August 29, 2023 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Sean Pronger always dreamed of being and playing with Wayne Gretzky. Find out what happens when his dream meets his hangover.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories, and we tell all kinds
of stories here on the show. This next story is
the story of Sean Pronger, and he was a journeyman
NHL player who got his start on the hockey beat
at a very young age. Close to home. Here's Sean
(00:30):
with his story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
To talk about the Gretzky chapter, we're gonna have to
go back to where it all began, Dryden, Ontario, Canada.
I grew up in Dryden, a great town. Love living there.
But if you don't like hockey and you don't like
ice fishing, you probably aren't going to enjoy your time
in Dryden because it is remote. It's four hours from
(00:58):
the nearest city, four hours from the peg from Hunter Bay. Uh.
And it's winter there for about eight to nine months,
and we're talking real winter when it's thirty to forty
below is the norm, And so there's not a lot
to do if you don't enjoy those two activities. And
fortunately for me, my brother loved playing and all of
(01:18):
our buddies love playing, so we would play on our driveway.
We would play on the street in front of our house,
and we had an outdoor rink a block away and
so we played hockey NonStop, but I think the real
games were down in our basement at one sixty one
Saint Charles Street. Like every town in Canada or every city,
(01:38):
hockey in Canada was a big deal, and everything kind
of just stopped, you know. All plans were made before
or after hockey night in Canada on Saturday nights, and
our house, the Pronger House, was no different. We would
my mum and dad would come down there, my brother
and I would settle in and watch the game, and
every intermission or commercial break was time to play one
(01:58):
on one right in front of my parents with our
floor hockey sticks. And I was always a forward. Chris
was always a defenceman. And I'd look back down and
just laugh because my parents just watched. Basically, their two
sons just beat the out of each other, while her
and my dad would just kind of sit back and
relax and enjoy the entertainment. And so we would, Like
(02:20):
I said, I was always forward. So then I would
dump it into the fake, you know, into the living
room corner, and he would go back to get it,
and I would ram his head into the dry wall
and then we'd brawl, and you know, just repeat that
over and over for I don't know, eight or nine years,
and so every game, every hockey and Acada, we would
do that. And I was always gret Sky and he
(02:42):
was always boss even though Bossy wasn't a defenseman. Christ's
favorite player was Mike Bossy growing up and mine was
Wayne Gretzky. And with Dryden being where it is, we
were four hours from Winnipeg. A couple times a year
the Pronger family would load up the family truckster and
head up to Winnipeg to watch the Jets play the
Oilers in the the old good old Smithe division's obviously
(03:05):
I love watching ninety nine play and uh and how
he could see everything and see the game was just
a real thrill. But one time we went up there
and we the hotel. I'm not sure if my dad
knew this or we just got lucky, but the hotel
that he booked us in was the same hotel the
Oilers were staying in. And I'll never forget. We're in
the lobby and we're we're just kind of hanging out
(03:25):
down there, and we kind of look up and there's
Kevin Lowe and Wayne Gretzky and my brother, just like
like their old buddies. As we're walking past, He's like, hey,
keV to Kevin Low, if I that hilarious now that
you know. Kevin Low would then go on to uh
sign my brother to a massive contract, and then he
would ask to be traded a year later. Their history
(03:46):
started early. So then then, so we're in the hotel
and we're kind of just like trying to figure out
a way to go see more players, and I'm trying
to figure out how to wait to see Gretzki. They're
in the Gretzky's in the dining room or the restaurant,
and my brother and I were kind of peering around
the corner like checking him out. He was I think
he's having breakfast with Glennzei there. So I'm watching him thinking, well,
(04:07):
I don't want to bother him when he's eating. I
just seems weird. And about that time, a guy came
up behind me and he had a jersey. He said, hey, kid,
can you go get this autograph for my son? And
I said, well, this is kind of weird, but you know,
I'm kind of taught, like you know, if you don't
say no to adults. So I walk over interrupt his
breakfast and said, mister Gretzky, would you mind signing this?
(04:31):
I could tell he was reluctant just because he's in
a restaurant, and you know, years later I'd figure out
why he didn't want everybody else to think they need
to come to me in an autograph. But anyway, he
signed it. He was a gentleman, he was great. I
gave it to the guy, and it dawned on me
years later that that guy probably wasn't gonna get signed
for his son. He was probably hawking it at a
memorabile in the shop. But lesson learned. So anyway, I
(04:55):
you know, passion for oiler hockey and my the fact
that Wayning gris my idol sort of at a very
young age. And then if you fast forward years later,
I'm now you know, in my own career in the NHL,
actually you were ware your started. I was playing for
the Penguins at the end. I got traded at the
end of ninety eight. But the play is set up
(05:16):
in this line where Pronger gets himself in a great
position from the Anheim Ducks or Mighty Ducks. Back then,
Sean Promer is a good kid, and I finished the
season with the Pittsburgh Penguins rather unceremoniously, and then before
a game against the Washington Capitals, the Kevin Constantine calls
me in and so I get there. He's like, Sean,
(05:39):
we're trading you to New York. And for some reason,
I thought it was the Islanders. He's like, I'm like okay.
He's like, yeah, so you're going to the Rangers. And
I'm like the Rangers. And he I remember looking at me,
like why you look so happy, and I just thought, like,
the Rangers. This is like Gretzky's on this team. Adam Graves,
Kevin Stevens, Brian Leech, John McClain, Mike Richter, Jeff Buka,
(06:01):
boom Oh, Samuelson, all these guys I grew up watching, right,
I mean obviously my idol and then all these other
guys that I grew up watching. I'm like, this is
gonna be awesome. This is a rebirth for me. So
I get traded, you know, get traded. It was a
block It was actually a blockbuster trade. It was Alexei Kovalev,
(06:21):
Harry York and fifteen million dollars. So the way I
kind of matched up the trade was Alexi Kovalev for
Peter Nedved, Harry York for Chris Tamer and fifteen million
for Sean Pronger. Is just the way I kind of
broke the trade down internally, and so it was, yeah,
it was a big trade. So we meet the team
(06:43):
in Buffalo and I don't know what I was expecting,
but I get to the rink and Craig mctalvis iss
assistant coach, and he's like, hey, prongs welcome to New York.
You're not playing tonight, and I'm like, here we go again.
So anyway, I'm just at my first game for the Rangers,
which was a sign of things to come. But what
(07:05):
was really I was thrilled to go to New York.
My childhood best friend from Dryden, Ontario, Chris Hancock, had
been living there for a few years and so it
was like, all right, well, we gotta keep make sure
you get two small town boys from Canada in the
big city. Things can get out of hand. So we
had to draw some boundaries and make sure, Okay, you
got a job, you got a career, you gotta worry about.
(07:26):
I gotta crect to worry about. Let's you know, make
sure we pick our spots. So we tried to keep
our distance and I wasn't playing, So maybe get in
the lineup for you know, a couple of shifts here
and there, and then I'd be a healthy scratch for
three games. Get back in for a couple of shifts,
healthy scratch for a few games. And so I talked
to the our strengthening conditioning coach. I said, I want
(07:46):
you to drop a program that's going to keep me
ready to play as soon as I get my opportunity.
I mean, I want to be ready to go and
I'm gonna take it. And then it never came, and
so it was just getting to the point where something's
got to give, and I was just kind of getting
so frustrated. I think it was a game in Washington
actually where I finally think I got my opportunity to
(08:10):
do something. It was I think we're in the second period,
I'm in the lineup, which is great, and we're killing
a five on three and he let and Muckler, who's
a coach, left me out there, and I'm like, Okay,
this is my chance. And I don't know why I
thought that was my chance to go show them what
I can do offensively because we're killing a penalty five
on three. I don't know what I thought, but whatever,
(08:31):
I was gonna make my mark. And anyway, so I
got the puck and I'm ready. They kind of done
the fan on the puck and they gave it to me,
and I'm kind of going at full speed and there's
two guys that to beat and the right place is
dumping in and then you know, change and hey, doing
your job. But I think, you know what I can beat.
I can beat these guys. So what I was gonna
(08:51):
do is like split the d go in and score
and then you know, right off in the sunset, not
the case. So I go to split the d poke check,
I keep going. They pass it up ding ding ding
three on two, actually four on two. Puck's in the
back of our net. I'm on the bench, never to
come off the bench stone and now I'm sitting out.
I must for probably the next three or four or
(09:13):
five games.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And when we come back more with this journeyman hockey
player's story here on our American story. And we're back
(09:40):
with our American stories and the story of Sean Pronger
in his own words, Let's return to the rest of
this great sports story.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So now I'm skating in practice, getting crushed, and I
go in and talk to Muckler. Actually, first of all,
I asked Craig mctabash. I'm like, MATI, what should I do?
You know, like, I want to play. I want to
know what I need to do to stay in the
line to get in a lineup and stay in the lineup.
It's like provincts will talk to him. So I'm like,
all right, all right, let we'll talk to him. So
I go in there and John Muckler, I grew up
(10:11):
watching this guy as part of the Oiler dynasty. Pretty
intimidating dude. He is at that massive head of silvery
white hair. He's got his feed up on the thing.
I mean, if he had a scotch, it wouldn't be
at a place to get a scotch and a cigar.
The way he was sitting there. I'm like, hey, coach
MUCKs you had a second. He's like, yeah, come on it. Like, hey, coach,
I just want to let you know what. Love love
(10:32):
New York, love playing for the Rangers. I want to
play more. What do I need to do to stay
in the lineup or get in the lineup and stay
in the lineup, and he goes off on a rant
for about fifteen minutes about how good the Edmonton Oilers
were in the eighties at playing a give and go
game and how players today in the you know, mid
(10:54):
to late nineties could not play that style of game
and it was very frustrating to him. So he went
off for about fifteen minutes on that, and I remember
walking out and Max, he was walking by. I was
just coming out. He's like, so how to go. I'm like, honestly,
I have no idea how it went. But he's a
big family. You guys played in the eighties, and so
I kind of went back to my locker and I'm
just like, something's got to give. So I called my buddy,
(11:16):
Herbie Handcock Herby tonight. Tonight we're going out. And so
all right, we're going out and we just so we
go to whatever local pub, which there is more, you know,
seven on every block, and so we picked one go there,
and you know, we're having a great time. In New
York's awesome, having a great time. Were a couple of
different spots we hit, and I remember walking into a bar.
(11:41):
It was I think one thirty, and I was very
concerned when when the after hours bars were, what time
they opened or what time you when's that going to
go down? So I wasn't ready to call it a night.
There's one thirty, which is you know, obviously last call
is getting close, or so I thought. And I remember
walking over to the bartender and I'm like, excuse me, ma'am,
what time's which end of the after hours bars open
(12:01):
around here? And she goes, you mean after we close
at four thirty, and I'm like, no, no, this would
be good. So of course we stayed there at four
thirty shut that bar down. Luckily it was only about
a twenty minute walk back to my place. And then
you know, I got there at like five and heading
up at seven to drive to practice, and which is
not a big deal because that particular, the day before
(12:23):
I was actually practicing as the eighth defenseman, and so
I wasn't too worried about how I felt when I
got to practice. So I get up obviously not feeling
the best, but I'm like, all right, just deal with it,
and so we get the practice, get grabbed my usual breakfast,
the Champions Coffee with a double chocolate chip muffin, and
I'm sitting there with the kind of chocolate smeared all
(12:45):
over my face, just taking it all in in the
locker room, and I'm like looking around, and something's kind
of a little off. I'm like, it's kind of like
when your your wife girlfriend mother would rearrange the furniture.
And I'm looking around, I'm like, have we got a
new player? Is what is going on here? And so
it was just the color schemes out of whack, and
so I'm looking. I'm like, you know, and all the
name the bars are the same name tags. And I
(13:07):
look over and I like, in my stall, which is
normally the yellow jersey because I'm either on the fifth
line or I'm on the fourth set of defenseman, it
was a red jersey. And I'm like, that doesn't make
sense because the red jersey is Gretzky's lines jersey. And
I'm like, well, obviously this is a mistake. So I
grabbed the jersey and I go to uh. I go
to Mike Foglan, who's the equipment guy, and I be like, folks,
(13:31):
gave me around color jersey, And I kind of throw
the jersey at him and he's and he grabs it
and he throws it back. He goes, no, I didn't,
and I'm like, what, Oh yeah he did, dude, I'm yellow.
I mean we all know that. I think all the
fans know that. And he's like, yeah, not today, Bud
Kevin Stevens has the flute. So you're practicing with Gravy
and Gretzky and I'm just like, are you kidding me?
(13:53):
And he's laughing at me because he could see you
it glazed overlooking my eyes. So now my part is
in my throat and I'm like, this is not good.
This is like I grew up idolizing Wayne Gretzky and
now I have the opportunity to practice with him, and
I'm it couldn't be more hungover. I'm probably still drunk,
and now I'm thinking what have I done to my
Like this is like a career defining moment, right right
(14:14):
when you're about to break through. Maybe you do something stupid,
go get drunk with your buddy, and now you're playing.
Now you're practicing with the greatest well with the greatest
player that's ever played. So this is all going through
my head as I'm trying to figure out how do
I manage this whole situation as far as like, Okay,
I need to get your head wrapped around this, get
your body ready. You just got to get through this
one practice. So I go into the shower, crank it on,
(14:35):
freezing cold, sitting there for like ten minutes, and figure
out like, should I tell Guts to get hungover? First
of all, does even know who I am? Second of all?
Do I tell him hungover? Or do I just play
it off like okay, I'm just that's how I always am.
So I'm thinking, you know what, he's a dude, he's gonnaunderstand.
Just man up, just tell him what's going on. So
I walk over. I'm like, hey, Wayne, i'm practicing with
(14:55):
you today. He's like, yeah, I saw that. I'm like, yeah,
I just want to let you know, at a buddy
in town, things may have gone on a little bit
later than I would have liked, and you know, just
a slightly hungover. So if you don't mind, could you
just keep the puck away from me and maybe, you know,
just throw it over to Graves and I'll just kind
of bang in rebounds and I'll do all the gruntwork
and you know, we'll you know, I'll survive this practice
(15:18):
and hopefully not get cut. And he's like, proms, don't
worry about it. I've been there myself, and I'm like, yes,
you knows my name, all right, he's on board. The
greatest player in the game's on board. And all of
a sudden things started to lighten up for me. I
just felt like, Okay, we're gonna get through this. Screts
is on board. I'm gonna get out there, We're gonna
(15:40):
he's gonna stop the puck around. I'll probably bang in
a couple of rebounds, maybe leave a good taste in
the coach's mouth, and be like, you know what, a
pronger kid looked pretty good today. And so now I'm
thinking this is gonna be my chance. So we get
out for practice and I'm I'm skipping around the warm
up like I'm a fifteen year All star. I'm like,
(16:01):
just like the arrogance that I had as a fifth
liner practicing with Gretzky was not just embarrassing, but I'm
just going with it. And so I'm just enjoying every moment,
and I'm just like thinking, what if, Like what if
there's that small chance? You know, I remember reading an
article that Gretzky once said that you've put if you
put a bunch of hockey players out on a pond,
(16:23):
they're eventually gonna find the players that they pair up
with naturally, just the way they see, the way they pass,
the way they see each other's blades, and they'll just
find each other, like him and he already created. And
I kept thinking about that article, and I was like,
what if. I mean, I gave it about a one
percent chance that that could happen, But I'm like, what if?
What if we're out here? Because the Rangers at that time,
we were kind of struggling, and so it wouldn't be
(16:46):
able to like, it would be completely plausible that if
there was an ounce of chemistry, that they might give
us at least a game. And so I thought, Okay,
what if what if Gretzky and I had this natural,
undeniable chemistry and we get to play the next game,
and let's say we win, maybe do something good. We
get the next game and the next game, and so
this is all my head. It warm up of a
(17:09):
fucking practice, and so I'm like, all right, here we go.
And so first we finally Muckler blows a whistle. All right,
we're gonna warm up. We're doing a three on twos,
like straight down, like kind of three three quarter rice
three on twos. I kept forgetting like I'm the first line,
so I've alreay get back together and be ready to go.
So I'm like, all right, let's do this. And so
I'm expecting Gretzky. Hey, we had a deal. He's gonna
(17:30):
backhand this saucer pass over to gravy you. He'd either
shoot it or shoot it, probably as Adam Graves can.
And so I'm not really even looking anyway, the cortner
my eye to see this like fluttering puck come flying
over to me. Likely should passing it to me already,
and it you know it. It was like a wounded
(17:50):
duck and it hits the back. I'm playing on my
off wing because I'm left handed shot playing the right side.
He goes off my backhand and literally over the glass
and then whistle goes. He's like, all right, go again,
So we do it again. He does the same thing.
I don't think this one did not go over out
of play, but whatever, I fumbled it around anyway. That
was just the sign of things to come. And every
(18:12):
single past Gretzky made was to me, every one of them,
and I barely survived that practice. And I skated over
to him after. I'm like, Krat's, I'm so sorry I didn't. Yeah,
I don't know to tell you. He's like, Pronks, don't
worry about it. I've been there myself, and he gave
me a wink, and I'm like that he was playing
(18:33):
me the whole time, and I think that was actually
better than if he wasn't, because it made me feel
like I was part of the team. He like I
was close enough in the group that he could kill
me like that, or he just didn't give it about
me and did it anyway. But it was, uh, yeah,
that's the Gretzky story. And I still I still think
we would have some great chemistry, but I guess the
(18:55):
world will never know.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And some great storytelling by Sean Pronger. And thanks as
always to Greg hanglerfer getting us this great story. And
sometimes big stories in life, well they're just brushes with
greatness and how greatness handles things. I mean that Gretzky
handled Pronger this way, teased him, meant, hey, you're one
of the guys. It happens. Come on, let's get through
(19:18):
this great storytelling. And Sean Pronger's stories are chronicled in
his memoir Journeyman, the many triumphs and even more numerous
defeats of a guy who's seen just about everything in
the game of hockey. By the way, Pronger now lives
with his wife and two children in Orange County, California.
(19:39):
By the way, send your stories in like this. We've all,
at some time or another maybe came up or brushed
up against some people like this in our lives. And
very counterintuitive to hear star treat somebody who comes in
drunk to practice like this in a gentle way, in
a fun way. So send your stories, as always to
(20:00):
our American stories dot com. Sean Pronger's story I was
Gretzky's hungover linemate here on our American Stories
This is our American stories, and we tell all kinds
of stories here on the show. This next story is
the story of Sean Pronger, and he was a journeyman
NHL player who got his start on the hockey beat
at a very young age. Close to home. Here's Sean
(00:30):
with his story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
To talk about the Gretzky chapter, we're gonna have to
go back to where it all began, Dryden, Ontario, Canada.
I grew up in Dryden, a great town. Love living there.
But if you don't like hockey and you don't like
ice fishing, you probably aren't going to enjoy your time
in Dryden because it is remote. It's four hours from
(00:58):
the nearest city, four hours from the peg from Hunter Bay. Uh.
And it's winter there for about eight to nine months,
and we're talking real winter when it's thirty to forty
below is the norm, And so there's not a lot
to do if you don't enjoy those two activities. And
fortunately for me, my brother loved playing and all of
(01:18):
our buddies love playing, so we would play on our driveway.
We would play on the street in front of our house,
and we had an outdoor rink a block away and
so we played hockey NonStop, but I think the real
games were down in our basement at one sixty one
Saint Charles Street. Like every town in Canada or every city,
(01:38):
hockey in Canada was a big deal, and everything kind
of just stopped, you know. All plans were made before
or after hockey night in Canada on Saturday nights, and
our house, the Pronger House, was no different. We would
my mum and dad would come down there, my brother
and I would settle in and watch the game, and
every intermission or commercial break was time to play one
(01:58):
on one right in front of my parents with our
floor hockey sticks. And I was always a forward. Chris
was always a defenceman. And I'd look back down and
just laugh because my parents just watched. Basically, their two
sons just beat the out of each other, while her
and my dad would just kind of sit back and
relax and enjoy the entertainment. And so we would, Like
(02:20):
I said, I was always forward. So then I would
dump it into the fake, you know, into the living
room corner, and he would go back to get it,
and I would ram his head into the dry wall
and then we'd brawl, and you know, just repeat that
over and over for I don't know, eight or nine years,
and so every game, every hockey and Acada, we would
do that. And I was always gret Sky and he
(02:42):
was always boss even though Bossy wasn't a defenseman. Christ's
favorite player was Mike Bossy growing up and mine was
Wayne Gretzky. And with Dryden being where it is, we
were four hours from Winnipeg. A couple times a year
the Pronger family would load up the family truckster and
head up to Winnipeg to watch the Jets play the
Oilers in the the old good old Smithe division's obviously
(03:05):
I love watching ninety nine play and uh and how
he could see everything and see the game was just
a real thrill. But one time we went up there
and we the hotel. I'm not sure if my dad
knew this or we just got lucky, but the hotel
that he booked us in was the same hotel the
Oilers were staying in. And I'll never forget. We're in
the lobby and we're we're just kind of hanging out
(03:25):
down there, and we kind of look up and there's
Kevin Lowe and Wayne Gretzky and my brother, just like
like their old buddies. As we're walking past, He's like, hey,
keV to Kevin Low, if I that hilarious now that
you know. Kevin Low would then go on to uh
sign my brother to a massive contract, and then he
would ask to be traded a year later. Their history
(03:46):
started early. So then then, so we're in the hotel
and we're kind of just like trying to figure out
a way to go see more players, and I'm trying
to figure out how to wait to see Gretzki. They're
in the Gretzky's in the dining room or the restaurant,
and my brother and I were kind of peering around
the corner like checking him out. He was I think
he's having breakfast with Glennzei there. So I'm watching him thinking, well,
(04:07):
I don't want to bother him when he's eating. I
just seems weird. And about that time, a guy came
up behind me and he had a jersey. He said, hey, kid,
can you go get this autograph for my son? And
I said, well, this is kind of weird, but you know,
I'm kind of taught, like you know, if you don't
say no to adults. So I walk over interrupt his
breakfast and said, mister Gretzky, would you mind signing this?
(04:31):
I could tell he was reluctant just because he's in
a restaurant, and you know, years later I'd figure out
why he didn't want everybody else to think they need
to come to me in an autograph. But anyway, he
signed it. He was a gentleman, he was great. I
gave it to the guy, and it dawned on me
years later that that guy probably wasn't gonna get signed
for his son. He was probably hawking it at a
memorabile in the shop. But lesson learned. So anyway, I
(04:55):
you know, passion for oiler hockey and my the fact
that Wayning gris my idol sort of at a very
young age. And then if you fast forward years later,
I'm now you know, in my own career in the NHL,
actually you were ware your started. I was playing for
the Penguins at the end. I got traded at the
end of ninety eight. But the play is set up
(05:16):
in this line where Pronger gets himself in a great
position from the Anheim Ducks or Mighty Ducks. Back then,
Sean Promer is a good kid, and I finished the
season with the Pittsburgh Penguins rather unceremoniously, and then before
a game against the Washington Capitals, the Kevin Constantine calls
me in and so I get there. He's like, Sean,
(05:39):
we're trading you to New York. And for some reason,
I thought it was the Islanders. He's like, I'm like okay.
He's like, yeah, so you're going to the Rangers. And
I'm like the Rangers. And he I remember looking at me,
like why you look so happy, and I just thought, like,
the Rangers. This is like Gretzky's on this team. Adam Graves,
Kevin Stevens, Brian Leech, John McClain, Mike Richter, Jeff Buka,
(06:01):
boom Oh, Samuelson, all these guys I grew up watching, right,
I mean obviously my idol and then all these other
guys that I grew up watching. I'm like, this is
gonna be awesome. This is a rebirth for me. So
I get traded, you know, get traded. It was a
block It was actually a blockbuster trade. It was Alexei Kovalev,
(06:21):
Harry York and fifteen million dollars. So the way I
kind of matched up the trade was Alexi Kovalev for
Peter Nedved, Harry York for Chris Tamer and fifteen million
for Sean Pronger. Is just the way I kind of
broke the trade down internally, and so it was, yeah,
it was a big trade. So we meet the team
(06:43):
in Buffalo and I don't know what I was expecting,
but I get to the rink and Craig mctalvis iss
assistant coach, and he's like, hey, prongs welcome to New York.
You're not playing tonight, and I'm like, here we go again.
So anyway, I'm just at my first game for the Rangers,
which was a sign of things to come. But what
(07:05):
was really I was thrilled to go to New York.
My childhood best friend from Dryden, Ontario, Chris Hancock, had
been living there for a few years and so it
was like, all right, well, we gotta keep make sure
you get two small town boys from Canada in the
big city. Things can get out of hand. So we
had to draw some boundaries and make sure, Okay, you
got a job, you got a career, you gotta worry about.
(07:26):
I gotta crect to worry about. Let's you know, make
sure we pick our spots. So we tried to keep
our distance and I wasn't playing, So maybe get in
the lineup for you know, a couple of shifts here
and there, and then I'd be a healthy scratch for
three games. Get back in for a couple of shifts,
healthy scratch for a few games. And so I talked
to the our strengthening conditioning coach. I said, I want
(07:46):
you to drop a program that's going to keep me
ready to play as soon as I get my opportunity.
I mean, I want to be ready to go and
I'm gonna take it. And then it never came, and
so it was just getting to the point where something's
got to give, and I was just kind of getting
so frustrated. I think it was a game in Washington
actually where I finally think I got my opportunity to
(08:10):
do something. It was I think we're in the second period,
I'm in the lineup, which is great, and we're killing
a five on three and he let and Muckler, who's
a coach, left me out there, and I'm like, Okay,
this is my chance. And I don't know why I
thought that was my chance to go show them what
I can do offensively because we're killing a penalty five
on three. I don't know what I thought, but whatever,
(08:31):
I was gonna make my mark. And anyway, so I
got the puck and I'm ready. They kind of done
the fan on the puck and they gave it to me,
and I'm kind of going at full speed and there's
two guys that to beat and the right place is
dumping in and then you know, change and hey, doing
your job. But I think, you know what I can beat.
I can beat these guys. So what I was gonna
(08:51):
do is like split the d go in and score
and then you know, right off in the sunset, not
the case. So I go to split the d poke check,
I keep going. They pass it up ding ding ding
three on two, actually four on two. Puck's in the
back of our net. I'm on the bench, never to
come off the bench stone and now I'm sitting out.
I must for probably the next three or four or
(09:13):
five games.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
And when we come back more with this journeyman hockey
player's story here on our American story. And we're back
(09:40):
with our American stories and the story of Sean Pronger
in his own words, Let's return to the rest of
this great sports story.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So now I'm skating in practice, getting crushed, and I
go in and talk to Muckler. Actually, first of all,
I asked Craig mctabash. I'm like, MATI, what should I do?
You know, like, I want to play. I want to
know what I need to do to stay in the
line to get in a lineup and stay in the lineup.
It's like provincts will talk to him. So I'm like,
all right, all right, let we'll talk to him. So
I go in there and John Muckler, I grew up
(10:11):
watching this guy as part of the Oiler dynasty. Pretty
intimidating dude. He is at that massive head of silvery
white hair. He's got his feed up on the thing.
I mean, if he had a scotch, it wouldn't be
at a place to get a scotch and a cigar.
The way he was sitting there. I'm like, hey, coach
MUCKs you had a second. He's like, yeah, come on it. Like, hey, coach,
I just want to let you know what. Love love
(10:32):
New York, love playing for the Rangers. I want to
play more. What do I need to do to stay
in the lineup or get in the lineup and stay
in the lineup, and he goes off on a rant
for about fifteen minutes about how good the Edmonton Oilers
were in the eighties at playing a give and go
game and how players today in the you know, mid
(10:54):
to late nineties could not play that style of game
and it was very frustrating to him. So he went
off for about fifteen minutes on that, and I remember
walking out and Max, he was walking by. I was
just coming out. He's like, so how to go. I'm like, honestly,
I have no idea how it went. But he's a
big family. You guys played in the eighties, and so
I kind of went back to my locker and I'm
just like, something's got to give. So I called my buddy,
(11:16):
Herbie Handcock Herby tonight. Tonight we're going out. And so
all right, we're going out and we just so we
go to whatever local pub, which there is more, you know,
seven on every block, and so we picked one go there,
and you know, we're having a great time. In New
York's awesome, having a great time. Were a couple of
different spots we hit, and I remember walking into a bar.
(11:41):
It was I think one thirty, and I was very
concerned when when the after hours bars were, what time
they opened or what time you when's that going to
go down? So I wasn't ready to call it a night.
There's one thirty, which is you know, obviously last call
is getting close, or so I thought. And I remember
walking over to the bartender and I'm like, excuse me, ma'am,
what time's which end of the after hours bars open
(12:01):
around here? And she goes, you mean after we close
at four thirty, and I'm like, no, no, this would
be good. So of course we stayed there at four
thirty shut that bar down. Luckily it was only about
a twenty minute walk back to my place. And then
you know, I got there at like five and heading
up at seven to drive to practice, and which is
not a big deal because that particular, the day before
(12:23):
I was actually practicing as the eighth defenseman, and so
I wasn't too worried about how I felt when I
got to practice. So I get up obviously not feeling
the best, but I'm like, all right, just deal with it,
and so we get the practice, get grabbed my usual breakfast,
the Champions Coffee with a double chocolate chip muffin, and
I'm sitting there with the kind of chocolate smeared all
(12:45):
over my face, just taking it all in in the
locker room, and I'm like looking around, and something's kind
of a little off. I'm like, it's kind of like
when your your wife girlfriend mother would rearrange the furniture.
And I'm looking around, I'm like, have we got a
new player? Is what is going on here? And so
it was just the color schemes out of whack, and
so I'm looking. I'm like, you know, and all the
name the bars are the same name tags. And I
(13:07):
look over and I like, in my stall, which is
normally the yellow jersey because I'm either on the fifth
line or I'm on the fourth set of defenseman, it
was a red jersey. And I'm like, that doesn't make
sense because the red jersey is Gretzky's lines jersey. And
I'm like, well, obviously this is a mistake. So I
grabbed the jersey and I go to uh. I go
to Mike Foglan, who's the equipment guy, and I be like, folks,
(13:31):
gave me around color jersey, And I kind of throw
the jersey at him and he's and he grabs it
and he throws it back. He goes, no, I didn't,
and I'm like, what, Oh yeah he did, dude, I'm yellow.
I mean we all know that. I think all the
fans know that. And he's like, yeah, not today, Bud
Kevin Stevens has the flute. So you're practicing with Gravy
and Gretzky and I'm just like, are you kidding me?
(13:53):
And he's laughing at me because he could see you
it glazed overlooking my eyes. So now my part is
in my throat and I'm like, this is not good.
This is like I grew up idolizing Wayne Gretzky and
now I have the opportunity to practice with him, and
I'm it couldn't be more hungover. I'm probably still drunk,
and now I'm thinking what have I done to my
Like this is like a career defining moment, right right
(14:14):
when you're about to break through. Maybe you do something stupid,
go get drunk with your buddy, and now you're playing.
Now you're practicing with the greatest well with the greatest
player that's ever played. So this is all going through
my head as I'm trying to figure out how do
I manage this whole situation as far as like, Okay,
I need to get your head wrapped around this, get
your body ready. You just got to get through this
one practice. So I go into the shower, crank it on,
(14:35):
freezing cold, sitting there for like ten minutes, and figure
out like, should I tell Guts to get hungover? First
of all, does even know who I am? Second of all?
Do I tell him hungover? Or do I just play
it off like okay, I'm just that's how I always am.
So I'm thinking, you know what, he's a dude, he's gonnaunderstand.
Just man up, just tell him what's going on. So
I walk over. I'm like, hey, Wayne, i'm practicing with
(14:55):
you today. He's like, yeah, I saw that. I'm like, yeah,
I just want to let you know, at a buddy
in town, things may have gone on a little bit
later than I would have liked, and you know, just
a slightly hungover. So if you don't mind, could you
just keep the puck away from me and maybe, you know,
just throw it over to Graves and I'll just kind
of bang in rebounds and I'll do all the gruntwork
and you know, we'll you know, I'll survive this practice
(15:18):
and hopefully not get cut. And he's like, proms, don't
worry about it. I've been there myself, and I'm like, yes,
you knows my name, all right, he's on board. The
greatest player in the game's on board. And all of
a sudden things started to lighten up for me. I
just felt like, Okay, we're gonna get through this. Screts
is on board. I'm gonna get out there, We're gonna
(15:40):
he's gonna stop the puck around. I'll probably bang in
a couple of rebounds, maybe leave a good taste in
the coach's mouth, and be like, you know what, a
pronger kid looked pretty good today. And so now I'm
thinking this is gonna be my chance. So we get
out for practice and I'm I'm skipping around the warm
up like I'm a fifteen year All star. I'm like,
(16:01):
just like the arrogance that I had as a fifth
liner practicing with Gretzky was not just embarrassing, but I'm
just going with it. And so I'm just enjoying every moment,
and I'm just like thinking, what if, Like what if
there's that small chance? You know, I remember reading an
article that Gretzky once said that you've put if you
put a bunch of hockey players out on a pond,
(16:23):
they're eventually gonna find the players that they pair up
with naturally, just the way they see, the way they pass,
the way they see each other's blades, and they'll just
find each other, like him and he already created. And
I kept thinking about that article, and I was like,
what if. I mean, I gave it about a one
percent chance that that could happen, But I'm like, what if?
What if we're out here? Because the Rangers at that time,
we were kind of struggling, and so it wouldn't be
(16:46):
able to like, it would be completely plausible that if
there was an ounce of chemistry, that they might give
us at least a game. And so I thought, Okay,
what if what if Gretzky and I had this natural,
undeniable chemistry and we get to play the next game,
and let's say we win, maybe do something good. We
get the next game and the next game, and so
this is all my head. It warm up of a
(17:09):
fucking practice, and so I'm like, all right, here we go.
And so first we finally Muckler blows a whistle. All right,
we're gonna warm up. We're doing a three on twos,
like straight down, like kind of three three quarter rice
three on twos. I kept forgetting like I'm the first line,
so I've alreay get back together and be ready to go.
So I'm like, all right, let's do this. And so
I'm expecting Gretzky. Hey, we had a deal. He's gonna
(17:30):
backhand this saucer pass over to gravy you. He'd either
shoot it or shoot it, probably as Adam Graves can.
And so I'm not really even looking anyway, the cortner
my eye to see this like fluttering puck come flying
over to me. Likely should passing it to me already,
and it you know it. It was like a wounded
(17:50):
duck and it hits the back. I'm playing on my
off wing because I'm left handed shot playing the right side.
He goes off my backhand and literally over the glass
and then whistle goes. He's like, all right, go again,
So we do it again. He does the same thing.
I don't think this one did not go over out
of play, but whatever, I fumbled it around anyway. That
was just the sign of things to come. And every
(18:12):
single past Gretzky made was to me, every one of them,
and I barely survived that practice. And I skated over
to him after. I'm like, Krat's, I'm so sorry I didn't. Yeah,
I don't know to tell you. He's like, Pronks, don't
worry about it. I've been there myself, and he gave
me a wink, and I'm like that he was playing
(18:33):
me the whole time, and I think that was actually
better than if he wasn't, because it made me feel
like I was part of the team. He like I
was close enough in the group that he could kill
me like that, or he just didn't give it about
me and did it anyway. But it was, uh, yeah,
that's the Gretzky story. And I still I still think
we would have some great chemistry, but I guess the
(18:55):
world will never know.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And some great storytelling by Sean Pronger. And thanks as
always to Greg hanglerfer getting us this great story. And
sometimes big stories in life, well they're just brushes with
greatness and how greatness handles things. I mean that Gretzky
handled Pronger this way, teased him, meant, hey, you're one
of the guys. It happens. Come on, let's get through
(19:18):
this great storytelling. And Sean Pronger's stories are chronicled in
his memoir Journeyman, the many triumphs and even more numerous
defeats of a guy who's seen just about everything in
the game of hockey. By the way, Pronger now lives
with his wife and two children in Orange County, California.
(19:39):
By the way, send your stories in like this. We've all,
at some time or another maybe came up or brushed
up against some people like this in our lives. And
very counterintuitive to hear star treat somebody who comes in
drunk to practice like this in a gentle way, in
a fun way. So send your stories, as always to
(20:00):
our American stories dot com. Sean Pronger's story I was
Gretzky's hungover linemate here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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