EP 64- Mac Carruth - Portland Winterhawks - NHL - Europe - Professional Goaltender

Mac Curruth joins us from Jackson Hole , Wyoming . He is enjoying his off season from professional hockey. He currently plays for the French Ligue Magnus side Dragons de Rouen. He shares stories about the process of navigating his career . Recruited by UMD , playing for the Wenatchee Wild in the NAHL to ending up on a Memorial Cup team for the Portland Winterhawks . Drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and now enjoying a career in Europe . Mac looks forward to giving back to the sport and coaching someday . This is great ! 

https://snowkingsec.com/moose-hockey/#/team/IcrJqqbc0HExKlCm

https://www.instagram.com/jhmoosehockey/?hl=en

https://www.vancouverplumbingllc.com/ 

Edited & Produced by Daisie Media 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Tricky Buck Podcast, episode sixty-four, and I'm very honored to welcome Matt Carew from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Professional goaltender. How are you doing today?

unknown 0:27

Good.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

How are you guys?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Excellent. And uh what did you do today in Jackson Hole? Because Jackson Hole is one of the most beautiful places in America. And what was your day like?

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Um, I got two kids now, so early, early wake up. Um and we've just been kind of I'm only back here for a couple months every year now, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Uh we kind of get uh roped into the tourist thing every once in a while, but today we went to the museum and just kind of had a picnic outside in one of the parks and had a quiet little day, and then uh went and saw my nephew graduate preschool, which I think that might be a new thing um recently.

unknown 1:08

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I don't remember doing a graduation party for mine, but I don't either.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Um they're having a good time out there, but um then we went and had another little picnic uh with my mother, my wife and kids, and then the nephews and my sister and her husband, and uh just by chance there was a Snake River fest going on at the park, uh some live music and stuff, and some of the some of the random things you run into in Jackson Hole without even looking at your Instagram or anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

It's like and are are you can can you walk around Jackson without being uh bothered?

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Me?

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yes. I mean you're you're professional athlete. I mean, are people coming up to you?

SPEAKER_04 1:52

I mean, like No, I'm I'm very, very forgotten in this town.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Hey, great question because he is not, I'm more high profile than he is. So yes, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

I love that TJ comes in here on my question. I love it. Great question.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Okay, and and Mac, I I want to ask you this. Like, dream the you're in your off season right now. In your off season is what? Two months?

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Uh well we got finished in April. Like usually it's mid-April to end of April in Europe.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

And then we start back up August 1. Um and then since I've started dating my wife like six years ago, we were dating. Um we've kind of tried to stay out in Europe as much as possible.

unknown 2:42

This could be like the lifestyle.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

This is a bit slower and um don't want to start anything, but like the this life's a bit cheaper out there.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Okay. Uh okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

We enjoy being out there and then obviously flights in Europe to go to Prague or Budapest or whatever, like 50 bucks. Um, obviously not anymore that we have kids, like they're a little bit more expensive for the four of us. But um, it's just nice to be out there and just be able to do some of the things that we probably won't be able to do once we come back home for good, you know?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Okay. And that's amazing. And congratulations on your beautiful family. I love it. I love seeing your pictures. And so, how did you meet your wife? I understand she's Canadian.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yeah, yeah, she's Canadian from Calgary. Um, stole one from north of the border.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

I love it. They got some good ones up there.

SPEAKER_04 3:43

Yeah, I know. She's she's the best. Um and so I was playing in Hungary at the time. Um and then I came back to the States, and my goalie coach at the time was living in Calgary in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Um, like his family was. You had a trep there and stuff. And so we had just kind of planned after my after I re-signed in Hungary, like we were gonna meet in Calgary for a couple weeks and just uh train. Um and it and it's uh Stampede the July, I think it's July 7th now. The 14th. I don't know, it's like a week or two weeks, I'm not 100% sure. So um, but anyways, the Stampede. Um, so we planned to train around that and then we'd go out for a couple beers that night, just him and I. And um I actually got there July 1st, like a day early, just uh get settled in and whatever, instead of a 12-hour drive onto the ice, I got there a day early.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Um and July 1st is Canada Day in Canada. Okay, and I I should know this from pit playing in Portland, obviously, playing in the Western League.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Um, but it I totally spaced and I'm staying right downtown Calgary and I'm looking for a place to eat. I just drove 12 hours. I think I maybe had a McDonald's at in five in the morning and then just tried to crush it all the way through.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Right.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

And uh so I'm just I get I get hangry and whatever, so I was just looking for any place to eat. And being a a true Western leaguer, I obviously want to go to Earl's, the bar and restaurant, for those that don't know. Um I walk in there, no, you don't have a reservation, okay. Like you might be able to find a spot at the bar, and just by just by chance, there was one bar school left. So I go up there and there is like a uh another like kind of dude that walked in the same time and he heard the same thing. He starts kind of walking in front of me. And so I, you know, like I said, I was a bit hangry and whatever, but uh I kind of shoulder him, like give him give him the give him the business and beat him, beat him to the chair. I beat him to the bar school and I just started murdering. I didn't even notice anyone around me at the at first, but then you know, I got my food and stuff and noticed uh my future wife sitting next to me. Um and I didn't want to be the guy that just you know starts wheeling right away. So I just kind of ate food, drank my beers, and um, and she started kind of joking around with her friend, and every single time she would laugh, she would like kind of like hit me. Um like you know, she likes to talk with her hands and stuff. And I was like, oh sorry, like I'll move over. And she said, Oh no, no, like and then obviously we start talking and whatever, and then I pretty much hung out with them the rest of the night. Um, and they're like, Oh, we'll show you the town. I'm like, you know, I've seen the town, obviously. I've played in the Western League, but um she chose me a town and she ends up taking me to three different locations of the same bar. Oh, Nashville's or uh Nationals, it's called Nationals. So we go to three different like rooftop patios of the same bar in different locations, right? Um but yeah, and then uh I think I had a rule that summer for some reason. I didn't kiss girls at the bar, so I refused to kiss her.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

And uh she like went home, she was like offended that I because we were hanging out for probably five, six hours, and I didn't even like kiss her goodnight or anything. And and uh yeah, she got offended, and like I luckily I got her Instagram and stuff uh before we left. And I messaged her like, hey, had a great time, like we'd love to hang out with you again. And yeah, we hung out pretty much the rest of the two weeks I was there. Um and then like at the end of the two weeks, she's like, This has been great, like, but obviously you're leaving and you're going to Europe and blah blah blah blah. And I was like, Oh, okay, I have a uh I have another training camp in Florida um that I was I was paying like uh this trainer in the summer. I was paying them like quite a bit of money, and at the end of the summer, I gotta go to this camp in Florida where like they house you, they feed you like a couple meals a day. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

Um and they just you know it's a it's a just a pro. It used to it, I don't think it's anymore. It's called Summit. Um great dude. Um was running it, but I'm not sure what he's doing now. He's he was the strength coach of Miami, Ohio. Yeah, so there's a bunch of like ex-Miami Ohio guys that have turned pro, they go down there for a couple weeks. Um, but it's awesome setup, and then I go, I pretty much said to my wife, I go, Well, I'm going down here to Florida. If you want to hang out for another week, come hang out. I have like an apartment that they put me in. Um so she came down there and pretty much hung out with me and the boys for a week and it went well, and then she flew out to Hungary, I think, twice uh that first year. Met my parents in Hungary for the met my parents, my parents for the first time in Hungary that year. Just on like the walking street in uh uh Sneakers for Avar, uh the place where I was playing.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Right.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

And yeah, the rest is kind of history. Then the following year she moved out to uh Germany with me, uh like Eastern Bloc Germany, which is which was pretty crazy. And then COVID hit, and we spent you know, two years pretty much cooped up in uh kind of like communist era, like Soviet Union bloc apartment.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

That's amazing. I I I love hearing these stories. So I want to ask you, are are your children will they be a dual citizen? American Canadian?

SPEAKER_04 9:30

No, we get well, we are they will be American Canadian.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

My daughter was born in Denmark, yeah, and my son was just born in France this year.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Um a lot of people ask me, oh, like will they get their uh passports from those locations? And um oddly enough, I think the US was the last country to have that rule where if you were born in the States, you get a passport or citizenship, I guess you should call it. So I think it just changed like very recently within like the last year or two.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Um, but yeah, the US was kind of the last country, I think, to do that. Uh because a lot of guys are having babies in Germany and stuff like that that I know, and they don't get passports.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Okay, and that's interesting. And I wonder uh this is gonna be a great conversation. I want to congratulate you on your career because it's amazing. And uh so I I watched you in Portland, but previous uh to you coming to Portland, you were in Wenatchee, which is in Washington, where I currently live. How how did you end up in Winatchie?

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Um, I was I started um I left Pullman at Fort, like just I guess we can start from like when I was 14.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Okay.

unknown 10:43

Oh, and I left Jackson, I was 10. Okay. If we want to go back that far.

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Um I was 10, moved to Minnesota, um Minnetonka, Minnesota, to be exact. Um and it's for my I I don't know if it was for me to play at a higher level or if my dad got a job and it was a bit of both.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:04

Um TJ's looking at me like I'm just stepping on his toes.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

No, that's this is great. This is great.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Yeah, I moved I we moved to uh give me a better opportunity at August. That's what I wanted to do. Um and it was you know it was a great, great experience, but I was only there for four years, and then once I left home, my family slowly started working their way back to Jackson. But but at 14 I uh billeted in Chicago, uh like not Chicago, like outside Chicago, south side, um, New Lennox, Illinois.

unknown 11:42

Oh jeez.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

And it was my first year was the Fury. I think it was owned by Keith Creamy. Like he had a like a gear company at the time.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Um and they were based out of Chicago, and they he had it's kind of like the Chicago Mission and Team Illinois and like uh Little Caesars and those types of triple A. Um, so he had a team, I think it was only for that year, if I'm if I'm correct. Or maybe it was the chill the first year and it turned into the Fury for a few years. That I think that's it. So it was the chill my first year was um midget minor, and I was 14 playing with 16-year-olds at the time.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 12:27

Um so I had a tryout in the middle of summer that like my dad's like, hey, let's let's just go to this summer camp, and it was just ended up being like a scrimmage, and I pretty much I think I got recruited out of that scrimmage that I had no idea was a tryout to play for this team for this uh midget triple A Chicago chill team.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:48

And then the following year I moved out to midget major, and that that year the chill turned into the fury um out of the same rank and everything, but they just changed the name. Um and then from there I had a really good year, and again I was an underage player, I was 15 playing with like 18, 19 year olds. Um and had a real good year and uh when Natchez I actually I think I committed to Minnesota Duluth at the end of that year at 15.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Uh like verbally committed to Minnesota Duluth um with Sandlin as coach there.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Um I think that was my excuse me, that was my only visit in at NCAA, and I loved it there and you know obviously thought I was gonna go there for four years.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

It was a pretty cool thing to commit at that early of an age.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Um I think a lot of guys were doing it back then.

unknown 13:45

Um I'm sure it's even worse now.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

But um but yeah, that was kind of like my 15-year-old year there, and then when Achi picked me up, and I think I was gonna go to the USHL, um, but there was some kind of riff between the UMD and whatever USHL team I was supposed to go to. Um as far as maybe they like didn't play a player or something or what at what have you. Um so they didn't want me going to this USHL team and not playing. Um they'd rather have me go to the the NA, um, a fresh team, Winatchie, um and kind of had everything going for him, a new rink. Uh Paul Baxter, X NHLer, was the coach. Um, so it just seemed like a good fit. Uh so we went out there at 16. Um, and then we ended up making it to the finals, our inaugural season. Um, and I was I was playing with an overage goalie, Matthew Dugas, he's uh from Quebec.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Um great guy. Uh we've kind of shared the net most of the year, and then one playoff game. I think we've only played like I think it was kind of a one and done playoff series, and then you go to like the tournament at the end in a whatever location. Um and I think I'm not a hundred percent sure, but he kind of came in, he wasn't feeling his best like game-wise, not like health-wise, but he just went into the coach's office and was kind of like, Hey, I'm not having a good game, like get me out of here, type of thing.

unknown 15:20

Um, which is wild, obviously. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

Um and I had sat most of the playoffs, I think, because I was just kind of chilling in the room and just kind of being a backup goalie, you know, taking it all in, kind of flying the wall, and like when you're backup goalie, sometimes you kind of just like zone out or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Right.

unknown 15:40

And Paul Baxter. I think he I looked up his YouTube, I think, like recently.

SPEAKER_04 15:45

Um, not specifically for this, but I think he has 77 fights in the NHL and like 76 losses.

unknown 15:53

So this guy's like pretty crazy, like pretty wild.

SPEAKER_04 15:58

Um, there's some stories going on around him and like the hockey communities, but he's like, yeah, he was like uh he was a good coach for me and loved me, so like I can't say too much about like or about him. But um anyways, I went in and we had a comeback win. Uh we won that was like the championship game of our division or whatever, or a conference, and then we all went to I forget where it was, but uh we ended up going to a tournament and it was kind of my net the rest of the tournament. And then uh in the finals, I think or in the semifinals, I got pulled, and then Matthew took over for the rest of the deal. And but we ended up losing a champion championship game to uh Keith Kincaid, and uh I forget what team he was on, but yeah, he uh obviously was pretty bullied in the NHL. But uh yeah, Keith Kincaid um was in the NA savior I was. Um and then that following year I stayed in Wenatchee um and I was 18 or sorry, 17 going on 18 was my draft year. Had a really good start. Um I think the NA, I don't know if they still start in the super rink in Minnesota.

unknown 17:09

Um someone the research team might have to get on that one.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

But um yeah, there's that super that Swan Super Rink in Minnesota with like I don't know, seems like there's 10 rinks in there. I'm sure there's like eight or whatever, but um there's all the NA starts their turn their first tournament of the year off there. Um I think I went 10-0 um for the first start of the year with like crazy, crazy stats, like under one goals against and just crazy stuff. Um so obviously my draft status was like through the roof. Um and then I think around that time I got a call from Duluth saying, hey, we might have you wait another year to come because Stalok was gonna leave. Or Stalok was leaving to turn troll.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

Um he's a goalie at UMD.

unknown 18:02

Um like a legend there, obviously. Yep. Um so he was leaving and they wanted me to wait another year.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Um, and I had a uh family advisor at the time, um, Kevin Magnuson, really good dude. Um he and I kind of spoke and we're kind of like, uh I don't think another year is useful. Like I've playing really well right now, like I should probably try to advance my career um as a goalie is or at least move to uh USHL or something, and they still had my rights to this team, and uh Duluth didn't want me to do that. So um and then around that time uh my agent started kind of my agent, I call him he's my agent, he was my agent for a while, but family advisor, I think you're supposed to call him at that age, but they're pretty much your agent. Um he started reaching out, and I guess uh my rights kind of bumped around that early season from Kelowna to um Prince George to a couple teams, and my Kevin Magnuson kind of waited and waited and waited until my name kind of landed in a good spot. Um and then Portland was gearing up their 92 class for a shot at the Mem Cup. Yeah, so I'm a 92 born. Um so um they were gearing up their 92 class, and they had two older goalies, so I could kind of come in and you know learn the ropes from one of the two older goalies um and then kind of take over um after they left. Okay, two 20-year-olds were there, I think, or 19 or 20 year olds.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Um and Curtis Muka was like a is a legend in Portland before I got there. Um he was the one that ended up leaving when I went to Portland. But I so I called UMD to kind of backtrack a little bit. I called UMD and pretty much said, hey, I'm gonna go do my 48-hour look at Portland. Because at that time, if you went to the WHL, you couldn't go to the N Sibla, not like it is today.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Correct. Obviously, correct.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

A recent thing, um, which is super cool and obviously makes the NCAA and everything a lot better. Yep. Um but um back then it was a big thing to leave uh and decommit.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yep.

unknown 20:19

So um uh they were obviously upset and said they're just gonna wine and dine you and you're gonna end up staying there.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

So if you go, like you're done pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Right.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

So I kind of had to go in blind, and it was kind of a weird situation leaving. Like I couldn't just leave. I couldn't say, hey, I'm like to the to the Winatchie Wild. I couldn't say hey, I'm leaving to go to the WHL because they technically still had my rights, still had my player card and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Right.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Um so it was a kind of a weird deal. Like I had kind of had to go on like strike. Um because like I every single I was 16, 17 at the time. Every time I would go into the coach's office and be like, hey, like you need to release my player card, I'm gonna go here. Um like I kind of got like turned around, like they're like, nope, just decommit from your school and you know, we'll find another spot. Like you're staying here, we're not gonna let you go. Um, and just kind of being like trying to be a good hockey player, you know, you just agree with your coach pretty much with everything, you know. And uh I was like, oh, okay. And then I leave, call my agent. He's like, No, like what are you doing? Like you're you're you're supposed to say, like, no, I'm leaving. Like, that's it, that's all. Like, figure out a way to talk to Portland and you know, some I think WHL teams sometimes give money if you're like a draft prospect, like for whatever money you get drafted or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Hey, we have to we have to talk about that. How how big was your bag from Portland?

SPEAKER_03 21:56

I wish I wish all the I wish those rumors were so true.

unknown 22:01

I would 100% tell you right now.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

I'd be like, because we already got in trouble for like uh the sanctions that you're gonna mem cup.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Did they give you free cell phones and money?

SPEAKER_04 22:12

No, I win. You can ask like parents. I've been on the family plan since I was like we that whole thing went down.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I love this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

But um I think like they've come out and kind of said it. Like everybody I've talked to on the team, right? Like even Seth Jones and all those guys, like I even play with guys now and they ask me the same thing. And they're like, oh I heard Steph Jones got a rapture.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

No, I I saw Seth Jones build a house. I saw the people that Seth Jones was like rooming with, and he was carpaling the rest of us.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Oh, I love this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 22:55

Um, but I was actually on the sanctions for um so the way I understood it, uh what was told to me was, and obviously Portland, sorry if I'm getting this wrong, um, but the way I was explaining was like they didn't pay for the hotels for families, okay, which is like in l it was in like the WHL rules is like you can pay for families to stay for a lot of amount of time or like discounts or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

Um but you can't pay for flight or you you can something around flights, but in my contract, it was like a certain amount of flights for my family per year.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

And I think it was only like one round trip per person of my so like my mom, uh, my dad, my sister.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So three flights.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

But in the sanction list that came out, they counted every flight. So like from Jackson to or sorry, Minnesota at the time they were living.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

So from Minnesota to Portland was one. From Portland to Minnesota was two.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

So like I think the list came out as like a crazy like crazy high number of like sanctions that we were getting uh in trouble for.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Right. And they checked they they might fined us like 250 grand or something like crazy like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

They suspended Mike Johnson, who's like one of the best human beings I've ever met in hockey.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

I love you saying that. I wanted to ask you. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

He couldn't even come in and kind of say goodbye to us.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

Or like tell us what was going on. Um, but luckily enough, like we had Travis Green, who was the assistant coach at the time, now the coach of Ottawa Senators.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 24:47

Um, he is like equally as an amazing person as uh Mike Johnson is and was.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Um so like we're super, super lucky to have that. And then now the head coach of Portland is was our video coach at the time, uh Kyle Gussipson.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Just three unbelievable humans, and then I'd be upset if I didn't mention uh Richie, the strength coach. He's like the best dude ever.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Um so it's just a bunch of just great humans around Portland, which like showing up there. They didn't even like whine and dye me. They just bang right into practice. And I think I don't know if you like knowing if anyone that knows me, like um first practice, I think a couple guys like cranked something at my head, and I kind of stood up to myself, and like that was kind of that was kind of like my welcome to the WHL. Like, um, and the goalie coach pulled me aside, and he goes, Hey, like they're gonna they're gonna try and rally, and you just have to deal with it. And um, so that was kind of my start to learning to control my emotions a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

This is why goalies wear helmets, you can fire at their helmets. No, and Mac why they wear helmets now.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

And Mac, I I love that about you because you had passion and you had swag and you had fire. Like that was that was something different about the previous goalie. Like previous goalies in Portland weren't talking smack or weren't going after people. Like it was a it was awesome. We we go on uh spectator sport, you know. No, but we we we had somebody with passions like I'm gonna obviously times where it got a bit too much, and um and I it's hard for me to turn it off.

SPEAKER_04 26:41

Even like I've gotten a lot better now. Uh extremely like you know, almost a 180. Not uh not a complete 180, but um there's there's still days, you know. But um like if I'm playing it doesn't it doesn't matter what sport if I'm playing you in pickleball, like I I want to win and I'm gonna I'm gonna try to win. I I I love that I could be playing against my four-year-old grandmother. I'm still spiking that ball right that guy.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

True competitor. So and I want to um ask you about this. So so all those experiences you shared at a very young age. You know, when I was 14, 15, 16, I was a I was an idiot. But you're we were at the start you're going through these huge, life-changing decisions for moving from your family, you're your travel, like that's gotta be just very difficult as as a young man.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

Oh, for sure. I think at 14 was one of like the most difficult times of it all. Um, but also I learned like quite a bit looking back. Obviously, it was super difficult at the time. Um, but I went I moved to New Lennox with a Billock family a day before my first day of high school. So I'd never met these people, moved into the house, like anything. Um, and then I've obviously never been to school. All these kids have been to different middle schools, obviously they're coming together, so like at least know, you know, probably 50 kids, if not by name, but at least by face. Um, and I was in a class of 900 um as a freshman. And so it was like it was kind of an eye-opening deal, and hockey hadn't started yet. There's no least thing at the time.

unknown 28:37

No, you're good. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 28:39

Um, so the first few weeks, my dad stayed at the uh billet house with me just to make sure everything went smoothly.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Right.

SPEAKER_04 28:46

And I think like the last day before he had to leave, he's like, So, like, how is it? Like, am I good to go? Type of thing, and whatever. I think like like I kind of like broke down. And I was like, I have only he's like, What's wrong? I was like, I've only said my name. I've said two words in two weeks. That's when they're taking the poll call um at class, and my name's McMillan. My parents named me McMillan, but I go by Mac, obviously. Um and so every single day at the start of class, there's a McMillan Cruz. I was like, no, Mac. And that was the only words I said for two weeks. Even at lunch, I like sat by myself and uh like kind of a funny story. Like I like sat by myself and the first day, and um I like obviously there's students that have been there for a long time, they have their seats and stuff, not like assigned, but it was a public school. But um all of a sudden I'm sitting by myself and like all the goth students start sitting around me.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Right.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

I was like, me like, you know, dressed in like pretty much all hockey like attire, like Bauer sweatshirt, sure, sure. PCM shorts and whatever.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

And then all these kids with like chains on and like seven earrings and nose rings and stuff like that.

unknown 30:11

You know what? Like they're they're they were great kids.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Right. Um but as a 14-year-old, I there's no way I'm staying at that lunch table. You know, like they're like, hey, like you're obviously new here, how are you? They're super, super nice, you know. Like um, but just like that's a scare, like as a 14-year-old, I was like scared.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Yeah, obviously. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

Um and then eventually, like the team kind of found out, and like there was an older, like a senior who was part of the chill at the time. Um, and he was like a kind of a stud uh hockey player for the chill, and he was going to the same school, so he kind of took me under his wing, and we got our schedule switched for lunch and stuff, and I ended up meeting people and stuff like that. But this school was wild. I've never been a part of school, obviously, but at the time this school was whether there's probably at least one fight in the hallways every day. Um and there's like nothing I've ever seen, obviously. For Minnesota, like it's pretty tame. Um like Minnesota High School, I I doubt there's been a fight there in a decade.

unknown 31:14

Right. You know.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Um, but yeah, the the school I went to was pretty tough, but it was um it was an experience and something I look back on, and then like I obviously learned how to open up pretty quickly to people, um, and kind of shoot from the hip. And if you listen to any podcast or whatever I've been on, I kind of let it fly. Um but uh yeah, so that was like kind of one of the rougher moments of moving away from home and making these decisions. Obviously, the decision to not go to school was another big one. Um I don't think I realized it at the time how big of a decision it was, but like um for my mom and dad, um were both educated in college, like that's that was like a weird thing for them to grasp. And I think my family advisor and I, um we all all four of us talked about it for a while and you know decided like it was kind of my the quickest path to the NHL, and that's something I wanted to do and pursue, and I could always go back if I needed to, probably wouldn't be for free. Um like it was. But um, you know, it was a decision uh that we made and I stick to it, like I stick by it. Like I said, the guys, the staff in Portland was second to none in my opinion, and I owe my you know, I might I owe my entire career to those guys, and um it was a great experience, and we had a great leadership group, and it was a fun time. Um obviously some things will always stay in Portland and never be spoken about again as far as parties and stuff go, but um and you know, bus rides, shenanigans, and hotel room shenanigans, and you know but bringing Portland to the Memorial College.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Yeah. Okay, like that's so so Matt, I want to ask you.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

So during your time, did you play any games in the Rose Garden?

SPEAKER_04 33:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we were splitting I think from day one.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Okay. I I I remember they were they were they were splitting between the Memorial Coliseum and the and the Rose Garden.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

So but Rose Garden, I think it's named after like a method thing now.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

Um like typical company now. Um but at the time, I think they've redone the Memorial Coliseum like quite a bit. Um my mother and my nephew went to do a ceremony for me this year for top 50 winter.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Okay, okay, okay. I wanted to ask you about that.

SPEAKER_04 33:48

Yeah, I didn't know that.

unknown 33:49

But they they were doing videos and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

Like, wow, that's like that looks amazing. They redid everything in the inside. And I think from a spectator's standpoint, it looks really good now. Like it's kind of getting beyond its ears when I was there.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Um, but like you said, we were splitting time between the Rose Garden and uh Memorial Coliseum. And unfortunately, I feel like every like big moment that I had that I wanted on video, like I've had a couple fights in Portland, obviously, as all the fans know there. Um all of them, all of them were in the Morial Coliseum, where like obviously the video isn't as good.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

Like it's like not H it was it is now, but it wasn't HD then.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_04 34:35

Um I remember my first fight, um, I think with Jeff, Jeff Bosch. I think he was like an overager or something, I was 17. Um and I think I was drafted already at the time.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:53

Um and like one of the first things when I like kind of long story long, one of the first things when I got to Chicago was uh the sports psychologist came up to me and was like, hey, just so you know, like if you're kinda under the microscope, like um for like being passionate and being a bit fiery and whatever, so like you're gonna have to be on your best behavior through like the entire time you're here. Yeah, you know, because there's some people that already have not it don't have it out for you, but you know, you have uh a reputation already. Okay type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

So pretty much like be on your best behavior, just play goalie, you know, do your thing, like be fiery, be whatever, but like, you know, there's a line, don't cross it.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 35:42

Um and I think the that was the first game their scout had come to watch me since being drafted. Um and not to name drop or anything, but like it was the second period, we were up 4-1 or something, and Nino need there was a scrum, there was a scrum between the benches in Memorial Coliseum and the Memorial Coliseum both go out the same end of the ice, but just opposite corners. And Nino Niederrider, not to name drop, but a name drop, and shot one of their players' helmets into their corner.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:18

Um and Jeff Bosch, I believe was the goalie's thing, um, took offense to it and kind of got in Nino's face, and obviously being a goalie, yeah, the goalie gets into it, then you kind of step up, you know, it's kind of like the unwritten rule. Yeah. Um so he starts chirping Nino, like on the on the CHL goalie of the month, like blah blah blah, who are you?

unknown 36:43

And I'm like, obviously that's Nino Nino right.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

Fourth or fifth overall pick, obviously. Um but he's uh he starts chirping him, and then like a couple fights start breaking out. Joe Morrow, he had a heck of a career. Um I'd still be playing. Um he starts fighting the guy, and I'm kind of looking around, like seeing if I can get the nod from the coach, but I can't find any coaches, so like couldn't get the nod. And I I told Jeff uh Bosch, no, no, I'm not fighting, no, I'm not fighting, because like I knew that this guy was in town to watch, and I knew I had to be like kind of dialed in and you know, whatever, and we were winning, I was playing well. So I just wanted to keep it going. And then he cross-checks Joe Morrill kind of in the back, like it kind of rides up his back and hits him. Um so I'm like, okay, well, there's my cue. Like that's my teammate. You don't you don't mess with my teammate, blah, blah, blah. So I dropped my stuff and he throws two punches that just kind of end short. Um, like I still like can remember it verbatim, and they end short, and then I just kind of threw one, you know, my first ever like fight in a game. I threw one and it just felt like if you've ever been in a fight, you know, like when you connect in a good spot, it just feels like it feels like you punched mashed potatoes.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

You connected.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

Just connected, and he dropped. He dropped. And so he skates off, and all the players are like, oh, like uh Boychucks, Boy Chuck punched him, Boychuck punched him, and obviously they looked at the video and it wasn't Boy Chuck, it was me.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 38:23

And so he broke his orbital bone. Oh no. That was his that was his first concussion, and I played with a guy who played with him in U Sport, and I guess like he's still having can was still having concussion problems at the time in U-sport four years later, and I think he ended up like stopping playing hockey, which is which is unfortunate.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Of course.

unknown 38:42

Uh you never want to see that, obviously. But that yeah, that was my first punch and then uh first punch in a game.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

And uh got back in and I it's kind of in that moment you everything kind of goes like blank, you kind of get like the adrenaline and stuff, and I look around and the crowd's going nuts, like our our team is like yelling and whatever, and I thought someone was gonna come and just you know tag me in the back of the head. So we're right by our door, so I just kind of put my head down and walk off.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Um and you know, I wish I would have like you know celebrated and done the belt celly and whatever. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Right. Obviously, like the guy was hurt.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

Like, obviously, it was a bad situation, but like not many times as a goalie are you one one bombing guys, you know. Um and it wasn't in the Rose Garden, so there's no like great video. The video's super super grainy and whatever. But um, I got back into the room thinking I got away with it. Like it was a big scrum, maybe the rest didn't see it. Um, and one of the guys, uh Oliver, Oliver Gabriel, came into the room and he goes, Did anyone see Mac just one one bomb that guy? And I was like, Mac's got some streaks right now, don't be messing with him.

SPEAKER_05 39:57

I was kind of joking.

SPEAKER_04 39:58

But I put my gear back on because the coaches didn't know, no one had heard if I was kicked out or anything.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:04

And the refs come out the same door as us, and they walked by me and they go, Mac, come on, man.

unknown 40:11

What are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Get back in the room. We all saw it.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Right.

SPEAKER_04 40:15

And like at this point, like obviously, like you said, I was passionate after the whistles and stuff like that. Like most of the refs in the league knew me by first name, and you know, we were always cordial with each other and stuff. So that's kind of where I learned to be a pro with the refs and stuff and start a relationship with them. Um, but yeah, he was kind of laughing. He goes, not a chance, Mac. Get back in the room, hit the showers. So then I went back up, uh, went to the stands afterwards because I knew that the scout was there. And crazy full circle, uh, Joe Casey, a player for the Moose, was at that game, sitting in the same row as the scout, and I get back up in the stands, and Joe Casey is like high-fiving, like all hyped up with a couple of his buddies. So I high five him, high five him, like smiling, obviously, like you know, proud or whatever. And um and then I look further down the the aisle, and there's like the one of the head scouts of Chicago, and I just kind of like make my face go straight and kind of put my head down, you know, like a like a pup like a puppy that just got into the garbage, you know.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Sure, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

And um, and he goes, you know what, kid, like you that's I think that was the most organic way that could have happened. Like, you put you're helping your teammate out, like I saw you say no, and blah blah blah blah, and you know what? Obviously it went well this time, but like let's keep it keep it together, and you know, it was all good. It was wasn't a negative or anything like that. So I that was that was a that was a good situation. Um but yeah, and then uh so I was drafted to Chicago out of Portland. Um I think we had crazy, we had nine draft picks um in 2010 out of Portland. We like we had a just a stacked team. Yes um uh we my first year in Portland we lost to the Vancouver Giants, and then our rest of the years in Portland we went to the finals against Edmonton Oil Kings. Or sorry, my first year we lost, or my first year to the finals, we lost to Kooteny. Um second year to Edmonton and then beat Edmonton to go to the Mama Cup. Uh my overage year, the year of the lockout, um, I got sent back late after training camp back to Portland. Um there's kind of a toss-up between me and Ken Simpson. Um we both got called in the room and has said, Mac, you played really well. Um you probably deserve to stay here, but you have a lot better place to go back to in Portland. You have a shot at the Mem Cup, they have a great team. We're gonna send you back, go finish the job uh with Portland, get a Mem Cup, turn pro the next year, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, which at the time was frustrating. Um, obviously there was some money left on the table with burning a year going back.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Um, which was frustrating as a young kid. You know.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

Um so Matt, I I want to ask you that. So at that age, are you you're already aware of the the financial um implications? Yeah, so is the family is the family advisor already telling you, like, hey, if you go back, I mean, like, help us uh understand this is stressful for you.

SPEAKER_04 43:45

Yeah. Um so after my we're gonna we'll go back a little bit here.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

Um there's like there's like a crazy story with like an ex girlfriend's data. To come into the locker room to get me out of Wenatchee. Okay, so this is super interesting. We got away from there. Me getting out of Winatchie was a junk show. Like every single time I went into that room, the coach kind of turned me around and said, No, you're not leaving, whatever. So eventually my financial advisor goes, Okay, like you're gonna need to bring an adult into the room after practice and you know, kinda tell them this is how it's gonna be. And obviously my parents weren't coming, like we don't have a ton of money, like they're not gonna fly out just to do that. Right. Um so my girlfriend at the time, um dad, like just like I was close to the family and stuff. Um her dad agreed to come in and like get me out of there. Um so he kind of came in as like not a lawyer, but like uh you know what a uh a guardian, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

Not not in a legal term, but just like he did all the talking. I grabbed my equipment in a garbage bag and the two teams kind of hashed it out. Um I now know like when Ache was asking for like a crazy amount of money, um, like first round draft pick money that they get from the like teams get from the NHL. Um and Portland wasn't willing to pay it. Um and so my agent like found out about it or whatever. And anyways, uh my first ever billet, um, going all the way back to when I was 14, ends up forking up X amount of cash, like a quite a bit of money, um, to get me out of there. He ends up paying the fee.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

This is crazy. Yeah, this is these are crazy stories, and thank you for sharing them. This is amazing.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

No, like, and this is all you know, hearsay like not hearsay, like if this was told to me like throughout my career, like two, three years down the road, this was told to me, so it was never like told to me right away, you know. Like it was kind of yeah, they figured it out type of thing. Um, my agent and my parents kept a lot of that from me, obviously. That's a lot to take in as a 16-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:15

Um but yeah, um, so that ends up, you know, how I got out of there. But um yeah, so that was like kind of a crazy story too. But yeah, so like teams, for people that don't know teams that produce draft picks, they get money, like kickbacks as like as a way to like pay for um like coaching, I guess, or how like I wouldn't even know what you wanted to call that. Um like just to help your program like get better type of thing and like produce more, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

So so the system is corrupt.

SPEAKER_04 46:57

I don't think so. You can't handle the Karoots. I guess it it happens in Europe too. Like teams in these 16 and 17-year-old kids, they're like they get the it's the same thing, you know. In in if you can produce a first round draft pick as an organization, like you get more money. If you produce a seventh rounder, you're gonna get obviously less money. I mean, like it goes from there, you know?

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Okay, but but I want to ask you this. Okay, so uh as a young man, you you're uh you're a very attractive person. You're probably the most beautiful person I've ever interviewed, and I'm not gay. But okay, but but also you have the confidence and you have the swag, and you have the um you have the like do you think people were intimidated by you? Oh, because because because because I was doing this interview. I was like, this is the most amazing person I've ever talked to.

SPEAKER_04 48:05

And I think on the ice, like my wife just describes it best. Like, I'm a completely different person on the ice and what yeah. And if I walked into a room of a crowd of people, like I would be the first person in a corner, like hiding, you know what I mean? Um but like on the ice, obviously, like I that's where I kind of have my confidence and my like I know that I when you're good, you can like back it up. I know that I can like just compete. I know I'm I know I'm really good at competing. I'm not really good, but I'm like willing to compete, you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

And I love that a watch. I I loved watching you. I I I loved it about you. So I want to ask you this. On game day, even now, are you because there's uh stereotypes about goalies, but um like there's a few, yeah. C can your teammates talk to you, or is it like, hey, leave Mac alone, he's doing his thing?

SPEAKER_04 49:08

I think back in the day, like it I I think I kind of let as you say, like the the persona like kind of built a little bit, like it I kind of took over um a little bit for a while. Um where I thought that I needed to be that intimidating guy to play well.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 49:32

Um and not necessarily to my teammates, but just to like just to start that game day, like I needed to gear up in that way. Um intimidating, intense, um, like all business type of thing. Yeah. Um and I wish I knew then what I knew now at 34 was picked, like that has no effect on how I play hockey.

unknown 50:01

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Like the looser I am now, like the better I play.

unknown 50:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 50:06

Uh not necessarily like just joking around with everyone, you know, blah blah blah blah, but like as far as just like just less the less amount of stress I put on myself, obviously I'm still competing just as hard. And I think that was like I've worked with a lot of sports psychologists over the years and um things like that, and we've kind of you know some things I've probably got told 87 times, and one day they just kind of click. But it's uh if I can still compete the same, but not have as much as much emotion attached to it, that's like the balance, you know, which is like weird to say out loud, right? Um because my whole junior career, that was my on-ice persona was like my emotions were attached to my performance, my emotions were attached to my compete and all that stuff, but now that I can kind of keep my emotions out of that aspect of it, like it's just so much less intense and less uh energy wasted, you know what I mean. That's what I've kind of learned in my long, long uh I guess 12 years now career.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Right as a no and this is amazing now, and I want to ask you this because we have uh gear geeks listening, but um I I always noticed your gear as a goalie. You always had fresh, sharp gear. So how does it work with a goalie? Did you align with one of the manufacturers at an early age? Like, are you uh did you hook up with Brian's or Vaughn or Bauer? Like how how does how does it work with goalie gear?

SPEAKER_04 51:52

I think when I first got there, the team had a sponsorship with Bauer. That was like the quick that was the quickest gear I did I'm with Portland.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

Um and now like uh some my team my Winatchie team was kind of the first team that bought me equipment.

unknown 52:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 52:10

I could get, I think the team had a reebok deal.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Um for those years, for that couple years I was there, I was kind of the low man on totem pole coming in as like a younger rookie and whatever, so it was kind of take the team's equipment or you know, figure out it by yourself.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

Um, but Portland, um, my first year I had Bauer stuff because they were a Bauer team.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 52:37

Um and then my goalie coach had a connection with a guy named PQ. He would take gear that you had bought and kind of take out all the insights and make a pretty much a new pad. He ended up making uh Tim Thomas's gear. Beer he had kind of had that weird setup, different colors, looked like a beerly goalie that when he was balled after one of the 100%. Yeah, so he was the guy that made that. Um he he started out making knee pads and then got into the goalie gear um situation where he would you know refurbish guys, brand new sets of pads that would send to him and then send back and be like kind of similar to what every goalie pad is now, like kind of stiff and you know formed to a certain degree. Um but I was in bonds and rebought gloves for that year. Um goalie coach kind of convinced me to use what worked.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 53:33

Um but since my second year in Portland, I've been a Bauer guy my entire career.

SPEAKER_01 53:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

Um and then Bauer um thought I was you know good enough to take back a little money in uh a Bauer deal. It wasn't like actual money, it was um I think I got paid in like Lulu Lemon gift cards.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

Hey, that works.

SPEAKER_04 53:57

Yeah. But I think what I signed for in Portland and my first couple years in the AHL was I signed for 10 grand in the Lulu gift card.

SPEAKER_02 54:08

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 54:09

So once a year I'll get 10 grand. I think my sister, my mom, and whatever girl I was dating at the time, like their Christmas and birthdays were taken care of.

SPEAKER_01 54:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 54:21

Like I didn't wear it at that time, like and I think the last couple years I took it all for myself.

unknown 54:25

Um that's pretty much I still wear the same junk Lulu stuff now 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 54:32

Um, but yeah, that was uh that was like my first kind of taste of the pro uh like financial thing was like this Lulu gift card. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

Super cool.

SPEAKER_04 54:46

Power would give me this type of thing for just wearing their gear, which I would want to wear anyways.

SPEAKER_02 54:50

Right? Exactly. Okay, and can you explain from when you started playing goalie to now the the difference in the equipment?

SPEAKER_04 55:01

Um I was actually like my parents just told her I was we're going through their storage to get rid of those stuff I don't want anymore. And so there's pictures coming up of me playing in Minnetonka as like a pee-wee or squirt.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 55:14

The pads are massive.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Right.

SPEAKER_04 55:17

Compared to what I'm wearing now. Like it that was the that was the year, like these were years before like the NHL lockouts where they changed the goalie equipment. Um like these these things were over 12 inches wide from looking at the gear. How did I move and those things? That's crazy. Um obviously the biggest comparison would be weight, like the weight of gear is much, much, much lighter now. Yeah, the skates um are way different.

SPEAKER_03 55:53

On this, you know who sharpens his skates now, hey? TJ, TJ um uh Buck Thomas.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

Oh, this is great. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 56:04

Joe Buck, hey, Joe Buck doesn't, hey, Joe Buck doesn't sharpen his skates.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Right, T TJ Buck does.

SPEAKER_03 56:11

Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

I love it. Um this is great.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

But the this obviously the new skates power has are like ski boots, like built like ski boots, but I think it took a while for gear comp like goalie gear companies, or I guess they're the same companies as player gear, but companies to kind of catch on to the fact that goalies didn't need the the protection in their skates as much as they used to, as far as like they're making skate safes, you know, but now everyone's in a butterfly, so your skates are never they're never exposed to shots, you know, anymore. Um so we still had these bulky cowlings on our skates to protect the inside of our foot. Um, but we are s we're sliding, we're sliding on our inside edge, pushing on our inside edge, so we need that angle to be, you know, pretty much nothing. Um if you watch goalies nowadays. Like it's it's pretty crazy, like the positions they're able to get in get an edge and push from. Um but it took a while for the gear companies to figure that out. And I living in Minnesota, I watched Baxtrom, uh Minnesota Wild goalie back in the day, and um just kind of noticed just by watching a game from like the stands that he had filed down his cowling. And so I started doing it, and then I think two, three years later, Bauer, CCM, all these guys, they came out with cowlings that had like a little piece removed. Um, still hadn't gotten to figure out that we didn't need the entire cowling in general. Like it should it might as well look like a player skate. Um, obviously less depth, but um, but yeah. So I just by chance watching those guys in Minnesota, I kind of figured out I could file this down and um get a better angle for pushing and stuff like that. So um just kind of a weird gear thing, but um yeah, I think skates and just the weight of things and obviously the size since the NHL has kind of changed. Europe doesn't have specific rules as far as uh chest protectors and stuff go. Um, but the NHL everything has to be rounded off still. Um so my chest protector in Europe is way different than the one I left uh when I left North America is way different than the one I came into Europe with.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:38

And I'd say that's the biggest difference.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Okay, and and and I know we bounced around a little bit on this podcast because I'm not professional, but but but but still, so do you stay in touch with because the Memorial Cup run had to be super special. These are very very young men, and and these emotions that you go through, nobody can understand the the highs and the lows of winning. I mean, you went through the the dub, you won the dub, you went to the Memorial Cup. Like these teammates that you experience this with, do you stay in touch with any of those?

SPEAKER_04 59:16

Yeah, I see them like luckily enough, like some of us are still playing in Europe. Yes, some of them are in the NHL. Yeah, big duck, but um some of us are still playing in Europe, so we play against each other or on the same team every once in a while, or their brother or something is on my team, or you know, whatever. Um just in that way, in touch, and then um the CHL or Champions League. I'll see some guys when we like when I play, you know, teams in Sweden or Finland or whatever. Um but yeah, just kind of like keep track of their careers and stuff, like living in Jackson. I don't really see anyone, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 59:55

Okay, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 59:56

If I'm living in Calgary or Lethbridge or, you know, Edmonton, I'd probably see more of them. Um but uh being like one of the few USA guys on the team at the time, um, I know I don't like see or talk to them on the daily, I guess, to answer your question.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:14

Uh but we keep in touch and I'll reach out every once in a while and if I see something or whatever, um, just try to be a good teammate or whatever. But um no, with to go back kind of to the first very question, like it was I think as a young hockey player, like you don't realize it at the time, like the situation you're in, you know.

unknown 1:00:36

Right. We knew we had a pretty special team, obviously.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:40

Um but we none of us knew like how special that time would be. Yep. Or like, you know. Um at the time we all thought we were going to the NHL still, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

So like Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:54

We we in your in your youth you think like this is nothing, you know, like the the best things in your life are to come. Um and then you get older and the best things of your life are behind you. You never you never uh there's never that moment where you you know that you're in you're in your prime. It's always forward or backwards. But um the yeah, the Memorial Cup team was pretty special. Obviously, we lost to uh a very special team.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Nathan McKinnon uh scored a few on me, but uh I wasn't gonna bring that up, but but but I do want you to do some name drops. So to play in the Memorial Cup. You you played against some pretty elite players.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

Yeah. Every single Mem Cup, max tweet a leg pass on the two-on-one, batted out of the air by Horvat, top shelf, and there's that goofy goalie in Bauer Pat sliding across, getting beat, high blocker on one of the prettiest plays in the mem cup. Um every single mem cup that comes up, and I just kind of roll my eyes and smile and just feel like that's you know, I was there. Not many people can say that they're there.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:08

You were you were there. That that is amazing. And uh looking forward, um do you have plans? Like how how how much longer do you want to keep playing overseas? Like what uh you you have a beautiful family, you have beautiful children.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:28

It has been announced it yet, but we signed for two years. Um plus one, I guess. Um an option for both of us on the second year, um, depending on how the year goes. Um, but the number is already negotiated for the second year, I think is the positive of that. Um but um uh I don't know where I was going.

unknown 1:02:55

Oh yeah. Um at least I want to play for at least two more years.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:59

Like I would have signed I wouldn't have had any intention of signing a two-year contract if I didn't want to play. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:06

Um, but I'm always looking. Um like next week I'm going to the goalie guild retreats in Breckenridge, okay. Um which is a cool little like goalie seminar where coaches come in and just kind of like a bunch of weird goalies get together and talk goaltending, go on the ice, you know. Um, and there's some cool like uh technology people coming in to show the goalies and the coaches some things that would help out, you know, them and the goalies. It's just kind of a cool like meeting of the minds, more or less. Yeah. Um and so I'm always now that I'm older, I'm kind of looking into how do I because I want to become a coach, um, not necessarily like a head coach right away, but like an assistant goalie coach, assistant coach, okay. Kind of double it up, uh video coach, you know. Um and so this year is my first year kind of being pretty serious about doing like goalie coach mentorships um remotely. Obviously, um goalies and goalie parents will send video in and I'll go over it and clip it, and then you know, once a week or once a month, depending on what we agree to, and obviously money um we'll meet for an hour or whatever it is and go over the clips and see what they can improve on, what things, what drills they can, you know, maybe bring to the coach or whatever. Um help some youth goalies out and kind of build my resume as that type of coach. Um that's something you know my wife and I have talked about for a few years now, but I think going to this goalie guild uh thing this summer is kind of like the the start um to networking for that type of thing. Um but yeah, that's kind of like the future for me after hockey. Um I'm not quite ready yet, obviously, if I signed my deal, but um that's kind of the hope, that's the dream after the game is to kind of still be around the game. Um like my wife, bless her heart, is is smart enough to know that I kind of need this game around.

unknown 1:05:28

Um like it's a big big part of my life.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:31

She uh she sees that and you know um she can't work in any of the places that we play as far as visas and stuff go.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:41

Uh so she's kinda you know, being a mom is her job right now, which is obviously anyone who has kids knows that that's a tough one. Um but she's amazing and uh love her and all the things. Like she lets she lets us move to Europe with two kids.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:58

So been on a flight.

unknown 1:06:00

With two kids is knows how crazy that is, just in by itself.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:04

Um and and our and our husky.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:07

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:09

But uh and then a woman that is willing to give birth in a place where you don't speak the native language, obviously is is pretty like our our experience in Denmark. I we were treated like Kardashians. Like the healthcare in Denmark is is crazy. I can't even explain it. I had a king-sized bed like to sleep on if I needed it and what have you, like the Danish uh if I could live in Denmark and be able to afford to live there and survive and you know have a Danish citizenship, I would figure it that out immediately.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:45

Um that is awesome. Thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:49

Yeah, it's uh it's you know it's voted one of the happiest places on earth every year for a reason. They got they got stuff figured out uh in Denmark. I can't say enough good things about that place, obviously, but um and then my son was born in France and we had a great experience there. Um and then he got uh he got sick right after our birth and uh the team uh who said don't worry about it, like they went on the road and I I stayed home and uh was with my wife and kid and daughter, and luckily my uh mother and father-in-law were there to kind of take uh our daughter while we were both in the hospital for bits at a time. But um, no, it's uh it's a wild experience as a family um to not kind of have the support system of a normal um family, like with grandparents and stuff living, I don't know, USA is maybe a little different than some places as far as some people live quite a quite a ways from their extended family.

unknown 1:07:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:50

Um but in Europe, it's most people's grandparents live right down the road. Um, you know, so the uh the the network for families and stuff in Europe is quite a bit closer, which is is cool to see. Um, but obviously we don't have that uh support system like they do, so it's a little bit tougher for us and for the wives and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:10

Sure. And okay, as you're moving on to your next future, I want to ask you this. Okay, so if if you're a goalie coach, a professional goalie coach, and and some family comes up to you and they have a lot of money and they're saying, Hey, can you make my kid an NHL goalie? And we have a million dollars here. Can you do it?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:38

A million bucks that'll be so hard to turn down.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:43

Mac, how how how do you say no to that? But obviously, the kid don't have it. The kid don't have it.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:54

Johnny, Johnny Buck from down the street.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:01

What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:03

And he he's 12 years old, chancescape puts his pads up backwards, the first day he comes out, and then I got this I got this million dollar guarantee.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:14

Mac, I need my kid to be an NHL goal.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:18

I'm gonna feel terrible. Can you make it?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:23

No, I think I don't know. Anyone that's telling, obviously, there are people out there that are doing this. Yeah. Hey, he can get them to e Dinah. Yeah, TJ just chirping E Dinah Keters on his bot.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:38

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:39

Um there are but the scary thing is, is there are people out there?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:44

I know there is. And that's why I bring this up.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:48

It's crazy. Like it obviously it takes, like, if you're super talented, like, and whatever, yeah. Like Nathan McKinnon, like, but also he like he's one of the hardest workers. Yeah. From his youth to everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:04

Um, so it takes a mixture of everything and then even a bit of luck, whether it be health, you know, like not getting injured during those big games where the scouts come in and blah blah blah blah, and and you know, getting drafted to a great team if you're a goalie. Um especially as a goalie. Like if you if you end up you know behind an NHL like Stanley Cup champion roster.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:32

Even as players, even as players, like you're not cracking that roster. Like there's guys that have played AHL that should have probably at least had a hundred to two hundred games in the NHL.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:45

And that's not that that's everyone's goal. Like ever obviously everyone wants to win the Stanley Cup. That's everyone's goal as a as youth. You don't you don't just think, oh, I want to play in the NHL. You think I want to be a franchise player. You know, that's you don't say it out loud, obviously, but it's like when you're playing in your backyard, you're the best player in the NHL. You know what I mean? When you're when you're shooting on no nobody except for the net, that's what everyone dreams of is being you know, having 10,000 fans wearing your jersey out of 20, you know, like being that as guy, that's what everyone wants, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:19

Um but you know, realistically that's not happening for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:26

Most of us. But I think a lot of that obviously it's not all there's a bit of luck involved with where you get drafted.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:35

Who you who you're behind in the death chart, and you know, what scouts think about you, what GMs think about you as a person and as a player, like it there's a lot that goes into it. Um it's not only just talent, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:52

There's a lot of guys that have a ton of talent, no work ethic or kind of talent, and can't get along with you know their the guy that sits next to them in the locker room. You know, it's there's a so many things that go into it. Um so like you can't guarantee I don't think you can guarantee anyone anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:10

Isn't that interesting? And that's what I have a trouble I have trouble with is it's not it there there's a lot more into it besides just talent.

unknown 1:12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:20

Because if it's just talent, you you're you're playing in the game four tomorrow night. Right?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:28

I w I wish I wish that I had that much talent. But um no, it was about if it was about competing and you know wanting to win more than anyone else, then yeah, for sure. But um no, I think um I had to work hard for you know the career I've kind of made for myself and was I disappointed at at first for a few years for sure that I didn't make it to the NHL 100%. Um as everyone that goes to Europe probably is. Um but you know what? I met my wife, I have two beautiful kids that are healthy, and um I've also like grown as a person. You know, I'm not my life doesn't live and die by how good of a game I played.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:15

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:16

I don't I don't know if that would have been the same if I would have stayed in North America.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:19

I appreciate you sharing that. That that is amazing. Okay, and I do what I do want to ask you this. You suited up as a backup in for the St. Louis Blues.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:32

As a third straight.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:34

Okay, tell tell us about it. What was that like? You were in the NHL locker room suiting up, you're you're on call.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:43

Because guys don't make money in in playoffs in the NHL for those that don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:47

Um so I got called up like the day after if I would have got called up at two days prior, I would have gotten paid like a little bit, like of my NHL contract, which would have been pretty cool. Obviously for my wallet, not really for anything else. Anyway, it just would have been at practice. Um but um so I got called up. I was supposed to be on a team flight, but there was some miscommunication between the AHL team and the NHL team of who they wanted as a third string. Um for the first two games in St. Louis. And so I got called off the ice in kind of like a panic. Um, and it was, why aren't you on the charter? I was like, what? What charter? Like we're we're out of playoffs, like our last games in like two weeks. Like, what are you talking about? And he's like, You're supposed to be on a charter in Chicago right now to go black ace for the Black Ops. Like, what are you doing here? I was like, Well, this is the first time hearing about it. Like, I don't know, like I don't I can get my stuff backed and whatever. He goes, Okay, we have a flight leaving in five hours from O'Hare. You're gonna go meet the team in St. Louis. I'm like, okay. Um, but we had just lost out of the playoff spot in like like you said, we're dumb young human beings playing hockey. Um a bunch of us just went and got dogs for the for the first time.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:20

Right?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:21

We just went one bought dogs for the first time because we all thought we were going home for summer. And so this guy's coming up to me. I'm like, shoot, I'm not gonna say like I just bought a dog and I can't go. Like, this is my this is this is me getting called up to NHL for the first time ever. So I have an eight-week-old husky that I've like met for three days. And I don't have a girlfriend living with me at the time. So it's just me and this dog. So I asked one of the other girlfriends of one of the younger guys, hey, can you watch my eight to nine-week old Husky for me? So luckily she watches it, whatever. I make my flight and then I'm black acing for Chicago um for the first two games, and it's just kind of a wild experience. Um I stay at the Ritz-Carlton or like a fancy, fancy, very, very fancy hotel. Um, surprise, surprise, NHL. Uh original 16, you know, um, throwing money around. Um every meal was set up as a buffet, and it was anything you wanted. Um there was Flaving Young in like a buffet style dish for you to take. Like medium, medium rare, like there was salmon uh there. There was chicken, there was anything you can think of as like a healthy option for anything, it was there for like and it was open for like four to five hours a day for lunch um and dinner, same thing. So guys could whatever routine they wanted to be in, like that's what was available to them. And then you have me who has no chance of even sniffing the ice surface, just hanging out, not trying to get in the way. Um the NHL teams usually have like a video meeting room where um I don't know if all teams do this, but in Chicago they set up like uh Wii's, like the video game, on all these like probably five or six like big screen TVs around this meeting room, so guys can go and play like Mario Kart if they want to, like throughout the day, and they just kind of make it like a like a team room type of thing. So and I'm you know an 18-year-old kid, and you're gonna make a video game room for me in a hotel room, I'm a hundred percent gonna be there. So I'm playing Mario Kart and who comes down early for one of the days off in St. Louis, but Patrick King. Patrick King comes down and plays Mario Kart with me, which is like one of the coolest things, you know, I can say about my career there. Um and yeah, so those Duncan Keith and those guys and Seabrook, they all they're all these guys are pretty much our kids with a bunch of zeros in their wallet, you know, um, which is kind of cool to see. Obviously, they're all mature men and you know have families and stuff, but on the road um in playoffs, like it's hockey and then it's the boys, um, which is super cool to see. And um yeah, that was kind of my experience. And then the the coach at the time is Quinville. Uh Coach Quinville.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:46

Oh, yeah. We know Quinville.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:49

And I think he I don't know for sure, but he had a situation in one of his playoff runs with one team where his third they couldn't find the third string, or they didn't have one, or he's six, or something. So he needed to know where I was at the time. So all the other black aces were up in the suite, like hanging out, watching the game as like spectators, you know, which is pretty cool to go watch any of this. Um, but I was in I was in the locker room. So when the game, when the guys were getting dressed, I was in like the dry spell area, like where the suits are. And then I was able to go in the locker room once they all left. But he would walk by like the area and like look at me every single time like the period would end. Like he probably doesn't even realize he was doing it. But I was sitting there as like trying to be like a good, a good like soldier, you know, like making sure I was seen, like making sure I was in the right spot. And so I sat in the dry stall room when the team was in there, like trying not to be seen by any players or get in the way of anything or whatever. And then when the players went out for the game, I would go into the locker room because the TV would be on, and I would watch it on the TV in the locker room. So I was watching it like any other Joe Schmo on the TV, but I was in, I was 20 feet away from the ice surface. But if the if Crawford went down or Niami or whoever it was at the time, I think, then I would put my gear on right away. So I needed to, I like I understand why I need to be down there. They you can't have a 15-minute elevator ride waiting for an elevator to get down there and get dressed. So I do understand that process, but it's kind of a crazy experience to like, yeah, I'm black acing and yeah, I'm part of this like cool thing, but like I'm also just watching it on TV. They can hear the crowd before you see it on the day. It's just a kind of a crazy deal. Um, but anyways, Jason La Barba was the goalie in the AHL at the time. Um, I think he kind of had an agreement with uh Chicago, like, hey, I'm gonna go get my family settled back at home, get my daughters and kids in school, get them settled, and then I'll come back um for the playoff run. So as soon as he got back, I got told, hey, um, you know, you can go home type of thing. Um, and kind of a like a full circle thing with Portland. Um I'm uh I'm a kind of guy that likes to do his travel in one day, like back in the day before I had kids, obviously. Um so the trip from Chicago to Jackson Hole is 22 hours, I think. Like according to Google Maps or whatever. Driving. Um I had my I had my truck and my dog and stuff. I like I said, I had my my puppy um and I was potty training her in a very nice hotel downtown Chicago. Um, and I realized very quickly that dogs cannot hold their bladder while waiting for an elevator.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:14

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:15

Uh so I had a walk-in, I had a walk-in shower that I taught her to pee and poop in, and I just never showered at the hotel. Um so my dog was peeing and pooping in probably like a $500 a night hotel room. Um, but anyways, uh back to the full circle of Portland. I think they so they ended up winning the series against St. Louis, and then um The Wild went to game seven, so they flew in the night after the game. So as I was leaving to go home at I think I think I checked out at like 3 30 in the morning to get back to Jackson that day was my plan. Nino Niederrider was coming off the team bus. They had just won in game seven, I forget who against, but I saw Nino at three o'clock in the morning walking into the same hotel I was just checking out of, which is kind of cool, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:12

Uh former teammate. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:15

I just kind of said hi. I think he had like a pizza box in his hand or something, and he was just like, obviously, like, what the heck is going on here? Like, uh, why am I up and I just played an NHL game? Like, what are you doing here? Um, but uh yeah, so I got home at uh I think 12 30 that night. So I made it safely, obviously. There might have been a few laws broken as far as speeding, but I made it home in 22 and a half hours to Jackson Hole from Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:42

So that's my incredible. So so so Jason LaBarba, he he was a a Portland winter hawk.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:52

All right, so so so do you stay in touch with him?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:56

Um he was quite a bit older than me.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:58

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:59

His career as I was there. Um, but all the older goalies in Rockford were um super, super nice. Right. Uh like if the guys were going out uh obviously not like boozing and stuff, but if we were going out to a a dinner, like all the like the goal like LaBarba, um Michael Leighton is uh awesome human being. They would always make sure that I got the invite with that kind of take take me under their wing type of thing. And um and that's where I kind of learned as like a rookie in the in the pros was I'm gonna take all the one-timers after practice. I'm gonna, you know, that was kind of when I turned uh a little bit of a leaf from juniors, as far as like thinking I was a dog in juniors, obviously, and kind of realized like if I just work my bag off, these guys will love me. Yeah. So I just put my head down and like took shots to the head, took shots to the collarbone, took shots to the throat, yep, and just mild my way through it and like kind of turned my, you know, not personality around, but turned the way like the organization viewed me, you know. Um and that's how I ended up signing, you know, multiple years there after my entry level deal. And um, yeah, those two guys and you know, uh Lars Johansson uh was another older guy um my last year there. Um, but they kind of like helped me along the way, kind of figure it out a bit. And Michael Leighton especially kind of had my back through like a bunch of like kind of weird miscommunication stuff. And he's like, hey, don't worry about it, I'll talk to him. Yeah, like coaches or GMs or whatever that kind of thought something different. He would always, you know, kind of have my back, or if it was if it was something that I needed to fix, like he would kind of tell me the same thing. So Michael Leighton is an amazing I think he has like the AHL record for shutouts and stuff like so. This is uh an amazing career for him and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:06

So Mac, I want to thank you. Thank you so much for taking this time to do this. And uh I will make sure to send this to you offline. And uh this has been great. We we can go on for hours and hours. You're a great interview.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:28

I'm looking at the clock, it's like an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:30

I know!

SPEAKER_03 1:26:31

I know we can go, yeah. Yep, go on, go on, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:36

No, no, no. This is great. And TJ, thank you for making this happen. You guys are so special. And uh I'll make sure I I always share this with my guest. Uh I'll send you the file before it's ever published, and if you can say delete or don't, whatever. But thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:56

Oh, thank you. Yeah, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:58

This is awesome. This is a great conversation.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:01

Mike, love talking to hockey with anyone, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:03

Okay, let's do it again.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:05

Who's sponsoring it?

SPEAKER_03 1:27:06

Who's sponsoring it?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:08

Uh tonight's sponsor is Jackson Hole Moose Hockey Company.

unknown 1:27:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:14

And we'll put their their uh link in the notes.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:18

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:19

Okay, thank you. Good night.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:22

Yeah, good night, later.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:25

I want to thank Matt Cruth for coming on episode 64. That was awesome, and thank you for Jackson Hole Moose Hockey Club for sponsoring this. And I also want to shout out a new sponsor of the podcast, Vancouver Plumbing. They've been serving the Southwest Washington area for over 25 years. And the owner's a good viewer. Shout out Brandon and his uh cohort, Ruben. They will definitely take care of you for your plumbing service needs. So give them a shout out. And I will put their uh contact information in the show notes. This episode was edited and produced by Daisy Media. And like, follow, subscribe, and give us a five star review on Apple Spotify.