National Hockey League - Cornered: hijinks, highlights, late nights and insights

Cornered

Copyright 2011 by Ron MacLean and Kirstie McLellan Day.

All rights reserved.

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

FIRST EDITION

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication information is available upon request

EPub OCTOBER 2011 ISBN: 978-1-554-68996-5

Hardcover SEPTEMBER 2011 ISBN 978-1-55468-974-3

RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Cari,

And I want all the world to know, that your loves all I need.
And if were lost, then we are lost together.

Blue Rodeo

FOREWORD

I was sitting at the desk of Hockey Night in Canada alone before the Leafs game one Saturday night and in comes this kid. He sticks out his hand and says, Hi, Im Ron MacLean. Im the new host. I almost said, Youve got to be kidding. He looked eighteen years old, and Id never heard of him. I thought, Oh boy, this is going to be fun. That first Coachs Corner was a near disaster. He had tears in his eyes, but Im sure Ron will tell you all about that one.

I was not enjoying our time together on Coachs Corner. I could see we were not on the same wavelength. Im a redneck from the East and hes a tree hugger from the West. Figure that one out. One time on the show we were talking about a guy, and I gave it to him pretty good.

MacLean tells me, You cant say that!

I said, Why not?

He said, Think of the mans mother.

His mother? I looked at him and thought, Is this guy kiddin?

Id find a scoop for Coachs Corner and hed say, Good. We must share this with the rest of the crew working on the show tonight.

One time, just before we went on Coachs Corner, I heard that Lafleur was out with a bad injury. MacLean shared it with everybody! I could have throttled him. And then he tells me, You must realize you are not bigger than the game or the story. Imagine, this snotty-nosed kid telling me how to act on TV. At that point it wasnt a question of whether Coachs Corner was going to survive, it was whether MacLean was going to live.

It came to a head in Calgary during a game between Edmonton and the Calgary Flames. I was wearing a red jacket and matching Stetson. Hes from Red Deer. So as a joke, I turn to him on Coachs Corner and I say, You should be wearing this red jacket and hatyou cheer so much for the Flames. After the show, he went nuts! He was throwing things in his bag and saying, How could you embarrass me that way? It doesnt matter what you say anyhow, you wont be here next year.

I admit I have a hockey players idea of humourcruel. The more you can hurt a guy, the funnier it is. And when its your turn, you have to take it on the chin. I only kid people I like.

I started to like Ron because he didnt back down. I appreciated his gumption. The problem was, he wasnt getting it. Instead of taking my kidding as a compliment, he was offended. He hadnt realized yet that TV is a tough business. Theres no mercy. You screw up and a lot of people are happy and ready to take your spot. Its really not how good you are, its how tough you are. You have to have tough skin. He was getting good reviews, but I knew his day was coming. I said to him one time, Dont get too cocky, kid. Youre just on a honeymoon. Its only a matter of time till you get yours.

And sure enough, it came in Edmonton, his home country of all places. When he did his usual bang-up job at an NHL awards dinner (nobody does that emcee stuff better), the next day he was ripped to shreds in the paper. He couldnt understand it. I said, Kid, the honeymoon is over. Now you are in my world. Its open season on us now, so toughen up! Cant you see its us against them? Screw them all, well show em! And he did toughen up, and thats when we started to click.

He started to get the hockey players mentalityif you show weakness, make fun of it. If I showed I had a cold, a sore back, neck or knee, he would ridicule me just like the hockey players. It was pure joy for me, as I felt I was back in my hockey days. But with his puns, I opened Pandoras box.

I remember going out to drink with him for the first time. We were at the bar and he orders chicken wings. You dont eat when you drink, not even dinnerjust ask the old AHL players. So I say, What did we come here forto eat or to drink? Now cancel that order!

And now comes the hard part for mecompliments. Im not good at giving them and hes not good at accepting them. At the end of the playoffs, weve been on the road together every day for two months and worked together every other day on what seems to be a zillion shows. Finally, after the last one, we head home. We only live fifteen minutes from each other, so the taxi drops me off at my house first. And its just, See ya. And then I always give him a shot, and he always shoots something back. No handshake or any of that phony stuff. And thats it, till next season.

We travel in different circles. Hes a wine guy who likes sailboats, and Im a beer guy in a rowboat.

Okay, anyhow, back to the compliments. First, let me say, I would not have lasted twenty-five years on TV without him. I feel he is like my defence partner on the Rochester Americans, Darryl Sly. He carried me on the ice for years. I had my strengthstough in front of the net, I could fight and hit. But Darryl did all the legwork for me.

Ron is the same way. I have my strengthssharp dresser, good-looking, charm, personality, I know hockey, and Im humble. And he has his strengths. If he thinks I am going down the wrong path, he will steer things another way, which ticks me off. But thats what the game is. He tries to get to me on TV and I try to get to him. Its fun and dangerous and, yes, weve had a bit of trouble over the years. Im sure Ron will tell you about that in the book.

Hes good at picking things out in the game. For instance, this year in the third game of the Stanley Cup finals, I never noticed Shawn Thornton of the Bruins taunting Aaron Rome of Vancouver and then Rome coming out the very next shift and nailing Nathan Horton, knocking him out of the playoffs. Or Gregory Campbell of Boston yapping at Roberto Luongo at the end of the June 13 game. Ron is the guy who caught these things. And he is one of those rare birds who can do an update on air while in the middle of a conversation with somebody.

Another thing, as far as I am concerned: nobody does a better interview.

He has confidence supreme. When we are walking through an airport, a guy might holler, Great show last night, Grapes! And Ron will laugh. Or if we are somewhere and a guy hands him a camera and then asks him to take a picture of me with the guy, Ron thinks that is hilarious. Complete confidence.

Okay, enough of that. Ron, when he reads this, wont believe his eyes. But what the hell? After keeping the beer cold in hotel rooms after games for twenty-five years, he deserves it. Cold beer and nibbles and stories, thats what we doand they are great stories. Im sure youre going to hear them in this book. I can hardly wait to read it.

Donald S. Cherry

June 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special thank you to Cari MacLean, who rode herd on the bookCari was the calm in the middle of the storm. And wed like to thank Kirsties husband, Larry Day, for his balanced perspective, all his ideas and excellent edits. Wed also like to thank our amazing research assistant, Julie Folk, owner/editor of adrenalinereginasports.com, as well as Sonja Bloomer and Carol Morgan, who kept all pictures organized and on track. Thanks to our hard-working researchers and transcribers and facilitators from Pyramid Productions, Inc.: Carole Cottreau, Steve McLellan, Mike Banks, Carol Morgan, Arana Lyle, Justin Thomson, Shely Henry, Evan Adlington, Tyler McLeod, Sheila Rae, Geordie Day and Vittoria Walter. Wed also like to send a special shout out to Len Glickman from Cassels Brock, and to Alison Woodbury.