Spittin Chiclets - Spittin Chiclets Episode 351: Featuring AJ Galante + Brad Wingfield

Episode Date: September 14, 2021

On Episode 351 of Spittin’ Chiclets, the guys are joined by AJ Galante and Brad Wingfield from Netflix’s 'Untold: Crime and Penalties' Documentary. AJ joined (04:16) to discuss being President of a Pro Hockey Team at 17-years-old, building the Danbury Trashers and what he is up to now. Winger then joined (01:15:19) to discuss his playing career, his infamous leg injury, and what life has been like since the documentary was released.You 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. Hello everybody, welcome to episode 351 of Spit and Chicklets presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the Barstool Sports Podcast family. What is up everybody? I'm sure you're happy to hear that this will be the last of the interview only episodes. We'll be back with a full month the next week to kick off the 2021-2022 NHL season after a nice little breather to recharge the batteries. G, are you ready for our first NHL season since, trigger warning, the 2019 NHL season?

I am, Ari. I am very ready. But I'll tell you what else I'm ready for. The Spittin' Chicklets College Gaming Tournament. It's happening Tuesday and Wednesday of this week on the Spittin' Chicklets College Gaming Tournament. It's happening Tuesday and Wednesday of this week on the Spittin' Chicklets YouTube channel. We're taking teams, hockey colleges from all across the nation, and we're trying to find out.

We know what's the best college hockey school in the country right now. It's UMass. They won the national championship. We want to find out the best gaming college hockey school in the nation right now. So me and Emrags from Barstool, we're going to be on the call. We want to find out the best gaming college hockey school nation right now. So me and M rags from barstool, we're going to be on the call. We're not playing in it.

We're commentating my first time ever doing play by play. So I'm a little excited, even though it's e-sports, but yeah, this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, we got a bracket colleges all across the country. Tune in spit and chick with you too, baby. Well, you're lucky. It's not 1994. I'm up at State up at North Adams or else we'd be rolling through everybody

last time I played those games well at least when I was good at them anyways well hockey is almost here but football is officially back from Thursday till Monday we know that so be sure to head on over to your local bar make sure to order some Pink Whitney goes great with some pigskin and some

wings whether it's some obscure college conference or the big Monday night game, order Pink Whitney when you're out at your local bar tonight. Make sure to follow all their social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram. Once again, get some of that good Pink Whitney. And you'll be even happier to hear who we have on today's episode. If you've been on Netflix at all lately or anywhere near Hockey Twitter, then you are definitely familiar with today's pair of guests. They're from Untold Crimes and Penalties.

It's taken the internet by storm. Like I said, hockey media, social media, all over the place. These guys have been, by the way, kudos on the release date by those guys too. Gee, right? Like kind of a little bit of a desert time here. All the free agencies done nothing to talk about. And boom, this is the only hockey story people are talking about right now.

Smart people, those Galantes, smart people. people absolutely and if somehow you're not cut up it's the very true story about a trash company owner who founded a minor league hockey team and he put his 17 year old son in charge to be the general manager and president of the danbury trashes and on today's episode we have the son aj and we also have Brad Wingfield, who is a legendary player for the squad. But first, we do want to let you know the first interview was brought to you by our friends at Cross Country Mortgage. Cross Country Mortgage is much like us at Barstool, a people first group of people. They are dedicated to the fundamentals of mortgage lending, which results in a fast, convenient and less stressful home financing or refinancing experience. And right now, rates are unbelievably low.

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all loans subject to underwriting approval, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. And now, enjoy AJ Galante. Well, gang, we got the band back together very quickly so we can interview our next guest. If you've been scrolling on Netflix at all the last two weeks, then you've definitely seen his mug staring back at you at some point. That's because the streamer captured his story

of being a 17-year-old high school senior running a minor league hockey team bought by his trash magnate father for the Untold docuseries. The episode is called Crimes and Penalties, and it's been tearing up social and hockey media since it dropped. And we're psyched to bring on the team president and general manager of the Danbury Trashes, A.J. Galante. Thanks so many for joining us, brother.

How's it going? Oh, thank you, guys. It's destiny we're here. If one more person asks me, this is the biggest thing in hockey, I'm like thank you guys it's uh it's destiny we're here if one more person asked me i this is the biggest thing in hockey i'm like well it's not my show i said i'm excited to be here fellas well listen i i saw i i heard about the show and immediately i go this guy's coming on we gotta get him on so it's only a matter of time no of course man i'm not like i said i mean you guys uh i know you guys are the biggest thing going. So I'm just I'm honored to be be a part.

AJ, I was just pissed off. I didn't get a call to play on the team at the time because I was looking through the roster. And those are a few guys I ended up tossing the knuckles with down the road. Man, listen, unfortunately, if we were a little long, we had a couple more seasons. I'm sure we would have we would have crossed paths for sure. One of which being nasty, morassy. Now they showed him, I think, quickly in the documentary. They didn't have any any features on him. But what was your experience with him in your short time with him?

Oh, man. I mean, so it was a week after Wingfield got hurt the first season. And, you know, it was such a deflating situation losing Brad and uh you know we had tough guys don't get me wrong I mean we had a depth chart full of them but I'm like man I was like we lost that that and then we lost Ruman Nadir as well obviously because he got suspended basically the rest of the year so it was like man what are we gonna do and literally I'm walking in one day and a guy stops me in the lobby. I'm never, I don't remember his last name, but his name was Eric. And he's like, Hey AJ, how you

doing? I'm like, Hey, how you doing? But he's like, Hey, my name's Eric. Listen, I'm really good friends with this guy. He's playing, he's playing in Bakersfield right now. And I'm like, okay. And he's like, I got to get them down here for you. I think you're going to like them. I'm like, okay. So, you know, I'm like, you know, you I think you're gonna like him I'm like okay so you know I'm like you know you you hear things like this I'm like okay buddy sure so I gave him my card I'm like listen I'm like you know hit me up anytime I said you know I'm willing to listen to anyone he sends me the next day like overnight I get like a box of VHS tapes and um it says nasty morasty and I'm like what the hell is this so I put it in you know VHSs and it says nasty, morasty. And I'm like, what the hell is this?

So I put it in, you know, VHSs and it's just this little, little guy running around and, and just, I mean, smiling, just, just dummy and guys smile, getting punched, but laughing. I mean, he had like this refrigerator head. Yeah. I was like, Jesus, this guy's insane but um he was smiling uh you know i'm like oh we got to get this guy and uh i called this guy eric he put his card in there and we just we just made it happen hey so in in a documentary that had i don't know 20 at least laugh out loud moments the one moment i was losing it was you were at school or wherever you were.

And everyone's like, AJ, congrats, buddy. That's unreal. You're like, what are you talking about? Your dad gave you no warning, no nothing. All of a sudden you just heard he bought the team or he owns a team and I'm running it. Well, like I said, and I told the story so many times and I wish it was a cooler story, but I was like, I'll never forget. It was March of 2004. We were sitting there, we're having dinner one night and he's, he's quiet.

And usually when he's quiet, he's thinking, and he finally, you know, he kind of nudges me and he's like, Hey, listen, I'm going to start a minor league hockey team here probably in the fall. And I'm like, okay. You know, it was to say, you know, my dad's random like that and he's very serious. But even for me, I was just like, what is this a joke? You know what I mean? He was just like, yeah, I'm going to, we're going to start it in the fall. I'm like, okay. And he goes, and I want you to, you know,

I want you to be the president. I want you to run the team. And I'm like, okay, dad. Sure. No, no problem. Yeah. I was, I was kind of like joking back with him in a way. And I was just like, yeah, sure. Yeah. I'll do it.. I thought he was being sarcastic with me. So next thing I know, he just nodded. He's like, okay, good, good answer. So a week later, just like I said, all of a sudden I'm walking in school. And back in those days where they had newspapers in the library and everyone's looking at me like, I'm like, what the hell?

And then sure enough, a teacher was like, congratulations. Oh, my God, in the library. And everyone's looking at me like, I'm like, what the hell? And then sure enough, a teacher was like, congratulations. Oh my God, this is amazing. I was like, I go in the, I go in the library and there's, and I'm looking and I'm like, I didn't even know what to say, but he didn't warn me. It was just, that was our, that was our verbal negotiation at dinner that night. It was just, I'm going to do it. And that was that. It was insane. I mean, since the doc dropped,'s been like I said all over hockey media social media has your life just been a whirlwind for like the last two weeks of media appearances I've been seeing you everywhere you know I'm one of those guys where I'll talk to anybody like I don't care if a podcast

has 20 followers or they have millions you know I just this just, this is so, this is so stupid to me that people are so interested because I'm such a boring guy, deep down. The fact that a guy like me, and even my dad, like just all of us, the fact that this team, it just won't die. And it's unreal. And it's so humbling. Like, and I made a mistake. I've been answering every single like direct message on it. I got to probably stop that. But even if it's just like a quick thing, I just feel like obligated to, you know, answer to people. And that's just how I am.

I'm going back to the dog. I kind of mentioned the history of the wrestling stuff. So I know maybe you weren't comfortable initially taking over the team. But how quickly did that turn into a basically like a WWE event dynamic? Like how long did it take for that to snap in? Well, you know, like I said, after I knew it was for real that, you know, once I saw it in the paper and my dad's like, yeah, we're doing it. You know, I was like, all right. You know, I knew very early on.

I mean, we don't come from, you know, where we were, we're from here in Danbury. I'm still here. I mean, at the time it wasn't like a hockey you know hotbed so it's like what are people gonna like you know the the ice arena was like literally two years old it wasn't like it was like all this like high school hockey going I was nothing so I'm like I started thinking and wrestling was my first love so I'm like you know what we're gonna do we're gonna turn this into like a heel like a heel wrestler where everyone wants to watch like the bad guy and literally we just went to work and we started finding guys um on and off the ice really that that fit that image and um you know I

don't know whether it worked or not I mean mean, we're still talking about this damn team. I mean, obviously it worked. And it was just insanity. I got to ask about my favorite character. I shouldn't even say character because he's a real human. Tommy T-Bone Pompasello. I mean, this guy. The only equipment manager to ever be suspended in the U-Haul. He was your middle school hockey coach?

I met him when I was 11. And, again, it was before Danbury had an ice arena, so we had to go across to New York State to go to this ice arena. And, again, I mean, he was one of the coaches. And, I mean, you're talking 11-, 12-year-old kids, and he's just bodying guys into the board. And that's not a – like, that's – like, people, ever since they've seen the doc, they ask me,

well, are you guys embellishing? Is this, like, dramatic? I'm like, no. Tommy was burying guys into the boards. And he was just like – I mean, it was sick. It was – I look – I'm 35 now. I look back, it's sick. But that's how he was just like, I mean, it was sick. It was, it was, I look, I'm 35 now. I look back, it's sick, but that's how he was. I mean, he was, what you see is what you get.

And he was, he just fit right into it, right into our little like wrestling heel stable we had going on. Did he know, like, did he know how to sharpen skates and all the stuff that the equipment manager has to do? I have no idea if he knew what he was doing. All that mattered is that he wanted to do it. And it was kind of like, all right, you're the equipment manager. You know what I mean?

And it was just like, I have no idea. I know he probably spent just as much time with the opposing team's locker room as ours. So, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, he did what he had to do. That was one of the components I wanted to ask you about. It seemed like most of your meetings together were how you guys were plotting to mess with the other team. Were you aware of all these antics that were going on before they happened or were you keeping out of this shit? Well, look, it's 2021. The statute of limitations is over. So, I mean, it's one of

those things where, you know what it is, bro? It's like, imagine your favorite middle school sleepover with all your buddies and like the stupid prank calls you probably made, stupidest little childish pranks. That's what we would do. And it was like the dumbest, I mean, allegedly like hotel fire alarms got pulled at three in the morning. Allegedly, you know, you know, it just, you know, goalie pads disappeared. That's the funniest one. So you'd be playing against teams where their goalie wouldn't have their pads

because right before the game, you'd wheel in there and yoink them. Allegedly. I didn't see it. I was in the office, but allegedly these things were happening. It's amazing. But no, I mean, just the little stupidest. I mean, the little I mean, we would sit there literally because, you know, you know, like those that league you played on the weekends. You know, all the games were on the weekend. So. It was like every every time we'd come, I'd come home from college. You know, I try to get Fridays off so I could come home on Thursday and we'd be sitting at my dad's desk, literally like eating like McDonald's, just talking like, what are we going to do? Like, what is it going to be this week? And what happened was, you know, you know how it is each week. It got, we had to one up it,

one up it, one up it. And it was getting, it was getting to the point where we were, we were, we were towing the line of, like, this is getting crazy. We were always trying to one-up the things that were going on. It was insane. You saw the show. You think T-Bone puffing on that stogie would mess with anyone? Come on, I don't think he would.

He's a gentleman. He really is. I had to impart a little list from what I read and heard. Leaving dead fish in the HVAC, shutting off the hot water, welding the opponent penalty box shut, shortening the opponent's bench this guy was like Bobby the Brain Heenan out there not an equipment manager that's what they were doing with the Detroit Red Wings

at the Joe Lewis, shortening the bench I dealt with that I'll admit to the fish thing, that was me and him, we went to a grocery store and we bought like four or five of these big friggin uh slimy disgusting fish and allegedly somehow they got up into like the you know the heating vents and the fish man it's this slippery and they're very slippery and i gotta tell

you i do know i wish i could exaggerate and say it was more than, but I know for a fact, at least one guy threw up. I wish there was more, but I just know of one guy. So, you know, look, anything we can do to get the advantage, you know, without possible arrests was what we were going to do. I love that. And, and when you say, you know, you became the president and the GM and there had to be some crazy nerves going into opening night and just more, more so, not necessarily about the team, but became the president and the GM, and there had to be some crazy nerves going into opening night. And just more so not necessarily about the team, but about the crowd.

You guys wanted to make it an atmosphere. And by the end, I mean, it was a gong show. The crowd was going nuts. They loved it. You know, in the show, they talked to some season ticket holders. How long did it take for the city really to buy in and be packing that building out? Oh, I mean mean listen it just like the doc said it was you know going into the first game it was like all of a sudden it got real

you know we were sitting up in the in the you know little box we made and um it was kind of like all right this was all fun and games now it's like all right now it's we're actually playing a game and we gotta win first and foremost we gotta be entertaining and uh it's so true it's like, all right, now it's, we're actually playing a game and we got to win first and foremost, we got to be entertaining. And, uh, it's so true. It was like the first fight, it was like the seal was ripped off in Danbury and people just literally almost immediately, it was like ripping a bandaid off. And like, people just became just obsessed with the game and the team. And it w it just, I don't know how to describe it. It's just, I don't know if maybe we got lucky. It was just like lightning in a bottle.

I don't know what it was, but the people, it was like a fever pitch every single night. Every single night it was like that. Is section 112 kept in touch? I know in the documentary, you guys had that little party for them, but from the time that the team ended up going away till till that little meet and greet, had they all stepped in, kept in touch through, you know, through text or whatever Facebook groups? No, I mean, listen, again, bringing it back to wrestling like they all had like names like nicknames.

And that's how I knew them. Like I knew guys like, you know, they had all different nicknames. And that's how I know them to this day. I don't even know some of these guys real actual names. It's like, you know, we lost a team in 06. You know, I didn't have social media at the time, but, you know, over the past few years, you know, people they reach out. And I mean, let me tell you a story about them, to be honest, because, you know, the stories you usually hear, you know, the body bags and the horn and all the crazy stuff. But I'll never forget our first year against Adirondack in the playoffs. We were in Adirondack and like 50 of them drove up and we're sitting there and it's a triple overtime game. Matter of fact, Ruppert was in that game, too. But we were it was a triple overtime game.

And I mean, look, I didn't I never played at that level. level but you you know you guys have like that's draining you know going into the third overtime i mean guys were getting ivs i mean they were spent and they were so like they were sweating through like their undershirts about 20 guys and look they're not winning any beauty contest some of these guys they They took off their shirts, brought them down to the locker room, and the guys were wearing their shirts under the jerseys, and these guys were sitting basically bare-ass in the stands.

And we ended up winning the game, and I'm telling you, those guys and girls were just, they were a huge, you can't tell the story without them. They were just unbelievable people. I want to get to watch. I assume Biz already played.

I read that a Danbury player downloaded porn on the family laptop. So I assume Biz already played. If you guys want to see that detail. Oh, wait, you did some research. Yeah. I mean, wow, you did some research. Yeah, we had an anonymous Trasher player stay at my house. And let's just say he played for the Anaheim Ducks at one point.

And this guy was about, you know, three of me. And he would come home all out. It was like a big brother. He would come home late. And my mother had a laptop in the kitchen. It was just, you know, a laptop she used. One night, one day I wake up, I come down going to you know breakfast or whatever and she just starts laying into me screaming at me her her computer got a virus through a porn site and i

said well i didn't i didn't use your computer and then this guy comes upstairs and he's got the you know the the cat that ate the canary grin and i'm just like that thank you buddy now i'm grounded and i'm i'm running this team and now i'm grounded and i'm i'm running this team and now i'm grounded i can't go on the away game now is it the spank bank there's a story it was on the hunt.net right i won't go into names here but uh cheese a billet family the one kid used to go crank it downstairs with the vhs's and whatever he was cleaning up with was the blanket right right on the couch and and and the billet mom came down and gave him a little bit of a yell, telling him, hey, whatever you're doing to that blanket,

it's a family heirloom. I would have sent him to the cage. So, you know, no idea of that going on. I thought you were going to say the billet mom finished him off. Well, hey, that's another billet family. Oh, hey, AJ. They can't take him plays anymore i haven't asked yet we gotta go into forget the team for one second you had the rock at your birthday party dude talk about that oh yeah and it wasn't just him it was some other big time wrestlers that china was there triple h yeah it so my father was friends with an old time wrestler named Captain Lou Albano.

Oh, yeah. And he lived like half an hour from Danbury. So what happened was, you know, my birthday, I don't know, fell on a Saturday. We're having a little pool party or whatever. I was turning what, you know, 11 years old. And my dad, I guess the, you know, WWF had a show that night in new Haven, which is like 40 minutes from us. So he spoke to Captain Lou and next thing I knew, you know, like you said, it was, and it was before they all took off, you know, it was the rock. Wasn't even the rock.

He was Rocky Maya via or whatever his name was. And I'm telling you, it was right before, you know, Degeneration X. It was right before they all blew up. But I just remember my friends were looking around like, oh, my God, this is insane. I mean, we were just watching them on Monday Night Raw like three days before. And they were, you know, hanging out at the pool. It was crazy. Captain Lose and OG.

Was the Honky Tonk man there, too? Did I see him in the video? Honky Tonk was there. Badass see him in the video honky tonk was there badass Billy well he was rockabilly but yeah there was like you know five of them there it was crazy you know how at the hard rock cafe they put all the old outfits of all the old

performers I was hoping you were going to open up a restaurant and they'd have every one of your kits throughout that documentary on because you had who was your fashion inspiration during those years you know what i'm glad you said that because i've been getting my grapes crushed every day from these young kids in my gym because they wear everything so tight i'm like listen do me a favor i was like yeah that's how it was where i was from back in the day i don't care what anyone. Anyone my age who is from here knows what I'm talking about. But yes, I mean, but I did something special for you guys

because this was in the dock in the very beginning. And I haven't worn this in 15 years. And I'm never going to wear it again after. But I had this. I had to wear this for you guys. Oh, look at that thing. That thing, you might be able to sell that thing for 500 grand right now. Drake will be your host.

Don't disclose your location. It's a beauty, right? I used to wear this. What an idiot. This thing is heavy, too. And I'm telling you, I used to wear this. But you know what it was, guys, too? I knew the minute that this story came out that, you know,

my dad's starting a team and, you know, I'm going to be – I knew I was going to get shit for it. You know, I'm the spoiled kid, this, that, and the third. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to play the heel card. I'm going to get it from everyone anyway. I was just playing it. I mean, look, I'm not saying it was a whole act, but that was me.

But I played it up. I bought this – you know, look at this thing. I mean, it, I'm not saying it was a whole act, but that was me. But I played it up. I thought this, you know, look at this thing. I mean, it's ridiculous. No joke. Did Sesame Street ever try to sue you? No. No. I scored a ground we never had an issue with.

But I'll tell you who did try to sue us. Gary Bettman in the NHL. No. Well, you know, it's funny you bring Bettman up. We'll get into that story. But the league president who was in the documentary the whole time, bitching and whining, he thought he was getting it bad, getting some booze from Section 102.

Dude, try being Bettman. Bettman's like, buddy, I'm getting fucking 20,000 booing me every time. Let me tell you something. You know, not a lot of people know this story. But, you know, so, you know, the first year was 0-4, 0-5, you know, the lockout year. And, you know, it was crazy. And we just, like I said, I mean, we just kind of took off.

And we started getting some big press, though, for some of the craziness. Like, I remember we were on the front page of the Toronto Star once. We were disgraced to hockey. So I will never forget it was the offseason going the Toronto Star once. We were disgraced at hockey. So I will never forget it. It was the off season going into the second year. We're sitting there.

Me and my dad were sitting there. And Phil Jubileo, who's our commentator and director of public relations, you know, communications, he comes in and he's like, listen, guys, you know, I don't know how you guys are going to take this, but I just got this fax, you know, back when people use fax. And he gave it to me i'm looking at it it's got the you know nhl crest at the top and basically in in layman's terms they were saying that our name was too close to the atlanta thrashers name that we basically we had to change

our name that wasn't going to happen so we were like what the hell like why are they worried about they just had a lockout and they're worried about the damn they're worried about a trash can with a stick you know what i'm saying so we were like well how are we gonna like how are we gonna deal with this so me and my dad were speaking and uh here's the deal you know if this turned into a legal thing we were gonna going to lose because they print money, the NHL, they could have dragged this out. We would have been screwed. So I said that, you know, I don't, we basically came up with and Phil wrote it out and fax it back to the NHL in so many words and legal term. We, we said that we, you know, we understand you're upset, but we were willing

as a special exhibition, we were going to fly the Atlanta thrashers to Danbury and we were going to play them for the name and we challenged them to play. And we, you know, I'm not saying Gary Bettman ever saw it, but they received that fax. And we, we, we challenged them. We're like, listen, that's fine. You want the name? That's fine. But let's, let's play for it. And you know, listen, we would have lost the game. You know, they, you like, listen, that's fine. You want the name? That's fine, but let's play for it. And you know, listen, we would have lost the game. You know, 1980 Miracle on Ice, we wouldn't have

won that game, but we would have literally gone down swinging because we were not going to just give up the name like that. And that's a... Tommy T-Bone Papasello would have made sure you guys did not lose that game. There would have been no goalie with pads.

It would have been very, it would have. And, you know, it's not Atlanta's fault. And look, they're sitting in the same place we are right now. There's no trashers or thrashers. He was just mad you guys got better attendance. Yeah. Well, listen, all I know is, all I know is, you know, unfortunately that game never happened.

That would have been insane. But, hey, that's a very true story hey biz imagine a 20 year old ilia kovalchuk first face off the the nigerian nightmare roman nadir smashes his face in dan berry goes nuts oh my hey so we were having a good we were having a good chuckle at your reveal there. For those of you listening, he showed his trashers pendant. So he's got a big chain there. Because it's an audio podcast. Some people will be able to see it on YouTube. We're going to picture that out on our social.

Oh, you got it. Because I'm not wearing this again. This was just for you guys. So that's perfect. Okay, so going back to something Witt already mentioned, the commissioner, Richard Brozell, maybe? What a goon. You guys talked about how you guys were the heel coming in.

I felt like the documentary really portrayed him as the heel early on. He ended up turning around towards the end, but you kind of laughed initially and called him a ball buster and that you liked him. Was it like that actually from the start, given how you guys came in swinging? Literally everything he said was true. I mean, when he met me, he was, he I'll never forget. He's a little short ball guy. And I love

Rich. I love Mr. Brassell. I always call him Mr. Brassell. I love him to this day, but I remember his face when he saw me. And when my dad told him, Hey, you know, my son's going to run the team. I want you to meet him. It was like a TV show show I came in and he looked at me and that show at the time MTV Punk'd was big and I think he thought that this was some sort of a joke and when my dad wasn't laughing he was just like just the look in his face was the funniest thing and you know what we, it was like, uh, I mean, he loved to hate us. And every single Monday, every single Monday when I drove back to New York to college, every single Monday, Monday at nine on the dot, he would call me from Missouri where the legal office was.

And he would rip me whatever we did that weekend. You guys are crazy. You guys are ruining the league. You know, I'm trying to, you know, you guys, I'm trying to defend you guys with the other owners. You guys are out of your mind. I mean, every Monday he would yell at me. And I'd be like, I'm sorry, Mr. Brassell. I don't know if some of these things to be true, but I'll clean it up. You know, we'll figure this thing out together. Let me put you through to my receptionist, Tommy T-Bone.

I said, Mr. Brassell, you know, I was like, Mr. Brassell, let's work together. Let's make this right, you know? And then, you know, the next weekend would come and Lord knows, you know, whatever we did. And every single Monday he'd yell. Every single Monday I'd get ripped. I think he loved the attention, personally, just based on that documentary. He was eating it up.

112 was making him famous. Section 112. Or maybe 103. I was calling it 112. Someone from Section 102 might go after Biz after calling him 112. I called it 112. Is that the old band? Yeah, that's an R&B group.

Oh, okay. My apologies. We're going to rebrand them. Yeah, Drossal. He Drossal rather. He come off as a hot oil right away, but then by the end he sounded like a garbage bin for automated waste disposal. By the time at the end of the doc, he was kissing the ring by the end, but I want to go back to high school.

Oh, good, good. Good. I was going to say, you know, he really, I think, especially during the second year, I think he really, cause we were seriously, we were, because we were, seriously, we were, when we were on the road, you know, people wanted to come see us one way or the other. I mean, we had this big black bus, you know, it was all wrapped in graphics and people would line up like, like, like, you know, these little towns, you know, Port Huron and

Fort Wayne. And, you know, it was like rocks. I mean, it was like rock stars were coming to town and they hated us, but they loved us at the same time. It was crazy. I want to go back to the high school again. Now, you're a 17 year old high school senior. How are you pulling off running a hockey team like this and balancing your studies and whatever else? Your social life, like your life must have been crazy back. T-Bone was his tutor. Don't say that. Don't say was his tutor. Oh, God. Don't say that.

Don't say that. That's bad. Oh, God. No, you know, honestly, it was, you know, when my dad, when it came, you know, when it came to fruition that, you know, this is happening, you know, there was like a day or two where I wanted right away to say, Dad, I can't do this. I'm a little nervous, you know, because I was.

I was scared. I was like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing anyway. you know because I was I was scared I was like I don't know what the hell I'm doing anyway you know what I mean I mean what's what's my what's on my resume like NHL 03 I played the year before and like putting a team together you know what I mean like what what do I know how to put a team but again you know I gave him my word even if I thought he was joking I said okay I'll do it you know I can't go back on him on my word so you know what it was it was was, it was scary though. Cause you know, again, you know, you really don't have a social life. You know what I mean? You know, I had a nice small core group of friends that, you know, were always around and helped me with the team too. You know, we'd bounce ideas off each other and, but no, I mean, it really, you know, looking back, it really wasn't that normal. I mean, it's not a normal thing. So it was, it definitely took a toll on a lot of different things,

but I just thought, you know what, I got to be there for my dad. He's always been there for me. And frankly, it was an opportunity to do something cool. And that's really all I thought about it. You are also a freshman in college too. Was that a big thing? Did that help you with the honey dips at all? Or was it like, you know, a young kid running a hockey team? There was a couple of shots in the dock with you and a couple ladies.

Don't think that you didn't fucking talk them to getting in those shots. Wait till you see tonight, girls. It's going to be a gong show. Oh, yeah. I'll get you down to the ref rooms during periods. Well, listen, contrary to belief, you know, I really, I didn't talk about it much at school. Like, there was obviously people who knew.

But I didn't, like, go around and be like, Hey, I got a team and this and that. I wasn't like that. So let's put it this way. I really, I dropped the ball on that. Cause I could have used that to my advantage for a lot of different reasons. But no, I mean, I, I, I did, you know, I did all right, but I just, you know, I was seriously, I got, I got a very obsessive personality and i just got so obsessed with this team and it really it just um it took up the majority of you know my time

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Well, I got to say, I got to give T-Bone and my dad the credit on that one because T-Bone knew of Brent from the UHL, and I guess he was a free – I don't know. He was available. And my dad's like, yep, that's what we have to do. We have to announce we're signing Gretzky. And when, you know, people are just going to assume around here, you know, no one in Danbury knows, you know, that he has a brother.

You know what I mean? So I feel bad because, you know, I don't want knows you know he has a brother you know what I mean so I feel bad because you know I don't want it to look like it was a novelty signing because he actually was a pretty good player very good so and I had a lot of respect for him man because you know look if I'm Michael Jordan's brother I'm not playing basketball so I had a lot of respect for him you know to you know that had to be tough but yeah when we we kind of put it out to the press hey we signed gretzky gretzky's gonna be at the press conference and you know these people were like what and they they came in droves and uh when we announced it they again it was an april

fools day press conference too it was the whole thing was just why i mean we just did things just to mess with people's heads, even the press. It was hilarious. I'd say the biggest drop of the jaw moment was when Jimmy called down right before the game started to talk, said, put Wingfield on the phone. He kind of, he kind of incorporated a walking Phoenix from gladiator, like commodities where he would, you know, give the thumbs down from the stoop wherever he was, was,

was that a regular occurrence where he was calling down? And was there ever a time where one of the opposing players would maybe yell up to him or something, given how involved he was? Well, my dad would always be standing the whole game. He was perched up like a gargoyle in the corner of the box. And he did. The first few games, we had these phones kind of stashed around and, you know, given, you know, we were going back and forth, but, you know,

but then we got in trouble because I don't know who ratted on us or reported us, but then, you know, for sales, like you can't have phones on the bench, you know? So really when Marasti came, me and him once hung out and we put like these look like gang signs. We were putting hand signals together. And what we were doing was, you know, we'd have a whole system where, you know, whatever. You know, I'd be tripping. I mean, I was such a little dick. I'd be tripping a guy on the other team and he'd be tripping back. I mean, why wouldn't you? And then I'd get pissed. I look at Morasty. I throw the number up. And then we have all these like we have all

these like hand signals and these guys loved it don't get listen don't let them fool you they loved it they loved having like a group around them that wanted that and it was just uh oh man it was just just a different time man i'll tell you but yes we we did have different means of communication from the owner's box to the bench. The cops with the string? Yes, yes, yes. That probably would have been next. Take me through the behind the scenes with you guys when Wingfield had that horrible leg injury.

I think it was the kid El Zango who hurt him. And the story after, where the kid lived. But I can't imagine you guys in the box and in the room after and how furious you must have been and how horrible you felt for Wingfield. I remember, seriously, there's a few things that I remember, like I could close my eyes and see it and hear it. And I remember, you know, Wingfield was crashing. You know, this kid Elzing is a defenseman.

So Winger was crashing the net. You know, they get tangled up. And I remember Elzing's stick came kind of high and kind of hit Winger. And Winger challenged him. Kid's not a fighter, so he kind of turned it away. So Winger turned around, and he reached back, and he pulled Winger back, and he kicked his leg out. I swear it was like a pretzel rod.

It just snapped. And I heard it and um winger who's one of to this day one of the toughest guys i i've ever known the screaming like he he i remember he took his helmet he threw it you know just that pain and the screaming i was like this is insane i mean it was an it was insane i, you know, just hearing him, I could hear him scream. Like, it was like an animal, you know? And it was horrible because, to be honest with you, if he played a full season, I promise you, he probably was going to push 600 penalty minutes and 30 goals.

I promise you. He was pushing. He would have had video game numbers. pushing, he would have had video game numbers. If you go on his hockey DB and look at, you know, if you, a full season, what is it, 80, 82 games? I'm telling you, if you do the math and average it out, he would have had insane numbers that year.

I mean, it was ridiculous what he was doing. And, no, it was horrible. I remember that was the second period. And, you know, after the period ended, you know, we went into the room and everyone was just quiet it was just um everybody knew and uh you know it was just it was just you know everyone they probably should have just stopped the game you know i mean i mean they i mean i know you can't do that but with us and now you add that to the mix i mean it was just it was from there it was just well there was a lot of things you guys shouldn't have been doing so maybe that could have been one too yeah yeah including the way including the way he wore his

equipment a wit you see wingfield's gear wear oh my goodness that might be some of the worst gear wear i've ever seen i wouldn't even let him on the fucking ice he had no no zippers on his pants from some angles you would have had to go him too big oh jesus from some angles man i tell you what the shapes he was making with his equipment how big his shoulder pads were he looked like a d lineman yeah defensive end or a lacrosse goalie an outdoor lacrosse yeah i would see i would see him in the locker room like doing all it looked like he was doing science experiments with some of this stuff i mean he was like yeah i cut I cut the strap. I do this. I do that.

I wear soccer shin pads. Yeah, I mean, oh, man, he's a character. So the next year when they played, when he came back, and it was pretty cool to see that he did come back after a doctor told him he may never play again, but you guys play Kalamazoo or whoever Elzinga was on, and you were down at the bench. You had the phone out. you were giving it to him. You could kind of see the fear in his eyes. Were you giving him shit as you were filming all that?

So and I tell you what, it's 80 percent of what you saw on the documentary was my camcorder, my my home video camcorder. And I used to bring it to every game. And, you know, I knew there was times where something was going to jump off and I'd have it and it was before we had phones you know they were all next tells back then so we didn't have camera phones which was cool so I would always bring the camcorder and uh yeah I mean I used to you know I used to give it to Elzinga that day it was December 3rd of 2005 I remember and um yeah it was uh I remember Winger that that he stayed with us in my house um that summer going into the second year rehabbing his his leg and um I mean watching him it was such a grueling rehab and um I was you know sometimes I talked to him like you you know do you still want to do this like you know you know, and he's like, no, I got to get back. He's like, I never saw someone work so hard in my life.

And he just, you know, it was kind of like the schedule came out and it was like December 3rd, Kalamazoo. It was like, you know, you get that red marker out there and that was it. You weren't going to tell him anything. I mean, even if my dad told him at that point, you know, he was going to play in that game one way or the other. There's no, no question. I think you remember, or you said earlier,

replaced Wingfield with the signing with Barasti. At what point did you decide to go get Mike Rupp? And I know that there was a connection there because you were a massive New Jersey Devils fan. He ended up having the impact the year before. Yeah, no. So, yeah, I mean, we've had season tickets to the Devils since – that was my first ever hockey game. It was 1994.

I saw Scott Stevens lay someone out on the Penguins. I was hooked. Ever since then, I wanted – Scott Stevens was like an idol to me. And, yeah, I mean, it was 03 when we were playing the Ducks. We, like I'm on the team. When the Devils were playing the Ducks, and it was game seven, and I was right there when, you know, they called Mike Rupp up that playoff. And he basically had the he he was on a line with Jeff Friesen.

I'll never forget it. And he deflected. He had the game. It wasn't overtime, but he had the game winner. And it was right in front of me. We had it like right there. And I was just, I'll never forget this Mike Rupp. And when this was happening, I mean, the trashers weren't even a thought, you know? So then when the lockout happened, you know, you know, it was like somehow he was available. Like his name came across the desk and I'm like, we have to get Mike Rupp. Like just because, you know, I was like, I don't care. I was like, we have to get Mike Rupp. And, you know, like I said, I kind of was like Roger Clemens, the starting pitcher. My dad was the closer, Mariano Rivera.

I don't know how the deal was closed. I know there was some speculation with duffel bags, but I just know that we got him. And I was so, I mean, that was like bringing Wayne Gretzky for me just because of the year before. It was crazy. And as the only follow-up I had for that was who were some other crazy names that came up that you guys were close to signing that year one million percent what I wanted to do and this is not a joke I wanted to get Donald Brashear and Georges Larocque and that was the goal and GeorgesRoc, for whatever the reason, it just kind of fell flat right away.

But Brashear, we came this close, this close to getting Donald Brashear. He ended up going to Quebec. But also, man, one of my biggest regrets is, well, it's not really my fault, but I wish we got it. We came this close to getting Sean Avery at the trade deadline. Oh, my God. Sean Avery was put on this earth to be a Danbury Trasher. And he was playing with Motor City at the time.

He is trash. Sean Avery, let me tell you something. He was with Motor. So I think he was with the Red Wings at the time. So during the lockout, you know, him, Chelios, and Darian Hatcher played on this Motor City team in our league. And, you know, you could tell Hatcher and Chelios was just, you know, whatever. But Avery was trying. And that's what I liked about him.

I'm like, this guy is like, he's trying to, like, play. And he doesn't give a shit. And I loved it. And, you know, I knew him from the show, obviously. And I'm like, me and my dad were infatuated. We're like, we have to trade for frigging Sean Avery. I mean, we came so close. I just, for whatever reason, it didn't happen, but maybe it's best for him and us. It didn't happen because Lord knows what would have happened.

But that is one of my biggest like what ifs. And I, man, I, to this day, I would love to meet him. And I have to get him a Jersey just because. Did, did you and T-Bone or anyone else involved with the team? Did you guys ever get into it with maybe other GMs or other coaches from other teams? Oh yeah. So Richmond, Virginia had a team, Richmond Riverdogs, they had a guy named Jeff Krupp. And again, me and my dad didn't go to owner meetings, GM meetings.

We didn't go finagle with them, play golf. So I don't know anyone. I don't know. We didn't have Facebook or Instagram, YouTube. I don't know anyone from anyone. So one day we're playing Richmond in Danbury and I got pissed because we were losing. And for whatever reason, don't ask me why I end up making my way to section 102. Big mistake. So now we're like, we're just, you know,

I'm going in with them. And it's, I mean, it was crazy. So all of a sudden this guy like comes over and he's got like a suit on and he's kind of like yelling at me. And I'm just like, and he's just like, you know, he's like, what are you doing? Stop, you know, you know, and I'm just like, you know, so I'm yelling at him. I'm like, what do you mean? Tell me to stop. You know, this is, you know, and then next thing you know, it like it's getting heated. And I see T-Bone ran from the bench all the way around the rink and like speared this guy.

So I grabbed him and we get the hell out of there. You know, section 102 is going insane. It was like a riot. And next thing I know, we go upstairs and my dad's already on the phone with Richard Bursell almost. And me and T-Bone were sitting there like two little kids. And my dad's just like, mm-hmm. And looking at us like, mm-hmm. OK, sorry, Richard.

Yeah, OK, yeah, I'll take care of it. And I'm shitting my pants and T-bones looking at me. And he's like, you think we're going to get in trouble? And I'm like, yeah, probably Tommy. We're probably going to get in trouble here. And then we found out it was the Richmond GM. I had no idea who he was. So then Tommy subsequently gets suspended for like 30 games or something stupid like that. And I got suspended one game and that was it. It was just, you know, it was crazy.

Well, that was the incident. I thought he got suspended when your father, Jimmy, got punched by the official and then he went crazy because there was another kerfuffle regarding that, right? No, no, no. So what happened with that was that was the Wingfield game where he broke his leg. And honestly, you know, for his leg and honestly you know for

better or worse you know this is a team this is a family and like we were ready to fight me and my dad were ready to fight anyone at that point I mean whether you know no matter what I mean we just that's just how we are where it's that loyalty thing and uh next thing I know I saw my dad was down at the penalty box area and he's you, chirping the ref and the rep said something to him. My dad allegedly threw a punch and you know, it just got crazy. And I remember I went running in to help him think, but Jared Burnett at the time it was on the ducks was with us. And I mean, he's 300 pounds of muscle.

He just like kind of grabbed me by the arm and we, we just got the heck out of there and then, you know, my dad got arrested. It was just every night was like something crazy. It really was. So now we know who was tugging it off on your mom's laptop. Did he? Oh my God. That's why he got so much

muscle on him, just cranking himself off every day. His right wrist was a monster. Oh man. And he suited up like three games for us. He suited up, Jarrett. And, man, what a machine, that guy. Did the linesman really tell him to fuck off or, like, say something similar?

Truthfully, I don't know because at the time when I saw this going on, it was just like a big crowd was forming. So I don't know. I mean, I'll take Tommy's word for it. I think that's what happened. It had to be, by the way, Biz, it had to be over under 500 times Richard Brassell heard, won't happen again.

Won't happen again. Well, that was a bad one. Richard was really pissed. Mr. Brassell was really pissed about that one. That was bad. And that was like, you. Richard was really, Mr. Brissell was really pissed about that one. That was bad. And that was like, you know, it was just, but I, like you said, I think deep down, he, he, he kind of enjoyed it. What's cool. What's cool. Oh, sorry. All right. Go ahead, buddy.

Another story. You guys took a page straight out of the Syracuse Bulldogs playbook from Slapshot fame, Chad Wagner, a hired gun. He comes in, he gets a penalty for something. He does a 180 on the way to the penalty box goes after the opposing bench actually knocks down a strikes to opposing coach mark pod fan gets banned for life in the league two games played 73 penalty minutes banned from the league i mean that's an all-time trash didn't make the cut aj or what so let me tell you something chad wagner so it was the first year.

Now, Adirondack was owned by Barry Melrose and Steve Levy. And, you know, again, we didn't really know. We weren't looking to associate with anyone else. And, you know, we were just, you know, Adirondack was like our biggest rival. So, you know, every game with us and them was, you know, the poor. Adirondack had a guy named Scott Page. God bless him. He was the only tough guy on that team at the time. And he had to answer to everything. I mean, I mean, I think I'm friends

with him on Facebook. I think I apologized to him once and I'm just like, I felt horrible that this poor fricking guy answered. And he literally answered the bell on the road at home. He had to do it all but anyway I remember this is a very true story I'm driving to New York to go to college one Monday and Barry Melrose is on ESPN radio and somehow it gets brought up you know they're talking about the NHL lockout or whatever and somehow it gets brought up oh how's the Adirondack team doing and this and that for some reason he says something about the trash, the derogatory about us. I was so mad. I called the guy that hooked me up with Nasty Marasty. And I said,

listen, I don't care what you got to do. I need a nut job for this next game in Adirondack. I said, I don't care. And he's like, what kind of nut job? I'm like, just a nut job. I don't care what it is. And he goes, well, OK, let me call you back. So I get to school. I go to class. I get out. He calls me. He's like, listen, I got this guy, Chad Wagner. But, AJ, like you really want a nut job, right? I'm like, yeah, I want to know. I want the bat. I want a bad guy because we're playing Adirondack away. So I'm like, I need someone crazy. That's not going to like, you know, freeze up on the road. He's like, all right, well, I got this guy. He hasn't skated in like five years, but he's crazy.

And I'm like, all right, well, tell me more about him. Well, he got banned from one league because he punched someone out during the ceremonial handshake or something like that. Some league he was in. And I'm like, all right, perfect. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Say no more that was it no that was it because I know hockey I know how important that handshake is you know no matter how you feel that's just part of that culture for him to lay someone clean out I'm like that's the exact type of crazy I'm looking for so

we end up you know my dad you know he hands up making the deal or whatever. So we were going to bring them in for a game. And we, so we flew them into Albany and then we picked them up. He went to Adirondack. Now I'm watching from school and we, we had like these little bootleg streams at the time in 04 and I'm watching and he goes out there and he's trying, I mean, he really can't skate. I mean, it's bad, but you know, he's trying to get something going.'t skate I mean it's bad but you know he's trying to get something going nothing's happening he ends up I think the rest were on to it so they kind of kick him out for some stupid minor little thing so on his way out he tries to go after a goalie nothing happened so I was livid I'm like oh this guy didn't do anything so the guy Eric calls me back he's like no I'm sorry he he's going to make it up to you.

Next time we play Adirondack at home, call me. We'll make it happen. So I said, fine. So subsequently, the next week, I find out that John Cena is coming to the game against Adirondack. So we're doing like a WWE promotional night thing. Again, I don't know how that was set up, but someone, you know, our PR guys did it. So John Cena was coming. And at the time he was, you know, he's not the movie star he is now, but he was big. So I'm like, all right, well, that's the game we got to bring Chad Wagner in to now. You know what I mean? So this guy, Chad Wagner comes, I meet him in the locker room and nice guy, but you could tell he's not there um he's a couple nuggets short of a happy meal i'll tell you that and you know what he he's like you know he was like i apologize you know and i was like no dude don't worry it's not that serious whatever man don't don't worry about he goes no i'm really sorry and he's serious he's like i'm gonna make this up to you i said all right man

whatever don't don't worry about it it's not that serious you know get into a you know we're just trying to rough him up a little so sure enough enough, like he was saying, he gets out there and I have camcorder footage of this. I got to send it to you. He gets out there. I think the line at the time was John Morasty, Chad Wagner, Dave MacIsaac. I think Ruman was out there. It was just insane. And sure enough, there was a whistle. And Wagner, you know, you know, these poor Adirondack guys, you know, they're trying to stand up for themselves, but they couldn't really. And so all of a sudden, you know, they bring Wagner to the penalty box and he's skating. So our our owner's box was over the penalty box. So he's he's looking up at me and I'm like, all right, he's looking up at me and my dad and he gives us the thumbs up. I'm like, all right, good job, man. Don't, you know, he's thinking too much about this.

So all of a sudden he breaks away from the official. He does like this swim move, right, in football. And he goes beelining towards the Adirondack bench. It was like happening in slow motion almost. He's skating as good as he could. He grabs Mark Potvin by his tie, yanks him, and almost gets him over. I think the only thing saving him from coming onto the ice was, you know, the few guys on the bench.

And it was like Marassi, you know, they all came out of the box, turned into a second gong show in like two minutes. And sure enough, we get the phone call. We were in big trouble. We got fined as a team, and Chad Wadner got suspended for life from the uhl he could never play again it was crazy oh my god i promised you i promised you anthony i would do something did you get a chance to talk to him afterward listen to me to this day i've never seen him or heard from him again i've tried to reach out perfect i don't know where he is. I try

to look him up on social because I'm like, you know, I want to talk, you know, I saw him at the locker room. I'm like, you know, I mean, what do you say to a guy after that? It was, you know, kind of pound him there and he's just like, I'm just like, wow, this guy is he's tweaked, you know, and never

heard from him, seen him. No one I know from the team has seen or heard from him. He's MIA. I have no idea where he is. AJ, we don't have any rules at our ball hockey tournament, so you can sign him to the Trashers ball hockey team when we have our next one in Vegas. Listen, I was telling the – listen to me, man.

We got to get that going. I would love to do something. You know, everyone's always like, you got to bring the Trashers trashers back the trashers are gone that's never gonna happen again and the game is so different now anyway like it can happen but you know what you know the street hockey thing uh i'm trying to get kids from my boxing gym you know from the inner city that's not used to this stuff they're all into hockey now and i'm trying we got a street hockey net outside my gym i'm just like sticking kids and goals taking like shots at them and stuff like that you know get them going man i want to ask you more about the boxing gym afterward and i just got a quick one here about the documentary itself so mclean and chapman way these guys are legendary

documentary and filmmakers uh they uh they also directed Wild Wild Country, which is a popular hit. Did they approach you about doing this or was it vice versa? Was it originally set up for Netflix? How did this all come to be? Listen, when we lost the team in 06, you know, my dad went away.

It was a tough time. I wanted nothing to do with hockey. I didn't want to talk about the trashers ever again. It was like a bad breakup. I keep equating this. The story just wouldn't die. And 2014 Sports Illustrated did something. But, you know, so McClain Way contacted me in 2018. And he's like, I kept ignoring his calls, ignoring his emails. And he just kept, you know, like an annoying girlfriend, just kept texting me, hitting me up he's

like please let me talk to you so i finally like all right let me talk so he him he's like listen netflix hired us to do these five documentaries called untold you know there wasn't a title at the time but the five untold documentary he's like we need you guys to be part of one of them and he started rattling off you know malice in the palace the Palace, Christy Martin, Caitlyn Jenner. I'm like, where are we going to fit in with these, like, legendary names and big names? And he's like, no, no, no, this is going to be the best one. Trust me. So I'm like, you know, I'm like, I'm tired of talking about this team

because it always seems like it's the same stories, and I don't know if people are into it anymore, you know? And, you know, me and my dad talked, and, you know, it never felt like we put the team, like, the story to bed. You know what I mean, so I'm like, you know what, dad, screw it, let's just do it, and he's like, you know, ultimately, he has to give the blessing, he's like, yeah, let's just do it and, you know, go from there, so they started filming in 2019, you know, the series was supposed to come out last year, COVID, so they pushed it to 2021, and, but yeah, they approached, and they were adamant, out last year, COVID, so they pushed it to 2021.

But yeah, they approached it, and they were adamant. They're like, listen. They were selling it. They're like, listen, we know that we can make this thing insane. He's like, we're going to do right by you guys. We're not going to sandbag you. Please, just give us a chance. And I don't know. My dad felt the same way.

They just felt like real people. And they are they're they're both younger than me, which is weird because I've always been the young one in any conversation. But he I was just like, you know what? Let's just do it, you know. And I not because it's our thing, but I mean, I thought the doc was great. I mean, it seems to be doing OK, I guess. So, oh, yeah. I mean, it's it's it's just it's just it's just taking a whole life of its own so what's funny is you mentioned like i don't know all your home home camera footage i don't know if it would have happened had you not had all those right listen when they told me because

that's the thing you know they said all right well listen you know these other docs they have like espn footage of games and all this we had had these grainy, like, you know, at the time at all, for these grainy videos. And, you know, it was one of those things where they were like, well, what do you have? Do you have any footage? I'm like, yeah, I got a camcorder, like specifically of the, and I sent it to them in LA and they looked at it and they were like, AJ, they're like this,

we are going to make this the craziest hockey documentary of all time. And I was like, whatever you say, man, I don't know anything about this stuff. I said, if you say so, but I have, I mean, obviously they could only use so much, you know, there's only so much time, but I have so many funny videos from, from that camcorder. I mean, so many different fights and, you know, and again, it was before the days of cell phones with the camera. So you had to be

there to like experience it and that's why it was important for me to capture this on video because it was like you know what how are we gonna you know you can remember in your mind but it's cool to have that stuff i've always enjoyed like videos and photography stuff like that and and even though the team was out there you know scaring the shit and beating the piss out of other teams, that second year, what a squad you guys had. I mean, you lost in the finals, the Omichelli brothers. I played some summer hockey with David Heimovitz. That guy was so nasty at the game.

And you guys ended up losing in the finals. Must have been heartbreaking, right? Because what a season that was. It was, you know, it was one of those, you know, the dirty little secret about our team is we could play. And that was the thing is, you know, we got so much hoopla about, you know, which rightfully so, by the way, of all the antics and stuff. But we were winning games. I mean, we were collecting points almost every game. And that kind of got lost by the wayside because of the craziness.

But that second team, that second year, man, I'll tell you, we had some players. And then we traded for David Alexander Beauregard at the trade deadline. I mean, that guy is – I mean, they could do a whole show on him. I mean, that was one of the most amazing – I mean, that guy was a sniper. I mean, one eye, and he's just dangling guys and i mean he was it was insane and uh but yeah david heimovitz um the omacholi brothers we had a we had a young kid named john michelle daou he was a rookie at the time the kid was unreal with him yeah john i was the lineman with him that's probably why i went to your team afterward. Yeah, you were probably babysitting him.

Yeah, I threw him a couple passes. I threw him a couple passes. He's like, get me the fuck out of here. I'm going to go play for some under-the-table money. Yeah, but he could play, man. We had a couple really – Sean Collymore, I remember, young kid. I mean, so many young guys. And, you know, losing the finals.

Ah, man, that was tough. And we are two best defensemen at the time were injured. Reagan Kelly and we had Troy Smith, a couple of defensemen we lost in our defensive line. We were thin and, you know, it just wasn't our time. And to this day, I know if there was a third season, you know, had we not had the team all not gotten arrested or something, for Lord knows what we do, we would have won. I know we would have won that third year. I know it. Did your father ever get any other incidences with the refs?

Was he always chirping at the refs? Well, what we did was, you know, my dad contrary to belief he's he's like listen son you get more with with honey than vinegar so during the warm-ups you know they're posted up in between the penalty boxes on the red line and stuff and we would be like you know we knew their names and we'd be throwing down cupcakes or m&ms and uh hey what do you and they'd be looking at like what you guys got up there today uh, we got a you know, we got these cake pops or cupcakes. Oh, yeah. Throw it. Throw it. Throwing them down. M&M Skittles. You know, whatever, you know.

Spoiling the referees trying to get him on your side before the game. Hey, listen, we we're not we're good hosts. You know what I mean? That's what we how we looked at it. Obviously, the end of the talk's a little tough, AJ. The feds get involved and the team ceases to exist after that. I was curious though, watching it, do you guys ever figure out

or find out who the rat was that was feeding the feds all that info? You know, usually with investigations like that, they have to give you their evidence. I don't personally know you know, you know, usually with investigations like that, you know, they, they have to give you their evidence, you know, I don't personally know. I'm sure my dad knows who it was, but yeah, it was, it was crazy. I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, it's, it happens, you know,

and, and my dad, you know, one thing I always respected about him, never made excuses, never, you know, when I would, we would visit him every weekend and never feel bad for himself. He's like, look, you know, you got to pay. You got to pay the piper sometimes and never made excuses. Never, never look for the easy way out. And, you know, he took it like a man. He really did. I was a little surprised, too, that Scrappy, the mascot, actually,

looked like a little muscle work on the side as well according to the doc oh man yeah no comment yeah I don't want to put you in a shitty spot well it was cool to see at the end too that

with what you've done now you've got your gym right and I believe Mikey just mentioned before this interview you signed a guy to an under an undercard in the in the fury fight coming up is that yeah we got it we got a we got a heavyweight here out of danbury um he's originally from the city but moved down here he's he's a young heavyweight and uh we we've been working it for a few weeks so the fury wilder undercard in october he's he's got his biggest fight of his life. He's going to be on the undercard and, you know, more than likely televised, which is huge. And, you know, now we got to, you know, after this interview, I get on the phone with sparring partners, start bringing them into Danbury, start getting it, start getting the camp going because it'll be here before you know it. Call Chad Wagner up. He'll go. I'm sure I'd love to call Chad Wagner, but I don't know what the hell he is.

Well, man, we can't we can't thank you enough. i don't know what the hell he is well man we can't we can't thank you enough i don't know you guys have anything else for this guy i just want to i want to ask if that scrappy the mascot costume still exists i swear to christ i had this conversation earlier today with someone i don't know where it is someone has it i don't know who uh they're sitting on a gold mine obviously i don't know who has're sitting on a goldmine. Obviously, I don't know who has it. And that's what bothers me is it's got to be somewhere. You know what I mean? It's not something you can just accidentally throw away.

Maybe we could get an investigation launched on this, but it's out there. It's someone someone has scrappy. And, you know, look, we've got to figure it out because it's very disheartening. You should. It's probably worth more than that chain right now. Well, yeah. I don't know. Hey, who cut the feeder on that game?

Did they ever find that out? No comment. No, I have no idea. All right. I wish the fans could have saw it, and I know the league needed it for investigation purposes, but it's a shame. I told Mr. Broussard i'm sorry we couldn't comply with with the rules there i i have one more and you can plead the fifth on this one too but what was

your salary as team president and gm back then whoa like i said i was a starting pitcher you know i come up with the ideas this guy might be good this guy might be good you know what mariana rivera does at the end of the game is none of my business. And you know what? Look, I mean, we may have had some issues with dyslexia. I mean, maybe we reversed numbers with the cap. I don't know. I mean, I know it was supposed to be like 275.

I don't know. I mean, people read things wrong. I don't know. Maybe it was a little bit of this, you know, innocent mistake. Tampa Bay Lightning might be trying to hire you pretty soon. Grin got one yeah yeah exactly these are capologists all right uh granelli you had one yeah aj when we were talking before this you mentioned that uh your dad actually almost bought the adirondacks and gave them to your uh younger sister yeah tell us about that so so going into the second season, you know, my dad called me in the office and we're sitting there and he's like,

listen, I got word that the Adirondack friend, you know, which is basically the Red Sox to our Yankees. They're like, listen, the frostbite, they're having some financial issues. He goes, I'm thinking about buying the team and making my sister's four years younger than me. So she was what? 14 years old. He goes, we'll put Candace as the GM and you two could go at it all day long. And I'm like, are you? I was like, all right, dad, this is going too far now. I was like, are you insane? But he was dead serious. And I'm pretty sure I have it somewhere.

He went as far as to get like he was going to redo the logo in Adirondack. He had like all these like drafts of of rebranding that team up there. He was going to make my 14-year-old sister Candice the president of the team. I swear to Christ. That is unbelievable. That is unbelievable. For anyone who hasn't seen it,

you have to check it out on Netflix. Untold Crime and Punishment. Just an unreal, entertaining documentary. A story I remember hearing about you guys. I was kind of just turning pro and knew what was going on. And little did I know I'd get to really hear the whole story and watch it and then get to talk to you.

So we appreciate you coming on. No, I can't thank you guys. And like I said, I mean, even before this doc, I've kind of gotten back into hockey. You know, the Netflix, when they started, the producers started talking to me, I kind of been starting to find my itch for hockey again. And I'm, I'm enjoying it. You know, I'm trying to figure out the game again and who's who what's what. And no,

I'd be, I've always heard, you know, you guys are obviously the biggest thing going and it's, it's an honor, man. And I'm just so humbled by it. And you know, anything we could ever do to help, I was telling Mike, man, we got to collab on some things. I got some ideas, and I got to get you guys some specialty jerseys anyway. I'm thinking of some merch ideas, Grinnelly, that could explode here with that trash or so.

But all I needed to see was that pendant you're wearing, because that's what I did. I mean, seriously, when I did. What did I mean? Seriously, when I look at this, I busted this out for you guys because I'm like, you know what? This is the this is probably gonna be the biggest promotional interview. I should have sent it to Drake for him to post with that picture on Instagram. I might see if he wants it. You know, I mean, I will see if he wants it because I mean, this is ridiculous. I mean, I used to walk around with this thing and I'm like hunched over. This thing is heavy. I mean, I mean, it's what. I mean, I used to walk around with this thing. I'm, like, hunched over.

This thing is heavy. I mean, what an asshole. But I loved it. And you know what? I was like, look, if I'm doing chiclets, I said I'm busting it. I had it literally, the case it's in literally had dust on it. It's been 15 years. It was like, I can't believe this thing is still around.

I had to do it for you guys. Do you guys still own the logo? The right to it? I trademarked it last year, thank God. Bingo. Perfect. You know what? Listen, I had no idea.

It's been like eight days, like nine days since this doc. I didn't expect this. I ended up speaking with Drake last week, and it was just like, what the hell is going on right now? And he, you know, not to get too detailed, but he we ended up in a direct message conversation. And, you know, he's like, you know, video call me. I want to talk to you. And I'm just like video call me. I don't know if I'm talking to you. You know, I don't know if this is someone handling your phone. And, you know, listen, the most humble guy I've ever met for whatever his stature is.

And he was telling me, man, I was taking a break from working on this album and I watched this documentary. It was insane. And he's like, I need a Trasher jersey. And he's like, I need it tomorrow. And I don't have them laying around. So I'm like, damn. And he and then he made it worse. He's like, I it tomorrow and I don't have them laying around so I'm like damn and he and then he made it worse he's like I want the one with your name on it I'm like I'm like where I don't have these sitting around you know what am I egomaniac I got 100 Galanti jerseys so he goes yeah no no I need it I need it so I remembered in my office at my gym, I have that jersey framed. So I went because I'm not that handy. I couldn't.

I broke the frame. And I had a guy I know drive up to Buffalo, New York last Thursday. T-Bone. He said, no, no, no, no, not T-Bone. T-Bone pissed on it first off. No, no way. I had a guy that I knew could get to Buffalo, and he sent someone from Ontario or wherever he is to Buffalo.

You know, I don't even know what he – and then he just posted it, and I didn't expect him to do that. But ever since then, it's been on a whole other level. It's – you can't make this stuff up. But I'm just very grateful, and I'm glad people get laughs out of it. I mean, Lord knows the kid's been busting my balls about it. So, you know how I used to dress and stuff, but it was all in good fun. If you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at anything.

So it was, it was, it was, it was a different time, man. Well said AJ. I mean, you and your dad left a hell of a legacy in Danbury. I mean, there's still hockey data to this day. There wasn't before you guys. I think that's the best, the truest testament to your legacy and the impact you had there. So thanks so much for joining us. Send our love to your dad and your family as well. It's been a blast.

And we'll catch up with you later. 100% fellas. Thank you. That interview was also brought to you by TaylorMade. Well, you've heard the boys talk about them. You've seen them compete with some of the best in the world using them. And now you can get your hands on them. The TaylorMade Sim Family is available now.

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and you can visit barstoolsports.com slash tailor-made to check out tailor-made and Barstool golf gear. Hey, giant thanks to AJ for saving the chain for us, Mikey. That was pretty special, man. He said he only busted it all for us. That's an honor for an Italian to go chain like that, right? I wouldn't be shocked if Drake purchases that thing from him. I really wouldn't be shocked at all.

Yeah, he's crazy if he doesn't think he'd get half a mil for that right now. Strike by the way. Probably a lot of sentimental value but either way super nice kid hey and you know those diamonds are real too you know that's a real necklace oh yeah yeah jimmy's not buying fake ice not no sure not but super nice kid man and he seems shocked at how popular and crazy the story is he seemed a little not overwhelmed by it he seems to be enjoying it but it was definitely a pleasure to talk to him and now we were also lucky to get one of the players prominently featured in the doc like i said brad Brad Wingfield, AKA wing, AKA wing nuts. So we're going to get to him

shortly. And that interview was brought to you by the net return. Do you like to work on your swing whenever and wherever you can, then you need to get your hands on the net return. It's an automatic ball return. Only one golf ball needed to practice. You can set it up in five minutes or left. I'm sorry, five minutes or left i'm sorry five minutes or less it's highly portable there are no directions needed handles ball speeds of over 225 miles per hour with a 250 000 shot guarantee it's the only golf net in the world that automatically returns a ball back to you pretty crazy stuff it's also a multi-sport net that can also be used for soccer, lacrosse, baseball,

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funky thing, man, if you're into the golf game. Sounds awesome. Yeah, it's good stuff. Well, without further ado, we're going to send it over to Winger. Here's Brad Winkfield. Well, and now it's time for our second interview of our Danbury Trashes episode. If you watch the documentary, then you know about the incredible recuperation this next guy went through to get his revenge on an opponent after a gruesome on-ice injury. He also averaged 524 penalty minutes over a two-season spin with the Elmira Jackals and had six other pro seasons with at least 200

penalty minutes it's a pleasure to welcome to the spit and chicklets podcast Brad Wingfield how's it going Wingnut hey going good guys it's just a it's a real honor to be on here thanks for having me and uh can't wait to get into the story of the Trashers and whatever else comes here tonight. Wingnut, is that what we're calling today's podcast? They call him on the dock. Hey, I've been called a lot of things, and that Wingnut's by far not near the worst of them. You're trying to keep up with all these media requests.

It must be insane. The response must shock you, huh? Yeah, it kind of caught me off guard. It's been a few years since I last played and uh yeah shocking shocking at best but uh it's good it's good to be shocked right i think that more than anything though it's it's not just a hockey story right so it's it's beyond the hockey world and those buddies getting in touch with you it's people that you probably haven't heard from in 30 years that are just into netflix right hey way to go but like let's just throw my age right out there right 30 years thanks for that you don't look a day over 43 dude don't even worry about

it you look good beautiful thanks if i could see you guys with uh clearly i'd say the same but my vision's blurry i had to take the glasses off you might be more western league guy than uh vandermeer who we had on oh hey that's funny jim vandermeer you talking about him oh yeah jimmy's actually related to me through marriage if you guys can believe that calm imagine that did you know that when you don't know i just brought it up randomly because when i when i talked to you this afternoon uh wingnut can i call you a w, not Wingnut? Yeah, you can call me whatever you want because I can't get you through the screen anyways.

Oh, rough and ruddy. You are one guy. And he's only around the corner in Surrey. We got talking this afternoon before this all happened. But one thing I didn't realize and I had to double check was when I Googled your name, the picture of Steve Parsons at the St. Patrick's day massacre comes up and I'm like, okay, this must just be related to all these wacky, crazy fights and along the way.

And of course it's Danbury story, but you were the fucking opponent to Steve Parsons with your shirt off in that infamous fight on St. Patrick's day with you. You thought it was scroy back in the day. So I believed you just based on the horrible tattoos. I thought it was Sugden. I thought it was Sugden. I thought it was Sugden, but I hadn't seen Winger's face.

I had never played against Winger. So now that I watched the Netflix and checked that picture out when Biz sent it to me, I said, holy shit, that barbed wire tattoo Winger is actually the guy with his tarp off. No, I don't have the barbed wire, guys. I don't know who has the barbed wire, but I had ugly tattoo i think i got it covered up since then so we're pretty inked up now right can't find those old ones so we did talk about steve parsons which i texted him today and then he ended up saying that you guys were scrapping when you guys were even younger

oh we mean me and parsons been scrapping in their whole careers man it's you know i like the guy but it's business is business that's he texted me back he goes we're not exactly buddies but we've been texting since the documentary came out so maybe maybe still a little bad blood from all those uh on ice wars but uh so early days were you playing on the sunshine coast i know that's where you're from and gibson's right i'm from gibson's originally and uh steve is from squamous which is right over the mountain range there and uh and then he played in animo and i was in uh very new west minister and various other teams in the bc hockey league so you played you played there a long time and then went directly to pro hockey right like i mean you i'm sure you fought a lot in the bchl but nothing like that first year pro were you

ready right away to just go in and do that? Yeah, I didn't have much else on the go. I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know if I was going to end up in prison or dead or what. So fighting in minor pro hockey seemed like a pretty good option at the time. Sorry, Biz, were you a guy getting into issues off the ice when you were younger, like a teen, or were you just kind of being facetious there? No, no.

I was in a little bit of trouble early on in the teens and that, lots of street fighting. I'm a street fighter first. I just happen to play hockey. So you put two and two together and boom, here we are now. You found a really comfortable way to put the equipment on. I was watching the doc. You had no zippers on your pants, just an absolute sloppy gear wear guy.

Dude, I got some pretty big tree trunks there in that. Those zippers weren't jiving with me, man. I've been told in different organizations, Columbus, one of them that you got to have those zippers done out. But surprisingly, they just kept breaking on me. Dan Barry only had the budget for the parties and the nice dinners, not the gear for the players and the nice dinners, not the gear for the players.

I don't know. I think they had the budget for anything. Yeah, exactly. But going back to your BCHL days, you know, you talked about the scrapping and stuff like that. Did you ever end up getting a chance to go to the WHL for a tryout, given how tough you are and how much you were handling business? Yeah, totally. I did.

I was actually um i was um protected by the camels blazers after my first year in the bc league i was 17 i was then protected by cam loops and ironically i was trading a three-way deal i went to red deer without even setting foot in their camp and off to medicine hat um i just didn't grow up on the western league i uh left i left gibson's in the Sunshine Coast to play rep hockey, bantam hockey, and Paul River. And we're big Kings fans. They're the Paul River Kings. And I didn't really know a whole lot

about the BC Hockey League, or sorry, the Western League, and wasn't educated on it. And when I went out to Medicine Hat, it's just, I don't know, I just, I didn't like it there. I didn't really give it a chance. And I just wanted to be closer to home. And not knowing anything, I just came back to the BC League. So it was a big mistake. there um i didn't really give it a chance and i just wanted to be closer to home and and i did not knowing anything i just came back to the bc league so it was a big mistake i'll never forget

my old man was just furious with me and uh you know luckily luckily you know he said you blew your chance you blew your opportunity but i got a chance at my first nhl camp at 27 with columbus yeah that's a long grind and a long way to go. And a little off topic, but am I stupid for not knowing, is the Sunshine Coast, British Columbia, is it always sunny there? Is that crazy? You know what? Back in, I don't know if it was the 40s or the 50s, it used to be called the Rain Coast and it wasn't good for tourism.

So they changed it to the Sunshine Coast, but it's in the middle of the rainforest. And yeah, it's raining a lot up there. Not very. So in that biz does BC doc, I ended up going to Gibson's the Smitty's. Yeah. Excuse me. Smitty's Oyster Bar in Stafford.

The guy who owns it was the one who actually put us in touch originally to get you on the show. Now, one thing before I leave the BCHL, I got to mention, you know, when you started out, you were scrapping a lot. Then obviously, as it started going, you were scrapping a lot. Then obviously, as it started going on, you started becoming a bit of a player. In your last year, you end up having some decent points and stuff like that. Do you think the fact that you didn't go off to the Western League and got to establish at least how to play hockey a little bit, it ended up helping you make pro? Because you don't really see a lot of guys go from BCHL to pro. No, no, not without dropping the mitts a lot anyways.

I don't know what it was. I just I think I got in with using my fists and then from there I was a real big and a real big workout guy and fitness guy and and realized I could actually play hockey and started focusing on that and then and then you start to realize what's making you the money when you can do both when you can when you can put up numbers at the double a level and then you can fight and entertain and uh you know the everything starts happening after that so you bounce around a little bit before joining danbury you're 29 years old now in recruiting you on the documentary t-bone the infamous t-bone said you beat up five screws or five prison guards is that accurate as it part of getting recruited to the team? That's funny.

I get asked that all the time. It was actually for off-duty police officers in Elmira. Oops. Yeah, oops. So I'll go through that. And, you know, one thing is you're expected to stand up for your teammates on the ice all the time and do their dirty work. And back then, how do you distinguish not to stick up for them off the ice? Well, that wasn't in my repertoire in my toolbox um so it started one night actually it's a a guy named thomas clayton and this guy i was not a friend of mine but he was my teammate

and you got to respect your teammates whether you like him or not um he's actually in prison in new york for life with all his appeals exhausted for having his wife murdered while he sat at a poker game so a real piece of fucking work this guy i read that story biz no shit the saddest thing ever he had a hitman killer with a fucking hammer oh my goodness so you were playing with this guy and this is going yeah so we'll get right into that i'll tell you guys about that as we were just knocked out by uh out by my second year in Elmira. I'm with Syracuse. And we got knocked out of the playoffs by Fort Wayne,

and we're done for the year. And we go to this bar right across from the rink. It's called Z-Bonies. And I'm sitting in the bar by myself, and another guy, rest in peace, Jerry Hickey, another guy passed away at 35, I think, from excessive drinking. Anyways, he's an American guy from Boston. And Thomas Clayton, he's from Niagara, New York.

So two American guys, and no offense, Whit. My kid's a dual citizen. So Hickey comes up to me at the bar, and he says, help Clayton. Help Clayton. So I'm like, what's going on, man? Like, can you fucking help Clayton? I'm busy drinking this beer. And he says he's got a cast on, holds up.

He's got a cast on. So I turn around and look. This guy's geared right down. He's got his fucking gaunch down, his pants down, his tarps off, and he's dancing with his wiener out with a bachelorette party. And I guess these four off-duty cops were not pleased with him, right? So I sat there and watched it for a bit. They're shoving him to the ground, shoving him to the ground and pretty embarrassing i'm like fuck like this can't

go on i don't like the guy but i gotta do something here so i just walked over i shoved these four guys and maybe something hit the ground or not i don't remember picked up clates so you get his pull his fucking trunks up and uh i got sucker punched and it was on right i didn't seem like a long fight to me. It seemed about 10 seconds. I know I landed a bunch of good punches and it was broken up. Cops came in, talked to me.

I gave them, they knew who I was, told them where I lived. They said, thanks for cooperating. And boom, five in the morning, my doors kicked in and no warrant or anything, right? These guys just came right in after me, fucking AR-50s or 15s whatever the fuck they were and uh i remember looking down looking out the back window i could see two bat

in the back two out the front and two coming in upstairs poked my head down the hallway they're yelling police they're not yelling search warrant i fled the bathrooms right across the hall so i just jumped across the hall real quick started washing my face and brushing my teeth and they they came in with those fucking rifles what the fuck are you doing i'm like i'm getting ready to go and that's a true story man oh these guys cuffed me they didn't can i floss on my back or anything do i have time to floss officer yeah so anyways these guys get me down to the car and the guy says to me put me in the car hey thanks winger for fucking coming along without putting up a fight and i'm like fuck putting up a fight what am i gonna fight but like what the fuck but hey no problem man hey right um anyways

they took me away um um anyways they um it was malicious prosecution i had a lawyer i didn't know what the fuck i was gonna do i'm fucking shackled and chain going to court like what the fuck i'm in new york like like i'm dead here like i'm i'm worried i got anxiety um this lawyer comes charging in dude and he's his name's richie rich jr if you can believe that from elmira new york i'm not making this shit up i mean i make he's waving you know starts talking to the fucking judge get these shackles and cuffs off, gets me in the back room, and he says, I'm going to do this for free for the publicity. I was like, fucking thank you, God. Thank to the hockey gods, right?

Better call Saul. Yeah. After the fact, though, like, so get this, get this. So I ended up going to houston's camp that year and i had a really good camp minnesota wants to sign me they tell me that jim lynn's coming down um from minute he's down in minnesota watching some exhibition games against san antonio says they want to sign me i only got only person i ever told was my dad i said hey dad minnesota wants to sign me don't tell anyone because fuck till I sign on that dotted

line I don't believe anything these guys say anymore um and it turns out you know they do their character reference checks and they're like we can't do it and like if you're with us in our organization we'd do something for you but I'm like this is going away like this I'm not getting charged I know well you're out on bail I said I know but um in the end um the charges were dropped or reduced I had all I had to do. I pled guilty to disorderly conduct. And for those of you who don't know, it's something like in Canada, like being drunk in public.

And then, oh, where am I at here? Getting a Dan Barry ultimately. I'm losing my train of thought here. Oh, it happens to me all the time, basically every podcast. It's the number one lose-your-trainer thought. Sponsored by CRS. Take it easy on Biz, Whit. I didn't see you drop in the midst that much.

Yeah, that's because I had sick hands. I was snapping around, and I was a pussy. Oh, here we go. I got to hear about his hands again, Winger. Hey, fuck. You must hear about that a lot. Listen, I would have done anything to be able to fight. I had nothing in the bag.

Only thing I was fighting was the puck. Did you find out where you were, Winger? In the end, I was politically guilty to a disc on. I had to publish a public apology in the Elmira Gazette. Okay, all the things. It's off. So, you know, I asked Netflixflix maybe don't throw that fucking orange jumpsuit out there but uh it goes pretty well with the netflix story and just for the listeners and

the people out there i was never convicted of that crime i'm standing up for this fucking piece of shit i'm serving the life sentence in prison for having his wife murdered like the coward he is and you know i lost my contract there um with minnesota so you know that's just that's this life and uh it's it's hard to distinguish between standing up for your teammates and the guys that wear the same jersey as you on the ice and off the ice right tough thing to do yeah it's a bad fight with the guys in a wrong profession basically now the first time you were contacted by by the team is it aj calling like a 17 kid calling? Like we got a duffel bag full of cash for you to fight? No, you guys were asking me about that Tommy Pompasello.

Okay. We'll fast forward to that, and that'll lead into how I ended up there. T-Bone was the fucking equipment manager in New Haven, and I was in Elmira. And this fucking guy would chirp and chirp and chirp. I remember grabbing a guy in New Haven and just beating the fuck out of him. I'm saying, that's for your fucking multi-equipment manager. I can remember their bench, New Haven's bench,

tell him, shut the fuck up. You're going to make him mad. Like, I remember that. Those guys yelling, telling T-Bone to shut the fuck up. And I remember it got pretty bad, pretty heated one time. And he said, you meet me in the bus bay. And I remember I left the game. I fucking went to the room in New Haven, whipped off my my gear i ran down to the bus underneath the arena there and

he was nowhere to be found i went and fucking walked while the game was going on i walked right in new haven's room looking for him nowhere to be found so i love t-bone now don't get me wrong but he's the first guy that called me at home in vancouver in the off season i already signed a contract or i was getting ready to sign a contract in the lnah in the quebec league and i get a call from uh who's this call me pompasillo i'm like the fuck is this the fucking equipment manager from new haven yeah yeah winger that's me i'm like oh you want me to go where he says damn beer i never heard of damn very barely heard of Connecticut and I'm like what the fuck oh yeah okay yeah yeah no worries you're gonna offer me how much money I'm like I think

I hung up on him the first time but no shit yeah told my wife I'm like this fucking equipment manager like what the fuck I don't know who the fuck this guy is but um you did hear rumblings that he was connected or new guys connected but fuck you know, you hear that shit all the time. So I wasn't taking it too seriously. He calls back. It must be the next day or something says, Hey, this guy, Jimmy, Jimmy. I'm like, who the fuck is Jimmy? Like Jimmy's going to give you a call. I'm like, Oh, okay. Well, fuck, let's hear it or whatever. Anyways, Jimmy does call a couple of days later and you're like,

I could just honestly tell the seriousness of this guy through the phone. So I'm like, he's like, let me fly you and your wife down here you know a little recruitment trip and i'm like fuck free trip to nyc and into connecticut so let's go i'm taking that right well no boo well then i know it wasn't going to be much of a negotiation um we get picked up by t-bone so you know i'd be squashed now we're laughing and fucking and laughing away and he's filling us in on the trip in from um jfk into into danbury and takes me to that fucking dump i get to a dump and i'm like what the fuck this is getting stranger and stranger as it goes i got t-bone this fucking guy picking me up we're at a dump stranger as it goes i got t-bone this fucking guy picking me up we're at a dump and then you start uh you're working your way in the office and it's two or three floors high and it seems to get nicer

every floor till you get to the top and you get up there and it's a fucking nice office and that's where i walked in and first met jimmy and i was like oh right like look at this guy's eyes like fuck oh it's like russia exactly he's a fucking could be a good khl owner right right away you got a sense of feeling of this guy and um you know he was a nice guy um a little scary but um you know he says what is t-bone rfa and i say this mount and he goes well fucking i'll pay you almost double what he t-bone said and i was like what a fucking prick that guy was t-bone fuck and i'm like well a fucking prick that guy was t-bone fuck and i'm like well it's pretty good money in the uhl man and fucking ten thousand dollars comes out throws

it on the table my wife's right beside me um and then they uh you know the standard uhl player contract comes out slaps it down and he's like sign the fuck sign the contract i'm like well it didn't seem like i had much choice you look at your boss your wife you're like is this happening no i think i have to sign this you should have seen her eyeballs she already had five grand in her pocket five five ninety seven hundred there's an iou sitting there guys no it was gone. In the purse. You better sign the contract, she said.

Thanks for the support. You leave that room, though, and just like, all right, we're staying here. Like, that's it. We're going to go find a place? No, there's no finding anything there. They got everything set up for you. So, obviously, I didn't know at the time. I'm one of the guys they're they're um you know i'm sought after by them i don't know that um we signed the contract they are set up a nice hotel he took us

i remember he took us to this wicked steakhouse man we're having steak and lobsters and see it was beautiful it's beautiful in the danbury area in connecticut man it's mind-blowing i was like this place is awesome you know a little iffy when he took us on a tour of the rink because all the all the renovations weren't done i was like yeah well whatever money's money i'll play wherever um and uh he had the most beautiful we all lived in the gated community and i had one of the nicest places man on candlewood lake like own dock and i was just it was gorgeous so i was like this you know this is where we're playing um yeah was just, it was gorgeous. So I was like this, you know, this is where we're playing. Um, nah. So that was, it was kind of shocking, but whatever. It's the minors, right? I don't, it didn't matter. Like I had my wife, these guys seem good. They're paying well,

beautiful place, nice house. So I was good to go. Brad, I mentioned the, the injury and the introduction and for listeners who haven't seen the documentary yet what exactly did that guy do to you that ended up snapping the bones in your leg yeah okay well um so i don't know this guy at all he's not a heavyweather i don't even know if he's a fighter this is but um we're just you know it's still old style hockey here we're when we're dumping we're dumping pucks in my jobs to run the fuck out of the other team uh as we all know you can't do it nowadays but back then the weak side d man's holding you up big time right trying to

hold up for his partner and and his stick you know it was a cross check you they usually hold it in your chest it came up and hit me in the mouth and i was just i had a bit of blood and i just said fuck let's go and he's not he's like i'm not fighting i'm like fuck you i've gave him a little shot in the face and uh he's like i'm not fighting you i'm like fuck your stick touches me again buddy i'm gonna stuff it up your fucking ass and he's like oh yeah man sorry sorry i was just like you're fucking coward i turned to skate away and he grabbed me by the scruff of the back of my neck grabbed me by the scuff of my neck and kicked my feet out and my boy i left leg got caught my skate blade got caught.

My body weight just snapped my leg. And it was bad, man. It was bad. Cheapest thing I've ever had done to me or ever seen in my life. So I don't know what he was thinking. I don't really know a whole lot about the guy other than, like, if I ever see this guy again, it's on. Wow.

If you saw him in Walmart, boom, game on. Getting rights. Fuck yeah. Absolutely. If you saw him in Walmart, boom, game on. Getting rights. Fuck yeah. Absolutely. He never reached out after to apologize because you ended up getting your revenge on him, correct? Because you ended up – so what? So you don't think you got enough of it

because it was one of those quick ones where you just went down afterward? And that was also the game back where they ended up cutting the feed out. So the fans didn't even get to enjoy the fact that you get your retribution or at least somewhat the fans there in the building got it and anyone aj had his little fucking fight cam ready to roll and uh so anyone that got to see that or was in the building that night definitely got to see the whole thing but um you know some i might have done some shit that i shouldn't have couple fish hooks and uh more like uh kicking him in the head with my skeet on oh yeah that'll do it that's happy gilmore shit i'm gonna stand on his neck and shit but um those little

in 64 more days okay oh jesus all right we're getting real here folks gonna yell at us he never called you no never called me no wow so it was it was like it was like what are you gonna say a horse caller yeah sorry for fucking doing that like that you don't that doesn't happen by accident man well i mean to get off your hit list i would have i might have sent flowers i would have came in with the cbd rub yeah fucking i didn't have the cbd rub back then but it would have worked so the oh oh, I was just going to ask about the broken leg. Like everybody said, like the screaming was like something they'd never heard before. Obviously the most pain that you've ever been in.

Talk about the recovery process. Was it just absolute hell? I'll tell you guys something that'll probably blow your minds here. That happened to me six years prior to my right leg. Just not as dirty dirty but the same break i broke uh my tibia spirals down your ankle spiral fracture of your ankle blows it out and then it breaks your fibula up near your knee so this is my i knew right away what it was because it's six years earlier it happened to my right leg hockey related as well oh yeah yeah lake

charles louisiana is it the shin pads you think no soccer shin pads it's uh it's pressure it's just pressure and your leg gives out it breaks at the top of your skate boot holy shit dude was that when you're on corpus christi yeah oh my god oh my goodness how long were you laid up for before you can skate again and get back out there you got worse ankles than wit yeah no i do now for sure right yeah um well these are both times i was told by the doctor their career ending injuries um i'm too pig too pig-headed to shut her down but i had nothing else to do um but the danbury one i was back on the ice at the end of that season when the team was in the playoffs just just i was at practice but i wasn't running all

the drills i was just floating around fucking trying to feel part of the team and testing out the leg but not nearly game ready so i was actually back that in uh what happened in december and i was back in probably march on the ice not very comfortably but it was it was all to get back before you played them again because you wanted your redemption and then they ended up showing in the dock as well when you were injured with the leg up you'd be sitting in the stands on the recliner as well was that an every home game type thing yo for sure like yo man hanging out in jimmy's box it's uh yeah you got i think i went from about 230 to about 255 those were the cupcakes that were not making their way down to the referees. Nothing was making it out of that

box. It was the cleanup crew. When you say everything was taken care of, like in terms of where you live, would there also be after a Saturday night home game you guys go out, bar bills taken care of by Jimmy and things like that? Yeah, he was real big on the 10 G's. Like, everything's 10 G's.

Here's 10 G's, 10 Gs. So I guess he liked that number. I don't know. But, well, you know, after a good Saturday night home game win or whatever, you're getting 10 Gs. But I'll tell you what, it was the opposite if you had a shitty game and lost at home. He was coming in the room and, like, I didn't feel comfortable with it,

but I've seen a lot of other pucker buttholes a lot worse than mine. And their guys fucking almost look like they're in tears, going to cry. Be taking guys' Gucci belts away in the dressing room, eh? Everyone's just trying not to make eye contact, like head down. Like if I don't see it, maybe it'll go away sooner. But, yeah, it was good. It's all good.

You can't have good without bad. So it is what it was uh i look this is good it's all good you can't have you can't have good without bad so it is what it was right it was pretty cool uh definitely like the winning stuff better getting the money to go to the bar i was pretty wild now that section 102 is that the only place you've ever seen body bags with with fans i've never seen that before in any venue anywhere yeah yeah you know what's funny is most of that section 102 used to be in new haven so when i played like and they were section 102 in new haven and then it's where the first time i ever seen a body bag is most of these people came from or were at new haven games prior to the danbury's existence so i've seen these i've seen this crew before on the other side of things that's obscene it's kind of macabre but it's funny now

those uh oh what is it omacholi is that how you say their name yeah yeah yeah drew and mike omacholi those that pair they seem like a couple of characters playing with how you guys see them on that dock is exactly how these two fucking guys are man they're they they live together in danbury they sit together on the bus they room together on the road and they're fucking just fighting with themselves like a married couple 90% of the time. But magical on the ice, I'm talking the Sedins at a minor league level.

I don't even know how these guys fucking found each other with their backs turned. It was incredible. Yeah, also the other guy that we talked to AJ was that David Heimovitz. He was ridiculous. The fact that he was there, AJ, was that David Haimovitz. He was ridiculous. Like, the fact that he was there playing, it was no surprise to see his numbers. Oh, yeah.

I played against him in the American League, too. And what's funny is, and I became good friends with him, we actually got in a fight. You know, you get called up. I don't know who the fucking tough guy is, so I'm asking everyone to fight. And I end up fighting them and just gave it to him and he had a big jaw and big head and so i know i'm like this guy looks pretty tough like fuck you want to go here or what and he's like sure um so years later me and my

wife were over at his his house um went for um for dinner and he's showing me some baby pictures with his i think it was his daughter and he's got a black guy and i'm like fuck where'd you get that from hymo and he's like fuck winger you fucking did that i was like oh uh change the subject here man sorry about that so wild eh we were talking to aj about his uh birthday party when all the wrestlers showed up and then later in the documentary it was john cena night but I believe you were injured and I would imagine you were probably in the crowd for that now did you see that whole ordeal go down with that guy that

they brought in John Cena no not John Cena Chad Wagner just so happens that same night that Chad Wagner ended up going after the head coach yeah so like I hung out with John Cena that night, was hanging out.

I had a spinner belt on, just so you guys know. John might remember that. But, yeah, I was sitting right across when Wagner did that. And I know Wags, too, because from fighting him over the years, too, right? And so, yeah, I found that highly entertaining. I didn't think it was that bad that they banned the guy for life. You know, he grabbed – I forget who the coach was there. Pod Van, right?

Yeah, Pod Van. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he grabbed a hold of him, but it was a scuffle. It was a little Donnybrook over at their bench. But I was kind of surprised when they started banning guys for life over that. Brossell got a little excited, I think, trying to set a precedent or whatever you call it.

How funny was the back and forth between Jimmy, AJ, and then what's the commissioner's name there? Sorry, you just said. Richard Brossell. Yeah, Brossell. Did you know what was going on in terms of him flipping out every weekend? No, you have a good idea. Like, I didn't like Brossell just because I played in that league

for four years and you got to go. I had to keep going to fucking disciplinary hearings with him. And I forget the other guy's name. It might have been Mitch Lamoureux or something like that. I can't remember exactly. So I was like, fuck these guys. You know, it's like going to the principal's office over and over and over. So, you know, I ended up watching that documentary in the end.

And I'm like, fucking, he started drinking the kool-aid big time oh who oh who the the commissioner yeah oh my god was he ever loving himself eh oh fucking the dude i don't know i wonder where all the fine money was going he looked he just looked like the principal in back to the future he definitely reminds you of him but i liked him at the end of the doc it's the first time i've ever liked that guy in my life yeah because jimmy fucking said if you didn't talk nice about him you had a bolt in the back of his head i'm sure i'm sure but um he seemed pretty genuine you know wouldn't flip on the with the fbi grilling them and you know like he did play the the tough guy like hey jimmy and aj you

can't be pulling this shit and you see him oh yeah sure mr brosell they would just laugh after this guy has no fucking clue uh winger how'd you get involved with the documentary and one of the parts in it you were you got emotional talking about the team was it because of the team specifically or was it more of kind of just a recap thinking about your entire career and how it got you there yeah no i think the emotional part was when uh jimmy i finally seen jimmy come in but um you know in these docs they're pretty good they get you talking for six hours and then they're clipping shit out that you said referring to something else and put oh really want to put it a little bit um like someone was it made it like i cherish the fight against elzinga but that's not what i was saying really i was saying

i cherish my time like how they treated me and my family ina, but that's not what I was saying. Really. I was saying, I cherish my time, like how they treated me and my family in Danbury. And that's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I don't know. Well, that's a kind of a dirty edit and I know news and I'm sure documentaries I'll do that. But to take a line where you were talking about something else,

it's a little, it's a little different to, to present it that way. No Elzinga and doc editor on the fucking hit list no no put the lipstick on i like them netflix guys they're good shits man we'll get all that slide i'll pretend i don't know what anyone anyone any of you guys are talking about here well going back to my my triple air question how did you end up getting involved did they just reach out the chap chapman and uh i forget the other guy the way brothers yeah that's

right and those guys are that's actually kurt rus Russell and Goldie Hawn's nephews. No way. Yeah, if you guys want to watch another really good one, it's the Bastards of Baseball. That was their relative that did that. And when they first came to me, that's what they like, oh, check out this. We did this work.

So I'm like. What's that about? It's about a minor, independent minor league baseball team in portland oregon that just like they were packing the fucking the stands there and and blowing everyone away until the equivalent to what we know is the american hockey league triple a team came and took them over because they were doing so well so a bunch of misfits like we had in in danbury that were real successful and that's sort of how they sold it to me. This is sort of what your guys' story is, the trashers, but compared to the bastards of baseball.

So there you go. What was the most shocking or surprising thing that you saw that didn't make the doc? The most surprising thing that didn't make it? Yeah, something that happened that wasn't shit in the dark that, that happened while you were with the team. Fuck. It's,

it's really hard for me to remember. I got memory issues, um, at the best of times, a lot more short-term memory problems than long-term, but, um, I think they,

they must've got most of the shocking stuff in there, I believe, but, um, it would take something to jar my head loose or someone to start, maybe another teammate, talking to him about shit we forgot or wasn't in there. So that's a tough one for me to answer.

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Were you aware you were on this ride while you were actually in it? Did you understand that it was insane that you were doing this at the level you were, or you were just kind of just embracing it, assuming that's how every UHL team was? Well, it's just, I can, that's how I was playing hockey at the time. Yeah. It seemed normal to me a little rough i guess but that's what they wanted it's you know usually you're on you you'll know business i meant more so in a sense of the fact that you're playing in the uhl you're getting paid all this money these guys are orchestrating the fact that the other team's

goalies will not be playing with their goalie pads that game like it was a full-on three-ring fucking circus yeah you involved that did you know that this was happening in front of yourself fully aware yeah fully aware this was not normal for the uhl or any any i played in multiple uh double a minor leagues and um yeah this was that you knew something this was pretty special these guys are fucking around big time. Well, you said you had a contract for the Quebec League at one point. Now, that's a pretty wild league. And I want to say after Danbury, you ended up spending a few years there. Was that similar as far as how wild it was, guys getting paid under the table?

Maybe the side stories that are happening at the bars? Yeah, totally. Like, Danbury would have been suited better to play in that LNA LNAH than in the UHL they were a little bit too much for the for the UHL right like um it was still the it was coming to the end of a savage era at that at the minor league level but uh except for the Quebec league was still pushing on and I don't even know if that league's still going on but I'll tell you what the trashers would have fit in perfectly in the quebec league any any stories from that league that you could share that that you could just remember off the wall yeah you know what um i've never been at a bench clearing brawl in all my life and um the very first game so they had a guy i don't know if you guys remember a guy named steve bossy he ended up going on to the fight in the ufc won, him and Sean O'Donnell, I believe,

won the 2015 UFC Fight of the Year. So that first game, so the St. John Chiefs, they were just stacked. They had Sugden, Burnett, Pat Cote, I'm missing guys too, Yuri Moskevsky. It just goes on and on. And they want to be like the charleston chiefs and they are the toughest team in the world at that time um so the first game i go there i'm like

everyone's talking about bossy i'm like fuck i'm i'm gonna fight this guy right off the hop here like fuck this shit first shift fought bossy not a great fight he maybe took a tumble like not on purpose just foot lost his footing or whatever and then um first time i've ever been in a bench clearing brawl in my life it was fucking insane insanity i'm like i've never been did lots of line brawls not bench clears so things are getting pretty wild um i remember lots of objections in that game and um i was still in the game and we're late and their coach kept fucking chirping me. And I was just like, fucking, you know, I'm not going to say what I said to him,

but he was a French guy. So I, you know, I had some, I had some words for him and I like to use our imagination around here. Yeah. Right. And so we're late in the third, we're in a, we're on a PP and I'm on the stretch far blue line coming across towards their bench, looking for a fucking breakaway pass. Like, Hey, I'm on the stretch far blue line coming across towards their bench looking for a fucking breakaway pass like hey i'm on the power play uh their coach sent out one of their fucking players this andrew sharp guy i don't even know he's a single a guy at best i don't even know how long this guy played but i'm looking for this jumps off the bench during the play no substitution

just fucking suckers me so i remember getting up i'm fucking kind of dizzy this guy fell too when he hit me and he thinks he's like i'm dizzy and he drops his gloves and comes skating at me and i was just like fucking tomahawk chop boom baby how'd that feel so like that's the first time i ever slashed a guy over the head in my life bill garren special well actually at least i you know what i could tell he had a helmet on so i kind of got him right there on the side of the neck. He was a beauty. Oh, sorry. Keep going. No, we're going to go ahead.

So during a bench clear like that, there's not enough refs or officials to break everything up. Do the guys just tire out or tuck themselves out or call? Like, how does that work? I mean, do some guys still bring out the swords? How does it come to a close? You get Tommy T-Bone to grab a shotgun behind the skate sharpener. It goes on for a long time.

Went a long time. That's all I know. You know, you could die here. Tommy's got the oxygen tank by the by the glass. So you get to take a little breather while you before you go pound for pound with bossy now going back to that bossy so i used to fight morassi all the time who was another guy who ended up in danbury yeah i i want to say they're cousins i just it just so happens that all these fighters are cousins with each other yeah but he has some i think there's a

eight fight clip on youtube where they go like eight times in the midst of a season, and they just stand there, and boom, just brick off, brick off each other's foreheads. And Morassi's probably got a, what, a bowling ball for a head? Yeah, exactly. And Bossy's got a bowling ball as well, so they might be related. But, yeah, I was there at that time, and that was the highlight of the lnh those two going at it and

i'm really good friend john's one of my best friends in the whole world and i tried talking sense in this guy like i i fought bossy a few times i probably beat him on points a couple times too right um but john wouldn't i'm like dude just tie up his right arm for fuck's sakes dude and rasty refused to tie up anything like you fought him biz like what the fuck he used to chase me around the ice and he said i'm not gonna stop chasing you until you fight me so i looked at my coach and and dan biles would be like biz do not fight him tonight i'm like oh yeah is he fucking skating around you out there all night embarrassing you in front of the syracuse fans and they'd be like you pussy yelling from the bench or from behind the bench and it's like

fuck it i'm getting this thing over with and then he would get his fight and then he would like untie his skates and go to the middle of the bench and just chirp guys the rest of the game that was it that was it he couldn't play like you winger no john you know john keeps telling me he got better he can play now so fuck i hopefully he doesn't hear this he might want to fight me but now he's a skill guy i'll fight him for the nickname he's got the nasty murasty and i got the bees nasty yeah i know he wasn't he told me that he wasn't too happy that he stole his name he told me that once it's business nice enough and rowdy it's no doubt eh we all get soft mike rep gets signed you guys must have been an absolute disbelief in the room i mean this is an nhl guy coming down to play in danbury with

you guys yeah well actually he wasn't the first nhl guy we picked up i happened to uh i met steve and pete fighting them so we became good friends and when i first broke my leg they um i reached out to pd and uh i got pd pd came into danbury stayed with sarah my wife and i and lived with us for a bit and um he only stayed about a month or whatever and he ended up taking off without saying anything so that's he kind of maybe took a little bit of took a paycheck and then disappeared and i was scared about that because i brought steven pete in and i went to jimmy i'm like fuck you want me to go back to vancouver find this guy or he's like laughed at me winger i'll pay 10 grand to see the character of a man any day i was like all right fuck so we had steven pete that year came in and then uh rupper came in and he was rupper's just an awesome guy fucking awesome man you know he's no slouch

either that's a big big man hey biz oh he cut me open he he was when he was in minnesota bugsy malone he was tough as shit fuck he's like enormous i can't even tell how tall he is i gotta get a step stool out. Stretch Armstrong arms, too. You think you got your distance, and then right in the face. And a good player, too. Like, decent, solid player. I remember one night I was out with a broken leg,

but he actually knocked a kid out cold with a clean check. They had to scrape this kid off the ice. The body bag came out in Danbury. They fucking carted this guy off, and I never even seen a muscle on this guy twitch while he was getting carted off. I was like, fuck, that was a hard hit, man. When AJ was on, I called it section 112. I fucked it up as the R&B bag.

He wasn't happy, so I think Jimmy's going to put one right between my fucking eyes. But I forgot what I was going to say now. Oh, God. See, I did what you did i want to ask you ahl career i know you had a handful of games you did score one goal take us through that it was actually the saint patrick's day massacre night so um i was able you know how many fights can you guys get in an american hockey league game that's why you took

your shirt off in celebration and then you fought with it still off. How many fights can you get in a pro hockey game? Tell me, guys. Three. I thought it was three. And then you're gone. Third one, you're gone. Fuck you guys. I had four that night. Four on the ice. I had time to score the game-winning goal and still had enough time to hit the bar after

getting the fifth one. Have a night for yourself. On St. Paddy's Day. Try to stab a guy. Try to stab a guy with a skate and try to chop a guy's head off with your stick but yet the grossest thing you've ever done in hockey was show your nipples off to the wolfsburg scranton penguins crowd hey i had that terrible tattoo that's not me that's fucking fucking, that's Parse, man. Oh, Parse has the, like, the son, the tribal son? Yeah. Yeah.

I guess we could just roast them now, Whit. Throw it around the horn here. Well, I'd like to throw a jab out at Parse, too, for sure. Nice tattoo, Parse. Fuck. There you go. I'm curious, when you're playing in all these leagues in the 90s, like WPHL, the WCHLL BISL, like what kind of dough

are you guys making during this time? Oh fuck, I remember starting out when I was 20 or 21 it was like 400 bucks a week they cover your apartment and all your per diem, your per diem was shit on the house actually they had two refs

loading the fridges in the dressing room so you're right, Biz. You know it, eh? Yeah. So not much, right? That's not much when you're starting out. I think it was $400 a week. Are you guys getting dinners and stuff, though? You get restaurants that will hook it up?

Oh, yeah. 50% off. You get a team card there, and you probably get five or six restaurants. A lot of times you go to those restaurants, some random fan, and they're just picking up the the bill so you get that perks and some of them like corpus christi man fucking that place is primo like right on the beach it was awesome i was gonna ask you you were there for four four years so i mean you must have loved it there they loved you those were your best seasons yeah yeah yeah that was uh awesome place to play hockey. I was married there.

My wife's Canadian from my hometown, but we got married down there. Who doesn't like average year-round temperature of 70 degrees and three golf courses to golf at for free? I mentioned the pay because I know when things went downhill for Jimmy, how you're the tax stuff and you play people on the payroll and working for the garbage company. Was there ever any fault with the players? Because, you know, they weren't involved intentionally, but did any players ever get hung up for that shit?

I think I got a fucking, I think I got a bill from the IRS or something. I can't remember. Hopefully there's a statute of limitations. We can edit this out. Yeah, maybe you need to do that. But as you know, in Canada, it's a social insurance number. In the States, it's a social security number. So I'm pretty sure I burnt my social security number.

But that was way after the fact. I was like, when this thing ended, I was getting the fuck out of Danbury. I know they started hitting some of the players pretty hard. The FBI questioned them. I think Jeff Dahn might have been one of them. I don't know if Heimogut was in there, but there was no fucking way I was talking to the FBI questioned them I think Jeff Dahl might have been one of them I don't know if Heimo was in there but there's no fucking way I was talking to the FBI like I packed

up my kid and my wife and we were gone the fuck out of there I ain't saying shit to no FBI about this guy I'll tell you that right now did they give you a little warning or was that just kind of like you know yeah he came in the room it was on the front pages of the paper but Jimmy played it off like hey fucking let me worry about this you guys worry about playing hockey Just kind of like, you know. Yeah, he came in the room. It was on the front pages of the paper.

But Jimmy played it off like, hey, fucking let me worry about this. You guys worry about playing hockey. And everything's going to be fine. It's always going to be fine with them guys, man. Don't worry about it. Right? Until it happens, they don't want you to worry about that shit. Oh, so what are you up to these days?

Anything you want to share as far as work-wise or any skating clinics or anything? Yeah, no, for sure, guys. I want to send a shout-out to my Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association. We're the Sunshine Coast Blues. I want to say hi to all the players out there. I want to say hi to all my coaches and managers, fellow board members. I'm the director of hockey operations there. I'm the head coach.

So one of my jobs is to not only coach the players, but I coach the coaches. I got to send a shout-out. You guys have to have this guy on the show. Sometimes a real warrior and Ryan Hallweg and Chris Shaw. And this is our company right here in new angle hockey development. So you guys can search that up on Facebook. Anyone that's listening and search it up on Instagram. Uh, Chris Shaw's our main guy there,

but, uh, Ryan Hallweg, Chris Shaw, those are my brothers. So, Hey, you know,

I played with Ryan Hallweg. Did you? Fucking great guy. When's he getting on the show? Awesome guy. I'd love to have him on. He can redo the dance. Because he was a USA kid.

So, right, we started playing national team stuff. But he was in the WHL, like the only guy we had from the WHL. He was great when we were younger. Fuck, he was a bowling ball. Hey, get this. So, Ryan, he's a bowling ball. Hey, get this. So, Brian, he's a dual citizen. Yeah. He's the first ever American to be drafted first overall in the Western Hockey League.

Wow, I didn't know Holweg was drafted first overall in the Western League. Yeah, when we were young, he was filthy. He was the guy. When we were like, was that 14 when you're drafted in that league? Maybe 15 or no? Yeah, it'd be 15, second year Bantam. Yeah. It's because he had a bush out of the womb.

Yeah, he did. But he went on to also play U18s for Canada, and he was one of your top three players, one of the world juniors for Team USA one year. And then he became the best freestyle dancer NHL locker room has ever seen. You guys ever see this guy play the guitar? YouTube Ryan Hallwood playing the guitar. He was the sheriff of pilsen check elite league martin stracco them martin stracco holly were buddies in new york stracca bought the team in pilsen holly went there he

was the sheriff there fucking fighting coachy and all there's some tough guys over there he's playing the fucking guitar after in front of the crowd, dude, like a man. That is unbelievable. Hey, so going back to your career, I saw, I don't know if it was before or after one of your last years in Corpus Christi, you ended up going to the British ice hockey super league for 11 games, which has turned into the EIHL where I play with Cardiff was, was Cardiff around then.

And how was your overall experience there for the, it was the Bracknell bees you played for. Yeah, that's right. So I carry a British work visa, so I was a non-import there. I went over there and so remember I told you guys I broke my leg in Corpus Christi when I was 24 or 23. I can't remember what it was. So I always wanted to go over to England.

My dad actually played for the Five Flyers in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. So I always wanted to go over to England. My dad actually played for the Fife Flyers in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. So I always wanted to go over there. My great coach, Ennio Saccolato, was one of my best friends and awesome coach, international hockey camps he runs. He was the coach over there. He brought me over there. Unfortunately, I was trying to heal up a little faster in the offseason. I took a steroid called DECA.

I took a steroid called DECA. And so I got my contract. It's IOC drug testing. I shut that shit off. Hey, I'm looking for the edge to get back in the game, right? I got to embrace my past. So you guys do what you want, play that or not. I don't really give a shit.

So I took this steroid. I stopped it when I got my contract I went over there everything was cool for about three months and then they started hitting us hard with IOC testing I didn't want to have my name drug through the mud um so I took off and um my I never really got a chance to explain it to my coach but like I said I'm good friends with Ennio now I told him exactly what I just told you guys and And he's like, Winger, I would have hid you, man. I would have hid you. I wouldn't have let him test you.

I was 24 years old. I didn't know any better, right? So I didn't want to let him down or let my teammates down or my family down having my name drugged through the mud. But, hey, years later, I pretty much did that anyway. So it was a great experience over there. I thought it was an awesome league. They were paying well.

There was a ton of tough guys over there. Oh, yeah. And it's the only place in Europe at that time where you're going to find North American hockey. Now, when you're taking these steroids, do you bring them over with you? No. No, because as soon as I got my contract and read it, I stopped it. So how long are they going to be in your system for?

Oh, that's what I got. I went over there, right, and I got a buddy that calls me and knows a bunch about this shit and he goes wait here you take deca i said yeah i took some deca he goes that's detectable in your system for eight eight to twelve months and i was oh my goodness oh you mean like the worst kind of steroids no it's actually a really if you look it up it's not a very strong one but it was the one that was recommended to me for healing and getting back into shape and getting that leg fixed up. Right. It wasn't very strong at all. I wasn't trying to put on weight.

I didn't want to put on weight. I just wanted to put on strength and rehab that thing as fast as I could. I want to go on steroids now. I legit want to go on steroids. I'm not, that's,'s. Yeah. That was that. That was that. That was like the it goes. It went from the Russian Super League to the British Super League. Everybody switched doing steroids from league to league.

The Russian gas over the Russian gas is just booze in England, though. Hey, how about the drinking culture there? There would be people passed out at bars everywhere. Taking dirt naps. It's amazing over there. Like, oh, man, I wish i would have stayed or could have stayed why it was what a it was just what an awesome experience i try to tell all my kids that like i mean like whatever whatever's gonna happen like you don't make the nhl like fucking go to europe if you can you gotta go over there like it's just what a what

a life experience it is, Abe. It's like. Yeah. Wait, do you ever play overseas or what? Yeah, I played in Russia, dude. I had planes, like, landing on my building. And I was getting. That's like, that's not even on this planet, is it?

That's where Jimmy learned his stuff. That's where he was getting seasoned up. He went over there for a quick KHL tour. Yeah, exactly. Those KHL owners are like, that's nothing. I was handing him a million. What's 10 Gs? Yeah, yeah, right.

Exactly. I heard Marastu telling me all about that. Oh, yeah. Him and Yabo, his other cousin. Yeah, Kip Brennan. They're all on the same team, too. Yeah, these guys are at a different level. Now, listen, we talked about how these were the old days,

and you did all this crazy shit. Now you've calmed down quite a bit. You're actually coaching your kids, one of which is playing and being billeted on the mainland, on North Vancouver. Yeah, that's right. So the Northwest Hawks, AAA's own program, the general manager is my business partner, Chris Shaw.

He's the GM and the head coach of the U15 team. Brian Hallweg's the U18 head coach Ryan Hallweg's the U18 head coach. Scott Houston is the U17 head coach. Like I said, Ennio Saccolato coached the U15 team last year, my coach from England. So he's actually coached me in England, and he coached my son last year in Major Bantam. So a pretty special thing, really good program.

The BC Major Midget League and Major Bantam League, it's on the up and up it's a great league and uh the northwest hawks is just an unbelievable program these guys do an awesome job there with chris shaw and ryan hallwig do you try to keep your to keep your kids away from the fighting stuff like that is are you have you went completely the other way or do you still want to instill that toughness in your kids as far as playing yeah yeah like my kids uh that's playing over there he's a blue belt in um judo he does uh gilas brazilian jiu-jitsu he's done some kickboxing and boxing so we make sure but he understands that you know it's it he thinks he's the last samurai on ice but uh it's not gonna happen like it's out of the game pretty much but i'll tell you what

he's gonna be he's ready to go if it ever comes down to it but hey uh it's way different now and and it won't ever be like it was but if you can play and handle yourself you are making way more dough now it doesn't matter it'll forever it'll forever matter in a sense it just won't be like what it was that's right that's right no i wouldn't want any of those like look basically i remember what he had fucking for breakfast i don't remember what i had for dinner so i didn't actually that's why i don't have breakfast now let me forget i don't forget what i had we don't want the kids to end up like that anymore but it was the savage era that we had the opportunity to play in it was entertaining for the fans um i you know it was great for me. It got me a career. So super, super proud of that and how the game was.

I'm glad it's evolved for these younger kids. You know, body checking is always going to be part of it. So, you know, it's always going to be physical, just maybe obviously not what used to happen. It's really cool to see that, you know, since your career, a long one at that, that you're now into career a long one at that that you're now into coaching and loving it so we appreciate you coming on because uh having never met you

just seeing the documentary it was it was cool when i heard we were going to get to interview so we appreciate it hey i appreciate you guys man i know you guys are huge all my coaches the coach under me they all love you guys i can't stop talking about you guys you know i had a little bit of a hard time at first because you guys are fucking former Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, but I've moved past that. Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. You guys are awesome. I appreciate you guys having me on and sharing my story

and taking that time to do that. Thank you, Brad. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming on with us. We appreciate it very much. Go back to Corpus Christi. We want to send a big thanks to Winger as well for joining us with some wacky tales of the Danbury Trashes in addition to the rest of his wild career.

He's got some doozy, so we want to thank him, G, for coming on. Not last minute, but a little late notice. Always appreciated. Definition of a hockey guy right there. That guy just lives and breathes the game of hockey. Yeah, definitely. No doubt about that. And once again, don't forget,

we are back to the regular routine next week. Well, I'll get you all caught up on all the news that happened in the last month or so while we recharged our batteries. We still got a few weeks for the league to start up, but we're going to have plenty to talk about, whether inside or outside of hockey. What do we got, G?

All right. And there may even be a sandbagger coming next week so keep an eye out oh oh wow we're just dropping left and right we got things coming for the fine folks who listen we're back baby hockey season's back spitting chiclets is back we're ready to go love it all right everybody take care and we'll see you next week with uh all the boys back for the full month have a good one. As always, we'd like to thank our fantastic sponsors here on Spittin' Chicklets. Huge thanks to our longtime friends at New Amsterdam, Bodger and Pink Whitney.

Big thanks to our friends over at Cross Country Mortgage down the street. Big thanks to everybody over at Taylor made, check them out when you're on the golf course. Big thanks to our friends at Labatt blue. We appreciate everything up at hockey fest. Huge. Thanks to our friends at Roman, the fellas. Thank you.

And big thanks to everybody at the net return. Welcome aboard. Have a great week, everybody.