Then to have Brett come along and follow in the footsteps, it’s so gratifying. I get as much enjoyment out of watching Brett play as I did of entertaining people myself.
Nobody gives a crap about hockey down here – nobody. I coach kids’ hockey down here and you can start to see the disinterest in the game here with the kids
Well, pioneers always suffer. I don’t care who is the first to embark upon things. For instance, settlers that settled the West, Western Canada and the U.S… they went though hell doing it, but it had to be done
My job is to suggest and ratify and use any expertise that I might have gained over the 23 years in professional hockey to make our game a better game.
Somewhere in my wildest childhood I must have done something right. Being able to make a boyhood dream come true is one thing, but to have a kid come along and thrill his dad like Brett Hull has thrilled me over his career is too much for one guy to handle.
Every professional athlete owes a debt of gratitude to the fans and management, and pays an installment every time he plays. He should never miss a payment.
I feel, first of all, very privileged that these people think enough of me that they made me commissioner. And it’s almost like, as Yogi Berra said, ‘deja vu all over again.’
What makes it all worthwhile is we just play for the sheer enjoyment of entertaining people and… make our families and the team we played on and the people watching, proud of what we did.
I think for kids it’s the most important part of the game. You have to be able to skate forward and backward, stop and start, go from side to side. Those are the basics of the game.
