Bottle Rocket with Alena Sycheva Episode 50: with Pierre Jarry

This week, we welcome former New York Rangers forward Pierre Jarry to the show.

Pierre reflects on his hockey journey, his time with the Rangers, playing during a unique era of professional hockey, memorable teammates, unforgettable moments, and life after the game.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:10

Welcome back to Bottle Rocket. I'm Elena, joined by Maven Allen. Today we're joined by former NHL forward, Pierre Jari. Pierre holds one of the most unique records in Rangers history. He scored his first NHL goal and then scored again in just eight seconds later. Time the franchise record for the fastest two goals by a Ranger. Pierre, welcome to Bottle Rocket. Great to see you.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Good to see you guys too. Pierre, did you see the game last night? Yes, boy. Was it a game? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I want to ask you, how crazy a game in your lifetime, where does it stand with craziness?

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Well, I tell you, I tell you what, this is I mean, it's a it's a different kind of craziness than when we played. But it was a great game. I mean, both teams are uh are pretty strong.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

They're pretty the I mean they're they're at par, so it could go it could go either way, but what a great game it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

What do you think benefits from it going into the Tuesday game?

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Well, you know, when when uh when when you get into the playoffs, every game is a is a new one. So uh nobody benefits. I mean, you just uh you play it one at a time, and I think uh Carolina's probably thinking the same way. If they can win the next game, they're they're going back home. They might be three up, three to two coming in, coming back to Vegas. So who knows? Yeah, they're but what I found out yesterday was these guys are, I mean, what I've noticed all year, these guys are athletes now. I mean, I mean, we were players, but these guys are athletes now. They can do anything, they can skate backwards, forward. They, I mean, their court, their their play is always designed. I mean, it's fantastic to watch them.

SPEAKER_06 1:48

Did you think at some point that Keynes were cooked when it was 4-0?

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Well, yeah, obviously. When it's 4 0 with a team like Vegas, that doesn't give you that many goals, you figure the game is over, but uh stranger things have happened in this game. But uh one of yesterday was one of the strangest ones, too.

SPEAKER_07 2:05

Yeah, Mitch Marner had one of those games.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Well, Mitch Marner might might be enjoying his day and his year, because I mean, I mean, he suffered quite a bit this guy from the last two or three years with Toronto. I mean, not winning anything, but uh now he's got a chance to do it all, and I think uh uh he's probably gonna, you know, he's he's looking forward to it and he'll probably do it.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

I have a theory that uh it's strictly uh brainstorm that Grindemore is gonna start the rookie goalie.

unknown 2:37

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

I think I think that he's given up on Anderson or he is more concerned about Anderson than he is about the kid. I mean you can't even blame the kid for the winning goal, really. I don't uh No, no. But this I think I think he's gonna start the kid, and I think it's the kid is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, uh first of all, you he there's no way you can take him out, I don't think, after the game last night. And uh so uh no, I think he's gonna go with him, more likely.

SPEAKER_07 3:10

We were just talking before we started the show that Brandy Moore did such a great adjustment uh that he managed to turn the team around. They were losing and then out of nowhere. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

Yeah. Both coaches, as a matter of fact.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

When when they when they tied the game, I never thought I never thought that that Vegas would be unable to hold the 4-3 lead. Of course, they had a two-man advantage when you think about it with penalty and the other two. But uh I give a ton of credit to Tortorella. I mean, I mean, Carolina had all the momentum. These guys could have just folded up, and and I was I I think Tortorella gets as much credit, if not more, because they won, than uh the other guy. But it doesn't matter. There was it's just a uh there were so many angles to it. I I it it is one of the great games of all time that I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_04 4:13

Definitely definitely, yeah. And Tortorella is um is a motivator, and yeah, and you can see the you would see what it brings to the team, because we saw the same thing in Montreal with Martin St. Louis this year. He was a great motivator for the players. And when people respect you as when the players respect you as much as they do, then the team can go a long way. So who's the best coach you ever had? The best coach I've ever had. Well, I've had um uh the one I liked most was Ted Harris, not because he was the best, but the one I liked most because he brought me back in the NHL. But uh Scotty Bowman, well, I played for Scotty Bowman only when I was in junior. And Scotty Bowman, I got to see him in Montreal because I was I'm from Montreal, so Scotty Bowman would rank among probably the best that I've seen in those days. Uh uh I was in New York when the cat was there. In those years it was different. Coach didn't do very much. I mean, they just uh they just opened the doors and then send you out. But uh now it's different. Everybody has a system and you play with the system that the coach brings in. So uh it's a it's a different game.

SPEAKER_07 5:21

What was the most fascinating arena to play at?

SPEAKER_04 5:24

The two, the two biggest, the two nicest shrinks to play at Madison Square Garden. I mean, nothing hardly anything beats Madison Square Garden. And then the Montreal Forum. The Montreal Forum was something uh crazy at though in those days. So uh those are the two uh the two the two the two uh arenas that I enjoyed most. Even though when I got traded from New York to Toronto, and I hated Toronto. I mean, being a kid from Montreal, I mean, Toronto wasn't my best team. But I really enjoyed Toronto, loved it. I had a great time in there. I was lucky to play in Toronto because I played with two guys that were pretty funny that you guys would probably like Jim McKenney, which was the funniest guy on earth, and Eddie Schack, which was uh an entertainer in a way, but uh McKinney was always the fastest. He was the king of the one-liners, and he had so many one-liners that I could write a book just about him. So uh yeah, it was good.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, I was there when Eddie Schack came to the Rangers uh out of Junior out of Junior. And we had we used to have press luncheons at a great restaurant near the garden called Leone's. And uh the thing I remember about Eddie Schack was the same thing about Johnny Ferguson. When I shook hands with Eddie Schack, I thought I was shaking hands with a baseball glove.

unknown 6:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

And and later on, well later on, Fergie was with uh the Cleveland Barons in the AHL, and my buddy from the Rangers, when I worked for them in uh 54, 55, Aldo Gwidlin was with Cleveland. And whenever they came to Springfield, I used to go to the games and meet them. And I had lunch with the team. And having uh we're in uh in a booth, and along comes this guy, and Aldo grabs me and he says, I'm gonna introduce you to this guy, and you're gonna hear a lot about him. So he introduces me to John Ferguson. I shake hands with another baseball guy, and then he walks away, and uh Aldo says to me, he's gonna be with the Canadians, and you're gonna hear a lot from him. And of course, we know what Fergie did.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

Yeah, definitely. And one guy that the one guy that couldn't stand him would was probably one guy that you know, Rod Gilbert. I mean, Rod would uh just aid Ferguson because Ferguson would uh intimidate him all the time. And uh I even after I retired, we went to we played at the Bell Center for for the closing of the uh the I mean at the forum for the closing of the forum, and Rod wouldn't even get on the bus with Ferguson. He would still not wouldn't talk to him anymore.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Well, you know, it's funny you you mentioned that, uh, Pia, because I like to collect hates in hockey. And Rod, no, seriously, and Rod and Fergie was a legitimate hate, and Harry Syndon and Don Cherry was a a lifetime, a lifetime hate.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

That was quite that was quite the ego battle between those two. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

1977 there was a tragic, tragic end. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Come coming back to Eddie Schaak when I went to Toronto. I mean, uh him and I were in the were roommates, and then we were both left wingers looking for the for the for the last spot on the team. So I asked uh Eddie, I said, you know, what do you think? Uh who's gonna make it? He said, you know what? He said, Don't worry about, don't worry about your job. He said, No, I'm only I quit playing three years ago. He says, No, I'm only entertaining.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Well, you know, uh Eddie Eddie Eddie was great. We used to have a uh in um middle of the middle of the hockey season, the Canadian Society of New York, which is a very, very important group, uh they had a a hockey dinner and they would give awards. And it was a great, a great, a great one. And uh Eddie was at uh they used there there were about three or four leaves who always came, Frank Mahoblich and his wife, and and Eddie was there, and he was telling me that he had a son who was an artist who was living in Brooklyn, which of course is my hometown. And uh it it would seem so so odd for you know the tough guy like Eddie and his kid. But Eddie was the guy who was responsible for one of the great fights of all time, which was Gordy Howe and Lou Fontanato.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Because what happened, what happened was that it was Shaq that was messing around with Howe behind the net, behind the Ranger net, and Eddie was way the hell up at the blue line. And he came dashing in, and he, you know, and he uh he came rather Fontanato came in because it was Shaq and Hal, and that's when the big flight started, of course. Uh uh Gordy uh turned Eddie's nose to a 90-degree angle.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

Yeah, well, you you didn't want to mess with Ferguson in those days, I'll tell you that. No, that was Howe.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Gordy Howe.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

Oh, Gordy, I'm sorry, yes, I'm sorry. Yeah, no. No, he would first of all, uh, how was a pretty uh he could stick you pretty good. I mean, he would bring the stick up on your face, no, and then he'd he'd almost look at you like, I'm sorry I didn't do it on purpose, but uh he was he was like that, yeah. But you know what, since you're you since you're from New York and you know uh you know the the gag line pretty well, I have a story for you, I think, stand. Well, you remember Vic Hatfield, eh?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Very, very well. He was a buddy of mine.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

Once Vic was my captain when I broke into New York. And then he would do anything for in training camp. He had me he was on my rear end all the time. I mean, he had me do everything. Get on the table, get undressed, do this, do that. He was on my ass for So I figured if I ever get a chance to get even at this guy, I will. So we come into the forum the first game of the season, and he scores two goals in the first period. And as you know, uh Vic, Vic was a very proud guy. He used to play hockey without messing up his hair. I mean, he was just a very proud guy. So we scored two goals in the first period, and as he's walking out going to the dressing room, the trainer says to him, he says, You're on NBC in two minutes. So he says to the trainer, he says, Go get my teeth. And when I hear that, I jump in the room, I run in the room, I pick up Bobby Nevin's teet number eight, and I put it in this bag, and I watched, and I watched them on television go bah bah. Oh boy. So I got him good. No, I paid the price after that, though, I'll tell you that. And then um they shaved they shaved my head on the wave on the from the from the forum to the uh to the to the airport. They shaved my head, they put glue on my stomach, tore out the hair, and then they put tiger bomb where you shouldn't be putting it. So, anyways, uh five uh six years, five or six years ago when I went to Jean Rattel's um uh uh day, his son, Big Cat Field's son was there. So I said, I have a story to tell you. So I told him about the story about about his father, and I said, you know what? I said, I long forgot the pain that your dad inflicted on me on that day. But I said, you know what? This nobody has still remembered, and no, I don't know anybody that doesn't remember his interview.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

I can re you know why I can relate to that? Yeah. Tell me. You want a good snack gag?

SPEAKER_04 13:17

I hope that was a Barbie Nevin's data.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

That's good. Yeah, a lot of the a lot of the stuff that was inflicted on rookies over the in the past can't they you you don't do it anymore. I did Derek Sanderson's book.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

Oh, Sanderson.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

And Derek Darr Derek explained how they did the shave. Do you remember the shave?

SPEAKER_04 13:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely, yeah. But Sanderson was a crazy guy, also. I'm Derek, I mean, no, uh Derek's very guy. I played golf with him in Montreal one day. Well two days in, as a matter of fact. And then we were playing for a $50 match at Nassau. So after the second game, he didn't, I didn't play very, I said, ask, you know, let's match cards, so let's see who wins. So uh he said I didn't play very well, so he throws $400 on the table. So I said, I said, Derek, I said, you don't owe me $400, you owe me $300. Well, he said, I didn't see at the nine and a half because I would have doubled the bet. Yeah, he was he was something else, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

He was a very good player in his prime, I'll tell you that. If it wasn't for Phil Esposito, they'd be talking all about Derek as a center. But uh, you know, that was a great team. They complimented each other. It was a wonderful, uh, wonderful team. Wonderful team.

SPEAKER_04 14:41

Yeah. Well, he was on the Johnny Carson one day and he was asked about um, he says uh Bobby Or's got the points. Um, no, no, he says Bob Bobby Orz got the talent, Esposito's got the points, and I got the color. He was right.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So, Pierre, November 21st, 1971, the two goals and eight seconds against the SEALs at the Garden Ranger record. It was matched by Don Maloney, but it's your record. You set the record. First one to ever do something like that. What do you remember most about that game?

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Like, what I remember most about that game is when I after I scored those two goals, I came to the bench because the cat took me off after two goals, and I said, Kat, what'd you take me out? I was going for three. Sat me on the bench for another ten days after that one. But as I was telling you earlier, I mean, uh, when I scored those two goals, Carol Vadner was on the ice, and he was a good, good friend of mine. So after I scored the second one, I just went past him. I tapped him on the rear end and I said, How do you like this one, Caroline? So that's it.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Did you manage to save the buck from that game? Is was that a thing back then? No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 15:56

No, no. The only thing that don't disappear are the souvenirs. I mean, you got the you get that in your head and you keep them all your life. That's it. I know that's we that that's what we played for, anyway. Proof of the water, yeah. And Alan sent me that picture, and it's the only picture that I had that I kept. Yeah, the the yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Uh down on the ice here, pocket of net. And this was this was eight days after I met you at the very first game I went to with my dad and my brother, November 13th, 1971. There's the program, you signed it uh right up in the corner there, and item to this day that's close to my heart.

SPEAKER_06 16:40

That uh you batted him on the head.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

So cute. It was a little guy, six, six, six years old, and you patted me on the head, and it was this was a family legend story. My dad always said, Pierre Jerry, I still remember that. So this went on for decades.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

I was in the I guess I must I must have been his favorite. Most of the guys were looking at Roger Burrs and stuff, but but I got a I also got a story when I played in New York too. And I started when I scored my first goal in New York, I looked uh I kept hearing in the sense somebody calling my name. So I kept hearing Pierre and Pierre. I couldn't, but as a rookie, you can't turn around and stuff like that. So I didn't turn around. I finally got traded to uh to Toronto the following year. And then I came to New York, I scored another goal, and then I kept hearing my name again, Pierre, Pierre. So I said, Wow, I'm no rookie anymore, so I'm gonna turn around and see who it is. Only to find out it was somebody going up and down the stairs yelling, beer, beer, beer. So that was my disappointment. What are you doing these days? Well, no, I'm retired, I'm just playing golf, but I went once I retired from hockey, I uh I was lucky, I was fortunate enough to uh to to end up in business right away. I mean uh uh a friend of mine was used to used to uh own an advertising agency and he said, Why don't you come and work for me? So uh anyways, I didn't know what I just want I just wanted to play golf, but then uh he he had two accounts at that time. He had the Olympic Stadium and he had the Grand Prix of Canada. So uh uh I ended up with uh with Olympic Stadium and I kept that for 25 years where I was selling advertising at the stadium for for for during the expos games. You live in Montreal? Yeah, live in Montreal, yeah. Always did.

SPEAKER_07 18:33

Alan should be a ghostwriter. New project.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Well, I am I I am writing a book, as a matter of fact. Oh great! In French or English? In both. And uh I I I could probably send you the uh I'll send you the um the the the the front the front and the back cover if you want. I I I already send it to uh to Alan. And basically it's um uh the title of my book is called The Kid with the Brown Paperback. And it relates to a story when I turned pro. I I I I was given a $25,000 bonus when I signed, and we were assigned to go to Dallas for training camp for a month. So uh I went to Neiman Marcus in 1970 and I bought a suit for $475 with that $25,000 check, and they gave me the money in cash. So I carried it with me for three weeks or four weeks in in Dallas. I was putting it in my skates, I was putting it in my in my locker, and so and uh when we got to Oma, Nebraska after that training camp, I was I was sent to Oma, and the advice that we had was we had to take a cab to go to the airport. I mean, at the airport, we had to take a cab to go to the hotel, and then from the hotel go to practice at 6 o'clock. Me, I was raised from Montreal with no money at all. So when we got to the airport, I said my roommate Andre Dupont says, We're gonna take a cab to go to the hotel. I said, I'm not taking a cab to go to the hotel, I'm taking a cab to go buy a car. So I opened up the yellow book, the yellow page book, and I saw Oma Dodge Chrysler, and then uh and I went to Oma and bought a Dutch Challenger and paid for me out of that brown paper bag. So the story went around the league. So, anyways, uh then I uh uh later on in that year I scored a gold in it somewhere, and then I ended up the next day in the newspaper that said the kid with the brown paper bag. So that's what I that's what the story is about. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

What do you remember most about the other cities you played in? You know, Toronto, Minnesota, Detroit. You play with some great players in all three of those places. What stands out?

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Well, what what stands out most about my career is it's a it's uh it's a sad story at one point, and it's a good story, it's a good ending story, but uh I I I loved I loved New York and I loved Toronto. I got traded to Detroit. Unfortunately, things didn't go very well in Detroit for for uh for a reason that I've told before. I mean, we came to the forum and we got beat 9-9-0 in Montreal. And Alex Delvecchio was our coach. Alex was a great guy when he played, when we played together, but when he was a coach, he came you know he was so, anyways, he comes into the aggression room after the game and he calls me uh uh sorry the f the F word, he said you're a fucking frog. So I said uh so I got I got annoyed at that and I told him, I said, Don't call me a fucking frog, you fucking whoop. So that that didn't go very well. So the next day, uh when I got to the airport, he says, You better check what your uh destination was. He gave me my plane ticket. So I looked at the ticket and it was sending, he was sending me to Virginia. So I said, There's no way I'm going to Virginia, I'm going to Florida. So I went to Florida and probably was told that I was in never gonna come back in ENHL. But, anyways, but it ended up well because um the following year I went to the miners. I mean that was last year on my contract, so I didn't want to lose the money that was owed to me. And um when I played in Detroit, Ted Harris was my best friend. And uh they traded him to St. Louis because he wasn't fighting anymore. So um when he came back when he came back to play in Detroit, they hung a huge chicken from the from the center of the center of the ice. Like the arena in in Detroit is like an uh an oval shape. It was a fake chicken with with feathers that it that exploded when it reached the end of the rope. So I was on the ice when it happened, and I cut the rope. And uh Del Vecchio wasn't very happy with that. He said, Why would you do this? Well, yeah, I said this guy played with us for five years. I mean, do we do we need to uh to laugh at him and stuff? So, anyways, so the following year when I was in the minors, Ted Arris retired. He became coach in Minnesota and he came and picked me up. And I had my best years in Minnesota, so so it turned out good.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

You know, Del Vecchio is a case where you have outstanding players who should never be coaches, right? And and the the the best story of that is uh you know, Rocket Richard was arguably one of the greatest, most exciting players of all time. And um, when they formed the World Hockey Association, the Quebec team uh hired him to coach. And the Rocket, the Rocket, I did the Rockets book. The Rocket coached two games and then nothing for me. He was smart about it, at least Del Vecchio. He was smarter than Del Vecchio. Del Vecchio should should never Alex was a nice guy, though, mind you.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Like uh, great player, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 24:05

But uh Pierre, when you played for um New York Rangers and uh then Toronto, what was the biggest difference uh between the two?

SPEAKER_04 24:15

Well what New York was special, I mean very special because it because there was not no young guys when I came when I came to New York. They were all older guys, like they had uh Gilbert, Rattel, Atfield, Stemkowski, uh Ted Irvine, uh, Glenn Sather. I mean, they uh they had a bunch of guys that they were no young guys. It was like uh uh uh it was very impressive. I mean, in in that sense. When I got to Toronto, Toronto was different. I mean, we're all a lot of young guys that were coming in together, but uh New York was the ultimate to me. New York and Boston were the two teams that were um that had the same material. They're all older players, and uh so uh the big there there was a big uh uh uh rivality between Boston and New York. So uh yeah, but New York was fantastic. I mean, when I got traded from New York, I uh I almost cried.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

I mean uh but what was your opinion of uh Emil Francis, the cat? What did you think of him?

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Well, uh the cat he didn't he didn't like the young guys very much. I mean he liked to stick with the older guys. I mean but he but he he was some he was somebody that you that you respected a lot. I mean uh Kay Hamilton was was like that. I mean so uh but he believed he believed in the guys he believed in, he he believed in them, and he wouldn't he wouldn't uh he wouldn't change anything from that. But but you know what, but when I told him about that taking me off for these three goals, I mean that I was gonna score for my third goal, then he took me off. So when I went to Rattell's, the thing I saw he was in his 90s, and I said I related that story back to him. And he looked at me and you said, in all retrospect, I might have been wrong. But uh but he was a good guy.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Well, I gotta I gotta tell you the great one of the great punchlines of something like that, because I was at the game, the fastest three goals ever scored in the NHL were at the garden in the uh it was the uh 50 51-52 season, the last game at the garden, and two of the two Ranger goalies were hurt, and they brought this young guy up from Atlantic City. His name was Lorne Anderson, and the Rangers were were uh were winning. I don't think there were more than 5,000 people in the garden. Anyhow, uh Bill Mosianko scores a goal for the Blackhawks, goes back to the take the faceoff, he scores again on the off the face-off, and then he scores a hat-trick. Three goals in 21 seconds. Really? Oh, yeah. Listen to what happens. So he so then the next face-off, uh uh Gus Wardner feeds him. He comes in, he beats Anderson, but he hits the post. So he comes back to the bench. You know what the coach said to him? He says, he he he says, he says to him, Bill, are you in a slump?

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Good line, great line. Yeah. Well, remember, remember, you know what I was telling you about Jim McKinney before? McKinney comes into Toronto, he's only 19 years old. And we're losing 4-0 with about uh a minute to go. And Punch throws him on the ice for the first time. So here goes Jimmy, he jumps over the boards, he turns around and he looks at Punch and he says, Okay, coach, what do you want me to tie it or win it? What was what was Punch like? I didn't uh I I I didn't I didn't I didn't play for Punch when I was in Toronto. Oh no, it was uh Bill McCallum, but yeah, I heard the story from him before. But um and I got a good story about you, one one story that you'll probably like with the cat. There was a huge fight in Boston, and everybody was everybody was fighting each other. But there's only two guys that weren't fighting, and it was Pete Stemkowski and uh Ken Odge. So they were just pushing each other around. And Stemkowski was pushing Odge towards the bench, the Boston bench. But but you know the fans in in uh in Boston, so they start yelling at things. So uh Hodge woke up and he started pushing it, pushing it towards the ranger bench. And he's pushing him and pushing him, and he's getting about three feet or five feet from the bench. And here comes Kat. He jumps on the on the on the on the bench and he's yelling at Stemmer, come on, Stemmer, beat him to that. Come on, Stemmer, beat him, hammer him up. So uh Stemkowski gets about three feet from the bench and he puts his hands up and he says, Okay, coach, tag.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

So the cat was uh quite a character. The cat had a line that you could that fits for last night, you know, the game, last night's game, and how uh how the kid goalie uh loused up the puck, or you know, mate misplayed the puck, bounces off the boards, hits the goalie, goes in, wins the game in double overtime. The cat the cat's line was hockey is a slippery game. It's played on ice.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Did you see him play? I never saw him play. What's that? Did you see him play as a goaltender? I never saw him, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Damn right I saw him. He was terrible. He was terrible. In the beginning, in the beginning, you know, he we got him from Chicago. We made a the Rangers made a deal, they got the cat from Chicago, and I think we sent him, we sent him out. I forget who we sent him, might have been Alex Cleda, but he was the he was the backup for Charlie Rayner, who was a Hall of Famer. Charlie was old and he was getting beat up. And uh, you know, I was uh I was a Ranger fan then. I think we had the fan club at that time. Yeah. And every and we were we were every game was a everything was make the playoffs, make the playoffs. That's all all we wanted to do was just get the team in the playoffs, and we were playing the Canadians. It was a either the it was the last week of the season, and we were neck and neck. And um and the cat was in goal. And they had and and the Rangers were winning. The Rangers were winning the game, I think, by a goal or two in the third period, and the Canadians had a guy who only played one game in the NHL. He later became a cop. His name was Claude Robert. Only played that one game for the Canadians, and then some cockamami play gets over the bull, and he takes a shot at the cat, and the blew it. I mean, he just blew it, you know? And that goal tied the game, and that goal killed the Rangers player of chance and never forgave the cat for that. He never scored another goal, he never played another game, but that that was uh that was the goal he scored, and it killed the Rangers.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

And how did he become coach of the Rangers? That that I that I never found out.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Well, the uh first of all, uh Mars Patrick was I worked for the Rangers in 54-55, okay? The cat was a was, you know, he was he was okay in the minors. He was a good minor league goal. He he wasn't much good for the Blackhawks. Uh, but uh the those days the Blackhawks used to get they they they had a lousy organization. The guys they used to get were junior guys out of Saskatchewan, guys like Ralph Natres. Some of them were good. They got Bill Gadsby, Bill Gadby became a Hall of Fame, but he was, you know, he was a kid when he was with the Blackhawks. And and the the cat um made his way through the coaching in juniors. He was in Guelph. Guelph was a Ranger junior team going back to the Andy Bathgate days and uh Dean Prentice and Louis Fontanado. And he had a good memory. He came to New York as assistant general manager to Muzz Patrick. I'm not going to go into the detail why Muzz got fired, but he got fired, and that's when the cat became GM. But he also he he had a very bad way of picking coaches, guys who were no damn good, like Larry Copin. So he would take over and become the coach. And he was a good coach. He was a very good coach.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, you know a lot of people, you know you're happy. You've you've seen quite a bit of it.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

No, I mean, you know, if you were a Ranger fan in those days, uh, I star I my father started me at the old garden in 1939 when I was seven. I could not go to Ranger Games because they were late at night. They didn't start till 8.30. So they had a farm team, the Rovers, Sunday afternoon, and them and a medley game for 50 cents. You could see two games at the at the it was great. It was great, great hockey. But the uh the cat was uh he was made to be a coach. He was he was a very good manager in baseball. He ran baseball games out in uh Saskatchewan, and he was he was a good leader, he was very inspirational, but he was a little guy, you know, and some of those little guys could do it. And I I I I I didn't see my first Ranger game until I was uh 10 in 42, but when the war came, they they they finished first in 42. The war was on. All these good players went off to the war, so they missed the playoffs in 42-43, 43-44, 44-45, 45-46, 46-47. You imagine being a Ranger fan, waiting for the team to make the playoffs. They finally made the playoffs in 47-48, and uh Detroit beat them. And uh, but what an event.

unknown 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:08

They always said was a Ranger fan, always a Ranger fan. You're right, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Um I I uh Ranger fans are in a class by themselves. Yeah, definitely. Alan, you're uh you know all about your brothers are Ranger fan.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

All the way back to the 1968, 69, just and that's how I that's how it got in my bloodstream because I wanted to follow his lead, and they had the tickets, 71, 75, so that those tickets that year, 71, 72, led to my first game where I met you and and and then a spark was lit. I saw something live, I I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and it I I've never let go of it. It was fifty-five years later I'm still at it. Stan and I met in 1985, so that's 40 year friendship mentorship there. It's it's incredible. It gets me emotional at times because it's it's so meaningful and I'm still part of it, and I've been part of such special years, special years with the Rangers and the Islanders and the book I wrote with Ken Marr. Like it's been it's been fabulous. I at a you know, starting the day I saw Pierre Jerry live on The Garden Ice.

SPEAKER_04 36:22

Well, it seems like both you guys got the passion for it, and that's what we need. That's it.

SPEAKER_07 36:27

How many years later did you meet after the first meeting, Alan?

SPEAKER_01 36:31

So 2017 Rangers were playing in Montreal, uh playoff series. I was up there on assignment for the New York Times, and I don't know, I I figured Rod, I just took a shot. I said, Rod, maybe Rod has Pierre's number. I'm gonna take a shot at I was thinking about how it all started, and and Rod and I have been friends forever, and and and that goes back decades, and he just texted me right back, like, here's Pierre's number, try him, uh try him. And I did, and and Pierre came to the hotel the next morning, and we had breakfast. Fabulous, it was totally impromptu, and and I remember he said, you know, let's call your dad, let's tell him the story, and we did. Like dad was on the phone, and and six years later we had the reunion. Tremendous, uh tremendous. It was another career highlight.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Uh in Montreal called the the spaghetti warehouse.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Right, and then we had dinner, uh at lunch, and my wife we came back to the story with Elise Bellevo same calendar year. So uh we had a great double visit um in Montreal. My wife joined me for that one, so it's fabulous stuff. It's it's it's great. The great part about hockey is I learned from Stan at the very, very beginning of it all is the relationships, the friendships with the people is what matters.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

And that's the greatness. You know, that was Rod, you know, Rod, Rod was the ambassador of the New York Rangers forever. So the last year he worked in the you know, up until the COVID year he was still at it, ambassador, visiting every suite, visiting kids, parents, uncles, aunts, brother, like because they're still a Ranger fan I may not have met yet. So this is real. I know that that's spiritual.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

He was uh Rod was real, absolutely. I I used to know him before I turned pro, and I obviously as a French Canadian, I knew most of the the French the French players in Montreal. But I knew Rod as uh and then uh to be drafted by New York, oof, that was a thing. I couldn't believe it. And then the next day, uh the next couple of years after I'm sitting in the dressing room with him.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

So uh I'll tell you a good Rod story. So I'm uh I'm doing hockey books, and I got this uh guy, his name was Stu Daniels. He published hockey books, he worked for Prince Hall. Yeah, and I I think I'd done a couple of books, uh picture type books for him. Calls me up one day and he says, I want you to do a book about Roger Bear. I said, no good. He says, why not? He said, he's only been in a league for maybe four or five years. What the hell? You want to do a book for a guy's, you know, he's uh he's obviously become a good player, a very good player, but not to not to five five years, you know, do a book with a guy. He says, Listen, let's have dinner tonight. There was a Ranger game tonight. Let's have dinner tonight. You think about it. So we had dinner and we went to the game that night. I'd scored a hat trick and we did the book. I didn't do it alone though. I had another guy, uh uh Hal Bach, who was with AP. Uh we co we co we co-wrote the book. Co-wrote the book.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

So you you so you wrote quite a bit of books then?

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Yeah, but I I didn't think that book would would work because of the time element, but the way we did it was we did all about his personal stuff, and the other half of the book was how to play hockey. So it was like a you know, a book kids uh uh young players would uh do. The same thing happened with me and Denny Potfin. Uh when Denny, you know, Denny comes to the Islanders, he was uh almost an immediate star, and he had he had an agent, uh, or maybe two guys, who uh felt it was time that he did a book. And I felt it was too soon. But uh the Moolah was good and uh and uh Denny was good. Uh Denny was not good. Denny was great. Yeah, he was a great storyteller, but uh and it was a good book because uh he had a very interesting life, you know, growing up with uh his older brother being a teammate, uh they were I played with both of them in in Ottawa as a junior team. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

And and then I remember going out to the Chadiere one night, and there was uh there were three guys that are arguing with John, and they started a fight with uh with John. And uh John was Dennis came in, he was only 15 years old, he knocked both of them out. So Dennis was something else, yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:08

Who was the funniest teammate that you ever played with?

SPEAKER_04 41:13

Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt, Jim McKinney. Jim McKinney, I could write a book just on him. I mean, he had so many, and he was always right at the right on time. His timing was always perfect. So, as a matter of fact, we played the opening game in in Philadelphia one night, and uh we all knew what was gonna happen. I mean, you're sitting in the dressing room hoping that the coach won't name, you know, put your name up to start the game because you know it's gonna be crazy. So, anyways, so it had about five fights in the first period, and we're losing four-nothing, and we're all sitting in the dressing room with our heads down, and we're looking at the TV monitor there, and here's McKinney on television with Aoi Meeker. So Aoi Meeker says to him, he says, Jimmy, he says, tell me, is it what is it like to play in Philadelphia? Oh, so Jimmy looks at him and he says, Me says, I just love it. He says, I always play better when I'm scared stiff. He was a pretty good defenseman, wasn't he? Uh no, he was uh he was uh we called, what was his name? Um but we we everybody around the league knew him. I mean, he was just uh he was just another night we played and we played in um in Toronto, and I I still remember, I can still see the play. Keon comes on the uh come on comes on the right wing and he's getting hammered a couple of times, and he finally gets to bring the puck behind the net. And Ellis is right behind the net, picking up the puck, and here comes Ted Green, and he just hammers him. So as he falls down, the puck lays there, so Cheavers comes out of the net to pick up the puck, and here's Ellis on his knees pushing the puck to the open net. And here comes McKinney with an open net, nobody in front of him. So we all go towards him to congratulate him, and he starts to skate after the referee. And I mean, we're where is this guy going? So he goes there, and Frank Adveri was the referee. So he taps Frank and he says, Frank, McKinney unassisted. He was the best. Without a doubt, he was the best. And uh I could I got so many stories with him. I mean, uh he Eddie Shaq couldn't compare to him when uh sitting in the dressing room. There's no way uh McKinney was always on point. As a matter of fact, let me tell you the same. The late the the other story, he had me he had me left on the ice one time. Well, you know, Alex and I didn't didn't get along very well. And I'm on playing on the left wing with Marcel Dion and Mickey Redmond. And and yeah, he had heard all the troubles that I had with Del Vecchio. So I'm coming on the left wing, and McKenney's on the right, is a right defenseman, so he's right in front of me. And I'm coming full speed, and Marcel doesn't give me the Book. So I and I'm no smarter, so I just go offside. So I'm I'm coming around the net, and here comes McKenzie next to me. And he says, Come on, he says, tell me. He says, What's the matter with Del Vecchio? He's so stupid he can't see you get you're much too fast for these two guys. He was the funniest.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

Well, listen, I want you to tell us who's gonna win the final. And why? Why?

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Well, I I think Vegas is gonna win, but I would I wish Carolina would win it because they never they never won it before. And um, but I think Vegas is is gonna come out. Why? How do you guys feel about it? Well, just uh I don't know. I mean, uh there's no they're they're equal. They're both as good as one another. I just feel that um they got the home advantage. They might they might it might play it might play a little bit. And uh but who knows, really, it could go either way. Your pick, what are your picks?

SPEAKER_02 44:58

Well, um I I'm rooting, I'm rooting very hard for Tortorella. He's a pal of mine, and I love the guy. I on this show, and uh Elena will remember, I said before the series started, I picked I picked Vegas to win four straight. I picked him to uh to sweep. Really? So I'm uh uh you know so but I I I'm going with uh I'm staying with Vegas, but I'm afraid of this uh this rookie goalie. I really am. But I'm staying with Vegas because of the way they stopped the surge. You know, the surge came back from 4-zip to 4-4-4, and you figure, wow, wow, I mean, how are you gonna how are you gonna how are you gonna stop the uh the steamroller? And they did. They stopped it and uh the you know, I mean, let's let's face it, the uh the uh uh Vegas goalie hasn't been around that long. He's you know, he played in Philly for uh for torts, so it's uh very, very even. But I don't like Carolina, and I don't mind saying so. And who do you like, Alan?

SPEAKER_01 46:17

I I feel like Carolina's gonna make a longer series of it now. I think the kid goalie is the there's a momentum shift. It's gonna go six or seven. I I I feel like it still tilts to Vegas. Somehow that veteran core. I don't know, they're they're doing little things that add up, and they could have won all three games, of course. Should have probably so but I feel like it's gonna stretch out a little bit. Carolina doesn't quit at all. And and you know, no team quits at this point, but it's come back from that 4-0 last night. That game was completely over. It could have been 5-0 with the penalty. So it was it was a bizarre thing, and then the energy I was sure Carolina was gonna find a way to score quickly in overtime. So I think Vegas managed managed to settle it down and a little bit more veteran. I was watching our buddy George McPhee reacting during the game. He was out of his mind. And uh you know, George is one of the truly great people. I I root for him too. He's he's a good soul, and uh he and I go back to my rookie year as a reporter. He was really good to me when he played for the Rangers. He was a pugnacious swinger, uh, always into scraps, but boy, was he a good talker and carrying person? And I, you know, both feel that way about George.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

So I tell you a George a George McVeague story, uh George pound for pound was as good a fighter as anybody I've ever seen. And uh this is when the Island Ranger rivalry was intense, and he got into a fight with Bob Nystrom, who was also as good a fighter as there was it was a tremendous, tremendous, you know, no grabbing the sweater, no just tremendous. And the fight ended with Nystrom headbutting McPhee, which which we which was completely unlike Nystrom. Nystrom was a tough player, but he wasn't dirty.

SPEAKER_05 48:23

No.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

Years went by, and I often would wonder why, you know, what ever made Nystrom end the fight that way. So now we're in Washington. McPhee was uh retired. He was, I guess he was GM or whatever the hell he was with the cops. And I ran into George before the game, because uh George, of course, had been with the Rangers, and he had a restaurant on Ninth Avenue called Blue Moon. It was great stuff. So I said to George, I said, you know, that fight with Nystrom was one of the best fights I ever saw. And I said, I was very I loved, I love Nystrom. I said, George, I was very disappointed the way Nye ended the fight by headbutting you. And he said, Stan, I got a little secret for you. I but headbutted him first.

SPEAKER_04 49:19

But but Alina, you haven't told us who you you're picking.

SPEAKER_07 49:23

Well, I picked Carolina, so I can't back out of it. Even though I don't think Vegas is going to let it go so easily. And Tor Torella is an incredible coach.

SPEAKER_04 49:33

You know, there are guys that you want to play with. I remember the years in Philadelphia where Fred Shearer was their coach. I mean, everybody would kill to play with for Fred. I mean, not that he was you just had that chemistry about him that you wanted to be with him. And uh I played with him in the minors. It was the same thing. Mind you, you had the same recipe. You already he always had six or seven fighters on the team. So uh when I played for him in the minors, I had the best year of my life. Nobody touched me for a year.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Who who was uh which team did you play for with him in the minors?

SPEAKER_04 50:05

I played for uh in Omaha, Omaha Knights. And then we had uh a lot of fighters. We had Andre DuPont, we had Forbes Kennedy, we had the Paradise Brothers, we had tons of so nobody would touch me. I was the I had the best year of my best year, best year of my my career. I won the scoring championship, nobody touched me, it was perfect. Didn't stay like that very long. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:29

What was the toughest to play against?

SPEAKER_04 50:32

Well, whenever you played, uh I mean, Philadelphia was it was kind of nuts. I mean, uh, we we would we would walk down, you know what, Stan, you would probably remember when you went to the Philly garden, you had to walk down the stairs. It was almost like a ramp that you had to come down. So uh everybody felt like we were gonna go to get uh like some cattle again. And and McKenny would drive around in the warm-up and he'd he'd go to every player and he'd say, Listen, guys, don't forget to tell Pierre Bouchard is my first cousin. Hey, good to see you, buddy. Thank you. It was nice meeting you guys. I appreciate it very much. Thanks for the I really enjoyed it. Thank you, Alan, Alina, and Sand very much.

SPEAKER_07 51:14

Thank you for joining us on Bottle Rocket. It's been a pleasure having you with us today. To everyone watching, listening, please subscribe, like, and follow us on social media. Thanks, and we'll see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.