VSN - Blast From The Past - Matt Bailey

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

I arrived in Helsinki to interview VHL legend Matt Bailey, which was perfect as I was going to play here. My good pal, Alexander Pepper, drove me to Bailey’s house, and either this dude was magic, or saw me from his window, but he came out as soon as I took a step out of the car, he came out to greet me. We sat down and talked about hockey and his esteemed career and we ate Timmie's donuts that I smuggled got from Canada. He told me about his NHL Career. I have checked his awards and stats.

 

He played 5 seasons in the City of Brotherly Love and 2 in Toronto, his childhood team. In his final season in the NHL, he and the Buds won the Stanley Cup, as well as the Hart and the Conn Smythe that season.. Outside of that season, he won 2 Maurice Richards. In his 542 games in the NHL, he picked up 276 goals and 292 assists for 568 points. That means he averaged more than 1 point per game. Amazing. He then took over as President of Hockey Operations for the Leafs overseeing 6 Finals appearances and winning 4 cups during that 20-year tenure. He then retired to make more time for his grandchildren, one of them, Kronos, making his name big in the VHL. Well, retired in the sense of the NHL. He took over the Titans at the age of 73 and brought the aforementioned Kronos in as his GM Player.

 

It was night so we decided to sleep. I heard an alarm clock in the distance; it was 5 AM. I exited my room to see Matt Bailey preparing us some coffee and breakfast. After eating, we rested for a while and then went to the gym to work out. He was very fit, maybe even fitter than me, despite his age. He headed to Titans practice and let me watch alongside him. He also scouted the team’s prospects as well as the upcoming draftees. We watched a game that happened the previous night. We then went to Nokka and had the early-bird special. It was delicious and I can see why it’s his favourite restaurant (and in my opinion the best restaurant) in all of Helsinki. He went to bed at 9 PM while I stayed up to write some articles.

 

The next morning, I interviewed him and asked him some new questions instead of the usual boring questions.

 

I asked him, “In your opinion, what was the best season in your career?”

 

He pondered it for a while and then gave me his answer. “It's tough to come up with one season. Looking back on my VHL career, it was really two careers, one as a forward, and one as a defenceman. I'd probably go with Seasons 15 and 19, coincidentally the final seasons of both "careers". In '15, that's the year we finally broke through and won our Cup. Everything went right for us. On a personal level, I won my 3rd straight Boulet, and what was then the Howe as Playoff MVP. Pretty much everything went right that season for us, and it was a feeling I didn't really have again until '19. In '19, I made the decision to sign with Sauve and Dawson, joining them on the Wranglers. That was a great season, with a great team that all pulled the rope in the same direction, on the way to picking up a Cup in my last season.”

 

Then I asked him the usual: “What part of your career are you the proudest of?”

He replied, “I think I'm most proud of my ability to stay true to my two-way game. To show up on a list like Victor's, that recently came out, as one of the top 10 two-way forwards of all time, even with only half my career spent at the position, it speaks to the fact that it didn't go unnoticed, either. And then, to also be the only player to ever win both a Boulet and a Labatte, that's pretty special too, and I don't know if it'll happen again with players rarely changing positions at the height of their peaks of the first position.”

 

Then, before I was going to ask a random question for filler, I came up with a great question.

 

“What do you think shaped you most as a player?”

 

He surprisingly replied pretty quickly. He said, “It's as common an answer as you'll get when asking hockey players this question, but the work ethic my family instilled in me, from a young age, was huge in shaping my career. Growing up, it was easy to coast when you're bigger than all the other kids. My dad always pushed me to be my best, though, making sure I remembered that playing without the puck is just as important as playing with it - the average player will only have the puck on their stick for between 60-90 seconds a game. That drive to do more was what made me the player I was and pushed me to continually strive to improve.”

 

I thanked him for his time, but I didn't leave immediately because as I mentioned earlier, I was going to play here. But it was weird and kind of awkward staying in the house of the GM of the opponent.

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

@Quik thoughts?

 

 

Also shout out to @ShawnGlade for his editing!

 

 

(The next VSN article isn't going to be a Blast From The Past, but I know Vancouver Wolves' players will enjoy it)