#130 Scott Parker - NHL Enforcer / Stanley Cup Champion
Scott "The Sheriff" Parker - Stanley Cup Champion, NHL Enforcer, Founder of Parkers Platoon & Co-Founder of Taboo Social Club. To this day, Scott is a well-respected and talked about NHL Enforcer who played for the Colorado Avalanche (who he won a Stanley Cup Championship with) and the San Jose Sharks. Some of his media features include ESPN, Spittin Chiclets, and Sports Illustrated. Tune in as Scott Parker joins Bobby Marshall in the studio to discuss, NHL, Hockey, fighting on ice, NHL enforcers, Bob Probert, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Ice Wars, Alaska, Colorado, supporting veterans, dogs, outdoor life & much more. Please subscribe or like us on social media platforms for updates on shows, events, and episode drops.
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Scott Parker - NHL Enforcer / Stanley Cup Champion
Our guest for this episode is an NHL veteran and Stanley Cup champion. Scott Parker was able to join us. He was one of the most feared hockey enforcers to ever lace up and play the game. It was awesome to sit down and do a deep dive into some of his hockey career, his background, and some of the things that Scott has got going on. It was a great episode and I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for joining us. This is super rad. I got some Stanley Cup Avalanche royalty in here.
Thanks for having us on.
Thanks for all the awesome gifts too. I'm going to light one of these over a glass of tequila or something.
That will be good.
I'm a huge Avalanche fan. It's an honor to have you here. You are a bucket list guest for me for sure. Being one of the baddest ass motherfuckers in all of hockey, in my opinion, and watching you play back in the day, I want to dive right into it. Let's talk about some enforcing in NHL hockey. What was the catalyst for you getting into hockey in the first place and then finding yourself in that enforcer role?
The catalyst to get me was living in Alaska. In third grade, I took a piece of paper home. It said, “Learn how to play hockey.” I took it to my parents and said, “What's hockey?” I was born in California, so we lived there prior to Alaska. There was a little bit of hockey and Cali back in the day, but not a lot. My parents were like, “Let's figure it out.” They did a little research. There was no internet back in the day. You have to call someone and be like, “What's hockey?” This was back in the '80s. I did that and the whole family got skates and we skated as a family.
It took off for me from there because nine months out of the year is winter in Alaska, so doing a winter sport kept me busy without driving my mom too crazy. When it came to the whole fighting side, it was just my size. I was always brought up to keep your hands to yourself and I went to Sunday school and all that stuff, so I was always taught certain things. I grew 4 inches in one summer when I was about 14 or 15. I sprouted big quick and then everybody is like, “The big kid, let's poke him.” I'd never been in a fight in my life and people are picking on me. I'm like, “Why?” Oddly enough, everybody wants to pick on the big guy to see if they can take him out.
I'm not a small guy either. I found myself in a few bars now and then where it's like guys target you or something.
It's very strange. Being large and being put into that role because when I was in juniors up in Canada, we had lost our enforcers, Jamie Butt. He had a back injury career-ending. One of our other guys, Dale Purinton, which played in the NHL, got traded. There was nobody to protect the guys. I'm looking around like, “Who's going to do it?” I stepped into that role and it blossomed from there.
Growing up in Alaska, you have to be an outdoors person to be up there. Was the hockey outdoors up there?
A lot of it was.
You guys are playing in the dark.
Your parents threw on the car lights is your lighting in the rink. Just don't shoot toward the cars. It was the whole thing. It's like what they do up in Canada and everywhere else. It's the love of the game and you do what you have to. There were many times when we'd wait until there were huge wind storms because it would clear off all the snow on the ponds and the lakes. We'd skate across lakes and be out there all day long playing. You are skating across it and the things cracking, making noises, and doing everything, but it's old school like that Mystery, Alaska playing on a pond with your buddies.
When you love the game, you do what you have to.
You probably know Zamboni or anything like that. It makes you a good skater, I would imagine.
You bring your shovel and your pucks. You hope that you take all the pucks home with you that you brought that day or you donated them to the lake.
I wonder how many are in the bottom of the lake right here because we got 2 or 3 ice rings up here. There was nothing else to do in this town. Growing up here, it was either playing hockey or sitting at home. We might have had a Nintendo or something at that point, but it's pretty lame when you can only afford two games like Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. I'm like, “I'm going to go play hockey.” It was fun, but it is not even comparable to what you have been through.
It's nice when you get to the show level and somebody is putting your gear out for you and you are not having to deal with the stinky gear. We are fortunate to have good equipment once you get to that level and they take care of you. It does pave the way and you have a sense of relief. You don't always look at it like, “I have made it. I don't have to do anything.” You start to work your ass off, but it's nice when you work up to that level and you are not putting on cold gear and wet gear from the day before.
Was hockey pretty much life up there, or did you guys do stuff outside of there?
My dad was a federal game warden. Fortunately, he'd be on deployment for weeks on in. My mom is trying to get me to hockey practices, games, and trying to do stuff with my sister, and trying to be a family in Alaska. My folks did as much as they could. I'm super fortunate to have the folks I did that allowed me to play the sports.
It's not a cheap sport. When you break a stick, you look up in the stands and your parents are cringing and you are like, “Shit.” That's what the cool things to look back on and say where you came from or where you got to. All those early mornings and late nights paid off. I have my parents to thank for a lot of that.
That's awesome having that support. I got to think of my parents for everything. Putting me through football and all that stuff, and grandparents too, because I didn't grow up with a dad. If it wasn't for them, I would probably be in jail or dead maybe in a ditch.
They never know.
Your dad was a federal game warden. We have had a few game wardens in here. I don't think we have ever had a federal one in, but that's a pretty high level for a game warden. You are going after some bad motherfuckers.
They went after a lot of poachers. There's a lot of the ivory trade up there, too, where the walruses and animals are being taken out of season. When they are running animals on planes and tiring them out and running them ragging to where you can walk up to them and put a gun to the back of their head, that's not a sport. That's the stuff my dad fought against doing it sustainably and smart and doing stuff like, “Why would you want to take advantage of an animal like that? What's the story behind that?” You want the story that you hiked 10 miles up 4 feet of snow to get to this animal. How can you tell a story that I flew over it multiple times, tried it out, and then put a gun to it back of his head? You are a dipshit.
That's not hunting. That's killing.
The animals up there are massive, the moose, bears, and everything up there. Everything wants to eat you all the way down to the mosquitoes. They are taking liters of blood a day too, and it's like, “Shit,” but it's a magnificent place and it's awesome. If guys like that don't take care of the wildlife and the outdoors, then, unfortunately, people take advantage and it won't be around very long.
That's one thing that we are adamant about here treating it the right way, whether you know it or not, and being a good steward of the land.
Try to leave it better. That's the thing people lose. They bring all their stuff and they are rowdy. There's always stuff you can do better. Even every time we go snowmobiling up in the hills, we always do it like an offering to Mother Nature. We will bring food up for the birds or squirrels. You give back and you take care of and then Mother Nature takes care of you, but if you keep taking, then she's going to whoop your ass. There's nothing more true than that.
When you give back and take care of Mother Nature, Mother Nature takes care of you. But if you keep taking, then she's going to whoop your ass.
Growing up there, were you a hunter and that type of thing? Were you guys in a major city? Where were you at?
In Eagle River, right outside of Anchorage. Back in the day, maybe 15,000 people in Eagle River, give or take, maybe 20,000. I was so young. I got my license up there and I was able to drive and everything, but we had left when I was fifteen. That's right when I was starting to get the freedom of, “It doesn't take that long to get somewhere, but when my mom and dad are driving, it takes forever.” You are like, “Foot on the gas.” It was doing stuff like that. It was a great childhood and a lot of fun up there.
I can imagine. I'm a little bit jealous. I love it up there. It's an incredible spot. This is great too, but it's another level of wilderness and awesome country up there.
It's pretty big. Even where we would hunt too would be Kodiak Island, which is south of Seward there. That's where I got my first black-tailed deer when I was nine years old. We started young. My dad was a big hunter. He was a gunner in a helicopter in Vietnam, so he was in the Army. He was proficient with weapons prior to even going into the whole federal side of law enforcement. That's another reason why we have our nonprofit Parkers Platoon. We help veterans transition when they come home.
We have a mutual friend that's in that. Shout-out to Bito of Half Face Blades. He's been a big supporter of the show since we started. He was our 40th episode and then he was our 100th and we did a blade giveaway. He's an awesome dude.
He makes unbelievable stuff.
They are works of art.
When you see it in a picture, it doesn't do it justice. When you hold it in your hand and you feel the craftsmanship, you are like, “This is topnotch.”
Also, even putting them to work. They are incredible. I'm an end user of them.
They are not just to look at.
I have a small collection of his stuff and he's a great dude. Tell me about Parkers Platoon and what you guys are doing there since you brought it up.
My dad, like I said, was in Vietnam and my wife's dad was a Marine, unfortunately, he's not with us anymore, but we felt passionate about it. We saw the change happening, but it wasn't happening fast enough. Starting the slow clap in the airport is awesome, but even going that extra mile, helping, talking to, or getting to know the guys, there's a lot that goes into it.
It's amazing the camaraderie and having them being able to talk to you or have a safe place to be where they don't have to look over their shoulders. The big thing we notice is when we get them worked in or we get them where they want to be, then they are in the now. They are not in several years ago where they had PTs or they lost their buddy in a shootout and all those things that work on them day to day that they are trying to put those demons away. Showing them fun stuff and showing them everything they fought so hard for. Let's go enjoy it. That's the precipice behind that.
Is it outdoor adventures?
A lot outdoors.
Either I cater to the person or the individual.
We try to get to know the individual and their likenesses. Most of them are outdoors anyway because that's the world they are in. Getting them out on a stream and fishing, going for a hike, going snowmobiling, and getting them to the top of a peak. Looking out and seeing how vast, how big it is, and how safe we are. We don't have bombs going on for us. We don't have bullets strafing by our heads and it's because of those men and women that do the greatest job in the world. They are the best. That's why we enjoy them immensely and everything they have done for us and all the sacrifice they have given.
There's a real value in connecting with nature no matter what you are doing. Even if it's going on a hike or a drive. Maybe you can't go on a hike. Driving from where you live over Berthoud Pass to here, there's some incredible scenery along the way. We had set the show up prior to that, but it was like avalanche danger. We couldn't get you over because they were shutting down Berthoud Pass and all kinds of crazy stuff. Being out in it or even in this area is incredible.
The Rocky Mountains are beautiful and there's so much to see. Like we were talking about being good stewards of the land and leaving it better. There's something that goes hand in hand with that and getting people reintroduced and like you said, nature is nurture. It's amazing how well it can make you feel and how it can bring you into the now and enjoy life. That's the big thing we like to push and get the guys to transition as quickly as we can because we want them to enjoy the longest normal life that they can without having those night sweats, not sleeping, or feeling like shit.
Be good stewards of the land and leave it better than when you found it. When we get reintroduced to nature's nurture, it's amazing how well it can make you feel, bring you into the now, and just enjoy life.
That's valuable. I commend you for doing that. That's super rad. I know what time and effort goes into that. It's not a walk in the park-like, “I'm going to do this.” I commend you for that. If somebody is reading this, we have quite a few people or quite a bit of our reader base might be military or some of them might be active with some of the guests that we have had on the show. If they wanted to reach out and get in touch with you guys to maybe hook up and do something, how would they go about doing that? Do you guys have a website?
We do. It's ParkersPlatoon.org. Go on there and you can reach out. We got contact lists. We have all the stuff. You can contact us and reach out. We are based up in Grand Lake and up in the mountains and we think that there's something special about that because of talking to the guys and having them telling us stories.
It's a beautiful spot.
We love it. Them even being down in the Front Range in the city, driving around the VA ten times trying to find a parking spot and losing their mind and driving home. It's like they need someone sometimes to talk to that listens. We try to link up. Sometimes like a vet of a sport as well as the veteran of our armed forces and try to link them together with like-minded. Some guys like to fish, go on walks, or travel.
Trying to link guys that are transitioning together. We try to do that as well to get more brotherhood outside of for 1) Our sport and 2) Their military world where sometimes when you are out, you don't just get to go on base and be like it was yesterday because once you are out and then you are like, “What do I do now?”
What I found with a lot of those guys and Bito is a great example of that. He's built his little community around him with Half Face Blades and a lot of the guys that work for him are veterans and that type of thing. We recorded two episodes at his shop, which was super rad. It's like a band of brothers in there, a little clique, gang, team, tribe, or whatever you want to call it. I think that he's probably built that around him because you miss that camaraderie. You can probably attest to this too. That's a huge part of, I don't want to go down this road too crazy but, masculinity to me. I can't stand that we are squashing masculinity now or this toxic masculinity bullshit. We don't even need to get into that.
Having camaraderie and having your boys around you. Having friendships and bonds and going through some adversity together is so great. You can face adversity pretty quickly in the outdoors. It's a great way to bond and a great way to put some of that camaraderie back into it. I find that pro athletes and I can't speak for them and military guys and I'm not comparing the 2 because they are 2 different things.
You guys go to battle and they go to war. Different lines in the sand there. After leaving pro hockey, I would imagine you miss a lot of that camaraderie that time, the locker room, the time around your teammates, and those bus rides and plane rides that sucked. You make up for it by busting each other's balls and the little things like that.
That's what it's about. It’s like you are the big brother mentality or the little brother. You see a disheveled rookie walk in the room and you are like, “Come over here. Tell me what happened.” There was something about having that and just laughing and having that brotherhood/camaraderie. As we have always said too with the military and the whole hockey world of athletes is the same team but a different mission.
We all have the same likenesses. We all like to do the same things. We are a team sport, but we do different stuff. After the fact, you can still come together once you are done and out because of the likenesses and repetition. They couldn't do what they did 100,000 times as well as us without wanting to do it. Some people can't do that, but our OCD. I will do that 1,000 times.
Not only are they getting something out of it. It sounds like you are too.
It's that brotherhood. It's getting to see them transition from where they were years ago to where they are now. That alone is enough for us too because to see them being good patrons and in society, being able to mold back into that and to not be a hermit, being up in the hills, and being that crazy Vietnam Rambo-type mentality.
Getting people back in and teaching them real-world things. Even in hockey, you are in the hockey bubble and you only learn so much because the hockey bubble is so small but the world is so big. They keep you in that bubble and you know what they want you to know. I’m sure now with social media it's a lot different, but back in when I was playing, we barely had cell phones. It wasn't a thing, but now everybody is in everybody's shit these days, so I don't know what it is these days.
When you're in the hockey bubble, you only learn so much because the bubble is so small, but the world is so big.
I don't know about you too, but those are some of my favorite people to be around because they are truth-tellers. They are what you get. They won't bullshit you. That's why I love having those guys in here and people like you because you know what you are getting into. They will tell you if they don't agree with you.
Where a lot of people will come in and sit there and agree with everything that you say. I love being around them. I love being outdoors with them. I think you are onto something. Outdoor stuff gets expensive when you start buying gear or going on trips. Maybe you guys are going for several days or something on some trip. You are probably not funding this all yourself. Is there a way for people to help? I'm sure that you guys being a nonprofit, you take donations.
We do. We always say we are the worst fundraisers ever. Whenever we need something, my wife Francesca, reaches in and we make it happen. Even one of the service dogs was coming to her and good old Sicario Belgian Malinois from Warriors Choice down in Florida.
Great guys. We have been talking with Anthony quite a bit.
Anthony Longo is a great guy. Warriors Choice does a great job of being able to get these veterans good dogs. Anthony had flown to Colorado and we are sitting in the living room and one of the Seals calls my wife. He had planted the seed maybe six months prior, but we believe in things happen for a reason. When he called, Sicario was sitting right there and she was like, “We have a change of plans.”
She felt enough to where she wanted to gift the dog to that veteran because it was the right thing to do. It's amazing how that's helped him in the long run and all the years that he's had him and the difference it's made in his life. We have seen firsthand how those animals and little things that you can do positively for those guys can make a huge difference.
I know how happy my dog makes me. She doesn't judge me. That's for sure. That's incredible. Drop the website one more time and I urge you if you are a reader and you have the means to maybe donate to a good cause, donate to Parkers Platoon. Help these guys out. Help some veterans out. They have sacrificed enough for us. I try to give back whenever I can.
I appreciate it. Every little bit adds up and it goes into a good cause.
ParkersPlatoon.org. Tell me about Taboo Social Club too. Is that associated with Parkers Platoon?
It is a little bit. We call them rollies instead of joints because people get their noses out of whack when you say joints, but it's our pre-rolled hemp products that we have and some herbs in as well. We started that for an alternative and to have something. We have a blend in there that's an adderollie. It's all-natural Adderall.
Are these all different or are they the same?
I will show you which ones are what here in a little bit. To have the different stuff, we have adderollie, and then we have the Hypnos, which is your nighttime one. It's got lavender and it's got all these great herbs in there that drop your shoulders, calm you out, and stop the hamster wheel from rolling.
Is the straight CBD or is there THC?
Straight CBD. It's non-psychoactive. You are going to get all the benefits without the high. That's why we are doing it as well because not everybody can utilize the whole THC or the cannabis market because of what they do.
It's so next-level now.
It is. Some of the stuff out there now is 40% over and some people take that and it will put them in a coma. It is very insane these days, but that's why we have this product too to help. It gets all the benefits without the psychoactive high and then be able to go throughout your day feeling better and doing more and getting more accomplished, and more fulfilling.
NHL Enforcer: Some people take THC or cannabis, and it will put them in a coma. That's why we have this product: to help people basically get all the benefits without the psychoactive high and just be able to go throughout their day just feeling better and getting more accomplished.
You guys have some canine products and a lot of tinctures. Do you have a topical salt too?
That's our Apollo, our pain liniment. It's an oil dropper. Put some in your hand and put it on the spot. It's amazing. It's stuff that does help. We can't make medical claims but we feel that there's stuff in there that helps rather than masks the issue. You are doing worse in that area and then you have something worse off in the long run like a full-on tear or full surgery. I'm not saying that it's going to fix everything, but it will make you feel better and hopefully do more throughout the day, and feel more fulfilled.
You can purchase online. Do you ship it to all 50 states?
We do. It's TabooSocialClub.com. You can go check that out. We do eCommerce and all that stuff.
Shout-out to Derek right there. You guys are hanging out with him.
D. Wolfe and then we got Adam Foote in the next picture there. My old captain. Foote is a great guy. It's crazy is both of his boys play in the league now. When my son was younger, we called him their manny. Instead of a nanny, he was their manny but he took care of them and got them around to practices, and some of the games, and helped Adam and Jen out back in the day because having both boys playing sports as well as Adam, and Jen was pulling her hair out. DJ went and helped the Foote family out there for a few years. I think that was when Duchene was living too.
A lot of teams. It genuinely sparked a love for hockey in the Avalanche for me because you had Bourque on there, yourself, and Foote. Forsberg was on that team. We are talking about 2001. Stanley Cup champs that year. The game has changed so much now. In the '90s, it was at the pinnacle of hockey I like to watch because of people like you and it's so exciting, but it's changed so much now. Why do you think the NHL has demonized those enforcers or that role a little bit?
I liked going to a fight in a hockey game with a breakout mentality because there was emotion on the ice. I don't want to have more emotion in the stands than they do on the ice playing the sport. That's what it seems like these days. They are taking away a lot of the toughness. They are demonizing the enforcer role saying, “W created all these injuries and these issues,” which we stopped a lot of injuries by keeping guys accountable and putting them on the level saying, “You do that to my guy. I'm going to do it to your guy but I'm going to raise the bar so don't hit my guy.”
There was a lot to it that they are leaving up to the refs in the league these days. However, having somebody on the other team that may rip your head off the next game goes a lot further than getting fined $25,000 and you are like, “That's not a big deal.” You may miss ten games because you got a broken skull. You are thinking, “I don't want to do that.” Then maybe you don't hit that guy as hard as you thought you were going to or maybe slash him or take advantage of a guy on a team that maybe you wouldn't do if somebody else was on that bench.
I didn't mean to laugh at you and I don't mean to interrupt you, but a shout-out to Chris Camozzi. He's the one that connected the two of us and thank you DJ for setting this all up as well. I saw a short clip from the Fit Soda Podcast and it was you. I remember watching this game and you guys were playing the Nashville Predators. You got thrown in the penalty box and then there's one point where you are trying to climb the penalty box glass to get to their bench.
That whole thing happened. What's crazy too is Brendan Witt, he was a great guy. We got to know him after the fact. Years after, this had happened but Witt had gotten traded to Nashville from Washington. He told the whole team like, “Let Parker sleep tonight. I got traded here. I don't want to have to do anything stupid. Let him sleep.”
Lo and behold, Jordin Tootoo has to whack me on the legs going up the ice. I'm like, “Leave me alone kid.” He kept whacking me and then I elbowed him and put him into the corner. I tried to fight everybody on the ice. I went up to the goalie. I said, “Do you want to go?” He's like, “No. I don't want to fight you.” I asked the ref if he wanted to go and he was like, “What are you talking about Parker?” I wasn't happy in that game.
This was post-Avalanche, right?
This was when I got traded. I think this was back in ’06. That was a lot of fun.
There was another little comment in there and this is what I want to dive into and our time is limited here. Also, in that short little clip from the Fit Soda Podcast, go check that out. I'm sure it's amazing. I haven't had a chance to watch the whole episode, but I have seen a couple of clips. I love Chris and I love what he's doing. I can imagine having you on there. You too are going to be an awesome podcast. Go check that out.
There was another part in there or something and maybe I misunderstood this. Intimidation was a huge part of your guys' role. I have watched the documentary Ice Guardians. I love that documentary. Chris also turned me onto that. Intimidation seemed like it was a huge part of it. There was a point in that clip where you said that you were in the bus turnaround or something at the Pepsi Center threatening to Uzi up a bus or something like that.
I would always plant the seed. I would go and change out into my under gear and I'd go and wait for the guys to get off the bus and I'd say, “I'm going to break your leg. I'm going to Uzi you if you guys do this tonight.” You just plant the seed. Who knows? I may have done it back in the day. It is a concealed carry state. Talking to everybody like hockey is 80% mental and 20% physical. As I said, you can have a Greek God body, but then you shut down the mind and nothing follows.
It's amazing how you can plant the seed. Even if I get one shift that night or even if I don't play that night, those guys are thinking, “That guy is crazy. Is he this serious?” “He's not serious.” They are constantly thinking about that instead of Forsberg, Bourque, or Hejduk scoring. Everybody doing their job. They are worried about me and what I said instead of them playing the pinnacle and playing their game. You take them out of the game a little bit and you have already won. This is not having them be 100% is better on our end. Plant the seed. You never know what will happen.
Was it a team decision or was it all solely on you at your discretion when you decided to take the gloves off?
That's a Catch-22 because most of the coaches would say it was on them. I knew my role. It's not like you get to this level and then you are like, “I have to learn something new.” No. I did it in every other league below. This league. You know when to respond, what to do when to go overboard, and when to do work on someone. All those things play into it. When you get to the NHL you get a little more handcuffed because it is pretty technical when it comes to special teams and we don't want to lose and we don't want you to be a liability type of thing.
Being a powerhouse on the ice and finishing your checks. Being good defensively. As long as you could be good defensively and not have them score in you, that was always the mentality with the 3rd or 4th lines don't get scored on. Every line gets scored on. How about we go play our game and see what happens? Give the guys an opportunity to fail. That's what it comes to.
Every line gets scored on. How about we just go play our game and see what happens?
That's what the enforcers were doing giving these guys some room so they could play.
Exactly. Talking to the guys that I played with. They said when I was on the bench, I gave them 6 feet of ice to play in. When I wasn't playing that night, they only had 3 feet of ice to play in. It does make a difference in them being able to be more successful at what they do to where what I was able to do in my role to be able to be the big brother on the team and like, “You touch him and I will raise the bar.”
A lot of the nights were pretty quiet. Some of the stuff like with José Théodore and stuff that happened. We had a home in a home with Calgary, the Flames. I wasn't playing up in Calgary and Théo was trying to find me after warmups. I'm in the workout room already working out and like, “Parks, did you see what happened?” I was like, “No. What happened?” He's like, “Phaneuf did this to me at the red line.” I was like, “Fuck that piece of shit.”
Going in and telling my coach like, “I know I'm not playing this game but you are suiting me for the next game,” and I didn't take no for an answer. I said, “This is what's going to happen and it is what it is.” They came down to the Pepsi Center. In warmups, I made it apparent that I did not like Phaneuf. What's crazy enough is Eric Godard, which is a friend of ours now, was on the team and he was their enforcer so he had to get in the middle of it.
During that game, I was in the corner. I made sure I dumped the puck in Phaneuf’s corner so I could go run the shit out of him. Lo and behold, he didn't show up to the puck first, which was typical. I grabbed the puck and he finally comes in the corner and then I say, “Screw you.” I speared him in the balls and he's down on the ice and I'm hitting him. Godsy comes over. I have to fight Godsy. You take care of your team. It is that brotherhood. If somebody messes with my guy then I will raise the bar.
I'm sure there are moments too where you are like, “I don't want to do this,” because you have been doing it for 10 or 15 years at that point.
All the different leagues coming up too. It doesn't slow down. You keep going.
I'm sure it takes a lot mentally to get into that mindset every night.
It does but I had the switch. My wife says I don't have a dimmer. I have an off-and-on. Once the switch went, it was like, “He's psycho.” That went and then it was on. It took me quite a few years to get that switch to be able to flip. It's even harder trying to turn it off when you go home at night because maybe you fought somebody at 10:00 at night. It's not like you are going to go home and shut her down. There'd be nights where I'd get maybe a half hour of sleep and I was like, “I wake up.” Do it again the next day.
I bet you wish you had some of this back then.
That's why we started the company and had an alternative because I couldn't take all the pills from Big Pharma. They would make me sick and I would throw them up. They would give me headaches and then more seizures and I'm like, “This is stupid. There has to be something else out there.” Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn't one that fit my mold and worked for me.
Not to mention, we are going to the USADA testing and all that stuff back then.
We had the Olympic testing back in the day so they were pretty strict on it. Now, they are a lot more lenient when it comes to at least the cannabis side because if you think of anything that could be bad for you, it would be alcohol but it's readily available everywhere.
It’s so bad for you. We got a whole bar over here. Some of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life have been when I was intoxicated.
Exactly. If you are smoking or doing whatever, all you want to do is, “You want to share my last taco. I will do that with you.” Even my wife being a retired police officer, said she never rested two stoners going at it or fighting. If anything, they were hugging it out and like, “We have a donut. Let's share.” You go to a bar and shit is breaking bad.
You said your wife was a police officer?
Yes, in Douglas County.
Was she active while you were playing hockey?
She was. There were only a couple of wives back in the day that had their things going on which is odd but that's what I respect about her. She was doing her own thing.
Hockey, compared to boxing, MMA, or something, is a whole other level. 1) You guys are on ice. 2) You are wearing helmets and all this extra gear. I'm sure that there's some extra padding in there around some rib sections or body shots I would think. Not to mention you are rolling around at a high speed with a stick and there are also pucks involved. There are all kinds of different stuff. At some point, did some of those things become weapons? I see it all the time. Guys stick slashing each other. The little jaunts with the stick or maybe sticking one in a skate.
Even doing a face-off. Taking your skate on top of their laces and cutting their laces. Doing things like that. Back in the '80s and early-'90s is where you had like stick fighting and slap shot and like, “I'm going to carve your eye out.” That was still prevalent in those days and it was a little scary. You talk about raising the bar but they put a kibosh to that because it was a little too rough.
Guys getting cut with skates and things that even happen normally these days. I remember Evander Kane, he got one in the wrist and cut some major arteries. The kid is back in 2 or 3 months playing hockey again. Everything is a weapon out there. We would even use boards, glass, or partitions. You look at anything on the ice and you are like, “Can I use that to my advantage?” A lot of the time, we try to raise the bar.
That's all the more reason to have an enforcer because everybody is got a weapon out there.
It depends on who's got the sharpest, biggest, or baddest on that day.
Everybody's got a weapon out there. It just depends on who's got the sharpest, biggest, or baddest.
Looking at professional boxing or bare-knuckle boxing is the closest thing to what you guys are doing. You guys are throwing gloves and then under that are bare-knuckles at that point, and then you are going through padding. Fighters maybe have, I don't know if they are super busy, maybe 6 or 7 fights a year at the amateur level maybe. Once they get to the pros, it's maybe like 3 or 4 or maybe 1 if you are a superstar.
If you got the belt, then you are holding all the cards.
How many games did you guys play a season? It's upwards of 100.
Well over 100. 11 exhibition games, 82 regular seasons, and up to 28 post-season.
Back when you played, it was the standard that if you were going to a hockey game, you were going to see at least one fight a night. Sometimes 2 or 3.
Exactly, but that's that whole emotion and that drive and desire to want to win. We didn't fight to fight and like, “Look at me.” We did it to change the momentum of the game or if somebody did a bad hit on our guy, we would raise the bar there. You make people accountable at the time instead of giving them their citation and saying, “Show up in two weeks and we are going to pee-pee whack you.
There’s that whole emotion, drive, and desire to win. We didn't fight just to fight and say, "Look at me." We did it to change the momentum of the game.
We take care of it right at that time so it's done. There were times when I didn't get a guy for two years because we didn't play him. He got traded to the East Coast or something happened. Two years later, that's still fresh in my mind that he did that to my guy. I may not even be on that team, but he did it to my guy while I was on that team so he did it to me. I'm going to take it out on him. There are things that we don't forget.
Did you have a little black book or something where you are keeping notes like, “This fucker last game or whatever?”
It was all in my mind until my mind got too squarely to remember all that stuff. It was burnt into your memory because it's stuff you don't forget. It's like not if it's when I'm going to get you and that's the mentality of, “I will get you.”
Are there some moments that stood out that were crazy or the pinnacle of your career? I'm sure winning the Stanley Cup is one of them. On the fighting side of stuff, is there a time where you were like, “This is epic. This is the highlight of my career. I wish I could go back and relive that moment,” type of feeling?
Some of the stuff was being able to play the game. In the one game against Minnesota, I get to play 10.5 minutes. I had 3 assists and either 1 or 2 fights that game. We won the game. I was the first star and it was awesome. It's playing hockey and it was almost surreal because it was what I remembered it to be. Unfortunately, when you get to this level, when I broke onto the team, we had almost four lines of superstars. I'm thinking, “How am I going to break this lineup?” The only way I'm going to do it is by doing this role, but I would have hoped with that role that I would have been able to play hockey too because watching Probert, Rick Tocchet, Brodie, and all the boys back in the day.
I remember you scoring some goals. That's got to feel pretty fucking good too.
It's awesome because you are adding something to it that people are like, “I didn't know you could do that.” It's like, “I do and practice all the time, boys.” I tell everybody I'm the best-practice player in the league.
You are not playing pro hockey and can't score a goal. It’s Happy Gilmore.
When you get to that level, you can do everything. Everybody thinks that we are Bambi on ice and no. It's not that. That's why I miss that show Pros vs. Joes because everybody sitting on the couch eating chips, they are like, “That looks easy.” It's like, “Try it.” That shit isn’t easy.
When you get to a certain level, you can do everything.
We have a lot of UFC fighters on too and that's always the hate that they get and that type of thing. It’s incredible. These people have this huge mouse but I doubt anybody would show up at your door and criticize you or one of these fighters. It's insane.
That's the thing. I don't understand in society why everybody thinks they can do everybody’s job better than they can. I don't think I can do your job better than you. You do a great job, but people that have that thought process like you want to slap the shit out of them and be like, “No. Welcome to the real world.” I don't get it these days but everybody that has comments. Like they say. Everybody has got an asshole.
It’s incomprehensible how some people think they can do other people’s jobs better than they can.
I love it. I'm going to jot that one. That's fucking great. DJ, a shout-out for being in here. How old were you when your dad was playing full-blown hockey with the Avalanche?
I was probably from the ages of 9 or 10 years old, 10 or 11. I was fourteen when they won the cup. I was in it and around the room and raised in the room. It was a lot of fun. It was intense.
Did you ever worry about your kids watching you play the sport?
Not really. It was just a job. That's what we always taught DJ. It's just a job and it's not who I was off the ice. Everybody even asked my wife like, “Does he hit you?” She's like, “Are you kidding me? Look at me.” She's not the type of woman that's going to take a hit and stick around. She's going to shoot you and bury you. That's her mentality.
1) You don't mess with my wife, but 2) It's a job, and people I don't think understood or realize that like, “I'm a normal dude.” I go to read the kids at school and I will do whatever I can and got to know Lewis and Floorwax good back in the day. I went over to Rick's house and right across the street was a young hockey player and he was like, “It'd be cool if you can go see him.” I went over to the kid's house, went into his room, and checked all his posters out. That's hopefully something that kid will remember forever. Little things like that you give back add up to the big picture because it's being a good steward and being a good person.
Little things that you give back add up to the big picture, so just be a good steward and a good person.
Be a good fucking person no matter what you are doing. If you are the guy picking up trash on the side of the sidewalk, be a good person. That's what it boils down to.
That or think the guy that's doing all that stuff too. It goes a long way.
A lot of people at your level can't do that. I have met quite a few people that are either pro athletes and there's a very few out there that are fucking genuinely good people. Derek Wolfe is one of those people. Now meeting you sure, I feel the same way. I commend you guys for doing that. Did you get messed with at school at all, DJ?
I kept it on the DL. Not many people knew. I kept it to myself. When my dad and his teammates would show up to my games in school, they'd be like, “Oh.”
Were you playing hockey?
No. I never played hockey. Those were big shoes to fill. My mom is a cop. My dad was in the NHL. I didn't want to play sports where you get hit. I'm good. It wasn't for me. I didn't do it. I sparred with my dad in the off-season because no one else would do it and that was terrifying.
Especially being 9, 10, or 14 years old or something.
This time, I was out of high school. I was in college so I was old enough. It wasn't fun. It wasn't for me. I don't like to get hit. No thanks.
I don't like getting hit either. Going through that, I'm sure that you sustained some injuries along the way. Were you always injured because you are on the ice so much? We went through how many games you play a season. I'm sure that that's got to catch up with you. Not to mention if you miss and hit a helmet or any number of things can happen out there because you are in a fistfight.
That's why I started going towards the body maybe halfway through my career. I used to throw body shots even in juniors and everything too, but I was so tired of breaking my knuckles and it was getting annoying. Skulls are hard and helmets are hard. There are a lot of things on the bodies that are hard, but I'd always go for the floater’s rib.
It takes 8 pounds of pressure to pop that thing. I would try to do that. I would ear cup you. I would do anything I could. I could tell people, “You are in a fight.” It's not a tickle fight. I tried to hurt guys because I didn't want to fight him two more times that game. I wanted to fight you once to be done and then we are good. You had enough. You throw pillows or if you are going through the motions, then you are the punching bag in the league and everybody wants to go you. I tried to hurt guys. My mentality was I hurt you. You remember I hurt you so you don't want to do this again with me.
When you're throwing pillows or just going through the motions, then you're the punching bag in the league, and everybody wants to get you.
I always wondered what those conversations were at the end of a fight because it's almost like a little bit of a respect-type thing going on. It seemed like sometimes and sometimes you could lip-read but they never mic you guys up or anything like they do NFL players or anything like that. I'm wondering what the conversation is like at the end of that. Is it what you said?
Sometimes it’s, “Good job,” or, “Are we done?” Sometimes, “You had enough.” I remember one time I was fighting Louie DeBrusk and he was such a tough bastard like farm boy strong. He's in Phoenix and I'm fighting him. Louie and I dropped the mitts and I'm throwing and he's throwing. He's hitting me and he's like, “Are you done, kid?” I was like, “No.” He's like, “Okay.”
He kept hitting me and I kept hitting him. He asked me again. “Are you done?” I was like, “We are done now.” He's like, “All right, kid.” Sometimes it's as simple as talking to each other. It's always easy to escalate. It's hard to de-escalate. If you went into a fight super raised and hyped like you had nowhere to go but up and you are like, “This is going to go bad.”
You always went into a mellow like, “Are we good? Are you want to go,” or, “How are you doing? Nice plane ride and it was good.” Sometimes it's a little bantering. There have been other times like with Georges Laraque in Canada and he had gotten in a car accident the night before. I met the hotel watching the news and he said, “Georges Laraque was in a car accident.” I was like, “I hope he is okay.” We go to skate the next morning and I don't see him around the rink. I was going to check on him and I don't know him but fought him enough times where I was like, “I respect him for that as a human being.”
Not around. I'm thinking, “Maybe he's really bad.” I'm thinking maybe I won't play tonight but the coach is putting me in and I'm like, “Cool.” It will be mellow. We go to the game that night and Georges is in warmup. I'm like, “What in the shit are you doing out here?” We are at the red lines and we are talking. I was like, “Are you all right?” He's like, “No. I'm fucked up.” I was like, “Take the night off and make sure you guys don't do anything stupid and I will catch you on the next one.” It was a mellow night. Nobody got hurt. We won the game and that's that respect factor that you have to have.
Those little conversations right before you clock in.
The thing is I can try to fight him at 50% and maybe beat him, but I'd rather fight him at 100% now that I beat the 100% Georges instead of the 50% Georges. It's that whole mentality too. That respect factor of I had that happen to me. I'd want one of those boys to go, “I got you. Take the night off and I will make sure my boys aren't donkeys.” There's a lot of that that goes on too.
It’s keeping your team in check too.
That's the thing is being able to keep guys in check and making sure things don't get out of whack or guys aren't taking liberties. That happens on both sides because even if guys on my team like we are up five zip and they are running around, I'm like, “Calm the shit down because you are going to make me do my job when I don't want to do it.”
It's like a biker gang mentality a little bit like you got your sergeant in arms.
You are trying to do it and trying to keep the peace when the peace needs to be kept, but when shit breaks bad, you answer the bell. There’s Georgie. This is the time we fought, but it was in warmups when we talked because we didn't fight the game that he had got in the car accident the night before. He's a large human. Georgie is a great guy. He’s in Montreal right now.
Is he coaching now?
I know he's got a little bit of everything going on. He's into everything.
This is such an awesome time in hockey with the Avalanche being an expansion team. It was five years old at that point or something?
After they moved down from Quebec, yes. They won the first year in ’95 and ‘96 and then we won five years later, so that was awesome. Especially them winning the first year here. Talk about getting fans in the stands. Nothing better than having a cup the first year.
What do you think of the Denver fans after playing here for so long?
They were awesome and great. Even back in the day too. You couldn't get a ticket to the games. It was always sold out and people were excited and hyped. A couple of years after I retired, I started seeing Avalanche tickets in Costco and I'm like, “What in the shit did this change?” It's crazy but that's right around when they were trying to change the enforcer role too and doing all that.
I'm not going to lie. I dropped off from it unless the Avalanche are in the playoffs or something like that. It's not the same game to me.
It is different. It's faster and higher scoring.
I still enjoy watching it though. Don't get me wrong.
We watched the guys that we still know in the league and support them that way. We got Joe Pavelski down in Dallas on the Stars and we are pulling for him this 2023. I played with him in San Jose. He's a great kid and love to see him be able to hoist it before he's done. Joe Thornton. I don't know if he's retired yet. He may come back for one more year.
I want to see those guys that played all those years, but that's the only thing they don't have is the cup. That's the pinnacle. I know guys that played over twenty years that don't have the cup and it's nagging at them that it's the one thing they couldn't do. That's the one thing that makes you live on forever in hockey because it never goes anywhere. It's always going to be in the Hall of Fame or on the cup.
I'm so fortunate. I was part of the local crew at Pepsi Center there back in the day. I got a few spot-operator calls during the games. That's one of the best seats in the house. I got to watch quite a few of your games that season and be a part of it, be around it, and that type of thing. It's next level when you are at the event.
It does way more justice. It's like having Bito’s knives in front of you rather than seeing them on the internet. You touch and look at them and it's like holy craftsmanship and the same thing with sports even back in the day too. That's when I miss it they implemented two refs and I'm like, “Why do we need two refs?” Back in the day, the refs skating up the ice not looking at you and you can hack away at somebody like a freaking redwood tree and try to chop them down and not get in trouble.
There are two refs and they are like, “We are always going to be watching you.” It's like, “Piss off. I'm doing my job. Don't take my job away from me.” It's something that they didn't like at the top because it's something they can't control either. Try to control emotions. That's one of the big reasons why we did it too is there was a need. We filled that role and it's amazing how many games I even think back on that we changed the momentum and we won. We planted the seed to take one over on that team maybe the next time we played them.
Intimidation was your bus.
Barking, screaming, and doing. It was fun.
Has that the demonizing of the enforcer role or to stop fighting in hockey because it hasn't completely stopped, but it's pretty frowned upon now? It's huge fines.
It can be different. You can still get in three fights in a game. You can do all that stuff. The QJMHL or whatever the hell they are called, so you got a couple of junior leagues up in Canada that are banning fighting, which is bullshit because it's almost like teaching kids to hit. Nowadays, they don't teach little eight-year-olds how to hit. They wait until they are 12, 13, or 14 to be able to have body contact, which can be bad at times because if you teach kids younger and have them be more aware of their space on the ice. Confidence and teaching them how to rub people off or teaching them how to do certain things.
It's better to teach them younger and let them implement them into the game rather than one season, “Now we get to hit.” It's like, “What is that? How do you do that?” You have something new. You are teaching them rather than being able to teach them since they were super young to be able to rub little things off. Back in the day, we used to be able to put sticks on guys so guys knew we were there and we'd rub them off or do whatever. Now, you can't touch them and now you got to pick 50/50 which way they are going.
It is trickling down into those lower leagues. The falling suit from the NHL.
That and little stop signs on the backs of little kids' jerseys and everything because you is not supposed to hit them from behind.
That's a spoken rule.
Even when we were little, we didn't have stop signs and we knew better than to then hit somebody from behind. It's the unwritten rule. You even learn when you are seven years old. You are like, “Don't hit them from behind.”
Now they put a full-on stop sign on their back.
On little kids’ Jerseys and everything like that. Don't hit them from behind. It's like, “I get it,” but even watching the NHL too. If the kids are taught, they know. They know better and they do better. Watching some of the guys in the NHL that either dive or see a check coming and they turn their back to them. That's chicken shit. Take the hit or get the fuck out of the league. You are pussifying it. Quit it. That's the one thing I don't like. I came from that rough and tumble. Like I said. You went to a fight in a hockey game broke out, fun. Everybody was excited about it. Nowadays, I don't want to have more emotion watching the game than they have on the ice doing the job.
If the kids are taught, they will know better and do better.
DJ brought up cross-training with you and that type of thing, or sparring with you. Were you doing some fight training outside of your daily obligations when you were playing professional hockey? I'm sure that being a pro athlete and knowing you guys, you guys work your asses off. I don't think a lot of people appreciate how much time you put into being physically fit. Eating well. It's an overtime job.
I'd be at the rink for 6 to 8 hours a day. Everybody thought we were there for 2 or 3 hours. You have the easiest job. I was like, “No. Come with me one day and see what we do.” Traditionally, when it comes to the workouts, we were done with traditional workouts. I was done with weights that had numbers on them towards the end of my career.
At our ranch down in Sedalia, we started the first American Ninja Warrior. We had ropes. It was almost like military training too. We had tires you are flipping and hitting. We had rings, ropes, and all sorts of stuff, and then the last stage was a gun range, so you had to grab the gun.
It sounds like tactical games. Have you guys seen that? It's pretty badass. The guys get kitted up and then they have to deadlift a bunch of weights or the farmer carries a bunch of weight, and then throws a sandbag over something and then shoots at the end of that. You are scored a how accurate you are in target time. All kinds of different stuff, but it's pretty cool. We have had a couple of those guys on.
Fight each other too.
That's awesome. You have to do stuff under stress. If you practice in certain scenarios, then you are not ready when shit breaks bad or you are in a certain area where the fight or flight kicks in. You are like, “Fight is on.” To be able to calm your breathing, to be able to get on target and knock down those metal, put it down, and do a little finish.
It's so much fun too.
It was a competition. I would do it and then my son would do it. We had a couple of the younger guys. We'd have them out doing it. It's something different rather than your normal looking in the mirror and having proper form. It's like I would cut a tree down and we'd turn them into deadlifts. There wouldn't be any handles on. You had to grab this tree however you could. You had to manhandle it around to get the job done.
Farmer strength or ranch strength, whatever you want to call it.
Having all the, I wouldn't say prissy workouts, but easier workouts. I wanted to do the tough man/gladiator/military training. Work everything together and do it that way. I loved it. One of the things I used to do was wrap my hands and chains and punch trees down. I take the chains off and then I go blow it down on the trees, but trying to get the scar tissue and get everything built up.
You are not wearing gloves or anything.
No. Eleven exhibition games. Usually, my hand is broken before the season even started.
You are fighting with broken hands pretty much the entire season.
For the most part. Us being athletes, I always thought we healed faster than the normal population, but it wasn't that. The doctors gave us, “You are at 80%. You are good.” Which we are probably at 40%. “You are at 100%.” You are probably at 60%. If you are not playing injured, you are probably not doing your job is the mentality we have when we are in that. It doesn't always vote well for you when you are retired and your quality of life after the fact and everything else. Like I said, you are in that hockey bubble and all you want to do is your job as good as you can that day. There's almost no tomorrow sometimes.
If you're not playing injured, you're probably not doing your job right.
Wrapping chains around your hands. I remember seeing that in Ice Guardians and I was like, “That is badass.” You were trying to toughen up your knuckles. It makes sense. Punching trees. What else were you doing?
Our neighbor Gary had some bulls and they used to always push up on the fence. One day I was punching his bull in the head and I was like, “Back off the fence. I don't want you over in our yard.” Things like that. I would drag my knuckles down buildings and places were playing until they bled and doing things like that. Dragging my hand down a brick building the whole way down a block. It'd be bleeding. I was like, “Perfect. They will heal tomorrow.” It's trying to almost teach them that it's not going to be easy. The more I had that mentality, the better my body felt.
Were you getting any fright training or mixed martial arts training or anything? Denver is a hotbed. With the altitude here, all the camps that we have and all the coaches that are in this area is fucking incredible. That's why we have had so many of them on the show.
It's awesome now. All that stuff was not, unfortunately, around back in the day. It was all in Cali and different major cities. Maybe Vegas, but it wasn't prevalent in Denver back in the day. DU had one of the good trainers for the hockey team back in the day and he would invite us down. That's what DJ was talking about. We would roll around on the mats. One day he caught me a little bit, so I dropped the mother of all elbows down and I caught him and, unfortunately, gave him your first concussion.
At least you got it from your dad, one of the baddest motherfuckers in hockey.
I remember it. I got in on him and I gave him a body shot and I was so excited that I finally got in on him. I saw his eyes roll back in his head and it was over. I remember seeing his forearm come at me and lay me out like Frankenstein. There was Chris Stewart who was my roommate. I was living with him and Wojtek Wolski, and Ian Laperrière, laughing hysterically, “Only you DJ would get knocked out by your father.” Me being me, I went home and told my mom. I was like, “Dad knocked me out.” She said, “Good. You probably deserved it.”
How much trouble were you in?
It was good. That's in her family fun right there.
That's awesome. Good stories. It must have been awesome growing up that way. I would think. Growing up in that environment. I'm sure you were out training with these guys on the Ninja Warrior course.
The part that he's not telling you about is that he was wearing overalls and big work boots with steel toe. He's climbing these 50-foot cottonwood trees and they had Donkey Kong ropes. He'd climb them with just one hand on each rope all the way to the top. It was insane. It wasn't wearing athletic gear.
I remember your grip strength. I remember you grabbing a hold of somebody and it took four refs to get you off of them and his jersey was a fucking mess. They probably had to give him a New Jersey after that.
It was Probert when he knocked me squarely.
He's regarded as one of the toughest guys in hockey.
He is in hockey, but, unfortunately, he's not with us anymore. It's sad because he's one of those guys that would sit down with you and talk about the old days. That's why we have reached out over the years to a lot of the enforcers and a lot of the guys that I have battled with back in the day. Some of them are doing good and some of them aren't. It's amazing sometimes a quick call changes their life immensely. It's that brotherhood. Even though we weren't on the same team, we didn't fight hand in hand. We might have fought against each other, but we are still warriors at heart.
Is that part of Parkers Platoon too? Are you guys taking on more than military guys?
We do military first responder stuff right now. We try to meld veteran transitioning with somebody from the sports world transitioning as well. We will try to do that if it works and if it's cohesive at the time. It's giving the guys what they need at that time to be successful. Even if it's chatting with them on the phone for an hour or two and then following up with him. He goes a long way.
How old was he then when this happened?
I was 20, so he was either 32 or 34.
How many seasons did you get to play against Bob?
Bob Probert, probably 3 or 4 before he retired. Even right there. It's a learning experience for me. I was doing good then I went to regrab. I grabbed under his armpit and then he had free reign of his right. He knocked me squarely with four hits and then I went out of body experience and choked him out, but I got right back up. I was like, “Is there a penny on the ground? Let me go check.” No penny.
Sliced his hand down.
He hit me pretty square. That's legit. We faced off later that year and I was like, “Probie. I'm sure you want to rip my head off and you hate me and all this stuff.” He is like, “I have been there 1,000 times. You are going to have a long career. Keep up the good work.” I was like, “Okay.”
Was he a guy that might have been somewhat of a mentor whom you got some of your styles from?
He's somebody I looked up to once I took that role on. Everybody wants to be Wayne Gretzky and get 300 points a year. Get your jersey retired in every barn and go out on top, but it doesn't happen that way for all the guys. Sometimes you have to fill that role that's available at the time. That role was enforcer back in the day and I jumped in.
Everybody wants to be Wayne Gretzky, get 300 points a year, get their jersey retired in every barn, and just go out on top. It doesn't happen that way for all the guys. Sometimes you just have to fill the role that's available at the time.
What was it like getting on the ice with him the first time? Getting on the ice with a mentor or something like that.
I was giddy. It was funny earlier in that game and I was at McNICHOLS back in the day when it was still around before Pepsi.
Do you guys down-start at McNICHOLS? I guess you did. I didn't even realize that.
Old barn. That's how old I am. Being able to do that. Earlier in the game, it was maybe one zip us we were up. Probie would play 10 to 12 minutes a game and I'm sitting on the bench watching him play because I'm a rookie and I maybe had three shifts that whole game or something like that. Probie had maybe 15 or 20.
I'm watching him skate around and do all this stuff. The one time I'm out against him I'm like, “Probie, this may be one of my only shifts. Do you want to go?” He is like, “Not now, kid.” I was like, “Okay.” I went on my way. I was like, “I'm not going to slash him, make him mad, or have that switch go either.” I was like, “Okay.” In the third period, we were winning 4 to 1 or something like that, or 4 zip. I feel this tap on the back of my legs. “Let's go kid.” I turn around. “Okay.”
I was like, “Yes, sir.”
I was like, “Yes, Mr. Probert. Whatever you want Mr. Probert.” That respect factor. I looked up to him and everything he did in every league. He was the pinnacle of an enforcer back in the day.
What an incredible career. I could keep you here for an hour. I know we are coming up on time. If you have a few more minutes to hang out, I'd love to spend it with you.
I plan on coming on again too.
Anytime you guys are coming down the hill and want to stop by, you are welcome anytime. I love having you guys in. That's what we do here. We have recurring guests. You guys were looking at these arrowheads when you walked in. We have had Donny on 4 or 5 times now. I'm trying to keep it a small community and people I want to talk to. It's my selfish greed. I could spend hours with you rehashing old stories and cool shit. There's a lot going on right now. I didn't mean to dive down your hockey career. I'm sure every podcast you go on, it's the same conversation where it's like, “What was it like then?”
I don't think that you get tired of it but it gets going through the same thing. Let's take the little bit of time that you have left if you are okay with it. Let's talk about what you got going on now. We covered Parkers Platoon a little bit. We covered Taboo Social Club. Is there anything else that you guys are doing other than enjoying life right now? Do you get anything coming up or any big events coming up with these companies or anything like that?
We do. July 15th, 2023, we have a cool promotion. It's new. It's Ice Wars International. It's two enforcers being able to go on the ice and two 1-minute rounds. It's pretty quick or pretty fast. Full-on fist fight with 4-ounce gloves. You have those on. You have protection and you got your helmets on with leather straps. Everything usually stays pretty tight.
There's going to be no ripping of the helmets off?
No ripping of the helmets. No jerseys. No McSorley with jerseys or Rob Ray with jerseys coming off. It is July 15th, 2023 up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Outlaw Saloon. We have that going on. We are going to be up their days prior to the event doing a bunch of meet and greets and stuff and trying to get this promotion taken off. It gives guys opportunities that did my role and maybe didn't get to my level. They still have something that they want to prove to people like, “I am the best at this weight class.” It's like, “Go prove it. Let's see what you got.” It gives guys a platform to be able to do what they do.
Are you putting on the gloves at this event?
No. Maybe some coaching down the road. We are going to do some stuff throughout and build it as it comes and see where it goes from there. Give these guys a different opportunity because not everybody that retired gets to be GM of the team that we played for or even has a job after the fact.
A lot of these guys that are fighting, can we name-drop some of them? I'm sure the cards have been made so far.
We are not going to name-drop the roster. The press release is coming out, but I will say it's some of the toughest guys you have ever seen put skates on. Scott can attest to that. What's going to be wild in Cheyenne, it's our first venue in the States. We chose a smaller venue. The people that are there live are going to be ringside. It's a saloon.
These people will be subject to an event that they have never seen so close before. It's going to be broadcast on LiveXLive, LiveOne, and Brink TV as well per pay-per-view. In the event itself, I have been to the three we have had in Canada. Every seat in this event is a ringside seat. You are going to be sitting 20 to 30 feet the furthest from hockey fighters.
Cheyenne is a short ride. That's nothing.
It’s right up the road. It'd be great to have everybody out and have a new promotion coming out to give guys another platform to show what they can do best. We are excited about it.
That's awesome. How do people get tickets? Is it sold out already or what's the status?
All the VIP tables have been sold. I'm not sure about the status of the tickets yet, but I'm sure it's pretty close to being sold out. You can go to IWIFights.com or the Outlaw Saloon, on Facebook and tickets are for sale.
That's a pretty big place.
It's 28,000 square feet, so it's going to be pretty amazing, but where the rink is set up for the seating is incredible because, in some of the seats, you would be able to almost touch the fighters. It's going to be a wild event live. I have seen it in larger venues in Canada and it's probably the most amazing fight I have ever seen.
If anybody wants to call out Scott Parker, they can try.
Who's going to do that?
I will be the sheriff of Ice Wars.
It's not going to be me. I can tell you that. The rings are set up like hockey boards and everything. This is like a hockey fight. This is awesome.
With two referees. It's called the Ice Box.
Are you guys putting ice in the bar?
Yes, we are. This is incredible. It's two one-minute rounds and there are no draws in our league. There's a 30-second icebreaker. At the end of two rounds, it's judged to be a draw. The guys go out for a 30-second icebreaker to decide the event.
That's what's crazy. You never know what's going to happen.
If you can't do this in the NHL, you make your fight league and do it there.
Also, guys that didn't make it to this league as well as them demonizing the enforcer role and not giving these guys an outlet or something in the future to do. That's what Charlie and the whole crew at Ice Wars are trying to do to build this so they do have an outlet and make some good money and show their skills. We are the crown.
NHL Enforcer: The whole crew at Ice Force is trying to build an outlet for players to make some good money and show their skills. It's awesome.
I love all combat sports, so major fan of that. If I can get the availability maybe Jeremy and I will cruise up there. It’s going to be super rad. I will come to support you guys. Scott, thank you so much for your time. I want to be respectful of it but I want to have you back for sure. Anything that you want to drop before we go? I know it's @ScottParker_27 on Instagram.
I believe so, something like that.
Go give Scott a follow. Taboo Social Club is on there. Do you guys have a page for Parkers Platoon?
Yes.
Go give him a follow. More importantly, go to the website and support these guys with Parkers Platoon especially because it's so rad what you guys are doing. Anytime that you guys need a platform or any help with that, I'd be glad to help in any way that we can. That's it. It's super important to me supporting veterans, first responders, and active military. We owe a lot more to them than they get a lot of the time.
A huge shout-out to our actions and our retired servicemen and women out there because we couldn't enjoy days like this if they didn't sacrifice and do what they did in the past. A huge shout-out to them. They are the real Mac Daddy, so I appreciate them and what they do.
Me too. A lot of our readers feel the same way too. I support these guys. Scott, thank you so much for your time. This has been awesome. Let's end this thing. DJ, anything else?
Thank you for having us. Great to be here.
We will get you guys back.
Important Links
Chris Camozzi - Past Episode
Derek Wolfe - Past Episode
Donny Dust - Past Episode
Outlaw Saloon - Facebook
@ScottParker_27 - Instagram