Podchaser Logo
Home
Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Released Tuesday, 22nd August 2023
Good episode? Give it some love!
Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Insights from working with NHL athletes: Guest Episode - Our Kids Play Hockey

Tuesday, 22nd August 2023
Good episode? Give it some love!
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.

Use Ctrl + F to search

0:15

Well , we've got a real treat . Well , I should say I've

0:17

got a real treat . Tonight we're interviewing John Boruk

0:19

. So he was a sportscaster in Philadelphia

0:22

for many years Don't worry , we don't just talk about

0:24

Philadelphia sports , the whole episode because his

0:26

son is a high level hockey

0:28

player in the area and he has created a show called

0:30

raising a champion , which really dives

0:32

into a lot of the same subject matter we do on our

0:35

kids by hockey . It's a great , great

0:37

crossover episode and we

0:39

discuss a lot of different things from , obviously

0:41

, how he got into hockey , but a lot of the parenting

0:44

side of hockey and how it applies

0:46

to our own children and the things he's

0:48

learned in being a sportscaster and being around

0:50

a lot of NHL players throughout his career

0:52

and how he applies that to being a really great

0:54

father and a great leader in the market

0:57

today . All right , before we jump into it with John , I

0:59

just want to remind you guys our children's book when

1:01

Hockey Stops is still available at when hockey

1:03

stopscom . The whole purpose of this

1:06

book is to teach your kids how to deal with adversity

1:08

, which is something we talk about on the show today . The

1:11

book dives into a young character who is facing

1:13

a situation . He can't play for the year and he still

1:15

stays involved in the game Even though

1:17

he's injured . It's got a ton of great rave reviews

1:20

. We are really , really proud of it and we're

1:22

really fortunate that a lot of people love it as

1:24

much as we do . So check that out when hockey stopscom

1:27

or , if you're inclined , go over to Amazon

1:29

it's on there too and check it out . But without

1:31

further ado , let's dive , let's dive , let's

1:33

dive and dive into this episode

1:35

. John Borek on Our Kids Playhockey

1:37

. Hello hockey

1:39

friends and families around the world , and welcome to another

1:42

edition of Our Kids Playhockey

1:44

. I'm Leo Elias . With Mike Benelli , kristi Cascio

1:46

burns us literally on assignment tonight . Our

1:48

guest today , john Borek , has 11 regional

1:51

Emmy awards that he's earned , over 25

1:53

years of sports broadcasting covering

1:55

some of the world's biggest athletes on

1:57

the game's biggest stage . He is the host

1:59

of the raising a champion podcast

2:01

, which we highly recommend to all of you

2:03

, which dives into the industry of youth

2:05

sports through the eyes of former professional athletes

2:08

, parents , coaches , administrators

2:10

and medical experts . To answer how youth sports

2:12

can improve , be safer , cost

2:14

effective and more inclusive for all athletes Sounds

2:17

very familiar , which is one of the reasons we're very excited

2:19

to have him tonight . However , with all

2:21

of those accolades , he will tell you that his greatest

2:24

and proudest accomplishment has been raising

2:26

three children who have all been very active

2:28

through sports , including youth hockey , in

2:30

their everyday lives . We're looking forward to diving

2:33

into this one , john , welcome to Our Kids Playhockey

2:35

.

2:36

Hey , it's good to be here . It is great

2:38

to see a podcast dedicated

2:41

to kind of what I talk about . I mean , I

2:43

encompass all sports , but you

2:45

guys are hockey centric , so that's really cool

2:47

. And I'm right in the thick of it because I

2:49

got a 2011 who's

2:52

getting ready to start his Pee Wee major season

2:54

, so it's fun and

2:57

I'm sure that you guys , between guests

2:59

, you have a lot of really good information

3:01

out there for parents and coaches and everybody

3:04

.

3:04

Yeah , I'd say , if there was a target

3:07

and like , the center of the target was the target audience

3:09

, your son's at that exact point

3:12

which means that you're there as a parent as well

3:14

. We appreciate the

3:16

compliment , obviously , and again

3:18

, you're doing great work on your show as well . I'm going to say

3:21

it again to the audience If you like our show , you

3:23

will love his show as well , so make sure you check that

3:25

out . I wanted to start with

3:27

it , john , I was going to tell you this . So typically

3:29

, when I do my rundowns for shows and my

3:31

research , I have so many questions . We never

3:33

get to all of them , but for you , I kind

3:35

of know where we're going tonight , so I actually don't

3:38

have a ton of questions because I'm pretty

3:40

sure we're going to have big discussions .

3:42

All right good .

3:43

Yeah , so I'm looking forward to it . So

3:45

again , I've watched you interview people for years

3:47

, so thank you for allowing us

3:49

to flip the script a bit , but I actually wanted to start

3:51

with you . Just tell us a little bit about the role that

3:53

hockey has played in your life , and again

3:56

a little bit more about your son , who's playing .

3:57

Yeah .

3:57

How you've gotten there .

3:59

Yeah , that's , it's well , it

4:01

goes back to . You know , I remember

4:03

, obviously I grew up in the Dallas

4:06

, fort Worth , texas area back in the

4:08

1980s and , believe it or

4:10

not , I actually had this affinity

4:12

for hockey . I didn't know what it was , but I thought

4:14

it was so cool . There

4:16

was nowhere to watch it . You know , this is

4:18

pre cable . You know

4:21

, I think maybe when the Stanley Cup was on

4:23

back in , that day is the only time that you

4:25

could watch hockey and there was no youth

4:28

programs . The only place

4:30

that you could even skate was to go to a

4:32

mall that had , like you

4:34

know , an ice sheet

4:37

there in the middle of the mall . So

4:39

when

4:42

I got into sports casting , one

4:45

of the big awards , as I was moving

4:47

through the ranks from one city to

4:49

the next , was in

4:51

1998 , I took a job in national

4:53

, the year that the national predators were

4:56

awarded an expansion team . So I got there

4:59

and they started playing seven , eight months later

5:01

. So that was really my time

5:03

to cover

5:06

the sport , be around the sport , be around

5:08

the players you know , get

5:10

to know the ends , the outs , you know how

5:14

they go about it , they train and everything . And

5:16

then from national I moved after five

5:19

years to Detroit and

5:21

during that time was probably

5:24

the greatest collection of talent

5:26

you'll ever see assembled

5:28

on one team , that Red Wings team

5:31

, prior to the whole lockout and salary

5:33

cap era , when they had Robotye

5:35

, hall , hosh , chellios , iserman

5:38

, zetterberg

5:40

that's Sue .

5:42

This isn't an all star team you're naming , by the way , this is just

5:44

the Detroit Red . Wings of that time One team .

5:47

Yeah , that won the Stanley Cup in 2002

5:49

. And I got there , you know , the

5:52

year after that but the team

5:54

was still assembled . So

5:57

it was , yeah

5:59

, and I just

6:02

had a passion for the sport , you know , just passion

6:04

for covering , love the players . If

6:07

you've ever been around NHL players , you

6:09

just know that they're a different breed , they're

6:12

so down to earth and a lot of that

6:14

is because the way that you have to play the sport

6:17

you're upbringing and the way that you know

6:19

you go about it is that you can't be a

6:22

me centric type person . You

6:24

got to check your ego anytime that you step

6:27

inside a rink because the game will

6:29

expose you , expose those players

6:31

who try to play that way . So

6:33

you know

6:35

, being around locker rooms and that

6:37

, and then moving on to Philadelphia and

6:41

being able to cover the Flyers for 13 years

6:43

was really cool . And

6:45

then , you know , when I got

6:47

here , my two boys were born here . My oldest

6:50

son , he

6:52

got on a pair of ice skates and I kind

6:54

of wanted to push him in that direction but

6:56

he didn't really have an interest and that was fine . You know

6:58

the one thing that I told

7:01

myself , you know , when

7:03

it came to developing , you know my kids

7:05

, and whatever they wanted to do

7:07

is well , first off , they

7:10

have to have a passion , like I don't want to , never

7:12

want to have to talk them into doing something

7:15

. They're the one that have to , you

7:17

know , to show that they

7:19

have a real , genuine interest in doing

7:21

something . So he didn't have it . And then

7:23

my youngest son , who was born in 2011,

7:25

. He won . I said we're going to get

7:27

him out there at the age of like I think I had

7:29

him on skates at the age of three or

7:32

four and I remember I was holding up under

7:34

his arms and you know

7:36

I was out there for maybe two

7:38

, three different sessions and I said , if this kid

7:41

doesn't get on , I can't , my arms are going to

7:43

fall off If he doesn't just start skating . And

7:45

about that time he just started taking off . And

7:48

that's how it starts , right , you know , you get him out

7:50

there at the age of three , and then

7:52

they just they're able to stay on their legs

7:54

and he's out there . I got , you know , still

7:56

have video on my phone he's out there chasing

7:59

the puck with kids , you know , two and three

8:01

years older than him , and that's

8:03

how it all got started . I bought little

8:05

hockey jerseys for him and so he had like

8:07

a , a Lundquist jersey

8:09

, a Geru jersey , a Tyler Sagan

8:12

jersey back and they just get out there and just skate

8:14

. So you know

8:16

it . You know it was sort of a bittersweet

8:20

thing in terms of leaving

8:23

NBC Sports Philadelphia when I did , because

8:25

you know I had I stayed on there

8:27

and continue to cover the team , cover

8:30

the Flyers . There's a lot of sacrifices

8:32

that have to be made and so

8:34

now I'm grateful that I get a chance

8:37

to be there every weekend . Go

8:39

to tournaments he's got tournaments in Toronto and

8:41

Detroit , rochester

8:43

. I think we're going to Pittsburgh

8:46

. It's crazy . It's

8:49

crazy , you know , when you , you

8:51

know we're , we're all we're going now , but

8:55

it's , it's great , you know it's . You build

8:57

such a camaraderie with parents

8:59

and I really believe that the parents

9:01

probably the

9:03

wins and losses mean more

9:06

to the parents than the kids . They

9:08

just like to get out there and and , and and

9:10

you know they're competitive and have fun . But

9:13

but it's good and , and

9:15

and I you know , and with him and

9:17

his love for hockey , you know we'll sit here

9:19

and watch hockey on television . How

9:21

, how he can pick things up as an analyst

9:24

, you know , playing the game , which is so

9:26

cool . So it's , it's really good , it's . I'm , I'm glad

9:29

that I have him to do that , because it's

9:31

really kept me involved in hockey

9:33

after leaving NBC sports .

9:36

Well , I want to add too , real quick , just so we don't leave them

9:39

out your other kids play sports too , right ? You had mentioned that

9:41

in the pre show .

9:41

Yeah , yeah , so my oldest my

9:44

yep my oldest daughter is . She's

9:47

still doing karate . She's a second degree black

9:49

belt . She's inching her way towards

9:51

being a third degree black belt . My

9:54

oldest son got his

9:56

black belt as well . He kind

9:58

of did that because they're they're very close in age

10:00

, my daughter and my older

10:03

son , and then he just wanted to focus

10:05

and concentrate on basketball . He tried football

10:07

one year or a couple

10:09

of years , but he just wanted

10:11

to focus primarily on basketball

10:14

and that's essentially what he's been doing for the last

10:16

three , four years . Yeah

10:18

, that's really cool , he's going to be a junior in high school and

10:20

he's going to play on the varsity basketball

10:23

too .

10:23

So success in sports . Now here's a cool

10:26

question that just popped in my head and and

10:28

that you know

10:30

we get a lot of emails on this show . We get a lot of

10:32

feedback just about the anxiety of being a parent

10:35

, right , and we all feel that in

10:37

different ways . So here's my question You've

10:39

been around the NHL athlete some

10:42

of the best right In multiple markets

10:44

. Do you feel that that experience

10:46

of being around those athletes has has

10:48

influenced the way that you

10:50

view the youth game ? Right ? Because

10:53

, again , john , we hear all the time parents

10:55

talk about the ROI of youth hockey and if they

10:57

can just make college or they can just

10:59

make the show , and I mean , I

11:01

think that we talk about the insanity

11:03

of that conversation . You know , at any

11:05

point really in the youth game outside , maybe the

11:08

U18 level is when that's really you even can

11:10

consider that right . So did your

11:12

experience on the air and being a

11:14

sports journalist impact the way you approach

11:16

the game as a parent ?

11:18

That's a really good question and I would say

11:20

, for the most part , no . Until

11:22

I was , I

11:25

Transition more from just

11:27

doing pre and post game shows into following

11:29

the team and Covering

11:32

them on the road , writing for the , for

11:34

the website . I did that for the last two years . I was there

11:36

and and they would have a dad's

11:39

trip , and so I would really

11:41

, because I had kids of my own at the time

11:43

. I I I really took

11:45

the time to get to know some of the dads

11:47

, like Claude Jereau's , dad Ray

11:50

, and , and I would ask the dads

11:52

, tell , tell me about what you did . Tell me

11:54

, because I was like a sponge at that point . I just

11:56

wanted to absorb all the information

11:58

, everything that they did , you

12:01

know , along the way , and the one constant

12:03

, I think , was , as they just said , you

12:06

know , no , you know , we didn't , I didn't , you know

12:08

, push him , you know , it's one of those things

12:10

that they have to drive the train . You

12:12

can , you can put the coal in the engine for

12:14

them . You know , you can supply it , but they're

12:16

the ones that have to drive , they're the ones that

12:19

could be the driving force . If you

12:21

got to be behind them and pushing them , it's

12:23

not gonna work and they , none of them , were

12:26

what I would consider these over

12:28

zealous parents

12:30

, these crazy , you know parents . Now , a lot

12:32

of them were like with

12:35

Travis Kinek and his dad was his coach

12:37

for , I think , until he got to

12:39

be 15 or 16 in juniors . So

12:41

he was a coach , so you'd see that , but certainly

12:43

not Claude Jereau's dad . Claude Jereau's

12:45

dad was a little electrician and

12:49

he just knows that . You know they lived way

12:51

up in Hearst , ontario , where they had a lot of cold

12:53

winters . You know Claude would leave

12:55

the house and go out and play for three

12:57

or four hours . You know , because you could do that

12:59

. You know , and and and you know

13:01

that's why you know a lot of Canadians have such

13:04

an advantage , because they

13:06

have those colder winters . Where it , you

13:08

know it's , it's it's kind of like having

13:10

Inner-city basketball courts

13:12

all over the place . You know that that's just . They just

13:14

have frozen ponds because the weather gets that cold

13:16

, but that's . But that's when

13:18

I really started to pick up a lot of things . It's

13:20

talking to some of these dads , talking to

13:22

some of the moms when they would can't come into town . You

13:25

know , I did a big story . In fact

13:27

I got them to come on the podcast

13:29

. But before that , johnny Goudreau

13:31

and I would say that Probably , yee , goudreau

13:33

is is probably more in line

13:36

with those hardcore parents

13:38

, but he was a coach . He was a skating

13:40

coach . He ran the organization , you

13:42

know , ran the outfit there , holly dell

13:45

and so that was

13:47

his job and Johnny

13:49

just became it . But I don't think that that

13:51

, I Don't think you Goudreau

13:54

said Johnny got to be here , be here , be here

13:56

. Johnny just developed into being a rat

13:58

ring , you know , and that that he just

14:00

never wanted to leave . You know , it's like boom

14:02

, if dad's gonna be there , then I want

14:04

to be there and that's the way it's gonna be . So

14:06

but that would that . Yeah , that

14:08

was what was really cool , it was a really good story . Like talking

14:11

to Brian Elliott's dad was

14:13

. You know , brian Elliott

14:15

was a skater and he was a position player

14:17

as a squirt

14:19

. And then when you got to pee , we

14:22

at about this age he's like

14:24

, hey , dad , I want to , I don't want to ever come off the ice

14:26

. And he's like , okay , well , I don't know what

14:28

to tell you . It goes well . Then I want to be a goalie . So

14:30

at the age of 12 , brian Elliott decides that

14:32

he just doesn't want to skate anymore . He doesn't want

14:34

to be a position player , wants to be a goalie right . And

14:37

so you think at the age of 12 you're starting

14:39

that it seems kind of late , but that's , that's what happened

14:41

. And so you know , I think , that if you

14:44

have talent and and and

14:46

and , 90% of it it's

14:48

just raw DNA talent

14:50

. You know , if you've got the raw

14:53

DNA talent , it's the other 10

14:55

, 15% , that

14:58

. How much can you push yourself ? How

15:00

much are you willing to work when others don't want to work

15:02

? You

15:04

know how just all

15:06

the stuff off the ice Stay

15:10

, conditioning and all of that . But I

15:12

really believe that you know , if you want you

15:15

don't want to say this to parents because everybody's got this

15:17

lofty goal right hey

15:19

, my kid's gonna is good , you know

15:21

he's gonna be there , he's , he's great at the

15:23

age of six and

15:25

that sort of thing and

15:28

they just it's . So I'm

15:30

telling you you're the funnel . I

15:32

talk about the funnel , I mean the funnels here and

15:34

then when , even when you get to college , it's

15:37

like down to here and then the NHL is so

15:39

tiny but

15:42

it's so much goes into it , like so

15:44

much . I wanted , I actually want to do an episode

15:47

and I haven't gotten this

15:49

yet , but I got to find the right person . Because

15:52

when you get to be 15 , 16 , 17

15:55

and 18 is when you start thinking about

15:57

Relationships . You start thinking about , you

15:59

know , dating girls and dating this and

16:02

and , and it's easy for

16:04

that to kind of , if you , if you

16:06

have that goal

16:08

of wanting to play collegiate hockey or

16:10

you want to play junior hockey and have

16:12

NHL aspirations , you know you

16:14

got a really have tunnel vision and

16:17

it's , it's easy to get

16:19

sidetracked . You know , and , like

16:21

Johnny Goodrow , when I talked to his parents , you

16:23

had to Skip . You

16:26

know , the junior dance , the sophomore

16:28

dance , the senior problem , those things , it's

16:30

, it's , it's not an option like , it's just not

16:33

. If you you want to continue to ascend

16:35

to the point to where you want to , you

16:37

have to make sacrifices along

16:39

the way . So , yeah

16:42

, it's . That's when I think I really started

16:44

to to to Absorb

16:47

a lot of information , when I started to talk to

16:49

a lot of the parents Started , the dads

16:52

and some of the moms of the flyers and stuff .

16:53

Well , I'll tell you that I have an immense

16:55

passion for the game and I realized early on

16:57

and again , mike and I always joke that this

17:00

, this podcast , is therapy for all of us . But

17:02

as much passion as I

17:04

have for the game , can't put that into my

17:06

child , right , they have to develop yet

17:08

right . And it doesn't matter and

17:10

that's a common theme I see amongst parents , and I'm

17:13

actually really thankful that you shared that , john

17:15

, because I think it shows you I you know , especially when you

17:17

get the elite level , it's never exactly

17:19

what I think people think it is right . And

17:22

I'll say we've interviewed NHL parents

17:24

and NHL players and I

17:26

think for the most part across the board , like you said , 99.5%

17:30

of people in the NHL that play in the NHL have

17:33

that passion right . There are a few that just

17:35

just like , as you said , they have their all talent but they don't

17:37

tend to last as long as people think right

17:39

. I remember Long

17:42

time ago in the 90s I remember the 90s

17:44

Wayne Gretzky was still in

17:46

New York . We're just , probably just arrived

17:48

in New York and he was on like

17:50

a public access radio show and

17:52

some parent called in Like I don't even know if I've

17:54

told you this one , and they said listen , wayne , my

17:56

kid , can you tell my kid to practice

17:59

? Can you tell my kid to practice harder ? And

18:01

this was a really impactful moment for me as a young

18:03

person . Listen , he goes . No , I

18:05

cannot tell you .

18:06

Yeah .

18:06

I don't want it right . And

18:09

here's the greatest hockey player ever right

18:11

, saying that . You know , if you don't want

18:13

it , it's not , it doesn't matter . The rest

18:15

is almost doesn't matter .

18:17

Yeah , well , you know , it's funny . I

18:19

had a similar talk like that with my son

18:21

, where they have us like

18:23

a three-fifths the rink as opposed to the

18:25

NHL rink , and he likes to be on the three-fifths rink

18:27

, of course , because there's not as much surface

18:29

space , so you don't have to worry about skating up

18:31

and down and up and down , it's , it's , you're playing

18:33

the short game and battling and he loves

18:36

all that stuff . But he's like

18:38

oh oh he goes what rink

18:40

are we on ? So when I tell him , oh yeah , you're on the NHL

18:42

rink tonight , he's like , oh god , you

18:45

know . And so I'm like , look , you

18:48

got it , you get . I said you got to find a way to

18:50

get something out of pride . If you want to get

18:52

where you want to go , practices where

18:54

it's gonna happen , right , it's not gonna be in games

18:56

, you know , you're not gonna . You don't do

18:59

the necessary skill work . Playing in games it's

19:02

doing it in practice and and and

19:04

paying attention and focusing and

19:06

embracing that the really great

19:08

players Embrace practice

19:10

, not just playing the games . The games is like

19:12

once they get into the games they're already locked

19:14

in the mentality , but they learn how to get

19:17

stuff in practice . That's why I love to

19:19

read Kobe Bryant a lot , because Kobe was

19:21

, I mean , one of the best

19:23

you know in Jordan .

19:24

Those guys talked about Maximizing

19:28

their practice time and how they practice

19:30

hard , so the games are easy .

19:32

Yeah but you mentioned something too about like the

19:34

kids and instilling passion . I Ask

19:37

him every single year and we had a hard lesson

19:39

this year because he was cut from one

19:41

of his , the team that he played for last

19:43

year . One of one of the big

19:45

teams folded , so you had a

19:47

disbursement of about 13 14 kids

19:50

looking for a home , looking for a

19:52

new team , and he happened to just

19:54

sort of be one of the odd ones out

19:56

, even though I thought he had a really

19:58

good year . It happens and I said

20:00

, you know , I gave him some

20:02

options . But I asked him every single year

20:04

. I said Do you want to play triple a

20:06

hockey ? Because this isn't cheap . I

20:09

mean , between tuition and equipment

20:11

and being on your 13

20:14

now , in three years , I'm buying jerseys every

20:16

single year . You know you're talking

20:18

. You know a hockey season is 10 to

20:20

15 thousand dollars . That's not cheap . So

20:23

if you want to do I need

20:25

to know that you want to do this , that

20:27

you have the , that you're willing to go to every

20:30

practice and every game and

20:32

you have the , that you have

20:34

an enjoyment , not just that you wanted to

20:36

enjoy doing is . If you don't enjoy doing

20:38

it , then all of this is

20:41

is pointless . You know we can . You can play double

20:43

a hockey and have fun , and we can save

20:45

a whole lot of money and not have to travel , you know

20:47

, all across the Northeast . So that's

20:49

the key . I think you , if there's

20:52

a parent out there when you're in

20:54

that summer time , get away

20:56

from hockey , go do vacations

20:58

, let them play , let them do something

21:02

. You take trips to the beach , the shore , whatever

21:04

, but just get away . You

21:07

don't need to so that their batteries are charged . But

21:09

then make sure that they really , before

21:11

you embark and usually you got to make that decision

21:14

back in March that they definitely

21:17

want to stick with AAA , because as

21:19

you start to move up it starts to get

21:21

a little rougher . We're

21:24

now one year away from checking . That's

21:26

a whole different beast that a lot of kids aren't

21:28

going to be really acclimated to . Then

21:30

, after that , you're about two years away from these

21:32

guys hitting puberty . When

21:34

that happens , bodies change , a

21:37

lot changes . Some of the kids that

21:39

may be on top now it's going to be

21:41

flipped . It's going to be completely different . You're

21:44

going to see kids that you never thought were good all

21:47

of a sudden grow into their bodies and now

21:49

the whole sports completely changed for them

21:51

. I just want

21:53

to make sure that this is still

21:55

what he wants , because I don't

21:57

say that my dream is your dream

21:59

. Your dream is my dream

22:01

, but if this isn't your passion anymore , then

22:03

it's certainly not going to be my passion .

22:05

Right yeah , I

22:07

think that comes up too all the time we talk about , like we even mentioned a little

22:09

earlier and you used the term ROI , right

22:12

, I think we've all

22:14

lost sight and listening to you and your

22:16

real life , right yeah , your

22:19

podcast , your world and your discussion with all athletes and

22:22

athletic parents is that this ROI

22:25

somehow turned into pro hockey

22:27

or a pro sport , as opposed

22:29

to building a better

22:31

human being . The ROI is that

22:33

, for 98% of

22:35

the young men and women that go through sport at

22:38

even the highest levels , right yeah , end up

22:40

being our leaders . We want them

22:42

to be the ones that have the grit , that had the

22:44

adversity . It can deal with change

22:46

, it can deal with conflict , it

22:49

can deal with working within a team setting

22:51

, whether you're a plumber or a stockbroker

22:54

that you see

22:56

, like this , somewhere along the line

22:58

, the ROI turned into like

23:00

a paid position to

23:03

play the sport , as opposed to all of the

23:05

things that we got our kids into

23:07

sports for in the first place . Obviously

23:10

, social media has played a huge part in that and

23:12

this professionalization of used sports

23:15

. But , to your point , john , when you

23:17

can evaluate with your children and say

23:19

, okay , where are we at ? Is

23:21

this something you love doing

23:23

, never really talking about . Well , do you love doing it

23:25

because you ultimately want to be

23:28

Tyler Sagan ? We

23:31

were up in a hockey camp

23:33

in Toronto and there's a

23:35

brand new Maserati outside

23:37

and it's 6.30 in

23:39

the morning and you see Tyler

23:42

Sagan walks out . He just got done with his workout , he

23:44

gets in the car and all the kids are like , oh

23:46

my God , that was Tyler Sagan . Look

23:49

at the car he has and look at the life . There's

23:51

a guy behind him carrying like 15 sticks . I

23:54

said , yeah , but he's here at 5.30 in the

23:56

morning and he's doing the

23:58

work . He's

24:00

still a dedicated . You know , people don't see

24:02

all that . They don't see all that . They

24:05

don't see the practice , they don't see the fact

24:07

that the games are the funnest part , because

24:09

it's actually less work . You're

24:12

like , wow , you guys have some fun here , but

24:14

I think that somewhere in the line , maybe you could talk

24:16

about that a little bit , because you're dealing with

24:18

all sports , right , john . Yeah , where

24:21

did that like ? Where do you think that disconnect

24:23

really has become from

24:26

? Hey , I want my kids playing sport

24:28

because I want them to learn

24:30

all the lessons that sports supposed to be teaching , as

24:32

opposed to oh , no , no , my kid's going to play a sport

24:34

so he doesn't have to go to real , you know , have

24:37

a real job .

24:38

Well , first off , there

24:40

shouldn't even be a mentality of having an ROI

24:42

Like you . Don't even

24:44

, you shouldn't even be thinking about any return

24:47

on whatever your investment is

24:49

Okay . The return is that

24:51

you enjoy watching him play , at whatever level

24:53

he's playing at . That's the return . That's

24:57

the way I look at it . I just said , hey , I

25:00

love watching him play . It brings me

25:02

great joy , however long it is . Maybe

25:04

it's until 16 , maybe it's 17

25:06

or 18 through high school , I don't know but

25:09

I really enjoy it . As long as he enjoys

25:11

it and I enjoy it , I'll invest

25:13

and I'm not putting this money thinking

25:16

that there's some big , shiny object

25:18

down the road and if he doesn't get it it's going to be

25:20

a major disappointment . I don't look

25:22

at that at all because

25:24

, well , first off , you

25:26

can't , you don't

25:29

a lot of things change , like I said , I'm just

25:31

mentioning the whole . You know these kids

25:33

get . You know they get girlfriends and

25:35

maybe then , all of a sudden , sports . You

25:37

know I'm not really into it all

25:39

that much . You know it's kind of

25:42

. You know I'd rather go out here and party

25:44

with Johnny and some of the boys as

25:47

they get older . So that's different

25:49

. You ask when did the mentality

25:52

start to change when things started

25:54

to get more expensive , when

25:56

families have now , when

25:59

you started having elite

26:01

clubs and elite teams

26:04

and the cost of tuition , and

26:06

then these coaches are getting paid and you see

26:08

how much you're having to pay your expenses

26:11

and how much , you know . You look on your spreadsheets

26:13

and you see you

26:15

know how much money , the thousands of dollars . That's

26:18

when they said , well , I'd better get something out of this . That's

26:20

where the mentality started , because

26:23

back in my day , when I was playing , everything

26:26

was YMCA or Little League , this

26:28

. You know , my parents were on a shoestring

26:30

budget and it was never like that . It was

26:32

never like that at all . There wasn't

26:34

not all these hyper . You know

26:36

, well , you got to be on this travel team and

26:38

well , I'm on two travel teams and then I'm

26:40

. You know , then it becomes a 12

26:43

month long ordeal . That was

26:45

never , ever the case . But that's

26:47

, but it's . Everybody's trying to keep up

26:49

with everybody else and when somebody's

26:51

paying , oh , we're going to go up here

26:53

to play this tournament . I don't get caught up

26:55

in it , it doesn't bother me one bit , but

26:58

I see it happening all the time . And that's

27:00

where it all started is when the money started

27:03

to flow in and it became big business is

27:05

when parents says well , if I'm buying

27:07

into this , I better be getting something

27:10

out of it .

27:11

Right and I think , and obviously the organization

27:13

and the coaches and the teams you know feed into

27:15

that right . Because all

27:17

of a sudden somebody said oh , wait , a minute , I don't have to be a vault . Like

27:20

my father volunteered for everything , like he was doing the clock

27:22

and we got to get in the door and help him with water bottles

27:24

. Like whoa , I could have got paid for all that . Like

27:26

I could . I could actually turn this into a revenue

27:28

stream yeah , to myself , by starting

27:31

this business and having a travel team that

27:33

goes to Boston every weekend . So , yeah , there's no

27:35

doubt about it , and I think , and I think that's where we

27:37

actually . It's so funny because we just had this conversation

27:39

the other day with another , another

27:41

guest , about the point of saying you

27:43

know , we're saying

27:45

, like , what you did as a kid , like why

27:47

did you forget that all the stuff that

27:49

you did as a kid was because you loved

27:53

going and doing it . And go like we see , we

27:55

talked to , we talked to parents all the time . Does

27:57

your son or daughter go out on

27:59

their own and hit balls ? Did they go on their

28:01

own and shoot pucks ? Did they get up in the morning

28:04

and go and all of a sudden you're like wait where

28:06

, where you know you kind of get into . you know , back

28:08

when I grew up and a lot of and

28:10

a lot of the best athletes I knew you

28:13

had to beg them to come inside . Like you

28:15

guys said listen , that's it . You don't come inside

28:17

, I'm taking your stick away .

28:20

Like you have to get in as opposed to . As opposed to

28:22

.

28:22

I just pay two hours . You must go to this clinic

28:24

. You got to go to it . It's just that that

28:26

whole pendulum is shifted and

28:30

then the sad reality is the kids that are doing

28:32

that on their own Are

28:34

doing it on their own there and we don't see

28:36

that . Everybody forgets that they're there

28:38

. That's a self-motivated kid . I almost . I

28:41

almost get really I'm

28:43

not jaded so much , but like I'll , I'll

28:45

really question apparently , is your son really

28:47

want to be here at 530 in the morning ? I know the

28:49

year , but is this something like they

28:51

literally ? You went out in the car was started and they had

28:53

a cup of coffee for you . Like , is that really what's happening

28:55

, or are you driving this ? I was

28:58

hoping that they get the bug , like

29:00

hoping that they it's .

29:02

Are you living through them or Do

29:05

?

29:05

you feel you can , you can do , you feel you could pave

29:07

that path easier for them , so that

29:09

they can get to a point where maybe they do love

29:11

it .

29:12

It's funny . There's one example I can think

29:14

of of a dad who did that Bob

29:18

Stevenson . Bobby Ryan's father got

29:21

him up at 5 , 5 , 30 every morning

29:23

to skate every morning as a little kid

29:25

and did it from like age 5

29:27

, 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , and

29:30

you know , and

29:32

obviously Bobby Ryan was a really good

29:34

player , played in the NHL

29:36

second overall pick behind city Crosby , but

29:39

he , that's the . That was . The one takeaway

29:41

from the time that I spent with Bob

29:43

Stevenson was that he had him out there five

29:46

o'clock in the morning having him skate and

29:48

Apparently I guess he liked it , he's

29:50

, he stayed with it . But his

29:53

dad also had a presence about

29:55

him to where there's , there's

29:57

no other option . And so , yeah

30:00

, I mean , how many parents would do something like that ? I don't

30:02

know . But to kind of go back to your point , you

30:04

know when we were younger

30:07

and kids , we didn't have the distractions

30:10

that the kids have

30:12

now , and I'm talking about phones

30:14

and gaming consoles and

30:16

all of that stuff . Because Going

30:19

outside and playing sports , no matter

30:21

what it was sandlot , football , waffleball

30:24

right , and somebody's backyard in fences

30:26

you know did that , or you , or

30:28

you played pick up basketball in the driveway

30:30

. You know that was the

30:32

social setting . And today

30:34

the social setting is is put on the headphones

30:37

and play Xbox , you know , and

30:39

play , you know call of duty

30:41

or or League of Legends

30:43

, or fortnight or whatever the game is . But

30:45

that's the social setting and it's

30:48

it's . It's it's tearing

30:50

away to where they're

30:52

not going out there and just having that free

30:54

, expressive play , that Unstructured

30:57

play . So , because they're

30:59

doing that , and then you're trying to play catch

31:02

up , then you're trying to structure things

31:04

. And I do this because you

31:06

know , in the summer I want him to least get out

31:08

there . That I'm calling up , you

31:10

know , elite edge up in Malvern . I'm saying , hey

31:12

, can I get him out there for an hour

31:14

session on the ice because he needs to get his legs moved

31:17

. So that's part

31:19

of the problem . I don't think I'd be doing that if he

31:21

was out here playing lacrosse with

31:23

his buddies or basketball football , best .

31:25

But they don't do that , well

31:28

, it's too hard , right , it's almost like you know , like

31:30

this whole , this whole like , but I became a parent

31:32

. Like this whole . Hey , we got a play date arrange

31:34

. They go a play date . What the hell is my

31:36

parents you like ? What are you talking about ? You had to arrange

31:39

to go , have somebody go play with your kids . I

31:41

go yeah , because kids don't just there , the cul-de-sacs

31:43

are empty , the the end of the streets are

31:45

vacant , like you don't see the kid . Because

31:47

it is . It's harder there's no doubt about

31:50

it that the distractions and the ability to

31:52

do something that's not physical , that

31:54

doesn't take creativity , like , like

31:56

they're doing that in a different way . And

31:58

you know it's hard . It is hard for me . I'm

32:01

the first one to say it's really hard

32:03

for me to to , to accept

32:05

that , that this is our reality and

32:08

that , but at the same time , like , okay , well , instead

32:10

of fighting it , maybe we can create something

32:12

outside , like and and

32:15

say , hey , like , I find myself playing

32:17

with my kids all the time . Where my father

32:19

never played with me Like never

32:21

, because it was there was 17 other kids

32:23

playing , like you know , play with your get hurt

32:25

.

32:26

You know you get hurt , right , but it's like you know I'm

32:28

not playing street hockey with that guy .

32:29

But I think , but I think it's so funny how , when I asked

32:32

kids just to go out and play , I'll I guy

32:34

do this all the time in my community like I'll just take a

32:36

bunch of sticks and I'll go up and I'll send a little text

32:38

Message hey , I'm up at the tennis court , I

32:40

got a bunch of floorball sticks up here . Anyone

32:42

want to come ? Yeah , I do it with a cross to

32:44

. We just have open night of the cross . Hey , it's a

32:46

beautiful night , the sun's out , there's

32:48

a bunch of balls up here , the nets are empty . And

32:50

then you know , and you'll get parents being like oh , thank

32:53

God , because now somebody is

32:55

helping me get my kid out

32:57

like you're literally doing that .

32:59

It . Can Johnny come out to play ?

33:03

I'm the voice . I'm the voice .

33:05

That's the whole key is that you're the , you're , the

33:07

you're the one that spearheading

33:10

this whole effort , right , nobody had

33:12

a spearheaded back in the day . Well , our

33:14

, our imaginations ran wild . We

33:16

, we knew what to do , we figured

33:18

it out . We , we knew how to cultivate

33:20

games and create games and , and

33:23

hey Buddies , driveways

33:25

, the end zone and the other end zones over here . You

33:27

made it work . You made it happen .

33:29

I'm running him and yeah right

33:31

, it always ended well when I pretended

33:33

to be emulous , right ?

33:35

So you know if you're a parent out there

33:37

and you can keep your kid from having a cell

33:39

phone in an Xbox until he's 13

33:42

, you know hats off , good

33:44

luck , that's the way to do it .

33:47

I am gonna play a little bit of devil's advocate

33:49

here and I'll preface it with that . I actually

33:51

agree with you guys , but there are a few things to keep in

33:53

mind , and I'm speaking to our parents listening

33:55

to this one . So number one is that

33:58

and this started well before this , but we

34:00

have to remember too that all these kids just

34:02

were told for two years straight you can't go outside

34:04

, you can't go play anything , you can't go to the rink . And

34:06

again , no one's fault , no one asked for

34:08

that . But you have a whole generation

34:10

of kids who were locked up for a year and a half

34:13

and we even told them to go to school

34:15

on their computer , right . So again , that's

34:17

not so much directed at what you guys were saying , it's

34:19

just like you know that happened and it's

34:21

a little weird we don't talk about it more in

34:23

society . It's just kind of we kind of moved on real

34:25

quick from that , which I think is dangerous in itself

34:27

. The other thing too is I would make the argument

34:30

, I'm sure you guys will agree Kids

34:32

are still as creative . I just think

34:34

that the plane that they use , that creativity

34:36

, has changed . And you know , john , you mentioned

34:38

fortnight , like it's an interesting game and follow

34:40

me here right . He's had to be really creative to be

34:42

in that you do . Oh sure , yeah , but you're

34:45

right , you're sitting there with headphones on . I

34:47

think another element of this is and

34:50

I'm actually being self-reflective as a parent

34:52

it is real easy

34:55

as a parent when you're tired

34:57

at 5 pm and

34:59

they want to go on the Xbox , to

35:01

just be like , yeah , go do that . So

35:03

I get some quiet and I've I've

35:05

tried to be calm , I've tried to be real conscious

35:08

to when I get home with my kid at least sometimes that's a

35:10

practice and my son and daughter

35:12

will pick up the basketball and we're very fortunate we

35:14

have a basketball hoop outside her house and

35:16

my first thought really is no , get

35:18

inside , go shower .

35:20

We don't time for this , we don't time for this and I

35:22

might catch myself .

35:23

I say you know what , go ahead , because I

35:25

want to encourage the behavior a bit , right

35:28

. But but I'm saying too that that I agree

35:30

with you guys about that kids don't go

35:32

out enough . I also think that as

35:34

parents we are also trained

35:36

a bit to to not help them go

35:38

out as much , right ? And also

35:40

here's here's another one , john like and Mike , there

35:43

was no at least from my experience , there was no massive

35:45

fear in the 80s and

35:47

90s of your kid just going out

35:50

and coming back when the lights went back on . I

35:52

think you know now it's like I don't leave my sight

35:54

, don't go too far . You know there's

35:57

this , there's this probably very rational fear

35:59

, to be honest , like we just know more about the world's

36:01

twisted place . But I think

36:03

it's a two-way street and again , I don't think you guys were

36:05

not saying that , I think yeah , but there's a street

36:07

right .

36:08

But there also was no fear growing

36:10

up that you weren't gonna make it , because

36:13

you didn't even think about making it , like there was no

36:15

fear . There was no fear of being in town going

36:17

. I can't believe that Lee's dad

36:19

has him going to that power skating clinic . What

36:21

the hell like I've got to do , that I should

36:23

be doing that like . And then the parents that say , oh

36:25

no , we're not doing anything . And all of a sudden you go to the power skating

36:27

clinic and they're all there and they go . Oh

36:29

I , you know , oh , you know , he just decided the end , but

36:32

I think it's just . But it is so funny

36:34

how , you know , we've gotten to this point where and

36:36

John , you brought it up like everybody's trying to keep up with

36:38

you what the other guys are doing , and then it just

36:40

snowballs out of control and

36:42

I think , I think it's . I think we're at the point

36:44

right now when we're , when we're talking about setting

36:47

, like setting the standard of where , where

36:50

I've got to get to and missing the boat and

36:52

having an opportunity that we're in this

36:54

world that we never like I don't I play

36:56

some really , really good hockey players and I

36:58

don't remember ever there are a group of dads

37:01

sitting behind the glass saying like

37:03

, oh , my god , you know , have you , have you started looking

37:06

at this program ? For , you know , because

37:08

those four kids are going there and I need these three

37:10

kids to play with these three kids so they can get

37:12

a scholarship somewhere , like it just . And

37:15

to John , it became , it's become

37:17

. You know , obviously

37:19

the money , but it's gotten , it's got

37:21

. Now , listen , there's no , I just saw

37:23

an ad for 2018

37:26

team , right ? So 2018 select team Of

37:29

you know . So you think about 2011 , you think

37:31

young , right ?

37:33

Team . Did you say 2018

37:35

?

37:36

2018 select program

37:38

right . This is Five

37:41

, you're five years old and they're being selected

37:44

, selected and and and and

37:46

and groomed right for the , for

37:48

the real team , which is the , which is the next

37:50

year , which is the six-year-old team . So it's

37:52

just , it's the pre pre-select

37:54

. I can't , I can't

37:56

even fathom that right . But the thing is , everyone

37:59

you hang that shingle up and there'll

38:01

be 75 kids at that tryout and

38:03

there'll be a lot of people at that at that Invitational

38:06

. I do I have this conversation with

38:08

lacrosse , so I run our lacrosse program in town and

38:10

we have some I mean , we literally have lacrosse people

38:13

in this town that are X pro

38:15

lacrosse players , division one , top

38:17

of the game , played at every single level

38:19

, can do . They

38:21

just look like they play lacrosse . Like my god , that's actually

38:23

what lacrosse supposed to look like . Those guys are good and

38:26

and and . They can't fathom the

38:28

fact that they have to join a team

38:30

that charges $4,000

38:33

to play on the team and all they're getting

38:35

is a field and balls . Like

38:37

that's it , the only difference , the only

38:39

difference in our program and that program

38:41

is . I don't know what it is , maybe it's the uniforms

38:43

and they get cool stickers on their helmet but there's no other

38:46

. Like like that's what's ? That's what's so odd

38:48

about other sports to me . Like you

38:50

could get better at baseball by

38:52

being alone . You could get better at lacrosse

38:54

by being alone . You can get better

38:56

at basketball . You get great at basketball by

38:59

being alone . And and where

39:01

hockey then becomes , it's harder and

39:03

harder because of the way the sport structured

39:05

and the access to ice and the access

39:08

to all this other stuff . Let's do it like you

39:10

can't just play pick-up hockey on your own and

39:12

, and I think this , this makes our , our mentality

39:15

of the sport Good and bad different

39:18

. It's good and bad . I mean it's the reason

39:20

why people are so passionate about hockey . Like

39:22

I don't . I don't I don't see myself on the sidelines

39:24

at lacrosse games , at Farsity games and stuff where

39:26

I see the same like passion

39:28

. Like maybe in prep school level , or the

39:30

kids that are , that are legitimately like

39:33

kids that are on a , on a on a different track

39:35

. You know to play , but I just

39:37

I , I kind of earn for the

39:39

day you know you're in

39:41

for the days of the

39:43

kids going up to a park , the kids going out in the

39:45

ice , the kids going to a basketball court and just

39:48

playing , and we all

39:50

talk about this like how do we get back to that unstructured

39:52

fun ? Do

39:55

it on your own kind of play and Unfortunately

39:58

I can't even see it in the kids . Now the kids separate

40:00

themselves like oh , where do you play ? Oh , you play here . Oh

40:02

, you can't play on my . I'm not . You know , it's almost

40:04

like it's like I can't , you can't play with

40:06

us , cuz you know you're just not .

40:09

Yeah , you didn't make that team and

40:11

we've almost got to the point where you know

40:13

, I think the Philadelphia area's got

40:16

a pretty good number of public

40:18

skating facilities right .

40:19

You know what ?

40:20

Yeah , I got a good number . But between

40:23

you know , boys

40:25

ice hockey , girls ice

40:27

hockey , which is exponentially growing

40:29

, figure skating and

40:33

and anything else you

40:35

know , they make so much money off renting that by

40:38

the hour that there's not really a good

40:40

time to say , hey , pick

40:42

up games after school four to six . It's

40:44

it's like it's all rented out . You know

40:46

it's it's and that that's . What's unfortunate

40:49

is that it'd be kind of cool that

40:51

if you know your neighborhood rink

40:53

almost had a designated time after

40:55

school , that hey bring the boys down here . Is

40:58

this just play pickup games ? Let him play pickup games .

41:00

So , john , you know , here's a good example

41:02

. So the stadium in Havartown right , for

41:04

those you're not nearby , it's just outside Philadelphia

41:06

this is a municipal rink . It's one of the last

41:09

remaining municipal rinks in the area . So

41:11

for the audience says , no , they don't really

41:13

need to make any money , it's run by the township

41:16

. Right , that's . The rink's been paid for for years . They

41:19

just instituted stick-and-puck times

41:21

and open hockey times for

41:23

kids and I remember those questions

41:25

is anyone gonna show up ? And

41:27

people show up . Well , kids show up

41:29

and it's all different levels and they

41:32

all play together . And it's kind of inspiring

41:34

because and again , this is a one one

41:36

ice sheet facility .

41:38

This is yeah , this is actually a rink who probably really can't

41:40

can't afford to do that , right .

41:42

Right , but you took the the

41:44

and again . This is this is not a shot

41:46

at anybody who runs a rink , it is a business . But

41:48

when they took the kind of need to make money

41:50

element out of it and introduce this , they're

41:53

making money because these kids are coming

41:55

in and they chase the kids down

41:57

and so . So that

42:01

element of being a child is there , right

42:04

, and I think we're uncovering that . It's just . How

42:06

are we , as really the adults in

42:08

society , going to get

42:10

them to see that , hey , you can be creative , right

42:13

, and it doesn't know , it doesn't always have to be in hockey

42:15

and we're all agreeing on that , right , it's just anything

42:17

.

42:18

That'd be my question I love to ask , john is like , because

42:20

you you talk to so many different sport parents and

42:23

what's the anxiety level or what

42:25

in your discussions with these folks ? Like

42:27

, is it possible for a parent just

42:30

to go to a batting cage with a kid and not intervene

42:32

? Is it possible for you know a parent

42:34

to throw out 10 balls and

42:36

a net up at the field and say , hey , go , go

42:39

shoot . And not like , be like , oh

42:41

, because I know it's so hard for me , like I'm , like

42:43

I could help you here , let me help you , leave

42:46

me alone . Leave me alone . Like I know somebody

42:48

that could help you with this . It's

42:51

so hard to you know I used to

42:53

. Actually , I loved and hated the

42:55

parents that were able to drop

42:57

their kid off at the rink and go for a run . Like

43:00

I couldn't believe I'm like wait a minute , you just

43:02

dropped your kid off and you're able to go work out . I

43:04

said that's , that's . That doesn't seem fair

43:06

to me .

43:09

I drop them off and go to the pub .

43:14

Yeah , whatever , whatever it is , you're not , you're not over , you

43:16

know you're not hanging over the glass .

43:17

Yeah , no , and I think that a lot , especially

43:20

if you look , I don't gather that they

43:22

have that anxiety . And

43:25

you know , one

43:27

of the things that I think is really important especially

43:29

after watching a game because way too

43:31

Anxiety levels run way too

43:33

high when it comes to to

43:36

games is when a game is over , don't

43:39

say anything , just say good job

43:41

. Just say good job , had them on the shoulder

43:43

, on the back , on the butt , to say hey , played

43:45

a good game . Because here's the thing that

43:47

the message that I think really

43:50

resonates when you start

43:52

to evaluate and

43:54

you start to pick apart what they did , what

43:56

they didn't , then they start to resent

43:58

the fact that , oh geez , when the game is over

44:00

, dad's gonna . You know , you can do this

44:02

. They just want to go and play , you

44:05

know , and if they're not doing something

44:07

, well , the coach will say something , or

44:09

somebody you know , or something . Let let the coach

44:11

do that , right , you

44:13

don't have a no right . And they know

44:15

. Yeah , oh yeah , the coaches know

44:18

, you know , or they'll see something

44:20

. But you're so hyper focused

44:22

on your kid that right , if he , if he

44:24

, takes a shift off , then you're

44:26

on like , yeah , you know , but you

44:28

know , at the end of the second period . It just wasn't

44:31

. Here's my notes Like

44:34

notes , and and , and

44:36

, and , and , and . Look , I get

44:38

it in all . But you're not out there , man

44:40

. This is your kids time and you

44:42

don't know what it's like . And maybe he's got a

44:44

cramp that he's not explaining . Or maybe he didn't

44:46

Get enough to eat before the game and he's running

44:49

on it , low on energy , or you didn't get him to

44:51

bed . Who knows , it could be a combination of all of

44:53

those things . All I'm saying is that

44:55

you , you

44:57

got to take a step back and remember

44:59

that you're there for the enjoyment of

45:01

watching your child play the game , and

45:03

you know , look , if

45:05

he wants something , if he asked for it , then

45:09

yeah absolutely give it , yeah , give it , you

45:11

know , say yeah , this is what I thought , but

45:14

I don't think it should be one of those things and be

45:16

like , you know , getting the car and stick

45:18

and I'm not know . I've seen that

45:20

too with parents and , just like you

45:22

know , they're throwing their , their kids equipment

45:25

in the car because they just got Blasted six

45:27

to one . Their son didn't do anything

45:29

. This , that and the other Doesn't matter

45:31

, man , no one's gonna remember the

45:34

game . Nobody dies , they just don't . It's

45:37

, it's you know what . Let the kid process

45:39

it , let them sort of . They don't need

45:41

you to compound All

45:43

of their anxiety of having because they've

45:45

already heard it from the coaches you know

45:48

they're teammates . They see me yeah they

45:50

talk on the bench . Everybody knows . You

45:52

know what a bad perform Performance

45:54

of six one losses . It doesn't need to

45:57

be further escalated when

45:59

you get in the car .

46:00

No , if anything , John , you

46:03

need to be the safe place for your kid after a game

46:05

. You need to be the comfort place . You know I

46:07

was very fortunate to have two great parents

46:09

. It's like I was always safe at home and

46:11

and I knew that and it was a gift . As I got

46:13

older I realized how much , because not every kid on my team

46:15

felt that way . Some

46:17

of it was a nightmare when the game ended . You know the

46:20

other thing too Just because

46:22

one of the most popular episodes we've ever done

46:24

it's in the top five was titled the

46:26

car ride is not for coaching , right , yeah

46:29

and . I've done this little

46:31

experiment with my own son who's nine , and

46:34

it's . It's funny when you dive into this . I Purposely

46:37

right and not purpose . I don't talk about

46:39

the game usually after the game , unless he

46:41

asks . Like you said and I said to myself

46:43

, I'm gonna just do a few car rides and just see . Let

46:45

me see the first thing he brings up , right

46:47

, like you know , cuz usually a little quiet after the

46:50

game , good or bad , sometimes a

46:52

little more rambunctious , but I'd say

46:54

nine times out of ten it's a video game

46:56

or or Something that

46:58

has nothing to do with hockey . And

47:00

I've actually gotten to my , my myself

47:02

, to a place where that's kind of a relief

47:05

, because you

47:07

just said I might be holding on to something that had

47:09

my son's a goal . So I might be holding

47:11

on to something that I really want to talk to him about . Right

47:14

, it's never negative at this age , but I'm

47:16

like , oh man , I really want to talk to him about it's posting

47:18

up and making a good seal . He's like , hey , so yeah

47:20

, dad , I saw this fortnight thing coming out

47:22

and it's like a reminder to me like you'll

47:25

leave shut up , you know , like , like

47:27

he's got to enjoy the

47:29

the time , like it's almost

47:31

admirable how quickly he can move past it

47:33

right .

47:35

And we can't . Yeah

47:38

, the kids , kids , within 30 minutes late

47:40

, as I said , they're , they're back on on snapchat

47:42

. You know it's amazing , it's it's

47:44

, you know it's out and it's an outer space at that

47:47

point . But yeah , more to

47:49

the points , what I sometimes , what I will bring

47:51

up in the car , is the positive . I'll sit

47:53

there and say , man , I love that pass . I know you guys

47:55

had scored , but that's , that's really

47:57

good vision . And to think , to be selfless

48:00

, or the back check that that may have

48:02

saved a potential goal . Little

48:04

things like that , I think , are worthy

48:06

of bringing up , just so that they

48:08

know you're paying attention and and

48:11

you're reinforcing the little things that

48:14

they should be doing all the time . Because look

48:17

, when you're 9 to 11

48:19

, 12 , it's the kid who scored

48:21

. Oh , you know , it

48:23

was Frankie who scored four goals and

48:25

, and , and , and . Oh , he tried

48:27

the Michigan , you know , I mean like I

48:30

see tried the Michigan . But the

48:32

game of hockey is won or lost

48:35

by doing the little things that nobody talks

48:37

about . So be the parent to talk about

48:39

, right , I'll talk about the little things that nobody else

48:41

wants to talk about , because those are the things

48:43

that win hockey games . Those are the things

48:45

that are gonna get your kid to playing junior

48:47

hockey , you know , when they're at the age of 16

48:49

, potentially college hockey . And

48:53

then you know who knows beyond that , because

48:55

, look , everybody wants

48:57

to be Alex Ovechkin

49:00

, everybody wants to be the great goal scorer , everybody

49:02

wants to do who's the kid with

49:04

. You know , at plays for the Anaheim , ducks Zegras

49:06

. You know Travis Zegras , all the great fancy

49:08

moves , that's great . But guess

49:10

what ? For every one of those , there's

49:13

seven or eight guys who , who

49:16

are just the bust your butt

49:18

. Yeah , hard workers back

49:20

check , do the little things that have to be

49:22

done . That that's how they got . It's

49:25

how they got to . Where they are is by

49:27

doing all of those things that you know

49:29

Nobody talks about them .

49:30

Yeah , and I would make you all good , too , that we talk about

49:32

all the time about that , that , that 00001%

49:35

of guys , that the Ovechkins , the Crosby's

49:38

, the McDavids , and they put that work in too

49:40

. So , however you slice it , you

49:42

know . But yeah , look , there's nothing wrong

49:44

with being a fourth-line grinder in the NHL . You're still one of

49:46

the greatest hockey players that's ever lived , if you

49:48

even you know . So

49:51

this I'm just keeping an eye on the time here I

49:53

did want to talk about about your podcast

49:56

, because I've been listening to it . I

49:58

think you're doing a great job Again . It's called

50:00

raising a champion . For those you listening , pause right

50:02

now . Go subscribe to that real quick . Make sure you

50:04

come back , though . I'll just leave . Oh

50:06

yeah , all right , and I

50:08

wanted to ask you a what spawn

50:10

that and I'm gonna kind of combine it with this too

50:12

, because you've had some amazing guests

50:14

on that show . I wanted to

50:16

know are there any Congruencies that you see

50:19

amongst the guests ? It's like , wow , okay , everyone

50:21

kind of agrees with this thought . Or

50:24

is there like a moment on the show that you had that was

50:26

just a light bulb or between the eyes

50:28

moment that you're like why , I really need to share this message ?

50:32

Yeah , no , I mean that's good . I mean I

50:34

try to hit on so many different

50:37

aspects . You know , field hockey

50:39

is popular up here . La

50:41

Crosse obviously is big here

50:43

in the Mid-Atlantic area . I haven't

50:45

done as much , just football or baseball

50:47

. You can go back to Texas for that . Yeah , yeah

50:50

, yeah . But I've

50:52

also tried to get into areas

50:55

like nutrition . I had

50:57

a nutritionist who actually wrote a

50:59

book specific to

51:01

kids sports nutrition for kids

51:04

. What do they need ? How do they fuel their bodies

51:06

? Right , because if you're on

51:08

the road at a tournament

51:10

, everybody can relate we're

51:13

going to Chick-fil-A , we're going to pick up McDonald's

51:15

, we're going to pick up Chick-fil-A . What can

51:17

we do ? Because I've watched

51:19

so many documentaries that you put

51:21

that stuff that's got so much saturated

51:24

fat and oil in there that that

51:26

slows down performance . I mean I know when

51:29

my son is playing a double header

51:31

. They're playing a game at 11 , or

51:33

10 , and another one at 3 , and they've got

51:35

that gap where they're going to eat lunch . I know exactly

51:37

how they're going to play at 3 and 4 . I've seen it every

51:40

single time . What can you do in

51:42

that gap to where you can

51:44

sort of refuel them and recharge

51:46

them ? Because

51:49

I think that nutrition

51:51

is almost as big of a deal as

51:56

getting on the ice and shooting

51:58

pucks and all that . It's all part of it . It's

52:01

like you divide the pie of what

52:03

are the important elements of creating

52:06

a great athlete . That's a big one too . I've

52:09

been talking to more people

52:11

like that . And it's not just

52:15

drinking water , it's making sure that you're putting

52:18

more sodium , because you're sweating out sodium

52:20

. You need to replenish your body with sodium

52:24

. There's been a lot of guests . There's been some

52:26

little tidbits along the way

52:29

. The Goudreau's is really good because

52:31

we all know Johnny Goudreau . I thought early

52:33

on I was able to get Brian Boucher , who

52:36

I worked with , and Brian Coates . I remember

52:38

going out and watching his son Tyler when

52:41

he was 13 , never

52:43

thinking that he was going to be a top

52:45

10 , top 15 NHL pick like

52:47

he was . Brian

52:54

wasn't that way as a coach . Brian just kind of put

52:56

his hands behind and just sort of watched

52:58

him . When there was a stoppage in play

53:01

then he would kind of coach him . But he wasn't a real

53:03

loud , boisterous type of coach

53:05

. It's always

53:07

good to hear . And then , more

53:09

than anything , the

53:12

one thing that stood out about Brian Boucher

53:14

when I had him on talking about his son

53:16

was that I

53:18

think it was either

53:21

a fractured wrist or a maybe

53:23

it was a collar bone . That's what it was . He

53:25

fractured his collar bone and he was

53:27

kind of like being the big tough dad . He just

53:30

got to play through it . Play through it . It's like , yeah , it's really

53:32

sore . I know he's got to grind

53:34

it . It was the one moment where

53:36

he felt like that . He was like , oh geez

53:39

, now I feel like a really bad dad because here

53:41

I am , I'm telling him to grind it

53:43

out and the kid's got a

53:45

legit injury . He's broken

53:48

collar bone . There's a lot

53:50

of little things like that . Karen

53:53

Corbett , the Penn La Crosse coach

53:55

and

53:57

it really became the kind of the central focus of that

53:59

episode was she just says you

54:01

don't see very many leaders anymore , kids

54:04

that know how to lead . How

54:06

do you develop leaders ? How do you instill

54:09

those values and those

54:12

leadership abilities in a kid that's 16

54:15

, 17 , 18 , 19 years old ? That's

54:17

something else that

54:21

I'd like to explore . She talked a little

54:23

bit in that episode when

54:25

I had her on .

54:27

It's funny to bring that subject up too , because we

54:29

talk about how

54:32

there's a lot more information now about bullying

54:35

and about pressure

54:38

. Part of the conversation I think

54:40

gets lost is the ability to push someone

54:42

else in the right way as

54:45

part of leadership . The one that comes to my mind right

54:47

now is just Nate McKinnon . After they

54:49

won the cup a couple of years ago , there

54:51

was a lot of just gotcha journalism of well

54:53

, he is so mean to his teammates

54:56

and he's so rude to his kids

54:58

. They kept going and finally his teammates came out

55:00

the avalanche . They're like

55:02

shut up . We need that

55:04

. We need the guy that's going to push us . We

55:06

need the guy that's going to yell at us when we don't

55:09

finish the drill . Look

55:11

, you mentioned it . All the greats , jordan

55:13

Bryant they demanded

55:15

that from their teammates . There's

55:18

part of the leadership there that I think that I'm

55:22

not saying we've gone soft , but we

55:25

have to shed light on that too , that it's okay to push a teammate

55:28

the right way . It's okay to be

55:30

pushed too . Here ask this .

55:32

It's kind of a doable two-part

55:34

question . Do you want to be a leader ? Do you

55:36

want to be a friend ? You want to be a friend . More than often you're

55:38

not going to be a leader , because

55:40

a leader is going to

55:42

ask you to do something that you probably don't . That may be unpopular I

55:44

mean , they're

55:46

not always the popular person in the room but

55:49

they're determined to be a leader . They

55:51

see things and they're demanding

55:54

of things . Friends are going to

55:56

sit there and if you're complaining

55:58

about this or complaining of that , they're just going to chirp

56:01

on with you . They're going to pile

56:03

on . You're like oh yeah , this sucks . That

56:05

sort of thing Leaders don't see it

56:07

. They see it in a whole different reflection

56:10

. They're not always going to take the

56:12

popular opinion . They're

56:14

going to find a way to present it differently

56:16

. It's really cultivating

56:19

a different mindset than

56:21

what a lot of these kids are

56:24

. One thing that I do want to add parents

56:26

, it's very easy at hockey

56:29

games youth hockey games , the

56:31

second that one

56:33

team gets called for three penalties

56:35

. You start chirping the rest

56:38

. You'll see it every single game . One

56:40

thing that I think you have to be really cognizant

56:43

about is that the kids on

56:45

the bench here you're chirping

56:47

, you're here complaining about the referees

56:49

. Then they're going to think it's okay

56:52

that if they lose four to two or five

56:54

to three , well , the reason we lost is because

56:57

of the rest . You guys were complaining about

56:59

the rest the whole time . Now it becomes

57:01

the nice , easy excuse . You

57:03

don't ever want to make that excuse because

57:05

there's no lesson to be learned in that

57:07

Now you can easily defer

57:10

away from your own mistakes and

57:12

you don't have to critique your

57:14

own performance because now you have an automatic

57:17

out . I think that all starts

57:19

with the

57:21

parents . Aside from the fact that these

57:23

people are making nothing and they're kids

57:25

and they're just learning , these games really don't mean

57:28

anything . Look , we're talking about college

57:30

NCAA championships . That's one thing

57:32

. This is youth hockey . That

57:34

, at that level , doesn't mean anything . That don't

57:37

get boisterous when it comes to

57:39

the referees . Penalties

57:42

. That , because you know it bleeds

57:44

over and the kids hear it . And then they're going

57:46

to think well , if you're complaining about it , I

57:48

can complain about it .

57:50

Well , it is funny at the higher levels it

57:52

gets more civil . The higher

57:54

you get , the more these

57:56

athletes and professionals can speak to

57:58

each other in ways . Again , it gets

58:01

heated , no doubt about it , but it

58:03

gets in a way . I think a lot of my

58:05

feeling about this is that if you want great

58:07

leaders , then you have to model good leadership , and I

58:09

just don't think we have a lot of good models . We allow

58:11

winning coaches to model poor

58:17

behavior . We allow good hockey

58:19

players to model poor behavior . We allow

58:21

parents to lose their minds in

58:23

the stands and then let them back into the stands again

58:25

. So I think that modeling goes

58:29

such a long way in every sport that I've involved

58:31

in , and I think a person

58:33

like me who tries to be a leader because I'm

58:35

leading , like I have to be the leader , like

58:38

somebody has to make a decision here

58:40

, guys . And since I'm leading the program , I guess I'll make

58:42

the decision . And it's never the

58:45

most popular decision , because it's easy to

58:47

be a mom and dad sucking down a couple of beers under

58:49

a tent in the summer and

58:51

have a comment

58:53

, but somebody has to say , hey

58:56

, listen , this isn't great

58:58

, we probably shouldn't be drinking in front of the kids and

59:01

why don't you take this somewhere else and

59:03

go do this ? Or hey , we probably shouldn't use that language with this group

59:06

. You could do that if you were in your own car and you

59:08

want to do this with your own kid . That's different

59:10

. But I think this issue

59:12

of and we've seen it now in sports

59:14

, like in silent Sundays and soccer

59:17

and days where

59:19

we've asked officials

59:21

to introduce themselves and literally have

59:23

to get to a point where they have a card and have to read

59:26

the card like hi , my name is Mike . I'd

59:28

like to say let's have a great contest today . I'm

59:31

not going to take you know , this is where the

59:33

threshold is , and I used to joke on the time as

59:35

a youth coach , like everybody's bitching about the

59:37

officials , I go hey , listen , they're bad officials

59:39

as we are as coaches .

59:40

We're all bad , we're all bad at this , and we're all

59:42

learning , so let's all learn together

59:45

.

59:45

But I just think it's , I think it really

59:47

comes down to and , Lee , we talk about it

59:49

a lot too right and even with the

59:51

people we talk to , it's just the modeling

59:53

, it's the ability to . If you're

59:55

going to be , it's hard , it is

59:57

. And we talk to our kids . When you talk to your teenager

59:59

, right , it's hard to be a

1:00:02

good person Like , it's hard to be the person that

1:00:04

steps up and say , hey , that's not really the right

1:00:06

thing we should be doing right now . So a lot easier

1:00:08

just to go along with the crowd . Mike .

1:00:09

I think the keyword that's like the lessons that we need to

1:00:11

learn more . The keyword is accountability

1:00:13

. And from a societal

1:00:16

level , we have lost

1:00:18

touch with the meaning of that word and it gets worse

1:00:20

, I think , every year . I don't mean to be dystopian

1:00:22

or anything like that , but the lack of

1:00:25

accountability . And , john , this goes back

1:00:27

to what you said . When I'm coaching kids

1:00:29

, first off , when I'm coaching anybody , the

1:00:31

rule on the benches you don't even talk to the ref . That's

1:00:33

my job as the coach and

1:00:35

I always say if you want to beat the refs , score

1:00:37

more goals , that's something we can control . You

1:00:40

know what I mean . But you have to be

1:00:42

accountable to the point of

1:00:44

you don't want to be in a position that

1:00:46

a referee can control the game , accidentally

1:00:49

or not , right ? So I

1:00:52

try and teach accountability . I really try and teach the definition

1:00:54

of that word . I think there are levels to

1:00:56

accountability . I think that's something people

1:00:58

miss . It's not so much you're accountable or you're not

1:01:00

. A lot of this comes down to the language . Do

1:01:03

you say , after you got scored , you

1:01:05

screwed up ? Do you say , we screwed up

1:01:07

? Are you looking for a solution together

1:01:09

? Right , there's levels

1:01:11

to this that , as a coach , I feel

1:01:13

like it's my duty to teach that . Right

1:01:16

, if you have an accountable team and I'm not just talking

1:01:18

hockey , I mean a giant broadcasting

1:01:21

my God , if you have an accountable team , you're going to

1:01:23

have a good outcome . Right

1:01:25

, every , mostly every time . If you have people

1:01:27

pointing fingers , it's gonna become a nightmare

1:01:29

. I don't get how talented you are . Yeah

1:01:31

, I think we need to get back to more of a culture

1:01:33

of accountability .

1:01:35

Yeah , and I think is what's really important

1:01:37

, the thing that I've really tried

1:01:39

to focus on with a kid who's playing at this

1:01:41

level , just to be as

1:01:43

objective about my kid

1:01:46

as I possibly can and

1:01:48

to know his strengths and to know his weaknesses

1:01:51

and to sit there and because At

1:01:54

some point , you're gonna feel that your

1:01:56

kids been slighted . It could be because of ice

1:01:58

time , it could be because he didn't make a certain

1:02:00

team . You know , this is the , this

1:02:03

is the year for the 2011's that they're playing in

1:02:05

the the Pee Wee Qua back tournament

1:02:07

. So Players are gonna

1:02:09

be chosen over other players for whatever reasons

1:02:12

or there's politics that go into it . And

1:02:14

when my son got cut , I actually made

1:02:16

a list of all the players and

1:02:18

I had him probably in that bottom

1:02:20

third . So I knew that

1:02:23

and I was looking at it very objectively

1:02:25

, knowing the other kids , knowing their abilities , knowing

1:02:28

that they had been with this program longer

1:02:30

, knowing that you know that is

1:02:32

very possible that he was gonna . He was on that

1:02:34

fence and that's something like

1:02:36

this could happen , and

1:02:39

I wanted him to just

1:02:41

think that , look , there's , there's

1:02:44

no guarantees here . You still got to go out

1:02:46

, you still have to do this . So I think

1:02:48

it's very , and what

1:02:50

happens is is that when things don't

1:02:52

go your way , being the

1:02:54

player and the parent , it's

1:02:56

very easy to say , well , you're better than that kid

1:02:58

. That's , that's me , yes , or that

1:03:01

didn't happen . I Think

1:03:03

it's really important to try to put it

1:03:05

in into perspective as much as you can

1:03:08

and to try to be objective about

1:03:10

what your kids doing , because

1:03:12

, look , you don't have to

1:03:14

have the best shot . You know , you

1:03:17

know you don't , but if

1:03:19

he's not exuding effort

1:03:21

, he's not giving the most effort . That's the

1:03:23

one thing that you can't control . You , you

1:03:25

know they can control your effort , how hard

1:03:27

you play , what good of you know , how good of a teammate

1:03:30

you are , those things

1:03:32

. And so I always look at

1:03:34

that and say you know when

1:03:36

you as good in those areas , because if you weren't

1:03:38

, you know you're given , you're given coaches

1:03:40

or you're giving people a reason to

1:03:43

not select you right . So you

1:03:45

know , because you see it , parents

1:03:47

will always say that you know where do you think

1:03:49

your kid stacks up and you know they'll

1:03:51

have them up here , when they're probably down here

1:03:53

, and Mike , mike loves that one , but it's

1:03:56

. Yeah , and it's , it's

1:03:58

, it's . They need a reality check and

1:04:00

sometimes and that's one thing- it's

1:04:04

a gift , john .

1:04:05

It's a painful gift , but it's a gift . Look , look . We talked

1:04:07

up before about the ROI . The

1:04:09

ROI is these life lessons . All

1:04:12

right , john , there's no way you

1:04:14

got to where you got in broadcasting by constantly going

1:04:16

. Well , I should have had that anchoring job . I

1:04:18

should have been that guy that I might have motivated

1:04:20

. You might have thought that , but you didn't . It

1:04:22

wasn't a crutch , right ? Yeah , I'm speaking

1:04:24

out of turn for you here . My point is in

1:04:27

real life , we all know this . Right , the

1:04:29

person who just points fingers isn't gonna go too

1:04:31

far . Right , the person you

1:04:33

know what . That guy worked harder than me

1:04:35

and he's better than me . And now I can

1:04:38

control what I'm gonna put in , the time

1:04:40

I'm gonna put in to get better at these skill sets or

1:04:42

at this , because I want to be there

1:04:44

. We're not .

1:04:47

Yeah , but even to and that's

1:04:49

it's right even to that

1:04:51

point . Let's say that that kid that did make

1:04:53

it Doesn't work harder

1:04:55

and you do , but you know he may be more

1:04:58

talented right now . Sure , sure , you're , you'll eventually

1:05:00

pass it . You continue to do the right

1:05:02

things . You continue to Out

1:05:04

be have it . You did to preach to

1:05:06

your child that you have to outwork

1:05:09

them . You will pass the

1:05:11

talented kids that . I'm just telling

1:05:13

you those Little

1:05:16

things , that what I was talking about early , that don't

1:05:18

get talked about Amongst the parents

1:05:20

and the bleachers because you don't have that

1:05:22

great shot where you can pick a corner . It

1:05:24

doesn't matter if you continue to be

1:05:27

the hardest working player , who

1:05:29

plays the right way , who plays

1:05:31

selfless , you know , looks to

1:05:33

make that extra pass . You still I'm still

1:05:35

, you know , 12 year olds . They've been playing this game now

1:05:37

for five , six years . 95%

1:05:40

of them don't make that extra pass that

1:05:42

they could make . You you're , you

1:05:45

have the type of kid that can do that . They

1:05:47

will eventually rise to the top , I can promise

1:05:49

you mom and

1:05:51

yeah , and it's and it's really at

1:05:54

any of these sports it .

1:05:56

They're all good like these kids . When they get to 18

1:05:58

, 19 year old there is , there's such a fine

1:06:01

line To any kid that makes it and doesn't

1:06:03

make it . They're all good like you . Look at

1:06:05

kids . I've seen guys in mensley . I'm like man

1:06:08

, where'd you play ? Goes I . I stopped playing in

1:06:10

high school . You know I got my god . You're like

1:06:12

the best player out like you know , because they're

1:06:14

just they , it's just little things , it's the

1:06:16

little , it's the motivation , it's the

1:06:18

, the commitment , it's the hey

1:06:20

you can't have . You know , I used to joke with

1:06:22

our teams like I can't have six first line centermen

1:06:24

, like somebody has to position , like

1:06:27

, like so well , I'm better than that kid , I

1:06:29

know , but that kid was not able to play any other position

1:06:31

. They couldn't do anything else , they could only do

1:06:33

this . And I have five of those

1:06:35

kids already .

1:06:36

We see it .

1:06:37

I run a couple of Quebec team

1:06:39

tryouts and or you know , I'm involved

1:06:41

in the selection process and I can't tell you how

1:06:43

many kids don't make those teams that are

1:06:45

better than anybody else . You know

1:06:47

that that did , and but there's

1:06:50

certain kids that need to make it because you need certain

1:06:52

players to play . When you go to a tournament

1:06:54

, when you go to a game , and just knowing

1:06:56

, like hey , this kid it's the same reason why players

1:06:59

get picked on proteins right , like hey

1:07:01

, I know this kid , this guy is really good

1:07:03

, this kid is a really phenomenal player . But

1:07:05

are they gonna be , are they gonna be able to accept

1:07:07

the role that they're not gonna get on the ice every shift like

1:07:10

, can they play the role I need them to play

1:07:12

? And Sometimes , you know it's the reason

1:07:14

why you know players as free agents go

1:07:16

certain places and don't like , hey , can

1:07:19

you , if you're a pitcher , can you

1:07:21

, can you resort to being a two-inning

1:07:23

guy , like is ? Are you gonna accept that or you're gonna

1:07:25

be a bitter , you know , frustrated athlete

1:07:27

and Parents don't get to see

1:07:29

the coach , the GM , the people

1:07:31

making these teams . Maybe we have to do all a better

1:07:34

job of describing what we're looking for

1:07:36

and why the teams are picked , but the other day

1:07:38

a parent needs to say , listen , this is the team

1:07:40

they're picking . I

1:07:42

think objectively we can say you're better than so-and-so

1:07:44

and so-and-so , but there's a reason why they

1:07:46

picked them and you know . Maybe we could

1:07:48

find out why , or we could find out where you

1:07:51

were , you know , deficient . But a lot

1:07:53

of times it's gonna be like and I did college tryouts

1:07:55

all the time like , listen , I love you , I think you're a great

1:07:57

player . You just don't . You just you're never

1:07:59

gonna accept the fact that You're

1:08:02

not in the power play . I know it , you're just not gonna accept

1:08:04

it . And you're not gonna be on this power play because I have

1:08:06

seven other guys that are gonna be on this power

1:08:08

play and since you're not gonna accept that , I can't

1:08:10

have you in the locker room Bitchin and moan and

1:08:12

undermining me saying that you should be

1:08:14

on the power play . So

1:08:16

you you're you .

1:08:17

I'm still waiting for the first 12 year old just to

1:08:19

embrace being a penalty killer . I have not found .

1:08:23

I was a great panel kill . I used to love that . Please

1:08:27

tell me , take another 10 minutes on that , please .

1:08:31

No one ever talks like man I . I love

1:08:34

playing on the penalty .

1:08:34

I've now heard a kid at this level , at the PUE

1:08:37

level , say I really love playing on the

1:08:39

penalty kill , but you need those players

1:08:41

as much as you need the five out there on the power

1:08:43

play , probably even more so and

1:08:45

that's what's great About athletes , right , and in your profession

1:08:48

, and broadcasting , right , you can't you listen , everybody can't

1:08:50

be in front of the camera , everybody can't be interviewing

1:08:52

, somebody has to , like you know , plug the damn

1:08:54

thing in and get the satellite , you

1:08:56

know , figured out like so there's , there's roles

1:08:59

for everyone and that's , I think , what Lee's point is right

1:09:01

that sport is supposed to be teaching us all

1:09:03

of these great things and Sometimes

1:09:05

we lose the fact that that's what . That's

1:09:07

what sport is at any , in any sport , and

1:09:09

it's it's . It is , you know , it's great

1:09:11

when you see it happening . You

1:09:13

know in a positive way , because that's the funnest part about

1:09:15

this is like , oh my god , like you really made

1:09:17

something of this , because you embraced

1:09:20

who you were , what your role could be and

1:09:22

being the best at that role , and

1:09:24

that's really that's like a great lesson

1:09:26

to your kids , I think yeah

1:09:28

, yeah , I would 100% agree

1:09:30

with that .

1:09:33

Yeah , and you know I , there's

1:09:36

so much video out there . You know

1:09:38

I know the kids like watching Connor

1:09:40

Badaard and how great he is Connor McDavid

1:09:42

, it's so fun to watch . But the

1:09:44

one thing , my favorite player and

1:09:47

I don't know if there ever be somebody that

1:09:49

will surpass this for me my

1:09:52

favorite player and the player , the NHL

1:09:54

player that I like to show my son

1:09:57

and other players the way that he

1:09:59

played the game was pavlet that soup . Because

1:10:01

not only was he flashy we

1:10:03

all love the place hands , his hands but

1:10:05

he was what he probably could have

1:10:07

reeled off a hundred point seasons

1:10:09

you know five or had five or six

1:10:11

but because he was so dedicated

1:10:13

to playing so sound defensively

1:10:16

and how well he he , how hard he

1:10:18

played for such being a small guy and

1:10:20

how he used his stick and and created

1:10:22

takeaways and stuff . All you gotta do

1:10:24

is just go on to YouTube and look up Pavlet

1:10:27

that soup hundred greatest players and

1:10:29

that video reel of how he would play defense

1:10:31

and just pick guys pockets . It

1:10:33

just really was something . That that is

1:10:35

. You still see it . You know you like that

1:10:38

. You hope that more players at these younger

1:10:40

levels will take a pride in playing

1:10:42

that way , because that's the way that the game

1:10:44

has to be played .

1:10:45

I Totally

1:10:47

agree , john and I'm gonna say this too that I

1:10:49

was spot-on about having less questions today

1:10:51

, because we had a fantastic

1:10:54

discussion today and we've

1:10:56

kept you off for over an hour and I think we could do another hour

1:10:58

, but but I'm we're there .

1:10:59

Were there any questions in there ?

1:11:03

Discussion . But look , john , first

1:11:05

off I just want to thank you again for giving us some time For

1:11:08

the whole listening audience . Again . His podcast

1:11:10

, this title , raising a champion . I highly

1:11:13

recommend it . If you like our show , you

1:11:15

will love his show , so please give

1:11:17

him a follow . And , john , I'll give you the last word

1:11:19

before I close it out . Again , this has been a fantastic

1:11:21

conversation .

1:11:23

Yeah , it's First off

1:11:25

. I'm so glad that you guys have a podcast

1:11:27

like this . Our kids play hockey . It's , it's really

1:11:30

cool and I'm seeing more

1:11:32

and more of these , and

1:11:34

I that's . I spent a lot of my time just listening

1:11:36

to podcasts , but you know , I guess a

1:11:38

lot . The thing that I would like to

1:11:40

go out on is just Don't

1:11:43

get caught up at the age of five

1:11:45

and six and seven . To my hockey it

1:11:48

really doesn't matter , it's about having fun

1:11:50

. Here's what I'm

1:11:52

gonna say . You're not gonna

1:11:54

create an NHL superstar at

1:11:57

the age of six , seven , eight , nine , ten , eleven , but

1:11:59

you can certainly burn them out of the game and

1:12:02

that's to me , the

1:12:04

bigger takeaway is Make

1:12:07

sure that you're creating an environment

1:12:09

that's instilling passion , like

1:12:11

that they want even more , instead

1:12:14

of sort of Robbing

1:12:17

them of that

1:12:19

energy , because

1:12:21

it's a long process , like

1:12:24

it . What if you're a parent and

1:12:26

you got a kid that's now seven and eight

1:12:28

and you're like I think he's got potential , potential

1:12:30

potential ? You're not gonna know that . You're

1:12:33

really not gonna know that till another seven or eight

1:12:35

, nine years . They start to hit puberty

1:12:37

. It because the whole thing changes . Enjoy

1:12:39

the ride early on , you know . Teach

1:12:41

them to be a good teammate . That's

1:12:44

when you can start instilling , you know

1:12:46

, leadership qualities , because they're they're

1:12:48

actually listening at that point . Once they get to be like

1:12:50

11 , 12 , 13 , they start to tune you

1:12:52

out , you know . So when they're young kids , that's

1:12:55

when you can start feeding them little nuggets and

1:12:57

little things that they

1:12:59

can take with them , because they'll

1:13:01

remember that . You know the kids are sponges at

1:13:03

that age and so that's a . That's a

1:13:05

good age to where . Don't worry so

1:13:07

much about the hockey , but teach

1:13:10

them little things to be good teammates

1:13:12

. You know , because they're gonna be playing , especially at the

1:13:14

might level . They're gonna be playing with kids who are

1:13:16

falling over their laces . You

1:13:18

know , for the most part , encourage them . You

1:13:21

know I do take pride in the fact that my son tried

1:13:23

to get every single kid on . That is my team

1:13:25

involved and the game is frustrating

1:13:27

, as it may have been , but it's my hockey

1:13:30

man . You know , if you you can , you

1:13:32

can be a really you can really teach your

1:13:34

kid a lot of life lessons . And

1:13:36

in that age group and it's not about wins

1:13:39

, losses , it's not about how many goals they

1:13:41

score , it's about none of that , it's just about

1:13:43

going out there having fun , creating

1:13:46

an experience for not only you

1:13:48

, but for everybody on that team .

1:13:52

Well , john , I'll tell you , our target

1:13:54

audience , our main audience , is that age group , and

1:13:56

I think that's a great note to end on . And

1:13:58

I'll say this to the listeners If you like what he just said

1:14:00

, go check out raising a champion . You

1:14:03

can listen to wherever podcast heard . You can also listen

1:14:05

our podcast out . Yeah yeah

1:14:07

, podcast heard , but

1:14:09

for Mike Bonnelli , john Boreg , I'm Leo Elias , everyone

1:14:12

. Thank you so much for listening this episode . We

1:14:14

will see you next week . Have a great time with your kids skate

1:14:16

on . We hope you enjoyed this

1:14:18

edition of our kids play hockey . Make

1:14:21

sure to like and subscribe right now

1:14:23

if you found value . Wherever you're listening whether

1:14:25

it's a podcast network , a Social media

1:14:27

network or our website our kids play

1:14:29

hockey comm . Also , make sure to check

1:14:31

out our children's book when hockey stops at

1:14:33

when hockey stops Com . It's

1:14:35

a book that helps children deal with adversity

1:14:38

in the game and in life . We're

1:14:40

very proud of it . But thanks so much for listening to this edition

1:14:42

of our kids play hockey and we'll see you

1:14:44

on the next episode .

Unlock more with Podchaser Pro

  • Audience Insights
  • Contact Information
  • Demographics
  • Charts
  • Sponsor History
  • and More!
Pro Features