Latest / Gloves Off: The Enforcer Code / JEFF BROWN | Gloves Off: The Enforcer Code Ep 4
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: No closer than me, I think right now probably the toughest player in the game.
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: Wack and lose it.
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: McCarty is with this.
- 0:05SPEAKER_02: Derek wax him with a button left.
- 0:13SPEAKER_03: Well, welcome here to Gloves Off, the Enforcers Code, part of the Ice Guardians Network.
- 0:21SPEAKER_03: I am Darren McCarty.
- 0:23SPEAKER_03: And I'm Joe Koster.
- 0:24SPEAKER_03: And here today, we're with 13-year veteran of the NHL, Mr.
- 0:30SPEAKER_03: Jeff Brown.
- 0:30SPEAKER_03: Brownie, how are you doing, bud?
- 0:32SPEAKER_02: I'm doing all right.
- 0:33SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of surprised I'm your first guest, though, when you're talking to tough guys and guardians and all that stuff.
- 0:38SPEAKER_02: But I appreciate you guys having me.
- 0:40SPEAKER_03: Well, you notice it's the enforcer's code, right?
- 0:42SPEAKER_03: So it's not just about all the guys that we'll get enough guys that are we've either, you know, punched us in the face or we've punched in the face and to talk about all that.
- 0:50SPEAKER_03: But I think it's important uh for Joey and I too, also to get into the guys that maybe were protected or were maybe on the more skilled side uh of the puck to see what their perspective going back because you guys also have great stories.
- 1:06SPEAKER_03: It's not like you weren't a part of it.
- 1:07SPEAKER_02: No, no, we witnessed them all, and I'm with Holly.
- 1:10SPEAKER_02: Like uh you guys made our job a lot easier back in the day.
- 1:14SPEAKER_02: And it was uh I was always buddies with all the tough guys, so uh it was uh got lots of stories, and uh I look forward to this.
- 1:22SPEAKER_03: Well, we look forward to getting it out of you.
- 1:24SPEAKER_03: So, like, let's go back to the basics.
- 1:26SPEAKER_03: Now, Ottawa, Ontario is uh uh Nippian.
- 1:30SPEAKER_04: Nippian.
- 1:31SPEAKER_03: Wait, wait, is there a difference?
- 1:33SPEAKER_04: Leamington, Windsor, yeah.
- 1:35SPEAKER_03: Okay, difference.
- 1:36SPEAKER_04: But uh let's uh talk about some of your friends back there, the players you played with, a couple buddies that we have.
- 1:43SPEAKER_02: 100%.
- 1:43SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, Nipean, and it was all Nippian, so we we need to uh clarify that.
- 1:49SPEAKER_03: Okay, I I stand corrected.
- 1:50SPEAKER_03: I apologize to all the Nippianites out there.
- 1:53SPEAKER_02: Uh the little guy with Gumption, he was a 64, and he was the goalie uh on our 64 team, 64 birth year team.
- 2:00SPEAKER_02: Uh Stevie Y was uh 65, 65, yeah.
- 2:04SPEAKER_02: And then uh myself and uh Jeff Chicker and Jamie Baker um were all 66s.
- 2:10SPEAKER_02: So we had so we had a good group of uh back-to-back to back years, if you will.
- 2:14SPEAKER_03: Um yeah.
- 2:16SPEAKER_03: How so you mentioned first one you mentioned was Panger, uh Darren Pang.
- 2:20SPEAKER_03: Like, at what age was he this tall?
- 2:24SPEAKER_03: No, like seriously, everybody's got to know this tall.
- 2:27SPEAKER_03: You know, since he was like 10, did he peek out?
- 2:29SPEAKER_03: Or what like was he that size?
- 2:31SPEAKER_03: Like, do you remember, or was he like a small, small goalie growing up?
- 2:36SPEAKER_03: He was always a small, small goalie.
- 2:38SPEAKER_02: Okay, fastest glove in the league.
- 2:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is that what it was?
- 2:42SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
- 2:43SPEAKER_02: Yeah, his his athletic ability was unmatched at that at that age for sure.
- 2:47SPEAKER_02: He was so good, so fast.
- 2:50SPEAKER_02: Um, and and and and a nice guy.
- 2:52SPEAKER_02: I was struggling in the minors one year, and they came to they came to town.
- 2:57SPEAKER_02: I I'd played 20 games in Freddie Beach, and and they came to town, and uh Panger says, I'll I'll let you have one.
- 3:04SPEAKER_02: At least he'll he tries to admit that.
- 3:06SPEAKER_02: But I broke my 20 games of not scoring against him and got called up a week later.
- 3:12SPEAKER_02: So I uh I owe him a lot.
- 3:14SPEAKER_02: Started my career.
- 3:15SPEAKER_03: The boys taking care of the boys.
- 3:16SPEAKER_04: That's it.
- 3:17SPEAKER_04: That's what Panger would say, but I don't think he would do that.
- 3:20SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, absolutely too much pride.
- 3:24SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so same sort of thing.
- 3:26SPEAKER_03: So the what we're seeing now with like Pang Pang was the same way, Mr.
- 3:29SPEAKER_03: Congeniality and stuff like back then hasn't changed my hasn't changed.
- 3:33SPEAKER_03: What about like you know, a lot a lot of stuff is what we don't get to hear.
- 3:36SPEAKER_03: I'm interested because you know, my captain, his captain, our captain, Steve Eiserman, you know, what was he like when he was younger?
- 3:43SPEAKER_02: Well, again, he uh I played with him one year, I played up a year, uh but dominant best player on the ice all the time.
- 3:50SPEAKER_02: But I only played with him the one year.
- 3:53SPEAKER_02: Um, and then he left.
- 3:54SPEAKER_02: And I actually followed his footsteps a little bit, played at 15 Central Junior League.
- 3:58SPEAKER_02: I did the following year, then he went to Peterborough, I went to Sudbury the following year.
- 4:02SPEAKER_02: I did everything kind of behind him.
- 4:04SPEAKER_02: I didn't get picked as high as him in the NHL, but uh, but same idea.
- 4:08SPEAKER_02: He was just he was always as good as he was at you know in his career, and and uh obviously became that uh consummate leader when he had you guys and um you know good for him.
- 4:21SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, also so so that gets your you know journey along the way, right?
- 4:26SPEAKER_03: Play uh getting into Sudbury, playing in the OHL.
- 4:29SPEAKER_03: Any any great memories of Sudbury when we were talking earlier, so Sudbury Joe, right?
- 4:34SPEAKER_03: They had the the Sudbury Wolves and out of the middle Shore Z?
- 4:38SPEAKER_03: What's that?
- 4:38SPEAKER_03: Shore Z.
- 4:39SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, sure.
- 4:40SPEAKER_03: Uh the Blueberry Bulldogs, the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs, yeah.
- 4:44SPEAKER_03: But in the middle of the rink when Sudbury would score, right?
- 4:49SPEAKER_03: This huge friggin' wolf would come down on this line, like a zip line over the whole thing like that.
- 4:58SPEAKER_03: What were some that's my memory?
- 5:00SPEAKER_03: That chab uh big fight I had with Terry Chitterone.
- 5:03SPEAKER_03: Shout out to him.
- 5:03SPEAKER_03: Terry Chitterone in the in the middle, in the in in the was it the Memorial Gardens, the Civic Garden, whatever it was.
- 5:10SPEAKER_03: Any any good memories in Junior?
- 5:12SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, unfortunately, four years in Sudbury, the the wolf didn't come down very often when I was there.
- 5:19SPEAKER_02: Um, no, it was uh it was not great.
- 5:22SPEAKER_02: Um and one year actually the wolf they didn't stop and so it'd come from the corner of the building and they'd fire it down and and the guy didn't stop it, and it ran right into the clock and it exploded on the freaking clock.
- 5:34SPEAKER_02: No way, oh yeah, it was slowed the game up.
- 5:37SPEAKER_02: We had to scrape it up off the ground and everything.
- 5:39SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, no, the the wolf was uh it was great when it was there, but unfortunately, the years I was there, 82 to 86, we just did not have a lot of success.
- 5:49SPEAKER_02: Not a lot of guys made it to the show out of there, so it was uh it wasn't a great junior experience.
- 5:55SPEAKER_02: It was uh but um learned a lot uh and developed obviously my game and and uh prepared me for the NHL.
- 6:03SPEAKER_03: So so being drafted, what was what was that draft like take like the draft experience these?
- 6:09SPEAKER_03: I mean, wow, I mean we don't get me started on that.
- 6:13SPEAKER_03: You got Justin, Justin Bieber bringing out the first pick.
- 6:16SPEAKER_03: So it's it's changed, but what was your draft experience like?
- 6:20SPEAKER_03: Like as far as going into your draft year, as far as getting drafted, were you there?
- 6:25SPEAKER_03: Like, do you do you remember that with your family and stuff?
- 6:27SPEAKER_03: And where was it?
- 6:28SPEAKER_02: It was so it was in uh Montreal Forum.
- 6:30SPEAKER_02: Okay, uh same as same as me.
- 6:32SPEAKER_02: I'm an offensive defenseman, and all I did was try to defend in Sudbury because we were so bad we were in our own end the so the knock on me was well, you can't defend.
- 6:42SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't care if you're you know, whatever's defending Sudbury, they're coming.
- 6:48SPEAKER_02: Like we were on our heels for four years.
- 6:51SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, uh I'd like to think I could have fared better in some other places, more uh leaning the ice the ro the other ways.
- 6:59SPEAKER_02: So uh drafted second round to Quebec, um, which ended up being an incredible blessing.
- 7:06SPEAKER_02: You know, um they had everything there, they had goaltending, they had offense, they had no power play guy.
- 7:13SPEAKER_02: And so I got a chance early, and I got to play with guys like the Stasneys and Goulet and Dale Hunter, and so it was uh it was a blessing.
- 7:21SPEAKER_02: You know, you go to Edmonton or you go to Boston, you're behind Bork or Coffee, you know, you might be a career minor leaguer.
- 7:27SPEAKER_02: You never get called up because they never need you, right?
- 7:30SPEAKER_02: And so I got put right into the power play with these guys, and then a little later, Joey Sackett gets drafted, and him and I are in the point together, and how much fun was that to play with him back there?
- 7:42SPEAKER_02: Um, and so just the opportunity that was given to me in Quebec was incredible.
- 7:47SPEAKER_02: Uh, it was the best thing that could have happened, didn't know it at the time, right?
- 7:51SPEAKER_04: But I look back and it's like So you had some pretty good power play players you played with.
- 7:56SPEAKER_02: I've been fortunate throughout my career.
- 7:57SPEAKER_04: Guys can shoot the puck pretty damn well.
- 7:59SPEAKER_04: Yeah, even at Hullies guy was there, right?
- 8:01SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
- 8:02SPEAKER_03: So you know it goes back to Quebec, and you're one that uh played there, and there's obviously we see expansion throughout the NHL and stuff.
- 8:10SPEAKER_03: Do you was did you have a was Quebec a good Quebec City a good place to play as an NHL?
- 8:17SPEAKER_03: Or you you know it's sort of secluded, and everybody says it's cold, but yeah, all the stories.
- 8:21SPEAKER_03: I I just wondered, do you ever see that they could get a team back?
- 8:26SPEAKER_03: Well, they should get a team back.
- 8:28SPEAKER_02: Okay, I mean it's it's a religion there.
- 8:30SPEAKER_02: It's like Montreal.
- 8:31SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the fan base deserves a team.
- 8:35SPEAKER_02: It's just do they have you know the big money, the big corporations that are gonna bring it back there?
- 8:40SPEAKER_02: But again, didn't realize it at the time.
- 8:44SPEAKER_02: The experience that I was living in Quebec City with so many people so passionate about hockey.
- 8:49SPEAKER_02: And you know, you read stories about the bigger cities or the you know, the places in the states and all that kind of stuff.
- 8:56SPEAKER_02: So you you think, geez, I I think I'd like to get out of here sometime, right?
- 8:59SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um but again, I look back and you know, you say uh the closeness of that team because because of the language barrier a little bit, right?
- 9:11SPEAKER_02: But we every night almost we'd go out for dinner in the old city and stuff like that.
- 9:16SPEAKER_02: Like we were such a close-knit team.
- 9:19SPEAKER_02: All the guys lived down, Paul Gillis and Jeff Jackson, guys like we were all downtown.
- 9:24SPEAKER_02: Um, and we go out for dinners together, and the Colise was always rocking.
- 9:30SPEAKER_02: And so there was a lot of really, really fun things about Quebec City, and I would love for them to get a team.
- 9:35SPEAKER_02: They deserve a team.
- 9:36SPEAKER_02: I just don't know the finances of it.
- 9:38SPEAKER_02: Right.
- 9:39SPEAKER_04: So now were you there during the Montreal Quebec playoff series, the brawls, the the craziness?
- 9:45SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I got I got one year.
- 9:46SPEAKER_02: One year I did uh at the very end of it, but I wasn't there for the the real shit shows that were.
- 9:52SPEAKER_02: Oh boy, but those are some of the best series I ever watched.
- 9:54SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, I unbelievable.
- 9:56SPEAKER_03: Like, I what would you say from your perspective of being there and sort of playing in it?
- 10:01SPEAKER_03: Like that rivalry, right?
- 10:03SPEAKER_03: Because we're talking about like we've talked about this before, and I make it adamant in my opinion.
- 10:09SPEAKER_03: It's like the NHL has two different seasons, the regular season, three-point game, race to the race to the top for the mountain, whatever get your points, get in the playoffs, and then it reverts back in the playoffs to the seven-game series to focusing in to taking you know your guy out or whatever.
- 10:27SPEAKER_03: What what makes that Montreal Quebec City rivalry?
- 10:32SPEAKER_03: Because we have experience in saying something that was close to that in the Colorado Detroit rivalry where there's like real hatred between the fan base, but there's like a respect between the teams or whatever.
- 10:47SPEAKER_03: Like, can you pinpoint playing there and being there what that really is in the hockey world?
- 10:53SPEAKER_02: No, 100%.
- 10:54SPEAKER_02: So I had I had Vancouver, Calgary, which was good.
- 10:57SPEAKER_02: I had St.
- 10:58SPEAKER_02: Louis, Detroit, St.
- 10:59SPEAKER_02: Louis, Chicago.
- 11:00SPEAKER_02: Um probably started out more St.
- 11:03SPEAKER_02: Louis, Chicago just because of the baseball and it's and the proximity.
- 11:06SPEAKER_02: But we had obviously some battles with Detroit through the years and stuff like that.
- 11:10SPEAKER_02: But but people can talk about rivalries, but what adds to that is it's you know, French French.
- 11:17SPEAKER_02: It's a religion in both cities.
- 11:20SPEAKER_02: It's it's like when there's Montreal, Quebec going at it, there's everything stops, the whole province stops.
- 11:27SPEAKER_02: It is so awesome, it's so much fun.
- 11:30SPEAKER_02: I mean, you just you get tingles thinking about the old buildings and the 40 years ago, right?
- 11:36SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
- 11:36SPEAKER_03: And still to this day, that's what the game, but that's what the game sort of does.
- 11:40SPEAKER_02: It brings back those the rivalry was just unmatched.
- 11:43SPEAKER_02: I just I can't imagine it.
- 11:44SPEAKER_04: And you said Dale Hunter was on that team.
- 11:46SPEAKER_02: Hunts, yeah.
- 11:47SPEAKER_04: And then you were with him in '98 as well.
- 11:51SPEAKER_04: So how old was Dale back uh back then?
- 11:53SPEAKER_04: Would he be in early?
- 11:54SPEAKER_02: He also played in Sudbury.
- 11:56SPEAKER_02: Uh oh, really?
- 11:57SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 11:57SPEAKER_02: And so uh, I don't know how much older he is than me, probably or five years, maybe.
- 12:05SPEAKER_04: He was one of the toughest, oh my god, dirtiest players.
- 12:08SPEAKER_04: Oh, 100%.
- 12:08SPEAKER_04: Loved him, hated him.
- 12:10SPEAKER_03: Yeah, one of those guys you wanted to do.
- 12:12SPEAKER_03: Kind of like Claude.
- 12:13SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
- 12:14SPEAKER_03: A lot of a lot, a lot of different things.
- 12:16SPEAKER_03: Any other like uh, like you said, you know, you mentioned like what being on the ice, and I think as we get older to bring the connection back, but you're like the greats of the game, like the Stasny's people don't know like the the Stasney brothers.
- 12:31SPEAKER_03: Um was it Paul's son?
- 12:34SPEAKER_03: So Peter, Anton, Anton and Marislav, Marion.
- 12:38SPEAKER_03: But like, what what was that like?
- 12:40SPEAKER_02: Because I was sort of like the first like having three brothers in the league, but at that elite level, like to be able to sit back and play with well that that whole story, people need to research that whole story about them getting out back in the day, like they were the first ones, I think, to come over and how they snuck out and all that kind of stuff was it's it's in just a different world, but for them to come over, so talented the vision, the hands.
- 13:06SPEAKER_02: I mean, Peter still skates with the alumni and you know, still has finish and still has vision, it's awesome, right?
- 13:13SPEAKER_02: And uh Peter actually played here uh for a little bit.
- 13:16SPEAKER_02: When I got traded to Vancouver, he actually rented my house here for years.
- 13:20SPEAKER_02: So Paul and Jan and the and the family and Darina, they all grew up at my house here in St.
- 13:26SPEAKER_02: Louis, which is kind of a bit of a tie-in, but that was from our Quebec days, knowing each other.
- 13:30SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like the Russian five that we got to play with, right?
- 13:34SPEAKER_03: It was a different game style, transitional of what the different way to look at the game than than it was brought and the to us North Americans, especially us Canadians, where there's a certain way to play and they dump and j expanded it.
- 13:47SPEAKER_03: Joey always said his quote is like uh the you know, Igor and and Slav and the Russians, they we were what beer and chicken wings, and then they made us like sushi and wine or something like that.
- 13:59SPEAKER_03: Like if I you know, just the way that it expanded how they see the game and how to play with it.
- 14:05SPEAKER_03: Could you could you feel back then?
- 14:08SPEAKER_03: Like, what was the like I'm interested in you being an offensive defenseman, being trapped in your own end, not being able to really display your skills in junior, yet getting drafted to a team that needs that offensive?
- 14:20SPEAKER_03: What was the big um I I made it moment or or like when you knew like you were here, right?
- 14:30SPEAKER_03: Like maybe like to stay or that you had a position, right?
- 14:34SPEAKER_03: Like you said they needed what you had to offer.
- 14:37SPEAKER_03: Was there a moment like where it just clicked in?
- 14:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't I I don't know.
- 14:42SPEAKER_02: It was it was a uh, you know, and I'm sure we'll get to this, but when I came here, I was still, you know, an unfinished product or whatever.
- 14:53SPEAKER_02: I was still a kid, I was still I needed to learn some things, I needed to grow up in different ways.
- 15:00SPEAKER_02: Um Ryan Sutter was that guy for me, right?
- 15:03SPEAKER_02: Sudzi, a lot of guys might have a problem with Sudzi.
- 15:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, the thing I always knew about him is that he cared about me.
- 15:11SPEAKER_02: He wanted me to be the best player I could be, and he pushed me to be that you know complete player.
- 15:18SPEAKER_02: So my I think back in my days in Quebec, and I wish I would have maybe dealt with things differently and all that kind of stuff.
- 15:25SPEAKER_02: Um but uh when did I I mean I had a pretty good success early just because of these guys that I was playing with.
- 15:35SPEAKER_02: You know, you sauce it over to Goo or to Peter or whatever, it ends up in the net most of the time.
- 15:42SPEAKER_02: So I was very fortunate.
- 15:44SPEAKER_02: And then obviously to come here and play with with Hully and Shani was here for a lot of it, and Adam Oates and you know Nelson Emerson played point with me a lot.
- 15:55SPEAKER_02: Um the like Craig Janney.
- 15:57SPEAKER_02: I mean, we had unbelievable, and then you go to Quebec City or to uh Vancouver, and you got you know Lyndon and you got Pavel and you got these guys there, and you know, so I've I've been very, very fortunate of to be able to play on these power plays where guys can see it.
- 16:13SPEAKER_02: And you know, you talk about the Russian five.
- 16:15SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, not like that, but guys that can play with their head up and make plays.
- 16:20SPEAKER_02: It was a lot of fun.
- 16:21SPEAKER_03: Well, such a such important you bring you bring up the Sutter factor, and it just gets me going because when I left Detroit after the lockout, I went to play for Calgary to play for Darrell Sutter to have so I totally know exactly that Sutter, like hard love influence, but the fact that no matter which one, like they care, not only about the game, but about you as a human being that that that came across.
- 16:48SPEAKER_03: And a lot of times, you know, like we were coached by arguably the greatest of all time and Scott.
- 16:54SPEAKER_03: And and it and it's you don't understand it till you're older of the guys putting you in the position that it is, but it's that sort of tough love.
- 17:04SPEAKER_02: So sudsy, just to interrupt you, like like Sudzy was that guy that you know you go out and get a goal and two assists, and you're second star, and you're you couldn't wait to get to the bar, and you were so excited, you know, to be with the boys, and you come off the ice after doing your twirl for second star, you know, and the trainer, hey sudsy wants to talk to you.
- 17:25SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, What he's gonna tell me good gamer or something.
- 17:29SPEAKER_02: I walk in and he just ripped me.
- 17:31SPEAKER_02: He goes, Oh, you think that was good enough, hey?
- 17:34SPEAKER_02: What about this play?
- 17:35SPEAKER_02: What about and like that was that was Brian Sutter?
- 17:37SPEAKER_02: Like, it was never good enough.
- 17:38SPEAKER_02: It was like you just yeah, a hundred years.
- 17:40SPEAKER_04: My dad did the same thing 100%.
- 17:42SPEAKER_04: First star, I did something wrong in a second pair, and he's gonna tell him in the car no play.
- 17:47SPEAKER_03: Is that you know, not to like sort of jump, but we can jump around or whatever, like this, because you you know, you've coached and you've coached a lot of these younger kids that are that are stars in the league now, and and stuff like this.
- 18:00SPEAKER_03: Is that the biggest difference in these kids?
- 18:04SPEAKER_03: Is like you can't coach them hard or you can't like accountability.
- 18:09SPEAKER_04: Did you coach the way you played?
- 18:10SPEAKER_04: Calm, cool, smooth.
- 18:12SPEAKER_04: No, I was quiet.
- 18:13SPEAKER_04: I was a little loud once in a while.
- 18:14SPEAKER_02: I was a little loud.
- 18:15SPEAKER_02: I may have wait a sec.
- 18:17SPEAKER_04: I may have heard that from our little little buddy Bangor.
- 18:20SPEAKER_02: Yeah, never made them fight or anything like that.
- 18:23SPEAKER_02: I hate those guys, I hate those guys that are soft as baby shit.
- 18:26SPEAKER_02: And then they get behind the net or behind the bench and they're telling their guys to fight, like in junior and stuff.
- 18:31SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, are you kidding me?
- 18:32SPEAKER_02: You know, you were scared of your shadow, and now you're telling this guy to go out and fight.
- 18:35SPEAKER_02: I hate that.
- 18:36SPEAKER_02: So I never, oh gosh.
- 18:38SPEAKER_02: Um, but I was never that.
- 18:41SPEAKER_02: But I would I'd coach a lot like Brian, you know, like I pushed.
- 18:45SPEAKER_02: And um as the years went on, it got less and less favorable, I guess, in the eyes of the public.
- 18:54SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, you it's different now.
- 18:57SPEAKER_02: It's different now.
- 18:58SPEAKER_02: You gotta watch feelings and all that kind of stuff for sure.
- 19:02SPEAKER_03: Is that frustrating?
- 19:03SPEAKER_02: It was.
- 19:04SPEAKER_02: I'm not coaching anymore.
- 19:05SPEAKER_02: Uh but that kind of yeah, it was hard to hold people accountable.
- 19:10SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like the same kind of idea of you know, the NIL and college and it right now, you know, coaches can't be hard on a player because the player just says, Well, I'm out, like I'm leaving next year.
- 19:22SPEAKER_02: And what do you mean?
- 19:24SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm trying to make you part of this team where you know, in the past, we would have never won championships if I wasn't able to grab my best players and and get them to buy in by being hard on them.
- 19:38SPEAKER_02: And then when they buy in and they become in your playoffs, the best player and the hard work, hardest worker, and the most honest defensively, and all those kinds of things, then you get a championship team.
- 19:50SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right, much the same as you know, Stevie Y.
- 19:53SPEAKER_02: Like he was Scotty was he was the best player in the league for years, but he added that dimension, and all of a sudden now he's leading you guys to how many cops, you know.
- 20:04SPEAKER_04: That was that was Scotty's Scotty was a great coach, but he knew how to talk to each player individually.
- 20:08SPEAKER_04: Like you can't say the same thing to Stevie as he would say to Sergei, or Sergei would could shut down.
- 20:15SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
- 20:15SPEAKER_04: I mean, he he coached every player differently, including you and me, man.
- 20:19SPEAKER_03: Oh, 100 million percent, right?
- 20:21SPEAKER_03: It's like it's the old Belichick is that I coach them all the same, different.
- 20:25SPEAKER_03: You know, like it's it's the fact of I think that the best coaches that I've found are the ones that and Scotty knew everybody's buttons.
- 20:36SPEAKER_03: You mentioned Shannon, dude.
- 20:38SPEAKER_03: Like he would always just like if you wanted to get Shanty going, and he'd just stand behind the bench.
- 20:43SPEAKER_03: And and Scotty never would say anything directly to you, he would always lean right to Barry Smith to the left to Dave Lewis, no, right over top of you and be like, Barry, Barry, Shannon, Shannon, not moving his feet, not moving his feet.
- 20:58SPEAKER_03: And then whenever Shane would hear that, and you know Shani, and he'd go, because the idea was he'd try to get him to go Irish and go Irish mean would be snap, and then when because we all know, and it's well versed.
- 21:09SPEAKER_03: I know that uh that Chaser and Holly on Ice Guardians talking about Shane is uh like when he flipped that switch, he's one of the toughest guys to fight everybody, whatever.
- 21:20SPEAKER_03: But it was like that was his triggers.
- 21:22SPEAKER_03: He's not moving his feet, not moving my feet, you know, the 50 call guide or whatever.
- 21:27SPEAKER_03: And yeah, you get him up, you get him riled up at like your it's like we're going, here we go.
- 21:34SPEAKER_03: So let the let the sleeping sleeping guy go.
- 21:38SPEAKER_03: And and I think to finish that is because what's missing, or you see the best teams and the teams that are successful, the Carolinas, the Floridas, or whatever, they have that accountability not only to their coach, but to each other.
- 21:53SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think that's if you can't have accountability to your job to be able to take that hard, then how are You gonna, you know, because it's your coaches, your coach is telling you, right?
- 22:04SPEAKER_03: It's not he, it's not for him, it's for the guy left of you and the guy right of you to to have that, and and the best coaches put you in that position to do that, yeah.
- 22:14SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so um I think we're gonna take a break right here right now, and then we're gonna come back and we're gonna get into because we got to talk about the St.
- 22:23SPEAKER_03: Louis, St.
- 22:24SPEAKER_03: Louis rivalries, and obviously uh you and Joey uh in the finals, not only once, you got to and against us uh in the finals with Vancouver against the Rangers and us in the finals with Washington, which was sort of you know one of the things that concussions is a big thing that I want to touch on.
- 22:43SPEAKER_03: So it's clocks off an enforcers code here on the Ice Guardian Network.
- 22:47SPEAKER_03: We'll be right back.
- 22:49SPEAKER_04: Hey everybody, welcome back to the fifth annual Joe Coaster Foundation for Children Golf Outing.
- 22:54SPEAKER_04: Thank you to our friends at Anheuser Busch for supplying the beer.
- 22:57SPEAKER_04: We're getting ready to watch the Lions win their first Super Bowl this year, drinking the official beer, Bud Light.
- 23:04SPEAKER_04: But today is about golf, great friends, and raising money for charity.
- 23:08SPEAKER_04: Cheers to everyone, and thank you, Bud Light.
- 23:15SPEAKER_03: Welcome back, gloves off.
- 23:17SPEAKER_03: I'm Darren McCarty.
- 23:18SPEAKER_03: That is Joe Kosher.
- 23:20SPEAKER_03: We have Jeff Brown in here today, and we are talking about the good old days, getting into uh where he started.
- 23:27SPEAKER_03: Now we're getting into getting traded, right?
- 23:30SPEAKER_03: You're talking about uh playing with the Quebec Nordiques, all the great players and that, but then 89 comes around.
- 23:37SPEAKER_03: And uh how did how does that work?
- 23:39SPEAKER_03: How did that work back then?
- 23:40SPEAKER_03: Do you find a note you got traded?
- 23:42SPEAKER_02: Well, so getting back to you know me being a little, you know, not as mature as I would have liked to have been.
- 23:52SPEAKER_02: Uh, me and Michelle Bergeron, the petit tigre, we got uh a little spat.
- 23:57SPEAKER_02: Anyways, one one game I got left at home.
- 24:00SPEAKER_02: They were in Hartford or Boston or one of the short trips.
- 24:04SPEAKER_02: And so I had the ice right before the St.
- 24:07SPEAKER_02: Louis Blues had landed, and they were waiting for our team to come home and we were gonna play them the next night.
- 24:13SPEAKER_02: So I was out on the ice with a couple injured guys, and I was taking one timers or whatever.
- 24:18SPEAKER_02: And Brian Sutter comes to the glass, and Greg Millen comes to the glass.
- 24:22SPEAKER_02: The team, you know, they just they're unpacking their bags and they're all watching.
- 24:26SPEAKER_02: And uh, story goes that Milsey says to Sudzy, uh, boy, we sure could use a guy like that on our power play, right?
- 24:36SPEAKER_02: So fast forward two, three weeks later, Milsey's getting off the bus in New York City, and uh Brian says, uh, hey, I I uh I need to speak to you.
- 24:46SPEAKER_02: He goes, You remember that guy that you were well, you just got traded for him.
- 24:53SPEAKER_02: So uh, and again, that's that's the story I hear.
- 24:57SPEAKER_02: So, but but the truth is that I did get traded for him, and uh Tony Herkus, the Herkus Circus.
- 25:04SPEAKER_02: So it was uh December 13th, 1989.
- 25:07SPEAKER_02: We were in Edmonton at the time.
- 25:10SPEAKER_02: So uh just came straight here from Edmonton, I remember.
- 25:13SPEAKER_02: And uh it was like, how does a kid from the PN know anything about St.
- 25:19SPEAKER_02: Louis, Missouri?
- 25:20SPEAKER_02: Like, where am I going?
- 25:22SPEAKER_02: And here I am, what's that 89?
- 25:24SPEAKER_02: How many give me help me with the 50 years ago?
- 25:27SPEAKER_02: Like crazy.
- 25:27SPEAKER_02: It's like 40 years ago.
- 25:29SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like it's that it's a lifetime ago, and I'm still here, and I still love it.
- 25:33SPEAKER_02: And uh, it's a great place to raise a family, St.
- 25:36SPEAKER_02: Louis.
- 25:36SPEAKER_02: It's been great.
- 25:37SPEAKER_04: What was the sorry back?
- 25:38SPEAKER_04: You had a really good guy that could teach you the ropes in St.
- 25:41SPEAKER_04: Louis, your defense partner.
- 25:42SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm sure he showed you all the right places to go.
- 25:45SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I had some I had some good ones.
- 25:47SPEAKER_02: Butchie came in uh a couple years after, but uh before him, I had Scotty Stevens was here for a year, that whole Shanahan Stevens thing.
- 25:55SPEAKER_02: Um, and then yeah, uh Butchie Um would uh boy, he was worth the price of admission.
- 26:02SPEAKER_02: Uh and then Brett Hedek and I had for for quite a long time.
- 26:05SPEAKER_02: We were together in Vancouver as well.
- 26:07SPEAKER_02: Hetty could skate.
- 26:09SPEAKER_02: Hetty was boy, he was he was one of those guys, especially when I was playing against you guys.
- 26:14SPEAKER_02: I I Hetty just got called up.
- 26:16SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Hetty, okay, so this is how it's gonna work, okay?
- 26:19SPEAKER_02: So when they when they dump it in your corner, okay, you go back and get it and I'll hold up for you.
- 26:26SPEAKER_02: Now, when they dump it in my corner, you go get it and I'll hold it up for you, right?
- 26:32SPEAKER_02: Uh, but but because he could go back.
- 26:34SPEAKER_02: And we talked about this before.
- 26:36SPEAKER_02: And it's like, you know, back in the day, we were called soft if we didn't go first and go to the uh wall at the end of the ring, right?
- 26:47SPEAKER_02: And we got you knuckleheads coming 100 miles an hour, just ready to destroy.
- 26:52SPEAKER_02: And we got to make a play on a puck that's sometimes leaning against the boards.
- 26:56SPEAKER_02: Like it was, I'm surprised nobody died.
- 26:58SPEAKER_02: Like it was that bad, right?
- 27:00SPEAKER_02: And so I started kind of, uh, you go first, you know, that kind of stuff.
- 27:05SPEAKER_02: And then you guys played with a guy, Nikki Lindstrom, that did for years where he never got he let the guy go first and then he'd pickpocket him and then go.
- 27:14SPEAKER_02: I was ahead of my time, I guess.
- 27:16SPEAKER_02: But anyway, uh he was Livstrom in the run.
- 27:20SPEAKER_02: What do you go, Brownie?
- 27:21SPEAKER_03: There we got to it right now.
- 27:23SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 27:23SPEAKER_02: So I uh no, like it was it was horrible.
- 27:26SPEAKER_02: And then and then uh, you know, if you didn't make a play on the puck, like what's wrong with you, Brownie, and all this kind of stuff.
- 27:33SPEAKER_02: So then we'd be playing against you guys, and there were so many of you guys that could forecheck and whatever.
- 27:37SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, Proby's out there, and Proby's wanting to play hockey that night.
- 27:42SPEAKER_02: He's gonna go score goals, right?
- 27:43SPEAKER_02: He's not running, he's not doing anything.
- 27:45SPEAKER_02: And then Butchie would decide to wind him up and get him going, and then he'd come to my corner and destroy me.
- 27:52SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Butchie, what the hell are you doing?
- 27:54SPEAKER_02: Would you shut up?
- 27:55SPEAKER_02: Just let him sleep, you know, and I got to deal with him in the corner, right?
- 27:59SPEAKER_02: Anyway, so the old adage is true, right?
- 28:02SPEAKER_03: Like, let the big guy sleep, especially Proby would too.
- 28:06SPEAKER_03: He would, he didn't bother him.
- 28:08SPEAKER_03: He wanted to play hockey.
- 28:09SPEAKER_03: He did, yeah, yeah.
- 28:10SPEAKER_03: But he could because he could play playing on the first line or whatever else, like that.
- 28:16SPEAKER_03: 29 goals, 400 penalty minutes one guy.
- 28:19SPEAKER_02: He was crazy.
- 28:19SPEAKER_02: Has there ever been anything like that?
- 28:21SPEAKER_02: Like that, those numbers.
- 28:22SPEAKER_02: No, that's crazy.
- 28:23SPEAKER_04: So he's we've had this conversation before.
- 28:27SPEAKER_04: I've heard Holly say it too.
- 28:29SPEAKER_04: For all the people going to Hall of Fame for being great at what they do, yeah, he was the best at what he did.
- 28:34SPEAKER_04: And I will keep saying he should be in the hall of fame for that.
- 28:38SPEAKER_03: The people don't understand, like, and and you didn't have players talking about it.
- 28:43SPEAKER_03: Some of them I always I always go back to when he went to the all-star game, right?
- 28:47SPEAKER_03: And and Stevie always says is that you know, you got the Messies, the Lemuse, the Gratskys, whatever, and everybody's coming up to me proby.
- 28:54SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, everybody just wants me like as your peers to whatever, like that is how much you know guy like that just was held in such high esteem by his by his fellows.
- 29:07SPEAKER_04: You know, he led our team in playoff scoring one year.
- 29:10SPEAKER_04: That's crazy in Detroit.
- 29:11SPEAKER_04: Really?
- 29:12SPEAKER_04: Not people, not people know.
- 29:13SPEAKER_03: I I know the year that we lost.
- 29:15SPEAKER_03: We're it's funny because you were talking to you mentioned Jamie Baker, and Jamie Baker scores a goal for San Jose that knocked us out of the 94 playoffs.
- 29:23SPEAKER_03: But that year we had the hog line and myself, Sheldon Kennedy, and Proby, and we were all top in points for that series.
- 29:31SPEAKER_04: Wow.
- 29:32SPEAKER_03: Playing with those guys was so San Jose beat you in seven after we won the game.
- 29:36SPEAKER_04: And did you guys beat San Jose then?
- 29:38SPEAKER_04: Or how'd that go?
- 29:39SPEAKER_02: No, so uh Bakes tells the story that they beat Detroit, went to the airport, and were waiting because we were in game seven against Calgary.
- 29:50SPEAKER_04: Calgary and Pavel scored in that game.
- 29:52SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I passed it to him.
- 29:54SPEAKER_02: Just a little footnote.
- 29:55SPEAKER_02: Who scored in that game?
- 29:56SPEAKER_02: Uh double overtime.
- 29:57SPEAKER_02: Pavel scored on a on a breakaway.
- 29:59SPEAKER_02: He was coming out of the zone, and and uh Hetty went D to D to me.
- 30:04SPEAKER_02: And I we just met eyes, and he was crossing the line, and I sauced it to him right down the middle.
- 30:09SPEAKER_02: He went in on the breakaway and scored.
- 30:10SPEAKER_02: Double overtime.
- 30:11SPEAKER_02: We won three, we were down three games to one.
- 30:13SPEAKER_02: My wife was pregnant with our first baby, and uh, and she uh I'm I'm like, we're down three to one against Calgary.
- 30:21SPEAKER_02: I'll be home anytime, dear.
- 30:23SPEAKER_02: You know, that kind of thing.
- 30:24SPEAKER_02: We went in game five in overtime, game six in overtime, and then double overtime in game seven.
- 30:28SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, the story is that we're in overtime there at the airport, and uh uh they don't know where they're going because back then they reshuffled the deck.
- 30:38SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
- 30:38SPEAKER_02: It was uh the highest seed against the lowest seed.
- 30:41SPEAKER_02: So we were seven, San Jose was eight.
- 30:44SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you guys were one that year.
- 30:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were one.
- 30:46SPEAKER_02: And uh so they didn't know if they were going to Toronto or if they were going to Dallas.
- 30:51SPEAKER_02: So they had to wait, wait, wait, and we go to double overtime, plus the time change.
- 30:55SPEAKER_02: They're still sitting there, a few beers, I'm sure.
- 30:59SPEAKER_02: Anyways, they we finally win, and now the Toronto airport won't let them uh land.
- 31:05SPEAKER_02: So they had to go back to the hotel, and uh I think they ended up busting to uh to Toronto the next day.
- 31:13SPEAKER_02: We went to Dallas, we beat Dallas, then Toronto beat San Jose, then we beat Toronto, and then we went to the finals against the Rangers.
- 31:27SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's funny how they do and do you guys you remember that final?
- 31:31SPEAKER_03: Like I I always think one of the unique, and you can and I know you've you've done it on Ice Guardians or whatever last, but is this true that you have the puck?
- 31:42SPEAKER_04: Okay, it's coming my way, remember.
- 31:45SPEAKER_03: He does have the final the puck, the puck for the final whistle of that game.
- 31:52SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
- 31:53SPEAKER_03: Like when you heard that, so Joy and I before we did a little due diligence and watched the video.
- 31:58SPEAKER_03: And Joy, you can confirm this that we can see Jeff Brown picking up the puck in the corner and taking off with it.
- 32:05SPEAKER_03: So I need to go.
- 32:06SPEAKER_04: There wasn't more for you to go at that time, though.
- 32:07SPEAKER_02: No, because you guys were celebrating, yeah.
- 32:10SPEAKER_02: Face off what two seconds left.
- 32:12SPEAKER_02: In fact, there was uh controversy there a little bit because Pavel pretended to fall when he was going back.
- 32:18SPEAKER_04: Remember that?
- 32:18SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 32:19SPEAKER_03: Well, the one I don't know if the one before was a little bit uh you were didn't you know back for icing on the other one?
- 32:24SPEAKER_03: He might have like anyway.
- 32:28SPEAKER_04: We were watching some stuff on that.
- 32:30SPEAKER_04: You guys had a lot of travel during those playoffs.
- 32:36SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you guys bust everywhere between the we played the Islanders, we beat them, I think we beat them four straight, so we only had to bust there twice.
- 32:43SPEAKER_04: We played the uh Washington, we had one flight there, we played the Devils, and it was a bus.
- 32:48SPEAKER_04: So we didn't even have a flight really till we played you guys.
- 32:50SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 32:51SPEAKER_02: So you guys were so we had Calgary, our first one, which was our closest.
- 32:55SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but then we had Dallas, which was forever.
- 32:57SPEAKER_02: Yeah, then we had Toronto, which was across Canada, and then we had New York City, which I think until until was it this year or the year before, where it was uh coast to coast.
- 33:09SPEAKER_02: Who was that uh long ago?
- 33:11SPEAKER_02: Florida.
- 33:11SPEAKER_02: Who did Florida beat?
- 33:12SPEAKER_02: Edmonton might have been Florida Edmonton.
- 33:15SPEAKER_02: Edmonton, Florida, that's right.
- 33:16SPEAKER_02: I think that's longer than yeah, then anyways, it was uh it was a long way, but uh no, and it wore us down for sure.
- 33:23SPEAKER_02: And we and we went seven to Calgary, which you know, um, but we lost.
- 33:28SPEAKER_02: We we got the lead and we lost games three and four at home.
- 33:32SPEAKER_02: We had the lead in both games.
- 33:33SPEAKER_02: Pavel had a penalty shot.
- 33:35SPEAKER_02: Richter stopped him.
- 33:36SPEAKER_02: You remember, do you remember that penalty shot though?
- 33:39SPEAKER_04: Pavel had the same penalty shot in the all-star game that year.
- 33:41SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
- 33:42SPEAKER_04: And he scored on Richter that way.
- 33:43SPEAKER_04: No, Ricky remembered that move.
- 33:45SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
- 33:46SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
- 33:47SPEAKER_04: So when you guys we were up three-one, yeah, you're coming to New York City, and the parade's planned.
- 33:53SPEAKER_04: Oh, it's planned, yeah.
- 33:54SPEAKER_04: I mean, you get it's over.
- 33:55SPEAKER_04: They come out and they got a three-nothing lead in the first third.
- 33:58SPEAKER_04: 6'3, I think, would be 6'3, and then you just beat a 6'1 or 5-1 back in the room.
- 34:02SPEAKER_04: 4-1 at home, yeah.
- 34:04SPEAKER_02: 4-1 at home, and then like you know, whatever.
- 34:08SPEAKER_02: We lost, so I can't, whatever, but we we were good.
- 34:11SPEAKER_02: Like, we were a good you guys were old, like you guys had some old players on your channel.
- 34:17SPEAKER_02: A lot of old Oilers, yeah, exactly.
- 34:19SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, game seven, puck bounce.
- 34:23SPEAKER_02: We Nathan Lafayette is the host five minutes to go.
- 34:27SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, anyways, face off in the corner.
- 34:30SPEAKER_02: You know, Pavel and myself are kind of behind, I think it was Trevor, and uh you guys won the draw.
- 34:37SPEAKER_02: I went to the corner, there was no time left.
- 34:38SPEAKER_02: So I'm standing in the corner, and your bench is just clearing, and I'm like, what are you know?
- 34:44SPEAKER_02: So I'm leaning against obviously, you know, disappointed and crushed.
- 34:48SPEAKER_02: And I looked down and the puck sat sitting there in the snowy back then.
- 34:52SPEAKER_02: They didn't do the the shovel or whatever.
- 34:54SPEAKER_02: I remember seeing it there.
- 34:56SPEAKER_02: And I don't know what possessed me to pick it up, but I put it in my my my pants, I guess.
- 35:01SPEAKER_02: Threw it in my bag when I got in the locker room.
- 35:04SPEAKER_02: And then, like four days later, when I went to get all my belongings to fly back to St.
- 35:09SPEAKER_02: Louis, um the puck was still still sitting there.
- 35:13SPEAKER_02: So I gave it to my dad when I went back up to Ottawa in the in the summer at our cottage.
- 35:18SPEAKER_02: And he was like, I was at the time, no big deal.
- 35:22SPEAKER_02: He put it in a safety deposit box for like like I literally got it out the day after he died when I cleared out his stuff at the bank.
- 35:31SPEAKER_02: He had put it in a safety deposit box for like 30 years, which is crazy, right?
- 35:36SPEAKER_02: Anyways, so yeah, I had the puck.
- 35:38SPEAKER_03: So has no one ever approached or nobody ever said anything?
- 35:44SPEAKER_02: Smitty, your GM called me.
- 35:45SPEAKER_02: Oh, Neil did.
- 35:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Neil called me and he said uh I was I don't know what I was doing, my phone rings, I didn't know who it was in New York City, and I'm like, well, I better take that one.
- 35:54SPEAKER_02: And uh and it was Neil Smith, and he goes, I know you don't want to sell it and whatever, but if you ever do, I want that puck.
- 36:02SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, if I ever think about it, but right now it's just it's uh an afterthought of something that my kids will have, and maybe one day it'll be yeah, pretty special story.
- 36:12SPEAKER_03: That's that's a real cool thing.
- 36:14SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and then a few years later, so it's not the first time that you and Joey played each other in the finals because and then I got to be a part of the next one in '98 because you were with Washington.
- 36:25SPEAKER_03: And then and then looking back, because even though we swept you that series game two, which was we had the lead, your last right, and and ST can have missed that open.
- 36:35SPEAKER_03: I was on the ice watching that, and you shot it back.
- 36:37SPEAKER_03: You were on the ice for that, yeah.
- 36:39SPEAKER_03: Oh, because I shouldn't have been out there then.
- 36:41SPEAKER_03: Yeah, obviously, I was at the red line watching, you know.
- 36:46SPEAKER_03: And so when that happened, but you you you know were a big part of that team, but then you know, one of the big things that has taken your career is concussions.
- 36:54SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was my that was game two was my last game I ever played.
- 36:58SPEAKER_02: And uh I was throwing up between periods, and after the second period, I told the trainer I can't do this anymore.
- 37:04SPEAKER_02: I had to take my helmet off between shifts.
- 37:06SPEAKER_02: I mean, my head was just ready to explode.
- 37:09SPEAKER_02: And uh so after the second, I I pulled the shoot and I said, I can't do it.
- 37:14SPEAKER_02: Like I'm I'm literally puking in the bathroom uh between periods, and so uh didn't play games three and four at home.
- 37:22SPEAKER_02: And I always thought that I would get better and come back and play.
- 37:25SPEAKER_02: And I just I was I was two, three years kind of getting back to semi-normalcy, I guess.
- 37:32SPEAKER_02: And uh at that point I was 35, 36, and it just wasn't couldn't is it okay now?
- 37:38SPEAKER_04: Are you yeah, you know, not too bad.
- 37:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I still get headaches and whatever, but uh you know, memory sometimes, but yeah, well that could be the age too.
- 37:46SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, mama had the Alzheimer's, so yeah.
- 37:49SPEAKER_02: No, I uh I worry about that, but uh no, I've I've been able to live a normal life, yeah.
- 37:55SPEAKER_03: Well, they're a little bit different how they treated concussions, you know.
- 38:00SPEAKER_03: Back in our day, it was more or less put a band-aid, rub an aspirin on it, and be all right to the way that they're I guess you know, more more concerned these days to to the way the game is.
- 38:12SPEAKER_03: How do you look at like as far as because you're a guy that concussions sort of ended your career?
- 38:18SPEAKER_03: Just say, is it something that the way that they're the NHL's taking care of it, the way that they're you know focusing on you do you approve of what's going on these days for these?
- 38:29SPEAKER_02: I I do.
- 38:29SPEAKER_02: I mean, your head, your head is like everything else, pretty much heals, right?
- 38:34SPEAKER_02: Heads sometimes don't.
- 38:36SPEAKER_02: And so you gotta protect the head, especially at the young levels.
- 38:39SPEAKER_02: And I coached minor hockey for years, and anytime a child got his head hit, especially when you look at 99% of them are never gonna make money playing hockey and they're subjecting themselves to you know trauma to the head, that just it there's no place for it.
- 38:54SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think the NHL is doing a good job as far as you know protecting the head.
- 39:00SPEAKER_02: Um, I agree with you know, Holly and and uh just you have to protect the head.
- 39:07SPEAKER_02: But back in the day, you guys protected the head a little bit, you know, like you, you know, stuff like you know, Holly would have never scored 86 if it wasn't for Kelly Chase, right?
- 39:18SPEAKER_02: Tony Twist or you know, whatever.
- 39:21SPEAKER_04: So um the accountability, the 100%.
- 39:24SPEAKER_04: Chaser always told the greatest story.
- 39:26SPEAKER_04: He said he said the reason I didn't run Steve Eiserman, it wasn't because of Gary Bettman.
- 39:31SPEAKER_04: Because I don't care if I get fined, it was because Proby and Coaster would probably kill me for the next 10 games that we played.
- 39:38SPEAKER_04: And we so that was the same respect that we had for guys like Hully.
- 39:42SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that he ever really got hit.
- 39:45SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, he got whacked, but he never got everyone.
- 39:49SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so Nick Lidstrom, you said Wayne maybe got hit once in his career.
- 39:53SPEAKER_04: I mean, guys respected each other, yeah.
- 39:56SPEAKER_03: Well, it was also you guys policed it.
- 39:58SPEAKER_03: It was also too, right?
- 39:59SPEAKER_03: It's like, and and this is the one thing when you look back to our rivalry with Colorado.
- 40:05SPEAKER_03: The kings, Sakuk, Iserman, left on the throne, let us peons fight it out.
- 40:11SPEAKER_03: And what like the in the battle the way it was, it was it was it was always having that respect because it was also too to the anticipation of what would happen to you, right?
- 40:21SPEAKER_03: The anticipation of death is worse than death itself, right?
- 40:24SPEAKER_03: And death meaning they twist or chase or kosher probert coming after you.
- 40:28SPEAKER_03: But if you don't touch my guy, I won't touch your guy, and and I'll run this guy all day long, and they can run each other and do it.
- 40:35SPEAKER_03: There, there's this I don't I don't know how to say it, but that it's like a symphony when it works properly, well, and it doesn't go out of line.
- 40:44SPEAKER_03: And once that's the accountability these days, and I and it's not that there's less fighting than whatever, it's it's the way that guys respect each other, and that's what bothers me about today's game is the headshots, and they don't have respect for each other, and they don't have that guy that they're scared of.
- 41:02SPEAKER_03: What do they what are they scared of?
- 41:04SPEAKER_03: They're scared of their old lady who's gonna, you know, when they get fined and they're gonna lose money in their paycheck.
- 41:08SPEAKER_03: Seriously, like we all are Mac.
- 41:10SPEAKER_04: What?
- 41:11SPEAKER_03: Well, I know we are for different reasons, but but I'm just saying, like, there's no accountability to like what you're saying, you can get away with stuff.
- 41:19SPEAKER_02: So well, speaking of accountability, so uh we're in Detroit one night, and we spoke earlier about me knowing Stevie Y and you know, growing up together and stuff like that.
- 41:29SPEAKER_02: And he had just come back, I think it was knee surgery or something, and uh he was driving the net at the Joe, and we get tangled up, anyways.
- 41:38SPEAKER_02: We end up into the post, and you know, it's a grass sale, everybody's laying there, and I'm laying beside Stevie and the nets all the way back at the at the boards, and all of a sudden I look up and he's standing over me with his eyes rolling in the back of his head, ready to kill me.
- 41:58SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I haven't seen my life pass by me.
- 42:01SPEAKER_02: And I look over at Stevie and I go, Stevie, tell him we know each other.
- 42:04SPEAKER_02: We grow up together.
- 42:09SPEAKER_02: You know, obviously, I would never do anything like that to him.
- 42:12SPEAKER_02: We're not anybody, but we just got tangled up and went into that post.
- 42:15SPEAKER_02: And um, please tell me, tell him you know me.
- 42:21SPEAKER_03: That's a great place to take a break.
- 42:23SPEAKER_03: When we come back here on gloves off, Darren McCarty and Joe Koster, we're gonna have a last call.
- 42:29SPEAKER_03: We're gonna ask Brownie about some of the fights that maybe he remembers seeing close up.
- 42:35SPEAKER_03: So stick around.
- 42:36SPEAKER_03: We'll see you soon.
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- 43:34SPEAKER_03: All right, welcome back to Gloves Off.
- 43:36SPEAKER_03: Darren McCarty, a Joe Coach of the Enforcers Co.
- 43:39SPEAKER_03: Part of the Ice Guardian Network.
- 43:42SPEAKER_03: Yes, we are continuing our conversation with the one and only Jeff Brown.
- 43:46SPEAKER_03: Joey, you had a couple questions because uh we just started talking about Brownie uh coaching.
- 43:52SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we talked about coaches, players you played with, but some of the great players you coached.
- 43:56SPEAKER_04: There's some real good ones from St.
- 43:58SPEAKER_04: Louis here.
- 43:59SPEAKER_02: We had a we had a Of a run.
- 44:00SPEAKER_02: Uh the 96 birth year with uh Al McInnes's kid, Ryan.
- 44:06SPEAKER_02: That team was you know uh as good as there was in North America type thing, and then our 97s uh with the Kachuks, or not the Kachuk, Matthew and uh Luke Cunning, who was a first rounder, um, and then the 98s with Clayton and my son and Trent Frederick and Joel Wool, who's in uh where is he what uh Philly now.
- 44:27SPEAKER_02: Uh we had so yeah, that that group was uh it was a lot of fun to be at the rink when they were that young because all of our teams, we had three teams that were all top three in North America rankings and stuff.
- 44:38SPEAKER_02: So it was a lot of fun.
- 44:40SPEAKER_02: Uh and then that one year in uh 16, we had five first rounders, um, which was more first rounders than uh Toronto had that year.
- 44:49SPEAKER_02: Um actually, it might have been more first rounders than Canada had that year.
- 44:53SPEAKER_02: It was pretty, it was pretty cool.
- 44:55SPEAKER_02: Um and all those guys have done done really good.
- 44:59SPEAKER_02: So uh, and then Brady was a year late later, I guess he was a first rounder.
- 45:03SPEAKER_02: So it was it was a lot of fun to be around the rink with guys like Basil McCrae and Chaser was part of that, and and Big Walt when he was able to be there, and and Al.
- 45:12SPEAKER_02: And we just had a good group of guys, and it was fun to be in the alumni room talking hockey.
- 45:18SPEAKER_02: And um it was just uh it was a pretty good run.
- 45:22SPEAKER_02: We'll never see that again out of St.
- 45:23SPEAKER_02: Louis.
- 45:24SPEAKER_02: People think that we are, but it was just a it was a perfect storm.
- 45:27SPEAKER_04: Walt you said the alumni room.
- 45:29SPEAKER_04: I've been in your alumni room.
- 45:31SPEAKER_04: That's the best alumni room in the league by far.
- 45:34SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's all cool.
- 45:35SPEAKER_04: It's just going there, practicing the bar, the sauna, the hot tub, whatever you guys.
- 45:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're pretty spoiled in that in that way.
- 45:42SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's a it's a great place to to catch up, see the guys, and and stay uh stay current with everybody.
- 45:48SPEAKER_02: It's great.
- 45:49SPEAKER_03: Do you see some of this like when you're talking about these kids and now they're in their heyday and obviously, you know, winning championships or whatever.
- 45:58SPEAKER_03: Did you see this out of them?
- 46:01SPEAKER_03: Like the Kachuks, and and you mentioned Frederick and all these, like the success that they had.
- 46:06SPEAKER_03: Did you see it at a young age?
- 46:08SPEAKER_02: Well, so minor hockey has changed, right?
- 46:10SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, when I grew up, we'd barely leave Ottawa, right?
- 46:15SPEAKER_02: Now, I mean, I took a group of 98s over to Stockholm, I took them to St.
- 46:20SPEAKER_02: Petersburg, to Moscow.
- 46:23SPEAKER_02: Always were in Toronto, Detroit, like all the meccas.
- 46:27SPEAKER_02: So when you when you see all the top teams and you see all the top players, you know, you get yeah, you get a feel for, you know what, these guys are pretty good, you know.
- 46:37SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you just once you get to that elite level, you need a bounce, you need a break, you need to get drafted by the Comeback Nordiques, you know, like that type of thing.
- 46:49SPEAKER_02: You know, like you were saying on the break, get drafted by Detroit because they needed somebody to police, you know, Stevie Y.
- 46:56SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it's so much as a bit of the luck of the draw when you get to that area, but uh they they certainly had the ability to become NHLers in my mind.
- 47:07SPEAKER_02: Yes.
- 47:08SPEAKER_03: That's awesome when we talk about you know the the future and stuff like that, because some of the names you brought up are integral parts to the success of NHL teams right now.
- 47:18SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and a lot of times that's not hard.
- 47:22SPEAKER_03: Like, how many guys did you guys play with growing up that were way better?
- 47:27SPEAKER_03: This guy should have been this, should have been that, and you know, life hits them in the head, so it's always nice to see that you had a little like a little part of the some of the success, maybe culturally, like growing up in the in the perfect storm, and we're super jealous.
- 47:40SPEAKER_03: You mentioned about your alumni, you are the best alumni, and it's pretty weird.
- 47:44SPEAKER_03: We're jealous as shit in Detroit, you know, we ain't got shit.
- 47:50SPEAKER_03: I heard that, I agree.
- 47:51SPEAKER_03: No, I know, like to those like like for us too, it's what what was supposed to be or could have been, because you know, when when LCA was being built and it was only going to be a hockey, we had our own room and our own sauna and whatever.
- 48:07SPEAKER_03: And then now that it's basketball, the NBA refs took over our stuff, so we don't even skate down there or do anything like that.
- 48:14SPEAKER_03: So, I mean that we are we are we might have had your number back in the day, but you got our number now.
- 48:21SPEAKER_03: So I think we beat you one playoff season, I remember.
- 48:24SPEAKER_02: But anyways, okay.
- 48:25SPEAKER_02: What year was that?
- 48:28SPEAKER_02: Uh could have sworn we didn't.
- 48:31SPEAKER_02: No, I don't think you did.
- 48:32SPEAKER_02: Maybe before you guys, I don't know.
- 48:34SPEAKER_02: Early 90s.
- 48:36SPEAKER_02: Anyways, 80s.
- 48:37SPEAKER_02: We'll have to look.
- 48:38SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 48:39SPEAKER_02: Late 70s.
- 48:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 48:40SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 48:40SPEAKER_02: You guys are having a lot of success lately for sure.
- 48:43SPEAKER_02: Not lately.
- 48:45SPEAKER_03: So, so we're always, you know, here at gloves off and stuff like that, obviously.
- 48:49SPEAKER_03: I'm always interested, you know, in guys like yourself that you know uh understand if you're not if you're not getting the points on the power play and make making us score, you like you make it go around so guys like Joey and I make sure that you're able to do that.
- 49:05SPEAKER_03: But you've had to, I always say you guys like wouldn't mention you or Nick Lidstrom has some of the greatest front row seats to some of the some some fights back in the day.
- 49:16SPEAKER_03: Are there any that like stand out that you remember or you know, like thank god I'm not in that one?
- 49:24SPEAKER_03: Or a lot of them, a lot a lot of them, but you you see like um because a lot of the tough guys coming in because you guys get people don't really understand if they watch replays of like fight, go watch the star guys who are standing there, and it's not like you guys go hide, you guys are right there, like it's front row, like UFC or boxing match.
- 49:42SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 49:43SPEAKER_02: So I was 16, Sudbury.
- 49:45SPEAKER_02: Somebody hit our goalie.
- 49:47SPEAKER_02: What are you supposed to do?
- 49:48SPEAKER_02: You're supposed to fight him, right?
- 49:49SPEAKER_02: So I grabbed this guy, Curtis Collins, who I didn't know was a 20-year-old overage guy that was one of the toughest guys in the league the year before, and uh pulled my jersey over my head, and I literally had to sleep sitting up for like two weeks because of the welts on the top of my head.
- 50:03SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, I better work on my slap because I'm not gonna make it as a tough guy.
- 50:08SPEAKER_02: But um, no, that they they policed the game, and I a lot of my great friends, Jeff Chikrin, one of my best friends, Darren Kimball, good friend, you know, all these guys that I um grew up, Chaser, one of my best friends, you know, but to me, you and Twister were were the two guys that for me, of all the guys that I saw fight, like you guys could hurt somebody seriously.
- 50:38SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, I saw things that stand out to me, obviously Chaser and Twister fighting, not because it was a great fight, but just the fact that they were best friends and you know, Twister was living at Chaser's house and they went out for beers after and that kind of stuff.
- 50:57SPEAKER_02: So just the whole deal of it, and it was a legit fight.
- 51:00SPEAKER_02: It wasn't uh, you know.
- 51:01SPEAKER_02: Um, but the one that I remember you was in the at the joy uh Joe and uh Terry Carkner, really tough kid that um just squared off with you, and you guys were going, and he was going, and it was a great fight, and all of a sudden you caught him right on the nose and just dented his face, and it was bad.
- 51:25SPEAKER_02: It was really bad.
- 51:26SPEAKER_02: Like you could hear it explode.
- 51:28SPEAKER_02: But the worst part of it was back in the day in Quebec, we used to charter these twin propeller jobbies, like chita chita bang bang, and it was like horrible flights.
- 51:38SPEAKER_02: And he flew home and he should have never flown home.
- 51:41SPEAKER_02: The pressure in that guy's head from that fight, like he spent four days in the hospital after that just because he should have never flown.
- 51:50SPEAKER_02: We should have left him there.
- 51:51SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh, I'll never forget.
- 51:53SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was it was so so bad, but that's that obviously is one that I remember just because of the severity of of what happened.
- 52:03SPEAKER_02: But uh, but anyways, there's a lot of them and respect you guys immensely for what you do and and to be able to play too, you know, and and we talked about this before.
- 52:16SPEAKER_02: Uh him scoring like Stanley Cup game winner.
- 52:19SPEAKER_02: Well, no, but in junior scoring like two points a game in in Belle Vegas.
- 52:25SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's pretty incredible, you know.
- 52:27SPEAKER_02: And so a lot of room in junior.
- 52:29SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 52:30SPEAKER_03: Couldn't couldn't scare I was so slow, but I had a lot of room, you know, which was we were talking about before, but like that's a lot.
- 52:38SPEAKER_02: Killers' numbers, they were unbelievable in junior, and all like all you guys, you know.
- 52:43SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, pretty impressive.
- 52:45SPEAKER_03: I uh as we get winding up here on gloves off, and we thank you for joining us.
- 52:51SPEAKER_03: Um I I have a one question that I always like guys that you've been on the who are the top three guys that you've been on the ice with, we either played with or played against as far as talent-wise, that like people, you know, it's like for for me, the the one that blew me away the most was Mario Lemieux.
- 53:12SPEAKER_03: Like to watch Mario Lemieux on the ice at the size he was and not even look.
- 53:18SPEAKER_03: He looked like he was doing like the Michael Jackson moonwalk where he's like going forward but not really moving in space, but absolutely flying.
- 53:26SPEAKER_03: Like he was the most specific, like the spectacle.
- 53:31SPEAKER_03: Like, and I guess I'm biased because I got to be with Iserman and Fedorov and all the Russian five and all the Pavel Datsuk and Zetterberg and watch Holly shooting millions of pucks every day and stuff like that.
- 53:43SPEAKER_03: But that was to me, but was there anybody like that you played with or played against that you just like that people need to need to hear?
- 53:54SPEAKER_02: Well, just the just the regular ones.
- 53:56SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I was fortunate enough to play with those guys in Quebec City.
- 54:00SPEAKER_02: I was fortunate enough, you know, hear Holly.
- 54:03SPEAKER_02: Uh obviously I was on the ice, drafted the same year as Lemieux.
- 54:07SPEAKER_02: Uh so played against him whenever he was playing Gretzky, you know.
- 54:11SPEAKER_02: Uh I used to love when Gretzky's teams had come to town because the the none of them backchecked.
- 54:17SPEAKER_02: Like you'd give up, you know, you give up eight, but you'd have a chance to score five, and I'd have a chance as an offensive defenseman.
- 54:24SPEAKER_02: Nobody was back checking me, right?
- 54:26SPEAKER_02: So I could I could follow the play.
- 54:27SPEAKER_02: So I used to love playing again.
- 54:29SPEAKER_02: So it's but obviously Gretzky to me um and Lemieux are the are the are the two best ever for sure.
- 54:35SPEAKER_03: And then and they're different, right?
- 54:37SPEAKER_03: Like the way that they completely played the game differently, like more physically and cerebral, but like to this day that doesn't that doesn't stop that doesn't stop.
- 54:48SPEAKER_02: I actually one year at the I can't remember the year now, but at the Hall of Fame, I I played with all four guys, all four players that year that got inducted.
- 54:58SPEAKER_02: I think I was the only NHL there that played with all four.
- 55:01SPEAKER_02: Um it was uh I'm gonna forget now.
- 55:04SPEAKER_02: Otzie here, uh Joey Sakick, Matt Sunde, and Pavel Burry.
- 55:11SPEAKER_02: Well, so yeah, I've been very fortunate about guys that I played with.
- 55:16SPEAKER_02: So yeah, pretty cool.
- 55:17SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
- 55:18unknown: Yeah.
- 55:18SPEAKER_04: Well, is this it?
- 55:20SPEAKER_04: I think this is last call.
- 55:23SPEAKER_04: Last call.
- 55:23SPEAKER_03: I think we have to as for last call, about what?
- 55:26SPEAKER_03: So post-retirement, uh, not coaching, not doing it.
- 55:30SPEAKER_02: Retired a couple years ago from scout from coaching, much like uh killer uh was talking about.
- 55:36SPEAKER_02: Um, just you know, if the right thing came, I would 100% I miss it a lot.
- 55:41SPEAKER_02: Um, but at the same time, really enjoy being a grandpa and and uh a dad to my kids.
- 55:48SPEAKER_03: So that's no, and that's all.
- 55:50SPEAKER_03: Like as as we sit here right now, just even reminisce about we're all great, we're all grampas here at the table.
- 55:57SPEAKER_03: So probably a good way to send us out.
- 56:00SPEAKER_03: Um, looks like it's last call for you guys.
- 56:04SPEAKER_03: Um, so thank you for sticking around.
- 56:06SPEAKER_03: Uh, this has been Gloves Off.
- 56:08SPEAKER_03: He's Joe Kosher.
- 56:10SPEAKER_03: I'm Darren McCarty.
- 56:11SPEAKER_03: Thank you to Jeff Brown for joining us.
- 56:13SPEAKER_03: This has been the Enforcers Code and Ice Guardian Network Production.
- 56:18SPEAKER_03: We'll see you next time.