Pro Hockey To Locked Up Abroad & Now Giving Back!

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. Today I have a really cool guest. Now, this guy is fantastic. He was introduced to me by a friend in New York. So we have a mutual friend. And then when I heard his story, it was just crazy great. So I had to have him on. Now, this is like a holiday special, everybody. So we have Ryan Phillips on right now. Ryan, how are you?

I'm doing wonderful. Very grateful to be on the show. Mike, thank you very much.

It's great to have you. So we have these stories, and I say life's. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a unique story. Everybody has a different story. Everybody comes from all different walks of life. I don't believe there are two people the same. I believe we are all unique in our own way. And you started out like every Canadian kid, had a dream of playing hockey, ended up playing at a very high level, played pro. I know you played for the Regina Pats, which, if anybody doesn't know, is a Western Hockey League. It's compared to the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League. Oh, it is the Western Hockey League, the Quebec League. And it's a great, you know, it's a fantastic league.

But.

But you have a really unique story. I know you've done a TED Talk. We're not TED Talk. But I want this to be something where I shut up because people listen to me all the time and they're sick of my voice. My girlfriend's sick of my voice. She. Every time I do a show, she was, I gotta leave. I can't listen to your voice. I'm going to leave this to you. I want you to start. You're a young kid. You're playing hockey in Canada. And this. Please share it with us because it's an unbelievable story.

Absolutely. Yeah. Be more than grateful to share it, you know, to anyone who's open to listening. You know, I had a hockey stick in my hands probably from the time I was a year old. You know, my dad was an avid hockey fan and player, you know, super into athletics. And, you know, I was on the ice by the age of two in organized hockey by five. And, you know, just like you said, like many Canadian kids and a lot of American Kids as well, I think, more or less. Baseball, football in the States, but, you know, Canada, it's. You know, hockey's like a religion, obviously. So, you know, my room growing up was like a giant vision board of, you know, my idol. Like my idols, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Iserman, you name it. It was just, you know, everything had to do with hockey. You know, when it was cold enough, being from Vancouver, it was, you know, our winters were kind of hit and miss. So, you know, sometimes two years in a. In a row, we'd have a backyard rink, and then there'd be a couple years where it would just be mild and, you know, so it would be on the street. But, you know, hockey consumed me. I was really, you know, academically highly intuitive as well into my academics, hockey, core values that were instilled to me with. With my family. You know, it was just a real trajectory of just, you know, being on path of pursuing my dream of playing in the. In the National Hockey League and, you know, leaving home. Eventually at the age of 16, you know, the dream started to come into fruition. But, you know, things happen. Life happens. Injuries and adversities along the way. You know, things just. They didn't go as. As the dream was planned. You know, things unfolded a little differently. But, you know, there was a lot of hazing and rituals back in those days that, you know, didn't really set right with me. And many, many, many untold stories, you know, happened to all kinds of guys along the way. But, you know, that affected me in certain ways, where I kind of lost love of the game, as I always believed in teamwork. That was instilled to me, you know, by my father, you know, that, you know, obviously it's an old saying, an old adage that teamwork truly does make the dream work. And, you know, I just felt kind of not part of the team, being the youngest guy on the team, you know, my chances of actually, you know, I wasn't given really a fair shake. You know, after coming out of training camp, leading the team in scoring, I found myself having slivers in my butt, you know, watching. Watching all the older guys play while the younger guy was being taught the lesson that, yeah, you know, had to really earn your keep, so to speak. And, you know, that coach that first year, you know, was telling me that I would. I'd be getting all kinds of ice time and being able to showcase my abilities, you know, that would take me to ultimately the next level, getting drafted and then, you know, playing in The National Hockey League, but, you know, broke my shoulder in three places and dislocated at the same time in and out of the lineup. And, you know, just unfortunately I developed, you know, a bit of a fear of even going to the rink when I kind of realized that, you know, it wasn't just a sport now. It was, you know, you're a commodity. You know, it's, it's a lot of, is, a lot of it is about, you know, putting people in the stands. You know, a lot of it, you know, is surrounded with the good old currency of money. And so my dreams kind of fell to the wayside. I did play, you know, in the Central Hockey League in the Western professional hockey from 20 up until about 23. And you know, while doing that, you know, I, I, I can say my attitude towards the game wasn't 100%. It was probably sitting right around maybe 60%. I wasn't giving it my all. When I gave it my all, it was like the more, the, the harder I tried, the more I was being kind of being held back by certain coaches that, you know, kind of held your career in their hands, so to speak. And, you know, at that time. Can you still hear me? Are we good?

No, we're good. Keep it going, Keep it going here.

Yeah. So at that time, you know, in bc, you know, part of our culture is marijuana. It's a major lucrative business. Obviously it's these days now with legalization in Canada and many states in the U.S. i guess you could say I was ahead of the curve. It kind of fell on my lap. You know, I was playing in Tacoma at the time When I was 18, 17 and 18, I was playing for the Tacoma Rockets, and my friends would come down with BC Bud in deodorant sticks and we, we go to these parties and, you know, a lot of it was like the fast lane life, right? The, you know, all the hockey players are partnering with the guys that are sell weed and the drugs and, you know, the booze, everything, you know, and, you know, just that fast lane life, you know, that rock star life, so to speak. And, you know, that was almost more appetizing than, you know, being on the ice and being ridiculed was, you know, kind of feeling a bit of an acceptance now where, oh, I can get, I can get you some of this stuff. How much do you need? Oh, we can move as many pounds of these as we can get our hands on. This is great. This is the best stuff we've ever seen in our Life. So at 18 I went home that summer and got the balls enough to get my hands on a few pounds, a few pounds of marijuana. And this is pre 9 11, where it was really easy to get across the border and made my first run across the border and told, told the border guard that I was going to see my billet family in Tacoma. And, and you know, okay, right, right.

I'm going to, I'm going to slow it down.

I'm.

Slow it down a little bit. So, okay, so here you are, you play junior hockey. You're like every kid. You want to play in the NHL. You're working hard. You know, you're going through this. All of a sudden you're now. Things change, things change for you now. So, so just take us to the border. This kind of go, go through a little bit slower. So take us. You're at the border now, you're 18. Have you given up hope now? Okay, so, okay, now I'm done. I'm not going to be a hockey player anymore. I'm 18. I'm going to start maybe going a different way. Is that, is that how it happened?

What happened was a lot of confusion. You know, it was the mind games that were going on with these coaches and the insecurity of not knowing where you're going to be from one day to the next. And you know how it is being a former hockey player, you know, you know, playing in the NHL and obviously playing in, in the Ontario League as well, that, you know, your, your position is never really totally secured. And you know, you hear those rumors that, okay, you know, he's gonna be, he's on the trading block. Oh, is he going to be going this way or that way? And it just, for me, it was just a lot of, just the love of the game started to dissipate where there was, it was just a lot of fear walking into the dressing room every day. And then I found this medium of making money through marijuana, which I never knew how much could actually be generated. And it just, it grew so fast. You know, literally two pounds turned into five pounds, five pounds turned into 10. And, you know, you were making, you know, 12, 13, 14, even $1500 a pound. And, you know, at 18, it got up to where it was, you know, 100 pounds a week at one point. And, you know, that's $130,000 a week at 18 years old, you know, making that kind of money was, it was, yeah, it was almost like winning the lottery every week kind of thing, you know. And so to have focus on, you Know the game of hockey. And then all of a sudden, I wasn't the one taking it across. You know, I. I actually built a team around me where, you know, I had people working for me in B.C. down in the States, you know, guys that I was playing hockey with had no clue what I was doing. So I had, you know, I was. I was. I was leading a double life, so to speak. And. But at the time, it was. It just seemed like kind of the right thing to do is like, well, hockey doesn't work out. At least I got this to fall back on. And I mean, it was just. It was like a machine that was created that just. It just kept generating.

Yeah, yeah, we have so much to cut. We. I mean, this. We need to. Five episodes to cover. Yeah, yeah, there's no way we need five episodes. So. So I'm gonna expedite it just a little bit more. So now. Now you're actually building this team around you. You're making money that is unheard of and it's not the clean way. And I hope here I know there's going to be hockey parents and people listening, judging, but listen to the whole story. So now take us to the event where things started to pick up a little bit and, and what happened from there? So now you, you get caught and tell us what happens.

Well, what happened was, you know, the bigger it got, trucks of cars couldn't take the amount that was going. That had to supply the demand, so to speak. So I had to get creative. And, you know, I had the money to get creative too. So that was, you know, investing in helicopters, Cessna planes. We. There was trucks going across on Mile 0 away from the actual border patrol station that were, you know, Berry Farms in modified gas tanks, trucks with hydraulics and whatnot, cattle trailers that could fit up to 1500 pounds. You know, as it grew, you know, I was having to serve markets not only in Washington, but it just. It started expediting down into Los Angeles. Los Angeles led into Chicago, Chicago led into my major market in New York City. And you know, these. It just, it got up to the point where it was just, you know, it was thousands of pounds a month at this point now. And, you know, my team went from literally, you know, a group of say like 4 or 5 that went to 10 or where now I had probably over 100 people working for me in Canada, and I would say at least that amount in the United States. And then they had people working for them. But I guess you could call me. Well, I mean, they called Me, the king of weed on National Geographic. I don't think I'm the king of weed. I think I was just maybe, like I said, I was ahead of the curve. I saw an opportunity, it kind of fell on my lap, and I took advantage of the opportunity. You know, I just, I just, I kind of put it into action and I designed it literally, like, like a Fortune 500 business. And, you know, I had, you know, I had to. I got a chartered accountant running all my books. I had, you know, hundreds of blackberries that were sent out, you know, out to all my guys and my networks that were all on, you know, secured systems and, you know, running out of like, say the servers are running out of Costa Rica at the time. And yeah, so when I would send a big load of. Of pot down every month, we were changing blackberries, so 100 different blackberries would be going down to those guys too, just to keep things secure so I wouldn't get caught. But you asked about how I got caught, so how I want to get to.

I want to. I got to make something clear to everybody. So I'll make it. I'll make it clear. So for.

I'm.

I'm the old school guy. I never smoked marijuana. Never. That wasn't. That wasn't me. I, I was a person that tried it once, and it's, it isn't me to this day. I know it's legalized now. I have done the, the CBD oil with 0.25 THC. So I, I'm the boring guy. This, this to me is, you know, I used to balk at this, but I want to get to the good part because so much good has come out of your life. So we have focused on, you know, you built this big organization and, you know, some people are going to be shaking their heads now, but when they keep listening to the story, it just gets better. So, and, and, and they've done TED talks on you. You've been on National Geographic, one of the. Without saying his name, one of the biggest podcasters in the world wants you on his show. And all that's great. I want. The reason I want you on is because we talk about stories, mindset and champions. And your story is fascinating, but the mindset you had after is more impressive. And I want to get into you get caught that you're on that show lockup, that it's on tv.

Yeah, it's kind of funny. They, you know, I've. I've been very blessed to do two TED Talks. You know, we're obviously going to be doing other shows together. You can't do this in, you know, 40 minutes, 45 minutes. You know, this is, you know, even locked up abroad on National Geographic, you know, you can't put 45, you know, a 45 minute show of my life that, you know, took part. I was in that business for, you know, well over a decade at a high level. And you know, the stories that go along with it are, you know, pretty, they're pretty intense, right? So you can't box it all into 45 minutes and expect to get the full story. So, you know, well, tell us about.

Being locked up abroad. You were locked up, okay? So we know the story. We everybody, we get the message. It's a, this is a six hour podcast because the first time I talked to you, we talked for two. I looked at my phone, it was two hours and 30 minutes. And when we were introduced, and then I talked again for another hour and a half. So there's no way, it's impossible to get in everything in a short amount of time. But tell people you were locked up abroad because I see that show and it kind of freaks me out. Tell me about that.

I haven't watched the full episode because I lived it and I heard, you know, a few things that were distorted and, you know, for entertainment value and whatnot. But at the end of the day, you know, for me it's, it's, it's really not entertaining. It's, it was a part of my life that I'm really, I'm eternally grateful for because it taught me lessons of incomparable value, how to treat people and, you know, watching people, you know, fall to the wayside with, you know, substance abuse issues and whatnot. And I mean, being locked up abroad was probably like one of the hardest. But, you know, most profound lessons that I ever had in my life is that, you know, I realized that even though I was in prison, I didn't have to be a prisoner of my own mind. So, you know, you know, I started reading books in there and yeah, I probably blasted through 300 books in 500 days, you know, being locked up in a maximum federal penitentiary. Do you want to hear how I did get caught?

Yes. Yeah, let's, yeah, we love it. Here we go.

How I got caught is I had a safe house at the time with a hundred pounds. And at the time in the year two, year 2000, I was, I was busted on September 17th of year 2000 with 103 pounds of high grade marijuana. And leading up to that fateful day, I was ripped off. Actually, it was an inside job that I didn't find out until later. One of the guys that I used to play hockey with was doing. Was driving for me. He was picking up the shipments from the Bellingham. Sorry. From a hiking trail. It wasn't really a hiking trail. It was actually almost like a bushwhack, so to speak, that through the. Through the big BC Wilderness that was about two and a half hours away from the border. And we actually found that way across the border with helicopter aerial maps that we connected point A to point B. It was a logging road that was about, I would say, seven miles up this logging road that was doing heli. Logging at the time. You could drop into the forest, and if you kept going through this straight line of like, you know, bushwhacking through the forest, you eventually came to a national state park that was called Glacier National State Park. And after being ripped off, I was scared. I thought that, you know, some, you know, people wanted to kill me. You know, like, what's going on here? There's people out to get me. I mean, I was. I didn't sleep for days. And you know, the gentleman who was partnered up with me at the time was, you know, he was Chinese mafia. And, you know, I'd kind of gotten into bed with that. That circle, so to speak, because, you know, things were growing so big, literally from the ground and from the business standpoint, the cash crop, right? And, you know, I got ripped off. He. He got. He wanted to get everybody together that was involved with that was. That was going to be doing the run that day that, you know, that the. The ripoff actually happened. So I gathered everybody into. Into a household. And I didn't expect what was to happen next was he lost his marbles. Ryan's on my side. I know he didn't do it. This is an inside job. He ripped out a 9 millimeter with gloves on, with rubber gloves on. Start pointing the gun around at everybody in the room. There was about seven or eight people in the room. He said, ryan's with me. If I don't get my product back and Ryan. Ryan's product back in the next 24 hours, bodies are going to start dropping. And that just scared the living crap out of me, obviously, but I'm a solution based idea guy. And I knew that we could make that money back with. In one run, you know, like £100 at that time, which generates. I mean, I told you what kind of money it generates. It's a Lot of money. You know, one or two, three runs, whatever. We're back on our feet, and, you know, it's business as usual. So I met up with them last. Later that night. You know, there's him in his silver Mercedes Benz at some Chinese restaurant, and I. I walk in there, and I'm. Yeah, I'm shaking, but I'm confident at the same time. And I. I just said, listen, we can. We can wait on this and try to figure out who did this, or why don't we round up another hundred pounds and I'll do it with these guys. I'll actually. I'll take the bull by the horns. You know, I. I'll be accountable for this, because I am the leader of the ship here, and I'll hike with these guys, and I'll. So what we did, we would always have four hikers with 25 pounds of pot on. On in backpacks. And, yeah, he said, okay, let's just do it. Let's just. Let's. Let's make this money back. We'll figure out who. Who did what, whatever was happening, you know, at a. As it goes by. Whatever. Let's just. Let's get this money made back. So I. I felt it intuitively the night before that something was wrong. I could just feel it in my bones. And I just. You know, I did it anyways, just a lot out of fear and a lot of. Just because I wanted to be loyal to my partner. And, you know, after going. It was a real rainy day that day. It was cold. And after I say, you know, seven, eight hours, we made it to the other side of the border. The driver was late. My old hockey buddy, there he was. He was late actually showing up to pick up the contraband. And. And us, the hikers. The hikers were going to be dropped off in Bellingham and then taken back to Canada. And I was going to drive the product down myself because I was the one who I trusted the most at that moment. And what happened was we actually couldn't get the trunk closed. And I said, you know what? When I just sleep with the product in the bush here overnight, and you pick me up in the morning, take the guys back to the. To Bellingham. They can get back to Canada, and I'll take care of business the very next day. And right as I said that, the trunk closed, and 10, 15 minutes later, we're on the Mount Baker highway, and there was a pink neon behind our. Our vehicle. And next thing you know, a light. Flashing lights are on. The pink neon it was a ghost car. It was the feds. Next thing I know, there was two helicopters above. I think there was three Ford Expedit Expeditions. Is that the big one or the. Yeah, the Expedition. The big, like, suburban type, uh, federal whatever, uh, vehicles at the time, uh, over the loudspeaker, it was, Pull over. This is the FBI.

You know, so you go from this hockey player that. You go that, you know, you're this hockey player, and now. Now. Now this happens. And. But you know what?

Fear on another level, right? And I'm just like, just keep driving. Keep driving. Maybe we should just jump out of the car and everyone just goes their separate ways. There was five of us in the vehicle, and I was like, we all know our way back to Canada is through the bush or go the other way, run across the river kind of thing. Like, that was kind of coming into my conscious awareness and just. But then again, I was like, they're just gonna start shooting. And so after about five minutes, I was like, we're screwed. Pulled over to the side of the road, Got ripped out. Ripped out of the vehicle. Guns drawn to our heads. You know, I remember that nine millimeter, you know, being, you know, put right up to my head, and my face was plastered against the gravel on the side of the road. And I remember it was a. It was a lady officer. And I still have the scar on my right wrist. She. She threw that. Those handcuffs. Handcuffs on my wrist so hard. I still actually have the mobility on my. On my right thumb. Still suffers from that, you know, 20 years ago. Yeah. So arrest. Okay.

So crazy. Crazy stuff, like, I mean, out of my wheelhouse, this is like. You know, we've done a lot of shows, and. But again, the thing that impressed me most is you spent what you just said, 500 days in jail without seeing.

The light of day. It was a supermax prison. Yeah. They considered me a flight risk at the time. And, you know, lucky enough they called the Canadians neutral in there. Like, we were our own breed, you know, I was in there with white power, Mexican mafia, Crips, the Bloods, you name it. You know, I had eight different cellmates within my time in there. And, you know, I was getting caught. I was like, kind of. I think it was. It was my sense of humor that got me through. And I would say the love of my parents, too, that I said, please, I don't want you to see me like this. But they kept, you know, coming down to Seattle, and, you know, I was in FDCC Tac. That was the Name of the federal penitentiary at the time. And, you know, with the support of my parents, I was able to. And, you know, I found out who my real friends were too. You know, the people that I thought were behind me, you know, had absolutely no contact with me. It was really the hockey community that sent me letters in the mail, sent me magazines, and tried to keep my spirits up. And, you know, in there I just. It was like my cell became like a magnet because, you know, I always like to tell jokes and, you know, just kind of make the. The best of a so called bad situation. And, you know, we. We. I was. I was kind of bringing the Crips and the Bloods and the Mexican mafia and all these guys together because I'd be telling all these stories of like, back home and hockey and just life in general. And it kind of just kind of worked out for me where I didn't really have a lot of problems in there. The only problem I had is it was I'm such a free spirit that getting locked up, you know, three times a day and then six hours throughout the night was so hard, you know, just like losing your freedom. I don't wish that. I mean, your freedom is sacred. And, you know, even to this day, I mean, I look back on that and I'm just like, wow. You know, just. I know it wasn't that long in retrospect, you know, but for a guy like me who had all these dreams and aspirations, you know, it was a real blow. And especially a lot of people shun my family as well. And a lot of those families have said sorry now that the legalization has happened. And a lot of these people have bought marijuana stocks and are actually involved in the business, so to speak, and I'm not, you know, but, you know, years go by, you know, you learn through adversity or you don't. It's like Napoleon Hill says, every adversity, every setback, every failure carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. So, you know, I read that book thinking, grow rich. And I didn't make it about money. I made it about giving back. And you know something?

Okay, this is the part I want to. I'm gonna, like, interject a little bit. This is the part that I like because I. I heard for the grapevine, maybe I've. Maybe the story is not exactly the way it is, but you read that book 300 times.

Oh, God, yeah, 300 plus times. But I go every day, I'll flip it open and I'll read some part of it, you know. Yeah, I'm all about the subconscious mind. I believe the subconscious mind, you know, is 10, 10,000 times more powerful than the conscious mind. You know, it's like, you know, letters from a filing bank that, you know, every single sense impression from the time we arrived on this planet Earth, as we see it, has been recorded onto our subconscious mind. So through repetition of affirmations, we can literally play a like, you know, a legit, legitimate trick on our mind that ignites our, you know, our physical apparatus, so to speak, into the action mode of doing things that, you know, creates a blueprint pattern, so to speak. And when I decided that this business wasn't for me, that I'd lost, you know, so many friends due to murder, substance abuse issues, jail, you know, you name it, you know, think just, just people, just a lot of bad things happening. I was just done with it. I was emotionally spent, you know, a host of many hosts of fair weather friends that were only gluing to me for, for money. And I woke up one day and I just said, I am done. And you know, it's like the mafia. It was a heart, it was. It wasn't an easy way out. There was a lot of threats on my life and I had to give a lot up a lot of my money, you know, which wasn't making me happy. And, you know, a lot of these people were dangerous people that I had to get out of my life or else maybe they'd take my life. So I actually, you know, I read that book. I was getting, you know, a lot into, you know, spiritual principles, so to speak. Just life, life principles and regaining my values that I was taught as a young kid, you know, and I started a movement called Return to Happiness. And I wanted to return to happiness and that included seeing my daughter again. I was banned from the United States forever, obviously, because I was an international drug smuggler. They said I would never be allowed to set foot in the United States ever, ever again. So I, I didn't believe that, you know, I, I believe that anything is possible in life. I believe that the pot, with the power of our mind, that we can actually create anything. You know, I mean, the Wright brothers created a plane, so why can't Ryan Phillips create something that can, you know, help him get back to the States to see his daughter again? And so I actually, you know, I read Think and Grow Rich. That was it, you know, it aligned with, with what I believed in. And there's a principle in there called auto suggestion, which is the medium to influence the subconscious mind. And there's a set of steps in there. And the set of steps is literally having a definite time of accumulating a certain amount of money or a monetary equivalent or some sort of event happening. It could be a, you know, a partner in a relationship or whatever, just, you know, how to manifest your desire, so to speak. And I. I wrote down these steps as it was laid out in the book to the letter, really. And. But mine was to be allowed back to the United States of America as a free man so I could see my daughter again. And on the back of the card, I wrote down love, faith, belief. And I just told. I just. I started changing and I fully. I fully removed myself from the organized crime aspect of my life and just started. I just. All I wanted to do was. I was like, I took enough from the world. It's time to give back. And I can give back through all these experiences. And, and that was probably around.

That's probably the best thing that ever happened to you. So what happened is you did something that's, like, totally unfathomable. Like, when people listen to something like this, they're saying, oh, my gosh, how can this be? You know, a young kid from Vancouver that. That, that wants to be an athlete, he does well in school, and. And one little mistake turns into this humongous, like, setback.

But.

But you learn from it. So let's start with the first thing you did. So you started. Have you had this big transformational shift? This is the good. I like. So tell us. Go ahead, share that with us.

It's like forces from unknown sources, so to speak. You know, the greatest forces are intangible and unseen. You know, it's like thought is energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration. So when I. When I actually compartmentalized that and I knew that I could create anything from the, from the, From. From my mind, you know, I literally just, you know, the more I just believed it and started, you know, being in that receptive mode of. That would, you know, impel the action element to do good things. That's what happened. It was the intensity that I actually, how I read that card with the emotions. You know, the human beings are obviously driven on emotions. And, you know, so it was the blending of the emotions of the most powerful emotions are sex, love, and romance. So I was blending those emotions as I read that card that I laminated. I mean, I'd read that card when I was sit. When I was sitting on the toilet. I read it When I was in the shower, I mean, I would literally read that card probably 200 times a day. I am so happy, and I'm so grateful for being able to see my daughter back in the United States, in America, by this certain date, etc. Etc. Etc. And next thing I know, I find myself over in Southeast Asia. I'm filming a documentary. I'd never produced a film before, but I was doing YouTube videos, I started writing a book, I was doing a blog. You know, whatever I could do just to be of service to others is what was happening subconsciously, without me even knowing that I was doing it. I was doing it. And I literally, at that point, I was like, I'm dedicating the rest of my life to world service. That's exactly about.

Tell me about it. Was. I was. If I have it right, is it called Race Across Canada?

Well, I rode across Canada in 2019 to help bring awareness to mental health, but that wasn't what got me. My pardon. So what happened was in 2012, I was in Cambodia, and an actress friend of mine out of Los Angeles, she was part of an organization that helped eradicate human trafficking and child sex slavery, and they were in conjunction with the US Government at the time. It was, you know, Bill Clinton was in office, I still are pretty sure, you know, it was very government oriented over in Cambodia with, you know, high legislature and whatnot. And, you know, I know Hillary Clinton was part of it too. And, you know, these are people I don't know, but they're part of this organization. You know, Queen Latifah, Barbara Walters, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Department of Homeland, Homeland Security as well. And I rode my bike. She called me, she said, you want. She goes, you're filming a movie about happiness and giving back. Would you be open to showing giving at its highest form of service and, you know, riding a bike across Cambodia to help these kids? I said, it didn't even take me three seconds. Yes, I'm in. I'm damn right I'm in. You know, anything for the. For. For the kids. I'm very passionate about giving back to kids. And what happened was I flew to Cambodia from Lao. I was in a little country called Lao, which is. It borders Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam flew to Cambodia. And there was 21 of us, 21 riders that went across Cambodia. And it was just one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. We visited shelters along the way. I mean, I had. These kids were, I mean, wiping tears off my eyes. I mean, we got the Whole thing on film. We got a beautiful film out of it, but it wasn't about the film. What happened was after the ride, after the 21 riders went across the country and bonded immensely. It was. It was just. I mean, it was beautiful. It was such a great experience. The day after the. The day after I. The ride was completed, I flew out to Chiang Mai, Thailand, and my. I got my cameraman's beside me and he's like. He wakes up to me freaking out because I got an email and it was actually the. The Department of Homeland Security reached out to my father back in Vancouver. And it was an email said it started off with my dad saying, today is a day that we can rejoice. You've officially been granted a full pardon back down to the United States of America for business and for pleasure. As a humanitarian, which. I hate that word, humanitarian. I just wish everybody could be a good human and we could all be humanitarians. That's.

Well, look what you did, Ryan. Ryan, you made this big step in your life. So this is the part where, you know, I'm starting to smile again because in the beginning, and I've heard. Of course I've heard your story. And you and I have talked a bunch of times, and we're even doing something to keep people healthy a little bit.

But at the.

But at the same time, you went from completely being. To me. Lost. You were lost. You were like. But you were probably. You had to be focused because to do something like that, you have to be alert. I mean, I couldn't even imagine. It's like I said, I couldn't even imagine doing what you did in the beginning. But I love the fact by me being a coach, I've been a coach for 17 years, helping people that you took the time, and people should realize this, that you took the time to improve yourself. You took the time to do that. You took the time to read, you took the time to study. You acknowledge. And you. You. You've made better choices today in your life that has now, you know, people out. They want to do, they want you on TED Talks, you're doing documentaries, and you're sharing with people the mistake that you made, and you're sharing it with all the good that you're doing in your life, and you should be proud of that.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. And yeah, here's. Yeah, I'm not always good at taking compliments, but I truly believe that it all comes down to the relationship that we have with ourselves and the relationship that I had with My true self was just distorted, and it was distorted through a lack of losing confidence with certain people, you know, with the, with the abuse that was suffered. You know, when I played junior hockey. I'm not trying to play a victim here. I'm not sure I'm. I'll never throw any coaches under the bus or anything like that. Maybe one. Maybe one coach. I will.

I don't do it today.

Don't.

Don't throw them under the bus today. We're on a good. We're on a good note here, but I hear you.

You want me to put. Say his name.

No, no, no, no.

Don't want to put any negativity into a positive talk.

Exactly. That's another show. We're gonna. I'm gonna. Here's what I'm gonna do. We're gonna, you know, we're gonna probably wrap it up here in a second, but you are definitely coming on again. And there's some amazing stories that are tied to this that we're going to incorporate in another episode. Share with everybody a little bit about what you're doing, but this story is amazing. Again, the transformation, the steps you took to get better, that's what I'm proud of. I'm proud of the person that, that you are. And thank you, the choices that you're making. So, hey, listen, Ryan, it was great having you. It's been fantastic having you. And we are definitely going to do this again soon, and we're going to go a little bit deeper into a couple stories, and I think the people will really enjoy it.

Absolutely. I'm all about going deep, so we can go as deep as you want, and you can ask as many questions as you want, and I'll answer them truthfully. I'm transparent as they come, and I say that humbly. And it's been an absolute pleasure being on your show, Mike, and I can't wait to have you on my show as well.

Oh, yeah. Tell us about your podcast. Tell us.

Okay.

I love to have everybody listen to you. Go ahead.

Sure.

Because I know you had, like, some, some tough NHL guys, man. You had that. Some heavyweight guys like George Larocque and Jim Thompson and so many different people. So tell, Tell everybody a little bit about your show. We'd love to hear it and where they could listen to you.

Well, I, I, I've been a little all over the map. My, in my life, I've been over 70 countries, and I've been very blessed to meet a lot of really awesome people. And my, my podcast is actually called all over the Map. So you can look it up on Spotify. And you know, we do have, we have a YouTube channel as well. And I'm really grateful to have you on Mike. You know, this coming Sundays, I'm super stoked. It's going to be a great, great time that we can go back and forth and not just as a guest, but as friends.

Yeah, absolutely. And, and I'll share something that we're going. There is. I did not ever want to minimize what happened to you in junior because we know the Graham James story, that's a whole different level. We know coaches that were verbally abusive without going there. I've seen it in Canada. It made me sick and disgusted. And I think of people in my mind right now that I. Not necessarily played for. Yeah, but I, but I know and to me it's like dehumanizing that you're talking to the right guy about this. I'm in hockey with the alumni, with the New York Rangers.

That's.

But, but besides that, I'm not really in, in the game that much. But I don't like to. We keep it real. And a lot of people try to front their stories. A lot of. And you know, there's so many coaches and they all try to front if, if you start listening and hey, I, I'm a coach, I'm a life coach and I, and I coach this guy, I coach that guy. And oh, I played hockey against this guy, I played baseball with him and everybody. But we want the truth, authenticity of a story, and we got it today.

I just really believe it's about rising people up. You know, you want to bring people up, you want to make people feel good. And that's how I live my life on a day to day basis. You know, even if I'm not feeling so hot, you know, I still try to make other people feel good. And when I can, when I do that, when I can see somebody smile because, like, maybe I had a part of that, then, you know, it ignites like a fire within that, you know, my happiness kind of elevates. Right. So, yeah, it's just all, it's all about keeping it real. If I don't tell the truth, then I can't live with myself.

That's right. That's all we have is our word in telling the truth. And your story, I mean, there's no hiding behind a mask there. It is what it is. But, but just to end with this, we. Like I said, there's their coaches out there and That's a whole other topic that maybe we'll cover eventually.

You know, that whole Graham James incidents. Incidents, you know, not just one, obviously, you know, and hats off to the Theron Fleury's of the world and the Sheldon Kennedys. And I know there's more, but 10 years before they even came out, I remember being at the back of the bus and hearing all about these stories with Graham James and I didn't believe it. You know, there was a guy that played for Swift Current and he was talking about this Graham James and whatnot. And I mean, he had a real good reputation. I was like, there's no way. Absolutely no way. But then as the hazing kind of got worse, I was like, maybe this is true. And then 10 years later, it all comes out and it's still, it's continuing to come out, whatever. But I think it is getting better. And you know, I'm a, I'm a real supporter of the game of hockey. So, you know, I don't want to put any negative connotation on the game at all. I'm all about, like, paying it forward and, and you know, seeing people do good. And that's what I intend to do with you too, Mike.

Well, very good. Listen, hey, Ryan, it's been a pleasure having you. Looking forward to next time. And tell us your podcast again, all.

Over the Map podcast you can subscribe on Spotify. It'd be much appreciated. And we'll have good guys like Mike Hartman on there and Dodie Wood and some of these other guys that he's mentioned, Jim Thompson, lots of people, psychologists, you name it. People from all over the Map that have a good message. And who knows, you might be one of them, too. Ryan listening.

Yeah, Ryan, thank you for taking that effort to take your to step it up in your life and realize what you did. And thanks for being on the show.

Thank you, Mike. I'm really grateful to be on it. Thank you so much.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Mike Hartman Show. If you're enjoying what you've heard so far, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast listening platform. We really appreciate that effort. We'll catch you in the next episode of the Mike Hartman Show.