Being around all the great names of the game at a young age because they were my heroes; the fact this meant so much to Canada. It was just an incredible thing to be a part of.
Charlie had good hands for a big guy along the net and was very difficult to move.
Even if the owners were going to be hardnosed, somebody misread the owners. Bob didn't have plan B and maybe there's a chance to do something, but a chance at what?
I came in under Jack Kent Cooke and we had things going, but when Bob Pulford left he just kind of left a void.
I had an opportunity many, many times to go to the Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner. Jerry Buss asked me many times and you know what, looking back that was stupid of me not going there.
I just did what I was asked to do and enjoyed the company of these great stars. I figured I could learn a lot from them even by practicing with them.
I watched Gretzky, I watched Lemieux. Maybe it's the time when you're playing, but for a kid coming into the league, you play the Boston Bruins and you just watched Bobby Orr.
I'll tell something, a lot of times I'd listen to Charlie and some of the interviews he had and he said, 'Well, yeah, I was a garbage goal collector.' But he knew the timing. I knew where he was.
I've done the same thing in the world of business that winners do in the game. I watch them, admire them.
I've never seen anything like it since. Some of the Canada Cups came close, but by then a lot of European players came and played in our league so we were more familiar with them.
Now you watch reality TV, you watch them in all those pools or Jacuzzis and I say to myself was I that stupid? But that was me then.
People ask if I regret not winning a Stanley Cup, but winning the series against the Soviet Union was the best. It was the greatest experience of my hockey career by far.
The only thing is we didn't have the supporting cast.
The thing is, playing with us, whoever was the left winger had to come to play every night because that's the way it was. Charlie came in and he just fit that role - big and strong around the net.
There was tremendous emotion. Every shift was so emotional.
They have had three years to get a resolution and they failed. Both of these guys have failed.
To be on the same team with Orr was great because when I turned pro, nobody had more charisma.
Until Charlie broke his ankle in Toronto, we were as good a unit as anybody.
We suffered a setback and there were too many trades until Dave Taylor came along and Charlie Simmer.
You might not win, but you watched how winners get it and how they accomplished it and for me it really helped me in my post-career going into business.
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