From Scrappin’ to Scooters

I’ve worked with a lot of different characters over the years, but no one can compare to Mark Rycroft.

He was born July 12, 1978 in Penticton, British Columbia and spent the better part of his days playing hockey. He spent 3 seasons playing for the Pioneers here in Denver and time in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues, and more notably the Colorado Avalanche. In his days with the Burgandy and Blue, he became my “go to guy”. You know, the one guy in the locker room that is going to give you the straight answer, no bull, just the truth. He was always fun to see after practice, a big win at Pepsi Center, or even a tough loss to a divisional rival. He always had good answers regardless of the outcome. We were buddies. Heck, he even cleaned my teeth on an episode of Avalanche All Access (although I’m pretty sure he wrecked a few cuspids from my five minutes in the chair). His NHL numbers go like this: 226 games played, 21 goals, 25 assists for 46 points, 6 fights and 113 penalty minutes. Don’t let the numbers fool you, if it’s spunk you are looking for, he’s got it.

Nowadays, he owns “Scooters on Broadway”. Mark runs the shop that boasts the Schwinn Laguna, Sport and Manhattan 200. I know, I don’t understand what any of that means either, but it takes up the majority of his time, when he’s not doing color for the Pioneer Radio Broadcasts or being the Studio Analyst for Colorado Avalanche games…which brings me to my story. Mark Rycroft might be the single most interesting man on the planet. I know what you’re thinking, that guy with the grey beard that climbs Mt. Everest and rides monkeys through the Sahara while drinking Dos Equis XX already has that title…not so fast. All you have to do is watch one hockey game with Ryker, and you’ll know what I mean.

Here’s a few little things I have noticed about him over the past two weeks, you tell me if I am crazy…

1. Don’t even think about touching his makeup. That little compact of powder to him… is like what the blanket is to Linus.
2. His “clips” are like his unborn child. He loves those hidden plays in the game more than life itself. If our server went down, he’d melt right on set.
3. Some of the things that come out of his mouth should be made into t-shirts. “Where mum keeps the peanut butter”, and “that guy is a total wimp” and “He should be knocked on his butt”.
4. He drinks 14 cups of Lipton tea during any given game and never uses the bathroom.
5. His cell phone was made in 1998.
6. He’s a Google freak. Say any name, within five seconds, he’s typing it up on HockeyFights.com, HockeyDb.com, or the last resort NHL.com. If there’s some scoop on somebody, he knows it.
7. He fought Dan Carcillo without knowing that Dan Carcillo beats up people for a living. He said it was the scariest 33 seconds of his life.
8. He loves to golf, but can only play on Sunday’s between 12 and 2. I know, it’s neat. He needs a membership at “Harvard Gulch”.
9. He’s more concerned about his shirt-tie combination than Joan Rivers is about the Red Carpet.
10. Behind closed doors, and certainly not on the air, he talks like an old school hockey player. Trust me, it’s hilarious, I need a thesaurus just to de-code his sentences.

People love to watch him on television for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that he is REAL. He says what a lot of you are thinking. His brutal honesty is refreshing. His character is a breath of fresh air. His knowledge of the game is unbelievable. So here’s my little cheer to Scooter boy…I love working with you Ryker, you’re one of a kind.

Comments

[Scott Pantall]

I watched Mystery Alaska for the first time last night and when I saw Mike Myers' version of a hockey commentator I started laughing, "Holy crap! That's Rycroft!"

Srsly, watch the YouTube clip at 5:00 and tell me that's not him: http://youtu.be/HYAePD6usuU

[Scott Thurston]

Great blog, Kyle! You captured all the reasons we love watching Mark analyze Avs games. You and Ryker are the best team on the air.