March 4, 2025 • 44 mins
He grew up on a horse ranch in a small town in Manitoba, Canada. Rick Berry thought it was perfectly normal that his family had some 200 pure bred Belgian horses and when those horses urinated, it was collected (by Rick and his brother) for the Premarin in the urine and sold to pharmaceutical companies. He later found out that wasn’t so normal.
What was normal for Rick: having a pond nearby and playing hockey. A lot of hockey. When he was 16, he left Canada and went to Seattle to live with a host family and started junior hockey. In 1997, the Colorado Avalanche, who had just moved from Quebec to Denver, selected Rick in the 3rd round of the NHL Entry Draft.
He played with the Hershey Bears for a few years and eventually made it to Denver where his Avs debut came in the 2000-2001 season. He stuck around for another season in Denver and then was traded to the Penguins in 2002. From there the rollercoaster started between NHL teams, affiliates and a stint in Germany.
After his time in Germany, and with two young girls at that point, Rick decided to retire. He and his wife made Denver their home, added a third girl and Rick went into the financial advisory industry. He enjoys his work, being a girl dad and staying involved with the Colorado Avalanche Alumni Association.
Listen to Rick’s story and conversation with Susie Wargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast.
What was normal for Rick: having a pond nearby and playing hockey. A lot of hockey. When he was 16, he left Canada and went to Seattle to live with a host family and started junior hockey. In 1997, the Colorado Avalanche, who had just moved from Quebec to Denver, selected Rick in the 3rd round of the NHL Entry Draft.
He played with the Hershey Bears for a few years and eventually made it to Denver where his Avs debut came in the 2000-2001 season. He stuck around for another season in Denver and then was traded to the Penguins in 2002. From there the rollercoaster started between NHL teams, affiliates and a stint in Germany.
After his time in Germany, and with two young girls at that point, Rick decided to retire. He and his wife made Denver their home, added a third girl and Rick went into the financial advisory industry. He enjoys his work, being a girl dad and staying involved with the Colorado Avalanche Alumni Association.
Listen to Rick’s story and conversation with Susie Wargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It was during the parade for the Cup and we
get on our float and there's like six beers. I'm
looking around on the float and there's like twelve people
and I'm like, I asked, how long does this parade
go for? Like, it's a couple hours, So I'll be
right back. So I run back into what was used
to be Pepsi Center and I went into the wives room.
(00:22):
I looked around. I opened up the beer fridge. It's
totally full. I'm like, how am I going to get
these there? So I looked around. There's the toy box.
I dumped out all the toys of the toy box,
crammed as many beers as I could into this toy box,
and then I started running cause I think I got
to catch up to the float.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, I come flying.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Out of the exit and Pierre's right there, like I
almost run them over.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced some or
all of the words in the podcast title. They've been cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. It's
tough to get to the professional level in any sport,
and hockey is no exception. Plus, there are so many
(01:07):
layers and levels to hockey, which makes it even more difficult.
Rick Barry was born in Canada and grew up on
a ranch where his family collected urine from horses for
use in pharmaceuticals. Of course, there was a pond nearby,
because there's a pond nearby everywhere in Canada, and Rick
played hockey as a teenager, he moved to Seattle, lived
with a host family, and started his junior hockey career. Later,
(01:30):
he was drafted by the Avalanche, played in their minor
league system for a few years, and made his NHL
debut during the season of the AB's second Stanley Cup
run in two thousand and two thousand and one. Rick
was very good at sending messages to other teams and
had over three hundred penalty minutes to show for it.
He was in Colorado for a couple of years until
he was traded, and then it was a roller coaster
(01:52):
of teams, including one overseas before he retired. These days,
he's a financial advisor and still very active with the
Apple Lancha Alumni Association, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Rick Berry Cut Traded Fired, Retired Podcast with Susie Wargen.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Rick Berry, how you doing doing great? I don't have
enough hockey players on this podcast, so I'm super excited
you're here because I need more hockey representation. I saw
you at the Scouting Colorado breakfast and I'm like, oh
my gosh, rick Berry lives here. I need to get
on the podcast. So I appreciate you coming in. This
is really fun. No thanks having me, Yeah, absolutely. So
you have got a cool career that has I mean
(02:32):
it was very expansive through miners and getting called up
to the NHL and back down and Europe and so
we're going to go through all of that. But let's
start back with your roots of growing up in Canada.
Very small town and very agricultural growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I grew up in the town of Bertle, Manitoba, population
of six hundred. Our farm was like seven miles out of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Town, so you know, you were in the middle of nothing. Huh.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We had a lot of long bus trips on the
school bus and you know, when we were old enough,
we learned to ride our bikes in the town and
take the back roads with the car when mom and
dad would let us when they were young.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
What part of Canada is that for those? I mean
I kind of know some basic of Canada, but not
a lot straight above North Dakota.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So if you're a minor North Dakota, like one hundred
and sixty miles.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
That's actually where my son is stationed right now, and
mine not so, which is practically in Canada. Yeah, it's cold,
It is very cold, okay. And so what did you
guys do with your You were on a farm, right,
We had.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A horse ranch. We had about two hundred pure red Belgians.
We had about two thousand acres mostly hay in pasture land.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So horses.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, and like I was telling you kind of earlier,
we thought this was normal growing up. But horses have
a premer and in their urine, right, so we collect
horse urine and basically sold to the drug companies.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Wow, were you part of Like did you have to
work it?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Like if anything, living on a farm, you learned how
to work hard.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Oh yeah, I mean that's horses are a lot of
work and the farms a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, so a lot of physical labor as far as
you know, moving bales and feeding and things like that.
But then my brother and I, you know, the way
the barn was set up, we'd have fifty horses set
up one inside, fifty on the other, and we each
had our side of the barn and we had to go,
you know, dump the jugs every day into the big barrels,
and you know, it's totally not normal.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So this is what I'm gonna ask you a weird
question because I'm super curious. How would you collect the urine? Like,
do they basically just have something on them that you
collected in?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, it's it would look like an upside down kind
of rubber boot that kind of hangs from the ceiling
on a trolley that kind of moves with the horse
and it barely touches them. But yeah, then it goes
to a rubber tube up to the front of the
stall and it's collected in a jug.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Oh that's fascinating. Twice a day, twice a day, so
you wouldn't go in the stalls. It would all just
come out and you could do it on the outside.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Wow, Do you still like horses or I.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Grew up with somebody like my sister still is a
ranch and her three boys are in the rodeo, and
her husband's a team roper, and my dad's that kind
dabbles in the draft horses a little bit, but you know,
it's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I love it, but it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Of work, two hundred of them. So then when does
hockey come into your life? I mean, I think hockey
comes into everybody's life in Canada, right, But if you're
in a situation like that, I mean, where's the rink?
How do you get started with it?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, we're fortunate enough to you know, the area we
live in. Every kind of small town, as long as
you have at least one hundred people, you probably had
a rink. So I probably played with the same twelve guys.
From the time I was four until I was fourteen.
Everybody played hockey. It was definitely our life. It was
your social life. It was kind of everything.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
When did you know that you may have some talent
that would take you to another level.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I don't know if anybody other than the top superstars
could ever say they knew.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I never knew.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
We were always scratching and clon to get to the
next level, or get to the next team, or whatever
it was.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It was all constant battle.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Okay, and so then what makes you decide because at
sixteen you leave home and that's when you start playing junior.
You come to the States to see out well and
you play junior hockey.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Right, Yeah, So was not drafted in what they call
the Banham Draft back in the Canadian Hockey League. We're
in the Western Division, so the WHL, and so the
teams just protect you up unto a certain age. So
I was on Seattle's protected list and you know, go
to training camp and you got to go earn your
spot and uh, I think it was my second training
(06:24):
camp there. I got a spot and uh never looked
back and never moved back home.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Wow. So you had a host family then out in Seattle?
What was that like to like get? And I'm always
so impressed how Canadians in general, and I just I mean,
I just love NHL players because they're so courteous and nice.
And I think it comes from that a lot of
them have been with host families. They know that they
can't you know, they just haven't even had like that
normal crazy childhood. You've had to learn how to respect
(06:50):
others and be courteous and live in other people's homes.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, I've really lucked out. I had probably one of
the nicest families in the world. That's cool, and I
don't and say that lightly. They were the nicest people.
She was a retired flight attendant and he was a dentist,
and they had other kids in the house. And I
lived above the garage, and they kept the cupboard stock.
She cooked for me all the time.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Oh my gosh, she's got there the best. Why did
they take on a hockey player? Did they have other
kids that played hockey.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They had a young son that kind of took in,
you know, was given a liking to hockey, and so
they thought it might be good to have him have
a little role model in the house and stuff. But
I don't think they realized how little you're there, just
because you're going to school, you're practicing, you're on the
road traveling for games and stuff, so you really aren't
home that much.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I bet so Rick talk about how schooling then happens
with being in junior hockey, because it's a lot and
you're sixteen seventeen at this point trying to juggle all
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So I was in my senior year of high school,
I got late birthday, so graduated high school at seventeen,
but finished going to high school in Seattle. But they
ended up transferring me back to home so I could
graduate with my friends back in Manitoba.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And I'll just say.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The classes maybe didn't add up like they should have,
but my principal back home.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Was very, very forgiving.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
That's nice to have.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So, yeah, I got my diploma.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The way we went, and how much time then was
spent with school, practice, travel, it's got to be so
much more hockey than it is school, right, Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, they did not let you take school lightly, like,
oh good, if you got home on the bus at
four am and you had a class at seven or eight,
you were expected to be there. In Seattle, school starts
at seven thirty in the morning. It's not like here
where it's it's a lot later.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay. So in ninety five to ninety seven, if I
have this right, you're with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Then at some point you get drafted by the Avalanche. Yeah,
second pick in the third round in ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I think, yeah, so this is back when there's still
just twenty six teams, not to date myself, right, that's okay.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, and the Abs were brand new because they came
here in ninety six. So had you followed them when
they were in Quebec?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, obviously all the Canadians were very closely followed. And
just knowing that Denver was inheriting this team that was
on the cusp of being really good, it was kind
of heartbreaking for everybody in Quebec. But wow, what a
team that was.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
What was it like to get drafted? How did it go?
Who called you?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The draft was in Pittsburgh, It was in the Old Igloo.
My agent and family were there. We went in a
couple of days early, because you go in for interviews
with different teams and then night before the draft you
go out for dinner with like my junior team, we
tied the record at the time, we had nine guys
in the first seven rounds.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Draft that I was wow.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So we had had a lot of buddies there and
so we all went out for dinner night before and
then you know, day of go down to the draft
and I was kind of slotted to go anywhere from
first round to where I went, So yeah, we were
kind of sitting there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Everything kind of checking the boxes.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
So very different than say the n where they've got
their combine in one month and then the draft a
couple months later. This is all done at the same
time where they're interviewing you and checking did you do
physicals then too, or just interviews with teams back like.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
You did your physicals and stuff kind of more in
the spring when your season was over. We'd go to
some common area and kind of do like a they
call it central scouting, so they're constantly trying to take
your weight and your height and search your vo two
levels were and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But pretty basic, right, Yeah, you can get on the
ice and play and be a bruiser.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, it was you're just finishing your season, so it's
just like, Okay, you've been off for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
You got it right, you get it back going again.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, the teams you knew were interested, Like I had
a couple of them come visit my house.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Colorado was one of them.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Okay, so they came, sat at the kitchen table with
my family and walked them around the farm and kind
of said, very nice to meet you guys, and we'll
be in touch.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And so when they call your name with the draft,
and especially because you were projected maybe anywhere from the
first round into the third. Was it agonizing sitting through
those other rounds?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Because I had a couple of teammates. Well, one of
my teammates was Patrick Marlow and he went second overall,
so that was that was pretty cool. And then one
of my teammates who was ranked just a couple of
steps behind me, you know, they get up to the
podium and they're like from the sea thunderbirds, we select
and everybody's looking at me, and it ended up being him. No,
it was great, it was, trust me, it was. It
(11:24):
was such a cool day.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It was. It was a blast.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I bet it was.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Okay, So then you come to the ABS. However, you
spend the first few seasons with the AHL affiliate at
that time was the Hershey Bears.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yeah, I went to Hershey and uh learned how to
live on your own and big shock. Yes, yes, you
gotta get an apartment, you gottaet furniture, and you really
are learning how to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So it was it was a good eye opener.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
But had great teammates, great roommates, you know, still keep
in touch with them to this day.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Any of them went on to play with the Abs
as well. That are do you stay in touch with?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So, Dan hy Note and Brad Larson and I we
all lived together in the minors and we bought a
house together here in Denver, and then Brian Wilson was
my first ever roommate. I was in his wedding. He's
now director of player development for the Avs. So still
see him when he comes to town.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And Danny Hino it's up with the Eagles as a coach.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, So I've seen Danny a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He's made it to a couple alumni skates too, so
it's good.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
He's been good.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I feel like that team and those years they're special
to the fans because it was the first time we
had a Stanley Cup and we had a real, you know,
major team here. I think that you guys, there's just
such a cool bond with that whole group. At that time.
We were talking about how you met your wife and
two years and you go to the Stampede, like everybody
just knew where the Avs were and it was just
(12:46):
this cool group of guys and you're and you're all
real real close, which I think is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It was kind of the old school meeting the new
school type of player back then.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Uh, we we worked hard. We were probably the hardest
working guys, but we had a lot of fun. We
went out a lot, but we won, so you know,
we kind of held each other to a different standard.
Like if we were losing, we'd never go out. But
if we were just having to be on a team
that always won.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Hey, if you can go out and party hard and
have fun and still win, nobody's going to complain. Yeah, yeah,
and not get in trouble. You never heard about any
ABS players getting in trouble.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nope.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You guys were smart about it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We knew where to pick our spots and go of
our good times for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, and people knew you well. Yeah all right. So
when do you make your debut for the ABS? Then?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
It was right after New Year's in one.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So the Stanley Cup season of two thousand and two
thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Correct, Adam Foock got hurt, I got called up and
the team was on the road in Carolina.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Oh that's convenience since you were in Hershey yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, so fly there to meet the team. Watched the
first game, and then the second game was on the
road and the team was on like a crazy road trip,
like sixteen day road trip or something. So my first
game was in Joe Louis Serena in Detroit.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Oh was it against them? Oh, my gosh, against the
Red Wings back when those were iconic games. Yeah, okay,
So did you get in a fight the first day?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
No, but I almost took out Patrick while my first shift. No,
the puckets dumped in and you know, I got my
head down on Barrelyn back like I had to get
this pucket make a play.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Well, Patty came out.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
To get the puck like he always does.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, and I almost run him over because I'm so
excited to be out there.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So it could have been a real quick career.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, I could have ended real fast. Did he say
anything to you.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
No, he probably didn't realize that I did.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Oh yeah, Oh that would have been horrible. Yeah yeah,
all right, so then you play. You told me nineteen
games that season?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, yeah, it was kind of Uh, you know, Adam
Foot obviously came back from injury and played obviously phenomenal
beause they won the Cup.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
But yeah, I was there for a while. I was
there for a long time.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I only got into nineteen games and then they brought
us back up as what we call the Black Aces,
so we were extra players during the playoffs. In case
there's five ten guys go down.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
With an injury, you guys can all just come in
and play for them. Yeah, but what's cool is because
I said we'll give a ring then, but you did
not get a ring. However, what's very cool that year
is that you got the bonus as if you had
played in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So it's up to the leadership group to kind of
determine who gets a playoff share, and.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That would have been captains of Joe Sakic and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Joe Sakic and Rob Blake and.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Probably Peter Right, Peter Yea.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
And Patty Waugh and on foot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I woke up one day in the summer and saw
full playofformed some my checking account, and I thought, wow,
it's pretty cool those guys.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
That's super cool. And that again goes to show you
what type of players I think are in the NHL.
I think it's really special.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, like you knew it at the time, you notice
even more going to other organizations where you could see
where corners were cut, and you know, leadership wasn't as strong, and.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
They definitely had good leadership throughout. Yeah, were you close
with Pierre and some of the management front office folks
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, you know, I saw Pierre probably a month before
he passed. He happened to be down in my neighborhood
looking at lots that were for sale in this new neighborhood.
It was during the COVID lockdown. So I was riding
my golf cart just to get out of.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
The house anything we could do to get out of
the house during COVID, And.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, Pierre and Coco were walking their dog and I
kind of did a quick look.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I'm like, that's Pierre.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So I did a quick turnaround and stopped, said hi
and had a good chat.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Oh, I'm glad you got to see him before that.
I've had Eric on the podcast, and his podcast was
a lot of fun. I mean, his story is really
interesting with how it wove, you know, in and out
with his dad and just the whole relationship part of things.
And he had some funny stories too about just I mean,
you guys had you guys had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I got one quick Pierre story. Pierre was great
because he was always very positive and just you could
see his vision of wanting to be the best.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So in my perspective, it was easy to follow.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
But it was during the parade for the Cup and
we get on our float and there's like six beers.
I'm looking around on the float and there's like twelve
people and I'm like, I asked him, I said, how
long does this parade go for? Like, ah, it's a
couple hours, so I'll be right back. So I run
back into what was used to be Pepsi Center and
(17:26):
I went into the wives room. I looked around. I
opened up the beer fridge. It's totally full. I'm like,
how am I going to get these there? So I
looked around. There's a toy box. I dumped out all
the toys of the toy box, crammed as many beers
as I could into this toy box, and then I
started running cause I think I got to catch up
to the float. Well, I come flying out of the
(17:46):
exit and Pierre's right there, like I almost run them over,
which would not have been very good as well, and
he just looked at me.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
He says, Ricky, make sure you're having a good time, and.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I know you are. The toy chest full of beer. Yes,
Oh my gosh, that's yeah, six beers amongst twelve. That's
not going to go very well or last very long.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In a hot, hot parade, hot June parade.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Oh my goodness. Okay, So then the following year you
play quite a bit more. Yeah, you're out there quite
a bit for the Apps.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So that was a crazy year too because for training
camp we went to Sweden, and that's right, nine to
eleven happened the second day we were there, So whys
and girlfriends and a whole bunch of people were supposed
to fly out the twelfth, so everybody stuck. Right, So
this is my biggest training camp in my life, I
(18:38):
would say at that point. Yeah, like I'm trying to
slidify my spot and everything got canceled. A lot of
guys knew some of the guys that were on some
of those planes. There was a lot of connections there.
We practiced for maybe half hour hour day, maybe I
will work out. So it just kind of became a
big party over in Sweden and Forstburgh's over there takes
(19:00):
us everywhere and I.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Think, well, yeah, he knows the lay of the land.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well then he comes in a day or two later
and says, I'm retiring, and so Peter retires.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
While you guys were there at training camp. Yeah, it
was like a bizarre.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Time, crazy start to first full NHL.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah, no kidding. And then what was that year like,
because you you did play in quite a few games
were over fifty or something.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. It was a great season
and we had such a talented team. I still remember
the All Star break in the Olympic break because we
had like fourteen guys go to the Olympics. So Bob
Hartley bagscaped the other six of us that were there.
We got some time off, and when he came back
he let us know that we weren't All Stars. But yeah,
(19:46):
it was just talent from top to bottom. Yeah, trust me,
I was lucky to be on the bench of those guys.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It was great right to be able to play with
that caliber of talent. You had two goals. Were they
both with the Avs? No, we're either.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Both goals were actually with the Washington Capitals.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
They were Oh really, okay, I was.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Actually speaking at school the other day and this kid
he knew his stats, and the Army yoager came up
and I said, did you know? I said, both of
my goals are assisted by Yarmy yagert.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Oh that's cool, that's really cool. Actually. Okay, so in
let's see, you are traded in March of two thousand
and two. You and vill go to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yep, who came Darius Casprits.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And then what was it like in Pittsburgh? Very long?
Right now?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So finished out the season there and then next year
training camp. They don't have this anymore, but they exposed
me in what's called the waiver drive.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, so everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
You know, solidifies their rosters or whatever. So my agent
calls me. He's like, hey, you're going to one of
these three teams. We just don't know which one it is.
And it ended up being Washington, and so yeah, I
kind of went to Washington. Didn't really know much about
their team or just because I didn't really play them much,
or just a different yeah dynamics. So got there, only
knew one guy on the team.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Really different changing conferences, right, because I mean you get
used to the guys in your own conference, so you
know the Western Conference guys better than you know Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And I think even back then, we didn't play every team.
Oh okay, maybe played them once at home, but that
didn't mean you played them on the road. It's more
of a schedule that's more concentrated for.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Just your division, yes, which I mean like an ungodly
amount of games in your division. So I like it
how they do it better now where there's just so
much more balance with all the other teams. So are
you married at this point?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So I met my wife here in Colorado during the
One Cup run.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
At the Stampede. Yeah, but didn't exchange numbers that night.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Didn't exchange numbers, but met up nine months later downtown.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
A little bar, and you each remember each other.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
She's a Desde driver. Not to date.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Ourselves here, uber, Yeah, we used to have designated drivers kids.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So her friends are not doing well and she's a
Disney driver. She's so embarrassed because she's trying to get
them loaded up and get them out of there, and
we're just walking in and like, hey, you're the guy
from Manitoba and I the girl from small town in Illinois.
And got her number then and went out a couple
of nights later and yeah, we're twenty one almost two
years of America.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Wow, that's cool. Okay, So does she go with you
to these other cities?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah? Okay, so here's where the journey begins.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
We started here in Colorado, and I think I ended
up playing thirteen different cities in eleven years. So it
was yeah, we got to know our way around.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And did not buy houses in all those places, I hope, right,
because that is the kiss of death.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
So that's the one thing we did. Had a house
here in Cherry Creek.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I originally bought a house with Dan hein Note
Brad Larson, and then I got trade of Pittsburgh, so
they kind.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Of bought me out of that, Okay. I then kind
of looked at.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Tanya, and because we went so quickly from Pittsburgh to Washington,
we kind of talked about, like, hey, this could keep happening.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So we need a home base. Where should it be?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And we both love Colorado and we're both from small towns.
We'd kind of never really, I would never expect her
to move to my small town. I don't think she'd
ever expect me to go to hers. So we picked
Denver as our home base. So yeah, we had a
house in Cherry Creek, just right by Choppers there the
little sports bar.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And then we've been down in Colmine Valley for eight years.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Now, Okay, so you bought that one like just before
all your moving arounds. You always did have a place there,
so smart three.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And so then I would even rent it out to
AVS guys or Nuggets players while scon Yeah, because I
knew you'd be sitting there empty and it's fully furnished.
They just had to come in and drop down their suitcase,
their home. So yeah, we did that for quite a
few years.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Look at you, you were vrbo ing and being a
financial advisor way before you were. That's so smart, Rick,
I love it all right. So then you go to
the Caps. That's where you score your two goals. So
tell me about your goals. Since you only have the two,
I'm assuming you remember them.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, I want to say it took me one hundred
and fifteen or I can remember one hundred fifteen, one
hundred and fifty to score my first goal, so yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And I had a lot of I think it had
a goal called.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Off Oh It's not like I didn't have shots on goals.
I just didn't have a goal.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And which is is crazy because in the minors in
the HL, like I played on the All Star team, right,
actually play, I made it and I ran the power
play stuff. It just shows the skill set difference from
one league to another's.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It is night and day, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, big time but nope, played a little different.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Role and assists on both. Right, that's so funny. That's cool.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
No, it was, it was. It was a good time.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And then my second one was I actually might have
been more excited about my second one because it was
Hockey Night in Canada, in Toronto and it was the
big game and I scored on ed belfour.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I was pretty pumped about that one.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Well, that's cool. And then your other stats include thirteen assists,
fifteen points, and three hundred and fourteen penalty minutes, Yeah,
which I find I was like, we seem to be
much higher on the penalty minutes, did you. I mean
you probably knew then what your what your role was, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Had a coach in hershey j Wells, who kind of
grabbed me one day and says, hey, I can tell
you're not scared out there, and I kind of I
was like, well, what do you mean. He's like, well,
I can tell you you're you're willing to protect yourself,
protect your teammates. And I said, yeah, you know, it's
all right. So he says, hey, every game, we're gonna
sit down and go over like, make sure these guys
don't get touched. I'm going to point to guys in
(25:30):
their roster that you should make sure you know where
they are at all times. But at the same time,
you taught me how to fight and just always protect myself.
He's like, don't worry about winning. He's like, just protect
yourself so you'll never get smoked. And yeah, sure enough,
found yourself in a lot of scuffles and it's yeah,
it's one of those things you learned to do it
others weren't willing to do, but it got your spot
(25:52):
on the team.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Did you like that role?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, you know, I was pretty, uh energetic, kind of
a lot of vinegar in me, you can say it.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
So, yeah, you had it to spend. You had the
energy to spend, right.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I couldn't imagine now even taking a punch, but I
feel like it shatter but.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I don't think you would. I bet you could still
probably hold your own. What was one of the the
key pieces of advice he said as far as fighting,
because I think that's always interesting to watch fights and
how they go and it is it's not calculated, but
guys know what to do, what not to do, Yeah,
and get their point across.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Basically, just you know, showing up is the biggest part
and letting whoever know that this is not acceptable and
we're not going to put up with it. And fighting
said a lot about momentum, right, so it's always one
of those things where you're trying to change the game
in your favor. And he kind of led me in
the right way. And if your team's up by two goals,
you're probably not going to be dropping the gloves with
(26:49):
the thing might because you don't want to give up
the momentum. But you know, if you could sneak in
there and Ronald one of their good players or something
that's helped things go your way.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Do you have any memorable ones that you were like
that was one of my most favorite knockdowns.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, there's a lot of good ones.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Well.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Three hundred and fourteen penalty minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
My kids friends find them on YouTube all the time
and yeah, so is this your dad?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Even when I was first done playing, I was coaching
these young kids here in town and they were a
bunch of fifteen sixteen year olds and.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Oh they love that stuff. I bet you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Tell a story. Well, sure enough, they'd go search it
up and they're like, did you fight Donald with sheer? Like, yeah,
I probably shouldn't have, but I did. Yeah, but they'd
go look it up because you know, you can't lie well.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
And you've got like great cred with them. When they
can look that stuff up on YouTube, they're like, dang,
you're a badass.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
So it's kind of funny with the technology.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Oh yeah, anybody can find it.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Well, do you have a favorite though of just like
when it maybe was one that you know, I went
in there and it changed the momentum and it was
kind of the force that made something else happen in
that game.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, there's a few.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I can remember fighting in Shanahan one time and when
I was in Washington. It was the first game back
after All Star Break. Yeah, we went down to Key
West and basically just sad a little tiki bar, every day,
and you know, just on would well I come back
and I'm kind of just sunburn on one side of
my face. So my wife's dad calls after the game
(28:20):
after that fight and it's like, oh Rick looked really rough.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
He's real red on that one.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
And Tony starts laughing and she's like, Dad, it's it's
not from the fight.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's because he was sitting at a bar, same seat
every day.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
He fell asleep every day, half his head in the sun.
Oh my gosh, that's funny, But.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It was always good get the adrenaline going and stick
up your teammates and stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, for sure. Did you get a directive from a
coach sometimes that like, hey, we need you to kind
of like you did in Hershey did they do the
same thing at the NHL? Did Bob do that? And
others like.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Did you just know by that time? You kind of know? Okay,
you know the players in the league.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You study the rosters, and like even Patty Wah was
the biggest student of the game because if he looked
at that roster, didn't know one player but knew he
just got called up. He'd come grab you and say,
have you played against this guy. Wow, what can you
tell me about him? He was the epitome of always prepared,
never surprised.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, I'm not surprised. That's I mean, that's why he
was so good. Yeah. All right, So after the Caps,
I'm gonna try and go through some of these places
that you went. You had Stintson, Utah, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Bridgeport,
you would sign with the Islanders at one point, but
didn't play there. Right in New York Springfield Falcons, and
then Germany. Did I miss anyone in there?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Nope?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Okay, well you said eleven cities. I probably know something
in there.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I think I got sent down in Washington one year
just because I a little back and forth with the
coach and not good way.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So I got sent down a Portland, Maine.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Do you tell Rick?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
But yet?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So the lockout year it was four or five, Yes,
and so signed with Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh yeah, Phoenix. I missed that one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
But because there was no NHL, they ask you like
I was kind of one of those guys at that age,
like twenty four to twenty five, Hey, will you go
play with our young guys and the miners and when
the season gets going again, we'll just call you back up,
and so you're like, okay, I'll get paid and oh,
stay in shape and do all this.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
But the game got faster, I was getting slower, and.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
You didn't get called back up, right, Yeah, so when
do you decide then that all right, I'm done? Because
you you you still I mean you went to Germany.
I mean you kept you were milking it and you
were getting a paycheck for a while. So you can't
blame anybody for doing that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
You always had that thought that you could still play.
One of my last stops in North America before I
went to Germany was in Springfield, mass which is the
Oilers farm team back then. Kevin Lowe was the GM
at the time, and we're doing our exit interviews.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
He comes in.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
He's like, Rick, you know, great to see, Uh, you
know great and blah blah blah. It's like, really can't
wait for next year, but what do you think about
coming back as a coach? And okay, the head coach,
Kelly Buckberg, was a good friend of mine, so yeah,
I thought that would have been fun. But then you
just started going through your head like okay, back down
the bottom of the ladder. Yeah, probably make like forty
(31:19):
grand a year and start riding the bus again.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And at that point just had one kid.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
So now you have different priorities in life.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah, And then had some other kind of health scares too,
but ended up being nothing. So then, yeah, when I
got cleared from all that, went to Germany for a
year just because yeah, I was you could, I was
Peyton Mann. There was no plan B. He was like,
let's let's play hockey for the rest of my life here.
But then you know, the one year in Germany. By
that time I had two kids.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
And everybody with you over there.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, okay, I flew back over my middle daughter was born,
and then my came over when she was like four.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Or six weeks old.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Oh wow, Yeah, We're.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Walking around like Amsterdam and Paris, like with an eight
week old.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Was that a great experience? Though? I've talked to a
lot of people that go overseas and play over there,
and it's pretty phenomenal from what I understand.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Highly recommend it to anybody. I work with a lot
of younger guys now in the league, and I tell them, like,
before you have kids, get your traveling, because go experience things.
Even just going to a grocery store in Germany was
way different than here, Like there's no processed foods and
the cold cuts are just laid out there. You know,
Germans shop every day, they don't shop for the week.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Or the month or or oh that'd be my worst nightmare.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
But like we lived above a bakery, and yeah, it
was amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well yeah, and and like you said, when you're young
and before you have family and kids and somebody else
is paying for it, So go enjoy it and get
that experience because you'll never have an chance to get it.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, and if we didn't have the really really young kids,
we probably might have squeezed in another couple of years
up in Europe. But yeah, you go over there, you
make tax free money, You get an apartment for free,
you get a car for free. So like the only
thing you're spending money on is just your food and entertainment.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Right, Well, foods dirt cheap over.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
There, and well back in yeah, eight and nine, yeah,
so yeah, it was it was amazing how much money you'd.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Come back with.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Oh I bet okay, So then when do you decide?
Is that is that kind of the deciding factor of okay?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Now?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
I've got two little ones and I've got to figure
out what's next.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah, we kind of toyed with it, but you know,
the phone kind of doesn't ring right.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, the agent goes, yeah, you know, did you still
have an agent at that point by that time?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Actually, my last deal I did in Germany, Sean Podin
did it for me.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Sean Podin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Sean's Sean is one of my good buddies.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
And oh, how funny. That's hilarious. Negotiated your last deal. Yeah, okay,
so you come back to the US. You've got your
place here, and then how does Rick Berry reinvent himself
because you don't have a college degree, correct, you have
a high school diploma.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yep, and quickly got sucked into and I shouldn't say
sucked into, but started coaching youth hockey.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Oh no, that's sucked into any kind of coaching as
it got sucked into.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, I was really needed a break from the game
and was looking forward to just not doing anything hockey.
But a good friend of mine was running this program
and the coach quit two weeks before the season was starting.
In their brand new program, they're trying to get it
off the ground. I could just tell they put so
much work into this that you know, I was probably
(34:45):
maybe their only hope to.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
You were the savior.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
We got it going. We had a team that year.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was kind of a bad news bear situation, but
it was a lot of those kids moved on to
phenomenal careers and not just hockey but life.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
But well, that's cool to see them knowing that you
had a little bit to do with that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, But so that was kind of the start of it,
was coaching youth hockey and then had to kind of
put the kebash on that. And that's that's kind of
when I I sum of a couple of things. But
some of my buddies, the guys I work with now,
grabbed me and said, hey, what are you doing And
they said, you know, you should come work with us,
And so picked up the phone day. This is that
(35:22):
offer still out there and they said get over here.
And I've been with them for twelve years now.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
So yeah, and you're a financial advisor. Did you know
any really thing about it as you went into it.
I mean, obviously you've been slumlording with your vrbo Jerry Creek.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
The rule side of it.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Probably no, But because of what I call you your
street cred or you know, life experiences. You knew a
lot about cash flow or you had to and tons
of other things. Right, So yeah, they brought me in
and obviously you got to go get all your licenses
and everything and scratch off the brain to go do that.
But this is where I very fortunate because you know,
(36:02):
my two senior partners have probably the best business this
side of the Mississippi. They already have a process in
a philosophy in place, so I don't have to reinvent
the wheel. Yes, I've just got to come in and
pick up a shovel and get to work.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
That was probably the biggest blessing.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
That's awesome. Okay, So now you've done that, like you said,
for twelve years, and you have all girls. By the way,
you have another daughter that comes along right at some point.
So now you have three daughters and they're all high
school middle school aged, and wow, got a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, people don't lie when they say it goes fast,
because here we are and I can remember having to
go battle the schools to have by one daughter repeat kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Now here she's going to be a senior next year.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, it does go by fast. Any hockey with any
of the three of them.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
No, youngest who play lacrosse. Okay, oldest one plays golf
a heritage. She's also into theater and stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Too, so they got some stick ability though. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
did you think or trying to get them into hockey
or is it one of those I know a lot
of parents that are athletes will do a different sport
a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So a few years ago, I don't know if you've
ever been over to call them my country club, but
right there, whole number ten, we have a pond. Well
it froze over, so we scraped it off and every
kid in the neighborhood would come down and skate and
skate and skate. So my oldest daughter a few years ago,
I was like, dad, like, oh, I want to play hockey,
and I think she's fourteen, and I'm just like, ooh,
(37:31):
this is kind of late to start, Like you just
learned how to skate on your own, not really, yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Oh yeah, it's a whole different thing than just skating.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
It was a tough conversation, but yeah, they loved being
out there, which was which was great. But I think
the reality of trying to make it a everyday thing
was a tough one.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
But and you still work with kids. You said you
work with kids now.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
We do a lot of things through the alumni Association,
and then I'm also one of the community and basters
for the Avs as well too, So we do a
lot of things, whether it be road hockey or floor hockey.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
It's just kind of about growing the game.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
What kind of things do you do that people could
get involved with, because I think there's always room to grow,
especially with hockey around here.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, our alumni Association we kind of just piggyback Association's
that already gone. So we like a lot of the
mountain towns will go up and play a game there
to help, you know, kind of raise awareness and raise
some money for the local kids.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Do you play Yeah, Oh.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
We just got back from telling your idea.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Who all plays in the alumni games?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
We had Melon Hayduke and cayle Quincy, Johnny Mitchell, boy
tuk Wolski is in town. We had Paul Stats and
came into town. No way, his brother Yawn plays as
well too, So.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Oh, my gosh, does John Lyles?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, Johnny Lyles.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah, so Johnny Lyles is our president and Kyle Quincy's
our vice president.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Are you the treasurer?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
It's it's the crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Thing about working in for a big operation is to
be on boards and stuff. They just make it such
a headache.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Oh yeah, you probably can't be on it, right.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
You can.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
It's just a lot of hoops to jump through, okay,
for how minimal it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Oh that's fun. So who did you play in this
charity game? Until your Ride?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We played some of the locals and oh okay, kind
of split the teams up.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
All the guys that think they should have made it
to the NHL, but didn't. You guys put them in
their place.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
There's like the mayor and stuff.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Oh okay, all right, so you gotta be nice to
the mayor.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, but the one in the in So we do
Veil in September, we do Aspen in December, Tell your
Ride February.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
And then we do Breckenridge end of March early April.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Oh how fun And people can go buy tickets and
watch you guys and yeah, oh that's cool. I didn't
know that you guys did that.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, it's just about growing the game and kind of
get them back to the communities that were great to
us over the years and having some fun.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
That's fun. So now that you have been removed from
it for a while, I mean, I know, like I said,
you were at the Scouting and America breakfast. You probably
talk to people there. But do people recognize you or
know you or when they see your name they're like, oh,
I feel like I know your name from somewhere, like
because the abs faithful are faithful, like they know their
players and they're ridiculously crazy about them.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah. No, it's it's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
It's I don't expect it or anything, but yeah, everyone awhile,
if you go to a game or something, somebody will
stop you.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
And be like, oh, I remember you twenty some years ago.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
But yeah, when you go out to the schools and
talk to the kids and things like that, like they
weren't even born.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Right, No, And unless your name is Joe Sakic, they
just don't know. The kids don't know very aware.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I'm not a generational name like Joe Zach.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
When fans do recognize you or see you, what do
they remember about you? Do they say anything? Like do
they remember one of the one of.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
The funniest things is, uh, apparently I was really good
on like Nintendo or Sega the NHL game that year.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Oh, I had a really high rating. So people will
let me.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Know, like I've played you all the time.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
We were one of my best players back in one
oh two.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Oh my gosh, that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, my kids have.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Even tried to find it, and I guess our Xbox
is too older, too new.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Or yeah, there's probably not a system that would play
that game anymore. That's very funny. Okay, well, let's we'll
get this wrapped up. I appreciate your time. The one
question I ask all my guests, and you went through
so many times of probably thinking that I'm out, but
you were still in your you know, minors, you're in
the NHL and whatnot. What do you tell, especially now
that you work with kids again when they kind of
(41:32):
have those downtimes and moving forward, And I mean, you're
in the financial industry. There's going to be times where
we have down markets and we have better markets, so
it's probably very similar of how do you kind of
get back up and stay positive and moving forward?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, we always joked when we were playing. You know,
you start as a prospect and your project and your reject.
So yeah, that's kind of the how your career kind
of goes.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
It's very, very true.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Even when I saw the name of your podcast, that's
kind of thought of that right away.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, there's everything that can happen.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
But no, I think it's there.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
There are a lot of times where you just got
to kind of believe in yourself as a player and
and just try and improve one little thing each day.
Luck favors the prepared, so you know, when nobody's watching,
make sure you're doing your homework and getting your body
ready and prepared for that opportunity because you just never
know when it's going to come.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Absolutely, and a support system. I mean, with Tanya being
around there that whole time, that had to be huge
that you weren't doing that all alone.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah. No, absolutely, she's she's been she didn't she yes
a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, No, she's definitely appreciates it now. But yeah, at
the time was kind of like we need to get
off this roller coaster, and we did.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It's kind of crazy where we.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Can now travel across North America and almost know somebody
in every little town and say hey, stop an able to
drink with them or something. Yeah, we have quite the
network of people we've come across.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I bet you do. Well. This was super cool, Rick.
It was great to see you and then catch up
and just learn more about your story. Would never have
known about the horse urine. That's crazy. That is nowhere.
I could not find that anywhere on the internet. Now
it's out there.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
It's out there.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Yeah, it's it's my sister's still in the business. So
Pfizer bought it from WYT They hears way back in
the day and they have gone from four hundred and
some farms now down to like twelve.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Oh wow, I was one of the last twelve. Yeah
it's a crazy story.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Yeah yeah, no kidding. Wow. Okay, Well, hey, thanks for
coming in. Great to have you.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Thanks, Susy, really appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
But thanks Rick. Nothing like some good old hockey player stories. Huh. Well,
if you're hearing this, you have listened to the entire episode,
and first of all, thank you. Secondly, I hope you
enjoyed this episode and listen to others. If you like these,
do me a favor. Please rate and review on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
are released on Tuesdays on nearly every podcast platform. Get
(43:54):
social with the podcast on Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast,
and you can check out the website see podcast dot com.
I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To learn more about me,
visit susiewargin dot com Again. Thanks for listening, and until
next time, please be careful, be safe, and be kind.
Take care
It was during the parade for the Cup and we
get on our float and there's like six beers. I'm
looking around on the float and there's like twelve people
and I'm like, I asked, how long does this parade
go for? Like, it's a couple hours, So I'll be
right back. So I run back into what was used
to be Pepsi Center and I went into the wives room.
(00:22):
I looked around. I opened up the beer fridge. It's
totally full. I'm like, how am I going to get
these there? So I looked around. There's the toy box.
I dumped out all the toys of the toy box,
crammed as many beers as I could into this toy box,
and then I started running cause I think I got
to catch up to the float.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, I come flying.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Out of the exit and Pierre's right there, like I
almost run them over.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Welcome to Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired a podcast featuring conversations
with professional athletes and coaches who have experienced some or
all of the words in the podcast title. They've been cut, traded, fired,
and or they're retired. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. It's
tough to get to the professional level in any sport,
and hockey is no exception. Plus, there are so many
(01:07):
layers and levels to hockey, which makes it even more difficult.
Rick Barry was born in Canada and grew up on
a ranch where his family collected urine from horses for
use in pharmaceuticals. Of course, there was a pond nearby,
because there's a pond nearby everywhere in Canada, and Rick
played hockey as a teenager, he moved to Seattle, lived
with a host family, and started his junior hockey career. Later,
(01:30):
he was drafted by the Avalanche, played in their minor
league system for a few years, and made his NHL
debut during the season of the AB's second Stanley Cup
run in two thousand and two thousand and one. Rick
was very good at sending messages to other teams and
had over three hundred penalty minutes to show for it.
He was in Colorado for a couple of years until
he was traded, and then it was a roller coaster
(01:52):
of teams, including one overseas before he retired. These days,
he's a financial advisor and still very active with the
Apple Lancha Alumni Association, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Rick Berry Cut Traded Fired, Retired Podcast with Susie Wargen.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Rick Berry, how you doing doing great? I don't have
enough hockey players on this podcast, so I'm super excited
you're here because I need more hockey representation. I saw
you at the Scouting Colorado breakfast and I'm like, oh
my gosh, rick Berry lives here. I need to get
on the podcast. So I appreciate you coming in. This
is really fun. No thanks having me, Yeah, absolutely. So
you have got a cool career that has I mean
(02:32):
it was very expansive through miners and getting called up
to the NHL and back down and Europe and so
we're going to go through all of that. But let's
start back with your roots of growing up in Canada.
Very small town and very agricultural growing up.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I grew up in the town of Bertle, Manitoba, population
of six hundred. Our farm was like seven miles out of.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Town, so you know, you were in the middle of nothing. Huh.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
We had a lot of long bus trips on the
school bus and you know, when we were old enough,
we learned to ride our bikes in the town and
take the back roads with the car when mom and
dad would let us when they were young.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
What part of Canada is that for those? I mean
I kind of know some basic of Canada, but not
a lot straight above North Dakota.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So if you're a minor North Dakota, like one hundred
and sixty miles.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
That's actually where my son is stationed right now, and
mine not so, which is practically in Canada. Yeah, it's cold,
It is very cold, okay. And so what did you
guys do with your You were on a farm, right,
We had.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A horse ranch. We had about two hundred pure red Belgians.
We had about two thousand acres mostly hay in pasture land.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
So horses.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, and like I was telling you kind of earlier,
we thought this was normal growing up. But horses have
a premer and in their urine, right, so we collect
horse urine and basically sold to the drug companies.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Wow, were you part of Like did you have to
work it?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Like if anything, living on a farm, you learned how
to work hard.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Oh yeah, I mean that's horses are a lot of
work and the farms a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, so a lot of physical labor as far as
you know, moving bales and feeding and things like that.
But then my brother and I, you know, the way
the barn was set up, we'd have fifty horses set
up one inside, fifty on the other, and we each
had our side of the barn and we had to go,
you know, dump the jugs every day into the big barrels,
and you know, it's totally not normal.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So this is what I'm gonna ask you a weird
question because I'm super curious. How would you collect the urine? Like,
do they basically just have something on them that you
collected in?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, it's it would look like an upside down kind
of rubber boot that kind of hangs from the ceiling
on a trolley that kind of moves with the horse
and it barely touches them. But yeah, then it goes
to a rubber tube up to the front of the
stall and it's collected in a jug.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Oh that's fascinating. Twice a day, twice a day, so
you wouldn't go in the stalls. It would all just
come out and you could do it on the outside.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Wow, Do you still like horses or I.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Grew up with somebody like my sister still is a
ranch and her three boys are in the rodeo, and
her husband's a team roper, and my dad's that kind
dabbles in the draft horses a little bit, but you know,
it's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I love it, but it's a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Of work, two hundred of them. So then when does
hockey come into your life? I mean, I think hockey
comes into everybody's life in Canada, right, But if you're
in a situation like that, I mean, where's the rink?
How do you get started with it?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, we're fortunate enough to you know, the area we
live in. Every kind of small town, as long as
you have at least one hundred people, you probably had
a rink. So I probably played with the same twelve guys.
From the time I was four until I was fourteen.
Everybody played hockey. It was definitely our life. It was
your social life. It was kind of everything.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
When did you know that you may have some talent
that would take you to another level.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I don't know if anybody other than the top superstars
could ever say they knew.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I never knew.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
We were always scratching and clon to get to the
next level, or get to the next team, or whatever
it was.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
It was all constant battle.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Okay, and so then what makes you decide because at
sixteen you leave home and that's when you start playing junior.
You come to the States to see out well and
you play junior hockey.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Right, Yeah, So was not drafted in what they call
the Banham Draft back in the Canadian Hockey League. We're
in the Western Division, so the WHL, and so the
teams just protect you up unto a certain age. So
I was on Seattle's protected list and you know, go
to training camp and you got to go earn your
spot and uh, I think it was my second training
(06:24):
camp there. I got a spot and uh never looked
back and never moved back home.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Wow. So you had a host family then out in Seattle?
What was that like to like get? And I'm always
so impressed how Canadians in general, and I just I mean,
I just love NHL players because they're so courteous and nice.
And I think it comes from that a lot of
them have been with host families. They know that they
can't you know, they just haven't even had like that
normal crazy childhood. You've had to learn how to respect
(06:50):
others and be courteous and live in other people's homes.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, I've really lucked out. I had probably one of
the nicest families in the world. That's cool, and I
don't and say that lightly. They were the nicest people.
She was a retired flight attendant and he was a dentist,
and they had other kids in the house. And I
lived above the garage, and they kept the cupboard stock.
She cooked for me all the time.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Oh my gosh, she's got there the best. Why did
they take on a hockey player? Did they have other
kids that played hockey.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
They had a young son that kind of took in,
you know, was given a liking to hockey, and so
they thought it might be good to have him have
a little role model in the house and stuff. But
I don't think they realized how little you're there, just
because you're going to school, you're practicing, you're on the
road traveling for games and stuff, so you really aren't
home that much.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I bet so Rick talk about how schooling then happens
with being in junior hockey, because it's a lot and
you're sixteen seventeen at this point trying to juggle all
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
So I was in my senior year of high school,
I got late birthday, so graduated high school at seventeen,
but finished going to high school in Seattle. But they
ended up transferring me back to home so I could
graduate with my friends back in Manitoba.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And I'll just say.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The classes maybe didn't add up like they should have,
but my principal back home.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Was very, very forgiving.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
That's nice to have.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So, yeah, I got my diploma.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
The way we went, and how much time then was
spent with school, practice, travel, it's got to be so
much more hockey than it is school, right, Yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, they did not let you take school lightly, like,
oh good, if you got home on the bus at
four am and you had a class at seven or eight,
you were expected to be there. In Seattle, school starts
at seven thirty in the morning. It's not like here
where it's it's a lot later.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Okay. So in ninety five to ninety seven, if I
have this right, you're with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Then at some point you get drafted by the Avalanche. Yeah,
second pick in the third round in ninety seven.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I think, yeah, so this is back when there's still
just twenty six teams, not to date myself, right, that's okay.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, and the Abs were brand new because they came
here in ninety six. So had you followed them when
they were in Quebec?
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah, obviously all the Canadians were very closely followed. And
just knowing that Denver was inheriting this team that was
on the cusp of being really good, it was kind
of heartbreaking for everybody in Quebec. But wow, what a
team that was.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
What was it like to get drafted? How did it go?
Who called you?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The draft was in Pittsburgh, It was in the Old Igloo.
My agent and family were there. We went in a
couple of days early, because you go in for interviews
with different teams and then night before the draft you
go out for dinner with like my junior team, we
tied the record at the time, we had nine guys
in the first seven rounds.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Draft that I was wow.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So we had had a lot of buddies there and
so we all went out for dinner night before and
then you know, day of go down to the draft
and I was kind of slotted to go anywhere from
first round to where I went, So yeah, we were
kind of sitting there.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Everything kind of checking the boxes.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
So very different than say the n where they've got
their combine in one month and then the draft a
couple months later. This is all done at the same
time where they're interviewing you and checking did you do
physicals then too, or just interviews with teams back like.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
You did your physicals and stuff kind of more in
the spring when your season was over. We'd go to
some common area and kind of do like a they
call it central scouting, so they're constantly trying to take
your weight and your height and search your vo two
levels were and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But pretty basic, right, Yeah, you can get on the
ice and play and be a bruiser.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, it was you're just finishing your season, so it's
just like, Okay, you've been off for two weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
You got it right, you get it back going again.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, the teams you knew were interested, Like I had
a couple of them come visit my house.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Colorado was one of them.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Okay, so they came, sat at the kitchen table with
my family and walked them around the farm and kind
of said, very nice to meet you guys, and we'll
be in touch.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And so when they call your name with the draft,
and especially because you were projected maybe anywhere from the
first round into the third. Was it agonizing sitting through
those other rounds?
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Because I had a couple of teammates. Well, one of
my teammates was Patrick Marlow and he went second overall,
so that was that was pretty cool. And then one
of my teammates who was ranked just a couple of
steps behind me, you know, they get up to the
podium and they're like from the sea thunderbirds, we select
and everybody's looking at me, and it ended up being him. No,
it was great, it was, trust me, it was. It
(11:24):
was such a cool day.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
It was. It was a blast.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I bet it was.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Okay, So then you come to the ABS. However, you
spend the first few seasons with the AHL affiliate at
that time was the Hershey Bears.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yeah, I went to Hershey and uh learned how to
live on your own and big shock. Yes, yes, you
gotta get an apartment, you gottaet furniture, and you really
are learning how to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So it was it was a good eye opener.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
But had great teammates, great roommates, you know, still keep
in touch with them to this day.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Any of them went on to play with the Abs
as well. That are do you stay in touch with?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So, Dan hy Note and Brad Larson and I we
all lived together in the minors and we bought a
house together here in Denver, and then Brian Wilson was
my first ever roommate. I was in his wedding. He's
now director of player development for the Avs. So still
see him when he comes to town.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And Danny Hino it's up with the Eagles as a coach.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, So I've seen Danny a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He's made it to a couple alumni skates too, so
it's good.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
He's been good.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I feel like that team and those years they're special
to the fans because it was the first time we
had a Stanley Cup and we had a real, you know,
major team here. I think that you guys, there's just
such a cool bond with that whole group. At that time.
We were talking about how you met your wife and
two years and you go to the Stampede, like everybody
just knew where the Avs were and it was just
(12:46):
this cool group of guys and you're and you're all
real real close, which I think is pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
It was kind of the old school meeting the new
school type of player back then.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Uh, we we worked hard. We were probably the hardest
working guys, but we had a lot of fun. We
went out a lot, but we won, so you know,
we kind of held each other to a different standard.
Like if we were losing, we'd never go out. But
if we were just having to be on a team
that always won.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Hey, if you can go out and party hard and
have fun and still win, nobody's going to complain. Yeah, yeah,
and not get in trouble. You never heard about any
ABS players getting in trouble.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Nope.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You guys were smart about it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
We knew where to pick our spots and go of
our good times for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, and people knew you well. Yeah all right. So
when do you make your debut for the ABS? Then?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
It was right after New Year's in one.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So the Stanley Cup season of two thousand and two
thousand and one.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Correct, Adam Foock got hurt, I got called up and
the team was on the road in Carolina.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Oh that's convenience since you were in Hershey yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, so fly there to meet the team. Watched the
first game, and then the second game was on the
road and the team was on like a crazy road trip,
like sixteen day road trip or something. So my first
game was in Joe Louis Serena in Detroit.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Oh was it against them? Oh, my gosh, against the
Red Wings back when those were iconic games. Yeah, okay,
So did you get in a fight the first day?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
No, but I almost took out Patrick while my first shift. No,
the puckets dumped in and you know, I got my
head down on Barrelyn back like I had to get
this pucket make a play.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Well, Patty came out.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
To get the puck like he always does.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, and I almost run him over because I'm so
excited to be out there.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So it could have been a real quick career.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah, I could have ended real fast. Did he say
anything to you.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
No, he probably didn't realize that I did.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Oh yeah, Oh that would have been horrible. Yeah yeah,
all right, so then you play. You told me nineteen
games that season?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, yeah, it was kind of Uh, you know, Adam
Foot obviously came back from injury and played obviously phenomenal
beause they won the Cup.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
But yeah, I was there for a while. I was
there for a long time.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I only got into nineteen games and then they brought
us back up as what we call the Black Aces,
so we were extra players during the playoffs. In case
there's five ten guys go down.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
With an injury, you guys can all just come in
and play for them. Yeah, but what's cool is because
I said we'll give a ring then, but you did
not get a ring. However, what's very cool that year
is that you got the bonus as if you had
played in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So it's up to the leadership group to kind of
determine who gets a playoff share, and.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That would have been captains of Joe Sakic and.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Joe Sakic and Rob Blake and.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Probably Peter Right, Peter Yea.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
And Patty Waugh and on foot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I woke up one day in the summer and saw
full playofformed some my checking account, and I thought, wow,
it's pretty cool those guys.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
That's super cool. And that again goes to show you
what type of players I think are in the NHL.
I think it's really special.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, like you knew it at the time, you notice
even more going to other organizations where you could see
where corners were cut, and you know, leadership wasn't as strong, and.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
They definitely had good leadership throughout. Yeah, were you close
with Pierre and some of the management front office folks
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, you know, I saw Pierre probably a month before
he passed. He happened to be down in my neighborhood
looking at lots that were for sale in this new neighborhood.
It was during the COVID lockdown. So I was riding
my golf cart just to get out of.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
The house anything we could do to get out of
the house during COVID, And.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, Pierre and Coco were walking their dog and I
kind of did a quick look.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I'm like, that's Pierre.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So I did a quick turnaround and stopped, said hi
and had a good chat.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Oh, I'm glad you got to see him before that.
I've had Eric on the podcast, and his podcast was
a lot of fun. I mean, his story is really
interesting with how it wove, you know, in and out
with his dad and just the whole relationship part of things.
And he had some funny stories too about just I mean,
you guys had you guys had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, I got one quick Pierre story. Pierre was great
because he was always very positive and just you could
see his vision of wanting to be the best.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
So in my perspective, it was easy to follow.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
But it was during the parade for the Cup and
we get on our float and there's like six beers.
I'm looking around on the float and there's like twelve
people and I'm like, I asked him, I said, how
long does this parade go for? Like, ah, it's a
couple hours, so I'll be right back. So I run
back into what was used to be Pepsi Center and
(17:26):
I went into the wives room. I looked around. I
opened up the beer fridge. It's totally full. I'm like,
how am I going to get these there? So I
looked around. There's a toy box. I dumped out all
the toys of the toy box, crammed as many beers
as I could into this toy box, and then I
started running cause I think I got to catch up
to the float. Well, I come flying out of the
(17:46):
exit and Pierre's right there, like I almost run them over,
which would not have been very good as well, and
he just looked at me.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
He says, Ricky, make sure you're having a good time, and.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
I know you are. The toy chest full of beer. Yes,
Oh my gosh, that's yeah, six beers amongst twelve. That's
not going to go very well or last very long.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In a hot, hot parade, hot June parade.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Oh my goodness. Okay, So then the following year you
play quite a bit more. Yeah, you're out there quite
a bit for the Apps.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
So that was a crazy year too because for training
camp we went to Sweden, and that's right, nine to
eleven happened the second day we were there, So whys
and girlfriends and a whole bunch of people were supposed
to fly out the twelfth, so everybody stuck. Right, So
this is my biggest training camp in my life, I
(18:38):
would say at that point. Yeah, like I'm trying to
slidify my spot and everything got canceled. A lot of
guys knew some of the guys that were on some
of those planes. There was a lot of connections there.
We practiced for maybe half hour hour day, maybe I
will work out. So it just kind of became a
big party over in Sweden and Forstburgh's over there takes
(19:00):
us everywhere and I.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Think, well, yeah, he knows the lay of the land.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well then he comes in a day or two later
and says, I'm retiring, and so Peter retires.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
While you guys were there at training camp. Yeah, it
was like a bizarre.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Time, crazy start to first full NHL.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah, no kidding. And then what was that year like,
because you you did play in quite a few games
were over fifty or something.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. It was a great season
and we had such a talented team. I still remember
the All Star break in the Olympic break because we
had like fourteen guys go to the Olympics. So Bob
Hartley bagscaped the other six of us that were there.
We got some time off, and when he came back
he let us know that we weren't All Stars. But yeah,
(19:46):
it was just talent from top to bottom. Yeah, trust me,
I was lucky to be on the bench of those guys.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It was great right to be able to play with
that caliber of talent. You had two goals. Were they
both with the Avs? No, we're either.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Both goals were actually with the Washington Capitals.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
They were Oh really, okay, I was.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Actually speaking at school the other day and this kid
he knew his stats, and the Army yoager came up
and I said, did you know? I said, both of
my goals are assisted by Yarmy yagert.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Oh that's cool, that's really cool. Actually. Okay, so in
let's see, you are traded in March of two thousand
and two. You and vill go to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yep, who came Darius Casprits.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And then what was it like in Pittsburgh? Very long?
Right now?
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So finished out the season there and then next year
training camp. They don't have this anymore, but they exposed
me in what's called the waiver drive.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah, so everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
You know, solidifies their rosters or whatever. So my agent
calls me. He's like, hey, you're going to one of
these three teams. We just don't know which one it is.
And it ended up being Washington, and so yeah, I
kind of went to Washington. Didn't really know much about
their team or just because I didn't really play them much,
or just a different yeah dynamics. So got there, only
knew one guy on the team.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Really different changing conferences, right, because I mean you get
used to the guys in your own conference, so you
know the Western Conference guys better than you know Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And I think even back then, we didn't play every team.
Oh okay, maybe played them once at home, but that
didn't mean you played them on the road. It's more
of a schedule that's more concentrated for.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Just your division, yes, which I mean like an ungodly
amount of games in your division. So I like it
how they do it better now where there's just so
much more balance with all the other teams. So are
you married at this point?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So I met my wife here in Colorado during the
One Cup run.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
At the Stampede. Yeah, but didn't exchange numbers that night.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Didn't exchange numbers, but met up nine months later downtown.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
A little bar, and you each remember each other.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
She's a Desde driver. Not to date.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Ourselves here, uber, Yeah, we used to have designated drivers kids.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So her friends are not doing well and she's a
Disney driver. She's so embarrassed because she's trying to get
them loaded up and get them out of there, and
we're just walking in and like, hey, you're the guy
from Manitoba and I the girl from small town in Illinois.
And got her number then and went out a couple
of nights later and yeah, we're twenty one almost two
years of America.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Wow, that's cool. Okay, So does she go with you
to these other cities?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah? Okay, so here's where the journey begins.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
We started here in Colorado, and I think I ended
up playing thirteen different cities in eleven years. So it
was yeah, we got to know our way around.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
And did not buy houses in all those places, I hope, right,
because that is the kiss of death.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
So that's the one thing we did. Had a house
here in Cherry Creek.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So I originally bought a house with Dan hein Note
Brad Larson, and then I got trade of Pittsburgh, so
they kind.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Of bought me out of that, Okay. I then kind
of looked at.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Tanya, and because we went so quickly from Pittsburgh to Washington,
we kind of talked about, like, hey, this could keep happening.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
So we need a home base. Where should it be?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And we both love Colorado and we're both from small towns.
We'd kind of never really, I would never expect her
to move to my small town. I don't think she'd
ever expect me to go to hers. So we picked
Denver as our home base. So yeah, we had a
house in Cherry Creek, just right by Choppers there the
little sports bar.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And then we've been down in Colmine Valley for eight years.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Now, Okay, so you bought that one like just before
all your moving arounds. You always did have a place there,
so smart three.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
And so then I would even rent it out to
AVS guys or Nuggets players while scon Yeah, because I
knew you'd be sitting there empty and it's fully furnished.
They just had to come in and drop down their suitcase,
their home. So yeah, we did that for quite a
few years.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Look at you, you were vrbo ing and being a
financial advisor way before you were. That's so smart, Rick,
I love it all right. So then you go to
the Caps. That's where you score your two goals. So
tell me about your goals. Since you only have the two,
I'm assuming you remember them.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, I want to say it took me one hundred
and fifteen or I can remember one hundred fifteen, one
hundred and fifty to score my first goal, so yeah, wow.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
And I had a lot of I think it had
a goal called.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Off Oh It's not like I didn't have shots on goals.
I just didn't have a goal.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And which is is crazy because in the minors in
the HL, like I played on the All Star team, right,
actually play, I made it and I ran the power
play stuff. It just shows the skill set difference from
one league to another's.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It is night and day, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, big time but nope, played a little different.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Role and assists on both. Right, that's so funny. That's cool.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
No, it was, it was. It was a good time.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
And then my second one was I actually might have
been more excited about my second one because it was
Hockey Night in Canada, in Toronto and it was the
big game and I scored on ed belfour.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I was pretty pumped about that one.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Well, that's cool. And then your other stats include thirteen assists,
fifteen points, and three hundred and fourteen penalty minutes, Yeah,
which I find I was like, we seem to be
much higher on the penalty minutes, did you. I mean
you probably knew then what your what your role was, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Had a coach in hershey j Wells, who kind of
grabbed me one day and says, hey, I can tell
you're not scared out there, and I kind of I
was like, well, what do you mean. He's like, well,
I can tell you you're you're willing to protect yourself,
protect your teammates. And I said, yeah, you know, it's
all right. So he says, hey, every game, we're gonna
sit down and go over like, make sure these guys
don't get touched. I'm going to point to guys in
(25:30):
their roster that you should make sure you know where
they are at all times. But at the same time,
you taught me how to fight and just always protect myself.
He's like, don't worry about winning. He's like, just protect
yourself so you'll never get smoked. And yeah, sure enough,
found yourself in a lot of scuffles and it's yeah,
it's one of those things you learned to do it
others weren't willing to do, but it got your spot
(25:52):
on the team.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Did you like that role?
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, you know, I was pretty, uh energetic, kind of
a lot of vinegar in me, you can say it.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
So, yeah, you had it to spend. You had the
energy to spend, right.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I couldn't imagine now even taking a punch, but I
feel like it shatter but.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
I don't think you would. I bet you could still
probably hold your own. What was one of the the
key pieces of advice he said as far as fighting,
because I think that's always interesting to watch fights and
how they go and it is it's not calculated, but
guys know what to do, what not to do, Yeah,
and get their point across.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Basically, just you know, showing up is the biggest part
and letting whoever know that this is not acceptable and
we're not going to put up with it. And fighting
said a lot about momentum, right, so it's always one
of those things where you're trying to change the game
in your favor. And he kind of led me in
the right way. And if your team's up by two goals,
you're probably not going to be dropping the gloves with
(26:49):
the thing might because you don't want to give up
the momentum. But you know, if you could sneak in
there and Ronald one of their good players or something
that's helped things go your way.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Do you have any memorable ones that you were like
that was one of my most favorite knockdowns.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, there's a lot of good ones.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Well.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Three hundred and fourteen penalty minutes.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
My kids friends find them on YouTube all the time
and yeah, so is this your dad?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Even when I was first done playing, I was coaching
these young kids here in town and they were a
bunch of fifteen sixteen year olds and.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Oh they love that stuff. I bet you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Tell a story. Well, sure enough, they'd go search it
up and they're like, did you fight Donald with sheer? Like, yeah,
I probably shouldn't have, but I did. Yeah, but they'd
go look it up because you know, you can't lie well.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
And you've got like great cred with them. When they
can look that stuff up on YouTube, they're like, dang,
you're a badass.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
So it's kind of funny with the technology.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Oh yeah, anybody can find it.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Well, do you have a favorite though of just like
when it maybe was one that you know, I went
in there and it changed the momentum and it was
kind of the force that made something else happen in
that game.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, there's a few.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I can remember fighting in Shanahan one time and when
I was in Washington. It was the first game back
after All Star Break. Yeah, we went down to Key
West and basically just sad a little tiki bar, every day,
and you know, just on would well I come back
and I'm kind of just sunburn on one side of
my face. So my wife's dad calls after the game
(28:20):
after that fight and it's like, oh Rick looked really rough.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
He's real red on that one.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
And Tony starts laughing and she's like, Dad, it's it's
not from the fight.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's because he was sitting at a bar, same seat
every day.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
He fell asleep every day, half his head in the sun.
Oh my gosh, that's funny, But.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
It was always good get the adrenaline going and stick
up your teammates and stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, for sure. Did you get a directive from a
coach sometimes that like, hey, we need you to kind
of like you did in Hershey did they do the
same thing at the NHL? Did Bob do that? And
others like.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Did you just know by that time? You kind of know? Okay,
you know the players in the league.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You study the rosters, and like even Patty Wah was
the biggest student of the game because if he looked
at that roster, didn't know one player but knew he
just got called up. He'd come grab you and say,
have you played against this guy. Wow, what can you
tell me about him? He was the epitome of always prepared,
never surprised.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yeah, I'm not surprised. That's I mean, that's why he
was so good. Yeah. All right, So after the Caps,
I'm gonna try and go through some of these places
that you went. You had Stintson, Utah, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Bridgeport,
you would sign with the Islanders at one point, but
didn't play there. Right in New York Springfield Falcons, and
then Germany. Did I miss anyone in there?
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Nope?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Okay, well you said eleven cities. I probably know something
in there.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I think I got sent down in Washington one year
just because I a little back and forth with the
coach and not good way.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So I got sent down a Portland, Maine.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Do you tell Rick?
Speaker 2 (29:58):
But yet?
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So the lockout year it was four or five, Yes,
and so signed with Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Oh yeah, Phoenix. I missed that one.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
But because there was no NHL, they ask you like
I was kind of one of those guys at that age,
like twenty four to twenty five, Hey, will you go
play with our young guys and the miners and when
the season gets going again, we'll just call you back up,
and so you're like, okay, I'll get paid and oh,
stay in shape and do all this.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
But the game got faster, I was getting slower, and.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
You didn't get called back up, right, Yeah, so when
do you decide then that all right, I'm done? Because
you you you still I mean you went to Germany.
I mean you kept you were milking it and you
were getting a paycheck for a while. So you can't
blame anybody for doing that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
You always had that thought that you could still play.
One of my last stops in North America before I
went to Germany was in Springfield, mass which is the
Oilers farm team back then. Kevin Lowe was the GM
at the time, and we're doing our exit interviews.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
He comes in.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
He's like, Rick, you know, great to see, Uh, you
know great and blah blah blah. It's like, really can't
wait for next year, but what do you think about
coming back as a coach? And okay, the head coach,
Kelly Buckberg, was a good friend of mine, so yeah,
I thought that would have been fun. But then you
just started going through your head like okay, back down
the bottom of the ladder. Yeah, probably make like forty
(31:19):
grand a year and start riding the bus again.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And at that point just had one kid.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
So now you have different priorities in life.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yeah, And then had some other kind of health scares too,
but ended up being nothing. So then, yeah, when I
got cleared from all that, went to Germany for a
year just because yeah, I was you could, I was
Peyton Mann. There was no plan B. He was like,
let's let's play hockey for the rest of my life here.
But then you know, the one year in Germany. By
that time I had two kids.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
And everybody with you over there.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, okay, I flew back over my middle daughter was born,
and then my came over when she was like four.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Or six weeks old.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Oh wow, Yeah, We're.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Walking around like Amsterdam and Paris, like with an eight
week old.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Was that a great experience? Though? I've talked to a
lot of people that go overseas and play over there,
and it's pretty phenomenal from what I understand.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Highly recommend it to anybody. I work with a lot
of younger guys now in the league, and I tell them, like,
before you have kids, get your traveling, because go experience things.
Even just going to a grocery store in Germany was
way different than here, Like there's no processed foods and
the cold cuts are just laid out there. You know,
Germans shop every day, they don't shop for the week.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Or the month or or oh that'd be my worst nightmare.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
But like we lived above a bakery, and yeah, it
was amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well yeah, and and like you said, when you're young
and before you have family and kids and somebody else
is paying for it, So go enjoy it and get
that experience because you'll never have an chance to get it.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Yeah, and if we didn't have the really really young kids,
we probably might have squeezed in another couple of years
up in Europe. But yeah, you go over there, you
make tax free money, You get an apartment for free,
you get a car for free. So like the only
thing you're spending money on is just your food and entertainment.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Right, Well, foods dirt cheap over.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
There, and well back in yeah, eight and nine, yeah,
so yeah, it was it was amazing how much money you'd.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Come back with.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Oh I bet okay, So then when do you decide?
Is that is that kind of the deciding factor of okay?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Now?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
I've got two little ones and I've got to figure
out what's next.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yeah, we kind of toyed with it, but you know,
the phone kind of doesn't ring right.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, the agent goes, yeah, you know, did you still
have an agent at that point by that time?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Actually, my last deal I did in Germany, Sean Podin
did it for me.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Sean Podin, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Sean's Sean is one of my good buddies.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
And oh, how funny. That's hilarious. Negotiated your last deal. Yeah, okay,
so you come back to the US. You've got your
place here, and then how does Rick Berry reinvent himself
because you don't have a college degree, correct, you have
a high school diploma.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yep, and quickly got sucked into and I shouldn't say
sucked into, but started coaching youth hockey.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Oh no, that's sucked into any kind of coaching as
it got sucked into.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, I was really needed a break from the game
and was looking forward to just not doing anything hockey.
But a good friend of mine was running this program
and the coach quit two weeks before the season was starting.
In their brand new program, they're trying to get it
off the ground. I could just tell they put so
much work into this that you know, I was probably
(34:45):
maybe their only hope to.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
You were the savior.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
We got it going. We had a team that year.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was kind of a bad news bear situation, but
it was a lot of those kids moved on to
phenomenal careers and not just hockey but life.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
But well, that's cool to see them knowing that you
had a little bit to do with that.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, But so that was kind of the start of it,
was coaching youth hockey and then had to kind of
put the kebash on that. And that's that's kind of
when I I sum of a couple of things. But
some of my buddies, the guys I work with now,
grabbed me and said, hey, what are you doing And
they said, you know, you should come work with us,
And so picked up the phone day. This is that
(35:22):
offer still out there and they said get over here.
And I've been with them for twelve years now.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
So yeah, and you're a financial advisor. Did you know
any really thing about it as you went into it.
I mean, obviously you've been slumlording with your vrbo Jerry Creek.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
The rule side of it.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Probably no, But because of what I call you your
street cred or you know, life experiences. You knew a
lot about cash flow or you had to and tons
of other things. Right, So yeah, they brought me in
and obviously you got to go get all your licenses
and everything and scratch off the brain to go do that.
But this is where I very fortunate because you know,
(36:02):
my two senior partners have probably the best business this
side of the Mississippi. They already have a process in
a philosophy in place, so I don't have to reinvent
the wheel. Yes, I've just got to come in and
pick up a shovel and get to work.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
That was probably the biggest blessing.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
That's awesome. Okay, So now you've done that, like you said,
for twelve years, and you have all girls. By the way,
you have another daughter that comes along right at some point.
So now you have three daughters and they're all high
school middle school aged, and wow, got a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, people don't lie when they say it goes fast,
because here we are and I can remember having to
go battle the schools to have by one daughter repeat kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Now here she's going to be a senior next year.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Yeah, it does go by fast. Any hockey with any
of the three of them.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
No, youngest who play lacrosse. Okay, oldest one plays golf
a heritage. She's also into theater and stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Too, so they got some stick ability though. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
did you think or trying to get them into hockey
or is it one of those I know a lot
of parents that are athletes will do a different sport
a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
So a few years ago, I don't know if you've
ever been over to call them my country club, but
right there, whole number ten, we have a pond. Well
it froze over, so we scraped it off and every
kid in the neighborhood would come down and skate and
skate and skate. So my oldest daughter a few years ago,
I was like, dad, like, oh, I want to play hockey,
and I think she's fourteen, and I'm just like, ooh,
(37:31):
this is kind of late to start, Like you just
learned how to skate on your own, not really, yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Oh yeah, it's a whole different thing than just skating.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
It was a tough conversation, but yeah, they loved being
out there, which was which was great. But I think
the reality of trying to make it a everyday thing
was a tough one.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
But and you still work with kids. You said you
work with kids now.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
We do a lot of things through the alumni Association,
and then I'm also one of the community and basters
for the Avs as well too, So we do a
lot of things, whether it be road hockey or floor hockey.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
It's just kind of about growing the game.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
What kind of things do you do that people could
get involved with, because I think there's always room to grow,
especially with hockey around here.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Yeah, our alumni Association we kind of just piggyback Association's
that already gone. So we like a lot of the
mountain towns will go up and play a game there
to help, you know, kind of raise awareness and raise
some money for the local kids.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Do you play Yeah, Oh.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
We just got back from telling your idea.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Who all plays in the alumni games?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
We had Melon Hayduke and cayle Quincy, Johnny Mitchell, boy
tuk Wolski is in town. We had Paul Stats and
came into town. No way, his brother Yawn plays as
well too, So.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
Oh, my gosh, does John Lyles?
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Yeah, Johnny Lyles.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
Yeah, so Johnny Lyles is our president and Kyle Quincy's
our vice president.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Are you the treasurer?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
It's it's the crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Thing about working in for a big operation is to
be on boards and stuff. They just make it such
a headache.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Oh yeah, you probably can't be on it, right.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
You can.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
It's just a lot of hoops to jump through, okay,
for how minimal it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Oh that's fun. So who did you play in this
charity game? Until your Ride?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We played some of the locals and oh okay, kind
of split the teams up.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
All the guys that think they should have made it
to the NHL, but didn't. You guys put them in
their place.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
There's like the mayor and stuff.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Oh okay, all right, so you gotta be nice to
the mayor.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Yeah, but the one in the in So we do
Veil in September, we do Aspen in December, Tell your
Ride February.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
And then we do Breckenridge end of March early April.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Oh how fun And people can go buy tickets and
watch you guys and yeah, oh that's cool. I didn't
know that you guys did that.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, it's just about growing the game and kind of
get them back to the communities that were great to
us over the years and having some fun.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
That's fun. So now that you have been removed from
it for a while, I mean, I know, like I said,
you were at the Scouting and America breakfast. You probably
talk to people there. But do people recognize you or
know you or when they see your name they're like, oh,
I feel like I know your name from somewhere, like
because the abs faithful are faithful, like they know their
players and they're ridiculously crazy about them.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah. No, it's it's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
It's I don't expect it or anything, but yeah, everyone awhile,
if you go to a game or something, somebody will
stop you.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
And be like, oh, I remember you twenty some years ago.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
But yeah, when you go out to the schools and
talk to the kids and things like that, like they
weren't even born.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Right, No, And unless your name is Joe Sakic, they
just don't know. The kids don't know very aware.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
I'm not a generational name like Joe Zach.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
When fans do recognize you or see you, what do
they remember about you? Do they say anything? Like do
they remember one of the one of.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
The funniest things is, uh, apparently I was really good
on like Nintendo or Sega the NHL game that year.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Oh, I had a really high rating. So people will
let me.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Know, like I've played you all the time.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
We were one of my best players back in one
oh two.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Oh my gosh, that's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, my kids have.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Even tried to find it, and I guess our Xbox
is too older, too new.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
Or yeah, there's probably not a system that would play
that game anymore. That's very funny. Okay, well, let's we'll
get this wrapped up. I appreciate your time. The one
question I ask all my guests, and you went through
so many times of probably thinking that I'm out, but
you were still in your you know, minors, you're in
the NHL and whatnot. What do you tell, especially now
that you work with kids again when they kind of
(41:32):
have those downtimes and moving forward, And I mean, you're
in the financial industry. There's going to be times where
we have down markets and we have better markets, so
it's probably very similar of how do you kind of
get back up and stay positive and moving forward?
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, we always joked when we were playing. You know,
you start as a prospect and your project and your reject.
So yeah, that's kind of the how your career kind
of goes.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
It's very, very true.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Even when I saw the name of your podcast, that's
kind of thought of that right away.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
Oh yeah, yeah, there's everything that can happen.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
But no, I think it's there.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
There are a lot of times where you just got
to kind of believe in yourself as a player and
and just try and improve one little thing each day.
Luck favors the prepared, so you know, when nobody's watching,
make sure you're doing your homework and getting your body
ready and prepared for that opportunity because you just never
know when it's going to come.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Absolutely, and a support system. I mean, with Tanya being
around there that whole time, that had to be huge
that you weren't doing that all alone.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Yeah. No, absolutely, she's she's been she didn't she yes
a lot.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, No, she's definitely appreciates it now. But yeah, at
the time was kind of like we need to get
off this roller coaster, and we did.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It's kind of crazy where we.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Can now travel across North America and almost know somebody
in every little town and say hey, stop an able to
drink with them or something. Yeah, we have quite the
network of people we've come across.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I bet you do. Well. This was super cool, Rick.
It was great to see you and then catch up
and just learn more about your story. Would never have
known about the horse urine. That's crazy. That is nowhere.
I could not find that anywhere on the internet. Now
it's out there.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
It's out there.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Yeah, it's it's my sister's still in the business. So
Pfizer bought it from WYT They hears way back in
the day and they have gone from four hundred and
some farms now down to like twelve.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Oh wow, I was one of the last twelve. Yeah
it's a crazy story.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Yeah yeah, no kidding. Wow. Okay, Well, hey, thanks for
coming in. Great to have you.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Thanks, Susy, really appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
But thanks Rick. Nothing like some good old hockey player stories. Huh. Well,
if you're hearing this, you have listened to the entire episode,
and first of all, thank you. Secondly, I hope you
enjoyed this episode and listen to others. If you like these,
do me a favor. Please rate and review on Apple
Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes of Cut, Traded, Fired, Retired
are released on Tuesdays on nearly every podcast platform. Get
(43:54):
social with the podcast on Twitter and Instagram at ctfur podcast,
and you can check out the website see podcast dot com.
I'm your host, Susie Wargen. To learn more about me,
visit susiewargin dot com Again. Thanks for listening, and until
next time, please be careful, be safe, and be kind.
Take care
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