THURSDAY COMMENTARY – PRESS BOX CONVOS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 & LTD Radio)

You gotta love those press box conversations.

At least, I definitely do.

Picture this: moments before Wednesday night’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Final in Sunrise, FL, I was minding my own business, sitting in my usual seat in the press box at FLA Live Arena.

Lo and behold, you’ll never guess who tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the next seat was available? It was Panthers TV analyst and longtime NHL’er Jeff Chychrun. But the story didn’t end there.

Before opening faceoff, the Ottawa product blurted out, “My Dad’s from Goodeve, Sask! Just outside Melville! We came back out there every summer and we’re all big CFL fans!”

I’m sorry … what?

I’d only met Jeff once in passing before and was pretty sure he had no idea who I was, nor that I’d spent 20 years with the Roughriders.

Apparently he did!

So while the Panthers were building up a 2-0 lead in that first period, Chychrun went on to gush about the CFL, how he had season tickets for the old Rough Riders, later the Renegades, and how he took his son Jacob to the 2004 Grey Cup at Lansdowne featuring BC and Toronto.

Yes, Jacob, the top prize at this year’s NHL Trade Deadline, who spent his first seven NHL seasons with the Arizona Coyotes before being traded to the Senators. We talked a lot about the future of the Coyotes, and the Arizona market.

Perhaps my favourite story of the night was Jeff telling the tale of playing in a charity golf classic in the 90’s in Digby, Nova Scotia and being matched up with Ron Lancaster, Tony Gabriel and famed broadcaster Pat Marsden. Imagine the stories!

I told “Chick” that those guys were just getting out of the CFL when I was getting in but certainly knew them all quite well.

Jeff might’ve played 262 NHL games with the Flyers, Penguins, Kings and Oilers and now be a TV star in South Florida, but the lanky 6’4″ defenceman would look just as comfortable in a ball cap and Wranglers, riding a John Deere 4230 in rural Sask. (A twin of Rouleau’s Bill Aulie, if you will).

And then the Panthers went on to win 4-3 over Carolina, record their first ever series sweep, and are now off to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996.

If it’s true what they say about all your life experiences preparing you and setting you up for the rest of your life, sign me up.

What a ride.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE & Streaming)