CHRIS PRONGER | Ice Guardians Ep 27

Kelly Chase and Brett Hull are talking with former St. Louis Blues Captain Chris Pronger about his new book this week. Prongs tells the guys about the Bar Brawl in Buffalo his rookie year and the night he spent in jail because of it. Hully asks Pronger about getting traded to St. Louis after his first two years in Hartford. Chaser asks him about leaving St. Louis and his path to winning a Stanley Cup, and the guys get to hear how Sugar Ray ended up at Prongs' Cup party.

Ice Guardians, presented by Siteman Cancer Center, comes to you from the Window World Studios.



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Ice Guardians, presented by Siteman Cancer Center, comes to you from the Window World Studios.

ENTER ICE GUARDIANS LAMBORGHINI RAFFLE HERE: https://iceguardianslambo.com

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578303936418
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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:34

Welcome in to Ice Guardians. We're in the Window World Studios here, sponsored by and brought to you by Citemet Cancer Center. And what a what a what an honor today. We get the uh we got I got two Hall of Famers. I I just I'm a I'm riding side saddle with two two special guests, but Chris. Multiple Hall of Famers because it's we're Hall of Famers, Hall of Shamers. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess Sask does Saskatoon count? Uh yeah, it does. It honestly does. All right. It counts. Three Hall of Famers. You're in. Thankfully, they drug me into that last weekend and they lose. It was a real it was awesome. Anyway.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

I didn't realize how few players Saskatoon had when they started dipping to the bottom of that bucket. I thought they were normally, don't you normally start at the top?

SPEAKER_04 1:24

I thought they were a storied franchise. What the hell is going on? Well, I don't know how you know Wendell Clark's 22. I wore 22 after him. Wonder how you do that. Because I know which one of us is the Hall of Famer. Well, Chris Breyer joining us today, and he's Death Mill Hall of Famer.

SPEAKER_05 1:43

So I think at some point now you got to quit retiring numbers and just retire the name. Yeah. Because the I I think it's so ridiculously stupid when I watch a game and like every number from 90 up is taken. Yeah. I like the traditional numbers.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

Yeah, I do too. You know, I you know what? Actually, that's what they did in Saskatoon was they just uh they have a wall of honor, which is your Hall of Fames, and not retiring New Jersey.

SPEAKER_05 2:14

So I like that.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Maybe they started something. Maybe they start. Here's the other thing I should just give you a golden pitchfork up there. Here's the other thing that they did that are the teams are doing. Rather than um giving you a jacket or something that you just wear kind of on those nights, I love the jacket idea. I think they should continue with the tradition, but I also like the ring thing where they're just giving you a ring and you can wear it. Yeah, you love your rings to the function.

SPEAKER_05 2:44

Well, you can I know I'm just saying to the function. Did they give you a jacket that you can grow into? It's applicable because you're not going to be this skinny forever. I know that.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

Well, you never know. I've got on a real solid regiment of uh yogurt and insurance. I mean, geez. I'll tell you what, you try it for about uh six months and see the weight you can lose. I'm hook you up to an IV and yeah, pretty cool. But, anyways, how you been, buddy? Good. Yeah, yeah, really good. Now you've been on a I've been on a tear. You've been on a tear all over.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

I see you on everything. You're on everything.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

Really a promoter.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, really getting into it. The marketing one-on-one is uh I think off okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

So all of that stuff you hated and hated doing, yeah, you're having to do now is yeah, because as a player, you were one of those guys that you just wanted to do the work and get the hell out of the locker room.

SPEAKER_05 3:41

Let's rephrase that. What he wanted to do was just like me come to the rink, put the jersey on, go and play and go home. Screw practice, screw meetings, screw travel. Hated it. I loved playing the games, and I think Chris was probably the exact same.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

I enjoyed practice, but I loved the games. I loved competing, I loved the challenge of going up against the best players and hopefully winning and not allowing them to score any goals.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

Yeah, it's uh well that's that's the key. You know, you you were pretty good at it considering there's only two defensemen ever to win the heart trophy as most valuable player, and you're one of them. And the other guy was pretty bad. Yeah, a decent player, right? Think about all the other Robert Gordon, yes. Yeah, think about all the other unbelievable defensemen that have played in this game for decades that never did it. It's a to me, it's one of the the greatest honors and greatest. Uh I'm not really sure how to say it. That to for you to be in that group of two is awfully special, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

That's about the only time I'll be talked about in the same light as Robert Gordon. Yeah, but I know, but it's uh it's something you don't hear enough about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:00

Like, no, it doesn't get brought up.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

It gets brought up a little bit when you get a defenseman that's kind of getting a lot of points or doing stuff. Do you know how I won? Yeah, you were the best of the game. No, but do you know how I'm gonna know how I got enough votes? No, because I was always anti like kissing ass with the media. Of course, yeah, I'm not gonna do this until you vote for me. And uh Jagger got hurt that year. He played six, he got he missed 16 games. The Pittsburgh writer voted me one, and him too. I won by one vote.

SPEAKER_05 5:34

Wow, that's unreal.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

One vote. Wow. Needless to say, Yaramir was not happy with that writer.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

It's amazing that he admitted to that.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Well, no, because it came out.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

It came out in the uh Well, see, so the votes are you it it's not anonymous.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

No, like in the I think he came out and said who he voted for. There was a tally of how many first place, second place back then, but I think now they actually have to post who they voted for.

SPEAKER_05 6:02

You like the uh who just got in the hall of fame that should have been unanimous, and the one guy didn't vote for was it Jeter? No, it's just I don't know if it just happened. But they the guy didn't have to say who he was.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

I believe it happened to uh Haley Wickenheiser, and I know that you know it's not we're talking about the NHL, but I believe it happened to Haley. The one person didn't put her in as a first ballot Hall of Famer, and she's aware of it. And she knows who it was. I she knows who it was.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

Yeah, I yeah. So maybe she didn't accept his advances one time or something. Well, what if it wasn't a he?

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Or vice versa.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

Well, well, I'll miss it. I was just assuming, so I guess that makes an ass of me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Um you were coming in the league, though, I was I was in Hartford. Um it's not your attitude that was different. It was your like you took it in, and I I think your reactions were different. Your like you didn't know, I think sometimes you just didn't know how to handle yourself in situations that not that you should have, but as a young guy, were you just kind of like, I gotta learn this before I speak out again? Or I you would just say things because you thought there should be because like there was times where you'd get so pissed off at the media and you were just like, I can't, I'm gonna I'm gonna slap one of these guys.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Like I think it's it's a couple things. It's what I went through in those early days that created this big chip. Yeah, and then it it was also experience and understanding of kind of what they were trying to do, how they're trying to put a quarter in you, get you to spout off and whatnot.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

And is that what they do?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Allegedly. They really worked it on me. And you know, I think it was more just trying to give them just enough to do their jobs, but not making it easy on them. If they want more, then ask better questions.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

Okay, I gotta we we talked about this in the past or whatever. Tell us the story of what happened in Buffalo the night. You got we all got put in jail. You all got put in jail.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Oh god. So, you know, we're rookie year, rookie year, right? We're right in probably mid mid to late March. We're out of the playoffs, we're not making the playoffs, but we're going in to play Buffalo, who was fighting with Boston for the first seed in uh which was what was that division called? The Adams. Adams division, which was our division, right? So yeah, thank you. So we we go out to the bar a couple days before. We got in there early again, and people gotta remember we're flying commercial, we're getting in early, we're not doing whatever. And so we get there, we go to Jim Kelly's bar, watch, watch some, watch the game that a couple days before, I think Buffalo was playing somebody, and we're all our whole team is at the bar. Assistant coaches are at the bar, and it's getting later into the evening, but it's not too late. It wasn't late, late. It wasn't late, late. So, you know, I'm standing there, our captain Pat Verbeek and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy. I'm just standing there talking to them. And all of a sudden, this bouncer walks up and he grabs Pat Verbeek's beer and he just takes it. And Beaker kind of looks at him like, what are you doing? And he's like, get out. And he's like, What? Well, now in a bar, when a bouncer is engaged with somebody, boom, two or three other bouncers come over, and now we're like kind of stuck in this section, and there's three different bars in this in this Jim Kelly's bar. I remember. And we have a third of the team over here at this bar to the right getting served. We have a third of the team over here at this bar getting served, and then we're over by this bar, and there's probably seven or eight of us over here. And all of a sudden, we're getting pushed towards that bar, the three of us, by these bouncers. And but the door is on the other side of the bouncers, right? And I'm going, okay, hey, we'll leave. Sure, just the bar, the door is over there. Let us get around you and we'll leave. And you know, one little wee bouncer's like, yap, and a little chihuahua. There's always a guy, and he was the guy running his mouth.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

Guaranteed the little ball of hate pissed him off somehow, whether it was something. We all had our wits about us.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

No, I didn't mean right at that moment. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah, maybe later. So then he's just running his mouth, running his mouth, and now these bouncers are coming towards us. We're backing up, coming towards us, backing up. Now we run into a couple more of our teammates.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

Seven more guys, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

So we got Mark Jansen, Jeff Sanderson, uh Harkins, we got, you know, there's a bunch of us. And all of a sudden, they just start coming towards us, and boom, in behind us comes the cops for no reason. And boom, all of a sudden, mayhem breaks out and they start macing us, and the one bouncer starts attacking Kevin McCarthy, starts kicking him and laying the boots to him, and all for standing there. We didn't, you know, so then it became this whole story of this barbrawl in Buffalo. I'm like, barbrawl, like we're just standing there getting shit kicked by the cops and these bouncers laughing that they instigated this whole thing. So then we get thrown in jail. So now I took a nap in jail. Very bars made sure he got the bed. Yeah, I got the bed and I'm gonna go back to the book. Cookie's got the bed, legs up in the air, got my legs up on the bar. That's five foot four. The stanchion on the in the jail cell. I got my legs up there, and then everybody's kind of walking up. They had to wake me up, we're leaving. And I'm not really thinking anything of it. Like, we didn't do anything. Like, first off, why are we in jail? Secondly, we didn't do anything, we're just standing there. And at this point, I'm not thinking, okay, I'm underage, all this other stuff going on. Thinking, I'm with my teammates. I'm like, we're close to Canada, it's Buffalo, like 19, 21. I mean, what's the big deal? Tomato tomato. Yeah, you know, so we get we're walking out, and I got my jean jacket on. I'm not, you know, not even thinking I'm hungover. And all of a sudden I look and I see this camera, and I do the old perp walk, throw my arm up with my jacket. And and needless to say, out of everything that transpired, that one thing is the thing that kept coming back from owner and GM and everything. Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you thinking here? I'm like, Well, nothing, obviously. I'm not thinking, like, right. I was tired. Yeah, I was tired and I was over and was five foot four. Why do you expect me to talk about that? And I didn't know the media was gonna be there.

SPEAKER_05 13:23

Like, we've been put in jail before.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

I don't so you know, we leave, and all of a sudden now we gotta go back, we gotta go to court to get out, and it's like, but we didn't do anything, and all of a sudden we plead con no contest to trespassing. Trespassing to get out in a public place, yeah. Yeah, so it was uh this long sorted story of this uh bar brawl was pretty benign. The worst part is years later, I'm walking into Enterprise, which was Savis. You were still there, I think. And I'm walking in, and there's this guy sitting at the coat. You know, we used to walk into the office. Yeah, I go, I I see this guy, and whatever, and uh the receptionist goes, Oh yeah, this guy's looking for you. He goes, You've been served. Like, the one bouncer who was kicking their assistant coach broke his toe and decided that he was gonna sue me, Pat for Beak, and and Beaker had uh house liability insurance, so his insurance paid the guy off. But like, so you're trying to sue me because you kicked our assistant coach and broke your toe? Like, what did I do? Like, I mean, that's the stuff you're just like, give me a break.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

That whole time I'm listening to that, I'm thinking, what if that would have happened in St. Louis? All the bouncers would be in jail, and you'd guys still be at the bar. Yeah, we we'd still be drinking beer around the bar.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, with the cops, with the cops, because we have the best cops in St. Louis, yeah. And the worst thing was I I never got to see Jim Kelly after that. Oh, you didn't? No, never got to run into him. Well, he should have been. I was looking for him, though. He should have been calling you apologizing. I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:01

Yeah, no, no question about it.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Well, that was that was one of the beginning of the issues in Hartford.

SPEAKER_04 15:09

Yeah, I remember that's all I'm gonna do. I remember being I remember us, we're in Hartford, and uh we were gonna go to the bar after the game, and it was called Coaches, right? Yep. So we're gonna go to coaches and Brendan. You've been traded, Brendan Shanahan's play in there, and Shannon gets ID'd at the door, and he doesn't have his wallet with him. Well, first of all, what do you how do you not have your wallet? Anyways, he doesn't have his wallet with him. So the guy's like, I can't let you in. He's like, You joke, you got one pro sports team in the city, and I can't get into this bar. And finally he he goes, Well, um, how about that ID? And he points to the menu, and there's Brendan's face on the menu. And the guy looks at him, he goes, buddy, he goes, I'm leaving. I want my face off all the menus by tomorrow. And that's when the owners owners came into the locker room apologizing, you mean so much to us. I'm like, they're more proud of Rebecca Lobo there playing for Connecticut than they were the NHL team. They had Sean.

SPEAKER_05 16:17

Well, they were better than you guys. Well, that's that's true.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Well, you were a pretty good team. Well, you were. The worst thing was when I first got there, I see the Hartford Current, and I'm thinking, oh, I'm gonna get NHL. We're the only pro sports team in town. Four pages of Yukon men's basketball, yeah, two pages of women's Yukon women's basketball. There's like a little e-section for the Whalers. I'm like, yeah, what are we doing here?

SPEAKER_04 16:44

This is the NHL radar O'Reilly and and Rebecca Lobo, more popular than the Sean Burke and Brendan Shanahan.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

Yeah, it was uh it was a treat going to play in Hartford. Beautiful mall. Walking through the mall.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

The lucky lady. Yeah, no, the Russian lady. Well, yeah, what was it called? Yeah, Russian lady. Russian lady.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

What does that remind you of? Gayetanos. Hey, and what does that remind you of? Retiring, being elected to the Hall of Fame, and walking through the food court in tuxedo to get to the Hall of Fame. Going through Movenpick. You're walking through with the guys that you're going into the Hall of Fame with, or ladies, and there's a guy over there eating timbits or taco times. Yeah, you know it's on a bench, and you're like, what?

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Not taco time because they don't have it out east. So he's eating timbits for sure.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Well, it was taco something or other. I mean, that's incredible. You know, what how was it growing up in Dryden, Ontario? Playing uh minor hockey and it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

It was the best place to grow up, play hockey, small town. Like Thunder Bay almost in between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, right? Right in the middle. And we uh, you know, every day my brother and I played. We either played in our basement, we played the driveway, we played road hockey out front. We had an outdoor rink two blocks away. It's like Winnipeg's doing a kid. Yeah, how many people there in Dryden? Uh now, like 6,500, 7,000. That's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Size. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

I thought it was bigger than that. Yeah.

unknown 18:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Well, yeah. So it was uh, we just I mean, it was easy living. You know, you walk everywhere, it's just right in front of you, which is great.

SPEAKER_05 18:31

And who would you play against?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

We would play against Kenora. So we just stayed in our region. Oh, a lot of Indian teams. Yeah, a big trip would be to go to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay, but we'd play Fort Francis, uh Kenora, Red Lake, Sulico, like you say Red Lake? Red. Yeah, Red Lake.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Red Lake, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Go up to the gold mine up there.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:56

And then what made you go to the Peeps, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Uh I went to Stratford first, Junior B. So I went from played high school hockey for two years. In Canada? High school hockey? Yeah. That's weird. We'll get to the book later, Holly. Okay. Well, we'll get to it. But so I played two years of high school. Then I played uh Junior B in Stratford, which is just uh west of Kitchener, Wolf, Kitchener, Waterloo. And then uh then I got drafted, was gonna go play college hockey like my brother. Where? Who was at Bowling Green?

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Your brother, yeah. Uh by the way, your breather his brother's got a great book out too.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Anyway, the journeyman. Um, I had six schools that I had, I'd committed to five, I committed to my visits already. I was going to Maine, so Korea was going there, and Monty was there. So I was gonna go look at Maine. Michigan State was a powerhouse back then. Yeah, true. Uh, a couple of my teammates from Stratford were going there. Uh, then I was gonna go to DU and look at I was gonna go to North Dakota.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

Oh, you had all small schools, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Back then. They were big, they were huge hockey schools, yeah. And then uh oh, and then I was gonna go look at Michigan too. So I kind of had Michigan covered, and then I didn't need to go see BGSU, full and green. So I had six schools I was kind of focusing in on. And then at the last minute, I went to uh the under 18 in Japan and got to play with all the top guys my age, and I'm like, you're not that good. Right. Thinking, like, why can't I go play junior? Right, and uh and just decided that I had to go back to junior B and play one more year. And I was worried about kind of stunting my development and not challenging myself enough, and then uh went to camp for the 48-hour rule and was like, I can do this. And they said stay. And I stayed in Peterborough, played there two years, and then off to Hartford we went.

SPEAKER_05 20:57

Yeah, yeah. Start of an uh incredible career. And we will get into uh more of the NHL when we come back from this break from the Window World Studio, brought to you by Siteman.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

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SPEAKER_05 21:57

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SPEAKER_04 22:26

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SPEAKER_05 22:31

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SPEAKER_04 22:36

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SPEAKER_05 22:43

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SPEAKER_04 22:50

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SPEAKER_05 23:00

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SPEAKER_00 23:55

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SPEAKER_05 24:21

Welcome back. Chris Pronger, my pal and co-host Kelly Chase from the Window World Studios, brought to you by Seitman Cancer Center. Pronks? Yes, sir. An auspicious start in Hartford with uh some jail time and Shaw Shank.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

You're in I was in Shawshank. In Shawshank. Well, you were.

SPEAKER_05 24:46

And then you uh did you know you were gonna be traded, or did it? Was it very surprising?

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Or it was an absolute shock. I met I met with Jimmy Rutherford after the season. You're a franchise player. We're building around you. We're excited to have you. We you know we love having you as a as a whaler. Uh and then in early August, Paul Homgren, who was the coach, flew up to Dryden, took him fishing. He wanted to check in on me, see how I was doing, working out, all that stuff. And literally spent three days fishing with him. You know, he called in, he gets the Thunder Bay. You know, obviously Dryden's not easy to get to.

SPEAKER_06 25:29

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

So gets to Thunder Bay, calls in, nope, you know, pre-cell phones, calls in. Yeah, I just had a great meeting with Chris. You know, he's doing good, you know, really excited about the year. Paul, let me stop you right there. We just traded him. We just traded him to St. Louis for Brendan Shanahan.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

So I just spent three days in Dryden for nothing. Yes. Well, the fishing's great.

SPEAKER_04 25:57

Dryden, you might as well, you know, make the most of the fishing. So at least he got that in. But I was in uh, I was at uh what's the Marcus Gowns of horse place in uh Toronto? Oh uh fucking where they have the Queen's Cup. Yeah, Lansdowne Park. Uh it's like that. It's like that. I know what you're talking about. Anyway, I was there. And they and and Homer goes, Hey, you got a second? And I said, sure. He goes, You you happen to run into him at a racetrack. He called me. I was there, and he said to me, Hey, you got a second? And I said, sure. He goes, Jimmy just traded prongs St. Louis, or we're making a deal. He goes, What do you think of Shanahan?

SPEAKER_05 26:44

And I'm like, You're an idiot. You said that he was awesome.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

Oh, I said he's fucking unbelievable. But I said, he's not gonna stay in the same in Hartford. He won't stay in there. He he he wants he wants his legacy and he wants a fuck he wants to make sure that he's in a franchise that's been storied. So I said, I'm just telling you. And sure enough, one of the agreements he made with Rutherford was I'll give you a year and I'm gonna play my ass off. And then he got there, and then he had to play with uh Jimmy Carson.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Jimmy Crackhorn.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

Yeah, and he wasn't very happy about it. Who did he want to play with? Well, they got him off the line and he played uh I think he played with Sanderson and Castles. Yeah. Um but anyway, Brennan Brennan was really honest with him. He told him, hey, you get a year. But the thing was from back here, Prongs was just fine in his way. Yeah. And I remember John Ham completely name-dropping, being was the bartender at Cardwell's Cardwells. He was bartended both, both, yeah, both. And he he asked me about it, and and he said he comes in here for lunch after practice, and he feels like I feel like he's kind of lonely or alone.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Do you think?

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Yeah, and I said, listen, man, hockey players are great guys. I love prongs. He needs some direction. And I said, he needs some direction and some help around there. So help him out. And so I don't know what I know.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

You guys have a relationship where you Yeah, he did he hooked me up a few times. Yeah, and he made sure it was never dry.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Yeah, but in any event, I mean, that's what St. Louis was about. But you had to you had come here and it was tough. You're trying to fill the shoes of Shanty, and people loved him here.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Well, when I got traded, I'm I was all fired up. I didn't know shit about St. Louis. When I meet too, when I got traded here, I'm like, I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know anything about the city. Frankly, I didn't know a lot about the the team because I'd only while I'd played two years, the the second year was a locker year. We didn't play against the last year. So I didn't, I played, and my first year, we were here, I think, game five of my career. So, you know, I was so new that I didn't even know Jack shit. Yeah, so it was just, and frankly, I I figured it was your team. You know, you're the name, and I didn't realize he was coming up underneath 50 goals and all the rest of it.

SPEAKER_05 29:22

He was an unreal player, yeah. Those those guys, you know, like you being a a heart trophy winner, that that doesn't obviously it doesn't come around. There, there's very well, there is guys like him, but very few. Yeah, you know, 50 goals and he'll fight anybody in the league. I mean, uh, that's why when the trade was made, it was so because you hadn't quite made your footprint yet, and no one had a lot of it. And he had just made it, and he and he was he was unreal. He was he was he was and he was playing so good with uh Nelson Emerson and Craig Janney. Uh they they were an unbelievable line. And uh, you know, there there was no way anyone thought he was getting traded. It's kind of like when uh we got Scott Stevens.

SPEAKER_06 30:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:16

I mean, it's just like where does that come from? It's so it's out of left field.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

So but yeah, so I would love to see the blues do something like that this summer. Well, and that's the thing, like you know, when you look at that trade, I know I was kind of young-ish, but you don't see very many one-for-one trades of players, like and not that long after that, and it worked. Yeah, you know, you think about it, people don't realize. I mean, Aginla was even younger than I was during that trade. He might have been still he was uh junior, yeah, playing at Camloops, right? Yeah, you don't see those very often with those types of players nowadays.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

I I just wonder, and at the time, and but and by the way, it worked out for both teams, both of those situations, newy for Aginla, uh Shanahan Spronger. It was a it was a win-win for both teams. Now, Hartford at the end of the day took a punch in the mouth, maybe a little bit because Shani would only stay a year, but yeah, who'd they get?

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Primo, coffee, primo, grims, the draft pick, and somebody else had prospects.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

That's when I uh told Grimson that Mark Matthew Barnaby was making fun of him.

SPEAKER_05 31:27

I don't know. That was there uh on another podcast.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

See, but if you're if you're Dallas, you do that all day long, you win a cup. Yeah, absolutely. Who cares?

SPEAKER_04 31:38

As long as you win a cup, yeah, yeah, doesn't matter. Riley Thompson, who cares? We won the cup, yeah. You know, that's that's at the end of the day the most important thing. Yeah, so anyways, you get set up in St. Louis, talk about that little escapade, because you had Keenan and he was hard, he was good for you, but he was hard on you.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

He was good. Uh, I was uh I was his bitch. It was uh I mean it you know, on Hull you can kind of talk to it a little bit, but I was tired every before every practice, after every practice, before every game, during every game, shuttle into his office to get yelled at about something. And by the end of courts, finally at one point, I think he had to go talk to Keenan and be like, you gotta lay off this kid. Absolutely enough.

SPEAKER_05 32:26

Like well, the worst is the worst is I don't even think he was a good coach. Like he never he never taught us any systems or you know, like Scotty, like Scotty Bowman put in the left-wing lock for Detroit as a very innovative system that no one else used, which was unbelievable. Um, you know, Jacques Lemaire started the trap. Mike Keenan just scared guys into playing, you know, and and basically the the assistant coaches kind of yeah, patrolled their yeah, he was he was just a bully, is what he was.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

I remember, I remember one time my partner Igor Kravchuk pinches, you know, and I'm getting booed relentlessly in St. Louis, and Igor pinches, I take a three one three-on-one back, I slide, tic-tac-toe, back door, and I'm getting yelled at because it's I'm like, what do you want me to do? Like, it's a three-on-one. I'm like, you know, but whatever. Did he make did he oh he made me better? And and how did he make you better?

SPEAKER_05 33:34

Because he got him so pissed off he turned into the meanest, dirtiest prick out there.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

That, but I think, you know, looking at the method to the madness as it related to me, yeah. My probably biggest issue was conditioning, was the physical side of things. I got you. Wasn't necessarily thinking the game, yeah, getting out of my way, you know, thinking you know, reading and reacting, but it was more of more of him challenging me of how good do you really want to be? And if you want to be like Brian Leach and some of these guys, you have to get in better shape. You have to be able to play 30 minutes and not get tired. You have to be efficient on the ice. So, in that regard, yeah, he was very adamant about BO2 max and all the things. And I will agree he had the best practices ever.

SPEAKER_05 34:20

Oh, yeah. Like just back then, up tempo, back then 45 minutes max.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Max. But you're going fast, very little time at the time.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Front up your line, take the next drill, go, go, go, go. Yeah. Conditioning was in the drills.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

It wasn't but skate after.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

How about Al McKinnison? What he missed a lot. You know, I think that's you know, I started with Brad McCrimon, the beast, and Unreal, right? Hartford as my mentor and D partner, roommate, unreal guy. Unreal guy. I loved it. Amazing. And then, you know, come to St. Louis, and now I'm able to kind of learn under Al, kind of see how he prepared, how he prepared. Very professional, how he handled the media. I probably went the opposite direction. Me too relates to that, but really kind of how he kind of looked at the game, prepared, and then ultimately we had the same trainer and things of that nature. But you know, I think just watching him, everybody looks at his stats from his days in Calgary and how many points and his slab shot and all the rest of that. Highly competitive, really good defender, better than most people think. Very smart, very smart, heady. Yeah, the fact that people still couldn't figure out that he was never going to his backhand, I still don't get. Right. They still they always bid on the backhand fake and he turn and rip it up the wall. It was unreal. It's unreal. I'm like, I can't believe people still bite on that. Well, that's because coaches are terrible and they probably didn't tell their players that he's never going to his backhand, ever. Never.

SPEAKER_04 35:55

Yeah, I I uh I remember Al being, you know, talking about it a little bit, and he said, Well, it's been whatever it was, 14 years and they haven't caught on yet. I don't think I'm gonna change it much.

SPEAKER_05 36:08

Yeah, no, no kidding. But could anyone shoot as hard but as accurate on on target? Yeah, like with that curve, no one was afraid to stand in front of the net. Well, I kind of was. Broke my foot twice. Well, yeah, but feet, right? But it was you're never worried about catching one in the throat, no, right? And that uh the only time it ever happened was when that puck flipped up on edge and he he hit his partner square in the forehead and split his fore. Remember that? It was uh Sooner? No, no, here in St. Louis. Oh, was it Sal or is Libor? Libor is a brand new one. Number seven, Rico Pearson? No, North American. What the hell was his name? Murray Barron? No, he was no, he was number six too. 36, actually. I think no, I don't know. I never paid much attention to you guys back there. He was a he was a good uh real good skating, maybe got him from Vancouver.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

I know who you mean. Yeah, not LaChance, but like uh had a brother played. Yeah, he had a brother, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:20

Norton. Oh, Scott Norton. Scott Norton, Jeff Norton, Jeff Norton. Jeff Norton. All right. I'm like, oh my god. Okay, we better take a break since that's that little QA took smoke. Smoke coming up. If he didn't have a helmet on, he'd be dead. They'd be still trying to wedge that puck out of his forehead.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

He I remember him that's the only time I ever saw it. I remember uh uh whatchamacallum, um who pushed on the back of his legs, Marshawn, maybe Patrick Coolin. And he he he hit him and purposely hit him.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Yeah, he popped his hip off.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

We said he oh, yeah, yeah, he hit him and he hit him in the in the feet or in the ankle or something. I mean, broke it, whatever. But he literally let off because Kelly Buckberg used to lay in front of the shots, and I was like, Jesus, I can't shoot it, I'm gonna kill him.

SPEAKER_05 38:14

Oh, you know, in today's game, that's what the first thing I say is I would I would shoot it as hard as I can at these guys that want to block shots all day because at some point they're gonna go, I'm not doing this anymore. I mean, I uh that would drive me bananas, and it's it and I it drives me bananas when they do get their shot blocked, because you know if it's on purpose or not. Yeah, and I'd sit there and I watch and I'm like, oh, he didn't see them standing there. Like I like I never understood the like how dumb some D are. The guy's five feet in front of you, and you hit him right in the chip pads. It's like, you didn't see him? Hey, dumb.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Do you remember my favorite Al stories? Yeah, he gets the puck back. Joe Murphy has now been in St. Louis, left, goes to San Jose, and Joe gets the puck. I go D to D. Al gets it, he takes one step in, and Joe's coming out in the lane. I was like, Oh my god, Al's got the puck! And he freaking veers right out of the lane.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

As holy Jojo could do it. Oh my god, Jojo's tired. Oh my god. Jojo got up in a TV timeout. We were getting beat seven to two, and they posted the score of the Mizzou game, and he had a bet on it. He jumped up and went, Yes! And we're like, what the hell are you doing? He goes, they covered. Mizzou covered. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Oh man, one of one.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

One of one. He took a uh shoebox full of cash to the Jeep dealership to buy a Jeep. And he said, Yeah, you know, take the tax off, right? Because it's cash. And the guy's like, what do you mean? And he figured, well, if he just brought this cash in, he wouldn't have to pay the tax on the car, a brand new Jeep. Unreal. Yeah, he he was a beauty. Let's take one more break. We're here with Chris Pryor Hall of Fame. We're gonna talk about his book a little bit. We're gonna have some. There it is. That's right. Window World from the Window World Studios, Seitman Cancer Center. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

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SPEAKER_05 40:56

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SPEAKER_04 41:09

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SPEAKER_04 43:02

Welcome back. Welcome back. The dreams are your check it out. With Chris Pronger, Bret Hall, sponsored by the vocal style. Yes, sir. Just want to get a little feel because now you want you decide you're going to move St. Louis onward. Yeah. And you and you just and you had a march too. Trying to buy a cup. That's all he's trying to do. But honestly, like you had that focus in you. Like I'm going somewhere where I know I have a chance to win. And then you drug a couple teams to the finals before you won.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Yeah. Yeah. Edmonton uh right after St. Louis.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Did you tell them that you'll give them a year? Or Well, here's what happened.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

I told my wife. So I was at a buddy's 30th birthday party. I may have been a little overserved and got the phone call that I got traded. So then I'm like, okay, shit. We go to a Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble, that's something that's the best bar to get a to get a book on Edmonton.

SPEAKER_05 44:10

Because I didn't really know that much about Edmonton.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

And my wife's like, oh, let's go get a book.

SPEAKER_05 44:13

And I'm like, you've never heard of this Wayne Grinch.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

So we show we show up at Barnes and Noble.

SPEAKER_05 44:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

And my wife goes to the person working there, goes, Oh, do you have any books on Edmonton? And the lady goes, Edmonton? Why would you want a book on Edmonton? And I'm like, oh my God. You're not doing me any favors here, lady. No, it wouldn't have taken long for her to figure that out on it. So then uh, you know, we go, we, you know, on the ride home, we're like, all right, so what are we gonna do? We get home, we start talking about it. You know, I have a qualifying offer that I'm gonna sign a one-year deal. We, you know, we decide, all right, I'm gonna sign my qualifying offer, play one year, and then you know, maybe we like it, maybe you don't. We'll just see how it goes. Yeah. And I, you know, she goes to bed, you know, we've decided on one year. I go back into my office and I'm sitting there having a couple beers, kind of thinking about the trade, thinking about the team. You know, was it what do they have? It's pretty cool that you had an office. Yeah, I didn't have an office. And all of a sudden it's like, you know, one, 1:30 in the morning, and I get a phone call. It's my agent. Hey, they want to they want to give you an extension because they don't want you playing under whatever number I was at. And I'm like, I'm not, um, you know, I want a one-year deal. You know, I'm gonna be a first time I'm gonna be an unrestricted free agent. Right. I'm like, no, I want to, you know, whatever. I want to explore. And now, you know, I'm sitting there, I'm shit faced, and I'm sitting there, my knees age.

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Oh, so it's more than a couple bears.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Yeah, yeah, yes, a couple dozen.

SPEAKER_05 45:42

You can always catch guys. It's like the Democrats, you always catch them in their lives.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

So, you know, I'm a little shit-faced, and I'm like, yeah, no, you know, one year, but now I'm sitting there, my knees aching, my hands sore. I'm like, you know, maybe this is gonna be my last contract. Don't please. I don't know. And you know, he caught me at a weak moment, and I'm like, I don't know, what do you think? You know, we're coming out of a lock. He's getting paid, he's gonna say, no shit. Jeez, yeah. So talks me into signing a five-year deal. And immediately, a five-year deal, immediately, you know, I go to bed, I'm like, this is not, this is probably not good. Wake up in the morning, I tell her, hey, just uh swallowing, you know, I agree to a five-year deal. And uh that didn't go for a while. No, no, as you might imagine. So needless to say, we get up there, you know, we have a great time playing, but it's not St. Louis, and it's a struggle.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

No, it's it's not St.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Louis, and that's all you know, yeah, for her.

SPEAKER_05 46:49

Right. Well, and come on, it's 10 months of winter. It's not St. Louis, right?

SPEAKER_02 46:54

So it's just a different culture, it's not like she can go out in the park every day and no, it's just different, you know, it's a very different vibe. Great hockey city, though. Amazing, unreal amazing. I mean, I had it, I had the best year playing, you know, from a from a hockey perspective, it was incredible. Right. Having an opportunity to play in Canada, you know, took them to the finals, go to the finals, lose a heartbreaker in game seven. Yeah, just what do you think was brutal?

SPEAKER_05 47:20

Did you have a full lineup? Were you missing a couple? Missing a goalie. You're right. Uh we had a couple guys hurt up front, and nah, it seemed like every time we had a great team, our goalie got hurt at St. Louis. Yeah. First Cujo, then Grant Fuhrer.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Just wasn't uh it wasn't meant to be then the next, you know, then I you know get traded to Anaheim, yeah, reunited with my boy Berke. Yeah. From my Hartford days, get reunited with him in Anaheim.

SPEAKER_05 47:49

He was uh my first agent. Berkey, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:52

Love Brian. Yeah, and uh and right from the jump, you know, we we had played them when I was in Edmonton, we had played them in the in the conference finals. So I knew the type of team they had, I knew the style of play, what a what a great fit. And everything, yeah, getzloff and needs. Yeah, we you know, if you look at our first line, we had Kunitz, Andy McDonald, and then Solani, and then the second line was Penner, Getzlaff Perry. It's the donut line, no center. Yeah, and then we had the checking line, Niedermeyer, Pulse, and Moen. Awesome, and then our gritty energy line was Mayday, Todd Marchant, and Sean Thornton. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

And then George was uh wait a second, where'd you plug Korea in? Korea wasn't there. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

He was Gandhi. He was Gandhi, he St.

SPEAKER_04 48:37

Louis.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

He was in St.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Louis that's a free agent with St. Louis, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:40

That's right. Yeah, I'm not sure he knew where he was anyway.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

After Scott Stevens got a hole, he still might not know where he was. So that part and then just playing with that team. I mean, we could we could play 2-1, 6-5 fight field games, whatever. You know, it was uh it was a fun, fun team to play. And then obviously, two goalies, we had Jiggy and Briz. Right.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

And you know, I I need to know when I was doing NBC if any of my comments spurred you guys on in the conference finals against Detroit when I was doing TV. And we all knew you guys were the were the the odds on favorite to win the cup. You you know, we you just went through your lineup, and it's ridiculously uh great in every aspect. And uh I just was watching, and you there was something missing in your guys' game, and I said, you know, they better change the way they're playing right now, or they're not gonna even get to the Stanley Cup Finals. And the next thing you know, uh two games in a row.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

That was, I think, at the second intermission when we were getting shelved. Right. I think the shots were like 30 to 10. Right. We were getting smoked, but Jiggy was holding it uh holding us in there. With the illegal equipment still, he won the con swift, didn't he? No, that was an old. No, Niedemeyer, Mr. Nidemeyer did. And he didn't win the cup. Uh yes, yeah. And then uh and then Scotty scored a late third-peri goal to tie it, and then Temu scored an OT winner for uh uh to get us a 3-2 lead. Awesome guy, Timu. Oh my god, amazing. And then uh uh and then we played game six back in Anaheim when Holly was getting worked by the fans, yeah. And then uh and then we pounded auto.

SPEAKER_05 50:26

But I wanted them, I wanted, you know, I wanted Anaheim to win because their team was full of guys deserving, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

Right. And we only had one guy on that team that had won a cup, Scotty. Everybody else had either been to a final or you know, but nobody had won. So that was the that was the cool part because a number of those guys were still there from the 04 team that lost to uh who was the mastermind behind that?

SPEAKER_05 50:58

Was that Bob Murray put that team together? That was Berkey. Two guys, and then he had brought Bob in from Vancouver when he was there.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

Yeah, he was what a what a job he did there because that was an awesome team. So and then that's why I use that on the cover. And if you happen to look at the book, Chaser, yes, I had my uh arch rival and then teammate Temu Salane. Ah, nice do the forward of the book, and you know, he talks about what the 12 years.

SPEAKER_04 51:32

What are you doing? Like you're reinventing yourself or something?

SPEAKER_05 51:35

Yeah, because we talk about this all the time, and it's like, did you see prongs on that thing? Did you see prongs on the laptop? There's prongs on Instagram how about the Instagram thing when he's doing exercises in the gym. I'm like, who the hell is this guy? Multifaceted. Holy mackerel.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

So tell us, you got the book why reinvent what's uh no, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 51:59

Uh just come out from underneath the covers. Yeah, more of that. Or, you know, I think people only know the player. Like the player is it's not who you are. You it's how you play the game.

SPEAKER_04 52:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

You know, it's not a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 52:11

It's definitely a part of who you are, but it's not who you are. Did you write this yourself? I did. Like, because no one would have guessed that he is like a scholar athlete of the year. Classic player of the year. Yeah, I would I would have guessed that I knew that, but because I played with him.

SPEAKER_04 52:27

But I but I think it's so damn impressive, just you know, I do look at the videos sometimes and go, what the hell is he doing?

SPEAKER_05 52:35

He's got all this, but I guess when you have all this stuff, why wouldn't you just make your wife dress up and let her do the exercise and you get way more views? This is true.

SPEAKER_04 52:45

Yeah, but when you have all these things, if you don't enjoy them or package them to be with other people, it doesn't mean anything. Because I found like even being sick a little bit, you know, is a different purpose.

SPEAKER_06 52:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:58

And if you can package that a little bit to help people or to keep yourself busy, yeah, just it it rejuvenates you. And I think that's important.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

So doing the book, doing the book was more about impact. Right.

SPEAKER_05 53:12

So describe basically what the book is. Is it inspiring? Is it a the book teaching?

SPEAKER_02 53:20

The book is part life lessons from my career, right? Both you know, youth hockey all the way up and part accountability and challenge to people of like, hey, like everybody always complains, oh, I I I want this, but they're never willing to sacrifice to get it.

SPEAKER_04 53:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:37

I'm challenging holding them accountable. Like, hey, do you want to be good? Do you want or do you want to be great? Do you want to be great or do you want to be a Hall of Famer? Do you want to be you know, like the needle is always moving, but how do you get there?

SPEAKER_04 53:48

Right.

SPEAKER_02 53:48

You know, the victimhood mentality that you have, which is I had it, which is so prevalent right now in society, it's like, whoa is me.

SPEAKER_05 53:56

Exactly. Get off your damn phone and do something.

SPEAKER_02 53:58

If you think about Hartford and you think about that first year here in St. Louis, I had it. It was somebody else's fault. It was you know, until I took ownership, bouncer's fault.

SPEAKER_04 54:07

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

It wasn't until I took ownership and said, okay, I'm gonna get in better shape, I'm gonna play better, I'm gonna, you know, I had to internalize it and and and focus on myself to then have the outcome I wanted.

SPEAKER_05 54:25

Yes, because from the neck up, you know, I think me and you are similar. From the neck up, it's like we were kind of born to play the game. We got it. Um but it it took us to figure out our bottom from the neck down, exactly, right? Because I was always a soft little short, fat kid that didn't, you know, had an easy-go attitude, didn't really care about much, and you know, got a lucky break, made the best of it, and then yeah, you know, and then you go from there. And I I guarantee that's would this book would help a lot of a lot of kids like me.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

A lot of what's in the book is just about our decisions, our choices, challenging ourselves, uh facing adversity, right? Leaning into it, right, and making sure that you continually challenge yourself. Don't stay stagnant. Those things that you've taught your children. Absolutely, right? 100%.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

Well, you think about it, okay? You think about it and you say to yourself, you're gonna do this and you're gonna challenge yourself. But so many people, as soon as it gets hard, they quit. Yeah. Like I, you know, I find with myself.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

That's what I talk about in the book.

SPEAKER_04 55:32

Yeah, I I found myself where I I've I've hit a wall and then I'm feeling sorry for myself. I need to pull myself out of that and get the hell going and and and and not quit. And I think that's just part of boy, what can really make you successful, because I say this to my boys all the time. If you just have a just a little bit of intuitiveness and you're for your own personal or for whoever you're challenging and working with, you're gonna be successful. That's what I think, anyway. And that's you know, and I love being busy, but I but through your book, you know, you you put out some challenges that you really had, you know, a tough go of and and met them head on. And that's my whole thing with run at the fight, not away from it.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

And the more often you don't quit, the easier it is to not quit. Right. Like the more you challenge the more that happens. And where can we get it? We can get this book. Amazon.com is the best place. Absolutely. Isn't everything isn't everything on Amazon? Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Chrispronger.com, my website. Well, I want you to sign one for me. I'll sign it. And uh why don't you read your little snippet here, Holly?

SPEAKER_05 56:45

Well, if you actually thought that I could read that small print, I got to Well, Bret Hall says there we go, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Earned is the real story. I saw Chris at his lowest in St. Louis when the booze were loud and the doubts were real. And I also saw him find himself, find his game, and rise to become the most valuable player in the NHL. A level reached only by the great Bobby Orr before him.

SPEAKER_05 57:07

Nice. Wow, that says it all. I think great. Well played, Brad. That's how you do it. Impressive. That's an endorsement right there.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

That is, yeah, yeah, it's impressive. I was impressed too.

SPEAKER_05 57:16

John Gruden did another one for you. Love John Group. You've never met him, but he's one of my.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

I remember I'm remembering hard for the card. I'm remembering him spreading out the nets.

SPEAKER_04 58:01

Yeah, had a puck hanging in that net. Yeah. So how in the fuck can you guys not hit that big square with this little disc? Anyway. And he starts ripping, he's trying to rip pucks. He went to rip a puck into the net to show him how to shoot it into an empty net. We're players, he couldn't get through the carpet and he shanked it and hit Robert Cron. And I guess Beast and some of these guys were just pissing themselves laughing. Now I don't know if that's a good scoop or not.

SPEAKER_02 58:29

He started doing he took over the last after the Buffalo thing, like after a bunch of stuff, he took over. And my God, some of the shit he did. We're like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 58:40

Yeah, at Unreal. And God restless for old Jimmy Roberts. When I went out on the ice the first time, and he we started doing three on O's with no. Remember those? I'm like, what has this game come to? Yeah. Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_04 58:56

No, listen. The best part of that was at the end of practice when he's when we had to come around the net and shoot before the slot down into the empty net. And if we hit the empty net, we didn't have to skate. We went as wingers, right wingers, left wingers, center defense. And fucking Holly got pissed off. He goes, get out of the road. Came around the net, he took a slap shot. Jimmy's leaning on the net down on the far edge. Takes a slap shot. It's coming through the air and it starts curving. And Jimmy goes, and he gets he goes to skate out of the crease, and the puck's just tracking him. And all of a sudden, boom, right between the puck and shoulder blades. Down goes Jimmy. He's screaming and Holy goes, we ain't skating. He's laying on the ice, he misses the net, but he hit Jimmy between the shoulder blades, so we got to do a lap. Oh my God, I laughed.

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Let me take this real quick.

SPEAKER_05 59:54

Okay. All right. We're taking a break. Now it's time for our get checked moment of the game. And today we're talking about breast cancer. And if you're a gentleman watching, please tell your wives, girlfriends, friends, daughters, sisters, aunts, and even your mother-in-law. Gals watching, listen in closely to this. If you're 40 or older and haven't yet gotten your manogram, it is so important that you do. Women who undergo regular yearly screening for breast cancer have better outcomes than women who don't. If you have family history of breast cancer, there is a chance you will need to start getting screened even earlier. And that's something to talk to your primary care physician about. Seitman Cancer Centers offer a mobile mammography van that parks at convenient places like Schnooks and Walmart all over town so you can get screened on your way to run errands. Check out the van schedule and make an appointment on Seiteman's website, siteman.washu.edu or type in your zip code at get screenednow.com. If you're in Missouri or Illinois, to find multiple locations near you to get screened.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:07

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SPEAKER_05 1:01:18

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SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

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SPEAKER_05 1:01:40

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SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:33

Uh, you know, being lucky enough to win a cup or two. Uh, you know, the all the good stories about the the day with the cup or uh whatnot. Uh anything exciting happened with the boys, and then what did you do with it when it was your turn to have uh have it?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:55

We it was pretty it was um teams go both ways, right? Absolutely. Either it's super tight and it's just the guys, or it's a free-for-all, and everybody's in your locker room, and ours went more free-for-all. Like there was the room was wide open, people were coming and going. People in like Disney costumes and shit. I mean, it was anybody and everybody in there. And and then uh, you know, so then I was setting up, I had I got the cup after uh after the awards that year. I'm like, oh I didn't realize that the cup hung around the city. So I had it come to my house, just a little private uh dinner or what have you. And while I was there, my brother knew the basis for sugar ray. And he he texted my brother, he's like, Hey, can can we come and get uh a picture with it? So while he was over there, you know, we're half cocked, and my brother's like, Hey, why don't you call Mark McGrath and play my brother's cup party? So that's how I got Sugar Ray to play my cup party. That's great. So he set up my backyard and and down I had a subterranean party in Anaheim in Anaheim in in Irvine, where I lived in Shady Canyon. And so I where I lived, I'm set in a golf course, but in the canyons. Right. And in I had a subterranean basement, and I blacked it out and made it a club for after the after the the sugar ray played. And so I had them set up out by my pool and covered over my pool. They played, they crushed it, played all their hits. It was amazing. And then we and then we go down into the the club, and this DJ's got the tunes just blaring. And about two in the morning, I'm upstairs, probably getting another bottle of wine or something. And my party planner's like, oh my god, Chris, the police are here. I'm like, invite them in. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, how bad could it be? I got the cup here. Right, like give me a break. So they come in, they take pictures with the console up, you know, do all the stuff. Can you turn it down just a little bit? Hey, can you turn it down a little bit? And I'm talking to them a bit, and they're like, Oh my god, it took us four hours to find it. To find it, because the echo in the canyon of the canyon. Awesome. They were trying to find it, they were all the way. I lived off of the 405, they were all the way across the five. Wow, that's how far the music was traveling through the canyon. Incredible. And so about four in the morning, they came back for like the third time and said, That's it, Uncle. Yeah, like you're done. And so those are great. It was everybody, like everybody in my neighbor in my old neighborhood now still talks about that party to this day. Yeah, that's how much fun it was. That's crazy stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:36

What isn't fun when you get to the well, it's not, yeah, it's like traveling with Elvis Presley. Yeah, the entourage is unreal. Oh, I thought that was like when you would drag me to the bars or something. Oh, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:47

Drag you. I spent the first two hours every night just trying to find you every party.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:53

Drag me. Yeah, boy. Well, it's been a pleasure, and uh, hopefully we can. Uh do it again. Good luck with the book. Uh, it's it's awesome. Thank you. Uh Amazon Prime, everybody. Yeah, Amazon, Amazon.com, Chris Pronger.com, Barnes and Noble. There's a Chris Pronger.com. There's a Chris Pronger.com. How do you get one of those?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:21

You know what? I got it. Don't worry about it. Years ago. Years ago. I don't even know. I don't even know. It was sitting there.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:28

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:28

And I had it. Last thing we need is you having one.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:31

Don't worry about it. Thanks for joining us on another edition of Ice Guardians. Love you, Kelly. Chris Pronger. Thank you. Until next time.