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Shane · November 23rd, 2004, 11:22 PM

Here it is. You guys have waited a long time for it. You have gone through a lot, but I have brought you the REAL Dan Hinote interview. Here is the transcript, check the homepage for the mp3. Get it live, get it real. get it Sportsrant style!!!!

Shane: I am on the phone with Dan Hinote, the gritty right-winger from the Colorado Avalanche. Dan I would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us and answer some questions for us.

Dan: You bet. Anytime.

Shane: All right Dan. I’ve been a hockey fan my entire life. I grew up watching the Colorado Rockies in Denver. Gritty character guys like Barry Beck, Lanny McDonald, Chico Resch. Was there a certain player or team that drew you to the sport while growing up?
Dan: Yeah, you know what, when I was growing up, I grew up in Minnesota, obviously the team I watched were the North Stars because they were on TV and that kind of thing. They would do certain things around the community and you could meet them, and that sort of thing. So I was a big fan of the North Stars when I grew up.

Shane: Ok, uh, when you came to Denver, there was a magazine in Denver, 5280.

Dan: (Laughs).

Shane: They branded you as Denver’s hottest single. And the nickname “Ladies Man” followed that. Can you comment on that or dispel that myth?

Dan: Yeah, you know what? That was…that couldn’t have been any further from the truth, actually. It was kind of funny, so I took a lot of heat for that magazine in the locker room. Of course the boys got a hold of it, and of course that circulated the locker room a few time, and the coaches. So I took a lot of heat for it, but you know the 5280 people, they’re great people, and they’re very nice. I’m not exactly sure how I ended up on that list, but uh it was kind of embarrassing to tell you the truth.

Shane: So uh, you aren’t the playboy they wanted to make you out to be?

Dan: No! (Laughs). No, despite the rumors that you might hear, uh it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Shane: All right. On a more serious note, Steve Moore and Todd Bertuzzi. We have all seen the video, probably more times than is healthy. We all know the story. Do you have a stand on that situation?

Dan: Well…..it was an unfortunate event, um, for hockey, obviously for the two individuals, no question. Um, I don’t believe his intent was to hurt anyone, if you ask, you know, to that degree. Um, you know it was a heat of the moment type, I imagine, decision. You know, you hate to see…..you hate to see anybody get hurt in a hockey game. And so it was unfortunate that it had happened that way. Um….as far as a police issue goes; I don’t believe the police should be involved. I believe we do a good enough job of that in the NHL, of policing ourselves. Um, so I don’t know if that clears anything up for you.

Shane: That seems to be the…

Dan: It was kind of and unfortunate event for everybody.

Shane: Yeah, I’d have to agree, and that seems to be the general opinion with everyone I’ve talked to about it as well.

Dan: Yeah.

Shane: Ahhh, let’s see. Back in 2001, the Stanley Cup Finals, I believe it was game 1 against the Devils, you got hit pretty hard. Ken Daneyko uh, pretty much took you out. And uh, even the announcers were saying there was no way you were going to get up, but you did, and you skated off the ice. But uh, you didn’t do that before saying something, which uh, you drew a penalty from Collin White. And uh, we came back and scored a power play goal. Can you comment at all on what you may have said to spark him like that?

Dan: (Laughs). Uh, well, it’s….I mean, it’s one of those things where uh, I guess you’re trying to take advantage of a situation where you know you’re going on the power play, they’re a little frustrated as a team. Because uh, I wasn’t sure if Daneyko had gotten a penalty or not at that point. And I was going off, and Collin White, obviously a great player, one of the toughest guys you’re going to play against, plays very tough, plays mean. You know, the type of guy that just might take a swing at you, and might not. And soooo, I had said something, and I won’t get into detail, you know, for obvious reasons, but uh, you know, as you described the scenario, I said something he didn’t like, and he threw me down to the ice, and we got a, you know we scored on the power play. You know, it’s not part of the job that I am certainly proud of, but I also realize at the same time for me to stay in this league, I’ve got to do what I have to do.

Shane: And in describing your job, you’re a pretty gritty guy, and one of your main jobs is to get under the skin of the other guys, and trash talking is certainly a big part of that.

Dan: Yup.

Shane: Do you have a favorite trash talk line? Or a….

Dan: (Laughs). Nothing great in particular. I usually try to find something out about somebody. Really, like everybody in hockey, I mean there’s a lot of trash talk in ANY sport, but in hockey, lines are used quite often. So you’ve pretty much heard everything. So, in the end, you try to find something ABOUT somebody, that might catch their interest, or catch their eye, or catch their ear, where they wouldn’t really expect you to know that about that person, or that kind of thing. So, when guys play with each other long enough over the years that know guys that know guys, and you also know who the hot heads are. Who the guys are that lose their tempers easier than others, and so you try to find out little bits of information against these people or about these people that you can use. So then I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a favorite line, but perhaps a favorite method.

Shane: Ok. (Clearly a moment of reporting genius on my part).

Shane: I’ve come across several different rumors of locker room nicknames, and I haven’t been able to confirm any of them. So I’ll just ask you point blank, do any of the guys give you a hard time in the locker room and maybe have a nickname that they like to call you by?

Dan: Uh, about what?

Shane: A nickname that they call you by in the locker room?

Dan: Oh, well there was (laughs) nothing flattering by any means, but um, I was “the moth” for a little while. Which is just kind of an annoying insect I guess? I don’t know, it’s not really flattering. Um, somebody called me “Chachi” from another team. That went over really well in the locker room. The boys liked that one.

Shane: Chachi??

Dan: Yeah. Don’t even ask me why, because I have no idea why obviously. I mean, there could be many ways that could go.

Shane: I guess they had a thing for Scott Baio or something?

Dan: May…perhaps, so. Other than that, not a whole lot. Not anything in particular.

Shane: Ok, my son wants to be a goalie. He’s pretty flexible, and he might have some of the skills. But he wanted to know what he might need to do to prepare for that. I recommended a lobotomy; do you have any advice for him?

Dan: (Laughs). How to prepare to be a goalie?

Shane: Yeah.

Dan: Whoa, that’s a tough one. But I’d say that you need to be a little different, of course. Goalies are generally, uh, they’re great people, don’t get me wrong, but they’re a different breed. They prepare different than a lot of the guys, and uh, they have different routines, and there are a lot of things, as players, that you don’t necessarily understand about a goalie because you can’t necessarily put yourself in that mindset, of course. But uh, I always find it funny when goalies do complain about uh; maybe you shoot too high, or maybe you hit them in the wrong place or whatever. I believe it was Mike Keane who always said, “Hey, you’re the one that chose to be the goalie. Don’t complain to us about high shots. You’re the one that wants to stand in front of pucks all day.” They’re a different breed…certainly. So, you’ve got to be a good athlete, with good hand-eye coordination. I played with the best the ever lived, and uh he was amazing, but I think a lot of that is natural. He worked very hard also. As long as you work hard I guess, you’ve just got to give yourself the opportunity.

Shane: All right. On that same subject, you mentioned playing with the greatest that ever lived. I’m certainly not going to say anything against that. But, he did have a habit of leaving the crease, playing in the corners and behind the net, giving me a heart attack on a pretty frequent basis. Do you have any opinion on that? Should they be fair game when they leave the crease and handle the puck? Or should they be left alone?

Dan: I don’t know that you would say “fair game”. I think you should be allowed a certain amount of physically contact. I don’t think you should run up and hit them as hard as you can. The way the rule is now, there is no contact whatsoever.

Shane: Right.

Dan: It’s kind of hard to play against a goalie that is out of his net all the time, because you are not sure how to go at it. You’ve got to kind of tentatively walk on your toes. If you took that part out and said as long as you are not trying to injure, or running a goalie just for a big hit, then it would be legal, then I think it might change things a little bit. But um, a goalie that plays out of his net is also very effective. They’re hard to play against, and will protect your d-man from taking a lot of hits. Because in this league, guys are getting heavier, guys are getting stronger, guys are getting faster, you know you see injuries, concussions and whatnot. Every time you see a goalie going out in the corner to play a puck instead of his d-man, he is saving his d-man, you know that pain, and that possible injury. And also, it adds another player on the ice that the other team has to worry about, so although it is very frustrating at times for a forward, when a goalie comes out, I’d say as a goalie it is a very important skill.

Shane: Ok, good. While we’re on the subject of rules, I’ve got another one here that I’m not a fan of. The instigator rule. Do you have a stand on that one?

Dan: The instigator rule has allowed a lot of things to go on in hockey that maybe wouldn’t go on. So, I guess it has saved some people, to a degree, but at the same time, it’s...it’s…it’s not. I guess, in the NHL we police our own league. It makes it a little bit harder to do that when, in order to what we feel is to properly police the league, when you might put your team down a man on the penalty kill. And sometimes you run into that fact, where maybe a guy does something wrong, and now he doesn’t have to pay the price for it, because he’s got two tough guys sitting on the bench that’ll do that for him. And so, obviously you don’t want to lose a man down to the power play. Most games in the NHL are pretty close. You will get some that get out of hand no and again, but for the most part games are within one or two goals, so a power play can change the outcome of a game real quick. So you don’t want to run around chasing guys, that perhaps you feel need it, but at the same time what you don’t want is a guy that feels he can run up and just start fighting anybody. You don’t want Scott Parker fighting Peter Forsberg without some kind of repercussion in the game. It’s a double-edged sword in this case. You would hope that there is enough respect around the league that that would never happen, but at the same time things like that do happen. And so, the instigator rule, I think, like I said, it’s a double-edged sword. It might protect some guys, and in some ways it hurts the policing of the league. So I guess that’s it. It’s a double-edged sword, and you can go either way with that. I just hope that without it, that there would be enough respect in the league to where you didn’t have to worry about certain guys fighting certain guys they shouldn’t be.

Shane: Yeah, absolutely. And let’s see…the touch up offsides rule. Do you think that should be changed to help the flow of the game? Or do you like it the way it is?

Dan: Uh offside? No, I don’t like the offsides rule. I don’t mind the touch up. Because like I said, you get more uh, you get a lot less whistles, which of course speeds up the game and keeps the flow going. Uh, personally, I would like to see the red line taken out, for the two-line pass. Because if you watch Olympic hockey, and European hockey, it’s much faster. I would like to see the game in a bigger rink, without the two line passes, pretty much like you saw in the Olympic hockey, and the world cup hockey of the old days. Not necessarily this year, the world cup, because it was in North America, a lot of it. I like the European style of play because there is a lot more speed, and a lot more skill involved, to that point where the flow is faster, and I think more of a higher pace.

Shane: Dan, is there an NHL team that you least like to play against? And why?

Dan: Least like to play against…I would say……uh….who do I hate to play against?……I would….I don’t like playing against…..the St. Louis Blues, and I love playing against the St. Louis Blues, because….Keith Tkachuk. I’ll bet I can narrow it down to one player basically. Uh, well they’ve got a couple guys actually. Vancouver we always have a tough time with too. It’s always a good battle. But Keith Tkachuk and I have had a lot of battles in our day, and I know he hates me, and so it kind of makes it fun, but at the same time, you know in the back of your head who you’ve got on Wednesday night, or Tuesday night. Whenever the next game is. So I would probably say St. Louis, but it’s a love hate relationship, because I do like to play against guys like that because it brings you to another level, but at the same time you know they’re out there looking for you too. So you’ve got to watch your back.

Shane: That kind of ties into my next question which is which NHL player would you most like to fight, and why?

Dan: (Laughs). Well, I wouldn’t like to fight Keith Tkachuk, but I like battling with him. He’s a monster, and he’d probably destroy me. Let’s see, Tyson Nash and I have fought a few times. Sean Avery and I have fought a few times. Ummm, let’s see. Who would I most like to fight? I don’t know. I’m going to. I’d say, depending on the atmosphere, if we were at home, I’d most like to fight Sean Avery because he has done such a good job of upsetting our fans and our crowd.

Shane: He does do that.

Dan: So, had we fought in our rink, and I won, I know that the fans would be crazy, and that kind of thing. He does his job very well. You know, he’s very effective at upsetting other teams. In fact, well, I didn’t pay attention to all…I know he fought a lot last year and had a lot of penalty minutes, but uh, yeah he’s done a good job against us, and like I said, we’ve fought a few times before, and in the right scenario and the right environment, I’d probably like to fight him the most…..and win.

Shane: And win. Of course. The Colorado Avalanche are not known for making a lot of big free agent signings in the off-season. On the other hand, they do tend to make a lot of big trades at the deadline. Theo Fleury, Rob Blake, Raymond Bourque, it’s a pretty lengthy list. In your opinion, is there a trade that the organization has made since you’ve been with it, that you didn’t like? Maybe a friend, or someone like that?

Dan: Uh, no. In fact, we were talking about that last year. We have a phenomenal organization. And the staff, as far as the scouts go, and our GM, and our owner, I feel they’ve all made a great group. They’ve made great trades for what they felt the team needed at that time. And whether we performed or not, hasn’t been their fault obviously. They make these trades in the optimism that these players will fit the roles that we’re lacking, and you know, some times it works out, and some times it doesn’t. But personally I feel that they’ve done a great job up there, with the trades.

Shane: Ok, great. Are there any players that have been traded from the Avalanche, that you still stay in touch with? Some friends of yours, or anything like that.

Dan: Oh yeah. Tons. Most of them. I guess you can go down the list. Drury is a good friend of mine. Derek Morris. Brad Larsen. Rick Berry. Brian Willsie. Bates Battaglia. Like all these guys you see…the beautiful thing about hockey is, you bleed, you sweat with these guys, you’re with these guys pretty much seven to nine months out of the year. Together. Every day. You know, minus a day off here and there. See, these guys become like you family, your buddies. Even if you’re not talking to them every day, they’re still your friends, and if you see them, it’s great to see them again, and so on and so forth, so I’m pretty close with a lot of the guys that got traded. Shjon Podein when he got traded, Eric Messier, Chris Dingman, you know, these are all good guys that you went through a lot with, and then they leave, which is unfortunate, but it’s also part of the business, and you understand that, so you take that into account and stay in touch with the guys, and see them when you can.

Shane: Great, so pretty much all of them. There are some names in there I haven’t thought of for quite a while.

Dan: Yeah, Reinprecht is a good friend of mine. Stephan Yelle. Like all these guys, there have been so many, since my beginning here with the team, that it’s hard to remember all of them, but they’re all great guys and it’s tough to see them go, but you understand it’s part of the business.

Shane: Yes. See, I read somewhere that one of your teammates has a habit of wrapping players’ stick’s in pink tape, when they do something that he feels they might deserve it for.

Dan: Pink tape???

Shane: Yeah, instead of black or white, he found a roll of pink tape somewhere. Can you confirm or deny that?

Dan: Uh, I can confirm that is HAS happened in the past, uh, not on a regular basis I won’t say. But, yeah, there has been times. There’s a lot of, a lot of crap that goes on in the locker room as far as practical jokes go.

Shane: And uh, that was actually my next question. I know you guys have a pact of “what is said in the room stays in the room”. I totally respect that, but is there any one particular event you could tell us about that maybe was funny or just outrageous?

Dan: Uh……yeah, well I won’t mention any names, but there’s been cars that have been put on blocks, there’s cars with manure in them, you get the old “fill the stick up with water check out my curve” and you get the water in your eye, on your face, and on your suit. Then there’s the age-old powder in the hair dryer and shaving cream in the towel, shaving cream in the skates, the cutting of the jeans, the cutting of the socks, the cutting of the tie. All of those things you’ll see throughout the course of the year. You just hope you are not a victim. You usually have your suspects because it tends to be the same kind of people. And so you take that into account, you figure out who your enemies are and why. You know rookies tend to take the brunt of it, but there are a lot of enemies that are made during the season, that uh would require such things, and it’s pretty funny. You’ve got to stay on your toes. You know, guys will come to the rink, when they know they have enemies, and switch clothes with other guys. So, you go to what YOU think is so and so’s stall, to cut his jeans in half, and you’re actually cutting the wrong guys jeans, and he comes in, and now you’ve made an enemy you didn’t even know you had. So, guys are pretty sharp. I know the stereotype of an athlete isn’t generally to be very intelligent, unfortunately, but I’ll say the guys are pretty sharp, so you have to keep on your toes.

Shane: (I had to step away from the microphone to hide my laughter while he was listing those off). Yeah, that’s pretty good. I’m sitting here laughing about it.

Dan: Yeah.

Shane: We’ve got to talk about the Detroit Redwings. You can’t have an interview with an Avalanche player and not mention them.

Dan: No, its just part of the deal.

Shane: Exactly. The rivalry, from a fan standpoint, has simmered a little bit. Lemieux is gone, Patrick Roy has retired. I know there is a rivalry between the fans, that will probably never go away. Are there any players left keeping the rivalry alive, and what are your thoughts when you play against them?

Dan: Well, the thing is, yeah there’s a great rivalry, but they are also a great team. And a team that we know, at some point down the road, we’re probably going to have to battle to win the Cup against these guys. So, they’re usually in the top five in the league, assuming things are going well on both sides. So there is a bit of a rivalry in that sense. Also, with the past, there are some left over. You know, some residual anger, and a lot of…. Like, when you play a team enough times, in such a heated environment, you’re going to have that left over, and you’ve got, you know they have a lot of those guys still back there. We’re missing a few. But you’ve got your Adam Footes, who are going to battle every night regardless of who you are playing against. But they still have the Drapers and the Maltbys and these guys. And so you always come to play when we play against these guys. And obviously we feed off the fans, because the Detroit and Colorado fans are unbelievable against each other, so you could go 4 and 78, but as long as those four are against Detroit, they’ll find the good in that. The fans around here, so. It’s just kind of one of those things that uh, yeah, you’re right it’s not quite what it used to be, but the rivalry is still there, uh to a degree.

Shane: One of our members wanted me to ask you what you thought of Brett Hull, specifically. Can you comment on Brett at all? (you fucking OWE me Ssigman)

Dan: Brett Hull? I love Brett Hull. I think he’s done a lot for hockey. I’m a Minnesota guy, so I’m partly biased, but uh he’s not afraid to speak his mind, which I think you will find a lot of that in hockey. So, it makes him somewhat of a controversial player, and this and that. The thing is, it’s not so much that he’s controversial, he’s just not afraid. You know what I mean? Where as hockey players, we are bred, coming up through the leagues, that you say everything politically correct, you don’t make waves, and you’ll be fine. And for the most part that’s true. He’s a unique situation being a future Hall of Famer, where he’s able to do and say what he feels and what he wants. And that I think is a great thing for the sport, because it does draw some attention, but I also think it’s great for the individual because he’s got the balls to say what he wants to now and then. People look at that and….you’re always going to have your critics, and if you have the balls to step out and say what you want, you are going to have….you can’t please everybody, and you are going to have critics on one side, and you are going to have fans on the other, and that’s just how it’s going to be. I, myself, am a big Hull fan. But a lot of fans, I don’t read what’s in the paper; I don’t watch what’s on the TV. I look at him as a hockey player, and he’s obviously one of the best scores of all time.

Shane: Ok, great, I’ll be sure to pass that on to him. I’m going to assume that the team doesn’t hang out in groups of 20, that would be pretty obvious. Is there a certain group of people, or maybe just one person that you would say is your best friend that you usually hang out with?

Dan: Well, we usually hang out, the demographic usually ends up, married and single. Because, or family or not, you know what I mean?

Shane: Right.

Dan: Like you say, it’s never going to be 20 guys because people have other priorities in their life. Hockey is obviously up there, and their family is usually the first priority and that kind of thing. So, you’re going to run into different stages of your life, so what tends to happen is, and some of it tends to do with geography too. Obviously if there is somewhat of a language barrier for some Europeans. If you have two guys that speak Czech, and very little English, they’re going to end up hanging out together. That’s just common knowledge, or common sense. But for the most part, for my part, I’m with the young single crowd, so a lot of times it’s like me and John (Michael) Liles, Cody McCormick when he was up, Peter Forsberg. You know, these guys, uh Rikku Hahl, these guys live the same kind of life as me, where we come home from practice and we don’t have the family, we don’t have the kids to take to practice and that kind of thing. So we tend to gravitate towards each other in that sort of single demographic younger crowd. So I would say the two guys I probably hang out with are Peter Forsberg and Johnny Liles. And I’ll say 3. Rikku Hahl. Those are the 3 guys on the team that I probably spend the most time with.

Shane: Ok cool. Dan if you couldn’t make it in the NHL for whatever reason, would you play in the minor leagues at all, or would you choose to take on another profession?

Dan: Well, I was always planning on going into the FBI. That was my reason for choosing West Point as my college. That was my whole goal as a kid growing up. Hockey was kind of a surprise to me. Kind of a lucky bounce, if you will. I always just wanted to go into the FBI. I wanted to go and work for the government in that sense, and solve cases and that kind of stuff. It seemed like a great lifestyle, and what I always wanted to do. And then this hockey thing came along and got in the way I guess, if you will. But uh, having been here now….uh…let’s say if I never made it to the NHL, I would give it a shot to make it to the NHL, but I would not have wanted to play down there for the rest of my life. Only because, well, you can actually make more money down there than you can in the FBI, but I would rather go, I wanted to go in the FBI. So I, when I am done with hockey, and I still plan on it, assuming I don’t play until I’m 90, I still plan on giving my effort to get into the FBI once I’m done with this whole thing.

Shane: Ok great, Dan who was your idol while growing up, and can you tell us about him or her?

Dan: My idol was always my dad…growing up. He was…kind of hard to explain as a human, he was bigger than life. Like everyone, wherever he went, loved him. They knew who he was. He was always taking care of people. He worked hard, you know. 14-15 hours a day. We didn’t have much money, but he was always making sure we were happy. You know what I mean? It was one of those deals where I was brought up real old school, and I had a younger sister, and if she did something wrong it was because I didn’t stop her (Laughs). I got brought up in that environment where it was my fault; I had to take care of my family, and my sister and that. I always just grew up looking up to him, so he was always my idol.

Shane: That’s excellent. It’s too bad more American families aren’t that way, in my opinion.

Dan: Yeah, I agree.

Shane: What long-term effect do you feel the lock out will have on the NHL and hockey in general?

Dan: Well, I think a lot of it depends on how it ends up. Um, I think it’ll hurt, because any lockout is going to hurt. I think it will hurt the owners, because you WILL lose some of the fan base. And obviously you hurt the players for the same reason. I think it could stunt the growth for maybe a little bit, which is unfortunate. You know it really is an unfortunate situation, because nobody wants to sit out. The owners, they own a hockey team for a reason. They want to see hockey played. They want their employees to be out there playing hockey. Players are, we’re players for the very same reason. We want to be out there doing the job. Unfortunately the business side comes into effect, and that’s why you have this lock out. So everybody loses in this situation. We realize that. The owners realize that. That’s not the question. What is in question is the business side of things. Like I said, it’s unfortunate that it has to be an issue, but it IS an issue. And everyone, I would hope, can understand why that is what it is, but like I said, the long term effect will be losing a little bit of the fan base. I’m not sure they all understand the intricacies of a lock out versus a strike, and how it’s different. A lot of the time all they think is that it’s the players wanting more money. And that’s not the case in the lock out. We would hope that the people would be educated enough in the process that they may not hold it against the players individually, and so on and so forth. But like I said everyone loses, and we’ve just got to hope we can come to some middle ground here soon.

Shane: I certainly hope so. If it ever came down to it, would you consider being a replacement player, if they had what the call SCAB type games?

Dan: Oh, NO. See, that’s the power of a union. Uh, in order to be a powerful union, as we are right now, as players, you have to stick together. Now you may not have every single player that agrees with the situation, you know what I’m saying, but you DO realize the importance of a union, so you have to stick together. Whatever our union says, whatever we vote on in the union, that’s what we do. That’s why we stick together. So, no, because I’m part of that union. I would never cross the line against them.

Shane: Ok, good. I have to agree with you on that. I’m going out on a limb here, but would you care to speculate on when we can see NHL hockey again?

Dan: As an optimist, I would hope that maybe we could see it this year in, maybe late December or January. The only reason I pick that time is because, that, I believe, is when most of the pressure will come down on both sides. Because, I’m not sure on the logistics of it all, but I think at some point in early January, it’s yes or no on a season. I think the closer we come to that pressure, and that date, hopefully the more these meetings will come about, and they’ll talk, and hopefully the pressure of not having a season will propel them into coming together on some middle ground.

Shane: There has been a lot of speculation amongst fans, which is not really the best source for any information, it’s a lot of tempered opinions, but some have suggested that there are too many teams in the league, and in some certain areas, I won’t mention names, maybe some of them should be dissolved. Do you feel there are any teams that could go away without being detrimental to the sport, or do you feel that it should continue growing?

Dan: Well, it’s kind of tough to say. But also, you have to look at the dynamic of that particular team. Like the owner, and how much money, and……every city is different. So, yeah, some cities don’t quite follow hockey as much, and some are die hards. But knowing that, and obviously being a businessman as an owner, you allow yourself to spend what you can afford. And so, um…..it’s unfortunate, but if you look at a team like Minnesota. Now Minnesota makes plenty of money because they sell out every night. But they can win as a team that doesn’t spend a lot of money because they follow a certain system. They play a certain style. Now you don’t want to see teams have to follow that suit because they can’t afford it, or because of that…..It’s kind of hard to say that maybe we’ve over expanded, or maybe not, because there certainly are the players for it. The league, the level of play hasn’t decreased, and I guess if you’re an optimist, you would hope that these cities would…..because we feel, as a hockey player, you have to feel that….it’s more, it’s not a TV game. You try and make it as much as you can, but it’s more of a game you can appreciate when you’re live. When you’re there at the game. Once you have seen it, and know the sport well enough, then you can watch it on TV and follow it pretty well. But it’s not an easy game to sell on TV because it’s so fast moving, so hard hitting. When you are sitting in your living room you don’t quite get the same effect. And so I think what happens is you bring hockey to these cities that you feel will sell to the human being that will go to these games, but a lot of times these people just never end up going. And so, they might see the local team on TV, and be confused, or not able to follow the puck, or for whatever reason. And so, I think what happens is that the league thinks that the more people that go to a game, the more will come back, and in some cities it just never catches on, because they just never go.

Shane: That’s well said, and what I’ve thought for quite a while, personally. I’m down to my last question, on the record; I have a couple for off the record for when we’re done. I would like to, before we get to the last question, thank you again for doing this, and be entertainment for our guests. They have waited quite a while for this, and they’ve been through a lot while waiting for it. It means a lot to me that you took the time to do it.

Dan: Oh of course, any time.

Shane: Recently I was watching some highlights of the 2001 Cup run. I’ve been watching a lot of hockey videos because, well, there is nothing else to watch. In game 2, you had an amazing assist on a Chris Drury goal. In game 3 I think you had the game-winning goal. They were amazing plays, that’s basically what I am getting at. I am wondering if there is a particular play or a particular game, in your NHL career, that stands out as the most memorable to you?

Dan: Uh well, there’s probably two that stand out the most. And the one I think you are talking about….the Nieminen pass…is that the one you are talking about. Are you talking about against St Louis?

Shane: Uh, no it was against…

Dan: Oh Jersey, you’re talking about Jersey right?

Shane: Yeah.

Dan: The goal against Jersey probably was the most memorable, because it was the Stanley Cup playoff run, and with the Ray Bourque thing and everything. You know when I think back on the whole series, and the whole run, and the whole season really, it’s unbelievable to sit back and think about. Because a lot of things just went really right that year. Umm, but my most memorable game, I would say, had to have been game 7 in that series against Jersey. Because I was sitting there, and I was, for whatever reason, I had played well in the series, and game 7 comes. I’ve got my family in town, and it’s you win the Cup or you don’t. Tonight. And I was on the starting line up. You’re sitting there, you go through warm up, and coach (Bob Hartley) comes in and says “Ok, Joe Sakic, Alex Tanguay, Dan Hinote, Ray Bourque, and Rob Blake.” And I was like “Hoooly Shit”. I’m sitting on that blue line, next to those four guys, of course five, if you count Patty (Patrick Roy). Those five guys, the national anthem is going on, and all I can think about is…you know what I mean like this is what it all comes down to. One game. And I’m on the blue line with these guys. And Ray Bourque’s life can go one way or the other tonight. You know what I mean? Not that he would measure his life based on winning the Stanley Cup or not. But as a fan of sports, there is, there tends to be a difference between a man who has won a championship, versus a man who has spent all those years and hasn’t won a championship.

Shane: Absolutely.

Dan: And, him, being the man that he was, and the defenseman that he was, it weighed on my mind, that I didn’t want to make a mistake in game 7 against New Jersey, that would cost Ray Bourque from winning his championship. Obviously there are other guys involved. Don’t get me wrong. Everybody…EVERYBODY….you wanted to win for every single player in the organization. No question. But, there was a lot to be measured, you know, for HIM, in this one game. There is a lot of pressure that goes with that game by itself, but also the pressure that I put on myself, because I wanted to help Ray win his Cup, you know, when he was there. You know what I mean?

Shane: Right.

Dan: So that will always be my…..I can’t imagine a more memorable game than that happening, but I guess if it does I’ll be lucky. Right now that is my most memorable.

Shane: I can’t remember who said it, but one of the better quotes I’ve heard that really summed that night up was that they didn’t want to be the person winning the Cup for Ray Bourque, but rather the person winning the Cup with Ray Bourque.

Dan: Yeah, exactly.

November 23rd, 2004, 11:22 PM	#1
Shane Join Date: 06-08-2003 Location: Bend, Oregon Posts: 6,402 Tournaments Joined: 0 Tournament Wins: 0	The REAL Dan Hinote Here it is. You guys have waited a long time for it. You have gone through a lot, but I have brought you the REAL Dan Hinote interview. Here is the transcript, check the homepage for the mp3. Get it live, get it real. get it Sportsrant style!!!! Shane: I am on the phone with Dan Hinote, the gritty right-winger from the Colorado Avalanche. Dan I would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to us and answer some questions for us. Dan: You bet. Anytime. Shane: All right Dan. I’ve been a hockey fan my entire life. I grew up watching the Colorado Rockies in Denver. Gritty character guys like Barry Beck, Lanny McDonald, Chico Resch. Was there a certain player or team that drew you to the sport while growing up? Dan: Yeah, you know what, when I was growing up, I grew up in Minnesota, obviously the team I watched were the North Stars because they were on TV and that kind of thing. They would do certain things around the community and you could meet them, and that sort of thing. So I was a big fan of the North Stars when I grew up. Shane: Ok, uh, when you came to Denver, there was a magazine in Denver, 5280. Dan: (Laughs). Shane: They branded you as Denver’s hottest single. And the nickname “Ladies Man” followed that. Can you comment on that or dispel that myth? Dan: Yeah, you know what? That was…that couldn’t have been any further from the truth, actually. It was kind of funny, so I took a lot of heat for that magazine in the locker room. Of course the boys got a hold of it, and of course that circulated the locker room a few time, and the coaches. So I took a lot of heat for it, but you know the 5280 people, they’re great people, and they’re very nice. I’m not exactly sure how I ended up on that list, but uh it was kind of embarrassing to tell you the truth. Shane: So uh, you aren’t the playboy they wanted to make you out to be? Dan: No! (Laughs). No, despite the rumors that you might hear, uh it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Shane: All right. On a more serious note, Steve Moore and Todd Bertuzzi. We have all seen the video, probably more times than is healthy. We all know the story. Do you have a stand on that situation? Dan: Well…..it was an unfortunate event, um, for hockey, obviously for the two individuals, no question. Um, I don’t believe his intent was to hurt anyone, if you ask, you know, to that degree. Um, you know it was a heat of the moment type, I imagine, decision. You know, you hate to see…..you hate to see anybody get hurt in a hockey game. And so it was unfortunate that it had happened that way. Um….as far as a police issue goes; I don’t believe the police should be involved. I believe we do a good enough job of that in the NHL, of policing ourselves. Um, so I don’t know if that clears anything up for you. Shane: That seems to be the… Dan: It was kind of and unfortunate event for everybody. Shane: Yeah, I’d have to agree, and that seems to be the general opinion with everyone I’ve talked to about it as well. Dan: Yeah. Shane: Ahhh, let’s see. Back in 2001, the Stanley Cup Finals, I believe it was game 1 against the Devils, you got hit pretty hard. Ken Daneyko uh, pretty much took you out. And uh, even the announcers were saying there was no way you were going to get up, but you did, and you skated off the ice. But uh, you didn’t do that before saying something, which uh, you drew a penalty from Collin White. And uh, we came back and scored a power play goal. Can you comment at all on what you may have said to spark him like that? Dan: (Laughs). Uh, well, it’s….I mean, it’s one of those things where uh, I guess you’re trying to take advantage of a situation where you know you’re going on the power play, they’re a little frustrated as a team. Because uh, I wasn’t sure if Daneyko had gotten a penalty or not at that point. And I was going off, and Collin White, obviously a great player, one of the toughest guys you’re going to play against, plays very tough, plays mean. You know, the type of guy that just might take a swing at you, and might not. And soooo, I had said something, and I won’t get into detail, you know, for obvious reasons, but uh, you know, as you described the scenario, I said something he didn’t like, and he threw me down to the ice, and we got a, you know we scored on the power play. You know, it’s not part of the job that I am certainly proud of, but I also realize at the same time for me to stay in this league, I’ve got to do what I have to do. Shane: And in describing your job, you’re a pretty gritty guy, and one of your main jobs is to get under the skin of the other guys, and trash talking is certainly a big part of that. Dan: Yup. Shane: Do you have a favorite trash talk line? Or a…. Dan: (Laughs). Nothing great in particular. I usually try to find something out about somebody. Really, like everybody in hockey, I mean there’s a lot of trash talk in ANY sport, but in hockey, lines are used quite often. So you’ve pretty much heard everything. So, in the end, you try to find something ABOUT somebody, that might catch their interest, or catch their eye, or catch their ear, where they wouldn’t really expect you to know that about that person, or that kind of thing. So, when guys play with each other long enough over the years that know guys that know guys, and you also know who the hot heads are. Who the guys are that lose their tempers easier than others, and so you try to find out little bits of information against these people or about these people that you can use. So then I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a favorite line, but perhaps a favorite method. Shane: Ok. (Clearly a moment of reporting genius on my part). Shane: I’ve come across several different rumors of locker room nicknames, and I haven’t been able to confirm any of them. So I’ll just ask you point blank, do any of the guys give you a hard time in the locker room and maybe have a nickname that they like to call you by? Dan: Uh, about what? Shane: A nickname that they call you by in the locker room? Dan: Oh, well there was (laughs) nothing flattering by any means, but um, I was “the moth” for a little while. Which is just kind of an annoying insect I guess? I don’t know, it’s not really flattering. Um, somebody called me “Chachi” from another team. That went over really well in the locker room. The boys liked that one. Shane: Chachi?? Dan: Yeah. Don’t even ask me why, because I have no idea why obviously. I mean, there could be many ways that could go. Shane: I guess they had a thing for Scott Baio or something? Dan: May…perhaps, so. Other than that, not a whole lot. Not anything in particular. Shane: Ok, my son wants to be a goalie. He’s pretty flexible, and he might have some of the skills. But he wanted to know what he might need to do to prepare for that. I recommended a lobotomy; do you have any advice for him? Dan: (Laughs). How to prepare to be a goalie? Shane: Yeah. Dan: Whoa, that’s a tough one. But I’d say that you need to be a little different, of course. Goalies are generally, uh, they’re great people, don’t get me wrong, but they’re a different breed. They prepare different than a lot of the guys, and uh, they have different routines, and there are a lot of things, as players, that you don’t necessarily understand about a goalie because you can’t necessarily put yourself in that mindset, of course. But uh, I always find it funny when goalies do complain about uh; maybe you shoot too high, or maybe you hit them in the wrong place or whatever. I believe it was Mike Keane who always said, “Hey, you’re the one that chose to be the goalie. Don’t complain to us about high shots. You’re the one that wants to stand in front of pucks all day.” They’re a different breed…certainly. So, you’ve got to be a good athlete, with good hand-eye coordination. I played with the best the ever lived, and uh he was amazing, but I think a lot of that is natural. He worked very hard also. As long as you work hard I guess, you’ve just got to give yourself the opportunity. Shane: All right. On that same subject, you mentioned playing with the greatest that ever lived. I’m certainly not going to say anything against that. But, he did have a habit of leaving the crease, playing in the corners and behind the net, giving me a heart attack on a pretty frequent basis. Do you have any opinion on that? Should they be fair game when they leave the crease and handle the puck? Or should they be left alone? Dan: I don’t know that you would say “fair game”. I think you should be allowed a certain amount of physically contact. I don’t think you should run up and hit them as hard as you can. The way the rule is now, there is no contact whatsoever. Shane: Right. Dan: It’s kind of hard to play against a goalie that is out of his net all the time, because you are not sure how to go at it. You’ve got to kind of tentatively walk on your toes. If you took that part out and said as long as you are not trying to injure, or running a goalie just for a big hit, then it would be legal, then I think it might change things a little bit. But um, a goalie that plays out of his net is also very effective. They’re hard to play against, and will protect your d-man from taking a lot of hits. Because in this league, guys are getting heavier, guys are getting stronger, guys are getting faster, you know you see injuries, concussions and whatnot. Every time you see a goalie going out in the corner to play a puck instead of his d-man, he is saving his d-man, you know that pain, and that possible injury. And also, it adds another player on the ice that the other team has to worry about, so although it is very frustrating at times for a forward, when a goalie comes out, I’d say as a goalie it is a very important skill. Shane: Ok, good. While we’re on the subject of rules, I’ve got another one here that I’m not a fan of. The instigator rule. Do you have a stand on that one? Dan: The instigator rule has allowed a lot of things to go on in hockey that maybe wouldn’t go on. So, I guess it has saved some people, to a degree, but at the same time, it’s...it’s…it’s not. I guess, in the NHL we police our own league. It makes it a little bit harder to do that when, in order to what we feel is to properly police the league, when you might put your team down a man on the penalty kill. And sometimes you run into that fact, where maybe a guy does something wrong, and now he doesn’t have to pay the price for it, because he’s got two tough guys sitting on the bench that’ll do that for him. And so, obviously you don’t want to lose a man down to the power play. Most games in the NHL are pretty close. You will get some that get out of hand no and again, but for the most part games are within one or two goals, so a power play can change the outcome of a game real quick. So you don’t want to run around chasing guys, that perhaps you feel need it, but at the same time what you don’t want is a guy that feels he can run up and just start fighting anybody. You don’t want Scott Parker fighting Peter Forsberg without some kind of repercussion in the game. It’s a double-edged sword in this case. You would hope that there is enough respect around the league that that would never happen, but at the same time things like that do happen. And so, the instigator rule, I think, like I said, it’s a double-edged sword. It might protect some guys, and in some ways it hurts the policing of the league. So I guess that’s it. It’s a double-edged sword, and you can go either way with that. I just hope that without it, that there would be enough respect in the league to where you didn’t have to worry about certain guys fighting certain guys they shouldn’t be. Shane: Yeah, absolutely. And let’s see…the touch up offsides rule. Do you think that should be changed to help the flow of the game? Or do you like it the way it is? Dan: Uh offside? No, I don’t like the offsides rule. I don’t mind the touch up. Because like I said, you get more uh, you get a lot less whistles, which of course speeds up the game and keeps the flow going. Uh, personally, I would like to see the red line taken out, for the two-line pass. Because if you watch Olympic hockey, and European hockey, it’s much faster. I would like to see the game in a bigger rink, without the two line passes, pretty much like you saw in the Olympic hockey, and the world cup hockey of the old days. Not necessarily this year, the world cup, because it was in North America, a lot of it. I like the European style of play because there is a lot more speed, and a lot more skill involved, to that point where the flow is faster, and I think more of a higher pace. Shane: Dan, is there an NHL team that you least like to play against? And why? Dan: Least like to play against…I would say……uh….who do I hate to play against?……I would….I don’t like playing against…..the St. Louis Blues, and I love playing against the St. Louis Blues, because….Keith Tkachuk. I’ll bet I can narrow it down to one player basically. Uh, well they’ve got a couple guys actually. Vancouver we always have a tough time with too. It’s always a good battle. But Keith Tkachuk and I have had a lot of battles in our day, and I know he hates me, and so it kind of makes it fun, but at the same time, you know in the back of your head who you’ve got on Wednesday night, or Tuesday night. Whenever the next game is. So I would probably say St. Louis, but it’s a love hate relationship, because I do like to play against guys like that because it brings you to another level, but at the same time you know they’re out there looking for you too. So you’ve got to watch your back. Shane: That kind of ties into my next question which is which NHL player would you most like to fight, and why? Dan: (Laughs). Well, I wouldn’t like to fight Keith Tkachuk, but I like battling with him. He’s a monster, and he’d probably destroy me. Let’s see, Tyson Nash and I have fought a few times. Sean Avery and I have fought a few times. Ummm, let’s see. Who would I most like to fight? I don’t know. I’m going to. I’d say, depending on the atmosphere, if we were at home, I’d most like to fight Sean Avery because he has done such a good job of upsetting our fans and our crowd. Shane: He does do that. Dan: So, had we fought in our rink, and I won, I know that the fans would be crazy, and that kind of thing. He does his job very well. You know, he’s very effective at upsetting other teams. In fact, well, I didn’t pay attention to all…I know he fought a lot last year and had a lot of penalty minutes, but uh, yeah he’s done a good job against us, and like I said, we’ve fought a few times before, and in the right scenario and the right environment, I’d probably like to fight him the most…..and win. Shane: And win. Of course. The Colorado Avalanche are not known for making a lot of big free agent signings in the off-season. On the other hand, they do tend to make a lot of big trades at the deadline. Theo Fleury, Rob Blake, Raymond Bourque, it’s a pretty lengthy list. In your opinion, is there a trade that the organization has made since you’ve been with it, that you didn’t like? Maybe a friend, or someone like that? Dan: Uh, no. In fact, we were talking about that last year. We have a phenomenal organization. And the staff, as far as the scouts go, and our GM, and our owner, I feel they’ve all made a great group. They’ve made great trades for what they felt the team needed at that time. And whether we performed or not, hasn’t been their fault obviously. They make these trades in the optimism that these players will fit the roles that we’re lacking, and you know, some times it works out, and some times it doesn’t. But personally I feel that they’ve done a great job up there, with the trades. Shane: Ok, great. Are there any players that have been traded from the Avalanche, that you still stay in touch with? Some friends of yours, or anything like that. Dan: Oh yeah. Tons. Most of them. I guess you can go down the list. Drury is a good friend of mine. Derek Morris. Brad Larsen. Rick Berry. Brian Willsie. Bates Battaglia. Like all these guys you see…the beautiful thing about hockey is, you bleed, you sweat with these guys, you’re with these guys pretty much seven to nine months out of the year. Together. Every day. You know, minus a day off here and there. See, these guys become like you family, your buddies. Even if you’re not talking to them every day, they’re still your friends, and if you see them, it’s great to see them again, and so on and so forth, so I’m pretty close with a lot of the guys that got traded. Shjon Podein when he got traded, Eric Messier, Chris Dingman, you know, these are all good guys that you went through a lot with, and then they leave, which is unfortunate, but it’s also part of the business, and you understand that, so you take that into account and stay in touch with the guys, and see them when you can. Shane: Great, so pretty much all of them. There are some names in there I haven’t thought of for quite a while. Dan: Yeah, Reinprecht is a good friend of mine. Stephan Yelle. Like all these guys, there have been so many, since my beginning here with the team, that it’s hard to remember all of them, but they’re all great guys and it’s tough to see them go, but you understand it’s part of the business. Shane: Yes. See, I read somewhere that one of your teammates has a habit of wrapping players’ stick’s in pink tape, when they do something that he feels they might deserve it for. Dan: Pink tape??? Shane: Yeah, instead of black or white, he found a roll of pink tape somewhere. Can you confirm or deny that? Dan: Uh, I can confirm that is HAS happened in the past, uh, not on a regular basis I won’t say. But, yeah, there has been times. There’s a lot of, a lot of crap that goes on in the locker room as far as practical jokes go. Shane: And uh, that was actually my next question. I know you guys have a pact of “what is said in the room stays in the room”. I totally respect that, but is there any one particular event you could tell us about that maybe was funny or just outrageous? Dan: Uh……yeah, well I won’t mention any names, but there’s been cars that have been put on blocks, there’s cars with manure in them, you get the old “fill the stick up with water check out my curve” and you get the water in your eye, on your face, and on your suit. Then there’s the age-old powder in the hair dryer and shaving cream in the towel, shaving cream in the skates, the cutting of the jeans, the cutting of the socks, the cutting of the tie. All of those things you’ll see throughout the course of the year. You just hope you are not a victim. You usually have your suspects because it tends to be the same kind of people. And so you take that into account, you figure out who your enemies are and why. You know rookies tend to take the brunt of it, but there are a lot of enemies that are made during the season, that uh would require such things, and it’s pretty funny. You’ve got to stay on your toes. You know, guys will come to the rink, when they know they have enemies, and switch clothes with other guys. So, you go to what YOU think is so and so’s stall, to cut his jeans in half, and you’re actually cutting the wrong guys jeans, and he comes in, and now you’ve made an enemy you didn’t even know you had. So, guys are pretty sharp. I know the stereotype of an athlete isn’t generally to be very intelligent, unfortunately, but I’ll say the guys are pretty sharp, so you have to keep on your toes. Shane: (I had to step away from the microphone to hide my laughter while he was listing those off). Yeah, that’s pretty good. I’m sitting here laughing about it. Dan: Yeah. Shane: We’ve got to talk about the Detroit Redwings. You can’t have an interview with an Avalanche player and not mention them. Dan: No, its just part of the deal. Shane: Exactly. The rivalry, from a fan standpoint, has simmered a little bit. Lemieux is gone, Patrick Roy has retired. I know there is a rivalry between the fans, that will probably never go away. Are there any players left keeping the rivalry alive, and what are your thoughts when you play against them? Dan: Well, the thing is, yeah there’s a great rivalry, but they are also a great team. And a team that we know, at some point down the road, we’re probably going to have to battle to win the Cup against these guys. So, they’re usually in the top five in the league, assuming things are going well on both sides. So there is a bit of a rivalry in that sense. Also, with the past, there are some left over. You know, some residual anger, and a lot of…. Like, when you play a team enough times, in such a heated environment, you’re going to have that left over, and you’ve got, you know they have a lot of those guys still back there. We’re missing a few. But you’ve got your Adam Footes, who are going to battle every night regardless of who you are playing against. But they still have the Drapers and the Maltbys and these guys. And so you always come to play when we play against these guys. And obviously we feed off the fans, because the Detroit and Colorado fans are unbelievable against each other, so you could go 4 and 78, but as long as those four are against Detroit, they’ll find the good in that. The fans around here, so. It’s just kind of one of those things that uh, yeah, you’re right it’s not quite what it used to be, but the rivalry is still there, uh to a degree. Shane: One of our members wanted me to ask you what you thought of Brett Hull, specifically. Can you comment on Brett at all? (you fucking OWE me Ssigman) Dan: Brett Hull? I love Brett Hull. I think he’s done a lot for hockey. I’m a Minnesota guy, so I’m partly biased, but uh he’s not afraid to speak his mind, which I think you will find a lot of that in hockey. So, it makes him somewhat of a controversial player, and this and that. The thing is, it’s not so much that he’s controversial, he’s just not afraid. You know what I mean? Where as hockey players, we are bred, coming up through the leagues, that you say everything politically correct, you don’t make waves, and you’ll be fine. And for the most part that’s true. He’s a unique situation being a future Hall of Famer, where he’s able to do and say what he feels and what he wants. And that I think is a great thing for the sport, because it does draw some attention, but I also think it’s great for the individual because he’s got the balls to say what he wants to now and then. People look at that and….you’re always going to have your critics, and if you have the balls to step out and say what you want, you are going to have….you can’t please everybody, and you are going to have critics on one side, and you are going to have fans on the other, and that’s just how it’s going to be. I, myself, am a big Hull fan. But a lot of fans, I don’t read what’s in the paper; I don’t watch what’s on the TV. I look at him as a hockey player, and he’s obviously one of the best scores of all time. Shane: Ok, great, I’ll be sure to pass that on to him. I’m going to assume that the team doesn’t hang out in groups of 20, that would be pretty obvious. Is there a certain group of people, or maybe just one person that you would say is your best friend that you usually hang out with? Dan: Well, we usually hang out, the demographic usually ends up, married and single. Because, or family or not, you know what I mean? Shane: Right. Dan: Like you say, it’s never going to be 20 guys because people have other priorities in their life. Hockey is obviously up there, and their family is usually the first priority and that kind of thing. So, you’re going to run into different stages of your life, so what tends to happen is, and some of it tends to do with geography too. Obviously if there is somewhat of a language barrier for some Europeans. If you have two guys that speak Czech, and very little English, they’re going to end up hanging out together. That’s just common knowledge, or common sense. But for the most part, for my part, I’m with the young single crowd, so a lot of times it’s like me and John (Michael) Liles, Cody McCormick when he was up, Peter Forsberg. You know, these guys, uh Rikku Hahl, these guys live the same kind of life as me, where we come home from practice and we don’t have the family, we don’t have the kids to take to practice and that kind of thing. So we tend to gravitate towards each other in that sort of single demographic younger crowd. So I would say the two guys I probably hang out with are Peter Forsberg and Johnny Liles. And I’ll say 3. Rikku Hahl. Those are the 3 guys on the team that I probably spend the most time with. Shane: Ok cool. Dan if you couldn’t make it in the NHL for whatever reason, would you play in the minor leagues at all, or would you choose to take on another profession? Dan: Well, I was always planning on going into the FBI. That was my reason for choosing West Point as my college. That was my whole goal as a kid growing up. Hockey was kind of a surprise to me. Kind of a lucky bounce, if you will. I always just wanted to go into the FBI. I wanted to go and work for the government in that sense, and solve cases and that kind of stuff. It seemed like a great lifestyle, and what I always wanted to do. And then this hockey thing came along and got in the way I guess, if you will. But uh, having been here now….uh…let’s say if I never made it to the NHL, I would give it a shot to make it to the NHL, but I would not have wanted to play down there for the rest of my life. Only because, well, you can actually make more money down there than you can in the FBI, but I would rather go, I wanted to go in the FBI. So I, when I am done with hockey, and I still plan on it, assuming I don’t play until I’m 90, I still plan on giving my effort to get into the FBI once I’m done with this whole thing. Shane: Ok great, Dan who was your idol while growing up, and can you tell us about him or her? Dan: My idol was always my dad…growing up. He was…kind of hard to explain as a human, he was bigger than life. Like everyone, wherever he went, loved him. They knew who he was. He was always taking care of people. He worked hard, you know. 14-15 hours a day. We didn’t have much money, but he was always making sure we were happy. You know what I mean? It was one of those deals where I was brought up real old school, and I had a younger sister, and if she did something wrong it was because I didn’t stop her (Laughs). I got brought up in that environment where it was my fault; I had to take care of my family, and my sister and that. I always just grew up looking up to him, so he was always my idol. Shane: That’s excellent. It’s too bad more American families aren’t that way, in my opinion. Dan: Yeah, I agree. Shane: What long-term effect do you feel the lock out will have on the NHL and hockey in general? Dan: Well, I think a lot of it depends on how it ends up. Um, I think it’ll hurt, because any lockout is going to hurt. I think it will hurt the owners, because you WILL lose some of the fan base. And obviously you hurt the players for the same reason. I think it could stunt the growth for maybe a little bit, which is unfortunate. You know it really is an unfortunate situation, because nobody wants to sit out. The owners, they own a hockey team for a reason. They want to see hockey played. They want their employees to be out there playing hockey. Players are, we’re players for the very same reason. We want to be out there doing the job. Unfortunately the business side comes into effect, and that’s why you have this lock out. So everybody loses in this situation. We realize that. The owners realize that. That’s not the question. What is in question is the business side of things. Like I said, it’s unfortunate that it has to be an issue, but it IS an issue. And everyone, I would hope, can understand why that is what it is, but like I said, the long term effect will be losing a little bit of the fan base. I’m not sure they all understand the intricacies of a lock out versus a strike, and how it’s different. A lot of the time all they think is that it’s the players wanting more money. And that’s not the case in the lock out. We would hope that the people would be educated enough in the process that they may not hold it against the players individually, and so on and so forth. But like I said everyone loses, and we’ve just got to hope we can come to some middle ground here soon. Shane: I certainly hope so. If it ever came down to it, would you consider being a replacement player, if they had what the call SCAB type games? Dan: Oh, NO. See, that’s the power of a union. Uh, in order to be a powerful union, as we are right now, as players, you have to stick together. Now you may not have every single player that agrees with the situation, you know what I’m saying, but you DO realize the importance of a union, so you have to stick together. Whatever our union says, whatever we vote on in the union, that’s what we do. That’s why we stick together. So, no, because I’m part of that union. I would never cross the line against them. Shane: Ok, good. I have to agree with you on that. I’m going out on a limb here, but would you care to speculate on when we can see NHL hockey again? Dan: As an optimist, I would hope that maybe we could see it this year in, maybe late December or January. The only reason I pick that time is because, that, I believe, is when most of the pressure will come down on both sides. Because, I’m not sure on the logistics of it all, but I think at some point in early January, it’s yes or no on a season. I think the closer we come to that pressure, and that date, hopefully the more these meetings will come about, and they’ll talk, and hopefully the pressure of not having a season will propel them into coming together on some middle ground. Shane: There has been a lot of speculation amongst fans, which is not really the best source for any information, it’s a lot of tempered opinions, but some have suggested that there are too many teams in the league, and in some certain areas, I won’t mention names, maybe some of them should be dissolved. Do you feel there are any teams that could go away without being detrimental to the sport, or do you feel that it should continue growing? Dan: Well, it’s kind of tough to say. But also, you have to look at the dynamic of that particular team. Like the owner, and how much money, and……every city is different. So, yeah, some cities don’t quite follow hockey as much, and some are die hards. But knowing that, and obviously being a businessman as an owner, you allow yourself to spend what you can afford. And so, um…..it’s unfortunate, but if you look at a team like Minnesota. Now Minnesota makes plenty of money because they sell out every night. But they can win as a team that doesn’t spend a lot of money because they follow a certain system. They play a certain style. Now you don’t want to see teams have to follow that suit because they can’t afford it, or because of that…..It’s kind of hard to say that maybe we’ve over expanded, or maybe not, because there certainly are the players for it. The league, the level of play hasn’t decreased, and I guess if you’re an optimist, you would hope that these cities would…..because we feel, as a hockey player, you have to feel that….it’s more, it’s not a TV game. You try and make it as much as you can, but it’s more of a game you can appreciate when you’re live. When you’re there at the game. Once you have seen it, and know the sport well enough, then you can watch it on TV and follow it pretty well. But it’s not an easy game to sell on TV because it’s so fast moving, so hard hitting. When you are sitting in your living room you don’t quite get the same effect. And so I think what happens is you bring hockey to these cities that you feel will sell to the human being that will go to these games, but a lot of times these people just never end up going. And so, they might see the local team on TV, and be confused, or not able to follow the puck, or for whatever reason. And so, I think what happens is that the league thinks that the more people that go to a game, the more will come back, and in some cities it just never catches on, because they just never go. Shane: That’s well said, and what I’ve thought for quite a while, personally. I’m down to my last question, on the record; I have a couple for off the record for when we’re done. I would like to, before we get to the last question, thank you again for doing this, and be entertainment for our guests. They have waited quite a while for this, and they’ve been through a lot while waiting for it. It means a lot to me that you took the time to do it. Dan: Oh of course, any time. Shane: Recently I was watching some highlights of the 2001 Cup run. I’ve been watching a lot of hockey videos because, well, there is nothing else to watch. In game 2, you had an amazing assist on a Chris Drury goal. In game 3 I think you had the game-winning goal. They were amazing plays, that’s basically what I am getting at. I am wondering if there is a particular play or a particular game, in your NHL career, that stands out as the most memorable to you? Dan: Uh well, there’s probably two that stand out the most. And the one I think you are talking about….the Nieminen pass…is that the one you are talking about. Are you talking about against St Louis? Shane: Uh, no it was against… Dan: Oh Jersey, you’re talking about Jersey right? Shane: Yeah. Dan: The goal against Jersey probably was the most memorable, because it was the Stanley Cup playoff run, and with the Ray Bourque thing and everything. You know when I think back on the whole series, and the whole run, and the whole season really, it’s unbelievable to sit back and think about. Because a lot of things just went really right that year. Umm, but my most memorable game, I would say, had to have been game 7 in that series against Jersey. Because I was sitting there, and I was, for whatever reason, I had played well in the series, and game 7 comes. I’ve got my family in town, and it’s you win the Cup or you don’t. Tonight. And I was on the starting line up. You’re sitting there, you go through warm up, and coach (Bob Hartley) comes in and says “Ok, Joe Sakic, Alex Tanguay, Dan Hinote, Ray Bourque, and Rob Blake.” And I was like “Hoooly Shit”. I’m sitting on that blue line, next to those four guys, of course five, if you count Patty (Patrick Roy). Those five guys, the national anthem is going on, and all I can think about is…you know what I mean like this is what it all comes down to. One game. And I’m on the blue line with these guys. And Ray Bourque’s life can go one way or the other tonight. You know what I mean? Not that he would measure his life based on winning the Stanley Cup or not. But as a fan of sports, there is, there tends to be a difference between a man who has won a championship, versus a man who has spent all those years and hasn’t won a championship. Shane: Absolutely. Dan: And, him, being the man that he was, and the defenseman that he was, it weighed on my mind, that I didn’t want to make a mistake in game 7 against New Jersey, that would cost Ray Bourque from winning his championship. Obviously there are other guys involved. Don’t get me wrong. Everybody…EVERYBODY….you wanted to win for every single player in the organization. No question. But, there was a lot to be measured, you know, for HIM, in this one game. There is a lot of pressure that goes with that game by itself, but also the pressure that I put on myself, because I wanted to help Ray win his Cup, you know, when he was there. You know what I mean? Shane: Right. Dan: So that will always be my…..I can’t imagine a more memorable game than that happening, but I guess if it does I’ll be lucky. Right now that is my most memorable. Shane: I can’t remember who said it, but one of the better quotes I’ve heard that really summed that night up was that they didn’t want to be the person winning the Cup for Ray Bourque, but rather the person winning the Cup with Ray Bourque. Dan: Yeah, exactly. Last edited by Shane; November 28th, 2004 at 07:13 PM.