The Game They Played

Tony Granato is the oldest of the Granato kids from Downers Grove, Illinois, where the firemen flooded the ball field across the street and the basement games ran Tony and Cammi against Donnie and Robbie, with one rule for Cammi: don't tell mom. Bernie Corbett takes him from a kid in second or third grade wondering why nobody on the Blackhawks was American, through Northwood Prep on the 1980 Olympic ice, Wisconsin, Calgary in 1988, and a letter from the Rangers he assumed every player in the world got.

Tony talks about the trade to Los Angeles that nobody could reach him for, the hotel roommate registered under a fake name who turned out to be Wayne Gretzky, the 1993 run to the Final, the brain surgery in 1996 and the five bonus years in San Jose that followed, the 1997 Masterton Trophy, a 20 dollar bet with Gretzky on an All-Star opening faceoff, why coaching is about relationships and not egos, going back to class at 52 to finish his degree, Cole Caufield, and how he wants the game to remember him.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome to The Game They Played
1:05 Introducing Tony Granato
2:39 Downers Grove and the flooded ball field
4:59 A Blackhawks family
6:36 Basement games with Cammi
8:29 Don't tell mom
10:06 Why no Americans?
12:27 Juniors, naps and Northwood Prep
16:19 Skating on the 1980 Olympic ice
17:32 Wisconsin and Badger Bob
19:43 Hockey schools for vacations
21:18 Calgary 1988 and the Soviet dream team
24:32 The letter from the Rangers
27:29 Ready for the NHL at 23
29:10 Rookie year and Phil Esposito
30:59 1993 with the Kings
35:11 The stick measurement
37:37 Traded at the All-Star break
40:58 Rooming with Gretzky
44:10 What Wayne and Sidney model
46:43 The penalty minutes
49:41 The 1996 injury and the comeback
56:20 Five bonus years in San Jose
57:48 The $20 faceoff with Gretzky
58:58 Coaching: relationships over egos
1:02:35 Back to class at Wisconsin
1:06:18 Cole Caufield
1:09:32 College hockey's new landscape
1:12:39 2026 for American hockey
1:16:00 Health, and two years in remission
1:17:53 How he wants to be remembered
1:19:18 A Pearl Jam rain check

Produced by Andy Bernstein. Show open by Stevie Potter. Hannah Connors on site.

New episodes weekly, in video and audio. https://www.thegametheyplayed.com

John Vanbiesbrouck won the Vezina Trophy with the New York Rangers and was in goal when the Florida Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final. He played 882 NHL games over 20 seasons, with 374 wins and 40 shutouts. This is his full interview with host Bernie Corbett.

John talks about growing up in Detroit with a bricklayer dad from Belgium, plaster masks with his brother Frank, and the forgotten jersey that got the other goalie drafted by mistake. Then come a farm team that folded in Tulsa, Herb Brooks poking him in the gut at 18, and a glass table that cut three tendons and a nerve. John calls his tandem with Mike Richter probably one of the best in Rangers history.

In Florida's Year of the Rat, Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the dressing room, then scored twice. John called it a rat trick. He's now with USA Hockey, and most of the U.S. Olympic men's team came through its National Team Development Program. He and his wife have four sons and eight grandkids, who call him Pops.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome to The Game They Played
0:49 Introducing John Vanbiesbrouck
2:04 Detroit, immigrant parents, and Gordie Howe
5:24 The Gordie Howe bridge
6:03 The Olympia and the old barns
7:02 Brother Frank, the masks, and Giacomin
9:46 Goaltending, least coached to most coached
10:44 Goalies and tough guys
13:34 Little Caesars and the lost jersey
15:58 A walk-on in Sault Ste. Marie
17:58 Drafted by the Rangers, Tulsa folds
21:53 Tennis balls in the parking lot
23:07 Lou Vairo and the 1984 Olympic team
24:42 Herb Brooks and the first call-up
27:52 The 1986 Vezina and the run to the conference final
30:32 The broken jaw and the glass table
33:33 Mike Richter and the Rangers tandem
36:07 Cleon walks in: both 1989 U.S. goalies
37:45 Why New York loves its goalies
38:51 Expansion: first pick of the Florida Panthers
40:57 Bobby Clarke, Bill Torrey, and building from cast-offs
44:24 1996, the Year of the Rat
47:12 Beating Boston, Philly, and Pittsburgh
48:13 Hockey in Florida now
50:10 Third in Conn Smythe voting, the golden era
52:43 Three sweaters at the end
54:26 USA Hockey: the ADM and the NTDP
57:37 The Olympics and the Four Nations
1:00:03 No such thing as a non-traditional market
1:01:52 Goalies in today's game
1:03:10 Pops: four sons, eight grandkids
1:04:25 Sign-off

Hosted by Bernie Corbett. Executive producer: Andy Bernstein. Producer on site: Hannah Connors.

https://www.thegametheyplayed.com

The inaugural episode of The Game They Played. Bernie Corbett sits down with Hockey Hall of Famer Larry Robinson at the Legacy Club of Boston, across the street from TD Garden.

Big Bird grew up milking cows on a dairy farm in Winchester, Ontario, went 20th overall in the 1971 draft behind Guy Lafleur, and became the backbone of the Canadiens dynasty: six Stanley Cups as a player, the 1978 Conn Smythe, a plus-730 career, and four more Cups as a coach and consultant in New Jersey and St. Louis. Ten in all.

Larry talks about the hit that cracked the Forum boards, what made Ken Dryden and Guy Lafleur different, Scotty Bowman's magic number, the night he fought Dave Schultz, leaving Montreal for Los Angeles, the garbage can kick that turned the 2000 Final, the 2019 Blues, thirty years of polo, Lane Hutson, and how he wants to be remembered.

Chapters

0:00 Welcome to The Game They Played
1:03 Introducing Larry Robinson
4:36 The dairy farm in Winchester, Ontario
6:46 Farm work as weight training
10:27 Wanting to be a veterinarian
14:19 Kitchener and the move to defense
16:34 The 1971 draft and Al McNeil in Halifax
18:54 A Blackhawks fan in a Canadiens sweater
22:48 First NHL game and the Bob Nevin hit
26:26 A Stanley Cup as a rookie
28:33 The hit that cracked the Forum boards
32:24 The dynasty and the Big Three
34:28 Guy Lapointe and cherishing every day
35:25 Ken Dryden
38:15 Scotty Bowman's magic number
40:27 Guy Lafleur
42:14 Too Many Men, May 10, 1979
42:55 Officiating and a game of mistakes
46:24 The 1978 Conn Smythe and the Cheevers goal
48:52 Leaving Montreal for Los Angeles
52:20 The injury that ended his career
54:03 Lou Lamoriello and coaching in New Jersey
55:09 Winning the Cup as a head coach
56:55 The garbage can kick
59:24 2019 and the Blues' first Cup
1:04:02 The 1986 Cup and Patrick Roy
1:09:07 Remembering Claude Lemieux
1:10:24 Polo, hockey on horseback
1:15:00 The Adams Division and the Forum
1:19:55 Fighting Dave Schultz
1:25:15 Lane Hutson
1:28:29 Family
1:32:22 How he wants to be remembered

Recorded at the Legacy Club of Boston. Produced by Andy Bernstein. Thanks to Cleon Daskalakis and the Legacy Club.

New episodes weekly, in video and audio. https://www.thegametheyplayed.com