The JRNY of Chris Pronger: NHL Hall of Famer

Welcome to another riveting episode of the Circuit of Success podcast! In this edition, host Brett Gilliland dives deep into the extraordinary journey of Chris Pronger, a true hockey legend and former NHL player. Join us as we explore Pronger’s career, from his high school hockey days to becoming a Hall of Fame inductee and a two-time gold medalist.

Discover the grit and physicality that defined Pronger’s time on the ice, including his victorious moments as a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues. Gain insights into the challenges of professional sports and the wisdom Pronger gleaned from early mentorship, highlighting the role of a business coach in shaping his path to greatness.

But that’s not all – Pronger’s story extends beyond the rink. Uncover the fascinating world of Journey J.R.N.Y., the whisky business co-founded by Chris and his brother. Delve into the intricacies of their venture, forged through years of research and development.

In this episode, Pronger shares invaluable advice on investing in oneself, the pursuit of excellence, and the significance of giving back to the community. Learn how his experiences as an athlete fueled his commitment to making a positive impact on the world, echoing the sentiment that the adrenaline rush on the ice is irreplaceable but focusing on the present is paramount.

Whether you’re a hockey enthusiast, a business-minded individual, or someone seeking inspiration, Chris Pronger’s insights are sure to resonate. Join us for a compelling discussion that intertwines NHL glory, the St. Louis Blues legacy, the essence of a hockey legend, and the exciting world of JRNY whisky. Don’t miss out on this episode packed with wisdom and the keys to success.

Subscribe now and be part of the Circuit of Success journey!

Chris Pronger – NHL HALL OF FAME

 

00:00:14.000 –> 00:00:16.000
I’m your host, Brett Gilliland.

00:00:16.000 –> 00:00:19.000
And today, I’ve got Chris Pronger. What’s up,

00:00:19.000 –> 00:00:20.000
my man? How are you?

00:00:21.000 –> 00:00:23.000
I am great. It’s good to have you.

00:00:23.000 –> 00:00:25.000
You. Been excited about this. It’s been a

00:00:25.000 –> 00:00:26.000
while. It’s been a while.

00:00:26.000 –> 00:00:28.000
We got our customers. We are branded for

00:00:28.000 –> 00:00:31.000
those watching at home. Thank you. Got the

00:00:31.000 –> 00:00:33.000
turkey Canadian whiskey right here. I go Brett.

00:00:33.000 –> 00:00:35.000
You go black? Yeah. You’re kind enough to

00:00:35.000 –> 00:00:36.000
come in here and give me a shirt.

00:00:36.000 –> 00:00:39.000
We got some, we got some whisky here.

00:00:39.000 –> 00:00:41.000
We may open one in a Gilliland,

00:00:42.000 –> 00:00:44.000
but yeah, man, you are the Hall fame

00:00:44.000 –> 00:00:46.000
hockey player, two time gold medalist,

00:00:47.000 –> 00:00:48.000
Stanley Cupchamp,

00:00:49.000 –> 00:00:51.000
Number forty four is retired at the enterprise

00:00:51.000 –> 00:00:52.000
center.

00:00:52.000 –> 00:00:54.000
You are a whisky owner. You are a

00:00:54.000 –> 00:00:56.000
husband. You are a father. And my last

00:00:56.000 –> 00:00:58.000
thing, I put your one hell of a

00:00:58.000 –> 00:01:00.000
golfer. Uh-huh. Wow. Not quite as good as

00:01:00.000 –> 00:01:00.000
you.

00:01:02.000 –> 00:01:04.000
But, man, that’s a hell of a career.

00:01:04.000 –> 00:01:05.000
That’s a hell of a career. Yeah. Practice

00:01:05.000 –> 00:01:07.000
on your slap shot. Not not your golf

00:01:07.000 –> 00:01:10.000
shot. Right? So, well, it’s been awesome getting

00:01:10.000 –> 00:01:12.000
to know you through old Billy. Billy Schmidt

00:01:12.000 –> 00:01:14.000
introduced to two of us. And so it’s

00:01:14.000 –> 00:01:16.000
been fun getting to know you, man. So

00:01:16.000 –> 00:01:17.000
I was excited to have you on the

00:01:17.000 –> 00:01:18.000
pod But if you can,

00:01:18.000 –> 00:01:20.000
people that don’t know you, I’m sure they

00:01:20.000 –> 00:01:21.000
listen to this probably does know you. But

00:01:21.000 –> 00:01:22.000
for those that don’t, man, there’s always a

00:01:22.000 –> 00:01:24.000
backstory. Something that’s helped make you the man

00:01:24.000 –> 00:01:25.000
you are today, and I always love to

00:01:25.000 –> 00:01:27.000
chat about that. So there, if you don’t

00:01:27.000 –> 00:01:29.000
mind. Yeah. No. I grew up in small

00:01:29.000 –> 00:01:30.000
town Canada,

00:01:30.000 –> 00:01:31.000
dried in Ontario,

00:01:32.000 –> 00:01:34.000
thriving metropolis of about seven thousand,

00:01:35.000 –> 00:01:36.000
strong right now.

00:01:37.000 –> 00:01:37.000
Nice.

00:01:38.000 –> 00:01:41.000
Northwest in Ontario is, so my hometown driving

00:01:41.000 –> 00:01:43.000
is eight hours straight north of Minneapolis.

00:01:43.000 –> 00:01:47.000
K. The coldest place in the continental US,

00:01:47.000 –> 00:01:48.000
not in Alaska

00:01:49.000 –> 00:01:51.000
is international falls, which is two and a

00:01:51.000 –> 00:01:53.000
half hours south of me. Wow. So it

00:01:53.000 –> 00:01:54.000
is cold.

00:01:56.000 –> 00:01:57.000
Not a lot going on in the winter

00:01:57.000 –> 00:01:59.000
other than hockey and

00:01:59.000 –> 00:02:00.000
snowmobiling,

00:02:00.000 –> 00:02:02.000
and ice fishing, and what you what you

00:02:02.000 –> 00:02:04.000
would expect. Yeah. But,

00:02:05.000 –> 00:02:07.000
Brett childhood growing up. Love living there. It

00:02:07.000 –> 00:02:09.000
was, it was a lot of fun. You

00:02:09.000 –> 00:02:11.000
know, see pre internet. So it was

00:02:12.000 –> 00:02:14.000
not a lot going on as far as,

00:02:14.000 –> 00:02:16.000
surfing the web and doing all that stuff

00:02:16.000 –> 00:02:18.000
and video games. It was pretty,

00:02:19.000 –> 00:02:22.000
you know, kinda asteroids and, the simple games

00:02:22.000 –> 00:02:24.000
that’s, that you can think of. But,

00:02:25.000 –> 00:02:27.000
now we played hockey pretty much every My

00:02:27.000 –> 00:02:29.000
brother, like, it’s pretty much what you do

00:02:29.000 –> 00:02:31.000
up there. Right? You’re not you’re not playing

00:02:31.000 –> 00:02:33.000
basketball or are you playing basketball baseball in

00:02:33.000 –> 00:02:35.000
the summers? Yeah. No. I was a multi

00:02:35.000 –> 00:02:36.000
sport athlete. Okay.

00:02:36.000 –> 00:02:38.000
I would play hockey in the

00:02:39.000 –> 00:02:40.000
fall, winter,

00:02:40.000 –> 00:02:43.000
early spring. And then would play baseball. Mhmm.

00:02:43.000 –> 00:02:45.000
And then I would golf all summer and

00:02:45.000 –> 00:02:47.000
kind of swim in the lake and be

00:02:47.000 –> 00:02:49.000
a kid. Nice. And then,

00:02:50.000 –> 00:02:52.000
I usually did not put skates on till

00:02:52.000 –> 00:02:55.000
the last two weeks of August when I

00:02:55.000 –> 00:02:56.000
would normally go to Thunder Bay and do

00:02:56.000 –> 00:02:57.000
a hockey school and stay with my grandparents

00:02:57.000 –> 00:02:58.000
and kinda have some time with

00:03:00.000 –> 00:03:02.000
them. My parents would get a break from

00:03:02.000 –> 00:03:04.000
us. Because you and your brother, right? Just

00:03:04.000 –> 00:03:06.000
me and my brother who’s two years older.

00:03:06.000 –> 00:03:08.000
Two for two for your parents and Angel

00:03:08.000 –> 00:03:09.000
hockey stars.

00:03:09.000 –> 00:03:10.000
And then,

00:03:10.000 –> 00:03:11.000
yeah, we just

00:03:12.000 –> 00:03:13.000
I mean, it was pretty simple living. It

00:03:13.000 –> 00:03:15.000
was nice. It’s awesome. Yeah. Not a whole

00:03:15.000 –> 00:03:17.000
lot to worry about. No cell phones. No

00:03:17.000 –> 00:03:18.000
nothing. And how much older is your brother

00:03:18.000 –> 00:03:20.000
than you? Two years. Okay. So two years

00:03:20.000 –> 00:03:21.000
older than you. So he’s beating the crap

00:03:21.000 –> 00:03:23.000
out of you guys or kids, running around

00:03:23.000 –> 00:03:25.000
a backyard. I believe I counted one summer.

00:03:25.000 –> 00:03:26.000
I had forty nine bleeding noses.

00:03:27.000 –> 00:03:28.000
So there was,

00:03:29.000 –> 00:03:31.000
there Thanks a lot. As as we used

00:03:31.000 –> 00:03:32.000
to hear a lot of, oh, the Pronger

00:03:32.000 –> 00:03:34.000
boys are going at it again. Yeah. But,

00:03:34.000 –> 00:03:35.000
no, it was,

00:03:36.000 –> 00:03:37.000
It was your dad, mom, the end of

00:03:37.000 –> 00:03:40.000
hockey? Is it sports? My dad played, you

00:03:40.000 –> 00:03:42.000
know, like college hockey a little bit. And,

00:03:43.000 –> 00:03:44.000
saw a picture of you guys where he’s

00:03:44.000 –> 00:03:46.000
not near as tall as you guys.

00:03:46.000 –> 00:03:49.000
My dad is 05:11. Okay. Chris brother was

00:03:49.000 –> 00:03:51.000
six six kinda like a picture I have

00:03:51.000 –> 00:03:53.000
of you and I. I look like I’m

00:03:53.000 –> 00:03:55.000
five foot four, you know, like, what’s going

00:03:55.000 –> 00:03:57.000
on here, man? This is terrible. So My

00:03:57.000 –> 00:03:59.000
grandpa was six three. So he’s the run

00:03:59.000 –> 00:04:00.000
to the litter. Yeah. You’re six six. Your

00:04:00.000 –> 00:04:03.000
brother’s six three. Six three. Okay. Big dudes.

00:04:03.000 –> 00:04:05.000
Imagine that on skates, even more intimidating.

00:04:06.000 –> 00:04:07.000
What, at what point do you should we

00:04:07.000 –> 00:04:09.000
open some of this stuff? Yeah. Let’s get

00:04:09.000 –> 00:04:11.000
I’ll let you, just grab it. Pick your

00:04:11.000 –> 00:04:12.000
poison. Alright. Let’s do this right here. Figure

00:04:12.000 –> 00:04:13.000
out which one you want. Get it right

00:04:13.000 –> 00:04:14.000
here. There we go. I can get it

00:04:14.000 –> 00:04:17.000
open here. Chris is some good stuff.

00:04:17.000 –> 00:04:19.000
We get a little pour here

00:04:19.000 –> 00:04:21.000
and then, I’ll ship it your way.

00:04:23.000 –> 00:04:26.000
Very good? Thank you, sir. Thank you.

00:04:28.000 –> 00:04:29.000
Cheers, mate. Cheers? Yeah. I’d like to

00:04:33.000 –> 00:04:35.000
smell it. A good stuff. That a good

00:04:35.000 –> 00:04:37.000
stuff. Anyway, back to the

00:04:37.000 –> 00:04:40.000
pre recorded, not pre recorded. The recorded session

00:04:40.000 –> 00:04:41.000
here we’re doing is At what point did

00:04:41.000 –> 00:04:43.000
you know you’re different, man? I mean, obviously,

00:04:43.000 –> 00:04:45.000
playing hockey, you’re a high level. There’s tons

00:04:45.000 –> 00:04:46.000
of good hockey players come from Canada.

00:04:47.000 –> 00:04:48.000
Was there that moment where you thought, man,

00:04:48.000 –> 00:04:50.000
I’m a little different than some of these

00:04:50.000 –> 00:04:50.000
guys?

00:04:50.000 –> 00:04:51.000
I was always,

00:04:52.000 –> 00:04:54.000
you know, growing up on, you know, kids

00:04:54.000 –> 00:04:56.000
my age. I usually played up a a

00:04:56.000 –> 00:04:58.000
a year or two years. Yeah.

00:05:00.000 –> 00:05:01.000
And and, you know, just played it out

00:05:01.000 –> 00:05:04.000
a higher level, if you will. And then

00:05:04.000 –> 00:05:05.000
you you really don’t know, come from a

00:05:05.000 –> 00:05:08.000
small town back then, you know, there’s, again,

00:05:08.000 –> 00:05:10.000
no internet, no real TV where you can,

00:05:10.000 –> 00:05:13.000
other than watch an NHL on hockey night

00:05:13.000 –> 00:05:14.000
in Canada on Saturday nights,

00:05:14.000 –> 00:05:17.000
you weren’t really immersed in it other than

00:05:17.000 –> 00:05:18.000
just who you’re playing against all the time.

00:05:18.000 –> 00:05:20.000
So I didn’t really

00:05:20.000 –> 00:05:22.000
have a good understanding or gauge

00:05:23.000 –> 00:05:24.000
to understand

00:05:25.000 –> 00:05:27.000
where I was at with respect to competition

00:05:27.000 –> 00:05:29.000
levels and and things of that nature. So,

00:05:30.000 –> 00:05:32.000
moved away from home when was fifteen, but

00:05:32.000 –> 00:05:34.000
prior to that, I had a choice to

00:05:34.000 –> 00:05:36.000
make at thirteen. Am I gonna play high

00:05:36.000 –> 00:05:36.000
school hockey,

00:05:37.000 –> 00:05:38.000
or am I gonna go play AAA hockey,

00:05:38.000 –> 00:05:40.000
which my brother played, and you’re driving

00:05:41.000 –> 00:05:43.000
10:12 hours in a bus, and it’s a

00:05:43.000 –> 00:05:44.000
gr you know, it’s a commitment and a

00:05:44.000 –> 00:05:45.000
grind.

00:05:45.000 –> 00:05:47.000
And I was, like, you know, I don’t

00:05:47.000 –> 00:05:49.000
wanna do that. I wanna play I wanna

00:05:49.000 –> 00:05:51.000
be with my friends, and I wanna play

00:05:51.000 –> 00:05:52.000
high school hockey.

00:05:52.000 –> 00:05:54.000
And, you know, there was a little politics

00:05:54.000 –> 00:05:57.000
involved that that I’ll get to later, but

00:05:57.000 –> 00:05:59.000
that was kinda really the first

00:06:00.000 –> 00:06:03.000
foray into the politics politics of sports and

00:06:03.000 –> 00:06:05.000
kinda what can happen

00:06:06.000 –> 00:06:08.000
they were upset that I didn’t go play

00:06:08.000 –> 00:06:10.000
on Chris AAA team. They being your parents?

00:06:10.000 –> 00:06:12.000
No. They being the coaching staff and the

00:06:12.000 –> 00:06:15.000
managers of that team. And their friends, my

00:06:15.000 –> 00:06:16.000
my brother played there, and they were friends

00:06:16.000 –> 00:06:18.000
of my parents, a lot of them. And,

00:06:19.000 –> 00:06:22.000
they we kinda merged two talents together, Kenora,

00:06:22.000 –> 00:06:24.000
and dried, and merged to create this triple

00:06:24.000 –> 00:06:26.000
a team because we were not each city

00:06:26.000 –> 00:06:28.000
was not or town was not AAA. Yeah.

00:06:28.000 –> 00:06:30.000
So we’d go and play in this AAA

00:06:30.000 –> 00:06:32.000
league. And I’m like, oh, I just wanna

00:06:32.000 –> 00:06:34.000
play with my buddies, but but again,

00:06:35.000 –> 00:06:35.000
fourteen,

00:06:36.000 –> 00:06:37.000
thirteen, fourteen,

00:06:37.000 –> 00:06:39.000
turning fifteen, the two years I played high

00:06:39.000 –> 00:06:41.000
school, I’m playing against twenty year olds. So

00:06:41.000 –> 00:06:43.000
I’m I’m playing nineteen, twenty year olds. So

00:06:43.000 –> 00:06:46.000
I’m playing against much older competition

00:06:46.000 –> 00:06:48.000
that have either gone on play junior, and

00:06:48.000 –> 00:06:50.000
I’ll come back. Gonna play high school hockey,

00:06:50.000 –> 00:06:53.000
finish your hockey careers, and go to school

00:06:53.000 –> 00:06:54.000
and do whatever. Right? So you’re you’re playing.

00:06:54.000 –> 00:06:57.000
It’s still against some pretty players. Yep. And

00:06:57.000 –> 00:06:59.000
on our team were players that had played

00:06:59.000 –> 00:07:00.000
in that league, and now they’re back playing

00:07:00.000 –> 00:07:02.000
high school hockey. So we had there was

00:07:02.000 –> 00:07:04.000
a lot of really hockey players that I’m

00:07:04.000 –> 00:07:06.000
playing against at the that age.

00:07:07.000 –> 00:07:09.000
So I’m, you know, I think in grade

00:07:09.000 –> 00:07:11.000
nine. I was six one, grade ten. I

00:07:11.000 –> 00:07:12.000
was six three. So I’m,

00:07:13.000 –> 00:07:14.000
Give me as big as those guys. I’m

00:07:14.000 –> 00:07:16.000
tall. I’m tall. I’m not big.

00:07:17.000 –> 00:07:17.000
Skin’ mouthy.

00:07:19.000 –> 00:07:19.000
But,

00:07:20.000 –> 00:07:21.000
you know, I think understanding

00:07:23.000 –> 00:07:24.000
I just wanted to have a good time.

00:07:24.000 –> 00:07:26.000
I wanted to enjoy my childhood. You know,

00:07:26.000 –> 00:07:27.000
it was a lot of pressure of, you

00:07:27.000 –> 00:07:29.000
know, you’re the best player. You’re Chris. You’re

00:07:29.000 –> 00:07:30.000
that. Yeah.

00:07:31.000 –> 00:07:32.000
And I thought we had a good enough

00:07:32.000 –> 00:07:34.000
team to go play in the Ontario’s where

00:07:34.000 –> 00:07:35.000
you’d go down to Toronto

00:07:36.000 –> 00:07:38.000
and play against the top high schools in

00:07:38.000 –> 00:07:41.000
the in the in the province and gets

00:07:41.000 –> 00:07:42.000
go to that way as opposed to playing

00:07:42.000 –> 00:07:43.000
out west

00:07:43.000 –> 00:07:45.000
were in Ontario, but they’re playing in the

00:07:45.000 –> 00:07:47.000
western. It just it was a, yeah, a

00:07:47.000 –> 00:07:50.000
s assorted deal. And so

00:07:51.000 –> 00:07:52.000
I played high school hockey for these two

00:07:52.000 –> 00:07:53.000
years. We go to the Ontario’s, both years.

00:07:55.000 –> 00:07:56.000
Brett

00:07:56.000 –> 00:07:59.000
seen by some scouts and and get asked

00:07:59.000 –> 00:08:01.000
to go play for this junior tee junior

00:08:01.000 –> 00:08:02.000
b team down in Stratford.

00:08:03.000 –> 00:08:04.000
And

00:08:04.000 –> 00:08:06.000
before I go and do that, I go

00:08:06.000 –> 00:08:07.000
to this summer camp, and they’re doing this

00:08:07.000 –> 00:08:09.000
under sixteen,

00:08:10.000 –> 00:08:13.000
camp to pick Chris, the all Ontario team,

00:08:13.000 –> 00:08:15.000
and I go to this camp, of which

00:08:15.000 –> 00:08:17.000
a lot were on this AAA team. Right.

00:08:18.000 –> 00:08:20.000
And, you know, it was a valuable learning

00:08:20.000 –> 00:08:22.000
for me on a couple fronts, number one,

00:08:22.000 –> 00:08:22.000
the politics.

00:08:23.000 –> 00:08:24.000
Number two,

00:08:24.000 –> 00:08:26.000
I wasn’t in the best shape. I didn’t

00:08:26.000 –> 00:08:28.000
train overly hard preparing

00:08:29.000 –> 00:08:29.000
for this,

00:08:31.000 –> 00:08:32.000
camp. So,

00:08:32.000 –> 00:08:34.000
you know, they said, oh, you know, we’re

00:08:34.000 –> 00:08:36.000
we’re cutting you. And I’m like,

00:08:37.000 –> 00:08:39.000
I’m I’m looking at my Gilliland I’m like,

00:08:39.000 –> 00:08:41.000
how am I getting cut? There’s no way.

00:08:41.000 –> 00:08:43.000
Yeah. But I get cut.

00:08:43.000 –> 00:08:46.000
And one of the scouts that watched me

00:08:46.000 –> 00:08:49.000
that pre that spring playing the All Ontario’s

00:08:50.000 –> 00:08:52.000
had two wild Chris. Now he’s got two

00:08:52.000 –> 00:08:54.000
wild cards for all of Ontario.

00:08:56.000 –> 00:08:58.000
And he’s like, how does this kid get

00:08:58.000 –> 00:08:59.000
cut? And he uses one of his two

00:08:59.000 –> 00:09:01.000
wild cards on me to go to the

00:09:01.000 –> 00:09:02.000
main camp. Wow.

00:09:03.000 –> 00:09:04.000
And I make the team.

00:09:06.000 –> 00:09:08.000
Again, not making the same mistake.

00:09:08.000 –> 00:09:10.000
I’m training now. I’m like, alright. I’m gonna

00:09:10.000 –> 00:09:12.000
train. I learned my lesson that it wasn’t

00:09:12.000 –> 00:09:12.000
prepared.

00:09:13.000 –> 00:09:15.000
Gonna happen again. I’m gonna train. I’m gonna

00:09:15.000 –> 00:09:17.000
prepare. And, you know, he’s that gentleman is

00:09:20.000 –> 00:09:23.000
still of my good friends. The wild card

00:09:23.000 –> 00:09:25.000
guy. The wild card guy, Sheldon Ferguson Ferguson,

00:09:25.000 –> 00:09:26.000
who then went on to scout

00:09:27.000 –> 00:09:29.000
for, central NHL central scouting, and then he

00:09:29.000 –> 00:09:31.000
worked for a number of different, NHL teams

00:09:31.000 –> 00:09:32.000
along the way.

00:09:33.000 –> 00:09:36.000
But still always talk about that circumstance and

00:09:36.000 –> 00:09:37.000
how

00:09:37.000 –> 00:09:39.000
He’s just happened to see if I don’t

00:09:39.000 –> 00:09:40.000
go to the Ontario championships, he doesn’t see

00:09:40.000 –> 00:09:42.000
me, and I don’t get this wallet, you

00:09:42.000 –> 00:09:43.000
know. It’s just who knows where he is.

00:09:43.000 –> 00:09:45.000
So many different. Yeah. I mean, it’s just

00:09:45.000 –> 00:09:47.000
if you don’t that opportunity or someone somebody

00:09:47.000 –> 00:09:48.000
doesn’t go out on a limb for you.

00:09:48.000 –> 00:09:50.000
Yep. You know, you you just never know

00:09:50.000 –> 00:09:51.000
where you’re gonna be. What were your parents

00:09:51.000 –> 00:09:54.000
like during that phase of life? Right? I’m

00:09:54.000 –> 00:09:55.000
picking high school over what they want me

00:09:55.000 –> 00:09:57.000
to do because, you know, in today’s world,

00:09:57.000 –> 00:09:58.000
and obviously you got kids. You know what

00:09:58.000 –> 00:10:00.000
it’s like. But the sports world is nuts.

00:10:00.000 –> 00:10:01.000
No.

00:10:01.000 –> 00:10:02.000
Bean

00:10:03.000 –> 00:10:05.000
Yeah. Miley. Yes. Yes. Miley.

00:10:06.000 –> 00:10:08.000
What were your parents like versus what we

00:10:08.000 –> 00:10:09.000
see parents today? Like, if you’re not on

00:10:09.000 –> 00:10:11.000
that all star if you’re not doing this,

00:10:11.000 –> 00:10:12.000
you’re not, you know, what were they like?

00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:14.000
Because they again, they went two for two

00:10:14.000 –> 00:10:16.000
with two NHL players. I mean, that’s that’s

00:10:16.000 –> 00:10:17.000
amazing. Yeah. I would say,

00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:20.000
you know, my dad was always quiet, always

00:10:20.000 –> 00:10:22.000
sat by himself up in the corner and

00:10:22.000 –> 00:10:23.000
just watched. Yeah.

00:10:24.000 –> 00:10:26.000
My mom was kinda with other parents, you

00:10:26.000 –> 00:10:28.000
know, hooting and hollering, but not, you know,

00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:30.000
getting involved in coaching and doing all that

00:10:30.000 –> 00:10:32.000
stuff. Getting advice and getting kicked. Yeah. Doing

00:10:32.000 –> 00:10:33.000
all that kind of stuff.

00:10:34.000 –> 00:10:36.000
You know, they weren’t car rides. What were

00:10:36.000 –> 00:10:36.000
those like?

00:10:37.000 –> 00:10:40.000
They were pretty quiet. I was pretty intense

00:10:40.000 –> 00:10:41.000
kid kinda preparing

00:10:42.000 –> 00:10:44.000
the way you saw me play is the

00:10:44.000 –> 00:10:45.000
way I played all the time. Okay. That’s

00:10:45.000 –> 00:10:47.000
the only way I know how to play.

00:10:47.000 –> 00:10:48.000
That’s the only way I know how to

00:10:48.000 –> 00:10:49.000
play. Okay. And so

00:10:50.000 –> 00:10:52.000
You know, I was kinda getting myself geeked

00:10:52.000 –> 00:10:53.000
up for the game. Yep. You know, you’re

00:10:53.000 –> 00:10:55.000
listening to music, you knew whenever,

00:10:56.000 –> 00:10:58.000
whatever music there was back then. Yeah. Not

00:10:58.000 –> 00:10:59.000
in AirPods.

00:10:59.000 –> 00:11:02.000
No. Yeah. No. Listen to Gilliland Oates and

00:11:02.000 –> 00:11:04.000
whatever else. My dad’s all fired up.

00:11:05.000 –> 00:11:08.000
Great tracks. Yeah. Exactly. Listen to Billy Joel

00:11:08.000 –> 00:11:09.000
a track or whatever.

00:11:11.000 –> 00:11:13.000
Not a whole, you know, we’re pretty quiet.

00:11:13.000 –> 00:11:15.000
Yeah. Just, you know, kinda go about business

00:11:15.000 –> 00:11:17.000
do your own thing. And and I love

00:11:17.000 –> 00:11:18.000
that though, man. You know, you you hear

00:11:18.000 –> 00:11:20.000
people talk about car rides, and that’s just

00:11:20.000 –> 00:11:22.000
one way, right, that people don’t wanna play

00:11:22.000 –> 00:11:24.000
sports. Sometimes the car rides home, mom, and

00:11:24.000 –> 00:11:25.000
dad, or, you know, why you miss that

00:11:25.000 –> 00:11:27.000
or do Chris? And Yeah. No. No. There

00:11:27.000 –> 00:11:29.000
was never, I don’t ever remember

00:11:30.000 –> 00:11:33.000
unless I did something not revolve

00:11:34.000 –> 00:11:36.000
around a play or whatever if I did

00:11:36.000 –> 00:11:38.000
something bad. Yeah. Right. You heard about it.

00:11:38.000 –> 00:11:39.000
May or may not have happened.

00:11:41.000 –> 00:11:43.000
No, I never got, well, why didn’t you

00:11:43.000 –> 00:11:44.000
make that pass? Or why didn’t you do

00:11:44.000 –> 00:11:46.000
this? Or why’d you make that player? No.

00:11:46.000 –> 00:11:47.000
I never

00:11:48.000 –> 00:11:49.000
it was, you know, it was just all

00:11:49.000 –> 00:11:51.000
about, as I tell people now. I’m like,

00:11:51.000 –> 00:11:53.000
make sure your kids are having fun. They

00:11:53.000 –> 00:11:55.000
get one chance to be a kid because

00:11:55.000 –> 00:11:57.000
guess what? You’re gonna grow up fast. Yep.

00:11:57.000 –> 00:11:58.000
And they’re out the door and

00:11:59.000 –> 00:12:01.000
you want them in those formative years of

00:12:01.000 –> 00:12:02.000
being a kid,

00:12:02.000 –> 00:12:05.000
being passionate about asport or multiple sports so

00:12:05.000 –> 00:12:08.000
that as they go off high school, college,

00:12:08.000 –> 00:12:09.000
etcetera,

00:12:10.000 –> 00:12:13.000
into normal normal life and are contributing citizens

00:12:13.000 –> 00:12:15.000
to the world, they still do stuff like

00:12:15.000 –> 00:12:17.000
that. They still wanna golf, they still wanna

00:12:17.000 –> 00:12:17.000
play hockey,

00:12:18.000 –> 00:12:21.000
basketball, volleyball, whatever it is, they wanna keep

00:12:22.000 –> 00:12:24.000
maybe not necessarily competing, but playing the sport

00:12:24.000 –> 00:12:26.000
that they love and are passionate about, or

00:12:26.000 –> 00:12:28.000
coaching it, paying it forward and doing these

00:12:28.000 –> 00:12:29.000
other things that you see a lot of,

00:12:30.000 –> 00:12:32.000
former players do. We’re gonna dive into your,

00:12:32.000 –> 00:12:34.000
obviously, your career here in a little bit,

00:12:34.000 –> 00:12:36.000
but but important for us as a firm,

00:12:36.000 –> 00:12:38.000
but also I think just any business person

00:12:38.000 –> 00:12:39.000
listening to this is whether it’s on the

00:12:39.000 –> 00:12:40.000
ice or in the boardroom,

00:12:41.000 –> 00:12:43.000
your values are important. Right? Your culture’s important

00:12:43.000 –> 00:12:45.000
to you. So was there a set of

00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:47.000
values or principles for you that maybe even

00:12:47.000 –> 00:12:48.000
your parents taught you or that you kinda

00:12:48.000 –> 00:12:50.000
formed early on in your career that said,

00:12:50.000 –> 00:12:53.000
this is what I stand for, and this

00:12:53.000 –> 00:12:54.000
is what I’m gonna do.

00:12:55.000 –> 00:12:56.000
You know, I think

00:12:57.000 –> 00:12:59.000
I was always one of the bigger kids,

00:12:59.000 –> 00:13:02.000
tall taller kids. You know, bigger, taller.

00:13:03.000 –> 00:13:04.000
But I always played a certain way. I

00:13:04.000 –> 00:13:06.000
always protected my teammates. I always

00:13:07.000 –> 00:13:08.000
let the other team know, oh, hey, you

00:13:08.000 –> 00:13:10.000
wanna take runs of this guy? Well, you

00:13:10.000 –> 00:13:12.000
better be careful because someone else can be

00:13:12.000 –> 00:13:13.000
taking runs of you.

00:13:14.000 –> 00:13:16.000
You know, and I think hard work and

00:13:16.000 –> 00:13:16.000
and

00:13:17.000 –> 00:13:20.000
adversity, you know, as my career went along,

00:13:20.000 –> 00:13:21.000
I you you

00:13:21.000 –> 00:13:22.000
sense

00:13:23.000 –> 00:13:25.000
and learn from the very adversities that you

00:13:25.000 –> 00:13:27.000
face, the decisions you gotta make.

00:13:28.000 –> 00:13:30.000
I’ve had plenty of decisions, whether it’s going

00:13:30.000 –> 00:13:31.000
to play junior, whether it’s going to play

00:13:31.000 –> 00:13:33.000
AAA or high school, whether it’s going to

00:13:33.000 –> 00:13:36.000
play major junior or college. I mean, just,

00:13:36.000 –> 00:13:37.000
you know,

00:13:37.000 –> 00:13:39.000
asking for trades, doing all these things. Like,

00:13:39.000 –> 00:13:41.000
you have you’re forced to really

00:13:42.000 –> 00:13:44.000
Stick to your guns. And, alright.

00:13:45.000 –> 00:13:47.000
You know, there’s some moments where I did

00:13:47.000 –> 00:13:47.000
not

00:13:48.000 –> 00:13:50.000
stick to my guns that I’m like, why

00:13:50.000 –> 00:13:51.000
did I not?

00:13:51.000 –> 00:13:53.000
Why did I cave and why, you know,

00:13:53.000 –> 00:13:55.000
it just if you have a core set

00:13:55.000 –> 00:13:56.000
of principles and you

00:13:57.000 –> 00:14:00.000
know who you are, and and you have

00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:01.000
a firm belief in that, you need to

00:14:01.000 –> 00:14:04.000
stick your guns. And there’s a couple times

00:14:04.000 –> 00:14:05.000
where I

00:14:05.000 –> 00:14:08.000
wouldn’t say I got bullied or talked into

00:14:08.000 –> 00:14:09.000
it. Just

00:14:09.000 –> 00:14:11.000
was told to you, you know, maybe you

00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:12.000
should go do this or that. And I’m

00:14:12.000 –> 00:14:14.000
like, well, I wish I’d have already did

00:14:14.000 –> 00:14:16.000
that. Yeah. Because it’s not. I

00:14:16.000 –> 00:14:18.000
I got asked to tell the owner one

00:14:18.000 –> 00:14:19.000
time in Saint Chris,

00:14:20.000 –> 00:14:21.000
sorry for making a play that I got

00:14:21.000 –> 00:14:22.000
suspended on.

00:14:23.000 –> 00:14:25.000
Like, why? Why? Why? Why do I need

00:14:25.000 –> 00:14:26.000
to apologize for that?

00:14:27.000 –> 00:14:29.000
That’s who I am. That’s how I play.

00:14:29.000 –> 00:14:31.000
Right. You love how I play. Yeah. So

00:14:31.000 –> 00:14:33.000
why am I still here? That’s why I’m

00:14:33.000 –> 00:14:34.000
here. You know, and I’m just like, well,

00:14:34.000 –> 00:14:36.000
why am I apologizing? I think that’s normal.

00:14:36.000 –> 00:14:38.000
Right? I mean, you think about even from

00:14:38.000 –> 00:14:39.000
a work standpoint? Oh, I kinda have good

00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:42.000
on that road. I kinda haphazardly just said,

00:14:42.000 –> 00:14:42.000
I’m sorry. But

00:14:43.000 –> 00:14:46.000
Yeah. I’m not I don’t mean it. You

00:14:46.000 –> 00:14:47.000
know, great. You told me to do it.

00:14:47.000 –> 00:14:48.000
Okay. I did it. But I don’t mean

00:14:48.000 –> 00:14:51.000
it. Yeah. Because I’m not sorry. Right. Right.

00:14:52.000 –> 00:14:53.000
I’m sorry I got caught.

00:14:54.000 –> 00:14:56.000
But when I read eight suspensions, is that

00:14:56.000 –> 00:14:58.000
what I heard? Eight. Yes. Hate suspensions.

00:14:59.000 –> 00:15:00.000
What was the best one?

00:15:02.000 –> 00:15:04.000
There were a few. There were a few

00:15:04.000 –> 00:15:06.000
good ones. You know what? I I learned

00:15:07.000 –> 00:15:10.000
early in my childhood to be unpredictable. Gilliland

00:15:11.000 –> 00:15:12.000
whether that’s you’re gonna take the puck, whether

00:15:12.000 –> 00:15:14.000
that’s you’re gonna hit them, whether that’s you’re

00:15:14.000 –> 00:15:15.000
gonna spear them, whether you’re gonna slash them,

00:15:15.000 –> 00:15:16.000
cross check them, whatever,

00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:19.000
in the grid the errors of the rule

00:15:19.000 –> 00:15:20.000
book.

00:15:20.000 –> 00:15:21.000
Mhmm.

00:15:21.000 –> 00:15:24.000
That keeping people unpredictable that just that indecisiveness

00:15:24.000 –> 00:15:24.000
in their head is gonna give you just

00:15:24.000 –> 00:15:24.000
enough time to

00:15:28.000 –> 00:15:30.000
make play, take the puck.

00:15:30.000 –> 00:15:32.000
They’re gonna be a little leery as to

00:15:32.000 –> 00:15:34.000
what you’re gonna do, and I could be

00:15:34.000 –> 00:15:35.000
honest with you sometimes. I didn’t know what

00:15:35.000 –> 00:15:38.000
I was gonna do. This is a re

00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:40.000
action. It’s a spur of the moment. You’re

00:15:40.000 –> 00:15:42.000
laying on. Yeah. Boom. But I think there’s

00:15:42.000 –> 00:15:44.000
people that, like, they like the hit. Right?

00:15:44.000 –> 00:15:45.000
I think of my oldest son, like, he

00:15:45.000 –> 00:15:47.000
likes the hit. Even he’s playing soccer. He’s

00:15:47.000 –> 00:15:49.000
not playing, but but, like, I was a

00:15:49.000 –> 00:15:50.000
guy. I didn’t like to hit. Like, I

00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:52.000
didn’t want that company. He’s probably why I

00:15:52.000 –> 00:15:53.000
played golf. Right? But

00:15:54.000 –> 00:15:55.000
do you think do you agree with that?

00:15:55.000 –> 00:15:56.000
I mean, people like to hit? Oh, absolutely.

00:15:57.000 –> 00:15:59.000
There’s, you know, when you see game start

00:15:59.000 –> 00:16:01.000
and you’re like, you either wanna get hit

00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:04.000
or get hit. Yeah. Just to absorb, get

00:16:04.000 –> 00:16:05.000
into the game, get the feel of it.

00:16:05.000 –> 00:16:08.000
Alright. We’re good now. Yeah. Just get that

00:16:08.000 –> 00:16:10.000
first one to get started. Alright. Now.

00:16:12.000 –> 00:16:14.000
Going. I was doing some butterflies, and get

00:16:14.000 –> 00:16:15.000
that

00:16:15.000 –> 00:16:17.000
I Brett some research last night. Watch some

00:16:17.000 –> 00:16:19.000
videos. I you said something on a podcast

00:16:19.000 –> 00:16:21.000
or some TV thing you’re on, and it

00:16:21.000 –> 00:16:23.000
said you you predicted be a hundred plus

00:16:23.000 –> 00:16:24.000
concussions? If you’re looking at what they consider

00:16:24.000 –> 00:16:25.000
a concussion now. Yeah. I

00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:30.000
would

00:16:31.000 –> 00:16:33.000
I would probably guess. You know?

00:16:34.000 –> 00:16:36.000
I can count ones where

00:16:36.000 –> 00:16:37.000
if you were looking at

00:16:39.000 –> 00:16:40.000
a baseline concussion of,

00:16:41.000 –> 00:16:43.000
you know, either it got knocked out or

00:16:43.000 –> 00:16:44.000
you’re seeing stars, you know, like a legit,

00:16:44.000 –> 00:16:45.000
you know, head trauma. You’re talking

00:16:50.000 –> 00:16:50.000
Twenty?

00:16:51.000 –> 00:16:52.000
Like that. And then,

00:16:53.000 –> 00:16:54.000
you know, seeing seeing stars, you bell rung

00:16:54.000 –> 00:16:54.000
and all the all those buzz words that

00:16:54.000 –> 00:16:54.000
you

00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:00.000
to hear. They’re like, don’t worry about it.

00:17:00.000 –> 00:17:02.000
Or I get a stinger. You know, your

00:17:02.000 –> 00:17:03.000
tip’s your head, but it’s your neck, but

00:17:03.000 –> 00:17:05.000
it’s your shoulder. You know, what is it?

00:17:06.000 –> 00:17:08.000
You know, there was so many different buzzwords

00:17:08.000 –> 00:17:10.000
to kinda take it away from

00:17:10.000 –> 00:17:12.000
your head. Yeah. That

00:17:13.000 –> 00:17:15.000
I, you know, over the span of playing

00:17:15.000 –> 00:17:16.000
hockey thirty

00:17:18.000 –> 00:17:20.000
Let’s see here. Thirty years or so? Eighteen

00:17:20.000 –> 00:17:23.000
in the NHL. Right. Thirty three. Yeah.

00:17:23.000 –> 00:17:25.000
Nineteen in the NHL. I mean,

00:17:25.000 –> 00:17:27.000
Yeah. I would, you know, you bang your

00:17:27.000 –> 00:17:28.000
head off the glass. You get hit. You

00:17:28.000 –> 00:17:30.000
know, there’s a couple times. You remember, we

00:17:30.000 –> 00:17:31.000
Brett banging my head off the glass on

00:17:31.000 –> 00:17:32.000
a hit.

00:17:32.000 –> 00:17:34.000
You know, you pass a puck and you’re

00:17:34.000 –> 00:17:36.000
trying to Brett yourself just, you know, you

00:17:36.000 –> 00:17:37.000
get hit by a big guy and you’re

00:17:38.000 –> 00:17:39.000
you’re hitting the guy and your head hits

00:17:39.000 –> 00:17:40.000
the glass.

00:17:42.000 –> 00:17:44.000
You’ve you’ve you don’t

00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:47.000
lose consciousness, but you’re you can feel it

00:17:47.000 –> 00:17:50.000
for a second or two. You’re like, okay.

00:17:50.000 –> 00:17:52.000
Talk about that moment we Brett hit in

00:17:52.000 –> 00:17:53.000
the chest. You know, the puck hits you,

00:17:53.000 –> 00:17:55.000
you go down. I watched that video last

00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:57.000
night. That was just scary as hell just

00:17:57.000 –> 00:17:58.000
watching the video, and I knew you survived

00:17:58.000 –> 00:17:59.000
it, but I’m like, in that moment, I

00:17:59.000 –> 00:18:01.000
came imagine. Yeah. I I

00:18:01.000 –> 00:18:04.000
when the whole Demar Hamlin thing happened, you

00:18:05.000 –> 00:18:07.000
you know, obviously got Yeah. That got just

00:18:07.000 –> 00:18:09.000
stood off and and, you know, being the

00:18:09.000 –> 00:18:11.000
first one that it actually happened to.

00:18:11.000 –> 00:18:14.000
I’m, you know, kinda relived it a little

00:18:14.000 –> 00:18:14.000
bit more and

00:18:15.000 –> 00:18:17.000
When it happens to you, that young in

00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:17.000
your career,

00:18:19.000 –> 00:18:21.000
you know, the the internet was still not

00:18:21.000 –> 00:18:23.000
really. The internet Yeah. Wasn’t it was ninety

00:18:23.000 –> 00:18:23.000
eight

00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:26.000
ish, I think. Yeah. Main ninety eight.

00:18:27.000 –> 00:18:28.000
There was not a lot of information out

00:18:28.000 –> 00:18:30.000
there. There was not,

00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:32.000
you know, dial up internet and all that

00:18:32.000 –> 00:18:34.000
kind of stuff. It’s just you’re not researching

00:18:34.000 –> 00:18:35.000
all that web I don’t even know if

00:18:35.000 –> 00:18:37.000
it was born yet. Well, he’s been dead

00:18:37.000 –> 00:18:39.000
if you went to WebMD. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

00:18:40.000 –> 00:18:42.000
Same symptom for everything. Yeah. But

00:18:44.000 –> 00:18:46.000
You know, I I started to really research

00:18:46.000 –> 00:18:47.000
and understand.

00:18:48.000 –> 00:18:48.000
I was actually

00:18:51.000 –> 00:18:54.000
closer to death than maybe a thought

00:18:54.000 –> 00:18:56.000
as I talked to the trainer and talked

00:18:56.000 –> 00:18:57.000
about what what I actually did have? Cause

00:18:57.000 –> 00:19:00.000
I never really I didn’t really wanna know.

00:19:00.000 –> 00:19:02.000
I’m just like, I just wanted to know

00:19:02.000 –> 00:19:04.000
from the doctor. Can it happen again? Right.

00:19:04.000 –> 00:19:07.000
Are there any short term, long term effects

00:19:07.000 –> 00:19:08.000
if I go back to play.

00:19:09.000 –> 00:19:10.000
And and once she cleared me of all

00:19:10.000 –> 00:19:12.000
that, and she’s like, no. This is just

00:19:12.000 –> 00:19:13.000
a random freak thing that

00:19:14.000 –> 00:19:16.000
follow those things line up again. It can

00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:17.000
happen, but the sequencing

00:19:18.000 –> 00:19:19.000
has to be perfect. Yeah.

00:19:19.000 –> 00:19:21.000
And the way it hits you has to

00:19:21.000 –> 00:19:23.000
be perfect and where it hits you.

00:19:24.000 –> 00:19:26.000
So I’m like, well, I just didn’t wanna

00:19:26.000 –> 00:19:27.000
know. So I start to ask the trainer.

00:19:27.000 –> 00:19:29.000
I’m like, so I get hit with a

00:19:29.000 –> 00:19:30.000
puck, a block shot. I gave it with

00:19:30.000 –> 00:19:32.000
a puck, and we’re killing a penalty.

00:19:33.000 –> 00:19:35.000
And I was, like, kinda stung in Rindy

00:19:35.000 –> 00:19:37.000
Troy, so I’m, like,

00:19:37.000 –> 00:19:39.000
In my hand, I’m like, cover the puck

00:19:39.000 –> 00:19:40.000
up, get a whistle, and then get to

00:19:40.000 –> 00:19:42.000
the bench. Don’t let these people see it

00:19:42.000 –> 00:19:44.000
down here. Yeah. Because they’re gonna be all

00:19:44.000 –> 00:19:45.000
over you. Alright.

00:19:46.000 –> 00:19:48.000
So in my hand, I do all that,

00:19:48.000 –> 00:19:51.000
but then I must have blacked out. Like,

00:19:51.000 –> 00:19:53.000
you kinda see I’m kind of Yeah. I’m

00:19:53.000 –> 00:19:55.000
gonna go down. Stumblebee tuna right after I

00:19:55.000 –> 00:19:57.000
get and take a stride, then boom, I’m

00:19:57.000 –> 00:19:59.000
down. Thank god. I had my hands in

00:19:59.000 –> 00:20:01.000
front of me. I would’ve broke my face.

00:20:01.000 –> 00:20:04.000
And I I wake up, and, you know,

00:20:04.000 –> 00:20:05.000
I’m in the middle of the ice. My

00:20:05.000 –> 00:20:06.000
stuff’s open

00:20:06.000 –> 00:20:08.000
all my stuffs off. And I look over

00:20:08.000 –> 00:20:10.000
to our bench. People are crying, and I’m

00:20:10.000 –> 00:20:12.000
just like, what’s going on here? So you

00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:13.000
had your wherewithal. I mean, you knew what

00:20:13.000 –> 00:20:15.000
was Once I woke up, I did. So

00:20:15.000 –> 00:20:18.000
then as this whole Lamar Hamlett thing happened,

00:20:18.000 –> 00:20:19.000
I started talking to the trainer. I’m like,

00:20:19.000 –> 00:20:21.000
so because I kept getting asked about it.

00:20:21.000 –> 00:20:23.000
And I was I don’t know. You know,

00:20:23.000 –> 00:20:25.000
it kinda just happened. To know, but I

00:20:25.000 –> 00:20:26.000
really didn’t.

00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:28.000
So I started asking. I’m like, so what

00:20:28.000 –> 00:20:30.000
exactly did happen?

00:20:30.000 –> 00:20:31.000
I was like, well, you know, we got

00:20:31.000 –> 00:20:32.000
out there.

00:20:32.000 –> 00:20:33.000
You weren’t breathing.

00:20:34.000 –> 00:20:37.000
You know, your lips were kinda panicked.

00:20:38.000 –> 00:20:39.000
No defibrillator.

00:20:40.000 –> 00:20:42.000
Back then, they had no defibrillators in the

00:20:42.000 –> 00:20:42.000
building.

00:20:43.000 –> 00:20:45.000
The ambulance was just a cart. It was

00:20:45.000 –> 00:20:47.000
basically just to to get you to the

00:20:47.000 –> 00:20:49.000
hospital. It wasn’t there was nothing in it.

00:20:49.000 –> 00:20:50.000
That could help you.

00:20:53.000 –> 00:20:55.000
And so here was starting to panic. My

00:20:55.000 –> 00:20:56.000
lips were starting to turn a little bit

00:20:56.000 –> 00:20:58.000
blue. He was like, yeah. We were just

00:20:58.000 –> 00:21:00.000
getting ready to give you mouth to mouth

00:21:00.000 –> 00:21:01.000
when you

00:21:01.000 –> 00:21:03.000
kinda came to and took a Brett. And

00:21:03.000 –> 00:21:04.000
they were like,

00:21:04.000 –> 00:21:05.000
Wow.

00:21:06.000 –> 00:21:07.000
Because they were they were just getting a

00:21:07.000 –> 00:21:09.000
little nervous. I think I had, like, fifteen,

00:21:09.000 –> 00:21:11.000
twenty seconds without breathing. And,

00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:14.000
you know, unlike ham on. I think it

00:21:14.000 –> 00:21:16.000
was, like, eight or nine minutes. Yeah. So

00:21:16.000 –> 00:21:18.000
they they were and and then since then,

00:21:18.000 –> 00:21:20.000
so then I went to hospital, did all

00:21:20.000 –> 00:21:22.000
that. And since then, right, right after that

00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:24.000
incident, they had fibrillators in the all the

00:21:25.000 –> 00:21:27.000
buildings. Mhmm. They’ve, you know, retrofitted or fixed

00:21:27.000 –> 00:21:29.000
the ambulance situation.

00:21:29.000 –> 00:21:31.000
And three years after that, Yuri Fisher with

00:21:31.000 –> 00:21:33.000
the Detroit Wed rings had a heart attack

00:21:33.000 –> 00:21:34.000
on the bench

00:21:34.000 –> 00:21:36.000
or right in front of the bench. And

00:21:36.000 –> 00:21:39.000
they also had the doctors way up in

00:21:39.000 –> 00:21:39.000
the top. Oh, yeah.

00:21:40.000 –> 00:21:42.000
And and after that incident, they had the

00:21:42.000 –> 00:21:43.000
doctors right behind the bench.

00:21:44.000 –> 00:21:46.000
And fortunate enough for Yuri Fisher, the doctor

00:21:46.000 –> 00:21:48.000
was right behind the bench, came off the

00:21:48.000 –> 00:21:50.000
bench, came out, start give him out the

00:21:50.000 –> 00:21:52.000
mouth, give him the

00:21:52.000 –> 00:21:54.000
defibrillator and save his life. Save his life.

00:21:54.000 –> 00:21:54.000
But, so I

00:21:57.000 –> 00:21:59.000
that that happens. I’m in the hospital. I’m

00:21:59.000 –> 00:22:01.000
I’m wearing a heart monitor for twenty four

00:22:01.000 –> 00:22:04.000
hours tracking it, doing all that. And, again,

00:22:04.000 –> 00:22:05.000
ask the doctor if, you know, is there

00:22:05.000 –> 00:22:06.000
any

00:22:06.000 –> 00:22:08.000
long term short term side effects if I

00:22:08.000 –> 00:22:08.000
play.

00:22:09.000 –> 00:22:10.000
And she’s like, no.

00:22:11.000 –> 00:22:12.000
So I I’ve thought about Demar Ham. So

00:22:12.000 –> 00:22:14.000
I wanted to rip the band aid off

00:22:14.000 –> 00:22:16.000
fast. Right. Basically. Brett right back. So how

00:22:16.000 –> 00:22:18.000
long did you set out? A a day?

00:22:18.000 –> 00:22:19.000
I just No. So even, like, the next

00:22:19.000 –> 00:22:20.000
day, you’re in the next day. So we

00:22:20.000 –> 00:22:22.000
played a I don’t know. Let’s just say

00:22:22.000 –> 00:22:24.000
that was a Tuesday? Yeah. Played on Thursday.

00:22:24.000 –> 00:22:26.000
Oh, wow. So I stayed in the hospital

00:22:26.000 –> 00:22:27.000
Tuesday night in Detroit,

00:22:27.000 –> 00:22:29.000
flew back on Wednesday,

00:22:30.000 –> 00:22:32.000
did all these tests, wore the heart monitor,

00:22:33.000 –> 00:22:34.000
did all that.

00:22:35.000 –> 00:22:36.000
Got up in the morning, went back to

00:22:36.000 –> 00:22:37.000
the doctor.

00:22:39.000 –> 00:22:41.000
Got checked out again. She looked at the

00:22:41.000 –> 00:22:41.000
monitor.

00:22:42.000 –> 00:22:43.000
The heart monitor that is,

00:22:44.000 –> 00:22:45.000
did a battery of tests against, sat down

00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:47.000
with her, talk to her.

00:22:47.000 –> 00:22:49.000
You know, still not knowing whether gonna play,

00:22:49.000 –> 00:22:51.000
but I prepared the night before like I

00:22:51.000 –> 00:22:53.000
was gonna play. Just you never know. Yeah.

00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:54.000
And then,

00:22:56.000 –> 00:22:58.000
And then went down to the rank at,

00:22:58.000 –> 00:22:59.000
like, 04:30.

00:22:59.000 –> 00:23:01.000
I think we had a seven, maybe a

00:23:01.000 –> 00:23:03.000
07:30 game. Went down to the rank at

00:23:03.000 –> 00:23:04.000
04:30, and just, like, I got cleared to

00:23:04.000 –> 00:23:06.000
play. So I’ll take up, see how I

00:23:06.000 –> 00:23:06.000
feel.

00:23:07.000 –> 00:23:09.000
And, well, you know, once once you put

00:23:09.000 –> 00:23:11.000
your equipment on It’s a good time. For

00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:11.000
me.

00:23:12.000 –> 00:23:14.000
I’m not taking that shit Yeah. It’s not

00:23:14.000 –> 00:23:15.000
it’s

00:23:15.000 –> 00:23:17.000
not happening. Right. I’m like, once it’s on

00:23:17.000 –> 00:23:18.000
You get to cut it off me again.

00:23:18.000 –> 00:23:20.000
Well, I’m not sitting now. If if I

00:23:20.000 –> 00:23:22.000
can if I can go out there and

00:23:22.000 –> 00:23:24.000
do warm up and do all the time.

00:23:24.000 –> 00:23:26.000
My might as well play. Right. And I

00:23:26.000 –> 00:23:29.000
hate sitting upstairs. It sucks. Yeah. So

00:23:30.000 –> 00:23:32.000
So, boy She just went back in and

00:23:32.000 –> 00:23:34.000
there was her nerves. Oh, yeah. There was

00:23:34.000 –> 00:23:35.000
nerves. You know, you again, to to the

00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:37.000
point, do you wanna get hit, or you

00:23:37.000 –> 00:23:38.000
wanna hit somebody, like, right

00:23:39.000 –> 00:23:41.000
And, you know, just, the water flies and

00:23:41.000 –> 00:23:43.000
the energy of coming out to the, out

00:23:43.000 –> 00:23:44.000
to the rain, you know, you take warm

00:23:44.000 –> 00:23:45.000
up and, you know, not everybody’s in the

00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:48.000
building. Yeah. Playoff game, playing Detroit, So it’s

00:23:48.000 –> 00:23:50.000
just crazy. Yeah. And,

00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:52.000
and then I come out for

00:23:54.000 –> 00:23:56.000
intros and come out, you know, to the

00:23:56.000 –> 00:23:59.000
building electric and going bananas, and then, you

00:23:59.000 –> 00:24:00.000
know, I come out. I was, like, one

00:24:00.000 –> 00:24:02.000
of one of the last couple guys I

00:24:02.000 –> 00:24:03.000
would always and

00:24:03.000 –> 00:24:05.000
fancy erupted and all that kind of stuff

00:24:05.000 –> 00:24:06.000
pretty cool. It brings it home. Oh, yeah.

00:24:06.000 –> 00:24:08.000
Alright. Let’s go. Well, you get and then

00:24:08.000 –> 00:24:10.000
you get the butterflies, like, alright. Let’s get

00:24:10.000 –> 00:24:12.000
the Band Aid ripped off and hit somebody

00:24:12.000 –> 00:24:15.000
somebody hit me, let’s get this out of

00:24:15.000 –> 00:24:17.000
the way so we can get past this.

00:24:17.000 –> 00:24:18.000
So in sports, I think for fans, I’m

00:24:18.000 –> 00:24:21.000
curious always to talk to players on it’s

00:24:21.000 –> 00:24:22.000
as big a deal for you guys. So

00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:24.000
there’s the rivalries. Right? There’s there’s games that

00:24:24.000 –> 00:24:27.000
mean more than than most. Obviously, playoffs always

00:24:27.000 –> 00:24:29.000
do. But did you treat those differently, or

00:24:29.000 –> 00:24:31.000
did did your mind go differently when you

00:24:31.000 –> 00:24:33.000
were playing a certain robbery for the different

00:24:33.000 –> 00:24:33.000
teams?

00:24:34.000 –> 00:24:35.000
Like, you know, cubs cards in baseball. Right?

00:24:35.000 –> 00:24:37.000
Like, there’s that thing. Did that matter to

00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:39.000
you? Oh, yeah. For sure. You the the

00:24:39.000 –> 00:24:42.000
team’s in your division. Yeah. And back then,

00:24:42.000 –> 00:24:43.000
you gotta remember, you pay you played those

00:24:43.000 –> 00:24:45.000
guys eight times. Mhmm. You know, the the

00:24:45.000 –> 00:24:47.000
schedule has since changed in you know, you

00:24:47.000 –> 00:24:48.000
don’t play

00:24:48.000 –> 00:24:51.000
against those teams as much. You know, you’re

00:24:51.000 –> 00:24:52.000
playing four home games, four road games, and

00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:54.000
then you’re playing the team typically in the

00:24:54.000 –> 00:24:55.000
playoffs and

00:24:55.000 –> 00:24:57.000
You know, you’re playing on sat possibly seven

00:24:57.000 –> 00:24:59.000
times and you’re playing it. You know, the

00:24:59.000 –> 00:25:01.000
next rival you’re playing seven times, it just

00:25:04.000 –> 00:25:04.000
you know, those

00:25:05.000 –> 00:25:07.000
the hatred between the teams

00:25:08.000 –> 00:25:08.000
intensifies

00:25:09.000 –> 00:25:10.000
with each playoff

00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:14.000
round that you play and we play Detroit

00:25:14.000 –> 00:25:16.000
four years in a row.

00:25:16.000 –> 00:25:17.000
This was

00:25:18.000 –> 00:25:18.000
ninety

00:25:20.000 –> 00:25:23.000
Ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven. This is,

00:25:23.000 –> 00:25:24.000
like, ninety eight. This is this is a

00:25:24.000 –> 00:25:26.000
fourth year in a rural plant. Yeah. You

00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:28.000
know, near the Okay. Here we go again.

00:25:28.000 –> 00:25:29.000
Here we go again.

00:25:29.000 –> 00:25:32.000
And so, you know, it’s just that rivalry,

00:25:32.000 –> 00:25:32.000
the

00:25:32.000 –> 00:25:35.000
the feuds between the play years and, you

00:25:35.000 –> 00:25:37.000
know, all the different things that happened over

00:25:37.000 –> 00:25:39.000
years. We hadn’t beaten them. They Brett us

00:25:39.000 –> 00:25:40.000
every year.

00:25:41.000 –> 00:25:42.000
You know, so it was

00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:45.000
It was getting intense. Yeah. When you get

00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:46.000
a lot of The hits, you get a

00:25:46.000 –> 00:25:46.000
little harder.

00:25:47.000 –> 00:25:49.000
You know, and you’re sick of losing, you

00:25:49.000 –> 00:25:51.000
know, getting pissed off. Yeah. Alright. Well, I’m

00:25:51.000 –> 00:25:52.000
gonna get my pound watch.

00:25:53.000 –> 00:25:55.000
Did you ever have one of those, guys

00:25:55.000 –> 00:25:56.000
that you couldn’t stand playing against? But then

00:25:56.000 –> 00:25:58.000
they became a teammate. Did that ever happen?

00:25:58.000 –> 00:26:00.000
You’re always gonna run down. I’m sure I

00:26:00.000 –> 00:26:01.000
was that guy for a lot of people

00:26:01.000 –> 00:26:03.000
You know, you you play against players, you

00:26:03.000 –> 00:26:06.000
know, you you recognize they’re good. Yep. And

00:26:06.000 –> 00:26:07.000
you’re like, okay. You’re not gonna be good

00:26:07.000 –> 00:26:09.000
against me. You’re just, you

00:26:10.000 –> 00:26:11.000
know, you just try to get in the

00:26:11.000 –> 00:26:13.000
kitchen and you try to,

00:26:13.000 –> 00:26:15.000
you know, it’s when you’re a defenseman, it’s

00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:17.000
different because if you’re a forward and you

00:26:17.000 –> 00:26:19.000
beat me once, you might score ones.

00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:21.000
There it is. You’ve done your job. Yeah.

00:26:21.000 –> 00:26:23.000
You did your one thing. Yeah. You know,

00:26:23.000 –> 00:26:25.000
so I’ve gotta be a hundred percent all

00:26:25.000 –> 00:26:26.000
the time. Yep.

00:26:26.000 –> 00:26:27.000
And so

00:26:28.000 –> 00:26:30.000
I would, you know, rivalry games, playoffs. He

00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:31.000
just

00:26:31.000 –> 00:26:34.000
I would treat rivalry games like playoffs, where

00:26:34.000 –> 00:26:35.000
you’re kinda ramping it up. You’re

00:26:36.000 –> 00:26:37.000
you know, a good chance you’re gonna meet

00:26:37.000 –> 00:26:39.000
them in the playoffs or anything. We’re gonna

00:26:39.000 –> 00:26:41.000
Well, you probably feel We’re gonna let you

00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:42.000
know what you’re in for. And the crowds

00:26:42.000 –> 00:26:45.000
jacked up. Everybody. Okay. It’s

00:26:45.000 –> 00:26:49.000
blackhawks, blues, you know. It’s just, you know,

00:26:49.000 –> 00:26:51.000
a little different. Yeah. A little different than,

00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:53.000
a normal game. And as you, you know,

00:26:53.000 –> 00:26:54.000
and then when you start, you know, and

00:26:54.000 –> 00:26:55.000
then it was the sharks, because we played

00:26:55.000 –> 00:26:56.000
them two or three years in a row

00:26:56.000 –> 00:26:58.000
in the playoffs. So just as you play

00:26:58.000 –> 00:27:01.000
somebody in the playoffs, those rivalries get heated.

00:27:01.000 –> 00:27:04.000
And Yeah. Talk about the, the Olympics versus

00:27:04.000 –> 00:27:07.000
the Stanley Chris. Stanley cup play or Stanley

00:27:07.000 –> 00:27:07.000
cup finals.

00:27:08.000 –> 00:27:10.000
What was the big difference there for you?

00:27:10.000 –> 00:27:10.000
Well,

00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:13.000
Both are awesome.

00:27:14.000 –> 00:27:14.000
Both,

00:27:15.000 –> 00:27:16.000
you know, to get to a Stanley Cup

00:27:16.000 –> 00:27:20.000
final takes a lot of grit and determination,

00:27:20.000 –> 00:27:20.000
luck.

00:27:22.000 –> 00:27:23.000
Chemistry,

00:27:23.000 –> 00:27:24.000
teamwork.

00:27:24.000 –> 00:27:26.000
You know, it’s nine to ten months of

00:27:27.000 –> 00:27:27.000
being in the same fight with the same

00:27:27.000 –> 00:27:28.000
guys over and over and over. The

00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:32.000
up the downs, university.

00:27:33.000 –> 00:27:34.000
You know, you get into an Olympic situation.

00:27:34.000 –> 00:27:35.000
It’s too many

00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:40.000
maybe two and a half weeks. Yeah. You’re

00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:41.000
throwing together.

00:27:41.000 –> 00:27:43.000
You know, and and for Canada, it’s a

00:27:43.000 –> 00:27:45.000
lot different than a lot of these other

00:27:45.000 –> 00:27:47.000
countries. We don’t have a national program

00:27:48.000 –> 00:27:50.000
where guys go back and skate the summers

00:27:50.000 –> 00:27:52.000
and go and, you know, play in the

00:27:52.000 –> 00:27:55.000
US development program Gilliland and have played together,

00:27:55.000 –> 00:27:57.000
we’re always playing against other in junior, you

00:27:57.000 –> 00:28:00.000
know, in different junior programs, you’re always playing

00:28:00.000 –> 00:28:02.000
against each other. You’re never playing together. And

00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:03.000
so

00:28:04.000 –> 00:28:04.000
those,

00:28:04.000 –> 00:28:05.000
those teams

00:28:06.000 –> 00:28:08.000
have a little bit better chemistry typically coming

00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:09.000
out of the gate because they’ve all played

00:28:09.000 –> 00:28:11.000
it with each other at some point. Yeah.

00:28:11.000 –> 00:28:13.000
And they’re familiar with the one. We hate

00:28:13.000 –> 00:28:14.000
each other.

00:28:14.000 –> 00:28:16.000
We all wanna beat each other up, but

00:28:16.000 –> 00:28:17.000
now for two and a half weeks. Yeah.

00:28:17.000 –> 00:28:18.000
So now for two and a half weeks,

00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:19.000
you gotta kind of

00:28:20.000 –> 00:28:22.000
let your buy guns be buy Gilliland,

00:28:22.000 –> 00:28:24.000
and come together as a group. And,

00:28:25.000 –> 00:28:27.000
you know, it’s and sometimes it works, and

00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:29.000
sometimes it doesn’t. Yeah. And sometimes just the

00:28:29.000 –> 00:28:31.000
industry is not there. Like,

00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:34.000
for us in in o six, in Italy,

00:28:35.000 –> 00:28:37.000
it just we just did not have good

00:28:37.000 –> 00:28:38.000
mastery. It was kind of the changing of

00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:40.000
the guard. We had ninety eight and o

00:28:40.000 –> 00:28:41.000
two were

00:28:41.000 –> 00:28:43.000
a lot of the same players. O two

00:28:43.000 –> 00:28:44.000
and ten. Right?

00:28:44.000 –> 00:28:46.000
And and then in o six, they choose,

00:28:46.000 –> 00:28:48.000
you know, some guys were retiring, and and

00:28:48.000 –> 00:28:50.000
we had a we had a different group

00:28:50.000 –> 00:28:52.000
of players. It just was a

00:28:53.000 –> 00:28:54.000
was

00:28:55.000 –> 00:28:57.000
I don’t know. I didn’t think they they

00:28:57.000 –> 00:28:59.000
either they didn’t coach or they didn’t

00:29:00.000 –> 00:29:00.000
pick the

00:29:01.000 –> 00:29:03.000
makeup of the team. It just didn’t. I

00:29:03.000 –> 00:29:05.000
didn’t feel like our chemistry was that good.

00:29:05.000 –> 00:29:07.000
But you played for four? Four. So at

00:29:07.000 –> 00:29:09.000
ninety eight was the first year we could

00:29:09.000 –> 00:29:09.000
play.

00:29:10.000 –> 00:29:10.000
In Nagano,

00:29:11.000 –> 00:29:13.000
and Gretzky was on the team,

00:29:13.000 –> 00:29:14.000
and

00:29:15.000 –> 00:29:17.000
I learned a lot from that year because

00:29:17.000 –> 00:29:19.000
we played not to lose. Okay. Like, we

00:29:19.000 –> 00:29:19.000
were

00:29:20.000 –> 00:29:22.000
just the way we played, it just wasn’t

00:29:22.000 –> 00:29:24.000
we weren’t lay leaving it all out there.

00:29:24.000 –> 00:29:26.000
We weren’t putting our foot on the gas.

00:29:26.000 –> 00:29:27.000
It was like, alright.

00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:30.000
What can we do? Okay. Let’s massage and

00:29:30.000 –> 00:29:31.000
let’s go win. Yep.

00:29:31.000 –> 00:29:33.000
And it it didn’t feel like we were

00:29:33.000 –> 00:29:35.000
getting better. We were just winning.

00:29:35.000 –> 00:29:37.000
We’re finding a way to win versus

00:29:37.000 –> 00:29:40.000
getting better. Yeah. Just on talent and, you

00:29:40.000 –> 00:29:43.000
know, our our skill. Yep. And not our

00:29:43.000 –> 00:29:45.000
teamwork and not things like that that get

00:29:45.000 –> 00:29:46.000
better as you get more comfortable with one

00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:47.000
one another.

00:29:48.000 –> 00:29:48.000
And,

00:29:48.000 –> 00:29:50.000
you know, we lost in a shoot out

00:29:50.000 –> 00:29:52.000
to the check team

00:29:52.000 –> 00:29:54.000
in the semi finals. And it was, like,

00:29:55.000 –> 00:29:56.000
you know, it was for us at that

00:29:56.000 –> 00:29:57.000
time. It was, like, gold or bust, gold

00:29:57.000 –> 00:29:58.000
or Brett. And

00:29:59.000 –> 00:30:00.000
we lost that game, and it was, like,

00:30:00.000 –> 00:30:01.000
it was over.

00:30:02.000 –> 00:30:04.000
And we still had a bronze medal game.

00:30:04.000 –> 00:30:06.000
We didn’t even show up. Like, it was

00:30:06.000 –> 00:30:08.000
just brutal. Right. No. We lost the Finland

00:30:08.000 –> 00:30:09.000
in that game, and it was like, you

00:30:09.000 –> 00:30:11.000
know, why do we care at this point?

00:30:11.000 –> 00:30:12.000
Well, you know, as you think back and

00:30:12.000 –> 00:30:14.000
you look at it, you’re like, I wish

00:30:14.000 –> 00:30:16.000
we would’ve would’ve been nice to say. I

00:30:16.000 –> 00:30:18.000
got two Gilliland a bronze. Yeah. You know,

00:30:18.000 –> 00:30:21.000
but was just the mentality in the mindset

00:30:21.000 –> 00:30:22.000
was gold medal.

00:30:22.000 –> 00:30:24.000
The only thing I wanna we gotta win

00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:25.000
is a goal, just the pressure of of

00:30:27.000 –> 00:30:30.000
air of the expectations, and then just of

00:30:30.000 –> 00:30:33.000
how we managed and handled things was not

00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:33.000
great.

00:30:33.000 –> 00:30:34.000
And then in o two, we got off

00:30:34.000 –> 00:30:34.000
to a crappy start. We got

00:30:38.000 –> 00:30:39.000
in our first game by Sweden. I think

00:30:39.000 –> 00:30:41.000
it was, like, six two or something. I

00:30:41.000 –> 00:30:42.000
mean, and they dominated us.

00:30:43.000 –> 00:30:44.000
But from that game,

00:30:46.000 –> 00:30:48.000
we got better and better We made a

00:30:48.000 –> 00:30:49.000
few adjustments,

00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:50.000
change the goalie,

00:30:51.000 –> 00:30:51.000
change,

00:30:53.000 –> 00:30:55.000
you know, move some d d around, change

00:30:55.000 –> 00:30:56.000
lines a little bit. You know, you just

00:30:57.000 –> 00:30:59.000
you’re looking for the right combinations, you’re looking

00:30:59.000 –> 00:31:00.000
for the right chemistry,

00:31:00.000 –> 00:31:03.000
and we got better. Each game, you could

00:31:03.000 –> 00:31:04.000
see us trending

00:31:04.000 –> 00:31:06.000
and getting better and better and better.

00:31:07.000 –> 00:31:09.000
And and from that, you could see, okay,

00:31:09.000 –> 00:31:11.000
this is how what we did wrong in

00:31:11.000 –> 00:31:13.000
ninety eight, we’re not doing that in

00:31:14.000 –> 00:31:16.000
We were winning, not great. We weren’t we

00:31:16.000 –> 00:31:18.000
weren’t playing great teams, you know, because you’re

00:31:18.000 –> 00:31:20.000
still, like, playing Germany and playing some of

00:31:20.000 –> 00:31:21.000
these teams at the time that weren’t very

00:31:21.000 –> 00:31:22.000
good.

00:31:22.000 –> 00:31:24.000
And you’re working your way up.

00:31:24.000 –> 00:31:26.000
And as that chemistry,

00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:29.000
we we got through, then we got through

00:31:29.000 –> 00:31:31.000
the semi Gilliland then we played the US

00:31:31.000 –> 00:31:32.000
in the finals, and we were running all

00:31:32.000 –> 00:31:35.000
cylinders and confident and Yep. They had no

00:31:35.000 –> 00:31:37.000
chance. No. I think we beat them five

00:31:37.000 –> 00:31:39.000
two. So when you think about that. So

00:31:39.000 –> 00:31:40.000
you talked about chemistry and culture and all

00:31:40.000 –> 00:31:41.000
that makes me think about. So when you

00:31:41.000 –> 00:31:43.000
play for the blues, and we’ll go the

00:31:43.000 –> 00:31:44.000
steamy cup in a minute. But we play

00:31:44.000 –> 00:31:46.000
you play for the blues, you had the

00:31:46.000 –> 00:31:48.000
big c, right? The captain on Jersey. What

00:31:48.000 –> 00:31:50.000
what did that mean to you? What did

00:31:50.000 –> 00:31:51.000
that mean for you in the locker room

00:31:51.000 –> 00:31:53.000
as a leader? Because again, I in this

00:31:53.000 –> 00:31:55.000
podcast, we got tons of business people to

00:31:55.000 –> 00:31:57.000
listen. Right? And so tying that, if can

00:31:57.000 –> 00:31:58.000
look at it from that lens and what

00:31:58.000 –> 00:32:00.000
that means to the man or woman running

00:32:00.000 –> 00:32:02.000
a company right now that the big c

00:32:02.000 –> 00:32:04.000
on their suit code or whatever. What’s mean

00:32:04.000 –> 00:32:05.000
to them?

00:32:05.000 –> 00:32:06.000
Yeah. It’s,

00:32:08.000 –> 00:32:10.000
you know, I think in in sports,

00:32:10.000 –> 00:32:13.000
it’s it’s a little bit different in than

00:32:13.000 –> 00:32:13.000
business.

00:32:14.000 –> 00:32:17.000
But it’s the same. Yeah. Right. And and,

00:32:17.000 –> 00:32:19.000
you know, everybody looks at the the captain

00:32:19.000 –> 00:32:20.000
and, like, alright, he’s the guy in the

00:32:20.000 –> 00:32:22.000
locker room the glue. He’s the guy holding

00:32:22.000 –> 00:32:23.000
everybody accountable.

00:32:24.000 –> 00:32:25.000
It’s a little bit more than that. You

00:32:25.000 –> 00:32:25.000
need a group. You

00:32:29.000 –> 00:32:30.000
need core group of leaders

00:32:31.000 –> 00:32:33.000
that can’t always be the captain Right. Getting

00:32:33.000 –> 00:32:34.000
in people’s faces,

00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:36.000
you know, holding people accountable,

00:32:37.000 –> 00:32:39.000
pulling people aside, just not on time in

00:32:39.000 –> 00:32:41.000
a day to be doing that. And so

00:32:41.000 –> 00:32:43.000
you need a core group of guys

00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:47.000
to really kind of buy into what the

00:32:47.000 –> 00:32:47.000
coach is selling.

00:32:48.000 –> 00:32:49.000
To get the group to buy into what

00:32:49.000 –> 00:32:50.000
they’re selling

00:32:50.000 –> 00:32:52.000
and get them play that way.

00:32:52.000 –> 00:32:53.000
And

00:32:54.000 –> 00:32:56.000
and buy and and and come together as

00:32:56.000 –> 00:32:58.000
a group. Because the one difference

00:32:58.000 –> 00:33:00.000
from business to sports is every year is

00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:01.000
different.

00:33:01.000 –> 00:33:04.000
Yeah. Right. You’re you’re aging, you’re sharing. You’re

00:33:04.000 –> 00:33:04.000
developing

00:33:06.000 –> 00:33:07.000
faster.

00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:08.000
You know, you’re either aging out or you’re

00:33:08.000 –> 00:33:09.000
coming up. You know, players

00:33:12.000 –> 00:33:14.000
have your earth players have down years. Yeah.

00:33:14.000 –> 00:33:15.000
I mean, there’s all you know, and it

00:33:15.000 –> 00:33:17.000
happens in business too, but more so in

00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:18.000
sports where

00:33:19.000 –> 00:33:21.000
in order to be successful, Gilliland

00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:23.000
win and win a championship,

00:33:23.000 –> 00:33:25.000
everything’s gotta go great. Yeah. You gotta have

00:33:25.000 –> 00:33:26.000
luck.

00:33:26.000 –> 00:33:28.000
You gotta be healthy. You gotta have guys

00:33:28.000 –> 00:33:30.000
having career years. You gotta, you know, in

00:33:30.000 –> 00:33:32.000
hockey, you could have a hot goalie. I

00:33:32.000 –> 00:33:34.000
mean, there’s you’re gonna have all those things,

00:33:34.000 –> 00:33:35.000
but if you don’t have a hot goalie,

00:33:35.000 –> 00:33:36.000
you’re done.

00:33:37.000 –> 00:33:39.000
For the blues. Right? Yeah. You’re not winning.

00:33:39.000 –> 00:33:41.000
So there’s so many different things that play

00:33:41.000 –> 00:33:44.000
into it. But but then, you know,

00:33:44.000 –> 00:33:46.000
more for me was, alright,

00:33:47.000 –> 00:33:48.000
I hold I hold myself

00:33:49.000 –> 00:33:50.000
to this standard.

00:33:51.000 –> 00:33:53.000
I’m not I’m not holding you to that

00:33:53.000 –> 00:33:56.000
standard. I’m holding myself to standard. But you

00:33:56.000 –> 00:33:57.000
Brett be at this standard. Mhmm.

00:33:58.000 –> 00:33:59.000
I don’t ask you to find anything I

00:33:59.000 –> 00:34:00.000
wouldn’t do.

00:34:01.000 –> 00:34:02.000
I’m the first one in the gym. I’m

00:34:02.000 –> 00:34:04.000
the one on the ice. I’m working on

00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:05.000
my craft. I’m

00:34:05.000 –> 00:34:07.000
in the training room, making sure I’m healthy

00:34:07.000 –> 00:34:09.000
so I can go play every single game

00:34:09.000 –> 00:34:09.000
I can.

00:34:10.000 –> 00:34:12.000
And I’m putting the time and effort in

00:34:12.000 –> 00:34:13.000
to

00:34:13.000 –> 00:34:15.000
to be the best I can be each

00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:15.000
and every day

00:34:16.000 –> 00:34:18.000
and prepare properly so that

00:34:19.000 –> 00:34:20.000
we can

00:34:21.000 –> 00:34:23.000
survive a nine month grind

00:34:23.000 –> 00:34:25.000
and a two month playoff grind to win

00:34:25.000 –> 00:34:26.000
a championship.

00:34:26.000 –> 00:34:29.000
Physical grind at that. Physical and mental. Yeah.

00:34:29.000 –> 00:34:30.000
Just the ups and downs,

00:34:31.000 –> 00:34:34.000
it’s it’s a roller coaster. And so to

00:34:36.000 –> 00:34:38.000
to be sharp and to understand, you know,

00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:41.000
as my career evolved, I got better and

00:34:41.000 –> 00:34:42.000
better at that and and understanding my

00:34:43.000 –> 00:34:46.000
body understanding what I needed to do, how

00:34:46.000 –> 00:34:48.000
I needed to train throughout the course of

00:34:48.000 –> 00:34:49.000
the season

00:34:49.000 –> 00:34:51.000
to make sure I wasn’t have as b

00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:52.000
having as big a drop off.

00:34:53.000 –> 00:34:54.000
Playing thirty minutes a night

00:34:55.000 –> 00:34:58.000
always against top line. Always match up against

00:34:58.000 –> 00:34:59.000
best player.

00:34:59.000 –> 00:35:01.000
You know, I gotta play physical against the

00:35:01.000 –> 00:35:03.000
big guy the other team, and I gotta,

00:35:03.000 –> 00:35:05.000
you know, there’s a I’m managing a bunch

00:35:05.000 –> 00:35:08.000
of different Gilliland

00:35:08.000 –> 00:35:08.000
trying

00:35:09.000 –> 00:35:11.000
map out, oh, and I also need to

00:35:11.000 –> 00:35:13.000
provide offense. I also need to, a lot

00:35:13.000 –> 00:35:15.000
of times, help run the power play. I,

00:35:15.000 –> 00:35:17.000
you know, you’re juggling a lot of hats.

00:35:17.000 –> 00:35:19.000
And you’re and then you’re looking at it

00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:20.000
going well,

00:35:21.000 –> 00:35:22.000
you know, as I look back at my

00:35:22.000 –> 00:35:23.000
career and I look at all the games

00:35:23.000 –> 00:35:25.000
played now, I’m like, well, people are like,

00:35:25.000 –> 00:35:27.000
oh, You only got six hundred points. And

00:35:27.000 –> 00:35:29.000
I’m like, well, five hundred ninety eight if

00:35:29.000 –> 00:35:32.000
somebody looks, it’s almost six hundred for those

00:35:32.000 –> 00:35:33.000
small checkers. Pardon me?

00:35:34.000 –> 00:35:36.000
Six hundred and ninety eight. Six ninety eight.

00:35:36.000 –> 00:35:37.000
Six seven hundred. Pardon me.

00:35:39.000 –> 00:35:39.000
But

00:35:40.000 –> 00:35:42.000
Could I have gotten more points? Sure.

00:35:42.000 –> 00:35:44.000
Right. But at what cost?

00:35:45.000 –> 00:35:47.000
Where you’re it would detract from somewhere else.

00:35:48.000 –> 00:35:50.000
I was more about winning.

00:35:51.000 –> 00:35:53.000
If you look back through history, whether it’s

00:35:53.000 –> 00:35:55.000
me looking at playing June when I play

00:35:55.000 –> 00:35:57.000
junior hockey and you work all the way

00:35:57.000 –> 00:35:59.000
to mine in my career, when you look

00:35:59.000 –> 00:36:01.000
at the players who are wanted the most,

00:36:02.000 –> 00:36:04.000
who typically get paid at some point,

00:36:04.000 –> 00:36:05.000
are winners?

00:36:06.000 –> 00:36:08.000
Who gets plucked from all the if you

00:36:08.000 –> 00:36:10.000
look at football, baseball, basketball,

00:36:10.000 –> 00:36:13.000
hockey? Who gets plucked from these championship teams?

00:36:14.000 –> 00:36:15.000
The meet guys.

00:36:15.000 –> 00:36:18.000
The the role players that because they’re successful.

00:36:18.000 –> 00:36:19.000
They know how to win.

00:36:19.000 –> 00:36:22.000
Are they overpaid to do what they’re supposed

00:36:22.000 –> 00:36:22.000
probably.

00:36:23.000 –> 00:36:26.000
But there’s teams that don’t have that

00:36:27.000 –> 00:36:29.000
intangible that they’re trying to pay for. So

00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:33.000
And then if you’re able to do that

00:36:33.000 –> 00:36:33.000
as a

00:36:34.000 –> 00:36:36.000
all star top, you know, if you’re top

00:36:36.000 –> 00:36:38.000
two or however your top six top four

00:36:38.000 –> 00:36:41.000
d whatever, you’re gonna get paid too. Yep.

00:36:41.000 –> 00:36:43.000
You might not get paid there,

00:36:43.000 –> 00:36:44.000
but you’re gonna get paid somewhere, you know,

00:36:44.000 –> 00:36:46.000
the next week, because you’re a winner. Yep.

00:36:46.000 –> 00:36:49.000
You’re champion. You know, so it’s Well, and

00:36:49.000 –> 00:36:51.000
that’s what’s it’s about trying to sell that.

00:36:51.000 –> 00:36:53.000
Right? It’s about trying to sell that. Yeah.

00:36:53.000 –> 00:36:54.000
It’s about listen.

00:36:55.000 –> 00:36:58.000
Short term pain for long term gain, you

00:36:58.000 –> 00:36:59.000
you may not be

00:37:00.000 –> 00:37:02.000
doing what you necessarily wanna do within our

00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:04.000
system, within, you know, when you pick up

00:37:04.000 –> 00:37:06.000
a guy from on trade or signing or

00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:06.000
whatever.

00:37:07.000 –> 00:37:08.000
This is our culture.

00:37:08.000 –> 00:37:10.000
You’re you’re selling a culture. This is it.

00:37:10.000 –> 00:37:12.000
This is how we operate. This is This

00:37:12.000 –> 00:37:15.000
is our locker room. Yep. Everybody in here,

00:37:15.000 –> 00:37:16.000
this is how we do it. How much

00:37:16.000 –> 00:37:18.000
of that is talked about in the locker

00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:19.000
room? Like, are you, like, if, you know,

00:37:19.000 –> 00:37:21.000
a, b, and c is the principles that

00:37:21.000 –> 00:37:22.000
you guys are fighting for this year. You

00:37:22.000 –> 00:37:24.000
know, is like It gets Is that

00:37:24.000 –> 00:37:26.000
I mean, it’s every every game, every day?

00:37:27.000 –> 00:37:29.000
You get you have when you have good

00:37:29.000 –> 00:37:30.000
coaches,

00:37:31.000 –> 00:37:34.000
they meet with the leadership to, like, every

00:37:34.000 –> 00:37:36.000
every and again, every year you’re tweaking it,

00:37:36.000 –> 00:37:39.000
every year you’re learning, you’re adapting. Yep. You’re

00:37:39.000 –> 00:37:41.000
looking at your Pronger. How does that how

00:37:41.000 –> 00:37:42.000
how can we

00:37:45.000 –> 00:37:47.000
change, modify, or adapt our message to the

00:37:47.000 –> 00:37:48.000
group. Yeah.

00:37:49.000 –> 00:37:49.000
And

00:37:50.000 –> 00:37:53.000
it’s the players. It’s the leadership group, as

00:37:53.000 –> 00:37:54.000
I mentioned, that are selling it. It’s not

00:37:54.000 –> 00:37:57.000
the coach. Yeah. Right. He they’re, like, you’re

00:37:57.000 –> 00:37:58.000
sick of here. He’s not in there. He’s

00:37:58.000 –> 00:37:58.000
in there,

00:37:59.000 –> 00:38:01.000
every single day. If he’s in there selling

00:38:01.000 –> 00:38:02.000
that every day, it’s prob.

00:38:03.000 –> 00:38:05.000
You’re tuned out right away. The moment he

00:38:05.000 –> 00:38:07.000
opens his mouth again to do something else,

00:38:07.000 –> 00:38:09.000
you you’ve lost the room. Everybody’s tuned out.

00:38:09.000 –> 00:38:12.000
So you gotta have a couple different guys

00:38:12.000 –> 00:38:14.000
in a couple different groups, like I’ll use

00:38:14.000 –> 00:38:15.000
Anaheim,

00:38:15.000 –> 00:38:16.000
the year we won the cup. You know,

00:38:16.000 –> 00:38:17.000
we had different sections

00:38:19.000 –> 00:38:20.000
of the room.

00:38:21.000 –> 00:38:23.000
You know, I sat over as you walked

00:38:23.000 –> 00:38:24.000
in our locker. I sat on the right

00:38:24.000 –> 00:38:25.000
side.

00:38:25.000 –> 00:38:27.000
I couldn’t really see the left side because

00:38:27.000 –> 00:38:30.000
it was tucked over here. So we had

00:38:30.000 –> 00:38:31.000
a guy over there.

00:38:31.000 –> 00:38:34.000
In that side, dealing with that group. And

00:38:34.000 –> 00:38:35.000
over here on this group to the right,

00:38:35.000 –> 00:38:36.000
we had a couple of young guys and

00:38:36.000 –> 00:38:37.000
a couple

00:38:38.000 –> 00:38:39.000
Dman, a couple of young guys were trying

00:38:39.000 –> 00:38:42.000
to move along, trying to teach how to

00:38:42.000 –> 00:38:43.000
be Chris, and they’re in my group over

00:38:43.000 –> 00:38:45.000
here. And then over here across away. You

00:38:45.000 –> 00:38:47.000
know, these are the quieter guys, but they

00:38:47.000 –> 00:38:49.000
know they know how to win. They’re they’re

00:38:49.000 –> 00:38:51.000
on point. They’re over there. You got another

00:38:51.000 –> 00:38:52.000
group over here that’s

00:38:53.000 –> 00:38:56.000
far end. So you kinda have these quadrants,

00:38:56.000 –> 00:38:58.000
you know, you hear about the quads and,

00:38:58.000 –> 00:38:59.000
you know, all these different things.

00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:00.000
So

00:39:01.000 –> 00:39:02.000
we spent most of our time because we’re

00:39:02.000 –> 00:39:04.000
all and they’re getting dressed talk. And we’re

00:39:04.000 –> 00:39:05.000
in our little bubble over there.

00:39:06.000 –> 00:39:07.000
You know, you’re you’re talking to the whole

00:39:07.000 –> 00:39:09.000
group in the locker room, but you’re you’re

00:39:09.000 –> 00:39:11.000
talking to that little main core right there.

00:39:12.000 –> 00:39:14.000
Right? Yeah. Because they’re right there. So, you

00:39:14.000 –> 00:39:15.000
know, you got these young guys and you’re

00:39:15.000 –> 00:39:17.000
talking to them about how to be pros,

00:39:17.000 –> 00:39:19.000
and you need to, you know, you the

00:39:19.000 –> 00:39:19.000
coach

00:39:20.000 –> 00:39:21.000
in Anaheim did a great job of trying

00:39:21.000 –> 00:39:23.000
to trying to them how to be pros

00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:25.000
from a coach’s perspective.

00:39:25.000 –> 00:39:27.000
And then it’s incumbent upon the leadership group

00:39:27.000 –> 00:39:28.000
and the players to

00:39:28.000 –> 00:39:30.000
drag along, like, you gotta get in the

00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:31.000
gym.

00:39:31.000 –> 00:39:33.000
Let’s go Brett in here. You gotta you

00:39:33.000 –> 00:39:34.000
gotta prepare. That’s what I was gonna ask.

00:39:34.000 –> 00:39:36.000
What defines If you go out and have

00:39:36.000 –> 00:39:38.000
a good time, You better show up to

00:39:38.000 –> 00:39:41.000
work the next day. Yeah. Like, you’re not

00:39:41.000 –> 00:39:43.000
going to the back of the line every

00:39:43.000 –> 00:39:43.000
time, and,

00:39:44.000 –> 00:39:46.000
you’re not doing drills because you’re hungover.

00:39:47.000 –> 00:39:49.000
If you’re doing that, then just don’t come

00:39:49.000 –> 00:39:50.000
out. Right.

00:39:50.000 –> 00:39:52.000
We’re we’re trying to get better. We’re working

00:39:52.000 –> 00:39:53.000
on stuff out here. Did you and did

00:39:53.000 –> 00:39:55.000
you notice I’m assuming this answer is yes,

00:39:55.000 –> 00:39:57.000
but did you notice a difference between as

00:39:57.000 –> 00:39:58.000
like you and the Gretzky. I mean, you

00:39:58.000 –> 00:40:00.000
came to Saint Louis. Right? You had McGinnis

00:40:00.000 –> 00:40:02.000
Hall Gretzky, you on the team. I mean,

00:40:02.000 –> 00:40:03.000
that’s a hell of a team. Right? So

00:40:03.000 –> 00:40:06.000
did you find those were different on everything

00:40:06.000 –> 00:40:06.000
from preparation,

00:40:07.000 –> 00:40:08.000
physically, emotionally,

00:40:09.000 –> 00:40:11.000
going out at night, not going out at

00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:12.000
night. Was that different than a lot of

00:40:12.000 –> 00:40:13.000
people?

00:40:13.000 –> 00:40:15.000
Well, I think Yeah. You learn. You know,

00:40:15.000 –> 00:40:17.000
like, I got here. I was twenty, turning

00:40:17.000 –> 00:40:20.000
twenty one. Al was, I think, thirty one.

00:40:20.000 –> 00:40:20.000
So

00:40:21.000 –> 00:40:24.000
I’m catching him. He’s got kids. He’s more

00:40:24.000 –> 00:40:24.000
sure he’s

00:40:25.000 –> 00:40:27.000
Yep. He’s in the prime of his career.

00:40:28.000 –> 00:40:29.000
So I’m coming in at the start of

00:40:29.000 –> 00:40:31.000
my career, and I’m, like, kinda just soaking

00:40:31.000 –> 00:40:33.000
it all in, like, watching how we prepare

00:40:33.000 –> 00:40:34.000
how he practices,

00:40:34.000 –> 00:40:36.000
how he handles the media,

00:40:36.000 –> 00:40:38.000
how, you know, what what is he doing

00:40:38.000 –> 00:40:39.000
in the off season?

00:40:39.000 –> 00:40:42.000
You know, and and as my career

00:40:43.000 –> 00:40:45.000
started to take shape,

00:40:45.000 –> 00:40:47.000
I then met with his trainer

00:40:47.000 –> 00:40:50.000
and, and started working with him. And

00:40:51.000 –> 00:40:53.000
I I met him at Al’s house. And

00:40:53.000 –> 00:40:54.000
I walked in the front door and I

00:40:54.000 –> 00:40:56.000
Charles was right over here to the left.

00:40:56.000 –> 00:40:58.000
I walked in. He’s like, hey, walk toward

00:40:58.000 –> 00:41:00.000
me. I took five steps.

00:41:01.000 –> 00:41:02.000
He’s like, alright, now turn around and go

00:41:02.000 –> 00:41:03.000
walk back. Okay?

00:41:04.000 –> 00:41:05.000
He’s like, you got a bad left knee?

00:41:05.000 –> 00:41:06.000
I go, yeah.

00:41:07.000 –> 00:41:09.000
He’s like, you got a sore rotator cuff

00:41:09.000 –> 00:41:11.000
on your right shoulder. Yeah. It’s like

00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:13.000
just

00:41:13.000 –> 00:41:16.000
by watching me walk five steps.

00:41:16.000 –> 00:41:18.000
You could tell just the way my body

00:41:19.000 –> 00:41:19.000
was moving

00:41:20.000 –> 00:41:22.000
and the weight distribution, I don’t know, weight

00:41:22.000 –> 00:41:22.000
distribution,

00:41:22.000 –> 00:41:23.000
and

00:41:23.000 –> 00:41:25.000
the hitch in my staff, whatever. I mean,

00:41:25.000 –> 00:41:27.000
you you’re not paying attention to that, I’m

00:41:27.000 –> 00:41:29.000
like Right. I’m twenty two years old.

00:41:30.000 –> 00:41:30.000
Whatever.

00:41:32.000 –> 00:41:34.000
What what are you talking about? Remaid, you

00:41:34.000 –> 00:41:37.000
know, how I hate, you know, nutrition wise,

00:41:39.000 –> 00:41:42.000
you know, and that kind of was the

00:41:42.000 –> 00:41:44.000
start of taking that next step. Alright. How

00:41:44.000 –> 00:41:46.000
good do you wanna be?

00:41:47.000 –> 00:41:48.000
How much you will in a sacrifice?

00:41:49.000 –> 00:41:50.000
You know, because at the end of the

00:41:50.000 –> 00:41:52.000
day, that’s what it is. It’s sacrificing

00:41:52.000 –> 00:41:54.000
something to be great at something.

00:41:54.000 –> 00:41:56.000
Because there are there’s a Gilliland a take

00:41:56.000 –> 00:41:58.000
for everything. I think too, for me, like,

00:41:58.000 –> 00:41:59.000
I had a business coach early on in

00:41:59.000 –> 00:42:01.000
my career, right, that I spent, you know,

00:42:01.000 –> 00:42:03.000
lots of money on, that maybe I didn’t

00:42:03.000 –> 00:42:05.000
wanna do or maybe couldn’t afford back then.

00:42:05.000 –> 00:42:06.000
But even that for you guys. Right? That

00:42:06.000 –> 00:42:09.000
guy probably wasn’t free. I’m assuming that’s off.

00:42:09.000 –> 00:42:11.000
No. Back then, he was expensive. Right. And

00:42:11.000 –> 00:42:13.000
I’m saying so, I mean, investing yourself. Right?

00:42:13.000 –> 00:42:16.000
Again, business leaders invest in a coach, invest

00:42:16.000 –> 00:42:18.000
in a mentor, invest in something, right, to

00:42:18.000 –> 00:42:19.000
give back. Do you agree with that? No.

00:42:19.000 –> 00:42:21.000
A hundred percent. No. You have to. You

00:42:21.000 –> 00:42:22.000
know, how how good do you wanna be?

00:42:22.000 –> 00:42:24.000
Yeah. We don’t we don’t know everything out

00:42:24.000 –> 00:42:25.000
of the gate. You can’t read a book.

00:42:25.000 –> 00:42:27.000
One size does not fit all. Yep. We

00:42:27.000 –> 00:42:29.000
all soak in information differently.

00:42:30.000 –> 00:42:31.000
And and we all have

00:42:32.000 –> 00:42:33.000
strengths and weaknesses.

00:42:34.000 –> 00:42:36.000
And you’re not gonna know them. You need

00:42:36.000 –> 00:42:38.000
somebody to help point them out and say,

00:42:38.000 –> 00:42:41.000
this is a blind spot. You’re not seeing.

00:42:41.000 –> 00:42:42.000
You need to work on Chris. And, oh,

00:42:42.000 –> 00:42:44.000
okay. You’re really good at this, but you

00:42:44.000 –> 00:42:46.000
only do this. Yeah. You need to do

00:42:46.000 –> 00:42:49.000
this too. Add this to your repertoire.

00:42:49.000 –> 00:42:51.000
Yeah. Now do Chris. And once you honed

00:42:51.000 –> 00:42:53.000
that, do this. And so

00:42:54.000 –> 00:42:56.000
I think you have to really

00:42:58.000 –> 00:42:59.000
kinda go in eyes wide open and and

00:42:59.000 –> 00:43:00.000
have an understanding how

00:43:04.000 –> 00:43:06.000
much you wanna get better. How much

00:43:07.000 –> 00:43:07.000
whether,

00:43:08.000 –> 00:43:10.000
you know, running a business, whether you’re playing

00:43:10.000 –> 00:43:12.000
a sport, whatever it is. It’s your commitment

00:43:12.000 –> 00:43:14.000
to excellence and your commitment to getting better.

00:43:14.000 –> 00:43:15.000
Yep.

00:43:15.000 –> 00:43:17.000
Showing up every day to improve.

00:43:18.000 –> 00:43:19.000
Well, I think that’s the key right there.

00:43:19.000 –> 00:43:20.000
Showing up on days even when you don’t

00:43:20.000 –> 00:43:22.000
want to or you’re a little maybe. Right?

00:43:22.000 –> 00:43:23.000
I mean, there’s a quote. I see Michael

00:43:23.000 –> 00:43:26.000
Phelps up there. Yeah. Five years straight,

00:43:27.000 –> 00:43:28.000
trained every

00:43:28.000 –> 00:43:32.000
single day. Yep. Every day. Every day. Every

00:43:32.000 –> 00:43:34.000
day. And by the way, if you’ve ever

00:43:34.000 –> 00:43:35.000
swam, like Chris guy swam,

00:43:37.000 –> 00:43:38.000
not easy. No.

00:43:39.000 –> 00:43:40.000
There’s lots of days. I’m sure he was

00:43:40.000 –> 00:43:43.000
like Man, my shoulders are sore. My backs

00:43:43.000 –> 00:43:43.000
are sore.

00:43:44.000 –> 00:43:46.000
Or just mentally didn’t wanna do it. It

00:43:46.000 –> 00:43:47.000
was cool. Alright.

00:43:48.000 –> 00:43:50.000
Like, yeah, living in Baltimore. You know, he

00:43:50.000 –> 00:43:50.000
had a,

00:43:51.000 –> 00:43:52.000
he had a post it, I read his

00:43:52.000 –> 00:43:54.000
book. I’m fascinated by what he did. And

00:43:54.000 –> 00:43:55.000
and he had a post it note though,

00:43:55.000 –> 00:43:56.000
and it had by the milliseconds.

00:43:57.000 –> 00:43:59.000
What he was gonna do each race. Yeah.

00:43:59.000 –> 00:44:00.000
And if you look, it’ll show, like, what

00:44:00.000 –> 00:44:01.000
he had written down and what he did

00:44:01.000 –> 00:44:02.000
the race.

00:44:03.000 –> 00:44:05.000
For five man, you’re talking milliseconds.

00:44:05.000 –> 00:44:09.000
Working. Yeah. Poning. Yeah. Working on that turn.

00:44:09.000 –> 00:44:13.000
Yeah. K. Turn. Can I save a millisecond?

00:44:13.000 –> 00:44:15.000
Yeah. Can I say, how can I transition

00:44:15.000 –> 00:44:17.000
fast? Like, just it’s Well, that guy, I

00:44:17.000 –> 00:44:19.000
remember who it was, but the guy that

00:44:19.000 –> 00:44:20.000
was dancing, doing stuff in front of him

00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:22.000
and Michael Phillips didn’t even budge, man. And

00:44:22.000 –> 00:44:23.000
then he went out there and, you know,

00:44:23.000 –> 00:44:24.000
kicked the guy’s ass or then the the

00:44:24.000 –> 00:44:26.000
swim, they showed the the camera under the

00:44:26.000 –> 00:44:28.000
water the guy was looking over at him.

00:44:28.000 –> 00:44:30.000
And he’s gonna That’s water, and he’s just

00:44:30.000 –> 00:44:30.000
like

00:44:31.000 –> 00:44:33.000
Yeah. Champions look at the wall. Right?

00:44:34.000 –> 00:44:35.000
Place guy looks champion. Don’t focus on the

00:44:35.000 –> 00:44:38.000
competition. Focus on you. That’s right. That’s right.

00:44:38.000 –> 00:44:39.000
So what was it like for you? Then

00:44:39.000 –> 00:44:40.000
as you, you know, you progress in your

00:44:40.000 –> 00:44:42.000
career, you obviously, you started to have a

00:44:42.000 –> 00:44:44.000
family. Right? So how old were kiddos, they

00:44:44.000 –> 00:44:46.000
were born, like, probably your oldest was born

00:44:46.000 –> 00:44:48.000
when you were in the two thousands. I

00:44:48.000 –> 00:44:49.000
was,

00:44:49.000 –> 00:44:50.000
twenty

00:44:52.000 –> 00:44:53.000
let’s see. Here.

00:44:54.000 –> 00:44:56.000
Jack’s o two. So I was twenty,

00:44:57.000 –> 00:44:59.000
eight. Yeah. So o two. So you still

00:44:59.000 –> 00:45:01.000
had a good, you know, 10:11 years left

00:45:01.000 –> 00:45:03.000
in your career. Did you balance the the

00:45:03.000 –> 00:45:06.000
family side and the and the sports side

00:45:06.000 –> 00:45:07.000
when you’re obviously on on the road and

00:45:07.000 –> 00:45:09.000
traveling? It’s hard, you know, it’s hard. You’re

00:45:09.000 –> 00:45:11.000
you gotta finite amount of time. You never

00:45:11.000 –> 00:45:13.000
know your career is gonna be over.

00:45:14.000 –> 00:45:17.000
And and you have to invest in your

00:45:17.000 –> 00:45:19.000
career. You gotta be all in on your

00:45:19.000 –> 00:45:21.000
craft and getting Brett. And

00:45:22.000 –> 00:45:24.000
as your body evolves, as you get more

00:45:24.000 –> 00:45:25.000
injuries, as you,

00:45:26.000 –> 00:45:28.000
you know, as the punishment and toll of

00:45:28.000 –> 00:45:30.000
playing a certain way, it takes its, form

00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:31.000
on you. Have to

00:45:32.000 –> 00:45:35.000
kinda re reshape and and remold yourself and

00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:36.000
into a way that works. Yep. You know,

00:45:36.000 –> 00:45:37.000
you’re changing things and altering how you train

00:45:40.000 –> 00:45:42.000
and what you eat and all those different

00:45:42.000 –> 00:45:42.000
things. And,

00:45:44.000 –> 00:45:45.000
you know, and and in the midst of

00:45:45.000 –> 00:45:45.000
that,

00:45:48.000 –> 00:45:50.000
I got traded out of here in o

00:45:50.000 –> 00:45:51.000
five.

00:45:51.000 –> 00:45:53.000
We have the lock out o four. I

00:45:53.000 –> 00:45:53.000
have

00:45:54.000 –> 00:45:56.000
major wrist surgery, major knee surgery in,

00:45:58.000 –> 00:45:59.000
o 02:03.

00:45:59.000 –> 00:46:01.000
So I missed that whole year. Then I

00:46:01.000 –> 00:46:03.000
came back and I played o 03:04.

00:46:05.000 –> 00:46:05.000
And then,

00:46:07.000 –> 00:46:09.000
We had the lockout in o five zero

00:46:09.000 –> 00:46:10.000
zero 04:05. And then I got traded and

00:46:10.000 –> 00:46:11.000
played

00:46:15.000 –> 00:46:18.000
Edmitin in o in o 05:06, then Anaheim,

00:46:18.000 –> 00:46:19.000
o 07:06

00:46:19.000 –> 00:46:20.000
zero seven.

00:46:20.000 –> 00:46:22.000
And then on So now, honey, let’s go.

00:46:22.000 –> 00:46:25.000
09:10. I’m in Filly. So you’re, you know,

00:46:25.000 –> 00:46:28.000
four four cities in five years.

00:46:28.000 –> 00:46:31.000
Oh, around the whole country? Yeah. Going to

00:46:31.000 –> 00:46:32.000
four different locations.

00:46:32.000 –> 00:46:34.000
Yeah. You know? So it’s Maybe we should

00:46:34.000 –> 00:46:36.000
have her on the podcast Yeah. To talk

00:46:36.000 –> 00:46:37.000
about how to deal with that. Why are

00:46:37.000 –> 00:46:40.000
we doing this? You know, so it was,

00:46:41.000 –> 00:46:43.000
I bounced around. You know, I never really

00:46:43.000 –> 00:46:44.000
added it up like that, but five years,

00:46:44.000 –> 00:46:46.000
I was in four different teams. Yeah. Bang.

00:46:46.000 –> 00:46:47.000
Bang. Bang. It’s

00:46:47.000 –> 00:46:50.000
crazy. So what what role do you think

00:46:50.000 –> 00:46:52.000
athletes play? I mean, because you’re you’re, you

00:46:52.000 –> 00:46:54.000
know, we I think we as humans, whether

00:46:54.000 –> 00:46:56.000
it’s right or wrong, probably wrong. We we

00:46:56.000 –> 00:46:58.000
put you guys on this pedestal. Like, you’re

00:46:58.000 –> 00:46:59.000
on the limelight. We see it. We play.

00:46:59.000 –> 00:47:01.000
We root for you. But what role do

00:47:01.000 –> 00:47:03.000
you do you think you guys play in

00:47:03.000 –> 00:47:05.000
the community? Because I know the work that

00:47:05.000 –> 00:47:06.000
you do as a community you know, your

00:47:06.000 –> 00:47:08.000
guys’ golf tournament, you and Dan Deardorf, played

00:47:08.000 –> 00:47:09.000
that this year. Amazing.

00:47:10.000 –> 00:47:12.000
Huge impact on our local charities. But as

00:47:12.000 –> 00:47:15.000
an athlete, and then for today’s athletes, role

00:47:15.000 –> 00:47:16.000
do they play

00:47:16.000 –> 00:47:17.000
in the communities that we all live in?

00:47:17.000 –> 00:47:19.000
Yeah. I’ll sum it up. You know, I’ve

00:47:19.000 –> 00:47:20.000
I’ve always

00:47:21.000 –> 00:47:23.000
been invested in the communities I played in,

00:47:23.000 –> 00:47:24.000
you

00:47:24.000 –> 00:47:26.000
know, I think it’s a a great way

00:47:26.000 –> 00:47:27.000
to get back. It’s a great way to

00:47:27.000 –> 00:47:29.000
be involved in the community and meet people

00:47:29.000 –> 00:47:32.000
and and meet those that are out supporting

00:47:32.000 –> 00:47:35.000
you. You support the the local community and

00:47:35.000 –> 00:47:36.000
the charities that are,

00:47:36.000 –> 00:47:38.000
nearest and dearest,

00:47:39.000 –> 00:47:42.000
you know, Brett Burke, my initial GM in

00:47:42.000 –> 00:47:43.000
Hartford,

00:47:43.000 –> 00:47:45.000
and then was my GM in Anaheim.

00:47:45.000 –> 00:47:47.000
I mean, he summed it up best. He’s

00:47:47.000 –> 00:47:48.000
like, the and and

00:47:49.000 –> 00:47:51.000
from a you talk about leadership and you

00:47:51.000 –> 00:47:51.000
talk about,

00:47:52.000 –> 00:47:53.000
you know,

00:47:53.000 –> 00:47:55.000
setting up that vertical owner

00:47:56.000 –> 00:47:57.000
manager

00:47:57.000 –> 00:47:59.000
coach player,

00:48:00.000 –> 00:48:01.000
you know, and he was like,

00:48:01.000 –> 00:48:03.000
this is this is what we do here.

00:48:03.000 –> 00:48:05.000
This is the culture we are setting. We’re

00:48:05.000 –> 00:48:07.000
saying we’re creating a winning tradition. Yep. And

00:48:07.000 –> 00:48:09.000
we’re also giving creating a tradition of we’re

00:48:09.000 –> 00:48:11.000
gonna be invested in the community. We’re gonna

00:48:11.000 –> 00:48:13.000
get back. We’re gonna do Chris, you know,

00:48:13.000 –> 00:48:15.000
we’re gonna do something every month for the,

00:48:15.000 –> 00:48:16.000
you know,

00:48:16.000 –> 00:48:19.000
Greater Orange County community. Yeah. We’re gonna be

00:48:19.000 –> 00:48:21.000
doing x y z. If you have a

00:48:21.000 –> 00:48:23.000
problem with your ice time, do not talk

00:48:23.000 –> 00:48:25.000
to me. Talk your coach.

00:48:25.000 –> 00:48:27.000
You wanna be traded. Come talk to me.

00:48:27.000 –> 00:48:29.000
You got a problem off the ice. Come

00:48:29.000 –> 00:48:31.000
talk to me. But you have anything to

00:48:31.000 –> 00:48:32.000
do with hockey?

00:48:32.000 –> 00:48:34.000
Your head coach is right over there. Go

00:48:34.000 –> 00:48:35.000
see don’t come to me.

00:48:35.000 –> 00:48:37.000
I’m not I’m not doing That’s not how

00:48:37.000 –> 00:48:38.000
it works. And there’s a chain of command,

00:48:38.000 –> 00:48:40.000
and there’s a there’s a

00:48:41.000 –> 00:48:43.000
x y z. This is everybody’s roles, responsibilities.

00:48:44.000 –> 00:48:46.000
I have mine. Coach has his, and you

00:48:46.000 –> 00:48:48.000
as a player have yours. So talk to

00:48:48.000 –> 00:48:50.000
us about the couple, some of the best

00:48:50.000 –> 00:48:52.000
moments that you think back in your career.

00:48:53.000 –> 00:48:54.000
Just the highlights. What are some of those

00:48:54.000 –> 00:48:56.000
best hockey moments for you that you think

00:48:56.000 –> 00:48:58.000
fans, listen, would love to hear? Yeah. You

00:48:58.000 –> 00:49:00.000
know, and I think one of the ones

00:49:00.000 –> 00:49:01.000
that I never really

00:49:03.000 –> 00:49:04.000
took a lot of joy in and a

00:49:04.000 –> 00:49:06.000
lot of pleasure in that I wish I

00:49:06.000 –> 00:49:07.000
wouldn’t have been so

00:49:08.000 –> 00:49:10.000
every year when you don’t win, you’re just

00:49:10.000 –> 00:49:12.000
pissed off. You’re just Like,

00:49:13.000 –> 00:49:16.000
it sucks to lose. I hated losing more

00:49:16.000 –> 00:49:17.000
than I like to win. Yeah. And it

00:49:17.000 –> 00:49:19.000
just drove me bananas.

00:49:20.000 –> 00:49:21.000
And I took a lot of that stuff

00:49:21.000 –> 00:49:23.000
early on in my career, probably the first

00:49:23.000 –> 00:49:24.000
ten years of my career till I had

00:49:24.000 –> 00:49:27.000
kids. I just took the everything from the

00:49:27.000 –> 00:49:28.000
rank home.

00:49:28.000 –> 00:49:30.000
And I couldn’t separate. I just I would

00:49:31.000 –> 00:49:33.000
I’d be thinking about a play I made

00:49:33.000 –> 00:49:34.000
four days ago,

00:49:34.000 –> 00:49:37.000
sleeping or whatever. Just pissed me off. And

00:49:37.000 –> 00:49:38.000
it took me a while to learn how

00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:40.000
to, like, just let go of the game

00:49:40.000 –> 00:49:41.000
and just

00:49:42.000 –> 00:49:43.000
you you gotta just turn the page and

00:49:43.000 –> 00:49:45.000
get going. And, when

00:49:46.000 –> 00:49:47.000
won the heart in Chris Trophy in two

00:49:47.000 –> 00:49:48.000
thousand.

00:49:48.000 –> 00:49:50.000
Yeah. That was a pretty big moment. Yeah.

00:49:50.000 –> 00:49:51.000
I really didn’t

00:49:52.000 –> 00:49:53.000
enjoy it the way I should have I

00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:55.000
was still thinking, you know, we had won

00:49:55.000 –> 00:49:57.000
the president trophy that year. We were thinking

00:49:57.000 –> 00:49:59.000
Stanley Cup, we had a team, and

00:50:00.000 –> 00:50:02.000
you’re losing the first round, and you’re like,

00:50:02.000 –> 00:50:02.000
what

00:50:03.000 –> 00:50:06.000
I was just so pissed off. Still,

00:50:06.000 –> 00:50:08.000
a month and a half later at the

00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:09.000
awards banquet, I just, you know, it was

00:50:09.000 –> 00:50:12.000
great. Thanks. It was Brett. But you’re just,

00:50:12.000 –> 00:50:13.000
like, Yeah.

00:50:14.000 –> 00:50:15.000
And and I didn’t really get the That’s

00:50:15.000 –> 00:50:17.000
what made you good though too. Right? Well,

00:50:17.000 –> 00:50:19.000
yeah. It’s what drives you, but, you know,

00:50:19.000 –> 00:50:21.000
there’s moments like that where,

00:50:21.000 –> 00:50:24.000
you know, you know, winning the Stanley Cup

00:50:24.000 –> 00:50:25.000
was graded on my on my family was

00:50:25.000 –> 00:50:27.000
there. It was awesome.

00:50:27.000 –> 00:50:30.000
My kids were old enough to remember it

00:50:30.000 –> 00:50:31.000
too. You know, there weren’t babies sitting at

00:50:31.000 –> 00:50:32.000
the top.

00:50:35.000 –> 00:50:36.000
You know, again, Olympic,

00:50:37.000 –> 00:50:39.000
you know, them being there at the Olympics

00:50:39.000 –> 00:50:40.000
in twenty ten.

00:50:40.000 –> 00:50:41.000
They were a little bit older, so they

00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000
got to enjoy it.

00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:46.000
You know, o two. My wife was pregnant

00:50:46.000 –> 00:50:48.000
with Jack. So it was you know, just

00:50:48.000 –> 00:50:51.000
a lot of different storylines, but, you know,

00:50:51.000 –> 00:50:52.000
those two were that they could be at

00:50:52.000 –> 00:50:53.000
in in o o seven and and

00:50:55.000 –> 00:50:55.000
ten.

00:50:56.000 –> 00:50:58.000
We’re pretty special. I’m just

00:50:58.000 –> 00:51:00.000
soaking it up, knowing that,

00:51:01.000 –> 00:51:03.000
you know, I spent thirteen years to win

00:51:03.000 –> 00:51:05.000
a a championship in the NHL

00:51:05.000 –> 00:51:07.000
You know, and you you’re like, you just

00:51:07.000 –> 00:51:09.000
never know. Don’t make it there. No. You

00:51:09.000 –> 00:51:10.000
and and and they don’t

00:51:11.000 –> 00:51:14.000
you think it’s easy. It’s not easy. Like,

00:51:14.000 –> 00:51:16.000
you see, oh, this guy four cops or

00:51:16.000 –> 00:51:18.000
this guy one. I go. Yeah. They they’re

00:51:18.000 –> 00:51:20.000
on great teams, and they’ve got great players

00:51:20.000 –> 00:51:22.000
and on and on and on. They hit

00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:22.000
the,

00:51:23.000 –> 00:51:25.000
you know, everybody’s hit the right

00:51:25.000 –> 00:51:26.000
peaking at the right time.

00:51:27.000 –> 00:51:29.000
And then there’s other teams who are like,

00:51:29.000 –> 00:51:30.000
damn, we had good teams, and you didn’t

00:51:30.000 –> 00:51:31.000
even get a sniff

00:51:32.000 –> 00:51:33.000
Like, there were teams here in Saint Louis.

00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:34.000
We were like,

00:51:34.000 –> 00:51:37.000
we had good teams. Yeah. And the teams

00:51:37.000 –> 00:51:38.000
at one were like, damn, we could’ve beat

00:51:38.000 –> 00:51:41.000
them. You did and sometimes it’s the match

00:51:41.000 –> 00:51:42.000
ups, you know, where

00:51:45.000 –> 00:51:47.000
Dallas could beat Detroit

00:51:49.000 –> 00:51:51.000
Detroit could beat us, but we could be

00:51:51.000 –> 00:51:53.000
Dallas. Mhmm. And and just

00:51:53.000 –> 00:51:55.000
all the You catch them. You know, and

00:51:55.000 –> 00:51:57.000
and just who you mat who you playing

00:51:57.000 –> 00:51:59.000
and how you match up and it,

00:52:00.000 –> 00:52:02.000
any of the big hits that, you know,

00:52:02.000 –> 00:52:04.000
you go through your highlight reel of your

00:52:04.000 –> 00:52:06.000
career. Right? I know there’s lots. I know

00:52:06.000 –> 00:52:08.000
how you playing. There’s lots of those. I

00:52:08.000 –> 00:52:09.000
don’t know if there’s I’ve seen you swing

00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:10.000
a golf ball. I’m like, damn.

00:52:11.000 –> 00:52:12.000
There’s my back.

00:52:12.000 –> 00:52:14.000
I don’t know if there’s one per se,

00:52:14.000 –> 00:52:15.000
but,

00:52:16.000 –> 00:52:17.000
you know, there’s lots that

00:52:17.000 –> 00:52:18.000
you’re

00:52:18.000 –> 00:52:19.000
you’re

00:52:19.000 –> 00:52:19.000
lying

00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:22.000
in a up and you’re like I see

00:52:22.000 –> 00:52:24.000
it coming. Well, you can just and then

00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:26.000
when you hit them and you don’t feel

00:52:26.000 –> 00:52:28.000
it, like, that was so pure. It’s kinda

00:52:28.000 –> 00:52:29.000
like hitting a golf ball. You hit a

00:52:29.000 –> 00:52:30.000
golf ball it is. It was just pure.

00:52:30.000 –> 00:52:32.000
Like, oh, that was good. That was good.

00:52:32.000 –> 00:52:34.000
I want more of that. I didn’t think

00:52:34.000 –> 00:52:36.000
of it that way. That’s probably true. That’s

00:52:36.000 –> 00:52:38.000
probably true. Because because if you don’t hit

00:52:38.000 –> 00:52:39.000
it pure,

00:52:39.000 –> 00:52:41.000
And it hurts you, you’re like, oh, that

00:52:41.000 –> 00:52:43.000
hurts. I hit one thin on a nice

00:52:43.000 –> 00:52:44.000
cold day. Nice cold day. Yeah. No. No

00:52:44.000 –> 00:52:46.000
good. No good. That’s no good. Let’s turn

00:52:46.000 –> 00:52:48.000
to page from hockey to whiskey.

00:52:49.000 –> 00:52:51.000
Staring at Chris, whiskey here for those not

00:52:51.000 –> 00:52:54.000
watching their listening, the journey, j r n

00:52:54.000 –> 00:52:57.000
y. You can it’s it’s nominal.

00:52:57.000 –> 00:52:59.000
First time we hung out, we had some

00:52:59.000 –> 00:53:01.000
journey. You know, it was some good stuff.

00:53:01.000 –> 00:53:02.000
So talk about this, man. This is you

00:53:02.000 –> 00:53:05.000
and your brother. Yeah. And, talk about the

00:53:05.000 –> 00:53:06.000
journey. Yeah.

00:53:06.000 –> 00:53:08.000
I had been looking

00:53:08.000 –> 00:53:10.000
my brother and I’ve been talking for, like,

00:53:10.000 –> 00:53:11.000
four or five years, trying to figure out

00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:14.000
something we could do together.

00:53:15.000 –> 00:53:15.000
And,

00:53:16.000 –> 00:53:18.000
just nothing really resonated

00:53:19.000 –> 00:53:20.000
and,

00:53:20.000 –> 00:53:22.000
about two and a half years ago now.

00:53:23.000 –> 00:53:25.000
One of my brothers friends, and, hey, I

00:53:25.000 –> 00:53:26.000
wanna introduce you to this guy.

00:53:27.000 –> 00:53:29.000
He runs Snagger, false Kraft distillers. You know,

00:53:29.000 –> 00:53:31.000
they’re looking for a partner in a whisk

00:53:32.000 –> 00:53:35.000
longtime whiskey drinker, as my brother likes to

00:53:35.000 –> 00:53:36.000
say, we’ve put in a lot of research

00:53:36.000 –> 00:53:38.000
in the moment. A lot of R and

00:53:38.000 –> 00:53:40.000
D. Thirty plus years of R and D.

00:53:40.000 –> 00:53:42.000
Don’t do the math. Right.

00:53:44.000 –> 00:53:46.000
And so, you know, it was a long

00:53:46.000 –> 00:53:49.000
time crown drinker It’s Canadian whiskey. So,

00:53:51.000 –> 00:53:53.000
he brought this to us and we were

00:53:53.000 –> 00:53:55.000
thinking about it. We’re like, oh, how is

00:53:55.000 –> 00:53:56.000
this gonna work?

00:53:56.000 –> 00:53:58.000
You know, I had I know I knew

00:53:58.000 –> 00:53:59.000
a lot of people in the spirits business.

00:54:01.000 –> 00:54:03.000
Mhmm. Different way. Yeah. But, you know, not

00:54:03.000 –> 00:54:06.000
never made one and and kinda taken on

00:54:06.000 –> 00:54:09.000
a project of this magnitude. And, you know,

00:54:09.000 –> 00:54:10.000
as we kinda walked through it and looked

00:54:10.000 –> 00:54:13.000
at it from a business standpoint, and then,

00:54:13.000 –> 00:54:14.000
you know, you you wanna be able to

00:54:14.000 –> 00:54:16.000
enjoy and have some have fun with it

00:54:16.000 –> 00:54:16.000
and

00:54:17.000 –> 00:54:17.000
what’s

00:54:18.000 –> 00:54:20.000
not what’s not fun about whiskey. I don’t

00:54:20.000 –> 00:54:21.000
know. Canadian whiskey back.

00:54:22.000 –> 00:54:25.000
New school Canadian whiskey had that. So,

00:54:25.000 –> 00:54:27.000
you know, we said, oh, we’re like, okay.

00:54:27.000 –> 00:54:29.000
If we’re gonna do this and you know

00:54:29.000 –> 00:54:31.000
me well enough now. If I’m gonna do

00:54:31.000 –> 00:54:33.000
something, I’m all in. Yeah. And I’m like,

00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:34.000
alright, if we’re doing this,

00:54:35.000 –> 00:54:37.000
I want control of the

00:54:37.000 –> 00:54:38.000
the liquid,

00:54:38.000 –> 00:54:40.000
the the branding.

00:54:41.000 –> 00:54:42.000
So we own the IP for all this

00:54:42.000 –> 00:54:44.000
stuff, and and Nagaphos does a great job

00:54:44.000 –> 00:54:45.000
making it for us.

00:54:46.000 –> 00:54:48.000
Number was forty four as well? His number

00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:49.000
was fifty four. Oh, so you got the

00:54:49.000 –> 00:54:51.000
But forty four is the percent

00:54:52.000 –> 00:54:52.000
alcohol.

00:54:54.000 –> 00:54:55.000
A little homage to me, but

00:54:56.000 –> 00:54:57.000
it’s a it’s a Well, maybe if he

00:54:57.000 –> 00:54:59.000
gets It’s a little bit stronger whiskey than,

00:55:00.000 –> 00:55:02.000
Crown or any the other Canadian whiskey on

00:55:02.000 –> 00:55:03.000
the market. But,

00:55:05.000 –> 00:55:07.000
we had a base of what we, you

00:55:07.000 –> 00:55:07.000
know,

00:55:08.000 –> 00:55:10.000
what we liked. And then we’re like, alright.

00:55:10.000 –> 00:55:11.000
Is there anyway, we if

00:55:12.000 –> 00:55:13.000
for how we had a lot of things

00:55:13.000 –> 00:55:15.000
we didn’t like about it, we’re like, okay.

00:55:15.000 –> 00:55:18.000
Can we fix, we wanna fix the burn.

00:55:18.000 –> 00:55:21.000
We think more people will drink there’s no

00:55:21.000 –> 00:55:22.000
burn. Mhmm. We wanna, you know,

00:55:23.000 –> 00:55:25.000
add a little bit of spice, little sweetness,

00:55:25.000 –> 00:55:27.000
little, you know, little tweaks here and there.

00:55:28.000 –> 00:55:30.000
It’s in there’s no preservative no additives.

00:55:31.000 –> 00:55:32.000
It’s very pure.

00:55:33.000 –> 00:55:36.000
And so we did we did it over

00:55:36.000 –> 00:55:38.000
facetime. They send us a sample. Remember that

00:55:38.000 –> 00:55:40.000
I would get on FaceTime, we’d take it,

00:55:40.000 –> 00:55:41.000
you know, to drink what do you like?

00:55:41.000 –> 00:55:43.000
What do you not like? Take notes?

00:55:43.000 –> 00:55:44.000
Send send them back to notes and be

00:55:44.000 –> 00:55:47.000
like, alright. Can you change it? More of

00:55:47.000 –> 00:55:48.000
that. And not knowing the lingo of, you

00:55:48.000 –> 00:55:50.000
know, brewmaster lingo. We’re like,

00:55:51.000 –> 00:55:53.000
can you do this? And like, oh, well,

00:55:53.000 –> 00:55:55.000
that’s that. I’m like, okay, great. But Yeah.

00:55:55.000 –> 00:55:56.000
Just do that.

00:55:56.000 –> 00:55:58.000
Okay. How you do it? Just do it.

00:55:58.000 –> 00:56:00.000
However you do that. Do that. And, and

00:56:00.000 –> 00:56:02.000
so the second time around, like, okay, it’s

00:56:02.000 –> 00:56:04.000
a little bit better. But can you, you

00:56:04.000 –> 00:56:06.000
know, there’s still some burn. Can you get

00:56:06.000 –> 00:56:07.000
rid of that? Can you do this?

00:56:08.000 –> 00:56:10.000
And then on a third try,

00:56:11.000 –> 00:56:13.000
we both took a sip and were like

00:56:14.000 –> 00:56:17.000
That’s it. Boom. That’s it. That is exactly

00:56:17.000 –> 00:56:19.000
what we’re trying to do. Love it. And

00:56:19.000 –> 00:56:21.000
that is what you’re tasting right now.

00:56:22.000 –> 00:56:23.000
And so

00:56:24.000 –> 00:56:25.000
from that, any, you know,

00:56:26.000 –> 00:56:28.000
maybe a little naive to the politics

00:56:29.000 –> 00:56:30.000
and the legal and the

00:56:31.000 –> 00:56:33.000
government and all the hoops you gotta jump

00:56:33.000 –> 00:56:34.000
through. And,

00:56:35.000 –> 00:56:37.000
you know, we kinda worked through all that.

00:56:37.000 –> 00:56:38.000
And, it’s like,

00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:40.000
twenty two months, I think, to get to

00:56:40.000 –> 00:56:41.000
market.

00:56:42.000 –> 00:56:44.000
And now we’ve been, six months in the

00:56:44.000 –> 00:56:45.000
market. And,

00:56:46.000 –> 00:56:48.000
in Missouri, relaunched in Saint Louis and and

00:56:48.000 –> 00:56:49.000
Missouri, Southern, Illinois.

00:56:50.000 –> 00:56:51.000
And,

00:56:52.000 –> 00:56:54.000
and now we’re at some right over Yes.

00:56:54.000 –> 00:56:55.000
And then,

00:56:57.000 –> 00:56:58.000
now we’re in New York.

00:56:58.000 –> 00:56:59.000
Ontario

00:57:00.000 –> 00:57:02.000
will be in Alberta next month. We’ll be

00:57:02.000 –> 00:57:04.000
in Texas next month. Oh, man.

00:57:04.000 –> 00:57:07.000
And then, a little further down the line

00:57:07.000 –> 00:57:09.000
will be in Southern California. But those are

00:57:09.000 –> 00:57:10.000
the five core

00:57:10.000 –> 00:57:13.000
markets that we wanna Gilliland

00:57:13.000 –> 00:57:15.000
talk about the name. J r and y,

00:57:15.000 –> 00:57:17.000
the journey. On the back of the bottle,

00:57:17.000 –> 00:57:18.000
that is our tagline.

00:57:20.000 –> 00:57:23.000
And it says, celebrate the victories be proud

00:57:23.000 –> 00:57:23.000
of your scars.

00:57:24.000 –> 00:57:26.000
Enjoy the journey. I love that. And really,

00:57:26.000 –> 00:57:27.000
when you think about it,

00:57:28.000 –> 00:57:29.000
it really is all about the journey. It’s

00:57:29.000 –> 00:57:31.000
about the journey of life. It’s about the

00:57:31.000 –> 00:57:32.000
journey you’re on.

00:57:32.000 –> 00:57:34.000
You have a great day. You

00:57:34.000 –> 00:57:36.000
you sell a company.

00:57:36.000 –> 00:57:37.000
You win a championship.

00:57:37.000 –> 00:57:39.000
What’s thing you wanna do, you wanna have

00:57:39.000 –> 00:57:40.000
a glass of whiskey, you wanna tell your

00:57:40.000 –> 00:57:42.000
friend, you wanna tell your mom and dad,

00:57:42.000 –> 00:57:43.000
you wanna tell your spouse,

00:57:43.000 –> 00:57:45.000
you wanna you wanna hang with your buddies

00:57:45.000 –> 00:57:47.000
and just revel in the

00:57:47.000 –> 00:57:49.000
joy of winning. You have a bad day.

00:57:49.000 –> 00:57:50.000
Get kicked in the face. You

00:57:53.000 –> 00:57:54.000
lose.

00:57:55.000 –> 00:57:56.000
Wanna do. You wanna have a glass of

00:57:56.000 –> 00:57:58.000
whiskey, you wanna tell your buddies, you wanna

00:57:58.000 –> 00:57:59.000
tell your spouse, you wanna tell your mom

00:57:59.000 –> 00:58:01.000
and dad, you wanna tell somebody, and you

00:58:01.000 –> 00:58:01.000
wanna

00:58:04.000 –> 00:58:07.000
sit and talk about it and about the

00:58:07.000 –> 00:58:08.000
journey that you’ve been on. And so, as

00:58:08.000 –> 00:58:08.000
we started talking about my

00:58:11.000 –> 00:58:12.000
wrote a book called The Journeyman.

00:58:13.000 –> 00:58:15.000
He played in,

00:58:15.000 –> 00:58:17.000
sixteen teams in eleven years. He bounced around

00:58:17.000 –> 00:58:18.000
a lot. And so he coined himself the

00:58:21.000 –> 00:58:21.000
journeyman,

00:58:21.000 –> 00:58:23.000
and we shortened it to the journey because

00:58:23.000 –> 00:58:26.000
it’s just about the journey, and about, you

00:58:26.000 –> 00:58:27.000
know, our own unique journeys that we’re on

00:58:27.000 –> 00:58:29.000
and the stories you tell of the people

00:58:29.000 –> 00:58:30.000
you meet,

00:58:31.000 –> 00:58:33.000
And so that’s kinda where we got the

00:58:33.000 –> 00:58:34.000
name from

00:58:35.000 –> 00:58:38.000
and kinda and and and since we, you

00:58:38.000 –> 00:58:40.000
know, came up with this naming, I don’t

00:58:40.000 –> 00:58:41.000
know, it was, like, two years ago.

00:58:42.000 –> 00:58:44.000
Every time I talked to something, not necessarily

00:58:44.000 –> 00:58:46.000
about the whiskey, just in general, in a

00:58:46.000 –> 00:58:47.000
conversation,

00:58:48.000 –> 00:58:49.000
How many times I hear the word journey?

00:58:49.000 –> 00:58:50.000
Yeah.

00:58:50.000 –> 00:58:53.000
All the time. All the time. Always so

00:58:53.000 –> 00:58:54.000
you’re just always gonna be top of mind

00:58:54.000 –> 00:58:56.000
because it’s about the journey. Oh, the journey

00:58:56.000 –> 00:58:58.000
you’re on, and I’ll far as your journey.

00:58:59.000 –> 00:59:00.000
Duh, duh, duh, whatever. Well, it’s funny. I

00:59:00.000 –> 00:59:02.000
was on a business actually my business coach

00:59:02.000 –> 00:59:04.000
yesterday on a call. And, he talked about

00:59:04.000 –> 00:59:07.000
the journey. And he said sometimes people compare

00:59:07.000 –> 00:59:08.000
their journey to other journey. Like, I wanna

00:59:08.000 –> 00:59:11.000
be where that guy’s at. That gal’s at.

00:59:11.000 –> 00:59:13.000
All Chris stuff, but yet your journey is

00:59:13.000 –> 00:59:14.000
your journey. Correct.

00:59:14.000 –> 00:59:17.000
And live your journey to the best of

00:59:17.000 –> 00:59:19.000
its ability. Right? Dominate that journey. Yep. Don’t

00:59:19.000 –> 00:59:21.000
worry about what everybody else is doing. Yeah.

00:59:21.000 –> 00:59:23.000
So last couple of questions here.

00:59:24.000 –> 00:59:25.000
Future, Brett in your past. You see the

00:59:25.000 –> 00:59:27.000
sticker here. You saw the journal and the

00:59:27.000 –> 00:59:30.000
hat earlier. Is, our firm’s mission,

00:59:30.000 –> 00:59:32.000
is to help people achieve a future grade

00:59:32.000 –> 00:59:34.000
in their past. So when you hear that

00:59:34.000 –> 00:59:36.000
future grade in your past, what comes to

00:59:36.000 –> 00:59:37.000
mind for Chris Browner?

00:59:38.000 –> 00:59:39.000
I would say

00:59:39.000 –> 00:59:40.000
for me,

00:59:40.000 –> 00:59:43.000
paying it forward and raising kids to be

00:59:43.000 –> 00:59:44.000
successful

00:59:44.000 –> 00:59:45.000
and

00:59:47.000 –> 00:59:48.000
thriving in

00:59:49.000 –> 00:59:51.000
whatever they wanna do. And and

00:59:52.000 –> 00:59:55.000
providing them with the knowledge and support

00:59:56.000 –> 00:59:58.000
to live a better life than I had.

00:59:58.000 –> 00:59:59.000
And it’s not

01:00:00.000 –> 01:00:03.000
spoon feeding them. It’s teaching them what the

01:00:03.000 –> 01:00:05.000
real world is like.

01:00:05.000 –> 01:00:07.000
It’s showing them life’s not easy. It’s allowing

01:00:07.000 –> 01:00:09.000
them to fail. It’s allowing them to

01:00:10.000 –> 01:00:12.000
realize that they’re gonna need to sacrifice something

01:00:12.000 –> 01:00:13.000
to be good at something, etcetera.

01:00:15.000 –> 01:00:16.000
But

01:00:16.000 –> 01:00:17.000
you know, building

01:00:19.000 –> 01:00:20.000
your life improving

01:00:20.000 –> 01:00:22.000
much much like I did in my sports

01:00:22.000 –> 01:00:25.000
career, life after it’s getting better every single

01:00:25.000 –> 01:00:27.000
day, whatever that is

01:00:28.000 –> 01:00:29.000
building a company,

01:00:29.000 –> 01:00:30.000
creating a family,

01:00:31.000 –> 01:00:32.000
creating a legacy, whatever that is, whatever speaks

01:00:32.000 –> 01:00:33.000
to what someone is

01:00:36.000 –> 01:00:37.000
to do.

01:00:38.000 –> 01:00:39.000
Certainly,

01:00:40.000 –> 01:00:41.000
hits home to me. It it’s,

01:00:42.000 –> 01:00:44.000
you know, when you look at legacy or

01:00:46.000 –> 01:00:48.000
family name or things like that,

01:00:49.000 –> 01:00:50.000
you know,

01:00:50.000 –> 01:00:52.000
when somebody hears your name, what do they

01:00:52.000 –> 01:00:53.000
think of? You

01:00:53.000 –> 01:00:56.000
know, and that to me that that’s more

01:00:56.000 –> 01:00:57.000
important than,

01:00:58.000 –> 01:01:00.000
you know, I always get asked, oh, what

01:01:00.000 –> 01:01:02.000
do what do you what wanna be remembered

01:01:02.000 –> 01:01:04.000
for as a player? I’m like, that’s just

01:01:04.000 –> 01:01:05.000
a small part of my life.

01:01:06.000 –> 01:01:06.000
Like,

01:01:07.000 –> 01:01:09.000
I’m not worried about that.

01:01:09.000 –> 01:01:12.000
I left every ounce of my being on

01:01:12.000 –> 01:01:13.000
that ice, and I’m done. And now it’s

01:01:13.000 –> 01:01:13.000
about here and now, and and

01:01:17.000 –> 01:01:18.000
living for

01:01:20.000 –> 01:01:22.000
my life now, my kids, my family, etcetera,

01:01:22.000 –> 01:01:24.000
and and, you know, business

01:01:24.000 –> 01:01:26.000
and trying to figure out how bet how

01:01:26.000 –> 01:01:27.000
how to make

01:01:28.000 –> 01:01:29.000
a bigger mark on society

01:01:31.000 –> 01:01:33.000
outside of what I used to do. Yeah.

01:01:33.000 –> 01:01:34.000
You know, and I think a lot of

01:01:34.000 –> 01:01:35.000
athletes

01:01:35.000 –> 01:01:37.000
and even business people

01:01:37.000 –> 01:01:38.000
get caught up in

01:01:39.000 –> 01:01:41.000
they’re so and so, the CEO. They’re so

01:01:41.000 –> 01:01:43.000
and so, the hockey They’re so and so

01:01:43.000 –> 01:01:45.000
the football player. In all my career, I

01:01:45.000 –> 01:01:45.000
was like,

01:01:46.000 –> 01:01:46.000
Stop.

01:01:47.000 –> 01:01:48.000
That’s just a small part.

01:01:49.000 –> 01:01:51.000
So stop. I’m not just a hockey player.

01:01:51.000 –> 01:01:52.000
Yeah.

01:01:52.000 –> 01:01:53.000
Like, stop.

01:01:54.000 –> 01:01:56.000
I am x y z. I I have

01:01:56.000 –> 01:01:58.000
other aspirations that I wanna do. Yeah. And

01:01:58.000 –> 01:01:59.000
my focused on that right now. Yes. Because

01:01:59.000 –> 01:02:01.000
that’s what I do now,

01:02:01.000 –> 01:02:03.000
but I’m not gonna do it my whole

01:02:03.000 –> 01:02:03.000
life. Right.

01:02:04.000 –> 01:02:05.000
And so you you try to

01:02:07.000 –> 01:02:08.000
stomp out the stereotypes

01:02:08.000 –> 01:02:10.000
that people always wanna

01:02:10.000 –> 01:02:12.000
throw at throw at you. And, you know,

01:02:12.000 –> 01:02:14.000
if you walk around as Joe Blow, the

01:02:14.000 –> 01:02:14.000
CEO of AB or Joe Blow, the

01:02:16.000 –> 01:02:19.000
CEO, emerson. And and that’s your

01:02:20.000 –> 01:02:21.000
whole being.

01:02:21.000 –> 01:02:23.000
You’re in for a rough ride when you’re

01:02:23.000 –> 01:02:24.000
done, brother. Yeah.

01:02:24.000 –> 01:02:26.000
She’s exactly right. Was it hard I said

01:02:26.000 –> 01:02:28.000
last question. I lied. Was it hard for

01:02:28.000 –> 01:02:30.000
you to replace the adrenaline? Because I can’t

01:02:30.000 –> 01:02:32.000
imagine. It’s irreplace. I I shouldn’t it’s it’s

01:02:32.000 –> 01:02:34.000
a better way to say it. No. But

01:02:34.000 –> 01:02:36.000
but that’s that’s where most

01:02:37.000 –> 01:02:38.000
athletes struggle is they’d look for that high.

01:02:38.000 –> 01:02:38.000
Yeah. You know,

01:02:42.000 –> 01:02:43.000
I get hooked on booze or drugs or

01:02:43.000 –> 01:02:44.000
whatever.

01:02:44.000 –> 01:02:46.000
It’s You’re never gonna replace it. It’s you

01:02:46.000 –> 01:02:49.000
cannot. It’s you cannot replace it. It’s

01:02:50.000 –> 01:02:52.000
you know, there’s no rush unlike

01:02:53.000 –> 01:02:54.000
being an athlete and coming into a stadium

01:02:54.000 –> 01:02:54.000
or arena or what have you. Fans going

01:02:54.000 –> 01:02:55.000
ballistic

01:02:59.000 –> 01:03:02.000
a playoff game and twenty thousand, sixty thousand,

01:03:02.000 –> 01:03:04.000
eighty thousand people going crazy, screaming and yelling

01:03:04.000 –> 01:03:05.000
your name, whether they hate you or love

01:03:05.000 –> 01:03:06.000
you.

01:03:06.000 –> 01:03:08.000
You hear it all. Yeah. You hear it

01:03:08.000 –> 01:03:09.000
Gilliland

01:03:11.000 –> 01:03:13.000
you don’t ever it’s like that paint man

01:03:13.000 –> 01:03:15.000
in commercial. He’s like talking to the screaming

01:03:15.000 –> 01:03:17.000
at the accountant and doing that stuff,

01:03:17.000 –> 01:03:20.000
it it’s it’s just there’s nothing like it.

01:03:20.000 –> 01:03:22.000
Yeah. You’re never you’re never gonna find that

01:03:22.000 –> 01:03:23.000
again. You can try.

01:03:24.000 –> 01:03:26.000
And, you know, people by businesses and do

01:03:26.000 –> 01:03:28.000
all this different stuff. And it’s just, you

01:03:28.000 –> 01:03:30.000
know, that adrenaline part, that Brett.

01:03:31.000 –> 01:03:34.000
Can’t find it. No. Yeah. Chris Pronger. Thanks

01:03:34.000 –> 01:03:35.000
for being with us, man, the circle of

01:03:35.000 –> 01:03:37.000
success. I’m very humbled at a guy like

01:03:37.000 –> 01:03:39.000
you with your, your pedigree, your background, and

01:03:39.000 –> 01:03:41.000
the man you are. It’s, it’s amazing. You

01:03:41.000 –> 01:03:42.000
come over here and swim time with us

01:03:42.000 –> 01:03:44.000
and our listeners, and I’m very thankful for

01:03:44.000 –> 01:03:46.000
that, my man. Thank you. Good to have

01:03:46.000 –> 01:03:47.000
you on the journey.

01:03:51.000 –> 01:03:52.000
You.