WEBVTT 00:00:00.659 --> 00:00:03.080 Hello, hello. Welcome to the Hockey on the Beach 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:05.879 podcast. It's Dariya Marinova. We are getting 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:09.070 close to the NHL's new season. Many exciting 00:00:09.070 --> 00:00:12.449 things are coming. Two outdoor games in Florida 00:00:12.449 --> 00:00:16.109 State. Detroit Red Wings will honor Sergey Fedorov. 00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:20.050 Potentially last seasons for Alex Ovechkin and 00:00:20.050 --> 00:00:23.390 Gino Malkin. It's going to be fun. Our first 00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:25.850 of the season episode in Russian was focused 00:00:25.850 --> 00:00:29.170 on the KHL news and exclusive Sergey Fedorov's 00:00:29.170 --> 00:00:32.350 interview. Now it's time to bring it on for our 00:00:32.350 --> 00:00:35.329 English -speaking audience. I had a chance to 00:00:35.329 --> 00:00:37.890 meet the Tampa Bay Lightning radio broadcaster 00:00:37.890 --> 00:00:41.509 Dave Mishkin, talk about his Blind Squirrel book, 00:00:41.649 --> 00:00:44.090 which is available online and at local stores, 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:48.009 some hockey, and of course Nikita Kucherov. Enjoy 00:00:48.009 --> 00:00:50.810 the conversation and don't forget to join the 00:00:50.810 --> 00:00:53.750 Hockey on the Beach podcast every week for KHL, 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:56.850 NHL, and international hockey news. Thank you. 00:00:56.909 --> 00:01:00.030 Hello, Dave. Thank you for your time and joining 00:01:00.030 --> 00:01:04.209 me. Of course, Daria. the hottest news out there 00:01:04.209 --> 00:01:08.250 is the stadium series logo how do you like it 00:01:08.250 --> 00:01:10.549 i like it i mean i'm not really an artist so 00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:13.969 i'm amazed at anything people can draw but they 00:01:13.969 --> 00:01:16.709 seem to kind of encapsulate everything that you 00:01:16.709 --> 00:01:19.709 want encapsulated for an outdoor game in tampa 00:01:19.709 --> 00:01:21.569 they've got the you know the boat they've got 00:01:21.569 --> 00:01:24.890 kind of like the treasure map background they've 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:28.209 got the location it was it was definitely appropriate 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.069 and again i'm amazed at these people who can 00:01:31.629 --> 00:01:34.109 who can design and draw that sort of stuff. Do 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:37.010 you have in mind if you're going to wear, say 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:40.150 something special, or dress up for the game? 00:01:40.349 --> 00:01:43.769 Well, I usually dress the same for games. Even 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:45.730 though I'm on radio, I tend to wear, you know, 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:48.549 coat and tie. Now, this is not my first outdoor 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:50.269 game because the Lightning played an outdoor 00:01:50.269 --> 00:01:57.129 game in Nashville back in 2022. And I'm trying 00:01:57.129 --> 00:02:00.609 to remember. It was actually like it was... chilly 00:02:00.609 --> 00:02:03.129 like it which was good you know they were maybe 00:02:03.129 --> 00:02:05.170 a little worried like what would the ice be like 00:02:05.170 --> 00:02:07.109 that was a stadium series game too I think it 00:02:07.109 --> 00:02:11.090 was an early February 2022 and uh or mid February 00:02:11.090 --> 00:02:15.689 2022 and the weather was chilly so it was it 00:02:15.689 --> 00:02:17.990 was appropriate that I had not just the coat 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:20.590 and tie but an overcoat as well I'm not sure 00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:24.030 if I'm gonna need an overcoat for you know early 00:02:24.030 --> 00:02:27.169 February in Tampa but I will probably just dress 00:02:27.169 --> 00:02:30.650 as I usually do What about something about pirates 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:34.849 like making voices? I don't know. Yeah, that 00:02:34.849 --> 00:02:37.590 would be fun. Maybe I should reconsider. I don't 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:40.349 know. I have no pirate wardrobe stuff, though. 00:02:40.389 --> 00:02:42.610 So I should probably ask some people who have 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:46.810 done the Gasparilla parade if they have any hand 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.550 -me -downs and wear those. It would be hard to 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:51.830 fit a headset, though, over a big pirate hat, 00:02:51.969 --> 00:02:57.000 I think. Also in the news. Your book, Blind Squirrel, 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.599 because of the cute title. And then, I mean, 00:03:00.620 --> 00:03:04.159 it looks cute too. I assumed it was baby's book, 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:07.080 kid's book, but it's not. I mean, it's up to 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.180 every parent. I would not recommend this for 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:12.520 you, like a young child. But, you know, by the 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:17.400 time a kid hits maybe 10, 11, 12, it's really 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.080 up to the parent. And so I recommend that the 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:22.099 parent read the book first as you did. And you 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:24.379 said, no, I may wait a year or two. Other parents 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:26.919 may feel a little differently, but it's definitely 00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:30.400 not. So it's not, you know, juvenile fiction. 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:34.520 I've read some YA books though, that would make 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.879 blind squirrel blush. So, I mean, we have to 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:41.680 understand that, you know, kids are reading material 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.340 that, you know, their parents would be like, 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:48.569 what? i think that what makes blind squirrel 00:03:48.569 --> 00:03:51.129 a little different is is not that there's anything 00:03:51.129 --> 00:03:54.069 like sensational in there but it just it deals 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:56.969 with with some themes that you know typically 00:03:56.969 --> 00:04:00.289 adults are thinking about and maybe not kids 00:04:00.289 --> 00:04:05.550 you know like trauma recovery um you know the 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:10.139 complexity of relationships sometimes um you 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:12.319 know my protagonist noah is is going through 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.099 real life stuff and you know for for some parents 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:17.180 of kids they're like i don't want my kids having 00:04:17.180 --> 00:04:18.899 to worry about this yet they'll have plenty of 00:04:18.899 --> 00:04:21.800 time for that but uh but i know that you got 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.000 the book and you read it and enjoyed it so i'm 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.620 very appreciative uh for for everybody who was 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.709 taking the time to to get it and not just get 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:32.189 it, but read it. And so many people have given 00:04:32.189 --> 00:04:34.110 me positive feedback that they really enjoyed 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:36.529 the story. And that was really what I was going 00:04:36.529 --> 00:04:39.370 for when I wrote it, to try and put something 00:04:39.370 --> 00:04:41.610 out there that people could feel they could connect 00:04:41.610 --> 00:04:45.089 with. Yeah. And while I was reading it, I had 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:47.870 questions, but you did a great job providing 00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:51.389 many details at the end of the book. So for people 00:04:51.389 --> 00:04:54.310 who do not know anything about it, let's explore 00:04:54.310 --> 00:04:57.569 a little bit. Why did you decide to write a book? 00:04:58.329 --> 00:05:01.589 Yeah, so I had the idea for a story arc, and 00:05:01.589 --> 00:05:04.029 the story arc that I had the idea for in the 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:06.430 late 2000s is, in fact, the story arc that's 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:09.250 in the book, which is a minor league hockey player. 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:12.509 He's had a very successful career, but he's silently 00:05:12.509 --> 00:05:15.490 struggling with his mental health. He suffers 00:05:15.490 --> 00:05:17.829 a childhood trauma. His parents die in a car 00:05:17.829 --> 00:05:20.870 accident when he's 12, and he's kind of buried 00:05:20.870 --> 00:05:23.629 this within him. So he's not really leading his 00:05:23.629 --> 00:05:26.110 best life. Then he sustains an injury and is 00:05:26.110 --> 00:05:28.110 forced to retire. And it's at that point that 00:05:28.110 --> 00:05:30.129 he's able to begin the healing process. And the 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:31.610 guy at the end of the book is in a much better 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:33.230 place than the guy at the beginning of the book. 00:05:33.490 --> 00:05:36.629 So that was the story arc and the idea that I 00:05:36.629 --> 00:05:40.550 had to write a novel. But it took me a while. 00:05:40.810 --> 00:05:43.589 I got started and stopped. I wasn't happy with 00:05:43.589 --> 00:05:45.230 what I had produced. I kind of put it away and 00:05:45.230 --> 00:05:47.410 didn't think about it. And I went back to it 00:05:47.410 --> 00:05:51.730 in 2022. And the story came together for me kind 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:54.720 of. between the years and then i was able to 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:58.079 to write it during the summer of 2022 and uh 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:02.459 the editing process kind of took about a year 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:05.379 maybe a little bit more than a year um it's a 00:06:05.379 --> 00:06:06.899 lengthy process which i didn't know anything 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:09.959 about when i when i started writing but i got 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.600 an education in that and uh and we published 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:17.500 the novel in in the spring of 2024. um but yeah 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:20.360 so like there is hockey in it but it's not really 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:24.310 a hockey book It is a book that has sports in 00:06:24.310 --> 00:06:27.569 it, but it's not a sports book. And, you know, 00:06:27.569 --> 00:06:29.550 I wanted to write a novel that was accessible 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:32.110 for people who enjoyed hockey like yourself, 00:06:32.310 --> 00:06:36.170 enjoy sports, but also people who maybe don't 00:06:36.170 --> 00:06:38.189 really get too excited about sports, but are 00:06:38.189 --> 00:06:41.230 interested in kind of a character driven story 00:06:41.230 --> 00:06:46.529 with a feel good message. Yeah, because you also 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:49.110 explained some hockey stuff in the book. And 00:06:49.110 --> 00:06:51.470 I was like, oh, that's for people who don't really 00:06:51.470 --> 00:06:53.629 care about hockey. Now they know. Yeah, that 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:57.029 was tricky. So you attended an author talk that 00:06:57.029 --> 00:07:00.410 I had last week. And what I explained to the 00:07:00.410 --> 00:07:03.250 group was, in some ways, the hockey was some 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:06.889 of the hardest to write. look if i had written 00:07:06.889 --> 00:07:09.889 a book exclusively for people who were really 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:11.649 knowledgeable about hockey it would have been 00:07:11.649 --> 00:07:14.149 different but as i said i wanted to write something 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:17.470 that was accessible to people who don't know 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:19.810 as much about hockey or anything at all so i 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:23.790 had to i had to give some basic information so 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:26.449 that i could utilize my expertise right like 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:28.930 i'm gonna write a novel with hockey and i might 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:31.389 as well you know write what i know and put in 00:07:31.389 --> 00:07:35.100 some stuff that's that's higher level but I had 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:37.079 to educate people so they could understand the 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:38.759 higher level stuff, but I didn't want to make 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.920 it a boring hockey 101 book. So I had to integrate 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:48.060 bits and pieces to introduce terms, basic rules, 00:07:48.379 --> 00:07:52.040 kind of the idea of, you know, what's happening 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:57.459 in a play leading up to kind of the point where. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:00.439 kind of the game is happening and the reader 00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:02.379 is in the middle of it and you're on the ice 00:08:02.379 --> 00:08:03.819 or you're in the locker room and all this stuff 00:08:03.819 --> 00:08:06.459 is happening and you know every sport has its 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:10.639 own language and you know people who are well 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:12.660 versed in hockey or in baseball or in football 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.600 can speak that language fluently people who are 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.980 not well versed don't really know the language 00:08:18.980 --> 00:08:21.220 like they can describe what they're seeing but 00:08:21.220 --> 00:08:24.660 they're not maybe using the right words so that 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.779 is part of it too so that I'm able to write a 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:31.500 novel utilizing proper hockey terminology, almost 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:34.500 shorthand, right? But getting people educated 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.700 to the point that they were able to follow along, 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:39.360 even if when they started the book, they didn't 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:41.159 really know much about hockey at all. So for 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:42.600 people like yourself who are like, all right, 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:44.679 I know all of this, but you could recognize, 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:47.360 okay, I understand that Dave is kind of setting 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.809 the table here. to explain maybe for people who 00:08:50.809 --> 00:08:52.929 don't know and set the stage for what's going 00:08:52.929 --> 00:08:54.990 to be happening later. So like Noah's the center, 00:08:55.070 --> 00:08:58.690 right? So he's got his two wingers. They are 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:01.769 aligned. Like that's a really important component 00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:05.850 to kind of what they do on the ice. People who 00:09:05.850 --> 00:09:07.230 don't know anything about hockey are like, well, 00:09:07.250 --> 00:09:11.809 what's aligned? I didn't realize that the same 00:09:11.809 --> 00:09:15.340 three players tend to go out together. You know, 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.740 every time they are called to go out on the ice, 00:09:17.820 --> 00:09:19.620 other people just, you know, played until they 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.299 stopped and, you know, got to the bench or I 00:09:22.299 --> 00:09:23.860 didn't even know that I didn't know there were 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:25.580 different positions. What there are three forwards 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:27.600 and two defensemen on the ice. That's how they 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.879 can comprise like who's on the ice at a certain 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.759 time. And the chemistry that Noah builds with 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:35.620 his line mates, particularly, you know, his protege, 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.840 who's a 20 year old rookie that he kind of takes 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:42.000 under his wing, who's immensely talented, but 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.620 raw. Like that relationship is a really important 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:49.299 part of the novel, but it's, it's deepened by 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:51.539 the fact that they are line mates, right? So 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:53.879 they're on the ice together and they have to 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:57.259 understand what each other is doing. So just 00:09:57.259 --> 00:09:59.759 like jumping in. Yeah. Jumping in and just being 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:02.360 like, well, and he's Russian, Yulia Kuznetsov, 00:10:02.419 --> 00:10:04.460 you know, like Yulia Kuznetsov and Noah Nicholson, 00:10:04.460 --> 00:10:06.440 like play together and they're line mates. And 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:08.549 like. People who don't know anything about hockey 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:09.690 are like, well, I don't know what this means. 00:10:10.210 --> 00:10:13.210 So I had to give some basic information. Like, 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:16.370 oh, okay, you know, a line is comprised of three 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:18.590 forwards. And, like, Noah arrives at practice, 00:10:18.629 --> 00:10:21.830 and his coach tells him, we got this new prospect 00:10:21.830 --> 00:10:25.509 in. I'm putting him on your line. So now we have 00:10:25.509 --> 00:10:28.309 a dialogue to kind of explain in a storytelling 00:10:28.309 --> 00:10:31.009 way, kind of like, okay, this is what's happening 00:10:31.009 --> 00:10:34.190 here. And that was challenging, honestly, Daria, 00:10:34.250 --> 00:10:39.159 because, like, The knowledge I have, not all 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:41.039 of it needed to go into the novel. So I'd write 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.820 a bunch and then take a lot out because I didn't 00:10:43.820 --> 00:10:45.539 need it in there, right? I just needed enough 00:10:45.539 --> 00:10:48.580 to advance the story and kind of advance the 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:53.240 theme of what I was trying to say. We say writing, 00:10:53.379 --> 00:10:57.940 but did you actually write or type? Yeah, I didn't 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:00.639 actually handwrite. When I tried it the first 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:02.940 time, I actually did handwrite in a notebook, 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:06.659 but I had so many scribbles and changes, it just 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:11.200 turned into a mess. So what I did was I did a 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:14.740 lot of thinking first. And I explained that, 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.639 that, you know, I kind of needed to think about 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.080 the story before I sat down to type it. Yes, 00:11:19.139 --> 00:11:21.679 that's the right way of putting it. And when 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:25.940 I sat down to actually compose the text. Uh, 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:28.220 I wouldn't say that it was just like lickety 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:32.200 split kind of how I, how I crafted sentences 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:35.360 and how I kind of built scenes that took a little 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:38.480 time. And there was some, some starts and stops 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:41.740 and like editing as I was writing it too. But 00:11:41.740 --> 00:11:43.700 for the most part, I kind of knew what was going 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:46.980 to be happening. So it became easier to get it 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:49.879 on the screen as opposed to just kind of making 00:11:49.879 --> 00:11:52.120 it up as I was going along. I had already done 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:54.799 a lot of that. thinking about it ahead of time 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:58.500 let's talk about Ilya Kuznetsov you already introduced 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:03.360 so who is that guy you've met a lot of Russian 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:07.220 players and I feel like he's a mix he's not just 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:11.940 one guy that you knew so I never so I mean really 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:15.080 I spent 11 years in the minors and eight years 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.940 in Hershey where the novel is is set at least 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:20.179 the hockey part is set there I don't know that 00:12:20.179 --> 00:12:22.139 anyone ever came through Hershey who was exactly 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:27.700 like Ilya Kuznetsov, but kind of what he encompasses 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:32.360 is just like a joy of playing and a little bit 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:34.919 of a recklessness to him because he's like a 00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:38.820 little kid, right? And there's a theme throughout 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:42.159 the book too of like, Noah is not really crazy 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.100 about little kids because for reasons unrelated 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:48.370 to the hockey part of it, but just like, He kind 00:12:48.370 --> 00:12:50.549 of likes to keep his life in order and little 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:53.610 kids cause disruption. At the same time, he really 00:12:53.610 --> 00:12:56.169 is kind of a mentor or parent figure to a lot 00:12:56.169 --> 00:12:58.789 of people in the book, including Kuznetsov. So 00:12:58.789 --> 00:13:00.409 the guy I created that would kind of connect 00:13:00.409 --> 00:13:03.490 with Noah and Noah would connect with him, they 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:05.990 kind of have this almost like mentor -mentee 00:13:05.990 --> 00:13:09.629 relationship. So I have certainly seen immensely 00:13:09.629 --> 00:13:13.690 talented younger players that have a great enthusiasm 00:13:13.690 --> 00:13:17.440 for the game, but needed to learn. what they 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.860 could get away with and what they couldn't once 00:13:19.860 --> 00:13:23.100 they hit the pro game. Because players who are 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:26.519 the best at their level when they're 16, 17, 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:29.580 and 18 can basically do whatever they want. Once 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:32.559 they hit the pro game, some stuff they can get 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:35.879 away with, some stuff they can't. So that's part 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:38.799 of Kuznetsov's journey too. He just is like, 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.309 I can do whatever I want because I'm me. noah's 00:13:43.309 --> 00:13:46.450 like okay some of it you can do sometimes you 00:13:46.450 --> 00:13:49.289 can't and that's part of learning to be a pro 00:13:49.289 --> 00:13:54.730 um but he is one of the characters that i felt 00:13:54.730 --> 00:13:57.029 i just got to know really well thinking about 00:13:57.029 --> 00:14:00.009 him and and he's one of them but like when i 00:14:00.009 --> 00:14:01.870 said i didn't just sit down and start typing 00:14:01.870 --> 00:14:04.570 i spent a lot of time kind of thinking about 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:06.230 the story and as i was thinking about the story 00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:09.090 i spent a lot of time with the characters and 00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:10.809 thinking about them and kind of what made them 00:14:10.809 --> 00:14:16.440 tick and There are Russians that I have met that 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.960 have followed a similar path that Kuznetsov followed, 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.799 which is they came to North America as teenagers. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.720 They didn't speak a word of English. They got 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:27.480 stuck with some billet family, and they kind 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:31.019 of just learned. And some Russians kind of hit 00:14:31.019 --> 00:14:34.379 the pro level, and they hardly speak it. They 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:36.899 need another Russian on the team to communicate. 00:14:37.379 --> 00:14:41.220 Others are almost completely fluent. Sergeyev 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.960 is a great example of that. Now, he was at the 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:49.759 NHL level, but he got to the OHL and in a couple 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.580 of years basically taught himself English. He's 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:56.639 a pretty bright guy. Anyway, but when I met him 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.419 as a 19 -year -old, I mean, he spoke English 00:15:01.419 --> 00:15:04.139 fluently. There was just a touch of an accent 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:08.740 there, but that was it. So what Kuznetsov was 00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:10.600 able to do, like Noah meets him, he's like, your 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:12.659 English is really, really good. Like that I've 00:15:12.659 --> 00:15:16.100 experienced. I've seen young Russians come to, 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:19.480 and it's quite a daunting step. You know, like 00:15:19.480 --> 00:15:22.019 leave your home, leave your family, leave your 00:15:22.019 --> 00:15:25.000 friends, leave where you're comfortable, go to 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.519 the strange place, strange people, different 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:32.820 rink, rink smaller, different language, and excel. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:36.120 is really remarkable. And I've seen that. So 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.940 I was, I knew that that was authentic, that there 00:15:38.940 --> 00:15:42.059 are players like Kuznetsov who did that. Um, 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:46.679 and also like, I don't know if there's a stereotype 00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:51.740 of like the Ivan Drago, you know, kind of like, 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:56.120 Ooh, serious, you know, but like, I've met plenty 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:58.039 of Russians who were just like, happy go lucky. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:02.120 fun loving great sense of humor and because netsoft's 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.639 like that too like he's just so like effervescent 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:08.659 and happy and you know he's got a he looks young 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:12.360 i gave him like baby face right like which is 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:14.519 a point in the book that you know he gets teased 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:17.259 for a little bit but he looks young he acts young 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:19.659 but he's got this immense talent but he's also 00:16:19.659 --> 00:16:23.600 got a joy to him that comes through with his 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:25.840 playing and also in terms of how he interacts 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:29.129 with the people around him He also has a crazy 00:16:29.129 --> 00:16:33.710 diet. Yeah, so that is something else. So he 00:16:33.710 --> 00:16:35.929 arrives as a pro player and basically he eats 00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:38.629 fast food because that's what he's exposed to. 00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:41.009 And also, I think that's changed a little bit, 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:43.909 Daria. Like the junior players now are so much 00:16:43.909 --> 00:16:46.809 more aware of everything. They watch their diet. 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:48.850 They go through training regimen and all that. 00:16:49.549 --> 00:16:51.750 when this novel is taking place it's kind of 00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:54.309 like the late 90s early 2000s it was not uncommon 00:16:54.309 --> 00:16:57.110 for junior players they just kind of again it 00:16:57.110 --> 00:16:58.570 was kind of like how they played they just did 00:16:58.570 --> 00:17:01.669 what they did right they wanted a you know fast 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:03.950 food meal they just went and got fast food for 00:17:03.950 --> 00:17:06.269 because net's off his billet family eats fast 00:17:06.269 --> 00:17:08.910 food so that's what he eats he likes fast food 00:17:08.910 --> 00:17:12.650 and noah's like you're a pro now like you need 00:17:12.650 --> 00:17:16.849 to learn your diet is really important to being 00:17:16.849 --> 00:17:19.130 a pro and kind of, it's not that he's going on 00:17:19.130 --> 00:17:21.849 a diet, but he changes like, you know, eat vegetables, 00:17:21.970 --> 00:17:25.130 right? Like have a salad, you know, avoid the 00:17:25.130 --> 00:17:29.349 fried food, no fast food. And it'll help you 00:17:29.349 --> 00:17:32.130 become a better athlete and a better pro. And 00:17:32.130 --> 00:17:34.809 so he learns that too. But again, that was not 00:17:34.809 --> 00:17:37.990 uncommon. Like I saw players kind of reach the 00:17:37.990 --> 00:17:40.589 pro game and, you know, they're, they're going 00:17:40.589 --> 00:17:44.089 to get basically cheap food because they weren't 00:17:44.089 --> 00:17:47.009 earning money. They were getting a stipend and 00:17:47.009 --> 00:17:48.930 they were just getting food and it didn't matter. 00:17:49.069 --> 00:17:51.730 It didn't affect their performance. Pro game's 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:54.890 a different game. And now even more so. Most 00:17:54.890 --> 00:17:59.230 players, I think, are on if they aren't on super 00:17:59.230 --> 00:18:06.529 crazy really regimented eating routines, at the 00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:08.950 very least they are aware of what they should 00:18:08.950 --> 00:18:11.029 put in their body and what they shouldn't. The 00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:14.980 usage of professional team's names right yeah 00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:20.880 bears are okay but we also have this tiger sharks 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.440 san francisco tiger sharks and i actually questioned 00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:29.119 myself i was like what is there like that yeah 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.700 and i didn't i didn't reference that at the end 00:18:31.700 --> 00:18:33.640 of the book i i put some stuff in the author 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.970 notes which wasn't i don't have a long segment 00:18:36.970 --> 00:18:38.769 on the author notes but I put some stuff in there 00:18:38.769 --> 00:18:41.250 thanking some people but I gave the explanation 00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:45.390 at our talk so what I learned was so the first 00:18:45.390 --> 00:18:47.930 draft basically I just put regular team names 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:50.710 in because I didn't know any different and what 00:18:50.710 --> 00:18:55.170 I learned was that in some instances I needed 00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:58.029 to get the team's permission to use the name 00:18:58.029 --> 00:19:01.549 because all these team names are copyrighted 00:19:01.549 --> 00:19:06.630 like they're protected so the difference would 00:19:06.630 --> 00:19:11.029 be like if some event happened that is like basic 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:15.269 knowledge like the new york yankees won the world 00:19:15.269 --> 00:19:18.509 series in this one year you can have a scene 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:21.670 in your book where like people are watching the 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:24.230 yankee like the yankees exist right it's okay 00:19:24.230 --> 00:19:27.069 to mention the yankees and particularly if you're 00:19:27.069 --> 00:19:30.289 using them in a factual way it's like it's a 00:19:30.289 --> 00:19:33.069 made -up story but like within the made -up story 00:19:33.630 --> 00:19:35.609 You're referencing something that actually happened, 00:19:35.690 --> 00:19:38.549 like the Yankees won the World Series in 1977. 00:19:40.029 --> 00:19:43.869 You're fine. That's totally acceptable. But if 00:19:43.869 --> 00:19:46.450 you're creating a player who's playing on a team, 00:19:46.789 --> 00:19:51.869 that is a little trickier. So I wanted to keep 00:19:51.869 --> 00:19:55.069 the name Hershey Bears. So I actually went through 00:19:55.069 --> 00:19:57.289 their organization, and their legal department 00:19:57.289 --> 00:20:00.170 gave me permission, basically, to use their name. 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:03.240 But I have all these other names, right? So I 00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:05.059 was like, all right, let me just kind of come 00:20:05.059 --> 00:20:08.099 up with an adjacent name just to protect myself. 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:10.940 And probably would have been fine, Daria. I mean, 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:13.920 well, you mentioned the San Francisco Tiger Sharks. 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.220 Obviously, the San Jose Sharks are close. So 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.339 I kind of modeled this team after them. People 00:20:19.339 --> 00:20:21.380 were like, so they were the affiliate of Hershey. 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:23.500 People were like, why would a team in California 00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:27.460 affiliate with a team in Pennsylvania? So in 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:31.460 like the late 90s, early 2000s. Hershey was actually 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:34.720 affiliated with Colorado, which is not on the 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:37.880 West Coast, but it's not close. Like Hershey 00:20:37.880 --> 00:20:41.160 to Colorado is not drivable unless you're going 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:43.920 to take a couple of days. But there were teams 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.700 like the California teams didn't have affiliates 00:20:46.700 --> 00:20:50.299 in California or close like they do now. So, 00:20:50.299 --> 00:20:53.759 you know, during my time in the AHL, the Sharks 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:58.509 were in Kentucky. They were in Worcester. Massachusetts. 00:20:58.509 --> 00:21:01.529 So it was not uncommon. At one point, the LA 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:04.349 Kings were in Manchester, New Hampshire. I mean, 00:21:04.349 --> 00:21:06.309 that's a long distance. So it was totally fine 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:10.069 to put an affiliate all the way across the country. 00:21:10.569 --> 00:21:12.690 And I wanted the affiliate to be far away to 00:21:12.690 --> 00:21:14.970 give it separation. So Hershey was kind of its 00:21:14.970 --> 00:21:18.890 own entity. Also, Kuznetsov arrives, his flight's 00:21:18.890 --> 00:21:21.210 delayed. It just made it easier to put the... 00:21:21.390 --> 00:21:25.069 the NHL affiliate far away but so could have 00:21:25.069 --> 00:21:27.690 I used San Jose Sharks I probably could have 00:21:27.690 --> 00:21:32.029 but I didn't want to kind of kick the hornet's 00:21:32.029 --> 00:21:35.069 nest so people like you would be like wait a 00:21:35.069 --> 00:21:36.890 minute what's going on here but most people just 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:41.190 like they blow right by it and it wasn't it wasn't 00:21:41.190 --> 00:21:44.029 a something that they commented to me about now 00:21:44.029 --> 00:21:47.150 I did use NHL and AHL and was kind of given advice 00:21:47.150 --> 00:21:49.769 that that's fine to use that because those are 00:21:50.380 --> 00:21:53.539 people understand that they are the nhl is the 00:21:53.539 --> 00:21:57.319 the major league the ahl is the top minor league 00:21:57.319 --> 00:22:00.259 it's okay to to mention them but all the other 00:22:00.259 --> 00:22:04.019 team names besides hershey bears for hockey i 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:07.460 made up now we know now you know yes you have 00:22:07.460 --> 00:22:11.019 a service dog stella we can see her picture behind 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:14.140 you yeah It's actually not her, but it is one 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:16.420 of her breed. Yeah, my wife got me that for Christmas, 00:22:16.460 --> 00:22:19.339 so we got the picture frame. Stella looks like 00:22:19.339 --> 00:22:22.039 that. Stella looks like that. Yeah, so your book 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:25.599 and your community service, do they go together? 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:28.039 Because I feel like you have some sort of special 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:31.759 mission outside of your work to save the world, 00:22:31.859 --> 00:22:34.359 make it better. Yeah, you're making me out to 00:22:34.359 --> 00:22:37.240 be a much better person than I really am. I think 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:40.319 the common denominator here is that it's really 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:44.130 the lightning. So I have a full -time job as 00:22:44.130 --> 00:22:46.190 a play -by -play broadcaster, and it's not just 00:22:46.190 --> 00:22:50.730 doing the games. I do other stuff as well with 00:22:50.730 --> 00:22:52.789 the Lightning, for the Lightning. I'm responsible 00:22:52.789 --> 00:22:55.750 to make sure I can call the games as well as 00:22:55.750 --> 00:22:59.109 I can, showing up to the practices, et cetera, 00:22:59.170 --> 00:23:02.650 et cetera, going on road trips. I write for the 00:23:02.650 --> 00:23:07.210 website, not fiction. I write a postgame after 00:23:07.210 --> 00:23:11.309 every game. I try and do kind of a... column 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:14.589 overview of the lightning or the league every 00:23:14.589 --> 00:23:18.990 few weeks um but i'm not expected to kind of 00:23:18.990 --> 00:23:23.630 come in every day and punch a clock so i don't 00:23:23.630 --> 00:23:26.369 know how many broadcasters do but what the lightning 00:23:26.369 --> 00:23:29.470 have been great at for me and now i've been with 00:23:29.470 --> 00:23:34.450 them for over 20 years is kind of giving me the 00:23:34.450 --> 00:23:38.109 flexibility to pursue things that are important 00:23:38.109 --> 00:23:41.539 to me So, I mean, the novel I kind of did on 00:23:41.539 --> 00:23:43.920 my own time during the summer, which, you know, 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:47.579 was kind of really off season. But they were 00:23:47.579 --> 00:23:50.019 great in helping me promote the book, which was, 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:55.220 you know, a huge boost to me. And, you know, 00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:57.779 they were fine in linking me with the mental 00:23:57.779 --> 00:24:01.420 health organization, right? Tampa Bay Thrives 00:24:01.420 --> 00:24:03.579 I partnered with for the novel. That kind of 00:24:03.579 --> 00:24:08.000 came through the lightning. But they also were 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:11.319 totally fine when I got Stella, who's always 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:14.220 been a big animal family. But we got her right 00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:16.240 at the beginning of COVID. And within a couple 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.700 of days, I recognized she would be great at therapy. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.900 So everything was kind of shut down. I mean, 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:27.299 clearly, during the spring and summer of 2020, 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:29.539 everything was shut down. But as we got into 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:33.359 the fall and then 2021, things started opening 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:35.319 up. And I was like, I'd really like to get her 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.930 certified. as a therapy dog and the lightning 00:24:38.930 --> 00:24:41.569 helped set me up at tampa general you know we 00:24:41.569 --> 00:24:43.890 have contacts there because the two organizations 00:24:43.890 --> 00:24:47.750 work together um and so it's really that the 00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:49.950 lightning have given me the flexibility to pursue 00:24:49.950 --> 00:24:52.150 things that are important to me or that i want 00:24:52.150 --> 00:24:54.470 to do so i wanted to write a novel they were 00:24:54.470 --> 00:24:59.490 like great i wanted to do this with you know 00:24:59.490 --> 00:25:01.910 a dog that that we got that i thought would be 00:25:01.910 --> 00:25:05.240 really good at it she likes it i like it clearly 00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.480 you know we're having an impact on more her than 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.160 me but the people that that she meets when she 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.359 goes in there and that's very rewarding but you 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.019 know like i could go to the riverwalk when they 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:20.059 have an event and pick up garbage i'm fine with 00:25:20.059 --> 00:25:22.420 that like the lightning have events like that 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:25.220 where the staff gets involved but they are very 00:25:25.220 --> 00:25:27.180 much about outreach so when i went to them and 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:28.859 said you know i'd really like to do this they 00:25:29.339 --> 00:25:31.720 totally gave me their blessing and helped me 00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:35.640 kind of get going on it. So it's really about 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:37.779 stuff that I want to do and having an employer 00:25:37.779 --> 00:25:40.119 that gives me the freedom to do those things. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.900 Because I'm not expected to, you know, be in 00:25:43.900 --> 00:25:47.039 at 9 a .m. every day and, you know, stay until 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.680 5 and later when there are games. Minor leagues, 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:51.480 it's different. You know, in the minors, I was 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:54.960 working Monday through Friday, full days, plus 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:58.900 games, weekends. Because the staffs are smaller 00:25:58.900 --> 00:26:03.059 at the NHL level. My job is to basically be a 00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:05.079 broadcaster. And anything else the Lightning 00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:08.380 asks me to do. But it's not like I need to go 00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:13.299 in and kind of put in time in the office. So 00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:15.900 that frees me up to do other things. Yeah, we're 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:18.240 going to go into that. I know you graduated from 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:21.599 Yale. That sounds fancy. Yeah, it's pretty fancy. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:25.460 Is that when you decided that you want to be 00:26:25.460 --> 00:26:28.559 a broadcaster? Yeah, so I chose the non -fancy 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:32.759 profession. A lot of my classmates who went on 00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:35.819 to graduate school, law school, medical school. 00:26:36.380 --> 00:26:39.259 But yeah, I was in college and I started doing 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:43.759 college radio and loved it. So Yale's hockey 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:48.119 team is Division I. They were not very good when 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:51.339 I was there. They got good after I... i left 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:53.420 a few years after i left i actually won the national 00:26:53.420 --> 00:26:58.440 championship in 2013. um so even though the team 00:26:58.440 --> 00:27:00.740 that they fielded during my four years there 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:05.099 wasn't one of the top teams in their conference 00:27:05.099 --> 00:27:09.460 they were still playing division one so a lot 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:12.809 of the teams that they played had players that 00:27:12.809 --> 00:27:14.789 would go on to play pro, go on to play in the 00:27:14.789 --> 00:27:17.910 NHL. So the caliber of play was very, very high. 00:27:18.069 --> 00:27:19.730 It was really the highest that you would see 00:27:19.730 --> 00:27:23.190 at the college hockey level. So I got a lot of 00:27:23.190 --> 00:27:25.990 experience. I did all the sports, but I did a 00:27:25.990 --> 00:27:28.710 lot of hockey, particularly my junior and senior 00:27:28.710 --> 00:27:30.430 years, and I figured that there would be less 00:27:30.430 --> 00:27:34.210 competition for hockey broadcasting jobs than 00:27:34.210 --> 00:27:37.069 some other sports. And also I knew that hockey 00:27:37.069 --> 00:27:39.390 was a sport that had a minor league system, and 00:27:39.390 --> 00:27:41.539 all these minor league teams would have like 00:27:41.539 --> 00:27:43.240 they would have openings for broadcasters at 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:44.839 least they would have broadcasters i didn't know 00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:47.680 if they'd have openings as opposed to like football 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:49.759 and basketball is a little different like there's 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.119 not really a minor league system for those sports 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:54.839 it's more that like you almost have to be in 00:27:54.839 --> 00:27:56.640 the right place at the right time or do college 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:00.559 like you get hired as a college broadcaster baseball 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.220 and hockey do have the minor league system but 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:05.680 i figured there'd be more competition for baseball 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:08.339 jobs and frankly i had more experience doing 00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:12.920 hockey than than baseball because you know i 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:15.200 just didn't do as many baseball games as i did 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:19.440 hockey uh when i was at yale so it did it's not 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:22.440 a it's not a um technical school it's not a vocational 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.319 school it's a liberal arts university is one 00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:28.799 of the best schools in the world but i actually 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:31.380 got kind of in addition to the liberal arts education 00:28:31.380 --> 00:28:34.480 which i got you know i actually built a skill 00:28:35.219 --> 00:28:37.180 through my extracurricular work that was able 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:39.819 to land me a job right out of school in the minors. 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:45.140 Yeah, you graduated. What's next? Yeah, so I 00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:48.619 got a job in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which had 00:28:48.619 --> 00:28:52.119 a team in the ECHL, which still exists. The Johnstown 00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:54.519 team is no longer in the ECHL. They're now a 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:59.319 junior. They basically have a junior team. But 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:01.920 look, they had an opening. They brought me in. 00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:05.579 I was two steps below the NHL. which that mattered 00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:07.599 less to me. It was more that I had a chance to 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:10.039 do something that I love to do. And probably 00:29:10.039 --> 00:29:12.880 in my last couple of years in college, I'd done 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:17.180 maybe a total of 50 to 55 games. You know, the 00:29:17.180 --> 00:29:19.140 schedule is not as intense. I wasn't able to 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:22.640 go to every game. When you're working for a team, 00:29:22.779 --> 00:29:24.500 it's completely different. So that first year 00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:28.140 in Johnstown, I think I did close to 78 or 79 00:29:28.140 --> 00:29:30.859 games, including playoffs. Just think about the 00:29:30.859 --> 00:29:33.059 experience you're getting in the reps. It's like, 00:29:33.259 --> 00:29:37.240 play right i mean the more you do it the better 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:41.079 you get at it right so that's transformational 00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:43.559 like once you get the job with the team and you're 00:29:43.559 --> 00:29:46.720 doing all these games not only are you working 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:49.640 on your craft you're also kind of building a 00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:52.240 reputation you get to be known within the circle 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.440 of kind of the hockey world um and as people 00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:00.279 who you work with move up they know who you are 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:03.539 right and that's kind of how it happened for 00:30:03.539 --> 00:30:06.500 me particularly from Hershey to Tampa because 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:09.299 Jay Feaster was our GM and Hershey hired me and 00:30:09.299 --> 00:30:11.759 Hershey when the when the lightning job opened 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:13.440 he was the general manager with the lightning 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:15.700 and and was obviously instrumental in helping 00:30:15.700 --> 00:30:19.819 me you know get the job but that's like that's 00:30:19.819 --> 00:30:22.680 that's just real world stuff like I mean it's 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:25.259 not who you know like wink wink nod nod but who 00:30:25.259 --> 00:30:27.099 you know matters because they can kind of vouch 00:30:27.099 --> 00:30:31.400 for you they can speak for you and you know that's 00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:36.299 that's usually needed on some level i mean sometimes 00:30:36.299 --> 00:30:38.380 yes you can just apply for a job particularly 00:30:38.380 --> 00:30:41.079 if it's kind of like a performance job where 00:30:41.079 --> 00:30:43.859 you're sending in a demo or you know you're you're 00:30:43.859 --> 00:30:47.900 sending in a video um of your work as you know 00:30:47.900 --> 00:30:51.079 an actor a singer or whatever but it definitely 00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:54.950 helps If somebody can kind of vouch for you and 00:30:54.950 --> 00:30:57.609 say, I know this person, I know their work ethic, 00:30:57.809 --> 00:31:00.529 I know they show up on time, I know they're team 00:31:00.529 --> 00:31:03.789 first. All these things are important in addition 00:31:03.789 --> 00:31:08.289 to the actual work on air. But yeah, so I started 00:31:08.289 --> 00:31:10.490 in Johnstown. I was there for three years and 00:31:10.490 --> 00:31:13.269 then I got the job in Hershey, which was and 00:31:13.269 --> 00:31:15.769 still is one step below the NHL. And I was there 00:31:15.769 --> 00:31:18.589 for eight. So in 11 years, I probably called 00:31:18.589 --> 00:31:21.819 close to a thousand games in the minors. So I 00:31:21.819 --> 00:31:25.220 had a lot of experience that I was able to gain 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:28.519 and a lot of reps so that when I got the NHL 00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:32.140 job, I don't know that if I knew, yes, I'm ready. 00:31:32.859 --> 00:31:35.130 Because you never know if you're ready. But it 00:31:35.130 --> 00:31:37.190 was almost like if I'm not ready now, I'm not 00:31:37.190 --> 00:31:39.170 sure I'm ever going to be ready after a thousand 00:31:39.170 --> 00:31:42.769 games. And you are very technical at your job. 00:31:42.789 --> 00:31:46.430 You follow the puck. Yet you get very loud and 00:31:46.430 --> 00:31:49.029 emotional in a good way. Almost right away, those 00:31:49.029 --> 00:31:51.609 were two elements that I wanted to incorporate. 00:31:51.869 --> 00:31:54.869 I mean, it didn't sound then like I do now as, 00:31:54.970 --> 00:31:58.250 you know, 18, 19 year old. I voiced that probably 00:31:58.250 --> 00:31:59.789 sounded a little different. It was probably a 00:31:59.789 --> 00:32:02.009 little bit more pipsqueaky when I got excited. 00:32:02.619 --> 00:32:05.839 I made the choice to follow the puck more than 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:08.539 less on radio. I felt that that was something 00:32:08.539 --> 00:32:12.220 that I wanted to hear if I were listening. There's 00:32:12.220 --> 00:32:14.599 nothing wrong with leaving the puck, and some 00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:17.900 announcers do that, where they throw in a little 00:32:17.900 --> 00:32:21.200 narrative. They give background, or they set 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:25.240 the scene, or whatever. I made the choice from... 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:27.220 from almost the get -go that I wanted to stay 00:32:27.220 --> 00:32:29.359 on the puck or the ball or whatever. I mean, 00:32:29.380 --> 00:32:31.859 it's the same no matter what sport it is and 00:32:31.859 --> 00:32:35.519 be as uber descriptive as I could because the 00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:39.539 audience member can't see what's happening on 00:32:39.539 --> 00:32:43.539 radio. And I always liked announcers for teams 00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:47.180 who got excited when something good happened 00:32:47.180 --> 00:32:49.160 for that team because I was cheering for that 00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:52.259 team. And I wanted to incorporate that. So again, 00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:54.200 I probably don't sound quite the same way as 00:32:54.200 --> 00:32:55.779 I did when I started. I probably don't sound, 00:32:55.819 --> 00:32:58.359 I know I don't sound quite the same way I did 00:32:58.359 --> 00:33:00.900 when I even got the job with the Lightning. I 00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:02.960 listened to some of the calls I had in the 0 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:07.480 -4 playoff run. And my pitch is a little different 00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:11.880 than it was for the later cup runs and wins. 00:33:13.500 --> 00:33:15.220 Not that one is any better than the other. I 00:33:15.220 --> 00:33:18.910 think that's just... You age, your voice matures 00:33:18.910 --> 00:33:21.930 maybe a little bit even more from my 30s to my 00:33:21.930 --> 00:33:26.329 late 40s and 50s. But those are two components 00:33:26.329 --> 00:33:29.470 that I kind of started with from the get -go 00:33:29.470 --> 00:33:32.829 and haven't abandoned them. Do you miss hockey? 00:33:35.289 --> 00:33:38.650 I like the season when the season is going on. 00:33:38.730 --> 00:33:41.589 I enjoy doing the games. I enjoy the rhythm of 00:33:41.589 --> 00:33:48.250 the season. So I have two big breaks or shifts 00:33:48.250 --> 00:33:52.029 in my life every six months. One is going from 00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:54.049 in -season to off -season. One's going from off 00:33:54.049 --> 00:33:56.750 -season to in -season. Because things slow down 00:33:56.750 --> 00:33:59.549 a lot during the off -season. And so when I'm 00:33:59.549 --> 00:34:00.990 in -season, I'm like, boy, what am I going to 00:34:00.990 --> 00:34:02.970 do during the off -season? It's not every summer 00:34:02.970 --> 00:34:05.230 that I have a novel to write. And then when I'm 00:34:05.230 --> 00:34:07.430 in off -season, I'm kind of like, I kind of need 00:34:07.430 --> 00:34:11.010 to get going again once the season starts. And 00:34:11.010 --> 00:34:13.789 I recognize that the pace is going to pick up. 00:34:14.010 --> 00:34:18.489 But it's never as much of an abrupt change as 00:34:18.489 --> 00:34:21.050 I think. Once we get into off -season, I do find 00:34:21.050 --> 00:34:24.809 stuff that I'm doing and filling time, taking 00:34:24.809 --> 00:34:29.309 the dog to TGH. I have more opportunity to do 00:34:29.309 --> 00:34:31.130 that. I have different projects that I'm working 00:34:31.130 --> 00:34:33.949 on last summer and this summer to some extent, 00:34:34.070 --> 00:34:37.690 promoting the book and doing events. So yeah, 00:34:37.750 --> 00:34:39.929 my time does get filled. There's more downtime. 00:34:40.130 --> 00:34:43.960 I would agree with that. But I don't know that 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:45.860 you asked about missing the hockey. I'm not sure 00:34:45.860 --> 00:34:49.199 that I miss the hockey because I like to think 00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:51.500 that my life is full enough that I've got other 00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:53.900 stuff going on. But I definitely enjoy it when 00:34:53.900 --> 00:34:56.260 the season is happening. And I enjoy, you know, 00:34:56.260 --> 00:34:59.880 doing a job that I love. And as I said, kind 00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:02.340 of being in the rhythm of the day -to -day kind 00:35:02.340 --> 00:35:06.659 of ups and downs of a season, an 82 -game season. 00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:09.360 Yeah, but this upcoming season is going to be 00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:12.519 very different. The Olympics break. What are 00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:16.300 you going to do? Well, we've had those before. 00:35:18.739 --> 00:35:21.639 So, and I'm going back a few years, but I remember 00:35:21.639 --> 00:35:23.619 the Olympic break in 06. I remember the Olympic 00:35:23.619 --> 00:35:26.320 break in 2010. I remember the Olympic break in 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:29.920 2014. And then, you know, the NHL players didn't 00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:32.639 go in 2018. They were supposed to go in 22, but 00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:35.420 they switched gears because we had a lot of outbreaks 00:35:35.420 --> 00:35:40.010 due to COVID variants. teams had games to make 00:35:40.010 --> 00:35:42.230 up so they ended up not going but we had a break 00:35:42.230 --> 00:35:45.590 last year for the four nations um so i don't 00:35:45.590 --> 00:35:48.349 know i mean it's it's a lengthy break i mean 00:35:48.349 --> 00:35:52.449 it's like three weeks um so greg linelli and 00:35:52.449 --> 00:35:56.289 i do a show monday through friday 12 to 1 um 00:35:56.289 --> 00:35:59.190 that's something else i enjoyed during the season 00:35:59.190 --> 00:36:01.889 we actually kept going on a weekly basis after 00:36:01.889 --> 00:36:04.079 the lightning were eliminated all the way into 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:06.260 the beginning of july so i mean we we stayed 00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:09.139 pretty consistent with that so i'm guessing we're 00:36:09.139 --> 00:36:10.800 probably not going to do all three weeks but 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:13.519 we'll do we'll do some in the beginning of the 00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:15.320 break and some near the end of the break i would 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:18.719 guess um and then i don't know i'm not i'm not 00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:20.719 entirely certain you know like it'd be nice to 00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:22.500 say my wife and i would just go take a vacation 00:36:22.500 --> 00:36:26.739 but you know she has a job so what's that write 00:36:26.739 --> 00:36:28.840 another book yeah well i don't know if i can 00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:33.530 crank one out in two two three weeks um But it's 00:36:33.530 --> 00:36:35.110 kind of like the offseason. I'm sure I'll find 00:36:35.110 --> 00:36:37.969 ways to fill my time. But you're right. It is 00:36:37.969 --> 00:36:42.610 going to be interesting because the players that 00:36:42.610 --> 00:36:47.630 don't go, that's a significant layoff. And what 00:36:47.630 --> 00:36:50.349 kind of condition, it's not even the condition, 00:36:50.469 --> 00:36:52.750 but it's like the game shape, right? Coming back, 00:36:52.869 --> 00:36:54.829 are they going to be able to kind of pick up 00:36:54.829 --> 00:36:56.829 right where they left off? And then for the players 00:36:56.829 --> 00:37:01.210 who do end up going, it's in Italy. Like, it's 00:37:01.210 --> 00:37:05.150 not in Boston and Montreal, like the four nations, 00:37:05.369 --> 00:37:08.050 where it's a fairly easy, you know, commute. 00:37:08.369 --> 00:37:11.710 So I'll be interested to see kind of how the 00:37:11.710 --> 00:37:13.650 players handle whether they're playing in the 00:37:13.650 --> 00:37:16.750 Olympics or not. Are you disappointed that Russia 00:37:16.750 --> 00:37:20.269 does not have a team? Well, you know, I'm used 00:37:20.269 --> 00:37:22.869 to it by now. It's been three years. If you look 00:37:22.869 --> 00:37:24.989 at the names, it would be an incredible team. 00:37:25.250 --> 00:37:27.369 Well, for the Lightning, Kucherov and Vasilevsky 00:37:27.369 --> 00:37:31.280 will definitely get a nice break. And I'm sure 00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:33.079 there'll be, well, Kucherov will probably be 00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:35.000 working hard every day. That's what I wanted 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:37.199 to say. I don't think Nikita Kucherov wants a 00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:40.420 break because he works nonstop. Yes, he does. 00:37:40.659 --> 00:37:42.880 So I don't think he will be excited about the 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.099 break. And my last one. Yes. How do you take 00:37:46.099 --> 00:37:49.380 care of your muscles, your voice muscles? I should 00:37:49.380 --> 00:37:52.480 probably do more than what I do, which is not 00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:55.900 much. I probably... have been told many times 00:37:55.900 --> 00:37:59.219 i need to drink more water than i drink i don't 00:37:59.219 --> 00:38:02.079 well i don't know i i drink coffee that's probably 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:04.820 not the best for vocal cords even though i like 00:38:04.820 --> 00:38:09.380 it so here's what i will say i get noisy but 00:38:09.380 --> 00:38:11.280 i'm not getting noisy throughout a whole game 00:38:11.280 --> 00:38:14.139 i'm not like a fan screaming if they're screaming 00:38:14.139 --> 00:38:17.440 the whole game most of the time i'm kind of talking 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.909 at this level and i do get a break you know with 00:38:21.909 --> 00:38:23.969 the intermissions and stuff like that so the 00:38:23.969 --> 00:38:27.570 the points that i'm really elevating are you 00:38:27.570 --> 00:38:30.769 know you could probably count on if not you know 00:38:30.769 --> 00:38:34.849 one hand two hands so and then i gotta then i 00:38:34.849 --> 00:38:37.269 gotta break right it's not like i'm doing five 00:38:37.269 --> 00:38:41.070 games in a day so i do remember the five overtime 00:38:41.070 --> 00:38:45.150 game in 2020 the first game in the bubble the 00:38:45.150 --> 00:38:47.289 lightning played in the playoffs against columbus 00:38:47.289 --> 00:38:50.809 and that was that was a challenge but again Like 00:38:50.809 --> 00:38:52.829 I'm elevating usually when there's something 00:38:52.829 --> 00:38:55.730 like a near a goal. Clearly there wasn't one 00:38:55.730 --> 00:38:58.690 for almost, you know, five periods or like a 00:38:58.690 --> 00:39:00.250 dangerous chance. And even there weren't a lot 00:39:00.250 --> 00:39:02.309 of like once you got into deep, deep into that 00:39:02.309 --> 00:39:04.769 game with first overtime, second overtime, third 00:39:04.769 --> 00:39:06.289 overtime, there just were not a lot of scoring 00:39:06.289 --> 00:39:09.510 chances. So it was more just the repetition of 00:39:09.510 --> 00:39:12.010 talking at this level. But knock on wood, I haven't 00:39:12.010 --> 00:39:14.730 had any I haven't had any voice issues. Do you 00:39:14.730 --> 00:39:19.190 have advice for the young guys, girls? who are 00:39:19.190 --> 00:39:21.769 about to graduate and looking for a career in 00:39:21.769 --> 00:39:23.989 broadcasting. You kind of have to be flexible. 00:39:24.809 --> 00:39:27.010 When I graduated college, you know, there was 00:39:27.010 --> 00:39:31.210 no social media component where, you know, people 00:39:31.210 --> 00:39:33.530 have to put together reels now, I think. It kind 00:39:33.530 --> 00:39:37.409 of comes with the territory. But I always have 00:39:37.409 --> 00:39:41.030 believed that the best way to get better at something 00:39:41.030 --> 00:39:44.889 like this is to do it. So however you can get 00:39:44.889 --> 00:39:47.929 reps, do it. If you had a chance to do it in 00:39:47.929 --> 00:39:52.869 school, great. If you are graduating and you 00:39:52.869 --> 00:39:55.010 don't actually get that first job like I did 00:39:55.010 --> 00:39:58.050 where you're getting the 70 plus games, find 00:39:58.050 --> 00:40:01.670 a way to practice because you won't get worse. 00:40:02.170 --> 00:40:05.650 I mean, you will invariably, the more reps you 00:40:05.650 --> 00:40:09.829 get, the more seasoned you become at it. And 00:40:09.829 --> 00:40:12.110 so that would be the one piece of advice. And 00:40:12.110 --> 00:40:15.809 then the rest is a lot of just... It's kind of 00:40:15.809 --> 00:40:17.389 like throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall, 00:40:17.570 --> 00:40:19.989 right? The stars kind of need to align for you. 00:40:20.590 --> 00:40:23.150 But you have to put yourself in a position so 00:40:23.150 --> 00:40:25.530 that you can look up and see that the stars are 00:40:25.530 --> 00:40:29.289 aligned. So, you know, get your reps and try 00:40:29.289 --> 00:40:31.170 and put together the best demo that you can. 00:40:32.170 --> 00:40:34.750 And don't worry about spreading yourself too 00:40:34.750 --> 00:40:39.630 thin. Like, you have to kind of blanket the entire 00:40:39.630 --> 00:40:41.869 region, whatever the region is. If it's, you 00:40:41.869 --> 00:40:44.360 know, you want to stay in... you know, your time 00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:46.300 zone, you want to stay in the United States or, 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:47.659 you know, you want to stay in North America, 00:40:47.820 --> 00:40:52.139 whatever it is, like try and leave no stone unturned. 00:40:52.139 --> 00:40:54.079 Cause you never know where that first job is 00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:58.059 going to come. That was beautiful. Thank you. 00:40:58.179 --> 00:41:02.360 Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for listening 00:41:02.360 --> 00:41:04.300 to the hockey on the beach podcast.