's because he's my buddy. That does it. That does it for episode 275. R.A., you are a champ for listening. I actually enjoy Witt's my buddy. That does it. That does it for episode 275. R.A., you are a champ for listening. I actually enjoy Witt's golf stories

and I just, I pray moving forward that that's the type of mental toughness you bring to the Sandbaggers because I'm sick and tired of caring. Sandbaggers, I shot five under on the back against Crosby. Great seeing you all. Have a great week. We all love you.

Love you guys. The Witt dog recounting 36 Great seeing you all. Have a great week. We all love you. Love you guys. The Width Dog. We counted 36 holes as if he was telling you what he had for breakfast this morning. He's unbelievable at it. So that's it. That's our best of for the summer. We just want to listen. Tell everybody thank you.

We know it's been no hockey for – this is the longest we go without hockey. Usually we're starting back up again after the Stanley Cup by this point. And we're not there yet. So we appreciate everybody who's been listening, hanging in there with us. Ideally, we'll have hockey back soon. That's what we'll be talking about. That's what we're keeping our fingers crossed for. So everybody, have a great week.

And we'll catch you next week here on Spittin' Chicklets. As always, we want to thank our awesome sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Big thanks to our friends over at New Amsterdam Vodka and Pink Whitney. A big thanks to our new friends at Native. Be sure to check out their deodorant. Big thank you to everyone over at Roman. Thanks for sticking with us for this long time. Big thanks to Mugsy Jeans.

You guys have been with us forever. Love those tight jeans. Feeling good. And a big thanks to SimpliSafe. If you want to keep your home safe during these crazy times, check out SimpliSafe. That's great. If you want to keep your home safe during these crazy times, check out Simpsons. Have a great weekend. Outro Music Around Nothing's gonna ever keep you down You're the best Around Nothing's gonna ever keep you down

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