TYSON NASH & PAUL BISSONNETTE | Ice Guardians Ep 31

Kelly Chase is sitting down to talk with Tyson Nash and Paul Bissonnette this week. Nasher talks about his first training camp with the Blues and his fight with Chaser. Biz tells the guys about what went down before his fight at a Houston's in Scottsdale. Nasher tells the guys about his fight with Brendan Shanahan and the reaction from the locker room after that game. Biz talks about his time coming up through the ECHL and the AHL and winning a Calder Cup after his NHL career had finished. The guys talk about the Puck Cancer event and what Biz and Nasher have coming up with their podcasts.

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

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Well, welcome into Ice Guardians, and what a special treat we got today. Although I'm missing my buddy Hully, which is too darn bad, I got two of the best in the business. So I got Paul Bissonet joining us, Biz, my good buddy Tyson Nash, who I played with here in St. Louis. And what an honor bringing you guys into the Window World Studio, sponsored by Seitman Cancer Center. And you guys, you've been having fun with these podcasts. And I was just saying before the start of the show, talk about a guy that was oblivious because I remember talking to you, Biz, in 17, going, Are you sure this is gonna work? You go, I don't know, I'm gonna give it a try. And I'm saying, hey, hit single, just do a few radio things here, a little TV here, and it'll start to work out for you.

SPEAKER_05 1:22

I was just happy to get on bass. Thank God he's not your angel. Stay in your lane, Chase. When I got a job first out of playing with the Arizona Coyotes, Rich Nairn uh gave me the opportunity, and it was a place that Nasher had landed, um, getting to work with Bob Heathouse um out of playing. And then obviously Nasher advanced in between the benches. So a full circle moment, Nasher, or um we just talked about before, Chaser, how you know when I came here on that PTO, I had a good chance to finally like really meet you and connect with you. And yeah, like you always do, you said, Hey, anything you need when you're in town, and you extended your arm just the way Nasher did when I retired. So I love you boys and really appreciate this opportunity. And it was an honor to come down and talk to you here.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Thanks, buddy. And I I gotta tell you, I really thought you should have been on the team that year. We needed something like you.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

Uh, you guys had a guy named Ryan Reeves. And uh I got my shit, I got my shit pushed in a few times.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah, but but honestly, I know we had Reaver, but we also need like there's we had Twist, but they needed me. Yeah. Like, you know, there that I think that's the difference too, sometimes with uh sometimes with teams, they don't just really realize the culture of the stepping order of how that works in the in the league, because um it would have been a race for for Biz instead of the race for Chase.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Yeah, like it was I so what was I then, Chaser? I was an easy five. I was shit kicked out of them twice, they went after you.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

It's funny you bring that up because it reminds me of a story that Nasher told about how his he had his first training camp here and he was trying to make an impact and a name for himself. Yeah, and then sure enough, he had the answer to the bell after he hit Pavel Demetra, and it was you. And then who else did you have to fight, Nasher?

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Oh, I I think I fought Burge, I think I bought Gil, the popcorn vendor. Exactly. I think I bought a guy on my own team in the locker room because he's like, that was my actual teammate that you knocked out.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

But the funniest part about that is then you came on our podcast recently, Chaser, and then you talked about how when you ended up meeting Gordy Howe for the first time, and then he said you gotta make an impact, and then you did the same thing at Hartford fucking Whalers training.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

That's right. The thing with Nasher was no one, like no one knew who he was. He's four years in the minors, and he gets called up, and when he hit Pavel, like the the rink went silent. He hit Pavel Demetra, separated his shoulder, halves out on the ice, and sitting in the bench, all looking at one another like who in God's name? Like I I was just I was at a loss for words. I turned around, I said to Ricky Mahari was coaching. I said, Who in the fuck? Who is this guy? I'm gonna kill this kid. And I and I was off the bench and standing on the ice, and I could not wait for them. Poor Pav, they had to scrape him up. They took him off on a stretcher. And I'm like, I got five minutes, seven minutes to sit here and go, I don't know how I'm I don't know whether I should just break his ankle off the face off. And I just like I was just so upset. Were you the first guy to get him? You were the first guy to get out there. Hell yeah. Did you have to call the dogs off and say, I got this one? No, it was one of those ones where I lined up against him and I just two-handed him and he went to skate away, and I two-handed him again, and he turned around and came at me to fight, started throwing punches. I just, you know, we fought. I finished third, by the way, in that fight. I got him and he broke his nose. Hard to miss. And uh, so thanks. He was bleeding and and kind of down, and I was I hit him a couple times when he was down, and I skated away, and I got to the bench, and he went to the bench, and Bobby Plager was his coach and said, What are you doing? Go back out there.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Uh like uh think of that. My nose is literally on the side of my face. I had a white St. Louis blues jersey, right? The first time I ever put it on. That's the first time I've ever stepped on the on the ice with the blues, and it's covered in blood. And you pick your gloves up, right? Like after a fight in training camp, first of all, you can hear every punch, right? There's not a huge crowd, and it was just gross. My nose is on the side of my face, I got blood pouring down. I got my own gloves and my own helmet, and I'm trying to get to the bench. And Bobby Plager, get back out on the ice. Let's see what you're made of. And so Chase her.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Well, I was in the bench already, and I turned around and looked, and Mickey, Ricky Mahar kicks me and goes, get the hell back out there. And I looked and I go, That little bastard. And I jumped over the boards, went out there, slashed him again. He skated away. Puck kind of looped around, and he came back out in along the side wall, and it was coming towards me. And I thought, I'm gonna put, just gonna hide it in my feet and see if he has the balls to hit me. Well, he jumped to hit me, and I caught him with a cross check in the teeth, and I folded his teeth back.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Oh, yeah. My whole battle bottom rack was folded back in my mind. I don't ever I don't think I ever heard that part of the story.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Oh, yeah. And then, and then um he he kind of went down in front of their bench, and Reed Lowe jumped over the boards and suckered me and kind of jumped me a little bit because he was protecting Nash or which was the right thing to do. And then we had no blood left. So then I was so pissed off between intermission or the halftime break, Al said, Well, who's the guy you fought, Al stirring a pot? McKinnis goes, Who the f who the hell was that guy you fought after? I go, I both I have no idea who these guys are. And he and just then Reed walked by the locker room door, and I stood up and I grabbed my stick and I threw it at him like a spear in the hallway, and I went after him in the hallway. We had a fight in the hallway. Channel five had the camera going, so they got it broke up right away. Come back, and I and Al standing in the doorway, he goes, Well, I think they know now. I I think they know now. I said, We'll see you. I get home that night, the phone rings, it's Twister. He goes, What the hell's going on down there? And I said, I tell him the story. He goes, Oh, a couple guys looking for our jobs, eh? Well, we'll see tomorrow because I got them in the morning.

SPEAKER_06 7:42

So, listen to this.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

So Twister's stretching in a little bikini strap muscle shirt, and he's stretching and he's saying, Where's Nash? Where's Lowe? Guys, think you're tough. We'll see to any, you know. Of course, Twister, he can do the splits, he's full contact kickboxer.

SPEAKER_05 8:05

You know, he just he looks like he looks like a serial killer.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

He looks like a serial killer, and he's telling these guys, you're getting it when we get on the ice. And I gotta think, Birch said, Chaser, there wasn't no one spoke to one another for the entire stretch. The guys on our team were terrified. Anyways, he went out on the ice and drugged Lowe's around a little bit and yelled at the scouts that if you think these guys are taking our jobs and yada yada.

SPEAKER_05 8:30

He was barking at them up where they were all sitting.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Yep, pulled them over in front of them.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

And wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

That and I mean, and and I don't know if you saw Twister last night or I saw him, yeah. Like he he basically babysits me still. Yeah, like he's got me by the arm, he's taken me out on the ice, he's taken me around people. You're not going that way, you don't need to go that with that crowd. Come on over here. Comes to the hospital every day when I'm in the hospital. Um, he's still my big brother, but it's funny. Nasher became my little brother after that. And a week later, he was having dinner at the Chase's house.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

A week later, no, it was that night, literally. So I think it was that night or the next night, Chaser. Legitimately. That's all.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Yeah, you either way. I knew I was gonna like you. You just there was a certain pecking order we had to go through. And and Biz, you went through all of those because you played in the minors, yeah, you played in the East Coast League. Jesus, to get to the games to the NHL, and you joke about it and make fun of being a grocery stick and all this other shit, but that's a lot of that you paid a lot of dues to get it.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

I mean, it obviously wasn't like the the old school, old school days, but uh it was kind of at the tail end. I got a pretty funny story. And somebody showed me the video yesterday or maybe the day before. It was me and Dan Carcillo. Uh and Carcy, I think, was a third rounder, second or third rounder to the Penguins. I was a fourth rounder, and we show up to our first training camp. And around that time is when the teams would be like, hey, listen, like we're not doing it like the old days. We're not doing these fights all during these scrimmages. There's no, we have a no-fighting policy. Well, me and Carcy are lined up against each other like first thing in the morning, the next morning. I don't even know if the scout, the scouts have basically just got all their coffee and we're sitting down in their seats, and me and Carbom are going at it and training camps. It's tough, dude. Carbom was a was a tough kid, and uh, you know, we ended up being roommates and and buddies, obviously. But uh, it kind of just like goes back to that the the code and and like just what our game's about, man. Like you guys teeing off on each other's faces, trying to make an impact and make a team. And obviously you're you're not happy about it, but two days two nights later you're having dinner at his place and your best friend.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

So it's funny you talk about him uh because of the brotherhood of the game because you guys had a riff a little bit after you guys were done playing. Yeah, we're good now. It's just like and then and now and you put stuff behind you and get on with it, and that's the unique brotherhood of hockey.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah, but isn't it crazy to me? Like when you see training camps now, like now that we're older, we're broadcasting, you're we're those guys with the coffees watching. And I look at these kids and I'm like, what are you doing out there? Yeah, just skating through the motions, floating around. I don't know if it's entitlement or if these kids are nervous how they grew up.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yeah, like it's just but if you have a hair on your ass right now in anything, business, anything, you're gonna be successful. Yeah. Because right now we're as soft as puppy shit. And I'm gonna tell you, right now I see some kids that if they just put a little bit of growl into their game, yeah, I mean, they're gonna do well. I I just was in Saskatoon, and uh and at the start of the game, this kid went at it right, and he knew. I went down and talked to the team, and I'm sure the kid knew, you know, hey, Mr. Chase is here. I'm gonna five seconds into the game, he was what one of the best fights I've ever seen. In any event, I called him the next day and I talked to him on the phone. I said, uh, so what do you work on? He said, My shot. I I would say my the thing I work on the most is my shot. And I said, Can I give you some advice, kids from Kindersley? I said, work on skating every day. Work on your shot, fine, but never do it without your feet moving because that's how you're gonna play. Because I'm gonna tell you, son, the way you play is now a commodity in the league. It truly is a commodity, it's coming back. The pendulum's swinging back a little bit. Yeah, yeah, and all you gotta do is have a little bit of bite, a little bit of balls, and someone's gonna give you a chance eventually. And you work your way up in every level like you did, Biz, like you did Nasher. I mean, four years, Nasher in the minors?

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Well, yeah, five pretty much. I ended in the minors too, which was the hardest part of it all.

SPEAKER_05 12:29

It's actually crazy. We're both uh uh March 11th uh birthdays. We're both Pisces, and we had basically identical past.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Brothers from exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 12:38

We might actually be with the with everything else going on up top here. But what was your like what was your fondest memories like after making the team in St. Louis? Like, what were the next few seasons like? Were you guys making playoffs?

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Like you know, oh, we were so good. You know what was crazy for me was just like it was like I didn't again, like my dad tells me, don't say woulda, coulda, shoulda when it's all over, right? Get to training camp. And and I knew nobody, and that was probably a blessing because sometimes you walk into those locker rooms and you're in awe, right? Like Kelly Chase, Tony Twist, Al McKinnis, Chris Pronger, like all the Pavel Demitra, uh Turjan. And I'm like literally in awe. So after I made the team, I was just like, look at this locker room. I'm a part of this. This is absolutely crazy. And then we go out and we get guys like Doug Wade and Dally Drake and Scott Mellumby and Keith Kachuk. Like our team was sick.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

So like every year we got better, we won the president's trophy, and I was a small part of it. But that was the coolest thing, also, about being a blue. I know you spent some time here in St. Louis, but I was a nobody. Literally a nobody. But the fans, they don't care. Kelly Chase is the most beloved player that's ever played here, maybe, right? You give them your heart and soul, and they'll give it a shit. They'll love you. Yeah. Like, and that was a cool thing. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

If you just play with a little edge here and look like you care, be good to people, you can have the city. It's it's truly, and I hear people say it all the time. Best fans in sport, I'm like, bullshit. Come to St. Louis. You want to know why we have 52 guys that live here after they're done playing? That's why. Because it's a great city. Oh, yeah. And the locker room we have in the alumni room, everyone goes, man, it's it's amazing, it's amazing. But everyone is here, is a part of making that room successful, and and and the attitude that we have around it, and the sponsors know about it, and the people in the city know about it, and they know we're gonna go out and coach kids and and help kids. And and to me, really something to be proud of, to be honest with you. Especially because I came in the league when the NHLPA was uh in a disaster and there was no alumni association. And now that we can help one another, I mean I'm getting help right now from the alumni association, and they don't need to give it to me because I'm one of the fortunate ones. I kept my insurance. I I you know Glenn Healy's done. I tried to save my money, and and and now here I am, you know. And when we hired Heels, I said to him, I said, listen, we have to leave it better than we got it. That's what we have to do. And I was a six-year chairman there, and and uh Glenn's done a hell of a job.

SPEAKER_05 15:16

Oh, he's done unbelievable. He's such any fuck, he can tell stories too, man. He's unbelievable on the mic. He could he should do a podcast too. He could fund the whole alumni podcast. He could fund the whole alumni association if you got that guy telling stories. He kind of uh he kind of reminds me of uh the the comedian uh uh Williams. Uh I'm drawing a blank here. Robin Williams. Robin Williams, yeah. Yeah, he kind of reminds me of Robin Williams. So when you made the team, like were you on a line with Chaser? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So it was you and Chaser and who? Twister.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Yeah, we had Twister, him, and me, and I would like they'd send me in, I'd run around. I'd stir it up and they'd clean it up, we called it. Like it was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Like so visual like this one. He he comes to us one day and takes us in the stitch room. We're coming off the ice after he had a preview. He goes, playing Detroit. He goes, guys, stop coming blasting in there for me all the time. It was I'm trying to stir the pot and get it, draw a penalty. And I go, What? And he goes, I'm I'm doing it on purpose. In the meantime, I mean the whole thing with us was to shut it down so it was a quiet game. Holly and Turge get their points, we win the game. Nasher's stirring it up, trying to, you know, trying to draw penalties. And Twister goes, How the fuck did that become a job in this league? Right? And he kind of backed off like this, and Nasher said, I'm trying to he goes, Chaser, this kid is all yours, and walks out of the room. So I said, Hey, listen, this is what we're trying. He goes, I know, but if we put our guys on the power play, we're a better team. I'm like, all right. So Shannon and him get into it a little bit. And Shannon goes, Yeah, I see how it is. Big brothers will come flying in here for you. You'll stir it up. I know. And Shannon kind of skates away. I said, Hey, he's on his own. He told us he doesn't want us coming in here. He's on his own. He goes, Sure he is. I said, No, I'm serious. He's so that was the green light for Shannon. That's why I got up fighting. He's going up my face, King. I'll let Nash tell you what happened next week.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Oh yeah, I gotta bring him absolutely torched. So I'm stirring it up. I'm killing a penalty. Shanny's on the power play. So he's waiting for the one T in his typical spot, right? Puck comes and I two hand him right on the back of the legs, right in the meat on the calf. You know, and you can feel it, right? When it doesn't make a sound, it's just them on the back of the legs. All of a sudden the puck came to me. So the puck's on my stick, I'm gonna ice it down the ice. And I I ice it, and Shanny turns his blade over. Literally, you can see it on YouTube. He turns his blade over and stabs me right in the face. That's that scar right there. Right there. 40 zippers, 40 staples, not zippers. Like it was ridiculous. So I'm laying on the, I'm laying on the ice. Ray Brilliant comes out there, our trainer, and there's blood everywhere. So I'm I think I've told you the story before. So I'm sitting there, and Ray goes, Move your hand, move your hand, I want to see. So I move my hand, and Ray's like, Oh my god! So that's a trainer. So I'm freaking out now, right? I'm like, oh my god, how bad is it? Yeah, right. So I skate right to the locker room, I look in the mirror. It was like a hamburger, like wide open. No, he got a five-minute major, but it stayed in the game. So then I come back out, frozen up, 40 zippers, and we ended up fighting, right? You ended up fighting, fighting. So Nashville did fighting. Good for you, dude. And scored in the game, by the way. Oh, you did it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

That is incredible. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How'd you do in the scrap again? Not very good. Not very good. I finished third again on that. For a guy as skilled as he was, was he one of the best power forwards of all time? Like, what is there?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Listen to me. I say this, and I tell you guys this on big Irishman. Yeah. People say whatever they want about Brent. Brendan was so such a good player. So smart, okay?

SPEAKER_04 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

But if I was in a street fight, I would take Joey Kosher, one, or Twister, one. One A, one B. I don't care. You pick one of them. Uh Dave Brown and Brendan Shanahan. Just a savage. Savage. I've been in about He'd be the guy squeezing your nuts at the bottom of the pot. He tries to keep everything quiet, you know, because it's oh, I had a big Toronto job, and he goes, You can't say that. You can't. Then there was an article that came out about a brawl we had with a rugby team. Don't fuck, you can't say anything.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

Off the ice at a ball.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Yeah, yeah. I've been in four big melees, roadhouse fights like you had with those donkeys.

SPEAKER_05 19:38

Oh, I didn't I didn't have any buddies with me. I could have used you and Twister. I could have used you, boys. Buddy, I've seen him. Asher was in his tanning bed in his basement. I fucking I try to get him out there. I tried to call him on the back. That's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Talk about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 19:54

Buddy, I what's going on with it now? Where is it at? It's pretty much done. I think they're like they're like two years probation. Yeah. But like I'll give you like the Cole's notes. Like I always go to Houston's. I eat there like three, four times a week. Even when I'm back home, if I come off the road and I'm like, I don't feel like doing groceries. And you know, I drive over and I usually smoke about a half of a dog walker, which is like basically like a quarter of an actual joint. And by you know, obviously, by the time I finish eating and I'm out of there, like I'm not high anymore. So I went outside because I had to wait for my spot, smoke. Finally, I get sat and there's never any commotion in Houston. So all of a sudden I just hear all this like yelling, and I turn around, and this one guy's yelling in the assistant manager's faces all the time. So I'm like, what the fuck is going on over there? And then he ended up backing them out of the restaurant, and then I, you know, just go back to what I'm doing, and then there's more commotion, and then there's like eight or nine guys surrounding the actual manager, and the one guy's getting in the manager's face. And after about you know, 20, 25 seconds of watching this and being like, How hard is this weed hitting me? Is this actually happening at a Houston's right now? Or is this a fabric of my imagination? So, like you guys would do, you know, especially a place you go eat and you get to know these managers and you know, they're good people. They're I I walk over. And by the time I walk over, he's still in the guy's face. So I go over, I say, hey man, if we're gonna have a problem here, I'm gonna bring you boys in the parking lot because like just to defend this guy. And then next thing you know, there's a bomb coming over the top from the from the guy beside the guy who was in the manager's face. And then suckered you. And then, oh yeah, oh yeah. Like I was talking to the guy who was in the manager's face. But once again, there was about eight of these uh Irish traveler golfer guys surrounding them. And that's when I cut that's when I finally made my way over. And then by the time it left my lip to tell the guy who was in his face, the guy beside him is the one who threw the punch, connected, and then it was just we were all swinging. It was crazy. There's actually part of the video in the restaurant where, like, I don't know if it got lost or it just didn't get shown where I was like pinned up against the bar.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Didn't you knock a couple guys out?

SPEAKER_05 21:59

I got a connected with. A couple of them inside, and then I got one in the parking lot, but you can't see because there's a big tree in the way of the surveillance that comes from the street. But it was a pretty crazy ordeal. But I was also out of gas because it was kind of like when Peter Griffin's fighting the chicken, where we started in the bar at the Houstons, and next thing you know, I'm in CVS. I'm in CVS in the toothpaste style, calling the cops, like because I think that these guys are just gonna keep coming in and beating the wheels off me. Like nobody was coming to my defense. You could have died. I couldn't believe the people that were standing around and watched and didn't do any of it. But but once again, this is a family restaurant. Nothing like this ever happened. So these people, there was people carrying out their baby strollers, like getting out of the way. So were you pissed at the manager though for not stepping in? Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. These guys are great dudes, and now sure, like, I mean, we're moving. We're built different. We're built different. We're telling us we're telling these stories that we're telling, like as the podcast began here. Like, that's just not their life. Like, they want peace. And you know, they're they're what they're working at a family restaurant, you know, they're just worried about getting their tables, table seated and and making sure it's uh it's it's running like it does because it's an unreal restaurant. But you know, that was but it was a it was a lesson learned where like you know, like next time I would do anything in my power to just try to de-escalate the situation, it's just say, hey, these are good people, instead of kind of going over there and be like, hey man, if you keep getting this guy's face, we're gonna have problems.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

So but didn't you like fight and then kind of run a bit and then fight and then run again? Because if you would have just hung in there, if they would have connected.

SPEAKER_05 23:30

So that's why, like, so in the restaurant, yeah, like we were thrown, we were thrown. Then they pinned me up against the bar and then my shirt ripped, and then and then I kind of felt near you know where their statue is, right by the bar. Yeah, I was able to get in behind that. And my my biggest concern was if I'm standing there exchanging with all these guys, if they connect one and I'm down, they're gonna just start booting boot me. Like in the parking lot, that's what ended up happening. Oh, yeah. Like when I was down, they boot, they booted me in the head like four or five times. Like my neck's still pretty mangled from it. Like, I definitely was kind of like Are you getting any restitution for that? I just I I know what I told them. I said, listen, I hope these guys learn from this lesson. I said, here is the ambulance bill, here's my chiropractor bill, here's my massage bill. I think it was like like 16 grand total. I said, just cover this between the six guys and let's just go our way. And hopefully these guys are able to learn from this, and this never happens again. Because sometimes, you know, these guys are banged up on these golf trips and maybe they come a little bit out of character, and it's like the you know, the worst possible day and scenario of their life that they found themselves in. Mind you, an hour and a half earlier, they were assaulting a staff at a golf course. So this wasn't their first mix up that night. But I hope that whole experience, like the one guy who was with them had a fake, uh, a fake uh ID, like a um like a veteran ID where you can get discount. You know, have they had those a scumbag. Yeah, it's a scumbag. They were doing scummy moves, and and let's hope they learn from it. And that was the end of it.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

So yeah, that's all I got for you. We're just glad you're safe, buddy. That was that was scary.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

We're gonna take a break here on Ice Guardians. We'll be back in a minute with Paul Bissonet, my good buddy Tyson Nash. Back in a minute.

SPEAKER_07 25:08

I'm Brad Hall. I'm Kelly Chase. His whole career was checking everything that moved.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Yeah, well, I'm still checking for cancer. Regular cancer screenings are an important way to take control of your health.

SPEAKER_07 25:20

Stateman Cancer Center will help you get started. Visit get screenednow.com.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Preventative screenings are one of the best ways to detect cancer early when it's easiest to treat.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

You ever check anyone?

SPEAKER_07 25:33

Too busy scoring. Wow, nice hustle. The only time I get to see that much drive is when I feed my dog. Nugget loves every flavor of Diamond Naturals adult formula. Every time I fill her bowl, it's like a breakaway. I think she loves Diamond Naturals almost as much as she loves the blues. They both come from Missouri. Maybe it's local pride. All I do know is to step away from the bowl come feeding time because she'll rough you up if you get in the way.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

I got it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_08 26:29

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SPEAKER_07 26:34

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SPEAKER_02 26:56

Welcome back to the Window World Studios. Kelly Chase here on Ice Guardians with Paul Bissonet and Tyson Nash of the Nash Cast. Yeah, baby. Let's go. Listen, it's an unreal, it's an unreal interaction too. If you can get to Nasher, get to his site, see the Nash Cast.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

If you Chaser, if you if like anybody who's listening has the ability to get to uh the Delta Center in uh in Utah, in Salt Lake City, what a what a scene. Like even walking in those trees that they have there.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

It's an uh it's awesome. Ryan Smith has done an unreal job.

SPEAKER_05 27:30

That to for him to get it and the way that he's handled it, it's it's um you know first class. And even Nasher walking on that concourse, it's all glass, so you can see all the mountains, and it's just absolutely stunning. So it's great what you've been able to do there, Nasher. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

And I yeah, Nasher, you you going in there and and making an impact. I I think I don't think, and and when you when you're in a different city, you don't understand necessarily like what what you're missing. And I know they hired you late and everything, but I know they're really proud of what you've done there too. So you should be proud of that as well.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Yeah, you got a text the other day from uh from the president, right? Yeah, Chris Barney. He's uh he's he runs the ship there on both the jazz and the the mammoth. And I mean, I I think the biggest thing is when you have guests and you use your Rolodex and all the you know relationships ultimately that we built over the years by being good guys and good teammates, right? That's how we're able to do what we do on these podcasts. Otherwise, if if you're an asshole during your career, which I was on the ice, yeah, you don't have the connections, right? I don't know if Shannon's coming on, but actually he would come on. Yeah, like to finish that story. And you know what the funny part about Shannon was? Two years ago, when I was with uh Arizona, I we ran into each other as we all do in the press box or hotel bars, and he sat and had a drink with me that night in the hotel bar, and he was like, dude, I just want to say, like, that was a gutsy performance. Like, I was super proud of you, and just for you to fight me and you scored in that game, like you're not a big guy. Did you score after you got high stuck? I scored after all of that. What? Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

Oh, buddy, the the guys in the locker room must have been giving you the biggest pats on the back. Like, what was the what was the coolest thing about after that game? Like who came up and said something where you were like, wow, this is my like made it moment.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

I think, like, just yeah, like Chaser, like he was doing, you know, like I don't know. It was just when you get the respect of your teammates like that, of a guy that fought literally everybody. And Chaser would always try to teach me how to fight and practice, you know. I just I wasn't great at it. This nose is a massive target, right? When I took one on the nose, I was done. Like it ended fast, right? It doesn't, it doesn't feel good. But to have a game like that, it was like, I think the coolest thing about it wasn't the goal, it was just the fact that I fought Brendan Shanahan, a guy that I grew up idolizing, right? I fought Pat Verbeek, my first NHL fight, Chris Chelios was my second NHL fight, and then I fought Shani, right? And I'm like, that is pretty freaking cool, man. Like, these are the guys you idolized.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Well, I remember going up to you after the game and hugging you, you know, and saying, hey man, listen, you got a lot of respect from a lot of guys. And and and I'll tell you, mostly Twister, because he was he we left you on the island. You needed to have that lesson, but but we left you on the island and you survived for sure, and then and then some, so that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Yeah, well, we did have a good power play though, right? So Chris Pronger, I think he won the heart and the norce that year. So pronger, Hull, McKinnonis, Turjan, Demetria.

SPEAKER_05 30:31

Yeah, you slide it over, slide it over. Was uh were you victim to uh to a lot of Hully chirps? Because I heard a story last night on the bench that uh he he he broke a stick in a game. I think this might have been in Detroit, though, and he came by the bench and I think it was Keane, like Keene's stick, okay, and he grabbed it, it like going back on a back check, and he like felt it and looked at it, and then he made another loop and dropped it on the ice, and then he said, Who else has one?

SPEAKER_03 30:57

He goes, No wonder. Yeah, isn't that what he's famous for?

SPEAKER_05 31:00

No wonder. Like, how many guys have the luxury and the balls to do that in the midst of a back check after breaking your stick? You're just worried about getting back in the play. Oh, yeah. He's like, I'm not using this. Oh, yeah. Throws it on the ice, doesn't even give it back to him.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

He had brought Roddy Brindemore in like in knots because he'd walk in the room and he'd pick up sticks off the rack, and everyone would be watching him. And he'd take about two out of the rack and he'd go, Oh. Jesus, no wonder. And he'd throw them on the floor. Well, he picked up yours and it was an actual broom. Mine, I didn't. Don't you know the story about mine?

SPEAKER_03 31:33

No.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

I never had I never had a stick. I got to the blues, they they told me my sticks were coming. They kept saying my sticks were coming. They gave me Wayne uh Babbage's sticks. He retired three years before. I had this wooden stick. Okay. Holly comes in, he goes, What the fuck are you using? And he goes, Here. So he takes and snaps the two sticks I have that they've given me and gives me his stick. It's about eight inches shorter, the blade is about three inches shorter, and the curve is just a complete upshoot. It was like playing with a floor hockey stick and takes the sticks and won't give me a stick. They keep telling me my sticks are coming, they're on order, they're on order, they're on order. I used his sticks my entire career. No way. Buddy, when he went to Dallas, I went to go on the ice for the first time at camp without Brad Hall for the first time in eight or nine years, whatever it was, and I'd been rooming with him. I said, Bert, where's my sticks? I never even taped a stick. I just take them out of his rack. He'd have a hundred. I have none. Do you know? Bert goes, Jesus, they're in Dallas. We shipped them to Dallas. I never had a stick. Oh no for the start of the yeah. They had to overnight Hully sticks to me. That is so good.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

They worked a little different for you than they did for Holly. He gave you the broken one. Well, like he said, you don't need it anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

What did what would he chirp you about stuff?

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Oh so funny, Hully story. So he comes to Arizona, right? So this is last year, right after the lockout, you know, he wasn't, you know, in the best of shape. Like, yeah, swallowed the airbag, like Virgie would say. Um, there's a few of them. Lindros was the same way, but so Holly comes to Arizona, and I think we played like seven or eight games. I think that's all he lasted. But his last game, Gretz is the coach, I'm on the fourth line, Mike Conry's our centerman, and Brett Hall on the right wing. And Bret Hall, halfway through the game, he's like, What the hell is this? This is what my career has come to. Done. That was the last game Brett Hall.

SPEAKER_05 33:48

You know what's in his head. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 33:49

I think I have a picture of it. It's Gretz, Shane Doan, myself, and Holly in the picture. Wow. And our facial expressions say it all. That was the last game that Bret Hall played in the National Hockey League. He retired mid-season. Well, he had to play with Tyson Nash. That was his.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

He always tells the story. You get that on your head down on your wall. He tells the story, and he always says, I knew it was time to get out of the game when I was on the line with Sean Van Allen and uh Tyson Nash.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Although we had to get the Jaws of Life to get him out of the jersey at the end of the night. Just joking, Holly.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, oh, now you're gonna. I'm sitting in a seat. Now I'm carving him.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

He's not even here. You're gonna get 10 chirps coming back.

SPEAKER_05 34:31

Yeah, you're gonna unload the clip line. Yeah. He was he was probably a riot to listen to on the bench. Would he chirp other guys in the other team when they were skating by?

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Not necessarily. No, he wouldn't chirp other teams. He'd chirp our guys a little. Sometimes he'd chirp the other team. I remember when he came to the bench and and uh he was gonna change, and Nathan Lafayette was up on the boards, and we were on the power play, and they were switching Hully out for Nathan Lafayette. And Holly goes, No, no, not him, goes right back into the play.

SPEAKER_04 35:01

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Or Nate Lafayette's just sitting on the boards, just deflated. No, no, not him.

SPEAKER_05 35:10

He'd rather put a tire in himself on it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

He he when uh I I I Mike Lawler's such a great guy and a great sport about it, but he was getting a little longer in the tooth and come around the net, whip the puck around. And you know, it'd those old boards at the arena, it'd it'd catch a lip and it'd come up and hit you in the back of the leg or whatever, right? And uh Hully was getting pissed off at him for throwing it around the wall all the time. So Loll started coming around the net and looping it out into the neutral zone. Big high looper up by the clock and down it'd come, and we'd have to go fight for it in the neutral zone. And Hully was just getting pissed off. We make a trade, we trade Lawler to Washington. So we come in the locker room after practice and they've traded Lolls. And Dave Lucking says to Hully, he says, How does this affect the team? You know, he he won the Stanley Cup in Montreal. You only have him and Momesso. There were the two guys left on the team that had won cups. Does it affect the team from a mental standpoint, knowing you don't have that experience? And Hully's undressing and he just looks up and he goes, Well, Dave, it was him or the clock. One of them had to go.

SPEAKER_05 36:24

I mean, his just kind of hit a little deeper. Oh, yeah, yeah. His hit a little deeper. Those are oh my god. Where does he? He's like a he would do the like the hardest crossword probably. Oh, yeah, he was he was a brilliant guy. A savant. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

No, listen, he is brilliant. Yeah, it's the same with Twitter. And if he, but like I'll say, like if you bring up pickleball, you go, oh Jesus, what a freaking way, what a joke, and you go on and on and on. But he doesn't like pickleball. So it's it's not for so nobody should like it. Like that's how he is, right? But again, you gotta know what you're getting, and you gotta just laugh it off and and have him be a part of it. But listen, we're gonna take another break here on Ice Guardians with Paul Bissonet, Tyson Nash. We're gonna come back in business. I want to talk a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_05 37:12

I don't know if Nash is gonna, I don't know if Nash is gonna be in Holy C. You might have heard the truth. He might be coming in with some ammunition here.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

I'm on a phone book right now.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

This is perfect. We're gonna talk a little bit too about winning championships down there and how important it is with those guys because I know how important it is when my guys get together still from a championship team. So back in a minute from the Ice Guardians Window World Studios here in St. Louis, Missouri, brought to you by Seitman Cancer Center. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_08 37:41

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SPEAKER_02 39:34

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SPEAKER_02 40:23

Welcome back to Ice Guardians. I'm in here at the Window World Studios with Paul Bissonet, Tyson Nash, brought to you by Seitman Cancer Center. And I I mean, look, I've been waiting to get Biz and Nasher on the air for a while now.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

And Biz You don't need to lie, you can say Biz. You can say just Biz. Well, we worked out a deal. I get the Lamborghini. That's why I came.

SPEAKER_05 40:45

Yeah, I'm driving back to Scottsdale.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

No way our nose is fitting that Lamborghini.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Well, the good news, I mean, I need somebody to make fun of, and you were the perfect target.

SPEAKER_05 40:52

Oh, I'm a speed bag. Yeah, that's all I'm good for.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

No, that Nasher I was talking about. Oh, okay. And I knew he was an easy punching bag because I've had it before. In any event, um, Biz, that trip through the minors, yeah, it's the most enjoyable part of hockey when you look back, isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 41:10

Yeah, I'm very grateful. I actually got to play in the in the ECHL and then the AHL, right? I I uh I went to my first training camp um in the NHL at 18 years old, almost made the team at a camp. And then when I went back, there was a lockout the following year, and then I went back. They just had a lot of good D that they drafted. Ryan Whitney was there, and uh um, you know, Lannon, uh Noah Welsh was another guy. So I kind of got bumped down the totem pole on the the the as far as the D, because I was a defenseman at that time. Yeah, I'd moved to forward when I got to to the AHL in my like fourth year, and that's when I became the fighter. But uh that first year I got sent down to the ECHL. And I mean, I could tell you, I could tell you, you know, 15, 20 stories where people are like, what? That's what you guys were like dealing with doing and dealing with, like from our our our sleeper bus breaking down with our booster bus following us, and then on the side of the highway, the booster bus getting out, helping us load the gear into their bus and them waiting for our booster, our our actual bus to get fixed, and then we taking the booster bus to the game. No way, oh yeah, dude. It was over to Johnston. Where was that? That was uh in when I was playing in Wheeling, West Virginia. So it was actually the Pittsburgh. The Wheeling Nailers. The Wheeling Nailers, 45 minutes from Pittsburgh. But obviously the AHL team is all the way out uh near Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania. But uh it was cool, man. I got to uh you know, I got to play in the ECHL All-Star game, and it also put a little bit of hair on your nuts playing in those leagues, you know. Yeah, it sure does soggy subs after games.

SPEAKER_03 42:34

You can trim that stuff now, though, you know. What do you mean? The hair on your nuts.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Well, I got him caught in uh in the clippers one time, so I'm a little gun shy now. Yeah, I was bleeding like when Shanahan stuck me in the face.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Button on a fur coat though, man.

SPEAKER_05 42:51

Yeah, exactly. It's tough to get my cock, but easy on my balls. Uh but uh yeah, no, though my my cock wouldn't even go past my bush. It's like just the turkey bigs, dude. Yeah, exactly. Oh, Jesus. Um, but it it was awesome. And then uh, you know, like I said, I got to play in a couple of ECHL All-Star games, had a blast doing that, and then finally got called up to the AHL, and and we had some great teams in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Uh, Michael Terrian was my coach down there. So getting to getting some of those old school coaches where holy they they instilled.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Wasn't he a little bit of a tyrant sometimes?

SPEAKER_05 43:27

He was a tyrant and he he instilled fear in you. But now saying that, every time you came to the rank, you were on your toes and you were there to be a professional. And as much as it you know sucked, and as much as it maybe gave you a little bit of anxiety and nerves when you came to the rank to be your best and be on your pre P's and Q's, it did teach you how to be a professional. So even if you ask Wit now, maybe Wit hated him when he played there, but what he said that he did for his career, it's the same thing for Mike Stutters. It's like torts. And I actually had Mike Stuthers and Jr., who was kind of like that. I also had them and ended up uh in in Manchester with the Monarchs after I finished my time in Phoenix and want to call their cup there with him. So I'm very grateful for the coaches that were the hardest and most intense on us players that I played for. You appreciate it long after long after. It it just teaches you how to be a grown-up and it teaches you accountability, especially the fact that I got to have Stuthers in Junior, which prepared me for having Michael Terry and in turning pro. So yeah, like I said, anybody might want the easy route and might have want to have the players coaches, but those are the those are the guys that that you know turn me into the the grown-up that I am today.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

And you need to spend that time. I think I truly believe these young kids too. Like, unless you're a celebrini or something real, real special, every kid should bake in the American Hockey League a little bit. Even like you look back at Oliver Ekman Larson and Dylan Gunther, like guys that didn't want to go down to the minors and probably didn't have to, but the NHL is not a development league.

SPEAKER_05 44:56

No, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:57

You're there to you're there to win. And I think for us, it makes you appreciate the NHL that much more.

SPEAKER_05 45:03

Because you have to start, you started in the coast too, didn't you?

SPEAKER_03 45:05

I I didn't start there, but I ended up going there for a conditioning stint. And I'll tell you what, I it put the fear of God in me every day playing in that league, East Coast American League, because you did not want to have a bad day. You had a bad practice, you made sure you were the best player on the ice the next day because you had that fear factor of going back, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:22

And I played in the NHL my second year, full year, and then in the third year, I got sent down right away. And then I was in the minors, and we I played a couple games and lost the first game and won the next couple. And I had got a few points in the first in the in you know at the start of the year there. Nelson Emerson was my centerman, David Bruce, my left winger. They ended up winning rookie of the year and top scorer in the league, those two guys.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

And even with you on the line.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

Even with me on the line. I ended up having around 60 points in 50 games, 400 and some penalty minutes.

SPEAKER_04 46:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

And I'm gonna tell you what Bobby Plager, he pulled me aside and he said, Stop pouting. And I said, What? He said, Listen, there's way more good players down here than you. Stop pouting. Play hard. There's a spot for you up there, but you're never gonna get it pouting. So shut up, go down here, and play hard. Those two guys you're playing with, they're the reason you're going back to the NHL at some point if you want to work. Otherwise, I'll put someone else there. And lo and behold, you know, they took off, and and and and he was a hundred percent right. Like there's too many good players in the minors that are a step away. And listen, when you get up to the NHL, it's actually easier to play in the NHL sometimes than it is with the chaos going on in the minors. Because you because you have a little, you know, the the pucks on your tape, and if you just calm a little bit, it's an easier league, in my opinion. But when you're in the minors and everyone's running around, they're trying to kill you, they all want to fight. It's a hell of a way to try and get your shit together.

SPEAKER_05 47:09

Did you end up winning a championship? Yeah, I won the cup down there. So Emerson, right?

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Yeah. So we lose, we win all year, we break every record down there, 43 records or so. And this is where you get called up, lose out to Mini in the they go to the semifinals, ask if I can go back down. Brian's pissed. What the hell do you want? You finally got up here and now you want. So he sends four of us down. We win the cup and the minors. That championship team has a thread on my phone. Yeah, and now he was talking to me about it. All we do is keep together, we stick together.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

What uh what was it like there in Peoria, like winning it? What was the fan? Like was it pretty packed every build every year?

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yeah, we we we got there, there was 1,500 fans. When we left there, there was 9,000. Every game sold out. Wow. And the beauty of it all was we didn't even pay attention to what was going on in the city. We just had our group. And when we ran, if we were going to the restaurant, to the build uh to the uh Bradley basketball game or to the strip club, it was all of us. We had a brawl one night at Sullivan's in the parking lot, and Bobby Plager skated the four guys that weren't in the brawl. He's like, if I ever hear you're not in the middle of the fight next time, you won't play on my team.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

He bagged them. Bagged the shit out of the ball. That's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 48:26

We were leaving the rink and they were still skating. We were showered and going home already.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

Bobby Pay, Bobby Plagger, he also shares our birthday. No, March 11th. March 11th guy?

SPEAKER_05 48:34

Yes. So he was the coach down there at the time? Yeah, he was our coach. No shit, eh?

SPEAKER_02 48:39

It was the best. Who uh, like, so who'd you guys end up beating in the finals? We beat Indy. We beat uh first round Milwaukee, which was uh Vancouver's farm team. In the second round, we beat uh Phoenix, which was LA's farm team, and then we beat Indy, and they shared the farm team with uh Detroit and uh someone else.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

But um That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

They had a lot of guys on their team that were older, Bruce Boudrio, Johnny Anderson, they all played on that team.

SPEAKER_05 49:13

Johnny Anderson, I would coach us in Phoenix. Yeah, he was he was a beauty, man. Yeah, um, that's yeah, no, and and then so after that So where did you win your minor league championship? So it was uh it was a cool story. Like I finished my five years in Phoenix, and the next year, you know, I was it was talks maybe I would sign with the Washington Capitals, and then nothing ended up coming. I didn't get a contract, and thankfully I ended up getting a PTO offer to come here in St. Louis, and I came to camp. And I, you know, you talk about the community here, you obviously are still here. It's unbelievable. I felt like I was at home for the two weeks that me and Ryan Whitney came in for the PTO. And obviously I was disappointed when I got let go, but was optimistic because I thought I had a good camp. And hey, I'll you know, probably end up signing somewhere on a two-way or maybe just get an HL deal, and I couldn't get anything because all the contracts had been given out. Crazy. Yeah. So I was on my couch, like I was on a in a full-on depression. The first time I've ever been depressed in my life. And I guess if I could describe it to anyone, I just felt like I was like, I was achy. Like I had no motivation. I was like keeled up in a ball on the couch, and it just hit me like that. And I remember calling the um the league doctors and just saying, hey, I don't want to be like going any type of antidepressants. Like, what should I do naturally? They they said crank vitamin D, make sure you're getting your your your you know good meals in you and make sure you're going for walks when you start feeling really like shit. And then really, thankfully enough, uh don't yeah, oh yeah, I was in a dark hole. I know and it's because like it's hard because I guess before that, if somebody would ever have said, like, oh, I'm depressed, you're kind of just like, well, just like get up and just get moving, and like you're like it shouldn't be that hard. I've been there.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

I I I that's interesting to me. I've been there.

SPEAKER_05 50:51

It's weird, it's like the chemical imbalance in your body. You just like you want to try to overtake it, and it's your you know, we're pre professional.

SPEAKER_02 50:58

And you want to be tough for the people that knew.

SPEAKER_05 51:00

Buddy, I felt like I was like embarrassed, like my parents. Like, I've I felt embarrassed going over yeah, like you're just like, who am I? I'm not Michelle, who I used to be. And and another thing, too, is like we spent our whole life doing something, and then you feel like you're in control, and then your livelihood gets stripped from you. So you're you're the vulnerability you feel. Well, then luckily enough, Don Maloney and Tree Living gave me a PTO in the minors in uh Portland, who was the AHL team for the coyotes. Didn't work out there, but in the midst of playing there for the three, three, four weeks, I bumped into Stuthers because we played against Manchester. And he said, How's it going here? And I said, you know, to be honest, like I just I don't feel like it's working out great. You know, I don't think there's a spot really for me here. And he said, Well, let me know if if anything goes down. And I got released from my PTO. I called Mike Fuda, like the minute I got released, and I said, Hey, I'm I'm done. Like, if like if you guys need someone, I'll come fight for your young guys, I'll do whatever you need. And he and Mike Fuda goes, let me talk to Dean Lombardi. And obviously, Stutz would be okay with it. I got a call back a few hours later, and Mike Fuda was like, All right, we're gonna we're gonna sign you to PTO, drive an hour and a half to Manchester down the road. And the only thing Dean Lombardi says is stay the fuck off Twitter. And I said, Absolutely. I go down the road an hour and a half. I spent the rest of the year with him. We won the the league that year. Um, and then we ended up going on to win a caller cop. And like you said, I'll never forget those guys. I'm forever indebted to Mike Feuda, Dean Lombardi, Mike Stuthers. Like those guys like took me out of the darkest hole of my life. So I went from that to probably the the greatest feeling of my hockey career was winning a championship in the minors. One of them, what top five, right? Obviously, playing in the NHL with Phoenix, and we went to the to the Western Conference Finals. So that was kind of that turnaround. And so it that you know uh AHL championship being in the minors is you know, it meant everything to me. And a big reason as to why I'm am where I am now. And and I ended up finishing off two more years. The team was moved uh into Ontario, California to be closer to LA. And I got to ride out in the sunset for two years, tore both my ACLs my last year, and that was it. But I'd felt like that championship was the icing on the cake, and if it would have ended there, there I would have been fine. But the Kings organization, Luke Robotai, Rob Blake, all those guys, uh Futes, I said, Sellers, Lombardi, they they really took me out of a dark place.

SPEAKER_03 53:20

So I isn't it crazy, like how it ends bad for almost everybody.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Well, you're the last guy to know that you're not good enough to play anymore.

SPEAKER_05 53:28

Yeah, exactly. You keep knocking on the door and no one adds. It goes and it goes back to me and Nasher sharing very similar past. Like, I'll hand it over to you. You had you know a tough ending too. Right.

SPEAKER_03 53:38

I mean, it ended horribly. Like, think about it. My childhood hero, right? Hero. I had Wayne Gretzky wallpaper, Wayne Gretzky bed sheets, and I get called into his office at the end of training camp, and he sends me down to the miners. And I'm like, are you kidding me? I literally was crying on his big mahogany desk in his office. I'm like, this is insane. I can't believe this is happening. This is my hero ending, basically ending my career, right? But all the fans out there, they see us playing in front of 18,000 people every night, fighting, making all this money, but they don't know the other side of it sometimes, too, right? Like how it ends. Right. And your whole life, you're a hockey player. I don't know if you guys struggled with this or not, but your whole life, you're a hockey player. That's your personality. That's your identity, Daddy. That's your identity. That's what everyone talks to you about, right? And all of a sudden it's stripped from underneath you. And now you're like, at least for me in retirement, I was like, all right, who the hell am I? Like, who is Tyson Nash? The person, the civilian, right? Not because you're not the hockey player anymore. Right. So that was a tough place for me. And on top of my financial advisor taking, you know, stealing our money and ending up in jail. And that's a whole other story in itself. But just like I know the depression side of it because I was hitting you at one time. And I make the NHL, you live your childhood dream, you make all this money, and all of a sudden your bank account's empty at the end of your career because you know, you've made some bad decisions and you know, someone took advantage of you, right? So I couldn't leave the house for literally four months. Okay, so you I was in a ball like you. I'm like, I got my face punched in my whole career, and I have nothing to show for it. Yeah, right. And then you have to recreate yourself and look at what we've done, look at what you're doing.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

Luckily, you have a great support system too. Unbelievable family, your wife, and same with Chaser.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

Family for sure, a thousand percent. And it was my wife, literally, all right, it's time to get out of bed, it's time to move, it's time to exercise, get out in the sun. We got three kids under five years old. Like, you can't be in bed all day, right? And then you got the alumni and and guys like Chaser that mentored you and you know, like that are there to support you and help you and talk to you and maybe give you ideas. And like, look at our second careers that we've had. Yeah. I mean, they're better than our first ones, yeah, right? For sure.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Like, I mean, I mine my mine didn't hit me in the face as hard at the end of my career because I still had an option. Like, I could have gone to Philly and signed, and they kept me here to work for the team, and I had a decision to make, and I'm grateful for everything that was presented to me. But with the cancer, the first time I was like, all right, let's just go, let's get it over with, and then we'll go on. And then it had then it goes, comes out, you're in remission, and all of a sudden it comes out, you need a transplant. And then all of a sudden you're a hundred pounds, you lost a hundred pounds, and now you're sick. And when you start looking around and and and and you know, and everyone's there, and everyone says, Hey man, if you need anything, you need anything, but truly it's it's your it's your family, it's your wife, your kids that you need. Like, I know why people on the floor I was in leave there in body bags and not walk out of there. Because it's hard. It's a hard deal, man. And the depression part, like you talked about, like like twister every day. He's like, hey, listen, man, you're a T-Rex. Get up. You're a T-Rex. You still are. Come on, go or you know, get the hell out of the ring early, okay, before everyone bombards you. I need you to get out of here, and grab you by the arm and take you out to your car and say, get him out of here. I don't want him here. Like you, you need people around you, you need that championship team, biz. Yeah, Nashu, you need the buddies you had. I need you guys. And that's what's unique about hockey and about the brotherhood of who we have around us. And we're very freaking fortunate because you guys can make three phone calls and three guys will jump on planes and be at your side in a minute. And that's how I feel.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

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SPEAKER_02 58:17

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SPEAKER_02 59:05

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SPEAKER_07 59:10

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SPEAKER_02 59:14

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SPEAKER_07 59:21

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SPEAKER_02 59:28

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SPEAKER_07 59:38

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SPEAKER_05 59:58

Kind of just uh to bring it full circle, I uh I ran into Layla Anderson. I got this card here. She signed one for me, too. So you talk about community and having support. That was a pretty cool moment when they when they won the cup and everything, and they brought her around. So I saw her at your event last night. By the way, first class event. That was incredible what you guys did and how much money you raised. Probably over half a million bucks.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:20

Yeah, the puck cancer, man. And then uh back uh Bacchus was saying that that you guys should turn it into a tournament, a four-team tournament. Maybe I'll have to get back in shape and and and try to keep up with Nasher because Nasher, I think that you could probably get a fucking speaking of PTOs, you might be able to get what what'd you have? One and three last night? Not a big deal. Not a fucking deal. Is that what you say?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

I think we might need to score last night.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:42

I think he score. We need to drug test him, though. I think he might be on the I think he's on the peptides and he's on what pangers taking.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

Oh, Zeppet, that's what I need to be on. The jolly pill. The jolly pill. Speaking of T-Rex, I mean, is that because Twister used to call you that? Because you could never find your wallet at dinner. Is that is that why the little little arms?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

Something like that. Either that or I eat little guys like you. One of the two. That's awesome. Listen, thanks for being here. Oh bizarre. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:12

I'll see you next year at the Puck Cancer as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Yeah, and you know, we'll we'll see you in the playoffs with our you guys gonna follow the well, you gotta go on the air with TNT, but um, do you do your podcasts uh in the playoffs from cities as well?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:26

Uh well, I'm stuck in Atlanta in studio, and then conference finals will be uh we'll be traveling and around going around because we don't have the finals this year. So uh I'm hoping um, you know what I'm hoping for? I'm hoping we get the West and I hope we see a rematch of my first year doing TNT. It was Colorado and Edmonton, um, Nate Dog versus uh McDavid. And uh it was a sweep the last time, four-nothing Colorado, but I would imagine it would be a lot closer. So let's hope Leon gets healthy. And if Edmonton had a goalie. If they still don't have one. Yeah, it's uh crazy. Yeah, is Fusey still around? Andy Mogan, I think it's available. Yeah, that'd be a good one-two punch. But uh, I'm I'm rooting for McDavid to get his first one. That's who that's who I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

I love the kid too. I Holly says to me, he's either going to kill himself running into the end boards or take flight. One of the two. Yeah, yeah. Boeing. Jesus, he goes.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

Man, he's fast. F 16. Well, like I said, uh Chaser, it was an honor to do this, and it was really cool getting to do it with Nasher. Yeah, uh, one of the best to do it. Check out the Nash cast. Uh well, I'm we're we got the winter classic next year in Utah, so we're hoping to collaborate again. And yeah, we're I can't thank you guys enough for being great mentors and just good dudes who who took me under your wings. Uh at the PTO was just with St. Louis or whether it was with the Coyotes.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:45

So I love you boys. Yeah, proud of both of you. I just want to say, too, we just had them in Utah. I've never seen anything like it. I've been around some pretty famous people. I have never seen anything like Paul Bissonet walking around a concourse. Yeah, I mean, there was five. Well, it's like Chaser here.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:00

Literally, it literally is, right? But it's everywhere for you. So I'm super proud of both you guys. Chaser, keep fighting, dude. We thanks, boys. Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:09

I got this.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:09

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

We'll be back next week. Ice Guardians coming at you from the Window World Studios. Brought to you by uh our good friends at Siteman Cancer and Stu did an unreal job again last night. Thanks, folks. We'll see you next week.