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The Lead

The Friendship That Changed An NHL Superstar And A Rock Legend

The Lead

Wondery

Cfb, Uefa, Mls, Ncaa, Daily News, Olympics, The Athletic, Sports New, Sports, Sports News, Nfl, Nba, Tokyo2020, Wnba, Fifa, Nhl, Cbb, Mlb, News

3.92.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During this year's NHL playoffs, a lot of people had been rooting for veteran Toronto Maple Leafs forward (and noted nice guy) Joe Thornton. At age 41, the former #1 overall pick had been striving to win the first Stanley Cup of his long and storied career before the Leafs were eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night. But what many people don’t know is that, for years, Thornton maintained a close relationship with a transcendent Canadian rock star: the late lead singer of The Tragically Hip, Gord Downie. Josh Kloke first broke the details of their unlikely friendship, and he joins us today to explain how the hockey superstar and the rock and roll icon saw similarities in their respective art forms and drew inspiration from one another right up until the end of Downie's life.

Read Joshua Kloke's story about Joe Thornton and Gord Downie:

https://theathletic.com/2542210/2021/04/28/joe-thornton-and-gord-downie-inside-a-friendship-that-changed-a-hockey-star-and-inspired-a-music-legend/

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:07.0

Hi there, Wondry listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Redhanded.

0:11.0

Your favourite podcast Redhanded. We just wanted to say how excited we are to be included in Amazon Music

0:16.0

and Wondry's best podcasts of the year as chosen by their listeners, which is you.

0:21.0

So thank you so much to everyone who listened to us voted for us, all the things you do for us.

0:26.0

Any of you out there who haven't checked out Redhanded, what are you doing? What are you waiting for?

0:31.0

It's a weekly show where we deep dive into the most talked about cases like the Delphi murders

0:35.0

and also those you might never have heard of like the Nathari child sacrifices in Delhi.

0:40.0

Go listen to Redhanded right now on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:46.0

Wondry.

0:53.0

Blue again for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians are heading for Wondry's peg for the second round.

1:01.0

On Monday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs experienced an epic collapse in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

1:07.0

And that means among other things that the team's oldest player, 41-year-old forward Joe Thornton,

1:12.0

will now have to contemplate whether or not to come back next season for one more shot at a Stanley Cup.

1:19.0

Creper Out Stores, Joe Thornton with the long reach and he has tied it, the oldest player ever to score in Maple Leaf history.

1:28.0

The athletics Josh Cloak recently wrote about a relationship that might help shed some light on the subject.

1:33.0

An unlikely friendship between Thornton and a Canadian rock legend.

1:38.0

Josh joins us today to explain how the hockey superstar and the music icon formed a bond and drew inspiration from one another right up until the very end.

1:47.0

Joe looks at Gord and sees his relentless work ethic seize the fact that you know into his final years he was making some of his best music.

1:57.0

And I think in that he sees that you can go out on your own terms and you can define how your career is remembered.

2:07.0

From Wondery and the Athletic, I'm Anders Keltow. It's Tuesday, June 1st, and this is The Lead.

2:14.0

So Josh, you recently wrote this really beautiful story about Joe Thornton and Gord Downey, the former lead singer of the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip.

...

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