[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_138":-5,"_139":-5,"_140":141,"_142":143,"_144":145},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":18,"_19":20,"_21":-5,"_22":23,"_24":25,"_26":27,"_28":29,"_30":31,"_32":33,"_34":35,"_36":37,"_38":39,"_40":41,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":-5,"_45":46,"_47":-5,"_48":49,"_50":51,"_52":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/2583/accept-hard-truths","id",2583,"title","Accept hard truths","subtitle","Brad’s #1 piece of advice","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000\nI would always say that you have to take truth and honesty.\n\n2\n00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.000\nYou need it and you have to take it the best way possible.\n\n3\n00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.000\nA lot of truth and honesty was told to me over the years and I wish\n\n4\n00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000\nwhen I was younger I would have handled it better.\n\n5\n00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.000\nAs I got older I realized if you can't handle the truth or can't accept the\n\n6\n00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:16.000\ntruth\n\n7\n00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.000\nand what you're doing and how you're performing,\n\n8\n00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.000\nyou're just not going to get better because you'll find excuses,\n\n9\n00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.000\nyou'll find ways to ignore it or not me, it's someone else.\n\n10\n00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.000\nOnce you look yourself in the mirror and accept being told the truth all the\n\n11\n00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:31.000\ntime\n\n12\n00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.000\nyou'll get better all the time.\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",3184000,"end_time",3217139,"keywords","truth, honesty","slug","accept-hard-truths","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","nNYWhy9EdeglSa26Eznfd02QphEsLQC00m012K9VvdXv01g","mux_asset_id","E025eMsrxKvfiJrlNrddZDgWDts900LblhkUMYXX7c1hQ","leader_id",4,"episode_id",151,"updated_at","2025-02-26T20:12:42.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/2583/accept-hard-truths","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":37,"_102":103,"_104":105,"_106":107,"_26":108,"_109":110,"_63":111,"_60":111,"_112":113,"_70":114,"_40":115,"_116":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":-5,"_117":118,"_90":119,"_45":120,"_121":122,"_123":124,"_47":-5,"_125":126,"_127":128,"_94":129,"_52":-5},"episode",{"_13":39,"_15":53,"_28":54,"_17":55,"_56":57,"_19":58,"_21":59,"_60":61,"_62":-5,"_63":61,"_64":-5,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":-5,"_70":-5,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":-5,"_36":37,"_40":76,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":-5,"_77":78,"_79":80,"_81":82,"_83":84,"_85":-5,"_86":-5,"_87":88,"_89":-5,"_90":-5,"_47":-5,"_91":92,"_93":-5,"_94":-5,"_52":-5},"og_image_media","Trust the work you’ve put in","trust-the-work-youve-put-in","Learn how to trust your hard work and be ready for the big, pressure-packed moments. Hear a hard reality you have to accept if you want to improve. Plus, what REALLY happens when hockey players get a whole day to themselves with the Stanley Cup!","summary","

Today’s guest is Brad Richards, two-time Stanley Cup champion and MVP of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.

In the world of hockey, he is also Mister Clutch! He has a perfect 8-0 record in Game Seven play—something NO other hockey player in history can claim. He also set a record for the most game-winning goals in a single playoff season.

In his career, Brad consistently came through in clutch situations. That’s a quality EVERY leader needs, whether you’re on the ice or in the office.

When you listen to this conversation, you’re going to see why. Brad is an even-keeled guy who knows how to put his head down and work hard.

And all that effort and preparation gives him confidence that he’s ready to step up and deliver in big moments.

You may not be skating out on the ice with a Stanley Cup on the line … but if you lead, you’re going to face high-pressure situations.

Listen to this conversation and learn how to walk into them with confidence, because you know how to trust the hard work you’ve put in.

You’ll also learn:

The key to keeping your competitive drive in check
The surprising thing every great hockey team had in common (which actually had nothing to do with hockey)
An inspiring story that shows what effective mentorship looks like
The hard reality you need to accept if you want to truly improve

Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources:

The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go

Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day

Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.440\nWelcome to Howl Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I\n\n2\n00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:07.940\ninterview\n\n3\n00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:10.080\nsome of the very best leaders in the world.\n\n4\n00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.650\nI break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have\n\n5\n00:00:13.650 --> 00:00:14.280\nsomething\n\n6\n00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:18.000\nsimple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.\n\n7\n00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.080\nThat's what this podcast is all about.\n\n8\n00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:24.390\nWell, the Stanley Cup Finals just wrapped up, which makes this the perfect time\n\n9\n00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:24.920\nto talk\n\n10\n00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:26.600\nto Brad Richards.\n\n11\n00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:32.290\nHe's a two-time winner of the Stanley Cup and the MVP of the 2004 Stanley Cup\n\n12\n00:00:32.290 --> 00:00:33.120\nFinals.\n\n13\n00:00:33.120 --> 00:00:37.480\nAnd I got to tell you, in the world of hockey, he is Mr. Klutch.\n\n14\n00:00:37.480 --> 00:00:42.710\nHe has a perfect 8-0 record in game 7 play, which is something no other hockey\n\n15\n00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:43.640\nplayer has\n\n16\n00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.480\never done in the history of the game.\n\n17\n00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:50.710\nAnd get this, he set a record for the most game-winning goals in a single\n\n18\n00:00:50.710 --> 00:00:52.000\nplayoff season,\n\n19\n00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.640\nscoring seven of them.\n\n20\n00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:57.820\nBrad consistently knows how to perform in Klutch situations, which is the\n\n21\n00:00:57.820 --> 00:00:59.000\nquality every leader\n\n22\n00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.480\nneeds, whether you're on the ice or in the office.\n\n23\n00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:06.000\nAnd when you listen to this conversation, you're going to see why.\n\n24\n00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.160\nBrad's an even-killed guy, and he knows how to put his head down and work hard.\n\n25\n00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:15.330\nAnd all that effort and preparation gives him the confidence that he's ready to\n\n26\n00:01:15.330 --> 00:01:15.680\nstep\n\n27\n00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.320\nup and deliver in the big moments.\n\n28\n00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:22.100\nNow look, you may not be skating out on the ice with the Stanley Cup on the\n\n29\n00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:22.640\nline, but I\n\n30\n00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:27.710\ncan guarantee you, if you lead, you're going to face high-pressure situations\n\n31\n00:01:27.710 --> 00:01:28.360\nwhere you\n\n32\n00:01:28.360 --> 00:01:31.480\ngot to come to the game and give it your best.\n\n33\n00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:35.680\nListen to this conversation and learn how to walk into situations like this\n\n34\n00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:36.760\nwith confidence,\n\n35\n00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:40.360\nbecause you know how to trust the hard work that you've put in.\n\n36\n00:01:40.360 --> 00:01:49.450\nSo here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Brad\n\n37\n00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:51.160\nRichards.\n\n38\n00:01:51.160 --> 00:01:53.160\nBrad, it's great to have you on the show.\n\n39\n00:01:53.160 --> 00:01:55.000\nIt's a pleasure being here.\n\n40\n00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.560\nTell us something about playing in the Stanley Cup.\n\n41\n00:01:57.560 --> 00:01:59.960\nYou would only know if you played in it.\n\n42\n00:01:59.960 --> 00:02:03.160\nObviously, it's a dream when you get there.\n\n43\n00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:08.220\nYou don't realize, I think the first time you don't realize how big it is for\n\n44\n00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:09.160\nthe media,\n\n45\n00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:14.360\nthe media day, all the other stuff you have to do for the national TV, all the\n\n46\n00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:14.480\nlittle\n\n47\n00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:15.480\nphoto shoots.\n\n48\n00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:19.330\nYou just want to play hockey, but obviously you're at the mercy of the league\n\n49\n00:02:19.330 --> 00:02:19.800\nand TV,\n\n50\n00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.630\nand there's like a day and a half, somewhat like the Super Bowl, obviously ours\n\n51\n00:02:23.630 --> 00:02:24.040\nisn't\n\n52\n00:02:24.040 --> 00:02:27.220\nas big as the Super Bowl, the media day and all that stuff, which I never\n\n53\n00:02:27.220 --> 00:02:27.840\ndreamed of\n\n54\n00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:28.840\nas a kid.\n\n55\n00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.520\nI thought, okay, we're here, when do we get to play?\n\n56\n00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.560\nBut you have to wait two or three days to do all that stuff.\n\n57\n00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:38.840\nBy the end of it, you're like a cage dog trying to get out there, and I just\n\n58\n00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:39.320\nwant to\n\n59\n00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:40.320\nplay the game.\n\n60\n00:02:40.320 --> 00:02:43.080\nI think that was the biggest eye-opener.\n\n61\n00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:46.600\nIt's bigger than just you wanting to go out and skate.\n\n62\n00:02:46.600 --> 00:02:51.930\nSo there's a lot of fun to adjust to that, and as you get older, you learn to\n\n63\n00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:52.560\ndeal with\n\n64\n00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.520\nit and it rolls off the back.\n\n65\n00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.540\nSo you say you're like a caged animal when you're ready to get into those\n\n66\n00:02:58.540 --> 00:02:59.240\nfinals, and\n\n67\n00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.760\nI can see you being that way.\n\n68\n00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:08.310\nTell us a story from your first experience in HL Finals in 2004 that you love\n\n69\n00:03:08.310 --> 00:03:09.040\nto tell.\n\n70\n00:03:09.040 --> 00:03:12.380\nOur final that year, we lost the first game, it's a best of seven, and we just\n\n71\n00:03:12.380 --> 00:03:13.080\nkept sharing\n\n72\n00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:14.080\ngames.\n\n73\n00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.230\nBasically, we knew we had to win two in a row or we weren't going to win, and\n\n74\n00:03:17.230 --> 00:03:17.800\nwe lost on\n\n75\n00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:21.900\nhome ice and overtime in game five, and our coach had a great command, and it\n\n76\n00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:22.440\nwas really\n\n77\n00:03:22.440 --> 00:03:26.060\na tough loss because we had to fly six hours to Calgary and play them two\n\n78\n00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:27.040\nnights later,\n\n79\n00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:30.040\nand they're going to have all of Canada waiting for them to win the cup and\n\n80\n00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:30.760\nback against the\n\n81\n00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:33.680\nwall, and we were pretty down after that game.\n\n82\n00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.120\nHe had a great speech.\n\n83\n00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:39.140\nHe basically said, we're going out there, we're going to have our family's\n\n84\n00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:39.600\ngoing to\n\n85\n00:03:39.600 --> 00:03:42.790\ncome, we're coming back here, we're going to get everybody set up, we're going\n\n86\n00:03:42.790 --> 00:03:43.200\nto have\n\n87\n00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:46.880\nhotels for our family back here in game seven, and you just started talking\n\n88\n00:03:46.880 --> 00:03:47.360\nlike we are coming\n\n89\n00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:52.280\nback for game seven, and there was no what-ifs, and by the end of the meeting,\n\n90\n00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:52.920\nwe were all\n\n91\n00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:55.810\nlike, okay, we better call our families and get them booked for game seven, but\n\n92\n00:03:55.810 --> 00:03:56.280\nwe haven't\n\n93\n00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:57.520\neven played game six yet.\n\n94\n00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:03.310\nIt was a great speech, kind of get our minds off the tough loss, and looking at\n\n95\n00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:03.600\nwhat a\n\n96\n00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:06.790\ngreat opportunity we have to win game six and come back and home ice, and we\n\n97\n00:04:06.790 --> 00:04:07.240\nended up\n\n98\n00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:11.080\ndoing that and double overtime and come back and home ice and warn it in front\n\n99\n00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:11.600\nof our family\n\n100\n00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:12.600\nand friends.\n\n101\n00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:13.600\nI love that.\n\n102\n00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:14.800\nGet your families and friends ready.\n\n103\n00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.360\nWe're coming back, booked the tickets.\n\n104\n00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:17.360\nI love that.\n\n105\n00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:21.530\nYou know, Brad, you know, my research, I've learned, and I knew a lot about you\n\n106\n00:04:21.530 --> 00:04:22.280\nbefore,\n\n107\n00:04:22.280 --> 00:04:26.550\nbut you know, I didn't know this stat, but you may be the greatest clutch\n\n108\n00:04:26.550 --> 00:04:27.280\nplayer in the\n\n109\n00:04:27.280 --> 00:04:32.320\nplayoffs going an incredible eight no in game sevens.\n\n110\n00:04:32.320 --> 00:04:35.800\nNobody has ever done that in the history of hockey.\n\n111\n00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:37.480\nHow did you get up for the big games?\n\n112\n00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:41.190\nI mean, I know it's a team sport, but you were a part of all of them, and you\n\n113\n00:04:41.190 --> 00:04:41.400\nwere, you\n\n114\n00:04:41.400 --> 00:04:43.000\nknow, you were a leader on the team.\n\n115\n00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:44.760\nWell, the first two are very nerve-wracking.\n\n116\n00:04:44.760 --> 00:04:46.480\nI was just turned 24.\n\n117\n00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.040\nAnd at that point, you think you'll be in a thousand of them and no big deal.\n\n118\n00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:53.480\nYou're not really, you know, you want to win them, but you're young and dumb\n\n119\n00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:53.600\nand too\n\n120\n00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.320\nstupid to realize the gravity of everything that's going on that day.\n\n121\n00:04:57.320 --> 00:05:01.800\nAnd as you got older, the record kept being mentioned in the media.\n\n122\n00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:05.430\nSo there was more pressure to keep that undefeated record, but you got older\n\n123\n00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:06.400\nand you knew that\n\n124\n00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:08.560\nthere's not many of these opportunities anymore.\n\n125\n00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.080\nSo those were a lot harder to get your rest.\n\n126\n00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:14.480\nIt was tough to sleep the night before, really tough to sleep during the day.\n\n127\n00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.810\nYou always have a nap during the day, eight o'clock games in the playoffs and\n\n128\n00:05:17.810 --> 00:05:18.120\ntry to have\n\n129\n00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:19.920\na little nap, but you couldn't do that.\n\n130\n00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:21.080\nYou'd be tossed in turning.\n\n131\n00:05:21.080 --> 00:05:24.160\nAnd I think the biggest thing was trying to get a routine.\n\n132\n00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.480\nAnd eventually I found a routine that kept me going a little bit.\n\n133\n00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:28.680\nI'd read a little bit.\n\n134\n00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:32.220\nI'd watch, believe it or not, I'd watch this comedy show called The Office, The\n\n135\n00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:32.480\nBritish\n\n136\n00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:33.800\nVersion back then.\n\n137\n00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:37.760\nIt kind of made me laugh, Ricky Gervais, and kind of get my mind off it.\n\n138\n00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:41.720\nAnd I kind of kept the same, I'd even keep the same episodes if we won.\n\n139\n00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.680\nBut that kept me kind of in a routine and it kept me from thinking too far\n\n140\n00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:47.640\nahead about\n\n141\n00:05:47.640 --> 00:05:50.520\nall the failures or bad things that could happen.\n\n142\n00:05:50.520 --> 00:05:51.840\nIt kept me in a good frame of mind.\n\n143\n00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:55.360\nAnd I just kind of learned to get a routine like that.\n\n144\n00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.080\nWhether you're on the ice or in the boardroom, Brad, we all have to show up and\n\n145\n00:05:59.080 --> 00:05:59.640\nperform when\n\n146\n00:05:59.640 --> 00:06:01.720\nthe pressure really is on.\n\n147\n00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.860\nWhat advice do you have for leaders on how they can better prepare for those\n\n148\n00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:06.800\nbig moments?\n\n149\n00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.880\nYou mentioned routine, it's one of the things you did.\n\n150\n00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:12.330\nBut is there any other advice you'd give to somebody to say, \"Okay, you got the\n\n151\n00:06:12.330 --> 00:06:12.560\nbig\n\n152\n00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:14.640\ngame, the big event, the big presentation?\n\n153\n00:06:14.640 --> 00:06:17.120\nOkay, here's how you get ready for it.\"\n\n154\n00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.270\nYeah, I think obviously if you're in those situations, you've probably put in\n\n155\n00:06:20.270 --> 00:06:20.680\nthe work.\n\n156\n00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:21.840\nI would imagine I would hope so.\n\n157\n00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:26.150\nYou've put in the work and that's one good thing to lean on if you've done your\n\n158\n00:06:26.150 --> 00:06:26.600\n, you\n\n159\n00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:30.420\nknow, in boardroom, whatever you would call it, your practices or your training\n\n160\n00:06:30.420 --> 00:06:30.480\n.\n\n161\n00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:31.480\nAnd you do all that.\n\n162\n00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:36.910\nAnd once that's done, you got to try to, it's hard to say, hard to do, but you\n\n163\n00:06:36.910 --> 00:06:37.440\njust got\n\n164\n00:06:37.440 --> 00:06:41.240\nto try to relax and believe that you put in the work and preparation.\n\n165\n00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.580\nYou know, in the locker room, you trust your teammates, they're doing the same\n\n166\n00:06:45.580 --> 00:06:46.080\nthing.\n\n167\n00:06:46.080 --> 00:06:49.090\nAnd you can help if you are a leader or you're one of the captains of the team,\n\n168\n00:06:49.090 --> 00:06:49.640\nyou can help\n\n169\n00:06:49.640 --> 00:06:53.720\nif you're seeing some guys that aren't quite what you think doing the right\n\n170\n00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:54.440\nthings to be\n\n171\n00:06:54.440 --> 00:06:56.560\nready for the big game.\n\n172\n00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:02.010\nAnd then you got to go out and it's execution in the end, you know, it's, again\n\n173\n00:07:02.010 --> 00:07:02.600\n, it's hard\n\n174\n00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:07.040\nto do, but your mind has to shut off and you just got to get in the zone and\n\n175\n00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:07.200\nexecute.\n\n176\n00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:08.680\nAnd there's all different techniques of that.\n\n177\n00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:10.640\nSome people like to meditate in game days.\n\n178\n00:07:10.640 --> 00:07:13.680\nLike I said, I like to try to get my mind into something, some comedy or\n\n179\n00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:14.720\nsomething to\n\n180\n00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:17.160\nloosen me up so I'm not uptight.\n\n181\n00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:21.820\nBut finding little ways that you're not just focused on it 24/7 because that\n\n182\n00:07:21.820 --> 00:07:22.760\ncan, you know,\n\n183\n00:07:22.760 --> 00:07:24.920\nsometimes too much is a detriment.\n\n184\n00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:28.910\nSo, you know, that's basically what we would do and try to help the young guys\n\n185\n00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:29.380\nand the\n\n186\n00:07:29.380 --> 00:07:31.640\nteam try to get them to relax.\n\n187\n00:07:31.640 --> 00:07:37.020\nYou were MVP in 2004 of the Stanley Cup Finals and then you're in the likes,\n\n188\n00:07:37.020 --> 00:07:37.840\nyou know, other\n\n189\n00:07:37.840 --> 00:07:43.350\npeople who've done it, Wayne Gresty, Mark Messier, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lamont,\n\n190\n00:07:43.350 --> 00:07:44.000\nyou,\n\n191\n00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:50.320\nBobby Orr, I mean, describe what it's like to be in a fraternity like that.\n\n192\n00:07:50.320 --> 00:07:52.880\nI mean, that's an amazing group of players.\n\n193\n00:07:52.880 --> 00:07:55.160\nAnd there you are, you're right there with them.\n\n194\n00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:59.040\nWhen you say it like that, it's very flattering.\n\n195\n00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.320\nNow that my career is over, it's something I look back on and it's pretty crazy\n\n196\n00:08:02.320 --> 00:08:02.560\n.\n\n197\n00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:06.600\nWhen I first get the trophy, you win as a team and you don't really think much\n\n198\n00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:07.040\nof the\n\n199\n00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.040\nMVP.\n\n200\n00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:11.440\nIt's great, but you can't wait to get with your team and celebrate the Stanley\n\n201\n00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:11.800\nCup.\n\n202\n00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.130\nIt's like the day or two later, I was sitting with my family, we had breakfast\n\n203\n00:08:15.130 --> 00:08:15.800\nnext morning\n\n204\n00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:19.220\nand we had the, they let you bring the cons to my home with you or whatever\n\n205\n00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:20.080\ntrophy wins.\n\n206\n00:08:20.080 --> 00:08:22.790\nSo it was home with us next morning and all my family was there and we were\n\n207\n00:08:22.790 --> 00:08:23.320\nlooking at\n\n208\n00:08:23.320 --> 00:08:27.790\nthe names and just so happens that the way the names go on the trophy, the way\n\n209\n00:08:27.790 --> 00:08:28.440\nmine worked\n\n210\n00:08:28.440 --> 00:08:33.560\nout is under, it went Bobby Orr, Gresty and then me all in a row coming down.\n\n211\n00:08:33.560 --> 00:08:37.040\nAnd my dad was, you know, he couldn't, he couldn't fathom it either.\n\n212\n00:08:37.040 --> 00:08:41.080\nHe was, he was out of his mind and that's when it kind of hit me.\n\n213\n00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:44.440\nBut when you're playing, you know, you never, no one thinks of trying to win an\n\n214\n00:08:44.440 --> 00:08:45.040\nMVP or trying\n\n215\n00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:46.480\nto win the Stanley Cup.\n\n216\n00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:51.420\nSo it took a few days to kind of really grasp and as I get older when people\n\n217\n00:08:51.420 --> 00:08:52.240\nsee you and\n\n218\n00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:54.800\nthey say you won the cons to my, I'm like, wow, yeah, I guess, you know, I\n\n219\n00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:55.200\nguess that\n\n220\n00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.040\nwas a pretty big thing.\n\n221\n00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:58.680\nYeah, I would say so.\n\n222\n00:08:58.680 --> 00:09:02.270\nAnd you were born and raised in Canada and I understand your father was a third\n\n223\n00:09:02.270 --> 00:09:02.920\ngeneration\n\n224\n00:09:02.920 --> 00:09:04.240\nlobster man.\n\n225\n00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:08.960\nDid you ever think you'd follow in his footsteps and go into that line of\n\n226\n00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:09.280\nbusiness?\n\n227\n00:09:09.280 --> 00:09:13.430\nEarly on, he, I had to help out, you know, when, when I was young and\n\n228\n00:09:13.430 --> 00:09:14.840\nespecially on weekends\n\n229\n00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:19.720\nwhen there's no school, but getting the 345 AM wake up call in the North\n\n230\n00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:20.640\nAtlantic and\n\n231\n00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:26.200\nearly May, sometimes there's snow flurries, big, big waves.\n\n232\n00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:27.480\nIt just never was for me.\n\n233\n00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:32.650\nAnd to be honest, my dad was very, very helpful in trying to get me out of that\n\n234\n00:09:32.650 --> 00:09:32.880\n.\n\n235\n00:09:32.880 --> 00:09:37.520\nHe knew that sports or hockey was maybe an opportunity to go get some schooling\n\n236\n00:09:37.520 --> 00:09:38.160\nor get\n\n237\n00:09:38.160 --> 00:09:39.760\nsome college paid for.\n\n238\n00:09:39.760 --> 00:09:44.320\nHe really helped me and sacrificed a lot financially to get me out of there.\n\n239\n00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:48.870\nAnd I was able to go to Western Canada and kind of go to a private school that\n\n240\n00:09:48.870 --> 00:09:49.040\ngave me\n\n241\n00:09:49.040 --> 00:09:52.880\nan opportunity to further my education because of hockey.\n\n242\n00:09:52.880 --> 00:09:56.040\nBut it was never, never something I loved, it was something I had to do.\n\n243\n00:09:56.040 --> 00:09:58.920\nAnd I knew I would do it if that's what the family needed.\n\n244\n00:09:58.920 --> 00:10:02.510\nBut I was lucky enough to have a father that really supported me doing\n\n245\n00:10:02.510 --> 00:10:03.600\nsomething else.\n\n246\n00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:06.890\nYou know, I don't think people in the United States fully understand what\n\n247\n00:10:06.890 --> 00:10:07.600\nhockey means\n\n248\n00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.360\nto Canadians.\n\n249\n00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.320\nSo paint the picture for me.\n\n250\n00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:13.680\nWhat does hockey mean to a Canadian?\n\n251\n00:10:13.680 --> 00:10:17.680\nWell, you know, there's long winters and, you know, there'd be people in\n\n252\n00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:18.800\nNorthern Minnesota\n\n253\n00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:23.640\nand Northern Michigan, places like that would understand that.\n\n254\n00:10:23.640 --> 00:10:27.640\nBut there's not a lot of other activities and hockey was a community thing.\n\n255\n00:10:27.640 --> 00:10:28.880\nEvery little town has a rink.\n\n256\n00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:31.640\nSo families get together.\n\n257\n00:10:31.640 --> 00:10:33.400\nIt's dark at four o'clock.\n\n258\n00:10:33.400 --> 00:10:34.400\nThey get their hot chocolate.\n\n259\n00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:35.560\nThe kids are all playing.\n\n260\n00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:38.160\nThe moms and dads get to meet for the evening.\n\n261\n00:10:38.160 --> 00:10:39.160\nYou get to go on weekends.\n\n262\n00:10:39.160 --> 00:10:42.560\nYou get to go on road trips, the tournaments and the families are together.\n\n263\n00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:46.200\nIt really gets you through these long winters, frozen ponds.\n\n264\n00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:50.000\nOn Saturdays and Sundays we'd wake up and if it got dark, a father would pull\n\n265\n00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:50.320\nthe car\n\n266\n00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.880\nup and put the lights on the pond so we could play longer.\n\n267\n00:10:53.880 --> 00:10:56.000\nIt's just a fabric of how we grew up.\n\n268\n00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.970\nAnd when you have those long winters, Scandinavia, there's lots of great\n\n269\n00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:01.040\nplayers in there in\n\n270\n00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:02.040\nRussia.\n\n271\n00:11:02.040 --> 00:11:05.960\nIt's kind of, it's an eight month thing and it brings the community together.\n\n272\n00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:09.400\nAnd we always, you know, all your best buddies are doing that all day long.\n\n273\n00:11:09.400 --> 00:11:10.800\nYeah, the long winters.\n\n274\n00:11:10.800 --> 00:11:12.000\nThat's a great rationale for it.\n\n275\n00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.200\nI never really thought about it that way.\n\n276\n00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:18.010\nAnd you left home when you were 14 years old for a boarding school in\n\n277\n00:11:18.010 --> 00:11:19.520\nSaskatchewan that\n\n278\n00:11:19.520 --> 00:11:22.000\nhad a renowned hockey program.\n\n279\n00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:23.000\nWalk us through that decision.\n\n280\n00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:27.240\nI had to be a big decision to leave that close knit family and go to this\n\n281\n00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:29.120\nboarding school.\n\n282\n00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:30.920\nIt was a crazy, crazy time.\n\n283\n00:11:30.920 --> 00:11:34.810\nIt was August school started in September and we got a call from a gentleman\n\n284\n00:11:34.810 --> 00:11:35.400\nthat kind\n\n285\n00:11:35.400 --> 00:11:39.820\nof ran hockey schools in our home area and he said, \"I got a call from the\n\n286\n00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:40.480\ncoach at Notre\n\n287\n00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:44.640\nDame and they'd be wondering if you would be interested in going out there.\n\n288\n00:11:44.640 --> 00:11:47.080\nWe had four weeks to decide.\"\n\n289\n00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:49.920\nAnd I think that helped me because it was so quick.\n\n290\n00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:52.080\nI didn't get time to think.\n\n291\n00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:57.200\nAnd my dad said, \"If you want to come home, I'll fly home at any time.\n\n292\n00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.680\nIf it's not going to be for you.\"\n\n293\n00:11:59.680 --> 00:12:02.400\nSo off I went, I had $40 Canadian.\n\n294\n00:12:02.400 --> 00:12:04.080\nNever been on a plane before.\n\n295\n00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.080\nNo cell phones.\n\n296\n00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:09.160\nI was in 1994 and I landed in southern Saskatchewan.\n\n297\n00:12:09.160 --> 00:12:12.520\nI got a taxi and told them where I'm going.\n\n298\n00:12:12.520 --> 00:12:14.160\nI ended up at this school.\n\n299\n00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:15.360\nI had no idea.\n\n300\n00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:20.440\nAnd met my best friend and a teammate for 14 years, Vincent McAvoy there.\n\n301\n00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:23.140\nWe want to stand like up together, played in the Olympics together, did\n\n302\n00:12:23.140 --> 00:12:23.920\neverything together.\n\n303\n00:12:23.920 --> 00:12:27.600\nWe happened to be bunk mates and played on the same team for 14 straight years\n\n304\n00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:27.960\nafter\n\n305\n00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:28.960\nthat.\n\n306\n00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:32.170\nI don't know why we met so quick and so early, but we did and we kind of lat\n\n307\n00:12:32.170 --> 00:12:33.280\nched on.\n\n308\n00:12:33.280 --> 00:12:37.880\nNext thing you know, hockey started and once hockey started, both of us were\n\n309\n00:12:37.880 --> 00:12:38.720\nonly 14.\n\n310\n00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:43.210\nWe made the team with older players and we both kind of just fell at home once\n\n311\n00:12:43.210 --> 00:12:43.640\nwe got\n\n312\n00:12:43.640 --> 00:12:44.640\non the ice.\n\n313\n00:12:44.640 --> 00:12:46.480\nWe were comfortable and we weren't homesick anymore.\n\n314\n00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.740\nThis is where we belong and we were able to make the team and do well on the\n\n315\n00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:51.360\nteam.\n\n316\n00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:55.360\nSo I'm not sure how it would have went if we didn't make the team or if we\n\n317\n00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:56.280\nweren't a\n\n318\n00:12:56.280 --> 00:12:57.480\nkey part of the team.\n\n319\n00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:00.400\nBut it just seemed like everything felt normal after that.\n\n320\n00:13:00.400 --> 00:13:05.440\nHockey was our happy place and that place really made us grow up mature.\n\n321\n00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:10.320\nAnd like I said, my whole goal was to try to get a US NCAA scholarship.\n\n322\n00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:13.240\nThat would have been a dream and things just kind of happened from there.\n\n323\n00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:17.040\nYou know, your boarding school was pretty intense as I understand it from what\n\n324\n00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:17.360\nI've\n\n325\n00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.360\nheard.\n\n326\n00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:23.200\nYou know, no janitors or kitchen staff, the students did it all.\n\n327\n00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:26.920\nWhat kind of impact did that have on you in your formative years?\n\n328\n00:13:26.920 --> 00:13:31.240\nIt's amazing when I look back, you know, as any 14, 15 year old would be your\n\n329\n00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:31.800\nmiserable\n\n330\n00:13:31.800 --> 00:13:32.880\nwhen you're doing it.\n\n331\n00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:36.870\nSo one week here on garbage duty, which is 6 a.m. tractor that goes around the\n\n332\n00:13:36.870 --> 00:13:37.320\nschool,\n\n333\n00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:38.640\ngetting old garbage.\n\n334\n00:13:38.640 --> 00:13:42.270\nOne week here on kitchen duty, one week here on janitor duty and the 400\n\n335\n00:13:42.270 --> 00:13:43.080\nstudents shared\n\n336\n00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:44.080\nthe jobs.\n\n337\n00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.480\nAnd like I said, you're in it together.\n\n338\n00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:48.480\nEverybody's miserable.\n\n339\n00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:52.520\nBut you do it with your buddies or your classmates or your roommates.\n\n340\n00:13:52.520 --> 00:13:55.340\nAnd all of a sudden the year goes by and you just want to get back and be with\n\n341\n00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:55.960\neverybody\n\n342\n00:13:55.960 --> 00:14:00.510\nand you go through those things together, it really makes you grow and you\n\n343\n00:14:00.510 --> 00:14:01.480\ncreate relationships\n\n344\n00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:03.560\nthat still last.\n\n345\n00:14:03.560 --> 00:14:09.930\nI just think it's where your determination, hard work, perseverance, it all\n\n346\n00:14:09.930 --> 00:14:10.400\nstarts at\n\n347\n00:14:10.400 --> 00:14:14.860\nyoung age and to go through those experiences were pretty unique and really\n\n348\n00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:15.640\nhelped me in\n\n349\n00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:16.800\nthe future.\n\n350\n00:14:16.800 --> 00:14:20.070\nWhen was it Brad when you knew that you had the talent to be a professional\n\n351\n00:14:20.070 --> 00:14:20.960\nhockey player?\n\n352\n00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:23.480\nWhen did you actually say to yourself, you know what?\n\n353\n00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.280\nI think maybe I can do this.\n\n354\n00:14:26.280 --> 00:14:30.390\nWhen I was 17, I was picked for the under 18 national team for Team Canada,\n\n355\n00:14:30.390 --> 00:14:30.840\nwhich is\n\n356\n00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:34.560\na big deal obviously in Canada when you picked for any national team.\n\n357\n00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:38.010\nThat was going into my draft year and that kind of like perked me up and said,\n\n358\n00:14:38.010 --> 00:14:38.280\nokay,\n\n359\n00:14:38.280 --> 00:14:42.630\nif I'm, if they're watching me for this team, I must be doing something okay, I\n\n360\n00:14:42.630 --> 00:14:43.200\nmust be in\n\n361\n00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:44.440\nthe mix.\n\n362\n00:14:44.440 --> 00:14:49.160\nAnd we went over to Europe and we won the UN under 18 championships over there.\n\n363\n00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:54.480\nIt was a great experience to realize I can play with anybody around the world.\n\n364\n00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.960\nIt kind of gave you a little bit of a confidence obviously leaving there.\n\n365\n00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.040\nAnd then the next year as a draft year, you got drafted.\n\n366\n00:15:01.040 --> 00:15:04.320\nI didn't get drafted as high as I would have liked.\n\n367\n00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:08.120\nI was still pretty small at that time.\n\n368\n00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:10.320\nKind of started growing a little bit around there.\n\n369\n00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.400\nBut it was still an unbelievable feeling to get drafted, but you knew there was\n\n370\n00:15:13.400 --> 00:15:13.720\nstill\n\n371\n00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:14.720\nmore work.\n\n372\n00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.160\nBut at least you knew you had a chance.\n\n373\n00:15:16.160 --> 00:15:19.260\nYou still had to put in the work and show them that you needed to be signed and\n\n374\n00:15:19.260 --> 00:15:20.120\nsigned a contract\n\n375\n00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:21.120\nand make the team.\n\n376\n00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:24.800\nBut yeah, I think that first national team for Team Canada really gave me the\n\n377\n00:15:24.800 --> 00:15:25.520\nbelief that\n\n378\n00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:27.520\nI could play with these guys.\n\n379\n00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:32.540\nYou know, you turned pro then when you were 18 years old and what advice can\n\n380\n00:15:32.540 --> 00:15:33.560\nyou give to\n\n381\n00:15:33.560 --> 00:15:38.040\nthe other leaders who are thrown on, onto the ice or whatever it looks like in\n\n382\n00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:38.440\ntheir\n\n383\n00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:42.640\nprofession with people who have a lot more experience and skill than they do.\n\n384\n00:15:42.640 --> 00:15:46.370\nI mean, you're 18 years old and you're going into this world where there's all\n\n385\n00:15:46.370 --> 00:15:46.880\nkinds of\n\n386\n00:15:46.880 --> 00:15:47.880\nwildly veterans.\n\n387\n00:15:47.880 --> 00:15:54.160\nI mean, how do you survive and thrive in a new situation like that?\n\n388\n00:15:54.160 --> 00:15:58.560\nYou got to realize there's going to be a lot of bumps and a lot of bad days.\n\n389\n00:15:58.560 --> 00:15:59.560\nAnd they're not bad.\n\n390\n00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:02.840\nI was still living a dream, but not everything's going to go right.\n\n391\n00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.680\nAnd you got to get up the next day.\n\n392\n00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:10.270\nAnd I think, you know, for especially in sports, being, you know, try to be the\n\n393\n00:16:10.270 --> 00:16:11.080\nfirst guy at\n\n394\n00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.520\nthe rink, try to be the last guy off the ice, first guy in the gym.\n\n395\n00:16:15.520 --> 00:16:19.350\nYou got to show your veterans that you're willing to put in the work that they\n\n396\n00:16:19.350 --> 00:16:19.680\n've put\n\n397\n00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:21.160\nin their whole career.\n\n398\n00:16:21.160 --> 00:16:22.280\nAnd then they take you under the wing.\n\n399\n00:16:22.280 --> 00:16:24.320\nI was so lucky when I was 19, 28.\n\n400\n00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:26.160\nOur captain was 40 years old.\n\n401\n00:16:26.160 --> 00:16:27.840\nHe's a Hall of Famer.\n\n402\n00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:28.840\nHe had been through everything.\n\n403\n00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:30.480\nHe had never been to a Stanley Cup final.\n\n404\n00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.520\nAnd he finally won with us.\n\n405\n00:16:32.520 --> 00:16:35.040\nBut I watched him and he was 40 years old.\n\n406\n00:16:35.040 --> 00:16:37.880\nHe was at the rink an hour before everybody even thought about being there.\n\n407\n00:16:37.880 --> 00:16:39.240\nHe was on the ice ahead of everybody.\n\n408\n00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:40.480\nHe's coming off the ice after.\n\n409\n00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:43.680\nAnd I'm looking at him like, OK, I'm 19, 20.\n\n410\n00:16:43.680 --> 00:16:44.840\nI better be doing this too.\n\n411\n00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:45.840\nHe's 40.\n\n412\n00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.400\nI got way more energy than him.\n\n413\n00:16:47.400 --> 00:16:49.920\nSo I got to get out here and show him.\n\n414\n00:16:49.920 --> 00:16:51.560\nAnd he ended up being a great mentor to me.\n\n415\n00:16:51.560 --> 00:16:55.480\nHe'd take me golfing all the time, had me over to the house for dinners.\n\n416\n00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:59.850\nAnd without his leadership and mentorship, there's no way I would have felt\n\n417\n00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:00.640\ncomfortable\n\n418\n00:17:00.640 --> 00:17:02.320\nin those situations in a locker room.\n\n419\n00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:04.640\nIf something did go bad, he was like a big brother.\n\n420\n00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.950\nI'd look at him and he'd grab me and maybe go for a beer after and say, hey,\n\n421\n00:17:08.950 --> 00:17:09.200\nlisten,\n\n422\n00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:10.200\ncalm down.\n\n423\n00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:11.520\nYou got a whole career ahead of you.\n\n424\n00:17:11.520 --> 00:17:14.890\nAnd he'd really put things into perspective for me and give me some of his\n\n425\n00:17:14.890 --> 00:17:15.600\nexperiences.\n\n426\n00:17:15.600 --> 00:17:19.120\nAnd without him, who knows where the path would have went.\n\n427\n00:17:19.120 --> 00:17:24.560\nYeah, we all need somebody to take us under their wings and help us learn how\n\n428\n00:17:24.560 --> 00:17:25.320\nto get things\n\n429\n00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:27.480\ndone in any industry.\n\n430\n00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:29.640\nWhat was his name by the way, Brad?\n\n431\n00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:30.960\nDave Andrichech's his name.\n\n432\n00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.860\nHe had over 600 goals and over 1,600 games played in the league, played for 22\n\n433\n00:17:35.860 --> 00:17:36.400\nyears.\n\n434\n00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:40.240\nWe finally won a Stanley Cup for him when he was 42 years old.\n\n435\n00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.040\nSo that was an amazing time.\n\n436\n00:17:42.040 --> 00:17:45.800\nWhat was that like when you two got together right after winning that Cup?\n\n437\n00:17:45.800 --> 00:17:47.360\nI mean, here's this guy.\n\n438\n00:17:47.360 --> 00:17:51.390\nHe's been your mentor and you obviously helped him get to where he wanted to go\n\n439\n00:17:51.390 --> 00:17:51.440\n.\n\n440\n00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.100\nWe looked at him during that whole finals and we kept thinking he had never\n\n441\n00:17:55.100 --> 00:17:55.480\nbeen to\n\n442\n00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:58.280\na Stanley Cup final 22 years.\n\n443\n00:17:58.280 --> 00:18:01.520\nAnd there's a bunch of us there at 23, 24 years old.\n\n444\n00:18:01.520 --> 00:18:04.880\nWe were young team and we're looking at each other like, God, this must be a\n\n445\n00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:05.360\nlot harder\n\n446\n00:18:05.360 --> 00:18:08.910\nthan we're making it look because this guy is like, like he can hardly breathe\n\n447\n00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:09.560\nover there.\n\n448\n00:18:09.560 --> 00:18:11.040\nHe's so nervous.\n\n449\n00:18:11.040 --> 00:18:12.240\nHe knows this is probably it.\n\n450\n00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:13.440\nHe's never been in the final.\n\n451\n00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.280\nSo to win it, see him lift the cup and then, you know, in the locker room, we\n\n452\n00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:18.320\nkicked everybody\n\n453\n00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:22.480\nout at one point and he was just the coaches and the players and we all kind of\n\n454\n00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:23.120\ntackled\n\n455\n00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:24.320\nhim and jumped on him.\n\n456\n00:18:24.320 --> 00:18:28.520\nAnd it was the first time he acted like a little kid and he could let his guard\n\n457\n00:18:28.520 --> 00:18:28.840\ndown\n\n458\n00:18:28.840 --> 00:18:29.840\nand not be that leader.\n\n459\n00:18:29.840 --> 00:18:33.400\nAnd it was so cool to see.\n\n460\n00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:36.710\nBecause you're listening to this, I can tell you're the kind of person who\n\n461\n00:18:36.710 --> 00:18:37.400\nwants to learn\n\n462\n00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:39.280\nhow to lead well.\n\n463\n00:18:39.280 --> 00:18:42.820\nBut there's a lot of companies out there who want to take that desire and\n\n464\n00:18:42.820 --> 00:18:43.440\ncharge you\n\n465\n00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:50.320\n$500 or $1,000 or heck, even $20,000 to try and show you how to lead.\n\n466\n00:18:50.320 --> 00:18:52.360\nThat's just not right.\n\n467\n00:18:52.360 --> 00:18:55.500\nIf you want to be a better leader, I believe you deserve to have access to\n\n468\n00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:56.320\nsomething that\n\n469\n00:18:56.320 --> 00:19:00.080\nwill truly help you and it shouldn't cost a fortune.\n\n470\n00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:04.600\nSo I want you to go to howleaderslead.com and start my leadership class.\n\n471\n00:19:04.600 --> 00:19:06.600\nIt's really and truly free.\n\n472\n00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:11.240\nAnd after you take this class, you're going to feel more confident in your role\n\n473\n00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:11.560\nand you'll\n\n474\n00:19:11.560 --> 00:19:14.920\nbe on your way to getting big things done with your team.\n\n475\n00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:18.480\nGo check it out at howleaderslead.com.\n\n476\n00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:29.810\nBrad, I have to tell you, you know, you without a doubt are one of the most\n\n477\n00:19:29.810 --> 00:19:30.040\ncompetitive, you\n\n478\n00:19:30.040 --> 00:19:32.760\nknow, head of the persons I've ever met in my life.\n\n479\n00:19:32.760 --> 00:19:37.540\nYou know, we've had the great privilege to play golf against each other with\n\n480\n00:19:37.540 --> 00:19:38.480\neach other,\n\n481\n00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:40.440\nbut you are, you are competitive.\n\n482\n00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:46.380\nYou know, has there ever been a time when you had to tone it down to play your\n\n483\n00:19:46.380 --> 00:19:46.680\nbest?\n\n484\n00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:51.270\nDefinitely when you want to get out and play your best, even keel, even keel is\n\n485\n00:19:51.270 --> 00:19:52.200\nso much\n\n486\n00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:54.000\na better way to go.\n\n487\n00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:59.600\nAnd the ups and downs sometimes when I was younger, could get to you and turn a\n\n488\n00:19:59.600 --> 00:20:00.000\ntwo\n\n489\n00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.000\ngame streak of losing or something going bad, you turn it into a five, six game\n\n490\n00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:05.880\nbecause\n\n491\n00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:08.960\nyou just couldn't control your emotions.\n\n492\n00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:10.880\nSame thing the other way, you can't get too high.\n\n493\n00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.200\nYou turn a great five game winning streak and it would end because you get cock\n\n494\n00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.000\ny or you\n\n495\n00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:17.000\nlose focus.\n\n496\n00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.760\nSo I think, you know, learning how to, yeah, calm that, I think in the biggest\n\n497\n00:20:21.760 --> 00:20:22.640\npart, hockey\n\n498\n00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.540\nyou could go out and throw some emotion around with a head or some people fight\n\n499\n00:20:26.540 --> 00:20:27.240\nor you could\n\n500\n00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:28.400\nkind of get that out.\n\n501\n00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:32.470\nBut learning to do that in golf, the hardest thing is how to calm down and not\n\n502\n00:20:32.470 --> 00:20:33.480\ntake everything\n\n503\n00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.560\nso serious because it can ruin around.\n\n504\n00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:39.310\nBut for sure in hockey, that was something you had to learn at a young age that\n\n505\n00:20:39.310 --> 00:20:39.800\nyou can't\n\n506\n00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:40.800\ndo everything in one night.\n\n507\n00:20:40.800 --> 00:20:41.800\nIt's a long season.\n\n508\n00:20:41.800 --> 00:20:43.600\nThere's a process to things.\n\n509\n00:20:43.600 --> 00:20:46.950\nYou know, you've represented your country on five different occasions, not only\n\n510\n00:20:46.950 --> 00:20:47.440\nat the\n\n511\n00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:52.400\nWorld Cup, but also at the Olympics playing for Team Canada.\n\n512\n00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:55.200\nWhat did you learn playing on the international scene?\n\n513\n00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.400\nThe Olympics was such a cool experience, not just for hockey, but to see all\n\n514\n00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:58.840\nthe other\n\n515\n00:20:58.840 --> 00:20:59.840\nathletes.\n\n516\n00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:02.260\nYou know, you watch the Olympics like a fan like you would and you see these\n\n517\n00:21:02.260 --> 00:21:02.720\npeople from\n\n518\n00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:03.800\nall over the world.\n\n519\n00:21:03.800 --> 00:21:07.650\nI had no, I just didn't study it, but I had no idea when I got the Olympic\n\n520\n00:21:07.650 --> 00:21:08.400\nVillage how\n\n521\n00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.520\nyoung some of these kids are.\n\n522\n00:21:10.520 --> 00:21:15.700\nThere's 14 year olds, 15 year olds, ski jumpers, figure skaters, people in all\n\n523\n00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:16.200\nthe world and\n\n524\n00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.440\nthat's their pinnacle.\n\n525\n00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:24.850\nAnd to see them and see the looks on their faces and us as pro athletes, it's a\n\n526\n00:21:24.850 --> 00:21:25.680\ndifferent\n\n527\n00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:26.680\nthing.\n\n528\n00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.960\nIt's two weeks, it's a great feeling, but it's two weeks you're getting pulled\n\n529\n00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:30.080\nfrom kind\n\n530\n00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:33.550\nof a brotherhood where you're growing a team for maybe six, seven years and\n\n531\n00:21:33.550 --> 00:21:34.120\nyour team's\n\n532\n00:21:34.120 --> 00:21:36.760\nback here and you get thrown in for two weeks.\n\n533\n00:21:36.760 --> 00:21:40.230\nYou know, you want to win and of course it's big, but to see the looks on these\n\n534\n00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:40.760\nathletes'\n\n535\n00:21:40.760 --> 00:21:45.430\nfaces where they've put in their whole life for one event and it could be just\n\n536\n00:21:45.430 --> 00:21:46.080\none jump\n\n537\n00:21:46.080 --> 00:21:51.400\nand that makes their whole career to sit and talk with some of those athletes\n\n538\n00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:52.040\nfrom around\n\n539\n00:21:52.040 --> 00:21:53.560\nthe world and the villages.\n\n540\n00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:56.200\nThat was the coolest thing for me to see all those athletes.\n\n541\n00:21:56.200 --> 00:22:01.390\nDo you recall a story that really stands out when you think about being in the\n\n542\n00:22:01.390 --> 00:22:02.400\nOlympics?\n\n543\n00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:06.290\nThe biggest thing in Canada was, I'll give you a, which was shocking, we played\n\n544\n00:22:06.290 --> 00:22:06.720\nItaly\n\n545\n00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:10.480\nwas the host so we had to play Italy first and they get a team.\n\n546\n00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.070\nBut most of Italy were Canadian kids with dual passports that never could make\n\n547\n00:22:14.070 --> 00:22:14.320\nit in\n\n548\n00:22:14.320 --> 00:22:19.680\nHL and it wasn't much of a game, but during the game, all the parents of the\n\n549\n00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:20.240\nItalian kids\n\n550\n00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:22.280\nare basic Canadian kids.\n\n551\n00:22:22.280 --> 00:22:25.620\nWe're sitting with our parents asking if we'd all take pictures with them and\n\n552\n00:22:25.620 --> 00:22:25.920\nmaybe get\n\n553\n00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.560\none of our hockey sticks after the game and stuff like that.\n\n554\n00:22:28.560 --> 00:22:32.640\nSo to kind of go there as a pro athlete and play against a team, they were just\n\n555\n00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:33.040\nhappy\n\n556\n00:22:33.040 --> 00:22:37.800\nto be on the same ice and play against Canada, but they're basic Canadians.\n\n557\n00:22:37.800 --> 00:22:40.800\nBut they were more excited that, could we hang out with you guys after?\n\n558\n00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:43.680\nCould we go in your locker room and get some pictures, stuff like that?\n\n559\n00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:47.760\nSo that's where the professional athlete part of the Olympics gets, you know,\n\n560\n00:22:47.760 --> 00:22:48.120\nit's a little\n\n561\n00:22:48.120 --> 00:22:50.000\ndifferent than the amateur side.\n\n562\n00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.630\nBut the, like I said, talking to some of those athletes, there was a figure sk\n\n563\n00:22:53.630 --> 00:22:54.200\nater that was\n\n564\n00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:59.000\nlike 14 years old from, I forget which country, but I mean, she looked like she\n\n565\n00:22:59.000 --> 00:22:59.720\nwas eight\n\n566\n00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:05.560\nand she won a medal and she was just as proud as you could be and to realize\n\n567\n00:23:05.560 --> 00:23:06.320\nthat's like,\n\n568\n00:23:06.320 --> 00:23:08.960\nthat's probably the end of her career almost.\n\n569\n00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.320\nShe'd probably do it two or three more times and that was it.\n\n570\n00:23:11.320 --> 00:23:12.680\nIt was pretty amazing to see.\n\n571\n00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:14.600\nYeah, and you get to keep on going.\n\n572\n00:23:14.600 --> 00:23:15.960\nThat's funny.\n\n573\n00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:19.480\nThere was no miracle on ice when Italy played Canada.\n\n574\n00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:20.480\nNo.\n\n575\n00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.480\nNo.\n\n576\n00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:25.030\nYou know, Brad, at what point in your career did you transition from being an\n\n577\n00:23:25.030 --> 00:23:25.640\nindividual\n\n578\n00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:30.030\ncontributor and a heck of a good one, by the way, obviously, you know, to be\n\n579\n00:23:30.030 --> 00:23:31.040\nbeing identified\n\n580\n00:23:31.040 --> 00:23:33.800\nas a leader on your team?\n\n581\n00:23:33.800 --> 00:23:38.740\nEarly on when we won in Tampa, you know, I kind of thought I'd be back and I'll\n\n582\n00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:39.320\nget five,\n\n583\n00:23:39.320 --> 00:23:40.920\nsix, seven more chances at this.\n\n584\n00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:44.040\nAnd ten years went by before I got to another final.\n\n585\n00:23:44.040 --> 00:23:47.690\nThat's when I was in New York and we had traded our captain that year, Ryan Cal\n\n586\n00:23:47.690 --> 00:23:48.200\nahan, went\n\n587\n00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:49.720\nto Tampa and we brought in Marty St. Louis.\n\n588\n00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:52.240\nHe was a good friend of mine and teammate of mine when we won in Tampa.\n\n589\n00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:58.230\nSo it was cool to get an old friend back in the lineup, but we lost our captain\n\n590\n00:23:58.230 --> 00:23:58.600\n.\n\n591\n00:23:58.600 --> 00:23:59.880\nI was one of the assistant captains.\n\n592\n00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:04.750\nSo that year I kind of was the de facto captain in the run and it was a whole\n\n593\n00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:06.200\ndifferent feeling\n\n594\n00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:08.040\nthan being the 24-year-old.\n\n595\n00:24:08.040 --> 00:24:11.180\nBut looking up to a leader, I tried to remember what Dave Andrew-Check was\n\n596\n00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:13.520\ndoing for us and\n\n597\n00:24:13.520 --> 00:24:17.720\nwhat he was helping us with and teaching us in that run with the young guys.\n\n598\n00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:20.280\nWe faced some crazy adversity.\n\n599\n00:24:20.280 --> 00:24:24.170\nWe were down 3-1 to Pittsburgh and Marty had lost his mom to a heart attack\n\n600\n00:24:24.170 --> 00:24:24.520\nright before\n\n601\n00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:28.920\na game and we came back and won that series and Marty had the winning goal.\n\n602\n00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:33.080\nReally galvanized our locker room and we went to the final and we had a lot of\n\n603\n00:24:33.080 --> 00:24:33.800\nyoung kids\n\n604\n00:24:33.800 --> 00:24:35.240\nthat gained a lot of experience.\n\n605\n00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:39.840\nNew York was magical trying to win a Stanley Cup in New York.\n\n606\n00:24:39.840 --> 00:24:41.040\nJust amazing.\n\n607\n00:24:41.040 --> 00:24:44.600\nWe ran into a really good team and we lost, but that's the first time I really\n\n608\n00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:44.960\nhad to\n\n609\n00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:50.010\ntake leadership on my own shoulders and I'll be honest, it was a lot tougher\n\n610\n00:24:50.010 --> 00:24:50.840\nthan just going\n\n611\n00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:53.820\nout and playing because you had to play but you had to kind of monitor the room\n\n612\n00:24:53.820 --> 00:24:54.240\nall the\n\n613\n00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.890\ntime and make sure there's a lot of different personalities, 23 different\n\n614\n00:24:57.890 --> 00:24:58.680\npersonalities,\n\n615\n00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:01.200\nthere's a lot of little things that go into it.\n\n616\n00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:04.680\nSo it was an eye-opener for me to realize how hard and I have a lot of respect\n\n617\n00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:05.200\nfor people\n\n618\n00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:08.800\nthat did it over a whole career to be able to do both play your individual game\n\n619\n00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:09.400\nand also\n\n620\n00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:10.960\ntake care of that locker room.\n\n621\n00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.240\nDo you recall your biggest leadership challenge?\n\n622\n00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:19.100\nI think any challenge the first time you do it is getting up and trying to talk\n\n623\n00:25:19.100 --> 00:25:19.400\nto the\n\n624\n00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:22.040\nroom in a different way.\n\n625\n00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:25.400\nNot your \"Hey guys, let's get a dinner tonight.\"\n\n626\n00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:29.110\nIt's kind of a stern way or we got to wake up kind of way or after a really\n\n627\n00:25:29.110 --> 00:25:29.800\ntough loss\n\n628\n00:25:29.800 --> 00:25:33.600\nlike in the playoffs we're down 3-1 we lost, we have boot off home ice.\n\n629\n00:25:33.600 --> 00:25:38.000\nComing up and trying to find what to say in the moment that you know your\n\n630\n00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:38.840\nteammates are\n\n631\n00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:42.960\ngoing to feel is real, not just someone talking for the sake of talking.\n\n632\n00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:46.800\nI think that's the biggest challenge and that was the hardest thing is I got to\n\n633\n00:25:46.800 --> 00:25:47.120\nmake\n\n634\n00:25:47.120 --> 00:25:48.760\nthis sound genuine.\n\n635\n00:25:48.760 --> 00:25:53.590\nI got to try to galvanize these guys and we got to go to Pittsburgh and regroup\n\n636\n00:25:53.590 --> 00:25:54.000\nand how\n\n637\n00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:58.040\ndo you make this sound genuine and get these guys to buy in.\n\n638\n00:25:58.040 --> 00:26:01.120\nThat's probably the biggest challenge.\n\n639\n00:26:01.120 --> 00:26:04.560\nThat's a confidence thing also but you have to get over that hurdle.\n\n640\n00:26:04.560 --> 00:26:08.960\nWhat gave you the most satisfaction making the assist or scoring the goal?\n\n641\n00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:11.120\nI was always more of an assist guy.\n\n642\n00:26:11.120 --> 00:26:12.520\nI love setting up my teammates.\n\n643\n00:26:12.520 --> 00:26:13.960\nI mean goals are great too.\n\n644\n00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:18.130\nDon't get me wrong but I think if anybody that knew me and played with me they\n\n645\n00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:18.840\n'd always\n\n646\n00:26:18.840 --> 00:26:24.180\nsaid probably last second rather pass it than put it in the net and sometimes\n\n647\n00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:25.040\nmy coaches\n\n648\n00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:29.440\nI drove them nuts doing that but it was just an instinct that I love to do and\n\n649\n00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:30.120\nit worked\n\n650\n00:26:30.120 --> 00:26:32.120\nout more than it didn't.\n\n651\n00:26:32.120 --> 00:26:38.140\nAnytime you can help a teammate I just think it's a great feeling to see their\n\n652\n00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:38.320\nlook on\n\n653\n00:26:38.320 --> 00:26:41.520\ntheir face when they point at you after you set them up it was a great feeling.\n\n654\n00:26:41.520 --> 00:26:46.360\nSo one of the challenges you had was monitoring your desire to pass the ball.\n\n655\n00:26:46.360 --> 00:26:48.360\nYou drove the coaches crazy.\n\n656\n00:26:48.360 --> 00:26:49.360\nYes.\n\n657\n00:26:49.360 --> 00:26:52.160\nI always had my first coach always like you got to be more selfish.\n\n658\n00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:57.160\nYou got to take the puck yourself and it just was never in me but I did learn\n\n659\n00:26:57.160 --> 00:26:57.880\nto do a better\n\n660\n00:26:57.880 --> 00:26:59.040\njob of that.\n\n661\n00:26:59.040 --> 00:27:02.260\nIt also helped you be a better passer because if you're always passing the\n\n662\n00:27:02.260 --> 00:27:02.800\ndefense knew\n\n663\n00:27:02.800 --> 00:27:05.600\nthat so it took a while to get that in my head.\n\n664\n00:27:05.600 --> 00:27:09.390\nI remember talking to Magic Johnson and he loved making the assist too but he\n\n665\n00:27:09.390 --> 00:27:09.960\nwas still\n\n666\n00:27:09.960 --> 00:27:14.170\nthe same guy that could take over a playoff game and score 48 points in play\n\n667\n00:27:14.170 --> 00:27:15.200\ncenter if\n\n668\n00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.440\nJabbar was out of the game.\n\n669\n00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:20.720\nBut you were a great scorer as well.\n\n670\n00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:25.480\nAnd speaking of scoring goals almost 20 years ago you set a record for the most\n\n671\n00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:26.200\ngame winning\n\n672\n00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:30.600\ngoals in a single playoff season with seven goals.\n\n673\n00:27:30.600 --> 00:27:35.120\nTell us about that experience and what's it like to make that game winning shot\n\n674\n00:27:35.120 --> 00:27:35.120\n.\n\n675\n00:27:35.120 --> 00:27:41.450\nYeah I mean that that was the same year the Stanley the Stanley Cup and the MVP\n\n676\n00:27:41.450 --> 00:27:41.880\nso if you\n\n677\n00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:46.010\nwant to talk we'll be in the zone it was just a two month I was in his own and\n\n678\n00:27:46.010 --> 00:27:46.520\nit seemed\n\n679\n00:27:46.520 --> 00:27:50.310\nlike for a while every time I scored a goal it happened to be a game winner\n\n680\n00:27:50.310 --> 00:27:50.840\nagain great\n\n681\n00:27:50.840 --> 00:27:54.920\nteammates great line mates and timely goals.\n\n682\n00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:59.590\nSometimes you don't know why but the puck comes to you and then when you're in\n\n683\n00:27:59.590 --> 00:28:00.120\na slump\n\n684\n00:28:00.120 --> 00:28:03.810\nthe puck you know bumps over your stick and goes the other way and if your\n\n685\n00:28:03.810 --> 00:28:04.440\nmindset is\n\n686\n00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.250\nnot right and you're not feeling positive other things will happen and that run\n\n687\n00:28:08.250 --> 00:28:08.960\neverything\n\n688\n00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:13.750\njust fell into place but again you're just trying to help the team after the\n\n689\n00:28:13.750 --> 00:28:14.360\ngame you\n\n690\n00:28:14.360 --> 00:28:18.060\nknow the media is telling you you just broke a record and all that but that's I\n\n691\n00:28:18.060 --> 00:28:18.480\nguess if\n\n692\n00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:21.360\nthere's records you want to break you want to break them for game winning goals\n\n693\n00:28:21.360 --> 00:28:21.760\nbecause\n\n694\n00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:26.960\nyou're winning and doing something individual at the same time so it feels good\n\n695\n00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:27.240\n.\n\n696\n00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:31.280\nAbsolutely you know in my research I've heard you talk a lot about playing for\n\n697\n00:28:31.280 --> 00:28:34.000\nJohn Tortorello.\n\n698\n00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:38.260\nDescribe what the team culture was like before and after he showed up at Tampa\n\n699\n00:28:38.260 --> 00:28:38.880\nBay and his\n\n700\n00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:40.360\nimpact as a leader.\n\n701\n00:28:40.360 --> 00:28:46.060\nHe was the best coach I had by far with getting a young team that was kind of a\n\n702\n00:28:46.060 --> 00:28:46.800\ncountry club\n\n703\n00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:48.320\natmosphere down there in Tampa.\n\n704\n00:28:48.320 --> 00:28:51.850\nI think a lot of players would come down and kind of play out their career play\n\n705\n00:28:51.850 --> 00:28:52.800\nsome golf\n\n706\n00:28:52.800 --> 00:28:57.990\ngo to the beach and he knew right away he had to change that and the details he\n\n707\n00:28:57.990 --> 00:28:58.800\ninstilled\n\n708\n00:28:58.800 --> 00:29:03.210\nin us from day one when he took over and I was only 20 years old when he took\n\n709\n00:29:03.210 --> 00:29:04.280\nover but\n\n710\n00:29:04.280 --> 00:29:09.490\nyou know your meetings you were there 50 minutes ahead of time you were there\n\n711\n00:29:09.490 --> 00:29:10.760\nfor breakfast\n\n712\n00:29:10.760 --> 00:29:15.710\nway before anything had to be done in the locker room your meetings your video\n\n713\n00:29:15.710 --> 00:29:17.120\nyour workouts\n\n714\n00:29:17.120 --> 00:29:20.280\neverything was done and it was at a whole different level.\n\n715\n00:29:20.280 --> 00:29:25.120\nOur training camps we came into training camp and it was I don't want to say\n\n716\n00:29:25.120 --> 00:29:26.000\nmilitary because\n\n717\n00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:29.190\nI don't want to disrespect the military but he wanted that mentality we were\n\n718\n00:29:29.190 --> 00:29:29.840\nthinking about\n\n719\n00:29:29.840 --> 00:29:35.000\nit a month before we were scared of it so we over trained we were so ready for\n\n720\n00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:35.480\nevery\n\n721\n00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:40.210\ntraining camp and he had a method to all this and our culture changed\n\n722\n00:29:40.210 --> 00:29:41.560\nimmediately and when\n\n723\n00:29:41.560 --> 00:29:45.760\nour culture changed he always said I want to make this where I can let you guys\n\n724\n00:29:45.760 --> 00:29:46.400\ntake over\n\n725\n00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:51.370\nthe room and let you guys I can back off and let you guys be the guys that are\n\n726\n00:29:51.370 --> 00:29:51.920\ngoing to\n\n727\n00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:55.640\ndo this so I don't have to be barking at you all the time and on you all the\n\n728\n00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:56.640\ntime and it\n\n729\n00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:02.420\nwas the best experience of seeing a really bad team I think we had 18 wins and\n\n730\n00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:02.720\nall of\n\n731\n00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.140\na sudden three years later when the playoffs and then four years later we win\n\n732\n00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:06.760\nthe Stanley\n\n733\n00:30:06.760 --> 00:30:13.410\nCup and we were we were a well oiled machine on on on details and how to how to\n\n734\n00:30:13.410 --> 00:30:15.120\nbe professionals\n\n735\n00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:17.040\nand it changed really quickly.\n\n736\n00:30:17.040 --> 00:30:22.000\nWas he the coach you enjoyed playing with the most or was there somebody else?\n\n737\n00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:28.530\nProbably not the most enjoyable coach all the time but because he was hard but\n\n738\n00:30:28.530 --> 00:30:28.800\nyou know\n\n739\n00:30:28.800 --> 00:30:32.050\nif you're comfortable you're probably usually if you're comfortable all the\n\n740\n00:30:32.050 --> 00:30:32.560\ntime you're\n\n741\n00:30:32.560 --> 00:30:37.320\nprobably not winning or playing your best you wanted you a little uncomfortable\n\n742\n00:30:37.320 --> 00:30:37.640\nat all\n\n743\n00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:43.230\ntimes and sometimes is very uncomfortable but you know that was his his way of\n\n744\n00:30:43.230 --> 00:30:44.200\ndoing it\n\n745\n00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:46.970\nbut when you look back at the end of the season and you win or you had a good\n\n746\n00:30:46.970 --> 00:30:47.440\nchance\n\n747\n00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:52.610\nto win you always say like I'd rather have a chance to win and be in the fight\n\n748\n00:30:52.610 --> 00:30:53.560\nthan than\n\n749\n00:30:53.560 --> 00:30:55.520\nnot and he always had you in the fight.\n\n750\n00:30:55.520 --> 00:30:58.880\nYeah you seems like the best leaders always create sort of a healthy\n\n751\n00:30:58.880 --> 00:30:59.960\ndissatisfaction with\n\n752\n00:30:59.960 --> 00:31:00.960\nthe status quo.\n\n753\n00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.440\nI mean you know they're always pushing you to take it the next level.\n\n754\n00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:07.000\nYou know and we all have to play on a team.\n\n755\n00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.270\nWhat are the qualities of the teammates that you love playing with over the\n\n756\n00:31:10.270 --> 00:31:11.240\nyears and what\n\n757\n00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:13.280\ndid you really look for in a teammate?\n\n758\n00:31:13.280 --> 00:31:15.870\nYou know you don't get to be leader all of a sudden you know you have to start\n\n759\n00:31:15.870 --> 00:31:16.160\nout as\n\n760\n00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:17.160\na teammate.\n\n761\n00:31:17.160 --> 00:31:24.150\nYeah I think I love obviously the unselfishness and any good team that I was on\n\n762\n00:31:24.150 --> 00:31:25.000\nyou know I\n\n763\n00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.920\ngot to win twice they were great teams and I had probably three or four other\n\n764\n00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:29.440\nteams that\n\n765\n00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:32.800\nI would say were really good teams had a chance to win and they all had\n\n766\n00:31:32.800 --> 00:31:33.880\nsomething common.\n\n767\n00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.890\nWe all got along everybody had a rule you know the bad teams there's always one\n\n768\n00:31:37.890 --> 00:31:38.200\nor two\n\n769\n00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:42.040\nguys that weren't involved weren't invited to the team dinners or weren't\n\n770\n00:31:42.040 --> 00:31:42.680\ninvited to\n\n771\n00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:47.690\nthe golf events or you know it just seems like there was two or three people\n\n772\n00:31:47.690 --> 00:31:48.320\nmissing\n\n773\n00:31:48.320 --> 00:31:50.480\nall the time and that never worked.\n\n774\n00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:53.630\nThe teams we won if we had a team dinner everybody showed up you didn't have to\n\n775\n00:31:53.630 --> 00:31:53.880\nstay\n\n776\n00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:57.440\nfor three hours but everybody showed up to it.\n\n777\n00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:01.200\nThe captain treated the fourth line player the same as he treated the first\n\n778\n00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:01.800\nline player\n\n779\n00:32:01.800 --> 00:32:06.240\nor the superstar the goalie got treated the same as the third line.\n\n780\n00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:09.800\nEverybody was equal and invited to the same things.\n\n781\n00:32:09.800 --> 00:32:14.210\nWe spent a lot of time in the road you know a lot of time together and the best\n\n782\n00:32:14.210 --> 00:32:14.800\nleaders\n\n783\n00:32:14.800 --> 00:32:19.080\nhad the wives involved and parties and you know they wanted everybody to feel\n\n784\n00:32:19.080 --> 00:32:19.680\nlike this\n\n785\n00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:24.880\nis one big family and when that was clicking those were always the best teams.\n\n786\n00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:30.530\nYou know you played at Tampa for several years you became an icon there you\n\n787\n00:32:30.530 --> 00:32:32.160\nknow and then\n\n788\n00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:36.040\nyou're sent to Dallas in a blockbuster trade right before the trade deadline\n\n789\n00:32:36.040 --> 00:32:36.640\nand you know\n\n790\n00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:42.380\nsports are so unique where you can wake up one day and then have to pack up and\n\n791\n00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:42.840\nmove\n\n792\n00:32:42.840 --> 00:32:45.000\nto play for another team.\n\n793\n00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.520\nHow did that play into your psyche I mean tell us about that.\n\n794\n00:32:49.520 --> 00:32:53.360\nThat was tough that was the toughest day of my career.\n\n795\n00:32:53.360 --> 00:32:59.040\nI had been in Tampa eight years drafted there and won there so when I woke up\n\n796\n00:32:59.040 --> 00:33:00.040\nthe next morning\n\n797\n00:33:00.040 --> 00:33:03.780\nto go to the airport it was it really hit me like okay I'm done I'm not not a\n\n798\n00:33:03.780 --> 00:33:04.320\nlightning\n\n799\n00:33:04.320 --> 00:33:08.720\nanymore going to this new locker room which you know is it's intimidating\n\n800\n00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:09.600\nbecause it's\n\n801\n00:33:09.600 --> 00:33:13.480\nnot your lock you had all your your trainers new routines I had my same seat on\n\n802\n00:33:13.480 --> 00:33:13.960\nthe bus\n\n803\n00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:17.290\nand my I went out on the ice same time I warm up with the same I had all these\n\n804\n00:33:17.290 --> 00:33:18.080\nthings and\n\n805\n00:33:18.080 --> 00:33:21.780\nnow you're going in this new locker room you don't know what's going on so it's\n\n806\n00:33:21.780 --> 00:33:22.200\na huge\n\n807\n00:33:22.200 --> 00:33:26.260\nadjustment it's also a huge adjustment not being around your best friends and\n\n808\n00:33:26.260 --> 00:33:26.920\nteammates\n\n809\n00:33:26.920 --> 00:33:30.640\nbut hockey is a great sport and every sport be the same you get in a locker\n\n810\n00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:31.360\nroom and they're\n\n811\n00:33:31.360 --> 00:33:35.670\nthe same guys just different faces and they open open their arms to you and and\n\n812\n00:33:35.670 --> 00:33:36.280\nyou start\n\n813\n00:33:36.280 --> 00:33:39.270\nbattling with them and and you're in their respect and you show them that you\n\n814\n00:33:39.270 --> 00:33:39.760\n're there\n\n815\n00:33:39.760 --> 00:33:44.150\nto win and and everything kind of starts falling in but the the initial 24 or\n\n816\n00:33:44.150 --> 00:33:45.640\n48 hours is rough\n\n817\n00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:51.950\nit's not yeah if I had one bad thing I can say about my career I loved it I was\n\n818\n00:33:51.950 --> 00:33:52.240\nlucky\n\n819\n00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:56.480\nbut that that one first trade is is a shock to the system for sure.\n\n820\n00:33:56.480 --> 00:34:00.080\nTo be fair to say it's almost like getting fired or is that too strong?\n\n821\n00:34:00.080 --> 00:34:03.800\nYeah probably it probably is because you realize the team that you love and\n\n822\n00:34:03.800 --> 00:34:05.000\nbattle for their\n\n823\n00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.130\ntrading now there's other there's there's contracts and salary caps involved in\n\n824\n00:34:09.130 --> 00:34:09.400\nthat\n\n825\n00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:14.940\ntoo but I had a no trade clause so I got to control it and my agents like we\n\n826\n00:34:14.940 --> 00:34:15.360\ncan wait\n\n827\n00:34:15.360 --> 00:34:19.750\ntill the summer and my attitude was they don't want me I don't if they don't if\n\n828\n00:34:19.750 --> 00:34:21.200\nthe ownership\n\n829\n00:34:21.200 --> 00:34:25.700\nand general managers don't want me then I don't want I can't do this and that\n\n830\n00:34:25.700 --> 00:34:26.160\nwas the\n\n831\n00:34:26.160 --> 00:34:30.610\nway I looked at it and luckily I controlled it so I got to go to a good team\n\n832\n00:34:30.610 --> 00:34:31.400\nand a good\n\n833\n00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.360\norganization but you know I just couldn't I just didn't want to be there\n\n834\n00:34:34.360 --> 00:34:35.000\nanymore if I\n\n835\n00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:38.080\nknew they're trying to trade me and wait until next year it didn't feel right.\n\n836\n00:34:38.080 --> 00:34:41.920\nThat's so similar to business because one of the major reasons why people leave\n\n837\n00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:42.320\nand go\n\n838\n00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:45.820\nto a different company and businesses they don't feel appreciated you know and\n\n839\n00:34:45.820 --> 00:34:46.440\nit's very\n\n840\n00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:52.370\nvery similar in both Tampa and Dallas you experienced an ownership bankruptcy\n\n841\n00:34:52.370 --> 00:34:52.960\nand you're\n\n842\n00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:57.250\nout there to play hockey but how tuned into the business component were you as\n\n843\n00:34:57.250 --> 00:34:57.840\nit related\n\n844\n00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:00.000\nto the franchise you were playing for?\n\n845\n00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.250\nWell it really really toned in because in Tampa we want and we want to keep our\n\n846\n00:35:04.250 --> 00:35:04.640\nteam\n\n847\n00:35:04.640 --> 00:35:10.710\ntogether and it started to fall apart because ownership was changing and that\n\n848\n00:35:10.710 --> 00:35:11.280\naffects the\n\n849\n00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:14.940\ntype of players you can go out and get trade for free agents you can sign and\n\n850\n00:35:14.940 --> 00:35:15.600\nwhen you're\n\n851\n00:35:15.600 --> 00:35:19.610\none of the leaders of the team you know exactly what's going on in that when I\n\n852\n00:35:19.610 --> 00:35:20.200\nwent to Dallas\n\n853\n00:35:20.200 --> 00:35:24.750\nthey seem to start to happen which is a big reason why when I came to free\n\n854\n00:35:24.750 --> 00:35:25.600\nagency I wanted\n\n855\n00:35:25.600 --> 00:35:29.360\nto go to New York because New York was not going to go bankrupt anytime soon\n\n856\n00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:29.880\nthey're\n\n857\n00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:34.020\nvery stable stable organization so but you're very you know I think maybe if\n\n858\n00:35:34.020 --> 00:35:34.680\nyou're young\n\n859\n00:35:34.680 --> 00:35:38.700\nas a rookie and you're just happy to be there but when you're one of the main\n\n860\n00:35:38.700 --> 00:35:39.240\nparts of the\n\n861\n00:35:39.240 --> 00:35:44.440\nteam or you're in a contract negotiation you really realize what the stress of\n\n862\n00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:45.160\na bankruptcy\n\n863\n00:35:45.160 --> 00:35:49.190\nor an ownership change is doing because you only have so many years to try to\n\n864\n00:35:49.190 --> 00:35:50.880\nwin and\n\n865\n00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:54.630\nyou know I just thought you know I'm wasting a year or two three here waiting\n\n866\n00:35:54.630 --> 00:35:55.440\nfor ownership\n\n867\n00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:58.110\nchange but we can't get the best team on the ice maybe it's time to look\n\n868\n00:35:58.110 --> 00:36:02.640\nsomewhere else.\n\n869\n00:36:02.640 --> 00:36:06.320\nWe'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Brad Richards in just a\n\n870\n00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:06.640\nmoment.\n\n871\n00:36:06.640 --> 00:36:10.470\nYou know I've gotten to talk to one other hockey legend here on Howl Eaters\n\n872\n00:36:10.470 --> 00:36:11.040\nLead the\n\n873\n00:36:11.040 --> 00:36:16.680\ngreat Mark Messier and just like Brad Mark really understands team dynamics at\n\n874\n00:36:16.680 --> 00:36:17.160\na level\n\n875\n00:36:17.160 --> 00:36:18.880\nthat few others do.\n\n876\n00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:23.960\nI absolutely love his insights on how great leaders stay attuned to their\n\n877\n00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:23.960\npeople.\n\n878\n00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:28.940\nThe only way in a team sport to have success is to try to maximize the\n\n879\n00:36:28.940 --> 00:36:30.240\nperformance of\n\n880\n00:36:30.240 --> 00:36:33.920\neach and every one of the people that are around you and make them believe that\n\n881\n00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:34.320\ntheir\n\n882\n00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:39.300\ncontributions are absolutely necessary for any team success and I think that's\n\n883\n00:36:39.300 --> 00:36:39.920\none element\n\n884\n00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:43.780\nthe other element for me would be that you got to establish relationships that\n\n885\n00:36:43.780 --> 00:36:44.360\ngo further\n\n886\n00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:48.600\nthan just the game itself in order to lead someone they have to give you their\n\n887\n00:36:48.600 --> 00:36:49.320\npermission\n\n888\n00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:52.950\nand that permission has to be earned and I think you earn it through developing\n\n889\n00:36:52.950 --> 00:36:53.240\nyour\n\n890\n00:36:53.240 --> 00:36:56.950\nrelationships so you can tell them the truth and they don't take it personally\n\n891\n00:36:56.950 --> 00:36:57.280\nand so then\n\n892\n00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:00.280\nyou just start to foster those relationships and the other thing I guess what I\n\n893\n00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:00.720\nwould say\n\n894\n00:37:00.720 --> 00:37:06.970\nis that you got to be willing to be completely open completely transparent and\n\n895\n00:37:06.970 --> 00:37:07.760\nwho you are\n\n896\n00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:12.080\nand what you stand for and your consistency and your personality you don't wa\n\n897\n00:37:12.080 --> 00:37:12.840\nver in good\n\n898\n00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:13.840\ntimes and bad.\n\n899\n00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.040\nI mean you're completely exposed and vulnerable and you got to be doing the\n\n900\n00:37:17.040 --> 00:37:18.400\nright things consistently\n\n901\n00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:23.160\nbut I think when you do that it gives everybody a sense of calm around you.\n\n902\n00:37:23.160 --> 00:37:26.720\nMake sure you listen to my entire conversation with Mark.\n\n903\n00:37:26.720 --> 00:37:36.000\nEpisode 13 here on Howl Eaters Lead.\n\n904\n00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:41.810\nYou know you win your first Stanley Cup with Tampa in 2004 and your second in\n\n905\n00:37:41.810 --> 00:37:43.240\n2015 when\n\n906\n00:37:43.240 --> 00:37:48.810\nyou're a Chicago Black Hawk you know that's a long time that's 11 year drought\n\n907\n00:37:48.810 --> 00:37:49.680\nof not winning\n\n908\n00:37:49.680 --> 00:37:53.400\na final and you know you win very early on in your career and you think this is\n\n909\n00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:53.960\nprobably\n\n910\n00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:55.960\ngoing to happen all the time.\n\n911\n00:37:55.960 --> 00:37:59.840\nHow did you stay positive and optimistic when you kept falling short?\n\n912\n00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:06.280\nYeah like I said earlier I thought I thought I'd have six or seven tries at it.\n\n913\n00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:11.630\nThe 10th year drought in New York we went to the final and when I signed in\n\n914\n00:38:11.630 --> 00:38:12.360\nChicago they\n\n915\n00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:13.360\nwere one of the best teams.\n\n916\n00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:18.090\nThey had won two championships in four years before that and that getting back\n\n917\n00:38:18.090 --> 00:38:18.920\nto the final\n\n918\n00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:24.320\nreally even though we lost it really reminded me of how fun it was.\n\n919\n00:38:24.320 --> 00:38:29.030\nI had been to two conference finals before that in between but the final just\n\n920\n00:38:29.030 --> 00:38:29.640\nit's just\n\n921\n00:38:29.640 --> 00:38:33.680\nso big and it got me back into those juices and then I got lucky to I signed in\n\n922\n00:38:33.680 --> 00:38:34.240\nChicago\n\n923\n00:38:34.240 --> 00:38:38.710\nand we're right back to the final and we won but sometimes I think if you're\n\n924\n00:38:38.710 --> 00:38:39.320\nnot getting\n\n925\n00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:46.150\nthere you forget how great it is you're trying but getting the final and having\n\n926\n00:38:46.150 --> 00:38:46.520\nonly about\n\n927\n00:38:46.520 --> 00:38:50.060\nsix, seven weeks off I was ready to get back to the final and I know it's a\n\n928\n00:38:50.060 --> 00:38:51.120\nlong road but\n\n929\n00:38:51.120 --> 00:38:55.050\nit's just the bet you're on the stage you're on your sports biggest stage for\n\n930\n00:38:55.050 --> 00:38:55.600\ntwo weeks\n\n931\n00:38:55.600 --> 00:38:58.040\nand there's nothing like it for us.\n\n932\n00:38:58.040 --> 00:39:01.440\nYou know there's this viral video out you probably have seen it because I know\n\n933\n00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:01.840\nyou're\n\n934\n00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:06.800\non top of what's going on in sports but Janus of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks\n\n935\n00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:07.400\nresponds to a\n\n936\n00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:13.440\nquestion of his most recent season and the failure that they had when they didn\n\n937\n00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:14.000\n't win\n\n938\n00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:16.040\nthe championship is basically the favorite.\n\n939\n00:39:16.040 --> 00:39:19.350\nI mean everybody thought the Bucks were going to get there this year and he\n\n940\n00:39:19.350 --> 00:39:20.040\nresponded by\n\n941\n00:39:20.040 --> 00:39:24.960\nsaying there's no failure in sports just steps to success.\n\n942\n00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:27.160\nWhat's your take on that?\n\n943\n00:39:27.160 --> 00:39:30.800\nIf you want to look at it as a failure you could probably mope for the off\n\n944\n00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:31.480\nseason.\n\n945\n00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:36.000\nI had a really tough year in New York and one year and it was with my coach Tor\n\n946\n00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:36.800\nrella and\n\n947\n00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:40.640\nthe season ended terribly but it was probably the hardest I ever worked in the\n\n948\n00:39:40.640 --> 00:39:41.240\nsummer and\n\n949\n00:39:41.240 --> 00:39:46.430\nI ate perfect and it kind of I learned a lot about eating even better than I\n\n950\n00:39:46.430 --> 00:39:47.240\nthought I\n\n951\n00:39:47.240 --> 00:39:50.960\nwas eating I learned a lot about training even better than I thought I was\n\n952\n00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:51.080\ntraining.\n\n953\n00:39:51.080 --> 00:39:55.510\nIt's amazing what you can learn and put back into what you're doing if you do\n\n954\n00:39:55.510 --> 00:39:55.920\nit the right\n\n955\n00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.740\nway and I guess that's how I would take what he's saying right there as it's\n\n956\n00:39:59.740 --> 00:40:00.640\nanother step\n\n957\n00:40:00.640 --> 00:40:04.420\nto get better and maybe he'll win two more championships because of this\n\n958\n00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:05.360\ninstead of one\n\n959\n00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:08.880\nor you know or whatever it goes but there's so many things that you can always\n\n960\n00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:09.440\ndo better\n\n961\n00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:13.240\nand sometimes those things can knock you back into that thought process.\n\n962\n00:40:13.240 --> 00:40:18.770\nSo you went to the mountaintop twice you had two finals wins but in 2014 you\n\n963\n00:40:18.770 --> 00:40:20.040\nlost to LA\n\n964\n00:40:20.040 --> 00:40:21.840\nwhen you were on the Rangers.\n\n965\n00:40:21.840 --> 00:40:23.280\nWhat do you think about most?\n\n966\n00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:27.360\nYou think about the two victories or the loss?\n\n967\n00:40:27.360 --> 00:40:31.520\nThe loss still bites that's for sure I mean winning in New York would have been\n\n968\n00:40:31.520 --> 00:40:32.400\nunbelievable\n\n969\n00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:37.250\nand we lost three three of our four losses were an overtime which is unheard of\n\n970\n00:40:37.250 --> 00:40:37.800\nyou think\n\n971\n00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:41.030\none of the over times would go your way and we'd still be playing but if I didn\n\n972\n00:40:41.030 --> 00:40:42.200\n't get back\n\n973\n00:40:42.200 --> 00:40:45.600\nthe next year in Chicago that loss would have been a little harder but to get\n\n974\n00:40:45.600 --> 00:40:46.440\nback in Chicago\n\n975\n00:40:46.440 --> 00:40:51.090\nnext year and then win it really you know to have two championships and I think\n\n976\n00:40:51.090 --> 00:40:51.440\nthat\n\n977\n00:40:51.440 --> 00:40:55.370\nkind of took a little heat off but there's not a day goes by where I see a New\n\n978\n00:40:55.370 --> 00:40:56.000\nYork Ranger\n\n979\n00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.540\nlogo or you know where we hang out in the summer and play some golf if someone\n\n980\n00:40:59.540 --> 00:40:59.980\n's not\n\n981\n00:40:59.980 --> 00:41:03.360\ntalking with the Rangers not a day goes by I'm like wow that just could have\n\n982\n00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:03.840\npulled that\n\n983\n00:41:03.840 --> 00:41:07.720\none off but that's life you always want more.\n\n984\n00:41:07.720 --> 00:41:10.240\nYeah you'd like to have that ticker tape for eight.\n\n985\n00:41:10.240 --> 00:41:11.240\nYeah exactly.\n\n986\n00:41:11.240 --> 00:41:13.840\nYou know I know Mark Messier I love that one you know.\n\n987\n00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:14.840\nOh yeah.\n\n988\n00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:18.200\nNow I understand that if you win the Stanley Cup you mentioned this a little\n\n989\n00:41:18.200 --> 00:41:18.840\nbit earlier\n\n990\n00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:23.530\nevery player on the team gets a day with the trophy so you actually get to have\n\n991\n00:41:23.530 --> 00:41:24.240\nthe trophy\n\n992\n00:41:24.240 --> 00:41:29.130\nfor a day you've experienced that twice now what were those days like and what\n\n993\n00:41:29.130 --> 00:41:29.480\ndid you\n\n994\n00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:31.240\ndo with the trophy?\n\n995\n00:41:31.240 --> 00:41:35.230\nSo I went back home to Murray Harbour Prince there down Little Town and because\n\n996\n00:41:35.230 --> 00:41:35.600\nit's so\n\n997\n00:41:35.600 --> 00:41:39.780\nremote the cup flies in on commercial flights and you just go to the airport\n\n998\n00:41:39.780 --> 00:41:40.720\nand meet the\n\n999\n00:41:40.720 --> 00:41:44.770\ncupkeeper and you go the flights are very scarce there so I was lucky you have\n\n1000\n00:41:44.770 --> 00:41:45.200\nit for\n\n1001\n00:41:45.200 --> 00:41:49.480\nlike 40 hours both times so I had two days basically so I was able to do a\n\n1002\n00:41:49.480 --> 00:41:50.200\npublic day\n\n1003\n00:41:50.200 --> 00:41:54.320\nwith all the town and parades and we prayed it through on my dad's fishing boat\n\n1004\n00:41:54.320 --> 00:41:54.840\nthrough\n\n1005\n00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:59.810\nthe town and a lot of people would show up from all over the island and the cup\n\n1006\n00:41:59.810 --> 00:42:00.280\nwould\n\n1007\n00:42:00.280 --> 00:42:03.780\nbe there for pitchers and then we'd bring it to the hospital and we'd do some\n\n1008\n00:42:03.780 --> 00:42:04.160\nstuff\n\n1009\n00:42:04.160 --> 00:42:08.320\nlike that and then the other day would be all private day we'd go in the boats\n\n1010\n00:42:08.320 --> 00:42:08.640\nand the\n\n1011\n00:42:08.640 --> 00:42:12.640\nrivers where we jump off and jet ski we put a life jacket on the on the Stanley\n\n1012\n00:42:12.640 --> 00:42:13.120\nCup I'd\n\n1013\n00:42:13.120 --> 00:42:16.840\ntake a jet skiing and I love it.\n\n1014\n00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:20.320\nYeah and then we'd have a band that night at the rink I grew up in and we'd\n\n1015\n00:42:20.320 --> 00:42:20.920\ninvite kind\n\n1016\n00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:25.760\nof like a wedding type of atmosphere you invite like 150 of your best friends\n\n1017\n00:42:25.760 --> 00:42:26.360\nand live band\n\n1018\n00:42:26.360 --> 00:42:29.570\nand you know the guy that wins it always has to go up and take over the mic and\n\n1019\n00:42:29.570 --> 00:42:29.880\ntake\n\n1020\n00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:34.020\nover the show so that's that's part of the part of the deal but I wish we would\n\n1021\n00:42:34.020 --> 00:42:35.040\nhave been\n\n1022\n00:42:35.040 --> 00:42:38.550\nbuddies and you know playing some golf back then I would have loved to have\n\n1023\n00:42:38.550 --> 00:42:39.280\nbeen invited\n\n1024\n00:42:39.280 --> 00:42:41.280\nto that party that'd be awesome.\n\n1025\n00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:42.280\nOh yeah.\n\n1026\n00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:43.580\nYou know Brad this has been so much fun and I want to ask some more with my\n\n1027\n00:42:43.580 --> 00:42:43.920\nlightning\n\n1028\n00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:45.760\nround of questions are you ready for this?\n\n1029\n00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:46.760\nYep.\n\n1030\n00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:51.520\nAlright what's one word others would use to best describe you?\n\n1031\n00:42:51.520 --> 00:42:54.840\nProbably quiet and reserved.\n\n1032\n00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:58.320\nWhat would you say is the one word that best describes you?\n\n1033\n00:42:58.320 --> 00:43:00.200\nI think very loyal.\n\n1034\n00:43:00.200 --> 00:43:04.960\nIf you could be one person for a day beside yourself who would it be and why?\n\n1035\n00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:09.480\nMaybe Jack Nicholas in the 70s winning all those golf tournaments.\n\n1036\n00:43:09.480 --> 00:43:12.440\nWhat's something only Canadians know about Canada?\n\n1037\n00:43:12.440 --> 00:43:13.440\nPoutine maybe?\n\n1038\n00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.640\nYeah we'll explain that to us.\n\n1039\n00:43:16.640 --> 00:43:22.670\nPoutine is French fries, gravy and melted cheese curds and sometimes a little\n\n1040\n00:43:22.670 --> 00:43:23.040\nbit of\n\n1041\n00:43:23.040 --> 00:43:26.480\nbacon bits but it's a delicacy up there.\n\n1042\n00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:29.480\nAnd that's not what you were eating when you were learning how to eat.\n\n1043\n00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:30.480\nNo, no.\n\n1044\n00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:34.480\nWhat do you enjoy most about also speaking French?\n\n1045\n00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:38.680\nWell it was great to be able to learn two languages.\n\n1046\n00:43:38.680 --> 00:43:42.600\nI think the funniest thing is if you're on a plane in Canada where everybody's\n\n1047\n00:43:42.600 --> 00:43:43.280\nbilingual\n\n1048\n00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:47.210\nand someone's talking about you you can play dumb and know everything they're\n\n1049\n00:43:47.210 --> 00:43:48.240\nsaying.\n\n1050\n00:43:48.240 --> 00:43:50.000\nThat's a hidden treat.\n\n1051\n00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:58.360\nOk now I want you to give me that same answer in French.\n\n1052\n00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:08.160\nI'm going to have you on Canada to give me an oat person.\n\n1053\n00:44:08.160 --> 00:44:11.520\nI'm going to have you on a plane.\n\n1054\n00:44:11.520 --> 00:44:12.520\nThat's great.\n\n1055\n00:44:12.520 --> 00:44:15.520\nI've never done that on the show.\n\n1056\n00:44:15.520 --> 00:44:16.520\nThat's fantastic.\n\n1057\n00:44:16.520 --> 00:44:18.520\nMy French is a little broken now but you don't know that.\n\n1058\n00:44:18.520 --> 00:44:19.520\nThat's pretty good though.\n\n1059\n00:44:19.520 --> 00:44:21.360\nYour wife is from Australia.\n\n1060\n00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:26.040\nWhat's your favorite part about visiting that country?\n\n1061\n00:44:26.040 --> 00:44:27.040\nThere's lots.\n\n1062\n00:44:27.040 --> 00:44:31.320\nThe country, the beaches, the people, the attitude.\n\n1063\n00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:33.960\nAnd as you would know I love the golf down in the sand belt.\n\n1064\n00:44:33.960 --> 00:44:37.280\nWhat's been the most nerve-wracking moment of your playing career?\n\n1065\n00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:41.820\nAs you enter Game 7s, Game 7 days where it's do or die and one of them was to\n\n1066\n00:44:41.820 --> 00:44:42.720\nwin a Stanley\n\n1067\n00:44:42.720 --> 00:44:45.840\nCup and home ice so that was the most nerve-wracking day.\n\n1068\n00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:50.840\nWho's the best hockey player you ever played with or against?\n\n1069\n00:44:50.840 --> 00:44:53.080\nMario Lemuth, best player I ever played with.\n\n1070\n00:44:53.080 --> 00:44:56.760\nIf I turned on your radio and your car what would I hear?\n\n1071\n00:44:56.760 --> 00:44:57.760\nThat's likely Pearl Jim.\n\n1072\n00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:01.920\nI thought you might say Drew Holcomb and we'd be seeing him gratitude.\n\n1073\n00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:05.120\nWell now that's coming.\n\n1074\n00:45:05.120 --> 00:45:07.120\nWhat's something about you a few people would know?\n\n1075\n00:45:07.120 --> 00:45:09.280\nI can't say I speak French.\n\n1076\n00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:13.040\nI'll say I've got a double eagle before a hole in one.\n\n1077\n00:45:13.040 --> 00:45:16.600\nThat's the end of the lightning round.\n\n1078\n00:45:16.600 --> 00:45:18.600\nYou're off the hook.\n\n1079\n00:45:18.600 --> 00:45:23.170\nYou started a foundation called Richie's Rascals for children's cancer patients\n\n1080\n00:45:23.170 --> 00:45:23.880\nin Tampa.\n\n1081\n00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:25.360\nTell us about it.\n\n1082\n00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:29.160\nUnfortunately at a very young age I had my first cousin and neighbor die of a\n\n1083\n00:45:29.160 --> 00:45:29.920\nbrain tumor.\n\n1084\n00:45:29.920 --> 00:45:34.000\nHe was five years old when he got diagnosed, died pretty quick after.\n\n1085\n00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:38.810\nI always, when I'd watch Hockey Night in Canada you'd see players with sick\n\n1086\n00:45:38.810 --> 00:45:40.320\nchildren or cancer\n\n1087\n00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:44.280\nkids or all different types of things go to the games.\n\n1088\n00:45:44.280 --> 00:45:49.870\nWhen I made it I always thought back to that and we created this foundation\n\n1089\n00:45:49.870 --> 00:45:50.840\nwhere we bought\n\n1090\n00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:56.460\na suite and we gutted it and turned it into a playground at the rink because\n\n1091\n00:45:56.460 --> 00:45:57.280\nnot every\n\n1092\n00:45:57.280 --> 00:46:00.370\nkid that you bring in is going to be a hockey fan but they're going to be\n\n1093\n00:46:00.370 --> 00:46:01.080\nexcited to be\n\n1094\n00:46:01.080 --> 00:46:02.880\nthere and see the people.\n\n1095\n00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:05.440\nWe put a goal horn in the middle of it so when we scored they could push the\n\n1096\n00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:05.800\nbutton\n\n1097\n00:46:05.800 --> 00:46:07.040\nand the red light would go.\n\n1098\n00:46:07.040 --> 00:46:08.320\nWe had play stations in there.\n\n1099\n00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:12.560\nWe had arts and crafts and they could put pictures of their night all over the\n\n1100\n00:46:12.560 --> 00:46:13.200\nwalls.\n\n1101\n00:46:13.200 --> 00:46:17.190\nWe made it kind of like a really safe haven for them when they went to the\n\n1102\n00:46:17.190 --> 00:46:17.800\ngames.\n\n1103\n00:46:17.800 --> 00:46:22.770\nWe called it Richie's Rascals and we worked with the Children's Cancer Center\n\n1104\n00:46:22.770 --> 00:46:23.400\nin Tampa\n\n1105\n00:46:23.400 --> 00:46:26.840\nand they would help us bring families that needed a break.\n\n1106\n00:46:26.840 --> 00:46:30.990\nSometimes it would be the siblings and parents of the sick children because the\n\n1107\n00:46:30.990 --> 00:46:31.560\nsiblings\n\n1108\n00:46:31.560 --> 00:46:36.300\nweren't getting much time with their parents and we'd bring them in and I'd\n\n1109\n00:46:36.300 --> 00:46:37.280\nmeet them after\n\n1110\n00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:39.920\nthe games and it meant a lot to me.\n\n1111\n00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:43.640\nI'm getting goosebumps talking about it because I met so many great kids and\n\n1112\n00:46:43.640 --> 00:46:44.480\nunfortunately\n\n1113\n00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:48.820\nnot all the kids have made it but some have and years later when I was playing\n\n1114\n00:46:48.820 --> 00:46:49.360\non other\n\n1115\n00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:53.000\nteams and warm up they'd be down with their sign.\n\n1116\n00:46:53.000 --> 00:47:00.400\nI'm a Richie's Rascal and I'd recognize them and it was very cool and obviously\n\n1117\n00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:00.560\nI'm\n\n1118\n00:47:00.560 --> 00:47:05.910\nnot playing anymore and now we've got a whole center back home in my hospital\n\n1119\n00:47:05.910 --> 00:47:06.880\nnamed after\n\n1120\n00:47:06.880 --> 00:47:09.520\nmy cousin back in Prince Edward Island.\n\n1121\n00:47:09.520 --> 00:47:12.480\nFor the same idea we make them comfortable when they're getting the treatments\n\n1122\n00:47:12.480 --> 00:47:13.120\nand hockey\n\n1123\n00:47:13.120 --> 00:47:17.610\nthemes and all that stuff so they can not feel as intimidated when they have to\n\n1124\n00:47:17.610 --> 00:47:17.920\ngo do\n\n1125\n00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:18.920\nthose things.\n\n1126\n00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:20.920\nThat's great.\n\n1127\n00:47:20.920 --> 00:47:27.240\nWe talked about your dad earlier and I know he recently passed away from ALS.\n\n1128\n00:47:27.240 --> 00:47:29.760\nWhat did that experience teach you Brad?\n\n1129\n00:47:29.760 --> 00:47:36.030\nWell we all hear about ALS but until it hits you I had no idea how nasty of a\n\n1130\n00:47:36.030 --> 00:47:37.000\ndisease it\n\n1131\n00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:39.000\nis.\n\n1132\n00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:43.990\nI also had no idea how unselfish my dad was until he went through that because\n\n1133\n00:47:43.990 --> 00:47:44.640\nhe never\n\n1134\n00:47:44.640 --> 00:47:45.640\ncomplained once.\n\n1135\n00:47:45.640 --> 00:47:48.920\nHe never wanted to be anything about him.\n\n1136\n00:47:48.920 --> 00:47:52.600\nHe kept everything very close to his chest.\n\n1137\n00:47:52.600 --> 00:47:56.120\nHe didn't want his children or grandchildren knowing what he was going through\n\n1138\n00:47:56.120 --> 00:47:56.600\nbut I can\n\n1139\n00:47:56.600 --> 00:48:02.360\nonly imagine what he was going through.\n\n1140\n00:48:02.360 --> 00:48:05.730\nEvery day you're learning from your parents and I kept learning until the end\n\n1141\n00:48:05.730 --> 00:48:06.400\nthat's for\n\n1142\n00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:07.400\nsure.\n\n1143\n00:48:07.400 --> 00:48:10.160\nWhat a great role model for sure.\n\n1144\n00:48:10.160 --> 00:48:15.560\nWhat a treat it had to be for him to see you play hockey for your entire career\n\n1145\n00:48:15.560 --> 00:48:15.680\n.\n\n1146\n00:48:15.680 --> 00:48:19.400\nBrad you retired from the NHL in 2016.\n\n1147\n00:48:19.400 --> 00:48:23.920\nHow are you staying involved in the game and what are your future aspirations?\n\n1148\n00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:28.000\nIf any it's coaching or becoming a GM on the horizon.\n\n1149\n00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:30.160\nI tried a little bit when I was living in New York still.\n\n1150\n00:48:30.160 --> 00:48:34.200\nI worked with the Rangers for four years in an advisory role.\n\n1151\n00:48:34.200 --> 00:48:37.990\nWhat I learned I think is if you're going to get into that you've got to really\n\n1152\n00:48:37.990 --> 00:48:38.440\ngo all\n\n1153\n00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:39.440\nin.\n\n1154\n00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:40.440\nWe moved down to Florida.\n\n1155\n00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:41.440\nI have young kids.\n\n1156\n00:48:41.440 --> 00:48:43.960\nMy son's in travel hockey now.\n\n1157\n00:48:43.960 --> 00:48:48.100\nI just thought at this time I'm going to have more fun being around him and my\n\n1158\n00:48:48.100 --> 00:48:48.600\ngirls for\n\n1159\n00:48:48.600 --> 00:48:52.320\na little bit but at the same time I just turned 43.\n\n1160\n00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:57.810\nI've got to keep my mind moving a little bit and I'm always open to getting\n\n1161\n00:48:57.810 --> 00:48:58.520\nback into\n\n1162\n00:48:58.520 --> 00:49:00.040\nit in a certain capacity.\n\n1163\n00:49:00.040 --> 00:49:03.190\nBut I think like I said I think if you want to do it and want to get fulfilled\n\n1164\n00:49:03.190 --> 00:49:03.720\nwith it\n\n1165\n00:49:03.720 --> 00:49:07.370\nyou've got to really put the time in and I just wasn't prepared to go all in at\n\n1166\n00:49:07.370 --> 00:49:07.680\nthat\n\n1167\n00:49:07.680 --> 00:49:08.960\npoint.\n\n1168\n00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:10.880\nHow are you moving into the business world?\n\n1169\n00:49:10.880 --> 00:49:15.600\nI know you're focused on your family and what's been the biggest challenges as\n\n1170\n00:49:15.600 --> 00:49:15.920\nyou've\n\n1171\n00:49:15.920 --> 00:49:20.360\nhad to navigate this transition because we all go through transitions.\n\n1172\n00:49:20.360 --> 00:49:23.400\nYeah I think the biggest thing for me is the structure.\n\n1173\n00:49:23.400 --> 00:49:24.400\nThere's no routine anymore.\n\n1174\n00:49:24.400 --> 00:49:25.400\nThere's no schedule.\n\n1175\n00:49:25.400 --> 00:49:30.090\nI was told what to do since I was 14 years old to wake up, go to school, go to\n\n1176\n00:49:30.090 --> 00:49:31.000\npractice,\n\n1177\n00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:34.320\nwhatever it was, NHL, you had to be here, the bus, the plane, everything's\n\n1178\n00:49:34.320 --> 00:49:36.000\nleaving and\n\n1179\n00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:39.100\nyou're on autopilot and you just kind of woke up and you knew your day all the\n\n1180\n00:49:39.100 --> 00:49:39.480\ntime.\n\n1181\n00:49:39.480 --> 00:49:43.240\nNow you're waking up and there's some days you don't have anything on the books\n\n1182\n00:49:43.240 --> 00:49:43.480\n.\n\n1183\n00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:45.400\nI try to keep as busy as possible.\n\n1184\n00:49:45.400 --> 00:49:47.000\nBut that's been the biggest transition.\n\n1185\n00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:51.070\nI think I'm learning how to handle that more and I'm also, I think as you know\n\n1186\n00:49:51.070 --> 00:49:52.040\nthrough golf\n\n1187\n00:49:52.040 --> 00:49:55.940\nand through meeting people in retirement I am starting to see different\n\n1188\n00:49:55.940 --> 00:49:56.840\npathways maybe\n\n1189\n00:49:56.840 --> 00:50:01.030\nin business or opportunities to go into different things other than hockey\n\n1190\n00:50:01.030 --> 00:50:02.200\nmeeting great people\n\n1191\n00:50:02.200 --> 00:50:04.920\nlike yourself or mutual friends we have.\n\n1192\n00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:08.270\nI've had lots of conversations and you know I'm not rushing anything but it is\n\n1193\n00:50:08.270 --> 00:50:08.920\ninteresting\n\n1194\n00:50:08.920 --> 00:50:13.940\nto tick brains of some of the great leaders of the world in business and see\n\n1195\n00:50:13.940 --> 00:50:14.400\nhow they\n\n1196\n00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:16.040\ndid things.\n\n1197\n00:50:16.040 --> 00:50:18.840\nSo yeah I'm excited what the future holds.\n\n1198\n00:50:18.840 --> 00:50:23.040\nI still want to, I still watch hockey every night and try to stay in touch with\n\n1199\n00:50:23.040 --> 00:50:23.520\na lot of\n\n1200\n00:50:23.520 --> 00:50:29.820\nGM's and scouts and keep that open but I also love the opportunity maybe to do\n\n1201\n00:50:29.820 --> 00:50:30.600\nother things\n\n1202\n00:50:30.600 --> 00:50:31.600\ntoo.\n\n1203\n00:50:31.600 --> 00:50:35.850\nYeah well you know you're very young and you've got that opportunity to pursue\n\n1204\n00:50:35.850 --> 00:50:36.120\nthat career\n\n1205\n00:50:36.120 --> 00:50:39.780\nbut I think I envy the fact that you can spend this time with your family and\n\n1206\n00:50:39.780 --> 00:50:40.240\nyou're\n\n1207\n00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:45.440\ndoing that I think that's good on you as they would say in Australia.\n\n1208\n00:50:45.440 --> 00:50:49.360\nI also know you're a minority owner in untucket and now I know why your shirts\n\n1209\n00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:50.000\nare always\n\n1210\n00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:51.000\nuntucked.\n\n1211\n00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:54.120\nJust trying to be cool what's your role on that team?\n\n1212\n00:50:54.120 --> 00:51:00.220\nWhen I was in New York I was their spokesperson or whatever and it wasn't doing\n\n1213\n00:51:00.220 --> 00:51:00.760\nthat well\n\n1214\n00:51:00.760 --> 00:51:05.370\nand Chris Ricabano who now has become very successful we got another thing\n\n1215\n00:51:05.370 --> 00:51:06.600\ncalled greatness\n\n1216\n00:51:06.600 --> 00:51:12.060\nwins with Derek Jeter and Wayne Gretzky also clothing line and you know it was\n\n1217\n00:51:12.060 --> 00:51:13.080\nkind of\n\n1218\n00:51:13.080 --> 00:51:16.450\nwe're in the need of a push here we're not I don't know running out of money is\n\n1219\n00:51:16.450 --> 00:51:16.840\nthe right\n\n1220\n00:51:16.840 --> 00:51:20.960\nway to put it but it was kind of and I said well listen don't bother paying me.\n\n1221\n00:51:20.960 --> 00:51:25.790\nLet's just run it into ownership in the company and I'll keep trying to help\n\n1222\n00:51:25.790 --> 00:51:26.520\nand do stuff\n\n1223\n00:51:26.520 --> 00:51:30.270\nand that was kind of the decision me my agent made back then and now the\n\n1224\n00:51:30.270 --> 00:51:31.320\ncompany's grown\n\n1225\n00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:36.720\nand it's been a lot of fun to learn and see what Chris has done with that and\n\n1226\n00:51:36.720 --> 00:51:37.760\nnow I've\n\n1227\n00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:41.860\nbeen involved in greatness wins and trying to help them actually get into some\n\n1228\n00:51:41.860 --> 00:51:42.280\nof the\n\n1229\n00:51:42.280 --> 00:51:47.370\ngolf shops and they're making a golf clothing line and so that's been fun also\n\n1230\n00:51:47.370 --> 00:51:48.000\nlearning a\n\n1231\n00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:54.000\nlittle bit of what he's let me in learning that business but yeah it's been a\n\n1232\n00:51:54.000 --> 00:51:54.440\nlot of\n\n1233\n00:51:54.440 --> 00:51:59.800\nfun and I do have to wear the untucked shirts to try to try to sell the brand.\n\n1234\n00:51:59.800 --> 00:52:03.640\nNow this greatness wins is creating athletic wear for the modern athlete and\n\n1235\n00:52:03.640 --> 00:52:04.200\nyou teamed\n\n1236\n00:52:04.200 --> 00:52:08.640\nup with Gretzky and Derek Jeter.\n\n1237\n00:52:08.640 --> 00:52:11.200\nWhat are these two guys like as business partners?\n\n1238\n00:52:11.200 --> 00:52:18.460\nDerek obviously I don't know him that well but his leadership and his focus and\n\n1239\n00:52:18.460 --> 00:52:18.960\nwhat\n\n1240\n00:52:18.960 --> 00:52:22.540\nhe's going to do he doesn't do anything just for the sake of doing it and I\n\n1241\n00:52:22.540 --> 00:52:23.000\nthink that's\n\n1242\n00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:27.670\nwhy Chris Rick Abano chose him to be the face of it because he knows he's going\n\n1243\n00:52:27.670 --> 00:52:28.160\nto go all\n\n1244\n00:52:28.160 --> 00:52:34.790\nin he just has that type of personality and obviously being a New York Yankee\n\n1245\n00:52:34.790 --> 00:52:35.840\nand multiple\n\n1246\n00:52:35.840 --> 00:52:40.760\nworld championship winner world series winner doesn't hurt your brand obviously\n\n1247\n00:52:40.760 --> 00:52:40.920\n.\n\n1248\n00:52:40.920 --> 00:52:44.730\nAnd Wayne Gretzky the great one speaks for himself when you have a name\n\n1249\n00:52:44.730 --> 00:52:45.680\ngreatness wins\n\n1250\n00:52:45.680 --> 00:52:47.160\nand you can add the great one.\n\n1251\n00:52:47.160 --> 00:52:50.930\nThey're great ambassadors and they have great stories to tell and I'm just\n\n1252\n00:52:50.930 --> 00:52:51.600\nhappy they let\n\n1253\n00:52:51.600 --> 00:52:53.160\nme tag along.\n\n1254\n00:52:53.160 --> 00:52:56.360\nWell you had a heck of a lot I'm sure.\n\n1255\n00:52:56.360 --> 00:53:00.000\nAnd last question for you Brad what's one piece of advice you've given to\n\n1256\n00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:00.720\nsomeone who\n\n1257\n00:53:00.720 --> 00:53:04.280\nwants to be a better leader what's the most important bit of advice?\n\n1258\n00:53:04.280 --> 00:53:09.030\nI would always say that you have to take truth and honesty you need it and you\n\n1259\n00:53:09.030 --> 00:53:09.600\nhave to take\n\n1260\n00:53:09.600 --> 00:53:11.520\nit the best way possible.\n\n1261\n00:53:11.520 --> 00:53:14.530\nA lot of truth and honesty was told to me over the years and I wish when I was\n\n1262\n00:53:14.530 --> 00:53:15.000\nyounger\n\n1263\n00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:18.830\nI would have handled it better as I got older I realized if you can't handle\n\n1264\n00:53:18.830 --> 00:53:19.520\nthe truth or\n\n1265\n00:53:19.520 --> 00:53:22.470\ncan't accept the truth and what you're doing and how you're performing you're\n\n1266\n00:53:22.470 --> 00:53:22.800\njust not\n\n1267\n00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:26.740\ngoing to get better because you'll find excuses you'll find ways to ignore it\n\n1268\n00:53:26.740 --> 00:53:27.680\nor oh it's not\n\n1269\n00:53:27.680 --> 00:53:33.560\nnot me it's someone else or once you look yourself in the mirror and accept\n\n1270\n00:53:33.560 --> 00:53:34.160\nbeing told\n\n1271\n00:53:34.160 --> 00:53:37.360\nthe truth all the time you'll get better all the time.\n\n1272\n00:53:37.360 --> 00:53:42.260\nYou know I've done probably 150 podcasts nobody's ever provided that answer but\n\n1273\n00:53:42.260 --> 00:53:43.040\nthat's a great\n\n1274\n00:53:43.040 --> 00:53:46.080\ninsight for everybody to listen to.\n\n1275\n00:53:46.080 --> 00:53:50.630\nYou know it's been a lot of fun having this conversation with you Brad I've\n\n1276\n00:53:50.630 --> 00:53:51.680\nalways admired\n\n1277\n00:53:51.680 --> 00:54:04.310\nyou in the way I you attack everything and there's a reason why you are a\n\n1278\n00:54:04.310 --> 00:54:06.840\nchampion.\n\n1279\n00:54:06.840 --> 00:54:10.290\nYou know I know Brad pretty well and Brad's never going to be the loudest guy\n\n1280\n00:54:10.290 --> 00:54:10.640\nin the\n\n1281\n00:54:10.640 --> 00:54:15.480\nroom but you know what his strength and resilience as the leader comes through\n\n1282\n00:54:15.480 --> 00:54:16.800\nloud and clear\n\n1283\n00:54:16.800 --> 00:54:18.840\nand he walks the talk.\n\n1284\n00:54:18.840 --> 00:54:23.300\nI just love how he isn't afraid to do the hard work and face the hard truths\n\n1285\n00:54:23.300 --> 00:54:23.920\nand then\n\n1286\n00:54:23.920 --> 00:54:29.040\ntrust that effort and draw on it as a source of confidence in tough moments.\n\n1287\n00:54:29.040 --> 00:54:34.120\nNow listen you don't have to be a hockey player to apply that lesson to your\n\n1288\n00:54:34.120 --> 00:54:34.220\nlife.\n\n1289\n00:54:34.220 --> 00:54:38.800\nThis week ask yourself where do I dig in and do the hard work.\n\n1290\n00:54:38.800 --> 00:54:42.900\nWhere do I need to accept the hard truths so that I can improve.\n\n1291\n00:54:42.900 --> 00:54:48.370\nPut in that effort today that way down the road whenever you face a difficult\n\n1292\n00:54:48.370 --> 00:54:49.220\nsituation\n\n1293\n00:54:49.220 --> 00:54:54.810\nor you're under lots of pressure or you just need to flat out execute you're\n\n1294\n00:54:54.810 --> 00:54:55.380\ngoing to have\n\n1295\n00:54:55.380 --> 00:54:59.770\nso much more confidence because you can trust you've done the hard work and you\n\n1296\n00:54:59.770 --> 00:55:00.460\nprepared\n\n1297\n00:55:00.460 --> 00:55:02.160\nfor the pressure.\n\n1298\n00:55:02.160 --> 00:55:06.030\nSo do you want to know how leaders lead what we learned today is the great\n\n1299\n00:55:06.030 --> 00:55:06.980\nleaders trust\n\n1300\n00:55:06.980 --> 00:55:09.420\nthe hard work they put in.\n\n1301\n00:55:09.420 --> 00:55:13.580\nComing up next on how leaders leaders are best of quarter two episode where we\n\n1302\n00:55:13.580 --> 00:55:14.180\npull out\n\n1303\n00:55:14.180 --> 00:55:18.470\nsome of the greatest wisdom from the last three months and highlight the best\n\n1304\n00:55:18.470 --> 00:55:19.140\ntakeaways\n\n1305\n00:55:19.140 --> 00:55:24.820\nfor you like this one from Annie Young Scribner the CEO of Wella.\n\n1306\n00:55:24.820 --> 00:55:30.900\nI think my first lesson was to really appreciate people's work and to\n\n1307\n00:55:30.900 --> 00:55:32.140\nunderstand that I was\n\n1308\n00:55:32.140 --> 00:55:37.110\nnot going to be the smartest person in the room but what I could do is to learn\n\n1309\n00:55:37.110 --> 00:55:37.520\nbest\n\n1310\n00:55:37.520 --> 00:55:43.400\npractices from each of them also find out what was important for them and then\n\n1311\n00:55:43.400 --> 00:55:44.320\ngalvanize\n\n1312\n00:55:44.320 --> 00:55:49.930\nlearning so that together the team could achieve because they were each acting\n\n1313\n00:55:49.930 --> 00:55:50.960\nas individual\n\n1314\n00:55:50.960 --> 00:55:52.360\nversus his team.\n\n1315\n00:55:52.360 --> 00:55:58.440\nWe had a ton of fun we won every single district contest and those early\n\n1316\n00:55:58.440 --> 00:56:00.640\nlessons have imprinted\n\n1317\n00:56:00.640 --> 00:56:27.360\nme forever.\n\n1318\n00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:30.600\nand this is the end of the day.\n\n1319\n00:56:30.600 --> 00:56:31.840\nSo thank you for joining me.\n\n1320\n00:56:31.840 --> 00:56:34.780\nI'm going to be a little bit more confident in what you're doing and I'm going\n\n1321\n00:56:34.780 --> 00:56:35.420\nto be a little\n\n1322\n00:56:35.420 --> 00:56:36.420\nbit more confident in what you're doing.\n\n1323\n00:56:36.420 --> 00:56:37.420\nI'm going to be a little bit more confident in what you're doing.\n\n1324\n00:56:37.420 --> 00:56:38.420\nAnd it's going to be a little bit more confident in what you're doing.\n\n1325\n00:56:38.420 --> 00:56:39.420\nI'm going to be a little bit more confident in what you're doing.\n\n1326\n00:56:39.420 --> 00:56:40.420\nI'm going to be a little bit more confident in what you're doing.","

David Novak 0:04

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Well, the Stanley Cup Finals just wrapped up, which makes us the perfect time to talk to Brad Richards. He's a two time winner of the Stanley Cup and the MVP of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. And I gotta tell you, in the world of hockey, he is Mr. Clutch. He has a perfect eight no record in game seven play, which is something no other hockey player has ever done in the history of the game. And get this he set a record for the most game winning goals in a single playoff season, scoring seven of them. Brad consistently knows how to perform in clutch situations, which is the quality every leader needs, whether you're on the ice or in the office. And when you listen to this conversation, you're going to see why Brad's an even keeled guy, and he knows how to put his head down and work hard. And all that effort and preparation gives him the confidence that he's ready to step up and deliver in the big moments. Now, look, you may not be skating out on the ice with the Stanley Cup on the line. But I can guarantee you, if you lead, you're going to face high pressure situations where you got to come to the game and give it your best. Listen to this conversation and learn how to walk into situations like this with confidence, because you know how to trust the hard work that you've put in. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Brad Richards.

Brad, it's great to have you on the show. Oh, it's

Brad Richards 1:53

a pleasure being here.

David Novak 1:54

Tell us something about playing in the Stanley Cup, you would only know if you played in it.

Brad Richards 2:00

Obviously, it's a dream when you get there. You don't realize I think the first time you don't realize how big it is for the media, the media day. All the other stuff you have to do for the national TV, all the little photo shoots, you just want to play hockey. But obviously you're at the mercy of the league and TV and there's like a day and a half. Somewhere like the Super Bowl. Obviously ours isn't as big as the Superbowl, the media day and all that stuff, which I never dreamed of as a kid I thought, Okay, we're here, when do we get the play, but you have to wait two or three days to do all that stuff. And by the end of it, you're, you know, you're you're like a caged dog trying to get out there and just want to play the game. I think that was the biggest eye opener, you know, it's bigger than just you wanting to go out and, and skate. So as a lot of fun to adjust to that. And as you I got to go to three of them. And as you get older, you kind of just learn to deal with it and you're eight rolls off the back. So you say

David Novak 2:55

you're like a caged animal when you're ready to get into those finals. And I could see you being that way. Tell us a story from your first experience in the NHL finals in 2004 that you love to tell

Brad Richards 3:08

our final that year we lost the first game, it's the best of seven and we just kept sharing games. So eventually we knew we had to win two in a row or we weren't going to win. And we lost on home ice and overtime in game five and our coach had a great you come in and it was really a tough loss because we had to fly six hours to Calgary and play them two nights later. And they're gonna have all of Canada waiting for them to win the cup and backs against the wall and we were kind of we were pretty down after that game and he had a great speech he basically said we're going out there we're gonna have our family's gonna come we're coming back here we're gonna get everybody's set up we're gonna have hotels we're family back here and game seven he just started talking like we are coming back for game seven and there was no what ifs and by the end of the meeting, we're all like okay, we better call our families and get them booked for game seven. But we haven't even played game six yet. It was a great speech. Kind of get our minds off the tough loss and and looking at what a great opportunity we have to win game six and come back and home is and we ended up doing that and and in double overtime and came back and home ice and worn it in front of our family and friends.

David Novak 4:12

I love that gets your family's friends ready. We're coming back booked the tickets. I love that. You know, Brad, you know in my research I've learned and I knew a lot about you before but you know I didn't know this stat but you may be the the greatest clutch player in the playoffs going and incredible eight no in game sevens. Nobody has ever done that in the history of hockey. How did you get up for the big games? I mean, I know it's a team sport, but you are a part of all of them. And you were you know you're a leader on the team.

Brad Richards 4:43

Well, the first two are very nerve racking. I was just turned 24 And at that point, you think you'll be in 1000 of them and no big deal. You're not really you know, you want to win them but you're young and dumb and too stupid to realize the gravity of of everything that's going on that day. And as you got older the record can have been mentioned in the media. So there was more pressure to keep that undefeated record, but you got older, and you knew that there's not many of these opportunities anymore. So those were a lot harder to get your rest and stuff to sleep the night before really tough to sleep during the day, you always have a nap during the day at eight o'clock games in the playoffs and try to have a little nap. But you couldn't do that you'd be tossing and turning. And I think the biggest thing was trying to get a routine. And eventually I found a routine that kept me going a little bit, I'd read a little bit, I'd watch blue, and I watched this comedy show called the office the British version, back then it kind of make me laugh Ricky Gervais and kind of get my mind off of it. And I kind of kept the same, I'd even keep the same episodes if we want. But that was that kept me kind of in a routine. And it kept me from thinking too far ahead. And about all the the failures or bad things that could happen. And it kept me in a good frame of mind. And I just kind of learned to get a routine like that,

David Novak 5:54

you know, whether you're on the ice or in the boardroom, Brad, you know, we all have to show up and perform when the pressure really is on? What advice do you have for leaders on how they can better prepare for those big moments? You mentioned routine is one of the things you did but is there any other advice you'd give to somebody to say, Okay, you got the big game, big event, the big presentation. Okay, here's how you get ready for it.

Brad Richards 6:17

Yeah, I think obviously, if you're in those situation, you've probably put in the work, I would imagine, I would hope so you've put in the work and, and that's one good thing to lean on. If you've done your, you know, boardroom, whatever you would call it, your practices or your training, and you do all that. And once once that is done, you gotta try to, it's hard to say or hard to do, but you just got to try to relax and believe that you've put in the work in preparation. You know, in the locker room you trust your teammates are there, they're doing the same thing. And you can help if you if you are a leader or you're one of the captains of the team, you can help if you're seeing some guys that aren't quite what you think, doing the right things to be ready for the big game. And then you got to go out and it's execution in the end. You know, it's again, it's hard to do, but your your mind has to shut off and you just got to get in the zone and execute. And there's all different techniques of that some people like to meditate and game days, like I said, I like to try to get my mind into something, some comedy or something that loosen me up. And so I'm not uptight, but finding little little ways that you're not just focused on it. 24/7 Because that can you know, sometimes too much is is a detriment. So that's basically what we would do and try to help help the young guys in the team. Try to get them to relax.

David Novak 7:31

You were MVP in 2004 of the of the Stanley Cup Finals, and then you're you're you're in the likes, you know other people who've done it or Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messi, a Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, I mean, describe what it's like to be in a fraternity like that. I mean, that's, that's an amazing group of players. And there you are, you're right there with him.

Brad Richards 7:55

When you say it like that. It's very flattering. Now that my career is over, it's something I look back on. And it's pretty crazy. When I when I first get the trophy, you win as a team. And you don't really think much of the MVP. It's great. But you're, you can't wait to get with your team and celebrate the Stanley Cup. It's like the day or two later, I was sitting with my family, we had breakfast next morning with the continent, they let you bring the consummate home with you or whatever trophy win. So it was home with us next morning and all my family was there and we're looking at the names. And just so happens that the way the names go on the trophy, the way mine worked out is under it went Bobby Orr, Gretzky, and then me all in a row coming down. And my dad was, you know, he couldn't, you couldn't fathom it either. He was he was out of his mind. And that's when it kind of hit me. But when you're playing, you know, you never, no one thinks of trying to win an MVP. You're trying to win the Stanley Cup. So it took a few days to kind of really grasp and as I get older when people see you and they say you win the consummate, and like Well, yeah, I guess you know, I guess that was a pretty big thing.

David Novak 8:57

I would say so. And you were born and raised in Canada, and I understand your father was a third generation lobstermen. Did you ever think you'd follow in his footsteps and go into that line of business?

Brad Richards 9:08

early on he I had to help out. You know, when, when I was young, and especially on weekends, when there's no school, like getting the 3:45am Wake up call and the North Atlantic and early May. Sometimes there's snow flurries, big, big waves. It just never was for me. And to be honest, my dad was very, very helpful and trying to get me out of that. He knew that sports or hockey was maybe an opportunity to go get some schooling or get some college paid for and he really helped me and sacrificed a lot financially to get me out of there. And I was able to go to Western Canada and kind of go to a private school that gave me an opportunity to further my education because of hockey. But it was never, never something I loved if something I had to do and I knew I would do it if if that's what the family needed, but I was lucky enough I have a father that really supported me doing something else.

David Novak 10:03

You know, I don't think people in the United States fully understand what hockey means to Canadians. So paint the picture for me. What does hockey mean to a Canadian?

Brad Richards 10:13

Well, you know, as long winters and you know, there'll be people in northern Minnesota and northern Michigan, places like that would would understand that, but there's not a lot of other activities. And hockey was a community thing. Every little town has a rink. So families get together, it's dark at four o'clock. They get their hot chocolate, the kids are all playing the moms and dads get to meet for the evening. You get to go on weekends, you get to go on road trips to tournaments, and the families are together. It really gets you through these long winters, frozen ponds on Saturdays and Sundays, we'd wake up and if it got dark father would pull the car up and put the lights on the on the pond so we could play longer. It's just the fabric of how we grew up. And when when you have those long winters, Scandinavia, there's lots of great players in there, Russia, it's it's kind of it's an eight month thing, and it brings the community together. And we we always, you know, all your best buddies are doing that all day long.

David Novak 11:09

Yeah, the long winters. That's a great rationale for it. I never really thought about it that way. And you left home when you were 14 years old for a boarding school in Saskatchewan, that had a renowned hockey program. Walk us through that decision. That had to be a big decision to leave that close knit family and go to this boarding school.

Brad Richards 11:28

It was a crazy, crazy time. It was August school started in September. And we got a call from a gentleman that kind of ran hockey schools in our our home area. And he said I got a call from the coach at Notre Dame and that they'd be wondering if you'd be interested in going out there. We had four weeks to decide. And I think that helped me because it's so quick. I didn't get time to think. And my dad, my dad said, if you want to come home, I'll fly home at any time if it's not going to be for you. So off I went, I had $40 Canadian never been on a plane before. No cell phones. This is 1994 and I landed in southern Saskatchewan I got a taxi and told them where I'm going. And I ended up at the school I had no idea and met my my best friend and a teammate for 14 years Vincent McAfee there. We won a Stanley Cup together, played in the Olympics together did everything together, we happen to be bunkmates and played in the same team for 14 straight years after that. I don't know why we met so quick and so early. But we did and we kind of latched on and next thing you know, hockey started and once hockey started, both of us were were only 14 We made the the team with older older players. And we both kind of just felt at home. Once we got on the ice, we were comfortable and we weren't homesick anymore. We just this is where we belong. And we were able to make the team and do well on the team. So it kind of I'm not sure how it would have went if we if we didn't make the team weren't a key key part of the team. But it just seemed like everything felt normal after that. And hockey was our happy place. And that place really made us grow up and mature. And like I said, my whole goal is to try to get a US NCAA scholarship, that would have been a dream and things just kind of happened from there.

David Novak 13:13

You know, your boarding school was pretty intense, as I understand it from, you know, from what I've heard, you know, no janitors or kitchen staff, the students did it all. What kind of impact did that have on you in your formative years.

Brad Richards 13:26

It's amazing when I look back, you know, as any 1415 year old would be, you're miserable when you're doing it. So when we're here on garbage duty, which is 6am tractor that goes around the school getting all the garbage, when we're on kitchen duty when we're in janitor duty, and the foreigner students share the jobs. And like I said, You're in it together, everybody's miserable. But you do it your buddies or your classmates or your roommates. And all of a sudden the year goes by and you just want to get back and be with everybody and you go through those things together. It really makes you grow and you create relationships that still last. I just think it's where your determination, hard work, perseverance, it all. It all starts at young age and to go through those experiences were pretty unique and really helped me in the future.

David Novak 14:16

When was it Brad, when you knew that you had the talent to be a professional hockey player? When did you actually say to yourself, you know what? I think maybe I can do this.

Brad Richards 14:26

When I was 17 I was picked for the under 18 national team for Team Canada, which is a big deal obviously in Canada when you pick for any national team that was going into my draft year and that kind of like perked me up and said okay, if I'm if they're watching me for this team, I must be doing something. Okay, I must be in the mix. And we went over to Europe and we won the UN under 18 championships over there. And it was a great experience to realize I can play with, you know, anybody around the world that it kind of gives you a little bit of a confidence obviously leaving there and then the next year is a draft year. got drafted, I didn't get drafted as high as I would have liked. I was still pretty, pretty small at that time, kind of started growing a little bit around there. But, but it was still an unbelievable feeling to get drafted. But you knew there's still more work, but at least you knew you had a chance you still had to put in the work and show them that you need to be signed and sign a contract make the team but yeah, I think that first national team for Team Canada really gave me the belief that I could I could play with these guys. You know,

David Novak 15:27

you turn pro then when you were 18 years old? And what advice can you give to other leaders who are thrown on onto the eyes or whatever it looks like in their profession, with people who have a lot more experience and skill than they do? I mean, you're 18 years old, and you're gone into this world where there's all kinds of wildly veterans, I mean, how do you survive and thrive in a in a new situation like that,

Brad Richards 15:53

you got to realize there's going to be a lot of bumps a lot of bad days, and they're not bad, I was still living a dream, but not everything is gonna go right. And you got to get up the next day. And I think, you know, for, especially in sports, being, you know, try to be the first guy at the rink, try to be the last guy off the ice. First guy in the gym. You got to show your veterans that you're willing to put in the work that they've put in their whole career. And then they take you under their wing. I was so lucky when I was 1920. Our captain was 40 years old. He's a Hall of Famer, he had been through everything. He had never been to a Stanley Cup final. And he finally won with us. But I watched him and he was 40 years old. He was at the rink an hour before everybody even thought about being there. He was on the ice ahead of everybody is coming off the ice after and I'm looking at him like, Okay, I'm 1920 I better be doing this too. He's 40 I got way more energy than him. So I gotta get out here and show him and he ended up being a great mentor to me. He take me golfing all the time, me over to the house for dinners. And without his leadership and mentorship, there's no no way I would have felt comfortable in those situations in a locker room. If something did go bad. He was like a big brother, I'd look at him and he'd grabbed me and maybe go for a beer after and say, Hey, listen, come down. You got a whole career ahead of you. And he'd really put things into perspective for me and given give me some of his experiences. And without him, you know, who knows where the path would have went?

David Novak 17:19

Yeah, we all need somebody to take us under our wing under their wings and help us you know, learn how to get things done. And in any industry. What was his name, by the way, Brad?

Brad Richards 17:29

Dave Andrew checks his name. He had over 600 goals and over 1600 games played in the league played for 22 years, we finally won a Stanley Cup for him when he was 42 years old. So that was an amazing time.

David Novak 17:41

What was that, like when you two got together? Right after winning that cup. I mean, here's this guy, he's been your mentor, and you obviously helped him get to where he wanted to go.

Brad Richards 17:51

We looked at him during that whole finals. And we kept thinking he had never been to a Stanley Cup Final 22 years and, and there's a bunch of us there at 2324 years old, we were young team and we're looking each other like, God, this must be a lot harder than we're making it look because this guy is like, like, he can hardly breathe over there. He's so nervous. He knows this is probably at he's never been in the final. So to win it, see him lift the cap. And then, you know, in the locker room, we kicked everybody out. At one point I was just the coaches and the players and and we all kind of tackled him and jumped on him. And it was the first time we he acted like a little kid. And he could let his guard down and not be that leader. And it was so cool to see.

David Novak 18:33

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Brad, I have to tell you, you know you without a doubt are one of the most competitive persons I've ever met in my life. You know, we've had the great privilege to to play golf against each other with each other but you're Are you are competitive, you know? Has there ever been a time when you had to tone it down to play your best?

Brad Richards 19:46

Definitely when you want to get out and play your best even keel even kills. So much. A better way to go and the ups and downs sometimes when I was younger, could get to U turn a a two To game, the streak of losing or something going bad, you turn it into a five, six game because you just couldn't control your emotions. Same thing the other way, you can't get too high, you turn to a great five game winning streak, and it would end because you get cocky or you lose focus. So I think you know, and learning how to Yeah, calm that, I think in the biggest part hockey, you could go out and throw some emotion around with a hit or some people fight or you could kind of get that out. But learning to do that in golf. So the hardest thing is how to how to calm down and, and not take everything so serious, because it can it can ruin around. But for sure in hockey that that was something you had to learn at a young age that you can't do everything in one night. It's a long season. There's a process to things,

David Novak 20:43

you know, you've represented your country on five different occasions, not only at the World Cup, but also at the Olympics, playing for Team Canada. What do you learn playing on the international scene?

Brad Richards 20:55

The Olympics was such a cool experience, not just for hockey, but to see all the other athletes, you know, you watch the Olympics like a fan like you would, and you see these people from all over the world. I had no, I just didn't study it. But I had no idea when I got to the Olympic Village, how young some of these kids are. There's 14 year olds, 15 year olds or ski jumpers, figure skaters people all over the world. And that's their, that's their pinnacle. And to see them and see the looks on their faces. And you know us as pro athletes, it's a different thing. It's two weeks, it's a great feeling. But it's two weeks, you're getting pulled from kind of a brotherhood where you're growing a team for maybe six, seven years, and your and your team's back here and you get thrown in for two weeks. And you want to win. And of course it's big, but to see the looks on these athletes faces where they've put in their whole life for one event, and it could be just one jump. And that makes their whole, you know, their whole career to sit and talk with some of those, those athletes from around the world in a village was that was the coolest thing for me to see all those different athletes.

David Novak 21:56

Do you recall a story that really stands out? When you think about, you know, being in the Olympics,

Brad Richards 22:02

the biggest thing in Canada was I'll give you like, which was shocking. We played Italy was the host, so we had to play Italy first and they get a team. But most of Italy were Canadian kids with dual passports that never could make it an NHL. And you know, it wasn't much of a game, changing the game all the parents of the Italian kids or basic Canadian kids were we're sitting with our parents asking if we'd all take pictures with them and maybe get one of our hockey sticks after the game and stuff like that. So to kind of go there as a pro athlete and play against a team that they were just happy to be on the same ice and play against Canada, but they're they're basic Canadians, but they were more excited. Can we hang out with you guys after it? Can we go in your locker room, get some pictures, stuff like that. So that's where the professional athlete part of the Olympics gets, you know, it's a little different than the amateur side. But the like I said, talking to some of those athletes. There was a figure skater that was like 14 years old from I forget which country but I mean, she looked like she looked like she was eight. And she won a medal. And she was just as proud as you could be. And to realize that, like, that's probably the end of her career, almost you probably do it two or three more times. And that was it. It was pretty amazing to see.

David Novak 23:12

Yeah. And you get to keep on going. You know, that's funny. There was no Miracle on Ice when Italy played Ghana. You know, Brad, at what point in your career did you transition from being an individual contributor and a heck of a good one, by the way, obviously, you know, to, to being identified as a leader on your team.

Brad Richards 23:33

Early on when we won in Tampa, you know, I kind of thought I'd be back and I'll get 567 More chances at this. And 10 Years went by before I got to another final. And that's when I was in New York and we had traded our captain that year. Ryan Callahan went to Tampa and we brought in Marty St. Louis was a good friend of mine, a teammate of mine when we weren't in Tampa, so it was cool to get an old friend back in, in the in the lineup, but we lost her captain I was one of the assistant captain. So that year I kind of was the de facto captain in Iran and, and it was a whole different feeling than being the 24 year old with looking up to a leader. I tried to remember what Dave and recheck was doing for us, and what he was helping us with and teaching us in that run with the young guys. And we faced some crazy adversity. We were down three one to Pittsburgh and Marty had lost his mom to a heart attack right before a game. And we came back and won that series. Marty had the winning goal really galvanized our locker room and we went to the final. And we had a lot of young kids that gained a lot of experience New York was magical. Trying to try to win a Stanley Cup in New York was just amazing. We ran into a really good team and we lost but that's the first time I really had to take leadership on my on my own shoulders and I'll be honest, is a lot tougher than just going out and playing because you had to play but you had to kind of monitor the room all the time. And make sure there's a lot of different personalities 23 different personalities with a lot of little things. To go into it. So it was an eye opener for me to realize how hard and I have a lot of respect for people that did it over a whole career, to be able to do both play your individual game and also take care of that locker room.

David Novak 25:10

Do you recall your biggest leadership challenge?

Brad Richards 25:14

I think any challenge the first time you do it is getting up and trying to talk to the room in a in a in a different way. Not your Hey, guys, let's get a dinner tonight. It's kind of a stern way or we got to wake up kind of way or after a really tough loss. Like in the playoffs, we're down three, one we lost, we got booed off always getting up and trying to find what to say in the moment that, that, you know, your teammates are going to feel as real, not just someone talking for the sake of talking. I think that's the biggest challenge. And that was the hardest thing is I gotta make this sound genuine. I got to try to galvanize these guys. And we got to go to Pittsburgh and regroup and how do you make this sound genuine and get these guys to buy in? And that's that's probably the biggest challenge. You know, I you know that that's a confidence thing also, but you have to get over that hurdle.

David Novak 26:04

You know, what gave you the most satisfaction making the assist or scoring the goal.

Brad Richards 26:08

I was always more of a assists guy I love I love setting up my teammates. I mean, goals are great to go. Don't get me wrong. But I think if anybody that knew me and played with me that always said probably last second rather pass it and put it in the net. And sometimes my coaches drove them nuts doing that. But it was just an instinct that I loved to do. And it worked out more than it. It didn't. But yeah, I mean, it's anytime you can help a teammate. I just think it's a it's a great feeling to see they're looking at their face when they point at you after you've set them up is a great feeling. So one

David Novak 26:41

of the challenges you had was getting monitoring your desire to pass the ball, you kind of drove the coaches crazy like

Brad Richards 26:48

me, yeah, I was, I always had my first coach always, like, you gotta be more selfish, you got to take the puck yourself. And you know, and it just was never in me. But I did learn to do a better job of that. It also helped you be a better passer. Because if you're always passing the defense knew that. So, you know, it took a while to get that in my head. You know,

David Novak 27:05

I remember talking to Magic Johnson. And he loved making the assists, too. But he was still the same guy that could take over a playoff game and score 48 points and play center if if Jabbar was out of the out of the game, you know, but you were a great score as well, you know. And speaking of scoring goals, almost 20 years ago, you set a record for the most game winning goals in a single playoff season was seven goals. Tell us about that experience? And what's it like to make that game winning shot?

Brad Richards 27:35

Yeah, I mean, that that was the same year, the Stanley, the Stanley Cup and the MVP. So if you want to talk about being in the zone, it was just two months, I was in a zone. And it seemed like for a while, every time I scored a goal, it happened to be a game winner. Again, great teammates, great linemates and timely goals. There's sometimes you don't know why. But the puck comes due and and then when you're in a slump the puck, you know, bumps over your stick and goes the other way. And if you're if your mindset is not right, and you're not feeling positive, other things will happen. And that run everything just fell into place. But again, you're just trying to help the team after the game, you know, the media is telling you you just broke a record and all that. But that's a I guess if there's records you want to break, you want to break them for game winning goals, because you're you're winning and and doing something individual at the same time. So it feels good.

David Novak 28:27

Absolutely. You know, in my research, I've heard you talk a lot about playing for John Tortorella. Describe what the team culture was like before and after he showed up at Tampa Bay and his impact as a leader.

Brad Richards 28:40

He was the best coach I had, by far with with getting a young team that was kind of a country club atmosphere down there in Tampa. I think a lot of players would come down and kind of play with their career, play some golf, go to the beach, and he knew right away he had to change that and the details he instilled in us from day one when he took over and I was only 20 years old when he took over but you know your meetings you were there 15 minutes ahead of time. You were there for breakfast way before anything had to be done in the locker room, your meetings, your your video, your workouts, everything was done. And it was at a whole different level our training camps. We come into training camp and it was I don't want to say military because I don't want to disrespect the military but he wanted it that mentality. We were thinking about it a month before. We were scared of it. So we overtrained we were so ready for every training camp, and he had a method all this and and our culture changed immediately. And when our culture change, he always said I want to make this where I can let you guys take over the room and let you guys I can back off and let you guys be the guys that are going to do this so I don't have to be barking at you all the time and on you all the time and it was the best, best experience of Siena. Really Bad team, I think we had 18 wins. And then all of a sudden three years later when the fire in this playoffs, and then four years later, we win the Stanley Cup. And we were, we were a well oiled machine on, on on details, and how to how to be professionals. And it changed really quickly.

David Novak 30:16

Was he the coach you enjoyed playing with the most? Or was there somebody else,

Brad Richards 30:21

probably not the most enjoyable coach all the time, but because he was hard. But you know, if you're comfortable, you're probably usually if you're comfortable with time, you're probably not winning, or playing your best. He wanted you a little uncomfortable at all times. And sometimes it's very uncomfortable. But, you know, that was his his way of doing it. But when you look back at the end of the season, and you win, or you had a good chance to win, you always say like, I'd rather have a chance to win and be in the fight than then than not, and he always had you in the fight.

David Novak 30:55

Yeah, you seems like the best leaders always create sort of a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. I mean, you know, they're, they're always pushing you to take it to the next level, you know, and we all have to play on a team. What are the qualities of the teammates that you love playing with over the years? And what what did you really look for in a teammate? You know, you don't get to be leader all of a sudden, you know, you have to start out as a teammate.

Brad Richards 31:17

Yeah, I think I love, obviously, the unselfishness. And any good team that I was on, you know, I got the win twice. They were great teams. And I had probably three or four other teams that I would say were really good teams had a chance to win. And they all had something in common, we all got along, everybody had a role. You know, the bad teams, there's always one or two guys that weren't involved weren't invited to the team dinners or weren't invited to the golf events, or, you know, it just seems like there was two or three people missing all the time. And that never worked. The teams we won, if we had a team dinner, everybody showed up, you didn't have to stay for three hours. But everybody showed up to it. The captain treated the fourth line player, the same as he treated the first line player or the superstar, the goalie got treated the same as the third line, everybody was equal and invited to the same things. We spent a lot of time in the road, you know, a lot of a lot of time together. And the best leaders had the wives involved in parties. You know, they want everybody to feel like you're this is one big family. And when not when that was clicking, those are always the best teams.

David Novak 32:24

You played it at Tampa for several years, you're you became an icon there. And then you're sent to Dallas in a blockbuster trade right before the trade deadline. And you know, sports are are so unique, where you can wake up one day, and then have to pack up and move to play for another team. How did that play into your psyche? Tell us about that.

Brad Richards 32:49

That was tough. That was a toughest day of my career. I had been in Tampa eight years drafted there and one there. So when when I woke up the next morning to go to the airport, it was it really hit me like, Okay, I'm done. I'm not not a lightning anymore. Go into this new locker room, which you know, is it's intimidating, because it's not your lock, you had all your your trainers knew your routines, I had my same seat on the bus and my I went out on the ice, same time, my warm up was the same I had all these things. And now you're going in this new locker room, you don't know what's going on. So it's a huge adjustment. It's also a huge adjustment not being around your your best friends and teammates. But hockey is a great sport and every sport be the same. You get in a locker room. And they're the same guys just different faces and they open open their arms to you and you start battling with them and you earn their respect and you show them that you're there to win and everything kind of starts falling in. But the the initial 24 or 48 hours is rough. It's not. Yeah, if I had one bad thing I can say about my career. I loved it. I was lucky. But that one first trade is a shock to the system for sure.

David Novak 33:56

Would it be fair to say it's almost like getting fired? Or is that too strong?

Brad Richards 33:59

Yeah, probably it probably is because you realize the team that you love and battle for their trading. Now there's other there's, there's contracts and salary caps involved in that too. But I had a no trade clause, so I got to control it. And my agents like we can wait to the summer. My attitude was they don't want me I don't if they don't if the ownership and general manager don't want me then I don't want I can't do this. And that was the way I looked at it. And luckily, I controlled it. So I got to go to a good team and a good organization. But you know, I just couldn't I just didn't want to be there anymore. If I knew they're trying to train me and wait until next year, it didn't feel right.

David Novak 34:37

That's so similar to business because one of the major reasons why people leave and go to a different company and businesses they don't feel appreciated. You know, it's very, very similar. In both Tampa and Dallas. You experienced an ownership bankruptcy and you're out there to play hockey but how tuned into the business component were you as it related to the franchise you're playing for?

Brad Richards 34:59

Well rarely really don't end. Because in Tampa, we won. And we want to keep our team together and started to fall apart because ownership was changing, that affects the type of players you can go out and get trade for free agents you can sign and when you're one of the leaders of the team, you know, exactly what's going on. And that when I went to Dallas theme scene started to happen. Which is a big reason why, when I came to free agency, I wanted to go to New York, because New York was not going to go bankrupt anytime soon. Very stable, stable organization. So, but you're very, you know, I think maybe if you're young as a rookie, and you're just happy to be there. But when you're one of the main parts of the team, or you're in a contract negotiation, you really realize what the stress of a bankruptcy or an ownership change is doing. Because you only have so many years to try to win. And, you know, I just thought, you know, I'm wasting a year two, three here waiting for ownership change, we can't get the best team on the ice, maybe it's time to look somewhere else.

David Novak 36:02

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Brad Richards in just a moment. You know, I've gotten to talk to one other hockey legend here on how leaders lead the great Mark Messier A. And just like Brad Mark really understands team dynamics at a level that few others do. I absolutely love his insights on how great leaders stay attuned to their people.

Mark Messier 36:23

The only way in a team sport to have success is to try to maximize the performance of each and every one of the people that are around you. And make them believe that their contributions are absolutely necessary for any team success. And I think that's one element. The other element for me would be that you got to establish relationships that go further than just the game itself. In order to lead someone, they have to give you their permission, and that permission has to be earned. And I think you earn it through developing relationships. So you can tell them the truth, and they don't take it personally. And so then you just start to foster those relationships. And the other thing, I guess, what I would say is that you got to be willing to be completely open, completely transparent, and who you are and what you stand for, and your consistency and your personality. You don't waver in good times and bad. I mean, you're completely exposed and vulnerable, and you got to be doing the right things consistently. But I think you when you do that, it gives everybody a sense of calm around you.

David Novak 37:22

Make sure you listen to my entire conversation with Mark, Episode 13 here on how leaders lead.

You know, you win your first Stanley Cup with campus in 2004, in your second in 2015. When your Chicago Black Hawk, you know, that's a long time. That's 11 year drought of not winning a final and you know, you win very early on in your career, and you think this is probably going to happen all the time. How did you stay positive and optimistic when you kept falling short?

Brad Richards 37:59

Yeah, like I said, I thought I thought I'd have six or seven tries at it. The 10th year drought in New York, we went to the final and when I when I signed in Chicago, they were one of the best teams, they had won two championships in four years before that. And that getting back to the final really, even though we lost it really reminded me of how fun it was. I had been to two conference finals before that in between. But the final just it just so big. And it got me back into those juices. And then I got lucky to sign in Chicago went right back to the final and we won. But sometimes I think if you're not getting there, you forget how great it is. You're trying but forgetting the final and and having only about six, seven weeks off. I was ready to get back to the final. I know it's a long road but it just about you're on the stage. You're on your sports biggest stage for two weeks, and there's nothing like it for us.

David Novak 38:57

You know, there's this viral video as you probably have seen it because I know you're on top of what's going on in sports. But Yanis of the NBA is Milwaukee Bucks response to a question of his most recent season and the failure that they had when they didn't win the championship as basically the favorite. I mean, everybody thought the Bucs are going to get there this year. And he responded by saying there's no failure in sports, just steps to success. What's your take on that?

Brad Richards 39:27

If you want to look at it as a failure, you could probably mope for the offseason. I had a really tough year in New York and one year and it was with my coach Tortorella and the season ended terribly but it was probably the hardest I've ever worked in the summer and I ate perfect kind of I learned a lot about eating even better than I thought I was eating I learned a lot of training even better than I thought I was training. It's amazing what you can learn and put back into what you're doing. If you if you do it the right way and I that's how I would take what he's saying right there. As it Another step to get better. And maybe he'll win two more championships because of this instead of one or you know, or whatever it goes. But there's so many things that you can always do better. And sometimes those things can can knock you back into that thought process.

David Novak 40:12

You went to the mountaintop twice. You had two finals wins. But in 2014, you you lost to LA when you were on the Rangers. What do you think about most you think about the two victories or the loss.

Brad Richards 40:27

The loss of bytes, that's for sure. I mean, winning in New York would have been would have been unbelievable, and we lost three, three of our four losses were in overtime, which is unheard of, you'd think one of the overtimes would go your way, and we'd still be playing. But if I didn't get back the next year in Chicago, that loss would have been a little harder, but to get back in Chicago next year, and then when it really, you know, depth to championships, and I think that kind of took a little heat off. But there's not a day goes by where I see a New York Ranger logo or, you know, where we hang out in the summer and play some golf. If someone's not talking with the Rangers, not a day goes by I'm like, wow, that just could have pulled that one off. But that's that's life. You know, you always want more. Yeah, you'd

David Novak 41:07

like to add that ticker tape parade. Yeah, exactly. You know, I know Mark Messi, I love that way. You know, Oh, yeah. No, I understand that if you win the Stanley Cup, and you mentioned this a little bit earlier, every player on the team gets a day with the trophy. So you actually get to have the trophy for a day. You've experienced that twice. Now. What were those days like and what do you do with the trophy.

Brad Richards 41:31

So I went back home to Murray harbor Prince showdown little town. And because it's so remote, the cup flies in and on commercial flights, and you just go the airport and meet the cup keeper. And you go, the flights are very scarce there. So I was lucky to have it for like 40 hours both times. So I had two days, basically. So I was able to do a public day with with all the town parades, and we prayed it through on my dad's fishing boat through the town. And a lot of people would show up from all over the island, and the cup would be there for pitchers and then we'd bring it to the hospital. We do some stuff like that. And then the other day would be all private day we grow in the boats and the rivers where we jump off and jetski we put a life jacket on a Stanley Cup, I take a jet skiing and I love it. There's Yeah, and then we'd have a band that night at the rink I grew up in and we'd invite kind of like a wedding type of atmosphere you invite like 150 of your best friend's live band, you know, the guy that wins, it always has to go up and take over the mic and and take over the show. So that's that's part of the part of the deal. But I wish we were just good

David Novak 42:34

buddies. You know, playing some golf back then I would love to get invited to that party. That'd be Oh, yeah. You know, Brad, it's been so much fun. And I want to ask some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this? Yep. All right, what's one word others would use? To best describe you?

Brad Richards 42:51

Probably quiet and reserved.

David Novak 42:54

What would you say is the one word that best describes you? I think very loyal. If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be and why?

Brad Richards 43:04

Maybe Jack Nicklaus in the seven years, winning all those all those golf tournaments?

David Novak 43:09

Well, it's not the only Canadians know about Canada. Poutine maybe it will explain that to us.

Brad Richards 43:16

Poutine is french fries, gravy and melted cheese curds. And sometimes a little bit of bacon bits. But it's It's a delicacy up there.

David Novak 43:26

And that's not what you were eating when you learned how to eat. No, no. What do you enjoy most about Oslo speaking French?

Brad Richards 43:34

Well, it was it was great to be able to learn two languages. I think the funniest thing is if you're on a plane in Canada, where everybody's bilingual and someone's talking about you, you can play dumb and and know everything they're saying. That's a hidden

David Novak 43:49

Okay, now I want you to give me that same answer in French

Brad Richards 43:55

Situ so Abby, all of Canada to cover your good note for Song powder to see if so,

David Novak 44:11

that's great. I've never done that on the show. That's fantastic.

Brad Richards 44:15

My French is a little broken now but you don't know that's pretty good.

David Novak 44:18

Your wife is from Australia. What's your favorite part of this about visiting that country?

Brad Richards 44:25

There's lots I love the country, the the beaches, the the people the attitude. And as you would know I love to golf down in the Sunbelt.

David Novak 44:33

What's been the most nerve wracking moment of your playing career

Brad Richards 44:37

as you enter game sevens game seven days where it's do or die. And one of them was to win a Stanley Cup and who am I so that was that was the most nerve wracking day.

David Novak 44:45

Who's the best hockey player you ever played with? Or against

Brad Richards 44:50

Marielle the best player ever played with?

David Novak 44:52

If I turned on your radio in your car, what would what would I hear? Most likely Pearl Jam. I thought you might say drew Holcomb and we We'd be your attitude.

Brad Richards 45:02

Well, now now now. Now that's coming.

David Novak 45:04

What's something about you a few people would know.

Brad Richards 45:07

Oh, I can't say I speak French. I'll say I got a double eagle before a hole in one.

David Novak 45:14

That's the end of the lightning round. Okay. You're off the hook. Good. Yeah,

Brad Richards 45:18

that's it. You

David Novak 45:19

started a foundation called Ritchie's rascals for children's cancer patients in Tampa. Tell us about it.

Brad Richards 45:25

Unfortunately, at a very young age, I had my first cousin and neighbor died of a brain tumor, he was five years old when he got diagnosed, died pretty quick after and I always, when I'd watch hockey night in Canada, you'd see players with with sick children or or cancer kids are different, all different types of things go to the games and and when I made it, I always thought back to that. And we created this foundation where we bought a suite. And we we got at it and turn it into like a playground at the rink. Because not every kid that you bring in is going to be a hockey fan. But they're going to be excited to be there and see the people and we put a gold horn in the middle of it. So when we score, they could push the button and the red light would go we had Playstations in there, we had arts and crafts and they could put pictures of the night all over the walls and we made it kind of like a really safe haven for them when they went to the games and we call it Ritchie's rascals. And we worked with the Children's Cancer Center in Tampa, and they would help us bring families that needed needed a break. And sometimes it'd be the siblings and parents of, of the sick children because the siblings weren't getting much time with their parents, and we'd bring them in and, and I'd meet them after the games and and it meant a lot to me, I'm getting goosebumps talking about because I've met so many great kids. And unfortunately, you know, not all the kids have made it but some have. And years later, when I was playing another teams, and warm up, they'd be down in with their sign. I'm a Ritchie's rascal, and we're at recognize them. And it was very, very cool. And obviously, I'm not playing anymore. And now we've got we've got a whole center back home and my hospital named after my cousin. Back in Prince Edward Island. Same idea. We make them comfortable when they're getting the treatments and hockey themes, and all that stuff. So they can not feel as intimidated when they have to go do those things.

David Novak 47:18

That's great. That's great. You know, we talked about your dad earlier. And I know he recently passed away from ALS. What did that experience teach you, Brad?

Brad Richards 47:29

Well, we all hear about ALS, but until it till it hits you. I had no idea how how nasty of a disease it is. I also had no idea how unselfish my my dad was until he went through that because he never complained once you never, never wanted to be anything about him. He kept everything. Everything very close to the to his chest. He didn't he didn't want his children or grandchildren knowing what he was going through. But I can only imagine what he was going through. And, you know, every day you're learning from your your parents, and I kept learning till the end, that's for sure.

David Novak 48:06

You know, what a great role model for sure. And what a treat it had to be for him to see you play hockey for your entire career. And Brad, you retired from the NHL in 2016? How are you staying involved in the game? And what are your future aspirations, if any, it's coaching or becoming a GM on the on the horizon.

Brad Richards 48:27

I tried a little bit when I was living in New York still, I worked with the Rangers for four years. In an advisory role, what I learned I think is if you're going to get into that you got to you got to really go all in. We moved down to Florida, I have young kids, my son's and travel hockey now. And I just thought at this time, it's it's I'm going to have more fun being around him and my girls for a little bit. But at the same time, I just turned 43 I gotta keep my mind moving a little bit. And I'm always open to, to getting back into it in a certain capacity. But I think like I said, I think if you want to do it and want to get fulfilled with it, you got to really put the time in and I just wasn't prepared to go all in at that point.

David Novak 49:08

How are you moving into the business world? I know you're focused on your family and what's been the biggest challenges you've as you've had to navigate this transition because we all go through transitions.

Brad Richards 49:20

Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me is the structure. There's no routine anymore. There's no schedule, I was told what to do since I was 14 years old. Wake up, go to school, go to practice, whatever it was NHL, you had to be here the bus the plane, everything's leaving and and you're on autopilot and you just kind of woke up and you knew your day all the time. Now, you're waking up and you know there's some days you don't have anything on the books I try to keep as busy as possible. But that's been the biggest transition. I think I'm learning how to handle that more. And I'm also I think, as you know, through golf and through meeting people in retirement, I am starting to see different pathways maybe in business or opportunities to go into different things other wasn't hockey, meeting great people, like yourself or mutual friends we have. I've had lots of conversations. And, you know, I'm not rushing anything. But it is interesting to tick brains of some of the great leaders of the world and business and see how they did things. So yeah, I'm, I'm excited what the future holds, I still want to, I still watch hockey every night and try to stay in touch with a lot of gems and scouts and keep that open. But I also love, love the opportunity maybe to do other things, too. Yeah, well,

David Novak 50:31

you know, you're you're very young, and you've got that opportunity to pursue that career. But I think I envy the fact you can spend this time with your family and you're doing that I think it's good on is they would say in Australia, you know, I also know you're a minority owner and untuck it. Now I know why your shirts are always on tie. Just trying to be cool. What's your role on that team?

Brad Richards 50:53

When I was in New York, I was their their spokesperson or whatever. And it was it wasn't doing that well. And Chris Rick urbano who who now is become very successful, we got another thing called greatness wins with Derek Jeter and Wayne Gretzky also, clothing line. And, you know, it was kind of a, we're in the need of a push here. We're not, I don't know, running out of money is the right way to put it. But it was kind of and I said, well, listen, don't bother pay me. Let's just run it into ownership in the company. And I'll keep trying to help and do stuff. And that was kind of the decision me my agent made back then. And now the company has grown. And it's been a lot of fun to learn and see what Chris has done with that. And now I've I've been involved in greatness, winds and trying to help them actually get into some of the golf shops, and they're making a golf clothing line. And so that's been fun. Also, learning a little bit of what he's like me in learning that business. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun. And I do have to wear the untucked shirts to try to try to sell the brand.

David Novak 51:59

Now this greatness wins is creating an athletic wear for the modern athlete, and you've teamed up with Gretzky and Derek Jeter. What are these two guys like his business partners?

Brad Richards 52:11

Derek, obviously, I don't know him that well, but you know, his, his leadership and his focus and what he's going to do, you know, he doesn't do anything just for the sake of doing it. And I think that's why Chris Riccobono chose him to be the face of it, because you know, he's gonna go all in. He just has that type of personality. And obviously, being a New York Yankee and multiple world championship winner, World Series winner doesn't hurt your brand, obviously. And, and when, when Gretzky The Great One speaks for himself, when you have a name, greatness wins, and you can add the great one. They're great ambassadors, and they have great stories to tell. And I'm just happy they let me tag along.

David Novak 52:53

Well, you had a heck of a lot, I'm sure. And last question for you, Brad. What's one piece of advice you've given to someone who wants to be a better leader? What's the most important bit of advice,

Brad Richards 53:04

I would always say that you have to take truth and honesty. You need it. And you have to take it the best way possible. A lot of truth and honesty was told to me over the years and I wish when I was younger, I would have handled it better. As I get older, I realize, if you can't handle the truth or can't accept the truth, and what you're doing and how you're performing, you're just not going to get better. Because you'll find excuses, you'll find ways to ignore it, or, Oh, it's not me, it's someone else. Or once you look yourself in the mirror and accept being told the truth all the time, you'll you'll get better all the time.

David Novak 53:37

You know, I've done probably 150 podcasts, nobody's ever provided that answer. But that's that's a great insight for everybody to listen to. You know, it's been a lot of fun having this conversation with you, Brad, I've always admired you in the way you attack everything. And there's a reason why you you are a champion

you know, I know Brad pretty well. And Brad's never going to be the loudest guy in the room. But you know what his strength and resilience as a leader comes through loud and clear. And he walks the talk. I just love how he isn't afraid to do the hard work and face the hard truths. And then trust that effort and draw on it as a source of confidence in tough moments. Now, listen, you don't have to be a hockey player to apply that lesson to your life. This week, ask yourself, Where do I dig in and do the hard work? Where do I need to accept the hard truth so that I can improve? Put in that effort today? That way down the road, whenever you face a difficult situation, or you're under lots of pressure, or you just need to flat out execute? You're going to have so much more confidence because you can trust you've done the hard work and you prepared for the pressure. So do you want to know how leaders lead? Well, we learned today is that great leaders trust the hard work they put in. Coming up next on how leaders lead is our best quarter to episode where we pull out some of the greatest wisdom from the last three months and highlight the best takeaways for you. Like this one from any young Scribner, the CEO of Wella.

Speaker 1 55:24

I think my first lesson was to really appreciate people's work, and to understand that I wasn't going to be the smartest person in the room. But what I could do is to learn best practices from each of them. Also find out what was important for them, and then galvanize the learning so that together the team could achieve because they were each acting is individual versus his team. We had a ton of fun, we won every single district contests. And those early lessons have imprinted me forever.

David Novak 56:01

I'm telling you, it's a lot of fun, and it's chock full of great insights. So be sure to come back again next week. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader that you can be

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