August 12, 2025 • 39 mins
This is a special "best of" episode of Energy Line with Nate and JSB. Nate Thompson and Julie Stewart-Binks are joined by some of their best guests so far in the first season of the podcast. Hall of Famer Mark Messier talks about his company Game 7, his personal favorite Game 7 and how he got connected to Danny DeVito. Another Hall of Famer in Jeremy Roenick discusses getting inducted, his changes in his own life and why he knew Matthew Tkachuk was going to be great. Former Florida Panther and now podcaster Keith Yandle breaks down why his old teammate Aleksander Barkov is so elite and stories from playing days to now with Paul “Biz” Bissonnette. Former Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau breaks down the emotions watching Alex Ovechkin break the all-time goals record and details stories from coaching him.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeart podcasts.
Welcome on into the Energy Line with Nate and JSB.
I'm Julie Stewart Binks and seeing as it's the middle
of the summer, Nate Thompson is probably on the golf course.
(00:26):
I'm hopefully on a yacht in Saint Trope, so we
figured we'd take the time to highlight some incredible stories
from this season. Energy Line is a production of the
NHL and iHeart podcasts. We had some huge guests join
us on season one of Energy Line with Nate and JSB,
who have such interesting stories beyond the rink. We're going
(00:47):
to take a look back at some of the best
of the best. Thank you to all of our listeners
for sticking with us, and welcome to anyone listening for
the first time. We're glad to have you here, and
you're in for a treat today because you'll get to
hear from a pair of Hall of famers and of
course some Glue guys coming up. Hall of Famer Jeremy
(01:07):
Ronick joins us to discuss the Kachuck family legacy and
his own reclamation. But first six times Stanley Cup champion
Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier stop by to discuss
how he has taken the meaning of Game seven to
a whole new level. Hall of Famer, six times Stanley
Cup Champion, ESPN broadcaster, co founder of Game seven none
(01:28):
other than Mark Messier. Mark, thank you so much for
taking the time to join us here to talk some
hockey and beyond and got to give a shout out
to your company Game seven. Let's go to the fact
that you won a Stanley Cup in Game seven. The
whole philosophy of Game seven perfect for you. I love
that you did this. Can you tell us, like how
(01:50):
the whole conception of it is going right now? We
know that you had documentaries, you have like a whole
ideology behind it. What do you want people to really
take away from, like the whole concept of what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I think Game seven is well. We say to Game seven,
two greatest words in sports. Why is it that when
there's a Game seven on and you're not necessarily a
fan of the sport, or you're not necessarily a fan
of the team, but you're willing to go watch it
because of the consequence of the game. And I think
(02:26):
for me, when we had an opportunity to grab the
trademarks of Game seven. I thought that there was an opportunity,
or we thought there was an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
To build a brand around the ethos of what is
your Game seven moment in life?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Because even if you're not a sports fan, there's certain
times in your life that you're going to be faced
with a decision that's going to alter the trajectory.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Of your life, either for the good or for the bad.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
And you know, one of our partners, Danny DeVito, said,
you know his big Game seven moments when he went
in the auditioned for a taxi and he knew that
this was his opportunity. And they gave him the script
and he went in there in front of the casting
crew and he tore the script up and threw it back.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
At him and he goes, who wrote this shit?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And they all.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Started breaking out lap and they go, you're Louis to Palma.
And he got the part and it changes life. But
the night before that he was thinking about, this is
this is my opportunity. I got to figure out something
to do. And I think you know, in games, so
if you look at Game seven as a life altering,
you know, moment, not only in sport, but away from sport.
(03:33):
We can we can ask everybody what their Game seven
moment is and build an aspirational, inspirational brand around that
and help people and give them the people and give
our young boys and girls the tools to be able
to succeed in those pressurized moments when there was moments
come up to you in your life and you have
the skill set in order to not freeze, You're able
(03:55):
to breathe, You're able to You're able to use your
skill set that you've worked your whole life on to
have success because you have these tools that are so
important for success in those moments. We we feel that
the brand is going to be centered around that.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
We had to build a community, and to build a community.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
We did our five part docu series on Amazon Prime
called Game seven Uh and they're amazing. Connorshell, you know
from the Last Dance and thirty for thirty did them
for us. They're all incredibly compelling. And then from there
we started with the swag and just launched our NBA
(04:36):
merch on Amazon on the Game seven Shop, Game seven Store,
and it's just been a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
It's been a lot of fun building a.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Company from scratch, from a concept and bring it into reality.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
It's been it's been amazing.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Actually, we got to play together in that La charity game,
so I got to see Danny DeVito and be around
and be and be around you know, everybody. It was,
it was, it was incredible. How did you get into
partnership with Danny? How did that relationship come about?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, he's good friends with my partner, Isaac Shira, who's
a commercial real estate family in New York City. We
met through a charity years ago, years ago and became
very good friends. Two young guys came into Isaac's office
and asked him to invest in her company.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
He goes, what's your company?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And he goes, well, we owned Game seven, so I
and they had me on the cover of their pitch deck.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
So Isaac says, excuse me. So he came out and
phoned me. He goes, you know anything about these guys?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And I said no, I said, what do they want?
They go, they want me to invest in the company.
I go, well, if they owned the trademarks and all
the IP around what they say they have, don't invest.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Let's buy the company. So that's what we did. We
bought the company, and you to your point with.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Danny DeVito, Isaac was just casually talking about Game seven
because Danny's loves you know, he loves his sports, but
he's not necessarily a sportsman. And he goes, well, I
had my own Game seven moment, and that's when he
told us that story. Wow, and that kind of really
kind of triggered the thought that everybody's got a Game
(06:14):
seven moment. So that's how the whole Danny DeVito relationship.
And then he invested in the company and he's been
a big proponent out in LA and he's amazing, amazing guy.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Okay, Mark, I'm asking this as a fan and not
as a former player. What is your favorite Game seven?
I think I know which one it is?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Played in nine Game sevens, and that was we won
seven of them, lost too, and the two that we lost.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Still sting again. You know, we beat Philly in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Back in the eighties with the Edmonton the ninety four
Cup was just otherworldly on so many levels, the history,
the team, how we got there, you know, the final series,
I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
New Jersey, getting through New Jersey, you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Know, getting coming home to you know, hoisted Stanley Cup.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
In Game five of the finals and only.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Having to go all the way back to Vancouver and
getting your asses kicked in game six and then you know,
two days off and now we got to regroup and wow,
are we still cursed? I mean this it was just
so epic, the energy around it. I don't know if
I'll ever be involved in something that magical, that big
(07:36):
in some ways. I was at Game six last year
at Edmonton and it felt like that it was. It
was otherworldly in Edmonton in Game six last year, but
a Game seven. I have to say that Game seven
there was in ninety four is amazing.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Thanks Mark again, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
This was great.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Here's everybody, Hockey Hall of Famer Host of Snipes and
Stripes with Tim Peel none other than Jeremy Rodick and Jr.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Such a pleasure to have you here.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
You know, it is good to see you. It's good
to have you on you talk about your you know,
your Hall of Fame induction and you know, I mean,
I know Julie feels the same way. We were so
happy for you and it was thank you well overdue. Yeah,
you know, and I just want to ask you know
you got you get that call, and is there anything
like describe the feeling. Obviously you've talked about it a lot,
but describe the feeling, and is there anything like that
(08:35):
weekend that was really just a surprise to you that
jumped out.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It was an utter shock.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
I mean, I really pretty much put it out of
my out of my kind of my hopes.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And repertoire of things to look forward to.
Speaker 7 (08:48):
And you know, I said many times it was a
time of my life where I've pretty much like taken
my career and put it to the side and and
focused on my my life, my mentality, my morals, my values, you.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Know, my past history, my traumas, everything.
Speaker 7 (09:11):
And just I'm a true believer right now that whatever
kind of energy you put into the universe, you're going
to get back. And there's no question that that is
a true statement. And it's been it's been that way
for me for the last eighteen months. But it's like,
it's crazy, I have this this epiphany in my life
and the call of fame comes calling two months later,
(09:33):
It's like what I don't And then then things just
keep rolling on top of the next and everything just
keeps flowing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I mean, I'll tell you this is a crazy thing.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
I say this all the time, but it comes down
to where I would go to a restaurant and I'd
have to drive around for fifteen minutes to find a
parking spot. Now the parking spot in front door is
open for me. Every single time I go to a place,
the front parking spot is always open for me. It's
almost like God is telling me you're welcome, not you're welcome.
(10:04):
Is you're welcome, meaning you're welcome here. And there's a
lot of times where I didn't feel I was welcome.
I felt like I was shunned. I felt like I
was kind of ostracized, and I think I had I
think I have to take some responsibility in that, for sure,
maybe more of the responsibility. But I also was up
against some really bad actors that make a living off
(10:26):
of you know, negative negative press or negative mentalities, or jealousy,
or people that are just not good people just in general.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So now I just I don't think about it anymore.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
Just that and that Hall of Fame weekend, I couldn't
believe how crazy it was. I had ninety people that
showed up of my friends that came, which obviously through
my gratitude through another level, and on that one bad
thing happened.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Throughout the week, it was all smooth. And now I'm.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
Working on some things in my life that are really
exciting that if it comes of fruition, you know it's
going to it's it's it's going to be even make
things even greater.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we'll stay tuned, Jaer.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I love that perspective. I love I can feel the
energy coming from you right now and a lot of
the things that you've said. I can always tell people
that have done a lot of work right by the
verbs they use, the way they talk, and you can
tell that you've obviously done that. And I love hearing
what you said about kind of like, you know, working
(11:31):
with the energy of the universe and and it kind
of paying you back. And you mentioned an epiphany that
you had two months before the Hall of Fame. What
was that?
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (11:41):
It was it was a lot of things. It was
it was the way it was my mentality. It was
the way that I thought about myself. It was it
was almost kind of a narcissistic entitlement.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It was the I felt like everybody was against me
and it wasn't my fault.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
The way that I lived my personal life, my private life,
just not just not putting in the respect for other people,
respect for my health, respect for the game, respect for friends.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That is really need.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
And I think, I think our I think society is
losing a lot of that. And you know, I've kind
of opened my eyes to say, I don't want to
live like this anymore. I don't want to live waking
up looking over my shoulder. I don't want to live
feeling like I like that. There's just stress and uncontrollable.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Chaos in my in my heart, and I just stopped it.
I just you know, it's.
Speaker 7 (12:48):
It's becomes it really becomes a decision that you have
to make. And I think our world needs more people
to look in themselves in the mirror and say, I
have to be better. I have to be a better person.
I have to treat people better, I have to be
more understanding. I've to have more conversations, not only with
the other people, but with myself.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I've done that, and I do that every day,
and I wake up energize every day and I'm literally.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
At piece, at peace in my heart, and it's a
it's a it's a great way to live. And I
hope more people find that path, and if we do,
our world will be a much better place, because there's
too many crazy things going on in our world right
now that really, I think, you know, cause a lot
of unrest.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I'm going to get into two guys that are killer
instinct guys as the Kuchuk boys, and you know, and
you played with their dad. Did you did you see
this coming from both those boys if you're young.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
Because I know I know their dad as well as anybody,
and I watched their dad at the rink.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I listened to what he said. I listened to how.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
He fathered the boys were in the locker room. I
was one of the first to hold the boys when
they were born, right, so that I mean far back
we go. I watched them run around the locker room
shooting tape balls at us while we were getting dressed, right,
and it was just it was that mentality. But their
dad was always had their finger on them. Work, work, work,
(14:18):
respect the game. You know, this is how it's done,
This is how it's done. It's it's no surprise to
me that they that they have that passion for the game,
but they also have that respect for the game that
Walt instilled in them and their team guys, team guys,
and they will they will fight for their teammates, they
(14:39):
will fight for the game, they will fight to win,
and they don't apologize for it. And I think that's
that's very about that Florida Panthers team changed the minute
that Matthew could Chuck came from Calgary. The whole team
changed that They everybody kind of got the mentality of
a Matthew could Chuck and they all play the same way.
(14:59):
Even even Sasha Barkoff is running around, hitting, getting in
the face of people, being aggressive, doing things that are
uncomfortable and not natural for Sasha Barka. Look at Sam Bennett,
he does it. For Hagey does it. You know, Ex
Black does it. It is a twenty person team united
mentality that doesn't go away, and it's exhausting to play against.
(15:22):
And that's that's that's a culture. You don't win without
a culture. And that's why Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs
in thirteen years.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
They don't have a culture.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
That's why Toronto has only won two rounds since I
knocked them ount in two thousand and four.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All Right, all right, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It's true I remember that no culture. No culture. Sorry,
they don't have it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
They have a culture, it's just not a good one.
Scared of their own shadow is the culture at least?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I just think you need to care more. You know,
you need to care more, period, Just care more, like,
really care more.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Well, you said it, Jerry, it's it's the top guys,
and it's it's playoff hockey. You have to get out
yourself to win games. And you know you can't do
the same things you do in the regular season. You
said it, No, you can't.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
It's the same Listen, would they say the definition of
his insanity is doing the same things over and over
again expecting a different result. It doesn't to watch Austin Matthews.
I love Austin Matthews. He's a friend and my son's
very good friends with him. But to sit in front
(16:29):
of the media and have to make an answer answer
a question about the fans leaving and him saying, well,
we didn't give him anything.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
To get excited about.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
If that doesn't, if that doesn't rattle your brain as
a player, you're in the wrong.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Profession, all right, And congratulations again on the hal ofday.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Thanks you guys, You guys, are awesome. Good luck on everything.
You guys do. Love it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That was Hall of Famers Jeremy Ronick and Mark Messier,
two incredible athletes and people who have done so much
for others outside of the rink in their own ways.
We're truly grateful that they stopped on Buy Now. Coming up,
former NHL r keith Yandel and former NHL head coach
Bruce Boudreau joined us, respectively to shut some insight into
a player who broke a record, one who's breaking records,
(17:20):
and another who is known for breaking ratings. We'll explain
after this quick break on Energy Line with Nayton JSB.
Welcome back to Energy Line with Nate and JSB. Both
Nate and I had the privilege of getting to know
NHL head coach Bruce Boudreau when he coached in Anaheim.
(17:42):
But before he took the Ducks to the Western Conference Final,
he was coaching one of the greatest players in the
world with the Washington Capitals. Yep, you guessed it, Alexander Ovechkin.
Bruce was on the radio call this season to watch
the Grade eight make history and describes what it was
like to witness history from his perspective. Of knowing the
league's greatest goals score. But before we get to Gabby's
(18:05):
great storytelling, we had former nhlor and media personality keith
Yandle on the show to discuss everything from who on
the Florida Panthers is one of the best players in
the league and why while also taking us inside the
dressing room when he played in Arizona shedding some light
on a current friendship that got off to a somewhat
rocky start. Former NHL are spent sixteen years in the
(18:27):
show and played on a team, the Philadelphia Flyers with
our own Nate Thompson. This is keith Yandel joining the show.
Thank you so much for taking the time. We know
that you are podcasting, broadcasting, doing everything there is under
the side.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I want to talk about Sasha Barkoff and you got
to play with himans and you and I always hear
you talk about and rave about him, and I feel
the same way. I mean, he's really the only guy
I think that has somewhat shut down Connor McDavid, right,
like he's the only guy he's beat him, you know.
So talk about Sasha Barkoff and what you saw when
you play with him, when he was young.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
It was I remember my first practice with him and
I skated over to Nick Bukestad and I was like,
is this guy this good? Like because I didn't really
know a ton about him, Like it was, you know,
he was still young, he was raw, like he kind
of had he still had that baby face like where
he was a little like fat around the face. But
I'm like, is this guy really that good? He's one
(19:22):
of those you cannot give him a bad pass, whether
it's two feet in the air behind him, He'll pick
it off out of the air, full stride, make a
good play, never puts a player in a bad position,
whether it's a pass or you know, anything Like throughout
a game, he's never he's never endangering his teammates. But
I think just the thing that impressed me the most
(19:43):
is like he could easily, and I mean this wholeheartedly,
he could easily score sixty goals a year, like easily,
but he is so unselfish he wants You never see
him shoot at an empty net, like he's always looking
to pass it to somebody else on the power play.
Like he could be a guy that you know he
could set up in the one timer spot and shoot.
But he's like, you know what, put me at you
need me at the bumper, put me there, If you
(20:05):
need me in front of the net, put me there.
Just zero ego. But the probably the biggest thing that
I noticed besides like his skill was and I think
Yogur had a lot to do with it. Like they
were at the rink all day every day, those two
and it got to the point where, you know, Barkie
was getting hurt and like the GM at the time
had to like tell him, like, hey, you need to
(20:26):
relax with you know, hanging with yogs like he might be.
You know, he's one of you know, one of a million,
Like not many guys can do it like he can.
So he kind of had to you know, tail off
a little bit with that stuff. But just at any
point in time, he was working on something, whether it
was you know, shooting a puck or shooting he'd get
one of those big medicine balls at the hotel, he'd
(20:47):
shoot it against the wall. He was always stick handling
with something, just like a true craftsman of his sport
where he just wants to get better every day. And
it's it's not one of those things like I need
to score more goals. I need to you know, have
more Assistan. It's like, what can I do in the
D zone with two minutes left to win ourselves a game?
(21:08):
And I say that I went to the game last
night and just the little plays and obviously they didn't
win last night, but just the little plays that he makes.
He everything he does is just so unselfish, like he
could he could get the puck and wheel and go,
but he'll He'll drag two guys in and then make
a little baby backhand sauce to a guy of ver
haggy flying up the ice. So I think it's just
(21:28):
everything that he does is so unselfish. And he's also
the only guy I've ever seen or played with that
if he wanted to go back and play D, he
could play D like he skates backwards amazing. Most forwards
and tom or you know this. Most forwards can't pivot
left or right. It's either one or the other.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Nope, he is.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
I'm telling I told him, I go, when you retire,
you should play another five years. That is as a defenseman.
He would be unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I want to ask him, we go back to the
barstool stuff and now like you're working with Biz, you
you know, you know now you're you know, you're inmates
with him. Tell us some stories like where there was
you know, pranks in the locker room, you know the
relationship you guys built back then, and just tell us,
tell us something that we can we can hear about that.
Speaker 9 (22:17):
So Biz, oh god.
Speaker 8 (22:19):
Where does it even start with this kid? He's like,
I remember when he got when we picked him up
on waivers. I called Wit because I saw that he
was in Pittsburgh. And you know that was before Bizz
didn't have Twitter. No one knew who he was. So
I called Wit and I'm like, how is Biz? He
was like, I'm telling you right now, you're gonna fucking
hate him for the first like five days he goes.
(22:41):
Then he'll be your best friend. So I'm like, okay,
like whatever, that's kind of weird to say. But then
he comes in and like Shane Done, who is like
the ultimate pros pro Like never I never saw him
on the table at all, like unless the trainers like
grabbing him, like hey dude, get on the trainer, get
on the table, your legs hanging on by a thread,
Like he wasn't going on. So one of Biz's first
(23:03):
a Donor had something going on. He was on the
trainer's table and Biz walks in and he's like, O
a fuk Donor on the table again. And Donors, you know,
probably at that time, twelve years in the league, and
I'm like, oh my god, no, no, no, no no.
So he's like, okay, So Donor, just being stubborn, just
jumps up off the table and then goes and gets
(23:23):
ready in practice, and I'm like, okay. So I was
like I got to kind of show this guy, like
you can't really say stuff to the captain like that
in practice. So we're doing a drill, I step up,
hit him. We get into like a cross checking competition.
He just sheds his gloves in practice. This is I
think it was the first day. Sheds his gloves and
I'm like with my stick, I'm like, hey, dude, you
(23:45):
hit me. I'm hitting you over the head with this,
Like there's no cameras here, no one knows, Like I
am breaking my stick over your head. When then he
picks up his gloves and like and then the best
part is is my ride home. I used to get
rides to the rink. I hate driving my ride home.
Didn't left without me by accident. I think it was
Derek Morris. So I'm like, hey, biz, I need to
(24:05):
ride home. So with that day, like me and him
in the car for forty minutes and that's when like
we literally hit it off that day and we've been
boys since.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh my god, what a great story.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
There Oat Hangar in his back seat with all these
affliction shirts.
Speaker 9 (24:19):
And I'm like, du what are you.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
I'm like, you got to get a place. He's like, hey,
can I live with you? I'm like, no, absolutely not.
I was like I got a family. You know, I
didn't have kids yet, but I had, I had my girlfriend. Look,
I'm like, dude, you ain't living with me, Like, go
find your own place. He used to live across the
place from across the street from some sushi place, and
(24:44):
if he ran out of toilet paper, he'd just go
over to the place instead of going to buy.
Speaker 9 (24:48):
More Yan's Julie.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Though, Yan's like playing with Yan's and Philly like he's
a he is a glue guy when it comes to
like getting team dinners or any kind of events together.
And I'm pretty sure it was your idea, Yan's. We
had this, we had this team drip dinner. We called
it in Philly. It was like one of the drip drip.
It was one of the first first I think games
on the road we had. And so we go on
(25:13):
the road and everyone goes shopping, and everyone goes gets
like the most drippiest outfit. So guys are getting like.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
Track suits. I mean, James Van.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Riemsdykey, I mean, I'll let you tell the rest of
the story of brands, but like it was unbelievable dinner.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Just yeah, So JV we were it was in Washington.
We had the day. We're going shopping and like, you know,
there's regular stores around Washington, like you could go into
a you know, Zara, you know, a place that's not
going to cost you a million bucks. And JVR is like,
I'm doing this right. So he goes into Gucci Louis Vatan,
(25:49):
who up spelling, spending like seven thousand dollars in his
outfit that he wore one time. And he came on
chick Lits the other day and I'm like, I'm like, dude,
come on the episode with your outfit on. He's like,
I don't even know who that is. Okay, you spent
seven grand something and they never wore like he literally
never wore it again. I'd wear it once a week
(26:10):
just out of spite.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Wow, he doesn't seem like the type of guy that
would do that.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
No, oh yeah, he spends it. Remember the looks we
got walking into that restaurant, like you know, like Georgetown
and Washington, like it's kind of a prim and proper
and we walk in we got gold chains hanging out
like it was outstanding.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
It's like steam dinner in a way, Like wait, what
was the outfit? Like, if you can just like describe it,
it was.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Like a velor Gucci track suit with like you know,
just all the g's all over it, like shiny blue
with like the stitching down the pant and then he
had like some crazy hat on. And but watching him
shopping was one of the most special things I've ever seen.
It's like taking stuff, throwing it on the ground. The
lady's like what is going on here? And we're like sorry.
(26:58):
And it was during like COVID too, so we had
like the chin diaper on and he's talking like the
guys out of his mind. You got to get him on.
He's so funny.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh yeah, he's great. Oh man, love those stories. We
could talk to you all day about, you know, stories
in the past. And I appreciate the what feels like
a very happy Gilmore moment between you and Biz. Just
like when you guys find practice of just thinking about that.
I'm like, I love this kind of ratchet real moment.
Thanks so much for everything, and really appreciate everything you do,
(27:32):
broadcasting wise and kind of you know, changing the game,
as you mentioned, just making things more accessible, more real,
getting guys to open up. I mean it helps all
of us just enjoy the game more. So, keep up
the great work.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
Thank you. You guys too, unreal. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Former NHL coach now media savant Bruce BuJo, who also
coached Anaheim Ducks when Nate played on them and I
covered and he has so many ties to what's going
on in the media today. Bruce, thank you so much
for joining us here on the Energy Line.
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Hey, it's my pleasure. It's always great to see you guys.
I haven't seen Nate for a while. Julie, it's always
good talking to you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Well, we got to ask you first and foremost. You
told us right before we came on you've been doing
a lot of media about, of course, Alexander Ovashkin breaking
Wayne Gretzky's all time scoring record. I saw that you
said on TSN that when it happened, it just was
really emotional for you, and like you actually did you
actually cried?
Speaker 9 (28:37):
Yeah, like you know what. I was crying, and Alan
May was wiping tears. Everybody, even Brent Johnson was doing
the same thing, because I mean, if you've done a
lot of Caps TV and those guys do it every day,
I'm just sporadic at it. But you follow this journey
(28:57):
that's gone on all year, like I mean every day,
and to finally see to for me to see that,
it seemed like the pressure was the balloon a burst
and when he dove on the ice and it was over,
and I thought the A, how great for him. But
b it finally dawned on me how big a deal
this was. Like I mean, if you coach people like
(29:20):
in Nate or why you play with the guys, you
don't think of it because they're your guys, right, They're
just the guys. But when you sit back and you
see the enormity of what he did in the sports world, boy,
it still freaks me out A little bit. A day
later on how big a thing this is?
Speaker 5 (29:38):
I was watching Bruce and like, I had goosebumps because
I watched Gretzky's I watched when Gretzky broke Hall's record
too on TV. So it was, it was it was
nostalgic for me. But I want to go back to
when you were coaching him in Washington you had for
four full seasons. Was there were there any like memories
that really jump out at you when you were coaching ov.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (29:57):
Yeah, Like I mean there's the moments a like when
him and Sid both got a hat trick and same
game when in the PLAYOFFSS, the moments where Alex was
you know, the one time he got twenty five stitches
on the inside of his leg and and he said,
I want to play and he went out and got
the four points and you know a couple of goals
(30:19):
and the minutes when and you when you play against him,
I mean, and you've played against him, how big and
strong he is? That like what kind of a like
a manchild he was? I mean, but there's all these moments,
like they come flooding back. There's the moments when you're
phoning for curfew and he's not around and you're trying
(30:41):
to find him. There there's phony when he's a little
late for a meeting. But like I mean, these these
things are few and far between. On the goals that
he scored, and the way he beat defenceman, and and
and his his raw raw in the dressing room, all
of these things come flooding back. When he did that
(31:02):
dive that was so perfect a dive. It was spontaneous,
it was not thought of. I mean, he talks so
much better now than he did what twenty years ago.
Like I mean, he's a pure captain, whereas he was
a captain through leadership on the ice when I was
with him and when we made him captain. Proud to
(31:24):
say that George and I made him the captain. And
so I mean, all of these things come flooding back.
And the journey that he's been on, it's been incredible.
And when you think about the numbers and you think that, Okay,
if somebody wants to beat him, they got to go
forty goals. If Dryside wants to beat him, he's got
(31:45):
to go, like forty goals for thirteen straight seasons or
fifty goals for the next ten seasons. I mean, how
tough is that. Nobody's done it, So it seems that
that record will stand my test of time. Anyway, I
don't know if it will, but it does seem like
it's going to be a tough one to be broken.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Great, and I'm sure it just felt so great for
you to see that from a guy that you've coached.
And he had that pure elation as you mentioned when
he slid on the ice, like he's done so much,
but you could just feel it. I think everyone could
feel it, like the joy for the pure joy, like
as if he was a kid and he'd done something great,
Like it was just this wonderful emotion. And you talk
(32:25):
about the dressing room, and obviously we don't know what
Ovi's like off the ice or what it was like
to coach him, So maybe what would be something that
would kind of surprise people about what kind of guy
he was like to coach in terms of like if
there any thin positives, negatives, whatever, anything difficult, what was
he like.
Speaker 9 (32:45):
Well, everybody's got a couple negatives, but this is not
the time to go into that. But the one positive
is he always wanted to learn. He was the first
one in my room all the time is saying, show
me video, show me video. How was last night's game?
How was this? And I pulled him in and show
me you try to like at the same time, you
(33:08):
didn't do it for a long time. If you did
it for five minutes, that was good that he saw.
He saw the stuff that he wanted to see because
there was no laptops on the bench at this time
when I had him, So, I mean, but he was
always interested in how we could be better, and you know,
and like his practice on ice when he was on
(33:31):
was really great. Like I mean, he would work hard
and I'd come up to him and I'd say, Alex,
I really need you to run the show today, Like
you got to show these guys how hard you have
to work to get them going. And they would follow them.
They would, they would they would do all do that,
And I mean he was really approachable. He wanted to learn.
I mean, he was still relatively young, twenty three to
(33:54):
twenty six or twenty two to twenty seven. I had
him and you know, so I mean the whole English
language and everything. But he wanted to be the captain
and he wanted to learn how to be the captain.
It was. It was very interesting stuff every day. And
like even when if we had a video session and
and Nate would know, like we'd if we were gonna
(34:15):
if you're going to be the star of the video,
it's not a good thing, you know. And but it's
so I'd pull him in and I'd say, Okay, Alex,
you know what you were minus four last night. I'm
going to be showing a lot of these clips here.
And he'd say, okay, Coach, go do it, go do it.
You got to do it. But I always wanted to
give him the respect to show him first and tell
(34:36):
him what was coming, rather than just to surprise him
and embarrass him. Uh. And he didn't like he never
wanted to be embarrassed. So I'd always just sort of
take him aside and let him know what was coming,
and he'd accept it and he'd he'd go about his
business and uh, and he'd learned from it, and he
especially on those certain days and then that practice he
(34:56):
was he was u practicing hard, or he's finishing checks,
he's hitting showing the guys that he was going to
try to get better because of the mistakes he had made.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
I that's two parts question here. I guess when did
you start to see Ov kind of step into that
captain role where he wanted to be the guy? And
then second question I guess is when you were coaching him,
especially in the beginning, did you ever think that he
would break Wayne Gretzky's record.
Speaker 9 (35:22):
So the first question on when he like, I mean,
he was a captain on the ice and through effort
at the beginning, he didn't really want to you know, hey,
I'm organizing this meeting. Let's do this with these guys.
And that was more of a Mike Knubal took care
of all the off ice stuff. Alex was one more
of a raw Rock captain at that point in time.
(35:44):
But if you saw the like when he did with
the Marc Andre Fleury thing and even the way he
was talking last game, he really grew and understood the
role of what he does now understands what that complete
role is. But it was more of a get on
my back, boy, I'll show you what's going on, and
(36:06):
I'll show you how to play, and I'll work extra
hard and show you you better not quit on me.
And because he could be vocal in the room like
you mean, he wasn't always peaches and cream. If he
was mad at he would get up there and he
would he would say things. But I could see that
growth into him as the captain. And by the way,
(36:27):
we made him captain because Pittsburgh had just made Sydney
the captain, I mean six months before. So I mean
we figured, you know, the young guys were being captains now,
and that it was Alex's team. For that we knew
for the next fifteen to twenty years it was his team.
He had to be the captain, and so it was
an easy choice for us to make him captain. And
(36:50):
to your second part was what was the question?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
I forgot it now when did you When did you
know that or did you think that he would break
Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record?
Speaker 9 (37:00):
You know what, never, I don't think I was thinking
back today because I got asked that question earlier. Is
I don't think we ever even thought of it. We
never contemplated that, Like I mean, even when he scored
sixty five goals in his first complete season with me,
we didn't say, well, he's going to bake break Gretzky's record.
Nobody thought that that was a catchable record. I mean,
(37:23):
and if Wayne Gretzky had the record, who's going to
and it was scoring who we can't even contemplate beating
that thing, right, So, I mean, it never came up
in conversation or the next year when he got fifty
five or the next year at fifty plus. It was
always like, I mean, just boy, is he a great
(37:44):
goal scorer right now? But we never thought in the
terms that in the end whatever fifteen years later, that
he would be breaking that record.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Bruce, thank you so much for joining us here on
the show to talk about all these great memories and
of course your memories with Alex Ovechkin and him making history.
We appreciate it, and good luck with the rest of
your media and coaching futures.
Speaker 9 (38:08):
Well thanks, Judlie and Nate. Thanks so much. It's two
of my favorite people. And hope you guys continue the
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
We hope you enjoyed our first season best of and
trust me, we had some incredible interviews this season with
some of the biggest names in the game. We could
do like five best of episodes and that would buy
us some more vacation time. But we are not doing
that because guess what hockey season is upon us. We
will be back, back, back, back baby every week once
(38:41):
training camps open up, and diving into every aspect of
what to expect for the upcoming season. Thank you all
for listening to episode thirty three of The Energy Line
with Nate and Jsbe. Energy Line is a production of
the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. Please subscribe to the show
on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or
listen on the iHeartRadio app. It means a lot to
(39:02):
us if you feel like giving up five star review
and writing a nice review is icing on the cake
and it also helps our jobs. I'm Julie shuret Binks
and we can't wait to have Energy Line reunited for
a new episode next week. Energy Line is the production
of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(39:26):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Energy Line is a production of the NHL and iHeart podcasts.
Welcome on into the Energy Line with Nate and JSB.
I'm Julie Stewart Binks and seeing as it's the middle
of the summer, Nate Thompson is probably on the golf course.
(00:26):
I'm hopefully on a yacht in Saint Trope, so we
figured we'd take the time to highlight some incredible stories
from this season. Energy Line is a production of the
NHL and iHeart podcasts. We had some huge guests join
us on season one of Energy Line with Nate and JSB,
who have such interesting stories beyond the rink. We're going
(00:47):
to take a look back at some of the best
of the best. Thank you to all of our listeners
for sticking with us, and welcome to anyone listening for
the first time. We're glad to have you here, and
you're in for a treat today because you'll get to
hear from a pair of Hall of famers and of
course some Glue guys coming up. Hall of Famer Jeremy
(01:07):
Ronick joins us to discuss the Kachuck family legacy and
his own reclamation. But first six times Stanley Cup champion
Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier stop by to discuss
how he has taken the meaning of Game seven to
a whole new level. Hall of Famer, six times Stanley
Cup Champion, ESPN broadcaster, co founder of Game seven none
(01:28):
other than Mark Messier. Mark, thank you so much for
taking the time to join us here to talk some
hockey and beyond and got to give a shout out
to your company Game seven. Let's go to the fact
that you won a Stanley Cup in Game seven. The
whole philosophy of Game seven perfect for you. I love
that you did this. Can you tell us, like how
(01:50):
the whole conception of it is going right now? We
know that you had documentaries, you have like a whole
ideology behind it. What do you want people to really
take away from, like the whole concept of what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I think Game seven is well. We say to Game seven,
two greatest words in sports. Why is it that when
there's a Game seven on and you're not necessarily a
fan of the sport, or you're not necessarily a fan
of the team, but you're willing to go watch it
because of the consequence of the game. And I think
(02:26):
for me, when we had an opportunity to grab the
trademarks of Game seven. I thought that there was an opportunity,
or we thought there was an opportunity.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
To build a brand around the ethos of what is
your Game seven moment in life?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Because even if you're not a sports fan, there's certain
times in your life that you're going to be faced
with a decision that's going to alter the trajectory.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Of your life, either for the good or for the bad.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
And you know, one of our partners, Danny DeVito, said,
you know his big Game seven moments when he went
in the auditioned for a taxi and he knew that
this was his opportunity. And they gave him the script
and he went in there in front of the casting
crew and he tore the script up and threw it back.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
At him and he goes, who wrote this shit?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And they all.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Started breaking out lap and they go, you're Louis to Palma.
And he got the part and it changes life. But
the night before that he was thinking about, this is
this is my opportunity. I got to figure out something
to do. And I think you know, in games, so
if you look at Game seven as a life altering,
you know, moment, not only in sport, but away from sport.
(03:33):
We can we can ask everybody what their Game seven
moment is and build an aspirational, inspirational brand around that
and help people and give them the people and give
our young boys and girls the tools to be able
to succeed in those pressurized moments when there was moments
come up to you in your life and you have
the skill set in order to not freeze, You're able
(03:55):
to breathe, You're able to You're able to use your
skill set that you've worked your whole life on to
have success because you have these tools that are so
important for success in those moments. We we feel that
the brand is going to be centered around that.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
We had to build a community, and to build a community.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
We did our five part docu series on Amazon Prime
called Game seven Uh and they're amazing. Connorshell, you know
from the Last Dance and thirty for thirty did them
for us. They're all incredibly compelling. And then from there
we started with the swag and just launched our NBA
(04:36):
merch on Amazon on the Game seven Shop, Game seven Store,
and it's just been a lot of fun.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
It's been a lot of fun building a.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Company from scratch, from a concept and bring it into reality.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
It's been it's been amazing.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Actually, we got to play together in that La charity game,
so I got to see Danny DeVito and be around
and be and be around you know, everybody. It was,
it was, it was incredible. How did you get into
partnership with Danny? How did that relationship come about?
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, he's good friends with my partner, Isaac Shira, who's
a commercial real estate family in New York City. We
met through a charity years ago, years ago and became
very good friends. Two young guys came into Isaac's office
and asked him to invest in her company.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
He goes, what's your company?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And he goes, well, we owned Game seven, so I
and they had me on the cover of their pitch deck.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
So Isaac says, excuse me. So he came out and
phoned me. He goes, you know anything about these guys?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And I said no, I said, what do they want?
They go, they want me to invest in the company.
I go, well, if they owned the trademarks and all
the IP around what they say they have, don't invest.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Let's buy the company. So that's what we did. We
bought the company, and you to your point with.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Danny DeVito, Isaac was just casually talking about Game seven
because Danny's loves you know, he loves his sports, but
he's not necessarily a sportsman. And he goes, well, I
had my own Game seven moment, and that's when he
told us that story. Wow, and that kind of really
kind of triggered the thought that everybody's got a Game
(06:14):
seven moment. So that's how the whole Danny DeVito relationship.
And then he invested in the company and he's been
a big proponent out in LA and he's amazing, amazing guy.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Okay, Mark, I'm asking this as a fan and not
as a former player. What is your favorite Game seven?
I think I know which one it is?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Played in nine Game sevens, and that was we won
seven of them, lost too, and the two that we lost.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Still sting again. You know, we beat Philly in Game seven.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Back in the eighties with the Edmonton the ninety four
Cup was just otherworldly on so many levels, the history,
the team, how we got there, you know, the final series,
I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
New Jersey, getting through New Jersey, you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Know, getting coming home to you know, hoisted Stanley Cup.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
In Game five of the finals and only.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Having to go all the way back to Vancouver and
getting your asses kicked in game six and then you know,
two days off and now we got to regroup and wow,
are we still cursed? I mean this it was just
so epic, the energy around it. I don't know if
I'll ever be involved in something that magical, that big
(07:36):
in some ways. I was at Game six last year
at Edmonton and it felt like that it was. It
was otherworldly in Edmonton in Game six last year, but
a Game seven. I have to say that Game seven
there was in ninety four is amazing.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Thanks Mark again, really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
This was great.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
Here's everybody, Hockey Hall of Famer Host of Snipes and
Stripes with Tim Peel none other than Jeremy Rodick and Jr.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Such a pleasure to have you here.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
You know, it is good to see you. It's good
to have you on you talk about your you know,
your Hall of Fame induction and you know, I mean,
I know Julie feels the same way. We were so
happy for you and it was thank you well overdue. Yeah,
you know, and I just want to ask you know
you got you get that call, and is there anything
like describe the feeling. Obviously you've talked about it a lot,
but describe the feeling, and is there anything like that
(08:35):
weekend that was really just a surprise to you that
jumped out.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It was an utter shock.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
I mean, I really pretty much put it out of
my out of my kind of my hopes.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And repertoire of things to look forward to.
Speaker 7 (08:48):
And you know, I said many times it was a
time of my life where I've pretty much like taken
my career and put it to the side and and
focused on my my life, my mentality, my morals, my values, you.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Know, my past history, my traumas, everything.
Speaker 7 (09:11):
And just I'm a true believer right now that whatever
kind of energy you put into the universe, you're going
to get back. And there's no question that that is
a true statement. And it's been it's been that way
for me for the last eighteen months. But it's like,
it's crazy, I have this this epiphany in my life
and the call of fame comes calling two months later,
(09:33):
It's like what I don't And then then things just
keep rolling on top of the next and everything just
keeps flowing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I mean, I'll tell you this is a crazy thing.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
I say this all the time, but it comes down
to where I would go to a restaurant and I'd
have to drive around for fifteen minutes to find a
parking spot. Now the parking spot in front door is
open for me. Every single time I go to a place,
the front parking spot is always open for me. It's
almost like God is telling me you're welcome, not you're welcome.
(10:04):
Is you're welcome, meaning you're welcome here. And there's a
lot of times where I didn't feel I was welcome.
I felt like I was shunned. I felt like I
was kind of ostracized, and I think I had I
think I have to take some responsibility in that, for sure,
maybe more of the responsibility. But I also was up
against some really bad actors that make a living off
(10:26):
of you know, negative negative press or negative mentalities, or jealousy,
or people that are just not good people just in general.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
So now I just I don't think about it anymore.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
Just that and that Hall of Fame weekend, I couldn't
believe how crazy it was. I had ninety people that
showed up of my friends that came, which obviously through
my gratitude through another level, and on that one bad
thing happened.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Throughout the week, it was all smooth. And now I'm.
Speaker 7 (10:59):
Working on some things in my life that are really
exciting that if it comes of fruition, you know it's
going to it's it's it's going to be even make
things even greater.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we'll stay tuned, Jaer.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I love that perspective. I love I can feel the
energy coming from you right now and a lot of
the things that you've said. I can always tell people
that have done a lot of work right by the
verbs they use, the way they talk, and you can
tell that you've obviously done that. And I love hearing
what you said about kind of like, you know, working
(11:31):
with the energy of the universe and and it kind
of paying you back. And you mentioned an epiphany that
you had two months before the Hall of Fame. What
was that?
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (11:41):
It was it was a lot of things. It was
it was the way it was my mentality. It was
the way that I thought about myself. It was it
was almost kind of a narcissistic entitlement.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It was the I felt like everybody was against me
and it wasn't my fault.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
The way that I lived my personal life, my private life,
just not just not putting in the respect for other people,
respect for my health, respect for the game, respect for friends.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That is really need.
Speaker 7 (12:20):
And I think, I think our I think society is
losing a lot of that. And you know, I've kind
of opened my eyes to say, I don't want to
live like this anymore. I don't want to live waking
up looking over my shoulder. I don't want to live
feeling like I like that. There's just stress and uncontrollable.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Chaos in my in my heart, and I just stopped it.
I just you know, it's.
Speaker 7 (12:48):
It's becomes it really becomes a decision that you have
to make. And I think our world needs more people
to look in themselves in the mirror and say, I
have to be better. I have to be a better person.
I have to treat people better, I have to be
more understanding. I've to have more conversations, not only with
the other people, but with myself.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I've done that, and I do that every day,
and I wake up energize every day and I'm literally.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
At piece, at peace in my heart, and it's a
it's a it's a great way to live. And I
hope more people find that path, and if we do,
our world will be a much better place, because there's
too many crazy things going on in our world right
now that really, I think, you know, cause a lot
of unrest.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I'm going to get into two guys that are killer
instinct guys as the Kuchuk boys, and you know, and
you played with their dad. Did you did you see
this coming from both those boys if you're young.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
Because I know I know their dad as well as anybody,
and I watched their dad at the rink.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I listened to what he said. I listened to how.
Speaker 7 (13:55):
He fathered the boys were in the locker room. I
was one of the first to hold the boys when
they were born, right, so that I mean far back
we go. I watched them run around the locker room
shooting tape balls at us while we were getting dressed, right,
and it was just it was that mentality. But their
dad was always had their finger on them. Work, work, work,
(14:18):
respect the game. You know, this is how it's done,
This is how it's done. It's it's no surprise to
me that they that they have that passion for the game,
but they also have that respect for the game that
Walt instilled in them and their team guys, team guys,
and they will they will fight for their teammates, they
(14:39):
will fight for the game, they will fight to win,
and they don't apologize for it. And I think that's
that's very about that Florida Panthers team changed the minute
that Matthew could Chuck came from Calgary. The whole team
changed that They everybody kind of got the mentality of
a Matthew could Chuck and they all play the same way.
(14:59):
Even even Sasha Barkoff is running around, hitting, getting in
the face of people, being aggressive, doing things that are
uncomfortable and not natural for Sasha Barka. Look at Sam Bennett,
he does it. For Hagey does it. You know, Ex
Black does it. It is a twenty person team united
mentality that doesn't go away, and it's exhausting to play against.
(15:22):
And that's that's that's a culture. You don't win without
a culture. And that's why Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs
in thirteen years.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
They don't have a culture.
Speaker 7 (15:30):
That's why Toronto has only won two rounds since I
knocked them ount in two thousand and four.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
All Right, all right, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
It's true I remember that no culture. No culture. Sorry,
they don't have it.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
They have a culture, it's just not a good one.
Scared of their own shadow is the culture at least?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I just think you need to care more. You know,
you need to care more, period, Just care more, like,
really care more.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Well, you said it, Jerry, it's it's the top guys,
and it's it's playoff hockey. You have to get out
yourself to win games. And you know you can't do
the same things you do in the regular season. You
said it, No, you can't.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
It's the same Listen, would they say the definition of
his insanity is doing the same things over and over
again expecting a different result. It doesn't to watch Austin Matthews.
I love Austin Matthews. He's a friend and my son's
very good friends with him. But to sit in front
(16:29):
of the media and have to make an answer answer
a question about the fans leaving and him saying, well,
we didn't give him anything.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
To get excited about.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
If that doesn't, if that doesn't rattle your brain as
a player, you're in the wrong.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Profession, all right, And congratulations again on the hal ofday.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Thanks you guys, You guys, are awesome. Good luck on everything.
You guys do. Love it.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That was Hall of Famers Jeremy Ronick and Mark Messier,
two incredible athletes and people who have done so much
for others outside of the rink in their own ways.
We're truly grateful that they stopped on Buy Now. Coming up,
former NHL r keith Yandel and former NHL head coach
Bruce Boudreau joined us, respectively to shut some insight into
a player who broke a record, one who's breaking records,
(17:20):
and another who is known for breaking ratings. We'll explain
after this quick break on Energy Line with Nayton JSB.
Welcome back to Energy Line with Nate and JSB. Both
Nate and I had the privilege of getting to know
NHL head coach Bruce Boudreau when he coached in Anaheim.
(17:42):
But before he took the Ducks to the Western Conference Final,
he was coaching one of the greatest players in the
world with the Washington Capitals. Yep, you guessed it, Alexander Ovechkin.
Bruce was on the radio call this season to watch
the Grade eight make history and describes what it was
like to witness history from his perspective. Of knowing the
league's greatest goals score. But before we get to Gabby's
(18:05):
great storytelling, we had former nhlor and media personality keith
Yandle on the show to discuss everything from who on
the Florida Panthers is one of the best players in
the league and why while also taking us inside the
dressing room when he played in Arizona shedding some light
on a current friendship that got off to a somewhat
rocky start. Former NHL are spent sixteen years in the
(18:27):
show and played on a team, the Philadelphia Flyers with
our own Nate Thompson. This is keith Yandel joining the show.
Thank you so much for taking the time. We know
that you are podcasting, broadcasting, doing everything there is under
the side.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I want to talk about Sasha Barkoff and you got
to play with himans and you and I always hear
you talk about and rave about him, and I feel
the same way. I mean, he's really the only guy
I think that has somewhat shut down Connor McDavid, right,
like he's the only guy he's beat him, you know.
So talk about Sasha Barkoff and what you saw when
you play with him, when he was young.
Speaker 8 (19:01):
It was I remember my first practice with him and
I skated over to Nick Bukestad and I was like,
is this guy this good? Like because I didn't really
know a ton about him, Like it was, you know,
he was still young, he was raw, like he kind
of had he still had that baby face like where
he was a little like fat around the face. But
I'm like, is this guy really that good? He's one
(19:22):
of those you cannot give him a bad pass, whether
it's two feet in the air behind him, He'll pick
it off out of the air, full stride, make a
good play, never puts a player in a bad position,
whether it's a pass or you know, anything Like throughout
a game, he's never he's never endangering his teammates. But
I think just the thing that impressed me the most
(19:43):
is like he could easily, and I mean this wholeheartedly,
he could easily score sixty goals a year, like easily,
but he is so unselfish he wants You never see
him shoot at an empty net, like he's always looking
to pass it to somebody else on the power play.
Like he could be a guy that you know he
could set up in the one timer spot and shoot.
But he's like, you know what, put me at you
need me at the bumper, put me there, If you
(20:05):
need me in front of the net, put me there.
Just zero ego. But the probably the biggest thing that
I noticed besides like his skill was and I think
Yogur had a lot to do with it. Like they
were at the rink all day every day, those two
and it got to the point where, you know, Barkie
was getting hurt and like the GM at the time
had to like tell him, like, hey, you need to
(20:26):
relax with you know, hanging with yogs like he might be.
You know, he's one of you know, one of a million,
Like not many guys can do it like he can.
So he kind of had to you know, tail off
a little bit with that stuff. But just at any
point in time, he was working on something, whether it
was you know, shooting a puck or shooting he'd get
one of those big medicine balls at the hotel, he'd
(20:47):
shoot it against the wall. He was always stick handling
with something, just like a true craftsman of his sport
where he just wants to get better every day. And
it's it's not one of those things like I need
to score more goals. I need to you know, have
more Assistan. It's like, what can I do in the
D zone with two minutes left to win ourselves a game?
(21:08):
And I say that I went to the game last
night and just the little plays and obviously they didn't
win last night, but just the little plays that he makes.
He everything he does is just so unselfish, like he
could he could get the puck and wheel and go,
but he'll He'll drag two guys in and then make
a little baby backhand sauce to a guy of ver
haggy flying up the ice. So I think it's just
(21:28):
everything that he does is so unselfish. And he's also
the only guy I've ever seen or played with that
if he wanted to go back and play D, he
could play D like he skates backwards amazing. Most forwards
and tom or you know this. Most forwards can't pivot
left or right. It's either one or the other.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Nope, he is.
Speaker 8 (21:48):
I'm telling I told him, I go, when you retire,
you should play another five years. That is as a defenseman.
He would be unbelievable.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
I want to ask him, we go back to the
barstool stuff and now like you're working with Biz, you
you know, you know now you're you know, you're inmates
with him. Tell us some stories like where there was
you know, pranks in the locker room, you know the
relationship you guys built back then, and just tell us,
tell us something that we can we can hear about that.
Speaker 9 (22:17):
So Biz, oh god.
Speaker 8 (22:19):
Where does it even start with this kid? He's like,
I remember when he got when we picked him up
on waivers. I called Wit because I saw that he
was in Pittsburgh. And you know that was before Bizz
didn't have Twitter. No one knew who he was. So
I called Wit and I'm like, how is Biz? He
was like, I'm telling you right now, you're gonna fucking
hate him for the first like five days he goes.
(22:41):
Then he'll be your best friend. So I'm like, okay,
like whatever, that's kind of weird to say. But then
he comes in and like Shane Done, who is like
the ultimate pros pro Like never I never saw him
on the table at all, like unless the trainers like
grabbing him, like hey dude, get on the trainer, get
on the table, your legs hanging on by a thread,
Like he wasn't going on. So one of Biz's first
(23:03):
a Donor had something going on. He was on the
trainer's table and Biz walks in and he's like, O
a fuk Donor on the table again. And Donors, you know,
probably at that time, twelve years in the league, and
I'm like, oh my god, no, no, no, no no.
So he's like, okay, So Donor, just being stubborn, just
jumps up off the table and then goes and gets
(23:23):
ready in practice, and I'm like, okay. So I was
like I got to kind of show this guy, like
you can't really say stuff to the captain like that
in practice. So we're doing a drill, I step up,
hit him. We get into like a cross checking competition.
He just sheds his gloves in practice. This is I
think it was the first day. Sheds his gloves and
I'm like with my stick, I'm like, hey, dude, you
(23:45):
hit me. I'm hitting you over the head with this,
Like there's no cameras here, no one knows, Like I
am breaking my stick over your head. When then he
picks up his gloves and like and then the best
part is is my ride home. I used to get
rides to the rink. I hate driving my ride home.
Didn't left without me by accident. I think it was
Derek Morris. So I'm like, hey, biz, I need to
(24:05):
ride home. So with that day, like me and him
in the car for forty minutes and that's when like
we literally hit it off that day and we've been
boys since.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Oh my god, what a great story.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
There Oat Hangar in his back seat with all these
affliction shirts.
Speaker 9 (24:19):
And I'm like, du what are you.
Speaker 8 (24:21):
I'm like, you got to get a place. He's like, hey,
can I live with you? I'm like, no, absolutely not.
I was like I got a family. You know, I
didn't have kids yet, but I had, I had my girlfriend. Look,
I'm like, dude, you ain't living with me, Like, go
find your own place. He used to live across the
place from across the street from some sushi place, and
(24:44):
if he ran out of toilet paper, he'd just go
over to the place instead of going to buy.
Speaker 9 (24:48):
More Yan's Julie.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
Though, Yan's like playing with Yan's and Philly like he's
a he is a glue guy when it comes to
like getting team dinners or any kind of events together.
And I'm pretty sure it was your idea, Yan's. We
had this, we had this team drip dinner. We called
it in Philly. It was like one of the drip drip.
It was one of the first first I think games
on the road we had. And so we go on
(25:13):
the road and everyone goes shopping, and everyone goes gets
like the most drippiest outfit. So guys are getting like.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
Track suits. I mean, James Van.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Riemsdykey, I mean, I'll let you tell the rest of
the story of brands, but like it was unbelievable dinner.
Speaker 8 (25:29):
Just yeah, So JV we were it was in Washington.
We had the day. We're going shopping and like, you know,
there's regular stores around Washington, like you could go into
a you know, Zara, you know, a place that's not
going to cost you a million bucks. And JVR is like,
I'm doing this right. So he goes into Gucci Louis Vatan,
(25:49):
who up spelling, spending like seven thousand dollars in his
outfit that he wore one time. And he came on
chick Lits the other day and I'm like, I'm like, dude,
come on the episode with your outfit on. He's like,
I don't even know who that is. Okay, you spent
seven grand something and they never wore like he literally
never wore it again. I'd wear it once a week
(26:10):
just out of spite.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Wow, he doesn't seem like the type of guy that
would do that.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
No, oh yeah, he spends it. Remember the looks we
got walking into that restaurant, like you know, like Georgetown
and Washington, like it's kind of a prim and proper
and we walk in we got gold chains hanging out
like it was outstanding.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
It's like steam dinner in a way, Like wait, what
was the outfit? Like, if you can just like describe it,
it was.
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Like a velor Gucci track suit with like you know,
just all the g's all over it, like shiny blue
with like the stitching down the pant and then he
had like some crazy hat on. And but watching him
shopping was one of the most special things I've ever seen.
It's like taking stuff, throwing it on the ground. The
lady's like what is going on here? And we're like sorry.
(26:58):
And it was during like COVID too, so we had
like the chin diaper on and he's talking like the
guys out of his mind. You got to get him on.
He's so funny.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh yeah, he's great. Oh man, love those stories. We
could talk to you all day about, you know, stories
in the past. And I appreciate the what feels like
a very happy Gilmore moment between you and Biz. Just
like when you guys find practice of just thinking about that.
I'm like, I love this kind of ratchet real moment.
Thanks so much for everything, and really appreciate everything you do,
(27:32):
broadcasting wise and kind of you know, changing the game,
as you mentioned, just making things more accessible, more real,
getting guys to open up. I mean it helps all
of us just enjoy the game more. So, keep up
the great work.
Speaker 8 (27:45):
Thank you. You guys too, unreal. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Former NHL coach now media savant Bruce BuJo, who also
coached Anaheim Ducks when Nate played on them and I
covered and he has so many ties to what's going
on in the media today. Bruce, thank you so much
for joining us here on the Energy Line.
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Hey, it's my pleasure. It's always great to see you guys.
I haven't seen Nate for a while. Julie, it's always
good talking to you.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Well, we got to ask you first and foremost. You
told us right before we came on you've been doing
a lot of media about, of course, Alexander Ovashkin breaking
Wayne Gretzky's all time scoring record. I saw that you
said on TSN that when it happened, it just was
really emotional for you, and like you actually did you
actually cried?
Speaker 9 (28:37):
Yeah, like you know what. I was crying, and Alan
May was wiping tears. Everybody, even Brent Johnson was doing
the same thing, because I mean, if you've done a
lot of Caps TV and those guys do it every day,
I'm just sporadic at it. But you follow this journey
(28:57):
that's gone on all year, like I mean every day,
and to finally see to for me to see that,
it seemed like the pressure was the balloon a burst
and when he dove on the ice and it was over,
and I thought the A, how great for him. But
b it finally dawned on me how big a deal
this was. Like I mean, if you coach people like
(29:20):
in Nate or why you play with the guys, you
don't think of it because they're your guys, right, They're
just the guys. But when you sit back and you
see the enormity of what he did in the sports world, boy,
it still freaks me out A little bit. A day
later on how big a thing this is?
Speaker 5 (29:38):
I was watching Bruce and like, I had goosebumps because
I watched Gretzky's I watched when Gretzky broke Hall's record
too on TV. So it was, it was it was
nostalgic for me. But I want to go back to
when you were coaching him in Washington you had for
four full seasons. Was there were there any like memories
that really jump out at you when you were coaching ov.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (29:57):
Yeah, Like I mean there's the moments a like when
him and Sid both got a hat trick and same
game when in the PLAYOFFSS, the moments where Alex was
you know, the one time he got twenty five stitches
on the inside of his leg and and he said,
I want to play and he went out and got
the four points and you know a couple of goals
(30:19):
and the minutes when and you when you play against him,
I mean, and you've played against him, how big and
strong he is? That like what kind of a like
a manchild he was? I mean, but there's all these moments,
like they come flooding back. There's the moments when you're
phoning for curfew and he's not around and you're trying
(30:41):
to find him. There there's phony when he's a little
late for a meeting. But like I mean, these these
things are few and far between. On the goals that
he scored, and the way he beat defenceman, and and
and his his raw raw in the dressing room, all
of these things come flooding back. When he did that
(31:02):
dive that was so perfect a dive. It was spontaneous,
it was not thought of. I mean, he talks so
much better now than he did what twenty years ago.
Like I mean, he's a pure captain, whereas he was
a captain through leadership on the ice when I was
with him and when we made him captain. Proud to
(31:24):
say that George and I made him the captain. And
so I mean, all of these things come flooding back.
And the journey that he's been on, it's been incredible.
And when you think about the numbers and you think that, Okay,
if somebody wants to beat him, they got to go
forty goals. If Dryside wants to beat him, he's got
(31:45):
to go, like forty goals for thirteen straight seasons or
fifty goals for the next ten seasons. I mean, how
tough is that. Nobody's done it, So it seems that
that record will stand my test of time. Anyway, I
don't know if it will, but it does seem like
it's going to be a tough one to be broken.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Great, and I'm sure it just felt so great for
you to see that from a guy that you've coached.
And he had that pure elation as you mentioned when
he slid on the ice, like he's done so much,
but you could just feel it. I think everyone could
feel it, like the joy for the pure joy, like
as if he was a kid and he'd done something great,
Like it was just this wonderful emotion. And you talk
(32:25):
about the dressing room, and obviously we don't know what
Ovi's like off the ice or what it was like
to coach him, So maybe what would be something that
would kind of surprise people about what kind of guy
he was like to coach in terms of like if
there any thin positives, negatives, whatever, anything difficult, what was
he like.
Speaker 9 (32:45):
Well, everybody's got a couple negatives, but this is not
the time to go into that. But the one positive
is he always wanted to learn. He was the first
one in my room all the time is saying, show
me video, show me video. How was last night's game?
How was this? And I pulled him in and show
me you try to like at the same time, you
(33:08):
didn't do it for a long time. If you did
it for five minutes, that was good that he saw.
He saw the stuff that he wanted to see because
there was no laptops on the bench at this time
when I had him, So, I mean, but he was
always interested in how we could be better, and you know,
and like his practice on ice when he was on
(33:31):
was really great. Like I mean, he would work hard
and I'd come up to him and I'd say, Alex,
I really need you to run the show today, Like
you got to show these guys how hard you have
to work to get them going. And they would follow them.
They would, they would they would do all do that,
And I mean he was really approachable. He wanted to learn.
I mean, he was still relatively young, twenty three to
(33:54):
twenty six or twenty two to twenty seven. I had
him and you know, so I mean the whole English
language and everything. But he wanted to be the captain
and he wanted to learn how to be the captain.
It was. It was very interesting stuff every day. And
like even when if we had a video session and
and Nate would know, like we'd if we were gonna
(34:15):
if you're going to be the star of the video,
it's not a good thing, you know. And but it's
so I'd pull him in and I'd say, Okay, Alex,
you know what you were minus four last night. I'm
going to be showing a lot of these clips here.
And he'd say, okay, Coach, go do it, go do it.
You got to do it. But I always wanted to
give him the respect to show him first and tell
(34:36):
him what was coming, rather than just to surprise him
and embarrass him. Uh. And he didn't like he never
wanted to be embarrassed. So I'd always just sort of
take him aside and let him know what was coming,
and he'd accept it and he'd he'd go about his
business and uh, and he'd learned from it, and he
especially on those certain days and then that practice he
(34:56):
was he was u practicing hard, or he's finishing checks,
he's hitting showing the guys that he was going to
try to get better because of the mistakes he had made.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
I that's two parts question here. I guess when did
you start to see Ov kind of step into that
captain role where he wanted to be the guy? And
then second question I guess is when you were coaching him,
especially in the beginning, did you ever think that he
would break Wayne Gretzky's record.
Speaker 9 (35:22):
So the first question on when he like, I mean,
he was a captain on the ice and through effort
at the beginning, he didn't really want to you know, hey,
I'm organizing this meeting. Let's do this with these guys.
And that was more of a Mike Knubal took care
of all the off ice stuff. Alex was one more
of a raw Rock captain at that point in time.
(35:44):
But if you saw the like when he did with
the Marc Andre Fleury thing and even the way he
was talking last game, he really grew and understood the
role of what he does now understands what that complete
role is. But it was more of a get on
my back, boy, I'll show you what's going on, and
(36:06):
I'll show you how to play, and I'll work extra
hard and show you you better not quit on me.
And because he could be vocal in the room like
you mean, he wasn't always peaches and cream. If he
was mad at he would get up there and he
would he would say things. But I could see that
growth into him as the captain. And by the way,
(36:27):
we made him captain because Pittsburgh had just made Sydney
the captain, I mean six months before. So I mean
we figured, you know, the young guys were being captains now,
and that it was Alex's team. For that we knew
for the next fifteen to twenty years it was his team.
He had to be the captain, and so it was
an easy choice for us to make him captain. And
(36:50):
to your second part was what was the question?
Speaker 5 (36:53):
I forgot it now when did you When did you
know that or did you think that he would break
Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record?
Speaker 9 (37:00):
You know what, never, I don't think I was thinking
back today because I got asked that question earlier. Is
I don't think we ever even thought of it. We
never contemplated that, Like I mean, even when he scored
sixty five goals in his first complete season with me,
we didn't say, well, he's going to bake break Gretzky's record.
Nobody thought that that was a catchable record. I mean,
(37:23):
and if Wayne Gretzky had the record, who's going to
and it was scoring who we can't even contemplate beating
that thing, right, So, I mean, it never came up
in conversation or the next year when he got fifty
five or the next year at fifty plus. It was
always like, I mean, just boy, is he a great
(37:44):
goal scorer right now? But we never thought in the
terms that in the end whatever fifteen years later, that
he would be breaking that record.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Bruce, thank you so much for joining us here on
the show to talk about all these great memories and
of course your memories with Alex Ovechkin and him making history.
We appreciate it, and good luck with the rest of
your media and coaching futures.
Speaker 9 (38:08):
Well thanks, Judlie and Nate. Thanks so much. It's two
of my favorite people. And hope you guys continue the
good stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
We hope you enjoyed our first season best of and
trust me, we had some incredible interviews this season with
some of the biggest names in the game. We could
do like five best of episodes and that would buy
us some more vacation time. But we are not doing
that because guess what hockey season is upon us. We
will be back, back, back, back baby every week once
(38:41):
training camps open up, and diving into every aspect of
what to expect for the upcoming season. Thank you all
for listening to episode thirty three of The Energy Line
with Nate and Jsbe. Energy Line is a production of
the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. Please subscribe to the show
on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or
listen on the iHeartRadio app. It means a lot to
(39:02):
us if you feel like giving up five star review
and writing a nice review is icing on the cake
and it also helps our jobs. I'm Julie shuret Binks
and we can't wait to have Energy Line reunited for
a new episode next week. Energy Line is the production
of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(39:26):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Hosts And Creators
Nate Thompson
Julie Stewart-Binks
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