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The Daily Gazette Company presents the parting Shots podcast. Now here's your host, Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Shott. Thank you, Scott Geesy, and welcome to the Parting Shots podcast, available wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe today. Thanks for joining me from the parting Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York, we have another great show for you. I was at the ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony for the Union hockey rink down at Mohawk harbor, and I spoke to several members of both the men's and women's hockey teams of interviews with men's head coach Josh Halge, women's head coach Josh Skiba, defenseman Nick Young of the men's team, and women's forward Matty Leaney, and also athletic director Jim McLaughlin. After that, Mike McGaddon joins me for his at the track with Max segment. We'll preview the Preakness stakes. Big news on Tuesday. That morning life favorite mooth was scratched because of a fever. Mystic Dan, the Kentucky Derby winner, is now the morning lying favorite for Saturday's race down at Pimlico in Baltimore. So we'll talk about the impact of that development that happened on Tuesday and on May 19. On this coming Sunday, it's the 50th anniversary of my Philadelphia Flyers winning the first Stanley cup, beating the Boston Bruins in game 642, series one. The series ₩42, the game six one nothing. And a member of that team I talked to on Tuesday, defenseman Joe Watson. He has a book out also called the Thunder Mouth, memories of a broad street bully and an NHL lifer. Had a wonderful conversation with Joe and I was transported back to 1974, sitting in the spectrum at section five on that day when the Flyers won their first cup over the big, bad and heavily favored Boston Bruins, a team that had Bobby or Phyllis Pisito, Ken Hodge, it's just a talented team, but the Flyers just outworked him and just won the cup. It was a great day in Philadelphia. Really changed a lot of sports history in that town, which had really been going through a lot of bad sports for teams over the few years prior to the Flyers winning their first cup just in their 7th season in the National Hockey League. So I'll talk to Joe about that. So coming up, let's look back at Monday's groundbreaking ceremony for the Mohawk Harbor center, where Union hockeys and men's and women seem to be playing starting the 25th, 26th season. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
Hi, I'm Daily Gazette News columnist Andrew Waite and host of the Weighing in podcast, which takes you inside my award winning featured news column by offering the backstory, thought process and interviews that inform my work. Plus, readers have their chance to respond. The weighing in podcast is
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Hi, this is Daily Gazette reporter Ted Remstneider. You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
Welcome back to the podcast. A lot of hockey talk on this podcast. We'll start with Union College hockey. On Monday morning, a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the Mohawk Harbor Event center. Construction, construction has been underway for a little while, but Monday was the first day they had a chance to get a lot of dignitaries together. A lot of people showed up for this event, a lot of politicians, they were there as well.
My colleague Chad Arnold from the news site was over there as well. So we tag teamed the event. He spoke with the political leaders and the construction officials, and I spoke with the people I know, the coaches and players for both the men's and women's hockey teams over at union. So in order of the interviews, it starts with union men's head coach Josh Alge and followed by Union women's head coach Josh Skiba, union defenseman Nick Young and Matty Leaney, Union College forward for the women's team. And then we'll finish up with athletic athletic director Jim McLaughlin. So here we go. Listen up and enjoy.
Well, Josh, now it's the reality. What's your feelings right now?
[00:04:51] Speaker C: It's a lot of excitement. I mean, I think during that I was taking pictures and sending them to recruits already. So I think for us it's game changing and it's here. It's great.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: How much, between that and the scholarships, how much does it really make your job easier to recruit student athletes?
[00:05:07] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really, it's night and day. I mean, you look at the ability to, you know, to help somebody out with their education as well as put them in a facility like this where it's going to be world class is super exciting. And I mean, this is, this is why you take the job.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Just looking at the rendering there. But what do you like, about the.
[00:05:24] Speaker C: Rendering, I just think it's, you know, it's a. It's compact. I think it looks like it'll be loud. A great. A great atmosphere that way. And then, you know, you take a look at the outside. It's super impressive with the water right behind.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: What would you like to see in the facility?
[00:05:40] Speaker C: Just a lot of people. I think that's what it's always making, an event. I know, like, down below. I think it'll be a great spot to have our workout, our training, our locker room, just everything right there. So the biggest thing is just getting, you know, some. Some big time players to come in here and play in it.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Players have to commute every day, right. That's not a big deal, is it?
[00:05:59] Speaker C: I mean, really, like, right now, our guys kind of. They drive up from their house. It's a really easy walk. I walk down here almost every day to grab a coffee. So it's a short walk.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Well, Josh, it's now a reality here. What do you think?
[00:06:16] Speaker D: It's amazing. I mean, just seeing the pictures and I think seeing the finality of this project and having it actually come to fruition is amazing. So I think just the facility, but seeing what it's going to do for the community, and I think having an opportunity for our program and the men's program to be able to connect with the community within the facility itself is a really good part, too. So I think, you know, we look on tv and we see the PWHL games, we see national team games selling out and the attendance, and, you know, I'm hopeful for our women's games, that we can get the attendance up and continue to put people in the seats, come out and watch a great product.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: You're facing the scholarships now. This is a reality here. How does this help recruiting? Recruiting?
[00:06:58] Speaker D: Yeah, I think, you know, we met with the president's council recently, and I shared a story a couple years ago. We had, I think it was our sophomore class where we made. On June 15, we made about 55 to 60 calls. We ended up getting one player from that group. And this past year, with the scholarships, I made about eight to ten calls myself. We had one player commit sight unseen without visiting because she was offered a full scholarship. She knew about new rankings in the horizon, full scholarship. And I think that's the kind of impact that you're seeing. And I think now you take those quality of athletes, you put them in a new facility like this, it's just making those conversations even more productive and attracting the type of talent that plays for national teams that's going to help our program in the future.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: One more year of Mesa. What are your memories of Mesa?
[00:07:46] Speaker D: You know, being here for eight years at Mesa, I mean, just, I think when you, when you step into Mesa, you know, the first thing I remember seeing is, is the men's national championship banner, you know, and I think that's just something that, you know, the school can win, and I've always said that, and I think we've always wanted to find a way for our program to get better and reach that type of level, for sure. And I think that's always still the goal, but I think just the charm, the tradition that's in that rink, you know, you can feel it, and I think people love it. You have a lot of people that are loyal fans in the community. You have a lot of people that alums love it, that have lived and breathed and played there. So it's a really special place. They don't build ranks like that anymore. And I think we're very fortunate to have, you know, such a building that has so much tradition in it.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Well, Nick, it's now a reality here. You had the groundbreaking ceremony. There are construction on the way here as we speak. How excited are you to be able, your senior year to be playing this in the new facility?
[00:08:40] Speaker E: I'm super thrilled. I just, being able to see this right here with my own eyes, it just, we're all talking about it makes us feel like we want it now. Like it gets the jitters and, you know, super excited and the butterflies. And I think it's going to be a really huge thing for our program.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: How much is that? You know, how much is that going to help, especially recruiting wise? You know, you got the scholarships phasing that in. Now the, you know, Josh and the coaches can go out and say, look, we have, we're having a new facility in 25, 26. How much do you think that's going to help?
[00:09:07] Speaker E: I think it's massive. I think just like, people bring people in to see our coaching staff, who is an unbelievable coaching staff, like one of the best. I think it's going to see, like, our team and see our culture and people will, you know, really start to buy in. And hopefully with our play next year, it'll also bring some more people in as well.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, just the fact they be seeing this facilities, look at the renderings. What do you like about, what do you see on the renderings?
[00:09:30] Speaker E: I just, I think it really looks professional. I think that's the first thing that stood out to me, and obviously the mesa had a lot of, you know, special places in our hearts for how close knit it is. But I think, like, this is. This is something that takes the next step and we can still bring that mesa effect of, you know, all that the fan love, and we can bring it right in here. And now we're on a bigger stage and it's just a lot better and.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: A modern amenities, which you really can't have at the old place. What is going to be like to be able to have more, more good, more good things?
[00:09:59] Speaker E: Yeah, I think that sets us apart now from a lot of teams in the ECAC because now we're not sharing gym times. We can, you know, work out whenever we need to, whenever we feel like it. I think there's a lot more things that are going to help us be more well prepared nutritionally, fitness wise, and all that going into that season.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: So I'm excited, Maddie, it's reality now. I mean, how excited are you?
[00:10:22] Speaker F: Yeah, I'm over the moon excited. I think just we've been talking about this for so long when I was getting recruited to come here as part of the conversation. Now that I'm gonna get actually to play here, it's just so exciting.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: What is that? How does that help you inspire to get ready for this season? I mean, knowing that, you know, your last year could be last year, Mesa, and then you have this to look forward to.
[00:10:43] Speaker F: Yeah, I think, of course, like, mesa means so much to us, and I think just making our last season there so memorable will just mean even more to us when we come to this brand new rink.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: How much is that health? Is this going to help? Yeah. The scholarships right now phasing in how much recruiting wise, how much does this help the coaches attract quality student athletes?
[00:11:02] Speaker F: Yeah, I think, like, just having a new, exciting rink that for us coming in fresh, we get to make it our own and have a part of what's going on and creating our new shift in the program is super exciting and just with recruits, it's exciting. Like, you get a post about it, you get a look at it, it looks pretty, and I think it's just awesome.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: You look at the renderings, especially the ones with the rink. What do you like about, what do you see?
[00:11:25] Speaker F: I like everything that I see. It's bright, it's fun, it's lots of union. And I think it just gives that school spirit that really helps us play better, and it makes us feel part of the community.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Jim, now it's the reality. I mean, how excited are you?
[00:11:41] Speaker G: Just beyond. Ken, we've been working on this for a really long time, and I'm just so grateful for the partnerships that we have with Schenectady and the mayor. And this is just going to be a great project for the entire community.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: How much does this help? Not only the hockey program, but the college as a whole, having this facility and being able to attract potential student athletes to this facility. But also, what does it do for the reputation of the college?
[00:12:10] Speaker G: Facilities matter. They really do. You know, if you look at the things that we've done on our campus with science and engineering, a lot of our academic buildings, they're all really important. So are the athletic facilities. And you know what's great about this is it's more than a hockey rink. It's an event center. So for our students to have the ability to attend some great shows, concerts, and other things within walking distance is going to be great for them. So it's going to be a great recruiting tool for our hockey coaches, but also for our campus as well.
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Looking at the renderings here, especially the one with the rank, what do you like about what you see?
[00:12:44] Speaker A: I just.
[00:12:45] Speaker G: I love the intimacy of the rink. You know, one of the things we talked about is that we didn't want to lose the atmosphere that we had at meso Rink. And I think with what we've designed here, we are going to preserve that and actually enhance that as well, too. But some of the things I really like is just what you can't see in that rendering, which is the design of the locker rooms, the lounge spaces, strength and conditioning, and all of those spaces which are going to be absolutely, absolutely first class.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: How about you? Happy I won't be bugging about what's going on with the rink, no doubt. But I'm sure something else will come up. Ken, we're going to turn our attention now to horse racing. The second leg of the Triple Crown takes place Saturday in Baltimore at Pimlico with the Preakness Stakes. And a lot of big news coming out of the there on Tuesday with the scratch of mooth, the morning line favorite Bob Baffer trained horse Michael Gaddam with his tracked with Max Sabre. We'll talk about that. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Rick Marshall from the Daily.
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[00:14:03] Speaker A: Hi, this is RPI men's hockey head coach Dave Smith.
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[00:14:09] Speaker A: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Welcome back to the podcast and Gazette sports writer Mike McAdam is here, getting ready to go down to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes as we do our at the track with Mac segment. And before we started taping this, we found out some news early Wednesday morning that the morning line favorite for the Preakness stakes, mouth, was scratched because of a fever. How does this change the dynamic of the Preakness?
[00:14:34] Speaker H: It only changes it by a degree of about 10,000.
Everybody's scrambling right now to adjust their picks. Whether you had muth on top or not, which I did not in the first place. I'm actually kind of miffed because I was picking against him, so I wanted him to still be in there.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: But nothing against Bob Baffert, right?
[00:14:54] Speaker H: Not at all. Absolutely not.
Speaking of Baffert, he was the one that kind of told the Preakness notes team that muth, who traveled to Baltimore from California on Tuesday, got off the plane and shortly thereafter they discovered that he had 103 degree fever.
By all accounts, the horse is fine and is actually improving as we speak. But he's very much compromised for his chances in the Preakness on Saturday, so there's no point in pushing it.
You know, Pimlico, the Maryland jockey Club is going to have to recalibrate the morning line to some degree. Hopefully they'll do. They will have done that by the end of the day on Wednesday. I haven't seen it yet.
As we're late morning on Wednesday, it elevates the Kentucky Derby winner, Mystic Dan back to favoritism. It was kind of an interesting Preakness because this is the first time since 2012 that the Derby winner was not also the Preakness winner, assuming that the horse ran. Now, there was one instance where I'll have another.
Wait, I take that back. There was an instance where Rich strike won the Derby and did not run back in the Preakness. That was two years ago, so he doesn't count. But other than that, it's been twelve years since the Derby winner wasn't also the Preakness favorite. The reason for that is, as we've gone over a million times, Bafford is barred from running at Churchill Downs. Otherwise, muth and his other Preakness horse imagination probably would have been running in the Kentucky Derby.
So they were forced to skip the derby. Now they're coming back with a very strong hand in the Preakness until muth got sick off the plane. And, you know, Bafford still has a great shot to win this thing with imagination, who's, you know, don't sleep on him.
We'll get to that a little later. But for now, you know, mooth scratches, and I don't know if that means they'll wait for the Belmont at Saratoga on June 8. It probably does because there's not really anything of the caliber race that muth would be running in between now and then. So, I mean, it probably benefits the Belmont if we get mouth out here. So, you know, that could be kind of an indirect effect of what happened.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah, you wrote back in February there probably wouldn't have been a triple Crown shot at Saratoga with the baffer Preakness factor.
[00:17:26] Speaker H: Glad you brought that up because I swear to God, that's the first thing I thought was, oh, man, now this really hurts my prediction from February because mooth is exactly the kind of horse that I was talking about back then of who's going to be waiting in the wings in the Bafford three year old battalion just waiting to pounce on the Preakness, and now he's the favorite and he's scratched. So it's down to imagination. Well, I mean, there's other good horses in there, so it doesn't have to be Baffert. That beats the Derby winner to make my prediction come true.
So, I mean, that's still in play. It's just going to be a little more challenging to knock out the Derby winner. We're down to an eight horse field, still a really solid field for the Preakness. It'll be very interesting to watch. It just, it's very disappointing when you see the favorite scratch out like that because, a, you want to just see a good horse run, but b, it kind of diminishes the overall quality of the race a little bit.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Well, there was some concern as to whether or not Mystic Dan was going to run in the Preakness, but trainer Kenny McPeek said all pistons systems will go to run the Preakness. So how important is to have, have the Kentucky Derby winner there?
[00:18:42] Speaker H: The people in Maryland were overjoyed when he made the announcement a couple days ago because it just, it adds so much more buzz to the Preakness. You know, that no matter what sort of field you assemble, if the Derby winner is not there and everybody salivating for the prospect of a triple crown bid, you know, it really hurts the buzz around the race. It hurts the quality of the race to some degree.
I will say that when Kenny McPeek first said the day after the Derby that he's not going to make a decision on running in the Preakness until entries, the entry deadline on Monday, every trainer in the world is going to say that because you can't just, like, you know, commit right away. You need the horse to recover from a very hard race first before, you know, you're running back in two weeks, which, you know, rarely happens. So it wasn't unusual for him to say that. And, you know, his hesitation was not any sign that the horse, you know, wasn't going to be good to go for the Preakness, but he needs to see it from the horse recovering from the hard race and then getting out on the track again and galloping a little bit. And by all accounts, and this is from Robbie Alborato, his exercise rider. The retired jockey mystic Dan came out of the race a little bit body sore, which is understandable, but he's made progress in his gallops every day of the week. So since then. So physically, Mystic Dan is showing all the signs that he'll be good to go, come back.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: So let's look at the field. Who are you liking so far besides Mystic Dam?
Is he good enough to win this?
[00:20:22] Speaker H: Absolutely he is. Especially with mooth out of there.
My top pick is catching freedom, who finished fourth, only a diminishing length and three quarters behind Mystic Dan and the Derby. So I'm disappointed that, you know, if you're picking against Mystic Dan, the value on your horse actually went down with muth being out of there, because now the money's going to be spread over, you know, fewer betting interests. So it's really going to kind of hurt your price. But, yeah, sure, Mystic Dan's got a shot. The reason I didn't pick him, well, one of the reasons was everything really went his way in the Kentucky Derby, and that's a credit to the horse, but also to a tremendous ride by Brian Hernandez, who saved ground all the, all the way around the tracks, just kept his horse on the rail, didn't have to run any extra yardage. Made a really, really, like, scary move coming off the turn where he literally made contact with the horse, who was outside, and the rail to squeeze through there and then it. Then it was, you know, fire down the stretch. My top pick catching freedom was right behind him and didn't have such a lucky, you know, break squeezing through a hole and had to kind of wait to make his run a little bit. And it's one of the reasons I'm picking him is because trip wise Mystic Dan had everything go his own way while catching freedom ran into trouble out of the starting gate as well as at the 8th pole and otherwise was rolling like a freight train toward the wire and was actually catching up to Mystic Dan. So I think a cleaner trip out of an eight horse field with approximately the same distance a mile and three 16th. I think catching freedom is looking really good. I think a lot of other people are going to jump on him, too, which is going to make it. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the second choice in the betting behind. Well, I don't know who's going to. I don't know who I actually, I don't know who's the betters are going to think to put on top. I mean, imagination don't sleep on him. Bafford's other good shot finished second in the Santa need a derby by only a neck to stronghold, who didn't run too badly in the Kentucky Derby. So, you know, there's other horses that can win here. It's just again, we go back to moot scratching is, you know, really take some luster off of it.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So who are you picking?
[00:22:44] Speaker H: All right, I already told you I got catching freedom on top.
This is the first time trainer Brad Cox has ever run a horse back in the preakness out of the derby, and that's from nine starters in the derby.
So that tells me he has a lot of confidence. He really, really is reluctant to run back two weeks with any of his Derby horses. He's never done it before. And the fact that he has chosen to do so with catching freedom, I think that says a lot about what he saw out of the horse's gallops. The horse has been, you know, galloping with energy. Had three days off after the Derby.
I go back to the derby results where catching freedom was catching Mystic Dan and, you know, outside of the little bit of trouble he's had. So I got him on top.
Where did I put my picks? Oh, I'm going to put imagination in second, I think, you know, Bafford knows how to win the pro. He's done it a record eight times, including last year with national treasure and twice with two triple Crown winners.
Excuse me, American Pharaoh and justify. So I think imagination is going to come in second. I put mystic Dan in third just because he's good enough to do that. And then in fourth, I put Tusken gold. I was kind of toying with the fact of putting tuscan gold on top, trained by Chad Brown, who's won the Preakness twice. But, you know, he was very close to catching freedom in the Louisiana derby, his last start. But he only has three career starts. He's just too. Not seasoned enough to win. You know, he. Maybe he's the traverse horse for Chad Brown. Eventually. We'll see, although he's got Sierra Leone, too, who's already in Saratoga, by the way, getting ready for the Belmont. But so my top four are catching freedom, imagination, mystic Dan, and the lightly raised Tuscany gold, who I think has a lot of potential.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Now. Who did you pick to win the Kentucky Derby?
[00:24:40] Speaker H: I did not pick Mystic Dan. I picked. I know why. This is a totally loaded question, and I'm fully prepared to answer it. I picked just a touch, also trained by Brad Cox.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Okay, where did the horse finish?
[00:24:51] Speaker H: Oh, there's a follow up question. I was waiting for that, too. He finished in last place in a 20 horse field. I'm proud to announce that was my pick.
I'm okay with that because, you know, the jock shut him down when he saw that there wasn't really a good opportunity. He had a rough trip. I'm not trying to make excuses, but that's what happens in the derby. It's like every year it's 20 horse field, and pretty much half the field gets their chance of winning taken away from them within the first 8th of a mile just because of the traffic and the banging around and inability to get positioning, and then you're getting dirt kicked in your face all around the track. And that happened to just a touch. He kind of got wiped out at the start and just had a rough trip. He kind of got mid pack down the back stretch, and then when push came to shove, coming around the turn, the jock decided, you know what? I'm not going to abuse this horse. Just let him gallop out, and we'll wait to fight another day. So thanks for bringing that up.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: So catching freedom might have the Mike McAdam curse.
[00:25:53] Speaker H: I know. I mean, it's. I don't know that such a curse exists. And, you know, recency suggests that it does, but believe me, I'm not going to be the only person picking, catching freedom. So if he doesn't win, there's going to be a lot of people going down in flames.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there's some news. I think it was last week that Pimlico, they're going to have reconstruction of that facility there, and I guess the Preakness will move to Laurel racetrack in a couple of years. While that going on. So how important is it to keep the Preakness at Pimlico and get there?
[00:26:21] Speaker H: It totally is. And as a traditionalist, I don't want to see it anywhere else. And really, the only place it would be would it would be Laurel park, which would be really bad. Laurel park is really small. It's not really built for an event like the Preakness. I will say from the stuff that I've read about the Pimlico situation, it's going to be kind of a similar, like, financial and organizational setup that we have in New York where the New York Racing association sold the land to New York state and then basically is the, you know, runs the show. So there's going to be some entity that's similar to naira that's going to be developed to run Maryland racing, including the preakness. And then meanwhile, I believe the land in and around Pimlico will be sold to the state of Maryland and they'll use it to develop some other things in that neighborhood.
But, you know, if you've been to Pimlico, you know what an absolute disaster it is. A few years ago, they actually had to shut down section of the grandstand that holds 7000 seats. There's basically a tarp in front of it. It's just ugly and because they, it was deemed structurally unsafe. So that's the kind of thing you see when you walk into Pimlico. It's, you know, it really is kind of a wreck right now. And to see that they're going to persevere and figure out a way, you know, to tear it down and rebuild it like they're doing with Belmont park is very encouraging because Preakness really needs to be at Pimlico.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: Well, Mike, appreciate a few minutes. Enjoy the trip down to Baltimore. And we were looking for your coverage on
[email protected]. And a print edition.
[00:27:56] Speaker H: Here's my latest prediction is catching freedom is not going to come in last place in the freakness.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Well, it's interesting that you're wearing the Bruins shirt, obviously the winning Tuesday night to stay alive in the Stanley cup playoffs.
[00:28:06] Speaker H: That's where I'm wearing it.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Well, we're going to reminisce a little bit. 50 years ago on Sunday, May 19, great day for me. Not so much for you when my Flyers defeated the Bruins, won nothing in game six of the Stanley cup final. I want to talk to a member of that 1974 cup team. Defenseman Joe Watson, you're listening to the parting shots podcast.
I love playing sports, especially for my school. And that's because school sports are special. It's where it's safe to feel. It's where we're taught resilience, where our fear becomes confidence. It's where we learn to get back up. After every fall, school sports are where 7.8 million students go from I can't to I can.
This message presented by NiSfa and the New York State Athletic Administrators association.
[00:29:15] Speaker C: Hi, this is Union men's hockey alum Tyler Hines. You're listening to the parting shots podcast.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: With Daily Gazette sports editor Ken shop. 13 seconds after the game. 10 seconds. Parachutes is down the ice. Platt makes the save. Ladies and gentlemen, the players are going to win.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: This family cup.
That was the call of legendary Philadelphia Flyers play by play announcer Gene Hart at 05:01 p.m. On Sunday, May 19, 1974, when the Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, won nothing to win their first Stanley cup, and become the first 1967 expansion team to win the cup. Joining me now as one of the key players on that team, and he has a book out entitled Thundermouth, Memoirs of a Broad Street Bully and NHL lifer. I am honored to welcome defenseman Joe Watson to the podcast. Joe, how are you? And thanks for doing this. I mean, I, I feel like I'm ten years old again, sitting in section five with my dad and our friends watching you play.
Just, I've been talking about this with my interview with my colleagues. I, you know, I talked to my mom about, she was thrilled I was doing this, and I am so deeply honored to have you on, Joe.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Well, Ken, I want to thank you very much for inviting me. I love to talk about the broad street bullies and the flyers and so on, so forth. Being with the organization basically for 50 years, you know, as an employee of Comcast and, and, and the Flyers. And I vividly remember a lot of things that went on in those days when we played.
How entertaining. We were on the Isis walls, off the ice.
We were quite a rambunctious group.
And it certainly is a pleasure to talk to you. My God, we're reminiscing about Colgate.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: And the union. Oh, my God.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Well, before we get into the flyer. So let's talk about that, we were talking off air, and I mentioned to you I was down covering the union in their runs of the frozen four championship in 2014. And then ECSI commissioner Steve Hagwell says, I was with Joe Watson. I first thought you didn't tell me explain your connection to Colgate. You have a good connection there.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Well, you know, my son went there. My son went there and. And I enjoyed going up there. And then I met the coach, Don Bond, with a coach. And Don Bond was telling me he was younger. He used to hang around with regent Sherrill, Fred Shuro's son, and he. He would come to some of our practice nine or ten years old, and. And after our practice, some of us would go out there and fool around with these guys, and he was one of the guys that we fooled around with and had a good time. And so whenever I see Donnie, we reminisce, and Donnie's no longer coaching that Colgate now, but I still see him when I go up there. And we have a lot of good connections and we get along really well. And I love to talk to Donnie and see Donnie nowadays. We retired. I guess he's enjoying life a lot more than the stressful life of being a coach in hockey itself, you know?
[00:32:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. College coaching has changed over there, especially with the transfer portal and NLI. It's nuts. Donnie went out winning his first EC hockey championship last year, and everybody was happy for him. And then Donnie's one of the class acts. Donnie and I are friends, and he's been great to me over the years when I've been covering union. So, I mean, I. Starbreak was always a place where union cannot win games. I know that for a fact. That was a hard show for that, for the. For the then Dutchman.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, you know what? You know, you guys had. The ghost was there, was right.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: St. Jane got through Yale.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: Yeah. And what a player he was. Oh, my God. He was a skilled player, you know?
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So wish the Flyers had him defensively.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Maybe a little short here and there, but offensively, man, he had the great shot. He had just his anticipation was second to none anticipated to play before it happened. And that's what great players do. And he was a great player. Great offensive player for the union.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, let's talk about the flyers here. And we play Gene Hart's call. When you hear that, Joe, what do you go through your mind?
[00:33:27] Speaker A: Oh, boy. I remember vividly how it happened. There was eight or 9 seconds left to go in the game and or shot the fuck down, down, down to our end. And I was the last guy to touch the puck. But when I got to the puck, there were seven. I looked up at the clock and there were 7 seconds to go. So I didn't want to touch the puck because once I touched it, the face. I would be back in the Boston zone anyway, but the first guy close to me is Wayne Cashman. So I touched the buck with 4 seconds ago. And then there was so much noise and pandemonium in the building that the timekeeper didn't hear the whistle. And he run it down to. He ran it down to 1 second before realize what had happened. And then by that time, there people are coming over the glass left and right. So there was no face off, but in a way, I should have grabbed a puck. But there was a guy named Terry Crisp. I think he played about four or five shifts the whole game.
When the whistleblow, he jumped off the bench and skated right to the puck. And I gave him the puck to the linesman, you know, but think it would be a face.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Club a shard. Yeah, club a short.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: Had the puck and then there was no face off. So I went to get the puck and crispy. I already had it. And, you know, he still has a bucket eight.
And the hockey hall of fame won it. He won't give it up. And I don't blame. I wouldn't give it up either.
Yeah.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: The nice thing about genes call is a great call. But it was slightly inaccurate, though, because he said Bernie Perrott made the save on when Orr shot the puck down the ice. But it was actually an onion, as you said, it was an icing call. And I mean, in celebration, the fans pouring over the glass, you know, how chaotic was it when the fans started coming over? Back then you could climb over the glass.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: Well, I know the glass wasn't that high. So, you know, I mean, people had an opportunity to climb over and boy, they did. You know, we said we never really got a chance to go around the ice with a cup that. Well, you know, there were so many people in the ice and. And we had to get out of the building because there was a. There was lacrosse.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: And so we had to get the hell out of the building. It was kind of crazy. Oh, boy, oh boy. So we went to Rex. He's over in south Jersey. We celebrated over there. You know, that was our watering hole. If you lived in Jersey, that was a watering hole. I always lived in Pennsylvania, and I lived in the meaty area, Rose Valley, Ridley park, upper Darby in those early days. But we never really had a chance to enjoy the cup in Philadelphia because there's so many people. People run the ice.
[00:35:46] Speaker B: If you watch the. Watch the replay. Me, sometimes you can see Dave Schultz trying to push people away to try to get you guys to skate.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Right, right.
Yeah. And, but in a way, the fans were part of it, and, and so you got to acknowledge the fans. I mean, it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't have a job.
[00:36:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
I'm glad you mentioned lacrosse because, I mean, my dad and I went to that opening of Philadelphia wings. I think Doug Douglas on the wings was he, did he go in the locker room?
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Yeah, he was a goalie. He played goal that game. Yeah.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: But, yeah, I was always amazed how they were able to clear the ice and get the floor down. I think it was an 08:00 start for lacrosse. They started on tire. I was always amazed how that got, that happened.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But you know what? I didn't. I'm a lacrosse fan. I go to some of the games they have in Philadelphia here, and lacrosse has really come on very strong. My God. Not only in this area here, but all over the states.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: You know, they have leagues down there in the south now. They have teams in Carolina, Florida. Who in the hell would think they have lacrosse down there? But the game is growing astronomically. It really has.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: Yeah. The indoor game. That national lacrosse league championship series starts a Friday here in Albany. They're taking on Buffalo. So it's a big deal here. But back to hockey. Back to hockey. Me and Joe at that time, the Flyers were shining light and they drafted Philadelphia. Sports scene the Eagles weren't very good. The 76 ers went nine and 73 the season before, and the Phillies were just starting to turn the corner. Of course, a lot of people still remember what happened in 1964 and a collapse there. I mean, could you understand why the city went crazy over the Flyers winning the cup?
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, it was just at the right time. We came along at the right time, and I guess you could say, you know, we were a bunch of Canadians and, and, and Philadelphia is a meet and potatoes type at city. By God, you got to give your effort. If you don't get your effort, you're going to hear about it. And we were the type of team, you know, that, that whenever we went out in the ice and we had to go out there and perform, we did our thing. And that was being, there's a lot of physicality in our games, and we were a tough team defensively. And Freddie used, Freddy Shur used to always say, he says, boy, we got to make terrible. We take care of our own zone. The offense will take care of itself.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: And Freddie was right. You know, we didn't have a lot of set plays. We might have set plays in our power play. I remember. And when we be in the power play, in the offensive zone, Freddie said, I want the third, after the third pass, I want the puck going the net, and every, I want everybody to converge in the net. And then we scored a lot of gold because of that. There was no more than three passes on the offensive zone when we got in there, and then the puck had to go towards the net, and our guys were converging there. And like I said, we got a lot of gold because of that.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: The team should take that philosophy. That teams take that philosophy now. I mean, I just. Too much passing on the power play.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: Oh, God. You make 20 passes, you get one shot. What good is that? You kill a minute and a half and a goddamn power play, you know?
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: I think one, one thing about Florida, if you ever watch Florida, they throw the
[email protected]. A lot, you know, they don't make a lot of passes, and they're, they're constantly moving and, and they're not stationary, and they cause a lot of problem. The offensive zone, because they rush the net. They rush the net, you know?
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: And, and more teams should do that. But if you don't have a big team that's not, not physical and that doesn't, doesn't want to go the net and get pushed around or knocked down or you won't have a lot of success.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: That's why you won't have it. And that's why I think that when you look at the Ford Panthers, man, they go to the net, they converge in net, and there's a scramble. There's always a scramble travel going on in there, and they score a lot of goals that way.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: Joe Watson, joining us here on the parting shots podcast, the cup. Winning the cup was a culmination of what owner Ed Snyder envisioned when he got the franchise. He saw the team getting beat up by the St. Louis Blues in the 1968 Stanley cup playoffs, and valid. That would never happen again. The team drafted rugged players like Bob Kelly, Dave Schultz, and Don Selwski and acquired Andre Dupont from the St. Louis Blues. The team became known as the Broad street bullies, and opponents feared the Flyers. I mean, how much fun was it to be able to intimidate opponents?
[00:39:56] Speaker A: Well, the main thing is we won. We loved it.
And you know what? That was all part of the game. You know, I can remember, I know a lot of my friends on other teams, and, and especially the Islanders. I knew Bobby Nystrom, but Bobby Nystrom used to come by hockey school in Kamloop, British Columbia, him and Mark Recky and Gary Howitt and so on and so forth. So I remember talking to. I talked to Bob sometimes after a game there, and he said, we'd be rambling down the New Jersey turnpike, and we come back up, we get up in the top of the Walt Whitman bridge. We looked off the left hand side, way off in the distance. We did the spectrum. The whole bus just quiet down because I know they're going to a war.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: And so it was intimidating. It was intimidating. And the fans were. The fans are worth a half a goal for us. They were, because they were right on top of the players and they could give it the players and everything else. And, and I hear some of the things they would say. I said, oh, my God, that's kind of. That's kind of ridiculous, but that's. That's the way the fans were. And. But it was a pleasure to play for the Broad street bullies. And it's funny, you know.
You know, it's 50 years later and there'll never be another team in Philadelphia like the Broadsby bullies. No, no, there never will be. You know what I've talked to, I was. I just had a friend of mine come back from Prague recently, and he got in the cabin and Prague. And they got. And the guy, the cab, he asked him where he's from, and the guy says, philadelphia. He said, home with the bullies. And the guy said, what? He said, home with a broad street bully.
It's crazy. Crazy bad. That's 8000 miles away.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: And, you know, when we went to Russia here, Ken, when I decided to do my book five. Five years ago, we went to Russia by guess it was six years ago. And we played in four different areas, but. And all they. All the fans, wherever we went, we saw people with flower jerseys on. In Russia, of all places. Of all places.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: And we've gone to Europe nine different times to play in tournaments. It doesn't matter where we go. We always see people with flyer jerseys on. So we go to show you. Flyers are an iconic name, an iconic team, and they're known all over the friggin world. I mean, we get letters sometimes from the. I sold books in Australia. Wow. And New Zealand. My books. And then I sold them in Holland and Hungary. London, England. It's crazy, man. People just. They're flyer fans all over the place. It's crazy. And it's wonderful to see because, you know, it's the mystique of the flyers. And the people want to know about the broad street bullies. And when we're in Russia again, you know, all they want to do is talk about how we just met all the Soviet Red army team and how we beat them. And we could have beat him ten to one if Trechak hadn't played a great game that day.
[00:42:40] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a little bit here. But one thing that critics, the other critics out there, and they said the Flyers bullied their way to two Stanley cup titles, but the team had talented players, and we could score goals like Bobby Clark, Bill Barber, Rick McLeish, Bill Flett, Reggie Leach. And, of course, Bernie Pratt was strong in goal. Do you think the team deserves more respect for winning those cups?
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Oh, sure they do. You know what? Absolutely right. I mean, sure, we weren't as talented as a lot of the team, but we outworked them. We outworked the opposition. You know, when you look at our team compared to Boston, they had, I'd say, ten so called superstars. We maybe had three, three, three or four at the very, very most. You know, we had Clark and the McLeish and, and Barbara, and we had leach the second year. Well, other than piranha, course, but, you know, other than that, we were a bunch of plumbers. No disrespect, the plumbers, but we realized we had to get our face dirty and our hands dirty in order to be successful. And. And that's why we were successful. And plus, we had a smart coach. I remember. I remember when we won our first cup, we played bot, we played the Rangers in a seven game series. It was really a tough game. Tough series. And we beat him. We beat him on a Sunday afternoon. We had to go to Boston Monday to open up Tuesday against Bob Boston. And Boston had beaten Chicago, I think, in five, five games or something. And they had. They were. They had five, six days off. So. So I remember we go to Boston on Monday afternoon, and I read the headlines and the Boston Globe, and it says, this is anticlimactic. We just beat a better team to get the finals that we're going to play for the finals of Stanley cup. And I looked and I said, I said, who the hell made that statement? I looked. It was Freddie Sherwood. So I went and asked, Freddie, what are you talking about, Freddie? He said, I said, freddie, we haven't beaten them in seven years in their building. He says, I know that. That's why I'm going to use the reverse psychology. And Freddie says, this is what we're going to do against them and this is the way we're going to beat them, not the way we're going to play. There's a big difference between beating and playing. And Freddie says, we're going to beat them, this system. And Freddie was absolutely right. He said, we're not going to show any respect to the Bruins. We're going to go after, or make him go back and get the puck. The Billings are hot, and when he does get the puck, hit him, get his way, make him exert some energy.
And, and that's what we did. And Freddie said he might dominate three or four game, but he won't dominate the whole series. And I, and Bobby and I, we played together. Boston, we lived together, so we were friends. And I remember talking to him after the series when we beat them, and he said, you guys wore me out. He says that was a ploy to go after you. Whenever you touch the puck, go after you and hit you and get in your way and make him hurt some energy. But that was Freddie Sherwin, Freddy Shiro's idea. The unwritten rule in the league at the time was never shoot the fucking horse corner. Never let him touch the buck. Yeah, well, we made it go back and get it and, and it really helped us tremendously, of course.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: Yeah, you broke that streak in game two with Moose Dupont getting the late third period goal and with Bernie out for an extra attacker. Then Bobby Clark scores rebound scores from Jean Harden at 1201 of overtime. And, and Dave Schultz, I mean, granted, he was known for more. He had a 20 goal year that year.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: He was.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: He had some two key plays in the playoffs. He scores the game winning overtime goal to sweep the Flames in the quarterfinals. And he outworked Terry O'Reilly to get that puck to Bill Flett, who passed it to Clark as he was cutting across the slot. And to me, Dave Schultz does not get enough respect for, you know, some of that stuff.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Yeah. The only thing he only respect he gets because it's physicality. But, you know, it's Chelsea, like you said, chelsea got 20 goals that one year. And I think he got.
I think another year he got a considerable amount, too.
[00:46:21] Speaker B: But, yeah, back to back hat tricks on Thursdays in January.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, he wasn't, he wasn't regarded as a skilled player, but you know what? A lot of us weren't skilled, but we knew how to win it. We knew what it took to win. And I give Schultze a lot of credit, by God, because he worked. He used to stay out after practice and work on his skills and working his drills and so on and so forth. And that's why he made himself into a good player. I mean, he was really guarded, as, you know, fisticuffs. He was regarded as that. But at the same time, he could score some goals and make some plays.
[00:46:58] Speaker B: Yeah. When you were acquired, acquired by the Flyers in the 1967 expansion draft, did you know anything about Philadelphia? And if I recall, didn't the city. Didn't the city have a parade for you before you opened the season? Harley and Buddy showed up.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: Parade. I was afraid. Oh, my God. So anyway, the mayor of Philadelphia is James. James Tate. And we had training camp up in Quebec City.
And. And then we, we came down to Philadelphia. And I'm very inquisitive. I sat in the front of the bus and we're going over the old Penrose Avenue bridge.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:47:29] Speaker A: And we got down to the bottom, the right hand side. I saw this machine is grinding up car parts. I said, what? And I said to the bus driver, what's that, what's that machine doing? He says, oh, that's. It's the mafia on that ice. And I said, he said that when the mafia get rid of people, they put them in the car and they grind together. You're kidding. He's. No, I'm not. I'm serious. So that was our first introduction to Philadelphia. Oh, my God almighty. And I said, what the hell are we doing here? But in a way, it worked out well. And then we went down this and, and then they wanted to parade down Broad street. Well, we went. Started going down parade. Hell, there were more people in the parade. They're watching us. They're giving us the finger in that.
God almighty. And then we go down to the city chamber. And the guy that wanted to introduce the Philadelphia and welcome, welcome the merit. He doesn't even show up at the function.
[00:48:19] Speaker B: Oh, geez.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: He doesn't show up at the function. He's only great. This is not very good. And I gave ourselves a year to be here. And. And I tell you what.
When we lost the roof in 1968, out of February, there was a big storm came through and blew a hole in the roof. And we were like vagabond. We played our last 20 games on the road. We were all over the place. And during that time, Mister Snyder had no revenue coming in. The owner of the team and he told the National Hockey League, I might have to move this franchise or sell it. So I have no revenue coming in. And the National League got him in touch with five different banks, and all the banks, with the exception, the last one, turned them down. And the Gerard Trust. There was a guy named Bill Bear, and Bill Bear was a Bostonian, played at Harvard, the fifties. And he's a hockey fan. Season tickets with the Flyers. And Ed told me, said, I need $2 million infusion of money to keep this franchise going. We have to sell it. And. And he went there Wednesday afternoon and talked to him, and he said, Thursday morning at 09:00 you'll have $2 million in your account. And. And Ed gets up next morning, already goes the bank. There's $2 million. There's a restless history.
[00:49:36] Speaker B: Wow. That's great. That's great.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: Restless history.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:39] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Well, you guys repeat a Stanley cup champions in 1975 and return to the final in 76. Looking for that hat trick in 76. I remember all the bumper stickers with the hat trick in 76. Yeah, but you lost to the Montreal Canadiens. But the most memorable game from that 75 76 season took place on January 11, 1976, when the Flyers hosted the Soviet Red army team. The Flyers won the game four to one, and there were two incredible plays in that game. Let's start with Ed van imps hit on Valerie Karlamov, which led to the Soviets leaving the ice for about 20 minutes. How crazy was that moment?
[00:50:13] Speaker A: It was crazy. They're going home. They're going home.
[00:50:16] Speaker B: They're going home. The great late, great Bob Cole's call. Yeah.
[00:50:19] Speaker A: Yeah. They're going home.
You know what? And, uh. And it wasn't that. You know what? I'll tell you what, uh, Kenny. We had a practice the day before in a Saturday afternoon, eh? And the Russians practice. And we went out. We watched them practice. They were going through all their gyrations on the ice. I said, holy Christ, boys, we can't do this stuff. We can't do this stuff. And Freddie. Freddie watched it. He says, we're not practiced, boys. So he let us go out there, fool around. The Russians are standing out there watching us practice. They didn't know what to say. So we have a banquet. We have a banquet and the blue Line club. And there was press from all over the world there, and. And they're introducing the players, the russian players, first of all. Then they started introducing the flyers, and they come to number eight, Dave Schultz. All of a sudden, the Russians looked around. They were looking to see. See where this guy was and everything else. And we knew they were a little nervous and apprehensive of what was going to happen? Yeah. So the next day, you know, we have, you know, we get to the game, and there's a guy named Lloyd Gilmore who was a referee, and. And Clarence Campbell came into our dresser before the game. He said, we have. We have to pull the prestige of hockey in North America. We have to win this game because they're beating all our top teams. Teams. And the only team they tie was Montreal. They tied three. Oh, but, but they beat Boston and New York. And they had other teams. They had another team over here was beating all the teams, too.
The soviet wings.
[00:51:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: And so Clarence gamble, we more or less told them to get the hell out of our dress room. You don't like us? You know, you did try. Apprehensive. What? Come on the ice and give us the Stanley cup and that. And we told him to get the hell out. We'll win for ourselves. So, you know, Freddie devised a system, and the system worked to a t. He figured it out. And. And he had our defenses stand up between center ice and the blue line, and he wanted the force to fall in behind the defense, pick up any loose pucks. Our job was to. To prevent them from breaking through and make them. Make him try to make him move and lose control the puck and already fet our force to pick up the puck and go the other way. And it worked. To a team, we don't shot him. 49 to 13.
[00:52:30] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: You know, trekjack having a play where we would have beat him ten to 110 to one. It was crazy. It was crazy, man.
[00:52:37] Speaker B: Yeah, well, in the second. Yeah. The second period of that game, Joe, you scored a shorthanded goal. You were not known as a score, which led Fred Sherrow to say that you. Your goal set russian hockey back 25 years. It's a funny line. How much fun was it to score a shorthand a goal against Trechetta?
[00:52:53] Speaker A: You know, it's funny. You know, that's the only goal that. The only shorthanded goal. I didn't know this, but the only shorthanded goal they give up in four games is my goal. And. And it was kind of crazy. You know, what happened was they had a power plan, and they came down, took a shot, and our goalie stopped it. And then. And then the Russians went for a line change. Well, I watched them going for lion chain. They were taking their time, and their guys weren't getting out the ice. And so I said, oh, hell, I'm going to solder up the ice with the kenner, Chuck and Celeste and. And who I did. And Seleski took a shot at Trechak. He made the save, and he kept it nice and low so he couldn't control it with his pads. I happen to sneak in there, and I tucked it in between his legs, and in and out it goes. And then I prove one thing, Ken. White man can't jump.
I try to jump in the air, and I probably jumped three inches off the ice. I thought, holy God almighty. Because I saw pictures of it later. I said, holy God. So white goes to prove one thing. I couldn't jump.
[00:53:50] Speaker B: Couldn't even do. Couldn't even do the moose shuffle, huh?
[00:53:52] Speaker A: No, you're right. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. But. But, you know, after the game, like you mentioned, Freddie, that. And then it was a shorthanded goal. But in a way, Gene Hart. Gene Hart went to Russia in 19, 93, 92, or 93 with his family, and they were in. They were in Moscow for about five days, and they decide to go to Siberia. And they got on the train and get. Three days later, they land in Siberia, and they're walking around in this area of Siberia, and they come across this prison, and they see these guys in balls and chains. And Gene goes and asks the guard, how come those guys are balls and chains? And, oh, they were on the ice with Joe Watson.
I guess the moral of the story, you don't want to be in the ice at ice core.
[00:54:44] Speaker B: That's funny. That's funny.
Well, your Flyers career ended after the 77, 78 season. You were sent to the Colorado Rockies, who later became the New Jersey Devils. I think it was in early November of that season, Joe, when the Rockies visited the Flyers. And early in the first period, well before. This is well before video tributes and all that stuff, there was a message on the scoreboard that welcomed you back, and the fans started giving you a standing ovation. How emotional was that?
[00:55:10] Speaker A: Oh, that was emotional. It really was. You know, it was. It was very difficult, you know. And then, right a week later, I broke my leg of 13 Aries. End of my bloody career, for christ's sake. But I'm. You know, it's funny. It's funny, Kenny. I played my last game against the flyers in Colorado. We tied to all, and we had to go the next morning to St. Louis to play there that night. We get to St. Louis and. And half 202 of the second period, I went back in the zone for a puck, and. And I set you out to reach for the puck, one of the lowest players push my lower back and explode on the boards, and thank God I got my leg turned around, or if I had to hit my neck or my back, I could have killed myself. But I broke my right leg in 13 places and ended my career.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: Bloody bone came right through my hockey sock. I didn't know it was there till John D'Amico, one of the linesmen, came to me. He says, joe, you okay? And I says, I don't know. And he says, just keep your head down. So I said, what do you mean, just keep your head down? So. And I was in shock. And then I looked at the fans, and they were looking, and they were turning their heads, and I never saw the bone till quite an hour or 2 hours later. Sticking right out. Yeah, sticking right out to the hockey stock. It was crazy.
[00:56:21] Speaker B: Well, you mentioned in the book that. Yeah, you mentioned the book that Ed Snyder would call you and visit you in the hospital, and then he told you that he want you, wanted you back in the organization. You served as an assistant coach, a scout, and then worked in sales, bringing in nearly $50 million in revenue. What did mister Snyder mean to you?
[00:56:38] Speaker A: Well, he was like a second father to me. He really was. You know, when he ever had a problem, whether it's internal or whatever, you know, he was there, you could go talk to him about, about life in general. And he just meant so much to our team, and we could have never done what we accomplished if without him, even though he was a known or he wasn't on the ice, he was just, he wanted to keep the family happy. So he had his wife make sure they take the wives out for shopping when the team would go on the road for ten days or whatever it was, and they would have parties for the wives and a happy, I guess a happy, happy wife is a happy family.
[00:57:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:15] Speaker A: And that usually works out in most cases, you know, and, and, but he was just, you know, like a second father. I think he's second father to all of us. All of us, you know, we idolized him, and we just respected him so much. And he cared. He showed. He showed that he cared for the players and the families and everything else. And it was wonderful to see.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: It really was, as I mentioned, the open Joe, you wrote this book, Thundermouth, memoirs of a broad street bully and NHL lifer. What inspired you to write it?
[00:57:46] Speaker A: Well, you know, when we went to Russia, when we went to Russia, we had a guy named Bill Meltzer.
[00:57:51] Speaker B: Yeah, and.
[00:57:52] Speaker A: Bill Meltzer. Yeah. Yeah. And Bill, Bill came and, and he started writing these articles when we were in Russia, and he was getting great response from people back in North America. And I had no idea till we got off the plane back in Philadelphia. And he told me, Joe, you wouldn't believe the response we got from, from our trip. I had no idea. I know we brought him along, but I didn't think he was doing all that writing, all these stories and sending him back. And we got such a great response. And I said to myself, you know, I told my wife, I said, if I ever decide to do a book, I'm going to get Bill Meltzer. And a lot of people told me, I have so many good stories and everything else. I remember things that happened since I was a young boy growing up and that I should do a book. And then one morning, I woke up on a Wednesday morning and I phoned Bill, and I told Bill, I said, bill, I want to do a booking. And that's what started it. And it took us almost two and a half years, three years to do the book.
And we've had a lot of success with it.
And people remember people. It brings them back to their youth. A lot of people buy the book. And I've had a lot of people say, God, I remember this. I remember that when I was there and remember this. And all these memories that you have in the book, all these stories you have in the book bring back memories to me. And I said, oh, that's good. I'm glad to make an impact on you.
[00:59:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: Yeah. So it worked out well. It really has.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: And I got to credit Bill Meltzer. I reached out to him. We know each other pretty well from the writing circles, and he gave me your contact info. So I'm thanking him publicly for doing that. How much fun was it to write this book?
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Well, it took a long time. We had a lot. Plenty of meetings. And, you know, when he did a chapter, he would send it to me, and I look at it and, you know, I try to. There are some mistakes. I let him know that there were some mistakes and what has been corrected and everything else, and.
And we just went along. We must have made. We must have met 50 times, 50 times about this book, whether it was in the building or my home or in a restaurant. And we just tell. I tell them stories. I got. I got about 90 captions of five or six words in each sentence that remind me of stories that I told them, you know, and a lot of the stories are in the book. Some are not in the book, but there's a lot of stories. And. But it's just a reflection on my, as a career growing up and a young boy up in northern Canada. Place called smithers. And, and smithers is a wonderful area. I like hunting. I'm a big hunter and fisherman. I was when I was younger. And the scenery and snow, everything there is. The thing about it, it gets so damn cold in the wintertime. It's hard to survive sometimes. I don't know if people survive up there.
[01:00:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:40] Speaker A: But we didn't know any better as young boys. We go out and play hockey, you know, five below zero degrees, maybe ten below sometimes. I remember playing games against other teams, and we would go up and play with two minute shift. They blow the whistle stop, and you go in and warm up the other two lines that come out and play the opposition. And the home team would play against one of two minutes. And then you stop and you bring the next line out there. That's all we had to do at some time because. Just so damn cold.
[01:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And I remember your dad too. He was a character.
[01:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah, he was. There's, there's plenty of stories about my dad. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, there are.
[01:01:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah. He was a great guy. And, uh, he loved his boys. He loved sports. And he come down to visit us unbeknownst. He wouldn't announce he was coming. He was just coming. I remember when we played Buffalo in the second, in our second Stanley cup.
We had, we. I got a phone call, address on a Sunday afternoon. And the trainer came to me and he says, your dad's on the phone. I said, oh, isn't that nice? It's about two and a half hours before the game. And so dad shows up and he phoned the dressing room. I talked to him. I said, dad, this is really nice. You're phoning us. Wish us good luck and all that stuff. He says, no, I'm here. I said, what do you mean you're here? I'm at the airport. You're at the airport in Philly. And we had no idea it was coming. So the old man shows up. He had overalls on, overall woolen underwear on. It was 90 degrees out. He had couched all over his boots. And I said, oh, my God. Oh, my. So we had no tickets. So I pulled. I get ahold of Mister Snyder and I told him what was going on. He said, don't worry, Joe. I can take care of him. He'll go sit with us in the box. In the private box.
There was Kate Smith at one side, Frank Rose on the other side. Dad was the middle.
[01:02:28] Speaker B: Oh, my.
[01:02:29] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Oh, my I never saw my dad cradle that. The day that Kate Smith died.
[01:02:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: Yeah, my dad. But you know what case? Miss saved the world. She saved America. She did. Kate Smith got it.
[01:02:40] Speaker B: They got. They get flyers. Gotta back. Bring her back. I mean, I don't know.
[01:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I hear there's. Things are going on. I don't know. I'm not privy to what's going on, but I've heard that they're trying to do that. Yes.
[01:02:53] Speaker B: Well, here's what. Here's what I. Here's for the home opener next season, don't announce it. Just say, lauren Hart's going to sing God bless America. And then as she starts out, and then when it's Kate's turn and I want the place to go nuts, she is an integral part of that history. I mean, whatever she's accused of, it was a different time. And I don't want to get too crazy about that, but we'll get back to your dad a second. I remember there was one picture after you guys won in Buffalo of you, your brother Jimmy and him happen smiling in the locker room after the cup there. I remember that picture vividly.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. God. Yeah. I remember the time that dad came down. So we come after we win the game against Buffalo, he come down the dress room and give me a big hug. I said, dad, my God, you smell. You got to get the hell in the shower. So he takes his goddamn clothes off. Now there's dress running around the dressing room. No, he takes his clothes off and goes running in the shower. Shower. And the guys were in their shower. They didn't know who this guy was. And I went and told, this is my dad.
[01:03:57] Speaker H: My dad.
[01:04:00] Speaker A: So he goes in there and showers, and we wash the shit off his boots. And. And.
And he put a back.
But anyway, that's the way dad was. Dad was. And a suitcase consisted of a box with rope around it. Yeah, that's what he had. That's what he had for a suitcase. A box.
[01:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Joy.
[01:04:20] Speaker A: God.
[01:04:21] Speaker B: Well, Joey, want to wrap this up? There are two notable absences with the Flyers hall of Fame. Bob Kelly, Andre Dupont. They were key members of that Stanley cup teams and served the organization well. Kelly scored the game winning goal in the cup final in 75 in game six. And we mentioned Moose's heroics in 74.
[01:04:41] Speaker A: Tying the game up in Boston. Yeah.
[01:04:43] Speaker B: And I happen to happen to be watching Tuesday night. I just was. Anniversary game for the four two victory at the spectrum. Take a three one series lead. I just watching Barbara's first shot beating Jill, Joe Baron and Moose getting the insurance goal. I mean, what do you have to do to get these guys inducted?
[01:04:59] Speaker A: Yeah, you know what?
You know what? I honestly, I couldn't agree with you more. Those two guys were very instrumental in our success as a team. You know, if Dave Schultz, Dave Schultz is in the hall of Fame or the Flyers hall of Fame, Bob Kelly should definitely be their moose Dupont.
[01:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:05:16] Speaker A: And I don't know. I don't know what has to be done. I have no idea.
[01:05:20] Speaker B: Need me to come down?
[01:05:21] Speaker A: I think there's a board. There's a board of five guys or six guys that board on them every year, and, and I just wish that they would put these players in the hall of Fame because they deserve to be in the flyer hall of Fame.
[01:05:35] Speaker B: Do you need me to tell, you need me to come down and talk to this board? I mean, I'll serve on the board.
[01:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know who's on. I know there's, I know.
I know a couple guys on the board, but, you know, you have a bunch of guys, or I don't know if it's a bunch of guys, but, you know, they've got a vote. And, but I honestly. You're right. You're absolutely right. And I've mentioned this before, that Bob Kelly scored the winning goal in that Buffalo game, and he hardly ever played, but when he got out, the AC always created a lot of havoc on the ice. And of course, Andre two point scored. So many big goals for us. So many big goals for us against, in our Stamley cup years.
[01:06:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
I remember the overtime goal against Maple leaves that swept that series.
[01:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He scored big goals against Atlanta. I mean, my God, man, he was a, he, he. And he was terrorizing. He could terrorize people, too. He was a good skater and a strong skater. Very strong in his states and very powerful. He really was.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: And great quote.
[01:06:38] Speaker A: And, and the hound. The hound. Hound. When Hound got in a fight, he'd get 30 punches into the other guys. One, because he just, it was a machine gun. Kelly, I called him.
[01:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:06:47] Speaker A: He'd get these punches in so quickly, but I couldn't agree with you more than they should be in the hall of fame. And hopefully this will happen one year.
[01:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Of course, Moose has some great quotes, too.
[01:06:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:07:01] Speaker B: We beat up their chickens forwards, and now we didn't get arrested. Now moose drinks beer.
[01:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Right, right. And we take their women, too. He said that was in Vancouver.
[01:07:12] Speaker B: That was Vancouver.
[01:07:13] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Oh, boy. He was a funny guy, Moose. Great guy. Great guy.
[01:07:19] Speaker B: Well, Joe, it's been a pleasure. I mean, I could talk to you for hours and. But I know you have other things going on, so, again, I appreciate you spending some time with me. And like I said, I mean, if it wasn't for my dad, you know, working across the street where Lincoln financial Field is now used to be a food fair distribution center, he worked the second and third shift. So he go over those first couple years, we end up getting season tickets. And I became the envy of my grade school when, you know, back then. Back then, so you could not get tickets, the game. So. And we. There was, yeah, it was. And the fact I'm in this business, Joe, is because you guys, I was. I want.
[01:07:55] Speaker A: That's not nice, cat. I gotta meet you one of these years.
[01:08:00] Speaker B: Next time, next time I'm down in Philadelphia, I'm gonna probably come down in June.
[01:08:03] Speaker A: You got my number. You got me. You got me. You gotta give me a number. Give me a call. You got my number.
[01:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I will do that, Joe, if you just hang on before, I want to do a quick close. And I want to thank you for coming on off air, but appreciate it again, Joe, and I promise I will get that.
[01:08:19] Speaker A: They just have to. Joe Watson, official.com. Just go online. Joe watsonofficial.com and, and I get the order here. My wife gets your order and I get it out right away.
[01:08:28] Speaker B: I appreciate that, Joe. Great job and thanks, and we'll talk again soon. Soon.
[01:08:32] Speaker A: All right, Kenny, take care, my friend.
[01:08:34] Speaker B: You too. That's Joe Watson. I'll be back to wrap up the podcast. And I have the latest winner, Daily Gazette auto racing contest, in just a moment.
If you really want to know what's going on in your community, you have to read the Daily Gazette. We don't take a side. We're right down the middle, and we're going to get to the truth. Our reporters and photographers are out in the field bringing you updates every minute with trust, accuracy, and integrity from the first page to the last page. Independent, probing journalism. We're finding out what's going on in the community where nobody else is covering. It's who we are. It's what we do.
[01:09:32] Speaker D: Hi, this is Colgate men's hockey coach, Mike Harder.
[01:09:36] Speaker B: You're listening to the parting shots podcast with Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott.
Back to wrap up the podcast. The week 13 winner in the Daily Gazettes auto racing contest was Chris Krasbowski of Glenville with 40 points. Chris wins a dollar 50 gift card. Congratulations, Chris. The vip winner was Dwayne Leach of all seasonal equipment with five points. Not a good week for the vip's. I'll announce the auto racing contest winner's name and that winner's name will appear in Saturday's Daily Gazette. To play, go to dailygazette.com and click on the auto racing contest banner. But this week, the NASCAR is off this weekend, so no contest.
Just because the COVID-19 mandates are easing, that does not mean you should relax. Be vigilant. If you have not gotten vaccinated or received a booster shot, please do so. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, and do it for your friends.
That wraps up another edition of the Parting Shots podcast. I want to thank Josh Halji, Josh Skiba, Nick Young, Matty Leaney, Jim McLaughlin, Mike McGadam and Joe Watson for being on the show. If you have questions or comments about the podcast, email them to me at shot. That's
[email protected]. Follow me on x and threads at slapshots.
The views expressed on the parting Shots podcast are not necessarily those of the Daily Gazette Company. The Parting Shots podcast is a production of the Daily Gazette Company. I'm Daily Gazette sports editor Ken Schott. Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you next time from the party Shots podcast studio in Schenectady, New York. Good day.
[01:11:11] Speaker A: Good sports.
