Jason Linkes: Welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Back Checking the Bolts is your cup of coffee to get you the latest on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Join hosts Jason Lincoln and the managing editor of Raw Charge, Justin Godfrey, as they break down the Lightning's most recent games and go beyond the highlights, telling you what the box scores didn't. It's time to drop the puck. Hi, everybody, and welcome to Back Checking the Bolts. Today we are talking to an inaugural member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, defenseman Peter Taglianetti. Peter Taglianetti joined the Lightning after being selected in the expansion draft from the Pittsburgh Penguins. We're going to talk to Peter about playing at the Expo Hall, coming to a brand new city that had never experienced hockey before, and also his experiences with Phil Esposito. We're also going to dig a little bit deeper. We're going to start at the beginning of his career at Providence College, where he played for Lou Lamarello. And for those of you who don't know who Lou Lamarello is, Lou Lamarello is probably one of the most successful executives in NHL history, primarily with the New Jersey Devils. He's a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Then we're going to talk about his journey from Winnipeg, Minnesota to Pittsburgh to Tampa, and We're going to talk about the Yokazuna Body Slam Challenge. Peter has some great stories. We hope you enjoyed the interview. Sit back, relax, and enjoy it. Here on Back Checking the Bolts, we have an opportunity to talk to an original member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion. He is Peter Taglianetti. Peter, thank you so much for joining us today. Peter, you came out of Framingham, Massachusetts. How did you get into hockey? So ⁓ not telling my age or anything, but ⁓ I was I was born in nineteen sixty-three and ⁓ I I've remembered ⁓ Framingham is about twenty five minutes west of Boston. ⁓ great I mean, we had we was a big town. We had four high schools in my town. I mean, that's how big it was. And ⁓ but growing up, you know, ⁓ my parents were older than when they had me and they they had no idea about anything. And ⁓ we we lived in this great neighborhood and in nineteen sixty seven Bobby Orr showed up in ⁓ in Boston. And hockey was always big, but all of a sudden it just like boomed and ⁓ in towns in Massachusetts, every town has their own rink basically, or maybe two rinks in it and and you just kinda ⁓ everybody did those things. And so on weekends and or whatnot, I would be the only kid left in the neighborhood that wasn't playing. And so it was you know, I was like six years old at the time. So I was six years old, so it was what, sixty nine, seventy, whatever it was. I was like the only kid that wasn't in the ne in the neighborhood playing hockey and my mum thought I was gonna get in trouble. Like we were it like we were in the suburbs. It was nothing. It was houses in woods and all that kind of stuff. And ⁓ but she always thought I was gonna get in trouble, you know, just being by myself doing something. So ⁓ she called ⁓ the youth hockey program and it was a hundred percent capacity, couldn't get in it, you know, whatever. And so she was a secretary at one point and ⁓ the guy she worked for was the president of the hockey association. So she made a call and He said, Yeah, we'll get him in. So that's how I started. Yeah. Just and literally never been on skates in my life, never did anything. And a and I and I'm I'm not saying this is too my horn, but it w I wasn't one of those kids all of a sudden I got the skates on my ankles went whatever. It it just felt natural. He's good on the ice and had balance. I I could skate. I could I it's like I been on him for years. Were you always a defenseman? Did you start off as a forward? Well if all right, everybody line up on the goal line. Everybody skate backwards. You're a defenseman, you're a defenseman, you're a defenseman. So that that's basically how it was. Yeah. Did you want to be Bobby Orr? ⁓ you know, it was funny. It ⁓ it he was something totally different of ⁓ of a hockey player. ⁓ nobody's ever seen what somebody like him before, and nobody really knew how to take it. ⁓ but he he made a lot of kids play defense. ⁓ but like I said, it was more of a ⁓ all right, you can skate backwards, you're you're you're a defenseman. And the guys who couldn't skate backwards are forwards. So that's that yeah, it's i it's so rudimentary, but that's what it was. So how did you find your way to Providence College? so I c you know, playing hockey, I I mean we had no idea about colleges. We I mean, ⁓ I don't think anybody in my my either one of my family, ⁓ parents' family ⁓ went to college. And as ⁓ I'm not sure if you're familiar with ⁓ hockey night in Boston. so back then hockey night in Boston was it was huge. Going into my junior year, there was a kid who played ⁓ with me, ⁓ his name is Stephen Giotrellis. He went up to s try to play UNH but he never g never got a chance to play there. ⁓ their d their dad was ⁓ pretty connected all over so he g he got into hockey night in Boston and ⁓ and he literally told them, You gotta get put this kid on the t on one of the on this team. So we were in the South we were the South team. And so that's how I got s that's how I got started ⁓ getting noticed. ⁓ we're playing against ⁓ like all the kids who went to BC, B U, you know, all the Harvard I mean it was it was like if I never so I started rattling off all the guys, you know, the Bobby Carpenters of the world and ⁓ you know, they they're they're all they're all from Boston. Anyways, ⁓ And yeah, just started playing and it all of a sudden, ⁓ and what they had back then was they had a college coach coach each one of the teams, and my coach was a guy named Mike Edessa, who who was coach at RPI at the time. And ⁓ so ⁓ I just it just started that way and ⁓ Providence Col never even heard of Providence College before. and so when it started getting that time and our our big rivals in high school was a is a town called Natick. ⁓ It's where Doug Flutie came out of. And so Doug Flote was like Doug Flutie was ⁓ like my rival in baseball. ⁓ and he played football, basketball, and baseball. ⁓ but in baseball he was ⁓ like my rival there. And then in hockey was a kid named Rich Costello. And so it was just a like and back then, ⁓ our our arena probably held like four thousand people and it would sell out like weeks in advance. They were sell p you know sell tickets weeks in advance and and then we played, you know, the there's eighteen games. ⁓ the ninth game is against Natick and the eighteenth game is against Natick, you know, home and away type type thing. And ⁓ it it got it it was it was it was vicious. It's vicious as you can get in in ⁓ in hockey and in the stands and the people were going crazy and th there's a couple of football games there there were riots. I mean there there were the fans started It was a big rivalry. And ⁓ so we yeah, that's and and then all of a sudden like the coaches started because Richie was at the time and all of a sudden it's hey, who's this kid on this other team type thing? And that's how all of a sudden I started getting noticed and and things like that. And ⁓ and then there was a a kid who from Framingham who was ⁓ at Providence at the time, his name is Steve O'Neill, who was the captain of the Providence ⁓ team, ⁓ and started throwing my name out to Lou and ⁓ ⁓ I gotta call I can call him Lou now 'cause I have nothing to do with hockey anymore. Even even up to like years ago, I still if I see him now I'd call him coach. So that that's basically what it comes out to. But anyways, yeah, and so he just started getting noticed and so you started getting, you know, recruited by the BCs, the BUs of the world and things like that. And then I knew that I mean, if I didn't go to college, I was, you know, gonna join the Marines or something like that. And ⁓ but I also knew that ⁓ if I went to Boston College or B U and and be in a classroom with 150 people, I never would have went to class. ⁓ you know, I w I w I would I I wouldn't have. It just wouldn't have done that. But Providence has been. At least you do that going in. Yeah, I knew it, yeah. And I knew it and and Providence. I think the ⁓ there was ⁓ one class that was lecture hall, ⁓ Monday through Thursdays, and then on Friday you broke off into smaller groups. That so that was the biggest class and it broke off to thirty people on Fridays. ⁓ but every everything else was like thirty people in the classroom. And so I knew that ⁓ and then Lamarella would walk around with a notebook sometimes and he'd just walk around campus and he'd see somebody and he'd look at his thing and says, hey, you should just be you gotta be here somewhere. You know, you were supposed and I that's I kind of needed that. I kind of needed that little push to get there. So yeah. But I knew when I went there there was shoot. ⁓ four seniors, two juniors, and two sophomores only as a freshman. That was the only defenseman they brought in that year. So I knew I wasn't gonna play my freshman year, but it kind of gave me a ⁓ you know a a chance to to grow both ⁓ you know mentally and physically we all know Lou Lamarello, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, U.S. Hall of Fame, Providence College Hall of Fame. What was he like to play for? did I ask a loaded question? That's a loaded question. ⁓ I but I would tell you I will tell you this that ⁓ he could be a He could be a real prick. He really could. But he was really good at what he did. We basically had guys from ⁓ Massachusetts, ⁓ Rhode Island, Minnesota, and a couple of kids from Canada. I mean, basically what were we Boston Col you get Boston College, ⁓ they were they're all from Massachusetts. You know, they're ⁓ B U. They they had some guys from Canada, but mostly all Massachusetts guys and things like that. So we had a kind of a ⁓ a hodgepodge of people. but he was ⁓ Like like we were talking before, he was a a a a drill sergeant that if you thought if you were if you were thinking too much, you were losing. You have to re-react and go. You know, you if you start thinking you're you're behind, you know, one of those type things. So he drilled it and drilled in drilled into us of breakouts and penalty killing and this, that, and the other thing. So when you're on the ice, you did not have to think, you just reacted to things. And then that w it was a an eye-opening experience. It was it was really good. It was it was regimented and Yeah, you're in classes in the morning, you you're you're at the ring at one, you practice from two to four. I love that part of it. And ⁓ I mean he treat treated you ⁓ treated everybody the same. ⁓ well I shouldn't say that. he needed he needed some whipping whipping ⁓ boys and I was one of And that was fine. I mean, I could take it, it's not a big deal, but like if there were like I'll give you a perfect example. ⁓ he didn't think we played particularly well one week. ⁓ 'cause back then ⁓ in now they play weekend games, Fridays and Saturdays. back then we could play Tuesday, we could play Thursday, we could play Sunday. I mean it was just ECAC was just you d wherever you ⁓ got the schedule opened up at. And so we didn't play particularly well. And he came in the locker one day and ⁓ he goes, you know, hey Peter, get on the scale ⁓ to weigh me in, right? And I was like two hundred and six pounds. He goes, I want you at two hundred. So he goes, Go put your jogging stuff on. So literally he take me I go out and the concourse around the arena in Snyder Arena, he would put the music on and and make me run for an hour. You know, just ⁓ wow. And it was just it was just a message to send to everybody else, get your acting gear. And that was fine. Not not a big deal, right? And and so I did it and whatever it is. And I I I it was fine because I I I you know, so when I got to the pros real just real quick, if I was ⁓ one ninety eight to like two ⁓ two, I felt great. If I was two ⁓ three I felt sluggish. If I was one ninety seven I felt like I could bounce all over the place. So it was it was just it was it made me realize that my weight is is important. ⁓ another example of what happened we were playing in the the quarterfinals ⁓ of the NCAA against ⁓ I think it was Minnesota Duluth. I'm not a hundred I can't remember. So, anyways, we would practice, they would t pop us on a bus, we were playing at at our home rank, pop us on a bus, go get something to eat, go to the hotel, and then, you know, whatever. So we finished practicing and it was great and and ⁓ so I I lined up like ten, fifteen pucks at the blue line. I was gonna take some shots on net and whatever. And there was a ⁓ one of one of my roommates, Tim Army, his name was, ⁓ in front of the net, just like like practicing roofing the puck from like five feet away, like roofing it, roofing it, roofing it. And so he comes by and he goes, All right, Pete go off the i Yeah, I'm just gonna shoot these pucks and I'm gonna get off. And he goes, he skates away. He goes and I'm waiting for Tim to finish his stuff and whatever it is. And he goes by, he says, I told you get off to yeah. He Yeah, I'm just waiting for I said, Fucking Tim won't get out of the way. You know, he goes He goes, Get off the get off the F and Ice now. So I was like, so I skated like like ten feet and it was a puck and I fired it around the boards and behind the other net on the far end was a was my other roommate. His name was Paul Gay, his G U A Y his name wasn't and this kid was a stud. I mean he was you know, six one, his chest out to hit. I he was I mean you could skate I mean he was really good. He made he was in the eighty four Olympic team. And so he was behind the net and a puck goes whipping around and hits him right in the ankle and he falls. Like I like, ⁓ fuck. You know, like he broke a ankle. So so I I so I go out I storm off the ice, go down and get in the locker room and and I'm putting my stuff away and all of a sudden that door comes flying open and it's banging everywhere and he comes in, he's screaming at me, get in my fucking room now. You know, so I go to the coach's room and the k all the guys running out to hear him. He's fucking he's screaming at me, screaming at me. And so anyways, he lets me go. And so, all right, go get Changet Shower. We're gonna end the bus. So back then he had a a ⁓ a dealer car, a dealership car you know has has a fryer on it and the whole nine yards and blah blah blah. And he's gonna drive to the restaurant. So He comes and if you you ever seen him, he kind of waddles, he comes waddled out of the thing and you know he he has a trench coat on and you know, and he comes he walks on the bus, he goes he he goes, Peter, get off the bus. I'm like, ⁓ So I get off the bus, he goes, Get in the car. So I have to drive with him to the restaurant and all the guys. ⁓ jeez. I mean, and and Lu and he I mean, he was like he had these scary eyes, you know, whatever it was, and he and didn't say a word. The whole weight of the thing. Did it say a word? And back then like I don't know. I was I was scared. I was scared killless. I wasn't doing anything. And he so I'm sitting there and we're we're getting to the rest we're pulling into the restaurant and ⁓ he turned so back then, like like literally even his best friends never called him Lou, never called him Mr. Limerold, either called him double L or Coach. And so and everybody I mean it was so anyways, we're in the we're in the car getting there and goes, all listen. Here's what's gonna happen. At some point in the meal, you're gonna turn to me and call me by my first name and ask me a dumb question. So I was like, shit. It's all right. All right. So we go in, they're eating, you know, whatever it is, and it's kind of quiet. And I turn around and go, Hey Lou, what's for fucking dessert? But it it it It broke the tension, you know, just like ⁓ whatever. So he planned he planned everything. And it was a s it was that is it was actually hysterical, I think about it and ⁓ and it was fine. I mean like I said, it just broke the tension of him screaming at me, just laughing, joking around. But yeah, that was but so that's the type of guy he was. He he he tried he controlled everything, good or bad. He he tried to control it and make it so you th there was nothing that you there was no obstacles in front of you. There's no reason for anybody to be uptight. No up no reason for anybody to be scared. but he was one of those coaches that like, all right, you make a mistake, he he he talks about it, and you make a mistake, he don't don't do that again, you know, make the third time, like, all right, listen, this is it. And you make a fourth time, you don't play. I mean, so he he wasn't ⁓ disciplinary in that way, but he he was a teacher, he he thought about it. and then when he got to the Pros, he like you talked to anybody who's ever played with played for him when he was a GM of the ⁓ of the Devils, they they said they loved him because he he he understood, he knew, but he he carried a big stick that you he wasn't gonna put up with anybody's crap and and and they they won cups with him. So you got drafted by Winnipeg, correct, in eighty three? Yes. So you're still at Providence, and this is where hockey's different than some other sports where you can be under someone's rights but still play somewhere else. baseball, you get drafted, you sign, you're you're playing with the team. When you are at Providence, does Winnipeg have any say in your development? Do they do they talk to you at all while you're there? You're not allowed to talk to me. ⁓ but they they I from what I understand, they give money. So you get drafted, you're in college, I they give you a couple they give the school a couple thousand dollars a year to, you know, for ⁓ training, I guess. I I I I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, but I heard that. but no I never never never talked to ⁓ ⁓ so I got drafted. ⁓ so after my sophomore year I got drafted. and the only time I talked to anybody, ⁓ Winnipeg was playing at Ba in Boston and John Ferguson was the GM of the Winnipeg Jets and they came to Providence to watch a game. I forgot who we were playing at the time. And ⁓ after the game, ⁓ Lemarello came. ⁓ so no who Well, Steve Sterling. So Steve Sterling came in and ⁓ he said, Hey, you know, come out the hallway and went to the hallway and was John Ferguson and the assistant coaches of the team and the head coach of the team, ⁓ was Barry Long at the time. And ⁓ Fergie was just ⁓ Fergie was ⁓ I love to wait as soon as you as soon as you're done with your season, I'm gonna turn you pro. And I said, Okay, that's fine, whatever. It's it's it's how different it is. This is how different it is. You know, so so I get drafted, ⁓ obviously in the June draft, whatever it was, and ⁓ I went I I had a landscaping job. So I was landscape I was at I was working for a landscaper and and I had I had no idea, you know, my my ⁓ they called my house ⁓ after I got after the draft and ⁓ well during the draft and s you know, it was ⁓ Joe Yonetti ⁓ was the ⁓ was the scout in in in Boston and ⁓ he called my house and ⁓ wanted to talk to me and my mom said, ⁓ he's working. And Well, this is Joe Yannetti, you know, Winnipeg Jets, we just drafted Peter, you know, blah, blah, blah. And ⁓ here's a phone of him call And I was like, all right. So I I I didn't get home till like six o'clock at night, or whatever it was. You know, I called them and say, Hey, yeah, yeah, we just dropped you. It's all great. Yeah, I had no idea what that meant, you know, whatever the case is. And and and that was the way it was. It did you know, unless you were first overall, it wasn't that big of a deal, you know, or second, you know, I was drafted the forty f ⁓ forty third overall. I was a first person taken in the third round. ⁓ which is a big deal. The third round is a big deal. And and in back then, if you looked at all the if you looked at all the ⁓ the NHL rosters back then, yeah, there were some first rounders on there, but their the whole team was loaded with second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth rounders. I mean, that's basically, you know, they weren't good enough to be drafted in the first round, but they were players and they realized, you know, the so if you looked it was fine, you know, big deal. ⁓ yeah, but it was like and so when they told me after that one game that ⁓ yeah, they got we're gonna turn you pro it's like all right, whatever. I had no idea about that. And So Lamarello was there because he was the A D at the time. Lamarello calls and says I just negotiated n negotiated a contract for you. You you're gonna sign one. It's ⁓ shit, all right. I I had no saying what he told me. He says, All right, go down the rink, pack your stuff, I'll drive you into Boston tonight and I'll get you on a plane tomorrow morning to and I gotta meet Winnipeg and ⁓ they had two games left in the regular season. The First second to last game was against Edmonton in Edmonton and the last game was against Calgary and they had like four or five days off and so they were in Banff, Alberta, which is right between them two, right the two, right? So he gets me to the airport, I I get on a flight, I mean pfft, I have no idea what I'm doing. I they fly me into Calgary, and then one of the the st the assistant ⁓ equipment guys, ⁓ pick me up and I drive to Banff. I I'm literally this is just like like no idea what the hell's going on. So beautiful area, by the way. ⁓ it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. So I I get to the hotel and nobody's around. They're they're at practice. And ⁓ so I'm just sitting in my room and I'm like, all right. I got obviously I got a roommate and you know the bags are here, whatever. So I I'm sitting there, sitting there and all of sudden this guy walks in. And it happened to be Randy Carlisle. And ⁓ so he was my roommate and Him and I became really, really, really good friends. And ⁓ and so we're sitting there and and he's just asked, go and we're just talking, blah, blah, blah. And I and I made the biggest mistake in my life because he has never let me down let me live it down. The goal magazines they were and they had a poster in the middle of it and it was Randy Carlisle and I had it up my my my college room. And ⁓ and I made the mistake of telling him that. And fuck he has never let me live it down. And ⁓ so I practiced for a couple of days. ⁓ and then we had to go to Edmonton. ⁓ so they didn't ha they didn't I didn't play in that game. ⁓ I was up in the stands watching and it was just like a blur, everything was happening. So we had to go down and play Calgary and then we had to open up back in Edmonton for the playoffs. So we're we're there for both those games and then go back up to Edmonton for the playoffs. And so all right, I'm dressing and ⁓ and and do you ever did you ever meet John Ferguson, the the father? I did not know. ⁓ he was a great guy, but one of the ultimate scariest dudes you ever want to met in your life. I mean, he he had mitts on him. Like they are like like his fingers are like this big and he has these big paws. He was a Montreal Canadian's tough guy for I mean he was he was a bad dude. And ⁓ and he was no nonsense and ⁓ and he wanted physical play. He wanted all this stuff. So anyways, my very first shift of the ice ⁓ so in the old Cal the Calgary Saddle dome, the benches are on one side, right? And so our bench is here, their benches there and So my first shift on the ice, they had a guy named Hawken Lube, ⁓ the little Swedish. ⁓ the forward. Yeah. Yeah. He could yeah. So it was probably like four minutes into the game, whatever it was, and ⁓ the he comes down on my side and he just gets over the blue line and he stops like he's gonna make a pass and they call an offside. So well, I it was like four seconds later. I went up and hit him anyway. Boom. knocked him like headfirst into the boards, like f face on. It was face on. I just hit him, he went backwards. And I'm against the boards. And you can just see their whole bench like jump because they they got to start the playoffs. And they don't want their star player. You know, so they're so it was a bench clearing brawl, my very first shift on the ice. ⁓ my God. And and and you know And and you don't fight. You don't fight in college. You know, and I I think I maybe gotten one fight on the ice, like in a summer league or something like that. But it was more of r whatever it was. And these guys came out and they had Calgary had a massive team back then. I think that was the year they won the cup. they but anyway, they I think they went to the cup in eighty six and lost to Montreal. Maybe that okay. Then then they wanted to follow eighty seven or something. Yeah. And they were just like they had they had big huge guys and they just came flying, you know, whatever. And it's like, ⁓ shit. So anyways, so later on in the game, ⁓ the second period this guy named N Eddie Beers, his name is. And he came across a blue line and I came I I came across to hit him and I just got a beast of his shoulder. I missed him, but I mean I ran him. I mean I basically ran him. And play continues and he just jumps me from behind and st like starts like yo, you fucking rookie, you know, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you know what? ⁓ shit. So, anyways, and I I say this to kids all the time, ⁓ and and and ⁓ let me finish the story and I'll tell you the my analogy to this. And so, anyways, after the game, Furrier comes in and he is like ha He grabs me, goes, This is what I want on this team. And yeah, this is you know, this is yeah, blah, blah, blah, but whatever. So I tell kids all the time, you have to find a niche. You have to find a niche. And once you find that niche, exploit it. Then you'll get noticed. And so I got noticed. So I'm I'm in his head now. I know I'm in Fergie's head. And I I would so actually on a good side of him. So the very first game in Edmonton for the playoffs, I'm playing. Now I'm like, wow. Holy crap. You know, so anyways, my first shift on the ice. I'm killing a penalty in our end. I look up, it's Gresky, Messier, Anderson, Coffee, and Curry. Those are the five guys in their power play. Holy hell. What the hell is going on here? So the puck drops, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I get it. I fire it down the ice and I made a beeline for the bench. And I'm going, I'm hyperventilating going, and my whole first shift in the playoffs was like like it nine seconds long. And it was just it was just it was just funny. But anyways, it then it all started from there. So anyways, ⁓ ended up we we ended up losing to Edmonton that year. And then ⁓ so the following year in training camp, ⁓ I ⁓ we're in training camp and there was a guy in our team, ⁓ Perry Turnbull, his name is. We call him Mad Dog. And ⁓ And I didn't I mean, we're in a inner squad scrimmage and blah, blah, blah. And we get kind of jostled together and whatever and and he starts gating away and he looks back and I thought he was challenging me. So I just dropped my gloves. And so he comes back and I he's a fighter. He like he he was we played in the Portland Winterhawks. He's the port the Portland Cement Company, we called him, you know, the cement company. And so he was just a great guy, great guy. And blah, blah, blah, we're fighting and and I and I dislocated my shoulder in college and ⁓ I never got it repaired. And I threw a punch and my shoulder just came right out of its socket. And so just sitting and he's like, whap, whap, whap. You know, so I couldn't even do anything, you know, whatever. So, anyways, that that was it. Anyways, so I didn't they sent me down to the miners and ⁓ that year. And so and I'll tell you, one of the things that Lou got me ⁓ ready for, when he was talking to you, he looked you right in the eye. And he didn't blink, he didn't do anything, he told you exactly what was going on and you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you found yourself really like like ⁓ like looking away, like you don't wanna you don't wanna stare at him, you know, or or like he'd call you in his office and and you say something like, So how's things going? And he just stare at you. And within like twenty seconds you're like, All right, I was out the other night, you went out drinking the other night, you and you start you just start flabbing a little bit like shit. I I I'd be a horrible If I was ever captured somewhere, I like I I'd be like ri ⁓ telling him everything. So he got he got me used to ask me a question, I'll tell you the answer. You know, I'm not intimidated by you one of those type things. So I get into ⁓ they call me in the office at the end of training camp and he goes and with John Ferguson and ⁓ and Fergie's like looking at his drawers, talking to me, like he's not looking me in the eye. So now I I'm staring right at him, you know, and and he says, Yeah, you know, we're ⁓ we're gonna We're gonna send you down and you know, blah, and and I said, Is there, you know, basically, you know, what did I do? You know, whatever it was. And it somebody behind me spoke up and he said, Well, we wanted you to practice coming around the ⁓ coming around the net and firing it off the glass and getting it out of the zone. And I turned I went and he goes, That's ⁓ that's Mike Smith. He's he's our assistant general manager. And I said, What? You want me to You want me to just fire the puck out of the zone? I was taught to make passes, you know, like just ⁓ stick to stick pass. The last resort is getting, you know, whatever it was. And he says, Well, you know, we and and that was their that was the excuse they gave me to send me down. But anyways, so all right. So Winnipeg and Montreal shared a farm team in Sherbrooke, Quebec. So half the team is Montreal, half the team is ⁓ Winnipeg. So I get down there and there's like nine college guys down there. A lot of guys from Mont like Boston College, ⁓ North Dakota, Wisconsin, they're they're all Minnesota guys. Then it was like Randy Busick from Northeastern. who else was there? but I would get called up all the time. I mean, I'd literally be down there for a week, get called up for five days, get sent back down, get called up, sent back down, get called back up and and finally at the end like Christmas time, I was up there the whole whole year. That summer, ⁓ I want to get my shoulder repaired. So they were as soon as the season ended, they did it and went back to Providence, rehabbed it there, did everything. Boom, it was strong as an ox. ⁓ I was in the best shape of my life and blah, blah, blah. And so I get called, ⁓ we go to camp and they're gonna send me down again. And I'm like, okay. And I gave myself three years. ⁓ I I did when I started, I said, if I don't make it in three years, I'm I'm out of I'm I'll I I they I think I put my applic I put my application in for the FBI. ⁓ when I was in col when I was as soon as get out of college and they I said just hold on to it for a while or whatever it is. And so, anyways, he ⁓ so they sent me down, but but one of the caveat was is that they're paying for everything. And so I was making X in the NHL, X in the minors, but what they did was they put myself in this kid named Tom Martin. ⁓ I don't know if you ever heard the story about Tom Busy Martin. He got tri he got traded for a bus in junior hockey. You ever heard that guy? Was it a new bus or an old one? Well, I'll tell I'll tell the story. It's it's start it's what he's one of the greatest guys I've ever met in my life, Tommy Bussy Martin. And ⁓ so anyways, so they put us in a three bedroom apartment and they're paying for it. And that the third bedroom was four. If they did send anybody down, they would stay at that that third thing. So we had no expenses at all. And ⁓ since Montreal technically owned a farm team, Sherwood Sticks was in ⁓ Sherberg, Quebec. I had the best of both worlds. And then ⁓ I got call I I I played more my first year in the pro in the NHL than I did my second year, but I was up I was up there a lot. Back then they would bring guys up and they'd sit on your bench and not play. If you don't play you don't get any credit for the game. So like I would sit I probably sat for maybe thirty, thirty five games all playing a shift. And it was just it was just really just really strange how they they the their thought process was. Anyway, so Then the s my ⁓ going in my third year, I made the team and and that was it. Yeah. So you'd mentioned Randy Carlisle. Yeah. I mean, Norris trophy winner, spent a lot of time in the league. What kind of a mentor was he for you? no nonsense. Like I shouldn't say that. A lot of nonsense, l but no nonsense on the ice. It's like if you ⁓ like he would call you out, he would call everybody out. I mean, he called Del Howerchuk out all the time. ⁓ we had some really good players. We had Dale Harchak, Thomas Steen, ⁓ guy named Lori Boshman, ⁓ da ⁓ Frederick Olson, Tebo Newman we had some really talented players. And ⁓ and he wouldn't let anybody get with anything. I mean, he was on top of it like the whole time. And it was it was fine. I mean good but off the ice we had we had he was just a good guy. He he made sure everybody stayed together. We did things together. somebody bought a house. ⁓ We would ⁓ the whole team would show up at the person's house and sod the lawn and have pizzas and beers and all that kind of stuff. And ⁓ if somebody you know ⁓ if if somebody had a wanted to have a party, everybody had to show up at the party. I mean, it just it was he was ⁓ he was ⁓ a perfect place for a young team and a young young bunch of guys to have as their leader. And ⁓ and he was he was tough. I mean as far as I mean, he he didn't back down from anybody. ⁓ he scored fifteen to twenty goals a year. ⁓ ⁓ he was just a solid, solid, solid defenseman. Really but a great guy. He mentored a lot of guys that gave them ⁓ the psyche to not get overwhelmed. ⁓ don't get too high, don't get too low, just do your job and we'll figure all this stuff out. You spent a few years in Winnipeg, a brief time in Minnesota, and then you got traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And all of a sudden you're in a lineup with Mario, Yarbirger, Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Brian Traccier, I'm Hall of Famers. Yeah all along. Crazy. What was your thought when you got traded? And what surprised you about those guys? Well, ⁓ I go back to the so Winnipeg. So ⁓ going in that last year in ninety, ⁓ they traded for Phil Houseley. Okay. And so They had their four big defensemen, which were ⁓ Phil Housley, Dave Ellett, ⁓ Frederick Olsen and Teppo Newman who was a big four. And then Randy Kylo will be the fifth. And then they had a kid named Sean Cronin. Remember Sean Cronin the Barbarian? Yep. So so he was the he was the the tough guy, but he was a defenseman. So he those are the s those are the six that they wanted and 'cause they needed to address ⁓ Sean Cronin all the time. And so ⁓ Mike Smith who was a g who was a GM at that time, which with him and I got along great. I mean, he's actually a really good he was a really good guy. I get to know him really I'll tell you a couple stories about him. ⁓ but anyways, ⁓ he called me in and he says, you know, this is what this is our plan is and ⁓ we're going to ⁓ we're gonna try to we're gonna trade you. And he said, okay. I said, but do me a favor, if ⁓ if you're gonna trade me in the in in Canada, I'd rather stay here and be the seventh defenseman than go somewhere else in Canada. But if you trade me in the States, fine, no big deal. So he said, okay. And we had a ⁓ an exhibition game that night and ⁓ and so I didn't go to the I go to the game, but I told everybody, went down the locker room and said, Listen, after the game, ⁓ you know, come over, ⁓ we're gonna have a party and you know, whatever it is. And so later on that night they called and said you could trade in Minnesota. And I said, All right, great, Minnesota. I have a lot of buddies in Minnesota, it'd be a really cool place to go. And ⁓ so all the guys came over and so when you when you travel across the border, anything that's unopen, like booze wise, you can you can take, but if it's open you can't. So they so we I had this bar in my basement and they opened every bottle just so I couldn't take with them. Like like real expensive wines and stuff. I didn't you know just stuff like that. So anyways we ⁓ so I get I get traded. ⁓ so I go down there and ⁓ Minnesota. So Bobby Clark was the general manager. ⁓ Bob Gainey was the head coach. Doug Jarvis was assistant coach ⁓ ⁓ Bob ⁓ Andy Murray was an assistant coach. And we went from having like fun, like on the ice, like enjoyed, loved going to the ring, loved going to the ring, to hating going to the ring. They were miserable. They didn't want you smiling. They they didn't want, you know, no joking around, no none of this stuff. And they they literally, it was horrible. Absolutely horrible. And ⁓ and and it it it showed there was only like like 7,000 people at every game. You know, it was just Just really r really, really bad situation. And it got to the point where I mean, I I was, you know I'd I I knocked on a pass in a in a in a play and I would say something like, ⁓ you know, whatever, joke around and they would scream at me, you know, it's like you just and it was it was just mi you get to the rink and you're just miserable the whole time. So ⁓ so I'll so maybe I played like maybe I I don't know, twenty like fifteen games or something like that and all of a sudden I'm not playing, you know, whatever and and it it's it's a personal it was a personality thing. And and I admit it and ⁓ so we ⁓ so ⁓ I'm playing that night. I I got ⁓ I'm gonna dress, I'm gonna play, and I go home to eat ⁓ pregame meal and it's probably like twelve o'clock and the phone rings and it's Bobby Clark and he goes And if you ever met Bobby Clark, but he's like beat At ⁓ Bobby Clock. We traded you to Pittsburgh, Craig Patch's gonna call you. Click. That was the end of the conversation. Wow. And literally five minutes later, Craig calls. He goes, Pete, hey, how you doing? All right, listen, I got you get you y you get a you got a two o'clock flight. You gotta get to the airport. We'll I'll talk to you when you get here. All right. I'll I'll talk to you but boom. Hang up. ⁓ like So well you say I traded you and Larry Murphy for ⁓ Jimmy J Johnson, Chris Delquist. I just take a couple duffel bags, throw everything I could, like suits, everything. And we had three kids at the time. ⁓ I had I had a set of twins that were maybe about a year old and then one was three years old. So it was like Lou so they had just got there maybe two weeks previous from moving from Winnipeg to there. And then we just moved and we gotta move again. So like I'm at the so we got on the phone, got her parents to ⁓ fly into Minnesota. And ⁓ so anyways I Literally it's like threw everything in the bag, threw it in the bag, got to the airport. I get there, ⁓ Larry Murphy had just pulled up and ⁓ trainers pulled up with our equipment and then we get the we get in the thing and away we go. And so we're we're on the flight going 'cause we have to play that night in Pittsburgh. So we get to the airport, it was like four thirty quarter I mean five o'clock, and ⁓ one of the assistant coaches, Rick Patterson, ⁓ beats us at the airport. And they give us ⁓ and so there's a police escort getting us down the parkway 'cause ⁓ obviously at that time of night, it you know, sh we get to You're not going many places, it's tons of traffic. Yeah, so we we got there like a little before six o'clock, ⁓ maybe five five thirty, quarter six and Bob Johnson's the coach. And ⁓ so we're in there and ⁓ I just get on get my underwear put on and stuff like that. And hey Bob wants to talk to you and he says, Hey, Hey Pete, good to see ya, you blah blah blah blah blah Hey, can you play the right side with Paul Coffee? He's like, Yes. I said, yeah, that's why I played the right side all you Winnipeg said, Yeah, I'm good. Let's go. So that yeah, that was ⁓ that was the whole thing, yeah. And then ⁓ you know, then it was just ⁓ logistical trying to get the the family there and and ⁓ you know, all that kind of stuff. You know, it was so it was December thirteenth, so it was right before Christmas. Trying to get everybody you know, now we gotta get get a house and get everything, get the kids there and blah, blah, blah. And that was another little story. They ⁓ they put us in touch with the realtor. that there's friends with the team, you know, where they helped everybody. And it was a house for rent in ⁓ in ⁓ squirrel ⁓ not squirrel ⁓ green tree and ⁓ yeah yeah you rent this house and we're good that's how we get everything in there and so I'm on a road trip. ⁓ we have to go out to LA. So ⁓ the the family's there and ⁓ We're in LA and the phone rings at It's like two o'clock in the morning. The phone rings in the at the hotel. And my wife's the wife at the time was on and says, ⁓ hey, there's people walking around the house. I'm going, What? They said, Well, call the police. So she ends up calling the police and ⁓ the cops come and says, You know, what are you doing here? And she's explaining and she says, You know whose host this is? And she goes, No, we just we rented it and it's like that. Turns out it was a drug dealer that ripped off other drug dealers and the other drug dealers coming look for guy. Yeah. So Paul I called Paul Martha and explained the situation. He goes, All right, I'll call you right back. So we called Youngstown with the Debartlows. So he he calls back and says, All right, listen, don't worry about it. I said, Nobody's gonna go near that house. I said, Are you sure? He said, Yeah, but just do us a favor, try to find, you know, we'll we'll help we'll try to find another place for you. And we ended up buying a house at that time to to get out of there. So yeah, it was just crazy. Yeah, that that call up the Youngstown to the Debartal's, ⁓ all of a sudden that silence thing. I've done a lot of business in Youngstown. I sort of know the gist. So that was yeah, that was so that so getting traded, so my my time in Minnesota was horrible. Horrible. And ⁓ and it's funny that we ended up, you know, playing them in the finals, which, ⁓ granted, good for good for them, they actually th they barely made the playoffs and then went through that run and we got it all the way the finals. But there was a lot of guys that I was ⁓ that I was friends with on the team that that weren't playing at that during the the finals and you know and I see them after the game and they're going, ⁓ my god, thank God you're out of here, you know, this is just this, you know, it was just it was just horrible. And ⁓ yeah, and then we do we smoked ⁓ what was it like playing with Mario, Yager, Coffee, Francis, Mullen, Traccier? And then you got traded with Larry Murphy, another Hall of Famer. What was it like playing with those guys? What did you see in their in their in their game that made them special? ⁓ God. ⁓ well each I know that's a loaded question. Yeah, each one each one is different, you know. ⁓ Mario. Mario can do what he wanted, when he wanted, if he wanted. Nobody could stop him. And ⁓ it when when push came to shove that he had to, you know, do something, he did it. Yarger was million miles an hour and if you blinked, he was burning you big time. Then you have the guys like Joey Mullen, who is like just a very quiet, you know, unassuming guy on the ice, but he was always in the right place at the right time. He scored big goals that, you know, and and I I used to joke with him all the time is that I could sit there and take a take five pucks and f and blast and and to try to get into an opening about this big. And it would hit one of the side, you know, whatever it is. And he'd take a shot and the puck would just kinda like turn and like it looked And squeeze in. It was like Jesus. I mean, it was it it was crazy. Like he scored like goals that were like there's no way you could score that goal. Then you got guys like Trotz and and and then Ronnie Francis, who's a s a superstar in his own right, ⁓ being the second line center. You know, so it's like so our s our line our and then our fourth line center was a guy named Yuri Herdina, who was a ⁓ like a s a star in the Czech national team. I mean he he was a superstar as well in his own right. And so our star it was Mario, ⁓ Ronnie, Brian, Yuri, is our those are three four center Iceman. And then then our then then the unsung guys who ⁓ you know, playing with c but playing with Kough was was different because you never knew where where he was. And you really had to pay attention to ⁓ if he was up the ice or what he was doing and and once you realize that that that's his game, I you can figure it all out. ⁓ but he was another guy that at any given time he could end in rush and and score a goal and I I don't think people gave him enough credit for for his defensive ability because in a regular season, all right, he don't give a shit. But come playoffs, he was blocking shots and doing the things he needed to do to to get that next low. And that's the difference between ⁓ some teams that ⁓ do really well and some teams who don't, is that their leaders put their body out there to to make the plays. And th then we had a we had a group of guys that were like the Troy Loneys and the Bob Aries and ⁓ Randy Gillins of the world who ⁓ were probably some of the ⁓ most underrated guys ⁓ around the league. ⁓ you know, Bob Ary scored, you know, ⁓ fifteen goals a year, ⁓ Randy Gillen scored fifteen goals a year, Borkey would score fifteen goals, Troy Loaney would score fifteen goals. and then we had guys our backups too in that year, first year was Barry Peterson, who was a superstar in his own right. You know, he did he wasn't even playing. He was he was he was ⁓ one of the extra guys and Tony Tante was another guy. I mean we we were loaded, absolutely loaded that year. And then, you know, and then all of a sudden a defense shored up when when they they traded for Ulfi and Grant Jennings and ⁓ you know, Larry Murphy, myself, ⁓ Gary ⁓ Gordy Roberts. ⁓ trying to think of whoever else. But we had we we were loaded. I mean, we we were we were we had depth and loaded up front that we could score we knew we could score at any given time. We we knew it wasn't gonna be we weren't gonna just score one goal a game. And and so that then took the pressure off us from stopping a puck. And then Tommy, Tommy Brassell was ⁓ an unbelievable goaltender. Unbelievable goaltender. He made it so much easier because he could get the puck and fire it out of the zone and and and make it so we didn't have to chase it all the time. And so once that you know when Tommy was hurt we had backups in ⁓ Wendell and ⁓ Frankie and ⁓ yeah we were just loaded. I mean they it was our team was stacked. I mean there's no other way about it. You had a lot of personalities on that team, but I wanted Talk about a story late in the ninety-one season. You guys had already clinched the division, the first the Penguins first ever Patrick division. And I guess Kevin Stevens, I think, had a wager about a goaltender line change. I want to tell everybody about that one. Well, so what happens is during the year we have a ⁓ we had a thing called the ⁓ the fine fund F I N E. And so if ⁓ you got caught with an illegal stick, you know, it was a hundred bucks into the fund. ⁓ you know, I'm from Boston, you know, Kevin's from Boston, Tommy's from Boston. If we're playing the Bruins, like we put a couple hundred bucks up for the game. We win, it goes in the f the fine the fun and stuff like that. And ⁓ you know guys if you get traded like if we were playing the Winnipeg Jets, like, ⁓ hey Pete, they didn't want you. They they shit all up, you know, whatever. And you put a money in you, whatever. So at the end of the year, we would have a substantial amount of money. And that would be our ⁓ the good the end of the year party ⁓ slash If one of the wives had a baby, buy him a gift. ⁓ one of the guy one of the guys that worked in the locker room, a re a retired guy, but he w he worked in the Steelers locker room too for like twenty something years in in our locker room, Frankie Shuly, his name was. His wife passed away and we paid for his ⁓ her the funeral, you know, things like that. That's what we use the money for. And but we're so we're we're a last game of the season and ⁓ Frankie's playing, Wendell's backing up. But there's also other things. ⁓ Randy Gillen had ⁓ a big bonus for fifteen goals. And so he was on every power play. You know, so like wow. Yeah, so yeah, so he got his fifteenth goal. I think ⁓ I think Borke, I think I think Borkey needed ⁓ goal for a bonus. ⁓ and somebody else I mean there if we all knew like everybody 'cause back then there i the ⁓ we finally had salary scores. Everybody knew the the everybody's thing. And ⁓ so I think Kevin I think put a thousand bucks up if If ⁓ Wendell and Frankie would would change on the fly. And so it's climatic square garden, you know, we're down this end and you know, whatever it is. And so nobody knew what was happening. I mean, literally, because watching the play down here, watching the play down here. And all of a sudden, like just a commotion, and and Frankie comes and w and the referees didn't see it, nobody saw it. And all of a sudden you just turn around you see Wendell like skating b like backwards into the net and he's in there and and he stayed in there for like I I think like like maybe like two whistles and then they did it again. Did the coaches catch on? No, nobody knew about it. Yeah, it was just f it was just hysterical. The coaches had no idea what was going on. Because everybody's watching the play. Nobody's paying attention down the other end. Yeah, it was just the you know, just you switched yeah, it was and and like you just look in the score sheet, never nothing changed. Like they didn't they didn't all of a sudden say, you know Wendell's Wendell's net for this amount of time or Frank, you know, whatever. They they nobody nobody had clue. Yeah. When you guys realized what happened on the bench, what was the reaction? ⁓ we're jumping up and down laughing. It was so much fun. Remember, we we had so much fun. The characters we had in a team, no, we had good players. You mentioned Kevin Stevens. ⁓ but at that time, like ⁓ like Mark Reckey, ⁓ you know, it it was just like we were just jovial. I mean, it we there was no Good or a bad. We had it was nothing ever s really serious going on. And and we had more fun and doing stuff like that than ⁓ you know, winning games sometimes. Because it actually just made it so much fun to go to a locker room and and and play. And ⁓ but there was a there was a know, there was a lot of instances during the year that y you just sit there and just laugh, you know, just hysterically laugh about stuff and you're on the bench and everybody goes, What's la what's funny? ⁓ you know, so and so, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, whatever and And we weren't like really paying attention to the game half the time. We were just like you're as soon as your time was up, you get up and played, came back and joked around about something else. Or or hey, you see that drunk guy in the fifth row over there, he just fell down. ⁓ my god, yeah, look at that guy over there, you know, whatever. Stuff like that. Such a departure from Minnesota when you were there. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Like the like I when I walked into the Penguin Locker Room, so I walked in and then so Winnipeg had traded Randy Gillen, Andrew McBain, and Jim Kite to To Pittsburgh at the So I walked in, I knew them right away. I knew Tommy. Tommy Brasso and I ⁓ we're from like three towns over, and he's two years younger than me, but he always played up. So I played with Tommy since we were like in eighth grade. So I knew Tommy since like eighth grade. ⁓ Kevin, I knew from the summer leagues and things like that. So I knew him. I knew Johnny Cullen. Johnny Cullen played at ⁓ at BU. ⁓ who else was there? There was ⁓ I knew Wendell from ⁓ When ⁓ when Rainey Gillinger traded to ⁓ Pittsburgh, then whatever time they came into they came to Minnesota twice a year, I got to make ⁓ so I knew Wendell right away. ⁓ trying to think what else. And Joey I knew Joey 'cause his brother Brian played with me in ⁓ Winnipeg. So I I walked in, I knew everybody. It was like old home week. It really did feel like home. And then they traded for ⁓ Grant Jennings who became a really good friend of mine and and Alfie and Ronnie and Scotty Young and it just made it feel like you're like you were you belonged there. So you win two Stanley Cups. You knew the NHL expansion draft was coming. Did you think that you were going to be heading out of Pittsburgh? ⁓ well, so at the end of that year I had ⁓ back surgery. ⁓ so Craig called me and said, Listen, I'm gonna leave you unprotected. You know, you just had backsridge. I don't think anybody's gonna take you, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I said, All right, well, nothing nothing I can do about it. So come I get picked up ⁓ by Tampa and and put it what I found out after the fact. So when I was in Winnipeg, ⁓ Phil was the general manager of the Rangers. And I've I fought like f three or four guys for the Rangers at the time, you know, dur during those time of things. And And he tried to trade for me when I was in Winnipeg. I know that for a fact. John Ferguson told me, Mike Smith told me before that they tried to trade for me. So once I got ⁓ picked up, ⁓ Phil Phil said, Yeah, yeah, I I tried to get you for a few years and you know, this is what you know this is what we're doing. I I yeah, I'm good. So ⁓ so like I said, I had ⁓ young kids at the time. So they got enough staying in Pittsburgh and I went down and ⁓ I would come up and if I had if I was gonna be in town for like ten days, I'd fly up, get the kids, bring ⁓ down. have a get a sitter, you know, and they and so they would go to the games, ⁓ or practices, I should say, and ⁓ just hang out with the trainers and, you know, we'd you know and then they'd fly them back up and, you know, whatever the case is. ⁓ so yeah, we went down there and and it was basically a bu it was a bunch of and ⁓ casts off like back then because ⁓ back then ⁓ there was ⁓ no salary cap so they just get rid of everybody. You know, that type you know, any tour if you're not making the playoffs to get rid of salaries and things like that. And that was and we all we all understood it. But we had a really good team down there. We we we actually won like thirty games that year. We led the league in one one category, I can't remember what it was. But I had like I was down there and we were we weren't supposed to win any games, so it wasn't any pressure on you to play. ⁓ you just went out and played. And I think that when I got traded that four or five months later I got traded back. I was like I I had a plus minus rating of like a plus eighteen or something like that, which it was like unheard of. On an expansion team, that's unheard of. Yeah. And ⁓ so we so w like I said, we just had We had a we had a lot of fun. Terry Crisp was a coach. Wayne Cashman was assistant coach. ⁓ Phil and Tony, obviously. And then ⁓ like like Ron Duguet was d tried out for our team and he didn't make but he did the broadcast, you know. So we were it was just like a like a bunch of who's who of, you know of Did did he bring in Carol Alt at the time? Yeah, no, it wasn't Carol Alt, it was ⁓ Cheryl Tiggs? No, no, no, no, no. He was married. ⁓ what was the girl's name? ⁓ God, I can't think of it. Yeah, she was she was a supermodel anyways, but yeah. She was down there. It brought you back to just going to play. There was no business involved, just go out and play. And and the hardest part down there was you had transplanted northerners in Florida that would come to the games. And the har ⁓ and then when a team like the Canadians came down to play, a lot of people from, you know, Miami came up to the game 'cause they couldn't get tickets in Montreal or people from Montreal would come down here, we'll make a vacation out of it. We'll go to the game, we'll go to Or Disney, blah, blah, blah. So it was always filled. But the the the arena only held like maybe seven, eight thousand people or nine thousand people, you know, whatever it was. And it was just a barn, you know, whatever the case might be. But the hardest part was getting native Floridians inst interested interested in the game. So they gave they gave up a lot of free tickets for people to come to the game just so they could see what it was like. And then once they got there, it was like Whoa, whoa, whoa. Shit, this fighting? ⁓ my God. And they got hooked. And you can see how over the years the the youth hockey programs from that day on genera I mean, it's huge now. It's huge hockey in Florida. And that that was all part of that being that expansion draft in ninety three. W I remember going to an AHL game. The Kentucky Thoroughblades played in Lexington and I went to their fourth ever game. They were on the penalty kill. They I they clear the puck. And the crowd went dead silent. Were there certain things that happened during the game that you were used to hearing, you're used to seeing that didn't happen because there wasn't much exposure to hockey in Florida at the time? Well, no, 'cause maybe we we had we had the transplants down there, so they understood hockey. They and the then the hardest part of hockey too is watching it on TV. Because it's if you're not used to it, it's hard to follow what the play is and things like it's a lot better now than it was back then. ⁓ But that was the hardest part of ⁓ they broadcast our games and they would have a bad rating because people are like somebody's used to play in very slow methodical sports like football and basketball and baseball. They they couldn't keep up with it. ⁓ but no, th dur what during the games it was it was loud because you you like I said, you'd had a lot of northerners down there. You had the tr they had the people come in from other st other ⁓ cities that could come to watch their team play. there was ⁓ ⁓ they did a good job of they they did a pretty good job of getting getting into the communities to talk about hockey and and things like that. So once I got there and once people like the the native Floridians kinda understood it and that it's very physical sport, it's a very fast sport. You can't not pay attention or you're gonna miss something. And once the hitting started and once a couple of fights started, I mean they they just hooked them. Hooked them l ho ⁓ hook line and sinker. They got ⁓ and And then you see these young kids, so I want to play, I want to do this sport, I want to do this sport, because it was way different than anything I've ever seen. Tell us about playing at Expo Hall. And on our social media, prior to you and I talking, I asked people, I said, What question would you have for Peter? And I would say one out of every two wanted to know what it was like playing in the old Expo Hall at the Florida at the Florida State Fairgrounds. What was that like? Because that's a typical that's a barn. That's not an arena. No, it's it's a barn. There's a rodeo arena and and ⁓ Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey. That's what that that was their headquarters. ⁓ I didn't realize that was their headquarters. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And ⁓ so the the building was actually really big. So their the arena was on one side and they had a curtain down the middle, and on the other side of it they had a giant tent. It was their it was their ⁓ ⁓ suite, you know, the you can go in there and get drinks and eat and you know, do all that kind of stuff. It was actually kinda cool. There was like everybody anybody who was anybody in that Central Florida area was was at that in the inside that tent from ⁓ rock stars to ⁓ I used to hang around with Bobby Bonia, Bobby Bonnie used to come up to all the games 'cause they're down in Braden today used come up to the games. ⁓ but like a lot of the tennis stars were there, you know, the actresses, you know, and so they had ⁓ and part of this is gonna get into one of the things we're gonna talk about later on. ⁓ But anyways, ⁓ it it was it was it so that when they put up a rink now for the outdoor games and things like that, it it is like a a gazillion times better. The ice and things like that. And a lot of this was like synthetic ice and and it was really hard and ⁓ i i and a lot of teams had trouble playing on it because it was such different ice and what they're used to, but we were practicing on it all the time doing these little things. ⁓ but but the funny part was, you know, it well, it's you know. eighty five degrees out and your day of a game, you know, you you're out there you're outside sitting in the sun, taping your sticks and blah blah blah. And and it was it was it was if you weren't ready for it, it was it kind of thore you for the loop. But when the when the circus was in town, when they were there, ⁓ like you could just smell all the h elephant crap and you know all the ho you can hear the you can hear the lions roaring, you know, and it was just like it it was it was it was so funny. And when my kids were down ⁓ the while we're on the ice practicing the one of the trainers, ⁓ John Forrestall would ⁓ take the kids and go look at the all the animals. And he would just do all those things, you know, and whatever and they'd come back and we go and do our thing. But when the fair when the when the state fair was there, that was the challenge. Cause right outside our gate or outdoor was ⁓ all the the food vendors. So it was like the you know the fr fried bread, whatever it's called, ⁓ you know, ⁓ the potato like a like Kennywood potato patch things. Everything was right there. And it was just like the smell was coming right in the locker room in the in the arena and it was like, ⁓ my God. It it was it was crazy. It was it it was th if they did a documentary, people would just like die laughing at some of the stuff that happened. You know, it was it w it was fun though. We but like I said, we had a we had a the a lot of guys I played against that I wasn't ⁓ I'm not too fond of this guy. It turned out to be I really liked this guy. I mean there was some Yeah, we had some we had some really good ⁓ and talented guys that just got disbanded from ⁓ you know, they just weren't part of the next organization. So what was Phil Esposito like? And you had mentioned that he tried to get you when he was with the Rangers, but I mean he's the reason hockey is in Tampa to this day. He's still involved with the broadcast. Tell us about your relationship with Phil and what he's like. Phil is a ⁓ a marketer. He loved I mean that's like Put me in front of camera. I'll I can sell anything type thing. And ⁓ that's what he did. But a as a player, I mean, he was ⁓ I and I I I got to really understand him when I met Eddie when I got to really friends with Eddie Johnston, ⁓ because all those guys are exactly the same. They they would sit there, you wanna talk? What do you want to talk about? I'll talk to I'll tell you anything you want to know, you know, blah, blah, blah. You can ask questions. But when it came time for hockey, like he was like, you all right, listen. We and his big thing was 'cause the San Jose Sharks came in the year before or the year before that. Can't remember. I think it was the year before because they had that agreement with Minnesota where some of their players went to San Jose w because of the Gunn family. Yeah, yeah, the gun yeah, Jordan Gordon George and Gordon Gunn. ⁓ so the year before, I think San Jose won like Something like eighteen games, nineteen, twenty games, something like that, whatever it was. And Phil's whole mentality was we're beating that. We're gonna have the best we're gonna win the most games by an expansion team ever, blah, blah, blah. And that that was his goal. That's what we're gonna do. And I I I I think we won I think we won like twenty eight to thirty games that year. I mean, it was and and that's that's all he cared about. I just I won it on record that I did this. And but off the ice him and his brother Tony, g everything you ever heard about the the players from the sixties and the seventies i is a hundred percent great guys. The f most fun guys, jokes joke about everything, ⁓ tell your stories. ⁓ but they they they cared about you just like everybody else, but they they also knew that that they made you real it's a business and so when I got when I got sent traded back to Pittsburgh It was he goes, listen, it's just business. We're you know, you're making X amount of dollars and you know, we're we're not gonna make the playoffs, obviously, blah, blah, blah. And and so they traded ⁓ a bunch of us away that year. So just to tell us, tell me about the first game. You have the Chicago Blackhawks, who the year before were the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup finals, you had as the Penguin swept them in four games You beat him seven to three. Chris Contos has the four goals, but what was the atmosphere and excitement like before the game and during the game? Crazy. Absolutely crazy. So obviously people from Chicago came down, you know, so everybody's knows whatever they can get tickets, they were there. ⁓ the media, like Dan HL media was there because of his expansion team. Chicago's coming in, you know, so they were all over the place. And Phil and Tony were, I mean, they They were just floating. They they just they're they're hovering around everything. Everything had to be perfect, you know, blah, blah, blah. And we went out and I I I ⁓ we like I said, we had a good team. We we had a we had a really good team, but we absolutely just bombarded them. They couldn't do anything. And and then like Chris Contos had ⁓ had his four goals and they were really good goals. They weren't they weren't like like hit off his helmet and went in the net or anything like that. They were really good goals. ⁓ But I think we outshot him by I think we had like like twenty more shots on net than they did. ⁓ Wendell stood on his head, he he made some great saves, but it it was like they had no idea what hit him. We had no idea w they had no idea what hit him. And I I think if we had beat them three to two or four to three, people around the league would have gone like, ⁓ whatever. You they they got lucky or whatever the case is, or or or ⁓ if they beat us three to two or three to one or four one, they were like, yeah, it's an expansion team, screw them, you know, we don't care really care about them. But I it re I think once they saw the score, people went, Whoa, whoa, this is different. This is a little bit different than the San Jose of the year before and in any other expans like the Washington Capitals, you know, in the in the seventies, you know, that type thing. It was way different. Are you surprised? Were you surprised how quickly Florida took the hockey and then you look at the lightning They won the cup in two thousand four and they've been one of the most successful franchises over the last twenty five years. When you look at conference final appearances, Stanley Cup final appearances, were you a little bit surprised how quickly Florida took the hockey and how successful they've been? No. well there's a couple of reasons for it. No state tax. That's so when when they get free agents, they they realize they're gonna they're gonna make a little bit more money, no state tax. ⁓ gray weather. You know, no no play. Well a little bit better than Winnipeg. Yeah. You can't argue with it. ⁓ but you know what it all has to do with owners. So ⁓ I'm not sure if Vinnick bought the team right after the Japanese or there was somebody in between. There were a couple. There were no that Lenny Berry. That Lenny Berry did that that And then Bill Davidson owned the team in ⁓ four and he was the Pistons owner. Yeah. And then Le and then Len Barry before Vinnick. Yeah, yeah, Len Barry, yeah. So L Len was he was a pitch he was a he was a penguin. He played yeah, and he yep he defrauded all those people. Yeah, yeah. So so but what happens is when you have an owner like Vinnick and he sees the bigger picture, you know, so ⁓ and I I I I I have to go to like I say football is ⁓ what's that Gronki who owns the ⁓ LA Rams. His big picture is he's These guys are all developers. This this is how they make their money developing it. So now they they they're using something as a anchor tenant, which would be the sports team, whatever it is. And but Vinnick went in and he's like, I I am going to transform the city of Tampa. He didn't say I'm gonna transfor trans ⁓ transform the lightning and just by it throw some buildings out. He w he he I'm gonna make Tampa Tampa. And 'cause when I was down there in ninety three, the city was horrible. There was nothing downtown. There was no businesses downtown. A lot of things were sh like it was whatever. And ⁓ And you can see it how it changed. And when Vinnick took over how many years ago, twenty years ago, whatever it was? ⁓ that yeah, that's about you go down there, you go to you go to downtown Tampa around the arena, it is absolutely just built up. Bars, restaurants, shopping, this, that. And that was his vision is I am gonna so now they're only you're getting people interested in being in Tampa, now gonna make them wanna come to hockey games. So I'm gonna spend my money, I'm gonna do these things. And then when you have the good scouts, you know, the the good GMs and things like that, they draft really well, they hand they they they just don't go spend money wildly on people. They get people that fit into their their system and things like that. Then you get a good coach. It it it does not surprise me of w what they have done. ⁓ because of the salary cap error. I you you can only spend X amount of dollars, you know, and you have to make sure that you spend it wisely, or you're gonna fall behind. And You know, one of the things the penguins fell in the trapping is they they ⁓ they you know, with the Crosby Malkin Letang thing and and Gino, I I love Gino. ⁓ I think Gino's one of the greatest players who ever like in he's in the top seventy five players ever played the game. but they they rested on their laurels a little bit and they they maybe, you know, they unfortunately the the first mistake they made, I I think was Mark Andre Flory thing. They did it for the right reason. They did it business wise. That that was their business decision. They figured they can get a the other ⁓ Murray that was gonna be their goalie and you know, blah, blah, blah. And they get ri they can get rid of ⁓ Mark Andre, they did it for the right reasons. They did it the the the wrong goalie. I mean, they should have kept Flurry and and he would have been the stalwart for the next, you know, seven, eight, ten years, or whatever the case may be. And once you go through those runs of the cups and you get those extra games and you're in an extra thirty games a year, you know, and a year in, year out, year in, year out, ⁓ it gets tiresome sometimes. And what Tampa does, you with the with the Steve Stamkos ⁓ the Martin St. Louis and things like that, does they get they realize I can get some return for ⁓ And they did and they got players that they could put into their system and do things and the penguins just kinda did not do that. And that that was and that's the problem with ⁓ the salary cap. I mean, it's a it's a good thing to have a salary cap. The bad thing is that you get your s you you get you might have a long term contract you can't get rid of. We went to our fans and asked asked them, said, Hey, what questions would you ask Peter? So I got three here for you. Taldroff wanted to say What were your original thoughts on having hockey in Florida? You had the Penguins Kings exhibition game in 1990 and there was talk that the ice wasn't suitable for hockey. But when you were with the Pens in 92 and the NHL announced there was going to be expansion hockey, what were your original thoughts about having hockey in Florida? ⁓ didn't really I mean never didn't really think about it, tell you the truth, ⁓ because I called it the circus. ⁓ the Penguins Circus We were all over the country playing exhibition games in Houston, Sacramento. ⁓ we played everywhere. ⁓ and they were driving hockey business in in untapped markets. And so we were all over the place playing. So ⁓ After af w right around that time, I mean when yeah, they have an arena and yeah, they can build ice, but they've never had somebody in ice control like really take a look at it, yeah, we can freeze it and whatever it is. And and so a lot of times it was ⁓ really bad ice type type thing. And what the league did it was they hired somebody full time to do that kind of stuff now. So when somebody when they're gonna have a game, an outdoor game or an expedition game somewhere or somewhere, the the NHL sends somebody there and he monitors how they make the ice, how to do this. So it's totally different then ⁓ than it was back then. Before it was yeah, put water down, turn the pipes on, you know, cool them off, and you know, we'll paint some lines and and and go about it and we'll we'll get eight seventeen thousand people at the game. That that's basically all it was. ⁓ they it's a totally different business now. So ⁓ hockey in Florida, ⁓ why not? You know, there was a lot of minor league teams down in the South at the time ⁓ that was doing very, very well. I mean, obviously the league knew that the there's a lot of transplanted people down south, ⁓ you know, in Texas and in California. ⁓ th they knew they could get the matter who what if they bring in the Boston Bruins, they know they're gonna get a sh a ton of people from Boston going to the game. So they know they're gonna get crowds. And the idea is getting other people interested in the game. So the so to where the game was is is was irrelevant. It's just it was gonna happen. The the expansion was is is too big of a business. Martin Soldie From Argentina actually said looking back at the ninety two, ninety-three season, you had guys like Basil McCrae, Rob Ramage on the team, some guys was who are real tough guys, some big, some big brawlers. How important was having those kind of guys on that team? Did it give you guys a little bit of instant credibility when you went up against other teams unlike the San Jose's when you played against them the year before? Yeah, so ⁓ so well Rob Ramage was not a he wasn't a fighter. He was a tough guy, but he wasn't he wasn't a fighter. But we had Basil McCrae, Mike Hartman, ⁓ Chris La Puma, ⁓ trying to think all the other guys. ⁓ but you but once again, it's ⁓ That was right on the tail end of ⁓ or the beginning of the the non non gunary ⁓ hockey in in the ninety three s you know, that ninety three season. There people realize they they they can't dress a bunch of guys that can't play. You know, so you'd have they'd have one or two guys and then we would have one or two guys or whatever it is. So it wasn't like you had, you know, the old seventy f you know, seventy five ⁓ Philadelphia Flyers where they you know, they had thirteen guys, everyone was just like meatheads. so it was on the tail end of that and ⁓ it yeah, it wasn't ⁓ th that stuff you know, it's funny. It's ⁓ even though it's a part of the game and I and it and it should never have gone never go away from the game, ⁓ it started right around then not happening as much. ⁓ unless you're in the old North division with the you know, the the Blackhawks Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, you know, and then it was and ⁓ the the the old Minnesota North Stars, ⁓ there were just it and it was just the black and blue division. That was like the only division that really did any of that stuff. Final question, Jay McCarthy, do you miss the original Lightning jerseys? Yes. Yeah. I miss all the old all all the old original jerseys from every team. Every team. Even like the Boston Bruins. Like Montreal, they they finally got a third jersey, which I I don't really care for. the Chicago Blackhawks, the the old red, you know, the the away jerseys I used to wear now they wear ⁓ at home. ⁓ yeah, th it it just I I nostalgia wise, I like those the older uniforms, you know, but know, it is, it's marketing, they want to make some money and you know, they want to sell more merchandise and that that's that's their only avenue for do that. Peter, a couple f questions before we we let you go. First of all, in nineteen ninety three, you were involved with the WWF at the time with the Yokazuto Body Slam Challenge. Yeah. Now, for those of you who don't know, Yokazuna's about five bills. He's well over five hundred pounds. How did you get involved with this? Because I know there's a Tampa connection there. Yeah. So All the wrestlers, they lived in Florida. The Tampa area. And so Jimmy Hart, the mouth the mouth of the South, ⁓ loved hockey. I I f I forgot where he's from. I think he's ⁓ I think he lived in the north for a little bit and he got really into hockey, but he had young kids and stuff like that. So he would bring them to the you know, and we got we met him a few few times and he'd come in the locker room and ⁓ like we'd give him you know give the kids ⁓ like the lightning bags with stuff, you know, just whatever. Just became friends with him, you know, and just ⁓ hung out and did all these things and and just it was just a like a really, really cool little friendship of knowing that, you know, hey, that's Jimmy Hart, you know, whatever. And ⁓ so I get traded back to Pittsburgh and ⁓ the phone rings and ⁓ it goes, Pink, ⁓ yeah, this is ⁓ Vince McMahon. Do you think you were getting pranked? Vince McMahon, and he goes, Yeah, yeah, from ⁓ WWF. I'm like, ⁓ you go, Jimmy Hart gave me your phone numbers. ⁓ shit, all right, all right, whatever. He goes, Here's what we're gonna here's what we're doing, and I hope it was maybe you're interested. We're doing this ⁓ on the US aircraft carry intrepid in New York Harbor. We're doing a body slam competition on the fourth of July, and we're getting a couple athletes from each sport. Would you be interested in doing it? At the time my kids were young, they were into wrestling. Shit, yeah, we'll do that. So they flew us into ⁓ they got us into New York, they put us at the the so they're everybody standing at the Waldorf, Ms Astoria. So we get there and there's a reception, we go in and and they're all there. Like all all the people I grew up with, you know, like the the Freddie Blassies of the world, you know, they're they're all there. And they all the all the older guys and then all the younger guys are there that the kids were into, like the Tatanka and the Steiner brothers and all that kind of stuff. And we're just sitting there talking, ⁓ whatever it is. So the next day rolls around, they they send a limo f you we get in the c we go into the the aircraft carrier and we're down we're down underneath the in the deck in in the room and all the guys are in there and and so they start they start wrestling with my kids. Back then cell phones really haven't come out yet, you know, so it's like you don't have can't even get pictures, you know, whatever. We didn't even bring cameras or anything. And they were on the floor wrestling with my kids, you know, they'd you know, the kids were like jumping on ⁓ you know, blah, going crazy. And so and Sean Cronin was ⁓ one of the other hockey was the other hockey player that was there. And then Bill Frelick was there ⁓ from football. There was another football player, I can't remember it was it was a couple of basketball players, a jockey. a jockey. Yeah, yeah. He was ⁓ he actually actually whipped him, you know, whi whipped him with his c ⁓ cro crop. so we're sitting in there and going, like, ⁓ like what am I I mean, and if you look at the picture, I look like I I weigh like eighty pounds next to him. I mean I was just I mean at the time I was like two hundred and ten pounds and and ⁓ So they start going along, going along and working their way down and ⁓ they get to me and I go up there and they do this big announcement and and I'm like, ⁓ god my kids are sitting like kids are sitting there, you know, whatever. And if you watch the video, guy goes, All right, go, whatever. And so I get down and I put my hand underneath him and his ass was so big you couldn't even see my hand off the back side of him. I mean it was basically I was I was basic I was basically cupping him, you know. And so when he did he move at all? Well he so you're standing you're standing like here when he when he when it was finished, he was like back like an inch. Like I basically just blocked him backwards. But yeah, it was but it was, you know, it was i i it was entertaining and I actually I got I got people come up to me all the time and ask me about it. So yeah, it's it's actually kind of funny. What was it like being on the USS Intrepid doing that? That had to have been a cool spot for that. It it was and then ⁓ I mean obviously it was the first time I've been on an aircraft carrier and on the back deck, I mean it was roped off, whatever it was. Nobody I mean, nobody knew what was going on. And all of a sudden you see a like you see a helicopter flying coming in and it lands and Lex Luger comes running out and ⁓ you know, and he's like and they go they go crazy. But before that, Bill Frelick actually picked him up. So wow. So Bill Frelick, when he was in Atlanta playing for the Falcons, he did a lot of stuff with WCW. So that the Ted Turner ⁓ wrestling thing. Ted Turner wrestling. Yeah. So he did a lot of stuff. So he knew all those wrestlers. He knew how to do things. He knew all the maneuvers and stuff like that. So they already had it planned out with him. So w when he got up there, he got up and he and you can see Yogazuna kinda jump up a little bit and Bill held him up for I'm gonna say about four or five seconds. If you ever see the video clip. So he held him up and then he he dropped him down and and then that's when ⁓ Lex Luger comes flying out with his red, white, and blue on and and because he was a bad guy all the way up until that point. Wow. That w that that is cool. That is I mean, that's gotta be something having the wrestlers wrestle with your kids and just yeah. They don't remember any of it because they were so little, but I like I said, if there was a cell phone, I I I would have so many the videos and pictures would be unbelievable. But the funny thing about ⁓ Lex Luger, so he played football at Penn State. I don't know if you knew that. I didn't. Yeah, his name's L Larry Fole, something like that. So when they used to come to the the Civic Arena, John we were with this with our strength coach, who who who's at who's at Penn State when he was there. So he was so he come walking by, we're going, Larry, Larry. And he was like Nobody knew. Peter, a couple f couple more questions. What accomplishment are you most proud of? I actually know what I'm most pro I mean, proud of the winning the cups and stuff like that. I mean and don't get me wrong, it it's the highlight of everybody's everybody's life, you know, the the hockey players' life to do that and then it's ⁓ it's right up there. But I think me proving that I could play in the NHL and staying for extended period of time, is something I'm really, really proud of that ⁓ and and ⁓ and and And I wouldn't change it for the world, even though I had a bad time in Minnesota, you know, and and you know, I was up and down in the minors my first year or two and ⁓ wouldn't wouldn't change anything. I wouldn't change it for the world. ⁓ because I I you you learned a lot, you grew a lot. but but then then then right after that is is being ⁓ and and and I say this to a lot of people all the time. ⁓ I don't care how good you are, ⁓ what connections you have or anything like that, if you're not in the right place at the right time. With the right mentality to find that niche you're supposed to do. Because I played with guys in college that I I sit there, can't miss. This guy's gonna play. This guy's gonna play. Guys, it means there's no way this guy's not gonna play in the NHL for a long time. He got ⁓ they they get on a team that they're not they're they don't change their game at all. They get they kinda do the same thing. ⁓ you know, the the team's stacked with right wingers and they don't have they they don't need anybody, you know, and it got you got caught in this little rut type thing. And I think My my biggest accomplishment is realizing that I I changed I I did what I needed to do and I stay I was able to stay there for a long period of time and and proved a lot of doubters wrong. That's one going back to earlier when you said you found your niche and you found out what kept you in the league. F final question. If you could go back to nineteen ninety two and talk to yourself and say, Hey, you're coming to Tampa Bay, what would you tell yourself? Embrace it. Embrace it. Don't I mean and and I did for to to a point where I got I'm playing, I'm gonna be playing a lot and you know, whatever. And and I ⁓ but embrace the fact that and and and realize that there's always a possibility of you going someplace else after the fact. You're not you're not there to to to end your career. You know just because some team doesn't want you doesn't mean another team doesn't doesn't want you, you know? And I I I think We all went in there thinking, all right, all right, we could be here for a couple of years here and and not realizing the business part of it. Like, all right, yeah, they're gonna they're gonna shed salaries and things like that, you know, or if they get good takers or or they get somebody to trade with, they're gonna they're gonna make some deals. But I think for the most part is we ⁓ I I should have embraced it a little bit more and and and maybe I could have stayed there. ⁓ it didn't happen. I went back to Pittsburgh, which was great. I mean, it was great going back there. ⁓ but I think that I think that I think most people realize if you get some people think they get traded to ⁓ nobody the guy ⁓ I suck, nobody wants me. I I didn't think that way, but I should have embraced it a little bit more and and and maybe, you know, done more stuff in this community, things like that to to help it along. Peter Tagley and Eddie, first of all, thank you so much for joining back checking the bolts. It's been great talking to you off the air, on the air. Can't thank you enough. Wish you nothing but the best, you and your wife, Vonda. I'm just gonna do a quick plug for your wife. If you have a chance, Dr. Vonda's podcast pretty much drops every week. Give that a listen. If you have a wife, make sure she listens as well. Peter Taglianetti, thanks so much for joining us today. Hey, my pleasure. Anytime. We'd like to thank Peter for joining us today. It was an absolute pleasure. I love some of the stories and we hope you did too. One of the things we wanted to do with this interview was go to our mailbag. We went on social media and said, Hey, what questions do you have for Peter? When we have interviews in the future, we plan on doing the same thing and we love your participation. Justin's not here today, but you can follow him each and every day at www.roadcharge.com. I'm Jason Lincas. Thanks for joining us today. Please hit that like and subscribe button and go bolts. Thank you for listening to Back Checking the Bolts. We are free and available on all platforms, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon, YouTube, and Deezer. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. You can follow Justin on Blue Sky at rawcharge.com. You can follow the show on X at Tampa underscore bolts underscore pod and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube at Back CheckingTheBolts. If you're interested in advertising on the show or partnering with us, You can find more information in the show notes or email Jason at backcheckingthebolts at yahoo.com.
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Former Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Peter Taglianetti joins Backchecking the Bolts to look back on an incredible hockey journey that stretched from college hockey greatness to the biggest stage in the NHL.
Taglianetti was a member of the inaugural 1992-93 Tampa Bay Lightning team and shares stories about playing for an expansion franchise built by Phil Esposito, what the early days of Lightning hockey were really like, and how Tampa Bay began building its NHL identity.
Before arriving in Tampa, Peter played at Providence College under legendary coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Lou Lamoriello, was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, and credits former Norris Trophy winner Randy Carlyle as an important mentor during his early NHL career.
Taglianetti also reflects on his championship years with the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 alongside some of hockey’s greatest players.
Plus — hear the unbelievable story of Peter’s appearance in the famous 1993 Yokozuna Body Slam Challenge aboard the USS Intrepid, one of the most memorable crossover moments between the NHL and WWE.
Topics Include:
⚡ Joining the first-ever Tampa Bay Lightning roster
⚡ Playing for Phil Esposito
⚡ Lessons from Lou Lamoriello at Providence College
⚡ Being mentored by Randy Carlyle with the Winnipeg Jets
⚡ Winning two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins
⚡ Mario Lemieux, championship teams & NHL memories
⚡ The 1993 Yokozuna Body Slam Challenge
Subscribe to Backchecking the Bolts for Tampa Bay Lightning interviews, NHL stories, analysis, and conversations that go beyond the box score.
#GoBolts #TampaBayLightning #NHL #LetsGoPens #StanleyCup #WWE
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