Q & A: Mike Payne

I was playing for Charlestown and during a game in Lake Placid, NY against a loaded Jr. Bruins team (Billy Tibbets and several others) one of their players and I got into a fight. Later on that evening, one of my assistant coaches was giving me a problem and I never had any problems with any of my coaches throughout my career, I respected them all. But he finally got to me so I asked him if he wanted to go while a couple of us (like my good friend and Charlestown teammate, Jimmy Palermo) were hanging in the hotel room. We got up, squared off, and started throwing. It should have been squashed right there like all of us said it should be, but the guy kept on whining about the fight so one of the guys in the front office wanted me gone. To most people, this would be a bad thing but for me it was the best move ever.