The Steve Dangle Podcast - Wendel Clark | August 22, 2020

Episode Date: August 22, 2020

Thanks to our friends at Frosted Flakes, Wendel Clark joined The Steve Dangle Podcast to talk about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, share some old stories, and enjoy some Frosted Flakes. Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/KZ6schBC2dA Merch: https://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/fancydangleshirts Follow us on Twitter: @Steve_Dangle, @AdamWylde, & @JesseBlake Follow us on Instagram: @SteveDangle, @AdamWylde, & @Jesse.Blake Subscribe to us on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-dangle-podcast/id669828195?mt=2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I never thought I'd get the chance to say this, but noted teammate through Frosted Flakes, Wendell Clark is joining the show. Hey! So we're here. And you know, Wendell, none of us are great athletes, but you are. And it's pretty cool to be able to be working with you on this.

And I mean, like, obviously you got teamed up with Frosted Flakes for the playoffs. Pretty exciting. And is this something that you like, do you actually like chow down during the game with with a bowl i would if it's a night game breakfast i eat frosted flakes at night before i go to bed i eat frosted so the amount of games that are going on right now all day i i got a box beside me all day just up with the amount of hockey we're watching what's the most amount of hockey you've watched in a day since this all

started are you one of those guys who stayed up uh 12 to 12 no i can't do the late game i'm old guy now so i i'm at the start of the last game and then i nod off them but there'll be times i wake up at two two in the morning okay i wonder who won that game and i'll be checking it for the before the morning scores but uh yeah usually i can make it through but not i'm old school now i can't make it out too late do you ever um you know you you were a very very competitive player outwardly competitive and and it's funny because you know you and i've met a couple times before and it's hard to sometimes square up the guy on the ice that I grew up watching with the guy who I've met

who is one of the kindest guys in the world. Do you ever lose when you watch that game? Do you still feel that fire and that passion for competition and does it still make you want to sometimes jump on the ice? I think so. The big thing about being us old guys or alumni or guys that are watching the game, we don't miss training camp.

You don't miss the grind in the summer. you don't miss the long regular season you know February March it gets long but the one thing you always miss is playoff time like all of a sudden that energy uh that the team is under game to game day to day that is a fun good pressure and that's the one thing you can't get doing anything else that you do yeah man you ever play with guys who just cannot turn it off because the first thing I thought of when you were talking about that fire and all you ever get fired up watching from your couch i was just imagining and i've told the story before we went to a leafs bruins playoff game a few years ago and darcy tucker after the game was getting chirped by this fan the whole

game that didn't know he was darcy tucker and he was rolling around with pencil in his hand and the whole time i'm just like he's he's imagining it's that guy's neck yeah there'd have been steam coming out of darcy's ears he couldn't even he couldn't even go back at him no no he wanted to he wanted to yeah of all guys he'd be thinking about it yeah who would you say is like who when you were playing like who was the most like overly competitive player if you can if you can name one like really could not shut it down could not stop being that all the time because i think it's a mindset in sports every there's lots of people with talent but it's sort of what's between the ears that gets you over the hump so can you is

there anybody you can remember that you go wow that was a real competitive streak never seen anything like it um i don't know about any everybody has to have it at the highest level and it whether you're the finesse guy or you're the the guy that throws his weight around or whatever everybody has that but probably a guy and the reason why he does really well and what he does now is gary roberts training the the guys in the business that he is you know whether he skate with the guys are working out he's probably more intense and he's the one coaching the kids uh you know the new nhlers or the up-and-comers so he's one guy that's really kept the intensity for playing and tries to stay as close to it as possible and at you know at 50 years old that's

that's pretty good to keep that kind of fire going when we really you said you like sorry i'll go ahead you said you like uh frosted flakes in the morning and then sometimes at night during the game i'm a big fan of chopping up bananas and putting them into the cereal while i'm eating it do you put anything into the cereal i've seen it a lot but i don't know i am what it is that's that's uh that's why i got the box open that's why i have it curious don't know no additives it's it's perfect for me as is all right steve go ahead well i was gonna say we shouldn't be surprised he said gary roberts to the last thing that the guy who got into a fight at an alumni game yeah I'm at great going at it the alumni game everybody else on both benches were going

well they're the only two guys that are serious the rest of us are we just quit when it gets actually that game was amazing I know Steve was there but watching Mike Palmatier get on the ice make a save and a great save and then you know had to have to shut it down a guy like that who played you know a long time ago now um you have to admire that you know the fact that he even strapped on the pads and and do you deal have you dealt with mike much what's he like yeah no mike's great and that and he was kind of making the saves that he was back in the early 80s there that's that was his style it was awesome i i think he hurt himself at the save and he was he was done but uh and at that age you know 60 some years old uh out there with the young guys

I can call us guys young guys that are 50 now, and he's out there. But it's great when we get to cross and do the alumni stuff. And Paul Meade, he was a competitor when he played, and anything he does, he competes and has fun at it. And so he was just, like I said, he scouted with the Leafs for a bit, but was also one of the good guys of the game. We've seen a shift in the NHL. A lot of teams have gone very young, very fast,

and in a lot of cases a lot more aggressive in the maybe not in the in the 80s sense that that you guys would have been used to not as outward but you've seen teams like the Bruins who did come up as young guys who were tough and and one of the things that they seem to have is a like a mindset there are teams that have that mindset and it takes years to grow and it takes lots of failure to grow and I was curious to know because you you know you came into the NHL you had a huge splash uh and you know we're a hero here uh and still are because of it um but there is so much more that goes into hockey and especially playoff hockey than just scoring goals or punishing people and i i wondered about you know how long you felt before you were truly like a mature nhl player

who it's kind of like you throw anything at me and i can handle it i don't i think every individual is different i think everybody you ask will say i'm ready i can handle it because they're a pro athlete whether they're 18 or 30 they're going to say they can handle it because they're there they're in the moment uh but it is something that hopefully your your teams of young players have a fast learning curve uh in that they get the hint right away because sometimes if you get the hint it's not till you're 30 it's it's too late it's too long as far as the intensity level it's it's something i think a lot of the guys that play at the nhl level or they they call it are you a pro yet and that's really yes you can play hockey yes you're a good hockey player

but can you bring it in game five six and seven and it's like there's you know you're you're good enough to be there but now you got to finish it and that's it really has not a lot to do with your skill your intensity is do you do it at the same level all the time and that's a real skill set that has learned that I know coaches try to get that across and that's why a lot of coaches or players don't don't like a lot of coaches sometimes because they're pushing buttons they're trying to find out the most they can about you to see how far they can push you to be as good as you can be and they're not going to be the nice guys about it all the time they're their jobs on the line your jobs on the line and they're they're pushing your buttons and that's it's how long does

it take to be a pro and then can you play as a team because the biggest thing is a you know a pro hockey player and it's such a big team sport hockey that everybody's got to be on the same page and buy into what their role is. You know, the first-line role, you've got to do this. You're the fourth-line, you do this. You don't do what the first-line does. You know, there's those things that you have to buy into, and if you don't buy into that, it's tough for that team to win.

And, you know, a team like Boston has been doing, you know, pretty consistent at buying in. This year with how the season started in the playoffs, I predict that young teams are going to do well just because they can flick the switch, where the 30-year-olds are going to have a tougher time just turning the switch on after one practice and now we're playing playoffs where kids

can do it quicker but the longer these series go now you're seeing the St. Louis's get better, the Boston's get better the older guys are starting to kick in now and if the young teams don't beat and put these guys away early the veteran teams understand how they have to play

you're really seeing how St. Louis changed their game by game 4-5 against Vancouver. Now, Vancouver won last night, but the young teams, I think, are the early push because they can turn the switch on quicker. But once the older players get it,

they know how to do it. Sorry, go ahead, Steve. Go ahead. I was going to say, was there ever a eureka moment with the group that you played with? Because I'm finding myself falling in love with this Vancouver Canucks team because I kind of feel like they found it. And I feel like for them, you know,

they obviously have a great coach in Travis green. They have a great young group, but like JT Miller, like what an immediate impact he's had on that lineup. So was there a Eureka moment with you guys as a group, whether it was a big win or someone arriving in the locker room? No, in the nineties, when we started to win, obviously you make the trade that year before that brings the five players in that Gilmore guy, wasn't a bad hockey player.

He helps our hockey team. He's okay. You know, and then the pieces that come together during that regular season, you traded a damn foos for a Fuhrer and flipped him for Anderchuk. So now you've got the 50-goal guy that gets to play with Dougie, and Felix Potvin gets to come and replace as a 20-year-old Fuerzy. And it just kind of pieces. But then when we win game seven in Detroit, that was kind of the, hey,

we are good enough to win. you know we won um and and that's you know with the with the Leafs right now you're hoping they get to that where they they learn it on their own you can't tell them how to do it they got to just get it and that game seven was it for us because then the next two years we kind of rolled to the semifinals and it just couldn't quite get there but it was uh you had a confidence uh within the team with that whole group of guys um wendell you talked about coaching and pushing buttons who pushed your buttons who was the best at getting to you uh well really and they i don't know they all push buttons i you know that year we had with burnsy and and everybody gets because

we won and we did well and it's a feel good everybody thinks oh you guys were one great big happy family well really he was pushing buttons and we were mad at him more than half year but he was the new you know especially that first year trying to change the culture coming in his first year and so he was pushing buttons anyway and he'd use us leadership guys as you know myself or dougie or dave ellett or todd gill we were all there a long time like giller and i i think we're the longest in toronto so he'd be pushing our buttons uh to get everybody to rally like he knew which buttons to push so guys would rally we had a great team that if somebody was getting uh pushed on by the coach we'd all rally around that guy because every we all took turns

where the coach was going to take and and that's what made our team strong is no we didn't let that guy down we were sticking up for him we'd take the player side and i think burns he knew that he knew what buttons to push the team would rally around and he was there to get us to play as hard as we can and and we're when we're in the middle of it at 25 years old say i was 25 26 something like that you don't really understand that you're just mad at the coach but then you're retired 10 years later you go i see what he was doing he was pushing buttons to try to but when you're in the middle of it you're just you don't know what the coach is doing but that and that's one thing that the players you know the quicker they can understand that it's nothing's ever personal it's

it's about trying to get the team to win wow what's that moment like where you're so mad at the coach and you realize what he did worked and you're like yeah all right fine that's that's why you never vent on the head coach because bad things might happen you always bet if you've got good assistant coaches you vent on the assistant coaches because he he he's there to take that that's what makes great assistant coaches and and then he understands that you're just venting and then he tells the head coach nothing because you may say something that is just going to bury you for for the team right if you said that what you wanted to say to the coach but if you say it to the assistant coach he if he's a good coach he vents and he lets you get

it off your chest you feel better as a player now and you go about your day and and and maybe there's something in there that the assistant coach can take to the head coach it is and does make sense but but really he's there to be a buffer and those are the those are the guys you vent on the assistant coaches not the not the head years ago you told me a story when we talked uh about going into maple leaf gardens and and what an ordeal that was especially when the team really started winning because uh people don't know this i mean the arena was built in the 30s there's no underground parking like there is at arenas today uh there is no parking lot at all in fact um and so you guys sort of had to from what i understand sneak in incognito can you can you

tell us what that that was like and how you got in uh well i i would go and i did i always knew the hot stove was open so that looked like just a plain wood door on church street and nobody didn't even know that was an entrance to the hot stove the first early private clubs and then the day the hot stove club going in the side door so i'd sneak in there uh during the playoffs dougie He lived in the building next door for a bit. And they'd have all the people lined up around the building waiting to get tickets in the morning for the playoff game. So Dougie, not knowing how he was going to get in the building through the

main doors, he threw on his jersey with a hoodie pulled up, and he walked to the front door as a super fan. Walked through the whole crowd, his head down with his jersey on, and then looked up at the security, and they recognized him. And that's how he got through the front door, because there have been about 2,000 people lined up around the building to get playoff tickets. But that was a common thing.

You parked out on Wood Street, and after a game, win or loss, there would be 500 people hanging around your car waiting to get signatures. Or when you're standing there writing signatures, the guy's got a Sharpie on, drawing on the back of your suit. Pretending he wants your autograph, but he's writing on the back of the suit that you lost your game. Wow. How many suit jackets do you think were ruined and leave losses?

went through lots of went through lots of clothes in the early 80s wow that's unbelievable wow and you know it's such a different time that just would never happen today but there's that that personal element that you guys would have had is that's really special and also kind of scary but you were tight to the you were you were right there you know you talked to the gardens the old montreal forum and the old winnipeg arena you walked right through the fans that you're going out post game to our car was right outside the rink so fans wanted to hang around they figured out where to be um so win lose or draw you had a feeling of what that fan was feeling uh after the game and and you know in the game in the gardens when i started there was only half

glass and you know two feet of glass on the boards at the early stages and the fans used to have to walk through the bench to get to their seats and the goals so you'd be stealing the kids popcorn and you're in the official seats and they'd be walking and you'd steal the kid's spot bar with his dad going to his seats or all that kind of stuff would be going. So it was a real close interaction, which made it, you know, I've seen either Dan Maloney and John Brophy probably both make the walk up to the golds because he was getting heckled by a fan right there

and he could get right through the guy. That's amazing. I'm sure the messages on the back of your suit jacket were like, you'll get them next time, Wendell. Well, the only positive is because we weren't making any money then. I think we were, I think I was buying like two suits for 199 bucks. You get a deal, half 50 compared to the suits they're wearing today. We'd be going through the, the, the jack because that's it. You know,

the fans are hanging out right outside. As soon as you open the door, it was free game and, and the people were right there. And you're no matter, you learn to be a professional because you're handling the people right there after a big win or or a big loss it could be either that's amazing what's the what's the most intense part of the playoffs like what's the most difficult part of playing in the stanley cup playoffs is the pressure from the fans is the intensity of the games all week long uh no i think it's it's the pressure you put on yourself really because there is a the players at the highest level you put so much pressure on yourself to do well that really doesn't matter the fans

that's just part of it but it's that's the exciting part of it is is playing in rinks that are alive right from the get-go like especially in Canada but all the rinks come playoff time are alive and jumping on the road you're hated and at home you're loved and and if that was that energy you can't replicate it as a playoff game in any sport and so that's that gets you to play better even if you're hated on the road if you can make if your team can play well and you can make the road building go quiet because you're out playing them that's like a home crowd standing on their feet if you can get that visiting building dead quiet oh yeah i bet that feels good uh well listen uh wendell clark uh thank you for being so gracious with your time with us

um we are we remain eternal fans of you and uh thank you for joining us and it's nice to be on the same frosted flakes hockey team uh even if we couldn't do it with the leafs it's just nice to we're on team wendell clark too cereal celly do the cereal celly thanks wendell