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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Ep. 6: ‘With It or On It’: The Grit Behind Penn State’s Rise feat. Guy Gadowsky
00:48:28
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- [00:00]
David Rutherford
Hello it is Ryan and we could all use an extra bright spot in.
- [00:04]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Our day, couldn't we? Just to make up for things like.
- [00:06]
David Rutherford
Sitting in traffic, doing the dishes, counting your steps.
- [00:09]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
You know, all the mundane stuff.
- [00:10]
David Rutherford
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- [00:28]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
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- [00:31]
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- [02:32]
David Rutherford
Do you know what it takes to get to the Frozen four? Do you know what it takes to come back from being 09 in tournament play? Do you know what it takes to lead your team out of the depths and into the championship bid? Well, guess what? Today Coach Ganduski is going to tell you how that happens. Welcome to the David Rutherford Show. All right, everybody. This is one that has been on my heart in such a huge way. This individual has got to be one of my favorite people. He is one of the best coaches I have ever met in my entire life. I've had the incredible honor of meeting Coach Gadusky through a good friend of mine and a great friend of the Penn state program, Rick DeRosa, who is also a fierce competitor. But, you know, just meeting. Having the opportunity to meet coach and to get to know him and then to watch unbelievable fairy tale season, I just. It's such a privilege and an honor. Coach Gadusky. Welcome to the David Rutherford show, buddy.
- [03:41]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Wow, that's. That's a heck of an introduction. I don't. That's tough to live up to, but thank you very much.
- [03:47]
David Rutherford
I think every day you live up to it, man. I know for sure you do it. Just the way Rick talks about you. I'll never forget, like, the first. The first time we got on the phone, and he's like, you know, and Rick's real kind of chill. He's like, hey, Ruth, uh, you know, you gotta meet Coach Gadz. He's. He's just. He transformed my life. He's one of the most impactful people I've ever met. You just gotta meet, you know, and I'm like. I'm like, for Rick to start talking like that, I was like, oh, I'm all in, man. So, you know, first frozen, four parents, finishing the season ranked at number five, your 400th win this year, multiple All Americans. You know, Coach, when did you know, like, this season was a little bit different or. What about it was. Did you just like, okay, this is going to be a good one?
- [04:41]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Well, not right away, but I got to tell you, if you believe, like, everything's meant to happen, like, the thing with Rick is really interesting. It truly is, because I just found out recently that Michael Murphy was a Penn Stater. I didn't know that. I obviously watched the movie and was unbelievably impressed with him. I certainly have great respect for the military, and so I knew all this and I didn't know he was a Penn Stater. I had no idea. We found out. So we're like, oh, man, we have to do the Murph Challenge as a team. We gotta do it. It's unbelievable. So we set that up when we were doing it, and then that's when we had that set up. Before I talked to Rick, and I talked to Rick, and for those people, I got it. Like, this isn't just a player that played here. Like, Rick Derosa is the. Oh, man. Like, how do you describe. He is the most persevering battle. Like, he. He's a guy that will battle entitlement and arrogance for fun. That kind of guy. Like, I don't know if that describes it, but that. That's what he does. And. And so when we were a new program and we had so many players were like, man, I love Penn State, but I don't. I don't want to lose. Like, I'm not going to go there because I'm going to lose four years. And I, you know, thanks for the offer. We'd love to be at Penn State, but I don't want to lose. I mean, Rick was like, absolutely, bring it on. And he was the one. There was others like him, but he was absolutely the leader. And people know it in terms of, like, we're going to beat everybody. We're going to work harder than everybody. We're going to do it together. We're going to be the ultimate team. We're going to beat these guys that have this, this, this and this. And that was his attitude, and that's what sort of propelled us. So when you talk about the season, when did we know? We didn't know, but we did the MRF Challenge, which was great, and guys loved it. And for whatever reason, we're young. We had some. We had some. We had some gold injury problems. Our top goalie went down. Anyway, we were. We didn't win in nine games.
- [06:40]
David Rutherford
Wow.
- [06:41]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
And. And Rick talked and he said, you know, like, you got to meet Rut now. I. Sorry, I know you don't want to talk about this, but. But what happened was because the Murph Challenge was such a big part of what we were doing, and we were going to play Army. Army hockey at Washington D.C. during the Army Navy football game. And it's a big deal. And our equipment manager made unbelievable jerseys, and we had this whole thing about the Murph Challenge. And then Rick calls and tells me about you, and so I know you don't want to talk about this, but Rut came into our locker room and told the guys exactly about Rut and what made him special. So a lot of guys appointed to that and said, geez, we, you know, we were talking about being a team, but we didn't really. That sort of solidified how important is and what it means. So that was a really big thing for our team. And then we ended up playing Army. We beat them at D.C. and. But since that time, our record was. I mean, I think we lost four games until the Frozen Four. Something just incredible. So when you. I know you asked the question, when did we know? We didn't know. We did not know. We didn't know until. Until we went on a roll and. And all of a sudden in the season, we looked up and said, oh, my God, we speak. We sweep Michigan in the playoffs. We have a chance to go to the fro. To go to the ncaa. So that's. We didn't know until it all came together.
- [08:02]
David Rutherford
Well, what was incredible to me, when you first reached out and you told me that story about doing the mrf. And then obviously, what a lot of people, if you're not familiar with Penn State University, there's a big memorial on Penn State's campus dedicated to Murph. And on it, there's this beautiful Greek saying, and it's with your shield or on it. And that's what King Leonidas wife said to him before the Battle of Thermopylae. And when you told me these guys that they gravitated towards that. And I remember we had had another conversation where you talk or I asked you, what about Penn State hockey? Are you trying to invoke? I mean, you have a long, storied history, you know, playing, you know, my. And I just figured out that I bet you were in San Diego when I was in San Diego. And I think I went to a few games during that time. So I'm just trying to remember if you were there during. When I went. But, you know, you have this incredible. But what more you have is you have this incredible knowledge base of what makes a great hockey player. And you always talk about grit, right? You always talk about that toughness, and I love it. You know, you get all. You get fired up and you start, you know, it's almost like, you know, the veins in your temples start popping out and you're like, this is what it is. Well, what about the toughness on these kids? Like, you know, one of my favorite stories is about Dixon and, you know, him coming out and saying, we're not gonna be neg no more. That. Is that what you're looking for in these guys? And how did they kind of get it triggered in themselves? Like, you know, we need to be tougher. We need to be more positive.
- [09:51]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
All right, true. Well, so, like, here I'm going to show you this because this is that. That was on our jersey when we played army. You know that. And that is with it or want with it or on it. And I think the guys said it, they like it, but you came and told us exactly what it means. That was very impactful. In fact, there was a time when we were going into overtime, and I can't remember which game it was, which overtime game it was. But, you know, Sturtz, one of our coaches, Sturts, he was like, hey, man, if there's ever time to use, you know, with it or on it, this is it. And so that was referenced right before overtime that we obviously won. And it might have been. Yeah, like. Like it was one of the big games in playoffs. We had. We won a few in overtime. So. So, you know, your question was, you know, about grit and how you get guys do it. And I think Rut, like, here's the thing, coaches can say as much as they want, but it's way more important what happens when coaches leave the locker room than what happens when coaches are in it. And think about that, because the guys are with the team, they're together how many hours a day together in locker room where coaches are with them five minutes. So it's really much more important what happens when coaches leave than when they're in there. And. And our leadership group really, really took this to heart with their. On it. And. And one in particular, Carson Dick, who is a Ricky DeRosa type guy, you know, stood up when things were. Were bad when we hadn't won yet in Big ten and said, you know, we are not. I. I'm just. We're refusing to get neg. We're not going to allow anybody to get negative. So heads up, like, we're not going to allow it. So stop being babies. I mean, we're not going to allow it. And. And they talked about this, and it. I mean, it really resonated. And I think there's another thing, though. Along, like, when this sort of happened, we have a women's volleyball team that was really, really good. But what happened to them in the. In the semifinals, they were down two sets to nothing, and they're down 22, 16 games, are up to 25. So they were left for dead. Absolutely 100%. And they came back and won it. And not only did they win that game, they won the national championship a few nights later. And, like, something that's just incredible. Like, incredible. And what happened was when we walked in the locker room after that, I remember the guys, like, they weren't. They weren't just saying, oh, well, they won. That's really cool. They were like, how did they do that? Yeah, like, they were really intrigued. They're like, mentally, how did they do that? And so we brought, you know, we actually brought the women's volleyball coach, coach Katie into to ask her. And so we did that. And her answers very much mirrored what Carson Dick was talking about and what, you know, you're with her, with. With it or on, it really embodied. So because of that, it was extremely impactful. Like, extremely impactful. You just can't talk about that. And for. It happened, all those things came together where everybody was like, oh, my. Like, I'm in. I'm in. I'm totally in. That's the deal.
- [12:56]
David Rutherford
It's really amazing because when you look at the narrative and I've got one of my closest friends out there in the world, Ryan is married to a woman, Marika. And Marika was on one of the two national championship teams for that team back in the day and was, you know, with a different coach then. But. But she talks about the inspiration that can come from little things here and there. And, you know, I think for the women's volleyball, it certainly was the coach's battle with cancer, right? We're not gonna lose for her. And then now you've got your team, like, with it or on it. And so they find these little threads of motivation that seem to, like, go deeper than just, I wanna win. Right. It's much deeper than that idea, you know, when. As you guys. I mean, for me, it was when you started beating. When you beat Michigan State, when they were number one, that was absolutely profound. What was it like after, in the midst of that sequence where you just started, you were knocking down these number one powerhouse teams.
- [14:06]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
I mean, it was obviously enjoyable, and it's why you compete in sports in the first place in team sports, to be together, do something that's really special. But yet at that time, no one, no one thought, oh, boy, we're just going to continue to do this, and we're going to have a chance to make the NCAA tournament at large. No one thought that because we were so far back, so winning was fun and it gave us, hey, we're Going the right direction. We're doing the right things. But it wasn't by no means, was it? Oh, we got it. Like, it wasn't. It was just like, hey, we're together. We're doing right things. Let's just build off it. Like, what can we learn? Let's move on. And I think the very next week, we had another chance. One of the top teams, Minnesota, we beat them. And we took that and didn't say we arrived. We just moved on. So when you ask what it was like, I mean it. I don't think the guys looked at it as, oh, man, yeah, we're here. We got it at all. I don't. I think they just looked at it as, you know what? We're doing the right things. This stuff is real. Let's keep going.
- [15:07]
David Rutherford
Absolutely. And that's my favorite aspect of it. Right. Is when. When a team. It's not about the grandiose nature of the victory itself, where you post on the ranking, right. It's the end goal. It's the end mission. It's the unity, the camaraderie on the team as it gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And, you know, I think for me, where I saw kind of like, my God, they have a shot of this whole thing, you know, was that overtime goal behind the back. I think it became ESPN number one highlight of the day. You're in Allentown. The crowd is going. Like, I felt it through the tv. I saw you on this. You know, my favorite. It was like, when you're beating on your assistant coaches, I just like. Like, it's. You. It's electric. It's. It, like, it makes you feel alive. Can you. Can you describe that. That moment and that time?
- [16:06]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Wow. Well, that. That specifically. So we had some really good victories, obviously, to keep it going. To get to the point where we were able to go to Allentown, you know, that we were able to go to the NCAA tournament was a huge thing for us to start so far back, so that when we went, we just wanted to keep it going. And what happened is we had an unbelievable game against the Hockey east champions, Maine. I think we beat him five, one, maybe something.
- [16:33]
David Rutherford
Can I just interrupt real quick? I just need to tell the audience that that was so. My. My wife was a Division 1 field hockey player at Maine. All I ever hear is Maine hockey, Maine hockey, Maine hockey. This is the first time we ever played Penn State vers game. And I have to just let the audience know we are Penn State. Thank you, Coach Gads. I have a Lifetime of. Of. Of, you know, of pride that I can thrust in her face because you guys beat him five one. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
- [17:04]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
That's awesome. So they are a very good team. They deserve a ton of credit. They were awesome. But we played well and we beat them. And so basically, like, wow. And we go to the next night and we started out on fire. We did really well. And. And for whatever reason, that's sports. It wasn't. We took our eye off the ball. Just like they started to come. They were beating. We came back. Like, we came back and we tied it, and we came back and we tied it and goes into overtime. But we were leaking oil. And I don't even know what the thought process. I don't think it was. Oh, boy, we score, we go. I think the thought process was just do what we've been doing. Just stay together, guys. Stay together, stay positive. It was all sort of about that. All the big lessons that we learned throughout the season was what we were talking about. It might have been there where, you know, sturts. You got a great thing. If there's any time to reference with it or on it, it's now. And that's what happened. And then. And overtime comes, and Charlie Serrato makes an unbelievable behind the back pass to Matt DiMarcico, who. Dede, who. I mean, just an absolute snipe, top corner to win it. And then, I don't know, sort of like Dede, I think all of us just sort of blacked out and went, this is unbelievable. I can't believe we're going to the frozen four. First time in program history. I mean, Dede throws sticks in his stands. He didn't know what happened. The rest of us, like, it was. It was incredible. We never really thought what it would be like if we actually got there. And we did. And it was awesome.
- [18:26]
David Rutherford
That's awesome. Now, you know, you go into those. Those. That game against Boston, and, you know, they're just an amazing, amazing team. And. And you could see, like, just the. The. The fight was still there, but again, you know, you know, hockey is. Is this really. You know, I never got the opportunity to play the game, but I always had a passion for it. And it's. And it's because of that grit. You just see it. You know, you see the way guys are checking each other and they're diving and they're. I mean, I remember there was one point you guys were just like shots after shots and their players were diving in front of pucks, and it was just A battle on the ice. And I, you know, what do you. What do you say when your team. When you're going in between those periods? What were some of the conversations that took place during that time?
- [19:21]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
I think a little different, I guess. There's one thing I should mention about Allentown, which I think really did play a role. It was, you know, we did receive a lot of momentum from the atmosphere there. Like, the Allentown is only about two and a half hours from campus, and we had, I think, what looked like the entire student section came to Allentown. I mean, they. It was basically a home game for us. The atmosphere was incredible. But the. And the students, as you know, at Pugle Ice Cream, they are. They're the best students there is. The best. No, not. No question. And they brought that to Allentown. So when we were leaking oil a little bit, I think we did jump on their back. Like they, they started a roll, and it really brought us up. And obviously, in St. Louis, it's not the same type of thing. It's, you know, 18,000 seat arena or whatever it was. And we certainly did have our fair share of great Penn Staters that show up, but it wasn't like Allentown, where our student section ran the show. So the conversation, I mean, I think the guys left it all out there. I really do. But hockey is interesting, and it was one game shot. There's, you know, there's refs, goalies and bouncing pucks, and a lot of things can happen. We did have our opportunity. We had our, you know, Aiden Fink, who was a Hobie Baker top 10 finalist, had a breakaway to change the game. Dane Dalia, who was the most outstanding player at Allentown Regional, had a breakaway, changed the game. We had two on ones with very excellent offensive players that we didn't cash in on. And sometimes that happens. But the conversations, we really tried to stay the same. Same process. Let's just keep going what we're going. I don't know if we just couldn't get over the hump because Boston is very good, or if we didn't just have that little extra from the, from the atmosphere.
- [21:03]
David Rutherford
I'm not sure what it was regardless of. Of. Of. Of the outcomes. I mean, obviously, you know, you hit your 400 wins this season, and I'm sure it's like, okay, yeah, whatever. I know you. It's like that's a side thing that's not even important, but it really, for me, it's a representation of. Of your grit and your determination and, you know, so I You know, I think what's, what's amazing is, is these, these young men were able to maintain this momentum, you know, and if anybody's never gotten on the ice or even tried hockey, it's one of the most difficult sports to play. It's agonizing. It requires a tremendous amount of strength and conditioning and you know, I mean, just the time and effort to be a great hockey players there. You know, when you, when you see that and you end the season at that space afterwards, what is it that, if you don't mind, and I know these are very personal moments, what were some of the comments that the players shared with one another after that game and subsequently maybe some of the other meetings after? And what were these young men telling each other and sharing with each other? Man, I hope you're enjoying this show, but we gotta give a shout out to one of our great sponsors. It's Firecracker Farms. A good friend of mine, Alex, has the best hot salt on the market. So if you like hot things on your food and you're sick of sauce, go check out Firecracker Farm. Get all their different types and different levels of heat. They've got these beautiful salt shakers that you just spray it on your eggs or your meat every single day. I'm telling you, this is the best thing. It's the number one thing I use on my food day in and day out. So visit Firecracker Farm, punch in Rut Rut 15 for your discount today. Hoo ya. Keep it hot, baby.
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Coach Guy Gadowsky
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- [26:43]
David Rutherford
And what were. What were these. These young men telling each other and sharing with each other?
- [26:48]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Are you talking after the final game or.
- [26:50]
David Rutherford
Yeah, the final game. The final game, yeah.
- [26:52]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
You know, some of the convers. Well, I think, you know, what they were telling themselves, I think had a lot to do with how much they cared about one another. Like, it wasn't about their skill so much. We have a goaltender named Arseny Sergeyev who's a great goaltender, but I can tell you that every conversation about him was just how lovable he is. Like, how much the guys love him because he competes so hard and so much fun. And I think it's not only him. I think that transcends to a lot of guys. I think one of the conversations, I mean that after is, you know, you talk about the success of the program, etc. Like, it all is together thing. And for us, like, for. For big time college athletics now, you need tremendous support. You just do. It's prerequisite. And, and I've been very fortunate to have that through my career. But right now, like, we have an athletic director who's just all in. Like, he's. It's really evident that he has our back in a very Ricky Derosa way. Like, the weird thing is, is they're actually, they might share a brain because when I said about Ricky, like, he looks for standing up to and beating arrogance or entitlement, like, that's Ricky. Like, I think that. All right, Pat Kraft has a lot of that in him. And I think the guys felt. And he's a really good. He would come in our locker room too, and like, he really was all into these guys and the guys knew it, so they felt his emotional support. But it also, it's very evident that from an administrative level, and that's what I'm talking about. Prerequisite. Like, Penn State supports its student athletes at the highest level. And I think they felt that and I think that was part of, like, this is awesome. We're in the right place. Like, this is. We pull together. We can do this because we've got all the support. So I think it was about loving each other, like, how much they cared for each other and how fortunate we are to be where we're at with the support that we have.
- [28:48]
David Rutherford
Yeah, I mean, I've. Obviously, I'm partial because I went there and I played there, but. But, you know, having Dr. Kraft come in and what I've watched and what he's done and, you know, there he is on, you know, on the wrestling match, screaming, you know, when they're winning a national champ, there he is, you know, in football and, you know, champion, you know, champion. You know, the. You know, semi. Champion, you know, semi. The semifinal game. And there he is, you know, in the volleyball court, and there he is with you guys, you know, and it's just like, you finally see somebody who is so invested in these young kids and wants to provide them with the greatest experience there is as a student athlete and as a Penn Stater. That's what the Penn State family means.
- [29:41]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
You know what? I gotta interrupt there because you might. I wonder if you've seen this, because what you just talked about, there's this little video that encompasses all that. And I talked about our cinema. It was after we won in overtime in Allentown to go to the frozen four. And there was this shot of Dr. Kraft congratulating Arcee. But it wasn't like a congratulations. It was more like a. I mean, it was cool. Like, it was really genuine emotion. Like, it was awesome. And you see that. And I can tell you our scene certainly felt. Feels a lot of love from his team and our program, but now he feels it from the entire athletic part. And because of what Dr. Kraft represents, all of Penn State, like, that moment, I think, for RC was just. It made him a Penn Stater for life. I promise you that. Like, it was just awesome stuff. And when you talk about the difference of Penn State, there is a difference. And I thought that little, like 2 second, 3 second video and, you know, sort of encapsulated all of that.
- [30:47]
David Rutherford
Amen to that. All right. You have just accomplished something that hasn't happened in the program's history. But yet, when you look at the advancements and, you know, you keep advancing this program to such a high degree, what does it look like in the future? Where do you go now? Obviously, I, you know, you would. I watched one interview where you Talked about what Mr. Pegula's intention was, which was to drive, you know, Penn State to become a premier program, to bring Penn State, you know, Pennsylvania hockey players, regional hockey players into the program. What does that look like for you guys right now? And moving forward.
- [31:27]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Correct. And that is a big part of his vision wasn't just for Division 1 program, to get a Division 1 hockey team at Penn State. It wasn't. He really talked about being a catalyst to improve the profile and the quality of hockey in Pennsylvania. And I think he's done that. Like, I really think he's starting to get exactly what he wanted. And it didn't happen right away. I think this is a great step. The fact that Penn State went to the Frozen four, I think really shows that he was right, that it would happen. A lot of people said, you know, you're nuts. I think proves he was right. And where we go from here is really to continue on the path. Like, it's awesome. The winning is great, but our job, like, we're not here, we're not saying, like, it's all about winning. It's not. And I mean, to be honest, Rut, like, I used to think that I got to be honest with you, like I did. I used to when I was a little younger Coach, like, I thought that's all my job was. Like, that's. I do my job and the rest take care is itself. And in fact, it's almost completely opposite. It's. Our job is to prepare these hockey student athletes that we get for success in life. That's the honest truth. And it's obviously going to include hockey. And through hockey, we're going to learn those things. But it's not for us to win. It's for us to prepare them, give them lessons, give them the support, like I talked about, athletic department, give them everything they need to be successful, and then allow them to learn those lessons along the way that they're going to apply later on in life. And for many of them, it's going to mean hockey as well. But I'm talking about after that, like, if you can imagine the lesson about really staying positive together. Like, you can talk and read all you want, but you go through it and you prove to yourself that that is real. I mean, that's something that sticks with you well beyond hockey or sports. I mean, that's something that you're going to learn, use with any business 20 years from now, your family, 20, 25 forever. And that's a really important thing. So when I say, where are we going? We're just going to continue to fight to do all we can to prepare our. Our guys that we have that we've been blessed enough to have. Our guys. We're going to do everything to prepare them for success in life. And we do that. Success and wins follow. So it's not about winning. It's about doing what it takes to be the best person you can and winning will follow. That's what we do.
- [33:53]
David Rutherford
Man. Coach, when you speak and you talk like that, man, it's just I realized that, you know, you are the real deal. And the other thing that really was incredibly moving to me this year in this whole thing was, you know, I mean, I think, you know, that, that, that first time I came in and you know, you guys were playing army and your son was at army and as you know, an all American, first team all American. He's one of the best players I've ever seen. He's a defense, you know, he's just. He's a machine on. He' beast. Well, he has decided to give up a commission serving in the US Military to come and play with you. I don't even know how I would even handle that, but tell me what that feels like that your son who is already out there moving towards this impressive place. But he says, you know what? My dad is such a phenomenal coach. He has built such a phenomenal group of young men. They are becoming the type of young men that I want to become. So I want to go play for him. Talk about that for just a little bit, if you could.
- [35:10]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Well, I don't know if it is. Quite honestly, it's not him wanting to play for his dad by any means and it's not me wanting to coach him. And that's the truth. I'm extremely. I don't know how much like I have extreme respect for the military. Extreme. I went through a couple extreme experiences starting from Alaska that had a love for it. Anyway, one of my most proud moments was him being admitted to West Point. And when he went there, there was at the time there was rules in place in the governmental that these cadets could go play pro. And then the first service and that was a big. It was important to him because he's always had a dream to play professionally. But so anyway, he went to West Point and had the absolute. I think they will be the two best years of his entire life. No matter what happens from now on, I guarant it. I am and I'm positive they will be the two most impactful. His coaches are unbelievable. His team was unbelievable. You talk about a brotherhood and like he's got it and he loves that and he loves his team and he's loved West Point and the decision to do this was. I got it was extremely difficult for him and he knew for two years that it would be coming because he again I said he had this goal to play play pro. He wanted to the rules just as he was going into beast training changed.
- [36:27]
David Rutherford
Oh, wow.
- [36:28]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Yeah. And so right now as it is, it's not guaranteed that these players are able to go. Now they're trying to change it back and I really hope they do because there's so many great cadets that I think they get. They want the opportunity, they want to serve for sure, but they want the opportunity to try go play pro, live out their dream first. So anyway, that's what happened. He had the, he had to make a choice. Ultimately he was like, I want to follow my dream. I want to play. And he had such a good season that, that he was starting to get attention from NHL teams that made it his dream almost more real. And ultimately he decided, okay, I want to go somewhere where I know I can follow that. So it wasn't, I want to go to Penn State to play for my dad. But what happened in the meantime is our, you know, our coaches are saying, look, like we need, we need a defenseman. And he is right now, like, we can't play against him. Like, let's do this. And so it really, it wasn't. I think now that it happened, I think I feel extremely blessed that I'm going to get the opportunity to spend more time with him because he's been from home since he was 14 years old. So this is a real blessing and that I'm extremely grateful for. But it wasn't. I want to coach my son. It just so happened that the need that we had. He's, as you mentioned, he's an all American and hobby top 10. Like, I do not want to play against him, I'll tell you that.
- [37:48]
David Rutherford
You're awesome. Thank you for that humble response. Well, Coach, again, I just, you've been. One of you played a major role in me reshaping what I know is a great coach and a great leader and it's, you know, and yes, it is your tactical proficiency, it's your knowledge of this beautiful game. But more so it's what you. The space you provide for these young men to become the men they want to be in order to have the experience that they had this year. And to all your team and those young men, just please share how proud I am of them and what I witnessed this year was one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. To be able to watch these tough, tough young men achieve something that nobody thought they could do, it was brilliant. So, you know, thank you, sir.
- [38:47]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Well, that's very kind. I appreciate that. I know you asked me not to talk about this, but I have to because I feel really they did. They came together in a really tough way. And honestly, to have, you know, the guy that trained Michael Murphy and what it meant to like, that was really impactful to us. So I appreciate what you said. But I have to. Honestly, I have to thank you. I know you asked me not to talk about it, but if we're going to tell the true story, that was very impactful for our team. So it's funny how things happen.
- [39:17]
David Rutherford
Amen. It is. Well, Coach, God bless you and hope to see you soon. Man, have a great off season.
- [39:24]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
You got it. Thank you very much.
- [39:29]
David Rutherford
How does a person develop mental and physical toughness? And then how do they take that and try and invest it in other people and develop that in people that they're kind of passing it on to?
- [39:47]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
All right. Well, I'm going to try and answer this question. I think physical toughness is extremely important. There's different ways to do that. I think it's important to do that. However, the mental toughness aspect of it, I think is more important. And you talked about your award, the Fire in the Gut award. I think it's similar to something we do. And here's the deal. When everything is going well, you have a lot of guys that lead, that are comfortable leading, that have fun leading, and are positive. Okay. It's my experience that when things aren't going well, not only not going, I mean, really bad, when things are going bad, then you find out who really has fire in the gut. Because it's very different to lead when things are terrible and do it in a positive way. Because if you do it negatively and this and this point, fingers like it can get worse in a hurry. So when you say, how do you develop it?
- [40:47]
David Rutherford
If you want to hear the rest of this incredible follow on interview with Coach Gadusky, please go to our Patreon account, avidrutherfordshow. Join with a small subscription of $2 a month and you will hear the rest of this plus other incredible dedicated content. But the big news that we're gonna announce right now on this show is on May 31, I'm going to deliver a motivational event with follow on Q and A for our subscribers and where I'm going to introduce. What is motivation? Where does it come from, and how do we employ it in our lives? So don't miss it. Join our Patreon account@David RutherfordShow for our live event and the follow on discussion with Coach Gadowski.
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Coach Guy Gadowsky
Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long?
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- [45:11]
David Rutherford
Well, after you spend a little bit of time listening to Coach Gadusky and you listen to what these young men went through during this incredible season. If you're anything like me, you that. That hits you down deep, right? It hits you in the place that, that, that lifts us up, right? It hits us in the place that the negative insurgency can't reach. It hits us in that space where in the midst of a tough day, or we're going through hardship or we're struggling in our lives, we hear a story like that. A story about the underdog pulling up out of the depths of defeat and coming back and doing something that nobody thought they could do. Those are the stories that we need more of in this life. Now, what's interesting is so often nowadays, as people are consumed with the negative aspects of what's in their feed over and over, or in the pretend world of the veneer of fabricated luxury or fabricated joy or whatever that is as well. Well, we all know that underneath everybody's story, there's hardship, there's pain, and in particular for this story itself. And although I was humbled by what Coach Gad said and the role I played, I'm here to tell you it's not what you think it was. I was introduced from my good friend Rick DeRosa, who is one of the best human beings I've ever met in my entire life. I just. I love you, Rick. I love what you represent. I love who you are. And by the way, Rick came, you know, got recruited by Coach Gads. He was going to go play at Princeton. I mean, and Coach got the job to take Penn State hockey from a club team to a Division 1 Big Ten team. And Rick came on as a freshman and then finished four years later as a captain of the team and won a Big Ten champions, right? And that, you know, obviously there were many other players that supported that, but Rick was the heartbeat of that. And so when Rick came to me and said, man, you gotta meet this coach. You gotta. You gotta. He's really wonderful. And, you know, like I said, you know, these first times we were able to communicate were really impactful to me because he was like the old school coaches I had growing up, right? Those coaches from the 70s and the 80s who, you know, talking. He'd be like this. And his tooth would be missing there, and it'd be. And he'd be like, you know, Rod, I want to teach these kids, you know, how to have that grit, that fight. I want him to go out there and I want him to put a guy into the board, and I want him to fight for the. You know, And I'm like, holy cow. Like, give me some skates, man. And I want to get on there, right, Jordy? I mean, it's that feeling, like, you feel it come off people. You felt that before, haven't you? You.
- [48:26]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Oh, absolutely, yeah. That's a long story.
- [48:29]
David Rutherford
I had a.
- [48:30]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Not quite the same thing, but I had a drumline coach. Have you ever seen the movie Whiplash?
- [48:35]
David Rutherford
Yeah. Wonderful movie.
- [48:37]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
I had that guy as my. My coach in that. So that was.
- [48:42]
GoDaddy Representative
It was interesting.
- [48:43]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
I got a little flavor of it.
- [48:44]
David Rutherford
There you go. And so you. You have that. He hits me, and then he's. Then he tells me the story. Listen, we're going to go play Army. It's the weekend of the Army Navy game, which is a monster deal, right? And we're gonna play army and we're gonna. But there's this whole thing going on. I'm like, what's up? And he tells me this story about how the team has committed themselves to this beautiful inscription on Michael Murphy's memorial at Penn State. And as he mentioned, I had the real honor and privilege to play some minute little role in Mike Murphy's life. I was an SQT instructor when. And Danny and Marcus and some of the other guys a part of Red Wings. And for me, it wasn't like, oh, look at me. I trained him. And it's nothing like that. But for me, what I was so inspired by was that they took this story, this underdog story, and they wanted to fuse it in to help build them the culture of their team, because that's what it is. I mean, that's what it always is, right? It's never this one individual. It's the culture that emerges out of those gritty individuals coming together and infusing the idea together. And so on this beautiful memorial to pay tribute to Mike, it says with your shield or on it? And that's the famous quote that King Leonidas, wife the queen of Sparta, shared with him as he and the 300 Spartans marched off to face the Persians at the. At the hot gates, and 2,500 Athenians with them. But it was this core of 300 that were marching to their certain deaths to face this army the size of which most people had never dreamed or seen of in their lives. And they stood hard for three days at the Hot Gates and stood their ground until they were all annihilated. And. And so here are these young college kids. And so for all you people out there that thinks this younger generation isn't worth a damn, you gotta check yourself on that. That's ridiculous, man. Yeah, there are some kids who are struggling. There are some kids that have been indoctrinated into things that maybe aren't benefiting them on a deeper level. But there are literally millions of kids out there that are doing the right things, putting themselves in the right moments in order to. To find that fusion point, to drive them forward, to become something that they always dreamed that they would become. And if you know anything about hockey, this does not happen your freshman year of high school. Man. Hockey is something that starts very early on in a young person's life. And it's like this infection, right? Why else would you want to get in a freezy, cold arena? You're on skates, you can barely move, and you skate as fast as you can at long time, long periods, and then you drive people into the boards and you fight each other. I mean, you gotta be a little bit mental to want to play the sport. And that's why I have so much respect for it. So these kids, from a very early age, they drive themselves. And so as I came into this, and mind you, the Big Ten Hockey conference is one of the most dominant conferences there is. And I know I kind of joked about Maine. Maine's a phenomenal. So is BU and all these other incredible programs out there. But the Big Ten has really been a juggernaut in college hockey for a long, long period. So this is what they're up against. And they took this idea, and it's not just the idea of the Battle of Thermopylae, and it's the idea behind. It's the idea behind Mike Murphy and the story of what took place in Red Wings and that he sacrificed himself for his teammates. And that's a powerful thing to allow that to hit you in your heart. It's a powerful thing to allow another person's sacrifice, another person's pain, another person's dedication to something that's bigger than themselves to trigger that thing in your heart. It really is a powerful, powerful moment. And I've been blessed to have many of those in my life. And that's what I try and instill. And so when I did show up for this, it wasn't at all about, hey, listen to rudder frog logic or anything about it, but I wanted to tie them to the person. I wanted to somehow let them connect to these ideas, you know. But I also told the story of Mike Mansour, who jumped on a grenade to save his buddy's lives. I told the story of Mike Thornton, who saved his lieutenant and several other South Vietnamese guys in this insane battle against a hugely superior force. And I told the story of the lieutenant who Mike Thornton saved, which was Tommy Norris, who he won a Medal of Honor doing this personnel recovery of these two pilots that was even more crazy than then these other ones. So all of these stories that I use to help connect kind of that underdog mentality, but it's to the construct of sacrifice for a bigger purpose, a bigger cause. And that was the thing that I was trying to imbue in these young men. And then they. At that point, and it wasn't me, it was them coming together and recognizing the power of the story, the power of that ability to connect to something that's bigger than yourself. And then they took that and they ran with it. And it's really just a remarkable thing. Every time I would watch or listen to these young men being interviewed and pay attention and what they did and how far they took this program that's relatively new, it really was somewhat of a miracle. Now, again, you know, every time you mention the word miracle in hockey, there's an automatic reflection of the 1980 Olympic hockey game where a bunch of college kids beat Russia for the gold medal, or actually for the semi, and then went on to win the gold. And what about that movie? And I reference that movie quite a bit. And I did have an opportunity on my old show that I did with Marcus. We interviewed the goalkeeper for that, which was amazing. But, you know, my favorite scene in that movie, you know, in the story is when, you know, they play Sweden, I think they fail bat miserably, and then the coach gets them on the line. You remember watching that movie, Jordy, right, where they're doing the suicides back and forth. And they're vomiting, right? And they're vomiting on the ice, and, you know they're dying. And, you know, some of the assistant coaches are like, hey, coach, isn't that enough? And he's like, no. And he keeps them going. And then there's the famous line like, you're not doing this for the name that's on the back of the jersey. You're doing it what's on the front, which was usa. And I think the embodiment of all of this that I'm trying to get you to understand is that we're all underdogs in some context. We're all struggling to achieve a greater. A greater meaning. And all I hope that you're going to pull out of this interview is that the greater meaning is when you sacrifice so that someone else succeeds. I mean, that's the thing. That's the whole criteria of this whole story, and the story of Miracle on Ice and the story of Mike Murphy and the story of the underdog is that. That it's the fire that comes out of you, the thing inside your heart and your soul, whatever that is, whatever you believe it is, that ignites. And then you put forth an effort that you never dreamed was possible, but not for the victory for yourself, but more importantly, you sacrifice so that your team or teammates or the people that you love most, that they achieve their victory. So I just really am grateful. I'm honored that Coach Gadz would come on and share this story of these incredible young men. And I just. I feel very blessed today, in this moment. We are.
- [58:00]
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Coach Guy Gadowsky
Business management software is like fertilizer, the way it promotes growth and all. But other people say Odoo is like.
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Lenovo Representative
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Coach Guy Gadowsky
Your company and is also magically affordable.
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Lenovo Representative
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Coach Guy Gadowsky
Like building blocks. Well, Odoo is all of these things.
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- [60:28]
Coach Guy Gadowsky
Ugh. Come on.
- [60:29]
United Van Lines Representative
Why is this taking so long?
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GoDaddy Representative
This thing is ancient.
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Lenovo Representative
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United Van Lines Representative
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Lenovo Representative
Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search@lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processor so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.