Hello, everybody, welcome to Episode 295 of Spin Chipwich, presented by Pink Whitney from our friends at New Amsterdam Vodka here in the barstool sports podcast Family.

This is also the last episode we're doing on this junket to Boston, because you've been here for three plus weeks now.

Years. Yeah, I guys like I called the last episode MCI Charlestown. How was your time here? This is basically our last night here.

It was good, man. It was a little funky being out of my routine in Phoenix, given we've been quarantine's for so long. But, you know, it was great getting together with you guys, you know, shared a lot of laughs, especially on the golf course, on the boat trip. Well, not so many laughs on the boat trip, but, you know, we got a lot of things accomplished.

We had some funny clips like the warthog from the Bears, the electric chairs, which went viral.

So, yeah, it's been a good time. And it was good seeing you guys. You know, I love you.

And it's great when we're together for people who are wondering when when Bush talks about he's out of his routine.

He's been to the same place every single morning to get the same exact breakfast sandwich. He then goes and does the exact same thing in his room, throws himself around it, and then orders the exact same thing from dinner.

Every single night I go, Dude, are you not sick of that place? No, I'm I'm I'm a creature of habit.

I'm like, I am too, but not the same meal every single day. So I understand you're going crazy, but you've kind of put yourself in a big time, like mini bubble right around this house.

Yes, correct. Yeah, I'm. This doesn't understand that it's it's in Scottsdale, he doesn't really get recognized everywhere all the time. No, he gets a little bit. Everyone sees who he is and then like, dude can be a little over.

I get the social anxiety, gets poppin a little bit or I'm like, I just smoked the fat one. And now you're coming up saying hi to me.

Well, people coming over, they don't know if you smoked fat one and possibly possibly you microdots spasming. And again. And then the funny thing is, I think I'm the one guy maybe an hour as well that could be like upis on that right now. Yeah, yeah.

I kind of just I kind of just ride the wave. And, you know, another thing, too, is it was great getting to know our videographer. Our new one, Chase came over from Seattle. And then eight days after he was in NYC, this all happened. So this is the first time we've been able to get together. He helped us film three sandbaggers. He did the boat video. He's going to be editing all that.

So we're adding to our team as well.

Laughs And he I don't know if you guys saw that.

We chirped him first appearance on the show, but then all of a sudden a video comes out of what he would do to me on the ice. Now, I can't trip the guy anymore. So respect to chase. Nice getting to know you. Correct?

He's not. He's a videographer and team security as well. Yeah, except from now on.

So we've added another member and fucking rights chaser. Stick taps. Stick voice. Yeah, not too many. Not too many.

Three weeks in this house for us is definitely baptism by like a five alarm fire, not just baptism by fire, because it's a lot of like live with three fucking strangers essentially.

Well, I didn't know RJ was moved. Yeah. All right, guys, let's get this lives point nine miles from here and has slept here for twenty days. So the fact that you're like, I didn't realize how crazy it'd be, like you could go home.

All right, you could just tell me you love me back. Yeah. That's just like making it that obvious. Yeah.

Gives me a little break. Hey, don't forget we've all been on the pandemic orders here. Mastella I was I've been basically cooped up as well, so I was a little bit of a respite for myself. With all due respect to my old lady, I love her.

But, you know, I'm sure she was just a little alone time. Yeah, I'm sure she didn't she didn't miss me all that much either because I was getting texts like every other day. I they're just so busy on CBS, like they're just so busy.

I'm like, yeah, probably there's like just that the breakfast burrito place. Yeah. That's about it.

No, but did we say how you how you there you mentioned how you mentioned like people in Boston are just miserable that I said that on another show. Yeah.

Oh. So this is like first day I say maybe I was like second or third day.

I came here like two people are miserable here.

I'm like, yeah. What do you have you seen how I live. My how I act was I'm like, what do you mean though?

He said, well I going to Starbucks and I'm usually just like they are, you know, people are just giving you the death sticks around here. It's like don't say a word.

But in my natural brew, because I fucking ask yourself, oh yeah. Because I said hi for crying out loud.

They give you the dust there. And and I'll tell you what, after they are rude, I give them a bit of a stare down. But I was so focused on the stare down I'd actually forgot my phone there.

So walk of shame.

So I'm talking like the look back where I'm staring this lady down for being a complete bitcoin to me. And I'm kind of like, jeez, like like I'm being friendly, like, why are you so miserable?

So I made it so I can only imagine.

So I was too embarrassed to go back in. When I forgot my phone, I made Brenly going, Oh well you should have been.

I know you have to eat that. She knew right away too, right? When I walked in, I got your phone. Here you go, douche bag.

Yeah, well, I. I was like my Curb Your Enthusiasm moment where I was. I stared her down.

People are better than you give them credit for though, because people are happy about what? It's not like Scottsdale.

You're going to see a video on Twitter. I'm just hopping the counter in a fucking Starbucks going toe to toe with somebody because he didn't say hi, like loudly enough back. You whispered, Hello, uncle. You want to see teeth, motherfucker?

He thought you gosh, he thought you lost your kid. My Uncle James, he's like, what he loses kid or something like, nah, I just forgot his phone at Starbucks.

He logit like that. You lost. Yeah I know. That's my lifeline man. Oh absolutely.

You did mention the fishing trip, so probably a good time to mention our guest will be bring it on a little later. Todd Fedoruk. Yeah. Played over 500 games in the NHL, mostly with the Philadelphia Flyers. A great interview.

That was it was raw. Yeah, it was very raw. He's a I had never met Todd and we had a blast. The painting was a gift.

Todd and I just actually loved being around him when he came in.

Right when I met him. I'm like, this guy. He comes in hot. He came in hot.

He came down the stairs of this house guy. So I show up and I'm just sitting there and I'm like, Donny does was here. Yeah.

And I'm, you know, shooting the shit.

And all of a sudden I hear thud and he's like, I'm like, what the fuck is more Fedoruk? He's like, I hit my head again.

Foch I was like, whoa, we're about to interview this guy but we got down to his career, his life and a lot of things. I think people will really enjoy you.

He was a tough SLB guys. This guy could chuck them and he had a nasty injury that he talks about and you know, just another guy with a great message. Yeah, supporters here waking up to. It was like quarter to seven. I was sleeping right there. That was two feet away, bang on the door.

Now, I didn't know he was coming here. I was I open. I'm like, who are you? He's like, What's up, man? I'm tired. I was expecting Donny does legit thought, like I was getting home invaded for about 30 seconds. I was like, Oh, fritjof, yeah, come on in. Fucking make yourself at home. Scared the shit out of me.

Where did you talk. You had them before you answer the door. I might have put a blanket on top, so I just didn't know. I don't know if it's going to Pearl Harbor by one of these guys.

Again, was Pearl Harbor me not being surprised out of the blue.

Oh, this video bombed. All right. Maybe. Yeah, exactly. Didn't know what was going on.

Well, anyway, we got it over my head. Not the first time. Won't be the last, y'know, but it was more of a play on the joke that, you know, Pearl Harbor. So I used to use it. So, yeah. I guess you're not so smart after all.

I think you just flipped it if I flip the script on you and went over my head.

All right. Well, now we're all on the same page, I guess. No Evros over.

We're not we're never got the situation. Never got shit over my head on this part. Honestly, I know it's a phrase people. It's an old wrestling phrase these days on the old WWF fucking Pearl Harbor as a verb. Yeah.

Oh, remind me to tell you the funny Wingfoot story, what U.S. Open is this week. Well, I kind of I kind of want to hear it now.

Oh, no, no. We got to get this. We got to go talk. And like I just said, what got his wish? He's got at least one in New York Islanders game this season. Tuesday night, I win two to one and a double overtime game to force Game six again. I know it's fun to a double overtime game, not the most thrilling, but the islanders, I think they had like twenty shots go after regulation.

Just the grind, just the grind of a battle. But then fucking your boy, Jordan Ebele.

I don't know how he gets that open in order to. How does he get that all fucking our boy shot. He whiffed one at the point. Yep. Tough bounce and shout. He's played great.

He's played that's that's something that that it's just shit luck man.

We talked about I think we were doing the behind the scenes or something. We were just talking to chase her about the cup just being it's like all luck.

It's really crazy to see. And we'll go into the other series. But last night, that's just a bad break. There is there is not one thing a coach could be mad at shouting careful on that play.

And now you got to give credit because he made a sick play to just kick it off the wall to himself, step around them than the great pass and every man.

He's he's really as clutch as they come as a player, you go back to the world junior heroics that he continually pulled the two years in a row with Canada, he scores this fucking highlight reel insane goal, his first game as an oiler. I was on the I was on the bench for that one, but I think I picked up a couple hours and probably went to Apple's first game of that year.

Thank you.

And he's just been a really good player. It's funny I called that he wasn't going to resign there. Thanks. And then he ended up being there and he loves it. And so I'm happy for him. Now, I'm going to let you go into the game because I get some stats after to make sure that the Tampa Bay Lightning fans aren't going to have to worry.

So before the game, Johnny Boy Chuck, it was announced that he would be polite, so. Well, so am I fucking right. It's like, you know, this guy's back here and that's a big bounce for that lineup. And like, you know, when you just lost the last game, you're down three one. Getting an injection like that type of guy. I think it helps the room out, helps the morale a little bit.

You know, a couple clicks, boys, not too many, not too many saying that we just did.

And like early on blocks, a shot gets it right in the gotan. I'm thinking I know that feeling when you know you're coming off an injury or you're maybe even still injured and you decide to play and you're like, yeah, I'm just hoping this kind of goes one of those games where, you know, I don't get dinged up at all. Nice free flowing game. No E'Twaun right in the fucking bellybutton so I know it's playoffs.

You almost want that. That's how you're going to get into it. I don't think he like hated that part. He's like fuck but you know you're in it right.

So then I think you're in the of three shifts later he ends up fucking taking a klaper right off his, his boot and breaks escape plate. So he's fucking sitting around in the middle. Yeah. He's trying to like, you know, screwed himself off.

So I'm trying to see cut this guy just got back, you know, that type of grinder type and he's got to put up with that in the first period. But he looked he looked like he fit right in after that tough, tough bounce off the start. But Varlamov he was I mean, he had a funny clip after the game diving into the pile. You know, he he had a great bounce back game. I mean, he's he's been fairly solid this series, given what he dealt with.

I mean, 37 shots from Tampa last game, I thought that they controlled the play and I thought Tampa deserved to win. But that's fucking how the islanders roll.

Another thing, they they end up tying up the game one one, and then they should have gone ahead Tampa. But this is why I'm OK with the rule existing and I don't know how the fucking refs missed this one. Piquet was offside by, I think, twenty feet like it was a Krider offside.

Yeah. Twenty feet being a generous QST. Yeah. Might have been, it was the most obvious offside rider was like offside, offside. And he can't talk you know, he just say that was his first work, that's how he learned it by seeing how offside backout was.

Yes.

That's I mean that tells you how much this is so interesting to see how they'd miss that ball.

They did. And that's one of those situations where it's like too obvious.

I don't I don't necessarily like the rule because I do feel like it slows down play and like in most cases, the ice skates hovering over it or it's like a millimeter or an inch.

OK, how about my idea then for something like that? League buzzes down, the guy gets on the horn, the referee goes, they go, no, go, and you don't even spend one second or they can even, like, announce in the arena. No.

Then you're going to have that quick. You're going to have to have constantly guys looking over video. Nobody to.

Like last night, like last night, like I'm saying, once they review it right, just be like don't make them go to the video or anything, just like that, obviously, just cause it's not a goal.

I thought like I mean, in some cases, what if there's like a minute and a half sustained pressure, like you're going to have to wait to rewind the tape and like, you've got to get all that done? I think they have people that are like I think people are watching it live and they got other guys that they stop and watch.

Here's why I'm on board with that. If they don't have enough people to do it now, they should and they can hire people and create more jobs.

So genius idea with genius fucking idea so that that negates the goal one one and then it ends up going to otes. So credit the islanders. And I got a feeling.

So you're feeling. But here's another thing.

Point doesn't play in game five. That's that far dude. What's going on with point. They got no Stamkos, they got no point. That's two of their best three forwards out of the fucking lineup.

And then we're not going to get into Dallas yet. But Jesus Christ, they just keep getting some decent bounces.

Listen, listen. I personally, this is just me throwing it out there. I think that points banged up. He was questionable in game four. He played at a huge goal. Yeah, right. I think it's like we're up three one. Let's not play you tonight. You get a little extra rest.

We're going to try to close him out tonight without you. And then, you know, you get a couple extra days and then they're also taken.

We got two more games to do it. So I'm very surprised if he's not in next game, then you start thinking he could be out long term if he doesn't play game six.

You are you are in one. Correct. And in an unusual case, and given it's in the bubble and you assume that the players and everybody inside there wants to go home, is if they were to close out in game five, they would have been starting up on Thursday when this. Well, I guess we're in Thursday now because that's when you guys are listening to it.

So they're thinking, well, Myntra, will you say, man, yo, pass the Jay, bro, fuck.

Now, I lost my train of thought. I don't know what I knew you would not exactly why I did it. You were talking about how tonight was going to be the start of the season.

So they're probably thinking, hey, if we're able to close on five, at least we get him the couple extra days depending on what it is. So but like you said, now that it's going to six, if we don't see point again, you're thinking, OK, did he aggravate something, then try to come back too soon and then really aggravate it like this is a guy. Given with what Dallas is throwing at teams and how they're able to just keep finding ways to win, if you're Dallas, you're probably a lot less confident not having a point and not having Stamkos in lineup, although Stamkos started practicing with the team, I believe so.

There's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

OK, yeah, OK, but. The since 2000 right when the flyers did it. Every single team that's been up three one in the conference finals has closed the series. They've they've they've ended it. It's 16 times in a row, so ended it in five.

No. One, one, one. I'm saying you got two more games. If points out. Yeah, you start like thinking like it could happen. They got Wesolowski Kutuzov playing so well, future of his game is so suck.

I thought he got hurt the other night was a bit of a scare. I mean, he's just a snapshot too out there, which we've mentioned a bunch of times.

So I. Tampa Bay has never they've never lost the series when they held a three one lead. And granted, you could say, well, at some point it's going to happen.

It's not going to happen this year. And part of the reason is Vasilescu. I mean, they lost last night.

How good was he still? Yeah, it's it's it's Tampa. Dallas. It's going to be glorious when the islanders lose. But at least, yeah, we get a little bit more excitement in a game six.

What was one other thing? All right.

What are you got on the series based? I was going to add Alex Stamkos was spotted practicing shooting around. I don't know how close he is to returning once again. Valla, AVL, I'm off. What would you say, bitch?

Dirty. I got it written down, I think. Yeah, 36 saves. Yeah. He had a great night again, boys. You guys pretty much cover it all. I mean, I'm looking for a game six. The more the merrier. I know you probably don't want, but I love a game seven man.

I mean, I'll be very nervous for top of this goes seven for the simple fact. Well, especially if we mentioned of points not back, but just. I don't know, man, that mental warfare of like they're like how we had the three one lead. Are going to blow it. I don't know. You think that they're battle tested and they're ready to go. John Cooper said that, you know, we've dealt with adversity in this playoff before, which I don't know.

I don't think to this extent and going against an islanders team. But yeah, we'll see.

Actually, I did have a question, and this is from ignorance, not picking on anybody that played the goal that we should or should should should have stayed with him or did he do the right thing by going so he like he was kind of like caught flat footed.

So it wasn't like he was playing a usual two on one. He's kind of like skating the same direction they are. He was like forward skating and like he ends up going over Lee. He certainly could have tried to kind of give the goalie the shooter. That's what you always want to do, playing a normal two on one.

Give the goalie shooter and just guarantee that the pass won't get through you for a tappin.

So it was so fast. It happened so quick. They said that when Chaton Kirk whiffs Saga Chevies in the middle of the blue line, Leighs off and he's just standing there. So he's kind of chasing that play.

It was it's amazing how instinctive it is in some cases where. Like a lot of guys in that case will, they'll fake to go to them and then go to the other guy because most of the time they say give the shooter to the goalie. But if you feel you've caught him in the midst of a scandal where you're able to take a stab at that thing and like not fully commit, you try to do it. And it was just a great pass.

Yeah, no, definitely not taking credit away. And it was right off Kabbalistic. So, yeah. Interested. There was fucking one other thing that I wanted to talk about in that game. Come on Jackie O.

Oh just Hedeman. Jesus Christ. Ethe goal the playoffs Frank. This fucking guy's all of these nonsense really is. And he's just picking corners to it's pleasure to watch this guy play.

That was you know what that was, that was at the all star game when the when the defenseman gets to skate into one like Shewell but was kind of rolling too.

Yeah. Well OK so yeah. Add another cap in the feather then.

Good luck putting that cap in the feather or what they say or they say the feather in the cap. I think you said cap in the feather would be near impossible.

That's good. What's the busway way wouldn't it. Game six Thursday night, eight o'clock tonight. If you listen to the show, the day had dropped out west. The stars wrapped up the Kamble conference in five games after Dennis Glorianna, ninth of the playoffs, three thirty six. And Otey gave Dallas a three two victory. Very tough loss for Vegas. They had a two, not the lead. Early in the third they blew it goes by Jamie, Ben and Joel giving Jamie Ben.

OK, and now the guy that was. Oh well. Kibbie Ramtha a race Corke at this point you got to feel terrible for Zach Whitecloud. I mean, he's not really it wasn't your typical Puckle, the basketball.

It's a desperation play, just trying to bat it away and such of such bad luck.

I felt awful for the kid, man. I don't I don't know, I mean, you're going to get 50 50 on this rule, I think it sucks that somebody's season ended because, like, there was no intent there to for it to go over like that. But but I also get the other standpoint of, you know, they're trying to create more offense with if you can't make plays, you're going to get penalized for it. So you see Revo consoling them after and just with the expectations of that team.

And you saw that quote right after the game. Riley Smith said this is far and above the most high skilled team I've ever been on. Anything less than the Stanley Cup is a major disappointment and. I mean, I mean, you saw it in in periods and in some games, like I mean, I think one game, they shot them by 13 and one game I think it was 17. And, you know, they controlled a lot of the play.

They were seemed to be getting a little bit more of the power plays, at least early on. But this Dallas team, man, they're just. Especially to close it out in five to just even more odd, but they just they're so galvanized right now and they're playing for each other and in a situation where they're in the bubble and I know it's hell for these guys, this is like they're going on two and a half months here and they're losing their minds.

But that, like, team camaraderie is just kind of taking it to a new level. And the fact that they're just able to keep playing these games off, like when do you see Vegas blow to go lead in the third? And the minute they fucking smell blood, they pounce.

And I, I was I keep getting bent over on the Jamie Bean thing. It's like he just he's a playoff performer, man. He's he's he's one of the only guys out there with no visor on.

He's standing up to everyone, him and stone barking at each other. He's just not backing down. And it's like it's cool to see.

I thought when these guys were coming into playoffs, they were going to be like they started the regular season where they were one in seven to start their struggle and they were struggling and right out of the gate, even in the round robin and early in that series against fucking Calgary, like people forget they were they were 12 seconds from going down.

Three one. No, they found a way radula boom gets the tire, they win that game. Then all of a sudden, you know, with Kucuk being out and it's you know, it's a testament to that group.

These older guys, I think, realized this is probably their last kick. The can it's it's hard to get to even this point.

And they've been what they've been dealing with.

And like being in this bubble, losing losing the cup finals, I know from experience is so heartbreaking to lose this year is fucking 100 times.

They should give them a consolation ring like these guys have.

They are. So imagine being away from your kids this long. This is a fucking grind. And I'll tell you their last year's blues.

I think I said this at some point on this show. They are similar to last year blues.

And you remember that they got robbed. They're not beating the blues. When Jamie Ben had the Binnington made that amazing save on the wraparound. Yeah.

So you've seen what they and listen, I think through four games against Colorado, they'd given up fifteen goals.

They gave up, what, six goals in the first four games to Vegas. It's just I'm so impressed by what they're able to do.

And like you realize that when you have three defensemen who can log 25 minutes, Haskett, and be in the best overall Klingberg, I can't pump this guy's tires enough. He's the as the best, most perfect shot for tips and rebounds from the point. And then when he wants to shoot to score, he is a cannon, but he just flicks these rosters and he had to assist in the clincher. And then, SLN, those fucking legit, that guy plays like a lot of hard minutes.

Yeah, he's a nice place, so solid and nobody really knows much about him. Kind of similar like ecoATM in Nashville, right, like they're like really good, but quiet.

And I just think that when Dallas has guys going and you mentioned the veterans, like when they score the goal, there's a video I wish I remember because I couldn't find a show you.

I wish I remember the Twitter feed. So I'm doing no one any good. I'll try to describe the video.

It's a camera that's looking down. Dallas is bench, so you can't see the ice. It's solely looking down their bench and they're all standing up because you know that play. There's a lot of pressure on the power play goal. Granoff scored and they score on the bench scores. So that's exactly like you think they would. And they all hop on the bench and one guy stays. It's Cogliano who's been in the league a long time. We've talked about a bunch good friend of mine played in Edmonton and he's standing there and it's just like he's standing there.

Sheer joy. You could tell he's screaming. He's so fired up him and one of the coaches, you know, pounded out and then he jumps over the boards. It's like the passion this team has now granted, who wouldn't have that passion if you're going to a cup final?

But they've been in this for the long haul. Jamie Benn has the little video where you see when he's checking in at the beginning of the bubble, the beginning of the playoffs, he's had so many bags, some something like that.

And he's like, we plan on being here a while. Right.

It's like a cheesy line, but I think they did. Yeah. I think these guys are like exactly what you said. They got Corey Perry Pawelski, who never coached in San Jose and ironically mentioned when they're talking about the series, he said, like, we're playing good. This was leading up to the game. Five said, we're playing good. We're getting so many chances.

And he mentioned their best player, Joel Pavlovsky, is it's kind of like, I guess, his old coach just talking about how much he respects his game shooter backhanded and hits a shaft of a stick and goes like a pitching wedge over into the net. And we lose game four. I mean, it's it was such a game of inches.

Like, I wonder if Vegas looks back or do you think they think they played poorly?

I don't know, because they dominated at times they couldn't score and they ran into a goalie who's just been on this amazing hot streak.

That's the other similarity between St. Louis and Dallas. Yeah. I mean, Binnington is a rookie and kind of comes out of nowhere. But he had Auburn was a backup no one ever would have if Dallas was in the cup final begin this year. Everyone's Prytania, you been bishops up for the veteran and he's like Stonewall and everyone.

It's it's it's a team that I have a crazy feeling about. I'm still on Tampa when they do beat the scumbag islanders and move on. But Dallas, what a run.

It's been an radula. I can't say enough.

Oh, I just fezzes. Oh yeah.

Yeah. There's a couple other things that we had to discuss here.

We got we talked about, oh, this is this is what I want to address.

I I personally believe and the guys in the locker room might say something different, I feel like the goaltending situation, especially with the fact that the contract talks coming out, it just like got to a level where it was so weird where like something as little as that. And it just can create like a little bit of tension in the locker room.

Like there's no reason that that team should have. I don't think they should have lost to Dallas. I definitely don't think they should have lost to him in five games. And for them to kind of go out like that and lie flat on the offense, I don't know.

It was just it was just it was a it was a drastic halt to what what their trajectory was going into that serious man, Smith Bachelorette in March or so, didn't score.

Yeah, I mean, three or top players right there. So I think that they played well and they dominated stretches. But yeah, it's certainly disappointing. Did you have Dallas?

No, I'm pretty sure I had Vegas for the pissed off Dallas fans. But I mean, full marks. The Derby man, they got done. Yeah, I mean, Dobens been absolutely incredible.

And like like I said, we had won Boston. We love them here. You got a nice contract with Carolina that didn't pan out as he hoped. He kind of bounced around a little. But I love what he's doing, man. I love a great goalie story, particularly a guy like that. I'm putting a hell of a bad one. Also an interesting stat, because the stats are the first team to enter the Stanley Cup final with the negative goal differential in the postseason since the sixty eight blues and the six day blues.

By the way, we're in the cup final because they put all the expansion teams in one division ensuring that expansion team would be in the cup final. So basically it's been fucking that long.

And Sagan said it says that analytics are overrated. And needless to say, the analytics community got a pretty good chuckle out of Sagan's quote.

Oh, man, if you say anything negative, you're just like you're getting, you know, the analytics mafia that the arm is coming.

He oh, must be a scary.

But what. That's not nice. Are you said you must be a scary bunch. Yes.

I mean, no, no, I was being sarcastic. Oh well. But going back to that one series against Colorado though and I've been getting to it with fucking stars fan.

I've jumped on your little rivalry bandwagon, RJ.

I just I mean, in that series, I just thought that they'd gained they've gotten a little luck given with all the injuries.

Yeah. I mean, if you look back with seven regulars out, so I'm happy for Dallas. First trip to the finals since 2000.

I think the fourth trip as a as a or is it the fifth trip to the finals?

I believe it's the third in Dallas. And then they had two in many to that. Joe Miller. Yeah, they lost to Pittsburgh that year and I believe they lost to the islanders one year.

So the Rick bonus story is soda loss to Minnesota wasn't in the league when the islanders were sure they were not stars. Sure they were the winners beat them and won.

I'm guessing on that in the fifth one. I can look it up right now, but not that the islanders are not.

That's what I was thinking. The wild. I apologize. I saw nothing goes over my head, though, Rick.

Bonus. Everybody's sending out messages on social media about how happy they are for this guy he's been around for.

I want to talk to him. I want to have him on here. He's coached for about four hundred years. Yeah, we're going to get him on, I think.

And yeah, he might he might have a Stanley Cup when we end up interviewing him. I reached out to his kid, Ryan. I actually scrapped him in Junior when he played for the Brampton Battalion. So he's he's going to broker the deal on getting him on. But just such a likeable guy and getting a lot of love on on social media thinking, people thinking, you know, he deserves this for what he's put into the hockey world. Absolutely.

I've been doing it for quite a long time while also Corey Perry got a little richer. He got 100000 dollar bonus for reaching the final Dallas cap. Aldridge is now over three million dollars. I'm sure they'll worry about that one. They need Joe. And if he wins the cup, he'll get another hundred and fifty K.

So congrats to Corey Perry on you know, I saw that tweet and that's a drop in the bucket.

I saw that I had to retake it on like 100. Hey, he doesn't even fucking know it's made like ninety million as it is a hundred k I actually I'm like, are they even writing about 100k for this guy.

He's probably flicking it to a guy valet's his car. Oh my gosh.

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The defenseman had one more year left that previous six year. Twenty five million dollar deal. So a nice little bump in pay. Elliott Friedman is quote hearing Bill Armstrong confirmed as Arizona GM at press time that nothing had been confirmed officially yet. But I'm sure if Elliott says it, it's going to be true because I know you're not looking for confirmation.

I didn't know you had any input there. No. Yeah, I read that on Twitter today, and I don't know anything about him. I you know, I don't really cover that side of the world. I just give my shitty hot takes and pick my burgers and eat them. So I wish him the best of luck. I hope he's able to turn this franchise around. I think it's a five year deal. You know, there are some other good guys up for the job as well.

It's you know, Sean Burke was a guy that I was personally pulling Folger's just because I knew he was you know, he's been around and he's seen that. But I wish this guy all the best and looking forward to meeting him if I'm still on payroll.

By the time I got back, we did give a quick check. It was five Total Cup appearances for the Minnesota Dallas franchise, lost in ninety one to Pittsburgh, and it was eighty one. They lost to the islanders.

They call actually recall actually going back to the Kyrie's talk, I heard that Calgary's interested in Darcy Kemper and there's been chitter chatter you stay away from.

I could get him out of that that shut off that good-for-nothing team Treliving of that organization that can't do anything right.

Get Shane Sheindlin back in the mix. And I never say a bad word about him again.

The old deal. That's the deal. Better you stay away from Darcy, buddy.

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All right, boys. I think it's probably serotype Fedoruk right about now. Frege Let's go, baby. Let's go. Without further ado pilferage.

It's a pleasure to welcome our next guest to Spit and Checklists, he piled up over a thousand penalty minutes and 545 NHL games for six different squads, most famously for the Philadelphia Flyers. He's been known to have a scrapper to back in the day. He's also a nice Edmonton boy and a very unselfish fisherman, as we found that on Boston Harbor Saturday. Thanks for joining us tonight, Fedoruk. How's things Frigg?

Well, things are good, man. It's great to be here, guys. I like this show. I've been listening for a while, man. You guys do it right. So I appreciate you having me on a lot of your Alberta boys talk about it. Oh, they got it. They ask me every week when am I getting on spit and Chiclets? You guys, I have a huge following out there.

Big fall. I don't know how my career as an oiler, they've they've they haven't forgot. They continue to watch me. It's they flocked and followed.

Right. Yeah. You're from Redwater, Alberta. That's it. So just outside of Edmonton, growing up, minor hockey playing there.

Yeah. Redwater Renegades. Redwater Truckers. Those are the minor league.

Any other NHL players from your hometown?

Well, there was one Kent Mandaville came through, wasn't born in there in Redwater, but lived there for a bit. And we actually played in the flyers together. But now I'm the only one born and raised. What are you born in? 79, 79, 79.

So you're I'm thinking seven, eight years old when the Oilers, I mean, I guess might be gone by then, but I mean, that was your team or Calgary.

Left, right. Right there. I remember the eighty seven flyers and yeah, I was lucky to grow up in Edmonton in those days. It was Massiah Tekin in Gretzky, Phua, Andy Moag and then they want coffee, they want Wayne Gretzky left too.

And you're even a little bit older than I.

Yeah. I remember that time when greats got traded man it was just national news. Every day, like the world is ending, we're losing our savior and the world is over for like a year. And when they want again, that kind of really made it feel good for everything. But I mean, Gretzky is Gretzky, you know, he was the guy there. So. Yeah. Big trade man you think is a first off, thanks for coming up.

So we should mention he trekked all the way up from New Jersey, right. To do this interview. So we appreciate it.

Spent the whole weekend with us. Yeah. Yeah, we hung out.

Like I said, we went fishing all day in Boston Harbor, the first time out on the harbor, right?

Yeah, I was. It was hey, you know what? I've been through Boston playing and stuff. We had a couple of snow ones. This is a beautiful city. I got to hand it to you, man. I didn't get a chance to walk around when you're playing and stuff. Yeah, it's nice right now. And it's a nice city.

It's funny how people because you've traveled and played in all these cities, not just you, everyone who's played in the NHL, but rarely do you get out the vote and see things. Maybe you'll see a restaurant in a bar, but you're not going to be like dealings with dealing with what makes cities so special. So it's cool. You get to finally spend some time here.

We appreciate you coming. I appreciate it. Going back to your minor hockey days, I mean, given the NHL career you had and like how physical and how fucking crazy was that all that start playing minor hockey?

I mean, were you talking about like that back then or were you more of more of a scorer then?

No, I was a minor hockey. I was just I like hitting like I liked I like the physical aspect of the game. And I wasn't a guy that started out, wasn't the guy that got a lot of points. I was a big kid early on and I like playing physical. I played hockey because I like hitting. That's why I played like I remember the small rinks. And in Redwater, like my buddies would come that weren't playing, they'd come to watch the hits.

Oh yeah. Yeah. That's what it was like. This one. Carletti. Yeah, Western Canada. And that's the way you know, you play the towns that are surrounded by you and your team is made up of the thirteen kids in town. So if you don't have enough kids you don't play or you combine with another town. As we got older we actually combined with another town, Thorold, to actually make a team. So we count kids in our town on ours.

So coming up to like the WHL draft and everything, are you just like on the radar is a really good prospect or you kind of coming out of nowhere?

What's your hole when you turn fourteen, fifteen, sixteen road?

Well, here's what's funny is like I was so out of the loop with the hockey.

I don't know if it's culture back then, but we didn't know till we didn't know I got drafted, although it's a year after it happened. So it was like I'm not a year but it was later on. I don't know. I don't know if my dad got a call or something, but it was one of the scouts that actually told us at an all star tryout that your your rights are with the Tacoma Rockets at the time, which had moved to California that year.

So it was like a pigeon carrier. They sent a pigeon to tell you, but I got shot down. I think it's a llama. So it exists in the WHL.

I may not anymore, but you were always drafted as a 15 year old, basically two years before you could play technically.

Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there was an exemption in certain cases. But you're also living in an era where, like, I know when I was drafted, that was years later with Internet, there was no Internet. Right. So you just eventually found out you were drafted by this team and they were considering bringing you in for your first year of eligibility.

Yes, yeah, so the way it happened is the first the first camp that I got to go to, I didn't get to go to a I had an injury. I cut my tricep in half in the summertime, the ankles on the lake, and I wasn't able to go to camp. And then the next year I went to camp. I don't know if this Kourakis story, but I didn't want to play like I did, I had a really tough year the year before I got kicked off the triple-A team for worth the AAA team and in Fort Saskatchewan to get the boot for a while.

Apparently, I missed the curfew, according to the coach, so I didn't even know what curfew was. That showed me video showing a video to prove it.

Yeah. And then I was just, you know, I would I would challenge coaches when they do things and stuff like that. And I just didn't fall in the line. So I was a problem child. But what happened is the coach kept my card and they need to release your cards so you can join another triple-A team. They they held my card so I couldn't join another triple-A team. And I ended up playing big league with my uncles. I swear to God, they played bearly with my uncles and a couple of buddies that were older than me so I could get rides to the games.

But I tell you what, it was probably the best thing for me because I handled the puck more than I had ever handled the puck. These guys were a little slower, so I was wheeling out there. Well, they were shitfaced. They were absolutely crazy. I had to bring the beer. So so did that type of face behavior continue?

And you got the cloner or did that set more of a structure?

Your life goal is a great town.

No, cologne is a great town and it's a party town, you know, and I partied there for sure, you know, and I went away to Cologne. I was I was sixteen. And I mean, it's a nice town and. It was cool, man, it was cool to play in the WHL and be young and stuff like that, and I yeah, early on I was I was doing some stuff, extracurricular activities. I probably normal most kids do at 16 years old.

Right. I just, you know, took it a little too far, you know.

Was the team any good there? Were you guys you have some good years.

We had yeah. We, we played good. Yeah. We had Kim dealable. Kim Billabong's had the goalie coach for the flyers. Now he was our goaltenders. He was good. I mean we had a tough team, but we were tough as well. Like Dale Purington was on the team. Oh, me and Scotty Parker were rookies together. How about this? So you got Scott Paku seventeen, right? I'm I'm sixteen. It's his first year.

My first year. We're rookies. Why? They made us sit together on the bus. I was two hundred and ten pounds at the time, probably Paksas 225.

But we, we were close.

We're fighting, we were close. Maybe these are the two rookies. You can just give them the seats too.

Yeah exactly. Yeah. Yeah. The old sweatbox in the back went pretty smooth for us because Pakse just started elbowing the door and it opened and we just walked out.

Nobody said a thing to us. That's a beautiful thing. He's the tough guy.

Yeah. Was it odd like moving away from home at 16, then all of a sudden you're, you know, all of a sudden this men's league up until guys like twenty years old and getting into that scrapper role right away.

Yeah. That was, that was like I shouldn't have done that the first time I did it because the first guy I fought in Junior, it was the first time I'd really fought and I knew it was going to do it. Me and Parks are going to do it. Weren't scared at all. More just like you were scared, but like I want to see if I can do it.

So I kind of you know, you didn't worry about the fear and it was a not Van Horlick. So he was a Golden Gloves boxer and a veteran tough guy. I think he I think he might have been twenty or nineteen. And I got into it with him and and he broke my nose and bloodied me up and just speed bag me. I had no clue what I was doing and that was my first fight. It was a veteran, good fighter.

And I got spanked, you know, and then I just, you know, I wanted to get better after that. That's and it started from there. And I had a lot of guys to support. Me, too, like Parks. We wanted to be tough. And there was a lot of tough guys not league at that time, like Rocky Thompson. The list goes on. A lot of guys. Well, we we also had the conversation, I think it was yesterday.

And the fact that you didn't necessarily get nervous before fights, it was more of something you just kind of knew you had to do.

Yeah. And when guys talk about that, I mean, you think about the fight and some guys get anxious and stuff. And I just approached it as that's that's what I was going to do. So I think it was partly because of the veterans. And this early on, it wasn't there wasn't really something that bothered me or gave me anxiety.

But I had like Luke Richardson was a real good older vet that kind of taught me you're a hockey player first. But, you know, if you're going to play this, nobody ever told me to do it. I was fully on board. Like, this is my role. This is my opportunity. I'm going to take it. And I got the shot to do it. But when it it started and I was kind of established as I was going to stay there, these guys kind of they helped me out.

Rick Tocchet, Mark Rakhi, Eric Dasia, developing your game. Oh, my game.

But I know that I needed to fight to to establish myself. That was my role, you know. So I think that helped with that and with picking guys to fight because I would probably make the bad choice and fight the worst guy first. You've got to get your feet wet, man. This is still the NHL. And once you do that once it's like anything. If you once you see you can play with them, you're like, I can play in this league.

And it's the same thing with fighting. You go toe to toe with a guy that's been there and you hang in there, OK? That's what it takes. He's been doing this ten years. I can do it. I can do this. Yeah.

Just going off that and fast forwarding a little bit to your NHL career. You said your first ever regular season fight, you could say, against who it was, but how it was arranged.

Yeah, so it was robbery. So it was robbery and it was the trainers that the trainers always set up fights. I don't care what anybody says. This is this is probably behind the scenes with the trainers in those days and they would do it amongst themselves. Right. But the trainers are part of the team there in the room. So when they get going, it's usually in the morning scared or something like that. Guys hang with the trainers.

They're in the room. Guys having coffee. It's I love being with those guys. Yeah. Oh, I spent a lot of a lot of time with those guys and they were they were talking amongst, you know, would raise or fight. I'm sure that's how the conversation goes. You know what to do. This guy is a young kid. He's coming in and looking for something to prove and to prove himself. And and I remember him saying, yeah, he was show you.

He would go. You like he'll go, yeah, he'll go you and then talk. Not talking. It was Luke Richardson is actually talked to me. He's like, Hey, Razor, he's he's he's a good fighter. He likes to come out of like gave me all the little tips and stuff and I was just. Still to come out of his jersey, that was one of his comments. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because Rasor came out, that was his whole thing.

He used to come slip right out and then Bahrami. Right. But this is right when the Titans came in. So that had changed and it changed. You have to change your style and that happens. But yeah, they told me of things to look out for, but he was a smaller guy. And you know what he was. It's not that he wasn't tough, man. He's one of the toughest to play this game. It was it was that he was older and I was younger.

And when you're younger and you're a rookie and you fight a veteran, you get the opportunity to fight a veteran. You win no matter what for showing up. Yeah. And I think some of the older guys understand that robbery was one of those guys. I lined up to him. I said I still had the number 52 on.

So I didn't have I had a rookie contract training camp. No training camp. No, he no. And I pigeon total pigeon number. And he looks he looks like we line up right in front of our bench. I'm like I'm like, do you want to do you want to go. And he's like, who the fuck are you.

Oh yeah. Just like that. I was like, oh I'm just a young guy trying to stay here. I need to fight. Hey, you look back, he's like fifty to a fifty two. You sure. And I said yes. Yes. And then we went and it was a good tilt for him. I caught him with one and yeah he didn't have to but he gave me a shot and I think that's, that's kind of opened the door for me.

Did that positive reinforcement. Because I know I felt that too. As soon as I started getting to that role, as soon as you get that feeling in the locker room, like, you know, fucking right, it's like you got our back, like you're our guy. It's just like you feel like just as much of a part of a team as like a second minor at that point, you know, you nailed that man.

That's exactly what it is. I felt more of that. I felt closer with that team because you're so young and you're so new to it. The veterans bringing you in and making you feel like you're a big part of it is a lot of that man. It's a lot it helps a lot with the development, the stress you need. You're twenty years old. You need somebody to to look to to teach you these things, like how do I deal with this?

How do I handle this? And when I did good, it was all you know, they they loved it. They rallied around me fighting and being a young guy and doing it the right way. And I loved it now. And that made me feel part of it.

Your first year in Philly, was that the first year Lindros was gone?

Yeah, yeah. No, no, he wasn't gone. They I think they shot him out all year. OK, OK.

And then he he was. Yeah. The playoffs is that when he got hurt he got back.

That was 2011. He got buried by Stephenson.

Yeah. That was yeah. Yeah. That was zero for me. I think when I got there. You were there that year. No, no. I didn't play with them that year. I didn't play with them. He sat out the year after year after that year and and Jonesy, he was actually the guy that got hurt, Keith Jones. He blew out his knee. He brought his knee. Jones he's one of the funniest guys ever play with.

And he was he blew his knee.

And he's like, yep, I'm done, kid. You're going to get a shot for the rest of the year. And I said, What do you mean? He goes, I ain't coming back. I'm going to retire after this. My knees blown and I ended up staying up because Jonesy was out and the numbers that matched up that role and I took it on the empty spot was there.

They didn't I don't think they had a resident, you know, scrapper that was young and ready, which is odd because you feel like that organization and given what they had in the minors, like always had at least a couple of guys cocked and loaded.

Yeah. Like those teams in the minors. And the fans in the early 2000s were like Garrett Burnett and Frankie byelaws. Like if you're in the hockey circles, you know who Frankie the animal byelaws alligator arms knocking old guys left, right and center. And he's a tough cookie and he's crazy, too. But yeah, a beautiful man, tough teams. And on those on those early 2000 minor league squads. But it's funny that none of the teams, the flyers had a tough guy in those early days for some guys faces light up when they have a fight.

I think like me, Lucija, today's players like they get off on it. Did you relish the role when you did it or was it more of like said, this is my job?

No, I like it when I won and I liked when I had a good fight, like if I was in a good toe to toe fight with Guy. I mean, there's a lot to respect in that, and I really like that part of it. I didn't like the grandstanding and role playing and all the chirping. I wasn't good at it at all. Like I tried chirping again and it just never worked out. I wasn't Quick-witted. I was too dumb to dumb on the ice like you got.

And you're like, fuck, I'm sweating it. Yeah, exactly.

So I would just throw my glove off and punch them and that would work better. Don't talk.

I would say this, the guys who didn't say a word out there were far more intimidating. The ones who did. Yeah. No, Gotthard guarded didn't say oh at all and they were tough. The quiet ones are tough. They know how tough they are and they know what they can do to you. So they don't need to talk, they just need to act. And those are the ones you worry about. Man, the quiet ones, Dave Brown, Chelsy, you know, the old the original man, the quiet guys, grimson, Semenko.

Yeah, those those are the guys.

If you go back for like days and what names from the city years. Because everybody thought that. You would take the seventh round, the 97 dropped by Philly, would the day tell you, like, what kind of prospect? I did even meet with a guy back in those days, like it's even like Jack and Women age.

And then I had an agent. Yeah, I had a nation. I was I was ranked in the second round in the CHL. I got injured that year. So I dropped a little bit, five rounds maybe, and I didn't even know. I don't even think I interviewed with Philly or they seen me. It was just maybe a lucky maybe. Let's take a look at this kid. I had no idea I was going to be Philly.

I thought I was going to go in the second round. So I got yeah, I got the call from the agent. I got the call from the agent because everybody goes to the drop the first two rounds, right? Yeah.

Maybe you should sit this one out. And I was like, I'm here.

Things totally devastated. But I so I didn't go to the draft. But Donnie Meehan was my agent originally. Yeah, but I gassed him. Probably my first my second contract actually said I'm not doing anything with you.

Yeah, and I heard I heard a little more.

I want I heard I heard that he I heard that. And you hear about this stuff with these fucking agents. I heard that's what happened, these guys. So they had two players on the team, me and another guy, and they'd leverage my contract with the other guy said, we'll give you this guy for this and this after that. So I said, people, you know, close to the team and management stuff that said, you know, maybe you should consider.

Yeah, you kind of get in flip flop. Yeah, man.

So that was in that was an honest and honest kind of tip in the right direction from somebody that shouldn't have been tipping me in the right direction. So that was kind of my introduction and my first and second NHL contract. But it worked out, you know, it was based on trust. And I gassed the man because I trusted the guys that I was I was playing with. And I think I got rid of them and hired Brad Divin best agent ever.

And he was your guy for the rest of you. He was the guy for the rest of my career. I still talk to him to this day. He's a good man and he's done now, but real good guy from Western Canada.

So when you got to Philly, I mean, you spent one year in the minors coast in April, but then you get up and you're playing and rookie year like you became the guy.

And you're basically exactly what a Philly fan looks for in a player, especially a Flyers fan like you were running up and down.

You're playing that flyer style.

So I'm guessing they must have taken to you right away in terms of like when the fans are behind you, it's a different feeling. I wouldn't know. But at least business told me.

Yeah, I think I think that's why I make my home in Philly, because even when I got dropped, my dad my my dad's like, well, that's the team for you.

You know, they play a real tough game. And I was like, right on, dad. That's right. Let's go to Philly. He's like, where is that? And I'm like, it's way, way far away on the East Coast. And we had to look at a map to find out where it was.

But yeah, I mean, this city and Philadelphia, I felt that they had really embraced that role as fans like and you hear it from behind you, like Sanford, you're going to do two goals down or things are a little hairy.

So I know, like you hear, I'm in the back and they support. Yeah. And they you know, I many fights.

Were you getting in, like the first few years in Philly I to try and get in a fight every game that was my my I was trying to get be prepared to get in until tilt every game. So you're ready to go and every game. Yeah. They had a guy then the only time you took that night off for that preparation off is when you knew nobody was dressed. So then you could play, you know, you could try, try and play a little bit.

You try to play at the blue line and then you get back. So much for that.

Yeah. What? You don't get it out. You don't get it out once in the first period or first couple of shots, you just going to be go grocery sticking. You'll be sitting and watching and cheerleading. So that's the way it was coming and you didn't get you didn't get minutes to get better. You got mistake free hockey. And if you if you mess that up or you don't work on it, if you're not ripping rims at the practice next day, if you don't get it on the wall, twenty, thirty extra after working on the wall work, they're not going to see and keep you around if you don't get it out and you get shot.

That's just the way it was back then. I don't know if it's like that now.

So don't lock out your you end up going back to the minors and playing with like the Carter and the Richards as that that type of movement was coming in. And you did correct the opportunity when to call there.

Yeah, we won that call the cup the year the lockdown second round.

That was I wouldn't play that game that the one game we had against you. What was it you guys had?

Like a third. So we were we were guys just shit the bed.

We were down three one in the series and we had a game in Philly and we had beaten bingo in the first round.

Bingo crushed every record that year. Yeah. And and Philly was good today.

You know, they had they were good all year and then they had Carter and Richards come and so we're down three one but we're up for nothing in the second period of game of game five. So, you know, force a game six here, going home, you never know.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. We lost eight, four or seven four. It was the biggest shit kicking. And usually when a season ends, you know, at the end of the game, like however it happens, like the coaches are like good season, you know what I mean? That was just like you motherfuckers. It was basically like an end of the season. Like we had a game the next day. It was like, OK, see you later.

And then the coaches meetings a few days after that real hate. That team was so good.

You guys were so good that and when those two came, it was like, all right, I don't think anyone's going to be able to stop these guys. My boy, Freddy Meyer was on D-Day. Just had you had so many players.

I mean, NHL, NHL, all star roster with Dennis Seidenberg, you only picking in and Toronto, the marquee is he's a starting goalie. Lizzi Legend back up a little. Patrick Sharp cheese on Johnson. Who's John Slaney. John Slaney.

You know, he was still years away. So you never forget the guys who play.

Well, he was, he was he they would twig big defensemen lumbering around. And I think somebody every time like somebody chirped me, that guy scored the winning goal in world. You just don't trip them. So as big as a bummer as, you know, the fact that there's a lockout, you're not playing the NHS or just spending, you know, the better part of two or three years was like because the team was good, was it bearable or were you still like, oh, fuck, this ain't the same?

No, I was a rookie for the first five years of my career. So going down in Alako was not a surprise.

Like literally we had to do if I didn't show up in rookie camp encamp, like it was like, why aren't you here? Well, I've been in the league for three years, guys. What do you just have to do that you had to be the guy there and I don't know where he's going with this. What was the question you were asked?

Well, just about being back down in the mine, all we got on the flip side, you have this unreal wagon and then all of a sudden, I think it was close to playoffs because Junior was over and then Richards and Carter end up signing and then you get that injection into the playoff squad.

So, yeah, that was that was cool. I've never seen anything like that in hockey where two guys come in like we were on a run. So we were nobody was worried about where they were inserted to the lineup, but we weren't expecting to go one, two down the middle. Yeah, and they always are good.

But, you know, it's still a high level league. How good are they going to be? I was like, oh, boy.

And they came in. It was Providence. I think they came in at and maybe sooner. I'm not sure when they came in the memory. And and it was it was Richie. We seen the lineup and nobody batted and nobody nobody questioned it.

We were just on that card for that period of time because like usually when guys came up, like they had to, like, fill in roles and like earned that spot. So especially given the fact you'd had had a good team already. These guys go first, second line center. And that's cool that you guys were able to embrace that.

Well, I think has to go to the first game that they played with us, too. I don't know all the stats or anything, but I just know that if they didn't have it, they wouldn't have played to a certain level or caliber. Then there would have been problems. Right. But they came in and they played full stride. They were studs, man. They were studs. And then that's when we really started believing, like, we're going to we're going all we're going to win this thing, like, the whole way.

It's so true because you're a great guy, too. If these first round picks come in and they're they're thrown in the top two lines and maybe the guy who was playing first line center is pumped down, he's like, what the fuck can these guys do all of a sudden?

Richard Toerag goal. Next, Shafqat Phuket's snipe bar down. You're like, OK, there's nothing you can say.

Yeah, what are you going to do? And Ritchies, Ritchies leader to man like this guy. There's leaders in this game and I, I didn't get that much time to play with them, but the time I did get to play with them, I really enjoyed him as a young player. And I like the way they carried himself. It was it was it was different, but it wasn't bad. He he did things his way. And that's what you want leaders to do.

You want to follow the guys are kind of this is the way that we want to do it. And he had the team, you know what I mean, in those later years. And I liked him as a player. I liked him as a player. And I liked him as a as a as a teammate. He's a good guy.

Are you surprised that Justin Williams is still playing? I know he was at Mr. Game seven. He was so lippy when I started. He was nineteen honkies, cocky and rightfully so. But I got in a lot of tickets for that kid early on.

So he helped my career. But hey, you got at least that's what it's about. He was a small guy and he was playing in an era where like two fifty was I was the only one to fifty but two twenty two. That's why they call you the French way. They call me the fridge. And Willie came in and this kid just wins. He's just the winner man. Even pool or ping pong. Anything you got, you got him, you got him on the ropes.

You got eight balls left William kicking your ass and then he'd clean the table on your end and then chirp, chirp.

And we like the thing. He's like, you fucking loser. Just one all the time. Things like that. He's a special player to you.

Share the locker room with Mr. Styles himself. Jeremy raunak for a couple of years. Did he leave any oxygen for the rest? There's a lot.

No, but I learned how to have a good time and play this game with Jeremy real well. You could have you can have a good time and you should have a good time. And you should have the boys together without Bryce around, you know, at the bar and you got to do that stuff. And he was good about that because he did it right, you know what I mean? He'd planet and he'd set it up and he'd make sure that all the guys knew about it and all the guys were there.

And we are in a setting and he was really good at stuff like that. And there was older guys, too, like Jerry had a thing where you'd like to play his own way. And when he came in and Rex and or the Jardín, you know, he bought in as well to the system. There's a lot of veterans on that team. And and he bought in and he played some good hockey for us, man.

But I was fun now with J.R., you played you know, you're up and you're having a lot of success doing what you did for the flyers. And then all four or five you spent pretty much the whole year in the H.O.. Is that, like, hard for you? Was it did it not, was a surprise after camp? I think it was I think it was more about like I was in the NHL. We were locking out and I'd become a scab.

Right. Like they were like you were. But I didn't care about that. I was young enough. I needed to keep playing. So I didn't care about that. And I wasn't making any money then anyways, I needed to play.

But but I'm saying, like, they even question you going down there because of the time you spent before in the NHL, because most of those guys weren't even allowed to do that. Right. How did it come to fruition?

Yes, they asked me to play. Oh, yeah. They asked me they asked me to play and I said, yeah, I'll sign an NHL contract. I wouldn't mind making some money in playing because I, I was it was my third year and I couldn't afford a year off. I was. That's the peak years of your development if you're going to, you know, turn into something better.

And and I went down there and I started all kind of rough because, you know, they said, you know, you're not down here to fight and all this stuff.

And I was like, OK, I'm going to get the play. And it was good. I got third lined minutes, second line minutes, and I played a little bit. But the first game, Zenin Canopic comes and asks me to fight.

I'm like, now at a little later. Come on, man, let's go. I'm like, no. And then three times, three times I have a rule, three times so many guys. The guy asked me to fight three times. It was like, that's disrespectful. So I'd have to fight because you say no twice. The guys, you know, the trainer probably told them that you ask him three times.

Trainer, trainer sat three fight, three fights rule.

And then and then we went. It was a good fight. And so that started that. But I was on the bench and Freddie Meyer primaries on that team. I was on the bench and they sent the Klaper.

We were on the powerplay, sent the klaper, ripped it around and Freddie Marg's I watched his skate because he went onto the boards, put the foot there and it just ramped off the toe. And Riley corteges in front of me, one of the most intense guys you'll ever meet. He's in front of me and I look past them around him.

Sure enough, bang right right here and put a put a hole in my head about the size of a allouni and abide by by the first game, busted my busted my orbital or my sinus cavity up here.

And then Riley's sitting right beside me and he's like, he's really intense.

He's like, dude just hit you in the head man. I'm like, I'm in pain. It hurt man.

I'm like I'm like, yeah. And he's like, Jimmy. Jimmy is our trainer.

Jimmy just got hit in the fucking head with a puck man right in Buckethead. I'm like Eyles quiet now. Fuck my you know, he's like, you don't hit you right the fucking head square. And I'm like, yeah man there's a hole in my head. Stop talking. It hurts. So I go back into the room, I can gear down and sure enough, online on the trainer's table.

Coté, you have this gear. Don't do that.

If you right in the head, man, get away from it. He carried.

He carried. But yeah, that's how my age is. Like the law baseline test.

Yeah. Last year. I'm going to ask you about Philly before we move on to Anaheim, which is where you played. You guys had a fucking wagon that year. Ken Hitchcock, we get we get some funny impersonations of him. I'm sure you you saw some funny stuff out of him.

I think that's why I got traded. I think I think he caught me imitating him a couple times. I had the guy, the assistant coach, asking me to give him a little invitation. I you know, the thing I did is I had I was weird, man. I didn't have to pay attention. I didn't have to pay attention to the X's and O's. Right. I should have probably. But I didn't. And I paid attention to the mannerisms of my coaches.

And I had a few mannerisms that I just couldn't I couldn't stop. He had tiny hands, the smallest hands, and he'd flex cuffs before every meeting. He went through a routine. He'd he flex cuffs and he guy's going to be lap and he flexes covid wrap his tie and he'd hit the cooler.

He had a little he had a little bit.

He did it all the time and he wiggled. When he walked he had a funny walk and Johnny Johnny McLaren and Jeremi by Bookends. And I was in the corner store and I used to do this all the time.

And these guys, they couldn't keep a straight face any time Hitch walked around that corner, they'd have to start the meeting with their heads down like this. And I'd be like, Johnny, J.R., get your heads up coaches in here. And they just giggled all the time. It was just funny. And I just that was kind of the thing that years imitated a lot. And but you know what? You know, in his defense, he was a good coach, like as from an X's and all those guys, you learned more under him.

And I appreciate it. Yeah, you're very prepared. But at the end of the day, like you're the warrior is just a miserable first place.

Now, not so that's what it was like. It was just war on you. And he wore his welcome everywhere he went. Like, I'm not taking away from his credibility as a coach. He's a good coach, but maybe not the best guy, you know, maybe not the best with his social skills and stuff like that.

Maybe that was part of his tactics. I know, because he pissed guys.

You're talking about the type of coach you've won eight in a row and you think you're to be going. Rank and, you know, you guys are going to be laughing and snapping the puck around, but no, it's like it's very tense. And Sutter was the same way in L.A. and eventually, you know, wore on guys.

And I feel like I feel like Tortorella is an older school guy who was able to adapt at least a little bit in that sense.

Yeah, I agree. And that is the key word, because you're not changing the guys. You adapt the game and towards. I think he's done a tremendous job because he's one of those guys that was a tough love guy. I never had him as a coach, but I played in Tampa with those guys and Marty St. Louis and the Cavs spoke volumes of them. Yeah, he gets in your face and yeah. Might not be the way, but he's honest and he's he's fair with you.

I've heard. So it didn't you guys didn't mind it when he raised on you, you know, in those times now it's it's not the same way. And I think he's changed his tune a little bit.

Well, speaking of grumpy coaches, then, you had Randy Carlyle in Anaheim for a couple of years. How was your relationship with him?

How'd you get how'd you hear about the trade there and stuff out of that? I'll go down to get to Anaheim.

Oh. Oh, and that was in the summer, Clark. He called me. So what happened with that? I found out later that hitch, which wasn't good with younger players. Right. And I think, Clarkie, in the time it was time for me to try and get some minutes and develop. Right. And I don't think they seen eye to eye on that. And and Clarkie made the decision to trade me out west Anaheim. I think Bercu is trying to build a certain style out there and was looking for certain players.

I mean, you look at that team, a lot of us were Western Western players and played with a certain age and a certain level of grit.

And, yeah, that's why I think that happened. So I got a shot with Burkeman. He gave me a good shot. And, you know, right when I got there, he said, look, I want I want to play like the bullies I want. This is what he said. He wanted to instill a style of hockey that was rough and rugged and in your face. And I he kind of gave me the reins with that. So I was I took that on full bore and I think I was ready at that time of my career.

So that's all that trade went down.

But you also had Teemu Salani man, has it was he maybe the most talented teammate you ever had? I know he had quite a few of them. He's awesome. He's he's a really he's the happiest guy I've ever played with. And he's a happy man. And I enjoyed the game.

He was that was a great, like comeback from him because that Lako year, he had to recoup his knee. And I think a couple of years before he's under Granado on the fourth line with Peter Orell and going downhill. And that year he recouped and came back and was flying. He had that step where he could get away from guys. And Randy Carlisle and him always had it out. But in a fun way. Randy, Carla was a good coach.

You know, early on it was he was a rookie season and he was feeling as out. He had a lot of good veterans thought Marshon, Scottie, Niemeier, both me and my brothers. And and then he had some young studs, too.

I find it interesting. So you go from this dynamic of where these two young studs dropped in the first round, come up to Philadelphia and now you're playing with two other guys in a similar situation and gets off in Perry and you get to see these guys early on as well. Very similar. And just the way they came in and I mean, there were already guys in Anaheim that had that older presence like the Scottie Myers. And those guys were similar in a transition where you're all of a sudden these young guys are all of a sudden the guys.

Yeah.

And it happened quick to like Getsy. And Perry came in and they were leading goalscorers like right away, right out of the gate, like first fifteen games in. And so they're they're leading your team. We're on a road trip. And I think they were actually leading our team points one and two. And Burki sends them down after they come to Rink's with new cars. So Getsy came. This is this is a great story. It's probably something that that's happen for every player.

Some some guys are like everyone should spend time in the minors. These guys, maybe you can blue light them. They I mean, they were good, but, you know, it probably turned out pretty good for them because they didn't go down for a little stint. They went down for a good month. They rode the bus. They put in their time and was probably the best thing for them. You don't see it like that.

But I mean, we were even questioning it, too, like, well, they're leading our team in scoring. We need these guys. Can you keep them here? And he's like, well, and they need to stand. Everybody needs to stand in the minor. And he's kind of like that. And it worked out good for them, you know? I mean, look at the players they are today. But I got the opportunity to play with a man like it was good because they were so young and the lines were kind of set.

And I don't know I don't know if it was that they were tentative, but they were eighteen year old kid. So, you know, the protection factor, I think helped them play. I just said, you guys can do whatever you want out here. Nobody is going to do anything.

Nobody long as you put fifteen off my ass. And as long as I can do it over to fuck you guys, I'm trying to get to I'm trying to get ten goals.

I got a side bet with Tamo that I'm going to get and he's going to he's going to take me to dinner in a limo with a fucking hat on in his own restaurant, his own restaurant. That's exactly what the deal was. If I scored ten and we made this deal that I had seven and halfway through the year.

No, you didn't get it. I didn't get nine and seven.

He was probably the point he was probably paying. Perry and Guetzloe have to stop putting them off your arse. That's exactly. I had a lot of I had a lot of third assists inside our blue line. I get to go caddy for him. Yeah, exactly, and all those guys are good now. I had a good season with those. And you know what, I learned to play a little bit better because they were just so skilled and it was fun to play with those guys.

I think you might be the only Twitter avatar out there. That's an X-ray of somebody's skull, which is your own. You got to tell us the story behind that. I mean, you can make out some of the screws in their troubleshoots.

Doc is the story that was just that's my hardware, man.

I'm proud of that shot. People think I'm crazy for liking that and going through that. And that's bullshit, man. I put it all out there for my teammates and got hurt and tried to get back on the horse and just kept going. That's what we do. And if you're willing to sacrifice, there's a lot of honor in that. And I think my teammates always appreciated that. And and even even because you know what it's like, what what was the final result of that?

That whole injury, if you could describe it like in doctors terms?

Oh, so this injury was broken, orbital blown or not blown out, orbital broken cheekbone, zygomatic arch and I think eye socket. So I don't know what the eyes.

Who threw the punch? Derek Boogaard call six, seven, 275 pounds. But he didn't punch from he he hit the punch from here, not here. So it was an awkward fighting a guy like that. And I put myself in a bad position. I was wide open and I tried to come back with a back fist to just I knew I was vulnerable and I tried to come at him with a back fist to keep him from throwing. He's just the pop to the face will stop him.

But I was coming this way. He was coming this way and the face broke so that when that happened, I didn't get knocked out. But I you instantly know if you bust your nose, you're like, yeah, OK, something's wrong. I knew something was wrong. I touched my face and there was I forget who the line mate was. He was in a lot of my fights and he loved the way I fought. He's an older guy and he's like all frigging day scary.

Oh, no, no. I might have been mayday, mayday. But he was there. He was there in a lot of them. And he said, Oh, Frige, you're hurt. And I know you always heard that time. And I went by their Banshee Bronco right of way of which actually played with me in Philly. So we were close and he was kind of chirping like Africa.

You got caught there. And as I went closer to their bench, the smiles of elation from the loss from me, their face is kind of drop because they're like you could see it was indented. And that's when I knew I was like, oh, man, you're like you're going off the ice.

And people are like, oh, man. Oh, like, what's wrong, guys?

And the door right now, though, dude. Hey, whoever did the work, think about it. Yeah. Could plug of the free swipe up.

I saw I remember his name Dr. Vinnie Boom but I can't remember his name but he was in Anaheim and that doctor, he passed on now but yeah he he fixed me up and so in the ambulance.

Right. To the hospital.

Or did you know there. Do you remember. No, I was in Minnesota.

So what happened is I went in the back there, Doc came in and I started blowing my nose. So my sinuses, it came out of my nose. Right. And he's like, don't do that.

And I was trying to get the pressure off and he just trying to touch it. And he's like, you need to go to the hospital. So we went to the hospital, spent the night in the hospital. They didn't do anything, loaded me up with drugs and then we to fly back. So we flew back to Anaheim.

But no pressure on your phone. Oh, is a fucking lovely flight.

The train station came with me and he awesome man. He was awesome because he was mad at anybody that was getting in our way, slowing us down.

He's like, get out of the way. We got to get this guy on the plane. He just he did all that. And I remember that. I remember because I was in a lot of pain, man, and I had to take that flight and get back down.

I was at the first and only time ever for Beaugard. No, I fought him before and I thought he did pretty good, pretty good against. So I thought I won that one. He came out of his jersey and stuff, but I fought him before that earlier.

Was that your toughest injury as a pro or in.

Yeah, that was the worst one. I had never I was never the same after that one. I had broken this side against Karen's earlier in my career in Philly. He broke this side with the left. Karens is a big country man. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And I put on the.

Yeah. Good man.

Real pretty well when you say you weren't the same like and we talked about this over the weekend is. Yeah. When you come as this new fighter you have the spunk about you and you're like raring to go did after that surgery and everything that you've gone through, did you kind of question whether you wanted to even keep doing it anymore or you just knew you had to but the passion wasn't there?

No, the passion was there when it was about it was about earning a living. Like I had to prove that this injury wasn't going to stop me. I was only twenty six. So I was young and I had a lot of years left and my body was healthy. It was just my face. So I was.

It wasn't. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it, I knew I had to do it to earn a living and keep earning money, you know, I wish I had more years left, but.

I knew that at any like I taking another shot there, I could lose my eye and, you know, so that that goes through your head, you know, you don't want to lose your eye and you don't you don't want at some point you got to draw the line. Right. I just didn't I had too much years left. I didn't I didn't have, like, money, money in the bank. And those those come into play, you know, and I tried to get back on the horse, you know, I just said, you know what?

If all of a horse get back on it and I was never the same, I could I was always protective of that, the injury. And I talked with a couple of doctors like what could happen? And you got a tip, your hat to the docs. They're never going to tell you. You're never going to be able to do it. You know, if it's going to break. I mean, you're fighting. It's going to break.

It's going to break again. But you've got to start thinking about those things. And I always I was always on defense after that. So I never had the cowboy. Like, I like to fight like a cowboy, get in a fight, take hits, give head. Somebody goes down. That's who wins. But you get broken face. You can't take those hits anymore.

And you've got to worry about I had kids at this time, so there's a whole other ballgame now coming into play. So I was never the same fighter after that. And it was a lot harder to get in fights too, because guys would ask me when I'd ask them, are you sure? What about you? Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. And they didn't want to do it themselves. And I would be like, I have to fight them.

This is my job man.

I have to show up if I was to do this year, those those are the toughest years for me. I went back to I went back from Anaheim when a first place team where we knew we were going to win the cup that year on October, man, we knew and we believed that. And I got injured and ended up getting traded back to Philadelphia to like I was the worst year in Philadelphia's history that year. So first, the worst is like that's kind of the worst thing you can do.

And the year before that, of course, Anaheim made a bit of a run. I know you played twelve playoff games yourself. And when we were talking this week, you said Anita Meyer said something interesting in the locker room before the year they ended up winning it. Right when you guys got beat out. Yeah.

And it kind of it's a it was a great statement because it sent us into the summer hungry, like we knew something was going on this summer and we were all charged. And he was he didn't say a lot. And you often hear about the guys that don't say much. And when they do say something, you perk up. And Scotty was one of those guys and he just said, like, we were really young team. The owners were new coaches.

And when I say new, it's the first time these owners, the Samuele that owned a team. Right. Bercu was his first time in Anaheim as a GM coaching first times. And when a young team. So he's just like and we thought we should have been Abbington tonight year, you know, we figured we should have beat them and we thought they had or. Correct. They had Pronger. They had got a couple of key wins at the right time and we still felt we could beat them like we were the better team.

And he just said it.

He is I can't remember word for word, but it was somewhere along the lines like, you know, you don't choose to win the cup. The cup chooses you. And you have to sometimes be patient and wait for that time, but you can't falter and you can't shake. I believe, like a lot of you, that this year should have been our year. But that's just the way this goes. And we can't change that going into next year.

And that's all he said onto the set.

So all we were doing was like it wasn't our time, but we're not done yet. So that's what we went in the summer with the we came back and come October then things started happening in the summer. I mean, we got Pronger, you know, and then when you get that, you're on a team and you have all those parts and then you get being the final part being, you know.

Yeah. And that was Pronger. We got we had Pronger and Niedermeyer is our one to come on. Those guys are studs. They're legends.

How how crushed were you when you got traded, after you got hurt? You got to think like you finally, you know, you feel like you're part of this team and, you know, you've experience winning a call there. But now you're this close to a Stanley Cup. And did you did you feel let down when they let you go give it, given the fact that it was after you got injured fighting for that team? And.

Yeah, I think those guys I did. But I think that the way that it went, I did I was upset. Yeah, I especially when they won, like I watched every game. I tortured myself. I watched every game. We got that in common.

You're right. It's it's the worst, especially when you're close with those teammates, man.

And I was close with those guys. A lot of them. It sucked, man. It sucked. And you get treated for me. I wasn't it Paros. Well I know.

I think I traded for a pick or something like that because it was Perlson Thornton was down in the minors with the team and Burki needed to play a certain way so I could understand the trade. I don't understand why it happened as soon as it did. Like I was still in the hospital when I got traded and really I just got out that day actually. Yeah.

So I was able to they knew the injury and everything. Yeah. That's that's odd that you think maybe get another shot before he sends you.

Well maybe some things are said between a doctor and somebody who knows because he told my wife. That I'd never play again, and, you know, I mean, the injury was bad, he said he's had car injury, car accidents worse than this.

So it was he was probably looking out for my whatever does matter. But I got fucking traded and I didn't like it at all.

But, you know, when I when I, I understood after the fact, because the team played a certain way and they needed to continue to play that way because it gave them success. So, you know, Paros came in and I remember shaking his hand when I seen him and I said, take care of my boys, man. And that was kind of how I left it. And he's like, I'm happy to be playing because I think he got sent down or somewhere he was going up and down between Colorado and whatnot.

So that's kind of how that went.

It was awkward, man, because he was in the dressing room when I went in the dressing room to get your shit. To get my shit. Yeah. So he just and I was stupid and stuff and. Yeah. And that's that's fine.

You got to play this way and go get it boys.

I'll watch the next one from Philly to Philly for man. I'm for a fourth rounder. Yeah. That's what it was.

Were you at least happy to be sorry to interrupt Jerry. He's happy to be going somewhere that you're at least familiar with, given that you just experience this awful injury, which, you know, you don't know what the ending result's going to be, you get trail away from all your buddies. You think you got a chance to win the cup. But at least I'm going home where they where they love me and the fan base enjoys me and.

Yeah, and I think that's probably what the case was like. I mean, if you got to think that these guys that are in control of our lives, they have a little place in their hearts for us. And I think with my relationship with the flyers, I mean, these guys are very good to me. They gave me a shot in more ways, you know, so it was probably my wife is from the area. So it was good that we had we came back to this.

If we were going to go anywhere, why not go where you're kind of familiar? That's, I guess, a positive out of it. Yeah.

You ended up playing in Minnesota for a little bit as well. I want to ask about Jack Lomell, Hall of Fame player who coached over twelve hundred games. I think he's one of the most underrated coaches in the last thirty years. What was your experience like with him?

Well, if you can't listen to a guy that has a cop on every finger on the ring, you're not a fucking hockey player.

So and Lima, Lima got the good guys to play like Grinder's and he got the grinders to play like skilled guys. I think he got the most out of his players. And I really enjoyed my time with Jack Lemmon. I thought he was the best coach I'd ever played under. And no shit, huh?

By far, I thought he was the best coach I had played under. And I think I think it was the way that he motivated guys. And and we said at one time, it ultimately comes down to love. So he said, you really have to be a good coach. You have to have to love your players like they're your own. And you need to get the most out of them. You got to know him like that. And that was something that I was used to hearing in the tough old world of hockey.

But, yeah, I respected it, man, because he was had us prepared. And the way he approached the game, he's a mad scientist, you know, he had different ways of doing things. It was he was a good coach.

What was the longest term deal you signed in as a pro three years your deal? Was that your deal? Phoenix. Yeah. Donnel I got a shot one time.

Malone He gave me a shot there. Three million bucks over three years.

The big deal for a tough guy took the million dollars million a year.

There was only two guys that did it before me and it was Donald Brashear and tie the only tie.

Domi set the stage for us, but he put up twenty goals stuff.

But yeah, he said Pat Burns was a big reason for that and allowed him to play and really, you know, embraced not only the fighting aspect but the fact that he was going to be playing with some decent players. And like you said, the one year he backed it up offensively.

Yeah, he did. He did. So, guys, you know, I put in enough time, but I was still injured. So I look back at it now and I got to think that that's kind of the way hockey takes care of the game and the players some some times, like I probably if you look at that from an investment point, I was I was damaged goods and I still got that deal.

So that's what I was going to say, is you actually had a good year in many, though, to get that deal, after all. Yeah, it happened with all the injuries. And that's I think that's Lamar. Like, I got to play and I probably some good karma coming my way, but it worked out.

I got the call from Gretzky. How about this? Like I'm from Edmonton, right. You got to understand this. Like Wayne Gretzky calling anybody is cool.

But Wayne Gretzky called me being from Edmonton, being from Redwater. I was smitten. I was smitten. I we were on the beach and Avalon. I was with my family and and I was I know it was free agency. So it was like a couple of days after free agency is the trickle down to me. Right. I wasn't being the guy signed in the first day in free agency leftovers. And then he's like, yeah, hello, this is Wayne Gretzky.

And I went like this. I stood up to my family.

I was like, shut the fuck up and wait. How are you doing, Mr. Gatsby? Fuck off. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah. And he's like, wow, it's looks like.

We just signed you and welcome to the team and, you know, we're looking forward to having Phoenix, where are you? And I was like, yes, yes, yeah, from Edmonton. So he touched on Edmonton a little bit. And it's funny because Timmy Kerr actually owns a real estate company down there. So I signed my first, like, knowing Millerick, my ticket, that's my ticket. And three million a three years. Over three million.

That's that was my ticket. And I signed it in his office and it was pretty cool. You know, I went got to go to Phoenix and it was this beautiful city.

Man, if you the last professional season was probably I don't it was unusual for you. But you played for a former teammate and Rick Tocchet. Yeah. What was that relationship like? That change at all? That respect.

He shot me for fucking ten straight games. I never know. It was good talk. It's another one of those guys like, you know, it was his first year as the head coach.

So there were I don't know what happened the year before and whatnot, but I enjoyed playing talk with the guy that I looked up to as a player. I got to play with him as well and and played in Tampa. But by that time, it was you know, it was nearing the end of my career. Adam Oates is there and I did a lot of work with him off ice and stuff like that. But he couldn't save this guy.

Got me another career man. I was too far gone. You've debunked Adam Oates in what he could die.

Players, congratulations. Yeah, it's OK. It's OK. I can work with anything that is hockey. I'm not a miracle worker here.

He just he was just like maybe some maybe it's time you done time. Same thing about doing other things. So you drive like that.

So you kind of knew that was it. I mean you've been through so much. Yeah. Ten games in a row. Damaged goods.

I was 29 years old, you know, so young, you know, and all of a sudden it's over.

Well, yeah. And well yeah I do done some shit to deserve that. But, you know, I made some bad choices and shit and they bought me out. They bought all my contract. So that's how that ended.

You even get the whole three million. I didn't get the whole three million. But you know what, I, I wasn't I wasn't the responsible player.

I was fucking around off the ice and won't look, we didn't really touch on that much in like, you know, we have a decent sized platform here and we think it's an important message. You've been ten years sober now. Yeah. Congratulations. That's like that's incredible. And of course, we've mentioned on the podcast before, that's like an everyday battle. But, you know, what was it like trying to balance this like this career?

Well, while going through these these wild ups and downs and you know where it brought you?

Yeah, well, early on, there's a whole story to this, but early on it was the teammates that embraced, you know, me being sober in Philadelphia. And I was twenty years old. So you're supposed to start drinking when you're 21 states. And I was done. I was fully done by twenty.

So I kind of approach the team and put it all out there. And they were more supportive than I had ever imagined. So, like, if there's times when you need to get away or not have a problem, like I was the Ninja does king. So yeah. And they let me just get away.

So but in Tampa, it just it it progressed, you know, I relapsed over, over the couple of years before that and it just it got to the point in Tampa where, you know, it was bad and I had to walk away from the game so I didn't have to walk away from the game. My contract was bought out, but I didn't seek to find another contract at all. I had to work on some things and and I had to take a year to really try and get my shit back together.

Man, there's a lot more to lose. And you've got kids and a wife and a life that you built up and a reputation that in all honesty, I made the choice to pick that shit up and get back in that. And it fucking takes things from me, you know, slowly. So it took my career for me. And you know what?

I made it right and got the help that I needed to get and feel good for you, man. That's the part of it that you got to you got to get to a place he can reach out for help. Man, it gets dark and deep for guys. You always have somebody that's around here with you guys, your teammates, whoever it is. Man, you've got to talk. Well, you've got to reach out for help. It's not a weakness at all.

It's strength when you're down there and you need to fucking ask for help. Takes a lot of strength, courage to fucking build up that that little bit of juice. You need to say, I got a fucking problem. I need some help.

So I think this should be a good time to mention your wife, who, you know, we talked about or she stuck by you during these difficult times. You have three beautiful kids out of it.

You're going to fucking get me crying because this is what this podcast, you know. Right. Like like you shit and shit is a brotherhood and it is emotional. And I think that a lot of guys have been through these ups and downs and some of them are still on the downs. And I think the conversation is important because, like, there's a lot of people out there who looked at you like you were this some, you know, bigger than world thing.

And and knowing that you also went through those types of things helps them to to normalize it and get the help they need.

Yeah, we have we have a fucking high octane lifestyle. We've got to go. We've got to release. We've got to relieve ourselves. And that's part of the nature of the things that we do. We operate where very few. People can operate and things get fucking hairy and things can get broken and things can go sideways. It's the nature of the business that we play and some guys turn to things that they're not supposed to turn to and that always one of those guys.

And that's very prevalent in our game. It's very prevalent in society now. And it's it's a it's a it's worse than the pandemic that we're in, I think. Yeah. This is something we've got to deal with the societal level. But you talk about my wife and my family and having somebody that's there for you, you know, that just means the world.

Yeah. It just makes sometimes sometimes in life, you just get that.

You get a little gift from the big man upstairs and choose one of those people for me, so she's a she's somebody that makes me better, you know, on a daily basis. And, you know, sticking by somebody that's going through shit like that, just wanting to be better is all she wanted. So, you know, I try. Ten years is a nice little chip on the shoulder to say, you know, I put that bottle down, but on a daily basis, I don't I don't regret for one second or, you know, I don't look back on the fact that I'm not a fucking lucky man to have a woman like that in my life.

And that's that's part of it now. And there's a lot of people and a lot of women that talk to leave and they have every right to do that. You know, we fuck things up and we get mixed up with the shit. And she stayed by me and I got to tip my hat to her man because I know a thousand people that just quit on me already. So I was going to say it's it's so much easier to quit and just be like that, you know, and to stick by that.

I can't imagine the work you guys went through and what you've done and she's done. So that's just amazing to hear, because in a business, when you do talk about brotherhood and people, that means so much to you, whether you play with them or not. A lot of times you see guys who are doing the single, they're going through this stuff alone. So it's like to have her there. That's really special to hear.

I'm really happy for you and the family's most important and things like that. But even our fraternity, too. There's there's there's some there are some guys out there that are always going to need somewhere to go and somebody to call. And I'll give you my fucking number. And I think people would love to take it there and done that bridge.

We want to thank you for for joining us.

If there's anything you wanted to mention, I know you want to make sure somebody's wife or something. Yes. There's a couple of things that I mentioned. One, even we were talking about sobriety. And you know what I'm doing now, my job my job now is like I work on the front lines with these guys. I work with a detox out of New Jersey. And, you know, the CEO, Brooks Brooks, he's become a really good friend.

And we have like minded approach to this. And this is a ninety 10 percent medicine thing and a 90 percent human thing. And that 90 percent human thing is, if you know and you've been there and you've come back from that, that's what helps these guys. And I never fucking would have thought I'd be working with these people on a daily basis. And I just believe that I'm what that's what I'm here to do. So I'm always there for that guy that needs that little shot.

I hope to get out of that space because it's fucking can be real dark and a lot of people fucking die on a daily basis because of this thing.

So, yeah, I appreciate that. And what was the question, though? Just any any toll.

Yes. Dennis Seidenberg was when we were rookies together, we and I want to I want to tell a story about Dennis. OK, I'll probably get pissed if he's not working fault. Yes, he is here.

So this is a very respectful story.

If we all know no one will come out. If it's not, we'll just add it.

Yes. I didn't even want to say his name. What? You said it. So that's on. You lose lose.

It's going to come after you.

Yeah, we we it was funny because it was with Justin Williams and myself and Dennis Seidenberg. He's still married to the Rebecca. The same woman Dennis is still married to are not Dennis and still married to Kelly. I'm still married to my wife and it was our first trip. We were young, you know, having fun. We took the jet skis our in the Bahamas, in Nassau, and we went on this little island. We weren't supposed to be there, but we decided to race back.

So I was on my own with my wife, Kelly, and Justin had their own and Dennis and Becky had theirs. So we get on all three of us at the same time. It's just hit the gas and gold, right?

So we're like, are you guys ready? You already bang we take off. It's me and Willie. We look back. Dennis started with Sardinia. You can't get going. They couldn't get going at all. We just talked all the when we didn't look back, raced all the way back. We get to shore. We look back on on the on the water. We're like, oh, they must stop messing around. Or some go up to the hotel room figure they're going to go to that room.

Four hours later, we go down for dinner and we're like, have you seen Dennis and Becky? They're jet ski broke down. They got stranded on an island.

It wasn't even a fucking tree on it. There was just a little branch for hours in the sun. They finally got on the stranded island because their thing didn't break down. We didn't even think to look back. You guys didn't even look again. Oh, we were racing. We're not going to look the guy behind me.

I'm going to talk about this brother heard what the fuck's going on. Yeah. He's also a competitive bastard trying to win a race. It's true. That's true.

So the reason that where they got off is like some big yacht with, like, a beautiful hot tub, like, you know, it was a really nice shot. They're like Tiger and and he's Basils Tiger at some Perkin's waitress's on his privacy.

And we seen him later for dinner that night. And they were. Lobster, red, now, we thought, are now saying that he's so nice, he probably wasn't even that mad. No, he's just like, it's OK. He's the nicest guy, man. You know what? He's he's a consummate professional.

This guy trained like I was more like him, might still be playing, you know, if every guy's more like than this still works out like I mean, he loves it.

He loves it. And, you know, you got to like guys like that. Yeah. He was an animal.

He played. I wish I got to bump into him over the weekend.

And you and you wanted to mention his wife's store that she just started. And that's a quick shout out for them. What's the name of it?

Yeah, it's off sides and off sides. New York. So they've got online. It's a boutique store. She does things by appointment and I think they got some stuff they can get that. All right.

Borat, Speedle. I'm sure you could get some pretty stuff there.

She's I mean, she's got some style business. And, you know, I know you're one of those guys that likes to wear nice shoes and stuff.

So, yeah, here are my Birkenstocks besides new socks and Birkenstocks on the fridge. Thank you so much. Just a great career and a great guy. And I think everyone's going to really love, you know, listen to this. That was raw. Thank you. Good stuff.

Big tax cuts out the door for join us, not only did he join us for the show, he schlepped all the way up here from New Jersey with his buddy, Dennis Seidenberg. They took a ride up, saw big dance for him for coming all the way up, man. I mean, not everybody is willing to drive for hours to come on the show.

We were go outside and Bergen, but he works for the islanders and there's no chicken. Next chance Lou's going to let them but a good for him.

He's got a great job. I think he's doing player development.

I think he helps also, guys, when they come back from injury, skat get back into shape. He's a tank.

So tank he is a you looks like a guy who like a sergeant in the army. Yeah.

Or he does hardcore parkour and what's what's the other one or the one where they doing all those exercises all the time and lifting weights and throwing weights around. Crosthwaite, Crosthwaite, Crossfade. If you do cross fit you're nuts but God bless you.

Now Crossfade people line there. They do cross fit to my back.

My pussy. Am I correct. Have you ever heard what's been complaining about his fucking neck since I got. No I got a rip out my body.

Such a mess you know I was checking in actually ok so I was checking, I was checking into a hotel in Moscow and there or somewhere in Russia, I don't know, exact the city.

And it was the song in the lobby playing like lightly was my neck, my back leg.

Or it was it might have been put it in my I put it was one of those two.

Corey Hammerton was there. He'll back this up. I like the nose, the lobby music. Oh yeah.

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Let's they add the good. Good good to go. Or did you do that.

That's, that's my amount of Bobby Boston's Bobby Brown. Yeah. Well Bobby Brown son, you know playing with Bobby Brown.

Well I know who Bobby Brown is, but I was I was thinking about my next question. See, my brain was going somewhere else, because you mentioned today that because we were talking about Boston, the town had something special happen to it today.

You said just R.A.. I have to. So we're going to open we're going to open up the whole trip with the fact that I was brainwashed and had to watch the town four times in a row with their child, with my eyes open, open court.

All right.

And now we're going to end it. So what was the story? The story is he sent a tweet out to us of there's an oral history that came out because it's ten years since the town. And now my only thing I no offense, but I know you're starting it.

Huh? The town does not deserve an oral history like it was a very decent.

Well, I was intrigued by it.

That's why I asked you, did you think it was an unreal movie or did you even kind of admit it's a little.

No, I honestly, when I saw it, I wouldn't I wouldn't say skeptical. I was I wasn't curious because. Yeah, it's about your hometown and it's it's there's a potential that it could get it could get screwed up real bad. But when I come out of it, I was like impressed with it. I thought I was really a well done movie. It was very I mean, Affleck did a great job at it. And obviously I'm biased.

I'm in it. It's my hometown. But I really thought it was a great movie. I thought it was very well done.

So you're basically acting like they're acting like a Shawshank Redemption. Yes. Yes. It's like, I think oral histories for movies like The Godfather, Part two or that's a good the problem child oral history.

Ever seen that movie? The Redheaded Sick Kid movie is unreal, but I was just like oral history for the town.

OK, well, that's a good question for our audience. Do you think that the town is worth the effort? Let's try to pull up. Is the town worthy of an oil?

Well, that's what's the standard for an oral history. I mean, I've seen oral histories all about anything online. All you do is I've only seen it like very legendary things.

Like, remember, you sent me the one on Boogie Nights, Caddyshack, Boogie Nights.

There was all right. I wasn't I didn't even know what the fuck an oral history was.

You know, this is all business like oral therapy, oral histories on fucking five year old commercials. I think it's a ten year anniversary. And that's the biggest trigger to write about anything on the Internet these days.

Also in the acting field, we need to talk about the fact that Jim Carrey is going to be playing Joe Biden in this upcoming season of SNL. Are they considered seasons? Yes.

OK, yes. I listen, I think, Jim. Kerry is funny, and I think he's going to fucking nail it, and that's that's a name that would draw me back into watching Saturday Night Live. Yeah, I'm not sure.

I think maybe the hologram of John Belushi might be the only thing to get me watching that show again. Listen, I watched from the get go. I've always liked it. I haven't swayed away for political reasons. I just don't think the show just doesn't make me laugh anymore like it used to.

That's why I'm hoping Jim Carrey's injection does. Yeah. I mean, it's still that's only one guy, only one character. I mean, what it is, is that those people write their own skits, that skit sketches where there's no show for that show, whether the performers there are other there are other writers want performers.

But how you get on that show is you write your own your own shit. That and the good stuff while back on the day rose to the top. It's a show. Like I said, I just don't find the funny more. I wish I did. I grew up on it. It's one of the all time classic shows. But even that Jim Carrey is Biden, it's like, you know, as much as I like Jim Carrey in his work, I don't know.

Fair enough.

Don't don't you. I know.

How about the block in that fucking NBA game? That was the most amazing block I've ever seen in my life.

Never shouting out basketball. Last night, Jason Tatum was went to slam, I think it was.

Yeah, he was trying to dunk dunk on the tying look for three seconds, left it down to drives the lane. Listen to me describe hoop goes up boom like a windmill.

This dude put his fingers. He must have the strongest, longest fingers. He must be unbelievable getting girls going. And he walked this like 90 mile an hour dunk. I'm serious.

I swear to God, it's the best walk I've ever seen in my life since. Oh yeah.

You're telling the old girls like you used to be willing to go on forever, just like block the Heisman, get out of my out of the picture to it. I'm going to start like the guy's hands practically bent into the rim.

Yeah. No, it's I don't know how that dunk double-Jointed definitely, definitely one of the best blocks.

So you're going to be on TNT next. You're going to be getting joining the panel the way you're describing these basketball. If I play it, you can make anything sound interesting, but I want to hear this golf story.

Oh, yeah. So, OK, go ahead. Oh, no. Oh, I just got a couple of news items before. Oh, OK. We'll wait for that. Yeah. No, we usually finish with the golf. Sure are. Big news in Washington. They named Peter LaViolette their coach. Oh yeah. Believed to be a three year deal. He's still under contract with the Reds for next season for making two and a half mil.

But I guess the caps are going to cover that as part of the deal. And I saw also the flames removed the interim tag from Jeff Wood. So he's going to be the head coach in Calgary. He signed a two year deal. So he's probably going to be celebrating with some nice Budweiser up in Canada.

Oh, here we go, baby. I got the Adrey now before I start reading.

No, no, that's see, that's the I don't need that. Now know why you're nervous. Anxiety. You're kind of being like me on the golf course. Bad teammate guy right now.

OK, I'm going to start explaining exactly what we got going after. And this is in quotation time to stop your whining because sports is back. I'm talking all the sports. The NFL is back. The Stanley Cup finals are on. Not a bad time to be a sports fan, are close friends at Budweiser and are doing something epic in honor of the greatest month of sports ever. We want to pay you to take a vacation to just watch sports.

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You should see how they spell cold, hard cash so that he would read it cold hard case. No, I actually I love that because it said caught cold hard moolah.

He registered to my brain before I read it and I switched it at the fucking goal line. Audible in an ad read Get out of here.

You breath is about. Yeah, Terry Well, hey guys, this is with Budweiser. Obviously, I think it's a cool concept, very similar to that Shiho thing I did. And we've been promoting it all over our social channels, including mine. So check it out and you get paid to hang out with some buddies in your own little sports bubble and, you know, drink some buds. You promote stuff on your social channel.

Shut the fuck up about that.

I don't know. You actually just read as well as I've ever seen you do. I think I know what you did during quarantine. Hooked on phonics. Yeah. No free stuff. So, yeah. Quick story. We'll wrap it up. This story's been a little overblown now. It's but it involves Wingfoot and. That's where this week's U.S. Open is being being played, it's like it's an amazing course to courses, but one of them, the West courses, is where they play.

The U.S. opens. Now, it just crushes guys, right is the hardest course in the world.

Some people say, so I'm going to leave the names out of the out of the story because, you know, I don't want anyone to be offended or anything, but I got two buddies.

One of them's a member at Wingfoot.

These two buddies, they're married to sisters. Right.

So they're these these two friends of mine, their father in law, their wives.

Father is a legend, unbelievable golfer, hilarious guy. So he goes for a round at Wingfoot where the U.S. Open just crushes pro golfers and he gets to the third hole.

And the third hole at Wingfoot is this week. I think it's playing to 40 par three.

Right. It's crushing. It can kill you.

I don't know what it played in 1959, but that year, Billy Casper won the U.S. Open at Wingfoot, a legend, Billy Casper, Hall of Famer.

And so when my friend's father in law gets up to the third hole, the caddies are telling them, yeah.

So what happened here in the 59 U.S. Open is that Billy Casper the laid up every single time he played and made par all four rounds so he would lay up short of the green and then he'd hit a wedge on and he buried the pot.

He's like, I'm not trying to hit an unbelievably perfect shot and end up making double bogey. I'll just lay up.

And worst case, I make bogey while he made par all four times. So I told my my friend's father in law the story and he's like, oh, cool. Well, this guy's sick at golf. He gets up there and hits an absolute fucking bullet right at the pin bank bank in a hole in one third hole.

Cut this par three on the course. What does this legend proceed to do? Running down the fairway screaming Billy Castlerock had sock my dad.

Oh, so all respectability. Caspar, I think the was thought of as a hero and I'm right in the moment.

But to be told that this Hall of Famer laid up every round and then to ace it. Yeah, I think that if I had been there, I would have been crying.

Laughing. That's that's about Wingfoot story.

But I'll say right now I've played this course should be a great week and there'll be some really high scores.

We should play a sandbagger there. I don't think they'd ever let us do that.

But if they did, we would get murdered. I don't mean I'm looking forward to watching it so. Well, that was great. Great short golf talk. I'm sure the fans will love that. All right. Sounds good.

All right, gang, that wraps up another episode. Everybody have a fantastic weekend. And we'll catch you back here Monday with some of the latest results. As always, we'd like to thank God dynamite sponsors here and spit and Shetland's big thanks to everybody at New Amsterdam. Vodka and Pink Whitney. Huge thanks to everybody over at Thursday. Booch super comfy. I love that leather. Smell big thanks to everybody over at simply safe keeping everybody safe during these crazy times.

Huge thanks to our friends at Román for taking care of the fellows out there.

And big thanks to everybody but Canada. Have a great week. Everybody on the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again. Bye bye. Love is making music with my friend. I can't wait to be on.