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

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I’m your host, Brett Gilliland.

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And today, I’ve got Chris Pronger. What’s up,

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my man? How are you?

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I am great. It’s good to have you.

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You. Been excited about this. It’s been a

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while. It’s been a while.

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We got our customers. We are branded for

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those watching at home. Thank you. Got the

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turkey Canadian whiskey right here. I go Brett.

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You go black? Yeah. You’re kind enough to

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come in here and give me a shirt.

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We got some, we got some whisky here.

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We may open one in a Gilliland,

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but yeah, man, you are the Hall fame

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hockey player, two time gold medalist,

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Stanley Cupchamp,

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Number forty four is retired at the enterprise

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center.

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You are a whisky owner. You are a

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husband. You are a father. And my last

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thing, I put your one hell of a

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golfer. Uh-huh. Wow. Not quite as good as

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you.

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But, man, that’s a hell of a career.

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That’s a hell of a career. Yeah. Practice

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on your slap shot. Not not your golf

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shot. Right? So, well, it’s been awesome getting

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to know you through old Billy. Billy Schmidt

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introduced to two of us. And so it’s

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been fun getting to know you, man. So

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I was excited to have you on the

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pod But if you can,

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people that don’t know you, I’m sure they

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listen to this probably does know you. But

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for those that don’t, man, there’s always a

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backstory. Something that’s helped make you the man

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you are today, and I always love to

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chat about that. So there, if you don’t

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mind. Yeah. No. I grew up in small

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town Canada,

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dried in Ontario,

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thriving metropolis of about seven thousand,

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strong right now.

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Nice.

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Northwest in Ontario is, so my hometown driving

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is eight hours straight north of Minneapolis.

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K. The coldest place in the continental US,

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not in Alaska

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is international falls, which is two and a

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half hours south of me. Wow. So it

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is cold.

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Not a lot going on in the winter

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other than hockey and

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snowmobiling,

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and ice fishing, and what you what you

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would expect. Yeah. But,

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Brett childhood growing up. Love living there. It

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was, it was a lot of fun. You

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know, see pre internet. So it was

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not a lot going on as far as,

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surfing the web and doing all that stuff

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and video games. It was pretty,

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you know, kinda asteroids and, the simple games

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that’s, that you can think of. But,

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now we played hockey pretty much every My

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brother, like, it’s pretty much what you do

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up there. Right? You’re not you’re not playing

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basketball or are you playing basketball baseball in

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the summers? Yeah. No. I was a multi

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sport athlete. Okay.

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I would play hockey in the

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fall, winter,

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early spring. And then would play baseball. Mhmm.

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And then I would golf all summer and

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kind of swim in the lake and be

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a kid. Nice. And then,

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I usually did not put skates on till

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the last two weeks of August when I

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would normally go to Thunder Bay and do

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a hockey school and stay with my grandparents

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and kinda have some time with

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them. My parents would get a break from

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us. Because you and your brother, right? Just

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me and my brother who’s two years older.

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Two for two for your parents and Angel

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hockey stars.

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And then,

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yeah, we just

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I mean, it was pretty simple living. It

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was nice. It’s awesome. Yeah. Not a whole

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lot to worry about. No cell phones. No

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nothing. And how much older is your brother

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than you? Two years. Okay. So two years

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older than you. So he’s beating the crap

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out of you guys or kids, running around

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a backyard. I believe I counted one summer.

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I had forty nine bleeding noses.

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So there was,

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there Thanks a lot. As as we used

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to hear a lot of, oh, the Pronger

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boys are going at it again. Yeah. But,

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no, it was,

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It was your dad, mom, the end of

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hockey? Is it sports? My dad played, you

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know, like college hockey a little bit. And,

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saw a picture of you guys where he’s

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not near as tall as you guys.

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My dad is 05:11. Okay. Chris brother was

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six six kinda like a picture I have

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of you and I. I look like I’m

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five foot four, you know, like, what’s going

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on here, man? This is terrible. So My

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grandpa was six three. So he’s the run

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to the litter. Yeah. You’re six six. Your

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brother’s six three. Six three. Okay. Big dudes.

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Imagine that on skates, even more intimidating.

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What, at what point do you should we

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open some of this stuff? Yeah. Let’s get

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I’ll let you, just grab it. Pick your

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poison. Alright. Let’s do this right here. Figure

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out which one you want. Get it right

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here. There we go. I can get it

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open here. Chris is some good stuff.

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We get a little pour here

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and then, I’ll ship it your way.

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Very good? Thank you, sir. Thank you.

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Cheers, mate. Cheers? Yeah. I’d like to

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smell it. A good stuff. That a good

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stuff. Anyway, back to the

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pre recorded, not pre recorded. The recorded session

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here we’re doing is At what point did

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you know you’re different, man? I mean, obviously,

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playing hockey, you’re a high level. There’s tons

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of good hockey players come from Canada.

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Was there that moment where you thought, man,

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I’m a little different than some of these

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guys?

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I was always,

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you know, growing up on, you know, kids

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my age. I usually played up a a

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a year or two years. Yeah.

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And and, you know, just played it out

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a higher level, if you will. And then

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you you really don’t know, come from a

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small town back then, you know, there’s, again,

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no internet, no real TV where you can,

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other than watch an NHL on hockey night

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in Canada on Saturday nights,

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you weren’t really immersed in it other than

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just who you’re playing against all the time.

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So I didn’t really

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have a good understanding or gauge

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to understand

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where I was at with respect to competition

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levels and and things of that nature. So,

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moved away from home when was fifteen, but

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prior to that, I had a choice to

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make at thirteen. Am I gonna play high

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school hockey,

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or am I gonna go play AAA hockey,

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which my brother played, and you’re driving

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10:12 hours in a bus, and it’s a

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gr you know, it’s a commitment and a

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grind.

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And I was, like, you know, I don’t

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wanna do that. I wanna play I wanna

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be with my friends, and I wanna play

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high school hockey.

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And, you know, there was a little politics

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involved that that I’ll get to later, but

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that was kinda really the first

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foray into the politics politics of sports and

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kinda what can happen

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they were upset that I didn’t go play

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on Chris AAA team. They being your parents?

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No. They being the coaching staff and the

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managers of that team. And their friends, my

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my brother played there, and they were friends

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of my parents, a lot of them. And,

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they we kinda merged two talents together, Kenora,

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and dried, and merged to create this triple

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a team because we were not each city

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was not or town was not AAA. Yeah.

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So we’d go and play in this AAA

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league. And I’m like, oh, I just wanna

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play with my buddies, but but again,

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fourteen,

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thirteen, fourteen,

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turning fifteen, the two years I played high

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school, I’m playing against twenty year olds. So

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I’m I’m playing nineteen, twenty year olds. So

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I’m playing against much older competition

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that have either gone on play junior, and

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I’ll come back. Gonna play high school hockey,

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finish your hockey careers, and go to school

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and do whatever. Right? So you’re you’re playing.

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It’s still against some pretty players. Yep. And

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on our team were players that had played

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in that league, and now they’re back playing

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high school hockey. So we had there was

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a lot of really hockey players that I’m

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playing against at the that age.

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So I’m, you know, I think in grade

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nine. I was six one, grade ten. I

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was six three. So I’m,

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Give me as big as those guys. I’m

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tall. I’m tall. I’m not big.

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Skin’ mouthy.

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But,

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you know, I think understanding

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I just wanted to have a good time.

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I wanted to enjoy my childhood. You know,

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it was a lot of pressure of, you

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know, you’re the best player. You’re Chris. You’re

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that. Yeah.

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And I thought we had a good enough

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team to go play in the Ontario’s where

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you’d go down to Toronto

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and play against the top high schools in

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the in the in the province and gets

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go to that way as opposed to playing

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out west

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were in Ontario, but they’re playing in the

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western. It just it was a, yeah, a

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s assorted deal. And so

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I played high school hockey for these two

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years. We go to the Ontario’s, both years.

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Brett

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seen by some scouts and and get asked

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to go play for this junior tee junior

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b team down in Stratford.

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And

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before I go and do that, I go

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to this summer camp, and they’re doing this

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under sixteen,

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camp to pick Chris, the all Ontario team,

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and I go to this camp, of which

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a lot were on this AAA team. Right.

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And, you know, it was a valuable learning

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for me on a couple fronts, number one,

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the politics.

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Number two,

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I wasn’t in the best shape. I didn’t

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train overly hard preparing

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for this,

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camp. So,

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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,

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I’m I’m looking at my Gilliland I’m like,

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how am I getting cut? There’s no way.

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Yeah. But I get cut.

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And one of the scouts that watched me

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that pre that spring playing the All Ontario’s

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had two wild Chris. Now he’s got two

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wild cards for all of Ontario.

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And he’s like, how does this kid get

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cut? And he uses one of his two

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wild cards on me to go to the

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main camp. Wow.

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And I make the team.

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Again, not making the same mistake.

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I’m training now. I’m like, alright. I’m gonna

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train. I learned my lesson that it wasn’t

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prepared.

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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