The Steve Dangle Podcast - The Steve Dangle Podcast - Dec 8, 2016 - One Night Only

Episode Date: December 8, 2016

On this episode, Ken Reid joins the show to talk about his fantastic new book "One Night Only", a little bit of Leafs talk, comedy talk, and Jesse returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Give the Gift of Gretzky. 99 Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky. First, he rewrote the record book. Now, he's written the story of our game. To mark the NHL's 99th anniversary, Gretzky looks back on the last 99 years and tells us, from his point of view, about the NHL's most memorable moments. We already know what he means to the game. Now, he shows us what the game means to him. From hockey's fierce early battles on natural ice, through its mythical golden era, where Howe, Richard, Beliveau, Hall, Orr, and Esposito defined greatness. Through the unforgettable dynasties in Montreal, New York, and Edmonton, and the success stories of today's NHL, Gretzky takes us onto the ice and into the dressing room to share never-before-published stories about the great players and great characters who have inspired him.

Head over to your local bookstore today and to cross another person off your list this holiday season. Panago Pizza presents S.C.P. The Steve Dangle Podcast with your hosts, Steve Dangle and Adam Wild. Yeah, see, we never know who's Adam when Adam's not here. Hi, welcome to the Panago Pizza Steve Dangle Podcast. I'm Steve Dangle. We have producer Jesse Blake.

I don't think either of us should try and be Adam. Yeah, no. He's too unique. Too versatile. He's a good host. Well, did you hear that other voice? That's another host. Hi.

That is Ken Reed of Sportsnet. Yay! Ken Reed can be Adam. You can be Adam. I don't know how to throw a break on this show. That's basically what Adam does, right? Yeah. He puts it on TV.

That's all he does. If you ask Reddit, that's all he does. Most hosts, and I know this from being one, all we do is just tee it up for the real talent. So he just tees it up for you. And he pointed at me. And also important when you're hosting is to suck up to the real talent and make them feel like they're actually talented. So there you go, buddy.

Well, that earned you a plug. So Ken Reed is the author of the book One Night Only. Thank you. Which you can buy. Where can you buy it? All over the place? You can buy it at fine bookstores everywhere, as they say. But for this internet savvy audience, I'm sure that's listening to this, it's just a click away at Amazon.ca or Amazon.com.

One Night Only. Buy it now. One night only. So, where do we start? Because we're probably going to be here a while. We could talk about your book the whole time. Sure, whatever you want to do. Or we could talk about...

Let's do Leafs. Okay, fine. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Leafs. Okay. It's just so frustrating. It's just so damn frustrating. And I think it was the season in a nutshell. Last night?

Yeah. Against Minnesota? Yeah, against Minnesota. It was just the season in a nutshell because they could have put it away. They had excuses for not being able to put it away. Oh, it was Devin Dubnick. Oh, you know, he made a lot of saves. But you're going to encounter Devin Dubnick throughout the season.

You're going to encounter Carey Price, Braden Holtby. You're going to run into hot goalies. I don't think that's what cost them the game. It was the mistakes early on. Cadre behind the net Oh see now you sound Like a real hockey coach Yeah

Yeah Yeah It was Well you know It was The mistakes early on Cadre behind the net And you know

You'd like to get a save On that one too But Players What's that? The players Oh yeah you know The players

You know Are you a player Or aren't you a player You know And on the second goal You know Chris Stewart I mean I know the guy's Built like a freight train

But he's not exactly Pavel Burry in there I don't know how you Let him get in On a breakaway And then And, you know, who the hell is Jason Zucker? Anyone actually know that guy's name before the game started?

And I don't even remember who scored the third. Oh, it was Eric Stahl. But it wasn't Eric Stahl in 2007. You know, it was 2016, leading his team in scoring. I know. I don't care. I get the notes. Very good.

Well done. Very good. Have you ever done that to Babcock at a presser? I've never met Mike Babcock. You've never met Mike? No, not yet. You should do that for him. I wonder what he'd think of it.

I think he'd deck me in the face. Yeah, I think he might get a kick out of it. Who knows? I hope so. I mean, the guy enjoys socks with his face on them. It's always tough to judge a person when all you know them from is their media scrums. We were just kind of talking about that before we came on. So maybe Mike Babcock would think that's absolutely hilarious.

I hope so. If somebody imitated me, like Ivanka imitates me in the newsroom some nights, I think it's pretty funny. She just goes around yelling, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia, and stuff like that. Needs donuts. We, a couple shows ago, I said if you're near anybody from the East Coast, get them to say Mitch Marner to Matt Martin. Oh, yeah, Mitch Marner to Matt Martin. Oh, it was great.

We got a few videos of that. But, okay, yeah, so back to the Leafs and why they suck. Don't you think they just ran into a hot goalie? Seriously, Dubnik's the best goalie in the NHL right now. Yes, but they had, okay, so the Leafs have an awful schedule. We kind of went through this. teams rested or no sorry teams playing a team that is tired versus being a tired team okay so the Oilers have a wicked advantage there they are playing the tired team 19 times this season so

everybody goes to Calgary first and then to Edmonton is that what happens that's what I assume yeah and then Edmonton is the tired team eight times so they have a plus 11 there right the Leafs are the tired team 14 times and I think the rested team it's either

6 times or 8 times so they had all this time off you gotta take advantage of that with a schedule this bad

is this a new analytic stat TT tired team RT rested team cause you know

I got PID for pucks in D PID pucks in D which is essentially what Mike Babcock was talking about

where the Leafs got beaten last night they got beaten down low. They got beaten behind the net because why? The Wild got the pucks in deep. That Eric Stahl goal? Perfect example. Created from a puck in deep. And, you know, I don't always go to

the morning skates, but it was extra frustrating because they practiced battles along the board at the morning skate. Sure. Well, I guess, you know, they didn't practice it hard enough and so it didn't work on the ice, so now we gotta work at practice. Don't you guys think a battle drill at a morning skate is just

wasting energy? 100%. Because they're not actually going hard at all. Are you going to get better at battling in a battle drill from the morning skate? No, I'd rather do that on an off day or a non-game day and save your energy for the night. I think the morning skate is just... The morning skate developed basically in the 60s and 70s to skate the booze out of guys from the night before. I'm not kidding. And it really doesn't apply anymore because hockey players don't party the way they used to.

The game's different now. The guys are all in shape. I think the morning skate, it's great for the media. We get our pregame quotes. other than that i see not much need for it now i guess you could say the unfortunate thing for a lot of teams because they're traveling and because of mandated off days from the cba now maybe you have to use it as practice time which i think kind of maybe cost you that night if you need that little extra step in your in your jets but the morning skate to me it's it's basically there for

the media now i wonder how often teams have a night practice because i i went to one last year for the Marlies and it blew my mind I was like what do you mean the practice is at 5 I've never heard of that for the NHL

I mean you just shove in a practice wherever you can but I don't know I'm with you I'm with you on that because

you do the morning skate you talk to the media it's never like a Barbara Walters like interview because it's so rapid fire teams are trying to catch the boss

there we go yeah you know it's a good team at least they're going to get better sooner than you think how many more coaches

am I going to listen to say that? Yeah, I would like to just see a coach or somebody just go on a Randy Montremant Savage rant one day. You know, just totally call out the other team. But that's not how it works, unfortunately. But you're right. I mean, it's there. We, as the media, get our quotes.

For the players, we're basically disrupting their sleep. Let's face it. A lot of times they'll get into town at 1 a.m., they'll go to bed, they're the visiting team, you've got to be on the ice at 11 a.m. for your morning skate. You really want to do that? I mean, I think the morning skate, it just sucks a lot of energy out of guys.

Now they're used to it, so maybe you could say it's part of their routine, but I think if it didn't become part of their routine, I don't think a lot of players would miss the morning skate. Nope. And I'll give you an example. It affects the star players too. Luke Shen, who was, I don't know, kind of a star for a while. He was.

Yeah, for sure. So there was a Leaf game day, right? And they usually try to not schedule extracurriculars on game days, but it was unavoidable for him. um he was gonna do a nike shoot with his brother the flyers were in town they only got in town that day so it's luke and brayden shen so luke goes to the morning skate and brayden actually goes to the morning skate then they instead of having their nap like they usually would they got to do this nike thing and they got to have a dorky little 21 year old like me or whatever

i was at the time ask them stupid questions scripted take shots on a net do photo shoot opportunities and you know by the time by the time that's all said and done it's like what two or three o'clock then when do they got to be at the arena for a seven o'clock game five four thirty five four thirty something like that so there's no time there's no way that happens under Lou though

no hell no you know commercial shoot on the game day no no Matthews right now because there hasn't been a lot of endorsements for I'd say protecting yeah better better word yeah I mean that's when you're a young kid he's obviously getting lots of offers i don't know what kind of offers he's

getting but if you're the number one pick and you're going to the toronto maple leafs so you have to protect your asset as they say so there's this new i think it's bauer there was a little bauer video made with jonathan taves and austin matthews just firing pucks around trying to do trick shots and all that and i'm like when were jonathan taves and austin matthews in the same building i'd be the world cup wouldn't it would have had to have been the world cup or that one night in Chicago. Those are the only opportunities they would have had. So maybe they know that about Lou,

and they're like, okay, let's get it in before the season. Yeah, I'd say that would be a World Cup for sure, right? Because that would be my guess. But yeah, I mean, you have to remember who pays your bills, right? Austin Matthews is under contract for the Leafs. He's going to make his most money for the Leafs. And Lou's been known to call the shots, so if you can protect

the guy from a lot of attention and let's face it if you're Austin Matthews there's going to be no shortage of attention I actually wouldn't mind coming up as a rookie

under Lou Lambrello I think it'd be pretty nice to have somebody there looking out for me like that because who knows what I'd be endorsing right? Big 8 Pop

stuff like that that's a no name brand by the way from the east coast I was about to say you guys ever try Big 8 Cream Soda? 2 liters for 79 cents

no I'm going to have to try next time I'm out there seriously come on down Big 8 Cola goes great with a little white rum do you guys get you guys, you live here, but

what's that beer from Newfoundland called? Dark Horse? Dark Horse, yeah. We didn't get it in Nova Scotia. No? It's just a rock thing. As far as I know, it's confined to the rock. Now, it might be out and about now, because I actually don't think I've ever had a Dark Horse. I've had lots of Screech

in my day. Yes. Jesse, have you been Screeched in? No, I've never been to the East Coast. Really? Have you been Screeched in? I have. I've never been Screeched in. I've never been to Newfoundland. What? Wow. gotta go man okay let me ask you this

from Ontario have you ever been to Manitoba no see and it's the province next to you that's the misconception that's true

everyone thinks everyone from Nova Scotia is in Newfoundland all the time but it's a ferry ride or a flight been to Quebec but not Manitoba

no that's a good point Jesse just got back from Vancouver yeah I saw the Leafs and Canucks out there really yeah it was crazy what did you think

of that one because they lost that one too a lot of people tweeted me and they were saying that it sounded very pro Leafs

but the crowd was like 40% Leafs So it wasn't really Quite 50-50 But the Vancouver people Are just distraught Yeah

They're kind of Sitting on their hands Just waiting for the Leafs To score But you know They won the game So it's kind of weird They started to get loud

Yeah You can tell they're like We might actually do it Yeah Because the Leafs fans Were a lot louder Yeah I worked in Edmonton

And Calgary And the Leafs come to town People just Leafs fans get jacked It's unlike Leafs fans At the Air Canada Center See them every night If you're in Vancouver

And the Leafs come to town What once a year It's the weirdest thing It's a big event. It's a big event, but that just shows you the power of that franchise, right? Mm-hmm. So it's not, I mean, if you were to come to a game at the ACC, you would think Leaf fans suck.

Yeah. But if you go to any other building in the league. You think they're great. I met someone who came down from the Yukon and actually listened to the podcast. What? Yeah, and they saw me on the street and they were at the game and they had all their Leafs gear. You're a celebrity in Vancouver.

You're huge. He's also like 6'9". Yeah, I'm not hard to miss. And they said every time the Leafs are in town They come down with their gear to Vancouver and they watch them Wow, shout out UConn Gold Potatoes Yes, and other UConn things Cornelius Jack

From Rudolph, wasn't he from UConn? Yes, yeah We'll be seeing that sometime soon on TV Oh, if we haven't already Yeah, exactly I think Cornelius was from UConn, something like that He was, UConn Cornelius There you go

I was like, I don't think that's his name Wait, UConn, Cornelius? Okay, there. It's been there. We've decided it. Yeah, it's the UConn. So, the Leafs sit last in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, brutal.

Is this a season of missed opportunities? Because if you think back to all the points they've left on the board. At the end of the day, it will be. Because if you miss the playoffs, who cares where you finish from 9th to 16th or whatever it is in the East, right? Who cares? But I don't think they're going to end up finishing last. They're not the worst team in this conference, man. I won't, I will not let go of that.

I will go down in April believing that. I don't care. Unless they suffer like a really significant injury, which a lot of teams have and the Leafs have not. They have no excuse to have the record that they do. And they're still, aren't they last place and 500? Yeah, they're 500. New 500.

I'm with you. Yeah, new 500, yes. You know what? I think the Leafs are not – they shouldn't be a reflection of the record. I think they're playing really well. They're not the first team to lose to Minnesota after out-shooting them by a ton. That happens when you play Minnesota this year. But I cannot see the Leafs finishing last in the East.

And I think they're going to put together a pretty good run. And at the very least, at least they're riding their young guys, and they're fun to watch. For the first time in forever, they're fun to watch. And, you know, I'm not a Leafs fan. I didn't grow up a Leafs fan. But I'll admit that this, I think they're totally going in the right direction. And from what I saw last night, you out-shoot a team 37-20.

Yeah, you lose by a goal, but I wouldn't be pulling my hair out after last night's result. Yeah, there's some things you can work on down low. Well, coach doesn't say that after a game. Well, for sure, you know. Yeah, so there's no way they finish last. No way. I hope so. but do you want them

to finish last but this year's draft isn't you know well this is I said in my video today I feel like I'm paying for my sins now

because I've been cheering for tanking for two straight years and now I'm cheering for them to win and they're just like no well Chris Johnson

said last episode that within two years they better be a contender so now it's about the build not the rebuild yeah yeah last year

I called it the the D build the D build yeah because that's all you're doing is you're stripping assets and acquiring new ones.

This year, if you're out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline, you might do that. There's some interesting finagling you can do with the expansion draft, but if you cheer for this team to tank, you're cheering for the future to lose. Correct. At this point. Correct.

You're cheering for a team with Austin Matthews to lose, Mitch Marder to lose, even, hey, Connor Carrick and Nikita Zaitsev, those guys are rookies, Connor Brown, I mean, let me just name every rookie on the team. You get it. You get the point.

You're cheering for 20% of Frederick Anderson's contract to be a write-off. You're cheering for a lot of hurt. A lot of hurt. It's just with hope comes a little bit of this. A little bit of agony. It wasn't going to be a straight line to the top. Exactly. Exactly.

This is the very, very frustrating thing. As ACDC once said, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. It's not a straight path. Hotels, motels make me want to cry, you know? There's going to be some pain. Not the pain that we saw last year, obviously. You have a very different approach to quoting people than Jeff Merrick. Jeff Merrick's always like, Nietzsche says.

The philosopher says. And by the way, Jeff Merrick wrote the foreword for my book. But yeah, Jeff Merrick's deep. I'm power chord. I'm a power chord kind of guy. I'm not going to go too deep. Eric's, you know, the 12-piece, 12-string acoustic guitar. I'm cut the bottom three strings off and just power chord.

Yeah, but when you're in the bar and you're a few deep, what party are you singing? That's right. There you go. Rocking along to me and April Wine, Canada's most underrated band of all time. Seriously. As featured in Trailer Park Boys. If you guys are ever at a party and you go, what's this song? It's awesome.

Whose thing is this? Nine out of ten times, it's April Wine. April Wine. Yep. Guaranteed. You'll look it up. I mean, oh my God, April Wine sings that? It's true.

Just think of the classics. April Wine, 50 Cent. We were talking about that before the show. So I was talking to Connor Carrick about music he listens to pre-game or post-win or whatever it is. And he's like, yeah, I like the classics, like heavy bass stuff, you know, like 50 Cent. I'm like, how old are you? See, when that song was out, I was actually in the club, you know, when that first song first came out. Wow.

Oh, my God. They think 50 Cent is classic. We're talking, what, 2002, 2003 when In The Club came out? 2003, yeah. But, I mean, how old is Conor Carrick? 22. Okay, so that song came out. Shaved six years off me.

He was nine years old. Oh, my God. That's like me in 1994 singing I Want To Rock By Twisted Sister was a classic, and to me it was. I remember being in college and asking the DJ, me and my buddy asking the DJ to play I Want To Rock By Twisted Sister or We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore. He's like, that crap's old.

But that was the equivalent of what, in the club, is the Conor Carrick today. And that is why it all goes back to the conversation we were having before we came on. What is a man? How old is a man? It all depends on how old you are. When I was eight, if you played major junior, you were a man. Now that I'm of a certain vintage, I'm not a man yet. A man is somebody in his 60s or 70s, like my father.

I'm, let's call it, late somethings. And I'm not a man. And I'm not a man yet. You're late somethings. You're not a man yet. Look at you. You're no man. I agree.

I am a little boy. Jesse, you're no man yet. No, I'm a child compared to you guys. I'm a man child. You have to grow up. Why? Why do I have to grow up? My responsibilities are to pay the bills, make sure my kids are fed.

Other than that, I can be a complete and total idiot. Look at the way I'm dressed. I'm no man. You're wearing a sportsnet jacket. I'm wearing sneakers that a seven-year-old boy would wear. Kanye West does that. and he friggin' sells out arenas. Your socks do match your hat, though.

My socks match my hat! Exactly. I'm no man. Like, when we were kids, men wore suits. Look at this. We look like a bunch of idiots. People used to wear suits

to get on planes. I know. Just everywhere. So when I... I have an aunt. She works for Air Canada. And she would give me, you know, ticket discounts

and stuff like this. And sometimes I'd get bumped up to first class because of it. I'm flying on her guest pass. So my mom would say, you have to wear a suit on the plane.

And I'm like, no, I don't. Once they stopped smoking on planes, it all rules one out, right? Yeah. You look at old footage from old hockey games. I mean, when you went to the Montreal Forum back in the day on a Saturday night, you got dolled up. You wore your best to the Montreal Forum on a Saturday and your second best to church the next day.

People were pimping back then, looking really good. So, okay, Jeff Merrick wrote the forward to your book, and you reminded me of something. Do you remember, or have you ever been told of, or have you maybe even been to the Merrick compound and seen footage of, the most gruesome fight in hockey history? Yes, I've been to the Merrick compound. He played me the fight between the Niagara Falls Flyers and the Edmonton Oil Kings

where Derek Sanderson just cold cocks a guy. Like six times. Jesse, you have to see this. The only person I've met who loves hockey fights as much as me, well, there's two people. It's Jeff Merrick and Colby Armstrong. That makes sense. Jeff and I have a deep love

for hockey fights and I'm I'm sorry everybody whatever but the Derek Sanderson thing with the Edmonton Oil Kings it's insane there's cops running out

on the ice I don't think it's assault it's assault it's not a hockey fight there were not two willing combatants no

no no no yeah since we're on hockey fights what do you think of the Taylor Hall hit on Philip Larson it's fine clean as a whistle

and Canucks fans will hate it I mean you could see Taylor Hall too even go He lets up It's all shoulder He could have He could have

Wendell Clark Bruce Belled him But he didn't He let up And the other thing is Larson's head was down It was a clean hit I just wish that

When Taylor hit him He hit him with Soft shoulder pads And soft elbow pads As opposed to This crap That guys wear today And Don Cherry

Was the first guy To say that About the elbow pads Sorry I screwed up The audio of the show But No no I do it every show

But the fact that Larson had to get hit by something that could probably stop a bullet is a big downer for me. I think if guys grew up playing with old school, softer shoulder pads, they wouldn't. And Taylor Hall didn't launch himself at him. But they wouldn't be launching themselves at the rate we see today in the NHL. Guys grow up with no fear. And to hit somebody should hurt the hitter as well as the hitty. And I think that could take the concussions down. And I just went off the rails there.

See, it's interesting. Joe Rogan was talking about ways to make MMA safer, which kind of sounds ridiculous. It sounds pretty ridiculous. But at the start, you could stick your fingers in a guy's nose and mouth if you wanted to. Exactly. So it started ridiculous, and it's come down a little bit.

But he was saying get rid of gloves. Yes, because it will hurt your knuckles to head. When you're protected, you're just going to go all out because you're safe. That's true. You'd see a lot more busted knuckles, right? Okay, there's an old school movie. I can't even remember the name of it. Remember the dad from Tommy Boy?

Dad from Tommy Boy. I'm blanking right now. Okay, real old school tough guy. So anyway, he played this role where he was a man. A man. And he had old man power. I love to talk about old man power. So he's fighting this young guy.

Old man by dad strength. And the young, yes. Yogurt. Exactly. So the young guy would go to hit him in the face, on the nose, and he'd just duck down and he'd take the punch in the forehead, and the young guy, ah, he'd bust his nose. So you're right.

If you can damage a knuckle in a fight, you're going to shy off a little bit. That's not the worst rule. It's more like football would be safer if they didn't wear pads. Football would be way safer if they wore old leather helmets, I swear. It would be. It would be more like rugby where you absorb the hit. Exactly.

Instead of launching yourself head on head like you're some sort of, I don't know, what are they called? Mountain goats or battering ram? Like a ram. A ram. That's the animal I'm looking for. Thank you. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

It's funny. You're right. They're made for protection, but they're weapons. They've become weapons. In hockey, elbow pads and shoulder pads, as much as you don't think they're a weapon because you're not yielding them, they're weapons, man. Shoulder pads should be there to protect your shoulder, not to crush it into a guy's chin. And I think we've gone, and people say, yeah, there's fewer separated shoulders today. And I'm like, would you rather have a separated shoulder or a separated brain?

I'd rather hurt my shoulder than get a nasty concussion. So to me, we've gone too far, but the league, and you can see how well the league works with the equipment manufacturers because they're sure doing a speedy job of getting this goalie gear taken care of. We don't even know if they're going to. Exactly. The other thing is, if you're an equipment company, how do you justify selling shoulder pads for $150 or whatever they are

If they're just soft foam, you can't. But if you think they're this big high-tech crap, which does more than just protect your shoulder, you can charge a lot for it. Well, and why aren't as many kids signing up for hockey? Well, because their parents are probably thinking, oh, my God, I want to put my kid out there. And that's scary and money, money, money, money. I am a noted bender. I suck. But I wanted to learn.

I still want to learn. But, okay, so I need to go out and get a full set of equipment. I went out and looked at a new pair of gloves. It's over $100 for just the gloves. Just the gloves, the hockey pants. It's like $1,000 for gear. Oh, go to play it again, sports or whatever. Dude, even to get used gear, which, by the way, is used gear,

it's still like several hundred dollars. It's not cheap. It's getting more and more expensive. There's going to be, like, look at where kids are drafted out of now. They're drafted out of big cities. This isn't the quaint small town success story, farm kid from Saskatchewan game it used to be. It's not.

I mean, now you're talking every little town in Canada has to have their little mini stadium with their ice sheets. What was wrong with a rink with 50 people in the stands and no stands, but the ice was cheaper because you didn't have to play for the multiplex that you don't really need. So the game is

way too expensive. And you're right. Buying gear it's out of hand. It's totally out of hand. I remember there was a year I want to say it was like 2008 or something where there was a draft class where there was like an unusual an unusually high number of names that you recognize like oh that's the nephew of this player that's the son of this player and now it's every draft every draft there's like 25 minimum and oh well it's just the genes just good genetics yeah and wallets yeah and wallets yeah well what look at all these kids

being drafted at arizona because all the players stayed there they coached there it's not a cheap sport to play in arizona i'm pretty sure it's kind of the ice is somewhat limited there's not a lot of places to go like oh so uh you know it used to be you know let's say oshawa plays whippy in a game now if you play hockey in in arizona where are you guys playing this weekend oh st louis then we got a road trip down to los angeles then we got one over to san francisco uh last i checked that's not cheap so the game is it's changed and whatever everything changes and evolves, but it's not this small-town romantic story I don't think that it used to be.

It still is in some aspects, but in a lot of ways, it's not just that anymore. It's rare. You've got to find them. I think of hometown kids coming up. Michael Bunting, who was drafted by the Coyotes, is actually a nice story. He was good enough for AAA, couldn't afford AAA,

kept playing at AA. Kyle Dubas, actually, and the Sioux Greyhounds scouted him, sign him to the to the Sioux Greyhounds to play in the OHL ends up getting drafted by the Coyotes

fourth round great story good story great story but most of the like local Toronto kids they're coming from

like Vaughn Woodbridge Maple Forest Hill tons of money Forest Hill yeah it's not the

it's not the romantic story we thought it once was and I mean I can't luckily my child has my genes so he's not gonna play

AAA hockey but Even if he's playing I don't know Single A It's stupid It's single A Just make this neighborhood

Play that neighborhood It's for the parents It's for the egos Of the coaches It's for the parents And there's some great Hockey parents and coaches Out there

But we should just Take it Take it back a notch And just remember The kids are Just supposed to be Having fun It's fun

Alright we gotta pause For one second Yes To go to commercial And we will talk about I'm sure what Vegas Canadians

Oh, that's right. And before the radio portion is done, we will start to talk about Ken Reed's new book, One Night Only. This is the Panicle Pizza Steve Dangle podcast. Panicle Pizza, something for everyone. So, you know what we didn't tease heading into break and forgot to mention basically the whole time is the last podcast, which you weren't there for,

was really, really good. It was fun listening to it as a fan. So you did listen to it. That's good. So, I don't know if you know this, But we had, so everyone has been yelling and screaming about the Florida Panthers and how could they do that to Gerard Gallant and what are the Panthers thinking? And I was wondering the same thing. So I decided to tweet minority owner Doug Sifu, minority owner of the Panthers.

I go, hey, would you come on the podcast? And within like half an hour, he was like, yeah, sure. Way to go, Doug. Yeah, so he came on. He was on for like 45 minutes. We didn't hold back. He didn't hold back. he seemed pretty honest

it was a real good show we got featured in 30 Thoughts yeah I saw that that's nuts that's huge that's like

I felt that made me feel like a man like a grown up really that is that is I always say

every week two must reads every week 30 Thoughts by Elliot Friedman and the Picto Advocate comes out once a week my hometown paper

comes out on Wednesdays that's a must read for everyone when you get into 30 Thoughts that's big yeah that is

You're the head of Elliot Friedman, because those are his thoughts. Yo, that's messed up. Think about that. We were like thought 21, so we were better than nine other thoughts. Yeah. That's pretty good. But think about that. You, Steve Dangle, are in the grill.

You're in the cage of Elliot Friedman. You're in there. You got in there. He even messaged me to say, like, good job in the interview. Like, that's like being told, hey, man, that was pretty funny by George Carlin or something like that, you know? And I hold him in that regard, so. Oh, yeah.

It was a pretty cool interview. It was kind of like you were talking to a Mark Cuban-like character. Well, he had an answer for everything, and he had so much personality that you couldn't really hate him. He was good? Yeah. So, have you heard it, Ken? No, I haven't heard it yet.

But you've heard it. I have. So, as a listener, what did that sound like? Like I said, it was like he was giving answers, and you accepted them, but he wasn't giving the full thing, because he knows the politics of everything and how it's going to come across. Yeah. So, he's a smart man. Yes.

He seemed, within 30 seconds of him being on the phone, I was like, this dude is ecstatic to be on the phone right now. Because he's just been getting destroyed for like a week. And now he gets to talk. Isn't it nice, though, that you put this podcast together and you can give someone a venue to tell their story? Because you've got some listeners, right? It's not like this is Johnny Podcast and nobody's listening.

He might have thought, Steve Dangle, this young man has built up an audience. Not young man But this boy Has built up an audience We've established We're not men here He watched your video And he said that

That's right That's right And it's amazing How like Things Evolve Yeah evolve I can't

No there's another word Whatever Because We did a video For the Minnesota Wild A bunch of their players Talking about Their players

Basically And I was messaging With someone With the Wild About it Because they're gonna Promote it on their social and I was like, hey, you know, I also have a podcast

where we'd be able to get this guy or that guy. We recently had Doug Sifu on, and they're like, oh, sure. Yeah, no, no, no, we know about your podcast. Yeah, yeah, that's legitimate. That's weird. It was just like, yeah, the Leafs, by the way, hard no. Still hard no, but at least, hey, Panthers and Wild. They know.

We're working our way up. They know. It's weird, too. Like, when I call somebody and interview them for the book or my other books or whatever, I'll say, yeah, hi, my name is Ken Reed. I work at Sportsnet and I'm working on a book like oh yeah

I watch you on TV I'm like what? oh my god and you think that's right it's out there so people are consuming it but it's nice

it gives you an in and Sportsnet which is what I'm starting to use yeah hi I'm Steve Dangle I work with Sportsnet oh okay yeah I'm listening

hi I have a pod click yeah I'm the podcast guy click I'm the Sportsnet guy listen yeah

street cred right? 100% absolutely gotta use it oh yeah do we want to get into the book? I would love to get into the book So, okay, I know what the book's about, but tell everyone.

I don't want to talk about the book today. You don't want to talk about the book? Of course I want to talk about it. I'm shameless. So what's it about? I know what it's about, but tell everyone. Sure. The book is, okay, so this is the deal.

In the history of the National Hockey League, there's been about 6,500 men who've played in the NHL. 350 of them have only played one game. Wow. So think about that. You make it all the way to the NHL, but you only get there for one game. So I called up and talked to 40 guys who were members of the one-game-only club. and basically I just wanted to know did your dream come true

or was your dream ripped out of your hands because you made it all the way to the pinnacle of your profession but it was over before it started so I wanted to get the perspective of their one game and basically what it meant to them in their hockey journey and that was where I started but it ended up being how it played into their life journey because for a lot of these guys

this game happened really early in their lives I mean we talked about how we're a little older were not men yet for a lot of these guys they played their one game in the nhl when they were 1920 so are they going to be defined by that or are they something else so jeff merrick had the same idea for a book jeff and i were going to write this together but jeff's the busiest man in the world as you know he's hosting hockey he's doing podcasts he's everywhere he's fantastic so jeff was kind enough to write the forward for the book and the the forward is fantastic when i read And I'm like, wow, Jeffy, you're deep.

Because like we said, philosopher compared to power cord guy, right? So the book kind of just, it's about 40 guys who had that one moment at the peak of their profession. Now think about if you lived all your life to do a podcast, and you got it, but you only got to do one. Or you only got to go to one Leafs practice as a reporter. Or you wanted to be the greatest surgeon in the world, but you only got to perform one knee operation. Or you want to be the greatest carpenter in the world, and you only get to build one house. so how does that moment define you

and that's what I said to find out Merrick said something the other day like you can't have the light side of the mountain without the dark

one and I was just like Jeff like and that's from a guy that really likes wrestling and hockey

I know I know he can tell you everything about like Nietzsche and Doink the Clown Jeff Merrick

range he has range oh my god that guy so were any of these games Or were any of these players, you know, they played their game, maybe they had a little bit of heat behind them,

a little bit of expectation, and they got hurt? Yes. Really? Injuries factor in. Well, one of the guys in the book, Brent Cron, he was a junior star with the Calgary Hitmen. I recognize that name. Yeah, he took the Hitmen all the way to a Memorial Cup final.

I want to say it was 98 or 99. It was 99. Just dawned on me. Against the Ottawa 67s. 67's, let's go and anyway, Brent was a first round pick of the Calgary Flames played junior for Calgary, first round pick of the Flames

I was actually covering that draft and the Saddledome went nuts when they drafted him and the expectations were that this kid was going to be the guy now, throughout the rest of his junior career and even before he was drafted, he ran into some knee troubles so Brent ended up

getting pretty banged up but he started his pro career with Las Vegas in the East Coast League He climbed his way up to the American League. But as he was climbing up, the Flames went and did something. They traded for a guy named Kiprasov. So, suddenly, Brent, who's supposed to be the next big thing, is just buried down the depth chart.

And he never got a shot in Calgary. He ended up playing. His National Hockey League career consisted of 20 minutes, playing in the third period in a Dallas loss in Chicago. So, that was it. They had all these expectations. I remember when he signed with the Flames. It was huge news, but it never ended up panning out.

And Brent, he took the path that most guys do after their pro careers come to an end. He went and worked in Fort McMurray on the oil rigs, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Unbelievable. So this is the cool thing about this book. You may be sitting right now. You could be working with a guy that played just one game in the NHL that might be working on an oil rig with you. There's a guy in here who played for the New York Rangers. He works at the beer store in Scarborough.

What? Which one? Mike Keating is his name. No, which beer store? Which beer store? I'm not sure. Tell me after. Is it 40 out of 40 guys who just have regular jobs now?

Actually, Don Cherry's in here. I don't think Don has a regular job. Claire Mackesy, who's director of player personnel for the Minnesota Wild, he's in here. Donny Waddell runs Carolina. He's in here. Don played one game. And then, yeah, I mean, I'm just looking at some names. Bob, okay, Trevor Fahey,

coaches hockey in Tampa for minor hockey kids. Ken Duggan, he played one game for Minnesota. So I asked Ken Duggan, what are you up to now? He said, I'm retired. I go, oh yeah, I know you retired when you were 24th in the NHL. He said, no, no, I'm retired, retired. I go, but you're 51. He goes, yeah, I've been retired for 10 years.

Whoa. And you retired for 10 years. He goes, I had some luck on the stock exchange. Oh, wow. So there's that kind of story. There's Cam Brown, who's an East Coast hockey league, Hall of Famer. He works in the computer industry down in Atlanta. There's Jack Stanfield

who's a TV executive. I mean, there's Daryl Olson, Dylan Olson's dad who's a hockey coach. So there's literally guys in here that are doing everything. And that's one of the things I loved about the book is guys stayed in hockey and guys got as far away from hockey as you can imagine. There's a guy

in here who's in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Darren Boyko. Because he works at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Just down on Yonge Street. But he's also a member, get this, of the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame as a player. So there's all, guys took all kinds of different paths when they were down to their one game.

He, wait, so he had a good enough career in Finland to get into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame. Correct. Moves to Canada to do what at the Hockey Hall of Fame? He works in international, some sort of their international appeal or international, because he had,

so while he was playing in Finland, he got an MBA in Helsinki, comes back, gets a job at the Hall of Fame, and he works kind of in their international wing, and And you can go in the trophy room and Darren might be sitting down there. Like he might be walking around the Hall of Fame. And this is a guy who played in one game for the Winnipeg Jets back in the 80s. Small guy.

Didn't really get played much that night. Ended up going to Finland. Carves out a career. And this is funny. I was doing a book signing at Word on the Street in Toronto during the World Cup of Hockey. So I did this little speech in front of about 50 people and then I did a book signing. And this guy comes up and he's got a Finland jersey on. He's clearly from Finland.

He's cheering for Finland. He's in town for the World Cup. And he asked me, and he's speaking English to me, and he asked me, is Darren Boyko in your book? I said, Darren Boyko is in this book. He's like, oh, I was such a big Darren Boyko fan. I grew up watching him in Finland. I wonder what happened to him.

And I go, he's just down the street at the Hockey Hall of Fame. So this guy's just amazed that Darren Boyko, who's a big time in Finland, had one game in the NHL, and now he works at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Man, a heck of a nice guy. Heck of a nice guy. And Darren was like a lot of other guys when I called him for the interview. He was a little reluctant to talk.

A lot of guys were reluctant to talk. And I think maybe they were reluctant to talk because maybe they thought I was going from the standpoint of, hey, you only played one game in the NHL. You bum. What happened? I was going from the standpoint of, you played one game in the NHL. That's pretty cool. And writing this book changed my perspective.

I don't look at a game and say, oh, that guy stinks. because he doesn't. He's in the best league in the world. You go out and try to play shitting with any one of these guys and it will kick your butt.

Oh, yeah. It will kick your butt. And it is something to be proud of. I know a guy, he played, I think it was just one game, it might have been a couple,

but it was exhibition games. That's it, with the New York Rangers. And you better believe where he works now, he's got that jersey hanging above his desk. Sure he does.

Framed and everything because you know what? As he should. He played an exhibition game with the New York Rangers man that's way higher than most people do there's some cool jersey stories in this book too um don waddell he played in one game for the la in 81 and back then i mean your jersey doesn't mean much to you right so he stayed up for two weeks with la but he only got in one game so a few years back

for christmas there's this big framed wrap thing under the tree and he's looking at it going what's this so he opens it up it's his framed jersey his wife had got in contact with the kings they put him in contact with a jersey collector this guy had bags full of old la king's jerseys from the 80s so his wife knew his jersey number they literally are just going through garbage bags of old jerseys you're joking they match up and don waddell has his jersey that's a cool christmas yeah that is awesome and it's not just

like he kept it over the years or he was it had disappeared they had to find it they had to find it so this collector in LA

had him there's another guy in the book Jamie Dornbosch his his story is absolutely incredible his name is familiar because he he was part of a clip

that went viral a few years ago was he on the no he would have been on the Kitchener Rangers right

so So, the Rangers had a five-on-three. Was it Pete Carroll was the player's name? Something Carroll. There was a player who lost his stick early in the five-on-three penalty kill, and he blocks three shots, square off his ankle, can't even walk at the end of the shift. And Dornbosch, I think, was one of the guys.

Dornbosch was one of the shooters? Blam! Blam! Blam! Just hammering it at this guy. And it was like that joke clip that's been going around of that soccer goalie that just keeps getting the ball to the face over and over again, but real and with pucks. And, yeah, Dornbosch. That's a talk one I love, too.

Wham, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, what's... Oh, so Dornbosch, he finishes his junior career with Kitchener. They lose out in the playoffs. It's his 20-year-old year, and he kind of bangs his shoulder up in the playoffs. I think he said they lost to Plymouth. They were expected to win the series,

but suddenly his junior career is over, So he's sitting in the kitchen, and he calls his agent. He says, look, can you get me somewhere to play for the rest of the year, maybe in the East Coast League or something, like a lot of guys do at the end of their junior careers. And so his agent says, sure. His agent calls him up the next day or a day or two later, and he says, what are you doing tomorrow night?

I don't know. You want to play for the Islanders. And he's thinking, wow, you got me a deal in Bridgeport. You got me an American Hockey League deal. This is awesome. Sure, Bridgeport? No, no, no, no. New York.

New York what? New York Islanders. What are you talking about? Do you want to play tomorrow night for the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins? Oh, my God. Sure. Sure.

Yeah, why not? So he drives home to Richmond Hill. His parents drop. So he goes to bed. So the game is that night. So he's flying out of Toronto early in the morning. Flies in to New York. He gets off the plane, comes through the terminal,

and there's a guy there with the Jamie Dornbosch sign. And he's like, whoa, this is kind of cool. But he's got this shoulder problem. Of course, they have to give him a medical. So he sits there on the groin just where he threw the medical, passes his medical. And he's like, wow, I'm going to play in the NHL tonight. This is kind of weird. Because the Islanders had run into some injury problems.

I don't know if you remember. It was probably five, six years ago. And they were down bodies. So they needed bodies. I think I remember. That's when they were down to their fifth or sixth goalie. Right, right. So the thing is, this game is the Islanders' last home game of the season,

and it's against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, the previous game, the Penguins and Islanders had gone at it. Was that one of the— Chad Johnson-DiPietro game. Oh, my God. So the Islanders think, okay, it's on tonight. So Dornbosch comes into the pregame skate, and the guys are all looking at him, and they're thinking, well, who the heck's this guy?

They're like, are you a goon? Are you a tough guy? He's like, no. No, I'm not. It's the complete opposite. No, I'm just a nice hockey player. So he has his pregame skate with the Islanders and stays at the hotel across from Nassau and goes back.

And it's game time. So he's nervous. He's got his Islanders jersey on. He's thinking, oh, this is crazy. So before the game, they're warming up. And Trevor Gillies is the Islanders' tough guy. Who is a lunatic, by the way, just an assassin. So Trevor Gillies has given the Penguins the Trevor Gillies eyes.

And he's like, oh, staring them down. So Gillies is backing up. Dornbosch is warming up out by the blue line. He ends up, this is his rookie game. This is his first game in the NHL. Trevor Gillies is trying to set the tone against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Gillies is looking at them and looking at them. Dornbosch accidentally comes up behind Gillies and trips him,

and Gillies falls on his butt in front of the Penguins. So the tone is not set. So Dornbosch heads into the room, and all the chatter in the Islanders' room is, Who spilled gillies out there Did you hear something Oh no And Dorenbosch is like

Yeah that's me So I say Did you say anything to gillies He's like no I was terrified I'm absolutely terrified Yeah you could waste A whole afternoon

Looking up Trevor Gillies fights Staring down Lunatics He knocked out John Morasty Nasty Morasty He knocked out Nasty John Morasty

In the KHL And then like I've seen that scrap Smack talk the entire bench He's a maniac Wow So I wouldn't talk to him either

He spills gillies So the game goes on without much incident. So the game is over. And I say to Jamie, I said, well, did you keep your jersey? He goes, this is the thing. It's the last home game of the year. It's jersey off your back, Knight. Oh, no!

So he has to give his jersey away. It's his first NHL game. He's like, is there some dude who paid money for my jersey? They don't really know who I am, but he has to give the jersey away. So he's like, oh, no. No, this is awful. So into the room they go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Dornbosch goes over to Gillies eventually.

He's like, look, I'm sorry about tripping you in the warm-up. We didn't set the tone there. And so Gillies says, don't worry about it. It's all good. He says, by the way, it's your first NHL game, right? Yeah. Gillies goes and gets the jersey back for Dornbosch and gives it to him and says, there. Nobody ever did that for me.

That's for you. Wow. So to this day, that jersey's framed in the Dornbosch household north of Toronto. And there it sits. So that's pretty cool. Way to go, Trevor Gillies. That's how you sell a damn book. That is how you sell.

I already have your book. I want to give you $20. There you go. So that is why. That's another, like, never judge a tough guy by what you see in the ice. Because the tough guys are generally the nicest guys. They're the guys who stand up for their teammates. They're the guys who will stop, step in front of a bull for their teammates.

So Trevor Gillies, as wacko as he may seem on the ice, given the Gillies' eyes, went and did that for his rookie teammate. That's pretty cool. way to go Trevor Gillies. I love a story like that because too often I think you hear on TV often the tough guys are the best guys They are! But they don't give any

context to it. Right. It just sounds like they're fishing for something that's not there. When you explain it like that You hear that about Kiprios all the time Yeah, and he's hilarious by the way Man, I was at the Sportsnet Christmas party where I shoved in the line in order to help

this gentleman get a beer, and also myself thanks and uh kiprios he sees me and he's standing next to kathy broderick who is like one of the most powerful people in sports broadcasting in this country she's don cherry's producer i guess yeah or hockey night in canada producer and um he he starts really excitedly explaining to her i i told this china club story on the podcast have you heard this before and she's like no and so he like i got to sit through it again as he explained it to someone else this podcast

is taking you places it's crazy well and then I told him I told Messier that story and he was not impressed he goes

oh yeah no he wouldn't have been impressed by that but the tough guys are the nicest guys there's a lot of tough guys in the book

but it's funny I remember when the Leafs picked up Brad May and it was Brad's first practice and I'm thinking oh man

because I'd never interviewed Brad before and I'm like what's this guy going to be like there's not a nicer guy than Brad May he's a teddy bear

I used to, when he was on Leafs TV briefly, I used to feed him stats. Oh, really? Yeah, because, like, I don't know. He didn't know about, like, I guess, prepping for air. Neither did I, but I would be like, Carl Gunnarsson is a plus four. That's a plus four tonight. Just having a heck of a game. I love that tough guys are the nicest guys.

There's a whole chapter on toughies in here. So it would surprise you the number of tough guys. Actually, it wouldn't surprise you the number of tough guys that just got the one game. And how bad does that stink? Because, okay, you're a tough guy. You're called up, and it's your first game. You know what you have to do. And, of course, no one's going to tell you what you have to do,

but you know what you have to do. But the worst part about being a rookie tough guy is when you're called up, you've got to ask the older tough guy if he wants to go, and the older guy might just go, not tonight, kid. Nope, I don't fight rookies. There's one guy in here, Sean McMorrow. He's called up. He's by Buffalo.

Rob Ray was traded So the Sabres have to play the Leafs And you gotta fill in for Rob Ray You gotta fill in for Rob Ray He beat up a fan Yeah, Sean McMorrow From Scarborough Huge Leafs fan

He's thrilled It's his first game He's looking over Of course he sees Ty Domi Oh my god He grows up loving Ty Domi So what do you want to do If you're a tough guy

And you grow up loving Ty Domi You want to fight Ty Domi Exactly Because you're messed up in the head Apparently So he goes up to Domi And Domi just says I don't fight rookies.

Come on! And what if, I mean, one in a million, but what if he just gets a lucky shot in and dummies domey? That's not the last game of his career. He probably gets game two. 100%. Oh, man. I know.

So timing, opportunity. The book's kind of like life. What if this just happened? There's a guy in the book, Mike Murray. He runs a professional team in Knoxville. And he said he was on a two-on-one. and he had a wide open net. The guy elected to shoot.

And he said, if that guy just passed the puck, I got to tap it. Yeah. I get a goal, they pretty much have to play me again. Pretty much. Dude,

Jeremy Williams made like a brief NHL career out of that. Yeah. Remember Jeremy Williams? Yeah, tap it in. Tap it in. He, I think,

had four or five goals in four or five games, spread over three or four seasons. And they're all just. He would get one call up at the end of the season, like one game, score. Next season Does it again

Does it again And he did it like Four straight years And they're like We gotta give him a stint Right Stays for a while Goes cold

I think right before They were gonna send him down Injury So he's injured Can't prove himself But at least he's getting That NHL paycheck Injured

Speaking of goals There's three guys Who've played in just one game Who've scored a goal Two of them are in the book One of them's a ref now Dean Morton Okay

The other guy's named Brad Fast Now if you wanna impress The ladies You can say Who's the last guy To ever score a goal in the last NHL tie.

It's Brad Fast. He scored a goal for Carolina against Florida in a 6-6 game. It was the last ever tie in NHL history because they went to a lockout the next year. So this guy, he's a pretty good puck-moving defenseman, as they say nowadays. He scores on Roberto Luongo,

assisted by Eric Stahl and Rod Brindamore. That's good company. That's not bad. How did he get on the ice with them? Good company. So he's on the ice at the end of the game. He ties it up. He beats Luongo at 6-6.

What? How did the coach have him on the ice at the time? Because he was a speedster. He could go. Unreal. So he scores a goal, and he's like, okay, life's good. I just scored a goal in my first NHL game for Carolina. I can't wait for next season to start.

What happens? Lockout. Lockout happens. If you guys remember Carolina, their AHL team during the lockout year was stacked. Stahl was down there. I want to say Mike Commodore was down there. Maybe Andrew Ladd? Ladd was down there.

Cam Ward? No, he might have still been in junior. He might have been. So anyway, they had a stacked team. So what happens to Fast? So a few months after scoring a goal in an NHL game, he's looking around, he's in the East Coast League. He's going, what in the heck is going on here?

Next thing he knows, he's in Europe, and it's done. It's done. It's done. And it's all, in a lot of cases for these guys, it's timing. It was just timing and not even making the most of your opportunity, but when did you get that opportunity? It's just, oh, man. Like, what if I went to be anchorman at Sportsnet, but stud anchorman was already there?

I'd have to wait for stud anchorman to leave. If stud anchorman never left, you know, I didn't get my chance. There's no injuries in broadcasting. Very good. You don't get to, hey, kid, Don Cherry rolled his ankle tonight. Can you be the coach for Coach's Corner? That's true. That's true.

I've never heard of an injury in broadcasting. Yeah, or Ron McClain is clavicle. Yeah, we got an MCL tear up on the set. Can you get up there? Never happens. we should wrap up the radio portion here oh jeez

we could just keep going I don't want to come back and talk more about it we should talk more about the book I don't know does Vegas really need to be mentioned

do we need to talk about a trademark you know they're going to get their way done they're not going to not get the name just drop the K

off the name yeah oh damn there you go that's my idea man and then it's Golden Knights hey hey

and you can put like a 50 year old guy with a gold chain two in the double guns two in the double guns on the logo hey hey If you're looking for that guy, YouTube, kids in the hall, coolest man to ever live.

It's the best skit you've ever seen. It's just a guy walking down the street just like that. He should be the Golden Knights mascot. I thought it was Jesse. All right, so if you want to hear more about Ken Reed's book, One Night Only, head to sportsnet.ca. And this podcast is brought to you by... Panago Pizza, which is good.

I love Panago. They're across the street from Sportsnet here. I'm there all the time. Thank you, Panago, for the fine pizza and the great abs. I mean, need I say more? Exactly. Give the gift of Gretzky. 99 Stories of the Game by Wayne Gretzky.

First, he rewrote the record book. Now, he's written the story of our game. To mark the NHL's 99th anniversary, Gretzky looks back on the last 99 years and tells us from his point of view about the NHL's most memorable moments. We already know what he means to the game. Now, he shows us what the game means to him.

From hockey's fierce early battles on natural ice, through its mythical golden era, where Howe, Richard, Beliveau, Hall, Orr, and Esposito defined greatness. Through the unforgettable dynasties in Montreal, New York, and Edmonton, and the success stories of today's NHL, Gretzky takes us onto the ice and into the dressing room to share never-before-published stories about the great players and great characters who have inspired him. Head over to your local bookstore today And to cross another person off your list This holiday season So who's your brother? Yeah we were just talking comedy

And I said you know my brother is a stand up comedian He's not one of these guys that just Doesn't get paid He goes by Peter Anthony He uses the last name Anthony because when he started My dad said you can't be swearing with my name That's such a dad thing He goes by his middle name Peter Anthony

He's done Just for Laughs And Halifax Comedy Festival winnipeg comedy festival he makes money doing it which is impressive so he's got some hard thing to make yeah it is it's funny when i was breaking into tv and and pete was breaking into comedy the similarities between trying to break into tv and trying to break into stand-up they're so similar because you're going to dirt you get paid dirt you're going to small out-of-the-way places to to hone your craft work for free in a lot of cases but eventually you climb up and and i can always tell a success this is how i rate a successful stand-up comic comic in canada and

i know a lot of them and i think they'll take this the right way did you sign your own lease and or mortgage because if you've got your name on your rental agreement you're a successful canadian stand-up comedy because it does not pay well and the guys who do it really have to hone their craft and like this country i'm just thinking of some guys i know just off the top Darren Frost Rob Hugh Dave Hempstead Pete Zedlacher

I swear Jeremy Hotts Jeremy Hotts the best stand up comics are right here in Toronto I swear these guys are amazingly talented

well and this is this is the interesting thing about the comedy scene in the states we'll get to your book this is the interesting thing about the comedy scene in the states

like there's a really healthy one in Boston yes New York obviously has one LA has one and you can find I think Texas

surprisingly has like a pretty big one maybe Austin Houston Houston maybe Austin too but in the states you don't have to drive all that far

to get to your next major city correct correct like you got Toronto and then Montreal

yeah like unless London Ontario has a healthy comedy scene yeah they may have yucks but if you're doing you're right

if it's like in rock and or roll in Canada like you're driving to gigs you're spending a lot of time driving to gigs

whereas in the US you can just it's easy yeah if you're in New York you can just go over to Philly do New Jersey go over to Boston stop over in Connecticut

you can do the whole little area here you're paying your dues you're paying your dues and it's funny too because my brother still goes to some some far away like my brother

I swear he's been everywhere in Ontario he's been everywhere in Western Canada the first time he met Norm Macdonald Norm's like yeah I'm gonna go up to

Alberta and Peter's like yeah I've been there I don't know what I just pronounced but anyway Because Norm used to be on the Western Canadian scene for Yuck Yucks. And he's like, eh, do you know him? And Peter would say, yeah, I know that guy.

And then Norm would tell stories about that guy. So all the best Canadian guys, they've all been there. I mean, it's a really good scene. I'm pretty proud of my brother. He's carved out a good career doing this. He's got a – Peter Anthony. Yeah, he doesn't do a lot of East Coast comedy,

but when he goes home, he caters to the East Coast audience. There's a good bit on YouTube, East Coast Conversation by Peter Anthony. He did it at the Halifax Comedy Festival. And it's basically, it's just built on how people talk from our hometown. So it's pretty good. What's going on? In other words, hello. What's going on?

Do you guys trade advice on broadcasting and comedy? He'll call me. He'll say, is this funny? And I'll say, yeah. And I'll call him and I'll say, hey, you got to watch this. I put dad in a lead for an item tonight and I have a big screenshot of my dad. And he'll laugh. And he'll say, this works or that doesn't work.

and basically when it comes to doing stuff on TV if I think it's funny then I don't care what you think like if it's good enough you know

I'm doing it to amuse myself and that's that's me with my videos seriously and the podcast seriously that is you guys with this

and if other people embrace it that's awesome because all you have to do is be yourself you don't have to be anybody else I'll tell Adam and Jesse

like if a joke bombs they'll be like yeah they're not all gonna work and if it bombs it bombs Like, I mean, there's a reason I go on TV, and if I'm doing basketball highlights, I'll talk about my old gym teacher, Mr. Yankov, and using the backboard. Because that's what I know.

Wait, what is his name? Mr. Yankov. J-A-N-K-O-V. I'm sure he didn't get a hard time. No. I'll never forget my buddy. Hard time. My buddies David and Craig Clark.

They're in gym class, and it was grade six, and I think he was talking to Craig. And the Clarks had a long line of guys who'd come through school, and that's the thing about going to school in a small town. You know, they know your relatives, and they'll often judge you by your dad. Like, my mom had the same teachers I had. And so Mr. Yankoff, this is the first class, first class. And Mr. Yankoff's going through the roll call. He goes, huh, Craig Clark, imagine having a name like Clark. And Craig looks right at him.

He goes, better than a name like Yankoff. Right away, out of here, boy! Because that's how Yankoff would kick in a gym class. Out of here, boy! And he'd always point up because the locker room was upstairs. Like you're a 70s umpire. I'm not lying, boys. We'd play softball.

Remember the old school American League umps how they had that chest protector holding them? We'd play underhand softball. Yankov would be back there with the chest protector holder in full mask.

Strike! It was awesome and I love Yankov. Care Isle Berry, shout out. That's his berry company in Caribou Island, Picton, Nova Scotia.

And he was a riot. He'd have four simple, like he'd have simple rules. No cut-offs, No work boots No beer shirts No cigarettes One day

Grade 8 Last day of gym class Luke Naylor comes down Work boots Cut off an outline beer shirt With cigarettes Up under the shoulder Luke walks into gym class

Yankov turns around Without any more words Out of here boy It was just It was awesome It was a competition To see who could get kicked out It was fantastic

That's amazing I am now living in Deep regret of not going To school with you Seriously Seriously, it was nuts. Gym class was nuts. And he'd have Greco-Roman wrestling, and of course, to teach Greco-Roman wrestling,

Haroon, get over here! And he'd just take Mark Haroon, he'd flop him around on the mats. And then one day, David Clark and Craig Clark, they wanted to fight. So they told Yankoff that they wanted to have a wrestling match for the school, for the class started. So Yankoff goes, all right, boys, get the mats out. So they get the mats out, and Yankoff goes, the Clark boys are going to wrestle for us. So he's like Because Yankov couldn't whistle

So he'd go To start So he'd do that So the wrestling match started And so all Craig and David And you just let them fight each other? Oh yeah, he let them fight You couldn't do that today

No, you could not When did you go to high school? I graduated in 92 So this gym class Oh, okay This gym class would have been like 88 I thought you were talking about like Oh my god

And this gym class would have been like 88 So Craig and David They fist fight for five minutes And Yankov goes Enough, enough And he goes I thought you boys were gonna Greco-Roman wrestle.

So that was it. And like, you'd play floor hockey and if a fight broke out, Yankov, he was like an NHL linesman. He'd let you go. Wow.

Like, it was just, you'd fight and that fight would be over and you'd go, boy, you're that corner and you're out of here.

Whoever started the fight or perceived to start the fight was out of here, boy. I wish I grew up 25 years ago. And the other thing about Yankov was, this is, shoot a three-pointer, boy.

Well, why don't you do it, Mr. Yankov? I don't have to prove myself to you the only thing he'd do for a display was the old rings

remember the rings oh he could do that you guys had those Yankov was jacked that's a strong Jim T. James he'd just sit there and get red

it was awesome hey Mr. Yankov oh my god I hope he hears this he knows I talk about him on TV I see him every summer

usually when I go home he's awesome that is unbelievable so you do go back every summer right oh yeah gotta go back love it back home

East Coast is the best I know you just went out to the west coast I think Canadians Our idea of traveling is like Backpacking Europe We don't discover our own front yard Do yourself a favor Really discover Canada

It's so vast and ridiculous And Vancouver The difference from coast to coast It's a six and a half hour flight coast to coast It's the Atlantic Ocean It's a KHL road trip Less It's half a KHL road trip

The longest KHL road trip during the lockout year was Czech Republic to this eastern part of Russia that was practically Japan. Well, now you can basically go from Helsinki to China, essentially. Well, now, if they get their team in London, it'll be London to wherever the one in China is. I think it's Beijing or something like that. That's a long roadie.

That's a little bit of a long roadie. That's more than half the world. Boys, we're going to bust it. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to bust it, boys. How soon until a major sports franchise has to do the London to America trip? I was going to have the NFL. I don't think the NFL will ever do it.

Got to invent faster planes. We had the Concorde. We gave up on the Concorde. Remember that thing? We need it again. Exactly. Or time travel. Time travel.

You know. Maybe the NFL will do it. Maybe the NBA. It depends if they can make money. If they can make money, they'll do it. You can find a way to make money. Holy smokes, man. Don't know where to go after Mr. Yankoff.

No. No, I think I'm just going to hand you your book back. Jesus, that's funny. How many of those guys did you visit in person? Who, Mr. Yankoff or the guys in the book? The guys in the book. Actually, every interview in here was done via the phone. All of them.

The phone is a wonderful thing. I know a lot of you millennials like texting, but you can actually call and talk to people on the telephone. There was a time, a very brief time, where I was like, I'm never going to make a phone call ever again. And now it's like, it's all I do. I don't type anymore. I only do the voice command when I want to do the text

because I'm too lazy to do this. And if I need something right away, if I need to find out where you are to get you up here for the studio, if I need to, yeah, call Jesse, call you. It took two seconds. People always say to me, what do you use your phone for? Calling people. What apps do you have?

I have the app where you call people. I'm old. But yeah, I've met a couple of the guys in person here. I know Grapes, and I know Darren Boyko. I met him down at the Hall of Fame. But, I mean, the thing is, the guys are scattered everywhere. I'm just looking. Bob Ring.

This story is nuts. Okay, Bob Ring? I start the book with the story of Bob Ring. He's down in the Carolinas now. So I called Bob Ring to talk to him about his one game with the Boston Bruins. He's a Boston guy. The Bruins signed him. He went and played in Niagara Falls, Jr.

That's back when the Niagara Falls Flyers, Derek Sanderson. So he just missed playing with Derek because I asked him if he was part of that fight. He said, no, I just missed that. But he knows about it. He knows about it. It's got to be legend. Yeah, exactly. So he went and suited up in junior Niagara Falls,

and the next year they say, we're sending you to Boston. And he goes, oh, man, you're sending me home. Like, no, no, no, to play. What? So he's playing for the Bruins. His buddies who he went to games with in high school are in the same seats, except this time they're watching him play. So he has his one game with the Bruins, goes back, finishes the year off.

The next year he's got a problem because he's up for the draft, but it's the Vietnam draft. Oh! It's not the NHL draft. And he's playing. They send him to a camp in Dayton. But he's not a student. He's 19 years old,

so he's eligible to be drafted to Vietnam. So like a lot of the guys then, he's like, I don't want to go to Vietnam. What do I do? I've got to go to college. So he calls a bunch of colleges in the U.S. and like, well, if you want to play hockey, you can't come here

because you're not NCAA eligible. They consider him a pro because he played in the NHL. So he's like, well, I kind of want to keep playing hockey. I'd like to make it back one day, but I don't want to go to Vietnam. So he writes to a few Canadian schools. So he's in camp in Dayton, and it's three weeks into September. Schools have already started, and his number for the Vietnam draft,

it's like days away. It's ticking down, and he's going, oh, my God, I'm going to go to Vietnam. Instead of playing hockey this year, I'm going to Nam. Acadia University calls him. Bob, we saw you applied. We're looking for a goalie. Can you get out here? Yes.

Leaves Dayton, gives up his pro career, goes to Acadia. But he's got a problem. He said, I wasn't the best student because I was just a hockey player. So the schools could call. The draft board could call the schools and say, hey, what are this guy's grades? Are they good? Because if his grades aren't good, we can still take him to NOM. So he gets to the school, and his grades aren't that good.

But he said, God bless Acadia University, because the only thing that Acadia and any other Canadian school would say about their American students at that time was, Mr. Ring is in good standing with Acadia. They wouldn't call him out. So he ends up just playing at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. He's an AUAA All-Star in Atlantic Canada. I mean, this is the last place he thought he was going to be,

but he had to go there to keep playing hockey, and probably more importantly, not to go to war. So school's over, and he does this for years. He's a member of the Acadia Hall of Fame now, and he plays senior hockey in New Hampshire. He's a practice goalie for the New England Whalers in the WHA, and he never makes it back to the NHL, but he didn't have to go to Vietnam.

Fair trade. Yes. So I called him. I didn't know any of this. All I knew was the Wikipedia entry. Bob Ring played one game for the Boston Bruins in whatever year. So I called them thinking we were going to talk about a hockey game. Instead, we talk about the Vietnam War for like 45 minutes.

And I was like, this is, and that's when I knew, I'm like, this book's about more than hockey. No kidding. It was kind of wacky. Like that, like, can you imagine being 19 and having to make a choice between potential NHL career or potentially going to war and not coming home ever again? Like that's, that's nuts. Like we think we have pressures. Oh, exams are so hard. They're hard, but that's not real pressure.

No, no, I hated homework, I hated exams. Me too, so I just didn't do it. There you go. And you had the option of not doing it. Exactly, except now the only problem with high school, and this is the truth, I had this dream again the other night. I have a recurring dream that after university, and while I'm here at Sportsnet,

my dad sends me back to high school to improve my grades, and I have to give up my job at Sportsnet. I'm like, Dad, I have a journalism degree from university, I'm working at Sportsnet, why do I have to improve my marks in high school? well you slacked off I'm like I had

I had nightmares about exams and homework for like about three years after university so I'm not alone

and and then so there was a time where I was actually I had two recurring nightmares it was exams and homework and it was

forgetting like a camera or something like cause I was at Leafs TV I was an intern there and getting fired and

but I'm on the train and and I left it here and I got to wait for the next train and I would wake up in a cold sweat

and it's time to get up and now I got to catch the train in real life. I woke up, it was two days ago, I had the recurring dream of my father sending me back to high school

and I wake up angry. I'm like, Dad, I don't have to go back to high school. I've achieved what I want in my professional career. Why do I got to go back and get a better grade

in chemistry? I'm not going to use chemistry. I'm not going to be a doctor like you. I'm like, what is this vengeance I have about my father? My dad's a nice guy.

Do you have to call him up just to make sure everything's okay? Oh, I've called him. He just laughs. You jerk! Click! What's wrong with you? I'm not going back yet. Can I explain it? I'm not going to be a doctor. Jesse, no recurring dreams? You're good?

No, I usually don't dream a lot, actually. I'm not a big dreamer. You're blessed. I know. Because you live in your dreams. Exactly. LTD, living the dream, Arash Madani. Every time you see Arash Madani, what's going on, Arash?

Living the dream. Living the dream. That's Arash Madani. I was trying to get deep like Jeff Merrick there. Yeah, you couldn't think of it. No. He just keeps coming up. So, okay, a lot of these guys, they seem to have really cool stories.

Yeah. That last one was... That was deep. Yeah, that's deep. But worth it. Yeah. You know, worth it. Yeah, yeah.

What happened to him, for sure. Yeah, yeah. What stories in there, or what's the biggest one that is just, you go, that's a shame. Like, he should have played more than one. He should have played more than one. Hmm. Well, I'll tell you a guy who could have easily played more than one, but he doesn't look at it as a shame.

And this is just how much the game has changed. Minnie Minard. Actually, no, you know what? If it's a shame, Larry Kwong. He was the first Chinese-Canadian to ever play in the NHL. It was 1948. Wow. Yeah, and this guy talked to me.

He was amazing. Larry Kwong is a name that we should all know as hockey fans, and we don't. That's like at least 10 years before Willie O'Ree, I think, right? Exactly. Wow. Exactly. So it was a shame that Larry didn't play more and he didn't play more because he was Chinese-Canadian. He was the leading scorer for the New York Rovers, which was the Rangers' top farm team. The Rangers get this. The Rangers found out who he was because during World War II, he served for Canada and he's playing with a bunch of guys who played for the New York Rangers. And they're like, you got to check out this Larry Kwan guy. They're calling their bosses back in New York. So the Rangers sign him. He goes and plays in the American League.

He's tearing it up. Everybody else is getting called up, but he's not getting called up because of how he looks, because of who he is. Last game of the year, they call him up to play in the Montreal Forum. He got one shift. He said, I got one shift right at the end of the game. I was cold. All I did was sit on the bench.

And he said, I thought, you know what? These guys aren't giving me a fair shake. This isn't worth it. He'd met a guy who said, hey, if you ever want to come play in the Quebec Senior League, come play in the Quebec Senior League. So back in the day, Quebec Senior League was arguably the second best league in the world. Ahead of the American League. Oh, yeah.

He signs with the Valleyfield Braves. And I don't even know if there was an American League in 1948. So he signs with the Valleyfield Braves. He's named MVP of the league. Jean Beliveau was in that league. This guy's named MVP of the league over Jean Beliveau. Never got a sniff at the NHL again. Played 10 years in that league.

Played all across Canada. Just a hell of a nice guy. his story really needs to be shared he should have played in more than one game he was passed over based on what he looked like and I asked him at the end of the interview I always ask, I always end my interviews with

is there anything else you'd like to add so I asked Larry, is there anything else you'd like to add and this is a guy who's in his 90's oh wow that's right, he played in the 40's and I'm thinking when I ask him, is there anything else you'd like to add

maybe he's going to go on about how he didn't get a fair shake and all he said was, I'd just like you to know how much I love the game and how great it's been to me. And I thought, wow, there's a man who's at peace with himself. Good for him. And from talking to a guy like Larry, I realized you should kind of accentuate the positive. So Larry was a guy that wasn't fair for Larry.

But there's guys in this book, there's a guy, Minnie Menard, who played senior at the Belleville McFarlands, won an Allen Cup, and he passed up on going to the Detroit Red Wings because the Belleville McFarlands were paying him $18,000 a year. In Detroit, if he made the team, we're only going to pay him $7,000. What? So he chose not to play in the NHL. Chose not to play in the NHL.

Wow. Chose to keep playing senior. That's a hell of a haircut. When around was that? 1959, 1958. Oh, my God. I'm trying to think of the equivalent. What did you say?

$18,000 versus $7,000? $7,000. Yeah. So why would you do that? What's $11,000? Wait, is that $11,000? I'm stupid. Yes, it's 11, but it's more than a 50% pay cut.

It's like a 66% pay cut to go play in the NHL. But not just the percentage. What was $11,000 back then? Right. It's huge. It's a lot of money. So he's making $18,000 playing senior hockey. Yeah, screw that.

So he's the star of the Belleville McFarlands, and he said for years, all his teammates would be like, what are you making? What are you making, Minnie? Minnie, we know you're making money. He said they're all making $150. So at the 40th, I think he said it was the 40th anniversary of the team. it might have been the 50th

but he said I told the guys how much I made and he goes and they made me pay for the beer that night and Mini was such

an awesome guy to talk to because he kept asking me is this legit is this a prank is this my brother because who would

want to do a book about this stuff I'm like me and Mini because I'm a total hockey geek so that's it was really cool

without sounding like a jerk I think the interviews in this book would probably be more fascinating than talking to any NHL player today because I don't know how to word this

in a different way other than the way I'm going to word it, so I'm just going to say it. You're talking to real people. Right. You know what I mean? You're not talking to some NHLer who's doing four or five of these a week.

Yep. Yep. You're talking about the hesitance of, like, you walk into any NHL locker room and you go, hey, can I ask you a few questions? Yep, sure. Sit down, let's do it.

They just want to get it over with. But these people, what are you talking about? Really? You want to talk to me? Oh, me? In the NHL, of course you want to talk to me. I'm an NHL player. I'm a big star. Yeah, that was the cool thing. I mentioned a couple guys were reluctant to talk

because you really want to talk to me? Yes, because you played one game in the NHL, not because you played one game in the NHL. I wanted these guys' stories to be told. I like to think I went at it from a very respectful point of view because I do respect guys who make it to the peak of their profession. and they once they opened up and they they learned that i was genuine that yeah they were really happy to talk and to share because most of these guys they're they're a one-line entry on wikipedia

and they've forgotten about name on hockey db and they shouldn't be and that's what i wanted to get through with these there's some really cool stories in here and it's kind of like my hockey card book there's more to the hockey card than just the stats on the back and the picture on the front there's a story behind that so we have a lot more listeners than we did like when did you come on like we were still recording at adams so yeah yeah it'd be over a year i think card book came out two years ago so two years ago oh my god okay so if you're a new listener or i guess within the last two years go back and listen to the first time ken was on i'm sure you could just google steve dangle podcast ken reed and also brad crisco yeah because he was on the show too

uh he talks about his first book which you should also read and buy by all in the opposite order super interesting I sat at Chapters for eight hours and I decided to buy it have you done signings or anything

ah yeah I got a book signing coming up at the Toronto Card Show on December 17th it's on Leaside in Toronto torontocardshow.com

all the details I'll be happy to be signing books there but I always I always liken my books to the big books out there

and you know the big names who write them and that's kind of like going to Motley Crue or Kiss. It's huge. I'm the guy in the corner of the coffee shop playing my own acoustic guitar, so I don't get the big international book signing tours.

But if you like hockey and you like life, I think you might enjoy this book because it went way deeper than I thought it was going to go. What were Don Cherry's thoughts on his one game? Don was awesome. And by the way, thank you, Don Cherry, because when you pitch a book about guys who played one night only in the NHL

and you tell the publisher, well, the publisher asks who's in this book, I'm like, well, a guy that works down the street, and a guy, they're like, yeah. And Don Cherry, okay, we want it by the book. So thank you, Don, for taking the time to do this. That is true, because, you know, you talk about, oh, this guy avoided NOM, and this guy, you know, he could have been, like, the next big thing in hockey, but, you know, it was a race problem.

Oh, Don Cherry. Don Cherry. So thank you, Don, and Don was in my first book as well, so thank you, Don Cherry, for taking the time to talk to me. But Don was, Don, he was in the Bruins' plans. I mean, he played the final game of the 1955 season, I want to say it was. Playoff game, Montreal Forum, Bruins, Habs. Bruins are knocked out that night, and Don says the one thing that stands out

after playing in all those barns, it was the milky white ice of the Montreal Forum. It was perfect. Also stood out that he gave John Beliveau a little stick glove in front of the net. He liked that. John remembered it years later, Don said. But after the game, the Bruins brass, they talked to Grapes. And much like you, I got to point out, Don's mom brought cookies and cakes for the guys on the Bruins. So the Bruins ate them all back on the train on the way back.

But the Bruins, they said, look, Don, we got plans for you. Just we're asking you, don't play baseball this summer. And we don't want you getting hurt. So Don's 20, 21 years old. So what's he do in the summer? Plays baseball. Plays baseball. I've seen the documentary.

Yeah. Shows up with basically a coat hanger wire held in the shoulder together. And he just couldn't do it in camp. And he's at the worst sight. one of the worst things he's ever saw was that bus pull away and leave him behind and he never made it back to the NHL as a player spent

20 years in Siberia but he has some great stories about his one night and really how the role it played in the man he is today and it didn't play as big a role as you think it did which is kind of cool because a lot of guys I thought man this one night must

mean so much to you and some of the guys were like oh yeah it did other guys were like But it was part of my hockey journey, you know. There's no one rule for this book. Because people always say, what's the impression from all the guys in the book? I'm like, I can't say there's one because there's 40 different impressions. Yeah, it's never good when you find someone who's defined by a moment. Right, and that's one thing I also understood by this.

A lot of sour people, you know. Yes. If only this. Right. Life did me wrong. Ed O'Neill in Married with Children, Pocahontas talking about his high school football. I could, I would, I should have.

Well, don't let one moment define you, right? And for these guys, they didn't let the one moment define them, which is something I really admired, was the perspective that these guys could put their one night in the National Hockey League, the perspective they could put it into. Because you'd be, for me, I sat out doing this book, and I thought, it's going to be old man yells at cloud,

like Abe Simpson, right? And a guy sitting at the end of the bar screaming, you know who I was? But it wasn't. And then the lockout happened, and I would have played more games if Carolina. Exactly, but that's not what this book is, and I was so happy when I did this book at the end that that's not what the book was because that gave me a nice way of looking at things

because, honestly, when I started this book, I thought it was going to be. I had a chance, but it wasn't. It wasn't bitter, and I was so happy that it wasn't bitter Because everybody Everybody listening to this I'm sure has been passed up for a job at one point Whether it's the menial job Or your dream job

These guys were just passed up for a job They're like everybody else who's been passed up for a job So I didn't get a job at Whatever station I got a job at another station So that's kind of how they look at it Which I liked Jeez

Man, I'm going to go home and read this right away That's why I had to get Merrick to write the foreword I needed him to be deep I have a broader question what's it like balancing writing two books and being a national host on Sportsnet when you have no kids it's easy

when you have two kids now it's tough so I got a book coming out next year with Dennis Marouk Dennis is one of 20 men to score 60 goals in a single NHL season Dennis will also be, I'm judging by your reaction you maybe didn't know that, Dennis also

readily admits that If you're sitting around a bar and you go to name the 20 guys who scored 60 goals in an NHL season, his name's not amongst the first you list. He's down at the bottom of that trivia question. So our angle on the book is basically Dennis Marouk, the unforgettable story of hockey's forgotten 60-goal man. And now Dennis, when his hockey career was over, his hockey career ended because of injury. So picture this.

In 1982, he's the toast of the NHL All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. he's at a ball he's at lunch with President Ronald Reagan gets a standing O at the All-Star game in Washington that night or Landover, Maryland

as they played in back then scores 60 goals 10, 12 years later he's steering a ship in the middle of a gulf of Mexico during a snowstorm what?

then he's a farmhand for John Oates from Hall & Oates you remember Hall & Oates man he whoa here she comes watch out boys

she'll chew you up Hall & Oates Dennis was the farmhand for John Oates he's a bellhop at a hotel in Aspen he's a furniture delivery guy for Goldie Hawn

his total 180 so he's totally out of hockey and this is a guy that 10 years before the year Gretzky scored and this is the other problem with Dennis is 60

he scored a 60 the year Gretzky scored 92 how much do you think Dennis is 60 guy none he scored a 60th in Toronto now if you imagine

today, scoring your 60th goal of the season in Toronto. Boom! Media everywhere. And last night, Dennis Marouk scored his 60th goal. Well, and 82. No one was paying attention to the crappy Leafs. Exactly. Oh my god. Dennis is an

amazing guy. He went through a hell of a ride when his career was over, but now he's back home in Toronto. He's a happy... He's just been a peach to a guy to share time with. So I'm writing a book with Dennis. That'll be out next year, and I'm working on another hockey card book and to answer your question it's it's time management uh when

you have two kids and you have a real job and then you're writing books for fun on the side so it's a lot of time management i want i want that book i want to read it to that good it's awesome it's it's i i think it's totally different than any other hockey book out there uh the chapters are really short because we wanted to have 60 chapters of course yeah well like this i mean how long are these ones they're pretty short but the reason for five pages so you have 60 chapters for each goal 60 chapters and the reason uh dennis i got to know dennis was he was in my first hockey card book because all i knew about dennis maruk was he scored 60 goals and he had an awesome mustache on his old hockey cards but there's so much more dig a little way and dennis and i just played in

eric lindros's easter seals hockey tournament dennis maruk was my celebrity teammate he can He can still snipe. He can still fly. How fun is that, by the way? Man, it's awesome. Yeah, Easter Seals is such a great cause. I do some work with them. If you're ever in southern Ontario, they do a lot of hockey tournaments.

I get to play against Eric Lindros twice. How cool is that? Let me know how I can help. Easter Seals helped my family and my sister a lot growing up. So, yeah, I'd love to help in any way. Easter Seals is wicked, yeah. I haven't gotten to play ice hockey with any former NHLers, but I was at Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer two years ago.

Yeah, it was a great time. And I think it was Lou Franceschetti was screaming at me because I flamingoed to block a shot. And he goes, you block it like a man! Lou. You face it. And then he gave me a little bit of stick for it. Oh, really?

Lou's wicked. Yeah, I was just like, okay. You guys should play on my team next year. I'll probably be going to one of the tournaments again. I'm not going to turn down that invitation. We had a guy this year, a buddy of mine, Andy Knapp, owns Moose Power. It's a solar company. He was sponsoring our team.

Great guy. He'd never played hockey before, so he came as our coach. And we played the first game. He said, man, this looks like fun. He went out between games, bought skates, helmet, gloves, took the warm-up. Final game, I said, Andy, you're getting a shift in. Get in there, kid! Two minutes left, he's out on the ice taking face-offs against Eric Lindros.

It's a blast! Oh, come on! It was awesome. It was so much fun, and that's what it should be. I don't care who wins. You're raising some money for a good cause. You're rubbing shoulders with actual real hockey players. It was great.

It was great. That's unbelievable. Yeah. That's unbelievable. And with the Easter Seals, you get to meet some great kids and some great former players who give a lot of their time to Easter Seals. Jesse, do you have anything else? No, go ahead.

So, I don't remember where I ever heard this quote, but it's stuck with me hardcore. If you think about something every day, you should pursue it. Every single day I think about writing a book. You should do it. How do you write a book? Well, luckily for me,

Ian Mendez was a big help because I had this hockey card story thing floating around in my brain for a while and I called Ian because he had a book coming out with Jamie McLennan, Noodles. And I said, how do you do it? And he said, first thing you do

is get a literary agent. And I said, what is a literary agent? He said, it's somebody who pitches your book idea to the publisher so I said you just can't call up yourself and he's like

you could but if you get a literary agent it gives you a little street cred so I called the literary agent Brian Wood

who's still my literary agent great guy out in Vancouver and I gave him my pitch for this hockey card book he's like

I love it let's do it what? I called for my porch my front porch at 9am his time and I was thinking what do you mean

let's do it so he signed me up to a very simple contract And about a week later, he said, I got you a book deal. I said, what do you mean you got me a book deal? I got you a book deal. And I said, well, now I have to write a book. So then I wrote a book.

So it's not like you go chapter one. No, no. So how did you? So for me with the hockey card book, they were cards I always wondered about. Because I was a massive hockey card collector. I still have about 50,000 cards. Jesus. So I said, why is Dennis Marouk in a Washington Capitals uniform,

but says he's on the Minnesota North Stars, and why does he have this massive mustache? So I have to find out where Dennis Marouk is. I call Dennis. I say, do you mind if I interview you about a hockey guard? Yeah, no problem. Can I record this? Sure.

Record a 20-minute interview. Sit down and write a story. Do that 60 times or 59 times. And I had a book. This book, One Night Only, was call 40 guys up and do 40 little stories. My next book is with Dennis, so it's just on Dennis. We've got about, I'd say, 16 to 20 hours of just Dennis and I on tape talking. And then I go, I've got to transcribe this.

Oh, no. So I had a couple of sports journalism students help me transcribe it. That's great. Yeah. That's great. By the way, one of them just got a job in Lloydminster doing local sports. So shout out, Lance. Way to go.

Nice. There you go. Yeah. And then you just let your storytelling instincts take over and hopefully you give it to the publisher, they edit it, and a year later this thing shows up in the mail and you can wear an ascot and smoke a pipe and call yourself an author or you can wear the sneakers of a seven-year-old child

and call yourself a dude who wrote a book, which is what I prefer to do. I think there's a coffee shop right by my house and I think I'm just going to make the cover of my book, me reading my book at a coffee shop. and then so that way whenever I pull the book away I can be like oh I'm the fancy person

from the book what do you want to write your book about I'm not I'm not totally sure I think I've had a very

I don't know kind of wacky little career yeah you have and it's weird because it's new and it's and it's

it has stayed new but it's also like a little bit vintage like I can't I've told this story a bunch of times but like I went into

I go into my friend's high school class every year and I kind of talk about my journey and all that and every year How long has your friend been in high school?

Is he not very smart? No, he's the teacher. You see, because the thing is every year one social media site or app

or whatever falls off. The students don't remember it anymore. ICQ is gone. Two years ago MSN was oh

now it's gone like a grade 10 student doesn't it's gone see I don't even know what any of this means exactly you're right

exactly and then I go who remembers Napster and the one one student raises their hand I go oh thank god

and they go is that the thing from the Facebook movie and I go oh my god so like I like I'm I'm staying on this I'm staying on

all the new stuff but at the same time like it's the new stuff is no longer of the new stuff like YouTube's

over 10 years old it's like 11 years old so I don't know something about building a wacky career out of all this garbage it's funny I go to journalism

schools to speak and people how do you get into TV now and I honestly a lot of times I'll say I don't know

ask Steve Dangle because the way I did it kind of doesn't exist anymore because I worked cross country a couple times

and went from station to station and now a lot of those stations don't have local sports anymore so you're right the way you're doing it

it's totally different it's kind of like Adam did it the old way Adam did it kind of my way he sent out demo tapes I'll go to Halifax, sure, I'll go back to Toronto I'll go to Calgary Adam did it the way I did it

I think that's gone away I have my idea for your book, I have the title and everything Verbal Assault with Steve Dangle and you just go off on hockey things this guy and that guy and I have all sorts of stories And we talk for hours and hours. I would love to know how many hours I've spoken on this podcast ever and in the videos ever.

And I have stories I've just never told because I want them in the book. Untold Tales with Steve Dangle. You're right. The thing is getting people to buy a book. It's tough because young people don't buy books nowadays. Not a lot of young people do because it's a time commitment. The podcasts are the new book almost. people will sit down

and listen to a podcast for a couple hours but they you know they can work out or whatever but books are different you know how you sell a book

is you go to a big convention center and you do like a six person panel yes how many books did you sell that day that we did that panel

oh one we so what was who was the panel it was you me

James Myrtle yes Ryan Dixon yes I think that was it no there was someone from the hockey news too oh uh

Kennedy no Ryan Kennedy I think so Yeah. Yeah, Ryan Kennedy. So it was five. Yes.

It was the five of us. We outnumbered the audience. Yeah, we outnumbered the audience, and one of them was my wife. Yes. Thank you for coming out. She was one of the three. It was somewhere in Scarborough, and I tweeted about it and everything. I tweeted about it.

And what happened? It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and no one came. It was really tough to find the place. There was no air conditioning, and it was hot out. There was a guy in one of the—he was selling some hockey equipment or some training equipment, And there was a guy just kind of near where we were doing our talk, and I kept looking over at this guy. He's just wearing a golf shirt, but he's kind of big.

I'm like, who is this guy? I recognize this guy. It was Bryce Salvador. Yeah, he was there with Peter Ng. Former captain of the Devils like two years ago. Yeah, and he was there with Peter Ng. Peter Ng was there too? Peter Ng was there too.

Oh, wow. And someone, who was the guy from the Canadian Paralympic team? He had his Torino gold medal. Yes. Oh, great guy. I hate myself. Rosie, the goalie. Yeah, Rosie.

I forget his first name. but yeah great guy great storyteller yeah and no one was there and nobody was there no one was there so okay

what happened with the event why did no one show up I don't know I don't know you'd have to ask the people who put the event but we were there baby we were there

so you know pay Ken back for all that humiliation and for the for the hour and a half two hours or whatever of entertainment go out and buy that damn book

that's right and if you don't read it buy it for someone who will wow you don't even have to read it just buy it that is a great it's true

yeah just buy it have it on your shelf look smart no buy it buy it for a friend buy it for yourself seriously if you're

if you know anybody who's looking for a hockey book Christmas there's some great hockey books out there and you know what buy lots of hockey books I don't

I've read all the ones that are out this fall there's some like there's Weiner's books out Wendell's books out they're great books so buy more than one

I think I think we have hit Dawn's books out cheap grapes I think we have hit Storytelling bedrock I think Storytelling is at an

Well we're on the online portion It's at an all time shit show Storytelling sucks right now But I've been talking to a lot of people And just paying attention to trends I think it's just Starting to tick it's way back up This is a fantastic book

Not just about hockey but storytelling You can give it to an old hockey fan You can give it to a new hockey fan I think you'll enjoy it Well I'm a firm believer that everybody has a story And that's one of the reasons why I spoke to these 40 men in this book. I think there's some great stories out there. There's just a lot of crap around it now.

I think there's still great stories out there. You just got to weed through so much stuff to find it. I mean, that's because everybody has a platform now from which to tell stories, but not everyone is a good storyteller. I don't know if I'm the best, but I think I'm pretty good. And I think some of these stories are pretty good in here as well. geez would you ever consider

so you had like 16 to 20 hours you said with Dennis yeah would you ever consider you know tightening that up

a little bit and just posting it online after the book's been out for a while I don't think I would do that just because the book is going to be personal

but I think when you record somebody and you ask them to record it for the purpose of a book I think it should serve as the purpose of a book if I went back in time

because it's a little more casual If I went back in time and I said to Dennis, hey, Dennis, we're going to record this for the book and we're going to record it and post it online, I think it's unfair to Dennis to do that. You would have told it differently. Right. No, I would have told it differently.

I think when you record something, you should make it clear to your interviewee what you're recording it for. So if I record a story for the book, hey, this is for a book I'm working on, cool, let's do it. If I'm going to record it and post it on the internet, I'll say, hey, this is for a book I'm working on and the internet cool so that's that's why i wouldn't go back and do it but maybe for my next

book i will ask the guys hey do you mind if i record this for the book and for the internet and if they say cool well voila you're amazing dude like anytime uh i've ever heard someone talk about the book they wrote they're like man it was hard so hard and you're like and my next book so you already got number three coming yeah that's because i'm weird um i don't know why i do it because i honestly i do it because i i love hockey stories it's that simple if you come to my house all my books are baseball books and hockey books because that's those are just the books i like so i'm just thrilled to be able to write about stuff that i like i'd like to think if somebody else wrote this book i'd buy it so that's that's kind of why i do it because i'm not

doing it to get rich you got holes in my pants and i'm purple shoes purple shoes which i love by the way. We had one question from Twitter from Andrew. He said can you ask him about the time Jamie McLennan introduced Kenna someone else to a group? To a group? Noodles probably introduced me as Eric Francis because Eric Francis and I got

mistaken for each other a lot. I see it. I see it a little bit. Yeah, back in our Calgary days, Eric and I used to roll together quite a bit so we'd be mistaken for each other quite a bit. I remember going to cover a high school football game and somebody from the stands yelled down, hey it's Eric Francis

and I just turned around I seriously went you're damn right it's Eric Francis best columnist in Calgary what are you going to do about it and I just kept walking so I think noodles

probably introduced me as Eric Francis at one point because that might have been our little inside joke back in the day that is awesome that is spectacular

I mean damn I'm like I don't want this to stop you can keep going I don't care within an hour 40 jeez

what's the record oh it's like two and a half hours but we're not going to get there screw that no I want to get home eventually I got a book to write

traffic gets worse by the minute oh yeah you got a book to write that's right well damn I guess any hockey card requests

for the next book is there any hockey card you'd want to see in there now keep in mind I'm going back because you know I want to get the Olaf Kolzig hot dog card

in that and I was looking at that I haven't seen that one he's holding a hot dog and I looked at that card again the other day and I realized in mustard

he spells Olaf on the hot dog I've had that card for years and I just realized the mustard spells who allowed that that's what I want to know

he's on the bench He's on the bench So how did Oli get that Doug Gilmore From my next book He tells me about His upper deck one Where he's

He's leaning against the wall And jeans and his Cool black leather jacket Yeah so There's I have like a Like a little deck of cards And it's like stars

From around the league And they're in Like Horrific outfits Or they're like Dog sledding Or something Are you talking about

The card from that set Yeah it was like Dino Cicerelli's Feeding rhinoceros On an upper deck card Yeah you Like you don't have that I want to know

of the story behind that card yeah oh my god yeah I want I want that I want stories like that

are there any like neat McDonald's cards there's I want to do Ally Afraidy's McDonald's card from the 93

All-Star game where you set the record for the shot 105 miles an hour oh yeah yeah and Al Al does a lot of

work for Easter Seals there you go and I want you guys to know that Ally Afraidy's about more than just a boom and slap shot

he was a great player great player are there any Tim Hortons cards that are worth anything oh yeah

those Tim Hortons cards are worth money yeah tons Validation Steve loves those They're worth money

I love the fact Here's what I love That My kid's in the car And I can say Here's a pack of cards For 99 cents Open it

Because most of the time Packs are expensive And if you want your kid To get into hockey cards And maybe you do Maybe you don't But if you want your kid To enjoy the game

That's like the equivalent Of back in the day Me going My dad going Here I spent 50 cents On this open it up kid He can do with those things Whatever he wants

Unless of course He pulls the sign Sidney Crosby Then dad's pulling over but yeah they're worth money they're worth money I have so many cards that I could easily throw away

they're just commons, doubles not just to have them but like I think it'd be great to just I hope to one day have kids and be like here, here's this guy here's a Theo Ron Fleury

no let me tell you about Theron Fleury let me tell you about Peter Forsberg They're little pieces of history, for me, anyway. Because back in my day, there was no internet. I didn't know what the players looked like. The Colorado Rockies, you wouldn't see them on TV. I remember getting a pack and giving a Colorado Rockies guy, and I'm like, what is this far-off team with these blue and red and yellow uniforms?

And then one day I called Jack Valachet up about it, and I'm like, why do you have an ear patch on your CCM helmet? He's like, oh, I got hip-checked into the boards and it crushed my ear. I'm like, really? Tell me more, Jack. Tell me more. So there's all kinds of stories. It's like, I don't know.

I've got this geeky appetite for kind of this, there's more to the, the picture says a thousand words, right? So for the hockey cards, tell me a thousand words and let's do something with it. Jeez. Well, okay. I'm going to let you save some for the book. Yeah.

Because. We don't just read the whole book on air. Chapter one. When I tell Jack Martin I'm writing a book on men who play just a single game in the NHL, it doesn't take long for the name of another one gamer to pop up. I'm at Dot Cherry at Maple Leafs camp

and then well you'll have to read the rest of the book to find out and there we go oh jeez one night only buy it

don't rent it marry it get a copy my god what else do we want to talk about I think we're done I think we're good

Vegas Vegas eh I screwed up their name they're probably going to unscrew it they're probably going to go back to hockey

hopefully by the time we're done recording they've traded for Peter Holland hopefully I think it's a good match All the Habs fans Telling me it's not

Shut up Yes it is Oh you want Peter Holland To go to the Habs Just take Well friggin The Leafs are obviously Going to get rid of him

They need to get rid of him Just get rid of him So I was at the Leafs game A week or two ago Against Washington And I always buy those Those pucks That they give the money

To whatever cause It's a sweet box You get a signed Leafs puck And then I usually give it To somebody back home For a charity auction I got Peter Holland That was my signed puck

So for sure He has to get traded now Yeah 100% um man I guess I guess we're done I guess we are

Adam's so good at being like we need to finish but I'm like I don't wanna and we're finished yeah thank you guys that was fun

that was fun that was thank you Jesus I always love a podcast that I can invite myself onto yeah well I felt bad

because like Adam and I and well Jesse too we'd been talking about like yeah we gotta get Ken on yeah he's got a new book we gotta get Ken on

and then I go to invite you on and the last text in our conversation was one from you that I just never responded to Like, hey, I got a new book coming out. Can I come on the show? Crickets, crickets, crickets.

I just whiffed. We got to get Ivanka on here, too, one day. We do. Old preggers over there. Yeah, I found out from Instagram. What? She's pregnant. Can you relay how he said that?

Preggers. Old preggers over there. Old preggers over there. We're on a nickname basis. I thought Ivanka didn't like me. Wait until she hears that. That was pretty awesome. I didn't think that was bad.

No, it wasn't bad. I didn't think that was bad. We had coffee once. It was lovely. So next, we're going to have Tim and Sid. Oh, yeah. Is Sid the funniest guy in the world? Possibly.

Yeah. He is. Like, you know how we talked about, like, you know, what was I saying about George Carlin? Oh, when Elliott Freeman, like, praises you and puts you in 30 thoughts. When the Leafs lost 9-2 to Nashville, I walked into, you know, I did my video freaking out, and then I walked into Sportsnet the next day, no one said hi

or anything the first thing that happened was Sid Cicero stood up from his desk and just goes Steve Dangle ladies and gentlemen

Steve Dangle gave me a standing spontaneous standing applause and I was just like okay to go on a rant that Sid Cicero

thinks was great then you know he does rants and people yeah that's right and people love Sid I don't think people and hate him

necessarily know how like when you work in a building like we do and you do your show but it's not in front of

a live studio audience like Oprah you don't get immediate feedback like we'll tell a joke on air and there's nobody laughing and you do your video there's no one laughing until it plays in someone's house

and then there's somebody laughing I'm always I'm regularly amazed by oh that took off cool right cool it's like Sid has this

huge following so we go to a this year the Jay's Care Foundation they do an auction and it's called the broadcast experience so part of it is

you get a tour of the truck play by play guys and you get to sit at the game with Ivanka and I and Tim and Sid So when Tim and Sid and Ivanka and I go to the games, Tim and I always say we're the official photographers, Ivanka and Sid.

Because everybody wants a picture with Sid and everybody wants a picture with Ivanka. So Tim and I end up holding other people's phones and taking pictures. But Sid, people go nuts for this guy. It's hilarious. So we're at the game. Sid shows up about two outs into the top of the first.

There's a captain of an unnamed Canadian National Hockey League team three rows behind us and he's just sitting there with his buddies watching the game and nobody's really taking notice because you know he's not in his gear but this guy's a good player really good player Sid Cicero walks down the stands

we're about half way down section 122 or whatever it is and somebody yells Sid Cicero and all of a sudden these people jump up and they're reaching for their phones like the president of the United States Tim and I are in tears laughing because nobody cares

that Tim McAuliffe's right there with all due respect to Tim but Sid's coming out and Sid's like hey hey hey whoa whoa people are freaking out

it was so funny it'd be funny if they were like oh my god it's Sid Cicero wow oh my god it's Ivanka Hodgeback

wow hey wait over there look it's Tim McAuliffe and Eric Francis that's basically it that's basically it so people are freaking out

for Sid and it was it was absolutely hilarious he's the man my one Sid Cicero story is when I was at the Hello Canada Rogers party. And then they had free adult pops.

So I had a couple of those, and I drunkenly went up to him and was like, you've got to come on our podcast! And he's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, Dangle! And he's like, Dangle! So we kind of arranged that to happen, and hopefully that happens next. We're talking about details.

I was talking to Tim about we're going to try to do it in their studio, but you need people to light it and operate the cameras so we can't get we probably can't use their cameras we can maybe use ours but why don't we

just do it here I don't know we're talking about it but the Tim and Sid SDP mashup is happening here's the great thing about Tim and Sid if you ask them

they're good dudes they'll do it that's the thing that's the thing I learned about in this business I don't know about you guys but I was very intimidated of talking to other people

in the business when I came up and I realized they're all pretty nice dudes and then I realize now like oh wow

I'm one of the people in the business And when people ask me stuff I'm like, yeah, I'll do it Whatever I don't care It's just weird When you become the man You used to think was the man

You know what I'm saying? You're not young Steve Dangle anymore You're a 28-year-old grizzled vet You go to high schools and talk to students About how they can make a career Which means you've made a career of your own No Frightening

No, I think they frame it that way But I'm actually going Don't end up like me, kids Don't be a blogger Make something of yourself This Steve Dangle guy Used to be on a thing Called YouTube

So old Man he really should've Got on that Keek train Cause that ended up Taking over for YouTube Wasn't that it Keek

Yeah Keek It's The internet I just don't understand And I wouldn't have Gotten away with it If it wasn't for you

Meddling kids That's right My father's afraid Of the internet He should be Yeah Terrifying place He should be

Ken Reed One night only holy shit buy it with your money thanks and don't call people old preggers old preggers

Ivanka I'm sorry my goodness she's pregnant it's a thing to be celebrated okay Panago Pizza love you follow the guys on Twitter

at Steve underscore Dangle at Adam W Y L D E and at Jesse Blake the Steve Dangle podcast brought to you by Panago Pizza order at Panago.com and stuff your face with deliciousness.