Calling the Shots by Kelly Hrudey

Author:Kelly Hrudey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2017-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Right to the Point

SO NOW I WAS PLAYING BETTER, feeling good, and we were starting to win a lot. When I was going through all that tough stuff in December and January, I continued to answer the media’s questions. I was good about that my entire career. Win or lose, I’d talk to the press. Of course, they didn’t always like my tone. Believe me, it taught me a lot about how to behave now that I am on the other side of the microphone.

When I think about memorable media interviews, I think about a game at the Calgary Saddledome in October 1992, before all my trouble started.

First, let me say that I really respected guys around the league who gave everything on every shift. To me, nothing was more wasteful than watching a guy’s career go down the toilet because he didn’t work hard enough. Calgary’s Gary Roberts was legendary for his work ethic, and I found him terrible for kneeing me in the head. And it was starting to piss me off. Whenever I covered up the puck, he’d come in knee first, and bam!—straight to the noggin. I talked earlier about how vulnerable a goaltender is because of all the weird positions you need to be in to stop the puck. Considering that, I was pretty lucky when I played because I wasn’t injury prone, but I did have a bad neck from training that past summer, and it was nagging me.

Gary came in again and got me hard this time. I was airborne, and when I landed I remember thinking, “Geezus, this hurts.” A few minutes later, there was a whistle in our zone and then a TV timeout.

I saw Gary standing near the faceoff circle and I said, “Hey Gary, you got a sec?” He skated over.

I said, “Gary, I understand what you are up to, but c’mon, man. Quit kneeing me in the head every time you come by the crease. You’ve got a family, right? I’ve got a family. And I’m just trying to put my kids through university some day. So knock it off, will ya?”

He gave me an incredulous look, shook his head and skated back to the circle, but he became less of that guy, which was good. After the game, my neck was killing me. I could hardly wait to ice it down, but I took the time to talk to the media, like I always did.

The dressing room in Calgary is not very big. When you walk in, there’s an open area to the left, a smaller area to the right and bench seating all the way around. Directly in front of the doorway are the two larger goaltender stalls. It was a little chaotic in there, as it always is after a game. There was a lot of buzz in the room. Players were talking back and forth and grabbing Gatorade and snacks when the reporters showed up and gathered in front of my stall. I was halfway out of my gear, and the trainers were quickly packing up our bags.

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