Smyth and Fogolin Discuss the Oilers Hall of Fame

Last night Lee Fogolin and Ryan Smyth were inducted into the newly formed Edmonton Oilers Hall of Fame. It was an incredibly humbling experience for both men. I was lucky enough to attend the luncheon, the pre-game ceremony and the after-game festivities in the player’s lounge.

I had a great visit with Lee and his wife Carol. They knew each other in high school, and Carol proudly boasted she was a senior and he was a junior, so they were just friends then. But a few years later, they happened to run into each other at a bar. She had to work the next morning at 6 a.m. and didn’t want to go, but her friends told her they’d stop in for a quick one. Her and Lee ended up talking until 3 a.m. and he called her the next day and asked her out for dinner. The rest is history. She was very happy and proud to see her husband inducted into the Oilers Hall of Fame last night.

Lee is a very quiet and humble man. But he was a ferocious competitor and well respected by his teammates. Carol shared with me that Wayne Gretzky called Lee on Wednesday and they had a long chat. “Both of them were crying by the end,” she smiled. “This means so much to Lee and his teammates. It was wonderful.”

Lee kept telling me how honoured and humbled he was. He was also very excited about how many letters he received from players he coached in minor hockey. They told him what a great coach and mentor he was, and they were all proud to see their coach be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Lee was incredibly happy to hear from them and how well they were doing. Former NHLer, and current Washington Capitals scout Brian Sutherby flew in to see his former minor hockey coach get inducted. Another of Lee’s former players, Reid Nichol, gave me a letter he wrote to Lee and asked me to deliver it. I passed it on to Lee on Wednesday, and last night at the post-game celebration he raved about it and the other letters he had received. He was so happy to read how his players are doing. He is excited to reach out to them and catch up.

This moment met so much to him on many levels. It was great to see.

I’ve gotten to know Ryan and Stacey Smyth quite well the past few years. I sat with them for the luncheon and Stacey told me all about their 17-acre farm outside Nashville. They have horses, chickens, a huge garden and she is getting a few milk cows when they return. “We lived my dream for many years, and now we are living Stacey’s,” Ryan smiled.  Stacey is the hands-on farmer, she says, while her husband drives the tractor and does lots of the grunt work. But she’s in charge of the animals and the garden.

Their children Isabella, Elisabeth, Alexander and Gabrielle were all in attendance. Gabrielle, the youngest, doesn’t remember much of Edmonton as she only lived here a few years, and she was quite surprised “people want to hear Daddy speak,” smiled Stacey. Alex plays hockey, and the Smyth’s were flying to Chicago today to meet up with Alex’s hockey team for a tournament. Isabella runs a hockey academy, and Ryan is her employee. The players range in age from 6-18. Some are just learning hockey, while others play on rep teams. Hockey is really growing in the Nashville/Tennesee area, and Isabella is loving helping kids fall in love with the game and improve their skills.

I sat down with Ryan on Wednesday to discuss his upcoming induction, and his time with the Oilers.

Ryan Smyth: I’m pretty honoured. I never would have expected it to come to this but, [I’m] very humbled through this situation. To be going in with Lee Fogolin makes it even more special.

As we heard today with the press conference and with the stories he tells and how exciting it was for me to listen to because I grew up loving the Oilers and wanting to be an Oiler and now I’m a Hall of Famer. It is amazing.

Smyth: Oh, most definitely. I mean jeez, the stories that these guys can tell for days, and I would be sitting on that TV watching, and now to see it from this side of it is kind of special.

[Being] A kid from Banff, Glen Sather is from Banff, Barry Stafford is from Banff, there is a little bit of a connection of the Banff side of things, but overall, Alberta boy, I want to clarify, [Paul] Coffey had said something up there about being a Calgary Flames fan. I was NOT. I was an Oilers fan through and through (laughs).

Smyth: No, I haven’t. Early on, I thought that I did, but I’m glad that I did step away. I think it gives me more time to process and think things through. I’m really content right now and happy being in Nashville. We have a farm; we’ve got some animals. I still coach my son. I work for my daughter now. That seems weird, but she runs a sports academy. So, there are a lot of great things happening right now. I still haven’t processed that next level stuff yet.

Smyth: Well, I was up this morning, early, reading through my script just to see if I can get through it. I’m an emotional guy, like you said. So we’ll see. I mean at the end of the day, I wear my heart on my sleeve, I’m emotional, I’m a passionate guy and it’s about the fans here and I just want to pass it on to somebody else that can be touched.

Smyth: (Laughs) I would like to say both, but…they talked about Dave Semenko, and how fans respected him, and I know Kevin [Lowe] mentioned that and the blue-collar town. To me, I just wanted to leave it all out that. It would be an honour to be in that category with him from that side of things. At the end of the day, I just wanted to do what I could for the organization, for my teammates, and it was hard at times, but there were times that you would find yourself cheating the game, and it’s like no, you’ve got to get back to playing simple, playing the right way. And now it’s trying to pass on to my son and his teammates and stuff like that. So, yeah, I resonated really well with fans. I felt like I knew every single fan and obviously I didn’t, but I appreciated what they recognized and I’m very thankful.

Smyth: Yeah, I mean… you don’t feel the intensity of it all until obviously the last game when I retired and how every fan was pretty much out of their seat and very appreciative of what I had accomplished. But when you’re in the thick of it, you’re just another player playing as hard as you can for your team. But it was very humbling.

Smyth: Oh for sure! I mean, especially if you are around the city. I mean everything is going well and everyone is talking like, ‘Oh yeah what do you think of these guys’ and this and that.

When the going gets tough you find out who people are and people do care about the Oilers, especially here in the city. They want the next thing and that’s winning the Cup, and they’re not too far off. These boys, obviously I saw a game last night, and I’ve watched them for the start of this year and the playoff run last year. It’s special to watch McDavid, Draisaitl, but guys like Nuge, Nuge is finding his way. I know he’s already 10 plus years in the league and he’s a guy that is counted on, but he’s under the radar because of these other two or three guys who are shining. It’s great for the organization, and great for players like him.

Smyth: Yeah, I’m not quite as fast as he was, or is. He’s not afraid to go to those tough areas. I like how he competes, he does it all. He plays well in his own zone, can score, which is great. I mean I was saying to a buddy yesterday, if I could just go to the net with my stick on the ice I would probably get a few with these guys throwing the puck at me. But I’ll tell you, McDavid, Draisaitl, they make players around them better, and Hyman is one of those players.

Smyth: His poise. His vision. He is such a great passing. Obviously, his backhanded passing is phenomenal. But just his poise and his puck protection, he’s strong, but he also can skate. But he slows the game down to his level and then can pick it up just like that. I think that he is dynamic from different speeds.

Smyth: There was always this one, when we would drive to the rink. It was on Yellowhead, and you come off of Yellowhead and you turn onto Wayne Gretzky drive and you see the city. You see Northlands, or Rexall at that time, and then you see Commonwealth stadium, and to me, it was just special coming up there. I got to drive that most days, for practice and games. Sometimes twice a day and somebody ended up painting me a canvas of it. And it was huge. I can’t wait to put it up, I don’t have the space for it right at this moment, but that to me, was the City of Champions. And it emulated not only from the hockey standpoint, but football too.

Smyth: Very blessed, very fortunate to play as long as I did. Fourteen, almost fifteen years here. I tried to lay it all out there every night. Some days it was harder than others, but it was a ride I’ll never forget, and it was something that I cherish. God gave me a great gift and a talent to be passionate too. To play with poise and excitement on a daily basis so I was very fortunate to play for as long as I did.

Smyth: Thanks Gregs. Thank you, the committee, the Oilers and the fans. It means more than I can describe.