DARRYL SITTLER and TIGER WILLIAMS share Leafs Secrets, talk the NHL Golden Age, and more - CTC LIVE

Mike Commodore, Andrew Raycroft, and James Cybulski were joined by NHL LEGENDS Darryl Sittler and Tiger Williams on a very special LIVE Clearing the Crease Episode. We have special, exclusive interviews dropping on the Ozoon Canada YouTube channel, so make sure you're subscribed!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

He scored all the teammates all the death.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Why would each other like four steps? Like four minutes tests, I would just for the test, four days.

SPEAKER_05 0:38

Well played. Sabalski, Kami, Razor, and hockey royalty is in the house. I feel like I need to do that Wayne's World. We're not worthy. We're not worthy. Two absolute rock stars of the hockey universe. Tiger Williams, Daryl Sittler, gentlemen, please. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thank you very much for coming.

SPEAKER_05 0:57

We were just talking. Can you explain, like the Department of Clarification needs an answer to this? So much has been made, the recent anniversary, about the 50th anniversary of the 10-point game for you, Daryl. And somehow you wound up a dash two that night? Minus two, yeah. Minus two? Out of the H E double hockey sticks, did that happen?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Well, because you always gotta you always enhance the story, right? Okay. And you've got to have another line other than what he did, you know. So you gotta have somebody that you can pick on. So I'm always the guy. I always put my hand up. He's trying to grab some. It's not easy to be a minus two when your team scores 11 goals. I mean, think about that, how hard that is. Four goals scored against, and you're on for half of them. Yeah, there's always a story within the story. That's what he's trying to say. Tiger?

unknown 1:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

And I wasn't on his line that night anyway, so I wasn't gonna get a plus anyway, because he stole all the all the all the goals and the assists. So there was nothing left for Uncle Tiger anyway. Insinuating you were a puckhog that night there.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

Yeah, six assists. That wasn't four assists, sorry.

SPEAKER_07 2:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Four.

SPEAKER_07 2:06

Six.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Anyway, that's hard to believe 50 years ago. It is. You know the great part about it, like the Leafs, you guys probably saw they honored me on in January. And uh one of the things that I wanted for them to invite all the players who played in that game, and I think there was there's only about 11 or 12 of us left, you know, which is hard to believe. Yeah. The guys that passed away, but it was nice for all of us to get together. And you know, you guys have played on teams where there's a camaraderie and the chemistry there. We had that back in the 70s, and and we have the opportunity when we're all spread out wherever our lives are, get together, it just comes back and it's a it's a happy time for all of us, hey, Tiger?

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Well, yeah, actually, and there there was two guys that didn't make it. One guy we couldn't we couldn't find, Gordy McRae. We still haven't, so we don't know where he is. Okay. And the other guy was uh Patty Boutet kind of got snowed in in Fort Myers. I didn't know it snowed in Fort Myers, but snowed in in Fort Myers, Florida. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But it was it was nice the other nine guys all rallied up and come for his event because it was, you know. I mean, if you think Gretzky didn't break that that uh that night. That feels unfortunately. Getz told me one time that uh Thayder wanted to beat it so bad that uh towards the end there, he would he'd in the third period, if they were ahead, he'd planned the whole period. He said, I was just dying. I was so tired.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

So so when you say that, that game was against Minnesota, and I remember watching it at home. And Wayne had eight points at the end of the second period, and I'm watching, I'm thinking, oh shit, you know. And they kept him on the ice the whole third period. I was so friggin' tired slats wanted me to do it, and I didn't do it, but it was it was kind of kind of cool to touching on that night I read it today.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Uh um so the jersey, your jersey went missing, and you got it back, I think, in 2018. What what the hell happened?

SPEAKER_04 3:56

So, what's so different about today? Uh so we wore the same jersey the whole season. Like, you know, the owners didn't buy you a new jersey.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

You're getting one.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

And we didn't think to keep it. We didn't think to keep it. So Ballard, our owner, I guess, had had it, and so at some point in time gave it to somebody else. And fast forwarded 40 years, that jersey surfaced in um in New Jersey. A guy who's in the collection business bought 150 NHL game used jerseys, and he's going through it and he sees this one of me, and he's thinking, well, 70s, whatever. And because we wore those jerseys all year long, if they ripped the trainers, just sewed them up. And this particular jersey, I'd ripped the the stem on it, and the trainer sold it crooked. So there are three or four markings like that that distinct that made it the jersey, eh? So a couple of my buddies, I was their childhood, I've done well in their life, they've got some extra cash. They found it, they bid 200,000 bucks with the idea to bring it back to Canada. It was in it was in uh Houston in a auction there, and then took some pictures with it. But it was kind of cool for me and Tiger and these guys that I wore it out at Center Ice, and and here we are, they still have it. And uh it was pretty special to think that all these years later it surfaces back in trauma. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 5:08

Like speaking of like a memorabilia, obviously a night like that. You you don't think in the moment like I need to collect this or I had to pull that away.

SPEAKER_04 5:14

Nowadays they do, though. They they're grabbing their gloves at the end of the first period and selling them the sticks and all that other stuff. And it's going to hockey hall of fame.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Well, I have to correct you on that, because the first time Gordy Howell came back in an NHL, it was and it was with Hartford, the the first game at Maple Leaf Gardens, he he started the game, obviously. And he scored on the first shift. That's how good we were checking him.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Because we're we're too busy watching that guy. We're too busy trying to get another graph.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

So he scores, and all the his teammates are all in there.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Now he reaches, like, grab his dick, like pull the stick. And he goes, Tiger and he says, seller already asked before my stick before the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

You asked him before the game. Yeah, what I would do back then, uh, when guys were coming into our building and uh I thought they might retire in the next year or two, I would ask our trainer to ask her trainer for a stick. So I've got a pile of different Bobby Halls. Oh, yeah. Bobby Hall. Yeah, I I don't know, I've got a bunch of them. Merrill Lemude, uh Brett Brad Hall, uh Hashik, um I think I got a Stan Makita. Did you get a belly? Bob Orr. Bobby Orr. Bobby Orr. You know, game you so those are all cool things. Yeah. Really cool. Now they're worth as much as we made back then.

SPEAKER_07 6:39

Yeah, no kidding, right?

SPEAKER_05 6:41

That is that is wild. Um, how did you two have had such a strong relationship? Um, where did it form? Did it start? Just in camp or just over the years?

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Like, how did you two really bond the way you mean I I think over the years, and then we I I lived out after my first year, we moved, Brendan and I moved out to uh Mississauga, and he was nearby. So uh and Wendy was such a a good mentor to uh a young woman, my wife. I just went like that. And then when we were playing together, I went down.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

I'm gonna give him a Kleenex commercial.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Anyway, I just had it in my head I had to look after him.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

So hey, Tiger and I have been buddies and Lanny, we're all kind of connected, which is great, but I'll tell you a Tiger Williams story the first time I met him. So we draft him.

SPEAKER_06 7:48

Oh, I want to cry.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

We draft him with a junior. So I'm in the league four or five years at the time, and you say Tiger Williams, 600 minutes and penalties from somewhere out west, and he's our second round pick, right? So you're you're kind of in tune a little bit. So he comes to training camp. First day of training camp. We're getting dressed, and I'm the type of guy I want to get dressed, I want to be the first guy on the ice. That's just my mentality. I don't tell anybody, but that's just who I am, right? So I start walking out Maple Leaf Gardens ice, and I look behind me. Tigers behind me, right? Well, it's kind of cool, right? So I get on the ice, I'm skating around, and I look back, and he's not on the ice yet. He's standing on the door and he's looking around. And it's Saskatchewan kid, my dad's a leaf fan. First time on Maple Leaf Garden. That's what I see, right? Yeah. So I think, oh, that's kind of cool. And all of a sudden he gets on the ice and he skates as hard as he can over the board, and he hits the boards and he falls down on his friggin' knees. He gets up and he hits the other board. I go, holy shit, bro. So they started scrimmage. They started scrimmage. He didn't even know they dropped a puck, he just kicked the shit out of Ian Turnbull. The first thing, who happened to be the closest guy to him? That's right. So that's how I got the you know, Tiger kind of the character of the guy to begin with.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Might as well let him know who I am. Yeah, real early.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

What's I mean, I could probably take a guess on the answer, but I don't think I've ever asked you this. How'd you get the nickname Tiger?

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Uh when I was there. When I first started playing, you know, uh kids' hockey, I think I was six years old. Our our coach's name was Johnny Norman. And he he at the end of the year um in Wavern, Saskatchewan, he bought us all little windbreaker coats.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

And he put Tiger on the sleeve.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Oh, okay. Gotcha. And it stuck. For good reason. He was right. Carry through. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

It was that basic. Yeah, good deal. Cool. And it stayed with you the whole way through.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

The one thing about what I admire about Tiger, like so there's Lanny and I and Boria, we had the sculpts set, but Tiger made himself not only from a tough guy, he was a good junior player, obviously they could draft at second half, but it's a complete hockey player, you know?

SPEAKER_07 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

And he wasn't fun to play against. I wouldn't have never wanted to play against him if he's on your team. Even today, if he's on your team, you want him on your team, you know. So that's the kind of guy he is, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

So I just messaged my dad earlier. He was texting me, I'm going back to Calvary next week or whatever. And I said, Yeah, sorry, you know, we've been doing this the last couple days. And I said, Yeah, no, just out in Toronto, just doing interviews actually with Daryl Sittler and Tiger Williams. And my dad responded, he's like, Oh, that's great. He goes, Ah, I used to go watch Tiger and Swift Current, because my dad's from Saskatchewan, from Valmory.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Brian Trump. Hometown of Brian Trump.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

He's like, Yeah, I used to go watch Tiger play at Swift Current Broncos. He's like, he brought a lot of energy. Oh, yeah, I'm sure he did.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Yeah. But Tiger, you like in a league and in a sport where I think for years people have screamed for personality. Like you're one of the all-time personalities in a league that, you know, Daryl, you can probably speak to like it was very much more of a stay in your lane, be humble, all that. Here you are, maybe the most iconic goal celebration ever. And as somebody who lives in Vancouver, you're revered there, you're revered here in Toronto. Uh, but the stick, riding the stick, I mean, what where did that come where did that come from?

SPEAKER_03 11:09

And where was the personality always there? I could tell you as clear as bell that uh that was my first game back to to Toronto after I got traded to Vancouver. And it was it was a very tight game. It was a 2-2 game going in the last five minutes. I happened to score the goal. And uh and you know, when you score that goal in the last five minutes, you usually win the game. And it just happened. I never did it before in my life. I never thought about it. It just happened. And I, but probably one side of my my noodle said, Well, you guys got rid of me. I'm gonna jam it up your ass. So that kind of was part of it too. So where are you?

SPEAKER_05 11:55

Are you on the bench or are you on the ice for that?

SPEAKER_04 11:57

I'm on the bench watching them. I wasn't a minus on that one.

SPEAKER_06 12:02

Well played, baby. Well played. That's an ozoon, well played, right there, Daryl.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Cool part of that story was when Tiger was there, Harold Ballard bought the Hamilton Tiger Cats, right? And he had tigers on the ice, right? Tiger, remember that?

SPEAKER_07 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

And he had a jacket, one leaf, blue and white with a leaf logo, and then the black and yellow tiger cat jacket. And when Tiger would score a goal from time to time in Maple Leaf Garden with the, he'd go and touch the tigers for for Ballard. So it two colorful characters.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Uh well, one one of the reasons for that was the league wanted him to take the Hamilton Tiger Cats off the boards. They were also on the boards. And so Mr. Ballard said to me, And they didn't want that. If you ever score a goal or or or do you do something, make sure you go touch the tiger. You know, the tiger cat. And then so he just told the league, well, they're the Hamilton Tiger Cats and my tiger. So stick it up your ass. They don't go.

SPEAKER_08 12:54

So that that's how that got. What's your favorite Ballard story, Mr. Ballard?

SPEAKER_03 12:58

I love a Ballard story. Well, I can tell you a million of them because I love the guy. Yeah. Even though he traded you. I love the guy. Uh well, he never traded me. Some moron called Punch Himleck traded me. So this real much watched Mr. Ballard give that to me. I don't think Daryl got one. I mean, he treated he treated me like gold. And and and the thing the T-service, then. The thing that was amazing about Mr. Ballard that was, and for all of us that played there, what did he want from you? What did he want from you? That crest, are you willing to die for it?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

That's all he wanted.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

So I'll tell you, Harold Ballard's story. So when we played together back in the 70s, we always looked for a time during the season where you guys can get together, have a little bit of blow-up, you know. Um, so I organize this ice fishing trip up on Lake Simcoe. It's about an hour north of the city. We practice. There's the Orange School buses there. We load it up with Swish LA chicken and Wolsen's beer, and we're going up to Lake Simcoe to have a little fish. Sounds amazing, right? So by the time we get there at 2-3 in the afternoon, the guys have had a few beers. We get there, and uh they had these big bombarders. You could put like 10 guys in one, it was like a tank with the skis on. Lake Lake Simcoe is a dangerous lake, eh?

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

So we're getting ready to go, ten guys in one, ten in the other, ready to go. And the owner had to go up to the house. They didn't have a cell phone, his wife called him, but now we're sitting there. So Ian Turnbull has had a few beers on him, jumps in the front seat, puts the thing in gear. Well, start going out. And the guy comes out and he's pissed because it's, you know, and it's like one flew over to Cuckoo's nest. We're sitting in there and we're looking out, he's freaking away. So we didn't start the trip off very well, right? So anyway, we do the whole fishing thing. Now it's about seven, eight o'clock at night. We're getting ready to go back to the city, and I'm in the guy's kitchen trying to straighten it. He's giving me a hard time. He says there's freaking mess out there, lures missing, and whatever. I said, Listen, I'm an honest guy, just send me the bill, I'm gonna take care of it. So now we get back to Toronto. Four days later, I'm in the dressing room and come in after practice. The trainer says, Mr. Ballard wants to see you up in his office. No idea. And that never happened very often. So I'm 25 years old. Go up to Ballard's office, and you know where it is up there, and he's sitting at his desk, and I walk in. Daryl, sit down. So I sit down here. He says, I want you to read this letter. So he hands me this letter. Dear Mr. Ballard, your player's a bunch of boars. Tigers pissing on the post office steps, beer cans here, chicken bones here, Environment Canada, Sittler, this and that. So I'm reading this to myself. I mean, holy shit, you know. So I put the letter back in front of Mr. Ballard, and I'm sitting there and I'm waiting. He goes, You know what I'd do if you if I were you, Daryl? He said, I'd sit in a brown paper bag, wrap it up, and send it to the guy. He says, Now get the hell out of here.

SPEAKER_07 15:42

Marketing model.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

He just wanted to let us know we knew what was going on. That's the other thing with him. Tell him the facts. Don't lie. And so when there was a shit show and there was a few of them, uh go to them right away and tell them we're in the driver's house, yes, we punched out a bunch of guys. But if you went and told him, he looked after you. If you tried to hide it from him, he wouldn't respect you and he wanted you out as fast as he gets you out of there. So that that that's what I loved him. He was an honest guy and he wanted you to be the same. How hard is that? It's the easiest thing you can do in all our life. Just be frigging honest, everybody listening.

SPEAKER_05 16:29

Be honest, yeah. Honesty is the best policy. So you loved the guy. You had like I I like Mr.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Ballard. I understood him. As he got older, Tiger, you know, sometimes his thinking was off a little bit. I don't know if it was his diabetes or what it was. So he would do a lot of irrational things and a lot of things to get the media attention, you know? Yes. So he wouldn't think about some guy, you know, who he's saying something negative about how that person would feel, whether a player or myself or wherever. Where things changed with me is when he hired Punch Imlak, and Punch Imlak came back. We all respected Punch. He won the cup in the in the 50s or whatever it was, but we were around. But he had been a step to the side by that point. We had been around guys who played for Mlak and we knew he didn't respect having a player's union, he didn't respect a player's rights, he treated you like a piece of freaking meat, and he made sure he did, you know. So if you were on the bad side of him for whatever reason, I happened to be that person, then I had to stick up for him. I had a no-trade contract, which was fortunate to have outside, I would have been gone way before anybody else. And there weren't a lot of people who had no trades at that time, right? Very few. Very few, yeah. I was in a position where I could get that, you know. So then it became an issue with he and me. You know, I was a vice president of players' union, I was a captain of the team, my popular guy, popular with my teammates, all that sort of shit. So he did things like banning me from going on hockey night in Canada, stuff like that. Um showdown. We had the showdown, we taped it in September. He didn't want me to go. I participated in the two years before. So a lot of little things like that. And and then Tiger was around it, eh, Tiger? So then he started trading guys, like guys with character, Patty Boutet, and and uh, you know. Lanny Lanny, right? So we're talking about the Lanny.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Well, what he did, what he what he did, uh um he had a no-trade, so he couldn't get rid of him. So what he did to try to cripple him, he started with Lanny, got rid of Lanny, then he got rid of me. And uh, I'll tell you how much class that man had. When he traded me, we're in Long Island. And after the game, I get up to go to the washroom at two in the morning, and he threw an envelope under the door and said, You've been traded. There'll be a driver taking the airport at eight in the morning. Not didn't have the balls to come and tell me to my face or where I was going or anything. And the other guy that was my roommate, and that was the first time we roommated together, she's we should have figured it out, me and Jerry Butler, that we were gone. And he was out a little bit late that night. And so when he came in, you know, I told him we got trading, and his name wasn't even on the list.

unknown 19:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

And he goes, Well, my name's on the list. Well, I've heard through the grapevine that you and I are going. He's where are we going? I said, I don't know. So we we we get in the cab, we go to the airport, we're on the plane, we land in Toronto. Uh you know, there's no media release that time. We go home and they said, We'll let you know. And all of a sudden they call us and say, Well, you got traded to Vancouver. But it was uh um whoever was uh the assistant general manager at that time, um, that that's how uh gutless that that person was. You know, it was absolutely no respect for us. And it was too bad he he wasn't the coach, then we could have ran the shit out of him and cut his head off.

SPEAKER_04 19:47

Yeah, he was uh you know, none of us enjoyed playing for him, you know. And and I'll go back to people saying, I took the C off the jersey, which I mean that's a big thing to take the C off. And I'll uh explain a little bit why. So all these things were happening from September through training camp all the way through hockey night in Canada, trading guys, all this sort of stuff, right? And he was challenging me. He thought because you're a vice president of the players association and and you're the captain, that's a conflict of interest. Alan Eagleson was my agent, and he said, Alan Eagleson says it's white, I'm gonna say it's black, get ready for your agent. Yeah, all these number of things. So, anyway, so it came to a point where when they traded Lanny, I went to the morning skate, and on my way home that morning, I think that I said to myself, What am I doing here? I'm here to play hockey. That's what I'm paid to do. I'm getting all this other stuff that I don't need, don't want. He has no respect for me. I'm just gonna go take the sea off. And I told my wife, and she so I wrote some notes out why I was gonna do it, because I didn't want to see the media after the game. So I go to the rink that night, go to training camp or the the warm-up. None of these guys know what's going on. I come off early, and I'm in the washroom, and I and I asked the trainer for a scalpel, and I got my jersey trying to, and it's triple stitched, and I didn't want a big friggin' hole there. I'm getting freaking shaky. You're using it for the rest of the day. I said, Gunnar, don't say anything. Can you just take this off? So in the meantime, the players came in, I came out, and I went to the coach's office, Floyd Smith and Dick Duff, kind of told them what I was doing. And just as I did that, Dickie Duff left, and I think he was gonna run up and tell Imlak what was going on, right? And I was a little nervous about that. So now I go into the room very emotionally. I'm not gonna smart ask to tell these guys this is what I've decided to do, okay? That's big. What happens is never happened before, never happened after. As I just finished my thing, the the stick boy kid comes in, he says, the Zamboni broke down. He said the game's gonna be delayed. So I'm thinking, oh shit, you know, Imlach's gonna come down and tell me it's freaking Jersey. Never happened, okay? So then we have the we play the game, and then what happened that so that happened on a Saturday night, the Monday morning, Floyd Smith comes to me, he says, Daryl, he says, You've been such a great you know, uh piece of the organization. He says, What we'd like to do, we'd like to send you and your family on a vacation to Florida, you know? And I'm thinking, no, I'm here to Play hockey. I'm not going to Florida, right? So I tell Smitty that we have a two-day practice. Imla comes down, he's calls me and he says, Uh, did Smitty tell you we're sending you to Florida? I said, You're not sending me anywhere. My job's to play hockey. I'm gonna show you, and I'm gonna show everybody else that that's what I'm gonna do. And I don't say this, and I didn't realize it until after the fact. So the second half of the season, I was second to Gretzky in scoring. Everything. So then the next night I go out and get a hat trick. The next night it's pissing him lack off. So now he starts saying, he starts saying, Well, that's the way we had to motivate him. So he's taking the credit for getting me freaking going, right? So all this shit. So Tiger, no, he was like that. But I'll say this today, and I'll say it in front of Tiger. What was most rewarding about that? They ask other players to put the C on. And the guy said, no, Darryl's our captain. He doesn't need the C on, you know. So to me, that's a measurement for me that and my teammates, the character the guys here and respect. So, hey, would I want to go through it again? No. Did you have to go through it? Uh I've always believed, and still to this day, you try to do the right things for the right reasons. And if you do that, you can live with yourself, eh? And MLAC was doing all these other things, and I felt, and Tiger felt it was important that we we do the right things for the right reasons. Well, that's fun. Well, incredible.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

He was he was always our captain. That wasn't gonna change. Didn't matter what uh Mlak did, he was our captain, and there's nobody in that room who was gonna put that C on. And uh I I know we talked the other guys, but I made it very clear to the guys in the room, and I was, you know, at the younger part of the uh of the organization as teammates there, and I said, anybody except that captain job, you will never play a game because you'll be in a coffin.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

And then you wouldn't play a game.

SPEAKER_05 23:45

Um okay, I got I got one for you and I got one for you. We'll start with you on this one. Uh, best on best is finally back in the National Hockey League where we had the Olympics this past year. You played on that '76 Canada Cup. Is that was that like the Avengers of that time? Like, is that the best roster you ever played with? With that group, like that was.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Definitely. I think there's 18 guys went on to be Hall of Famers. Bobby Urrh, that was his kind of his last hurrah. He was, you know, player of the tournament. Um But you had the OT? Yeah, scored the winning goal. But I'll back it up a bit. So in 72, um, I was two years in the league. Paul Henderson and I would drive into the ring together and I got to know him. So when he scored that big goal in Russia, my wife Wendy and I didn't have it. We we moved into his house and we were basically babysitting his three young daughters, right? Oh, really? So he's away and while he's overseas. Well, he was in, yeah, we were at his home in Mississauga, which is kind of a cool thing. Yeah. Fast forwarded four years ago. That's amazing. Um, with the Canada, with the with the Canada Cup goal. But we learned quite quickly when guys like Boryas Salman came over just before that, and we realized as players on the ice, the skill and the talent of some of these European players, and then it started to open up. So so the 76th Canada Cup team, they invited 35 guys to training camp. Ten guys got sent home, and and it was one of those things, Scotty Bowman was the coach, I mean, the greatest coach ever. And guys like myself and Landy, we were young bucks, we just keep our mouths shut, but we were in shape, trained all summer, and whatever opportunity we were given, we were gonna do it. I I was playing left wing, I was a centerman, didn't matter, you know. So uh the the cool thing about that, after I scored the winning goal, um, Mr. Ballard had Maple Leaf Gardens, excuse me, uh, answer the phones the home of Daryl Sittler. So there's the good side of that.

SPEAKER_07 25:32

That's awesome. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 25:35

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

You uh one for you as you finish your career in Hartford. Uh I was talking to one of your former Hartford teammates, Ray Ferraro, who shared a story that um when you came in uh when you joined the Whalers, you're in LA for a game, and in warm up you pulled Ray aside and said, You have one reason, God puts you on the re on the earth for one reason tonight to make me look good. And then you see he set you up in the first period on a goal, and when you got to the bench, you looked at Ray and said, You're halfway there, kid. Did you love that brass bonanza song in Hunter?

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Yeah. Well, you know, when you always go, when you get traded and you go back to your team, you obviously want to score in that game as soon as possible. Because the other guys that play like you, uh, they certainly don't want that to happen. And and they they want to get the opportunity to uh maybe have have a punch out with with you. That's that's normal how it happens. So you want to get that goal as fast as you can. And uh you always want to pick a guy who's got the talent. And Ray was the g was the man that could deliver, you know. So you you gotta exploit your teammates, and uh, he was the guy. So, and it did happen. So it it it was uh it just kind of takes that pressure off, you know. Was he always a one-liner guy, though?

SPEAKER_05 27:03

He always had the one liner.

SPEAKER_04 27:06

Still is.

SPEAKER_08 27:08

Still is present company aside, who are the best players that you played with?

SPEAKER_04 27:13

The best players I played with was Bobby Oren in the 76th Canada Cup. And you know, no disrespect for Wayne Gretzky, but that era in the 70s when Bobby kind of just dominated that game as a defenseman and you know what he did. Uh unfortunately his career was so short because of his knee injuries. Um, so I would say say him, but obviously Wayne Gretzky, Guy Lefleur in his period of time for the for the Habs was was remarkable. So's your boat.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Who's your guy?

SPEAKER_08 27:40

Well, I I would I yeah. But leading the right. I'm saying you can't say Daryl. I can't say Daryl. Okay, well that takes that little pressure off me. Yeah, you can't.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Um Brian Tracey, who I uh um, I'll blow your mind here. All right, okay, all right. Read that thing. Oh, so that's the 82 Stanley Cup. And he played against us. Yeah, with a canon.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

No way. He gave you the ring?

SPEAKER_05 28:23

What's the story with it? That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 28:26

Well, we we played. Well, I'll tell you the story, so somewhat what I know in Tiger and Gill. So Ryan lived uh on the reservation, I guess, didn't he? No, he lived in Belbury. As a shy quai kid, he came to wherever you're having training campaigns. Swift current and he went home. He got homesick or something, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:49

No, no, what happened was halfway through halfway through the first year uh of of of it, he was a tremendous player then, and he is when it was done, but he quit. Went home. And he was that typical high talented guy back in the in the in the war zone days, is that he was tired of getting speared and punched and elbowed and everything. So he quit. He said, I don't need this in my life, so he went home. So I come to practice the next day, and he's not there. And I said to our coach that night, where's God? He's gone home. So I said Dan, I'm not practicing. Off I went. And I go to get the battle. And you found him. And I brought him. And that's when for me, I was always a defenseman my whole life. Never played forward in a day of my life. And I said to Troj, I'm gonna be your winger. Anybody practice? That's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah, yeah. So you moved up to forward then from D. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

And that's how I and I scored 52 goals that year. 52 goals. And and so Traj wanted me to have this. Trotch wanted me to have this 10 years ago. He kept trying to give it to me, and I never earned it, buddy. And then finally he said, You're taking it. Yeah. So he's got seven of them, but he's doing one right now.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

He was he was the best all-around center for me to play against in that era. Like face-offs, toughness, you know, clean, but competitive, and and he and that that line was phenomenal. He and Boston. How did that look like that?

SPEAKER_05 30:50

So to that, to that point, like that Leafs core that you were that Leafs era of the 70s, I mean, great team. And that's sort of sort of, I think, for some, oh, I shoulda, coulda, woulda, like, oh, that team. But you also ran into some juggernauts at that. Montreal obviously is winning those four cups. You got the Flyers who had just won those back-to-backs. And then you also got a taste of that Islanders in those early 80s of those four straight, like a couple of wagons, as you would say, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:19

And then and then after that, and if we had we, you know, being in out in the west in Vancouver, then we had the oilers. Yeah, then you would have sought that. That's just the way uh, you know, good smart organizations get the right guys and they they develop the players properly. But uh that I learned their team, they had, you know, you think of Bossey and Clark Gailey's and Trotchy that one line, maybe the best line. You know, it it reminds me of the La Fleur shot LaMaire line and you know the Sittler, McDonald's, Thompson line, or Williams on the road. And so most people don't most people don't realize when I when I started playing with Darren Landy, I played on the road because then some meathead couldn't interfere with my my guys. Yeah, yeah. And uh and but at home, Arrow always played. So his ten-point night, Arrow was the guy that was out there. Thank goodness. And uh I yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

We wouldn't be talking about that.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

So who was who was the best of those teams? Of those teams, uh that Philly group, the hat, those Habs of the 70s or the Islanders?

SPEAKER_04 32:17

The Habs won four in a row there. The one season they only lost like eight games, you know.

SPEAKER_05 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

They had the three big guys on defense, and Ken Dryden. Well, Dryden was huge. They had they had more depth than all of us. They'd keep what they you know.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

Yeah. And you know they the other thing about uh the the the Canadians that uh with Scotty there, he always matches lines up perfectly. Like they were never put in a situation as as players in a tough situation. He uh Scotty was smart smart enough to do it. And uh I ended up uh playing with uh Shuddy in uh in LA. So him and I used to talk about that. But they they they had they had they had everything. They had the D, they had the goalie, they had the forwards, and they had the coaching, you know. And uh if you you ever and I I did when we were there, the you know, I'd go and watch the way uh uh practice was run. Like Scotty hardly ever said a word. The guys just knew it. And those leaders just ran the ran the show, and then he'd blow the whistle and might change the drill or something. But everything was was their practice was geared to the game, you know, especially who you're playing against and everything. And they'd always match lines with with these guys like uh, you know, uh uh Riseborough's line would always check the setup.

SPEAKER_05 33:38

I was gonna say, was it Riseboro that you had to match up with? Uh Jarvis and Ganey. Or Ganey, I was gonna say, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Bob Ganey. Yeah, and Ganey could skate as well as anybody in the world.

SPEAKER_05 33:48

He was an original fitness freak from that time.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

But they Montreal. Montreal was a great organization, and and you don't win these four in a row like all these teams that Montreal did and the Islander Zoo and Evan Too without your best players being the best every game and every shift. And that's that's what a lot of players today don't realize. If you're supposed to be the best player in this in this city of Toronto, then show us you're the best. And don't disagree. If you're not gonna die for your uniform, give it up and go play ping-pong.

SPEAKER_06 34:21

Get the hell out of here.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

Pickleball, pickleball, pickleball, pickleball.

SPEAKER_06 34:25

Pickleball.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

No. And you know, uh, you talked about great players, how many great players they've been, you know. As a kid, Gordy been a Sicatcheon boy, he was my man my whole life, and the team I always cheered for. But we all couldn't get many games on TV. So you're second, you're back at T was always Toronto, because we get the games on Saturday night. But uh, you know, and Bobby, what a like here's a question I want to ask you guys. Why is it the Hall of Famers, the Sittler, the McDonald's, the Trotchy, the Bobby Orr's, you know, on and on, Nikila Fleur, Larry Robertson, on and on and on, John Belleville. Why? They're in the Hall of Fame, so we know as uh in their career they're at the top. Why are they at the top in society? Why are they our leaders in society and their first class 365 days a year? Nobody can answer that. Why is he like that? Why is Lanny like that?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Chaud Chick. No question. Lanny, the one.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

So nobody ever gives me an answer.

SPEAKER_08 35:37

Yeah. Because they want to be on the ice first before everybody else everything else.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

So I'll tell you a childhood story. So as a kid growing up in Ontario, I was a John Bellaux, Montreal Canadians fan, and Santa Claus gave me a Bellaville 4 jersey. I'm four or five years old, and I wear that everywhere, okay? So now I get drafted by the lease in 70. I'm 20 years old, and I'm in the Montreal Forum. I look up and I'm facing off against Jean. He's 41 and I'm 20. Magical moment for any kid, which you guys have. Yeah. So now I have a successful career. 89 to get elected to the Hall of Fame. So I'm 39 now. Now I get to meet Jean Bellaville at another level, but still had that little admired boy feeling in me.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

Still Jean Bellible, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

You know, I meet him around the Hall of Fame. So where I'm going with this, well, my wife died of colon cancer in 2001, and I lived over in East Amherst, New York. The morning of her funeral, my phone rings and I pick it up. Daryl, it's Mr. John Bellaville. I want you to know I'm thinking of you in your most difficult day of your life. And he went and found my number through somebody so he could pass that to me. So, Jean Bellaville, if you go into my home, even though I'm the leaf guy, his picture sits there along with Terry Fox, you know, great Canadian. And they're my heroes in ILS. And we can all learn from all of them and what they are, their humility, their character, and all that sort of stuff. So I think that's what Tiger's saying about uh these other guys.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

It is so special that, especially in the game of hockey, our big dogs are such great people. It's amazing. Freaking amazing. And you know, it I can't comment about the other sports, but in our sport, you want first class guys, you go check out the Hall of Famers because they're they're bomb-proof, that group. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:19

Uh Terry Fox, before we wrap, you know, obviously Terry Fox is iconic. You have an iconic moment with Terry where I think the marathon really took off. I think that day, Nathan Phillips Square, here you are, downtown. My dad, actually in Ottawa, was the police officer, one of the police officers assigned to Terry for his day going through Ottawa to that day. And I've I've always asked like my dad, like, tell me a story about like what was it like? What was it like about being there with Terry? And it just was quiet and kept himself, said his leg was sore, which okay, I can appreciate. But so what happened with me?

SPEAKER_04 37:52

Um, I was up at my summer home and I picked up a Toronto newspaper, and there was a picture of a young curly-haired kid, lost his leg, gonna run 26 miles a day.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Same hair right there. Well, I mean, he had that hair.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

I think you had that similar hair too at one time. When I read that article, and I thought, oh, this guy, he's lost his leg. Like I used to train, like run eight or nine miles, 26 a day on my leg. So it grabbed my emotions, right? So as he went through the Maritime provinces, he wasn't getting much exposure, but I looked for it. And then all of a sudden, he uh uh out of the blue, he arrived at the Ontario Quebec border. The president of the Cancer Society in Ontario met him there. He says, Terry, when you're coming through Ontario, what can we do for you? He wanted to meet me and he wanted to meet Bobby Orr.

SPEAKER_07 38:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Because as a kid growing up in Port Coquitlam hockey night in Canada, we were his guys. So they said, Daryl, you want to meet him? I said, Oh, I'd love to meet him. You know, like so they kept it quiet. It was July 11th. I was driving down from my summer home, beautiful sunny day. I thought, what could I do for him? So I played in the All-Star game, 1980, and I went and grabbed my All-Star jersey, put in a brown paper bag, go down to whatever. Terry didn't know I was coming. I had a Terry Fox shirt on. He just finished 13 miles. He's up in his hotel room in Yorkville. And I walk in and I say, hey, would anybody like to go for a run? And I can always remember that vivid look on his face, the smile and the emotion, and then I got to know him from that day forward. We went down University Avenue, and I didn't want to be the guy. He's the guy. I'd stay back, go into Nathan Phillips Square. There's 15,000 people there. Gave him the jersey. But I got to know Terry from that day forward. And his cancer's run ended, his cancer came back. We'd go to Vancouver, invite him to the dressing room. He was taking chemo at the time. We'd call him from time to time.

SPEAKER_05 39:31

So he came to visit you even in Vancouver, yeah. Yeah, he did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

But the thing that sticks out most to me, and it's a little bit what Tiger's saying about people, he was such a humble guy. It wasn't about him and his ego, it was about doing the right things, trying to make a difference. So the Terry Fox Foundation and Ron, we just went over a billion-dollar mark for that dream and goal, right? Oh. And what's kind of cool for me, I've got grandkids here. You know, every school in Ontario or across Canada had the Terry Fox. They didn't know Papa's story about Terry Fox, and they're having a video or a film at school, and they come home to my daughter. Hey, Mama, I didn't know Papa knew Terry Fox. But that legacy and dream goes on. And to me, if you talk about great Canadians, he's got to be right up there with the greatest Canadians. What he did in such a short period of time was 3,000 friggin' miles. And just a kid, really, right? Like to think about like 2020.

SPEAKER_03 40:21

I used to go visit him in Vancouver at his end. When he was getting to the end. You did.

SPEAKER_04 40:26

Yeah. Yeah. I used to go up there. So anyway, we've got to keep his legacy going. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 40:31

I mean, talk about being on the back of a $5 bill. I guess I'd be remiss for every Leaf fan that's watching. When are the Leafs finally going to win the Stanley Cup?

SPEAKER_03 40:40

They're not going to finally win until they get their head out of their assets management. And what they need to do. And whoever they hire and whoever the fella is there now who's running the business, if he gets involved in running the team, they will never, ever win. And you need to get the right people, hire a proper headhunter to go get the right people. And hockey people only. And guys with experience. Tommy, you were saying that. There's a rumor going around right now, there'll be some guy that hasn't played in 17 years. He's never managed a box of popcorn and he's gonna be part of the management team? Like, are you guys on drugs? What's the matter with the Rogers family? Get your head out of your ass. And if you want to know exactly what to do, call me and I'll tell you. Here we go. There we go.

SPEAKER_06 41:41

That's what they need.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

And they need guys that come here are willing to die for the crest. And if they're not willing to die for the crest, get rid of them. How much? It's simple math.

SPEAKER_08 41:54

It's simple.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

So when is this gonna be played?

SPEAKER_05 41:58

It's gonna be. There we go. There you go. Love it. Um thank you so much. I do want to hit uh Sittler to 10-point. Uh you can find in beer stores in Ontario. That's in the beer stores. 10-point lager. Nice. It's a good beer. It's a good beer. I like beer, so I look forward to trying some of that. Yes, I think we might have to uh Tommy, what's the hat bag? Get in one, I think, at uh some point courtesy of functionality. Thank you, buddy. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

I appreciate you having you guys on. It's always fun to be with this guy and team up. What a tree.

SPEAKER_05 42:29

The amazing stories, amazing stories, and uh please don't ever stop being you, both of you. The world needs more Sittlers and Tigers. Uh special thanks to Andrew Jackson and Jackson Events uh for commie, for Razor. I'm Sabalski. A massive thank you to Tiger Williams and Daryl Sittler, hockey royalty here on the Clearing the Craigs podcast, powered by Ozun. That right there is well played.