Brent Johnson/Reed Low Interview
This is Part 3 of the Brent Johnson/Reed Low Interview
MT: As you guys will I had some trivia questions last week, we had Tyler Rennette on and Sylvain Blouin. One of the questions was whats Paul Newman's character's name in the movie?
BJ: Reg Dunlap.
RL: Reggie Dunlap.
MT: One of my questions but I couldn't find the answer and I wanted to make sure I was right on the answer, name two of the three Hanson brothers, what are their names?
BJ: Uh, oh, my dad played with both of them....there's only 2 real Hanson brothers.
MT: Two Hansons and the other one's a..........I forget his last name.
RL: He was the adopted Hanson, they adopted him for the movie.
MT: So your dad played with both of them?
BJ: Yea I don't know where, my dad played alot of minor league teams, but somewhere.
MT: And one of the things that came up a couple weeks ago when John Grahme played in his first NHL game was that he and his father were suppossedly the first father son combination, they both played with the Bruins. When in fact last year when you played for St. Louis, your dad had also played for St. Louis, Brent.
BJ: Yea my dad played '72-'73 I think....I'm not sure, is that right?
MT: Yea I think you're on the money.
BJ: He played 12 games for them and last year I played 6 games and when I made my first uh, I don't even know, my first start in Calgary, nothing was ever said, I thought it was just another thing, like it's been done before alot. You know so it was never really a topic of conversation in the St. Louis press or anything like that but yea it was pretty good, and thank you very much for getting that out for me.
MT: Well you know, just making sure the statistics are correct. We got a call, lets go to Christina, we're talking with Brent Johnson & Reed Low, Christina, hi.
Caller: Hi
MT: Who do you have a question for? Fire one off here.
Caller: For both of them actually, first I wanna say you guys had an awesome game last Friday.
RL: Thank you.
BJ: Thank you.
Caller: How do you guys feel when you have to play against old teammates like this weekend you have to play against Stephane Roy and Mike Maneluk and Jason Zent.
BJ: I hope Stephane Roy doesn't score against me.
RL: It doesn't bother me, they were teammates but now they're not.
MT: Well what about fighting them Reed?
Caller: Steph's not a fighter.
Brent: (laughs) I don't think Steph'll fight.
RL: They won't fight but it goes the same, you know, they get punished like all the rest.
BJ: (laughs) I wish Steph was still with us he's a great hockey player, he's definetly a 20-goal scorer here, it's shame he couldn't be here. And going with Jason Zent and Mike Maneluk, they're all great hockey players but we're basing everything on a younger team and more of a developmental issue and it's kinda tough when you play against old teammates, after the game you don't know what to say to them and it feels wierd but it's good, it's all in experience and it's all good for the guys, a maturing process.
RL: You know, you play hard against those guys and what happens on the ice stays on the ice, you play em hard, you hit em hard, you keep it clean, nobody wants to play a dirty game and then after the game you laugh and chuckle about some of the things that might have gone on.
MT: Christina, any other questions?
Caller: Nope that was it.
MT: Well thanks for dialing up.
RL: Thanks for calling in.
BJ: Thanks Christina.
MT: Jim, you have a question for Brent Johnson or Reed Low?
Caller: Not really a question, I was actually thinking of that last question Christina asked and I thought that was a great question but more important, the IceCats provide alot of excitement for Worcester and the two guests you have on tonight are two of the main reasons why the last couple of years so for alot of fans we want to thank you for all the excitement, but most important Reed does something at the end of every warm-up of throwing a couple pucks to the fans as he goes off and thats a real classy move and says alot about him as a leader of the team and its a really gesture and I just wanted to say that so everyone else knows the nice things he's doing.
BJ: Jim, he got that from me. He started that after I did it a couple times last year.
RL: (laughs) yea, thanks man.
Caller: Well I think both of you doing it is a nice nice gesture and it really makes a good feeling for the kids.
BJ: Well it's definetly for the kids, you know they're the main target, you got people coming down to see the game and 50 to 60 percent of them are kids so everythings for the kids.
RL: We're glad to have them, you know, give a em a puck you make a kid's day.
BJ: It's not a hard thing to do.
Caller: It's good to hear that type of attitude you guys, good luck this year.
RL: Thanks.
BJ: Thanks Jim.
MT: I don't know if Jim noticed but he probably did, another thing that Reed Low does, not only does he chuck a few pucks to the crowd before he leaves but usually Reed will crank a few shots down to the other end of the ice, usually that is taboo, let me just explain this because I don't think I explained it very well, during warm-ups the two teams are at opposite ends of the ice and you can't go across on the other side of the rink, past the center line to chase any pucks.
BJ: Well you can actually.....
RL: If you wanna get in a brawl.
MT: Fine, but once the other team clears off, Reed Low is usually the last player on the ice and you start firing some pucks on the opponents net, whats up with that?
RL: Oh, I don't know, superstition I guess, forever I've done that, even back in junior and usually, it depends on how I played the night before or whatever, I'll try and put 2 or 3 in the net from the other end of the ice, you never know, I might get out there with an empty net and have to crank one down, I wanna make sure I can do it.
BJ: Yea we played Lowell not too long ago, in Lowell, and I think Cody Rudkowsky played so I was on the ice late with Reed and I can remember him hitting a guy in the skates.
RL: Guy wouldn't get off the ice & I had to do my superstition so he took one in the back of the legs.
MT: (laughs) There was one guy, in the AHL for the longest time also played with the New York Rangers, Pete Furrintino, I don't know if you remember him at all, he was a big, rugged guy. One of the things he used to do was, he used to get out before the opposing team and he'd ring pucks around the glass and when guys would step off the ice from the opposing team they'd have to dodge the pucks that he's ringing off the glass. We've got Anne on the line as well, hi Anne.
Caller: How you guys doing?
BJ: Good.
RL: How are you Anne?
Caller: Good, just wanna let you know a couple things, no questions, I was a big football fan throughout high school & college and moved to Worcester, a couple of friends of mine had season tickets to the 'Cats, I was hooked after the first game, and I just wanna mimic what the previous caller had said that it's really nice to come to Worcester to the Centrum and watch you guys play, you're so good to the kids but when you have the Meet the Players Night, not only are you nice to the kids but to the adults as well, you probably feel like show ponys but we appreciate the time and effort and all the autographs and we hope you have a great year.
RL: Yea well it's a treat to have you guys come out and watch us cuz the fans don't have to come out if they don't want to but they do so we appreciate that too.
Caller: My stressful day, I come to a game and let all my emotions out on you guys, and Reed, thank you very much, I appreciate you most.
RL: Alright, thanks.
Caller: Thanks, bye.
BJ: Thanks Anne.
MT: Again some of the big news coming out of IceCats camp, not only the 2 games coming up this weekend, both games 7:35 at Worcester Centrum Center but also Rudy Poeschek and Lubos Bartecko are down from St. Louis.
BJ: Bartecko.
MT: Well, I walked up to him and he said Bartecko.....I think every year those guys are in the US change the pronounciation of their name a bit.
RL: They do, they change everything....the mob.
BJ: (laughs) The mob.
MT: Both of them expected in uniform tomorrow night, you're listening to "This Week with the Worcester IceCats", we'll be taking your calls again when we come back, 755-0058.
(commercial)
MT: Thanks for dialing up Newstalk 580 WTAG this hour of course every Thursday is set up for "This Week with the Worcester IceCats", I'm Mike Thornton along side we have goaltender Brent Johnson and forward Reed Low, got alot of people joining in on the conversation, still a little to do so as well at 755-0058, we have Sarah on th line, hi Sarah.
Caller: Hi
MT: How are you?
Caller: Good, I'm fine.
MT: You have a couple of questions for the boys, maybe one, we've got Reed here to choose from, or maybe you wanna talk to Brent, or possible me.
Caller: Actually it's for both of the guys. I was wondering when you guys started playing hockey, like what age?
RL: Ummm, I started playing when I was 4 years old....long time ago, I've been playing hockey for a long time....laced the skates up many times.
MT: Brent, what about you.
BJ: I was about 4 years old myself when I first started skating and doing all that good stuff.
MT: Were you always a goalie?
BJ: No, I wasn't a goalie til I was about 13 or so.
MT: Wanted to be a scorer?
BJ: Yea....they called me the best one-handed defenseman in the league......I never had two hands on my stick so..
MT: How are you on the regular working man's blades without the fat pads on?
RL: Oh I'd hate to see that.
BJ: Oh, actually you know what, I just die out because I don't have that much stamina, I mean I couldn't skate like these guys do.
MT: But you've gotta skate all those sprints just like they do, is it harder with the pads on or are you just coasting because you know you've got the pads on?
BJ: No, it's alot more difficult, I can skate as fast as I can, which I'm not very fast......
RL: (laughs) Thats an understatement.
BJ: What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Yea ok, best skater in the league right here, yup, Reed Low best skater in the league.....but uh, it's definetly harder to skate with those big logs on your shins.
MT: Sometimes at the end of a game if a team is down by a goal & I've seen I've seen it before where coaches will pull their goaltender to put the faster goaltender in net incase they're pulling the goalie and they want that extra skater that faster onto the ice. Who's faster right now you think you or Rudkowsky?
BJ: Oh Rudy's definetly faster than me.
RL: Nah, is he?
BJ: Oh yea, for sure, for sure.
RL: I didn't think so.
BJ: Yea, he is.
MT: Sarah you have anymore questions for the boys?
Caller: Nope, thats it but lets hope we can get a couple wins this weekend.
BJ: You bet Sarah.
RL: We'll give it our best.
MT: And the IceCats do have 2 games this weekend, tomorrow night against Quebec and Saturday against Philadelphia at 7:35 for both games and on Saturday night, we talked about it before, first 2500 adults through the door get a cool bottle opener courtesy of Bud Light. Alright, last week we fired up some trivia, the start of the trvia, and we had Sylvain Blouin went 3 for 5, and Tyler Rennette went 1 for 5.
BJ: (laughs) Kid's not too bright.
RL: He's a rookie.
MT: Yea that was the thing, the only question Tyler Rennette did get and I'll see if you guys can get this one.......
BJ: I'll take that back cuz I don't know what I'm gonna do.
MT: Well this is a little warm-up, this is the one question that Tyler Rennette did get, who was the first pick in the '97 Draft? And Tyler was drafted in '97 so I thought he should know.
RL: Who was the first pick......
BJ: In the '97 Draft?
RL: That was 2 years ago.
BJ: Couldn't tell ya.
MT: He's a famous broadcaster for the Worcester IceCats, the two share the same last name, his nickname is "Jumbo", his first name is Joe.
RL: Joe Thornton?
MT: There you go, I thought I drop you some hints there, alright we're gonna start the trivia with Brent Johnson, goaltender, a Michigan native...and you go back to Michigan every summer don't you?
BJ: Yup.
MT: What is the state bird of Michigan?
BJ: The robin.
MT: The robin, wow.
RL: You better not pull anything like that on me about Saskatchewan.
MT: That was pretty fast, this doesn't count but whats the state tree?
BJ: Uhhh, pine.
MT: Be more specific please.
BJ: Oh....I don't know....ummm
MT: It doesn't count, it's the white pine............alright so Brent Johnson is 1 for 1, next question, this one's a soft toss....
RL: Is this for Johnny?
MT: Yea
RL: OK, you're going all the way for him?
MT: Yea we'll stay with him.
BJ: We'll get to you later.
MT: How high off the ice is the crossbar on a regulation hockey net, so from the bottom of the ice to the crossbar, whats the height?
BJ: Does it have to be exact? It's like 4 feet, isn't it?
MT: Yea thats the regulation, Johnson 2 for 2.....
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PART 4 OF THE INTERVIEW
