Brandon Prust | Finding your role in Hockey | The Game Sports Podcast

[00:00:05] Speaker A: Booyah. And it's time for the game sports podcast. Today it's your host, David McCaig Junior. The Game sports podcast is powered by 91 n. That's 91 network. Make sure to like follow and subscribe on the 91 n YouTube channel. This is yet another episode of the Game Sports podcast special edition episodes. Now this is an episode where we have a show that, that has featured yours truly, usually co hosts as well, but we're joined by a very special guest here on these episodes. And it's an interview segment pretty well and straightforward to notify you of that. Now, I'm going to go right into my introduction since I'm not introducing anybody and there's not going to be any sponsors that I'm going to be introducing, just discussing 91 n. So make sure that you head on over to 91 n to of course, hit like follow and subscribe. I'll make sure I remind you of that getting to our guest right off the hop. He is someone that you probably see in the title of this show. So it's obviously kind of challenging doing these introductions, but you know, I like to do them. You know, I like to talk. So buckle up, get your popcorn ready. I'm definitely not missing out on my usual introductions. He's a former third round pick, 70th overall by the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League in 2004 is when he got drafted. He played 486 NHL games totaling 115 points and 1036 penalty minutes for the Flames, Coyotes, Rangers, Canadians and Canucks. He also played 53 playoff games in the NHL and in the AHL he played as well. And in the DEL. Rewinding back to the OHL, he spent three years with the London Knights where he won an OHL championship and a memorial cup championship with those knights where he played with guys like Dave Boland, Corey Perry, and of course, friend of the show, Rob Shremp. Definitely a stacked squad. Very stacked squad. This guest is now retired and he's making his mark off the ice in the athletic world, per se. But what we'll let him get into that. Of course, I'm not going to take all that time. He is someone that was not afraid to get into the dirty areas on the ice and of course with a sandpaper type of guy. And he was not afraid to drop the mitts just because and to help his team, but to also defend his teammates. He's the one and only Brendan prust. Brendan, thanks for coming on the show here today. [00:02:19] Speaker B: Thanks for having me. [00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah, you know what, it's always fun to do these shows. You know, you get to know the hockey community. It's just so, so big. It's absolutely massive. Especially, obviously, you're a canadian boy. I'm a canadian boy. It doesn't matter. You've talked to anyone overseas or talked to anyone with our neighbors across the border. The community is so big, and it doesn't matter what level someone may have played. It's connected in some way. And whenever you just meet someone or you get to know someone or you've been trying to get someone on a show for a little while, it's just when you get anything to talk about hockey or anything involving hockey, I just feel like being a little bit biased here, maybe a little bit. But talking to hockey players, we can talk about anything at any time. We don't need to really have an introduction. Or even if we do have introduction, it's always a fun conversation. But you would know from playing the game for so long. It's a big community. [00:03:09] Speaker B: It's a big community, but also small community. You know, it doesn't take long to kind of get that connection through. Somebody is only. I know they say, what is it, like six handshakes? I think in the hockey world, it's only one or two. So, you know, it's, it's a big community, but definitely small. And it's always, hey, you know this guy? Yeah. Okay. He's a good guy. All right. Okay, I'll do that for you. All right. Like, even when we made trades, it'd be like, you know, someone knew the guy that we traded for and they'd be like, oh, yeah, he's a beauty. He's a great guy. Right? So then you're just like, okay, he's a good guy. One guy says it, so you're in. So, yeah, it's, it's, it's big, but it's. It's still small. [00:03:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Honestly, it's definitely a community that a lot are proud of, and it's a really big community. Look at podcasts, look at sports coverage. It's unbelievable. And how big the game has grown from a media perspective and how everyone's getting connected in a certain way. But that's a very good point. Now, I usually have a post opener, but we have so many topics that I want to get into. So many. So I'm not going to use one of my post opener topics as usual. I'm going to jump right into the first topic here. Okay. And going into that right off the hop, I want to talk about and start off the show. We're talking about what you're doing in your post career. Okay, now we're going to get into your career. There's some juice, there's some meat, potatoes. We'll get into with that, of course. But there's obviously something that I mentioned, the opener, and if people do follow you on social media, which obviously on instagram, you're on all the socials, you are well, per se involved in the athletic world that I mentioned off the hop. Doesn't matter if they're young adults, youth, professionals, whatever it may be. You opened something recently, and I want to give you the floor to talk about it because there's a lot to talk about with it, and there's a lot of points I want to bring up because I'm very interested to know about this path that you've chosen after your career. [00:04:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, ever since I. Even when I was playing, even in my twenties with my trainer, I always talked about when I retired that I wanted to kind of pass down that knowledge that I've gained through. Through my training and through my hockey experiences and, you know, trying to make hockey teams right. I was never really given anything. I had to work for everything I got. So it's something that I always wanted to do after I was. After I was done. And, you know, I was kind of starting to think about it, and then Covid hit and kind of put a damper on it. And so I finally, you know, I finally got things up and running and. And I got the gym open now. So, you know, it's been a long time. We've been building it for a couple years. BP eight is what it's called. And, you know, we do a lot, it's a bit of a hybrid gym. So I do a lot of hockey training, a lot of teams right now during the season, so it's more team training, but I am doing some personal training with kids as well. And then in the off season, I'm going to be doing a, like a summer program, basically a three month training program, which is going to offer ice on ice, track work, nutrition, sports psychology, all that fun stuff. So, yeah, it's been a. It's been a fun, you know, it's been a fun trek. It's been a lot of work, a lot of hard work, but we're finally up and running and still working kind of every day to make sure, you know, I don't. I don't leave that. I don't leave that gym too often anymore. [00:06:33] Speaker A: No, honestly, when you own something that go from owning a gym, when it comes to owning a bar. When it comes to owning something, when you, when you own something, especially today's society is putting all that effort into it and putting your blood and sweat into it a different way. And marketing is big and getting onto the obvious points there. But you mentioned something that was, we're going to get into points here now with it the London Free press, which is actually something that you recently uploaded on Instagram. But of course, we did our research and saw the article that was posted and I'm reading exactly, just so everyone doesn't know with me looking at a camera that I memorized the post. I'm not that good, I would say. But they are trying to build that. You're trying to build something unique. Right. It's where people want to, will want to come work out and a lot of people need guidance. So I think that's a very good point because I think a lot of players, you know, if it's my age going up before or if it was anybody in the new age generation, the game is very different. The game's evolved. And the way the game's thought about with working out is so much different now. Like I remember, and I'm sure you can relate to this, it's when you played a, if you're a nineties birth year, late eighties and nineties birth year, even mid nineties, I felt that when you were working out, it's all that power. Right. It's the deadlifts. It's, it's a lot of those. Just explosive heavy lifting. Not that you're getting absolutely shredded and massive. Shredded, yes. But massive, big guy. No, you're doing a lot of power moves, a lot of squats at the gym, which I imagine still effective. I believe they were. But the deadlifts, strenuous, right. Where running and cardio was, was also used. But it's, now it's, it's using a different technique. Apply metrics or technique based. Right. I feel that they work out smarter now. So I felt that was a very good point that you brought up, that you want people to go there, but you know that will want to come work out, but you also know that people need the guidance. So did you find challenges related to that guidance per se while you were working out in your career and it made you now a better trainer or just a gym? [00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:33] Speaker A: You know what those were. [00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah. I think, you know, the knowledge that I've gained is through all my, I know what I did right, I know what I've done wrong. I know that, you know, maybe I was missing some guidance in this area, right? Even just someone to talk to. I was pretty good at kind of trying to figure things out on my own. But it's always good to have, you know, even when it comes to off the ice with, if you're battling something within your team or with your coach, maybe not getting, maybe you're not getting the playing time, maybe you need to find a different type of role, right? Like you can, some of these kids, they're always first liners. Their first liners. [00:09:12] Speaker A: First liners. [00:09:13] Speaker B: First liners. And then they get to the OHL and, okay, now they're a third liner, right? And it's like, it's weird for them. And then they get to the NHL, it's like, I don't want, I'm not a fourth liner, you know, but it's like, no, you are because you're playing with, you know, Conor Bedard. He's way ahead of you, right? So you have to find, you have to find your role. I was able to do that. I was, you know, I was always a first liner, but then I was like, okay, I'm playing with Corey Perry and David Boland and, you know, Rob Shremp and Danny Fritchie or whatever, like, I'm not going to steal their spot on the power play. I need to find my role and where my role is. So that's, that's a part of the, the guidance as well, right? Helping kids find their role and still be confident in that. And then on the training side of things, you know, I still, like you say, the deadlifts and the squats, those are still, I think, very important things that you have to do because you need that strength. But there's a lot more plyometric stuff going on now and making sure you keep that explosive power and quickness, you're not just bulking up, right? You're, you're trying to bulk up but stay as fast as, stay super fast, right, or even get faster. So, yeah, there's a lot, definitely we've evolved in that, the workout world. And that's another thing that I'm learning every day. You know, I'm constantly watching videos, constantly reading up on new training techniques and it's forever changing. Right. So, but the basics are still there and the hard work and, you know, I had some kids in the other day and they were like, you know, halfway through they're like, this is the hardest workout I ever, I've ever done. And I was like, this is, this is a meteor ochre workout. Boys like you guys, you guys haven't, I guess you guys haven't really worked out yet because this is, this is nothing to what you'll see in the summer. [00:10:57] Speaker A: So more things coming. [00:10:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I was kind of like, okay. Because they were great athletes. They were, you know, they're good, good kids and they, you know, they're 15 and they've done the workouts and stuff and they were just like, oh, this is the hardest work I've ever done. I was like, this is nothing, boysenhe. [00:11:20] Speaker A: And that's funny that you actually said that because my next quote was going to be like, you. You mentioned this. You have to reach kids. You may not be a first line center, but help them find the role, find that purpose. Right. And that's a great segue in this because that is just, you can, people can take it as related to experience or I've known people. Doesn't matter. You can go to so many different areas. It's not just some, somebody, you know definitely has experiences because you even you said it, you have this time growing up. It could be if, let's say you were a, an, a player rep player. Doesn't matter what the team or league that you're in. Maybe you were the guy. You were the Connor Bedard or the McDavid or the Matthews, right? You were that. Maybe you were the Carrie price. You know, maybe that was you. Depend on what your role is. Maybe you were the guy. You were in every game. You were on the power play, penalty kill. You know what? They played you as a goalie 50 out of 55 games because, you know, they get, they got 47 wins because you were in between the pipes. You know that it's, it's completely different as you grow, get, get up more in the leagues. You know, if it's the OHL, it's the east coast hockey, the HL, the NHL Z, I guess we can say the end all, be all. It's the best league in the world, rightfully so. You're playing and everyone in their, and, and their brother, their sister, everyone wants to play in the national Hockey league. So obviously if you get to that level, to stay in that level, you're going to have to adapt. So. But I think a realistic approach is if you can learn your role in the major junior level, which I think it's something that you mentioned that you did, right. You learned what. [00:12:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:51] Speaker A: What was best for you. And I believe if I have his name correctly, I believe it was Bob. I was going to talk about a little bit later, but Chris Bane was the guy. Yeah, that was, you know, like, I'm not going to spoil my next topic, but, yeah, someone that you looked up to but you learned what was best for you and what was going to work for you. Right. And to stay in the line. [00:13:12] Speaker B: Well, one good example that I kind of always use on this topic is David Boland. Right. David Bolan came out of the, oh, and he was probably London Knights. I think he's one of the top all time scorers for London Knights. Always a first liner, always power play. And then in Chicago, you know, he knows he's on a team that's got a chance to win a Stanley cup and he says, well, do I sulk here and I kind of be upset that I'm not ahead of Kane or tays or all those boys? Like, or am I just going to find my, my role here and help my team win a Stanley cup and then, you know, end up making my millions, which, you know, which he did. But, you know, he was kind of the third line centerman. Right. And Dave Boland on a, on your hockey team, as a third line centerman, you got a pretty good hockey team. So he found his role, played that checking line. He changed it. He totally changed his game from being that, you know, obviously he still did his offensive stuff. He was that good of a player. But he kind of played that, you know, that role and ended up winning two cups, you know, being that checking guy, being that rat that was getting in the sedan's face. Right. Like, you know, he, he totally adjusted his, the way he's always known how to play hockey, which was just be a first liner and be counted on to score, you know, 50 goals scored. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So great example. [00:14:41] Speaker A: Very good. And I think you, you were a walk on to London. I think I got that correct. You were a walk on to London. Obviously you got drafted. I mentioned Calgary, which is awesome, right. Because you, you were a walk on in the o and you get drafted third round in the end and a good draft. I, if you remember, if everyone members, zero four. I think everyone should remember who went first overall. No, four, if you're a hockey fan, his name is Alex Ovechkin. So like, that's a pretty good draft. A lot of other good players in that draft and I could get, get into that. But the, you got drafted after, so. Yeah, like walk on drafted to the end. That, that's a big step. So you obviously did something right in terms of your office men and your mentality, but it's like, you know, you've made the adjustments at the right time that caught the eye of scouts. Then you obviously look at the NHL career that you made out of yourself and look what's happening now. But that, that's, that's a great example. And I think just some things that you can mention to people saying, hey, it doesn't matter. People are always so, like, heartbroken if they don't get drafted. It doesn't matter if you don't get that it's really NHL or, oh, it doesn't matter if you're good enough. Angelo Bambako was a scout. I'm not sure if you ever meta, but he was scout for Tampa Bay. He was in Sault Ste. Marie, well known for the Sault Ste. Marie grounds. And he mentions on there, on to my parents was like a setting where he mentioned to a group of parents, we said, if you're good enough, you'll be found on a pond. Yeah, scouts will find you. And my whole point of mentioning this, because you obviously had to go through a lot to realize who you are as a player to be able to grow into the player that you did become, that I'm sure you enjoyed playing. I'm sure you also probably like scoring goals, but I'm sure you loved getting, getting the games in the National Hockey League too, as you would adapted to your role and who you. Who you were. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, that's the one thing. Once I, I got invited to camp, I knew that it was kind of in my hands, right. I knew if I played well enough and turned heads enough that I was going to be, I would make the team. And then I knew from there, once I was even on the nights I knew if I worked my butt off, it was, it was in my hands to show the scouts that I was good enough to play in the NHL, right. So once I kind of got there, I knew, you know, it can be tough if you're. I don't know if I, you know, if, if I was on a pond, if you skate on a pond every day, it'd be hard to get noticed. But I guess even, I mean, I don't know, I kind of got that, you know, invite once I got that invite. Like, it's a crazy story how I, how I got invited even to play Junior B. It was the last game of the year I was playing Triple A and it was the last game of the year and the Zamboni died on the ice and burnt a hole in the ice and the game got canceled and we had to play the next night in London, and the London national scouts came to watch that game that was back in London, that game that shouldn't have happened because we were playing a team. With his playoffs, we were down two games to none. I think it was the best three out of five or something. We were gonna get smoked by this team. So it was gonna be the last game, and we ended up. It got cancelled, and we played back in London. And the nationals coaches came and watched me play and then invited me to come practice with the team the rest of the year. And then, so, like, I'm also like, what if I'd never, you know, what if I never what? The Zamboni never died? Like, what? [00:18:12] Speaker A: Dare you say? [00:18:13] Speaker B: Fate. And then. And then I played junior b that year, and I had a really good year, and I was. I wanted to get invited to knight's camp, and there's. I went to knights camp the year before, but I told them that I was going to. I wanted to go the scholarship route because I didn't think I was going to make the knights. So I was like, well, I think I'm just going to try and get a scholarship. So the next year, I was like, you know what? I don't want to do the scholarship. I want to go play for the knights. Never got a call. I never got a call. Summer, a week before camp, my dad's golfing, Dale hunter's golfing. Someone hits their golf ball on the other person's fairway, and I don't know who's telling the truth. My dad says dale hit his ball over. Dale says my dad hit his ball over. But they ran into each other. And then my dad was like, hey, I'm Brandon press. Dad. He's been expecting a call and wanted to come to camp this year. And he was like, I thought he wanted to go scholarship. And they're like, no, he wants to play for you guys. I got a call later that day, was at camp a week later, and made the team. So, I mean, if my dad or Dale weren't terrible golfers, I mean, what would have happened, right? So it's crazy how. How things work out. [00:19:23] Speaker A: Like I said, it's almost like a dare of fate right there. You say that term fate. Things happen for a reason. [00:19:29] Speaker B: Yeah, it's pretty wild. [00:19:32] Speaker A: It's cool. And I bet you, I don't know if you betcha if we ever asked Wayne Gretzky this or McDavid this, if they think anything's surreal. But thinking back of when you played you're probably like, jesus, surreal. I played in the National Hockey League. You didn't just play in the National Hockey League, Brandon. You were, you know, in a lineup for a long time for Haka, meccas of the world. You know, the Montreal, the, the New York. I'm not gonna say Arizona is by any means, jokes aside, but Vancouver, but jokes aside, they, you played a National Hockey League game, which sure, a lot of people could say in terms of had a game, but to say someone had a stable career as someone who had, who made an impact on the game and with their team, you did that and like, you ever just look back and say, holy shit, I played in the NHL. You know, like, like a lot of people I know I can't. For the number of my friends, they can't say it. So there's a few that I thought were unreal growing up. Like 200 point guys playing in the peewee levels and they just never went anywhere, which happens. But, you know, you probably look back and think, holy, this is surreal. Like you're. That you made it right. That's. And everything that you just said. Such a cool story. Story for you to get that chance. You know, you play for London. Look what happens in London and then its story from there. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's definitely always something that I, you know, continue to always remember and always cherish and even the friendships that I made and, you know, you're always thinking about some fun times and fun cities and fun stories and stuff that you've been involved in and, you know, I still got lots of memorabilia around. You can see my Rangers winter classic jersey behind me there. Yeah, so great jersey. So. And then I think that's my first goal as a Ranger. First NHL pucker right over there, so that's cool. Yeah, you know, we got lots of stuff still kind of around and definitely, definitely proud of what I, what I accomplished and. Yeah, you know, you always wish you could have played till you're 40, but I don't think my body would have. I don't think my body would have held up much longer. [00:21:45] Speaker A: So I'll say it between us, and I know if, I think you would be doing better than Ryan Reeves would be doing. [00:21:54] Speaker B: I know that too. [00:21:56] Speaker A: Now, staying connected with your gym a little bit, you know, and this is still technically, like within the first off of that space. A lot of wanted to get to it. I think that was really good. But the, with, I want to get strict a bit about struggles and mental health a little bit. I like to have. It's always good to share stories and experiences, but to have talk on a podcast and just get to know and get listeners, my listeners and other listeners, whoever tune in to see the other sides. Mental health is so noticed finally in today's society, a little bit more than what it ever was, right? And we were talking about kids, teens, their roles changed, their mental health change. They don't know if they're going to be that guy. Can they handle it? Can they adapt to. If they're going to do good, if they don't get drafted, how somebody reacts, how they grow as a person. But do you think, like, I know you're with your gym, you think, you mentioned they're going to do psychology, like psychology things as well, which I think is massive. So with it being more noticed in society per se, or improve from what it used to be and kids having to deal with a lot of it that people never really knew because everyone thinks as a kid, it's like, you don't have mental health, you don't have any bills, you don't have a job, you don't have this bullshit. Yes, they do. There's just different levels of it, right. Do you think more can be done from, let's say, the leagues from. From more influential individuals or if you be in a gym, what do you think can be done to really improve it? [00:23:23] Speaker B: Well, I think if any prep, any, anything kind of comes at that young age, mental health, it could be a lot from pressure from parents, right? I think that could be. That's one thing I would, I would stress so much is, hey, you might not. You know, there's 0.001% of all hockey players step foot into an NHL game, so it's most likely not going to happen, but we're going to work our butts off to get you there and to do it. But if it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. Life goes on. Not everybody's meant to play in the NHL, and I think that's maybe one thing is the pressure gets to kids because, um, you know, it's. It's become pretty wild out there, right. With, uh, you know, parents will really do pretty much anything, which isn't also a bad thing too. Right. It's still good to discipline your kid, to kind of be hard on them and tell them how to work. Like, my parents were never, they were never really pushy on me, like, but my dad would. Would be, well, if you want to play there, then if you want to play in the NHL, then you're gonna have to work. You better be shooting 100 pucks a day out in the backyard. You better be doing this. You better be like, if you want to play, I'm going to, I'm going to guide you. I'm going to tell you what you need to do. I'm not just going to be like, so you do need that, that discipline and they do need to be told what to do, but at the same time, don't make it like it's the end of the world if they don't, if they don't get it. So I think that's maybe a start for it. But for leagues, I think that, I know the NHL, I think there's, people are talking about it more so people know that you don't have to hold it in anymore. You can reach out. And I think it's up to, you know, parents, friends, coaches to make sure that everybody around them is good and to make sure that they are, you know, open ears and open arms when anybody or any kid needs to, needs to talk. So I think that's a big thing and that's one thing that we'll offer as well. Right. If you ever have any questions, if there's anything that you don't think you want to go to your mom or dad about or something, like you can come. You can come to me, right? You can come chat with me and I'll give it to you straight and try and help out. So, yeah, that's, it's definitely something that we're going to be adding to our program. [00:25:44] Speaker A: It's a good thing that you mentioned that part, open ears, because I feel like more deaf ears returned to it a lot before, especially from the youth side. And it's funny that you brought up the pressure side because I had a fact here, different facts, actually, from one surprising source, to be honest with you. But according to Southeast psych in Nashville, the pressure to perform is the key problem to an athlete. And according to LinkedIn, fun fact, LinkedIn has a stat. The biggest problem in youth sports is hyper competitiveness. The youth topic touches that we discussed just now, and obviously with hyper competitiveness. But for you, you played in New York, Montreal, massive. Marcus, as I mentioned, in canadian markets. How did you handle the pressure? And did you learn from anybody that helped you handle the pressure? Or is this kind of, was it just experience? [00:26:37] Speaker B: Well, that's the thing. I was never really pressured to be anything great, so it was easy for me to just, I didn't even really think about it. I was just like, hey, I'm playing in Madison Square Garden. This is awesome. I was just happy to be there. Right? I was just like, and I want to stay, so I'm gonna play. It's weird. I never used to get really much nervousness or anxiety. Really. Like I, you know, playoff time. I've gotten more nervous for maybe running a class at my gym than I did for game seven of the playoffs against Washington and Madison Square Garden. Like, I don't know what it was. It was just something that was kind of maybe natural or maybe I was gifted a little bit that way. But I think a of people that make the NHL have that when you make it to that level, you. You kind of have that swagger about you where you're not. You're not nervous. Um, but it was also. Yeah, I think it's just kind of the way I was even brought. Brought up too, right. I was. I was never pushed into anything. It was never. My dad would let me know when I played like shit. Like, I'm gonna let my kid know when he plays like shit. Don't waste my time. Yeah, I might not be, you know, it might not be that. That bad, but I remember my dad and I went to watch my nephew play last year and him and his team that played terrible lost like five one. And they just played just a terrible game. And like, after me and my dad are standing there, you know, all the moms are like, oh, good game, good game, good game. And me and my dad are like, no, it wasn't. No, you guys played terrible. Like, I'm not going to come watch if you keep playing like that. Like, I mean, there's still got to be some sort of that honesty, right? [00:28:15] Speaker A: Like, yeah, in life, they're not going to be handed those things. [00:28:18] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, like, you still. I don't care if they win or lose, but at least put in an effort. You got to put in an effort. You know, if they lost, you can lose a game. Four one, but you still played great. Maybe some bad bounces, whatever. But if you're not putting in the effort, then, you know, I'm going to, you know, but I kind of got off track there. [00:28:41] Speaker A: And that's. That's actually funny. You mentioned the parents too. It's having perfect segues here. And I want to tell listeners, the viewers that, Brendan, I don't plan what I'm talking about before. It's. It's like it's working out smoothly, the topics. But the one point I was going to say is that, and I'll give it credit despite the hyper competitiveness being, you know, a study that it's the most in youth athletes and pressure for older. Yeah, got it. For the parents, the biggest problem is cost in the sport, right. In Canada anyway. I know for it can be extremely expensive for your child to be an athlete. Obviously it differentiates between hockey or baseball or whatever they decide to do. I know here in Sault Ste. Marie, hockey is ludicrous. I'm sure it's not any different in London or southern Ontario, but I know baseball is really affordable. You know, that's why our enrollment higher in baseball here. Not higher than hockey. It's not nothing higher than hockey, but like, it's higher. I mean, more enrollment is more affordable. But that's the other thing. And I remember with my father and other fathers being the fathers used to run the rink when I was there. I've been around the ranks. I have now I have younger nephews and cousins that, you know, play. I shouldn't say nephew. My nephew is not old enough. I mean cousins, I haven't nephews playing yet, but cousins playing that same as you just mentioned, they lose a game. Six one, all good game. [00:29:58] Speaker B: True. [00:29:58] Speaker A: I can't. My body not wired for that. Not like I'm wired to be honest. Like I'm not. You would never want to shit on them or you would. Yeah, you never do any of that. You got to have the fun in the game. But there's that honesty. You have to develop in life and hear that feedback so you can get better. And if your team isn't good enough to be better, okay, then it is what it is. [00:30:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:19] Speaker A: The dads used to run the rink a lot. Now I think the roles have changed. [00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:23] Speaker A: A little bit more from what I can recall. [00:30:25] Speaker B: Yeah. But yeah, I remember my mom, if I had a good game or if I scored a goal, usually if I scored a goal, she'd have Skittles for me. She never, you know, little thing of Skittles. So I knew. I knew I didn't play that well if I didn't have Skittles waiting for me, you know, that was my mom telling me, you don't deserve Skittles tonight. It stung a little bit, you know. [00:30:50] Speaker A: You were looking forward to your Skittles. [00:30:51] Speaker B: I was looking forward to my Skittles. So I remember after one of my NHL games that my parents were at, I scored a goal and my mom was there. And after the game, she handed me some Skittles. [00:31:03] Speaker A: Yes. [00:31:04] Speaker B: I had a good game. I played good. I played good. I got my skittles. Thanks, mom. [00:31:09] Speaker A: Oh, that's great. I thought I knew I played good. This is bad because not like this anymore. If I got $2 for an assist and a dollar for. That's how that was what I remember growing up. [00:31:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I remember. There was a lot. There was a lot like that. A lot of kids like that. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. The Skittles. Things a lot cooler though. I've actually. But I know we talked about the gym and your mental a little bit, but I'm sorry. Mental health topic a little bit before we close out, I'll make sure to give you another little bit of the floor for of course to promote your gym a little bit, but obviously getting into a few other topics. Time flies. Having fun. We're 30 minutes in already. I want to talk about the fighting in the game of hockey. Okay. And I've had a few enforcers on this podcast. You know that Trevor Gillies was one animal of a human being, obviously. Yeah. So one in particular. Right. So what you. John Morasti, nasty. Morasti is another guy who's known on shores, of course, and they all have different opinions on this. I am fascinated to know yours a little bit. But you did the fight. The fighting. The game of hockey is now banned in major junior. Okay. Obviously that's. That's known. Okay. So I kind of want to dive into your thoughts with this, but connect it with the article that you did as I looked down at it in February 2015, did an article in the Players Tribune. So I have a few things I want to get into with that. But firstly, I wanted to get your take on fighting in the game of hockey. Is there. Is there a place for it still? Are we going to start having to get used to it? Maybe that growing to the NHL one day where we won't see fighting anymore. [00:32:45] Speaker B: I mean, it would be a sad day. I think it's a. I think it's a part of our sport. It's something that I hope that they don't change, but I think it's changed now for the better, where there's not just meaningless fights. Right. Even though when two heavyweights went at it, to us, to the guys on the bench, to the guys on the ice, those weren't meaning meaningless fights. Those fights meant a lot. And those were those guys standing up for their teams and making sure they made a stand that's gone from the game, which, you know, we kind of understand. But I think you still need to police the game a little bit. I think people need to be wary about. All right. I'm not going to take a run at Sydney Crosby because I'm going to get beat up. Right. So if you take that out, then Conor Bedard becomes a free target. I can run Conor all night long because I don't got nobody to face. Those big. Those big guns are. They're gonna. They're gonna miss. Those guys are gonna miss the fighting the most. Right. They're being able to defend. Being able to defend your teammates, being able to change momentum around on a dime. I would always fight if we lost two in a row. That third game, my first shift, I was fighting. I was, I was making a stand for our team. I was getting my guys going. I was waking my boys up, going, no more. No more damn losing, you know, we're going here. Let's go. So these are things that people don't know. Not a lot of people know the. The importance of the fighting. Yeah. You know, and obviously, the fans love it and the crowds love it. It's crazy there. Yeah. Who knows if it's going to be out of the game? I mean, you see, UFC is becoming the biggest sport in the world, but now they don't want fighting in hockey. Right. But then they're going to watch. Then these people are watching the UFC the same night, you know, at midnight. So worse. Yeah. Like, what are we doing here? So I, you know, most, most fights, you don't see a lot of injuries in fights. You see more injuries in hitting. So there's you. You take away the fighting, the hitting is going to go up and there'll be no consequences for anybody. And that's. That's about it. So that's kind of how. How I feel. I think the fighting where it's at is in a good place where it's, you know, like I said, you don't have the, you don't have as much of the meaningless fights anymore that were, you know, two guys just dropped their gloves at the start of the game. I, even though, like I said to us, that wasn't, they weren't meaningless to us, but maybe to some people it looks meaningless, and I feel that that's kind of gone from the game a bit, you know? [00:35:22] Speaker A: And honestly, you mentioned in that 2015 article in the Players tribunals titled why we fight. Now, at various points that I brought up, you know, you that I wanted to ask about it, but one thing that I highlighted, and I talked about this at the beginning, is you discussed how you step, like, how you had to take the step to learn how to be a fighter in enforcement, as with Chris Bain, is like, he was the guy that you obviously helped. [00:35:46] Speaker B: You. [00:35:47] Speaker A: You took some advice from what could have made you, you know, fit into your role more, and you mentioned to Dale Hunter that if you put me in the lineup, you won't be able to take me out, which obviously happened, of course. So you mentioned a quote in there saying, my thing is, if you want to go, you want to go. There's no point in making fun of each other's moms out there. Now, of course people make chirps towards moms. I know that when you're on the ice, things come up that you never thought you can think of. That's 100% when you're in the zone. But you just said a few moments ago, too, you want to get the boys going, right? You. You're. You've had three games skid, and you're saying to yourself, look, what am I going to do to pump up the lines? What am I. What do I need to do to get the crowd into. Especially if you're an MSG, you know, or if you're at the bell center, especially. They love it in the bell center. It's. It's. Can you kind of get into that mom quote a little bit, but also just going. Taking it for the boys, like the wife, about that article. [00:36:50] Speaker B: Well, that was more me talk. Like, I wasn't a huge chirper on the ice. I mean, we were just gonna make fun of each other. We're all in the same league. Like, what's the point of making fun of each other? Like, oh, you suck. You suck. Like, it's basically mine. Was, are we fighting or we not? Like, we're not gonna make. What am I gonna make fun of you? Like, the way you look? Like, did you make a bad pass? Like, we're not gonna. We're not. We're grown men here. We can't chirp each other. The only, for me, the only thing was, are we gonna fight or not? Right? So that was kind of what I. What I meant by that. Now that I don't think many people are making fun of each other's moms, but, you know, it's more. More back in, you know, elementary school, I think, is when we did that. But my point was just my. My thing is, we're looking at each other. It's whether you want to go or not. So, yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't a huge, you know, chirp guys. Or. I mean, we're all. We're on the same league. We're all pretty much, you know, same caliber. I know some people, they'd be like, you're a fourth liner. Oh, I'm still in the NHL. You still, I'm still in the same ice as you, bud. So, you know. Yeah, that was kind of my point on that one. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Yeah, the, and you broke, you close friends with Derek, Stefan. And you broke, you mentioned in there how you broke his jaw on a hit and you felt bad. And I don't know if you swore in the article or not. So correct me if I'm wrong because I didn't have the quota that you did. Usually I would, but I think you said the son of a bitch came back the next game and got the game winner to eliminate you guys or something. Right. Like, and, and he was a big factor in the game. He breaks his jaw, comes back in a full. [00:38:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Their shield together by screws, and he gets the winner. And like, you after that game, you're texting them saying, hey, you know, you feel bad, but you're hugging it out the end, you know, and that's, I think that's a big point. Why say why we fight? You do the grind, but for the reward at the end, and it doesn't matter, win or loss, it's that moment that you even shared with him at the end hugging them or lund quest, your buddies with, like, talk about, though, that, that hit on Stefan. I'm sure he holds it to you to this day still. [00:38:54] Speaker B: Yeah, no, we, we made up. We made up. So, but that was the thing. We were down two nothing. And after we were game one and game two were in Montreal, and that was when Crider ran into Kerry Price and injured Carrie Price and put him out. So, you know, we go down, we're down to nothing going back into New York. I have to change. I have to change momentum. So I'm out for shift and there ain't no puck. I'm hitting everything I can, right. I don't care if you're my friend or not. I'm hitting you. So step on. Gets the puck out of the middle. He moves it over the side. But I finished my check, you know, I find out after. So it was just, the hit was clean, but it was late. So my hit was 0.5 seconds after he moved the puck. A late hit is 0.3 seconds. So that's the kind of the difference in that, in that hit. So I'm already kind of committed to that hit. And, yeah, there's no way I was really stopping. So but he got up, apparently at a hairline fracture, but he still played. Like, he still came back and played, so. Yeah, but we. But we were, you know, we've talked. Talked since, and we obviously talked after I even talked to him that night. You know, I text them saying, you know, sorry, didn't mean to break your jaw. I just was trying to. I'm trying to change momentum. We're down to nothing coming back into New York, so I got to do something. [00:40:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And honestly, that article is really cool. I like those articles. I like when players get inspired or share that on the platform. It's obviously been many different articles, many that were personal. The funnier stories. I'm not saying yours or either or, but yours, obviously a keyword. You mentioned why we fight to, you know, the role you brought up, but you. You do it for your teammates, obviously. And obviously, it's something that you took pride in doing. Now, Brandon, I'll move on to the other topic side of things. [00:40:54] Speaker B: Hey, hold on, Dave. Hold on. I just said my. My phone just went to 10%, so I just want to plug it in. I don't want. [00:41:01] Speaker A: Yeah, you're good. You're good. Yep. [00:41:24] Speaker B: Where's that extension? Cordental? Yeah. All right. I think that should be good. Just want to make sure that's charging. [00:42:27] Speaker A: The beauty of pre recording, something you can really quickly. Yeah, I have about probably four topics that had queued up still. And then it should wrap. It should be good. About. Is 20 minutes so good for you? [00:42:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Okay. It should be good. I just want to see if this is a. Yeah, okay. This perfect. Okay. [00:42:57] Speaker A: Okay. I'll just count us back down so I know where to. [00:43:00] Speaker B: Yeah, okay. [00:43:02] Speaker A: Okay. 54321. Yeah. So transitioning Brandon, you know, there's obviously a lot, like I said a little bit ago, not enough time in a recording. You and I could probably sit here for hours and go through stories. But you did mention Carrie Price. This is kind of off script, per se that I wanted to mention. And obviously, he's not playing right now. It's a very out of speculations of what it may be or what is. Obviously, he's currently stepped away from the game. He had such a great run in the bubble, and then obviously, he's Canada's icon in that. And what I want to mention with Kerry Price, you were a teammate of his, you know, and obviously, without sharing anything, because I don't want to know. No one needs to know the personal business going on, if you know or not. But have you been able to connect with him at all since he's stepped away from the game, obviously, it's, you know, there's, you want to try to help the hockey community like we talked about. It's so, it's so tight and there's a player assistance program and you hope that people are getting the help that they need because there is more to the game than just hockey right outside of the game. There is more, and it's a good program that, that is offered in the league. But is there, you were, you obviously teammates with Kerry Price. Is there any kind of thing that you can share that's an appropriate share on the show about them at all? Have you been able to. [00:44:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Kerry's, uh, you know, he's one of my good buddies, um, in hockey, and, um, you know, he lives far away from me, but, you know, we share, you know, we both love fishing and stuff like that, so we always kind of always reach out to him or if I see on his instagram he's been fishing or something. So, yeah, we still, we still keep in touch, obviously. You know, I don't think with, with hockey, we always keep in touch with each other, some of our best friends throughout, but it, you know, it might be a text every, you know, every six months. Right. So. But we always, we always stay in touch and see how each other, how we're doing. I know Kerry struggled with his knee. You know, he always had some, some knee troubles there. So from my understanding, that's one of the things that has really affected him and affected at his play and, you know, kind of, you know, it's, if you're sore, if you're goal and you got soreness, it's, it's tough. It can be tough on you, so. Yeah, but Cory's a, Carrie carries a great guy. Price was one of my, you know, was always fun to play with and always, you know, he was, he was, he was quiet. All, most, most goalies kind of stick to themselves, right? You have to, you have to kind of go at them. So I always went, I always went at Kerry and always pushed his buttons a little bit, maybe tried to fight him in practice quite often or even in the dressing room, but he was, he's a strong boy. He's got that strength that you don't know he has. He's pretty strong. So doing the wrestling matches didn't always turn out the best for me, that's for sure. [00:46:07] Speaker A: So I always said as a joke that he looked like Enrique Inglesias. I don't know if he'll tune into this and find that funny if he does read that, you know, I don't know why I randomly thought of that. [00:46:18] Speaker B: But I never, I never thought of that. But the only thing is if you see Kerry in person, he looks nothing like Enrique because Enrique is a bean pole and Pricer's pretty big human being and pretty big strongman. So I would never put those two together. [00:46:37] Speaker A: We'll keep that on here. And to anybody that probably will comment and at me below chirping me, why is that? But I know when you mentioned Kerry Price, just going to talk about the Rangers there and the stuff on it and all that, it's been a topic that, you know, the player, since the program, players have been rolling into Spencer night. Players have been now more into it, of course, but the game is obviously missing Carrie Price and so is Canada. So now obviously Dave McCagg here with the Game Sports podcast being continued to be joined by Brandon Prest here on the special edition uploads. I want to dive into a trade. You were traded twice in your career is what I have noted here. But there's one that surprised you. And I know that we won't spend as too much time on this topic as much because it's something that you have shared before on other platforms and podcasts. I believe the latest one, you had a podcast back in April 2023 on a show called the athlete and artists show and you were talking about how you were traded to the Rangers and you found out at a bar. You're sitting in the bar. Can you, can you expand on this a little further just in case that this is newer to the viewers? Tune in. [00:47:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I was in Calgary and my dad and his buddies were in town visiting area visiting me. Sorry. My dad and his buddies came to fly out to Calgary. So there's probably, I think, and I think my dad was staying at my place. Maybe his buddies are staying, I don't, I can't really remember, but we were just at the bar playing pool. We were just shooting pool somewhere in Calgary. I kind of forget the bar. And then it came up on the screen. Preston Ole Yokin and traded to the Rangers. I was like, we're all looking at each other like, what the hell? And I'm looking at my phone, I'm like, I haven't got a call. So like, I step outside, I call Oli. I'm like, yo, did you hear this? [00:48:23] Speaker A: What's going on? [00:48:23] Speaker B: He's like, yeah. He's like, I don't know. He's, he's like, nobody's called me. And I'm like, what. What the heck's going on? So nobody. Nobody contacted us. The next day. They said, you know, the trade hasn't gone through or something. And then, you know, Brent Sutter before the game was, yeah, this is our team. We're sticking with our team like they've made us. They put us in the lineup. We played the game knowing that the trade was probably going to go through after the game. And so we just, yeah, we, we played the game, and then after the game, okay, yeah, you're going to New York. And I was like, all right, peace out. Thanks. [00:48:58] Speaker A: Thanks for nothing. [00:49:00] Speaker B: I mean, I wasn't too mad about that trade. That that was kind of one that I rather, you know, ended up being great for me. That's where going with Torturella. You know, he let me play. He really, you know, that's kind of coach that likes my style, of likes my type of player. Right. So I love playing for him, and he gave me a great opportunity there. [00:49:26] Speaker A: So I'm going to go back to him in a second, actually, I'm glad that you brought him up because we had a, we had a, we actually uploaded on our socials, a little clip from one of our members on our podcast, names Dane. And he gave a pretty good opinion about total this year. But to get my other point, you were traded also to. It was the Montreal trade, right? From Vancouver to Montreal was the other, right? [00:49:46] Speaker B: Montreal, the Vancouver. [00:49:47] Speaker A: Vancouver, yeah. And you were traded for Zach Cassian. Was that Cassian? Yes. He didn't have that note. I'm going by memory with that. But that experience was obviously a little bit different than your first one, right? [00:49:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:00] Speaker A: You got the call from Bergeva and you knew it was kind of happening. Right. It was a bit more, let's say, of a normal opposed to you with Calgary playing the day of. Apparently you got traded, then you get traded after the game. Like, it wasn't that big of a mess person. [00:50:14] Speaker B: Yeah, mine was. When I got traded from Montreal, I was in. I was in Italy. I was in Italy and I was at my aunt's. Aunt's house. They didn't know my wife at the time. She was. Started bawling her eyes out, and they didn't know what they thought. Someone died. Um, and, uh, no, it was, uh. Yeah, I got traded to, uh. Yeah, Burr said we traded in Vancouver again. I was like, all right, peace out. Yeah, going. So, yeah, I had to. I had about three days left of my trip, and, um. And then, yeah, and then ended up going to Vancouver when I got home, you know, Italy. [00:50:57] Speaker A: I was actually there for money. My honeymoon this year. And it's. Oh, yeah, nothing better. And I dream about it every day still. Every day. [00:51:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:51:08] Speaker A: Totallla. We mentioned a point that he's at this year. You just. Everybody knows it's a prerecorded. Obviously, we're not live. We're recording on January the second. Okay. Press can attest to that. January 2, 2024. We're recording at 07:56 p.m. given anything changes from between now when this is uploaded, John Tortorella, in my opinion, is the favorite for the Jack Adams this year. At my point. I agree with my analyst Dayton that said that, and Alex, that guy is doing something in Philly. And I know people are easy to point the finger at how torts is, but you had him as a coach in a very good team in New York. Right. It's. Can you shed a little bit of light on how torturella is? Like, you see him on tv and he's like, stupid question. I'm not answering that. You see him on ts seven. He's just so blunt. Right. But I'm assuming that he, he's. He obviously is a good coach, and you probably know a different side of him than other people do. [00:52:04] Speaker B: He. He's a great coach. X's and o's. This guy has a game plan ready. He has every system down to a t, ready, prepared. He has his team prepared on paper every game. So x's and o's, he's a fabulous coach. And then what I loved about him was just like, his honesty. Right? Just like you see him in the media. He doesn't care if you're making 8 million or you're making 1 million. If you're playing the crap, he's going to let you know and he's not going to. I hated those coaches that even if you're top line, were just absolute garbage and been playing like bums for weeks, they don't get in trouble. Right. But, you know, if I kind of sucks that way, if I, if I turn over the puck, I'm pinned to the bench. And, I mean, that's. That's the name of the game. I understand your first top line, they're, they're trying to make more plays or as a fourth liner, you're not supposed to be dangling at the blue line. I understand all that. But if you're just, if you're playing your effort level, right. He didn't care if you're as long as you're. But the effort had to be there. So, um, that's why with Philly, he's got a lot of foot soldiers there, right. So it works with teams like that. Foot soldiers. Remember when he went to Vancouver? He kind of came in after Vignal, who runs a pretty loose ship, I think, you know, pretty relaxed. Let the guys kind of do their thing. Torch isn't like that. So he comes in as a drill sergeant and didn't really fly in Vancouver. They were, they, they didn't like it. Right. They had a little boys club there. They were happy with their, their country club and the way it was going before, so. But you get to Philly, he's got a lot of, he's got, like I saw one of his interviews, his team's got balls. Right. So he's got a team like that. That's all, you know, they're sitting there listening to him and they're like, yep. Okay. So he's got, he's got them rounded up. He's got the perfect type of group for his style of coaching, which is, which is what he needs. And I agree with you, he's probably the front runner right now in the Jack Adams. We'll see how the season finishes out. But yeah, he's got the squad. He's got a, he's got a good group behind him that believes in his coaching style. So. And it's proven he's, he was my favorite coach I ever had him and obviously Dale Hunter and Terry and those are kind of my top three coaches that I really liked. So. Yeah. So I hope he, I hope he wins it and proves all these naysayers wrong. [00:54:30] Speaker A: Well, I know one team that should, should, would welcome him, actually, is what I should say. And it's a team in Canada. That's in Ontario. [00:54:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:39] Speaker A: I think people know what I'm talking about. Who he can. [00:54:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:43] Speaker A: The guys that get the ice time when they should be sitting maybe a little bit more. [00:54:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:47] Speaker A: Oh, that would be welcomed in one. [00:54:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. [00:54:50] Speaker A: Someone a hit. It's a color of the jersey. [00:54:52] Speaker B: But. [00:54:55] Speaker A: Now the Madison Square Garden brawl March 19, 2012 the I watched, I've seen it, rewatched it today before we talked about just give myself rehearsed and a little bit more. Obviously it was you. I'm going to go try to go by memorization on this. Eric Bolton Microp went on it. It was you and Janssen. Cam Jansen actually was on this show before and he briefly talked about it. I thought he'd get into a bit more detail. Obviously, he didn't, and I believe the other one was Ryan Carter and Stu Bickle. Where the other was. Those are the three fights going at rate at center ice, at MSG. Okay. Where there has been so much history in that building. It's a building I haven't had the opportunity of seeing yet. I'd love to see MSG. That's literally a landmark in all of sports. But you're there at center ice against New Jersey. Pete DeBoer was the coach, and obviously Torts was your coach. What's going on? To give the like, I know it could be a long story, but in a brief, how did all that happen? What drills led to it? Everything. [00:56:00] Speaker B: Well, Torts came into the room, and obviously, when you're home ice, the away team, puts their lineup in first, who their starting lineup is. So you get to always match. So Torts gets their starting lineup and sees that they got Bolton, Carter, and Janssen to start. So Torts comes in and he goes, this motherfucker. Are we allowed to swear on here? [00:56:25] Speaker A: This motherfucker? [00:56:27] Speaker B: He's starting his dumbass, his meatheads. He's like, I'm not saying we got to go out there and fight and fight them, but we aren't backing down. We are backing down. This guy's an idiot. We aren't backing down. He goes, presty, rupper and Becko, you're moving up to center from D. You're taking the face off. Bickel is a fenceman, so he goes, you're coming up before. So the whole dress, you remember, is like, oh. Everybody's like, oh. And so we're like, all right, well, he says we don't have the fight, but we're not back down. Like, obviously, we're. We're all going here. So Becko comes up to me and Rupp, or we're kind of talking, and he goes, hey, how do I take a face off? And we're like, stu, don't worry about the face off, but don't worry about that face off. But I think he won. I think he might have won it. I don't know. Remember. But, yeah, we. He was worried about taking the face off. We're like, don't even. Don't even worry about it, bud. Just get the Vaseline on your face. [00:57:34] Speaker A: Go punch the wall a couple. Yeah, go figure it out. And you drew Cam, Janssen was your guy. Was that planned out, too? Did you guys. [00:57:43] Speaker B: Well, I think that they wanted it the other way, but I'd already fight fought bolts that year had already fought bolts, and, like, Jansen was a little more my weight class bolts is a, you know, pretty solid guy. Like, I. So I kind of. They lined up this way, and then I think we switched, and then they switched, and then I switched again, I think, because I was like, no, I'm going Janssen. Like, we were kind of. We had our mind, but I think they wanted it the other way. But we had our minds. We had our minds made up, and we have as home ice, we had last positional change, right? So. So we kind of stuck it out. Carter and Bickle were always going to be that one, but the Janssen one was, I was like, I'm rubbering you. You got bolts, but I'm taking chances. [00:58:35] Speaker A: And you guys went the longest. [00:58:36] Speaker B: You and you, and that was probably mine. And chance is probably, you know, 8th fight together. So we kind of know each other's tendencies, and I know that. And we both can go for a long time. We both. Janssen especially, he's. He's one that he'll fight for three minutes if he had to. So, um, yeah, we're both, uh, we both can go for a long time. So we kind of knew that was going to be coming. [00:59:00] Speaker A: Oh. And it was. It's honestly amazing if you haven't seen it on YouTube. Viewers, listeners, pull over if you're. Whatever it's worth. The watch. That's, that's the old school hockey that I don't recall seeing a line brawl for a while. It could be just completely missing something. Yeah, fights, but something like that. That's. That's gold. That. That video is gold. And good to know the background of it. Right? Knowing that torts was in the room saying, these motherfuckers. Yeah, these guys are gonna know. That's hockey at its finest. That's great. [00:59:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:34] Speaker A: Okay, so, obviously, as I said, time flies. Having fun. There's two other quick points I wanted to get to before we wrap up the show. Obviously, some key things. One thing that's key on this show more. So there's always the draft story we want to get to, and then, of course, your championship win in London, briefly. So the draft story is something that's come big on this show. I would use the bacon quotations. It's something that we incorporated in one of our first segments, and it really clicked off. Everybody wanted to know someone's draft story, if they were drafted, undrafted, how they got their tail to the NHL. If they were undrafted, if they were drafted. What happened that day? And there's been some beauty stories, obviously, knowing about GM's and coaches that people probably have never heard before. And obviously you won the third round to Calgary. I'm sure you had a couple meetings leading up to the draft. I'm sure there's probably a couple teams assuming so, and some coaches and maybe some players you talk to. What is your draft story? Where were you when you got drafted? What happened? What happened leading to it? Did you know it was going to be Calgary? What can you share about your draft story? [01:00:39] Speaker B: Well, I don't know if you realize this. Most people don't, but I was drafted. I was two years older, so I was 20 years old. So Vetchkin is two years younger than me. So all those people drafted were a lot younger than me. So for me to go as high as I did was even very more rare because I was, I was very old. I was older. I started with the Knights late, right? So, and I remember our GM. So it was in Raleigh, North Carolina. And the GM for the London Knights, assistant GM, is, he's a scout with Chicago now, one of the head scouts for Chicago. And he told me, he said, presti, don't think because I, you know, I had two suits, right, one for day one and one for day two. And the night before, we're all out, you know, having drinks at the bar and all having a good time. I'm with my family, my mom, my dad, my sister. And Jim says, presti, you're probably not going to go on the first day. He goes, you're second. You're a second day kind of guy. You know, that fourth round and later. Yeah. And I kind of looked at me goes, if you go in and the first day, I'll do cartwheels down the steps. And so, you know, I'm kind of, they're just, maybe they're just, they're just trying to help me, maybe not get my hopes too high, right? So I literally had two suits and my, I had my a suit and my b suit, right, and my really good suit that I saved for the second freaking day. So I had on my, you know, just my moore's crappy suit on for day one because I was like, well, probably not going to go day one. [01:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:17] Speaker B: And like I said, I was a little older, so I didn't go to, like a lot of the, I didn't go to any of the combine, right. I didn't do any of the physical testing. I didn't have many meetings. It was like the day or two before when I got there that I started getting calls from and I went and did like a workout with a team. I was actually the New York Rangers. I actually thought I was gonna get drafted by the New York Rangers because they had like five or six picks in that first day, something. They had a bunch of picks. So. And I had a really good, I went and worked out with him and had a really good showing and I even had a meeting with him and stuff. But anyway, that's kind of, and then, you know, I end up going to Calgary and their table was right in front kind of where we were sitting in the arena. And Darrell Sutter came up, hopped over the boards and came and sat with my mom and my dad. And we still have the picture of my dad with Daryl Sutter and, and my mom just, you know, telling my dad how they really wanted to get me. And that was their, you know, their big, they weren't, they had two guys that they wanted to get and I was one of them and they were, you know, happy that, happy that they got me. So, yeah, that's kind of my, and then, you know, the next day we were able to leave me and my family and we went to Myrtle beach and did some golfing and, you know, because we were on a little bit of a tour, but thought we were going to be there for day two, but we ended up getting a free day, so. [01:03:40] Speaker A: So we took the good suit then. [01:03:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but I never, I never got to wear the good suit. Yeah, I should have wore it on. [01:03:46] Speaker A: A golf course the next day with your jersey around. No, see that, that's cool. And then actually that point, very good point. You would have because you are got a couple years on Ovechkin, of course there, as you mentioned. So that's true that you draft your would have been. [01:04:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you got that. [01:04:02] Speaker A: I'll say draft, which is so it is rare. That, that, that's another good point. Wish I knew that in my introduction. I would have said Mister Rare man. Maybe that's what I'm going to call you call this episode the Rare man. [01:04:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, so that's how I like my steak too. [01:04:18] Speaker A: Oh, great steak. Bloody delicious. If someone makes a medium rare, I'm in good shape. But yeah, just get all the protein in. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. You win an OHL championship in a mem cup in London. Okay. Stack squads. Okay. I told you a friend of the show, Rob Shrep, was, you know, he was quite the talent in London, of course, yourself, Corey Perry, the Dave Boland and I'm missing names, too. [01:04:45] Speaker B: I'm just going by Dan Girardi. Mark. [01:04:49] Speaker A: Arguably one of the best defensive defensemen I see when he was playing, like, obviously good mark on the Rangers. Right? You guys won not only because of just a good team, you guys. You guys are just great to watch. London always has a good team. And I believe, I don't know if you're still doing work with London, but you did do some stuff with London, correct? [01:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm very good friends with the hunt. Sorry, very good friends with the hunters. So, you know, I was at the game the other night. I would definitely like to take over the training side there. So that's for maybe the next podcast. [01:05:24] Speaker A: If something comes, I'm calling you and getting you back on, so. [01:05:28] Speaker B: But, yeah, I'm just. I'm close with them. We've always been close, ever since I played there. And obviously, being a London guy, I'm around a lot, so. [01:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So you guys win. What's that feeling? You're young adult, obviously, or you're. It's not like you're 1314, but of course you were. You would have been 18 or 19, correct? [01:05:47] Speaker B: 21, yeah, I would have been. I was. I was 20. [01:05:52] Speaker A: I was 2020 years old. [01:05:53] Speaker B: I was 20 years old. Yeah. When we won. So I was overage here. [01:05:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So how you feeling when you win? How does that. [01:06:01] Speaker B: Well, I. Being from London, all right. I grew up going to London ice games at the old London Gardens. You know, the rink before the John Labat center was. Was built. Well, now the Bud Gardens. So I grew up since I was four years old going to the London nights games every Friday. My dad would take me, you know, just. My dad would be in the standing room, and I'd just sit there in my seat and watch. They would go out to the car during intermissions and have beers, and I would just sit there and watch Zamboni go round and round. Right. This is the nineties. This is kind of how it was. So, you know, grew up watching a lot of nights and then finally did kind of play for them. Was a dream come true for me to put on that jersey. Washington. Very cool. And then, you know, that last year I'm with them. My third year, my overage year, we had the best team, you know, ohl team of the century. We were voted, right. We didn't lose a game until 31 games into the season. [01:06:59] Speaker A: Right? [01:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So we. We lost. I mean, we lost seven games all year, but the last two, we lost the last two. So we really only lost five. The last. The last two, we sat everybody, right, right before playoffs, so. And then I think we lost maybe three games in playoffs and Memorial cup, something like that. So. And it was just, you know, being able. I remember. I remember getting the. The cup and, you know, you're going around the rink, right? So. But my family sat down, you know, in this corner, and by the time I was getting the cup, I was kind of down the other end, right. And you're supposed to just kind of go round around. I grabbed that cup and I ran. I just skated right over to where my whole. All my friends and family were. And I just held, like, the cup up and held it right up. Right up. Right up to that, right. Like, ah, so emotional and, uh, just such a good. Kind of just getting some goosebumps and some tears in my eyes right now thinking about it. So, um. Yeah, that's something. I'll always remember holding that up to my. To my family and my friends and, you know, just to my dad. Right. My dad took. Made all those nights, games growing up and to finally hoist the first. Oh cup and the first Memorial cup. It was something. Something I'll never forget. [01:08:16] Speaker A: No, it's those. That's why bringing up those moments. I'm glad you brought up that way with the family. You know, we've heard stories on here where people say what they've done after with the trophy, things that go on after. But that moment on the ice, you have. That probably felt like 20 seconds, but. Or 10 seconds, but really at seconds with it and share with your family and that emotion. I don't know if you have a picture of it, you know, lifting up and screaming, I do. [01:08:42] Speaker B: I do have it. I think it's up. It's up at my parents place. I don't think I have it here. If I do. If I do find it here, I know I. And I think someone even painted a picture for me of. It's the same one. It's just me kind of holding the. It was the Ohl cup, and I'm holding it up. And I know that that's. That's the moment I was holding it up to my. To my. My parents, my family. [01:09:06] Speaker A: You get to go. When you go through that happen, there's a couple things that happened to you there. You realize all the things that happened, that built up to it, the hard work that you put in. But then also, that preps you in a way, too, for the next step. You know, not a lot of people make the NHL or pro hockey even sometimes after the O. But you did have the chance to do that. And I'm sure winning a championship helped your growth as a player more so because you were in the grind, you know, winning a hockey championship. It doesn't matter what league, Stanley cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports. We. We know that. Right. But you having a little bit of experience being in the Ontario Hockey League and going to the men cup, you can transition that success in relation still to the NHL. Yeah, it's a different league. It's a completely different level. But to gain that experience, which I think experience is so imperative to have in hockey, that experience at a young age helps you as a professional, a pro overall when you got up to the NHL level. [01:09:58] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And I think that's helped me throughout my career. I always had pretty good playoffs, you know, even playing with Montreal, playing with New York, I really stepped up my game. And I think it's that experience I gained from. From playing with London Knights in our playoff runs even the year before we lost the semifinals. But we had a really good kind of playoff run. And then going all going, obviously, and winning the cups. It helps you grow so much as a player and a human. Right. Just going through those experiences, it's something that players need to cherish more. Right. You need to know how important that is to try and get as far as you can because it's just going to give you knowledge and experience that's going to carry you and help you in the net in the. In the future. [01:10:50] Speaker A: Brandon, now I'm going to get to the wrap up. It's the saddest part of the show that I call it. You know, it's. You and I have been connecting for the past few months and we were able to get this in and very happy that we did. So before I let you go, bonus, yes or no question. Just because we, you know, took the time today and it's a hot topic here on this podcast. Okay. Obviously you were around when it all started in terms of shootouts in games after the end of a game. So I just need to know, and if you want to get into a reason why, feel free. But if you just want to say yes or no or to choose one, that's totally fine. Shootouts in hockey. Should they stay? Should they go? [01:11:30] Speaker B: I don't mind them. I don't mind them. They're for the fans. We're trying to make it. We're trying to grow the sport. If there's a point up for grabs. It's regular season. May as well. You know, people find it entertaining, and it is pretty entertaining. So why not do it? I mean, they do it in the frickin World cup for soccer. Like they. If you're gonna be. If you're gonna complain, that'd be something to complain about. Doing a. Doing it to win a stand to win a cup. Like, I would never say that in hockey to do a shootout. But during the regular season, there's an extra point up for grabs. Why not? Yeah, fans love it. [01:12:13] Speaker A: Especially when someone like Merrick Malik comes down and does a through the legs on Olaf Coles. [01:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [01:12:20] Speaker A: Now, obviously, as we recorded the first game of the women's professional league already happened. And they had a rule that they enforced that once you're on a power play, if you get a shorthanded goal, the guy, the person comes out of the box. Now, it's something that I will talk about by the time this is uploaded, already have been uploaded. But I'm going to bring up that point in a future pod, future podcast episode, and I like it. I don't think it's popular. Maybe it wouldn't be popular with the men's, don't get me wrong, but got to say, credit to that league starting, but that one rule, for some reason pressed, it stands out to me. That goal guy comes out of the box. [01:12:55] Speaker B: I like it. I like it, too. I mean, why not change it up? Why not make it interesting? You just got scored. You just got scored on and your power plays over. Just a double, just a double dagger. Just, just shove it right in there. It's give it a little twist. [01:13:15] Speaker A: Dodgeball the switcheroo. Just like off the movie dodgeball. [01:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. [01:13:21] Speaker A: Awesome. Okay, Brandon, so I'm going to give you the floor to wrap up. I usually, I was going to have you say, say a quote of the day, but I'm not gonna put you on the spot for that. If you feel like putting a quote of the day, feel free. But I want you to remind listeners, I want you to remind listeners of where they can follow the BP eight, the your gym, where it's located, what you're kind of doing, if you want to excuse the floor, thank anybody for it, what you're doing now type thing. Then we'll close out the show. So the floor is yours to kind of get. Most of you, Jim. [01:13:50] Speaker B: Well, yeah, and thanks again for, you know, talking about it. It's definitely something that I've always dreamed about and wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do this after my career, but basically help that younger generation reach their full potential. And I did a lot of great things to. I did a lot of things right and I did a lot of things wrong. Right. So with that, we gained knowledge and I think it's our duty kind of as. As parents, as coaches, as teachers to pass down that knowledge to the younger generation. And that's kind of what I'm. What I'm doing and what I. What I hope to continue to do and help. Help these kids out. Help some junior players out, maybe some NHL guys. I would love to just get them good and strong. Like I said, it's a gym, but it's also a lot more than that. Right. This gym has a good family, you know, family vibe in there. It's a big family community and everybody's, you know, it's a lot of fun working in there and especially working with all these teams. I've been working with lots of hockey teams and there's nothing more that, you know, I don't think there's anything that makes me smile more than these kids in my gym. And they make me laugh and, you know, they make it all worthwhile watching them kind of have fun and continuing to get better as players and as humans love that. [01:15:19] Speaker A: See that. That's also a part. I'll use that as a quote. It's good to that. That's good that sent him out, but that's also very good to see. It's rewarding for you. Right? That's what part of it is. Now I got to say that when I'm in London, I do travel up if I ever have to shoot you a message. Because I think what I'm going to have to do is put on a GoPro or put on something. You gotta put me through the ringer. [01:15:40] Speaker B: Okay, I'm down. [01:15:44] Speaker A: You might need to have a garbage bend nearby. It's been quite some time, but it'd be quite. I think it'd be funny footage to have myself good put through the ringer in a workout that you could put me through. I'd love to do that. I'll have to. [01:15:59] Speaker B: You could even try jump into one of our classes. So we do classes every day, right? So you can jump in. I'll do the workout with you. Me and you were walking out together. [01:16:07] Speaker A: I like that. I like that. You know what? And I'll. I'll get a leaf jersey and put your name on the back even though you never played for Toronto. Because I think that's something that I played a couple. [01:16:17] Speaker B: I played a couple exhibition games with the leaf, so that. A couple good, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think. I think I was number 82, but I had a good fight with Chris Neal when I. We were playing. [01:16:27] Speaker A: Right, you did. [01:16:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Not a good one with him. So I got some. I got some leaf in me. [01:16:33] Speaker A: So if you have 82, I'm gonna get that shirt pressed. [01:16:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:37] Speaker A: And I'm gonna bring it. And I'm gonna bring you a shirt for this podcast, and we're gonna do a video workout and you're gonna have me vomit three times. So it's gonna be worth it because I love it. Awesome. So give that a follow on, of course, Instagram and social media. And if you're in the London area or surrounding area or whatever it may be, if you want to reach out to Brandon, reach out to them. Or if you need to get in touch them, you can get in touch with me and I will provide the email. Of course. [01:17:03] Speaker B: It's. It's B. BP eight ca is the website. BP eight ca. [01:17:09] Speaker A: Perfect. Now, definitely do something below in the description for you to click and access as well. And maybe there'll be some more bigger news in Brandon Prest's training career, but we'll save that for another podcast. So, Brandon, before I get to the closure, I want to say thank you very much for taking the time. Obviously, we did plan for 45 minutes, but the known thing on this show is we go always a little extra. I appreciate you taking the time and sharing all your, your stories, your history, getting into the real life talk. Right. Mental health side of things and the gym. And it's great to see what you're doing, giving back. You played such a great career, you know, obviously, it's good to see what you're doing now afterwards and what you're contributing back to those that are in need of it. You know, someone with the guidance from a psychology perspective, too. I love that. You know, I definitely would like to, you know, even hear any stories about that in a future episode that hopefully we can have soon. But I want to say thank you for taking the time. Been a few months of planning, but it was worth it when it all got put together. [01:18:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for. Thanks for having me. [01:18:07] Speaker A: Of course. This has been the game Sports podcast. David McCake has been hosting you throughout this entirety of the episode. I was joined by Brandon Prest, of course. And I want to say thank you to you, the listeners of the game sports podcast. Without you, the show wouldn't be what it is today. Make sure you hit like fall and subscribe, Instagram, Facebook, tick tock. Yes, we're on tick tock now. We're more active on Tick Tock, so make sure you follow that for all the fun clips that we will be sharing for the game sports podcast. And definitely if you want to log into YouTube or if you're not able to log into YouTube right now, make sure you hit like subscribe on Spotify and Apple. But when you have the opportunity to go on YouTube, check out the 91 n YouTube channel, newer channel, a new program that we obviously are part of the platform sports. There's mental health podcasts on there, too. There's lifestyle and agriculture podcasts, variety of podcast content on there for you to enjoy. And of course, the game sports podcast is up front there with the sports category, so make sure you check that out. If and if you're interested in doing a podcast, you can email 91 network ssmil.com or if you're currently doing one and you want some guidance, you can reach out to the crew at 91 NDE. Getting to our conclusion, I would like to remind you to keep your stick on the ice, ring your bats, catch touchdowns, drain your threes and shoot your shots. Booyah.