FiredUp Network
Thursday, September 12: Don Cherry's Grapevine Podcast
All right, let's go! Welcome to this week's edition of the Don Terre Grapevine Podcast, and we're continuing with the coaching theme of all Don Terre Grapevine television shows. We interviewed Freddy Shiro and Scotty Bowman, and this week we're going to have a 1983 interview with Stanley Cup champ, Al Arbor. Now Al had just come off of coaching the New York Islanders to their fourth Stanley Cup in a row, beating the Edmonton Oilers four straight, and then the Oilers went on a tear after that, winning a whole bunch of Stanley Cups. And Al Arbor was a good friend of dads. They played together in Rochester in the 60s, and Al was known as Radar, and that was his nickname. And he was probably most famous for wearing glasses, and that used to tell a lot of funny stories about when Tommy got hit with a puck, and he got cut, and the blood went all through his glasses, and he couldn't see because of the blood. Hard to believe if you take all of Al's championships, in Calder Cups, Stanley Cups playing Stanley Cup coaches, and Al has won 11 championships. So here's a 1983 interview with dad and his good buddy, Al Arbor. In all blue, on the grapevine tonight we have Al Arbor. Everybody's favorite coach, four Stanley Cups, coach of the year. You remember that Ranger series? He was ready to quit. I'm going to ask them about that on the grapevine. Are you ready? I'm ready. Let's go on the grapevine. Al Arbor is no stranger to trophies. In the 1954 season this rangey defenseman from Sudbury won his first Stanley Cup as a member of the Detroit Red Wings. The second came with a 1961 Chicago Blackhawks, and two more followed. One in 62, and again in 64, while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Punch Imlak. In 1968, expansion saw Al head to St. Louis, where he angered the blue line for rookie coach Scotty Bowman, and helped lead the blues into three successive Stanley Cup finals. His coaching career began in St. Louis, but in June of 1973, he succeeded Phil Goyette and Earl Ingerfield at the helm of the fledgling New York Islanders. His first season was the last time the Islanders missed the playoffs. Things began to happen out on Long Island, the defense began to gel, and the puck started finding its way past enemy gold tenders. Al was named Coach of the Year in 1979, the Islanders were beginning to arrive, and in 1980, Arbor's Chargers scored a memorable victory over the rugged fliers of Philadelphia. The home crowd was ecstatic. Their young team was number one, Dynasty had just been born. The next season was a great one for the regulars of the Nassau Coliseum. Their team performed beautifully and won their second consecutive championship in a five-game walk over the Minnesota North Stars. 1982 saw the valiant Canucks from Vancouver try to stem the tie, but Arbor's mighty Islanders swept them aside and recorded their third championship in a row. The team from Long Island was treading in very exclusive territory. Three straight cups was a very rare feat, four almost impossible. But in 1983 behind Masterful Coaching, Arbor's well-prepared team took on all comers and grounded the high-flying Edmonton Oilers in a sweep of the final. Born a row, only the great toe-blake of the Canadians with five straight cups had more, and one man has a chance to tie that record, the Islanders great, Al Arbor. My buddy, Al teammate, Al Arbor, what are you having kind of hair, Al? Al Arbor and I were teammates back in '65 in Rochester, and you know, I always played on defense whether I played the right side, and when we were there Al, in '65 that was always my favorite suit. Well, grapes, I know you have many suits, but I never got fired in this one. Yeah, I get fired in this one, yeah, one of them many times. I really did get fired in this suit. Alright, we were back there slogging it through ten hours on the bus, and did you ever think you'd turn in to be the best coach in the National Hockey League, and I'd turn in to be a star on television? No, I knew you'd be a star on television, because you had the makings in those ways, too. That's right. No, you know, I never really thought about coaching in those days. I was just hoping to survive the bus trips in the season, because it was so tough, those trips to Hershey and Springfield and all the providence, and you know, I was coaching never really entered my mind at that time. Remember Joe Crozery, how he used to land on, he was sick up in bed, we used to go up, "Did you ever learn anything from old Crow?" Oh, yes, you do, you know, he had cut against psychology and analyzed different things. I mean, we didn't agree with a lot of things he was doing, but you know, he was a pretty foxy old guy. Yeah, you know, I think punch, of all the coaches I played for, I think punch him like was the best one I ever played for. Well, he was. I learned an awful lot from punch, you know, his discipline, his workouts, and you know, he used to plan a lot of things. Maybe the players didn't like it, but he sure got the results from the players. You know, I saw you guys in the finals, wiping out Edmonton and everything, and I watched one of your practices, and I remember punch used to have the same practices. I mean, you know, you added a few things, but basically, you kept the old style hockey in the same practices, 3-on-2s, and everybody else is twirling around at center ice. You do have the same style, I think, as the old days. Well, I don't recall the practices we used to have then. I try to combine the modern hockey with, you can't forget about checking. A lot of teams, they just go strictly on offense and forget about checking. We try to, a good combination of, you know, European flavor and North American hockey, and the thing is, you know, we try to execute very well on both. You know, a lot of people ask me, they say, he's got 4 rings. Now, where do you put the 4 rings? You got one on now, right? I've got two on now. You got two on now. Where are the other two? I have them at home. I put them in the vault now at the bank because I was robbed of my other 4 rings a few years back, so I learned a lesson, but these are from my children later on, I think. You know, you played on, okay, how many did you play Stanley Cups, did you play on? 4. 4. Coach 4. You got 3 Calder Cups, that's 11 championships and how long did you play? Thank you. Thank you. It was just not so great, he played 19 years, like longer than me. Were you surprised you wiped out the Oilers the way you did, 4th straight? Well, yeah, surprise, yes, I didn't think we'd beat them in 4th straight, but after analyzing all the films and the games before we played them, I was a little leery before. But after we broke everything down, I was quite confident, I really felt their hockey club with our discipline, I felt that we could throw them off their game and we could win. Never thought of 4, but I thought we could win. You know, I think the most important game, they always say this is important, most important, but I think it was the first game. I mean, Billy Smith, have I ever seen a guy win a game single-handedly? You know, he broke their heart, you could just see them panic a little after that game. That's true. You know, these are the breaks you need to win the Stanley Cup in playhouse, so one break will do it. And that game, I think the frustration set in, they had so many good chances and Smitty was there and are checking also frustrated them and, you know, they started to change slowly a way to get away from their game to do something else which is the thing we wanted them to do. You're always, you know, a calm guy and all that stuff and everything. Now, a lot of people, he's come on to an awful lot of criticism, Billy Smith. Now, why does he act the way he does? Well, I don't see anything wrong with what Billy Smith does. I mean, I think a defenseman will hit somebody that goes by him or he'll take him with the body. You know, there's a rule in the rule book that anything in the gold crease is the gold tennis territory and Billy Smith takes care of his territory better than any other gold tender. Well, there was a few spots over about 20 feet in the corner. He was a little rough too, but we won't get into that. Anyhow, you know, I know from the grapevine that you had a meeting with the players with a month to go on the ceiling and they say that the paint peeled off the walls. Now, what was that about? What did you say? You can't use the adjectives you'd like to use, but do the best you can. Well, you know, we had a very up and down season. It was a rough season and I felt at the time that we had to start clearing the air for, you know, for the remainder of the season and for the playoffs, to be ready for the playoffs. And we had a meeting. I think it was a four-hour meeting and I went through everything with the players. I said, "Some little--" Calmly? Did you go calmly? Calmly at the beginning and then, you know, you get-- You should send them. Yes. Getting higher and higher, but we cleared the air and they knew what I wanted and what I expected. And, you know, I'm blessed. I got a great group of athletes and they started to work, they started to perform and they did it again. You know, Al, I don't agree with this, but a lot of-- you took advantage of something that a lot of people say that the season was planned, that you guys went through the motions for a lot of times and, you know, you were going to turn it on in the playoffs. You know, I remember Billy saying, "Well, the playoffs are coming, watch this going out." You know, a lot of people say that's unfair. The Bruins went out and knocked themselves out for E.D. games. It wasn't planned, wasn't it? No, it's not planned. I mean, we have a lot of pride. The players have a lot of pride. We want to go out there and win every hockey game, but, you know, it's just little things, injuries, things like that and a lot of the players got in the slump offensively. The defensive record was good and they started losing confidence in themselves. And when you lose confidence in yourself and lose confidence in the team, you know, things are going to be bad for you. You turn it around the playoffs. You know, I've seen you. I've been there every time you've won after then. You know, you've been happy. I've shook his hand every time they won every playoff. That's true. Of course, you've won every time. So I guess, anyhow, the other three, you were happy. You know, you were happy, you know, but this time after the, I never saw you quite so exuberance or whatever it was, you really let your hair down on the TV and everything. You seem to be different after this one. Yes, well, I was very, very proud of my players. You know, the year they had, the ups and downs and everybody was, you know, had a nail in us that we were finished and everybody else was going to take over. And I was really pleased and happy for the players because to me it showed that the real true character of our team. Well, I talked to Clara's lovely wife and she said, "Dell is absolutely exhausted." If you saw this guy in between periods, you know, he looks so calm out there, you know, every bowl, look at Ali. He never gets ruffled or anything. He drags on a cigarette, it goes down that far, believe me, anyhow, and he's in there. Yeah. But, Clara said that the doctor said that you should have went right in the hospital after the playoffs. Well, I was advised to take a rest and I did take it, went down south for a few weeks and I had five weeks of my college up north and I'm ready to go again. Well, you know, I often wonder, like, my track record with general managers is not too great and you and Bill Tory have something going there, it's just great. And now, I like to ask you a question, you have Dave Simpson coming, you have Pat Flatley and you have Pat LaFontaine, you know, when he gets through with the Olympics and that. Now, if you say you want Dave Simpson and Bill Tory, he doesn't want him. I mean, how do you get around that? I could never get around. I want him. How do you talk it out? Well, I've been very fortunate when I came from St. Louis, it was a little different situation. Here I run the hockey club with Bill, of course, and he's a general manager, but if I want a player, he doesn't interfere with anything like that, I can bring any player I want or use any player I want, I'm in command of the hockey club and he's in command of everything else. So he makes the trades and things like that, but we certainly discuss all that, but he's never stopped me from using any player I wanted to. Well, like, like, goring. Say, remember a couple of years ago, did you go to him and say, you know, I'd like goring. Would he go out and try to get him? No, never, I'd just say something like that, but if you saw a player you wanted, would you go to him and say, try to get that guy? Oh, I would say that, but it's not always possible to do. You know, at that time we were looking for a sentiment, would experience to help our young club. That's what we were looking for, and which was the one available and he's the one who we tried to get and he managed to do it. He managed to do it. What a fine, too. Ooh, everybody seems to come through. You know the one guy I love in here, if I could come back as a hockey player. One guy, I mean, if I could come back, the Lord said, come back as a hockey player, and I don't ask you, never wear a hockey player, but it would be Bobby Neistrom. I'm sorry. I knew you were going to say that. Yes. So do I. I mean, he's a great kid, the great athlete, he works hard all the time. He's not blessed with an awful lot of talent, but he works hard all the time and he's a great team player and he always comes through in the clutch. Oh, all the time. Four overtime goals, I think. Now I know you've been asked to coach Team Canada and you turned it down. Right? Right. Why? Well, that's not my cup of tea. My allegiance is the New York Islanders, my hockey club. I don't like the setup of the way the, you know, I mean, we're at a disadvantage before you even start the way they have it set up and I don't think the coach really has the authority to pick the players you want, so that's not for me. My last question, how come fringe players like you and I always make the best coaches? Well, grapes, you know how tough it used to be just to make the hockey team and I guess we have little tricks here and tricks there just to stay on a hockey club and we had to work a little harder maybe and think a little bit more about the game than the players that come naturally. They don't even think about it, they just do it. While in Toronto, guests of Don Sherry's Grapevine enjoy the warm hospitality of the Valhalla Inn located on highway 427. Ground transportation for Don's Guest is provided by formerly yours Limousine Service, Toronto. Thanks for Don's guest provided by Panasonic, just slightly ahead of our time. Welcome back to the Grapevine. Darryl, you're a young coach, I hear you're a coach hockey, you got a question for the great one? Yeah, I would just like to ask, Al, Mr. Aver, what is key to success is for a coach? Well, I think there are many keys, probably in professional hockey, the biggest key is probably the preparation. I'd say it probably is about 95% of your game plan, your preparation, of course you've got to have the players first of all, I'm blessed with the players. You know, you've got to have a lot of discipline, you have to be willing to sacrifice for each other out there, they're not playing for themselves, they're playing for the other players, execution. So there's not a lot of keys and you have to blend them all in together because it takes an awful lot of hard work by everybody. Well I'd just like to ask Al, the best route in the NHL for a youngster today, will it be college, major junior? Well I think they're equally the same, I think, you know, it shows up to talent, there's a big thing. You notice the last couple of years, there's players been drafted out of high school and stepped right into the national hockey league, there's a young defenseman in Buffalo, and the first pick this year was a high school player, there's a lot of college players coming up to the national league and a lot of players from the major junior race, so I don't think it matters what league they play and I think if they're good enough it'll surface. You know Al, I like Hausley, I give it to him pretty good in Buffalo one night, but I think these guys coming out of high school, I think they've got, especially defense have an awful lot to learn and I think they learn in the national hockey league now. Well it's like, you know, before you used to learn in the minors, now... Yeah I learned for 18 years though. I learned for one time too. You didn't learn too well either, I learned. Well, the thing I want to talk to you about, and this is right from the heart, and I've got to say this, people, you know how we all change over the years, like I'm a big star now and all that stuff and everything, but Al, you're the same great guy, he hasn't changed after four Stanley Cup to the straight, wonderful guy you were in Rochester, and I love you, put her there. Oh, I can't hear her, I can't hear her. Thanks everybody for listening, and we'll be back next week with another great interview. [Music]