Kevin Bieksa

Cheech again.

He was a part of all my biggest moments in the NHL playing for the Vancouver Canucks.

And I feel very fortunate because his calls were awesome.

I loved his perspective.

I loved his brutal honesty, right?

But that's not going to be my favorite memories of him.

My favorite memories of him are going to be, you know, going to have a Coors Light with him and Murph and Shorty at Pippen's in Chicago, right?

or going to Sherlock's in Edmonton to have a beer with them before dinner, or meeting them at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas like we did a few years ago, and sitting around and shooting the breeze and telling stories and laughing and making fun of each other.

And, you know, I traveled for 10 years with Cheech, and he was always on the charter, went to hotels, to rinks on the road together.

And after games, when we were flying out after the game,

The players would get dressed, and we'd bus to the plane.

And when we walked on, Cheech, Shorty, and Murph would all be sitting ready on their seats waiting, and they'd have these red plastic cups filled to the brim with red wine, like almost overflowing, so like it was a joke.

And I just remember walking by them, win or loss, and it would put me in a good mood.

And I'd smile, and I'd say something to Cheech, like, I'd chirp him about, like, Lotto, like, 649 is goals against average.

I'd call him Lotto, and right away he'd fire back at me, like, don't worry, Kev, those four goals you're on the ice for, none of them were your fault.

And I would just laugh, and I just love that camaraderie.

And a week ago today, Cheech and Harner Ryan are working the Vegas-Utah game, and we're doing the intermissions, and he's doing the color, and we're texting each other back and forth the same thing.

He's making fun of something I said in the intermission.

I'm making fun of something he said in the color.

And I feel fortunate that that was my last interaction with Cheech because that's who he was, and that's what I loved about him.