And how special is it for you to get back to the playoffs with this franchise?

Oh, it's spectacular, man.

I've been dreaming of it for a long time, and even though I had to kind of put some of those dreams in the closet for a little bit while I made my little hiatus over in Hamilton, it's super special, man.

Like, I'm just so proud of this group, so proud of this city, and so proud of the club in general that we've been able to rally and find the answers and, yeah, punch our ticket to the postseason, and we just want to do right by everyone and do a good job along the way, so...

How special is that?

Perfect.

reach it yeah no it's it's fantastic we're loving it we're gonna keep riding the wave and when adversity comes we're gonna rally around that too so it's gonna be tons of fun we're just so we're we're elated to see how this group has come together and we're excited to see where it goes

And how special is it for you to get back to the playoffs with this franchise?

Oh, it's spectacular, man.

I've been dreaming of it for a long time, and even though I had to kind of put some of those dreams in the closet for a little bit while I made my little hiatus over in Hamilton, it's super special, man.

Like, I'm just so proud of this group, so proud of the city, and so proud of the club in general that we've been able to rally and find the answers and, yeah, punch our ticket to the postseason, and we just want to do right by everyone and do a good job along the way, so...

How special is that?

Preach it.

Yeah, no, it's fantastic.

We're loving it.

So he was...

I would say my percentage guests is like easily 70% done with smile.

And by the time good vibrations comes out in October of 66, the beach boys in touring have come back and they've lent their vocals to whatever Brian has at that point.

And it's coming along.

Great.

I mean, it's, it's that album is moving right along.

And then they, you know, somebody stops them and says, Brian, The label needs another single from you.

How many times did you talk with Brian and what were those interactions like?

Is it inevitable that they wouldn't have the same resources that larger towns would? Or why do you think there's this focus shifting away from rural health care?

I mean, a portion of it is the declining funding at the federal and state levels for rural health care, for health care broadly.

That's certainly part of it.

I don't want to say it's inevitable, though.

And the reason I don't want to say it's inevitable is that it becomes way too easy for us to console ourselves and say, well, a town of 1800 couldn't possibly support those kinds of services.

But what's the cutoff point? A town of 5000? A town of 10,000? At what point will...

the austerity measures which are slowly eroding rural health care begin to erode the health care that we see in the larger cities on the Iron Range, perhaps even in a city the size of Duluth.

Could people sign up to to provide transportation or how can people get involved?

Could you tell us about this center and, and what that loss might mean on top of a clinic closure?

Yeah.

So the county is removing its permanent office in town.

Uh, they're leasing a small space in one of the local nonprofits where they'll offer a fraction of the services.

But instead of having drop-in availability, it will be by appointment.

Or you ...

There will be a Dropbox.

Hmm

What do you remember about draft day?

Well, uh, I was living downtown here in Edmonton, and, uh, honest- like, honestly, I wasn't expecting to get drafted very high.

Um, it was kind of one of those things I was just hoping to get drafted at all, and, uh, I knew this, um, sparing the story, it was, um, going into the draft, uh, there were some challenges that, well, just some medical challenges.

I'd broken my thumb, or my wrist, sorry, at the end of my college career, and so combine kind of got interrupted, and my draft currency kind of went down a little bit.

And, um, so I was just hoping to get drafted at all.

I, I wasn't able to participate in the combine, and, and so just wanted to get a, get a chance, and when they called my name in the second round here for Edmonton, I was beyond thrilled.

I couldn't, couldn't hardly believe it and just super excited.

It took a while for it to break down, and it's gonna take a while for it to build back again, right?

But do you feel like there's been some momentum carryover from the continuity of having a similar group of guys and knowing what to expect with the coaching staff and that sort of thing coming into this year that's maybe helped you get off on the right foot?

Yeah, there's no question there.

You know, I remember talking about it a little bit last year.

I said the name of the game is trying to get on the same page as fast as we possibly could with a bunch of new staff and players coming in in the last year's free agency.

And it took longer than we wanted to.

And to your point, obviously things split up towards the end of the year.

But it sure is a nice deal to have the continuity and then bring in some high-quality players as well.

So what has it been like building chemistry on that front and, you know, the communication side of things and trying to shore up some holes and the pass protection all at the same time? What's it been like with the chemistry there?

is that the difference in the fourth quarter now is just you're finding those plays when you need them were in the past? those plays wouldn't be there for you.

Yeah, you know what? I think it's the team growing together.

You can't be undervalued the amount of value you can put on chemistry and working together for an extended period of time.

And so I think we're starting to see some of those rewards.

And I was commenting earlier in the week that it's a treat to be able to know how much yet we can still polish and how many correctables there are, and yet we're still finding a way to put it together when it counts.

So it is something to be proud of as a team and something that we want to – cling to in those harder moments and then be able to rise above for the rest of it.

What have you made on the growth of other players?

Yeah, I mean, that's a bit of a loaded question.

Uh, c- could you give us an example of, uh, of maybe an instance where Brian surprised you? Like, you're, you're surprised at, at, at a great, insightful answer that, uh, that he provided you.

Oops.

Um, well, the Pet Sounds interview I, I found to be really, uh, great.

I was so, uh, won- I was, I was wonderfully surprised that he was willing to respond to the question about, after I had asked Tony Asher, 'cause I did a great, uh, a wonderful video series, En- uh, Endless Sky, with Chris Allen, uh, back in 2005, and we were able to go to Tony's house and sit in his backyard and interview him.

And I never put that interview in print, and what surpris- surprised me in that moment in May of 2005 with Tony was I asked him, you know- Pet Sounds is this album that everybody says who, who loves that record, when they listen to it they know who Brian Wilson is.

But you wrote most of the lyrics, so is it fair to say that they would know you? And he said, [laughs] "Nobody's ever asked me that question before." This is in 2005.

The record came out in '66, and I'm sitting there going, "How is that possible?" Well, y- again, and I asked it from the perspective of the human being, the human condition.

[laughs]

when you looked at the Elks a little bit over the last few years, did you sense that a little bit looking at the Elks or hearing that from other people? And do you think that that has changed over the last year?

Yeah.

I mean, I can only speak from experience.

Um, when I got to Edmonton back in 2015, um, there was a, a nasty high quality community culture that was here.

And, um, there was ebbs and flows and I'm not like, I'm not going to say that it just was downhill from there, that it was, um, things absolutely exploded.

Yes.

There's some definitely some blemishes, um, over the years, but, uh, There is a flagship aura around the club that has been over the last, whatever, 20, 30 years, and it's kind of just not been there lately.

you have a favorite moment from