Post by jhendrix70 on Apr 19, 2010 22:47:14 GMT -5
Tkachuk reflects on his career
By KIRK PENTON, QMI Agency
Each week a Sun staffer gets to know a sports figure a little better in Up Close. This week Kirk Penton chats with former Winnipeg Jets captain Keith Tkachuk, who retired as a member of the St. Louis Blues last week after scoring 538 goals in 1,201 games over his 19-year NHL career.
SUN: So what now?
KT: Well, I go from playing hockey to coaching kids' hockey.
SUN: How good of a coach are you?
KT: As good as your players are (laughs). When you win it's all coaching, and when you lose it's the players.
SUN: No thought of buying the Phoenix Coyotes and moving them back to Winnipeg?
KT: Let's just say I hope a team eventually goes back to the 'Peg, and I'm sure Craig Heisinger, if he was part of it, would hire me.
SUN: I'm sure he would be a part of it.
KT: As long as I get to sit up there with him instead of coaching, I'll do it (laughs).
SUN: How often do you make it back to Winnipeg?
KT: We come back to see family and friends usually once a summer, and now we're kind of tying it in. There's a Subway hockey tournament up there for youth hockey (in June). I'm bringing a couple teams up there for both my boys. So we'll be up there to play and visit at the same time. So I'll be there for about a week and change.
SUN: Did you shed a tear when they tore down Winnipeg Arena?
KT: It takes a lot for me to cry, but I was disappointed. I would have eventually liked to bring my kids by and show them where I first started and first played. Now they get it. They're old enough to know what I did. And my in-laws tell them all the time.
SUN: What was your favourite place to eat in Winnipeg?
KT: Oh, man. Nothing better than going to Hy's Steakhouse. Mona Lisa's always really good. So many good spots. But I got a lot of home cooking from my in-laws when I played there, so that was good.
SUN: Can you pick one favourite memory from your time in Winnipeg?
KT: I think the chance to experience a playoff game with the whiteout there. It was phenomenal. I absolutely did not expect anything close to feeling the way I felt when I stepped on the ice for a playoff game.
SUN: Your nickname is Big Walt because of former NHLer Walt Tkaczuk. How many times have you met him?
KT: You know, I don't think I've ever met him. I would have remembered.
SUN: You lost five teeth scoring one goal in January?
KT: Yeah. I lost four at the time, and then they had to pull another one a couple days later.
SUN: Yuck.
KT: That wasn't worth the goal, I'll tell you that much. They could have that and 30 or 40 more if I could get my teeth back.
SUN: The player taken one spot before you in the first round of the 1990 draft scored three goals in his career and the one taken after you scored only one. Can you name them?
KT: Shawn Antoski? Is that right?
SUN: Yes, that's the guy taken before you.
KT: And the one goal, I think I know. Marty Brodeur?
SUN: Very good.
KT: And I also know early in the first round was a guy named Daryl Sydor, who I played with this year. He keeps telling me that he was picked way before me too.
SUN: Is that why you called it a career?
KT: (laughs) Yeah, I was sick of listening to Daryl say he was picked way, way, way before me.
SUN: What place does Winnipeg have in your hockey heart?
KT: It's obviously right up there. Mike Smith gave me my first chance to play in the NHL with Winnipeg. Before I got drafted there, I gotta be honest, I had no idea of anything about Winnipeg. Eventually, getting up there and seeing how friendly everybody is and how passionate they were about hockey, I ended up spending not only the winters there, but when I was younger and I met my wife we started spending summers up there. I had a great time, and it was sad when we left. No question about it.
SUN: What's your favourite TV show?
KT: Oh, man, there's so many. I love 24.
SUN: You are one of four players with at least 1,000 points and 2,200 penalty minutes (Brendan Shanahan, Dale Hunter and Pat Verbeek are the others) ...
KT: I probably would've scored more points if I was a little smarter.
SUN: What was your most satisfying goal and your most satisfying fight?
KT: A satisfying goal (long pause) was probably my 500th, I guess. The most satisfying fight? There were a couple. I didn't win too many, so they weren't really satisfying. I'd probably say my first NHL fight. It was against Scott Mellanby, who's now a real close friend of mine. He tells me how he pounded me. Yeah, whatever, but thank God for my helmet.
SUN: Finally, what are you going to miss most about the NHL?
KT: The guys, the locker-room. I definitely won't miss training camp, but I'll miss being around there every morning with the guys, just talking shop and competing night in and night out with your teammates.
slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/StLouis/2010/04/18/13628981-qmi.html
By KIRK PENTON, QMI Agency
Each week a Sun staffer gets to know a sports figure a little better in Up Close. This week Kirk Penton chats with former Winnipeg Jets captain Keith Tkachuk, who retired as a member of the St. Louis Blues last week after scoring 538 goals in 1,201 games over his 19-year NHL career.
SUN: So what now?
KT: Well, I go from playing hockey to coaching kids' hockey.
SUN: How good of a coach are you?
KT: As good as your players are (laughs). When you win it's all coaching, and when you lose it's the players.
SUN: No thought of buying the Phoenix Coyotes and moving them back to Winnipeg?
KT: Let's just say I hope a team eventually goes back to the 'Peg, and I'm sure Craig Heisinger, if he was part of it, would hire me.
SUN: I'm sure he would be a part of it.
KT: As long as I get to sit up there with him instead of coaching, I'll do it (laughs).
SUN: How often do you make it back to Winnipeg?
KT: We come back to see family and friends usually once a summer, and now we're kind of tying it in. There's a Subway hockey tournament up there for youth hockey (in June). I'm bringing a couple teams up there for both my boys. So we'll be up there to play and visit at the same time. So I'll be there for about a week and change.
SUN: Did you shed a tear when they tore down Winnipeg Arena?
KT: It takes a lot for me to cry, but I was disappointed. I would have eventually liked to bring my kids by and show them where I first started and first played. Now they get it. They're old enough to know what I did. And my in-laws tell them all the time.
SUN: What was your favourite place to eat in Winnipeg?
KT: Oh, man. Nothing better than going to Hy's Steakhouse. Mona Lisa's always really good. So many good spots. But I got a lot of home cooking from my in-laws when I played there, so that was good.
SUN: Can you pick one favourite memory from your time in Winnipeg?
KT: I think the chance to experience a playoff game with the whiteout there. It was phenomenal. I absolutely did not expect anything close to feeling the way I felt when I stepped on the ice for a playoff game.
SUN: Your nickname is Big Walt because of former NHLer Walt Tkaczuk. How many times have you met him?
KT: You know, I don't think I've ever met him. I would have remembered.
SUN: You lost five teeth scoring one goal in January?
KT: Yeah. I lost four at the time, and then they had to pull another one a couple days later.
SUN: Yuck.
KT: That wasn't worth the goal, I'll tell you that much. They could have that and 30 or 40 more if I could get my teeth back.
SUN: The player taken one spot before you in the first round of the 1990 draft scored three goals in his career and the one taken after you scored only one. Can you name them?
KT: Shawn Antoski? Is that right?
SUN: Yes, that's the guy taken before you.
KT: And the one goal, I think I know. Marty Brodeur?
SUN: Very good.
KT: And I also know early in the first round was a guy named Daryl Sydor, who I played with this year. He keeps telling me that he was picked way before me too.
SUN: Is that why you called it a career?
KT: (laughs) Yeah, I was sick of listening to Daryl say he was picked way, way, way before me.
SUN: What place does Winnipeg have in your hockey heart?
KT: It's obviously right up there. Mike Smith gave me my first chance to play in the NHL with Winnipeg. Before I got drafted there, I gotta be honest, I had no idea of anything about Winnipeg. Eventually, getting up there and seeing how friendly everybody is and how passionate they were about hockey, I ended up spending not only the winters there, but when I was younger and I met my wife we started spending summers up there. I had a great time, and it was sad when we left. No question about it.
SUN: What's your favourite TV show?
KT: Oh, man, there's so many. I love 24.
SUN: You are one of four players with at least 1,000 points and 2,200 penalty minutes (Brendan Shanahan, Dale Hunter and Pat Verbeek are the others) ...
KT: I probably would've scored more points if I was a little smarter.
SUN: What was your most satisfying goal and your most satisfying fight?
KT: A satisfying goal (long pause) was probably my 500th, I guess. The most satisfying fight? There were a couple. I didn't win too many, so they weren't really satisfying. I'd probably say my first NHL fight. It was against Scott Mellanby, who's now a real close friend of mine. He tells me how he pounded me. Yeah, whatever, but thank God for my helmet.
SUN: Finally, what are you going to miss most about the NHL?
KT: The guys, the locker-room. I definitely won't miss training camp, but I'll miss being around there every morning with the guys, just talking shop and competing night in and night out with your teammates.
slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/StLouis/2010/04/18/13628981-qmi.html
