Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Randi Druzin w/ Todd Denault: Toronto Mike'd #1447

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

In this 1447th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Randi Druzin about her career in sports media, the greatest goaltenders of all-time and Van Halen. Todd Denault is along for the ride. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball Team and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to Episode 1447 of Toronto Mic'd! Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery A fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees. From Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, the best baseball in the city, outside the dome, with eight championships since 1967. RecycleMyElectronics.ca, committing to our planet's future, means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Advantage to Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada. Valuable perspective for Canadian investors who want to remain knowledgeable, informed and focused on long-term success. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today making her Toronto Mic debut is Randy Druzen.

Randy, welcome to Toronto Mic'd. Randy Druzen. Randy, welcome to Toronto Mic'd. Hi, thanks for having me. Pronounce your last name for me. Druzen. That's what I thought. Okay, one for me. Okay, good stuff.

Are you old enough to remember the ads for Who is Randy River? Does this ring any bell at all? Who is Randy River and what is he doing to our clothes? Yes, I have a colleague who still refers to me as River. I'm curious, are you from Canada? I know you spent a lot of time in Czechia. Can you give us a little bit of your

Esri geography background here? Yeah, I was born in Toronto and grew up in Thornhill, Young and Highway 7 area. Of course. And- There was a Wendell Clarks there. Is that where he lives? No, there was like a restaurant, Wendell Clarks restaurant was there. Oh, that must have been after I left. After you left. Yeah. Okay. Okay. But I moved to the Czech Republic in

1993 and lived there for five years. So that's probably what made you think I might be Czech. Well, you literally, if I'm right, and I'm calling it Czechia because I you know I'm an international hockey fan and they're calling it Czechia. Is Czechia the proper name for that country right now? You have to represent this nation. Czechia is okay right? I don't know anyone who calls it that. Even the Czechs when they're speaking English refer to it. Okay because TSN calls it Czechia. I know and I laugh every time I hear it. Okay well I'm gonna be pretentious and call them Czechia because TSN the Czech Republic. Okay, because TSN calls it Czechia when they're in the... I know, and I laugh every time I hear it. Okay. Well, I'm going to be pretentious and call them Czechia because TSN's doing that.

Okay. But did you start your media career at the Prague Post? I think I did a few freelance pieces before I left, but I didn't really get going until I moved to the Czech Republic, and I was a stringer for newspapers in the United States and Canada. Interesting. So when did you get... we're gonna cover a lot of ground and we're gonna talk about Goaltenders and I Have a Little Music and we're gonna have a lot of fun today. And we're gonna pretend like there's not a third person in the room so we're gonna chat and then at some point I'm gonna ask you to reveal who is this third person in the room because I

opened up a third mic and it's like a big reveal is gonna come. But But now people are going to think it's like, oh my God, Don Cherry is in the basement, but it's not Don Cherry, is it? Britney Spears bodyguard. Because you are the Britney. Okay. When did you realize that you wanted to be in media, like to produce and write? When did this strike you in high school? What's your origin story? Well, I think I liked writing even as early as grade five. We used to have a creative writing session once a week and it was my favorite. You know, the creative writing and the gym class were my two favorites. Those were my favorites too, by the way. I excelled in both. I was terrible in

everything else. So get that STEM stuff away from me. okay? More creative writing, more gym. Exactly. So I liked the writing right away, like at nine, 10 years old, and then I got older and became sort of a news junkie, so it seemed like a natural fit. And so, sorry, but what brings you to the Czech Republic? Like, is there family there? You just wanted to, like, how do you end up in the Czech Republic for five years?

Well, I graduated, I did my undergrad, and then I went to graduate school for journalism. And then I thought, I'm at the stage in my life where I either get married and have a family or have an adventure. And so I chose the latter. You chose wisely. I moved to the Czech Republic.

I had a friend who was living there and encouraged me to do that. Okay, so you had a friend, so you're okay. So is there any family roots there or is just- No, none at all. None at all. Okay, what is the origin of Jerusalem? I'm just curious.

Russian. Okay, so okay, gotcha. But I don't speak a word of it, so don't try. I wouldn't know. Like you could say anything and I would think that was fluent Russian. Like how would I know? I can say some words in Czech.

They sound a little Russian, but not really. Well, give me a little Czech. Maybe, what do you think of Jaromir Jagr's mullet? Give me some Czech. To je škoda, which means it's misery. That's what I think of his mullet and I'm glad it's gone. And that's your go-to answer for every question. To je škoda. It is misery. Mm-hmm. All right, so you're in Czechia, you're contributing to the Prague Post, which for all I know, it's like some guy in his basement spits out a newspaper and sells it to his neighbors.

The Prague Post sounds impressive to me. It was like a legitimate newspaper. It was an English language newspaper who served the expat community in Prague. So Americans, Brits, Australians, Canadians, this would be their news source there. And I was the sports editor there. And while I was a sports editor at the Prague Post, I was also freelancing for newspapers here and in the US. You were like the the Czech Republic correspondent. Yeah, informally, I was never on staff with the Star, the

New York Times, but I was stringing for them. But it looks good on your bio. Like you can tell people, yeah, I wrote for the Star, the New York Times. Like I'm impressed. Oh, you shouldn't be. The stories weren't that great. And what are the big sports? I guess Czech Republic, we know about hockey. Okay. We can talk about Dominik Hasek later. You might come up because you wrote a book. What's the name of your book? Your most recent book? Behind the Mask. Behind the Mask. And this is like a sequel. We'll get back to this later. You might come up because you wrote a book. What's the name of your book? Your most recent book? Behind the Mask. Behind the Mask. And this is like a sequel. We'll get back to this later. Yeah, it's a sequel to Between the Pipes.

And this is about like great goaltenders. Yes. Okay. So there's a teaser. We're going to talk some hockey later. Absolutely. But what are the like, what are the sports of interest in Prague beyond hockey? Well, you're right. They do love hockey and the other big sports there are tennis. They're very passionate about tennis and they've produced some really good tennis players, as you know, and soccer as it is through most of the world outside of North America.

See, I think I would have guessed this actually. Okay. So before we get you back to Canada, who is on the third mic right now? Just introduce him for us and then let's just say hello to him. It's Todd Deno, an esteemed hockey writer. Okay, Todd, how are you doing buddy? Feeling that I've been overqualified by that last comment. How would you describe yourself, Todd? Jack of all trades. Lucky enough to write a few hockey books that people liked and just

fortunate and happy to be here and just doing my thing. So you're literally now employed as Randy's driver, is that correct? That is correct. No, driver and bodyguard. Driver and bodyguard and she's in charge of all the directions. We don't need the little fancy thing to tell us where to go because Randy knows exactly where to go all the time. And even if I don't, I pretend that I do. Yeah, just act like you know what you're talking about and people will believe you.

Oh no. I've made a career out of that. And first lesson that was ever learned is whatever Randy says is. How long have you known Randy? See, let's talk about Randy like she's not here for a moment and we'll get back to the actual Randy. And Randy with an I by the way, not a Y like Randy River. Do you remember the Randy River ads? I remember the Randy River clothing.

Right, of course. Well, it's all tied together. It's all tied in. It was quite the snazzy little, it was with many Ontario golf courses through a certain time period. Here's what I would listen to. Let's say I'm listening to 680 CFTR in the let on a late eighties or something and they would be like this

something like that because I went to YouTube to find one. I couldn't find one like I wanted to play one right now, so I'm going to do my best to remember this who is Randy River and what is he doing to our clothes like this was like the campaign right and I remember like I remember at the very beginning it kind of worked on me like it was like I started like, I was in, I was in grade school. Okay. I'm like, I'm walking this guy. Who is Randy river and what is he doing to our clothes? You know, it really worked on like 12 year old Mike.

You were disappointed at the answer though, when you figured it all out. Well, it jaded me. I think it was a good education. Like, and like, Oh marketing is bullshit. Like let's not pay attention to marketing anymore. You know, there's a commercial now for a diabetes drug and they don't tell you what the drug is because they can't mention it. I know there's two of them like there's those M pick and there's no ballast or whatever. No, we're Belsus or something. Yeah, right. Yeah, and Canada's got that law like America doesn't have this law, but we have a law where you have a choice. You can either discuss the illness or disease or you can name the product like you have a choice. You can either discuss the illness or disease,

or you can name the product. Like you have a choice. So you might find there'll be ads for some products. Like, I don't know, like not that I know much about these things, but boner pills. Oh yeah. And they can talk about erectile dysfunction,

ask your doctor because, but they can't say the name of the drug, be it Viagra, Seattle or whatever. But you know this these other you can also just tell the brand name but not say what it's for like you got to pick your your poison there you know what that was an effective marketing campaign because I actually researched the drug I'm like I want to know what bells rebelses do you notice in the commercials how happy happy everybody is. They are overwhelmingly happy. Hey, it wasn't effective campaign because you got like these, this guy and his

bike stops his bike and he takes a note, like ask my doctor about whatever I was on pick or whatever. And it, we can now say definitively, uh, in your debut, Randy taught as your debut too. You can have a picture by the Toronto tree, but we can now say they stole this idea from Randy River. Yes, yes. And somewhere some long executive at Randy River who's got all the prototypes in their basement is sitting there going, hey, there's money to be had here. Right. So shout out to Randy River, wherever you are. Okay. So I'm getting back to Randy, because I understand you're at the national post and of course I have a bunch of questions about CBC for you and then we're going to talk about hockey

and gold tatters. But Todd, if you were going to shout out, I don't know, I don't want to say your most successful book, but the book you're most proud of that you wrote, which book would that be? Well, Jacques Plante, the Jacques Plante biography would obviously be the book. Which I actually used as research material for my first book before I knew Todd. And then is that how you met Todd? Like Todd said, Hey, you're, uh, you're, uh, shouting me out in the liner

nodes here, what's going on? No, no, no, no, no. Uh, I think we actually met, I think you may have had him as a guest on here. Um, I'm not sure we met at an event at, uh, Mike Wilson, the ultimate Lee fans house. I didn't have, I had him on some podcasts I produced, but I've actually not had Mike Wilson over, but I know him quite well.

Yeah. He sold off a big chunk of his. Sold it off. So we were there, but we were old enough to remember when he had the stuff. And we met one night at an event at his place. I think he's buds with Hep C. I think that's how I know him best.

Like the Hep C connection. That's when Todd discovered that Randy Druzen is actually female. Well the I gives it away right? So I know so when I first saw Randy's book on the shelf I'm a goalie person naturally I had my Jacques Plante book out and I see this book I'm like oh cool goalie book and I go geez that's an interesting way to spell Randy and I'm looking at the book going okay school it's got a Jacques Plante chapter. I'll pick this up. And then on the very back page was a picture of Randy.

And obviously the visual kind of told me that Randy was perhaps not. Right, you know what's funny? It's funny this conversation. If we had this conversation like 10 years ago, you'd probably say something like, oh, it's a gal. It's a woman. But today it's like, we can't assume gender anymore.

Oh no, it's Randy. I don't, Randy's not a gal, Randy's just Randy. Randy is just Randy. And I shaved the day that photo was taken, so he knew I was female. Now, Randy, is Randy, is that a nickname? Like do you have a longer name on your birth certificate? No, I have a double barreled first name, Randy Lynn.

Okay, Randy Lynn. That's very much like, it feels like a Mary Lou or like, yeah, like, yeah, and I'm not even, I'm not even from Alabama. I'm thinking of cleat. Yeah. Cleatus from the Simpsons or something, the slack job yokel. Okay. So what you come back to Canada after your five years in a Czech Republic slash Czechia, just to cover all my bases here. And by the way, Jacques Plante, Todd is going to come up later in this conversation. OK, I want to talk goaltenders and talk about that book that Randy wrote.

You're now a copy editor and reporter at National Post. When you come back to like, how do you get that king? I actually just harassed the sports editor at the National Post for about a week or two weeks before it launched and he finally capitulated and hired me. Who is this? Can you name this individual? Yeah, that's Graham Parley. Okay, so that's the secret to getting to Graham is you just gotta harass him for a week. And if you spoke to him, he would tell you I was terrible copy editor, page designer.

Is that right? I was awful. I kept telling him I'm a writer, not an editor. And he's like, just go back to your desk and edit. So you, but you're able to at some point parlay this into becoming a reporter, reporter at National Post. I did do some, I did do some reporting for them. Not as much as I wanted to, but I did do some. Did you know I was going to analyze your, uh, your resume here live on Toronto Mike?

We're going to pick through it and find out what's embellished and what's real here. Did you realize that was gonna happen? No, but I'm fine with that as long as you don't get into my personal life from high school. I'm okay, I can talk about anything else. Well I did receive several notes from high school colleagues of yours who say, never mind I don't have that. Okay, so how do you end up at the CBC? Well funny you should ask because I harassed them too. What happened was there was mass layoffs at the CBC? Well funny you should ask because I harassed them too. What happened was there was mass layoffs at The Post. I think it was a week after 9 11 and I knew that during my time at The Post I'd been watching a current

affair show called Sports Journal at the CBC. So who hosted that show? Tom Harrington was host. FOTM Tom Harrington. That's Tom Harrington. And I'm trying to think how else. He's a hell of a singer, I'm just going to shout him out. He used to appear on the Tommy Hunter show and sing. Yeah, yeah. He's quite a song bird, but I've never heard him singing in the building. He sang on Toronto Mic. Did he?

I've heard he had a great voice and sang a lot before his days at the CBC. So I just started harassing Ken Dodd, who was executive producer of Sports Journal. He already had a great voice and sang a lot before his days at the CBC. So I just started harassing Ken Dodd, who was executive producer of Sports Journal. He invited me in for a meeting and I convinced him to hire me even though I had no background in television at that point. Have you ever got a job without harassing an individual? No. I'm virtually unemployable.

Well, it's all worked out for you. OK, so now the CBC now again, I was checking out your LinkedIn profile. I just wanted to like get to know Randy before she starts writing these interesting books. So what were you doing at CBC and then how do you end up like, are you freelance? Are you what's your status at CBC? And then are you able to like dip out of CBC and go become a national producer at Global News and then dip back at CBC where you're kind of working today as a freelancer, but give me the rest of your story

as we build up to your books. Well, my status at the CBC is a little unconventional. Like I work there full-time essentially, and I do get a T4 from the CBC so I'm on staff But I have the status where I only work when they need me So if they don't call me for two weeks, I don't get work and I don't get paid like pay as you go Correct, but that that means they don't have to give you a dental plan, right? That's right. So I don't get the benefits I don't get the pension but I do get

Yeah, you okay with that? I'm more than okay with it. I've never wanted a staff job there because it allows me the freedom. For example, today I just told them I'm not available on this day. You said I'm going to Toronto Mike's studio. Yeah, and with the bodyguard. And she has amazing teeth, so there's really no need for the dental. How's your eyesight? I do floss a lot. Well you have to you have no dental plan. And now I'm thinking this in the dental plan Lisa needs braces dental plan. Okay so you're currently a producer and a senior writer for CBC television news. Right. So does that mean, correct me, is this local or national? It's national. So when I'm at the CBC, like working in television news,

I'll either be vetting scripts. So I'm the last set of eyes or one of the last set of eyes before it goes on the teleprompter, or I'm sometimes assigning depending on which desk I'm working at on that day. You want, I'm going to drop a name on you of somebody who listens to many a Toronto mic'd episode and tells me he just Booked a guest on the national because he heard this guest on Toronto mic'd and wanted to talk to him on the national

Ian Hanno Mansing Listens to Toronto mic'd. Oh does he? Yeah, I'm just throwing it out there because we're talking CBC national news I always thought Ian should have been the replacement for Peter Mansbridge on the national I think a lot of people did but they went with that format where they had several hosts all together and I think his idea was that your idea, Randy? I can't take the credit for that. No, no. Take the blame for that one.

No, I know. But now they've reduced it. It's no longer the forehead. The beast at the now it's a more conventional newscast the way it was before when Mansbridge was there. Now speaking of national news, you also were a senior writer at CTV News, right? Yeah, I was there very briefly. I worked on the Kevin Newman show, but that came and went very quickly. I think it was on the air.

As did you at the CTV. Correct. And then I ended up back at the mothership at the CBC and I've been there ever since. Okay, now I just want to shout out a recent episode of Toronto Mic with Scott Laurie. So Scott Laurie came over and he talked about how he thinks he was done dirty by CTV News. He was working at the news channel as an anchor

and they let him go six years ago and he wanted to, talk about what happened in an attempt to clear his name. And I, what I've discovered since that episode dropped is it's a really an interesting conversation starter because I'm hearing from people from all walks of life who listen and then they debate it. Like there's a great conversation to be had on, you know, was Scott done dirty and just, you know, what parts we know we only have the one side of the story, obviously, but it is a compelling conversation starter. So if people are interested in, you know, listening to Scott talk to me for 90 minutes and then have that debate with their friends and family, I highly recommend it, Randy.

Well, we don't have to have the debate now, do we? No, unless you have an opinion on it. Do you want to? I don't really have an opinion on it. I think I know Scott brief. I met him briefly in my twenties, but I don't really know him and I don't know the situation. So, but it's interesting in that conversation we talked about the adjudicator that please educate me, Ranny. What is the role of an

adjudicator? An adjudicator is, I think it's officially called alternate dispute resolution. So I'm an adjudicator with the Law Society. Wait, you're one. That's a mind blow right there. Okay, so you're an adjudicator with the Law Society of Ontario Tribunal. Right. And are you like there to be like an objective mediator or something? Like just give me an idea because Scott was talking about his his case went to an adjudicator. Is it just like this is like a third party who's going to be objective and kind of give you guidance?

Is there binding to this rule? What it is, it's a regulatory body. So the law society regulates the lawyers. When a lawyer has done or said something that's questionable and has to appear before the tribunal, there's three people on the panel who will decide what, if any, actions to take. And two of those panel members are lawyers, but they want to have transparency, so they have a lay person, like a public person.

And that's where I come in. How did you get that gig? Well I was- Did you harass somebody for that gig? No, that one I have, that's the only job I ever got where I didn't harass and I'm also thinking of Ponderosa I had to harass for that bus girl job back back in the day. I remember the Ponderosa absolutely. Two dollars and sixty five cents an hour it was glorious. What location? There was one on Yonge Street just north of Steeles. Oh that's that's like outside of Toronto I

feel like Steeles that's the border. It is it is. But becoming less and less so as the city grows. Well, let's see those north of Steeles people vote for Mayor of Toronto. Let's see them try. OK, Randy. Now. I kind of want to read your book about writing books like. So when you're writing these books about hockey, it's interesting that Todd thought you might be identifying as male based on your first name because I wonder if that's almost intentional. Like, do you find it aids

you to present via like email, etc. Not in person, obviously, but to present as a male because you don't get that attitude towards women that a lot of people might have about you trying to write a book about hockey. Yeah, I think I mean, I haven't spoken to all the readers of the book, obviously, but I suspect that some of them pick it up, assuming as Todd did, that I'm a male and therefore not thinking, oh, it's a woman, can she really write a hockey book? Right.

So there's not that questioning, at least not at the outset until you see the photo taken of me on the day that I shaved my beard. And I should, I should speak for some of the males here who thought, who were, who were intrigued by finding that fact out and went, Hey, this is cool. I'm curious to see, you know, I should speak for some of the males here who thought who were, who were intrigued by finding that fact out and went, Hey, this is cool. I'm curious to see, you know, I want to read

what she says and what she does. Cause at the end of the day, it's about being a great writer and not the, not the gender of the person we focus too much on that. But in this case, it was actually more of a poll when I saw that, Oh, okay. Now I'm even more intrigued. Again, you were titillated by this fact.

Oh, the photo alone just blew me away, flew me away. So we're on a live stream right now, Randy, and I just got a note from Jay Ho, who says, the Ponderosa in his neighborhood became a funeral home. Oh, was it the same one I worked at? Just basically- Because I think that one became a red lobster. Okay, let us know which location, Jeremy.

One could make a joke about the Ponderosa in a funeral home in the same clientele, but I think we'll probably avoid that. We welcome all funeral home jokes because I have something for you, Todd. Hold on here. You guys can do play by playing here. Okay. So, I'm giving you a gift, Todd. I didn't know you were going to be So I'm I was caught unprepared here, but I have a

Measuring tape for you Todd from Ridley funeral home You know if you're talking funeral homes, you can't do better than Ridley funeral home. That's for you, buddy Thank you and Randy since you're the actual guest today Do I get one? I get one for you as well A lot of gifts for you beautiful green. Thank you. So wow. Thank you. I guess this measuring tape would come in handy at the funeral home. Well, you can measure what you want. It's none of my business, Todd.

OK, none of my business. Eglinton East of Macauan is the Ponderosa that became a funeral home. Oh, OK. Yeah, that's that was out of my stomping ground. Yeah, that's that's crazy area. Who knows anything about Eglinton? But they probably heard about me there because I was so good as a bus girl. You were a legend. You were a legend. Randy the Ponderosa lady. Okay.

So I want to just get some gifts out of the way and then we're going to turn our attention to hockey now that we've got a vibe for who is who is Randy Druzen? Right. That could be our camp. That could be the title of this episode. I don't think it's a big mystery with me. It's pretty much what you see is what you get. Yeah, but I didn't, I only saw you for the first time a half an hour ago. So I had curiosity. I don't know. There's a lot of layers. There's a lot of layers.

Well, that's why you're on the mic. Normally I'd mute your mic, but I'm like, I need somebody to come, you know, slip in and give us a little inside, uh, info on Randy here, but who is Randy Druzen and what is she doing to our books here, but I'm gonna give you a gift. So I didn't know you were gonna be here, Todd. I literally don't have. He wasn't going to be here, but.

So how did Todd end up sitting in my basement right now? Well, I have no source of transportation, so I think that's pretty much what it boils down to. And whenever she needs somebody to, you know, step up to the plate and not complain and actually be encouraging about it, here I am. Well, that's a good friend, right? And now, and again, no presumption here. There's no chance you guys live together, is there?

No, he lives in Coburg. Yeah, I'm way out of the realm. But are you here just, so where do you live, Randy? I live at Queens Quay, just behind the CN Tower. So what, what what are you like? Are you going to tell me now? Todd, you were going to go check out a leafs practice at MasterCard Center or Ford Excellence Center, whatever they're calling it today. Like you didn't come from Coburg to drive Randy here. Did you? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You know what I'm going to have to do? Listen, I'm going to, this is on the flags. I didn't know you're going to

be here. I'm going to have to get? Listen, I'm going to, this is on the flags. I didn't know you're going to be here. I'm going to have to get some Great Lakes beer for you to take back to Coburg. Do you drink a fresh craft beer? No, I do not, but I know somebody, I know somebody who will say, okay, who's going to drink the Great Lakes beer? Your mother? No, my brother. Okay. So your brother, okay. Cause it is, if you, uh, enjoy craft beer, you cannot do better in this province in Great Lake. So I'm going to give you some fresh craft beer before you go. And Randy, you of course bringing back the Queen's Key there, which I'll be biking by in about 90 minutes. I'm going to, I could, I could bike it to you, but I'm going to get you some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes as well. Oh, thanks very much.

And do you like Italian food, Randy? I love Italian food. I have a frozen lasagna in my freezer right now. I will take it. And it's going home with you, Randy. Is it vegetarian or is there meat in it? Well, here's the case. So you're a queen's key.

This is good. This is good. There's meat in it. But you tell me now you don't eat meat. No, I do. I do eat meat. OK. I'm a carnivore.

So you want to meet lasagna. I demand to meet lasagna. There's no controversy here, because I was going to say, if you need a vegetarian, it's easy for me to bike it to you. I literally, I bike the waterfront trail all the time and I could bike you a vegetarian lasagna, but you are going to take home with you a meat lasagna. Hey ref on the live stream is calling it ponder Grossa.

Have you heard that? I'm not going to argue. I will not argue with that. I rarely ate there, but I did work there. You mean a restaurant named after the homestead on Bonanza could maybe be a little bit? Can I ask a question? I think this is for Todd since he's the one in his 80s. Yeah, of course. Just kidding. But Todd, why do I remember growing up with the show Ponderosa? But correct me if I'm

wrong, but wasn't that show called Bonanza? Bonanza. Ponderosa was the home. But there was, the show was called Ponderosa. This is the memory I have again, might be faulty, but I remember like in the 80s on TV was a show called Ponderosa, but it appeared to be Bonanza. And I know they called it like, it's like, was there a reason they had to rename? I'm good. I could Google this later. Yeah. I know. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about? I don't think it lasted too long either. Right? Well, no, it's just, it was like my first introduction to this universe, this Bonanza universe. Yeah. And it was called Ponderosa. Yeah. I know.

And I think it was like a spin off that had like the next generation kind of deal going on. Cause Michael Landon, my introduction to him was I loved watching little house on the prairie on WU TV growing up. You didn't know him as little Joe. I knew him as the guy from Little Hills on the Prairie. And that's before he started granting wishes from heaven as an angel. He became an angel.

You're right. Highway to Heaven. Yeah. As opposed to Highway to Hell, which is a great song. Which, yeah, take your pick there. Highway to Hell with the original lead singer for ACDC before he passed away. Yeah. Bon Scott.

Bon Scott. And we're going to get to music later. I'm glad Todd's here for the music chatter here. Okay, so you've got your gifts. If you want good financial investment advice, I urge you to subscribe and listen to the Advantage to Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, hosted by Chris Cooksey.

You can subscribe. Stu Stone wants me to grab your phone and do it for you, but I find that intrusive. So I won't do that, but it was a good suggestion, Stu. And if you have any old electronics, old devices, old cables you need to get rid of, don't throw it in the garbage, Randy. Go to recyclemyelectronics.ca and put in your postal code

and they'll tell you where to drop it off and it'll get properly recycled so the chemicals do not end up in our landfill. I do have a lot of old electronics, actually. You have a lot of coax cable around. I do. Yeah. Everyone does right? We hold onto these cables and then 15 years goes by and you're like this is like obsolete technology. Like why am I holding onto this printer cable from 1999? So you can't figure out what it is. It's like a mystery cable. But you can't get rid of it right? No, it's I have a sentimental sentimental value. I get attached to my cable. But you can't get rid of it, right? No, I have a sentimental value.

I get attached to my cable. If you do go by Queen's Key often, you'll see Randi with her boombox out on the street there, just listening along. Oh, I'm glad you call it a boombox. Proper nomenclature for 2024 is boombox. Not what we were calling it in the 80s. That's not what we used to call it.

No, it's not. We are learning so much. Gender identity, proper nomenclature for the, the, the, the boom box we all had on our shoulders. Okay. So Randy, you're is, is between the pipes, your first book. No, it was, I wrote a book in 2000 about the history of women in sports and that was embarrassingly called complete idiots guide to women in sports. It was one of those series. Right. They have the two different competing series. They have the for dummies series and complete idiots,

which I think is a cut above. I think it was a cut above dummies. Oh, you think idiots is above. I think you wrote for the idiot. Correct. And that's how you met Todd because he reads all the idiot books because they're like targeted for him. It hasn't helped frankly So I wrote that one and then I wrote the between the pipes and After that I ghost wrote a book for Reggie leach who used to play for the Broadstreet Bullies Well, you kidding me? Tim Thompson who's an FOTM and he makes those great video. He used to make the great videos for hockey night in Canada He had a falling out with Rogers. That's a very sad story. Now. He does it for CBC. You might know Tim Thompson, who's an FOTM and he makes those great videos. He used to make the great videos for hockey night in Canada. He had a falling out with Rogers.

That's a very sad story. Now he does it for CBC. You might know Tim Thompson. Do you boundless? I don't know Tim Thompson. Tim Thompson, uh, speak softly, but carries a big stick. Okay. Shout out to Tim Thompson, but he helped put together a video.

I want to get my facts right. Do you know the weaker than's? Uh, yes, you know, yes I do They have that great song. I hate Winnipeg. They have a lot of great songs. I love Winnipeg personally. Have you Spent a lot of time in Winnipeg. I have I have a lot of family there and I go back once a year to watch a Leafs game in Winnipeg Shout out to the watchman Who gave me the Brian line of hand picture here. Who

is from Winnipeg? David Common was here recently from CBC. He's from Winnipeg. He is? No. I didn't know that. Who was here from Winnipeg? Why do I... somebody was here recently from Winnipeg. I need to go through my archives and why do I think it was David Common? I think it was David Common. I think he was from Winnipeg. I think he came here young and then went back and I do believe I'm going to go do some homework while I play a song later. But why am I bringing up the week events? Because John K Sampson, he had a great song he composed to get Reggie Leach in the Hall of Fame. There's a movement for that. The

Riverton Rat. What is his name? Riverton rifle. Right. Thank you. You wrote the book, Randy and look, Todd stealing your thunder here. But this video that I just want to shut it out, the video that Tim Thompson put together for that song, John K. Sampson wrote about getting Reggie Leach in the Hall of Fame is fantastic. So you ghost wrote that book. Who got the credit for it? Well, it's it's by Reggie Leach, but with Randy Druzen. So I made sure that my name was in there.

I didn't want to be completely invisible as a ghostwriter. Just because I wanted to. Well that's not ghost at all. Like, do you not know what ghost means? You put your name on the book? My name's on the inside, but not on the front cover. Todd, I need a ruling. So I count this as ghosting.

If you put your name on there, did she ghost write that book? It seems like a compromise because they had the book already had three names on the cover. Uh, but once you got through the forward and the introduction and all that. So being as humble as Randy is, she took an inside page rather than grabbing all the glory of the front page. She is very humble. Now, what is the font size difference? So Reggie Leach gets the big font and then there's that tiny font that says,

with Randy Drewson. You can see it with a magnifying glass. Yeah, like on the cover, we couldn't seem to fit in a fourth name. So we had to, you know, shift her inside to the inside page. I had child actor, current director, rock and roll movie star guy, Stu Stone here the other day. And if we were talking about his album with Jamie Kennedy, which I'm holding up for you right now.

And I said, so Jamie, Jamie Kennedy gets this big ass font. It's Jamie Kennedy. It's like a much smaller font. It says two stone underneath it. We were talking about the font size difference. It doesn't seem like a huge difference in font. You don't think so? But you can see it.

Get that Redleaf funeral measuring tape and we'll check this out here. At least his name got on the front. I'm happy with the font as long as it's 10 point size. Anything lower I find disrespectful. So size does matter is what you're saying. It does in terms of fonts, yes. I got a ruling on the live stream. Ponderosa was a prequel. Oh. Okay, did you, and also a question for you Randy before we move past the Idiot's Guide thing you wrote, but have you, did you interview

any famous local women in sports for the Idiot's Guide? Um, not, I'm trying to remember that was so long ago. I don't think I interviewed any women who live in Toronto. I did interview for the most recent book, Sammy Joe small, amazing. Who's an amazing goal to cover that base. Okay. So the first goaltender book you wrote was called behind the no, that's no, between the pipes, right.

And you profile 12 legendary goalies in that book. That's right. And then you have a legendary goalies in that book. That's right. And then you have a sequel, which is available now. So anyone who's into hockey and goaltenders, Behind the Mask is the sequel and that's your most recent book. That's right. That one came out in October. Are you able to just like reveal the next book?

Like you must have something you're working on or a plan to write another book. You're not stopping at behind the mask. What's the next book going to be about? Um, I have some different ideas percolating. I haven't decided yet. You know, when people say, are you going to write another book? It's like asking a woman who's just given birth when she's going to get pregnant again.

So yes, you know, you know, give me some time to recover. Although, although spoiler alert, nights at the pond, Rosa is a contender. Or who is Randy river and get to the bottom of this thing. Like, like where did that come from? What happened to it? Randy rivers don't exist anymore. Right. But they were in that, like, I want to say Beaver canoe club, Monaco,

like Monaco. I remember club Monaco. You don't remember Beaver canoe? Cause you're much younger than I remember. I remember the Beaver Canoe sweatshirts. Yeah. Yeah. They were, cause I always thought they were all trying to be roots, right?

They all were. Right. Cause roots came in 73. I remember cause they have that on the thing. So roots arrives. And then when I'm in grade school, anyways, everybody was like, Oh, you got to go to the roots warehouse and get your, like your sweats and your sweatshirt. And then you had all these like roots wannabes that were popping up,

like Beaver Canoe, Club Monaco. And I think maybe Randy Rivers in that, uh, that little club. You go through the old school photos, right? You know, the old class photos, you can totally see it, right? The one who have a Beaver Canoe sweatshirt. And then you have the one guy who's got the old style LA Kings, yellow and gold jersey. Yes, right. You know, you get the one guy who's got the old style LA Kings yellow and gold jersey. Yes. Right.

You know, you get the real, real fashion sense of the time. And then the one who thinks they're on Miami vice all in the same group photo. Cause the, the Kings, if I remember correctly, it's when Gretzky arrives that they change it to look like the Raiders. You got it. Cause probably, yes, of course. Okay.

And the last Kings game I saw they were wearing silver helmets. They look like, um, tinfoil. And that got that reflective reflection. Not good for anybody. Okay. Come on, stop doing that. Okay. So now I want to dive in. I was thinking, what is the definitive goaltender song as we introduce our chat here about great goaltenders? What do you think, Randy? Is the definite in my thinking, it's my opinion. Okay. You can have a different opinion, but you mean like a song about gold, right? Oh, I don't know any songs about gold tender, but I could write one for you and come back in a month. Would you, would you sing it? I would sing it. Are you a good singer? No,

but if you're willing, I'll do it. I'm always willing for these interesting ideas. Now, Todd, do you, do you have any idea What might be the definitive song about goaltenders? Stomping Tom Connors Nothing, I know of those Pat Benatar's hit me with your best shot count, you know, that's can con Written by the guy from the air. See RTC sent us here. Yeah, there we go. See all Canadian content the maple We'll talk about we'll talk about triumph later. Triumph? Listen I have just I got an email correspondence that's from this week with me and Rick Emmett. Very cool. That is a that I'm just dropping the

freaking names here. I want to impress Todd in front of Randy. That's what I'm talking about. You're impressing me too. Thank you. Well that's the whole idea. So that's my goal here. I'm gonna play it now a little bit and I'm going to tell you my t-shirt is a clue. Okay. I know what's Mike wearing here. That's going to be in the photo here, but let's what I deem to be the definitive goal tenders song. Let's listen to a little bit of the lonely end of the rink from Canada's national band, The Tragically Hip. I looked up and you were there, just sitting there all alone Holding your fist in the air, like if you need me you're on your own

You drove me home through a snowy tomb And I fell asleep in my seat I had the end of the ring You and me at the end of the ring You and me Oh, to join the rush As the season builds I fucking love this song. Does this resonate at all with either of you? It's not as good as Boots and Hearts, but it's pretty good. Up to here.

That was my very first Tragically Hip-Hop. Me too. Love Boots and Hearts. Yeah. I did. I was listening to Q107 one day and they played Blow It High Doe. And I was like, what the fuck is this? That was my very first tragically hip album. Me too. Love Boots or Hearts. Yeah. I did, I was listening to Q107 one day and they played Blow It High Doe. And I was like, what the fuck is this? I loved it right away.

That's also a great song. Yeah, me too. Are you a hip fan, Todd? I am a hip fan. I'm a little bit different than most. I would think my favorite hip song is probably Nautical Disaster. Okay, Day For Night. Yeah.

Mark Howard produced that. He's been over here. Shout out to Daniel Lanwaugh in the Hammer. But this song is a, cause Gore Downey was a goalie and this song is about his father sitting at the lonely end of the rink because the dads always sit behind their goaltender children. Yeah. And I was just thinking of a goaltender song and yeah, Hit Me If Your Best Shot's a good

one. But this is the, in my humble opinion, the definitive goaltender song as we turn the convo to hockey and goaltenders. So, Randy, this sequel, behind the mask, you had to pick 12 different goaltenders to profile, right? That's right. I picked in 12 more legendary goaltenders. Like, was there any worry you would, you know, I burned through the big 12 in the first book. Now I've got to, you know, dive deeper to get the next 12. Or was it easy to profile 12?

Oh, it was easy. Like in fact, when I was doing the first book, it was tough to decide which goaltenders went in because there are so many great ones. And I feel like I could probably write another book about 12 more goaltenders because there's been so many great ones over the years. Let me know when you get to Felix Potvin. Is that book number six or seven? That could be book number four.

Okay. That's my guess. Love the cat. That's my goalie. Okay. So let us, again, I want people to pick up both books. If I were a king for a day, behind the mask and between the pipes,

you get 24 goalie profiles. Correct. Wow. You said you should bundle them together. Like you get- I would not. Correct. Wow. You said you should bundle them together. Like you get... I would not be opposed to that. Okay.

If somebody wants to pick up behind the mask or between the pipes, and I'm going to talk goalies with you for the rest of our chat pretty much. Oh, I have a secret music thing we're going to do actually, and I'm glad Todd's here for that. So... Does it name that tune? Well, you'll nail it if it's named that tune. How do you want people to buy these books?

Do you want them to reach out to you directly or you just don't care? Go to Amazon, go to Indigo, whatever. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty much everywhere that books are sold. You can walk into an Indigo, you can buy online at Amazon, Indigo, or through my publisher, which is Greystone, based in Vancouver. So they're not hard to find. Not hard to find. Hopefully, they will be at some point

when they're all sold out, but for now you can find them fairly easily. Okay, a lot of hockey fans listening right now. I don't want to spoil stuff really, but I kind of want to just have a general chat about goalies. So I was thinking, okay, Randy Jusin's coming over. In my mind I'm thinking, who do I think are the greatest goalies of all time?

And three names jumped into my head right away. So you can tell us if these are all in book one or if they're in book two, but I just want to tell you the three that jump in my head right away. And then maybe if you two want to help help me rank these three and tell me if I'm out to lunch. Now I'm going to preface this to say I never saw a Jacques Plante play. Okay. So I'm I know you guys are Jacques Plante experts and I respect everything Jacques Plante,

but Terry Sawchuck, Jacquesplon and Ken Dryden. Those are three goalies I know always end up on top goalie list, but I never saw any of those three play except for the footage I've seen of the 72 Summit series where Ken Dryden looks like I might be able to beat him Like I'm just throwing it out. It wasn't his finest hour That series that style which I know one of the three that jumps to my mind is is a saint Okay, literally here. Uh, and we're going to get to him in a moment, but like, I know he's kind of like bringing the butterfly style and every goalie thereafter will now mimic the great saint I'm going to

speak of in a moment. But Ken Dryden in that era, he's standing up and if you just sort of slide it on the, I just feel like I watched this footage and I'm like, uh, I know there's beer leaguers out there who can beat this guy might be by today's standards Yes, like is that a controversial statement? I mean in those days the equipment wasn't wasn't what it is now So the play was different because of that but but even okay, let's name the guy st. Patrick wall Okay in the 86 he he carries the Habs to the cup in 86, right?

But you can see an image of that Stanley Cup final and he's wearing the same kind of gear as a Kendriden. Like he's not bulked up like he was with the Avalanche. Like somewhere between 86 and then when he wins it again with the Avalanche, although they went in at 93, right? Oh my God. Should we tell him? All right, tell me something.

Patrick Waugh, did you drop him in the first, the first book or the second book? Tell me about Patrick Wa because I think he's the best goalie of all time. It's funny you should say that because Todd and I argue about this constantly and it gets to the point where we have to say, let's just stop talking about this because it's going to get ugly. Tell me your argument and have it right now for me. So I'll make the popcorn.

Patrick Wa to me, I grew up with Patrick To me Patrick Wa playoff goalie three cons mites four cups and the story how many vets in us? Three business how many how many did a Hasek have? This is the argument. Okay, so now what was she was in Czechia for five years. Yes. She was check the public. Yes Even both places. Okay. Hold on. So like, is it safe to say, Randy, that you're bringing a little Czech Republic bias with you when you bring to this? Of course I am. I think every hockey fan brings a certain bias, including Todd, who grew up as a Montreal Canadians fan. Interesting point. So I feel like I'm the only objective one here because I've never been to the Czech Republic and I've never I've been an anti-hab guy.

Me too. There's something we have in common. So the three I'm going to shout the three I haven't will debate it now actually but Patrick Waugh, Dominic Hasek and Martan Brodeur. I think those are the three guys and you can debate the order. My order is St. Patrick first, Hasek second, and Brodeur third. This is me talking. I want to hear you two experts tell me, do I have the right top three and what order you would put them in? From that era and that time they played, I think you've got the three. You got the three just in the wrong order. Tell me your order, Randy.

Hasek first. Okay. Who do you have second? Patrick Waugh. And then Brodeur? Brodeur,. Bell for also also cannot be underestimated. He was, he was quite a goalie himself. And I would even target in grant fear kind of deserves some consideration in there too. I think of him more as an eighties goalie. You're right. He did play in the nineties, but well, I'm glad you mentioned bell for, uh, and fear because I also then, cause I I joked about the cat Felix

Poffin earlier, but of course, even with my huge bias, always lifelong Maple Leafs fan, the three goalies I hope we could bring into this discussion of great goalies are Kujo, Belfor and Fear. All three played for my Toronto Maple Leafs. And although, you know, I don't know where I'd put them, again, I don't have a sense of how these great goalies were talking about Rank against Jacques Plante and Terry Satchuk and Ken Dryden. But maybe, Randy, tell me a little bit about, are all these goalies we're mentioning, are they all profiled in either between the pipes or behind the mask?

Yep. They're all in one book or the other. The thing is, when people people say who do you think the best goalie of all time is, we all have generational bias too, because who among us has seen Terry Sochuk play? Right. But from what I heard, he was really exceptional. Right, and there's a book about Jacques Plante, right? Randy, like is Todd? Someone I know wrote it. What's the name of that book about Jacques Plante? Jacques Plante, the man who changed the face of hockey. Yes, but that's about masks as well as ability, right? It's about masks.

It's about the fact that every time you watch a hockey game, you see Jacques Plante's influence, not just the mask, the equipment, the playing the puck, speaking to defensemen, all of it. Goalie as individual, goalie as a force, as opposed to just being a guy that stops the puck, you see all that with him in today's goal team. That's he's a catalyst for change. He's the Bobby or of goaltenders. That's high praise. He was a real student of the game. I remember when I was researching him that there was a point where he walked

into arena and said, the net is too low. The crossbar is too low. And people just kind of laughed it off. But you know what? It was too low. Wow. So he was a real student of the game. So there is absolutely a generational thing going on here because that's why I wanted to shed out those three guys. I wanted to shed out Plont, Sawtruck and Dryden and just say that if I don't, you know, but there's another guy we should talk about who never played in the NHL. Trechak. Yeah. Like how, how do you, I know we only know his international play and, you know, and I see him in the 72 Summit series. Yeah, he wasn't too shabby in that series. Yeah. But like, how do, how do you two observers like even fold in somebody who didn't play best on best beyond international play? didn't play best on best beyond international play?

Um, well, I just thought, I mean, you saw him in the summit series and every international competition he was in, there was no doubt he was usually the best goalie on the ice. So I thought it was a no brainer to include. And also we don't read as much about him as we do about the other guys. So that's why I went out of my way to include him. I should, I should also, I should also admit that my

second book, the greatest game is about the new year's Eve game between the Canadians and the Russians. And Trechak is with Dryden, probably the two main characters in the book. And, um, I'll just, I'll make it easy. That night he was spectacular. Uh, Dick Irvin, uh, the famed Montreal, uh, based CBC hockey night in Canada announcer told me he goes that game put him in the Hockey Hall of Fame Wow, and that it is interesting. Yes, we should point that out

He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame because it's not the NHL Hall of Fame is the hockey hall of fame and he's in there And he belongs there and one of the debates you'll get in a bar or a coffee shop will be like so Trechak's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but where is Henderson, you know because there's a discussion about like, you need to have some kind of a longevity to your excellence, uh, beyond what, you know, Paul Henderson had, there's a lot of inductees that people feel should not be in there. And there's people that, um, you know, people are lobbying, fans are lobbying to have them in like Reggie Leach, like Reggie Leach, Roger Crozier, who's also in.

I would, I would also put the caveat in there that when it comes to the Soviet era players, they were not given the opportunity to play in the national hockey league. Right. Is not any fault of their own. And we've seen how successful Russian players have been since they've joined the NHL.

Um, so I hate to say this in this way, but I almost compare those great Soviet players to like the Negro League players in baseball. They were not denied the ability to be there by their talent. They were denied by politics or different type of politics. So it's unfair to judge them based on something they had no control over. And Trechak was drafted. He was actually drafted by the Canadians.

I think it's safe to say Trechak would have played in the NHL. You can argue whether you think he would have succeeded or not. And it's a bar argument. Nobody's going to be able to give you the definitive answer, right? Right. But that's a great point. It's not like, uh, they weren't good enough for the NHL. They were ineligible.

Yes. Big difference. Well, I think Tretyak, he was planning on joining the Canadians. And I think at first Soviet officials agreed and then they changed their mind and his NHL career never was. No, I'm thinking of, was it Makarov who won the Rookie of the Year as like a? 28 year old. Right, yeah, younger hockey fans.

Well, remember the era when we, you know, they were behind the Iron Curtain and they were not welcomed in any in any any shell. All right, so Who's your fate is I guess it's Dominic Hasek, right? It is it is I think as you said earlier I think a lot of it is for nostalgic reasons because I was living in the Czech Republic for five years and that is when Hasek was at the you know, the peak of his powers. Yeah. And then I remember I was in Prague when the Czechs beat Canada at Nagano Olympics. Of course. 98.

And that whole tournament, I mean, Hasek's goals against average was under one. How often does that happen? He would know that was, I actually watched that. Uh, was that, was that a quarter final game? Can you remind me? Semi. Semi.

Okay. What's the semi? The one where Wayne Gretzky seen sitting on the bench looking for Lauren at the end, right? And Mark Crawford was the coach. Yes, he was. Okay. It's all coming back to me. That's all it's haunting me. That's haunting. I watched that game from a white rock British Columbia and I'm still kind of like, I think we all, and we have won a few gold medals since then, but uh but Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Sochi, right?

We went all those three. I feel like that was a moment where we're all kind of still stunned by it. Like it was like, how did the Czechs beat us? But it was Hasek is the reason. Yeah. I mean, Jagger didn't didn't do much. Like he was at the also, you know, the top of his career at that time, but he didn't really contribute that much in the tournament.

It really was Hasek. It's still not the greatest goalie of all time though, right? Cause it's St. Patrick, right? Right? No, it's well, you have to, you have to, you have to me when you're, when you're the person who is responsible for taking a average team and winning the cup and going four rounds and doing it in spectacular fashion, when you have a playoff in 93, where you win 10 overtime games in a row

yeah um yeah no Patrick and Patrick again I was fortunate enough to talk to him for my third book which was on the 93 season and and when you talk to some guys to talk about I know well you skip the final chapter there's a lot of leaf stuff in there you just skip the final. There's a lot of leaf stuff in there. You just skipped the final chapter, guys. But a lot of the teammates, it's interesting to talk to teammates and opponents of just how intimidating Patrick was on the ice, off the ice, the whole aura he had with them at that moment.

Yeah, I mean, we talked about 86, 93. So Hasek, correct me if I'm wrong, Randy, but only has the one ring with Detroit, right? Am I, am I misremembering? No, you got it right. Okay. He has one Stanley cup and how many vets in us, but the one and his one Stanley cup was on a super team for the salary. Yes. This is what I think works against Marten Brodeur is I feel Brodeur who he's got the most wins, right? Like he's, but that team in front of Brodeur with that defense, um, I'm not saying I would wins right like he's but that team in front of road or that defense.

I'm not saying I would win a cup playing net for that team, but it's very different from what Patrick Rod did in eighty six and ninety three and what hashek tried to do with the same like you know he had I think hashek's the second best goalie I've ever seen and I mean it gets high praise and I think if you had and again there's this is all bar room debate stuff right because you can never really know who's the greatest goalie. And I think if you had, and again, there's, this is all bar room debate stuff, right? Cause you can never really know who's the greatest goalie. But I think if you get a hundred hockey fans in a room and you talk about the greatest goalies, I think the majority are going to say Patrick Wall. It depends where you're having the conversation.

If you're having it in Toronto or Prague or Montreal, you know, part of pizza, she's never, she's never going to give this up. Trust me. She's never going to give a shout out to Rick Astley. No, shout out. Yeah. Can I, uh, you know, Rick Astley had more than one hit. People forget that, but I don't together forever. First of all, you're talking to a guy who's turning 50 this year. Okay. I lived. I can think of more than that. I would take a strong, strong man. Do you take a strong start to man. It would take a strong, strong to never let you go.

What a voice. Thank you. Me or Rick Astley? If you bring Rick Astley here, I will join you. I will sit and talk to Rick and I will carry his stuff. I would welcome Rick. I had Gino Vanelli down here. Black cars.

Black cars look better in the shade. When Gino Vanelli came, did he have the shirt unbuttoned? Oh, the chest hair was everywhere. Listen, because you said black because you said black cars Randy I'm gonna see if I have this I did an episode about the Toronto Mike lexicon so I have a clip in there about that okay let's listen to just a moment of me and I think it's a funny moment since you mentioned black cars. I love it. Ask me the question we'll do wild horses. I was gonna actually because I tried to go in chronological order here. It's me and you in a flatbed truck A foot of red mornin' just my luck Yeah, in the middle of spring Now what does she want to know?

I want to know if you at the time regarded Black Cars as any sort of I joked that it's Don't Call It a Comeback Can we get off Black Cars, my god? There's only half an hour more on black cars before. We can we can move on to another cut from the same album here. I got more black cars questions. You know what, you're breaking my heart, Gino. Can we get off black cars? I'm gonna wake up in the middle of night tonight in a cold sweat. Did Gino really say that? You remind me of my parish priest. Get off of it, I said.

That's a great song. Why is he embarrassed about it? Didn't he write it? Because we might be similar vintage. Yes, of course he wrote it. But I think sort of like how Michael Landon is the guy from Little House on the Prairie to me and not the guy from, what was the show, Ponderosa? No, what was it called again?

Bonanza. Bonanza was a grocery store in my neighborhood growing up at like Dundas and Humber Crest area of Toronto, West San. West End. Okay. I digress, but I think because my first Gino anything was black cars on 680 CFTR, I couldn't get off it. Cause it's, I was kind of hyper focused on it. And I feel like maybe Gino felt he was more than just

black cars and I couldn't get off it. You had this other song and it had like a line in there about a night in Montreal or something? I just want to stop. Just a hundred percent. It was a big hit in the seventies, right? So I just want to stop is probably his biggest hit. Yeah. I think that's the, that was, but the Black Cars.

But at my age, like I'm home. Black Cars has the eighties production. Well, wait, wasn't Gino Vanelli from Montreal? Yes. But he was on your show, which is a Toronto show. Well, you know, these musicians travel and stuff, you know. He was in town for a while.

Well, I guess and Todd's here and he's from Coburg, so. Right. And Coburg, remind me, is that the place of the Big Apple? No, Big Apple's just east to us. We are Ontario's feel-good town. Ooh! Yeah. That's a title for you right there.

Right there. Is there somebody here, I'm gonna get CJ Chris Johnston. Is he from Colbert? He's from Colbert. Okay, so he came over here. I remember he was talking about being from Colbert. Yeah. Okay.

And is it Colburn that has the big apple? Yes. Yeah, that's the difference. Okay. And are you anywhere near where Wheels' dad is from? Next town over, Port Hope. Port Hope.

Greenwood Towers. Do they have a museum dedicated to Wheels' dad? No, but I drive by the Greenwood Towers every single day. Wow. And look over, and I'm like, yeah, that's where Wheels, they shot that, and that's when it was a functioning, now it's like a retirement thing,

but in those days it was the functioning hotel. I remember going there after the whole thing happened, like with wheels, the foaming of it, cause that was like our cool thing. Hey, we're going to greenwood towers tonight. Okay. Cool. My God. It was Mike and the drifters.

That was his band. Does Randy know what we're talking about? No idea. And can I just throw in no offense, but that original Degrassi, how depressing was that final like episode schools, schools, Todd, uh, Cam Gordon, who's an FOTM hall of fame, where it came over here and we, oh, I don't think he came over here. I think it was like remote, but we recorded a very lengthy deep dive into schools out.

There's an episode of Toronto, Mike devoted to schools out. It is the most depressing thing. It was the most depressing thing I've ever seen. What's her name is blind at the end of that thing. There's a dead family. He's off to jail. Yes. That's what they had. And the Caitlin and Joey like split up and they're done. You were fucking Tessa Campanelli. This is the episode that it was so depressing. Schools out was everything, Randy. I don't know how you missed it. Uh, can't believe you missed it. Okay. We'll move on here to other music. So I'm just gonna say, if you know, you can talk goalie. I've honestly never heard about that. Degrassi. I know Degrassi.

The original schools out though was just, oh my God. That's how they ended. So Degrassi had a finale that was a movie airing on CBC and it was called schools. Oh my God. Jarring. I'm still scarred. There are, uh, I'm sad to say I'm embarrassed that I've never seen it. Do yourself a favor in your podcast app of choice, find the schools out episode of Toronto mic'd and just listen to it. We bring the fun facts, you know, Gowans all over the soundtrack. We don't even have to wait. Basically we talk, we dive in, we analyze, we play clips. It's a big thing.

And there's also an episode with Caitlin andey separate episodes where we discuss schools out and cam walley came over when he was retiring from cp twenty four because he got into media because he was basically came across the filming of schools out and wondered what are these o p p cars here for and then found out that they were like used for the movie and then that was a business he got into. So it's all in the episode. I want you to do that again. The latest book from Randy Druzen is called between sorry, behind. I'm getting those titles mixed up because they're both so good.

They're interchangeable. What's your title for the third one? You're running out of goalie things. It's behind the mask. And that's a sequel to Between the Pipes. What's the third one going to be called behind the crease in the crease. I think there is already a book in the trees tending the net tending net. How about the lonely end of the ring? There you go. Only end of the ring. You know, come on. It was actually hip. We'll file

a copyright claim. I don't think you can copyright titles of songs. I don't think you can. Okay. I think I read that you can copyright a melody and lyrical. I don't think you can copyright titles of songs. I think you think you can. I think I read that. You can copyright a melody and lyrical. I don't think you can copyright titles of songs. I think you should. And again, I'm very tight with Jake gold. I'll take care of this for you, but you should call it lonely end of the rink. And then in the liner notes, just say, uh, to Toronto Mike who read the liner notes, I could do that. Okay. Done. And I recorded this. So it's binding.

I want to talk a little music here and I'm glad Todd's here too. So I'm going to switch, change channels for a moment here. I know I said you have nothing going on, Randy, so we can take a little longer than an hour, right? Are we going to decide which bands to talk about? I want to ask you about this band. This is some awful joke. Alright, I'm playing some KISS. Did you see, were you looking at my Facebook? Is that why you did this? An unnamed FOTM was looking at your Facebook and tipped me off.

And I loaded up, and I won't name this FOTM but I have read that Facebook post. You, Randy and Todd you might be in this story too I don't know we're gonna find out now. It's a very interesting story. And that's why when I said when you said hey Todd's here I'm like oh okay we've got this kiss song to introduce the story of you meeting Gene Simmons tell me the story. Well he's a big hockey fan so I'm joking. He's a tennis fan. But not a hockey fan. But Brian Gerstein who's an Apple team himself has sat beside or behind Gene Simmons at some Rogers Cup thing, a tennis tournament. Go on.

Well Todd's brother is a big Kiss fan and I think he bought a special package for Kiss's concert in Toronto. They'll sell you anything in that band. Including, including what was it a bass? And a casket. So there was, well that's for my brother for hopefully later on in life. What's your brother's name? My brother's name is Kent.

Okay, tell him Ridley Funeral Home will give him a deal. Perfect. So anyways, fair disclosure, I'm also a huge Kiss will give him a deal. Perfect. So anyways, I fair disclosure I'm also a huge kiss fan have been since growing up and So anyways, we'd met Jean before But this time when kiss comes to town you have the option as a fan You can purchase what they call meet-and-greet packages sure and so there was a Paul Stanley package Which you pay X amount you get a Paul sign guitar,

like the legit actual guitar. What's X amount? Like you don't be quiet. Are we talking like $2,000? Keep going. $5,000. Up. $10,000.

Less. $8,000. Right. A little less than that. Yeah. $7,500. But still think about that. Yeah.

Kiss is notorious for milking their fan base for every penny they have. They're savvy businessmen. Savvy. That's another word for it. So Gene also, he did the same thing with Gene that night and they were supposed to play here at the ACC or whatever, Scotiabank Center now? Scotiabank Arena. And they canceled the concert at like 3.30 because Paul was ill.

This was the final show. I remember the photo that he tweeted. He was on death's door. So my brother gets a phone call from Gene Simmons and his assistant saying, Hey, do you want to stop by unnamed hotel and have your meet and greet? You can't name the hotel that he's not at right now.

It was right next to the CBC building. How about that? Right next to the CBC. Go on the Google maps. And it starts with an I. It starts with an I the CBC building. How about that? Right next to the CBC. Go on Google Maps. And it starts with an I. It starts with an I. Intercontinental. Yeah. So it was a...

Actually, no, it was a Ritz-Carlton. It was a Ritz-Carlton. Sorry. Intercontinental is down the street. Can I ask though, Todd? He clearly didn't want to name that down. Are you worried you're going to... You wouldn't have believed the security around this Ritz-Carlton for us to get in.

Oh, yeah. Like when we walked in and we had our... Because you get the guitar or the bass and you can bring about four or five of your own items to get signed, right? Because, hey, there's no point in having Kiss posters or Kiss records unless you get the guys to sign them. Right.

You don't have to have that. So when we walked in with the stuff, you should have seen the hotel security just like descended on us two feet in. And prove, you should have seen the hotel security just like descended on us, two feet in. Wow. And prove who you are. What's the name of your contact? Da da da da.

This was heavy duty stuff. We were escorted up to a special room. They had the big spread out, all the food and all this. And kiss videos playing on the television like I was made for loving you. Of course. Of course. And when Gene Simmons walked in, Todd's brother almost passed out, he was so excited. Yeah.

But Randy, like, so what is it? Like, did he give you like 30 minutes or so? About that. Yeah, okay. And he's actually a very interesting person. I was surprised. We talked about, you know, politics, foreign news, that kind of thing.

And current affairs. So he's not all, cause there might be a perception out there that Gene Simmons wants to talk about Gene Simmons. No. No. No. We talked about it a lot of times. But you're here, you're here to just spell the myths.

Yeah, he asked a lot of questions about you, wants to know you, what are you here for? Which is how he ended up holding that cell phone with a picture of me dressed as him. Right. So I was like, let's get a picture. He's like, hey, any pictures you want? All that's like, hey, you've got that picture. So I took the picture and then the picture of him holding it. So it was cool. It was a, he's very friendly, approachable. Now somebody would argue while you're paying enough money that he should be. But I've met Gene a couple of times now,

and let me tell you, he does actually, he wants to hear your story. He wants to listen to you and he is very good at providing encouragement. Okay. Here's a, here's a little fun fact about me and Gene Simmons here. Okay. So, uh, the new owner of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, have you guys ever seen a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team at Christie Kitts?

Correct. Yeah. New ownership. So the same family owned this thing. Domenico family owned this thing forever. And the family sold it. And one of the owners is good friends with Gene Simmons. And I think I'm going to parlay this relationship into Gene Simmons making a Toronto Mike appearance. Like I think this is within the realm of possibility. So I can ask Gene if he remembers meeting you guys. And you can say your friends, Todd and Randy. Yeah. Were in here. So why not you?

He's going to, he's going to tell me all about you because he'll remember everything from the, the 30 minute chat here. He did. He was a little flirtatious too. So I was, He did make a comment too. I was, I was happy about that. Yeah. He did make the comment about which one of you is the lucky one that ended up married to this one. Listen, this guy's a player, man.

Oh, he's playing. Big time. Big time. Big time. You must be, I don't know, you're usually interviewing athletes, not rock stars, I suppose you're Andy, but you must be used to like the flirting, being a woman in sports media. Oh yeah.

I was, my agent once said to me, I should write a book about writing these books. Well that's what I open this with. Yeah. I've had experiences that like most hockey writers don't. I'm not gonna name names but I will say that I have been flirted with on occasion. Okay let me know if you get flirted with from St. Patrick. No, he wouldn't even talk to me. I think he knows, he just kind of intuited that I don't think he's the best ever. I think Hasek is and you know, Patrick doesn't like Hasek. One day I'm going to wear her down on this point. Never.

One way. I think the five years in Czech Republic has radicalized her in the Hasek camp. And I don't think she, well, then she got, she got to meet him too. So that didn't help. Yeah. He was also a very good interview. Yeah. I think he is interesting. He is an interesting person. And. He was also a very good interview. Yeah. I think he is interesting.

He is an interesting person and he, uh, we talked about the European union. We talked about Czech politics. He also plays chess. We spoke a little bit about that. So I was really impressed with him as a person and obviously as a goalie. Now in, in full fairness, if you want a quick little Patrick Waugh story that I got told. So the 93, they're playing LA in the final and he was driving in every day with Denny Savard and Denny was near the end of his career and he had never won the cup. He finally gets to the final. And of course he's playing Wayne Gretzky and he's got PTSD because Gretzky's eliminated him from the playoffs literally every year of his career. And he's all worried and Patrick's driving in and

Denny and he goes, what's wrong? And then he goes, Oh, I'm so close. And just to get this close and maybe not win. And Patrick looked at him and he's like, Danny, do you think a team with Kelly Rudy is the goalie is going to beat team with Patrick was the goalie? I love this story because the swagger for the sw. And he's talking about himself in the third person, which also helps.

Do you think maybe he gave that same speech to Ray Bork? I don't, it's Patrick. If you talk to guys, that's Patrick, the swagger, the confidence, the whole. Ray Bork would be in the same boat. He's right. The same boat. We made it this far.

This is great. Yeah. And it's like the end of his career. And it's like, he's like, you know, Patrick was your goalie, like relax. So I asked Patrick it's like, he's like, you know, Patrick, why is your goalie like relax. So I asked Patrick later on about that. And he, to Patrick, he goes, Todd, goaltending for me is the guy at the other end. I give up less goals than him. I win pretty simple.

So, so the ultimate team player, well, the team wins. It's a byproduct in hockey. That is the one position where you don't need to be a team player. Right? Like, I feel like, absolutely. I love that story. Just before we wrap though, I'm going to

play another jam for Randy How are you feeling right now, Randi? I am feeling exuberant. It's like a blast of adrenaline. Yeah. Eddie Van Halen, you can't listen to that and be indifferent. My heart rate's sky high right now. You know, I met someone yesterday who told me he thought Sammy Hagar era was the best. I almost walked away from the table.

I've met those people too. Who are these people? People who came of age when right now was the big MTV hit. So Van Halen's first album, I think is one of the best albums, one of the best rock albums of all time. One of the first times that after we first met, like one of the first times I think we went out for breakfast or something and the Van Halen question came and it was for me and I did we didn't really know each other that well. You said Gary Sharon. No I was like I was like listen I got a pretty important question here and this

literally could determine the future course of you and I even talking. I said simple answer Dave, Sammy and of course she went well of course Dave I'm like whoof. There was nothing after Dave. And of course I was like perfect answer because if you had given the other one nice meeting you great I can't talk to you again. I bet you some of your listeners would disagree. For sure and they'd be wrong. There are people out there who will yeah who who can't drive 55. Listen Sammy Hagar sang running with the devil in beach shorts and sandals. That's not the way you sing that song. It's unacceptable.

You're preaching to the choir on this one because all my favorite Van Halen songs are David Lee Roth songs. Of course. Yeah, I know. And I think Jump is not one of the best. That might be a generational thing too. No, but Jump doesn't have Eddie on it, right? Doesn't Jump just keyboard?

He's playing keyboards. Yeah, he's playing keyboards. And apparently David Lee Roth didn't want that song out he didn't like it it wasn't Van Halen song I mean it wasn't their sound wasn't their sound yeah and of course that's how it works and because you've been in many a hockey arena you you hear jump all the time yeah hockey arena do still I'm sure I'm sure that's like Gino Vannelli if you ask Dave about jump right we're gonna talk about jump some more forget it right I'm sure Dave look can we get off jump over and no Dave will

talk about jump but none of the other anything Dave will talk he will talk a lot he was a pandemic pair pair damn paramedic paramedic what paradigm a paramedic I know he was when Howard Stern was leaving terrestrial radio and going to a serious exam I do remember tuning in and they were talking about David Lee Roth as the replacement for that show. Yeah. He would have been good. Like he is a talker. But he must have given it a go.

He does rub people the wrong way though. He did. He gave it a go, but it's just, it's like too much. It's too much, right? You're filling the shoes of Howard Stern, right? I don't think it's going to work. But then I did remember he became a paramedic, but I liked his solo stuff too. Yeah, early, the early solo stuff. We even talked with Gene Simmons about David Lee Roth that night. That's right, cause you know, cause Kiss, cause Kiss, Gene Simmons discovered Van Halen. Yeah, Gene, he'll tell you that.

He discovered them and we're talking about Dave. Yeah, sure. He'll tell you that. And Dave, he was like, and he made the point about how Dave, uh, he goes, people don't know it now, but uh, back, uh, back when I saw him, Dave was the best front man around, not even close. He was the best. He was the best. I still think he's one of the best front men ever. Yeah, yeah.

Maybe he's up there with Robert Plant, Freddie Mercury. It's a great discussion. I mean, none of them all Mick Jagger, frankly, but you know, we can talk about that later. Yeah, Mick Jagger, not bad, not too shabby. Still rocking it in his 80s. He's still rocking in the free world, but that is a great discussion to have a front man,

because you'll get, depending on your generation, some people will say, you know, Eddie Vedder is the greatest front man, you got get, depending on your generation, some people will say, you know, Eddie Vedder is the greatest frontman. You got, there's some great front people. Freddie Mercury. Chris Cornell wasn't bad. No, I loved Chris Cornell. And it's such a unique thing to be that focus, the person who's the focus of all the attention.

Like Jim Morrison, right? Yeah, Jim Morrison, like the whole, like the be that, takes a certain type of person. So the difference to me is that, so when you talk Van Halen, like the name is Van Halen, like the guitarists band, right? So David Lee Roth is like a hired gun leads, and we see that they have hits after David Lee Roth and then with a Gary Sharone comes in, right? But they just weren't the same, they didn't have the same oomph, in my opinion. I can't name a Gary Sharone fronted Van Halen song.

How about Running With The Devil, Unchained, Ain't Talkin' About Love? Well they had one single, they had the song Without You, which is actually a pretty good tune because the guitar is amazing. The guitar is amazing, it sounds like a m- but Eddie was always interesting when he played guitar. But he played. Yeah, but Van Halen- It was a little bit less interesting to me. I think Van Halen wouldn't have been what it was if it wasn't for David Lee Roth, despite Eddie's, he's part of the, she's part of the whole thing. They kind of broke big when MTV was just starting out and David Lee Roth was made for MTV without a doubt here now.

So rank these bands in order of your favorite to least favorite. This is for Randy, cause I didn't know you were coming Todd or I would have done more home. But, but okay. Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. How would you rank these three bands? I think the Beatles are kind of like comfort food. They're like macaroni and cheese. You know, I'm so familiar

with the Beatles and I know what every noodle tastes like. So when I want to when I want to feel comfortable or familiar, I'll turn on the Beatles. What's your favorite Beatles song? That's a tough one because it depends on the mood. Right. I like Across the Universe. I think that's a beautiful song. I also like Helter Skelter. So again, Beatles for every mood, right? I'd have to say Led Zeppelin a little bit higher than Van Halen. Okay, so it's Beatles 1, Led Zeppelin 2, Van Halen 3. And Stones 4.

And Stones 4. Okay, so you're a big kind of a classic rock fan here. Yeah, I'm kind of a hard rock because three of those bands. I would think you are a bit young for like in terms of having like, I mean, Beatles are like my my twenty two year old is into the Beatles. Yeah, they're kind of evergreen. Same with Led Zeppelin. I mean, actually, I'll tell you, I was introduced to Led Zeppelin when I was a bus girl at Ponderosa because I went to empty my bin in the kitchen.

Yeah, all the guys that were playing Led Zeppelin know the brown bomber Left them too. Okay, and I'm like that is amazing in my in my in my high school Oh, I don't know a great nine or ten or something People were passing around Led Zeppelin for like it was a doobie. You know what I mean? It's like four was the one everybody started with and then you kind of worked from there Did you ever see a fast times at Ridgemount High? Oh my God. I own the DVD. I know the scene where he's like, when you're with a woman in a car,

play Zeppelin for and the next scene they have him driving, you know, through the town with a Zeppelin for. I love it when the DEMONE, I think it was selling the cheap trick tickets. And he's going to, you know, he's going through, I want you to want me. And he's going through trying to sell the cheap trick. And I saw it. I finally saw a cheap trick open for Pearl Jam at Moles and Park and Barry in 1998. Oh, that would have been a good show.

It was a great show. It's different to Mo when he said the party is where you are. Yeah. Where the best there's no better place to be than here. Like, you know what? I took that as a personal philosophy. I've often like, no, there's no better place to be right here, right now. That's right. That was low blow, low blow. Low blow.

Randy, I loved your Toronto mic debut. How was it for you? It was fun. I'll come back with a tambourine and sing to you and I'll outshine Gino Vannelli. Will you come back and talk to me about Black Cars for 90 Minutes? I'll sing Black Cars for you. How about that? Please.

Aren't you writing me a song? Please, please, we just want to stop. Oh boy. When we talk about that night in Montreal or whatever that was. That was a big hit, but that was 70s, right? So you know, we're not quite, we're talking 80s Gino, you got to go back to black cars. And of course the song it's funny because he came over. He has a big hit from the eighties that shares a title of a Rolling Stones hit wild horses. Okay. There's a heat rolling. As you know, you're rolling stones fans. There's a big jam from rolling

stones called wild horses couldn't drag. And then Gino's got wild horses could not drag me away. I remember that from you. So I asked him, I'm like, like it's not a cover, it's a different song, but it's similar enough. Like is it influenced? And he says he had no idea there was a Rolling Stone song called Black Cars. I'm the fuckers. My God, Wild Horses. He has no idea. Geno doesn't strike me as a kind of guy who listens to that kind of music. I could be wrong. I just want to stop. You're going to tell you how it feels. There was also, remember it wasn't a, you too, who's going to ride your wild

horses. There's been a lot of wild horses songs. Do you want to come back and kick out, uh, Todd, you can kick out the, uh, wild horses jams with me. Well, I mean, Hey, one, I can show off my music nerd, them by going, everybody should check out the flying burritos brothers version of wild horses, which came out before the stones version. Wow. So, but he works in a record store part time.

Do you? Yes. In Coburg? Yes. That's cool. Zap records, Coburg been there since 1991. Wow. Yes.

I heard the last sound, the record man, which was in Belleville, I want to say just closed. They're trying, they're trying to, it's kind of a hit or miss. The owners are trying to sell it But yeah, I think they have a special section just for Donna summer But yeah, no zap records in Coburg all your vinyl needs everything been there since 91 I just want to shout out a book I loved and I also enjoyed the movie, but I want to shout out high fidelity Yeah, John Cusack. That was a great movie. Yeah, that catches it

Yeah, that's cuz I read Nick Hornby and I read it and I'm like, oh, like the listing, the record store vibe. And it's like, so you whatever you're doing for Zap Records, live in my dream. Yeah, and it's a little easier now with the phones, right? Back in the day, you used to have to know, like if somebody came in and said, I've heard this song, it's two lines. What is it? You didn't have like the computer, You know, you didn't have Google.

We're old enough to remember that. So you actually had to know the songs. Now it's easy, right? You just Google it in and there it is. I have an interesting trivia fact for you. Give me that trivia fact. You know the Sugarhill Gang? Of course.

Apparently the name for the genre, hip hop, came from that song because people. Hip hop, hippie. That's right, people didn't know the name of the song. They'd walk into the record store and say you know that song I want to buy it hip-hop hip and then hip-hop was born. You got any more trivia before I ask you to drop a social media channel or someplace we can learn more about you? You got any more trivia? Well I will say David Lee Roth's father was an ophthalmologist.

How's that for a random piece of trivia? I'd say that's a fun fact. And I know Daryl Sittler's height, weight, the year he was drafted, because he was my childhood hero. You were a big, you're a big Daryl Sittler fan. Oh yeah. Amazing. Todd, we'll start with you before we close with the star of the show here. If people want to like find out more about like your next book or like where would you want

them to go on the worldwide web? I think they have to call his mother. They gotta go to Zap Records. They gotta go to, I'm, I don't have my own website. I'm not as big a deal as Randy is. But I do have like my Facebook page is pretty thing. I also run a Facebook page called Hockey Books, which has over 4,000 members to it. But yeah, I'm on Facebook, I'm easy to find. My name is not common and books can be found on Amazon. So remind us of your name.

Todd, T-O-D-D, and Dano, D-E-N-A-U-L-T. Okay, go follow him on Facebook. And where should we follow you, Randi? I'm on Twitter, X, I suppose now. And I also have a website with my last name, druzin.com, D-R-U-Z-I-N dot com. And I have a sports website that will be coming up probably within a week that will have some embarrassing photos of me playing hockey as a child.

What do you think of, I wanted to ask you about this. And so before I play us out, your thoughts on the PWHL. I think it's amazing. I went to the game recently at Scotiabank Arena. And there was more, I was at the Leafs game the night before. There was more people there for the women's game than there were for the Leafs game. And a bit more enthusiastic crowd. Very enthusiastic.

You know, it was great also to see a lot of little girls there. They came with their team jerseys and just seeing that really touched my heart because when I was a kid and I'm playing hockey, it was just unheard of for girls to do that. Right. Now, okay. So just curious, do you believe this is sustainable because you often get that honeymoon period with something new and shiny and exciting. So yeah, there is a lot of love for this league right now and they've sold all the tickets they could sell for this particular for the Toronto franchise. But is it sustainable?

Do you think in five years we'll maintain this enthusiasm and grow this game for women? I think you're right about the honeymoon phase. I think interest will wane a little bit, but I still think there's enough interest based on what I've seen and heard, at least from women and girls to sustain a league. So I feel like, yes, and if you watch the game, it's really surprisingly fast. So I feel like they're gonna win some male fans as well. Awesome, Todd, any thoughts on the PWHL before we close out here, some lowest of the low?

I think it's long overdue. I think the key to the success though is, it seems like there's a very serious money behind it,, which you have to have deep pockets, deep pockets. I like the fact they went six teams, like, you know, sometimes the mistake is you see these things expand too quickly. I like that it's deep pockets. I like that they've got structure in place. I think it's just got to give it time, right? But it seems like it's a little bit more business oriented in a positive way than a fly by night to me. They need team nicknames too. But that's coming next season, right? Hopefully. Well, I thought,

I think I read that they didn't want to like wait. They wanted to get going while the strike weather, the iron's hot. So I think next season nicknames are coming. I think there was some controversy. They were going to be the Toronto torch at some point, but that has sort of, I've heard Toronto Randy's is coming. Wouldn't it be amazing? I heard the Toronto Randy Rivers. I think I need to be GM.

Toronto Ponderosa's. Okay. But one last question here. One last question. Who is Randy River? I don't know who this Mercurial Randy River is, but I'm happy to have. Does he or she have a Wikipedia entry? If I had Randy River clothing, I would wear it in here.

I just don't. All right. Thank you, Todd for your, I would wear it in here. I just don't. All right. Thank you, Todd for your, you technically made your Toronto mic debut and you are getting some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes. So thanks for dropping by Todd. Thanks for driving. And he was a great driver on the way here.

Okay. I hope he's a going to be a great driver on the way back as well. And Randy, nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you. Long overdue and we'll get you back here. Maybe you'll come back and kick out some jams, but I enjoyed this conversation. Yeah, I'll come back with my tambourine anytime. And that brings us to the end of our 1,447th show.

You can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky. I'm at Toronto Mike. And much love to those who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all Monday when my special guest is Jane Harbury. And drink some goodness from a tin If it's my UI check, ask, just come in Ah, where you been? Because

Everything is coming up Rosy and gray Yeah, the wind is cold But the snow is so warm, it's me today And your smile is fine It's cold but the snow's so warm, it's me today And your smile is fine and it's just like wine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green