Yeah. A a hundred percent. Yeah. You know, as as big as the, the industry is, it's it's quite small. You know? So you see a lot of crossover between, you know, YTV, Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network. And when I got the opportunity for Descendants, I'd done the audition and ended up meeting with, with the director, and he was really happy with with the read. And we started talking about the the dancing aspect, and I was like, look, man. I'm an athlete. Like, I I'm I'm comfortable with, like, a lot of the stuff, but I I just wanna be upfront and really honest. Like, I I've never really danced. Like, I'm not a professional dancer. And I and I saw Descendants one, and it it's like they're they got chops. Mhmm. And he had watched some assembly, and and there was a couple episodes there where Knox is a Zumba instructor. And he's like, I've seen you dance. I know you can dance. And I also know that you're an athlete. And if you're not afraid to look stupid in the beginning, I can teach you how to dance. Mhmm. You just gotta listen to us and and follow instructions, which as a hockey player, I'm like, yeah. I'm coachable. Let's do this. Nice. So, yeah. It was two months of dance camp and then two months of filming, and, we got two great flicks out of it.

So it

worked out pretty good. When I

met you at Fan Expo, I I mentioned that my cousin was was on that set too, Justin Lopez. He was one of the dancers as well. So, and you guys are you probably know each other.

That's right. Yeah. He's a beauty. Justin's a great guy. Yeah. And we got really, really close. I mean, that's it feels like a team. You know? You're Yeah. You're you're you're all working towards the same goal. It's very, very physically demanding. I I told my dad actually after the first, like, week of dance camp. I'm like, this compared to training camp

Yeah.

Is like it doesn't hold a candle. Like, eight hours of nonstop dancing. And you think about it, like, the move like, it was challenging, man. I think I lost, like, fifteen pound. Like, it was crazy. And, like, they they had on set, like, they had a whole protein shake set up. They had it wasn't, like, food at lunch. It was food the whole time because you're burning so many and it was eight hour days of dancing the whole time. Wow. So it's like you're gonna get in good shape.

Yeah. Does that help your hockey hockey game then?

Oh, man. I don't know. It it was it was on par because it's like it it's too like, however long the song is, that's how long you're going for.

Right?

And sometimes you're you're stopping and you're going back to ones, and it's, yeah. It was very physically demanding but really rewarding to

Those are two and a half minute shifts as opposed to your your quick cut.

Exactly. Exactly.

Forty minute shifts. Yeah. Or forty second shifts. Sorry.

And no cruising the blue

line too. No on your head. Amazing.

And and be honest, you've got the dance bug now, don't you? Like, you and wifey go out on the regular and hit the gloves, don't you? Yeah.

I got those moves like Jagger now, bro. Alright.

I know I know the movie you want.

We need to get to the Letterkenny stuff, but I I I'd be remiss well, obviously, that must have opened the door then for Mighty Ducks.

Yeah. So Letterkenny opened the door for Mighty Ducks. Oh, okay. Yeah. And and, you know, it's so funny. Everything's interconnected. Right? Like, Ariel Boysewert, who produced, she produced the Descendants films and several other shows here at, at Brightlight, which is a big production company here. Yeah. They were they were working on the Mighty Ducks and talking to Steve Brill, and and I guess my name came up, in regards to Letterkenny. So she connected us to just have a beer because I I wanted to meet him. I grew up with the Mighty Ducks. He wanted to meet me. He was a fan of Letterkenny. So we met up for for a drink, and, initially, I was gonna do a cameo with just one line sort of back of the scene. And as we started talking, the interest grew. And and by the end of the night, he goes, you know what, man? I think you would be a great fit as coach t. I think if you slick your hair back and, you know, if you can play a bully, I'm like, I could I could play a bully, buddy. I I I think I could figure that out. So, so, yeah, we ended up meeting up and and chatting about the character, and and that's how, Mighty Ducks came about.

It's amazing. Last credit that I wanna talk to just because it's a bit of a departure, from what people might know about you, but you're a documentarian as well. And in Yeah. And in twenty twenty in twenty fifteen, you you did a you you were in a documentary. You shot it. You produced it, I guess. You directed it. You were starting it, called The Drop, Why Young People Don't Vote. I mean, talk about that for for a sec.

So, as a kid, I was always, I was always fascinated. It's I was like a I was a weird hockey player, man. I was kind of a nerd. But I was just I was fascinated in in by government and world history and and World War two. And I remember I watched this, like, black and white doc when I was, like, ten or twelve, and there was a line talking about how Hitler came to power and how he was technically voted in and and, like, how how that whole, political climate allowed for something like that to happen.

Mhmm.

And I always thought, like, that's fascinating. And and, I was living in Vancouver, and at the time, the the tax credits were a really, really big topic of the of the election as to whether or not they were gonna be competitive with the East Coast. So it was the first time I really felt that something political was gonna have a direct effect on me. So a friend of mine asked me to do an interview for they were gonna do, like, a ten minute mini documentary just trying to improve voter numbers. And, I came and I did the interview, and at the end of it, I said, look. I think this is a much deeper issue than than than just this ten minute piece. Like, I'd love to help you expand it. And then we went off on this very, very long arduous journey of of producing this documentary. We we flew down to Ferguson, Missouri. By the time, Mike Brown had just been been killed, and there was a like, that was the the birth of Hands Up United. We went to Burning Man, which was, the intention of that was to show, a society that, you know, Burning Man become Black Rock City becomes the second largest city in Nevada for the duration of the festival, and they get their own airport code, and they have this this system of governance that's very unique to to the festival. Mhmm. So we kinda wanted to to get some information on that. And then we went to, to Ottawa and and interviewed, Justin Trudeau and the leader of the NDP and, leader of the conservatives. And my whole thing with that was I wanted to learn a bit more. Like, I was really curious about the process. Yeah. And I always thought it was important to be engaged in in the democratic process just having had that experience as a kid because I I always thought that dictators just grabbed power, and and I didn't realize there is ways that you could do it essentially by the book. So it kind of Sure. Fascinated me. And, I also wanted to do something that made me, look smarter than the characters I've been playing.

So on that note, I have a clip here of somebody who you know talking about just that. Here we here it is.

I call him my my most loyal soldier. He is he is true friend. I just love this kid so much. You know, he's I would say, like, he's like the Canadian Ashton Kutcher. And it's it's not just because of his talent on screen. It it's because he's a bit like Ashton Kutcher, I guess, in that he plays characters that may not be the brightest. Right. But in reality, he is so smart. I mean, he's he's he's hyper intelligent and and insightful and worldly, And I think that that stems from his just a general curiosity that that he has. He loves people, and he loves their stories, and he loves telling his own stories. He's just he's got such a big heart. He was raised by really good parents, that I'm close with as well. Yeah. Actually, his his, his his mom reminds me of my mom, and his dad's now, coaching, the Prince George Cougars, the WHL. So DP and I are doing a road trip to follow the team around in January or February for a little while, and I can't wait for that.

So first question is, did you guys do that road trip?

Mhmm. Did

you take a slip?

Sorry. Yeah. Tough tough tough spot to take a sip of water. Yeah. That's that

my bad.

We did we, to to answer your question, yes. We did do that road trip, and it was, as much fun as as as you'd imagine it was. We had an absolute blast. And, I mean, Keesa, man, I I I love that guy like a brother. He's awesome. That that was, you know, really sweet to hear him say that because I, I respect him so very much. I mean, truly, if if you look back from Jared introduced me to that agent, to Kerry Wheeler, who, who gave me my my, you know, my start. I actually met Jared through McBee. I was I was working behind the scenes as a production assistant telling everyone who would listen my game plan. I wanna be an actor. I wanna get in. Anyone know anybody who can help me, please let me know. Yeah. Ryan was like, hey, buddy. I I play on this team. You should come out. So that's how I met Jared. He and I hit it off. He, introduced me to to Cary. So he he's really been there since the very start. And, I I mean, to see what he's done, you know, his work ethic is incredible from, you know, from slugging it out in Vancouver, standing in line at auditions like the rest of us to to seeing what he's done now. Like, I mean, the like, he's Canada's most respected showrunner. I mean, he's creating content that will live on, and I know he's gonna create a lot more, which I'm really, really stoked about. But, yeah, it's, it's nice to hear that, and and he's he's, he's on point. You know? I I I we talk about pigeonholing and and knowing your your lane. I think he comes back to hockey. Right? It's like, hey. If you're you're a third line energy guy, you you're not gonna serve your team if you're trying to be a first line center if you wanna play defense or if you wanna stand back in the front of the crease and try and stop pucks. It's like, hey. You're gonna help the team by doing the job we need you to do. And and I I love playing that guy. I I love playing the goofy guy. I'm I'm aware of of the importance within the ecosystem of the show for those people to stay in that lane to for the audience to expect those characters to behave the way they do. But I also really enjoy, you know, making documentaries about youth voter apathy in the United States and Canada and going to Burning Man along the way. And, you know, I I wanna do a lot of different things in my career and, playing funny dumb guys and playing, you know, me bad coaches and, you know, anything else. It's like the this career is so wild. You're playing make believe. So if there's a story that you identify with and you see a role that you think you can bring to life and give justice to, sign me up, man. Let's go. I'll do it all. Yeah. Wow. Nice.

Well, now we're at Fantastic answer. Exact yeah. Very good. Now we're at Letterkenny now, obviously, and it's it's well documented by us and by many others how it started with the the shorts. And and now we know how Jared found you and and Andrew and stuff, you know, playing on on the the Gordie Howe movie. Yeah. So talk about just, like, twelve seasons of Letterkenny, you know, and try to, you know, maybe describe what that's been what what's that meant for you, your career, and and so on.