Okay. Well, we're going to get started and welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject, the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. Hi Steve. Hi. And then Kevin Gorg is back from a 12 day trip with the Minnesota wild. Did you have anything that you wanted to talk about Halloween? Um, no. Okay. Well, I'm happy that we brought that up. So, um, our challenge, I want to talk about challenge for a second. Yeah. Our challenge, our kindness challenge was, um, And it was, uh, from a couple weeks back, but we allowed everyone to have another couple weeks to do it, but was to support the arts. Yeah. So, uh, Kevin watched a movie, and you went and had some food, but Yes. Sounds like since then, you've supported an artist. I, as a matter of fact, we did. Uh, Megan, who's a PA at Masonic Children's Hospital. had as part of the uh, the, the silent auction these two pencil drawings of a heart from different angles and they're, I mean they're, they look like a photograph. They're really incredible. So that was, Megan did that? That was Megan that did that. So you know not only is she a talented PA, um, you know she's, she's got other talents as well. What I like to do is talk to Kevin about his journey. Yeah. His 12 day journey. He had a challenge. Uh, Hockey Journey, you had a challenge. We asked you to decide which of those, uh, cities that you visited would you award with the Kindness Chronicles Seal of Approval. It's gotta be Pittsburgh. I, uh, I don't know if you guys caught any of the game, uh, well this would be Tuesday night. Yep. Um, Marc Andre Fleury's final start. Uh, in front of the fans in, in, in Pittsburgh, where he played 13 years, where he's part of three Stanley Cup champion teams. He's beloved in that community, not only because he's going to be in the hall of fame for his accolades as a goalie, but more importantly, the way he carried himself in those 13 years off the ice, the way he gave back to the community. I'm going to give you two examples. Example number one is the day before the game, the wild are practicing at the Penguins facility, which is about 30 minutes outside of downtown Pittsburgh. And there's two sheets of ice. So we get there and the penguins are on the main sheet and the wild, they're starting to get ready to go practice on the secondary sheet. So the penguins wrap up their practice and the wild are just kind of starting there anyway, the law practice gets over and they have to kind of walk back through the lobby to get back to the main facility so they can take their gear off and eventually hop on the bus. To go back downtown. So Mark Andre four, he always the last one off the ice. Him and Caprice are kind of the last two. They're out there doing their thing. And he comes walking back to the main rink and the penguins have long left. And now there's a youth hockey practice going on in the main rink. And these kids are probably nine, 10, 11 years old. And as he's walking behind the Plexiglas to go back to the changing area. The kids are all like you can see him wide eyed they're pointing their sticks They clearly can see that it's Marc Andre furry So he picks up on the vibe and instead of taking a left to go down into the locker room With his gear on he takes a right opens up the gate Hops on the ice wow and ask the coach if it's okay if he skates in a couple of drills. Oh, come on The kids are going bananas He gets in the net And he's doing the two pad slide the poke check he's he's mark andre flurry, right and the kids are shooting at him Imagine I mean, I can't even put it into my mind. How old are these kids stories they can tell they're probably nine or ten Oh, wow. Yeah that you know, and they were having so much fun So that was cool, but I have to tell you the game on on tuesday night um Was spectacular because of the love the pittsburgh fans. I've never been in an arena or in in a You In a building like a stadium where the home fans are openly cheering for somebody on the other team. They chanted his name during warmups. They gave him a standing ovation when he was announced as the starter throughout the game. Every time he made a save, they were reacting as if they were, he was the home goalie. And then at the end of the game, they brought him on the ice and they had the Pittsburgh TV crew interview him and everybody stayed. The entire building stayed. And he did a three or four minute interview and they were chanting and the signs it was You just felt like besides the goosebumps just the the warm fuzzies, right? Like this this was something that's Out of the ordinary. This is not so i've been doing this for 19 years. I have never seen anything like it and Seen him the day before though kind of fills in all the blanks like why? The fans react the way they do to this guy. He is extraordinary He is I just think Something that years will go by and we'll all be saying we're better for having known this guy and having them. As a part of the wild organization. And he was a goalie of all people. Yeah. You wouldn't think that about a goal. And then you can make that kind of impact on the community. That's really cool. That's a very cool story. I saw that there was a photograph of him with three of the guys. Was it Evgeny Malkin and Sidney Crosby? That's the one time I choked up and started tearing up a little bit. After the buzzer goes, um, the wild, when the penguins are in this horrific slump, it lost four or five in a row. They're really, um, struggling and you know, the whole, the, the wild, the whole team kind of cuddles around flurry and they celebrate with him. And it's three or four minutes before they're going to leave the ice. Normally the home team is long gone. They're disappointed in their loss. So all of a sudden the wild start to leave the ice and in flourishing it clearly stick around to do this interview. Um, kind of by the wild bench and he looks over to his left and there is Sidney Crosby and Chris Letang literally standing at the gate, not going into their locker room, waiting to see him and he skates over and they embrace and I got to tell you, I, listen, I, I can be as cynical as anybody, but I got to tell you, I'm getting choked up talking about it. Um, That's genuine friendship. It was really, I gotta tell you, it was last night was one of those nights where on the flight home, you're just thinking how lucky am I? And by the way, I'm the flight home. This is the last piece to the story. This never happens, but Bill Guerin, the wild GM, uh, wanted to make sure that the Fleury's family could be there for this event. So his mom was flown in his wife and his three beautiful kids. And the kids have school today. And so. I don't know how they worked it out, but, uh, Mark Andre for his wife and his three kids flew back on the charter with us last night. And so they sat in the way back of the plane with all of us. We call ourselves pigeons. We're the media peeps, we're the pigeons. And, uh, and it was adorable. They were telling us about, you know, hearing their name chanted all night. They were drawing us pictures. They were talking about Halloween. It was honestly, it was a magical night. And the icing on the cake was flying home with the. The Fleury family and that just put a perfect bow on the entire week. How old are the kids? I would say they're five, seven and nine. I mean, they're just adorable. Are they going to school in Minnesota? They are. And I think they're going somewhere. It's gotta be a French immersion school because it was funny when they were just. Lala gang and with us, they were, they were all talking perfect English, but then when they had any type of like, you know, cause they, they bring, you know, food and snacks and all over the plane and then, you know, they're still marking his wife or trying to parent and then they spoke in French and the kids were arguing in, it was just, it was a really neat dynamic, you know, and it was a, you know, it was such a cool night for their family. But, um, yeah, it, it, it really, I got to tell you last night was our Tuesday night That is very cool. You know what, this Kindness Chronicles thing, you know, it's, it's lovely having a guy who's, he's kind of like our, uh, He's an ambassador. He's an ambassador. Yeah. He's out there. Oh, come on. I love it, I love it. He'll have, uh, Marc Andre Fleury on the Wooden Sticks Sure. program because, you know. Well, I think, I think he would be happy to be a part of the, The Kindness Chronicles, but you know, let's hold our breath for that one. I'll start now. Record that. Yeah, make sure you record that. We still gotta get Yogi Berra's granddaughter. I'm still efforting that. Oh, I've heard it before. Only on twice. Hey, um. I know, but you know what? I don't have doctor friends, and Dr. Shanti, uh, trumps almost anybody I could get. She was remarkable. She was remarkable. One last thing. They, uh, the wild, what a great start to the season, six, one, and two. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Who saw that coming? When you looked at the schedule and notice that the first two games were at home and the rest of the month, they were going to be on the road and then you have Hartman and Spurgeon deal with injuries. And you didn't know that they're going to survive this month after what they went through last year, because basically last year, the first month cost them their season and they've responded. They had a really good training camp. Heinz worked them really hard. They've responded, they've beaten good teams, went to Florida and swept, uh, the last couple of Stanley Cup champions. It really, uh, one of those trips where you look back and if they end up having a, a really good year, it was one of those trips that probably set the tone for the entire season. They're having a ball. Uh the team seems to be enjoying each other. It's a good mix of young and old and uh you know and they're getting goaltending and that's one thing that that they really didn't have uh as a luxury last year. Besides the injuries, I think if you talk to Gustafson and Flory, they both probably had years where they weren't if they're very very fast and so far, both these guys are playing great and the team seems to feed off that confidence and you know, it's it's fun to watch and I think they're going to be legit. I I don't. I don't see this as a mirage because of the way they're winning games. And the bottom line is this team is driven by number 97 and he's one of the best five players in the league. He's gotten better every single year. He's taken another big step this year. He's always been strong on the wall. He's always been a good skater and been able to shoot the puck, but now he's added the passing element. He's making these Gretzky. Like passes, he's got eyes in the back of his head. Karol Kaprizov is going to go down as one of the greatest athletes in Minnesota sports history. This guy, and I know everybody's holding their breath, because the Wild have to figure out a way to re sign him this summer. They, they, listen, that is priority number one. If you're not even into hockey and you just turn the TV on, And just watch this guy. He'll bring a smile to your face. I, my dad has been in assisted care living now for a little over six weeks. And the only silver lining he'll admit to having is he's got a great TV and he gets to watch Kirill Kaprizov. When I talked to my mom this morning, When I got there, he has not missed a minute of a game. And he isolates on every time curls on the ice and he just smiles. She said, so I just think that that's what sports is kind of all about. Well, I hope that the wild backs, the Brink Brink's truck up to a Carillo's, uh, condominium or wherever he's living, because. It would be an absolute shame to lose that guy. Please don't let that happen. Honestly. Um, you know, he's been injured before the last couple of years and I love the wild and I've always enjoyed watching this team. It's not nearly as much fun when he's not out there and they have some great players, but he is must see TV. He is that guy. He is a magician. And you know, for all of us that are of a certain age, he brings you back. to an era. Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux. Um, you know, nowadays you've got players like Connor McDavid. He's that type of generational talent. And you know, I'm not a big basketball guy, but Anthony Edwards will drag me to the TV, right? Like if, if the wolves are on and I'm not planning on watching basketball, Anthony Edwards is a reason I will turn that game on. Superstars will bring. Casual fans to their sport and Kareel is that guy you bet Steve you got I just have one more thing I want to do so we talk hockey. No, no, I don't I don't he wouldn't stick stuff for you, but I just want to say so we finished that challenge that challenge was the kind of challenge was Support the arts. I want to say our next challenge for our listeners for every one of us give blood donate blood give blood You know, you know vampires and stuff, but zombies You ever given blood before I you know what? I haven't I have it's great I just gave blood actually a couple weeks ago, but um It has, but mine probably come out like syrup. It's, it's a great thing to do. The blood banks in your, there's local blood banks everywhere. Just type it in. You'll find one and they offer them. It's easy and fast and it's awesome. You got to do it. It's, it's really incredibly helpful to our blood bank communities. Okay. I'm going to, I'm going to try and do that. You got a couple of weeks to do. We'll do it for a little while. Know your, know your blood type. Get all that. You'll know, you'll learn a lot of good stuff. It'll be really good. I think it's a plus if you know what I mean. The people that work at those things are spectacular to you. You walk out of there and usually it's like in a gymnasium. I've done it a couple of times and they, they are the sweetest human beings. They know. What a sacrifice you're making. They treat you so well when you go there. Um, I really get queasy around the meals, so I usually look away. But, you know, once you do it, you walk out of there and honestly, uh, You'll get a lot out of it. You'll feel great. Yeah. I'm in for the cookie. My mom worked for the Red Cross for many years. Right. She was, uh, uh, A coordinator of, uh, blood drives and stuff, right? A couple weeks to do it. Our fans, our, our, our fans, our, our, uh, listeners. Fans, they're fans. They're fans now, I guess. They're fans. Both of them. Hey, um, speaking of both of them, how did Fenway and Brooks feel about daddy coming home? Yeah. Well, you know, Fenway greeted me at the stairs. Apparently the last few nights he was downstairs, like, waiting and pacing. Oh, no. So she had to come down and bring him upstairs and say, you know, Daddy's not coming home. Oh, no. But last night she left him down and said, Daddy will be home. And so I got home. He was there. He could not have been more happy. We had about a three minute hug. Ah, and Brooks stayed sleeping right upstairs, nestled into Chrissy because that's don't care. His person, Brooks is now, he, Brooks was great today because today he needed to get walked and he needed those treat. So I was getting a lot of love from Brooks'cause Chrissy was at the office. But, okay. Last night there was a, there a dog waiting for me and it, it made the, uh, the one 30 groggy. Dump your gear and get in the bed. Journey. Um, pretty sweet. Awesome. Wonderful. All right. You need a dog, John. I need a dog. I know. With that You really do. You really do. Well, thank you for your time. Thank you all for listening. With that, off we go Thank you.