WEBVTT - 2001 Stanley Cup Final: Game 7 with Ray Bourque | Devils vs. Avalanche 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.599 So all the people I talked about that I brought 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:06.040 to Colorado. I had this big fifteen passenger van with 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.520 the cooler inside that was picking them up bringing to 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.280 the game. They're going to bring them home the cooler 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.880 full of kol aides. Oh yeah, so we win the game. 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:18.599 I'm about to leave after the party in Pierre Lacroix, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.720 our general manager says, Ray, bring the cup home with you. 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.720 I'm like, all right, So now I got it in 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.680 a van. Now forget it. Everybody's coming home with me. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.720 So now two thirty three o'clock in the morning, I 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:35.360 turn on my streets, start beeping the horn. I put 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.240 the cup on the sidewalk, the cool in the street. 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.400 We're there till five thirty in the morning. Wow, it 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.199 was amazing. And then you know, then you go to 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.440 bed with it and if that thing could talk. Man. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.440 Welcome to Games with Names. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:49.839 I'm Juliet Edelman. 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.320 They are Jack and Kyler, and we are on a 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.720 mission to find the greatest game of all time. On 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:00.320 today's episode, we've got Hockey Royalty in the building, right, 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.760 Stanley Cup is here in the nuthouse. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:06.839 I can't believe. I just can't believe. 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.840 Twelve, and we're covering Game seven of the two thousand 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:16.840 and one Stanley Cup Final Devils versus Avalanche with Hockey 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:22.520 Hall of Famer, Bruins legend and Stanley Cup champion Ray Borg, 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.320 and we get into talking what it's like winning a 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.280 championship after twenty two years in the league, on his 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:29.200 last game ever. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.039 Twenty one years old, chasing it. It was an amazing, amazing. 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.920 Time, the feeling of lifting the Stanley Cup. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.080 That Joe grabs a cup that just passed it on 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.039 to me, and then it's just like what a relief. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:42.000 And what goes into a playoff? 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.080 Beard, That's when the Olivers kind of started this bear thing, 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.120 mullets and everything. You know, it's it's a hockey thing. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.880 And then we wrap up the show with another guest, 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.720 the one and only the Keeper of the Cup, Phil Pritchard. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.200 If it could talk, it have its own podcast that 0:01:58.280 --> 0:01:59.400 I produce that there's. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.640 Just so much or in building tonight. Let's go, you 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:02.600 got to stick around to the end. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.480 Let's go. Games with Names is a. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:12.000 Production of iHeart Radio. June ninth, two thousand and one, 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.960 Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado. 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:21.919 Game seven Devils versus Avalanche. The Cup is in the building, and. 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.640 After twenty two years. 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:32.519 Raymond bork this game seven of the two thousand and 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:46.160 one Scanley Cup Finals. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.000 I was there for the first Super Bowl New Orleans. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.520 I had just retired. Yeah, I was in there where 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.079 Veritech kick the field goal? Vin Terry, I know, but 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:03.040 you weren't there when Marrier Monino was you guys remember that? Yes? 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:04.880 No, oh my god, I forgot about that. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.000 Their Bobby your statue in front of the garden. So 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.880 Merri Monino was there talking about the the iconic moments 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:19.000 in sports in Boston and Maritech kicking the field goals. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:25.560 The captain, Well, we are looking at game seven of 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.960 the two thousand and one Stanley Cup Final, Devils versus 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:35.520 the Avalanche with a Boston legend, Ray Borg. Welcome to 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.400 the nuthouse, Ray, I got one question. We'll dive into 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.560 the game plenty, but in one sentence, why this game? 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.160 Because I won the Cup one thing that was pretty 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:52.400 much left for me to accomplish in my career. You know, 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.480 I never thought I would leave Boston, but things were 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.400 where they were at that time, and I was eight 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.800 years old and never thought I'd leave to win a Cup, 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.240 but I had to leave to kind of see if 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.760 I had any more any more juice in the tank 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.320 for me and to compete again because it had been 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.720 a while, you know. I went to two finals with 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.240 the Bruins and eighty eight and ninety and after that 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.839 we had a couple of good runs in the early nineties, 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.480 but after that we were kind of not that good. 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:23.279 So it had been a while and I was always 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:28.560 one to bring energy, passion and you could disname it 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.960 whatever to the rink, and I was really having a 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.800 hard time at that point. So I came to the 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.159 conclusion that I had to go somewhere else and ended 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.640 up going to an amazing place where I was part 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.840 of a team that was the best team that I've 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.320 ever played with. I got there in March of two thousand. 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.720 That first year, we got to the semifinals against Dallas, 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.200 lost in a seventh game, and I knew that I 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:59.080 was going back for another year. And that's why to compete, 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:02.359 To go on a team where I knew I was 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.000 going to be able to compete, and to get to 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:08.720 that seventh game. Playing for this thing was just an 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.800 amazing feeling. Now, is this the greatest game? Of all time. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:18.520 Uh for me, yes, Uh, it's the ultimate. I mean, 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:24.599 you know, you know you've won three five three five. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:29.040 You weren't around that long, okay, well three. And it 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.080 is so hard to win. I don't care what sport 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.960 you're playing. Uh, so many things have to go right, 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.240 and you've got to go through so many ups and 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.240 downs and uh, so many different emotions and regardless off 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.880 your favorites or not, it's uh, there's no guarantees and 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:47.240 it's so hard. So and I had played, you know, 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.039 in eighty eight, in ninety with the Bruins. We lost 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:52.800 to Edmonton in four games in eighty eight and then 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.480 five games, and so I know you're playing for the 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.640 Cups in the finals, but you're not really playing for 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.039 the cup. So playing that's seventh game, you know that 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.159 you're now playing for the cup because you've got three 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.159 wins and now the next one, whoever wins this gets 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.320 to pick this thing up. And so it's just an 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:16.920 amazing run. And for me going back to you know, Colorado, 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.960 I got there March sixth, We got to the SEMIS. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:21.599 I knew I was going back for one more year, 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:25.400 so I asked the general manager. I said just give 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.400 me the same amount of money I was making last year. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.039 I'm coming, I'm playing one more year. He says, no, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.800 I'm giving you a two year deal. I'm like, I'm 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.200 only playing one more years? Is I'm giving you two years? 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:39.200 So I'm like, all right. So I knew that. I 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.120 told my wife. The only people I kind of knew 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.120 was my wife and I that I'm only playing one 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:48.400 more year regardless of what happens. So Game six and 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:53.200 seven for me was an amazing experience because we go 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:57.280 to New Jersey down three to two. Nobody's given us 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.680 a chance to win that game against the defending champs, 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.760 And for me, I got to live it like to 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:09.040 the fullest because I had my siblings, my dad, my 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:12.440 wife's siblings, her dad, my best friends at Game six 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:14.320 in case this was going to be my last game, 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.680 I wanted those people there. So the last pregame skate 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.960 at in Colorado, you know the practice rank you kind 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.920 of you're you're looking around, You're taking everything in. Then 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.360 you fly to New Jersey. You know, the next morning, pregame, skate, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.440 pregame meal, pregame nap. You're really sucking it all in 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.040 because you know this you know this might be it. 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.840 Then we go out first ten minutes, New Jerseys is 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.480 storming us and Patrick wats standing on his head making 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.200 saves after save, and then ten minutes in Adam Foot 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.320 scores a goal right inside the blue line and from 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:51.160 that point on we take over. The game go on 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:55.240 and it went for nothing. So now everybody that had 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.920 at Game six all I brought to Colorado for game 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.600 seven knowing that's my last game. So just that thought 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.080 that you know that this is regardless of what happens 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.920 in game seven, this is it. I have the people 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:09.880 that are important to me that are going to be 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.280 watching me, and then closing a deal and winning it. 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.280 I mean, I don't know when you want to hear 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:24.600 the story after we partied. Yeah, so it's it. It was 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:29.040 just an amazing and that's why that game. I mean, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.880 there's so much that went into that game, you know, 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:37.200 twenty one years of chasing it and finally after twenty 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.679 two years, being able to hoist it. So it's the game. 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.480 You know, they asked what are your There's so many 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.760 big moments that it's really unfair to kind of when 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.079 you're asked, you know, what are the special moments. Well, 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.240 I look at bookends, you know, I look at my 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.840 last game where I was able to hoist the cup 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.640 and my first game where you finally make it. You 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.079 play your first NHL game where you dream as a 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.320 kid to play in the NHL, and then it happens, 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.679 and you know, then you end up playing twenty two 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.560 years and you go, holy crap. 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.200 And it goes like that. Probably, now, who's your first 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:14.439 game against Winnipeg Jets. Last game was against New Jersey Devils. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:16.160 You knew for sure this was going to be your 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.640 last game no matter what. Yes, yeah, for sure, one 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.840 hundred percent. I had six million reasons to go back 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.320 for the second year. But I was like, regardless, it 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.320 wasn't going to happen. I thought, just I was forty 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.480 years old, and you know that last year I averaged 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.640 the most minutes played out of anybody in the NHL. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.760 I average over twenty seven minutes a game. I was 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.840 up for Norris Best Defenseman that year. But just mentally, 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.319 and you know, to get me to where I had 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.640 needed to get to to play another year, I just 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:47.520 didn't think I had it in me. 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:50.480 So it's one of those things they say as a 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.400 professional athlete. When you start thinking about it, you're out. Yeah, 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:56.120 because that means you're not all the way in. 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:57.280 You've got to be all in, you know. 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.440 And I told my dad I was going to retire. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:05.760 I needed his validation. He goes, Son, you finally smartened up. Yeah, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.040 because you got to be crazy to go out and 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:09.560 with your sport as well. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.120 I mean you got to have those two sports. I 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:12.800 mean you. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.040 Got to flirt with crazy. It's like a fighter pilot, 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.600 you know, you got to be willing to die in 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.160 your combat to go out and flirt with that line 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.640 to have your best production. And the times you start 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.040 thinking about like you know, I don't know if I 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:28.560 that's when you got to get the fuck out, because 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:29.280 that's how you get out. 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.240 And I knew, I knew, you know that. I mean, 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.319 you know how you got to prepare the off season 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.480 for the next season, and I mean I I and 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:43.280 I was, you know, committed. I you know, my training 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.200 in the off season was so important to me. And 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.480 I met somebody very special in my life that really 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.680 helped me with that took me under his wing at 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.200 the age of sixteen until I retired. Was my high 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.440 school gym teacher, that I met at fourteen, that was 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.160 a track and field team for the Canadian Olympic team. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.960 He had his own track and field team in Montreal 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:02.640 that four of his runners went to your Olympics. But he 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.960 was like this genius training guy that you know. I 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.000 was always a really good hockey player, but he made 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.240 me an athlete that allowed me to be even better 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:13.920 hockey player. So to this day, he's one of my 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.040 very best friends that I talk to every week and 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.320 very lucky. And I knew that, you know, if I 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.360 was going to play again, it's another three months of 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.520 I mean, it's it's getting your teeth ticked. It's tough. 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.520 People don't realize that when you're a pro athlete, it's 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.480 not just seasonal like you have to, especially for a 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.520 man who played as long as you did, you have 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:41.679 to constantly re evolve yourself every off season, bring something new, 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.280 work on your deficiencies, but also bring something new. You know, 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.959 you have to build something into your game that you 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:52.200 may not be comfortable with. That reinvention is like people 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.439 don't I used to get a lot of anxiety after 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.320 the years that we would win the Super Bowl because 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.080 you knew how much harder it was going to be 0:11:59.120 --> 0:11:59.840 the next year. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.000 Yeah, well, you guys always had a target on your 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.520 back because you were that good, right, and everybody's trying 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.199 to bring it down, not only the teams you're playing against, 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.720 but the media around the country. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.040 And the same could be said about the Boston Celtics 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:18.360 because you guys are a cornerstone organization for you know, 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:23.800 the NHL. Like, what did I say? 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.559 You said Celtics. But yes, sorry, iconic Yeah, yeah, no, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:28.360 let's let's. 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:29.760 Jump into a lot of them on that one. 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.000 Right, there's just so many iconic franchises in Boston, there 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.720 really is, but it really starts with the Big three, 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.360 like ours were like the Slappies. 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:39.880 On the Patriots. 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.720 Now in the last twenty years, we've but like, when 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.199 it comes down to it, the origin of the pro sports, 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.520 he goes, you know, Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics. 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:51.240 Okay, Joe's you want do you want to know the 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.199 real story? How how that that two decades started? 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:56.240 Yeah, let's hear it. 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.439 So I win the Cup in Colorado, right, my agent 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.760 calls me, says, the Maryor's office just called me asking 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.520 if you'd be willing to bring the Cup back to Boston. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.160 They want to celebrate you at city Hall. I'm like, 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.320 Steve Fryer was my agent. I said, Steve, I said, 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.800 I can't do that. I don't want to embarrass the Bruins. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.520 He says, what about if the Bruins sign off on it. 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.520 So Michael O'Connell's the general manager, Harry's sidons the president. 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.200 So he calls Mike and says, you know, Ray's Ben 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.559 asked if he could come back, and you know, they 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.000 want to do something for him at city Hall. He says, yeah, 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:33.400 we have no problems with that and all that. So 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.679 then I come back with the cop city Hall. Ten 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.800 thousand people are are there. It was like it was crazy. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.640 It was amazing, amazing day. But what happened after that? 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.360 The Patriots win in New Orleans against the St. Louis 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:59.319 the fastest Brady Shorn turf right, and I'm there, I'm 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.800 right there in the zone where Vinitarry kicks her in 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.360 the field goal. I'm there with my son veritec Yeah, 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:07.760 VerTech exactly. 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:09.840 Uh. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.080 And then from that point on, I mean, Pats win 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.760 two out of three. The curse is broken with the 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.720 Red Sox. The Celtics win the Bruins win, the Patriots 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.480 keep winning, the Red Sox win again. It all started 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:29.280 after the Cup came back to Boston. It's funny, let's go, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.400 let's go baby. Fuck. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:32.120 Yeah. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.480 Now you grew up in Quebec. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.640 Yeah, Montreal, Montreal. You've been to Bolinsky's. What's that little 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:41.520 slami spot, It's it's in Montreal. I went to it once. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.040 Well, if you're talking smoke meat, yeah, this is this 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:46.680 pastrami on steroids. 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:48.880 No, it's like a It's like a blooney sandwich that 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:50.960 they make and they game me. I went went to Montreal. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.240 It's like a blooney sandwich with cheese that they like 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.000 gridle in and all they make is that and like 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:56.960 homemade sodas. 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.960 No, you go to Schwartz or Bad Sports maybe. 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:01.800 And then I went to the high Line or what's 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.840 another of this? There was another deli. I went, fuck, 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:05.680 I love Montreal. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:07.960 Yeah, it's great. Have you ever been to Quebec City? 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:11.160 I haven't. I mean, Quebec City is one of my 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:12.320 favorite cities in the world. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.160 Yeah, I gotta check it out. 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:14.560 Now. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.040 What what was a young Ray Bork like in Canada? 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:18.520 Growing up? 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.640 Were you just playing hockey? All fucking day. 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.400 Hockey and baseball. I loved baseball as much as I 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:28.000 liked hockey. I was very good at baseball growing up, 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.200 growing up somewhere. Yeah, my dad always says I could 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.280 have played for the Expos someday. Very proud dad. But 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.920 I was a very good baseball player, played up until 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.400 I came to Boston. I played junior ball in Montreal, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.640 growing up somewhere else, maybe baseball could have been an option, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.920 but I just, you know, a kid growing up in Montreal. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.000 I mean, we were so spoiled. When I got into 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:53.960 the Hall of Fame, I thanked the Montreal Canadians for 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.680 making a young kid dream about playing the NHL someday, 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.800 because I mean, every kid's dreaming about playing the NHL 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.000 and growing up in Quebec, just because we're spoiled. And 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.240 back then they were winning Cups after Cups, and. 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:06.880 You were a big Canadians and I was. 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.000 A big Montreal Canadians fan. I'd missed school. I go 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.640 to the parades with my buddies, and you know, and 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:18.560 then it was just, you know, a path that just 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:20.880 took me as a young kid, you know, just going 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.160 through the ranks. And but as a very shy, quiet kid, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:28.000 you know, always always a leader on the ice and 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:31.560 how I played and how I approached the game. I 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.280 don't know how you felt about being on that field, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.240 but for me, being on the ice is where I 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:41.640 felt the most comfort in my life. Just that's where 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.040 I was meant to be, and I just kind of 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.800 I was. I was always a really good, good player. 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:53.360 I was never like this elite I can't miss kid 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.240 as a As a youngster, I started separating myself at 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:02.040 the age of thirteen from my peers. So I would 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.680 play forward, I played defense. I play forward. I played 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.080 defense every year. It seems like I played, you know, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.600 the different positions, and that I think allowed me to 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.879 be creative as a player and allowed me to be 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.320 offensive instincts as a defenseman as well as a good defender. 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.200 But at the age of thirteen, I strictly played defense. 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.880 And that's when I start separating myself from my buddies. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.800 And I was fifteen years old playing with guys that 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:34.440 were sixteen to twenty years old driving their cars and 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.439 the strip joints aren't bad, and uh, but I'm trigging 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.640 fifteen years old, Like what am I doing now? Yeah? 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.919 So I grew up pretty quick, you know, in a. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.399 Hockey life though, right, a lot of these young kids, 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.560 like you're, they got to become pros because they would. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.040 You guys go ship each other to like other houses 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:53.359 and live with different families. 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.680 So I get drafted into the Quebec Major Junior League 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.480 it's called the Queue when I'm fifteen, So now I'm 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.800 a couple hours away from where I grew up. So 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.399 you're living with a billet and now you're playing with 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.520 guys that are sixteen to twenty years old, and then 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.360 you play there for the next four years, and that's 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:16.520 where the NHL are looking to draft all their players. Yeah, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.919 you know, back then it was mostly those leagues. You know, 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.040 some US kids out of the universities, but mostly it 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:28.680 was Canadian kids playing in those junior leagues that were drafted. 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:35.960 And so then nineteen seventy nine there was another professional 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.520 league called the WHA World Hockey League that merged with 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.080 the NHL. So there's four teams from that league that 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.480 ended up merging with the NHL in nineteen seventy nine. 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:50.800 I was Winnipeg, Edmonton, Hartford, and Quebec. So that year 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.000 they allowed the underage draft to come back, so I 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.040 didn't have to play four years. At eighteen years old, 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:58.840 I was drafted and I came to Boston when I 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.760 was eighteen, so in the draft was not in June, 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:05.679 it was in August because of all the stuff that 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.679 they had to sort out because of the murleagues coming together, 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:14.800 and I was eighth overall coming to Boston and there's 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.520 no two biggest rivals, then take it, Oh my god. No. 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.440 But I was so happy to go to a team 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.600 that was established. I could have gone to Minnesota, Colorado, 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.159 I could have gone to these teams where they sucked 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.399 for like ten fifteen years. And I go to the 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.080 Bruins where they just lost to Montreal in the semifinals 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.840 in the seventh game and overtime. That was established and 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.480 tradition and one of the original six teams. I couldn't 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.359 have gone anywhere better. Five hour drive from Montreal. It 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:45.280 was great. So a lot of my friends and family 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:49.919 followed me to Boston. But it took us forever to 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:51.919 be able to beat Montreal in the playoffs, Like it 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.040 was forty five years before Boston was able to beat 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.280 not that they played forty five years in a row, 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.439 but it was that amount of time since they had one. 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.560 Then we ended up beating Montreal in nineteen eighty seven, 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.439 eighty eight and the uh in the playoffs that But 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.720 I'd go back to Montreal every summer. You know, my 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.000 wife and I are both from there. I've known my 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:14.960 wife since I'm eleven years old and we hang around 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:16.640 with the same group of friends. But every time i'd 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:18.960 go back in the summer, I'd get all kinds of 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:22.159 shit like, oh, you guys frea against Sock, you lost again, 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.639 and this and that, and I'm like, so eighty seven 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.840 was the quietest summer. Eighty eight was the quietest summer 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:30.879 I've ever had going back to Montreal. It was awesome. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.760 Now when you were a kid, when you look at 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.600 the American players, like, ah, these guys are secondhand, They're 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.439 secondhand citizens in our sport. We got because it's kind 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.520 of like me, if I saw white dB, I saw 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:45.399 someone white trying to guard me, I was like, this 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:46.240 fucking joke. 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:48.720 Well, I think it could be any color hard. 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:50.000 But I but it was even more. 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.320 It was even more, you know, like you can't have. 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:54.240 This guy, I mean what we do? 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.920 Yeah, no, you know, And then then I come to Boston. 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:02.960 So I we used to have an exchange in Montreal, 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.840 like every year we'd come to Ludlow or Chickapea that 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.400 you know, is around the Springfield area, and we're like, oh, 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.399 we're going to play in Boston. You know. It was 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:13.480 the furthest thing from. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:16.760